House of scraps

Oliebollen at Tarisota

2010-12-14T11:17:00.001+11:00

The lovely Tamar from tarisota used one of my Dutch oliebollen recipes for her recipe book that you can download this month here. It's a traditional recipe that we eat on new years eve. I've made them every year since we moved to Australia, even in 30+C heat. Can't go without them!! This year I'll be making them again for my family and friends.
Another typical Dutch recipe is the one of pepernoten. I made them with Ruby her kindergarten class the other week. It uses a variety of spices wich is always lovely I think. Kids like to smell and taste all the different spices too. We eat the pepernoten around the celelebration of Sinterklaas (St. Nicolas). His helpers throw them around the room for the kids to grab.

Maybe you would like to try them too.

Here is the recipe.

Pepernoten

Ingredients

50 g butter (1 3/4 oz)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 cup self raising flour

The spices
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground aniseed
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1. Cream the butter and sugar, then add spice mix (or spices).

2. Add the flour and milk and make very small marble sized balls.

3. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 160 C (320 F) until golden.

Photo courtesy of pancakemondays.com
I popped a few pepernoten in a bag for each kid and closed them with a tag.
If you would like the tags too just email me and I'll send them to you. Haven't figured out how to add a pdf to my blog.

Enjoy :)

December daily. Day 5, 6 and 7.

2010-12-11T22:17:00.001+11:00

How is everyone going with their December daily?
I am loving it. learning new things everyday which is always good!!!

Here are day 5, 6 and 7.

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

I really love printing my journaling plus a small photo or 2 on plain cardstock. Once I discovered how to do it, it was so easy!! Love the effect!!!

Went to a scrapbooking day again with the CM ladies. On those days I don't tend to chat a lot. I don't know the ladies very well but enjoy being there and just scrap the day away. Finished 4 1/2 lay out, bit of a record there!!

Other things happening in the last few days were Lucy her end of the year concert, oh so super cute!! Bit of a shame Lucy was sitting right behind another little girl so it was hard to take a decent photo but it was gorgeous all the same. Ruby had her assembly at the same time unfortunately so we didn't hear her do her little talk but fortunately we were in time to see them do their last songs. Even Chris said on our way back that he thought he had 2 talented little sisters, too cute!!

Another super exciting thing Chris did was getting his L's!! Today we went out for a first little lesson. He was proud yet nervous. He he, it was good to finally get him behind the wheel though. This journey will be good for testing my patience I think ;)

Loving the beautiful spring weather we had today, finally a day without rain... it's a strange country we're living in... after years of drought there are floods everywhere now...

Hope you have a fantastic rest of the weekend!!

Reverb update and some other stuff.

2010-12-09T19:20:00.000+11:00

December sure is a busy month hey!! I don't go out to dinner much normally but in December we are sure making up for that. I went out to dinner with the Canteen committee on Sunday night, with the scrapbooking ladies on Tuesday night, next Tuesday with work and the week after that with the members from work. Good thing I like food ;) I have to confess that Tuesday was the first time ever that I had a green curry. I've had plenty of different kinds of curry but never a green one, always thought that they would be extremely hot for some reason. The one I had on Tuesday was with seafood, we had it at Thai herb at Gungahlin and it was fantastic!!! So tonight I made my own version of a seafood green curry with ling and prawns. Was delicious!!

Did you see the new scrapbook creations?? They just send me my copy (thank you SC!!!) and it was so lovely to see my lay out in the sketch challenge and the one of Lucy in the quick grabs. A full page for both of them :) Going to get another copy to send to my mum so she can enjoy it too.

I'm up to date with my December daily, had a bit of a scrap session last night as I had been so busy, but am up till Wednesday so far. Going to scan them tonight so you can have a look too.

Onto reverb 10. I'm up to day 4.

Prompt: Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

HHmmm. I've started to grow vegies again this year. I already had a little bit of a vegie patch behind the house but we built another one and got the community plot as well. I just love growing seeds and watching them turn into yummy vegies. It's such a good feeling to harvest your own vegies and enjoy them. Yes, I think that is it for me, that's how I created a sense of wonder.

Day 5.

Prompt: Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

This year I have been really making an effort of reducing my anxiety. I never really talked about it or did anything about it but this year I have been to my GP, talked to a psychologist and am talking to friends about it. It's funny though, once you start talking about it you realise that so many people have anxiety or depression. And not just people further away from you but people really close by. I knew theoretically that many many people deal with a mental health issue, I see it in my work all the time of course but it's always a bit different in your personal life isn't it. People don't really talk about it unless it's in a professional setting (like at my work). i think it's a shame that people don't talk about it more and get it more in the open as we can all help each other, but I also know that it's not always easy to talk about and to "admit" that there is a problem. I'm glad i did though. If people have a problem with it, then so be it, I think that it's important to talk about it and to deal with it. Moving forwards!!!

