from throughout the year...

Some photos I grabbed randomly from throughout the year to share in my Christmas letter (rather heavy on photos on light on text this year, just wasn't feeling it this year!)

And one more, from my family to yours:

Happy Mail

The other day, I got a lovely little parcel, from a wonderful friend.(One I've never met!)
Delivered to my mail box (yes its a bucket. Ask my husband where my weather proof mail box is). The mail comes in a Private Mail Bag, twice a week delivery.  Very rural. We lost our local post office and daily mail earlier in the year.
In my mail bag, was a parcel, containing this:
And inside that gorgeous little box, was these:
 
Aren't they just lovely? They don't look quite right with the other jewels hanging on my twig tree from last year (not sure its got another year in it, think she'll be gone after this Christmas) so I am hoping to find some quiet time to make some plain white card paper ornaments and a garland to go with these ceramic beauties. or not - they still look gorgeous.
Thanks, Amy!  One day we might get to meet face to face! Hope you liked the parcel you got from the wild west as well.
EDITED TO ADD:  Just got another parcel from another friend who I am yet to meet! I haven't taken photos yet, but some gorgeous, gorgeous, silver christmas word ornaments from Di, wrapped in her trademark colours! (the words look right at home hanging on my twig tree with the white snowflakes...the twigs are looking MOST posh!) I feel very lucky.

Lights

Another mini post, this time with bad photos of my own fairy lights.  Our little town has around six homes participating in an unspoken but never the less fierce competition of Christmas lights.
These are on my front fence.  And I was too lazy to find my tripod for a decent photo, but I still like these shots.
Even this fuzzy one of the icicle lights that I hung (with determination, as I hate ladders...I could see my husband thinking: if she can hang the bloody lights, why can't she clean the gutters?!..its different, that is why!)
This is looking out my kitchen window to the back patio area, which looks magical in the dark with these lights twinkling away (and in the dark I can't see the crap that has accumulated on the table downstairs!)
But sadly, we don't come anywhere near the lead of the Light Competition.  May I present another bad photo, this time of a house across the road:
(taken on full zoom from the front of my house).  I think this is one instance where the Less Is More motto looses out!

Found

These flower spike things on a tree over by The Shed.  I don't walk past it often, but had to shut a gate the other day, and noticed the tree flowering (think its called an Umbrella tree).  It doesn't often flower, and not where I can reach it or see the flower spikes well, but due to the humidity and rain we've gotten lately, it must have gotten excited!

I was excited, and quickly snapped off a couple of spikes and put them in this jar/vase. I think they look particularly festive-y in a modern way!

They don't appear to last long, even in water, but I am hoping the ones on the tree last until Christmas and I can grab some more on Christmas Eve.

Speaking of Christmas, our just-us-at-home-Christmas has grown a little with some casually thrown out invitations, to quite a gathering...the more the merrier, as long as we can adhere to the very relaxed no getting food ready just help yourselves rule for the day.  And everyone must wear stretchy waisted pants so I don't feel bad for wearing my own (who am I kidding, 'most all of the pants I own are stretchy!)

I do think I might need to find some more chairs...and a long table!

Wounded

Feeling much better, after:

1. having a car door slammed on him as he was getting out of the car, and getting a nasty split on forehead. Make older sister cry after she gets roused on by mother, and then sees the blood on little brothers face.

2. going a nasty shade of grey, then "I gunna 'pew!" (and doing so) when mother was doing the butterfly clip and bandaid thing to the split skin (assesment - not bad enough to warrant the 80km round trip to Dr for gluing split together)

3. Going back to a more normal white, and having a nap, watched carefully by mother and very sorry big sister.

4. asking 150000 times for a swim (denied each and every time) due to the aforementioned injury and a green snotty nose.

This made up for the swim denial, playing in the bath tub with Blue Goo, which mother had successfully hidden in the back of the bathroom cabinet for the past twelve months.

(warning, bare bottom coming up)

PS. Don't ever go out and buy that Blue Goo. Despite being harmless and non staining and non toxic...it goes every-bloody-where. Just sayin'!

