A Christy Production

Giveaway!

2012-03-01T19:13:00.002+10:00

Hey everyone :) Just wanted to let you all know I have started my giveaway over on my new Facebook business page! Pop on over and like my page, and join in!!

Stampin' Up! "Elementary Elegance" stamp set.

Good luck :)

Caramelised Onion Rissoles

2012-03-01T11:52:00.000+10:00

If I haven't made it clear in the past, let me make it clear now. I. Hate. Cooking. I wish I was wealthy and could hire someone to tend to my every eating and meal desire. But reality is, I have to cook every so often to keep husby happy. We often eat eggs on toast for dinner. Frozen dinners. Oh so healthy I hear you saying!! But I do cook on occasion, and sometimes my knowledge of flavour combinations surprises me.

Now I bought some lovely fresh bread rolls at the shops this week so decided homemade burgers was a good idea. So I defrosted my beef mince and somehow managed to come up with this SUPER tasty awesome excellent delicious makes you want to eat ten of them rissole recipe. :) Enjoy!

Caramelised Onion Rissoles

500g beef mince

1 large onion, diced small

1 tbspn minced garlic

1 tbspn raw sugar

1 tspn vegetable stock powder

4 tbspn fried shallots (found in Asian section)

2 eggs

Polenta

Plain flour

Cook your onion, garlic and raw sugar over a low heat, stirring regularly until the onion is soft and caramelised. Then in a large bowl combine the onion, mince, vegetable stock, dried shallots, and 2 eggs. Mix well, and add Polenta until consistency is right. Then roll into balls and cover in flour. Cook over a medium heat with a little bit of olive oil in the pan.

Add it to a fresh bread roll and some salad and get some of that into ya!! Mmmm!

But wait, there's more!

2012-02-26T15:14:00.002+10:00

So I have a blog, I have an online store, I work part time, do Hairdressing from home, am a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, am an Administrator on TWO Facebook group sites (which is a huge job in itself). I was starting to get too comfortable. So I decided to add something else to the list, for good measure!!!

I finally got around to starting up my own Facebook Business page yay! I would LOVE it if you had a chance to pop over and say hi and 'like' the page!

I am looking to do a giveaway on my new Facebook page very very soon! I am hoping to get a few more followers first. So make sure you 'like' my page so that you can be apart of it!

I've been super busy lately detoxing my house!!! We live with my parents in the upper storey of their house, we don't have much space. So everything is very cramped and it's been driving me BONKERS so the last couple of weeks I've been pulling apart the cupboards and boxes and drawers and everything! Getting rid of things, repacking things in a better way. I'm ALMOST done. So there hasn't been TOO much crafting going on lately.. just a few cards :) Hope everyone's doing well!

The story of The King's

2012-02-08T10:17:00.002+10:00

Have you heard of the King's? They are a lovely family from Tasmania, Australia who have had tragedy strike their family twice in the past few months. Aaron & Lisa have 4 sons. Tragically their son Noah who has struggled with health issues his entire life lost his battle and passed away late last year. The family has been struggling to find their feet again and work out a new kind of normal. A few weeks ago whilst on their annual family holiday at the beach, Lisa's husband Aaron suddenly passed away of a suspected heart attack. Lisa is now left to raise her 3 sons alone.

This story struck my heart, HARD. Lisa is a Blogger, and has shared her story in every detail. I first heard about the King family through Naomi's blog - Seven Cherubs. Naomi had a great idea to set up a way for people to donate money to help cover the costs of the funeral, so that she can buy headstones for her son & husband's graves, and to help with the costs of getting on her feet as a now single mother. Her goal was to raise $15,000. The count is now over $30,000. If you would like to donate, go here.

Naomi, is full of GREAT ideas. She is also organising an AUCTION. All proceeds from this auction will go to Lisa and her family. If you want to participate in this option, then check out Naomi's Seven Cherub's Facebook Page.

To read Lisa's blog go here, and to hear more about her story. She also has a Facebook page which you can find here.

This story has helped me realise how fantastic my life is, and made me appreciate and understand the importance of Eternal families. My thoughts and prayers are with Lisa, Harri, Kobe & Jalen as they once again try and find their new kind of 'normal'.

Greetings & Salutations!!

2012-01-29T14:56:00.001+10:00

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It has been too long. Oh how I have missed reading everyone's beautiful blog entries, and how I have missed documenting my goings ons!! I actually have had my Blogger tab CLOSED in my browser for months. I feel like I've betrayed everyone. I have been slack. Lazy. Over busy. Unorganised. Had writer's block. You name it, I have been it over the past few months. There is no legitimate excuse for my slackness.

So here's to a fresh start! Yesterday afternoon I was busy doing tidying up and it popped into my mind about my blog. I made a goal to write in my goal the next day (today) because I had some free time this afternoon. I'd like to officially pat MYSELF on the back for actually doing it!!!!

Now I need to fill you in on what has been going on. I'll try to not bore you with too many details.. and hopefully I'll actually remember what's been going on. In no particular order:

- I'm a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator. I signed up about two months ago. So far it has been a lot of fun. I have co-hosted a Mini Catalogue Launch at the end of last year, AND hosted my own Sale-a-Bration Launch this past weekend. It is fully on trying to juggle this with my other responsibilities as it can be very time consuming.. but I love it and it's one of my favourite things to do. Not only is it fun to be crafting, but I am loving meeting new people and reuniting with old friends! I am looking to start hosting day time classes which I have called "Stamp & Chat" for all the mums! They can come during school hours while the kids are off their hands, or if they have little ones they can bring them along as there is a playroom next door to where we will be Stampin! Hopefully it will be a success. My first Stamp & Chat class is at the end of February.

- My pop passed away. He has been suffering from severe illness for most of his life adult life. As sad as we were to see him go, I couldn't help but feel relief for him to leave such a frail and unwell body behind. He lived for about 10 years longer than doctors expected him to.

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- I've been sick! About a week before Christmas, I began feeling unwell. I just thought I was run down and being the Christmas season had been eating a few treats here and there that I wouldn't normally eat. My stomach was extremely intolerant of food. I was nauseous. ANY strong smells would make me want to throw up (I know what you're thinking and it wasn't that!), I was light headed, extremely tired, crampy, achey, "loose bowels" (how do you say diarrhea on a blog without grossing people out.. I think it's impossible). It all started out that if I ate something particularly sweet, or rich, or fatty, it would result in agony. I thought it was my IBS playing up big time. And then all the other symptoms were showing up. I stopped eating for the most part. Just ate a slice of bread, a cup of rice, maybe some crackers and a drink of water here and there. Just enough to survive. I went and saw the Dr, and he confirmed that I was not pregnant (which I already knew). And then I got my diagnosis. Bacterial virus in my tummy. Ugh. All he could give me were some pills to help with the nauseousness, and to help the muscles in my stomach and bowels to relax and stop cramping up so much. They both helped, but they were only masking the real problem. So I went to the Health Food Shop and found me a miracle solution. GOOD Bacteria! Within 12 hours of taking my first good bacteria capsule, my stomach had settled, and I was RAGING HUNGRY!!!!!!!! I've now been taking the good bacteria for a little over a week and am not far off being 100%. It was a tough few weeks feeling so unwell, and especially with so much happening whilst I was unwell - Christmas, my sisters birthday, New Years, pop dying, being a new Stampin' Up! Demonstrator plus more that I am about to tell you about. But as per usual, I am woman hear me roar, I carried on as best as I could and got the basics done!

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- I have a new responsibility at church. I no longer look after the young children in Nursery. I am not the Primary Music Leader.... it is one of the responsibilities that I dread most. I have only been doing it for a few weeks, and it's hard yakka. I have to teach the 4-12 yr old children music every week. I teach them new songs, review old songs, etc. Some find this responsibility easy.. but I do not. I get so stressed about it, and when I get stressed I get flustered and when I get flustered I perspire. So I stand out the front of the children every week looking shiney. Hopefully I'll get in a groove soon?

So that is the basic update of the major things that have been going on these past few months. I will have to show you what I've been up to in the craft room next! Plenty of fun things going on in there!!

Christmas cards

2011-12-08T20:56:00.001+10:00

I guess I got blogged out during Blogtober. But I have been a busy bee lately! Here's a few of my Christmas Card creations...

I have tonnes more to show you, but I am super dooper busy (who isn't though right?). Hope everyone is enjoying the lead up to Christmas!

#31 - Giveaway winner!

2011-10-31T12:30:00.002+10:00

Well the time has come my friends. I'll keep it short and sweet. No piccies sorry because I am camping and have no internet to my laptop (all blog posts this week were pre-written prior to coming camping). So you'll just have to trust me ok!!! I have written everyone's names down on a piece of paper, and husby has drawn out a name....

It's Elfyn!

Congrats! Please leave a comment, or send me an email with your details and I will pop your awesome prize in the post when I get home again in a couple of days.

Thanks everyone for joining in!

#30 - Blogtoberfest review

2011-10-30T08:00:00.000+10:00

Well I did it again. Not entirely sure how.. but I did. 30 posts in 30 consecutive days.... don't worry, I have a post for tomorrow to 100% complete the month. It was a struggle this year. Last year I was alot more motivated, had alot more time to craft, had alot more patience for bad cameras and the long process of uploading and editing photos, and alot more fun stuff to show you! This year I feel like my posts were boring.. if you agree, SORRY!!! Haha :)

I will be back to normal, intermittent posting next month!

Thanks for organising Blogtoberfest all over again Tinnie Girl! It was fun!

Until next year!

#29 - Lego fun

2011-10-29T08:00:00.000+10:00

Husby and I have a responsibility at church. We are the 'nursery' leaders. We basically look after the 18mth - 4yr old kids for two hours every Sunday. It is hard work. Certainly isn't helping me feel positive about starting a family in the not to distant future. So we try to have some fun. The kids really like Lego so we play with it alot. Here's what we've made lately.

