Top ten of 2010

It's the last day of 2010!

Inspired by a post here, I thought I'd pick my favourite ten scrapbook pages that I've created this year. It was surprisingly easy...you know how sometimes you make a page that you just love, and other times...well...you make a page that you don't love so much LOL!

So here they are in no particular order...


Love the background paper on this one, and the journaling....and that I scrapbooked some trampoline photos!

This one has my favourite polkadot paper...and I love the combination of aqua, pink and yellow.

Transparencies and fabric...I stepped out of my comfort zone a little on this one, and love the results!

The colours...again...put this one in the top 10..along with the banner and the twine. Oh, and the fact that I scrapbooked a birthday!

These are among my favourite photos of Lydia...and I thought I was pretty clever using the 3D white dots as a design feature LOL.

The buttony sun is still one of my favourite things...and I used a butterfly on a boy page!

The colours really grab me on this one...it was a combination from a Color Room palette, and I love it!

I'd had the journaling for this page in my notebook for years, so to get it onto a page in 2010 was a good thing :) Loving the Basic Grey papers and embellishments too.

Polkadots again...need I say more?

This one has one of my favourite papers of 2010...from October Afternoon. Love the photo of Merryn, and those Thickers...yummmmmm!

So that's a rundown of my ten favourite LOs of 2010. At the beginning of the year, I set a goal to create 120 layouts...and was going quite well until I actually stopped scrapbooking altogether in early November! (That's right, I haven't scrapped a page in almost 2 months). If I get busy today...and make, oh, 25 pages...I can reach my goal LOL! NOT GUNNA HAPPEN!

Have you considered making a Top Ten list for 2010? Let me know if you do...I'd love to have a peek!

TTFN xxx

Loose ends...

Today felt like a great day to tie up some loose ends...finish up some Christmas stuff ...before Christmas starts all over again tonight when my DH flies in (or so he says, anyway LOL).

It is with great excitement that I show you this...
...which came dangerously close to becoming a UFO! Isn't it amazing how very over Christmas you get by the end of December?

With 3 days to go...

...we had Christmas dinner part one with my husband, complete with the good china, and gift unwrapping (gee, I really hope he was kidding when he said we have to have Christmas dinner again tomorrow night!)

With 2 days to go, we ran lots of errands, had Santa photos taken, and toured the Christmas lights. On Christmas Eve, we decorated our gingerbread house, and opened some presents from under the tree.

...and that, my friends, is the end of December Daily for another year. PHEW!

I've also completed an album for my lovely parents-in-law...

You may recall, if you've been a reader for a while, that each year I make an album for my in-laws with photos of our little family from the past year. This year I'm late...thanks to some very dodgy service from an online photo processing website...grrrrrrrrr!

I've also done a little picture framing....

I received this gorgeous print for Christmas from here. I couldn't wait any longer to frame it (especially behind red polkadots hee hee)...love the message!

That's all from me folks...what have you been up to today?

TTFN xxx

A couple more...

...to get me that little bit closer to completing December Daily :) Now that Christmas is over, I really really want to finish it up!

With 5 days to go, and after much Christmas-related activity, I finally achieved a clean desk...


...and with 4 days to go, we celebrated my friend Tracey's birthday at our house, and did our annual exchange of Secret Santa gifts...

...love these girls!

I'll leave you with a single photo that I took today, which made me smile...

This year, especially, I am feeling so blessed to have supportive, caring friends....and watching their kids grow up into beautiful people is such a joy! After a hectic morning of swimming, a BBQ lunch and some play time, this was the scene in my loungeroom this afternoon. Blessed? Most definitely!

TTFN xxx

The bits I missed :)

Hello hello....remember me? The girl who was making a December Daily album? I haven't given up, even if we have now passed the big day, and are actually zooming very fast towards the New Year! Since I have no actual pages to show you...ooops...I thought I'd show you a sneak of the bits I missed...

Our annual tour of the Christmas lights, and exchange of gifts with our lovely friends...

...the early opening of gifts from under the tree (this is a little tradition in our house...must make a scrapbook page about that!)

...the construction of our very first gingerbread house...

