Life Is Your Canvas

Long Time No Blog

2011-02-08T13:15:00.000-08:00

Well its been well over a year since i blogged last guess i better get my a into g, with the school holidays finally at an end its time to get back to business,

Ive been a busy girl with cakes, but ive also started looking into soap making and other body treats, cant wait to get stuck in a try, just waiting on the postman to deliver all my goodies, also i started my acrylic nail course too and must admit its really good fun and not as easy as it looks lol:D

Well ive made a few cakes lately but been experimenting with different cupcakes too, i made these cookie and cream cheesecake cupcakes, they were delish and terribly bad for your waistline, but i must stress were soooo unbelievably yummy!

heres a bit of a cupcake montage of some of the cupcakes i have made over the year, i had so many picks so might aswell do a big upload :)

Twins first birthday

2010-03-22T01:47:00.000-07:00

Well i was commission to make a birthday cake for a couple of twin girls, they gave me the general requirements they wanted on the cake and this is what i cake up with

Loooonnng Overdue

2010-03-11T04:02:00.000-08:00

Well ive been very slack in updating, unfortunatley i have scrapped in months been too busy with my other little hobby, so thought i would just pop a few pics up to show you all what ive been up to

New Cake :)

2009-11-29T01:37:00.000-08:00

I came up with an idea that i wanted to make a safari cake, scrapbooking has been put on hold for awhile :)

i was really happy with how it turned out, everything is made out of sugarpaste and of course edible, i found it so hard to part with this one.

New lil passion and some ATCS

2009-11-10T13:54:00.001-08:00

Well ive been getting into my cake decorating, theyre far from perfect but im happy with them :) The first one, which is the present was my first attempt at using sugarpaste, they stuff can be so frustrating that its rediculous :D

My next attempt was to do a 2 tiered cake, i ended up doing a magic sort of theme, hence the magicians hat on top :)

And of course 3rd attempt would have to be a 3 tier underwater cake :) i had heaps of fun and hissy fits with this one, haha, and learnt a few lessons about making sure everything is completely dry before putting it on the cake :D

Now to atcs, this is the atc i made for the "trees" swap over a scrapbook studio, i used cork for the trunk,

Thanks to all the girls who participated in the "Mixed Media" ATC swap at scrapbook dreams, they are just fab :)

Gorgeous Xmas swap at Scrapbook Studio,

And an awesome music swap, also from Scrapbook Studio, some awesome ideas with these,

MMMM Cakes

2009-11-04T00:09:00.000-08:00

Well last night i attended a cake decorating class, thanks Shell for the info :)
The lovely Raewyn showed how to make chocolate bows, now of course i wanted to make one last night but it was far too late once i got home, so got stuck into it today, you would actually be suprised at how easy they are to make and they look absolutely stunning when they are finished, and all completely out of chocolate, every girls dream......

The cake is a chocolate cake, with pure chocolate used as icing which i marbled with white/dark and milk chocolate.

Black/White plus One Challenge

2009-11-03T01:40:00.000-08:00

The November Challenge over at Scrapbook Dreams is to do a layout using Black and White and a colour of your choice, i already knew what pic i wanted to use, the other weekend i went to Tauranga as one of my Girlfriends had returned from london after 2 years so we all went out to celebrate her birthday,

Of course my chosen colour was pink :) I stamped and cut out the butterflies and vines on transparency

My lil man is 4

2009-11-02T03:24:00.000-08:00

Well Lachlan turned 4 on the 29th and since we really only moved down to Rotorua 6 months ago, we had to have a party in auckland and one down here, so the lucky lil one had 2 bday parties, for his party down here, i made lachlans cake, he has been obsessed with Ben 10 Lately so thought id give it a shot :D and one of his lovely uncles brought him a drum set for his bday, which im sure will go nicely with his guitar and kaeyboard, think i may invest in some earplugs.

hiatus over

2009-11-02T02:53:00.000-08:00

Okay i realise i have some severe catching up to do haha, life has been so busy lately, so thought id break it all down in a couple of posts, firstly i got some gorgeous new anya stamps from the greeting farm, i used them to make my Music ATC for the Scrapbook Studio ATC swap

And since my lil man turned 4 i also made him a bday card too :)

And i also played around and made a few other cards aswell :)

World Cardmaking Day

2009-10-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

Well on sat as mos of you know it was world card making day,

the lovely Shell over at Scrapbook Dreams set some challenges for us,

Thanks Shell for all te inspiration and wonderful prompts.

Challenge #1 Create a card that has at least 3 layers

Challenge #2 Use STENCILS and MASKS

I used my ironworks glimmer screens for the gate mask, then added a bit of lace and some flowers etc.

Challenge #3 Use one of the following STICKERS, RUB ONS & PEEL CRAFT!

