Ducklings :)

Since today is Wednesday, here is a block for today....


A mother duck with her ducklings, which represents me and my little ones :) This gets me back up to date...phew!

I have now been taking part in the 39 squares project (www.39squares.blogspot.com) for three weeks, and this is what my sampler looks like today...


...it sure has grown fast! I'm still loving everything about this project...stitching a little every day, watching the flickr group uploads, and keeping an eye on the blogs of some of the participants. I also love turning on my computer each day to receive beautiful comments from all over the place...thank you!!!

TTFN xxx

Catching Up...

Back to normal programming....

Monday's block for 39 squares is a Lolly Jar containing smarties :)


I was going to put my favourite Jersey Caramels in the jar, but that particular block needed some colours (due to it's position on the sampler), so Smarties came a close second...yum!

The block for Tuesday is a little beehive...



...which I haven't washed the blue pen out of, upon closer inspection :0 I usually put legs on my bees, but again...this is a 1 inch block, and the stitches got a bit lost/out of proportion. Is the "bee happy" a bit cheesy? My husband says no, but I'm still not so sure....

A very bright LO today, using Sassafrass Lass Nerdy Bird...


I was flicking through my photos from our trip to NSW and came across this one of the girls chewing on bubblegum...YUK! The journaling popped into my head right away :) Alphas are Pressed Petals Chip Chatter (an oldie but a goodie) and AC Thickers...how did I ever scrapbook before Thickers?

This chipboard is Basic Grey Lemonade...the hot pink bits are add-ons that I stuck on to tie in the LO, and the journaling card underneath is Collage Press.

Thanks again for your lovely comments...I know I say this often, but I really appreciate you taking the time to comment...it is such a big encouragement for me!

Hope you are having a wonderful week!

TTFN xxx

Two days...

...and counting! Yep, the inevitable has happened, and I have fallen behind with my 39 squares project :(

Hope to catch up soon...things are pretty hectic around here at the moment!

Better go and start stitching!

TTFN xxx

Sunflowers, Butterflies and Budgerigars :)

Sunflowers are the subject of the day today for my 39 squares project!


Why sunflowers?Well...today Riley and I got out of bed bright and early to head to a trampolining competition..the first qualifying competition of the season (for those of you that are new to my blog, my son jumps competitively and today was a qualifier for the Australian National Championships). I have been thinking about how to portray this part of our lives on this little sampler without actually stitching a trampoline....and today it hit me :) Sunflowers reach for the sun to soak in as many rays as they can, much like athletes train to reach as high as they can in their chosen sport. So this block is my little tribute to Riley and his trampolining :) complete with a little reminder to "aim high".

Through the week I received a yummy little parcel in the mail...a book called 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges by Elizabeth Kartchner...and thought I would make a start on her challenges to jumpstart my scrapping a little (Tracey is doing some VERY inspiring takes on these challenges over at http://www.alusciousjourney.blogspot.com/ )

Challenge number 1 is to "Get Inspired by an Outfit"...so I did :)

In these photos I'm wearing my favourite butterfly shirt, so continued with that theme on my page.

The butterflies are Jenni Bowlin, and the paper is Making Memories Flutter. I added some texture to the flowers with Cuttlebugged leaves, Kindyglitz and some Kaiser Rhinestones. There's also some stitching around the edges.

I'll leave you with a photo of our weekend visitor...Bluey the Budgie.

Apart from being very noisy he is a perfect little houseguest, on loan from Merryn's pre-primary classroom. He has been the subject of much excitement around here...a LO coming soon :)

TTFN xxx

Prams, Material Girls and 25 Days :)

Today's block is a pram!

When I fell pregnant with Riley, I wanted an old-fashioned-type pram to push him around in ...and that's exactly what I got! It was navy blue with a pink and light blue floral design, and I used it for all of my babies until they outgrew it. I loved that pram :) You may notice in this pram that there is a little person, complete with little toes kicking the blankets off...like all babies seem to do. This block makes me smile :)

I spent ages yesterday looking and looking at these Material Girl papers by Cosmo Cricket, wondering what I was going to do with them. This morning it all came together...

