Weekend away and other things

Those poor families in the West Coast. Hard to believe really. Such a disaster.

So I went away for the weekend with a few girls and we had a great time. Heaps of laughs, relaxation and creating. Well a little bit of creating, managed to get my Xmas cards done, lol. Another appearance of the Hero Arts doily stamp.

Came home to these in my letter box. Some lovely Japanese washi tape from Kozo Tape. I'm excited because it's a NZ shop and the service was pretty good. Can't wait to play.

So I trimmed down some jeans to make shorts a couple of weeks ago. Did the same last year. Dragged out some old jeans to make into shorts. And I had this strip of denim, tied it round my wrist, thought it looked pretty cute really. Am thinking I will embroider some lazy daisies on it.

OK, now this was an idea I'd been wanting to try for ages. I saw it somewhere. Just see if I can find the link. Hold on. Here. Oohhh, coloured chalkboard paint, how cool. Wonder if you can get it in NZ.
And they work perfectly. We put pumpkin seeds in one jar and then James proceeded to write on the rest, lol. Then you just wash them or wipe off the label. Awesome, I love this idea. Just need to fill the other jars. They look so cool with the chalk on them.

TFL lianne

A year today

It's a year today we had our darling Otis put to sleep. We've missed him so much, he was such a big part of our family. It was the hardest decision we have ever had to make as a family to have him put down but he was suffering and was very sick. It was horrible to see him that way. It was one of the saddest days I've had when we all went to the vet and were with him when he went to sleep. We all cried as he drifted off. So sad. Anyway we remember him and know he is in a happy place. Otis, now you have wings.

Love you always Ottie.

Cool sites and doilies

Whenever I find a cool site I email the link to myself so I can find it again and save the emails in a folder. So I went through the emails and added some of the links to my sidebar, well quite a few really. Check them out if you want, there are some very cool ones there - under 'Cool Sites' and 'So Inspired by'. Start at the end for the latest ones.

One in particular is Stumble Upon. It helps you discover lots of different sites that are based around your interests. You tell them what you are interested in and click the button and it just keeps bringing up all these cool sites. I have found some great sites through them. It's quite addictive.

Some photos:

Since having more time at home I have been finding things. I came across this cute beaded doily cover I made years ago, well I crocheted the beads around the edge of the doily. Cute huh!

And these are a little pile of doily motifs cut from an old pillow case, then I hand dyed them. Cute huh!

This lovely bunch of flowers my neighbour gave me brightened my day last weekend.

Look closely at this bonfire photo from Guy Fawkes last weekend that my friend took. Can you see the 2 chairs and a swingball pole?

TFL lianne

Going to heights

Photos from the weekend. We did this walk up the Sunset Beach Hill at Port Waikato. We've lived here for nearly 9 years and never done it. We finally did it this weekend thanks to my friend for encouraging us. Was so worth it. Look at that view. This first one is half way up.

This is the top, though you can carry on down the ridge much further. Next time.

Be an Orange

Some friends and I like this quote. So I made this LO, to always remind me.

Some photos -

This bird sitting in her nest on a ladder in our backyard. She seems to have deserted the nest now though, with 4 eggs in it. :((

This photo of Emma 1994. Sweetness!

When your lemon tree gives you heaps of lemons, make homemade lemonade. Delish!

Happy and Safe Guy Fawkes weekend

lianne

It's Crazy

It's crazy how you keep saying I must update my blog but you just don't get around to it. Trouble is you leave it so long you have so much to say, it's too much. Maybe I'll try it over a few posts. I've done a couple of LO's recently. And a couple of ideas for Halloween.

I googled Free Vintage Halloween images and found these, so cool. Love, love vintage themed images. You could probably save and use them if you so desired.

Anyway I made these with them. Easy peasy. I printed the images on normal printer paper and glued to the treat bags. Punched some tags and borders with my Fiskars punches and voila.

And this empty strawberry container was begging to be made into something. So I dribbled alcohol ink over it, added some tissue and some embellishments and I had another Halloween gift container. All drooly (sp) and halloweeny looking.

