Currently…

Eating…lots of vegetables from our garden!

Planning…what to plant in our vegetable garden – winter was all about broccoli, spinach, lettuce and bok choy. Spring will be strawberries, tomatoes, more bok choy and waiting for the beetroot and leeks to mature. 

Working…on a few planner-related things – stickers, a few different planner layouts, paperclips – not sure if they’ll see the light of day but it’s fun to design them! 
Waiting…for 1st October to arrive. I’ve signed on to be a Jamberry independent consultant and that’s when we launch. I’m quite excited about it as I love the product and I’m sure other people will too when they see it. 

Watching…way too much Netflix! We’ve worked our way though Suits, House of Cards (although this is on Lightbox here in NZ!), we’re about halfway through the latest season of Blacklist. Binge watching FTW

Trying…to work out what we’ll do over school holidays which start here this Friday. We have a few things planned – play dates, indoor rock climbing, movies – but trying to keep the boy entertained without resorting to screens will be interesting!!!

Amazed…that the little one is almost 7 months! How did that happen??

Bunking off in Bangalore

Namaste! Hello from Bangalore! It’s our second to last night and we’re off to a wedding reception for one of my husbands colleagues. We even bought traditional Indian outfits for the event – the kids look amazingly cute. 🙂

Cuties in their Indian outfits

This is our third week away – we spent a week in Sydney for The North Face 100, then a week in Singapore catching up with relatives from Hong Kong and now coming to the end of a week long stay in Bangalore!

It’s certainly been an eye-opener staying here, especially after visiting Singapore, which is renowned for cleanliness and efficiency….!

The traffic is hectic to say the least. Driving in India (not that I drove! but even just being a passenger) your heart is in your mouth the whole time, horns are honking everywhere, and you’re thinking you’re going to get T-boned by a bus any minute!

Two boys sleeping…

But the people have been lovely and gracious (well apart from the ones who are trying to scam a few rupees out of you!) and the hotel staff (Hilton Bangalore Residence for anyone who’s interested) have been amazing. Nothing is too much trouble and they just love the kids. Even if it means the kids get so many sweet things to eat! Sitting down for breakfast many a day means having the kids swept away by the friendly wait staff (being able to drink my coffee in peace, bliss!) to be brought back with something sweet and chocolately in their hands. At 8am. 😜

We met a wonderful American family who have just started a two year stint in Bangalore. They have two kids similar in age to ours so we all got on pretty well! I wanted to leave them with our email addresses, and seeing as I haven’t done anything remotely crafty while we’ve been away (I did have good intentions!) I decided to whip up a little card for them with the little stash of supplies I brought with me. I used some Dear Lizzy Project Life cards, Pink Paislee ephemera die cuts, MME little word stickers, Amy Tangerine thin Washi and my favourite enamel dots. 🙂

I even made a dodgy envelope out of some beautiful wrapping paper that was used on a gift for us (I’d stashed it for use in my album – luckily I had two pieces!- such a hoarder…) but it’s so dodgy it doesn’t deserve a picture!

Looking forward to getting home, although making our own beds and doing our own tidying/cleaning, shock horror!

Project Life week 14

I finally got a week done in my Project Life album. Woohoo!

And not only that, I appeared in four photos! That’s a record for me seeing as I’m usually always behind the camera!

This is the Left hand side. I used a few cards from the Studio Calico Bluegrass Project Life kit which had some very apt cards for my week. I used the “right meow” card (totally cute!) but had to cut up as I had already printed out my photos 2 up on a 4×6 but thought it looked ok.

Our new kitten Stella, who’s been with is for almost three months now! is a character! The photos are of her firstly on my lap (shoulder!) she sleeps in the funniest places – I think it’s because when I sit on the couch I slouch right back so she thinks it’s an open invitation to sleep right up on my chest.

We left for Rarotonga on Friday so this week is a bit of home and our holiday.

