New Order of Things... and a Question??

Oh look, 2 posts in one day! Awesome :)
Yvette and I both put in a 2 peas order last week, hers arrived Weds and mine arrived on Thurs, only a week after submitting it! {Happy Dance!} 2 peas is much much much cheaper than buying at the local store. Sorry I'm not buying Aussie, but when the price is almost double, I can't refuse it! 2 Peas were having a sale, plus gave an extra discount so I got a whole bag of new supplies that I am super super excited about using! Sorry the pics aren't the best, I was rushing cos I was eager to play with the new stuff! Mind you, I haven't yet, I've sifted through it, drooled over it and layed it all out on the dining table. But I've done a page since it arrived and I'm too busy trying to use up old stuff to even touch this new stuff! Do you ever do that? Buy new stuff then not use it cos it's too good? LOL! What a terrible mentality.
Anywho, new stuff got Yvette and I into a conversation about what our top 5 products are. Then I was thinking about what my top 5 probably would have been 10yrs ago when I started seriously scrappin (was it 10 years ago?! OMG! What was I, like 12? Dream on. I was 18. Man that time has flown.) So I'm thinking these days my top 5 are:
1. PP
2. Journalling Spots
3. Thickers
4. Rub ons
5. Lace Paper (mostly cos I'm trying to use up my massive stash of this!)

and 10 years ago my top 5 would have been:
1. Coloured Cardstock
2. Stickers
3. Punches
4. Computer Journalling
5. PP

Isn't it funny to think back on how your style has changed over the last few years! LOL! Wanna see a really embarrassing early page of mine? This is from 2003 about a trip to Cradle Mountain. See 4 my top 5? Coloured cardstock (not even a nice colour!!), Punched snowflake, computer journalling and strips of PP. How embarrassing. Hey, see those 2 snowflake square medallions on bottom right. Did you see one on my recent page of the Grand Canyon!! LOL! I knew they were OLD!!
So what are your top 5? And what were they when you started scrappin?
:)C

Hooray for Saturday!

Hi Y'all! Happy Saturday!
I'm just munching on a piece of toasted Apple & Pecan loaf that I made yesterday. Confession time... I bought another sweet cook book {cringing guiltily!} But you know I love baking!! This one is the Complete Magnolia Bakery Cook Book. Remember my page from our Honeymoon of having a Magnolia Cupcake in NY? It's a super famous Cupcake shop and the original owners have put out a cookbook. The loaf was sooooo simple to make and I had all the stuff in the cupboard (well, except the fresh apples, so I used a can of pie apple which worked excellently!) I just cut a piece off and toasted it in the sandwich press and the outside went all crispy & delicious and the inside was YUMMO! Will loved it too which is awesome, I like trying to find sweet things that he actually enjoys and doesn't just eat mechanically cos it's there. LOL!
It's time for some more Honeymoon shares, cos that's all I seem to be scrappin lately! I guess I did have a few thousand pics to choose from {wink!} I wanted to take a pic on the giant "L" from CALIFORNIA which is outside California Adventure Park at Disneyland. We got another white-girl-asian-guy couple who were also trying to take the pic cos his surname was Lim to take the pic for us, then we took their pic. I laughed. It was a humourous co-incidence. It is also funny that the beginning of CALIFORNIA is my new initials C.A.L. Will took a pic of me with those 3 letters but it was blurry so I'll spare you that. See the giant Scallop circle on the LO- look hard, you probably missed it first time {laughing at own ridiculous joke}, Yvette gave that to me years ago, look I used it!! {Patting self on back}. Yay me!!
How would you like another honeymoon page? Ok just one more.... This was our super expensive breakfast at the Pool Cafe at the Bellagio, the $60 breakfast that was worth every penny! Check out the size of my Blueberry Ricotta pancakes! OH SO GOOD! I loved it cos everything was labelled Bellagio- from the butter patties, the orange juice cup to the sugars! Plus the outlook on to the magnificent Mediterranean style sculptured gardens was divine! It made me feel like a real spoilt bride to get to have a luxurious breakfast at my most favourite casino on the strip! Oh it was a true indulgence!
I hope you're having a creative weekend! Now I'm getting back to my desk... or do I feel like another piece of Apple & Pecan loaf? Would you like one too??
:) C

An album or 20?

