Holidays are here!

The girls finished school on Thursday so on Friday we spent the day at home and the girls had a big sleep in, something they were really looking forward to.

I got some sewing done and made this Collapsible Bucket found at a great site called Instructables. I hope to put it to good use in my studio.

I took some photos the other day of my studio which against my better judgement will share with you here. I like my space to be neat and tidy, but lately when not working on something, my space tends to become a dumping ground for everything and sundry. So here is my studio in kind of a mess (well a mess for me anyway).

My mission these holidays should I find the time to accept it! Is to do a really big clean out and sort through. Another reason for this is I have decided to take a stall at the Subiaco Craft and Community Fair, a friend of ours runs it and I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to "expose" myself to the greater public and sell some kits etc. You can find out more from my website I have added it to the Announcements so if you are local come along and say Hi!

Yesterday was AFL Grand Final Day which ended up being a white wash to Geelong - quite sad really becuase I think alot of other teams would have given Geelong a run for their money had they been given the chance! Anyway Gemma and I decided to get a start on "Mad Mozzie" from Melly & Me. This is the first pattern I have done of theirs and I am very impressed. Gemma is only 13 but can operate a sewing machine very well and accomplished this with ease (and a little bit of help from Mum!).



Cute isn't he! Actually I was searching for him a little while ago so I could take a photo and found him in bed with Gemma so it must have been a hit! I can't wait to do "Mrs Perkins" with Renae now....I might even do one myself.

The girls did some gardening on Friday too (to impress Dad I think so he would take them to the Royal Show) and they came across this little fella!

OK off to clean the house we have 20 odd people coming tomorrow for a BBQ (It's a long weekend here!)

See Ya!

Competition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Would you like to win one of these?

What is it you ask? Well it is a Fiskars Carft Drill and features include:
· General drilling use
· Contoured handle
· Made of ABS plastic
· Includes 4 popular-size drill bits

I love mine and just don't know how I did without it.

All you have to do is email me a Tip or Technique that I can post at my website and you will go into the draw. All Tips and Techniques will be published and a link given back to your blog or website if you have one.
The winner of the Fiskars Drill will be drawn randomly by my able assistant (probably my DH)
next Friday 5th October. So get your thinking caps on and I can't wait to see what you all come up with!

OK in other news...........


I went a little crazy at Spotlight today on fabric. I have stocked up for the holidays and all this will hopefully keep the girls busy.

I didn't get any fabric for my bags yet as I couldn't get my head around that many fabrics for all those patterns in one shopping trip (see previous post). Besides Steve was waiting for me in the car!

Wow 3 posts in 3 days!

Catch you next time.

Lots

I got some patterns in the mail today that I ordered last week from here. With school holidays coming up I wanted to get some bits together for the girls to do so that I don't hear "I'm bored Mum, what can I do?" Although Gemma has dance competitions these holidays and there is the Royal Show too, so I think with some things to do at home they should be kept rather busy.

The handbag patterns are for me and I love the Pocket and Floss rabbits and Mrs Perkins is pretty cute too.

Look at what Lis gave me last week...............



Thanks Lis I love it and it will be put to good use.

I really needed some me time yesterday and decided to do some embroidery on some felt. I might add a few other bits and pieces yet, like some charms or something along those lines.

The other week when we went to David Jones in the city Steve made me buy this gorgeous journal that I really wanted but was rather expensive, so I spoiled myself. Anyway, I think I will use this embroidery to make a cover to protect my journal when using it. I just need to find a pattern or make up my own.

Ok here is a sneak peek at my layout class for the Hyden Retreat coming up.............I have used the gorgeous Basic Grey Infuse range of papers and die cuts.

Now I need to finish the "Off the Page" class and I will post some sneak peeks of that one too.

Steve is back today.........Yay and I think I'm getting a cold.....sore throat and headache.

Here is the first Iris from my garden this year.......

OK stand by because in the next few days I will be announcing a give away and it has something to do with my new website too.......

Until then take care and hope you are enjoying your week.

Renae's 15th Birthday!

I’m exhausted!

