Blog Hop with a Difference!

Hi y'all!
Long time no blog hey?! {crickets chirping in the background....} Hello? Are you there? {giggles}.
Sorry I haven't been around the blogosphere much, but here I am with a post for you, lets be happy!

My fantastically crafty sister Yvette has invited me to be part of the Blog Hop with a Difference, and share something crafty with you, as well as answer some questions to share a little more about me and my craftiness! You can read all about her amazing dress making here. Awesome work! And for me, here goes...

What am I working on right now?
Well, I'm always working on Project Life. I started doing it last year and managed to complete a double spread every week for the year, and I'm proud to say I am keeping on top of it this year too!

I just love PL, it's like a visual diary that is so much fun to look back on. Especially with 2 growing boys, just seeing what they were up to 6 months ago, or seeing how much they have grown this year, is amazing! And I document lots of every day stuff that I wouldn't scrap in 12x12 too, so more of our family's everyday moments will be there to look back on in 10 years! Jaimeson LOVES sitting down and looking through it, picking out all his cousins, grandparents, and any train ride or Public Transport ride he finds. LOL!

Another thing I have just started working on is my December Daily album for this year. Yep, I'm already thinking about Christmas!! Aren't you? Before we know it, Christmas will be here and I wont have made my Christmas cards, or made my December Daily album yet, so I thought I'd get a head start now! In August! LOL!
So here is last year's album to whet your appetite and give you an idea of what I'm working on now:

I used a Vintage Christmas Little Golden Book I got from Salvos, as the cover and then made my own different shaped pages for the inside.

It was a very ecclectic mix of pre-printed cards, patterned paper covered shaped pages, clear acrylic pages and even a printed envelope and sequin shaker page.

I made the sequin pocket from a cut-up piece of PL pocket page I had leftover on my desk, and went through my sequin collection to find all the blue, silver & red ones. I love how it turned out!

 To make the shaped pages I used really thin chipboard (this year I've run out of chipboard, so I'm using cereal boxes. Yep! The ultimate recycling!) which I hand cut the edge of, glued my patterned paper to both sides, then sewed around in red thread on my sewing machine. They look fantastic and stand up well inside the album, much better than a single sheet of paper would have.

How long does it take to create a project?
December Daily is a thick project, and you gotta keep on top of printing your pics (I print mine every 4 days or so at a local photo lab.) Check out how thick my 2013 album ended up being! It's so cool!

I made the "foundation pages" of my Dec Daily back in Nov for last year's album (I'm getting in super early this year!), the foundation pages are the patterned paper backgrounds which I then stuck the photos and embellishments to. Once I got the pics printed, it would probably take me half to one hour to finish a daily spread in my Dec Daily album. I try not to overthink my scrapping these days, after all, my time is very limited at the moment (between a 3yo and 9 month old!) and so once I choose embellishments, I just roll with it and stick it all down!

What are my fave things I love to create with at the moment?

Well I love Washi Tape, so that features prominantly in all my scrapbooking, and especially in December Daily cos I have lots of pretty red and green tapes!

And I also use heaps of Journalling spots in both PL and Dec Daily, I can't do without my journalling spots! I like to be able to easily read journalling, and I find journalling spots/stickers/shapes help to make it heaps easier to read the journalling, rather than just writing straight on the PP (Which you can see in day 17 above this one).

How does my creative process work?

Well, I made all the foundation pages first, then put them in a nice order in the album ready to be used when December came around. Once I knew what activities we got up to on which day and I was sorting pics to print, I could shuffle the pages around in order to get a bigger page to stick more pics on, or a smaller page if I only had a single photo. I still didn't like having a clear page opposite another clear page tho, so I would shuffle around a bit more if that looked like it was going to happen! LOL!

How do I keep inspired?
Pinterest, Instagram & blogs all provide awesome inspiration for me! I have a Pinterest board just for December Daily inspiration, you can see it here. You will probably see lots of ideas from that board in my 2014 Dec Daily!! I originally saw the idea for using a vintage Little Golden Book for the cover on Pinterest, and with my love for Op Shopping it seemed like a perfect idea for me! I've already found another one for this year, so I'm going down that route again. YAY!

What is my signature style?
Oh, I don't know! I like the ecclectic look of these different shaped pages in my album. And the same goes for PL. I use a whole mix of designs of pocket pages in my Project Life albums, not just all Design A like most people do. I like to mix and match the page designs to the photos I have, and I don't get bored looking at it because the designs are all different! I guess I am not a uniform, neat, conformist scrapper, just like I'm not a uniform, neat, conformist person. LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!
I hope you enjoyed reading a little about my December Daily creative process for last year, and I hope to show you another awesome December Daily album for this year later on!
:) C

Waikiki!!

The second part of our holiday was spent in Waikiki. Oh I love Hawaii! Have I mentioned that? LOL! {cheeky grin}.
Waikiki was way busier this time than I remember it ever being before. Partly because it was Spring Break in Hawaii, so there were holidayers, but there was also heaps more Japanese tourists than I've seen before!
The streets around Waikiki were quite crowded, which made it a bit tricky with a stroller and a toddler, but we still pushed through it and had fun. And there were lots of people on Waikiki Beach too, but we enjoyed it!

As soon as I step on to the sand and look up to see Diamond Head, I'm a happy lady! {excited butterflies in my tummy}. I loved getting to visit again with my little family of 4!

We were surprised by this new Surfboard rental racks down beside the Outrigger walkway to the beach!
How cool it was to walk past them to the beach every day. Some of those boards were HUGE!

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 Flynn enjoyed swimming in Waikiki too! He's wearing the nappy shorts you bought him Mum! The water was a beautiful temperature, so we swam for ages with Flynn in the water too. I love tropical water!