Lego masks

Twin towers - it was 9/11 so we made them in memory.

I love Lego!!

#28 - iPhone photo album happenings

2011-10-28T20:43:00.000+10:00

Here's my life over the past two months or so, according to my iPhone photo album...

Celebrating the official arrival of Almond MM's to Australia. Only took 10 years.

I wanted to buy it, but for $80, I passed.

4 hail storms in 2 weeks.

Enjoying a banana after a 3 month banana fast... soo glad the prices are coming back, down!

Brother turned 24.

Made 60 card fronts for Stampin' Up! Regionals..

Quick sale fail.

Ate way too much cherry cobbler....

Being greeted by the chookies every morning when I go for a shower

Watching mum eat creamed spinach risotto in disgust.

Eating delicious frittata.

So... what have you been up to?

#27 - DON'T FORGET ABOUT MY GIVEAWAY

2011-10-27T14:14:00.000+10:00

Don't forget!! You can join in here. It closes on Monday 31st October at MIDDAY! (AEST) All you need to do is be a follower and leave a comment. Easy peasy! Good luck!!! It's kind of awesome!!!

#26 - He's back!

2011-10-26T17:45:00.000+10:00

I have my husband back!!!!!!! Yay!

How delightful do I look??

#25 - Genious use for a paper doily...

2011-10-25T09:36:00.000+10:00

The coolness blows my mind...

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#24 - Peeking through the window..

2011-10-24T00:17:00.000+10:00

Whilst packing for camping last night, I looked out at the window as I was doing things, to see a sweet little green friend watching me as I ran around like a mad thing...

He's sweet huh?

#23 - Pictures of the show that prove I need a new camera

2011-10-23T13:38:00.003+10:00

Lucky I was smart enough to pass my camera around the room where we got everyone ready for the show. There are a couple of fun shots of people having hair and makeup done...


Top: Me doing mouse makeup & another mouse having her hair done. Bottom: Instructions on what to do & 2 mice almost ready..

Top: Male mouse almost finished unimpressed about wearing makeup & getting started on makeup for a fly. Bottom: Three flies ready to go just needing costumes, their eyes & wings.

It is absolute mayhem organising 16 people for hair and makeup. I had a great team of helpers, and there is no way I could have physically done it without their selfless help. It didn't help that our getting ready time was cut down by half an hour the day before the show either. Somehow we did manage to get it all done in time (miracle) and everyone looked fab.

Here's some pics of the show in action...


Top: Mice in the entree act. Bottom: The mice getting in trouble from Louie the Fly.

As you can clearly see, this is why I need a new camera. When I bought my camera a year ago, I was SO excited as it is waterproof, shockproof, and all that fun stuff. We read review on the camera and only read good things, so that is why we thought it would be a great purchase. Boy was I wrong. It is ONLY good for taking water shots. I hate it and husby is sick of me complaining about it so a new camera is in the works :) I CANNOT WAIT!

Just one last thing. My sister did the costumes, hair and makeup for another show that was on last night also. Even though they were the 'competition' I have to share her handiwork. And I might add she won the award for makeup :)

Off camping tomorrow. So I'm busy packing today for that and getting all the household chores done before I leave. And I somehow need to make sure I leave enough time to do a week and half worth of blog posts saved in drafts so I can post while away... this will be interesting :)

#22 - And the award for best costumes goes to.... ME

2011-10-23T00:16:00.003+10:00

You know how I keep telling you about those costumes I've been making? Well, the show was tonight. And I won an award for best costumes out of the 6 shows. I have no photos for you. Just a lame google image because I am beyond exhausted. I will have more details, and hopefully some photos for you in the near future. I AM SO GLAD IT'S OVER!!

#21 - Flying solo....

2011-10-21T10:24:00.000+10:00

Well I couldn't talk about this until today. I dropped husby off at the International airport on Wednesday morning... headed for USA. It was a surprise trip so he can attend his sisters wedding on the weekend. No one knew he was coming, except for his dad. He was in on the secret. We only booked his ticket a week prior.... so it has all been a very whirlwind type experience. You see, I am doing hair and makeup and little bit of costuming for a stage show on the weekend... which is stressing me out. Then we are going camping next week. But he'll still be in the USA. So we had to pack the trailer for camping BEFORE he left, as well as plan everything that goes along with it - what still needs to be packed, eating plan etc. We also had to pack his clothes for his trip, and the camping trip. It hurt my head a fair bit. I get to tow the trailer and everything else stuffed in the car down to the camp site and set it up myself. It is going to be SO fun. He doesn't fly back in until Wednesday next week - 3 days after I set up camp.

The surprise went well. Everyone is happy to see him. I am stuck in Australia with a million things to do and flying solo, sleeping with teddy at night to keep me safe and warm :)

PS. Don't forget about my mixed basket giveaway... it's kind of awesome.

#20 - Smoooooothie

2011-10-20T16:38:00.001+10:00

I am going camping next week, so am in the process of emptying my fridge. I needed to use up some fruit, so decided to make a smoothie. IT. WAS. DELICIOUS. I have never tasted a better smoothie in all my life. Best part is, I winged it!!! Here's how to make it.

Juice:

- 2 pears

-1/2 pineapple

- 1 punnet of blueberries

Then put in the blender:

- Above juiced fruits

- 2 bananas

- 1 cup milk

- handful of ice

And wizz till the ice is in little chunks.

I loved it SO much that I couldn't even wait to take a picture. So this is what you get...

#19 - favourite movie.

2011-10-19T22:51:00.003+10:00

What's your all time, most favourite movie?

Mine is the Slipper and the Rose.

I grew up watching this movie. It is a spin on the story of Cinderella.

It is very old fashioned, and that's what I love about it.

And it is full of singing and dancing!

And a little bit of snogging.

If you want to see a scene from the movie, which I love, click here. It is when "Cinderella" meets the Prince at the ball and they do the waltz. It's so beautiful!

I just thought I'd share!

PS. All images came from Google

#18 - Mixed basket giveaway

2011-10-18T08:07:00.001+10:00

I know I know, I was supposed to post my giveaway at the BEGINNING of the month. Slack. *slaps hand*. I'm going to keep it simple. There's lots of stuff. Giveaway is only for Australians (sorry). To enter you MUST BE A FOLLOWER and leave a nice comment below. I will draw this on Monday 31st October at midday AEST (I'll be camping!) and will do a post to notify the winner for the last day of Blogtober.

Included: Ball of cream wool, pack of flower handmade flower embellishments, patterned cardstock borders, baroque motif stickers, sticky spots, blue rhinestones, green pearl stickers, self cover buttons, cardboard butterfly embellishments, greeting card, x6 pack of thank you cards, 'you're too kind' small gift box, x2 larger "just for you" gift boxes, pack of eyelets, pack of decorative photo corners, bag of metal butterfly's and dragonfly's, string of yellow tassel, cotton embroidered doily, pink crocheted doily, pink embroidery, 2 spools ribbon, 2 spools ribbon string, 1 spool decorative trim, blue decorative trim, flower rosette headband, pink lace, purple flower hair clip, felt hair clip, sunflower hair clip. Comes in awesome clear plastic storage box.

Good luck!

#17 - A day late, self portrait day.

2011-10-17T16:14:00.000+10:00

I missed the memo (in other words, didn't keep up with what's going on). It was self portrait day yesterday for Blogtoberfest. I am home sick from work and have spent most of the day infront of my computer. So here I am. Photo taken with my awesome fuzzy webcam.

No makeup. Hair dried by itself. No photo editing.

The real deal.

#16 - Repetition... so much fun!

2011-10-16T22:37:00.002+10:00

I'm attending Stampin' Up! Regionals beginning of November. As part of attending you have the option of making card front to swap with people, so you can get lots of new cool ideas. So I got together with two friends that are attending Regionals too, and we spend the night getting started on our designs. I decided to make 60 card fronts. We got started a little after 7pm. We finished at 1am. I was a zombie!!! Got home at 1.25am and didn't get to sleep until 2am!! I woke up Saturday morning to a thunderstorm at 4am, but promptly went back to sleep and didn't awake again until 9.30am!!!! It was a gorgeous sleep in. But I will have to admit, even thought I slept in to make up for being up so late, I have been stuffed ALL weekend. I must be getting older. Need my sleep too much!!!

Anyway, Saturday afternoon and again this morning I worked on my card fronts, and I finally finished this morning. They are all pretty, in their packaging, with the ingredients list inserted in the back, with my blog/shop/email details on a sticker on the back also. They're all ready to Rock'n'Roll!!

I am soooo glad they are finished. The repetition was starting to get REALLY annoying.

Now I get to help the other two finish their card fronts off!!

#15 - Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me + Hail!!!

2011-10-15T22:21:00.000+10:00

I'm pretty huh? Those are my awesome fly eyes I made and have been rabbiting on about. Today I did a test run of the makeup. I ended up going with something different then pictured above, but had to share that picture with you. It horrendously hilarious.

And on another note, you can seriously tell we're about to go into Summer. The wild thunderstorms have already arrived. Throughout this week we have had 4 pretty decent thunderstorms, with hail in certain parts of the city. One storm took the life of my SIL's workmate, who pulled over in his car because it was too dangerous to drive, and a tree fell on his car and tragically killed him.

Today, we had TWO HUGE storms. The first was at 4am, so I only heard it as I TRIED to sleep. Alot of loud thunder claps and really windy heavy rain. Husby had to get up and close up all the windows upstairs because it was blowing in.

And then the second storm quite LITERALLY rolled in at 5pm. It was VERY dark clouds, and they were literally rolling horizontally. I've never seen anything like it. It almost looked like it was rolling down to where we were standing. (And I realise this is probably making NO sense). I was out when this storm approached and husby called me frantically from home "IT'S HAILING!!! WHERE'S THE CAR?? QUICK GET IT UNDER SOMETHING!!" I ran back inside and told everyone else and we all ran out and moved out cars into better positions. All we had to shelter the cars was some trees so we parked them and then went back inside and awaited the onslaught. About 2 minutes later the rain and hail arrived.

