Things I'd like to make....

From etsy store Those Greathouse Women

Aren't these cute?! They are I-Spy bags. Hidden in there are a pile of mini things (think Christmas cracker toys, but better quality), and the child can shake/roll/manipulate the bag to find different things. There's a list on the back. Now, Emily's not a reader yet, but she LOVES playing I-Spy ("I Spy with mine wittle eye...something pink and has princesses on it and is a cup!"....answer: it's a cup.) So if my sewing adventures continue, I think I'll raid the novelty button section of Spotlight next time I'm down in civilisation and make one of these! Here's a good explanation of the bags.

Also found in blogworld, and on etsy: these little critters!


From Wendi Gratz , who sells the pattern, but also has a few made up. There's a penguin, chicken, dinosaur and a cute kangaroo with a joey (but being Australian, I'd have to make the roo in a proper brown/red colour!)

Fabric Frenzy

So, my latest sudden obsession is sewing. Which is probably not going to last long, since a) it means clearing off the table and setting up the machine each time I want to use it, and b) I still have nightmares about Home Economics in year 10...still, I've embraced baking, so why not sewing? Gotta get that Stepford Wife into gear!

I've chosen two gorgeous but (supposedly) easy patterns to start with. This is for Emily (and hopefully I'll have leftovers to make one for Hannah too:

And this is for me! How gorgeous is this apron! Since it's reversible, I'll use the brown beaters and the apple print for each side, and the blue dots for the trim.

All material bought at fabricworm.

Wish me luck!

Devastation.

The fires in Victoria are so devastating...over 100 people dead...entire towns wiped out within minutes...it's so hard to comprehend...

I'm praying for all involved. For people who have lost their loved ones, who have been injured, and those who have lost homes, workplaces, livestock...the enormity of this is just huge. Being on the other side of the country is hard...I've donated money through the Salvos (Red Cross is another one) and will be going through the baby/toddler clothes, hopefully they can get to where they need to be...

This will be a weekend that as a country, we remember forever.

My obsession...

...is digital scrapbooking. I know, some of you will think it's geeky. But it's not. It's about taking photos and telling stories, presented in a nice-looking way. Many people think it's all about piles of cardboard, puffy stickers etc. Well, maybe it was one day but not now!

And doing it digitally means I can store all my supplies in a tiny box (well, on my computer too, but nowadays I have an external hard drive). I can reuse the same piece of paper/ribbon/cute little thingie over and over again. I can change the colour or tone of anything. I can make it the size I want it. I don't have to use my own handwriting (though I use other people's quite a bit ROFL). Perhaps the best of all, it makes no mess - and my children can't destroy it!

Anyway, a secondary obsession of all scrappers is photography. I am crap at it, trust me. But I'm trying to improve! I even took my camera off manual the other day and played around with aperture, ISO and shutter speed at the same time. And got this photo:






Which thanks to a kit by creashens and Fei-Feis stuff (buy it here) became this:




Journalling reads: "Could there be a cuter alarm clock? I love that Hannah wakes up so happy. Most morning there is no crying, just happy sounds alerting us that she is awake, then huge smiles when we enter her room. She must get it from her Daddy, because I am so not a morning person ;-) "


So now, there are cute photos and an insight into Hannah at this age - and also an insight to me.


Now, to tie this in with this blog...remember my Project 365? Well, I've still been doing it (mostly) but just slack in posting them up here. One of my favourite digiscrap designers, Tracy Ann, has the most gorgeous templates to help me keep these organised, and because she's made them Shutterfly ready, at the end of the year I can upload them to the Shutterfly site and they'll come back to me as a gorgeous bound book!


Of course, I haven't actually DONE my January layout yet (husband away, kids cranky) but if you pop over to here you can see some that other people have done!

Oh yeah...another reason to follow that link...you could WIN the templates! The whole year of them! Cool huh!