Just a chat...

Have had a lovely night tonight... sat and watched a DVD with Darren while dinner cooked... took it easy... was nice to spend some time alone.

We've been having some great 'together' time this last week I'd say... my old hubby that used to be is starting to emerge again, and it's such a relief to see. I so hope he stays this time!

Sunday was great... Nev's kids were a delight! Even she was shocked by how good they were. And Lily... omg this girl can talk! She takes after her grandma for sure! I got lots of pics, most of her jumping on the trampoline though!
Darren's brother came over with Jess... so Kel had ALL his cousins here at once. Was fantastic... I grabbed them altogether and got a pic of them all as well!!

Cold is starting to go away... thank god. Throat is still sore though... that part could be a worry. I am seriously wondering if it's all the green tea I've been drinking though. I mean logically it makes no sense... green tea being so good for you and all... but the soreness started after 3 days of drinking it. Might have to stop for a few days just to see!

Haven't been in much of a 'chatty' mood as late... I guess all of us in the forum/blog/msn world go through stages where you just need a break... guess it's my turn! So much has been happening in my little world that I need to stop and take it all in I guess!

Anyway... that's all from me. I'm off to bed now to read for a while... and it's not a scrap mag either! I've almost finished "The Vampire Lestat" by Anne Rice. Loving it... but I am well and truley a fan of hers!!

Take care of you...

Celebrations...

That's the theme for this months FK EDM comp... and the featured sponsor is Sassafrass Lass Nester Stamps, which was a little wrapped gift impression. Many things you can do with this theme... many ways to interpret things you celebrate.
So what do I do for my first LO on it... the obvious of course! Cake and Candles!! Hehehe... I'm such a loser! Well... my saving grace is I have 2 more LO's in which to redeem myself! But hey... I like it and that's all that matters!

Was a quiet day today... got the image for the next Angel Medley done... then started on this. Had 2 naps inbetween... the rest is doing me good. My throat felt better this morning but is painful again now... and I have a charming husky voice... so sexy - NOT!! But at least I have one now... it kept fading away yesterday! Missed Scrappi Dais because of this cold... I like to share, but I don't think anyone would want to be sharing this with me and to be honest I would have been as boring as hell and not done a thing!

So yeah... I'm a bit of a sad case... but's all's gonna be good soon enough.

My sister is coming over for lunch tomorrow and the house is a disaster... hopefully Darren will give me a hand in the morning. We have lots of 'picking up' to do... and securing away... I'm already in a panic over the scrap room because it has no doors and lots of goodies that little ones will have trouble resisting... fingers crossed for me!! But will be nice to see Nev, we are such slack sisters... I haven't seen her since beginning of June. My fault I must admit... always busy and when not I remember that her kids make me tense, too tense! I should have her here more often though as they're pretty good kids when 'visiting' - just at home they shock the hell out of me!!

Well... until next time... take care of you!

SA Stamping and Scrapbooking Fair

...was great fun. Hard work... but entirely satisfying! Lynn showed me all the in's and out's to running a successful scrapbooking shop... so much happens behinds the scenes! My head was well and truely spinning with information by the time I left Adelaide!!

Lynn is wonderful... just as I had imagined her to be. Although we have gotten to know one another quite well via the site and our regular email conversations, so I wasn't really surprised! It was great to share a part of her everyday life with her and her family. Her daughter SK has stolen my heart... she is a delight and was so well behaved all weekend, even with mummy being stolen by myself!

At the fair I had a chat and shared lunch with Steph Caskey-Devlin... other than meeting Lynn that was a highlight of my weekend. She comes across as a lovely lady... passionate about scrapping as we all are. She's a normal scrap addicted person... with a lot of talent!!

There was one lady at the fair who kept coming back to look through my album... bringing her friends along with her. I didn't get her name but did give her our site details so she can find the gallery and see all the other inspiring LO's from the rest of the Angels and our talented members. I hope she pops in and has a look. She truely made my day though... even though we scrap for ourselves and our families we all love to have our work appreciated. To have them appreciated by a 'stranger' was such a wonderful feeling. I've always wanted to inspire others... and to think that I had is immensely satisfying.

Saturday night Lynn, myself and Lea from LC's went out for dinner at the tavern... was a great night out and we chattered away late into the evening. Lea's just been accepted into a DT on an American site... this young lady has talent that even she doesn't realise is there yet. She's only been scrapping for 6 months and her work is great... given another 6 months I think she's going to be totally blowing us all away with her work!

Anyway... I have come home bringing a bug with me. Mum says I've caught it on the plane... just hope I didn't leave it behind with my gracious hosts for the weekend!! It's just a cold, but it's in my ears and my chest... my throat is razor blades. I was so worn-out with it yesterday that I actually fell asleep at my desk... woke up realising I was dreaming. Hope the boss didn't see that! So today I am home... and am running back to bed right now!!

Take care of you...

LC's Sneaks...

Here are some sneaks of my LO's for the September Gallery at LC's. We have a few different papers to show of this month... lots of papers that are compatible for the For Keeps Everyday Moments Competition, although we've shown how well they team up with other non-EDM items as well! Beautiful papers... all so different and yet all such fun!

Weight Update...

