Living my dream

My girls weekend in pictures

It started off with screams at the airport. So cool. Quickly finding our hotel and sharing presents with Kate for her birthday. Rachel had also somehow found time to make us all these boxes filled with treats. She is amazing!

We went to MAC and had our makeup done. Wow, what an experience. Sooooo relaxing. So nice. Such a great idea. Then all done up we headed out to high tea at Hippopotomus. So good.

Another absolutely luxurious thing to do. It was amazing. The food was incredible. Each little morsal a taste explosion in your mouth. Wow!

Of course the cocktails went down very well, as well.

I had brought some new clothes that morning and felt very glam. Was nice. 

High tea ended with a cake for Kate. Rach was so good at organising this. It was beautiful. We all especially loved the pears in the middle of the cake. So good.

The following day we managed to do more shopping, eating, hanging out. And I got to catch up with my beautiful sister.

Was so good. I came back absolutely exhausted and a couple of kgs heavier. Bother! LOL. But that's what late nights, drinking cocktails & good food does. Grin. 

Thanks for the amazing weekend girls. Was all we hoped and more. 

Prima canvas mini albums

I was extremely lucky to receive in my first Prima box of goodies a cute canvas bird cage that Prima put out this CHA. And it has a great kiwi connection, the design is by the very talented Louise Williams. How cool is that?!

Anyway, I really wanted to play with it when I first received it, but couldn't think of a theme that I wanted to go with. It seemed too special to just be any old album. But I finally decided to go with "Sarah ages 0-5" and am really pleased with how it turned out...

I'm not a big fan of using purple in my scrapping. I find it really difficult. But this time round, it just worked.

I used a lot of new Prima. The butterfly, vines, large and small purple flowers all on the front of the bird house.

The lace around the hole in the house is also new. Its so pretty.

I added some of my own large and tiny beads to add some extra dimension to the bird house.

The front page was based around the 'hole' in the front cover. From there I added in a series of photos to match in with the theme of the album.

Then I created a page for each year....

I am constandly amazed at how children grow up....retaining their features, yet looking totally different, and exactly the same.

 I hadn't created with a canvas album like this, so it was a little challenging, but I loved it. What made it particularly easy was the painting of the canvas. Once it dried, not only did it add extra detail, but made it easier to adhere items.

There are several different shapes that you can purchase. Check it out on the Prima website, or blog and if you're after one, ask your local shop to get them in for you. 

Sunday Shake up

Tricky one coming up. I'm not even sure I have any of these?

I challenge you this week to delete those phone numbers from your phone of the people that shouldn't really be there. You know the ones I mean... horrible ex boyfriends, that friend who isn't really a friend and who you haven't spoken to in years....

Be brave. Close that chapter in your life and just press delete.

You will be surprised at how good it feels to take back a part of your life that you didn't even know wasn't yours anymore.

You will feel lighter. More relaxed. Free.

Ready to take on the next challenge that pops your way.

And yes, its hard, so if its too much to do all in one go, do one a day. Or even just one this week. But think about it. Make a consious decision why you will or won't and be happy with it.

Saturday sketch day

Enjoy this weeks sketch.

Creative Wonderland

Don't you just love it when a dream, a plan, an idea becomes reality?

For a little while now Rachel and I have been planning a crafting event. We are so excited to finally be able to share it with you.

 

Come and join Rachel and I for an inspirational day of crafting, cropping and classes.

A win

Hmmm, could you tell from that last post I had a challenging day yesterday? Was it the pee Dan did on the carpet OUTSIDE the toilet? Or the poo he decided to leave on the chair cause he didn't wipe properly???? I don't know, but I do know I wanted, no needed chocolate.

So I asked Andy to bring some home. He did and put it in the fridge. Now he knows I HATE cold chocolate. Ugh. So I get all silly about it. 'You don't understand me, raderadera' (yes, I'm in a ranting mood at the moment. Sigh). My 'orange' thinking sucked. I had turned into a lemon.