TFL lianne

Excited for this weekend

Looking forward to Megans Retreat this weekend. I love the project I'm teaching and I'm sure if you are going you will too. Lots of arty fun stuff!!If you haven't heard Scrapbook Studio has closed now, sadly. Lisa will be opening a new shop in Hamilton. I have loved working there for the last 3 or so years. But one door closes and another one always opens. Looking forward to the future and plans.

back soon lianne

Photos on my camera

This gorgeous cupcake from Petal that Lesley brought me last week. This is the Tropical mango flavoured one. The best cupcake I have ever had. Just melts in your mouth. Mmmmmm. Just look at that icing. I love the way they have piped it on like rose petals. And it tastes even better than it looks.

And this is the package it came in. So cute!!

A pouch for my glasses. Using the same pattern as the mobile phone pouch but longer.

First blossoms on our peach tree. This means summers coming.

This amazing sunrise a few weeks back. Stunning.
Back soon, lianne.

I've been into it and loving it

A couple of LO's I've done recently.
More use of those wonderful Crafters Workshop templates. This time a 6x6 Daisy Cluster template with glimmer mist. This was exciting.
And this one is using the new Fiskars Lever punches. See some more things I made here.
TFL lianne

Challenges and photos

A new challenge in the Scrapbook Studio forum for August here. My LO above. It's called some things old, some things new. I have a little pile of stuff lying round on my scraproom desk, leftovers from other projects usually. The chipboard strips were in this pile as were most things on this LO, so I made them into a fence (old chipboard). Old tool is the tree punch. Old metal is the wire for the fence. New patterned paper was the background one I made myself with a Crafters Workshop template, newest rub on is the little bird and newest stamp is the grass one by Montarga. Fun challenge!

Photo a Day - Day 6 - My craft area. Nothing exciting really. This is just my desk in a corner of my tiny craft room. I'm still waiting for my new room to be finished. This is tidy too, eekkk, doesn't look very tidy.
Haven't been able to get photos for Day 9 and Day 10. But hope to get one for Day 11.

Photo a Day - Aug 6th, 7th and 8th

I could not bring myself to take a photo just yet of my craft space - it is an absolute mess. So today I shall tidy it up and then take a photo.

But I do have a portrait photo for Day 7 of my cute cat Tink, though she looks a little grumpy here, probably because I was hassling her so much for a photo.

And this is a photo for today, Day 8, of my son James heading out for a surf. A sport that has been the centre of our lives for many years. I love watching him surf.

back later with my craft space photo I hope.

TFL lianne

Photo a Day - Aug 4th & 5th

Day 4 - Somewhere you go everyday - this was a hard one other than the obvious. But when I looked down at the car stereo I realised, yes, that IS something I do everyday I'm in the car. I go to ZM 91FM on the radio. Yep, especially love it in the morning.

Day 5 - What's on your TV - Tonight I watch Vampire Diaries. Thursday nights on TV2.

And todays photo is - Your Craft Space - I'll back tomorrow with that photo.

TFL lianne

Photo a Day - Aug 3rd

Day 3 photo for the Fiskars challenge. The prompt was "In my Garden".
The first spring flowers in my garden. So happy to see them. Means summer is on it's way.

Photo a Day - Aug 2nd

How long can i keep this up!! Blogging that is. I can do it!! Anyways heres my day 2 photo for the Fiskars challenge. The prompt is "What do you read?"

Heres my photo of what I'm reading at the moment.

TFL lianne.

Surprise!!

Yes it's me back again. Been thinking about blogging again for ages. Found some cool downloads from Pugly Pixel and Kitschy Digitals to do a new banner etc which got me all inspired. The free downloads at Pugly Pixel are great and some real cute ones at Minitoko.

Check out the Photo a Day challenge on the Fiskars blog. Kim is giving ideas of what to photograph each day which I LOVE, so much easier and she has some great prompts coming. Today's prompt is FOOD. Here's what Rob cooked me for breakfast and an extra photo of the food pickings from my garden today. Then a photo of the first broccoli from my new garden - pretty proud of that one.

background - tattered page texture from Flickr

Tape Strips - Pugly Pixel

I did this LO for a Scrapbook Studio challenge. I photographed it last night so not a great photo. The challenge was to do a 12x12, use fabric, a stamp (love my new doilie stamp), chipboard and hand cutting of patterned paper. Tick to all those.

And here is the sneak peek of the class I'm teaching at Megan's Retreat.

Tape strips and Medallion - Pugly Pixel, Button - Minitoko

TFL lianne