Julie Love that is!
I just happened to be in the right place at the right time just over a week ago when I was blog surfing and came across Julies blog just minutes after she had put up a fantastic offer on her blog. She said the first person to email her she would do a layout for them!!! And I was the lucky winner!!!!
Here is the absolutely SMOKIN' layout she did for me! How divine is it???!!!
I can't wait to see it in real life!!!

It was the same photo I used in my winning Junkitz layout but this one I had printed as a 6x8 size. I love how we've both used the photo so differently on our layouts! It's such a thrill to have her scrap one of my photos!! Thanks so much Julie!!!

Thanks to the girls (Kelley, Lianne, Michelle C and Rach) who were great sports and uploaded teenage photos of themselves onto their blogs after reading the challenge on my blog last night! Loved having a giggle at all the photos!! There'll be a littl surprise in your mail soon!!

I've been working on an FK layout for about 2 days now, couldn't get the papers and photos to work how I wanted them too, so have now done about 2.5 hrs hand stitching on the layout! Probably took so long because I had to keep stopping and starting but all up it's taken a very long time!!!

Hope everyone's having a great New Years Eve!! Here we are having a quiet one at home again - such party animals we are!LOL

I know for some of you oldies it will be hard to remember that far back, but I'm sure that you've got a few odd photos lying around to remind you!LOL
I've been digging around in my old photos tonight trying to find a photo of myself for a comp that Kellie is running on the Scrap Needs site in January, it's a really cool comp, so jump onto her forum and check it out! Anyway, the comp requires you to create a layout centred around a photo of yourself aged somewhere around the 15-18 mark. I thought I wouldn't have a problem finding one of myself, but I really had to search for one! I think I must have been anti photo at that age! Anyway, here is one I dug up!

I'm 17 in this photo and as funny as it sounds now, Tenpin Bowling was a big part of my life then! I use to bowl 3 times a week at 2 different bowling centres. I use to travel to competitions all over Queensland, even to Rockhampton. I had my photo taken by the newspaper many times as I broke a few junior bowling records and made it to the top 3 female junior in the State. I thought I was pretty cool with my own 'caramel' bowling ball and multi-coloured shoe laces!LOL

Ok, who else is game to put a teenage photo of themselves up on their blog??? The first 2 people to do it and let me know I will send you a little RAK!

Just got my strano order and as I was looking through it all I was saying 'oh these ribbons are so yummy' and Annaliese asked me if we could eat them!LOL It's so confusing for a scrappers daughter!LOL Here's a pic of all the 'yummy' ribbons I got. Strano still have their 20% sale going, but only till the end of the year!

I also got another surprise in the mail. This gorgeous little hanging accent for the tree made by the talented and very kind Jen Hall Thanks so much Jen for this, I am so touched that you sent me one!

I just got my copy of SM today too and Yay I've been chosen as a finalist for the Peoples Choice awards! This was my single layout for the masters last year, I loved it at the time, but I'd probably change some things on it now! I cut up a friends old handbag that she was going to throw away to create this layout. There is a little mini book inside the pocket where each of the family has said what they love about Shayla.

Congrats to all the entrants in the Peoples Choice Awards and good luck!!!

I trip to emergency! Well that's what it feels like for us over the past 3 years! Two years running Shayla has had stays in hospital and today was Annaliese's turn! Luckily it's nothing serious. She must have been bitten by something while we were at my sisters and around her eye was very swollen today when she woke up (see pic!). The docs checked it all out, including putting some dye in her eye to make sure the eye itself wasn't effected at all, then decided on some phenergen. It's started going down a little but still looks like she's done a round with Kostya Tszyu!

I'm still hanging out to see the new FK, the mail man hasn't been around today, hopefully tomorrow!! Also want to see SM as Nic said on her blog that I've got a layout in the peoples choice awards. I have no idea which layout it would be, so am hanging out to see which one.
Ok, back to doing some FK layouts!!

