Yay!!!! My first Scrap Needs DT project is up today! It was originally my guest DT project, but then the lovely Kell asked me to be permanently on the team! (which I'm still so thrilled about!) It's a paper bag 'Valentines' album.

To see the instructions on how I created the ablum click here.
Paper bag albums are so fun and inexpensive to make, such a cool idea for a mini album!
Thanks Julie for the tip on using your black zig pen to fill in the centres of the prima flowers!

For those of you who were asking about the Scrap Needs retreat, if you click on this link you can find out all the info! It's going to be so fantastic, the location is a beautiful spot on the NSW coast at a resort called Apollo . The design team members, Roz James, Erica Glover, Jen Hall, Mishell Lancett and myself will all be there. There will be competitions and demos and just heaps of fun!

Inspiration - where we were staying at the Outrigger at Kingscliff earlier this week they had these fabulous posters on the wall of their foyer area. They were for advertising various events in the area and just jumped out at me when I saw them on the wall. In true scrapper style I photographed some of them to bring home as inspiration for layout designs.

I just wanted to wish my wonderful friend Debbie a very, very happy birthday today! Deb and I met online (through ASC - thanks Shari!) and we chat every day via email! For anyone that knows Debbie knows what a totally lovely, generous, loyal, happy and supportive girl she is! All that and is a super talented scrapper! Check out her gallery here (she doesn't work for this site anymore, but this is her only gallery at the moment)
So have a wonderful day Deb and get up to lots of mischief if you can!

* just wanted to thank everyone that has sent their wishes for Taidhg, Rachel and their family. I got to talk with Rach on the phone last night after Evana helped track down the number for the hospital. Taidhg is doing better since the transfusion and hopefully will continue to improve! Rach was very touched by all the support and well wishes!

Some very sad news, Rachel's little boy Taidhg is very sick. He has been flown with Rach to Auckland hospital for treatment. He's had a blood transfusion today and could possibly need dialysis. Please say some prayers and send good thoughts their way tonight!
Here is Taidhg just a month ago celebrating his first b'day. I can't imagine how scared and worried Rach and her family must be feeling at the moment!
Lets hope Taidhg can recover without the dialysis and that I can report some good news about him soon!
Sending all my good thoughts and get well vibes to the Hoskings!

I will catch up with all my visiting of blogs soon, thanks for those that left comments for while I was away and when I got back!

We took off for a few days to the Outrigger at Kingscliff, such a beautiful part of the world! I book the holiday months ago and didn't realise at the time that it would be at same time that school started back! So Shayla missed the first 3 days of school and will start back tomorrow!
We had a lovely relaxing time at Kingscliff, soaking up the sun by the pool and eating yummy meals (there goes the diet again!) Annaliese surprised us by suddenly learning how to swim! She has never wanted her head underwater before and her first swim in the pool at the Outrigger she started putting her head under and before we knew it she was kicking and blowing bubbles and actually doing a little bit of swimming! The girls had a such a fantastic time!

I also was lucky enough to catch up with the delightful Miss Roz! We chatted the afternoon away and looked at each others albums and it was wonderful to see Roz's superb work in the flesh again! Thanks for catching up Roz - bring on the Scrap Needs retreat now!!

This is the good photo of Roz and I, you don't want to see the bad ones that Jason took while he was making us giggle! Or the one he took of our bums as we were looking over the balcony!LOL
Will catch up more tomorrow. Will leave you with one more photo of where we were staying! This is the main pool and the ocean in the background.

Today the girls and I went shopping for a present for my cousin who had a baby girl last week. We came across Target having a sale so bought a couple of pink jumpsuits for her and also stocked up on some boy outfits for Jason's sister who has just found out she's having a boy! 5 outfits for just $36 is pretty good!! I also made a card for my cousin as well. I'm very card challenged so I'm very happy with how this one turned out!

I heard the new SM is out, but as usual it hasn't landed in my letterbox yet! Here is the layout I did for the 'my favourite scrapper' theme. I have long loved Fiona's style - she never fails to delight me! This is scan isn't the best, it's overlapped the two sides a bit.


And finally tonight I was to say a very well deserved congratulations to a friend of mine - Sharon Manning for winning a spot on the Scrapworks DT!

