More news and an update!

Hi there!!

Well, as the title suggests I have some more exciting news to share today!! I was approached by Marelle over at Life Zesters and was asked to join their DT!! Of course, I said yes and am so, so excited to be a part of the amazing team and am very much looking forward to working with the other girls on the team!!

You can find the blog here

You can find us on FB here

Throughout this month they have been announcing the Design Team girls one by one and wow!! I truly am honored to be a part of this great team!! Make sure you head on over to the FB page and "like" it so you can play along with the monthly challenges and keep up to date with all the happenings!!

As you are aware my DD dropped on my priority list but as of last night I am now completed up to day 19!! Last night (we are away on a lil family holiday) while all the boys slept I stayed up and did some more work on our album and completed days 17, 18 and 19!! I also snuck in some colouring - my copics just call my name!! Haha!!

Anyways, we are off to do some exploring today and I hope to get some photos taken and a blog post written sharing some of our DD pages!! Until then, do head over and like the Life Zesters page and I can't wait to see you play along!!

Mel

xx

Sorry I have been MIA!

Hi there lovely followers!!

As I'm sure any of you who are following along have noticed I have well and truly been MIA! 

My grandfather (or Pop as he will be always be) passed away last week. It has been a very hard and very LONG week for me. He was the closest thing I ever had to a father figure in my life, always just there and now he is not. And I have been very fortunate in that I have not lost anyone that I loved like I love Pop. So, rough week. Priorities changed, shifted and stopped at times. 

I have gotten as far as completing up to day 16 in entirety and have shared up to day 13. Day 14 is all about cousins re-united, 15 wrapping supplies; thank you so much Ali for sharing yours, LOVED it and have totally done the same, 16 I focused on a very dear friendship to me and a photograph of my Pop (he passed on this day) that I have printed at 5"x7" and mounted on chipboard, no words are written, simply dont know where to start. I will share hopefully before the New Year but no promises. 

I have printed days 17 - Christmas cards POSTED, 18 - my big boys last day at Kindy, 19 - a very peaceful 10 minutes to myself at the Perth Zoo, 20 - some Christmas lights and possibly a fun catch up with friends, not sure what words I will write as yet, 21 - a relaxing couple of hours at the beach with my family and a friend and her hubby and 22 - a family "tradition" of sorts - Cally the Calendar Bear - which sadly, seems to have stopped working. It is now 9:20pm on the 24th so really, some embellishing and some words and I will be caught up.

I just wanted to drop in and share that though I have been absent I have somewhat stayed on top. It's been a long, hard, sad week but now my Pop is at rest and I can start to grieve for him.

Thank you so much for following along on our December journey. I am going to share the photo of my Pop that is in our album, well, just because I can. The photo was taken on my Wedding Day and he looks happy.

I hope you all have an amazing Christmas with those you love and look forward to catching up and sharing our DD with you.

Mel

xx

13th December

Welcome to our day 13!

Super quick post today as we are about to head out the door for the airport to greet some family that are coming from overseas!!

Not exactly a Christmas themed story but today is all about my big boy CHOOSING to share with his little brother!!

A fairly simple date and journal card for the day :)

I added some wood veneer that I had coloured up both on the above shaker pocket and the date card with the arrow :)

And how it looks in our album!

Sorry for the short and sweet but any questions I can get back to you tomorrow!!

Have a great rest of the day or night, whichever time you are reading this!!

Mel

xx

12th December

Hello and welcome to our day 12!!

The focus of today's story is hubby and his last day at work for the year - YAY!! This is his very first Christmas where he has had a real break in his adult working life! Prior to his current job he was either in retail (horrible, horrible hours throughout the silly season!!) or as a FIFO worker which meant he was either home by chance or we celebrated on a different day when he was home. He has a whole 3 weeks off and we have even booked ourselves (the 4 of us) a mini holiday to one of our fave local-ish destinations Margaret River after Christmas Day. We haven't been since we had kids - we are so excited!!

He baked up a bit of a storm for his workmates for a lunch they had yesterday and we managed a snap of some of the tasty looking treats he made (I am yet to taste as I am only feeling "normal" today - FINALLY!) that made it for day 12's photo of the day :)

I layered up a gold glitter die cut with the 12 from the kit which I have not only glossy accented but prior to applying that I stamped in gold ink just for something a little different :) A couple of veneer stars from the kit and our photo and date card are done!!

