Living my dream

Chickens

Last year we started with some of these.

See that pale brown one on the top right? That egg is going to hatch to be Sunshine. Our Coronation Sussex.

This is what she looked like as a chick....

Now she looks like this....

She is beautiful. And today, she laid her first egg.

See that teeny tiny little squished egg in the middle? That's it. So cute.

She is still learning and the colour isn't quite all over, and obviously it's tiny. But how cool is that? From egg to egg.

Absolutely thrilled and excited.

T

Something new for me.

And I'm guessing it's just the start.

I created a LO for Get Picky. I love it. I love the flower combination and the colours and the way everything flowed across the page.

Unfortunately, the journaling I wrote was deemed too personal for my girl (who the LO was about). And I was told I couldn't show it.

Now I totally respect her rights, but was flabbergasted that this is happening already. She is just 8 years old! Oh my, I'm in for a long ride with her! Grin.

So I have put that LO away, not to be shown to anyone, unless they look through my albums. Except, I did take a couple of close ups that don't show any journaling. They are ok to show! Grin.

Thought you might like to see.

Big Picture Classes - Giveaway

The other day I got an awesome email from a lady across the globe who was inspired by my BPC "You changed my life" I was absolutely stoked that someone had been inspired by and gained something from my class.

Often when you sit there creating a class, you wonder what it will achieve. You have dreams and goals. You hope that an experience you may have had, might help someone else. But you just don't know how it will all pan out, until it's done and finished.

The good thing is that we all teach each other. Every time I take a class I learn something new even as I'm teaching.

Anyway, the good news is that I have a free class of mine to give away.

Yes, you heard that right!

I'm thrilled to be able to give away a spot in my class "You changed my life".

But I'm going to make it a little harder than just entering a draw. Grin.

My class is all about the people who changed your life. So why not tell me about someone who changed your life. It doesn't matter how big or small. You don't even have to go into details (sometimes it can be too personal), but I'd love to know who those people are in your life that you want to commemorate (good or bad! Grin).

So leave me a comment on this post and I'll do a draw in a week (next Wed evening NZ time). Spread the word, because if I get over 150 entries, I might just have to throw in a rak from myself for someone else as well.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Maltesers Cake

I saw this cake on Pinterest the other day and pinned it to make one day. As you do.

Then today, realised we were going out for afternoon tea and thought, self, this could be a good day for that maltesers cake.

So I gave it a go....

Here's the link to the person who created this cool decorating idea.

The cake isn't the same, but the decorating idea, totally copied!

The cake is a 'crazy cake'. The receipe is taken from a book called "The Everything Book" by Eleanor Graham Vance.

Andy had it as a child and we were lucky his Mum kept it and gave it to him a couple of years back. The kids just ADORE this cake as it's sooooo easy to make. Here's the receipe....

Directly into a 8-inch square cake pan (I used a circle one!)

Sift: 1.5 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 3 tbsp cocoa, 1.5 tsp baking soda, .5 tsp salt.

Make holes in these dry ingredients.

Into one hole pour 1 tsp vanilla essence

Into another pour 6 tbsp cooking oil.

Into the third pour 1 tbsp vinegar.

Pour 1 cup of water over all, and beat with a fork until smooth.

Bake at 180 for 25-30 mins.

Cool huh?! Nothing to wash except the measuring spoons and cake tin. And it tastes good. Wonder what it'll taste like with maltesers on top?

I've been baking again

Wow, this is a divine slice. Well, I'd actually call it a kind of a cake. And in the receipe it's called a lemon brownie. Either way, it's amazing. So fresh and lemoney.

I got the receipe off one of my favourite receipe sites. Taste. And it was this one here that I used.

Much better than my disaster yesterday ..... caramel slice. I couldn't get the caramel to set. It tastes amazing, but well, in this heat, and how it didn't set already, it was just one big sticky mess. LOL. Not so good for the lunch boxes. I might have to try again with a slightly different receipe.

I am looking for something a little more healthy than what I've been making recently, and ideally something I don't actually have to bake. If you've got any great receipes, I'd love to hear about them!

Trying to listen

For those of you who know me and read my blog regularly, you'll know I'm a pretty busy person. You'll also know that last year I got hit by a pretty serious 'illness'. Chronic Fatique Syndrome. It was hideous and something I fought the whole time it was obviously present.

But I was lucky and got better pretty quickly in comparison to many other people. And have since been learning how to deal with it. How to take things easy. Yeah right!

