Living my dream

Thank you

I just wanted to write a big thank you to everyone that responded to my post 'Creativity takes courage'.

I've had comments here, on facebook, email and you've all been incredibly supportive and encouraging.

I've tried to write this post several times, but the words have evaded me each time as they seem so little in comparision to what you've given me over the last few days.

So I hope thank you will suffice.

You will never know the difference it has made to me.

Have a wonderful, strong, inspiring day all!

Crazy Monday Kits final project

Like I said the other day, I had one more project to show you. And here it is.

A cute little mini album made from one sheet of paper.

I've made a similar album before, but the pages were smaller. This is the same premise, but the pages are bigger.

Let's take a look at how you cut the page to create a teeny album....

Ok, take a piece of 12x12" paper and cut 4" off one side.

Then fold the page in half (and unfold), then into quarters.

Now that your page has score marks where the pages are, you can cut along the 'half fold'. Not all the way, but just 3/4 of the paper (as above).

Now fold the paper in half again, and pull up the 'pages' ready to glue together.

Once they are glued, you can use the piece you cut off earlier to form a cover to the album.

Wrap it around the front cover, crease along the spine and continue wrapping around the back cover. Cut off any excess. Adhere it down.

If you wish to add ribbon, ensure this is done by placing and adhering it to the mini album before the cover is put on.

Now you are ready to decorate the album.

I used mine to commemorate my kids first day at school this year.

There were no numbers in the alphabet packet included in the kit, so I hand cut mine. The perfect solution that allowed me to custom make them to fit the area needed.

There wasn't much I needed to say for each page, so I just kept it really simple and added something to let them know how much I care for them.

I had fun using some punches and Spellbinders dies to get some cool shapes onto the pages.

The ledger paper in the kit works perfectly for the theme of the album, plus gives me a spot to write if I want to add in journaling later.

I wanted to keep the inside of the album relatively flat, but could embellish as much as I wanted on the cover.

There is a particularly large flower in the kit, and I pulled it apart giving me a few more petals to play with, and a lovely shiny bead to place wherever I wanted.

Thanks again Annelie for having me play with the gorgeous February kit.

Crazy Monday Kits

Have you got your February kit from Crazy Monday Kits yet?

Why not?

It's gorgeous!

So you've seen a layout and a few cards I've made. How about another layout?

I used the kraft cardstock from the kit to make a neutral backing for my 'overload' of flowers.

Gosh I love flowers.

And you'll notice I've made a few of my own here....

Sometimes it's hard to work out what you're going to do or make, but this kit made it so easy. I really love the colours, the embellishments, everything really. I was lucky to be asked to work with it.

But I haven't finished yet. I'll be showing one last project in the next week or so. In the meantime, Annelie is showing sneaks of the next kit. Take a look here.

If you missed out on February, get in early for the March kit!

T

Sunday Shake Up

Everyday as we go about our normal day, we pass people, see people.

People we don't know. Have never seen before and will never see again.

This week, I challenge you to make contact with one of these people.

Someone who looks a million bucks. Tell them.

So often I see people and think wow, they look amazing. I should say something. Just a little 'wow, you look great'. But I'm always too shy.

This week, I'm not going to be, and I challenge you to do the same.

When you see someone that you think looks really good, tell them.

Dare ya.

Creativity takes courage

As I logged in to Typepad tonight to show you some new work I've done, I saw a 'recommended' blog to look at. It was called 'Creativity takes courage'.

I didn't look at it, but the words briefly caught my attention and stayed with me.

Three little words that mean so much to me in the job I do, and the way I show myself to the world.

Every day that I write here, I put myself out there.... ready for anyone who happens to come across my blog to judge me. Criticise my work, my writing, myself. Or not.

And I realised that yes, my scrapbooking, cake making, writing does that each and everytime I write another post.

Most days I'm ok with that. I can handle it. I'm a 'big girl'. But other days the comments, snide remarks and criticism gets to me. It hurts. Hey, I'm human too. And too frequently the people that make the comments that hurt, are people that have either never been here before, or don't know me. Or worse still, they do and they make them anyway. And I wonder what made them think that way? In what way could I have been misconstrued? I wonder if they took the time to look at my blog and read what I'm up to, would they still think that?

And to be honest, the answer is often yes.

Because at the end of the day, I'm just a scrapbooker, Mum, woman, friend, that is trying to get through the day just like everyone else.

