Scrap and Stuff

2012-01-30T20:25:00.000+08:00

I've not forgot my photo a day challenge, just haven't found the time or energy to come and post them!!

So I will have to play catch up...

Day 17 Water

Rain landing in the pool water

Day 18 Something you brought

My owl teapot :) was standing in the shop wanting to buy this because it's an owl, but I don't drink tea...... Then I remembered they make coffee bags!!!

To be real honest, I'm not sure these where the right photos for the right day, but I've been taking a photo a day so I'm going with close enough.,... LOL..

More soon

Opps forgot to post Day 16 photo

2012-01-17T09:53:00.001+08:00

Day 16 Morning Umm wasn't getting up to take a photo of the sun coming up, so I had to think of what else morning could mean....Easy morning for us as has always meant cartoons!

With having a child what wants to start his day at 5am, as soon as he was old enough to be up by himself for a little while, I taught him to come out and turn it on the telly and watch cartoons or one of his Thomas dvd that I would set up the night before. I tried to encourage him to wake me around 6am, for breakfast!

The Cake.... that ate my day!

2012-01-16T23:20:00.001+08:00

Today I baked a cake..... The most complicated cake in the known universe I'm sure!! Basically this cake should be made over 2 or 3 days...and I tried to get it done in 1 afternoon, not because I like a challenge, but because that's all the time I had to give it.......well that, and the fact and I didn't read all the way to the end of the recipe before I started!

Red Velvet Cheesecake - I found this while 'pinning' one day and thought it would make a lovely centerpiece for my afternoon tea party....... It comes from a very talented Julie Ruble's blog Willow Bird Baking and as I had never tried this cake before, a test run seemed like a good idea....

I started this at lunch time and finshed at 6.10pm tonight in a complete rush, the decorating is not that flash as I was rushing, and the chocolate ganache wouldn't set and the cream cheese icing was too soft as well!

So here it is, in a few steps, along with some of my thoughts....

I changed it to my version of a stock standard cheesecake instead of a baked cheesecake, due to egg allergies, a baked one has 3 eggs, and I've always been told I make a nice cheesecake anyway.

The crust is made from Oreo biscuits and is EXTREMELY sweet!! I would have to change this if/when I make it again, it's very nice but just to sweet.

The cake... oh boy the recipe called for a lot of red colouring, which of course I didn't have enough, so I used some red and some pink!
My cake rose in the middle, as cakes do. But the one in the original photo has I nice flat top to decorate, not quite sure how that is achieved....the recipe doesn't say cut or trim it.

All to put together...a badly decorated, but with more time it would have been better!..lol..

My crust kinda split when I added the cake on top, so I needed to have trimmed it a bit, again the recipe didn't state this, and re-reading it I should have coated the inside of the crust with some ganache which might have help it hold together.....

It tasted divine!!...but very very sweet.

Now I'm not sure if it's right for my afternoon tea or not, after eating a slice of this I did not want anything else at all and of course I have planned a have a few different cakes and sweets for my afternoon tea, so I don't want people having one slice of cake and not be able to try anything else!!

Any thoughts?

of course if I make it a day or two before and it sets a bit more, I might be able to cut smaller slices maybe?

You can see the orginal cake on my Pinterest account here

Lazy Sundays

2012-01-15T19:17:00.001+08:00

Day 15 Happiness I'm not sure if this is 'cheating' or not, but I actually took this photo yesterday! It's just such a cute photo I've decided to use it for today's photo!!

For Christmas my BIL & SIL gave up tickets to see The Wizard of Oz up at Kings Park. To be honest I wasn't real sure if Ethan would enjoy it, I wondered if he might be a bit big now to enjoy the singing and dancing but I needn't of worried, both kids where transfixed during the whole show! This photo of Ethan and Izzy was taken when the cast was singing and dancing through the audience... The Scarecrow stop to pinch a grape from someones picnic and the kids just loved it!

That is pure happiness on their gorgeous little faces!

Here a a few more photos... Both kids were glued to the performance, and were chuffed to be able to go up and meet the cast afterwards.

Like the title said, it's been a very lazy Sunday for us today...We have have a few dips in the pool, played a few games Chiness Checkers and watched telly ...nice day to recharged the old batteries....

Stay safe

Saturday....

2012-01-14T08:42:00.000+08:00

Day 14 Something your reading Right now I'm reading recipe magazines looking for nice easy, but yummy finger food...... and of course I always have a scrap mag close at hand to flick though!

The reason I'm looking of these recipes is I'm having a High Tea and Bubbles afternoon. I've been planing it for a while now, I brought some cute yellow bunting and I'm going to have another go and making some Martha Stewart style pompoms....yes another, the first go didn't work at all!..LOL Will post more about this as it comes together.

I finally got scrapping yesterday, we have some great sketches up for our CC over at Mystical and this is my take on Christine sketch

Back to scrapping for me!

Takle care

woohoo Cyber Crop time

2012-01-13T09:56:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I sat down and created a sketch for the cyber crop over at Mystical Scrapbook that starts tonight and I had so much fun creating!! if I hadn't run out of time I would have made another one, it's been so long since I created anything!!

If anyone reads this and would like to join in with some scrappy sketch fun, please feel free to join us, if your not registered in the forum, just send a little email with your user name to
admin@mysticalscrapbooks.com.au and we will get you authorised asap We have the best group of girls at Mystical, we a small group so it's easy to keep up, and very friendly and welcoming.

I've got a bit behind in uploading my photos for the photo a day challenge So here's the last 3 days....

Day 11 - Where you sleep I seriously thought about taking a photo of my lounge for this one! Seem as soon as I sit down there I fall asleep....lol.. Can you guess which side is mine??

Day 12 Close up I was walking around trying to think of something interesting to snap for this one, I drifted down to where my boy was playing with his Thomas trains, just sitting there watching him being so engrossed in his little world of Sodor inspired me to take this shot ...

Day 13 In Your Bag Nothing very unusual here, epi-pens and cars always!

Right I'm off to do a few chores and then I'm going to scrap!!...

Have a good day

Quite day...

2012-01-10T19:28:00.001+08:00

Photo Challenge Day 10 - Childhood For me nothing says childhood to me like Icy Poles!

