and the winner is....

Rachel (aka Pepper)!!

I went through every single comment again (all 62 of them - you girls rock!!)  and wrote your name down on a sheet of paper every time you commented. You also got an extra entry if you are following me  ;) Then I cut them all up, put them in a big bowl and got Leroy to choose a winner.

Your parcel is already on it's way Rach - I had a huge pile of things to send and got to the PO before I was able to get on here to update!

This is what's winging it's way to you... no time to list everything but you get the idea. I had a box and I just kept putting stuff in till it was full, then pulled it all out to take the photo. Hope you like it.

Thanks so much to everyone who has played along with me, I appreicate every single comment - makes me so happy. {{{hugs}}}

Off in a tick to go and pick up the moving truck and got the keys earlier today, so I'll see you on the other side... not sure how long I'll be offline - this is the NT after all where NT stands for Not Today, Not Tomorrow, Not Tuesday, Not Thursday, rofl!

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year  :)

12 days of chirstmas winner....

will be drawn and announced tomorrow. So sorry for the delay - I have been madly packing up my scrap stash today (amoungst a million other things) and now have a nice big box full of stuff for the winner! Some brand new from that shopping spree and other stuff that I know you'll love. I'll have pics and the winner tomorrow morning sometime. Make sure you email me your addy if you are not on the LSBS RAK list - I want to post it tomorrow arvo if possible as I'm moving house Tuesday!

:)

and on the 12th day of christmas...

the heavens opened wide!! as a result of the tropical cyclone and extreme low off the north coast of Darwin we have been experiencing VERY heavy rain for over 24 hours. I don't think, having come from drought affected areas, that I will EVER get used to sheer volume of rain that comes from these Top End skies. It is AMAZING! (and of course when I went outside to take these photos the rain subsides - but you can see how wet it is. look at that grass!!! 2 months ago it was brown and dead and too crunchy to walk on!!)

We have had a very busy day today anyway... Leroy and I were out the door at 8.30 this morning and I dragged him along to Target were I spurlged and bought myself a new pair of shorts, a t-shirt, 3 singlets and 2 sets of summer PJ's and a maternity bra, oh and a funky pair of summer thongs. spent $160 on that lot but darn happy wiht that!  :) After the shopping spree (which I did in less than 45 mins, go me!! lol) we went off to the movies to see Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs for a kids bday party. Was ok, but totally WEIRD too. (and I tell ya the weather here is cloudy with a chance of meatballs right now, rofl) After that came home for a quick bite to eat and hubby took the boys to go pick up his sister and I went and got some xmas photos printed of my baby nephew for my SIL and got my eyebrows waxed, then rushed down to do the pre-settlement inspection of our new house! OMG it's so close now!!!! And right now I'm taking a little quiet breather while all the boys take hubby's sister back into Darwin, then I'm off to frock up for hubby's xmas party tonight (in a spunky red dress I bought last night)! All this in amoungst trying to pack boxes. Am hoping and praying that the rain subsides over the next day or 2 - don't fancy trying to move house in the heavy rain.

Thanks a million to everyone who has visited and commented over the last 12 days and special thanks to those that are now following. I will collate all your wonderful comments (you girls sure do know how to make a girl happy!) and have Leroy choose a winner randomly tomorrow. Have a happy Saturday xx

on the 11th day of christmas...

I am running on empty. I am so tired and worn out from everything going on and I need some time out! Thinking of saying bugger the budget tonight and taking myself off for a pedicure (as well as a brow wax) before hubby's work xmas party tomorrow night.

Turns out Leroy is quite unwell - he went to school fine yesterday but last night woke up crying in pain. Took him to the after hours service at about 10.30pm and he has a middle ear infection. He's been on the AB's since Monday though so it's a bit odd, the when he woke up this morning he was totally fine (said it didn't hurt at all) and said he wanted to go to school for the last day. So I've sent him off with strict instructions for them to call me if anything is wrong. Only a few minutes drive away so that's good. But I'm sure he's fine (well hoping anyway othewise I'll have Mother Guilt as well on top of everything else!)

