Umbrellas,birds, pigs...and a little more love :)

It's Friday! And you know what that means...another challenge at Scrapsidaisy! This week it is MY turn to set the challenge, and since I wanted to get these photos scrapped, I set the theme as "nature". So you can scrap nature at it's best...like flowers from your garden, kids playing in the rain...or nature at it's worst...like hailstorms, bushfires etc. Your LO also needs to include multiple photos and some journaling. Want to play?

Here is what I made...

These are the photos I took after that big hailstorm we had earlier in the year.

I've used papers from My Minds Eye Quite Contrary, and rubons from October Afternoon. The alphas are a mix of Basic Grey and American Crafts.

I hand cut the raindrops and adhered them with foam tape for some extra dimension. The umbrella was handcut too, to mimic the cute little umbrellas in the border strip.

Onto the birds....

..the postie brought me a happy little bundle of joy today :) I finally spent my voucher from Quilt Fabric Delights that I won a while back...I just couldn't resist this cute collection called Free As A Bird by Stof. I am so in love with this colour palette! Then there is Holiday Happy which I posted about a while ago too..

...only a couple of prints have arrived at QFD so far, but I will be keeping my eyes open for the rest of the range (I already have a project in mind LOL).

Then I lashed out on a little more Love...

Such a happy, bright range from Amy Butler...this will be a lovely addition to my ever growing Love stash :)

And then there are the pigs...

You may remember me blogging about this pattern a while back when it was first released...you can imagine how excited I was when it popped up in the Whats New section at QFD!

So there you have it...my voucher is spent, and my fabric stash is looking all the cuter for my new additions. Thanks again to Sarah at Quilt Fabric Delights...I have had such fun deciding what to buy!

Hope you have a fantastic weekend...hopefully after Merryn's party on Sunday my house will look a little less Pinkalicious. There is pink stuff everywhere here at the moment!!!

TTFN xxx

Things I know for sure...

*Watching your youngest child turn six, and your oldest child go to his first school camp on the same day is sort of cruel.

*Dust bunnies are trying to take over my house.

*Frozen cupcakes taste almost as good as fresh ones :)

*Some things in my life suck...but my ancient vaccuum cleaner is NOT one of them (photo source)

*Celebrating my friends' 40th birthdays...one by one...makes me happy and just a little scared, all at the same time.

* If I was ever brave enough to get a tattoo, the design would be based on one of these...

(photo source unknown)

* I will NEVER get used to my kids finishing school early, one day each week.

* Starting a new job and hosting a child's birthday party in the same week is not a good plan.

(photo source)

* No matter how stressful, busy, chaotic and rushed life gets, chocolate always makes things seem just that little bit more bearable :)

TTFN xxx

Six.

And really...what more is there to say?

She's six. Gone are the days of picking her up and carrying her around, of helping her put on her shoes, of deciding what clothes she will wear. It's all the little things I miss...like her little arms reaching up and tugging on my skirt, sitting her up on the kitchen bench while we bake, snuggling together watching a movie after lunch.

While I love to watch her grow, it breaks my heart that my "little girl" is gone forever :(

So...I pulled out her scrapbooks to torture myself just a little more...

...and couldn't resist showing you this layout (circa 2005)...when tearing paper was big, shaped brads were popular, and those MM metal alphabets were the must-have embellishment! Look at those chubby little arms and that gorgeous smile...sob sob...and now she's six...sob sob.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET MERRYN!

TTFN xxx

A great reason to scrap!

I swear, if it wasn't for the weekly challenges over at Scrapsidaisy, I wouldn't have scrapped for weeks.....

This week, it's Mel's turn to challenge us (and she now has her very own blog, too!) She's given us this picture for inspiration...


Now, I love bright, but I think this room's colours are a bit bright, even for my house :) For a scrapbook page though? Not a problem!

The colours instantly reminded me of Bo Bunny's Sunkissed range, but I don't have much of it left...so punched squares from what I had, and added some American Crafts polkadots for good measure.

This flower centre is by Basic Grey, but used to be attached to a stalk :) I cut the white cardstock into the shape by first tracing around a diecut paper, then just echoing the shape for the other colours. Nothing too complex on this page, but it sure has motivated me to pull out some paper and create a little more...maybe on the weekend?

Happy Friday

TTFN xxx

Give me a "G"!

I finished Block G...the "first" scheduled block...on my Stitch-A-Long quilt today!

It came together pretty quickly...I think that's because I've spent a lot of time sitting at Riley's trampoline training lately :) (the good news is, he's now qualified to compete at the Australian Championships again this year in both tramp and double mini...woohooooooo).

Don't you just love the sprinkler in this block?

Cute...reminds me of long summer afternoons, before water restrictions were a necessity. Also had fun with these little birds at the birdbath...

...there are some really sweet blocks on this Gardeners Journal quilt. I wonder what's next?

Before you tell me "more catch-up blocks", I must explain that things are really busy around here in the next little while, so my next block might just be the one scheduled for August :)

I'm madly working on party plans for the pink-alicious event...and having lots of fun with it!