I won’t go into huge details about the weekend but let’s just say I need a rest today.
It was Renae’s 15th Birthday yesterday and seeing as she didn’t have to work on Saturday she asked if she could go clothes shopping. Now if you know Renae you will also know that clothes shopping isn’t something she has a lot of patience for.
So we made some deals before embarking on our expedition and we both had a lovely time and came home with some clothes – Nice ones too!

After getting home at 2.00pm from shopping, we went into a frenzy of cleaning up a bit and shifting some furniture around so that the 6 or 7 girls could sleep in the family room. I was making Renae’s cake which was really plan B (or was it C?) as we could not find what we were looking for “ready made”.

Harry arrived at about 4.00pm who I was also babysitting, he is such a cutie! Anyway because I was trying to finish off Renae’s cake, which incidentally was a Cookie Monster Cake, I let Harry get over tired and of course he wanted to party with 7 girls and not got to bed, so he cried a little but eventually gave in and went to bed. Didn’t hear from him again all night, even when I was checking on him every hour!

Back to the cake, finished that off then pizzas for the girls for tea, waited for Stephanie to arrive (one of Renae’s guests) then actually had the cake. It was a hit thank goodness, here’s a photo! We all ended up with blue teeth and lips.

Michelle came home to collect Harry at about 12.15pm and then I crashed and left the girls to watching DVD’s in bed. They were extremely good – did not hear them once.

Sunday morning Renae made pancakes for everyone and I was making salads as my parents were coming for lunch. Lachlan (Renae’s boyfriend) arrived at about 11.00am to join us for the day and gosh did he spoil Renae. Mum and Dad left about 3.30pm and My brother-in-law Wayne and Sister-In-Law Thelma arrived at 6.30pm, Michelle came around at about 7.00pm with Sami because she threw a wobbly and wanted to see Renae for her birthday – secretly I was glad she came. Wayne and Thelma left at 8.00pm and Michelle not long after – oh yeah and Lachlan was picked up at some stage in there. People coming and going and me not really able to chat properly to any of them because by this time I was barely able to string two words together – so they kindly talked to me!

I was snoring by 10.00pm - and where was Steve you ask? In Coral Bay FISHING!
Lucky him. I didn’t realise how much we work together when we have visitors with the cooking and cleaning up until last night. He is never going away on a Birthday weekend again, even if it does mean we will be eating Red Emperor for the next few weeks.

Here is my gorgeous "baby" girl, Happy Birthday sweetheart I hope all your dreams come true.

What am I doing today? Resting me thinks.

Weekend

I promised I would be back with an update as to what we did last weekend!

My parents are in Perth for the week and offered to have the girls for the weekend, so Steve and I escaped for the weekend into the city. We left here Saturday morning and I had a facial and Steve had a massage at a Spa in Northbridge (I won't name it for obvious reasons), it was the worst facial I think I have ever had - this should have been a sign that the weekend was not going to go to plan! This salon had been recommended by a friend and I was very much looking forward to being pampered and well, just relaxing. Not to be, the girl had the coldest hands, I swear she had just stuck them in the freezer. At one point I thought she was sticking hot needles in my face and had to ask her to stop as I was not there for a torture session. OK tick that off!

Off we went to check in at the Chifley hotel in St George's Tce and we have stayed there many times now and find it to be convenient and charming without the Big Hotel syndrome. Well let's just say that it has definitely dropped its standards a little and the rooms are very tired and in need of a refit.

We went into the city and grabbed some lunch and also visited the David Jones Food Hall and spent a small fortune on things like chocolates, dips, cheeses etc. Yum!

That evening, courtesy of a friend of ours, we had tickets to see Alice in Wonderland performed by the WA Ballet - Just stunning - Loved it! The costumes and set design was awesome and the White Rabbit was very entertaining. OK that was a highlight of the weekend.

Sunday, breakfast at the hotel, then Steve and I decided to take the day as it came and not make any plans......got to Hillary's for fish and chips and that yummy fish and chip place I can't remember the name of. I think every man and his dog decided to to to Hillary's on Sunday. Parking was a nightmare! Anyway found a spot as we were trying to exit the carpark - checked my phone and Renae had phoned both of us and sms'd us too. Ok so I ring Renae - "Mum we are home already, what time will you be back?" Great so home we went to Mum, Dad and the girls waiting for us in the verandah.

