An early morning wake-up call of goodness!

Firstly, Happy Birthday MUM!! Hope you are having a fabulous day :) It's Mum and Auntie Julie's big 6-0 birthday party Saturday night (was I supposed to keep the age a secret?? Sorry!) and I'm really looking forward to it :) So far I have made 68 large cupcakes and about 30 small cupcakes for their cupcake tree. I kinda feel like I never want to make another cupcake in my whole life, but I'm sure that feeling will wear off, probably by the middle of next week! But it's worth it Mum, cos I know you'll have a wonderful party!
So this morning I woke up to Will diving out of bed and toward the front door. I must have been in a deep sleep cos I didn't even hear the loud banging on our door! Next thing I see him dragging in my box of Stampin Up supplies! YAY!! {happy dance} It's true the Postman never rings twice cos he bangs, dumps the box and runs off! Sneaky...
Anyway, here is the fabulous box of deliciousness! Some is Felicity's order from her party on Saturday night, and the rest is mine. I got lots of new stamp sets from the 2010/2011 Stampin Up Catalogue- love them! I can't wait to make some paper bunting with the Party This Way set! And finally I have some great sentiments that are actually in the current catalogue! LOL. SU retired lots of my fave sentiments last year, it's ok though I'm re-building my collection! See the bottom right set? It's called awash with flowers and comes in 2 DVD cases cos there are so many elements to it! There is the "watercolour" bit which you can see on top and the outlines are in the DVD case on the bottom. I really can't wait to use that set, in fact that's where I'm going now :)
Happy Thursday! I think I'll have Mexican for dinner tonight :) YAY!
: ) C

Paper Renovation!

Look, I'm still here! I know you thought I'd gone off on some amazingly exotic African Safari, way away from the internet and that's why I wasn't blogging. But the truth is September has turned out to be the busiest Month ever and I've been pooped! I even had to get up early just to write on my blog cos that's the only time I can squeeze it in! LOL! You know what's seeing me through.... the fact that we go to Hawaii in one month's time. HOORAY {blowing on a whistle "club style"- you know... "doot-doot" while dancing around the living room}.
Anywho, lately I have been lamenting over all the old papers in my stash, I am using them up fairly well but I wanted to quantitatively know (there's the scientist in me!) how many old papers I had compared to fairly old and new papers. And if you know my paper box you'll know it's in a secret particular order known only to NASA and me. Which technically means no order at all, but seeing as I've looked through it a million times I kinda remember where all the papers are. Yvette will testify to the lack of sensible order. But... this was about to all change! I sat on the lounge room floor, surrounded myself with free space and got sorting. I tipped all my papers out of the paper keeper and sorted them into 3 piles- "old", "fairly old" and "new". "Old" are papers which I bought when I first started scrapbooking- so I'm putting that at about 10 years ago, up to about 4 years ago (yeah, maybe I should have called that category "I can't believe you still have that paper") "Fairly Old" are ones from 4 years to about 2 year ago and "new" are any I have bought in the last 2 years (I know that doesn't sound like new, but in terms of my stash it is!!). Will snapped this pic for me after I'd neatly piled them up. Excuse the bed hair and house clothes!! I discovered a lot about my paper preferences- I like pink, I have A LOT of pink papers! I used to go for more muted papers with tiny patterns but now I prefer brighter papers with geometric patterns. And to my surprise I had almost equally the same amounts of "old", "fairly old" and "new" papers, with "old" having the least and "new" having the most! I was super happy about that! It makes me much happier to think most (if only barely) of my papers are fashionable! LOL! So when I was putting my papers back in their paper keeper I put all the old ones at the front, the fairly old in the middle and the new at the back so I would be attracted to using the old ones first. So far it has worked pretty well! I just have to remember to intersperse my old papers with the new papers so that the new papers don't end up being old before I use them! Does that make sense? LOL!! BTW, how come the papers don't fit so easily in the paper keeper again? Somehow they've grown fatter. LOL!
So then cos I'd looked through all my papers I was way inspired! I picked this pic and found this cool paper (which I know is over 5 years old.. that means it came from the "old" pile) and paired it with some fairly new AC papers and the gorgeous Scrapmatts birdcage. Isn't it the cutest! It's made from super thin lazer cut wood. {Love!} I also love the salt and pepper shaker sticker in the corner...so sweet! LOL! I love that this old paper doesn't look tooooo old anymore, what goes around comes around!
Happy Tuesday! Better run and start my big to-do list for today!
:) C

Mr Mojo is back!

