White with 1

and this month ... that would be 'white' again ... yep, you read right ... it's white - lol!!! Brads and/or eyelets ... in my case a brad or two ...

The white ribbon heart really looks ultra white in this pic for some reason and I don't think it is quite that brash in real life.

Quite like the way this has come together ... I also used a smidgeon of black ink, so hopefully that won't disqualify me ... not much, just a little ... lol.

Butterflies ... well they came my way from Vicki and they are super duper bleedin' gorgeous ... I mean G O R G E O U S ... my Bazzill cardstock flowers, some I have lifted between layers, popped in a little tulle ... so really, I've used quite a bit of lacey stuff, ribbon and tulle on a male layout ...



Talk about leaving it till the last minute ... well today is the last day of the month ... crikey. Good intentions and all that ... but the month disappeared on me ...

Right then, onwards and upwards - or something.

Hope you are having a nice cruisy weekend ...

Later,
M

Hand made ...

just for you ...

Now trust me on this one ... I don't profess to be an expert ... I just like creating and I like to give ... so ... here are a couple of sneak peeks with what I have been creating during my lunch break the last couple of days.






Some of these wee babies are going into an envelope and all I need to do is address said envelope on Sunday night and put it in the mail on Monday.

I'm going to share. So if you're interested, leave me a note on this post and I will draw someone's name out of the imaginary 'hat' on Sunday night and pop them in the mail. Might even throw in another couple of goodies to go with it.

How's that ... please ... please ... please ... someone put their name down!!!

On that note ... my stomach is rumbling ... the sun is actually shining today, just for a change.

I need to eat, do a little housework and then I plan on playing a little creatively - but hey, not necessarily in that order.

CYA
M

Sneak peeks

Scrappin Patch are having a handmade flower swap ... so thought that I would share a few sneak peeks of some of my creations ...







Don't know about this one ... but we will see ... on the right page or card it would be okay ... time will tell and I will see what else I can create between now and the close off date ...





We've had shitty weather here in the deep south for the past few days and I'm over it ... no Saturday afternoon cricket yesterday ... what a shame ... it meant that I could stay home and be a little creative instead - lol!!!

As a result of the yucky weather, we have just had a phone call to say that the school cricket interchange has been canned ... we were expecting another billet for a few days from tea time today ... so ... what is a poor girl to do ...

Instead of thinking menus, changing beds and stuff ... I guess I could do a little more creating ... again ...

I've got a few things that I need to create, cards, layouts and other bits and pieces ... best I get on to it ...

Still have to get the lux out somewhere along the line and clean the bathrooms - but I think I can handle that.
Enjoy your Sunday afternoon people, keep warm and dry.
Later,
M

Valentine's Day ...

was yesterday, we all know that ...

During the week DH asked me if I had got him anything for Valentine's Day yet ... well no, was my answer. That's okay then, how about we go out for tea on Saturday night.

So we did ... we went out for tea last night ... to a restaurant that was within walking distance from home. No vehicles to worry about if we indulged in a drink or two - lol.

They had a Valentine's Day menu available at $39 per person - three courses on the menu ... so we did a little choosing ...

I had a spicy noodle something or other with vegetables and very 'noice' it was indeedy. DH had crab cakes which he ate, he did enjoy them, but it's not something that he would order again ... lol. We both chose the same mains ... battered blue cod with their special chips/chunks and I had a salad with mine and DH had vegetables ... well I struggled a little with mine ... and just had to leave a little on my plate - well it's good manners to do that ... isn't it ???

Cos more to the point ... I just had to leave a little room for dessert - ROFLMAO ... a dessert for two to be shared, so we did the shared thing ... a beautiful chocolate heart shaped cake with whipped cream, ice cream and berry something or other all around the plate ... and boy-oh-boy-oh-boy ... was it worth leaving that little bit of room for ... lol.

A lovely glass of wine for me, a couple of Speights for DH and we were happy campers.

A lovely dinner out ... pleasant conversation, followed by a nice leisurely walk home ... ummmmmmmmmm ... complaining how full we were ... ROFLMAO ...

Totally agree with people regarding Valentine's Day being a commercial day - is it what !!! sometime we celebrate the day, sometimes we don't, depending on what shift DH is on ... it's not the end of the world if we don't ... my wedding anniversary is a more special day ... but hey, if DH wants to take me out for dinner, or wants to buy me flowers or jewellery or whatever ... he can!!!! I'm not saying no!!!!

On the way home from work on Friday night I stopped off at the lolly shop and came away with a block of Toblerone choccie for DH ... later that night I wrapped it in MM papers, popped on a flower and a label/tag ... just cos I can.

On that note ... I 'HAVE TO' head into my scrap room tonight and at least make a pathway to the window ... cos the man is coming to put up my tracks and hang my net curtains tomorrow afternoon and if he was to arrive in the next five minutes people, my curtains would be going nowhere fast ... cos you can't get to the window ... get my drift.