Mr E and I popped out to do a bit of shopping today and that was about it....other wise we hung around the house, my stupid headcold is starting to go..*yeah*

Tomorrow we have plans to head up to Kings Park with frined and let the boys run a muck in the new Nature Escape.

Still no scrapping from me hoping once I get feeling better Mr Mojo is going to come back...

Nite all

Day 9

2012-01-10T00:02:00.000+08:00

Photo Challenge Day 9 - Daily Routine Well I must admit to having to think long and hard about this one, as I've never been a 'set a clock by me' routine kind of girl. Of course having Mr E demanded a certain amount of routines, and when he was a baby I stuck to them like glue, but of course as he gets older our routine changes....Then I thought, the only daily routine that has never ever changed is this one.....

The very first thing I do when I get up every single morning of my adult life is.....

Walk into the kitchen and put the kettle on for a coffee!!

Now I sound like a complete caffeine addict...rofl...

Photo's, Antibiotics and CC's

2012-01-08T13:30:00.000+08:00

Well like the title say's, I'm back on AB :(.... Stupid tonsilitus again, but not as bad this time, only one day of high hemp and chills, around 40 again....

So that's my reason for being late with Day 7's photo....

Day 7 - Favourite This is my favourite coffee cup and coffee

Day 8 - Your Sky Such a clear blue today, I had to add a tree to the photo so you could see I was looking up at sky...lol..

Next week it's Cyber Crop time at Mystical!! I've not scrapped since before Christmas, and I'm itching to get back to it :)

Photo a Day Challenge

2012-01-06T12:01:00.000+08:00

Saw a few Facebook friends doing this so I thought I would join in too :)

Here's a link to the challenge if you want to check it out..
http://www.fatmumslim.com.au/2011/12/photo-day-challenge-january-2012.html

And here's are my catch up photo's..

Day 1 - You Don't generally like taking photos of me, but I played with the lighting and made it B&W and I suppose its not too bad...

Day 2 - Breakfast Love my Vegemite

Day 3 - Something you adore. We this might seen like and odd thing to adore, but it belonged to my Nana, it came to me after she passed away, and it is still exactly as I received it. All the drawers have her cottons, scraps of material and all the bits and bobs in it. I think about having it restored, but then I would have to remove all her stuff from it and somehow it would make it less of a reminder of Nana and more of just an old antique sewing machine...

Day 4 - Letterbox Nothing fancy, just a letterbox, with a bit of paint missing from when DH backed the trailer into it...

Day 5 - Something you Wore My current fav pair of shoes

Day 6 - Makes you smile. Seeing my boys (DH and son) playing lego together....

Day on the river...

2012-01-03T18:04:00.000+08:00

Ethan and I had a lovely with family today..... but I didn't take my camera so I don't' have any photo's of how cute Ethan and his little cousin, Miss I, are together!

My BIL brought everyone a ticket for a river cruise to Fremantle where we had lunch at The Left Bank and then cruised back. ...Sadly DH was called away for work on NYE so he missed out.

Yesterday we went took ourselves over to Cottesloe Beach were my BIL & SIL from Sydney are staying, the kids had a play in the park and we had the yummiest fish and chips for dinner....Here are a few fav shots....

Mr E's model shot...lol...

Uncle T showing the kids how it's done...

My boy...

While on FB I've noticed a few friends taking up a Photo-a-Day Challenge.....and I thought I might play along too... Link to Chantelle Blog here ....and I'm a few days behind already!!...rofl I will catch up in the next blog post...

Right...off to do some work before the boy moves away from the telly and demands something like dinner!

Hellloooo......

2012-01-01T13:37:00.001+08:00

I have a rule, no work on New Years Day..... only fun stuff allowed! Scrapping, watching movies, playing games and being with friends or family......or as is this case, starting up my long neglected blog (again!)

Of course life being what it is, Gary is away fighting a fire in the middle of the Nullarbor, Cockelbiddy to be exact, so he is working very hard and Ethan and I are following the rule....Well someone has to maintain my long held tradition!...lol..

Last night Ethan and I spent New Years Eve with some wonderful friends, and the kids had a fantastic time playing in the pool till late and then eventually fell asleep while watching a movie. I woke up with just a little bit of a headache, I could try and say it was from the late night, but you probably won't believe me anyway!..lol..

Do you make New Years Resolutions?? I don't, but I try and pick out something to aim towards in a general sort of way...Last years word was ORGANIZE Which I achieved up to a point! I don't' think I will ever be as organised as I want to be, and I still have quite a bit to do in the shop, but I'm getting there. I just never seem to have enough time or energy to really achieve what I want to do!

This years word is actually going to be a saying...

Eat Less, Move More......

This came a bit of a popular saying around FB last year, and I think I'm going to embrace it this year. I have to get away from this computer more and move around!!.....

And in saying that, I'm planing on blogging more often and sharing a bit of my life, scrapping and Mystical news!

Have a great first day of January 2011
xox

Love happy mail!

2011-09-12T19:43:00.000+08:00

I'm stoked, look what arrived today!

Can you pick what they are.....besides owls...rofl...

Doctor Who Owls!! I cam across these ages ago and pined them on Pinterest, and then went back and ordered a T-Shirt. I got an extra large one so I can use it as PJ :)

As for my on going culling....well it's still ongoing... I got 3 shelved sorted out and chucked out a ton of scrapping mags, so at least that something I suppose...

I did loose a bit of time today, as I had to take Ethan to the Dr's just lunch time. He fell and scrapped his knee, as all boys do, but after 3 day he kept on complaining that it still hurt, and it looked a bit swollen so off we went and yep, it's infected. This is the second time he as had that, and I put betadine and band-aids on his scrapes....but I suppose like most boys it can't just leave it alone to get better!

Seriously tired tonight so I'm hoping of an early night.....not laying away till 2am like last night!

It's starting to come together......

2011-09-11T12:46:00.000+08:00

Ok I starting this entery over a week ago so I've sat myself down with a coffee, and put on my new Adele CD and I'm going to blog!

My office, office and scrapping room make over is still in the sorting out phase...haha yes still! But I am slowly making headway.