Challenge #4 Create a card the was not rectangular

Challenge #5 Use FLOWERS at least one

Challenge #6 Create a card that has GLITZ, SPARKLE and SHINE

This layout is for the October Monthly Comp over at Scrapbook Dreams, all you have to do is use pink,

This is for the monthly comp over at SBS, the theme was Electric Geometric, to be honest i was completely stumped for a few hours, maths was never my strong subject, and im still not quite happy with how this layout turned out either, anyways just cut circles out of the paper then layered it, added other bits and bobs and voila! sorry for the terrible photo too, was horrible weather yesterday and no sunshine for great photos

Big Catch Up, ATCs and a LO

2009-10-01T03:30:00.000-07:00

My Layout is for the Scrapbook Studio September Comp.
The challenge was
1.Use images cut from transparencies on your LO
2. Old chipboard
3. strip journaling

I had a photo of my nana so i decided she would be my subject for this challenge :)

I used prima papers and flowers, old heidi swapp chipboard letters, hambly transparencys aswell as a few heidi grace ones.

Now to the Atcs, lol, ive been very busy this month with these little things aswell as the circle journal im taking part in at the moment, so i havent actually got any layouts done at all,

This one is for the clear swap for the ATC groupies, i stamped images aswell a embossed, apart from the middle image, it is completely seethrough,

This one is for the Christmas Atc swap at Scrapbook Studio, again a stamped image with embossing.

This one was for the garden friends swap at ATC Groupies, you can see the full set that all the girls came up with down below, I ran the card through the cuttlebug, then painted with metallic jade paint, then stamped with versamark and used pearl ex powders, i did this numerous times with different colours and stamps, i stamped the leaves and butterflies and cut them out aswell.

This one is for the metal swap at Scrapbook Studio, i had alot of fun making these :) and i didnt cut myself n any of the metal so i was quite chuffed with that :)

This one is for the Humour swap at Scrapbook Dreams, The girl and frog Stamps are Basic Grey and Background Stamp is Mickey Choo which i got from the lovely Debbie at Glamour Girls Stamps.

I used Alcohol Ink to make my background, and stamped the girl and frog, cut them out and then used felt tips and watercolour pencils to colour them in, i cut the grass out and spray some glimmer mist on it for shine,

As you can see i ended up colouring all my girls differently, ad those little legs became very tediuos to cut out, only one girl ended up losing a leg though, always good to make a few extra isnt it ;)

This is the numbers swap from ATC Groupies, thanks for an awesome set of cards girls !!!!

This swap is also from ATC groupies, i think we managed to do 3 swaps this month lol, yet again another gorgeous set, the theme was Garden Friends

This swap is the Humour one from Scrapbook Dreams, i couldnt help but chuckle when i saw these, some great ideas ladies, i love them

Well i think ive caught up with everything now :D

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend xx

And the winner is .....

2009-09-21T23:57:00.000-07:00

Congrats Tricia, my little boy picked your name out of the hat, could you please send me your address and ill get these off to you asap.

Thnaks to every one else who left a lovely comment aswell :)

One Year Giveaway

2009-09-08T15:48:00.000-07:00

To celebrate nearly a year of blogging, ive decided to give away some of my stash :)

All you need to do is leave a comment by midnight 20th of September and ill do a random draw on the 21st to determine the winner :)

Goodluck! :)

Crafty Day

2009-08-25T05:01:00.000-07:00

Heres the niche canvas i received of Ngaere for the swap, isnt it wonderful, its alot more brighter and vibrant in real life too, theres so much detail in it, can you pick out all the games?

Carol is throwing a challenge over at SBS, you have to use your cuttlebug and have it on your Layout somewhere, i had heaps of ideas, but i havent scrapped photos of my wee boy in a long time, so thought i better, plus i just adore these pics of him :)

Im really loving the Bella range of papers at the moment, i found a photo of me and a couple of girlfriends from a past summer and just had to scrap it,

August Update

2009-08-16T18:12:00.000-07:00

Finally got my layout finished for the August monthly comp, over at SBS the requirements were:
1. All page elements must all be held within an area of no larger than an 8" square/circle etc, meaning your scrapping area can not exceed these boundaries
2. ALL TEXT on the page has to be hand written including your title
3. Somewhere on your page you have to show and use a piece of packaging from any scrapbook product

Also received 2 atcs swap back, the first is from ATC groupies, the theme was black/white and colour of your choice, thanks girls they such a gorgeous set.

Next is the july swap for Scrapbook Dreams, which was travel destination, also another gorgeous set, think i might need to buy another folder as my one doesnt want to close now,

We had a swap for a 6x6 niche canvas over at Glamour Girls, this is the one i made for Ngaere, i decided to try something different and got out my sculpy, to make the tree and the birds eggs, we had to include lace and flowers somewhere on the canvas, my birds nest is made out of wire but i also incorperated the lace into it as well as a few other bits and bobs as birds do, i received Ngaeres canvas, i will upload a pic as well as the Zodiac ATC swap from SBS, definitely a must see :)

A few weeks back, Carol sent me some perspex, i had all but forgotten about it till she reminded me :) so thought i better have a play with it, i used frosted glass slides, i stamped them then let them dry then used the alcohol inks on the same side, but dont touch too much or add blending solution as it will smudge your stamping, as i learnt ;) and i just adhered with a dot of glossy accents in each corner

August Sketch Challenge

2009-08-05T21:11:00.000-07:00

The August Sketch Challenge is on over at Scrapbook Studio, if you wanna check it out and join in go here.