Only marble sized hail fell where we were - LUCKILY. We were definitely looked after, because just two minutes down the road (and at home) they were the size of golf balls. After the hail stopped and the rain eased off a little I went and collected my car back to pull it back into the main carpark of where I was and there were a few other people doing the same and we were chatting before getting in our cars. And then lightning struck just off to the left of where we were.. HOLY COW, I had to swallow my internal organs back down. We all screamed and ducked down. I covered my ears immediately anticipating the super loud crack, which followed half a second later.

Anyway, that is my adventure for the day. I wonder if we'll get another storm tomorrow....

#14 - Bunting love

2011-10-13T23:29:00.001+10:00

I joined into the Bunting Swap over at Squiggly Rainbow last month. I was super excited that when I signed up, I made my 6 flags... that night. And you know what, the day Rachel emailed me my recipients list... I posted them. Super dooper disgustingly organised. But I was just really excited!!

I have received 2 of my greatly anticipated parcels in the post so far. Here they are...

The crotcheted flag was made by the lovely Leah over at Made in Monty and the tartan flag was made by the lovely Faith over at Faithy May.

Thank you ladies!

#13 - Online Garage Sale

2011-10-13T15:12:00.000+10:00

In the area I live in, some really smart intelligent person has made an Online Garage Sale Group on Facebook. It's awesome!! Just the other day I bought about 100m of ribbon and ric rac. I was so pleased that I thought, why don't I sell crafty stuff on here that I don't need/want/use anymore too! So that is what I have done today.

And I also went through my remnants and put together a big bundle.

I actually sold the remnants within 10 minutes of posting them on the site. Woohoo!! I have sold a few other things on there too. A lady just came and picked up something and handed over some cash. I quite like it. Every town should have an Online Garage Sale!!

#12 - Shoo fly

2011-10-12T22:30:00.003+10:00

I think I have mentioned that I am helping with costuming and makeup for a stage show. If not. That is what I'm doing!!! I am 100% in charge of makeup, hair & costume accessories. Let me elaborate a little. In the show there are 10 mice, 5 fly's and 1 ladybug. My job is to make them look like those animals. This time round I'm going to tell you a little bit about the fly's.

I have 4 female fly's and 1 male. The male is actually the lead in the show also. Here's my overall vision of how their face will look like...

Pretty huh! :P

And here's the eyes...

Tonight I finished gluing all the sequins and gemstones on. Incase you were for some absurd reason wanting to make your own fly eyes, I just bought large polystyrene balls and cut them in half and then hot glued a few million sequins on. If you look in the left corner the balls are slightly larger and different. They are for my male lead fly. He needed to be a little bit fancier!! Tomorrow I will be attaching elastic so that the eyes sit on the forehead. And I'll also be practising that makeup on myself... I should take a picture when I'm done and share it!!!

#11 - Button art

2011-10-11T23:14:00.001+10:00

I just want to briefly share something husby has been helping with. With Christmas looming I am doing my best to get organised. His younger sister has a slight Japanese theme happening in her room, and the room colours are soft yellow, pale moss green & some neutral tones also. So husby painted the trunk for me and I've placed the buttons and will glue them in the next day or so into their placed positions. I was too tired to do it tonight :)

#10 - Oh boy. Ran out of stuff to say.

2011-10-10T23:52:00.003+10:00

It's only day ten of Blogtober, and I've got nothin for ya. Nothing I say!! I even searched my laptop just now, hoping for some fun pictures I took of a project from the past few weeks that I happened to not blog about yet. Nothing. I did a Pinterest blog post yesterday, so can't do that one again. Totally stuck. So guess what. You get to read about the blabberings of my mind. Some random things. Stuff that's happened lately. Stuff that happened today. You know, stuff.

- I woke up this morning, and sneezed 10 times in a row. I've been light headed ever since. Seriously.
- I have never drank alcohol in my life, but the way my eyes have been acting today after above mentioned sneezing, I think they might be drunk, somehow.
- I have the gimme's when it comes to Stampin' Up!.
- I don't really like ice cream. But sorbet and gelato - whole different story.
- The power went out tonight whilst husby and I were at a friends. A transformer blew down the street. Totally exciting.
- I don't like my sign off signature below. The colour is wrong and the font is ugly, but I don't know how to change it so there it remains.
- I have so much to do tomorrow, I have a headache just thinking about it.
- When was the last time you made fly eyes for a costume? Never you say? Well I'm in the process of making 5 pairs.... Oh that's a good blog post entry I can do when they're done!!
- I am about half way through my Christmas shopping. Actually that's a lie, about 1/3 done.
- I am a bit over eating at the moment. Might have something to do with the fact that I'm over cooking. And washing up.
- I have a scar in my eyebrow and it makes one of my eyebrows look like I have over plucked it. So I colour it in brown.
- I'm a hairdresser, my regrowth is 3 inches long, and I don't care. Not sure how I managed that.
- I hate wearing glasses, it covers up your awesome eye makeup.
- Someone came into work the other day with whooping cough. I could have slapped her, or worse. SO inconsiderate.
- I'm really over working too. It's so annoying and daily.
- I am loving that the nights are still lovely and cool. Makes it so easy to sleep well.
- I'm going camping soon, for a whole week!! I am pretty excited to be lazy.
- I love Catch of the Day.
- Husby and I are currently awaiting 16 parcels to arrive in the post. I think we may have got a little excited about online shopping. I promise they are all necessary purchases, and alot of Christmas presents, and you know, cool stuff for us just cause. Like I said, totally necessary though....

#9 - Project ideas round up

2011-10-09T20:13:00.001+10:00

I'm sure most of us have Pinterest accounts by now right? I have a potter around on the site at least once a day - mostly of an evening preparing for bed. As I'm sure you all do, I repin things I want to make, knowing full well I will probably only have the time and resources to make 1 thing out of about 20 (I don't repin much, I'm picky haha). Here's a few things I've found over the past week or so. Maybe you'll have time to make it since I probably won't get around to it!!

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I think I will make a few of these things. The button magnets are awesome and easy, as are those snowman button gift tags. Husby LOVES the scrabble wall tiles idea, but with way better words, that will probably be relevant to our family and names etc. The spray painted pine cones is a cool idea, I guess you just choose colours to match decor or a celebration of some sort. The rest probably won't happen haha. But I still love them!!

Would anyone like to give any of these idea's a whirl??

#8 - A pet peeve - it's time to rant!

2011-10-07T23:21:00.001+10:00

Rude drivers.

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If you are going to go slow, get out of the right lane. I have been sitting here with my indicator on for 5 minutes watching this woman pack her groceries into her boot, if you DARE steal my spot after seeing it 2 seconds ago, I will chase you down and make you sorry. Just because you're on a motorbike, doesn't mean you get to make your way to the front of the line of traffic waiting at the red light. 'P' platers, it is not a race. Incase you haven't yet realised, skidding your tyres and putting the petal to the metal will set you back a few extra thousand dollars a year then what the rest of us pay to stay on the road. When you need to merge up ahead, don't race up to the end of your lane and then expect me to happily let you in, if I let you in at all. Guess what? You have indicator. Use it. Hey have you seen those cool signs on the side of the road that say how fast you should go? I'm pretty sure most roads have a shoulder, just incase you forgot your brain, when you're turning, use it. Cutting corners is like fingernails on a chalkboard - it's just not OK folks.

I promise I don't have road rage. I just grunt and speak loudly at people with my windows up.....

Want to share a rant? Join in over here for fun.

#7 - Christmas shopping for myself...

2011-10-07T08:55:00.000+10:00

Earlier this week, I was checking my emails. Read this, delete that, delete that, ooooh what's this?? Lincraft had sent me an email with their members only online specials. I ALWAYS check their online catalogue, hoping they have the Big Shot on sale. It has been on sale a few times over the past year or so, but I haven't been in a position to buy it. It was on special this week. Now when the Big Shot is on special, you have to act FAST. They are snapped up super quick.

Now I hear some of you saying "what's a Big Shot?".

Isn't she beautiful? She's a nifty little machine. She is basically a die cutter, and can create textured, raised patterned type paper. It is really amazing. I have wanted one for about two years.

I told husby about the sale and he said to go ahead and buy it and it would be my Christmas present!!! I am sooo excited!! It should arrive on my doorstep today while I am at work.

So what have you bought yourself for Christmas in the past? This is a first for me, but I hear of alot of women doing this. I'd be interested to hear what you bought!!

#6 - Baa Baa Black Sheep Wool Giveaway Winner!!!

2011-10-06T23:28:00.000+10:00

Earlier this evening I was downstairs washing up with my husby. My phone made a strange noise upstairs. When I came back up and had a look, it was a reminder to draw my giveaway! Thank heavens I thought to set an alarm cause I'd completely forgotten about it haha!!!

I quickly got out my trusty giveaway drawing hat, scribbled everyone's names and drew out a winner.

Congrats Carol!! Send me an email with your postal address and I'll pop your gorgeous bundle of wool in the post!! I can't wait to see what you make!!!

Thanks everyone for entering! I will be putting together another giveaway shortly for Blogtoberfest, so stay tuned!!

#5 - The pain, it lingers!

2011-10-05T22:44:00.002+10:00

Warning: whinge about to begin.

Two Friday's ago, I was in the car with Dad, my sister and my sister in law. We were headed out together for a daddy daughter date. Our activity for the evening was pasta making (which by the way was awesome). I was super hungry and it would be a couple of hours before the pasta was ready to eat, so I made myself some toast and was eating it in the car. I swallowed a mouthful, and something sharp brushed up against my tongue. My tongue went a searching in my mouth for that sharp thing. I couldn't believe it.

