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Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Thank you Ruth!!!

I got the loveliest surprise in the mail today! Ruth sent me this gorgeous layout she created! Look past the big ugly mug in the middle and look at the gorgeous stitching this girl does!!! The combination of diamonds, flowers and paisley design is just super! I also love the way you've done my name!!! Thanks so much Ruth, you certainly made my day!!!!
I did this layout a few weeks ago, around Valentines day, so I must have been feeling romantic! This is a photo of Jason and I when we were about 19 at a friends party. The title is 'A love that lasts' and Jason wanted me to put in brackets (and hair that doesn't) - He's now bald!LOL

Little foot note about the girls eating their dinner. Both ate whiting fish fillets last night!! Small steps, but we're getting there!

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Some Creating!

This flu is still hanging on, but feeling a bit better! I also started Optifast last week and lost 2.9 kilo's! YAY!! I just went and got some more for this week as I thought I'd keep going on it while I have the momentum happening! The lady at the chemist threw in one of the new optifast chocolate bars, which you use as a replacement meal and she assure me that it tasted really nice - not the case! It was so foul! I'll stick to the shakes thanks!!!LOL

Leisa Barwell from Scrapsidaisy on the NSW coast sent me some more yummy products to play with this week. I love this photo of Shayla from our Xmas photo shoot last year and I'm also loving the 8.5x11 size!I also made this clipboard! I love these 'we r memory keepers' papers because they are double sided, I think all pattern paper should be double sided!!!

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

A summer flu!

I've just been struck down by a summer flu! Not nice at all! I've been madly drinking hot lemon drinks to make myself better. Just glad I got it now and not at the retreat!

Wow, what a supportive bunch you are! Thanks so much everyone for firstly the advice on kids and eating! I have happy news to say that both girls ate some chicken last night!!!!!WOOHOO!! They also had some sausages one of the nights which they ate - but they do like sausages. They didn't touch their steak and vegies one of the night, but I think slowly bit by bit! I loved everyones suggestions and will be trying all of them starting with Anthea's spag bog idea tomorrow night! Cutting out afternoon tea was hard for the first couple of days but they are getting use to it now. Good luck to all the other struggling parents out there too! It's nice to know I'm not alone!

And the advice on what to do with the blurry photo was fantastic too, thanks guys! I've tried a few of the suggestions and the wonderful Lee also had a go at altering it for me with a great result. Not sure what I'll go with but look out for a layout using the photo soon! (And Janine's wonderful title idea!)

I've heard that the new FK is out, so I can show my very first project that I did on the DT now! I love this photo, but I think my style has change a bit even from doing this layout 4 months ago!(the theme for this project was 'pink' if you hadn't guessed!LOL)

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Back into the swing!

Finally I'm getting back to the gym on a regular basis! Sometimes it's hard to make myself go but once I'm there I just totally love it! Love the music, love pushing my body and feeling all the woobly bits wooble and love how empowered I feel afterwards!
After much discussion Jason and I have decided to really crack down on the girls with their eating. Like many parents our kids are quite fussy eaters and dinner time is a real battle! We don't believe in force feeding but have decided that the girls just aren't hungry enough at dinner time maybe so we're cutting out afternoon tea until they can at least eat some of their dinner. Sounds harsh, but when they aren't eating anything for dinner about 5 nights a week, it's time to take action! We're also going to cut down on the biccies and get them to eat more fruit! Fingers crossed we can get some vegetables into them soon!!! Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated if you have had similar problems with your kids.
No layouts to share today, but I do have a photo that I found on an old memory card the other day. It must have been when I first got my new camera last year and it's not in focus. Can anyone suggest how I could fix this photo?? I love it and want to make take away some of the blur.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Playing!

I've been having a play with my new MM foam stamps (thanks Kell!) I did a bit of doodling and even pulled out the fabric paints for this one! I loved this pic of Annaliese and wanted to do something fun with it! I think I need another go at this whole freestyle concept!LOLHere's another one I did a few weeks ago (remember the new shoes I bought, they inspired this layout??) and just needed to finish it off a bit better and have added the hanging thongs (thanks Roz) and the flower stamps and journalling. The paper I've used under the photo was the tissue paper inside the box! Not a lot else happening at the moment. I'm about to start working on my swap tags for the Scrap Needs retreat that is just 4 weeks away now!!!

Monday, February 13, 2006

Ali's challenge part 2

Gosh, I'm finding it harder and harder to get to my blog these days! Before I post the next 5 layouts for Ali's challenge, I want to also post my project for Scrap Needs this month. The project was to scrap a layout that was inspired by an item/object etc. I have this pot plant stand at home that was the perfect inspiration (see pic below!) Can you see the inspiration?? A lot is left up to individual interpretation too. I also did a card that is on the Scrap Needs site too (thanks Kell for the fantastic products to work with!).
Oh, more show and tell! I made this little hangy thing to put around Mishell's arm at her wedding and Kim kindly said she would do it for me as she was going to the wedding (thanks Kim) anyway, me being a dill again didn't put enough stamps on it went I sent it to Kim and it didn't make it there in time!LOL So here it is anyway and the lovely Kim is going to pop it in Shell's letter box! And if you haven't checked out Kim's blog, go do it and see the gorgeous photos of Shell's wedding and how beautifully Kim has written it all!