Here is the sketch that Lisa gave us

And this is what i came up with, not completely happy with it, but layout mojo has gone out the window, with all the atcs and circle journal going on :)

I used Auntumn Leaves heather bailey papers, rub ons, and patterned felt, prima flowers, dont remember what the die cut paper is though, and thickers alphas,

Puzzle Canvas and a few Atcs

2009-07-26T15:12:00.000-07:00

The girls over at Glamour Girls did a puzzle piece swap a few weeks back, i saw them whem they were finished and fell in love and of course had to make my own :D

Also over at Atc Groupies we have our new swap which is numbers, to be completely honest i was stuck at first and had planned on going with 1,2 buckle my shoe, but do you think i could find any images :D nope not one, maybe i was just being picky, but couldnt find what i wanted, so i decided to take a different approach and get out all my messy things like embossing powders, inks, and pearl exs and just go from there,

Paper Mache Masquerade Mask and a Tiled Canvas

2009-07-16T01:22:00.000-07:00

Over at Glamour Girls we did a swap for an altered mask, I made a paper mache mask then i used texture paste and glimmer screens to make part of the design, also used Jo Sonyas irredescent paints and run'n'buff in Jade, Antique Gold, Sapphire and Autumn Bronze
Was really happy with the result, this one was sent off to Dianne.

I had fun with this canvas as well as made a complete mess :) was a special project of mine :) I cut out the squares then decorated them individually using Utee, Magic Mesh, Inks, Paints, Stamping and Embossing and quite a few other things,

Mini Tea Bag Album

2009-07-14T23:33:00.001-07:00

Over at Glamour Girls, we had a swap to make a mini tea bag album, This is the miniature creation i made for Robyn, now that she has received it, i can share the piccies :)
I made a chipboard cover and backing and used my zutter to do the binding, i stamped the edges of the tea bags for the inner pages, i was so happy with this lil book, i didnt wanna send it away! but i know its gone to a great home :)

Winter Warmer Comp Week 4 and a few ATCs

2009-07-11T23:55:00.000-07:00

well the Winter Warmer Comp is almost over one more challenge and thats it, it been motivational, for week 4 we had to do a layout with distressing, i used Prima Cavalier papers, loving all prima stuff at the moment and got a big pre order booked for the CHA releases :D
Anyway, this was my entry,

This is my Atc i made for the Scrapbook Dreams July ATCswap, theme was travel destinations, i had originally decided to go with egypt, but then a recent trade me win had me going in another direction :D

These ATCs are just to add to my owl collection, love my lil hoo hoo's at the moment :) the background were left overs from a fabric swap from a while ago.

Study, Study and Study mmm and ATCS

2009-07-05T03:43:00.000-07:00

Well i spent most of today trying to finish off 2 modules for my interior design, since im changing over to nursing soon i wanted to get it done, i manage to pull it off under 5 hours then decided to go buy me a lil present :D went out looking for some new clothes and came home with a Wii plus the Wii fit, gunna try it out tommorrow, lachlan had a ball playing tennis, was quite funny watching him wriggle his bum an run around after this ball :D

I did manage to get my ATCs done for the ATCs groupies though, the theme was black/white and colour of your choice, i chose green to be different for a change and this is what i came up with :)

Been a busy girl

2009-07-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

Well to add to my checklist, i have finished my altered paper mache mask to send off to Dianne, also my mini tea bag album to send of to Robyn, i cannot post pics of course cause they have not received them yet :)

This is the beautiful mask that i received from Debbie at Glamourgirls, it is absolutely gorgeous, love it sooo much,

I have been working on a couple of canvas, this was was just mucking around with glimmer screens and texture paste on some chipboard, with glossy accents,

And this is a vintage one, i got a few material images from arthurs emporium in manukau, quite a few month back and decided to finally use one :D

This is also a mask i was just playing around with, its a plastic one, but i had fun creating it, used pva, pearl ex powders, utee, beads, rub'n'buff and a few other things

30 things to do before im 30

2009-06-20T01:11:00.000-07:00

Well i did this book awhile ago, but while reading carols blog, it reminded me about it,
Bare in mind its not fancy or full of dimension cause i planned on carrying it round with me as a check list, it has 30 things i want to do before im 30,

I wanted to make sure that i got all the things ive always wanted to do written down so that i wouldnt forget and then remember when its too late.

Heres my lil list ;) the ones marked in bold have been acheived

1. Learn the Samba
2. Ride in a hot air balloon ( im terrified of heights but have to do it)
3. Buy some shares
4. Have another child
5. Get my bachelor in nursing
6. Save $2000 dollars (easy enough)
7. Paint a painting
8. Go out of my comfort zone
9. Go to Ireland
10. Have a body im happy with
11. Buy a house and decorate it my way
12. Learn and master German
13. Pat a tiger
14. Travel to the South Island
15. Have classy nude portraits done
16. Be debt free with the exception of a mortgage
17. Go to a stage show
18. Find complete inner peace and happiness
19. Write a song
20. Give up smoking
21. Learn to maitain a budget(hahaha)
22. Fly first class
23. Do something unexpected
24. Finish my tattoo
25.Get health and life insurance
26. Go to one of the islands
27. Get something published
28. Go swimming with dolphins
29. Be happily married
30. Start a retirement fund

When the boys are away.... The girls will scrap

2009-06-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

Well now that Lachlan is off to Kindy, its been giving me time to scrap and try and find my mojo again, i havent done a layout on Lachlan in 11 months or more, so decided it was time to sit down and do it!

