Saturday, February 28, 2009

Last sneaks

of my March kit stuff for Scrap-n-Crop.
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This is corner of a LO :-) I really like how this one turned out actually. Check the SnC Gallery for the rest of the sneaks from Sharmaine & I. The kit goes on sale tomorrow and the full gallery will be up then too. So check it out. Remember ... lots of choice this month ... 2 kits to choose from and they both go a long way.


Does anyone else out there do this? Cut out pieces of patterned paper to use on something else? (or am I the only weird one?) :-}

Happy Saturday all.

Friday, February 27, 2009

And The Winner For My Blogiversary Prize Is ...

Wait for it !!

Topkatnz (Heidi) :-)
Congratulations!
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Please email me your address and I'll get something in the mail to you next week ... oh this should be fun to put something together for you :-) LOL
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Maddison has taken to getting out of the straps on her high chair and sitting like this!! Nice. She moved actually just before I took the photo, but she has one leg dangling like that! Think I need to tighten the straps so she cant slide out of them.

Got some good news today :-) Maddison can start at Montessori on Monday WOO HOO, looking forward to that.
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And here's a sneak at a LO for Scrap-n-Crop's March kit I started and finished yesterday (that is amazing for me at the moment!). Those dino photos I took yesterday morning came in VERY handy :-)
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I've got some other very exciting news to share ... but will save that for another post (keep you in suspense {evil laugh ....} !!!). Lyndon's back tonight, so looking forward to that. But for now I'd better get on with creating some more with SnC's March kit :-)

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Dinos & Mr Potato Head

This morning has been spent doing this ...

Okay ... I'll admit I did get the dinos out for a specific reason :-) But he played with them for a while and built fences around them and then asked to go to the park to catch a dinosaur! Huh

Maddison spent nearly 40 minutes playing with Mr Potato Head on her bed :-) A new toy for her (it's Aaron's and has been put away for a while) and she was really getting into it.


BUT ... I discovered that she had done this! I was NOT impressed. Grrrrrr I was stressing a little about how I was going to fix it and then found the torn off bit under the couch and it's not in too bad a condition, so think I will be able to glue it back on (thank goodness).
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So consider this another little sneak at the March kit from Scrap-n-Crop. Actually next month there are two kits to choose from. This is the first sneak from the kit I just started on yesterday!
And here's another LO from the other kit that I've finished :-)

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Warries and Spots

Okay ... today I am going to tell a couple of little stories about Aaron. The "Warrie" one is a few weeks old, but I really want to record it here so when I finally get round to scrapping about it I won't have forgotten what he said! The "Spots" is from yesterday.
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We have a new condo next to us, it was completed towards the end of last year and in late Jan there was a red Ferrari parked outside for a couple of weeks. Aaron is very interested in fast cars at the moment (for example in the taxi in Singapore he told the driver to "GO FASTER" snigger snigger). Anyway I digress ... The Ferrari ... one day he noticed it and said to me "there's a fast car Mummy, is it a fast car?" "Yes Aaron, it's a fast car, it's a Ferrari". "Oh, is it a Warrie Mummy?" LOL "Yep Darling, you've got that right, it's a worry alright if you have one of them!" (more sniggering to myself as we walk along). From then on every time we went out for a walk he would shout (truly he shouted) "LOOK MUMMY THERE'S THE WARRIE!" "Yes Aaron I can see it, can you say Ferrari?" "LOOK MUMMY THERE'S THE WERRARI!" "Oh you've nearly got it right, can you try saying Ferrari again?" :-) And so it went on, but as soon as he said it correctly he'd be straight back to calling it a warrie again. LOL Anyway the warrie hasn't been parked in it's usual spot the last 3 weeks, so the guards and myself haven't had to listen to him shouting out about the jolly Ferrari! (phew)
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And the spots ... Last night I was undressing him for his bath and he said "he wanted a cloth to wash off his spots!" "I asked what spots?" "These spots Mummy", and pointed to the freckles on my arms and then rubbed his face. So I turned him round to look at me and said "you mean these spots on your face?" "Yes" :-) (Sorry chappy you can't do a thing about them! Didn't tell him that though.) I asked who said they were spots and got this woffled jumbled drivel about faces and school and something else that I didn't catch along with much arm waving. So I told him "that they weren't actually spots they were freckles, which were kisses from the sun, and look Mummy has lots and lots and lots and you really don't want to rub them off because it might hurt". :-) lol Anyway the penny dropped today for me when I went to pick him up from school. In one of the classrooms he uses there's some art work on the wall. It's faces of the kids using disposable plates and they have drawn eyes, noses, mouth etc. on them and glued on wool for hair. Some of the faces had names and some didn't. I couldn't find Aaron's name then realised ahhhhh his one was the one with "spots" on his face! So obviously the teacher (or may have been one of the kids) has said he needed spots on his face to make it look like him. I will have to take a photo of it because you should see his "spiky" hair doo. :-) hehehee

