Christmas Cheer

Keep your chin up...this time next week Christmas day will all be over!

I have to admit that Christmas is not my favorite time of the year, I LOVE Christmas day, but the build up drives me barmy! I guess that is because I'm never organised!

Last night we attended the Fire Brigade Christmas party, and had a wonderful time. Andrew had a Christmas brandy, a Christmas Port, and a wine and beer...needless to say he slept very well!!

The night before that we attended the 'staff Christmas party' our lovely Principal was brave and had this at her home, once again we had a lovely evening amongst wonderful company. Sharing the Christmas cheer really is what makes Christmas special, have to say that I'm so over the Christmas shopping part!

Anyway, below are snap shots of a few Christmas goodies I have created lately.

First up here is a gift bag with matching card.

... and the template to make your own.

Simply enlarge this to what ever size you wish,

cut out the shape,

score the fold lines,

and add a drop of glue to the right hand side tab.

 Add handles and your done!

 Hmmmm what to do with that box of choc'ies...

 Take one polystyrene ball,

poke a painted piece of tree branch in (for the truck)

Use double sided tape and attach chocolates to the ball.

 Add punched out leaves and hand made flowers if you wish to

 ..add a gift tag...and your done!

 Last year Christmas photos ...I know I'm a little late getting these scrapped, but here they are...



Up-date

WOW....where has the time gone I wonder? Our baby girl turned 19 today. Here she is at the Strawberry Fair (on Saturday just gone) with her little brother and very best friends. I feel VERY old!

 

 Spot the little guy below,second from the right, that's my very talented 7 year old nephew. Dane was chosen from hundreds of other children from his ballet company to preform with the Royal NZ ballet. Funny thing was that he was only at the rehearsal's by default as my sister took her daughter (Danes big sister) along to try out for a part. Dane was too young,the producers were looking for children aged around 10 or 11. Anyway as Dane was there he tried out anyway and was the only child chosen from that whole ballet company! WOW...go Dane, your old Auntie is very proud of you.

 Sadly Auckland is a long way away from Duntroon and as I'm not sure how I would go getting Andrew onto a plane, we have to be content with these photos, even though it would have been wonderful to go to one of the shows.

Only two more days of school left for me. Tomorrow, after work, we hope to get our Go-Charts up and running, its our last day of the year for Mechanic's Club and as some of these children are off to High School next year we really need to get the Go- Carts going!! Fingers crossed all will go to plan!

Here are a few snap shots of some of the team at work....

A huge thank you must go to John and Jerry for their expertise and patience! And well done Husband for getting this whole idea off the ground and into reality. Even I have learnt heaps, in fact just this morning on my way to school the chain fell off my push bike and I thought...dont panic and dont leave the bike in the grass on the road side... I can fix this...And I did !

 

Be back tomorrow with a crafty update...all going to plan!
Thanks for looking :-)

Wonderfall

Webster pages have a lovely range of papers out called 'Wonderfall' I have used paper from this range to scrap a photo from days gone by...Here is Camden when he used to ride on Merry-go -Rounds instead of bulls! The other cute little guy in the photo is Camden's good friend George.

 In keeping with my usual style I have cut and layered many of the elements on this page.

 Check out the cute lemonade stand image on this paper, named  'Sweet Shop'

 The font, shown close-up here was cut from Websters Pages, Wonderfall - Learn your ABC's paper

Thanks for looking.

If you haven't done so already be sure to check out whats new and exciting in the NZ papercraft magazine scene..HERE...there are prizes to be had!

Recipe for a Summer Drink

 Tonight I thought I would  share something just a little different with you, by way of a change from paper crafts. 

Hannah, our German guest made a very tasty cordial drink for us out of Elderberry flowers, which grow in our garden.

I have always given our Elderberry plant a wide birth as these plants don't smell very nice, in fact all I have ever done is chop it back hard each winter!

 Hannah's drink however has given us all a new respect for our smelly shrub and I have recently made many batches of this cordial, I even have some in the freezer for winter!

Here's the recipe for you and its super simple to make.

First up : Boil your jug

While your jug boils place 2.5 kgs of sugar into a bowl

Next tip 4 cups of your boiled water onto your sugar and stir to dissolve.
Cool and add 75 grams of citric acid, the juice from 4 lemons and grated rind from 2 lemons.
Next place 20 Elderberry flower heads into your mixture. (Do not wash these first, just give them a bit of a shake )
Cover with a cloth and leave to sit overnight.

The next day strain your cordial through a fine cloth, such as muslin, and pour into sterilised bottles.

Add water and enjoy!

This is very tasty added to lemonade on a hot day.

Elderberry flowers appear to have many health benefits, some of these being improving heart health, boosting the immune system, helpful in fighting viral and bacterial infection, coughs, colds and tonsillitis. I've no idea how much truth is in that but it sure makes a tasty drink!

PS If you wondering...the 'thing' in my bottle of cordial is a chunk of root ginger, I added this along with the lemon just to add a wee zing! This recipe makes a little over two 'wine bottles' of cordial.

Christmas is getting closer

How are Christmas preparations going for you all?

At our house they are going rather slowly! I keep thinking that I have plenty of time, but know in the back of my mind that time is fast coming to a close!

I have two Christmas cards made...LOL, told you things are a little slow!

 These cards were made for a challenge over at Birds of a Feather, if you have any spare time on your hands, and wish to make a card, or two do pop on over and show us what you can do. Carol and I would love to see your creations!

 This challenge has a little twist, to pop over and check it out simply click HERE

This is card number two, and the wee hedgehog is my all time favorite Christmas stamp, Ive had it for years and have used it each Christmas for as long as I can recall!

The inside of my card looks like this...

Double sided paper is great for creating card 'insides'

Here is the sketch I created for this challenge. The lovely snow man image can be downloaded for free, pop over to Birds of A Feather for details.

And... as promised, here is a photo of our newest family member...little Smudge...

How can you not help but fall in love with this wee girl?!

Be in to Win

Hi everyone. Just a quick post tonight to let you know I'm back! Thanks Phil, from Oamaru Computer Services for removing the nasty's from my computer!
Today Andrew and I watched the service for the 29 Pike Miner's who lives have been taken, with much sadness in our hearts. I sure hope the bodies can be retrieved soon and the family's are able to get their lives back on track.


Onto brighter things now...
Be into win this pack of scrap goodies simply by becoming a follower of our Birds of A Feather blog, found here

 ..and be sure to check out our latest challenge while you are there.

Our house is a busy one these days with Aimee home from university, and Camden finished school for the year. I still have another 2 weeks left at my second job, before I also get a holiday...well a holiday from that job anyway. Us mums never really get a holiday do we!

Cody's new pup has settled into our family with much ease, I will post a photo tomorrow.

Its lovely to be back!