Little Miss Scrappy - Confessions of a Scrap Addict

Layouts

2012-01-27T04:37:00.000-08:00

I am making a conscious effort to finish my LO before starting on a new one - I really don't want to have a huge pile of unfinished LO like I did last year. So with that goal in mind, I sat down today and finished the 2 LO I started at Simply Crafty last weekend :)

This LO was scrap-lifted from this LO - I love Stephanie's blog and her scrapping style!

This LO is uses some of my rub-ons and chipboard stash that I have been hoarding for too long! I made a decision to stop hoarding my stash and start using it more this year :)

Hot air balloon card

2012-01-26T00:54:00.000-08:00

I used the tag I made for the Simply Crafty sky embellishment swap to make this Clean & SImple card. (Not sure why the sky looks green in the picture, but it is definitely blue LOL)

We spent a lazy Australia Day at home - just watching DVDs. We did have plans to go camping and fishing, but they were cancelled thanks to the constant rain we have had all week :(

Baby girl card

2012-01-23T02:09:00.000-08:00

This is the baby card I made for Cathie & Andrew. I love banners and twine :)

Pink & teal owl beanie

2012-01-22T01:21:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Cathie & Andrew on the safe arrival of their sweet little girl Rylie yesterday!! Craig and I popped over this afternoon to see the baby and have lots of cuddles - she's so tiny and beautiful :)

I can finally share the beanie I made her. I knew I wanted to make it pink and teal, but it needed an extra colour so I googled some picture ideas. I decided to add yellow as a third colour and saw the idea of adding a sweet flower on there :)

I spent a lovely day catching up with friends and scrapping at Simply Crafty today. I managed to get 2 cards completed and started working on 2 layouts - I probably would have got more done if I wasn't my usual chatterbox self LOL

Single layer cards

2012-01-15T02:11:00.000-08:00

I recently brought a magazine with free stamps and had to have a little play today :) I decided to make a few single layer cards - quick and easy :)

Okay - I cheated a little with this one and added some bling :)

In the garden

2012-01-12T02:42:00.000-08:00

I thought I would share some pics of our vege garden. Unfortunately the capsicum plants didn't grow, but the tomatoes, capsicum, spring onion and celery plants are all going really well :)

Reading

2012-01-11T01:26:00.000-08:00

I've managed to get 2 books finished lately! What a great start to the year and good way to put a dent in the HUGE pile of books I have waiting to be read LOL
I finished the last book in the Vampire Academy series - I loved this series!

The 2nd book I read was written by the same author of the Vampire Series. It's book 3 in a series (picked it up from a discount store on sale) - was easy enough to follow the story, but I now really want to read the rest of the books in the series LOL

Butterfly card

2012-01-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

My first card for 2012 :) I CASEd this card from one I found while blog hopping and I loved the die cut idea - will definitely be using it again. This is the card I gave Kylie for her birthday :)

I used the die cut butterfly as a tag on the gift bag.

Mug sleeve / wrap

2012-01-06T01:28:00.000-08:00

I made this mug sleeve for Kylie's birthday. There are a few changes to the pattern - I finished it with a scalloped edge which made it wider. It looks too big for a standard mug, but I know Kylie uses larger mugs to have her caffeine fix :)

I also stitched some drawer liner / grip onto the back of the sleeve so that it wouldn't slip off the mug.

Owl beanie

2012-01-05T01:21:00.000-08:00

With 3 friends having babies this year (2 due this month!) - I wanted to make some cute owl beanies. I bookmarked this free pattern here a few months ago. The first baby due was a boy - so I made this blue / brown hat. This was very quick and easy to make and I LOVE how it turned out - soooo cute!!

Congrats to Amanda & Justin on the safe arrival of Ryan on the 3rd January! We (Kylie, Cathie & Sue) went up to the hospital this morning to see the Amanda and the new baby and have lots of cuddles :) Afterwards we went out to lunch for Kylie's birthday. It was great to spend a few hours just sitting and chatting by the river, then some retail therapy :)

Scrappy goals for 2012

2012-01-04T01:05:00.000-08:00

After looking at the scrappy goals I set for myself last year - I think I underestimated myself LOL I'm pleased and surprised to see that I created double the amount I had set myself :)

Layouts 48/24

Cards 103/40

OTP 7/3

I'm going from part time to full time hours this year - so that means less time for scrapping. I won't set my goals too high! I'm making a change to my goals this year - I'm adding handmade projects. Looking back at my projects last year I realisedd that there were quite a few handmade items, so adding that to my goals will hopefully motivate me to continue.

Layouts 60

Cards 150

OTP / Handmade 20
Has anyone else set Scrappy Goals for this year?

Brandee

2012-01-03T02:09:00.000-08:00

Skye and Brandee are in town for a couple of days - so we got to catch up with them yesterday. It was lovely to see how much Brandee has grown and changed (I think she looks like a Cabbage Patch Kid). We gave Brandee her Christmas present and typical baby - she played with the shiny bow and wrapping paper and ignored the gift LOL She did love her gift though - lots of cuddles and chewing on it :) I took lots of pics, but Brandee was too wiggly so I ended up with more blurry pics than clear pics LOL

On a random topic - the plants in my vege garden are growing nicely. I picked my first Roma tomato yesterday - very exciting :)

Happy New Year

2012-01-01T02:56:00.000-08:00

Wow I can't believe it's 2012 already - last year just seemed to zoom by!! I will share my 2012 scrappy goals soon :)

We didn't see the new year in (again! LOL) - we went out for dinner and a movie, then crashed out by 10.30pm! We saw "Jack & Jill" - it was a lot funnier than I thought it would be and I really enjoyed it.

Today was a lazy day - we watched a DVD, then headed to the beach for fish & chips. Then we took down the Christmas tree and packed away the decorations. I hope everyone else had a fun-filled NYE and great start to the new year :)

Finished!

2011-12-31T08:54:00.000-08:00

I managed to finish the last 7 unfinished layouts over the last 2 days!!

