Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone, may it be a safe one, full of blessings.

TJ's Snowy Thank You Card

TJ made this card today. There are more thank you cards over at C.R.A.F.T. this week.

Final Days

We are now in the final days of 2010, and the final days of my store at 3Scrapateers (It will close at the end of the month). Also these are the last days for you to take me up on my offer of a freebie or 2.

To recap:

I am offering a free gift this month for all purchases of $5 or more, and 2 for purchases of $10 or more. If you purchase $5 or more Toucan Scraps products during in Dec send me a copy of your invoice(s) and I will send you your thank you gift (my email address is in my tou documentation included in all downloads). This offer applies to all my stores, not just the one I am closing.

AND - Maggie from WOYWW has seasonal blog Candy that closes midnight on Friday.

Christmas Wednesday

Good Morning everyone (I think it's still morning - just about). What's on my desk today for WOYWW? Upstairs, on my main desk - absolutely nothing, I havn't seen it in nearly a week. Downstairs? A mess, and my unexpected Christmas Present. I'm sure you'll see it out of the box one Wednesday very soon. It's a second hand, hardly used A4 graphics tablet than Daniel found for me - bless him. And yes I did briefly try it out on Boxing Day.

But, as you can see the desk isn't in use (and hasn't been really for several days). What am I up to?

Providing assistance for mechano constructions, duplo zoo buildings, train tracks and dolly dressing etc. Playing with Pepper Pig and finding batteries for a dance mat. Unlike their brother, who likes routine, the girls decided that playing with their Christmas Presents was much more important than getting changed out of their pyjamas this morning.

We spent Christmas Day and weekend with some of Daniel's family (see previous post for photos). Daniel's Brother's Wife, Deborah, even brought her 2 chickens with her; as they were staying at Daniel's Parents for a whole week. And if you havn't visited since last WOYWW, we did get a new tree, piccies in several previous posts.

Photos from Christmas Day

A White Christmas

Happy Kiddies

Family Time

Ribbons & Stamps Give-away.

Lily of the Valley Stamps and The Ribbon Girl have teamed up for a give away this month of stamps and ribbons etc. (but hurry, it closes tomorrow) - find out more by clicking here.

Christmas Tree Layouts

I've scrapped a 2 pager about our family Christmas Tree Decorating tradition, my Grandfather's tree, and our new one. Clicking on the images will take you to larger versions in the gallery. I used my Nativity Play kit.

Merry Christmas

Time for the festivities to begin.

Merry Christmas Everyone, and Happy Birthday Jesus.

10 Minute Break

Oh my, what excitement! I've lost count of how many times the kids have told me it's Christmas Eve today, and I'm having a hard time maintaining discpline and order. They are not being naughty - just incredibly noisy and running around full of excessive energy. So they bump into each other etc. and - cayos.

I took a 10 minute craft break, and made a clean and simple card. The clean and simple challenge at Christian Paper Crafts last Saturday was to make a card using just buttons and bows. The lovely inspiration photo at Really Reasonable Ribbons inspired my colour scheme. The silver paper is from that torn gift bag that I made the star from yesterday.

More Tree Decorations

Tisha and Roo both loved helping mummy crank the handle on the X-cut to emboss flower pictures into some vellum. They were then punched out with a Fiskars Circle Punch to hang on the tree. They should look extra pretty with the lights on this evening.

Kona Kids Krafters are doing Holiday Projects this month.

Buttons

I want to thank the lovely people who gave me a fun idea for some quick and easy tree decorations this week. TJ thought Casper's idea to use buttons would be great and threaded up some brightly coloured buttons from my haberdashery draw.

Kona Kids Krafters are looking for Holiday Projects this month, and TJ is entering this to For Fun Challenges this week too.

A Star

Over at For Fun Challenges they want to see any kind of project that we make this week. And this afternoon I took this

to make this

following a lovely tutorial I found at House Revivals, thank you Amanda.

