This is what I have been pottering along with since doing Trinas online class at SBO...it was supposed to be for Valentines (rofl! cause I'm horribly slow at altering stuff) so it is now for our wedding anniversary in April. Just got a few more pages to do with pics of me in! By the way it is a Maya Rd "Love" chipboard book with some loverly urbanlily papers and an assortment of other bits and bobs!

I've had a big wadge of felt in different colours in my drawer for ages and yay! I finally used some on my layout for Dare #16

Had me going for a bit this dare as I had nothing much black and white in the paper stash until I hit on the idea of using a comic strip...Calvin and Hobbes are so cute and clever! Turns out the hardest part was trying to get a decent pic of it to show the cool font, which I didn't really succeed in doing as its a bit small but if you would like to download if for free...go here

Talking of free...not often you get an online class for free but at Poppy ink you can! You don't need the kit, do what I do when I'm cooking....just wing it with whatever is in your cupboard lol! The next class is by the fabulous Amber Skolnick...go here for details. Amber has also been Scrapjacked this week, she has such a fun style I think I might just have to give it a go and play too this round!!

Joseph and Patrick watched Sharkboy and Larvagirl on DVD this afo in 3D...I thought it was a great movie for their age group...full of action and a moral behind the story....they loved it.

An impromptu picnic tea at the park tonight, enjoying the summer evening, supported our local eateries and got pizza to go from the old courthouse cafe in Huntly, if you are ever passing by down SH1 and are feeling peckish give maccas a miss and head here instead...the pizzas are fresh and delicious!


The boys got out their bikes and Jim showed off a few tricks....


Dat!....is Samuels favourite word at the moment, which (of course!) means... whats that? The 'dat in this case was ducks...funny how little kids just love ducks!

and here he is having a little quiet moment with his digger when he got home.

Yes I will be posting the NZdares result for Dare #15 tomorrow after our wee hiccup lol...so stay tuned if you entered a layout as there will be a draw for the prize pack from SE (thanks Meg!)

and Jo has posted up Dare #16...its a goodie!

Have you checked out Scrapjacked...lots of fun there...

So what have I been scrapping this week...well I took Trinas 'all about love' class over at SBO
earlier in the week...gorgeous kit, great instructions, a fun nights chat and scrapping...and yes I am still working on my project which was supposed to be for Jim for valentines heh,heh but I had high ambitions there so wedding anniversary in April me thinks...I'm halfway so will post some peeks soon!

Should have been working on it tonight but Jims dad (Hi Pop!) tapes and sends over the most recent series of Top Gear from the UK so have been watching that instead...it was a very funny episode and I couldn't tear myself away....for the shame choosing a car programme over scrapbooking whatever next lol!

Hooray for jelly snakes!!

Patrick has been given a little incentive of his favourite sweet Allens naturals jelly snakes everytime he has dry pull ups in the morning....and it worked a 'treat' lol! he has had 3 dry nights in a row! Go P!

This was my scrapping effort this weekend



my take on a chicken pox layout....for the fortnightly challenge over at SE...use whitecardstock as a background...still on an orange and blue burst!

Also completed my layout for the next dare at NZDares....but that ones a secret for now hee hee...

Speaking of which...Meg at SE is sponsoring a fabulous prize for Dare 15...so rattle ya dags and ya scrapping supplies and create something for the hot/cold theme....dare ends this Wednesday 6pm...

I found the photo I was looking for....the one photo I would choose to take to the desert island with me...and while I was looking I found this one too....



I love them both....do you think the customs man on the desert island would know if I smuggled two in ha ha!!

Joseph had a happy first day back at school...reportedly his teacher is 'much more fun than last years and makes work seem like play'!!! Go her!! She had their names set up on the desks along with a welcome letter at each place and his seat is next to three of his friends so all is good and they went swimming so a great start to the year!

I've become a big sook lately....I discovered this the other day when I started choking up while watching Poohs Heffalump movie with the boys....this followed having a good sniffle with Joseph while watching Spirit previously and bawling my eyes out during the mini series last week called "The incredible journey of Mary Bryant"....I never used to need tissues when I watched movies....is this what happens when you hit mid-thirties rofl!!

New Autumn Leaves blog up following the launch of their new book called the Look Book, which is aimed at helping you to develop your own scrapping style....they are posting weekly challenges like they did with the Freestyle blog...check it out it looks like fun.

Their first challenge is 'to use the things that you love' on a page...so I've started by making a list of things I love to use or do at the moment...

Chipboard letters or handcut letters
my black zig pen to doodle or highlight
water colour paints
light and bright colour
journal boxes
polka dots
multiple photos
cutting the pattern out of pattern paper
I love pics with movement or a sense of humour
experimenting
stars

The Effer dares also have an interesting challenge this week....if you were stranded on a desert island but were able to choose one photo to have with you, which would it be and why? I've been searching my pics for one I know I have but can't find it!! will post it if I come across it....says something about my photo organization dosn't it lol!