I spent a couple of hours shopping for new scrap goodies with Cathie & Amanda yesterday morning. I'm looking forward to arranging a scrap date with the girls so I can have a play with the goodies :)

More completed layouts

2011-12-30T20:19:00.000-08:00

I'm working my way though the pile of unfinished layouts - I managed to get another 5 finished yesterday :)

Unfinished layouts

2011-12-29T22:29:00.000-08:00

I'm a tad embarassed to admit it, but I have a pile of unfinished LO sitting on my scrap desk. While I'm on holidays, I am on a mission to get them finished before I start creating any new LO. Yesterday I set up my scrap table in the loungeroom (where the air-con is) and managed to get 5 LO completed!!

In between scrapping I've also managed to grab some bargains in the post - Christmas sales. Who can say no to 50-75% discount on Christmas stock?!?1 LOL I've brought some new decorations and wrapping paper, ready for next Christmas :)

Homemade Christmas gift

2011-12-28T02:11:00.000-08:00

I didn't do my usual home baked goodie baskets or homemade gifts for everyone this year - I just didn't have the time or honestly, the motivation. I did whip up one quick gift though - a mug sleeve. I found a few patterns online, but decided to mix and match a few and created this one :)

This was a very quick and easy project and I have already been asked to make one for another friend :)

Christmas Day 2011

2011-12-27T07:39:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful and busy Christmas Day! We were up and at my Mum's house by 6.30am to open presents. Cohan had to be woken up to open the presents so he was cranky - oops! After waking up properly he was a one kid, present unwrapping tornado - there was paper and presents going everywhere LOL

We brought Cohan this drum set - he loved it and got on and started drumming away :)

I got some lovely gifts - my favourites were an iPad and a camera :) After opening all the presents Kate, James and Cohan headed off to the in-laws for the morning, and we stayed at Mum's and had breakfast.

Craig's family lunch was at our house this year. As tradition, my MIL prepared & cooked the meal (roast pork, roast turkey and vegetables). Lots of catching up with everyone, a delicous meal and watching the kids open more presents :)

All the boys and kids had fun playing with Craig's new shooting game :)

After a clean up and a few hours rest, we headed back to my Mum's house for dinner and a few cocktails - what a great end to a wonderful day :)

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T22:44:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas day filled with family & friends, fun, presents and delicious food!

Decorations

2011-12-23T16:56:00.000-08:00

I brought a few new decorations this year - I enjoy looking around the stores and adding bits & pieces to my ever growing Christmas collection :) I

I've seen the vase/ bauble idea around and loved it - so decided to make my own table centrepiece this year :)

Over the last few years I have found myself buying metal decorations - I love the look of them :) I was excited to find these 2 cute ornaments on sale at one of the dollar shops!! They are pretty big (about 20cm high) compared to my other ornaments, but I couldn't resist them :)

I also decided to have a few outside / garden decorations this year.

Play date

2011-12-22T00:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we got to spend the morning with Cohan :) We had a very busy, fun filled time! We gave Cohan his birthday present (dinosaurs), so played with that for a while. He did want to open some of the presents under the Christmas tree too LOL Then we headed to the park - lots of running, swinging and playing, then stopped for ice cream on the way home. Can you tell how much Cohan loved his ice cream?!?! He he

Cohan still had lots of energy so I set up the pool on the back patio where he splashed about. Halfway through the 'swim' I added bubble bath - lots of fun!! We ended up having a water fight (that aunty won - yay!!) LOL After some lunch, we snuggled on the couch to watch a movie and Cohan started to get sleepy. Mum picked him up shortly after and they didn't even get to the end of the street before he crashed out LOL

That afternoon I had a Christmas catch up with Donna, Cassie, Joan and the kidlets :) We were going to have a swim at Elliott Heads, but when we got there it was too windy and rough, so we headed back into town to buy fish & chips then have a swim at Joan's. It's been wonderful to have Christmas catch ups with friends this week!!

Christmas Brunch

2011-12-19T03:04:00.000-08:00

Kylie, Mick and I (Craig was working) went to Cathie & Andrew's on Sunday for a pancake brunch (our annual Christmas get together). Mitchell was very excited when we arrived - he ran up and said "Happy birthday Shandell!" LOL He's still getting used to the Merry Christmas greeting :) It was a lovely relaxed morning - yummy pancakes with different toppings (my fave was banana, maple syrup and fresh cream - divine!!), exchanging gifts and lots of chatting (nothing unusual there LOL).

Mitchell opening his present from Kylie :)

Mitchell got very involved with the whole opening presents idea and went inside and came back with a present from under the tree - oops! LOL

My present from Kylie - a sweet bird cross stitch (to add to my growing bird collection) and a Babushka doll (soooo in love with this modern design!!).

My present from Cathie - I love Women's Weekly cookbooks (perfect gift for me!!) - there was lots of looking through the book and discussions on what to bake :)

Reading

2011-12-17T02:03:00.000-08:00

I've managed to finish 2 more books :) This is the first book in a 2 part series - I really enjoyed the story and I"m looking forward to reading the 2nd book.

I've also finished reading book 5 in the Vampire Academy series - loving these books!! I've started reading book 6 already :)

Cards

2011-12-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

In between work, socialising and Christmas activities - I managed to spend a couple of hours making some cards :) I made 2 of each design - 3 for my card stash and 3 to pop in mum's card stash for Christmas.

I brought some horse stamps recently - having 5 horse crazy people in the family means they will get a lot of use :)

I CASEd the layout for this card from a card in the current Stampin' Up IB&C.

Busy

2011-12-15T01:25:00.000-08:00

As usual - the closer it gets to Christmas, the busier we seem to be :) Saturday night we went out to dinner with friends. It was a great night - lots of chatting and yummy Thai!

Tuesday night Craig and I drove around looking at the Christmas lights - one of my favourite traditions :)

I've been working on a couple of crochet projects.

I picked up this great magazine recently - lots of great crochet gift ideas!!

