Monday, July 27, 2009

Hiya...

Hey! Just a quick post from me tonight folks, the end of the year is fast catching up with me, and I have a whole heap of study to be getting on with....

Yeah, I know, I've hardly mentioned it, but I have a shite-load to do, and then revision to start (and finish) as well. This time just over 12 weeks, my exams will be over - THANK GOODNESS!!!

So..... I will try to update you when I can, but this is my excuse for the forseeable future if the blog posts are a bit scarce, ok? Ok!

Righto - back to it, head down, bum up, and all that (you're picturing it now, huh?! Ha ha ha)

Toodles, B x

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Time for an Update...

Hi-de-hi campers - how are we all?
Oh, while I think about it, apologies to Rach and Heidi for not getting your CDs in the mail yet, but I promise I WILL do it this week! Really, I will! Honest :)
So, I have just come back (and am still recovering tbh) from SENZ in Auckland last weekend. It rocked! I decided that I really wanted to go, so bit the bullet and went on my own. I did FOUR classes, AND the charity crop, AND the SHOPPING (of course!). Nicely timed to almost coincide with my birthday, I also had a bit of spending money to take with me, thanks to Mum and Dad, sister Sarah and lovely hubby :)

Anyhoo - SENZ.... Friday:

First class was Nic Howard's Card Buffet, definitely a firm favourite. Not only do you get to make 6 awesome cards, you get to 'play' a bit, deviate from the rules, and get creative. Gotta love that. Not to mention that it's always cool to hang out in a Nic class - one seriously cool chick. AND it turned out her lovely assistant was Lucy van der Loos... Nic's co-conspirator for Autumn Escape (which I have registered for). Me thinks that AE is going to be GOOD! Ha ha ha.

Second class was a Hero Arts Card Class run by Hastings Rubber Stamps. After the joviality, freedom and creativity of the Nic class, this one was a little flat. We made 3 cards in two hours. To be fair, I think that they should have promoted that one as a beginners class. If I hadn't already had a good ol' play on my own in the past and made a card or twenty of my own before going to SENZ, I may have learnt something, but I didn't really get to take a lot out of that one. Good class, but a little disappointing.

And then to the shopping... Three Day Pass-Holders like myself were allowed into the arena for shopping from 5pm on the Friday night, rather than 10am Saturday morning like the general public. Bring. It. On. Ha ha ha! I had a small wish list, which I set about fulfilling first, then I went around the stalls again to see what else was around. Lots and lots and lots and lots and... you get the picture! My two coolest purchases were a Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher, and a Crop-a-Dile Corner Chomper. AND I won a raffle prize which included Blossom Nesties, some Hero Arts stamps, some microglitters, and a couple of ink pads. Wahoo!

After all that, it was time to retreat to my sister's flat to chill for the evening.

Saturday:

I (amazingly) slept until 9.30am, and still felt tired! After brekkie and a shower it was time for SENZ round two! I was supposed to meet up with Kath when she arrived up from Christchurch, but unfortunately for her, Christchurch Airport was closed by fog and she didn't manage to make it. How disappointing would THAT be?

I did another round of 'browsing' the stalls, did a make and take, then tried to co-ordinate catching up with a computer-email-blogging-RAK friend of mine, Trina, in person. Between us we managed a grand total of 10 minutes face-to-face in the cafe. Just enough time for a photo:


Awww, isn't that nice?! No matter how short the time, it was nice to meet in the flesh - we have emailed often enough! Then it was time to head off to class....

My third class was one run by Beth Barnes for Create - Messy Play with Inks. We were supposed to end up with a completed 'recipe book' of inking techniques at the end of our two hour class. NOT SO. I have to confess to being incredibly disappointed with this class. The idea was brilliant, really. I mean, who doesn't like to have fun making a giant mess?! But the application fell short. A long way short. Beth seems like a lovely person. To be honest I think the problem was a combination of trying to squeeze too much messy play into too little time, and leaving a lot of the prep work to class participants, some of whom struggled. A lot. So consequently I came home with a large jumble of incomplete, mis-matched pieces of paper. And the chances of them ever becoming the pretty little recipe book we were shown at the beginning of class? NIL. To be fair, in hindsight, there was no way that the book we were shown was going to be made from start to finish in two hours. Not even on a good day. BUT, if some of the paper cutting and folding had been prepared before class, and if time slots of say 15 minutes were used per technique, we might have gotten a lot closer to the finished article - like maybe a book minus the cover and finishing off/stamping etc. Anyway, enough about that. Too disappointing to bother ranting about any more!

