It's been one of those days...

Last days of 2011

It’s that time of year again.  Christmas is over and this can by proven by the abundance of new t-shirts with cartoon beer cans or other such gift-type logos that are currently walking the streets of New Zealand. More proof of Christmas past could be seen in the over-flowing recycle bins adorning the edges of my street, the amount of kids riding on new scooters and the half dead xmas-tree dumped in the trailer outside one of my neighbouring houses. 

So it’s on with the New Year.  Now is probably a great time to share this layout, created specifically for New Zealand’s very own Paper Chase magazine, which has been on the shelves of your favourite retailers for about 3-4 weeks.  Pick up a copy, support your NZ mag and for those of you in NZ, perhaps even submit a page or two.  Page 60 has a whole list of page themes they are looking for.

Back in a day or two with some reflecting on the past year, and the year to come.  I’ve had a great Christmas-New Year so far, I’ve kept the computer off, you’ve hardly seen me on facebook and my email isn’t being attended to.  I’ve focused on family and had the best time.  I’ll share my favourite parts over the next few days.

As always, I’m truly grateful for your visits, I love seeing comments and knowing that you read my ramblings.  Here’s to a fabulous New Year to you all.

Laters

Supplies: 7Dots Studio Papers, Large Alpha from Prima, Small Alpha from LilyBee Design, Floral Element from Pink Paislee, Black flourish from Glitz Designs, Twine from The Twinery.

The day before the day before Christmas

Top of the agenda today is to smoke a whole lot of fish caught by the super-hunter-gather types in the family.  They crossed the bar out the port and had the best day fishing.  Uncle Vaughan had only been in the country from chilly London for 36 hours before landing enough of these to feed a small army.

Look at that rain building in the clouds behind – I swear this has been the wettest December ever.  Check out how lush that grass is.  We never have green grass in December.  Anyhow.  There were some seriously happy fishermen yesterday and many people are having fish on the Christmas BBQ this year.

On the list of people that benefitted from the boys fishing excursion was a very happy teacher at Braden’s school.  Braden is holding what we call a Barracuda and we usually throw these fish back – weird prehistoric looking things – but this South African teacher at Braden’s school just thinks it’s Christmas (haha it is!) if they manage to gift him one of these… apparently it’s a sought after fish in his home country.  Pic is deceptive.  This was a huge fish.

While all this chest-beating manly kind of activity was going on out on the water, I was home scrapping.  I’ve used these butterfly garden papers by Pink Paislee dozens of times, still loving them.  I threw in some of their Nantucket papers too, loved them.  The layout is full of packaging, cheap scrapbooking, love it.  I’ve used these 7dots studio papers before, still loving them.  I have used these colours together countless times.  Still loving them.  Since this was a layout I was doing for myself, for fun, for creative time, I did all the stuff I loved.  Good times.

Supplies: Lighter papers are Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden, Mistables papers and Nantucket.  Darker papers are 7dots studio Dreamer.  Embellished piece under butterfly is the top of a pink paislee embellishment packet.  Numbers by Pink Paislee, Alphas by FancyPants Designs.  Small scallop punch with dots is the Punch Border Dotted Scallop ribbon punch (love it!) by Stampin’ Up! and the other large lace punch is by Martha Stewart.  A lotta ink and curling and bob’s yer uncle, really.

Happy Christmas Eve Eve.  Hope it’s good to you!
Laters

Inspiration online

I have scrapbooking paper all over my desk, a layout isn't far away.  This layout has taken ages.  Perhaps because I'm not under any pressure to finish it for any reason.  Perhaps because I'm spending too much time on Pinterest, browsing for fabulous recipe ideas. 

Like this one.  Which I've included in my family dinners twice now, instead of having carbs.  (We are a mostly carb-less family for evening meals).  This is so simple and so yummy.  So quick and easy.  You are basically using deli ham as a liner in a muffin-tin and cracking an egg in the middle.  Recipe is here.  My only tip, make sure it's exactly 12 minutes at 200 degrees.  14 minutes will make hard eggs. 

 

Oh this recipe.  Which goes against the carb-less rule I mentioned in the previous paragraph.  Haven't tried this one yet.  I'm dying to though, I know the kids will love it and I probably will too.  It's basically made by standing up nearly-cooked pasta in the dish, pouring nacho mince over the top, pushing down into the tubes and adding a little cheese on top and baking.    It'd be amazing with fresh tomatoes and brocolli on the side.  I may have just talked myself into making this tonight.

