The Janelle Wind Collection

Some scrapping and some awards too...

Well life around here hasn't gotten any quieter, my days are still full with children (many more than I have given birth to as well!). Our school has an extra week of holidays so we are into our third week of being at home. While I love my children more than life itself, their constant fighting is starting to wear me down a little, so I am quietly looking forward till next Monday.

So inbetween work, teaching, refereeing kids, feeding hoards, moving, sorting, mothering etc etc (the usual mum stuff) I have actually managed to scrap a few of the photos I shared with you in the last post. I thought I would pop back and share them with you.

This first one is about my boy and how sad his sister makes him when she doesn't want to play with him anymore. Some days she is wonderful but other days she is too grown up (almost 10) to play with her brother. I can see both sides and this is a tough one. Anyway, here is {Why so sad?}

And the second is a layout of Emily - and really I scrapped it purely because I love the photo. So here is {cute}

And finally Scrapboxx celebrated its 4th Birthday on Saturday night with a Cybercrop. I set a challenge for the girls to scrap a layout with a series of photos telling a story and include journaling. The girls created amazing layouts, I was so thrilled with each and every one of them. As I always try and scrap my own challenges, here is my take on my challenge. Recently when Emily and I were taking photos together I happened to snap her sneezing and ALL of these photos are just one sneeze! She is one of the loudest sneezers I have heard and ALWAYS does 5 or 6 sneezes at a time too, so I was thrilled to capture it on camera and scrap it as well. Here is {ah choo}

Now onto some wonderful awards that have been given to me. The beautiful Sheree Forcier nominated me for the Arte Y Pico award.  Thankyou so much Sheree, I was so thrilled and surprised! 

The Arte Y Pico is awarded to blogs that you consider deserving due to their creativity, design, interesting material and for their contributions to the blogging community. If you receive the Arte Y Pico you in turn bestow it on five blogs.

Now it is my turn to pass this award on to 5 other blogs that I feel are deserving of this honour. Let me tell you, choosing only 5 is tough because there are SO many blogs that inspire me every day. Here we go...

1. Nora Griffin - www.noragriffin.typepad.com - I discovered Nora's blog well over a year ago now and I visit her daily. I love her scrapping, her organisational skills, her decorating and her outlook on life. Thank you Nora for sharing your life with us.

2. Kim Archer - www.kimarcher.com.au - I have long been an admirer of Kim and her work and am now proud to call her one of my closest friends. Her work is absolutely amazing!

3. Natalie Ross - www.natalieross.typepad.com - Natalie and I have been friends for about 6 years now, we have shared so many things, I trust her completely and am so proud of her amazing achievements and creations too. She is a wonderful, loyal and trustworthy friend - love you Thelma xx

4. Sarah Bowen - www.sarahbowen.typepad.com - I have been a lurker on Sarahs blog for a while too. I love her freestyle yet stylised scrapping, her attention to detail and her music is awesome. I have often left her blog playing to me all day while I work - quirky and fun!

5. Elsie Flannagan - www.abeautifulmess.typepad.com - having had the pleasure of meeting beautiful Elsie and taking a class with her, I must say that everything about her inspires me. Her blog is an essential part of my day.

Arte Y Pico Rules:
1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2. Each awardee has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4. Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of “Arte y Pico” blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award: http://arteypico.blogspot.com/
5. Display these rules.

And the beautiful Charmaine Otto tagged me with the following award... Thank you SO much Char - you are an amazing scrapper and photographer, and I can't wait till we can meet IRL too.

So I can accept the award I now have to forward 7 other blogs that I think deserve one and add them to my faves.

These girls inspire me, support me and are brilliant!

Mardi Winen

Helen Karanfilovski

Yvette Adams

MellyandMe

Rosalie Quinlan

Leanne Beazley

Kerry Swain

Well that's all from me tonight - thank you again to the beautiful girls who nominated me for these awards, I feel very honoured. I have lots more to share with you so will be back soon x Janelle

Where have I been??

You might well wonder why I have been a little quiet on the blog front. I would love to say that I have a brand new design I have been working on, but no, this week has been for scrapping AND it is school holidays here still, so life has been busy.

This week I scrapped over 10 layouts in about 2 days which is totally unheard of for me - however I really loved it and didn't want to stop. I felt I was lacking in the new photo department however so set out to fix that problem. More on that in a bit.

