She's Off ...

to a Canon PIXMA party tonight!! The lovely Danielle won an invitation to the party, but she is not able to go due to distances and the ever-present Sydney traffic (bah humbug!!) so she has very kindly extended her invitation to me. I have been told to bring my scrapping tools and my photos, and enjoy the evening!
I have never been to a class or group thingo, so it will be a first for me. I hope I'm not completely overwhelmed by it all (how embarrassment ...)
So, I am trawling through photos trying to copy some to my USB key to have printed off tonight, then I will grab my tools and throw them in a bag - along with some bling, some flowers and some ribbon methinks, and maybe some of the yummy new papers I got from Allcraftz yesterday. The new Imaginisce range is just gorgeous, and I'm loving the funky Bo Bunny range as well.
I think I should be able to find some photos to print off, out of the 1000s we have taken recently ...

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday Princess!! 2 years seems to have just flown by ... not a baby anymore, Miss A is a real little girl. Her pressies included a tea set, a bracelet, some new clothes, a hairband, a Dora dvd, some "Legos" blocks as she likes to call them, some sunglasses and a baby doll. Not sure yet which she likes best, but she did enjoy pizza for dinner on the day!!
She is adored by everyone in the family; she is most certainly Daddy's little girl; she has both big brothers wrapped around her little fingers; she is the apple of Nan's eye. She is definitely our little princess.
May you enjoy many more happy birthdays sweetie.

You Belong In The Zoo!!

On Wednesday we went to the zoo, courtesy of some free tickets from Bing Lee!! 5 hours of solid walking, ooohing & aaahing at the animals.

It all started with the koalas just inside the front gate, a baby with mum & dad. Very cute.
The boys loved the crocodiles, frogs & snakes. Miss A liked the babrbary sheep (there was a little baby one running around like crazy during meal times ...) and I liked the fact that we didn't have to pay to get in!! A fabulous day out, and there's nowhere else in the world with a zoo with a view like ours. Just magnificent!
If you haven't been there for a while, its time to take a look at what they've done.

The Last For A While ...

This is the most recent layout I have done for a while - Miss A out the back. The photo is gorgeous although the colours are quite washed out, so I had problems choosing papers again. So I stuck with a rosey red cardstock, and some gorgeous Kaisercraft butterfly papers too. Another reject, but I love it and I'm hoping she will too when she looks back at her scrap albums when she is older.
We headed off to the zoo today - it was a great day but very tiring! The boys took turns being the tour guide. Even though we spent the whole day there, we still didn't get around to seeing all of the animals. The kids seemed to have fun though, and Miss A was very good. She knew the lions and tigers and birdies, and had a ball watching a small mountain goat?? running around playing in its area. Have taken loads of photos and will check them out to upload tomorrow.

Thank you very much to the lovely Ebony at Allcraftz for her very generous prizes following World Card Making Day. All of the challenge entries look superb - I was completely blown away by the ATCs especially; they take a very special knack and Linda in particular seems to have this covered!! Her ATCs are spectacular. The shaped cards were all very clever and a wonderful tribute to Hannah, the longest serving DT member who has had several of her own cards published and is a very talented artist with cards, scrapping, stamping ... pretty much everything I have seen her turn her hand to!! And I love the sketch challenge too - I would love to create cards in honour of all the sketches created by AC4U members, and I will upload them when they are completed.
Thanks for looking ... catch you soon.

PS - happy 3rd anniversary babe. It is complete madness at times, but its OUR madness, and I couldn't do it without you.

More Gorgeousness

Hi all!!
Today has been a great day - the family went to see Wall-E at the cinema. Miss A didn't sit still the whole time, but (thankfully) didn't annoy the other moviegoers. She missed out on her afternoon nap though, and is coming down with a cold - fingers crossed she has a decent night's sleep tonight!
Some more of my layouts from last week:-
These are some pics of Miss A helping herself to chocolate bars from the pantry. I don't "do" bright layouts, but matching colours to these photos was proving to be a nightmare, until I hit on the pink and lime green. The embellishments are Love Elsie - they really are gorgeous, just not my usual colours!


And this is my favourite layout of this bunch - Miss A and her dad taking a walk together. I love the photo, but I also love the way the layout turned out. I have so many stamps but rarely use them - this layout I used Basic Grey stamps as the background on a muted MME paper, flourishes all around the border; then a larger butterfly stamp as an accent. I wanted to continue the line of the fence in the photo, and initially thought of stitching but decided on flowers which I think also turned out ok. The 2 acrylic butterflies I received in the last WOM swap, handmade and embossed, then I added pearls to the bodies.
We are headed off to the zoo tomorrow, so its almost certainly going to rain!!

