how did i get here?

as i was updating my blog list to the right there i came across heathers blog, entitled, how did i get here which led me to ponder that very question. coming from a very small village in new zealand and now living in a city of almost 400,000 people in europe is somewhat of a change. i made this page a wee while back which touches on this very subject. it was recently published in a New Zealand scrapbooking magazine.  the journaling reads -

as a child growing up in a small country town in new zealand i didnt much think about where my life might take me. In college when I chose french and german as elective subjects I had no idea that they would be common languages in my future. In my wildest dreams I never thought I would marry a Swiss and that my children would be bilingual and also brought up in Switzerland. I never thought that whenever I saw a parade of cowbells, they would symbolise wedding bells for me.

do you ever wonder, how you got here. 

last but not least, my heart goes out to all those affected by the earthquake in new zealand yesterday. so very sad. 

sad but nonetheless true.

we spent some days in toronto and included a couple of nights at niagara falls last summer. loved it by the way. anyway our ever so thoughtful concierge mentioned that there was a great outlet mall just over the border in the USA. we could practically see the crossing from our hotel and quite frankly it would have been silly not to, right? never let a chance go by and all that. the thing that we didnt know was that we would need a visa to make that "crossing" and so would 100+ other foreigners in the queue in front of us. it was only as we approached said queue we realised our fate. our two bored, impatient children were not in the least bit amused - strangely? i am happy to report though that the bargains to be had far outweighed this little hiccup in our proceedings. well in my eyes anyway. i cant of course speak for the aforementioned children.

i came across this photo taken on arrival at the crossing and made a simple page about the fact that we just had to take a quick trip over the border for a spot of outlet shopping. as you do. yes, i know. sad but nonetheless true.

oh the joy!

you can only imagine my joy when i stumbled across this awesome stand today! i thought all my christmases had come at once. wasnt it only yesterday that it was valentines day. not to worry - i rushed home to fill it with all this loveliness. lots of Twinery twine. dont they just look awesome. and whats more there are at least six more places available in case there were to be more colours made??? like the girl guide motto says - be prepared! anyway its just so convenient and looks perfect - like i said - pure joy. oh and in the event that you are passing through and would like one, it was made in denmark. but i am delighted to report it has happily come to rest in my scraproom to be treasured and admired for many days to come. i feel it needs a name actually, any suggestions? :-)

be mine.no strings attached. :-)

having just seen this movie together with all those lovely spools of twine that arrived on my doorstep yesterday the result was this fun card for my husband lol. happy valentines day.

coasters. cards. animal crackers.

had a request for some baby cards. searched the stash and found these animal cracker embellishments and then found a zillion sets of gingham coasters that i may or may not have bought in the sales last easter or was it the easter before??  in any case, so lucky i did, ha? they made the perfect background for those cute little lions and elephants. and whats a card without a dash of twinery twine. i used cappuccino and mandarin. i left them loose in keeping with the lions mane. well with a little imagination it worked for me. :-) enjoy.

inspired by packaging.

i did this page for a challenge to be inspired by the colours in some packaging. by coincidence I recently bought some cavallini animal stamps (actually anything cavallini rocks in my books) and loved the combination of teal, cream, white, black and red on the container. having just bought the stamps, well, it was only proper to make sure they worked too, no? :-) love the characters in the set and for you aussies out there, there's even a kangaroo! watch this space for a "skippy the kangaroo" page soon. lol.

here is the stampbox:

and here is the result of those colours and stamps.

(sorry this page is winging its way to the USA to be published. watch this space - it will be back)

bookmarks and invites.

where did january go? cant believe we're into the second month of 2011 already. but with that second month comes the big heart day. if you're gearing up for a party to celebrate it how about a little play on the "twine" idea by writing... are you tied up for valentines day? these were made for a friend's daughter to give out at school hence the notepad type theme. and after the party they can be used for bookmarks. handy, no? :-)

the hardest part about creating these was choosing which lovely colour of twine to use. I narrowed it down to four lol. caribbean, cappuccino, lemondrop and pink sorbet.  happy valentines day, everyone.