I also sat down and tried to do more than one photo too, i found a few photos from a girls night out in December that ive been wanting to scrap, for awhile,

Well hopefully the tiny tid bit of inspiration ive found will hang around and grow, then should be able to get out a few more :)

Yay done some layouts

2009-06-13T01:46:00.000-07:00

Well i was finally able to sit my bottom down and get some scrapping done, i did this layout on our lil girl Bella, just love this photo of her in the garden :) She is definitely a character all of her own, she likes to sleep behind your neck up on your shoulders like a parrot, which in all honesty is great when its cold!

This is another layout i did using the SBS Monthly Kit, think it was mays kit, really enjoyed playing with this.

I did manage another layout too but thats for the Winter Warmer Challenge over at SBS, check it out here, theres heaps of prizes and even gives you a good excuse to do more scrapping.

This is for the Ribbon Doll swap over at Glamour Girls, was neat to go out of the box and make something different for a change, sorry ofr the bad pictures the crackle and glossy accents dont photograph too well.

And last but not least thought id leave you with a photo that might warm you up a bit, even Bella and Allie cuddled up to keep warm :D

Weekend Blurb

2009-06-08T18:44:00.000-07:00

Well i havent done much scrapping lately, been too busy with other projects, i did however manage to get a canvas done that ive wanted to do for ages :)

Here are the 2 latest swaps from SBS,

The first one is Black n White and the second is Oriental, all these cards are so gorgeous, feel lucky to have them in my collection :) Thanks girls.

We went and had a day out at Paradise Valley, down here in Rotorua, you get to go on a really serene bush walk, drink from the natural spring if you like, feed all the animals, beware of the pigs though as they give a nasty lil bite :( but you get to see the lions being fed aswell.

Arnt the lil bambis cute :)

April/May Update

2009-06-01T00:25:00.000-07:00

Well I thought it was about time for an update, things have been very hectic round here, made the move down to Rotorua safe and sound, and nothing got broken or damaged on the truck, extra bonus!!! :D

Back in March, we had a March Madness swap on Glamour Girls and i created a niche canvas for Ngaere,

Amongst all the chaos, this wee girl came into our lives, Lil Miss Bella, shes a Sydney Silky, and a lil bundle of joy, very affectionate, but also a lil on the agressive side, must be a female thing i think :D
This is how small she was when we first got her,

And this is her now.

And couldnt resist a photo of Allie, bathing in the sun,

Also my lil collection of owls is growing, i picked up these lil cuties last week.

Will post up some more tommorrow got some Atc Swaps to share as well as a few other piccies

March Update

2009-03-25T14:42:00.000-07:00

Well i guess its time for an update isnt it? .....

Well things have been a little busy round here, i just got back from the hospital, Lachlan just had his grommets put in his ears, not a very happy chappy, i think the worst part for me was holding him while they were putting him under, watching you child struggle while someone, a doctor or not is covering their mouth with something i just not natural, especially when they are saying "help mummy help". Think that may have scarred me a little for life, damn doctors!

Also been organising things to make the big move down to Rotorua, gunna give it a trial period and see how it goes, tired of Auckland and all the dramas that come with it. If all fails back to Auckland

Been trying to find a tattooist that will finish off my back piece for me, my tattooist did the runner on me and alot of other artits dont like finishing others work, i till need it to come down to my right hip and a lotus flower over the top of an older tat, plus a few more dragonflies intertwined in the vine

Ive still been busy doing crafty things, finished my piece for March Madness over at Glamour Girls, will post up a picture once Ngaere had received it, also just putting the finishing touchs on my Matchbox Shrine, since Lachlan had decided to help out and put some lovely vivid over it.

Also been doing a few ATCS aswell, the first one is me playing round with beeswax and serviettes and pearl ex, the first photo shows it in a dull lit room and the other is in the sun, realy love the way beeswax comes out, and the transparency it gives.

Heres a few pic of all the beautiful swaps, al from such talented ladies
Now for the swaps first up is 2 swaps from Scrapbook Dreams, first theme is Valentines/Love and the other is Bugs, Arnt they neat!