My usual foot pic!! {giggles}

 Building sandcastles :) The cheapo bucket and spades we bought at Salvos and took with us really got a workout! We even fit them in our luggage to bring them home again! Well, Will fit them in his bag, not mine. LOL!

 The pink lady, and the Royal Hawaiian. Hahahahahaha {belly laugh!}

I love this pic of Willy and Jaimeson! And the one below too!

What a sweet moment {smiles}.
Despite the crowd, we still love Waikiki Beach!
:) C

Disney Character Breakfast at Aulani

Hi y'all!
While we stayed at Disney's Aulani Resort in Hawaii, we went to the Character Buffet Breakfast one morning.
You start out taking a pic with Mickey outside..

 Then move on to inside for the buffet, while Minnie and Goofy wandered around, taking pics!

 There was also "Aunty", a lady who wandered around singing and playing her Ukelele and getting the kids up to parade with Minnie with shakers and fish hand puppets! What a fun breakfast!

 Jaimeson loved choosing his breakfast & he especially loved the coloured "O's" (fruit loops!) I put on his plate as a special treat! LOL! He also had fried rice, ham, bacon, sausage & cheese!

 My breakfast. YUMMO!! Bacon, sausage, portugese sausage, scrambled eggs, eggs benedict, pineapple ham, pulled pork hash... So good!
We had lots of fun! We'll definitely do it again next time we stay at Aulani (cos we all agreed a return is imminant!)
:) C

By the pool, Disney Aulani Style!

Good Morning!
More Hawaii pics! This time, around the pool at Aulani...
 I've said it before, and I'll say it again, the pool area at Aulai was AH-MAY-ZING!!! This is the Splash Park, called Menehune Bridge. It sprayed a fine mist, had tipping buckets, about 8 inches of water permanently on the ground that Jaimeson loved to slither around in, and it had a big tipping canoe that splashed water down over the bridges! So cool!

 

 

 

Flynn enjoying it!
And we loved the Lazy River! It's a very slow moving stream that you float along in inner tubes. Loved it!

Here is Flynn watching Daddy and Jaimeson in the Lazy River!
 How about a little swim in the infinity edge pool? It makes it look as though the pool extends all the way out to the ocean beyond. It's just beautiful!!

 And here we are in the family pool!

 And one more of Jaimeson on the amazing lagoon shore! We loved it so much!

Ah, dreaming of that beautiful Hawaii sunshine now!
:) C

ALOHA!!!

Aloha Friends!
It's tough to think that this time 3 weeks ago we were in Hawaii! {Mind wandering off to the land of sunshine, pineapples and cocktails!}
I'm keen to relive those memories here with you, so bare with me through the torrent of pics!!

We stayed in Hawaii for 10 nights, which is a great number of nights to stay, you can get heaps done as well as lots of relaxing! The first 4 were spent at Disney's Aulani Resort at Ko Olina, on the Western side of the Island, and the other 6 nights were at Aqua Waikiki Wave Hotel.
Aulani is the most expensive place we've ever stayed, but OH MY, it was fantastic!! The amazing pool area, with lazy river, water slide, splash park, infinity edge pool, hot tubs & even a snorkeling reef, was absolutely FANTASTIC!! Then there was the private lagoon with beach loungers and umbrellas. I'm smiling as I think about it! Let's dive in to luxury!!

So here goes...
 We arrived at the hotel at 8:30am and check in isn't til 3pm, but we were so lucky cos they checked us in straight away and gave us the room key so we could dump our stuff & rest after our 9 hour flight! YAY!!

This towel Mickey Head greeted us when we got into our room! Isn't it cute! The frangiapani was a foam hair clip so I wore it around for the rest of our holiday!

They also upgraded us to the 10th floor, and this was our amazing view! We looked across Ko Olina to the Makaha side of the island.

 Willy needed a rest, so I took the boys down to the pool area for a look around, and a play in the splash park. Here is Jaimeson enjoying checking out the fun spots!

Once Willy woke up we had another explore of the resort, including the private lagoon area. Check it out! I've always wanted to stay somewhere that had beach lounges and umbrellas all set up for you, and here it is! It seems like the epitome of luxury for me! LOL!

Aulani is not massively Disney-fied, but we did catch some Disney characters walking around during our stay! At first Jaimeson was a bit apprehensive, but he soon warmed to them once they started to interact with him, high-fiving and giving thumbs up!

I love this pic of us with Mickey!

Even Flynn loved Mickey!

 We did get Jaimeson a Disney lunch one day- a PB & Jelly sandwich in the shape of Mickey heads! So cute! He kept pointing at the flower & Saying "I not eat that. I not like that!" LOL! It's just decoration buddy!

 How about a Pineapple Macadamia cupcake, with an ultra thin slice of pineapple dipped in white chocolate and Mickey head-shaped sugar sprinkles? Love it! {licking lips}

This is the view over the awesome pool area from the 10th floor lobby. Isn't it sooooo cool! It might cost a lot to stay at Aulani, but boy you get a lot for your money!!

The boys, relaxing by the pools!

 Another thing I've always wanted to do on holidays, was stay somewhere where you can order a cocktail by the pool and bill it to your room. Guess what.... TICK! Another thing off my holiday wish-list!

I enjoyed a coconut mojito by the pool at Aulani, it was fabulous! And I felt so rich {giggles!} What an awesome view over my cocktail to the infinity pool and on to the ocean beyond!

Daddy and Jaimeson enjoying some sand play at the beautiful beach!

And what a beautiful place for a sleep for Flinders too!

I think that might be enough for one post!! I'll post more again tomorrow! Hope you enjoy the pics!
:) C