My filling had come out. Again.

This tooth has given me more curry then a tooth ever should. Let me explain. About 6 years ago, I had a Root Canal on that tooth, much to the displeasure of my dentist. She wanted to extract the tooth from the get go. I'll show you which one and why.

Apparently I don't "need" that tooth. But I am precious and I was not ready to part with a tooth at the ripe age of 20. So I pushed for the Root Canal, and I got it! $1200 later I walked away happy and with all my teeth intact.

One year on, the filling fell out. Dentist fixed it. Then it fell out again another year or two later. Dentist fixed it. Somewhere along the way, my original tooth was getting smaller and smaller, and she wasn't building up the filling high to make contact with the lower tooth - which was fine. Filling fell out for the third time, and this time when she patched it up, she really took the tooth down short, and it was only a little above my gum. Of course all along she still wanted to extract the stupid tooth haha.

So that brings me back to eating toast two Friday's ago. I almost cried. I thought all the troubles with this tooth were over! I called my Dentist the next day and lucky me, she was on holidays and I couldn't get in with her for 11 days!! I just drank a glass of cement and hardened up.

So today was D day. I really like my Dentist. She is super cool and fun and it's always a shame that we are catching up with her hands in my mouth, or when there's drills and suction happening. Not the most ideal way to fill people in with the events of life, but we do what we can.

This afternoon I walked in, slightly nervous. I sat down in the super comfy squishy chair and began rambling something like this:

"I am a little bit nervous because 'the devil tooth' has showed its ugly head again and you are going to want to extract it and I am going to say no and you are going to have to try and save it and you are going to say you don't have enough time and I am going to say it is too expensive and I am poor". She cracked up, told me to shut up and let her have a look.

Considering this story is already long, I'm going to jump to the point now. She saved my tooth. She is my hero. But the saving of a tooth came for a price.

A monetary price.

A pain price.

I can handle the monetary price, I was kinda expecting to spend a small fortune one it. But the pain price? This part I was not expecting because afterall, this is a Root Canal tooth, and it no longer has nerves in it. How I was wrong!! She tried a new procedure on me, where she removed part of my root canal, and inserted a fiberglass rod into the canal, which was tall enough outside my tooth to also build a steadier filling around. Technical stuff.

My neck is sore, my jaw is bruised along with my cheek from being yanked open as wide as humanly possible, the canal where the rod was inserted is ridiculously sore and my gum is swollen. Not to mention the bleeding and cut up gums.

Waaah waaaah waaah. Come on pain killers, KICK IN!!

Whinge finished.

So do tell me about your last trip to the Dentist? Did you leave with a smile? An empty wallet? Toothless?

PS: Don't forget my giveaway ends tomorrow night!!

#4 - An alien wish fulfilled

2011-10-04T22:29:00.000+10:00

For those who don't know or haven't caught on, husby and I moved in with my parents a month or so ago to save money. Luckily the house is huge and we have the whole upper storey to ourselves. On a Tuesday morning, my brother in law drops my 4 yo nephew off on his way to work, and he hangs out with mum for a few hours and then she takes him up to Kindy. Now this morning I was working on something in my craft room, and I heard little footsteps making their way upstairs. I turned around and found my sweet little nephew at the door and he came in and sat up on my lap and was asking me what I was doing. We were having a little chat about some of my current projects and then he asked me a question.

"Aunty Christy I don't have the Alien toy from Toy Story yet, he is the only one I don't have. Can you make him for me?"

The kid has faith in my abilities I tell ya! How could I say no to that??? I promised him I'd make it while he was at Kindy and it would be ready when he came back in the afternoon. He was quite pleased and walked back downstairs with a smirk on his face.

Well I couldn't let the little man down, so before he had even left for Kindy with mum, I started googling what the heck this Alien looked like and what I had got myself into!! It didn't look too bad. I got straight into it. I drafted a pattern, cut it out, pinned it to felt and cut out the shapes and started to sew them all together.

It was pretty easy to make, except for those retched arms!!! They ended up being different sizes and shapes in the finished product, but I don't think my nephew minded so much.

He turned out pretty darn cute eh?

When my mum picked the little man up from Kindy, my mum mentioned to him that I had a suprise for him at home. He responded with "oh I know what it is, it's probably an alien". He walked inside the door and came straight up to me and asked if I had his alien suprise ready for him hahaha. The man knows what he wants.

He was soooo pleased with it. His only complaint was that it was bigger then in the movie.

You see why I couldn't say no to that face now?

I am worried that he's going to think of something else I need to make him though...

#3 - Great Grandma Alice's Sewing Tin

2011-10-02T22:58:00.000+10:00

Each time I venture over to Nanna's house, I come home with something special. Over the past few years she has been cleaning out her huge house with more storage nooks and crannies that you could ever imagine possible in a house. So true to form, she had a big box of things that she wanted to show me of HER mother's things. My Great Grandmother, Alice, was quite a clever lady. She fed a family during the depression, and learnt how to bake with spoiled fruit, she sewed everyone's clothes and did all the mending by hand, and she raised five children successfully.

Now my Nanna, is a collector. She likes to keep items that have meaning. She has kept alot of her mother's things and has brought things out here and there to show our family, but she rarely parts with these treasures. Most of these treasures are in the above mentioned box, along with other treasured memories. We sat on her bed and went through the box, exploring past memories. There was a sweet little stationery box, filled with love letters from Pop, their airline tickets for their honeymoon, the receipt from the store she bought her wedding lace from. Then there was another little box with department store price tags. Nan used to be a master calligrapher, and she kept her practice cards. I ummed and ahhed about if it was possible to make an art piece out of them. I left them with her as I was unsure what I'd do with them and didn't want to misuse them. There were pieces of old jewellry, cards, photos, and other lovely things. And then at the bottom was this...

I instantly grabbed it and asked what was inside. It was Grandma's sewing tin. And look what I found inside....

My eyes must have lit up because Nanna asked if I would like it after admiring the contents for a minute or so. I think I said yes before she finished asking me! Also in the tin was some old small pliers, buttons, some needles and a thimble. I absolutely adore those wooden spindles! Little did I know what else I would discover.

I took the tin home and cleaned it out that night. Wiped things over, cleaned the buttons and put them into my button trays. I had emptied the contents one by one onto my desk, and at the bottom was a piece of folded tissue paper that was being used as a liner. It was very old and smelly and gross so picked it out and threw it in the bin. I discovered a piece of paper folded up that was sitting underneath the tissue paper lining. I unfolded it...

It was a site permit for a craft stall!!! I stumbled upon a small piece of family history that makes me very happy!!! Crafting runs in my blood! I wonder if she was successful at selling her wares?

Now I need to find a sweet spot to display Great Grandma Alice's sewing tin so that I can admire it while I work.

What hobby, like/dislike or personality trait have you inherited from your ancestors?

#2 - Man tools put to use in the craft room

2011-10-02T10:34:00.001+10:00

Husby bought a Dremel a little while back. It wasn't the cheapest of tools and I wasn't hugely impressed, but figured he'd need to start buying tools eventually. As he was showing it to me, he suggested that I COULD USE IT for my crafting. I laughed it off, and thought it was a funny attempt to help me accept the purchase. I was wrong. He was right.

When you have 100 pegs to sand back, the Dremel kinda comes in handy.

What tool did your husband/partner buy and try to convince you that you would get use out of it and you laughed at him not realising you WOULD use it???

PS. My wool giveaway is closing soon, make sure you're in it to win it!

PPS. I'll have to put together a special Blogtoberfest giveaway soon too!

#1 - The beginning

2011-10-01T23:10:00.001+10:00

So I'm doing Blogtoberfest again. Last year I was awesome at it! This year I know I won't be AS awesome but am going to try and put forward a good effort. Being creative, using time wisely, having the botherance and remembering to blog daily are the realities most of us will face doing Blogtoberfest, but it is rewarding, fun, you find other amazing bloggers out there, and you are inspired beyond your expectations. So that's why I'm taking up the challenge again. Look forward to lots of reading and networking over the upcoming month!!

Join in over here!

Wreath-ing

2011-09-25T11:17:00.000+10:00

I bought a pack of polystyrene wreath's for a few dollars a while ago. They sat in my drawer for a while. Then a bunch of my Pinterest friends kept pinning awesome wreaths. I figured it was time. My first inspiration was this...

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This oozes my personality and gorgeousness. I don't have hessian though. So I had to be creative.... and came up with my own version.

I love it just as much. Even though it was photographed on the front door, it hangs in the doorway of my craft room, because husby "doesn't care for wreaths". Haha! I did cheat on the back of my wreath though. I used pins to secure the hanging trim because the wreath is made of polystyrene, I knew the cheats method would be sufficient.

Last night and this morning I experimented again with a smaller wreath.

But this one has nowhere to live. Need to decide what to do with it.

Aren't they pretty!! I love making wreaths, but won't make anymore cause I have no use for them hahahaha!

PS. Don't forget about my wool giveaway.

PPS. No giveaway wool was used in this wreath...although it was tempting :P

Water mark

2011-09-21T15:13:00.000+10:00

I'm ready for a bit of a change. I get bored easily. It's dangerous! I like to change things all the time. But that will need to change soon. I'm looking into putting together a more permanent and personalised look for my blog in the upcoming months. But in the meantime, I need to change something, and the easiest thing is to change my watermark that I use on my photos. Which one do you like best?

I think my favourites are #1, #7 & #8.

What do you think?

PS. Don't forget about my giveaway.

Who I Am.

2011-09-18T21:48:00.000+10:00

I believe.....

- In myself.
- That men and women are equal.
- Laughing heals just about anything.
- In God the Father, his son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.
- Everyone deserves to feel loved.
- Everyone has been blessed with talents.
- My shortcomings can be forgiven.
- I am on Earth for a reason.
- I can always be better.
- That families that eat and pray together, stay together.
- In fairness.
- Families can be forever.