Hello Mr Mojo! It's nice that you have returned so soon! Hooray! I did a page yesterday and another one today, so yay to having some creativity back {cheering!}
I realised I hadn't posted this last page I did at Yvette's! I only 1/2 finished it at her house, but I had (reluctantly, cos Mr Mojo wasn't with me) finished it the week we returned but it's been just sitting on top of my album, not even put in there yet! See, I need Mr Mojo for everything!
These sweet cupcakes were something I had been wanting to make ever since I bought the mini-corinthian stick biscuits! I wanted to scrap this pic cos they look so delicious! LOL! I love the pink heart doily Yvette gave me while I was staying in Canberra, I think Mum gave them to her. I have seen bits of them poking out from under Yvette's delicious layers on LO's on her blog recently! I sewed around the edge of mine as I was sewing the paper layers down. I hadn't sewed on a LO for a while, but Yvette inspired me!
Then yesterday I got back to my desk and made this page too! Yay for feeling inspired! I guess cos it was a nice relaxing weekend :) I love relaxing weekends!
These pics are from my Frocks and Fascinator's High Tea for my Bridal Shower back in Feb. I love the pics my friend Dennis took for us! My family are super fantastic when it comes to baking so I had the best "spread" of lemon slice, Lumberjack cake, mini cupcakes, cupcake pops, chocolate crackles, Raspberry coconut loaf etc etc! They were all soooo delicious! I had fun gathering some tea party related scrapping stuff like the gold cake stand and coffee pot rub-ons I got in my last 2peas order, plus the AC "sugar coated goodness" sticker from 2peas too! YUM! Love cupcake related scrapping supplies {LOL}. I hope Mr Mojo stays around for a while yet!
Happy Monday!
:) C
P.S. I just realised the best thing about these 2 pages is their background paper is OLD!! I mean WAY OLD!! Some of the earliest ones in my stash. Hooray!

Artistic Etchings Class Samples

Hi Y'all!
Felicity is hosting an SU party this Saturday Night, I am uber excited cos I haven't demo'd since before Will and my wedding so my hands are itching to show off the brand new catalogue and my new fave set! I ordered Artistic Etchings last week and apparently Mr Mojo delivered it, cos I've had fun this weekend making some example cards with it! It's awesome to have you back Mr Mojo! Stay around for a bit would you?
I love all the Eiffel Towers that are around at the moment, on clothes, home decor, tea towels, cushions etc. They are so cool! Well, when I saw this set in the new catty I knew I could make some funky cards with it. Plus the matching 12x12 paper called "love letters" too, it's beautiful! The black, riding hood red, vanilla colour scheme is on-trend for the Eiffel tower too I think!
This second card I made with pretty in pink, basic grey and confetti white- a colour combo I think is quite chic {patting self on back for this combo}. LOL! I love that this set looks good in all colours, it doesn't just suit the black/red/vanilla.
I also think Artistic Etchings is quite a versatile set too, I have an idea for a Christmas card with it (stay tuned for that one, it's still in my head and not in cardstock yet!) and I also made a pretty cool man-card with it :) It's colour combo is River Rock/Soft Suede/Vanilla which I reckon makes for a great "dad" colour combo. I hand cut the individual keys and crossed them before sticking down and stamped "father" from Wonderful Favourites before punching with the curly label punch.
The Artistic Etchings set comes with the Eiffel Tower, a medallion, a crown, a key, a flourish and the word "amour". Love it!
Hope you've had a great weekend! It's been a nice relaxing Sunday for me, stamping, watching Tivo, nipped out to do the groceries (my favourite "chore"!) and I made corn fritters for lunch. YUM!
:) C

Lovely Cards.

