Well, it's 2008 DownUnder and it's great! Janis & Ron arrived armed with cheesecake (the best I have EVER tasted!) and the lobster mornay....our prawn cocktail, potato bake and salads etc were yummy and we watched dvd's and shared much laughter reminiscing the long span of our friendship. We watched the fireworks in the distance from our deck as the wind and rain blew steadily all around us.
The fireworks were televised over Sydney Harbour and they were spectactular (as always) - even though a lot of money went up in smoke, for once I didn't let my mind go there whilst we watched them and enjoyed them! The 4 of us counted our blessings and yelled out Happy New Year across the neighbourhood and did a little New Year's Eve dance. It made me think of all the parties we had attended over the years, dancing all night as the clocked ticked down and I hope someone gets my message over Times Square tonight (thanks for the link Rosemary!). I am trying not to think of today as just another day and reflecting on what 2007 meant to me and what potential 2008 holds for so many people....come what may, a good attitude always helps!
We are expecting another mosaic artist, her hubby and little boy today so I am off to rid the rooms of the remains of last night's paaartaaay.
LOL.
Have a wonderful New Year Everyone.
Cheers
Sandy Robertson

New Year - suddenly it's at our place! Talk about rush..... I have been cleaning and tidying all day...and it looks good. Nice feeling....I have set the table beautifully----- but love my new place mats! Gigantic brown floor tiles! The coasters are very elegent Italian floor tiles, curvy weird things I was given once for mosaics and the table setting looksfantastic! Then final trim....spinkled Orsoni gold smalti all over the tableand it looks lovely awating candlelight. I managed to get the deck looking great too, candles everywhere and big drum roll, cleaned the inside of the oven door (you have to be here....)! Janis is bringing lobster and I am making old fashioned prawn and avocado cocktails. We will watch the fireworks on our big wall thing and chatter; watch some dvd's and perhaps play something. Last year we had a great deck dancing party, but this year most of our friends are taking it low key. The "tile" coasters look great with the black and gold dinner set - sort of modern simplistic! Dave rolled his eyes at first (nothing unusual).....I polished up the crystal goblets and I am rather looking forward to the evening, which wasn't planned till this morning....also Janis is a world class cook! Say no more! LOL. I always send Dave on a mission in the garden to find SOMETHING for the table decor and I love what he comes up with....LOL.....I have lovely twisted black candles and it's fun to set the table up with a twist. So it is a simple night and it made me clean the floors, spruce the place up, so it will be a good start to New Year. Wed is back to work on the big seating mosaic project and I am relishing the thought. Hope you all have a wonderful evening, whether partying or just being with someone special and or course you know you are all special here in this group. So blow the whistles or bang some saucepans (that's what dad always did at midnight and yelled yabba dabba doo....memories.......memories....).So let's bring in the New Year with hope and good will and lots of mosaic fun.cheers Mosaic Diva!

2008 is going to be great!

Send a message for New Year in the NY Times Square confetti and message on New Year's Eve! http://edition.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/12/30/confetti.wishes.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Hi Everyone,
I have not posted here for a little while as I have been so BUSY! I can't seem to remember a month flying by so fast as December 2007!

It's been happy and sad with friends coping with sick family members; a relative passing on and so many other upsetting moments but on the bright side there has been so much friendship, caring and understanding from the mates in the mosaic addicts forum and the clubDIVA forum that it's made everything so much more bearable.

Poor little Shaq - our cat - developed a blocked bowel on Sunday before Christmas and wow, the vet hospital and our vet were wonderful in their response to Shaq's misery....and Shaq bounced back to a full recovery - thank goodness.

We are getting up to full speed on the mosaic at the Karalee School - seating project and will work on it non-stop after New Year.

I have been working hard behind the scenes in the web site development and finally the shop is getting entries listed in it and should be in full swing in a week or so. The DVD is having last minute updates and it's fun and informative and will be available soon. (finally!)....

