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Addiction is a funny thing – stay at home Mums being some of the worst candidates for alorts of addiction, mainly stemming from the pantry. I mean. It’s right there. And so is boredom. Or in my case I’m too busy to be bored but it’s good to procrastinate. When I can’t figure something out on my layout I get up, walk to the pantry and stare longingly, which is silly because rice bubbles and pasta don’t scrap and really can’t give me the answers to where to put the cool felt embellishment or where to place the photos. So I sigh, grab something to eat and leave, disappointed in the pantry’s unwillingness to give me the answers.

And yet I go back.

As a weight watchers lifetime member (yes I’m proud of that one!) you’d think I’d know better. But I have a neigbour that makes great toffee. And it’s Christmas, right? And Paul told me this morning, noticing the sigh as I stood on the scales, “Don’t you dare start counting points again before Christmas and our trip to the beach – It’s the time to eat and be Merry!”. Looking down at the scales apparently this is true.

Where was I going with this? Dried Cranberries. My latest addiction. The last one being salt and vinegar flavoured rice crackers. Dried Cranberries. Oh my gosh they are so yummy. So yummy in fact that if anyone has recipes for a loaf or muffins or anything else with these, I’d appreciate it. THAT is where I was trying to get to.

Crafting Connection has been over for a little under a month but I have news – the 3 classes featured at Crafting Connection , Conversations, Confessions and Constant Reminders will live on!!!! YESSS!!!
Watch for them, probably during January or February on Big Picture Scrapbooking, as I am one of BPS’s newest instructors. If you haven’t had a look at BPS yet, I urge you to go take a look. There are a whole tonne of resources there that I didn’t know about until I registered and a lot of free stuff can be had :o) We like that. My classes will be held with easy access to supplies in NZ and Australia through Kiwiscraps, with Scrapbook.com being the link in the USA. BPS encourages you to use your stash though, so it’ll work in all sorts of ways.
Keep an eye out for those classes and hopefully lots more in the future!

Also – those of you that saw me in Wellington or Sydney and saw the stamps I designed specifically for my classes, they are now for sale through Kiwiscraps.

Here is the set designed for conversations, but they can be used in alosrts of ways… those words can all be cut from the sheet seperately and used as subtitles etc, perhaps words in journaling or whatever. I love my set and use them for tonnes of things. Kiwiscraps has them for $18 NZD (for those in Aussie or USA, the conversion makes them way cheaper)

Then there is the set I designed for Confessions – again all those words can be cut apart and used as seperate stamps – I love the versatility of Acrylic stamps for this reason.the journaling block is the size of a shipping tag – like 12cm x 6 cm shipping tag, so perfect for hidden journaling.. These ones are $23.

Also Kiwiscraps have the Acrylic albums I used in Constant Reminders for sale. At $12 each they are a bargain.

Leaving you finally with an image from the Tarisota gallery which is amazing again this month, BTW, this is a few of the Christmas cards I made and sent out… I made 52 in all… which is crazy because I can barely find time to breathe and I have people screaming out for stuff for deadlines all over the place, but I made 52 Christmas cards. lol. Perhaps coming to a mailbox near you soon ;o)

Laters.

Growing up is a funny old thing isn’t it? We crashed a party last night – an old friend was having a birthday BBQ – so we heard, and we hadn’t been to his place for a good 7-8 years. So we turned up. He was rapt, it was all very cool. We gave them heaps for not inviting us anyway and their answer? Well we stopped inviting you to stuff when you stopped turning up. Ahhh so true. It was about the same time we had babies. Or toddlers that quickly stopped the flow of conversation as we ran after them making sure they weren’t touching something they shouldn’t or weren’t finding a hazard in a home not designed to house 2 year olds. It’s just not the same when everybody is chatting and drinking in the sun on the deck and I spend my time following toddlers around the back yard. And so the socilising slowed or limited itself to kiddie safe zones. Finally though – finally. We went out last night and didn’t have to worry about the kids so much. Even Abby. I think we have turned a corner. It was such a good feeling.

So that was one milestone and as I heard a little conversation between Brady and Paul today I realised there are many in our lives – the conversation…
Braden: “Dad, will you play in the sandpit with me”
Paul: “and um, how do I do that?”