Now to the rest of Ali's challenge! 5 more of my favourite layouts:
This first one is a fave because it has some very special journalling. Back when Shayla was just 4 months old I did some controlled crying with her and while I was doing it I wrote a letter about it. Then about 12 months ago I came across the letter again (I nearly threw it out!) and it was so special that I put it on this layout with a photo of Shayla when she was 4 months old.Love this one because it's a non person photo and it's something that is special to Jason!This is a really old layout about when Shayla was in hospital for 3 weeks over Christmas 2003. The day Kasey Chambers and crew came to the hospital and did a little concert to us was just magic! When she sung 'True Colours' there lots of tears in the room! This layout makes me remember never to take for granted my children's good health. I love the photo in this one! My friend Penny helped me fix the photo up a bit as Annaliese had some green lights in her hair. I love her little chubby face peeking out in this photo!LOLAnd lastly, this is a really recent one, but I just can't get enough of this photo! Love how completely happy each of the kids look and love the colour in this layout!

Thanks Ali for the great challenge! I've been finding this challenge on many peoples blogs and am loving it! Let me know if you've got it on your blog and I haven't seen it yet!

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Rock Climbing

We gave the girls the choice of going rock climbing or to the pool this morning and they chose the rock climbing as you can see by the photos! My brother and Jack also came and we all had a good time! The kids struggled a bit because their arms and legs weren't quite long enough at times, but said at the end that they wanted to come again some time! I even had a go and my brother pulled out the camera a bit too late, but you can still see me in that sexy harness!LOL Jason is like a little spider man and can just run up the wall!
Yesterday I met with the fabulous Miss Shari (who's b'day it is today HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHARI!) for a coffee, we did a spot of shopping and also lunch and it was a very relaxing and wonderful way to spend the day! Thanks Shari!! Here's a lovely close up shot of us!LOL

*I will up load the rest of my layouts for Ali's challenge tomorrow!

Thursday, February 09, 2006

Ali's challenge

This is Ali's challenge:
I want you all to post in your blogs 10 of your layouts. It doesn't matter if you've already uploaded them to your blog before - just think of it as giving us all a "refresher".

Now - these 10 layouts - they have to be a *certain* 10. I want to see the 10 layouts which are either:
(a) your favourite 10 layouts; or
(b) the 10 layouts that you're most proud of; or
(c) 10 layouts that have some really special significance*** ; or
(d) a combination of any of the above!***

I know that *all* our pages are special and signficant - but i'm referring to those layouts that really have that extra "meaning" to you...

What a great idea Ali. I'll upload 5 today and 5 tomorrow! Now some of these are pretty daggy because the styles have changed etc, but they are each special.
This first one is special because the beanie Annaliese is wearing is one my Nanna knitted for me when I was a little girl and the journalling talks about that and how much my Nanna would have loved to see another little blondie in the beanie!

This one is such a photographic journey of mine and Jason's lives together and is amazing how much we've changed over the years! I did this layout for the 'ASC Aus Idol final'.
I love the conversation with Shayla in this layout, as well as it's simplicity.


This one I love mainly because of the Ki Memories!LOL But also because the journalling is about what a special part my sister has played in the girls lives - we are so lucky that we all have such a close relationship!
My last one for today is this layout I did about sharing my b'day with my nephew Jack. I have hidden journalling on the tag that goes under the main photo which talks about how Jack was born on my b'day, just 10 days after I had had a silent miscarriage. I had such strong maternal feelings for Jack when he was born and I had wished he was mine. He's such a special boy to me!



The very thoughtful and kind Kell from Scrap Needs sent me these new MM foam stamps today as a b'day pressy and this gorgeous card that she made! Thanks so much Kell! I love them and can't wait to use them!

A funny thing happened (I can say it's funny now that I know they're safe!)I went looking for something to wear on the weekend and thought I'd put on my new clothes I bought just before we went to Kingscliff. I searched high and low for them, and then it dawned on me that I had actually left them at the Outrigger when we were staying there!LOL So the lovely Miss Erica has gone and collected them for me and will give them to me when we catch up next! Thank Erica!!!!
It also made me think about when I left my ball gown on the plane when I was going to ISC last year!LOL I'm not usually that hopeless!

Monday, February 06, 2006

Bits and pieces


A few different things to chat about today. Firstly, I was totally spoilt in the mail today by the lovely Debbie Kingston! She sent me the goodies at the front of the pic for my b'day on the weekend. Thank you so, so much Deb!! And look at the gorgeous card she made!! So much hand stitching!!! (and the other card a good friend of mine Jacqui Jones made for me!! Thanks Jac!! Love it)

Also in the first pic is the layout that Julie Love did for me, it arrived today and it was so cool to see it in the flesh! I love it to bits and can't wait to go out shopping for an album to put these swap layouts in! Speaking of swap layouts, here is the one that the very talented Jen Hall did for me! Doesn't it just make you want to jump into a pool?? It's so bright and funky! Thank you, thank you Jen! I love it!!