Enjoy your evening everyone and have a wonderful week.
Take care,
Me

Life ...

Sometimes you wish you had done something when you didn't ... that's me, right about now.

Gut instinct told me a wee while ago that things weren’t quite right in someone's life and I’m kicking myself now, not following through on it and for that I’m so sorry.

A special lady who I shall refer to as 'my friend' is having some medical issues [major understatement really] and that's part of the reason why she has been so quiet of late.

I'm not a religious person and prayers in my lifetime have been few and far between as in I could count them on both hands, but I prayed this morning for 'my friend' [just about unheard of] and I’m hoping that someone is listening to me ... I’m sure that he is ... he must know that it’s pretty special hearing from me when he does ... and that's not said lightly.

May the power of prayer, the thoughts of your friends, a wonderful medical team ... between all of us ... may we pull you through what your body is about to endure.

Sometimes life throws a real curve ball at us 'my friend' – hang in there and know that I am thinking of you.

Big hugs – wish I was a little closer so that I could give you a real hug.
Take care and loving thoughts.
Michelle

I was challenged

by my Swedish scrapping buddy, Annelie, to :


Go into your “My pictures” folder
Go to folder no 6 and choose the 6th photo in that folder
Put the photo on your blog, and tell your readers about it
Challenge 6 others by comments on their blog to do the same



Wowser ... that had me worried just a wee tad ... lol.

Amazing what we take pics of isn't it ... this was taken on our estuary walk last year and yep, you guessed it, it's one of the bucket things off a digger of some sort ... OMG I'm good at describing things - NOT!!!!!

So there you have it ...

Now ... I'm supposed to challenge 6 others by leaving comments on their blogs ... therein lies another challenge ... lol.

I can't for the life of me do the linkie thing nine times out of ten ... so ...

Janine [mummy moo] - you have been challenged
Roo - where are you ... you have been challenged ...
Mish from across the ditch ... coo-ee Ocker ... you have been challenged ...
Sharon S from across the ditch ... coo-ee Ocker - you too have been challenged
Rachel [wishful thinking] - challenge coming your way as well
and ...
My angelic friend ... you too have been challenged ...



Later,
Me

Scrapping frugally ...

I put this layout together a couple of weeks ago originally for the frugal contest that Prima has running atm ... [girls remember the contest closes next weekend].

Well I've been and had a wee sneak look in the gallery and OMG the work in there is totally outstanding ... I've decided not to enter this one ... it's not up to scratch and by saying that I'm not looking for compliments ... seeing what's already gone up, I haven't used anywhere near enough Prima packaging on my layout ... now perhaps if I had have used a Prima paper for the background paper I may have thought differently - lol.

I've used the square grid background packaging, the two scalloped printed strips and the best idea that I came up with ... I cut off the end of the tube of flowers and used that as my tag handle attached to a Prima journalling tag ... it goes without saying that you would find a few Prima flowers on my layout and some crystals as well ...




I still really like my layout, cos it's the way I scrap ... but head over to the Prima gallery to have a wee nosey - you will be blown away by some out of this world creativity ... wowser. I spied a few NZ layouts as well ... woo hoo, go girls!!!

So get your thinking caps on ladies, put something together using/recycling Prima packaging product and go for it.

Later,
Me

Winton

Russell swung through Winton on his way back from Edendale Crank Up Day last weekend ...

You may have seen an item or two on the TV about Minnie Dean ...

Look what he took a pic of ...




Later,
Me

Scavenger hunt

Scrapping style ...

Delys put a challenge up with the girls at Scrappin Patch ... a list of 31 items , now that had me stumped for a while downloading them and numbering them ... she had two numbers the same didn't she now, cos the list only went to 30 ... just testing us she was ... we had to find and we had to take pics ourselves of the items on the list - now some of them I had to think outside the square a little ... but I got there.




A simple thing like a stop sign had me going ... how simple is that ... well Invers must have the most give way signs in the whole of NZ ... cos when I was out and about driving around looking for one ... I went for blocks and blocks and blocks till I found one ... crazy!!!!!

The unusual shaped letterbox I adore ... wonder if DH would get me one of them ... lol. I was looking out the kitchen window and spied a bumble bee and grabbed the camera and tore off outside after it ... the things we do.

That bleedin tomato sauce bottle ... it was only about a week ago that we biffed the one that we had ... DH was in town yesterday shopping, I met up with him and he said Plastic Box have a tomato sauce container ... whip into there and take a pic. I tell you ... a whole lot of laughs.

My favourite beach pic ... well I took the pic ... off a postcard ... told you, you've got to think outside the square.

6 pm news ... DH was on standby ... do you know how quick you've gotta be to take a pic when you see it come up on the TV ... bleedin' quick.

So there you have it ... I've been traipsing around town, into grocery shops taking pics ... pulling up along the side of the road taking snap shots ... and it's been fun ... thanks for the challenge girls ... a wee ripper. Truly!!!!