We totally made the most of Christmas day yesterday and in the afternoon travelled up to my sisters place up the Coast and spent the night there! We had water balloon fights, a huge feast of Barra on the BBQ and a prawn, avocado and mango salad and after the kids went to sleep we played poker all night! Very tired now mind you!LOL
And to top it all off I got to meet with the lovely Michelle Grant and Scrapper Al.
I got to pour over both their brilliant albums - both totally different in style and both super fantastic! Of course in my rush to get out the door yesterday to head off before the storm hit I left my ablum sitting on the breakfast bar stool! Michelle showed us her terrific sketch books and inspiration ideas books! That girl is so organised - I love it!!LOL Michelle has so many marvellous ideas in her head and on paper, I would have loved to have had longer with her to pick her brains! Lucky she's coming for a sleep over in March!LOL Oh yeah, and Scrapper Al has the most delicious handwriting! It was so nice to see them both today!
Looking at this photo also reminds me about getting stuck into weight loss in the new year!!! Yay, another year of trying to lose weight!!! Does it ever end girls??!!!LOL

Here's another Christmas photo, this was from Christmas eve. Jason bought Annaliese this elephant butterfly machine thingy. The elephant has a little fan in the bottom of it and it pushes the butterflies up the trunk and the kids have to run around catching them in their nets! They had a ball with this! Except the taller one usually gets the butterflies first which caused a few tears for little Annaliese!LOL

I know, what am I doing updating my blog on Christmas day?!LOL We've had a wonderful morning of festivities - followed on from a late night of it last night! Had 4 extra's sleep over so that we could all wake up and enjoy the fun with the kids! So we all feeling a bit tired about now. So just a quick update.
Here is a pic of both the girls and some of their Christmas gifts. Annaliese got so many pink things it wasn't funny. I think we're going to have to sugerically remove the tu-tu from her!LOL


I must have been a good girl I got a new Epson printer, a very pretty gold necklace and a Billabong back pack from Jason and the girls. I got a very stylish black Jag purse from my sister and some great pictures for our newly painted walls from my mum.
And not forgetting my RAK from Tarisota. Thank you so much Tamar, I just love everything in it!!! I've always wanted some of those Lil Davis letters and just never bought any! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Hope everyone is having a great day too!!

Got together with the girls I crop with fortnightly today to get some photos of the 'croplets' as they are fondly known as!LOL
Oh my gosh! So many kids to try and all get looking at the same time!LOL Pretty funny though!
Also got a lovely one of the girls and I!

I've taken a photo as proof that the Tarisota RAK is still under my tree! I can't wait to open it and am more surprised about seeing what's in that one than any of the others! Is that bad??!LOL


If I don't get back to my blog again before tomorrow, I hope everyone has a fantastic fun filled Christmas day! Can't wait to cruise around everyones blogs after Christmas to see the photos of all the happy families together!!!

Christmas Hugs and Kisses to you all!!

I got 4 gorgeous home made Christmas cards this year from some of my scrapping buddies! I love receiving the home made ones - such a surprise!!! Here they are in all their glory!!! Thanks to the special people who sent them to me - Rach, Deb, Lissy and Annette!!! All such super talented ladies!!!

I also got a number of terrific power point Christmas cards and many other email Christmas messages and I just want to thank everyone for their Christmas wishes!
I hope that everyone has a safe and happy Christmas with their families!

It's so hot here today so we have all been hiding inside in the airconditioning! Although Jason did mow the lawn in the heat this morning as it really needed doing and they are predicting higher temps in the coming days!
I've been mainly doing FK projects the last couple of days, jotting down ideas, looking at different papers etc I can use for projects I've been assigned etc. So I can't share any of that, but I can share a 'me' layout I did for the Chatterbox team which was displayed at ISC in the Addicted to Craft class room. So some of you may have caught a glimpse of it up on the wall.

