Scissor Sista

I've gone walk about!

2008-04-12T15:06:00.002+10:00

Thanks to the lovely Kirsty Peterson, she's helped me set up a Wordpress blog which is where I've moved to.
Sorry for the mucking around, but you can now find me here

See you over there!

Whooo! Whoo!

2008-04-06T14:52:00.009+10:00

Hope everyone's weekend is going well. We had 3 extra kiddies stay here last night and they were all so good. As the kids get older they seem to just want to do their own thing and are just off in the bedrooms or playing outside for most of the time - until it's time to eat!LOL One of the girls wanted to do a photo shoot (yay! always good practise) and then I taught her how to play around with the photos in photoshop.
We've done nothing else productive with our weekend, which has been nice actually.
A yell out to fellow ASS DTer Jaimie who's celebrating a b'day today!! She shares a b'day with my father in law!
Congrats to Carole and Nic who have both recently joined the ASS DT. Great to have both you girls join us!
Here are the title pages I've done for the kids albums I've started.

I've been loving doing these albums so much and have already completed 7 pages for each of the 3 albums. The kids are so excited about their albums and can't wait till they are finished.
These are the owls I did for the Tarisota quiz 'who is who'. These chipboard owls are so addictive and I couldn't just stop at 1. This first one I painted the chipboard white and then I mod podged fancy napkins over the chipboard pieces.

This second one was created completely from felt. I traced the chipboard pieces onto the felt, cut the out and then glued them all together. Love the little felt balls!

This third one was done by covering the chipboard with pattern paper, sanding the edges and then adding some jewels.

Thanks everyone for the lovely welcome back to blogging. I'm missing my typepad blog. I can't reply to blog posts from blogger. I might think about getting another typepad account in the future.

I've got a little RAK to give away.

To win these Elsie frame packs, leave me a comment and I'll put all the names in a hat. Come out of lurking if you're a lurker - I'd love to meet you!

Birthdays

2008-03-29T08:21:00.005+10:00

We've been making b'day invites this past month. Firstly for Annaliese's b'day which was on the 10th of March - she turned 7! And now again for Shayla's b'day which is the 10th of April. We went for invites with photos of the girls on them. Shayla helped with hers a lot and decided what sort of photo would look best to depict a slumber party and she also helped put them together.
Here they are:

I've got a feral flu this weekend but I really want to make a start on my kids albums that Nic Howard is inspiring me to do, check out Nic's blog here. I've decided that I'm going to do one for our adopted neighbour Cameron - he spends so much time here that he feels like another member of the family!LOL He was very excited when I took his photo yesterday so that I can make a start on an album for him also.
I'll leave you with a couple of layouts that were up on the ASS Blog this week. Using all Li'l Davis products! Check out Jason's hair in this one!LOL He was 18 in these photos.

Hello!

2008-03-24T17:03:00.004+10:00

Long time no post!
I'm back with blogger. When I closed down my typepad blog I cancelled my membership altogether.
So here we are nearly through a quarter of the year already! It's nice to have a bit more time now that the Units are finished.

Here's a pic of the girls out the front of the Units - we named them after our two beautiful girls!

I've been having a bit of a play with some new Luxe Designs papers over the Easter weekend. I've made these cards and layout.

Here's a link to a fun little comp on the Tarisota Blog today 'who is who' - you could win a gorgeous bracelet designed by Tamar!

New Blog

2006-04-16T15:52:00.000+10:00

Click here to find my new blog.

Thanks everyone that does take the time to read my blog!

Bits and pieces

2006-04-14T15:45:00.000+10:00

Sloganise!
Found a link to this on 2Peas,
type in your name and create your own slogan! Each time you type your name in it gives you a new slogan for your name.

Some of mine are:

Dial Down the Chris
Come to life. Come to Chris
Go Crack a Chris

And some for Jason:

The real smell of Jason
It needn't be hell with Jason
I'm a secret Jason drinker

Just a little bit of fun anyway!LOL

In other news - Leisa from Scrapsidaisy has started her own blog! It's in my side bar if you want to check it out. Also with some other new blog names I've entered - Chrissy Berry, Lauren Rhodes and Carole Jason. You gotta check out the work Carole has just done for Junkitz on her blog - awesome!

Cath from stamp search has just updated her website, you can also this out from my side bar!

I felt so inspired by the latest issue of FK that I did a little run down of all the things I love about it this month. You can check out what I wrote here

I don't have any work to share today, so will leave you with a funny photo of my nephew Jack. He'd just lost one of his top teeth and the other one was just hanging by a thread - he looks so cute!
Oh, and how can I forget to thank my wonderful mum for having the girls at her house for the past 2 days. They have such a terrific time when they're with mum. She lives near the beach so she walked them down to the beach yesterday morning - they took pancake mixture and made them on a bbq by the water for breaky! What a special Nanna!