Hope everyone has a peaceful Waitangi day tomorrow....

This is my layout for Dare #15 ...a sizzling summery theme this time and lots of good ones coming up too....if you havn't already come on over and join in!!

Do you do Valentines at your place...we don't...although I did make Jim a card last year...hurrumph, sometimes the girly within just cannot be kept down hee hee....but anyway if you do Valentines check out the cute little cookie idea at kiddley (scroll down to Thursday).

Heres the monkey I've been knitting for the last few weeks...all finished except I'm going to knit him a wee scarf for the winter! He's lovely, by no means perfect, one legs slightly longer than the other, his head is a bit wonky rofl but thats what makes him extra loveable I think and the boys seem to really like him and have been carting him about all day....knitting him up was fun, it was the stitching him together which took ages but I'm the same with layouts... sticking everything down at the end is my least favourite bit!

Ok, so Queen and Co you need to do something about your packaging....now I'm not talking about the gimmicky but sort of cute makeup bottles used to hold your delightful beads and brads etc.....I'm talking stuff that matters here like child proof caps!

This is why...see left.... concentrating very...very hard(I know this due to the degree of bottom lip stickyoutness) on picking up each individual tiny beadiful bead that he shook out of the bottle after expertly whipping the lid off before I could dive across the room in slow motion and putting it back in the said gimmicky, cutesy bottle....along with a ton of carpet fluff and dog hairs....my cutesy little bottle full of sparkly beads now looks a little like the old bottle of lip gloss thats been lurking in the bottom of your handbag for 2 years.

Yes my helper was 'helping' me tidy my scrapping mess today....because the big boys are staying at Nana and Grandads for a few nights I thought it would be very cruisy just him and I....but guess what? He's got no-one to play with now silly and has to play with me mwah ha ha!!

Ah well I would never use all those beads in a billion years anyway and the carpet looks very pretty when the light catches them!

Feathers wouldn't melt in my mouth.....its ok Bert we forgive you!

After taking Berts mugshot I couldn't resist a few pics of the garden.....

The lupins look so pretty in the morning sunlight, love different textures between plant and rock, pink flavour from the Japanese garden, cornflowers busting out in the wildflower patch...and my poor tomato plants which are kind enough to have huge tomatos on them despite the lack of care I give them!!

Man, blogger isn't playing today and I can't seem to move my pics around into the right order...will fix it all up later...

Oh yeah don't forget to check out the first Dare for the year over at the NZ Dares blog tomorrow!

blog ya later

...A poo of a day today....turns out our lovely Bert (Jack Russell who we rescued from the pound at the end of last year) is a chicken killer and killed 6 of Dads lovely chooks when we visited them today... the kids went over to collect feathers and he had gone with them, so they saw it (double poo!) and came running back for help....he's currently in the dog house outside for the night until I feel up to making peace with him tomorrow....destined to be a town dog for the rest of his life...no more visits to the farm for him of course!

Don't even feel like knitting...thats how bad I feel!

heres to a better day tomorrow...

It would seem I have been bitten.....by the knitting bug! After ending my post last time with....'so does anyone knit?'....I came across about a kajillion knitting blogs, then I sussed out the knitting section at the library and brought home a cool book called 'Stitch n Bitch, the knitters handbook...the essential guide for chicks with sticks' and with subtitles like 'it takes balls to knit....and skeins and hanks' I knew knitting had moved on from the Granny pasttime or halfdone, holey, out of shape scarves lurking in my childhood memories!

Had a bit of a practice session with a past expert knitter...aka Mum to get me over the casting on hurdle and I was away....

Anyway here is my first knitting creation....the pattern called it a 'techno-cozy'...it can fit a mobile phone or an ipod (pity I don't have one lol!) but I think its cute just as a little belt bag to pop a bit of money or whatever in...just realised....my sony cybershot fits....now thats handy!!

Oh well I think its cool and love the look of the chunky knit and bright colours....now where was that hottie cover pattern.....

Well Summer called on us today! Hoo...blimmin....ray!! After the four seasons in one day weather we've been having lately I did a little happy dance inside to see that beautiful clear blue sky!!

So happy in fact I relented on my little stance against paddling pools and fired one into the trolley at the supermarket this morning...best $20 bucks I've spent in ages....kept the boys in continual hurtling action...all at the tops of their voices for the best part of the afternoon lol...yes I pity our neighbours...but hey I got to sit in the sun on the grass, keeping my eye on them and the other on my book...oh yes it was good and nothing like fresh air, sunshine and water to get kids tumbling into bed that evening!


