ahh..broken camera...sad day

sooo...I was all ready to take some pics of some of my arty bits and pieces...and for some reason the lense got stuck on opening as I turned my camera on! aaghh! took it to the camera shop - and it'll take 3 WEEKS to fix as they have to send everything away...so sad. so, so sad! :(

In that case I got to thinking about what cool pics I have stored on my computer that might be of interest to anyone...and also thinking today how its not long till my darling man is home...three weeks about...he's been away now 5 weeks in the burning sun of Dubai...whilst we wade into winter with over 200mm of rain in one day!! Out of the ordinary I know...but goodness me - this is SUNNY NELSON for goodness sake! We DON'T do rain!!...

anyways...I got to thinking about the great weekend away Steve and I had last summer to Pohara beach in nearby Golden Bay. We were talking one day about what a beautiful region we live in...I mean people come from all over the world to visit Nelson and the Abel Tasman National Park....because it's so beautiful! You can SO take for granted where you live...so we thought we'd take a few days and have some 'us' time....so here are some pics from our trip away...

you'll notice I DID manage to photograph old rusting trucks on the side of the road(!)...no mean feat cos that meant Steve ACTUALLY stopped for me to get out and take photos of what he thinks of as old junk!!..(but he liked my pics!)...anyway..all sorts of pics...broken down things at tiny out of the way wharfs...plus a unique and quite well known (tho we'd never been) store at Bainham that has been purposefully kept the same for generations...even the paintwork (what's left of it!) is practically the original...it's SO quaint...and been in the same family since it was built! Amazing...still working and operating as a local store and wee cafe. We had 'devonshire tea'...scones with cream and jam...(and traditionally should have been with tea, tho we had a latte and a long black!!)

so check out some of the more rugged top of the South on the east coast of the South Island, and if you're not from NZ it'll give you a glimpse into the beautiful place I call home...and for you kiwis..enjoy "Godzone"!!

An amazing crevice in the rock just on some property we drove through as we headed south from Farewell Spit...and down the coast...that's me sitting in it :)

..and that's Steve standing in the split rock...amazing

Here's a view of one of the beaches we drove by...couldn't access this one...but we were driving south and stopping at all the beaches we could...driving through inlets in the 4wd...fun..

another beach view...lovely lone Nikau palm tree in the foreground...this is looking back up where we'd driven...looking North

Same view with a little more light!

This is at Wharariki Beach at the very top of the South Island...we'd never been before - it had HUGE sandunes...you had to park at the end of a road then walk 20 minutes across a farm - the owners have kindly given permission for the public to wander across a barely recognisable track...amongst the stock etc...it's a great walk...and these amazing HUGE rock formations are right there on the beach...quite incredible - my photography could not do it justice! Apparently it's a beach with a wicked reputation for having harsh winds...sand always blowing in your face etc...well we struck it on a perfectly calm day (not having known about the winds we thought it was normal!)..anyway...it was fab.

That's Steve wandering along the beach heading south...

Another amazing rock formation along the road..see how it sticks right out over the car! Incredible...I can't imagine what caused them to be formed this way.

Gorgeous splash of colour on the side of the road...apparently growing wild...tho by someone's letterbox.

Some working cray pots (for catching Crayfish/Lobster) on a broken down old bargey thing! I loved getting up close and personal around it taking lots of closeups of old rotting wood and rusting metal bolts etc...great for using in scrapbooking...EXTREMELY vintage looking!!

Cool firebox thingy's (!!) on the outside of an old hut. Quite beautiful design I thought, for a purely functional, practical object. Got some nice close ups of this too ;)

And what about this amazing rusted old truck! Just parked up on the side of the road...not bothering anyone...

NOW! Here's me on a swingbridge...yikes! I HATE them..all that wobbling about as you walk out over the river. And Steve! Oh Steve! He liked to wait till I was in the middle and do a big jump on the outside edge which made the bridge undulate...we were rockin and rollin...I DID NOT like that!! freaky friday!! But here I am...VICTORIOUS!

And here's a shot of the same further away...just so you can see the dark, cold, DEEP water beneath me!!

And there's my darling on the bridge...not a care in the world.

Oops here I am again ...showing off! Practically doing a dance! ;)

And this is the bridge with the 'warning' signs...a 2 person load limit...didn't say how heavy tho I don't think...lucky we are't too big!

And here's the wonderful quaint Bainham store where we stopped to explore and have a cup of coffee at the very retro tables and chairs. Just sitting there on the side of the road like you'd stepped back in time...

There's Steve reading the paper whilst we waited for our 'devonshire teas'...just gorgeous!

Some of the wonderful old signs on the walls...aren't they amazing?! And they're there from when they actually sold those items in the store!! Brunch coats and gingham frocks!! I LOVED IT!

The old petrol pumps outside.

So there ends my little sharing time with you of our holiday last summer...hmm actually, the summer before!! March 09. I remember now cos it was while we were away having 'us' time that Claire got knocked off her scooter by a car and broke her ankle...and no-one could get hold of us cos we were out of cellphone range! But she had good friends around, and her sisters, and at 20 it wasn't so crucial we were there...she did, however, break her ankle dreadfully and ended up getting a plate in it, with 8 screws, and was subsequently home off work for 3 months while she recovered, and learned how to walk on it again, eventually. A year on now and it's pretty good, tho she has to be a bit careful!

Well..ciao for now my friends. It's 1.24am and definitely time this little blogger was tucked up in bed. One good thing (the only one really) about my dearly beloved being way is that I can click away on the computer till all hours and no-one is being neglected!! yay!!

luv jessie x

oooh...look at this...came across these pics of my gorgeous kids when they were all 'much' younger (bearing in mind they are now 16 - 26!!)...

