The End!

Hooray I have finished the Australia scrapbook. It has only taken 5 years! Here's the last two pages.

Next is the Canada/ USA trip from 2010!

Almost There!

I've just got a couple more pages to do in my Australia album and it will be finished!  Here's thetwo I made yesterday.

 We were both fascinated by the crecent moon being horizontal instead of vertical! It had never occurred to either of us that it would be any different to at home.
I'm entering this into the challenge at Lasting Memories where they want to see palm trees on the layout.  The two small ones are echoing the frond that shows up in the photo.

This page is photos taken on the trip out to The Great Barrier Reef.

Finally....

I've at long last got round to doing some more scrapbooking.After our trip to Australia in 2014 I decided to do a scrapbook of our trip. It started off very well but ground to a halt over the last couple of years. As I've only got a few more pages to do I'm determined to get it finished in the next couple of weeks. Then I can start on the USA/Canada one!

Here's a couple of pages done in the last two days.

MMM At the Beach end june

Amy has chosen our theme of "At the Beach" for the new challenge at Make My Monday. I decided to use a scrapbook page I have just made for my Australia album.

The photo was taken by The Nobbies outside Melbourne. It was quite breezy as can be seen by my hair and the surf. 

Sunday Scrapbooking

I have been going through my draft posts and right down at the bottom were three more layouts which I made quite a while ago . So I have combined them into one post for you.

Have a good Sunday and Happy Mother's Day to my UK readers - hope you remembered to change the clocks as well!

Alice Views

I thought it was about time to show another Oz layout. I have had this one in drafts for quite a while but while doing a bit of blog hopping this evening I realised it would fit in with the challenge at Lasting Memories which is Elements of Nature.

The photos show views of Alice Springs from the Anzac Memorial. Although it is difficult to see here, the jacaranda trees were all out in bloom, so it looked like a blue haze in the distance.

Sunday Scrapbooking.

Well I've given you a break for a while from the Australia scrapbook pages, but I decided it was time to show another one.

This the Anzac Memorial at Alice Springs Just look at that gorgeous bue sky! The map was an embellishment in the kit I was given in my secret santa, way back in 2014!
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Sunday Scrapbooking

Today I have a double page layout to show you. I was given some Australia themed scrapbooking papers and embellishments at card club the Christmas after our trip to Oz. One of the papers was an old map which showed the telegrapg station that had been built at Alice Springs.

It made for a perfect two page layout showing photos of the telegraph station. I scanned and shrunk the information sheet to add to the page as the journalling.
 

Another Sunday Scrapbooking!

Another Melbourne page for my Australia album.

The top two photos were the view out of our hotel room window, and the bottom one was one of the houses we passed on our evening tram tour.

Our first night dinner was served on this restaurant tram while it toured the city. A great evening!

 

Sunday Scrapbooking

 I have quite a few more pages from my Australia album saved in drafts, so thought I'd show you two of them today.

Use Your Stuff!

I recently found a "new to me challenge" called Use Your Stuff and this week they are asking us to use kraft.

I had just finished  this page when I came across the site so thought it was serendipity!! Another page finished for my Oz scrapbook, still have quite a few to go though.
 

Royal Arcade - Melbourne

I decided it was time to show another page from my Australia album. I made this page along with some others last year and have them saved in drafts ready to post when I have nothing else to post!

It was quite a busy lunchtime when we were there, so was quite difficult to get a decent photo of the clock without peoples' heads being in the way!

Sydney Opera House

I thought it was time to show another Australia scrapbook layout. I hope to get it finished this year. I'm about half way through it at the moment. I've got a lot of layouts saved in draft waiting to be posted, so at least I've got something to blog even if I don't get much crafting done.

 

These photos are of the inside of the Opera House. We had a guided tour round which was really very interesting. I just wish we'd had the time to see a performance in there but we weren't there long enough. When my son saw these photos his comment was " a bit arty aren't they?" But really I was just trying to get the details of the architecture.

Graffiti!

Hi I'm back with another layout for you.It's a good job I hadn't blogged any of these as I wouldn't have anything to post! I've had little time to get in the craft room and when I did have some it was like a sauna, so there was no way I could sit in there!

these photos were taken in Melbourne where they have specially designated lanes and alleys for graffiti artists to display their talents. SU's Grunge stamps came in very useful for this!

