Day 296 - Creativity is contagious

We have just returned from a few days away at the river in beautiful Bright. It was indeed very hot, with temperatures reaching 44, 42, 42 and 40 degrees. The average temperature for the whole of Australia was over 40, which is a record for our hot country. The threat of bushfires is very much on our minds now, but we still spent a beautiful few days escaping the heat by floating in the river and riding waterslides run by the local rotary club.

Here are my three blondies, Juliet doing her 'cannonball', and me parasailing off the nearby mountains for my birthday.

My craft for the day is computer based, creating some collages and dedications to the incredible crafting efforts of my entire family, which they have been working on for the past few weeks.

For my birthday James made me this amazing advent calendar, where the gifts keep coming for 40 days under the themes of love, fun, people and places around me, and celebration. Wow! I love it so much and feel utterly spoilt.
Liam and Juliet made me this massive poster of me, and the bottom photo is of the parasail ready for launch.

Aidan made me this framed picture using paint in spray bottles, and Liam, Juliet and Aidan chose some old photos, cardstock and embellishments to make me these stunning pictures.

I opened day three of my calendar this morning and was presented with these earrings handmade by James and Juliet, in a box also made my James and Juliet. Mr Crafty is not usually crafty at all. I'm blown away!
I'm outclassed by my own family.

Juliet made me this tshirt which symbolises a hug from her.

 

And even Dylan made this tshirt, my new little walker, so proud of his newly learnt skills.

I've been showered with gifts, inexpensive and unique, which have made my birthday the most special, memorable and amazing birthday ever. I can't wait to see what lies ahead for the next 37 days.

In my twenties I was lucky enough to be able to travel the world, adventurous enough to work on 4 continenents, and to find a job I adored in teaching. In my thirties I married the love of my life, had 4 beautiful children, and found a dream home in the bush after many years in the city. Turning 40 was a wonderful experience with my family, combined with launching myself off a mountain and faceplanting into the landing paddock with my usual grace and coordination. I can't wait to see what adventures life will bring me in my forties. They may not always be easy but I know they will be filled to the brim.

Day 268 - A family tree

Today I made a family tree for my Mum for Christmas.

First I printed out all of the photos of her grandchildren (6) onto printable fabric.

I made a little bunting by cutting up some of an old doily.

And I found a tree branch out in the bush. I may change it later if I find something I like more.

I sewed little pockets with each face using felt at the back and put a little stuffing inside before sewing it closed. I then put some stones inside a tin to hold up the tree and covered the tin with fabric.

Day 222 - In the garden

Today we were all outside in the garden getting our veggie patch ready and planting our spring crop. Mr 365 crafty is not particularly crafty but he is good in the garden. He prepared the garden beds for us and did some seed planting. Now I have to nurture the seeds.

I took Juliet to a birthday party this morning and I thought I would share her outfit. She has such a unique fashion sense I think she should start her own fashion blog. At the moment she is into layering. She is wearing a long sleeved tshirt, dress she bought in Thailand, skirt I made her from an old sweater, leggings, socks, shoes she bought with her own money and on op shopped ballet top. Accessories are a headband and a bangle collection. Whew!

When I got home Mr 365 crafty was hard at work in the garden enjoying the sunshine.

I found these old wood offcuts in our shed a while ago, left behind by the previous owners, and decided to make some garden signs to label the vegetables that look similar.

Liam and I painted them. We were having a lovely quiet time together, he loves it when he has me all to himself.

Here are the garden beds.

Liam looking rather relaxed having some time with Mum to himself. It's rare to capture him on camera smiling.

Then the other two discovered where we were. They joined in and everyone mixed and played with paint for well over an hour.

Mr D woke up from his nap and watched from the safety of his car. One minute they are babies, the next they are behind the wheel of a car. Who would believe it?

More mess making.....

Labels are ready now.

 Mr 365 crafty makes an appearance. Planting seeds. :-)

Seeds have been planted. We have basil, cucumber, zucchini, capsicum, oregano, spinach, rocket and 2 types of tomato. Very exciting!  While all this activity was going on we saw a beautiful wedge tailed eagle flying in the sky above us. This is a pretty rare sighting and one of my favourite birds to watch in the sky.

After dinner we went for a walk in our front paddock and did a little search for echidnas in the bush out the back.  No luck!

Here is Ms J in about her 10th outfit for the day. :-) What a wonderful day, reminding me once again how beautiful life can be.