So that's what he's been up to with his story telling. Somedays it's really quite interesting!

And before I go ... here's a couple more sneaks of another LO I've done for Scrap-n-Crop's March kit.



Check out the SnC Gallery if you want to see some more sneaks and see what Sharmaine has created too.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Tuesday

The kids have been playing in "Grandma's" room :-) The toy box is currently in there as well as Maddison's cot, so it's a bit jammed with furniture, but they are having a blast making such a mess with pillows, rugs, soft toys etc! After tea last night I found them playing in the wardrobe!


Here's some sneak peeks of a LO I've done for one of the March kits for Scrap-n-Crop. There's 2 kits available next month and ummmm lets just say I have a bit of work to do this week! (I actually haven't started the 2nd one! whoops!) So I have some homework over the next few days!
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For this LO I braved my sewing machine again :-) Really like how it turned out actually.


Today I enrolled Maddison at the Montessori school Aaron goes to. I would have liked her to start next month, but they are telling me that they don't have a teacher available till April for the toddler class :-( But they are going to let me know, so we'll wait and see. She didn't go to sleep straight after lunch today so I had to take her with me when I took Aaron to school (usually she's completely out to it by quarter past 1). I had an appointment with the Principal so left Maddison in Aaron's class and honestly you would have thought she'd been there forever! She just went straight to the shelf and got out a tray with bowls and spoons and started playing. I couldn't believe it. I think she'll settle in quite quickly :-)
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And her big bed! Well she thinks it's pretty cool. BUT (there's always a but isn't there!) she's got very good at climbing out of it when I put her down at night. She's okay for her afternoon sleep, but night time is a disaster! Tonight she's been playing with puzzles on the floor (in the dark) while Aaron is snoring quietly away in his bed! Little monkey she is. I've had to sit beside her bed and basically just keep pushing her head down when she pops it up! Last night and tonight it's only taken about 10 minutes of sitting beside her for her to go to sleep, so that's one bonus.
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Don't forget to leave a comment on this post for a prize to celebrate my blogiversary :-) Thanks for the lovely comments that have already been left
:-)

Monday, February 23, 2009

Well ... what do you know!

It's my "BLOGIVERSARY"

I have been blogging for a year and I nearly forgot! This is my 325th post! Fancy that!

Actually my friend Penny got me into this blogging thing and it's been fun and it's meant that family & friends can keep up with what we've been up to.

I thought since I have managed to woffle my way though an entire year on my blog that I'd do a giveaway. :-)

So ... leave me a comment on this post and tell me what you like reading about (e.g. the kids, scrap stuff, places we visit etc.) before 11.59pm (my time) on Thursday 26th Feb and I'll do a draw on Friday (27th) for the winner. Now ... depending on who the winner is will depend on what the prize is :-) I'll have some Malaysian things in the prize and if you are a scrappy (meant in a nice way of course!) person then there'll be a bit of that in there too.

So what are you waiting for? Leave me a comment ... I like comments :-)

Interview with Penny

Penny has "interviewed" me ... here's her questions and my answers :-)

1. I know that you (and I) like to bake. Tell us a favourite recipe and why you like it.
Heehee it probably appears from my blog that I bake a lot, but really I don't! I used to when we were first married, but put a stop to that after a few months and several kgs of weight gain!!!! Hummm what baking recipe would be my favourite? Decisions, decisions ... I think I will have to go with two ... a cake and a muffin :-)

Cake - (I've shared this recipe before actually)
Reason I like it ...it's got chocolate in it :-) But the combination of chocolate, apple, pistachios and lemon zest is just delicious :-) You ought to try it!!

