The Voice of an Angel

It all started with an innocent looking piece of paper...

 

After a nervous audition we learned we have a singing star in the family-Briar made the school choir!

 

After weeks of practice finally the big night arrived. After ensuring major support in the audience by inviting Aunty Lacreice & Uncle Vaughan and Nana & Gramps, it was time for our star to shine.

 

 

It was a big undertaking-a mass choir consisting of choirs from approx. 7 schools in the area, coming together to perform for the public. The program was well done with mass choir singing interspersed with individual school choir performances. All the schools had put so much effort into their performances and the kids outdid themselves on the night.

 

 
There are some very talented kids in that choir! They all appeared to enjoy themselves and the evening was a huge success. We thoroughly enjoyed our evening and a huge thanks to Vaughan & Lacreice and Nana & Gramps for travelling so far to support our little star!!

SENZ

Whoops...it's been a while!  So what have I been up to?...

Last weekend Caitlin, Mum and I travelled to SENZ in Auckland. This is an annual papercraft event where we get to drool over the latest offerings from retailers all under one roof. It was held in Manukau at the Vodafone Events Centre which was a great venue-easy to get to and park-yay!

We were already primed for crafting after having spent the night at Pirongia where my talented sister-in-law put together a kit for us to do that night. Thanks, Lacreice-I had lots of fun (and red wine!!) 

SENZ offers classes but we didn't sign up for any (no need to with our own 'teacher' on tap :) ) so we spent the morning wandering around all the stalls gathering ideas and inspiration and ok, making the odd wee purchase here and there! (It would be rude NOT to!)

We finally ran out of steam about 2pm so finished off with a wee look over at Manuakau Shopping Centre where Caity suddenly found a hidden source of energy to drag us around!

Then it was a quick drive back to Hamilton to drop Mum off at Pirongia then finally back to Tokoroa . I had a fabulous day out and have some new supplies to play with and heaps of inspiration.

Player of the Day!

Woohoo...we have a soccer star in the making!! Last week Briar was named "Player of the Day" by her coach-great excitement! She really is giving it her all every game she plays and is really enjoying the games. They have played  4 games now and have an even record of 2 wins and 2 losses. Amazingly they have only played one game in the rain; all other games have been played in lovely sunshine albeit with cold temperatures! Hey, it IS winter after all. Keep up the good work, Briar-we are very proud of our soccer star!

Her soccer coach is amazing-she makes up this award every week and the player receives a certificate and a gift bag which includes a can of drink, a McDonalds voucher and lollies! The perfect reward for any soccer star!

Swap-bot

One of my favourite websites is Swap-bot- a site with amazingly talented, creative people...and me! LOL. The idea is that you join a swap and create whatever item the swap calls for and send it off to your partner. You then (hopefully) receive a similar item from another partner. I love swapping for three reasons:

1. It makes me spend time being creative and crafty.
2. I have learnt how to make some new art and crafts I had never heard of.
3. I love to see how other people create items and what techniques they use.

I stumbled across the site when I was looking for somewhere to swap ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) which I had discovered a couple of years ago. My daughters and I had made some for each other but decided we needed to widen our swapping pool! Since then I have swapped everything from postcards to teabags to mail art to art journal pages to paper dolls to letters to stamp bags to friendship books to ATCs!! Plus a whole lot more. I've 'met' amazingly creative people, all willing to share their love of crafting. And I have even gained some penpals from the site :) so these days I generally have a very happy mailbox-yay!

Here is my latest swap-an ATC swap titled "Sheep".

I hope my partner is happy-it is always a bit scary for me when I join an 'art' swap coz I'm certainly not an artist!! But I love having a go! I can't wait to see what I receive...

Family Day Out

We headed over to Rotorua after lunch today and spent the afternoon at the Skyline Gondola and Luge. It wasn't the best day weather-wise; a bit grey and dreary but it could have been worse! Everyone was a wee bit tired due to lack of sleep after having 6 teenagers sleep over last night; watching DVDs till 3:30am!! Oh, I am WAY too old for that carry on. But we had a lovely afternoon hanging out together and checking out what was on offer on Mt Ngongataha.

 

A quick trip UP...

 

 

 

 

...and then it was time to try the luge!

 

This was the view from the top where Caity and I watched Jeff, Olivia and Briar hurtle down the hill.

 

 

 

Look at that smile!!

 

 

 

 

Then we sat inside the 'SkyVue' and experienced a 4D ride through space...and over the South Island landscape!

 

 

 

 

The JellyBean Room was a favourite - look at the creation standing there made of jellybeans! And all those delicious gourmet jellybeans along the wall to choose from ...Yummmmmm!

 

 

 

 

There were even works of art on the walls made entirely of jellybeans!

 

 

 

After a fun-filled few hours it was finally time to catch a gondola back down the mountain and head for home. What a great day out!

 

 

Index cards

Following on from my bold statement that I would attempt to create an 'arty' index card a day, I am pleased to say I have actually managed to create some!! OK, so art is not my strong point...but hey, you gotta start somewhere.

I found it incredibly relaxing to spend time creating, once I got going.
It is great that the cards are so small as they are not so daunting when faced with a blank one. The prompts are an absolute random mix of words-I can't wait to see what this weeks prompts are.

More produce!

Here is the latest offerings from our garden...rhubarb and spinach. All harvested and now sitting in our freezer. I absolutely love being able to see our food start as a seed/seedling and follow it all the way through to production time. It is very satisfying!

 

 

The spinach will be used mostly in Chicken & Spinach Enchiladas...

 

 

 

 

 

...and the rhubarb has already started being used on my weetbix, for breakfast. I'm also going to make a Rhubarb & Apple Crumble for dessert tonight.