5 day weekends - gotta love them!

Hello to all my crafting friends and acquaintances (plus all the drop ins who have stumbled across my humble blog).  How is everyone today?

I have come back from a 3 day stay in Brisbane, where I caught the on-stage production of Wicked (the cast was slightly different from when I saw it in Sydney almost 6 months ago, which gave the Brisbane production a different feel, which let me kinda sorta experience it for the first time while still knowing all the words to all the songs - yayyyyy!), went to the Brisbane Museum and the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA).  A very exciting few days where we all (hubby and kids came with me) walked and talked and ate and watched and saw and listened and had a complete blast.  GOMA was awesome - I had to drag my DH kicking and moaning about visiting an art gallery, but it has so many interactive parts to it, he came out admitting that he had had a better time than he ever expected he would.  There was a room chock full of (over 3000) huge purple balloons which they allowed groups into, to "swim" around in.  It is a very bizarre sensory experience, to wander around in a room completely surrounded by balloons.  And there was an incredible wall of wishes.  There were thousands of holes drilled into the wall and in each hole was a ribbon with a wish printed on it.  On either side there was a small table with paper and pencils and you are meant to write down your own personal wish, roll it up tightly and exchange your paper wish for a ribbon which appealed to you.  The artist comes and gathers all the paper wishes and prints the ones she likes onto ribbon, so there is a chance that next time, it will be your wish being taken out into the world by someone who it appeals to.  My eldest daughter swapped her paper wish for a ribbon printed with "I wish I could have my own pet".  My youngest considered "I wish I was a princess" for her ribbon, but settled on another one (can't remember what it was - possibly the one about wanting superpowers).  We also managed to catch up with a friend we haven't seen in person for about 5 years, so all in all, it was a wonderful trip.

Before we left, I had to do a couple of farewell cards for a couple of people in my division who are wandering away to discover what else is out there.  I finished them off at 1am in the morning and took very quick photos of them, so there are no before and after shots, and they are a little blurry (which, considering I was a little blurry at that time of the morning, after a full day's work, is not all that surprising).

So, the first is for Kate:

The recipe is as follows:
Stamps: Bugaboo Stamps Skelekinz No Sunshine, Stampin Up Sanded background stamp
Copics:  YR000 (skin), Y26, YR14 & E39 (hair), BV04 (edging around image, umbrella & clothes), BG11 (water), W2 (bones on umbrella & clothes), C5 & 110 (shoes)
Everything else is grabbed from my stash, in a hurry :)

And then there is Michael's farewell card:

It uses:
Stamps: Paperbag Studios Wherever You Go, Stampin Up Sanded background
Inks: Versafine Vintage Sepia, Stampin Up Very Vanilla.
Paper: Basic Grey "Granola" 6x6 paper pad
Cardstock: Bazzill "Java"
Ribbon and brads from stash.

Until next time,
Happy crafting!
Bron