Living my dream

Sunday Shake Up

Earlier in the week, I was at a set of traffic lights that are always a little dodgy and as I gave way to the truck opposite me (as I should), the man driving gave me a little wave.

It was really nice. And I appreciated that he noticed I'd followed the rules to let him go.

It doesn't always happen like that at this particular set of lights.

Anyway, it got me thinking about how there are currently adds on tv about thinking about the cars on the road, and that there are people in them and we should think about the people instead of just seeing cars, and I realised that was just what happened to me.

And I realised that this was a good shake up.

To give little waves of 'thanks' or 'got it' or 'have a great day' to the people we give way to, drive past, whatever.

Dare ya.

A Masquerade Mask for a friend

Recently I created something different. I was asked if I could make a mask for a friend attending a masquerade party. I've never made anything like this before, so found it hard to start with. But then decided to just go for it.

This is what it ended up like.

I started off with a mask from Spotlight.

I then painted it a bluey colour. Followed by a turquoise glitter.

Once this was dry I also put some of my favourite iridescent medium over parts of it.

Then it was up to the decorating part. I was given some feathers from the lovely Wendy (from Scotties), plus those gorgeous white threads of beads. And quickly found a spot for them.

As a final touch, I added in some crystals from Prima and of course a couple of flowers from Prima too.

Mandy sent me some photos of her in the mask at the party. It looked like she had a lot of fun!

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to try something different Mandy. I'm so pleased you liked it.

A pinata cake

Oh I love a different cake and when Andy showed me a pinata cake the other day, I knew I just had to try it.

So for this months 'you are special' cake, I made one.

It's very simple on the outside, and I don't have photos of that, but take a look at the inside.

This is in the middle of putting it together.

You make two cakes (I made them in metal bowls so the end cake would be round in shape), carve the middle out of each of them. Fill the middle with lollies. Stick the two pieces together, then ice.

It's surprisingly easy and I hope will be quite a surprise for the child who receives it.

Just had to share this amazing party

A friend sent me a link to this incredible, amazing, brilliant xmas party and I just had to share with you.

After all, we scrapbookers tend to do things big.

But this party was HUGE in the decorations.

And I sooooo wish I could do this. But I think hubby would have a minor coronary at making the big tin soldiers at the door. Hmmmm, Not so much at making them, but storing them.

Anyway, it was fabulous to see this amazing house and the talent involved. I was blown away and just adore it.

The best ever ginger crunch

A little while ago I bought an oaty ginger crunch from the local cafe. It was just divine. I've been looking for it ever since.

Then a couple of weeks ago, when I took the kids out for afternoon tea, I found it again. And this time it had a name.

So I googled "Oaty ginger crunch" when I got home and found THIS receipe.

Today, I made it.

Oh . my . goodness . me

If you like ginger crunch, give this receipe a go. It's amazing!!!!

Just a word of warning, don't do what I did and use the knife with the metal edge straight out of the dishwasher to cut the slice up. You'll end up with blisters like these....

Well, I assume that's what happened cause one minute I was slicing up ginger crunch and the next I had a sore hand.

Enjoy.

Sunday Shake up

Today I'm going to challenge you to shake up your creativity.

Yep, all you have to do is try something new in your art.

If you scrapbook, and have a 'simple' style, why not go for the steam punk look?

If you have a shabby chic style? why not go for the 'simple' look?

Take a look through some UTube videos to get some inspiration and 'how to', then give it a go. Have a play.

Dare ya.

Things that make me smile

This week has been a challenging week, so I decided to write a list of things that made me happy and/or grateful.....

• Rain. We had some this week.
• Sun. I still love the sun more, but we needed rain.
• A family wedding. A beautiful bride. A wonderful day.
• A son who was looking forward to 'being handsome' the next day at the wedding.
• Another son who has trained hard so he can run the Shore to Shore. He rocks!
• A daughter who is kind and generous and forgiving and insightful and clever.
• A husband who lets me sleep when the ME/chronic fatique kicks in.
• Cups of tea.
• Guylian chocolates. Actually, no I'm not grateful for them. LOL.
• Being creative. This week I've made a masquerade mask, a class layout, and two cards (plus of course the two things at Finn's classes).
• Farmers for their 50% sale.
• Friends who text for an impromptu 'coffee' (I hate coffee, but that's what we say when we meet at a cafe for a hot chocolate, right?!)
• A day of crafting in the middle of the week.
• A quieter week coming up.
• A million other things that have happened this week that I've smiled at and been grateful for.

