I might actually get something written this time. Over the past week I keep opening up my blog writer and getting the post heading done but then I get distracted with Scrapping/crafty websites and it’s all over from there.

I’ve been hanging out for the long weekend, goodness knows why… it’s not like a Mother’s work ends on long weekends (no holiday pay here) but it is always nice to have Craig around to help out and amuse Grace.

We are hoping to have a nice relaxing weekend around home. The garden needs a good attacking, I could lose Grace in our lawns! Only kidding but the neighbours I’m sure are wondering when we are going to mow them, while we are on the subject of neighbours, I had a chuckle the other day. One of my neighbours seems to be a neat and tidy lady, I know this as when we moved in I spotted her tipping her rubbish wheelie bins upside down to clean the wheels. No mean feat as those are heavy! Then the other evening I was cooking dinner and happened to glance out, she was vacuuming the driveway!?! She had been cleaning her car (meticulously may I add) and must have thought she would neaten up the driveway. I had to go and tell Craig and we both had a giggle You probably think I’m a nosey old bird and to tell the truth your probably right. I like to know what’s happening but I don’t get the binoculars out lol!!!

On Sunday we hope to head over to Orton Bradley park for a picnic as they are having a Spring fair and family day out, should be fun if the weather holds. Don’t even get my started on the weather, I want the blimmin sunshine back for more than 2 minutes!

I also hope to get some scrapbooking and creating done too, I am building the biggest creative to-do list! I went to spotlight and had a wee purchase of some Kaiser wooden albums. I got a little bit carried away but keep thinking of great gift ideas, you know how it is

The first one I have completed was a bit of a challenge but I’m happy enough with it. It started with the idea of mine to host a baby shower for my sister (due in late November) and I was asking her for some ideas and she mentioned she liked how I had a guest book at my shower. So I tootled off in search of ideas and came across the Kaiser Butterfly album. I had rung Vanessa to see what shape album she would like and she thought a square one would be good . I simply told her that square was BORING hehe and the lady standing next to me listening to my talk agreed. You see my sister just does NOT get my passion for scrapping, she is creative but can’t understand how anyone could scrap at crops for 6+ hours.. hehe So I had to laugh when she suggested square (how boring!), so I went with the Butterfly. Then the lady started chatting to me about the albums she had done and that fuelled my need to do more and it went from there. Anyhow if your still awake after that here is a picture of the completed album. The inner pages are fairly plain as to leave room for photos and birth weight and date guesses.

This next layout is one I completed for the Scrap the girls monthly challenge.

Then this layout was meant to be done for the Scrappin Patch Multi photo challenge, you had to use non people photos which I did. I just didn’t realise it was the multi photo challenge until it was to late. However it did get me to scrap a photo I have been meaning to scrap for AGES! It was inspired by a page from Tracey L.

A few weeks back it was World card making day so I made a few cards for birthdays etc.

Finally I decorated this gift bag to house a gift for a friend.

This was the layout (sneak peak in last post) I framed for Bronnie and Dave when they had their wee son Cameron. Visited them this morning and he is such a wee sweetie!

I forgot to share my latest layouts, some of which I created the other day at a crop with friends.

Firstly I thought I would share my creative space.. it is a whole room but this is where I create. It needs a major re-do! My plan for the coming weekends… notice that awesome (not!!!) wallpaper in the background, the previous owners had skating teens and I have ended up with the leftovers… ick! I am at a dilemma as what I want my room to look like though. I have a long narrow room with a little window, it doesn’t get sun and is cool. I need a nice warm colour, but love greens. I want to start on a plan I can continue to work to over the coming months… to get it looking like a great little haven for me. I hope to squeeze in a  wing backed chair to relax in too. The big tv can stay or go depending on space and I’m keen to buy another desk to go with the one I have so I can have more space to work. Maybe a corner desk, I’ve been keeping my eyes peeled on trademe. I love my cube unit but get sick of how untidy it looks, I also have loads of books that will go in it when the room is painted.

So if anyone has any must have ideas or great links to photos of their own or others creative spaces, I need all the inspiration I can get.

Anyhoo on to those layouts…

This one I completed several weeks ago for a Little shop of sketches  challenge. It of Maddi’s first birthday.

