Living my dream

SCKC appeal

Hi everyone.

I know I've been MIA! Lots to talk about including a wonderful Xmas, but right now I need to appeal to your generous natures to see if you're able to help out with the SCKC pages.

I've been getting parcels from those already helping. THANKS so much everyone!!! You guys rock, but we still need more.

Please help us make them up. They are small (just 6x6) and easy. No need to be fancy, just create something simple that will take a photo and some journaling.

You could probably easily make 20 in an evening.

Think about it today as you're going about your business, then when you're sitting down in front of the telly tonight, I dare ya to get up and create a few.

THANKS!

T

Xmas Spirit Day 24 - Xmas Eve

Well Xmas eve is well and truly under way for us here in the Southern Hemisphere. The kids are already in bed. Its 7pm.

We have made special reindeer food and sprinkled it on the lawn 

(receipe: Oats, glitter and a very special wish as you mix them together).

We had a group shot with Toastie

 
We put out the stockings

 
And we even did the "Goodness Check"....

 
Our kids always like to know whether their goodness rating is high enough for Santa to come and leave lots of presents. They are like me and have next to no patience and waiting for morning just seems like such a long way away.

Now us adults can get the rest of the evening planned. I think it might be dinner and final present wrapping before an early night (depending on how quickly the kids get to sleep! Grin).

Happy Xmas eve all!

T

Xmas Spirit Day 23 - Special Xmas wrapping

I know! I'm running just a little bit late with this. Eeeek. But here is what I've been up to the last day or so.....

We have a very special person in our lives, who looks after the kids for us when we need it. So for her Xmas present we made a package to put the presents in. It was an ipad box. But now it looks like this:

 
of course I used PRIMA papers and flowers and say it with crystals to make it extra special. And thankfully she loved it and what was inside.  
All I can say is thank goodness for Prima - it sure makes wrapping a heck of a lot easier when you have such amazing product to work with!

Xmas spirit Day 22 - Gingerbread house

We've never made a gingerbread house before, but I've always admired them and thought they looked so pretty.

So when Granny gave one to Sarah for her birthday it was a wonderful surprise. Sarah put it away carefully and brought it out yesterday. Ready to be made into a beautiful house. She chose the lollies to use. And we got started together.

 
She took so much pride in placing each lollie 'just so' and used the ones she wanted where she wanted them.

 
And we managed to get both sides of the roof done before disaster struck...

 
That's my side. Doesn't it look beautiful?

Well, we left it while the kids were having dinner, and when we came back to it, it had all fallen in. The humidity was too much for it and it collapsed.

Sarah was devastated, to say the least. She was so looking forward to taking it to Granny's on Xmas day to show her, and to have it for desert.

On the bright side, we all had a little piece today instead!

Must admit it was a wonderful project!

Xmas Spirit Day 21 - Home made gifts

Last week I went to a beading class. I had a friend at netball who started making her own earings and I thought yep, I can do that. So a couple of friends and I went along and learnt how. I made myself a cute little necklace, then promptly decided to make another couple....

This one is the same as the class necklace, but different colours and beads...

 
The class was taken at The Bead Hold. I would highly recommend them if you're interested in this type of thing.

 

I gave it to a Mum at school who has helped alot with taking Dan to kindy this term.

Next is one I made for the person I had as my secret santa....

 
It looks quite spread out here, but when you put it on its all meant to crunch up together and on top of each other so its bead upon bead upon bead.

I had fun making this and again, took inspiration from a necklace at The bead hold.

 
I had so much fun making these and can see alot more being created in time to come. In fact I have another class lined up tomorrow night. And I can't wait.

Later.

Color or is it colour? - Nic's BPS Class

Nic had a class running recently all to do with colour. I was lucky to be part of it. And as I haven't shared much scrapping lately (thanks for reminding me!), I thought now would be as good a time as any.

As you'll see, I've used mostly Prima product. Funny that. Apart from the fact I love it, I find it easy to use. And of course they have TONS of different colours to use.

I can't remember which order the weeks went in during the class, but here are my LO's.....

RED:

 
And a close up:

 
Next was orange:

 
and a close up:

 
Check out the DA on this one!

Then green:

 
and another close up:

 
After green I did blue:

 
close up:

 
After blue came Purple:

 
close up:

 
This one also had some gorgeous Dusty Attic scrolls on it too!

Next was 'white space'.

 
This is actually one of my favourite LO's in a while. I love the white space. I love the white with pops of red. I love the photo. Hmmmm, its not often I say I love one of my own LO's. But this one, I do.

And another close up:

 
And I think that was it.

I always have fun doing things like this. Its neat to work within constraints to really challenge yourself and try something different that perhaps you normally wouldn't.

Later.