You'll notice in this layout that the circle in the top right corner is actually the circle that I cut out from the pineapple layout! It hasn't scanned the best, there is black ink edging the whole border of the layout and the word 'self' is actually those wooden letters. Not particularly fond of this photo now as it really shows my sleepy eye!LOL

For the past two years I've been cropping with some girls that I met online that live in North Brissy. We get together every fortnight at each other houses and scrap (well, mainly chat!) anyway, we had our Xmas get together last night at Lone Star and had a great time! We have become such close friends and I really treasure each of their friendships.
Lately I've been working on a project for Scrap Needs for the month of January when I will be guest DT there! I've really loved doing the project and will do some sneak peeks as we get closer!!

Thanks for everyone that's been cruising and commenting on my blog! I'm not surprised that my hubby isn't the only one out there that lets them rip constantly!LOL

Speaking of pineapples, here is a layout I did a couple of months ago of the pineapple when it was first taking form. I used the 'macro' function on my camera for this photo and was really pleased with how it turned out. I was also loving doing circles at the time because the lovely Rachel had just sent me some great circle cutters! Thanks again Rach!!!

Miss Philippa has tagged me!!

Never in my life: Did I think I'd meet this many new friends through a craft.
When I was five: I lived in Ballarat (don't remember much more than that!)
High School is: Is a great memory, it's when I first started going out with Jason and writing love letters to him every day in class!
I once met: Jimmy Barnes (refer to issue 38 of FK!LOL)
There's this girl: who has a sick loved one at the moment and I hope that she is hanging in there as she is such a lovely person!
Once, at a bar: I walked around with a xxxx sticker stuck to my forehead until one of my friends found me and took it off!
Last night: My sister stayed over and we went shopping for more Christmas presents!
When I turn my head left, I see: The window (how exciting!)
When I turn my head right, I see: Filing cabinet (even more exciting!)
A better name for me would be: Little Miss Organisational!
I have a hard time understanding: how anyone could hurt a child.
You know I like you if: I want to make or buy you something!
Take my advice: Never judge somebody until you've walked a day in their shoes.
My ideal breakfast is: On a Sunday, with the paper and Jasons poached eggs!
If you spend the night at my house: You will definitely hear Jason break wind at some time!LOL
I always make it a point to: let people know they are appreciated.
I'd rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: be in a home invasion.
And by the way: It's only 5 days till Christmas!!!!!

I thought I tag the two Michelle's, the lovely Michelle Grant and the lovely Michelle Cryns (who will be 34 on Thursday!)

I thought I'd leave you with a pic of Jason's latest acheivement. He's been growing this pineapple for about 2 years now, just in a pot plant and it's nearly ready for the pickin' now!!!

Aren't they always doing something to worry us or keep us on our toes?!!LOL Shayla has this terrible rash all over her tummy at the moment (see pic) the doctor is calling it 'coxsackie' virus! Nothing too worrying, but he did say it was contagious! So that put us out of action for last nights xmas party with Jason's family.

So Jason and Annaliese went to the party on their own and had a wonderful time with out us! Jasons mum gave Annaliese this gorgeous 'My little pony' singlet and undies set and the tiara and earings. She thinks she's the ants pants!LOL
Got the new CK on Friday! I hadn't been enjoying it as much of late, but this issue it was back to it's rockin' best! One of my fave US scrappers, Amber Ries has a super layout on page 34 and there is a very cool article called on page 69 called 'can this outfit be a scrapbook page' and it has the most scrummy skirt for inspiration. I loved Elsie's take on this feature! I won't give away any more, but it's definitely worth getting this month! Congrats to my friends Eck, Kim and Kathie on being in the aussie gallery too!!!

Last night I stayed in had some fun at the Shop and Crop cyber crop!
We did a bingo game where we had to complete a row of tasks on the bingo sheet in a total of two different layouts. I decided that I was going to set myself the challenge of completing all the tasks on the bingo sheet in two layouts! Here's the results!

