Cooper's 5th Birthday Construction Party!

Hello!
Here are some pics from my nephew Cooper's recent 5th Birthday Construction Party. It was an AWESOME party and a big {high five} to my sister Felicity for all her hard work party planning and hosting! The decor was awesome, the food was yummy and the games and giant dirt pile were such a hit!!
Here is the food table...

Awesome dump truck dumping twisties!

And a bulldozer moving pretzel "logs"!

Check out the FANTASTIC cake! I can't believe how awesome this cake is! (Not that I can't imagine you making such an awesome cake, but I just clap my hands with glee when I see it, it makes me so happy!) See the little Lego man? Cooper put him there while Felicity was out of the room, then told Felicity "I've put a Lego man on the cake Mum, to make it look better" and she was imagining this pirate lego man placed front and centre, not quite fitting in with the theme, and instead she came out to find a construction man, picking away at the side of the cake. Perfect, Cooper!!

Playing "Pin the Witches Hat on the Construction Site!"

The giant dirt pile!

Happy Family Cake Time!

And our very own YMCA'er! LOL!
What a cool, awesome, fun, fantastic party Felicity! Great work {belly bump!}
:) C

Happy Birthday Felicity!

Happy Birthday Felicity!

(Yes, it's a busy birthday time in our Family!)
Happy Birthday to the sister closest in age to me, who I used to share a room with, used to fight with (cos we are the 2 youngest), who I used to copy but tried to deny it (I only didn't like mushrooms growing up cos you didn't like them!), lived with for the most of my life out of all my sisters!, who let me borrow her car and didn't get angry when someone ran into it, shared clothes with, made cards with, taught me that feeding Jaimeson prune juice with his rice cereal would help him poop, who looks the most like me and who I love very much!

Have a wonderful day!
:) C

A little Op Shopping last weekend

Hi Y'all!
I did a little Op Shopping last weekend, oh wait... it was the weekend before actually. {Whoosh... hair blows around as time goes rushing past}. I don't want to say it (for the millionth time), but where is this year going in such a hurry? So I was heading over to Bankstown to pick up a photobook, and I realised I could nip over to the Vinnies real quick, if I parked in the Target carpark. Do you do that? Plan your weekly shopping around which Op Shops you'd like to go to? Sometimes if I need to quickly get something from Woolies, I might head over to Chester Hill Woolies (not my closest) so that I can take a peek at their Salvos. {cheeky smile}. Or if I'm going to Spotty I might "Drop By" Lidcombe Salvos for a look-see too! {hiding face into shirt}. Ok, I just plan my week around Op Shops, lets face it.
So, back to Bankstown.... You have to run, if you're going there from the Shopping Centre, cos it's not too safe. Ok, well, that's not true. It's much safer than going to the Smith Family store, cos it's really in the crime centre of town and I was soooooo uncomfy going there. I was praying hard for protection as I passed many a seedy looking drug addict and dodgy looking loiterer around the station. It was a crap Op Shop too, so I risked my life for nothing! {smirk} No wonder Willy always bangs on: "Be Careful!" when I go to Bankstown or Auburn or Guildford, It was scary! Apologies if you live in Bankstown. And Hello! Cos we're Neighbours {wink!}

This week at Vinnies I did find some gems, however, so Yay! {chest bump}. Felicity (my sis) has been looking for a big Silver Coffee Pot for Sienna's Birthday Party and was going to bid on one on eBay, but they were going for $30. Bankstown, being the ethnic capital it is, was filled with Silver Coffee Pots (like they have about 20!) and this one was on sale for $10 cos it has a little ding in the side. {pfffew! It's nothing!} And I found these 3 tiny tiny teaspoons too. They are only about 7cm long. So cute! Felicity was chuffed with the pot & she's not just going to use it for Sienna's birthday, but it's going to be their new "Tea Party" pot for playing with. How luxurious!
I also scored the cool floral sheet in the background for $5 and some antique silver cheese knives for $1 each {high five!}
Did you find anything cool this week?
:) C

