Well … a new year means a new word.

And this year it’s all about ME.

ME looking after myself … my hair, my skin, my weight. ME spending time with God becoming the ME that He would have ME become. ME parenting … putting time and effort into being a great Mum. ME working and finding the work/life balance. ME creating … scrapping, sewing, crafting for ME instead of always for someone else. ME taking a step back from volunteering at the expense of my family. ME making my home a place that I like being in. ME enjoying life. ME building friendships that make ME happy. ME discovering who I am. ME putting myself first once in a while.

2010 has the potential to be a great year!

And  ‘cos I’m taking photos again … here’s one of ME and little Liam.

So this was Christmas

Someone went slightly overboard on presents this year…

Each day … as Christmas got closer and more family members arrived at Mum and Dads … the presents seemed to multiply out from under the tree, spreading in an impressive way over the floor.

The girls got new dolls … with hair this time.

Rebekah also got a new watch … so she won’t be late for road patrol this year, lots of clothes, lots of craft supplies.

Jessi … got a really good dose of Chicken Pox which left us with 3 nights of very little sleep and lovely pox marks in all the Christmas photos. (Just for the record … Phenergan … which made Alexander sleep all night despite the pox … has the opposite effect on Jessi, making her unable to sleep and almost hyperactive.) She also got this pretty dress which thankfully fits perfectly because Santa bought it in Australia and won’t be going back to exchange it!

Alexander is now well stocked up on lego, meccano and all things boy. Santa also got this little helicopter in Aussie and was good enough to get one for the other boy cousins too. Uncle Michael spent much of Christmas afternoon climbing onto the roof to retrieve helicopters.

And for the family … just a wii gift …

And then there was the ‘timer delay’ family photo … in which at least one kid wouldn’t co operate. (Guess who’s family he belongs to!)

And one of all the cousins

They’ve grown a bit since last time.

And that was Christmas 2009.

With all the unexpected events in the last few weeks … handmade Christmas gifts have been a little hard to complete … but somehow as each deadline approaches I’ve managed to pull together something suitable.

These little gift bags I gave out for the CRE (Christian Religious Education) class I was teaching for the last few weeks. Everything looks better in a cellophane bag … it’s a good thing there were only 20 kids in the class … in fact I was grateful for that same thought every week as I prepared little Christmas crafts for them to complete.

The Christmas cupcakes which I made for the staff morning tea … a CRE tradition which happens every year. Rebekah also made some mini Christmas cuppies for her class party.

This is a reversible bag which I made for my little niece … calico, lace and the inside fabric is one I picked up recently at fabric-a-brac. I was very pleased to find some gorgeous fabrics here in Wellington many of which I’d seen on Melissa Goodsell’s blog and were previously hard to find in NZ … not anymore thanks to Stitchbird Fabrics.

And a little boy bag … filled with little cars.

This is a crochet project roll I made for a good friend.

I gave it to her empty but this pic gives you an idea of how it works … stitching bias binding was a challenge for my sewing skills! Still, I’m pleased with how it came out and now need to make one for myself … another visit to Stitchbird Fabrics may be required!

And this canvas has been sitting on my desk ‘undressed’ for a while. I’d done the painting and ‘flat’ background stuff and it was just waiting for some words and other fancy stuff. So I finished it off and gave it to Nana Harding for Christmas.

Just a touch of vintage on there…

I’ve also made lego and bingo number cuff links and a few bits of jewelery for gifts … but don’t have photos of those yet.

Still a few more crafting days to go before Christmas …

And if I don’t get back here before then … have a very Merry Christmas.

… many days have passed!

It’s now December … and has been for 9 days, where has the time gone?!

Thank you for your kind wishes about Jessi … she now has new career aspirations

Or maybe just knows how to get sympathy when it’s needed…

She’s getting a little tired of kind, well meaning people asking her how she hurt her arm and now gives a little sigh before launching into the ‘monkey bar’ story. I told her to make up a new story … is that bad?

A broken limb didn’t stop her from hands on exploring at the marine centre last week … she just loved it.

