Living my dream

Some Dusty Attic Loving

I had some spare time this afternoon, and am getting through my stash of cards, so I decided to make a card....

 

I used some of my Prima 'leftovers' and a gorgeous Dusty shape. I painted it roughly white. And will leave the sentiment off until I know who and what the card will be used for.

 

The beauty of that dusty chipboard shape is that it comes in a cluster of about 8 pieces. This is the 3rd one I've used and that means I've still got a heap more to go! Very cool.

We're getting through the holidays quite nicely. Today the kids and I stopped off at Andy's work and caught up with some of my old workmates. The ones who have seen me before I was pregnant, then saw the kids as babies, and have seen them grow up. Today they were gobsmacked at the change in them. They are growing fast!

Then we went to Spotlight. I needed some pinking shears. I am now the proud owner of some! Yay! And the kids got something crafty too. It seems to be a rule that whenever I take them to Spotlight they can choose something (within reason) to bring home and add to their crafting area.

Today's was well worth the money. They spent the next hour on getting home playing, and designing with their new items.

Oh, and a word of warning. Double check your credit cards. I got a very helpful, but unwanted call from my bank the other day. Asking me if I'd spent money on my CC at 'x' and 'y'. No I hadn't! So before I gave out any details I rang the bank myself and got speaking with someone who told me that yep, some flags had flown over a couple of purchases. Thankfully it wasn't too much, and was caught quickly. But I've heard through the grapevine that others may have had a similar thing happen, so please take a look through your CC and ensure that its not being used incorrectly.

Alrighty, catch ya later.

T

I've been a crafty Mum

The kids school fair is coming up soon and somehow I've been roped into doing some crafty type things to sell on the new craft stall. The school didn't have this type of stall last year, so they really have no idea how it will go. But hey, the things I've been creating don't take long and hopefully the kids will like.

These are called key poppers. They are fun shapes which hold a childs key. They can be attached to the childs bag with one end of ribbon and then the key is hidden away inside until its needed. They are so cute and practical...

 
A friend sent me this idea from a book she has. But I've forgotten what the book was.

The next items are totally copied from my friend Rachel. I emailed and said, would you mind, and she kindly said, go for it....

 
Even if they are copied, I'm quite proud of them. I've even included some needles to start off the buyers collection.

I also made a few matchbox notebooks. I know they've been around in the scrapping world for a while, but they seemed like such a cute and wonderful idea, I just knew the kids would love them....

 
We had a couple of Sarah's friends around this morning briefly and they wanted to take them right there and then. Whew. Met the target market!

And lastly, I made this for fun. I googled 'felt cupcakes' and found this amazing design. I've copied it verbatim. And again, for a non sewer was pretty proud of myself.

 
I think there is a little too much work for the school fair in this one, but who knows just where it will turn up next?

So not too much scrapping going on. I need to do some, but am so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open, and with school holidays, hmmmm, not too sure how much will get done.

Off to bed.

Later.

Grab a seat

I see grab a seat have cheap airfares to Wellington from Akld the date of our 'Creative Wonderland'.

Just saying..... Grin.

We survived

We survived the first day of the school holidays.

Yay! LOL.

Matt and Sarah went to a painting course, and tomorrow they go back to paint plates. They went for half a day with some friends and had a lovely time.

Dan and I went and got some new chooks. So excited. Our run looks much better a little fuller.

Must take some pics.

On the way back from the backblocks of rural NZ, I stopped on the side of the road and took this pic.

Everything is looking so fresh and green with spring here. Gorgeous.

Hope you've had a good first day.

Any good ideas to keep kids busy for the rest of the holidays? I have got some plans, but also trying to keep the kids relaxed and rested at home.

T
 

Sunday shake up

A while ago my Mum sent me an email with a link in it. I forgot about it until this morning when I was going through all my emails and getting rid of them. Doing the purge. Whew. My inbox is looking much nicer. Anyway, I found my Mum's email and followed it through and giggled. Then I showed Dan and he laughed, really laughed! And that made me smile again.