This one has
1. 8 or more buttons
2. basic grey monogram (is that what you meant?)
3. scrunched paper, it's the circles under the buttons down the bottom!
4. handstitching across the corner of the photo
5. junkitz pp
6. paint on the chipboard flowers
7. chipboard flowers and chip chatter alphas.

And this one has
1. hand journalling
2. 2 or more heidi - the sisters word and the photo corners
3. a xmas embellishment - the angel charm
4. 2 or more ribbon
5. two types of attachments.
6. 8.5x11 layout - which I never do, so quite proud of myself!
7. xmas photos
8. metal embellishment!
9. cardstock only layout

We also had to upload a photo of ourselves in xmas attire, which was quite funny! Thanks Sasha and the girls for a fun night last night!

I've just finished placing an order with Strano designs they have the most yummy ribbons!!! I saw the link on Lee's blog and went and had a look and at the moment they have 20% off!!!! Yay, that was enough to convince me!!! Go check them out, you won't be sorry!

Well, that will teach me for not getting out of my pj's early enough this morning. A fellow came to the door at about 8am and I was so embarrassed answering my daggy pj's and it was the owner of a concrete pumping business that we use quite a lot (Alliance concrete pumping) anyway he was hand delivering a xmas card to us, which I thought was a bit strange and I apologised for my appearance and off he went. Anyway, when I opened up the card after he'd left, here were 2 Gold Class tickets and a voucher for the bar as well!!! How cool is that??!! Anyone got any tips on good movies at the moment?!!

Hope everyone is having a fantastic day!!!

Shayla tells me every morning how many days to go and now that it's hit single figures I think it's time for another one of Michelle's blog challenges!!!

This weeks Blog Challange
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?....
We don't do either, it's more like beer and diet coke at our place!LOL

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?...
If they aren't too big they get wrapped, or if not they get a bow on them!

3.Colored lights on tree/house or white?...
We have coloured lights on the tree, not enough really, they only go down one side of the tree - maybe we'll buy some more at the after xmas sales this year!LOL

4. Do you hang mistletoe?...
Yes, but just realised we don't have it up this year yet! Thanks for reminding me Michelle!

5. When do you put your decorations up?...
Always on the 1st of December

6. What is your favorite Christmas dish (not a dessert)
Probably the ham that sits in the fridge for the next week after xmas that I pick on every time I open the fridge!

7. Favorite Christmas memory as a child?...
Going to my Nanna's house and being with all the cousins!

8.When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?...
I was talking about this to a friend the other night and I worked out that I was about 8 or 9 when I first found out and it was just from overhearing or getting a sense that it wasn't true and when I confronted mum I was very shocked about it and remember feeling shattered!LOL

9.Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?...
Yes, we always open something little.

10.What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him?...
We usually leave out a rum ball and a beer, or last year I think it was a glass of juice!

11.Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving?...
I always love being santa's little helper on xmas morning and giving out all the gifts, I've had to give up that role over the past few years now that Shayla likes doing it!

12. What tops your tree?...
A star which consists of lights.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?...
I loved the crayola caddy full of felt pens, crayons etc that my sister and I got, but I also loved the year I got a bike!

14. What’s the most important thing about Christmas for you?...
Having a relaxing, unwinding time with family.

15. What is your favorite Christmas Dessert?...
Mum's plum pudding and brandy cream!!

16. What is your favorite Christmas tradition?...
Putting up the tree on the 1st of Dec, driving around looking at xmas lights with the kids and definitely sneaking the santas presents out on xmas eve when the kids have gone to sleep!


I now tag the lovely Lee to do this challenge!!

I thought I'd also post a flash back xmas photo. This is Shayla on her first xmas (7 years ago) with the 'puppy rider' she got for xmas that year!

Most importantly my mum is ok!! They have found that one artery has about 40% blockage/hardening which can be treated with medication and diet. In true scrapper form the camera was there to capture it all!
This is mum's wonderful parnter Angelo who was there with her the whole time as well.
We are all so relieved to have good news today!!!

