Happy Birthday to me

I am now officially 37....where does the time go? Craig & the girls spoiled me with a new mobile phone & the loveliest chocolate tart topped with mixed berries. What a lucky girl I am!

Christmas Day 2009........Perry style

A collage of photos from our day. The weather wasn't great so we didn't head to the beach, which in the end turned out to be a good thing as there were sharks sightings at our local & the water evacuated! Definitely not an experience for someone with a morbid fear of sharks....LOL!

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas

from our family to yours xx.

Lily & Mackenzie with Santa, very happy with this photo & I'll be sure to scrap it very soon.

'Twas the night before Christmas

Santa, please stop here!

December's Projects

I was lucky enough to get so many pretty things to work with along with the
Teresa Collins Friendship series of papers this month. I really enjoyed using those papers, still very pretty & girlish but not pink, which makes a great change for me.

Pink never really has been a favourite colour of mine but since we've had the 2 girls it has grown on me & now I even have gone so far as owning a few pink items of clothing of my own & I find myself more & more drawn to the ranges of papers that are predominantly pink

On the 6th day of Christmas

we made gift voucher holders

V8s, Cold Chisel & Mini Strings concert

An amazing but tiring weekend comes to an end.....photos & hopefully a bit of video footage from Lily's performance to follow

12 Days of Christmas- day 2

On the 2nd day of Christmas we made some soap pretty!

12 Days of Christmas- day 1

Looking for some fun challenges & great gift ideas leading up to Christmas.......

hope to see you there & thanks for stopping by.

A couple of swaps

A few weeks back I took part in a Christmas card front swap at Scrapz & these are the gorgeous creations I received. Starting at the top left hand side & moving clockwise we have Liz Weber's contribution (most excited to have a piece of her work, I'm a big fan of her cardmaking), Melleny Ams, Danielle, Rach Merrick & last but not least Deb Mullins.

I think you'll agree that they are all fantastic & I'd like to thank each of the ladies for taking part & Melleny for hosting the swap.


Close up


I made these flowers for the yellow embellishment swap Susan Longman is hosting at 3AS, hopefully everyone likes them & I'm looking forward also to seeing what everyone else has come up with.

They're on the "orangier" side of yellow mainly due to the fact that I purchased the C/S online & it really didn't turn out to be the shade of yellow I was expecting but in saying that the SU! So Saffron ink was the perfect match to highlight the crumpled C/S circles. The button centres are yellower than they appear in the photo too as today really isn't the best day for photography but there's no way I'm complaining......it's an overcast & mild 23 degrees with showers here & there......complete bliss after the weekend scorcher!

Heatwave Sunday

Gosh, it's been so hot today, above 40 degree temps......thank goodness for the beach & air conditioning!

This week at 3AS the DT's task was OTPs. After I saw this tutorial I knew I just had to make one of these little watering cans. I then made my own flowers using ovals punched by a 4.5mm oval punch, some skewers, buttons & hot glue. I also used my new Martha Stewart 3 in 1 Butterfly punch & to finish off added a few candy canes & clear cellophane.

I've really loved using the October Afternoon Good Cheer range of papers this month, thanks so much Jo & Rosy.

Don't forget to go & check out the other fantastic DT creations in the gallery!

I'm just about ready for bed although I can't imagine getting too much sleep in this heat, unfortunately our air conditioner doesn't quite reach up to the bedrooms, might need to sleep with the annoying whirring sound of the fan for a few hours until the cool change comes through....they're predicting a top of 22 tomorrow, how crazy is that!

A special thanks to Nat for a fantastic afternoon yesterday, we all had a fantastic time & hope your lawn recovered! I'll bet your kiddies gave that slip & slide a good work out again today!

Happy 8th Birthday Lily

Wishing our gorgeous big girl the very best for today, her birthday & for always.

We love you so much Lily & are so proud of you & proud to be your parents.

Happy Birthday Beautiful xxxx

Mackenzie's latest comeback...........

is a doozy!

She is such a fast witted girl, you can't help but laugh (maybe in a 15 or so years she may actually be right & be able to live up to the threat) .

Whenever she doesn't get her own way......& that is quite alot, particularly at the moment where she really is testing all sorts of boundaries, she comes out with "I'm not going to cook anything for you when I'm a chef!" & you cop the "baddest" look she can muster up to boot.

Team that up with the fact that she still isn't even 1m tall yet & has a slight lisp & it's hysterical.

She's always loved any cooking shows on TV, she browses through cookbooks & chooses things that she's love to make & eat & she's very, very hard to keep out of the kitchen & always, always asking questions about food & not even the ordinary kind of things you'd expect 4 year olds to ask, so maybe we do have a future chef in the making.......I guess time will tell & then I'd better be on her good side...LOL!

