Off to

the Zoo today with Jo and some of the coffee group girls. So I best be making Isla's lunch soon.

But in the meantime check out this cool new blog for those with teens: http://www.scraptheteenz.blogspot.com/
Congrats Jo (a different Jo) and Lianne!

Wow what a weekend!

That was such an awesome weekend. I had so much fun at Senz Manukau 07 and never having worked at any sort of trade show or anything like that or done teacher aiding before it was a really fantastic experience. It was just too cool to be working with good friends like Lesley, Donna and Trina but also to work with such a great manufacturer as Fiskars was just awesome. So thanks Helen, Nic and Bruce - I had a fab time. Helen put on some amazing workshops with a great kit for people to take home - the queues to get into the workshops were just so long! It was great to see people's faces light up about the tools we were demonstrating and to have them then go and buy them and come back to say it was thanks to your demonstration was just so neat. And now I'm really hooked on them myself too! I got a wee bit of shopping in too and saw lots of people I knew working there or visiting so all in all a great weekend. I didn't have my camera with me because it died last week but Trina and Bruce did and they've sent me some pics.

Senz

I'm at Senz all weekend working on the Fiskars stand with Lesley, Trina and Donna. Having lots of fun so come and see us if you happen to be there. Fiskars are putting on 3 awesome workshops each day as well using Heidi Grace papers, totally free with awesome kit. Here's pics of them:

Yay they're all done!

Finally finished all my layouts and projects from Crafting Connection 07. So pleased about that. Here is the last album I finished which is from Tia's class The Whole Enchilada. Actually was a bit of a struggle to finish it but I got there and am really pleased with it. The theme i used is all about our house because this is the first home we've owned so thought it would be a neat idea to remember the things we've done to the house and in the house etc.

I'm trying to finish a whole lot of unfinished projects at the moment. Here's one I finished last week and yes this is from Crafting Connection last year - an Ali Edwards class. I didn't actually do the class, only got the kit and its been sitting there all this time.

Isla has made quite a bit of progress over the past week:

• she's finally getting her molars through, yay! Though they are causing her a bit of grief
• she's starting eating with a spoon all by herself. Wants to feed herself her brekkie. My girl is growing up!
• she's climbing really well. Has suddenly taken to climbing the ladders at Jumping Beans after months of showing absolutely no interest in them. However this has meant some more safety-proofing at home.
• she's really good at holding my hand now when we need to walk together somewhere. Its actually really nice.
• on Friday at coffee group she gave Ben 2 kisses and Jack 1. Was the cutest thing - i wish i'd had it on camera!
• on Sunday she gave Caitlin a hug - was so sweet.

However yesterday at Jumping Beans she got hit on the head by a boy there while she was trying to climb onto the trampoline. Unfortunately this boy has hit her and others before which is not very nice but what can you do. She wasn't very happy after that, poor wee mite, so we went home early.

And on Thursday we visited Lesley for lunch and Isla was given this and she absolutely loves it! Thanks so much Lesley!

ok that's enough for now. Later.

Sharing

my latest layout for NZ Dares. It was my turn to choose the theme and so it is to scrap a childhood photo. I've seen some awesome layouts people have done so far for the dare and here's my take on it. I added in a few digi brushes there and some rubons. I'm actually quite liking this layout.
























But that wasn't the first layout i did for the dare. This one here was the first layout i did. I got the idea for the stamped journalling circles off a layout by Ali Edwards. I quite like this layout too but thought i should probably do something original for the actual dare itself.
























So next weekend is SENZ. And i'm actually working at it all 3 days on the Fiskars stand along with Lesley, Donna and Trina so stop by and say hi if you're going. Should be good fun.

Get Crafty

The last week I have been getting into a whole lot of home crafty things. I've just finished my term on the For Keeps design team so now I have a bit more time (not much more!) to spend doing a few other things that I've wanted to do for a while. Making things for Isla such as soft toys, cushions and dolls etc. I'm into homemade and vintagey things for her at the moment. I got out all my old quilting fabrics that have been gathering dust and realised I can actually do something with them, so stay tuned! I put some of the ones I like into this box to keep with me in my scraproom. The rest had to go back into storage under the stairs - i don't have enough room to have all my stuff out much as I'd like to one day. Aren't these fabrics yummy?

And I'm off to Spotlight tomorrow to check out some more and to get more felt. Can't get enough of that at the moment. I made my first handsewn stuffed felt thing recently - this heart. Its a complete copy of one I saw on Elsie's blog, but hey gotta start somewhere right? Love the colours together and all the buttons on it.

Last weekend we went down to the local market and we picked up this doll's cot for Isla. So cute. I still need to paint it up as you can see. I made the wee mattress that you can see in it and also plan to do a pillow. My MIL wants to make a little quilt for it, can't wait to see that. Should look great with some stuffed toys and dolls in it.

This is my latest inspiration too. Awesome magazines, so much inspiring stuff in there. I'll have to keep a look out for these in the future.

And this book too has inspired me heaps. I want to make some fabric books. Another great way of using up quilting fabrics, trims, ribbons, buttons etc and get something cool out of it.

And check out this cool wire jug. I got this from a local gift shop. Isn't it cute? I think I'm going to make some fabric flowers to go in it.

Dare layout, but not quite ...

So the latest NZ Dare is to do a layout only using one manufacturer. Well I'd been a good girl and was actually getting ahead and managed to do this one a few weeks back. However, I didn't realise that the rules were that the cardstock used had to be that same manufacturer and so my layout doesn't fit within the rules. And then of course there's also the fact that I cheated and used another product, but i had to! It didn't look the same without it. So here's my layout here on my blog, I'm not putting it up at NZ Dares. I used (mostly) Making Memories, with some Bazzill cardstock and some BasicGrey ribbon.

ETA: It's not so crooked in real life either. Dunno what's with that, must be the scanner.

End of the week

Ok so I really must update more often - maybe if I set myself a goal of blogging every 2nd day that might be good. But i've just been too busy. These are some of the things that we've done this week:

Monday we went to Jumping Beans - went really well initially, then all downhill from there, was not a happy girl.

Tuesday we went to lapsit and the supermarket.

Wednesday we went shopping and this table and chair set arrived. So exciting - i purchased it on Trademe and its made to order but only took 5 days when they said could take 2 weeks so was very happy with that. I've put her name and some numbers and pictures on it with rubons but i think they'll probably wear off.

Thursday went shopping with a friend and then at lunchtime Missy decided that she didn't want to wear pants. I came out of the kitchen to discover her running around with no bottoms on!!! She thought it was hilarious! Luckily I'd just changed her, phew!

Today we went to the zoo. It was Isla's first visit - so much to see! We've bought a pass so we can keep on going whenever now.