Dyes and Stamps

I am working on a Christmas pressie for one of my SIL's. It's a mix of hand made paper, food dye, card stock, stamps (because you might want some too!), and envelopes. I will show you the out come when it's finished.

Getting the dying apparatus set up.

The dyed paper once it is dry.

Part one of the stamping.

From L - R: 1. Blue card, 2. Rock with fossils in it, 3.brown envelopes, 4. White ink pad, 5. Red & White twine, 6. Stamps.

Part two of the stamping. I haven't managed to get this done. I'm a little annoyed as I wanted to have it completed before Jellyfish and Little Clam woke from their afternoon nap, but the brand new white ink pad won't transfer any pigment to my rubber stamps. Has anyone had this happen to them before? And do you know how to solve my dilemma?

I also took the boys on a little shopping trip this morning to one of my favourite paper shops, and then on to do a little thrifting. I will show you the booty tomorrow (when some of it gets off the line). Hope you all have a carefree, crafty evening!

S xxx

Christmas, er... saussage?

This is what happens when you let the man of the house loose in the kitchen.
And odd mix of sausage casing, and Christmas pudding mix.

He got the idea of everyone having their own little puddings for Christmas instead of having a big one to chop up. I think they are totally cute. We did a trial run the other day, and lets just say that they were completely delicious. No actual recipe, he just got an ingredients list, and figured out the proportions that he wanted in it. (So glad that HE can do math... I am hopeless at math with cooking!)

This is the test one hanging up to cool. The pictures are a bit dodgy. Bad lighting inside as it was just on evening (and Mr. Kelp wanted to serve it up and eat it, so while I was toying with getting the little tripod, he took a snap of this and started cutting into it...).

Packaged and waiting...
I can't wait to try out the final result, after they have matured for a few weeks :)

My Creative Space - Thanksgiving Pumpkins

Today is Thanksgiving in the US... well to be precise, it's still Wednesday there - but in about 7 1/2 hours it will be Thursday, and a few hours after that (as I understand it) Mother's all over the east coast will be getting up to start preparing their Thanksgiving Lunch/Dinner.
Earlier this year, my friend in New Hampshire sent me a package to help me do an Aussie styled Thanksgiving on the third Thursday of May... She is also the one responsible for my taking the 'Blog Journey', as she set up this blog for me in the first place.

Anyway, as a thank you to her I have made some little Thanksgiving knitting place markers and a stitch marker. Today is the day I chose to post about it. I am sending them to her new home in Bunburry WA, as she married an awesome friend of mine last month. She arrives in just over a week - and I can't wait to have her in a similar time zone!

Welcome to Aus Jenn! I hope that home here will become just as special as I know New Hampshire is to you.

Publish Post

To see more creative goodness, head on over here.

Edit: I was talking to Jenn, and she tells me that the calendar is crazy this year, and that in fact, Thanksgiving is going to be on the 4th Thursday instead of the 3rd. Sorry.

sweet broderie giveaway

Corrie from retro mummy has in her possession some very sweet fabrics, and she is offering a fat quarter of each one in the Sweet Broderie range. Pop on over to her site to have a look at the gelati coloured sweetness! :) retromummy.blogspot.com 
Personally I think you should all stay away from it 'cause I would love them to come and live at my house - but since I can't do that - see what all the fuss is about for yourself. Go on! You know you want to.

Our Mr. Happy Turns 1!

Little Clam's 1st Birthday was last week...

So I made this huge # 1 out of a large sheet of cardboard, and scrunched up squares of tissue paper, to hang above the fireplace. I also made more of these pompoms to decorate inside with - but blue ones to go with the yellow and orange this time.

 Mr. Kelp has always referred to Little Clam as Mr. Happy, so requested a Mr. Happy cake for him. We made this one from a round vanilla cake, almost an entire box of fondant icing, and some styrofoam for the hand an feet.

I made these cute bug & bee biscuits using a recipe that Mr. Kelp's grandmother gave me last Christmas. They were too cute, and rather tasty. Unfortunately for some of the guests, we forgot to put them out during lunch, but they did come out later and buzz around for a while. This picture above was about half of them.

Jelly salad  - for something a little bit different. I'm not sure if the kids or the adults liked it more! (The Jelly had grated carrot and crushed pineapple in it).

Between the pass the parcel, the treasure hunt in the back yard (where we made everyone look for Duplo blocks, which they then redeemed for a prize... chocolates for the grown ups and books of stickers for the kids), the presents, food, and then play time in the big sandpit we built last year, we had a fun but full day. Thank you to all the family who came from near and far for helping us celebrate and making it a wonderful day! :)

Sunsets & Storms

So it's been a while since I have had the time to more than glance at my computer...

After my last post, my Mum arrived to hang out for the week till Little Clam's birthday. One afternoon there was a ripper storm, followed by calm and a most beautiful sunset. Since I was busy putting the kids to bed, Mr. Kelp obliged me and took the camera for a walk. Here are a couple of shots that he came up with.

It was breathtakingly beautiful. There was a mist that was rising from the ground (that we didn't get a photo of sadly) that would sometimes eddy and swirl with the breeze, caught and back-lit by the setting sun. I was wishing at the time that I was out there running through it.