Wednesday 30 January 2008

Sniffle, sniff, sniff

January is a month of birthdays in our family. First is our eldest child, Jess, who turned 13, yep, officially a teenager! She got her ears pierced (her idea) and can't wait to try on all of my earrings! Next is my Mum. We had a lovely BBQ birthday dinner as it is her favorite. Next is Josh our eldest son who turned 7 and lost his two front teeth all in one week! Actually Mum's and Josh's are two days apart and when I was in labour we thought they might even share it but he had other ideas. Below is the card I made for Mum. I had attended a Cuttlebug demo night at Scraptivate the night before so was all enthused to make something with it. Mum really liked it (as she does everything I make her - 'cause she loves me!) which was what I was aiming for. One year I didn't make Mum a hand made card but found her a really nice one from a shop. I thought she might like that better than what I could make . Well! she tore pieces off me for NOT making her a card, so every year I try to do something different and just for her.


Speaking of Mums, we went to visit my MIL in Toodyay (NE of Perth) for a couple of days and she admired the bracelet that Jess was doing (her first commission!) so we sat down to make one for her. It ended up being me who made it as Mum was sure she couldn't do it (I know you can Mum!) and this is the result. Thanks for the props, doesn't it look good against the black?

Jess and Amy signed up to do a couple of kids classes at Scraptivate this holidays which they enjoyed immensely. The two canvases below are from a class they did with Mel today. Don't they look great. I signed up to do the adult version later in February as I really like these Poppet people.


Jess

Amy

Well, I am off to bed. I have been struggling with a runny nose and headache for most of the day (thanks Jess!) and I can hear my bed calling, plus I have a book I want to finish!


Take care,

Ky

Wednesday 16 January 2008

RAKs, MMs & a Calendar

Let's start with the calendar. When Dad died my mother's sister came over from Adelaide to help Mum. In conversations we had during her time here I deduced that she would like me to make her a calendar for 2008 like I had for 2007. Now not having had any previous intention to do so I hurried out to the local scrapping store to see what they had in the way of premade calendar bases. (I would have made one up myself with my new Bind-It-All but at that time I wasn't allowed to have it as it was before Christmas and the machine was my pressie - what a mean DH!) Anyway, after finding this chipboard one and several papers I thought she might like I set to work with the goal to get it to her before New Year. Well, it is sitting on my kitchen bench as I type all packaged up ready to go and only a couple of weeks late! I lost my inspiration there for a while but with some help from the ladies at stamp club on Friday I managed to finish it.



I forgot these first few from the previous post so thought that while the kids were happy for a moment that I would get them up.

These first two ATCs are from Julie H. The photos just don't do them justice, all that rust and layers! Love it!


This book is my Mystery Muse gift from a couple of months ago that I still haven't acknowledged (doing right after this!). It is from Dawn the Prawn. So much to look at. All those tags. Another DTP original to treasure!


I received my January Mystery Muse on Friday but I haven't taken a pic yet so keep an eye out in a future post.

Take care till next time,
Kylie

Thursday 10 January 2008

This is going to be a long one I fear!

After two months of not blogging what do you expect?!

Well, November turned out to be hectic, even though I hoped it wouldn't, after the couple of months preceeding it, I should have known better! The whole of last year was just a blur and I am not (thankfully!) the only one who feels that way. Needless to say everyone who has the same opinion of last year as I do is determined to relax the pace a bit more this year. For me I hope it means more blogging, more art, more family time and more time for God.

We ended the year with what is becoming a traditional week-before-Christmas holiday. This time for the first time we took my Mum with us. I think we figured out that it was her first real holiday since I was a child. Following from previous years we decided to stay in Albany (about 4 hours south of Perth). We stayed in caravan parks the last couple of times so I decided it was time to stay a bit more up market. Silly me forgot to take a pic of the actual place we stayed but it was gorgeous. Rammed eather walls, feature stonework, slate floors and extensive use of wood. There was a huge bath and a double sided slow combustion stove (we actually got to use it too as the temps we very low - in the middle of Summer!)

My children will agree that although the location was great (5 acres and rural blocks all around), the peace and quite refreshing and the shopping and site-seeing fun, what beat all of this hands down were our 'neigh'bours. The girls discovered very early on that there was a miniature horse next door and in the paddock behind us 4 gorgeous horses who soon came to expect a morning pat each day. Unfortunately their feet were in a shocking state and I had to cantact the RSPCA to check them out but they were lovely animals none the less.


Of course we caught up with Julie H whilst we were there and got to meet Archer for the first time which, for Noah, rivalled the horses as the two of them are just the right size for each other. They both came over for dinner in the week and Archer was thoughly spoilt. I hope he has been a good boy for you since then Julie, what with Dawn treating him like a prince that week too?

The property had two magnificent trees which I braved the drizzle to take pix of. The bark on this first one is just amazing. I don't think I have ever seen such amazing colour before.


The second tree was Jess's dream come true! The best climbing tree ever! Just look at those branches!



I did get some time to create though most of it was for others. This first one is a canvas for Helen Franklin as part of a 1-4-1 Christmas swap on arty_oz. I liked it so much that I considered keeping it.


An ATC from my play night with Julie and Dawn (how lucky am I!).



This next pic is of some inchies that were part of a swap on Calling All Stampers. My theme was texture. My inchie is bottom left corner.


This is an ATC for another arty_oz swap. We had to use the Basic Grey Peripheries range of papers. I found it very interesting to note that of the 9 I got back at least half had used the same paper I had chosen.


Yet another ATC for yet another arty_oz swap (they do have some really good themes!) This one is for a texture paste swap. I love this stuff almost as much as beeswax. In fact I am doing another of Kelsey's classes on texture paste next month.

Lastly, a bracelet done for my Mystery Muse for December which she will be receiving on Friday at SAJ's. I had seen the idea on someone's web site and thought to have a go at sometime. Jess got all enthused about beading and I suggested she have a go at something like this. The one she made looked great so I decided to have a go myself. My Mum had a look today and has put her order in for one too! As well as a request that I make a pink one for my Auntie. Just as well they are super quick to make!


Well, I hope you survived that epic! I really need to get to my blog more often but with 5 people fighting for my attention (sometimes all at once) it does become a challenge!
If you are going to SAJ's tomorrow night see you there!
Till next time,
Ky