Taking Stock: The way things are: April

I've come to enjoy this tradition which oddly seems to coincide with school holidays.  I can't remember the last time I enjoyed school holidays quite so much.  With all of us home we really have made the most of it.  There have been lots of sleep ins, reading in bed and cooked breakfasts.  There has been lots of crafting time and unfortunately (or fortunately depending who you are) lots of t.v. and screen time for the rest of the family.  We spent Easter at Aldinga. We have had lovely shared time with friends and spent a glorious day at Bushland Park wandering the track we use for Bush Kindy.

Easter Selfies with my girls!

A great walk along the beach at Willunga

Easter morning - never too old for Easter Bunny 

All in all a most satisfying holiday.

Big brother teaching Little Sister to skim stones at Bushland Park - how to make mummy's heart melt!

Making : progress on the WIPS - finishing the second sleeve on my blue jumper and finished Maddie's school cardigan this week too
Cooking : malteser cheesecake for James' birthday
Drinking : coffee, and probably a little too much red wine but it is holidays so care factor?
Reading: Drums of Autumn (ALL holidays - I was hooked!)
Trawling: Pinterest looking for skirt patterns
Wanting: To make myself some simple, flattering, quick skirts from the stash fabric
Looking: For suitable high waisted work pants (not easy to find)
Deciding: I really need to lose weight
Wishing: It was that easy!!!
Enjoying: The sound of children alternatively chortling, shrieking with delight, and grumping at one another - the sounds of siblings
Waiting: for James to put the fire on
Liking: the slow but sure success that is coming with my 100 day goal
Wondering: If this house will ever really be clutter free
Loving: Cheese and onion bread toasted
Pondering: How to keep the rabbit out of mischief in the loungeroom
Listening: to the sound of footsteps upstairs
Considering: Best way to market beginner scrapbook classes
Watching: Call the midwife (episode after episode)
Hoping: For a more relaxed term at kindy (bring on Bush kindy!)
Marvelling: At how well my pot plants are growing - normally I kill anything in a pot!
Cringing: At the inevitable chaos and mess that happens when we are all at home
Needing: Fresh air and some serious Spring Cleaning (even though it is Autumn!)
Questioning: How I can keep the same relaxed feeling of holidays during term time
Smelling: my lovely Strawberries and Champagne Serenity Wicks candle - I am not really a candle fan but I do love Serena's fragrances.
Wearing: My comfy black leggings and burgundy tshirt dress and my almost dead black boots
Noticing: The sauce bottle without its lid and a big trail of crumbs on the table...definitely school holidays LOL
Knowing: That this is not a catastrophe and I will miss them when they are all grown
Thinking: About page layouts for SOM blog hop and National Scrapbooking Day
Admiring: Green Gate Porcelain on pinterest (how I wish we could get it somewhere in Australia!)
Getting: slightly chilled - definitely fire time
Bookmarking: slice recipes in Fete Magazine
Opening: Brand new paper packs to play with
Closing: Kitchen cupboards and drawers (I swear we have a ghost - they are ALWAYS open!)
Feeling: Blessed and grateful and slightly cold!
Celebrating: James' birthday tomorrow
Pretending: He is not getting older!
Embracing: My life, my family, and simple happiness

I hope that the holidays have been good to you, and that you are embracing the chill of Autumn in the air, and the many, simple joys in your life.
Happy weekend!

Some Kind of Wonderful Blog Hop

Welcome to our April feature paper pack "Some Kinda Wonderful" Australasian Blog Hop.  Some of you may have arrived here from Georgia Creates.. just follow the links at the bottom of each blog to go the whole way around.

This is a remarkably versatile paper pack.  Depending on what colours you put with it you can end up with pages suitable for a wide range of topics.  I thought the easiest way to show you what I mean might be to do 1 layout 2 ways.

This layout is very simple. Cut a zip strip off a 12" piece of patterned paper.  Then cut the paper at 9 1/2"  Set aside the narrower strip and trim the bigger piece to 91/2" square and round the corners.  Use your remaining pieces, 1 with the same pattern cut down and corner rounded at the top for the piece on the right page, the other, flipped over (the joy of double sided paper!) trimmed as you like it for the border at the bottom of the left hand page.  Use the zip strip to create a vertical stripe on the left hand side. Embellish and corner round as you wish.  The glittery black embellishments have come from the "Some Kinda Wonderful" embellishments but the chevrons and arrow on the bottom layout are leftovers from the "Dreamin' Big" embellishments.  You can see what a difference is made just by altering the colours that you put with the Some Kind of Wonderful paper. The Slate gives it a more masculine feel and the Glacier makes it little girly and fun. I hope you have fun playing with this idea.

I also have a couple of cards and a tag to show you.  The "Birthday" sentiment is one of our thin cuts.

The little cup cake is a stamp and thin cut set called "Sweet Birthday".

And this little tag used up some scraps. I love the way that black just makes this paper pack pop.

Now head over to http://vandractmh.blogspot.com.au/2017/04/some-kinda-wonderful-australasian-blog.html to see just how versatile "Some Kinda Wonderful" can be.

Happy Easter to you!

Keep smiling,

Nell

CTMH Australasian Blog Hop April Stamp of the Month

Hello and welcome!
If you have arrived here from Maz over at http://wp.me/p45lJH-L6 then you are in the right place. If you arrived here by serendipitous accident then that is a happy thing and welcome to you!
Now, this month we are sharing S1704 "Flock Together" Stamp of the Month which is only $7.50 with a $75 order.

I love the sentiments in this one and my daughter thoroughly enjoyed colouring the birds in for me!
First up is a little card - the birds were simply stamped with Poppy ink onto a sheet of Dreamin' Big paper and then fussy cut.  I cut their legs off and then just drew them in with a black pen.  The sentiment comes from C1672 "Silly Sayings Sentiments"  This would be a good card to send to a friend that just "gets you" in all your quirkier moments!  I have a feeling that I will be sending this to one of the Mums at school who often makes me snort with her quirky view on the world! I want her to know how much I appreciate her sense of humour!

Next up are two simple page layouts.  Both pretty self-explanatory.  The first uses Colonial white, Poppy and Canary cardstock with Poppy and Black ink.

The second uses Black, Lagoon and Sea Glass cardstock with a small strip from Dreamin' Big.  Remember that I said I was "bringing back the border"? Well this is a sweet little border at the bottom of the page and will showcase photos of my gorgeous family when I get around to printing them!

My most favourite using this SOM is this page.  Sapphire cardstock base with a strip from the Rustic Fundamentals and then just Lagoon and White Daisy cardstock scraps.  The "Smile" title is from the Springtime Complements - sometimes mixing and matching is the way to go.  I think those sweet little hearts are my favourite part of this stamp set.

So there you have it, some super simple scrapping from me. Now head over to http://passionateaboutpages.com/2017/04/01/s1704-flock-together-ctmh-australasian-sotm-blog-hop to be inspired by Shaunna!