The other good news was that I was one of 15 international girls that won the Junkitz comp. I'm also extremely excited for Rach H, Deb, Rach A and Nic who all won as well!!! How cool is that? Nothing better than winning a comp and having your friends win along side you!
Here is the layout that I entered. I should also thank my lovely friends Ange and Sally C who I bounced ideas off for this layout and they gave me some creative guidance!!!! Thanks girls!!!!!

My third good news for the day was that I received a RAK from Tarisota Collections this morning. I am under strict instructions from Tamar not to open it until xmas day! So it is under the tree with the other pressies and I've had a good shake of it already Tamar!LOL Thank you so much for your generosity and for the extra surprise I'll have under the tree this year!!

A heartfelt thank you to all my fantastic friends who have been super supportive over the last few days! Kisses and hugs to you all!!

I've had a few requests for one of the recipes that was in my 'xmas family favourites' recipe holder that I did for Lime Tart, so here it is. Beware, it's very addictive and super yummy! Make sure you use unsalted peanuts for this recipe.

I can't thank you girls enough for leaving such lovely comments on my blog yesterday, not only about my Lime Tart projects but also about my mum. I'm hoping that today proves that we have been worrying over nothing! I will try and update my blog tonight to let you know how it all goes.

I had planned to make my mum a special xmas card and hadn't got around to it yet, so I quickly worked on this one last night, using the Lime Tart pack again (yes, I've still got product left after all the projects I've got, that's how big this pack is!) I kept the inside very simple and put lots of photos of the girls from our xmas photo shoots.

Check it out, the December gallery is now up at Lime Tart. The 12x12 kit that I got to use is so fantastic! I ended up making 9 different projects from that kit, one of them being those cute little noodle boxes on my header and here is a closer look at one of them.
I've put all the instructions for these noodle boxes and my other creations on the Lime Tart gallery. Philippa and Steph have some terrific creations in the gallery also!!!

We've had a bit of worrying news in our family this week. My mum has been having some tests recently as her family has a history of heart disease and only a few months ago her brother underwent a successful bypass. Mum's tests have shown that there is some strain on her heart and tomorrow she is booked in to have an angiogram. We are keeping positive about it and hoping that is only something minor.
So fingers crossed for my beautiful mum! (Mum was one of my latest victims for a photo shoot!)

I saw this challenge on Michelle's blog and thought I'd give it a go too and then tag someone else to do it!

1.Do you decorate your house this time of year? if so… how? ( a photo or description. )
We just have an averaged size tree and decorate it mainly with cold and silver baubles (spl?), chains of beads and red bows. We have a few favourite decorations, this santa being one of the kids favourites. Check out Annaliese's gorgeous fat tum in this photo too!LOL

















2.Have you ever been in a decoration competition?
No, we have this massive 'xmas' type tree in the front yard that we spent hundred of dollars putting light on one year and they were only up there for about a week when Jason ran over the cords with the mower!LOL There ended our outdoors lights display!

3. How much is too much?
I love everything about Christmas too much is never enough for me! I do think the shops could hold off putting them up all their Xmas stuff for an extra few weeks as they are getting earlier and earlier!

4. How do you celebrate this time of year?
We nearly always have xmas morning here at our house and usually have my mum and my sister sleep over xmas eve and last year we even had Jason's dad sleep over and he loved it so we are doing it again this year! There's nothing better than being somewhere for xmas where there are little kiddies to watch open their pressies! We are then heading up to my sisters house at Eumundi after lunch. We are also having an early xmas celebration next weekend with Jasons side of the family.

5.Whose job is it to wrap all the Christmas gifts? Will you (or whoever) use gift bags, or wrapping paper?
It's always my job and the cards!LOL This year I got Shayla and her friends to help me make gift tags for the presents from last years xmas cards.

6. What do you dislike most about the holiday season?
Cranky parents dragging their kids around the shops for that last minute bargain and yelling at them the whole time!

