Oh Christmas Tree

Christine and I had a busy day in Hinkler on Saturday and it's amazing how tired your feet can get when you're not used to standing on them all day.

On Sunday we went off to the shalom markets and did our fruit & vege shopping even though it was sprinkling rain (send us down a bit more) and then I decided that I would put up the Christmas tree and some other decorations. Yes I know it's a bit late but at least I got the week in. I have to say it does make a difference to how you feel....a bit more Christmassy.

Not many presents under it yet.

The moose at the front door. Not that they have anything to do with an Australian Christmas but what the heck.

An assorted group on the side table that Dad made for us. My favourite spot to put collections of things.

I made a Christmas cake a fortnight ago and we've cut it, mainly because I wasn't sure how it would be as it looked a little dry. Normally I use a  recipe with a lot of mixed spice and chocolate in it but this year I went back to Mum's recipe. The trouble was it's an old recipe (in pounds and ounces) and quite a few years ago I converted it to grams etc and wrote it on the bottom of the recipe. So when I was making it this time I looked at the converted measurements and I had written sugar - not brown sugar so it wasn't as dark as I remembered and my oven tends to run a little hot. Anyway it wasn't too bad and I've been adding a few splashes of port over the top of it and that's improved it.

Saturday 19th

Well Hinkler shopping centre has come back to Christine and offered her the little empty shop opposite Gloria Jeans for a week.....so she took it. And she offered both Anita and I some space so we'll be there on Saturday for the day and Wednesday.

We've both only having a table each so I'm taking down the giftware range HEAVILY DISCOUNTED and the stamps and a few other bits and pieces.

So call in and have a look. Christine will have a large selection of jewellery and handbags and Anita will have her beautiful soy wax candles that smell absolutely divine.

Caroling Mice

I'm still finishing off a few cards and thought you might like to see them. The stamp is from the Penny Black Slapstick range that came in recently. I only ordered a few as it was so close to Christmas I didn't know if they would sell but when I saw the mice I had to keep them for me.

A Christmas Poem

Twas the night before Christmas and I'm glued to the tree,         

I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me.
Could it be cardstock or inkpads or lace?
Or stamps I said with a smile on my face.
And thats when I heard him...."Hi Santa" I said,
He replied, "you know...good girls should be in their beds".
"I know I should be Santa, and now that I've been caught,
but I was just so excited to see what you've bought".
"Well lets have a look in this room where you work",
He shook his head quickly  and left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear.
"You've got enough crap I'll see you next year".


Does that remind you of anyone?

PCYC craft market tomorrow - lots of bargains on my stall

Tomorrow is the last PCYC craft market of the year and as I said the other day I'm having a "I need to clean up" sale.

So to make it easy for everyone I'm going to have a 30% sale table. Whatevers on that table will have 30% taken off the marked price. A lot of the gift lines are one only's so if you want something in particular it might pay to make the markets your first stop of the morning.

Expect to see the tinned cards (fabulous Christmas present) - wallets - soy wax votives - 12 x 12 paper - Christmas stamps - Opals - chipboard and whatever else I feel like at the time.

Normally at this time of the year Christine, Anita and I have a stall in the Hinkler shopping centre but they couldn't fit us in this year (there was some confusion with the booking) so this is the last time I'll be out and about. However you can always order on the website and if you're local you can phone or email me to make a time to call in.

Christmas discounts & cards

Are you still thinking about what presents to buy? Because after Christmas I'll be looking at what products I'm going to keep stocking and what I'm going to clear out so I've decided to have a bit of a sale.

Actually quite a lot of a sale.......we're talking discounts of 20 & 30% off the marked prices. Some stock has already been marked down but you'll get the discount off that price.

At this point it's just personal shoppers (sorry about that) but after Sunday I'll be putting some of those discounts onto the website so keep your eyes peeled. So if you're heading down to the Pageant of lights tonight make sure you stop in and have a look (I'll have a limited space to display so not everything will fit) and then on Sunday I'll be at the last PCYC craft market of the year so first in best dressed as my father says for the bargains.

Gift lines and craft lines will be discounted.

I'm still getting my cards finished and posted and it's amazing what you find stashed away. At some stage I've bought Christmas characters so I thought I would combine them with a few new products and I'm quite hapy with the result. Although it never occured to me until I put them into an envelope that I'll have to use a 55c stamps to post them. Never mind.

