Photo Friday - Looking skyward

It's been a very long time since I have shared with you my photos - so I think I should start doing it again! This weeks theme is 'Looking Skyward'.

This week we had an amazing sunset here, it was talked about all over social media, and local news papers, websites and blogs! The sky was literally purple with pink fluffy clouds dissipating on the horizon! It was magical and unique - this photo even made it onto a local news site - so I was quite chuffed with that!

The clouds look like cotton candy, right?

A few days before, I was lucky enough to catch two rainbows, on two separate occasions.

Here's a pic of a tree at our house that bears orange mandarin fruit! I just loved the constrasting colours, the green of the leaves, with the pop of orange from the fruit and the bright blue sky. 

Here in Oz we are in the heart of winter, and although we don't have many deciduous trees here, there are some.

 I hope you liked my photos -  Thanks for stopping by! I'll leave you with a sunrise pic:

-AnnMaree.

Happy Easter

Hello Friends! I am so sorry for not being about on the blogs lately. I really don't have any good reasons for why, just that I am not spending much time online anymore, and I also am not spending much time crafting, either.

Whether this changes anytime soon remains to be seen, but I wanted to take this chance to wish you all a very Happy Easter weekend with all of your family and friends, however you celebrate (or even if not).  I hope it's a fun and relaxed weekend for you all, enjoy it whatever you are upto!

Much Love, Take Care
Annmaree xoxo.

Heart of a Friend - Mixed Media Monday

Happy Monday, friends! How has your week been? Great I hope!

I had a fun weekend, I took my mother to a concert here, to see 60's British beat band "The Searchers". It was great! They are still very talented and have the 'it' factor, and obviously really enjoy themselves. There were at least 600 people in the auditorium, and we had front row seats. My Mum thoroughly enjoyed it, clapping and singing along, and I did too! It went for over 2 hours, and they shared a lot of stories about their history, and had everyone laughing all night, as well!. It was so entertaining!
Their hits include "Sweets for my Sweet", "Sugar and Spice", "Needles and Pins", "Don't Throw Your Love Away", "When You Walk In The Room" and "Love Potion No. 9". Which they performed all of them, and many more. It really was a great, fun night! I'm glad me and Mum got to go and enjoy it! I did take some photos and a bit of Video on my mobile, but they aren't the best;

Here's a short video clip;

Now, onto my main reason for this post - my page for Mixed Media Monday!

My background was made using a combination of paints and Dylusions sprays. I used a raindrop stencil and sprayed white Mr Huey spray over it for the raindrops. I did some stamping to give more texture to my background, and then stamped this Unity Stamp Co girl by Christy Tomlinson called "She Leaped"

I coloured the girl in with some faber-castell gelatos, and also big brush markers.

I used excerpts from a poem, that I found in a Calligraphy book, that I found to be very dreamy and inspiring! The original poem is called "The Arrow and the Song" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Here is the excepts I used:

"I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I know not where;
The song from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend."

 

I added a heart to my stamped girl, to relate back to the poem, and lastly added the bird made from bookpaper, with musical notes falling down for the "song" that fell to earth.

 

I'm really please with how this page came out, and I hope you like it, too!

Thanks so much for stopping by this Monday!

Currently...

Hi Friends, nothing creative to share with you for this Monday, but I decided to update my "Currently" list;

 

Watching:

The Walking Dead - New Episode today! WooHoo. Previously have been watching Rookie Blue (Canadian Cop series) as well as Nashville.

Reading:

I'm about to start 'The Forsaken' book 2, by Lisa M Stasse called "The Uprising".

Listening:

Avicii/Aloe Blacc - Wake Me Up, and also songs from Nashville.

Making:

A mini album, using prima dolls and my favourite quotes. Here's a sneak peak:

 Feeling:

Happy, lucky and accomplished.

Planning:

Some outings, also to complete my mini album, and to do more art journaling. 

Loving: 

Life, my pets, family, and friends. All is well and good, and stable and happy which I am absolutely loving.

I will be by all of your blogs this afternoon to catch up, and comment on all of your awesome creations! Thanks for stopping by, I hope to have something crafty to share soon!

Happy New Year! 2014!

Hello Friends!! I hope this newly hatched year brings you great things for the entire year ahead!

I can hardly believe it is two-thousand and FOURTEEN! I'm sure I am not alone when I say that when I was young we figured by the 2000+ years that we would have hover cars and jet packs and teleportation! haha! Maybe by the year 3000!