More Cardmaking!!

I managed to finish off several more cards yesterday, most of them actually designed to use rather than just put away in my stash of pretty things!



There's a birthday card for Miss A, a congratulations card for my niece, an anniversary card for the firefighter, and a pretty one for my stash.



There are still 2 challenges left from WCMD - a shaped card, and a set of ATCs - unfortunately I think I have used up all of my creativity already, as I have absolutely no idea for either of these challenges.



And it has been back to work for me today after a very slack week last week. I have to earn some $$ to pay for the pretties I bought over the weekend at Allcraftz!!

Master 9 has just come back from a birthday party at Code Red - a laser skirmish type thing (its all like a foreign language to me ...) where the boys get dressed up in gear and run around madly trying to shoot each other. He had fun!! He's added that as another suggestion for his next birthday, along with a Wipeout party, a Wii party, a bowling party ...
I'm loving daylight savings !!! It is still light outside, and the kids have time to do something in the afternoon without it being pitch black and cold. And none of us are morning people, so the fact that the sun doesn't come up until 7.30am really doesn't matter for my family.
Thanks for looking - more layouts tomorrow, after the card fest has finished.

DayLight Savings

A day later than expected - but for a very good reason!! Yesterday was World Card Making Day, celebrated in great style by the girls at Allcraftz 4 You. A day full of challenges, games & excitement, topped off by a massive sale including $1 stamps (missed out on those) and half-price paper (stocked up on those :-)) and I purchased a new Making Memories Trimmer as well!!


One of the most fun challenges was a card hop -like Chinese Whispers, only with cards. It worked amazingly well on the day, and was a great quick way to complete a few cards in a set time frame. I completed 4 of the 5 hops (a later starter after a visit to the plant nursery earlier in the day ...). So, here are some of my creations.

There are more challenges due on Monday October 6th, so if you get in quick, you won't miss out!!

Thanks But No Thanks

Hey all!! TGIF - stinking hot here in beautiful Sydney today, but what better place to be, right??

Now, on to sharing some more of my recent layouts, which have already been given the thumbs down for publication, so HERE is the only place to catch them:


I am looking at getting a new trimmer soon - maybe an early christmas present for myself! I started my cj yesterday - an 8x8 all about friendship. It has ot be ready for take-off on November 1st.
Take care, stay cool, and keep smiling :-)

Do You See What I See?

Look at this picture and think of what you see ...
It's a photo of the recent White Bay Hotel fire. You can see the hotel, one of the fire trucks, the awning starting to collapse and maybe even the pouring rain. Some of the things you can't see are the two firefighters inside the building at the precise moment when the fire flashed over and the hotel exploded - causing the awning to fall, and their SO knowing he could do absolutely nothing to help his firefighters and hoping & praying he didn't have to make the terrible journey to their families to tell them they had suffered an injury or worse. Thankfully, both firefighters escaped without serious injury - they had gone inside the abandoned hotel because their SO knew that sometimes there were squatters inside the building, and if anyone was inside they needed to be rescued quickly. Shortly after they entered the hotel, the fire flashed over, as the accelerant probably used to start the fire exploded pretty much without warning. My husband was at the fire that night, on another appliance. He had to sit out in the pouring rain ensuring the safety of his fellow firefighter atop an aerial appliance, pouring water onto the fire. I can look at this photo and marvel at the power of fire and the bravery of the firefighters, but knowing the story behind it, I can also appreciate the terror of being caught in such a situation. May God protect all of those men & women who choose this as their career: putting their own safety on the line in order to protect the lives & property of others.

Today's quote: "When a man becomes a fireman his greatest act of bravery has been accomplished. What he does after that is all in the line of work." ~Edward F. Croker

Some Recent Layouts

Hi again! I thought I would share a couple of my recent layouts with you - these are ones I completed over last weekend.



During the last school holidays, we visited Scott's parents at the new house. It's a lovely house, but all the doors look the same (I guess that's true of all houses actually, I just hadn't realised it until this particular visit). Chris got a little confused with all the doors, and on several occasions whilst he was searching for the bathroom, he ended up in the walk-in wardrobe by mistake!! He was able to laugh at this little confusion, so it was all good in the end. This layout uses new Vintage Moon papers from Pink Paislee, amongst other products.