Now I’m sure once upon a time Paul was a 7 year old boy and he spent hours in sandpits – he was bought up on a farm so no doubt there were dams to catch water and drains and fallen trees to climb and play… so when exactly was it that we forgot how? Kinda sad.
But still I’m revelling in the happiness of going out last night and not having to follow babies around :o) So it’s OK.

Proud mother moment – Prizegiving on Wednesday night, here is Jacob with the ‘Moorhouse Memorial Trophy for Speech’. LOVE IT! Jacob, with all the things that could possibly limit him, is such an articulate amazing kid. He speaks so well, in front of hundreds of students. When I was his age I could never speak publically. So here is a kid that faces way more challenges than I did when I was young and he can turn around and earn awards like this. Oh yea. I am a proud proud mother.

And I created this layout the very next day for Tarisota gallery – it’s called super amazing boy. It’s the kind of name he’d give himself if he were a superhero. And he is :o)

Ok – small details for something fairly exciting for me just being ironed out – excited to tell you about that in a few days.

Did you see the new leaf I turned over? No? It’s the blog-more-often leaf – I really want to write more often – of course anyone that knows me in real life knows I like to talk lots about nothing, so I need the outlet. So look for me to update more often.

I want to remind you once more to really appreciate the holiday season and what you have around you. I’m not the soppiest sentimental kind of chick but I gotta get all soppy with this one. Shauna is doing it tough – thanks SO much to those of you that visit her blog and in turn send her messages of support or just a hello. It’s so cool to get messages from NZ! It’s like the hope goes right around the world – and I said I wasn’t sentimental or soppy?! I’m still in shock that it’s all happening. Having stayed in Shauna’s home and spent time with her family and esp her kids, I know she is just like you and me…that’s the part that really gets me. Again. Hug that family tight and enjoy the Christmas you are able to have. :o)

Laters.

It’s a busy week – I love it. Each night this week is taken up with different things and it’s all based around the kids. Prizegivings, Kindy fundraisers, the Santa Parade. LOVE this time of year. I’ve probably said it a thousand times. It just gets busier as we get closer to Christmas! I love Christmas!

We said goodbye to Evana today – man I so didn’t want to let that gorgeous lady go back home – and I’m just realising right now that we didn’t any pics together.
Not so clever.

So when Evana was here we went looking at puppies. I fell in love with them as they are the same breed as the dog I had as a child. Anyone that has read my book would remember the layout in there. I totally feel the need to relive my childhood through my own children and take this puppy home. lol. I even emailed Grumpr and ask if he would babysit my new baby sometime and sent him this pic. (great photo, E!)

His answer? “I don’t think so, Mrs Howard”.
You are SO no fun, Grumpr.
I’ll work on it.

OK important news from Tarisota – Tamar rung me tonight. I think she rang some of the other NZ customers too but had to stop because of time differences, lol. Tamar has had issues with getting through to her xtra customers on and off for a few months now. And anyone on xtra can relate to that… I tell ya, if I hadn’t had the same email address for 9 years I would have quit the service by now … anyway, she wants xtra customers to know that she often doesn’t get emails from xtra addresses and she finds that often emails she sends to xtra customers just don’t get through. Tell me about it.
Another thing – if you are on xtra – check your spam bubble! Stooopid thing that none of us really need – apparantly a lot of mail is sitting in unchecked xtra bubbles!
And you can always email me if you are trying to get through to Tamar, I have set up anothe email address so I can talk to her – and bypass the xtra thing. I’ll pass messages on.

Have I shared this layout? It was in For Keeps a month or so back. ONe of my fav layouts and there is that poncho again. Love this girl!! Prima, Queen & Co, Scenic Route.

The layout is here on 2peas if you want a closer look.

Thanks to everyone that contacted me over the news about Shauna. That woman is amazing. She underwent her first course of chemo today and I know she dreaded it so badly. This course is going to be so hard on her, so thanks so much for the thoughts and wishes that I received. Shauna has recently set up a blog, you can find it here.
Hugs those loved ones extra tight tonight.

laters.