I want to Thank You all for your support and friendship throughout the years, to friends old and new! I really appreciate it. I've found myself in a funk lately where I cannot be inspired, and any attempts to work in my art journal turn into messy, yucky disasters! So I'm not sure when I will be able to share some artwork or creations. The old Mojo needs rekindling.

But in the meantime, I thought I would share the amazing Christmas cards I received off my amazingly talented blog friends, who handmade their cards!  So you can check out their amazing work!

The first card I received for the season, was from the lovely Lorraine in England. 

You can find her blog at Coldwaters2:

 I love the embossing and white on white! And great decoupaged snowy image! 

We don't get snow where I am in Oz, and definitely not at Christmas! So I always love the magical snowy Christmas images. 

Which brings me to my second card. From Shirley-Anne of South Australia.

Her blog is at: Stamping For Joy:

A great easel card with the cutest cartoon character penguin and polar bear I ever did see!  

From Dawn L in the USA at Dawns Craft Place:

 

A gorgeous Tilda card, I do so love these Magnolia images!

 From the Brilliant Brenda in England at Floral Fantasies:

A masked, brayered and stamped masterpiece of ink! 

From Jules in England at Always with a Heart:

 

A penny black Hedgie Card! Great traditional colours. 

From Wendy in Queensland at MerryMade:

Loving the Kraft cardstock and red, lovely reindeer. 

From Mags in England at Madcap Manor:

Beautiful diecuts!! 

 Lastly, from Sandy in South Australia at Sandy's Creations:

 

A beautiful Victorian vintage image, which I just love! 

So they are all the cards I received from people with blogs, who handmade their cards.

Thanks so much for all the time and effort put into to making and sending these great cards, I appreciate them so much!

Christmas is over for another year, and I noticed that hot cross buns are already in the supermarkets, and many craft blogs are advertising Valentines Day cards and items. So it already feels like 2014 is going way too fast! hehehe! 

But I hope it's a great one for you all!

Thanks for stopping by.

xoxo

Photo Friday - OH Deer!

Just a quick post so you know I haven't dropped off the face on the Earth. lol. I've been busying myself here, and have had a nice week. I hope you all have had a lovely week, as well!

 Today we were lucky enough to see some of Santa's Reindeer in our city centre;

Now I'm not sure if these are actual Reindeer, or just common deer? Or some other breed of deer, perhaps my English or American friends who have these beautiful animals native in their country can tell me. But I do know they are Santas, right? :-p lol!!! 

They were brilliant to see, only 4 of them, only 1 with antlers. 

They had such beautiful faces and soulful eyes.

 Such a joy to see here in my little city, on the coast of Australia.

I hope you enjoyed seeing them, Thanks for stopping by!

Monday mash-up!

Hi Friends! How are you all??? Great I hope!!! I know I haven't blogged for a while. I have had a busy week and promise to pop by all your awesome blogs soon! But I wanted to share what I've been upto, and some pics. So this is a Monday mash-up post!!!

First up; on the 25th it was my Birthday. I hit 27. But must say I'm feeling younger than that, but I guess everyone feels that way? I had a nice day, nice meal out with family and a nice homemade vanilla cake back home. 

I have to share a lovely Birthday card I received off the talented Brenda of Stamping Floral Fantasies:

and here is the card I got from my Mum and Dad:

On Saturday we had our first Christmas party luncheon for the season! Can you believe there is way less than 4 weeks to go until Christmas Day???  EEP!!!

Here are some pics I took at one of our local malls, that have started decorating for the occassion:

Santa's area was all set up ready and waiting for him to arrive; 

As well as the giant decorated Christmas tree:

 

 Santa even has his own post box:

 I do so love the decorations this time of year, the giant tree, the big presents, the reindeer and the lights and other trees etc!

And, of course, the nativity scene:

 I think I have shared before on my blog, pics of the crane birds/brolgas at the fountain - well they have taken on a very festive appearance:

Last night Mum and me attended a concert show at the local club, of a Roy Orbison tribute band! It was really great!!! The gentleman Athol Matcham had an amazing voice, it was as close to Roy as you would ever get! Here is a pic:

His wife, Edith, also sang some songs both with him and before he came on to warm up the crowd - she had a beautiful voice as well.

The band were very talented too, and also a lot of fun!!! Very comical gents.

It was a great night! We really enjoyed ourselves!!!

So that is about it! I hope you liked seeing my pics, and I will pop by your blogs soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs xoxo.