Long Weekend Away!

Today I have 2 more pages from June in my "SMASH*ing 2014" Journal (using the Tasty SMASH* folio). The photos were taken on a long weekend away with my family. My girls had so much fun spending time with their cousins, Aunties, Uncles and Grandparents - so did I :)

I've mainly used the Freckled Fawn OHDEERME July kit - it is such good value. The resin heart cameras are adorable and the icecream stamp is a favourite on many of my pages. I've also used: Freckled Fawn arrow and emoticon wood veneers; and a selection of roller stamps (Pebbles, October Afternoon, Studio Calico, Dear Lizzy and Amy Tangerine).

Thanks for stopping by

Crafty Hugs xx

Our Farm!

Today I have 2 pages from June in my "SMASH*ing 2014" Journal (using the Tasty SMASH* folio). I made the calendar using MS Word - I like to record our daily activities this way. The photos were taken on a walk around our farm. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful spot - Jessica loves to explore the old tree trunks and pretend she is a princess in her own castle!

I've mainly used the Freckled Fawn OHDEERME July kit (I love this kit!!), I'm getting lots of mileage from the stamps in this kit :)  I've also used Freckled Fawn cloud and emoticon wood veneers; Kellie Stamps Hello Arrows and Shapes stamp sets; and a selection of roller stamps (Pebbles, October Afternoon, Studio Calico, Dear Lizzy and Amy Tangerine).

Thanks for stopping by

Crafty Hugs xx

Be The Best Version Of You!

A few weeks ago I showed a technique called Painting with Plastic as part of the D-Lish Scraps 5th Birthday Bonanza and Cybercrop weekend. Well, since then I have experimented more with this technique and just love to use it on most of my pages. I love the natural random watercolour look it gives - I cant seem to achieve this with a brush. 

On this page I've used a range of blue and teal Dylusions colours again (my favourite at the moment) with pops of green and lime. I love it - definitely my signature style. 

This would have to be one of my favourite layouts. I love the colours, the white space, the embellishments, all the stamping and of course the gorgeous photos of Rachael <3

The papers I have used are from the Studio Calico Printshop collection - fun cool and quirky patterns perfect for this layout!

I've used lots of amazing and fun embellishments from D-lish Scraps: Wow word bubble wood veneer, white blue and green bitty blooms, Pinkfresh Studio geotags and Navajo arrows Colourblock Wood Veneers, and teal and green pinwheel blooms, white Sweetheart Blooms, white and teal Sweet Petites and a blue Forget Me Not.

I've also used a heap of stamps from Kellie Stamps: including the Shapes stamp set and others . I added the date using a Pebbles roller date stamp. 

I've used a KaiserCraft stamp for my title - I love these stamps!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by

Crafty Hugs xx

Hello Sunshine!

Today I have 2 more pages from May in my "SMASH*ing 2014" Journal (using the Tasty SMASH* folio). The first page is actually from my birthday - a cup of tea in bed with my girls! 3 peas in a pod we are!! The photo on the second page was taken at one of our local wildlife parks - patting a wallaby, how fun!!

I've mainly used the Freckled Fawn OHDEERME July kit. I really love the large wooden embellishments in the kit - I have used one as a title on these pages. There is also a fun stamp set which I've used on both pages. 2 of the stamps are great for journalling spots. I'm surprised how much I like the velum alpha stickers. They are not something that I would normally buy but they are so easy to use and there are so many of them that I've been able to use some on each page and there are still plenty left over - I will definitely be getting more of these. I've also been using the washi tape from the kit. It is quite wide tape so I've been tearing it down the middle and then attaching this to my page.

As well as the July OHDEERME kit I've used : Freckled Fawn bird, music notes and arrows wood veneers; a tag and twine from my stash; and a selection of roller stamps (Pebbles, October Afternoon, Studio Calico, Dear Lizzy and Amy Tangerine).

Thanks for stopping by

Crafty Hugs xx

Currently Me - Weeks 26-27!

Here are more pages in my "Currently Me 2014" journal - June/July. The first photo is of John, Jessica and myself on a family bowling day - a fun activity for winter. The other photo is of Rachael and I on a shopping trip to Harbortown. Rachael loves shopping and can search through all the racks for bargains - I'm not quite so patient but we had a fabulous day (and got very sore feet!). 

Products I've used include: Kellie Stamps stamp sets; Stampin' Up! Epic Day This and That Journal, washi tape, designer series paper, and stickers; Freckled Fawn wood veneer; Studio Calico word wood veneer and cork arrows; Currently card (free digi download) from Kristin at Rukristin; Pebbles roller date stamp; paperclip and flair from my stash..

Thanks for stopping by
Crafty Hugs xx

On This Day!

Last month I decided to treat myself and subscribe to the Freckled Fawn OHDEERME kit. I've never subscribed to and kits before so this was a huge treat. I love everything Freckled Fawn and these embellishments are perfect for SMASH*booking. I love the variety in the kits and most of the embellishments are relatively flat so dont add much bulk in the SMASH* journals.

