Wordless Wednesday

The first time in my life I wish I didn't live in Brisbane.

My Madeit store is officially open! Freebies for the first few sales!

Greetings to you all on this strangely cold and rainy Monday Summer's morning!

Well my Madeit store is up and running and has some goodies in it.  To boost sales, more like START sales, I'm offering a little incentive, and it's only for my followers!!  The first 4 of my followers to purchase something from my store will receive an extra of the item they are purchasing.  Now I think that sounds confusing so if that is the case I'll explain it in a different way.  If you buy a greeting card from my store, I will include another free greeting card as a little thank you. 

Remember you have to let me know when purchasing the item you are a follower!!

Baby Steps

I have so much to tell you and show you but I simply do not have time.  It is wedding central around here with my brother's wedding approaching in just over a week's time, and I am helping with a whole deal of last minute preparations.  I promise I will try and post about all the fun stuff I've been up to soon.

Well, I officially 'opened' my online store... and I have a bundle of goodies waiting for new owners!  Check out my Madeit.com.au store.

In the meantime, thanks for the great links to your favourite blogs.  I've checked them all out and there certainly are lots more talented people out there that I am now following!

Favourite blog.

I was just on my lunch break at work and was thinking about what bloggy land has done for me in the last year.  I have come across a whole bunch of super talented people.  I've also come to realise that alot of you talented people are flippin awesome too! 

Then I was thinking that I just don't follow enough blogs.  I mean, I check that Dashboard a zillion times a day hoping someone has posted a new entry, to entertain my imagination, to give me ideas, and to drool.  116 blogs is NOT ENOUGH.  Seriously. (I'm not even joking).

Do you have a absolute favourite blog that you check every single day? 

I do.

The Clip Cafe.

What's your most favouritest blog in the whole wide bloggyworld??  I'd love to hear about them so I can add them to my list of most favouritest blogs too!!

Apron Giveaway

I haven't seen too many giveaways floating around lately that I'd want to enter/win.  Maybe I've become more picky, but that comes with NEVER WINNING any giveaways.  But this one is sweet and if I won, which won't happen I would give it to my SIL because just yesterday she was telling me she wants a pretty pink girly apron and these would suit her to a tee!!!

So to enter head over to The Dalli Cottage Collection and enter the giveaway to win a custom apron to your taste!

Experimenting...

I decided to give my brand new sewing machine a work out.  She's pretty good.  And she even shows me when her bobbin is getting low.  Which is convenient.

(Disclaimer:  photos were taken on my phone due to laziness in retrieving the camera from downstairs)

So I cut out a whole stack of random fabrics more appropriate for a little man, and decided to make a pram quilt.  I have a thick piece of wadding left over from a previous project and just decided to use that even thought it is thicker then most quilting wadding.  I just figure the little man will be extra comfy.  I also found a baby blanket in my stash to use as a backing.

Then was the fun part.. placing them so they looked evenly spaced.

And I sewed all my rows together, and then ironed them and ironed the seams in the opposite direction from each row below it, bla bla bla...  It didn't take long to sew it all together!

I also have sewn the wadding and back on, but don't have a piccie of that yet.  I'm debating a few things with finishing it off.  I need to attach all the layers together in the middle of course, and not 100% which method I want to go to do that.  But it is a pram quilt so the baby will be laying on top of it, so I may go for little knots with wool.  That way it stays nice and cushy.  And then there is the matter of binding.  I may end up having to make it which I'm not keen on, but boo hoo!  I might even just use ribbon.  We shall see what my little fingers do to it tomorrow!

As promised, punches etc.

So tonight I'm home alone.  Husby is gaming with mates.  I've already cleaned the house head to toe, and now have the laundry processing.  I was feeling a tad bored so decided I should actually update my blog properly.  I have been unforgivably slack since I got home from the USA.  I guess I broke my 'blogging habit' and even feel a tad disinterested.  But I am going to change that!

Here are the punches I bought in the USA that I have been promising photos of for a month now.

My favourite is the top white one, which is unfortunately a Martha Stewart punch (that woman annoys the crappola out of me).  It is just so delightfully doily-ish.  And the bottom smaller one was a must buy.  Stampin Up have stopped making their version of this punch and they are such a good punch to have so I was determined to get this one! (luckily for me it was on clearance for $8).

I have been doing plenty of other little things too.  Like making cookies, and putting them in bags with sweet little gift tags (that I got husby to help with since they were for his work mates!).

I also did up some choccie bags for my work mates.

And I did up the gift tags for the gifts we (me and the other leaders) gave to our girls at church.  (They actually took FOREVER cause those snowflakes are all embossed and I had to do 17 tags!)

Let me see, what else have I been up to...  ahh yes, introducing my Waterproof camera to the pool :)

The niece - Brooklyn

The husby

And I've also been brave trusting and teaching my 3 year old nephew how to use the camera - in and out of the water. (he still has issues with covering the lens with his fingers)

He just LOVES having ownership of the camera.  I can't not trust him, he's too cute.