A close up of the little embellishment cluster on the bottom card. This started as a 6x4 grid card. I stuck down the 2 lots of washi tape then I have attached the sewn pocket to the right hand side of the card and slipped in 2 of the recipes Alan used. A flair from the kit and some twine from my stash. Oh, and of course, the journalling :)

The front of the recipe cards - I simply created a new doc in PSE10 at the right size to fit in the pocket and copied the recipes over. Popped both onto a 6x4 document and printed onto kraft cardstock. Trimmed them down, rounded the corners, did a little bit of writing on the back and voila ;)

And just in case we ever need to find where he found the recipes my little bit of writing on the backs of the cards :)

Thanks for stopping by to take a look at our day 12. I am off to get some lunch - I am feeling hungry. And grateful that I am feeling hungry, that means things are improving!!

Mel

xx

10th & 11th December

So, I think I am officially "behind" but I am totally ok with that. I have been sick yesterday and today and I think it's something out there telling me to slow down a bit and take it easy, which is precisely what I have done both days!!

Day 10

This was a very hard one for me to document. If you remember my post from Day 9 I was not feeling it for the best part of the day to the very sad discovery of little Sam in a lake :(

I decided that since his story took up such a big part of my day - emotionally more than anything - it should be somewhat included. I haven't made a big song and dance about it, just a few personal thoughts written down and tucked in on the tag in the background. May his little soul rest in peace and may his family and friends someday find peace.

I couldn't wait to get my hands my big boy after school pick up and to tell him I loved him! I wanted to do something fun and something to make us both happy - make him happy really because when he smiles, all MUST be good in the world.

When we got home we made both his teacher and class mates gifts which he had so much fun putting together. And it's not a huge achievement for all but my big boy counted out all 8 of the maltesers in every single bag!! So proud!

We also put together some cookies in a jar recipes for his 2 teachers for this year. Also, lots of fun, he totally loved seeing all the layers stacking up!!

I have used the gold glitter numbers throughout my album on Christmas type days but realised that I didn't have enough zero's to make 10. I wanted to keep the font the same throughout the album so I have grabbed a couple of the spare teal numbers I have here and embossed them!! I did each number 3 times and am super happy with how they turned out!! Thank you again Michelle for the recommendation of the Zing embossing powder - LOVE IT!! 

I used some of the Tinsel & Co letters for the title and also the "&" that Michelle cut and was in my kit of goodies. I also added a sub-title using the gold pen from the kit and my own handwriting :)

I printed all the printables at home. The "reindeer noses" tag is from here and printed on regular A4 paper. The tags for the jars are from here and printed on matte photo paper. I got Jacob to write his name on the back of the tags :) And the labels and recipe (which I will admit I did alter to include the m&m's) were found here and printed on some sticker paper that hubby brought home quiet some time ago. I might also add, I chose this recipe because it was all in metric measurements!! I didn't have to change a single thing - totally winning!! 

That's it for our Day 10!

Day 11 - not a fun day at all!! I spent at least half of the night of the 10th/11th between bed and our bathroom :( I am still not 100% but managed to eat tonight without regretting it so it's an improvement! And hey, I managed to do some crafting - again, totally winning!!

Since I had spent the night in not a great way after I managed to get us to school for drop off and home again, the TV was on and my and my littlest guy snuggled and watched Frozen. He played some. He was so awesome for me! We watched another movie. He napped and I put on Forrest Gump - LOVE that movie and I can't remember the last time I saw it so thoroughly enjoyed it in my half asleep state! School pick up and again, managed to make it to school and home again to meet the couch. Another movie. And my big guy randomly coming over to check on me - what a sweetheart!! I am truly blessed with these gorgeous boys of mine :) When hubby got home he took over. Did all the afternoon things, dinner, bath, bed time. What a gem!

So, a pretty simple page! A 6x4 journalled card with a little embellishing and a 6x4 collage photo with some stickers!!

I did handstitch that teal border, I HAD to do something other than lay on the couch - it was driving me CRAZY!! 

1/4 of a gold doily, some washi, a star that I had cut from some balsa and some numbers that were glossy accented - thanks Beth - love these!!

And that is day 11. 

Here are days 10 and 11 in our album

I hope you have all had a much better couple of days than I did!! But I have managed to find the silver lining through it all. You know the old saying, if you don't laugh, you'll cry, well yes, I'm a crier and I try not to be!!

Happy 12th December to those of that that applies to and to those of you winding down your 12th December (like me ;) ) sleep well :)

Mel

xx

9th December

Hi there!!

I am here sharing our day 9 from our album.