I loved the ampersand paper clip but when you use it as a paper clip it doesn’t look right so I just stapled it to my photo of the hubby and I – one of many selfies while we were away.

This is my favourite card from this week. The typewriter card is from the Bluegrass kit and I then cut up another card (the library card) to fit into a slot I made in the typewriter card. Added some of those awesome cork alphas and voila, finished. 😃

Here’s the right hand side. Very Raro-centric. We had such a good time and I think it shows in the photos. Lots of cocktails, swimming and kayaking!

Not much embellishment apart from a bit of Washi and those awesome cork alphas from the Studio calico kit and a few Basic Grey micro alphas. I printed my photos with the wide matte as I love lots of white and just journaled on the matte area. Easy peasy! 😀

Thanks for reading.😀

Rarotonga daybook

We’ve just had a fabulous week of relaxation in Rarotonga and while we were there I chipped away at my daybook while the kids had a bit of chill-out time with their iPads – we were pretty busy during the day so they had some quiet time and it also gave the Mr. a chance to go running!

This is what I took with me for memory-keeping (!) Four cameras plus my iphone!, a daybook, several sheets of thickers and alphas (Dear Lizzy, Amy Tangerine, Just Add Colour), some Pink Paislee ephemera, enamel dots, phrase roller stamps (Amy Tangerine, Dear Lizzy), Washi tape and some MAMBI cards and Fifth and Frolic cards. Oh and my trusty Smash pen (love the glue!) and some Versa ink cubes. Phew! But I used it all so the sacrifices I made when packing to fit it all in paid off! haha! Actually I packed fairly lightly and didn’t even use the expanders on the suitcases (which I’m wont to do most of the time!). Next time I don’t think I’ll bring the DSLR as it’s too damn heavy and I only used it once!

I started using an Amy Tangerine daybook for our holiday to Rotorua earlier this year and continued with our Rarotonga trip. I love the bright colourful pages and all the different sizes make it fun to use and look at.

Most of our activity centred around the resort but we got into a routine of swimming, kayaking, more swimming, feeding the fish, eating at the restaurant (the resort – the Rarotongan – had a great list of cocktails for young and old so the kids enjoyed having a different mocktail every day!) and playing in the ocean. The resort is set on a lagoon so it was super safe and the water was so warm!

This is one of my favourite pages. The title is from one of the songs we sing at Little Miss’ swimming lessons. I loved feeding the fish – they came right up to you and some were even game to take it from your hands.

Here are some other pages. This one is about Max’s new crush! Ahhh holiday romance. So sweet.

This one is of the beach and the ubiquitous coconut trees!

I used instax photos for my daybooks so I can scrap them there and then and use photos from my other cameras in my Project Life album.

Do you take daybooks with you on holiday? Do you tend to pack way too many supplies? 🙂

Thanks for reading.

Project Life – week 3

I’ve just finished week 3 of my Project Life album which means I’m up to date. Woohoo! 🙂 I was still getting back on my feet after my hospitalisation so photos were fairly sparse again! Last Friday I noticed I hadn’t taken a lot of photos, so I tried to make up for it at the weekend. 🙂

This is the left hand side which I’m quite happy with. I used a few cards from various Studio Calico kits, a die cut journalling card also from Studio Calico – part of the Printshop collection? – and also found these instax photos I’d taken at some point over the past few weeks.

We’ve been watching a few movies lately, so thought it would be a good way to fill a space as well as show what we’ve been watching! I think it’s a common problem but I have this one packet of thickers (the aqua ombre ones) that fall off the backing which was annoying me, so I’ve been trying to use as many as possible before I ditch them (as they sit on my desk, just getting in the way and sticking to everything!) My title card is made from some paintings my daughter and I were doing (although truth be told, I did most of it!). I quite liked the effect and didn’t want to throw it away so I re-used it. More cameo cuts feature throughout this spread – I think I might get sick of using them before I run out!

