Reading

I have been reading every spare moment I get - love curling up on the couch with a a good book :)

This book was a bit boring - I did finish reading it though.


I have also read books 2, 3 & 4 in the Vampire Academy series - loving this series!! It's very addictive :) I was very excited to see the books are being made into a movie!!

Vintage embellishment swaps

I realised that I hadn't shared this month's embellishment swaps - oops! The theme was "Vintage" - check out the gorgeous embellishments the other swappers from Simply Crafty created!


Next month's embellishment swap is "SKY" e.g. birds, aeroplanes, helicopters, clouds, butterflies, etc.

BTW - I noticed that I recently hit 10,000 visitors on my blog - how exciting!!

Layouts from the Retreat - Part 2

The other 5 layouts I scrapped at the retreat on the weekend :)

Layouts from the Retreat - Part 1

As promised - here are 5 of the layouts I scrapped at the retreat on the weekend.










I will post the other 5 layouts tomorrow.

Thifty Thursday - DIY garden bed

Awhile ago I mentioned that Mum and I had been working on a DIY project - and now that it's all finished I can share it :) We made this garden planter from scratch - recycling some old sheets of tin and wooden stakes that were in the workshop. It all started when I mentioned to Mum that I was going to buy some garden bed kits. After showing her a picture of them, she said that we could easily make them. I was happy to realise that I could make them bigger (longer and higher) than the ones I was looking at and even better - Mum already had all the materials at home (got to love "free" right?!?!? LOL). After working out how to actually construct the bed, it only took about 4 hours to finish! After we brought it home - I gave it a couple coats of paint (I already had the paint in the shed) and hammered it into the ground. I did want to make a 2nd bed, then get my veges planted - but Mum and I haven't had the spare time, so I decided to just get the first bed all planted. Here's the garden bed all finished (size - approx H 2m x W 1m x H 1m) with plants :)


After getting a trailer load of soil and filling up the planter this morning, we popped out to Bunnings this afternoon to choose the vegetables we wanted. We planted capsicum, celery, spring onions, roma tomatoes and snow peas.


We spent a few hours gardeining today - I planted new herbs in my herb planter, re-potted some plants and finished weeding my side garden.

Scrap retreat

I had a fabulous weekend scrapping at the retreat at Chaverim! Lots of scrapping, chatting, yummy food and late nights :) I got to meet some lovely new ladies and also got to know some of the ladies that I scrap with at Simply Crafty a lot better.

I thought I had over-packed my scrap gear - but compared to everyone else, I had packed the bare minimum! LOL I can't believe how much stuff people brought with them! I packed kits and found these very useful - meant I wasn't procrastinating (my usual habit) and managed to get 10 layouts scrapped!!! Will post pics tomorrow :) I did pack a bag of card making supplies, magazines, crochet stuff and a book - in case I got bored with scrapping, but didn't even unpack them LOL

In between scrapping up a storm, I remembered to get my camera out and take some photos.

My messy table -

Everyone busy scrapping -


I did manage to get outside of the scrapping room and go for a walk around. The retreat was in such a lovely country location - very quiet and peaceful (except in the scrap room where there was lots of chatting, laughing and music LOL).


I had a wonderful time and am already looking forward to next year's retreat LOL

Packed and ready to go...

I think I am packed & ready to go and hope I haven't forgotten anything! I took less bags with me on our 2 week cruise to New Zealand!! LOL My poor scrap tote is that full I can't even do the zipper up LOL See you all in 3 days time - hopefully with lots of LO, cards and crafty things to share :)

Bec & the kidlets...

We had a very busy and fun time with Bec and the kids :) They arrived Thursday afternoon, so we spent time chatting and catching up. Friday I had to work, but afterwards we headed to Lake Ellen Heritage Hub to play in the playground and let Connor run around :)

Saturday morning we popped over to mum's so Connor could collect the eggs, then off to the shops for some coffee and a bit of retail therapy. Then back home to do some baking - chocolate biscuits and cupcakes! That night we took Connor bowling for the first time. The lights and music were a bit much for Connor to start with - he got a little hypo and ran down the bowling lane. Craig said he didn't know whether to chase him or film him in case he slid on his stomach to knock the pins down!! LMAO

Sunday we headed off to the markets for a bit more retail therapy :) Then off to have hot chips and a swim at the beach. After a thunder storm and dark skies to start with - it ended up being perfect weather!! We finished the day by icing the cupcakes and decorating the biscuits. They headed home Monday morning - tired but had fun filled days :)

