OPAAT July Kit!!!

First up is a layout of Jane and I together. I absolutely adore this photo and I've been saving it for this kit. Very pleased with what I have done with the felt. This is my first time cutting up felt and using it on a layout. So these flowers are just freehand cut...very simple with a variety of stitching on it. LOL...I am not a very neat seamstress...very inexperienced. DH does a better job sewing a button on that me....lol...I'd be too tempted just to use a glue dot...on a layout that's ok...but on actual clothing...lol
Patrick is Jeromel's red dog. My sister bought it for him when he was still a baby. Patrick is a very popular and quite famous dog in asia...but unheard of here. He's not a character on tv or anything...just a floppy dog with padding in his body and some beans in his feet. He's been Jeromel's sleeping buddy for a very long time now and usually never leaves the house. Jeromel brought him along for the ride to Box Hill to the Japanese Cultural festival. His first time performing on stage....not sure if it was nerves ...but Patrick came along for the ride just for a bit of cuddly support. On the way back, I heard Jeromel chattering to Patrick showing him the sights and I turned back (DH was driving...lol)...and managed to capture some cute photos.How cute is this card??? Made this for my mother in law for her birthday on the 16th June. She loved the card very much. Look at the huge chunky polkadot ricrac!! Look at my layered button flower! How cute is it? And on this card, you can see the lovely textured cardstock. I need a new 'Happy Birthday' stamp...this one is a bit small and not funky enough!

Ok, I will leave you with my favourite OPAAT layout of the month. I was doing this layout and decided to colour in and then decided to go with the flow and do more doodling and doodle a title....and then hand doodled the border as well. I felt like I had become one with Miss Elsie F herself when I was doodling away. Photos were taken at the Japanese Cultural Festival and it is a Japanese 'lucky dip' with these very cute colourful balloons. They are very thick rubber balloons and they put just a bit of water in them and then they are secured with a clip and has a long elastic band. So it's sort of like a yoyo....except you just bounce them. The 'lucky dip' part has all the balloons floating in some water and each child gets something like a small hook and you have to 'fish' for a balloon by hooking it on the rubber band loop. Lots of fun!
Now....if you are still drooling.....click here and get yourself a kit!!!

Eggceptionally Cute

Tee hee....did you get a giggle out of those eggs? All Jeromel's artwork. He has been drawing on eggs for a while now....usually only one or two eggs....but since I started buying trays of eggs, he keeps asking to draw on the eggs...so I let him. The first time, I wasn't quick enough to take photos. So this time I let him unleash his creativity on the eggs and made sure to take a pic to scrap. This is a layout for an Arty Pants challenge. Arty Pants will be getting a new website very soon and a new shop too!!!! But for the time being, the forum is open...it's fairly quiet at the moment, but it will start hotting up soon!!! Check it out here

Have I done other scrapping? Yes....some altered things....

Firstly an altered canvas. Owen is Joseph's cousin and he came over the other day asking me to make a canvas for Fiona's birthday. He handed me a small pile of photos and gave me oh....24 hours to create something. I like it...it's happy and bright...and most importantly....Owen scored some major brownie points......Fiona loves it heaps!!

Next, some altered items for the new baby in our family. My cousin and his wife are the proud parents to their first born....a baby girl named Anna. We still have not seen Anna yet, but I've made these for her. A Keepsake wooden box with a photo frame top. Had to dress it up with Scenic Route....sooo cheerful.....I'm into bright pink and orange and green atm......those colours make me sooo happy!!! The other items next to it is by Creative Imaginations...it is called a Gift Card holder. The inside has a slot....you can slide a photo in through the top...and the photo sits behind a plastic sheet. And the top of the plastic sheet is actually recessed a bit...so you can sit a gift card on top of it. I got this from OPAAT in the last kit and need to get more...they're great when you want to give a gift card but feel that it can be presented a bit better. I just got my new OPAAT kit and it's Love Elsie..............sooo yummy!!! It will be launched in a few days time...so if you want some Love Elsie....go order!!!

Lastly....look what arrived in my mailbox!!! Not my emailbox....my real life mailbox!!! How yummy are these We are Memory Keepers eyelets & snaps????? As soon as I saw them on Fireside Crafts I had to have them!!! Going to use them this week on a layout or two.....keep an eye out for them!!!
I've done a few other layouts, but will save them for another day........for another post where I am all talk no scrap! LOL

Memorable night out.....

Joseph and I have this couple...Tom and Nucel....long time friends.....I've known them for 20 years...yah....20 years!!! Joseph's known them for longer....when I met him...I inherited his friends. We enjoy each others company, we've had kids together and our kids have grown up together and go to school together. We're godparents to each other's kids as well and we celebrate all of life's events together and that includes birthdays. Now that our kids are older, we get to go out sans kids and stay out till ungodly hours. Tee hee! Joseph & Tom's birthdays are 2 days apart, so they always celebrate together. And for Nucel & my birthday, we always organise a night out as well....dinner and usually casino for a spot of fun. Nucel and I have long leisurely coffees while we have our catch up chats. And the men bond over their alcoholic drinks. It's always a good night out...almost tradition.

