On the ninth day of Christmas ...

I know this post is a day early, but with my 'to do' list is still a mile long am not sure that I will get back to post for the next few days.
So ... from me to all my blog readers (and stalkers) out there I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas. Hope you have a fantastic day with your family and friends.

On the eighth day of Christmas ...

... another busy day getting ready for the festive season. Grocery shopping with two kids in tow, not the most ideal way to visit the supermarket but they were pretty well behaved on the whole - now don't think I will have to venture back there until after Christmas - fingers crossed! ;)

After lunch was time to do a bit of baking for the tins over the next few days ... lots of yummy gingerbread men (little and big ones) ...



And a photo of the 'tree' that I bought on Saturday, have a few decorations that I will add to it have decided to stick with a silver and red theme.

On the seventh day of Christmas ...

... was our traditional trip to visit Santa at the Hospital. The kids had their photo and chatted with Santa - this is an annual fundraiser for the Neonatal unit (NICU) at Dunedin hospital. We have had Santa photos there for the past 5 years - sort of a tradition now. Is also a bit more special supporting the unit after my niece was born this time last year, 10 weeks early - although in Melbourne I know that these units do an amazing job with the new babies and their families.
The kids smiled nicely for this photo and yes Emma was in the photo too - but made sure Finn was sitting between her and the big guy in red - LOL! Then afterwards as we were walking away the kids had to go running back to tell Santa where we were going to be on Christmas Day - Santa was very quick and answered 'I have a map but don't worry your Mum and Dad have my mobile number so can text me the details. They can also let me know whether you have been bad or good' - too funny!

On the sixth day of Christmas ...

... started with a cricket game, the last one til the end of January. Finn had a good win and more importantly he had lots of fun bowling/batting and fielding.

Today was getting piles of linen, food, clothes etc sorted for our travels over the holidays, and getting house and garden tidied. Nothing too exciting really ...

With being away for Christmas we wanted to take away a small tree with us, unfortunately despite scouring the attic area above the garage we couldn't find our little one?! So I had another idea, after a quick trip to our local Lavender Farm (they have a few craft bits and pieces also) I came home with a trendy new 'tree' (well it is part of one anyway - LOL). To be honest it just looks like a giant branch off a tree that has been sprayed with white paint . Will post a pic tomorrow (camera is chooker at the mo and have to delete a few photos). Am planning on standing this branch in a vase with coloured baubles, then hanging a few small decorations off it - should be very cool!

On the fifth day of Christmas ...

... a sleep-in, no rushing around this morning ... aahhhhh bliss!

Today was a lazy day at home, enjoying a gorgeous 27 degrees (that was until the cold front hit about 4pm - opps).

We did venture into town later in the day with a visit to Santa's Grotto at CadburyWorld. Finn was more than happy to have his photo taken with Santa, but Emma didn't want to at all - so she had a photo taken with the Christmas Fairy instead! Very cute!

On the fourth day of Christmas ...

... was the official school breakup service and leaving ceremony for the Year 8 class.

No more kindy (ever), no more school for 6 1/2 weeks, am grateful that I have a job where I can spend the summer holidays with the kids, and just enjoy them and have some fun getting out and about. Gets better each year as they are older now and able to do a bit more.

On the third day of Christmas ...

... we saw Santa - the real one according to Emma! Apparently he came from his Santa photos especially to Kindy this morning - too cute! She was so excited to see him, yet burst into tears when we went to get her Christmas star and hat from him. So no photo of her sitting nicely on his knee ...
And this was our final day at Kindy - so sad after a 4 year association with these teachers ... almost a few tears from me ... :(

Tonight was Finn's school production, themed 'Christmas around the World' - a great night and awesome singing by the children. The Year 8 kids essentially wrote the whole thing themselves which is fantastic!

One day of school left then the holidays can begin :)

On the second day of Christmas ...

... we had a birthday leaving celebration at Kindy for Emma!
Yip my baby has grown up and is heading off to school (in the New Year). So today we did the whole playdough cake, '5' hat, sing the favourite song and review of the kindy scrapbook.

Tonight we helped with the Foodbank can drive - kids rode in the fire engine ahead, and we collected cans round a part of Mosgiel - filling 3/4's of a trailer. Many community groups helped out so we completed a full sweep of Mosgiel.