Well, as you can see I've fixed it up. I managed to get the 'r & l' up and then used my glue eraser to get rid of most of the glue that was left on the cardstock, but it did leave some marks, hence the flower under the 'r'. I had to print out a new r and l and I did them a bit big, but I think it looks ok. I also added some machine stitching and some pen work!
Thanks to everyone that commented on my first attempt and mistake!! And yes Shazz, I've nearly done the 'angel' 'angle' one a few times!LOL

And I must be the worlds worst scanner, my layouts always look wonky!LOL

Have a good night everyone! Off to watch the tennis now!!!

Pick the mistake in this layout! It's not hard to pick it!!LOL I don't have any 'glue undo' either! Anyone got any homemade remedies for lifting the lettering up?!!!LOL
I've tried lifting it gently and it's going to tear I think. I'm not overly fond of the font on the title now anyway and something looks off balance. So this layout could look totally different next time you see it!LOL

And yes, this all happened because I was trying to watch the tennis and do this layout at the same time!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

I bring to you..............................

Desperate Scrapwife!




I've done this layout for a new retail shop in Wingham NSW called 'Scrapsidaisy'. Thank you to Leisa Barwells who owns the shop for sending me the products! The layout hasn't scanned well and has changed some of the colours and made it a bit wonky!
And I used my new chocolate Zig pen that Rozzy sent me! And gosh, were have zig pens been all my life, they are fabulous and especially for a lefty like me that has smudging problems! These pens dry so quickly and not one sign of a smudge!

I got the new CK a couple of days ago and man this one is good! I've got ideas jumping around all over the place now and not enough time to scrap!
I have so many favourites in this issue but won't name them all, these are the two that stood out to me:
Honestly - By Elsie Flannigan (and the article is spot on too!)
Children show what they know - By Carey Johnson, this is the most precious photo in this layout, it's what I love the most about this layout!
I know I said I'd only say two, but Spirit - by Sonya Shaw is also another goodie! Love the design and white background in this one!

And here is my layout that is in the Aussie readers gallery - it is my last one now that I'm on the FK team. I love these photos of Annaliese all rugged up, we don't get to do that much up here!


This layout was suppose to be in CK as well, but I got an email from Krys saying that they won't be using it now! This is one I did for my sisters travel album. I love doing her travel photos for something different. (the bottom photo isn't really blurry, it's just scanned that way)


We are off to the Eumundi markets thismorning and to pick up Annaliese who had a sleepover at my sisters! Just quick trip and then home again!!
Have a great day everyone!

Well I decided those boxes were too good for that price and went down and got myself some more! These ones now adorn the top of my computer desk and will store my stamps, inks and other goodies!


And I got a wonderful surprise in the mail today from the very sweet Roz!! We were talking about the chocolate zig pen on Scrap Needs the other day and she came across one in her shopping travels and sent it to me. Along with these cute little bags and home made card!!! Thanks so much Roz! I love a surprise!!!


Thanks to everyone that left a comment about my altered box and diaries!! I really appreciate all your kind words!!!

I did a challenge on my blog about 2 weeks ago for people to upload teenage photos of themselves which was an idea I got after seeing the Scrap Needs comp this month. And these were the diaries I altered and sent to the girls who did the challenge.

If you haven't been to check out the comp at Scrap Needs get over there - a $50 voucher to the Scrap Needs shop is up for grabs!!

I also picked up this box the other day for $3 and have altered it for one of Shayla's friends who is having a b'day in a couple of weeks and we will buy something for her to go inside.


Hope everyone has had a good weekend!

Thank you lovely Miss Jen for tagging me!!


4 jobs you've done:

1. My first ever job was babysitting after school
2. Merchandising for Tip Top
3. Child Care (in the nursery with all the gorgeous babies!)
4. Office girl at Aussie Pooch Mobile

4 Movies you could watch over and over

1. Snatch
2. Fight Club
3. Titanic
4 Monsters Inc (believe me, I have seen this over and over!)

4 Places you have lived

1. Ballarat
2. Kallangur
3. Deception Bay
4. Back to Kallangur

4 TV shows you LOVE to watch:

Rove
Australian & US idol
Australian Story
Profiler

4 Places you have been on Vacation:

Thailand
Hamilton Island
Road trip to Ballarat
Sunshine and Gold Coast

4 websites you visit daily:

Scrap Needs
2 Peas
Blogs
Coloring Book Fun (this is a must for the school holidays!LOL)

4 of your favorite foods:

Seafood
Italian
M&M's
Home made pasties and sausage rolls

4 places you would rather be right now:

At the gym - because I'm feeling guilty
At the movies
At the beach
Have a full body massage!

