Sunday, October 10, 2010

WWW, a Question, Spring, V8's and another Question!

Well, quite a bit to catch up on tonight peeps... How are we?  Good I hope.

Wednesday was Weigh-In day again.  I only lost 100gms this week, so not a lot, but at least it was on the right side of the scales.  Like Mum said, a loss is a loss!

Now, I have a question for you... Why is it, that when you only have one tissue left in your handbag and you have a runny nose, that it is never big enough.... but when you let just ONE little tissue sneak into your washing machine, the bloody thing expands into a million and one pieces that cover EVERYTHING?  Grrrrrr.  I hate that.

Another thing, I can definitely tell that it is Spring.  I have been Spring Cleaning!  Our place is one of those houses that always has one of THOSE rooms... you know, the room where you put 'stuff' until you can find somewhere else for it.... or the room with the never-ending pile of washing in the corner waiting to be folded and put away... (well, to be honest, sometimes both).  Well, I can honestly say, that at this moment, our WHOLE HOUSE is tidy!  It is SO nice!  I made the decision this week to move my scrap table from the corner of the dining room into the spare bedroom so that it wasn't so 'in-yer-face' when we had visitors.  I mean, it's impossible to keep it tidy all the time, right?  And even a tidy mess is still a mess, right?  You girls all know what I mean!  So now, we have our dining room returned in all it's spacious glory, and our spare bedroom has been tidied to within an inch of it's life, and filled with all my scrappy goodies.  See...

See, we have space on the floor around our table!

When I went to photograph my tidy spare room, I found J in there watching the car-racing!

Our bookcase has been turned into a bookcase-come-storage space for a lot of my scrappy crap

My desk, in it's present TIDY state! (well the left side of it), and some of my recent work on the walls for inspiration.

...and here's the right side, along with my drawers and paper storage stand.  The PC is an old one with only kids educational games like Reader Rabbit loaded on them, for J to use (when we let him!)

And today, of course, was the day of The Great Race - the Bathurst 1000.  D and I have always made a day of it, parked in front of the telly with all manner of snacks and treats to eat, as well as the odd alcoholic beverage or two.  Well I only had ONE Monteiths Cider today, but I did join the boys in having some savouries for lunch, and sausage rolls for dinner.  Not exactly the best Weight Watchers approved fare.  Oops.  Oh well, you've got to do what you want sometimes, right?  I didn't have all the usual chippies, chocolates and Shapes crackers that I would normally have had in the past, so although I ate more points than I should have, I definitely ate LESS points than I used to have (if that makes sense).  In honour of The Great Race, I made some car cookies today.  I had promised J quite some time ago that we would have them for the day, so it had to be done!  They're much the same as the last car cookies, just iced with blue icing, seeing as we're FORD supporters :)




Unfortunately Ford didn't come through for us today.  The best we managed was 5th.  BUGGER.  I still say that it's because Holden had to BUY the best drivers out there, our Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup!  All the same, I am pleased that Craig won, and Jamie got second.  They are good guys.  Those two are among the few professional drivers out there who are prepared to give their fans the time of day, without complaint.  Very admirable :)

Now I said I had another question, and I do.  It's for all you scrappy ladies out there.  How many of you, like me, have a fair bit of stuff in their stash that they no longer use?  That you bought thinking 'this will be great' and just never used it at all?  That you bought, used once, and never touched again?  That someone bought you with the best of intentions, but it just wasn't 'you'?  I could go on...  but I have an idea to run past you.  How about the idea of a scrapbookers swap meet?  I suggest that we sort through our stuff and each put together, say, three or four bins/boxes of stuff each, marked as $1, $2, $5 and $10 items.  They needn't be brand new necessarily, but fairly and reasonably priced for their use/condition.  Then we get together on a designated day, and sell/swap our items.  One girls trash may be another girls treasure?  And not limited to just scrapbooking necessarily, but including any kind of papercraft - cardmaking, stamping etc.  What do you think - anybody keen?  If there's enough of us willing, I will sort a time and place, and we'll do it.  I just thought it may be quicker/easier than listing all my stuff individually on TradeMe.  Maybe?!  I'd appreciate your feedback, either way.

