December 2nd

2nd day of December and the 2nd official day of Summer and what a stunning day it was!! For some reason my dear sweet son woke up at 5am ... and didn't go back to sleep! So after finally kicking the wriggling, squirming boy out of my bed to watch TV in the playroom I finally went back to sleep.  Sunday is our sleep in day. We usually stay in bed and watch What Now and get up at 10am. Even though What Now has finished for the year we still stayed in bed watching TV until 10am!! Then while we were eating breakfast my Mum & Dad turned up.

My Mum is my biggest motivator! She is awesome. So she kicked my butt and we got out in the garden, well the back of the shop. In between the back of my shop and the back fence there is a gap. Lately the gap has been taken over by nasturtium.  

I really wish I had of thought to take a before photo. It was seriously taking over the world back there!! So I put on my gumboots and Mum and I pulled heaps out and then I drenched the rest with weed killer.  This will be the 2nd time we have sprayed this plant. It died and then grew back. Sigh!

The wall I am sitting on was COVERED in this plant before Mum and I pulled it off! It was crazy!!!

After lunch the kids and I decided to look for a playground I knew was around but had never been to. So we went for a walk in the beautiful sunshine to the Whau Valley Parklands.

I don't know why I have never been here since we have lived so close for so long. It is such an awesome place!  MASSIVE field of grass, fantastic playground, lots of trees for shade and even some benches. It would be a perfect picnic location and I am planning on spending lots more time there with the kids. Best of all we can walk there!!

After coming back and drinking copious amounts of water (because it was so hot and we forgot to take water with us!) and having a rest we went off to do the boring weekly grocery shop. When we got home all the neighbours kids were running around outside under hoses and sprinklers, the kids begged me to go join them so of course I said yes!

I didn't get any pics of them playing cause I didn't want to hang over the neighbours fence with my camera hehehe but here are the drowned rats once they got back to get dry and dressed.

Fantastic Summer day!! I'm glad we took advantage of it because the weather is supposed to turn to custard tomorrow!!!!

December 1st

First day of December!!! The Christmas season has officially arrived in our household!!
It officially started at 6am when my son came in wanting to open his Advent Calendar for the day! WAY too early!! But after Breakfast at a more decent hour of the morning the kids got to open their first Advent calendar drawer

This year I have decided not to buy toys for the kids for Christmas. They will be getting different things than toys. They are both getting a kitten, Abbey will be getting a two wheeler bike and Riley a new scooter, that sort of thing. So when it came to the advent calendar I thought I'd do the toy thing that way.  So they got a collection of Squinkies, Littlest Pet Shop, Lego, My Little Pony, Star Wars etc toys! All in miniature!! They both LOVED their little toys and we went to the Warehouse in the afternoon to pick a little container to keep their advent calendar toys safe. They have the CUTEST little square lunch boxes that are just perfect for keeping little toys in!

 


After opening up the shop this morning we pulled out the 3 MASSIVE Christmas decoration boxes and started putting a few things around the shop. The kids loved putting the decorations on the little tree I got for the counter, and since we seem to have a surplus of Christmas stockings I thought they would look great on the counter too!

After lunch we started decorating the Living Room. No tree yet because we always buy a real tree from St John's Ambulance Station and they haven't got them yet. The kids did a pretty good job at putting stuff around the fireplace.

Also thought it was a nice opportunity to get a family pic, we haven't done one in a while. This was my favourite of several attempts!!

This year I remembered about the Santa light Jason bought back from America a few years ago and figured it was time to use him. I also put a couple of lit up Christmas Trees on the window sills as well. Our house is on a main road so I like the idea of having window displays.

So all in all a very successful first day of December! The sun was shining, I did some gardening and some shopping, hung out with my kids and my Mum. Had a great morning with some good sales in the shop while listening to Christmas music. Tonight I go to bed with a smile on my face.

Christmas Season!

Wow! I haven't blogged since October! Man so so bad!!

