Handmade Help

How's everyone going today? We're doing fine in our corner of Queensland, while a lot of the rest of the country isn't. The bushfires in the south are still raging and the needs of people who have lost everything are starting to bite. The website I am featuring today is a palce you can go to find out what the real needs are in case you can help at all. Just click on the image to go to the site.

Thank you for all your support. And stay safe.

Spread the Love Award

Thank you so much for thinking of me for this award Hannah! You are too kind :)

Hannah also told me The rules for passing this award on: you must post the award on your blog, name the person who awarded you, then pass the award to 6 other bloggers and leave a message on their blog that they've received the award.

My 6 nominees are........

1. Jaqi
2. Lee
3. Suzanne
4. Pearl
5. Lexie
6. Grace

Handmade Wrapping Paper

Have you ever run out of gift wrap at a critical time? Or do you just want to personalise your own wrapping paper, making a special looking gift for a special someone? That's what did this Valentine's Day - I made my own handstamped paper! My husband was so surprised!

I made a page about how to make your own wrapping paper at PaperCraftCentral.com, in case you would like to make your own and would like to see the nitty gritty 'how to' details - lol!

Oh by the way - is anyone wondering what I wrapped here? It was a gift for my hubby. Can you tell what it was?

More Faux Metal Cards

Once I started using the faux metal technique, it was hard to know where to stop! Lol! I had a lot of fun with this and made some thank you cards as well as another Valentine's Day card. I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I did making them. And if you do decide to make some faux metal cards yourself, why not write to me at PaperCraftCentral and I will showcase them!

Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Have you got your card for your special someone organised yet? I am always a 'last minute' or 'just in the nick of time' girl and finally got one done today. I used the Faux Metal technique with a shallower cut stamp and got a sort of molten look - lol! I like it. I cut the heart out a little wobbly on purpose as there were some parts of the stamp that showed better that way. It's not really dripping embossing powder off the image!! The embossing powder is red with gold glitter dust in it - woo hoo!

I plan to wrap up a large Lindt chocolate-orange bar as well and write something suitably sweet inside the card. Do you think he'll like it??

Happy Valentines Day, ladies!

A Disaster Update and a Twinchie

DISASTER UPDATE:
Well, the fires are slowly becoming tamed. There are five still burning tonight which is a vast improvement on the first week of fires. Thank you to everyone who has sent messages of support. Let's pray that ALL of the fires are extinguished soon.

There's also good news about the flood victims. Food trucks are getting through so the supermarkets are being re-stocked. And people are able to start concentrating on cleaning up and starting again.

TWINCHIE:
I promised you a craft project and here it is! Remember the little Twinchie I made awhile ago? Well, I have written a page about it at PaperCraftCentral. Just in time for Valentine's Day! Oh - and I plan to give you another example of a Valentine's Day project tomorrow :)

Till next time!

Want to help the fire victims in a Scrappy way? "Memory Gifts" is one way...

I found someone who has discovered a way to help people who have lost all of their photos in fires. Here's the link to Sarah's blog in case you would also like to help in a scrappy way:

http://sares1911.wordpress.com/

Sarah explains it this way:

"I feel for those families in the Victorian regions devasted by fire this week. I can’t help but feel frustrated at the limited amount we are able to do from here to help. I can donate money but I felt the need for something more tangible to be done for those families who have literally lost everything.

As scrappers, one of the most important things we deal with on a daily basis are memories. Family memories, memories of loved ones, memories of holidays, birthdays, christenings, bbq’s and days at the beach. These families in Victoria have got no tangible evidence of their lives left. No family photos. No happy snaps. You can replace a fridge, but you can’t replace years of momentos.

In order to help out these family begin to put their lives back together I have started a scrapbooking plan - called “MEMORY GIFTS”.

Quite simply, I ask each and every one of you who read this blog to donate a 12 x 12inch almost completed scrapbook LO to the “Memory Gifts” program. Each page will be sent to me. I will collect them and bind them, then hand them over to the head of Pastoral Care for the Victorian Catholic Education Office, Maria Kirkwood in Melbourne. It will not be just Catholic families benefiting, it will be anyone who needs it. The albums will then be distributed to the principals of the 4 schools that burned down, who will know exactly who to give them to.

Each family devastated by fire will be (in time) given album pages to help them begin their memories again. Those families can then approach their own families for copies of photos to put into the albums, or simply start putting in fresh memories."

