Hi all.  Well what a wonderful relaxing and refreshing holiday we had up north!  The first few days were absolutely stinkin’ hot and the flies were horrendous as we camped on the Murchison River with 12 other families from the 4WD Club.  I have to say when we got there I was almost tempted to turn around.  The heat (prob around 38+), the amazing red dust, the terrible flies, the lack of shade to camp in and the empty river did not quite meet my ideallic vision of camping on the river. Anyway once we set up it was fine, we spent a lot of time 4WDriving (in air con) and swimming in the murky waters upstream and the rest of the time we sat with our chairs in the water dipping our feet in the 2 inches of cool running water.  As it turned out the kids had a wonderful time – they played all their games in the water, running races, catch, tag, you name it.  At night we had camp fires on the beach and cooked our dinners on the camp fire each night and of course toasting marshmallows.  Hopefully our boys will appreciate the memories we are creating along the way even if they do hate flies!!

When we arrived in Kalbarri it was like heavon on earth!  Showers, swimming and shade!!  What more could a girl want I ask you?  Our campsite in the caravan park was right on the edge overlooking the water and I intend to scrap the pic of the view from my bed each morning.  So gorgeous!  Only 2 other families with children similar ages to our boys came along to Kalbarri and it was so relaxing.  I read two books in 5 days and enjoyed great company and the various sites of Kalbarri too.  We had an amazing holiday and it was like having 2 trips in one given the diverse differences in the 2 camping spots.

Today I am back to the normality of all that comes with unpacking from a long stint away in the van.  I have to say I got home to find 3 SU! orders waiting here and I ripped them open like a madwoman to see my new goodies.  I think it will be a day or two before I get to ink them but I hope to be back soon with some samples.  In the meantime, here are few Fresh Cut Notes I had intended on posting before we left but I ran out of time. 

The first card I have layered a piece of Baja Breeze inside the front cover of the Short Cut Note.  I have stamped the vine image and sentiment in Baja Breeze and layered a clear rhinestone on a 1/2″ circle of Baja Breeze.  I have also stamped the vine image on the envelope. 

The middle card has a layer of Chocolate Chip inside with the large word/flower image stamped over the front of the card in Pretty in Pink.  The small flower image was then stamped in Chocolate Chip on Whisper White and I have added a small rhinestone brad and sentiment.

The third card is layered with a piece of dotted So Saffron designer paper and the large word/flower image stamped in Always Artichoke on the front.  I have then punched out a flower using the 5 Petal Punch in Always Artichoke, layered it behind the white cutout flower and punched another in vellum, curled the petals and layered on top, adding a large rhinestone brad.  I cased this idea with the vellum from somewhere but can’t find it again now as I had intended on uploading this a while ago.

These cards were super simple and would make a gorgeous gift.  The Fresh Cut Notes are available in packs of 15 with envelopes in Whisper White for $17.50 which equates to about $1.15 per card and env.  I think they are really cute! 

I had better get that next load of washing on the line and then break the news to the kids that we have to go food shopping!  Eeeeck! 

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and are enjoying the school holidays (if you have them)!

Cheers