Something exciting!!!

2006-04-12T07:23:00.000+10:00

Finally I can let the cat out of the bag about this one. A couple of months ago I was asked by Aussie Scrap Source if I would like to be their first 'Guest Designer'! I had to create a layout with products from their site (which wasn't hard as they have the most awesome products on their site) and I also had to provide step by step instructions on how to create the layout. ASS then compiles the layout, instructions and products into a kit and will sell them to Scrapbooking stores all around Australia! The idea is that Scrapbooking Stores will buy these kits for the teachers in their stores to teach as a class. How cool!! Anyway, if you want to check out the layout click here then click on the 'products' menu in their sidebar and under the very first category you will see 'May class kits' my kit is the third kit along called 'Dazzle with Diamonds'. I want to say a big thanks to Rach Axton from ASS who stepped me the whole way through the process and was a great help when it came to picking products and staying under the budget! Thanks Rach!!!

Some work to share! Here is a mini canvas I made for Leisa from Scrapsidaisy to display in her store. I got to meet the lovely Leisa at the Scrap Needs retreat in March and she is just as wonderful in real life as she is chatting online. I love doing work for her little shop at Wingham and she's also just put one of my very talented friends 'Debbie Kingston' on as a design team member as well! Congrats Deb! Some of Debbie's work can be seen in the Scrap Needs gallery under 'Debbie K'.
Some of the footy tipping girls are doing a bit of a layout swap at the moment, and here is the layout I created for the lovely Lauren Rhodes Thanks Lauren for giving me such a cool photo to work with!
Yesterday was the wonderful Kirsten De Forest's b'day - I hear she turned 21, well, that's how young this girl looks!LOL Hope you're day was great Kirst and that you get your computer fixed up really soon!!
Lastly, thanks for all the b'day wishes for my big, beautiful girl Shayla - I'm still coming to terms with being the mother of an 8 year old!!LOL She's a loving wonderful daughter to have and such a terrific big sister to Annaliese (most of the time!LOL).
And thanks to all the newbies that have left have left me comments lately and to everyone that takes the time to stop by and have a read!

I've been RAKed!

2006-04-09T14:31:00.000+10:00

I came home today to find the most delightful surprise on my front door step! Check this out!The lovely Annette from Blossies, one of the my local Scrapbooking Stores left me this most gorgeous 'wish box'! It's their month kit that has the theme of 'chocolate' this monthly! It's filled with terrific little embellishments, lovely fabric pieces and custom designed letters. It's all contained in this Melissa Frances Box and also has an accordian album in it! I feel so so lucky and very grateful - thanks so much Annette! Click here to see how you can get a hold of one of these fantastic 'wish boxes'! Can't wait to use mine!!!

I'm so excited that I've totally forgotten what else I was going to write!LOL

That's right, yesterday afternoon I did my first online class with the fabulous Jaimie Emmerton! It was heaps of fun and Jaimie designed this awesome layout for us to create! I used my own papers and love the end result - Thank you Miss Jaimie!
Yesterday morning was Shayla's 8th Birthday party (she turns 8 tomorrow), we had 15 kiddies here for a morning of pass the parcel, musical chairs and other such games, party food and lots of giggling. My mum was on hand to help (couldn't have done it without you mum!) and everyone had a great time! Here is Shayla look gorgeous in her new b'day clothes from her Uncle & Aunty
A big happy birthday to Michelle G and Tracey C today!!!! Hope both you girls are having a fabulous day and getting spoilt thoroughly!

And the winner is???????????

2006-04-08T19:24:00.000+10:00

Number 30 - LARA!!!

Lara was the first person to guess! How ironic is that??!LOL We just did the draw in true party style - pin the tail on the number! I thought cause it was Shayla's b'day party today that we'd have a bit of fun with it and she pinned the tail on number 30!
Lara could you email me at cmmillar@optusnet.com.au and we'll organise a stamp to be made for you! Congrats!

I'm feeling in the party mode and have decided to give a runners up prize too! And the next number that Shayla pinned the tail on was.................................................. Number 41 - Ruthy , so Ruthy you have won a little Junkitz Ruler mini book. Hope you like it. Can you also email me you're address please.

Enjoy your Saturday night everyone!

The cutest little Bilby

2006-04-06T16:16:00.000+10:00

The girls had their Easter hat parade at school yesterday, both at different times in the day which I was unaware of, so I only got to see Annaliese's. Isn't she the cutest little Bilby you've ever seen??!LOL Look at those paws!Cause I don't have a photo of Shayla with her Easter hat on I'll show you a photo I took a couple of weeks ago of how long her hair is! It was very dry on the ends and we've had it trimmed since then.And here are the new stamps I design and Cath from Stamp Search made them up for me. I had been looking everywhere for a crown stamp and now I have one!!!!Watch out for these stamps on a layout soon!
If you're not doing anything on Friday night, drop over to Scrap Needs, we're having a cyber crop!!! Will be heaps of fun I'm sure!

