No Internet!!!

Our suppliers box blew up at the end of last week, great smell as well...

Luckily there was no accompanying fire. However dealing with them (transact, grrrr) was an exercise in frustration. Geoff got through to them to report that the box had blown up and he needed the internet for work. But could he explain that to them. No. he was not the account holder so he couldn't even report a fault. So I hopped on the phone and was placed in the queue (there's an hour of my life I won't get back..). Honestly this is Canberra and your a comparatively small supplier. How hard is to man the phones slightly better than that??

Anyway all fixed now, just have to get a new router. sigh (oh and the other headlight went on the blue car and the drivers seat got stuck in the furtherest back position in the red car which my little legs and too short arms can't cope with, so not a good weekend - luckily not too expensive to fix any of it, just really, really annoying..)

Enough rambling, time to post what should have been posted days ago, the next Get Creative @ Crafty Croppers challenge! Hooray, and it's a sketch - double hooray.




I went digi for this one (as did a couple of other on the DT, it's just that sort of sketch I think).


This was our favourite place that we stayed at, anywhere. It was a small place just outside Luang Prabang, Laos and the husband and wife have set up a set up a series of bungalows, all hand built by him. We went everywhere on the back of an open topped jeep, so much fun. And the food was all cooked by the wife, consistently good. Despite no tv or internet, the kids loved it as well. Never bored, there was always something to do and we played lots of cards.


Anyway, go over to Crafty Croppers, check out the very talented Dt's work and have a go, you know you want to....

Have a great day, I shall be here getting my fill of the big wide world that I have craved over the past few days...
xxx

Buddha Park

This place totally rocks in a bizarre, surreal sort of way. We had wanted to visit when we were in Vientiane but we had run out of time. Luckily we had one less day in Luang Prabang (bad hotel) than originally planned so an extra whole day in Vientiane was a bonus.

We caught a tuk tuk, as it is 25k's out of town. The ride was a blast, love riding on the back of these, it took an hour so plenty to see on the way (the only sight our driver thought to point out was the beer factory..).

This place, on the banks of the Mekong (never get tired of saying that, The Mekong has such an old worldly feel about it) and it was just a large park. But it was filled up with all these giant statues all made by one man in the 1950's. And oddly enough (I found it odd anyway) that it covered two religions - Buddhism and Hinduism. I guess it was the same in the ancient temples of Cambodia.

The reclining Buddha is over 40m long, and there is a little temple that you can climb into, far too steep for me. There is also this very bizarre stupa sort of, which you get into by climbing into a demons mouth (as you do) but that requires a whole new LO.

Another place in Laos I would completely recommend visiting.



I have used a rare double sketch from Sketchy Thursday for this Lo. I struggle with doubles but is easier with travel photos as we have soooo many of them.

Here's the sketch-


and my Lo completed.


The latest Cocoa Daisy kit has just lobbed on my doorstep so hopefully will have more to show this week. xx

February trifecta - a bit late...

I cannot believe how quickly February flew by. I had planned (in my head anyway) to enter a number of challenges all due by the 28th - well that flew by with the challenges remaining in my head!! I will do better this month...

First up the very important and quite tricky Dollies trifecta for the month. The colours are cream, green and purple, the sketch can be seen here and the element is love. As noted in an earlier post, I struggled with the purple element and the gorgeous Julie sent me some Nikki Sivils products from the 'sugar cookies line" How yummy is that???




And here is what I came up with. My curly haired son with his equally curly haired cousin. Very cute together. Go and check out what the other dollies have done and give it a whirl. Can't wait to see what you come up with!!



And I finally managed to get some extra scrapping done for the latest Sketchy Thursday challenge - here is the sketch
and here we are, back in Laos.


This place, Pha That Luang, is an astonishing sight . It took a little while on the back of a tuk tuk to get there from our hotel, we went down a sort of lane way, not paved, with chooks and dogs running all around, turned the corner and there it was. In the afternoon light it practically glowed. It is huge, we got there just before closing time (for visitors anyway) so we didn't get a great look around but so glad we got to see it. We are still unsure how they paint the upper sections...


Some more photos from the Stupa and surrounding areas. These were inside ...



I am glad they resisted the temptation to put plastic googly eyes on their dragons which we had seen in some other temples..

This is a wat just next to the larger stupa, much newer, very colourful and obviously in constant use by the locals.

And we think this is where the monks live. So over the top in decoration, just fabulous. You can just see some of the monks cleaning the outside.


I loved Laos...

Off to do the rounds of picking up kids, tennis etc. Geoff's birthday tomorrow, luckily he organised his main present himself (very power lights for his mountain bike) so I just have to put together a few little things and cook lasagna and cheese cake, his all time fav's.

Have a great day. xx

back to school

After 2 months off(!!!!!) the kids are finally back at school. And although this usually makes me very happy (except for the whole getting up early, getting lunches ready and uniform thing), yesterday I still had Geoff and Matt at home. and they take up space that is by rights mine!! Geoff is now working from home so this situation will continue for some time.