On the first day of Christmas ...

... our parents (DH & I) gave to us (Emma & Finn) one bouncy round trampoline!

I know it is early to be getting presents but unfortunately can't take this with us for the holidays so decided to give it to the kids early. They are loving it already, it's quite a low one so haven't worried about the nets round it - also think this gives them a bit of a false sense of safety, so would prefer they know not to be silly on it or else they will get hurt. Have been getting some cool photos of them jumping on it!

Thinking of doing a mini album, hence the above title, on the 12 days of Christmas (starting today with the 12th day being Christmas day), thought this was a bit easier than doing a daily December album - with still doing my Project 365 I thought this would be way to much work when combined with everything else going on this month!


Yesterday we had an early party for Emma's 5th birthday. So with 4 girls complete with wings we ventured off to the Butterfly House at the Otago Museum. Here are a few pics of the adventure ...

Have a busy week ahead, Emma's birthday at Kindy, Christmas party at Kindy, School production and helping with the Foodbank Can drive round the streets of Mosgiel. Whew - think I will need a break by next weekend!

Going to the Farm

As promised here is some pics of my latest creation ... a mini book for Emma about a recent trip to the 'farm'. This farm is actually the camp that is just out of Mosgiel where Scrap Camp was held earlier this year. John, the manager of the camp, is also one of the kindy teachers. We headed there on a bus and got to see the animals he has there - 3 lambs, 4 hens, 3 cows, 2 goats, 3 cows, 2 pigs and 1 dog. This was great especially for the kids that have never seen some of these animals up close before.
The minibook was created with the new papers from October Afternoon 'Farm Fresh' which suited the farm photos perfectly!
The photos of pigs and goats - I put it together for Emma like a storybook - so she can read the journalling herself ...

And the back ...

Speaking of October Afternoon, I have seen the new papers and with an upcoming 5 year old in our house they will be perfect for the 'off to school' pages for her album!

Now off to make invites to a certain early birthday party - theme 'butterflies/princess/fairies' - will post a peek at these once I have finished.

Hello again

... life doesn't seem to be slowing down at all, now on the run to the end of the year (no I'm not running - that would require too much energy - LOL!)
We have been busy (as per usual) over the last month, so here is a few pics to show what we have been up to ...
... Marty and his new toy ...
... Finn in training to be a Black Cap ...

... my $5 bargain at our school fair ...

... and this gorgeous girl came to stay from Melbourne for a few days ...

On scrapping front I have purchased a couple of albums lately so have been getting all my layouts in order and filed properly. Feels great to finally have these in a proper albums instead of just piled up in a file box. Got a couple of mini albums in progress at the moment and a few layouts with some of the above photos - might surprise you all with another post later in the week with some of these projects ...

Go Holden!

Yes I know a long time between posts ... honestly I do not know where this year is going ... it's going to be Christmas in no time at this rate!
I have managed a wee bit of scrapping recently, and in honour of todays great sporting event across the Tasman here is one of my creations from last month ...
... my attempt at taking a pic of the V8's at Qualifying day at Sandown in Melbourne when I was there recently. Man they go fast ... hence the funny take on this for the layout! Love that Scenic Route paper - might have to try and source a few more pieces of that now that company is sadly no more.
School holidays are over, has been a funny couple of weeks. The kids spent some time in Alex and I managed to get quite a lot of work done during that time, so was nice to have a couple of days off with them this week. Unfortunately our big day out in town had to be cancelled because of a sick boy - don't think he would have been welcome at Cadburyworld carrying his sick bowl with him! So needless to say I had two very upset kids on Friday, but the promise of a few treats over the weekend seemed to go down ok.
Can't believe this will be Emma's last term at kindy - not sure where the last 4 1/2 years has gone - she has just grown up too quick! But she is very ready for school, and is looking forward to her school visits at the end of next month.

And another month has passed ...

Is it just me or is this year going fast? Have been pretty much all go since I got home from my holiday - rugby/school/kindy/work - the days seem to all blend into one at times! So this past weekend with no commitments we decided to head away to Central for a bit of fun in the snow. We stayed with the in-laws in Alex and on Saturday we headed through to Cardrona. Winter/Spring conditions made for some beautiful scenery ... an orchard of icicles after a morning of frost fighting with sprinklers ...
... blossom encased in ice ... This is the view from the behind the Snow Farm carpark looking back over towards the Cardrona skifield ...