You may remember this photo from last year...it sometimes takes me a while to get them scrapped! The title isn't very original...LOL, it's the name of the paper range...but applies perfectly to these girls.

Love all the little chipboard elements from the range...scissors, thimbles, threads...all so cute!

Last night I spent a lovely (but very late!!) night catching up with Linda and Tracey, and staring unproductively at my December Daily album, waiting for inspiration to strike. It never did :(

However, I woke up this morning with ideas...love it when that happens!

Behold....the FINISHED December Daily album!

Couldn't be happier with it...love love love it! (Book covers and title pages always give me anxiety, thus why I usually leave them till last). This is what it looks like on the side...

Yummy and textured. Then there's the title page...

...made with Thickers, fabric, felt and bling. Then the back cover...

...complete with little label. Such a relief to get this off my desk!

What UFOs (unfinished objects) are you hoping to knock over this weekend?

Thanks for visiting....

TTFN xxx

Owl babies :)

"Once there were three owl babies: Sarah and Percy and Bill. They lived in a hole in the trunk of a tree with their owl mother. The hole had twigs and leaves and owl feathers in it. It was their house."

And so begins one of our family's very favourite books: Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. It was the inspiration for today's square :)


Now please excuse this little owl, for he is wet! Time was running out on me to take a photo of my square in daylight, so I snapped while he was drying. Why is he wet? Well, for some squares I need to draw in some lines before I stitch...so I have some idea where I'm stitching...and I use a very fine water soluble pen. I drizzle some water when the stitching is complete, and the blue lines magically disappear...so there you go! He also looks a little cross-eyed...LOL...but in real life he is very tiny, and those brown eye pupils are incredibly small and hard to get straight :) All that said, I think he is my new favourite!

Today is my darling little nephew's very first birthday (doesn't seem like a year since I shared that he had arrived!) and this is his birthday card...


Totally loving the Peter Rabbit scrapbooking supplies that are out at the moment!

I cut and Cuttlebugged on the silver paper using my old oval cutting system, and stuck the diecut on top. The "one" is sparkly too.

I made another card while I was at it...

...using another of the PR journaling cards, and other bits and bobs.

I'm off to a scrappy get-together tonight...can't wait! Have NO idea what I'm going to take to do, as my mojo is missing in action LOL, but maybe this is what I need to jump-start it? Hope to have some scrapping to share tomorrow (fingers crossed)

TTFN xxx

House on the Hill

This little "house on the hill" has been on my list of squares to stitch for a while now :)

It reminds me of the first house my husband and I bought together...a little white house high on a hill, overlooking the countryside with a big fig tree out the front. I would've liked to add a few extra details...like the swing that hung from the tree, or some bats like the ones that used to eat the figs during the night...but we are talking about a one inch square here :)

Thank you for all your lovely comments about my stitching so far....reading them is a highlight of my day :)

TTFN xxx

Cupcake and an Update!

A cupcake on my 39 squares sampler was predictable, don't you think?


Since I have now been stitching my little squares for two weeks now, I thought I'd show you a progress shot...

It sure is looking colourful! Do you have a favourite square?

Time to craft is eluding me lately (except for my squares, of course). Life is busy! Hoping to get back into some papercrafting soon...I have some beautiful new papers to play with, so inspiration isn't lacking...just time! Unfortunately, the storms look like they made it to the inside of my house LOL...don't you just hate housework?

Back to it...

TTFN xxx

Believe...and a storm!

The colours are a bit wrong in this photo, but here is my next square for the 39 squares project...

These are little dandelions, which I've stitched in very random cross stitches. If you know me, you'll realise how much I struggled doing "random" cross stitches of non-uniform length...hee hee...but I think the effect was worth it! It's a little reminder to me to embrace the fun stuff in life...like making wishes when you blow dandelions :)

Yesterday afternoon, Perth witnessed the biggest storm it's seen in 50 years (so they are saying)....and it was scary. Lots of thunder, lightning, rain, and even hail!

This was our back garden before the second storm hit...it looks like it had been snowing!

This is a different spot in our back garden...complete with patchy grass from months without any rain at all. We had a little water in the lounge room, but luckily nothing more serious than that...except mess and leaves everywhere! Power was restored to us early this morning. Watching the evening news, I realised how very lucky we were...Perth has now been declared a national disaster area.