Today is the last day of November. Tomorrow is when traditionally our family starts getting into the Spirit of Christmas. It's when the decorations come out and the Christmas CDs are played!
Christmas has always been one of my favourite times of the year. This will be the 3rd Christmas without Jason and for the first time since his death I am actually feeling a little excited about Christmas. It is making me smile.

So this year I have decided to get on the train called Daily December.  A Daily December album is something you use to document the goings on in December, and ultimately the lead up to Christmas. You can find LOADS of examples of Daily December albums around. This is the first year I have done one and I am quite looking forward to it.
I have altered a Mini Smash Album into my Daily December

I thought since I was doing a Daily December album I should also do a Daily December blog! Well I will certainly try!

This year I got some really awesome Kaisercraft Christmas Tree Advent calendars into the shop. I have always loved the Kaisercraft Advent calendars, as soon as I saw the tree one I knew it was what I wanted to make.

I had a lot of fun (and a little bit of swearing) putting this together! But I am VERY happy with the end result. I especially love the bottle cap numbers I made. Here are a couple more pics ...

         

















A couple of other things that have got me into the Christmas spirit this year are a couple of swaps I have been involved in.
Firstly I signed up for a Christmas themed ATC swap. There are 12 of us involved so at the end I should get 12 beautifully decorated Christmas ATC cards. I can't show you mine yet because the swap isn't over yet! I don't want to spoil the surprise. I plan on putting my ATC cards in my December Daily!
Also four of my favourite friends and I decided we would do a hand made Christmas gift swap. We all made boards on Pinterest of things we would like made for us. And then we had to choose something to make from the other peoples boards. So in the end we will all get 4 handmade presents each. I have pretty much finished my presents for everyone and I am hoping to get them to their owners next week. I promise to share both what I made and received after Christmas!

So Happy start to the Silly Season!!!

Cleanliness Is Godliness

If this statement is true I belong down in the Sea of the Dead with Hades.

I have never confessed to being a great housekeeper, or even a Domestic Goddess. I may have confessed to wanting to be a Domestic Goddess.  Although since reading 50 Shades of Grey the word Goddess doesn't appeal any more ... "My inner Goddess sat back and purred ..." ... yeah not cool any more ...

Anyway I digress ....

So I opened the shop and everything has been great. I sit in the shop and craft and go get the kids and play and waste time on the Internet chatting with my friends and stalking catching up with old friends. And my house was neglected ... BADLY neglected. I mean seriously when it is freezing cold wouldn't you rather sit in front of the fire with a book or curl up in bed with a movie in the evening than do the housework?
Oh Heck Yes! And that is what I have done .... ALL winter.

My house has suffered. Poor thing. It is awful. Not just messy but creep me out gross. I am terribly ashamed to admit I can't remember the last time I cleaned the bathroom. I wouldn't be surprised if my kitchen got an F from the Food and Hygiene people.

I have never let my house get this bad ... ever!  It's hard when you have no one to be accountable to except for yourself.  The kids don't care. I can't be bothered. So I get away with it. I don't really have anyone visit the house any more, they come to the shop. So I have no reason to clean

Lately the weather has become nicer. I am feeling better within myself. And I am looking around going "this is NOT ok"

So I started to do something about it.

My Mum came and helped me sort out the library which was a dumping room. She helped me start to sort out the Craft Room which is turning into a spare bedroom. We put all the stuff I dumped in the Library (from the living room renovation) away properly.
Yesterday I finished a project that had been sitting around for a good few months.
Today I decided it was time to clean up inside.

I was planning on giving the place a good tidy up. Put things away where they belong, clear benches and tables and piles of stuff that have accumulated in corners.
I did not anticipate that once I started in the kitchen that I would go CRAZY and start doing a DEEP Spring type clean.
I have found the super large bottle of jiff and poured it EVERYWHERE. I have scrubbed and wiped and cleaned like a madwoman. I no longer have a Herb and Spice Shelf on the kitchen counter because 99% of my herbs and spices had best before dates of 2003. That is the cleaning I am talking about!

I have been going hard all morning and so far I have finished .......

My kitchen bench. That is it.

