MY REALLY LITTLE CREATIVE CORNER

MY LITTLE CORNER
Here are some photos of my little creative corner and I mean little.
I sometimes end up on the kitchen table when I have run out of space
I love my desk as it has a pull out slide over the drawers which gives me some space to lay stuff out

My desk looks kind of neat -it isn't always this neat.
There is a lovely slanted desk with a lift up lid on the floor beside my desk – just waiting to find some interesting looking legs to put onto it.
I use it to store some ribbons, papers and books.
This slide out shelf on the desk is so useful

Lots of pretty glitter. There is heaps more hidden in the draws.

Some of my favourite books.

I want to try some of the gorgeous crowns in one of the books.

Pretty colours on my desk

Cute little desk lamp

I just love this cute little note pad – pretty pink hat and ear rings.

Some of my favourite books.

I want to try some of the gorgeous crowns in one of the books.

I love playing in my little corner of my world.

LITTLE RILEY IS GROWING

RILEY

Some of you girls have been asking how Riley is doing, so here's the latest info.

Riley is now 9 weeks old. Today he went to the Health Centre and he weighs 5.2kg (11lb 4ozs).

Here is a photo I took of him on Saturday

He is getting to the cute stage now. Laughing, smiling and trying to talk.

I think he had a bit of wind in this photo as his eye is a little turned - it's not normally like that. Don't want you to think he is anything other than cute - which is so true.

I am such a proud Grandma.

The second photo I took of him on 26th November for Amy and Ryan to use on their Christmas cards. You might want to double click on this one it looks a little small.

Thanks Natasha for doing the cute little banner on my page. I had no idea how to do it and asked Natasha for some help.

Looks like there is another giveaway going on.

Bren, from Brenda's Little Cottage left a comment on my blog and said to spread the word that there is a giveaway going on, so I am letting all you girls out there know.

HEY MR POSTMAN IS THERE A LETTER FOR ME????

No – it’s a package.

The wonderful Michelle Legler, The Mosaic Queen from The Mosaic Cottage Blog sent me the most delightful Mosaic Cupcake. Knowing how much I love the Shabby Chic colours this is the beautiful creation she sent me

I was so lucky to be the winner in her giveaway.
Thanks Michelle it is a wonderful early Christmas present for me.

Well Surprise, Surprise as Gomer Pyle would say (those of us old enough to remember would know who Gomer Pyle was) there did end up being a letter for me.

No make that two letters

The first letter that was in a pretty envelope came from Karin of Creative Chaos, as I had won a giveaway drawn by Carlos one of her cute boys. Lucky for me Andres was asleep otherwise if he drew the winner it may have been someone else. Thank you Carlos.
Karin is the proud Mom of two little darlings that fall asleep in some funny positions and places.
In Karin’s giveaway I won a gorgeous tag. It has such a pretty cake on it.

The second letter contained a lovely Christmas card, recipe card and a list of great books to read from Tiffany of Tiffanys Handpainted Loveboxes.

Thank you Tiffany it is a very special gift.


A BIG THANK YOU - to everyone that has sent such lovely messages and thoughts on the passing of my father-in-law Stan

KARLA’S PARTY

KARLA’S PARTY

What do I like about my Holiday Home ???
Well usually I go a bit over the top with my Christmas decorating but with the death of my father-in-law Stan on 28th November it didn’t seem appropriate to do too much this year.

Luckily for me I have a husband that lets me play house and pretty much do what I want.
With the grandchildren coming to our house several times a week I always make sure that there is nothing that matters too much because having them around is more important to me than any old Christmas decoration.
Christmas to me is having all of my family together and enjoying each others company at this special time of year.

In my entry window I have hung some pretty pink baubles and a star – I did plan on putting a little tree out the front under that window but it has been way to windy to do that.

Step inside my front door and you will see this pretty little tree all decked out in pink, silver and white
On the opposite wall I have 3 beautiful Christmas wreaths made by the wonderful Natasha – of course in the shabby chic colours


A bit further along is another pretty little table that has a little silver Christmas tree and some baubles in a crystal dish next to a photo of Melanie and Amy.

Inside my lounge room I have a pretty white tree decked out in pink, green and silver
When I made the blue cupcakes for Laura in the ornament swap I also made 3 pink ones for my tree.