I didn't take many pics this visit - I wanted to spend time playing and enjoying time with everyone, instead of hiding behind my camera. I thought I would share these pics to show how big Connor and Bella have gotten. Don't you love Connor's "chocolate face"?!? He was having a ball taste testing the biscuits LOL

Bunting progress

Thought I would share a quick pic of the bunting progress so far. After crocheting a few samples, Cathie decided to go with a white centre and coloured border - think these will look very cute in the nursery :) These sweet little pennants are very quick to crochet (and a little addictive LOL). After crocheting up the 4 colours - it was agreed that it needed one more colour - either a purple or orange / peach, so I will leave that up to Cathie to decide. The colours are much brighter IRL - so hopefully will be able to get better pics next time.

A bit of random-ness

Saturday I had Tupperware party - how "Domestic Goddess" LOL A good chance to catch up with friends - sitting around the kitchen table having afternoon tea and chatting!

Mum went out to Blackwater last weekend to see my brother, sister and their families and to see my brother and 2 nieces competing in the local rodeo. I got a phone call from 2 very excited little girls wanting to share their wonderful news....they both won CRCA Rodeo Princess on the weekend! Cody won the Little Britches and Lacey the Tiny Tots. I'm such a proud aunty :) Mum tells me they rode so beautifully in the Barrel Race as well. Looking forward to seeing the pictures :) Timmy unfortunately didn't too well in his Steer Wrestling event, but I did get to see the funny video footage of it!! Can't wait to see him and tease him about that!! LOL

Bec and the kidlets arrive on Thursday to spend a couple of days with us - I am looking forward to lots of visits to the parks & the beach, playing, some cooking and lots of cuddling and spending time together :)

Crochet bunting

Very exciting news - Cathie is pregnant and this time it's going to be a little girl :) There has been lots of chatting about nursery themes and of buying cute pink, girlie things! Cathie brought some gorgeous pink curtains with bunting on it and has asked me to crochet some matching bunting. These are the colours she has chosen - now to make up some samples to decide if they should be one colour or multi-coloured.


I found LOTS of fabulous crochet bunting patterns online and thought I would share some :)

http://lilley.typepad.com/lilley/2010/07/crochet-granny-bunting-a-pattern.html

http://carinascraftblog.wardi.dk/2010/07/tutorial-crochet-granny-triangle.html

http://crochethealingandraymond.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/granny-bunting-remix-styles/ - I love this pattern!

http://www.seamsoflife.com/files/crochet-scalloped-bunting.pdf - I am going to make this one for my scraproom!!

I will share progress pics of the bunting :)

Vintage embellishment swap

I seem to be very organised this month - I have managed to get both of my swaps down well ahead of time :) This is my vintage embellishment swap for Simply Crafty. Looking forward to seeing what the other ladies have created!

Thrifty Thursday

I managed to pop into one op-shop this morning while out running errands. This shop is not one I usually visit (I keep forgetting it's there actually LOL) - but I will definitely be visiting again! It had one whole room full of books (bliss!) - so I will make sure I have more time to explore next visit :)

No clothes for me this time, but I was lucky enough to find this shirt for Craig ($4).


Very excited to find some cook books ($4 for the first one and $1 for the other two books). I've been a little lazy with my meals lately - just sticking to the same dishes, time to be inspired to cook a few new recipes. WIth only about 12 weeks left till Christmas - the Christmas recipe book will come in very handy :)






Another glass bowl (30c) for my scraproom to hold bits & pieces - how cute is this apple?!?!

Magazines

I have seen other bloggers talking about this magazine lately - so thought I would buy it and see why it was so popular. Wow - lots of inspirational pictures and projects :) I will definitely continue to buy this fabulous magazine!


I also brought this magazine - lots of amazing projects that I can't wait to get started on!!

Boy card swap

I was home alone Saturday (Craig had to work) - so I put a movie on and made my boy card for this month's swap at Simply Crafty. I've been itching to use these dinosaur stamps I got free with a magazine recently :) When I saw them I couldn't believe that I didn't have a set already, considering I have such a dino-obsessed nephew LOL


I still have to do my vintage embellishment swap. Luckily I know exactly what I want to make, so that's on my 'to do' list next weekend.

Thought I would share pics of the gorgeous flowers that Craig brought me "just because" on Friday :) We celebrated our 17th anniversary together on Thursday - I love that he still spoils me with flowers.