Hope all is well in your part of the world :)

TTFN xxx

Topiary tree.

There hasn't been a whole lot of papercrafting going on around here lately, has there? LOL

Life is busy...and if I wasn't commited to stitching a little one inch square every day, well.....maybe I wouldn't be blogging at all :) I love that this project is so portable...I stitched this square at my local library this morning while waiting for my car to be serviced.


It's a topiary tree, complete with little oranges. It's a tribute to my wonderful in-laws actually...they have been orchardists for many many years, and are starting to downsize operations as they get older. An orange tree in a pot is about as downsized as you can get, I think :)

That's my block done for the day...and I have birthday cards to make!

TTFN xxx

Flowers!

I couldn't resist doing one of these little "flower grids" as part of my 39 squares project...

....too sweet to leave out. I stitched this in the square that I was leaving for a button...guess my decision is made?

Hope you've had a great weekend, and thank you for visiting :)

TTFN xxx

P.S. A very special thank you to everyone who commented on Riley's post yesterday...you made his day!

Riley's Origami Fun

Hello. This is Riley. Today while mum was doing her 39 squares project and Lydia was doing her sewing project, I was making some origami. I got the project designs from a book called Childrens Origami. The first, a penguin. Mum thought this one was extremely cute!!! I drew the eye with a gel pen.



The second, a black chatterbox.

The third, a blue cat head.

And the fourth and final origami design, a black and white spotted cow!!!!! This one really reminded me of Aunty Leisa's scrapbooking shop "Scrapsidaisy,' thats why i am going to send it to her.

Thanks for reading my first ever blog post. Hopefully there will be more in the future.

By Riley

A very crafty Saturday.

It's the weekend! Love the informality that most weekends give us...no packed lunches, no after school activities, no notes from school to deal with, and lots of time to chill :)

Saturdays we usually like to kick around at home, doing the things that we each like to do. For me, that means a little stitching...


I decided that my stitchery for 39 squares just wouldn't be complete without a little tricycle...just for the cuteness factor!

Lydia has had a little stitchery project that she has been working on too...

...and it required her to learn French Knots. She picked them up surprisingly quickly...I think she's a natural :)

After some practice, she got stuck into finishing her project. We washed it, laced it onto the backing board (I don't like using glue on stitching projects, so use the old-fashioned technique), and put it all together. Look how beautiful it is...

Her stitching is something to be proud of...and she is :) I've had several of these wooden boxes sitting in my crafty stash for years...perfect for her bedroom.

Riley, in the meantime, got busy with some origami. We borrowed some new books from the library for him, and he was quick to raid my paper stash this morning. This is him in action...

He is taking some pictures of his creations right now, with the intention of writing his own (and very first) blog post on here...that will be something for you to look forward to ;)

And the little Missy? She kept busy making a thankyou card for a special Aunt of hers who sent her a beautiful gift this week...but we can't show you that just yet :)

Are you finding some time to craft this weekend? I hope so :)

TTFN xxx

You've got mail!

Who doesn't like to get real mail...you know, the type that gets delivered into your letterbox? :)


A cherished American friend of mine had a letterbox like this at the end of her driveway...the ones where a little flag pops up after the postie has been :) When I was going to school (cough cough...quite a while back now) I would catch the school bus to her house so that she could tutor me in "math". She would bake me choc chip brownies, show me her latest fabric purchases from the States (which would always make my eyes widen and my jaw drop!) , share her love of anything Royal Doulton, and generally spoil me rotten :)

The idea for this block came from yesterdays homework...I was telling the kids about my "math" tutor, and my mind wandered to her very American letterbox. I really love how this project is making me remember happy things :)

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments and feedback about the buttons. I still haven't made a decision...so I guess that block in the top row of my sampler will stay empty for a while yet.

TTFN xxx

P.S. That crooked stitch in the bottom left corner was bugging me...LOL...but a little nudge with my fingernail straightened it out! Remember, these are one inch squares...magnification can be harsh!!!!

Look for rainbows :)

Block number 8 for the 39 squares project...


