The Wiggles Wall

I've had a house full of family for the last few weeks - it's been wonderful but has meant not too much stamping, so I thought I'd show you a glimpse of another creative project I was involved in for my grandson. He is a mad Wiggles fan - like most children his age, and after attending The Wiggles Christmas concert my daughter asked if I'd help her create his very own Wiggles corner in their yard.  I don't think she realized what a huge job this would be, but I sketched out the basic layout in chalk (hoping it wouldn't rain for a couple of weeks) and we started painting. I have to admit to stepping back at that stage - it was so hot painting outside that a couple of hours at a time was enough for me.

The area was quite large, so I worked out a grid to enlarge the design and after the first day used an acrylic wash to "sketch" in the shapes. Rain was threatening and we didn't want to loose all our design! Here are a couple of progress photos.

We added more of the characters hiding in the jungle - Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus and Dorothy the Dinosaur.

 One of T's favourite characters is Captain Feathersword, and there was plenty of space left so we added him in his pirate ship. Then there was room for Dora the Explorer, her cousin Diego and Baby Jaguar. One day I went along to find Boots the Monkey swinging from a vine, and it is great fun to search the jungle to see who is lurking amongst the trees.

Captain Feathersword taking shape.

And here is a section of the finished product. We outlined each shape with black to achieve a  graphic effect - it lifted the whole design and helped differentiate the green shapes. My daughter added some fun shapes like the little bug on the leaves.

Dora, Diego and Baby Jaguar helped with the transition from jungle to water and a few judiciously placed rocks made a nice screen for difficult to draw parts of animals etc. I think we just about covered all his favourite characters.

I am really impressed with the final result - it ended up being a family affair with my daughter doing most of the painting, but being helped by her husband and "helped" by little T who is nearly 3 years old.

It will provide a lovely space for him to continue to develop his active imagination while he is outside playing as his play gym and sand pit are in close proximity.

I hope you enjoy this little diversion and I promise to be back with some more stamping projects next week.

 

The Bali Wedding

I've talked quite a bit about the wedding of our youngest daughter, so I thought now that she's seen all the photos, I may just share a few with you all. Before I go too far I want to put in a plug for the Alila Ubud resort where the wedding was held. The management and staff there were brilliant and provided us with so many delightful little extras. Apart from that, they were most accommodating and were very flexible in allowing Jaci to create exactly what she wanted for her wedding. It was a lovely setting - in the mountains of Bali, and the resort is based on a traditional Balinese Village. Add to that the wonderful cultural experiences to be had in the neighbouring village of Ubud, plus the spa treatments (that we frequented every day!) and you couldn't ask for a more relaxing holiday. Oh yes - the food was excellent!

The maids - consisting of the bride - her 2 sisters and 3 best friends. Two of these girls flew out from London for the wedding and it was so nice to catch up with them after such a long time. The setting is the private pool in our Villa - very nice!

 

The trek up to the sculpture garden - and yes she was keeping the poor ol' groom waiting! That's FOB in the background.

The setting was stunning. It is a Balinese custom to engage a "Rain Stopper" to ensure that it doesn't rain on your outdoor function.  I have to say I was extremely sceptical about this concept, but now I'm a believer. It pelted down with rain - a real tropical downpour - the day before the wedding and it rained again the day after, but on the day, although it threatened - the rain stayed away. 

This is the rain the day before looking out the back door of our villa. Unfortunately we were too busy to take advantage of the outdoor bath, and some of those fishies were so big  they were a bit scarey. My grandson thought they were pretty good tho' and wished he had a fishing rod! Back to some wedding pics.

Proud mum with the bride. And the bride and groom heading for the reception.

 

Those steps were a killer at first, but they looked so beautiful decked out with hundreds of candles. Having to go up and down so much also meant we burnt off all the excess calories we consumed whilst there. And did I mention how good the food was? The infinity pool was at the bottom of the stairs too, but even my 82 year old mum was navigating them pretty well after the first few days.  

And here is the gorgeous setting for the reception that followed. It was like a fairy land with lights, candles flowers and Balinese flags. We ate outside and had dancing with a live band in under the open air (but covered area)

And while the rest of us celebrated, it was just a bit too much for a 2 year old who was all tuckered out. So what better to do than find a cushion on the dance floor and go to sleep amidst all the celebrating and dancing. He is such a great kid and was wonderfully behaved the whole time. He was the only child at the wedding, but he still had lots of fun, and lots of attention. It's a bit sad that this wedding marked the last of our children to be married. Our family weddings are always so much fun, and for the last 2 we managed to have a wonderful holiday at the same time.  I can

recommend a format like this. Hope you've enjoyed seeing just a smidge of what has been our focus for the last few months.