So that leaves me home with the little terror who has certainly had his cranky pants on this morning - took him grocery shopping and spent half the time trying to stop him eating every chocolate in sight (this kid is a chocoholic!!) that I forgot half the things I needed and will have to go back with both kids later on! arrgghhh!! I got a bit spooked last night after we had a severe thunderstorm and then I noticed there was a cyclone watch warning present out at sea north of Darwin - they don't think it will come this way but you just never know. And I realised we were totally un-prepared if one did hit. So went and bought a stack of non-perishable food items and put them in a big tub and will be hitting Bunnings ASAP for some other things like torches, masking tape (to tape windows) etc etc. We got through our first wet season here last year by not really doing any of this (and we were lucky there was not even a cyclone watch) but obviously we need to get ready! Actually the big slogan here is 'GET READY, GET THRU' & 'BE PREPARED, NOT COMPLACENT'  so that's what I'm doing!
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Now what I WAS going to blog about today is the fact that today would have been my grandmothers 75th birthday. I wanted to share photos but I discovered hubby has packed them! She passed away on 31st March, 2003 aged 68. She was way too young. She had a severe degeneration of her brain stem - it was very sad. She got sick very quickly but the most tragic thing was that she knew in her head what was going on, and who everyone was, and what she wanted to do, she just had no control over it. 15 years ago today I was on an air-plane flying to Hawaii with her... she took me there to celebrate finishing year 12. We left the day after my year 12 formal and her 60th birthday lasted only a few hours mid air as we flew across the internation date line. I miss her every day and am so sad that she was never around to see my beautiful babies. Not that I don't believe she knows. I believe with all my heart that she knows all about them. I have had a few experiences since she passed.  When I was about 3 months pregnant with Leroy I had a very vivid dream - it was Dawn (that's what we called her) telling me I would have a baby girl called Isabella Dawn. From that day on I was certain he would be a girl, even ignoring the little tell-tale sign on the scan. She had only been passed for around 6 months at this stage. When he was born I just dismissed the dream and loved my baby boy. Then one night when I was up feeding him at about 4 or 5 months, I felt like I could feel her. When I went back to sleep I dreamt about her and about her beautiful gold watch (one of her fave things was to shop for jewellery in her travels to places like Hong Kong, Singapore etc)... and she was telling me in the dream to look at her watch. I woke up feeling as though she was telling me to stop holding onto her so much - it was her time to go. I cried and cried, especially as I just wanted my mum but she was in France.

When Leroy was about 18 months I got pregnant again and I had another dream with her telling me that I would get my Isabella Dawn. I lost this baby at 6 weeks. Another 18 months passed before I got pregant again and I also lost that one to an ectopic pregnancy - I really felt after all of that that I did indeed get my girls... of course there is no scientific proof to any of that or whether the babies I lost were in fact girls (as it was way to early to tell) It's just what I felt.

Last night I felt her again. At 3.20am the phone rang. It is right next to my side of the bed and I got it on the 2nd ring. When I answered there was only a dial tone, like I'd picked it up to ring someone. I could feel her immmediately - I cannot explain it but I know she is looking over me. Oh how I miss her  :(  I Love you Dawn xx

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Here's another chrissy card I found I did the other day that I hadn't photographed, love it too. I've saved it to send to my friend here who lives in the same townhouse complex we are moving into! Exciting!  (too tired to work out side-ways images now but you get idea!)

