Christmas catch up and some LO...

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas day :o)

We spent the morning with my family - opening presents, had a Xmas breakfast and my Gran came over from the nursing home. We got lots of lovely presents - including money to put towards an air-con for our room. DH spoilt me with a variety of DVD's and book 4 of the "Twilight" series :o) I'm also getting a digital photo frame, once I make up my mind about which one I want :o)

Cohan & my Gran

We had dinner with DH's family. We finally got to meet and have a cuddle of our new nephew Ryley. LOL He's only a month old and already 11 lbs! What a little chubster! LOL


We didn't do anything exciting over the 4 days off - mainly just relaxing, watching DVD's, playing the PS2 and spending time with family. DH & I were silly enough to go shopping on Saturday morning - it was totally crazy!! I did manage to buy Bec & Dale's baby present though - woo hoo! The crowds were too insane for me - so we went out to lunch instead, then home again :o) I did get to Spotlight too (it was just as crazy as the shopping centres) and picked up 3x Basic Grey packs, a 12x12 scrap calender and some very cute material. After making our costumes and seeing what Kylie has been making - I have been inspired to do some sewing on a little project of my own :o)

Cohan has learnt a new word - Aunty! I've got to admit, it melts my heart when he points at me and say it :o) Mum's not too impressed - she was hoping Grandma would be the next new word! LOL

Now for some scrap-related pics :o)

My Black Magic RED swap goodies. My BLACK swap goodies should arrive at the end of January.


Scrap the Girls December entry. This is the first time I have entered a challenge on this blog. Having 3 neices to scrap - I think I will be entering more challenges :o)

White with One December entry.

Christmas Eve...

Presents wrapped and under the tree-check! Food and drinks all organised-check! Camera batteries are charged-check! Well I think everything is all organised and ready for tomorrow.

The management team had a small party today and swapped our Secret Santa gifts. DH & my Secret Santas were really pleased with their pressies :o) DH got a massive alarm clock with his footy team logo on it - let's see him ignore that alarm!! LOL I got a beautiful, gold dolphin pendant - which I absolutely love!!

I managed to finish book 2 of the Twilight series. Hopefully over the next 4 days off I will start book 3! I also got a heap of recent pics printed and picked up a few Christmas themed papers and embellishments - I am feeling very motivated to get some scrapping done too :o)

With this being the silly season and all - I'm certain I won't get a chance to blog tomorrow, so wishing you and your families.....a


Christmas countdown...1 sleep!

Happy birthday Brodie!

Hope you have a fantastic 3rd birthday!

My White with 1 RED swap arrived today. There are some creative embellishments - I will take a photo of them tomorrow. There are a few Christmas themed embellishments that will come in handy :o)

I found this blog - Cake Wrecks - ages ago and thought I would share it with you all. It has got to be one of the most funny (and horrifying) blogs ever!!

Christmas countdown...3 sleeps!

Lots of fun...

Friday night Kylie and I went to a Midnight Crop at Creative Artz and had a great time chatting and scrapping. Unfortunately I wasn't as organised as last time, so I didn't get much done :o( I did manage to start working on a couple of LO that I am hoping to finish during my 4 days off next week.

Saturday morning we went to our niece Brodie's 3rd birthday. Here's the birthday girl...

I have some great shots of her with birthday cake all over her face, but I will save them for her 21st birthday ;o)

The work party was excellent! There were lots of great, original costumes. There was even another Minnie Mouse - so we made jokes about seeing double :o) LOL I took pics of everyone, had a few drinks (work put on a basic bar tab, but I didn't feel like drinking), ate some delicious nibblies and spent most of the night socialising with everyone. The live band was fantastic (one of the girls from work is the lead singer) - I got up and had a few dances. I had borrowed a pair of mum's shoes and quickly got huge blisters on both feet :o( I soon kicked my shoes off though- what a feral?!? LOL Four of our friends went as the characters from "The Flintstones" and even made the vehicle - how cool is that?!?!





Today has just been a nice, relaxing day. I managed to download a heap of new songs onto my iPod and had read half of the 2nd book in the Twilight series. I've even downloaded all the pics off my camera! My friend -Evan- was up for the weekend and came over to show off his new car - very nice! :o)

Christmas countdown...4 sleeps!

Dinner with the girls...

