Deliciousness :)

Hello! And goodbye to the end of the weekend.. how did another one pass by so quickly?! I did get some more Christmas shopping done today with my sister Alicia, but didn't manage to get the tree up which was on my list of to-do's!

Felicity's Stampin Up party on Saturday was great and the ladies had so much fun making the Ice Cream cards! Felicity and I even continued on and made another few Ice Cream cards after the party cos we were enjoying it so much! I made these delicious Apple, Almond & Maple Cupcakes for the Party from my favourite Woman's Weekley Cupcake cookbook. It's supposed to be Pecans but I substituted Slivered almonds and they were delicious :)

Then I was on a roll and made some funky desserts for Will and I tonight. They are Chocolate Mousse with raspberries, whipped cream and a kit kat stuck in. YUM!! I don't know why I was so lazy but I decided to buy already whipped cream (not in the can though!!) so I didn't have to whip it myself {feeling extra lazy in hindsight!}. I bought Gippsland Dairy ready to serve fresh whipped cream in a tub, and I have to say it was delicious!! I recommend this one if you don't have time to whip over Christmas :) It's much more real than the aerosol cream, Lol! But beware... there may be a scary face lurking around your dessert!

Back to the working week tomorrow...

Hope you all had a good weekend!!

:) C

Tart and Tangy Lickable Cards!

Ooohh, I just LOVE these Ice Cream cards! I saw them on Splitcoast Stampers and knew that I had to try them for myself! They use the Tart and Tangy set (only available from Stampin Up til Nov 30, so order NOW if you want it!!) and are just so much fun to make! I am demo-ing them tomorrow at Fliss's SU party, I can't wait to share my excitement! I love love love them :) They look exactly like Splice Ice Creams!! YUM!!
I used my new SU Markers (available seperatly only til Nov 30 also, so it's a great time to put an order in!!) to make the top of the strawberry green and the body red. It's the first time I've used the markers and they are so much fun! I am just imagining all the different colours I can make all my stamps!! Its endless! I also made a Lime card too, I'm going to go and make the Cherry card and Apple card too! Lol. I want to make Ice Cream cards all day long! I used a video by Angie Kennedy Juda to understand the best way to put the card together, but you can pretty much imagine how to do it from the pic. They are super easy and so cool, especially with the "bite" out of the corner! I can't wait to have a Summer Party and use them for invitations!
:) C

Celebrate with Style- and a few 3D stickers too :)

Hello! I have been AWOL this week, I can't believe I haven't posted since last friday! The week has just flown by without me noticing. I think it's only going to get worse on the lead up to Christmas too!! Oh no!!

Mum's Sale was a Success {clapping hands and toasting with a glass of bubbly} which makes us all very happy! It's great to see all the beautiful craft stuff she makes going off to a new home in the hands of a happy customer! I did well too, selling over 20 cards, which has free-ed up my box a little and so now I can make more!

I have a mountain of 3D stickers. I love them. At last count (which was about a year ago) I had over 100 packets. Yep, thats right... 100!!! I shudder to think how many I have now. But lately I have been very controlled and I haven't bought any for ages {patting self on back}. However, I am also trying to work through the plethora that I still have. I do really like using them on cards (I imagine some people think it is cheating cos I didn't stamp and colour the image, but who cares! Lol) and there are some gorgeous 3D stickers out there!

So here are 2 cards I made recently using stickers and only a little stamping.. Hope you like them! The sentiment is from Hero Arts and is the most used one from the whole birthday set!

Did you know Christmas is less than 1 month away now! Whoa!!

:) C

Woo Hoo Friday!

So happy to have no OT today (you may have guessed, I'm at work a lot) cos it's already been a productive day and Oprah's not even on yet {happy dance cos I've still got a little time before work!}. Already today I have made 2 cards and 4 packets of Christmas Food Treats tags for Mum's sale (nothing like cramming at the last minute!) And I plan on doing a little more after I finish my cup of coffee and Banana Walnut Loaf that I made {delicious too, toasted with a little butter! Yum!!}

Here are a couple of cards I made for Felicity's friend who had a combined baby shower for 2 ladies, hence the cards had to be different, but I had only about an hour to make them both! lol. See, I do work well with the last minute cramming!

