Arrrrgh! Anyone want a dog?

I came home this afternoon and felt sorry for the dogs outside with the rainy weather so let them inside. I was feeling tired and instead of eating to keep awake I thought I would go off for a Nanna Nap.... I took my little dog (Sandy) with me and put her in the bed on the floor but left Lizzie free range of the lounge room area.....she usually sleeps on my mum's chair.


When I got up after about 30mins just look at what Lizzie had spent her time doing......



She had ripped open her bed and then pulled out all the stuffing which was then spread all over the lounge room.

I also bought a new Navman GPS for myself today and had a little play with it this afternoon, but the little special flyer that was included in the box fell onto the floor......so of course that meant to Lizze here is something to chew and rip up......



Luckily I can still read the internet address on the flyer so will still be able to access the special offer but.....seriously thinking about making my own special offer for someone to have a new little doggie!

I am so glad that Sandy (my dog) doesn't do these sorts of things at all...guess I have been very lucky with her.

Anyway hope you have all enjoyed your christmas, boxing day, etc.

Christmas Presents

Today I finished off the last of my calendars that I have given to a range of people for Christmas.
I started with one of those whiteboard type calendars and decorated it with designer paper and stamps. As of this afternoon I have completed my 12th one! The photo below shows the whole calendar.....then I have included some photos of the different designs....but no 2 calendars are the same. All it needs is for the recipient to add their own photo to the space and hang ready for the fast approaching new year!

Time to Clean Up

I decided that it was finally time to clean up all of my creative mess.....I had moved out onto the dining room table but this is how it looked when I started.....(LOTS of handmade Chrissy presents were created to make this mess)
Wow when I got rid of most of the rubbish...returned things to other rooms and stacked things back in their boxes it began to look like a more organised space.....

Oh my goodness I did actually have a table under all that stuff. I wonder how long I will be able to keep it clutter free???

Now the table has been uncovered I moved onto the desk in my craft room. This has been a mess for quite a while and the reason I moved out to the dining room in the first place. Believe it or not most of this stuff has a home and there will be a desk under it all.....if only I just get started.

Ta! Da! I did it ..... one organised craft desk ready to start creating some more projects. Yay!

Well all in all a very productive day.....I can now safely let Annette in the door when she visits tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great day and all the best for the countdown to Christmas.

Sew, Sew, Sew!

Wow!

This will be the third addition to my blog in the last 2 days after months and months of nothing. Hope you are not too shocked to keep reading.

I have been busy today making bags for gifts.....and for myself.

This bag is called a "Margaret Bag" and I got the pattern from the internet. The material is from "JJ's" at Redcliffe and was only $6 a metre. All up I think the bag cost me about $8.

This is my new shopping bag.....I am going to use it as a replacement for the plastic ones. This material came from spotlight....Toni has also used it before (just shows what good taste she has). I made up the pattern for this bag ... using some of the different patterns in the material.

Now onto the gifts....

I made this drawstring bag for Declan to keep his dancing shoes in. I followed a basic pattern from the internet....this is my first drawstring bag that is fully lined. I love that all the seams are hidden between the two layers. I used the computer to print out the writing and traced it onto the fabric, cut it out and stitched around it on the machine.

Then this is the same pattern for a drawstring bag for Tara to also keep her dancing shoes in. I actually handstitched around her lettering becasue I wanted to use purple, which is her favourite colour. Hopefully she will love it as much as I loved making it.

Well that's all for now.... maybe I will be making more regular updates in the future so please keep coming back to check.

Goodbye to a very special person

This afternoon my nanna passed away after suffering a massive stroke earlier in the week. She was 94. My mum and dad left early Wednesday morning to drive over to Perth but unfortunately were about 1 hour too late to say goodbye before she passed. Mum was able to go to the hospital though and have a chance to say her goodbye before they moved her.

My nanna was a very special lady....she wasn't directly related to me but was a lady who opened her home and family to my mum when my mum was young and had no where to live. She treated my mother like one of her own and when my mum got married and had children she became my nanna. I have many wonderful memories of holidays at her house and special times we shared together. Even though my brother and I were not really her grandchildren she sent us birthday and christmas presents every year right into our 30's.

My nanna is now at peace and no longer suferring but she will always be sadly missed.

Wow a blog update

Well hope everyone is having a great start to the holidays.....and not too stressed with last minute christmas organisation.

I went to the Petrie twilight markets last night to see Deb and Toni....there stall looked fantastic. I was disappointed that there were not a lot of other stall holders....really quite small.

Now for my news.....on the last day of term I decided to apply for a position with Catholic Education.....which has led to a crazy week. First I got a phone call on Tuesday to schedule an interview on Thursday.....so then on Thursday I went off for my interview at 10.30am. I felt the interview went well and by 2.30pm I had an offer for the job. I asked for time to think it over (I wasn't confident that I would get it so really hadn't considered everything) so after talking to a range of friends, the union, etc I decided I would accept the new job. So now I am going to be resigning from Education Queensland.......

