Christmas idea #2

I have three favourite people that I have met through shopping at the stores where they work, so like to give them a small token Christmas gift. When I saw this idea via Pinterest I knew it would be perfect for these lovely people who will like the silly-but-practical-and-yummy (like me) sides of the idea.
The little poem reads...

A Cup of Christmas Cheer

No one can measure up to you
But I’m doing my best to try,
I appreciate all the kindness you show
A kind of caring you just can’t buy.

This Christmas gift is sent your way
To wish a full measure of holiday cheer,
May your cup overflow with joy and peace,
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

poem card credits:
Christmas border cluster: Designs by Connie Prince from the Sugar Plum collection
Thank you overlay: unknown
Original poem found here but changed to suit my needs.

12 days of Christmas project.
I have made some ornaments for day 3 and 4, made the magnets for day 2, changed day 6's verse and wee gift entirely, found an image of 8 little angels singing, bought lollipops, fizzy and water balloons and this weekend am going to make a garland and paper ball set for the day 1 gift instead of the pot plant idea.
I did panic for a little while that the family I am surprising didn't celebrate Christmas but after some sneaking around I have found out that they do phew! (oh and they will be home for Christmas which is just as well LOL)
ETA: I have snuck the first gift into the recipients letterbox and hope I wasn't seen (it was 4.35am and there was a light on in their bathroom eek!) LOL

Christmas ideas

This button heart canvas is so quick and easy to create and quite reasonably priced too.
I used a 7.9inch square canvas from the red shed ($4.49) and a bag of buttons from Spotlight which are around $10 per bag (but you have heaps left over). I cut the heart shape out of my copy paper using the negative space which I adhered to the canvas using Tombow repositionable glue. (I let the glue get tacky before sticking it to my canvas so it would easily come off when I had finished). I sewed the two layers of buttons in this negative space using two strands of thread, one button at a time. Try not to sew your buttons too far over the edges of the template. Once all the stitching was done I pulled the paper heart shape off the canvas.

The wordart is a freebie from Irene Alexeeva Designs that I resized to fit inside my cuttlebug tag (or you could create your own tag and any word art or wording). I inked the edges of the tag and simply tied it to one of the buttons. Lastly I inked the front edges of the canvas and glued a piece of cardstock to the back of the canvas to cover my stitching then added some small screw in eyes to the back with a length of wire for the hanger.

I have been inspired by Debbie's new blog Handmade & Heartfelt to create handmade items for Christmas, whilst I am running out of time now I did think I could carry out this wee project...

For years I have wanted to do a Secret Friend/Santa thing using the following poem and this year I think I have found the perfect family in my street to surprise starting on the 14th December. (I know traditionally the 12 days of Christmas start on or after Christmas)

12 Days of Christmas

It’s the first day of Christmas,
now, don’t you be blue,
for here is a little gift,
‘specially for you!! (can be anything I am thinking a plant pot for this family)
--Your secret friend.

It’s the second day of Christmas
there’s so much to do
these two little magnets
will hold memos for you.

It’s the third day of Christmas,
and what do you see?
three handmade ornaments
to hang on the tree.

It’s the fourth day of Christmas,
to hang on your tree,
are four funny reindeer
for everyone to see!

On the fifth day of Christmas
for a sweet and juicy treat,
these lovely Hawkes Bay cherries (you can change the wording to suit your local fruit)
you just cannot beat.


On the sixth day of Christmas
are six gingerbread boys for your tree,
to help make your Christmas
as Merry as can be.

It’s the seventh day of Christmas
to lick or to bite
are seven sweet lollipops
a delicious delight.

It’s the eighth day of Christmas
these cupcakes are bringing
eight little angels
merrily singing.

It’s the ninth day of Christmas
but don’t get in a tizzy
put your feet up and relax,
and enjoy a drink of fizzy. (bottle of soft drink)

The tenth day of Christmas
brings to your door
these delicious truffles (or cookies etc)
and good wishes galore.

On the eleventh day of Christmas
the big day’s not far away
here is your chance
to grab the kids and play (will send them a bag of water balloons)

It’s the last day of Christmas
and it’s been such fun
to come as your secret friend.
now the 12 days are done. (will give this family a small framed quote of some kind)

Merry Christmas

I am an early riser so hope to sneak down to drop of each day's treat/s in their letterbox before they wake up. LOL

I was inspired by another blog post of Debbie's to do a RAK everyday till Christmas, today is day three and so far so good. Here is the direct link to the blog Debbie was inspired by Mix Mingle Glow

more treats for me

B is for BUTTON
Rhonda from work gave me strict instructions NOT to open this package until today (Saturday) which I found quite hard cos I am one of those people who take sneaky peeks at presents under the Christmas tree. Anyway I had to smile when I found this cute yellow heart button wrapped inside. This will definitely appear on the scrapbook page. Thank you Rhonda.