I love using my cuttlebug to make a plain piece of paper, like the yellow BG, into something really sweet! And the Swiss Dots embossing folder is so perfect for a sweet baby card! Neither of the girls know the sex of their baby so they had to be not pink or blue!

It's Mum's craft sale tomorrow, which is always a fun day! My 3 sisters and I always go to help her out cos it's a garden party afternoon tea also (the kind with lots of delicious cakes and the best china!) and that way Mum gets to socialise a bit more with her friends. It's gonna be especially more fun this year cos Yvette is coming up! We love being all together so I'm really looking forward to it!

:)

C

A little creativity today..

No OT today so the plan was to finish off some things for Mum's Craft Sale this Saturday. I started these cute little cupcakes about 2 weeks ago, felting them with hand dyed wool roving I got at the Alumny Creek Markets in Grafton, but that's as far as they had got. So today I set about sewing the button and beads on, stuffing and blanket stitching the edges and... it took FOREVER!! So much for them being fun and quick {feeling stupid now}. I was supposed to finish off 2 birds I have felted too but I can't be bothered, how bad is that!! They are actually quite small, only about 5cm wide, so were very fiddly. Why did I make them so small? I dunno!! I made up the pattern from scratch cos I thought they'd make cute little hangers, and I also stitched a pin on the back so you can pin it onto bags/shirts etc.
I have sequinned these cute little Christmas Puddings for Mum's sale too, which I find actually very theraputic to do in front of the TV! As long as you take note not to drop any pins on the lounge cos they can be quite painful to sit on. I did sequin them in bed watching TV the other day and woke up with a sequin stuck to my face {giggling}. The hazards of crafting!
:) C

Check it out.. I'm Back again!

So.. did you miss me? Lol, I certainly missed having a working computer! I drove around for 3 hours this morning (thankfully, my car has air con cos it's 30 degrees here) and saught out a new computer screen and Yay, I got one! I don't like to miss out on a bargain (the reason why I drove around for 3 hours and went to 7 places!!) and am happy to say I got a fantastic one.. if only I can get this damn widescreen to look right now.. why is everything so fat? Lol {sigh}.

So here's the page I wanted to post the other day when my computer decided to have a spazz...
Yes, it's Will modelling this year's latest fashion... Fish and Chips. He really was having a great time on holidays! I am happy to say this is another paper that has spent a very long time in my stash and I'm totally happy to have it out!
It's my work Christmas party at Star City tomorrow night! I am so excited, it's always good fun and work pays for all the food and drink so it makes for a super night! This year a whole bunch of my friends and I got a room so the girls are going in early to enjoy the City View with some nibbles as we get ready! Yay.. I'm so excited!
Sorry it's such a short post after a week of no posts, but I'm sooooo busy today!
:) C

Don't miss me too much....

Yes, I'm on another blog holiday.. but it's not by my own doing!!
My computer screen died last night (in a dazzling display of blinking lights and flashing screen) which means no computering for me til I can get a new one! I am thinking of getting a whole new computer since mine is 4.5yrs old and that's about the whole lifespan of a computer these days {who'd have thought they don't live forever?! Damn Microsoft and them forcing us to buy new products every few years!} and I've totally run out of memory and have deleted all my superfluous stuff (like ridiculously funny emails of monkeys).
"How are you blogging to us right now?" I hear you ask.. I had to resort to coming into work on a Sunday :( {ew ew ew} and alas, we can't access the internet on a normal working day so woe is me.. and this blog.. til I can get a new screen/computer. And I've even done a page and some cards to upload too! Hopefully I can get a new computer soon and we'll be back on track!
Bye bye, for a few days at least!
:) C

Last Holiday Page... and it's Sweet!

We couldn't miss out on a visit to the Big Banana this trip and it makes a fun Scrappin subject! I had fun looking through my stash for lots of bright elements to use on this page (which I did while still on hols {love that!}) I used more of my favourite Colorbok Life is Sweet range (so happy I bought so many co-ordinating pieces!)- the epoxy shapes, stickers, "Sweet" word and frame are all from this series. I had to use the 100% Organic sticker, just for a laugh!! hahah.

[As an aside, I'm watching Labyrinth while I type this and it's up to the bit with those freaky red puppets whose heads pop off and on... they always freaked me out and I still hate them now! I remember having to leave the room when they came on when I was little, cos I was so scared of them! Love David Bowie's hair though, its awesome!]