12 Days of Christmas - Day 12

2011-12-12T23:53:00.000-08:00

Today's my last posting for 12 Days of Christmas - I hope I have inpsired my blog visitors to do some Christmas crafting :) I'm sharing my favourite Christmas recipe - Rum & Raisin fudge (it's more like a gourmet chocolate than fudge - delicious!!!). I haven't made my batches yet - that's my plan for this weekend :)

Ingredients
60ml (1/4 cup) rum
95g (1/2 cup) raisins
400g dark chocolate,
coarsely chopped
1 x 395g can sweetened
condensed milk
50g unsalted butter

Method
1. Line a 20cm (base measurement) square cake pan with non-stick baking paper. Combine the rum and raisins in a small bowl. Set aside for 1 hour to macerate.
2. Place the chocolate, condensed milk and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan half-filled with simmering water (make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water). Stir with a metal spoon until chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.
3. Stir in the raisin mixture. Spoon into the lined pan and use the back of a spoon to smooth the surface. Set aside to cool. Place in the fridge overnight to set. Cut into squares.

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.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 11

2011-12-11T02:09:00.000-08:00

Another quick & easy gift idea today. I've seen this ribbon bookmark on a few blogs and thought it was great :) This is very easy to make and only uses a few supplies - length of wide ribbon, elastic band (I used thin elastic and tied a knot in it), die cut felt flowers, button and needle & thread.

The elastic band means the bookmark can fit different sized books.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 10

2011-12-10T04:01:00.000-08:00

Today's project is another felt decoration. I found this cute tutorial here - but decided to change it to a garland. I know the colours aren't very Christmassy, but they matched a felt "Merry Christmas" banner I brought last year :) This is a bit time consuming, but worth it for the end result.

A close up pic of one of the ornaments :)

12 Days of Christmas - Day 9

2011-12-09T01:51:00.000-08:00

Today's project is another packaging idea - decorative bottle tags. A cute way to dress up a bottle of wine (or in our case - scotch for the FIL LOL) that you are giving as a gift. These are quick and easy to create and are a great way to use up scraps :)

12 Days of Christmas - Day 8

2011-12-08T01:45:00.000-08:00

Today's project is packaging ideas - using one sheet of pattern paper (freebie in a magazine), 1 piece of cardstock and some bling. This is a great way to use those brown paper bags and tins you have been hanging onto (ahem - hoarding)!

More cards for Angels for the Forgotten

2011-12-08T01:05:00.000-08:00

A few more cards for Angels for the the Forgotten (see post here for more info) - thank you Linda, Danielle and Julie :)

I had a productive crafty day with Cassie yesterday :) I managed to get a few more projects to share for 12 Days of Christmas :) Today I managed to get all my Christmas cards written out - so I will post them off tomorrow. I also picked the last of the Christmas presents - so will wrap them up and pop them under the tree tonight. I think I am all organised for Christmas now :)

12 Days of Christmas - Day 7

2011-12-07T01:57:00.000-08:00

Todays project is gift card holders. Gift card holders a a nice way to make giving a card a little more personal. I've made 3 different types.

Gift card holder #1.

Gift card holder #2.

Gift card holder #3.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6

2011-12-06T02:12:00.000-08:00

Today's project is this cute felt owl decoration :) I found this pattern a few months ago while I was blog-hopping and bookmarked it thinking it would be a good idea for a Christmas or nursery decoration. This was a quick and easy project - it took me less than an hour from start to finish (and that included finding instructions on how to do a blanket stitch LOL).

Pop over here for the pattern / instructions.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 5

2011-12-05T01:25:00.000-08:00

Today is another quick and easy gift idea - something nice to have on hand in case you need a gift for unexpected visitors.

Spice Christmas Cookies

In the jar -
1/2 cup plain flour
1/4 brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp mixed spice
(Either layer the ingredients or place in jar and shake to mix together)

On the tag -
35g unsalted butter, chopped
2 tbs golden syrup
Icing for decorating

1. Line baking tray with baking paper.
2. Pour ingredients from jar into a bowl.
3. Using fingertips, rub in butter until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
4. Add golden syrup and mix to form a soft dough.
5. Turn onto a lightly floured board and knead for 1-2 minutes , until dough is smooth. Cover with cling wrap and chill for 30 mins.
6. Preheat oven to 180 degrees (160 degrees fan). Roll dough on a lightly floured until 5mm thick.
7. Cut shapes from dough. Place on prepared oven trays, allowing room for spreading. Chill for 10 mins.
8. Bake for 10 mins till golden brown. Cool on trays. Decorate cookies just before serving.

To decorate the jar - cut a piece of material approx 3cm larger than the lid. Place
over lid and hold in place with a rubberband. Tie tag and cookie cutter on with a piece of string.

You can use your own favourite biscuit reciepe or get more recipes online - just google "cookies in a jar reciepes". I found a few delicous recipes - here, here, and here.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 4

2011-12-04T23:21:00.000-08:00

Today's project is this cute candy cane reindeer :) This is a quick & easy craft for the kids to make. These are a sweet gift idea for the kids to give to friends or they look cute hanging on the Christmas tree!

Supply list:
*Candy canes
*Pipe cleaners
*Googly eyes
*Pom poms
*PVA glue
*Scissors

Cut the pipe cleaner into half, then cut 1 piece in half again.

Twist each short piece around the end of the longer piece and fold up to form antlers.

Twist antlers around candy cane.

Glue on 2 googly eyes and a pom pom nose and it's finished :)

The socialising has begun :)

2011-12-04T01:35:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to Craig's work Christmas party - a BBQ at the manager's place. It was nice to meet Craig's work mates, have a few drinks and delicious meal and LOTS of laughing! We didn't get home till 1am this morning.

Today was the Simply Crafty Christmas party - another lovely day catching up with everyone. Lots of chatting, hardly any scrapping (LOL), delicious lunch and swapping of Secret Santa presents. Thank you to my lovely Secret Santa for the Christmas fridge magnets and ribbons :) I did manage to get one card finished (inspired from one I saw in a recent magazine) and work on my 12 Days of Christmas projects.

