....hope she loves her bag as much as I do ;) I had a hard time parting with this one...something about the colours and those orange polkadots! But she's a very special little girl...
All hand stitching completed and borders on...just need a trip to Textile Traders for a bit of extra Riley Blake Christmas fabric to complete the backing, then I can quilt, and attach the binding and quilt label. I bought some beautiful turquoise beads to decorate the Christmas tree, and couldn't resist sewing a few on, just to see how they looked :)
A looooooong way from completion. I've started stitching Month 5, and there are only 7 months in total...but lots and lots of hand stitching in between. Have renewed my love affair with the colours, though, so enthusiasm is back in da house! 
This is one of the latter. If I added up the minutes it took, it would probably come in under 30.
And yet...I love it to bits. Love the colour combination. Love the memory. Love those little Jenni Bowlin butterflies. Love that polkadot paper by Prima.
We hang a banner from two of the screws, and hang it strategically so it covers a couple more. And at the end of a week where very little craft has taken place and we are desperate to create something (anything) , we whip out the Slice machine and cut butterflies in various sizes and lots of colours to cover a few more...
Could I love it any more, if it was a professional paint job? Probably not....LOL...although that storage would be great!
I've stitched the olive ribbon in place across the LO, and created loops behind the rosette with it too.
The rosette is created with another piece of ribbon from the Ribbon Club...I gathered one edge of the ribbon, pulled it up to form a rosette, then finished it off with a fabric brad. The pink flower ribbon is attached with coloured brads, and I cut individual flowers from it to create the background. There are lots of beautiful lengths of ribbon in this pack...and there are still some packs left at the shop if you'd like to have a play too!
It was my turn to set the challenge, so I kept it nice and easy....I chose a Pagemap sketch to follow! You should see what the design team have come up with!
I used Cosmo Cricket Delovely...bright is good, right? The green is embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, then smeared with pink metallic rubons for definition, then stitched.
The flower is by Prima...the polkadot ones are my favourites!
These photos have been on my desk for quite a while, waiting for just the right paper to come along...and eventually it did! All my favourite colours are here...hot pink, apple green, aqua and yellow... along with matching aqua and hot pink tiny alphas. Yes. Heaven.
I punched these little flowers out of cardstock scraps, and added a brad to finish them off...I think I must have brads in every colour of the rainbow.
This LO records how strong advertising worked it's magic on Merryn, who spent all her birthday money last year on a Swimming Baby Born, which took weeks to even make it out of the box, and has been played with just a couple of times since :) I LOVE making layouts that I know are going to make my kids smile when they read them in years to come...don't you?
The challenge was set by Mel, and involved using butterflies and flowers on your layout. I kept mine fairly simple because there is quite a lot of journaling, but managed to include both :) The story is about Merryn's battle with ecsema, which thankfully is all under control now!
The paper is by 7Gypsies and The Girls Paperie, flowers by Prima and butterflies by Jenni Bowlin stidios. I cut the alphas and swirls with my MM Slice.
The alphas are American Crafts Thickers, and extra stickers are October Afternoon Farm Fresh.
Prima is a scrapbooking company , well known for their gorgeous flowers and papers. Me? I'm loving their stationery items so much more :)
I know a few friends who would love these...
We live near a man-made lake, and every now and then this little family of ducks come to visit. We've watched them grow from babies, and just love when they pop over to feed on the grass on our nature strip...a source of endless joy for the kids :)
(photo source)
My girl cleaning up the kitchen, after baking us a delicious morning tea...fresh scones with jam and cream...yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
...and my boy, ripsticking at breakneck speed around Hyde Park this afternoon.
(photo source)
Yesterday, my "plan B" photo was this yummy little bundle of supplies that I was planning to use today..
...to make one of these...
And it was a good plan too....my current ironing board cover had seen better days.
When I made my Christmas Belles quilt, I had lots of little squares left over. I had stitched them into a larger square, which was going to become a cushion...I had just never made the cushion :) So that's what I did today. I attached some satin mini-piping around the edges, and made a decorative closure for the back...
...and that's another project out of my "Works-in-Progress" pile :)
Oh my, oh my...this was enough to throw me into a tail spin for a bit. I DON'T DO OFF THE PAGE! I must've forgotten to tell Leah that :)
I used the colours of the tin as my inspiration...cheating? Perhaps :)
...my fabrics and ribbon all ready for my next sewing project, which I am hoping to begin tomorrow. The floral fabric is leftover quilt backing from Lydia's An Angels Story quilt...love using fabric from my stash. Oh....and my love affair with polka dots continues :)
New books. Good friends. Tea. Home made macaroons. Polkadots. Parcel deliveries (yep, two!). Crafty chit chat. More tea. Chocolate slice.
(photo source)
My DH taking it upon himself to clean the windows...sigh....love that man :)
I forgot to upload Sunday's photo, but getting started on covering the pelmets in my living area was the subject...the photos weren't that interesting anyway ;) 
I've loved (and have been collecting...oops!) the Basic Grey doilies since they were first released, but hadn't actually used any, so that was my challenge to myself. This one is from the Lemonade collection, and I couldn't bear to cut it, so added some simple bits and pieces and called it good.
Still loving the look of ribbons and pins...these ones are by Making Memories, as is the journal block.
Over the years I've done several LOs about "fly out" day which have been a bit blues-y and sad, so thought a light hearted look at "fly in" day would be fun! The paper I've used is so sweet and cute, and perfect for the look I wanted.
I've blurred the faces since I don't have parent's permission to show them...and I promise it is straight in real life! This is mostly from the Lemonade range-Pretty Petals, Sunshine, chipboard, buttons and the doily- with a bit of Making Memories, American Crafts and Prima thrown in.
My Snapshots in June photo for today...
...SMIGGLE! I went to Smiggle to buy a gift today...the rows of bright colours are enough to make anyone happy :)