The design brief: make some "Lovely Cards" cos my box was lacking. Cards must be viewed by Mum with the comment to follow being: "Lovely" or "Beautiful". You know, the kind of card I don't usually make. LOL! Well I love to use Cupcake stamps and owl stamps cos they're my fave things! But they are quite modern and maybe Mum and her friends would prefer something more "Classic!" So while I was sick a couple of weeks ago I set about fulfilling this design brief and I came up with quite a few cards (I was on a tonsilitis-induced, stuck at home for 5 days, roll!) I hope she likes them! I realised I don't have that many "classic" stamp sets in my repertoire either. It was a challenge and I had to dig deep, but I found my Papertrey Garden set which I haven't used in like, forever so I dug it out, and some more classical papers from my stash too and whipped up these beauties. Apparently I think this soft pink and brown are Mum kind of colours, cos I've used this colour combo a lot! I dug into my button stash too and used them for embellishments. I 'm happy with these cards! I've got more to share from when I was sick too, so stay tuned!
Happy Friday!
:)C

Another from the stash..

Hi Y'all!
I haven't been purposefully neglecting you, it's just i haven't found Mr Mojo yet, and now that has extended to blogging too! Without anything interesting to say, I have just been saying nothing at all!
But here is the last page I did before Mr Mojo left (hopefully for only a short soiree somewhere else.. come back Mr Mojo!!) Obviously the page is about how I love travelling with Will, but it was inspired by this photo. He loves to snap random pics, sometimes I just wish he'd take a proper photo! But other times, like with this pic, I just love his off-beat perspective. I love that not all his face is in the pic, but that he managed to get the American flag, and also in the very bottom left corner you can see the Lincoln Memorial off in the distance! I know I boss him around too much and I should let him show his perspective more often. I'll try, I really will {holding 2 fingers to forehead, like a scout salute}. Love you Willy! And your crazy photo taking :) and that you are such an easy travelling companion. LOVE!
:) C

Oh yes Dahling... it's a dinner partay!

I realised it's probably only about 3 months til we move out of our apartment at Brownville and move in with Will's family at Hotel d'Lam (their family home). It means we're moving out of our "own space" and into a fully functioning family home. I've had so much fun these last 5 months (yep, we've been married 5 months yesterday!) playing "house" with Will. Thinking about moving to Hotel d'Lam makes me a little edgy. I haven't lived with so many people since I was 10 years old (yep!), its a totally different culture to mine and their family dynamic is quite different with how I grew up, so this is going to be a challenge.... and I'm not sure how we're going to go. Well, how I'm going to go, cos Will has only been out of there for 5 months so he'll probably slot right back in no worries. {sigh}. But this is what I signed up for 5 months ago, so I'm gonna quit my whinging now and I know I'm going to tackle all the challenges when we get there, no doubt I'll blog about it! Keep your eyes peeled {wink!}
But I was eating breakfast about a month ago and was looking at our tower of wine glasses in their boxes, which were wedding presents, and I decided we had to start having people over for dinner before we leave our own little nest for good! So we had Felicity & the children over a couple of weeks ago and now it's Alicia and David's turn! It's fun to plan and sort out a Dinner Party! I know mine is only for 4 people, but you've got to start somewhere and so I'm building my confidence slowly! LOL! I'm looking forward to using all my fancy serving plates & dishes we got for our wedding, plus some of the beautiful wine glasses!
Hope your Saturday is just as fun as mine! I'm off to make Nigella's Chocolate Mousse for dessert (I don't like Nigella, lets see if I like her more after I taste her mousse. LOL!)
Here is a page from my non-posted collection from Mum and Dad's anniversary lunch at Bowral. Look at their growing collection of Grandchildren! Look at sweet Sienna trying to settle Xander with her hand reaching out to him. SOOOOOO cute! If you're wondering why the photo on the LO is so blurry it's cos it's got a transparent overlay over the top and it was hard to photograph! It looks much clearer IRL!
:)C

Attention Mr Mojo, please return to Brownville!

Do I have the right to feel neglected? Mr Mojo has been with me for this entire year, which, as far as I can remember, is the longest time he's stayed around probably ever! He left when we went to Canberra, cos he was gone when we got back. He didn't even leave a parting note! I would have liked something like "Hello Charlotte, sorry I had to leave but there are others in this world who have been striving for some scrapbooking inspiration and must attend to their needs now. It's been fun, it's been real, it's been fun real, but I'm leaving and I'm not sure when I'll be back again. Have a great time at Yvette's, cos it's the last time you'll feel inspired for a while, soak it up! Catch ya never, Mr Mojo".
Dude. I miss you already.
Lucky I haven't posted a couple of pages I did before Canberra, or you'd only be getting baking posts for a while (luckily Betty Beaters and I have still been cooking up a storm).
I love this little pic of Xander, it's such a "Xander Face", it really really looks like him. He's so inquisitive, always wants to have a look at who's holding him and will lean back and look right up into your face! What a cutie.
Hope you have a great weekend!
P.S. If you see Mr Mojo, tell him he's a jerk. But I forgive him so he can come back now.
:) C

The other Canberra pages...

