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

Scrapzgiving Weekend

Starts today - great challenges and prizes to be won. Come to SCRAPZ.BIZ and join in the fun.

Build it Up Weekly Challenge

This week it was my turn to set the Build it Up Challenge at SCRAPZ.BIZ. I made this CD photo cube, you can find all the instructions in the FORUM.

And to answer Joyce's question - the tree shape, was an off cute from my count down tree :)

Christmas Snaps Challenge

Deb's Challenge at SCRAPZ.BIZ this week was to use up those old Christmas photos. I have quite a few still to do and Christmas is almost here again. Here is my page

Chocolate Puddings

You might remember these little beauties from last year. These make lovely gifts. You can find all the instructions in the Scrapz.Biz FORUM

Christmas Stocking Box

You can find the free download for these Christmas Stocking boxes HERE. I have used some more Cosmo Cricket Jolly be Golly range of pattern paper.



And to answer June's questions (Hi June, thanks for popping by!!) you can find the card holder template on the above site. It is a paid download. I have to say it's the first ever download, I have paid for. It comes with a printable template, all instructions and ideas.

Freaky Friday

What are the chances???

Jarred has been desperate to loose a tooth. He has watched all his friends loose several, he was the only one in the class that hadn't lost a tooth. On Friday morning he woke up and said his tooth was sore. It was a tiny bit wobbly, I mean it just moved LOL!! We came flying out of his classroom on Friday afternoon, proudly holding a zip lock bag with one little tooth inside.

Apparently it had just fallen out.

We came home and I presented him with the tooth keeper, that I had put away for such an occasion. We got home from swimming and he said his other tooth was loose. Well within an hour he had lost another one!!!!

Later that night - Kloe comes out, proudly holding a 'tooth'. Yes, she lost one too!!!

Make that 3 teeth in one day - the poor tooth fairy is now broke!!

P.S. Helen to answer your question - the flowers are actually PP - just cut out and layered :)

Rouge de garance - Trip to India Challenge

Our latest challenge for Addicted to craft was to use Rouge de garance - Trip to India Pattern Papers.

Here is what I came up with

You can see what the other design team members created HERE

Happy Birthday Jordie

Kayla's friend Jordie is celebrating his 17th birthday today. He was born 17 years ago on Friday 13th - it's taken 17 years for his birthday to fall, on this day again. I made this card and cupcake container for him. The cupcake container is a recycled cherry tomato box. A big thanks to the lovely Deb for this great idea!!!

Zac played a catch up, cricket match last night. His team won easily which was great. Back into it again bright and early tomorrow.

Have a great weekend!!!!!

Counting down

Products used: Kaisercraft Count Down Tree (you can purchase these from Scrapz.biz at a bargain price at the moment) and My Minds Eye pattern paper and die cut sheet

The count down is on. Kloe actually started the count down, at 100 days.

I just love Christmas. I love everything about it. It's such a magical time of the year. No matter how early I start creating, I never seem to have enough time, to fit in all the things I would love to make. I have been busy creating projects that I will share with you. Some are old, some are new.

I know I am always inspired by seeing handmade projects, I hope I can inspire you, to do a little creating. I would love to hear about your Christmas projects, ideas or recipes

Weekly Challenge

Weekly challenges start back at SCRAP.BIZ today. This week I had the Noteworthy Challenge. I used Photoshop to create the photos and then added some Cosmo Jolly be Golly pattern paper.