Right, school's back tomorrow, so that will be a shock to the system for the smallest person in our household... no lying around in his jammies until lunchtime watching telly!  And now there's only four more sleeps until we go to Aucks to stay with Sarah and Kelvin.  We are all really looking forward to the break, seeing as these holidays weren't really holidays for us, just a juggling act in childcare really.  J is really looking forward to the flight, as he can't remember any of his previous flights (he was only 10 months old, then 3 and a half, each of the two times we went to Aussie with him).  If I don't get the chance to update you before we go, I'll fill you in when we get back.  We're only going for 4 nights, so we won't be gone long :)

Have a good week people.  Don't work too hard!

Toodles,

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

WWW, Cookies and Lego...

Yes, I know, what a combination huh?!  All will soon be revealed...

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Well, it went really well this week (how's that for a whole lot of w's!!!!) - another 800gm loss, even after eating some of the birthday cake that I made my MIL at the weekend.  Today I reached (well passed actually) a milestone... to date, I have lost just over 5% of my original weight.  Wahoo!  Next week I am going to try and get past that 1kg barrier, maybe amp the exercise up to 3 or 4 times a week, rather than the usual twice a week of late.  Stay tuned...

Cookies
I have had a real 'thing' about cookies lately - there are some fabulous blogs out there showcasing the talents of some very clever ladies.  Take a look at Bakerella here, and Bake at 350 here, and Mel's Sweet Treats here. They got me all inspired, and I had to have a go... After sifting through the millions of possible recipes available for your average rolled sugar cookie, I decided to give a recipe a go that Mel from Mel's Sweet Treats recommended....  



The first batch I made were for a Keas afternoon tea, with an orange theme (fundraising for Arthritis New Zealand).  Bear in mind that this is my first proper attempt at piping my own handmade royal icing.  Not the best, but I did get better as the day wore on!



Some of them were packaged up for each of the Kea leaders as an end of term present, and also for J's teacher, Miss F.




The second batch I made (the next day) were turned into cupcakes and butterflies.  Very pretty.  Although I need to remember to go a bit easier on the gel colouring, as the colour intensifies as the icing sets.  Oh well, we all wanted coloured teeth anyway, right?!  Ha ha ha.





I tried out a new technique called 'spotted icing' where you drop dots of an alternate coloured icing into your freshly poured icing, and it settles as a flat coloured 'spot' as it dries.  It worked really well.... until someone decided to poke it before it was set.  Hmmmm..... (not me, I might add)



'Oops' said he... closely followed by 'I didn't meeeean to'...!!! Grrrr.  Oh well, at least I know that the theory works, I'll just have to try it again another time.  Without a helper, maybe.  Perhaps some FORD cookies are in order for Bathurst next weekend?  Yeah!

Lego
J is still hugely into his Lego at the moment, making all sorts of weird and wonderful machines and monsters, that seem to make all sorts of weird and wonderful noises too, I might add!  Anyhoo, I was surfing blogs the other night (as you do) and came across this:

Sometimes Rich would stop by 6th Street on the way home to bust a move.
and these:

There’s a what behind me?
Sir Irwin marched off to battle while Roger stayed behind to charm the ladies.
The kitchen field trip was going splendidly when suddenly tragedy struck at the cheese grater.
These are CLASSIC!  Sadly I have to say that they really appeal to my sick sense of humour... Although I can't take any of the credit.  Click here to see more.  Funny guy - some truly hilarious shots :)

And on that note, I'm done.  Have a good rest of your week, peeps.  Might catch some of you at the Embellish It crop on Saturday...


Toodles!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in...

Well, Wednesday has been and gone again, already.  I swear that the weeks are just flying by, faster and faster as the year draws to a close.  This week was another good result - lost 600gms.  Slow and steady wins the race, I reckon :)

By now, those of you that are local and know Rach, know that she has sold her business.  It is with a tinge of sadness that Embellish It changes hands, as that was what brought us together as friends in the first place.  You see, back in February 2007 I rocked on up to the first ever Raincliff Retreat, on my own, and had a BALL of a time.  I was seated at a table with Nic and Brenda, two other lovely ladies I now call friends.  I have been to every other camp since, bar one (we were in Australia at the time).  Scrap Camp is now an institution all of it's own that I, for one, look forward to immensely every 6 months.  Here's hoping that they continue, and that Rach can be one of the gals that sits up until 4am, scrapping and talking crap with the rest of us!