B is also for BLENDER
I had enough flybuys points to get this light and mighty machine which blended my breakfast perfectly this morning.

smoothie recipe:
2 weetbix
9 peach slices (or 150g boysenberries)
150g yoghurt
100ml milk
blend together, pour into a large mug and ENJOY.

I can't believe how much nicer my breakfast choices taste when blended together. However I remember now the only downside of this process, the amount of ingredients that stick to the sides and bottom of the blender jug, not easy getting them out you know.


R is for RUSH munro's ice cream
I had a couple of GrabOne vouchers to use up so took the opportunity to take the kids for a treat too. I chose coconut and mochacino with whipped cream and nuts. It was absolutely freezing so eating ice cream in this almost-open-air cafe was not the brightest suggestion I have ever had, but the ice creams were deeeeevine! (excuse the weird hairstyle, I am desperately in need of a haircut) LOL


R is also for a ROSE from RHONDA
What a pretty pale pink and white one too. I am pressing it at the moment so hope it works cos I want to include it in my birthday month album.

Sentence so far...
BIRTHDAY CELEBR...

a month of celebrating

My not-so-dear husband is always telling me that everyday is my birthday (he thinks I am too spoilt) so after seeing a few FB friends celebrating their whole birthday month I jumped on the bandwagon too and decided to treat myself everyday in August, that is a whole 31 days of treats! Wahooooo!
Some people may think I am weird but to make it even weirder I have devised a wee plan how to determine the treats. I have a used 31 characters (30 letters and 1 number) that spells out a sentence about my month of celebration. For each of these characters I will choose a treat that corresponds to the letter, for example B is for ..., I is for..., R is for... etc. I am not going to divulge the sentence right now but this is it so far...


B is for BOUQUET of flowers
I popped in to Flowerlands on the main road in/out of Clive, on the way home from my new (part time/short term) job to buy a small bouquet of fresh flowers. This little bunch took my fancy and cost less than $10. What a nice treat for the first day of my birthday month and the first day of my job.


I is for ICE CREAM/ICE BLOCK
If you haven't tried one of these Kapiti treats then don't delay they are divine!


R is for READING material
I like these 5-minute story type magazines but soon after buying this issue I had to take our dog Jackson to the vet for the lethal injection. I was too sad to read anything but thats ok, the magazine will still be there when I am ready to read.


T is for TOTE
What a score, I found this cool teal blue TOTE at Warehouse Stationery for half price $15!!! Good timing cos my old scrapping tote is on its last legs after several years of over use.


H is for HANDMADE chocolates
A man came into work today to sell chocolates for a Special Olympics fundraiser. Perfect on two counts, 1)I like to support this charity as my brother has played Ten Pin for NZ at the games in the past and 2)the fact that they were HANDMADE suited my H day!


D is for DESSERT pizza
After dropping the kids off to a friends for dinner and a movie (on Saturday night)I drove into town for a takeaway of my own, a Hells Pizza Unearthly dessert pizza to be exact. It took way longer than the 13 minutes they said it would take to be ready so they gave me a $10 gift voucher. I still got the pizza (albeit late) which was definitely worth waiting for.


A is for ART supplies
I needed some new paints and a small canvass for a project I have in mind so these were the perfect treat for today.


Y is for YOPLAIT YOGHURT (fruche actually)
I initially thought I was going to treat myself to some yarn (wool) for crocheting but on my way to Spotlight I felt hungry so headed into Countdown instead. I liked the quote on the lid of the fruche 'Inspired by Yoplait' and thought that would look good in the album.


C is for CASHEWS
nuts are so morish and salted cashews are one of my favourites so the perfect treat for today. There were several brands at Countdown but I chose the Signature Range as I liked the packaging, it would look nicer in the album than some of the other brands LOL


E is for photo ENLARGEMENTS
Wednesdays mean half price enlargements at Harvey Normans photo centre so I got a few photos printed for framing and scrapping.


L is for LOLLY.
Yesterday I told Nurse Wendy at work that tomorrow is an L day, after telling her about my plan for a treat a day she came to work this morning with this yummy LOLLY tied with ribbon, she is such a honey wanting to take part in my celebrations.



E is for EGGS and an ENVELOPE of notes.
Rhonda, Rachel and Wendy had the heads up that today was an E day, so when I got to work this morning there were some E treats on my desk. Firstly some choccy EGGS from Rhonda and an ENVELOPE of notes from Wendy and Rachel. I was so chuffed that they treated me today but told them they didn't have to, however it seems they were just as chuffed as me to join in. LOL Can you see how on one hand I was awesome but then on the other I needed following up with the Principal for kicking the boss ROFLMAO!!

Sentence so far = BIRTHDAY CELE...