This post is not going to have before and after pics. I am WAY too embarrassed to show the before and I am too afraid that the neat freaks will think that my massive scrub clean is only an average one!!
The reason I am writing this post is because I know that the percentage of Domestic Goddess (*cringe*) is tiny compared to the Domestic Slobs. Like me. And I am hoping that not too many of you let things get as desperately scary as I have, we are not alone.

So over the next few days, weeks, months I am planning on making my house a lovely place to live and be in again.

And once I am finished and my house is sparkling do I think that I will keep it that way?

Highly Unlikely!

Let's talk about Stamps

This week at The Scrap Heap I have a Product focus on Stamps. So let's talk about stamps!

If you are a seasoned crafter you probably know all this anyway, but lets make this nice and simple for the newbies.

There are a few different kinds of stamps available. And MANY accessories that go with them! I'll start with the stamps and then touch on the accessories.

BLOCK MOUNTED STAMPS

Traditional wood -mount stamps are where you have a foam and rubber stamp adhered to a wooden block. Wood-mount stamps are fantastic if you like your images permanently mounted for quick stamping. I am going to be honest and tell you when I first started scrapbooking Stamping really scared me. I was always afraid of stamping in the wrong place and stuffing it up. Block mounted stamps, in my opinion, are not always the easiest to use. I have become much more confident with these stamps after a bit of practice though.
I have a few different Hero Arts block mounted stamps for sale in store
Check out the Facebook page HERE to see.

CLEAR STAMPS
Clear stamps are very easy to use and my personal favourites!

Clear stamps are usually acrylic. They are clear so you can see right through them. The stamps are slightly tacky allowing them to be adhered to a stamping block for use. The bonus of clear stamps is that you can see exactly where and what you are stamping, there is a lot less margin for error, and this is especially good when you are stamping with alphabet stamps.
I have a large range of clear stamps in store (see HERE) The brands I stock are Kaisercraft, My Minds Eye, Inkadinkado, My Favourite Things and more.

I also have a range of mounting blocks in store.

CLING STAMPS

Cling stamps are very much like clear stamps apart from the fact that they aren't clear and they are usually rubber, so they are a cross between the block mounted rubber stamps and the clear ones. Does that make sense?!? hehe Clings, like the clears, are unmounted and need mounting blocks.
In store I have Hero Arts and Penny Black Cling Stamps.

Soo what can you do with stamps?
I think the easier question is what CAN'T you do with stamps! I have seen them used on so many different mediums it is difficult to name them all. Ranging from paper to cookie dough the possibilities are endless!

I will give you a few of my favourite examples of how I use Stamps.

Stamp an image onto cardstock, cut around image, using foam tape attach to page as an embellishment.

Stamp your image directly onto your layout

This Butterfly was stamped with black Stazon Ink onto acetate then coloured with pens . I then cut it out and heated the wings with a heat gun until they curled a bit.

I Stamped the background of this layout.

ACCESSORIES

There are many stamp accessories. 

INK

There are so many different kinds of ink that it is impossible to tell you about ALL of them!! I have Versacolor, Tim Holtz Distress Ink and Stazon in store at the moment. All of them have different uses with stamps and I might go into those in more detail at a later time. I also have blending tools which go with the Distress Inks.

PENS

Lots of stampers colour their stamped images. The pens I have in store which are perfect for this job are called Spectrum Noir pens. They come in an amazing range of beautiful colours. The pens are also great for other scrapbooking related pen work! They come with a thin and fat nib (one on each end) and you can also buy replacement nibs.

EMBOSSING POWDERS

Embossing powder is a fast melting powder that can be applied on top of the stamped image to create a raised image. The powder works by applying heat. Embossing powder can be used to add color and texture to your image. You can buy heat guns, but I have heard of people using a toaster to emboss!! I have a few embossing powders in store.