Yes Yvette, I am spoon feeding you only a couple of pages at a time! LOL! It's only cos I haven't done any scrapping/card making since I left Canberra (oh, actually I finished the last page I did with you.. that will be the next post.. hehehe!) I don't know why I haven't been that creative- I keep looking at my desk and thinking "yes, I'd like to sit there and stamp" but then I just walk away cos my Mojo isn't with me! Annoying! So this is a shout-out to my Mojo- "Come back!!"
I had a look around our house the other day and thought it was time to snap some pics and celebrate the fact that a boy lives in this house now! There are things in places there weren't before, there are new things and boy things everywhere! Every time I open the pantry and see the Spam it makes me smile! And the rice cooker that Will couldn't live without. His pile of shoes at the front door and wallet and keys on the table. Just a bit here and there that remind me we're married and this is my life.. forever. It makes me happy! And I got to use that Basic Grey boy background paper that I've been saving up. Hooray! LOL!!
This was the last page I finished while staying with Yvette, its our Saturday walk through Central Park on our Honeymoon. Oh, how I could travel to America every year and not get sick of it. If only! {sigh... day dreaming off into the distance!} LOL. This woodgrain PP was one of the first "real" scrapbooking papers I bought (OMG, about 10 years ago!) and I've had it in my "discard" pile for a while. Where do you discard old papers to? I have no idea, so they just sit in a plastic bag on my shelves. Well I was going through that bag the other day and resurrected this one and a couple of other papers! What's old is new again, hooray! The green scalloped paper edge is from a free packet I got with my last 2peas order, score! And the white & green shaped journal spot is from Yvette's free stuff. Cool! I love the sweet little kaisercraft tree rub-on off to the side too, and I love the chipboard butterfly! Ok, so this is a pretty simple page but I love lots about it, so that's cool! Yvette inspired me on this page with her awesome "collections" of PP scraps that she layers and they amazingly go together so well! It inspired me to think outside the box when layering papers, cos different patterns and colours can go together so well! Thanks for the Inpsiration Yvette!!
:) C

Some Canberra Scrapping.

Hi Y'all!
Well its taken me a few days to finally get around to posting some of the pages I Scrapped in Canberra with Yvette... what a slacker I am!
This first page is from little (well, not so little anymore) Cooper's second birthday this year. I love the Bee cake Felicity made him and his happy little face when it was put on the table in front of him! He's such a cutie. I love his "unsure" face at the licorice on top of the monster face cupcake he chose! {giggles} Do you like the tiny paper doily? Isn't it sooo sweet! I got them in a packet of 250 from Eastwood for $2. Gotta love those asian shops! LOL! The Maya Road frog rub-on is one of my faves too. Yvette inspired me on this page by helping me to make "layers" with scraps of PP, stickers, rub ons and embellishments. Love her style!
This second page is about our awesome day at Paintball with our friends! It was so cool to get that Camouflage paper out of my stash, I have been waiting to use it on a dirty page like this! It's from the Grafton Collection of Scenic Route. {Heart} cos it's named after my actual home town in Northern NSW. True Story! I know cos Yvette emailed and asked them. Hehe! The brown dirty BG paper is from Kaisercraft. Yvette inspired me on this page cos she told me to use up all that number lace paper to get it out of my stash! Great tip, but I did sneak a little bit from out of underneath one pic so I have a tiny tiny piece left. It's so hard for me to use up stuff! LOL! But I'm going to put it on a card and use it totally up, which makes me feel very liberated (do you know the feeling? When you end up with empty packets of embellishments, or say goodbye to the last scrap of a particular paper in your stash? It feels so good!) It's just that that paper was expensive so I couldn't use it all on one page! Such a tight ass. LOL!
Will and I are going to Wollongong to spend Father's Day to my Dad, hope you have a fantastic Father's Day too!
:) C