Project Life: Week 14 and another insert

Hi everyone :)

Yes I’m like the bad penny returning LOL  I’ve been busy since my post this morning sorting out photos and doing some digital stuff and somehow it’s gotten to the end of the day already.

I’ve had a really nice week… and it was nice that it started off with two days away from school due to Easter… although I did go to school for a ‘couple of hours’ on Monday (actually I was there from 8am until 2.30pm)

Here’s an overview of my week:

As I already said, I was at school on Monday and Whaea Charlie came in as well.  It’s amazing how much work you can get done without the kids (or other teachers) around.  We had the whole place to ourselves along with full access to the photocopier so it made us very happy campers!

Last week I mentioned that my computer wasn’t running very well… and quite frankly I’ve been worried sick about loosing my files and photos so after we’d finished at school I went down to Dick Smith and bought a 32GB flash drive thinking that I’d be able to fit all my photos on it… ummm NOPE!  My 2012 photo folder actually contains 18.8GB all by itself!

On Tuesday I went back to Dick Smith and bought a 1.5TB external hard drive and now I’ve got everything backed up!  I’ve got tons of room… actually I’ve got 1.5 TRILLION bytes of space for storage… super cool!

Here’s a close up of the beginning of my week:

On Monday Mikayla wanted me to watch ‘Tangled’ with her.  It’s an animated movie based on the story of Rapunzel and although we started to watch it I just couldn’t keep my eyes open so on Tuesday we finished it off.  It’s a lovely story so if you’ve got young kids, grandkids or you just like watching kids movies I highly recommend it.

For some time now Toby has been treating Mikayla as a ‘lesser person’ than himself and on Tuesday he proved it.  Mikayla was sitting on the sofa with her legs up and Toby went around and pushed her legs and sat right in front of her for a scratch!  He was quite demanding about the whole thing too!

Check out this photo:

He looks like he’s howling but in fact he’s just raising his head in pleasure of the scratching!  He’s such a boy!

On Wednesday when I got to school Ngahuia (one of the teachers) had been busy making truffles and she gave me one.  I was super pleased that I had my camera with me because the truffles were gorgeous!  They tasted pretty good too!

On Friday it was Whaea Charlie’s last day and the kids made her a really gorgeous card to farewell her.  She had mentioned that she really liked ‘practical things’ during the five weeks she was with us so instead of getting her flowers and chocolates I got her some things for when she starts teaching her own class… plastic pockets, notepads, paper clips, panadol etc… and she LOVED it!

The gift giving didn’t end there though because she bought the kids a HUGE classroom calculator and she got me a very cool lime green stapler!  Thanks heaps Charlie xx

Here’s a close up of the second half of my week:

On Friday afternoon the kids got to do the letterbox activity we spent ages preparing on Monday and it was a total success!  It really did feel like all the planning and preparation was worth it… PLUS we didn’t get time to finish the activity so I should be able to do that in the last week of term… BONUS!

On Saturday I went over to Mum’s and did some important things before heading out for a bit of lunch.  You wouldn’t believe it but we both left our cameras back at the house so I can’t show you what we had… but it was really delicious! LOL

Then we spent some time looking around a few shops.  Mum wanted to get some new tops and she’s found that even the smallest women’s sizes are not fitting her very well.  We went into the kids department and there were some tops exactly like what Mum likes so I convinced her to try one on and BINGO!  The length was perfect… the sleeves were perfect… and the neckline was perfect too! 

We also spotted a Daniel O’Donnell CD/DVD collection which had 50% off but when she went to pay for it she got two tops and the CD/DVD for only $15.49!

I also managed a huge bargain!  I needed to get a new duvet inner since ‘Mr Toby’ has managed to de-fluff one side of mine!  They had a really good quality one that is 50% feathers and 50% down for $290... I definitely wasn’t going to pay that much!  Then I saw the sign that said ‘marked down to $115’ so I now have a brand new duvet inner ready for winter!

I also found some neat cooking trays… one is for making little owls (perfect for brownies!) and one is for making mini little puddings (I have something planned for that one too!).  Then at the next shop I got some icing bags, non-stick spray and some nozzle holders for my icing set.

All in all it was a pretty good day!

This week I also did an insert about my One Little Word February project which I finally got finished this week.  For those of you who didn’t see my post this morning, it’s a printers tray that I’ve turned into a vision board and I’m super happy with it. 

I decided to keep the writing to a minimum on my insert because I’ve already written about it in my One Little Word album.  This insert is just to remind me when I actually got the project finished.

Here’s the front of the insert:

And here’s the back of the insert:

So that’s been my week.  Lots of school work… lots about the computer (which is playing up really badly tonight!) and lots of retail therapy.  It’s enough to make a grown woman giggle with pleasure!! LOL

Have a great week everyone xx

One Little Word–Finished Vision Board

Hi everyone :)

This past week I’ve been working hard to finish my vision board and by Thursday night it was all done!  I’m super thrilled with it and yesterday I finally got some photos of the completed board so I wanted to share it with you.