When I got home I found Craig had set the tree up - so I spent the rest of the afternoon decorating the tree and around the house. It's starting to look a lot like Christmas :)

12 Days of Christmas - Day 3

2011-12-03T21:56:00.000-08:00

Today I'm sharing a recipe :) These will be nice to take along to Christmas parties or pop some in a cellophane bag and add a bag topper to make a quick gift.

Cherry Ripe Balls

1 can condensed milk
2 cups desiccated coconut
375g packet dark cooking chocolate
1/2 packet milk Arrowroot biscuits
1 packet red glace cherries
1 packet vanilla cake mix
Cochineal food colouring
Optional - Malibu / cherry liqueur.

1. Bake vanilla cake according to instructions on packet. Set aside to cool.
2. Process biscuits to fine crumbs.
3. Crumble half the cake into a bowl. Add biscuits, condensed milk, diced cherries , a few drops of cochineal , Malibu / liqueur into bowl and mix well.
4. Form mixture into balls. Place on a tray and put into the freezer for approx an hour, until set.
5. Melt chocolate in a bowl over simmering water.
6. Using a toothpick to hold the balls - dip into chocolate and cover completely.
7. Place chocolate covered balls back into fridge to set.

**Instead of adding vanilla cake you can use 1 packet of milk arrowroot biscuits. I use cake because it makes the mixture moist. I used the other half of the cake for my rum balls.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 2

2011-12-02T01:18:00.000-08:00

Day 2 and I'm sharing a few card ideas :)

I saw this cute idea on Linda's blog.

I also CASEd this card, but can't find who originally created it.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 1

2011-12-01T11:28:00.000-08:00

Welcome to day 1 of my 12 Days of Christmas series :) I thought I would kick things off by sharing a Christmas planner. I made this planner for the first round of Scrapbook Apprentice last year. There are different sections - calendar (to keep track of social events), To DO list / notes, crafts (blank pages to sketch ideas or glue pictures in), cards (list names & addresses and a pocket to store stamps), gifts (names and gift), cooking (shopping list and recipe cards) and receipts (envelop to store receipts). It's a great way to keep everything organised! The planner is 6x6 - so it's perfect size to pop into your handbag and keep handy while you are out and about :)

Another day of Christmas cooking

2011-12-01T00:50:00.000-08:00

Another lovely RDO spent at mum's - doing some more Christmas cooking and making gift tags :) We made meat & vegetable pasties and cherry ripe balls! We have lots more cooking ideas, but are both running out of room in our freezers LOL

A few more gift tags to add to the stash :)

12 Day of Christmas

2011-11-27T02:27:00.000-08:00

I'm going to try something new this silly season and do a 12 Days of Christmas series! I will be sharing a variety of quick & easy Christmas crafts, cooking and sewing projects. I'll post one project a day, starting on the 1st December :) Feel free to leave any suggestions or requests!

Christmas cooking and gift tags

2011-11-26T01:22:00.000-08:00

Thursday was our weekly Christmas cooking day at mum's. We made bacon & garlic sausage rolls and choc mint biscuits. There were more biscuits, but Craig discovered them and insisted on having lots of "taste tests" LOL He doesn't want to save them for Christmas, so think I might have to bake another batch he he

After we cleaned up from all the baking, we started working on some gift tags. We decided to keep them simple - using pre-cut tags, a packet of stickers, some Christmas paper packs I got free with magazines recently and stash left over from last year.

Clear mini album - Our Trip

2011-11-24T23:22:00.000-08:00

As I promised yesterday - here is my 6x6 clear mini album I created for the final round of Scrapbook Apprentice :) **Click on picture to enlarge**

Layouts and acetate OTP

2011-11-23T23:27:00.000-08:00

I realised that I hadn't shared some layouts and OTP that I submitted for the last round of Scrapbook Apprentice. I ended up scrapping 3 LOs - this was my main LO that I submitted (they printed a different LO though) with step-by-step instructions.

The third LO that I created - working with acetate was fun and very different to using paper / cardstock for a background!

After making my clear mini album (sharing pics tomorrow) I had a bit more of a play with the acetate and made some small OTP :) A tealight holder -

A key chain. I had a go at making paper beads - very easy and I will definitely make more :)

An acetate pillow box

"Sky" embellishment and "Love" card swaps

2011-11-21T00:06:00.000-08:00

I had a lovely day at Simply Crafty yesterday. As usual, there was more socialising then scrapping, so will have to finish my LO's sometime this week :) Here are the "Sky" embellishments - always fun to see everyone's interpretation of the theme!

The card swap theme was "Love" (eg wedding, engagement, anniversary, etc). I ran out of time to come up with a new idea, so I CASEd a wedding card I had done a few months ago - you can see it in this post.

My card - I made it in pink, purple and blue again

Lorelle's card

Helen's card

Linda's card

Rachel's card

Sandra's card

Danielle's card

Cross stitch

2011-11-18T10:05:00.000-08:00

Kylie brought me this cute cross stitch kit a few months ago. I stitched it up in one afternoon - I love quick & easy projects :) It took me ages to find the right sized square frame, but I managed to find this one at a dollar shop last week! How sweet is this?!?!

Just a quick share - another pony card :)

Thrifty Thursday - DIY garden markers

2011-11-17T09:44:00.000-08:00

While surfing the net I found a great idea for painted rocks used for garden markers! I thought they would be perfect for my little garden bed :) On our Sunday drive we found some rocks the right shape and size, then gave them a few coats of matte spray paint. After that I drew the pictures and words in pencil (don't look too closely - I'm not the best artist LOL). Then I just painted over the pencil marks with acrylic paints.

And here are there the markerrs in my garden bed :)

Sky embellishments

2011-11-16T21:32:00.000-08:00

This month's embellishment swap at Simply Crafty is "Sky" eg clouds, birds, planes, etc. I knew exactly what I wanted to make - kites!!

