a very crafty christmas

i haven't been doing too much scrapbooking lately, but i did manage to sit down and make christmas cards the other day. it felt so good to sit for over an hour and just CREATE.

i really only intended to make enough cards for my scrapbooking blogging buddies that i met in KC (to go with the photos i'm sending them) - but i got all carried away; and that's a good thing!

i used MAMBI sticker border sheets i've had for over FIVE YEARS. it felt good to use some old supplies.

i made this card from a sketch. i'm sending it to blogger michelle (that we met in hong kong back in march), who's now back in st louis with her brand new baby girl!

elective week is coming up at miss 12's school. that's when i schlep my crafting supplies to school every day for a week and let the kids loose with them.

this time we're making christmas decorations (among other things). here's one i found online. i found it on youtube when i was surfing around the other day.
i was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new scallop punch from stampin' up so i could make this. i had found a tute on several stampin' up blogs. those stampin' up girls sure know how to create stuff. here are the instructions on angie's blog. hers is a video, and here's a still on sharlene's blog.
her pictures are way better than mine, but then again - she didn't have a cat swatting her ornament as she was trying to photograph it!
check out my cat casually SITTING on my latest scrapbooking layout! does she think she owns the place or WHAT?

i also tried my hand at the scallop ball ornament

here's what it SHOULD look like. can ya see where i went wrong??? (don't answer that). it was all my left brain could handle trying to put that sucker together, especially with my maths genius daughter laughing beside me.

it was like chinese water torture i tell ya.

then i made this...

which i'm relatively happy with, especially since i don't yet have the scallop border punch, so i used some more of those old border stickers!
i AM the messy scrapper; or as hubs commented: "a lot of supplies had to die for that huh?"

photostory friday - good old fashioned movie afternoon

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

and yes, it does make it more fun if you put the words 'good old fashioned' in front of the title (name that TV series).

tara and i have been having these since the kids were this big

you don't particularly need a rainy day. any cruisy day will do. school holidays, weekends - they all work equally well! today it's a rainy school holiday friday.

miss 10 was in charge of making the tickets...tickets please!!! hey! you forgot to click my ticket! tara was in charge of the snacks...

got mine! settling in for the afternoon
tara and i were even left alone long enough to make THREE CARDS EACH!!! it felt good to create with a friend. i haven't had much scrappin' mojo lately and tara had forgotten what her scrapbooking supplies looked like!
now that's a great afternoon!

be sure to check back here tomorrow for my 5000TH VISITOR GIVEAWAY - YEEHAW!!

wooo hooooot wednesday

wednesday again! albeit a little late in the day, but here's my list:

- i received this award from mean middle aged moody mom. her fabulous post was a visual symphony of blog awards, and she encouraged her readers to help themselves to one each . so i did! i now 'share the love' with paula clare, whose blog is a permanent happy rainbow in blogland.

- i also pass on this award i received from daryl, to lynette, whose blog is always fun to read. with any luck she'll remember to post it AND pass it on. (luv ya chick!!!)

- i won this at paper pesto's friday freebie giveaway - yay!

- i completed paper pesto's latest sketch challenge and they posted it on their blog! (this has no bearing on whether it will win, but i love the fact that it's right there at the top of the post).

- school holidays rock! especially scrappin' in your pjs with #3 daughter. we made these cards for the 2 sketches 4 you blog.

the original sketch
my take on it
miss 11's take on it
happy wednesday everyone!

wooo hooooot wednesday

it's that day again! miss 10 and i drove miss 11 to the airport this morning. she's spending 5 days being spoilt in christchurch with my parents. i think she was quite keen to see the back of us! (you know how these tweenies get sick of their families lol).

that arrow is pointing to the end of the runway. you don't so much land at wellington airport as get dumped on the tarmac. i love watching out-of-towners peering nervously out the window waiting for the rocks and concrete to appear. it's funny. it's all water at the other end of the runway too. landing here is a unique experience to say the least (think easter island except the other way around).

this is another view from where i was standing

after we dropped off miss happy, miss 10 and i went out for brekky, then hit the stores for some retail therapy. here she is modelling some of her new kit. the shoes were 50% off - oh yeah!!!

at brekky i discovered that all the coloured pencils they supply for the kids were blunt, so i popped next door and grabbed a pencil sharpener and we sharpened all the pencils. before i left, the waitress came over and gave me two giant pieces of fudge i had been admiring earlier! i can report it tastes as good as it looked!
i thought i was doing this card for 2sketches4you, but when i went to email it to them, i realised it was for the wrong blog and i can't remember which blog it's for! ah well, at least i got crafty which is the main thing.
i have also been scrapbooking today - YAY!!! almost finished a layout for paper pesto and will hopefully get to work on one for #8 wired; and yes, i will post when done.

