Today...

Only 3 days to go, and it's feeling a lot like Christmas!!


We didn't end up going to the zoo the other day like we'd planned, but we did today! I even took a Santa hat with us, in the hopes of getting a Christmassy photo of the kids. But someone else was feeling a bit festive, and was more than happy to pose for a Santa hat photo :)

Hehe, actually, I thought he'd hop away once we popped the Santa hat on his head, but he couldn't care less, lol!


We only stayed at the zoo for a couple of hours. We've been too many times this year, and the kids are a bit bored of it all. The highlight for the kids today, was the little 3 week old piglets! Omg, I could have popped one in my bag and taken it home, they were SO cute! They were all running around like puppies, with their little tails wagging, and when we'd pat one, it would just freeze. With this one, Em scratched his scratchy spot on his back (just like a dog!), and his little legs buckled, and he just laid on the ground enjoying a scratch. As soon as she stopped, he was up and running again.


The best part of taking the kids to the zoo for me, was that I actually got a half decent photo of the kids!! The older Jack gets, the harder it is to get any photos of him, so even though he's not really looking at the camera, and looks like he doesn't want to be there, I'm pretty happy about this one.


After the zoo, we went to see Arthur Christmas!


It was actually pretty good, and I didn't mind sitting through it at all :)

And lastly, another Christmas layout...


Em was so tiny there!! I've used all Imaginisce on this page, including some coloured foam tape! I sure am going to miss getting all those parcels from Imaginisce, but I'm soooo looking forward to no more scrapping deadlines for a while :)

Hope your day was a good one!

Christmas Cooking

It's one of the things that the kids look forward to most in the lead up to Christmas...making all the yummy treats! So today we made a start on it, and first up on our Christmas cooking list is this marshmallow shortbread...


Next to Caramel Truffles, this is Emma's absolute fave, and it's soooo easy to make. I got the recipe from friend ages ago, and can't remember exact quantities, but basically this is how it goes...

1 pack of Arnotts Scotch Finger biscuits (crushed in food processor)
1/2 pack of Pascalls Marshmallows (chopped) - you could also use mini marshmallows
3/4 tin of condensed milk
60g melted butter
Dessicated coconut

Place crushed biscuits and chopped marshmallows into a bowl, and add melted butter and condensed milk. Stir until combined, then roll about half of the mixture into a log shape. Place it on baking paper that is covered in coconut and roll up and put into the fridge (repeat with the other half of the mixture too)When it has firmed up, cut it into slices...yum!

You could also just press it into a tin and sprinkle coconut on the top, then cut out some shapes with cookie cutters, like we've done here...


So far today we've also made some fruit and nut truffles, and at the moment Jack is making peanut butter cookies. They're not really part of our Christmas cooking, but they're Jack's fave, and the kitchen was messy anyway, so I just let him go for it. He's just put them in the oven, and they smell sooo good!

We're also planning to make rum and raison truffles, rocky road, caramel slice, shortbread, and a few other bits and pieces. Oh and of course, the gingerbread house! Probably save that for Christmas Eve. The kids are looking soooo forward to decorating it. I can't believe we didn't do our first gingerbread house until last year. Here's a page (one of the doubles I did for Australian Scrapbook Ideas magazine) about last years gingerbread house...


Oh, I hate how double pagers come up so teeny tiny on the blog!!


And just because the oven just dinged, and I had to get Jack's cookies out (he never likes to get them out himself!), here is a pic of them...


He was so impatient to try one, that by the time I'd turned around to grab my camera and take a photo, the little greedy guts had cracked off a corner of one of them! Still, it's nice that he is able to cook things on his own these days, so I guess he is entitled to do that :)

Well, I guess it might be time for me to go and cover the truffles in chocolate. (mmmm...melted chocolate!). Hope you're having a fun day!

She's got the Christmas Spirit

Well, so much for my plan to wake the kids up early. It's heading towards 9 o'clock, and they are still asleep. It's just so nice and peaceful this morning, that I couldn't bring myself to wake them! We are heading to the zoo later on, so hopefully that should tire them out for tonight, lol.

So I have another double pager to share today, using the very cute Imaginisce Santa's Little Helper range...


I really do love this range, the little die cuts are just the cutest! I've used a Purple Pumpkin flower on here too...



Em is just as obsessed with all things Christmas again this year. She keeps accusing Jack of not having 'Christmas Spirit', because he gets tired of listening to Christmas carols all day long! Every night when I tuck her in we have to discuss all aspects of what things might be like at the North Pole, and whether I'll let Em sleep in the lounge room this year, so she can ask Santa for a ride in his sleigh (that's all she wants for Christmas!) She would also like to make Jesus a birthday cake. This girl has enough Christmas spirit for all of us!

1 Week To Go!

Well, here we are, just 1 week away from Christmas!!! I am looking forward to a week of doing nothing much but hanging out with the kidlets, doing lots of craft, making loads of scrummy treats, and watching Christmas movies. I love Christmas week!!