These ones were completed last week and this is a scrap lift of one of Tracey L’s, gotta love her work!

and finally a sneak peak of something I am working on for Bronnie and her wee son! Will share once she has it

Well as usual it’s been ages, blimmin ages since I’ve updated my blog and I keep hassling a friend to update hers and she always comes back by asking me why mine isn’t updated… so here goes …. hint hint Megan!

Well ages ago we celebrated Father’s day, it happened to coincide with my sister’s birthday so we had the first BBQ lunch of the season round at her place. It was a lovely sunny afternoon spent with family and of course father’s. Tc and Craig both celebrating there second Father’s days. 

This year I baked loads and loads of biscuits as gifts for my collection of Father’s. What a mammoth effort and a huge mess I made! They were well received though.  Last year Craig got spoiled but this year I went low key, I whipped up this card (gotta love the MM Slice) and wanted to frame a nice photo for him. I got a little creative with the boring black frame and added a very quick and easy personal touch. Finally used my Stazon white ink and it turned out well on the glass frame.

My sister’s birthday card.

Just wanted to share some random cute pics of my girl, she is growing so fast at the moment and is a real sweetie. Long may that last, I’m dreading the terrible twos so am trying to prepare by attending a few parenting seminars in the coming months.

Love this pic of Dad and Daughter laxing together on the couch.

These little cars are a real fave with our girls, Grace got one for her birthday and Miss Maddi had to have one so Nessa was lucky to find one for her. As you can see sharing isn’t really an option, a bit to squishy!

We had a day trip to lovely Akaroa, it was a brilliant day. The girls enjoyed having some fun at the local playground. They do love those swings!

Now for some creative sharing… I can now share the gifts I made for our friends with the new baby daughter.

I made her a nappy cake in the pinks similar to the blue one I made Bronnie, they are proving very popular!   

Other than the nappy cake, I wanted to give something that would be a keepsake so whipped up this wall hanging for the nursery. They simply loved it, that is why I make crafty things, I love to see people’s reactions!

Here is the card I made for my friend Bronnie, they welcomed their wee son into the world on the 16th September. He is such a cutie!

Well I think that’s it for now.. I promise not to leave it that long before another blog..

Firstly we had a bit of stress during the past weeks, yeah I thought we had come to the end of it too!

Two weeks ago my Nana had a fall and ended up with a broken hip, she was taken to hospital and had an operation and is recovering now. Only problem is rehabilitation is hard when the patient has rather severe Alzheimer’s, just another thing for Mum to deal with. Honestly my Mum is a trooper!!

Then last week Grace came down with a cough and runny nose, all was well but the next day she rapidly got worse, fever and very lethargic etc. She totally freaked me out and I took her straight to the docs. I try not to be a panicking Mum so always try to deal with things before rushing to the doctors but after her episode in hospital I’m a little wary. Anyhow she ended up with both ears infected so back to hospital we went just to be on the safe side, luckily however we got checked over after the long wait in A&E and didn’t need to be admitted. She is on another dose of strong antibiotics and they seem to be doing the trick, had a check up this morning with ear, nose and throat and all is heading in the right direction. YAY!

However after all of this we have had a lovely weekend enjoying time with friends and family. We had friends over for dinner on Friday night and thoroughly enjoyed relaxing and having a laugh. Then we headed to the botanic gardens on Saturday for lunch at the Art’s Centre, a walk about the gardens and joined many other family’s in taking photos amongst one of Christchurch’s beautiful attractions, the daffodil lawns.

Yesterday Craig’s parents came and helped us build three raised vege garden beds. They’re just what we needed and I’ve already got one planted up with some summer vegetables. I’ve ALWAYS wanted a vegetable garden that was bigger than the square meters and pots I’ve had in the past, so I’m pretty happy. Grace was having fun watching over everything and playing in the dirt when it came time to plant. I’m sure it will bring some discovery and fun for her as the plants grow.

Our friends had their first baby daughter a few weeks back and they are doing well. I’ve done a wee scrappy project for their nursery but won’t share until I’ve actually given it to them. hehe  This week also brings the due date of my friend Bronnie, can’t wait to meet her wee son! It’s just a waiting game now

I’ve been spending a little time over the past few days trying to get back  creating mojo… I find the only way to get something done is just do it! hehe I’ve been looking at mags, printing photo’s, buying supplies for to long. Times have settled down and I’m back into it. I am trying to do some challenges to keep me inspired so here is what I’ve come up with.