One last holiday pic:

How pretty is Lighthouse Beach in Port Macquarie? We went for a drive out to the lighthouse right at sunset and it was gorgeous. I'm not sure if you can see in this pic but the ocean was Full of surfers- there must have been about 30-40 just sitting waiting for the perfect wave!

Hope you're having a good weekend! I've done one page already and am just generally slothing otherwise! It's awesome!

:) C

A holiday Poser

I found out how especially cool it is to scrap pictures from your holiday, while you're still on holidays! Lol! Here is a page I scrapped while we were still at Port Macquarie, of Willy being a weirdo on the Beach at Darlington Park. As soon as I picked up my camera he did this pose! Lol, such a funny guy.

If you're looking at this PP thinking "I think I used to have that paper, a few years ago though" then you'd be right. Man I have had it for EVER!! But I liked it's bold colours so it stayed in my stash and it finally suited this beach page quite well! The foam thickers "waves" under the title I thought I would never use and look, here they are! Woo Hoo!

And our holiday pics today are from Grafton (my hometown) where it happened to be Jacaranda Festival time when we were there. You might have seen from Yvette's pages that we traditionally had a family portrait (by Dad) in See Park under the Jacaranda's every year. Will and I kinda kept up the tradition with some fun snaps under the magnificent Jacaranda trees of See Park. Aren't they beautiful!!

And then lastly, some ducks. Well, there were waddling ever so cutely around in the fallen Jacaranda flowers so they were worthy of a pic too! Shake your tail feather little guy!

:) C

Fresh Hair

Is there anything that feels quite as good as a fresh hair cut? I always wonder why I wait so long to have one, cos the minute I get one I LOVE the feel of my hair and spend a few hours swishing it around! Of course, I can never do it exactly as well as they do at the salon, but that's what makes getting your hair cut really special, and not just routine.

Yvette gave me this sheet of Sass Lass paper cos I {heart} owls so much and she had 2 sheets of it. I didn't have a clue what kind of photos I could use that would go with it, and so just decide to do a page on something "everyday" that I like having done. A little daily snapshot, rather than a special event or holiday. The page had to include some thickers (Hat Box, by American Crafts), Lil' Davis outline letters and my favourite green and white spotty paper. It's almost all used up but I really like seeing it on pages in my album instead of hiding it away in my stash!

And then for the holiday pics:

Will and I went fishing at Lake Wooloweyah one afternoon during our stay at Yamba. I had only ever seen the Lake from the lookout at Maclean (which is about 20km away!!) so I was keen to head out and have a look close up. It turned out to be a really beautiful, peaceful, picturesque spot where I relaxed, reading my book and taking pics of Willy and he set up 3 fishing rods hoping for a catch. He wasn't disappointed, cos he caught a Bream!! He was sooo excited as he was easing it into shore and cheered when he realised it was big enough to keep and eat! Keep an eye out for a page of it (it's still in my head, but hopefully I'll get around to making it sometime!!) I had fun basking in the late afternoon sunshine and felt totally on holidays as I watched the sun set over the lake. What a perfect day it was!

:) C

What a Cutie!!

Page number 3 from holidays is about a cute little guy and the cute little outfit I bought him in Hawaii! Man Cooper has grown so fast, but I'm pleased to say I saw him get plenty of wear out of these cute little trackies and comfy top from Carters. I love the little penguins and was sold by the fact it says "I'm Cool!" How awesome is that! I especially love the tiny My First Volley's that I bought before he was even born, I love baby shoes so much and have a little collection of my own!! The gorgeous Nike hat is courtesy of Aunty Alicia and completes this cool boy's look! I had to stock up on some new boy papers cos my stash has always been pretty minimal and since doing pages of Cooper it's pretty non-existant! Now if only people would invite me to a wedding every weekend for the next year I might finish my stash of "sweet, romantic" papers too!

Now for some holiday snaps:
This is Will and I at the lookout at Maclean (in the Northern Rivers of NSW if you're an out-a-towner!) I love this lookout, it has the most beautiful views across the Clarence Valley and out to the Pacific Ocean. I think we are blocking the view of Yamba though, which is where we were heading. Look at that gorgeous weather, now can you imagine swimming, fishing, shopping, lazing by the pool etc in that weather for 2 weeks?

