This little piggy went to market…

Well Saturday was D-day for me and boy did it come around fast. The lounge was a complete bombsite covered in scraps of paper rubbish and the back of double-sided tape from my midnight runs of creating in the days leading up to the market. I’m still clearing away the debris!

The market went well, it was quieter than I expected but a great result was had nonetheless. Isabella was a gem and the kids absolutely loved making her little penguin card (for free and she even gave out candy canes!). She made a little friend in Paris whose mum was also selling at the market and the two of them hung out for most of the morning.

I was nervous to start not really knowing what to expect and what would sell but the response was somewhat overwhelming. People loved the boxes of fudge and Hershey’s kisses and many were bought as gifts for their children ‘s Teachers. A lot of people commented on the quality of the finish of my cards and boxes and one lady said I should be selling them in Florists or Gift Stores so that was lovely to hear.

Funnily enough I sold more of the most expensive and detailed cards I had made then the simple less expensive ones. The cards with the Ice- Skaters were popular, many people were sending them overseas to countries who celebrate Christmas in winter.

Isabella sold quite a few packets of reindeer food and Santa Cards. The red being the most popular. I will remember that for next time!

There is a good write up and some photos of the day on the Crafternoon Tea blog and I’ve popped a couple of photo’s below.

Here’s a great one of me with my eyes shut but you can see more of what’s on the table in this photo.

Don’t you love Isabella’s sign? It says : Hey Kids! Come make a card with Isabella!

I’ve decided to do the Christmas Market on the 12th December 10am -3pm at Mt Eden Normal Primary School so after a few days off I’ll get stuck into preparing for that one!

Mmmwhhaa!

Kate xx

Christmas goodies

I’ve been busy making some things for the upcoming Crafternoon Tea market. The girls have loved helping with the reindeer food. Great fun!

I’m still unsure as to how much stuff I should make and what to charge for things. This is all new to me =)

Choccy Santa cards. Cute huh!

Reindeer food. We did some with Green bag toppers too.

Gable boxes. Just add fudge or chocs for the teacher?

Rudolf Card. Taught this to a great group of girls Tuesday night, heaps of fun!

mini flip lid boxes just the right size for a few Whittakers choc squares.

Right better keep going, have covered notepads, and candy cane cards to create!

xx Kate

 

Yikes!

Who knows what I have got myself into but a few weeks ago my good friend Jess from Bam Bam Creative convinced me to apply for a spot at a popular new craft market. She loves my cards and thinks others will too (here’s hoping they are willing to part with their $$$ for them!)

So I did…and I just found out I got in and have been featured up first on the Crafternoon Tea blog!

Now I have to come up with lots of stuff to sell in two weeks time! Wish me luck?

Crafternoon Tea is at the Trinity Methodist Church Hall next to Atomic Coffee Roasters (where my Dave works) in Kingsland from 10am till 2 pm Saturday November 21st.

xx Kate

p.s I had a wonderful time at the Stampin’ Up Christmas Extravaganza this afternoon with my buddy Bron, I’ll be back tomorrow for a share of all the bits and bobs I’ve been making lately. I’ve been very busily crafting away in the background.

A little teaser

of what we’ll be making at the card afternoon (see details in the previous post). Please email me to register. It’s gonna be great!! xx Kate

Stamp with Me! Christmas Card Afternoon.

Hi Girls,

It’s that time of year again! Time to get your cards organised for Christmas and have a great time doing it.

What: Christmas Card Making Afternoon

Where: Highbury Community house, Hinemoa Street, Birkenhead.
We’ll be in the large room on the left as you come in the door.

When: Sunday 22nd November from 2-5 pm

What’s the plan?: My great friend Bron (from Stampin’ Up!) and I will be teaching a couple of projects this time. Mine is a layered card and matching Envelope and Bron’s is a Triangle treat box (perfect for chocolates or mints for a teacher) and a matching Gift Card.

You will also be provided with enough card, envelopes, paper and ribbon to make an additional 4 + cards with access to a wealth of stamps, inks and tools to create whatever your heart desires!

How much?: $25 for 2 classes, all materials and Afternoon Tea. A $10 non refundable deposit to be paid beforehand (payment details provided when booking in).

Please bring: Your own adhesives, a trimmer or cutting mat, knife and ruler plus a bone folder or other scoring tool.

We are limited to 20 places only so please R.S.V.P as soon as possible to reserve your spot.

email me katetobeck (at) gmail.com

Bella Rose cards

I’m really loving this right now! I got all my supplies for these cards and the ones in the last post from Bron Heslop. You can find her blog here, she’s just new to Stampin’ Up! and starting out so I’m sure she’d love to hear from you!!

This is a stair step fold card – so easy but very effective!

Yum, love those colours together!

xx Kate

Head start on Christmas

First of all, thanks so much to everyone who commented on my last post, I appreciate the suggestions for getting out of the house in the morning once Sophia is at morning kindy. I’ll get there eventually might have to start practicing in the holidays! Things like getting myself up and showered/dressed before the kids are up would be a great start.

Now onto to something much more fun to think about!

I had an Stampin’ Up! Order arrive late last week with some beautiful Christmas stamps and papers. I am feeling so inspired right now! Michelle came over to pick up her stamps and we couldn’t help ourselves we just had to make something!

I’m thinking about running the Christmas card morning again this year with my friend Bron and we’d be teaching a couple of cards this time. Any expressions of interest in participating would be appreciated.

