We have been painting

It's Kloe's birthday very soon and all she wanted for her birthday was her room painted. She has been bugging us for months. She picked out the paint colour, she wanted 'pink' no surprises there!!!! Santa gave her a new quilt cover, sheets and pillow. I think he must have known something. Matching curtains, pillows, lamp and wall art are coming very soon;)
Don't you love the 'all pink' outfit too?

A few days before Christmas I decided to paint the laundry and toilet. When we bought this house, most rooms had only been painted once. Some not at all. The couple we bought the house from, tried to save money when building and paint themselves. We had big plans to paint straight away but it just never happened. Slowly, slowly.........it's happening. The laundry - I know I showed you a photo a little while ago and you probably won't see much difference but I do!!

and while on painting. I don't think I ever showed you the 'Ben 10 Alien Green' room
It's very green and he loves it! I still need to do some pictures for the walls.

Next is the hallway - that is a very big job

Our Christmas

Getting ready for Santa. Santa always gets a can of beer left for him - not this year. Jarred and Kloe decided he should have a Coke instead.

Looks like Santa has been

The best present by far was the Wii

and the new cricket game to go with the Wii

And what did we do all day????

The new look - she loves them, which is a really good thing.

Are you ready for it?

Big Sale

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

I hope Santa is good to you

xoxoxoxo

I'm back - Finally!!

No phone or internet for almost two weeks!!! Not good. But it's all fixed now and I am one very happy girl. The local Telstra connection went bang in a big way. All the neighbours had phone lines back on, by Thursday last week, not us...............we had to wait and wait. I could have kissed the lovely Telstra man when he knocked at the door yesterday to tell me it was all fixed.

It's been busy here.

Kayla is now a brace face. Her braces went on last Thursday. She was so excited about them finally going on.

Zac played two games of cricket last week. One on Tuesday afternoon and one on Sunday. They won both games easily. Zac took one wicket on Tuesday. Sunday he got two wickets and a beauty of a catch. He is really enjoying his cricket, which is so good.

I spent a lot of time at school last week. We finished sewing the felt stockings on Monday. On Wednesday I cooked with the Year 3's. It was lots of fun and the kids really enjoyed it. Jarred and Kloe both had class parties and secret Santa's. School is all over for another year - Yay, I just love school holidays.

On the weekend we made some chocolate playdough.MMMM m the smell of this is divine. It kept two little people busy for hours

Chocolate Playdough
1 1/4 cups of plain flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup salt
1/2 Tbs Cream of Tartar
1 1/2 Tbs Oil
1 Cup of Water

Mix all dry ingredients in a saucepan, add wet ingredients. Cook over a low heat until it forms a ball.

Where has the week gone?

It's that time of the year, when time just disappears and there is not enough hours in each day to get everything done.


Kayla and Zac finished school last week.


Kayla had two teeth extracted last week. On Tuesday we went to Warrnambool to have spacers put in. Today she is having the other two teeth extracted. Next week her braces go on. She is very excited about the braces finally going on. The teeth extractions have been very traumatic for her. I think we will both be happy, when today is over.


Jarred and Kloe still have another week of school to go. It seems so late to be finishing. I have been helping in Kloe's classroom - we have made folded paper stars and we are stitching felt stockings. I love it as much as the kids!!!


Last swimming lessons for the year this afternoon - another thing finished for the year. Can you hear me take a breath and go phew??? On the downhill run now!



Twelve weeks of Christmas is still running at Addicted to Craft. Check out the BLOG. for more details. I have also posted some Christmas cards using My Minds Eye products.


And I will leave you with two excited kids, ready to demolish the gingerbread house. This was just the trial one, we will make another one next week :)

Gingerbread House

Here is the gingerbread house that we built yesterday afternoon. I bought the moulds from http://www.chefstoolbox.com.au/. The kids had lots of fun. I think they enjoyed eating the lollies as much as decorating.

Kayla and I did the pre assembly, before the kids got home. I made Zac come and help, he put one lolly on!!!

Jarred had great steady hands, for putting the lollies on


Kloe worked out the piping bag and was a little whiz with it. She piped and Jarred stuck.

And their finished creation.

Gingerbread recipe

125g Butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup treacle

1 egg yolk

2 1/2 cups SR Flour

1 Tbs ground ginger

1 tsp mixed spice

1 tsp bicarb

Cream butter and brown sugar. Add treacle and egg yolk, mix until smooth. Add to sift dry ingredients. Roll out on a floured bench. Cut as desired. Bake at 160 until golden.