Is it a whale...is it a turtle.....noooooo its a paddling pool!


Always time for a spot of mowing too!

Speaking of books....my backorder of Elsie Flannigan's 52 challenges arrived today...yay! had totally forgotten about it so it was happy dance time again for me this morning...two in one day! ....still wallowing in it...the book that is, not the happy dancing...its good.

Ok now I know its Summer but I was searching for a gift for a relative in the midst of winter in the UK and came across these....what scrapper wouldn't like one of these to snuggle up to while scrapping on a chilly winters day....did you check out the cozy toes too...cute! Anybody knit?

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and survived the frustration of all those darned twisted wire bits that hold toys captive in their boxes!! at the risk of sounding ancient...they didn't need all that in my day!!! lol!

Had a fun xmas day at our place hanging out with my Mum and Dad and enjoying a relaxing walk round the lake after lunch...

Looking forward to the New Year now...have our bottle of champagne fraise ( had to try it of course!!) chilling ready to share with my partner in crime on our back deck under the stars...

have flashed up the blog a wee bit with the new settings on blogger, looks better....even had fun playing with a new pic of me...not that you can see all the fancy bits cause its so blinkin small rofl!! here it is ...




If you have littlies to entertain over the holidays check out this cool kids activity site for fun things to do...I've got my eye on making one of those sock monkey's....for no reason whatsoever except its CUTE and I want one and maybe even get the boys making themselves one too!

Have a good NY's and stay safe!

A big MERRY CHRISTMAS to those who take the time to read my little slice of blogdom!

Some pics from today...berries and cherries...sweet juicy summer fruits = christmas to me and I had fun introducing the boys to the delights of chocolate truffle making or reindeer poo...hilarious to small boys...thanks Rae lol!

Things I remember from childhood christmas food....Mums huge hams complete with pineapple rings and cloves which would last for weeks after and the homemade chocolate truffles and strawberries doused in icing sugar...these were such a treat!! No roasts or ham these days...tomorrow we will be dining on barbequed chilli and lime prawns...and basil pesto chicken with cherry tomatos roasted in foil on the barbie...followed by mums wonderful rasberry marshmallow pud!

Announcement to those who took down the Kiwi cocktail recipe I blogged the other day...add lemonade too!!!! Sorry lol!!! forgot this bit...not sure your cocktail will be so fabulous without this ingredient.....!

We cleaned the house from top to bottom this afo...probably not everybodies idea of fun on Christmas Eve....but it feels sooooo goood knowing we have a headstart on the mess that will ensue tomorrow lol!

If you have checked out the NZdare site recently you may have seen I have been asked to be a contributer....what a cool christmas suprise that was...thanks a bunch Lianne and the Kiwi dare girls...looking forward to adding my inspiration to the melting pot! Check out Lesley and Liannes totally gorgeous christmas layouts....

I mentioned to Jim last night how cool it was for kids of this day and age of digital cameras to have all their achievements recorded and he replied 'yep imagine Joseph showing his girlfriend his childhood pics...'heres me picking my nose, me scratching my bum, me hiding from mum so she dosn't photograph me....' rofl .....anyway here he is at last nights evening assembly nearly finished his first year at school, receiving the class certificate for fantastic work in all subjects while his very proud Mum and Dad watched from the sidelines....and took photos!

Here are my first pages for Janines twelve days of christmas challenge. As you can see it is all about the Christmas tree...I have used an envelope on the left side which is for holding cards with written memories on them...I have started with some childhood christmas tree memories from myself and DH and plan on adding thoughts from the boys about what their favourite thing is about our christmas tree this year...on the other side in a pocket are the star decorations I made for the boys which I will give to them on Christmas Eve to hang on the tree! So cool to see this little book shaping up....onto favourite Christmas recipes next!

Talking about trees...I guess you could call me a tree hugger...I love them, they seem so strong and serene....my idea of Heaven is to sit in the shade of a beautiful tree and watch the world go by...my worst moment last year was watching my
beautiful Japenese Acer being ripped
out when added the extension to the
house...I have since aquired TWO new maples in my Japenese garden to make up for it lol!
and I just love the glory of the Pohutakawa during Summer trips to the coromandel.....anyway the point is when we moved into our house 7 years ago we planted an olive tree and have watched it grow and its trunk grow thick and strong...the ticket said it would mature and set fruit in 7 years and every year it would blossom and the tiny spikes of flowers would fall off....only this year they havn't fallen! I am so excited we are going to have olives this year!! I have no idea when to pick them let alone how to preserve them so need to do some research!

Two weeks until Christmas so we put the tree up in the weekend much to the boys delight and yay, Samuel although intrigued hasn't destroyed it like we thought he might! He gently touches the lights but thats it...