Do follow the link to Sarah's blog and send her a message to get her address if you would like to help this way. I plan to and already have someone else who has pledged to do so. Let's see how many pages we can get together between us! Please let me know if you make and send some pages for this cause by posting here.

Thank you!

Update on the Disasters

I feel like an amateur news reporter these last few days :)

The fires are still burning but gradually being brought under control. There are 181 confirmed dead now, with more expected to be found.

People are responding wonderfully to the various appeals in place to help both people and animals affected by the fires. $31,255,562 has been collected in donations so far! That's wonderful. There are over 750 houses burned down and over 3,000 homes affected by floods, so the appeal is important. Government and corporations are also stepping up and giving significant support. If you are in Australia and shop at Coles, they are going to donate ALL of their profits if you shop on Friday this week!

The story about this wild koala is most touching and amazing, as they never go near human beings like this normally.

If you want to know how to help the animals, Wildlife Victoria has organised an appeal.

Volunteering to help is also a possibility, for people in Australia.

The floods in FNQ are receding so people are returning to ther homes and communities for the massive cleanup. There is significant disease risk as there are sewerage leaks - eww.

We're still doing fine in our area. The rain is heading towards us today but no floods are expected.

On a more everyday level, I am having a scrapbooking class this afternoon here at home. Imagine the scrapbooks people will be able to create after the disasters are over and done with, and only the photos and memories remain. This is one of those times where I am so glad to know about scrapbooking as it can be such a way of processing hard experiences and bad memories for people. It can be very therapeutic to create a book of memories, allowing you to tie things together in a way that makes sense, and allowing you to deal with what actually happened.

I hope some of the traumatised people can eventually be helped by the process of scrapbooking and the sharing that goes with it when you make your scrapbook with a group of caring friends....

Take care, all. XX

Bushfire and Flood News

Thank you so much for your concern, my friends. Colin and I are still safe and are far away from the fires and floods. The fires are still burning and the death toll is at 173 today, and expected to rise. The static picture I've given you here shows where the fires are today. Here is a movable fire map so you can see where the blazes are controlled and where they are not.

To get an idea of the size of Australia, think of the lower 48 US states, turn that upside down, and overlay it on Australia. It just fits.

On the movable map, if you follow the east coast up to where Australia bulges out the most, you will find Brisbane and just north of that, Caboolture. That is where I am.

Keep going up the coast to where the coast starts to be verticle, and you will see Cairns, and inland from that, Atherton. That's where I used to live and all along the coast up there south to Ingham is also where the floods are happening. Thankfully, the waters are receding up there now but they will need to work very hard to clean everything up. I don't know if you have ever had flood water through your house, but it is pretty smelly, muddy and ugly. There's over 3,000 homes affected by the floods in the north and down south, over 750 houses burnt in the fires.

Sorry to be so depressing, but the mood over here is a little like that right now. We're also a caring country where people will get up and get going to help, so we will be alright.

Some of you have been so kind and caring, and have asked how to help. If anyone wants to know about a charity taking funds for disaster relief, try the Australian Red Cross.

This story about the experiences of one family who barely escaped with their lives really touched me.

Thank you on behalf of those who cannot thank you themselves right now.

I'll be back papercrafting very soon!

Black Saturday in Australia

Everyone here seems to be in shock. Victoria is experiencing the worst bush fires in living memory. The death count is horrible - 131 are dead today and more than 700 houses are burnt, and whole communities have been wiped out. The fires are still raging.

Up North where I used to live, vast areas are covered in flood waters and the monsoonal rain is still coming down. Flood waters have receded a little but they still have roads cut and supplies are not getting through. There are loads of people being evacuated, but no deaths known up north. A little five year old boy is missing, presumed taken by a crocodile though.

I am safe. I am living about half way between the disasters, in comfort. I do have friends and relatives in both the north and the south, and they are also safe.

Thank you for your concern. My heart goes out to the victims and the people left with nothing. One couple were rescued clutching a burnt photo album between them, and they have nothing else....

An Award from Michelle!

How lovely to be thought of for this pretty award! Thank you, Michelle. Please do visit Michelle's blog and leave her a comment - she is a new blogger and a great crafter :)

Now I want to pass on this award to all of you who visit me. Please do accept it as you come on by! And thank you for visiting me! XX