Finally Done!

Remember these photos from a recent post on post camp blues?  Well this is what started my desire to have a huge clean up and shift around at the same time as I put the new tables in.  So the first two photos are the before photos.

Then the during photo.  I started moving furniture and also started washing the floor with a blue paint wash to help hide the 'already covered in blotches of different colour' look, as well as remove the bare concrete look.   Didn't end up looking as good as I had hoped (or as good as the initial test patch 2-3 years ago), but it's growing on me and soon I wont even really see it anymore.

Then, out with the old high tables and in with the new (to me), lower tables.  These are a much better height for scrapbooking, certainly better for my kids' classes in particular and also provide a more designated and perhaps larger scrapping area per person.

On the front of the tables, the cards I did at Tania's class at last ScrapCamp.  What a fun filled class that was!

 And from a couple of different angles, the rest of the studio.

I'm really liking it!

All I have left to do is put a few more things back into the studio (still in the rumpus) and then clear my own desk/scrapping space - ah well, baby steps eh?

Wedges? For dinner?

My family looked at me sideways a little recently when I told them we were having wedges for dinner.  "Wedges and....?" they asked.  "No, just wedges" I replied.  Again the sideways look.  "Trust me, they will be yum" I said.

So, wedges in the oven, chopped bacon in the pan, home made salsa in the chop, chop.  The final result (with a dollop of sour cream) was well received and they want to know when we can have 'just wedges' again.

Easy, yummy dinner!

Good old Edmonds

At Taryn's school camp, we had yummy shortbread with lunch one day and it gave me a lingering desire to have some more, so when I came home, I searched out a good/easy recipe.  The best I came up with was from the Edmonds cookbook.  A little on the pale side (cause I think my oven's top element is playing up), but non-the-less super yummy.

Then there was the Afghans for Mike - one of his favourite biscuits - also from the Edmonds cookbook.  Good old Edmonds, sometimes you just can't go past the classics!

Post Camp Blues

I hate the last day of ScrapCamp.  It's such a downer after spending 4 fun filled days with such awesome ladies, then having to pack up, clean and bring everything home again.  When I get home, everything just gets plonked into the studio and I am always too tired to sort it out same day.  I go to bed, get some sleep, then come back downstairs to this!

It always give me the post camp blues.  How on earth do I end up taking so much stuff?  I try to cut it down each time, but usually what I leave behind is the one thing I or someone else needs.  So, in the end, I take almost everything I or someone else 'might' need.  

I watched the other ladies get more and more organised as time goes by, but I just haven't managed that even for my own scrapbooking yet.  Maybe next camp?

Anyway, aft this last camp, I thought it was time I sorted the studio and brought in the new (to me) tables and got rid of those high ones.  Then I figured, hey, while doing that, why not rearrange some of the furniture as I'd planned to do and get some colour on the floor, so that is what I did.  Here's some pictures of start of the process.  I haven't quite finished, but will take some 'end result' photos soon.

One third of the way through the floor colouring.

Poor rumpus hasn't been the same since.  Loaded up with the old and new tables, along with loads of stuff from the studio.

It's slowly looking better - not so much of a jungle any more, but still a long way to go.

Hi Jayden

Vienna pops by to say Hi to Jayden during breakfast at Camp.  I love the smiles on both their faces, like they are really enjoying the moment.

Super Cute

Photos of Vienna at camp that is.

First - being chased by Taryn.  Her squeals of delight were just totally infectious!

Then cuddles with Poppy, one of the children from kids camp

Nice and clean after her shower

And so totally gorgeous!

And then this - totally cheesy grin when I asked her to smile for the camera.  I laugh every time I see it.

Vienna, you are so...Super Cute!

Bargain finding Mum

Really not sure how my Mum does it, but she always finds good bargains.  I had been wanting one of these for many months, but most of the ones I had seen either didn't break down for storage, or were between $40-$50, an amount I could never justify given our financial status the past few months.

Anyway, the other day mum arrived with a gift (a regular occurrence for my mum) and when I saw what it was I was delighted but told her she shouldn't have been spending her money on items like that, to which she replied "I got in on sale"  - of course she did, she always does.  And for how much you might ask - $10!

Next time I want something but don't want to pay full price - I think I'll take my Mum shopping with me.lol!

Thanks so much mum - love it, love it, love it!

Lawnmower Mechanic?

About every 2 years when Mike buys a new lawnmower, he keeps the old one for a while for any serviceable parts (as he buys the same brand and model each time).  Once it's been stripped as much as it can, he dumps it.  This time Jayden asked if he could strip it down further.  He worked on it for weeks and weeks and despite his ADHD, was very, very focused on the task at hand for most of the time.  Unfortunately he did turn it over at one stage and so we now have a huge oil blotch on the back cobblestones, but it was worth it and I'm sure we can clean them off.  

