Thank heavens, I have my computer back, I had to send it to the doctor to be fixed. It got so bad I could not even get it to turn on. I thought I would loose all photos and everything, but didn't loose a thing. Lucky.

I finally got around to producing a Chrissy Lo. Yay the first one for the year. It will probably be the only one. I kept it pretty simple. A bit of scribble, some rubons, a bit of bling and thickers letters, a Chrissy shape thing and not much else.

Speaking of Christmas, my baby is not sure she believes in Santa anymore. She came home from school the other day and said 'Mum, do you still believe in Santa'. I said - yeah of course I do, why, don't you. She said - well last year some of the presents had your hand writing on them (wondered how long before she would pick up on that). I told her they were the ones Santa couldn't get himself and had asked me to pick up for him. She was still not sure, so I told her - you realise that as soon as you stop believing in him, he stops coming. We are still deciding whether we should put the Christmas stocking up or not. She is not sure, I told her if she does not believe then it might be empty in the morning. The jury is still out, awaiting the final word.
She is my baby, she cant not believe, not yet, I am not ready.

Here are a couple of Lo's I did using the blind crop instructions for SC mag. The first one was the example one. Poor Tiff was not feeling well the day I took the pic, and it was blowing a gale, so her eyes were red and puffy and she was not her usual bubbly self.


This one is the other one, I think I might email it in and see if they like it. I used the same paper range for both Lo's and they look totally different. Anyhow that is about it on the scrapping front for me. Will get something more done before silly season begins, I wont be able to take my stuff to work with me for much longer.

I finally convinced the girls to let me take some chrissy pics this arvo, they only agreed because they are going to Tumut tomorrow, and I might not get the chance to take any later. We ARE going to get busy in the shop soon.

How do you get two people to look in the same direction at the same time. I took so many where one was looking and smiling and the other was squinting, or talking or just making a face.

I couldn't help setting up the baubles on the rocks, should have thought to take non shiny ones though, I kept getting my reflection in them. Lol.

This one is the best of the two of them. Can you tell that Sheri has spiky plants sticking in her back, I am a mean mumma and would not let her move.

I love the photo above. I wish I could have highlighted her like in the one below. If I knew how to drive photoshop properly I might be able to fix it. The light is heaps better in the next photo.

How totally awesome is this photo. It is a colour photo. I have not altered it in anyway other than resizing. Wonder what it will look like printed. My printer does not do photos justice.

Here is the Lo I started at work yesterday, I almost had it finished but I had a few late customers (which is a good thing, we really need lots of customers), all I had left to do was adhere the sisters and add the centres to the flowers.
I have been waiting to do a lo like this for ages, but I never had a pic that would suit.
I am not sure whether everything is too low in the corner but I am happy with it anyway.
The girls are not sisters, but do everything together as often as possible, and get on so well together, next best thing to a sister in anyones book.
Check out the stitching, I pulled out my rusty sewing skills and done chain stitch around the

photo.

Think I best shush up now, I think I am raving, must mean I really like it.

Christmas Pudding

My apprentice chef, Tiff, cooked plum pudding yesterday. I got a recipe off the radio the other day, and she was so keen to cook it, that I let her do the whole lot. I got to check the water level whilst it boiled for 6 hrs.
She was so excited to see what it tasted like that she wanted some for breakfast. She made 2 so we heated one up for desert tonight, other than the fact that I busted it trying to tip it out it was pretty good.

Brandied fruit.

Creaming butter and sugar.

Cracking eggs.

Adding all other ingredients.

Taste testing.

Filling bowls

Ready for cooking

Hmmm. The proof of the pudding is in the tasting. Yum.

Christmas Pudding.

By;

Roger Bayley

Featured by;

Sophie Longdon

ABC SE NSW

Ingredients;

750g Mixed dried fruit

100g pitted prunes, chopped

100g dates, chopped

250g butter

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

4 extra large eggs

1/2 cup brandy

1 cup plain flour

1 teasp mixed spice

1/2 teasp cinnamon

1/2 teasp nutmeg

1/2 teasp bicarb of soda

50g slivered almonds

1 cup fine white breadcrumbs

Method;

1. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Mix in the fruit, brandy, sifted dry ingredients, slivered almonds and breadcrumbs.

2. Place mixture into a greased 2 litre pudding basin, or 2 smaller basins, cover top with a round of baking paper. Cover with foil and tie a pudding cloth over top.

3. Place in a large saucepan with enough water to come halfway up the basin. Boil for 6 hrs making sure the water level remains constant by adding more boiling water as necessary.

4. When cooked, leave to cool and replace the foil and cloth with clean and place in refridgerator until required.

5. On day of serving re-boil pudding for a further 1 hr. Serve wtih brandy sauce, custard or cream.

Tah Dah, here it is, warts and all. The Lo with my mug on it. It has taken a week for me to finish this, I really dont like red or gold, and using a photo of myself, what can I say, not my favourite subject. But I will say thanks to Sheri for taking the pic. I dont like being in front of the camera at all.

I so tried to be original and use stuff that I might not have done before. I painted some wooden skewers, twisted some crochet cotton, mounted the photo on the same coloured cs as the background. The colours have not come out true. The bracket and numbers are actually gold, not that bronze colour, and the reds seem brighter. I am my own worst critic and I dont like this, but hey it is done now. Maybe I should have gone into my comfort zone and used colours I am comfortable with, like pink and brown, or maybe blue.

Here is the Lo that I done for the delightful Ruby, she and Sheri were doing a photo swap, I loved her photo so much I could not resist doing a Lo too. Such a gorgeous subject to work with. Thanks for allowing me to publish this Rubes.

Oops, I tried to delete a picture of one Lo, and it seems the whole post has been deleted.

I followed instructions too. I cant post again, because I cant remember what was in the post.

Oh the joys of getting old and forgetful, lol.

I am still working on the Lo using the photo of myself that Sheri took. I am finding it a real challenge. It has red and gold on it, yuk, to two worst colours ever created.

Lots of fun in Bermagui last night, we live just outside of town so didn't hear all the news till this morning. There were nine shops and things broken into through the night. They cut phone lines all over town and went in through the roof of most places.

Thank heavens they left our shop alone. We are in front of a motel with the best security in town, any little movement and the place lights up like Christmas, I would say they were not game to even try.

Touch wood they dont come back tonight to hit the places they missed last night. The hassles it would cause would be more than we need this close to Christmas.

I will try to remember which pics were deleted.

I

This is a photo that I took of the Young Endeavour when it was anchored at the mouth of the harbour in early Oct. It was blowing so hard I had to lean on a rock to take the photos, I couldnt hold the camera still. I love this photo, I must have fluked a shot between wind gusts or something.

I have had one accepted for publication, and I cant remember if there should be another one or not.