My fourth and final class was another Nic one - her Gift Card Class. A nice, relaxed pace class, decorating a journal cover and making some kraft gift cards. Got to christen my corner chomper and butterfly punch! Not as much fun as the card buffet, but a nice way to end my classes :)

After class finished Sarah picked me up and we had Indian takeout for tea, then I went back for the charity crop night. Other than two South African ladies who were at the crop with their Auckland rellies, I was from the furthest-away place! Cool! I sat at a table with two ladies from Rotorua, and three from Whangarei. We were provided with choccy biccies and lollies, and tea/coffee etc. We used donated product to make 8"x8" mini pages for the Kids First Hospital, then joined them all together to make New Zealand's largest card, which was going to be put up in a corridor at the Hospital once SENZ was over. I did a 'cow jumped over the moon' theme with mine. There's a photo around here somewhere, I'll load it if I get the chance. Anyway, I got back to Sarah's about half eleven, and that was it, SENZ, done and dusted.

Sunday was spent trying to fit my scrap stuff into my bags (a lot of which you can't take on a plane!) , and travelling home. My flight out of Aucks was delayed, and then I got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for the two hour drive to Timmers. Grrrr. Sometimes I can SO understand road rage! People are stupid - who knew? Ha ha ha!

Well peeps, that's about it from me tonight, I'm blogged out. I have more to tell you about our surprise trip to the West Coast, but that'll have to keep for another night.

Toodles! B x
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Wednesday, July 15, 2009

And we have a winner(s)....

Congrats to Rachel and Heidi, winners of 'Beck's Scrappin Tunes' on CD. Am off to SENZ tomorrow, so will burn them off and pop them in the post early next week. Thanks for playing!

Toodles, B x

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Acetate box...

In answer to 'Anonymous' - the acetate box instructions can be found here at Split Coast Stampers. They have HEAPS of really easy tutorials to follow under their 'resources' section. Good luck!

MORE giveaways!

Check this out ... man it's definitely giveaway season atm huh?! Ya gotta love that - and you've got to be in to win, yeah? Yeah! Righto, lots to do today, so must be off...

Toodles, B x

Monday, July 6, 2009

Glimmermist has a new look?

Why yes it does! Check it out:

Glimmermist is the same great product with a fabulous NEW look. Don't they look cute! Check out more about Glimmermist at the Tattered Angels site here.

I LURVE Glimmermist. I spent a few hours with Ma today making cards, introducing her to Glimmermist. As I suspected, now that she's used it, she's a fan too! Well who wouldn't be, I say - it's such FAB stuff! So I've had a great great day. Hung out at Mum's, played a bit and got a bit messy (and let's face it, that's always fun!), then got home in time to have a cuppa and a bit of 'chill' time on the laptop. D got home from work and said that he'd be happy with soup and toast for tea 'cos you're on holiday, so you shouldn't have to cook'. How sweet is he? And of course I'll take him up on the offer... why not! So, it's been a lovely day, and it's not even 5pm yet!

Right, I have some other blogs to check out before I go off and make soup (SUCH a hard job, ha ha ha!). If you haven't done so already, check out my previous post here for a giveaway. Catch y'all tomorrow,

Toodles, B x

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Where'd THAT weekend go?

Yup, it's over already, although fortunately for me, I'm on holiday this week with J... but I do suspect that I'll be ready to go back to work after a couple days! Ha ha ha

Not sure 'bout you lot, but MY weekend went super fast. Like the speed of sound (or so it seemed!). Seriously. Oh, can you tell I've been watching Grey's Anatomy?! LMAO!

Saturday got gobbled up by my WONDERFUL sleep-in (my turn on Saturdays, D's on Sundays), our fortnightly grocery shop, a little bit of finishing work on UFO scrap items (that's Unfinished Objects!) made easier by the foul weather, a short visit from some scrapping friends, and a long visit with my oldest and dearest friend Ange and her fiance Andy.