And this was us enjoying a few hours of fun sliding down hills on sleds ...

And yes I had a go too ... with a bit of a push - LOL!

Have a great week :)

I'm back ...

... so did you miss me? LOL!
I had a great break away in Melbourne, such a beautiful and funky city ...
... this little chick to play with ...

... a very cool little shop, with yummy treats ...

... a bit of V8 speed on practice day at Sandown ...

... and an overweigh suitcase on the way home - opps!

Also danced on down at the P!NK Funhouse concert - such an amazing singer, and the opening act was none other than kiwi band Evermore! Whew - am now home for a rest!!

In scrappy news I haven't achieved much since I got back but do have a pile of photos to print, a list of layouts 'to do', and ideas of scrapping projects. I didn't find much 'new' product in Oz, we are very lucky here in NZ to have a lot of the latest stuff and with the exchange rate at the mo is actually more expensive to buy over there. I visited Kaisercraft in Geelong while over there, was great to see all their products in one place but again we now have access to all of this stuff now here.

Lastly, I do have a new layout to share, this is one I did as Guest Designer for SBO for the latest ezine ...

Hope you all have a great week :)

A month almost flown by ...

... since my last post, am not exactly sure why this year is managing to disappear so quickly!
School holidays are basically over now and we have survived. We had a trip to Invers to see my parents and Emma went along to her first major netball game. She loved the 'bangers' and didn't get too bored with the game - but thank goodness it wasn't any longer!
The kids stayed down with my parents for a few days which they all enjoyed. Unfortunately I didn't get much time to enjoy the peace as had work hours to get done for the week, but this meant that I could have a couple of days off with the kids when they got home.
So we did bike rides to the local library...

Carrying home only a limited number of books ...

Had some chilly weather, including bumper frosts that made this little garden ornament look a bit funny with an extra layer of icy fuzz!

We baked and made some yummy biscuits and a load of cupcakes ...

... and to top it all off we had a crazy night of earthquakes, just a tad scary!!

But something I have noticed with the holidays this time, and it might be because the kids are getting older, but the volume of the noise has increased dramatically! They have been playing nicely togther, no major fights but some days I just wish I could have found their 'mute' buttons!! LOL!

Am pretty excited at the week to come, 5 sleeps to go til my little adventure across the ditch. The six weeks since I booked the tickets has flown past, now just have to ensure travel insurance is sorted and get some money changed over. Have a couple of things on the 'to do' list, and thanks to my brothers planning this list is growing. We now have tickets to P!NK's concert on Thursday night (30th) and then hope to go to Sandown on Friday (31st) for the qualifying day of V8 race cars.

On the creating front I have actually spent a bit of time going through all of the kids layouts, adding journalling and dates where there was none. Also finding where I have gaps and now plan on going through the pile of photos and filling in those gaps with new layouts. I don't want to scrap every photo of have of the kids but amd trying to aim for one a month for them - well at least for the first two years. After I have this sorted I will be getting some new albums and filing these away in order.

Have been doing some new creating today but you will have to wait a couple of weeks to see some of it ;)

One month to go ...

... a month today and I will be finally giving my wee niece the biggest cuddles ever - she is now 6 months old and I cannot wait to finally meet her. This is my niece who was born 10 weeks early just before Christmas - she is so cute and I can't wait to meet her in person!
And yes she lives in Melbourne which also means I get to spend some time also crusing the streets of this cool city exploring.
I have been doing my homework and have discovered a Huge Craft & Quilt Fair is on the weekend I arrive - ok so I might have known this before I booked ;)
Also have a list of a couple of other things of interest like a really cool looking cupcake shop and the KaiserCraft factory outlet down in Geelong.
Can you tell I am excited?!?!

In other news, I am so proud of my boy! Finn has grown in confidence over this rippa rugby season and finally scored his first try on Saturday!!! I was standing only a couple of metres away from the corner and saw the look of delight on his face when he scored and the congratulations he got from his teammates - he was soooo excited and happy and looked like he just wanted to burst. In recognition of his effort the parents decided he should be Player of the Day! But being the typical male the story of his try only took 5 minutes to 'grow' - in his words "I just spotted a gap and ran as quick as a cheetah" - LOL! The trophy has had pride of place on his bookcase all week and even went to school for newstime on Monday.

