The school year is finished!

Well we've finally finished school for the year! We've taken down all our wall displays, packed up the furniture and farewelled the kids and several staff members. Before we took down all the wall displays I actually remembered to get a photo of one of my favourites for the year! (Actually we'd already started to take it down before I remembered so not all of the panels made it into the photo!)

We made a 'classroom quilt' as a combined art, maths and writing unit. It was a steep learning curve for some of the kids!!! They each made their own section of the quilt and in the four corners the writing starts off:

1. People say that I am...
2. In the future I might...
3. Three of my favourite things...
4. The best things about being ME right now are...

Then they did their background art using a scrapbooking technique using oil pastels and baby oil... super fun to see how they turned out! Next they stitched all around their backgrounds and finally we added their photos and names.

The kids really weren't sure how it was going to turn out... and even asking them to have some faith in 'Whaea' didn't instill confidence in some of them lol BUT they were all really blown away with the final result - and so was I!!!

Watching some of my 'tough' boys trying to thread needles was quite interesting... the level of concentration was high!! The kids all loved doing this so I'm pretty sure it will appear in my planner again :)

Our class also farewelled Matua Nick this week which was quite sad. I did get busy last weekend though and created him a canvas! Nick's wife is a graphic artist and a scrapbooker so I knew that art was a big thing for them!

DEFINITELY the reaction I was hoping for!!!

The canvas is an 8x8 so it was super cute to work on those dimensions! Nick's favourite colours are blue and silver so I did some background painting techniques involving colour washing and then highlighted the edges in silver. The chipboard letters got a coat of paint and then I stamped them with silver using a crackle stamp and then added some dimensional magic to make them shine.

Now that school's finished I'll be able to get back into my scrap room and do all the projects that are flying around in my head!! And with Scrapfest coming in a few weeks, the timing couldn't be more perfect :)

Good luck with all your last minute Christmas preparations and happy scrapping!!

My 'big' kids

Well the end of the school year is almost here... only 3 1/2 more days to go!

Yesterday we had our Year 6 leaving ceremony and it was a really lovely afternoon... I even managed to do my farewell speech without any tears!! The funniest part was the kids reactions to me all dressed up because I NEVER wear skirts but I bought one especially for the ceremony. I even had one of my Year 5's offer to be my 'date' lol

After the ceremony I got Mikayla to take a photo of me and Matua Nick (my teacher aide) with most of our Year 6's. Here's my 'big kids':

And here's a photo of me and Nick. He's got his teacher's college interview on Monday morning so I'm wishing him all the best because he's going to be a great teacher :)

Next Thursday I will be farewelling half my class as they head off to Intermediate. It's been a rough year at times but somehow all of a sudden the end of the year has arrived and it's going to be quite sad to think of some of them not coming back.

On the positive side, the VERY postive side!, it's almost time for the school holidays and I'm totally looking forward to it! I hope you're all enjoying your end of year social functions as much as me :)

ATC's and Inchies

Well Miss Krystal has now officially finished school for the year! She had her last exam on Thursday afternoon and now she's done until next year :) It's been a LOT of hard work but she's really pleased with her efforts... and so is her Mum!

I've been participating in lots of swaps over the past couple of months with Scrapbook Dreams so I thought I'd share some of my creativity with you.

One of the ATC swaps we did was using the theme 'Celebrities'... and since I'm a huge fan of Tim Holtz I decided to do my ATC using his techniques (and his photo of course LOL).

I emailed my ATC to Tim (who is very quick to send replies!) and here's what he sent back:

these are great shell – thanks for sharing them with me….
excellent work!

-tim

Yep, I was a pretty happy scrapper with that response!

Next up is my Christmas ATC... I found a great image on the net and went for a vintagy theme. There's lots of layering in this ATC, a bit of embossing, loads of inking and a few embellishments. We have also been doing some 'inchie' swaps! We've been doing 3 x 3 inch tiles with 9 participants so that when we're finished we can put them on a 12 x 12 canvas for display. Here's my Christmas one:

I really like this one because the photo is just so gorgeous! I used lots of ink, some stamping, and a few little embellishments. The photo is mounted on foam tape to give it a bit more of a 3D look too.

