Missing In Action

Yes I am still here, just have been missing in action for the past month. I really wanted to write every day during my 30 Day Challenge but even though I have stuck (pretty much) to my other challenges I haven't written in my blog at all. I guess life just got in the way because I have had a pretty busy time with friends, family and life commitments. It has been a pretty good month. I have done a few markets with my jewellery DavineRaeDesign, spent time online with some very inspiring groups of friends that have motivated me to get up off my bum and do the things I want to do.

DavineRaeDesign Collection

I have also started volunteering with Wesley Do Care and have spent some time with a lovely 84 year old gentleman who is in need of some company. I can honestly say our visits will probably do as much for me, if not more than it does for him. I have also had a wonderful few days spending time with both my children Shane and Rachel and their families. It's exhausting but I love having my four grandchildren (Clare, O'Shea, Mikayla and Finn) around me. They all have such different personalities and I can see my two babies in all of them. I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Clare

Finn & Mikayla

O'Shea, Clare & Mikayla

O'Shea

With only three days left in our 30 Day Challenge I have put a mini challenge out there for each challenge member to spend 10 minutes each day on some "ME TIME". I think we should all spend some me time every day because we deserve it. My "me time" today will be tonight when I sit down and do some cross stitch I am almost finished. How about you? Do you deserve some "me time"? I think you do. 

Made from Pinterest

With a couple of markets coming up I thought it was probably a good time to make some jewellery stock so I've got something to sell. Because my stock of earrings was down to about four pairs I thought was the best place to start. So that was were I started, although my thought process for this creative episode was a bit different to what it normally is. Normally I am not a very pinky sort of designer or wearer. But for some reason all the beads I was picking up seemed to be in the pinky girly shades. After finishing I was pretty happy with where my mind took me. But something was missing, I wanted some cards to display my cards on, but I wanted something a little different. That's where Pinterest come in. I have seen this idea several times and in several variations on Pinterest, so I thought I would give it a go. First I borrowed this punch from my lovely friend Michelle from Joy Express.  I cut them out of Watercolor paper and thought I would use three bright watercolours.

I bought this watercolor paper way back in the 80's when I lived in New York -
I knew I kept it for a reason. 

This punch was just perfect for my little job - thanks Michelle

With a group of cards held together with a couple of elastic bands I slightly wet the edges of paper with a spray bottle. Next with a wet paint brush I dabbed the top edge of the cards with three different colours. Having the paper wet allowed the colours to blend down into the cards. 

I am pretty happy with the randomness of the colours

 After the cards had dried I gave them a bit of an iron - not they really needed it. 

Then again with the help of Pinterest I made this little tool to punch a couple of holes into the card to put the earrings into. All it is a small piece of wood with a couple of pins superglued onto it.

Very simple but very clever idea to punch two holes into my cards

I started punching the holes on an old mouse mat,
but then realized just doing it on the ironing board was just as easy. 

After putting a little DavineRaeDesign sticker on the back it was time to complete my display with the actual earrings. 

I am very happy with my end result. 

I'm pretty happy with how they all turned out. I'd love to hear your opinion. 

My Davine Day

My week was overall a pretty ordinary week but on Thursday I decided to have a Davine Day out and about doing things I have had on my to do list for a few weeks. So off I went at about 9.30am. My first stop was at a antique clock repairer to see if and how much it would cost to have my Mums antique crystal clock repaired back to working order. He advised me if I wanted to have the original mechanism repaired it would be around $200, but he could install a quartz mechanism for $50. Of course I am going to go for the $50 option because I just want the clock to work. I will share another photo of it when it is working.

Mums crystal clock - I have never known it to work

Then it was of to Kaisercraft, a scrapbooking store. I want to make a different art piece for my bathroom. I haven't totally decided what I want to do as yet but I know I want to have the word "RELAX" on it. So I was on a mission to buy the letters. I'll also share this with you when it's all finished. 

Letters waiting to be made into art

Next was off to a curtain/blind store to get some replacement parts to fix my vertical blinds that one of my granddaughters decided to pull down. We think it may have been Clare but seeing Mikayla is only one and can't defend herself (verbally anyway), Clare says it was her.