After I finished making the kites, I decided to make some tags as well. I think these hot air balloon tags turned out really cute :)

Sunday drive

2011-11-13T01:59:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful day today :) We started out having a wander around the PCYC craft markets, then headed off to have fish & chips at the beach. It was such a lovely day, that we decided to go for a drive around the beaches :) We stopped in at the Mon Repos Information Centre and had a look at the turtle displays (we will be going to see the turtles being hatched in Jan-April!).

The gorgeous beach at Mon Repos!

Then onto Burnett Heads for a bit more sightseeing, then the Port and then back home. What a lovely way to spend a few hours on a Sunday :)

Christmas cooking

2011-11-10T01:36:00.000-08:00

Mum and I did a bit more Christmas cooking today to add to the freezer. We made 3 batches of rum balls and 2 batches of passionfruit biscuits - yummo! We just go halves in the costs of the ingredients and then share the goodies.

Mum's heading to Blackwater next weekend for my nieces' birthday, so no cooking next week. We will be cooking up a storm again the week after - we are going to make choc mint biscuits and sausage rolls!

Cards for "Angels for the Forgotten"

2011-11-09T23:58:00.000-08:00

Thought I would share the cards donated so far for "Angels for the Forgotten" (see this post)! I went through my stash and found about 15 birthday and Christmas cards to donate. Thank you to Bev, Margaret, Lorelle and Danielle for also donating cards :)

Last week Tanya came over for a card-making day, so I made another 3 cards to add to the pile :)

Cards

2011-11-08T00:17:00.000-08:00

On Sunday Craig and my BIL Adam took the boat out for a run and a bit of fishing (they didn't catch anything though LOL), so I took the opportunity to put on some DVDs and do some card-making. I used the new Stampin' Up! catalogue for inspiration and managed to get 4 new cards made :)

Just thought I would share the cute (and quick) way I packaged up some cards for Mum's birthday. I usually make a bag topper, but ran out of time so thought I would still package them in cello bags, but tie with ribbon and a cute gift card.

Stampin' Up! workshop

2011-11-07T23:51:00.000-08:00

Saturday I had the girls over for a fun filled, noisy and busy 2 hour card workshop :) Thank you Lorelle for such a great workshop - we all had a great time and loved the cards that we made :)

Bunting progress

2011-11-04T04:20:00.001-07:00

I've been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to work on my crochet project. I finished the triangles a few weeks ago (Cathie went with a nice purple for her 5th colour), but hadn't stitched them together.

Yesterday I stitched the first row (5 triangles) together - very quick and easy to do! How cute is this bunting?!?!

I'll finish the other 2 rows over the weekend - then will start on a new crochet project :)

New haircut

2011-11-02T04:24:00.000-07:00

After much indecisiveness about styles and length - I finally got my hair cut and I love it!! I used a new hairdresser (always a scary thing) and she was amazing - she took my vague description (layered bob) and a photo and cut my hair exactly how I wanted it :) I didn't get a chance to take a pic after I left the hairdressers (when your new hairstyle always looks the best LOL), but took a few self-portrait photos on my phone yesterday while I was all dressed up for Melbourne Cup Day :)

Today Mum and I started our Christmas baking! We made 80 spring rolls - yummo!! We went halves in the ingredients - it worked out to be $11 each for 40 spring rolls!!

They are now in the freezer - ready for Christmas entertaining :) We are making rum balls and passionfruit biscuits next week.

Angels for the Forgotten

2011-11-01T03:05:00.000-07:00

My friend Kimmie is a very generous and kind-hearted woman who is involved with the local branch of Angels for the Forgotten.

A little bit about Angels for the Forgotten -

Angels for the Forgotten is dedicated to giving dignity, hope and joy to our community's most vulnerable who are entering foster care or living in crisis. Our aim is to put a little bit of Sparkle in to otherwise bleak and traumatic situations. Pure kindness and small gestures, combined can mean the difference between hope and despair. We believe in bringing back the personal touch to an otherwise cold and impersonal systematic society.Our aim is to instill the feeling "somebody does care" in to the hearts and minds of those women and children , who feel alone and isolated in this world. With your help we can all "real change" ,"a real impact" and a "real difference".

Kimmie recently contacted me with a request - she wanted to know if I could ask friends and the blogging community for some help. She would like some Christmas cards or birthday cards to give to the children that they work with. So readers, if you can help by making some cards that would be a wonderful gesture. I am hoping to get at least 200 cards - 100x Christmas cards and 100x birthday cards. Can we do it? As many cards as you can put together, or even find in your stash, would be a help. If you would like to help please email me at littlemissscrappy@bigpond.com.au for mailing details. Every card you make will help towards making the goal of 200.

Male card swap

2011-11-01T00:51:00.000-07:00

I am really behind in posting my swaps :( These are the cards from last month's male card swap. I really struggle with male cards - I think it's because I feel limited with colours and embellishments. It's great to see what everyone else has created and boosts my card stash :)

Lorelle

Katie

Dilys

Linda

Paula

Pauline

This month's card swap is "Love" - engagment, anniversary, wedding, etc.

Reading

2011-10-31T01:08:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-30T02:31:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

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

Layouts from the Retreat - Part 1

2011-10-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-27T03:53:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-25T03:22:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-10-20T22:51:00.001-07:00

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...

2011-10-18T03:07:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-13T04:04:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-10T05:07:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-02T02:47:00.000-07:00

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.

Thrifty Thursday

2011-09-29T23:50:00.000-07:00

I have a few more goodies to share this week :) Another garage sale bargain from mum - $2 for this large wicker basket.

This lovely white shirt for $4.50. I took a dozen or so pics of this shirt on a hanger, but it just didn't show up against the white cupboards / walls, so I got Craig to snap a quick pic of me wearing it today :)

I also got 2 t-shirts (brand new - with tags still attached) for $4 each.

I also managed to buy this small doiley (50c) and cute shaped buttons (40c a packet) last week before I went to the movies with Kylie.

