Kraft It Up

I have a stack of projects to share with you this week! First up is my LO for Kraft It Up. This month's challenge is to design your own background paper - so I used stamping and watercolour pencils.


Next up is the LO that I started working on a few week's ago when I was at Donna's - I got the sewing machine out and stitched the border and added some buttons to finish it.


Last kraft project - a birthday card...

Awards Night

Last night Craig & I got all glammed up (a big "thank you" to my mum for styling my hair!) and headed out to his work's annual Awards Night. It was wonderful catching up with everyone :) I was too busy chatting to take lots of pics - hopefully I will be able to get copies off everyone else :) This year's theme was "Hollywood" - I loved how the room was decorated - black with gold & silver stars / balloons / glitter! After catching up with everyone we sat down to a delicious buffet meal, then the awards were presented. I am so proud of my hubby - he received "Manager of the Year" again - this is 3 years in a row!! After the awards were presented, a bit more chatting and drinking, then off home :)

My Gran

It's been a sad week - my beautiful Gran passed away last Saturday night. Mum, Craig and I were with her at the hospital when she passed away very peacefully. We had a busy week - family travelling here, cooking, organising details, etc. The funeral was yesterday. It was special to have nearly all of the extended family and long-time family friends together - telling stories, taking photos, catching up and spending time together.

Thank you to family and friends who dried my tears and were there "just in case I needed them" - your love and support is appreciated.

Sew What's Crafty Expo

I spent a lovely morning wandering around the expo with Cathie and Kylie - looking at all the gorgeous things and buying a few bits & pieces. It seems like there were less stalls compared to last year :( Then we met up with another friend and had a delicious lunch at the Metro.

I brought some cute mini stamps from Helen - can't wait to have a play with them :) I did a complete clean and cull of ALL the stuff in my scrap room a few weeks ago. I realised I had a LOT of stamps that I had purchased (before I started making cards) that had never been inked (shock! horror!) - so my goal is to try and use my older stamps at least once this year!

Okay, going to go and have a nanna nap, then I'm going to a Kaszazz workshop tonight - I can't wait!

Fresh from the garden...

I love having fruit trees in the yard! The tree is full of delicious mandarins - I picked this bowl full yesterday.


Today I spent the day with Donna, first off we popped into the Career Expo at the Civic Centre. I'm glad I went along - it was very interesting and worthwhile (plus loved all the little freebies LOL) :) Then we joined Joan and Tracey for a day of scrapping!! I finally cut out (using Joan's Cricut) a title for a LO I started last year - woo hoo!! Will add some embellishments and finish it off tomorrow. I also scrapped a new LO - will get the sewing machine out and finish it tomorrow too!

Stampin' Up party

I had a wonderful night with "the girls" on Friday :) I made yummy pizzas and cooked garlic bread, lots of chatting and a few drinks. Then Lorelle showed us how to make these cute cards.


Lots of clever ideas - how to dye ribbons, using the new bird punch as a stencil, etc. It was exciting to have a play with all the goodies from the new mini catalogue. I can't wait for my order to arrive now - I have soooo many ideas I want to scrap & create with!

Owls....

I usually don't follow decorating / fashion trends, but I am finding a lot of owls around the house lately :)


I'm having a Stampin' Up party tonight - can't wait to see what make & take Lorelle has designed for us!! It's going to be lots of fun - friends, stamping, homemade pizza and drinks!!

Curtain Call - Act #29

I had a lovely day scrapping with my friend Bec and her gorgeous baby girl Talitha yesterday. I scrapped this LO for this week's challenge at Stacey's Stamping Stage.


While going through some recipes in old magazines I found a mini Easter cook book. I thought it would be nice to have some yummy goodies for afternoon tea, so Tuesday night I cooked vanilla coffee cream biscuits, chocolate tartlets and a marbled chocolate fudge (which was more like a baked cheesecake slice) - all very yummy :)

Chilli jam and a card

After a bit of research (gotta love google) I found lots of recipes for chilli jam and decided to go with a Thai chilli jam recipe. While cooking it, I was a bit worried that it would be too hot, but ended up being a sweet jam, with just enough chilli. The recipe made enough to fill 4 medium sized jars.


I started making this card for a colour challenge a few weeks ago - yesterday I finally got around to adding the sentiment and finished it :)

DIY embellishments

I've seen lots of these spiral flowers around different blogs and thought it was time to try making some....


I've had a go at making these beautiful paper roses before - this time I added spots of glitter on some of the petals.


I'm joining the banner craze...I have already scrapped a LO with a banner on it, but realised that the banner was a bit too big. I made some mini banners which would look good on either a LO or a card.

Mother's Day cards

I've been busy gardening again this week. Since my herb pot seems to still be surviving, I thought I would have a go at growing some veges. I planted some capsicum and shallots + a few more herbs. I also planted some more gerbera seedlings in the front garden - my favourite flower :)

I cheated a bit this year - I used the same layout, but different colour theme for both of my Mother's Day cards. Wish I had a nice Mother's Day sentiment to stamp on the front :(



Mum's off to Blackwater this weekend - she's going to have a cooking day with the grandkids. I packed up a bag of goodies so the kids could make Mother's Day cards - hope they have a ball and mum remembers to take pics :)

Cruise countdown...4 months!