Matchbox Swap Goodies

A while ago I took part in a matchbox box swap on craftster - its a pretty simple swap. Get a matchbox, decorate it and fill it with crafting goodies.

I was spoiled by my partner as she sent me two boxes not one. The first box was a Hello Kitty themed box. I especially loved the inside of the box - it made me giggle.



Here's the zombie/horror themed bloody box and the goodies inside - I especially love the zombie Hello Kitty. Although I am stumped as to what I should do with it - I feel like I should make a little frame or something for it.

Around the bays and acrobats

Last Sunday was the most beautiful day - a perfect day for Around the Bays which is an annual walking and running event in Wellington. Its not a huge distance to walk, only 7km, so I took part with my friend Nilanka and thousands of other Wellingtonians. These photo's don't really convey just how many people were there.


After a wee rest at home and some lunch, Rich and I headed out to go for a walk on the waterfront. Recently there has been a sculpture garden near the art gallery, with lots of artists working on Oamaru stone. Here's a few of the art works below - I think my favourite is the cat.


After checking out the sculptures - we headed over to watch "Campground Chaos" which was a street theatre circus show. The show was based around a group of characters at a campground and had the most amazing acrobatic performances and the music was all New Zealand music.

These Shaky Isles

I am sure the whole world has heard by now that Christchurch has been hit by a major earthquake. I first heard about it at work, an e-mail came through saying our Christchurch office had been hit by another large earthquake.

I say another because in September 2010 a large earthquake hit Christchurch. However that earthquake hit in the early hours of the morning and no one was killed and the whole country counted its blessing - thinking how much worse it COULD have been if it had happened at lunch time during the week. When everyone was at work, school, out at lunch or running errands in town.

This time we weren't so lucky as the earthquake hit during a work day at lunch time - people were in thier offices and out to lunch and at school. Christchurch city has been hit really badly. So far around 90 people are confirmed dead and so many more are missing. So many buildings have been damaged or destroyed altogether and so many people don't have water, food or electricity.

The whole thing feels surreal - this is the sort of thing that happens somewhere else, this kind of thing doesn't happen in New Zealand. The last few days the earthquake and its aftermath has been on my mind pretty much all the time.

I am thankful though that my friends down there are all safe - I was especially worried about our friends Ekant and Unicia and their two young daughters. But I was so happy to hear that they are well.

At the moment we are all thinking of the people in Christchurch and trying to do whatever we can to help. Tommorrow at my office we are having a fundraising day - people are dressing in black and red (which are Canterbury rugby colours) and donating $5 to the earthquake appeal.

This Sunday evening I will be baking up a storm so I can donate goods to The Great Sunday Bake Off on Monday morning.

I have always liked Christchurch as a city and I thought that I would go and visit sometime this year now that I am home again. I don't think that I will be visiting for a while now though.

I thought I'd finish off this post with some old photos of the city from other times we have visited.

I see a ship in the harbour.....

Last Saturday the Queen Elizabeth was in Wellington Harbour and the port was offering tugboat rides out to see the boat. We had planned to head out on a tugboat and have a look with out friend Andre and his son, but when we got there at 2pm we were told that too many people were waiting and the tugboat rides were officially "closed" for the day.

However there was a New Zealand Navy Ship in the harbour, the Pukuki that was open to the public so we went on board and had a look.
I was wearing a new vintage dress that I really love - its a little but nautical as well. I also love these completely oversized "pearls".
Here's a photo of the ship itself - there were a lot of people on board having a look around as you can see.

A Kiwi of course - it is the New Zealand Navy after all!

This was the compass on the boat - this picture doesn't even capture how crazy big this thing is.

The boat we visited was only two years old - so I think this must have been from the boats predecessor. There were a lot of bits and pieces like this on the boat. Sheilds and what not but I chose to take a photo of one related to Korea for obvious reasons.

Then it was time for a historical ship - the Hikatea has been in Wellington Harbour for as long as I can remeber. Its an old historical ship and crane - there were some photo's on board of it lifting a ferry. The ship is really old, originally from Scotland and is now restored and run by volunteers. It's a pretty impressive old boat but in need of much more money and TLC.





Also isn't the weather in these pictures just amazing - Saturday was such a perfect day - sunshine with just the perfect amount of wind. You have to love Wellington on a good day.

Keep Me Warm Swap

I've been doing a few swaps on Craftster lately - including a "Keep Me Warm" swap. For this swap the requirements were to send some kind of hot drink, a hot drink accessory and some kind of accessory to keep warm.


First up - some ice cream sauce (it is summer in New Zealand after all), a tin of hot chocolate, homemade marshmallows, milkshake mix and sea salt chocolate.



Next up is a little mug cozy - with my favourite Sanrio character on it - Kuromi. It's really cute and well made.I also recieved a Kuromi hat - it's kind of silly and crazy but I like it a lot!Finally a cute little skull headband.

Movie night at Island Bay

Last night Rich and I went ot meet Paul and Nankz at Island Bay to watch some films in a film archive event.

We arrived in Island Bay way too early for the film, so we decided to go for a walk. Here's a few photos just before dusk.

Valentines Day

I'm a little behind the times clearly as Valentines Day was on Monday - but happy beleted Valentines day all the same.

Rich and I usually have a handmade valentines day - but this year it didn't quite happen. I have been feeling so tired lately with work and starting at the gym again. I feel like I am seriously lacking in the creativity department. If anyone out there has tips for getting your creative mojo back I'd love to hear them.

Rich did however make me a little something creative for valentines - this cute little card.I didn't end up making anything but I did bring these cute little cupcakes home for a valentines day treat.On valentines evening Rich and I went for a little walk around town. I spotted this rather awesome street art in left bank arcade. A rose with tentacles - I can't think of anything more awesome for valentines day.
We finished up valentines night with dinner at Fidels Cafe - I love Fidels and I had the most delicious quesidilla. But I forgot to take a photo - opps. Hope you all had a super valentines day.