Something Different

This week I thought I would have a go at something a bit different. A while back i received a recipe for making my own laundry detergent from Collections owner Julie van Oosten. She was telling em about it and I really wanted to have a go. So on the weekend I made up my concoction and even used my good ole Thermomix to mix the first part. The recipe made ten litres and when I worked it out I end up saving about $10 per lire as opposed to what I am currently using. I have done a few loads and it seems to working well.Last week I also managed to finally finish my scrap quilt. It only took me eigtheen months and it was supposed to be for myself whilst I was pregnant with Cheekah. Oh well, better late than never right. I am really happy with how it worked out and the best thing was I only paid for the backing, wadding and quilting because the rest was made out of my fabric stash. Bonus!On the scrapping front I have been playing with some Collections items. I love all the new six inch papers from Collections and can not get enough of the tiles and new inchies.

The page below was made using Hambly Screen Print, Bazzil, Collections papers, Collections tiles, Glimmer Chips, Basic Grey ribbon, Making Memories & K & Co flowers, Tim Holtz Grunge& Delish Alphabets.

The page below was made using papers from Basic Grey, Making memories, Autumn Leaves & K & Co. Flowers and Bling by K & Co. Letters by making Memories.

The page below was taken this time last year for my baby Shower. The page was made using Autumn Leaves papers - just in at RTlicious. I Also used Kaiser bling and the cute little pregnant women was cut out with Bazzil on the Cricut (New Born) and embossed with the Cuttlebug.

The page below was made using a bit of Fabric, MY Minds Eye and Creative imaginations Papers; Basic Grey Rubons, brads, flowers, and leaves were cut out on the Cricut using the Life is a Beach Cartridge. I love this Cartridge!

Another Cousin, below, was made using the Collections inchies (smaller version of a tile) and using Making Memories embellishments, Kaiser Bling and rubons and Basic Grey papers and ABC's using the Porcelain collection.

Sale Extended until this Saturday 20th June

For all those avid crafters after a good bargain don't forget to come in and grab a bargain with 40% off store wide. This excludes new stock, albums, and Cricut/Cuttlebug stock.

Here are a few layouts from the week: One wk old: Making Memories papers, K & Co embellishments, Basic Grey and Carolees Creations font stickers, Basic Grey embellishments and rubons, Fancy Pants felt.

Tweet Gifts - Porcelain range of papers and embellishments. Kaiser flowers and pearls, K & Co font.

Bloom - Basic Grey Porcelain papers, font and embellishments, Scrapware elephant chipboard, Making memories brad, Basic Grey Sugared rubons.

Ten little fingers - Basic Grey Porcelain range and Kaiser pearls.

Time flies so fast...

The photo taken below was taken July last year, when Cheekah was only hours old. Papers used here are Melissa Francis, Kaiser flowers and pearls, Creative Imaginations Stickers, Collections chipboard tree (one of my faves at the moment!) and the cute monkey by Scrap FX. I cut the title from Graphically Speaking and the grass from ZooBalloo Cricut Cartridges.

I have finally started get stuck into my youngest daughter's album. She is only 10 1/2months now but better late than never right?

I cant believe that only ten months ago we were blessed with this tiny bundle of joy that has now blossomed into a bright little motor that never seems to stop. Last night she took her first real steps. There was only a few but enough for my husband Darryl and I to get really excited. It really made my heart flutter and yet at the same time I cant believe my little girl is going to start walking soon. Tonight she took a few more steps and then stood up a few times all by herself in the middle of the lounge room. Although I am extremely excited for her I am also extremely worried - she is so so quick.

Last week I was on the phone to my Nanna. Cheekah was next to me on the floor in the lounge room. Next moment I was thinking where has she gone so fast? She had zoomed through the kitchen to the other side of the house, opened the sliding laundry door and unravelled a whole toilet paper in a matter of seconds. She opens every drawer she can find and every cupboard she manages to open and leaves a wave of destruction where ever she goes. She is such a character though that you cant help look the other and smirk when you are saying "No Cheekah". Sunday night I was getting ready to have a nice shower when I had to rush to the toilet. I had the shower going and entered the bathroom to see my oldest daughter laughing so hard. Cheekah had pushed open the bathroom door, opened the shower recess and climber into the shower - fully clothed. It was pretty funny but i am so grateful that i am not a hot shower person!

Cheekah - very proud of herself having her own shower - fully clothed!

This page is a sample of the latest RTlicious $15 monthly challenge kit full of My Mind's Eye and Autumn Leaves felt! Our last kits have fully sold out so these challenges are not due until the 15th July. Plenty of time to get your pages in. Look on the RTlicious website for more details.

This is another tile plaque i recently completely. I kept this plaque quite simple so it would match the little boys bedroom that he shares with his baby brother. My friend tells me it matches perfectly so i was really pleased. Papers by Creative imaginations, Chipboard and letters by Collections.

Below: I knew I loved this paper but it was just finding the right photos. Here I have used the new large Collections chipboard circles and Urban Lily paper. Embellishments by Autumn Leaves, Creative imaginations and Making Memories.

40% off at RTlicious

RTlicious is having a huge sale this week so we can deplete some stock! We don't want to have to count too much you see so for the next two weeks only we have everything at 40% off - this does not apply to albums, ordered stock, new stock and associated Cricut and Cuttlebug Stock. Loyalty points don't apply.

This week we had a Baby Shower to attend to two of our special friends and customers - Danielle and Camille. Both are expecting their second children later this month so I made them a card each using the Cricut cartridge new Arrival. I love the card functions that are available on this cartridge. It makes card making very quick and easy!

