Scrappy Kea

A little word that can mean so much. Contented . con·tent·ed  (kn-tntd) adj. Satisfied with things as they are; content: a contented expression on the child's face. con·tented·ly adv. con·tented·ness n. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. contented [kənˈtɛntɪd] adj accepting one's situation or life with equanimity and satisfaction contentedly  adv contentedness  n Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003   ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms Adj. 1. contented - satisfied or showing satisfaction with things as they are; "a contented smile" content happy - enjoying or showing or marked by joy or pleasure; "a happy smile"; "spent many happy days on the beach"; "a happy marriage" pleased - experiencing...

We took the opportunity to go to the beach when Jase had a couple of days off. It was fantastic to see my nephew taking opportunities to walk rather than use his walker. He was even attempting to walk up the stairs independently! Couldn't resist a play with the photography apps of J & my feet in front of the Train Station in Dunedin on our way back from 'Ironic'.

easy peasy entertainment when supermarket shopping.

I have enjoyed duty on the 'lake front'. This week we discussed how the many honey bees on the clover turn the pollen into honey for our toast I really really enjoyed a Jimmy's mince & cheese pie straight from Jimmy's in Roxburgh Spent a couple of nights at the beach house while others looked after my kids so I could support Jase with some minor surgery Got some strawberries from my fave little fruit store just out of Roxburgh - actually, I quite like Roxburgh, my fave second hand shop is there too! Hosted a birthday party for 9 x 9 - 11 year olds - a camp out, they loved watching Jase make pizza This week is looking just as busy. Hope I can take lots of photos along the way to 'trap' what was going on, quite easy when I can just use the phone.

Since going back to work full time photos and playing with fun papers has taken a back seat. I miss it. Nik put on a creative weekend recently and after procrastinating for about twelve hours i finally got creative (had to go shopping) and when Andrea arrived with her enticing Scrapbook Outlet goodies I was off!  With snapfish recently offering unlimited prints for eleven cents, i took advantage of the offer and got some done. It's been a while. Often the excuse of not having the chance to edit the photos means i dont get them printed. This got me thinking about photos and why i take them. I love seeing amazing photos, I love creating amazing photos (rew and far between...). But really, it's about capturing the memory, the moment in time so does it matter if there isn't perfect composition, saturation or contrast?  Then there's the camera thing, the good ones are really big and the lenses equally impressive. How can we capture the moment if we need to be lugg...

I made some more castile soap - with lemon grass essential oil this time.  It's now drying - the worst part is waiting for it to be ready to use.  Have loved using the last batch with a slight lavender smell or rather a nana smell according to Kim! The girls used some of their pocket money to purchase some littlest pet shop blythe doll sets and set to creating some bunk beds and furniture for them.  We found a suitable house at the Salvation Army store in Saturday morning. And then there's Henry.  Jase has never wanted another cat, till he met Henry that is.  He suggested it.  Henry is as busy as Mr 7 is.  A water pistol is in order to keep Henry off the curtain rails. This week...loving Hip, Hip, Hooray on Melissa and Tamar' s blogs.  Want to get some clothes of the kids fixed and continue cleaning down our PC, backing up photos etc from the last couple of years and get on with some photo projects as snapfish has summer sale on.

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"!