Xmas Spirit Day 20 - Xmas Giving

I can't believe that we're up to day 20 already. That means Xmas is less than a week away. And I've still got sooooo much to Xmas spirit to share! Eeeeek. LOL.

So today I thought I'd chat about giving at Xmas. I've always had a huge belief in giving. Not just at Xmas, birthdays and other special times, but whenever you can. Just because you can. And as alot of you have noticed through my Sunday Shake up's its not always about money, but time or ideas too.

And that was what happened today. About 6 months ago, Andy had a bit of a hissy fit about all the soft toys the kids had. There were so many! They didn't fit anywhere and the kids didn't play with them. So we packed them into bags, then forgot about them (sort of).

Over the last 6 months we talked with the kids about the toys and how we were going to one day get rid of them. It always ended in tears.

Today it started in tears, and ended in smiles and skipping.

We piled all the toys into the floor in the lounge and I said lets start working out what we want to keep and what we can give away.

The tears and screams started. And they were promptly sent to their room to think about things.

When they came back there were still a few tears when special toys came up, but it was mostly with decision that they went through their toys and worked out what was right to give away and what wasn't.

I initially started with the idea that they could keep 5 each, plus their dogs. And we ended up with slightly more than that, but still had a HUGE bag filled with toys to give away.

At the end of it we were laughing and grinning and smiling about the toys, remembering stories and laughing about the 'ugly' ones or the ones that were special. They were happy to zip up the bag, take it to the car and drive to the City Mission to give them all away.

But before that. Before we got in the car. We had a big group hug and I told them how proud I was of them. I told them that there were kids in Auckland who would love their toys as much if not more than they did and how this might make their Xmas that little bit more special this year. I told them that they were amazing kids. I told them that I was proud of them (again) and we had a very special moment.

They were so proud of how many they had given away and I took them out for a special lunch as a treat.

It started out badly and I had rung Andy wondering what on earth I was doing, but it worked. The kids feel pretty good about things and I'm super proud of them. And crossing fingers there might be some kids somewhere in Auckland that might benefit from this and make their Xmas that little more special. Here's hoping anyway.

Giving. I love it. I hope the kids will learn to love it. I think this is a good step.

T

Xmas Spirit Day 19 - Spiced Almonds

I was sent this receipe by a friend, and made it as part of the kids teachers present the other day. They are really really yummy!!!!!! So I thought I'd share here....

 
And the receipe:

·         4 cups whole almonds

·         1 egg white

·         1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

·         Few drops of water

·         1/3 cup granulated sugar

·         1/3 cup brown sugar

·         2 tablespoons cocoa powder

·         1 teaspoon cinnamon

·         1/2 – 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on your taste)

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 275°F.  Line a baking sheet with a silicon baking mat or with parchment paper.  Set aside.

Whisk together the egg white, vanilla bean paste, and a few drops of water in a mixing bowl.  Beat mixture until it is light and frothy.  Add the almonds and toss to evenly coat with the egg white mixture.

In a separate bowl, combine the sugars, cocoa powder, cinnamon, cayenne, and salt.  Whisk together to remove any lumps. 

 

Add the almonds, and toss to coat. 

 

Spread the coated almonds out on the prepared baking sheet.  Roast for 30 – 40 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes.  Keep a close watch on the almonds because they will burn quickly.

Once the almonds are done, spread them out on a large piece of parchment or waxed paper until they have cooled completely (it’s OK to snack on a few while they cool… That’s what I did!).  Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

 



Xmas Spirit Day 18 - Santa photo

I grew up getting Santa photos each year with my sisters. I have a wide range of them showing my growth over the years. I don't know if its a worldwide tradition, but certainly seems to be one that kiwis do with fervour.

This year we decided to head on over to Smith and Caughy where they had made a whole Santa's Grotto, including puppet shows, and Santa's house. It was incredible.

The ques are pretty long, but the kids don't seem to mind when there are wonderful little treats you come across as you move through the grotto... 
Dan was especially transfixed with them all.

 
Then we finally came to Santa's house and we could walk down the hallway to his room...

 
Just where you can see Dan is the doorway to see Santa at which point a photo is taken, and you then come back out and go into the next room....

 
And here is our photo....

 
Was a fantastic day. A fantastic display and a wonderful memory to keep.

Xmas Spirit Day 17 - Xmas wrapping

I love presents. Don't we all?! But as I get older I especially love to WRAP presents.

This year for my kids teachers present, the class got together and we all put in for a voucher. I made a card, and got signatures, then wrapped it all with some home baking and home made greeting cards.

It ended up looking like this....

 
Gotta love me some Prima lace and vines! Grin.

 
All I used was some left over bits of calico, vines and ribbon/lace. Wrap with a white tag and it looks and feels amazing.

If you want some other cool gift wrapping ideas, here are some fabulous sites.