I'm pleased to say that Roy has now been transferred back to the neuro rehab unit in Woking and is making good progress. When he left Frimley Park he was unable to even stand unaided and certainly couldn't get himself off the bed. Yesterday he walked with a frame and a little help from the phsyio from the ward to the gym for his therapy session. He can get himself off the bed and into a wheelchair with a little support so when the weather is good I can wheel him out into the garden there, so he has had his first taste of fresh air this last two weeks since April! I'm hoping I can get into some sort of routine now with the visiting so I can find a bit more "me" time!


 

A Digital Layout

For my Australia album I am doing mainly traditional paper pages but I'm also adding one or two digital ones, especially where I want to include a lot of photos.

I created this page in MDS, unfortunately after Stampin' Up finally introduced it to the UK they have now discontinued it completely. I was only just beginning to get the hang of it after I found the MDS Monday challenge site where I had joined in a few times. However one of the DT Beth has continued to post sketches on her personal blog " Beth's Digital Cuts" and I used one of her sketches from last week to create this page. The flowers were the nearest I could get to poppies!
 

Another layout and update.

I have another layout to show you. This is the opening page of my Australia album.  I am so glad we went to Australia last year ( Note the wrong date on my page - I have changed it since I took the photo!) instead of waiting till next year or sometime in the future, as it is unlikely we would be going after the events of the last three weeks.

I have actually been in my craft room today but only tidied away the debris from the last time I was in there. But its a start! My mojo and inspiration are definitely lacking despite having new stash to play with. But I have got a tidy desk for when inspiration strikes.

Roy is continuing to make good progress according to the doctors and they are transferring him soon to the local community hospital for rehab. The rehab  is going to take a long time though as at the moment he still can't stand on is own let alone walk. His right hand is splinted and left hand very weak. Although he is now speaking and coherent his voice had almost disappeared as though he had a bad case of laryngitis but I think its through lack of use! A 10 minute drive to visit will be better though rather than the current 20 mile round trip in queuing traffic!

I have greatly appeciated all your supportive comments and good wishes. The crafty bloggers are a great community! It was also a lovely surprise to receive a "thinking of you" card yesterday from a blogging friend (you know who you are!) which really made my day although it did bring a few tears as well! I seem to be having a few weepy days this week - think it all must be catching up with me.
 

National Scrapbooking Day

First of all I want to thank you all for your good wishes, they really have helped me through a very stressful time which isn't over yet. Roy's recovery is going to be very slow.  He was still running a temperature yesterday. Now that he is on a ward the visiting times are more restricted which means that I have a little more time to myself, but still not crafting. Fiona is still here with me along with her cat, which is using my craft room for its food and litter tray, as her food has to be kept away from my two cars as she is on a special diet.

However I do have some things made and photographed ready to be blogged so thought I'd quickly show you another Oz layout as it's National Scrapbooking Day.

You wouldn't believe how long it took me to make this page. I think it was on my desk for about 3 weeks while I shuffled elements around! Right that's it from me for now -will be heading for the hospital soon.

Another Oz layout.

We stopped at this roadhouse on route to Uluru from Alice Springs. Apart from selling refreshments it had an art gallery showing traditional aboriginal art. We bought a boomerang with stand that was beautifully painted - hence the boomerang embellishment.

Scrapping Oz!

As those of you who have been following my blog for some time will know, we had the holiday of a lifetime in Australia late last year. At Christmas my secret santa gift from the card club I belong to was some Australia themed papers and embellishments. It was just what I neeeded to encourage me to stary scrapping the many photos I took rather than just leaving them on the computer! So here is the first page I did.

The photos are not being scrapped in any order - rather as the mood and papers take me. This paper was a picture of Ulluru and at first I thought it might be too bright and detract from the photos, but I think it actually worked out alright.
 

Australia - Sydney and the end!

Thank goodness I hear you say! Well you have to indulge me - it's unlikely I will ever go back so it was the holiday of a lifetime! 

 

An iconic backdrop! 

We had a tour of the city by bus, a harbour cruise, trip round the Opera House and a visit to Bondi - all in one day!

On Bondi Beach which was much smaller than I imagined - had to have a paddle though but ended up with soggy trousers!

The Opera House. It was very impressive inside as well and it would have been nice to have had time to see a show or concert there. Some of the tour who were staying on did go and see The King and I.

The next day was free and we had a trip round the Maritmine Museum then found the Chinese Garden. We spent a good couple of hours in there, it was so beautiful and tranquil.

 We also found one of these (below) so had to go round again to find all the Chinese year symbols

 I hope you haven't been too bored my my holiday snaps!