A worrying 24 hours

With the river rising and the flooding getting worse, people on the northisde of town were being evacuated, but Craig's dad refused to leave his house (stubbon man).  We managed to keep iin contact with him, but then the evacuation was made mandatory and the phone lines / power were cut.  We started to panic when we heard that his house was underwater and his neighbours had been rescued by chopper from their roof, but there was no sign of dad.  We spent 24 hours checking all the evacuation centres, ringing numbers and trying to locate him with no luck :(  By lunch the next day we were told that someone had found him staying with people up the road from his house, we breathed a sigh of relief.  Less than 2 hours later we were told that was incorrect and so began the searching again :(  Four hours later we had located him (he was in his house - which wass thankfully dry, but still no power) and spoke to him on the phone - yay!  We begged him to go to the evacuation centre and get choppered across and stay with us, but he didn't want to (like I said, stubborn man).  His house was dry and he had access to food, so we stopped panicing. 

I thought I would share some pics (found on FB) of the flooding.

 

 

 

This is the shopping centre Craig works in :( Staff from his shop are currently working in the other shop at another shopping centre.

ETA - 31/1/2013 The water was started to recede and Craig's brother has managed to get to north Bundaberg (taking a 2 hour detour) and picked up dad :)  He is going to stay with us for the time being.

Crazy weather

We were looking forward to the long weekend  - fishing and a BBQ to celebrate Australia Day...unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans...I can't believe it, but in only 3 days Bundaberg has flooded again :( When we flooded in 2011 - it took weeks for the water to slowly rise, so it was a shock to see the flood pics all over Facebook again. To top off the worry about flooding, there were also 5 tornadoes...like I said, crazy weather. Craig and I are lucky - we haven't had any issues with flooding or tornados, other friends and family haven't been so lucky though. Last night was scary - strong winds and pouring rain. I slept though it (I always said I could sleep through anything), but Craig had a restless night. We did get up just before 5am to check there was no damage to the house or yard. The closest we had to damage was the tree that feel over in the park behind us.

Photo taken yesterday-

Photo taken this morning -

 

No only was the weather an issue, but a lot of places lost (and still don't have any) power. We lost power for 3.5 hrs last night - luckily it was mid afternoon so we didn't have to worry about candles or torches immediately. I was crocheting by torchlight a bit later though LOL To kill time we decided to play Monopoly :) The power came back on halfway through the game, but we did finish it today.

 

It was lovely to see blue skies and sunshine today :) There is still the worry of waters still rising and people are still being evacuated though.

Rainy day painting

I thought I would try something new this year and paint some canvases. I brought some canvases, gesso and new paint brushes (I already have a big stash of acrylic paints for scrapping) and looked around the net for some ideas. Today was the perfect day to get the canvases primed and paint the base coat.

Pom Pom Decorations

I wanted to share pics of the sweet pom pom decorations that Cathie had made for Rylie's party. I have been seeing these all over blog-land - loving the various colours! I didn't realise how easy these were to make till Cathie mentioned making some!
 

 

 

In case anyone is interested in making some - I found this great tutorial.  FYI - Cathie used 8-10 sheets of tissue paper per pom pom. Instead of using florist wire, she used pipe cleaners.

Elephant birthday card

Just popping in to share the card I made for Rylie's birthday. I had the elephant coloured in and the papers put aside to make this card, but decided to make something different.

Rylie's 1st birthday

We had another busy and fun filled weekend. Saturday arvo we went to a BBQ for Rylie's 1st birthday. How cute is the birthday girl in that pink tutu?!?!

Cathie asked me to make Rylie's cake. The theme was pink - so we decided on a butterfly :) It was a white chocolate / vanilla & pink marbled cake.

Sunday we were up early to head to the market, then coffee with a friend before I spent the day at Simply Crafty.

Thrifty Thursday

Woo hoo! My first Thrifty Thursday post for 2013 :) I had a look in 3 shops on Monday - no luck in the first shop, but found some lovelies in the other 2.  Embroidery hoop ($3), zipper (50c), linen napkin / doiley ($1) and a crochet hook (not pictured - 50c).

 

In the same shop I found this baby head support - still in the packet ($3).

 

In the third shop I found these cute bags - silver sequin clutch ($2) and pink / orange make up bag (50c).

 

I also found this wonderful cook book ($2.50). I had put myself on a cookbook ban (I have a large collection) last year, but after my spring clean up / sort in September when I donated a large pile of cook books, I didnt feel too bad about adding another one to my collection LOL

 

 What a great start to the year :) Have you had any luck yet?

Metal bucket makeover

I have decided that this year is the year to get all those "future DIY" projects done! To start - I brought a tin of spray paint and gave this metal bucket a quick makeover.

 

 

It was quick and easy - just taped up the handles (I did try to unscrew them, but they wouldn't budge) and a couple coats of paint...so much prettier than that ugly green!  Now I have a cute container to store my nail polishes in :)

Starting a new crochet project

I realised that I hadn't shared the exciting news that my sister Kate is pregnant (due in April)! There were some worries with the pregnancy / baby, so I didn't want to say anything till she got the "all clear". So, with a new baby on the way I wanted to make a handmade gift. I brought some wool to make bub a blanket - loving this combo of colours :)

 

Botanic Gardens

We spent yesterday morning at the Botanic Gardens catching up with Adam, Skye and Brandee-Paij. She is such a cutie pie - she had such fun running around and throwing bread at / feeding the ducks ;) She does this funny little tap dance when she's excited - so sweet :)
 

 

Today we both had a RDO so we headed to the beach for fish & chips and I popped into a few op shops - my idea of a perfect day LOL  I also worked on a makeover project - will share pics soon.

Seahorse card

Just popping in to share another card I made on Monday. i was having a play with a new seahorse stamp and some distress ink.
 

Retro Sketches #45 card

I loved this week's sketch at Retro Sketches and after seeing the DT samples - was inspired to make 2 cards today :)

 

Hello 2013!

Well I tried to see in the new year, but didn't make it - I'm blaming the few drinks I had LOL  We had a nice, quiet night at home - nibblies, cocktails and watching movies :)

Did you set yourself any new year's resolutions?  I looked at last years scrappy goals and was a little disappointed that I didn't make it for the layouts or cards (very close to reaching the layouts goal though!), but I am really pleased that I exceeded my OTP / Handmade goal!

Layouts 57/60
Cards 114/150
OTP & Handmade 28/20

So time to set my goals for 2013!  I am back to 2 days / week at work and will be going to the scrap retreat this year - so I will increase my layouts goal.  I will keep the cards goal the same and increase the OTP / Handmade goal.

Layouts 75
Cards 150
OTP & Handmade 30