The scrapbooking I share is always personal and opens me to criticism. The joy I get from making a cake could be misunderstood as bragging. The excitement I find in getting a success with my kids could be seen as competition with other parents. I mean where does it stop?

For me, right here. My blog is a little insight into myself. It doesn't show the whole of me, not even a little bit. There just isn't enough room, or words, and the words that I use will be perceived differently by everyone who reads them.

So being here is a little part of my courage showing through. Sharing my thoughts, my scrapbooking, my baking, my little bits of crazy, sometimes takes a thick skin, which unfortunately I don't have.

If you are creative, take courage in what you do because at the end of the day, it is for you. It is not to be judged by anyone else. It is a little bit of who you are being shared with the people around you. And that is all. For someone to judge or criticise just doesn't come into it.

So I wish for you, and me, enough courage to keep blogging. To keep creating. To keep baking. To keep bringing up your kids in the way you see fit. To email that person with a note of encouragement. To paint. To run. To do whatever it is that you do. To just be you.

My adventure today....

I woke up super early this morning (for me anyway), 5.40am so I could get on the road before 6.30am.

I had a big day ahead of me.

From Auckland I was going to Tauranga, then across the breadth of the country to Te Akau (near Raglan).

For those of you who don't live in NZ. This is our little country.

We are found literally at the bottom of the world. And in fact some of the maps of the world don't even show us. How bad is that?

Anyway, here's where I drove today....

You can see how I went from literally one side of our beautiful North Island to the other and back home again.

Total driving time was 6.5 hours. All done and completed before school pick up at 3pm.

And why on earth do you ask, was I doing this? Well. Apart from being totally crazy. I had two things I needed doing. And if I'd done them seperately, it would have been two days and an extra 3 hours driving. Doing it like this meant I got both jobs done in one day with less overall driving.

And what were my two jobs? Picking up two beautiful new brown leghorn girls from Tauranga and dropping off our 9 boys to Te Akau (near Raglan).

And so here's the dets....

530kms.

6.5 hours driving.

1.5 hours chatting to people at my two stops.

5 traffic cops seen.

2 Trains.

1 car on the train tracks (so cool).

1 huge ice-cream from Pokeno.

Towns I went through: Matamata, Tauranga, Cambridge, Hamilton, Ngarawhaia, and of course Auckland.

Music I listened to: Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Pink, Mumford and Sons, Ed Sheeran and "Start French", but that's not really music. LOL.

I could have almost driven all the way to Wellington.

Seriously, what was I thinking?

But it's all done and dusted and I'm home safe and sound and our new chickens are doing well.

I'm a tired but happy and satisfied chickee.

Random things from my part of the world...

So, just catching up on a few things here. It seems like I've only been sharing scrapping goodness lately and while that's exciting and I love to, I also like to share little bits of me. So that's what this post is all about.

Starting with something out of the blue. The boys signed up for soccer (football) this year. Oh . my . goodness!!! They have been avid rugby players for many seasons now. Dan since he was 3! But last year a couple of their friends 'defected' to soccer and this year, my boys are too. It will be interesting. In some ways I'm sad, they were building up a really good team and some great skills in rugby, but why not change? Try something new?! On the other hand rugby is WAY cheaper to join. It cost $160 for Matt to join soccer and 'only' $140 for Dan since he was a younger sibling. What the?! No wonder rugby has such a great number of players to chose from as the kids get older! Rugby is about 1/3rd of the cost!

We also had a major birthday in the family this weekend. In fact two. My darling husband Andy turned 45. Every now and then it hits me that we're not as young as we used to be. This weekend, it hit home hard and true. With Andy turning 45 and one of our nieces 21, it was like wowzers! Where have the years gone?

As usual the only cake that fits for a "McClune" on their birthday is a chocolate log.....

This one was eaten in 2 seconds flat.

So proud of my wonderful man and the life we've created together. I'm a lucky lady.

Earlier in the day I'd created another birthday cake for my niece Paige....

I created lovely ruffles all around the edges of the cake and left it flat on top for the candles and the banner. It looked pretty cute.

Inside were lots of lovely colourful dots.

It was a very different cake to make and alot of fun. It was especially neat when the cake was cut and Paige lifted up this first piece and everyone drew in their breath. Grin.

A very happy birthday to Paige!

Today the kids have all been home sick. Dan was throwing up again yesterday and the other two have had coughs and colds for a few days so I decided with one home I might as well have them all home.

