Balmy for Baja! (Note details about September special)

Hello O faithful ones….yep you! The ones who keep coming back even when I fail to……{sigh}……..life has just got in the way. After our successful launch we have been a tad busy – fathers day, nephews birthday, Jared’s birthday and next week it is the DH’s turn. Pssstttt – I hate September!!! Now with all these card requiring events, I have been busy creating so have lots to show you, found the camera (a feet in itself!!) so here are just some of the stuff that has escaped….Oh , I didn’t tell you!! My stamping room has also changed……..hubby and I had a discussion….yep one of those where he expressed the desire for some room in his study HOW DARE HE!!!!…so I promptly huffed and moved out…..into the sewing room. I will take some pickies and show you one day. It has some advantages and some disadvantages as my stamp club girls will tell…….it is a longer walk to just grab something…

My baby boy turns 10 today. This was the card I created for him. He requested one of those powerwing scooters – owners of young boys beware!!!! These things are so cool ….and weird. We managed to get one at a reasonable price {insert wide eyes} for about $160 – Uncle Petes toys are the best!!! We discovered on opening that it is way too small for my wiry, lanky lad. So a quick repack and we had to get the deluxe model, with the adjustable handle bars for $270 {insert REALLY wide eyes}. So he is now happy, he has been riding outside for a while, has spilt blood over his brand new quicksilver flat brimmed hat and he is in heaven……..well 10 year old boys heaven anyway.

Like the card? He did , we had a long discussion about birthday cards the other day and he told me how much he loves my cards to him…brought a little tear to a mums eye it did……..anyone who has met this lad will tell you what a charmer he is.

Products on this card include….

So saffron, baja breeze and whisper white CS, saffron baja and riding hood red ink, sleep slumber DS textured cardstock, big deal alpha, On your birthday (the best investment for all those birthday cards), Scallop punch as well as both the circles, 1 and 1/4in and 1 and 3/8in circles, aluminium rimmed tag, dimensionals and RIBBON BUNDLE – this is the special for September – spend $100 and you will receive FREE two rolls of ribbon – both exclusive to this offer. The first is a roll of so saffron grosgrain that you can see used here , you get 9m of it and 9m of a lovely certainly celery twill….a silky polyester twill.

You can see two of the fathers day cards I made this year here. Once again Baja breeze is the dominant colour – theme is pretty consistent isn’t it….it’s official I think…I need to start lobbying SU! to make this colour permanent….so glad I can still use it for another 12 months!!!

The card on the left was for my dad, with the boat stamped in brown stazon {shhhhhh no, its not SU!…but a brown lover like me NEEDS stazon in this colour} and is stamped onto acetate which is layered over those gorgeous parisian breeze DS textured CS. I will be crying tears of blood when this one leaves us at the end of November…..I then whacked on some jumbo brads (the ones from the mini) and some double stitched choc grosgrain – the men in my life understand and also ‘like’ my ribbon additions to cards and so expect their cards will have ribbon hehehehehe. The one on the right is DH card – yep a doggy, very appropriate. The stamp set is retired and I will let go of it eventually, but for now I just love that dog. I also used the parisian breeze paper and a crimper with some twine….for that masculine feel. They all loved their cards and we are looking at them placed on top of the TV………will show you my teenage boy cards when my nephew gets home – not sure where they were stashed……til then…..Oh, don’t forget, if you want that FREE ribbon, just give me a call…..

All images © Stampin’ Up! 1990 – 2009

I’m tagged…….

The lovely Rebecca Munro has tagged me! {Actually I think leonie did too…….ooops}

Apparently, the rules which you must abide by if you are tagged are:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

So here goes……..

1. There are 9 people who live on my house…….and it never looks like that photo below ……. . We (my sister and her son, my dad and mum – when she was alive) have lived together now for nearly 10 years. Most of my kids have never known anything else. We also have one dog, two birds and a leaf insect called leafroy!

2. My youngest son Jared has just broken his third bone ……….. and he is only 8!!!! One other break resulted in pinning and this break looks like needing a ligament reattachment op…… ……..sighing here and laughing!!!

3. I am actually a full time teacher (science and ag at high school) and have recently celebrated a great result in the HSC as one of the kids I taught last year came first in the state!!

