Rollercoaster holidays...

Wow - what a school holiday - we have been everywhere and tbh atm I am ready for a nanna nap lol.But that is another story involving keys and a garage sigh!

WE started off by taking off early in the Friday afternoon - picking Jess up from school on the way and headed to Mandurah to see Daddy :) as he has been staying down there with this contract (which we applicating today - phew. Beautiful spot on the canals and very cold.......



Gary ended up having the time off for various reasons so we watched movies went and saw the Dawesville cut and houses and drove around. Chionia didn't feel very well so we headed back to the house we have rented in Mandurah and she went downhill very quickly :( Jess managed to get her to have some Nurofen etc and she came good just in time for N & M to arrive for the night. All of us were homeward bound the next day..

Busy sort of week playing catch up and get ahead as we spent this week in Dunsborough seeing Gary was down south. So mum and dad planned a week full of craft things such as my gorgeous paverpol Doll - my Christmas Angel - she needs a few finishing touches from my stash and then I will be happy



Basically a Paverpol doll is like a statue - you can pop it out in the garden and it won't ruin it!! If you touch these dolls they are actually rock hard - Loads of fun and you will get your hands dirty - All up she took about 5 hours to make and will take up to a week to dry out....although she drove home from Dunsborough with me strapped into the front seat cause of her dangly threads at the front rofl!




The girls learnt all sorts! Chionia played with her new sewing machine and she even sewed a bag with a pocket on the front containing her Japanese Mesh Work which we all did. Jess made a paverpol doll, a stuffed robot and mesh work....so a busy stay - also went for a drive to Hamelin Bay - what a beautiful spot!! And the drive home stunning as the sun was getting low. Dad has those photo's but....





Gary surprised us Thursday night by rocking up in Dunsborough unannounced to me or the girls although mum and dad were in on it! XX very special. Anyway he had to leave early so I packed things up and he went ahead with Jess. Weather was appalling driving to Mandurah where we stayed with Gary. Eventful night to say the least rofl.

Home today and still unpacking - I am over it between Mandurah and Dunsborough and Mandurah lol lost count! We are staying put!

Finally

worked out blogger.....lol!


hhmmm maybe I didn't - it is now loading up photo's the old old way! So lets see what we get hehe!!

Been doing a little bit of scrapping lol..... Off to sort out the girls...blogger taking too long!!

We have an artist in the house!

You may recall a few months ago me telling you that Jess had been selected along with 16 others for an art extension program with the school. They have been busy creating cubist canvas paintings and last night was the opening of their exhibition at the Blend(er) gallery. Jess's finished canvas looks stunning and I love her choice of colours and the abstract feel to it!! Everyone did a fantastic job and the gallery was bursting with colour and artists! :) Pop down there this week for a look!

Been a little bit busy since my last post which was the night before Sonia arrived for the long weekend. Poor thing arrived to a full on Forbes family birthday do and due to time differences and a long day of travel I am sure she probably wanted to curl up in a corner and have a sleep!! The next day we had a few girls over for a day of scrapbooking - It was awesome to catch up with them all :) Sunday was a day in Freo and I forgot how busy it gets down there!!! we got home and decided to scrap this photo taken that afternoon - from visiting Freo to scrapped and uploaded in under 6 hours lol!!

And Since Sonia left I have been head down bum up (comments to yourselves please!) trying to keep up with the never ending paperwork with a contract we have just picked up - good timing as it is our quiet period over winter and it is nice to know we are set for the next few months. Gary left this morning to work and live in Mandurah whilst working on the wall - once finished it will actually be in the Guinness Book of Records for the worlds largest mural and we have to anti graffiti it!!!! So if you don't hear from me you will know the girls are keeping me busy whilst I attend to the business on this end of Perth!

Scrapping wise - I haven't actually done anything since my birthday apart from a few cards - yes cards - I know you know I don't do cards but some special birthdays and some for Scrapbooking Memories magazine (yes shock horror they want a card from me!)

And I have been working on some classes to be held at the True Blue Craft Fair at the Claremont Showgrounds at the end of July so if you would love to attend a class taught by me leave me a message and I will get back to you with details - I will be teaching 3 classes on the Friday and then another 3 on the Saturday (I think!) - a LO, a Miss Charlotte and a set of 3 Christmas cards - all classes will be kept to under an hour :)

A jewellery box class I am teaching to one of Jess's friends for her birthday :)

oh and my 2 x 21st cards - simple but elegant :)

Peppermint Choc Chip Pavlova...

ok - yes there is a LO in this months Scrapbooking Memories Magazine with a photo of this yummy pav - very very very easy to make and so very yummy!!!

Enjoy - I will dress with cream, strawberries, blueberries and kiwi fruit :) and a  few little m&m's :)

Mel’s Peppermint Choc Chip Pavlova

Here you go - it is really easy to make trust me!