Two day's after Christmas is my sister's birthday.  I have always made an extra effort to make it special and non-Christmassy.  So the night before I madly took down all my decorations except for the Christmas tree, cause I simply could not be bothered :)  And then I set the table...

  ...with my dinner set I bought as a 16 year old for my glory box!!  It took me almost 10 years to use it but I'm glad I finally did cause it's such a sweet little set.  Sad that it's only a setting for 4 though.

I even did little place settings to make it sweet.

She also got the bestest birthday cake ever...

I also am now the proud owner of SIX SU ink pads.  To some this is no biggie.  For me this is amazing.  No more cheap nasty ink pads from the $2 shop.

Most of you should know what I got for Christmas.  A sewing machine & overlocker/serger.  Santa was VERY good to me this year.  So I broke the girls out of their boxes yesterday and am working on re-organising my craft space to make room for them.

Now, I must warn you that I am strange.  I have to name everything.  And I need your help with this one.  I don't have a name for my sewing machine yet.  What does she look like to you?

There are rules to naming things though.  It has to be catchy and fun.  Not dorky.

Luckily my overlocker has a name.  Edna the Elna.

I am currently off work for a week for the Christmas/New Year's period and I've been trying to use that time to get the annoying jobs done around the house.  So I cleaned out the wardrobes, and put skinny clothes into Space Bags, scrubbed the hell out of my bathroom... and organised my fabrics!!  Yay!  A friend of mine gave me these fantastic drawers - she was going to throw them out!!  Husby is going to cut me a piece of wood to put on top so I can stack more crap on top of it hah!

And last but not least, this week I went over my friend's house.  She is a Stampin Up demonstrator so has ALLL the goodies.  Every so often I'll go over and we'll just make cards and things all day long.  It's fun and she always gives me great ideas.  Unfortunately this time round my brain was on holidays and had a bit of a creative block, so my first card design was a little boring...

But I got my brain into gear for the second design...

I love this card.. and did you notice the brads?

I bought them off Craftumi before Christmas.  They are just so adorable!

Well, I think that pretty much brings me up to speed.  I was thinking this afternoon I might wing making a quilt for a pram.  I don't know who it's for, but I need to give this sewing machine a work out and get a feel for it.  So I might just cut up some random bits of fabric and sew them together and see what I end up with!

Tomorrow night I'm off to a 60th for New Years Eve... what are your plans?

Have a fun night and don't go to bed too early!

Proof that I'm a good girl

Can you see what it is? 

(check out my hilarious nephew.. I gave him that swimming suit for a gift and he had to put it on IMMEDIATELY and of course 'help' everyone open their gifts)

It's a sewing machine and I love it!!

But wait, there's more...

With my sisters.  We were told we had to open them together at the same time...

We all got overlockers!  I knew about it and had to keep it a secret from both of them for like two months which was super hard.  Check out my older sis Alicia.. she was ecstatic.  Bethany suggested to not eat lunch and just sew haha.  

Now I have the set up and I'm ready to experiment!

The day before the day.

What did you spend your day before the day doing?  I had a busy yet fun and relaxing day somehow all mixed in together.

- slept in half an hour
- finished gluing my nephews Christmas gift
- vacuumed up and down stairs
- cleaned the whole house thoroughly.. put everything back in its place
- tidied my craft room.... which is always a huge job
- scrubbed the hell out of my bathroom.  goodbye scum mould mildew and whatever else was there.
- made a ribbon flower clip to wear in my hair tomorrow
- played a buttload of Frontierville & Cityville on Facebook :P
- had a meat pie for breakfast at 4pm... I forgot to eat again
- had a shower and shaved my legs, and even used shaving cream! (trust me this needs to be noted cause it only happens once a quarter)
- played Lego Star Wars on the Wii and received instruction from the husby how to play :P
- gathered everything I need to take to Mum & Dad's tomorrow for Christmas Day, as we are leaving the house at 6.45am and won't get home until about 9pm!!
- took garbage out to the wheelie bin to discover about 5 million maggots all over it (I'm leaving that one for the husby to take care of)
- folded and put away laundry
- watched an episode of Glee
- went over to my sisters house and put up a trampoline in the pouring rain with my husby, bro in law, bro, and friend.  we were all goofy and it was funny.
- wrote my 100th blog post whilst laying in bed with dry pj's on.

Enjoy your day tomorrow.  You've only been waiting all year for it :)  Don't forget to decide what your gift is to the Savior for the upcoming year.  It's probably the best gift we can give! :)

zzzzzzzzz......

retromummy's sweet giveaway!

You need to check this giveaway out ladies....

So up for grabs are 2 fat quarter packs of the lot.....that is 20 fat quarters of the gorgeous Flower Sugar range from Lecien as featured in this lovely picture.

Make sure you pop over to retromummy to enter this giveaway!!!!  Thanks Corrie!

More bits about me

I just realised I never finished that 30 something days about me doovey.  Here are a few more...

Day 09- Something you’re proud of in the past few days

I've stopped drinking Soft Drink.  MUST break the habit.  I drank FAR TOO MUCH in the USA and got totally addicted to the stuff.  Back to water!!!