And then there are these.  Oreo truffles.  If you are a close friend or neighbour of mine right now you'd want to be extra nice to me.  I have a whole batch of these in my fridge.  Easy to make.  I haven't tried one yet , seriously, I haven't, what kind of crazy person am I?,  but there were like 1110 positive 5 star reviews on the recipe site, so I'm thinking they are gooooood.   My big tips for making these.

1. Refridgerate mix BEFORE you roll into balls.
2. Freeze balls of mix for a good while before trying to dip in chocolate.
3. Use several kebab skewers or similar to roll in the chocolate.
4. Easiest way to crush the oreos, place into a bag and get all the air out of the bag, tie a knot.  Put into 2 more bags with no knots and run them over in the car.  Forwards. Backwards. Forwards. Backwards.  With 3 kids jumping up and down and squealing with laughter watching.  I don't think the kids thing helps the way the cookies crush, it just makes for a helluva fun time.

So those are the current reasons I have no scrapbook layouts to show you.  Now it's back to cutting coloured pieces of paper and sticking them together whilst dreaming of Pasta Pie.

Laters

Cute little twine stars... and links to more crafty stuff.

Nothing like a fun, festive blog hop!  Welcome everyone and a special welcome to those of you that have arrived via blog hop from Big Picture Classes.  Yay for browsing blogs and being linked to a whole lot of festive ideas...and scroll to the bottom of this post for info on a new Big Picture Class celebrating Christmas...  let's get this blog hop moving!

There is no doubting that this school holiday fun I had with Abby back in July was a total hit.  We created the cutest little twine heart shaped wand, it took very little resources and made Abby smile for days.  It was way back then that she asked me to create one using a star.

So as Christmas approached I decided that this would make a fab ornament.  Except this time we need a star or two for the Christmas tree.  Bring on the string and glue!

Gather some of your favourite twine.  You can use anything, I get mine from  The Twinery.  Abby chose green and orange, since we were creating two stars. I'd have chosen teal but I was out-voted, clearly.

2. Find some fun shaped cookie cutters or play-dough cutters. Gather some wood-glue that dries clear, a plastic lid/plate to place the creations on while you make them, and some scissors.  Oh and glitter. One must have glitter.

Cut lengths of twine, I cut mine about 5-10cm long (around 2-4 inches long).  How many? How long is a piece of string? (Couldn't resist that!) - I guessed and if it wasn't enough, I cut more later!

Get layering string and glue!  Abby & I partnered up, she was the string-placer and I was the glue-master.  We layered glue and string, pushing it in hard all the way until the cookie cutter was full of string soaked in glue.

You have to have bling - Abby added glitter and sparkles, spilled a whole lot on the floor, declared that the floor would look fabulous all glittery for Christmas, put the stars in the sun to dry and flitted off and left me to clean up.  That wasn't in the plan, just for the record...

Leave to dry.  Vacuum the floor.  When they are completely dry they should push out of the cookie cutter and there you have it.  Most of the time there is a 'loop' somewhere that you are able to add a hanging string to.  Isn't this the cutest, easiest, cheapest home made ornament ever?!!!  Try different shapes, different colours, mixing colours, adding different bling, decorating the finished product with small flowers or other embellishments.  This could totally be the start of a twine & glue revolution!

And there we have it.... want more festive ideas?  Hope on over to Georgana Hall's blog where the blog hop will continue on until you have 12 fun ideas!

Before you go, though, stop right there - I have info on the next Big Picture class that I'm involved in, I'm celebrating the 12 days of Christmas along with 11 other teachers!

How it works:
For the 12 days leading up to Christmas, you will receive an email from a BPC teacher with a photo prompt and a list of supplies to gather. Preparing specific holiday pictures and products as Christmas approaches will help you focus on the present moments and the joyful anticipation in a more thoughtful way—without feeling any pressure to scrapbook right away! Then, starting on December 25th, you'll get to "open" a new handout each day, designed to guide and inspire you in pulling together pictures and products to complete a dozen different layouts.

At the end of this workshop you'll have created 12 special memories with your family AND you'll have 12 finished pages. Rather than rushing through the holidays this year, give yourself the gift of happy memories documented in a delightfully doable way!

This workshop includes:

• 12 daily emails from 12 different BPC teachers for the 12 days leading up to Christmas
• Reminder emails when the classroom is updated with new materials
• 12 colorful instructional handouts with step-by-step instructions for creating 12 layouts
• Video messages from each teacher available as streaming videos and transcripts
• Message board to share your thoughts with your classmates

Find out more here!  Happy Festive Blog hop to you all!  Enjoy the twine creations!