He thoroughly enjoyed undoing all the nuts and bolts and having a good old look around inside.  Future lawnmower mechanic?  Could be very handy for Mike!

Leadlight Remover

When I commenced cleaning out the studio, I also managed to get to 1 set of the side windows, that (other than when I am doing a major clean out) never get any attention.  The curtains are always closed on that side of the studio as the windows have always been behind the shelving units.  Anyway, when we took a look behind there, a whole lot of the fake lead-light pieces had started to flake off and seeing this, Jayden was in like flynn to continue stripping off as much as he could.  Hopefully if he keeps this up, we'll soon be rid of the awful stuff!

It's the little things that count..

Like having great friends who know you well and think of you when they see things that are right up your alley.  Gypsy popped in the other day and having seen this little cutie when out at the WH, just bought it for me!  Thanks Gypsy.  I'm sure I'll get good use out of this at ScrapCamp.

It's not always the bought items though, (although I really do appreciate this little fellow), sometimes the little gestures or just the helping hand with absolutely no strings attached or the need to repay in kind can make a world of difference.  I've been thinking about that a lot lately and how fortunate I have been to be on the receiving end so many times and how slack I have been lately (with my friends and family) at being on the other end.

I've been busy, super, super busy and yes I have given lots to the community via the camp, school, Plunket etc, so it's not entirely all coming in, but that's still no excuse.  So I promise to try a bit harder, make a bit more time for my friends and family and get back into doing the little things that count!

Breakfast In Bed

For Father's Day, Mike got a lovely surprise of breakfast in bed, made totally by the kids.  They did such a good job, I was really proud of them.

He was also very surprised to receive a new Stephen King book, as he didn't even know a new one had come out (cause I had been hiding the double day brochures from him after I bought it).  He's a huge SK fan and now has all but one his books (Christine - which he used to have, but can no longer find, possibly lent out and not returned)

Happy Father's Day!

Homemade liquid laundry detergent - low sudsing

A while back, I made some homemade powdered laundry detergent.  It was good and worked well, but when my food processor died, I went back to regular washing powder.  I've since bought a new food processor, but never went back to making my own until recently, when I found a couple of recipes for different liquid laundry detergents.  I took what I liked from each (based on what I knew each item did) and came up with a mixed recipe of my own.  I made up a batch and tried it out and it works really well and is super cheap per batch.  Here's a picture of it in the dispensing cup.

Doesn't look too exciting, but guess there isn't really anything exciting about laundry detergent anyway!

So, here's the recipe I used (although there are certainly more and different ones on the web).

1/2 cup Borax (about 100gms)

1/2 cup soap flakes or grated soap (I used 70 gms lux flakes)

1/2 cup baking soda (150gms)

1/2 cup washing soda crystals (100gms)

Into a large saucepan, place 1 ltr of warm water and then sprinkle over the soap flakes.  heat gently until all the soap has dissolved (do not boil).  Add borax and washing soda crystals and stir till dissolved.  finally add the Baking Soda and stir through.  Pour into a large bucket (10ltr size).  Add 2 ltrs of hot water and stir through till combined, then add another 5 ltrs of warm water and mix.  Allow to cool slightly, then pour off into cleaned out old milk bottles (I used 3 x 3ltr ones) or other similar container.  Or if your bucket has a lid, you could just pop the lid on and scoop it out from there as you need it.

Once you have filled the bottles, add 10-15 drops of your favourite essential oils and shake them through.  Lemon is really nice and so are Eucalyptus, lavender and patchouli (a couple of drops of each) or any other combination you like.  Remember it will smell stronger in the bottle than it will on your clothes, as they will only get a tiny bit each wash.  

Leave to set overnight and it will set a little gluggy, usually with a little separation.  I shake my bottles before each use, so it all mixes through again.  If you use the bucket to store it, just ensure you get a little of the gel looking substance and well as the watery stuff.

1/2 cup per load and I use this in my front loader, as it is very low sudsing.  And cost?  $2.80 for just on the 9 ltrs.  That's 72 washes for $2.80, or not quite 4 cents per load!

My initial purchase obviously cost me a bit more - 1kg borax, 700gm box lux flakes, 300gm box of baking soda and 1kg box washing crystals - total cost $18.50, however, there is still enough borax, lux flakes and washing soda crystals to make another 9 batches, with the simple addition of another couple boxes of baking soda and that is dirt cheap!  That amounts to nearly 2 loads every day for the year at a grand total of $29.75 in products! Real cheap and also much better for the environment than some of the commercial ones out there.