TTFN xxx

Pink-alicious and Bounce-rrific!

My crafting has taken a turn back to the paper variety...


...invitations! I don't know that I've ever made invitations before (except for shop samples), but thought I'd give it a go for Merryn's upcoming birthday celebrations. Deciding on the design was possibly the hardest part of the whole process...so many options!

So I made some samples, and let the birthday girl decide...she is very particular about what she wants, which is how we ended up with a "Pink-alicious, Bounce-errific theme in the first place :) Then we set up a mini production line- Lydia on Cuttlebugging, me on double-sided taping, and Merryn on bling-and whipped these out in no time.

Now for the fun part...giving them out to all her friends. Oh the joy of being a child!

TTFN xxx

Christmas ...in July :)

At the beginning of each year, I make a list of the projects that I would like to complete before the end of that year...some are new projects and some are UFOs (unfinished objects) from years past. The list has paper crafts, as well as stitching and fabric projects that I would love to get finished. For at least 5 years, the "Christine Book Christmas stitchery" has featured on the list, so it is with much excitement that I show you this...

TA DA!!!!! It's finished! (edited to add: and actually straight in real life hahaha) I know you've been seeing some bits and pieces of this over the last few weeks, but now the binding is on...

...and the pretty turquoise beads are stitched in place...

...the colouring-in is redone (it rubbed off a bit when I was stitching)...

...it's quilted and ready to hang when December rolls around....

...well, it would be. If I had attached a rod pocket by which to hang it. LOL....but my dear friend Linda reckons blu-tac works just as well....isn't that right Linda?

So that is the very first item to be crossed off my list for 2010, and it is now July. Yikes...I had better get crafting!

TTFNxxx

P.S. Do you have a crafting to-do list? I would love to hear how you're going with it!

Seed Thief...and a little progress :)

Participating in challenges can be great for so many reasons...they can get you out of your comfort zone, get you using up supplies that you might have forgotten about, or get you to try a technique that you normally wouldn't. They can also remind you to record a story that you might otherwise have forgotten, which is what happened to me this week.

It is Leah's turn to set the challenge this week at Scrapsidaisy, and the challenge is quite simply a word..."animal". We've been looking after Merryn's class budgie over the school holidays, and he is quite a chirpy little bird...so I instantly thought of him, and a funny little story that my DH told me quite a while ago about Merryn and Bluey.


If you click on the picture, you should be able to read it :) I hadn't recorded this story anywhere, but it makes me laugh every time I think of it.

I used paper from Cosmo Cricket Delovely and Crate Paper Lillian, as well as the diecuts from the Lillian collection which complemented my story perfectly. Thanks for the challenge Leah!

I've also been working on my Gardeners Journal Stitch-A-Long quilt...

Just a little (actually, quite a bit of) hand-stitching to go, and I can move on to the next block...woohoooo!

Here's to a great weekend...

TTFN xxx

Random Tuesday Love :)

* Taking advantage of the cold weather, drinking cuppas from cute tea sets...

(photo source..)



*Shopping at IKEA...not sure how I lived without IKEA in my life :)


(photo source)
Think I'll wait till my DH arrives home before I start assembling our purchases...if I can wait that long!


*The stylings of Tone Finnegar, the creative genius behind Tilda..

Did you know that the Book Depository has her two latest books up for pre-order for just $6.02 each, with free delivery worldwide?

*Love love loving this movie...

(photo source)
Probably this school holidays' best purchase on DVD...the girls and I could watch it over and over and over...

* ...and the love affair with Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane continues :) Thanks for your input about my Stitch-A-Long quilt.

I'm making great progress on my catch-up Block G.

Have a great Tuesday evening

TTFN xxx

One Amazing Day.

Today the kids and I had the rare opportunity to visit my husband's place of work. What's so amazing about that? Let me show you :)

Visiting Daddy at work means an early start, and an early flight...

...it involves site induction, hard hats and protective clothing...

...and a change from the cold, rainy weather in Perth to endless blue skies and dry desert heat, even in the middle of Winter.

Words can't really describe what we experienced today. My husband works in arguably the hottest place in Australia, on a mine site that is overwhelming in the sheer size of its operations.

This is the mine shaft from the Underground operations...it delivers rock from 1.2kms under the ground at a rate of 60 kms per hour, 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

They call this "the hole" for obvious reasons :) It's the portal which leads to the underground operations, and each person who enters the hole must "tag on", and "tag off" as they leave...at any given time there are over 100 people down "the hole", and apparently the walls glisten with gold. Imagine that for a moment. Visitors are NOT allowed down there...but oh, how I would love to see it!

We also toured the open pit, where a steady stream of trucks made their way up and down the slopes, carting rock to the processing mill.

There had been some recent rain, and you could see the sparkle of gold glistening on the rock faces...it really was amazing.

The view from the top of the mine was something to behold!

See that tiny little speck down in the bottom of the pit? That's one of those trucks carting rock...

...and this is one of those very same trucks with my youngest standing in front. The size! Just one of those tyres cost $40 000....I kid you not.

