Jikana Damaru

Week-a-Boo

Happy Sunday to you all! One week until Christmas! Can you believe it! 5 working days and then it is on! I just can not believe how fast this year, this month, this day has gone! Time is just flying by so fast I can hardly catch my breath! It's quite scary actually! In 2 weeks time we will be saying goodbye to 2010 and welcoming 2011! WOAH!

On Thursday and Friday leading up to the weekend the kids that I work with came over for a sleep over. It is always so much fun for the kids to come to my house as it is so different to their everyday lives. They are city kids through and through so they love coming and playing with all the animals, collecting the chickens eggs, swimming in the pool, playing in the front yard and going to the local park. This time I thought I would do something different and we went to the local strawberry farm. Strawberries are not in season so we could not pick them but they have a very cute little petting zoo were you can feed the goats, calves and sheep. the kids had a ball and loved playing with the farm animals.

~ We brought our mattress into the lounge room so that the kids and I could camp out beside the Christmas tree and have a Christmas sleepover ~

~ The cutest little calf that was so friendly ~

~ Delicious Strawberry Jelly with Strawberry pieces throughout and fresh Strawberry jam from the farm ~

On Saturday I slept until ONE THIRTY in the afternoon Oh My Goodness! I couldn't believe it when I woke up and looked at my clock! In my defense I didn't go to sleep until after midnight Friday night and Thursday night when the kids stayed over I didn't sleep much at all as I was waking up every hour just checking on the kids! SO I definitely needed the few extra hours hahah I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning and washing and catching up on all the house chores that didn't get done while I was away for work!

Today - Sunday I had a beautiful celebration with my close friends and Robs and my parents for my birthday. We were suppose to go to the park and have a picnic but last night I made an executive decision and canceled the park and booked a few tables at the local pub. This morning I awoke to rain rain rain so I am glad I made that final decision.

A beautiful day spent with my very special family and my closest friends! A perfect lunch to end the celebrations of turning 25! What an amazing birthday I have had!!!

Enjoy this week leading up to Christmas! We are almost there :-)

Head over to Claires gorgeous blog and share your weekend with us all!

x S.K.K x

busy

have

been busy

baking & wrapping

& singing Christmas

songs & making lists

& flicking through

piles of recipes &

counting the number of

sleeps till Christmas Day

(which is also my youngest

daughters 3rd Birthday!) &

opening happy mail & catching

up with friends & enjoying

meals with loved ones & sending cards

& walking past Santa at the local

shops & hanging the stockings &

enjoying pj mornings & watching carols

on tv & slowing down so that all these good things

can be savoured.

A change of plan?

I wonder... I wonder if it would be okay with everyone if instead of using random.org to generate a winner for the Gorgeous Giveaway, we just very unrandomly choose Jane at My Pear Tree House. Jane is a long-time follower of Maxabella loves... and a fun, generous supporter of many of our blogs. And, oh my, she's going through a really, really tough time right now.

Please let me know via comment if you are okay to forfeit your entry and send all the prizes to Jane. If I get a enough comments saying 'yes' then that is what we will do. We'll send her a care package full of all these lovely handmade presents from all of us in the blogging community.

Thank you Posie Patchwork, Scissors Paper Rock, Mira Narnie, Ivy Designs and Loved for being open to this idea.

Please let us know.

It's Snowing!

How amazing and interesting is it when a storm starts brewing. For a split second you feel and hear the calmness all around you and a sense of eeriness takes over your body and your surroundings. Then the wind changes and picks up and the leaves start blowing in circles, Slowly on the ground first and then they lift and make colourful magic in the air. You then smell that fresh crisp smell of raindrops hitting the grass and hear the pitter patter on the rooftops. It then hits harder and louder with big hard drops pounding their way onto the road and the trees until BOOM the first crack of thunder takes over the sky. Its so exciting. The way the lightning lights up the sky and puts on a show for all to see. The delicate strikes and the beautiful sheets creating a light show that can only be dreamed of. The loud claps and the deep rumbles of the thunder as it responds to the lightning create a performance far beyond imagination. And then if you are really lucky. CLAP...BANG...TING...the first signs of hail...and on Wednesday afternoon (My birthday) as I was mesmerised by the beautiful storm that was showing off for me the hail came hard and fast. I have not seen a hail storm like this in about 15 years. The balls were big and hard! Luckily Rob had come home early and had showed me the sky and explained how the cold air was moving in on the hot air and creating a cold front which showed in the sky where there was darkness with lighter streaks through the sky.,..confused...yep so was I but he was so excited watching it all happen and brew and was desperate for me to understand. Im getting there! So we had put both cars in and got the puppies inside! The hail was so amazing I was squealing like a little kid! It was so loud it was scaring me a little but the scare just added to the feeling of excitement and inside my heart was pounding from adrenaline. Got to love Queensland and our summer storms.

It snowed on my 25th birthday ;) What a day!

x S.K.K x

shadow shot

a place where I enjoyed a long lunch recently.....it was a perfect Summer's day, blue sky & sunshine.

join in with your shadow shot

here:

A quick catch up

So many words, so many thoughts, so many stories. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so here is whats been happening in my world over the last few weeks!

Christmas Dinners with family

~ Fresh Oysters and Oyster Kilpatricks ~

Visits and special time with family

~ My Robert and his grandfather Robert ~

Tree viewing - Santa visiting and letter writing with the kids

Girl Times

~ Sushi lunches - Pedicures - Ballet concert rehearsals with Miss 8 ~

Weeks in Noosa

Busy Busy Busy but a lot of fun!

School Holidays are go go go but I couldn't imagine spending my time any differently!

x S.K.K x

Winter Woodland candy cones

Winter woodland candy cones

You will need:
Cone wrapper
Double sided tape
Polka dot cellophane
Ribbon

Equipment
Tim Holtz Non Stick Micro-Serrated Multicutter

Shape~Mates Circles
Shape~Mates Carriage

Instructions

Open cone print template (see image below) and print it out.
Cut around cone wrapper and along lines to give 3 wrappers. (I use the shape mates large circle and cutter to cut out my circles.
Roll one of the wrappers into a cone shape and, using double sided tape, fix in place.
Place a second piece of tape inside the cone along one side and peel off backing.
Cut out cellophane (use the "cellophane pattern" below as a stencil to cut out your cellophane - note each straight line is 24cm long).
Roll cellophane into a cone shape and place inside cone wrapper. Press against the tape to fix in place.
Fill with candy.
Tie ribbon around the top.

Last year I made candy cones for Halloween & Christmas. This year I custom designed some for a friend of mine to give out as wedding favours. Four of us spent several hours putting together over 100 of them to be filled with sugared almonds. So, this Christmas I have designed them around my winter woodland theme and filled them with hand-made nut shaped chocolates with creamy maple centres.

Have a sweet day!