My plan for this week, is to get the kids up early each day, so they start going to sleep a bit earlier. I want them TIRED for Christmas eve. Last year they were too hyped up to go to sleep, and I was terrified i would fall asleep before they did. Omg, imagine that!! So the plan is to get them out of bed at 7am, instead of letting them sleep until 9. Let's see if I can stick to it, lol.

I'm hoping to squeeze in a little bit of scrapping this week too. I've kind of lost momentum with my December Daily album. Really need to get back into that. Em is doing one too :) And I really want to do some real scrapping, but I feel like I've forgotten how! Here's a layout I did a little while back though, for Australian Scrapbook Ideas magazine. I had to do 3 double page layouts with a Christmas theme, and this is one of them...

Click the photo for a closer look!

I find double layouts a bit of a challenge at the best of times, so to have to do 3 of them was pretty full on! I'll pop the other ones on here another day :)

And before I go, here are a few pics of what the kids have been up to...

Jack has claimed all of the Christmas crafts that require sewing. He really enjoys it, and is even in the Needles and Threads club at school!

And I managed to convince Em to pose with a bit of tinsel so I could put the pic in my December Daily. Jack wouldn't do it because it's too itchy, lol. Don't blame him either!


Hope you have a fun Christmas week!

What the?...It's December already?

Hmmm...this year sure is flying by! I can't believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away! The kids finished school on the 1st of December, and it has been so nice to just slow down a bit. I LOVE school holidays!! I might have changed my mind about that in a few weeks time though, once they start fighting, but at the moment they are both in the Christmas mood, and are trying to be very good, in the hope that Santa is feeling generous this year.

We've been busy crafting and cooking pretty much every day, and I've been trying to sort out my scrap room, and really organise everything. I got so busy with Purple Pumpkin this year, that scrapping really took a back seat, and I'm a bit bummed about that. Not that I'm complaining. I mean, what started out as a fun little hobby for mum and I to do together, basically turned into a full time job for both of us. I absolutely love it, but...I miss scrapping. The only scrapping I seem to do these days is for dt commitments, so I decided to finish my term on the Imaginisce design team at the end of this year, and just scrap for me for a while. Which is why I've been sorting my scrap stuff. I found so much stuff that I forgot I had!! I don't think I'll need to buy anything for at least 5 years. (although I'm sure I will, lol)

I've missed blogging too. When I started this blog, I used to write heaps about what the kids were up to, and things that I wanted to remember. Really need to get back to that. If I don't write it down, I'll definately forget it! Think I might have to go back through my photos for the last 6 months and get all those memories down!

Oh, and I promised a winner for the Get Picky thing from a few months back!! For a PP embellishment prize pack. And the winner is...



Eek! Sorry for taking so long!! Just email me your addy so I can get your prize out to you :)

Well, I do have a lot of layouts to share, that I haven't had a chance to put on the blog lately, as well as my December Daily (yay! my first one!), but I think I'll leave that for another day. The kids are asleep so it's time for some secret Santa business ;)

Get Picky 1st Birthday Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Get Picky 1st Birthday Blog Hop!

We are celebrating our first year with a very exciting reveal as we unveil our 13th Sketch with you today and share the beautiful creations of both present and past designers from our first year! Some of the team members will be offering prizes so you will want to visit all of the blogs to increase your chances of winning a prize. We are also offering a major prize along with the chance at a Guest Designer spot for the month of November if you visit and leave a comment at all of the blogs in our blog hop and participate in Sketch Challenge #13. The Blog Hop starts today and will remain open until midnight (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on October 28th so this will give you all plenty of time to visit everyone’s blogs and create a layout for the sketch challenge.



And here is my layout


And some close up! Buttons and flowers are from Purple Pumpkin...





As we mentioned, there are lots of great birthday pressies up for grabs along our hop today. Some of our designers will be offering a RAK of their own and of course there is the chance to become our Guest Designer for November....but what's a celebration without that very special gift.



We are so very excited to also announce that Imaginisce have been kind enough to sponsor us with an awesome prize for our very special birthday celebration.



Included in the prize is....... the two latest collections with embellishments and stamps from both Geek is Chic and Bon Voyage plus an i-bond cordless glue gun with glitter glue sticks, a d-stress tool and a box of fabric flowers.

I am also offering a prize of a mystery pack of Purple Pumpkin goodies, but you have to comment on this post to be in the running! Once the hop is over, I will choose one random winner.

Get Picky is the first stop of our birthday journey where you will find the complete list of all blogs in case there is a glitch along the way. If you would like to play, just follow along the blog path in order so you don’t miss anyone.

Remember, if you want to be considered for the Guest Designer spot in November, once you have visited all the blogs and uploaded your entry for Sketch Challenge #13, please make sure that you go back to the Get Picky Blog and leave a comment on the challenge post.

The blog hop begins here: Get Picky Blog

Your next stop is here: Taj White

Thank you so much for joining us for this very special birthday celebration and for your continued support!

