school holidays start (finally), cross country, letter press, cricut & Shop Handmade count down

Greetings all,
I get asked a lot, & interviewed often about how i manage 4 children, 2 businesses, markets, volunteer, absent husband & running a household.  Well i'm no expert, but this is how i roll . . . i write lists, have no back up so have to rely on myself & think it all comes down to my determined personality.  I know i'm the right type of person to be an Army wife (independent, capable, tough - sick of being tough at the moment) i get on with life & above all - our children come first, my orders can have my love tomorrow.
This is a snapshot of what the last few days of my life (without internet access, it's the WAN damn it) have been like . . .

making the name tags & badges for Shop Handmade staff, cute hey, choice of lanyard or if you're wearing a fabulous necklace, you can just wear the friendly name tag brooch version . . . plus my first delivery of goodies for Shop - it's looking beautiful inside, can't wait for the launch!!

cross country season - my girls are off to regionals, just ask this federal police officer who was checking their speed down the home straight - have you ever seen anything funnier than this at school sports??  I also fed 300 children a sausage sizzle that day, we have awesome helper parents at school plus one amazing grandfather who cooked the BBQ!!

thanks to a tip from Corrie at Retro Mummy about how much fun this CriCut cutting machine is, i also invested in one this month, quite the step up from my Sizzix machine . . . just ask these ladies doing the demonstration DVD - love their facial expressions, i don't do scrap booking - just paper craft for decorating & gift tags, but they seemed pretty serious about it, he he he . . .

so i've been playing around with the CriCut Song Bird cartridge, which made these cute bird cages & branches for my triple badge sets which are off to Shop Handmade too . . .

it's finally school holidays here in Canberra, we have up to 10 children here on any given day, so the Shop Handmade gals can set up & basically my children have a bigger social life than i do . . . i think the word is out, we do craft big time at our place & make great smoothies . . . look at this embroidery for Daddy . . . 

thought i'd try my hand at texta rolls at Shop Handmade too after finding these lovely chunky textas . . .

& why not try Letter Press??  Have to say, after mastering the very sticky tacky paint, i got the hang of letter pressing with the help of this young man.  I want to make my own price tags for Shop Handmade, that's my job tomorrow, oh & the curtains for the change rooms, um, & babysitting 8 children . . . he he he, fun fun fun!!  No wonder my children don't like television, too many friends & too much craft!!

So for those who are back at school, half way through school holidays or just starting them (Qld, NSW, ACT & Vic are states all in the same time zone??) enjoy your children, keep the craft alive & hug them often.  For those of you who don't have children, you must wonder when the holidays are over as this endless relay of children holiday in your city!! 
My children might wonder why i squeeze a little too hard sometimes, we all miss our very much loved Daddy.  I hope my husband likes that laundry bag from the last post & this embroidery is on its way.  Love Posie