Ok, I've got a little RAK to give away. You have to leave a comment on my blog and say a number between 1 and 50. On Saturday night I will put all the numbers into a hat and get one of the girls to draw out a number.The winner will get to design their own stamp and have it made by Cath from Stamp Search. (*size of stamp not too big)

Happy Birthday to my Father in law or as we like to call him 'Super Grandad' he's such a wonderful grandad to my girls and I'm so thankful that he plays such a big part in our lives!
And Happy Birthday to Jaimie Emmerton!

Professional Photos

2006-04-05T13:46:00.000+10:00

The photos that Rachel Greig took at the retreat arrived in the mail yesterday! What a whiz she is with the camera! Check out these photos! (ok, self critism: should have put a colour in my hair before the retreat, and need to learn to open my eyes when smiling!LOL But Rach did a brilliant job getting rid of the 'chins'!) I love all the group ones! Here's a couple of the fantastic girls I get to work with on the Scrap Needs Design Team, Jen Hall, Roz James and Shell LancettAnd here are some other of the girls that sat at the 'noisy' table at the retreat - and Miss Rach in the middle!
A big thank you to Rach for the superb job she did with the photos, she was so easy to work with and made us all feel comfortable!
The lovely Miss Libby is back on deck and blogging again - photos and all! Yay Lib!

FK Issue #41

2006-04-03T17:28:00.000+10:00

I haven't got my hands on a copy yet, but here are my two DT layouts for this issue.
The first one is a $12 budget layout. Gosh it's hard to do that when you're trying to do it (if you know what I mean!LOL) I do love these photos of Annaliese on Anzac day. Shayla marched in the parade that year, so it was so exciting waiting for her to come marching along!And my other project was to do an Easter related project. I did a 8x8 layout that went into a frame. (Max did a class on these at ISC - thanks for the idea Max) This photo was from Easter 2 years ago but I still love it. This isn't a very good photo of this, hopefully FK photographed it better.
Thanks for everyone's comments on my first class. I rang one of my other local scrapping stores searching for a particular paper today and she also asked me to come and teach a class - I think I would be no-where near as nervous the second time round!LOL Speaking of classes, I'm going to be doing one of Jaimie Emmerton's on Saturday! Really looking forward to that - she's going to teach me how to do boy layouts!

My 1st Class

2006-04-01T13:17:00.000+10:00

I survived!! I can't believe how much I worried and stressed about doing my first class and it was really fantastic and heaps of fun! (I know, you're all saying 'I told you so'!!LOL) I was very lucky to get a great bunch of girls to work with who were all quite experienced and just worked at a really good pace and even understood my instructions! They have asked me back so I must have done alright! Poor Jason, he had to sleep on the lounge last night as I was grinding my teeth so loudly from worry!LOL Anyway, here is a photo of the wonderful girls in my 'mod podge canvas' class.

Stamp - Thanks everyone for your comment on my signature stamp, I'm currently working on some more stamps for Cath to make for me. They are so cheap that I can't just stop at one!! So if you are looking for a particular stamp and can't find it just draw Cath a picture or download a clip art and she can whip one up for you! My signature stamp was only $11.20 unmounted, how cheap is that??!!! Here is the link to Cath's site again: StampSearchWithCath

Photos - I'm so excited because Rachel Greig has put together a CD of the photos she took at the retreat of me and they are in the mail on their way here!!! You can take a sneak peek here at some of the ones she took at the retreat - how clever is she?? The photos are just stunning of everyone and will be cherish I'm sure! Thanks Rach!!!

Birthdays - So many of my lovely friends are celebrating birthdays at the moment. Last Wednesday/Thursday was my cropping buddies Penny's & Tracey's b'day and my other cropping buddies b'day is on Monday - Miss Sally and today is Rozzy's b'day!
So a big group HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you all!

New blog colours - Yes, I've changed my blog colours and can't for the life of me remember where on the template to put my banner, so when I work it out I'll have a banner pic back up there!

Signature Stamp

2006-03-28T12:29:00.000+10:00

Check this out!!!I loved the look of Nic and Jen's signature stamps so decided to get one. I found this lovely lady Cath who makes them via her online site check it out here. I just did my signature on a piece of paper at home (I used the larger tip of a zig writer) then I scanned and emailed the signature to Cath and here it is in my hot little hands just a few days later! The stamps come unmounted and are a fantastic price!