Day 6

Prompt: Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

I made a frame for a workshop at Scrapboutique. you can find it in the forum there and I will share it here soon too. Materials were wooden frame, papers, paint, embellishments and photos. Might make some more as they are fun to make!!

I would love love love to do more mixed Media... to learn how to do it...to get immersed in that... I'm so looking forward to that but am also a bit scared... weird i know...

Day 7.

Prompt: Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

I have enjoyed the online community for quite some time, love following people's blogs etc. The one community I want to get deeper involved in next year is that of my close friends right here, in my town. Spend more time with my family and "real life" friends!!!!

Day 8.
Prompt: Beautifully different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different - you'll find they're what make you beautiful.
OMG that is hard!!!!! I know I can make people light up at work by being happy, caring and to interact with them. Wow, this is a very hard question!!!! The only thing I can think about is that I can listen well (yes?) and I can be funny (Yes?). You might need to help me out with this one... too hard!!!

Wow, hope that wasn't too much or boring for you!!!

Some more light hearted Daily December soon ;)

Ice cream is calling me...

Christmas workshops

2010-12-07T14:40:00.000+11:00

I have just uploaded my newest workhop at ScrapBoutique so I thought I would share one that I did last week, with you all overhere. I hope you will enjoy this one, maybe you'll even have a go at it.
Enjoy :)

Let’s bag Christmas.

Hello everyone. Thank you for joining my Christmas workshop.

Get your WeR Christmas papers out and let’s start creating!!

The first item we are going to make is a little (or big) gift bag. We are going to make this with an envelope. You can use any size envelope you want, just make sure it doesn’t have a window in it.

Here are the steps.

1. Glue your envelope closed.

2. Lay it in portrait in front of you and cut a few centimeters from the top.

3. My envelope is now 10.8cm wide and 15 cm high. Yours can be bigger or smaller that is just fine, however, the numbers I will be working with will be for the measurements of my envelope.

4. Use the scoring blade on a paper trimmer (or a bone folder) to score 2 cm in on each edge that has not been trimmed – the two sides and the bottom. You can use a different width, depending on the size of your envelope. Make sure that all edges are scored at the same width. The wider the scored edge the fatter and smaller your bag will be.

5. You will have a small (2cm) square in each bottom corner, score from inside corner to the outer point.

6. Have a trial fold of the bag. The sides of the envelope are going to be moved inwards and become valley folds. The long scored lines will be come the mountain folds.

7. Fold the envelope flat again, time to decorate the bag. I cut 2 4 x 7 strips of the spotty red paper and adhered that at the top of the bag (all steps are happening on both sides of the bag).

8. Cut 2 8cm x 7cm pieces of the Santa paper and adhere that towards the bottom of the bag.
9. Cut out one of the scalloped borders and adhere between the 2 pieces of patterned paper (this time you go around the bag so you can see the strip also on the side of the bag.)

10. Use a scallop border (or other border punch) and cut some strips (they should end up being about 2 cm wide after punching). Adhere them at the top of the bag and let the scallop stick out a little bit above the top of the bag.

11. Punch two small holes on both sides of the bag, about 1 cm from the top, for the handles.

12. Use 2 x 15cm pieces of ribbon, and attach them together through the holes like you see on the photo.

13. Use one of the chipboard tags to adhere at the front of your bag (and put the ribbon for the handles through the tag as well.

14. Fold your bag and adhere the triangles at the bottom of the bag with some strong adhesive.

Fill it up with some goodies and you have one present ready

More reverb 10 updates and daily album soon!! Have some kids coming over soon and a dinner to go to tonight but will get to them soon, probably, hopefully, tomorrow!!!

December daily and reverb update 1

2010-12-04T23:10:00.000+11:00

I know, I know... you are not used to me posting this much. I just want to keep my work flow to continue and it seems to work well if i blog about it as well. so there you go!!

First, let's update about reverb10 day 3. This time it was a prompt from Ali Edwards :) She's awesome isn't she!!
Her prompt was:

Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).