4. I work in a boarding school that also has a huge, working farm. My favorite animals to work with are the goats……….the least are the beef steers. I get to teach what I love……junior agriculture and senior science and chemistry……I am a lucky chicken!!

5. I have 4 children……boy (turned 14 yesterday) a girl (turned 10 yesterday), a boy (who is 8 ) and a girl (turned 7 two weeks ago..). Yes….you read right, my two eldest both have a birthday on the 14th of March………..

6. I have had a very special medical miracle (has two legs and lovely long hair)……..you’ll have to ask me about that one and four caesarians in total. My other surgery was a gall bladder removal at age 20!!!

7. My fave pastime is working on my SU! business and reading……when I’m not so tired I fall asleep.

Now who to tag………….I don’t know , any ideas?????? If you add a comment here I tag ya LOL!!

Off on holidays………

I am just letting you know that I will be taking a break until the 10th of Jan……off for some surf, sun and sand (with a few margharitas to keep it all bareable)…..LOL!! I will be busy though…….making lots of samples using the salebration FREE stamp sets that will be available with orders over $100 in January and February………….so I’ll post those as soon as I return……..for those customers who are desparate to catch me…..LOL!!!…..I will have my mobile on me…..send a message and I’ll return the call when I’m sober………hhhhmmmmm………….talk soon, stay safe and well…..

Family Christmas shot…..

Last week was Maddy and Jared’s Christmas concert at school. Caitlin wasn’t involved as it was an infants school thing. I asked the older two if they’d like to come and was quite pleased when they were happy to. I have a rule…….if you go to something like this, you watch it…..no hanging out with mates etc…….So, I was really thrilled that they were happy to watch their younger siblings sing Christmas carols….AGAIN!!!! I have neen to 9 of these and still have one more to go………but it is great because they were in different classes and Nicole (my sister) also had a class item we were keen to see as well.

This was a shot I took of all four …….hard to get them in the same place at the same time and happy to get a photo. Brendan (13) is up the back , Maddy (6) front left, then Caitlin (9) and Jared (8) on the right…………..my little cherubs………hhhmmmm, now to go yell at them LOL!!!!!!!!

After the last sad post……

I thought I’d put some photos up of our holiday down the coast…….

This is the gorgeous bay. There is a beach on the other side of the head land with some ‘gnarly’ surf they tell me………LOL!!

 

 

 

This is my eldest and my youngest ‘occupying themselves’ on a walk around the bay.

 

This is what Jared likes to do…………..harrass the poor crabs……..they move out when they hear we are coming!

 

This is what I like doing (although that is my sister on the left, Caitlin – eldest DD, Jared and Maddy) down the coast! A whole lot of nothing…….and maybe read a book or two! Ooops musn’t forget drinks are always at 3pm!!

Hope that makes you feel peaceful and relaxed……I do when I look at photos…..

 

 

Thanks everyone……

Thank you fot your great comments about my cleanup……And you are all right! I do feel like a new woman. I’ve done heaps of stamping since the cleanup……yes I made those 100 vaccination cards. Boy, those animals at our clinic are going to feel classy when they get handed these after their jab! LOL!

You will all be pleased to know…..(I know it’s gotten up DH’s nose….) that I’ve kept it clean….even sweeping up the embossing powder……and washind my stampin’ scrub in the dishwasher. I do feel more organised and definitely more capable and ready to pull apart the whole house……..BUT alas, I have a beach and four kids screaming for attention. So, on Sunday I’m off to the sun and sand for a few days….I will try and get back to post some stuff before I go, but I’ll check in with you all next weekend with some holiday snaps!

Go clean a cupboard out now!! LOL!!!!

Mess no more……well less anyway!

Well, we went to IKEA! gosh I love that place…….managed to get said bookshelf to store my stamps in and am VERY happy with the price……but before I show you how good it looks now, I better reveal the before photo……are you ready?……more importantly…..am I ?  LOL!!!

