A Guessing Competition!

A frightening thing happened on Friday ... my eldest turned 11! He informed me that he is now a "tween". You see, he's not a kid, and he's not a teenager, he's in-be-"tween". And I'd have to agree with him! Each of our kids has a party every second year (you kinda have to do that with 4 kids!!) and as Ryan had his "big"party last year he had one special friend come and sleep over for this birthday. As per tradition, the kids also get their choice of dinner so we indulged in KFC followed by birthday cake with the family (and Sam). So here's where the guessing competition comes in. I had a bit of a shocker with the cake - runny icing, crumbly cake and just a down-right-difficult cake to make! (I might revise my rules about the kids choosing any cake they want!!) So here's a pic, can you guess what it is?? And no, it's not a Viking ship as my grandfather thought (I'll put that down to him being 81!) So leave a comment, first correct answer wins a prize!


Here's a few more pics from the day. I just love this next one as it really shows the difference between my boys ... Jake up and dressed and ready for school and Ryan still with bed head, sleepy eyes and his new shirt thrown over the top of his PJs.

The presents ... oh boy were there presents ... it was like christmas - thanks Noonie!!

And lastly, the cake I made to take to school - far more successful! I know they say don't play with your food, but this was just too cute. Apparently it was a hit with the kids.

That's My Girl!

As part of her homework this week, Mikayla had to make an Easter card for her buddy, so for Mika this was the best homework eva!! She picked her colours and embellishments all herself and even surprised me by piercing holes for the brads before putting them in. I just had to take a photo of the finished card as I'm so proud of her. But then she really made me laugh...she wanted me to put it on my blog with instructions so all the people who visit can make one too!

So here it is, Mikayla's Easter card tutorial:


"Well first I got a white piece of paper and then in dark purple (it was actually black which tells me it's definitely time to re-ink) I stamped six flowers on and then I got some coloured textas and coloured them in. And then I cut it out. And then I got a purple piece of paper and folded it in half. Well, we got a white piece of paper and we stamped in redish purple "Sharing with you the miracle of new hope and new life through the glorious gift of Christ the Lord" (I had to write the whole quote, I asked if I could just write "the stamp with the words", but no, we had to be very clear!!). And then I sticked the white piece onto the blue piece of paper and then I got a red, a light blue, a green and a dark blue beads and then I put it down and stuck four holes in and I put them in. I put the blue and white piece onto the purple piece. I got a white ribbon and tied it on the side and then I stuck the flowers on. And then I wrote inside. And then I put some coloured bits of texta on the purple and white bits. And then I putd it in the envelope!"

Well at least someone in this family is finding time to do some stamping!

Off the Page in a Big Way!

I haven't been doing much lately, or should I say, I haven't been doing much creating lately! (plenty of other not so fun things - likely swapping the boys bedrooms ... what was I thinking???) So I thought I'd show you something that I created a while back. Those of you who know me, know that I absolutely love to create off-the-page things. This canvas was one of quite a few pieces that I made for our church's art exhibition last year. This was actually one of the pieces that didn't sell so I was contemplating other places I could take it to sell but decided to hang it on our lounge room wall in the meantime to keep it safe. I put it up and straight away my hubby said "NO don't sell it! It looks perfect in our house!" and I have to agree with him! So I finally have a piece of work that I've created and kept just for us!! So here is my giant canvas with one of my favourite quotes...

And here's another picture that shows how big it is in comparison to our furniture...you need the full effect!

I painted the canvas with a neutral colour and then inked around the edges using my Basic Black ink pad. The Live, Laugh and Love words are Kaiser giant monograms painted around the edges and covered in scrapbboking papers (Basicgrey - Scarlett's Letter). The words fully, often and deeply I cut out with my cricut using the "Opposites Attract" cartridge. The flourishes were also done with the cricut.

Photo Fridge Magnets

Another quick post in between running children to various places, unpacking groceries and attempting housework (you can see why I've opted for a post!!)

