Santa came to stay....

Merry Christmas everyone.

Sarah un-packing her Santa sack.

Santa came to visit today. Here's Santa sitting on the couch. Sarah was a bit scared of getting to close to him but ripped into the present that he brought her. Sarah started her day with a large chocolate Santa for breakfast. I don't think she had any real food till about 8.30pm after waking up from a 4 - 5 hour afternoon sleep. Last night before I went to bed I hung some small Chocolate Santa's on the Christmas Tree for everyone to eat - but Sarah sniffed them out fairly quickly this morning and ate all but 1 of them during the course of the day.

We have had a great day with the family coming for Christmas lunch. Sarah loved hanging out with her cousin Cody. They played in the sandpit and did colouring in together. We received some fantastic gifts. Some of the favourites were a Talking, moving baby and a View master.

Here is Sarah asleep at the end of the day with her new baby.

Quiet time at the Park (sort of).

At this time of year - everyone is busy and there seems to been 1000 things to be done - especially on the day of Christmas Eve.

So it was nice to go to the park in the morning yesterday to meet Michelle and Janet and their children. The buzz buzz of busy-ness seemed to be a world away. And our children had a ball playing together while we sat and had a coffee and a breather.

We all exchanged Christmas gifts and the children spent a good 1/2 and hour running around blowing bubbles and trying to catch them.

Sarah giving Toby a gift.

Then we all went to the play ground to burn a bit more energy.
Here's a pic of Sarah and all her friends. (L to R) Alyssa, Sarah, Darcy, Kyle & Toby.

Trimming the Tree!

Merry Christmas! This morning we went and got ourselves a Christmas Tree. The original plan was to get a real one (like we did in NZ)...but they were so small and expensive that we decided on one in a box. Doesn't it look lovely.

Most of the decorations are in one area on the tree - cause that is where Sarah could reach. She enjoyed putting them on and playing with the tinsel. I asked her what else we need for the tree and she said "Presents".

She keeps saying "I miss Christmas". I remind her that Christmas will be next week and that the things we are doing now is just to get ready for Christmas.

She went to see Santa in the mall - sat on his knee quite happily. He asked what she wanted for Christmas and she said "Presents" so he said was there anything special she wanted....Answer: "Presents".

She also saw Santa at the Day Care Christmas Party...he must have been scary cause all the kids cried. One started...and that was it. They were all bawling. Since then even if we just walk past Santa in the mall Sarah covers her eye's and says "I NOT see Sana"

Craft Fair Pic's

Here are a few pic's from the Craft Fair. Firstly ... this is our Stand from the front. We were on a corner. So one side was all the stuff we were selling and the other side was for our Make & Take & Demonstrations.

Here is two close-up pics of our back boards. We had heaps of samples displayed for everyone to look at.

Cannington Xmas Gift & Craft Fair

Well I've just walked in to door from today's Xmas Gift and Craft Fair at the Cannington Exhibition Centre. And I am shattered......but I had a great time.

Over the past 6 weeks or so Tracey, Jazz & Sarah and I spent many hours together preparing for it and today it all came together.

We each did little demonstrations and ran Make & Take sessions. It was a great way to meet some new customers and show off Stampin' Up.

Thank you to those that popped down to see us - hope to see you at the next one in March.

I will post some Photos in the next few days.

Happy Leg - a little funny.

For a little while now - Sarah has been coming to me and saying "Mummy I have Happy Leg". And shows me her leg. Everything looks normal - so I just rub it, kiss it and send her on her way.
But then she is back - "Mummy I have Happy Leg"
Finally - I have worked out, that she gets Happy Leg when she sits on her legs - we call it Pins & Needles!
So I told her if she sits on her Couch or Chair then she won't get Happy Leg any more.
Funny aye?

Daddy & Sarah Painting.

Neil decided to have a painting session with Sarah. As you can see they both had a ball.

They did a great picture together - that once dry I put in Neil's bag - to take back up to the mines.

By the end of the session they were both covered in paint!

It was so cute.....at Day Care, they paint their hands then stamp them on the paper.... so when Neil painted Sarah's nose she bent over and tried to stamp it on the paper.

Chilling Out.

Those of you that know Sarah - know that she LOVES Dora the Explorer. I thought I'd share this picture of her watching Dora.