No photos here!! We did our letters to Santa that Jacob had been desperate to get written for a couple of weeks now and we finally made the time yesterday!!

1st up is in a little 4x4 page protector that I washi taped down the side to punch new holes to fit into our album. An embellished title card I guess

And the back

I think I am happy to leave it as is. I am loving that music paper and I wrote all I need to - I think!!

I shared this page with my foundation pages post and the only thing I have added is the star and the 9 :)

Inside the little bag are copies of the letters the boys wrote :) I think I need to attach some pretty paper behind to make them sturdy and also to write a few notes on the back of Jacob's in particular.

The letters :)

I used 2 of the red paper clips from the kit, some of the gorgeous teal glitter tape and heat embossed some tiny chippy letters in gold :) Makes it easy to get the letters in and out of the bag.

How the 4x4 sits in the album

And the 6x8 in the album :)

That's pretty much it for me for today.

I will be honest, I am not feeling it today!! I had a not great day with my big guy yesterday and there was a little man (only 2 years old - like my littlest guy) that went missing yesterday and they very sadly found his body in a nearby lake. I can't imagine what the family is going through and honestly, I can't wait to wrap my arms around those that I love when they get home today. May he find his wings and fly high with the stars xx

I will find something to add in for today, I think a little tribute for little Sam or perhaps something else. It all seems a bit trivial right now. Maybe I need hubby to be photographer and take some candid shots of me with my little people tonight. 

Until I am back tomorrow, stay safe, hug tighter and love unconditionally.

Mel

xx

8th December

Well, today's post is pretty simple, though there are a few photo's ;)

We made a trip to one of our local shopping centre's for our annual visit to Santa and for our photo with the big guy in red. Love this tradition!! Perhaps because I never had the magic ruined for me as a child. Perhaps I'm just that sort of person!! Either way, the magic, wonder and pure joy on my boy's faces when they (yep, they this year!!) see him is priceless!!

I was the photographer for these photo's - one of those, bring your own camera Santa's but that was totally ok by me :)

First up the 1st of 3 pages (well, 1 1/2 whole pages, back, front and back)

I'm a big journaller in case you hadn't noticed that already!! I always get lots of people comment on all my journalling in our PL album. I also talk alot ;) Haha!!

And my big guy with Santa

Let's not forget my littlest little guy!! Look he little he looks on that big chair!

As you can see, I have been busy playing with cameo :D I am not afraid to admit that most of the time, I really love my handwriting. It was something I always wanted to love as a child so I worked on it. I wrote up a sheet of Christmas type words, scanned them and then imported them into my cameo software. Gold foil from Stampin Up - a few playing with settings and I got it ;)

Love how they turned out!

And how our pages sit in our album

On the right you can see the beginnings on what will be our Elf on the Shelf inserts - there will be 3 to be precise. 8 on each page protector. I LOVE the see through pockets!! I will share these as I complete them - I am printing at home and in effort to keep costs not soaring I have been printing 6 2x2 (well, a tiny bit smaller) photo's at a time. Some very simple journalling on the backs of each pocket. I attempted a mini album last year just for Pixie and though it is complete (that's the important thing!!) I am not happy with it and decided it was simply too much to take on at this time of year.

Also, one last photo, I just couldn't help myself!! A me and Santa selfie!!

Like I said, totally LOVE this guy ;)

Hope your December is coming together quickly and easily for you!! Till tomorrow, possibly tonight even as there will be no photo editing happening for today's entry :)

Mel

xx

7th December

Again, a little "late" sharing our day 7 but not really ;)

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and we had my littlest guy's Daycare Christmas Party. They had a bouncy castle, some friends from the North Pole and a visit from Santa!! Not to mention the park which Hunter headed straight for when he saw the swing and a coffee van for the Mum's and Dad's (yipee!!)

Lots of photos were taken and I simply couldn't narrow it down to a limited number so I have also included a Heidi Swapp Project Life mini book in the 3x4 size.

Here is our Day 7

It all came together pretty easily when I started which I am happy about.

Our Day 7 card started as a vellum piece with the "joy" gold embossed. I added some stickers, a label, a tag, some gold stars and enamel dots - all from the kits :D

Now this piece of balsa!! Well!! This is my 3rd piece (thank you a million times Michelle!!) and am happy with the end result!! I tried hand stitching on the 1st 2 pieces with disastrous results and decided to "keep it simple". The "18 days til Christmas" banner is from my stash and I decided to include that today as 18 is Jacob's go to number. And by go to number I mean when you ask him ANYTHING that is number related his answer is 18! When he wants to stay up later - its either 18 more minutes or 18 more hours. Haha!!

