Play

It's important to find time to play, and an extended Easter break has seen me playing with paper...

I am soooooo out of practice with card making, but it felt good to pull out my stamps and paper and have a play.

Then I printed a photo...


...and had a little play with my scrapbooking supplies. Again, soooooo out of practice with scrapbooking, but I wanted to record some of my feelings of the past week. I forgot how therapeutic it is :)

And today I met some dear friends in the park and had a play ...with my new camera :)



Oh how I love it! I'm definitely shooting in auto mode for now, but am loving the results.

Imagine how much I'll love it when I actually learn how to use it properly!

Did I tell you how much I love it? Oh yes...it's definitely love :) I'm not sure my precious little dog was loving it so much, having a camera lens in his face....poor Clancy! Guess he'll just have to get used to it :)

Have a great day

TTFN xxx

Just scraping in...

...to wish you all a Happy Easter!

My days lately have been filled with chocolate, and parties, and visitors, and school holiday stuff...and not a whole lot of crafting to share with you. Hope to change that soon :)

Enjoy the rest of your Easter Break

TTFN xxx

P.S. Photo by Lydia, playing with my new toy...but more on that later :)

P.P.S. Thank you so very much for all of my birthday wishes....I think I am going to love being 40!

So here we are...

...at that often dreaded milestone that is 40 :)

But you know what? I am so happy to be here. So grateful for the life I lead. So fortunate to know beautiful people that enrich my life every day. So very blessed.

And when you look at the overall picture, a few wrinkles and the odd grey hair are pretty insignificant, don't you think?

Bring on the next 40.

TTFN xxx

Felicity's back!

If you've ever gone back into the deep dark archives that is this blog, you will recognise this little project.... This cushion was one of the first photos that I ever uploaded to my blog. I made it from a pattern called Felicity's Flowers in the book A Family Gathering by Anni Downs, and to this day, it sits on my lounge chair (minus a few of the bobbles from the trim...the children like to twist and twist them until they fall off LOL...rotten little toads!) For those of you who have never been back through the archives, you will recognise A Family Gathering as the quilt project that Linda, Tracey and I are making together this year. And this month's block?

It's Felicity! Looking a little brighter this time...and stitched a whole lot faster than the previous Felicity, if I remember correctly :)

What can I say? Linda and Tracey are speeding along on their stitcheries, and I really can't fall behind...that would never do! (although I think our next block has slowed them down a bit ...hee hee...lots of little pieces in that one)

Thank you so very much for your words of support on my last post. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't still keeping me awake at night sometimes, but I'm sure time will help....it has a way like that, doesn't it?

TTFN xxx

Last night.

It started as part of a dream. The loud crashing noise. The screams. The sound of breaking glass. As I slowly woke, the sounds became louder, more urgent....and I realised that it was more than just a late night party in the park. I ran outside the front door, and took in the scene across the road. The overturned car. The shirtless boys yelling at each other. The screams coming from inside the car. The young girls, bleeding and crying and wandering around aimlessly on the road. I waited for what seemed like an eternity on that phone. Waiting for someone, anyone, to answer the cries for help. They all started arriving at once. The police cars. The ambulances. The rescue vehicles. Trying to make sense of a scene that didn't make any sense at all to me. Why were these children, dressed up as adults, driving around in cars late at night with people they didn't know? Who would supply these kids with alcohol at such a young age? And why, oh why, do these kids think that they are unbreakable? I will never forget the blood. And I will hold my babies just that little bit closer, and pray that they are spared from the scene that I witnessed last night. TTFN xxx

Thought for the day...

via pinterest.com Yep...still spending too much time (that I really don't have to spare!) collecting images on pinterest. Oh my...it is such a fun way to spend my time though :) It's Friday...what's on for the weekend? We have a busy one coming up...lots of sports stuff, and birthday parties, and a fun little family photo shoot with the talented Sharon Manning. Excited much? Have a great one! TTFN xxx P.S. Anyone else having trouble with the paragraphing in their blog posts?

Puffy paint and Sunday stitching.

I love Sundays spent at home....leisurely breakfasts, pyjamas till lunchtime, and just enough boredom (for the teenage element of the family, anyway) to try out something new :) While poking around the net this morning, I came across Mel's tutorial for making puffy paint, and it looked like such fun that I knew he wouldn't be able to resist joining us :)

Check it out if you have time...it really is lots of fun (especially the microwave bit!)

We had a movie night last night, and I did some stitching while watching. Not much concentration required for me...I must've seen Nanny McPhee a thousand times :) This is what I made...

Terrible photo...sorry...not sure how I didn't notice how blurry it was :)

So that's my stitching for Stitch-a-Long completed for the month of April...nice and early for a change.

Hope you have a great week...and thank you for popping in!

TTFN xxx

A reshuffle.

It seems that a bit of a reshuffle of my blog sidebar is required...the to-do list bit in particular :) My public to-do list is working well...don't get me wrong. It's allowing me to focus on what I'd like to achieve each month, and I am actually ticking some things off now and then...which is a great thing! I was moving my monthly to-do list to the bottom of my sidebar at the end of each month, to make room for the new one...completed or not. Unfortunately, out of sight meant out of mind. The incomplete bits were getting put to the side to start on the new months projects, never to be picked up again (perhaps). So I've done a little reshuffle...and made a new resolve. No moving of the to-do lists until they are complete!

A good plan :)

TTFN xxx

P.S. How is your crafting to-do list going so far this year ...are you getting much done?

A common theme....and a new love.

So...it seems that Pinterest is the new thing...and by thing I mean time-gobbling thing to do online. As if there weren't enough of them already. I started "pinning'" a little while ago, but still don't really feel like I have the hang of it. via pinterest The best way that I can think of to describe Pinterest is a place to store all the inspirational pictures that you find online. You create different "boards" according to what subjects you like to pin. So, for example, you can have a board dedicated to baked goodies, or creative spaces, or scrapbooking, or whatever you like, really. One thing that it has shown me is that my love for colour is still strong. All my boards have a strong theme of colour running through them....especially red and aqua :) Now, being technologically challenged as I am, I have no idea how to link you up with my boards so that you can have a squizz at what's making me smile right now. Maybe you could leave me your details if you have a Pinterest account, and we can hook up that way? I'd love to see what you are pinning :) Have a great day TTFN xxx P.S. Thanks for your lovely caring comments yesterday...it's looking like I might have the day off tomorrow......wooohooooo!

Farmer Duck

One of the most loved books in our bookcase is the story of Farmer Duck by Martin Waddell. Farmer Duck lives with a very lazy farmer who sits in bed all day eating chocolate, while poor Farmer Duck does all the work around the farm.

All day, the farmer calls from his bed..."How goes the work?" and all day the Duck answers "Quack", while picking the fruit and ploughing the fields and doing the dishes.

Why am I sharing this with you today?

Well, eventually the Duck is totally exhausted from doing all that work....he is, in fact, "sleepy, and weepy, and tired".

And that is just exactly how I feel today.

An early night might be a good idea for this little duck :)

TTFN xxx