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.

Kim & Nadine Challenges.

While I'm chatting about Challenges I thought I'd post some pics of what I made for the Challenges I've just finished with my sister Nadine & my friend Kim. Both were colour Challenges.

Nadine's was - Real Red, Bashful Blue, Handsome Hunter & Night of Navy

Kim's was - Groovy Guava, So Saffron, Handsome Hunter & Ballet Blue

Yay for Me!

I was so excited a week or so ago when a card I'd made for a Makeesha Byl Challenge was chosen as a winner.

The Challenge was to "Get Stampless" and create a card with NO stamping on it. It took a bit of messing round but this is what I came up with.

I've been thinking about making these flowers with my Scallop Circle punch for a while. They are really easy and quite effective. The chip board and eyelets add a bit more dimension while the DSP give it colour.

Makeesha said......"I love Chantell’s use of punches, chipboard, ribbon, and glitter and not to mention eyelets as well".

What do you do after a busy busy day....

We went to Wednesday morning Play Group. Sarah's friend Alyssa came over to play after lunch. Then to top it off we had a quick visit to Aunty Shiree and a quick visit to Nana & Pop. Sarah could just not keep her eyes open. She lay down on her little Red couch to watch a bit of TV and very soon was fast asleep. Cute!!

Christmas Stamp-a-stack.

Christmas is only 10 weeks away.

It's time to get ready for Christmas - so I decided to do a Stamp-a-stack. My Sunday ladies asked if we could do it instead of our normal card class - so we did.

These are the cards that we made. Most of them have been CASED from various people (Thank you to all of you).

I'm running this Stamp-a-stack again on Wed 29th Oct for anyone else wanting to get some Christmas Cards together.

Walk the Zig Zag

Today Sarah and I did the Kalamunda Walk the Zig Zag.

Originally the Zig Zag was a Rail route but is now a public road. It Zig Zags down Gooseberry Hill in Kalamunda (which is about a 5-10 min drive from our place).

Once a year they close the road to hold the community walk. All the way along there are bands, buskers, story tellers, community groups and information kiosks. It's a great family and community outing. There is also some wonderful views of Perth from up there.View of Perth City from about 1/2 way down.

We parked at the bottom and took the free bus to the top - where a (Bag) Pipe band was playing. We started to walk down. Sarah spent alot of time looking for our shadows. As we Zig Zagged - our shadow's were behind us, then in front, then behind, then in front again.

At the First Zig stop there were Camel rides and Info about Wild Flowers, Flora, Fauna and the Local environment.

The 2nd Zig - We saw Snakes, Parrots, Echidna's and other Wild life. Sarah was not keen to touch the snakes.....nor was I!

At the 3rd Zig they had a Circus Challenge tent where you could try out a Hoola hoop, Juggling or Spinning a plate on a stick. They also had a Bush Fire Awareness tent there and a Fire Truck. They were letting the kids squirt the fire hose everywhere.

The last Zig was where we found the Sausage Sizzle and a Swing band entertaining the eaters.

Once we got to the bottom we got on another bus that took us back to our car.

World Card Making Day

Yesterday (Saturday 4th October) was World Card Making Day.
So I held a "Drop in and Make a Card" Day at my place.
This is what we made - in a range of colours.

It was great to share my love of stamping and introduce some ladies to stamping for the first time. Everyone went home with handmade cards and free gifts.


This is the Display board that I put together. It includes cards that I have done and some that I have received in swaps too.

Crabs!

It was "Pet Day" at Day Care on Friday - all the children took photo's of themselves along with their pets. I sent along these pic's of Sarah.

Sarah & Puke (Our cat in NZ, now lives with Nadine. Although was Nadines cat to start with anyway).
Sarah & Tess. Dad's little dog. (Sadly she's no longer with us I'm afraid).
Sarah & Ayla. Nadine & Rob's child.
Left to right - Honey, Sarah & Buddy. Carol & Norm's dogs.

As you can see, Sarah loves animals and they love her. I think she would like a dog of her own. But that won't be happening! Looking at this pic of Sarah with Dad's dog Tess - I can't believe how much Sarah has grown and changed since this was taken. Poor Tess - Sarah walked (dragged) her round everywhere by the lead all day.

Anyway....

when we arrived at Day Care all the children were huddled round something outside - and they were squealing and jumping around. As we got closer we found they were looking at Hermit Crabs. One of carer's at Day Care keeps pet Hermit Crabs as pets. I'd never seen anything like them before - so I took my camera back in the afternoon to take a few pic's.

Apparently they can be brought at any of the local pet stores. They can be kept in a tank or a box but must have a salt water bath once a month to stay moist. They eat special "Crab Pellets" but also eat a selection of fruit and veges and even sometimes a bit of Honey and Peanut Butter!

They are about the size of an egg I spoze - like smaller than a tennis ball but bigger than a ping pong ball. Funny aye??