Ho, ho, ho...

Well today has been full of food, family and fun :) My husband sure knows how to over cater! We'll be eating leftovers for a week! The kids got an amazing array of presents from Santa Claus and the best bit was seeing their faces.

Well I didn't end up getting any Christmas cards posted, except for the obligatory great auntie ones, so here is a scan of the card that I made 40-50 of.

Of course it is now too late to post them out, so I am going to donate them to The Haemophilia Foundation. I've been donating Christmas cards to them for a couple of years now for them to raise money. So if I didn't send you a card - Merry Christmas!!

Lime Tart will be closed until the 2nd January. Any orders placed between now and then will be charged and posted out then. All emails will also be replied to then. Keep an eye out for our funky January kits, I know the designers have fallen in love with theirs.

So until next year, I'm off to indulge in another bit of meringue and strawberries.

Happy New Year (and happy 10th wedding anniversary to us!)

Getting in the swing

We went out for a family dinner last night and on the way home we drove through a few little suburbs to check out their Christmas lights, and oh wow! At one house we could actually stop and get out and walk through their front yard. They even had their front windows done up with really intricate displays. Then there were a couple of cul-de-sacs that were completely decked out in lights. So gorgeous. If you are in Canberra, get yourself out to Amaroo!



So once we got home, I just had to watch Survivor and then I was too tired to complete the teacher gifts, so I got up bright and early and finished them off, lol. I made fudge, cut it into little stars and gingerbread men and then popped it into Prima Minnie Can paint tins. All decorated with the Lime Tart November 6x6 Kit, lol.

Here is the recipe:

Chocolate pecan fudge

500g Lindt Dark Coverture Chocolate or choc melts, depends on if it's for you or the kids, lol
395g condensed milk
dash of vanilla extract
125g chopped pecans

Slowly melt chocolate, condensed milk and vanilla extract together until smooth and creamy. Quickly mix in pecans and press into a large slice tray. Refrigerate until set, cut into squares, or cut into shapes and enjoy!

I also made a couple of canvases for some extra special teachers. I only took a photo of one though, the other one was done in blues.

Here's a pic of our mishmash of a Christmas tree, lots of homemade decorations! The lights were twinkling when I took the photo, but I need a nice new camera - santa? Nope don't think so, not this year :(


Last pic for today is the beaded necklace I made for my Nan. I had beads left over too so I'm making myself a bracelet, I love this colour combination.

The Christmas mayhem...

Saturday we swapped Christmas trees from our little fake one to a big real one! We were lucky enouigh to get the preschool tree this year. As our decorations didn't cover it, we spent Saturday making saltdough cookie decorations, then painted and sealed them and now our tree looks full. Very eclectic, but full :) The recipe if you want to try is 4 cups plain flour, one cup salt, one cup of hot water (I ended up using about 1 and 3/4 cups of water). Mix together, knead, roll out, cut, bake at 120 degrees c for 2 hours. Cool, paint, seal, voila!

I am completely blank as to what we did on Sunday, lol.

Yesterday the school had their final assembly for the year and reports were given out yesterday afternoon. Can I puff my chest out and brag? My two eldest children are the brightest, smartest little cookies there are! LOL, well I am their mother and they do have my genes ;)

Peggy finished preschool on Friday and was extremely upset when she wasnt' starting big school yesterday! Hopefully we can keep busy during the holidays to keep her mind off it, lol.

I'm still making Christmas presents, today I started on a couple of very special teacher's gifts. They will be 8x8 canvases and quite simple, I'll share when they are finished. I'm also making fudge in mini paintcans for some other teachers.

Other news - Lime Tart January kits have gone to the designers. February kits are looking pretty gorgeous too. We do have big news on the Lime Tart designer front though. Ange has decided to leave us due to life commitments and so today we welcome Deb Kingston as a Tart.