Day 10- Songs you listen to when you are Happy, Sad, Bored, Hyped, Mad

I don't really listen to music.  But I can tell you two songs that MAKE me feel sad... no wait, I can't even remember what they're called.  Nevermind.



Day 11- Another picture of you and your friends

My SIL and her fiance.  Our trip to the USA was great because we got to know Wes really well and he is super awesome, and got to know my SIL a little more cause we've never really spent time together in the past. 

Day 12- How you found out about Blogger and why you made one

How do you expect me to remember that kind of stuff.  I made a personal blog years and years ago and wrote random stuff on it and then forgot about it and then remembered it again about a year ago and started a craft one after realising everyone did it!!

Slack/Busy/Lack of Creativity/Distracted

Well here is another boring photoless post.

But it's Christmas right?  I'm supposed to be really busy!  But I don't think I can really use Christmas as an excuse cause I did all my Christmas shopping before I went away!  But I am actually still getting my house back in order after our trip.  Finding new homes for our purchases.. which will probably be ongoing for a while cause we accidentally bought about 30 DVDs... ooopsy!  So now we have nowhere to put them and the hunt for a DVD shelf will be happening in the January sales.

I have laundry everywhere too... it's been storming a whole lot since we have been back.  I don't mind though.  It's stinking hot and so far all the rain has brought cool breezes!

But the real reason there is no crafty fun posts, is because I don't know what to make.  I think I have a crafters block.  No inspiration is coming!  I guess I didn't do craft for a whole month so my creative brain has gone on holidays early.

Well tonight I HAVE to make some gift tags because I've run out for my own presents and I need some for church so maybe I'll take piccies of what I come up with and post them on here. 

I'M BACK!!!

After 30 LONG hours travelling I am back in the motherland!!  Husby and I had a great time relaxing, visiting, laughing, shopping & eating in the USA over the past month, but reality has hit and we are once again home.  Home to the heat and humidity and the reality of life.  The time went by super fast (of course) but we were able to unwind which was the main goal we wanted to achieve whilst away.  I missed bloggy land and doing craft but at the same time it was awesome to sit back and do nothing.

A few days before we left we had Christmas with husby's family.  My SIL gave me an awesome Martha Stewart border punch.  When I found out how cheap it was, I begged husby to take me to Michael's craft store to see what else they had.  He complied (happy wife happy life) and we went to crafters paradise, and bought me some goodies.  Luckily for me there were some sales on too!  I got 6 tubs of brads, some gem stickers, 4 border punches & a handheld punch all for $90.  I couldn't get over how cheap everything was.  It took everything in me to not start throwing it all into my basket and buy it all and bring it home!!

So I have gone from having NO punches to 6 and I'm super dooper excited to use them!

I'm also super dooper excited to get stuck back into my crafts because I have missed it so much.  And I'm also thinking of starting up my own online store in the New Year, either Etsy or Madeit.  Just looking into the pros and cons of each.  If you have stores through them I'd love to hear feedback from you.

I'll have to upload pics of my punches soon... I just don't have the energy right now.  I still have SO MUCH unpacking and organising to do.  Thank goodness all my Christmas shopping is done!!

Happy weekend and crafting!

I now have a reason why I love it.

Those who live in the USA, or have visited the USA (like myself) know the beauty of Michael's.  It has everything a craftaholic could possibly dream of ever needing.  I have a headache tonight and have hidden myself in the quiet bedroom with only the internet for company.  I of course found myself on the Michael's website looking for inspiration.

Now let's rewind a week.  My MIL is a bit of a collector of things.  These things are mostly without purpose.  We were cleaning out the closet in the upstairs game room and there are 10 sheets of polystyrene in there.  Without a purpose.  I think I just found a purpose for them.  And I might just even make it for my SIL.

Project Instructions

Step: 1

Referring to cutting plan, use straight edge and pencil to mark cutting lines on 12-inch x 36-inch x 1-inch sheets of STYROFOAM brand foam.

Step: 2

Cut out pieces using a utility knife or a serrated kitchen knife (wax the serrated knife blade with an old candle for easier cutting).

Step: 3

Paint all edges, including the 12-inch x 12-inch square, with acrylic craft paint. Let dry.

Step: 4

Cut scrapbook papers to fit foam pieces.

Step: 5

Spread a very thin, even layer of craft glue on foam piece and adhere corresponding paper; if needed, secure corners with craft pins until dry. Repeat until all foam pieces are covered. Let dry. (Note: Papers may appear wavy at first, but will smooth out as glue dries.)

Step: 6

Using low-temp glue, assemble the sculpture following the assembly diagram. For additional reinforcement, glue craft sticks to reverse side to connect the pieces; be sure craft sticks are not visible from the front.

Step: 7

Affix hook and loop hangers to the back for hanging.

See here for the full instructions and further tips.

Oh how I wish you were international Michael's.......

Creativity in many forms.

Some of you may not know about some of my skills.  To learn more... read here.

I've been a Hairdresser for 10 years.  Whoa I feel old typing that.  It's now the side job but I still enjoy it on occasion.