On to a totally different subject. My baby girl took to her beautiful long hair with the scissor yesterday! She had hair half way down her back and just decided that when I asked to go into her room and put some shoes on yesterday morning that she would instead give herself a trim! So she now has a little bob cut - which does actually look very cute!LOL She wanted to keep the hair that was cut off and give it to Daddy! It was quite a sight her trying to stick it on his bald patches with glitter glue last night!LOL
On the scrapbooking front I've been working on my last FK DT projects this week. It's been a great challenge working to a 'brief' each month and I've thoroughly enjoyed it. Good luck to all the new girls who have been picked to take over!

Swaps and Stuff!

2006-03-26T17:51:00.000+10:00

A couple of weeks ago the girls on Scrap Needs decided to do a layout swap and I was so lucky to have the talented Kelley Forrester do a layout for me! She gave it to me at the retreat and I just absolutely love it to bits! What a brilliant job Kelley has done with this layout, I can't believe how well she matched the colours to Annaliese's shirt! Love the bling and tied ribbons too! Thanks so much Kelley - into my swap album it goes!And I got to do a layout for the wonderful Jan from Scrap Needs forum and give it to her at the retreat also! I had fun doing this layout, the pinky bit of cardstock at the top lifts out to reveal another photo from Jan's daughters b'day.
A few weeks ago I contacted lots of the current and old ASC girls to see if we could put together a bit of a surprise for the wonderful Shari - a bit of a cheer me up as she's been through some tough times of late. We organised a get together but unfortunately it wasn't able to happen (hopefully at a later date) we also put together some inspirational tags and some money for a spa voucher for Shari. I just wanted to say thanks so much to everyone that was involved! I know that Shari loved receiving the package in the mail! Here's a pic of the tags that were made.

Good luck to all the footy tippers this week! I was coming 3rd on a scrappers one I'm in after last week, but I haven't done all that well this week! Fancy the Kiwi's getting up and winning!LOL

This one time on Scrap Camp........

2006-03-24T06:40:00.001+10:00

The lovely Fiona Kahler has sent me some of the 'fun' photos from the retreat! Fiona is such a cool chick! After arriving half way through dinner on the Saturday night she slipped right into the fun atmosphere even getting in the spa with her clothes on!LOL As you can see it all started at dinner, our dinner came out very late and so we kept ordering drinks and hence filled our empty tummies with grog! Next minute Shell was doing a count down and we were celebrating New Years Eve!LOL I'm sure the other tables wondered what on earth was going on!
When we got back to the resort the spa just looked too inviting so we all piled in, drinks and all. Thanks to the kind girls that went back to the restaurant to get more bottles of wine! And thanks to Kell who is the best boss ever and let us girls be silly when we were suppose to be in the scrap room playing games!LOL
After the girl at reception asked us ever so nicely to hop out of the spa we all took the party back to Shell's room and here we are in the bottom left photo doing a lovely little dance to Robert Palmers 'simply irresistible'These are still the tame photos, so we'll just leave it at that! This is another layout I did as a sample for my demo at the retreat on foam stamps. I love this one! The girls in the photo are friends of the family.
Thanks for all the comments of support about teaching my first class soon. I found out that the class is actually booked out! I'll let you know in a couple of weeks how I went!

More retreat stuff!

2006-03-22T20:46:00.000+10:00

Another couple of photos, this is the lovely Kirst from the Scrap Needs forum on the left and the sweet Carol on the right! The photo of Carol and I was just after I'd done my demo on foam stamps! I gotta tell you, I don't think I'm cut out for this teaching stuff! It was my first time and it was just a short 15 min demo and I was a barrel of nerves! Eeek! Gotta teach my first class at a LSS in a couple of weeks, so let's hope I'm not as nervous then!LOL
Here is a layout that I did for my demo as a bit of a sample.
I'm still trying to get back into normality here at home after 4 days away, it's amazing how quickly everything piles up!
Thanks so much everyone that posted a comment about the retreat and the photos. Yes, I know I was very brave/silly sharing those awful photos of myself, but hey, it's all in good fun!!LOL
I feel so lucky to be able to go on weekends away and just a few short years ago I would never have dreamed that I'd be going away and having a blast with lots of new friends! Gotta love this craft!
Speaking of new friends, one of my lovely new friends Libby had an op today, so best wishes for a speedy recovery for Lib - sending big hugs south of the border!

What a weekend!!!