Tonight, we started off late....about 8.30pm.....and went into the Crown complex for dinner at Margo's and then went into the Teak Room for a bit of a look see and then for a bit of play on the pokies where I put in my $20 budget and came away empty handed. LOL...sooo not a gambler!! Then comes the memorable bit....Tom & Nucel have managed to borrow their brother in law's VIP card ....the card that lets you into the Mahogany Room!!!! It was Joseph & my first time there. It's sooo nice. Spacious....well lit.....bright.....gorgeous sparkling chandeliers....and the bathrooms are gorgeous!!! Very clean, real towels for wiping hands (one use only)....nice hand lotion, beautiful make up mirrors and plush chairs! And while you are in the mahogany room, free food and drinks. Yah....free cognac, free whiskey, free alcohol of any sort, free cocktails, free soft drinks, free juice....did I mention the drinks from the bar and waitresses are all free? tee hee! And there is even free food.....waitresses walk past with big platters of free sandwiches and hot entrees (mini pizzas/quiches, chicken satay, sausage rolls, springrolls) every so often. Even the cigarettes are free!

And I was pleasantly surprised that the gaming tables up there don't have scary mortage busting minimums. $5 and $10 roulette. $25 baccarat etc.....even some 5c, 20c and $1 pokies machines. They had a high roller section in another open section ....but I didn't go in there....I didn't want them to hear me gasp when they plonk down $10,000 for a hand of baccarat. I would be too tempted to say to them 'no, you look like a loser, just give me your $50,000 and go home'. LOL

Joseph and I didn't play, Tom and Nucel played a bit.....we just hung around....chatting....drinking.....eating.....drinking etc for a few hours. We didn't want to leave...tee hee...where else can the guys indulge in cognac for free? And Nucel and I had lattes until our systems couldn't handle anymore caffeine? So here I am....awake and buzzing at 4.30am....yee haah!!

Ok.....drool away

Definately the best birthday surprise a scrapper could wish for.....a Clip it up!!!! This thing is HUGE!!!! Thank you sooo much to Michelle, Felicity and Vita for this!! I am truly sooo blessed. I have drooled over it but being me, I would never have parted with that much money for scrap storage....I would have rather spent it on scrap supplies. So this was a perfect pressie for me.....truly perfect! I have spent so much time working out what to put on it....lol.....I think I can fill up 2 of these units with my stash...bad bad me!!!


Other yummy pressies from lunch yesterday. Beautiful handmade cards....white one with the yellow Frangipani flowers was made by Michelle and everyone at lunch signed it. The pale creamish one with the stamped and cut out bouquet of flowers with bling centres is made by Felicity. I swear, this woman put it in an envelope and told me to open it at home because her card is no good. Oh come on....Felicity...liar liar pants on fire, your card absolutely rocks!!! Jenni Bowlin stamped card from my birthday sister Jane and the blue card with the gorgeous bow is a Katie Toland original.

Jane made me a felt bag and a circle journal album which I have to work on....it has contact details in it...so kind of like a scrappers address/contact book....I handed out all the blank pages yesterday, so hopefully they will come back soon. Jane also gave me some of her gorgeous Crafty Matters ceramics. How yummy are they????]

Shirley gave me some yummy Lavender smelly stuff....I love Lavender smelly stuff....yummo!!! And pinkalicious smiggle goodies from Jess and Katie. And the other bestest pressie a scrapper can get....a years subscription to Creating Keepsakes from my great friend Julia. Thanks Hon!!
Ok.....I know many of you have been waiting for this......the 4 guess bags I got for my birthday!!! How yummy are these??? I think my Brother in law chose very very well for me. The only thing I don't like is the huge padlock on the brown bag in the front...so that is coming off. It even comes with keys which are hanging on the side!!! It reminds me of a prison cell lock...for a prisoner who has been sentenced to life....lock it and throw away the keys....tee hee...so the lock is coming off....maybe I'll keep it for an altered project one day.

