Everyday Moments

Just popping in to share some of the everyday moments of this month :)

I signed up for another pen pal on Mel's blog and received my first letter from Saba in the USA.

My other pen pal also sent me a parcel the same week :)

I spent a few hours keeping Kylie company one Sunday while she was selling her very cute owls at the handmade markets.

Mum gave us a bag of cherry tomatoes fresh from her garden, so I tried out a new reciepe - Italian sausage and cherry tomato risotto.  Nice, but don't think I would make it again.

Found some cute decorations in the post-Christmas sales - who can say no to 75% off?!?!

I found another packet of beads and made some more DIY enamel dots

New Car

After many months of looking and researching (well Craig did the research LOL) we finally decided on a new car - a Holden Captiva 5.  We are very excited to have purchased our first brand new car!  We picked up it up today - how cute is the red bow?!?! We were a little sad to trade in our SS Commodore (Craig's dream car), but realised that this is both more family friendly and cost efficient.   

Layout

I managed to squeeze in one final layout for the year :)

Cards

I spent a lovely day with Tanya today - we made cards, had some home made sausage rolls for lunch, then enjoyed a swim in the afternoon.  

Christmas 2014

My brother and nieces came down for a week just before Christmas,  It's been years since we've seen Tim and too long since we've seen the girls - it was lovely to spend time catching up with them.  Tuesday we headed to the beach for a BBQ breakfast.  We got to watch a pod of dolphins swim by while we waited for the BBQ and the girls searched for shells.  

After breakfast we went down to the beach / rock pool to hand feed the fish caught in there.

From there we headed back to my place so we could have a swim in the pool.

Thursday night we all met up to go and look at the Christmas lights.    There were some amazing houses / displays - the girls especially loved the snow machine!

Katie, James & the boys arrived for the weekend on Friday night, so we decided to move the Christmas celebrations forward to Saturday.  Saturday morning Craig & I headed to Mum's for breakfast and then opening the presents.  Lots of excited and happy squeals from the kids :)

Saturday night we headed back back to mum's for a family Christmas dinner.  After dinner the kids had a ball running around with the sparklers I brought along while we sat around chatting.

Sunday morning Craig & I headed to the annual breakfast catch up with Cathie, Kylie and families.  We had a yummy brunch and swapped gifts before everyone headed off for a swim (I didn't get a chance to take any photos - oops!).  Craig & I skipped the swim and headed back to my mum's so we could take some quick (and long overdue family photos) before everyone headed home to Blackwater.

Christmas day was celebrated with Craig's family at our house.  Christmas morning was calls to family and friends, then Craig's dad and brother Adam came over for lunch (fresh prawns & crabs).  The rest of the family joined us in the late afternoon so everyone could have a swim before enjoying a traditional roast dinner that Craig's mum had prepared.

Pregnancy Week 20-24

Week 20
We had our much anticipated ultrasound!  After lots of measuring and checking - the sonographer confirmed that baby is growing well.  He did mention that baby is a bit bigger than 20 weeks, but only about 1 week further along than what was originally calculated.  We decided to find out baby's gender and can now share we are having a little...........BOY!!  Go team blue!!

Week 21
We've picked a theme for the nursery - nautical!  Considering our love of cruising it was perfect :)  Now we know baby's gender, I couldn't resist on buying some new outfits!

Week 22
Craig felt baby kick!!  The grin on his face was priceless :)  I'm so glad he can finally share in this amazing experience!

Week 23
Baby's kicks are getting stronger and for longer periods of time throughout the day.  He is more active during the day, especially when I'm sitting still - moving seems to put him to sleep.

Week 24
Baby is even more active - I'm feeling both kicks and punches now :)

Thrifty Thursday

Just popping in to share my last find for the year.  Technically this wasn't "my" find - Craig's mum scored this for me while she was working her shift at the op shop...

How amazing is this rocking horse light?!?  It actually rocks!  Diane got it for $5 - bargain! Unfortunately we didn't put our xmas lights up this year, but I can't wait to add this one to our collection next year!

Cards

Yesterday was the Simply Crafty Christmas break up - it was a lovely day to catch up with everyone before the craziness of the silly season.  We enjoyed a delicious lunch, Secret Santa gifts and some scrapping.  

A quick and easy way to decorate a plain gift bag for my Secret Santa.

I made a few more Christmas cards to add to my stash.

Linda created a wonderful card that I CASEd - 3 different versions.

Thrifty Thursday

In between work and doctor's appointments I've managed to pop into a few op shops over the last few weeks and find some lovely goodies :)

More cookie cutters to add to my collection 50c for the set  

Hawaiin shirt for costume party $5

Johnson jam plate & spoon set in the original box - bargain $1

I've been very lucky finding Pyrex and Fire King lately!  Another Pyrex piece on my wish list Pyrex Black Snowflake bowl $3

Small Pyrex Spring Blossom cinderella bowl $2 - now my set is complete!

Fire King bowl $2

More coverted Pyrex - scalloped bowls 50c - now to find the other 3 colours to complete the set

Bag of vintage Christmas decorations for crafting / decorating $1

2x large muslin wraps $2 each

Layouts

Shock! Horror!  I finally have some layouts to share!  My scrapping mojo has disappeared while I have been pregnant, but now I have more energy I'm hoping to get more done.  This layout has been a work in progress for months - just adding / removing bits & pieces till I was happy with it.

Monday morning Tanya came over for a scrap date and I was motivated (after some procrastinating LOL) to scrap this layout :)

Elvis party

Craig & I recently went to an Elvis fancy dress party to celebrate our friend Julie's birthday.  I love Julie's costume (she designed and created it herself)!  I did have a wig, but when I tried it on it looked more like a troll doll than Elvis!! LOL  It was a lovely night - catching up with friends we haven't seen for ages and lots of karaoke!

Handmade Owl

A few weekends ago I had some friends over for an afternoon of sewing where we all made owls.   Kylie gave us a basic pattern to use and we designed our owns from that.  I used fabrics, felt and stuffing that I already had in my stash and decided to make a patchwork style owl.   Everyone used different fabrics and design ideas to make their own - Kylie W even made a different shaped owl.  We all had to finish our owls later - so once everyone is finished I will share pics :)

Cards

At last month's Simply Crafty Cathie & I decided to make a few extra Christmas cards to add to our stash.  We decided to each find a card for inspiration, then both make our own version of that card (plus make an extra one of each card to swap - doubling the amount of cards).

Card #1

My cards

Cathie's card

Card #2

My cards

Cathie's cards