We also did a rainbow inchie swap. We each chose a colour and did our inchies and now I've got 9 fantastic colour inchies to display on a canvas... and as soon as I've actually put it on a canvas I'll share them with you! But in the meantime, here's my colour tile... TEAL!

I did a bit of embossing with the cuttlebug, stamped some butterflies and cut them out, added some gorgeous sparkly powder and them embossed clear over them, a flower, some rhinestones and peelcraft stars and it was done!

Well that's my show and tell for today... I've got to go into school and try and get my reports finished (school is super busy right now!) and then I'm heading into the garden tomorrow to try and get a couple of projects finished.

Hope you all have a great weekend! Shell xx

I'm a really proud Mum :)

Well, Krystal has done it again!!! She had her final day of learning at school last Thursday and then on Friday it was prizegiving. She had been told that she was receiving an award and my boss was awesome and gave me some time off to go up to the high school to watch.

The list of names being called out was quite a bit shorter than last year... I guess as the kids get older that happens and once again I sat in the hall with lots of other parents waiting to hear Krystal's name get called out.

While I was waiting I heard the name of her rival get announced for two awards. Krystal and this boy have been neck and neck in business studies all year. They are extremely competitive with each other and this was my first chance to see what he looked like. Despite Krystal's descriptions he is very normal looking!! LOL He absolutely doesn't have two heads and I certainly couldn't see 'his ego walking along beside him'. You can see what I mean about rivalry!

Then they announced the recipients of three awards and Miss Krystal's name got called out! She received: Excellence in Science, Excellence in English & Excellence in Accounting :) And here's a photo of my lovely girl with her awards:

Miss Mikayla also got in on the act this year and was asked to be an Usher for the ceremony. She brought home the 'dress uniform' which I hadn't seen before and I really liked it :) Here's she is all dressed up with an important job to do:And when Mum saw the next photo she really thought Mikayla might enjoy working in the army one day... and now Mikayla's done a whole heap of research and decided that it's the career for her!It was definitely a proud Mum day for me :) Watching both my girls do their thing and look lovely doing it was quite huge. It also reminded me that their time at home is rapidly coming to an end so I only hope I've given them the skills they need to venture out into the world on their own.

In other news... Scrapfest is moving ahead nicely! If you haven't heard about it yet then the blog link is HERE. We've all been busy ordering in new stock to arrive in time for this event and there's going to be quite a lot happening during this weekend.

If you haven't got your tickets yet then make sure you check out the blog for all the details because it's going to be a lot of fun!

There are also a couple of challenges happening on Scrapbook Dreams at the moment: the November challenge is to create something Off The Page (ie NOT a layout) that could be given as a Christmas gift, or a decoration etc and the currently weekly challenge is to create a Christmas card. Click HERE to check out all the details!

Hope you're all having a great week :)

Meet my Dad... oops nope that's Mum again LOL

Mum is really starting to get into this whole 'dress up' thing... instead of clothes though, this time she is dressing up her FACE! Here's Mum (second from the right) with her work mates making a stand for 'Movember' :)

Some of her male colleagues actually do have mousaches that they're going to shave off at the end of the month so to support them the 'girls' thought they'd wear moustaches every Monday! Somehow Mum got the grey one and someone at her work made the comment that she looks like a train conductor LOL Even Mum thought that the oven doors behind them look a bit like a train :)

Now for some scrapping stuff... There is a sketch challenge on at Scrapbook Dreams at the moment and I got busy last weekend and did a layout. It's all about Miss Krystal and how she's growing up very quickly at the moment. She's already sat 3 of her Cambridge exams, and her last one is tomorrow! Then she finishes school on Friday to have study leave and NCEA exams!The journaling reads: When did you grow up? When did you stop being my little girl? I have so many wonderful memories of you being young and now you've almost completed NCEA. Where have the years gone? I wish for you so many things... but most of all I wish you happiness! I love being your Mum xx

It was really nice to step outside my usual style a bit and create this layout... and I totally love those papers (Kaiser- Dancing Jewel). If you would like to enter the competition the details are HERE and then you can upload your layout into the gallery HERE.