One of those days – this time fairly good one, spent with fab friend Evana and I do have pics to share, but just not today, I’m racing to update before Ms Abby needs her bed.

Abby. Yes, remember I mentioned Abby in the last post as having to have been picked up from kindy crying. Because – in my own words – she is a manipulative toad. Said in the most loving way, of course but I am currently eating those words. I got 2 hours sleep last night and a visit to the doctors early this morning showed she has tonsilitis. In asking how long she may have had this illness, the answer? Ohhh it’s well advanced – probably since Wed/Thursday… ooooh I am so now eating my words. Perhaps she just wanted Mummy when she was at kindy.
Sorry Abs!

OK so finally, ‘That’s Life’ has been out for a little while now and I get a lot of feedback over it. A lot of people ask about Shauna, the gorgeous friend that the book is dedicated to, and whom there is a layout about on page 100 about. We just got word yesterday that Shauna’s cancer has returned. She is starting a new regime of chemotherapy on Monday, and this time she will lose her hair, eyebrows, eyelashes etc within 14 days. Her local friends are holding a ‘hat shower’ for her on December 11th – if you are the kind of person that believes on asking the higher powers for help, we’d appreciate it for Shauna. If you are the kind of person that could find it within yourself to send messages of hope and encouragement via the mail, email me.

laters.

I think I need to re-name my blog “One of those days”… it seems to be what I talk about a lot as I blog, but then it’s because I think perhaps people out there can relate. And perhaps tell me that the temporary insanity of a mother on the edge of scooping up all the lego and throwing it in the blacksak is normal. At least to a degree. And that it’s Okay.

This week I went to a camp meeting. Jacob goes on camp on the 3rd day back at school after the summer break so we are doing all the camp stuff now. Exciting times. If we were to be sure he was going. You see my sweet, innocent, caring, loving boy has been to the deputy principals office twice this week. Ask me how many times I ever went to the principals office. It’s ok you don’t have to ask – the answer is none. NONE.

The first time he was being innocently annoying. It’s Jaocb’s current hobby and I let him away with that one. I happened to call in on Mrs Easter that day for another reason and she assured me it was a one-off. He was terrified, she didn’t think he’d be back. I asked Jacob what it was like going to see Mrs Easter – he told me he cried. When I expressed my surprise he was quick to tell me that I would cry too, if I was ever sent there. I nodded in agreement with a concerned look on my face – just to further the mythology of the nasty deputy principal.

The second time was different. His teacher was late coming back from the staff room after morning tea and was met in the class by 12 boys rumbling at the doorway to the class. All 12 were sent to Mrs Easter. Jacob, knowing full well that not going to camp was the threat last time he was there, covered his face with both of his hands so Mrs Easter wouldn’t recognise him. Oh yes. So clever. So clever.
All 12 boys subsequently wrote letters of apology and it was done with, but in talking to Mrs Easter, she admitted had trouble with the reprimanding. She said that Jacob kept his face covered with his hands the whole entire time, tears dripping out from under his wrists, and occasionally, just occasionally he would part his fingers just enough to peek through – catch Mrs Easters eye and shut them again quickly.
Apparantly the vision of Jacob doing this was enough for Mrs Easter to just about break out in laughter.
That would have totally busted apart the mythology of the nasty deputy principal.

My boy is amazing. He is a gifted kid in so many areas. Literally. It’s a shame he seems to have been influenced by the chest beating and territory marking of the rougher boys in his class. Just excuse for a minute the fact that he was responsible for the 12 boy rumble according to his teacher… I know, he isn’t all that innocent.

OK.
So this mother is having one of those weeks.

Anyway. There were some good times during the week. Like Abby starting Kindy on Monday. This pic is the compulsory-backpack-on-the-back-on-the-day-I-started-Kindy pic. I will do a better job of it in the next week or so. That thing she is doing with her hands is meant to be a mimic of the sign her older brother does with his hands. yea yea.

(And actually even that didn’t go well, I got called in to pick her up on Thursday as she wouldn’t stop crying. She had no reason apart from the fact that she is a manipulative little toad – ahhh well. She has her mother’s determination).