Hi!
I was trawling through the message board over at twopeas in my new-found interest in on-line messaging about crafty stuff (this will probably last about 2 days) and I came across an interesting thread asking how many albums everyone had done. There was a miriad of answers, from not one album, to 10 albums up to one lady who has done 70! Kid you not, 70! She must do NOTHING but scrap! It made me look at my stash and have a think about how many albums I have. Some are put away in boxes but all the recent ones are out on my white shelves in my scrap area. I do look at them now and then, I love when other people ask to look at them! Makes me proud {wink!} I have one I did while I was at school, then one for every year since 2000 and a couple of extras like one for my last Disney trip, the snapshot of me at 26yrs old album and a Christmas album (somehow the album and the pages are separate for that one, I must get them together!). Not to mention the countless mini albums and gift albums I have made over time. This must be a huge list and I'm not even going to try to count (something like at least a dozen... ok I did try to count). With my scrappin I usually aim for an average of 1 page per week, so 52 for the year, but I don't scrap in any order, just whatever takes my fancy at the time. I kicked this goal's ass last year with 75 pages done and the year before with 68 done. So far this year I'm up to about 35 (haven't uploaded them all yet) so we're on track.
I want to know how many albums you have??
:) C

Ebay Stuff

Good Morning!
Just a quickie to let you know I am selling some stamp sets on Ebay so if you're in the mood for some new fun product go check them out! My listings are here. I treat my stamps really really well so they're all in super condition. Some I didn't want to sell but I have such a collection of SU sets now I really should share the love around cos I don't get the time to use them all {sigh!} there are not enough hours in one day!
I have listed these Stampin Up sets:
*Paint Prints
*Art of Life
*Much Appreciated
*Say it Simply
*Lots of thoughts
plus some other acrylic sets:
*Basic Grey Critters n Treats
*Wordworth Carolers
*Hampton Arts Memories & Weddings (2 sets)
So if you're in the mood and would love some more creative inspiration check out my ebay listings!
:) C

A Desert of Scrappin.

Hi y'all! Hope you had a good weekend! I went Paintballing yesterday with Willy and a bunch of our work friends. Happy to report that I am not bruised! Hooray! I have a scrape on my hand where I was hit a glancing blow with a paintball, but other than that I am unscathed. Hooray! Last time I played Paintball I had a bruise on my thigh the size of a mandarin for MONTHS. I kid you not, months. It coincided with being diagnosed with Diabetes so I'm going to blame that. We played at Delta Force fields at Appin and it was awesome, they are only new so all the gear was cool and in excellent condition. E.G. it didn't stink at all! LOL! I love hanging out and doing fun stuff with our work friends, they're an awesome bunch!
Anywho.... Here is a fun little page I did of Will and I road-tripping through Arizona :) We loved hiring the car and cruising through the desert from Vegas to the Grand Canyon, it felt so free! I drove first, until Will got confidence with travelling on the wrong side of the road, then he took the wheel. We cranked the radio and gathered a fun playlist of our fave "Road Trip Songs" which Will has now burnt onto a CD for me ;) I love listening to them cos they bring back those fun memories of our Honeymoon road trip! I was so happy to finally use the Cowboy boot paper I bought in the US the last time I was there (yeah, 4 years later... get out of my stash!!!) and a pretty floral Crate Paper PP I got when I still worked at Fantastia... now thats at least 5 yrs old! {sigh} it's good to use up the stash. Especially cos I've got a new stash arriving from 2peas this week. Hooray {cheering!} I'll update you on that when it arrives!
So, I'm off to do some more fun creative stuff! Have a great week!
:) C

Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad!!

HIP HIP HOORAY!!
Congratulations Mum and Dad on 40 fabulous years! I don't have a wedding pic of theirs so you'll have to compare them now with a pic of them in the year they were married {smile}. We had a super time at the Cocktail party on Saturday night and at our family lunch at Bowral on Sunday! You can see heaps more pics on Yvette's blog. There are lots of beautiful ones of our family, I am so happy we got some pics of us girls together, us with Mum and Dad and M&D with all their grandchildren! How special {heart warming with pride}. I also feel so lucky to belong to this family, thank you Mum and Dad for deciding to have children after all, and for bothering to carry that idea all the way to 4!! I'm sure you'd miss me if I wasn't around {wink!} I love the love and support I get from my family and I love seeing our numbers grow year by year with new babies! I love you my Family! Enough of the weepy stuff... here's a little of how the weekend went down...
Alicia & I had fun serving a bunch of Mum & Dad's friends with all the delicious foods M&D made, plus with some cocktails of our own invention. Have you ever had a request for a non-alcoholic Toblerone? Without the alcohols it would just be cream, honey & ice! We substituted the alcohol with strong plunger coffee, a sachet of Hazelnut hot choc, then added the cream, honey, ice and chocolate sauce, and I have to say it was super awesome! Go us! {cheering!} LOL!
On Sunday we headed over to Centennial Vineyards at Bowral and I'm going to give it 10/10 for a superb day, beautiful location and yummy food & wine! The food was really really cool. Our entree plate was a collection of tiny savoury petit fours- little lamb & beetroot stacks, Creamy Leek soup, fetta & prosciutto rolls, oysters, prawns on a stick. Delicious! Main for me was a steak with a little "pot" of hash brown- it looked like they'd baked it in a shot glass! It was awesome! You can see Willy anxious to try his out in the pic. It was the perfect place to catch up with our family & celebrate such a wonderful occasion. There was lots of chatting, laughing, stories being told, toasts, hugs, kisses & congratulations. Such a perfect day.
Happy Anniversary Mum and Dad! We love you!
:) C

