Sudoku Cushion

Wow! Interest in my cushion... Here's a better picture of the cushion. Essentially, I picked out 9 contrasting fabrics from a Moda "Sultry" Layer Cake and cut 9 x 2.5" squares from each pattern. I then did a Sudoku in the newspaper and used it as a template to make the cushion top. When I stitched it together there was a little too much brown. Creative Opportunity! I used the Stampin' Up! heart punch to make my heart shape, made some appliqué pieces and stitched them on top. As I love a good Sudoku, I also enjoyed the whimsy of including the heart in the pattern.

Easter

Invitation out to the Gibbs' side of the family for an egg-hunt at ours on Sunday. Hunting eggs duly purchased and I searched for likely items for a basket for the kids. I couldn't find anything that appealed, so went to the fabric store and bought some calico. In the interests of environmental responsibility, I decided to make six little bags for the munchkins to use to collect eggs. Girls had flowers stitched on, Ryan and Toby had stars and elephants respectively. I took the photo seconds before the hunt happened and obviously didn't focus it at all. To one side you'll also see I finished my sudoku cushion - didn't come out quite as expected.
The Hunt is On! Here's the kids towards the end of the egg hunt. Kids loved their bags! And, of course, once Easter is over, they can be re-used!

Zoo Friends

We made our second visit to Taronga Zoo today. This time we visited the little penguins (which is where we lost Number Two Son last time), seals, elephants, meerkats, pygmy hippos, lions, tigers, snow leopard, gorillas, and platypus (in the platypus house this time). We also found a couple of waddling Echidna, a couple of brush-tailed rock wallabies, crocodiles, alligators, giant tortoise, a sleepy wombat, some extremely frolicking feathertail gliders (because they'd just been fed), bilbies, potaroos, and a tawny frogmouth too. Despite the gloomy weather, we had moments of sunshine, not terribly many crowds to contend with, BYO lunch and Zoo Friends discounts in the giftshop and for parking. The highlight was a visit to the elephants, catching the keeper talk and play session and seeing Luk Chai (Son), Pathi Harn (Miracle) and Tukta (Doll) playing in the water for what seemed like an age!

The other highlight for me was the news that the platypus at Taronga have puggles! Puggle is the name for a baby platypus. Apparently, Mum won't let them out of the burrow until they're the same size as she is. Its awesome that they are breeding in captivity! And I felt so lucky to be able to see the platypus swimming around inside; I'm afraid my family had to drag me away. I can't wait to see more of the platypus when we next visit. Joining zoo friends was the best idea! It will be fun to visit again before December this year.

Easter Bilby punch-art

In recent years for Easter in Australia there has been a campaign to raise awareness of one of our cuter endangered species, the Bilby. An Australian chocolate manufacturer, Darrell Lea, started making chocolate Bilbies for easter in 1994. From 1999, Darrell Lea has donated part of the proceeds from chocolate bilby sales to the "Save the Bilby" fund. So in celebration of Easter in Australia, I've designed a punch-art Bilby! They're nocturnal little guys so I started out putting them on a night of navy background. Didn't look right though. They're mostly in semi-arid areas of Australia and burrow in our dry-dry orange-golden dirt. So this is what I came up with based on a recent birthday card for a class using the "Autumn Days" stamp set...
I took a few photos along the way to show how I put this together. These bilbies are actually refinement number 3 - the first two were not-quite-right. And my daughter added her two cents saying just one looked "lonely" so I should make another for the card. The image below shows the bits I used and very simple instructions. Print this and the card above and I'm sure clever people can figure it out!
Happy punching!

Sadly...

... I received a letter today saying "your application was unsuccessful." No Canberra job to go to. Will have to apply for more. Very deflated.