Vintaging with Felicity

Hi y'all!
2 weeks ago I was invited to do some Vintaging with Felicity! Well, really it went like this:
Fliss: "I want to go Op Shopping with You.". Me: "YES!" {quickly googles a list of Op Shops in Fliss's area}. 5 nanoseconds later... "I have our schedule ready.. we're visiting 4 shops next Tuesday..." LOL! You don't have to ask me twice to come on an Op Shopping adventure!
We visited Salvos and Vinnies at Seven Hills, Vinnies at Doonside and Salvos at North Parramatta. That takes my total Op Shops visited since last August, to over 55! Whoa, that's a lot of vintage {hands smacking against cheeks in amazement!} My best finds were at the Salvos at Seven Hills, which is massive. I must remember to go back there! All of this stuff I got at that one shop! {score!} The white Pyrex snowflake dish was $3 which was a TOTAL STEAL! It's never been used either, cos it still has the original sticker stuck on the inside of it! Awesome {high five!} It's so pretty and I already have 3 pieces in this pattern, but none this big, so it's a nice addition to my collection!
The plastic "ball clown" spoke to me, so I had to buy him! I hate clowns (usually) so it was amazing that this guy got the green light to go into my shopping basket! But there was something about him. I think we might have had one when I was a baby {questioning look?} Mum? Did we? He was in a bag of crap plastic mchappy meal-type toys which was $3.50 for the whole bag. When I took it to the counter I said I was happy to pay the $3.50 but that I would be re- donating the other toys straight away cos I didn't want them. The nice lady behind the counter said I could have the clown for $1 then & put the other toys back on the shelf. Bargain {hugs to the lady!} He's total vintagey and i love his little plastic hat with the frill. He has a sweet face too (unusually for a clown!)
And then I found a bag of sewing notions & it was $4.50 for the lot. Look Yvette, I've got my own British Snaps now, you don't need to give me any!! The bag had so many little vintage sewing goodies like snaps, bra hook & eyes and buttons! As well as the plastic "Dress me up" dolls still in packaging! Apparently you can pin or staple clothes to their soft bodies, so says the packaging. Staple? That's a bit industrial isn't it?! Can't you just sew them clothes? LOL!{giggles} I LOVE vintage type/fonts, so these packagings are just what I like. They are heading straight for my (real) pinboard (not just pinterest!) in my scrap space.
The bright coloured tulip sheet underneath it all, I got at Salvos Seven Hills too. All in all we had a fun day! I only got a scarf (why do I always want to spell it "Scalf"?) and another sheet (which I forgot to photograph!) at the other Op Shops, I was quite restrained after my awesome haul at the first one!
Thanks for inviting me to Op Shop with you Fliss, it was so much fun!!
:) C