Printable Christmas Treats Box

Hello folks, the year is drawing near to a close, and Christmas is almost upon us. I've designed a printable Christmas Treats box for my children and want to share it with you all today. My printer is low on ink, so most of it is actually white, with the motif made from my new Nativity Play kit.

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You will find more Free Christmas Printables at the Homemade Holidays Blog.

TJ's Split Negative Cards

TJ finished her thank you cards using the split negative technique today. She used a Christmas Stamp that came free with a magazine Daniel bought in the Jan sales last year. And also papers from my Thank You Letter Collection (on clearance sale this month).

She is entering these into the OSSAT challenge - surprise us, the ABC challenge - K is for keep it simple, and Thank You at Cupcake craft.

New Tree

Daniel and TJ found us a new tree. Apparently it was hard to find a 4 foot one, plenty of 3 or 5 foot trees about. This one is narrower, more tightly packed and has about 4 times as many branches. So we could use a lot more ornaments as well as a new angel or maybe a star to put on the top.

Poor Tisha was hugging the broken doll and couldn't understand why she couldn't put it on the top of the tree again. She also decorated herself with the tinsel.

My Poor Tree

It was my Grandfather's tree, it's seen very many Christmases. Unfortunately it won't see anymore. When I put it up for the kids to decorate after dinner on Monday it was looking a bit unstable and somewhat battered. I thought this would probably be it's last Christmas. But it only lasted a mere 20 hours before falling over yesterday afternoon. I was unable to rescue it, and my Angel was a casualty too along with about 1/2 dozen ornaments.

Daniel is managing longer periods of time out of bed now (a 3 hour stint yesterday afternoon). He's taken TJ to the garden centre in the snow to see if they have any trees left the same size. Nearly 6 inches of snow now, and we live in the middle of the town - wowzers I wonder what the outskirts and country areas are like.

And now for the last WOYWW before Christmas. And I hope you all have a fantastic one.

At the left of the usable area of my desk you can see TJ's project in progress. She's starting her thank you cards and wants to have a go at the split negative technique. The pack of pencils were her birthday present from my mum. And the favour boxes are waiting to be filled with savoury snacks that I haven't baked yet. I've got the files ready to package the printable box up as my last freebie of the year - so check back later today or tomorrow to collect it.

And here you can see the boxes and and bags I got down from the top of the wardrobe for the equipment TJ needs to complete her project and also for the projects I finished yesterday evening (see previous post). And some kiddie stuff under the chair.

Can't show the tree yet (I hope we get one), but can show you the pile of unwrapped presents in the cot. We use it as a storage cupboard - it's on wheels so we can still get in the built in one. Hopefully we can get organised enough in the new year to be able to dismantle the cot and move it into storage.

update: photo of new tree in next post.

Split Negative Nautical Cards

I was going to take a photo of the lit tree that the kiddies decorated yesterday, but it has fallen down and needs rescuing.

TJ, Roo and I like to watch the Stamp TV technique video together each week, and they are doing 1 a day for a 10 day end of year count down. Yesterday's technique was Split Negative. It's quiet good fun. One of the good things about Split Negative is you can do 2 projects at once. I used a stamp from the Guiding Light Stamp Set available at StampTV.

For my first project I went for black & white with red, my splash of colour for this week's C.R.A.F.T. challenge. I punched out the stars, and punched the corners for this week's challenge at Craft Your Days Away.

And for my second project I tried cutting the image out with a different shape from my Fiskars template. I quiet liked it and paired it up with the shells print from my Peaceful Seas digi paper pack. This is my entry for anything goes at Papertake Weekly.

TJ hopes to finish her 2 cards tomorrow, she got distracted by her brother wanting to make more gingerbread men.

Calendar for Grammie

TJ has been busy the last 3 days making a 2011 Calendar for Grammie & Pops (my parents). She used my 2011 Calendar Stamps and 12 digi stamp images of her choosing. She honoured me by choosing 4 by Toucan Scraps including these 3. (I can't show you anymore right now, will soon I promise). We are off to town to post it shortly, all that snow & ice ....

