Floral Craft Countdown

We had no travel trips for July, so I took advantage of that and spent my time crafting. I joined different craft countdowns and one of them is Floral Craft Countdown of Craft with Sarah. For 14 days, I was crafting every day and that is quite an achievement and I am happy because I finished all the projects. Last June, I could not complete the projects in Card Making Countdown due to limited time. 

I like trying different papercraft projects because it is one way of knowing what I like and what I don’t like to do. Among the 14 projects, vases, daisy flowers, and rolled paper flowers are my least favorite because I prefer layered projects. 

Bee & Daisy Layered Craft 

Allotment Pop-Up Card 

Floral Bookmark 

Vase 

Daisy Flower 

Orchid Flower 

Flower Cards

Bluebell Woods Shadow Box 

Flowers Sticker Sheet 

Gnomes with Bouquets 

Circular Card

Rolled Paper Flowers 

Fold Out Flowers 

Giant Sunflower

Wedding and Thank You Layered Cards

Back to School is fast approaching but my son is now part of the student council so may pasok na siya. They need to prepare for the coming school year. And because of that, ang aga ko na ulit nagprepare ng breakfast. Nabawasan pa tuloy ng 1 week ang aking bakasyon.

I have limited time to blog so I’m sharing the different layered cards I made last month. My mom asked me to make a wedding card because she is attending a wedding. I made two cards but only gave her the Floral Best Wishes Card. 

Floral Best Wishes 

I used pearlescent cardstock, glitter cardstock, and Ohuhu glitter markers to make this layered card. This Floral Best Wishes Card is flying to the United Kingdom this week. Buti pa yung card ko makakapunta na sa United Kingdom. 

Wedding Cake Card 

Another Wedding Cake Card using pearlescent cardstock and glitter cardstock. 

The following Thank You Cards are from Craft With Sarah website. 

Heart Thank You Card 

Retro Thanks Card 

Thank You Flowers Greeting Card

Gnome Craft Countdown

I’m taking a break from my Sydney series because I’m still in crafting mode. I’ve been joining different countdowns this month so I have no time to reminisce about our travel trips. 

But I will share my growing collection of gnomes. I started collecting gnomes last year when I joined Craft with Sarah Countdown. I already shared some of her gnomes on my blog but I still have a long list of gnomes I want to cut if I have extra time. 

You can purchase an Instant Access Bundle of these two craft countdowns or per gnomes on her website or Design Bundles.

Generic Gnomes

Gnome Craft Countdown 2023 

I already cut some of these gnomes multiple times like Coffee Gnomes, Teacher Gnomes, and Cricut Crafting Gnomes.   

Butterflies Gnomes

Coffee Gnomes 

Gothic Gnomes  

Dog Gnomes  

Baseball Gnomes

Rainbow Gnomes

This is supposed to be rainbow gnomes but I changed the colors.

Teachers Gnomes 

Firemen Gnomes 

Cowboy Gnomes 

Cricut Crafting Gnomes 

Gnome Craft Countdown 2024 

Merman and Mermaid 

Magical Gnomes 

Camping Gnomes 

BBQ Gnomes 

Cupcake Gnomes 

Equestrian Gnomes

Superhero Gnomes 

Gamer Gnomes 

Grandparent Gnomes 

Easter Egg Gnomes

Family Puzzle

I spend most of my time crafting bago pa ako maging busy sa back-to-school preparations. This week, Bee Happy Weeklies Week 29 theme is Puzzle. I made a puzzle last year using my Sizzix Big Shot. I printed our pictures and die-cut them. 

This time I want to try something else, ayaw ko ng pictures namin so first, I want to make some cards. I already searched different sentiments for puzzle cards like… 

Love you to pieces 

Life is like a puzzle. Each piece has its own place. 

You’re an important piece of the puzzle. 

The smallest pieces make up the bigger picture. 

We fit together 

Wishing you a piece-ful holiday 

But I remembered that I recently made a watercolor card so I wanted to do something different. I searched my files and I found this Family Puzzle Laser Cut. There are 10 designs on this bundle and for my family of three, my choices are seal, fox, whale or rabbit. 

They are all cute designs but yesterday, I chose Seal. Like I said before, this is a laser-cut file and I don’t have a laser machine or basswood so I upcycled our cake box. Using my Cricut Maker, I cut the design into multiple pieces hanggang sa magamit ko yung buong cake box. Then I use cardstock for the front layer using the Draw then Cut function. Watch my short process video here. 