Baking & Scrapping... the perfect mix :)

Mornin!
Ooohh, Thursday, it's the downhill slide to the weekend! Hooray!
Today I am baking up a storm for Mum and Dad's 40th Anniversary Cocktail Party this Saturday night. I can't believe Mum and Dad have been married for 40 years! Surely it was only a couple of years ago that we had their 20th Anniversary party! I remember that quite well, though I must have only been 8. I remember Mum gave us all a silver charm for our charm bracelets for helping her organise the dinner. It was a crown for "Kingman" :) Here's an old fave family pic of us! I see a little bit too much Liberty Lawn Mum!!
This Anniversary Mum and Dad are having a Cocktail Party with their friends this Sat night and a family lunch at a Winery at Bowral on Sunday. Should be fun!! At the moment I have my second lot of Mud Cake Petit Fours in the oven! YAY! Betty Beaters is gonna get a workout again this week {wink}
Here's another page from our Honeymoon, this time from DC. I wanted to use these pics but didn't want to say "here we are in front of the Capitol building" cos that's too generic and a bit obvious! So I thought I'd point out that we are "that kind of tourist". The kind that pose superstar-style in front of major attractions, take self-taken pics and have a ridiculously fun time! I love travelling and travelling with Will is so much fun! He's so willing for me to drag him around anywhere I'd like to go with no whinging, thanks Willy!
:) C

Living with a Chinese... Lesson 1.

My brother-in-law Dave famously "Lived with a Chinese once", and now I'm getting to experience that phenomenon first hand {wink}. Will and I have been married 3 months yesterday! How time flies :) Life is full of lessons, and I have been repeatedly told how many I'll learn after getting married and starting my new life with Willy as Mrs Lam. Well, so far I think the lessons have been a little one sided, and I don't mean to be conceited, it's just I have lived out of home for almost 10 years and this is the first time Will hasn't been with his family so I'm training him {hehehe}. But there have been lessons I've learned too. For instance, I don't have to make a gourmet, 3 course meal each night cos when Will looks after his own dinner, cos apparently chinese sausage, rice and spam slices fit the bill quite nicely. One of my favourite lessons though, is this...

1. Dutch Pancakes are best eaten with Chopsticks.

The first time I made Dutch Pancakes with the Dutch Pancake maker we got for our wedding (yep, we got the funnest gifts!!) Will broke out the Chopsticks. I was like.. WHAT THE?! And I couldn't stop laughing. But then I realised Chopsticks really are the most perfect thing to eat Dutch Pancakes with! Have you tried using a toothpick? They fall off the end. A fork is just too cumbersome with these tiny little pancakes, and a spoon is all wrong. So of course chopsticks are the best idea! I would never have known this had I not married Will. So this morning when I made the Dutch Pancakes I specifically set the table with chopsticks. You live and you learn!!
Love you Willy! Thanks for the life lessons!
:) C

Food Glorious Food... pages. :)

Hi!
Stuck at home again cos my car went back to the mechanics cos they broke my central locking when they did my service on Tuesday. Argh!! They don't even know when it will be done so I tried hanging around near by, then went up to the shopping centre, then got bored so finally walked home but they still haven't called. Hope it's done in time for me to drive to work! Otherwise I gotta get walking again {sigh!} so much exercise! I suppose it's good training for the City2Surf Marathon this year (only 4 weeks to go!). I should probably embrace this forced exercise, ok... {embracing....} hmm... that's much better! LOL!
So to combat the forced exercise I'll post some pages of delicious foods we ate on our Honeymoon! I was looking through all the pages I've done of our Honeymoon and there are quite a few on food! {giggles}. I do love trying lots of different foods when we travel :) it's so much part of the fun!
These Pumpkin Waffles with Pecans, Cranberries, Spiced butter, Maple Syrup and fresh fruit were sooooo good we actually went to Penelope's in NY twice for breakfast so I could indulge in their deliciousness again! Ohhh sooo good! If you visit NY make sure you visit Penelope's for breakfast, it's a cute little cafe that feels a bit like Grandma's kitchen with mismatched wooden furniture, wooden panelling on the walls and polished scuffed floor boards. It was so cute! It's on 30th and Lexington, go visit! We got a Waffle Iron for our wedding and there is a recipe for Spiced Pumpkin Waffles, I reckon I'll have to put them on my to-do list, maybe this weekend! (What was that I said earlier about the City2Surf? Never mind...) This was my fave breakfast of the whole honeymoon- only closely followed by the breakfast at Bellagio- their Blueberry pancakes were fantastic, and PLATE SIZE!! {mmm... day dreaming of Honeymoon breakfasts}
Then we visited Shake Shack in Maddison Square Park in NY on the recommendation of Sarah from 30-something-drama-queen and also cos I read so many awesome reviews on the net on how spectacular the shakes were and how mind blowing their Burger sauce was. We lined up for AN HOUR! Yes, it was a Sunday, but an hour??! We figured it had to be worth it (or at least we were hoping above all hopes that we hadn't wasted an hour of precious NY time! LOL!) Well the shakes were unbelieveable. We each had the Black & White shake which was Vanilla shake with thick chocolate fudge whipped through and hamburgers and fries. Their crinkly fries were YUM! I hardly got any sauce on my burger though {frowny} so I can't really comment on how awesome it was, but the bun was soooft, like a steamed Fillet O' Fish bun! SO GOOD! It was worth it after all {happy dance!}. The line was even longer after we'd finished our meal- those people must have waited about 1.5hrs! Unbelievable! Oh... lucky it's Thursday night, eating out night, at work, I feel like a burger now!
:) C