I am.....

- Talented.
- Clever with my hands.
- A multi-tasking extraordinaire.
- A craftaholic.
- A wife.
- An internet junkie.
- A receptionist.
- A great lover of green.
- Organised.
- Grateful for the simple things.
- Loved.
- A daughter of God.

I am Christy. I am a Mormon.

Life through the lens of an iPhone

2011-09-14T15:03:00.002+10:00

I am really bad at taking my camera with me to places, so my iPhone camera helps me out quite a bit. Thankfully it doesn't take that bad of picture (for a phone anyway). So here's my life in pictures over the last couple of months.....

My first double yolker, only took 26.5 years.


Discovering the antique sewing machine that has been hiding in mums sewing table all these years.

Sole of my 2 week old shoe disembarking on it's own journey whilst at work.

Hilariously packing husby into the trailer whilst moving.... very overtired.

Rings got re-plated and polished.

Got new shoes!

Celebrated husby's birthday with a giant delicious berry trifle.

Used and abused a 50% off Indian voucher....

Enjoyed the view from our balcony on our mini holiday.

Finding the best pickles in Australia

Tempted to buy

Making the twin towers out of lego in memory on 9/11.

So, what have you been up to?

PS. Don't forget about my giveaway

A little bit frazzled

2011-09-12T16:34:00.002+10:00

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I have had a shocking 24 hours. Pretty suprised I haven't cracked and sobbed like a baby in the corner yet...... yet being the key word. You know what would cheer me up?

If you entered my giveaway!

Thank the heavens I can go home tonight and eat chocolate until I feel sick. And then I can crawl into bed and have weird sugar high dreams all night, and laugh about them tomorrow, while I make awesome crafty goodness.

CLOSED Giveaway: Baa Baa Black Sheep, Have You Any Wool?

2011-09-08T13:31:00.000+10:00

GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

Yes sir, yes sir, 28 bundles full!

It seems I have been on the receiving end of some Spring cleaning. I have received more wool in the past month from friends and family cleaning out cupboards then I have ever bought in my life! I have so much that I don't even have somewhere to store it all ~~plus I have no idea how to crochet or knit~~!!!!!

So, my hands are tied. I HAVE to do a giveaway! *super happy face*

There is feather wool, baby wool, mohair, polyester, snowball, nylon, acrylic, macrame jute. There really is a bit of everything.

For a chance to win this huge bundle of wool you need to be a follower of my blog, and leave a comment below telling me what you would make!

Feel free to add the button on your blog or sidebar.

International entries are welcome.

Giveaway will close and be drawn at 9pm Thursday 6th October 2011 (Brisbane Australia Time)

Good luck everyone!

A sneak of our new place...

2011-09-06T11:45:00.000+10:00

We have been moved into our new place (upstairs at mum and dads) for a few weeks now. Over the weekend, we FINISHED unpacking, putting together, finding places for our storage items, and cleaned up! I am so happy it is all done. I am loving the space that I am continued to be blessed with for my crafts.

I now store my hairdressing supplies in my craft room, which is new, but I found those great black and white drawers which fits everything in perfectly. I also have to put my filing cabinet under the desk, but I still have plenty of room. I also have a window right next to the desk which is lovely for fresh air and sunshine. In my old craft room, I never ever got sunlight!

Everything is still packed into my cube shelving and white drawers. And there is that beautiful sunlight I was talking about.

Waste not want not!!! I am planning to measure up the top of these drawers so I can have some wood cut which will give me another space to maybe store something, or put something decorative. I actually use scraps for 50% of my sewing projects. You'd be surprised what you can make with them!

And a couple of my personal touches. My Texan corner (hubby is Texan). All that is missing is something with the Texan flag. Maybe a project for the future!

My awesome plaque at the door of my room. My sister got it for me for Christmas. I love it!

And then there's the lounge room. In moving in, we had to sell our couch as my parents had a few up in the lounge upstairs. They're not the most gorgeous couches, but I'm trying to make do with what we've been provided with.

The couches are a little uncomfy, so I have plans to make a few more cushions so that I can lounge more comfortably!! We also got rid of our coffee table because mum has an antique blanket box that had nowhere to live so we are using that as our coffee table. I was worried about the top of it getting damaged so I made a topper. Just a piece of chipboard cut to size, and covered with some nice tough fabric. And then a piece of felt adhered. to the base so the staples don't scratch up the top of the box. Not too bad I say!

There's isn't much else to show at this stage. Husby's study is also the storage room, so his desk has boxes stacked up, our dining room set disassembled and stacked up. Not the prettiest room. And then our bedroom.... STUFFED with furniture. Not pretty, but practical.

It's time to start adding the little touches that make a home. Thanks to Pinterest I have plenty of ideas!! Now I just need to get started!!

Eager Beaver Bunting & a Button Hairclip.

2011-08-31T23:14:00.001+10:00

I signed up for the Bunting Swap today. I think I was excited, because I've already made my bunting!!!!! I signed up to make 6.

I wanted the colours, and patterns to work together in a funky way, and I wanted to use doilies.

Originally I was going to do the traditional triangular bunting, but thought I'd mix it up a bit by basically cutting the bottom of the triangle off.

I love they've turned out.

I also have attempted another funky hair clip.

I have started making another in black and white, and will probably keep on making other colours down the track. I just love how they look!!!

Bunting Swap and stuff I've been making.

2011-08-31T14:14:00.001+10:00

I'm joining into the Bunting Swap, and you should too!

And on another note. I'm wearing funky accessories today which I made myself. So I need to show you cause I think they're cool...

(oh and sorry for the horrific quality photos, I'm at work today!)

My brooch, and my somewhat matching hair clip!

Yay for funky stuff! I have made a few more things too. I'll definitely have to show you, along with my new craft room setup in the new house!

Project: decorate hair.

2011-08-26T14:49:00.000+10:00

As some of you know, I like to make funky, bulky, colourful & different hair accessories. Slight problem!! I am bored with my collection of goodies. Time to source some new inspiration and get a making!!

Thanks pinterest. I have put links to each of the images cause I don't have my very own pinterest account yet. I'm waiting on them to get back to me. I have been fighting the pinterest urge, and have now given up.

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Getting back to normal

2011-08-22T10:57:00.001+10:00

Hey folks. Well the move is over. Here is the basic overview of what went down:

- I packed 90% of the boxes, and unpacked 95% of them
- I probably spent about $50 on packing tape
- I spent $0 on boxes though!! Thank you Good Guys cardboard bin.
- I threw out alot of stuff
- We had planned to hire a moving truck to make everyone's lives easier and do the move in one go. BUT, we couldn't, because our unit complex is annoying and we couldn't bring the truck inside the gates and so it would make it MORE work to walk everything outside the complex to the truck.
- We moved by trailer. ONE trailer. Thank heavens we didn't have to go far.
- We took loads over every day and every night for the 5 days leading up to the official moving day.
- I did several loads on my own, thus killing all the muscles and bones in my body.
- I managed to unpack my craft room in the new house before the actual moving day.
- Moving day was hard work. I lifted things that I shouldn't have, because they were way too heavy.
- I had no strength left in my hands by the end of it all, and kept dropping things. Luckily nothing broke.
- I hate going up and down stairs. They were on BOTH ends. They were the death of my legs.
- I made a Beef & Vegie Casserole in the slow cooker, which was our lunch. Plus I made 2 pumpkin pies the night before and they went down like a treat too. Have to feed the troops so they keep on helping!
- Take away food was pretty much all we ate that week. I am SO sick of take away.
- It takes a whole lot of brain energy to figure out where everything is going to go, when we are in a smaller space now. More things need to be sold.. doh!
- There is no easy way of storing dining room chairs.
- Not having your fridge and pantry in the kitchen is kind of annoying.
- Spending two days straight cleaning the old house makes you grumpy, especially when one of those days is a public holiday and I am not doing something fun like everyone else.
- Scrubbing kitchen tile grout with a toothbrush will cause tail bone pain after a while.
- The property manager did his inspection after we handed in our keys etc, and decided that everything looked fantastic. BUT. There was a cracked tile under the stairs in the cupboard and it needed to be replaced. What? You are kidding me right? It's under the stairs, out of sight. Get a life!!!! We didn't even crack it either. The previous tenants did, but we missed it on the entry report, so WE got stuck with fixing it. Mega annoying!
- Husby and Dad spent 4 hours replacing it on Saturday. It also ended up costing husby $170 to buy a tool to cut the $45 brand new diamond cutting blade off of dad's old angle grinder which broke and had the new blade stuck on it. Then dad bought a new $200 angle grinder. Plus the grout, tile and glue that needed to be purchased, it ended up costing about $440 to replace a tile. Oops.
- Good news is, we got a FULL refund of our bond, much to the displeasure of our property manager. His face was classic when he realised there was nothing he could fault us on and had to return our bond. I get the feeling he doesn't often return it all.
- Our bedroom is my childhood bedroom. It's kinda weird sleeping in a bed with your husband in your childhood bedroom.
- Oh, did I mention we moved back in with my parents? It's super strange. But we have a fairly good space to ourselves. We have the whole upstairs which is 3 bedrooms, a loungeroom and a toilet. Bathroom is downstairs, and we share the kitchen and laundry. Thankfully mum has a huge kitchen bench so we can both cook at the same time.
- We will save tonnes over the next year. Our rent is substantially lower, so we will save $30k alone in what we aren't paying in rent anymore. Yes Americans, we pay the earth in rent every week. We used to pay $340 p/w ($1360 p/m) for a dump hole.
- I hate moving.

That's pretty much everything. Over the weekend I had a little spare time and made a few things, which was so nice to do! I haven't been able to create for a few weeks. I hope to share later on this week, and I really really need to put more stuff in my shop!! So much catching up to do!!!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Featured!