Wedding anniversary

2011-09-26T02:43:00.001-07:00

We had a lovely weekend - Friday night we babysat Brandee. She slept the entire time, except for 15 mins before her parents came to pick her up. Craig got to see her being all chatty, giggly and smiley - she changes so much every time we see her :) Saturday was boring - Craig worked and I did housework. Sunday was our 12th wedding anniversary :) We are having dinner at our favourite restaurant next weekend - can't wait! We had a lovely day - markets in the morning (some new scrap goodies and fresh donuts - bliss), then off to the beach for fish & chips! Katie, James & Cohan are home for a week, so they joined us and so did mum. Cohan braved the water, but it's still a bit too cool for me LOL We brought Cohan a kite to fly, but it wasn't windy enough to play with :(

Craig and I had agreed to exchange anniversary gifts / cards at dinner next weekend, but Craig surprised me by telling me to look in the glove box as we were driving to the beach...and I found this in there - a Babushka doll Pandora charm <3

Challenges

2011-09-24T23:03:00.000-07:00

As promised...here are the other 2 layouts I finished this week. I am entering them in the Scrap the Girls and Kraft It Up challenges this month.

Scrap The Girls criteria - Clips (bulldog, paper clips, etc).

There is a cute blue bulldog clip at the top of my layout.

Kraft It Up criteria - Fabric and sewing.

I used one of the sweet denim flowers I made for last month's Simply Crafty denim swap. I also cut the bracket out of the leftover red spooty material and I got the sewing maching out to add some zig-zag stiching around the patterned paper.

Movie, friends and a layout

2011-09-23T23:28:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning Kylie & I finally went to see the final Harry Potter movie!! It was sooo good - definitely worth the wait :) I got to do some op-shopping before I went to the movies - will share pics of my goodies next week. After the movies Kylie and I popped into Spotlight for a look - great way to finish a fun morning out :)

Thursday morning I popped over to see Cassie and the kids for morning tea and chat about crafty things - bliss :) It seems that Cassie has also been bitten by the crafty-bug too and has been busy making lots of different projects. Pop over to her blog and check out her crochet owl :)

After all the 'crafty' talk I was feeling motivated and finished 3 layouts that were sitting on my scrap desk. I managed to get one layout photographed before the camera batteries died - so I will share the other two tomorrow.

Get well card

2011-09-20T00:47:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post - I made this card a few weeks ago, but forgot to share. This is a CASE (with some changes) of a card I saw in a mag I was flicking through at the newsagents. It inspired me that much that when I got home, I went straight to my scrap room and made one.

I'm still reading every chance I get - I've managed to read "The Goddess Test" and the first book in the "Vampire Academy" series. The Goddess Test is based on Greek mythology and was a good read. I felt it ended a bit abruptly which was disappointing. I don't know if it's so they can bring out a second book. I couldn't put Vampire Academy down - it was a great book! I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.

Crochet owl

2011-09-18T04:11:00.000-07:00

I love have 2 days off in the middle of the week - it gives me time to work on various projects. I finished working on one of my crochet patterns this week - a cute owl! Craig said he didn't think it looked like an owl - he's not sure what it looks like! Hmmmppphhh men, they have no imagination! LOL It was a lot bigger than what I thought, but very quick to stitch up and put together. I found the pattern here.

I have started working on a quilting / patchwork project - it's going along slowly :) I'm using the bag of material I brought from the op shop + some red spotty material I already had in my stash - I love the colour and pattern combo!

Thrifty Thursday

2011-09-15T05:15:00.000-07:00

I have a few lovely goodies to share today :) As I've mentioned before I ask my mum to keep an eye out for specific things when she goes to garage sales. On Sunday she went to a garage sale and managed to find some thing on my "wish list"! A bookshelf for my scraproom for only $10!!

I'm still slowly reorganising my scraproom and the new bookshelf will mean less things crowded on my other bookshelf or sitting on the floor! Once everything is all sorted I will be sharing pics :)

She also managed to find this cute basket for 40 cents.

I popped into one op-shop this morning - just brought buttons (40 - 50 cents a card), some die cuts ($1.00) and "Eat Pray Love" ($3.50).

Flower card and male embellishment swaps

2011-09-14T02:50:00.000-07:00

I spent a lovely afternoon scrapping the friends at Simply Crafty last Sunday. We swapped our flower cards and male embellishment swaps. It's always lots of fun checking out what everyone created :) You can see my card in this post. Here are the other fabulous cards -

Sandra's

Lorelle's

Dilys'

Linda's

Next month's card swap theme is male (boy or man).

Here are this month's male embellishment swaps -

Next month's embellishment swap is vintage. Looking forward to seeing what everyone creates :)

ETA - I had Linda & Dily's cards mixed up - but have corrected that now - sorry ladies :)

I love Spring

2011-09-13T15:24:00.000-07:00

The warmer weather has me feeling energised and motivated lately! I've started my spring cleaning, doing a bit of redecorating and been outside doing lots of gardening. I also have a few projects on the go too! I have started working through the (large) list of crochet projects I have bookmarked - can you guess what these are?!? LOL

I'm also still working on my DIY project and a revamped item - will share pics and details when it's finished :) I've been using spray paint, which is something I normally don't use - so have been having lots of fun. Need to be a bit less messy when using it though - there are green and white painted patches of lawn LOL Once I have finished these projects I'm going to start working on a heap of sewing projects...like I said, I'm feeling motivated :)

Check out this cutie pie that I got to babysit on Saturday!!! I can't believe how much Brandee's growing - she's laughing and chatting lots :)

Cute new storage and a layout

2011-09-10T00:45:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this cute new stand I brought to store my wooden stamps, Glimmersmists, Smooch and Twinkling H2O. I found it in Target a few weeks ago (on sale - bargain) and fell in love with it. How can I not love the white & teal colour combo and the flower pattern on the sides?!? It's a metal cupcake / sandwich stand, but I thought it would be better in my scraproom LOL

A layout to share :) After I finished my embellishment and card swap for Simply Crafty this month, I finished scrapping this layout!