On the wall

The girls brought home from school some art work they have been doing all term - studying various forms and artists (like Van Gogh) and doing their version.  Their smart teacher planned this well, laminating their artworks and turning them into a calendar that is meant to have a different art work for each month.

I require the use of a rather large and spacious calendar for our family's and business monthly needs, so put the calendar part to one side and kept their art works out. This is what I did with them, with the help of blue tac and an empty wall, on which I was going to hang a series of photos over three years ago.  But didn't and got used to that nice clean empty wall!

There were a couple of photos included in each of their calendars, which I didn't bother putting up, as well as two weird impressionistic bits of art that I just didn't like.  Each bit is laminated so easy to put up.

Georgie's version of the famous Monet waterlilies painting/

Kate's interpretation of Van Gogh (using tissue paper!) love how their experimented with different mediums as well.

The girls love seeing their work on display and I think I will leave it there for quite some time (but will take down the merry christmas banner of course, and move up the row of pictures).

Thanks for dropping by!

Christmas Sightings

My niece was here for a short visit the other morning, and we put on some christmas music.  The kids had a great old time dancing and singing around the lounge room.  Love this photo and how it portrays their movement. Some Christmas decor around the house.  I confess that  good deal of it is still packed away...I will break out some more soon, as we will have family coming to our house for Christmas Day. Love these felt stars. They are meant for the tree, but I put them on some hessian string (love it btw) and hung it up. 

Of that age

wherein I actively seek out sensible undies when I go shopping.  The perils of aging.

But I am most pleased to discover that sensible undies can in fact, take a walk on the wild side and have some fun!

When I hung out the washing this morning, I so admired the cute patterned fabric and lovely soft flat elastic (and in polka dots no less!) that I just HAD to take a photo. Yes, of my undies.

I really must get out more.

But there you have it, even sensible can be fun!

The Things You Find!

Some random images from my great little point and shoot camera that lives in my handbag, and comes on outings mustering as it fits neatly in a pocket or glovebox and is far less likely to be damaged than the big SLR!

But seeing as it lives in my handbag, it doesn't get downloaded that often, and when I do, its full of great little surprises... Like this one of the kids walking along the beach front near the caravan park cabin we stayed in during a quick trip to the city in the September school holidays.

he  hee hee - this last one looks like a G rated version of a play boy cover or something - you know with the teeny bikini clad model in the waves?!

And as a total contrast, this one:

Incidentally, we got soaking wet this very same day - minus the kids. We went home for lunch and came back to walk to cows to the yards and it poured. And being in the buggy did not really keep me any dryer!

Now, best I get on and do my Christmas cards/letter before it is 2011!

This is so cool!

I'll be back next week some time, a bit chaotic around here with the start of the school holidays today (and the kids school concert + the clean up + playgroup/last day fun the last three days) and upcoming meetings and trips to the city sans kids and husband to do some no peeking eyes shopping.

But when I get back and catch my breath, I'll share some the adventures from the past week! Until then, enjoy this funny clip! :-)

simple and stunning

Came across these stunning christmas cards, the maker of which I didn't take any notice of it, but they can be found at made it dot com.

Prefection in their simplicity.  I love them.  Am thinking that I would love to do some scrapbook titles like this, so might have to pay a visit to my SIL and her newly acquired Silhouette cutter. (of which I am highly envious).

 Technical talk:  now, someone might be able to set me straight, but I imagine that the words and shapes on these (with the exception of the last image, which is embossed with a cuttlebug embossing plate - I know as I have it ;-)  and I think the use of it here is gorgeous!) have been cut with an electric cutter? The words/letters all appear to be touching for the cutting process...

Would love to hear your thoughts!

I'll show you what I didn't make...

for a fun little christmassy swap thing a couple of friends and I are doing.  I can show you these things, as I didn't make them AT ALL, even though I had grand plans of sending off a couple of parcels of lovingly and beautifully crafted christmassy things.

And then I got a grip on reality and realized it probably wasn't going to happen. ;-)

But maybe you guys out there might be inspired by these crafty goodies!