I've used the stamps from the Darkroom Door Reindeer stamp set and the words from the Yuletide wordstrips and a few crystals.

A very easy one to do cardstock - patterned paper - ribbon - penguin - a few crystals and words from the Yuletide wordstrip.

Layer on cardstock - patterned paper - stamped words from Darkroom Door Reindeer set - white heat emboss the tree from the Bo Bunny Christmas set - add words from the Yuletide Vol 2 wordstips - a snowman and a few crystals.  

Pageant of Lights tomorrow night

This year's Pageant of Lights will celebrate Queensland's 150th birthday with the theme "Reflect on our past and imagine our future".

The festivities start at 6pm - with fun for all the family.

The Turning on of the Lights at 7pm in Buss Park, next to the Bundaberg Regional Council Administration Centre, will be a crowd favourite and marks the official start to the festivities.

This will be followed by the Street Parade - starting at the corner of Bourbong & Tantitha Streets and continuing down Bourbong Street to Buss Park. There are plenty of good vantage points right along the route but families are encouraged to get there early to get the best spot.

Other highlights of the evening will be the Q150 Light Show and Hunky Dory Christmas Show, both to be held in Buss Park. There'll be live entertainment, markets and food all evening throughout the CBD...and of course a visit from Santa.

This is the information from our council website. Are you going? I know I'll be there along with Anita who makes and sells soy wax candles, we're sharing a market stall site. Hope to see you there.

Opals Angels

I was playing around the other day with Opals thick embossing enamel and thought I would try to make Christmas decorations. A few things happened: I learned that you can overheat gold Opals and it will change colour to an unpleasant brown/gold and if you are melting it in a pan on the stove like I was don't be tempted to put it on high to melt it quicker.

Anyway this is what I made and how I did it:

Pick out a biscuit cutter that you want to use for a ornament, it should be one that you're happy not to use for making biscuits anymore. Put your finger into a Versamark or embossing pad and run it all around the inside of the cutter. The tree was my failed gold experiment and then I moved on to the angel. Place the cutter on a piece of glad bake on a cutting board.

  

Using a pan that you don't want to cook in anymore (or a melting pot if you have one) place a piece of glad bake in it and pour in some Opals. Turn your stove on to medium and wait patiently, if you're tempted to put it on high see the notes at the start. When it's melted take the pan over to the cutter and lift out the glad bake by the sides, bring together and tip to pour the melted Opals into the cutter. Make sure it goes into the corners and no dribbles down the side. Sorry no photos of that...I need to learn/remember to use my timer. Leave it a minute then roll an awl or pointy skewer into your Versamerk and pierce a hole in the top. Leave it in for a minute and remove. After about another minute if it looks firm see if the cutter will slide off the angel if it doesn't carefully pick it up and apply gentle  pressure to the back of the angel evenly and slide up the cutter. Add a cord and hang on the tree.

 

The other thing I learnt is that we need to make mistakes to learn even if it is frustrating.

No 16

Burnett Heads School markets & new stamps

So I've just finished packing the car with everything I'm taking to the Burnett Heads state school markets and even though I thought I was condensing stock into these great new storage containers I bought I still seem to have a lot of stuff to bring. I hope I can get really close to the hall where I'm setting up.

Thursday I received in some gorgeous Penny Black Christmas stamps. They are single designs with the pattern printed on the cling foam so you can see it when you are placing them. As they were only just made available I have one's and two's of each design so if you're still looking to make cards these are perfect. They also have a example of a card on the packaging to give you ideas for colouring. It couldn't be easier.

Number 15

It's raining

We're having some beautiful rain here at the moment, pity about the two loads of washing out on the line. It doen't matter we really need the rain.

It was a very quiet day yesterday at the Lifestyle & Property Expo which was disappointing for both the organisers and the exhibitors. It does take a lot of effort to get everything ready especially when the council in their wisdom has the ramp blocked off so all the crates of stock etc have to be carried in by hand. We were in the supper room as you come in the front doors and as such had a bit of air conditioning but everyone in the main hall didn't so that makes it more difficult to function. It amazes me that the council don't put air conditioning in as there as so many events are held there and it would be a better way to spend our rates money than on a $50,000 turtle roundabout that you can't even see the design unless you're flying over it.

Lifestyle & Property Expo on tomorrow

Just a very late reminder that the Lifestyle & Property Expo is on tomorrow between 9am and 3pm at the Civic Centre Bourbong St.

