She Scraps- Catching up

I've been getting back int to the scrapbooking grove, something about the new year does that to me. I love having a fresh start to things, a new album and new hopes for completing a new album, even though I'm not yet finished the last album!

 I just had to scrap this photo we took on Christmas day, we were all having such an awesome day! of course this one will be popped into my 2015 album so its good to be getting going with finishing it off because I have a bit to go.

 I kept this next one kinda simple- In the hopes of just getting things done! Though I did paint those flowers and leaves.I always love it when I manage to get a handmade element on my pages.

 There will be lots more catch up pages coming soon, I think last year I only made it to about March or April. I got a little caught up with making 180 ornaments and not much scrapping happened after that.

So right now I am enjoying a mix of catching up and starting fresh and I am totally ok with a mix of both.

A head full of dreams

I love this time of year, I'm slowly easing myself into the new year. We have been away on a beachy holiday so there is a super relaxed feel going on here. What I love most about this time of year is dreaming up all the wonderful things that I might like to do in the year ahead. For me over time I have realized that there is just no point in making restrictive resolutions, it only hurts my soul. So instead I love to dream up all the wonderful things I would like to do and if they don't happen, oh well! Its not a problem! This year I am dreaming of lots of fun crafty things. Last year my crafty goal was to complete 180 ornaments and that I did, more or less. And I am so glad that I didn't make any more because they didn't quite all make it onto my tree, don't worry though they will not go to waste!

 They totally would have if I had just stuck to the tree that I was going to put them on but when the chance to have my own first real life Christmas tree came up I just couldn't pass up the chance and I must say it was totally MAGICAL and there were happy tears ( a total dream come true) and it will be happening again because I LOVED IT!!!! But it didn't need quite that many ornaments. Anyway I digress, the 180 ornament project took up a lot of my crafting time last year and I spent a lot of time from September till Christmas making so many Christmas crafty things, I quite possibly got a little obsessive about it and I  pretty much forgot about this space! So I am really looking forward to doing some other fun crafty things this year and getting back into the swing of things.

Some things I am looking forward to doing this year are:

Finishing my December Daily Album

Getting some fun snail mail happening

Using my memory planner- though I am still deciding on how to document this year

I have some fun felt plans and gifts to make

Id love to try doing some cross stitch

I'm dying to finish some travelers notebooks that were supposed to be xmas gifts (reminder finish making things early!!)

Scrapbooking

and I miss sewing!!

And I have a year long project that I am still deciding weather to attempt or not!

So that's where I am at, still dreaming of all the fab things that I might or might not do this year and just enjoying the beautiful dreamy stage.

My First Pocket Letter

I have recently joined in on a pocket letter swap with some lovely scrapbooking ladies. Its such a fun and fairly stress free swap. And it is lovely  to be connecting with other scrapbooking types since in my everyday life I don't know any other scrapbookers- scrapbook stores are quite a long way from here.

 Anyway on to the pocket letters. This one was a Heidi Swapp themed pocket letter, just my favorite scrapper! So I was excited to get started with this theme.

 I tried to keep it as simple as I could and left nearly everything for the recipient to be able to be taken out and used. Of course I added in a few little treats too!

 I did decorate the back  with a few bits and bobs including a letter with a little bit about me.

 When I wrapped up my letter I added a patty pan, a doily and some ribbon. All in my favorite colour combination right now- pink and gold with black and white!

I loved creating this pocket letter !

If you would like you can find out a lot more about pocket letters Here!

Weekend Adventures

Its been all very exciting here recently because we bought a new car!!! Since we live in the country and we both have to travel long distances each day our car had done a lot of kilometers and it was time. My hubby was super excited to take our new car 'bluebell' out on her first easy 4 wheel drive adventure.

 We drove down to deep creek conservation park and then all the way down to blowhole beach- the last part was very steep driving (I hated it!!!) but we were rewarded at the end with a beautiful little beach!

 My boys loved this beach they are super keen to go back, Blake with his fishing gear and Luke with swimmers on! Blake was content to climb on and explore the rocks and Luke was happy playing at the waters edge and getting his clothes a little too wet!

 The weather was lovely it was one of the first few spring days here, so we were all keen to be out and about soaking up all the lovely sunshine!

Im looking forward to more adventuring in our new and more able car! if only I could craft in the car!!

180 Ornaments- August Done!

I just finished Augusts Ornaments so I guess I am a little behind on Septembers ornaments whoops! That's ok because I am coming to the end of the Ornament road. With August's ornaments done that only leaves me two more months of ornaments left! Not long to go, and I cant believe that I am nearly done, who knew I could make it this far!

 I'm really loving these little envelopes, they were nice to sew up. They have a cute little love heart on the back and they could hold a little something in them too. I had even thought about sewing up 25 of them so that I could use them for advent next year, they would be cute with a little note or message inside of them!