WARNING: Photo heavy post… but for the ‘visual’ people out there (like me LOL) I’m sure you’ll get lots of ideas from it!

Since Monday was an Easter holiday I decided that it was time to put everything else aside and finally work on my vision board.  There used to be a beading shop in Rotorua several years ago and when they closed down I bought several printers trays from them at rock bottom prices – actually they were even lower than rock bottom!

I’ve been ‘saving’ the boards to create special projects and this is the first one I’ve used.  The spaces in the printers tray were a little smaller than I wanted to the first step was to removed some of them.  This board was put together with nails so out came the tools and I got to work!

Step 1: figure out how to take the tray apart

Step 2: remove the back of the tray

Step 3: remove the outer frame

Step 4: start removing slats that I didn’t need and CLEAN the tray!

Step 5: remove rest of slats and then put the tray back together

Step 6: work out the size of each slat and organise the photos into ‘collage sheets’ ready to be cut up!  This part alone took several hours!

On Tuesday, which was a NZ school holiday I was able to get my photos actually printed and ready to be cut up.

Step 7: trim photos to size and adhere into spaces

Step 8: sit back and admire first completed section (this lasted about half a minute!) Realise that the photos are sitting back to far and need to be brought forward!

Step 9: remember that I have some foam board left over from another project that would be perfect for this job and begin to cut foam board to size

Step 10: realise that I will need to do each gap TWICE because two pieces of foam put together works better than one piece by itself!

Step 11: notice that the printers tray is looking a little bit dull compared to when I was cleaning it and then go and look for the Danish Oil in the garage… this took quite a while too!  Decide that ‘well ventilated’ simply means ‘leave the back door open’ and proceed to oil the entire printers tray!

Step 12: Mikayla comes home to ask “What’s that smell?” and realise that leaving the back door open probably doesn’t qualify as ‘well ventilated’ but proceed to finish off the oiling anyway!

Step 13: Spend the next couple of evenings trimming and cutting foam board and photos until project is finished!

p.s. it is mandatory during this process to stop and admire your work regularly and to feel the need to tell ‘uninterested’ 18 year old about every little detail as you do this! LOL

The finished board

Left side:

Middle section:

Right section:

The full board:

I also wanted to include the process in my One Little Word album so here’s what I came up with for that:

One of the bonuses of using the foam board in the tray is that it actually fits really well so I didn’t need to adhere it into the tray at all. The photos are adhered to the foam board.  I’ve worked out a way to remove the foam board from the printers tray relatively easily so now I’ll be able to change the photos whenever I want to!

Now that I’ve used one of my printers trays I’ve come up with loads of ideas for the others so I’m sure you’ll see them feature here at some point.

Thanks for visiting and I’d love to hear what you think of this project :) xx

Feel Good Friday

Hi everyone :)

This has definitely been a short week at school… but it’s also been full-on trying to fit everything in.  During a conversation with a friend the other day we were talking about our favourite foods and I instantly thought of crayfish and scallops!

My family can attest to the fact that I absolutely love seafood… it’s got to be one of my most favourite things to have on the menu. 

That conversation sat in the back of my mind and I thought it might make a neat layout for Feel Good Friday… especially since crayfish and scallops have such wonderful colours!

Here’s what I came up with:

See what I mean about the colours!  I have so many good memories about seafood… and there’s also a few stories about me having ‘more than my fair share’ and ending up not feeling so good afterwards! LOL

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and that your weekend is a happy one xx

52 Lists

Hi everyone :)

I’ve been busy working on the 52 List project Moorea Seal instigated.  I’m still really liking this project… especially now that I’ve actually started to put them in my album!  Up until now I’ve just had them sitting in an envelope but over the Easter weekend I’ve been mounting them onto kraft cardstock and putting them into the page protectors and they’re looking pretty cool.

Week 9: List the places you want to go!

I haven’t done much travelling.  I went to Sydney with my Mum and sisters when I was 16 and then my ex-husband and I went to Rarotonga when we got married… 23 years ago!  Since then I haven’t bothered to get myself a new passport because I was too busy raising the girls, getting through Teachers’ College and getting my career off the ground.

When this prompt came up I started writing down all the places I’d like to go and the things I’d like to see… and the list just fell into place!

I was quite surprised at how easy this list was to make.  Some of the things on the list are actual destinations and some of them are things I’d like to do.  A couple of them are even on my bucket list!

Week 10: List the ways you can cleanse for spring

In this part of the world spring is a long way off… but it’s still a list that I can work with.  Some of these things I want to do right now… like backing up all my computer files before my computer does it’s death roll.  Some of them might be waiting for a while longer… like organising my bedroom drawers LOL

Now that I’ve started putting all my lists into the page protectors I’ve realised that they’re not going to fit into the same album as my One Little Word album so I’m thinking of doing something a bit creative with the cover and keeping them in their own little album… I’ll let you know how I get on with that one!

Wishing you all a great week xx