The we have the latest swap just finished from Scrapbook Studio, theme was The Sea, All f these were just gorgeous,

And this set is from ATC Groupies, the theme was Water, they are all so awesome,

Altered Shadow Box And a Sock Monkey

2009-02-16T02:13:00.000-08:00

Thanks to sonya for giving me the idea bout the shadow box, i really had fun with this, the woman inside is 3-d and i even cut more butterflies to make pop up a bit more too, i used stuffing and small rocks with alcohol inks to make the mossy rock effect down the bottom,

I also had a lil vision of a sock monkey the other day, went and saw my poppy as i know he has quite a big collection of those really long walking socks, and heaps that were still in the packet, joys of christmas presents :D

My monkey came out exactley the way i wanted him, nice and lanky, and rough loooking, i still havent come up with a name, but im sure one will come to me soon,

Been a naughty blogger

2009-02-11T04:25:00.000-08:00

Firstly thankyou Carol, for the lovely award :)

Okay so rules are i have to say one nice thing about the man in my life, so im gunna be cheeky anf choose my lil man, hes my saviour and makes everyday worth living

Next list six ways i measure my success in my life.
1] Having a wonderful son
2] Having an amazing close knit family
3] Having an awesome group of girlfriends
4] Being able to enjoy simple pleasures
5] Being able to express myself in whatever means possible
6] Meeting new and amazing people everyday

Now i pass this award on to 5 fellow bloggers.

Lara http://scrappykea.blogspot.com/
Bronny http://two2bees.blogspot.com/
Angela http://mcallisternz.blogspot.com/

Suz http://scraphappenings09.blogspot.com/

Heidi http://heidi01.wordpress.com/

Righto, first im going to have a rant bout this weather as its driving me insane, hardly any sunshine, just rain and mugginess, its just horribly rediculous, and making everyone a tad grumpy i think, well in my house anyway :D

Been very busy with study, plus trying to do all the altered projects that i keep signing myself up for, just cant resist :).

I went and seen Twilight the other day, its either one movie you love or loath, apparently is mainly for the "tweens", but too be quite honest, i actually enjoyed it, even went and brought the series of books the next day. hence why no blogging ive been a lil book worm. I do reccomend reading the books if your into vampires etc.

i can now post these as they have been sent out at Glamour Girls, these were for a summer atc swap, i decided to do mine on little canvas for a change, we have just finished an altered cutlery swap too so once everyone recieves theres we will be able to post, Carols partner has received hers, so f you want to go check out Carols its just beautiful

Also the canvas that ive been working on is almost finished, it just needs a coat of beeswax now and a few embellishments added to it and hopefully ill be happy with it :)

A Few Swap and A New Atc

2009-01-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

Finally made some time to pull all these wonderful cards out of their protective pages, and of course put them straight back in, first up we have the "Halloween Swap" from SBBD

All of these were just lovely and creepy ;) look at all the black and orange :D

The next 2 swaps were done through Scrapbook Dreams

The first one is the "Christmas" Swap, these were all so gorgeous and soo much sparkle :)
and the second swap was "Favourite Thing Bout Summer", they are all so bright and summery

This swap i done through a little group, these are the "Introduce Yourself Swap", It felt really weird doing an atc on myself, but when these all came back, they were all so gorgeous, and great to put face to names :D

Ive alo been working on some asian inspired atcs, this is one that ive finished, i used a stamp of 3 oriental women, i used versamark then embossed with black powder, i cut this woman out the coloured her in metallic and non metallic felts, then glazed in dimensinal magic, for the background i used origami paper and stamped a script stamp over the background, and used gold embossing powder, also used some german scrap, its not quite finished as im still searching for the right type of flowers to put on it :)

Fabric ATC Swap

2009-01-22T04:13:00.000-08:00

The fabric swap that i did over at scrapbook studio also known as Scrapbooking by Design, came in the mail today and i was absolutely blown away with these, it was so refreshing to see something different on and ATC and they were all so gorgeous, all you girl did an amazing job :D just love em

there is currently a sign up for another swap the theme is CATS, the lovely Carol is hosting, o pop in and join up over here :)

will post up some other swaps tomorrow but for now i really should sleep :)

A few ATC's

2009-01-19T22:06:00.000-08:00

My order came in today, i got autumn gold, jade, turquoise and pearl blue, decided to have a little play with them and made 2 ATCs, im calling them my peekaboo ladies, i used chipboard, utee, pearl ex, rub'n'buff, the photos dont do the rub'n'buff justice, they are very shiny once you buff them up :) the first atc i used the turquoise and the jade for the background and the second is jade and autumn gold, really love this stuff, cant wait to get the other colours,

learnt a lil lesson bout not touching utee when its hot too :( was not impressed with that one at all! :D

Going to buy some beeswax tommorrow and get stuck into a canvas ive been dying to make.

Heres a lil sneak peek at a canvas im currently working on :)

Lil Box Of Treasure

2009-01-19T00:48:00.000-08:00

I found this old tin, and decided i wanted to do something with it, i still need to put some really big jewels in there aswell, for that extra bling, wanted it to look like it had been dragged up from the sea

I used, PVA, Utee, Pearl Ex Powders, Kindy Glitz, Various beads and chains, diamantes, sequins and fantasy film, that stuff is awesome :D as usual photos never do justice.

Blue By You

2009-01-18T18:21:00.000-08:00

Another canvas ive been working on, used texture paste, gesso, utee, mesh, pearl ex powders, pva, beads, jewels, flowers, wire, ric rac and a few other little things, like kindy glitz etc,

Have found that rub'n'buff comes in many different colours too, so have put a "lil" order in ;)

Lovely Big Update

2009-01-15T15:32:00.000-08:00

Well where to begin :D

Firstly Thankyou so much Sonya for the lovely blog award, it made my day!!!