Quilled rose tutorial

2011-09-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

I shared this tutorial with the ladies at Simply Crafty last month and thought I would share it with my blog readers :)

Tools - Flower punch, scissors, quilling tool, glue.

Step 1 - Punch out 5 flowers. These flowers are approx 1 inch.

Step 2 - Flower 1 - Rub in circles on a foam mat, using a stylus or bottom of quilling tool - until petals start to curl up.

Step 3 - Flower 2 - Cut between 2 petals to centre of flower.

Step 4 - Flower 2 - Glue together the petals either side of cut. Turn over and snip of pointed centre of flower.

Step 5 - Glue flower 2 into centre of flower 1.

Step 6 - Flowers 3-5 - Cut between 2 petals and cut centre out of flowers as shown in picture. It's quicker and easier to cut all 3 flowers at the same time.

Step 7 - Glue flower ends together to make a spiral shape.

Step 8 - Put quilling tool through centre of spiral and twirl around quilling tool. If you don't have a quilling tool, you can just roll the spiral from the top using using your fingers (I've done this a few times when I can't find my quilling tool LOL).

Step 9 - Using a generous amount of glue (it will be hidden by the flower) adhere the flower to centre of flower 2.

Let me know if you try the tutorial and how it went :)

Quilled rose cards

2011-09-08T04:56:00.000-07:00

This month's card swap at Simply Crafty was a "flower" them. There were 5 participants this month. I used some pre-embossed card blanks (I love these!) and did some quilling. I don't have a big colour range of quilling papers, so I made 2 yellow, 2 pink and 1 purple card. I will let the swappers pick what colour they want.

Pop back tomorrow - I will share a tutorial on how to make the quilled roses :)

Male embellishment swap

2011-09-07T04:35:00.000-07:00

This month the Simply Crafty embellishment swap theme is "male". I made these tags / patches by using cutting some artists canvas sheets to size (I brought a A5 sized pad of 10 sheets from a dollar shop - going to make a lot more embellishments with them), then used distressing inks and sponges to colour the tags. Then I stamped the car image. To shabby it up a bit more - I roughed up the edges with scissor blades.

I made a couple of spare ones (always handy to have some ready to make male cards/LO) and already used one on the male birthday card in the previous post.

Another fun ffilled weekend

2011-09-05T03:39:00.000-07:00

The girls came over Saturday night for pizza and scrapping. It was great to catch up with everyone - lots of chatting and laughs :) I managed to get my SImply Crafty male swaps completed and make a card. This card is a CASE of a card I saw here.

I was still feeling inspired the next morning, so got up and made this card.

Craig and I spent Sunday afternoon with Cassie and family at the rugby league grand finals. Donna's team made the grand finals - so we went along to be her own personal cheer squad LOL I'm happy to say they won - woo hoo!!!

Craig's dad came over for dinner on Sunday night for a delicous roast dinner to celebrate Father's Day.

I also managed to finish reading another book. I have seen the movie, and the book was a bit different, but still as great as the movie :)

Baby boy card

2011-09-02T04:13:00.000-07:00

Just a quick card share :) Mum needed a baby card to send off with a present - so I quickly made this card last week.

Thrifty Thursday

2011-09-01T04:17:00.000-07:00

As promised...here are the rest of the lovely goodies I purchased last time I went op-shopping.

I love this blue porcelain dish :) It will be good for buttons or bits & pieces in my scrap room. It was my most expensive purchase for $5.

Another doiley - $1.20. I have plans to use this on a OTP / layout idea I recently saw while blog hopping.

Some sheet music - $1.50 each. The Moari and Prisoner theme music is for me and the other music is for Mum. I've played piano most of my life, but have been very slack over the last few years. So I am hoping some new music to learn / play will inspire me to start playing again.

And...this gorgeous shirt for $4.50 - fits perfectly!!

Have you found any great bargains lately? Don't forget to pop over and check out Janelle and Mardi's Thrifty Thursday posts :)

I spent a busy afternoon with Mum today - working on a new DIY project that is nearly finished. Can't wait to share pics :)

Portable chicken coop

2011-08-31T04:24:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this very clever idea that my mum came up with :) Mum decided she wanted some chickens, but wanted a portable coop. After a bit of research and chatting with friends, they (mum and Mike) made this!!

Here's the back of the coop - you lift the lid and the laying boxes are just inside.

Lastly, the chickens!! They are not laying just yet, but hoping to have fresh eggs in a few weeks time :) I want mum to name them - cause you can't eat something you have named LOL She thinks "Hot & Spicy", "KFC", etc are great names LOL

Female birthday card swap

2011-08-30T01:12:00.000-07:00

This month's card swap at Simply Crafty was much more successful than last month's :) A big thanks to everyone who joined in. Our theme was "Female birthday" - I love every one's cards!

My card - I struggled with this card. I had the pattern paper, twine and buttons on the card base, but could not work out what image to use. After going through my stamps about 10 times - I finally had a brainwave to just use a sentiment and let the pattern paper be the main feature.

Lorelle's card

Linda's card

Helen's card

Dilys' card

Sandra's card

Next month's card swap theme is flowers - can't wait to see what everyone creates!!

Denim Swap

2011-08-29T00:58:00.000-07:00

The embellishment swap theme for Simply Crafty this month was denim. It seems most of us had the same idea about denim flowers :)

Next month's theme is male embellishment - I already have a few ideas on what I want to make, so will start them this weekend.

I'm baaaaaacccccckkkkk!

2011-08-28T00:32:00.001-07:00

Between the laptop battery dying and then the recharger dying - I've been without the WWW for a week and I have been suffering from major withdrawals LOL I had lots to share too - so will be posting every day this week :)

Last Sunday we went to Mitchell's 2nd birthday party :) It was a lovely, relaxed morning - Cathie and Andrew set up a delicious brunch and we all just sat around chatting and watching the kids playing on Mitchell's amazing new swing set that Andrew made.

Cathie asked me to make Mitchell's cake again this year. Love how this cake turned out and the birthday boy seemed to love it too :) I also made a dozen cupcakes - just decorated with green icing and coconut to match the cake.

