jo_blogs

We have a new baby

Meet Mario...age 7 weeks – and a constant source of entertainment at our place.

I should have mentioned...

where I got the gorgeous Amy Butler fabric from to make the gratitude wrap in the previous post. Scrapbook Studio in Lunn Ave, Mt Wellington has a wonderful range of gorgeous crafting fabrics available. I was totally spoilt for choice when I went there, like a kid in a candy store! Definitely check it out if you are wanting to make something similar.

And speaking of Scrapbook Studio, how delighted was I to find that the owner Lisa was the winner of my altered piece at the Up2Scrap/SENZ silent auction :O) I am so glad it went to a good home. I don't think I ever got around to sharing it here so here are some pics. I loved it so much I didn't want to let it go when I finished it, so I have another one sitting here to alter just for me!

 

 

I have been so remiss...

Not sharing this with you before now. A little while ago I took part in Mel's gratitude wrap swap. It involved us making a stationery wrap and fulling it with goodies for our partner. My partner just happened to be the ultra talented and lovely Fiona Carter. I used the gratitude wrap on Soul Mama's blog as my pattern and picked some bright Amy Butler fabric because I knew Amy Butler is one of Fiona's faves. I made matching cards, a notepad and a fabric covered address book to go with the wrap and even went and bought a cool pen from Kikki K which I then forgot to include in the parcel sigh! I hope the chocolate I included in the parcel made up for the lack of pen though. It is locally made and matched the colours of the wrap perfectly. Fiona tells me it didn't last long in her house lol.

 

So here are some pics of my creation:

 

And in return from Fiona I got the following lusciousness...

A perfectly sewn gorgeous quilted wrap, don't you just love the ricrac?

Matching cards                             A pretty crocheted flower brooch that I can put where I choose

Colour co-ordinated pens                        And check out those yummy choccies!

Hope you don't mind me nabbing the pics off your blog Fiona, I couldn't hope to take photos as lovely as yours!

I am so rapt with my prezzie!

 

Jo xx

Friday Fill-ins

Gi does this cool thing on her blog called Friday Fill-ins and I really like it. Seems like it might be awesome to look back on in future, so I decided to give it a go this week. Basically what you do is go to the blog on a Thursday, copy the sentences and then complete them.

1. Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot' than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important to you, stand up and be counted at any cost.
Chauncey Depew.
2. My camera, and a really thick, new novel is something I always take with me on vacation.
3. To achieve your goals, you must first begin (taking the first step is always the hardest!) and try and do them a little at a time. I am reminded of that old saying that got me through the assignments when I earned my teaching degree, "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."
4. I always need to be learning something new, is something I'd like you to know about me. I learned to tapdance at age 30.
5. I have a belly button piercing :O).
6. Our boat Hosfus floats. And I am so thankful for that roflol.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to eye fillet steaks from the half cow we have just stacked our freezer with, tomorrow my plans include making a card and posting a prezzie for a friend with a birthday coming up and Sunday, I want to sleep in!

La Vie en Rose

October's kit is up over at Tarisota, and if you only splash out on one kit this year then it must be this one, I am sitting here looking at it and it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, honestly. Just so me...I told Tamar she has excelled herself this time. How that lady manages to cram so much into her kits for the price is beyond me. There are too many wonderful bits and bobs to mention but a couple of highlights for me would be the adorable birdhouse and coathanger charms, I am seriously considering just threading one of them on a piece of the pretty pink velvet ribbon and hanging it around my neck, I love them so much! Oh and the Heidi Swapp iron on letters work perfectly and have a gorgeous texture, I have already used them this morning on a tag. Actually I can probably share that tag with you because it is for our featured product this month, which is lace, so it will be going up on the site shortly, if it isn't already.

My digi download this month is something which I have been meaning to do for a long time and that is to make some button cards. This collection lended itself beautifully to them. What are button cards? Well buttons used to be sold on cards that usually had lovely graphics on them and made quite a collectors item. My ones are available as a pdf and you can just print them out and decorate them as you choose. I intend to pretty some up and put them on my layouts and cards this month so check out the gallery on the 8^th to see what I have done with them. You can get them absolutely free here. And there are some fabulous wooden buttons in the kit (in heart and cotton reel shapes) that would look great decorated and sewn on the cards.

As well as creating my digi stuff for Tari I have been busy on the crafting front making something special for SENZ to be auctioned for charity. I can't share it with you just yet but I am told there will be a pic of it on the UP2Scrap site later in the week. Suffice to say it ended up being something I love so much I want to keep so I have bought another one to do for myself lol.

School hols this week and our week began with a call from the lovely Lizzie, inviting Sarah and I for a zoo date with her and the most adorable 20 month old child in the world...the mischievous Miss Lily. Seriously if this child was any cuter I would have to steal her for myself. So cute to look at and so full of personality, I didn't stop laughing the whole way around the zoo. Here check her out for yourself.

See I told you :O) And that last pic was perfect for my photography creative assignment this week, which was to take a pic inspired by song lyrics. The lyric? "live your life with arms wide open" UNWRITTEN, Natasha Bedingfield.

And yes I did take pics of the animals, but trust me...Lily was much more entertaining!

Jo x