She hardly even budged when I took the pic. In fact at first I thought she had fallen asleep - but no - she was just chilling out in front of TV.

Two Toned Wheels

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I attended the SU Regionals (Perth) in September. There we saw a range of Project demo's by other Demonstrators.

One of them was on Two Toned Wheels (done by Cathy). I thought it was quite cool so decided to have a go myself. I did two colour combo's. The first was Brilliant Blue & Taken with Teal. Using the Something Fishy Wheel I did this card.

The second colour combo was a Christmasy one. Old Olive & Real Red. I made this Christmas gift pocket. It has a pocket inside that could be used for gift vouchers or a personal message.

Thanks to Jenny for lending my her All About Christmas Wheel too.

Klass Act Stamping Night

Coming up on the 6th December, four of us from the SU Stamping Team I belong to (Klass Act) are pitching in to take part in a Xmas Gift & Craft Fair at the Cannington Exhibition Centre.

We will be doing Demonstrations, Make & Take projects, promote ourselves and what we do plus selling a range of goodies that we have made.

We have been having weekly get-together's to make all out goodies and to plan out our Show Stand. It's going to be awesome.

Here is a pic of (L to R) Tracey, Sarah & Jasmine hard at work making goodies.

Roses for Mum.

Mum - Here are some pic's of the Rose's at the front of our house. As you can see they are in full bloom and looking lovely. Such a nice out look and refreshing to come home to.

Halloween Dress Ups & Party's

Sarah had a Halloween Dress up day at Day Care yesterday. I don't think she really knew what it was all about - but went in her star cape that I had made. They had a special lunch - which were Treats that they had made.

After Day Care she had been invited to a Halloween Party with all her friends from Play Group.

They played Musical Chairs, had a lolly hunt and a Pinata. Lots of fun.

This is (L to R) Tom, Sarah, Hayley, Te-ann & Lauren

Sarah also enjoyed the Dora DVD at the end which was designed to give the kids quiet time and calm them down before going home.

It's Official! - We're Toilet Training......

Or just peeing on the floor!!

She gets the idea of what it's all about and manages very well when she's at Day Care - but we just have to master it at home.

But......as you can see by the washing line - the floor wins at the moment.

A Surprise in the Post.

Yesterday I got a wonderful surprise in the post. Alison sent me this beautiful CD folder.

Inside were some Dora the Explorer DVD’s that Ali’s girls Charlotte & Hunter have given to Sarah.

I am so chuffed to have received such a beautiful keepsake. Sarah was very happy too. In her words “I so lucky”! Thank you Ali.

Candle Making...... this one's for you Nadine.

I KNEW the girls were buzzing after the Stamping on Candles / Gift Making Class. But look at this!!

This is Michelle. She LOVED it sooooooo much, she's going to have a stall at the local Midland Farmers Market in November & December. So on Sundays.....that's where we will be.

Sarah and her friend Lauren.

Here a lovely little pic of Sarah and her friend Lauren at Play Group. Sarah calls her Lol-lum.

They love to climb up on the shelves and pretend to be asleep.

Team Stamping Day

While I was in Box making mode, I made some little Choccy boxes to give the girls in my Team on Team Stamping Day, which was last Saturday.

It was great to get together with them to stamp the afternoon away.

To kick the day off Tracey did a demo for us - showing us many different ways to use Crystal Effects. And I will definitely be having a go at them. It was great.

We had 3 projects to make - one of which I had put together for everyone - based on a card that I had done last year with Jacque. It is a Jacobs Ladder Card (or Hidden Message Card).

Ali Smith provided us with this Crabby Christmas Card, using an embossing and bleaching technique.

Jazz made us up this Scrap booking page. I came home and found this funny photo of Sarah to put on it - because I thought it went well with the sentiment.

Christmas Gift Class.

All the Classes I've done so far have been Cards and with Christmas coming I thought it was time to introduce my ladies to some 3D Off the Page Projects.

First up we made some Chocolate Trays. We used Always Artichoke & Purely Pomegranate Card and the Holiday Harmony DSP from the current Mini. They came out great. Bit of a treat for everyone to take home.

For a bit of fun we then stamped on Candles. I think this amazed the ladies and they loved it. Here are a few samples of what we did.