Sorry, this is a long post! Lastly, Lianne challenged people to put their first layout up on their blog. This is the first layout I did on my own. Before this one I had done 1 Creative Memories layout at a CM party. Then I went to 4 beginners classes that were very structured. But this was the first layout I did all on my very own and thought it was just the prettiest thing!LOL Gotta love those tulips!
Thank you very, very much to all the thoughtful, wonderful people who left lovely b'day wishes on my blog!!!!!

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Happy Birthday to Jack!!!

And me! Yes, that's right, another year older! And I share my b'day with my terrific nephew Jack! He turned 6 today and well, I was just a bit older than him!LOL (32, shh!) It was also my brothers b'day yesterday and here we all are pictured today when we went for a picnic at the park!
I was sooooooo spoilt and was totally surprised to receive this fabulous camcorder from Jason and the girls! It's so tiny! And Annaliese also picked out a foot massager that plugs into the USB port of my hard drive! I also got some very cute MM charms and chains from the sweet Rozzy during the week!
Jason is being a clown in this photo as usual!!LOL
More show and tell today! I did a photo swap with Jen and it was quite the challenge with 9 photos! So I created the little mini fold out album for the bulk of the photos! How gorgeous are her girls! This was fun!(the edge of the layout is actually the pink, just put it on the black cardstock to photograph it!) And lastly today, one of the lovely ladies on the Scrap Needs forum - Beck, makes these amazing baby dolls! Go and check out her fantastic work here!
I know, I know, I'm going soft in my old age, but they are so cute!LOL

Thanks to everyone for the lovely, lovely b'day emails, texts and wishes today! I'm a lucky girl to be blessed with wonderful family and friends in my life!

Thursday, February 02, 2006

First Canvas

It's my brothers b'day tomorrow and I wanted to create him something using this photo (his son and 2 nieces) - he hasn't seen it yet. I wanted it to be fairly simple, more of a picture than a scrapbooking page. I've used the mod podge technique again and basically this is a bit of scraplift of the layout I did using the same photo and technique. And it's my first, of probably many canvasses. This one is quite a big one, the photo is an A4. Printed on my wonderful Epson!!!

It was my baby girls first day at Pre-school today. She was so excited and wanted to get going at 6am this morning! When I told her I was going to miss her she said 'never mind, it will be gone before you know it mum' (I think she meant, I'll be home before you know it!) she then told me that maybe I could go shopping or meet a friend while she was gone!LOL Here she is looking gorgeous (we are growing her fringe out!)

Here's a pic of Shayla on her first day of grade 3 last week. She loves school and couldn't wait to get back to see her friends!



** The name of the stamp I used on the key holder is 'Swirl Border 2232D Caterina' by Stamp-it. Thanks for all your comments girls!!!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Altered project and tagged

Firstly, thanks so much to everyone that left a comment about my first Scrap Needs project, you guys are so supportive! I really appreciate you taking the time to read and comment on my work!

I picked up this hanging key holder from the same cheap shop that I got those boxes from and I've used my favourite photo on it to make something to pop in with my sisters b'day present (hope she's not reading this!LOL) I love my new swirly stamp (bet Ruthy loves it too!)


The lovely Samantha Dorn has tagged me, go check out her blog if you haven't already!

The rules for this particular tagging are as follows: Remove the blog name in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add yourself to the bottom slot

Tammy
Ngaire
Charleigh
Samantha
Chris

Here are the questions:

What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was just about to turn 22, I was engaged, living with Jason and preparing for my wedding later that year! I was working in Child Care and was about 20kilos lighter!LOL

What were you doing 1 year ago?

Pretty much the same as I'm doing now! Stay at home mum, doing the book work for our business, scrapping and happy!

Five snacks that you enjoy:


MnM's!
Grapes
biccies
lollies
slippery sams

Five songs to which you KNOW all the lyrics :

Romeo and Juliet - Dire straits
Nearly every Cold Chisel song
What about Me
Foolish Games - Jewel
The Captain - Kasey Chambers


Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

Fly all my extended family to an Island destination so that we could all have a big party together!

Take Jason to Africa - it's his life dream!

Send my mum on a holiday to Paris - cause it's her dream!

Give money to each of mine and Jason's brothers and sisters.

Buy a new house on the Northern NSW coast


Five bad habits:


Spend too much time on the computer
Talk too much
Impatient
A bit anal
Eat the wrong foods


Five things you like doing:

Surprising friends
Going to the movies
Getting a massage
Swimming with the kids
Scrapbook shopping


Five things you would never wear, buy, or get again:

G-string leotard to aerobics
Short shorts - wish I could though!
A perm
braces
An ab roller


Five Favourite toys:


camera
dvd player
printer
blender


5 People I am tagging: (5 lovely girls from the Scrap Needs forum because they have made me feel so welcome over there! There is more than 5 but I'll get you girls next time!)

Anthea
Vicki (boo)
Libby
Kelley
Mel C.

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