I've had this one drawn on my trigger cloth for days, but hadn't worked out how I was going to stitch it. The raincloud consists of a variegated Lola thread by Edmar (usually used for Brazilian embroidery) and a solid grey thread of Lola, stitched with French knots and Colonial knots randomly over the cloud to give the mottled effect. The rain is metallic silver, so is very sparkly in real life.

This block is a little reminder to myself to look for the good in situations, rather than dwell on the bad :)

Thank you so much for visiting

TTFN xxx

Decisions and Distractions :)

As always...first things first...my little stitchery for yesterday...


Two little blackbirds having a drink at a birdbath :) Again, I stitched the birdbath totally in rows of bullion stitch before unpulling them all and doing them in satin stitch (insert eye roll here LOL) It's not that I don't like bullions...i LOVE bullions, but they seem to be a bit "fussy" or something for this project. So Decision number 1...no more bullions!
This design adapted from the book A-Z of Bullions published by Country Bumpkin Publications, 1999...minus the bullions LOL.

Since this square marked a week that I've been involved with the 39 squares project, I thought you might like to see a progress shot...


And since it's hard to imagine how small these little stitcheries are, I thought I'd show you a "perspective" shot...

They really are very cute!

Now...I need your help with my next decision. Since beginning, I have been tempted to use some very sweet little buttons to fill in some of the squares. I've seen some used by others in the flickr group (and they look awesome) but I'm not sure they suit mine...

What do you think? I would add a little bit of embroidery, like extra lollies, or a cupcake stand, to complete the square...do they look a bit...bulky? Please tell me what you think!

You may have noticed that I am a little behind, posting yesterdays square today :) That's because I got distracted in the most wonderful way possible yesterday, with two very delightful girls...Janelle and Lisa :)

After sampling the most delicious cupcakes (home made, with nectarine jam...yummmmmmm!)
at our designated meeting point, we headed on a little road trip to here...

...where we collectively oohed and aahed over the most beautiful fabrics and books and notions...

...and even wools! My oh my, I love this shop! Must take some pics of what I bought...I was so excited, and can't wait to start cutting into fabric!

Then we headed for lunch to the famous Choux Cafe...a delightful French Patisserie in Swanbourne.

The macaroons were to die for...can you see all the wonderful colours in the counter display? YUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMM.

Choosing just one thing for lunch proved to be a challenge, it all looked so delicious! The only thing harder was choosing dessert...

...but we somehow managed :) The Choux Cafe is definitely a must-visit ...everything we ate was so divine, and the take-home macaroons I took home for my family were a big hit for our dessert last night.

After a sugar filled day, it's no wonder I didn't get my stitching done!

Hopefully I will have another square to show you later this afternoon...all things going well :)

TTFN xxX

P.S. Take a peek at Janelles yummy purchases at www.threadsoffriendship.blogspot.com today

You are my sunshine :)

Do you know that song? You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey. It's a song that I have always sung to my kids...so catchy... and Lydia was tickled to announce yesterday that she could now play it on her guitar! So after having it on my brain all afternoon (and listening to her practice) I sat down to stitch last night and my sun made an appearance :)


This is the top right hand corner of my stitchery piece...the perfect place for a sun to go. Without consulting my " stitch dictionary" I think this is called continuous chain stitch...you make a chain without anchoring the stitch each time....feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while since I embroidered :)

I know you saw this block yesterday, but I'm hoping this photo has better colour representation...yep, that's the perfectionist coming out in me (again).

And now for paper...

This is a little felt 8' x 8' album by Making Memories. I had it in my hand several times when I visited Scrapsidaisy in January, but came home without it...and then wished I had bought it! How perfect to keep my Christmas recipes from Tarisota that I printed out each day in December, and add all my Christmas favourites too...thank goodness for online shopping ;)

The front has a little window...

...which looks like this when you open it.

Here's a close-up. The album already has some filler pages...felt, acetate, ledger paper...which I plan to use as my dividers. I've used Making Memories Mistletoe papers and embellishments to create this page, and will probably have enough to decorate all the sections...I'll show you when I'm done!

Have a great Tuesday.

TTFN xxx