About 2 years ago I asked hubby to make me a 'rolling shelf' to go under my packing table....So the other week I packed him off to Bunnings with measuments and a shopping list and look what he came up with :)

It's perfect! You can see how the paint has been worn off the floor by me pulling the tubs out and in all the time...A tub of paper or cardstock is heavy so this is much easier :)

We surprised Ethan with a cubby house (well a week ago now!) DH went and picked it up and put it together while Ethan was at school, when he got home I did the whole covering his eye trick, and walked him outside for the big reveal.....

This cubby is about 20yrs old and made of solid jarrah!

Gary had to make a sight adjustment to the roof to get it to fit onto the slab...

All put back together....

One happy boy!! Gary replaced the door hinges and gave it a new door handle....We are now trying to decide what colour to paint it...Mum thinks we should just sand it back and leave it rustic looking...

and of course what the first thing a boy does....climb through the window....

The back yard is still a construction zone, so of course with Ethan running back and forth from the cubby the house is full of sand. But we have a plan, just need the time!

No scrapping from me....I've 'taken' a month off from Mystical so I can focus on sorting out this room and to painting the lounge room..... Haven't starting on the lounge yet, when I have this room done I will....

Stop giggling I will......no really I will :)

Testing...Do I still know how to do this....

2011-08-28T08:10:00.000+08:00

I'm so on and off with this blog it's embarrassing!..lol..

The last time I tried to post here, blogger wasn't playing nice so I gave up. It seems to be working ok so I thought I would try again....

I'm almost at the end of a office make over, will share some photo later on...

This morning we're going out for breakfast and this afternoon I'm hoping to talk DH into making my roller self thing for my tubs of cardstock, so I need to tidy them up, and I have a bit of stock to load as well, bits and bobs some new pens and fringe ribbon...

Have a great day....

Love a scrappy weekend...

2011-06-05T16:58:00.000+08:00

Thought I would share some pages I've done for Mystical cyber crop...

Colour Challenge - Use Red and Gold or Silver

Here I've colour sprayed the alphas, chippie bits and string Antique Gold....oh and lightly spritz the paper flowers

The big beautiful flower is from Purple Pumpkin

I've used my Die-namics Rolled Rose die with felt for the first time - it's a bit hard to make out in the photo, but look really nice in real life!...note to self, but sure to remove and lint from felt before cutting out the rose next time!

Bling Challenge

This is my baby sister with Ethan, Ethan was about 2 weeks old in this photo. I love this photo of them both.

I'm sure there is similar quotes out there, but I thought this up while trying to go to sleep last night. I reckon you can almost see Ren falling in love with Ethan in this photo!

Another felt rolled rose - and a mini paper fan flower that took me ages to make, as I ripped the first 2 I made..lol

I knew I wanted to use this Buzz & Bloom acrylic birdie, I wondered how to stick it down for ages. I didn't want to sew it on, then I remembered I had a can of spray adhesive somewhere. When I finally found it, it worked perfectly and doesn't show at all!

We have a long weekend here in WA this weekend and we're catching up with some very dear friends for lunch in Fremantle tomorrow.....other than that it's more scrapping for me, now that I've found my groove and mojo again!

Thanks for stoppping bye...

wohoo it's Friday!

2011-06-03T11:33:00.000+08:00

And it's a long weekend and Mystical cyber crop weekend too!

I have plans to catch up with some friends on Monday for lunch but other wise I'm going to scrap and relax!

But before I post my one and only page I did this week, I'm thought I might share my latest favorite product...

Actually brought this ages ago, I was shopping with my sister and she spotted it and commented how nice it would be. To be honest it's the sort of item that I wouldn't of taken any notice of, but as I don't get to shop with my baby sister very often, I let go of my normal "spend-thrifty-ness" and brought us both a bottle........ and it's been sitting in my wardrobe feeling very under appreciated ever since!

While looking for something else the other day I came across it again, now, according to the bottle you spray it on your linen before ironing, it would never get used if I did it that way because I firmly believe that sheets do not get ironed! On a whim I lightly spritzed the bed before I went ahead and made it.......wow! the whole room smell wonderful the whole day, and getting into it that night was just heavenly! It has a very light gentle fragrance of Lavender, Rosemary, Cedarwood and Orange oil.

So if you ever see this any where I can highly recommend it!

Here's a layout I did for one of Mystical new June challenges, Bel's sketch challenge...

I finally got to play with my new Die-namics mini rolled roses! not too bad for my first go I thought :)

Have a wonderful weekend
Donna

2011-05-31T18:54:00.000+08:00

This Friday is Cyber Crop time at Mystical!
I look forward to our CC weekends, it's a good excuse to tell hubby I have to scrap all weekend!

I made soup!

2011-05-29T11:32:00.001+08:00

Not an earth shattering announcement I know, but I hardly ever make soup, in fact, I think I have now done it a grand total of twice!

Yesterday I started to clean out the fridge and found that I had a lots of cauliflower and pumpkin left and it was starting to get past it's best, so I googled soups....I found this blog..
http://bronmarshall.com/

which had this recipe
Spiced Pumpkin and Cauliflower Soup
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 clove of garlic, peeled
• 1 bay leaf
• 450 grams (1lb) of pumpkin, peeled and chopped, approximately
• 450 grams (1lb) of cauliflower florets, trimmed, approximately
• 800 mls (1½ pints) of chicken or vegetable stock, preferably homemade
• ¼ cup of tomato purée
• salt and pepper to taste
• a little cream to finish, optional
• 4-6 slices of cauliflower, extra
• olive oil
• maldon sea salt

1. In a large saucepan sweat the onion in a little olive oil until translucent and soft.
2. Add the cumin, cinnamon, bay leaf and a whole peeled garlic clove, continue to sauté for a minute or so until lovely and fragrant.
3. Add the pumpkin and cauliflower and sweat for another minute or two.
4. Add enough stock to cover the vegetables, topping up with water if necessary, add the tomato purée and a little salt.
5. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the pumpkin and cauliflower are tender.
6. Meanwhile in a medium hot pan, fry the extra slices of cauliflower in a little olive oil until golden and cooked through, drain on adsorbent paper towels and keep aside in a warm place.
7. Remove the bay leaf and blend the soup mixture until very smooth. Pass the soup through a chinose if you desire, this helps to remove any stray coarse vegetable fibres.
8. Taste the soup for seasoning and adjust accordingly, finishing with a little cream if desired.
9. Serve the soup whilst still very warm, gently reheating if necessary and topping with a warm pan-fried slice of cauliflower and sprinkle of maldon sea salt or fleur de sel.