They're looking and sounding a lot better this afternoon with a good day of rest in them.

This morning our neighbour rang. His cat (which has two bells on it) had attacked on of our chickens. He put her back on our side, but when I went to look for her, I can't find her. I'm hoping she has just decided to hide and recouperate, but I don't know. He said she looked fine, but it's often the stress that kills them and I haven't been able to give her any rescue remedy.

On Wed, I'm hoping to pick up two new girls. Brown Leghorns (just need to check with the lady I'm getting them from). Yay. Plus drop off 8 boys to our special farm that takes the boys we happen to hatch.

I'm looking forward to having the boys gone. They are starting to crow and I imagine the neighbours won't be so pleased.

Well, I think that's about it for now. Better go get dinner sorted.

I hope you're having a great day.

Later.

Sunday Shake up

I've been meaning to write this post all day. Literally remembering and forgetting all day. hehe.

But my thoughts came this morning as the kids went to try out a new sport. Stand Up Paddle Boarding.

Matt got given a voucher for his birthday and while we'd tried to use it a couple of times, today was the first day that the weather was ok for littlies to get on the water.

Apparently Sarah found it hard and stopped before the boys. But Matt got to the end of Takapuna beach and back. So he did great.

Anyway, the point here, is that they tried something new.

And that's my challenge to you all this week....get out there and try a new sport.

Easy peasy.

Dare ya.

T

Some cards with the Crazy Monday Feb kit

I've been having some fun with Annelies Feb Kit.

I put together this set of cards. One baby card, and two other blank cards that can be used for anything.

I love using the Spellbinders Nestabilities dies to get the same shape in different sizes so you can create a little nest of the shape you like.

I've done this on all three cards to make my own embellishement. Once I had die cut the shapes using paper from the kit, then I stitched them together before putting them on the cards.

Then the shape was attached to the cards - after of course, creating a lovely background using texture paste, and glimmermist.

Easy as that.

Make sure you check out the Crazy Monday Kits. They are great value for money and come with beautiful product!

I'm so lucky - thank you PaperHaus

Recently our amazing DT Co-ordinator at PaperHaus resigned her position of Co-ordinator. Chrissy is a lovely lady and so easy to work for. I was really disappointed to hear that she was leaving.

But shortly after I heard the news, I was asked if I'd like to take on the role.

To be honest, I was gob-smacked, but also incredibly touched, and I felt very priviledged. The team at PaperHaus are very talented and I was so excited to work with them to start with, so it was with huge excitement I said yes.

So keep an eye on the PaperHaus blog. We're going to keep the daily posts running, but also going to bring in other events such as the Spring Fling throughout March, and our Valentines Inspiration tomorrow.

I can't wait to see you there.

T

Sunday shake up

Recently when I was in Bali, spending time with people I'd never met before, I had some amazing conversations. These amazing people who I feel priviledged to call friends now made me think in new ways and I am so grateful for that.

One conversation was with Grace. I can't remember how the story started, but she told me a tale about dogs and related it to how we treat our families. Basically that when a member of our family walks through the door after being out of the house for a while, we should treat them as though we were a dog.

Ok, so that sounds a bit weird right, but think about it.

What does a dog do when you come through the door after a day at work? It is so darn excited, it often forgets the rules. It just loves you and wants to be around you. It wags its tail and jumps up on you and runs around your feet. It wants to show you how much it has missed you and wants to spend time with you.

So yep, that's the challenge this week.

Greet your partner and/or family when they come home as if you were a dog. Be excited to see them. Want to be near them. Be happy and smiley and in a good mood. Pay attention to them. Listen to what they have to say. Be present for them.

Dare ya.

 

Prima's mag *Art-Zine* .... Feb issue out now

Check it out here.

As usual it's beautiful and being digital FREE!

When you're looking through it, check out my layout using the free paper available in this issue.....

I've had a new idea.... Trina's volcano challenge

As I walked to the top of Mt Eden in Auckland today, I reveled in the feeling of being in the country in the middle of the city.

It was a beautiful day and there was a bright blue sky with lots of green grass and trees.

NZ is on a fault line which means that we have a lot of volcanoes. Mt Eden is one of them. Years ago Auckland was right smack over the hotspot of the fault line which means we were right in the path of any new volcanoes forming.

As such we have around 50 inactive (extinct?) volcanoes around our beautiful city.