I took photos... hundreds of them. As I look at them tonight I am still in awe...of the vastness of the red dirt...of the sheer size of the equipment...of the amount of gold that is extracted on a daily basis...of the "other life" that my husband leads when he is not with us.To experience, just for a day, what he experiences every day that he is at work, was something I will never forget.

TTFN xxx

P.s. Confession...I now have a touch of gold fever. Next stop...Perth Mint! LOL

The Question.

To move forward? Or to catch up? THAT is the question.

But first...let me show you this...

Wooohooooo! I've completed this month's instalment of A Gardeners Journal for my stitch-a-long group. This is Block H, which is the designated block for July's stitching...and it's only the 10th of July...woooohoooooo!

I'm loving working with these Nicey Jane fabrics...they are a little ray of sunshine amongst all the cold and rainy weather we've been experiencing lately.

Nothing nicer than stitching flowers and gardening tools while snuggled up on the lounge, rug over my knees, watching Masterchef.

But now I have to face the question. Most of the girls who started this Stitch-A-Long have also completed Blocks G, A and C...they started stitching back in April. Since I have finished stitching this months block quite ahead of schedule, do I...

a) get a head start on next month's block?

b) go back to where everyone else started and play catch-up for the rest of July? or

c) abandon the project for the rest of the month, and catch up on my other works-in-progress (especially the projects that are planned for birthdays sneaking up very quickly)?

I am heading off on a little outback adventure tomorrow, so I will have lots of flying time to ponder this, and other important questions LOL. Will be back on Monday with an update :)

TTFN xxx

It must be school holidays....

...because all of a sudden it's Friday again! We've had a busy week, doing lots of school-holiday-appropriate stuff, like movies and playdates and mini-golf and baking and late nights, but not a whole lot of crafting (well, not for me anyway!).

I must be school-holiday distracted, because I almost forgot to do the Friday challenge for Scrapsidaisy...oops! Juliann's challenge this week was to scrap a LO featuring a baby or child under 5, 3 bright and bold papers, and an animal somewhere on the page...


I was inspired by this new paper range from Bo Bunny called Sun Kissed, which is very bright and bold, and has an animal or two on it! "Backyard adventure" was already printed on the paper, so it was a case of finding photos to use that suited. I settled on this one of Riley when he was 4, and journaled about his first swing set.

I stitched a little, added some buttons and felt, and journaled on some random shaped journaling blocks from October Afternoon.

Hope you are keeping warm...it's been so cold and rainy here in Perth the last couple of weeks.

TTFN xxx

Swap you!

I keep on forgetting to tell you about the monthly swaps that happen over at Scrapsidaisy...have you ever taken part in a swap? They are so much fun, especially if you love receiving surprises in the mail (and let's face it, who doesn't?)

Each month DT member Mel decides which goodies are to be swapped, and you decide month by month if you'd like to join in...I usually can't resist :)

Last month (June) we did a male card swap, since we all seem to have trouble creating cards for the boys in our lives. This is what I sent...

I Cuttlebugged the white cardstock with a gorgeous folder that I've had for ages (but had never used..ooops!) stamped the star with a stamp that I've had for ages (but had never used...do you see a pattern here?) on a seperate piece and cut out, and did the same with the "happy birthday" sentiment on top of the star. I mounted that piece and some text paper from my offcuts bin on black cardstock, added some ribbon, and called it done!

I posted them off to Scrapsidaisy, and some time during the coming week I will get a lovely stash of various male cards in the post, all ready to use! How cool!

There is still time to put your name in for July's swap. This month we are swapping journal cards-either handmade, purchased, or a mixture of both. We did a journal card swap over 12 months ago, and I only have a couple left...so handy to have such a great mixture in your stash!
Pop over to Scrapsidaisy if you'd like to join in!

TTFN xxx

When the postie just isn't fast enough!

Patience is not one of my strong points...I admit it.

I have, however, been waiting quite patiently on the postie to deliver some fabrics so that I could start a new project...(because I am sooooo low on fabric around here LOL)...

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across a happy little group on the net who've started stitching A Gardeners' Journal by Anni Downs, following a month-by-month plan. This quilt has been on my to-do list for, oh, about 5 years now, and I left a comment on one of the posts to that effect. Miss Chookyblue , the organizer of the group, decided I needed a little persuasion and encouragement...LOL...and invited me to join the group....several times :) I've had several false starts...I couldn't find my book, couldn't decide on the fabric, and then ordered the fabric, and it still hasn't arrived!

Yesterday I went fabric shopping with my bloggy buddies (you can read all about that trip here)

and ended up with this little bundle...

Mmmmmmm.....it's mostly Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey, and I have had those bolts in my hands on more than one occasion, and resisted. Not yesterday :)

Can't wait to start!

Thought you might like to see the card I made for Janelle...it's her birthday tomorrow!

Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday...after a cold and somewhat early start to take Riley to training, and a trip to the markets to stock up on fresh produce, I baked a zucchini slice, some yummy cheese and bacon pies for lunch (with fresh garden salad), and some fresh hot scones with jam and cream for afternoon tea. Does anything beat winter comfort food?

TTFN xxx