Pictureless Posting....

Not going to lie.....
I have had no interest in the interwebs, blogs, websites or even heavens above..... Facebook!

I have been taking a sabbatical from cameras and phones and SMS and even replying to people in a timely manner.

I have been watching TV, reading my kids Enid Blyton, working, going to bed early, drinking less coffee and tea, eating waaaay too many carbs, keeping busy, enjoying the school holidays, catching up with my past life on the coast,  ignoring the mess, listening to digital radio all day, laying in the sun, camping, BEER, pottering along, pondering life and generally not giving a damn.

It has been fun.

DCWV Sweet Tangerine

It has been one of my greatest bug bears that in Australia our access to DCWV stacks is nominal to non existent.....I have been waiting at least five years for Nanna's Kitchen people, five long years.

Anyways about two years ago Big W who was the main supplier in Australia just kind of stopped stocking the stacks and it seemed that the limited online offering was our only option. 

Step up to the plate good guy Spotlight to save the day.  I was rather excited when I first saw the fabric and chalkboard stacks in store and I had my fingers crossed that they would start bringing in a bigger selection.  This last catalogue my hopes were answered when they had four new DCWV stacks and I have since found another four in store.

Sooooo purrrrty.   I went in to buy sky's the limit or Freshly Picked but I ended up falling in love with Sweet Tangerine.  DCWV have really upped the game in the Patterns they are using, I can remember years and years ago that I would bypass 90% of their offerings but now they are all really good and have some really beautiful designs.  So ono what was in the stack....

This is one of the two things that bothers me about this stack, the hole punch on the pattern and the smell.  The hole seems to not affect the size as I just did a quick comparison between a  trimmed down DCWV with a piece of Bazzill and they are the same size but it did irk me a bit when I opened it.  And the smell, not overpowering or offensive in any way but some of the stacks have a certain odour that bothers some people.  Neither of these things are enough to deter me from buying more stacks I love the fact that they are cheap, have pretty coordinating designs and you get two of each design.

Spotlight and happy mail...

 

Dear lizzy goodies, so many pretties

Kaisercraft pads are 30% off

DCWV chalkboard and fabric stacks, just wish they would get in more DCWV stacks, I've been waiting for years.

Thickers....

Ruby rock it project cards, can't wait to use these in my project life.

The most AMAZING fabric I have ever seen, stupidly I didn't buy any and I know it will be gone buy the time I get back, also I suck at sewing and I already have far too much fabric.

Pearl spot cotton, so pretty in real life, so pretty...

HAPPY MAIL!  So I got some money from Jase for my birthday and I bought a box of goodies from craft online, sadly they didn't have the 6x6 crate paper pad I ordered but i still got my free shipping and it only took two days to arrive, so happy :)

Ohhh and there is 20 sheets of Bazzill Kraft cardstock under all those goodies, seriously as rare as hens teeth around these parts.

Instagram love....

 

Zach's choice in china town

Coffee.......

Light up world industries and batman hi tops, my son has wicked taste in shoes.

How I love this city

My newest fur baby 

The craft fairy left an awful mess

Prime sleeping time brain....sleeping time

Haven't made a batch of these in a while

Wahhhh

Pugs on merry go rounds and in tea cups...shut up and take my money!

Crafting to post....

I have actual scrapbooking to post, that's right I scrapbooked.
To be fair I have had  these layouts sitting on my desk since September of last year, but I finally got my act together and I finally got some crafting done.

I am finally getting the hang of these boy layouts, I have always found it far more easier to scrap with pinks but these days I am enjoying the blues and greens and cheeky dirty faces in photos.  These layouts are a good combination as usual of new and older stuff, nothing  majorly old in these but just a mixed lot of stuff from my stash.

American Crafts goodies picked up on sake from Spotlight this week.  This is the last purchase like this in a long time for me, I am now on a spending freeze of sorts with only consumables and products for project life and my Wedding album allowed to be purchased.  I have enough stuff for me to comfortably craft from my stash for a while so I am being responsible with my cash and trying to make more things than I buy.

Purrty fabrics.  I am no sewer by any stretch of the imagination, my mum was an amazing seamstress and I have two friends who make the most amazing things but me......not so much and to be honest I don't really enjoy sewing all that much.  I do however hate paying huge amounts of money for things that I could easily and quite comfortably make myself and when I manage to get awesome fabric really cheap who am I to refuse.  I am really lucky to have a fabric clearance store around the corner from me and I am currently in the process of drawing up plans for some small sewing projects so who am I to refuse such pretty patterns ;)

Long overdue post

So this is rather overdue....
This is actually my second blogger account over the years, my first called some kinda craziness was a fairly apt title for that time in my life way back in 2007.  A few years later I decided to call it a day and move on from blogging as one I just didn't seem to have the time and secondly there was nothing crazy about my life anymore, no more high heels and big night out but rather early nights in pyjamas and crying babies, yes it was a different kind of crazy but it just wasn't the right fit for me anymore. 