This second layout uses my new stamps from the MM passport range. It is the story behind the picture of how Miss A ended up wearing Anthony's t-shirt during a visit to Apple Tree Bay recently. You would think as parents of 3 that we would have learnt by now that kids cannot resist temptation, but it seems we have a lot of learning left!!

I have removed many of the clock widgets I found yesterday - they looked lovely, but many were simply the wrong size for my blog and overshadowed the posts (which is a bit silly, as the posts are what make the blog, right??)

And keep your fingers & toes crossed - I have sent off a few layouts for submission to the mags. I think it would be pretty cool to see your own work published, and it ain't ever going to happen unless I put them out there to be picked up, right?? And of course, there's always the Elite Team entry ...

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!!

You may notice during today that at various times new clocks appear to the side. I have found a site dedicated to widgets (which apparently is the technical term for the little thingies you can embed on blog pages and elsewhere on your pc) - so today whilst I am working I am searching for new clocks. When I have uploaded a few I will be asking for comments/votes as to which you like best. Some of them aren't displaying properly at the moment - not sure if it is this computer I am on today or if it is how I have set the widgets up ... anyway, if it looks strange - you're right!! Its not just your monitor or your eyesight, just my poor blogging skills. Wish me luck - I'm off to find some more ...

How Many Stamps ???

Whilst my work website was down today, I spent more time in my scrapbooking room. Do you know just how many stamps I have?? An obscene amount, given that I really don't use them very much at all... So I have set myself another mini-challenge - to use each of my stamps at least once in the very near future.
And here is the first result, a card using the Autumn Leaves Pansy clear acrylic stamp. I stamped the image on Basic Grey's Obscure paper, added some Kaisercraft rhinestones, mounted the 3 flowers on orange cardstock and then added a sentiment rub-on also on PP and cardstock - its bright and happy, and at last I am using some of my stamps. I am triply happy because I also practiced some fussy-cutting of the most basic kind and used the Obscure range which was provided with a min-album kit but isn't really me ...
I must take some photos of the layouts I completed over the past 3 days - I am really pleased with the results, and may even try submitting some!

AWOL

She's baaaack!!!
After almost 8 months missing in action, I feel the need to update this poor old blog again - prompted mainly by the efforts of the lovely Marnie who manages to blog daily ... that's a feat I can't hope to emulate.
Work is frustratingly time-consuming atm. Need to work to earn the money to buy more scrapping goodies, but then have no time to use them when they arrive as I am too busy working. DH not too happy either as he always seems to get lumped with the ironing lately :-(
Had a no-work weekend just gone, and managed to complete 4 LOs and do some of Chris's ME mini-album. Still working on so many other UFOs as well, its just not funny anymore!!
Still bemoaning my very "basic" style - planning on some stitching on the current LO. And stamping. Have to do my welcome page for the CJ too ...
The work website is down this morning - so what was going to be a couple of hours work before the kids got up & going, has turned into a new blog post and some more scrapping!!
Today is the first official day of the school holidays - we have nothing in particular planned, but Anth is having a friend from school over today - he is counting down the hours & minutes as we speak. In fact he was out of bed before 6.00am just in case he missed Dharun!
Chat soon (hopefully, anyway).

In Loving Memory

This LO was completed as part of the first-ever Allcraftz CyberCrop over the Australia Day long weekend. 3 challenges were set, and this LO was for the heartfelt journalling challenge. I stewed over it for a couple of nights, but for years I have wanted to write something to show how much my Dad meant to me, and here was a wonderful opportunity!
This photo was one of quite a few which I don't think I had ever seen until my Mum presented me with a scrapbook for my 40th birthday last year - she took some of the old slides and had them re-printed as photos. That's me in the christening gown!! And what a stunner is my Mum only 3 weeks or so after having a baby, she looks gorgeous.
But the journalling is about my Dad, and how loved and protected he made me feel throughout my childhood. He gave me the self-confidence to believe I could do anything. And for 22 years he made me feel like I was the most important person in the world. I know my daughter will have the same kind of relationship with her dad, because he is the same loving, caring, protective kind of man. I hope my Dad is proud of the things I have achieved in my life, as I have him to thank for a large part!!
And what began as a wonderfully cathartic LO became even better, when as a lovely surprise I won a store voucher in a voting competition. All of the CC participants uploaded their LOs to the gallery - they all looked fabulous for all 3 challenges. Thank you to everyone who voted (not just for me, but who took the time to look at all the LOs). Avie won #1 and there was a tie between Maxine and De for #3 - its a website you should check out!!

