Monday Mojo Sketch 123

I set up the scrap table this afternoon and made this card for Mojo Monday sketch 123. I have been looking at the sketches on this site for a few weeks, but haven't found the time to enter. The card didn't exactly come out the way I had envisioned it - but it's cute enough :) BTW - it is a round card - it just looks square due to the background and the way I cropped the pic LOL

A HUGE change...

Two months ago I was told that my role within the company had been made redundant - it was completely out of the blue. To say I was devastated is an understatement- it took days for me to stop crying. Some of the people (who did the same job as me)in the other centres left immediately and others went into different sections of the company. I stayed on for the remaining 2 months, hoping another role would become available. Two weeks ago I made the very hard decision not to go back on the phones as a sales agent, but to leave the company. After being with the company for 7 years it was a big shock to everyone. I made the official announcement this week and finished up Friday. I was given this beautiful bouquet of flowers and 2 Pandora charms. I opted not to have dinner / drinks.





So, what am I going to do now I guess you are wondering... Well I am going to have a few months off and be a lady of leisure, before I look for another job. I personally think I'll be climbing the walls after 2 weeks though! LOL I am going to take this as an opportunity to maybe do a few courses and consider a career change.

A card, fancy dress and Australia Day!

Saturday we spent the morning with my Gran for her birthday. We took the puppies up to the nursing home and sat out in the gardens chatting. It's funny - the dogs are usually hyper and jumping all over you, but with Gran they are very gentle and quiet, it's like they know they have to be careful. My Gran has dementia - she has good days and bad days. Saturday we were lucky enough to catch her on a really "good" day - she greeted me by name, hugged me and told me she loved me. I don't know why, but I find these days harder to deal with and usually leave in tears. I made her a special birthday card in her favourite colour - purple - with more of my favourite paper roses.


Saturday Craig and I went to see "Old Dogs" - it is a hilarious movie! After that we went out to dinner at the Italian restaurant for a delicious meal. Craig ordered the "Death by chocolate" for dessert. It was like a trifle - chocolate sponge, chocolate mousse, profiterole and ganace- looked a bit disgusting, but Craig said it was delicious!!

Monday was the start of "Bush Week" at work - it kicked off with a dress up day. Check out Craig dressed as Ned Kelly! LOL The blue guns are silly string guns. Craig had 4 extra cans - there was silly string everywhere!! He's such a big kid! LOL



We had a wonderful Australia Day at Miara. Both of our mums, Craig & I spent the day fishing, relaxing and hving a picnic. I spent 1 hr out in the boat and managed to get an awful sunburn (should have re-applied more sunscreen before I went)- bright pink legs are not a good look :( We caught 30 mudcrabs!! Unfortunately they were either females or undersized, so no fresh crab for dinner :( We also had the same bad luck with fishing - all undersized. It was still a fantastic day. I did take my camera, but didn't take any pictures.

We have booked our holidays....

It looks like our trip to Tasmania will be put back another year. I will give you a hint to this year's holiday destination.....


Yep - we are off on a 7 day P&O cruise to Noumea, Lifou & Villa!! I am so excited!!! Not only is this our first cruise, but also our first trip overseas!! :o) Craig was happy, but got more excited once he read in the brochure that there is a bar in the pool!! LOL

Bookfair, Singstar and some scrapping!

Saturday morning Craig & I went to the Rotary Club book fair. I managed to find a Thai cookbook and a novel. Looks like there is going to be lots of Thai for dinner next week here after I do some grocery shopping! LOL

Saturday night was Singstar night at Kylie's!! It was a nice, relaxed night - having a few drinks and nibbles while catching up, then lots of singing! Unfortunately none of us remembered to take any pics :o( I got to spend time with Elena before she heads back to Darwin for the last 6 mths of her job.

I found some time to do some scrapping and made this card over the weekend.


Like I mentioned before, I am still playing catch up with uploading pics of my scrapping. This is the card I made when Bec was visiting last month. I love the Quick kutz bird dies!


I made this recipe box last year for DT at Creative Artz Cottage.

Paper roses...

I fell in love with these gorgeous paper roses from Tim Holtz blog. This is my first attempt - I'm really pleased with how well it turned out. I'm still trying to work out how to make the bud / centre.


With the rainy weather (not good for photography) and Xmas I am a little behind with uploading LO. I did this LO at Simply Crafty's last scrap day in November 2009. Thanks Cathie for the picture of Mitchell :o)


I found some spare time 2 week's ago to scrap this LO - I love this pic of Katie, James & Cohan!


I had a great weekend - Friday night was spent having a few drinks and lots of chatting with Cassie & Donna - I'm getting a bit too old for late nights & drinking! LOL Saturday Bec, Dale, Kez & Connor stayed overnight on their way back from a holiday in Tasmania. After seeing the pics I can't wait to go!! Sunday was a lovely relaxing day scrapping with everyone at Simply Crafty. Will finish the LO and upload pics soon.

My first published LO!!

Scrapbook Creations Issue 74 (Vol 8 No 11)



I was totally surprised - I had no idea it was going to be published!! Originally it was supposed to be published in issue 69 but after waiting for 5 months (after I received the acceptance letter), it wasn't published - huge disappointment. Then my LO was sent back, so I just assumed it had been rejected.

I was flicking through the mag at work yesterday when I spotted it - I will admit to squealing, jumping up & down in excitement and showing everyone :o) I still have a huge smile!

Recipes

I cooked more goodies on the weekend - fudge, jam drops, passion fruit melting moments & chocolate slice. I thought I would share the recipes - the rum & raisin fudge recipe is here

Tips -
*If you want more of a rum flavour make sure you only soak the raisins for an hour. For a more chocolate flavour let the raisins soak overnight.
*After you add the raisins / rum mixture keep stirring the fudge over the heat till it goes thick again this will ensure it sets.

Jam Drops
1 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup custard powder
80g butter, softened
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 tbs milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup of jam

1.Preheat oven to 180c. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper. Sift flour and custard powder together.
2.Beat butter and sugar together until pale and creamy. Add milk and vanilla and beat until combined.
3. Add flour mixture and mix together to form a soft dough. Roll heaped teaspoonsful into balls and place onto trays, leaving about 5cm space between biscuits for spreading.
4. Using your thumb, make an indent in the top and fill with a little of the jam. Bake for 15 minutes until golden. Transfer to wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Tips -
*I used vanilla custard powder
*I used the same recipe for the passion fruit melting moments. Instead of making an indent, I slightly flattened the biscuits with a criss-cross pattern using a fork. I just made a basic icing with passion fruit pulp for the filling.

Let me know if you like the reciepes or have any great reciepes you would like to share.

Happy New Year!!

Craig & I didn't see the New Year in - after a long day at work, we didn't feel like joining the huge crowds or going out in the rain, so we just had a quiet night at home. We spent New Year's day with family & friends at Coonar beach - trying to catch beach worms, making sandcastles, having a swim and catching sand crabs! Then back to mum's for drinks & nibbles, which turned into dinner and watching the movies from our holiday. What a great way to start a new decade!!