Project 365 Collages 5 & 6

Hi Y'all!
Hey look, I'm at home and sitting at the computer, what a rare treat! Well, that's not entirely true. I have been on the computer a fair bit lately, but it's all been to book our NZ trip for March. Hooray {party hooters going off}! We got our airfares through the Travel Agent last Friday and I've spent the weekend and this week researching and booking all our accommodation. I'm looking forward to it! Tho, lets be honest here, my bid was in to go to Disneyland again. But Will and his sensible mind wanted to go somewhere that would be easy to take Jaimeson (ie. at 10 months he's not really going to enjoy Space Mountain as much as me) and that we could enjoy as a family, and Will has wanted to go to NZ for a while so I gave in and we're off to NZ for 2 weeks on March 10. I have been to the South Island back in 2005, but never the North Island and we're doing both on a whirlwind family driving adventure. And secretly, I am looking forward to it, a lot! I've marked out all the Kiwi Op Shops and everything {giggles!}
So here was the recent Project 365 Pics:17: My sister Yvette and niece Tassy visited Sydney and I was lucky to get some time to pick them up before their bus left, and visit some shops in the City, including Vinnies at Newtown, Made590 and Mitchell Road Antiques. It was almost as if she lived in Sydney and we had just popped out for the day. So much fun! I wish you did live nearby Yvette! {hugs!}
18:Jaimeson and I headed over to my sister Felicity's house for a card making day, as both Felicity's children were at Preschool (Sienna's first days at Preschool ever, so it was a big thing!) Jai slept for almost 3 hours so we got heaps of cards made. {High five!}
19: Another sociable occasion for us, Jaimeson and I met up with our friends Meleah and Claire at a local shopping centre for a coffee. Meleah and I are both whities, but our husbands are not, so it was so humorous for us to have people look at our half Asian, and half Sri Lankan, children then look at us with a surprised face. LOL!
20: flights to NZ are booked!
21: Just a lazy Saturday at home for Jaimeson and I, hanging out watching TV! We needed it after our very busy and sociable week! Phew! {wiping hand across forehead}
22: it's Council Cleanup time so Willy and I dived headfirst into cleaning out the shed! Do you have Council Cleanup in your neighbourhood? It's the BEST thing ever! I love getting rid of crap and seeing what crap of mine people pick up! It's highly amusing people watching at Council Cleanup time! And we've gotten some awesome things at cleanup time! (lounge, futon, single chair, bedside table, big toy sand truck for Jai, outdoor chairs etc etc!) My MIL is a hoarder of chairs and plastic bags, so we liberated her of some {wink!}
23: I was out doing the grocery shopping when my old High School friend Monique texted to say she was in Sydney for the day so could we meet up. (Nothing like a last minute text!) So I quickly rushed home, threw the cold groceries in the fridge, fed Jai and jumped on a train into the city. Luckily Jai is so easy going and just goes with the flow. What a good boy! It was so lovely to see her!
24: Felicity and I had an Op Shopping Day today and here she is with her bounty! She really wanted to go check out the Op Shops after all of Yvette's and my success getting some gems! We visited 4 shops and also had Pancakes at the Rocks (Northmead) for lunch. YUMMO! We had some success and she came away happy with what she got (me too!) and it was a lovely day to hang out together. I haven't driven her around for years so it was nice even just to chat while we drove around! LOL! {hugs}.
So that's my days! Better get back to booking {sigh!}
:) C

New Years Resolution.... RESOLVED!!!

Yes, with the completion of this page I have managed to kick the butt of my New Year's Resolution!!! I resoluted (resolved??) to use up 20% of my Patterned Paper stash and scraps pile. That's right, I originally had to use 54 patterned papers without buying any more, which initially blew out to 89 papers cos my self control hadn't kicked in and I kept buying papers! But on Wednesday, it happened...... I DID IT!! Are you proud?? I am, cos when I started I realised it was a really daunting prospect for me, I only did 68 pages last year and so to use up 89 papers was gonna be hard! But I did it {happy dance!!} I'm even one paper ahead! I am really looking forward to getting some more new, fresh papers but I do want to use up some more of my stash before then. It's very theraputic to be using through stuff that I have hoarded for years!! Wow, it's like a weight off my shoulders!
A bit about the page: the title is actually a linen swing tag that came on a cute top I bought in Grafton! I loved the tag and knew I wanted to use it on a page and when this pic came along I knew it was perfect!! The OLD on this page is the heart lace cardstock, the fozz felt, the slide holder, the rub on flowers and the "bestfriends" and "family" stickers. I love my sisters! Thanks for always being there for me and for making our Engagement Party special and for all your help with the party too MWAH {kissing noise!}
:) C

Bumpin' Along to the End of the Week!

Hooray that it's friday tomorrow... YYYYAAAYYYY!! But man, how the weeks are flying by these days. It is only 2 weeks til our engagement party, that time has so flown.. come back!! There are only 7 months left of me being a Kingman & I'm gonna miss my name :( But I'll become a Lam, so thats quite nice too (I'm happy it's not a scary unprenouncable Asian name like "Ng", I don't think I'd cope with that! Or something Indonesian like "Supaporn" and yes, I have seen that name come through work a few times and have imagined how much that poor person must get ridiculed at school!). I'm looking forward to the day we can have some Lil' Lams of our own too. LOL!!

