Hi!!

Have had myself a busy week. Our friend Julie and god-daughter Courtney came up from Esperance for a few days, creating glorious turmoil in their wake! We have known Julie for 12 years and she is part of us, part of our family... when they are here our lives just feel that little more complete. Sounds weird but it's true!

They left this morning and I have lots of fun photos... did this LO today of the Kookaburra's at one of our favourite picnic spots. Was sooo cold in the wind but we got a table that was sheltered from the brunt of the wind and had a wonderful 3 hours relaxing!!


So the house feels a little empty... Kellan is exhausted but missing Courtney already... Darren is at a loss as he always is when they leave... I'm glad to have had time to chat with other friends, but miss the comfortable friendship Julie and I have together. Well... there's always Christmas Break!!

Scrapped this one as well today... simple but I like it! Was for one of Jill's Cyber Crop Challenge's @ ScrapWitch, everything had to be in 3's. Kel spends hours re-designing his Bionicles so I had to take some pics of his latest inventions, he was pretty happy about that so set them up in the long grass for 'battle action shots"! The title {white words} were cut with my new Silhouette Craft Cutter... what a COOL toy to have!!What a weekend I missed in my part of the social scrap world though... Cyber Crops at ScrapWitch, Chelle's Scrap'n'Crazy and Scrapping Around {where Tassie Karen DT's}. I pretty much missed them all, just not enough energy to fit them all into one day! Well there's always next time... and hopefully next time they won't all be on the same weekend, or on a weekend when I actually get a social life happening!

Probably just as well I didn't go hell for leather scrapping today... we have the Autism Crop next weekend and I need to conserve they photos I do have!! I have 2 circle journals to get started on and a gift to make... so at least I have projects to start. And the BEST thing {well aside from the crop itself} is that it's on a Saturday... which means I'll have Sunday to use up the rest of the mojo I find while at the crop!!

MaDscraps is going well... never seen products walk out the door like some of the new ones out at the moment, My Little Shoebox and Jenni Bowlin Studios for instance... although I can see why, it's stunning stuff!!

Home front... we're all good. I mean yeah, we're all good... great stuff hey! Hopefully Darren will be right to look for some school hours part-time work soon, or a couple of nights somewhere... the extra $ will be great but part-time will still have him at home for Kellan... and me, it's made all our lives so much easier having someone home and I don't want Darren going back downhill.

So that's about it... a lot a waffle on about not much! Got an exciting few months of ahead of me I think... can feel it in the bones... good things are going to happen!!

Until I rabble on again... take care of you!!

Scrapped this for a friend... we both needed serious mojo so we swapped photos for an opportunity to scrap something different! It worked, had a ball doing this last night. Photoshopped the pics and blurred the background so they focussed on Karen and Michael, had fun with yummy brushes and ended up with this gorgeous dreamy effect! I'm pleased with them! And it's a 12x12 double... haven't done many of these over the last few years... once upon a time everything I did was a double!!


Weekend has been good. Went shopping for clothes for Kel yesterday. He's grown out of everything! Thank goodness for BigW and Best'n'Less... fabulous for casual kids clothes when you have to shop on a budget! All the trousers are too long for him though... unfortunately he seems to be growing out instead of up at the moment! So long as he starts growing upwards from now on though he'll be fine... and then these clothes will last a while!! He does look like a dude though... he wears them well, with attitude!

Moved my scrap room/shop area around yesterday... bookcase is still a mess of albums, mags and not done OTP idea. One day I'll get to that! But everything else is fitting in much better. I love playing in my 'shop', I so love scrap supplies!!

Other than that we're just doing the usual household chores, Darren is great but there are still things that need to be done on the weekends... it's easier doing housework when you both do it I guess. I do enjoy that he cooks through the week and I do the weekends, having to cook everyday started making it a bore... but now its just the weekends I have more time to cook yummy meals, well they're all yummy but I have the time to make more complicated ones if you know what I mean!

We have the Austism Crop Day on the 23rd June... I am really looking forward to this. Haven't scrapped with the girls since the beginning of April! Should be a big turn out as well so I'm looking forward to meeting lots of new people... if I can manage to get over my stupid awkward shyness first!! Now to get my a into g and find take some pics so I have something to scrap!!