It was totally worth wrapping her cast in plastic so she could really get to know the star fish and squishy things.

Meanwhile the other two kids also had school trips to various exciting places but I had to pull out of parent helping so I could take Jessi to her check-up. It turns out another operation is needed to remove the wires from her arm so that’s booked in for the end of next week. So far she has had no signs of the tummy bug the other two kids had over the weekend and I’m really hoping she doesn’t get the chicken pox Alexander currently has.

Yep … broken arms, tummy bug and now chicken pox … parenting is all fun round here at the moment!

Consequently I’ve had to pull out of a few things over the last couple of weeks … it’s been good for me to think about what’s important/urgent and what I need/want to do … I’ve also had to rely on others to babysit and accept help from others … hmmmm issues?

My Tarisota I want it all box of yumminess remains untouched in my scrap corner buried under remnants of other projects that have had greater urgency.

Such as this one:

A birthday present for my nephew who’s birthday was yesterday … and it’s still sitting on my desk waiting to be wrapped and sent off … not entirely my fault … the kids cookbook I planned on sending with it is missing some pages so now I have to return it and get a new one.

The tag includes instructions on what to add to mix the contents of the jar into monster cookies … got the idea here and have been meaning to try it for ages. Had planned to make some as Christmas gifts but that would be another one of those bright ideas that may not happen this year … given the ‘taking one day at a time’ philosophy I’ve been forced to adopt recently.

I even made a matching card. Papers are Sassafras … and made even easier because they were all packaged in a kit with matching cardstock and other bits … perfect for someone who is tight on time and doesn’t want to waste any trying to fish through her poorly organised and far too big stash of scrapping supplies. Want a kit just like it? I think there are still some here. Just e-mail to ask.

Right … time to hand over pox boy to his daddy so I can do a few hours work.

So … my week started with a couple of days hanging around the hospital.

Jessi fell off the monkey bars and broke her arm … after many hours of waiting, loads of pain meds, x-rays and surgery we are now home and getting used to plaster from shoulder to wrist.

So yeah … my week has turned out a little different than I’d planned.

… vintage style.

I played with some Kaiser Craft goodies last week.

These very cool Kaiser Advent Calendar kits arrived at Crafthouse last week … along with the three new Kaiser Christmas paper ranges and I just had to have a play.

I’ve used Kaisercraft Dear Santa papers and rubons. Just couldn’t resist the beautiful vintage colours and traditional Christmassy images.

And of course I couldn’t help but add some extra vintage bits and pieces … lace, book pages, bingo counters, pearls … you know, all the good stuff. Then I had to go digging in the attic for the box of Christmas decorations, I just knew there was a perfect nutcracker soldier man buried in there somewhere.

So yeah, lots of fun putting all the finishing touches on but I’ve gotta admit though, there was a whole lot of work involved in prepping, painting and putting the basic kit together … that part wasn’t so much fun. I think it was totally worth it though … don’t you?

… already!

And I think we can blame SBO for the most part! There’s a new comp going on called Ready, steady … it’s nearly Christmas. This one is using guest designers to set the challenges, so part of the fun is finding out who the next designer is and then, of course, doing the challenge. I think Nan Jules has set the tone for my entire Christmas theme this year with her ‘vintage’ challenge.

It seems that everything I create these days has a little touch of vintage … it’s like I can’t help myself … it just happens.

And then Naomi’s challenge was to use at least 5 photos, beads and gold or silver.

That’s Rebekah sitting next to Santa in the Wellington Christmas parade a couple of years ago. I saw parts of the parade yesterday … wasn’t really paying a lot of attention because I didn’t have the kids with me … saw Santa but totally missed the All Whites.

Anyway, back to the SBO comp. This week I’m the guest designer and I decided it was time to deck the halls.

So I made some quick alphabet blocks as my example. I’m surprised at how much my family is enjoying them … each time I walk past they’ve been rearranged into another word … some not necessarily Christmassy and definitely not all spelled correctly!

I also made a set of larger blocks a few weeks ago, which are on display at Craft house.