OMG it was soooo yummy! We ended up having dinner at mum's last night so I took the soup with me, everyone loved it and we all came back for seconds, including Ethan :) I didn't do the little slice of fried cauliflower on top, but I might give that a go if I make it for a dinner party, I just put a swirl of light cream on top.

Mystical and scrapping News...

I have achieved very little scrapping just lately.... but this is the one page I have managed to do.

This for one of Mystical Scrapbooks May challenges...Deadline is Tue to get your layout up!
I have been getting ready for classes to start here again, June Class time table is up in the forum if you would like to check it out...

Our June Cyber Crop starts next Friday, it's going to be so much fun we're glaming it up! Head over the our Facebook page or fourm to find out more....

Thanks for visiting...

What a slacker hey!

2011-05-28T12:28:00.000+08:00

So much for my promise to blog regularly!...Maybe I just don't do enough interesting thing to blog about!

The run down for the last week....

Sweep the floor 1200 times and bucketed out 6 buckets of sand....
Pick up 1million bits of Lego...
Clean & tidy, dust & wash more times than I can count...

and scrap 1 page...

One the up side, the shop is almost completely reorganized and tidy....And we did have a few people over for dinner the other weekend and I spend most of the days cooking and getting ready...lol...

We haven't had people over for ages, so I really enjoyed planing the menu and making something new....
Entree - Roasted Pumpkin Tarts with Feta. I also did Caramelized Onion and Feta Vol-Au-Vents, didn't take a photo, but they were also very very yummy!

Main Course - Beef Casserole with Red Wine and Potato Dumplings

Dessert - Apple Cinnamon Crumble

Was all so yummy - Should say that these photos came from Taste.com.au , but mine did turn out to look almost the same :)

The other news is my boy has started playing Auskick.....Here he is in his team colours with his gorgeous gold footy boots he picked out...notice the poise? The slumped shoulder stand of " not another photo" attitude..

I will be back later with some shop and scrapping news...

bye

I had the best Weekend....

2011-05-10T11:57:00.000+08:00

Don't you just love a good weekend!...Most weekend are filled with stuff you have to do...this weekend was filled with stuff I WANTED to do!

We had our May Cyber Crop over at Mystical this weekend, and as Gary was away fishing I emailed a few lovely people that I like spending time with, just to say that I'm home all day Saturday scrapping if anyone wanted join me or just call in for a coffee.

Kathy arrived a little after 9am and Yvonne left a little after 11pm that night!! With Marcia and Ash in the middle! Ethan and Ash playing for ages in the sandpit together, Ethan is rather taken with Ash...umm nothing new there, he's always like pretty blonde girls!

It really was one of the best days I've had in ages! didn't get any scrapping done.... rofl...

Sunday was Mothers Day, Ethan let me sleep in, not by design as such, but he was just happy playing in his room. Why got did get up he gave me my presents, they made a vase with pipe cleaner and feathers flowers at school and a wrote a letter.

Don't you love how he has put all the cleaning and chores first, the last line got me a bit teary..."respects me and loves me" And from him and daddy a set of books I'm reading.

We spend the day with Mum, at one of my favorite places, the Zoo. We also met up with Marcia and Ash for some lunch and a bit of a wander as well...
I didn't take a lot of photo's, here are a few of my favs...

Ash & Ethan

Up close with a Meerkat

Probably one of the closest shots I've very got of a giraffe

I've enhanced the colour a bit on this photo as there was a lot of reflective glare behind this cute fella!

Back with my latest obsession soon, but right now it's time for coffee!

Donna xox

ok I'm back!

2011-05-05T23:40:00.002+08:00

Ok I'm going to try blogging again. Like my new header?....only took me about 4 hours to do....speedy I'm NOT...rofl...Still want to add a few little touches, but need to find someone who can help me out, as my expertise has come to a end...

Lots has been happening in our little house, including me getting totally over stressed and not sleeping, which of course made everything else spiral out of control. So over the last few weeks I've been making a serious effort of getting things back on track by;

a) making sure I'm in bed at a decent hour (oops failed that tonight!)
b) de-cluttering the house so I can keep it tidy!
c) taking some time away from the computer each week

So far I'm feeling much better, just need to get back to my walking as I'm sure I've put on ton of weight in these last few month!

Just before I sign out and climb into bed, I'll share some photo's of my last purchase..

Royal Doulton had a massive clearance sale and I picked this up for a great price!

There are 3 patchwork owls around the cup and one little one inside the rim...It's soooo cute!

Donna

xox

ummm

2011-04-21T10:07:00.002+08:00

I must get back to blogging.....maybe after easter!

Saved the best for last.....

2011-02-07T13:05:00.002+08:00

The best part of our little holiday was that I got to pat a stingray!!!!!!! so did Ethan and Gary and a bunch of others kids...

OMG it was the best thing! I was so excited, never in my life would I have thought I would get to do this. I have been watching them swim by for days marveling at how close they are, the water is not very deep so watching them glide by was just wonderful, but pat them so just fantastic! The feeling was like patting wet jelly, really soft and smooth,

I was waiting for my boys down by the water and noticed a couple of kids getting really excited about something on the fish cleaning jetty, so I wandered over for a look. As I came up the kids told me they were feeding "Barbara" so I watched and was astounded to see her come up and out of the water!

The boys arrived back from their walk I asked Gary if we could give them the fish that we had left uncooked up in the cabin, Gary went and got it so we could feed them too....

Holding the fish for Barbara

Getting a suprise with she came up out of the water!

Finally getting comfortable enough pat her!!

Love this shot of all the kids (and some big kids) waiting for them to come back :)

Still more holiday snaps...

2011-02-04T13:35:00.001+08:00

Well the boy as gone back to school and I'm still trying to find time to share our holiday snaps!

One of my favourite places down south is the Tree Top Walk, Ethan was too little to remember it from last time, so DH took him again...Mummy kept her feet firmly on the ground, while I love the trees, I'm not to keen on the whole swaying bridge!

Back down on the ground....

Big Tree!

We had a great day ....and on the way home we called into the Chocolate Lounge OMG talk about a chocoholics heaven!!

We also feed some more of the locals....

I love pelicans!....

More again later....

More holiday snaps...

