60th Birthday Thank You Cards, And More!

These are some of the thank you cards I stamped and coloured.  I stamped and  water coloured  them, and hand delivered the ones that I could.  I used my Hampton Art Stamp Perfect to stamp the cards - sooooo quick and easy to use!  I had the cards done in a minute as opposed to taking me about 10 minutes or so!  

Below is one of my Birthday cards, this one opens up like those box cards us stampers make!  This one has a cute kitten on it!  So cute and PINK! 

Here, below, is the Hampton Art Stamp Perfect that "The Birthday Elf" gave me for Christmas!!  An early gift!  I just love it, and it is so quick and easy to use.  I can use both clear and rubber mounted stamps.  I {heart} it!

This is a closeup of one of the roses from a bunch I got for my Birthday!  So pretty, and they have such a gorjuss perfume!  I can smell them all through the house!

Some of my Birthday balloons!  One of my friends bought a whole pile of PINK Princess balloons, and she very kindly blew them all up herself!  The Princess ones are below.

This is my cousin Deanna, in my recycle bin!!  She didn't know I was taking photos of her and she has no idea she is on my blog either! I took this through the glass window, so that is why it isn't clear.  Look at those "Nana undies" she has on!  I have to say, she is OLDER than me!  She was trying to squash the rubbish down so we could fit more in!  

And this is a baby bird I rescued from the front lawn recently.  He had fallen out of the nest and was too young to fly.  I picked him up and put some straw in a small box and put him there.  I put some fluff from an old pillow in the box, as well as a small heated wheat bag to keep him warm.  I fed him mashed up cat food!  I called the local bird rescue and they took him to loo after.  He was so cute:-)  Once he was kept warm and I had fed him a few times, he perked right up.  He will be well looked after at the Bird Rescue. 

And this is me, the Birthday girl, offering Romeo-Valentino some champagne!!  He was not impressed at all!   

Oh no!  It's that cousin again, trying on one of my sun hats! 

These are my flowers, (below) the ones on the right were from Olivias garden.   

Some of my guests...and Romeo-Valentino! 

These are the roses someone gave me. Thanks for dropping in, hope are having a great day!  {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)

59 Today, 60 Tomorrow!

I celebrated my 60th Birthday on Sunday! My actual Birthday wasn't until the following day, Monday the 19th.  These are the candles I had on the table!  Everyone thought they were funny:-)  I had invited friends and some of my wonderful neighbours who have become good friends.  We all had a fabulous day!  Lot's of laughing and lots of Champagne!!  Not to mention Pavlova, cakes, and other goodies I had made!

The candles above is what I had on my real Birthday, on the 19th.  I went out for lunch with a cousin and we found a nice Gluten Free Cafe not far from here.  We are both Coeliacs so I was in good company! It was a very relaxing day.  Below is what "The Birthday Elf" bought me...a new Sizzix Big Shot Plus!!! You can see how big it is compared to my Cuttlebug that I was using! It is much easier for me to use than the CB, and I can cut or emboss multiple items in one go!

Below are photo's of the dies it came with, and the embossing folders.  There was also several packets of various embellishments, tags, mini clothes pegs, ribbon, buttons, bakers twine, and lot's of other bits and pieces!  Woohoo , lucky me!  I  thanked "The Birthday Elf" very much!!

The candy cane die, above is about 51/2 inches tall by 3 1/4 inches wide.  The butterfly die is about 3 inches by 3 inches.

Below is the matchbox die that came with the Bigshot Plus.  It has nine dies and the box is about 3 3/4 inch by 2 1/2 inches.   

Above is one of the match boxes I made. I made a snowflake to put on top and that die is about 3 by 3 inches.  

These are the embossing folders by Stephanie Barnard.  I haven't had much time yet to 'play' with everything because of organizing my Birthday, preparing the food, and getting ready for Christmas all at the same time!  But I am hoping to do something 'crafty' today!  Oh!  And the box that this was packed in makes a great toy for my cats!  They are having lots of fun playing inside (and on top of!) the packing box!

And here is a photo of some of my guests at my 60th!  

Thanks for dropping in, {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)

Titirangi Glow Festival December 3rd 2016

Every year at this time, Titirangi Village has "Glow Festival" where they light up the entire Village with 7 kilometers of pretty Christmas Lights.  There is lot's of stalls selling all kinds of things, as well as various entertainment for the kids. They have a big stage where well known NZ singers entertain the crowds. And of course, Santa is there too! These are some of my photo's from this years festival...