Excited to share sneak peeks for my Sydney class

Yay, can't wait to share this new class I've designed using the gorgeous new Divine range from Prima.

Contact Kylie and her team and Scrapbook Superstore to book in.

Scrapfest by the sea blog hop

I am so excited to be part of the first Scrapfest by the Sea's blog hop.

We decided it would be really nice to get to know people who will be coming along to our event in August (which can I just say we are a tad bit excited about?!). So anyone who had a blog, signed up and now we're about to get going.

The hop starts right here, I'll give you a link to go visit, and then when you go there, you can see the next link, and so on and so on.

From here, you are going to visit the lovely Beverley. I've known Bev for a while now and she is a lovely woman with a great talent. I know you'll enjoy visiting her blog.

Have fun on the rest of the blog hop!

I'll see you at the end.

T

PS: Just in case we have hiccups along the way, here's a list of the blogs in their order for you to follow:

Bev: www.[email protected]
Esther: www.siestascraps.blogspot.com
Denise: http://fluffiesangel.blogspot.co.nz/
Beth: www.bethbarnes.co.nz

Vicki Parker: http://vickiparker.wordpress.com/

Dee: http://deesdayze.blogspot.co.nz/

Brenda http://beebeeokiwi.blogspot.co.nz/

Jane: http://tillysblogspot.blogspot.co.nz/

Lowri: http://www.papervinenz.com/ 

Tracey Agnew: http://milotui.blogspot.co.nz/ 

Becks: http://beckcaithness.blogspot.co.nz/

Elaine: http://nanaespatch.blogspot.co.nz/ 

Lyn: http://www.thescrapbookstorenz.typepad.com/

Classes with the FAB . U . LOUS Finn....

I haven't been a scrapbooking student in a class in for . ever! And I have to admit as Janice and I were driving across I said to her, I'm worried, what if I suddenly start talking too much? LOL. But it was all good. I behaved myself.

And I'm sooooo soooooo soooooo glad I took Finn's classes. I've known Finn a little while as she has been on the Prima DT at the same time I have. And I've watched her style and admired it for so long. I've often looked at it and just gone, how on earth does she do that?!

Well, yesterday I found out.

Finn is an amazing teacher. If you haven't been to one of her classes, do try and encourage her to come to your area and teach. She is down to earth, natural and confident. She knows what she is talking about and she loves what she does.

I could rave on and on about Finn and her style, but then I might look like a stalker. Grin. So let's just show you what I created in the two classes I had the priviledge of attending.....

(I only took the photo tonight, so please excuse the glare on the photo).

Finn and I had a little giggle as she tried to get me to put more black to my page, but I just couldn't do it. My bright colourful style took over and to be honest, I'm really pleased with how this turned out.

Check out all those layers! Now, you'll know I'm not afraid of a bit of layering. That's my style too. But this is layering on a whole different level. So cool.

And I loved using more of her 'Mechanicals' line through Prima (if you haven't seen it yet, ask your store to get them in!). They're made especially for layering. Wonderful!

We also created a very special canvas. Mine is a key lime rocking unicorn! Half way through colouring my unicorn, I thought I'd made a huge mistake, but I LOVE it now.

Again, lots of layering. Lots of different mediums. Lots of paint and colour and dirty fingers.

I initially based my colours on giving this piece to the boys for their room, but I don't know if I can. Hehehe.

I have to say thanks to Finn for coming to New Zealand, and also to Rae from Scrap Matrix for making it happen, and Jodi from Scrapaholics for holding the classes here in Auckland. Lesley it was wonderful to meet you and wouldn't have happened without you. What a team guys! Thanks so very much!

A 'green' card for paperHaus

I love that NZ is thought of as 'clean and green'. It's one of the things we pride our country on. Unfortunately our country is looking a little brown right now without much rain, but I helped in the 'green' stakes by making this card by using some Prima packaging.

Of course, that's another reason NZ is thought of as 'green'. We like to recycle, reuse and be environmentally friendly. And I LOVE that Prima is also on this train too. Most if not all their packaging is so pretty is can also be used in your scrapbooking.