The rules are:

1. Add the logo to your blog.

2. Link to the person from whom you received this award.

3. Nominate 7 or more blogs.

4. Leave a message on their blog, letting them know they are “One Lovely Blog”!

Okay i have no idea how to link the urls to the name, so to the nominating

1. Lianne @ http://liannenz.blogspot.com/

2. Shell @ http://shellhonig.blogspot.com/

3. Meeks @ http://scrappiemeek.blogspot.com/

4. Heidi @ http://heidi01.wordpress.com/

5. Ruth @ http://acreativeblank.wordpress.com/

6. Liz @ http://www.dizzylizziestuff.blogspot.com/

7. Kate @ http://katepai.blogspot.com/

I think thats it :) love visiting all your blogs!

On another note, I had a wonderful new years with my darling girls, was a lovely night,

Now New Years Resolutions, i had to sit down and think bou these long and hard cause this year i plan on sticking to them, well trying too anyway :) hope you are sticking to yours ;)

1. Go to the gym, and eat properly no more junk food, (so far so good)

2. Get some of my list done, (I made a list of 30 things i want to do before im 30, need to get stuck into it, will post 'the list' in another post one day)

3. Get my license, ive been really slack with this and as ashamed as i am, im still on my learners haha, i know i will pass with flying colours just really need to find the time to do it, so by march should be done, fingers crossed.

4. Give up smoking, always a resolution that never happens, but this year ive made it my top goal.

5. Do some scrapping outside my comfort zone, experiment, and do some more layouts, havent done many lately, so must get stuck in.

I have also been having a lil dabble in altered canvas, heres one ive been working on, im not entirely happy with it, needs some improvement, jut trying to use different textures and mediums, out of my comfort zone :) but loving it!

What a year already!!

2009-01-08T02:27:00.000-08:00

Hope everyones new years holidays are going well.

I went down to visit my mum in Rotorua for the weekend, was nice to get out of the hustle and bustle of auckland, was very peaceful and serene at mums, just what i needed to start the year :)

Lachlan got an ear infection that drove him insane, unfortunatley that night, i went in to check on him and noticed he had blood pouring out of his ear, needless to say he was put straight into the car and off to the hopistal, his eardrum had burst which was what was causing the blood, made him feel alot better though as the pressure from behind his eardrum, it has since stopped bleeding and we have an appt at the docs tommorrow to re check it a when we went in on wednesday there was still too much blood to see the hole, the doctor mentioned it would be a good idea to have grommets put in his ears too, she thinks it will help, so heres hoping by the end of january it will all be back to normal for him

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T14:53:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a happy holidays, im off for a couple of days down to the farm to get away from the city for awhile :)

Hope you all have a safe holiday and get spoilt rotten :D

See you in the new year!!!

Dont you just LURVE Cupcakes!!!!

2008-12-16T02:04:00.000-08:00

ooooh i just love cupcakes, Lachlans playcentre is having their christmas party tommorrow so tonight i made 58 cupcakes, and had a ball doing it :D

i browsed the internet to find a few recipes to try something new, i came across Mountain Dew Cupcakes and thought yes i have to give these a go, also added to the list were some Rocky Road and Traditional Christmas Cupcakes,

I must admit those Mountain Dew ones are absolutely delicious, i made a lemon and lime cream cheese frosting to go on top and just threw a couple of m&m's on top they are soooo yummy, think ive already eaten 5, lol but well worth it

The Rocky Road ones have marshmallows, chocolate chip and cruchie bars on top, i wasnt too sure if all the kidlets have been tested for nut allergies so thought it be best to leave them out.
They are a very rich mississipi mud cake.

The christmas ones are cinnamon, ginger and christmas fruit, with a green frosting and a jellybean on top,

zi think the hardest part of it all was trying not to eat all the batter :D

Inchies and Atcs

2008-12-15T00:57:00.000-08:00

My christmas inchies turned up last week and i finally made the time to go and buy a canvas for them, i just brought a black canvas and used antique gold rub'n'buff on the edges, so happy with them all the girls did a fantastic job!

Also my christmas atcs turned up still need to take a piccy of them too :) also had a little spending free so got a few new goodies to try out soon :D

Girls Night Out

2008-12-07T19:06:00.000-08:00

Well i had a wonderful weekend, on saturday all the girls got together for a few drinks, we ended up going out for a dance too :) must admit i havent drunk in a while so it all went to my head pretty quickly, all in all it was a good night though and Tula was up as she had her Kylie minouge Concert.

Somehow managed to lose one of my earrings too, always a bummer when that happens, and felt like a bus had hit me on sunday, but was all worth it :D

Late Night Update

2008-12-03T02:34:00.000-08:00

Well its 11:30 and im sitting here watching the Notebook for the oh i dont know maybe the 200th time and im still not sick of it, just absolutely adore this movie, i think its cause it reminds me so much of my grandparents, they had there 49th wedding anniversary on the 17th of November, and they are still so cute, they still hold hands and snuggle, and just adore each other, its great to know that, that love still exists.