It's been a busy week with Scrapfest too! The classes have all been uploaded now so if you want to check them out visit the Scrapfest Blog. There's some really neat classes and the crop night is going to be a lot of fun! The tickets are all available now and you can purchase them HERE... but you'll need to get in fairly quickly because numbers are strictly limited!!

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend... there's plenty of sunshine here so we've been catching up on all the washing and the lawns! I even remembered to go and vote LOL

How exciting is this???

Hi everyone :)

I've been SUPER busy in the last two weeks working with a couple of other ladies on a BIG project... and today I can finally reveal what that project is:


It's going to be super exciting!!! We really thought that a project of this kind deserved to have it's very own blog... there's going to be HEAPS of info coming in the next few weeks so make sure you bookmark it because you seriously don't want to miss out!! Click HERE to check it out!

Some days are just perfect :)

Today has been one of those perfect days! They say good things come in 3's so I think I've had more than my fair share today :)

Today started off with me getting a really wonderful email from one of my scrapping buddies Lee :) A few months ago we signed up to do a stamp swap but it didn't go quite according to plan. The idea was that you chose an unmounted stamp and created a card, ATC etc using that stamp... then you sent it to the next person on the list and they made something and sent it on until it eventually got back to its orginal owner. Lee sent her stamp to me but it didn't arrive :( After being missing for several weeks it finally turned up here and it's really cute:Lee created an ATC for me and I thought it was the perfect stamp for ATC's. Then I read Lee's note which said that she wanted to find another use for it so I got creating a came up with a tiny mini book which is just the perfect size for keeping postage stamps in! And here's the photos... unfortunately I took them at night so they don't look fantastic but you'll get the general idea: I sent off the mini book and Lee received and sent me an email to say that she really loves it, which is great! It's always so nice when you're making something and the recipient enjoys it :) I think I might just have to keep an eye out for that stamp myself LOL

Today has been all about 'girl time'! Mum came over today and we've had the best day together!! We've laughed, shopped, talked scrapbooking and just generally spent time together :) It's been a full on day and we've totally enjoyed ourselves! Mum arrived at 10am and didn't leave until after 7pm so we've definitely made up for lost time!! Thanks Mum for a really fantastic day!!

While Mum was here she showed me the photos from the walk she did for Breast Cancer. Mum and I did this walk together a couple of years ago and we were amazed at all the 'costumes' and I definitely remember her saying something about how she'd NEVER wear her bra on the outside of her clothes and she'd NEVER dress up in public like how other people were doing it... well here's proof that you should never say NEVER!!!

Hmmmm that wouldn't happen to be a bra on top of your shirt would it Mum??? LOL Mum works for New World and they got a whole heap of them together and wore their pink shirts and dressed up and here is my Mum proudly walking down the street in her pink leggings and dancing petticoat... and you don't think you're fooling anyone with that halo do you???Way to go Mum!!! So cool to see you having some fun!!

We also had Mikayla's birthday lunch today :) Since Mum was coming over today we decided to celebrate this weekend and Krystal actually catered the party for her sister... AWESOME work Krystal!!

Here's the cool feast Krystal prepared: chip & dip, cheese & crackers, purploes (first time we'd tried them and they're really really YUM!!!), asparagus rolls, fairy bread (Mikayla's only real request!!) and some very tasty ham & salad sandwiches:And here's Mikayla and her best friend Micaela! The only problem is when I call 'Mikayla' they both answer LOL

I had to put this photo in too (even though Mikayla isn't looking at the camera) because it shows her new watch that Grandma gave her for her birthday... the best part according to Mikayla is that the 'second hand' is a tiny blue butterfly that goes around... and try as she might she can't see HOW it goes around LOLThen it was time for the cake... the girls actually worked together on this! Mikayla made the top layer and Krystal made the bottom layer :) Great team work! Then it was iced and had a flake crushed up over it. Krystal made sure she had the 'artistic drips' over the side... she was very pleased with the result!And yes the sponge really was THAT yellow!!! I helped out a friend of mine recently with some online stuff and then she turned up here with a tray of free range eggs from her chickens... Thanks Jo!!! The kids were a bit worried that it wasn't going to work without shop bought eggs... but now they've decided that free range eggs are much 'happier' eggs LOLHappy Birthday Mikayla... so pleased you had a cool party :)