....and the making of a decadently delicious Black Forest Torte for Christmas Day...yum!

My December Daily album will also include our early Christmas celebration from last Wednesday night....my DH flew out for work on Thursday morning :( and that's the day where my documenting stalled. It's been a very different Christmas for us, without him here. The good news? We get to celebrate Christmas all over again when he flies in on Thursday...yipppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

So...please excuse my absence from around here lately. It's taken lots of energy just keeping my chin up, and my smile on, and trying to keep things as cheery and upbeat and normal as possible.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Thank you so much for your support, your comments, and for visiting throughout the year...I appreciate it more than you know :)

My Christmas miracle? I'm starting to feel like pulling some pretty papers out, just for fun! Hallelujah!

TTFN xxx

A Frilly Little Accessory

Remember when I made this Frilly Dilly bag for my friend Fiona's birthday earlier in the year?

She also received a new iphone for her birthday which she loves half to death....and let's face it, who wouldn't? So for Christmas I thought I'd make her a matching iphone pouch.

Seriously, this is one of the cutest things ever! The pattern is from Janelle Wind's book, Pieces of Me.

I also got busy and put the borders on my Gardeners Journal Stitch-A Long quilt...

...forgot to edit the photo...forgive me :) The borders have really balanced the bright colours beautifully....I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out! So tomorrow it will go to the quilters, and she can work her magic on it....quilting is really not my thing :)

Only a few sleeps to go....

TTFN xxx

Not long to go...

How quickly is the month of December disappearing? If it wasn't for the advent calendars...and my children constantly reminding me how many sleeps until Santa :) ...I think I would have lost a week or two!

Here is my December Daily entry for yesterday...

I like to make a page each year about our Christmas books...and record which ones we've added to our collection since last year, and which ones are our favourites. I love loooking back and seeing how it's changed, and how it's stayed the same.

I remembered, too, that I forgot to show you the pages for December 9th (or 16 days to go)...

Pink polkadots for my girl :) Lydia received the book award for her class this year...my journaling is slipped into the very cute little polkadot envelope.

That's it for me today! Happy Monday...this time next week it will all be over :(

TTFN xxx

Getting fatter...

...I'm talking about my December Daily album...but could also be talking about myself :) LOL...too much Christmas food!


I'm thinking I may have to upsize my binder rings if my album gets too much fatter! Here are a couple more pages...

With 10 days until Christmas, we were up bright and early making rum balls for teacher gifts...I never imagined I'd be showing photos of myself in my pyjamas hee hee!

Thursday was a busy day...I watched Merryn doing her swimming lessons (along with a million other things) but decided I'd write about a subject I've been avoiding up till now. It's important to write about the good, and the bad.

For Friday's entry, I used a photo I took a few days back. The photos matching the story I'm telling is far more important to me than what day I actually took the photo :)

I've got the bones of yesterdays page done too...just waiting on a photo (hint hint Tracey!)...and I'm all caught up. Can't tell you how good that feels :)

While I'm here, I must tell you about a couple of very special days that are coming up at Tomorrows Memories. On Tuesday 28th December they are having a Dusty Attic Day...you can meet the owner of Dusty Attic and some of the design team, and receive 20% off all Dusty Attic products! How cool is that?

Thursday 29th is the TM Super Special Day...lots of bargains to be had, including the Cuttlebug V2 for $90! If you spend $30 or more on either day in one transaction, you can redeem a voucher for $10 off your purchases! Pop over to Tomorrows Memories for full details.

Hope you are having a great day

TTFN xxx

Make or break :)

Today was make or break day for my December Daily album...and I knew it :)

I've had a busy week (which I'm sure we all have!!) and have let my DD slide. I knew if I didn't do some pages today, I'd probably get too overwhelmed with it, and put it in my too-hard basket, never to see the light of day again :(

So, I'm ignoring my messy house, my roof-high ironing pile, my unmade Christmas cards, and my husband and children playing in the pool, and working on my December Daily...and this is what I've got so far...


I popped an envelope next to last Saturday's page (14 days to go) to hold the Carols by Candlelight program, that we went to on Sunday night...

...and added the photo and journaling on the other side.

