Scrappy Kea

and the girls sold bath fizzers. quite successful really. miss K certainly put in the hard yards. Castile soap update: it's been drying for 2 weeks, my impatience saw us start using a block a couple of days ago. so far - all good! Apparently the reason for leaving it to dry more is so it lasts longer. Has a nice lather, smells a lot like soap. Next time a super dose of lemon grass essential oil will go in the mix!

The kids and I worked on some gifts this weekend. We made stuff. We made soap. We made bath balls. We found recipes. We planned. We mixed. We learned about saponification and about acids and bases. We have plans to make more.

this making of bath and beauty products could be so consuming?  After Janines workshop last weekend I have made my family try out different products and ideas, they haven't complained... much. Today we tried a chocolate bath milk.  Ethan actually tasted it, it did smell tasty but I didn't like the fact that I had to clean the chocolate residue from the bath afterwards, the other bath milks haven't been a problem nor the bath salts.  A hot day today meant that the peppermint foot soak went down a treat and each family member sports their very own lip balm - chocolate, orange, rose and peppermint, all a little different, trying out different oils and sweeteners. We have been trailing  Wendyl's liquid hand soap this week and so far it's all good.  Playing with a linen spray idea. Next challenge is to have a go at making bath bombs and some castile soap. All good, but I really should be writing school reports...some things are a bit mor...

some essential oils, a couple of bowls a spoon and a fabulous tutor and the result is some delightful smelling talcs, bath salts, bath teas and milk bath.  I have just finished making another batch of the powder and trying to coax my kids into the bath to try out a bath salt mix I made at the Queenstown Scrap Retreat this weekend!  Loving the smell of rose and lavender permeating our living room. I am making a list of the products I want to make some more of these for gifts for Christmas. As well as the great company, laughs (assisted by some you-tube videos), meals cooked by Nik and time out from the normal routines I did get some cards made and some mini album pages completed too.  I also enjoyed sharing a reverse canvas idea with some of the ladies at the retreat (will upload photos eventually...). Plans are under way for a retreat in Pukerau next March-ish as well as Winter Fest Retreat in June and another pre-Christmas crop in November  at Lakeland Park, Qu...

  Fun. Four kids here taking turns with it. Stayed with friends last weekend and their family enjoyed playing the game...so did we and a shopping expedition last night saw us coming home with it.   Different game options...solo, pass it & party as well as different levels you can unlock... The party game reminds me a little of hackey sack games when at uni. Miss 10 asked if we can play it with the whole family tonight. What games do you play as a family or do you remember playing as a kid with the whole family?

 This layout is based on a sketch (below), uses a mixture of Pink Paislee papers donated by Kays Company and some from the workshop kits.  Loved both of the pages designed by Trina & Rachel and had fun putting them together.  It reminded me how much I get out of doing workshops by others.  There's always a style or technique I can use in further layouts or projects.  Thank you Trina & Rachel for the inspiration :-) Some of the things I loved most... the little details using fabric (loved the muslin with Trina's page) the artisian elements multimedia component (feathers, beads and doily) Rachel's wee embellishment packs were gorgeous, didn't want to open them to use and the pre-threaded needle rocks! having the workshop but being able to adapt it to do my own thing e.g. mirror flipping it to fit the perspective of the photo. Thanks to everyone involved in organsing the crop.  I was really disappointed that I couldn't be there in person but ...

I was a part of the wedding day for these two.  Loved that their Best Man and Matron of Honour had been married for 60+ years.  I loved taking photos again too.  It's been a while.

Check out the scrap retreat blog for details on the above workshop , Janines ' steeped in beautea ' workshop and registration details (they close this Friday!!!) p.s. Mrs Frizz - sorry there hasn't been any updates...nice to know you visit still though!

The challenge was our national colours...I know we have the all blacks etc...but I do wonder if our national colours are red, blue and white - as in the flag? Pleased that wasn't the case for this comp though because that would have been hard!

And check out all the other entries!

There's a new comp at the SBO forum - all about Kiwiana. But you have to register to be a part of it...Three Making Memory Slices are up as the prizes as well as some product later on for all with 100 points, it must be big because the build up to it on the forum has been intense!