It's a gold coin entry and any monies raised goes to the aged care new bus fund so thats a very worthwhile cause.

Hope to see you there. We're in the "supper room" where it's nicely air-conditioned.

Sunday scrapbooking & Christmas cards

Last Sunday I had a busy day. In the morning I manned (girled.....ladied???) my stall at the PCYC craft markets which I always enjoy because I love getting out there and talking to people however this Sunday Ergon decided to make things a little more difficul by turning off the power for approx 40 minutes. Evidently there was a generator but they had trouble getting it to work so we were literally in the dark and of course the air conditioner wasn't working either.

From there I went off to the last Sunday Scrap session of the year for Simply crafty where we had a Secret Santa swap (thanks Shandell for the brownie recipe book) and everyone bought a plate of food to share.
Shandell was very kind to us all and gave us candy cane reindeers, too cute. We also did a journalling  embellishment swap so thats always fun to see what everyones made and you get to take home a little packet of goodies.

Speaking of embellishment swaps a few months ago we did a Christmas one and on Thursday Lorelle came over for the morning and we spent a few hours making cards and chatting as you do. So I decided to use the embellishments that I had received in the swap and it was great so thank you to everyone you contributed. I still have a few left so I'll make those up as well. The reindeer card has the deer from the Darkroom Door stamp set   and the words are off the Yuletide wordstrips, very easy to do.

Number 14

Number 13

PCYC Markets on tomorrow

Just thought I would remind you that the PCYC craft markets are on again tomorrow as we have two in November for everyone to go shopping for those christmas presents or have a little browse around and a morning out.

Where are they held? That would be the corner of Walker & Maryborough St Bundaberg from 8am til 12pm. Don't forget the stalls in the hall, thats where I am, and a whole lot of talented peope as well.

From there I'm off to the last Sunday Scrap session of the year and I hope to make some Christmas cards as well as catch up with everyone's news and latest crafty projects.

Number 12

I know that sounds a little harsh  but I take it to mean that we stress about all sorts of things that we don't need to.

Number 11

Number 10

New Darkroom Door Stamps

Well yesterday I received a few new stamps from both Darkroom Door and Stamp It and today I've loaded them onto the "A Look at What's New" page on the website. I know the Star background stamp is looking a little crooked so I'll have to take a better photo and replace it soon. For card makers the new larger size is a great idea, imagine the star stamp embossed in white on a red card or vice versa. All you'd need is a greeting and it would look fantastic.

Number 9

Number 8

October ATC swap

Yes I am aware that it's November but I have only just finished my swap for October, really sorry Jan. The theme this month was your favourite fairytale and while I don't know if Pinocchino is my all time favourite it has to be up there.

Number 7

Apple Tree Creek Markets

We decided to take ourselves off this morning to have a look at the Apple Tree Creek Markets. It's about a 40 minute drive south and it's held next to the park. There would have been about 40 to 50 stalls and we had a wander around and bought a few basil plants from a man who showed us a plant that he called the radium plant (real name petty scurge if I remember correctly) and he told us it was used for getting rid of sun spots.

We also bought some scones, a turkish bread, fig jam, bananas, peaches and beautiful cherry tomatoes (we had some for lunch), oh and some onion marmalade. Plus we had a freshly squeezed mandarin juice.

All in all a productive morning.

Number 6

Number 5

Christmas tags

Well I've started on my Christmas stamping and I thought I would start off with something quick and easy. So tags it is. These are a cute way of personalising your present and they don't take very long to do. Although you can make them as basic or decorated as you like.

I've started off with the small size shipping tags (that way I don't have to cut or punch cardstock)and then I used the bauble and words from the Bo Bunny clear christmas stamp set (great value at $11.95).

The pink bauble tag is stamped using Jet Black Archival Ink and then I've used water colour pencils to colour it. The archival ink won't bleed when you put liquid near it so thats why I've used it.

The purple bauble is done the same except for a layer of kindy glitz over the top.

The Teddy is done in the same method except I used the coffee coloured ink pad.

Number 4

Not Christmas cards

Well at this time of year I should be making Christmas cards but I keep getting distracted by the sheets of scrapbook paper I "found" hiding on and under my desk when I was tidying up. The fairy stamp is one that I hadn't used before and I'm really pleased with it especially as it was one of a number that I bought secondhand from a lady who wasn't going to do stamping anymore.