I spent last night baking cookies and icing them for the Keas end-of-term shared afternoon tea this afternoon.  They also doubled as the end of term gift for his teacher and Kea leaders.  I'll be back with another post about them (and photos to share) later.  For now, it's time to get my butt out the door...

Toodles,

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Weekly Weigh-in, Art & Craft Festival, and Scouts Job Week...

Well, hi-de-hi campers!  I never did get back to you after the LAST weigh-in, did I?  Well, it's cos it wasn't fantastic... At weigh-in on 8th September, I put on 100gms, which isn't a lot, but it's in the wrong direction, you know?  However, in the week since (ie at last night's weigh-in on 15th September) I lost 800gms.  Awesome!  Gotta love that!  Onwards and downwards next week please....

So, what are YOU up to for the weekend?  I will be busy Friday/Saturday...


I have been invited to participate in the Bluestone School Art & Craft Festival, displaying some scrapbooking/papercraft work, and being an 'artist in residence' so that the students can see how scrapbooking works/what I do, etc.  The Festival is being held in their school hall, and is open to the public from 2.45pm to 4pm Friday, and 10am to 3pm Saturday.  There should be lots of other arts and crafts on display too - photography, costume making, and much much more.  Come along and take a look.  Better yet, come along and say 'Hi!'

Otherwise, not much planned for the weekend... I think we will have another 'Movie Night' on Saturday... we hire DVDs and start watching them straight after tea, with the lights down low, the fire roaring, and us huddled on the furniture with blankets and pillows and yummy things to munch on (when I say 'us' in relation to the yummy food, I mean 'them', ie NOT ME.... I'm being good, remember!)  J just LOVES movie night :)  Possibly because he gets to stay up late, and eat crap.  I'd like to say that it's just because he loves our company so much, but I totally doubt that!

AND... speaking of J... next week marks the start of Scouts Job Week 2010.  It runs from 20 September to 2 October, and his Kea pack is taking part (Highfield-Mountainview).  


We sent away for his Scouts Job Week pack a while back, and he is now the proud owner of a Scouts pen, drink bottle, hacky sack, T-Shirt (which is HUGE by the way!), bag, job record card, and Job Week Badge.  The general idea is that he does little jobs to help out others, which he writes down on his record card, and he receives a (small) donation for his HMV pack.  All money raised by local kids stays with the local pack, which is awesome.  (You don't want to bust a gut fundraising to find that all the money goes to South Auckland or something, huh?). SO.... anyone that has any little jobs that J might be able to help out with (bearing in mind that he is only 6 years old), let me know, ok?  Thanks! 

Well, that's about it from me, time to go back to work, then home later to pack up my gear for the Festival.  As always, it will be a case of 'decisions decisions, what will I take with me?!'  Ha ha ha!

Might catch you over the weekend peeps...  Toodles,

Friday, September 3, 2010

Our place? Definite NFZ!

I am seriously considering getting some of these signs made, and hanging them up at home...



What does NFZ stand for?  No Farting Zone!!!! 

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Sometimes, I just crack myself up!

Mufti Day, and Sports Confusion for J...

Yesterday was Mufti Day at school.  The kids were asked (if they could) to dress up as a sports-person.  I suggested that J wear his Craig Lowndes shirt, racing cap and lanyard.  Sadly, he thought that a 'sports-person' had to be either a rugby player or a soccer player.  We then had an in-depth conversation about what the term 'sports' meant.  And the fact that there were literally hundreds of different sports out there, a lot of them way more obscure than car racing.  What is it about our Kiwi culture that says we have to breed the next great All Black?  Not everyone is a diehard rugby fan, you know?  Give me boys in V8s anyday ;)  Yee-haaaa!  Oops, mind wandering again...

ANYWAY, this is how he looked as we left the house yesterday...



And I think he looks AWESOME!

Toodles,

'Thanks' Card...

Rach was good enough to take photos of the 'Thanks' card that I made on the Friday night at Camp and email them to me, and also of the flowers that we campers all chipped in for, seeing as this was her last Camp as Charles in Charge... mmm, anyone else imagining Scott Baio right about now?!  Teehee.  I really must stop my mind from wandering like that!