My commitment to my weight loss is still going strong... so far I have lost 8.4kg and am rapt with that. Tonight {thanks to Lea's shove up the bum} I've started some cardio work and got on the rower that has been staring at me for months! I'm not sure if I can do the 250mins by the end of the month... but have made a start... a whopping 6 minutes!! LOL... yeah... slack hey, BUT... have to start somewhere and the rower IS a total body workout!! Will build on it over the next few weeks and see how long I can go until the burning hurts!!
Good to see everyone trying to change themselves healthwise... Kim is doing great guns... Lisa and Chelle have just joined a gym together... woohooo girls... and I have my friends at LC's either trying with me... or cheering us all along... it's a good feeling to not feel 'alone' on this journey towards a healthier 'me'!!

Playing with new toys...

There really is nothing better than new gadgets is there!! Thanks to SM magazine and Rachel Richter fabo Photo Tech Segment on vintage effects I have learnt new things and been having a ball!! Obviously I'm still a long way from anywhere... but I only have PSE4 and can load all those cool 'actions' she shows... but I could get Andrea's Borders from www.atncentral.com and have been having lots of fun! Here are some I've just done... yes I know, amateur... but I've never said I'm anything more!!

This one uses one of the borders... the pull open polaroid style... LOVE this border!! For the pic I changed the contrast / light levels / hue / saturation... added noise and some vertical grain... the works. I love these saturated pics...



Here's Kel eating cake... loves birthday cake this kid!! I've mucked around with the contrast and light balance... added some brushes from 44Suburbia love thes brushes... I used one from Borders and Dirt and 2 from Wrong Turn... and I used my tablet to hand-write "Kel's Cake Hole".



OK... this one is the kids on the weekend having a pillow fight... I've added noise and a vertical grain and then stuck it on one of Andreas cool polariod film things.So that's all I've been up to tonight... SHOULD be doing the tax... but this is far more fun!!

Take care of you!!

Just an update...

Not a lot happening... am up to date on all my scrap projects... and how good does that feel!! Bloody fantastic I tell ya!! I bought a sewing machine today... K-Mart for $199.00 couldn't pass that one up! So have had to rearrange my whole scrap room to fit it, not that I have yet... it's still in it's box unopened! But the scrap room is rearranged and all tidy for once!! So now I can see into the family room as well as out the window... is good. For now... LOL!! I am so exhausted though... shopping with the family takes it out of a girl I tell ya!! But we had a good time, spoilt ourselves... and are now home relaxing!! I bought myself a tablet for drawing... digitally... have to learn how to use it first.. well actually have to connect it first, feel a bit afraid there... but that will be the head spinning from cleaning my scrap room!! Later tonight when the excitement of having it dies down I'll be settled enough to start playing!! Now I can do my own doodles and handwriting on my photos... excitement!!

Less than a week to go until I go to Adelaide to meet Lynn... sooo looking forward to that! She has a whole heap of HS Albums waiting patiently for me as well, be nice to finally give all the layouts I have done this year a home!!

Thought I'd share a pic of my little boy... isn't he the cutest thing, I love his little pink nose! He's growing so quick and so he should be for the amount of food he eats!!

Bit worn out... but...

I've done so much scrapping this weekend!

I did 2 Snapshots LO's for my EDM... so now they are all done... did the 3 Challenges and a LO for Lynn. I must say I am pretty pleased with myself!! Didn't make a start on the recipe swap... but they are do-able during the week or next weekend!

Here's the last Snapshots Layout: Never would I have thought to team red, yellow and brown together... but if Basic Grey can do it... then so can I!! I am really enjoying putting this album together and love the 9x9 format!! There is hidden journaling that reads: This moment, this point in my life where I am now... is a quiet time. It's filled with love, fun times, friends and contentment, no chaos! It's a good place to be...

Until later... take care of you!

Oh the photo of me was taken by myself this morning, since hubby is clueless with the camera and seems to think double chins are attractive!! So this is me... today!!

Final Challenge...

The final challenge for the weekend was to produce a LO for under $6.00... mine came in at a maximum $4.20 with 2 sheets of SEI & 1 Sheet of Kraft... too easy!! Simple... but how complex can you get with a budget that tight!?! I got the title from a LO I found on 2Peas... it was a rub-on or something by the looks... I just did it freehand instead!

Another EDM Snapshots LO

Did I fluke this one... I forgot we had this photo of Kel and Darren on the Wild Mouse at Luna Park. A once in a life time shot as this was Kel's first ever dip down on a roller coaster!! Can't believe I hadn't scrapped it before!

A Veritable Scap Fest...

It's Cyber Crop weekend at LC's and we're having a ball! So many gorgeous layouts have been created already!! Even I have done 2 already... usually I'm the one rushing to finish on Sunday!!

1st Challenge was a Step by Step... made it a bit easier on the girls by giving them a list upfront... we also had survival packs you could purchase so you were sure to have the embies you needed! Everyone has done awesome work and really stepped outside their boundaries to rise to the challenge! This is the one I created in the Step by Step... begged mum for some girly photos as I was dying to use this Fancy Pants paper!! So I got some of my gorgeous little neice Lily... she's such a cutey!



2nd one was a simple colour challenge, I set a choice of 3 colours out of 5... proving easy for some and really hard for others... I'm one of the ones that had trouble!!


I have mojo flowing... have just found the BEST photo for another EDM layout, and this one has been unscrapped for years... believe it or not!! Now I just have to work out how I'm going to incorporate hearts and flowers onto a boyish rollercoaster layout!! I'll make it happen somehow!

Until later... take care of you... mwah!