Had grand plant to make marvellous teacher pressies but just totally ran out of time. Settled instead for a lovely bowl filled with chocolates and candy canes, wrapped in a chrissy tea towel and secured with a ribbon holiding a tree deco that Leroy chose (he always chooses this one - he likes to give his lady teachers diamonds, lol)

awwww... look!

we had a surprise visit this arvo from my 2 SIL's and gorgeous baby Jake. It's the first time we've seen him out of hospital and he is just divine! Leroy asked if we could keep him! isn't he just delicious?

cluck, cluck, cluck!!

on the 10th day of christmas...

wow only 2 more days left in my 12 days of christmas blogging... still no pic of the prize but will get that up when I announce winner. Don't forget to comment and add yourself as a follower if you have not already done so. Anne's prize RAK for being my 20th follower went postal yesterday  :)

Here's the last of my chrissy cards - I made these in front of the telly, not something I normally do but I wanted to watch Willie's wonky chocolate factory on ABC2 - was good too  :) happy with how they turned out - maybe I shouldn't concentrate so hard in future, lol  ;)

this one uses recycled chocolate wrappers from a christmas chocolate tree I bought for the kids from Coles - I went to keep the wrapeprs and was busy smoothing them out. Isaac was going mental at me and whining - I was thinking... geez you have chocolate and you are still whining!! then I worked out he was saying 'BIN, BIN!!!' he was getting cranky at me cause I wasn't putting the rubbish in the bin!! rofl. I pretended to put it in there, he was happy and went off and enjoyed his chocloate and I got some cute metal wrappers for a card, lol

another one using Kerryns step x step from yesterdays post

This last one here was inspired by the talented Deanne and her marvellous cards in Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft mag - they were very cool and as I started making these I knew where the inspiration was coming from. The metal 'shim' is the metal from inside a milo tin, simply run through the Cuttlebug. looks cool huh?

Thanks for visiting and see you tomorrow - I have something very special planned for tomorrows entry so please come back and visit  :)

on the 9th day of christmas...

I am enjoying the quiet house right now as Isaac sleeps and Leroy is at school. Wasn't going to send him as he has a nasty cough but the Transition classes are having their xmas party today - took him to the dr and she said he's fine to go to school, just needs AB's and rest at home (after school that is) He's not contagious to other kids, so he's gone off to enjoy party food and xmas craft at school for a few hours while I get my head around what else I need to do this week!! eekk!!

Last night I addressed all those chrissy cards and discovered I was about a half dozen or so short, so made more! I found Kerryn's step x step for this weeks 52 pick up challenge and used that to make thse 2 cards. I am so stoked how they came out and I know the recipients will love them  :)

Another open house here this arvo so better go do some darn tidying (again!!)

see you tomorrow xx

on the 8th day of christmas...

I have got a rather sick big boy. AGAIN! we both were all sick just 10 days ago and now he's unwell again. He woke up last night with a very hig temp - not sure how high but he felt VERY hot. Will be taking him to the drs this morning and requesting AB's this time. No doubt Isaac (and probably me too) will get it again as well since they love each other so much - hopefully we have a day of this...

this was taken last night before bed - and just before isaac's shower ;) think I might have a couple of basketball players on my hands?? look at the size of those feet!! lol

PS Anne can you send me your addy please so I can get your RAK, thanks for being my 20th follower  :)

on the 7th day of christmas...

I was 'miss craft teacher' for the morning today. Some kids are so funny - most of them call me Tash or Leroy's mum  but didn't quite know what to call me since I was in class teaching them, lol. One kid even kept calling me Miss.

SO this is what we did... I pre-cut the paper to size and drew a triangle shape on the back for them to cut out. I also pre-embossed 2 of the 4 shapes, then they got to do the other 2 in class, would have run out of time otherwise. Then I let them play with some leftover bling sheets I had and some kindy glitz - they were all tops and so interested except for one kid who just swung on his chair, complained and made a mess with the kindy glitz - always one isn't there!

my example for them...

Some of the finished cards lined up waiting for the Kindy Glitz to dry...

And this one is Leroy's. Notice how it looks quite different to the others?? He was being a bit over excited and a  bit of a smarty pants that it was HIS mum teaching them, that he said 'well I can do mine with the spare bits' (read: offcuts after they cut out the triangles) I just left him to it, lol. He had after all done it all before, lol.