Anything goes at the I Did Creations Challenge Blog this week.

Pocket Book Finished

This week's theme at O Alice is Winter Wonderland, and I took the oportiunity to get that winter themed pocket book finished. I can't remember how long ago I started it, and I intended to do several different ones, but getting time for me to craft is tricky with my creative 7 year old around.

And now that the covers are attached, the tutorial is finished too (here).

More Snow and Some Excited Kiddies.

We had a break in the snowfall today, it had snowed for 2 nights and 1 day in a row. When I went out in it today I couldn't see the footpath - up to 4 inches on our estate now. And the snow has started again. I know it's quiet heavy in some parts of the country, my parents are on the south coast, and I haven't heard from them yet, I guess they are close to being snowed in by now.

Fortunately one part of Christmas we had done in advance was the kids Christmas Presents, so not being able to go shopping these last few weeks hasn't made that a problem. The presents were all put in our storage unit, along with stuff we are not currently using but will need later in the year (our summer wardrobe is there in the winter and visa versa, and hand-me downs and my art kit etc.)

Daniel's been too ill for the trip to storage this month and it was looking like we wouldn't have our Christmassy stuff before it closes on Christmas Eve. But Daniel was feeling up to the short drive this afternoon and he phoned in before leaving to check the roads were OK.

So now the presents are stored in Tisha's old cot in our room covered in an old blanket and my Grandfather's tree is in the hall waiting to be put up. The kids are so excited!!! They have to finish dinner before they can decorate it though.

New challenge Blog & Candy

There is a new challenge blog due to start in January, the Stitchy Bear Store is going to be one of it's regular sponsors.

As part of the launch they have 3 blog candy's up for grabs including this fabulous rubber stamps set from Gina K Designs

December Megakit

The RAKScraps December Megakit is available now, Free until the end of the month at the RAKCentre.

Here's the preview of my festive contribution.

Gingerbread Men

The kids wanted to make Christmas Biscuits this afternoon. I wasn't too sure if these would work as the ground almond based dough has a tendency to spread quiet a bit, but they did OK and taste delicious.

The decorations are done the old fashioned way with currents.

The Joys of Aspergers

Roo, bless him, doesn't always put 2 and 2 together properly. The ground is white with snow, it's freezing cold outside. I've just collected him from school. It's the last day of term. He announced "Mummy, tomorrow it is the start of the summer holidays."

A Must See

You've got see this, it's on display at Imaginisce today, made from paper - isn't it incredible?

Spotty Layout

I decided to turn my spotty wordart freebie (a few posts back) into a layout. This month's challenge sketch at Imaginisce is really fun and the prize is worth $75 !!

So here's what I did with the sketch using my new 5 Little Speckled Frogs Kit. TJ was the only one with spots on her face etc and she refused a photo (don't blame her).

As usual clicking on the image will take you to a larger, more legible, version in my gallery.

White Blanket & Ribbons

We woke up this morning to a fresh white blanket of snow on the ground outside. It had snowed all night. It's about 1 inch deep in the unsheltered parts of our estate. The kids are hoping there will be snow for the school holidays, it's their last day of term today. So will we be having a white Christmas this year?

Really Reasonable Ribbons are giving away a fabulous stash of ribbons this month as blog candy - yum. Included in the package is a score buddy ... now one of those would be very nice.....

OSAAT for 1 month

This week's OSAAT challenge is for more than a week - it's open until the 9th January. And the challenge is - "surprise me". Choccy, one of their amazing DT has made these 3 pages for a calendar using my 2011 Calendar Digi Stamps, and you can also see some boxes made using my Deborah's Wedding Confetti Boxes. Click on the image to go visit her blog and see the pages and boxes in more detail.

I can't wait to see the rest of that calendar ....

Speed Scrap

I did some speed scrapping today for this week's scrap hosted by Barbara at Faith Sisters. I used my new 5 Little Speckled Frogs kit for it.