Sweet Dreams

DH and I thought Miss A looked so cute asleep on the floor on her lambswool rug, that we both took almost identical photos of her over a couple of days. We took her away on holidays when she was only 6 weeks old - were we mad??!! But we all survived, and she learned how to sleep through the boys noise.
She still likes to sleep in this position - I have been meaning to take a photo of her in bed the last few nights, with her butt in the air and feet crossed; only difference is now she is accompanied by slinky pyjama bottoms or boxer shorts. She steals them from anybody who happens to leave theirs lying around ...
This page has hand-stitching on the bottom border, and rounded corners on the photo and PP.
I wish I slept this soundly at night!!

Rainy Days and Mondays ...

The latest page of Miss A's album - the rub-ons worked a treat this time, after being in the freezer for a few minutes. I shall have to remember that, and try to do it every time I use these rub-ons. Still simple, but still my style.
We took the train to Brooklyn today, amid "occasional showers" as predicted by Bureau of Meteorology. Despite the sprinkling rain, we still walked around Brooklyn, played on the play equipment (twice), explored the seashore and generally enjoyed the day of being together. All 3 kids were quite noisy on the train - I hope they didn't disturb the rest of the passengers too much!
DH is back to work tomorrow, and we are in the last stretch of holidays. Planning for my eldest's birthday party this weekend - our first slumber party. I gather from other parents that not much slumber actually goes on at these parties ... but they have the long weekend to recover from it (the boys, the parents and US).
Back to the drawing board ...

A Busy Weekend!

This is the cover of Miss A's 9x9 album - I haven't done the centrepiece yet, as I am not sure if I want just a monogram, or a small photo of her on the front.
I am pleased with the way this turned out, with the exception of the rub-ons. It has been very frustrating with this particular brand of rub-ons, they take the top layer of paper off sometimes!! It doesn't seem to matter what type of paper, or cardstock for that matter; the sticky stuff is just a bit too sticky and although the rub-on has come off the backing paper, the PP or cardstock has become stuck to the backing paper!! Next time, I think I will pop the rub-on in the freezer for a few minutes before I use it.
But I absolutely adore the Prima flower - just can't get enough of them.

And this is the first page of the album, using the altered photo. As it is only 9x9 I figured I had to keep it fairly simple, with pastel colours so that the whole album blends in. I added to the digital swirls with the AL stamps; used Peacock ink - when I tested it on cardstock, it turned out a light black ... on the glossy photo paper it came out gold!! Not surprising, given the name, but an added surprise to the LO. And I knew I had to add some journalling, though not much - I found this journalling card with the roses on it, so thought I would use it too!! No extra flowers on the page, just a few pearls in the top corner and a gold baby feet charm down the bottom with a stray bead.
One down ... only 11 more to go!!


I also did a 12x12 layout for Miss A's personal album - the front page of it really wasn't up to scratch! Don't mention the rub-ons again ... but otherwise I am very pleased with the results. It has ribbon, pearls, flowers, swirls - what more could a girl want!! It fits very well into her album, and is an eye-catching first page.
And yes, I will re-do the previous opening page, which was a great idea but lacked in the application.
You know, looking at all of my recent layouts I have had to accept that my style is fairly plain and simple, not over-embellished.
Whilst I absolutely adore layouts by scrappers who can pull together a seemingly endless supply of items on the one layout, that just isn't me. I should get into adding more calligraphy on my work - it is a skill I have, so I should use it!
And finally, a start to one of my 2008 resolutions - finishing off some of those UFOs:
Over 6 months ago I hit the big 40 milestone. Whilst I was okay about it at first, after a short while I got spooked by the extra grey hair, the added weight and tiredness .. and 40 wasn't so hot anymore :-(
I started this OTP project soon after my birthday, complete with my absolute all-time favourite PP (I like to look at it, but it doesn't necessarily work well on any layout that I have contemplated) and a few of my other favourite things including pearls, flowers, beads, ribbons, rub-ons, charms and the stunning butterfly. I am actually a dragonfly girl more than butterfly, but the colour of this one was just stunning and fit so well with the rest of the project that it simply had to be there! This is now proudly displayed in my craft room, to help me remember all the good things about turning 40 and where I am with my life right now.

