Decorated Laptop

Earlier this year I spent some time looking at a range of websites that sell wall stickers for home decorating. One of these sites had specific designs that could be used to decorate a laptop. I just filed this idea away until today when I was shopping in my local cheapie store. I found these beautiful butterfly and flower stickers for $2.50 and thought they would be perfect for my laptop......... Well what do you think????? I love it and now my laptop is not only pretty but it's a one off original peice of art.

Then the next project that I worked on today was a cover for my new diary (the one provided by Catholic Ed) I have included a pocket on the cover for carrying paper and notes. I have decorated it with my very own crocheted flower. I have made a few of these now after watching one of the many tutorials on youtube.

Hope everyone has had a great weekend and is ready for another week!

Stampin Up Sale! - Free Stamps

YAY! Sale-a-bration is here.....and it means you can earn free limited edition stamp sets....just click on the banner above to see what's on offer.

As a way of celebrating this special event a group of demonstrators are having a blog hop to show off some wonderful ideas for using the stamps available in this offer. The ladies are very talented and provide great inspiration for all paper crafters. If you visit all of the blogs in the blog hop and make a comment on each you will be in he running to win some blog candy. You just need to make sure you email leonie@stamp-a-latte.com to let her know you have left a comment on all the blogs.

Now where to start....you will begin here at Alana's blog and then go round until you get back to the start. Have fun!

End of 15 years

Well today was my last day of work with Education Queensland after 15 years of teaching with them. I was so proud of Annette who spoke at my farwell during lunch....she didn't cry at all. While she was talking I got a little bit emotional but also manage to hold back the tears. I know that I will really miss the freindships that I have made in my time at Cab East....it really is those that keep you returning day after day! I am determined to keep in touch with those special people....and you all know who you are (not forgetting those of you that have already left).

I am now looking forward to tackling my new role.....making new freindships.....meeting new children.....new families and having lots of new and exciting experiences.

Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho it's off to work I go!

Well my holidays are officially coming to an end with my new job starting tomorrow. I am a little anxious and pretty excited to be beginning this new chapter of my life. Here's hoping it all works out.

In preparation for my new job I bought a vehicle log book to keep track of all my travel to satisfy the tax man. I decided that if I made it look pretty I might be more likely to use it so off I went to the craft room. Here is a photo of the boring book.....
And then here is what it looks like now. I am much happier with this than the original....now I just have to make sure I use it every day for 12weeks.

Lounge Room Upgrade

When I moved into my unit 3 years agoI wanted to get new cupbords that fit the wall at the end of my lounge room. I bought some from Ikea a while back and planned to get them built and installed over the holidays. These plans were put on hold when my mum and dad rushed off to Perth for my Nanna.

Mum and Dad arrived home on Monday afternoon and in discussion they said they would love to help me get the cupboards done before I go back to work next week. So I went home.....took this photo of the cupbaords that I have had up to now.... and then got busy emptying them so that we could move them out to the garage.


Then after lunch Dad came over and we got started on the cabinet for the TV. After starting off with the wrong fittings we got the basic shell completed and then worked on the 2 drawers.


This is the finished cabinet .... but not with the little red thing on the top....that was my levelling device to make sure the cupboard is level....it has 5 adjustable feet on the bottom.

While I wasn't really sure about the white cupboards at the start I think they will look ok when all in together. Tomorrow we are going to work on the other sheving units that will go with it to fill in the wall. I can't wait....

A Day of Creativity

Well Annette and I have spent the day together today and worked on some sewing and other items for her classroom this year.

We worked on creating her hanging pockets.....inspired by Kristie's fabulous creativity. You will have to check out Annette's blog to see the finished product.

Then we worked on name tags for kids, names for hat pegs (yep a peg that we hang up outside for children to store their hat on), names for going on the hanging pockets...so lots of printing, cutting, laminating, cutting and chatting of course.

I then used some of Annette's left over fabric to create a cover for Annette's diary. We added a pocket to the outside (so that when things are put in there the diary will still close) and a loop for carrying a pen or pencil. You can check out the finished product below.....

Yep! looks beautiful and is also very practical.....now let's all hope she actually uses it this year likes she plans to.

Other than all the busy creating we had a great chance to catch up and just have a general chit chat......I love spending time with my friends....thanks for a great day Annette.

New Sewing Machine Mat

Well as I mentioned I have been spending a bit of time getting some sewing projects done these holidays...not to mention watching a heap of DVD's. I have moved out onto the dining table to sew...that way I can also have the DVD playing at the same time. The problem with that is the machine leaves little black scuff marks on my table especially as I push and pull it out of the way.


So my solution was to sew myself a mat....I made it with wadding inside so there is some cushioning to protect the table and also have pockets to keep things like scissors, unpicker (my close friend), ruler, pencil etc close at hand and voila! here it is.
I am pretty happy with how it turned out....great value.... $3 for 1/2 a metre of fabric and I used a left over piece of wadding.

Kristie's Inspiration

This morning I got an email from Annette.....she has been inspired by Kristie's sewing and wants me to help her make some new pockets for her classroom this year as well. She also made mention of the link Kristie had put on for some little numbered bean bags. I have been busy sewing this week (photos still to come) and had the machine and all of my stuff set up so I thought I would have a go at making some. What do you think?????

I didn't have any beans at home so have filled them with rice....I also weighed them to make sure they are all about the same. I hope Annette is happy with them cause they are for her.....but I know this doesn't make up for abandoning her this year...will keep working on that.

New Sewing Project

After searching on the internet for sewing projects I came across a tutorial for making your own fabric binder cover. I decided I needed to make one for my new job. So here is my first attempt.


Have a look at the inside. I used plain black fabric so I would save the printed fabric and have enough to make another couple of covers. I included a pocket on the left hand side and sewed a space for secure pen storage. This also stops things sliding over and preventing the binder from closing.

Why not take a closer look.....

Well what do you think???? I love it and am going to make myself another 2 with the remaining fabric. If you want to check out where I got my inspiration from click HERE