not-so-freaky monday and a winner

not sure if we share the same mothers' day or not. anyhoo, ours is this sunday and this is the card i made for my mum. she makes cards too and we have some fun when we get together. she doesn't have as much in her 'stash' as i do, so she's like a kid in a candy store when we make cards at my place.

wanted to share a couple of layouts too. this one was for creative therapy catalyst #4 'what you like best about yourself'. this pic shows me completing my first (and thusfar, LAST!) triathlon. i'm terrified of swimming in the sea, so i was fairly happy with my ability to 'leap into the great unknown'.

this was for the design experiment challenge blog the week our fabulous kristi was their guest designer. we had to scrap a childhood fear.

i had this insane dream (well, nightmare actually) that at 10.30 every night (before i could tell the time, and when i was fast asleep) a man in full scuba gear would unlatch our back gate and flip flop up the path that ran behind my bedroom window. when he got the back door and started to turn the lock, that's when i'd wake up. it's tough being a kid sometimes!

and this is just a totally random photo i thought i would share; although if you saw the part of town it came from, you'd know it's not THAT random! it's from cuba street, a unique part of wellington city, featuring many 'interesting' stores, populated by an eccletic bunch of people.

so really, this mannequin wearing a straight jacket, using an old-fashioned dentist's drill on an armless mannequin covered in party mix lollies (candy) isn't really that strange, considering it's geography. these 'guys'(?) were in a store called 'hunters and collectors'.

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i was all set to make my re-entry (after some 19+ years) into the paid workforce today. i was totally psyched too, and when i say psyched - i mean i was totally freaking out!!! my new boss is ill this week, so i now have a week to get psyched up all over again.

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where will i be working you ask? i reply - i will be working in a resthome, helping the new manager implement operating systems. while the standard of care at this particular establishment is wonderful, the operating system has laboured in the 18th century and the new manager has a big job bringing it into the 21st century.

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this is apparently where i step in. not entirely sure whether i will be in a personal assistant role, or project management; either way, it's pretty exciting. i'm just having a hard time getting my head around the fact that i won't be (for the most part) 'at home'.

simpler times...*sigh*

i shall keep you all posted! in the meantime, any tips, tricks, suggestions or advice will be graciously accepted.

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and now for the big reveal... heather correctly identified miss 16's bestie as being #5 in the front row, looking all whimsical with her brolly. heather, you're bound to still have some chocolate leftover (right???) lol, so i'm not going to send you anymore. i'll email you when i mail your goodies (a non-chocolate surprise package!)

see? she hasn't change a bit!

thanks for playing along everyone.

ain't nothin' like a mini break

tara and i decided to take the girls to our 'scrappy cottage' for the night...

tara packed all the essentials needed for a successful night away:unbreakable water bottle, 30cm metal ruler and raspberry vodka. i know i'm not the only one who thinks these guys are the cutest! just after this pic was taken, they started doing the 'here we come, walkin' down the street' (ala monkeys') walk; which is weird, because none of them have ever HEARD of the monkeys!

i swear this one was only taken last week...Daughter #4 and i made up kits so we could all make mini tag albums. are you starting to see a theme with our crafting get-togethers?

the finished products (minus the photos in some)
i filled mine with just SOME of the fun times i've had with tara
it's a fun wee project. i think i might teach this at miss 11's school next term
there's a local pizza joint near the scrappy cottage that's SO local you have to be told where it is, because you would never find it otherwise! drive up the road, over the bridge, turn off onto a shingle drive, but when you get there....

it would be AMAZING in summer sitting outside. we couldn't believe it, so rustic and quaint! the pizzas had the most amazing thin crust, then they brought out FREE dessert apple pizza and started handing out slices. yum yum.
after all that good eatin' 'NANA' needed to do something a little 'restful'
THE most tasteless advertising board i have seen in a while!!!
(what were they thinking?)
do you remember were i parked the car?
we found this amazing curiosity shop, which really could have been a museum. it wasn't all fancy flash antique (you know, the 'new' old with new prices to match). found some more salt and pepper shakers (for the button ornaments) and spotted this calendar from 1950!!!

there's that bull again!
"mildred, do you have the keys?" "i thought YOU had them!" "why would you think that you silly old goose!" "i'm a duck! are you quackers or something?" (it wasn't until i crept up real close, so as not to disturb the ducks, that i realised the car was full of people!)

ah - a scrapbooker has no shame!

beautiful autumn colours in the park we went to today on our way home. an old fashioned park, you know - with a tearooms in the pavilion, ducks on the lake, gorgeous tree-lined paths. it was frikkin' freezing, but still gorgeous. we don't get that kind of leaf change here in wellington (2 hours south of where these pics were taken). probably nothing compared to some parts of the states and canada, but i was still impressed!
tara can do 6. how many can YOU do?
and the GIVEAWAY that has everyone perplexed. here's an update.

(click to enlarge)

come on people - work it out. i have prizes going cold!!!

i look forward to announcing a winner....SOON!!!!!