2011-01-30T12:14:00.001+08:00

Blogging while away didn't really work, it took ages to upload the photos. We got home Thursday evening, and it's taken me this long to get organized enough to blog!..

Some of the local popped in for a visit, and shared our BBQ snags...

They stopped by every night at the exactly the same time.....

The next day was overcast and raining...but it didn't stop my boy from playing in the water...

some plants and flowers I found on my many walk....

More later on.......

Family holidays....

2011-01-25T09:26:00.000+08:00

Hello from Walpole....

Well as I'm away, I have some time to blog so I thought I would share some holiday snaps....

We're on a short get away with the rest of the family...Nana, Grandad and Auntie Marg and her grown kids and their families, we're only staying for 5 days while the rest stay for a few days longer.

I love going down south, the beautiful forrest, lovely little beaches, and the peace and quite, plus all the gourmet goodies around to try out....but I have found out that little boys and rain don't really go that well together when your away from home...and today it rained all day!

This jetty is apart of the view from our window...well almost from our front window...haha...

The day we arrived Mum and I took a walk to Sandy Beach, via a little bush track....I didn't actually realize how far away it was, took about an hour. Came across this tree right in the middle of the path and thought it looked gorgeous!

Part of the track, leading to Sandy Beach, When I got there we came across a team of guys from Germany pulling down a small windmill, that runs their wind powered car. They plan on driving across the nullarbor and arriving if front of the Sydney Opera House in about 12-13 days

This is not a good photo of Mum...she asked the guy to come and stand next to her at the same time I clicked!

Well thats it for now...and it's raining again

2011 already!

2011-01-06T11:39:00.001+08:00

This year is off to a flying start!

We have had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. My sister and her hubby came home for Christmas and are staying till the 9th. It has been so nice spending time with my baby sis, we are going to miss her when it time for them to go home, especially Ethan. But we're heading her way at the end of April!

I've not had a chance to edit any Christmas photos yet....I should be able to edit them next week and will come and blog in more detail, for now I just wanted to share that Mystical Scrapbooks is have our first Cyber Crop for 2011 this weekend.....

Hope to see my scrappy friends there!

other week has flown by...

2010-12-05T09:34:00.000+08:00

whoosh!

We finally have our Christmas Tree up!...and the battery went flat in the camera! So, no photos of us decorating it this year....
Our little man has pleaded to put up the tree all week, and we finally got some time Saturday afternoon, when we discovered that what he REALLY wanted was to get the Christmas train set out! I gently reminded him that the train set has to be done last because we need to walk around the tree to decorate it, he then informs me that the tree is decorated enough .........we had only put the light on!

The battery changed enough for me to try and get a photo of my boys putting the train set together, but by the time I got back with the camera it was done!

Some thing else that has kept me busy a few night this last week, is making some rainbows for little man's school Christmas concert. Take a heap of rainbow colour material....

Cut into strips and tie on to bits of cords

and there you have lots of rainbows, ready to to pined the the front of the kids shirts. Took me three days to get these done, and hubby helped me putting them together!

Mystical Scrapbooks Cyber Crop Time!

Yay some scrap time!! I've really found it hard to find some time to scrap over these last few weeks but here's my take on the Inspiration Challenge

Love this Pixi-Licious range!

Any whoooo... must go and finsh some more CC challenges, Chris has a great sketch I'm in the middle of and I'm posted a Blind Scrap Challenge later on today...

Have a great Sunday

Sunday mornings....

2010-11-28T10:03:00.000+08:00

I just love them.....get to hang around in my PJ all morning, watch cartoons with Ethan and just be lazy.....
DH got a stand-by from work (day off) so he's taking the little man fishing this morning, and I'm planing on scrapping and getting ready for Mystical CC next Friday, and this evening we have free tickets to John Farnham show at Kings Park!

Now to my new shoes!...I mentioned at Mystical that I was going to blog about my new shoes, finally getting around to it!

Long story short - Needed new shoes, kinda accidentally got talking to a sales girl at Athlete foot, and she was telling me all abouts these new True Balance shoes, that uses hidden balance board technology that encourages muscle activation in the glutes, quads, hamstrings and calves, which in turn burns calories.

Now I got to be honest and say that, as she was telling me this I'm thinking to myself "yeah, sure it does!" but I tried them on and they were, very, VERY comfortable, so I brought them for that reason only, as I really didn't believe the sales hype.

I wore then the next day, still very comfortable. When to bed that night, slept well, woke the next morning and......OMG I couldn't move with out pain!!

The backs of my legs, butt and back muscles were soooooo stiff, the bloody things do make you use extra muscles!! I didn't do extra walking that day, I just had a day at home.

I must of had these for about 2 weeks now, and I still can't wear them everyday my legs and back just get to tired and sore still, but I wear them about every second day or so....as soon as I can, I want to get back into my walking each morning, just have to wait till my poor old soft muscles are a bit more use to the work out they get from these shoes first!

So there you go....I TOTALLY recommend these shoes if you want help in toning up!

woohoo I have Rocks

2010-11-25T19:49:00.001+08:00

2 posts in one day!....Progress on my garden....
I have rocks and running water

These rock came from Mum, she's not using them so gave them to me, I had a quick look at getting some more on the web this morning and OMG....these now cost a "not so small fortune"
I think these rocks will be put in my will and passed down to my grandchildren!

Filling up!

Tomorrow I will wash the rocks put in the reticulation and the last two plants

Never enough time...

2010-11-25T11:16:00.000+08:00

Well I keep saying I'm going to blog regularly but I never seem to do so!

Wow I can't believe it's almost the end of November....This month has just whizzed by.

I have a few different projects on the go at the moment, one is my new little water feature garden at the end of my patio, and today I finally started planting it out. A while ago I found a stainless steel water fountain that was reduced to a ridiculous price, so I snapped it up......

Here's some peeks....

The base of my water fountain, now I need some nice river rocks to go around the base and kinda spill out into the garden...

black mondo grass - never had much luck with this, but I'm trying again

Love this, common name is Flirt and has beautiful red leaf growth

Society Garlic and some unknown grass plants at the back.

Also have some Lillipop Pink or what I call Butterfly plant (cause the flowers look like butterflies) Just need one or two more plants, connect up the fountain and mulch.