I wonder if Stampin’ Up! want to copyright this photo!!! PMSL!!!! These are the current three crates that hold my stamps, jammed between the wardrobe and filing cabinet……….You ask my sister…………(this is how every stamping session begins)

Sharon – “Nicole, I can’t find ……….. stamp set”

Nicole – “Well it was in there last I looked”

Sharon – “But I can’t find it”…..{rummaging , stamp sets being dragged out of each basket}

Now , those days are gone ……….this is how it looks now (just a few hours later)

 

 

This is soooo much better, huge relief for the whole family! My mission is to make my study look like this everywhere you look and every cupboard you open……. Some of the boxes are not yet full. This set up was soooooo cheap

Bookshelf – $49………..DVD boxes – 2 packs x $9………CD boxes – $9……..baskets – 2x $6 an absolute BARGAIN.

I also bought a trolley that now holds catalogues, craft mats, punches and heaps of stuff I haven’t thought of yet . I had seen it on line for $129 but I wanted something a little cheaper. I was going to go for a three drawer cabinet on coasters….BUT the trolley was on sale for $79 and I think it is heaps more useful. When I have finished the study I will include photos of this if you are interested.

Now, to show you the mess I usually work in……

You can see why I need to clean up huh! I will update when I get more organised!!!

 

3 days to go………

Well it has been a great holiday doing ‘nothing’ . You have to laugh when mothers say that……when do we do nothing……..it really means nothing that we would like to be doing……

Well as some of you know, I teach Agriculture and Science to high school kids………sometimes the animals need a bit of a hand and they don’t know when term ends…..My family (especially my little sister…..:-) ) have been helping some baby goats along during the two week break. We have been bottle feeding these goats every four hours, caring for some yukky eyes and keeping them warm and safe at night. My kids have absolutely loved it…….and now that they arefinally taking their bottles, they have been having a go at feeding them ………here is a photo of my youngest daughter, Maddy with one of the ‘twins’.

 

This shows that goats really do eat everything……Maddy’s finger and MY BROMELIADS………never mid thay are very, very cute and will be returning to the rest of their ‘family’ monday morning at 8am………that is a good thing………this is all feeling a little bit like having newborns all o v e r again  …….LOL!!!

Must scrap these photos…..OK……It is a challenge, I will scrap some goat pictures for you next Friday (maybe…..LOL!!!)

Have fun, and all you NSW people, enjoy your last three days of holidays……….

Mothers Day!!!!!

 

This beautiful creation on the bottom…..(made by both my girls – aged 6 and 9) was bestowed on me this morning with one eye barely able to make out any light. My kids couldn’t wait to hand over their handiwork and display their discerning mothers day stall shopping skills!

Maddy (the youngest) also produced this spectacular heartshaped creation made in craft at school……….along with the lovely plaster cast clock , that is to be placed on my craft desk (perhaps so I don’t lose track of time??????) now that I have put batteries in it………(apparently I had to be asked ‘too many times!’)

Caitlin adorned me with a special ceramic cow that can be put into my cheese (I do love cheese……) along with a set of frangipani bowls that I can use for the healthy lunches that I intend taking to work(from now on anyway……..) She produced the incredibly tasteful card with the flower arrangement on the front…….

My gorgeous Jared (aged 7) produced the folding card that reveals he does know me very well…….my fav colour is green, I do shop and I do sometimes visit him and tuck him in (especially when he is upstairs rampaging ). He really has put some effort into this…………..my gift was a lovely white trinket box that he thinks will hold some stamps!!!! What a surprise…………..

My darling eldest, Brendan, (aged13) reminded me of the lack of mother’s day stalls at high school and said he’d be good   While my very clever husband (and sister who ‘directed’ him) got me the new CK Creative companion, which I am thrilled with. Especially as I’d already bought myself a complete set of Stampin’Up! markers…….oooohhhhh I am lucky and grateful. I’ve enjoyed my mothers day, but do wish that my mum was here to enjoy her’s……………hug your mum today and everyday, you never know when you won’t be able to do it anymore.

Back to work!!! Pooooweeeee

It’s the end of the holidays…….spent the day marking exams while my girls played with making an accordion album using 6 in squares of paper…….you should check it out at

www.crafttvweekly.com

They have a new episode every Friday…..fantastic ideas!!!

Anyway, off to finish dinner and set an exam or two!! Yuck!

Have a great week guys! Happy creating….