05.28.09
Baby, it’s cold!
I quite agree with that quote wherever I’ve undoubtably misquoted it from! We seem to have dried out a little from the rain over the last couple of weeks and after a day or two of calm, settled but grey days, it looks like the hats and gloves are going to be needed for the long weekend. Yikes!
As usual, we’ve been busy busy. Cross country was finally held yesterday having been postponed from last Friday. It was Mr 8’s third time running and he is over the moon at beating his placing from last year by 11 places. He came in fifth. Mr 5 ran his first cross country and came a respectable 11th – about midway in the 5 year old boys race.
Both are very, very happy with their results.
I’ve succombed to a cold-like-thing where I’ve had a cough since the beginning of the month, thought I was shaking it off, it developing into a proper cold-thing, shaking that off and now the cough is back. Annoying! I actually feel fine, but my trusty neighbour up the road says I look flushed and she was almost on the phone to the Dr’s. I grabbed the phone and said I’d wait and see – it really doesn’t feel bad. Although I have no voice as of today – which the Mr’s think is highly amusing!
I’ve also been impatiently awaiting the arrival of my Stampin Up starter box…. I have 3 workshops already booked with another possible two lurking out there. So exciting!! And until the box of goodies actually gets here, I get to troll the web for ideas and read TONNES of information to keep me all inspired. Funnily enough, that’s all keeping me busy and out of harm’s way.
I just heard another courier van pull up – but not outside my door. I have a neighbour that is / was pregnant and due very soon. I’m beginning to suspect with the couple of flowers drop offs and the comings and goings of other cars that she might have had baby. I say *I Suspect* because this young couple are nice enough but do keep to themselves and I rarely actually see them in person. I can just imagine me bowling over with a plate of freshly baked muffins and saying “Congratulations” only to find the baby isn’t here yet and it was just a birthday of one of them or something equally ordinary!! 
So here is Secret Confession #226: I’m a some-time curtain twitcher!!!! I’ll keep you all informed as to the appearance or not of said bubs!! LOL
In the meantime, it’s jolly cold up here in the study, so I’m going to take off for the warmer living room. Swap the keyboard for folding duties. Not nearly as much fun but perhaps a little more needed.
Keep warm!!
05.22.09
A little bit of news
Thanks to my total addiction to papercrafting and the great special price to join the ranks of Stampin’ Up, I officially became an independent Demonstrator earlier this week.
I am really excited by this venture because I know it means I get to meet other people that enjoy cardmaking and scrapping like me – and as a bonus I’m hoping I might even be able to pay for my own addiction…… 
Anyway, so I can keep this blog filled with my usual goings on for family and friends, I’ve created a separate blog that will be dedicated to all things Stampin’ Up!. You’ll find all the news and creations associated with my SU venture over there at Kelly’s Stampin’ Spot. And just so you don’t need to go hunting around for this post to get that link, you’ll see I’ve already added a nifty wee link over there -> on the right.
05.21.09
Spoiled Rotten
Ok, so I’ve been 38 for a whole week now. Kept that one quiet didn’t I??! So different from last year but hey, you have to have change. It’s only been quiet out here in blogland though. On the day, I was truly spoiled by friends and family and it made me realise just how lucky I am to have the friends (and family!) I have.
All the birthday cards I received have been handmade – including one from a neighbour and friend who doesn’t consider herself a cardmaker at all, but knows how much I love them. Awesome. Her son E (who happens to be one of Mr 8’s besties) knocked on my door a little after dinner time and was standing on the doorstep with a little cupcake soap box. He’d brought it just for me from the $2 shop…. which I thought was just about the nicest thing. Of course he was completely grossed out by the fact I kissed and hugged him by way of thanks!!
Earlier in the day I set out for an unknown destination thanks to *The Girls* – Beverley, Janine, and Sarah. By way of some instructions that had been sent to me I was a little wary that I might be getting into some sort of Amazing Race!! A bonus was that I discovered a parking place in town that was pretty darn cheap and I’ll certainly be keeping that in mind for the future. Our first destination was Martha’s Pantry where a High tea had been organised.
This place is truly amazing – very cute, and inspirational. The tea is served in real teacups, the food is in lady-like bite sized morsels but Oh-So-Tasty-And-Goooooood. And to add to the overall ambience, the place was filled with modern handmade crafts.
Thanks to Beverley and her great camera….. I realised just as I was leaving home that mine had still-flat batteries. I reckon Bev’s photos would have been better than mine anyway so I think it might be a good thing I hadn’t charged mine!! 