(hint: a paper doily sliced up like a pie! too cute. might still put this one on my list of things to try...)

here's a hint - don't make them, buy 'em. Looks easy enough, materials  and tools hard to come by. 

Hope you've found this inspiring!

One more

I forgot about this one. Another that I printed out in my excitement over the weekend.

And yes, crap photo of the page I KNOW (Nicole!) but you have seen it before in its digital form back when i started DYL.

Thanks for dropping by! (and there by ends the shortest post I think I have ever written!)

hello summertime

Today's page is brought to you by summer time - freshly picked from the tree just this morning!

The boy and I dined on fresh mangoes at lunchtime - not quite ripe, truth be told, but delicious non-the-less.  There is nothing quite as summer as a perfectly ripe mango.  For me, it has to be not too soft, probably on the greener side of ripe - firm, and juicy.

Luckily for me, and my mango loving family, we have two Bowen Mango Trees in our yard.  And as much as I curse their messy leaf dropping behaviour, I wouldn't get rid of them for all of the tea in China.  There is many a visitor that looks longingly and hopefully at our fruit laden trees, but between the my husband and I, the kids, critters and close family who just help 'emselves, there aren't a lot of leftovers!

Mind you, my mother insists on making mango chutney, as delicious as it is, with our green Bowen mangoes, when everyone knows that common mangoes make better chutney (and in using my green mangoes,  it means there is less for us to eat and at the height of the glut, slice up and freeze!)

A quick page I thought of whilst slurping on my mango at lunch time: 

and the journaling so you don't strain your eyes:

Picture of the unpicked fruit from my tree, the sliced mango from the net, as I didn't have any others to slice up just yet.  They aren't quite ripe yet, although I am planning a bit more of a harvest this arvo to beat the wretched parrots to them.  I swear those birds can smell a ripe mango from twenty miles away!

Haven't printed this page out yet, but will do so when I get chance in the next few days.

And ending on sombre note:  thoughts and prayers for those poor families on the west coast of New Zealand that have been told there are not likely to be any survivors after a second explosion in the Pike River Coal Mine, where 29 men have been trapped for the past 6 days. (who knows if they survived the initial explosion. Somehow, I doubt it...it would be too good to be true to have a second miraculous rescue after the Chilean episode). Very sad.

"Real" pages ;-)

Had a great Saturday and got some paper stuck down and things put away...

For so long the biggest girl has had no opening/title page in her album. It was bugging me - like opening a novel right at the first chapter.  Just doesn't feel right!

I have these 6x12 page protectors that need using, so thought I'd use them here. Very happy with the result (and boy hasn't she changed since this photo - so NOT a little girl anymore....) I'll just change the number sticker if I find I get to 8 and have managed to squeeze more into her album than I expected to!

And here is a quick Christmas page for my boy (lets not focus on which year it was OK!)  And lets also not focus on the number of measuring/cutting errors that couldn't be fixed due to the super sticky and once its stuck down that is where its staying nature of the great double sided tape I got from Spotlight. Nor run on sentences!

Ah, those $2 snappy teeth.  Hilarious.  When the winding mechanism broke (lasted a surprisingly long time) he still played with them - by walking around and trying to snap me on the bum or fingers. Mostly bum. Cheeky little devil!

Back in another couple of days to share the results of the challenge sketch from Nicole.  See you then!

A productive day

AKA the perils of printing at home!

So, I printed off the layout that I made in the last post -turned out very nicely on my old HP printer and Kodak photo paper.  Cropped it with a narrow white border and stuck it down on some nice dark blue cardstock, and as a finishing touch, added some brads.  Finally, I was happy! They just added the perfect touch, added some flair to the flatness of it all.

And then, seeing as that printed SO well, I delved deep into the files of languishing non-printed layouts (I know, sacrilege!) and printed some more.  You may remember some of these back from when I started DYL.  I have grand plans of finishing DYL, by working my way through the templates and getting some serious pages churned out.  Though it does mean more time in front of this screen, which can be a problem...anyhow:

Printed out, stuck it down, and then decided to add a strip of patterned paper down the side, just for fun and ground the whole thing. Well, dunno about grounded, but it felt better to me!