After lunch we went down to Spotlight for a 'look'... yeah right! We came away with some fantastic bargins... especially from the fabric department!!! Krystal has decided that she'd like to learn to sew and they had some great deals on flanellete so she's learning how to make pajama pants! So far she's cut out her pants:

And now she's using my sewing machine and learning how to zig zag the edges and sew a straight line... and she's doing an awesome job! So far she's got one leg all sewn together and she's starting on the second leg... unfortunately I think she wants to finish them tonight!!! It looks like I might be in for a long night!!!

Fantasy ATC

The latest challenge over on the ATC Dares blog is the theme... fantasy :) My first thought was to put a little pic of me inside a mountain of money LOL... well a girl can dream can't she???

In the end I chose a mermaid theme. I remember when I was little wondering what it would be like to have a mermaids tail and live under the sea... of course in my mind there was no school under the sea... or parents telling you to go to bed... or chores to be done!

I was wondering the other night if mermaids wish they had feet??? So I came up with this:

I made the background on white gloss card using alcohol inks and then stamped on top of it with denim ink using bubble wrap (love that technique!) Then I added a bit of a shell theme with a stamp, silver ink and clear embossing powder. The mermaid was left over from another project I'd done and then I added some paua pieces and the metal jandals brad (that sucker is HEAVY!)

The challenge doesn't close until next Wednesday so if fantasy is your thing why not have a go??

The mojo is flowing :)

Last year when I came home from SENZ I just couldn't scrap at all! My mojo was completely zapped... this year I just can't stop creating!!! I've got ideas galore and I've actually managed to get several bits and pieces done (some I can't show you because they're for swaps).

First off here's the ATC I made for Challenge #2 on the ATC Dares blog. The theme was Retro 1950's so I went with a 1950's diner idea similar to my memories of watching 'Happy Days'. The ATC was made from 2 different photos from the net.. one for the background and one for the diner plus some epoxy stickers that I've had for ages (not sure of the brand):

Dare challenge #3 is up and this time the theme is 'Fantasy'... got to get started on that one!

Now for some Fiskars stuff! A couple of months ago I got asked to be a guest designer for Fiskars and they sent me a lovely box of goodies to create with. It's all been featured on the Fiskars blog in the last week so now I can share the projects with you :)

First up is the card I made for my sister's birthday. I loved the shine on the paper so I went with some silver numbers cut out with the cuttlebug (Hippee Chick font) and I used some of the vellum ribbon and ran it through my cuttlebug using an embossing folder... works quite well!

Then I used some of the paper I got sent to create a layout of me and my niece playing in the puddles while her Daddy was doing the 'Tough Guy' challenge. We had a huge amount of fun getting wet and dirty!! I made the letters from white cardstock using the cuttlebug (Red Tag Sale font). Then I added some chalk and doodling before adding some dimensional magic... when they tried I 'cracked' them a bit and they ended up looking quite cool :)My final project was a mini album created for my other niece. She'd been out picking flowers with her Mummy and they sent me the photos so I made her a mini album to remember her day :)The day before we went down to SENZ Miss Kody came for a visit to Auntie's house and I gave her the mini album.... she LOVED it and kept saying 'Me' 'Me' everytime we turned a page and she saw the next lot of photos... VERY cute!!Kody's 19 months old so I didn't think the embellishments would last for too long... but I didn't think she'd be quite so quick to do this!!!Have to admit though that when her Mummy tried to get the book back of her and Kody said 'MINE' I was quite thrilled LOL So cool to see your creativity being appreciated... even if it is only so she could wreck it a bit more!

Today is also Miss Mikayla's birthday! My 'baby' is now 14!!! I wanted to make her something really special and I had a lot of ideas... a mini album of her growing up, a canvas, a hand-made journal but in the end I got busy making her an 'M' for her bedroom wall.

I'm stoked with how it turned out... and so was Mikayla this morning when I gave it to her... I definitely did hear the word 'awesome' come out of her mouth!! Happy Birthday Mikayla!!! Love you lots babe :)