Thursday we had a very special day - we had a visit from my wonderful friend Kim Archer and her beautiful daughter Capri. Both Emily and Jasper were super excited too because Capri is such fun to play with. So while Kim and I chatted non stop, the kids played beautifully, the day went too quickly and we all can't wait to do it again.

It was super exciting to show Kim all around our new home too. And being the wonderful friend that she is, Kim surprised me by handing me this beautifully wrapped gift as she walked in the door - a housewarming gift for us.

And look closely at this beautiful card Kim made for me also...

Inside my beautifully wrapped gift was an Heidi Swapp 9 x 9 album especially for me to scrap about our new home. Thank you SO much Kim, Capri and the boys for my gift, I will treasure it always.
After Kim and I had chatted and eaten some more scones, we headed outside to take some pics of the kids. Kim took some amazing shots both inside and out - you can see some of them here on her blog. Here is one I snapped of the kids on the back step.

We all thoroughly enjoyed our day and can't wait to do it again. Thank you so much Kim and Capri for sharing a lovely day with us.

After Kim and Capri headed home, I dragged my two outside for some more shots together. Just to show you that they are very normal (I think) kids, here is what we started with.

A sad Jasper - because his sister didn't want to sit next to him

 

Then a sister sitting next to him under much sufferance

And finally after Mummy doing some silly dancing around the backyard, we have a successful photo

Then onto some on their own which worked much better...

I have quite a few more photos and I have had a wonderful time playing with them in photoshop too. So keep an eye out for some layouts coming soon using these photos too.

This week I am starting a brand new secret squirrel project which I will share some sneak peeks with you as I go and I hope to have another Christmas pattern to share with you as well. Back soon with lots more to share. Have a lovely weekend x Janelle

Great day...

One of the many things I love about our new home is that I can now entertain friends, and relax. It sounds silly I know but I was embarased about my old little home, and the lack of storage etc. So to be in a bigger home with such lovely things around me is such a thrill.

So to have one of my very best friends come to visit on Saturday for the WHOLE day was an absolutely thrill. This wonderful friend made the trek to my house for a visit. When she arrived, the chatting started, and didn't stop ALL day. I whipped up my first batch of scones in the new kitchen - and we ate, drank cups of tea and shared our goodies too.

Here are my scones on the new housewarming gift, given to me by a very special aunty.

After we had our fill of scones, we decided to take some photos of our Christmas projects together - let me tell you, Natalie's Santa (Mr Jolly Jingles) is absolutely divine, I wanted to hide him with me in the hope she would forget to take him home, but alas, she didn't so I have put my order in for a kit too. Here are our two projects looking all yummy together (if we do say so ourselves he he)

And I just can't resist sharing this photo of Natalie's Santa again, I love the fresh new feel of this one that we took. Who could resist him!!

And finally, we couldn't resist having our photo taken together too, thanks to Suzanne who popped in for a cuppa too (Hi Suzanne x). Please don't look TOO closely at us, as we are both looking a little tired!

So girls, if you haven't booked into Kerry's Christmas in July, please don't hesitate as you will not be disappointed. SO much fun to be had and some super yummy projects to decorate your (or a friends) home for Christmas...

And a BIG thank you to Natalie for helping me have a wonderful weekend - can't wait till we can do it again. x Janelle

Christmas in July...

For the last three years, I have made an annual trip to Nundle to teach a Christmas in July workshop for my good friend Kerry. This year however we decided to broaden our horizons and not have an actual face to face class but make it available to everyone all over the world. Natalie and I have been super busy designing brand new projects especially for Christmas in July this year. I am SO excited to be able to share mine with you...

This year I have designed a brand new cushion called 'Vintage Christmas'... It is a round cushion featuring holly leaves and berries - and some of my stars and swirls too. There is applique, stitchery and piecing in this cushion AND as a bonus, you will get full instructions for a pieced cushion to match. Here is 'Vintage Christmas'...

And here is a close up of some of the applique details...

And a sneak peek at the bonus cushion - here they are together as I was working on a photo for the pattern cover...

Now, how does this all work you may ask? Well let me explain. If you would like to take part in our Christmas in July workshop, take a look here at Kerry's blog for all the details. For those of you who are familiar with Kerry's kits, they are always very generous and everything you need is included and this will be no exception. In the kit you will receive full fabrics to make Vintage Christmas applique cushion as well as Natalie's GORGEOUS Santa - check out Natalie's blog for details coming soon. You will also receive two brand new release patterns that are only available through this workshop until late August. Kerry will also be popping in some other gorgeous goodies for you as well.