Was fabulous! We went to an Indian & Thai restaurant - opened presents, chatted non-stop, shared a delicious meal and drank champagne. We then decided to go McDonalds for a coffee and more chatting. We have made the decision to have a girls night out at least once a month :o) Thanks for a fantastic night out Cathie & Kylie!

Congratulations to Kylie on the first sale of one of your aprons!! How exciting!! I can't wait to see the new totes that you have created.

I made 15 of these dragonflies on Tuesday night for the Black Magic Sketches - BLACK embellishment swap.
Unfortunately the beautiful iridescent sheen on the beads didn't show up in the photos - so I will try taking some more pics in better lighting. I was considering doing a tutorial showing how to make them...if any blog lurkers are interested - leave a comment and I'll arrange it :o) I'm waiting on the RED embellishment swap parcel to arrive - I can't wait to see what everyone has made!

I forgot to mention this last month, but I was lucky enough to receive a random prize (a $10 voucher at Scrappybitz) from the Puzzle Sketch blog. I've had a look around the online shop and will put in an order next month.

I got up this morning and wrapped up the Christmas presents and one birthday present. I just need to buy some more wrapping paper today to wrap 2 more presents and that's another Christmas job done :o)

Tonight I am going to start working on our costumes for the party this weekend - I have it all worked out in theory, but the practical side might be more difficult!! LOL I will definitely be putting pics up on the blog to show everyone :o)

Christmas countdown...7 sleeps

Christmas party costumes...

I've been busy organising our fancy-dress costumes ready for our work Christmas party this weekend. Nothing like leaving everything to the last minute to add to the holiday stress! LOL It's a "Storybook Character theme" - so after lots of brainstorming and searching the Net - I finally came up with ideas! I'm going as Minnie Mouse and DH is going as Woody from Toy Story! I was lucky enough to pick up my "ears" and white gloves yesterday (very cheaply) at the first costume shop I went to. This morning I picked up some material to make DH vest and finish off my costume.

We are nearly finished the Christmas shopping - WOO HOO! Just need to pick a Secret Santa present (bottle of Rum) and we're done!! I had to buy some more wrapping paper this morning - so now I just need to wrap all the presents sometime over the weekend.

Tonight I'm off to dinner with Kylie and Cathie - bit of a girly catch up before Cathie heads off on holidays.

Christmas countdown...8 sleeps!

Our weekend in Rocky...

Was fabulous - I'm glad that everywhere we went had air-conditioning though!! Becca loved her baby shower - lots of lovely presents, girly / baby talk and yummy food. A HUGE thanks to her sister Kerry for organising the games and prizes! There was one game that Kerry wrote down quotes from Bec as she was opening the baby presents, then everyone had to read a quote. The funny part was that Kerry told them all that it was what Bec said on the first night her and Dale were together!! Use your imagination to what some of the quotes may have been....PSML

Bec's baby belly is soooo cute - I got to feel the baby kick - definitely a soccer player in there!! LOL I got some pics of Bec's belly, but promised to let her check them out before I posted them here - so hopefully I should be able to put some up in a couple of days :o)

We also got a chance to catch up with my friend Chris. Due to being in the Army and usually posted overseas, we don't get to catch up that regularly, so I love it when we get a chance to see him! He's got a month's leave currently, so he is going to come down for the weekend next month -I can't wait!

Yesterday we went over to see my SIL Kirsty and niece's to drop off some Christmas presents. We weren't even inside the door before Cody was ripping the wrapping paper off! LOL The girls loved their presents - especially the keyboard my mum gave them. Check it out - the next Australian Idols..... LOL


Kirsty gave us a HUGE basket of homemade goodies and presents for each of us (DH & I, mum & Mike, Katie & James)! I LOVE her Mars Bar slice & individually wrapped sticky date puddings!! YUM!! We were all too busy checking out what Kirsty had made, that I forgot to take pics! LOL

I managed to get some scrapping finished yesterday...

Black Magic December sketch #1

I can finally share this OTP now that I have given it to Bec...


It's a 12x12 canvas to go on the maroon feature wall in the main bedroom.

Christmas countdown... 10 sleeps!

Look honey...I baked!

I knew there was a "Domestic Goddess" somewhere inside of me, but I didn't like the fact that I got up at 6.30am this morning to prove it! LOL DH used to be a chef, and he does the majority of our cooking - so I'm pretty spoilt. Don't get me wrong -I can cook, quiet well actually, it's just I'm happy to admit DH is better at it than me. The cupcakes look a little "messy" in this pic - but I'm going to tidy them up tomorrow.