2006-03-21T07:21:00.000+10:00

I haven't laughed so much, drank so much and scrapped so little in ages!!LOL What a fabulous weekend meeting so many lovely, sweet, funny, friendly and crazy girls!
I won't go into all the details, but it was the best retreat I've ever been to. Even though I didn't scrap much, it was more of a girly weekend for me! I think Kim scrapped more layouts than me and she was only there for a few hours!LOL I want to thank Kellie for such a wonderful weekend, all her hard work definitely paid off and I know that everyone else I talked to had a fantastic time! And big thanks to Kellie, Shell and Jen for driving us everywhere and to Ange who also did some carting around too! A big wave to everyone that I meet over the course of the weekend, it was terrific to finally meet you all in real life. Here are some photos from the weekend.(top to bottom: Regina; Shell, Leisa; Jen; Michelle)(top to bottom: Roz; Fiona; Shell; Sally and I having the most delicious hot chocolates ever at a place called Max something)(top to bottom: Kellie; Libby; Kylie,Jacqui & Sally(the girls I went with); Reggie, Michelle, Kelley, Sara, Angela & Jen)And Rozzy might kill me for these photos, but this was the tame photos from Saturday night (top to bottom: Roz & Reggie; Ange & Jen; Poor Kell with her two drunken DTers; and this last photo says it all - this is the lovely Jan having a close encounter with this terrible drunk woman!LOL)
I forgot to say too, thanks to the wonderful Michelle Grant for doing my make up so that I would look half decent for Rachel's photos on the Sunday! Your a gem Michelle!!!!!

That's all I can manage for now, I still have more photos and need to send some rather large cheques to others that have photos on their cameras that should never see the light of day!LOL I hardly have any voice today and we're running late, so will get back here to add more at a later date!

Retreat, here I come!

2006-03-16T12:31:00.000+10:00

Thank you sooooooo much to all the lovelies that left messages on my blog about my Scrap Needs projects and about having a good time at the retreat! You are all Super fantastic - Thanks muchly! Rest assure I will have a whopper of a time at the retreat! Infact, Miss Michelle Grant is arriving in just a few short hours time! Then in the morning - very early in the morning, we are off on an exciting truck ride to the airport! Yes, poor Michelle doesn't know it yet but Jason is driving us in style to the airport in his dirty, old smelly truck!LOL Just the start of a fun adventure!
So I've been running around like a chook all morning trying to get everything done, had to fit in a trip to the salon to have my brows waxed and eyelashes tinted. OMGosh! The girl butchered by brows!!! She took a chunk out of one of them and even left wax in them!!! So after inspecting them closer at home I marched back down there and got them to fix them up! The boss lady wasn't happy with the young girl, which was a bit uncomfortable, but I really couldn't leave them like they were. So she cleaned them up and also had to put some dye on them so that the chunk was as obvious!LOL They look much better now!!
Just got a phone call from the sewing centre to say my new machine that I ordered was in too, but unfortunately I don't have the time to go pick it up today, so it will have to wait till next week!
Ok, some sharing. Here are my swap tags I've made for the retreat, quite plain, but quicker to make than the ones I did for ISC. Not the best photo of me either, but then again I don't like any that are taken of me!LOLAnd here is my name tag - had fun playing with this one!Ok, must get and finish some ironing (yuk) and bring the washing in etc. etc.!
Have a fantastic weekend everyone, think of me at the retreat, running amuck with the girls and I'll update you all next week!!

SCRAP NEEDS!!!

2006-03-14T18:10:00.000+10:00

1 More sleep till I go buy a new suitcase to pack for the Scrap Needs retreat!
2 More sleeps till Michelle gets here to come to the Scrap Needs retreat with me!
3 More sleeps till we fly out to the Scrap Needs retreat!

Do you get the picture that I'm a wee bit excited!!?? (as Rach would say!)

And this week my March project for Scrap Needs went up in the idea centre! Here it is! I'm going to fill this lunch pail with swap tags to take to the retreat and when I bring it home hopefully it will be packed with tags I've received in return!I also made this clipboard to give to Kell (owner of scrap needs) for being a wonderful boss lady!And this door hanger for Kell's daughter Sophie.Just loved working with the Simply Fabulous range from MM.
I'm feeling in a huggie mood today, so consider yourself cyber hugged if you are reading this!

Hip Hip........Hooray!

2006-03-12T17:40:00.000+10:00

The party in the park for Annaliese went so well! Apart from the soccer sign on day that was there too with all the millions of kids and parents!LOL We played the usual games - pass the parcel, musical chairs - yes, we took down our own chairs so we could play this and batteries in the cd player!
Last night Annaliese also had one of her best friends sleepover who couldn't make it to the party. Her b'day seemed to spread out over a few days!LOLHere's the tradional cake stuffed in mouth shot!LOL

And the winner of the question about what Annaliese had for breaky on her b'day was............................Anthea!!!! Yay Anthea! She actually had her favourite, cinnamon on toast!

Now for the tag by Miss Rozzy!