Rachel Tuckers blog...  OMG this lady rocks! Her scrapping is out of this world, but she has the most amazing ideas for gifts and wrapping them. If you don't already subscribe to her blog, make sure you do now!

A gift wrapped life... Such a pretty blog.

The Gifted blog..... I just adore this blog for wrapping. So many fun, quick, easy, wonderful, interesting unique variations on how to gift wrap.

Hello Sandwich... Lots of cool ideas here.

I'm sure if you google, then you'll find a heap more.

Have fun wrapping those gifts you took the time and effort to make and/or buy!

Xmas Spirit Day 16 - The Christmas story by kids

I was sent this cute link yesterday by Hannah. Thanks so much Hannah. Its soooo cute. Just had to share as part of our Xmas Spirit!

 

They played this video at GLOW: Carols by Glowstick at Vector Arena on Sunday night. The event was run by St. Pauls church, and the kids in their church put this video together

Xmas Spirit Day 15 - White Xmas

 
I got this receipe from my friend Nic. It was simple to make and very tasty. For the mixed fruit I used blueberries, cranberries and raisins. You could use anything you want to!

2 cups rice bubbles

1 cup milk powder

1 cup mixed fruit (red and green glace cherries make for great colour!)

1 cup icing sugar

vanilla essence

8 Oz Kremalta (half a packet, approx 250g), melted

Combine all the ingredients, stir in a little vanilla and add melted kremalta. Stir together and put in a slice tin. Smooth with a spoon and cut when set.

Delicious!

 

Catch up - long and lots of photos

I haven't had a proper catch up on here for aaaaaaaaggggeeeeesssssss. I've been frantic. And with having the Xmas Spirit posts well, there's not room for everything. And we have been up to soooo much. Haven't we all, its Xmas time!

So thought I'd put up a few bits and pieces to help me remember what we've been up to these last few weeks.....

Lets start with M&S birthday's. They turned 7 on Nov 29. And as always it was like, what the, how did you get to be so big????? But they are. And it was lovely. We celebrated their birthday in Fiji. And that was wonderful in itself (gosh, I need to start further back!). Ok, just before Fiji we gave them their presents. Too big to carry on the plane! Grin. 
I love Matt's reaction. Even though they knew what they were getting (we had to take them with us for size - Sarah was too big for a child's bike and had to get the smallest womens bike!!!!) he was so excited and I love the whole arms up thing. Too funny.

I also love how they are so proud to give each other gifts.  
Back in Fiji, we made it extra special for them. We blew up balloons and put them onto a couch, then got the kids to cover their eyes and we then threw them on the couch. It was fun. We then gave them a couple of little presents. They weren't expecting any as they had got them before we left for Fiji. New bikes. Their old ones were just tooooo small. 

So back in Fiji. It was wet. We had one day of sun. The rest of it was cloudy, rain, and thunderstorms. But it was BRILLIANT. For the first two nights I slept for 10 hours! I was exhausted. The rest of the time we spent at the pool. And I enjoyed lots of silly drinks. Grin.

 

This year was the first year M&S wanted seperate parties. Well, they didn't actually want seperate parties, they just wanted to do different things. So we worked it out to do both on one day. Sarah's party started at 9.30am. We went to Paint the earth, created wonderful masterpieces, then met back at home for lunch. The boys turned up. We all ate lunch together. The girls left and the boys went to Ten Pin Bowling.

 
The girls and their creations. Puppies were a huge hit this time around.

Then Matt and his friends at Ten Pin Bowling... 
And of course I had to make cakes again. And in all reality I think I make them more for me, than the kids. ROFL!

Sarah wanted a heart. And it had to be like the one she had drawn for her school calendar. In a mosaic, with lollies making up the colours. She was stoked with it.

 
I think half the reason she loved it so much were all those lollies! Grin. Although she also loved the fact that for the first time in ages we used the birthday cake plate for a cake. I finally toned it down a bit and make a cake that fit! Grin.

Matt also wanted one not from the birthday cake book. So we googled and found a few ideas then put this together...

 

Hmmmm, ok, so I think that's all I can do right now. I've got to make some spiced almonds for part of my teachers gift. Keep an eye out for those in the next little while. But I'll come back with some scrapping stuff soon! I've got alot of that to share too!

Later.

Xmas Spirit Day 14 - Xmas in NZ

Over at Prima we're doing a walk around the world, checking out what Xmas is like for the DT in their parts of the world. I thought it fitted in well with what I'm sharing on here, so here is what I contributed for Prima.....

Welcome to my Xmas 'downunder'. On the other side of the world, NZ has a warm and sunny Xmas! It's starting to be summer, and people are really beginning to relax as the end of another year draws near.

As a child, because of our summery Xmas I never felt that we had a 'real' Xmas. All the Xmas cards had designs showing robin's on snow laden branches and children wandering around in the snow. It just isn't like that here!

