News & Updates from Vicki Avcin ~ AusCrafts · Page 93

Well I turned the big 60 on Saturday 1st June. First day of winter here and guess who hates winter with a vengance. It started out like an ordinary Saturday morning, nothing special. Call from the stepson in Bowen and a message from my eldest son.

I was trying to fix some files to get ready to upload to CUP when hubby says 'you best come out the front'.

Now I hate being disturbed when I'm working, so, begrudgingly got up and went out the front. Couldn't see anything and was about to go back inside when I heard a car door. My other son and his wife and Chloe and Riley were here!.

Was brilliant to see them and snapped me out of my 'mood' immediately. But my son had been sick and in hospital on the Thursday with a migraine and when he got out of the car I knew he still wasn't right.

Got him inside, some painkillers and a cool pack and he crashed on the bed.

Best to let him sleep, as much as I'd have loved to talk to him. But I had Kelly and Chloe and Riley to talk to which was great too. Next thing my daughter and her partner arrived! They all came bearing lovely gifts and we had heaps to talk about. And my daughter and partner had even made a cake.

I got the candles out in one puff .....fortunately there wasn't 60, but being a good firefighter I got them out in one go. Every afternoon here we have a ritual with the feeding of the birds and this is the first time Chloe and Riley had experienced it.

They all headed back for the 4hr trip back home around 4pm. Although I didn't get much of a chance to talk to Paul with him being so ill, he'll never know how much I appreciated the effort of coming up with the family.

He wasn't going to miss my big day. All in all the day turned out a fabulous birthday albeit a bit overwhelming having an unexpected house full of people. The pictures are Chloe and Riley feeding the birds (with a bit of help from Poppy).

They get heavy when theres a few of them on the plate.

And the cake that made the 4hr trip from Brisbane......and yes it was deliciously rich and yummy. Check out all my Flowers in a Teacup Designs and the 2 designs I did for the males in the same theme.

After the two severe weather events that Queensland had at the start of this year residents in many parts of the state are still trying to get their lives back together. No cyclones this year, but we did get lots and lots of rain.

From Brisbane to Bundaberg was the worst flooding but all of the east coast was disrupted by torrential rain. So now it?s time to have some fun and celebrate our great community spirit as the Rise and Shine Queensland Tour hits the road. These are a series of free community events that have a free BBQ, displays by those emergency services that assisted in those communities, and live entertainment throughout the day.

Its also a day to say Thank you to the people that helped with recovery over the past few months.

I spent a few weeks in the Incident Management Team in Maryborough as part of the recovery effort.

Our Rise and Shine Event was held on Sunday 19th May. Saturday 25th May was Ipswich?s day and our son and daughter in law, Brad and Jess took our grandkids Zoe and Zac along.

Besides getting their faces painted they got a feel what its like to be ?Nanny and Poppy? for a little while sitting in a big fire truck. Future firefighters in the making?

Who knows!! The cards I?m featuring........

One of my new Black and Cream designs. (Similar to my Back and White collection which sold well) and the other is available both as cutting files and this one which is pdf file for those who dont have a cutting machine meaning any cardmaker/crafter can make it up.

24th April was my Grandson Riley's birthday and 25th April was my other Grandson Nathaniel's birthday. Both had 'themed' parties at opposite ends of the state.

Riley who is in Brisbane (SE Qld) had a 'Cars' theme to his party and Nathaniel who is in Bowen (in Nth Qld) had a Spiderman theme.

Of course I just had to make cards to suit. Both loved their cards.

My son, Paul made some fabulous cars for the kids to 'drag race' round the yard for Rileys party and I believe some of the adult kids had a bit of fun in them too!. Nathaniels mum made a Spiderman cake for his party and he also had his Spiderman suit on! . Picture is of both enjoying their birthday cakes and the cars that were made for Riley's party.

Apologies, seems I actually forgot to mention in my last news story that it was my daughter that made the suprise visit!

Oops. Her and her girlfriend had just returned from their holiday in Thailand. They'd had 2 weeks in Bangkok, Chaing Mai and Phuket.

They did a tour of the River Kwai, Grand Palace and something I'm so jealous of, they went to the Tiger Temple.

Below is a photo of them both with one of the beautiful big cats. They even got to play with some of the tiger cubs that they had there. They also got to go to an elephant rescue reserve where they got to ride bareback on one of the elephants.

They did a couple of cooking classes also while they were there so guess we'll be eating Thai next time we go down so they can show off their new found skills. The design I've featured today is one of the new items I've been doing in cutting files.

Please check this one out as its a PDF file which Rae Trees has cut by hand and made up a gorgeous card from. (You really have to look at this beautiful card!) All my PDF designs are for those who love cutting files but don't have a cutting machine and can be easily cut by hand just as you would cut a decoupage etc.

I had the BESTEST present ever yesterday! Having had a really bad week last week, I so needed something to cheer me up and what a better ?something? than turning around on my chair while at the computer yesterday to see her standing at the back door!!! She?s just had a 2 week holiday in Thailand and told me she started back at work yesterday morning (Monday).

As she often does when she?s driving home, she?ll ring me for a chat (on the Bluetooth) and we?d been chatting for about 20 minutes when I heard a noise and said to her ?What was that?? and she said she?d just bumped the Bluetooth.

That was when I just leant back and swung round on my chair and saw her!! I got such a shock that I was sitting staring at her thinking I?m seeing things when she said ?So you going to unlock the door and let me in?

Hell yeah of course I am!!!

Then I find out she actually doesn?t go back to work till next Monday, so she?s planned this and never said a word!!

She came bearing gifts for us too from her holiday in Thailand.

Only one problem? she didn?t bring one of those gorgeous big cats that she posted pictures of her sitting with its head in her lap and cuddling. (Tiger). The photo is of the pair of us after coming home from dinner last night. The card promo is of one of a series of my Black and White Design Set, why not check them all out.

Quick and easy to make but look so sophisticated when made up. Thanks to the cardmakers who?ve made some of them up and done an awesome job with them.