Moving on to the right hand side. We spent the afternoon at the local park with my cousin and her boys, so there were a lot of photo ops to be had. I really like how this side feels a bit more cohesive than the left hand side. I think its the white space and the complementary colour scheme. Used my favourite wood veneers and enamel dots and more of those ombre thickers!

Here’s the full spread. Looking at it again, I might change some cards around to tone down the busyness of the left hand side, but its done, it’s in the album. hurray!

Project Life – week 2

Here it is, week 2!

Week 2 was the end of our holiday, but it ended with me up in hospital, which wasn’t so fun. Because I was then laid up in bed for the rest of the week, there weren’t that many photos, but I managed to cobble something together with the ones I did have.

Here’s the left hand side. There’s some hidden journalling underneath the yellow balloon card and I’ve just kept the journalling about my hospital stay private too.

And here’s the right hand side. I loved the photo of my kids outside their kindy. It makes me smile every time I see it, so I had to make it the feature photo of the spread. You might have seen the smaller photo of my daughter on Instagram – she’s such a character and some of the photos I get of her are so hilarious, which have to make an inclusion in the album! I used a few filler cards which I cut using the Cameo – I’m having so much fun with the Cameo at the moment so there’ll be a few diecuts making an appearance over the next few weeks I’m sure.

And this is the full spread.

Thanks for reading!

Welcome 2014

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. I was picking up some momentum…and then my laptop died. Argh! Thankfully my back-ups were doing what they were supposed to, and it had backed up the night before the laptop said goodnight!

Which also means that I’ve now got 8 weeks of 2013 (plus a few more?!?) to catch up on!

But onwards and upwards, I say. 🙂

I’ve had a fairly full-on couple of weeks and it hasn’t been until now that I’ve had the energy or the motivation to actually touch anything creative or crafty. But the creative bug struck and I’ve been able to finish a couple of pages of my 2014 Project Life album.

Here’s my title page which I’m really happy with. I’ve seen a few pages which had the four photos through the middle so this was my starting point. Even though I generally don’t use the Becky Higgins core kits (even though I have about 5 of them!), I’ve been been using Midnight quite a lot. I like the clean look and simple colour palette which I can alter to suit my style.

I liked the idea of a snapshot of a person right now, so I added those to the bottom row. My husband’s one is quite silly, but I think it’s reflective of who he is! 🙂

Added a few wood veneers (which seem to be multiplying and when I go through my stash I find more!) and a few Amy Tangerine puffy stickers. Done. And Done.

Onto week 1! Here is the full spread. We headed down to Rotorua for the first weekend of the year and got a few good photos of the activities we got up to. When I was planning my album, I was flicking through the past years albums and liked the spreads where white was predominantly used with a few pops of colour from embellishments. So, I spent a morning cutting out lots of little journalling spots and tags on the Silhouette Cameo (love that machine!) as well as a few printables (here I’ve used the free one from Studio Calico). I based my colour scheme for this spread on the colourful sign behind the kids on the right hand side.

Here’s a close up of the left hand side. Lots of die cuts, enamel dots and the Studio Calico printables.

And the right hand side. Used a filler card from the Honey core kit which fit in nicely with the colour scheme and the photos. 🙂 I like using sequins but I’m not sure they like me! I find it hard to place them so they don’t look like they just got stuck by mistake. So in a row they go! I also used some of my favourite Amy Tangerine puffy stickers…so cute.

And if that wasn’t enough creativity for one week, I’ve also been making some cards! This card is my favourite. It’s based on a few cards I’d seen in some galleries along the way and used it as a base for this card. I cut the background out on the Cameo, then backed them with some scraps I had. The banner was actually a mistake from my Cameo cutting session (too big, the blade was in the wrong place etc) but I managed to resurrect it for this card! The stamping of the sentiment isn’t quite perfect but I figure its the beauty of handmade, right? The background is a paper from the Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm range, which is beginning to grow on me. It was a bit too girly for my liking but for this card, it was perfect!