Talking about Lil' Lams... I finally got to scrap some pics of Felicity's emerging bump {sweet!} She only just seemed to pop out, and with only 9wks to go she's looking so fab!! I have been saving this so sweet PP for ages and it went perfectly with Fliss's pretty top! I also used the last one of my blue MM half artisan shapes from the notebook which I had been "saving" for a special page. And I felt this was special enough to break it out! (I'm such a duschbag sometimes, hoarding all my stuff!) The cream paper under the pics is a Chatterbox one I got from Yvette, it's embossed in silver foil and is SOOOO pretty! Bummer it didn't come out in the pic. The OLD on this page is the pink fozz felt flowers, the heart felt cut out, the heart sticker, blue tab and the rub ons. Thanks Yvette for giving me the idea to punch out the AC owl paper, cos I had no idea how I was going to use those cute as owls on a LO cos the paper is SO busy with them!

I hope you've all had a super week so far, I'm so looking forward to the working week ending!!

:) C

Twas a fun day had by all (two of us)..

Thanks for coming over Fliss!! I had so much fun :) All the crap is still set up on my table though... I think I should pack that up sometime!

Here are our creations for the day... I'll start with Fliss's cards cos she beat me. (Yes, it's an informal comp to see who makes the most whenever we get together! Thanks Dad for the competitive spirit!) I'll point out that I did make lunch at the end, so I may have been at a slight disadvantage time wise! Lol! She made these beautiful Boy cards with Stampin Up PPs and Pumpkin pie/Bashful Blue cardstock (not sure what that green one is.. what a bad SU demo!!)I love that she has adopted my "make one, make two" mantra, it's the best!!

And then she went on to make these 2 sweet-as Girl cards with the deer from SU Forest Friends on Pretty in Pink card, oh it is the most adorable deer!! The BG PP is one of her faves so she made the images small so you'd still be able to see the PP. They are beautiful cards Felicity! Great work!! I'm so glad you got 5 made, that will plump up your supplies a bit!

And then here are my 3 measly cards! I wanted to use up the Butterfly and Ladybug from my AC set- the only 2 left in the box- and I am so proud to say... the box is empty and in the bin! WOO HOO!! Also I used my new Basic Grey clear stamps from the show together with "be Cool" sentiment which I've had for a while now. I love that combo!! Lol. The BG stamps were $9 Yvette, it's a small set though, so prob not the same ones you saw! I hope not anyway, cos $27 is a total rip off!

Lunch was delish too! The pizza was so filling and yummy :) We ate it all! I am so stuffed now! Going out for tea with my work friends for "Two Birthdays and an Engagement" (think: 4 weddings and a funeral!) to Restaurant 3one7 at Parra. I'm going to roll home I think!!

Thanks for a great day of Relaxing tea, cardmaking and lunch Felicity, I had so much fun and it was great to entertain you at my place for once!!

:) C

Anyone else want to drop by?!

Hello!

I am super excited this morning (hence it's 8:35 and I've been up for over 40 mins!) cos my sis Felicity is coming over for stamping play! Would you like to come too? I set up the table last night, it is covered in stamps, ink, punches, brads, ribbons, cutters, stamp 'n write markers etc! I'll put on a movie and we're gonna have some fun fun fun!

I have also bought a pizza base for lunch and I'm about to go roast some sweet potato, eggplant and capsicum to go on it with the fetta, chicken, basil, semi dried tomatoes and mozzarella I already have. Sound ok? :)

Yvette, we're saving you a seat! You know if you leave now you can still make it for lunch!

:) C

P.s. Alicia is in the US right now for work and I have asked her to look for this Martha Stewart spider web punch... I hope she can find it for me! I think it is WAY cool! If she does I'll be making her (now annual) Halloween Party invites with it! We have already been discussing what to dress up as, I've got one piece of my outfit already (heheheh!) and a piece of jewellery to go with it too. I know it's not til Oct, but I'm excited already!

Oh, so early... am I awake yet?

Hey y'all. I'm Up and At-om {giggles thinking of that Simpson's episode} already and it's only 7:30. You know it's way too early for me so this may be a short post!