I tried to solely use this July OHDEERME kit for the months of May, June and July in my SMASH*ing 2014 Journal. It was a great way to use everything in the kit and really get my moneys worth :) I can be a bit of a hoarder and keep things because they are too pretty to use. I finished 16 pages in my Journal!! I will show you these pages over the coming weeks.

Today's pages are from May in my "SMASH*ing 2014" Journal (using the Tasty SMASH* folio). It was Mothers Day and we had a camp fire and did some camp cooking - awesome!!

As well as the July OHDEERME kit I've used : Kellie Stamps Shapes stamp set; Studio Calico heart wood veneers; and a selection of roller stamps (Pebbles, October Afternoon, Studio Calico, Dear Lizzy and Amy Tangerine).

Thanks for stopping by

Crafty Hugs xx

Banana Choc Chip Muffins!

One of my favourite baking recipes is Banana choc-chip muffins. All my family love to eat them and they are very easy to make. I love one bowl recipes that just need a wooden spoon to mix - I'm not really into the loud heavy duty kitchen appliances. I've been making this recipe for many years. I think I initially found it in a magazine but then I simplified it and changed it to make it my own.

I really love banana and walnut muffins but my girls cant take anything with nuts in to school. So I started replacing the walnuts with choc-chips. You can really add whatever you like. Sometimes I use more chocolate chips, or less, or dark chocolate, or milk chocolate. In this recipe I used dark chocolate bits in the mixture and caramel chocolate bits on top - that was what I had in my pantry :)

Another handy hint for you is that when your bananas become over-ripe in the fruit bowl you can either use them straight away in your cooking or usually what I do is I put them in a plastic bag (with the skin on) and put them in the freezer until I need them.

Anyways, enough waffling from me - here is my recipe

Bananna Choc-chip muffins

2 cups SR flour

1 cup plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 cup raw sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 ½ cups milk

¾ cup oil

2 medium over-ripe bananas, peeled and roughly mashed

100 g milk choc bits + 50g milk choc bits for topping

Place flour, bicarbonate of soda and sugar in a large mixing bowl and stir together with a wooden spoon.

Add eggs, milk, oil, banana and chocolate chips and stir through with wooden spoon. Do not over-mix. It should be lumpy.

Add a dash more milk if it seems to dry (this sometimes depends on the size of the eggs and bananas used).

Line a muffin tray with large muffin patty pans. This recipe makes 18 large muffins. 

I like to use an icecream scoop to fill the pans - quick, easy and gives even sized portions.

Top each muffin with 3-5 little choc chips.

Bake in 200degC oven for 20 mins or until golden brown and firm.

Note: I like to use raw sugar but you could use white sugar or brown sugar if that is what you have or prefer.

Happy Baking!

hugs xx

Currently Me - Weeks 24-25!

Here are 2 more pages in my "Currently Me 2014" journal - from June. The first photo is of Jessica and I admiring one of the amazing views on our farm. We went for a walk and made a cubby in an old tree trunks and found lots of pretty stones. The other photo is of my first arm knitting project - I loved doing this and have made another 6 since then!! 

Products I've used include: Kellie Stamps Shapes, and other stamp sets; Stampin' Up! Epic Day This and That Journal, washi tape, designer series paper, and stickers; Studio Calico stars, animals, house and trees wood veneer; Currently card (free digi download) from Kristin at Rukristin; Pebbles roller date stamp.

Thanks for stopping by
Crafty Hugs xx

All The Pretty Little Things!

Today I have a bright and colourful scrapbook page to share with you all. It has photos of my daughter Jessica painting her toe-nails all by herself for the first time. She had a set of neon glow-in-the-dark nail polishes and painted each toe-nail a different colour - she was so proud of herself!  I've seen a number of "rainbow" pages being done and thought I'd put my own spin on it. 

I've had these American Crafts papers for a while - I loved them as soon as I saw them (I saw some pages Charm made using a Scrapbooking from Scratch kit that contained these papers - I had to buy the kit of course!).

I havent used any paints on this page (shock horror :) - the paper speaks for itself!

I've layered a heap of the coordinating papers behind my photos and I've used a KaiserCraft stamp as my title - I saw some of these stamps in my LSS recently and thought they would be perfect for titles and in my art journal!

My embellishments (all from D-lish Scraps of course!) are arranged in rainbow clusters - cute I think. The flowers used are violet Old Fashioned Roses, yellow Rambling Roses and red daisies. I've also added green and yellow polkadot buttons, a red Polka Dot Heart Button, blue and purple cabachon Resin Flowers, yellow wooden daisy, life in colour flair, and Pinkfresh triangles, hearts and arrows Colourblock Wood Veneers. Across the page I've placed sequins. I dot glue next to them, then I use a Clever Sequin Pick-up Pencil to place the sequins on the glue - easy. 

I've hidden some journalling on a shipping tag in a white bag. Finally I've added some Kellie Stamps stamps on my photos and used a Pebbles roller date stamp.

Thanks for stopping by
Crafty Hugs xx