Weekend over :-(

I think we can put the weekend down to one of those that we shouldn't have had!

On a much brighter note...........HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEGAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope you have the best birthday ever.

Steve is off fishing to Coral Bay for the weekend, Renae has her 15th Birthday party on Saturday night - 6 girls for a sleepover! Arrrrrggghhhhh what was I thinking? High School Musical 2 comes out on Foxtel on Saturday afternoon so hopefully that will keep them quiet for a while.

I think I need a little holiday of my own very soon - just me on a beach with a cocktail in one hand, book in the other.....Yeah in my dreams!!!!!!!!!!!

sharonmanning.com.au is going fabulously so don't forget to check it out if you haven't already. More products will be going online soon and please if you have a Tip or Technique you would like to contribute, just email me and I will link back to your blog or website.

OK I am off to work on my projects for the retreat today!

Thank You!

Wow, what an amazing response to my new website. I can't thank everyone enough for their kind words of support and if I haven't thanked you personally, I apologise and please accept my gratitude. To those that have mentioned me on their blog too, it is very much appreciated. This community we all share never ceases to amaze me!

It has been a whirlwind week around here and one word of advice if you are thinking of setting up your own website, get someone else to do it! LOL Creating this site myself and making sure it's working as it should be has been well, lets say very taxing and I used to do this for a living for 7 years!!!!!

Don't forget to send in your Tips or Techniques to me, your name will be mentioned and a link to your blog or website, check Ann's out on the site. I do hope this part of the website grows and becomes a great source of information for "new" and "old" scrapbookers alike.

Steve and I have something special planned for the weekend, which I will update you with on Monday.

These are just starting to appear around our place - aren't they amazing?

That's it for this week, next week I have a girl turning 15!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gosh where has the time gone, am I that old? Steve's going fishing and I have a birthday party to plan for.

Have a great weekend all.

Here goes.......

I’m exhausted, terrified, excited all at once…..and my secret is out! So spread the word!

sharonmanning.com.au

I do need to say a very big thank you to my Husband, Steve who believes in me like no one else I know.
Without your support I would be in a very different place right now.

Right, I’m off to have a coffee, hang on.............is it too early to have a Champagne? Yes I think so, that will have to wait til tonight I think! LOL

Monday already!

Our Father's Day was very quiet, I woke at 5am with a raging Migraine so that wasn't a good start to the day. Luckily Steve didn't want to go anywhere (out for breakfast or lunch) just a quiet one at home so we had spare ribs and salad for lunch on the balcony and we just vegged out for the day. Except Steve, he was building these......

stairs down to the clothes line and pool area. We had a heap of new gravel bought in and distributed last weekend so that when it rains it is not so muddy getting to the cars. These stairs have been in the plans for a while and I love the job he has done on them!

Our cat Jack has taken to sleeping on my scrap table - I have cuaght him a few times stretched out (usually on top of something important).

Today has been lovely, a friend of ours is in Perth from Sydney and came to visit with his 4 year old daughter - the weather here today is beautiful - a gorgeous Spring day. So we enjoyed being outside again today. Very hard to come inside and get some chores done. There was even an easterly wind blowing here this morning (a coldish one though) so that is a sure sign the weather is a changing!

I actually read a book over the weekend.....I really needed a break from my desk, I don't think I even read an email or blog all weekend....very unusual for me! The book was a debut novel by Kate Veitch called Listen. Loved it....a very "real" novel about a Mother who at 30 walks out on her husband and 4 children on Christmas Eve in 1967 and basically disappears. The bulk of the novel concentrates on the children some 40 years on and the effects on each of them. Highly recommend it!

A layout I can share.....this one is in the latest issue of For Keeps Issue 58, Fresh Ideas readers gallery.

I love this layout of Gemma and Rhi - I have actually framed this as a gift for Rhiannon as she is now at a new school and only sees Gemma on the weekends.

Thanks for checking in and take care.