2011-08-05T10:59:00.000+10:00

I popped onto Madeit this morning and was pleasantly suprised to see this!!!

My doily table runner has been handpicked to be on the front page today!! It has lifted my sad, sorry and sick mood substantially! Thanks Madeit!

Moving & stress relieving card making

2011-08-04T11:27:00.000+10:00

As you may (or may not) know, I am moving. Moving day is in 9 days!! Lucky for us, we can take smaller loads of boxes and fragile items over to Mum and Dad's place (where we're moving) and start organising them there. Moving day should then only consist of furniture items, if we get all the other things over there ourselves in the meantime. It's been really hard figuring out what to pack in which box, because this isn't your typical move. Husby and I will be sharing the kitchen & laundry with my parents. So this means we won't be needing quite a few items, as we will use theirs. SO, we have gone through the kitchen a few times and had to figure out which box the item went into... the donate box, the storage box, the unpack box, or the try to sell at car boot sale box. Things that are being packed to be stored, I am packing very carefully, with lots of newspaper, and ensuring there are firmer items at the top of the box to create a steady base for the box that will likely be stacked on top of it for a year!!!

We have three bedrooms and a small lounge area to ourselves. We are going to use husby's study room to store most of the boxes, which will be stacked up a few boxes high, so I really need to be careful how I pack. Each box has a packing sheet taped to it, which has the room it belongs to, whether it is a storage or unpack box, and all of the contents written on it. I am glad I do packing sheets because I have had to open 3 boxes in the past week looking for things I had prematurely packed and I needed!!!

I am also INCREDIBLY, stupidly, ridiculously, crazy busy at work at the moment. I work in an Accounting firm in the Reception area and it is Tax Season!!!! Kill me now!! I barely have time to go to the loo!!! It's incredibly stressful and fast paced. Just the way I DON'T like it!

And to top it all off, I am once again sick! This time round, I have tonsilitis. It's been about 3 weeks now. I am on antibiotics but they don't seem to be doing the trick. There have been a couple of moment in the past few weeks where I wanted to rip my tonsils out myself! I even had trouble breathing and swallowing one night. Horrendous.

So this is why I need stress relief people. Sick, moving, over-busy work.

I was smart when I packed up my craft room. I left out all my card making supplies!

I have been making cards just about every night for the last week and it has been great. As usual I don't love every card I make, but I figure someone out there will. Only problem is, I've had no desire to clean up after each card project. So my desk now looks like this...

It's gonna be SO FUN to tidy up when I get around to it hehe!! Here's what I've made in this past week...

I've made several of each card design, so I have a nice stack of cards to add to my stash. I've been having fun using my new stamp & paper sets that I have recently ordered from Stampin' Up! Notice that most of the cards are sewing themed? Awesome huh!! They came out with a whole bunch of sewing themed stamp sets and a paper set in their latest mini catalogue. I had to buy the lot. And I'm thinking of buying more paper before it becomes unavailable too!! Something I found out, is that they have made the patterned paper into fabric in the USA. Jealous! I think I'm going to have to try and get my hands on some. It is simply divine!!

Well that is what I've been up to lately. Back to packing I think!!

Mind confessions of a crazy packer.

2011-07-29T11:29:00.000+10:00

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Mess. Chaos. Brain overloading. Boxes for storage. Boxes to be unpacked. Craft supplies to sort, cull, sell, giveaway. Wrapping breakables in newspaper. Is the box too heavy? Did you reinforce the bottom with enough tape? Where is the tape anyway? Crap we ran out of tape. Where are the packing sheets? I can't find a pen. Where the hell can I put these boxes? We ran out of newspaper. Do you think that the other tenants in our complex will notice I've stolen ALL of the newspapers for the last two weeks? I'll be stealing them for another week or soo too. Where's the Sharpie? Crap, ran out of tape again. Will there be enough room to store all these boxes? Listing furniture for sale online. Oh crap, the couch sold 3 weeks earlier then expected. What are we going to sit on? Hand in notice of intention to leave to landlord. Waiting for list of 'what to clean and fix' before we leave. Crap I packed all the cleaning rags already. What box are they in. I can't find them. Idiot! Oh well, just rip up some towels and buy some new ones to use. Crap those new towels were expensive. Crap, I say crap alot. I need another box. What? We ran out of boxes. You guessed it... crap! "Hey can I still have all those moving boxes you were getting rid of?", "you're a legend!". Make a cake. Open cupboard to get out baking tin. Crap, I already packed it. Unpack tin, bake cake, wash and dry tin, pack it back away. Good thing I am OCD about writing contents of boxes on packing sheets. Where are the Fragile stickers? Where are we going to store the dining room set? Ooops, it's 7pm and I haven't cooked dinner yet. Should we throw this out? When is the piano removalist coming? It's going to cost HOW MUCH to move???? Think = go jump. Say = sounds good. Eat all the food in the freezer and pantry. I'm sick of eating canned food. Keep eating canned food. So, wanna eat pasta every night for a week? Wash the black ink off my hands from the newspaper for the 20th time tonight. Who wants to buy my microwave? I don't know either. Crap, we ran out of tape again. Dreaming about packing. Living a life of packing.

We will start moving some things into Mum and Dad's starting up this weekend. We have already run out of room for all the boxes that are packed thus far. We will be storing ALOT of our stuff for the year we are going to be living with them. We don't have much room. We're selling alot, giving away alot, throwing away alot. The whole process is making me crazy... incase you didn't notice. So nothing crafty and delightful today, and I can't promise anything fabulous for at least a few more weeks. One good thing though, I'll still have my own craft room. Bliss! Wish me luck!

Stuffed shirts.

2011-07-19T22:38:00.000+10:00

One last post to show you what I've made in preparation for my demonstration on Thursday night. 3 cushions covers made from men's shirts.

The circle cushions are both (obviously) made from old button up/collared shirts. The square one is made from an old polo that husby was throwing out. I almost stopped breathing when I started to cut into that Ralph Lauren shirt (top left), but my dad assured me he would never wear it again and I could cut into it.

I did my first button hole on the square cushion cover!! It took me a good 20 mins to figure out how to even attach the appropriate foot on the sewing machine, but I got there in the end. I probably could have made the hole a little smaller, but I am nonetheless pleased with my effort.

I'll have to remember to take photos on Thursday night of all my demo items and display. Husby also mentioned that he thinks the round cushions looks like old mens round bellies, and I have to agree. Funny! See ya!

A quick table display.

2011-07-17T19:43:00.000+10:00

Once again, in preparation for my demonstration this week, I have something to share. Today at church I was asked to do a table display promoting the upcoming activity this week. I am really annoyed at myself that I didn't think to take a picture of my little display, but I didn't want you to miss out so I ended up setting it up at home to take a photo for you. It looked great and I got lots of compliments from people who were looking forward to what I was going to demonstrate at the activity.

And here are closeup's of all the elements.

That is the table runner that I told you about earlier in the week. I just used some scrap fabric to tie around the vase, and spray painted some sticks with red & silver spray paint.

My first attempt at bunting!! I just chose some scrap fabrics that co-ordinated with the table runner and whipped it up in under an hour. I am super pleased with it and will be making some again soon because it was so simple!

And then for the cutlery frame. This one took a little more work. I just painted a thrifted frame black. Then I traced my cutlery placement on the frame backing, and drilled some nice narrow holes using the husby's electric drill.

Next was to spray paint the wood. I did it silver, but I think if I did it again I would use a more contrasting colour. White, green, blue or red were some of husby's suggestions. Next time!

I am happy how it turned out regardless!

I still have a couple of things to show you. Hopefully I'll have some time this week to share it.

TOPIC CHANGE!! I am moving!! Our lease is up next month and we are moving in with my parents for a year to save money towards buying a house. So I am already madly going through the house deciding what to do with all of our stuff!!! Some we are already attempting to sell, others we are putting aside to sell at the local car boot sale early next month. Then I need to start looking at what do we put away in boxes for a year, and what will we still use while living at mum and dads. We are going to have ALOT less room, so I need to be brutal and part with alot of our possessions. Alot of the older electrical appliances will be going, a few bits of furniture, including our couch! It's gonna be fun!

Decorative Balls - Christy style!

2011-07-17T00:18:00.000+10:00

This is something I've been working on in my spare moment over the past week. I am super happy with the outcome - better then what I had anticipated, and a hell of a lot cheaper then what is available in the stores. And let's be honest, the ones in the store are nowhere near as funky as these!!

Although this is a new addition to my dining room table, I actually made it to show at the class/demonstration I am doing this upcoming week on how to decorate your house on the cheap, or using what you have at home, at an activity my church is putting on. I googled "homemade deco balls" and sifted through tonnes of great ideas, and this is what I put together.

Took the piccie late at night on my phone (lazy), so you can't see the full effect of how amazing it is. BUT here is all the balls laid out so you can see all the different colours and textures and sizes.

They were all easy to make. Some fiddlier then others, but only because I kept getting my fingers stuck in the glue! I used a mixtures of polystyrene & plastic golf balls to make all of my pretty balls. Here's what I did:

Thumbtack balls - you just go around once through the centre of the ball, and then continue on overlapping each layer slowly. Just keep going around and around until everything is covered. I found it necessary to put a little hot glue under the last few tacks to keep it all secure. Then I spray painted them. That took forever! They needed about 3 coats on each side. I think they sat outside being sprayed for about 4 days!
Lentil balls - just bought a few bags of 'soup mix' lentils and picked out the two shapes and sizes I liked best. Luckily one of the beans was already green so I just hot glued them down and was happy with the colour and left them. Nice and easy! The other I just glued down and then spray painted white. After that dried I watered down some green paint and went over them - which gives it a rustic look. Really happy with those balls.
String balls - the fiddliest of all. I just did a knot in the string and used a pin to secure it at the beginning. Then just put a little bit of hot glue down and just keep going around and around. Super annoying if you have fat fingers like me!
Fabric balls - I did a couple of different techniques with these. Some I cut up little chunks and decoupaged them with white glue. Others I cut strips and used pins to secure the ends.