Sadly out back yard is still a sand pile........
No scrapping for me this month

I've kept Ethan home from school as his been complaining of a headache all morning. He's just tired, so we're off to visit Grand dad in hospital, he's had a knee op so is feeling a bit sore and sorry.
Take care

The Butterfly Effect

2010-11-03T11:11:00.002+08:00

I've been making sounds about starting to blog again for quite sometime now...

Today I found a wonderful reason to!

I saw this at Shell blog so I headed over to check it out, and ended up in tears. Like Shell I won't say too much here, Trudi put it beautifully here on her blog.

Hope you pop over and join too.

Can I have a 'do - over' please

2010-09-21T09:43:00.004+08:00

September has been a rotten month!....Can I start it again please....

can I have a

2010-09-21T09:43:00.001+08:00

2010-09-01T20:26:00.002+08:00

I saw this list over at Clair's Blog and thought this would be a great way to try and get back into blogging!

I always

-start the day with a coffee and a shower

-plan to do way more than I accomplish each day

-check FB each morning

-make Ethan's lunch in the morning

-forget to do and least one thing each day!

I sometimes

-feed my family toast for dinner!..hehe

-make promise I regret making (but will alway follow through if I do)

-find saying no to people hard

-forget there is washing on the line

-will hide chocolate till Gary's on night shife and Ethan in bed so I dont have to share!

I never

-have the house as clean or tidy as I would like

-lie to someone I love

-get tired of watching Ethan play

-have enough energy to do as much I would like to do....

-get tired of having my family and friends around

So what about you?........What do you always, some times and never do...

time to try again!....lol

2010-08-09T08:28:00.003+08:00

I think it's time I tried again to keep this blog going....

And to start off with one of my fav websites is having a give away!!

My Little Bit of Whimsy has the most adorable little bits for crafty creations - they are so super cute and hard to resist!! And she is having a "vacation alert - super duper whimsy giveaway"

You can check it out here

2010-04-16T23:22:00.006+08:00

I have alway want to be able to post one of these, and now I can :) I can't remember who it was, but one of the Mystical girls posted about this new online magazine Scrapbook News & Reviews, and a lot of them sub and got accepted. so one a whim I though I might have a go too....

I pick 4 of my fav, Friends, These Feet, Sammy the snail and Sweet Baby. Here a little look, I will take this down in a few days....

and all 4 got accepted!! Issuse will be out 18th April

No I didnt' fall off the planet!

2010-04-13T19:43:00.002+08:00

Just haven't found the time to blog! Life is so busy, when I do find (or make) a bit of me time, all I want to do is nap...or zone out in front of the telly. I borrowed the series True Blood from the lovey Chris WOOHOO, boy did that kept me in front of the telly for a while, now I need to watch the 2 series!!

Life with a 6 year old is no stop, and Gary is working a lot of overtime at the moment, so he's not been around much at all, and when he is the poor fella is exhausted.

Some highlights from the last couple of weeks.......

My boy is finally riding with out his training wheels!....The training wheel should of came off ages ago, daddy only just got around to it! Took Ethan about 3 seconds to get his confidence..

We had a great Easter, nice and quite. We didn't go away, had the usual Easter Sunday morning tea of toasted hot cross buns with my family, followed by a very quick egg hunt, Ethan was so fast at collecting them I actually took some off him, re hid them so I could try and get a photo! Ethan school had an Easter Hat Parade, my boy is second from the left, the one that is turned around talking instead of listening to the class singing. We had such fun making his hat, and I thought we did a fairly good job, until I got there and saw how detailed and fabulous some of the other hat were..Sadly I didn't get many good photo from the day, as the under cover area is quite dark so most photo are dark and grainy.

Mystical is having our April CC this weekend, and I'm looking forward to getting some time to scrap......

I have found a bit of time to scrap, CJ and photo swaps from Mystical which I can't show, but I also did this page for one of our monthly challenges, which are now been posted weekly, so I guess it a weekly challenge!
Till next time.....

Pandas...

2010-03-21T22:02:00.004+08:00

opps were did last week go!!

For those following, you will know that our main reason for going to Adelaide this time was to see the Pandas. OMG I just loved them, we did have a bit of a hassle getting the tickets. You need to book your time slot to see them online and then print out your tickets, after a bit of a hiccup and then a quick trip to Office Works to buy a printer, we had our tickets.

You don't have to pay any extra to see the pandas, but you only get 1 hour, no going back for a second look, 1 hour is all you get, and boy does it go by quick!!

There names are Wang Wang, the boy and Funi the girl, are younger than I thought they would be, Wang Wang is 5 and Funi 4, if I remember correctly, both are sooooo adorable

Here are a few of my favourite shots.....

I'm full of a cold at the moment...so I'm going back to bed.

Will post some more photos hopefully tomorrow

2010-03-14T10:50:00.003+08:00

blog surfing and look what i found!

http://lilredrocketbuttons.blogspot.com/

these are the most cutest buttons, I ordered some the other week and they arrive while I was away, as soon and Ethan saw them he tried to lay claim to them!!...I comprised and said he could have one when he does a page next, but to leave them all together in the packets.............last night while I was tidying up his room a bit I found one in his treasure box!!

the little bugger had pinched one when I wasn't' looking...of course when I asked him about it, he remained me that I told him he could have one, and he took it so I wouldn't forget as I always forget things!!!

Cheeky boy!

2010-03-14T08:27:00.008+08:00

Hello, we have been home now 4 days and I’m just about caught up with things..... just about caught up with the washing, just about caught up scrapping commitments, (have 2 CJ to post tomorrow).....the garden is just about green again, hubby said he watered but my roses and apple trees were terribly droopy and most of the grass was brown again....and the poor bunny has a clean hutch again.

It’s Sunday morning, and I’m not inclined to do very much so I thought I would start posting some photos of our visit to SA....

Friday we went to the Haigh's chocolate factory, took their little tour, something I learnt was that Mr Haigh didn't start out making chocolate, the son did when he took over and learnt how to make chocolate by Lindt.....no wonder they have such yummy chocolate!!

I LOVE their coffee liqueur chocolate, sadly they don't have any outlets in Perth I might have to get Ren to send some over to me now and then.....