I’ve got more to share … will try not to leave it so long between posts next time!

Today we ate apple shortcake in memory of Nana and Grandad. Nana’s apple shortcake was the best … mine isn’t quite as good … but I use her recipe, so it’s as close as I can get. Maybe it’s that I convert ounces to grams … or maybe it’s that I use a mixer instead of my hand like I remember her doing … I made sure I used cold apple like her recipe says this time … maybe when I grow up to be a Nana I’ll have it sorted!

Today is/or would be Nana’s birthday and also the day Grandad died … so it’s a good day to eat shortcake and remember.

Prima … this is my ‘build a page’ layout for October.

This is my cousin Karen’s sweet baby … she lives in Melbourne.

Cute huh?

And new Basic Grey …

So maybe I need to start a scrapbook album for Siena!

Thanks for all your comments on my Melbourne post … good to know I’m not the only one who appreciates a beautiful city with good shopping!

You know, around May … just last year … I thought a trip to Aussie was only a far off distant dream … that it would never happen. And then somehow … I’m still not completely sure how, except that it was a God thing … I found myself in Brisbane meeting the SOF girls. That was an amazing experience … a once in a lifetime experience … or so I thought…

… and then, before another year is out, I find myself flying off to Melbourne, another stamp in my passport to prove that once again dreams do come true!

Anyway … before rushing off to follow my dreams … I was playing the SBO Gok game. This was my vintage, handmade buttons and something else I forget layout:

That’s me … the short one … with the very short skirt!

So that was week 5.

Week 6 … I did very quickly before flying out …

This one needed a silhouette of me, stamping and a homemade journalling spot I think. Not too keen on the photo of me idea … but I didn’t have time to be fussy. The photo started out as a 5×7 I cut around the edge of me and then cut a smaller square around Jessi to get that look. I’ve had these papers since scrap camp in April so it was good to use them … and nice to do something fun and light as well.

And that was the end of the Gok comp …  might have to find something else to give me challenges and set me deadlines to keep me scrapping!

Since I’ve been back I’ve only done one layout and that was motivated purely by the fact that I wanted to try out my new smooch ink … I picked up two bottles while in Melbourne. Yummy stuff, seriously creamy and pearly and conveniently bottled with it’s own fine foam brush … very much like nail polish really, but totally scrapbook friendly.

I’ve stamped the trees with it and coloured the title letter stickers. Just another one of those photos I have in the huge pile I’ve been meaning to scrap. Good times, good memories … and I see there are spaces available in the 2010 camp.

Right … time to go do something before bedtime rolls around again.

Where I’ve been and what I’ve seen?

Melbourne … such a beautiful city.

Such amazingly big trees and gorgeous parks right next to huge city buildings. Our hotel apartment was in the city centre but we still walked A LOT … we also mastered the Melbourne trams which saved my protesting legs a bit. Fortunate timing meant there was a huge craft show on … so I got to meet Lyn and Dawn at the Fiskars stand … and stock up on beading, scrapping, craft supplies all in the one very cool old building.

Of course … we went to shop and shop we did! Spent ages at the Queen Vic Markets and found this delightful little boutique type store with all things pretty. Also took a tram ride out to my cousin’s place in St Kilda so snapped a pic of the Luna Park face … didn’t go in though … more shopping won out against roller coaster rides.

More shops … loved the specialty shops with amazing window displays. I finally got a set of babushka dolls … have wanted some since I was little. Found a nice cupcake shop but didn’t take a pic … ate afternoon tea at this french bakery … and yes, it did take ages to choose!

Melbourne at night was incredible … watched the fire balls in front of the casino. The little drooling cutie is my cousins girl Siena.

The reason for our visit … to celebrate Mum’s 60th birthday … I think we did that pretty well. We bought her a ticket to Chicago the musical which was lots of fun and ate at fancy places.

Also squeezed in a visit to Ikea … just to see what’s there … and even managed to eat banana bread at Macca’s … an Australian delicacy … according to the SOF girls.

So … that was Melbourne in 5 days … totally need to go back one day and see the rest.