CARING FOR YOUR STAMPS

It is important to take care of your stamps. One of the most important things in my opinion is to keep your stamps clean. Most inks are really easy to clean off your stamps. Soap and water works well. My favourite thing to use are baby wipes. You can also buy specialised stamp cleaning products. I only use these for my Stazon Inks as they are fairly expensive and there are other much cheaper methods to clean your regular inks. Stazon is a solvent ink designed to stick on surfaces regular inks don't, so soap and water doesn't wash it off!

There is sooo much more to stamps than I have said here. This has really only just scratched the surface of the world of stamping!!!

Next week I will be holding a Stamping class where I will be showing you how to make a Stamped background LO and a stamped card

Check in on my Facebook page or the Website for more details soon.

Feel free to ask any questions or pop in store for a play with the shop supplies!!

And If you have any awesome stamping projects you have made I would LOVE to see them! Come share them with us on Facebook!!

Scrapbooking ... Art? Storytelling? Preservation?

For some reason today I have been thinking about why I scrapbook. What is the purpose for me?


I think back in the day when Scrapbooking hit the popular "thing to do" section of the crafting world it was all about preserving your precious photographs for generations to come. That was back in the good ol' days when we had cameras with negatives and there was no such thing as printing photos at home.

Now days, in the world of digital photography,  it seems to have become much more a form of art. Where pages have become amazingly detailed with an amazing amount of product and embellishments attached. With very little if any focus on the photograph or story behind it.

I came to the conclusion that scrapbooking has become for me, all about storytelling. It has never been about preserving my photos for my Great great great great Grandchildren.  It is something that me and my children can look back on and remember the good times we had as a family. Journaling on my pages is very important for me. It says the things the photos don't say. How we were feeling, what the weather was like, any background story. I have always been a diary/journal writer for as long as I can remember, so for me that part is very important.  And of course it is a form of art. Because of course we want the page to look pretty!! (Or cool, depending on gender hehehe) And there is a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment in creating things. Call it therapy, or time out. I use my scrapbooking time as a time to reflect too.

Of course Scrapbooking is a personal thing, so I am going to appoligise in advance if I upset or offend anyone with this post. That is definitely NOT my intention. I am expressing MY opinion on MY thoughts. You are welcome to comment with your thoughts too.

Now for me Scrapbooking focuses on the photos. But have we gone too far into Art with our scrapbooking and are we beginning to lose the focus?  I see scrapbook pages where you have to search for the photo. I see pages where the photo is covered up with so much product you can hardly see it. And I see page after page with no journaling at all.

I am beginning to think, should these people be calling themselves scrapbookers any more? Should they instead be calling themselves artists?

Don't get me wrong the pages I see are stunningly beautiful (most of the time!) but is it really scrapbooking any more, or is it just beautiful artworks? Or has the focus of scrapbooking changed so dramatically that so long as it has a photograph on it you can call it scrapping?

I'm certainly not saying this is a bad thing. But lately, especially since opening my shop, I have been thinking about what is popular in the world of scrapping. Do I need to stock this if it is popular even if I don't like it? Can I sell a product I wouldn't use myself, or can't stand the sight of?  When I do classes can I make things that are the 'in' thing to do but isn't my style? So many things to consider and wonder about.

So what are your thoughts? What is the reason YOU scrapbook? What does it mean to YOU?
I would love to hear what you think.

Reflection

I don't know if it is ironic or coincidence. Or even nothing at all.

But reading my last post after the week I've just had it feels like it should be one of those things up there.

Last Friday night my 87year old Grandma passed away.

It was very sudden and fairly unexpected. I had talked to her that very same morning.

She wasn't ill. She was still doing all the things she normally did. It happened pretty much the way she would have wanted. Quickly.

Abbey & Her Great Grandma February 2012

My Grandma had 7 children. 6 girls and 1 boy. 13 Grandchildren and 16 Great Grandchildren. I feel blessed that my children had a chance to know her.

She lived a very full life. Apparently there were only two things that she hadn't crossed off her bucket list.

At 87 she was still living in her own home. She was still driving. She was still very involved in various community groups and organisations. 

I am very sad to have lost her from my life. I will miss her very much.

