Hi There

I think by now that you may have guessed I have fallen off the 365 project.  This was my second time around participating, the last time I finished and found it quite rewarding to see the year in photos and watch my photography progression. This time round I had lots of enthusiasm for the first half of the year and then I started to loose my mojo.  Things around home required more of my attention and so my desire to take photos disappeared.  I am a little disappointed in myself for not finishing what I started but with my heart no longer in the project I decided to not pursue it for now.  As I type this I am not discounting coming back on a more regular basis to share photos because it makes me happy. And the more I think about it the more I need to do a few more things for myself, things that light me up.  So here is a collection of some photos from the past month.  I hope you enjoy them and I hope to be back again soon.

257/365 "Happy 16th Anniversary'

Today the love of my life and I celebrate 16 years of marriage together,

21 years of being together as a couple.  We have experienced a lot in that time both

happy and challenging and I am so very grateful to have him to walk with me through life.

Happy anniversary babe, here's to many more to come.

P.S. Thank you for posing for me even though our daughter thinks it's funny.

This week

Ahh the weekend is over again but it's been such a great week. My wonderful hubby took a couple of days off to be home so we could celebrate our wedding anniversary together on the day. This year it's 15 years of marriage, 20 years of being together I feel so grateful to have found my life partner to share this journey of life with.  We went for a bush walk, it was hot and dry but fun to be outdoors.  Saturday there was a trip to visit a couple of new markets, dinner and then a show just the two of us and a pretty light show at Southbank to see too.  It was a special week, it was nice to do things just the two of us, even though not often, very special when we do.

1. A walk in the bush.
2. Some fresh bread to go with dinner using this recipe.
3. Dessert, a healthy berry crumble, served with cream of course. (I used just 500g of berries for the four of us)
4. The markets.
5. A walk around New Farm Park, the place we got married.
6. Light show at Southbank.

Wishing you all a wonderful week.  It's the last week of school and I have to say we are all looking forward to some time off to rest.  May your week be a lovely one.

♡

It was on this day 14 years ago that we said I do.

I am so blessed to have you in my life, to experience the ups and downs with you, to learn and grow together.

Happy Anniversary darling I look forward to sharing many, many, many more.

xxx

Today

13 years ago I married the man I was destined to spend my life with.  From when we met all those years ago in grade 1 you always knew we were meant to be together and years later again we met and created our new life.   Happy Anniversary my darling, thank you for the wonderful years together we've had and  for the many more still yet to come. xxxx

Today

we celebrated 12 years of marriage. There was a home cooked roast chicken using a little lemon and thyme to add some extra zing, getting the great idea from here.


A loaf of freshly baked spelt loaf, probably my best bread yet, I'll post the recipe for you tomorrow, and to finish lemon self saucing pudding. I enjoyed each and every moment of our day today, the many days we've already shared and the rest of my life I have yet to share with you.

Happy Anniversary my wonderful hubby xoxo

Another Anniversary Card

A good friend of mine celebrated her 2nd Wedding Anniversary today and I wanted to make a card to celebrate this special occasion. It will be late unfortunately but I did have more energy tonight so I whipped up this card. My favourite style is clean and simple and I found this lovely blog by Jen called Simple and Sincere and I was inspired by her cards and layouts and came up with this. I love blue and I really am loving using baja breeze at the moment, it's such a pretty blue don't you think?

I hope you have had a great day, I had fun catching up with one of my dear friends, without children, which is a first for a long time and it was really nice. Talk to you again tomorrow.

Smiles Catherine xox
Materials
Stamps: Little Yellow Bicycle, SU All Holidays
Cardstock: SU Whisper White, SU Baja Breeze
Ink: SU Baja Breeze
Accessories: Paper Piercer, Embroidery Thread, SU Button Latte, Kaiser Rhinestones, SU White Grosgrain Ribbon, SU Circle Punch.

Some Cards for you!

Hi there! I thought I would share with you two cards that I made last night. One of them is for a little girl who turned four on Sunday and loves trucks and the other is for a couple who will be celebrating their 10 year wedding anniversary on Friday. I cased the card from Nicole Heady for the anniversary card, changing the stamps, the nestability shapes, the embossing folder and I added some pearls. Feeling tired and seeing such a beautiful and simple card which I thought would be perfect for an anniversary I decided to make one myself.

I hope that you have all had a good day, and I look forward to seeing all of you again tomorrow. Bye!

Smiles Catherine xox
Materials
Card #1
Stamps: SU By Land
Ink: SU Lovely Lilac
Cardstock: SU Kraft, SU Baja Breeze, DCWV DP
Accessories: Basic Grey Buttons, Kindy Glitz, MM Glitter Letter Stickers, Kaiser Rhinestones, Prima Flower, Dimensionals, Corner Rounder
Card #2
Stamps: SU Fifth Avenue Floral, SU Unknown Verses
Ink: SU Pumpkin Pie, SU Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: SU Whisper White
Accessories: Kaiser Pearls, Nestabilities, Cuttlebug Embossing Folder, Dimensionals

Chickens are great pets!

Yesterday my Miss 5 came home with a necklace around her neck that said to bring in your pet or bring in a photo. I tried to convince her that a photo of any of her pets would be great but that did not satisfy her need to show and tell her class about one of her pets. Her first try was the cat, my cat Tiffany is almost 15 years old and just couldn't cope with a class of children so on to the next try, the budgies. Dad said that because they are not tame then maybe another pet, like one of the chickens. So that was it, she wanted to take her chicken Star to class. I was a bit hesitant about taking the chicken and suggested a picture but that wasn't going to be good enough. I cleaned out a cage and she drove in the front seat to school. She was such a well behaved animal it really turned out to be the perfect pet to bring into school. (If you click on the picture you can see the chicken more closely)I thought I would share a card I made for my hubby to give him on the weekend to celebrate our wedding anniversay. Thank you for stopping by and I look forward to talking to you again soon.

Smiles Catherine xox
Materials
Stamps: SU Fundamental Phrases, SU Trendy Trees
Paper: SU Kraft, SU Old Olive, SU Chocolate Chip, SU Not Quite Navy
Ink: SU Chocolate Chip, SU Not Quite Navy
Accessories: Tag (which I used as a template), SU Linen Thread, SU Distresser Kit, Basic Grey Buttons, Martha Stewart Twill Ribbon

A Pretty Card for You

My good friend celebrated her 9 year wedding anniversary yesterday (late I know ouch!) but I will be posting it today and I hope that she forgives me. I really enjoyed this card and it came together well. I got the inspiration from my kitchen of all places. In my kitchen I have some tiles in the splash back that represent the square scallops and the vertical stripes are like my vj walls. Well two posts in one day, I hope to have another card to share with you tomorrow for my weekly stamping class. Have a good night or day! Bye.
Smiles Catherine
Materials
Paper: SU Kraft, Sahara Sand, Very Vanilla and Whisper White; Stamps: Sincere Salutations; Ink: SU Sahara Sand; Accessories: SU Scallop Square Punch, Various Embossing Folders, Dimensionals, Prima Flowers, SU Distresser Kit, Kaiser Half Pearls

How are your Easter Holidays Going?

I hope that you are all enjoying your holidays, ours haven't been too exciting but nice just being able to stay at home and relax has been great. The girls were lucky enough to get some belated gifts today so were kept busy playing with them this afternoon. They had lots of fun concentrating and keeping in the lines with their new paint by numbers, still more to do so good value.

Bye for now.

A storm is coming.

Smiles Catherine