These lovely ladies asked if I would take their photo in front of their truck.  I happily obliged, and then a gentleman joined them in the photos! They were Traffic Control, directing the traffic so there were no accidents.  I have no idea of their names, but they know they are appearing on my blog and will be waiting to see these photo's of themselves! Hope you enjoy your photo's!

The photo above is of the lovely Jackie Clarke, one of NZ's most well known singers!  She is just so much fun! 

Above is "Harold The Giraffe"!  I have 'met' him several times at the Festival!  He is very tall!

Another photo of the lovely Traffic Control girls, who did an excellent job of keeping the traffic flowing and making sure everyone was safe on the road.  It was a busy night and there were lots of people crossing from one side of the road to the other.  These girls kept us all safe:-)  Thanks girls!

OMG!  I love those cute lacy pants this lady has on! I want some! She was one of the singers with Jackie Clarke .

Here's the group of singers all ready to entertain us! 

"Harold!"  Where did you get those eyelashes?!  Us girls would die for lashes like that!

This is the huge blackboard for everyone to sign...and yes, I forgot to to sign it again! I see "Harold" signed it!

These guys are a few of the local Titirangi Volunteer Fire Brigade.  I tried to get them to all look at the camera but it wasn't happening! Can you believe it, these guys are volunteer so they don't even get paid for putting out fires and attending accidents etc?  Not good!

OMG!  I fell in love with the music from this group!  They were playing a musical instrument called a Marimba.  Their music was from Zimbabwe from a tribe called The SHONA Tribe!!  I kid you not!  MY tribe!  I spoke to one of the members and told her that was MY name!  I came home and got on youtube and found their music videos.  It was sooooooooooooo good!  I'm going to get one of their cds because I absolutely love their music.  The Marimba has pipes underneath and the wider the pipes, the deeper the sound.  They had about 7 different Marimbas and all the members were able to play each one.  They all swapped around so they ended up playing all the instruments.  It was SO good!

This little cutie was the youngest 'dancer' in the crowd, and was having a fun time dancing to the music!

And there is he is...Santa!  

 A pretty face in the crowd!  Love the colours!

Above and below are two of the Mahari Marimba group.  The music was unique and had a fast beat, and you couldn't help but dance to it!  You just couldn't keep still!  How I managed to take photo's that are in focus I have no idea!

 

In the photo below you can partially see the pipes underneath the instrument. 

Below is two girls, Mikayla and Bridget from Rhythm and Steps dance Academy.  They looked very Christmassy in their red outfits! 

Looks like they are having fun! 

And last but not least is this cute girl in her beautiful head piece.  Such pretty colours!

Ok, that's all for today.  I hope you enjoyed your visit today!  {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)

Another Santa Parade!

Well we all know who this guy is, don't we!  I have to say, he gets around, because I am seeing him everywhere at the moment!  These photos were all taken at the New Lynn Lions Christmas Parade last Saturday.  A beautiful warm sunny day:-)

Some of the pipe band, and yes, they had Bagpipes! 

Some lovely ladies whom I think were from a dance group that was at the Parade. 

 Woohoo!  Bagpipes!!

 A basket full of lollypops!  And yes, I got one!  Although I am sure it isn't gluten free:-(

 A cute and colourful train makes a great resting place for tired bodies!

Oh my gosh, what a cute wee face she has!  Love those lips and eyes!

This wee boy was sitting int he Police car wearing the Policemens hat!  The kids loved this and the queue was very long!  I was lucky and got a lot of photo's of the kids wearing the police hat.

Just love the artwork! 

Love the butterfly, so soft and pretty! 

While sitting in the Police car, the kids were allowed to try out the siren and the loud speaker.  This created lot's of fun and laughter! 

This little girl was a bit shy, but managed a smile for me!

 OMG look at this little cutie pie!  She was soooo cute in her little red Christmas scarf!

Below is a very tall Christmas Elf!  Way taller than everyone else!

 Love those rainbows!  Lot's of kids had their faces painted, some with animals faces and others with rainbows!  So much fun!

This little girl was riding one of Santas Reindeer! 

OMG what a cute face! 

More rainbow face painting!  So pretty! 

 Some colourful ladies (and man) with the fairy!  I have photographed this fairy many times at various parades.  She is so nice and the kids just LOVE her!  (Me too!)

A close up of the fairy!  Love the decorations in her hair! 

Some lovely dancing ladies.  Very nice to watch! 

And this was written on the back of a t. shirt! Such true words!  I took hundreds of photo's, way too many to put on here!  Hope you enjoyed your visit! {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)