This one presented a challenge  - SNAFU - and after some fiddling, and cutting to fix a mistake I made in the digi part of it (I think, who knows what I was thinking back then!) it worked!  and because I use binders, the edges don't join anyhow and the little error in alignment isn't (as) noticeable!

I have another page printed and sitting on my desk waiting to be trimmed and adhered, and quite a few more where that came from.  I find I am quite enjoying the finishing process, and putting them in their albums where they belong!

Back tomorrow with some 'real' pages!

Scrapping On Saturday

As a little reward to myself for the work I accomplished yesterday getting some stuff done that I had put off for a very long time.  Still got some to do, but need to clear my head a bit before continuing on.

I have done a few pages today, can't share them just yet, but here is one I CAN share!  A CZ template that I knew would be perfect to capture the school camp my biggest girl went on back in August. Thanks to the staff that carted their cameras around (wasn't hard for them to do) I was able to grab a heap of digital images that included Kate (more than I could ever include on just one page!) and pick my favourite to tell the story of the great camp they went on.

One other thing that the photographs showed:  even though I packed MORE than enough clothes for my girl (all neatly bagged - shirts in one plastic bag, shorts in one, undies and socks in another and so on, she apparently wore the same shirt for at least three days, and no one noticed!  Although apparently they spent a lot of time in their togs etc, so it shouldn't have been smelly... Now I LOVE the templates and how easy they are to use, but lately I have been getting myself so very confused when it comes to "cardstock" and patterned paper digi-wise.  I am not sure if this kraft background behind the title works, but as I have just printed this off on my home printer (not something that I often do) it will have to do! 

And looking at these photos, I think I might have to go on school camp as one of the parent-supervisors next time! My boy will be in prep then, so I couldn't  possibly let ALL of my kids go away without me! (especially if its somewhere like North Keppell Island!)

Although, at this moment, as they scream and play and fight loudly in the pool, a week of peace sounds rather inviting.  On the bright side, at least being in the pool they aren't coming to me with their grievances!

SIDney

The newest addition to the family, after some recent and distressing (multiple) losses to the pet family.

SIDney, also known as Mr Squeaky, has fattened up considerably since his arrival - photo taken on his first night - and has decided that he belongs to the Man of the House, but does condescend to be loved by the rest of the household when he isn't home. And the fattening up has led to quite a lively and playful little critter.

And my littlest boy? SO happy to have a little friend to cart around and interact with during the day. Its been a lonely year for Angus, especially since Millie, the dog with the death wish, got her way. (The perils of having pets I suppose!)

I do have to note:  SIDney, the little stinker, has sharp little claws. Which can be quite startling when they are applied to an unsuspecting victim!  I think the mouse and rat population best start packing their bags, as your hassle free days are numbered!

Tidy kitchen drawer

The bottom draw holding all of my recipe books (not often used, to be honest) had been rather a mess for awhile, and the other day I finally did something about it. I threw out a milk crates worth of old cuttings and un-used freebie cookbooks.

Ahh, much better: (you are lucky I didn't take a BEFORE shot, although then you would be truly able to appreciate the after shot I guess!)

Also found (well, I knew I had them, but it tickled me to see the dates again - 1969 - 1970 etc) were these vintage lovelies!

I was having a dilemma as what to do with these booklets - which are full of great old fashioned and user friendly recipes (ie not containing weird out there and not easily attainable ingredients for those of us who don't have a flash Woolies around the corner!). 

When in the city recently I grabbed a cool Kraft A4 lever arch folder (how I wish I had grabbed two) in which to house these booklets and other recipe clippings - should I ever need more! in page protectors. I might hit the Kraft folder with a quick painted on coat of PVA glue just to seal the cover from any kitchen messes it will be sure to face!

I'll share the results of my Kraft folder and how it turns out, might be a nice project for the christmas holidays!