For some reason this layout wants to go sideways and I cant change it - so turn your head sideways... This page was done using some of the New Prima papers

This page and the following pages were created using dome of the gorgeous new Creative imaginations papers - they are so divine and perfect for those beach and holiday layouts.

Reflections of last year

The photo below was taken on the 1st July last year. This photo makes me really look back at where Seekara has come from in a year. Poor Seekara had to have her nasal passages scraped, a silica patch put on her right ear drum and her adenoids removed to stop her from being sick all the time with congested ear/throat/nose passageways. Her adenoids were so big it was pushing everything out through her tear ducts so she looked like she was constantly crying or had gunky eyes.

She was so brave for her operation at Colin Street Day Surgery. Her Doctor (the fantastic Dr Harvey Coates) was amazing and so was the lovely anaesthetist who told her a fairy tale as she went to sleep. The poor thing was so sick when she woke up from her operation and she didn't talk or smile until about 11pm that night when we asked her if she wanted some ice cream. We felt so bad that she was so miserable and it made us question whether we had actually done the right thing but we knew we had. In the long run she would be much healthier. Since then she has had a skin graft on her ear drum (the silica patch didn't work). We have the top passageways sorted we just have to get her right with her asthma and hearing loss from all the ear infections she has had on the way. Its funny though - she is such a happy kid and being sick with colds, chest infections and ear infections was the norm for Seekara. It was what she had since she was born so it didn't really bother her. We know now though we are on the right track and in the scheme of things it has been a minor problem compared to what some other kids face every day with other illnesses so we are grateful for that.

Papers used include KI Memories (love Elsie), Basic Grey Bittersweet, Kaiser Craft with embellishments from Tinkering Ink and Heidi Grace. Punch from Fiskars.

I made this canvas for a sweet little four year old, Brooke, for her fourth birthday yesterday. I used papers from Creative Imaginations, Sandylion, & K & Co. Embellishments were from Collections, Creative imaginations stickers, Kaiser bling, K & Co embellishments & Kaiser flowers.

This was a layout for the surprise baby shower that dear Rhonda and daughter Renee held for me last year. They told me it was a Tupperware party! (See entry from June last year on my blog).

I used Hambly Screen Prints, Autumn Leaves paper, Kaiser bling, Cricut die cut (new Arrival). Instead of using a title I took a photo of the Baby Shower sign Renee had made. I like to improvise for titles. I have also written titles in the sand or taken photos of signs as titles in the past.

I love this range - guess who???? Basic Grey of course - Eva range. This photo was taken a year ago when we went out for tea with Ken & Rhonda at the Seasons. I cut out a flower from some lace to make a nice little embellishment also.

Memories.... These photos were taken at my cousin Rhiannons 21st birthday about 4 or 5 years ago now. The photos are of the four older cousins - myself, Kade (my brother) and our cousins Ryan and Rhiannon. We have always grown up pretty close together which is really nice.

The page was made using Basic Grey Granola papers & Collections papers. Embellishments were from Basic Grey, Green Tara flowers and the Cricut.

Junior Soccer Season has begun in Newman

My eldest daughter Seekara played her first game of soccer on the weekend. It was so cute. I cant believe how small the soccer field is. She is playing for Cosmos in the Under 7 Juniors division. Soccer is huge in Newman. Despite the thought of the 8:30 am games on Saturday mornings (especially with Mum's 8:15 pm netball games on Friday night!) we are really looking forward to the season and watching our little girl get out there every week to have some fun. We really thought she would be too shy to even get onto the field but she loved it. Had to share a snap shot..... On the RTlicious scene. I am still going with some Basic Grey Lime Rickey papers I bought. These papers are so cool - especially for kids layouts! I bought five papers, the chipboard stickers and elements stickers and with some bits and pieces I already had at home have manged to get 5 layouts of this lot so far - with still some more to spare. Here is another layout recently completed:


Basic Grey Card Kits are so easy and fun. Even my Mum( a total non card maker) bought a pack recently because they are just so lovely and easy to do. You just punch the coordinating parts out of the die cut packs. Stick on your coordinating chipboard stickers and follow the instructions with coordinating paper pieces and card. All you need is some glue and either a black or white pen. Perfect for the plane. In fact, recently a friend of mine had a long journey to Ireland so she took a few different Basic Grey card packs on the plane. Good thinking Orla!

I recently completed these cards from the Basic Grey Wisteria, Lima Rickey and Marrakech card packs with my four year old daughter. It was lots of fun and so so easy to do. She had fun too because it was her job to match all the numbers up for each card.



Another Basic Grey layout... This time using Granola and Periphery ranges with Prima flowers and bling.

Mothers Day

Hi to all the lovely Mothers out there. I hope you all had a beautiful Mothers Day. I have been lucky enough to have my Mum up here for Mothers Day which has been really nice. I get to treat Mum by making sure she relaxes for 9 days and the girls get to play with Nan which is really nice. its a big effort for Mum seeing she has never travelled alone without Dad before and considering her fear of flight and her back pain.

The ball on Saturday gone was beautiful. I thought all the senior students looked beautiful. Here is a pic of our youngest niece with her partner Thomas... they looked very smart together.

Here are a few new layouts. Enjoy....

Using the bright and cheerful new Basic Grey Lime Rickey range

Using Urban Lily, Basic Grey Granola and Marakech range

Using papers from Jenni Bowlin , Hambly Screen Prints, KI Memories (love Elsie) & Sassfrass. Embellishments from Basic Grey, American Crafts, My Minds Eye, Kaiser Craft and Autumn Leaves.