They are back from Kuwait for a bit while school has it's summer break - they teach kids in an American School over there - so it was good to have a catch up. The boys indulged in a bit of Jim Beam & Coke, and Ange and I had a Chateau Cardboard! (mmm, starting to sound like a habit, huh - oops!)

Today the weather just wasn't much better (check out how it's looking here). J and I made birthday cards for Gem this morning, then we headed off to have morning tea with my Nanny and Grandad, and followed that with a visit to Ma and Pa's to give Gem her cards/present. After lunch I did a bit more scrapping - even finished a layout, while my boys dozed on the couch! Next thing I know it's tea time, then 'crash-in-front-of-the-telly' time, and here we are!

So that's that. A lot to say about nothing much at all really. Well, you DO insist on reading this, don't you?!

I have another pressie to give away.... While I scrap I listen to my ipod, a mix of real old school tracks, top 40 hits and everything in between. I will make up a disc of 'Beck's Scrappin Tunes' (assuming someone wants it of course, ha ha ha!), and post it out to the lucky winner. So, if you wanna get hooked up, let me know y'all.... I might even send out more than one, who knows? Leave a comment and you never know your luck.

Right, off to put more wood on the fire and turn it down for the night, to hopefully keep us roasty-toasty in the morning, then it's off to bed for moi.

Toodles, B x

Friday, July 3, 2009

I've been creatin!

I think I'm pretty safe showing you this (I don't think Gem reads my blog) - here's a wee gift I have made for her birthday on Sunday...




She's seriously into all things with skulls on, and loves both black and pink, hence the decoration! So easy to chuck together, maybe took half hour tops? Probably not even that long tbh.

Right, off to get showered and ready for last day at work (next week off, yeah!).

Toodles, B x
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Thursday, July 2, 2009

Or this one....?

Here's another one, here.... must be blog candy season! Yeah!

Ooohhhhh!!!!

Wow - check out this fab candy here... pick me, pick me, pick me, puh-lease!!!! Ya gotta be in to win! I might tell you about it, but I hope like heck that none of you enter, so that I increase my chances, ha ha ha!!!!!

Toodles, B x

Hiya!

Yup, we're still here, just flat out, as usual. So what's new?!

I've been getting some study done, but I have a LOT more to do to get on top of it tbh, so you know what I'll be spending a lot of next week doing while I'm on holiday huh? Bummer. Oh well, no-one to blame for that but me. J is getting tired - only two more days left at school. Man, is he ready for a holiday! Talk about Mr Cranky-Pants! Attitude central at our place at the moment. And D has just about finished work on their stocktake, which is a HUGE job for him. Nice for it to nearly be over.

I have next week off work (week one of the school hols) to be at home with J, then D is taking off the second week. Half time, change sides... passing ships in the wind... (add more cliches here).

It'll be a busy ol' time over the next few weeks... it's my little sister's birthday this weekend, and D's the following one. I am off to Auckland to SENZ on the 16th, which I am starting to get excited about - I have booked into 4 classes and Saturday evening's charity crop, so I'll be busy busy busy! My other sister conveniently lives almost right around the corner from the Telstra Clear Events Centre where it's being held, so I'm crashing at her place for three nights. And a few days after I get back, it's MY birthday. Phew! I said it'd be busy, huh? I kid you not!

Oh and I nearly forgot - the winner of the RIFF-RAFF (see earlier post from last week)... Congratulations to.... Jenn! I will email you shortly for your postal addy. Yay you!

Last night J and I whipped up a wee gift for his lovely teacher, Mrs Wood. He is changing classrooms after the holidays, and won't have Mrs Wood any more. She has been just fabulous with him, especially when he went through an unsettled, clingy phase with me in the mornings a while back. So here 'tis...


It's just a little jotter pad wrapped in patterned paper, using magnets to hold it closed. I trimmed the paper, but J rounded the corners and glued it on all by himself, coloured in the teddybear, and wrote the little note for her on the front. How CUTE is that? Hope she likes it!

Anyhoo, what has everyone else been up to? How are you coping with the colder weather? (although at least we are past the shortest day, so summer is coming). Who is out there today? Leave me a comment to say 'Hi', I'd love to hear from you.

For now, I'm off. Lunches to make, bags to pack, yadda yadda yadda.....

Toodles, B x