We were super busy again at work last night, being 4 ppl down all day and with Will and I not doing OT (they never survive without us!) They shut down my sub-department so they could use my staff and then I had a staffer call in sick this morning so I decided to wake up early and head into work early. Early for me is to start at 8am, so I"m sorry if thats your normal start time but I don't cope too well with it! And I'll probably end up working 12hrs or more too, oh, the pain, I'm feeling it already!!

Share time! This is a page I finished on Friday about my sisters and a couple of reasons why I love them! There are more, but they couldn't all fit on the page {wink!}. I wish the pic was bigger but I don't print my pics at home and I had originally printed it this size and wasn't inspired by any other pics in my collection so I had to scrap this one! I picked up a whole bunch of scraps off my desk to embellish this page- the semi-transparent bird I found fallen down the back of my desk when I took out my sewing machine the other day! The little scalloped spotty bit, the stamped circle, the big silver brad and the ribbon were all little bits found around the top of my desk! It's nice to have them out and on a page now! Do you like the Martha Stewart Doily edge punch at the top of the flower paper? Alicia got it in America for me, I love it! Sorry for the terrible pic, I've found it really hard to take nice pics in the bad weather lately. Plus now with Daylight saving over it gets dark before I get home from work! Boo Hoo!!

Well, better run off to work now, hope your week started well!

:) C

A Weekend Treat

Wow, I have been super busy the last 2 days and didn't get to do my normal breakfast post! I was going to post last night when I got home from work but my friends and I ended up driving into the city at Midnight and getting Harry's Cafe De Wheels pies. It's such a fun thing to do- be spontaneous and head into the city just cos one person is a bit hungry!! There is always some interesting group of people there, the fully sik guys in their hotted-up doosh doosh cars, the Tokyo-Style Asians, drunk people (we even saw a drunk guy one time order his pie then go around the side of the caravan and wee against it, only about 2m away from us. We were like... "EWWW!!! He's peeing on your caravan!!", the pie people couldn't believe it!! And this wasn't a kid, it was a middle aged man in a suit!! And yes he did come back and pick up his pie like nothing had happened!!) Last night it was the Harley Davidson crowd, man they are sooooo loud!! No way would I want to live in the vicinity of Harry's, it's mayhem!
Anywho... back to the pages...
Here is the 4th LO I finished at Yvette's, it's from Felicity's Birthday last year. She had a black and white party, but as the guest of honour she wore a beautiful red top. It was awesome to see everyone dressed just in B&W and it seemed like a great theme cos everyone has something black or white they could wear! I had heaps of fun dressing up and Fliss said I looked super funky {curtsying to the compliment!!}.
The felt frame I got at the Stitches and Craft show from Memories2remember, I got the tiny collection of chipboard shapes there too in a grab bag of goodies for $2.50, such a bargain. That American Crafts filligree paper is one of my faves at the moment, it's such beautiful colours and a great pattern, I love clean graphic prints like that! Hence I love that KI black and white circles paper too!

And as a gift to you, here is the 5th page I did cos I was so slack in posting these last 2 days!! It shows pics from my friend's housewarming where we went crazy on the karaoke mike!! This thing is amazing.. you just plug it into the TV and all the computery stuff is located within the Mike and you have thousands of songs to choose from on the computer chip in the mike and you can update the chips anytime! So cool!! It has taken me a little while to get comfy singing in front of my friends, but I go crazy now! We were choosing songs for each other to sing, it was hillarious! I've got a Hen's Night House Party tonight and the Hen owns this mike so we'll be "going off!!" I'm sure!! {giggling in anticipation!}
I really just made this page so I could use my Rock Star Rub ons by Creative Imaginations!! Lol!
:) C

New stuff = Happy Me :)