Yep, it was bliss!

And here is my crazy guy doing his "Cabbage Patch Kid" face. Have I mentioned that Will is extremely hard to take pics of?! His usual face is a clenched teeth scowl, which he calls a smile, or a cheesy grin with one eye shut. At least with these sunnies on you can't tell if he's shut his eyes! But this CPK smile is a Willy special, and at least it makes me laugh. Believe it or not, this happens to be his smile on his licence.. and he's stuck with it for 5 years! HAHAHAHAHA {massive belly laugh!} Life is not boring with Will!

:) C

Page #2 from my Holiday Scrappin

Check it out! It's the second page I did while Will and I were away on our Road Trip/Beach Holiday Adventure and it's of the most delicious American snack ever!! It's me eating a Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll, and look at the pure bliss on my face!!. These rolls are beyond belief, so soft and silky, it's like eating velvet! Only with a delicious Cinnamon flavour :)

I used a Kaisercraft paper for the BG, with some snippets of other fave papers by Sass Lass and American Crafts. And I got to use the knife and fork motifs from my American Crafts thicker shapes pack.. I thought I'd never use them!! {chuckles to self}. The journalling is on a MM Noteworthy journal piece (they have been the best buy, I love them!!) and I embellished with a Doodlebug paper frill (from Yvette... thanks!!) and the Life Is Sweet sticker is from my new favourite Colorbok line by the same name. I love all that line so much! Keep your eyes peeled for more of that line in some up coming pages ;)

Now for some more holiday snaps... We had great weather for all but 2 days on our 2 week trip, but unfortunately Darlington Park served up some of it's best weather for us, which included hail. Yep Hail!! The size of Cricket Balls too (did you see it on the news?) DP is famous for hail, when we were there in about 1985 they had the biggest hail storm I've ever seen which stripped the trees of leaves, killed all the birds, punched holes in the tops of caravans, smashed skylights (including the one in our caravan), smashed car windows and dented everything that couldn't get undercover. Well, this hail storm wasn't quite that bad but we did quickly run out and put every single material item from out cabin over the car- this was 2 blankets, 4 doonas, 1 comforter and 6 towels. Will started to take the sheets out too, but I was like "We need something dry!!" The car didn't end up with any damage but others in the park had smashed windscreens and some minor dings.

I love this pic of Will enjoying the storm, cos he certainly wasn't enjoying it when the massive hail was pelting down on his car!!
:) C

I'M BAAAAACKKKK!!!!!

{Sob Sob Sob, boo hoo!!} Yes, I'm back from hols :) and we had an AWESOME time!! It was sooo relaxing and we had heaps of fun hanging out, fishing, swimming, shopping, watching TV, catching up with old friends and generally enjoying being out of Sydney!! I just thought I'd post a quickie before heading off to Alicia's to check out the fantastic decorations from her Halloween Party that I missed out on last night (bummer, cos it sounded like fun!)

I'll share the pages (as well as some fun stories) from our trip over the next few posts so be sure to check back and see all the cool stuff we got up to!

This was the first page I completed on holidays, it's of my favourite feathered friend "Mr Puffy" who comes to visit me on the verandah here at Brownville (I tell you what, it was nice to get out of Brownville for a while, and into the wide open country with all it's colour!! I miss the wide open spaces, and cows!! Lol!) I used 2 specialty papers by Chatterbox- brown embossed and cream glittered, that Yvette gave me {hugs!} and I scalloped the bottom edge of the cream one with my Threading Water punch. They are beautiful papers and their texture is cool to touch. I love the artisan shape too, which came on a sheet of cowboy die cuts I got in America in 2006 (happy to have that out of the collection and into an album!!) The big swirl is from the same collection. Oooh, a double whammy for that die cut sheet!!

I wanted to share this favourite pic from our holidays, which is of Will and I all dressed up for our friend's wedding in Maitland. We stayed at Maddie's B&B at Bolwarra, which was lovely, and they have the most beautiful gardens out the back with this flagstone covered walkway and amazing gates. One of our friends took this pic (with some creative direction from me, LOL) and it is one of my fave's from that day. So beautiful! The difference in heights of Will's and my bum is hillarious!! {grasping tummy with laughter!} I love the pic anyway :)
Oh, back to work tomorrow {utter sadness that holidays are over}.

:) C