On Cloud 9

The gale force winds during the week have now followed by down pour of rains, crazy weather we're having at the moment. BB played in a D grade and below tournament in Masterton on both Friday and Saturday, unfortunately he didn't win. We all did go over yesterday for support and stopped by the local farmer's market for breakfast, where we picked up some cheese and veges.

Credits: Malencolie World of Sweetness kit, Franziska Altmann Lonely kit tag, Plumblossom Carnet de Voyage tag, template 8 Scrapmatters

Easy Photo Border In GIMP

I hadn't noticed this menu option before until I worked on my recent layout and played with it. It's called "Border" and you'll find it under the "Grow" option on the Select menu.

Some simple instructions as follows:
1. Select photo layer, do Alpha to Selection,
2. Create new transparent layer,
3. Ensure that new layer is selected now, go to Select menu > Border, In pop-up window set border size to your liking,
4. Edit menu > Fill with BG color (default is set to white),
5. Add dropshadow layer if you wish and you are done.

Hopefully the following screenshots are easy to follow in using this border feature. Let me know how you find it if you like, I sure found it useful.
TIP - Click on each screenshot for closeup.

Up up & away

A quick post while this is still 'fresh', yes just completed layout. After hearing how much a friend of ours enjoyed her Milford Sound scenic flight experience, BB and I made a last minute decision to take this flight too. Pilot Robert was only making the afternoon flight if we were keen to go, so we ended up being his only passengers to Milford Sound, we picked up 3 extra passengers on the way back. BB admitted to Robert that he's a nervous passenger in a small plane, to which the pilot responded he had just the seat for him next to him in the front. BB would have been happier in the back where I was sitting. The flight turned out to be glorious with a few bumps here and there, but we made it back in one piece. Thanks my hubby for doing this trip with me, what a scenic sight.

Credits: Franziska Altmann Lonely kit tag, The First kit by Poupoun

Landed @ Queenstown

Boo hoo, I am full of a cold today :( and every time I step out of bed my head hurts. All I want to do is snooze and to breath properly! Some good news today, got a txt from CJ saying the doc at the hospital is taking his cast off. Poor boy had an accident at school and broke his arm, the same one he did at age 6. Boys being boys playing a rough game in the school yard, CJ put his arm out to break his fall, instead it broke it.

Credits: Photoshop Layered Template #T0021, Franziska Altmann Lonely kit tag, The First kit by Poupoune

Skiing down Coronet Peak slopes

Wow, we certainly encountered the best skiing weather ever. No wind, mild temps and nothing but sun, sun, sun! Had pre-arranged our afternoon ski passes through our hotel ski concierge the previous evening over mulled wine and canapes as the weather looked very promising for some slope action. After the first 2 runs the body seemed to remember what to do and soon we were on the intermediate slopes, finishing up with making it down from the top of the Coronet Express Chair. As we hadn't done any pre-ski fitness, our bodies soon told us that we were just as well to do a half day pass. Hmmm, I think it's our bodies telling us that we're getting old!

Credits: Simply Yin template #114, Franziska Altmann Lonely kit tag, Winter Wonderland 2 papers & elements by Franziska Altmann, Ellie Lash & Flergalicious

Queenstown 40th Getaway Weekend

Well better late than never... Hey, I finally managed to scrap 2 layouts from our weekend away in Queenstown for my 40th birthday. Just had a blast and found out that turning 40 wasn't that bad especially when you get extra sweets from flight attendants and your standard lake view booked room gets upgraded to a super luxurious corner suite. I did have to make a decision whether to stay with the lake view room or take the upgrade mountain view room. The concierge assured me that the mountain view suite was a much better room. Turned out that our upgrade room is twice as big with seperate lounge/dining room with flat screen tvs in lounge, bedroom & bathroom. I was so in awe of our new room that I totally missed the flowers, chilled bubbles and chocolates that my hubby had pre-arranged! Forgot to mention that we didn't check-in straight away upon arrival into Queenstown, we made a last minute decision to fly over to Milford Sounds in a small airplane. Totally amazing experience flying between snow capped mountains, though slightly scary with the numerous bumps, drops & sudden lifts. Brian was definetely more nervous flying in those tiny planes than I was, but we did it! The weather was sunnier and warmer on the west coast and we managed a nice 45 min stroll, it sure was a most incredible & magic place to visit. The flight back was a direct root to Queenstown and we finally checked in about 4.30pm into the Sofitel. Over a mulled wine we pre-arranged our next day and ordered our afternoon ski passes for Coronet Peak ski field. So we were free to explore the next morning and we headed to scenic Arrowtown only 15 minutes away. It was a stunning frosty morning and you really needed your hat & gloves to stay warm. We explored the main street and discovered vineyards to visit for later. Too early for lunch we headed for a drive to Crown Rd for the lookout overlooking the valley toward Queenstown with Coronet Peak and Remarkables ski fields opposite each other. Then drove back to Arrowtown for pies and mulled wine for lunch before hitting the slopes! No major queues on the lifts, though being a very nervous skier I needed a few easy runs before hitting the intermidiate runs. But we did finish with a run from the top chair all the way to the bottom without any major spills - yeah. Then thought to finish the afternoon with a drop of wine tasting at Lake Hayes vineyard where we met Brian the winemaker who's wife was also called Maureen (and also Asian) who's the cheesemaker. I know, totally unreal! Had this gorgeous cheeseboard with wine and planned to visit Maureen the next day at the Cheesary. Sunday was spend driving to Glenorchy then back to visit more vineyards and introducing ourselves to Maureen at the Gibson Valley Cheesary. Her husband hadn't pre-warned her we were coming, but she knew something was up when we called her by her firstname when she didn't know us from a bar of soap. Another scrumptious cheeseboard and off to the final vineyard before our hour long hot tub soak at Onsen spas. Yes the same spas as on "the Bachelor" and very relaxing. In fact too relaxing as the heat and combination of all that wine tasting, I was in need of some zzz's. We missed dinner and opted for takeouts instead. Monday morning approached very rapidly and we only had a very small window of opportunity to get in a bit of shopping before checking out. We reckoned we had enough time to take a drive up to the Remarkable ski field, very 'interesting' drive as it felt we up a mountain goat track at times. The drive was worth it and we were glad we did it as we now would like to go back for a family holiday with Colin too, but we'll have to stay in cheaper accomodation to be able to enjoy all the fun.