On Monday we threw a Baby Shower in Merryn's classroom for her Teachers Assistant(s) and two of the Mum's who are expecting...such fun!

I punched holes in one of the invitations, and popped it in the centre as a memento. I decorated 2 dozen cupcakes with yellow jellybeans cut in half, and piped some icing dots for toes :) The idea came straight from Cupcakes by Colour, a Women's Weekly cookbook...easy, but very effective. I asked the families of the class to contribute 4 baby items each (like 4 packs of baby wipes, 4 singlets etc) and made up some giftbags for each of the expectant Mum's...the smell was enough to make me clucky! LOL

Tuesday was Riley's graduation assembly...another envelope added to hold the invitation and order of service.

He won the award for Academic Achievement (Dux of the year)...we were both struggling to hold back the tears!

And that's it for now...more to come soon!

I thought you might like to see this cute gift card pouch I made ...

I used my very cute labels from Sweetwater, and blanket stitched it all together.

A cute way to give a giftcard, I thought :)

OK...better get moving...still a few more days to catch up on!

TTFN xxx

Finishing up....

...that's what this week has been all about so far. Watching Riley finish up his primary school years, with graduation assemblies and fun days and all the emotion that goes with it. Finishing up my Christmas shopping...well, getting closer to the finish, anyway :) Finishing up the Christmas cards, and the teacher gifts, and the plans for Christmas Day. Tomorrow the kids will be finishing up school for another year.

I've also finished off a couple of Christmas gifts...


I've been meaning to make my gorgeous niece a cloth doll for sooooo long, and I finally managed it this year! She may be a bit old for a cloth doll, but hopefully she'll love it anyway :)

I've used a pattern from Rosalie Quinlan's first book, Gift, but gave Emma (the doll) a cute little tin pail instead of a pinwheel, and filled it with lollies.

I still have a pretty long Christmas crafting to-do list...but you know what? I'm happy just to go with the flow...finish what I can...leave what I can't. Who needs extra pressure at this time of year?

TTFN xxx

P.S. Back soon with a December Daily catch-up...hopefully :)

The Grinch...and a little sigh of relief :)

14 days to go...actually, it's 13 today (if we are being technical LOL), but here is my December Daily entry for yesterday.

The Grinch is one of our favourite movies at any time of year, but especially at Christmas time. Of course, watching the movie prompted my son to do Grinch impersonations all afternoon...LOL..oh gosh, he makes us laugh!

Must've been feeling a little blingy late last night when I made this page...it IS Christmas, after all :)

The gathering of gifts all around my house was starting to bother me today...I had stashes happening all over the place, just waiting on tags so that I could wrap them. My mission today? Make tags!

So with Riley's help, I made lots. Then while the kids played in the pool, I wrapped and wrapped (I can supervise them from my kitchen table), and we finally have some gifts under the tree...and I have some room in my wardrobe :) And I let out just a little sigh of relief.

TTFN xxx

Another quickie...

...just to keep me up-to-date with December Daily :)

I decided to make it a double, as I had a bit-more-than-usual journaling that I wanted to record.

This is why I leave the embellishing until I actually do the journal. I like the flexibility of being able to add more or less to each page as I go :)

A side view...it's getting nice and thick already!

What's that? I've missed out yesterday's page? hee hee....I didn't think I could trick you ;) I'll upload that one with today's page, tomorrow. Still have a few bits to add to it.

TTFN xxx

Christmas Favourites

Inspired by a post here the other day, I thought I'd share some of our favourite Christmas books that we are reading :)


This Spot one has always been a favourite, but more so this year now that Merryn can read it herself.

A beautiful story, especially if you are an Angelina Ballerina fan (and what little girl isn't?)

This one is probably our most favourite...the kids love to play the parts of the seagulls, and it has a lovely ending.

A new favourite this year...now that the kids are old enough to understand the humour in it a bit more :)

And what favourite Christmas book list would be complete without this classic? Love the movie, too :)

Each December, we put all of our Christmas books into a basket near our Christmas tree, and read one (or more) each night leading up to Christmas day. It's such a beautiful way to end such busy busy days :)

TTFN xxx