Crafty Day

I have had a crafty day today. It's still early enough for me to do more but I just thought I'd blog what I've done so far.

The first thing I started last night and finished this morning. I'll give you a bit of background first ....

My Grandad (my Mum's Dad) passed away back in 1990, I was 12 at the time. Amazing man, awesome Grandad. He served in WWII in Egypt & Italy. He was crafty, he'd do wood turning and make wooden puzzles. He also made things out of copper and when ever we went to stay at my grandparents house he was pottering in his work shed. One of my Granddad's passions was the Ocean and the beach. He had a salt water aquarium at home and I remember collecting sea water in bottles, and looking through rock pools for teeny creatures to take back for the tank. It was always a treat to feed the fish pipis when we went around and see if Grandad had got any new sea creatures in the tank. The other thing Grandad was passionate about was shells. He had the biggest shell collection I have seen anywhere. He named and catalogued hundreds, perhaps thousands of shells. He would collect sand from beaches or get my Dad who was a diver to get sand from the ocean floor, and he would sift through it, and comb through it and find the most amazing shells. He'd look at these teeny little shells and name them and catalogue them. He built special boxes and shelves and storage for them. Something I loved about going to my grandparents was helping Grandad sort his shells. He'd get the Microscope out and we would find tiny shells in the collected sand. It was so cool. To this day I cannot walk along a beach without my head down scouring the beach for amazing sea life, shells and other treasures. I have very fond memories of My Grandad for sure. My Mum and Dad had Granddad's shell collection for a long time after he died. But when they moved into a smaller house they didn't have room for it so it was passed onto my Aunt. Before it was taken away I took a couple of items which I really wanted to do something with. And finally I have got around to doing something! So last night and today I made this tribute to my beloved Grandad.





I am REALLY pleased with how it turned out!

Now in an earlier post HERE I mentioned about the Fiskateer Online Crop for CHA. Well the crop began today and is running for the next few days with some amazing challenges and RAKs and a whole heap of fun! Most of the day I have been answering questions, commenting on photos, laughing at other people and of course crafting! And I have already won a prize!! WOW!! Exciting stuff.
Well I have finished one Crafting Challenge and have HEAPS more to go! Best hurry up and finish blogging so I can get back to it!!
Anyway ...
The Challenge was to make a LO or card with a Fairytale Theme. This is what I made ....



Materials used:
*Kaisercraft Airy Fairy Paper
*American Crafts Thickers
*Paper Doilies
*Lace & Ric Rac
*Brads
*Ink
*Glitter

I LOVE this paper and I LOVE this LO. Very proud of my efforts today!!
And now I must get back to the crafting and knock out some more of those Challenges! Come on over and join in too!!!