In this instance, I used the packing from some new product to create this card for the paperHaus blog. I took off the header, added some paper to the back (so I could write on the inside) and then used some seam binding to connect the two sides of the card.

Then I used some product from packets that were already open and the whole card came together without any wastage. Love it.

It also happened to fit into paperHaus's spring theme with the 'green' concept.

I'd love to see any 'green' products you've created using packaging or reusable products.

Scotties retreat and my mini album class

I had such a wonderful weekend. I have to admit I was a little nervous before I taught as the mini album I was teaching was very personal, and as such, it was putting myself on the line. But as usual, once I got there and met all the lovely ladies it was fun!

If you didn't attend the Scottie Crafts Summer retreat.... you missed out!

It's as simple as that.

The location was stunning. The food A . MA . ZING! The venue gorgeous. And the price, really reasonable.

Here's the ladies in the middle of my class.

Talking of the class, let's take a look at it shall we?

The album we used and altered is one from the new Prima mixed media range. It had a heap of amazingly cool file folders and plastic folders in it, and we decorated the main areas, so it could then be filled with their own trinkets, photos etc.

The front of the mini is quilted. And that was so much fun to do! We had 5 machines going at once and everyone gave it a great go. I should have taken some photos as there were some really creative covers. Like the swirly one, and the sun rays. Very cool.

Inside there were 5 sheets we altered....

All of the pages were made into pockets, for extra room to store things that are precious.

And this is the inside cover. Lots of gorgeous texture on this one.

One of the sections of the album is about moments that change your life, or moments that are special for whatever reason. Funnily enough, one of those moments occured for our family today. I can't go into it right now, because it may not happen, but it affects the health of one of our children. We're undergoing further tests over the next few weeks and while it's not life threatening (thank goodness), it could change things for us. I'm feeling a bit weird about it all so any positive thoughts sent my way would be gratefully received.

Oh, and if you're thinking you like the look of the retreat, get in touch with Scotties. I hear they are thinking of running another, and you won't want to miss it.

Sunday Shake up - brought to you courtesy of my lovely hubby....

Just a minute ago, I was sitting here and Andy pipes up with "You haven't done a Sunday shake up today".

"Should I do one" I asked?

"Well it wouldn't be Sunday without one" he replied.

"Mmmmmm, I said, what shall I do"?

"How about challenging everyone to make their own sauce?"

Perfect I say.

And so it is your challenge this week. Grab those beautiful cheap in season tomatoes and make them last a bit longer.

You won't be disappointed.

Dare ya.

Why would I do this? A reply I felt necessary.

Yesterday, I received a comment from a reader regarding the 'contest' I had here about my childrens artwork.

She said: Why would you do this to your children??! would you like your "art" judged??

Normally this type of comment wouldn't faze me (too much). If it was about my scrapbooking, my cake baking or something like that. But when a question is put to me about my parenting, I feel compelled to reply. Here is the answer I sent to the email that was provided (which bounced, it was not a valid email address, funny that!).

First I did this because they asked me too. But also (and mainly) because I knew my friends here would give me lots of different comments and my children would see them and know that different people from around the world liked THEIR work.

That judging something like this is subjective and fun. My hope is that from this they will learn that
we all have different opinions, different ideas, and most importantly different reasons for liking or not liking something. That no one is right or wrong. But that art is subjective.

Sure enough that worked…..I had lots of answers. 4 for the croc, 7 for the seahorse and 7 for the fish. The amount was pretty even, and showed that people out there loved their artwork.

My kids are very stable and clever kids that are lucky to live in a loving environment. I would never do something that I didn’t think they could handle.

I’m assuming you asked your question as a genuine question, not one of malice and thus I have replied.

Have a wonderful day!

Trina.

As an aside, I read each and every comment to my children this morning. They were so happy to hear everyones generous and kind comments about their work.  They loved hearing/reading the different reasons that people liked their art. They loved hearing that people liked all their work equally, but chose one for a specific reason. It was a valuable lesson to them in this age when kids aren't allowed to 'win' a game of netball for fear of the opponents feelings being hurt.

Twin moments

While looking for some photos today, I found these. Too precious for words....