1/2 Way there...

...and clean enough to hold the kids class today.  Hopefully by the end of tonight I will have the last bits of mess moved and again have 3 clear tables and a very tidy studio.  Then I'll get onto planning where I want to move things to in preparation of painting the floor and moving the furniture around.  Yay!

Who's great idea was this again?????

During the weekend workshop, Wendy said we should set aside a day when we can send the rest of my family out and take all the studio stuff (except the heavy shelving) out into the rumpus, then paint wash the floors in the studio (Massive job, but one I've been wanting to do for ages).  Glenna and I also then talked later that night (or rather early the next morning) about de-cluttering the studio a bit more and having a clean out and re-arrange.  I felt so motivated afterwards, that on Sunday I decided to start with the end two shelves.  Problem was, once I started, I didn't want to stop.  Now I am half way through, with a kids class after school tomorrow and this is what my studio currently looks like, Yikes!

Now I guess it could be fair comment if some of you say - hey it looks like that quite often, but in reality, it is a lot worse than I ever remember it (except for that one crazy Friday night when I said to Gypsy that I'd quite like to switch the studio around and she said OK, let's do it and we were going till well after 3am the next day - it sure did look pretty bad right in the middle of that clean and switch around).  Also, before the weekend workshop, I actually had all the customer tables clear and cleaned.  One does however have to pull everything off the shelves to clear them out properly and give them a clean down, so it was inevitable that the tables would end up full of stuff.  It's bloody hard work - (Gypsy I'm appreciating your efforts all over again), but I know the end result will be worth it.  Once it's done, I can also start thinking about getting those floors done and then getting the new (to me) tables here and selling off these high ones.

I'm sure I'll thank the motivators later on when it's all finished and looking good, but right now I'm tired and sore, full of dirt and dust and have loads to go before tomorrow's class, so back to it!  Will post some photos once completed.

Vienna at the show

Whilst at the Ceramic and Craft show, we had one very well behaved little girl to keep us company.  She had loads of fun exploring under the tables and in the boxes and bags.

Emptying out my wallet (I did give it to her, so it was all cool - only wished I had caught a photo of her trying to get another wallet out of a handbag from the next stall along!!!)

Then she decided it was time for a little walk.

Then a bit of time for some nice cuddles with Carrie and with Mum.

Then chill out in one of Carrie's display boxes!

Play peek-a-boo under the table.

Laugh out loud (I'm not sure what the joke was here?)

And finally show off her new trick.  Standing and balancing all by her self.  Wendy said she had done this before for about 10 seconds, but on Sunday, she stood there for what must have been nearly half a minute?  She even managed to keep her balance whilst turning her head and looking up.  Wont be long now!!!

Thanks for making the day so much more fun Vienna and thanks to Glenna for taking all the pictures on the day.  Whilst I remembered the camera, was just too tired to remember to take the photos too, but Glenna spotted the camera and away she went - yay!

Ceramic & Craft Show

On Sunday 22, we went to the Ceramic and craft show in Takapuna.  I had a scrapbooking stand and Wendy and Glenna shared a stand for their goodies.  It went OK.  Not a lot of people through the door, but it seems harder and harder to drive people to these shows ans then once there, even harder to get them to spend money. I guess however that is the reality of things with the way most people's finances are these days.

As for the ceramics part of the show, I entered 3 pieces from the studio.  1 of my own and 2 of my junior students.  Both kids got a first, with Brooke's sun getting a 1st overall for her age group as well.  My piece got a 2nd place (I guess at some stage the student will surpass the teacher.... isn't that how the saying goes?).

Anyway, here are the pictures of the piece.  My black and blue glass bowl, Kyle's gorgeous copper bowl and Brooke's sun plaque (photos do not do these pieces justice).

Well done to all who participated in the show and received an award.

Japanese Homestay

Taryn's school had visitors from Japan and so we took on 2 home stay at short notice, but just for 4 nights.  Yuzuki and Nao arrived Wednesday evening and settled in well.  They brought heaps of gifts for us, including lollies for Taryn and Jayden - some of which were pretty interesting, like the grape flavoured candy floss with popping candy in the middle - Yum!

They also brought some paper balls (that we'd seen from previous Japanese Home stays) and played with them in the lounge and the rumpus.  They tried out the trampoline, the Foosball table and even had a go at darts (lets just say to that one that standing well back was a very good idea).  I also let them paint a mug and a tile each to take home to Japan and they seemed to enjoy that.

They were both super helpful and enjoyed helping with the cooking and were polite and well mannered too. Overall another good home stay experience.