There are baubles with all of the family names on them. Chloe has hers next to a sweet ballerina

Lachlan’s is next to a Green Star that he selected at Target last year

Max and my bauble’s are on top next to the pretty green and cream angel I bought from Natasha

There are also 2 pretty glittered birds and 2 little rose stars that came from Natasha and they are next to my cupcakes

On top of my TV cabinet I have hung the 4 glass hand painted cupcake baubles that I got from Laura in the ornament swap. They are hanging on a candle holder as I didn’t want to chance the little ones breaking them. I love the butterfly pins in the candles too. My pretty Pink Santa and his 2 reindeer are standing by guarding the glass baubles

Hanging on one of the knobs of the TV cabinet is a pretty Battenburg Lace angel holding pink flowers.

On the opposite wall I have a mirror and two sconces. I put pink and geen baubles in glass containers on the sconces

On the dresser behind the dining table I just have a couple of Angel Tea light Holders, a little silver tree and some green garland draped across the top.

My dining table has two pretty reindeers and some pink and green baubles on it.

Thanks for visiting and checking out my Christmas decorations this year.

A big Thank You to karla for hosting this Party.

On Christmas Day and every day remember those loved one's that we have lost.

RIP Stan

FINALLY - A PEACEFUL AFTERNOON

AN AFTERNOON ON THE MORNINGTON PENINSULA

After our babysitting gig last night Max and I thought we

deserved a nice afternoon out of the house.

I was up at 3.00am after I woke hearing 3 year old Chloe vomitting in bed. Yucky. It has been a while since I have had to strip a bed of all its linen while cleaning up kiddie sick. Don’t know what made her sick but I was oh so glad when Lachlan didn’t do the same thing. I was relieved to see Melanie (their Mummy) come to pick them up at midday as I figured if they are going to get sick again it was her turn to deal with it.

While Chloe and Lachlan were here they had fun finding costumes to dress up in.

You may remember my post showing where we like to go for pizza. Well today we went further up that mountain to Seawinds Gardens. We rang a couple of friends and said we have a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine, glasses and a platter of nibbles and a picnic rug would you like to meet us there. So off we went and met them at the park.
It was a great afternoon just relaxing and having drinks with our friends.

For the first time in years we saw some kangaroos coming through just 30 feet away from us. For a while they just stared at us – I was hoping they weren’t going to come too close
You may have to click on the photo to make it larger.

There were also a few kookaburras.


Love this one on its own.

Magpies too.

If you want to know more about the animals and birds in my post make sure to click on the link and see what they are all about.

Now tomorrow I really must get into my boxes of Christmas decorations.

No!!!!

It's nearly Christmas!!!!!!

I am not ready!!!!!!!!

GETTING BACK INTO A ROUTINE

HOME AGAIN
Home again after spending time with Max’s family during his father’s final days and up to his funeral. It certainly has been a very difficult time for us all.

I was very proud of the way our children participated in their Pop's funeral. Melanie (age 30) and Amy (age 29) handed out tomato seedlings in memory of their Pop, as it was something that he always grew and shared with his friends. Daniel (age 26) and Michael (age 24) assisted their father and cousin in carrying the coffin from the church to the hearse, a very emotional moment for them all.

Thank you to everyone that has left such caring messages, it meant a lot to us all.

DECK THE HALLS ORNAMENT SWAP GOODIES
Sorry to take so long in showing what Laura of katdiddys sent to me.
4 beautiful Glass Baubles with Cupcakes handpainted by Laura. A lovely store bought star with Santa, a Snowman and little child hiding away in the middle. Some of Laura’s fabulous cards that she sells in her Etsy Store. Last but not least is this beautiful Slice of Cake Giftbox made by Laura with a gorgeous Pink Christmas Ornament inside.

Thank you Laura for being such a fun Swap partner.

STAN HAS PASSED AWAY

Stan Gibbs 12th August 1928 - 28th November 2007

Stan is now resting quietly and his brave fight is over.
Yesterday morning , after an extremely difficult week Stan passed away at home surrounded by his loving family.

I would like to thank everyone for their kind words on hearing of Max's father Stan's situation, it really meant a lot to us.

Also thanks to Gail for her kind offer of help.

SAD TIME FOR OUR FAMILY

Last night (Tuesday) at about 10 to 7 Max got a call from his mother to say that his father Stan was dieing. Stan was diagnosed in February with Lymphoma and had chemo in tablet form. Sadly this treatment turned out to be unsuccessful. His specialist this week took him off the tablets and gave him steroids to build him up to start having chemo through a drip. I now think this man was building false hope in the eyes of Max's parents. The Doctor that came to their home last night said to Max's Mum you know he is dieing don't you. You need to call the family.Well hey no one bothered to tell her before!
In the last month and a half he lost 2 stone (13kg).When we went to visit Max's parents with Amy, Ryan and new baby Riley just 17 days ago we thought he looked very frail. That visit could not have prepared us for what we saw last night at 9.30. So frail and fading - just a tiny little skin covered frame. We can only hope that the morphine he is taking is easing the pain.
It was a long 2 and a half hour drive to their home last night. With sisters in Queensland and Italy as well as Melbourne, we can only hope that he lingers long enough for them to see him before he passes away. I really don't think it would be better for him to linger that long but maybe for Max's sisters.
So I left Max with his mother this afternoon and drove back home to get some more clothes and do some paying of bills. Last night after we got the call we just grabbed our nightwear and toiletries and flew out the door.
I won't be back for a few days so will catch up with everyone then.