Ethan talked mum into buying him this little bear that had a bag of chocolate hearts in a bag tired around his neck...He named him Harry
By pure luck the ABC Gardening Australia garden show was on that weekend, mum is a great gardener and never misses their show. I found 2 plants there that I have not seen before and should grown fine over here, one is a reb/black eucalyptus called Vintage Red and the other is another native that has little yellow balls as flowers, after some google research i've found them to be commonly know as Billy Buttons, so now I just need the time to hunt them up......and then some more time to garden, I must say that since getting Mystical my garden has been very neglected, the front one especially, now it's just full of that horrible Kikuyu grass that I hate...

While there i came across this little fella...he was apart of a flora compitition, so of course i voted for him.and Ethan found some water to play in,,,

More later....I need a coffee and this laptop is getting so hot it's burning my legs!!..hehe

Weekend away with the girls..

2010-03-07T06:07:00.006+08:00

Hello from Adelaide

Catch up time......Last weekend I had the bestest weekend with my girlfriends. For the last several year we have spent the Labor Day long weekend away, and this weekend was so relaxing.I spent a great deal of time in the pool, sleeping in and sitting around chatting and laughing. I also didn’t take any scrapping stuff with me and had a bit of a break, I’ve been struggling my mojo over the last few weeks.We wandered down to the beach each evening and watched the sun set with a glass of wine.....is there anything more relaxing.
Right now I’m in Adelaide and it’s RAINING!!

Mum Ethan and I arrived Thurday, Friday we went for a nice long walk and then came home and had a nap! and we where planning on a trip into the art gallery but we decided that we were all too tired to be bothered.......so with a trip to the video shop I’m planning a nice curled up the lounge with my favortive sexy man............Bruce Willis!!

Couldn't help myself....

2010-02-25T16:33:00.003+08:00

Look what a treated myself too!...

The very lovely Sarah, mentioned that she saw these at Diva, and I just happened to be walking past today and, as I've never set foot inside on of their shop before, I thought I might "just have a look"......lol.....

They had a few different owl necklaces and even rings, but this one asked to come home with me!....

the things kid do...

2010-02-23T22:46:00.003+08:00

Look what my boy has done! took to his hair with he's sissors, while in class of all places!

You can see one side is now way shorter than the other side, lucky he has curly hair so he can get away with it a bit!
His teacher took his scissors off him for the rest of the week, now he has to go and ask for them when it's time to cut out anything!

Scrap news...

Mystical had a great CC, all the girls came up with some very interesting challenges, and the good news is that now we have all week to do them!!....Deadline is now witching hour Friday 26th! I'm really looking forward to sitting down and playing with these challenges...

I attended the Twiddleybitz trade day last week and had a great time playing with some new products, I came home and finished this layout. It's got a lot more on it and my usual LO's, but I like it, and I found this old photo of Ethan in the bottom of my photo box and it just suits the LO to a tee!

The other thing we working on is this little house. I've been wanting to do one of these since they first came out......it's not really finished, I want to put a tree next to it, just need to get a tree...Well it's almost midnight so I'm off to bed...

bye

CC time!!

2010-02-18T10:42:00.002+08:00

Mystical News
Come and join us for a great weekend!

I'm really looking forward to this weekend! Our newest DT member Shell, has a fantastic challenge as do the other DT members..... Bingo starts on Friday night and the list is up now! And don't forget we have a door prize for one lucky scrapper, all you have to do is, add your name to the sign up list and complete all the challenges and you go into the draw for a Bear Essentials Pocket Book.

Also the sale has been extended until the end of February, save up to 40% while stocks last!

Me News

Gary surprised me on Valentines day with this charm for my Pandora bracelet, given the fact that he was away for the 4 days prior, and didn't get home until 10pm Valentines day night I as very surprised!

I've still in the middle of a few things, so still no scrappy things to show. Yesterday I went to the Twiddleybitz workshop day and finally got to put one of their little houses together. I've been wanting to do one every since I first saw them!....just have to decorate it now, and finish off a layout I started there.

Ethan is home with a cold today, but I hope to get some play time this afternoon.

I'm also in the middle of a big clean out and tidy up of my scrap room (again) I FINALLY had a phone/data point installed in here. I was running a very long cable from one end of the room to the other, through a window and into the study, and to stop Henry nibbling on it I've got boxes and mats, plastic tubs and bits of cardboard covering it the whole way.....making it a very untidy room.....

Better go and start some work

Bye

Not much to say...

2010-02-10T11:43:00.002+08:00

about anything really!

Life has been busy, but with very mundane things. Ethan has settled into school well, but I think one of his teachers thinks he can be a bit silly sometimes
umm I should think that most 6 yr old boys have that problem at one stage or another...

Yesterday I actually took the day off, did some shopping had a coffee and just relaxed at bit. I'm going though a not sleeping well stage again and have been feeling a bit worn out....

I'm half way though 3 layouts at the moment, so nothing to show yet.....but I thought I would show you all a photo of my new rose.
I have 2 of them in my back garden. I thinks it's a fairly new variety called Spice Coffee, it has the most usually colour, brown/pink (looks more brownish in real life).

We have a panets night at Ethan school tonight, and E's teacher as asked me to go a bit earlier and talk to them about his eppi-pens. For some reason I feel really nervous!....

Till next time....

Tooth # 3

2010-02-05T23:54:00.005+08:00

What do you think of the header I've made??..........It's the 4th one I've done!! and I've taught myself so much about Photoshop over the last week......like the little border around the photo's, I've been trying to find out how to do that for about 2 years!!...........and it's so easy, now I know how....

Wow this week has just whizzed by so fast....... little to no scrapping done, still playing catch up with housework and Mystical work!...I'm nearly there....

Ethan lost his 3rd tooth yesterday, he was very proud about it! And so excited about the $2 the tooth fairy left him.
He has still got 2 other loose ones, and 1 half grown front one which looks way to big for his mouth! ... Here he is with a big silly grin to show me...
Like most little kids, Ethan had the most perfectly straight teeth before they started getting loose, I do hope they straighten up again!!

I made a major decision this week......umm well I think I have....
I need to get my hair cut short(er), after turning "a certain number" on my birthday a few weeks ago, I realised that I've had the exact same hair style for most of my life!...maybe it's time for a change....

ciao...

How hard is it to choose a backgorund?