Have a great week! xx Kate

I have an 8 month old…

and boy do we all know about it right now! He is so frustrated trying to move but not quite getting there yet. He seems to be able to shuffle himself around in a circle on his bottom but we have no real forward movement yet. Cam is also loving standing and bouncing in your arms while flapping his wings as if that will help him take off! He can also stand unassisted at the couch or coffee table and the grin of achievement on his little face is just priceless!

Sophia is sick with a cough/cold right now but is in good spirits. For some reason her eyes(one in particular) get really green and gunky whenever she is sick. It’s like she has a cold in her eyes – can anyone shed some light on this? I’m planning on taking her to the doctor at some point soon to have her eyes tested as I think she may need glasses. She seems to be having a lot of trouble judging distance. For example I can’t even count the number of times she has missed the step and fallen up it, walked into a door handle or missed the coffee table with her cup or plate and it’s ended up on the floor.

We were told at Kindy yesterday that Sophia could start morning Kindy in a months time. I said “Oh no, really?, I am not ready for that!”

We just cruise here in the mornings right now – Isabella is the only one who needs to get ready to go anywhere and I just make her lunch and ship her out the door at 8.15 to walk to school with friends up the road. I can’t even fathom getting all of us organised to leave the house so that Sophia can be at kindy for 8.30. 8.30!! Who gets anywhere with 3 kids by 8.30? Well obviously a lot of people but I am not one of those =)

Isabella is doing well at School – only two more days of term yikes! I do enjoy not having to rush around in the holidays but she is hard work to keep entertained. It looks like Mum will take the girls to Waiheke for a few days in the first week and they’ll go to Waitomo to Dave’s parents for a few days in the second week so actually I am getting off pretty lightly!

Creatively I have been busy, I’m working on a layout and card kit to go up for sale on the website by the end of the week, so I’ll show some pics of that soon.

Bron very kindly took some photos of the tin I made her and emailed them to me so here they are:

Also I made a cute card with Bron for a School mum friend who had a baby a few weeks ago:

And this was the tag we made at the Stampin’ Up workshop I hosted last week

It was great fun – Bron was fabulous as a first time demonstrator and sales were so good I managed to score some extra goodies. Now we just have to wait for them to arrive, I can’t wait to get stuck into Christmas cards this year!

Wow,  long post! Guess that’s what happens when they are few and far between.

Take care and have a great week

xx Kate

Latest craftiness

Just being around my friend Bron has inspired a whole new batch of creativity and I am loving it! I wish I could show you the tin I made her to keep her cards in but I was so thrilled to give it to her, I forgot to take a photo first! Maybe Bron will read this, snap one for me and email it through?

Anyway here are the results of this re-found enthusiasm of mine. I hope you like, most of the ideas are ‘cased’ from the Stampin’ Up Catalogue just without their stamps! My budget hasn’t stretched that far yet but I’m working on it =)

Fathers Day card for my Dad.

not sure who this is for yet, just felt like making it =)

thought this was a nice way to invite a friend for morning tea.

Birthday card for my mum using a leftover stamped flower that Bron gave me when she was here the other night putting together ‘swaps’. Yup that’s all I got. One stamped flower for 3 hours of my time. LOL just messing with ya chicky!

Made this cute box to put some jewelery in that I’ll get mum for her birthday. Getting a bit ahead of myself here making the box before I buy the present!

All the photos were taken in the last of the light streaming in my kitchen window which is why the colours are a little off and they all have that slightly radioactive glow!

Right that’s it. Goodnight =) I’m tired, I spoke too soon about Cam’s sleep issues being resolved. Will post the family dramas later in the week!

xx Kate

Me again! Back so soon?

What’s going on? Ha I just have a bit of extra time up my sleeve right now is all. Kiddies are all tucked soundly into bed with Cam just recently starting to go down at 7.30 instead of having that last little baby feed at 10pm and down for the night. He’s in a good routine at the moment since we ‘fixed’ his night sleep issues about 3 weeks ago now. He had been sick and was waking constantly feeling unwell and unfortunately this waking carried over and became a habit even when he was well again. It got to the point where I was going in every 1/2 hour from 12 onwards to stick his dummy back in so that he would go back to sleep! After about a week of this I’d had enough, I was exhausted, I kept having accidents during the day like walking into things or falling up the stairs etc and I was so short tempered it was crazy!

So I did some internet research and concocted a plan that would work for us. First I went into his room, found all his dummies and threw them in the bin. That was step one and that was hard enough! Then I stopped feeding him until he fell asleep and made sure I put him down in his cot awake, no rocking, no feeding! He needed to learn how to settle himself to sleep and not rely on me or his dummy to do it for him. If he cried I’d wait a few minutes, then go in, pat his chest or back and say shush. I wouldn’t pick him up or make eye contact. I’d stay a minute and then out again. The first night was the hardest but it got easier really quickly and then we were there! Sleeping through the night, no feeds and if he does wake he”ll usually settle himself back to sleep. Dave was great, after nearly 7 months of it just being me getting up in the night he finally came to the party and helped me get through it. Sure some nights I had to give him an extra shove out of the bed and there were a couple of baby settling technique-related arguments at 4am but for the most part it was good and I think we are both pleased to have done it together.

I got some more photos on Friday, these are straight out of the camera, I will probably edit them a little in Photoshop elements before I print. I found a great site through Cathy Z’s blog called The Pioneer Woman and have been getting all kinds of great photograpy tips and having some laughs reaing Ree’s blog along the way. It is a fantastic site.

Anyway here’s my babies, arent they beautiful?

So there you have it, that’s me for a few days. If anyone has some other baby sleeping ideas or techniques I’d love to hear them.

xx Kate