Anyhoo, here's the pics:



I paper pieced the quilted effect on some plain canvas with assorted Prima papers, and stictched them on.  (It should be noted that all the while I had Rachel asking 'What are you doing?  What are you making?  Are you making an album? etc etc etc...'  Grrrr!)  Once I'd sewn the front and back together and turned it back in the right way, I popped some batting inbetween, and also some chipboard for reinforcing.  Then I glued the seam shut!  Ah the beauty of scrapbook sewing - it doesn't hae to be perfect, and if all else fails, glue it!  Then I decorated the front with Prima flowers, some lace, mini roses and leaves.  Ta-daaaa:



Sooo pretty.  And here's a shot of some of the siggys inside.  (There are a heap more on the back cover too)


...and last but not least, the flowers....  Very funky.  I highly recommend using Bloomers Florist on Sarah Street if you are a local.



Cute huh?  Gotta love that pink ;)  Right, lunch break is over, I'd best get my nose back to the grindstone...

Toodles,

Evil Knievel, Mark I and Mark II ??

Evil Knievel Mark I... 

...D, at a recent TT event held near Pleasant Point.  Lots of mud-splattering fun.

(D is the one on the right)



(even got a leetle bit of air-time!)

Evil Knievel Mark II... 

...J, having a play on the peewee track in the next-door paddock, a week later. 
Awww, how cute is it when he puts his foot out, like the grown-ups do?!






(he even got into a bit of mud-slinging of his own!)


So there are my boys.... in all their dirt-flicking, mud-splattering, helmet-wearing glory.  To see the smiles on their faces when those helmets come off, I wouldn't have it any other way!  Besides, a girl's gotta have somethin else to take photos of other than just layouts and cards, yeah?

Righto, break's over... back to work for me...  Toodles,

Wednesday Weigh-in... on Friday!

Well, not so bad this week, considering....  Esp. after scrap camp and the 2 bowls of punch that I and those-who-shall-remain-nameless worked our way through over the two night stay...

I lost 200gms!

Next week, onwards and DOWNWARDS on those scales. 

I went to Zumba this week, and ended up staying for BOTH classes.  Yup, two whole hours of shakin my groove thang.  To be honest, I think that I'm still in recovery mode today!  Yesterday I had trouble getting up and down the stairs at work.  I must've looked like I was 86 rather than 36 :)  The things we do, huh?  Oh well, whatever doesn't kill us...!

And of all the people to see me when I was trudging along the country roads in the middle of nowhere last weekend.... Dom, the Zumba instructor (and my former personal trainer at the Gym).  She came up to me before class and said 'What were you doing WAY OUT THERE woman?'  I secretly patted myself on the back when she said that I was fair striding it out, working hard, 'in the zone'.  It's always nice when someone else notices. 

Monday, August 30, 2010

Wednesday Weigh-in, and Scrap Camp!

Ok, so here's the delayed report on last Wednesday's weigh-in... I guess that the 10 days or so of enforced rest is finally catching up with me.  I put on 600gms.  Not a great deal I guess, but disappointing all the same. 

I had been forced to rest by some very nasty abdominal pains, which my GP suspected may have been caused by an ovarian cyst or something similar.  I am pleased to report (following a most glamorous scan) that this was not the case, and it appears that a nerve was trapped between the walls of a torn abdominal muscle, causing some particularly uncomfortable spasms when I happened to move the wrong way.  For now (touch wood) that seems to have sorted itself out, as I went for my first run/walk on Saturday morning.  First bit of exercise in 10 days, and boy did I feel it later on! 

Exercise of any sort was an achievement in itself, as I was away at Scrap Camp.  Yes, we have just had the last ever (organised by Rachel, at least) Embellish It Raincliff Retreat.  As usual, it was a complete blast, and I am completely knackered!  The Raincliff Youth Camp is one of those kitschy 70's throwbacks that is ideal for school camps, and of course, scrapbooking weekends! 






It has 12 bunk rooms, that each sleep 6 people, (6 bunk rooms on either side of the main hall) as well as a room just off the main hall for another 2 people (right next door to two wheelchair friendly toilet/shower rooms).  There are basic (but adequate) shower/toilet facilities, as well as a large, catering friendly kitchen with walk in fridge etc.  And the bonus of all this?  It's only about 40 minutes from town.  Nice!  So, for the incredibly reasonable cost of $110 each, we had Saturday breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and tea, as well as Sunday breakfast, morning tea and lunch, all cooked/served to us (and cleaned up) without us having to lift so much as a finger ourselves.  I should mention that the kitchen staff were in fact Rachel's Mum and Dad, her Auntie Cicely, and a nice young man by the name of Michael (a cousin?).  They did a FAB job, as always.

