Tuesday, October 29, 2013

World Teachers' Day

The last Friday in October came around again so quickly! 
A whole year ago I made these 'smart cookie' gifts, 
so this year I went with a different pun.
I used greetingbee.com to make some flat cards in 2 different colourways 
(the Yr 7 son has a male teacher, the Yr 4 boy has a female).
The card has the teacher's name and the message
"Take a break and celebrate...World Teachers' Day".
The pun line is...
Hopefully they worked! I used a really simple brownie 
recipe from taste.com.au that I often use - it's here if you need 
a quick reference.
*The secret to good brownies is to use real chocolate.*
I packed up three big brownies with greaseproof paper
 between and around them into paper treat bags 
with the cards attached to the front. Then I finished with
a bow in toning ribbon. The kids report that the gifts
were well received!
       P.S. "A good teacher must be able to put himself in 
  the place on those who find learning hard."    Eliphas Levi         
A good teacher must be able to put himself in the place of those who find learning hard.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/eliphaslev130396.html#GyYhdXOw8OIBRUYx.99
A good teacher must be able to put himself in the place of those who find learning hard.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/eliphaslev130396.html#GyYhdXOw8OIBRUYx.99

Happy 12th...

Middle son has the last family birthday of the year, but we have lost most of the 
photos of the big day. Luckily some from the afternoon were still on the camera 
when the laptop hit the floor, so I thought we should at least 
make a blog record for posterity.
He always has a great day as his birthday falls in the school holidays. 
This year he celebrated with a sleep-in and presents, yummy treats for morning tea 
and a mud cake in the afternoon. (The main event cake was to come on the 
weekend when his grandparents visited.)
 The birthday person gets their choice for dinner, and he chose
 the Coffee Club (with Mum).
 This was the special cake for the weekend BBQ with Nan and 
Grandad and the cousins...
 A rainbow cake! It was originally supposed to have fondant icing all over
 (like the one he saw on Pinterest) , but we ran out of time. It was delicious 
anyway, as I made each layer a different flavour.
One happy birthday boy!
 P.S. "Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional." Chili Davis




Thursday, October 3, 2013

D'oh!

You may have noticed a distinct lack of posts lately. 
That's because I'm alternately grieving a loss and berating myself 
for my own stupidity. (This process takes time!) 
The hard drive on my laptop recently met a sticky end, and because I hadn't backed 
up my photos for quite a while, I have lost many of them.
      source

Luckily, I do send photos to family members and use Picasa 
web albums, so I haven't lost every last thing.
But it's a timely reminder to BACK UP YOUR DATA, especially photos.
P.S. "The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." John Powell 

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Minecraft Party...

Thought I'd show you some details of the 10-year old's party, 
as we did have a theme.
(As all my kids have turned 10, they have had a big party with 10 friends. 
This has given us time to save up for something a bit more special than just a movie 
or sleepover with a friend.) This boy wanted a bowling party, but he also had a special 
cake request after seeing a baker on YouTube here - a Minecraft melon cake. 
This being the case, I though we could carry the Minecraft computer game 
theme through to the rest of the party as well.
It started with the invitations...
 a Minecraft scene and the guest's name edited in Picasa
on a brown envelope...
with an 'Are you coming?' message on the front and the party details on the inside
of a brown card. These went out 3 weeks before the party.
I found some green paper treat bags at a discount shop and printed out
some creeper faces to glue on the front. I filled the bags with various treats
that match up to items in the game, like cookies...
eggs, melon, milk, apples, and mushrooms...
TNT (otherwise known as red licorice)...
and building blocks (choc honeycomb, jersey caramels,
rocky road squares and pineapple lumps)...
packed into glassine and cellophane bags. I also included a
little maze puzzle (with a minecraft pic glued on the back)...
a compass, a party whistle and a bird balloon.
(The guests were thrilled with the haul!)
I also got a great Minecraft party printable pack on Etsy
 here that included drink bottle wraps,
a banner, a party sign and a 'thank you' for the back of the treat bags.
 I made a whole heap of these little cubes (free printables from here
as table decorations.
The cake was a triumph...
and it looked fantastic on the inside!
I can safely say that a great time was had by all.
Hip, hip, hooray!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Where did that Decade go?

I can't believe that yesterday marked 10 years since my
youngest son was born.
How can that be? Wasn't I just bringing him home to
meet his brothers a few weeks ago?
 But here we are!
The day started with gifts and a special breakfast...

a special addition to the back yard...
and cake for afternoon tea after school.
 Hope you had a wonderful day R.
 Back soon to show you the interesting gift
 he requested this year!
P.S. "Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age." Jeanne Moreau

Friday, August 9, 2013

Seen and Felt...

My crafty Mum recently felted a lovely woollen jumper, and gave me
a piece of the sleeve for a phone case. 
 I recently got a smartphone, and my old dumb-phone case that I made
was just too small, so here's the new one...
Mum was sweet enough to sew up the bottom and add a velcro closure tab, but the
sleeve was a bit too wide for my phone. Rather than un-pick the sleeve seam and
re-size it, I decided to add a padded lining with space for my stylus as well as the phone.
 
I used a piece of matching green felt and some thin wadding, cut to the size of the cover. 
I stitched not only around the bottom and side, but also in a channel to 
match the size of my stylus/pen.
A check for fit, fold the top and then in with the lining.
Once the lining was stitched in...
all I needed was a co-ordinating button to finish it off.
Ta-da!
The new phone is safe and sound...and warm and fuzzy too!

P.S. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.” Helen Keller






Saturday, July 27, 2013

Catching Up . . .

Oh my goodness! I have been neglecting my poor little blog lately. 
In my defence, I have recently joined Facebook, so I am out there leaving digital footprints!
In the last month I have been busy though . . .
Attending school events
travelling to Hervey Bay for a special family birthday party
working on my Nerf gun modifications (more about this in another post to come soon)
hanging out at the park with the kids
and learning to take macro photos with my smartphone.
Along with a bit of sewing, baking, reading and the usual work-eat-sleep routine, that's about it.
Will post again real soon!
P.S. “The pursuit of truth shall set you free - even if you never catch up with it.” Clarence Darrow


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