... and he has got a new face....all of a sudden out of the blue....it is the funniest thing I have ever seen and it never fails to make me laugh out loud...it starts off with him jutting out his bottom jaw in a real staunch way then all of a sudden he pushes his lips out...will have to try and catch it on camera...

Had a good night out for Jims christmas work do and spent most of Saturday recovering....thank goodness nights out are few and far between these days lol!

Hopefully we have some weather like today on the 25th...a breath of Summer...Jim and I have concocted a scrummy Kiwi Christmas Cocktail to have pre-lunch this year....

a tall glass with ice
a slosh of gin
a good dollop of feijoa smoothie (found amongst the fresh juices at Countdown)
and a dash of kiwifruit juice (found next to the keri and justjuice juices at Countdown)
Mix well

Delish! Should get Mum and Dad and Nana Jean in the christmas spirit mwah ha ha!

A packed week ahead with Kindy Christmas party, Athletics Christmas party and Josephs evening School Assembly and Playcentre Christmas party on Sunday....just party, party party this time of the year lol! Jims little red car will be transporting Mrs Claus which should be a camera moment....

Ok so here is what was keeping me from folding the washing mountain this afo ha ha!! These are christmas decorations to be included in a pocket on the christmas tree page for my boys to hang on the tree and they'll go back in when the tree is taken down.

This is the current state of my (and my poor husbands!) bedroom floor at the minute after such creative effort...I've made such a mess on my desk I had to abandon ship and move to the floor mwah ha ha!!


This is Patrick and Samuel at playcentre today....what a hardcase pair!!

Hooray I'm out of the starting blocks at last with Janines twelve days of christmas daily challenges based around the NZ version of the twelve days of christmas verse...although strictly speaking I havn't done day one yet lol!

Being the sort of person I am I always have to start at the very beginning and have created a cover and inside page first!!...now onto my first page!! Found it too exhausting trying to sort out and find!! actual photos so decided to create a sort of 'Merry Christmas' handbook for the boys which will be like a guide to creating magic at Christmas time....watch this space for more...

My favourite photo from the weekend...Nana and P doing it! Patrick's favourite thing at the moment is Athletics on Wednesday afternoons and they do all sorts of things like obstacle courses and games. So yesterday he decided he was going to design an obstacle course for everyone... with the help of Grandad providing sticks and gumboots and other things to jump he did! So we worked off our lunch with a few laps of his obstacle course...love that photo, fluffy slippers and all!!

And on the scrapping front another layout for the UK trip album yippee, not far off finishing!

We made sushi in the weekend, complete with the pickled pink ginger and a dab of wasabi(just a dab no more otherwise it'd blow your head off)...YUMMO!!! and so easy!! Our dream trip is still Japan!!

The kids were watching Bad Jelly the Witch yesterday, I love that story, brings back memories of snuggling up in bed 7 o'clock on a Sunday morning listening to Spike Milligan reading Bad Jelly on the radio! The video version is very cool though and the boys loved it.

I am feeling very smug because somehow I am on top of the christmas shopping...have just been gathering things up here and there over the last couple of months...woohoo!! Still racking my brain on how we can manage a christmas tree this year with young Samuel wrecking everything in sight...in the nicest, cutest possible way of course....Jims suggestion....hang it from the ceiling...might just have to as well!!!

NZ dare time again!! man two weeks just went like that!

Didn't want to miss being part of the international (US, UK, Oz and NZ) combined dare so after struggling with this one for a bit, here is the end result (raced home from the kids athletics with 10 minutes to spare to upload in a hurry!).

This is me and my old sheepskin rug friend Ruggy who was thoroughly loved to the end...he was a small sad scrap of leather by the time I finally said goodbye around 10 years old lol!

The dare required you to scrap a childhood memory, cover your whole background cs , put your title on the photo, add a touch of paint ( I used white paint on the scallop edges).

Must go and see what everyone else has done for this!

For the last couple of weeks I have been thinking of making an advent calendar for the boys this year...but my wonderful MIL has bet me to it and sent the most gorgeous fabric calendar with pockets and all the goodies to go in as well!! The boys are going to LOVE it! Havn't got a pic of it yet...will do soon.

Pucker up Baby! Some serious candle blowing going on here....Happy 4th birthday Patrick!

We have had all had a lovely relaxed day, pressies and bike riding this morning then lunch out at the local for huuugge burgers and lots of chips and pink lemonade with Nana and Granddad....no mess, no fuss.

In fact Jim and I were even totally relaxed creating the sponge bob cake last night...we are getting good at this birthday thing or have we simply realised kids do not look for perfection, they are too busy enjoying the moment.



Anyway on the way home Patrick announced this was 'best birthday EVER'!!...we did good Jim!!