Living my dream

Toast the wonder cat

Toast used to be a hunter. I think he's getting too old. This Xmas he'll be 10 years old. Now he prefers the good life of sitting around. Thankfully.

Sometimes I really wonder about him. LOL!

Last day as seven year olds (yesterday)

Yesterday Sarah asked if I could take a photo of her and Matt on their last day as 7 year olds. I said yes, of course, but not right now. We need to get to school.

As they were going to bed, I got reminded that we hadn't taken the photo. So dutifully, I got the camera and they got up and we took some pics.

Happy birthday my big 8 year olds. You are the delight of my life. The fun in my day. The challenge and adventure in my parenting (after all you were first!). You are growing up wonderfully. You love challenges, are good friends, strive hard in all you do. You are kind and compassionate.

I am so proud of both of you.

Invites

Finished making some invites for Val on Friday and dropped them around to her yesterday. She is having a big number party for her birthday next year.

I kept them fairly simple as I had a few to make, but with help from Andy, who cut things out for me, we got them done in about a day all up.

Chick update

So it's been over 2 weeks now and my chicks are growing up fast. They are starting to enter that gauky teenage stage, feathers growing, getting taller, large feet, and appetites to be amazed at!

They have stopped being 'so cute', but are still ADORABLE!

I think I've mentioned before how much they love to hang out in the dried up grass clippings under our orange tree. Here, they're all taking some time out for a wee rest. Except for I think Saraie who is checking for any predators before settling down too.

Enjoying the dirt bath.

And a wider look at our back yard. Chicks and Blah rustling around in the foreground while Matt, Dan and their friends enjoy the tramp. Love it.

When they're not under the orange tree, they're cruising around on the grass. They have learnt great foraging skills from Blah and are constantly scratching around for little bugs and things.

Matt discovered a new way to attract the chicks to him. Grab Mum, put her in your lap, and wait patiently. Lange, our most adventurous was quick to take a piggy back on Mum much to Matt and Dan's delight.

I on the other hand went straight for the blatent bribery. Food in my hand. It seems to work a treat. Grin.

And hey, if food isn't forthcoming, they'll try and get some from the vege garden. Here's Saraie (scrunched up) checking out the strawberry patch.

Our babies have been a real treat for all of us. Now we just need to find a bigger coop/house for them to sleep in at night once they are grown up enough to join the others.

Comments

Today I went through my inbox because it was getting ridiculous. 1785 read but not actioned emails. Eeeeek. Turns out that 'alot' of them were typepad comments I hadn't replied to.

Talk about feeling the guilts. I LOVE receiving your comments and in the past have prided myself on replying to every single one I get.

But with this years illnesses I just haven't been able to reply to them like I used to, and when I looked through them all I even had some from March. What the?! So I made a hard decision and highlighted all 650 typepad comments and pressed delete.

If you have made a comment on my blog. THANK YOU! I love hearing what you think, what you have to say. I love that part of blogs. The interaction we can have. I really do appreciate that you take the time to say hi.

And so with all those comments gone, I'm feeling like I can start afresh. Let's hope I can keep up with comments this time round! Grin.

PS: I'm now down to 546 comments I need to deal with. Much more manageable.

A new share

Thought I'd share one of my latest LO's with you today...

The base is a Prima 12x12 canvas sheet. Then I sprayed with glimmer mist (speaking of glimmer mist, did you see they've announced a new DT for 2012?!),  then placed a square of card over the middle, and misted over a Prima mask around the edges with the same colour glimmer mist to create the swirly pattern.

Then I cut a ton of things from Websters PP and embellished with some more Prima (including some packaging).

Finally I frayed the top and bottom edges of the canvas.

I had some fun with this LO, playing around with some things and just creating for the sake of it. Love it.

Your place in the world

Family. It can show you your place in the world in more ways than one.

Something I love about Andy's family is how they take you for what you are, when and where. And my kids know that. They LOVE getting together with their cousins. Hanging out. A lot of their cousins are older than they are (Andy is the youngest of 6 children) but it doesn't matter. They are all cool. They are all friends. They love each other. They know their place in the world when they are with family. It's pretty cool for me to watch.

While at their cousin Tanya's wedding this weekend, we managed to get a few photos of the 'cousies' together. We took a couple of serious ones, but these crazy ones are much more fun, and more them. I love them.

I'm doing a LO using these photos titled "Your place in the world", you'll be able to see it on the Get Picky blog at the end of the month.

There were so many photo opportunities this weekend. I can't wait to go through them all properly.

All 7 chicks

Oh my goodness. Do you know how hard it is to get all 7 chicks in one photo? Let me tell you, it's not easy! Grin. But I finally did.

They are 1 week old today and as lovely and adorable now as they were when they were first hatched. Feathers are coming in. All their wings have feathers. And some are starting to get tail feathers.

I have been pretty exhausted this week and have spent quite a bit of time 'veging' outside in the garden with the babies. Not only fun, but therapeutic too. Loving it.