I love how they turned out. Now I just need to demonstrate all these techniques to these women along with all the other things I want to demonstrate in 10 mins. Should be interesting.....

One last thing. A good friend of mine has launched her store in Madeit. Pop on over and check out her amazing talent!

A new use for those old nasty ties!

2011-07-11T12:53:00.000+10:00

I was in an Op Shop quite a while ago that was doing a HUGE cleanout of their stock and had their ties marked at $1. I went to town!!!! I think I bought about 10 or so. Some were really fantastic. So fantastic that I didn't get to keep all of them for my own upcycling use, because husby stole some! I then put the word out amongst friends that when they do closet clean outs, to give me all their toss worthy items and I would see if I could use them or not. Soon after a friend gave me a huge bag of old ties her husband has been meaning to toss for some time! I was super excited.

Now, I have been asked to do a demonstration at a womens church activity on how to decorate your home using the things you already have, or on the cheap. I am pretty excited about doing this and have been whipping up a few extra things to demonstrate. I will be showing some of these ideas to you over the upcoming week or so!

First I want to show you what I did with some of my awesome old tie collection! I was sitting on my craft room floor a few nights ago and spread all my awesome ties out in front of me. I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but I knew that if I stared at them long enough, inspiration would EVENTUALLY strike!! I was laying some of the co-ordinating ties by each other, thinking over some of the tie creations I had seen in the past - dresses, bags, skirts - and it hit me!! A TABLE RUNNER!! I picked my favourite colour combo and got started. Husby thought I was nuts! Here is what I ended up with.

Even husby liked it once I had finished it all off! I am loving it too! I think it's just fun and different and colourful. Not to everyone's taste, but that's ok! I'll be back soon with more fun stuff!

Bad blogger.

2011-06-28T16:32:00.000+10:00

I have been slack and selfish. I have been reading lots of blogs, finding new talented people to follow, taking note of their fabulous ideas, and not bothering to return the favour with producing regular eye candy on my blog haha!! My apologies. My attitude stinks towards anything that requires effort due to my ongoing health issues. Poor health really does mess with you... sigh.

BUT onto brighter and happier things. I have stuff to show you!

I made my husband some house shorts! I was bored, and just went and got a pair of his basketball shorts out of his drawer, traced around them, and hoped for the best hahaha!! They turned out pretty good considering. After I finished sewing them (and after many a sigh and unpick and grunt) I had husby try them on and they only needed minor adjustments. He's worn them pretty much every night since. They're pretty funny if you ask me though!

(apologies for all the photos, they were taken on my phone as I seem to have temporarily misplaced my camera)

Then over the weekend I didn't have much on, so had a go at making another patchwork gypsy skirt. I love how it turned out, even though I had a different idea in mind originally.

I was able to overlock/serge all the edges before sewing my panels together. After much grunting and sighing and unpicking, I was pleased that it came together nicely. On a side not, I noticed something while I was cutting up my panels if fabric. It was the writing on my selvage of the floral fabric. It is cut off a little so isn't 100% clear, but I consulted my Facebook friends and they came up with a few other suggestions.....

I see "Fabric for Satan". I laughed and laughed when I saw it. Other suggestions were "Fabric by Sotan", "Fabric for Sotex". I decided I'd stick with Satan for the entertainment factor. What do you see??

I had plenty of scraps and thought to make a nice headband to match also.

I was at my sisters house the other day and my sister insisted on practising her face painting skills on me. I thought I'd show you for entertainment factor. She asked why I wasn't terribly enthused. My response was that it might have something to do with the fact that I am an adult....

And lastly, I have been doing some hairdressing jobs lately and have a nice bundle of cash waiting for me to spend on crafty goodness!! I have been putting together a delicious Stampin Up order of punches and stamps... I can't wait!!

Until next time!

Front Door Decor

2011-06-24T10:09:00.000+10:00

On my week off last week I had an urge to make my home look nicer. I bought a new mirror for the entrance, I framed a picture of husby and I that was printed, hmm... 6 months ago? Ooops! Then I thought it would be nice to make something for my front door like all you Americans do :P Afterall, husby is American and would probably appreciate it!!

The frame was thrifted for a few dollars, and I got the letters from a craft store, I think the big one was about $3 and the littlies $1 each. I needed to do about 10 coats of the paint to get the coverage I wanted on the frame. Once I was happy with it, I smudged some brown paint over the wood markings and it gave it a more aged look, and then sprayed it with a sealant. The small letters were simple. Some white glue, some pretty scrapbooking paper, and some sand paper to tidy up the edges. I attached them to the frame with some white glue... I hope it holds... I couldn't find the proper wood glue! I actually sprayed the sealant over the small letters also. Big mistake! They left awful white cloudy patches on my letters. I ended up sanding off the sealant and just painted over the top with some white glue to protect the paper against the weather.

Lastly was the F. I just painted it up with white glue and wound and wound that gorgeous twine around it until it was all covered and I was happy with the design. I coated the back of the F with white glue to secure all the string in it's place. I noticed that some of the string shifted while moving it around. The glue looked funny when it dried so I just did it on the back to secure everything. I bought some hook and eyes and it hangs from the top of the frame.

For the string it hangs on, I just braided some ribbon and crafting rope and stapled it on the back. You can't see the lovely colours of the braided ribbons and rope in this photo which is a shame. And lastly, to make sure I didn't scratch up my front door with the staples at the top and with the frame, I stuck some of those sticky felt squares (that you put on the bottom of your chairs so they don't mark your tiles or wooden floors) all across the back of it. They work a treat. And husby doesn't mind it either :)

Flowerpress Brooch Swap - what I made.

2011-06-17T22:26:00.000+10:00

I took part in Flowerpress' Brooch Swap this month. I haven't been lucky enough to receive my brooch yet but am still excitedly anticipating it's arrival soon :) I did a sneak peak of the brooch I made a few weeks ago. Figured it was time to show you the whole thing! It wasn't the most complicated intricate brooch to make, but my swap partner is so bright and positive and I know she has a love for buttons, so I thought it would be fitting to do a rainbow button brooch.

I hope she likes it and I hope it got to her safely!

Celebrations & promotions

2011-06-14T12:23:00.000+10:00

I've been busy listing in my Craftumi store again today. I'm really excited to be on top of things in my neck of the woods. I haven't been this organised in a while. I also have a reason to celebrate. I am up to 90 followers!! I am super excited about this. Welcome to my new followers, and thank you for all those who have been sticking around for quite some time now!! I appreciate you all!

Here's a sneak of what slipped into the store this morning...

So to celebrate my organization and awesome followers, I decided to do a little promotion! For the remainder of the month of June, if you make any purchase in my Craftumi store, or Madeit store, I will send you an extra thank you gift for your support. All you need to do is tell me in the notes that you are a follower of my blog (and be a follower of course). I bet you want to know what the thank you gift is don't you? Well folks, that part I am going to keep a secret! You'll just have to wait and find out when you receive your little parcel in the mail!!

Hope everyone is having a delightful day!

Weekend Craft & Listings

2011-06-13T22:36:00.000+10:00

I've had a super productive weekend in my craft room which makes me super happy! It's been refreshing to spend so much time in here. I sewed a patchwork gypsy skirt for myself some time ago. I decided yesterday I needed to make myself another! Now this is a skirt pattern which I drafted myself and have no instructions. I thought it would be best to practice on a smaller scale first, and I made a child's skirt.

It turned out well, and I have started selecting the fabrics for my new skirt. I hope to make a start on it this week. I am excited that I will be able to overlock/serge all of the edges before sewing it together this time around. Santa Clause was so kind to me last year :)

Today the sun was shining, for the first time in about a week so I took advantage of it and took some pictures of goodies to go into my Madeit store and Craftumi store outside on the back patio. I spent the afternoon editing and listing. Here's a sneak of some of the things that made it in there.

And tonight I have been busy photographing, packaging and I'm just about to start editing to list a bunch of awesome stuff into my Craftumi store. Die cuts, punchies, and cool stuff like that. It feels great to have been so productive today!!

What did you do today? Anything productive? Or did you relax and enjoy the sunshine?

I love getting parcels in the mail...

2011-06-12T22:35:00.000+10:00

I got into work on Wednesday last week, and sitting on my desk, was a beautiful parcel. It was addressed to me. This can only mean fabulous things. I look on the back to see who it's from, and instantly know what it is...

It's an awesome gigantor pincushion from Wendy over at The Textured Leaf. I won a giveaway on her blog a little while back, and she sent me a pincushion as my prize.... except, it went a missing in the post!!! So she kindly made me another and has sent it over. Thanks so much Wendy, I love it and already have it in use!

The funny thing is, when I was transferring my pins over to my new pincushion, I started squeezing my old thinner pincushion incase any needles were living inside. I popped 12 out. I was starting to run low on needles and was worried they might have been hiding in my carpet, ready to strike at a passerby foot. But, they were tucked away safely in my pincushion. Needless to say, I won't be putting any needles on my new pincushion... I would never see them again if they snuck inside!

Floral this, doily that.

2011-06-09T21:39:00.001+10:00

Over the past few weeks I've been making bits and pieces at my own leisure. It seems I have a little catching up to do on my blog since I have been unwell this past week!! Around two months ago I had fun making a couple of pretty headbands for myself, which you can read about here and here.

I love doilies, so thought it would be worth trying to create something for my hair using them. This is what I came up with.

I absolutely love it, but know doilies aren't for everyone. Which is why I was SUPER surprised when I wore it to church one week and I lost count how many compliments I got about it. I was super excited! This of course got me thinking about the possibilities of doily headbands. Here is what I've come up with so far.

I'm working towards popping them in my shop in the next day or so.

And while we're on the subject of doilies... remember this table runner?