The kids all loved it, and were just amazed by the Cuttlebug as I knew they would be. One kid even told me, I quote "We've just had a little chat and worked out that it's not magic like you said, it's because when the paper goes through those silver rollers it gets squashed in between that thing with the pattern on it, that's what makes the pattern. we don't think it's magic like you said" I had to contain myself not to ROFL!!!! hee, hee, hee  :)

On the countdown now till settlement day on our new house - 7 days till we get the keys. Me thinks we better get moving with the packing!!!!

Thanks for visiting and see you tomorrow
xx

PS Who is going to be my 20th follower??????? If you have not already added yourself do so now, be the 20th, then send me an email with your address and you'll be getting a surprise scrappy RAK in the post!!  :)

on the 6th day of christmas....

it's finally beginning to look and feel a lot like christmas. Despite my card making marathon, I have been living in denial that chrissy is virtually upon us. But could do that no more yesterday with Leroy excitedly telling me all day that it was only 20 days till Christmas and tomorrow it'll only be 19!!

We went and bought a new tree and some lights all to be put up before anything else is unpacked in the new house I'm sure, lol. Leroy will see to that.

Last night I went through the decos to see what we had (amazing how you forget one year to the next isn't it?) and added to the box these gorgeous handmade hearts that I bought from Cottontails Baby - they are just divine and I can't wait to hang them somewhere.

PS I know I said I'd introduce you to Big Brother Ducky (yet to be re-named) today but it was too risky trying to get a photo of him before Leroy gets him.

Thanks for visiting and I'm off now to get ready for a busy day of chrissy shopping, then home for isaac's sleep, then a kids party this arvo! See you tomorrow (I'll be blogging later in the day as I will be at Leroy's school for the chrissy craft - will blog about that! can't wait to see how mcuh fun we have!)

on the 5th day of christmas...

I am feeling rather weary after my chrissy card making marathon of the last few days.... I have made over 50 cards in 3 days!! :0 Here's a close look at some of the ones I made yesterday using the new things I bought (almost all gone now less than 24 hours after I got it, lol)

Here's the ones using the Kaiser Craft Christmas Carnival range - oh how I love this - the bright colours and cute little graphics really do it for me.

I also did a couple of cards using the tags from the packaging - love how they turned out too...

This week we received the new 'Ducky' (more about him 2moro) and in the parcel was some gorgeous vintage looking tags that Charlotte from Cottontails Baby had very kindly included - she must have known I'd put them to good use!! This is what I did - my first attempt at a real vintage looking card. And it won't be my last, thanks so much Charlotte.

Thanks for visiting. Off to go and get ready now for my Weight Watchers meeting, will be back in a couple of hours with an update on my other blog if you are interested in supporting me.

xx

on the 4th day of Christmas...

I've been scrap shopping!! Has been a long time (and don't tell hubby, lol) Here's what I bought... some of this is for the scrap prize pack but not telling yet which bits, you'll have to wait and see. (hmmm, thought I'd seen the end of sideways images!)

Also made a stack more cards yesterday - decided to give myself a total day off from all the packing / organising / phone calls etc etc and just play all day. I even put Isaac in front of the TV for most of the day (guilt free - I needed it!) watching Thomas the Tank Engine - he loved it. Have now got a stash of about 35 cards I think and many more still to come out of my head, lol! Here's some of what I did yesterday...

Also beginning to wonder if I'll ever get a nice photo of the kids to include with the chrissy cards (or in place of the cards for the relos I know won't really appreciate getting a handmade one)... not sure that my Nan would appreciate this!

One can only dream that I would get a repeat of last years gorgeous effort....

Thanks for visiting and see you tomorrow. Don't forget to leave me a comment - the more comments, the more entries you'll get in the prize draw. I'm off to play with my new things now  :)