In addition to all of this, there will be full online step by step photos and instructions provided for you for a whole month - so if you feel like stitching late at night when the kiddies are asleep, you can pop online and take a look whenever you like. Kerry is also offering some great incentives to book and participate as a group too. Beginners are welcome as always and this is a great place to start because of the photographic steps that will be offered to you as well.

I have thoroughly enjoyed designing and making this cushion for Christmas in July - I can't wait to share it with you...

If you would like to read about and see the projects from previous Christmas in July workshops, have a look here for 2006 and here for 2007.

Ok back to putting the finishing touches on the pattern - hope you enjoy looking at my 'Vintage Christmas' cushions. x Janelle

A winner and a sneak peek...

It is now time to announce the winner of a set of patterns for Little Bluebirds, and I have to admit that I didn't want this little giveaway to come to an end. I have absolutely LOVED each and every one of your comments and the memories from your childhood that you have shared with me - thank you ALL so very very much. Each day I have received such wonderful comment and encouraging words and I thank you for those as well. You have helped me remember such wonderful memories long forgotten too - I was reminded of a special Holly Hobby dish that my Grandmother kept 50c coins in and each time we left her home (which was a long way away), she would give a few to us and now I have this special dish in my home. I will have to continue the tradition with my Grandchildren one day too.

I do encourage you to take a few moments and read through the comments left for the giveaway as they truly are wonderful - thank you ALL from the bottom of my heart.

Without further ado - time to choose (with the help of the random number generator) a winner... The winner or a full set of Little Bluebirds patterns is Sue Cahill -

I love your Bluebird Quilt, it is so bright and cheerful!
I think my favorite childhood memory is my father feeding us sugar sandwiches (bread smeared with butter than sprinkled with sugar, put together as a sandwich). My mother was in the hospital having my sister, in those days they kept mother and child a week. My dad had no clue what to do with the four of us already at home. Needless to say my mother straightened him out when she got home and he actually got to be a decent cook. He did leave me with a wicked sweet tooth though, at least I can blame him for the donuts I just ate.

Posted by: Sue Cahill | Jul 05, 2008 at 09:10 PM

Congratulations Sue - I am thrilled to be able to share my patterns with you. Your comment reminded me of my own childhood too - my Mum spent a bit of time in hospital too and being the only girl in the house with three brothers and my Dad, I remember having to go to the neighbors to have my hair done for School - poor Dad LOL. Thanks for the memories... If you would like to email me your postal address, I will pop your Little Bluebirds patterns in the post for you tomorrow.

Now onto my sneak peek. I have been busily stitching this week inbetween unpacking boxes and have a few exiting projects coming up. The first is for a Pin Cushion Block of the Month at Quilt Fabric Delights. I am So excited to be involved in this BOM too - there will be pin cushions designed especially for this BOM by Leanne Beazley, Rosalie Quinlan, Melly and Me, Crabapple Hill Studio, Squirrel Momma and Pinks and Needles. For more details and to sign up for this fun BOM, contact Sarah at Quilt Fabric Delights. Here is a sneak peek at my contribution - there will be other exciting things in my pattern too but you will have to sign up to the BOM to see these (sorry to tease!)

Hope you like my sneak peek! Back tomorrow with another one - I have been very busy! x Janelle

Little Bluebirds Giveaway...

Ok it is that time again - time for a giveaway. I LOVE giveaways and sharing my work with you. For this giveaway, you have a chance to win a full set of my Little Bluebirds patterns...

So leave a comment on this post and I will be back next week to choose a winner. I would also love to hear of anything from your childhood that holds a special place in your heart. Little Bluebirds was inspired by a special bluebird brooch that I was given as a thank you gift for being a flower girl for my cousin at age 4. It was SO very special to me and I have loved bluebirds ever since.

I can't wait to hear your stories and share my BOM with one lucky person too. x Janelle

My news...

I'm finally back online and able to come and share my exciting news with you. I had a little laugh at some of your guesses - he he. And no, I am not pregnant!

We have been MOVING! Yes that's right, moving house. This has been something that was very unexpected and not something we had seen as a possibility, but I am a believer in things happening for a reason and whatever your belief system is, I know that this was a gift to us. Something that we so desperately needed - and is very very exciting too. I feel very very blessed.