Later once I'd calmed down. Andy kindly told me he did know me. He had deliberately put the chocolate in the fridge, hoping I wouldn't eat it cause I didn't like it cold. He then went on to say that he should have known my determination wouldn't stop that. We had a good laugh and I took the chocolate out of the fridge.

After dinner I realised I really didn't need that chocolate anymore. So I put it in the freezer. Ewwww! I told Andy and he gave me a big grin. It was a huge win for me and I couldn't have done it without his support and wit.

This morning I took the chocolate out of the freezer, broke it up and gave the kids a piece each as a treat in their lunches. We now have one happy woman, one happy man and 3 happy children!

Win/Win.

Lessons

The other day we decided to go for a walk along the beach.

It was a beautiful day. The first in a long time. And even though Dan had a cold we decided it was worth the chill, for the sun.

Dan had been warned not to go in the water. But decided in all his '4 year old montserism' to splash in the puddles and get wet and cold anyway.

Andy rather gruffly started to tell him off. I was a little way ahead with Sarah.

But as Andy did his job as a father a group of 3 women walked past. One of them decided to voice her opinion on Andy's fathering very loudly.... 'Oh for goodness sake, he's at the beach, take off his shoes if you're worried about them raderadera'

She was still going as she approached Sarah and I. And I in all my infinite wisdom decided to say something to her.

"Oi, excuse me, but that's really unneccessary".

And in reply I was told "Oh, I'm just trying to help you parent".

WHAT THE?! As you can see by those large typed letters, I was enraged. And of course I decided I needed to reply.

"Hey, you don't know what's going on in our lives".

It had me shaking. Really shaking. What did this person think? Did she have kids? Why did she think she could tell me, us how to parent? Who's business was this?

After all she didn't know that my gorgeous carefree child running through puddles had a cold. That we were trying to keep him warm so he didn't get sicker.

She also didn't know that this wonderful child running and giggling had literally turned into a monster that previous week and we were having to be 'good' parents by teaching our child what his boundaries are.

She also didn't know that I go through bouts of panic about whether I am a good parent so anyone criticising my parenting brings on worry, fear and all those good things.

Andy and I talked about it. I did the normal should I / shouldn't I have said anything. And then we decided to use it as a good lesson. For me, for Andy and for Sarah.

You see in all our great parenting skills, we've been trying to help Sarah see that she needs to stop interfering in issues between Matt and Daniel. They need to work things out themselves. She can't always be the mother. She needs to be a girl. Having fun, carefree. Relaxed. Not worrying about them all the time. 

She saw how much this woman's opinions affected me and we were able to directly use this as a comparison.

So while I'm still shaking from the horrible experience I had, I think it helped us all. It certainly taught me alot about not judging other people.

For unless you have walked a mile in that persons shoes, you do not know what is going on in them.

Excitement fills the air

This weekend I'm off on a girls weekend. Bouncing off the walls. Yeeeehaaaaa!!! It involves a flight. A hotel. A 'high tea'. A makeover. Alot of laughing. Drinking, eating. All care, no responsibility. I am beside myself with excitement. Girls if you're reading. I can't wait. Will see you on Fri. Yippeeeeeee!

Sunday shake up

Be an orange.

HUH? I hear you say. Well the other day a group of us were talking and one friend said I've got a really neat friend who is always positive and upbeat. She says she doesn't want to be a a lemon, but be an orange.

It became the 'in' joke for us.

But now when things are getting me down, I try to remember that I don't want to be sour like a lemon, but sweet like an orange.

Don't get me wrong, its not easy, but thought it might be something you could try this week. Especially those of us in the Southern Hemisphere who are a little tired of the winter blues. Grin.

Have a good week oranges.

A conversation

Andy was standing in the kitchen on Sat morning making pikelets for the kids after their last rugby game. He opens up the flour tin and pronounces that he loves the smell of flour. I was like .... what? I don't!

He replied back. Yeah, it takes me back to my childhood. Being in the kitchen and baking with Mum. Making dough, and cooking. I really like it.