What scrapbook lines/products, etc. do you dislike?
The yukky paper that looked like vomit that I had to use for a product challenge for SM a little while back! Can't think of the name of it, but boy it was awful!
What is the hardest thing you have ever had to scrap?
The above mentioned paper!LOL
What technique do you use more than anything else?
I would say cutting, I'm always cutting out pattern paper! Followed closely by stitching.
What is the smallest scrap of paper you save?
Well, I've been known to keep thin strips of bazzill, use them on a layout and win tickets to ISC!
Have you ever had any scrapbook related injuries?
I agree with Roz, headaches from being on the computer too long!
Finish this sentence, "If I wasn't a scrapbooker/stamper, I would spend my money on..."
Expensive linen! I love good linen but don't usually buy the ones I'd really like!
Give us your best storage or organizational idea:
Go through your stash regularly so that you know what you've got!
You just won a week long scrapbooking cruise for 5. Who is going withyou?
I'm going to cheat and say 5 groups of people!LOL My Friday cropper friends (local group of girls I scrap with!) All the friends I've met through ASC, All my new Scrap Needs friends, My New Zealand friends and My mum (so she can meet everyone too!)
When you received your first publication notification, who did youtell? And if you are not yet pubbed, who will be the first person youshare the news with?
The first person I told I think was Jason, but followed closely by my mum and sister!

Ok, I tag Beck, Evana, Shazz and Steph!

5 Today!

2006-03-10T14:01:00.000+10:00

My baby girl is 5 today!!! And she's just so excited about it all! Here she is this morning, so pleased to be taking 25 cup cakes to preschool to share with her friends, her face looking all glossy because she'd just plastered sunscreen on! And what do you think the b'day girl wanted to eat for breaky on the morning of her breakfast??? The first person who can guess I'll send a RAK to!!!
What a shocking job I did with her piggy tails this morning too!LOL

I've also been tagged by Miss Rozzy, will get to that over the weekend some time!

WOOHOO!! Only 1 week till the retreat!!!!!!

Birthdays

2006-03-08T07:01:00.000+10:00

It's a birthday week for us with Annaliese's 5th b'day on Friday and my sisters 30th on Sunday! We can't get together with my sister on the weekend as they are going camping and we decided not to go and to stay home and have a party for Annaliese at the park with her friends.
So last Sunday we all got together at the Ettamoga (sp?)Pub on the way to the Sunshine Coast and had lunch. Here's a pic of my sister - Kat and the girls.
Kat gave Annaliese a huge make-up set for her b'day and Sunday afternoon we had makeovers at our house!LOL What fun that was!
Thought I'd share a layout that I've just done, that I don't particularly like. This layout just didn't come together, but love these photos of my nephew Jack! And thanks to Sally for lending me her sewing machine to finish off some projects after my old machine finally died last week! I'm off to look at buying a new one today!!
Dancing with the stars This is the first series that I've watched and I'm mainly watching because I'm a Kostya fan! How fantastic is he doing??!!!!
Go KOSTYA!!! I can't believe how much they are babying Simone Warne! She clearly should have been the one to go last night and the judges didn't even mention her mistakes she made during the routine! I thought Grant was such a crack up!!

Things are getting very busy now with the Scrap Needs retreat looming. The lovely Michelle Grant arrives here in 8 days!!!! I can't wait to get on that plane to Newcastle next Friday!!!

What's a man to do!!??

2006-03-04T18:47:00.000+10:00

All the rain we've had lately has interrupted Jason's work, so he's been hanging around the house, sleeping in (which he just hates!LOL) working on his car and he also decided to give the tree in the front yard a bit of a trim!LOL It was nearly touching the power lines and so he decided it had to go. Nothing like a man swinging an axe in his King Gee's!(insert wolf whistle)
I've been scrapping every day nearly, but most of it I can't show yet. I can tease a bit though!LOL
Here is a peek at my March DT project for Scrap Needs!
And here is a peek at my swap tags for the Scrap Needs retreat that is less than 2 weeks away!!! Can't wait to get on that plane to Newcastle!
More exciting news! This week we got the preliminary plans of some townhouses that we are building this year on an investment block we have. It's scary and exciting all at once!!
I can show a little something I made the other day. A door hanger for Leisa (that owns scrapsidaisy) daughters with some of the products Leisa sent me.
Last night I went with a few girlfriends to watch our very talented friend Sally Clifford in a play she was performing in! It was so fantastic to see her up there on stage and she hammed it up superbly!!! Sally is an extraordinary girl, she's a mother of 4 little children, she home schools, she runs a business with her hubby, she waterskis, is an actress and talented scrapbooker! She's truly inspirational!

A big thanks to all the people who drop by my blog!

Thank you Ruth!!!

2006-02-28T14:43:00.000+10:00

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!

Some Creating!

2006-02-25T13:28:00.000+10:00

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!!!

A summer flu!