So I finally made a page with my new scrappin stuff! It was a fully hectic weekend again (not as in fully sik); I went with one of my sisters down to Wollongong for Father's Day {hi Dad!! waving and wondering if he ever reads my blog!}. Then we came back Sunday and ended up spending the afternoon shopping (under the pretence that she was shopping for things to take overseas with her.. yeah right!). A pair of jeans, 2 bags, a singlet and a cardi later (all for me!) and I vowed not to go shopping with her for a while! She's a killer for my Credit Card ("oh but that is so you... its so cute...it fits you so well.. this is perfect for you... that's straight from Top Shop" etc etc)! Although she did manage to find a pair of black pants without dragging me around 25 stores and trying on 65 pairs that I thought looked exactly the same ("these are too short, I didn't want a pocket there, the waist band is too wide, the waist band is too narrow, I don't like the belt loops, I wanted straight leg, the fly is too short.." etc. Some of you may have guessed which sister I am referring to!)
So after all that, there was no time for scrappin!

Sometime later I managed this page:

So, whaddaya think? Lol. Pink and blue, love it! There are a few new things here.. the flower journalling spot, Maya Road owl rub on, cool Doodlebug letter stickers, heart sticker from Sass Lass, the pink KI lace cardstock and the tiny arrow rub on (Cosmo Cricket- I love it cos on the back of the pack it says Acid Free, lignen free, sugar free, fat free... HAHAHA!! No joke, go read your packet!) The BG paper is by SEI and I got in a value pack at the Darling Harbour show in June- 24 pieces $12- total bargain cos I really love them! I wish the stand was at the Stitches and Craft but they weren't {sad sad face}. So anywho, this was the page. Ok, so it doesn't showcase a whole lot of new product, but I'm going to be honest... I just bought the new product to add to my stash so I can have some pretty things to look through now and then, and to admire the beautiful stuff as it clogs up my desk. That's what you do with new stuff isn't it Mum? I think I learnt that from you :)

:) C

P.s. Notice my Hawaiian tan in the pic!! Sweet! Take me back there!!

Thief Alert!

To the person who's Mojo I stole... I'm so so sorry, but so so thankful!! I have no idea what's happening, but I just finished this layout in under 1 hour- that is totally not me! And look how much work is in it! Usually I sit and shuffle for hours, or leave it all set up on my desk and do other stuff and come back to it now and then.. but this one I just sat down, grabbed some photos, grabbed some scraps of paper that were on my desk and it all fell together. I love that! {happy dance!}
I even hand drew and cut the tree and drew the "growing" lines on it (what are those things called?) The leaf stamp is from a retired Stampin Up set called Paint Prints, I always thought I'd use the flowers from the set but I never have and I have used the leaf and the block stamp in the set heaps! Loving that Maya Road Owl stamp too :) I know the papers on this page are way old (I have had them for at least 4 years!) but they suited the colours of the photo really well and I like the way it turned out! And now they are no longer clogging up my scraps stash so woop-ee!! I even had that red outer frame piece already cut sitting on my desk from another project that I never started- how amazing that it fit so well with this page! Can you tell I'm a bit pleased with myself? {chuckling} Cos I finished a page and Dr Phil hasn't even started yet!
So, I'm sorry if if was your Mojo, but please can I keep it for a little longer? I'm really enjoying it!
:) C

So Happy Together....

I just love these pics of Felicity and Cooper from Friday's photo shoot. They are so happy hanging out together, lots of smiles, cuddles and kisses!

I wanted to use all 8 pics on the layout so it's a bit crammed in, but they are all so beautiful I couldn't decide which ones to leave out!

The journal spot is a piece from the Making Memories spiral notebook which I cut in half for the title and the journalling. It's only the first one I've used from that book, I love the scallop shaped ones the best but this fit so well with the layout that I had to use it. Isn't it funny when you buy something for one particular piece and then use all the other bits first!! I do that a lot (maybe it's just me {shrugging shoulders}).

I love the red felt word "cherish" {happily stroking the felt}, they're so fuzzy and cute and a great font! The title letters are Velvet thickers, so fuzzy also but they lose their fuzz all over the page which is a bit annoying! The BG paper is actually blue diamonds but it's so pale and the light is terrible to take pics here at the moment, so you'll have to believe me! There is also a clear acrylic slide on the ribbon which says "Little One", its so sweet and looks cute IRL even though you can't really see it here.

Hope you're weekend was peachy!

:) C