Tips

just turn the oven off and let it cool in the oven - I make mine at night and leave it till the next morning

Eggs at room temperature

Meringue ingredients
6 egg whites (at room temperature)
2 cups of caster sugar
2 tspn white vinegar
1 tspn vanilla essence
0.5tspn peppermint essence
1 tbspn cornflour
200gr chopped chocolate (I use the Nestle choc chips that don’t change shape when cooked!)
300ml whipped cream

Instructions
Preheat oven to 140degrees celsius
Place egg whites in a large mixing bowl and whip with an electric beater until soft peaks form.
Gradually whisk in 1 cup of sugar and beat until the mixture is very stiff and glossy looking.
Gently stir through the remaining sugar, vinegar, vanilla, peppermint essence, cornflour and chocolate.
Line 2 baking trays with non stick paper and draw a circle on each about 20cm in diameter on each sheet.
Heap the mixture inside the circles and place in oven - after 5 minutes turn oven down to 120degrees celsius and bake for another 55 minutes (total of 1 hour cooking). Turn off oven and leave the pavlova to cool completely INSIDE the oven WITHOUT opening the door (otherwise it will crack and flop!)
Once cool place one layer on a serving plate - top with half the whipped cream place strawberries or any fresh fruit on top, place next layer on top and repeat

Now EAT YUMMO

Mr mojo and a move.....

well a few weeks ago I handed in my resignation with Twiddleybitz as their Perth Rep. It wasn't that I didn't like the job etc I was just finding that time with family etc was being compromised and my mojo had gone walkabout with the stress of everyday bits and pieces and work and the girls etc. The house was a pigsty, my scrap desk was getting dusty and I was feeling a bit stressed so something had to give.

Don't fear though - I am still on the DT and teaching :) which is what I love doing. As a result the last couple of weekends I have had an absolute ball scrapping :)  So I know it was the right thing to do even though I loved going to the different stores and assisting TBZ :)

So Mr mojo is back - what have I created!! Out came my rusting paint again and I rusted up a shelf and large birdcage - still needs a little bit of fiddling and I want to find a bird that doesn't look stoned lol!!!

and then I started on a 12x12 shadowbox with my pop up house in it!! Would it work!! Of course with a bit of readjusting!!!!

and it opens out to reveal............

once again I want to add a couple more little details like butterflies in the garden!!

This weekend we have spent rearranging the house!!! What an effort - it all started cause I had to clean up due to Sonia flying in next week to spend the weekend with me :) and due to above reasons I was tired of the house not being up to scratch so I cleaned up Chionia's room then Jess's room then the toyroom and then got the crazy idea of moving all the rooms around.

So now Jess is upstairs in the old toyroom, Chionia has moved out of her small tiny room into Jess's old room and the old toyroom is now Chionia's old room :) It is all so much cleaner and easier to control!!!  Will see how it goes lol!!

Miss Charlottes Cupboard

having more fun playing atm :)  Love Tim Holtz leg posts thingy's!!! :) More G45 of course and the Miss Charlotte manequin but I have just used one piece and dressed her that way instead!! Still fiddling with her - may make some fabric buttons and need to pop her title somewhere but pondering on it atm!

Also you can see a sneak peak of my class next week at Scrap it Flaunt it :) A pop up house!! And G45 ;) Just jump over to SIFI blog :) Back to creating -

Cherish

....  yes 2 posts in one weekend!! Scrapped again so just posting quickly....note - NO FLOWERS!  boy that was hard!!!  Used one of Tim Holtz new sizzix dies - the tickets - This will become a firm favourite of mine I thinK!!

There is journalling on the tag behind this but at the moment it is for me to see only - just some words on things that have happened lately if you get my drift. :) Back off to scrap now - thinking lots of prima blooms......

Take note of the important things in life.....

like spending time with those you love :)  A busy couple of weeks here.....from Mothers Day tea party's to the zoo (very disappointing :( ) Naplan and catch up and ending this week with Jess home sick with a minor flu..


We had afternoon tea at PP1 where we were treated to a yummy afternoon tea they all helped to prepare and then some songs and games and presents!!

Hmmm I think she has my eyes!!

Homemade Schoolmade presents the best :) Also got a grass head of me that is growing very nicely next to my kitchen sink with the daffodil Chionia brought home which has sprouted already!

Mothers day I decided I wanted to just spend with Gary and the girls so off to the zoo we went - it was suppose to rain in the afternoon so we went earlish... and tbh I was disappointed.......A Lot of pens/ enclosures under repair or refurbishments...... a lot more of the animals just couldn't be found at all and a lot of the others had their backs to us!! We walked through the bird enclosure (you know the ones with double doors etc so they won't fly out and it was about 50mlong....) and we saw just 2 birds......no idea where the others were.....

And then home to a yummy roast dinner :) and dropped off a special Mothers Day dinner to Vinnie and kids courtesy of the mums at school. :)

This week saw Jess do Naplan and on Wednesday she mentioned how many words were spelt wrong and it wasn't until we were watching ACA that night and they should some of the exam papers she said that is how hers were........pretty wrong if you ask me - can't they simply read it through or do a spell check first?????? So I don't think I will be taking much notice of the results if they can't even print out an exam paper without spelling mistakes in it.

And finally last night and today I scrapped :) During the week I was emailed a photo of my great grand parents wedding day...Taken 100years ago so of course it was my inspiration and I scrapped it :) love all things old and vintagey and decided to use heaps of prima flowers too!!

One final post for today

so far I have shown some of the gorgeous projects and new releases that TBZ have got for scrapbooking. One of the main reasons I scrapbook and take umpteen million photo's is to record the memories of my life and that of my family as well....

Over the weekend a good friend of mine tragically lost her husband in a motorbike accident leaving behind not only his soulmate wife but 4 gorgeous children..It is all so sudden and makes you realise how precious life is.....To my friend and her family - you are not alone, your memories will keep him alive and his spirit will never leave you. Remember we are always here for you. take care and big hugs. You know where we are.

For everyone else - give those you love a hug and tell them you love them - you never know what is around the corner or what life may bring you so cherish every second of it, don't sweat over the little things and enjoy being with each other.