Scrapping? Yes I scrapped this week. I played with the next Tarisotakit.

I got Memory Makers “Ask the Masters II” in the mail. I had a few pages in there, this is one of them, done in about March, obviously. I love doing this kind of page. Just listing random stuff the kids did. It’s been pointed out to me that I won’t be able to do this when they are teenagers. lol. (And for anyone that wans closer looks at my layouts, go to my 2peas gallery, most my layouts are there).

Talking of Memory makers – go to their blog for free digi kit…

Ok. long blog post again. I’m going to leave you with one of my favourite mothering tips. Just in the hopes that someone will give me some gems. LOL
This is something I have done for all my kids when they were little
Food colouring in the bath. It works a treat. It doesn’t stain anything. Just a few drops. (Although in the pic below I think we were a bit heavy handed)

So the question is not “Will you please get in the bath?”
The question is “What colour bath do you want tonight?”
Abby’s answer tonight?
Aqua blue.
I tried.

laters

Blog posts are on my mind right throughout each day. I always intend to work on my post just before I go to bed … but I’ll just clear my email first… but I’ll just finish this paperwork… but I’ll just figure out my work for tomorrow. So the blog post doesn’t get done. And then I crawl into bed and write great blog posts in my mind. I even fall asleep thinking how well it flows and I’ll remember that in the morning. I do a lot of composing of journaling, articles, blog posts and other random stuff in my mind as I’m falling asleep. It’s a shame all that hard work disappears during the night. I’m sure I should take my own advice and keep that notebook beside the bed. It’s a great testament to the ‘write it down’ mantra.

Aussie Scrap Source – I have 2 new classes for sale at Aussie Scrap Source, if either of these look like a class you would like to take, then contact your local retailer, they should be able to get them in through Aussie SCrap Source.

Ribbon Curling – technique using Ribbonstiff etc.

And my Extreme boy layout – I LOVE that junkitz!!! Like extreme ink and distress.

Ahhh now that Thanksgiving is over in the USA the Christmas stuff starts to come out – including all the internet fun… I forget about it for 11 months of the year and then about now I always get a giggle all over again…
This one… Create a flake… always fun. Then the ElfYourself site… the kids and I sat for hours last year with that one and I had forgotten until someone pointed it out on 2peas today. It’s worth the visit.

OK last thing – Friends Johanna Peterson and Leah Fung have developed an Etsy shop together… it’s called www.leahjohanna.etsy.com
and here are a few of the proejcts you can buy kits for …

(Ok only one is showing, you’ll have to click the link and look for yourself)

Ok, off to bed. To create a great blog post in my mind.
Laters.

With it being Thanksgiving day in the USA and with me being an internet junkie, it was bound to happen that I would come across lots of well wishes and notes of appreciation to those near and dear… and it was likely it was going to rub off on me. So I am thankful. Because today I feel good. As opposed to yesterday when I felt bad. And for the 3 days prior to that too. Thankyou-to-the-God-of-nasty-viruses-that-had-me-sleeping-12-hours-a-day. (not).
Today I am thankful that I can walk around without thinking that I am going to crumple in a heap on the floor and fall asleep. Again. And that my sore throat is gone. Or maybe I just talked too much. Which apparently does happen. lol.

SO it’s back into the swing of things for me – and for those of you asking about the travel/teaching thing – I’ve pretty much turned down any teaching stuff next year. It’s only a year until Abby goes to school and I want her to have a chance at being my little friend – I love that year – I remember Braden being my little friend for that year, as was Jacob. They are old enough to help out with stuff but still too young for school. It’s a precious time and I’ll enjoy it.

I do have a few new jobs that I’ve taken on that will keep me fairly busy anyway. I have enough paid work to call this a full time job now ( I hear my accountant laugh, lol) , but at least this way I can still tuck my own kiddies in their beds at night.

SO! Congrats to Courtney Walsh who I saw had a new baby boy on the 19th. Awwww.

AND! I found this gallery on 2peas the other day. Capucinno I have no idea of this ladies’ name or even where she comes from as she doesn’t post on 2peas but I thought I’d point out her gallery. Love it. She needs to post more LOL.