Tag Time

The lovely Miss Karen B tagged me...

Three things that scare me:
Same as Karen - Cockroaches, paedophiles, injections.

The daggiest thing in my music collection:
Very likely the 80’s mega mix I have… very daggy… very sad.. but oh so cool!!

My three favourite clothing items:
Jeans, shawl, jammies.

My partner's most annoying habit:
Going on about the conspiracy theories of the world… again and again… and dumping his clothes next to the bed!

What stresses me out:
HTML coding!!

If I could change the world I would:.
Promote tolerance, respect and understanding.

My favourite household chore:
How does favourite & chore go in the one sentence? If I had to choose… making the beds.

If I had fifty bucks to spend at Target I would head for which section:
Crockery... need some nice coffee mugs!!

In my next life I would like to come back as:
Someone wiser to the world than I am… or a pampered cat!

My least favourite celebrity:
I don’t really pay attention to them… unless BB counts and as such EMMA… but would hate to have her be called a celebrity!!

OK... I tag Lisa, Chelle and Linda

Finally finding something that resembles my scrap mojo! This LO is based on a Sketch Challenge that Jill from ScrapWitch set us. I'm trying to let loose and do some freestylin'... not working! This is about as close as I think I can go! But it's growing on me... blue isn't a colour I use a lot either, so had to throw some red in there!!


This I had fun doing... spent hours trying to get it right and then it just fell into place while I was on the phone with a friend, probably because I wasn't thinking and analysing, was just 'doing'! This one is about Jacqui's little boy Jack and the 2 Red Truck conversations he and I had all weekend! He's such a cutey and it was great fun to be lost in a 2yo's world again. It's only a 8x8 double because I thought that would be fun to do for my Melbourne photos.

Scenic Route and I are getting along quite fine now, I love it's simple designs and bold colours... and I finally got my hands on this scalloped edged Creative Imaginations paper. At $3.95 a sheet I now know why everyone uses bits of it instead of the whole sheet... but isn't it wonderful!!

Melbourne was... in a nutshell... GREAT! I had the best time and got to meet lots of gorgeous people! I'm not in a very descriptive chatty mood atm so will ramble about it all later... but in the meantime here's some piccies!!

This is Jacqui, Me, Kerryn and Sam! Sam, thanks so much for welcoming me into your home, you made me feel right at home... I don't usually walk in and take over the kitchen as I did... honest!!



This is little Jack, out the back of Sam's house... now is he not the cutest looking little cool dude!!


This is Andy... he is gorgeous... look at those eyes, they've come up a bit greener in the pic here as I had to lighten the rest of it, but he's got big hunky green eyes IRL... this one's going to be a lady killer when he grows up for sure! Hugs cutey... Auny Mi-la will see you again one day!


OK... maybe boring for some... but through the haze of a migraine I spotted this olive tree in the street with olives on it... thought it was one of the most beautiful things!


And this is me being really bored on the way home taking pics of the sky, wing and clouds... like I said - I was bored!! Taken somewhere over the Great Aussie Bight.

Been a bit quiet of late... mainly because life has been insanely busy. Work has me run of my feet {well fingers moreso, feet don't go far!} and then Darren decided to organise a life for us on the weekends and we're never home, or if we are we're entertaining... which is all good!! 'Cept the work bit, that sucks!

But I'm off to Melbourne on Wednesday! Yayyyy!! A mini break is soooo what I need. Then I get home Saturday... get the newsletter and all the new yummies {have HEAPS of new yummies sitting here atm} ready for the 1st and then go back to work on Thursday.

I played at the ScrapWitch Cyber Crop on the weekend, although wasn't there much as we were 'entertaining' all weekend! Managed to get a whole one LO done!
Also Alli Paterson asked me to do a LO for the book they are putting together for the Autism Early Intervention Centre Fundraiser... OMG, I honestly nearly fell over and was soooo flattered! So I have created this for it. I hope the winner enjoys it... it was so hard scrapping for some-one I don't know!!


I made this as a gift for Jac for Mothers Day, her partner isn't exactly the most thoughtful of men and I knew she'd be disappointed, so I wanted to send her something to let her know some-one was thinking of her, as she does everyone else. These are her 2 boys - aren't they the most gorgeous kids!!