Check back in a few days for more posts/photos.

If you love a challenge...

then check out this new blog, it looks like its going to be a fun place to visit and to be inspired.

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an eclectic mix of layouts (paper and digi)

I got quite a few layouts completed and/or partially completed while I was house/pet sitting the other weekend, here is just a sample. You will notice that there is very little layering of elements on my paper layouts but with digi templates (PSD's)and drop shadow layer options I tend to layer a LOT more on the digi layouts.



These paper layouts are oh so KISS and just about every one of them has only buttons for the embellishments. I have used the same 9-patch type sketch for some of them and others are complete copies (expect for pp's) cos they are the same photos but one for each of the kids albums and some of these are using OLD and even OLDER photos. LOL Many of them still require journalling, but I hope to work on getting that done over the next few weeks. I have had these page kits sitting around for some time and whilst the layouts aren't very interesting I am more than happy that the stories are told (or soon will be).

this digi layout about my teeth was created with the Your true colors kit and one of Liz's templates for the Scrap Orchard template challenge.


the simple story is about my teeth and how I get them from my parents. I have only been teased about my overbite once in my life that I recall, and that was only recently by a couple of teenage boys, but their opinions haven't held much weight and I continue to smile my gappy, teethy, overbite smile!

I have used kit by Captivated Visions Someday Soon kit for this layout for a Scrap Orchard Scrap that Tune challenge.


If you click on the pic you can read the journalling about DS's birthday gift.


An older photo of my kids and their friends using the Hugging and Loving newsletter freebie kit and the Peppermint Creative #29 template for the Scrap Orchard Spotlight challenge


This photo of Mum and I on my (first) wedding day, I love the colours of this Being a Mom kit which I used for the Blast from the Past challenge at Gotta Pixel. The template is Template: KKC - March Template (cannot find a link).


This is a current favourite layout for the Lift a Honeybee challenge at Scrap Orchard, firstly the template is by Easy Breezy (only used the main portion of the template and enlarged it a bit) and I teamed it up with the Captivated Visions My Project kit


The colours of Trixies Scraps Designs Love my guy kit are just gorgeous and I couldn't wait to use them with this photo of 'my guy' Ross for the Spotlight Designer challenge at Gotta Pixel. This is one of the very few photos of him smiling with his eyes and his mouth, he is usually grimacing and snearing! LOL

Another new kit purchase was the Fantasia one, love the bright colours and elements, I have used it on this layout for the Scrap Orchard template challenge

This is one of the many photos taken on our trip to Fiji in 2006, still working my way through them (eeek better hurry up as we have had several trips since then a couple more to come and some trips before 2006 that haven't even been started *sigh*).


I saw this free printable recently and got a few printed (and framed) for some good friends, if you want one of your own then go to the eighteen 25 blog to choose your favourite colourway and go for it, even my teenagers liked the quote! ;)

Still doing the digi thing.

this is a photo of 'my bed', I have had a terrible sleep pattern for a long time and spent more nights sleeping (uncomfortably) in this recliner than in my bed. This layout was for a 'quirk' challenge but as I don't really think this 'bad habit' qualifies as a quirk I did not upload the layout to the challenge gallery. This journalling was from 2009 and am pleased to report I have recently started sleeping better and in my bed! This digi supplies I used are from a mini kit which was part of this autumn kit by Mye De Leon


a layout of some outtakes of my Rossy - he is certainly no poser well not when I point the camera at him anyway, but I love him all the same. This was for a designer spotlight challenge so I used one of Trixie's freebie kits from a recent blog train.


a layout about our recent anniversary (21 years together/18 years married). I used the challenge template but added an extra photo spot and used the lovely Perseverance kit by Connie Prince.


a fun layout for a Scrap Orchard scraplift challenge. I tried to create my own template based on the challenge layout offered. The digi supplies are by Ziggle Designs by Kami from a 2010 NSD 'free bee' kit which I don't think is still available. The photo is fairly recent one of Wendy, Nicki and I from Autumn Escape, we had such a fun time together but not long enough. =(


Sneaked in another one...

I am putting off the housework you know, who wants to do chores when a new digi purchase and a free challenge template are calling my name. LOL The kit is by Captivated Visions called Someday Soon Even though TJ looks rather annoyed in this photo he was enjoying himself, he was just full of pizza and fries. LOL


I am house-sitting for a friend this weekend and have decided to go without a laptop so I am going to make a start on the 40+ (paper) page kits I have stashed in my scrap tote. (this is the same house I was staying at when I sliced my finger so hopefully I will have more luck with my knife this time)!!

I've been challenged lately...