I made this little magnetic photo frame as a birthday pressie for one of the little girls I look after (I actually made another one for the other little princess as their birthdays are two days apart).
I cut an A4 magnetic sheet in half to give me two A5's. I then cut out the centre leaving a 3.5cm frame all around. I cut it all with my Fiskars paper trimmer but put a blunt blade back in so I didn't wreck a good one (I save most of my "blunt" blades for heavy duty things like this, chipboard, transparencies, etc.) The magnetic sheeting already has adhesive on it, so I just peeled back the cover and stuck the paper onto it ... very easy!! Then the fun part was adding all the embellishments and personalising it, all with bits and pieces from my stash - another economical pressie that I think looks really sweet. Of course it's going to look so much better with a photo of the newly turned 2 year old in it - Happy 2nd Birthday Emily & Chloe! xx

Going, going, going...

Hi everyone. I'm just popping in with a quick update on the status of retiring products. As you can see, retiring products sell out rather quickly so if there is anything you would like to order I suggest you order it soon!

Item Number Product Description Availability 10756 Flip Flops Unavailable 109020 Wild Wasabi Classic Ink Refill Unavailable 109015 Soft Sky Classic Stamin' Ink Refill Unavailable 109016 River Rock Classic Stampin' Ink Refill Unavailable 109017 Purely Pomegranite Classic Stampin' Ink Refill Unavailable 100381 Earth Elements Eyelets Unavailable 100378 Soft Subtle Eyelets Unavailable 109019 Groovy Guava Classic Stampin' Ink Refill Unavailable 108748 Best Friend Numbers Unavailable 107212 Mateys Map Unavailable 105320 Basic Eyelets Unavailable 103195 Gifts Galore Unavailable 107561 Garden Annuals Unavailable 109610 Confetti Simply Scrappin' Unavailable 104279 Leaf Prints Unavailable 110255 Bundle of Joy Unavailable 112402 Short Order Numbers Unavailable 109018 Blue Bayou Classic Stampin' Ink Refill Unavailable 111852 River Rock A4 card stock Unavailable 108720 Ahoy, Matey Unavailable 105316 Rich Regal Eyelets Low Quantity 101259 Black Hemp Twine Low Quantity 108740 Bareback Low Quantity 106662 Dasey Field Low Quantity 108638 In Color 12"x 12" card stock Low Quantity 109186 Theater Ribbn Originals Low Quantity 105445 Soft Subtle buttons Low Quantity 111850 Wild Wasabi A4 card stock Low Quantity 106610 Basics Outline Low Quantity 103981 Earth Elements Low Quantity 103981 *Earth Elements & Neutrals buttons Low Quantity 100900 Gift sacks Low Quantity 108763 By Land Low Quantity 104065 Fishy Low Quantity 112253 *Dad's Day Low Quantity 108849 It's Your Birthday Low Quantity 105531 Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware Low Quantity 112391 Everything Baby Low Quantity 112310 Fabulous Flowers Low Quantity 107464 Rough Texture Low Quantity 107465 Speckled Low Quantity 107467 Birthday Low Quantity 108923 Stipple Rose Low Quantity 112272 Classic Backgrounds Low Quantity 108929 Symbols of Solicitude Low Quantity 112316 Forever in My Heart Low Quantity 105446 Rich Regal Buttons Low Quantity 108746 Best Friends Alphabet Lower Low Quantity 108747 Best Friends Alphabet Upper Low Quantity

Thanks for checking in and have a fabulous day!

We've Been Waiting For This...

Ok, so it's finally here! Because the new 2009-2010 Stampin' Up! Idea Book and Catalogue is just around the corner (31 more sleeps!!), it's time to say goodbye to some favourites to make room for some new and exciting goodies. So here it is, the official list of retiring products. I know some of you are going to feel a sudden panic set in as you discover some of your favourites from your wish list are on it (I know this because I am doing the same!!) But the good news is that some of the discontinuing sets and other products are being discounted by 25% and 50% - a bit more incentive for you to be able to cross them off your wish list! All products on the retirement list are only available until the end of March all whilst stocks last so to avoid disappointment order soon :) Give me a buzz or send me an email if you wish to place an order.
Cheers!