These are for Bec's baby shower tomorrow. I can't wait to head to Rocky to catch up with everyone, but I'm dreading the heat :o( I don't know I I survived there for 7years and DIDN'T have an air-conditioner!?!? Drama queen - I know!! LOL I plan on taking lots of pics of Bec's baby belly and my friend Chris is home for the holidays - so going to catch up with him and get some more pics too.

Katie and James finished packing up the moving truck on Monday. Katie & Cohan are currently staying with us while they sort out the housing situation in Rocky. Look at this spunky monkey - riding his tractor that we gave him for his birthday. He zooms around the place in his walker - the poor dogs are nervous wrecks with him chasing them around! LOL He is also is crawling every where - we can't take our eyes off him for a second!! LOL

Nearly all the Christmas shopping is done - will get the last few bits & pieces next week. I mailed the Xmas cards today - usually I have them written and posted on the 1st December - just not my usual organised self ATM.

Christmas countdown...13 sleeps!

Kylie M Designs

I wanted to share some super EXCITING news! Kylie has started designing a range of original aprons and 12x12 totes in a variety of funky designs and colours. These products are only available at Creative Artz Cottage - so if you're in Bundaberg drop in and check them out! She has also set up a blog with all the news and some pics so if you would like to see the latest aprons - pop over here to check it out! Who knows what she might start making next....

Christmas countdown...15 sleeps!

Weekend catch up...

Happy 1st birthday on Saturday Cohan!! Glad to hear you had a great and noisy (thanks for the xylophone Grandma) day!! Can't wait to see you guys in a couple of days - very exciting!!

We had a great weekend...Saturday DH worked, so I cleaned the house and watched "Mamma Mia" (it's a fabulous movie!!) and "St Trinians". Then mum had a Xmas party for her work mates - so I set up Singstar and we sang the night away. Mum had arranged prizes for the night and everyone had to have a fake tattoo. After ruining two, mum managed to put one on, but the words were backwards!! LOL We had homemade pizza, chicken and potato bake, then yummy desserts! Kylie made the most delicious chocolate truffles - I will have to get the recipe off her and share it!

Yesterday my brother came down from Gracemere and brought my niece Cody to see us for the day. We got to spend the morning with her before my mum took her to the pool. We're going to see them again this weekend when we head up there for Bec's baby shower. In the afternoon DH had arranged for his team to have a BBQ at work (he made this decision on Tuesday - talk about short notice!!). We had it at work because it has a bigger entertainment area and it's air-conditioned. We brought some meat + a heap of pre-made salads and once again we got the Singstar out for a lovely, relaxing afternoon! DH even got up and sang twice - very unusual for him to sing in public without having a few drinks for courage ;o) I haven't had a chance to go through all the photos yet, but hopefully I will post some soon.

I finally got the chance / motivation to start reading "Twilight" last night! OMG - I couldn't put it down!! I can see the other 3 books in the series going onto my Christmas list!! LOL

The very talented Kylie has been VERY busy ! I was lucky enough to get an early Xmas present from her...how cute is this?!?!?


A HUGE congrats to my friend Chris for his recent house purchase!!

Christmas countdown...17 sleeps!

Decorations

I was trying to download a picture of the new baby - Ryley - but the computer programs won't read it. It was sent to me by mobile text then downloaded by email. No matter what I try, I just can't load it up :o( I'm not defeated yet...I have a few more ideas.

I will share some pics of our Christmas decorations though - since everywhere I look everyone seems to be in the Christmas spirit!




We even had carols playing on the PA system at work today - they were a bit sad and dreary, so we have put in a request for boppier ones. I spent part of the morning decorating around the building.

We are having a Xmas party at home this weekend and are having Singstar competitions. I feel sorry for our neighbours LOL Next weekend is Bec's baby shower and I'm still getting RSVP coming through. The following weekend is our work party with a "Children's Storybook" theme - so we are still trying to decide on what character we are going as and then organise costumes for that....Welcome to our crazy life!! LOL

This & That scrapbook shop have officially opened up across the road from work :o) Sue-Ellen (the owner) and Janene took me through the shop last week (while they were still setting up and moving things in) and told me all the exciting changes they are going to make! Poor DH nightmare has come true! ROFLMAO

Christmas countdown...21 sleeps!