Mitchell's birthday card (please excuse the dodgy late night photo quality LOL).

Look who we got to babysit on Friday night....Brandee :) Look how big she's gotten!! I can't believe she's 6 weeks old already.

Thrifty Thursday

2011-08-18T21:44:00.000-07:00

I'm joining in with Mardi and Janelle again this week :) I managed to get a few lovely goodies, so I will share some today and share the rest next Thursday. I picked up these 3 bags of 18x18cm patchwork squares for $2.00 each. There is a lot of material in the bags - what a great bargain!! I'm going to use the material and have a go at making patchwork journal covers.

More books - $1.50 each for the top 2 books and $2.50 for the bottom book.

Books and beanies

2011-08-17T00:50:00.000-07:00

During our long trip to Cairns, I kept busy reading, crocheting and playing games on my iPhone :) I read 2 new books - I am so glad that I can read in the car without getting carsick! I especially loved "Fairy Bad Day" - great story line and a lot of LOL moments :) I will definitely read this one again!!

"Spellbound" was also a great book - it was promoted for fans of the "Fallen" series and I enjoyed the similarities and the fact that it was still a very different storyline. I would recommend both books :)

In between reading and playing games, I also crocheted 3 beanies - I know it's getting too warm for beanies now, but these are being sent to some friends in Holland ready for their winter. This is the first time I've used variegated wool - I love how they turned out :)

Now that it's getting warmer I have started looking around for some toys to crochet - I have a few patterns bookmarked and Kylie has found a heap of cute patterns too :)

Wedding decorations and favours

2011-08-16T04:02:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share some pics of the wedding decorations. The champagne breakfast had these beach themed centrepieces.

The evening reception was more formal (still with a beach theme though). The centrepieces were simple, but gorgeous :)

These were the place card holders - love them! :)

Something very different for the wedding favours - female guests got drink mixes and cocktail shakers and the male guests got a gumball machine. All with a handwritten Thank You note :)

A quiet weekend

2011-08-15T03:16:00.000-07:00

After the long road trip last weekend and still feeling a bit sick, we had a quiet weekend. We did go and see "Hangover 2" at the movies on Friday night (love date nights!) - it was hilarious!! Definitely worth the wait :) Then just some housework, gardening, odd jobs and lunch with mum on Sunday - that was our weekend :)

Exciting news...I have paid the deposit for the scrap retreat in October! I'm really looking forward to it :)

And because I don't like posting without sharing a pic...I brought this sweet wooden Babushka money box on sale in Mackay last weekend.

Scrapbook Apprentice - Finals!

2011-08-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

I'm proud to announce that I made it through to the Scrapbook Apprentice finals! Printblocks sent a box of goodies and I sent off my entries last month (I will share pics soon). The winner has been announced in this month's DoCraft's magazine - congratulations to Julie Hill! A HUGE thank you to everyone who supported me and voted for me :) I was so happy just to make it to the 12 competitors, so it was amazing to make it to the final four! I would encourage everyone to enter the next competition :) It made me step out of my scrapping comfort zone, it challenged me, I had my work published in the magazine and every round I received a generous amount of products to play with (lots of leftovers still waiting to be used!).

Here is the LO and OTP that I submitted -

When Printblocks sent my last lot of entries back this week, I also received these fabulous goodies! I was so excited to to receive the new dies - I had the squares and the scallop squares on my "to buy" list!!

Road trip to Cairns and the wedding!

2011-08-11T19:59:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post this sooner, but unfortunately I've been sick :( Warning - lots of pics :)

The wedding was amazing! So glad we managed to get the time off :) We spent Thursday and Friday travelling - since we only did a road trip to Cairns 3 years ago, we didn't stop to do any sight seeing along the way.

We were up at 5am on Saturday to start getting ready for the sunrise wedding ceremony, which was on the beach at Palm Cove. It was a lovely, relaxed ceremony - the bridal party all kicked their shoes off before walking down the aisle, to stand barefoot on the beach. Chris & Cassie managed to get halfway through their vows before it started to shower, so we all ran across the road to a hall where they finished the ceremony. After the ceremony the sun came out, so lots of professional group and casual photos, before the bridal party went down to the beach for photos.

Craig and I next to the bridal car - how cool is this stretch Hummer?!?!

While the bridal party where getting photos done, all the guests went to the champagne breakfast reception. Champagne by this gorgeous pool, then a delicious buffet breakfast. After breakfast we socialised and a few more photos :)

We had a relaxed had a nap during the day, then got ready for the evening reception at a different resort. Started with drinks and canapes by the pool, then into the restaurant for dinner, speeches, cutting the cake, bridal waltz and socialising :) The wedding cake and cupcakes were ice cream cakes - how different & cool is that?!!?

I love the idea of this "wish tree" where guests could write wishes or advice for the bride & groom :)

We were up early the next morning to slowly make our way home again - we even got to cath up with Bec and the kids on our way through to Rocky :)

Ink pad storage

2011-08-07T03:36:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to share this storage tip for ages. I store my ink pads in these plastic A4 file cases. They are the right width to store a variety of ink pads and sponges. I find this is the most efficient way to store ink pads instead of in boxes or drawers for a few reasons -
1. You can see all the colours at a glance - so no turning all the ink pads over till you find the colour you are looking for.
2. You just need to turn the case over to store the pads upside down - which is the best way to store them.
3. This fits into my scrapping tote a lot easier than a bulky box

Here are a few other storage posts I have shared recently -

*Stamp storage

*Other storage

ETA: You can purchase the A4 file cases at any department store, newsagent or dollar shop - basically most shops that sell stationary. I recently brought some more from Flash Harry's (a dollor shop in Australia) for $2.99.

Bird & banner card

2011-08-06T03:29:00.000-07:00

I remember seeing a card similar to this somewhere on the www - I don't remember who created it though- sorry. I thought this was a cute and quick card (I made two of this card to add to my stash) to make and isn't gender specific - I am definitely going to make a few more!