A Cupcake from my mind...

Hello!
I had this idea for a cupcake a while ago when I spotted these cute mini Corinthian biscuit sticks in Aldi. Oh they were so cute and inspired me to dream up a Strawberry Sundae Cupcake! I used a Strawberry Cupcake recipe from my Primrose Bakery Cupcakes book then "iced" them with Marshmallow I made from scratch (remind me why I did that again?!) then poked in the corinthian stick and Will sprinkled them for me with pink and white sprinkle sticks. I had to rope in Will's help cos home made marshmallow is the most ridiculous thing to try and work with. I had it EVERYWHERE! All over the bench, all over all the utensils, all over my hands, up my arm, on my face, in my hair! I was like a small child with a vegemite sandwich. It was monstrous! I should have just microwaved store bought marshmallow then whipped them really quickly once they'd cooled a bit, but you live and learn these things!
In the end (after Will cleaned up my marshmallow tornado for me cos he's the best husband ever and I had to rush off to work- he got a cupcake as payment) they were really yummy Cupcakes! The marshmallow gave them a little something extra, rather than the usual buttercream. The corinthian stick went soft after 2 days in tupperware though, so best eaten straight away. I loved them , and will make them again!!
:) C

Hi Y'all! I haven't disappeared!

Hello! Despite contrary belief, I am still here! It was a funny week last week, Will was sick off work Thurs, Fri and Sat which is the longest time he hasn't worked apart from our annual holidays. Can you believe it?! Well, for a boy who seems to do nothing but work and fish, being forced to stay indoors and recover from the flu has meant torture! Poor thing has been so bored, he texts me at work every 15 mins it seems. He even wanted to clean a bit yesterday just to get rid of the boredom! He has spent a lot of time on the internet and then when I get home he is attention starved so i haven't even gotten to check my emails for almost a week. Anywho.. I'm still here! And Will is recovering and has gone back to work today. Happy all round!
It's time for some more shares!! How about some Wedding related pages? Isn't Nenna just GORGEOUS in her Granny-made dress for Will and my Wedding! Mum, of course, whipped it up in one afternoon- she's amazing! I love how happy Sienna's eyes are, you can just see her glowing from inside. Such a cutie! I love in the left pic how she is so so interested in her little piggies poking out from under the skirt! It's like "Oh, what's that?!" LOL! I used another paper doily on this one, I found it hiding under a bunch of crap on my desk and was like "perfect!" {clapping hands together} and I got the chipboard scalloped dot edging off Yvette years ago... look Yvette, I used it!! YAY!! I even broke out the pretty black fozz felt flowers and photo corners from deep in my stash. I like using up old things, especially mixed up with new stuff so it looks cool! The paper is actually a Christmas paper but the writing is really tiny and in running writing so I don't think anyone will notice {wink!}
The second page is one of my faves of my Beautiful Bridesmaid's and me! Aren't my sisters so beautiful? :) I think so. It was so special for me to have them all as my bridesmaids, we had such a fun day too! And Mum was amazing again, to make all their dresses, they were so beautiful! Plus Mum made her own outfit too, she's a machine! "Beautiful Girls" by B.O.B. is one of the tracks on our Wedding video and it is so appropriate! LOL! {huffing and buffing nails on shoulder} No really, I couldn't imagine having anyone else support me for our special day, these girls are the best and we had so much fun!!
What are you up to this week? On holidays? We're so quiet at work, it's really nice and relaxing! Pity I can't take some of my scrapping stuff {wink!}
:) C