After our morning tea that did for lunch and afternoon tea as well (…..we did linger you know!), the rest of the late morning was spent wandering the wonderful upper Cuba Street where we found Minerva – simply the best bookshop dedicated to all things related to textile crafts, and Madame Fancy Pants – another store just stcked with all things good and handmade. Bliss!! And just to rund out the day, we finally headed over to Karori where Inky Pinky is located as is Piece by Piece (a fantastic little quilt shop). It is safe to say our minds were just stuffed full of inspiration and I think we all came home thinking of the next project we had in mind!
After school on thursdays I looked after Donna’s son, C, (another of Mr 8’s besties too as it happens). Well, he came home with my Mr’s with a wee package that looks worse for wear in this pic simply because I had to open it. Clever Donna has worked out how to reuse a pull-tabbed can. Apparently she opened the can from the bottom with one of those magnetic openers, washed the can after emptying its contents, refilled with goodies and sealed it back up again before decorating it. Man, that just had me stumped and I was worried about using the pull-tab… but you’ll see that lasted for all of a few seconds!!
At dinner time I was presented with the gifts from teh family… Hubby brought home a lovely sparkly Pandora Bead having taken heed of my desire for colour to be added:
And the boys gave me a Soda-Stream! Now, I need to tell you that it was something that I had suggested to Hubby as a gift from the Mr’s as I knew they would love it too and it was coming up for a good discount on the Farmers Cardholders Day. We have had a lot of fun making the drinks over the past week – and you just know the Mr’s love the ….errr…”Buzzing” sound!
And to cap it off, Hubby and I went with Donna and B to watch the latest Star Trek movie on Friday. I can tell you that choice raised a few eyebrows among the mums at school…. But let me assure you all that it was indeed my choice – I love sci-fi books and movies and having seen the shorts for this movie, it was one that I really wanted to see.
05.13.09
Multi Photo layout
As a mum I take a LOT of photos. Lots and lots. Even with the old film cameras (I still think my old Olympus Mjo point and shoot took the best photos, ever!) I would click and not worry too much about it. Hoping probably that in the sheer volume of pictures I was taking that I’d get at least ONE decent photo. Sometimes I was really lucky and I did. Get ONE decent photo!
Anyway, in the days of digi, I take even more…. although the incease in photos taken hasn’t necessarily led to an increase in decent photos…. I blame the camera and not the need for me to take photography lessons! Anywhere we go, I will usually pull out the camera for posterity. Except those times when I should really have brought the camera along and it’s been forgotten. I’m really good at doing that.
So where is all this going? Well, as a scrapbooker I want to get these very similar shots scrapped. A day at the beach for me is more than just one perfect photo (ok, so in reality, it’s always going to be in numerous less than perfect shots, but you’re with me, right?!)
Like this trip to Waimarama earlier in the summer. And Mr 7’s first experience in amazing, huge surf. I don’t think I could ever get just one photo to tell the story of how he just LOVED the wave pushing him around. I had the perfect quote – he’d uttered those words to hubby unprompted. But How, HOW do I scrap this????
Yes, I have a ton of these occasions all waiting to be put together – the birthdays, the easters, the christmas’ over the years. And then a scrapbook magazine showed up in my letterbox. Because Simple Scrapbooks is no more, I’m getting issues of Creating Keepsakes until my subscription runs out. It’s not a mag I’ve been buying much, but if this issue is any indication, I think I may just take up their *very special, one time only* offer…..
Inspiration? It was fair pouring!! It’s been a long, long time since I sat down with a scrapmag and spent time with it instead of flicking. And this particular issue just had multi-photo layouts GALORE.
On Sunday afternoon, I told the family I wanted time to do some scrapping – and was promptly joined by two Mr’s who just had to do something too. *sigh….* Anyway, the above is the layout I did. Done and dusted in the afternoon. Inpired by the MANY layout ideas and sketches given in the mag. Lots of photos. Double layout. Happy? Yes indeed!! I have a feeling that a few more of those pages-in-waiting might finally get their turn.
05.05.09
Make N Take Parade
Yesterday as I was putting in the photos from the weekend, I realised that I hadn’t actually taken individual photos of the Make N Takes that we organised for the Waikanae Convention…. So here they are.
A gorgeous little gift box and card in one from Donna with the most adorable owl on the front. The owl is made with various SU punches and I think he comes up pretty well.
The front flops down to reveal the inside panel where you can include a sentiment. And the box is just a perfect size for a small gift.
Next, Vicky demonstrated a cute handbag card that she was inspired to recreate based on a card that she had been given for her birthday. It was really very simple and I think you’ll agree, packs a “wow!” factor.
I added a little extra embellishment by way of a crimper – love the effect it gave to leaves.
And lastly, I had to come up with a Make n Take on the fly. While getting ready, I hadn’t really decided what it was I was going to do and certainly hadn’t organised kits like Donna and Vicky had. 