Clicking on the image will take you to a larger version in the gallery.

Top 3

TJ made it into the top 3 at Kona Kids Krafters with her set of Christmas Tree Cards.

What's Happening this Wednesday

Roo and TJ went back to school today. Tisha's feeling a bit lonely and needing a little bit more mummy attention than normal. She'll get used to being without the others just in time for them to break up for the school holidays at the end of the week.

For WOYWW this week I have a photo of the downstairs desk (the upstairs one is much the same as last week, minus the Christmas Cards that got posted). Daniel is still in bed very weak, but the fever broke last night.

Don't miss out on the freebie in my previous post - the result of some chicken pox inspired art therapy.

5 Little Speckled Frogs

When Tisha got Chicken Pox and I was wondering if the others would catch it, I couldn't get the children's song "5 Little Speckled Frogs" out of my head. So I turned it into something creative during this quarantine time. I hope you like my new collection, here are the first 3 parts.

Store Links

@ Stitchy Bear Stamps

@ Faith Sisters.

8x8 Digi Papers Pack, exclusive @ Stitchy Bear Stamps

Store Link

Digi Stamps, exclusive @ Stitchy Bear Stamps

Frog Stamps Set Store Link

And in honour of spotty kids who are now out of quarantine here is a freebie for you all.

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and don't forget:

I am also offering a free gift this month for all purchases of $5 or more, and 2 for purchases of $10 or more. If you purchase $5 or more Toucan Scraps products during in Dec send me a copy of your invoice(s) and I will send you your thank you gift (my email address is in my tou documentation included in all downloads). This offer applies to all my stores.

TJs Lavendar Pillows

It's the last day of quarantine for TJ and Roo today. For her home school project this week she's been making lavender pillows for her teachers as Christmas Gifts. I taught her 2 new skills for her sewing repertoire. One was whipping stitch to decorate the top of each felt pillow. The other was making smaller stitches when sewing the 2 layers together so the lavender won't fall out.

Candles

It's day 9 for the 12 days of Christmas at Christian Paper Crafts today, and today's theme is candles.

Here is one I decorated, a simple, quick and easy to make Christmas table decoration or gift (tutorial here).

And TJ made this tea-light holder. There are always candles lit at Grandma's house at Christmas, where we hope to be this year. And TJ want's to be a part of getting the candles ready. She is entering this into the Christmas Challenges at Stitchy Bear Kids and Children's Challenge Corner.

I made the template that TJ used and will be sharing it with Super Sister & King's Daughter subscribers at CPC later this week.

Jude's Blog Candy

Been a while since I entered a blog candy. This one closes on the 6th January. My Mother's Father was Italian and in his family they gave each other Christmas presents on the 6th January (the 24th Dec was a church and parades day). This was a nice memory of family long missed.

Anyway, Jude's birthday is on the 6th January and she's having a surprise birthday blog candy draw.

And a family update? Roo's spots are mild, he isn't bothered by them like Tisha wasn't. He even has less spots than she did - about 30 or so. TJ has a lot of bad itchy ones that have been scratched off. Daniel still has the fever, over 8 days now. The Dr said he has developed a chest infection from the flu. Tisha and I are both well.

Closing at 3Scrapateers

It is with a heavy heart that Daniel and I have made the decision to close my store at 3Scrapateers at the end of the year. I will continue to be selling at Faith Sisters and Stitchy Bear Stamps. All products that are contractually exclusive to 3Scrapateers, or I have decided to retire rather than copy across to my other stores have been put on clearance sale at 20% off. This includes scrapbooking kits, quickpages and printables.

I am also offering a free gift this month for all purchases of $5 or more, and 2 for purchases of $10 or more. If you purchase $5 or more Toucan Scraps products during in Dec send me a copy of your invoice(s) and I will send you your thank you gift (my email address is in my tou documentation included in all downloads). This offer applies to all my stores.