That was a bit of a monster post! Thanks for reading. I hope your 2014 got off to a creative start too!

We have a winner!

Thanks to everyone for participating in my sharing the love giveaway. I loved all of the comments. You’re a lucky bunch of people and I’m glad I could Pay It Forward and hopefully bring good karma my way.

So without further ado, the winner is Nicole McLaughlin!

Nicole, I hope you enjoy your little kit!

 

Sharing the love

On the Life.Paper.Scrapbook blog, I was just named the (random!) winner of the October Project Life challenge, where we had to use square photos in our spreads. I entered on a whim, and lucky I did I guess!

Anyway, it made me realise that I’ve actually been quite lucky of late. I’ve won a few things, mainly through the Project Life Australia Facebook group – a stamp from Kellie Stamps, some flair from A Piece of Cake Designs, another stamp from Blinks of Life and then the kit from Gossamer Blue via Life.Paper.Scrapbook.

It got me thinking that I should really Pay It Forward to keep my good karma going! So, I’m having a little bit of a giveaway. I’ve compiled a few bits and pieces from various kits that I’ve bought from the likes of Scraptastic Club, Polly! Scrap Kits, Studio Calico, plus added in a few things like Freckled Fawn veneers, some Typo mini alphas, washi tape and sequins. It’s like a mini-mini kit!

If you’d like to be in the running, leave me a comment below. I’d love to know what the best thing you’ve won has been.

I’ll draw the winner on Wednesday 28 October at 9pm NZT.

Project Life, week 39

I’ve been bitten by the Project Life bug again, and I’m loving it! Here’s my week 39. Because of the busyness of the photos and no single defining colour, I decided to bust out some Midnight core kit cards (zomg!) which were perfect to add a bit of interest but not too much colour. I decided to use pink as my contrasting colour as the concert photos were quite pink and a perfect foil for the black, white and grey. Plus I found 3 sheets of the Basic Grey mini and micro alphas in exactly the same colour, so thought I’d put them to good use.

Here’s a close up of the left hand side. We had a busy week, socially. On my child-free day (yay) I met up with girlfriends in St Heliers, enjoying the spring sunshine. We also had my dads birthday and swimming lessons for the kids. Some of the photos covered to protect the innocent. 🙂 I also dove into my stash of wooden veneers and washi tape.

And here’s the right hand side. I was pretty excited when I heard that my two kiwi music heroes, Dave Dobbyn and Don McGlashan (of The Muttonbirds fame), were doing a concert together, so I made sure I got tickets for it. It was The Acoustic Church Tour and the venue was the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Parnell. Our friends, who’ve recently moved from Australia, came with us to experience some kiwi music…although I’m not sure they enjoyed it as much as I did! I loved hearing some well known and much loved songs from both artists.

And don’t you love that pic of my son, dressed up as The Hulk for his kindy Welcome in Spring day. Although the Hulk was his second choice. He couldn’t find his spiderman mask (“I can’t be spiderman without the mask!”) up until about 5 minutes before we left. And my daughter wanted in on the dress-up action so she went as a fairy princess. 🙂

But this is the only photo I have of their outfits…I had an issue with using the beta version of iOS 7 on my iPhone and when I came to update the software I lost a months worth of photos and video. Luckily most of the photos (but not these ones weirdly enough) were saved to Photostream but I lost all the videos too. 😦

And here are a few close-ups of my favourite cards. As you can see on this card (with my extremely messy handwriting!) I was going to put a simple hand-drawn arrow, but decided to use some arrow veneers and some glitter tape (as the top I wore that night turned me into a giant mirror-ball, according to my husband!).

I had to document our time at the concert, even though I saw no-one else taking photos I snapped a quick shot on my phone, so the quality is lousy but the essence has been captured!

And this is my title card. I sacrificed a couple of Midnight cards and cut them up to add to it. Added a few alphas. Voila. Done and done.

Thanks for reading!