Last Wednesday Mackenzie graduated from the Early Birds program (getting ready for school next year). She went along dressed up in her uniform minus school shoes, we'll have to look around for those early in the new year. She just looks so adorable all dressed up & very much enjoyed playing up to the camera for me so Daddy could see the photos when he got home from work. How cute does she look & that dress is a size 4!!! She's so "short" little but SO ready for school. It is actually a bit surreal thinking about the fact that after the Christmas holidays I'll be dropping both girls off at school & then I'll be here on my own........they're just growing up way to fast.

Speaking of which it's also hard to believe there are only a mere 4 days left until Lily turns 8 & 41 days til Christmas!!!!

Here's a photo I took of Lil the other day, for my Round 4 entry into Scrapz.biz's TSOOZ comp (didn't actually get to do the page yet unfortunately but without going into all the detailed requirements, the L/O was about favourite shoes & Rabens are the "in" thing. So many kids have them in all sorts of weird & wonderful colours & designs. Lily picked these out & she'll be getting them for her birthday next week.


Lily also had a fantastic week at school obtaining her 8th Super Soarer & also receiving a Merit Award, for writing a great factual description, at assembly. Well done Lil, so proud of your outstanding efforts!

As well as the excitement of her birthday on Wednesday to look forward to, Stage 1 are off to the Aquarium & Imax at Darling Harbour on Friday.....hopefully this beautiful weather continues for them.

In other far less interesting but still news none the less, I have officially resigned from my Stampin' Up! demonstratorship, with everything being finalised at the close of business yesterday, being the 10th business day of the month.

Funnily enough it was Friday the 13th which I guess I really can't have too many superstitions about as Mackenzie was born on a Friday the 13th but last night I had quite good luck at Renee's Girl's Night in winning 3 prizes in the raffle.......actually "bizarrest" of all I had 5 tickets in the draw & all 5 did get drawn but I opted for a couple of redraws, was so seriously feeling like a prize pig...lol!

Anyway I'm out of hear to finish making my cards set for this weeks 3AS DT challenge. Still working with the gorgeous October Afternoon Good Cheer range.

3AS November DT pages

The first page is for the Sketch Challenge, using a Page Maps sketch as chosen by Nat




And this one is for the Monthly Challenge I set, to scrap a photo from a Christmas past using a photo from your own childhood, include the year in the title & also some information about that year (either from memory or "googled") in the journaling. Go & check it out, there's some great prizes to be won!

I was lucky enough to be given the most fantastic kit full of October Afternoon Good Cheer papers........I just love October Afternoon, thanks so much Jo & Rosy.

Most of my products are yet to be loaded into the shop.....but do keep an eye out as it really is a fantastic range & very easy to work with.

I'd also like to CONGRATULATE Mistra Hoolahan & Susan Longman for being chosen to join the 3AS Design Team, looking forward to getting to know you both lots more & learn from you both too!

How hot was it today?

well at least 39 degrees in our backyard!

Happy, happy, joy, joy

Got to love shopping for scrap supplies direct from the USA with the $AUD doing so well. Received my package from Two Peas & am now armed with & ready to use several Martha Stewart punches, lots of sticker alphas, some very cute clear stamps & a few other bits & bobs. WOO HOO!

And a double WOO HOO for the awesome kit I received last Friday from Jo & Rosy at 3 Angels Scrapping. I have been planning how to best use the fabulous Christmas themed kit (mostly October Afternoon with lots of other gorgeous stuff thrown in) before I start actually cutting. It's also my turn to set the monthly challenge for November which I will probably post later on tonight, although I haven't had a chance to do my L/O yet.

Must be off to make a start on dinner, we're having home made fish cakes & then get back to my mountain of washing to fold & put away before an evening of creating......hopefully!

A couple of new pages

.......a good week so far for me scrapping-wise with 2 pages completed. Got to love a challenge to inspire some inspiration.

The first one is for Nat's Melbourne Cup challenge at 3AS. It was an "ingredients" challenge, to use scallops, buttons & no patterned paper. I've laid the KI Memories sheer onto white C/S for the photo, it's not actually part of the L/O. I really love using the sheers, I'll be sad when I've used them all out of my stash, hopefully they'll be "in" again in the scrapbooking market (wishful thinking I guess).

The photo is of Craig holding Buster on his very first trip to the beach.


This next one is my Round 2 entry for Scrapz.biz's TSOOZ comp, again the black C/S is just there for the photo. Can you tell I love shaped L/Os....lol!



I'll come back tomorrow & add in all the links but do go & check out 3AS in particular, it's really starting to get buzzing again after all the server troubles Jo & Rosy experienced & had to relaunch the entire site.

Should really be heading off to bed, big day at school tomorrow.

I'll be running the Uniform Shop to coincide with Kindy Orientation Day as well as keeping my ear out for info as Mackenzie is starting next year. Lily is going to be one of our Uniform models & then there is going to be a large entourage of politicians & media visiting the school to officially mark the beginning of construction procedings for our new 6 classroom, 2 storey brick building courtesy of the Government's Economic Stimulus spending. They'll also be touring the school checking out some of the other works currently going on within the school & stopping in to address the Kindy Parents.