DECK THE HALLS ORNAMENT SWAP

THEY HAVE ARRIVED AT LAURA'S HOUSE

Laura of katydiddys has received her pretty blue packages.

Now you can see what is inside

The first photo is of the a combination of store bought and handmade decorations.
Laura told me she was having a cupcake theme on one of her christmas trees, so I thought I would make her some cupcakes in one of the colours she was using.
I bought 3 decorations in the same colour as well.

The handmade cupcakes look so pretty hanging off my candle holder

Below are the store bought decorations.

WHAT A WEEKEND

ARRIVING AT SHEPPARTON

Saturday we arrived at Shepparton to 36 degrees as predicted. I had to buy a sunshade for the windscreen of my car because someone who shall remain nameless (it starts with M and ends with X and has an A in between) had taken mine out of my car to put in his car! MmmmmmMEN!!

Sunday was to be 34 degrees so I had my sunscreen with insect repellent included.Up at 4.45am to have a shower and be at the race by 5.30am. The race starts at 7.00am but there is a race briefing and checking in of equipment. At about 10 to 7 everyone walked around Lake Kialla(man made on a housing development). Just as Max’s group set out, down came the rain! Oh no – a couple of kms back to my car – yeh!! Surely we are going to get some sun. It’s meant to be 34 degrees.

Check out my new sunshade! Sitting on my dashboard,Didn’t need it.
We had rain, thunder, lightning. Such fun. I am so glad I had put in my umbrella and a jacket. Being a supporter of a triathletes is not as easy as it sounds.

Swim 31.55min Max coming out of the water and is on the right.

Max is in the blue and white bike gear! See all of the water on the road.

A bit dangerous on the corners!

Ride 2hr 46:59 minutes

Run 1 hr 42:47minutes
Max in the orange and black top

Max completed the race in 5 hours 1 minute and 41 seconds.

SOMETIMES YOU WONDER WHY YOU GO AWAY!!
When we get home we find out Chloe has Chicken pox and one of my adult sons went to hospital with bad tonsillitis. Why does it always happen when you stay away for a night?

Something good happened too

Look what I got in the mail!!1 Lucky, lucky me. Just look at the pretty envelope

I got a beautiful Snowman Snowflake from Laurie of Charming Designs. I am so lucky.
Thanks Laurie

AWAY FOR THE WEEKEND & SOME CREATIVE STUFF

OFF TO SHEPPARTON

Tomorrow (Saturday) Max and I are off to Shepparton a 3 hour drive from home. On the Sunday Max is competing in a Half Ironman event (1.9km (1.2 mile) swim, 90km (56mile) bike ride 21.1(13mile) km run. No rests in between just straight out of the water – wetsuit off and bike gear on and out they go. Then off the bike and running shoes on and out they run. It should take him about 5 and a half hours. It starts at 7.00am and the temperature is meant to be about 34 degrees (93 degrees to our American friends) so I hope he isn’t out there much longer than that. Once he completes this race he will be qualified for the Australian Ironman Competition at Port Macquarie NSW in April 2008. This event is double all of the distances he will do on Sunday. If you have ever seen the Hawaiian Ironman event on TV this event is the same distance. He is one fit man – my Mad Max.

I have finally finished the Name Collages for the boys. After I made a Name Collage for Chloe I thought that I had better make one for Lachlan and Riley. It was harder to do one for them. As with everything, be it clothes or toys, girls have a wider range available. It was the same for me making the Name Collages. I just went to my workspace and Chloe’s came together easily. Maybe because I already had all the pinky, girly bits and pieces because that is what I like too! For the boys I had to resort to going to the Scrapbook Shop and get some bit and pieces there. Then there was the glitter issue. Boys and glitter ??? My adult sons said “no way you can’t put glitter on the boys’ ones” but hey Grandma had other ideas.

I couldn’t ‘not glitter’ – so I just used black and a light green and it didn’t turn out ‘girly at all. I hope they like them – Lachlan’s favourite colour is blue so he should like it.

As for Riley at one month old only his Mum has to like it – so I think I am safe.

Here is a photo I took of Riley on Wednesday. I think he's cute but I may be biased!