PS - we didn't make it to Darling Harbour this weekend. The rain coupled with a not-so-well DH and a possible unwanted job transfer lead us to the conclusion that it really wasn't going to be the celebratory weekend that we wanted it to be. So instead we had take-away Chinese, and sat in front of the tv watching the cricket and the tennis. We will do it, on another date when we are able to take the most advantage of my mother's kind offer.
I did go shopping at Spotlight yesterday, and picked up more OTP projects to do in the coming weeks and months. Next up is Miss A's baby keepsake box, then a DREAM album and LOVE montage. Along with more pages for her 9x9 album - and I must start the boys' albums too! Wonder when I am going to fit work in around all of this scrapping ...

Thank Goodness Its Friday

It's been one of THOSE weeks, when DH and I seem to pass like ships in the night ... and working in town today means I don't get to see him until this evening (kind of like a "normal" couple I guess!). The positive is I get to work uninterrupted by children (well meaning though they are, I can't concentrate on legal stuff whilst mediating arguments over Tigger's Honey Hunt); the negative is a day by myself sitting in an office, and missing out on laughs, cuddles, smiles and bright blue eyes.

The rain has settled in for the weekend apparently - it is rather calming sitting here on the 10th floor watching the rain tumble down and thinking how it will make everything lush and green again. The absolute best place to be when it is raining in my opinion is in bed, snuggled up under the blankets listening to the rain beat down on the balcony roof. Bliss!!

I have been playing around with Photoshop, altering photos with some brushes. The plan is to make an album for Miss A using all altered photos. I think it will be best if they are all black and white, to take away any distracting colours and give it a uniform look. Now I just have to work out how to best present them ... pink seems so "typical" for baby girls, maybe I will add some pale green and some red roses, as well as ribbons and bling of course.

This is our gorgeous poppet just moments after she was born. I know, only a parent could think she was gorgeous with her face all screwed up ... And this weekend for the very first time, we are having a night without her! My mum has arranged a motel in the city overlooking Darling Harbour, and offered to look after Miss A as well. Fingers crossed that both of them are happy to see each other on Sunday morning.

Oh, and if he asks, don't let on that the smiles, and laughs, and cuddles, and bright blue eyes that I miss don't necessarily belong to DH. Funnily enough, I miss the kids when I am not with them too - Tigger's Honey Hunt just isn't the same without them.

An Unexpected Guest!

Last week DH was changing the light globe in the kitchen; when he took the transformer part of the globe out of the ceiling - look who greeted him!!
Our guest is affectionately known as "Turkey" following DS5 and his poor hearing changed his name from something remotely like "Possum" to ... Turkey.
He/She/They (goodness - I hope not a whole family or even tribe of possums) live in the cavity between the kitchen ceiling and our bedroom floor. Well, that's one place.
There has also been another possum which unfortunately manifested itself in a storage space about 18 months ago - when I was 6 months pregnant. I was looking for something in the storage area when I saw a slight movement under a box I was about to move. I jumped and screamed loud enough to bring the whole family running. That possum stayed still long enough for the boys to have a peek, then we closed up the storage space and rang WIRES to see what we could do about it. They suggested to wait until night time when the possum left to find food, then board up the entry hole so it couldn't get back in. Well, we boarded up the hole to the storage area but not to the entire roof cavity. (We are still not 100% certain where they get in and out). Several weeks later, one of our dogs was barking madly in the backyard, and we found a very sad and sorry looking possum sitting quietly beside our house. It had been attacked by something and was bleeding from its upper back. It was so dazed or weak that we had little trouble catching it and putting it in a box to take to a nearby vet, where they handle native animals. Unfortunately the vet told us they would have to put it down, as it was too badly wounded to survive.
So, even though the thought of a tribe of possums foraging in our house does not thrill me, I am happy if we are providing this little one with a safe haven.

The Finished Project

No, not the France mini album ... the layout for DS!! Here it is:

I absolutely adore the Autumn Leaves stamps around the border of the back cardstock (don't know why I waited so long to purchase and use them!!). I also like the formal feel of the layout (the journalling is underneath - you lift the matted photo by the black ribbon attached with the gold nailhead), the black "picture railing" across the top of the layout and the black ribbon which hangs the photo. I have come to the conclusion that my *style* is very simple or simplistic (not sure which, actually). I think I would like there to be more embellishment on this layout, but then I think that it doesn't need it (or that I could not add more and keep the stylish look). I hope he looks back at this with pride at the day, at the journalling and at our mother/son relationship.