Quite exciting times really for our wonderful school!

Thanks for stopping by.

Our gorgeous girls

Had this portrait done at Portrait Place early in the school holidays, picked it up today & couldn't be happier. What a stunning little duo!

A little challenge at 3AS

Whilst I was working out what to do for on some card fronts for a swap at Scrapz, I had the idea to challenge myself to use some "new/ unopened" but old things from my stash. I used my Darkroom Door stamps for the very first time (even had to mount & cut them out before I began), some of last years' MME Be Merry paper & Doodlebug Beetle black flock & a few other bits & pieces.

By the time I added the red gem stone bling the reindeer was recognisable to Mackenzie as Rudolph. In hindsight I probably should have stamped the reindeer in black Staz On first to have gotten a more solid image but overall I'm happy & I hope the recipients of my card fronts will be too.

I end up mounting my card front onto some red cardstock which I had embossed to complete the card & decided to set my first little challenge in the Stamping & Cardmaking forum at 3AS, just for a bit of fun. Hopefully someone will play along.

Some scrapping

This first page was made for a colour challenge.


The circus tent L/O is my entry for Round 1 of The Scrapper of Oz competition currently running at Scrapz. I really love how this turned out, a rare photo of the 4 of us together as well!



This one was a sketch challenge, finally got to cut out & use some of those cute critters on the Kaiser papers. Photos are from our day at Taronga Zoo on Father's Day.

What time is it

.......the king is hungry

World Card Making Day

If you're up for some challenges over the weekend, go check out Scrapz.biz & see what the DT have come up with, I'm sure it'll be fantastic & I'll be joining in for sure. Apparently the first challenges will be going up tomorrow & the deadline will be Wednesday for uploading into the gallery, so why not give it a go!


I actually hadn't planned anything SU! this year but it's looking very much like I am not going to continue my demonstratorship beyond the end of the month as I won't be signing the new demonstrator agreement. I am opposed to some of it's content. While I understand the new additions to the contract from an overall big company perspective, as a hobbyist the new conditions are far too restrictive with regards to blogging & other online media. That being said I think I might start planning a "business closing" party, a last hoorah of sorts & give my customers as well as myself one last opportunity to purchase through me. The last couple of years have been fun & although I never actually did end up pursuing SU! fully, I am happy to say I know the time is right to move on.


Here are the cards I created over the weekend.

It's Official

When Jo & Rosy get their very unexpected & unfortunate web hosting difficulties sorted & the site is back online, I'll be joining my lovely & talented friend Nat, Melanie & Jo K on the 3 Angels Scrapping Design Team. I'll mainly be focussing on the cardmaking side of things. Can't wait to get started. A big thanks to Jo & Rosy for this fantastic opportunity xx

Our Number 1 Act

Lily performing in the school's Talent Showcase with her violin teacher Alexandra

Umina or Mars?

A proud moment

Today was Lily's Confirmation Day, after 4 weeks of lessons to prepare to receive her sacrament & much excitement & anticipation, the day arrived. She was even chosen as one of the four children to deliver one of four symbols of Confirmation to the Bishop. She proudly & carefully carried the Oil of Chrism as part of the beginning of the ceremony. Uncle Stefan was her sponsor & we were joined by Oma, Opa, Yoshimi, Ralf & Sarina at the Church. A proud day for us all as Lily continues along her spiritual & religious journey following on from her baptism.

I'll add some photos in the next few days. Need to make a card tonight for Craig's Pop's 85th birthday party we are heading out to tomorrow.

Enjoy your weekend!

Our deepest condolences....

..........for a dear friend who lost her Dad this week.

Our thoughts & prayers are with you & your family at this very sad time. xx

Happy Birthday to our littlest blue monkey!

Mackenzie has always been known as our littlest monkey, the blue part of the name well that's a lovely embarassingly funny story from a few days ago.

I'll add photos & you'll get the picture....but for now imagine the result of a little girl sucking on a bottle of blue food colouring whilst shopping at Woolies, silly me to assume that the plastic seal meant the bottle would stay closed, sillier me to think that Mackenzie would have no reason to put it in her mouth.

Probably needless to say at this point but there was much as laughter as concern from fellow shoppers, Lily & myself as well as one very blue face, teeth, lips, tongue & of course her hands & mine!

Anyway after a very long bath & lots of soaking the colour was gone but not the photographic evidence!

Happy 4th Birthday gorgeous girl, our days are definitely never, ever boring! Love you to bits xxx

Here's some photos of her special day

Humpty Dumpty, the easiest cake ever, she found it in a magazine & asked me to make it for her (lamingtons for the wall & a decorated easter egg for Humpty) & probably the most fun too as Lily & Mackenzie spent quite sometime singing & reinacting the Humpty Dumpty song when all the formalities were done!

This is the birthday cake we shared with Oma & Opa on Mother's Day. I've kept those sugar animals for years in a container, they were too cute at the time we bought them to eat so both Lily & Mackenzie have both had them on cakes now.