This is Beth, my youngest...she must've been about 3 here...she's 16 now! What a cutie!!

And then there's Claire...maybe about 11 here...she's 20 now and newly married. That's her at the top of my blog on her wedding day in April this year. My beautiful bride. :)

And this is my gorgeous Laura at about age 7 having just finished the Kiwikids Weetbix Tryathlon - she was sooo excited about being in it and did really well...a real little go-getter. She's 18 now!

This one is all my girls with my eldest girl, my darling Emma on the right...about 12 here...now 23! Aren't they too cute , all lined up on the stones in the middle of a nearby river.

And this is my number one son! - my gorgeous Evan - abut 10 or 11 here...now 26! He loved sport, particularly rugby and cricket...he's my eldest and each time I had a lovely sister for him, he would hope for a brother!...but when sister number 4 came, Beth, he said "its alright mum. You can stop trying to have a brother for me now, cos by the time he's old enough to play cricket, I'll be 20!"!!! Soooo cute. He was 10.

And Wow...and here's a photo of me and my sisters when I was maybe 4 or 5...thats me 2nd from left...looking like a tiny little old man!! haha!! SUCH a funny photo of me!! That would've been about 1963 I think!

I must do something creative with all those photos in the wire basket...I put them there some time ago as a reminder to do something with them...but they're still there! ah well...don't suppose they're going anywhere any time soon!

Ooh! I've just been accepted into my first swap!! yay!! SO excited...a 'big fat envelope' swap...international. That'll be exciting...must do some really creative things to put in the envelope. Wonder who i'll get and if we'll become online friends :)

Might go and have a cup of tea...no coffee for me late at night...sigh

More tomorrow...blessu

jessie x

and on my way home... :)

And on my way home from Penny's...I stopped by the local vintage/second hand store and picked up some more cool old metal buttons, postcards , vintage 'happy family' playing cards and some very cool rusting metal key 'scutcheons'! (the keyhole surround that goes on the door around the actual hole for the key!!)...have a look...aren't they just delicious! What about the tiny needlepoint packets?? a bit blurry sorry...but just sooo so cute. Can't wait to use them all in things....yayaay!!

I found out yesterday what a 'swap' is!! Haha you say...where has this girl been all her life? Well no, here in New Zealand, I've never heard of a swap, let alone a 'swap-meet'...but it intrigued me. Bryanna kindly emailed me and told me of some swap sites, after telling me what they were and I've signed up! What fun! And international ones..yippee!! I'll have to surf the net and see if there's any kiwi (NZ) ones...not so expensive to post and not so long to wait! I'm very excited to see if i'm allowed to join a Parisian Altered Matchbox swap...hope so. I note that on many swaps you can't join till you've done about 10...bit hard for a 'newbie' such as myself, to get a foot in the door. But I live in hope!

Well, winter is here I think. Snow on the surrounding hills...brrr...cosy by the fire. Wish I didn't have to go out tonight, but I do, so I'd best get to it. Check by tomorrow.
Bye sweet fellow bloggers...
(haha.. I wonder if anyone is reading this apart from my loyal follower Bernice, my sister!!)
ciao bella...jessie x

Creative Day with Penny

Sooo...today I took all my gorgeous flowers to my friend Penny's place for a 'creative day'. We've been talking about scheduling one for ages, but you know how life is! ..anyway, it finally came today and I was so happy to have something portable to take to her lovely home. She was working on sewing machine and overlocker so was rather limited to being at home! I on the other hand have whipped up some gorgeous Bryanna flowers and took them all up to stitch the centres. Here they are pinned onto my 'tranquility' cushion - I just made the cover recently, using t-shirt transfers to print the text on...I made it out of an old tablecloth I found at a local vintage shop...LOVE the way it turned out. So it became a big 'pin cushion today!

Here they were in my workspace s I readied them for finishing. Just need to put the pins/clips on the backs now. I already have someone to give one to so that's fab.

This is a mannequin I made for a womens Recycled Wearable Art event we put on...I made a foyer display of various mannequins...so I actually MADE the mannequin by wrapping an actual mannequin in gladwrap then building up the body by wrapping it in packaging tape ALL OVER!! Several layers - definitely a labour of love!! Then I paper mached/collaged all over with girly images and recycleish words...when dry I cut it off the mannequin, removed it then taped it back together - up the back. I was very pleased with the effect. Its a little bent on the bottom left now as she got squashed recently when she fell off my dressing table :( But isn't she lovely?!

And these are the fabric flowers I made after being so TOTALLY inspired by Bryanna from thecanaryscupcake.blogspot.com - check out her blog - you'll be blown away! So so beautiful. And she described how she made the gorgeous flowers...so I had a go. I'm hooked! Between her and Rhonna Farrer at House of Three...flower power is reigning in my house right now!! So friends and family - you know what you're getting for Christmas!! haha.

Thanks for checking out my post...happy creating

luv jessie

try this link...

Ok..this is the link I was trying to add...I can't add the little icon re her giveaway cos I'm not that savvy...but have a look here if you like all things girly and vintagey...ahomeandheart.blogspot.com

adding a link...hmm..

Well...I want to add a link to another great girls site...with giveaways!...but don't know how to do it...gonna try pasting here and see what happens...

And a few more things I'm working on...

And before I go to bed...where I should have been hours ago!..a couple more things I'm playing with/working on. I'm so keen to do some soldered microscope glass necklaces...here are the first ones I'm doing...only foiled the edges so far as no soldering iron! lol...but I figure I can make a bunch up to this stage before I buy the iron and teach myself to solder!!...Can you see the little pink 'bling' in the bottom corner of the lady's face one...with the word 'Treasure' at the top..and they all have an alternative pattern on the other side...fun. And quite cool I think.

ciao bellas...God bless

jessie