4 bloggers you are tagging:
Alli Paterson
Fiona Leehane
Shari Brewer
Kathryn

My final artist for this week is the lovely...................
Fiona Leehane

Fiona is one of those quiet achievers, she lives in my old home town, Ballarat and has jumped onto the scene late last year with her double page and accent gaining honourable mentions in the Scrapbooking Memories Masters comp (The above layout is the single Fiona did for the Masters!! How cool is it?) She's got 2 gorgeous kiddies who feature in many of her layouts and she takes fantastic photos of them! She is a whiz with double layouts and has some very funky and fresh looks happening in her layouts! Fiona is an email buddy of mine and next time I'm in Ballarat I'm going to be sure to drop in on her and check out her album in real life! (if that's ok Fiona!!LOL) You can check out Fiona's cool designs here.

Have a wonderful 2006 Fiona!!!!


I had so much fun with artists in the spotlight this week, so watch out as I'm sure I'll be doing it again in the near future!!!!

Just a little side track from my 'Artist in the Spotlight' this week to tell you about a wonderful cultural experience we had on Sunday.

Has anyone heard of the Hindu/Indian tattoos called 'Henna'?? Well we saw it on a doco some time ago and found it all very interesting and then we started looking on the net about it and Jason suggested we try and find a Henna artist and let the girls experience a bit of culture. So that's what we did on Sunday and it was just the most fantastic experience. We found the lovely 'Chaitali' on the internet, she just lives at Zillmere and Chaitali and her husband Sumit welcomed us into their home. They are only newly married of about 6 months and were just the most lovely people. They put on their wedding and engagement videos for us while we were there to show us Chaitali with the Henna on her legs and arms for her wedding day. It took her 11 hours to have it all done. They told us about so many of their customs in regards to their wedding, which lasts for 3 days with different ceremonies on each days and about 700 people at each ceremony! They were both excited to be talking about it all with someone and Chaitali brought out her wedding bracelets for us to look at! They said they sit down every weekend and watch their wedding video as they have no family over here. They were so sweet and on the way home Annaliese (who was as quiet as a mouse the whole time we were there) said how kind they were! We were all feeling very enriched from our experience, as simple as it was.

I got one as well on my wrist, but didn't get a photo of it getting done. Here is the photos of the girls having theirs done.

Over the next few days the black paste flaked away and left the tattoo underneath. This is what it looks like now.

Today my artist in the spotlight has a digi twist!
Yes, it's the very talented Peta (Possum) Stokes!

Peta's scrapbooking has just gone from strength to strength as she quickly becomes a very well known Aussie digital scrapper! Mind you she can also scrap a very mean 'traditional' layout too! She has been on numerous Digi DT's and is so talented that she's even be known to create her own digi products!! I love her fun, funky, fabulous style! And to top it all off Peta is a super lovely girl who has one of the kindess souls!
Peta really hit her stride towards the end of 2005, but I can see an even brighter future ahead for her in 2006! You can see the sensational works created by Peta here.

Woohoo Peta - have a fantastic, successful 2006!
Also, just wanted to add, that Peta is spreading her talent on the following 3 Design teams - Addicted to digital, Sand-Gal Designs and Sweet n Sassy Designs

Today's artist is the lovely Sue Rohweder (aka - Toby)

Toby has such a wonderfully, textiled style. I've had the pleasure of seeing some of her albums and the work and detail that she puts into each layout is amazing! She has a gorgeous family who are show cased in her ablums and she is also branching out doing a few 'me' layouts. I still absolutely love Toby's BTP entry for the masters last year. You can view her stunning BTP item and her gallery here

Good luck in 2006 Toby!!

Today I want to put Ruth Clarke in the spotlight.