So my challenge for you this week, is to find a funny on the internet and share it with someone.

You might share it via email, facebook, your blog or even in person, retelling the story.

Here's my one. Be patient. You will click on it and wonder what on earth I've sent you to. Wait approx 5-10 seconds and then enjoy. You will smile!

Here it is again......here.

PS: Thanks Mum!

Saturday Sketch Day

A sketch you could 'dress up' or down. Just like that perfect little black dress.

Enjoy.

Designer Day with Prima

If you've been over to the Prima blog you will have noticed a new 'thing' they are doing over there. I was the lucky one to start it all off, and here is what it looks like......

Hi everyone! Trina here. I'm really excited to be here for Prima's Designer Day.

 
I thought I'd tell you a little about myself, where I live and what NZ is like, then show you some new creations I've made. Grab a cuppa (or fancy cocktail), lets go.....

I was born in NZ and have lived here most of my life. As most 'kiwis' do, I took a couple of years out to 'travel the world' when I was younger. But now am happily married to Andy, have 3 challenging, but amazing kids and live in an old but character filled house in NZ's largest city. Auckland.

(we are often blessed with the most magnificent sunsets). 

As a couple Andy and I decided that we really want our children to grow up in as 'old fashioned' way as possible. We figure that children grow up so fast now, that with today's fast paced, computer/tv directed lives, it would be nice to try and let them be children for as long as possible. So they come home from school and eat fruit and veges straight from the garden and chase chicken's around. They fish and kayak off the bottom of our section and they go hunting for crabs and shells on the shell bank just a few steps across a mangrove patch. We managed to fulfil part of our dream. But its not always perfect. Its not always easy, and of course we still watch tv and play computer games! 
The area I live in is surrounded by beaches so I can walk for 10 mins and be at one of Auckland's nicest beaches. Or I can drive for 4 hours (providing my hubby doesn't take the wrong turn!!! Aye Andy?! LOL) and be at the snow. NZ is a small, country, but has lots of heart.

NZ has always had a 'clean green' image. Lots of sheep on the hills, beautiful mountains covered in snow and pristine rivers that kids catch eels in. We kiwis live in a pretty special part of the world. But like everywhere, most of us don't have this type of beauty in our backyards. We still have large cities (well 1 million is large to us! LOL), and the normal 'stuff' that goes with them.

Right now, we have just started our 'official' spring time. With summer just around the corner (we hope! As I type this, we have a HUGE storm heading our way - the size of Australia! Eeek, batten down the hatches people!). Its been a very wet, wet, wet winter! And we are all looking forward to summer.

With summer comes 'wedding season', so I thought it would be a great time to showcase some ideas that can be used for your friends and families upcoming weddings.

To keep the designs simple, I've used a base colour of white, and then added a pop of colour which can be based around the wedding's colour theme.

This cake was made from two sizes of triangular boxes, layered on top of each other. From there it was a matter of embellishing the cake. I added some white texture paste as 'icing' a lovely bow I made from mesh, some beads, Prima flowers, Prima crystals, a Prima butterfly and a gorgeous Prima vine.

 

Each 'piece' of the cake can be taken off individually & given to your guests as presents, filled with tiny treats, or messages of love as a 'thank you'.

 

Supplies:

533649 – Cherry Blossum Branches white

537036 – Butterfly with clip cream

538033 – Andorra white

517397 – Say it in Crystals

PE-003-04 Large Rose brick

Of course no wedding is complete without a gift and card. Here is an easy way to really spice up your giving....

 
Additional wrapping using Prima flowers, and leaves makes it extra special.

The card is made so it stands up like an easel. 

 

When the people getting married are special to you, its pretty easy to make something special for them.

Supplies:

530536 SIIP swirls black

810306 Iron orchard designs Angelique collection “Heavenlies”

PE-003-04 Large Rose brick

538699 – Cameo roses mandarin

532321 – Jewel Box leaves Tiffany 

 

Thanks for sharing this post with me. I look forward to getting to know some of you a bit better too. Leave me a message! I might just have a wee rak I can give away (if you want to take part in the rak, please leave a comment on the Prima blog!).