Nothing crafty to show today, have been trying to sort out my messy scrap area, almost done so will get creating again soon!

Winter wonderland!

Yesterday morning hubby went off to work just after 6am but was back home a few minutes later. I am thinking 'what has he forgotten now' - don't laugh coz it happens frequently! So he comes in and says, roads too dangerous everything is covered in snow. I stayed in my cozy bed for a few more minutes before getting up to have a peak past the curtain and sure enough it was definitely winter out there! Schools/kindy's closed for the day! It wasn't so much the snow that was the problem, but the fact with the freezing temperatures any compacted snow was promptly turning to ice. Hubby has skidded through a couple of interesections and didn't want to risk trying the motorway which was sensible and they closed the motorway not long afterwards because of accidents.
So here are a few photos of our day in the snow ... with breaks inside for milo and piklets while sitting by the warm fire ...

And the following photo is one I took at rugby on Saturday morning out at Outram - the fog made for a spectacular sight ...

Now off to get the kids to school, 10am start this morning, snow all gone but lots of black ice so a later start to be safe.

A little surprise ...

... from my friend Beverley in Wellington, some cupcake goodness - just beautiful!

And such a gorgeous box ...
Really brightened up my day receiving the parcel from Beverley - thank you so much!
Been a chilly week down here, lots of frost and fog hanging around, but very beautiful all the same ...

And this afternoon I finally booked flights .... 7 weeks til I get to go and give me wee niece a huge cuddle!

A bit of advertising fun ...

... if you liked the drumming gorilla you might like this new ad which starts tomorrow ...

OUCH!

Finn was playing ball tag at lunchtime on Moday and decided to kiss the concrete in a big way! Got a call from school and was greeted by an upset wee guy with this mess on his face. It doesn't look as bad now, and the bandage is there to protect a large area where lots of skin missing - yuck! Also two skinned knees and scruffed toes on the day old new school shoes!!
Crafty wise - I am almost all caught up on my 365 album, just last weeks photos to print and last two weeks of journalling to do. Had a scrap sunday with the girls at the weekend and managed to get a couple of layouts done.
But am trying to ignore my scrap desk at the moment and concentrate on getting some contract work done - but wouldn't you know it my mojo is back and I just want to play not work - argh!

Whew ...

... hubby found out yesterday that he has his job still! Well there is a restructure so it's one of the new jobs.
To say it's a relief is an understatement, has been in the back of our minds for the past few months ever since the changes were announced. We have tried to stay positive but you are always thinking 'what if ...'
So I think we will celebrate a little this weekend and my thoughts go out to anyone else who is currently going through this too ...

Busy busy

... after a few days with the help of this ...


I am feeling a tad better. Can actually bend over without feeling like my head is going to explode out of my eyes! Germs - GO AWAY! Oh yeah and the dog is sick too - she did a huge vomit by the sliding door on Friday night - yip inside - YUCK! Took her to the vet and she has a bit of a fever so on meds and very bland food for the next few days :(
On the scrapping front a bit of playing and I created this ...



These were some of the photos I took in Central Otago at Easter time. Love how the Cosmo Cricket Happy Camper range just fit perfectly with the colours in the photos.
On Friday I also did a bit of shopping for scrappy supplies at the 24 hour Regent Theatre Book sale - an annual huge book sale held here in Dunedin. These are the treasures I found, a mixture of old novels, music books and dictionaries - just perfect to use on some vintage style layouts. They were a bargain indeed as all books are only $1 each!!! Hence my wee pile :)

My head is spinning at the moment with a lot going on in our lives - jobs waiting to be confirmed, as well as finding a house with HUGE section that we love and the tough prospect of thinking about selling our current home which we still actually love - very tough decisions to be made in the next week. But I am sure it will all end up working out just fine but tough to get my brain around it all as well as keeping control of all the day to day stuff round here. Whew, with that off my chest now I am off to make a cuppa and relax for a bit ...

Rain, rain go away ...

