Simply Neutrals # Lucky 13 - My Braidwood Story

Hello my Blogland friends,

Here is a digital card I've made for you using some of the textures I found on this trip...

Just in case the message was too small to read, here it is again...

I've had such an unexpected adventure! Our car was starting to become unreliable, so we decided it was time to trade it in on a newer model. I researched and organised a trade-in at Canberra, our nearest major city. Half-way there, it broke down - a trail of radiator water followed behind me as I stopped to get a coffee. (Lucky that's my half-way watering hole!) The poor car needed a part and couldn't be repaired until the next day...

Luckily for me it was at Braidwood, an historical town full of charm, rusty ironwork and dilapidated stone and wooden buildings... How lucky was I to be forced to spend a whole day looking around and a night alone in an old hotel with a great book and  my tablet with free wifi! And I'd brought a camera (not my best one) too!

So I set off wandering around the backstreets looking for interesting textures and charm. Lots of peeling paint....perfect to show for Simply Neutrals #13!

Lovely old houses...please excuse the colour in this pic, but the blue sky was perfect!

Below is the 'Braidwood Times' building, now unused, I think. Or at least very unloved, sadly.

Lovely stonework on top of a pub...

And I came upon a lovely French antique shop called 'String', which had some old lace bits found at French markets... most beyond my price.

Outside was a rusty gate garden of wire and metal treasures...

This rusty old 'thing' caught my fancy. I decided to play in Photoshop a bit.

I overlaid the lace as a texture, and added this angel image to it, manipulated the tone a little and used some brushes from Mouritsada Stock to add decoration...

What a lovely day I had, and a few things came home with me..!

What an unexpected bonus to come out of a break-down situation. Serendipity! And I came home with a new (second-hand) car too, which we love.

Now, I'd like to send a special hug to Wen for hosting this Simply Neutrals party. You have helped me grow in my blogging and introduced me to some of your marvellous blogging friends, too. Thank you for being such a positive and friendly hostess.

And another special hug for Suzy of 
http://suziqusthreadworks.blogspot.com.au/, for her support, encouragement and inspiration.

Now you might like to go and have a look at other Simply Neutral beauty over at Wen's blog, Appleapricot.

I hope you have a great few weeks of creating and noticing beauty all around....until our next Simply Neutrals party!

Hugs,
Jesse