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!