I was looking for some suitable 'boy' fabric for a gift that I planned to sew tonight...and found a tea towel that I could use. Got me thinking...what else can I do with tea-towels? Last year I made one into an apron - just sewed some ribbon along one of the long edges of the tea-towel with some hanging out each side to tie it up. I put this with a bowl, wooden spoon and some cookie cutters as a baking gift. Tonights project was a art folio - slot for an A5 book and the other side segmented for pens/pencils with ribbons to tie it together - will share photographically in daylight. on further searching: tea towel skirt bag from tea towel tea towel apron with pocket tea towel tote I had found a tea towel brush or crayon roll a while ago...but can't seem to find it now. Do something other than drying the dishes with your tea towels! Smiles.

Menu was fantastic thanks Jase :-) Enjoyed everyones company - thank you for coming through. Thanks for the game Sally - & thanks mum for joining in eventually...."moccassin"!

Little tastes pre dinner toasted Christmas cake with blue cheese cheese platter For starters beetroot soup with creme fraiche The main event roast pork loin with kumara, fennel and stuffed apple green salads and roast vegetables Sweet stuff steamed pudding with fruit soaked in pinot and brandied cream eton mess sorbet (df) fruit salad OK, to finish the decluttering, await the arrival of some Winter papers from Scrapbook Outlet then get the cricut working on some decorations! I also need to revisit notes of taking night photographs with candlelight.

Two weeks off...We decided we needed to get the house decluttered & cleaned up so it's easier to keep on top of as we head into the second half of 2010. Not a spring clean but rather a winter one - much nicer to stay inside cleaning in winter than in spring don't you think? Martha Stewart has a very thorough cleaning list and I got this list from Simple Mom blog: We aren't doing the garage sale thing. Decided it would be much easier to just deliver it to the Salvation Army Store then it's done and hopefully others can benefit from our stuff through the work that they do in our communities. I still like f lylady and dh would love her to come back to her house...I have been keeping the sink cleared but that's about it! Oh, and I want some tupperware to organise our pantry, small pantry, dh is a chef and the stuff just doesn't fit in there very well! But this will be a long term goal as it costs lots. The smell of gingerbread is wafting through our l...

We are hosting a mid winter Christmas dinner this weekend. It's nice actually having the time to think about the evening without thinking about travel, presents and all the other things that seem to go hand in hand with December 25th. I'm not sure why this type is underlined and purple...but the info is there so bear with me :-) Have you ever been to or hosted a mid winter Christmas dinner? What do you remember most?

Cool link for 'better photography in 3 easy steps' - here Term break. Girls have final netball tournament today. J is judging (the chef work) at the salon culinaire. Lots to catch up on at home after a 11 week term! Feeling creative though...

Enjoyed the company of a few lovely ladies and once again enjoyed access to exciting products from SBO - thanks Andrea :-) Lots of cosmo de lovely featuring in my pages as well as some yummy fancy pants ribbon. I am in need of some more 8 x 8 paper pads from October Afternoon so hope they produce another one soon! the 6 x 6 from Cosmo & Basic Grey are good but 8 x 8 is better. I found that using the 8 x 8 papers this weekend produces way less scraps! Would like more manufacturers to consider the 8 x 8 pads in their ranges.

At harvest festival time my sister and mum were visiting and we happened to run out of laundry powder. She had picked up some washing soda from bin inn on the way through and we had some sunlight soap sitting in the cupboard....so my sister set to work making me some laundry liquid...it's not really liquid, more a kind of gloop. But it works. Yesterday I made another batch armed with all the ingredients that Wendyl suggests in her recipe. Borax was the only thing I didn't really have on hand but the pharmacy supplied some. My sister doesn't use the borax in hers and it works but mum does and hers works too...for now I'll just follow the recipe. I have just made up some multipurpose spray using baking soda, lavendar oil and a little dish liquid. I am trying to sort out a place to keep the base ingredients handy for replenishing when I run out. So easy, so inexpensive and better for our family in relation to the chemicals found in the bought ones! Right back to...