It's making it's way into the shop too!! I'm excited!!

And last but not least. My new favourite fabric flower! I have been making a couple more out of gorgeous vintage fabrics and am undecided whether to make these two hair clips or brooches. What do you think?

This one I made into a brooch and absolutely adore. It's made from a gorgeous soft grey velvet and musk pink corduroy. I LOVE it!! I'll be popping it into the shop soon also.

So what have you all been up to this past week? I am on holidays next week and SO looking forward to being able to spend more time in my 'quaint' craft room! Hope everyone is avoiding the horrible colds, flu's and tummy bugs going around, and staying WARM!!! Brrrr!!!

I'm sick!

2011-06-07T21:51:00.000+10:00

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This is me! Tummy bugs and a never-ending cold are playing havoc on my ability to achieve much of anything of late. Haven't been able to create anything this week to share with you, sorry! Hopefully I am back on my feet soon... I don't have much patience for ill health. Hope you all are staying cold/flu/tummy bug free!!

One last thing. After a horrible night last night of being so ill that I couldn't sleep, I went out today and bought an array of things to help me feel better, along with a 2 litre bottle of Sprite. Sprite is the one thing that makes me feel better!

What makes you feel better when you're sick??

My Creative Space - Just a few things I whipped up...

2011-06-02T12:40:00.000+10:00

I have been feeling under the weather, and haven't been doing too much crafting this week. But last night I had the craft bug and got around to trying out this fantastic tutorial which has been open on my browser for a few weeks now!!

My first attempt:

And my second attempt:

The first one looked too spaced out, so I sewed the petals closer together with the white lace one, which I think looks much nicer.

Link in here for more spaces.

Brooch Swap Sneak

2011-05-31T21:33:00.000+10:00

I was super organised and made my brooch and sent it off a week ago. I wasn't going to reveal anything until my partner had received it and posted about it, but I figured a itty bitty sneak wouldn't hurt!!

Perusing

2011-05-30T09:48:00.000+10:00

I haven't been much in the mood to blog lately. Main contributor being stress! So I've taken a step back, and have REALLY been enjoying reading other's blogs with more intent. I've also had some fun finding new blogs to follow. I know we all say this, and often, but GEEZ there are some clever people out there. So today, my blog post isn't full of gorgeous things I've made (even though I really do have a tonne of things I want to show you all), but it is full of things that have been making me smile, and feel inspired. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Foxs Lane - Kate, you're never too old to wear twirly skirts.

Raspberry Rainbow - Cat, thanks for making me feel normal about the miracle of the bottom of the laundry basket. And I hope your roof attaches itself back where it belongs soon.

Creating My Way To Success - Jill, I'm amazed at your determination to empty that box of potential upcycles. AWESOME. I must follow your lead.

Made - Dana responded to my comment about her haircut, even though I was the 171st comment. Some people are just too nice.

Little Poppa & Me - Tammi is on the move, and everyone knows how fun it isn't! That will be me in another month or so. You can do it Tammi!

Flowerpress - I sent off my brooch, for the brooch swap last week. I can't wait to receive mine. You can check out other's ideas and creations over at the Flickr group.

Made By Me. Shared With You - Tricia has an amazing ability to make something as simple as a blanket look so amazing.

Blueberry Patch - Cathy's post made me laugh. Chickens are always good for entertainment.

Thea & Sami - Thea has found a pair of the most amazing hand warmers ever. And she held an awesome fundraiser morning tea last week!

Seven Cherubs - Naomi gave me a good idea, to have a Daddy Baby Shower. Although I think I still might want my own too.

Totally Tutorials - thanks for posting this tutorial, which led me to this blog, and this great tutorial. I'll be trying my hand at it soon.

Rosa's Room - Karlyn, thanks for reminding me how hilarious kids are sometimes.

And Then There Were Four - Multiple Mum, thanks for saying it how it is.

and finally,

Flower Photography - V, thanks for making everyday things look beautiful.

Hope you've enjoyed a good read!!

A favour for a friend

2011-05-26T22:06:00.000+10:00

I have a good friend with by far the cutest baby boy around this neck of the woods.

Told you :)

He has been entered into a competition to win a free portrait session and 11"x14" print ($140 value). If they get over 100 votes and have the highest number by Tuesday next week they get the CD of images too! If you would be a darling and pop over here and vote for him!!!

And while you're there check out how AMAZING Shayla's work is.

Old jeans upcycle.

2011-05-20T13:34:00.000+10:00

I keep alot of old clothes with intentions to find an upcycling project to use them for. Yesterday I had some success with my intentions!!! I decided that I needed to make a bunch of new headbands for myself. I only had a few and there just isn't enough variety!!! So I pulled out one of my storage tubs with old clothes in them, and on the top was a pair of old jeans. I pulled them out and thought that a denim headband would look fantastic!!!

I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. What do you think?

I think I'll be making a few more just like this! I have already got a few compliments today. Best part is, they're easy to make!

My creative space - Make your own envelope.

2011-05-19T07:57:00.000+10:00

I love finding cool things on Etsy, Madeit & Craftumi. Unique things. Like envelope templates. I mentioned it in a previous post. But I've been busy making lots of them!! Don't they look awesome??

If you have a creative space you want to share, pop over here.

Monday - a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

2011-05-16T13:06:00.000+10:00

This week has not started out so well. But we won't dwell too much on that.

Instead I'm going to celebrate selling these in my store over the weekend.

And buying this for my American MIL for Christmas (I like starting early!) from here.

I'm also going to focus on the fact that over the weekend I bought...

and of course I bought these go to with it..

Now I can cut up my fabric with precision and ease! I am hoping to cut up some fat quarters this week to pop in my Craftumi store.

I hope your week has started out fantastically!!

De-cluttering.... could = $$

2011-05-12T20:03:00.000+10:00

I've been hard out de-cluttering all day today!! I have filled FOUR garbage bags to donate, two garbage bags with... GARBAGE (and that's just from my bedroom!), and have also started my own Craftumi Store! I have tonnes of crafting tools, items, you name it.. that I will never use. So I might as well sell them to someone who WILL use it! So I've been busy popping fun things like this..

...and this...

... in my shop. Question is though, can you figure out what this is without looking in my shop?

I'll be popping plenty more stuff in my Madeit shop, AND Craftumi shop over the coming weeks. Afterall, we're on the move again in July. The less we have to move around, the better I say!

My creative space - nom nom nom

2011-05-12T08:38:00.006+10:00

Hungry much? Feel like one apple?

Or two pears?

Perhaps you'd like three plums?

Or four strawberries?

But maybe you are still hungry.... so you might want some cake!

And some cherry pie!

Or how about a slice of fresh juicy watermelon?

But that's enough sweets for the day. Now you feel like a pickle!

And some salami and a sausage!

Are you going to finish off with a leaf?

I've been pottering away getting everything made for the Hungry Caterpillar book. It's what I did while I was away camping! My sister joined in on the fun too. Here's what she's made so far...

I started on the ice cream cone the other day.

Now to figure out how to do the ice cream bit....

Only a few more things to make now. Then I need to make the caterpillar and butterfly!!

To join in pop over to Kirsty's.

Chop chop

2011-05-10T22:48:00.000+10:00

So I got my hair cut today. Monumental for me. Normal for some others. Considering I've only had one haircut in two years, I think that could sum up my fear of hair cuts. I don't trust my fellow hairdressers. I've seen far too many poor skills. But today I got over it and went and saw a hairdresser that I have heard about from friends for YEARS. I had to wait a few weeks to see him. But I needed a few weeks to get my head around it.

Before:

It was just long, floppy, dry, stringy, gross, knotty. It had to go. It had no shape. It was pretty much not acceptable, especially for a hairdresser. Come on, I'm supposed to have awesome hair right?

After:

Now it has shape. It feels amazingly healthy - especially compared to how it previously felt. It will take half the time to dry. Funny thing is, he took SIX INCHES off... and it's still reasonably long. He probably could have taken more length off, but considering the first thing he heard from me was "I hate having my haircut, I don't trust hairdressers and I'm freaking out", I think he played on the safe side. I'll probably be braver next time :)

Need to work on that side fringe though. It's all floppy. Not used to sitting like a fringe should. I'll whip it into shape in a week or two. It won't know what hit it.

What are YOU scared of, and have conquered to some degree?

I'm also petrified of having a baby. I'll be conquering that one next year :)

Flea Market Finds - history

2011-05-08T13:52:00.000+10:00

So this weeks find, is once again thanks to my fantastic Nanna.

Because once again, she has held onto something FOREVER. Hoarding comes in handy sometimes...

And I am again at the receiving end of her 'cleaning out' efforts.

This suitcase belonged to my Great Great Grandfather. He used to be a Train Driver, and this was the suitcase he would take on the train with him to work.... because he used to drive the train from Brisbane to Sydney you see.. so he needed to take a few days worth of clothes and supplies with him.

This suitcase is about 150 or so years old. I definitely will be taking good care of it, and have a safe spot for it to live.

Isn't it delightful?

Pop over to Sophie's to join in.

Playing with Macro

2011-05-06T22:21:00.000+10:00

I've been exploring the possibilities with the Macro settings on my camera lately. Here's a few piccies I've taken...

What do you like using your Macro settings to photograph?

Hope everyone has a super weekend!

End of Listing Sale - be quick!!

2011-05-06T14:30:00.001+10:00

I have a small handful of items in my Madeit Store. A couple of those items listings expire today.. so I thought I'd have a quick 'end of listing' sale!!! Then I thought, that's not good enough, so decided on FREE postage within Australia too!!! Catch is, the sale will only last for the 8 or so hours left on the listings!!! I love seeing my treasures go to new homes, so feel free to check out what's on offer, and head over to the shop via the links under each item if you're interested!

"Congratulations" Card

Original Price: $3

Original Postage: $1.50

Current Price: $2