I am up to 152 ornaments now! The ornament basket is looking so full that I am going to have to find something larger to store them in! September ornaments are going to be something a little larger, when I was looking through the ornaments I wondered if some of them are a little small and might get a bit lost and not have a big impact on the tree so I am thinking that I will go with a simple shape and make it a bit larger, hopefully it will all look great on the tree- I'm getting a little nervous to see what its all going to look like!

A little early christmas planning

Its no secret that I love everything about Christmas. I just cant seem to help myself, I love everything about it and just thinking about it makes me seriously happy. Whilst all year long  I have been madly stitching up  my 180 ornaments, it keeps Christmas right at the front of my thoughts and I have been dreaming up a tonne of fun crafty projects to make. In fact I have been working on them for some time now, I have a long list written on my kitchen window with a white board marker. And I am so glad that I have because there is no possible way that I could complete all this fun craftiness in the weeks leading up to Christmas and quite honestly I don't want to be trying to do everything at that time of year, it is busy enough then as it is!

Last year I wanted to have everything done by late November (see it here) it really made a huge difference that I had most stuff done but his year I would like to be done  little earlier. Really I know you are thinking that it is too early but seriously it is mid August already and its gone so fast!!! (129 days left!) There are a few things that I have been organizing already so that the end of year is a lovely enjoyable time and not a time when I am pulling my hair out. Here is a list of the first four things to think about that will help you get organised. I'm going to suggest that it is time to find a little note book or a spot in your planner where you can write a few things down, but first:

1. Decide on a Theme or Colour Scheme.

Ok so this is the fun part, may be you love to have a mish mash of christmas' gone by and that is totally fine, I think this is pretty typical for most Australians, we are a pretty laid back bunch but even if you are the kind of person that puts up a mixture of ornaments from years gone by, use that as your theme and put funky cut up cards on your pressies and add to your collection this year. If your more like me I LOVE to have a theme, my theme doesn't cover the entire house, yes I love to cover as much of my house as possible in christmassy goodness but I like to go with the flow in each room. Deciding on a theme or colour scheme can really help you. It really narrows down what to look for, what to buy, what not to buy and gives your Christmas a unique feel.

Of course the best place to find lots of inspiration is pinterest and you can see my list of Christmas themes here.

2. Make a list of Christmas gifts.

This is kind of obvious but its a really great way to reduce the stress! I hate shopping a Christmas time especially when you don't know what to get someone- I do love Christmas shopping when I have all my gifts done and I can enjoy the atmosphere and stay away from Christmas lines!  Its also such a money saver when you are not at the shops in a panic trying to madly find something special for someone special! So get started on that list and pop some gifts away, you'll be so happy you did!

3. Make a list of any handmade items you would like to make.

This year I am making a few small hand made gifts for friends and even these take time. If you leave it too late you just wont do it! Now is the time to get going on hand made gifts. I am also making lots of hand made decorations this year as well as my 180 ornaments I am also making some glitter houses to decorate my tree.

4. Organize your Advent Calendar.

Over the past few years my boys have enjoyed an activity and a chocolate on each day of advent, it makes the entire Christmas period so special and so fun!  They have requested to have the same again this year and they have also requested that there be more crafty activities in the mix this year. There are so so many amazing advent ideas out there you can see my advent pin board here. It pays to get this one out of the way early if you want to try something different or new because it can take a little time to plan and create. And really there is only just over 100 days until Advent begins :-)

I've bee so inspired by so many advent calendars so  made these advent bag houses for my boys. Each one contains a Project life card with an instruction to their activity and a chocolate each. Any crafty materials  or activity materials will be placed in the Advent house that I made last year (it's had an update!). My over all theme this year is winter wonderland. I'm creating lots of little houses for a village feel in my family room. And of course I am making lots of other bits and bobs I'll share here along the way. Hope this list helped you!

Snail Mail Outgoing

I recently created this snail mail for my pen pal. As I said in my last post I have been super inspired by all this cold weather here in Australia. And the theme for this Christmas is a winter wonderland. I am going to have lots of houses around the place. My pen pal asked me how my Christmas planning was going and well I just couldn't help but tell her all about it in this mail.

  I simply used some pens to draw on the box and wrote her address on the right hand side.

It opened up to have a little winter village inside. A little view of my Christmas plans :-)

 I created a pocket pouch to hold the letter by sticking two pieces of  white card together and cutting slits in the top piece to crate the pocket and then added a flower to the front that I had cut with my silhouette. 

 I put my letter in the left pocket, the plan in the middle and a pattern in the right. I also added in a photo copy of a pattern that I thought she might like.

I had really wished that I could have made something useful, my pen pal Sara makes me the most wonderful things that I can actually use, so I felt a little guilty sending something that is purely pretty, but it is also nice to have something pretty in the mail, I guess.

Of course it was lots of fun to make and I always love to sit down and read a letter from my pen pal- its such a lovely thing to do. So different from our more modern forms of communication!