This looks like an easy project but it took me a long time cutting and assembling the project. I also applied Glossy Modpodge for the first layer and edges of the puzzle to protect the paper. But despite that, I enjoyed the process and am happy with the result. Now, may paggagamitan na ko ng ibang cake boxes na hinohoard ko. :)

Day 4 in Sydney Australia: Bondi Hop-On-Hop Off Bus Tour

We have a lot of beautiful beaches in the Philippines so whenever we travel overseas, I don’t usually include beaches on our itinerary. But after watching the Instant Hotel series during the pandemic, nacurious ako sa Bondi Beach. When we went to Sydney last year, I added an extra day for our Hop-On-Hop-Off tour to see Bondi Beach. 

I purchased the Essential Ticket of Big Bus Sydney Tour via Klook which is good for 48 Hours. You can read our Sydney Route here. 

The first bus on the Bondi Route started slightly late compared to Sydney Route. The first bus leaves Central Station at 9:30AM and at 9:45AM at the Australian Museum. We are fortunate that Hyde Park Inn is just a few minutes walk from the Australian Museum so less travel time.  

Archibald Fountain 

Since we were a bit early for the bus schedule, we went to Archibald Fountain and Hyde Park Barracks first. You can see the Sydney Eye Tower at the back of the fountain. 

Hyde Park Barracks 

Just like the Anzec Memorial, we were not able to visit this museum even though this is just a few minutes walk from the hotel. There is no entrance fee but we need to prebook the ticket and I don’t know what time we are going to finish our Hop-On-Hop-Off Tour so I couldn’t prebook a ticket. So we just checked the place and took a picture outside the museum. 

It is open every day between 10:AM to 6PM except Good Friday and Christmas Day. Last entry is 4:30PM because a visit would take 1 hour and 30 minutes. 

Hyde Park Barracks is a former barracks, hospital, convict accommodation, mint, and courthouse. It has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage List since July 2010. 

After taking a photo, we went to the Australian Museum bus stop. The Bondi Route bus was not on time so we left the Australian Museum, around 10AM. One complete tour of Bondi Route is 1 hour and 30 minutes but we decided to get off at Bus Stop 30 which is Bondi Beach. The Blue Route bus trip is less frequent so we didn’t want to waste our time waiting for the bus. 

Bondi Beach 

Bondi beach is one of the famous beaches in the world. It is popular with locals and tourists because of its proximity to the city. It is known for its golden sand, surf iconic waves, and blue water. This is where you can see the Icebergs, Bondi Graffiti Wall, Bondi Story Room, and Bondi to Coogee Walking Path.

The beach is about 1km long so dito pa lang mapapagod ka na maglakad. We were there during springtime so it was cloudy, windy, and cold but we did not waste any opportunity, we checked the sea water and walked on the sand. 

Bondi to Coogee Walk 

One of the most scenic ways to see Sydney is to walk from Bondi to Coogee but the famous coastal walk is 6 km and we didn’t want to drain our energy. 

Bondi Beach to Bronte Coastal Walk

Bondi Beach to Bronte Beach is a popular coastal walk with 2.5 km walking trails. You have an ocean and sandstone cliff view. It was a long walk where you could see Bondi Beach, Bondi Icebergs, Mackenzies Point, Mackenzies Bay, Tamarama Beach, and Bronte Beach. 

We tried to walk up to Mackenzies Point but we did not continue anymore kasi baka wala na kami energy na maglakad pabalik. Hehehe! So we just walk kung hanggang saan lang kaya ng energy namin.

Lunch at Grumpy’s and Bondi Kahve 

Actually, I planned to eat Fish & Chips and Calamari & Chips but we didn’t know where to go so we just ended at Grumpy’s and Bondi Kahve. We just ordered Grumpy’s Meat Lover’s Pizza for AUD29 and Nuggets and Chips for $12.50 (Kid’s Menu).

I remembered the kid’s meal that we ordered at House of Canteen, the serving was big but here, pang kids lang talaga. Hehehe! The pizza is also small too. We just finished our food and we went to the bus stop. On our way to the bus stop, we found a restaurant that serves fish, calamari and chips, etc. Waah! Kung sinipag lang pala kami maglakad, nakain ko sana yung gusto ko kainin. 

We rode the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus again and got off at the Australian Museum so we could go back to our hotel and rest. 

Australian Maritime Museum and Darling Harbour 

Even though we wanted to rest na, we still pushed ourselves to go out so we could maximize our ticket so we went to the Australian Maritime Museum and Darling Harbour. You can visit SEA Life Sydney Aquarium, Wildlife Zoo and Madame Tussauds here but we were not interested so we just walked and enjoyed the view. 

Then we walked to the nearest bus stop; we were supposed to go to Chinese Garden pa but we were tired already so we got off near our hotel. We dropped by at the grocery and David’s Kitchen for our food.

End of Day 4, we needed to sleep early because our next day's itinerary was Blue Mountain.

Read: 7 Days Trip in Sydney Australia