These ones are more of the SW Alpha Challenge LO's.

Y - so I've used Yellow Ink, Yellow Tones, Yellow Floral, Pics of Yellow flowers and "Yellow" in the Title.


G - Green Tones, Gem, Glitter, Great Photo {LOL}, G Words for Title


This one is A - so I've done Arrows, Aqua, Title with and "A" word, oh and Darren reckons the orange colour could be called "agrum"... hmmm jury's still out on that one!!


I just have to do "C" now and I'm up to date!!

So that's my scrapping... I keep thinking I don't do many LO's anymore but last month I counted 14 I'd done! I think that's pretty good for some-one who hasn't done a lot of scrapping of late!! I have the recipe swap LO's to be done before I go to Melbourne on Wednesday... and am obviously procrastinating as I'm writing on my blog!! But am going to hand deliver them to Jill when I meet her! We're meeting up at SamJ's house and I'm going to meet Kerryn as well... can't wait to meet all these fabulous women!!

So I think that's about all from me... will share all about Melbourne when I get back, until then... take care of you!

LO's and Rabbling...

OK... some LO's to share... just so's this page isn't so boring to look at!!

Did this at the SnC Cyber Crop last weekend. This one is based on a sketch especially done for SnC by the ever so talented Becky Fleck I changed the feel of the sketch as I do... but the placement of elements is the same.


This also from SnC CC - a progressive LO hosted by Lisa, I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out!


And this is the last one I managed to complete for the SnC - a LO based on M. Yep sorry me again, but we had to use a photo of ourselves... I'm sicking of seeing myself as well!!


This one I did today when my friends Nes and Peta from ScrapWitch came over to my house to scrap! Was a great day... I feel as comfy with them IRL as I do online!
This one of Darren I was hesitant to do... Darren has had a rough year, fighting a breakdown & depression caused by stresses at work. He's still fighting it by himself as he is hypersensitive to the medications available... but since giving up work to be a SAHD, the Darren I knew is coming back. But he loved this LO and is glad I have done it for him. I guess it's good to show to future generations that life isn't always perfect... hopefully it will help others down the track with coping when it's not.


And this simple one... took over 3 hours to do because I was too busy talking! I have fun with the simple ones. This is Kel and his cousin Jess, definately a Digi Duo these two!!


It has been a busy weekend this one. Went to Chelle's for drinks on Friday night and had a lot of laughs as we all do. Although I couldn't do much drinking, I was so lucky as to have to work on Saturday, so didn't want to be hungover... but at least it solved the how to get home issue!! I was surprised with a b'day gift... which I honestly had forgotten all about! Was so exciting! I got one of those oh so cute AMM Mini Tote's... way cool. It was filled with what must be the whole Q&Co Kissy Fit Range of embies... so yummy!! Guess I have some LO's that need doing... oooh but I have the perfect papers coming soon that will match ever so well!!

So then Saturday I worked until 2:00, came home with a boomer of a headache most likely because I actually had to use my brain there for once, knocked myself out with my "best friend Mersyndol" {yeah giggle girls... I know exactly the ones who will be!!} and went to bed early.

But today it was gone most of the day and as I mentioned earlier I scrapped with Nes and Peta all day, relaxed and had fun. They are such tidy scrappers... like no mess anywhere! How do people scrap so neatly!?! I thought I was tidy... but even I end up with paint from one end of the table to the other... not to mention what happens when let loose with glue!

Soooo... work tomorrow. I'm getting towards wits end, hoping it calms down before I have to admit defeat to the GM. It's just getting sooo busy on a permanent basis... oh well, maybe this week.

Alrighty... that's all for now. Darren keeps talking at me and I can't concentrate on this or him when he does that! Poor boy, lucky for him he still wins out...

7 Things Tag

I have been well and truly tagged by Tammy, Sam then Lisa with the same tag! Ooops and also Linda... wow!! So here it is...