While I am excited about my new adventure I know that I will definitely miss a range of close friends at Caboolture East.

What a weekend

Hope everyone has had a great weekend. I spent mine doing lots of things...but very little school work for a change. Annette has a fourth year student teacher and she is going to be doing the teaching tomorrow and Tuesday so we set her the task of planning both maths and reading activities. I still have to make up a story and activity for my special needs reading group...but that's all.

Some of you already know that I have joined Fernwood Gym so spent Saturday morning doing both my cardio and strength program. Then I went round to bath my parents dog....she doesn't know how to keep still so it is really a challenge to keep her in the tub. Then we went off to bunnings (one of my favourite places). In the afternoon dad and I took Lizzie (mum and dad's dog) to the off leash park. Lizzie is still only a puppy and has not been to obedience yet so we kept her on a long lead....but she enjoyed meeting other dogs....and lots of running, jumping and sniffing. When I got home I finished digging out the dead grass in one small section of my yard ready to lay new turf tomorrow. Then I sewed myself a hooded cape for my Little Red Riding Hood costume for book week....I am happy with how it turned out....I will make sure I get a photo of it on Friday.

On Sunday I got up and did the washing..... and then went to Pilates at fernwood. I haven't done pilates before and was surprised at how challenging it was....didn't get the breathing right for most of it but I am hoping this will improve. Then onto buying and laying my new grass. Dad came around to help. This photo shows the area that we were working on. Not huge about 4.5m x 1m.
Then we started.....I was quickly amazed at how much better the area looked when the grass went down. It sure will be nice to actually have green grass rather than just weeds.

And here is a photo of my personal gardener......my dad. Thanks dad for helping with another one of my good ideas. I don't know what I would do without you. I actually over estimated on how much grass I needed so we ended up doing some of the side area as well and if I get the rest of the old grass and weeds out...we will finish this area next weekend.

Although I now feel tired and sore, I am happy with what I got done in just 2 days. I forgot to take a picture of the finished area ....I will add this in the near future. Have a great week everybody.

Even More Cards! (and a notebook)

Well this weekend has been great for getting some more crafty stuff done. I have bought a new stereo/dvd/tv/cd player and put it in my craft room. I have found it great to be able to watch tv and do craft without dragging it all into my loungeroom.
First of all I finished making a chipboard owl....and then decided he was too cute to just put on a card and give him away so I decided to cover a notebook and add him to the cover. This way I will be able to show him off much longer until the notebook is full.
The next card uses one of my new stamp sets.....very pretty and a card that I know my mum will love.

This next one is a special request from my mum......she buys my cards to give to family and friends and I get to spend the money on buying more stuff....win, win really.

I bought the next stamp set so that I would have somethingto use on cards for boys....I am happy with how this worked out.

The stamps used on this card are from a beautiful stamp set that is available in the new mini catalogue. I think I will be using this set a little bit more in the upcoming weeks.

The next 2 cards use the flower stem set that I used last week. I really do love it....it works in arange of colours and doesn't always have to be used for a sympathy card. What do you think???

Well other than the above cards the weekend was pretty uneventful....hope everyone has a great week! Pete

Cards! Cards! Cards!

I hope everyone has enjoyed the long weekend.....on Saturday I got up early to volunteer at the Redcliffe PCYC community garden. This project is only in the beginning stages so there was lots of digging out grass and unwanted plants...moving bricks....etc. It was certainly a great workout and the ladies in the garden group made a delicious morning tea for all the volunteers. I think it will be a great space when the garden is finally finished and I hope I will be able to participate again.

Yesterday I went shopping, visited my parents, watched some DVD's...no school work in sight. And then today I have actually gotten into my craft room and made some cards...so here is what I came up with.

I copied this lion from a tutorial on youtube...it is made out of stampin' up punches...I was surprised at how easy it was to put together. It will make a great birthday card for my nephew.

This little bird house was totally cased from a card on someones blog that I visited although I can't remember who...but I would like to acknowledge that it is not my own work.

Now this card I made for Father's Day....I just hope my dad can't remember how to find my blog and won't see it before I give it to him.

I love this stamp set.....I coloured the leaves and flowers using markers and then stamped. These cards are for my mother to put into her card box. I often get order for specific types of cards from her....she usually likes what I make but prefers light colours to some of my personal favourites. I think she will like both the pink and blue versions of these.

Well that's all for now .... but I have a craft night next Monday with some friends and need to come up with something for us to make....I will be sure to post when I have made up my mind.

Hope everyone enjoys our shorter work week!!!

Spring Mini Catalogue Starts Today!!!

The new Spring Mini Catalogue for Stampin Up! starts today.....and products will be available until the 30th of November. There are some really great stamps and designer paper in this catalogue and I can't wait for my new items to arrive early next week.

You can view the catalogue on the Stampin Up Website here http://www3.stampinup.com/au/ena/default.asp or ask me to share a copy with you.

Nephew News!