Then a light bulb went off and I decided to demonstrate this: a card portfolio. I’d seen this somewhere in one of my many recent blog hopping exercises and thought at the time how simple it seemed. I didn’t however take note of who it was that had demonstrated it or any measurements for it! So, this is my take on it – and thoroughly made up on the fly as I was working out what seemed like good measurements as we went along!! LOL
I think it makes a perfect gift for Mother’s Day or maybe a birthday. The idea is to present some co-ordinated cards and envies inside and the recipient is good to go.
A peek in the inside. It holds I’d say three cards and envies in each pocket.
While I demonstrated just the actual cover and let the girls choose how to further embellish the front, I wanted to have a little more detail on it. So I decided on a bit of Styled HodgePodge that I have had sitting around since I took part in a product share. I’m loving the look and think I may just have to get some more!!
Well that wraps up what we got up to on the organised front. We all continued to work on our own things and I’d just like to point you in the direction of Donna. It has to be said – she is a whizz with punches!! Take a look at her lovely Mother’s Day cards – beautiful little potted flower cards – and lots of detail with that scalloped punch. I reckon if you leave her a comment and asking for details, she might be kind enough to share the details….. 
05.04.09
Convention Waikanae
What a beautiful weekend we had weatherwise here in Wellington. And it was just as lovely a little further north along the Kapiti coast and specifically in Waikanae. Just right for a convention.
You see, the wee plot we had going was to bring Convention to our Stampin’ Up friend, Keryn. Having set the date for our girly weekend away, and then finding out that Keryn had decided not to attend the Australian convention which just happened to be on the same dates as our weekend, Donna came up with the idea to bring convention to Keryn. Vicky and I thought it was a brilliant idea and between the three of us, we concocted plans to ensure the things that conventions are known for were very much part of Convention Waikanae.
Namely, the goodie bag:
Sewn and stamped by Vicky and myself, with all sorts of goodies to be found inside. Things like this cute wee shoe from Donna
Donna's Shoe
and bath salts, gift boxes with chocolates, a mini-album etc. All good things to find.
The result was brilliant: Keryn was almost speechless. For those that know Keryn, you’ll agree this is quite an achievement
During the course of the weekend, we all took turns at presenting our Make’N'Takes – just like convention classes. ETA: The individual images aren’t on my camera so watch for these to be added later – they are really cool!
A friend of Donna’s, Sally, who wasn’t even attending but thought it was a great idea and sent along a little challenge pack. Included was a bunch of sketches and I used one to inspire me to do a quick card for my mum.
Local girl, Jackie, was also able to pop in as a day-attendee and brought with her lots of sunshine in the form of bunches of Yellow Chrysanthemums. Plus we also had a convention dinner organised – the ritual visit to Cobb & Co in Paraparaumu. Fantastic!
There was also plenty of time for free time and we were all very productive. This is the end result of our combined efforts.
One thing I didn’t get to bring home was a wee card I’d made for Keryn as it is her birthday today. Keryn isn’t really a girly-girl – all pink and frilly. But I had a lot of fun making this card for her – right in front of her! – while she had no idea she was the intended recipient. It was handed over at the end of the weekend and she was thrilled to get it. Sometimes even the most non-girly-girls deserve pink frills and flowers!
Why don’t you pop over to the birthday girl’s blog and wish her a Happy Birthday too.
05.01.09
Celebrating {Inter}National Scrapbooking Day
You know how America has a myriad of “holidays” – almost one for every day of the year it seems? Well, Saturday May 2 is no exception. That is their National Scrapbooking Day. And being a dedicated (ignore the fact I haven’t done so much this year!) scrapper myself, I’ll be joining in for sure.
Not by actual planning though. No, that is not how this girl operates! Such things are purely coincidental in my case!!
Last October myself and three other crafty girlfriends put our diaries together to ensure there was a weekend free that none of us were allowed to cancel out from. Looking through the diaries, this weekend was the first date that could be set in concrete. I am so NOT the only busy bee in town.
So, tonight, a winged car leaves from Tawa and the blue Oma-mobile leaves from the Hutt, each carrying two occupants and the best part of a scrap/cardmaking shop between us. The cars and their occupants will meet in Waikanae where we will be enjoying a bottle of wine, lots of laughter, chat, fun and games and best of all great company – for two fantastic nights. Oh yeah, there should be a bit of crafting going on as well. We’ve been counting down the sleeps and my share of the “shop lot” is spread out in order to determine what to take. Actually, it’ll all be packed and taken because it really is that hard for me to decide what to leave behind!!
If you hear lots of laughter and general mayhem as you drive through the Kapiti coast this weekend, you’ll know it is four friends having a whale of a time. Especially as there’s something afoot………
Oh, and for those of you not coming to Waikanae, you can still join in the {Inter}National Day by checking out Scrappin’ Patch as they have plans too.