Four Generations of Girls

Mum, Me, Grandma and Abbey

February 2012

Grief

Before losing Jason I have never really experienced death.

My Grandad died when I was 12years old. He was only 69. But the thing with Grandparents is that they are supposed to die. It's the natural order of things.

ALL death is sad and hard to go through. When people get old they are supposed to die. It is sad of course for those that are left behind because we miss those people. And those people will always leave a hole in our lives but death at the end of a long life is normal. It is the natural order of things. It's what is to be expected.

Jason, however, was totally unexpected. It was if he was ripped out of our lives. One morning he was there, that same afternoon he was not.

I miss him terribly. I wish he was here every second of every day. I grieve for him.

Lately I have been constantly organising the shop and keeping VERY busy. But now that part is over I have time to sit and think. The distraction is gone and I am not sure if I thought there would be a difference but now I am sitting here alone, wishing my husband was here. Nothing has changed. I am still a grieving widow.

I grieve that he isn't here with me. But more than anything I grieve for what SHOULD have been. I have lost the future I was planning. I wont get to grow old with Jason. My children won't get to grow up with the love, support and guidance from their Dad. Abbey wont get to have her Dad walk her down the aisle at her wedding. Riley won't get to have his Dad guide him through the trials of puberty.

I miss Jason terribly and yes I grieve his death, but more than anything I grieve the life that should have been with him. I grieve all that he is missing out, all that the kids are missing out and all that I am missing out. Life is all about finding that someone you love and living the rest of your lives together.

EVERYTHING is aimed in that direction. movies, tv, books. I found my love, I married him, I had two beautiful children with him and before we even had a chance to even really start a life together he was taken away. I grieve for that.

I try so very hard to be positive and embrace the good things that surround me. But some days I can't help but grieve for what I have lost and for what should have been.

Grand Opening!!

Wow! What an exciting weekend!!! 

I am EXHAUSTED! But it was a fantastic weekend. I had so many people come through the new shop. I had so much positive feedback I was blown away!

I am soooo pleased that the weekend went so well and now here's hoping things look up from here!!

Just thought I'd share a few pics

I can't believe the transformation!!!

So if you are local come on in and visit me at the shop!!!

Long Overdue Post

Where did July go? 

I can't believe it is August and I also can't believe that in one week I will be opening the doors of The Scrap Heap store!

Who knew waaayyyy back in 2008 when I started this blog, that I would be making a real Scrap Heap. One that you can go inside of LOL

I have been sooo busy. Building, sanding, painting, carpeting ... soo many things I never ever thought I would do. And with only a week to go before I open the door to the public I am somewhat in panic mode!! I still have building and painting to do. I still have organising and sorting to do! And then there is unpacking ALL the wonderful goodies I have to sell!

I have had a few pull my hair out frustrations happen this last week to do with lovely goodies. Firstly an order was placed wrong and instead of getting 3 of everything, like I ordered, I only got one. So I have re-ordered but because it's coming from the USA  I am really not sure that they will arrive by the weekend! Frustrating!! My big stamp order has pretty much been back ordered except for one stamp! Thankfully the company has assured me that my order should be here this week, fingers crossed. Plus another BIG order which has all my inks plus a heap of other stuff has been held back because of an issue at the bank. Four times I have put the money through three times it has bounced back into my account. I have spent quite a bit of time on the phone to the bank and no one can find a reason why this is happening. Problem is my order won't be sent until it has been paid, and well it seems the bank isn't letting me pay it!! aaarrrrggghhh!!! Fingers crossed this 4th time finally works and my order gets here in time! But yes the frustrations of opening a shop!!

But even if that stuff doesn't arrive on time I still have loads of wonderful products which I am DYING to unpack onto all my shelves!! That is the part of setting up that I am looking forward to the most!

So one more week to go!! I will do a big post after the opening with lots of photos and stuff but I figured I better check in just to let you know I am still here!

Don't forget to go check out my website and sign up for my newsletter!! And also go like my Facebook page!!

Wish me luck and I look forward to sharing my Grand Opening soon!!