I headed out there straight from work at 3pm on Friday afternoon to help set up, then it was all go, go go!  Amid all the talking (and a little bit of drinking), I managed to get 5 things made over the course of the weekend.  I made a Thank you Card for Rachel on behalf of all us campers (although not your ordinary card, it was a really large canvas one with Prima papers quilted onto the front, then covered with scrummy prima flowers.  I will have to get Rach to send me a photo of it so that you can see what I mean. 

Then I did 3 layouts (photos below), and got a Father's Day card 99% finished, all before we had to pack up and head home straight after lunch on Sunday.  So I achieved a LOT.  This might have had something to do with the fact that I slept VERY LITTLE!  Bedtime on Friday night was 2am Saturday, and I was back up again at 7.30am.  Bedtime on Saturday was 4.20am Sunday, and I was up again at 8am.  When I got home at 2pm on Sunday afternoon, I gave my boys a hug and a kiss, then went to bed for 2 hours! 

You see, I have a wonderful husband who knows to expect this after camp, and doesn't seem to mind too much.  (Thanks honey, xxx)  And I should mention that the grocery shopping was done and put away, and that the house was tidier than when I left it.  Fab.  What a treat!  My boys ROCK!

So, I can hear you saying "Come on, show us your layouts..."  Well here they are:

Layout 1 - My Great Grandparents (from my mother's side of the family).  These are the only two photos that I have of these grandparents.  The baby in the photo on the left is me, circa 1975!  I used a pink ribbon charm because Jessie Kearns (my Nanny's mother) died from Breast Cancer.

Paper:  Prima, Flowers:  Prima and small roses from Embellish It, Alphas: both Prima, Charms:  Dragonfly charms from Embellish It, Pink Ribbon Charm, Other:  German Scrap (around photo edges), Dimensional Magic (on cardstock alphas)





Layout 2 - Pitcrew in Training.  J decided he had to have a go at the tyre changing competition that The Front Store ran as part of the entertainment during the summer race meeting out at Levels.  He had to stand on two drill boxes in order to be tall enough to reach!

Paper:  Teresa Collins Junkitz, Large Chipboard Cogs:  Dusty Attic, Small metal cogs/screws:  Tim Holtz, Title Lettering:  Cuttlebug Alpha 'Red Tag Sale' (shadowing cut by hand), Other:  Dimensional Magic (on chipboard cogs)

Layout 3 - Make and Take Prima Paintables Layout, Me, age 4.  For the Make and Take we were given one sheet of Prima Paintables, one sheet of Bazzill of our choice, and some Dusty Attic and other embellishments.  The only condition in order to go in the draw for $80 worth of Dusty Attic product was that we had to use the Prima Paintables, in combination with any other papers/embellishments of our choosing.  Jo showed us how to make cardstock flowers using a retro flower punch, a brad and some water.  Seriously VERY COOL technique.  I made ALL of the flowers on this layout myself!  Awesome!!!  I coloured the paintables paper with Distress Inks using a water pen.

Paper:  Prima Paintables, Cardstock:  Bazzill, Flowers:  Made by moi, Journalling Block:  Prima Stamp, Journalling:  Hero Arts Alpha Stamps, Chipboard fence:  Dusty Attic, Bling Bird: made by me using Bazzill Bling Template, Other:  Vines and leaves from Embellish It, Shipping Tag from Dowells Office Products, Chandelier Charm by Heidi Swapp.


And of course there are the obligatory Camp photos of us gals....

Me, Nic and Kath, drinking our 'Mocktails' on Saturday night

Back, L-R:  Brenda, Nic, Jo, Shirelle
Front, L-R:  Me, Kath

L-R:  Kath, Me, Shirelle, Brenda, Nic

So, that is that, you're all up to date!  I'm hoping to get to Zumba tomorrow night, and before I know it, it'll be Wednesday Weigh-in again.  Rolls round pretty fast from week to week!  For now though, I am going to watch the end of The Mentalist, and head off to bed.

Toodles!