The other day I was talking to some Mums at school and they asked what I was going to do when I got home and I said 'rest'. Then when I saw them later they said, so did you get some rest and I said 'sort of, I went to Titirangi, ordered some product for a class, designed a LO and this and this. Well it was rest, I was sitting down'. LOL.

But the point being that what I consider rest, isn't really. So I need to learn to listen to my body better and alter the way I think. And I need to do it soon. This last week or so I've been needing an afternoon sleep every day again.

And that's ok. I just need to learn how much is too much and prioritise. I don't think I realised how much our trip over Xmas took out of me. I really haven't caught up since then. And there are some things like my family, crafting and chickens, that are far too important not to spend time on. So they come first. But other things, I can easily live without.

It's an interesting and frustrating journey that I'm going on. And again, I find myself fighting it every step of the way. But at least now I'm a little wiser (I hope) and can deal with it better.

After all, every day is a new day and this is a new year.

Scrapping shares

Get Picky have their latest sketch challenge up now and I've got my project up on the blog along with a ton of others to inspire you.

Here's what I created:

This LO was made using photos from our recent tramp at KareKare. It was such a great day.

Make sure you pop on over to take a look at what all the DT has created.

I am also lucky to be part of the Once upon a sketch team this month. As a guest designer for them, I've created a LO to share as part of their next challenge.

Here's what I created:

The challenge this time, is to create a LO about your best holiday/vacation. Pop on over to their blog to find out all the details and see more delightful designs.

Baking

You may have noticed that I've been 'into' baking in the last little while.

I've found it fun.

I also love creating something from nothing, plus I love how I know what is in the food so can keep my family healthy.

Occassionally, it also helps others.

I read about a woman in NZ (I think) who discovered how much a baked cake meant to a friend when she gave it to her one day for her birthday. She decided to make a cake everyday for a year to give away. And she did. Apparently it wasn't always easy, but she did it. And brought joy to many people.

Today as part of Valentines I decided that baking might help brighten up not only my kids days, but a friend who is going through a bit of a rough patch.

I didn't want the normal ole cake, so decided to try something new. It's called a 'spice cake'

I used this receipe from Delish. Then decided that I couldn't do the 'standard' butter icing as I had to take it to school with me, so got this frosting receipe from Cooks.

The icing is amazing. It's like a cross between fudge and icing. Delish!

And the cake, well, I was worried about what the kids would think. They don't like 'spicy' things. But LOVED this. Me too.

I'd highly recommend it.

And for something fun, I decided to make some of these

I've seen lots of pics of these on pinterest and around the web, so thought they'd be fun for the kids. And not totally unhealthy. It was fun to make, and yummy. Unfortunately the M&M's have gone a bit discoloured cause I put them in the fridge. Note to self: Don't put in fridge!

But all in all a successful day. My friend gave me a huge hug and the kids were stoked. Yay!

Hope your day's been good too.

Happy Valentines

I think I mentioned how I was going to make a card for Andy for Valentines. Well I did....

It was really simple, and QUICK!

I just grabbed some Websters scraps and went for it.

Here's how the card was made:

1. Punch some strips using Fiskars Threading Water punch (of course you can use any punch you like - a heart one could be really cute!).

2. Adhere the very ends to a scrap piece of paper, layered (this keeps them together for the rest of your creating).

3. On the back, adhere some magic mount (double sided foam tape) on either side of where you will make your heart (this keeps all pieces together when you cut/punch).

4. Use a punch / die / hand drawn heart shape to cut a heart from the middle of your strips.

5. Adhere the strips to your card base and trim ends.

6. Inside the heart shape, add lots of glue (I used glossy accents). Then sprinkle beads over the top until the heart shape is completely filled in.

7. Stamp a sentiment on the bottom right corner and wait to dry before giving to your recipient.

See how quick and easy it is?

Tip:

You could ink / roll the edges of the strips if you wanted to give a bit more dimension to the card.

You could use any punch / die cut to make any other shape for other special occassions.

Happy Valentines everyone! May your day be filled with love from the special people in your lives!

Valentines

Are you, like me, running a bit behind on the whole Valentine 'thing' this year? Mmmhmmm.

Well, the other day I saw an idea on Kim Archer's eline magazine etcetera and thought, I'll try that. So today, with a few minutes to spare, I did just that.

Here's what I came up with

Each made with the recipients likes in the way of colours and even a special message to my hubby as well.