2006-02-22T18:24:00.000+10:00

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)

Back into the swing!

2006-02-19T12:10:00.000+10:00

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.

Playing!

2006-02-16T21:10:00.000+10:00

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!!!

Ali's challenge part 2

2006-02-13T16:44:00.000+10:00

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!

Rock Climbing

2006-02-11T13:34:00.000+10:00

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!

Ali's challenge

2006-02-09T12:19:00.000+10:00

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!

Bits and pieces

2006-02-06T16:53:00.000+10:00

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!!!!!

Happy Birthday to Jack!!!

2006-02-04T16:33:00.000+10:00

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!

First Canvas

2006-02-02T15:45:00.000+10:00

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!!!

Altered project and tagged

2006-02-01T08:59:00.000+10:00

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.

First Scrap Needs DT project

2006-01-30T16:49:00.000+10:00

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!

Retreat and Inspiration!

2006-01-29T12:11:00.000+10:00

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.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS DEBBIE!!!

2006-01-28T08:29:00.000+10:00

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!

Sad news.

2006-01-27T16:26:00.000+10:00

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!

Been to the beach!

2006-01-26T19:17:00.000+10:00

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.

Babies!

2006-01-21T19:27:00.000+10:00

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!

Fixed it!!

2006-01-20T20:05:00.000+10:00

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!!!

Tennis and Scrapping don't mix!!!

2006-01-20T17:07:00.000+10:00

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!!!

You've heard of Desperate Housewives???

2006-01-19T17:54:00.000+10:00

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!

New CK!

2006-01-18T07:11:00.000+10:00

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!

More Boxes and Roz!!

2006-01-16T16:19:00.000+10:00

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!!!

A few altered things!

2006-01-15T19:14:00.000+10:00

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!

The '4' Tag!

2006-01-14T10:09:00.000+10:00

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

Artist in the Spotlight!

2006-01-12T14:54:00.000+10:00

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!!!!

Cultural Experience

2006-01-12T07:46:00.000+10:00

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.

Artist in the spotlight

2006-01-12T07:23:00.000+10:00

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

Artist in the spotlight

2006-01-10T13:39:00.000+10:00

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!!

Artist in the spotlight

2006-01-09T19:03:00.000+10:00

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!

Artist in the spotlight

2006-01-09T17:09:00.000+10:00

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.

Tagged!

2006-01-09T16:43:00.000+10:00

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!

NEWS FLASH!!

2006-01-09T08:38:00.000+10:00

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!

My layout for Julie

2006-01-08T11:04:00.000+10:00

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!

Sneak Peek

2006-01-07T13:07:00.000+10:00

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!)

My Scrap Space

2006-01-05T15:13:00.000+10:00

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!

Yummy Goodies!!

2006-01-04T14:17:00.000+10:00

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!!

Changes in the new year already!

2006-01-04T06:48:00.000+10:00

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!

Into the NEW!

2006-01-03T07:32:00.000+10:00

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.

I've been LOVED!

2005-12-31T21:28:00.000+10:00

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

Remember those teenage years?!

2005-12-30T21:39:00.000+10:00

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!

Ribbons YUM!

2005-12-29T10:45:00.000+10:00

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!!!

It's not Christmas without............

2005-12-27T15:46:00.000+10:00

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!!

It's all over for another year!

2005-12-26T18:15:00.000+10:00

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

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-25T13:31:00.000+10:00

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!!

Croplets

2005-12-24T12:34:00.000+10:00

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!!

Home made Christmas cards

2005-12-23T20:27:00.000+10:00

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!

Hiding inside

2005-12-23T16:09:00.000+10:00

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

Xmas parties!

2005-12-21T13:51:00.000+10:00

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!!!

Tagged!

2005-12-20T08:07:00.000+10:00

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!!!

KIDS!

2005-12-18T11:56:00.000+10:00

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!!!

Cyber Cropping

2005-12-17T07:40:00.000+10:00

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!

Yummy ribbons!

2005-12-16T14:32:00.000+10:00

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!!!

9 days to go!

2005-12-16T07:05:00.000+10:00

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!

Good news all round!

2005-12-15T13:32:00.000+10:00

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!!

No bowl choc-bit slice

2005-12-15T05:48:00.000+10:00

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.

Lime Tart!!!

2005-12-14T06:48:00.000+10:00

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!)

Christmas Challenge

2005-12-11T18:33:00.000+10:00

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

It's a girl!

2005-12-11T15:39:00.000+10:00

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!

More sneak peeks

2005-12-10T14:11:00.000+10:00

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!

FK entries

2005-12-08T20:28:00.000+10:00

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.

Fiona's photo challenge

2005-12-07T11:05:00.000+10:00

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!