I love that we have had 8 days of sunshine in a row and today it was 24 degrees. (See that Vaughan? You need to come home!) That is 80 degrees for those that are hemispherically challenged. I see on this rain radar – love this thing – that we are going to get some rain over Saturday – but hey.. we can’t be too greedy. I don’t like that petrol has gone upo to like $1.73 a litre. I like that I drive a deisel. I dont’t like that deisel has gone up too. lol.

Leaving you with a layout – which my scanner chose to make extremely bright – I tried to calm it back down. This is the Scenic Route Salem. And although it is bright IRL, not quite so much. Anther pic of Abby. Paul asked me the other day what I’d do when my kids grow up and I simply can’t take pics of them anymore. I told him I’d have to take more pics of hinm. lol. Unimpressed. You watch. I’ll turn that into a title for a layout ;o)

laters

And then it was over, Crafting Connection has finished, most of the ladies from the U.S. should be just about home by now and I’m just grounding myself too.

I have been on 11 flights in the past 45 days, and told Paul I had slept in 11 different places too… it’s nice to know that the days of waking up and wondering whose bed I’m in is over for a while… ahhh such gossip could come from such a statement but sorry it’s all so innocent. All in the name of scrapbooking. When I told Paul about the amount of flights/hotels he said “Wow… and all in the name of sticking coloured pieces of paper to other coloured pieces of paper… ” Little does the man know the social side is just as important. Actually he does know. lol.

Crafting Connection Wellington was fun. Again, I really am expected to say that but honestly, truly it was great. A really social event I think – everyone loved the venue, the classes, the people. Not so keen about the frosted glass walls in the bathrooms, I’m sure that was done to spark conversation, a true icebreaker if you were just getting to know your roomie, I’m sure ;o)

Here’s a few photos I took from Kent Pearson’s Family Talk Blog.

Classes – flippin loved them. Loved teaching them, loved what everyone did with them, and again I need to thank my awesome support from the manufacturers Scenic Route, Queen & Company, BasicGrey, Finishing Touches Ideas, FancyPants Designs, and CherryArte. Send me pics of finished albums etc if you have them! And as I said – I dont normally push push push in classes like that, but hey… it’s probably my last teaching I’ll do in NZ for a long while so I had to go out with a bang, huh?! Thank ladies for sticking with me!

Hey – talking of BasicGrey, I saw this morning they have a new line of paper out, Two Scoops. Click the link and you’ll see they are bringing out brads, acrylic stamps, chipsticker shapes, and books of rub-ons. Bring on the BasicGrey, I say. lol.

Alrighty – I have Brady home sick today, I have some work just arrived so I’m settling into the batcave for the afternoon. Thanks ladies for making Crafting Connection so awesome.

laters.

Onward with the next chapter in Crafting Connection. I am looking forward to getting on that plane tomorrow. I am anticpating the fun at the other end. I am excited that for once it is a one hour flight, I’ve seen the inside of far too many planes lately and I am thankful that the winds in Wellington seem to have calmed. (and that I wasn’t on the Cook strait Ferry with the US tutors and their families) yesterday.

Some fav pics from today – it was full of cards and flowers and hugs and phone calls. And cake. Two of them even. I have great friends and family. Only one cake was photographed – the other didn’t stand a chance. lol.

The cake is a tradition my family. Since I can remember my Mum would make a cake for a birthday and the three of us kids would decorate it. We would buy pick-n-mix lollies and Mum would ice the cake. The icing (frosting for those southern-hemispherily challenged ;o) the icing would not be set too much and as we placed the lollies on the cake they would often slip down the side. In the end the cake would be covered in icing and lollies with no pattern to them, just a pile of sweet goodness really. Those were called ‘sliptey cakes’. This one isn;t too sliptey but as my kids were decorating it, it reminded me of those days.

The kids stayed home from school today, out of the last 4-5 weekends I have only seen them for one I think – and with me going off to Wellington tomorrow I just wanted them around me. I was honest with the school and told them the kids needed a ‘mental health day’ and they agreed. All is well :o)
We decided to take the kids for a swim at the rec centre. I can’t remember the last time we went. As we were driving there Braden announced “Oh my goodness I think my heart is going to burst into lots of little hearts!” How.cute.is.that. Excitment is so cute in a 6 year old.
Just as I was quietly thinking to myself how innocent and cute that was there was this huge “KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!” voice from the back seat. Boys will be boys. He couldn’t resist adding that.