Apple, Chocolate and Nut Cake
200g butter, softened
200 g (1 cup) caster sugar
4 large eggs
pinch of salt
225g (1 3/4 cups) plain flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, sifted
200g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 applies, peeled, cored and cut into small dice
1 cup pistachio nuts
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest.

Preheat the oven to 180 degC. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the salt, flour and baking powder until well combined. Stir in the chocolate, apples, nuts and lemon zest. Pour into a lightly buttered 22cm loose-bottomed cake tin. Bake for 1 hour. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire cooling rack. Serve the cake warm while the chocolate is still soft, with lashings of lightly whipped cream. If the cake cools before you serve it, simply warm portions in the microwave.

With fruity, moist cakes like this a skewer test will not always indicate when the cake is cooked. It is ready when the top is firm and the cake comes away from the sides of the tin.

Muffins -
Reason I like these ... The topping is what makes these muffins just delicious. I make them in mini muffin tins so they are bite size and you get more of a lemon taste. Also being small I can sort of justify having 3 or 4 of them at a time LOL.

Crunchy Lemon Muffins
2 cups self raising flour
¾ cup sugar
75 g butter
1 cup milk
1 egg

Melt butter, beat in egg and milk.
Add dry ingredients and fold together – take care not to over mix.
Bake at 220°C for 10-14 minutes.

When still hot pour over grated rind of 1 lemon, ¼ cup lemon juice and ¼ cup sugar.
Remove muffins from pans before completely cool.

A tip (from experience) if you have good non-stick muffin tins they are best, because the topping soaks into the muffin. I have to use little paper cups for my tins now and the topping also runs down the outside of paper which makes the papers a bit sticky and it doesn't absorb into the muffin as much.


2. If you were on a desert island what scrapbooking things would you HAVE to have in order to scrapbook? (Assuming you have photos and cutting devices).
Humm you haven't given me a limit!! That could be dangerous! First up would be cardstock, cardstock and more cardstock (is that one or 3 items??), journalling pens, glimmer mists, alpha stickers, brads & ribbon stash. Actually I could keep going ... but those would be things I would probably look for first.


3. A Chocolate or lemon dessert... which would you choose from a menu?
Ohhhh ... such a tough decision. But seriously ... if I've had a meal as well then I would probably choose a fresh fruit platter (with a jug of chocolate sauce!) and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream :-)


4. What's the one thing you're proudest of having accomplished in the past five years?
Being brave enough to change my mind about moving overseas!! When Lyndon first told me about this job I just said 'NO, forget it'! Change the subject, walk away.

But a few days later I was talking to my Dad and he just said some things to me that made me realise I was being really selfish. So I actually re-opened the conversation with Lyndon again and we talked about it. Okay, to be honest I wasn't the most excited about it all, and being 8 months pregnant with Maddison when the word came through that it was all go didn't help either! But just think what I would have missed out on if I had said NO and left it at that!

So yeah, I am pretty proud of that. It's been an awesome experience that I really wouldn't have missed for anything :-)


5. What is the thing that most surprises you about being a grown-up?
Ummm am I a grown-up?? :-} (Some days I wonder!) I don't know ... this is such a Penny question that I am stumped! :-) Surprised that I am "middle aged" (man I hate those words) already, have two live wire kids, a wonderful hubby, and living over here. 20 years ago ... who would have thought!!!! (Actually 20 years ago I'd just met Lyndon! but that's another story.)


Thanks Penny, hope I've answered your questions properly!

Now, if you would like ME to interview YOU, here’s what to do:
1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will email you 5 questions.
3. You answer the questions on your blog.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Weekend fun

Kids were up early on Saturday ... yawn, yawn !!! I am trying to teach Aaron not to "wake" up till 7am :-) He's been coming in to our bed about 5.30-6am and wanting to "Waken up" (his words) right then. So I've been telling him to just lie quiet till the clock says 7am. Hummmm ... it's got to work one day right?? He lies still for about 40 seconds, then his head pops up and he looks at the clock, then "whats the time Mummy". He can read the numbers, so he knows what 7 looks like. He just likes to keep me awake too!! Sigh ...
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So after our early start and breakfast we went swimming.