I have a thing for bags.....love bags....nice bags....I'm a bag girl and love guess bags.....want to know how many I have? 10....yup.....10......must have cost me a fortune???? I've actually only bought one and that was last week when I went to the 50% off sale. All the other bags have been given to me by my BIL....why???? coz he worked there. It was his last day with that company last week....very very sad...no more bags....sob. I told him that he should go work somewhere that has cool stuff as well so that we can buy it for family discount. LOL! My boys want him to work at Industrie, Mossimo or French Connection. I want him to go back to work with Jag/Colorado !!
And lastly....this is what DH and the kids got me....PJs.....I desperately needed pjs....warm pjs. Funnily enough, I've never been much of a pj person.....I kid you not....and tmi....but I sleep in tshirt and undies...year round...undies and tshirt. But last year, I really felt the cold....and shut up...it's not the age....lol....but when Dad was here and went through his clothes, he put a pair of flanalette pjs in the donation pile. I rescued them.....perfectly good pjs....white with plummish brown stripes in them....I wore them a lot....so much so that I started hinting to Joseph that I could do with some proper winter pjs. So he surprised me yesterday with PJs from Sussans....ok...the pic above.....he got me the stripey pink pj pants....and with it he got a pale pink long sleeve top....and .....a long fluffy pink dressing gown....oh man...it feels soo warm and sooo soft...but it gave me the heebeegeebies....I can't be surrounded by that much pink puff!!! And I'm fat.....picture a pink powerpuff walking around...let me tell you...not a good look. So I took the pale pink top and the pink powerpuff robe back to sussans and exchanged it for the aqua pjs set and the latte short dressing gown. Yummy....they're swishing around in the washing machine now ...getting all nice and clean before I don them!!

Birthday Sisters!!!

Yep Yep Yep, it's my birthday today and I was so thrilled to discover last year that Jane shares the day with me. For the first time in my life, I know someone else with the same birthday!! Very exciting to have a birthday sister. We organised a lunch at Chelsea Heights and sent out invitations to a few of our friends with the subject line of 'Jane and Ruey are turning 80!' Yes, that is our combined age....I'm 39 and Jane is ....u do the math....lol

I had a fabulous time at lunch. Cheeky Vita organised these tshirts for us to wear, although I think Jane knew about them...I was the only one who was surprised. LOL Isn't Vita clever??? After lunch, Jane and I posed for photos and we had a hilarious time...lol...people in the restaurant must have been wondering who Jane and I were we had two photographers with two big honking cameras snapping away like the paparazzi. The photographers were no other than Michelle Vass and Shirley Chai!!

Who was at lunch? Quite a few.....Jane (+2kids), Michelle (+2), Vita (+1), Shirley (+1), Felicity, Katie Toland (+1), Jess Lothian (+1), Anna (+2), Lisa (+3) and Julia. The playground kept the kids very busy and the ladies got to have a really good chat. Lots of laughs, lots of different conversations, lots of pressies and lots of yummy food and drinks.

Of course the birthday girl also gets out of cooking dinner......chinese takeaway from one of our many many local restaurants. MIL and BIL came over and had dinner with us and brought me not one but 4 Guess handbags!!!! I will take pics in the morning but I got heaps of pressies. I am just sooo spoilt this year!!! Photos of pressies will be done tomorrow....I promise!!! But for now....nite nite

Food for thought....

Cooking dinner is always a challenge for me. I don't really enjoy cooking. I cook because I have to and I am lucky because my family is not fussy. 98% of the time, I cook family favourites which I can virtually cook with my eyes closed. My boys will eat anything I put in front of them....even vegetables. Our dinner has to have something green on it otherwise it isn't complete....and preferably rice.

Last night, I was faced with 5 basa fish fillets which my family love. We usually just have it quite plain....just coated with rice flour which has been seasoned with sweet hungarian paprika, garlic salt and pepper and then panfried. But after pan frying the lot, I decided that I would go one step further and do more....dress it up.....
First off, stirfried some onions, garlic and snake beans with some brown bean sauce and chinese wine.....and plopped it on top of 2 fish fillets.......everyone loved this concoction!!!
Next , I thought sweet and sour will be nice to balance the saltiness of the ground bean sauce. So I stirfried onion, garlic, added tomato sauce, some brown sugar and then a big pile of my favourite chinese pickles (papaya, cucumber and carrots). This one was omg scrumptious!!!!
With the last piece, I decided on something spicy. So some Prima Taste sambal chilli got cooked with some fresh Truss tomato wedges. Then I sprinkled some fried onion pieces on top. This one was spicy but every bit was polished off the plate. LOL....no layouts to show. Been quite busy with our overseas visitor and I have been making cards and a couple of altered items because I had to get them ready as gifts....and a couple of layouts...but nothing to show. So I hope you're contented with food pics.

On the topic of scrapping, have you been to Fireside Crafts?
Their first kit 'First Fire' is very very yummy and they're a new local business and the sneak peeks to their next kit looks FABULOUS!!!

A few weeks ago, I did something different.....I was inspired....very very inspired to make up a few kits of my overflowing stash and put them on ebay. I called them Mojo kits...because scrappers always complain that their mojo deserted them....so I thought that if you are mojoless then you can go to ebay and buy a mojo kit. LOL!!! Crazy me. They were received very well and I'm inspired to make more mojo kits sooon. I know Nicole reads my blog because she emailed to say that I hadn't updated my blog for a week now....so thanks Nicole for loving my kits. Can't wait to see your creations with them.

Will blog again tomorrow with birthday pics!!!