Super simple, continuing with my current pleasure in white cardstock and OA 8x8 paper. Love the die cut journaling tags too. Make layouts so easy to put together. I created this while sitting beside Mrs Frizz at the Dunedin Scrap Retreat and her delicicious layering and prima delights. In comparison my pages were rather flat, but I decided I like it that way for everyday layouts. For something special - e.g. one of my sisters family and one of my family on mums birthday recently, I'm happy to add some more in the way of depth in my creativity but other than that I'll stick with simple.

And quite a few cards too. Really enjoyed using white cardstock as a base and love the October Afternoon 8 x 8 pads from Scrapbook Outlet . Such a convenient and less-waste size!

Only the 3rd layout of the 12 and I forget to post it up on time :-) I took this photo of 'March' a few weeks ago and when uploading it to my computer I ralised that I didn't have the layout set up right on the music stand....but I still haven't got around to taking another so this will have to do. Anyway, Can almost get on with Aprils layout...at the Dunedin Scrap Retreat next weekend, yay! I do have a growing list of things I want to get done at the retreat though so whether I actually do any layouts might be a whole other thing. Smiles.

Some cards. I'm moving back to the 'get rid of scraps by using them for cards' mode because all my scrapbooking stuff has to fit into my trolley and mm tote bag (except for tools like cricut, cuttlebug & slice of course)! I created these layouts on our last few 'sticking pretty bits of paper to other pretty bits of paper' nights in Queenstown. Am now considering what I want to get on with at Dunedin Scrap Retreat - album of my teenage years, a couple of recent photos - Ethan's birthday, Easter camp, Swimming 4 peaks day, Harvest Festival and lots of cards to see me through the year not to mention a few gifts that I need to make. The sewing machine is out and I'd better finish using it so I can have the table clear for dinner time!

Just back :-). Spent lots of time learning based in 'Romans' and enjoying the company of others! The following was one of the 'transition' movies as we started our evening programme. so was this one:

But since so many people were doing C25K , I thought I really should give it a try. I still am but at week 7, running (well not sure if it actually looks like I'm running...) 25 mins with only 2 weeks of the programme to go, maybe, just maybe I can do this running thing. At least with running I don't need to wear togs!

Didn't use the sketch this month...just didn't work with my photos relating to this Feb. Pleased another month is recorded.

Project 12 January Layout Was fun to just play and used the sketch a little...I had way more photos for January than the sketch indicated so as per usual I improvised! Smiles.

I'm home (start work at the new school tomorrow) and am quickly checking out the new releases before a guest arrives for dinner. Thinking about style, I love some of the examples with prima product especially but I have decided that I'm a 'flat' scrapper. I like my pages to fit comfortably in their protectors and not have to cut the base smaller and such like. However, I like to create canvas or altered projects that utilise the gorgeous dimension that prima and some of the maya road products give, these aren't as commonly completed as the layouts are though either, and I'm scrapping more 8 x 8 pages - good excuse to use only one photo per page and leaves good sized scraps for cards and additions to other layouts. All good. Linking my faves :-0 Crate Paper - Love Brook & Paper Doll Sassafras - love all three of these new collections! Scribble Scrabble - loving 'Nana's trunk' Cosmo Cricket - oh my! Studio Calico - yum. My little shoebox - so c...

Despite the rain & the wind, the tent has stayed up, the air bed didn't deflate and the company was good. Some of the highlights this visit was seeing both two seastars (star fishes) and a seal on the beach on the same day. We haven't seen them again despite watching out for them all. It seems like the term break is going all to quickly but I'm sure there's still some fun to be had :-)

I have loved peoples dedication to '365' but a photo a day is just too much for me to stick to. However, the idea of a layout a month might be perfect for me - especially in 2010 - and as I return to full time work all year. Love that this project also has a sketch for each month and doubles will be fun for a change. So Project 12 here I come :-).

Enjoyed time at the beach for Christmas day...unwrapping gifts in the tent, spit roast lamb and Christmas salad and not to mention our new 'Christmas breakfast' of toasted Christmas cake slices with lashings of blue cheese and strawberry jam! Water fights and water slides followed by left overs for tea. Family Camp in Queenstown was another highlight. K went on the biscuit at the back of the boat...A & E preferred to stay on the boat! Cherries by the crate load, games of tennis and soccer. Good times.