This is my nephew Jaxon and for the last 2 years he has been living with his mother in Singapore. In an email this week it looks like he will be returning to Australia in September. He will have time in Brisbane to say hello to his Nanna, Poppy and favourite Aunty Peta, then will be driving to Cairns. It looks like Jaxon will live with his Nanna (and some other extended family) in Cairns while his mum will fly backwards and forwards between Cairns and Asia for her job. I think it will be much easier for me to see Jaxon more when he moves back to live in OZ! For starters I won't need a passport.....I can't wait. Yippee!

Fabulous Flowers

As most of you know I have been unwell over the holidays....first with Pneumonia and then Pancreatitis that required surgery last Wednesday. I have actually spent 5 nights in hospital all up over the 2 weeks of holidays.

I just wanted to share the lovely flowers that my parents brought for me last week. They are pretty special becasue normally my dad doesn't buy flowers.....especially ones that will eventually die.

I still have one surgical procedure to go on Thursday morning and can then concentrate on my recovery and return to work.

Thanks also to Annette, who has planned everything so far for this term without any help from me. I hope to be back on my feet and contributing to our class in the very near future.

Hope all teachers have a great day tomorrow and that your classes don't take too long to get back into routine. I will be thinking of you all.

Notebooks

I have spent the most of my holidays very quietly.....spent a lot of the last week sorting things out and cleaning. At the back of one cupboard I found a box and inside were a range of notebooks and message pads. I looked at a group of small memo books and thought the cover was only paper and not very attractive...

So I thought I would have a play with some cardstock, paper, stamps and other bits and pieces to see what improvements I could make. This is what I have come up with so far.

Shoulder Bag and Matching Bottle Bag

Well I talked about the shoulder bag that I made for my mother and finally got around to taking a photo of it.......I made the strap long enough for my mum to wear it diagonally across her chest so that it won't fall off.

I really liked this fabric and can't believe it was only $4 a metre and the lining is a matching fabric with smaller stripes (see the Water Bottle Bag). In total this bag cost me about $6 to make.....what a bargin.

After using her bag for awhile mum asked me to make her a new water bottle bag. She takes a bottle of water with her every time she goes out....and had been using a daggy bag that was intially made to carry an umbrella.

I decided I would make her one out of the lining fabric from the shoulder bag and made it to carry a 600ml bottle. I thought I would also line the bag with plastic (idea taken from making the wet bags). I actually used spray adhesive to glue the plastic and fabric together first before sewing.

Mum mentioned that she loves the bottle bag because it only fitted a small bottle and was not too heavy to carry around. She must really love both of these cause she is using them every day and when she visitied on the weekend she put in an order for another one!

THANKS for orders!!!

I just wanted to say thank you to all who placed an order with me for Stampin' Up! products (and those who encourage others to order from me). I have been able to reach the minimum amount required to keep my demonstrator membership active. Thanks again.

Peta

Sick for the Holidays

For those who don't know I have been sick for the past 2 weeks and went to the doctor on the weekend. Today the doc confirmed that I have microplasma pneumonia. I have been given 2 lots of antibiotics which will hopefully work.

When I checked the internet for information it indicated that people can take up to 6 weeks to get better so looks like I might be coughing for most of my holidays. Lucky me......at least I will have an opportunity to rest.

Finally some pictures of my sewing!

As I mentioned in my first post I have been giving the sewing machine a bit of a workout lately.....the first time it has been out of my cupboard for a while and certainly the first time for anything other than curtains and alterations to clothes.

The first thing on my list was a Pencil Roll.....I have to say that the inspiration for this came from Deb at the scrapbooking weekend back in April. I have now made a few of these. I decided to make the pockets big enough to hold 1 or 2 pencils or a texta or crayon.

Here are some of my other ones.

I also used one of them to store my crochet hooks and am thinking about making some taller ones to hold my knitting needles and paint brushes.

I will add some photos of the wet bags and shoulder bag I made when I can get my mother to part with them. She has been using the shoulder bag since I made it....and she has put in an order for a matching water bottle and umbrella bag.

Tonight I also tried my hand at making a tissue box cover ....and although I will make some minor adjustments to the next one I am pretty happy with how it turned out. What do you think? That's all for now.

Oh! No! What am I doing?

Kristie asked me on Thursday to send her the link to my blog.....but I don't have one. I then thought why not start one, after all I have been reading the blogs of Annette, Kristie, Debbie and Toni for a while now. So here it is.....Stamping, Stitching and Stuff!

The stamping....well that speaks for itself....thanks to Stampin Up! now the stitching.....well I must give a big thanks to Debbie.....I visit her blog frequently and all of her fantastic projects have inspired me to actually drag out my sewing machine....Thanks Deb! I have now made 2 wet bags, 2 pencil rolls and a shoulder bag for my mother. I also found a link to another blog and made a fantastic felt lunch bag with sandwich, chocolate roll, doughnut and packet of chips for my littlies in Early Intervention.

I will have to put the machine back into the cabinet now and get some stamping done....cause I have some new stamps that I haven't even used yet!!!!

And lastly .....Stuff!....well I thought that would cover everything else I decided to mention here.

Again thanks girls for your inspiration and creativity.