Heres a few photos i took the other day of Lachlan with them (his great-grandparents)

I also managed to grab a beautiful photo of my Miss Allie, yes she is named after the notebook haha, shes 6 months old, got her from the spca about 4 months ago, how could i resist those eyes, she is an energetic ball of fluff, unfortunatley she is completely deaf so she is not allowed outside, although we do let her out with parental supervision though

Playing catch up

2008-11-30T19:59:00.000-08:00

Well its been quite hectic round here, things have just not stopped, luckily this weekend was nice and quiet, had a beautiful day by the pool on sunday, must remember to upload those pics.

Managed to get 2 layouts completed, aswell as 2 sets of atcs, One for the 6th atc swap for SBBD theme is fabric and one for Scrapbook Dreams Swap theme is summer.

also last week i received my christmas atcs and christmas 3x3 inchies from scrapbook dreams swap, they are all just beautiful, was some lovely happy mail :)

Heres my 2 layouts first one was just cause i felt like it, have been finding some really beautiful photos of my mum from her teens and twenties that im just loving scrapping

This one is for Sonyas Challenge over at the Scrapbook Studio Design Team blog http://designteam.typepad.com/my_weblog/challenges/ all you need to do is complete a layout of one of YOUR highlights or all of them for 2008, if you decide to join in, the prize is a set of Tim Holtz Alcohol inks and Blending Solution.

I decided to do a layout of the weekend, our group of girls went down to Tulas in Papamoa, unfortunately Amy wasnt with us, shes still in London, but it was good to have the girls all together, just us for the weekend, this is my second highlight of the year, dont have photos of my biggest highlight and i wouldnt have a clue how to scrap it anyway, full mental block with that one :D

Bossy Scrapper #20

2008-11-16T21:29:00.001-08:00

Well had a lovely day at playcentre today with Lachlan, must really remember to take my camera one day, although am very scared as that place is full of gunk and goo lol.

Finally got to sit down today and finish my layout for the Bossy Scrapper over at SBBD, i did a layout on my mum again, found a beautiful old photo of her and just love it. you will have to excuse the crappy photo, as my scanner is just not working at the moment.

Heres the requirements

*12 X12'" background card or paper

*Piece of co-ordinating c/s or pat paper about half to two-thirds the size of your 12x12

*Create a journalling block using stamps

*Add anything round, whether its bling, buttons or brads
*Get creative and make a frame or fancy mat for your photograph or at least one of your photo's or you have more than one.... or you can use diecuts or whatever if you have to make them
*Add some ribbon/lace or string

*Add a title using letter stickers or rub ons , these can be regular alpha stickers, rub ons, thickers etc

ATC Dare #5 - 80s Fashion

2008-11-16T00:05:00.000-08:00

The new dare is up over at http://www.atcdares.blogspot.com/ and its 80s fashion.

Took me a lil while to come up with an idea, but then i thought about my fave movies from that time, flashdance, dirty dancing, and footloose, and those leg warmers out of footloose a definite symbol of the 80s

so heres what i came up with, found this awesome picture on the net and of course it wouldnt have been complete without the mesh.

SBBD Monthly Competition

2008-11-13T00:46:00.000-08:00

These are the November rules

COMPLETE ONE SINGLE (OR DOUBLE) LAYOUT - ANY SIZE OF YOUR CHOICEYOUR PAGE MUST HAVE AT LEAST ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

1. CUT OUT DESIGN FROM PATTERNED PAPER
2. ANY TYPE OF FLOWERS (AT LEAST ONE)
3. LACE OR RIBBON (OR BOTH)
4. BOOKPLATE e.g METAL/CHIPBOARD ETC (AT LEAST ONE)
5. AND LASTLY MUST HAVE A GRUNGE FEEL TO IT (e.g DISTRESSED/INKED/PAINTED/GLIMMER MISTED OR ANYTHING ELSE YOU CAN THINK OF ETC AT LEAST ONE)

I decided to do a layout of the beautiful photo that Lachlan took of my mum, just love it, i used kaiser craft paper, BG big bookplate, junkitz lil bookplate, ink, chalk, paper flower , ribbon,
and a few other bits and bobs really pleased with the results

Finished Another Set

2008-11-07T21:12:00.000-08:00

woohoo, managed to finished my 1940's atcs this weekend since Lahclan at his dads, along with organising and finishing my cards for the Halloween swap for Scrapbooking By Design, also been working on the Swap 7 for Scrapbook Dreams, which is about your favourite drink. only just remembered i havent done the 1930's ones, ahh well they are next.

used cardstock, patterned paper, lace, staples, pearls, inks and kindyglitz,and glitter thread, really love these old movie maidens, they are purely gorgeous, flawless.

ATC Dare #4

2008-11-05T04:32:00.000-08:00

The new dare is up over at http://www.atcdares.blogspot.com/

The dare is Quest for Cure (Breast Cancer)

The only rules are: You must use some pink on your ATC and you must also have the pink ribbon logo

Heres my take on the dare

I used a few different patterned papers, tearing, transparencies, fabric flowers and a cute image from http://lisasalteredart.com/ . She's got lots of wonderful images, you should check them out.