Then the sad part of my day happened. While in this area I thought I would call around to an old friends unit, as I hadn't been in contact with her for a while. Her name was Kath and I worked with her many years ago for around 10 years. She had no family as she didn't know who her parents were. She didn't know if she had any siblings and had never married. Although it sounds like she had a very sad life, she  was happy. She had friends and was passionate about her beloved Richmond football team and she did lots of trips with the Senior Citizen groups she belonged to. Because I hadn't heard from her for the whole time I was travelling around Australia I had the feeling that she may have passed away as she would now be in her 90's. I went to her unit and the girl now living there said she heard that Kath had been in a nursing home and had passed away. This news although not a surprise was so sad. I am just hoping she didn't leave this world alone, I hope she had friends around her. I feel so sad that I couldn't have spent time with her at that time, because she deserved to have someone who loved her there. I am on a mission now to try and find out about her last days and where she is buried. 

Kathleen Dunn

Next drive was to a jewellery supply store as I have a couple of upcoming markets and really need to get some jewellery stock made. The first one I headed to was not to far away. Prior to my 12 months away I would go there fairly regularly and they had been in business for a very long time. But to my surprise they had closed down - gone out of business!! Oh well onto plan B. So of I headed down the highway to another store I used to go to but had changed locations. As usual while I was there for 2 items I came out with way more. So now to create something out of this pile of stuff. 

OK now to make something?

After lunch and all this driving around I was to head home and put my feet up after my busy Davine Day. 

Port Broughton to Ardrossan

Well what an interesting few days I have had since my last post. After having ringing in my ears for about 5 days I ended up spending our last night in Port Broughton in hospital. I came down with a bad episode of vertigo, which in turn had me throwing up violently. Shane bundled me up and got me to hospital. It was really weird as I couldn't walk straight no matter how hard I tried. They think it may be caused by a middle ear infection, but not sure. After getting and injection to stop the ringing, dizziness and vomiting and spending the night in Port Broughton hospital I am now OK, although my ears are still ringing.

After a night in hospital I felt almost 100% better

So we are now on the East side of the Yorke Peninsula in another seaside village called Ardrossan. At first I was a little bit apprehensive about coming to the Yorke Peninsula. After reading the tourist brochures nothing really grabbed me. But after having time here I now see why it is popular with South Australians, it is a really pretty area. It has some lovely small villages, spectacular scenery, beautiful countryside and coastline.

I don't think I will ever get sick of looking out at the ocean

Ardrossan is a thriving seaport with a population of about 1100 people. With an abundance of blue swimmer crabs, great fishing, shipwrecks and an interesting history it is no wonder it is so popular with tourists.



Yet another Wharf! This one has been good to us.
Shane got six Blue Swimmer crabs for my dinner

Wattle Point Wind Farm.
When this wind farm was officially opened back in June 2005,
it was the biggest wind farm in Australia with 91 megawatts.

As this weekend is a long weekend in some Australian states this peninsula is pretty busy. We have visited some of the normally quiet little settlements and even though there are a lot more people around they are still delightful.

The Stansbury village had some beautiful murals

Today I spent the day in one such village, Stansbury at the Stansbury Seaside Market. Due to a cancellation, I was lucky enough to get a spot to have a stand with my jewellery. It was a glorious day, not a cloud in the sky, the sun beaming down, but not to hot, the beautiful blue ocean beside me and having the privilege of sharing my jewellery with the masses. The market was quite busy and I had a fairly successful day.

My little stand for DavineRaeDesign

Galena Bridge to Kalbarri

We are now in the coastal town of Kalbarri, which is situated on the mouth of the Murchison River. Kalbarri has a permanent population of approx. 1500, but it attracts around 200,000 tourists each year. The town is geared to fishing and tourism. This time of the year the Western Australia countryside comes alive with lots of beautiful wild flowers and the Kalbarri region is one such place that comes alive. Today I had a day on my own as Shane wanted to watch the Melbourne races. So I took myself off in the car to get some photos of the mostly tiny but amazing wild flowers.

 

With the end of October almost here don't forget to leave me a comment below

for your chance to go into the draw to win a piece of my chainmaille jewellery.

Here are just two that you will have a choice from.

 

Paper Beads

I just love doing crafts, any crafts really. I totally relax and solve any problems while sitting creating with my hands. With all that has been going on in my life in the last 4 weeks I have neglected my need to create. Wondering why I was feeling unsettled it finally dawned on me I need to get my hands into something. So I picked up a Simpsons Comic Book that I had bought last year and measured, drew lines, cut, rolled and glued it into some paper beads. Now what to do with them, I think these babies may become a long necklace. Maybe?