We are excited about some huge mosaic projects which may come out way in 2008 as well as the ones we are getting stuck into - the Steve Irwin Memorial Mosaic Tribute - incredible how mosaics keep arriving....and they are fantastic.

The workshop and classes at OzMosaics are being fine tuned and start again in Feb 2008 and we plan some big events with workshops in holiday times in 2008. OzMosaics will be going out west to do a centenary mosaic - which is very exciting...more on this later but the grant has been approved!

It's going to be full on busy and yet I feel recharged to get the job done! I appreciate the support of my family and friends and fellow mosaic addicts - life is so full with wonderful people to share the ride. I would hate to be an artist stuck in a room somewhere without contact with other mosaic addicts. I would be as happy mosaicking with my friends as running a mosaic business and who knows where the mosaic yellow brick road may end....It's good not to get stuck in a rut.

So to all those who have supported OzMosaics - a huge THANK YOU and I hope to chat with you soon! Enjoy New Year - my slogan is 2008 is going to be great!

New Year Resolution - Make it happen. (lose weight, get out in the caravan more). Throw away the saying "who cares?" and replace it with "Just CARE!".

Thank you for your patience with my website in progress; it's hard sometimes wearing all the hats, so to speak, but Kat my web guru will be by my side and guide me.....She has been great getting me going and I have learnt so much and I am still under a huge learning curve but hopefully 2008 will see it all come together. I have almost gone totally grey with frustration but in the end learning what make something happen is as important as the final solution...it empowers you to do more. Shirley and Maureen (Popette and Polly), Jan, Brenda, Sam, thanks for your amazing support on the phone - you do so much for me and I appreciate it so much. The gals in USA are just the most wonderful and Vicki you are such a generous soul.

The gang on clubDIVA are amazing and such personalities.....you all make my mosaic life so enjoyable! The mosaic addicts on Mosaic Addict Group are so interesting and thanks for taking time in your busy lives to share your mosaic journey and more! To the grouches and grumpybums, I wish you happiness and lots of smiles wherever you are in the world. Eat tim tams and iced vo-vos - a great sweetener any time.

Mum, Mark and Brad, Dave (my hero) thanks for being there through the craziness. I love you more than my Leps!

So if you are sitting there - get up and break something in the name of mosaic art and be happy.

Let your 'art guide you through 2008 - be brave, be daring, follow your own mosaic dreams, share the excitement of others and be pleased for them....for therein lies a secret to your own happiness....be pleased for others and their achievements for in the end, we all grow together.

hugs, cheers and Happy New Year
Sandy - Mosaic Addict Diva
www.ozmosaics.com
book in for a mosaic workshop, class or come help with a mosaic project! 2008 will see the Steve Irwin Mural start up and it's going to be incredible.

Chair progress report

Well, the mosaic chair is on the go! We started on Monday and installed the snake head and about 8 metres of body! It looks great and a new method seems to be working that allows me to make the mosaic in the studio, grout it and install it and easily cut and shape it on site...

After the next installation day (I and fine tuning a part of this idea in the next 20 metres) I will put up a bit if a snippet in clubDIVA towers...for the members to check it out.

Of course, we brought on the rain but luckily it held off enough to do the installation. I think I actually gave birth to this mosaic, wait till you see the position and antics to get the mosaic panels into place with a steel fence just in front of the wall substrate!!!!!!

On another note, my "mosaic art sucks you in" received a highy commended award in the MAANZ 30 x30 Insect Exhibition and congrats to Liz who won first prize! Yeah!!!!!

We are slowly getting the oneline web shop up and fussing with it...to get some things right...so some of the entries have been put up 3 times to get the ordering how I want it!! Frustrating....it's such a learning curve but soon I will know all! I never wanted to get this deep into it all, but now it's coming together...just never enough time. The wall is taking over my life at the moment but I am really enjoying the seat mosaic.