Wednesday, September 26, 2012

I'm a Winner Baby

I love bunting! And pretty things! And to win pretty bunting, that is cool too! 

Thanks so much to Love Ideas Ink and Hunting Letter Flags for your cool prize on the Birthday Giveaway!

I would LOVE to show you a beautiful photo of it hanging in my house..... however my house is a disaster zone! Appropriately, it works well with my crafting office. I have just put in three new cupboards and am searching for the elusive time to sort art supplies and utilise said cupboards. Then I realised the bunting is unbelievably appropriate for such a space and occasion! But I did do a smash journal page to say thankyou for your gifts!

Please visit their websites and BUY something - they are such cool ladies!

Please note, I am responsible only for the mess; the beautiful bunting is the showcase!

How to journal in ten minutes and under!!

When you Love Someone

I love our little girl. She is magic. I think glitter and fluffy feathers are in her veins - her heart and capactiy to love is phenomenal. And because I love her, we relented to a sleepover birthday party! Only once a year, thank goodness!

Five little La-La-Loopsy girls in a bed, for five little loopy girls who didn't sleep much at all! (And no, I didn't make the dolls - are you crazy? I know some people have that gift, but not this black duck!)

Yes, the are taken in my oven... when you homeschool there are only so many places you can hide things like this. Would you believe I even managed to get it completely iced while teaching them? Neither can I, but I did!






Had to do candles on the side - no room on the cake!
Mademoiselle Le Gorgeous herself! Very pleased - all in her favourite colours!

You have to Laugh...

Or you'll go mad?

I picked the wrong time of day to take these photos. The light was fading and I was interrupted (I kid you not) at least three times by kids hurting themselves. Things that aren't life threatening, but cannot be ignored - toddlers and preschoolers with grazes, bumps, bruises, pulling things off tables and onto heads etc; the things you need to wipe, clean and cuddle but can then dash back to what you really wanted to do.... Older siblings arguing and complaining about what was for dinner (like I cared)... Really! Don't these kids know I (try to) have a life too and it's not just about them? Hmm. Poor little sods! What a mother!

The point of this exercise is to show you (and for me to reflect and think about where to go next) a work in progress. This album is the one I made on our fabulous Cook Arty Weekend at NZ Scrapbook (with the amazingly talented friend Kathleen in June. Yes, it was a few months ago, and no, I am not finished yet. In all honesty, it will probably not be finished EVER, because I quite like looking at the 'bones' of it, and learning fro what can be produced in a hurry.

Please note: all of this work was done over a Friday night, Saturday and Sunday, and I haven't included pictures of everything I made. Mainly because of said interruptions and the resulting poorly focused shots, but also in no small amount due to my impatience to put these up!

Anyhoo- Such fun! (Miranda fans, anyone?)


 I haven't completed the cover yet - you should not be surprised to hear that by now, so I'll just plunge straight into the pages. I've dealt with that and am ready to move on, join me when you're ready :)

How could we go retro kitchen without an Edmonds??

Detail with rub ons and Rock Candy




Detail with stamps and stencils


Got this box from Mum's pantry..... circa 1984???



Not happy with this page, too rushed. Meh, it is what it is!


Stamping, gesso, encaustic, modelling pastes.....









From and old Boy Scout recipe book - waaaaaaay back! Those caramel fingers were always in our bikkie tins. Don't remember them ever lasting very long though... God bless Mum!





Jubilee month... I loved the colours and thinking about cooking and baking always reminds me of Grandma, who was a royalist. Until Charles did the dirty. She was never the same after that.... So these few pages are a tribute to Grandma. 

Found the 1977 Jubilee card in a library book - score!

God bless the ANZACs and all those who fought and continue to fight for our freedom!

Sorry about the bad focus :( But I liked this page. It is a recipe of one of my favourite Grandma recipes, Harmony Tarts..... mmmmmm.....




Peanut Brownies.... oddly, not in fact brownies at all, but biscuits/cookies.... 'Brownies' as we know them  were unknown in New Zealand in the 1970s, when this Edmonds was published. That being said, Mum filled the tins and freezers every baking day, and these were always made - usually in quadruple amounts! Dad's favourite, they were always made fresh when he came home from sea :)


Where is my cooking fairy?






This was a transfer; I think we used modge podge?? I don't usually have much luck with transfers, but I liked this one.

Applied over died masking tape strips.


I love the woman who shared this recipe. And I love this recipe. Darn it! It is one that is simply impossible to only eat one piece of, so I have made it once and don't trust myself to do it again!




Crackle paint stamp over anglais fabric.



Come on!





Another score from the back of Mum's pantry! I used the cups behind the teapot.


Back cover of the Edmonds cook book; a New Zealand icon!



Encaustic health and safety message.




Extra embellishments for yet to be completed pages.....



And just a few Retro Kitchen/Housewife thoughts to round it off :)