Masters

2005-12-06T13:45:00.000+10:00

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.
cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7465/1888/320/BTP.jpg" border="0" alt="" />

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

We have a winner!!!

2005-12-05T19:15:00.000+10:00

Quick off the mark we have a fantastic rendition of 'Greased Lightning' on Philippa's blog, check it out here.

Love it Philippa and thanks for rising to the challenge!!! You'll have to email me your address so I can send you a little surprise!

The Song

2005-12-05T06:44:00.000+10:00

Well, I just learnt my first lesson in blogging. If you are doing a really long post, save it as a draft before you computer has the chance to drop offline and lose everything that you just wrote!LOL

Firstly I wanted to give a big thanks to Michelle Cryns for helping me work out how to put the pic on my header!!!

and thanks to everyone that has dropped by my blog in the last 24 hours. I can see we are all going to have lots of fun together!

For everyone that asked about the xmas lights photo tips, here is the thread on Scrapboxx about it.

Nic and I have finally pestered Rach to update her blog!! Yay! Check it out here.

I apologise to Ben Lee in advance for this!!LOL

I thought I'd give my blog a bit of a theme song! I don't have the best singing voice so no laughing!LOL Ok, get the beat happening in your head and then start singing along!!

CATCH MY DISEASE

My head is a box full full of scrapping
and that's the way I like it
My scraproom is a secret compartment
and that's the way I like it
and that's the way I like it
My obsession with Bazzill can turn violent
and that's the way I like it
and that's the way I like it
Crimson, Chantilly and Raven are my favourites
and that's the way I like it

So please
baby please
let's all get scrappin'
Catch my disease

I was logged in on the forums
and that's the way I like it
I ate lollies and drank diet coca-cola
and that's the way I like it
and that's the way I like it
I answered emails when I should have been scrappin'
and that's the way I like it
and that's the way I like it
I'll just check out one more blog, then get started
and that's the way I like it

So please
baby please
lets all get scrappin'
Catch my disease

So please (PLEASE!)
baby please
Come on
Catch my disease
Catch it

Na na na na na na na na na

I see all my friends names in the magazines
and that's the way I like it
I see Nic Howard of the cover of FK
and that's the way I like it
and that's the way I like it
I see my friends at the Friday night crops
and that's the way I like it
cos that's the way I like it
I see the best talent in the Aussie galleries
and that's the way I like it

So please
baby please
lets all get scrappin'
and catch my disease
So please
baby please
Come on
Catch my disease
(catch my disease)
nanananananananana
(catch my disease)
nanananananananana
(catch my disease)
nanananananananana
(catch my disease)

Here's a challenge for you, the first person to make their own theme song for their blog come and tell me about it and I'll send you a little scrapping gift for your efforts!! Come on, I know you want to!!LOL

Is anyone interested in doing a Christmas CD swap with me?? I've got this great xmas cd that I will burn and you can burn me one of your xmas ones in return. I am only looking for 2-3 people (a girl can only put up with so much xmas music) but my kids would love you for it! Email me at cmmillar@optusnet.com.au if you're interested.

Wow! sorry for the long post, by now you are all thinking I'm a crazy woman, especially after that song!LOL And all my non-scrapping friends are saying 'what on earth is bazzill'!!LOL

Here's a photo to leave you all with, it's my beautiful big girl - Shayla!

Peer Pressure!

2005-12-04T15:06:00.000+10:00

I've given in to the peer pressure of creating my own blog!LOL So here it is! The title of my blog is not only because I love the Ben Lee song - you can't help but bop along this tune, but also because I'm hoping to make this blog a lovely positive place to write my thoughts, share some pics and chat with friends. I hope that this will inspire others to also think of all the positives they have in their lives and create one big happy vibe!!!

Over the weekend I've been working on some projects for www.limetart.com.au . I am the guest design team member on the site for December and my projects will be uploaded on the 14th of December so come and check it out!!!

The girls had 2 friends over to play yesterday which took up the better part of Saturday and then last night after dinner we drove around to see the Christmas lights in the neighbourhood. Today has been a bit of a lazy day, Grandad came over for breakfast, as he often does. Shayla went to the beach with friends and has just arrived home and Annaliese and I went to Harvey Norman to have photos printed.

I've been trying to get some nice Christmas lights photos with the girls since we put the tree up on Thursday, here is one of Annaliese that has turned out ok. Thanks to all the Scrapboxx girls for your advice on how to get unblurry xmas lights photos!

Here is also a pic of the Christmas cards I've been working on to send to family and friends. They aren't really cards, but more like gift tags. I've glued a magnet on the back of each one so they can be put on the fridge.

That's a wrap for my first entry on my blog. Thanks if you are reading this and feel free to link yourself to my blog, or link me to you. I don't know how to do any of that yet, but will learn!