Geek Is Chic

I absolutely LOVE the name of the new paper range from Imaginisce - Geek Is Chic. How cute is that? And the papers are just so gorgeous and bright!! As soon as I got my hands on them, I was determined to scrap all those Kindergarten and Prep photos that I've got piled up in a box. But instead, I scrapped more recent photos, so it's really not just a little kids range.


Oh dear, I keep taking wonky layout photos. I just can't seem to help it lately! I fired up my Cricut to cut all the little circles on this page, and for the arrow on the next page...


I have to say, I LOVE the Core-dinations cardstock I used on this page!!! It's the first time I used the embossed stuff, and I absolutely love it!!


So, after doing a couple of layouts, I thought I'd make a little homework pencil box for the kids to keep all their bits and pieces in. Pencils constantly go missing around here, and pencil cases do too, so I'm hoping this little box sticks around for a while :)


I thought I'd better keep it really simple, so there's less chance of bits falling off of it (knowing the way my kidlets handle things!)

Want to see some more Geek Is Chic projects? Then head over to the Imaginisce Blog, you might even win the Geek Is Chic collection for yourself :)

Scrapping Whispers!

So, waaaaaaay back near the start of the year, I created a layout for a scrapping blog whisper, started by Bridgette. It feels like forever since I did this layout...


Hmmmm....the rules were to use no more than 3 flowers. I must have forgot that part! We had to use a non scrapping item too, so I used book paper from an old childrens book...



So there you have it, my blog whisper layout finally revealed! The person I sent my layout to was Kim Arnold, but if you want to check out the whisper layouts from the beginning, go to Bridgettes blog for the full list :)

SUYS Layout

So, another nice quiet day at home for me :) Hopefully it will be a good scrappy day, there is so much I want to get done! I really want to do some challenges this month!!!

I have done the Show Us Your Stuff challenge though, but it doesn't really count, seeing as I'm on the dt, lol. Here's the criteria...

1. Paint
2. Include the colour red
3. Handmade flower
4. Include some fussy cutting
5. Use a decorative strip!

And here's my layout...



And a few close ups...



Pretty fun challenge, huh? If you give it a go too, you could win a fab prize, so head over to Show Us Your Stuff to check it out :)

Layout For Get Picky

Hear that? ...........Silence......I love how quiet the house is on a Monday morning after noisy weekends with the kidlets :) I'm actually hoping I might get some scrapping done today, after I tackle the housework!

Here's the layout I did for my Guest DT spot over at Get Picky...


My girl is such a little poser in front of the camera sometimes! This is the inspiration I had to use for this layout...


And here are a few little close ups...


LOVE these new Purple Pumpkin Mushroom Buttons! Soooo cute! And the crochet flower is from Lime Tree Creations.


And I'm kind of loving the little Snail Button too...


You've got around 5 days left to enter your layout over at Get Picky, so make sure you head over there and check out all the details :)

And now for some serious cuteness!!


Yes, it's the Piggies again :) All 4 cuties in a row, waiting to go outside for the day. They are still totally adored by the kids, and spend a lot of time being cuddled on someones lap. Jack is unfortunately totally allergic to them, but that doesn't stop him being head over heels in love with his girl Sooty. I did tell him that maybe he shouldn't hold them, but he says he'd rather be sneezy, than not be able to hold little Soot. So long as he doesnt put her near his face, it isn't too bad. And really, who could resist her cute little face? (she's the cheeky looking one on the right)

Well, my peaceful day is ticking away, so I'm off to clean my floors, and hopefully, do some scrapping! Hope you have a great week!

Scrapping!

I've been shocking lately, haven't I? I have hardly blogged at all, just that thing called LIFE gettting in the way :) I have been meaning to share a heap of layouts, but just haven't had a chance...until now!

Have you seen the latest Christmas range Santa's Little Helper from Imaginisce? It is sooo cute! I have so many plans for this range, but here's what I've created so far...


The good old Christmas morning photo, taken at the crack of dawn :) Makes all the busyness, and stress (because the kids won't go to sleep and I'm scared I will!) and saving, saving, saving to buy all those pressies worth it. It's definately my favourite time of the year :)

The die-cuts in this collection are the cutest ever. This sleigh was probably my fave, and just had to go on this page. And I couldn't resist blinging it up a bit with my I-rock!



Aww...look at this little face :) This girl is Christmas crazy, just like her mama...


She is already asking me how many days until Christmas! She loves everything about it, the cooking, the carols, the stories, the giving to others, and of course the presents. I've used another cute little die-cut on this page...


And a sweet little sticker, with a few added I-rock gems...


And this next page....? Hmmmm......


Well, I was kind of going for an "aged" look, so I altered the bright and fun papers by mod podging some dress patterns to them, and dulled them down a bit. You can still see the cute patterns, but they are a bit more subtle now. So...not really sure about this page, but I think I'll try that technique again and see how I go. I do love that photo of my little man though. Wasn't he just so cute!! He was a couple of months off being two there. The photo was just a freebie in the shops, and the print was so small that I scanned it and made it bigger...but it's so grainy. Still...it's better than nothing! I wonder how much longer the kids will want to have their photo sitting on Santa's knee? Another few years I hope!