Okay must be off to put another coat of gel medium on :)

Things

We received wonderful news on Wednesday that the government has decided to keep our school open. We had a special assembly at school for the principal to announce it to the kids and parents and boy oh boy was it nervewracking waiting for that decision. There were a few tears shed in the relief of the announcement. Unfortunately not all schools will remain open and I feel for the families and children who have to close up their school next week.

We had a celebration day at school yesterday, it would have gone ahead either way, something to either celebrate or keep the kids mind off it. Lots of fun with the Gecko Gang, sausage sizzle, face painting and so on. I then took my kids swimming and poor Mary was asleep by 5.30pm!!

Today is Peggy's last day at preschool, also my last child at preschool. I'm a bit sad, life goes too fast....

The Lime Tart gallery is up, with lots of beautiful ideas on how to use your kits.

My Christmas shopping is nearly done, I just have to buy a couple of little things for those hard to buy for couples that have no children and you really don't want to buy them something that will just be put in the back of the cupboard, lol. I really want to buy them a goat but I'm not sure how well it could be received.

My Christmas cards have been done for a couple of weeks but I haven't written in them yet! I get tongue-tied writing in cards, lol. Merry Christmas seems so boring, but writing lengthy personal messages gives me hand cramp, lol. Although I probably should go and do them as I guess I should post them all on Monday!

The postie has been again!

On a Sunday! Today I received some very nice, and very different ribbon for the January kits. Think hot! I love this kit, lol, but I always say that :)

It's been a hot one today, it's still 35 degrees at 7pm, thank goodness for airconditioning :)

For some reason I woke up at 0630 this morning, why oh why I have no idea! I like my sleep ins but it just wasn't going to happen this morning so I got up and it turned into quite a productive day. We didn't go anywhere of course, just too hot, but I got creative. I altered a clock that I bought a few weeks ago for $12.95, a lovely clock with Elvis on it, lol, well it's now even nicer and decorated with the Lime Tart 6x6 December kit! I also made a card to go with Marieke's card sketch for this month. The newsletter will be out on the 14th so keep an eye on inboxes, or go and sign up for it now so you don't miss out.

I also went bead shopping again on Thursday, again for another Christmas present. This one is for my 15 year old niece.

Next handmade presents on the list are for the teachers. I still have no idea on what I will do. I might do a note book like we did in Donna Downey's class at Kiwiscraps..... I don't know, it's just not grabbing me though. Any suggestions?

The postie has been

With a non-scrapping parcel! I saw some anti-bug balm advertised in a magazine a few months ago and I finally got around to ordering it. My kids get attacked by mosquitoes and I really do not like using chemicals on their skin, so I grabbed this stuff. We haven't used it yet but it smells awesome! The packaging is pretty cute too.

I also got some Hibiscus lip balm for myself and it's gorgeous, it feels so nice, not greasy at all. Plus the packaging is a smaller version of the little Sweetwater tin that is in the December 12x12 kit!

The speedy, friendly service and excellent packaging will make me go back for more things. Oh and I got a sample of this perfume, and it's very nice too!

I went Christmas shopping yesterday, and boy oh boy the mad rush has started at the mall. I got a few things done, not everything but I will finish off next week I think. Today I have been online ordering lots of fantastic new things for the January and February kits. I'm really excited about a new supplier who is doing a rush order for me for January.

Must run, I have to get some Christmas ATCs finished for a swap that I am handing over tomorrow.

Happy Birthday baby.

My baby girl turned 5 yesterday and it's been a weekend of celebrations. We had a party for all of her girly friends on Saturday and we had a Gecko Gang member come and paint faces, play games and do balloon modelling.

After the party we decorated the Christmas tree and the kids wrote letters to Santa Claus. They have already received their replies back and Santa is a very special person!

20 sleeps to go....

Beads, beads, beads

This beading thing is getting very, very addictive. This first photo is the necklace that I did in a class a couple of weeks ago.

This second necklace is one I made last night for a Christmas present.

The big bead sits a lot higher on my, the papier mache bust is a small one. Now to go shopping for some more beads :)

Oh and the December Lime Tart kits are previewing on site now.