I was wondering how I could give myself a kick in the butt as I still haven't scrapped even though I have cleared off my scrapping desk. I think it is because the last time I scrapped (other than at Autumn Escape) was when I sliced the end off my finger with the craft knife, it still makes me feel a tad queasy when I think about it, especially the part about having to pull the flesh off the blade. *shiver* I didn't have time to think about the finger injury at AE as I was too busy keeping up with my classmates LOL.
So I have been creating digitally instead and these are some layouts I created over the weekend for some online challenges.


This photo was taken on Saturday after a hilarious bike ride with Ross, and was created for a 'twisted pixels' challenge using the offered template. I have used Lindsay Jane's WHEELS kit and Charrington font. I altered one of the title strips so I could add my journalling.


This layout was for another challenge at 'gotta pixel' and uses the May mini kit freebie. The colours in this kit are so ME! I had to use every piece of the kit for the challenge. I created this in the wee hours of this morning and found it was chosen as one of the 'Gallery Standouts'. That gives my ego a boost for sure!


I used this kit when it was first released to create a 5x7 layout for Mum for Mothers Day which I framed in a plain black frame for her desk at work. The template is by Scrapping with Liz. I have actually used this same template as a birthday gift for a friend and a birthday inviation for a friend. (I have deleted the party details and blurred the faces for privacy reasons).



such a versatile template. The black and white portions of these layouts are from the Melly Scraps Black Tie Optional kit (cannot find a link for it now sorry)


ETA - I created a template based on a layout for the Twisted Lift challenge over at Scrap Orchard, this is my first time making a template but I did use elements from some of the hundreds of templates I have in my 'stash'. I used Captivated Visions The Joy of Life kit and Damask alphas as well as some photos from the 1980's.

Autumn Escape was AWESOME!

Highs:
Meeting Becky Fleck and taking three of her classes (still need to finish a couple of the class layouts)
Meeting tablemates Carolyn & Rowena from KeriKeri
Time spent with Wendy (sorry for raving on all weekend!)
Goodies galore (chokka class kits, gorgeous box of scrappy goodness found at our tables in the crop room, the 'help-yourself-candy-table,yummy treats found on our beds) to name just some of the goodies
Chatting with cuz-in-law Nicki (it was lovely to have a proper catch-up)
Taking one of Nic Howard's classes - and not being made to feel guilty when I didn't follow the sample layout completely - thanks Nic
Catching up with some old and new online buddies
the delicious meals
The shop - didn't go too far over the budget though!
The awesome venue and the autumn trees
Lucy going that extra mile to make sure I had a power source for my laptop so I could do some digi scrapping.
Not to mention winning a big prize (see more on that below)

Lows:
the weekend is never long enough! =(

heck I have probably missed some of the highs too, it was a bloody awesome weekend and I have started saving for next years retreat already.

Throughout the weekend there were a tonne of lucky draw prizes but by Sunday afternoon Wendy, Nicki and I were lamenting that we hadn't been one of the lucky ones, I used to be quite lucky when it came to these sorts of draws, anyway I had no sooner said "I used to be lucky, now I am just a loser" than my name was drawn out! What a hoot!

Then Becky Fleck announced that under one person's chair there was a hidden a decorative brad. As I had just won a prize I didn't get up to check under my chair but as the seconds wore on and no squeals of delight were heard I thought, heck maybe I should check under my chair too. I slowly tipped my chair over and would you belive it there was the little baggie with the decorative brad blu-tacked to the underside of my chair!!!!!!!!!! I pulled it off and shot my hand up in the air shouting "its me I've got it" and promptly going beetroot red for being so loud!
I won both of Becky's books and four issues of a card/scrapping magazine (how embarrassing I cannot recall the name of the magazine) which should start arriving in the next few weeks.


This is Becky Fleck and me (holding the baggie containing the brad). The brad will definitely be used on the layout about my win. LOL

These are some of the digital layouts I created over the weekend, most of them are printed as 8x8 for an "all about me" book for our 3yr old grandaughter. She always asks me (Nana Whinney) where her book is when she visits - there is very little journalling in these layouts as she really just likes looking at the photos of her. LOL


Iona Friends - credits:- Quickpage by MGL Scraps Font: Harrington


credits:- patterned papers: Carina Gardner (Pretty Posy), alphas by Jady Day Studio (Essentials collection) template: designer unknown


credits:- a freebie quickpage called "CB sweet exchange" unfortunately I cannot find the webpage to truly credit the designer


credits:- freebie quick page by Lyndsay Riches


credits:- a freebie quickpage from Adrianas Cafe's I will lose kit


credits:- a quickpage by Bella Gypsy Designs, I can see me using this QP again, its gorgeous, cute photo too LOL


credits:- quickpage by Lyndsay Riches

I have to admit that creating digi layouts using QuickPages is oh so easy but perfect for crops cos they come together F.A.S.T and you don't have to think too much, so ya can keep on yakking and scrapping! LOL