... come again another day! It started Thursday night while we were at rugby practice and pretty much hasn't stopped since! *sigh*
Althought the weather gods did listen to me and we had a rain free Saturday morning for Finn's rugby (my parents were chuffed to see him play) and then it started again at 11.30am that morning.
With the gloomy weather and stuff going on at hubby's work, now add to that I am stuffed up with blocked sinuses, ears, sore throat, dull achy head - normally I am the last one to get any colds but this year I am the first! LOL!
But on the bright side I don't need an excuse to stay snuggled up inside by the fire, doing a bit of scrapping and reading. ;)
So on that note I am off to do a bit of creating while my head feels clear, then looking forward to a pile of cheeserolls for lunch - yummo!

A couple of new layouts ...

... will wonders never cease, I am actually getting a few more layouts done! This one was created last night, I had the photo and a couple of ideas but it all fell into place when I saw Nic Howard's latest layout! So here is my scraplift of her gorgeous layout (with pp dug out of my old stash) ...

(I also had a go with using a template for the leaf that Mrs Fizz kindly scanned for me)
And Layout #2 was one that I started on Sunday at the scrap day with the Dunedin ladies, I used a shped piece of MM paper as a template and cut the Cosmo Cricket paper. Have I told you recently that I love Cosma Cricket? LOL! Added a bit of prima, bit of bling and one of my butterflies and I kind of like the result!

Just in the process of trying to sort my scrap space out. The cupboard I have doesn't have very good shelving so hubby said he would help my put some more mdf shelves in there soon - yippee! Now just have to find some good boxes/baskets/jars to sort everything out properly!
Glad we are all stocked up with firewood - looks like snow on the way this weekend. Perfect scrapping weather although have my parents coming up to stay and they were hoping to see Finn play rugby - oh well it can start snowing after 11am Saturday if it likes! ;)

Another year older ...

Last Monday I had two little cuties coming in to the bedroom early carrying a gorgeous gift bag, and inside I found this ...
I got the tea cup charm and green bead on the bracelet, and have used birthday money from my parents and inlaws to buy the present charm. I LOVE this bracelet and there are sooo many cool charms and beads that I can look forward to buying in the future.
Do any of you have this bracelet - what charms do you like?
Monday was actually that start of a busy week, I had my Mum come up and stay for a couple of days, then we have had an Aussie guy come and stay for a few days also on and exchange with hubby's community group. We ended up hosting a bbq/potluck meal on Saturday night, then hubby and a few others took our visitor up to Moeraki for the day on Sunday. I managed to sneak away for a scrapday with some of the Dunedin ladies, however my day was interrupted by having to go back out home and grab spare keys as hubby had locked his keys in the boot of the car at Moeraki!!!! So the Aussie guest got to see the coast line between Dunedin and Moeraki a second time that afternoon!!
Now a quiet week, kids all eased back into swimming and rugby, hope to get back into my scrap area (this is in spare room so haven't been in there with visitors staying), and to get some creating done.

Some new layouts ...

Time to share the layouts I have created over the last couple of weeks. My scrapping mojo is definitely back, created 4 layouts on Thursday night in just 2 hours!!!!
Here they go ...
Finn and his funny banana joke!
My first go at rolling edges - very cool look along with the machine stitched edges I think ...

Now I just love Cosmo Cricket papers at the mo, nice and bright perfect for my photos of the kids ...

Cosmo Cricket again and my two crazy goggle eyed kids!

Discovered this BG paper in my stash and it suited this recent pics of Finn perfectly!

Also having some fun creating cards with the leftover pieces of patterned paper, a bit of distressing, a machine stitch or two, throw in a stamp and you have a cool card! LOL! Might share some of those creations in my next post!

Been reading a couple of books (shock horror!) over the holidays and one I loved was 'The Secret Life of Bees' - I know this has been/will be at the movies but I wanted to give the book a go first. Would have to say I loved it - once I started reading I just didn't want to put it down! Now will have to watch the movie and see if it does the book justice - although I did see a bit of an Oprah show when she was interviewing the actresses who were in the movie and it looked like a great line-up.

A gorgeous day here today - would you believe 26 degrees here this afternoon! Balmy temperatures for this time of year, but don't mind if it continues tomorrow for my birthday ;)