Get Picky - sketch 14

Hi all. Feels like I haven't done a 'scrapping' post for a while. Those wee chicks are just far too much fun! Grin. But today I want to share my LO done for the latest sketch over at the Get Picky blog.

And it's bright!

 I used a very old Prima paper for the base. Doesn't it match perfectly?! Uh huh! Then Websters yellow for a pop and to match in with Sarah's togs.

Add in some tropical flowers and you've got a fun LO to celebrate the amazing sunsets in Fiji.

If you want to see the sketch and more inspiration from the incredible DT, pop on over to Get Picky.

Have a great day.

Exploring

Yesterday, after weeks of full on 'stuff', we spent the day doing nothing. It was so good.

I grabbed my camera, book and cup of tea (refreshing throughout the day! Grin) and sat on the grass watching our adorable new chicks.

Here's our day in photos...

Good times.

A couple of days ago....

... our house was full on. We woke up to 3 chicks and the others well on the way. We managed to see chick number 4 hatch all together as a family. It was wonderful. Then the day progressed with 4 more born over the day.

Here's a bit of our day in photos....

 

Our last Araucana (Tuffy) and Coronation Sussex (Sunshine). Chick numbers 6 & 7.

We took them out of the box at the end of the day and let them have a play on the grass.

 

We think they loved it. We certainly did.

 

Fluffyhead (Araucana)

Bob (Araucana)

 

Lange (Langshan)

 

Chick 4 (still to be named). Araucana.

 

Sarah's blue leghorn Sarie

 

Our last Araucana - chick number 6 who is still to given a name although the kids are calling it tuffy (due to the cute tuft of feathers on it's head).

 

Everyone was very gentle with our beautiful new babies.

This chick was very curious and keen to have some food.

Then chick number 7 (our coronation sussex) was born while Andy and I were at a concert (that's not fair! LOL). I went and saw her the following morning. She is GORGEOUS! We've called her Sunshine. 

Again, just blown away by the amazingness of this process. WOW!

Yesterday morning I woke to this:

Blah had abandoned the last egg. It was cold and her and the chicks were away from their nest. While we were pretty sure this last egg wasn't fertile, we still had hoped it might be, so it was a bit sad removing it from the nest realising it wasn't going to be.

Later, I opened it in a plastic bag to see if it had any signs of fertility or just hadn't been from the start. It was just a plain ole egg. This made me feel alot better.

That was 2 days ago. They are now alot more adventurous, alot more mobile. They follow their wonderful 'mother' around copying her every move. They are eating well and drinking too.

I can not recommend this journey enough. It is delightful, exciting, joyous, nerve racking, a little bit sad, educational, easy and unique.  

Over for another year

Well, the kids school fair is over for another year. I'm exhausted. But it was so much fun.

The build up for the kids is always huge. Today going into school everyone was bouncing off the walls. I don't know how the teachers got anything done today. Perhaps they didn't? LOL.

I love to bake for the cake stall. This year I didn't get to do as much variety as I did last year. Although I did still create a bit...

I wanted to try a cake that I saw on this blog I am baker. In fact all these cakes were inspired (copied) from her. Amazing blog. Amazing baking. Love it.

Anyway, here's the first cake.

I had so much fun with this one. It was actually really easy to create once I had the correct tools.

Then I wanted to try the wiggly one. So I did.

Because the cakes are in cake boxes to sell, I decided to put the wiggles on the top instead of on the sides. I think it worked quite well.

And lastly I had a last cake sitting here ready to go, but didn't really have time to decorate, so I threw some icing on it, some sprinkles and then some 'dots'.

I didn't have time to photograph my cupcakes which is a shame cause they were kinda cute. I used a new product I found at Millies the other day. Edible glitter. I'd seen one type of glittery stuff that goes on cakes to make them sparkle, but this was different. It had hunks of glitter, it was great.

I was also the one looking after the raffle this year. Oh my goodness. Getting 450 odd raffle books out with instructions, then collecting all the money and books back, doing the banking of said money, phoning parents who were 'late' in getting their books/money back. It was a little different to the 'it's an easy job' I said yes to. LOL. But I'm glad to have done it. Glad to have been involved and glad to have helped out. I learnt alot!

Laters....

PS: Chicks doing great. We have 7 successful hatches. So pretty and cute. A post will be done with photos in the next day or two.

Our babies are coming

Today we had our first baby chick. S/he is divine.

S/he is an Araucana. When she gets older she'll lay green/blue eggs which are supposedly lower in cholesterol which makes them more healthy. She could have funny little feathery tufts around her face and possibly won't have a tail. I think she's just amazing.

The kids can't wait to get up early tomorrow morning to go and say hi to her and see if we have any others. We've now got pips in all the ones I think are fertile. So that's good. Then we just need to wait and see if the last one pips or not. We're not too worried either way.