In the last few years NZ has taken its summery Xmas to a new level with our own summery versions of 'traditional' stories being written and told to our children. It's a fun way to enjoy the different way we celebrate.

One thing that is totally different is our Xmas trees. The branches on our trees all face the ceiling. I remember having an American exchange student here for Xmas one year and how disappointed she was that our tree branches weren't facing the floor. It was certainly an eye opener for me. I and she assumed that something so simple would be the same the world over.

We also have a very special tree in NZ that is commonly known as NZ's Xmas tree. It is a beautiful native tree that grows around the coasts of our country, it's called the Pohutakawa. It flowers with the most stunning red flowers at Xmas time thus the reference to being our Xmas tree. There is an old wives tale that says the earlier the Pohutakawa's flower, the longer and hotter our summer will be.

 
Xmas lunch is usually comprised of cold meats (ham, chicken etc), salads, and freshly dug up baby potatoes with strawberries and pavlova for desert.

 
(mini pavlova's made by my friend Jane).

So what does Xmas mean to my family and I? Lots and lots of tradition. Starting at the beginning of Dec. Our twins were born at the end of Nov, and that year, just one week later we went out to the Xmas tree padock and cut our tree down. Since then we've done this every year. We like to celebrate their birthday's Xmas free, then the following weekend, we go all out with Xmas.

 

Another tradition we McClune's have is putting out food for Santa's reindeer. I make it up myself (oats, glitter, sequins) and just before bed, the children and I wander out into the backyard and spread it all over the ground. It's a lovely way to spend the evening watching the glitter sparkle on the ground as the kids get rid of their last bit of energy before Santa arrives (It also helps if you then take out a vacum cleaner or broom and sweep as much of it up as possible so it looks like its been eaten).

 

And now for some Xmas cheer Prima style.....

I created this LO using a photo of my kids as they decorated the tree. I love the way they decorated themselves also!

PHOTO

PHOTO

Because our schools finish for the year just before Xmas (our school year goes from Feb - Dec), we often give the teachers gifts when school finishes. This year I scraplifted an idea from another Prima DTer Nic Howard and created these greeting cards which I've wrapped in ribbon and will give to the teachers as blank cards to use throughout the coming year...

 
They are very simple cards, using gorgeous Prima products.

(536138 - Dynasty Ivory, 536107 - Dynasty Peridot, 535520 - Mini Rose)

I also tried out a new receipe this year for popcorn balls. I then placed the balls into candy bags and tied them together with divine Prima ribbon, then hung them on the tree....

 
(541415 - Lace)

Receipe: 3/4 cup light corn syrup (golden syrup for kiwis), 1/4 cup margarine/butter, 2 teaspoons cold water, 2 5/8 cups confectioners sugar (icing sugar), 1 cup marshmellows, 5 quarts (approx 20 cups) popcorn.

Melt all ingredients in large saucepan. Heating and stiring until it comes to the boil. Combine mixture with popcorn and coat each kernal.

Use butter or spray on oil to coat your hands, then quickly roll popcorn mixture into balls. Place onto greaseproof paper and wait to cool.

Wrap in candy bags, and join together with Prima ribbon. Then hang on your tree.

I hope this has given you a little insight into my Xmas 'downunder'. Merry Christmas everyone!

Xmas Spirit Day 13 - Xmas Lights

The beauty of twinkling lights can't help but mean Xmas to me. I love love love Xmas lights on a Xmas tree. I love lights around the windows, around the rooftops, along the tops of fences.

I think I could so be one of those people who goes all out at Xmas with regards to lights and decorations, but thankfully (I think), Andy kinda thinks we go OTT at the moment already. So our place is toned down a bit. Grin.

But what's the next best thing? Xmas light extravaganza's!!!!

Franklin Road - This street is totally amazing. We try and go at least once every couple of years. We put the kids to bed as normal, then get them up just before midnight, put them in their dressing gowns, and go. Just like that. Its beautiful and magical. They love it. So do we.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Christmas Snow Globe - Just imagine being able to walk inside a giant snow globe?! Well Cadbury have made it happen. Check out the link for times and places.

Motat Nights Xmas Lights - Every Sat/Sun leading up to and including Xmas eve. 8-11pm includes Xmas lights, music, entertainment. Sounds pretty cool.

Telecom Tree - At the base of Western Park in Ponsonby is a huge (and I mean HUGE) tree, with telephone lines running to the North Pole upon which kids can send their requests to Santa. They can also design their own light show and see it appear on the tree. How much fun is that?! Every night until Boxing Day from dusk on.

Xmas lights Smales Farm - All of Dec sees a spectacular FREE show at Smales Farm on the North shore. Check out the link for more details.

Be sure to check with your local community centre as they are bound to know of other events that are local to you!