This one I came up with for the Shabby Chic challenge at Scrappin Patch. You had to use two photos and something metal on your layout. I used a little metal heart brad and wee washer?? that has precious printed on it. I’ve been meaning to do a layout to match the other shabby chic challenge one i did several months back so here it is. I’m loving BG wisteria papers at the moment and have a few more layouts to do with them

This one was inspired by a sketch I found a year or so ago and I finally sat down and got it done. I love it! It was supposed to have black stitching on it but when I plugged my sewing machine in, it blew something in the circuit board and Craig said not to touch it until we can get it checked… bugger!!

I was watching Telethon with my sister and family tonight and we got talking about out memories of past Telethons. I will always remember helping my Nana cream homemade sponges and bag them up to sell and raise money to donate, a great idea and we never had any left! It is a special memory I have of my Nana and her kind and giving nature, with her suffering from Alzheimer’s now it is to be cherished. I was lucky enough to come across this photo of us out selling. I found the challenge at Scrapbook Outlet to scrap your memories of Telethon past, so I’m certainly going to do that. Keep an eye out for the layout coming soon.

Hope you’re all enjoying a night in sharing the memories of Telethon with your family.

In some really cool news, I’m going to be an Auntie again. Now this is old news to us but I realised I never shared it… oops! My sister is pregnant with a wee baby sister for Miss Maddi and playmate for Miss Grace, she’s due in late November.  I’m so excited as I get to have way more Auntie cuddles with this little poppit as Grace will be older, it will be so nice to have a wee baby in the family again. I hope to be able to help Nessa out now as I know what she’s going through. hehe

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In other baby new’s two of my good friend’s are due very soon, one on Sunday and another in a few weeks.

I attended a baby shower/afternoon tea a few weeks back and made this awesome (if I do say so myself) nappy cake. It had heaps of nappies, face cloths, wee socks made into rosebuds, body suits rolled up inside it, baby bubble bath, baby’s rattle, bibs and of course the blue teddy.

The mummy to be and if you haven’t guessed she’s having a wee boy! I can’t wait!!!!!

A beautiful and  very yummy tea party.

The cupcakes that I made for the tea party, they were meant to be blue but teal it was. hehe

  Our little girl turned one a few weeks back in the midst of the chaos, we had to postpone her party for a few weeks so we could catch our breath and I’m so glad we did. It was a lovely warm Sunday afternoon, we invited all of our family and friends around and it was a great celebration.

I wanted to share some photos but no really great photos as I was to busy being host to snap any, so got some off Mum hehe

Here are a few from her actual birthday when family popped in.

Cousin Maddi helping to open presents.

Grace in the cool tunnel her Auntie bought for her.

I went with a ladybug theme for the party.

Here  was the cake that I made.

Our wee princess in her fairy dress and wings

One of Grace’s birthday presents. Maddi figured loved pushing Grace around the back yard and Grace was happy to be the passenger!

My grandfather’s funeral has been and it went beautifully, as much a a funeral can. It was such a special and memorable tribute to him. Something that made grieving so much easier. To hear of the lives he had touched and stories of things he had done were amazing. If anything it has made me think about how much more I can do with my own life. He was involved in so many groups like Rotary etc, all of which played their part in the ceremony to celebrate his life.

I’m so very glad I found the courage to speak on behalf of my sister and I. There were about 180 people in the church so it was not easy, but it felt right to share our thoughts and I will forever hold it as a special memory.

My good friend Megan kindly offered to create a layout to have near the memorial book, I really wanted to add this special touch but was not in a creative frame of mind. She is so talented with the heritage layouts and I will treasure it forever. Thanks you so much Megan!

I wish had something more positive to blog about but I don’t, I feel like it’s all bad news lately but I’m always something find the goodness in things.

In my last post I blogged about how my Grandfather had been taken to hospital and was having tests done. Well the news wasn’t good I’m afraid and we said our goodbyes to our wonderful Grandfather on Friday night. Although it was tough to let him go, I know he is no longer in pain and is at peace. We got to spend lot’s of time with him, even though he was so frail and tired and that really helped with the journey of grief. We were all with him when he passed on and I’m sure he felt all the love. Our family are now working to make his funeral a fitting tribute to a wonderful and generous man. I hope to speak at the funeral, even just a reading but will see how I go on the day. I feel blessed that he was in my life for the past 27 years, and brought much love and encouragement to every bit of my life.

I thought I would share a layout I did about him several years ago, he loved to make short films and won loads of awards.