2010-02-04T10:45:00.003+08:00

So what do you think of this one?...................Took me forever to pick one!.....Trying to find one that not to busy and not too plain.....I must be fussier than I thought! I'm not sure I can make a header to go with it, it's still a little to busy, but it's a start!

Just a quick post as I'm still trying to catch up with all the stuff I fell behind in while mum was in hospital....

Ethan loves being back at school..... but don't ask him cause he will tell you that he's not!
But he's been dressed are ready to got by 7am for the last 2 mornings! These photo's were taking on the 2nd day (not the first day like most mums....)

My baby is in year 1, he has home work every night and so far as been breezing through it. He as a little book to read and review a writing and reading sheet they do doing the day...

I have to show off my 2 new charms I got for my birthday a couple of weeks ago, Ethan picked the little hedgehog for me (according to Ethan I love little cute animals, and he's right ) and Gary picked the Aquarius Water Sign.....

Ok better get to work

I've finally found some time to scrap..

2010-01-31T13:29:00.007+08:00

I've got a lot I want/need to do, but at least I've made a start!

I'm taking part in my first Circle Journal!...and am really excited about it, It's the first one at Mystical (since I took over) as well, so I hope it goes ok.

Here's my front cover and sign in tag page, I still have to add a little photo of me yet..

Also taking part in a photo swap at Mystical, here's a little peak of the page I've done for Tam

I hope she likes it...

Mum's doing ok, still waiting for the op to remove her Gall Bladder. Her temp is not coming down, which indicates that she is still has pancreatitis, of hopefully Monday it can be done.

Back to scrapping for me...I have a nice quite house at the moment! DH is fishing and Ethan is with Granddad....

2010-01-28T09:46:00.003+08:00

Umm not off to a good start am I!

I've got 2 draft post started, but I'm having some problems with adding photo's...... and now my mum's in hospital so I'm spending most of my days there....

Will try and post when I get home, but the last few days I'm come home exhusted, I'm not sure why, I'm just sitting around with mum or going for little walks when she can., but must admit to not sleeping well at night...

back soon...

Trying again...

2010-01-18T08:19:00.003+08:00

We after having a bit of a break, I'm going to try blogging again!

I love blogging and reading other peoples blogs, but I always seem to run out of time...

But this year I'm going to try and be more organized and not waste so much time by fluffing around..

Over the next week or so I will redo my header and pretty it up.

Today I'm going to go and see Avatar with DH and then I would very much like to scrap...I've been trying to all weekend... LOL...

Sad but true...

2009-10-01T15:01:00.002+08:00

As much as I would like too, I just cant seem to find the time up blog :(

So I'm going to face the facts and stop trying to pretend I can....lol...

If you would like to see whats new at Mystical Scrapbooks please check out Mystical's blog found here I will update that will all the new stock and news.

I hope start this blog up again soon...

Hugs to all my visitors....
Donna

sooo busy!

2009-09-08T20:13:00.002+08:00

Seem to have been flat out last week! I did do a post and then managed to loose it! so here's a quick run down!

MYSTICAL NEW'S

Our September CyberCrop "Animal Instincts" starts this Friday!!! Come and join the fun!

Let's get wild and bring out the animal is us all!! Scrap the pets, zoo or the 'animal encounters while on holiday' photo's....or the other animals in our lives! like the kids swinging in a tree!

Lets get right into the fab range of animal colours and textures, and animal word play for titles and quotes! Starts 7pm Friday 11th September....get ready for a week-end of fantastic challenges, fun games and lots of chatting!

To be in the running for shop vouchers from the Mystical Shop. Head over to the forum and sign up here ...........Hope to see you there

Other Mystical news is the SALE is still on!.....15 up to 60% off most lines in the shop!!!! be quick, no backorders, when its gone, it gone!...
The new limited edition PINK MM SLICE is now available for pre-order...you can find it here

Sunshine!!

2009-08-27T09:05:00.006+08:00

We finally have some!...it's been so cold and wet here the whole of last week, the sun finally made an appearance yesterday, it was nice to be able to walk E to school, and feel some warmth!! The house is still cold and my office and shop where I spent most of the day is FREEZING!!!!!

I wondered the other day if that's the reason I can't seem to shake these colds I keep getting, I'm literally cold all day, no matter how many layers I put on!.........might have to think about getting a small split system for out here, and will have to rethink the painted concrete floor too before next winter!!!

I'm still waiting on some new stock arriving for Mystical, and the sale is going well, so will keep it on for a bit longer I think I need the space...lol..

Got a nice big box of Core'dinations in the other day, some fab colours for spring, yellows, pinks and reds, still waiting on a few more greens to arrive.

I thought I might just pop up a few of my recent fav's layouts :)

This photo was taken on the EB girls get together in Adelaide, at Nat's famous blue wall :) I has such a great time, meet some truly wonderful girls, including the fabulous talented Louise Nelson :)

Louise inspired me in the this layout.....don't' think I've quite got Louise's arty touch!..lol....and it's missing the paint/glimmer mist runs that Louise does so well...

Louise also set a challenge to use toilet paper! and I really like the way this turned out!

Here's a close up, a stick from Nat's garden, bit of string, mini tag and TP!

Thanks for visiting!
Donna

My little Doctor

2009-08-23T09:23:00.005+08:00

E's school had a dress up day on Friday, and the idea was to dress up as a character from a book. He was going to go as Pooh Bear, so we headed off to the shop to pick up a few thing to make some little bear ears and a hunny pot, when he spotted this dress up outfit...soon as he saw it he shouted out "Doctor Dean - Deep sea Doctor, it's one of his current favoriote books so of course had to have it.....

Too cute hey!

and I was happy too as it was on sale!

Right I've better get off this butt of mine, going out to lunch with some friends today..

Take care

New blog....

2009-08-22T11:48:00.000+08:00

Can't believe I did it! I lost my blog!...

I was trying to get rid of one, and ended up deleting the lot!.........this is what I get for trying to do two things at once! Master E was sitting next to me asking me how to spell things, he's into making he's own story books...... now, for anyone who has read my blog in the past, you know that spelling is not my strong point! .....and click, with out reading the screen properly and before I realized, my blog is gone!...

I'm going to be really upset later on when I realize I didn't write a lot of things down and blog was my only source of reference for things I will eventually get around to scrapping!

ummm think I need coffee..