 

Later.

An oldie but a goodie

I created this a while back. When I first joined the Prima DT. I was working on the monthly BAP and got so excited I did two. This was wasn't shown on the blog, so thought I'd show it to you here.

Love these pics. I used a filter to give them that washed out look.

Also loving the Prima chicken wire stamp. Gorgeous. So often adds that little bit extra to a LO.

This was the BAP I was working with....

 
  
 Later.

The Santa talk has started in our house

I overheard a conversation between my 3 children the other day. Discussing whether Santa was real.

The unanimous decision is that he's real, but maybe some of the toys come from Mum and Dad as well.

I stayed hidden around the corner, letting the conversation run its natural course. I didn't want to be confronted by this just yet. Haven't worked out my answers yet.

But it came up again last night. So I'm thinking someone at school is stirring them up. And I wanna be prepared. After all they are only nearly 7 and just 4. In my opinion they are too young to learn the truth just yet.

So how have you other Mum's dealt with this? What are the answers you give them? What are the questions I can expect?

Any help, greatly appreciated!

T

Guest Designer Skissedilla

I was asked a little while back if I would be the guest designer for Skissedilla. The idea is to create a sketch, design a LO around the sketch and provide a rak. Hmmmm, Yep, I can do that!

This was the sketch I designed:

For my LO I flipped it to use as a 'mirror image' and created this LO....

And a couple of close up's.....

and

Loving the Dusty attic branches and fence. The Prima flowers (which work, even if it is a boy LO) and the glimmermist on the white CS.

And guess what.. if you enter the competition on the Skissedilla blog, then you could be in to win a rak from my very own goodies.....

(speaking of RAKS, I haven't forgotten yours Gwen. Just pulling it together...be to you soon!)
 
 Have a great day everyone!

Sunday Shake up

As scrapbookers, we often create current pages about our family lives and days. Perhaps its time to record some history that will be lost if we don't record it.

A family member reminded me the other day that I have a history pre Andy. 28 years to be exact. What happened in those 28 years to make me who I am? What did I do? Did I have dreams and goals that I did/didn't achieve? Did my dreams change? Who were my friends/partners before him? What influence did they have over me?

Where did I live? Did I travel? So many questions that will be lost with me if I suddenly go.

I dare you to think about something from your past and make a LO about it.

Share your unknown past with your unknown future.

Dare ya.

Saturday sketch day

Enjoy this weeks sketch....

I've got a confession to make

I love the little soaps that you get in hotel rooms. Not the funny ones at motels. They are usually all the same and not really that nice. But the ones in lovely hotels, or resorts. And they always seem to be happy for you to take them. I've asked!!!! So over the years I've been bringing them home from holidays and putting them away in the cupboard. Never to be used.

What a waste! LOL.

Then the other month, we ran out of our 'normal' soap, and I had to have a shower, so I grabbed one of the 'lesser' soaps from my collection and used it.

Then that ran out. And I had to use another, and so on and so on, until yesterday after a good month or more, I came to our last soap from our honeymoon 9 . years . ago !!!!!!

And yes, it smells just as good as it did in the resort, and it takes us back to that lovely tropical island every time we use it, but being the last one, I actually had to buy more soap today. And it was kinda sad.

I wonder if I need to go on another holiday? No? Oh bugga! LOL!

I did it.

I swapped all my blogs from Bloglines to Google Reader.

It was actually really easy. Although it was more luck than anything that I got them into Google Reader.

So wish me luck over the next few days as I work my way through how it works.

How did everyone else go? Make any decisions? Make the move? Tell me how it went. I'm curious.

T

It just gets better!!!!

Ever have a time in your life when you think things can't possibly get any more exciting? Uh huh! Me too. But I was wrong......

I am super excited to be part of such a worthy cause. I can't wait to meet everyone, teach, raise lots of money and hang out in Invercargill!

See you there!