Another Tarisota layout… this one is nothing extra pretty, it’s all about the journaling here for me. You all know how I love to tell a story. Especially you Sydney ladies. I had a sore throat on Sunday and most of Monday. I thought I was coming down with a cold or something but now I really I think I just talked too much. lol.

ANyhoooooooooooo this layout is more about the story than anything. The journaling tells about how Abby is going through the phase where she blames everyone else for anything.

I can visualise this child jumping on the couch. We can make eye contact as she is doing it, yet as I ask her to stop she blurts out “It wasn’t me!!!”

Apparently a Pokemon, Mr Mime, is the culprit. Mr Mime is a 2cm pokemon figurine that Braden placed on her bedside table (supposedly to ward off the Crazy Frog, whom Abby is terrified of) but as well as a protector-from-crazy-frog Mr Mime also does a lot of naughty things around this place. If abby were to be believed.

Ok. Apparently I do talk too much.
See you in Wellington!!!!

LAters.

The whole last 4 days have gone at a record speed really – I felt I owed it to myself to sit and record a few things. You know, note things down while they are fresh in one’s mind. As ya do. ;o)

Kiwiscraps Sydney was a blast. Of course I was expected to say nothing else but in all seriousness if you had looked inside my classroom (I stayed in one room the entire time) during the event you would have literally thought that a paper and craft factory had exploded in there. KABOOM. It was hilarious. It was fun. It was unexpected by myself. The particular class guilty for said mess was renamed “Chaos 101” by most … the awesome TA helping me out was overheard to say that she handles cardiac arrests at work (being a nurse) with less stress than what I put her through. I laugh. We had to, huh Tracy?

So. It went well. Those that have sat in on my classes before know I have a personal rule that everyone has to finish before they leave, I can’t stand the thought of projects going home and being placed in the abyss of unfinished projects that most scrappers own. (Go on, hands up those that have one of those?!)One of my classes especially kinda breaks that rule. But we do our best. We did pretty good at acheiving this in Sydney except for those ladies in that first Confessions class (ah yea THAT woke ya up, huh?!)… but for anyone that sat in on ANY of my classes this weekend, I’d love to see jpegs of projects if you have them.

I plan on adding pics of completed projects to my slideshows if I can, especially in conversations – the different covers and titles, colour schemes etc. SO if you have pics you wouldn’t mind sharing, please send them through to me? Be sure to include your name (email addy’s aren’t always indicative of one’s real name, are they?!) so I can credit you on my slide show.
Actually send me any old pics you think I might be interested in.
I’d really appreciate it. Please and may thank yous!
My email address is nic.paul(at)xtra.co.nz for anyone that would send those through.

Oh – I need to reinterate – if you are taking any of my classes and you have one (don’t go buy one especially!) bring a crop-od-ile!

Ok. I know you NZ ladies are starving for info on how things went in everyone elses classes too! Kent Pearson (Renee’s hubby) has a family blog. I noticed Stacy posted he link so here you are.
He updates everyday.

So no pics from me at this stage – (hoping I’ll get a few by email… or leave me a comment with a link if you have them on your blog!)

ON other scrappy news – The tarisota gallery went up while I was blissfully unaware… It’s a great looking gallery full of teals and pinks etc.

This is my fav layout from this month.

And I see Tamar has listed the limiteds – among the Inklination (stamps that go with with the pizza boxes of scrapping goodness) and other limiteds, Tamar has also introduced the small “In the bag” collections. They are little albums with enough embellishments and fabric to decorate the album and make a little bag. I did mine in a few hours last Thursday. lol. They are only small but so easy.

Queen & Co blog still being updated regularly… the Dt blow me away with what they continuously come up with, so I’m going to keep linking it here so everyone can see. At the moment we have a guest designer.

Alrighty – time for some lunch – send me images if you can!
laters