And the gingerbread men we made last week

Labels for Christmas goodies

I have had a few requests, about how I do my labels for my Christmas goodies.
I have put together a step by step tutorial. You can find it HERE in the Scrapz.Biz forum. You will need to be a member to download the tutorial.

Hi Tanya, to answer your question re the bags. I measure the width of the bag. In Word, I adjust the margin on the top, to the same size. I work out how big I want my label and adjust the page margin on the side. Keep in mind you will fold it over. If you have a look at the above tutorial it might help. Thanks for stopping by and saying hi

Meeting Emily

After many months and months(it's actually been almost a year!!!), we finally got to meet Miss Emily. This gorgeous little girl belongs to my, just as gorgeous friend Michelle. Michelle and I meet while I lived in Melbourne for a year, when I was 13. We have stayed friends ever since. It's one of those friendships that has stood the test of time. We just click. It doesn't matter how much time in between visits, phone calls or emails - we just pick back up, where we left off. Michelle had Emily in February and we have only seen photos of her. On the weekend we got to meet her and catch up with her Mummy. It was a very short visit and we wanted to keep them forever. But I am so thankful for the time, we got to spend together. This little girl is the sweetest little thing and made my heart sing, when she got out of the car and put her hands straight out to me. A very special thank you, to Michelle's, Mum and Dad who drove the 3.5hrs each way and stayed overnight so this could happen.

and a little outfit I made for Emily

Fresh from the garden

They didn't last long!!!

Every few days we are picking a big handful of strawberries. They are the best one's I've ever tasted. Nothing like home grown

It's looking like Christmas

The Christmas tree and decorations all went up on Sunday. Our house is looking very festive.

And the traditional photo, after putting the tree up

Twelve days of Christmas - Day 6

My Challenge for today, is to make a gift voucher or two. You can find all the instructions in the Scrapz FORUM

Twelve Weeks of Christmas

The Twelve weeks of Christmas is still running over at The Addicted to Craft BLOG. There is prizes to be won each week. You have to check out the gorgeous Prima mini album Sarah has posted this week.

Shortbread goodies

On Saturday we started our Christmas baking. We made shortbread stars.
I have been using a recipe from Rach's Nan.

Shortbread
2 Cups Plain Flour
2 Tbs RiceFlour
1/3 cup castor sugar
250g butter
Wizz it all in a food processor until it resembles breadcrumbs. Lightly knead together, roll out and cut. Sprinkle with extra castor sugar. Bake at 160
The sugar king - lots of sugar went on top

My little Christmas helpers

Clipart answer

To answer Lynette's question.
Lynette, I tried to leave a comment several times on your blog and it wouldn't let me. Thanks for stopping by and saying Hi. I have Microsoft Office Word 2007 - I did a clipart search for 'reindeer' there were lots to choose from. I hope that helps.

A little Christmas fun

A few more, quick and easy ideas.

Jaffa's as Rudolph Noses

and of course this fun one for the teenagers or someone with a sense of humour. You can use any type of chocolate that resembles poop - I used clinkers this year.

The quote on the back read: A lot of time, effort and energy went into making this special gift for you - Enjoy!!

and a bit of recycling - I have used some plastic lids to package up my chocolate puddings.

Keep an eye out in the Scrap.Biz FORUM for a tutorial on how I make my labels.

Twelve Days of Christmas Challenge 1

You can find all the details in the Scrapz FORUM

Twelve Days of Christmas starts tomorrow

The Twelve Days of Christmas kicks off tomorrow, at SCRAPZ

Here is a sneak peak of my project

If you are looking for some Christmas inspiration and to win some prizes along the way, make sure you come and join in.

Twelve Days of Christmas at Scrapz

Come and join us for some Christmas fun!!!

More Aprons

Can you guess what lots of family and friends are getting this year???
Yes, I have been busy, sewing up some more aprons. I used an apron I had here for the pattern for the adult size ones. I got the cute fabric from Lincraft.

These are child sized ones - I used this PATTERN. I didn't line mine, I just overlocked and turn them back.

Jarred and Kloe have already claimed one each :)

Reindeer Food

You can find all the details in the Scrapz.Biz FORUM

Christmas Stars

You can find the instructions for these folded Christmas Stars in the Scrapz.Biz
FORUM

Scrapzgiving Challenge

My Challenge for Scrapzgiving is to create a page using the sketch below. Your page has to reflect something that you are thankful for.



There are some great prizes to win this weekend. Come and join in the fun at SCRAPZ.BIZ