Having both of the girls home from school and preschool the last two weeks sick as well as giving me their germs really took it's toll on me this last week. I hardly got anything done that I had planned to do but I did manage to have a cooking day with the girls on Saturday. After cleaning the house in the morning we gathered our supplies ready to make chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and shaved white chocolate on top.

We love Australia Day here in Australia. We spend the public holiday celebrating in so many different ways. Today we will be having a barbie (BBQ) with a few snags (sausages) and a tinny or two (a can of beer...lol)! We fly our flags high with Aussie pride, even on our cars!

On to some creative goodness..... I actually made this last year at the beginning of December but it was sitting against the wall until I was able to find some trim or ribbon I like to go around the edges. It is finally up on the wall now and I just love looking at it when we come and go through the front door.


As you can sort of see I have a hall stand at the front door. I found it at a furniture store very cheap as the mirror had been smashed so they took a large chunk of money off it. I was planning on putting a mirror back in but never got around to it (so glad I didn't now). I thought it would be the perfect place for the magnet board. I use the House of 3 digital project kit for the months and the dates. I used my House of 3 House Warming kit to print the frame out and add some mirror paper to the inside of the frame. Similar to the one I made for my house warming album here.

I simply purchased a cheap magnetic board from my local office supply store with some plain brown wrapping paper to cover the board with. I went with the brown wrapping paper is it's really thin, perfect thickness for the magnets to still stick to the board. I used a bunch of stamps from my Kenner Road kits and some from one of Tim Holtz's collections here. I also used Tim Holtz's distressing inks to stamp them onto the brown paper and used a blending tool to ink the edges of the paper. 


I was inspired by Heidi Swapps notepad she made for her magnet board so I made a similar little notepad. I used a gorgeous teal Prima flower and added a gorgeous crystal Christmas decoration to it and stuck a magnet on the back of it.


I cut a piece of muslin, inked and frayed the edges, added a Kenner Road stamp and a vintage photo from Old School (August '09), added some hand embroidery with pearls, leaves and glass hearts, and added a hand drawn bird on canvas stuck onto some chipboard and added some vintage trim from my stash as well as some teal trim from We R Memory Keepers. I then attached all this to a vintage paper bag that I received with some free goodies from Blue Bazzar. I inked the edges of the paper bag as well to give it a more aged appearance.


I printed out the Hof3 months and dates and inked all the edges, attached some beads and wire to some of the dates and hung them from a magnetic clip with an album ring to hold the dates.
I took another vintage photo from KR kit Old School '09 and hand sewed around the edges, added some vintage trim from the same KR kit and threaded the trim with some teal embroidery thread with wooden beads in every second loop. I simply added a Prima butterfly with a magnet on the back to hand it from the board.


Lastly I took an small old frame I found in my stash and covered it with the brown paper with more TH and KR stamps and added some little teal pearls from Kaisercraft. I inserted a photo of the girls inside and added a little word bit I made in Photoshop, "You are loved". I found a gorgeous teal 'Paris' broach and added a magnet on the back of it and added it to the board.

Last month I was asked by my good friend Catherine if I could create something using a collaborative kit she was taking part in called Delight. Here is a preview of the kit:

I think Spring would have to be my most favorite time of the year. Flowers every where, the weather is warming up, time to get out of the comfy trackie pants and let my legs see the sunlight, time to eat salads, have BBQ's, eat and drink outside! So many good things that make me happy and content. All of the Spring cleaning has been done in every room of the house except the garage....don't like cleaning that up, I have to part with all the bits I have been hoarding over the last year! I might do that job when it rains next....lol!

Speaking of happy and content, I have been a busy little bee creating some KR goodness (as usual, yes I am addicted to KR). The first layout in the post below actually won the July Stamp Challenge over at the KR blog. KL sent me the July Blue Ribbon kit with my August kits. Then on reveal night chat at KR, we had to guess the colors that were on one of CD's layout in the gallery and I guessed right. I totally guessed without seeing the actual layout and it was right....lol! Wooohooo! I won a yummy bag of vintage goodies that came with my August kits.

Ok, time for some eye candy using August KR goodness:

This is a little mini album using the packaging from the Prima Flowers called Mini Me. My eldest DD looked so much like a mini me when she was younger it's scary! The cover page on the mini album below is a photo of her with a wig on....she tried so many of them on, she had me in stitches!

Below are two more layout's titled Road Trip and Springtime in our Garden. Click on the CREDITS HERE links to see more up close photos over at 2 Pea's.





I mentioned in a previous post that I had a request from a good, trustworthy friend (Nancy Comelab) for me to make her a little somethin' somethin', well they have been sent off and received by her and she LOVED them!
I made myself an inspiration journal to add my magazine clippings, color swatches that I love, vintage goodies, anything that inspires me really. I have all these different bits and bobs in my art cupboard's that really need a home so that's where the idea came from. I showed Nancy my album as I had used a gorgeous paper pack she sent me a few months ago. I also made her a little noted book too as I wanted an excuse to used my pretty pink bind-it-all! So much fun once you figure it out....lol! Here are a few photos of the journal and notebook I sent to Nancy:










My notebook and journal are a little different from the ones I made Nancy such as a few embellies but they basically have the same layout. Nancy sent me a whole bunch of vintage goodness that I drooled all over. Can't wait to use some on my next project! Thanks so much Nancy for the yumminess you sent me sweetie xxxoooo

Well, that's it for today. I'm off to go do something outdoorsy as it is a beautiful day and it would be a shame to waste it!

Happy hugs to all!

I celebrated my 35th birthday the end of last month, I had a wonderful day!!! Yummy chocolate mud cake, stunning flowers and a new coffee machine which makes awesome coffee...mmmmm!! My youngest DD Jada picked out her favorite toys and presented them to me at different intervals during the day....such a sweet little girl.
My mother and I went to a seafood restaurant which was sooooo yummy! Worth every cent, even though I didn't pay......lol! So all in all I had a fantastic birthday, very relaxing, wonderful gifts and special moments shared with family and friends.

My package I won from Tim arrived from the US about two weeks ago, and I still haven't opened them yet.

I was so very excited!!! I also received my Kenner Road kits last week and I have to say I am sooooo impressed!!! I can't wait to have a play with all the goodies. Everything was loving wrapped in brown paper and little stickers, I didn't want to open them but of course I ahd to see what was inside.


I can't wait to see the next one. It's the first time I have subscribed to a kit club as I have been drooling over KR goodies for ages so I bit the bullet and I am so glad I did!

On to some other very exciting news.......