Because I love them.

We're a fairly no-frills family.  We have simple rules and everyone sticks to them.  Mostly.  No TV before 4pm.  No nintendo in the weekdays.  Wait 'til everyone has finished eating before asking to be excused from the table. Mum is boss.  Dad is not boss even though he says he is boss. If you have to leave any of your dinner, leave your carbs.  Don't expect that I'll buy food that doesn't fuel your body in some way.  Well, that one doesn't always apply.

It was about November last year when I celebrated reaching a personal milestone.  You can see that post here, it's interesting reading, for me anyway, one year on.  I don't normally open the emotional floodgates on my blog, but that post was an exception.  The good news is that one year on, I'm in the same place as I was last year.  This year though, I'm celebrating a little more because I had some extra odds thrown at me.  Ill health was a biggie, something I'm still having to deal with, although right now  it's on a lesser scale. 

Anyway.  I didn't realise it'd been a whole year since I did this, but once again, I was inspired to throw a little after-school party for the kids.  A walk-in-the-door-and-their-jaws-drop-open kinda thing.  A Mum-did-you-really-just-serve-up-cheezels-and-chocolate kinda party.  Well yes.  Yes I did.  There's nothing like breaking out some cool new supplies (KaiserCraft again, this time Fine & Sunny), writing some sentimental little cards for the kiddos, telling them how fabulously wonderful they are and decorating a party table.  All for no reason.  Except celebrating what we have.  Right?

laters

The pitter patter of little feet…

We’ve got some big changes happening in the Howard home.  There is lots going on with the kids, schooling, I qualified with my sports studies, there is a whole lot of big decision making going on.  To add a little more into the mix, I texted my Mum the other day and let her know that there would be the pitter patter of tiny feet in the Howard home next year.

She didn’t fall for it though.  Her reply to me was “4 feet and a tail that wags?”

Yep.  That’s the plan.

So I spent a lot of time last week with this gorgeous wee thing on my mind.  I travelled out of town to meet her.  I spent time with her.  Because she has some special medical needs I rang around getting advice about her.  I searched online.  I read forums.  I listened and spent days worrying about my decision about her.

As a family we decided we weren’t the right match, so I had to let the owner know we couldn’t give her a home, but in my mind I had already taken her in.  Sadly she’ll go to someone else now, so the search continues.  Isn’t she the cutest thing?

Maybe the next pup will be the right one for us.

Laters

Single True Scrap classes available.

You thought you were finished your Christmas shopping, right?  (there was a little sarcasm there, no one has finished, have they?)   Well no, you haven’t finished yet – because the True Scrap classes are now available as single classes!

I know lots of you are going to love this.  You are going love shopping for YOU with this one, because many of you have been asking when my class “Ready, Set, Distress” would be available as a class by itself.  Well it is.  And at $10, it’ll barely be noticed on the credit card. With all that Christmas shopping you have put on there already, right?!!

Scroll down for full details on my class, but while you are at True Scrap signing up for Ready , Set, Distress, don’t forget to take a look at the other single classes too, choosing from the likes of:

-Super Stamping Secrets II with Jennifer McGuire

-Designing with Embellishment Clusters from Noell Hyman

-From Pages to Cards with Kristina Werner

-Spray Inks De-Mist-Ified with Francine Clouden

-How to Make Money Scrapbooking with... Me!

-A face-to-face interview with the darling and daring Cathy Z!

...and a dozen more.   At least check it out.  You deserve it!

Ready, Set, Distress!
Technique and Layout class by Nic Howard.

(See the blooper video here, it got a whole 500 views on youtube, which was fabulous because my hubby didn’t think I’d get past 23 and I bet him a bag of chocolate pineapple lumps that I would.  I won.  Neener.  Neener.)

Class Description:
Beautifully detailed vintage pages are the focus of many scrapbooks these days.  Inking and curling, sanding and painting,  Nic has built the perfect how-to class to set you on your way to distressing perfection.  Learn how to create a vintage distressed layout from start to finish, using a techniques you can apply to any project.  Nic is known for her ability to create visually stimulating textures and dimensions on a scrapbook page, and now she's going to share her favourite techniques with you!

What I will be doing during class: 

Quick demo of some distressing techniques using the crackle inks, distress stains etc.  Bringing the techniques together on a small tag.  Then on to a layout from start to finish (tag is included as the main embellishment).  It’s going to ROCK!!

 

Link to sign up is here!