After two months of not blogging what do you expect?!
Well, November turned out to be hectic, even though I hoped it wouldn't, after the couple of months preceeding it, I should have known better! The whole of last year was just a blur and I am not (thankfully!) the only one who feels that way. Needless to say everyone who has the same opinion of last year as I do is determined to relax the pace a bit more this year. For me I hope it means more blogging, more art, more family time and more time for God.
We ended the year with what is becoming a traditional week-before-Christmas holiday. This time for the first time we took my Mum with us. I think we figured out that it was her first real holiday since I was a child. Following from previous years we decided to stay in Albany (about 4 hours south of Perth). We stayed in caravan parks the last couple of times so I decided it was time to stay a bit more up market. Silly me forgot to take a pic of the actual place we stayed but it was gorgeous. Rammed eather walls, feature stonework, slate floors and extensive use of wood. There was a huge bath and a double sided slow combustion stove (we actually got to use it too as the temps we very low - in the middle of Summer!)
My children will agree that although the location was great (5 acres and rural blocks all around), the peace and quite refreshing and the shopping and site-seeing fun, what beat all of this hands down were our 'neigh'bours. The girls discovered very early on that there was a miniature horse next door and in the paddock behind us 4 gorgeous horses who soon came to expect a morning pat each day. Unfortunately their feet were in a shocking state and I had to cantact the RSPCA to check them out but they were lovely animals none the less.
Of course we caught up with Julie H whilst we were there and got to meet Archer for the first time which, for Noah, rivalled the horses as the two of them are just the right size for each other. They both came over for dinner in the week and Archer was thoughly spoilt. I hope he has been a good boy for you since then Julie, what with Dawn treating him like a prince that week too?
The property had two magnificent trees which I braved the drizzle to take pix of. The bark on this first one is just amazing. I don't think I have ever seen such amazing colour before.
The second tree was Jess's dream come true! The best climbing tree ever! Just look at those branches!
I did get some time to create though most of it was for others. This first one is a canvas for Helen Franklin as part of a 1-4-1 Christmas swap on arty_oz. I liked it so much that I considered keeping it.
An ATC from my play night with Julie and Dawn (how lucky am I!).
This next pic is of some inchies that were part of a swap on Calling All Stampers. My theme was texture. My inchie is bottom left corner.
This is an ATC for another arty_oz swap. We had to use the Basic Grey Peripheries range of papers. I found it very interesting to note that of the 9 I got back at least half had used the same paper I had chosen.
Yet another ATC for yet another arty_oz swap (they do have some really good themes!) This one is for a texture paste swap. I love this stuff almost as much as beeswax. In fact I am doing another of Kelsey's classes on texture paste next month.
Lastly, a bracelet done for my Mystery Muse for December which she will be receiving on Friday at SAJ's. I had seen the idea on someone's web site and thought to have a go at sometime. Jess got all enthused about beading and I suggested she have a go at something like this. The one she made looked great so I decided to have a go myself. My Mum had a look today and has put her order in for one too! As well as a request that I make a pink one for my Auntie. Just as well they are super quick to make!
Well, I hope you survived that epic! I really need to get to my blog more often but with 5 people fighting for my attention (sometimes all at once) it does become a challenge!
If you are going to SAJ's tomorrow night see you there!
Till next time,
Ky
Speaking of Mums, we went to visit my MIL in Toodyay (NE of Perth) for a couple of days and she admired the bracelet that Jess was doing (her first commission!) so we sat down to make one for her. It ended up being me who made it as Mum was sure she couldn't do it (I know you can Mum!) and this is the result. Thanks for the props, doesn't it look good against the black?
Jess and Amy signed up to do a couple of kids classes at Scraptivate this holidays which they enjoyed immensely. The two canvases below are from a class they did with Mel today. Don't they look great. I signed up to do the adult version later in February as I really like these Poppet people. 
Amy