This would not be so bad but where I scrap (ie our bedroom and lets face it, our bed is used as a sort of extension desk) is also where his desk is as well. And as he has phone meetings constantly, I can no longer reside in there during office hours. humph! So time to relocate, hopefully I can squeeze a space out somewhere else - I will let you know..

The kids were equally impressed (not) with going to school. Henry had been up very early the day before (birthday boy) and still had bags under his eyes.


Meaghan tolerated a couple of photos

but then...


enough!
Anyway onto more important matters, the latest Design Dollies challenge is out. This week is colours and I will admit I struggled with this one! I completely lack any scrapping material that is purple. And I do love purple and green together.

It's not that I dislike purple but manufacturers seem to struggle with producing purple items (well ones that I like anyway!) Although I did notice some yummy new Nikki Sivils purple that I would use.

As I had no such yumminess I resorted to paint. Not entirely rapt with the final product but not too bad...
Everywhere we went in Laos, esp the temples, there were cats. And not mangy cats, they were skinny but obviously looked after as well. The bungalows we stayed at had a couple of pet cats (that were several kilos lighter than our enormous cat) that happily sat on your lap as soon as you sat down. Luckily we are a cat rather than a dog family so we enjoyed the company.

And in Hanoi, the hotel had also acquired a pet kitten, who as well as being fairly noisy, enjoyed sitting on the modem, and constantly overheating it!


Anyway come on over, check out the other dollies wonderful creations and show me your purple, green and cream creations, I am sure I will learn a thing or two from you!

xx

Finally some scrapping done

I loved this sketch from Sketchy Thursday this week and managed to get two versions done, a traditional and a digi Lo.

This one is about releasing some small birds from a Buddhist temple in Laos. We bought two of the little cages, one bird in each. This is supposed to give you good karma. Further reading upon getting home made me realise that the little birds don't get quite the same amount of karma as they are often caught in nets and not treated well while awaiting release. Hopefully these ones get a free life after we released them.



This one is simpler. Henry and Matt (and Meaghan as well) got along so well for the whole trip. Matt looked after Henry, often carrying him when he got tired - it was wonderful to see.

And while in the sketchy mood, I gave this weeks Pencil Lines sketch a whirl.


Again from Laos but less obviously so. We took some bubbles along for down times and Henry had a ball while we out at the bungalows, blowing and chasing bubbles. Amazing how kids quickly adapt to no computer and no tv..

So I am quite pleased with these ones, it is so long since I have felt like scrapping and my output has dropped to a trickle. Just needed to get back into a routine I think.

Big couple of days coming up. Henry's 8th(!!!) birthday tomorrow (must go blow up some balloons) and then the day after he and Meaghan are back to school. A couple of Henry's closest friends have moved schools over the hols and he will miss them. He has a male teacher this year so he should enjoy that.

Ok, have a great day xx

Elephant riding

On Christmas eve, we ventured out to a small village, very near Luang Prabang, Laos. They have an elephant rescue centre there, where we spent most of the day. They get elephants that have been rescued from logging camps (for various reasons, elephants are no longer really required for the awfully hard logging that they have done historically). Owners aren't able to release elephants back into the wild so they are either left to slowly starve or they are destroyed.

We settled down here to enjoy the views - a hard life sometimes..


This place along with one in Chang Mai in Thailand are using tourism to save these animals. They reassure us that carrying a couple of humans every day is child's play compared to hauling logs, and that the elephants enjoy the interaction, and the stroll through the river a couple of times a day. They are also released back into the nearby jungle every night.

We had three lovely ladies (they only use the calmer female elephants) to walk us around for an hour. The downhill bit were scarier than they looked, only an unsecured pole between you and the ground

The mahout that was guiding our lady hopped down when we reached this mid stream island (leaving Henry and I somewhat helpless) and took some photos. Geoff was getting ready to explain how to use the camera, when the man took off his conical hat, flipped around his cap that was hidden underneath, adjusted the setting himself and rearranged us as professionally as any model shoot - he obviously does this a couple of times a day, ok reassess our superior western attitudes - again..)


Matt and Meaghan's elephant handler offered them a go 'up front'. Matt. surprisingly for us, took up the offer. I think it was getting a bit painful after about 20minutes, and they swapped back. Meaghan wasn't quite as game (nor would I have been to be perfectly honest..)


Using the first sketchy Thursday sketch for the year. Using supplies from my lovely friends, that I have previously mentioned, thank you Julie and Irini.

It was a great way to spend Christmas eve (better than the normal shopping spree and mad rush).

Have a great day and don't forget to check out the new Dollies challenge (featuring our guest designer for January, Amy Beaver) and keep an eye out for Southern Girls challenge, a new one should be up in the next couple of days. xx