Full on Weekend

2008-11-05T01:50:00.000-08:00

Well Lachlans birthday party was on sunday, had a wonderful day, as usual made food for an army and had heaps leftover, he got spoilt rotten, and loved his Thomas cake, but he did pick it out hahaha, he didnt like everyone singing happy birthday, so he put his hands over his ears and screamed at everyone to shut up, much to our amusement :D

Me Feeding my lil brother choccy cake :D

I also let him play with my camera, yea my hairs were standing on end thinking he was gunna break my precious baby, but too my amazement he took some beautiful photos, just love the first one of my mum

We also had a few fireworks that night for Lachlan too, he enjoyed it, last year he was quite scared, but he was loving the big bangs, although must admit, each year fireworks are just getting more stink, not worth the money anymore.

Halloween

2008-10-30T14:53:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween

Well gunna take Lachlan out tonight for his first trick or treating got him a little mask to wear and a costume, hopefully he isnt too scared of the other kids

Don't forget there is an ATC swap at the moment going on at SBD the theme is halloween, so if your keen please sign up, the more the merrier

http://www.scrapbookingbydesign.co.nz/forum/index.php?topic=1036.0

heres a spooky lil poem for you to enjoy, that i found on the net

On a spooky Halloween night,

When Goblins and witches come out to fight,

When children go out to say "Trick or Treat",

When goblins and witches and people meet.

Around the town loud noises roar,

And when you hear the sound,"Knocking" at your door.

Should you open it?Should you be scared?

Trick or Treaters are everywhere!

But don't you worry,And don't you fright,

Its only one day,One evening,Its Halloween Night!

ATC Overdrive

2008-10-30T02:11:00.000-07:00

Well Today ive had a full on ATC day, took the day off studying to indulge.

Managed to get my 11 Christmas ATCs done for Scrapbook Dreams, Also worked on my Vintage Vixens, im doing sets of 4 from the 1920's to the 1960's, i got the 1920's ones finished today aswell as play around with this lovely little beauty here, i had heaps of fun playing with her, made a huge mess too, was reat fun The first photo captures the true shine of those lovely pearl ex powders and the second is so you can see the picture of the girl better :)

Manage to finally get ahold of canon too they told me it was goin to cost $130 to get a new print head for my printer, and that they dont make the ink cartridges for them either, so it would be advised i just go and buy a new one, my printer is not even 4 years old yet, seems a waste of money if they arnt gunna supply the parts for it anymore, anyways thats my little vent, i did go to harvey normans though and manage to pick up one for $78, not even a quarter of the price as my old one, but we will see how it handles :D

Happy Birthday To My Precious Lil Man

2008-10-29T04:22:00.000-07:00

Well this morning got woken up at 8am, which was very strange for Lachlan to be up so early, but in saying that instead of being woken with my usual morning cuddle and kiss, it was "you got presents for me?", i couldnt help but laugh.

He had a ball unwrapping all his presents, he got a remote cotrol digger and truck, walkie talkies and some lego, after his 5 secs of entertainment with those, he politely reminded me that i had promised to take him to chipmunks today too,

We had a lovely day, Lachlan Great Grandparents came too.

Still can't believe he is 3, it has gone by so incredibly fast. My lil baby is no longer a baby :(

New Found Lil Obssession

2008-10-25T21:14:00.001-07:00

While browsing around on the net today, i came across a few forums and sites that were talking bout inchies, i decided to investigate, they are just like atc's but on a smaller scale, i got straight into trying them out, was good fun picking out all the pictures etc, until it came to sticking it all together, the scale is 1" by 1" which isnt the easiest to work with, but im guessing with time, it will get easier :D there are also twinchies which are 2" by 2" which i found alot easier to do, had lots more room .

anyway this is what i came up with, bare in mind i only just started so they arnt that flash haha

Happy Photos

2008-10-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

Decided since i was having an "Ugh" day, i wanted to post some photos that make me happy

1. All The girls together one last time before Amys Farewell
2.Lachlan @ Thomas Day at Glenbrook
3.My Gorgeous Lil Brother Dylan
4.Lachlan and Nanny
5.An old photo of Lachlan

Just One Of Those Months

2008-10-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

Everything just seems to be going wrong or breaking this month :(

So far my printer has decided to take a holiday, after i just brought a new set of inks too! so think its time for a new one really, be cheaper to buy one than get it fixed.

My cellphone decided it didnt want anyone to hear me talking so thats now in the shop getting fixed, above all that its one of those months where all the bills come flooding in,

On a good note though, finally got round to getting Lachlan booked in for kindy, i decided to wait till he was 3 cause it was a TAD cheaper once he came of age, also managed to get a few layouts done this weekend so will be uploading them once i get a bit more free time.

Getting Started

2008-10-17T22:44:00.000-07:00

Okay everybody bear with me, just getting the hang of all this new stuff, its all so overwhelming and frightnening at the same time :D

Got a few new photos of lachlan after his haircut yesterday, (lovely posing stage) got his birthday party coming up in the next few weeks so getting everything ready for that, still cant believe hes going to be 3, just having a nice family party at home, think im still broke from his party last year at Chipmunks, haha. So hopefully one of the lovely males of the household will get off their behinds and clean the bbq which hasnt been used in maybe a few years :S.