I first met and noticed Ruth's fantastic scrapping style on ASC and have been following her closely ever since. Ruth has an real talent for hand stitching and is fire with it at the moment - you can check out her gallery here. Ruth is also very clever with using multiple photos on her layouts. I have always loved Ruth's stunning photos of her daughters and masculine shots of her sons. I was reading on Ruth's blog that one of the things she would love to do in 2006 is to make it onto a DT, well I will be very surprised if Ruth isn't snatched up very soon by someone as she would be an asset to any team!

Good luck in 2006 Ruth!

Every day this week I want to highlight a scrapper who has caught my eye. I've seen Lee do this on her blog and think it's a fabulous idea!

My first scrapper in the spotlight is RACHEL HOSKING . Rach is a New Zealand scrapper, who began scrapping through Creative Memories (as many of us have!) She has a definite flare for using pattern paper and inking and does very funky designs! She has been chosen as a Junkitz international winner in the recent competition they ran and is now also a designer on the New Zealand scrapping mag 'Up2Scrap'. Rachel's 3 beautiful kiddies often feature in her layouts as well as their rural NZ homelands! And did I mention that Rach is a wonderful person and friend as well?
You can check out Rachel's 2peas gallery here and see some of her sensational layouts or click on her name above to check out her blog.

I was tagged by first timer Ruth! (I'll be talking more about Ruth later in the week so stay tuned!)

A is for age: 31 (only just, no far off 32 now!)
B is for booze of choice: Definitely cocktails!!
C is for career: SAHM, business partner for our concreting business.
D is for your dad's name: Not worth mentioning so I'll tell you Jasons - Tony (he's like a dad to me anyway!)
E is for essential items to bring to a party: I'm a bit known for bringing a quiz or game to play
F is for favorite song at the moment: My blog song!
G is for favorite game: Strip poker! Just kiddin'! I love all games!!LOL
H is for hometown: Kallangur
I is for instruments you play: Well, this one time at band camp! Actually, I desperately wanted to play the flute when I was a kiddie so my parents bought me a clarinet - go figure!
J is for jam or jelly you like: red wine jelly
K is for kids: 2, Shayla and Annaliese. I try to claim Jack too but he's mother wants him back after a while!
K is for Kraft, Kraft rocks!!! (had to add that!)
L is for living arrangements: With Jason, the girls, and Ruby Red Dress!
M is for mum's name: Vivienne - that's 2 V's, 2 I's, 2 E's, 2 N's. (I'm in such a silly mood thisarvy!)
N is for name of your crush: A is for Andre!
O is for overnight hospital stays: For me only when I was having babies, with Shayla about 3.5 weeks!
P is for phobias: No way, I'm too tough for phobias!
Q is for quotes you like: 'If something is hard to do it's not worth doing' - Homer Simpson
R is for relationship that lasted the longest: 15 years!
S is for sexual preference: 6 times a day - oh sorry, preference, um, hetro!
U is for underwear: who needs underwear when you do it 6 times a day!
V is for vegetable you love: my hubby!! And avocado so I can do it 6 times a day! (or is avocado a fruit?)
W is for weekend plans: recovering from 6 times.............you know what I'm talkin' about!
X is for x-rays you've had: heaps of chest x-rays when I had whooping cough. And a few baby ones too!
Y is for yummy food you make: Pasties!!
Z is for zodiac sign: Aquarius

Ok, now I'm being very silly in my answers!! Please understand they are all just jokes!

And now I will tag Rach and Rach go for it girls!

I'm a tad excited today because........................................

I'm now a..............................................................................

SCRAP NEEDS DESIGN TEAM MEMBER!

The lovely and talented Kellie, owner of Scrap Needs has asked me to be on her design team! I said yes of course!!!LOL I know I'm going to just love working with Kell and the other fabulou girls on the DT. Roz, Erica, Mishell and Jen! And getting to know all the wonderful girls on the forum, they have made me feel so welcome already!

Some more news is that one of my layouts in my 2peas gallery has been picked up for a digi scraplift challenge, thanks Rach for pointing it out to me! Here is my layout:


And here are some links to some of the digi scraplifts.
sarahbcmc
styxgirl
amy-n-2gerards

Thanks also for the lovely comment everyone left about the layout I did for Julie!

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to have Julie Love do a layout for me using a photo of Annaliese. I wanted to return the favour and have done this layout using a photo of Julie's Mum and Dad. It was fun playing with someone else's photo, but also a bit stressful trying to create something that I wanted Julie to really like! I did a double layout using the 8.5x11 format which Julie scraps in. This is what I came up with!