As I showed her to Andy tonight. She was tucked under Blah's wing. I went to lift Blah slightly to get a better look and Blah got all fussy, trying to keep her tucked under her wing. At just the same time Andy shouted for me to stop. So much for not being concerned about them huh Andy?! It was lovely.

As for the family and I, we've had a wonderful couple of days blogging with Vicky, txting, skyping, keeping up to date with what is happening in each of our Mama hens nests. It's such an exciting time I feel extremely blessed to have shared it with someone so special.

Ok, so here's another couple of photos....

I adore this photo. I LOVE seeing Fluffyhead trying so hard to get out. I love knowing that shortly after, she did. I love seeing Blah looking so attentively to her chick. I just love it's feel.

A close up of Fluffyhead.

Tomorrow is another day. And like Matthew said to me as he went to bed "Mum I can't stop bouncing. I just can't stop. It's too exciting", well, I'm feel like I'm bouncing inside and I'm wondering how I will sleep? Wish me luck.

Whanganui you rock the scrapping world!

What a wonderful day I had teaching in Whanganui on Saturday! Once I got there in that teeny tiny little plane. It was so funny. Here I was with my super large carry on and they didn't have any overhead compartments or room under the seats! LOL. I was sitting there with it all on my lap thinking this was going to be an interesting hour when the pilot came and took it off me. Turns out I was in the emergency exit and my bags could have been a problem if there was an accident. Bonus for me!!!! Grin.

Then there was all the turbulance. We were bounced around that sky like we were in a washing machine. For those of you who know me, you'll know I'm not the most confident of flyers. But I'm getting much much better. And even this flight was fine. But for the first time in ages I felt queasy on a flight! I really did wonder if there were any sick bags, but thankfully didn't need one. 

Doreen at The Papercraft room sure knows how to make things happen. What a wonderful lady! If you're in the area, make sure you pop in and say hi from me. She will treat you well! It was her and Trudie that got the ball rolling to get me down to teach and I'm so glad.

I taught two classes while I was there.

The first was my '3 in 1' which is very popular. Enough material and instructions for 3 single LO's plus leftovers to use on other projects.

Here's what the LO's look like:

and

and

Lots of techniques: masking, stitching, diecutting, sanding, inking, rolling paper, using texture paste, making tendrils, handcutting and more. It was fast paced and even then we didn't finish all the LO's. I'm sorry about that ladies! I hate it when we don't finish the LO's in class. But I see around the WWW that people are finishing them up. YAY!  

You can see we've used tons and tons of beautiful Prima papers and embellishments (papers from the Printery line). 

The second class was much more laid back time wise. We even finished a little early. Love that. And we got to play with Websters All about me collection. It is so bright and funky and we added in a photo of ourselves.

I think this is becoming a mantra for me. That we scrappers need to take more photos of ourselves! And yes, I'm as bad at not doing it as the next person. But it is important. Please I challenge you, grab your camera now and take a photo of you! But I'm getting side tracked. Here's the LO we completed.

So much layering in this one. It was fun!

Again, lots of techniques...hand cutting, inking, painting, punching, folding, layering.

I have some kits from the Texture Throughout LO (the second one) if anyone would like to buy one from me, please send me an email. As I'm not there teaching the class to you in person, they are less than if you attended the class, $40 plus P&P.

The ladies were so friendly and wonderful. They made me feel so at home. Thanks for having me.

Here are a couple of photos from the day....

Mandy my lovely friend from Wellington made the trip up with Kris (thanks for helping in the class Kris!!!) and Carmel. It was a total surprise and she got me. LOL.

Some of the punches we were using.

A look at the LO's and a couple of little prizes.

Mandy and I. Thanks my friend!

Class two...you ladies rock! Thanks for such a wonderful day.

To top off the day for me personally, I had an impromtu visit from my good friend Lynda. Who then said, Can I give you a lift to the airport? So we chatted for a long time catching up. Gosh I miss her! And huge congrats to her too for some great news this week!

Good times, good times. Thanks Doreen, Trudie and all the spectacular ladies in Whanganui. You rock!

More Prima fun

I notice the Prima PPP is up. Take a look at it here.

Some beautiful colours and such a great vintage look in the palette.

I decided to get some of my old photos out. Like 2008 old! LOL.

I came up with this...

The photograph of it isn't the best, but still gives a great idea of what I was trying to achieve.

I adore the colours together. And as for those resins, divine.

Here are a couple of close up's too.

The pictures were taken on our first 'intrepid' journey with the kids (our second coming up in just over a month, whooohoo!). China. And what a trip that was! Absolutely amazing.

We were hoping to get out to a province that has lots of Giant Pandas, but due to an earthquake that area was in ruins. It was devastating. So obviously we didn't get out there. Instead we saw the Panda's at the zoo. It was still so worthwhile.

I can't believe, looking at these pictures how young the children were when we went. In just 3 years, they've grown so much.

Hope you get the chance to have a go at this palette.

T