i am here....thanks for your patience

Hello to all my readers, if there are any of you left after an 8 month absence. If you are , thank you for taking the time pop in and read my blog and i hope not to 'hide' for so long next time and maybe give a little 'notice'. Well, where do i start??? I am starting with this photo as it signifies a new beginning, a fresh start, a new light to a bright journey ahead. The last eight months have been a challenging journey, emotiomally, physically and spiritually. All areas of my life have been touched and tested and i feel that i am finally seeing some light of hope and faith that all will be Ok. Without all the boring details, i hope to conitnue to share my life, creatively, to enitice you with with some yummy receipes and anything i feel you would love to see.Thank you and to a great year ahead.

competition and choc mint card kit...

Just a few exciting things today. There is a competition at Koko Vanilla and here is how you can enter.

When you purchase one of our Kits during August or any products on site we would love to see what you create with our kits. A Competition Gallery will be set up for customer entries. When you have completed your layout taken a photo email your entry to this email address pontikis@netspace.net.au.
The layouts will be uploaded into our gallery with a link to your blog if you have one and choose to have it linked. You don't have to have a blog as the gallery will be here on site you just need to take a photo of your layout and attach it to an email and send it in to us. Two entries will be chosen to win vouchers to spend on site. The First winner will win a $30 voucher and the runner up will win a $20 voucher. This is a great opportunity to show the world your fabulous talents.
The prompt for your layout is "What makes you most happiest?" You don't have to use these words in your layout this is the theme so you can use the words as a prompt or just centre your layout around this theme. To be eligible to enter you must purchase your products from our site. The winners will be chosen by our design team. Any questions feel free to email me. Entries close on the 31st August. So head over to our store and browse our kits, purchase your favourite kits and get creating.

Also the photo i have shown is the new Choc-Mint Decadence August Card Kit from Koko Vanilla, so if you love choc mint, you are going to love this kit.Go here if you wish to purchase.

That's is my news for the day, enjoy your night and 2 more LO will be on for Koko tomorrow.

Goodnight Meri xxx

sunday scrappin....

I am loving this new kit which arrived on Friday from Koko Vanilla. It's so sweet and yummy and i just can't wait to do another LO. Anna is putting some amazing kits together and i look forward to them each month. Its so great when all you have to do is create when the kit is already prepared for you. That's my Sunday, quiet and relaxing. Hope you had a good one too. Will be back in few days with some more creations. Till then, ciao for now. Meri xxx

koko vanilla layout...

Two posts today within minutes. I wanted to show this layout for Koko Vanilla Designs. This is also using the July kit you can purchase from here. It's been great being on a design team, especially when the box of goodies arrives!!! And gives me a great excuse to continually add beautiful layouts to my kids albums. So thanks Anna at Koko Vanilla for giving me this truly blessed opportunity that nurtures my spirit, my creative journey and my beautiful family. Meri xxx

sweet success...

I have been wanting to make homemade marshmallow for about 10 years now as it is one of my all time favourite indulgence. I love these mouth watering, melt in your mouth sweetness and can never resist shoving 1, 2 or 3 at times in my mouth to achieve the full satisfaction that these little things give. So i gave them a go and OMG, i swear i am never buying the Pascal's again. These are just heavenly clouds......and so easy to make. Three ingredients a bit of time and patience and you have these instant, no baking, cheap delights.

To make follow these instructions:

1 1/2 cups castor sugar

2 tablespoons gelatine

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 cups toasted coconut

1. Grease and line a 26cm slab pan, allowing paper to hang over the sides.

2. Place the sugar in a saucepan, add 2/3 cup of hot water and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves and syrup is clear.

3. Place gelatine in a bowl, pour over 2/3 cup cold water and use a hand whisk to combine. Pour mixture into hot sugar syrup and cook, stirring constantly, until the gelatine has dissolved and the mixture is clear. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

4. Pour cooled mixture into a large bowl and use electric beaters or a kitchen mixer on high to beat for 5-10 minutes or until mixture is very thick. Add vanilla and continue to beat.

5. Pour into prepared pan and leave in a cool place to set. Once set ( about 1 1/2 hours) turn out of the pan and use a wet knife to cut into squares.

6. Place the toasted coconut in a bowl and add the squares in batches of four, tossing them through the coconut to coat properly.

7. Take a square and place in mouth and slowly experience homemade bliss!!!

Good luck and let me know what you thought of these.

Have a great weekend, off to work, bye bye Meri xx

hello again...

OK. I know its been ages since i have blogged but here it is:

1. Have been and still am very sick with a head and chest cold for about 3 weeks now

2. Kids have had their share of not been well.....so broken sleep and lots of midnight cuddles

3. School holidays... well who has the time to blog???

4. Work..yes i have to and its time out for me

5. Spending time with my sister who is about to venture to a foreign country with her hubby...what a life!!!

6. Doing a fair bit of clearing around the house...one of my favourite pass times

7. A little bit of scrapping....and more thinking about doing it

8. Reading...yes this is something i can do all day

9. Spending more time with the kids....playing game boards and lego

10. Attending Anna Spiro's from Absolutely Beautiful Things seminar on blogging....great tips

11.Having difficulty deciding on what to do for my kid's birthday parties which are coming up in August....any suggestions???

So, that's my list of where and what i have been up to, naturally the list i have never seems to end but i do believe that lists should always have a few things on them as that is what motivates us to keep moving forward on our journey.

I have posted a layout for Koko Vanilla. I love the pink velum Anna has used in her July Kit, it really adds a lot of vibrancy and delicate design. Creating this layout was a little challenging because i wanted to use a mix of colours and somehow it all blended in beautifully.

That's all for now, i promise to be back earlier...thanks for being patient to my beautiful readers.

Lots of love to all and keep warm...Meri xxx

layout and new site....

A few updates today. I have completed another layout for Koko Vanilla. I really love the June kit and enjoyed cutting out the clouds and owls on the other layout a few posts back. Love this photo of my son, he is in heaven eating his favoutite treat. He looks at this photo and can remember we had gone to Elwood beach and we all ate an ice-cream, too cute!!

Also, i would like to share a new website called Mini Style that i have come across that has gorgeous clothes and accessories for children and some beautiful gift ideas for mums. Great to see that local sites are popping up so another reason to support.Good night to all and be back soon. Meri xxx