7. What are your top 3 fav Xmas songs.

#1 When a child is born (performed by Karen Knowles)
#2 Oh Holy night (performed by Josh Grohan - Thanks Deb)
#3 Santa Claus is coming to town

8. Real tree or fake?
We have always had a fake tree, the girls haven't ever seen a real one, might make that a mission for next year!

OK - I tag - ROZ

My friend Kylie had her baby at 12:38pm today and it is a little girl called Rowen Cae. She had a home birth so I can't wait to hear all about how it went!

Congratulations to Ian, Kylie, Jocelyn, Gordon and Bronwyn on the arrival of your beautiful girl!

I've been doing a few more projects with the Lime Tart pack, there is so much in the pack that I just can't stop creating! Only 4 more days until Philippa puts up the December gallery!!!

Here are some little peeks!


Rachel Axton has started a new blog, YAY RACH!!! You can check it out here

Thank you to everyone that commented on my FK entry layouts! I'm really excited about being on the FK DT for the next 6 months and we are already into our 3 month of projects already!!!

We are getting into the Christmas spirit and having a bbq with friends tonight, just a small one, but I've made some yummy honey bbq prawns and marinated chicken kebabs as well as rum balls for after dinner!

Big hugs to my friend Kylie who is having a bit of a sad time at the moment, not to mention carrying an overdue baby in this heat! HUGS KYLIE!!!!
And to Rach who has a couple of sickies at her house at the moment - hang in there mate!

Now that the FK awards book has been decided (and Yay, I'm having one in there!!!) I thought I'd upload my other entries here! This is my nephew Jack, looking totally goofy and that's what I love about this photo!LOL

This layout is about Shayla's eyes turning from blue to green when she was 5.
This photo is one that my sister took of her boyfriends dog and I just loved the photo and wanted the challenge of working with a non-child photo!
And this layout is more about the journalling which is hidden on the tags, but also love how super sweet my girls look in this photo.

I've been wanting to take part in Fiona Carter's photo challenge of dressing your animals in their Christmas best. Our only pet is a fish, so that was never going to happen!LOL A good friend of mine, Chris Taylor who owns Aussie Pooch Mobile lives on a property with many animals, so I decided to steal them for my photo shoot!LOL
Here is a little sample of the photos I got.
I also took a photo of a red chook, but he just wouldn't behave!LOL
Here is another one of my favourites, this is my sister Katrina with her boyfriends dog - Farmer!
Check out Fiona's blog site to see more of the simply delightful animal shots people have taken with their animals! Mel's rabbit sleigh is just adorable!LOL

Thanks to the girls that are going to do the CD swap with me!! Can't wait to get some new xmas songs to sing along to. Yours are all in the mail! As is Philippa's prize for her theme song!

Finally got the master book today. Have only had a quick flick, want to save it for a good old drool session tonight!LOL

I was so thrilled to have my single layout picked up as a HM. Here is a pic of it for those who don't have the book.

Yes the left pic is me at the tender age of 4 with glue stick in hand already!LOL
The layout opens up to reveal the journalling about my 'creative journey'.

This is my accent that I did for the masters. The photo of the Eiffel tower was actually taken by my sister when she was in Paris. The top layer lifts up to reveal a poem and the photo underneath.

This was my beyond the page item, a set of spice jars that I got from Vinnies for $2 and I transformed them into 'journalling jars', one for each of our family, one for Jack (my nephew) and one as a spare that holds the strips of cardstock to journal onto.


And my double layout was picked up by FK and will be in next months issue.

I was reading Mishell's blog thismorning and saw that Daphney Matthews had left a comment her blog so I decided to steal her email addy and email her. I love seeing Daphney's work, she has such a flair for design and colour and her photos are always terrific, so I emailed her and told her so!LOL She was very gracious with her reply! I just spyed some more fantastic work of hers in the Masters book too!! So congrats Daphney on becoming a 2005 Master!

I've nearly finished my projects for Lime Tart
Here is a little tease!!LOL