So for the last week and a bit, we have been shifting house. We still own our little cottage but will be letting another family have some time there for a while. For us, we are now in a much bigger, newer home. I can now enjoy so many things that we have lived without (because we loved our little cottage and block of land so much). My children have lovely big bedrooms with built-in wardrobes and can have a BATH - no more plastic tubs to bath in.

For me, I would say there are three things I am MOST excited about in our new home - and there are MANY things I love, but these are what I am most grateful for. A power point in the bathroom - I can now do my hair IN the bathroom for the first time in 6 years. A laundry that is INSIDE my house - I can't believe how lovely it is to put some washing on at night and not be frozen having to go outside. And finally - I have my VERY OWN work space - no more sunroom that is a thoroughfare to kids bedrooms. It is all mine, my very own space - I can't WAIT to decorate it.

I would love to show you lots of photos of our new home but for now, here we are standing on our new back verandah, taken not long before we started to move in.
And in between moving, I have been working on some secret squirrel projects too. I will take some sneak peek shots in the morning to share with you. AND I will also be back with a give away - of you know what!!

Here are some more stores that are running my BOM, Little Bluebirds... How exciting!!!
Stacey from Peppermint Stitches in Queensland
Treasured Threads - US

I had better get back to unpacking and sorting and finding new homes for things - but I will be back with LOTS more to share in the morning... I am SO glad to be back xx Janelle

Remember me???

Oh goodness, life has been unbelievably busy around here lately. Lots of work to do and some new exciting things happening in our little family too - a HUGE change and a new beginning. We are all very excited!!

So while we work hard at these changes, I will be MIA for a few more days and may even be offline - however I am trying hard not to avoid that... HOWEVER I will be back very soon with a giveaway, so please keep checking back - not long now...

In other exciting news - look at this stack of deliciousness that arrived this week. The end result of MONTHS of work. I am so unbelievably thrilled with the end result and am happy to say that 'Little Bluebirds' is now ready to go.

So while we are busy making some huge life changes here (which I will tell you all about soon), I will leave you with a list of shops that are running my BOM. I will share more as we go along...

The Cottage on the Hill - Nundle NSW
Quilt Fabric Delights - South Australia
Buttonberry - UK

Please contact any of the wonderful girls at the above shop to register your interest in Little Bluebirds...

Have a fabulous weekend - back soon with LOTS to share xx Janelle

It's FINISHED!!!!

That's right - you read correctly...

I have FINISHED all of the patterns, shop kit, colour chart, shop flier - everything for Little Bluebirds. I am SO excited to finally be finished.

So tomorrow morning ALL of my weeks and weeks of work will be bundled up and posted off to my wonderful Distributors at Creative Abundance to be made into patterns ready for you...

I wanted to say a BIG thank you to all of the wonderful shops that have very patiently waited while I finished everything necessary for my very first BOM quilt. A celebration is in order I feel, and maybe even a giveaway or two. So pop back soon for more details. I will also list each shop that will be running my BOM as we go along.I can't wait for this journey to begin and to start seeing your versions of my quilt being made too...

I will leave you with some close ups of Little Bluebirds... A seven part Block of the Month - by me....

Thank you each and every one of you for being patient with me as I put every little bit of detail possible into these patterns. I have poured my heart and soul into them! Let's get the party started!!!!! xx Janelle

Another sneak peek...

Hello - I have missed everyone and feel I have been very neglectful of my blog. You must also be thinking that I am taking a LONG time to write my patterns - well yes I am BUT I am giving it my absolute all and am happy to say I am ALMOST finished. Any day now and you will be hearing me cheer from the roof tops... A big THANK YOU for your patience.

A big HELLO to all of the girls that are popping over to visit me from Buttonberry. I hope you enjoy your visit. Grab a cuppa and take a look around...

I have something more to share. As part of my Block of the Month program, I am giving you some bonus projects. I decided that I would share one of them with you now. So not only do you get very detailed instructions on how to make Little Bluebirds, you also get the full instructions to make several other projects as well. The one I am sharing with you today is called Bluebird Journal Cover. I designed this journal cover so that you can record your journey as you make Little Bluebirds. You can make notes, add fabric swatches, photographs - the ideas are endless. And who doesn't have room for one more journal, I know I do...
The front cover...
Inside...
Another shot - because I just can't help myself and Iove it so much...
So as I head back to my computer to add the very final touches to my patterns, I will leave you with these sneak peeks to hopefully inspire you to make Little Bluebirds and travel this journey with me. I know I can't wait! x Janelle