I wonder why Lyndon says his darling daughter looks like something out of a Dr Seuss book?? :-) (think it might be the hair doo??!)


Spied these flowers by the pool ... they were gorgeous.

We went to Ikea in the afternoon and bought Maddison's "big girl" bed and also another bookcase. Here's Aaron helping Lyndon put it together. He quite likes my little craft hammer!!

Check out his tongue hehee
And here's a montage of the madam herself in her new bed!! She thinks she's quite the princess I tell you :-) (you can click on the pic to see it a bit bigger)

Lyndon's off travelling again for work tomorrow ... he's away all week. I am sure the kids will have some fun and games lined up for me!!!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Friday

Yesterday morning was spent doing ...
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A bit of hiding and "resting" (not) under the pillows on our bed.

Sorting out my button collection :-) Woo Hoo ... Ikea got a new shipment of these spice jars in, so I got 20 and there's 3 empty ones, but as of last night there's only 1 empty :-) I am sure I can find something to fill it soon heheee.

And of course I couldn't sort my buttons without having little "helpers"!

Did I say helpers? More like a big mixture going on there!

And in the afternoon Maddison found yet another use for my cuttlebug!! Good job it's pretty sturdy is all I can say!


Lyndon got back last night, this morning we've been swimming and I'm about to put Maddison to bed then after lunch we plan to go and buy her a big girls bed :-) Should be interesting! Watch this space :-)

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

"Good Girl"

This morning the kids were eating (or supposed to be) their breakie while I got their drinks and made mine. I came back to the table to find this ...


I said "Maddison what are you doing?" She grinned at me and said "good girl"! (Yeah Right!)
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She'd eaten about half of it and the rest she'd started to smear all over her hands, arms, face, tummy, legs and highchair! Needless to say she had a shower afterwards! Little pet.
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I think she needs to learn what exactly "good girl" means! lol
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Here's some more things she's saying ...
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- two
- four
- five
- Oh NO
- Bar (this means, bath, Barney and something else that I haven't quite worked out yet!)
- I uvv U (I love you sung like Barney does!)
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We often sing the counting song, (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 once I caught a fish alive), and Maddison sings the even numbers and number five :) hehee

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Another set of drawers ..

This one is for my chipboard bits and pieces ... they were getting out of control :-)

I've used that beautiful Graphic 45 paper, 'Secret Garden' again (told you I liked G45's papers!) from Kinda Sweet. It's double sided, and I've used both sides of the paper - you can purchase it here.


Now I just need to find a space for it on my shelving unit! :-)

Award


The lovely Heidi has awarded me with a Fabulous Blog award :-)
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Thanks Heidi very sweet of you ... some days feels like an adventure without even going outside! lol
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So I have to pass this on to some more fab people ... so here they are:
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Val (in Malaysia) - a wonderful scrapping friend who just happens to own a fabulous scrapping shop too :-) hehee
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Penny (in Malaysia) - another scrapping friend here ... your creativity is very inspiring :-)
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Penny (in New Zealand) - my in-real-life blogging friend. Thanks for keeping me in touch with news from home :-)
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Sonya (in New Zealand) - a very talented lady. Love her altered art :-)
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actually the list could keep going, but I'll stop there!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Tinkering Ink

Here's the LO I did for the Scrap-n-Crop & Lucy Folch's Tinkering Ink Challenge :-) I used papers from the Noir Blanc Collection, added in some Maya Road chipboard heart & keychain people, glimmer mist, buttons and a stamp from this Autumn Leaves set :-) (Not sure what brand the chipboard "I" is ... inked around the edge of that too to make it stand out.)



Saturday, February 14, 2009

How we spent our morning ...

This morning (after I iced the remainder of the heart cookies) we went to the park ... it was pretty hot and sticky, but the kids enjoyed it. We forgot to take bread to feed the turtles, but some still came to the surface to check us out.

The waterfall has been "fixed" and was flowing again. Not sure what was wrong, but this is the first time we've seen it running.

