Happy Halloween - UPDATED

UPDATED: Nobody knocked on our door ;-( I was wondering if I should have put a 'jack o lantern' out - or some kind of indication that we had treats ?? If somebody could enlighten me on the Halloween etiquette, I will take it on board for next year.

We don't normally celebrate Halloween in our house, but last year we had a few families knock on the door for trick or treating.  We felt so bad as they had made such an effort to dress up - even Mums dressed up too ;-)

This year, we weren't going to do anything again, but while hubby was plastering and sanding, I retreated to my craft room and created some goodie boxes ;-)

Goodie boxes submitted to Our Creative Corner Fancy Folds challenge

I have filled them with Cadbury Favourites - hubby sacrificed some of his (the ones he didn't like)  so we better have some people knock on the door ;-) 

it is 7:00 pm, but it is daylight saving, so it won't get dark until almost 9:00 pm

The treehouse is something I made while I was doing ceramics - I sure do miss it ;-(

I have had these GSD files for a while, and cannot for the life of me remember where they came from.  I think they came on a disc with the CraftROBO, but I am not sure.

Thank you for visiting my blog today; I hope you are having a good day - any time spent doing what you love makes it a good day ;-) 

Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.

A Wedding, week-end away, sightseeing and Great Pizza!

Our beautiful niece, Lauren married the wonderful Brett on the weekend.

I give you a friendly warning now .......... a picture heavy post follows ;-)

We had such a lovely time in the Barossa Valley - staying overnight in the Barossa Novotel

Here are some of the things I made for them.

A keepsake for the Bride - this is the last of the shoes I made when I was doing ceramics - now if anyone else gets married, I am going to have to find a different keepsake for them ;-)

Here is our room at the Barossa Novotel

and this was our view - forever changing and beautiful ;-)

The happy couple at the reception, which was held at the Barossa Valley Estate.  The staff there were excellent and it is such a beautiful place to hold a wedding ;-)

On Sunday, we did some sightseeing with Brother-in-law & Sister-in-Law, Greg & Rosa, and visited Maggie Beer's Farm (again ;-) )

This time, I managed to get some photos of the peacocks!

The peacock kept teasing us - not fully turning around to display all his glory

Then he decided to go walkabout ;-)

ahhh, on the ground again!

Time for some more driving and we ended up at Roaring 40's Cafe for some late lunch.  We had heard about this place on the TV as it has won all sorts of awards for their pizzas. 

The food was lovely, but I had eaten way too much breakfast at the Hotel, so we asked for a doggy bag to take the leftovers home.  We had the leftovers later after we had got home an unpacked - it reheated beautifully ;-)

I was so annoyed with myself, I didn't even think to take a photo of the pizza :-(

So that was our weekend away - now I need to be off and do some unpacking and washing - we were too pooped to do it last night - and then some grocery shopping awaits ;-)

Hubby is on leave for the next two weeks so blog posts may be a bit slow - I am hoping we can catch up on our my 'to do list' around the home.

Catch you all a bit later ;-)

2008 Adelaide Royal Show - Open Art & Craft - 1st & 3rd Prizes

Here are my 2008 entries

the plate on the left got 3rd prize. This technique is known as French Dimensions and is applied a bit like icing using a nozzle. The plate went through 3 firings before being finished.

the soap dispenser on right got 1st prize. This technique is marbling, the gold overglaze is layered on top of a container of water, and then the item is gently placed in contact with the surface and rolled to get the marble effect. As the unfired gold liquid is black and the soap dispenser is also black, you have no idea what the end result will be until it is fired. It is definitely a leap of faith when doing this type of work.

Here they are on display at the Royal Show.
Now to decide what to enter in the 2009 show!

2006 Adelaide Royal Show - Open Art & Craft - Third Prize

As requested by my friend Linda - I will post some of my ceramic pieces.

here is my first entry in the 2006 Royal Adelaide Agricultural & Horticultural Show Open Art & Craft, ceramics section - I won a Third Prize!

Here is my next entry - hand painted kookaburra and wombat - the technique is known as 'dry brushing' - Third Prize as well!

I was so surprised to win!