And just cos I can share ... I received an email from White with 1 saying that I was one of the winners in last month's challenge ... wowser ... I was stoked, let me tell you ... woo hoo ... go me!!!

On that note ... better stuff that chook and pop it in the oven and then I'm going to head back into my scrap room ... I've got a little scrapping to be done ...

Enjoy your afternoon everyone.
Later,
Me

Sitting in my ...

inbox this morning was this message ...


Congratulations, your layout has been selected to appear in our on-line gallery at www.basicgrey.com! We appreciate your time and talent and thank you for using BasicGrey papers and embellishments.


Doing the happy dance I was too, just quietly and so naturally I popped in to have a looksy, as you do and what did I see ... five, I repeat 'five' layouts by Lynne sitting in there ... congratulations and I'm sure that she was doing more than just a wee happy dance - her inbox must have been swamped - lol ... waving the pom poms at you buddy ... congratulations ... well done - bleedin' awesome I say!!!

On that note, heading back into my scrap room to have a play ... oops, that should read ... be creative - enjoy your Waitangi Day.

Later,
Me

Here tis ...

The recipe for the Impossible Pie [aka Courgette Pie]


Mix in a bowl :
4 eggs
3 medium grated courgettes
1 diced onion
3 rashers bacon diced
½ cup crushed pineapple
½ cup grated cheese
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup oil
Salt and pepper

Bake approximately 30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius


This recipe never fails and I think it actually tastes better cold!!!

Bon appetit!!!!


Later
M

A time to play ...

Two layouts that I put together just before the New Year.

I had the opportunity to 'play' with the latest wee gadget - the Making Memories Slice and so I did just that ... had a play.

Absolutely love the flourishes disk - very noice girls, very noice!!!!

The basic disk that comes with the machine cuts amongst other things the tags and I kinda like using tags on my layouts - dates, names, whatever.

So between the two layouts, I have used the Slice for the flourishes, the circles, some of the tags, the scallop shape, the big bracket and the title on the second layout.





These layouts, another layout and a couple of cards just recently appeared in Scrapbooking Outlet's e-zine.

The first layout features one of Andrea's twin boys and I can never, ever, for the life of me remember which one, or who's who - lol. It's one of them - lol.

The second layout features my cousin's wee girl and these pics were taken on Christmas Day ... she's a gorgeous wee dot!!!

Blogger isn't playing nicely and won't let me load the other pics in one hit for some reason ... how rude!!!

So there you have it ...


and ... just for the record ... I'm still taking my pics, just haven't had the time to upload the last couple of days ... watch this space!!!




On that note, must be time for my head to hit the pillow.
Night.
M



P.S. will dig out the recipe and share sometime over the next couple of days - the courgette pie

Check out this link ...

I truly hope that someone downunder decides to bring in a few of these new Prima goodies ... well a whole lot of them would be absolutely awesome.

Those vines - wow ... the stitched mulberry paper and we won't mention some of those flowers ... and I really wanna have a look up close and personal like at the new transparencies they have come out with ... I'm in Prima heaven.


So for those of us more than a little geographically challenged ... enjoy.


A Painterlady's View: Check out the Prima Goods!!!

Later,
M

P.S. hope it works ...

Creativity

I've sat and played with this layout off and on now for a week ... more off though.

It sat looking at me, cos I just wasn't quite ready to stick things down. And when I'm not sure, I do not use adhesive.

Now I have ...

I've played with Euphoria papers, pink tissue again - second time now - both of my last two layouts have pink tissue on them. Don't know the lasting abilities of using tissue, but I figured it wasn't in contact with my pic, so it should be okay. Time will tell.

Now you are so not going to believe how I put the sequins on the tissue - are you ready ...

I sat and cut in two, mini glue dots - true ... the only thing is ... once glue dots hit or touch tissue ... that's where they will be staying ... truly! Been there, done that ... trust me on this one.

I've also painted another couuple of Prima flowers, used the kindyglitz and tulle again ... love the way these flowers come together. And in the mail yesterday the little tiny sequinny [is there such a word???] butterflies - timing is everything ... thank you Nancy.



So there you have it ... this pic was taken a couple of weeks ago at Miss Meg's and the kids were on the trampoline. A wee ladybird landed on Miss Amelia's hand and she was totally fascinated with it - the innonence of a child, so very precious.

Heading back into my scrap room. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon everyone.
Take care,
M

Who stole ...

January???

Come on, come clean ... it's gone, kaput ... no more.



February it is ... the month of love ... supposedly!!! LOL.



And moving along ... pic of the day ... this is yummy cold ... with a little relish and a salad.


An impossible pie, some people call it a courgette pie ... it's a no fail one people.




Have just finished my layout of Miss Amelia, so will blog that one shortly ...


Right then, onwards and upwards.
Later,
M