I'll send the layout off to you this week Julie! I hope you and your Mum and Dad will like it!!!

Queen & Co. comp - Nic Howard wants us to spread the word about this comp, it's the easiest comp you'll ever enter, click on the link and give it a go!

Here is a sneak peek at a project I've done as a Guest DTer on the Scrap Needs site this month. Kellie will be putting the project in the idea centre in the last week of January - not long to go!

I did this layout about a week or so ago, when I started it, it was going to be an FK layout, but the colour photos were clashing badly with the colours of the papers, so I printed out the park photos of the girls and Jack and I'm thrilled with how it turned out! It was nice to do a layout that wasn't for project or comp!

Here's a little close up, I've use the mod podge method that Kate taught at ISC. (Thanks Kate!)

I bought some wire paper racks yesterday and then spent all day setting them up and reorganising my scrap room! I love how tidy the racks have made my space look. Now I must actually do some scrapping!! I have an FK project I am working on and then I am doing a layout for Julie Love to say thank you for the fabulous one she did for me!
















I saw this colour profiler on Tracy's blog so gave it a go.

I was Winter Dawn
inspired by the whites in our world...
the first light, still, hushed, tranquil,
a quiet place to think & reflect, freshly
washed sheets blowing in the breeze,
snow flakes gently falling, pearlised
glass, translucent porcelain pure simplicity,
a blank canvass - a masterpiece awaits...

I love fresh crisp sheets and would sleep on new sheets every night if I took the time to wash that much!LOL I'm also very into white cardstock too - just bought a stack from Scrap Needs this week!

These are a few of the bits and pieces I got at the LSS the other day. I think the papers are a bit bright, might have to do a bit of distressing on them!

I had to drop into the shops yesterday to bank some cheques and picked up a little bargain, these shoes for $22! from Williams!! Yay!! The pattern on the box is giving me some ideas for a layout too!!

And the coolest surprise got delivered yesterday! My Junkitz prize arrived!!!! Have a look at all these products! How super generous are Junkitz?! Can't wait to play with all that!


A great big thanks to everyone that has been dropping by my blog and especially for all the lovely comments and hugs for my decision on leaving the CBX team! THANKS!!

After a recent restructure of the Chatterbox downunder design team (which is no longer using the Chatterbox name) I have made the difficult decision to resign from the team. I know it was the right thing for me to do but was a sad decision. I made some lovely new friends from the experience and hope to keep in contact with all of them!

On a happier note, the lovely Ruth Clarke has just started up a blog. Cleck out the layouts Ruth has just done, they are divine! Have fun blogging Ruth!

I went to the LSS yesterday and bought some of the new 'we R memory keepers' letters and papers. I also found the yummiest rub-ons called 'artistic accents' by dee's designs! Can't wait to use them!

Reflecting on 2005 it was such a wonderful year. It all started with a fun trip down to the Tennis in January with my sister - gosh how I love Melbourne in the summer! And the atmosphere when the Australian Open is on is so fantastic! Love it! Here's a pic of me kissing my boyfriend this year!LOL

It was a dream for me to see Agassi play and I got to do that at a very exciting Friday night match against Taylor Dent.
While I'm in Melbourne we get to see our gorgeous cousin Shae! I also saw her again in June when I did a quick little weekend trip down to Melbourne for some scrapping committments.
In November it was off to my first ISC with Rach, which was a whirlwind experience! We had many laughs that weekend, especially on the plane with our good friends Sally and Jacqui who kept us entertained the whole time!LOL
In between these little holidays I had many special family moments. One of the big ones being my SIL falling pregnant. I'm so excited about another baby being in the family!
I hope that 2006 is just as fantastic and exciting for us, our family and our friends!

The new photos on my header are from when I took the girls and Jack (my nephew) to the park the other afternoon! I was really happy with some of the shots I got!
Yesterday we spent the morning at the beach and silly me got sunburnt, so am paying for it today!

Off to the reopening of a LSS near me today! I need some new pp - this is one thing I don't buy a lot of when I do online orders as I like to actually see and feel the papers first.

Have a great day everyone!
Chris.