More matchboxes

Green matchbox sent to Helen in Canada. I used a metallic finish paint which reflected the light from the flash when I took a photo. I also sent Helen an unactivated geocoin as her Swapbot profile says she is a geocacher. I got to use some excess DMC floss for this creation - its so handy to have stuff leftover from finished cross stich projects laying around.

A Petrol-head kinda day

IMG_0183
Originally uploaded by Jacinta H

Fantastic weather up here in Cairns today and so we jumped in the Trans Am (red one) to drive to the car club meeting. Roof off, sunnies on - yes this is the type of day we bought the cars for.

Meetings are meetings...generally very dull but afterwards we had a "shed run" to Brian's place. (A shed run is a convoy of cars converging on a members home to check out his shed, contents thereof and any good cars he may be hiding).

Fortunately Brian's lovely wife Joy was aware of our planned arrival at her home and had put the kettle (urn) on and had organised an early lunch for us all.

Brian's son, Matthew also turned up with the fantastic truck in the photo - its a 37 Chevy hauler (car carrier) - part hot rod, part truck, part American and a fantastic vehicle to see. All of the club members were totally blown away to see it as well as Matthew's El Camino (click on the link to Flickr photos).

All in all a great day out and there were some fantastic cars out and about too.

Catching up with the Bot.

I have received a number of fantastic parcels over the past week but have been a bit slow in showing them on this blog. Above is a matchbox that I recieved from a Swapbotter in Canada (can you tell). The theme of the matchbox swap was "My Country". Mrs D did a fantastic job in decorating the stuffing the matchbox full of Canadian goodies including coins, mini hockey puck, charms, stickers and ribbons.

Next I have the fantastic parcel received from Liz, an Aussie Swapper who went to a lot of trouble to put together a selection of papercrafts, handmade items and craft items for me all in the colour red. Opening this parcel was like stumbling into Aladdin's Cave as each item emerged from the parce I was increasingly shocked and gratified at Liz's generosity and care.

Finally, but not leastly, this amazing selection of ribbons and buttons was sent to me from Christina in Portugal. Included was a fantastic handmade felt pin/brooch with sequins and beads. Christina makes an stunning collection of handcrafts and she has an etsy shop loaded with heaps of great things. This inspires me to have a go at covering my own buttons.

Brought to me by the letters.. J, D and H!

I received another fantastic matchbox during the week. Another Swapbot swap... this time the theme of the swap was our initials. My initials are JDH and this beautiful matchbox features Dark blue fabric, Hieroglyphics and a selection of J,D and H goodies inside including Jingle bells, January, June, July (my birthday month), Dogs, Dragonflies, Dinosaurs, Dog prints, Hearts, Hangers, Hat, Hope, Hand milagro, Hello Kitty, House button and letter H.

Breccamerie created this masterpiece and she has a fantastic etsy store.



Close up of the matchbox itself.

Colour me Silly - Red

Colour me Silly - Red (sent~)
Originally uploaded by Jacinta H

Another Swapbot exchange - this parcel went out to Jullie (Shabby Jules) in NSW. Jullie has a thing for luggage so I found a little suitcase to package all the stuff into and then searched high and low for fun red stuff to fill it up.

Jullie has received the parcel now and was very pleased with it.

The Chaos Crystal

The Chaos Crystal by Jennifer Fallon

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
The dilemma that Declan faces is made clear at the beginning of the book however how he is going to achieve his goal is less clear.


However while the climax to the story is quite thrilling the final chapters reveal a number of new twists introduced in the final chapters are the real highlight.


I enjoy the dry wit of the author as seen through the banter between the Immortals and especially in the "one liners" that are part of the conversation whenever Kentravyon is part of the scene or discussion.


This series does not deliver predictable conclusions or twee happy endings. I was left with the tension of wanting to know more after each of the first three volumes. The fourth volume winds this tension to a conclusion and then twists the story onto a new tangent.





View all my reviews.

Buttons and Ribbons

Buttons and Ribbons #4 - received
Originally uploaded by Jacinta H

One of my favourite swaps to take part in is the Buttons and Ribbons series. This fantastic parcel was sent to me by Eadaoin in the UK. Pretty pink, green and crisp white and look out for the cool buttons in the background :). Thanks so much Eadaoin.









Another fun swap was themed "You are a Star" and was to swap stash items. The photos below set out the goodies that Joan sent me. In particular look at the little square buttons - they match the fabric very well so I will have to look at my projects to see what is crying out to be finished with star fabric and buttons.