They were super simple to put together. It took perhaps 45 mins to do all of them?

All you need is some felt, embroidery thread and a needle. Plus filling of course (I just use a pillow that I cut open a few years ago. I keep digging into it to fill things as I sew them). Grin.

If you want to get the 'perfect' heart, use a die cut. However, this time around, I just hand cut them from a drawn template.

All the items needed to make it, I had sitting around home so all it cost was a bit of time and lots of love. After all, that's what Valentines is about right? LOVE?

Now might go make a card to go with Andy's.

Let's hope he doesn't check here before tomorrow. Grin.

 

Today is here at last...

Vicky and I have been planning our second hatch since the first one. LOL. We both enjoyed it so much. Today we met and swapped eggs. I had got some from a place in Nelson. She had got some from our original place.

We met at a park and the kids had a wonderful time running around the playground and skate board park.

I took a couple of photos. Just love the graffiti as a background.

And then we moved over to an amazing building that had some great art and more graffiti.

I adore this picture. They are all so individual. All so perfect. It's wonderful.

Can you tell I'm a scrapping Mum? LOL.

Now just have to wait ever so IMPATIENTLY for next weekend when we'll candle the eggs to see if/how many have started to develop, then another 2 weeks for those that have, to hatch. Yay!

Scrappin Patch's April Retreat

I'm so excited to be heading South for some more classes SOON! Scrappin patch ladies watch out!

Preparations are well under way and there have been lots of ideas talked about.

Megan has a fantastic exploding box project that she's teaching and I'm doing a couple of classes too.

One is a 'typical' Trina LO. Here's some info....

See those papers up there? They're what we're using. Delicious! Plus of course a few of Prima's new line released at CHA. It's gonna be great!

I'm also teaching a 'Smash Album' class where the participants (that's you guys! Grin) get to make their own album from scratch. They are so much fun!

From what I hear the classes are almost full! And they've only been open for registration for a day.

I can't wait! Hope to see you at the retreat!

Prima's BAP and PPP

I don't know about you, but I look forward to these every month from Prima.

And today you can find February's challenges on their blog.

Here is February's sketch:

And of course, my take on it:

I used a lot of new CHA product on this LO. Totally adoring the banner, the clocks, the wooden pieces and of course the beautiful flowers that Prima continually bring out. Sigh.

I used Tattered Angels Glimmermist on the canvas to draw out the resistance on it. Love how subtle it is.

This LO features Tuffy one of our chickens that we hatched from an egg last year. Just a couple of weeks ago, she died. It was devastating to all of us. But luckily I had taken these photos and in fact had already created this LO. I feel pretty pleased that due to my scrapping obsession we've got such a great record of our wee friend.

Please check out the blog here for more fabulous designs from the Prima DT.

And moving right along.... I also took part in the PPP. Well, who wouldn't want to. It was such a beautiful palete!

Here's my take on it.

Again, lots of new Prima. Adore that paper. Look at the giant doily! And you can see I've also used one of the canvas sheets, cutting out the flowers to add dimension without bulk.

To keep the design under the same 'theme' I've added some die cut doilies of my own to it.

Love being able to create my own embellishment.

As for Prima's trinkets, well, we all know how much I love them! Grin.

Hey, did you see the teeny tiny butterflies up on the top righthand side? They're my idea! You won't believe how excited I was when I found out Prima was going to produce something I suggested. Cool huh?!

Ok, again, if you want to see more gorgeousness (is that a word?), pop on over here.

Later.

A new start

Yesterday Vicky picked up half our eggs. Today our other half arrived from Nelson.

Yep, they were couriered to me. I've got to admit being a little wary of how this would work. But they all arrived perfectly intact. Here's why...

First, each egg was wrapped in paper.

Then put into a strong carton with lots of recyclable strips of paper.

And opening the cartons and unwrapping them, we find 12 gorgeous eggs...

We are setting them under the mothers on Saturday. So excited!

 

Once upon a sketch

What a GREAT name for a blog! If you haven't discovered it yet, take a look here.

A sketch and journaling blog rolled into one. I LOVE it.

Last year, they asked me to guest design for them. Well, what a fun opportunity so of course I said yes.

Here is the sketch:
and my take on it:

The challenge this time was about a male in your life that you love. Well, I can't go past this young man. Who clearly I adore. Grin.

But check out the whole post here. Once upon a sketch has a stupendous design team so lots of inspiration to be found on their blog.

Look forward to seeing you there!