After a long break I decided to start another blog, I am a crafter and I wanted the focus to be mainly scrapbooking and cards but as my kids get older, life gets busier and my spare time is becoming more and more precious keeping this blog as a craft only affair has become the impossible task.  I have not crafted nor created anything much in last six months, I hate to say it but I have been shopping more for supplies than actually using them.

I do enjoy blogging I used to keep many a journal back in the day so I have decided that I will keep plugging away at this blog but instead of just leaving as a long neglected place where I post sporadically I will start making more regular contributions on everything and anhthing, especially helped by the fact that blogger has finally put out an iphone app that I can actually use.

To more blogging....

The good, the bad and the meh!

So I am pretty big on e-bay, I have bought some fairly monumental fails from there but I have managed to snag some pretty awesome goodies here and there over the years.  Recently I found a seller who sold mainly paper and I have been stalking her sales for a few months.  I decided to finally cave and purchase a mix lot of paper that they had, what happened next was a case of the good, the bad and the meh.

The Good.
I really am happy with this lot of paper, like really happy.  What I love about them most of all is that besides that scenic route paper with the pretty polka dots I would never have bought these papers and I actually really love them, winning.

 Brands included in this lot are Teresa Collins, Pink Paislee, Scenic Route and Paper Chic

The Bad.
I am not a paper snob by any means and I am very comfortable using a ten year old paper, something from a stack or a big box store brand but I am also 100% aware that this hobby is something of a personal nature and that the paper that I like is not necessarily something that the person next to me will like and that is where buying a "lucky dip" of paper can be a problem.
Plain and simple I just did not like these papers.  Wrong patterns, colours, designs and most of these were old like really old, Past the use by date for me.

Brands included CherryArte, Pink Paislee, Adorne it, Heidi Grace, Paper Chic

The Meh.
These are neither good nor bad, they are just meh for me, I have plans for all of them including cards, possible invitations and cutting up, like I said its all about personal preference but these are neither here nor there for me.

Brands included Adorne it, Paper Chic, CherryArte and Teresa Collins for Coredinations.

Would I buy paper like this again?

No.

The seller was top notch, the idea great, the shipping time and condition perfect and the price was really reasonable at about 60c a sheet but....
I am likely only going to use about 8-9 sheets out of 20 and some of these papers are seriously old, that Heidi Grace yellow and orange number is dated from 2004.
It was a good and bad experience a 50% success rate but I think in the future I will not buy paper sight unseen and just hand pick my pretties.

What I have been Instagraming....

 

 

Just a peeek into my little life over the last couple of months.

 

Catch up....

So......

It has been a really loooong time since I last posted, way to go on the keeping up with this blogging thing huh.  This year has been crazy, seriously crazy busy with  lots of big changes and a huge amount of emotional stress.  Anyways onto the very long overdue catch up.

 

The first huge and obvious thing was my beautiful Teela going off for her first day of Prep.  It really was not a sad day but a happy one, she was so ready for it and all the ups and downs that being at school bring.  She is doing amazing and her teacher is not only great but has nothing but praise for my little one, it has really been a huge positive in her life.

The terror also started with his first day of Kindy.  Zach just like his sister was so ready for this and it has really brought him out of his shell.  He is in the same room and with the same teachers that Teela had last year and I think that has really helped my socially awkward little dude.

 

 

New Car......A new car.  So not on the plans but after the third incident with the commodore in less then three months it was time to say goodbye to old faith full and hello to something a little more fuel friendly and reliable.

Say what.....another different car. After months and months and months of Jasons baby being for sale we had actually come to realise that it was not going anywhere, but after a week of emails and phone calls from someone the car was gone and we decided to buy a much more family friendly car that we could at least all fit into.

A few trips here and there to the beach before it get too cold, I do miss living so close to the beach but we are only a 45 minute drive away so we do try and go up as much as we can.

A little spot of Easter camping in what is possibly the most beautiful and intriguing places I have ever been.

And then there is all the trips to the supermarket, all the work, social occasions, cleaning, washing, driving, errands, playing, tidying mowing, household shenanigans and the general busy that surrounds this crazy family of four.