This 6x4 card is behind the mini book :) That very cute reindeer is my littlest guys hands and feet prints - LOVE it!!

Here is the Heidi Swapp mini book. I used a mini bull clip to keep it closed and make it easy to take out of the pocket. A few bits and pieces on the front and voila!!

And a peek inside (excuse the fingers!!)

And last but not least, our days six and seven as they sit in the album :)

Today we go to visit Santa!! CAN NOT WAIT!! I love Santa! I love the magic he brings with believing. I love the wonder and joy in my big guys little face when he sees Santa! Heck, I may even get a snap with the big guy in red myself, why stop the tradition now?! Hehe!!

I hope you all enjoy your day today and Happy December 8th!!

Mel

xx

6th December

Good morning!!

Well, our day 6 is a little later than it has been so far this week - we were out until after the kiddies bedtime last night and I'm not the world's best photographer, especially in the dark!

We had a fairly quiet start to the day yesterday. I did some colouring - can't wait to share that but it is a Christmas gift so it's all hush hush for now ;)

My littlest guy has not been himself still :( He threw up a couple more times yesterday so we have limited his food, water and milk intake. Poor little fellow though he seems mostly happy in himself, go figure!!

The afternoon saw us headed down to the local foreshore for a fun, relaxing afternoon with my Mum's group.

The boys had heaps of fun running around and playing on the park. The Mum's and Dad's enjoyed a way overdue catch up and chat!!

Our tradition with Mum's group instead of us all buying all the other kids gifts we all buy a Christmas themed book for our own kids. We didn't have a Santa this year but one of the bigger little guys did mention he saw a cheeky Elf deliver the wrapped gifts under the big gum tree we were sitting under.

This photo didn't make our album but here are the books after delivery

And our day 6 spread

Top left pocket is the back of the vellum card from Day 5 with a little alteration from how it looked yesterday. I had been wondering how I could use that gorgeous little envelope from the kit and this fit perfectly since I totally forgot to leave a place for journalling - oops!! A tag from my stash, some gold journalling and some red ribbon attached with a tiny attacher. My littlest lil guy with his book - not bad for a child that is "not well"!! Bottom left, my big lil dude and bottom right, our day card. Also from the kit.

I actually really love the way this card turned out!! It was a vellum card with the gold stars embossed across the card. I added a circle label from my stash, the "memories" banner also from my stash and hand stitched the border with some gorgeous teal thread I picked up during the year. The twine, 6 and mini alphas are all a part of TSS kits :D

This is now what the Day 5 card looks like. If you have a look at this post, you can see the difference. Love how it just worked!!

And the journalling for the day. It's not hidden at all, just in the envelope so it had somewhere to go!! The washi was wrapped around from the front of the card, the envelope stuck with glossy accents where the pieces from the front are so you can't see the adhesive, another red label and some gold alphas :)

That wraps up our 6, now time to get ready for the fun of day 7. This morning we are heading out for my littlest lil guy's Daycare Christmas party. And he is wearing a gorgeous shirt they made at Daycare. Reindeer made with his little hands and foot prints!! So cute <3

Happy December 7th!!

Mel

xx

5th December

Hi there!!

So excited to be still going and on track!!

Here tonight sharing our day 5 - nothing Christmassy today however. Just a day that happened in December ;)

I was lucky enough to be the winner of a personal planner made by Personal Planner from Kellie over at Give A Girl A Blog and it arrived today!!

I love, love, love it!!

Here is what our Day 5 looks like

Top left pic is the front cover, top right was a card with the scribbled circles gold embossed from Michelle (part of my gorgeous kit!) which I added the 5, a line of thin washi from the Freckled Fawn kit, a label from the kits from Michelle and "merry" spelled out with alphas from the kits from Michelle also. Bottom right was  a plain 3x4 kraft card which I added a strip of that teal paper, the thin washi and a gold embossed FF veneer word. Also some gold alpha stickers (from TSS kit) and a little banner from some of my bits and pieces. Bottom right pic is the back cover. LOVE this photo of our feet ;)

A close up of our day card

The journalling card - which I used the awesome gold pen that came in TSS kit

And how our day 5 sits in our album with day 4 on the left :)

That's it for our DD album for today!

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully tomorrow though probably a bit later than what has been "normal" so far ;)

Happy DD'ing ;)

Mel

xx