And I did too. And then I realised why I fell in love with this man, and why I still do every day.

Saturday sketch day

Here's a simple, but elegant sketch for this week.

Enjoy.

Welcome!

Hi there! If you're here from the Prima blog, welcome to my blog. I wonder which question applies to me???? Enjoy your visit and happy hunting.....

If you're a regular blog reader and haven't already seen the Prima blog, head on over to Prima's blog. There's a fun new competition where you could win a heap of their new line Road Trip. All you have to do is go on a wee scavenger hunt.

Check it out. And I'll see you back here when you work out what question applies to me.

Good luck everyone!

I almost forgot...

But didn't!!!! Grin.

The winner from my giveaway is.....

Vicki

Things that make me smile -
When I get woken 3 times a night from the pitter patter of little feet one by one coming into your bed for a cuddle with their little cold hands and feet - oh and a smile is on the cards when it is school pick up time and it is not raining in Auckland! :)
:) Vicki

Vicki, if you could send me an email, I'll arrange to send the package out to you.

Thanks for taking part everyone....

T

PS: Vicki you can thank my husband for winning. I leaned over to him said give me a number and he chose yours. Congrats.

Trina + Prima for CHA

I think I've shown 'most' of my creations that I made for Prima for CHA now, but there are still a couple I haven't so, thought why not show them now?! Remember these were made a while ago.

The first one is one that I just adore. It uses the "So Cute" range.

There is a mixture of old and new flowers, but the papers are all new....and gorgeous. Love em. And those new little butterflies. Divine. I can see me using them again and again!

The photos I've used are 6 years old, when the twins were just 6 months old. Our wedding photographer, and friend Nat came and took some pics. It was pretty cool.

There's one of those butterflies

Next is one from the Paisley Road collection. You really need to read the journaling (Nuggies is a special word the cousins have made up to show how much they love each other) to understand the title. Its a made up word that my children and their cousins use.

I printed the larger photo onto card to give it a much softer look. 

See the doillie there, that's from some of the new Prima packaging. Cool huh?!

Lots of handcutting on this one...

And a card using the 'So Cute' range...

Adore how you can cut out all those little critters. Literally so cute. LOL.

I then tried out the Annalee range and came up with this one...

I've used packaging and canvas on this LO too.

Check out the new pebble from the Paisley Road range. Oh so cute!

That little butterfly is stamped using Prima clear stamps. Yummo. And the big one is also new. I adore it!

And probably one of my most favourite things that I created was this pair of gorgeous high heel paper shoes. Oh wow.

I have used the divine Annalee range of papers for these shoes, plus of course some of the new vintage crystals and lovely new lace.

Although I had seen similar shoes online, I made the template for these shoes up myself. Deliberately ensuring they would be different. Was pretty happy with the way they turned out.

Creating for CHA was my first big workload for Prima, I was really nervous. Especially as I had SENZ looming too and was trying to finish up prep for that. But in the end I created 2 cards, 6 LO's, the pair of shoes, a dress form and another shoe (to be shown another time, later), so I was pretty happy. Its a wonderful time of the year and a dream of mine come true. I feel very lucky. 

Garden update

Its been a while since I said anything about our gardens, so thought I'd show you what we've got growing right now....

Loads of lettuce (although I think these might be radishes?)

Carrots. Both the traditional orange ones, and a few white ones too.

Onions. Yay. We have a variety of red and white, plus some spring onions too. I think.

My favourite. Peas. LOVE them straight off the vine. Divine.

Cabbage. Both red and 'standard'. Loving the coleslaw we are having.

We've also got a ton of kale, bok choy, chinese cabbage, mandarins and various lettuce. So while we're still having to buy some veges, we're able to eat a fair amount too.

But I can't wait for summer, when we get to have lots of summery salady type of veges again. Yum.

What're you growing or eating? Any good receipes to share?

Would love to hear.

T

PS: Oh, and check out the signs of spring....

Yeeeessssssss, c'mon out sun!