So as I wandered along the paths and reached the top to the most amazing view, I decided to climb each volcano in Auckland.

I came home and found a site that listed all the volcanoes in Auckland. Some are not mountains. Some are basins. But I'm going to walk around them too.

And yes, I've actually already climbed about 30-40% of them, but I'm going to start from scratch and do every one. Even if I've climbed it before.

I feel really excited about this and when I talked to the family they were keen too. Matt wants to do them ALL with me. Which kinda restricts when I can do this. But I think it'll be fun to do together.

Anyway, I wondered if anyone else is keen? You can either come along with me (and Matt) when I make my journeys, or just join in the fun in your own time.

Everytime I climb one, I'm going to tick it off my list. One ticked off today. Mt Eden. Yay!

Waitangi Day

Us Kiwis know all about Waitangi day (if you're trying to work out what it sounds like it's kinda like 'why tang e'). Waitangi is special to all kiwis for different reasons. Not all of them good. Over the years, there has been a lot of controversy over how the government handles things. And this year is no exception. Our Prime Minister has said things in a speech which were controversial.

Of course all words can be taken and used any which way a person perceives them, so I'm going to stay out of this debate right now. Instead I'm going to tell you about our nice day....

The kids and I went out and brought coverseal for their new school books. We then covered all their books. We got told on Tues they had to be done and back at school by Thurs. Quick turn around really. Hmmmm. But at least Sarah had fun doing it. She was even keen to do her brothers ones too as they were too lazy to themselves.

We also hang out with the chooks alot. Well I did. We let all the little girls we have out in the main chicken run. They all get on so well it was an easy transition. Then I also found out one of our adults has sold and some of our babies, so we'll start getting back to normal numbers. I think Andy will be very happy!

I also decided to put some things on Trade Me. So I did that. Or started to anyway. It always takes so much longer than you anticipate doesn't it?

At one point I heard on the radio that there was a Tsunami warning out for NZ amongst other countries. At that point Andy was out kayaking in the harbour. We were just about to give the boys a go. We decided it was better to put the kayak away and wait at the top of the section and see what happened. There will be plenty of time for kayaking another day.

As it turned out, we didn't need to worry. But when it comes to my kids, it's better to be safe than sorry.

It was a beautiful day and we ended it with a BBQ dinner outside under the setting sun.

A lovely day for our family.

I hope it was nice for yours too.

My Scrapbook Ideas - Classes in Indonesia

At the end of Jan, I was lucky enough to be in Indonesia teaching a couple of days of classes for My Scrapbook Ideas. I was also lucky that Spellbinders gave each student a gorgeous die and Prima was used for all projects. Ahhhh. Bliss.

I had sooooo much fun. I can't begin to describe how amazing the students were, the venues were, the hosts were.

JAKARTA

My first day was Friday in Jakarta.

Can you see the glorious mess we created? I love scrapbooking! Unfortunately just before I arrived there were some major floods and a couple of people had to cancel as their houses were under mud. My thoughts were with them and still are.

We had a photographer turn up to take photos of what we were doing. Apparently we're all going to be in the Martha Stewart Asian Magazine. Exciting!

We made two layouts, and a mini album. We didn't quite get to the card.

The venue here was in a restaurant so it made for an interesting class setting! Especially at lunchtime. I wonder what the lunchtime patrons thought of this crazy lady with a microphone directing people with bits of paper. It was so much fun!

SURABAYA

Surabaya was a different group of women and a young man. It was another great group and we had a lot of laughs.

Both days I couldn't have done it without my helpers cutting all the pieces that we needed. Thank you ladies!

Both of the class participants were lucky to use Prima's very cool new masks.

Again, lots of glorious mess! Love it.

And then time for some photos.

I was lucky enough to visit My Scrapbook Ideas store in Surabaya. I have to say it is one of the prettiest shops I've ever seen.

I love the white of the shop intersperced with the green tree and colours of all the product. Divine.

MSI also have an amazing DT and I would watch the names very carefully. I would not be surprised to see them appearing on manufacturer DTs very soon! They have such a unique and beautiful style. Surabaya just loves to layer. And I mean layer. Their layouts don't go in albums, but in frames on the wall. They are simply stunning!

And that is about it. A wonderful wonderful couple of days with an amazing company and their lovely customers.

If you get a chance to go to Indonesia, make sure you stop in at MSI. It will be well worth your while!