I was playing with the mega zoom on my camera ... love the red contrast in those plants.
Lyndon took some pics of me and the kids! Huh ... most of them are a joke, but thought I'd share these 2 with you. 2 out of 3 looking at the camera is pretty good!
And notice the cheeky grin of Aaron's ... he's about to get up and run away (again!). Maddison was just busy enough staring at the water!
But later she did some running around :-) Love this photo Lyndon took of them running about like wild monkeys lol!! The glee on their faces was priceless ... pity I didn't have the squealing recorded for your enjoyment (snigger snigger!).

In the afternoon I went with Irene to her dressmaker ... getting a blouse made to match a skirt Mum made me while she was here. Lyndon looked after the kids :-) Irene came back to our place afterwards and we went out for tea. Came home and bathed the kids and put them STRAIGHT to bed!!
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Hope you all had a lovely valentines day :-)

Friday, February 13, 2009

Valentines bits & bobs

Friday the 13th!! We've had a nice day though :-) This morning I made a double batch of love heart shaped cookies. After lunch Maddison went to bed for a snooze and Aaron trotted off to school clutching 3 envelopes (sorry "memolopes" as he called them!) with valentines cards for his little girl friend :-) and his teacher this year and teacher from last year.
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This one was for his girl friend (should have taken a pic of his "writing" in it too quite cute).

And the inside ... pop-up of course!! Credits for the vintage pictures for this little teddy card are from Fairy Davis Vintage. Check it out - they have loads of really cool vintage images that are free :-)
And I made two using this little picture for the teachers ... only took a pic of one. This little deer image was in the Valentine Vintage Chic kit from Scrap-n-Crop that I got when I attended the Crop.Arty last Saturday.

Then after Maddison woke I took the cookies, a bowl of pink icing and several jars of sprinkles and went down to school. The kids in Aaron's class sat and "dipped" the cookies in the icing and decorated them (and the table and floor!) with the sprinkles. :-) They had great fun ... and I sooooo couldn't be a teacher! I had to put my hands behind my back because I kept wanting to "help" (i.e. do it myself) the kids tip the sprinkles!! lol
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Here's Maddison helping herself to some little pink chocolate drops when she thought no-one was looking!!
And Aaron's little girlfriend decorating :-)

And someone else just making sure those sprinkles weren't going anywhere!!

After icing one cookie each, Aaron and Maddison spent the rest of the time playing with the toys in the toddler classroom! The other kids decorated 1 or 2 (or 6 in someone's case) more cookies and ate them :-)

So that's been our day. I feel rather exhausted actually ... funny that. Lyndon's been out shopping tonight though and told me not to go to bed till he gets home! Hummmmm ... wonder what mischief he's been up to! :-)
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Ahhh ... he's back and it's an ice-cream treat :-)

Monday, February 9, 2009

Vintage Chic

Last Saturday I attended a Crop.Arty at Scrap-n-Crop. Lots of fun, except we talked and ate far to much and I didn't get my 2nd card finished (let alone start on the 3rd one!!) Hahahaa
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The theme was to "Impress" (chortle chortle) your loved one with a 3-D pop-up Vintage Chic V-Day Card this Valentine's Day... or, if you've ever wondered how those pop-up cards are made... well, join us to make stunning, whimsical, chic cards from vintage ephemera."
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Lyndon was kind enough to look after the kids for me, even though he wasn't feeling 100%. So I had some "FREE" time lol ... it was lovely :-) I especially enjoy scrap shops when I don't have to watch 2 little pairs of hands (and sometimes teeth) getting into scrap stuff!!
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I don't think I will be giving either of these cards to Lyndon though ... they aren't really his taste! LOL. But I had fun making them and playing about with all the different pop-ups.
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1st Card - this shows it lying flat

And then it stands on the bottom piece which has the LOVE oval and ribbon on it in previous photo. The back of the card (sorry no photo) had a little tag which slotted in and you could write a message on that.
2nd card had a bookmark on the front which slotted in behind the clouds and lots of pop-ups in the inside.
The clouds were supposed to have lovely dovey wording on them, but I don't have many of those stamps at home and forgot to stamp them during class.


Look that that funky little heart the wee girl is holding. Cute huh.
And I see that you can order the class kit here if you are interested. :-) Loads of stuff in it ... I haven't even used a quarter of my kit. Might have to make some wee vintage chic valentine cards for Aaron to take to school with the rest of the kit heeheee