A special card

So I was recently commissioned to create a card for a very special birthday - a 100th. I was time poor but had been given the brief that Hilda is very active in the Welsh Society and so the colours of Wales (Red, White and Blue) or the Welsh flower, a Daffodil should be incorporated somehow. I immediately thought of the "Just Believe" set. I then racked my brains trying to make something super-special - nothing was springing to mind and time was marching on! Finally, I did the rounds of the blogs I read regularly and have tagged in my blog Reader. Inspiration came from Teneale Williams, a most talented and frequently published card-maker. I can't think of anyone who makes cards more special and her attention to detail is meticulous. As you can see, I've copied Teneale's structure within the limits of my available resources. I did use different colours and then popped the flowers with dimensionals. I also stamped an inside very similar to Teneale's, but didn't take a good enough picture of it to show. So thanks very much to Teneale for the inspiration in creating this very special 100th birthday card. I don't imagine I'll have the opportunity to make any more very soon!


And for those wondering, it will be six weeks since my interview in Canberra next Tuesday. I'm seriously hoping for some kind of feedback by then, but still have not heard anything at all to date. The website states:

As a Department, we are well aware that the selection process should be efficient and prompt – to this effect, we are encouraging and supporting our Divisions to complete their recruitment processes within a six-week timeframe. Regrettably, this is not always possible with every position vacancy, but it is a firm goal of the Department.

Understandably, I'm no longer holding my breath. :) But keep watching - you'll know when I know, lovely readers!

Interview excitement

Big news! I had an interview for a position at the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research in Canberra. Keeping everything crossed as the job is JUST my cup of tea! I'm so excited because the interview went really well, I thought. I just sent a thank you email off to the panel members and hope that I hear from them with some positive news in the next week or so. If its not so positive news, I'll feel quite happy to ask for constructive feedback on the interview. I hope to receive some "tea"riffic news!

We went to the Zoo!

We went to Taronga Zoo today and collected our Zoo Passes. For a family of five, we only have to use the passes twice in the next year to cover the cost of the passes. We visited Tukta, Pathi Harn and Luk Chai: the baby elephants, saw the seal show and lost Toby necessitating an announcement throughout the zoo. He turned up in the central giftshop (near the elephants) helping put giraffe toys in order and telling the shop manager all about his birthday in February. Future visits will require better planning. Below is a picture of Tukta, the newest baby girl, and her mother Pak Boon. It was so much fun to see the youngsters playing! Next time, though, I think I'd like to go when its either raining or a bit cooler!

Cool Yule!

So its Christmas day and one of the gifts the kids received was this enormous spring-free trampoline. It took hubby and I a good few hours to put it together (with many cool-water breaks and a lunch break). Finally at 2.30pm it was time to give it a go. Caitlyn's face says it all really...Wee bit proud of myself and hubby for managing to get this together on our own. Saved ourselves an additional $140 due to DIY.

Happy Christmas, Cool Yule and Merry Solstice to everyone!

Christmas Busy

I wanted to reassure readers that I've not been idle behind the scenes here in blogland. Busy busy making loads of things for our school Christmas stall. These tealights are made from an Ikea set of 12 plain glass holders (Glimma) onto which I've painted a mix of Crystal Effects and a drop or two of Cherry Cobbler ink. The decoration on the candle and the tag are using the Perfect Punches Christmas sentiment stamped in Cherry Cobbler with a decorative Artistic Etchings in Pear Pizzazz behind. Think they've come up a treat! Hindsight, I'd try and either make the consistency of the crystal effects a bit thicker, or do more thin layers... Food for thought next year! A few simple cards for the stall too. The two on the left are made with Cajan Craze and Cherry Cobbler card stock (run through the Vintage Wallpaper embossing folder) with a touch of Pear Pizzazz. The sentiments are stamped from Christmas Classics and Word Play. I used Contempo Christmas for the bright coloured baubles on the card on the right. Thanks muchly for the creative assistance from Clare, Michelle, Malyn and Caz at our team Christmas get-together.
So, you see, I've not been idle! I'm also working on hand quilting my patchwork. I'll post a picture when I'm nearer completion of the panels.