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to blog about their seven things and post the rules as well. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. If was born a boy I was going to be called Shore… phew, thanks goodness I’m me!!
2. I lived in Singapore for a couple of years when I was little and fell into one of the storm water drains, knocked my head and went blind for a few weeks.
3. IRL I’m actually very quiet and reserved until I get to know people. Then watch out…
4. I love acknowledgement and being the centre of attention {to a point}, but when I get it I feel uncomfortable, get all embarrased and wish it would go away… yeah I weird but we all know that!!
5. I’m a positive thinker living with depression… what a conflict! ROFL!! The doc says it used to be called ‘melancholy’… I much prefer that terminology.
6. I don’t recall many things from my childhood. My sister remembers everything… so usually she’ll help trigger a memory for me. Other than that I rely heavily on photos and stories my mum has told me. Another reason why I scrapbook… I’m scared I may forget these everyday memories as well... and I don't want to ever forget them.
7. Darren {my DH} moved in with me after one date and we got engaged after only a month… we waited 3 months to tell the family. We’ve now been married for 12 years and together for 14 years, sometimes you just ‘know’.

OK... I'm not tagging anyone as I think everyone I know has been tagged... so if you read and haven't been.. then tag, you're it!!

More Scrapping...

I popped into the Hub last night to do Vicki's Step by Step Challenge! Was lots of fun and the tables were turned with her and I. She used to have the panic attacks about not knowing what comes next, and this time it was payback!! So this is what I've created... bit of a mess, but a fun mess and I quite like it!!

I also made a card for Kellan's friend... I'm making an effort at making cards now. Why they scare me is beyond me. So yeah, it's pretty simple and plain - but practice makes perfect. When Peta comes over she'll bring her card portfolio and give me some pointers, phew coz I obviously need all the help I can get!!

And check these out... now how cool are these!! Just popped them into MaDscraps this morning along with some DeJaView Rub-On Titles, HS Designer Photo Corners, XL Ghost Shapes and Writers Blocks, Arctic Frog and some new WRM Coppered Out Pattern Papers!!


Hehehe... ok so shameless plug, But hey, my shop, my blog... guess I can plug to my hearts content can't I! But are they cute or what... !!

Oh oh... and if you're into kits... check this out. I love this and have had to grab one for myself {so naughty I know... but I had to have one!!}

They're in the shop under What's New as well... am I bad or am I bad! Ok... so we all know I'm bad!!

It was my birthday yesterday and I had the best day! Was so full of love and lots of warm sentiments... I'm so blessed to have such special friends. Darren even spoilt me with some books and a gorgeous card that somehow said the perfect thing and made me cry {did a lot of that today}. Work got me this huge bunch of flowers, Peta and Nes each sent me gorgeous cards filled with scrap yummies, Andrea made me a stunning little mini album and Lynn from work gave me a little candle that has a scent that packs a punch, and it even came with a matching matchbook... how cool!!


Mum and Dad gave me this gorgeous lamp... now is that stunning or what, I love it! The inlaws gave me a voucher and my sister gave me a tote bag filled with goodies like a shawl, lip gloss, body lotion etc... I've been so spoiled with all these gifts and all the phone calls and emails.


So... that's been my last couple of days. Oh, see in the photo with the lamp - the window slot thing in the wall... that's the couch in front and that's where Kel sits... and the lamp is on my desk. So while I'm rabbling away on here - he's sitting there usually rabbling away at me. Love those slots in the wall!!

Oh oh... I forgot to share this!!

I can't go to the Hub Retreat in Adelaide, mainly for financial reasons {while the retreat and accomodation are a great bargain, I know myself well enough that it would cost me a heap load more than that and with Darren not working - ouchy!!}. But I already had the airline tickets that of course were non-refundable!

Well there was another sale on so I was able to simply transfer the tickets and am going to spend 3 days in Melbourne with Jac since she can't go to the retreat either, we'll have our own little retreat!

I'm so excited. I've been chatting via msn with her for over a year and it will be wonderful to meet her IRL - share a real GJ coffee together - run amock with her boys - meet some other Melbournite's we know - talk scrap - see the "duh's" - just experience her everday life for real and be able to give her a real hug!!

It feels a bit decadent going to Melbourne while we are watching our pennies, but it would be silly wasting the tickets and won't cost me much more on top of that - Jac's a great budgeter, she'll keep me in line!!