My moment was on 18 April this year. We were on holidays in the bay and we were spending our last day at this little beach in Rosedale close to where we were staying. It was a lovely warm day. The kids and I were playing in at the far end of the beach for a while. When they got a bit bored with it and had a sit down with Allan I went into the water and had a bit of a swim and play in the deeper part of the ocean. The water was warm yes refreshing, like it was caressing me, I could see the bottom clearly, the water was salty and there were little gentle waves. Perfect to float on and play in. I felt like I was part of the ocean, as if it was playing with me. I was laughing, felt the sun on my skin and the lovely water was all around me. It was the best feeling!!!

This is a photo of that place, about half an hour before i had a swim. Chris is in this picture and the place where I was swimming was in ocean in the right side of the photo.

Now onto the December daily. Here are the pages from day 2, 3 and 4. On the pages from day 2 you see Ruby being our waitress during the lunch Chris and I had in her class room.

That's it for today.

Hope you enjoy the rest of you weekend!!!

Reverb10

2010-12-03T14:32:00.000+11:00

I read on Ali's blog about reverb 1o. I thought it would be a lovely addition to my December daily. It started on the first of December. So what is it all about....

Reverb 10 is an annual event and online initiative to reflect on your year and manifest what’s next. Use the end of your year as an opportunity to reflect on what's happened, and to send out reverberations for the year ahead.

There you go. On day one we had to reflect on our word for the year. My word for the year was "activate". I sure have been a lot more active this year. I've joined the gym and have gone every week (minus one or 2 weeks when it was too busy or other things were happening). I can feel and see that I've been more active this year and I love it. I totally intend top keep going to the gym this year. I do one or 2 sessions of pump every week (weights), body balance (or yoga) and some cardio.

I've also been active in other area's which needed some attention. I do need to keep doing this next year too though.

On day 2 the prompt was about writing. Do we write every day? Can you go without? I don't write everyday but I do have a little journal that I use to reflect on every so often. I think it's a great way of focusing on positive things. We do however have a little thing happening at dinner. Every member of the family (and friends if they are having dinner with us) has to name 3 things/events that made them happy that day. People sometimes feel a bit funny when they come and eat with us and they have to participate but i found that the girls their friends start the "happy things" when they come over to have dinner now. I think it's a good tradition that we have started.

There you go.... why don't you join us, it's a fun way to reflect on the past year!!

On another note, Chris and I just came back from Ruby her class, they cooked lunch for us and turned their classroom into a little restaurants, it was so cute!!!!! They made the best naan bread, so yummy!!! I'll show some photos next time.

Better go and get the girlies.

December

2010-12-02T10:46:00.000+11:00

Yesterday was the first of December and... yes... I started my December daily :)
Last year I wanted to do a digi one but it never got finished so i thought I'd go the old way of glue and lovely paper again. I had the ground work done at actsa last month so I only need to add in pictures, journaling and some decorations :)

I was lucky to be able to start the album with a great event. My Chris had his first ever solo exhibition of his (mostly digital) art work. It was great!! People really liked his work, let's hope he'll sell some too.

Here is my front page, title page and the first day. I had a bit of an accident with the kindy glitz though... that's why the one is a bit smudged... I squeezed the bottle a bit too hard and it kinda exploded on the one, the table and me. Still glittery even after my shower lol. It did make a pretty bird on my table though ha ha.

I taught a workshop at ScrapBoutique the other day. A little gift bag plus a card.Have a look on the forum if you want to make one too, they are super easy to make!!

One more thing to show you and that is the LO for last months CC. It's about Kate and her lovely kids' visit to us. (her last name is Middleton hence the "royal" part ;) )

Working on a kaiser frame at the moment... will be up at the boutique soon!!!

Thank you for stopping by and you lovely comments, I really appreciate them :).

Happy scrapping!!

Free class jessica Sprague

2010-11-19T17:45:00.000+11:00

I just had to share this with you. Jessica Sprague always has fantastic classes and she has free ones every six months. This time it's all about inspiration. Check it out here. I am joining in again, just love her classes!!!

We have something exciting up our sleeves at Scrapboutique as well.... more about that very very very soon.

Just some piccies to celebrate the beautiful weather we've been having.

Happy Scrapping :)

Girls

2010-10-29T22:11:00.000+11:00

I finally made a LO for scrap the girls. I was planning on doing it for so long but kept on forgetting. Let's hope Kate will be happy :)

I also made a LO for wicked princess, finally!!! Hope Krissy will be happy :)

We are finally out of party mode. September and October are always full of parties but we can now take a breather before Christmas comes around. Lucy had her party a week ago. It was so cute!! She had her "pink afternoon tea " party on a Monday afternoon so the kiddies that are already in kindy could come along as well. We had the house full of pink dressed girls (plus a couple of non pink boys). We played some fun games like "blik gooien(don't know the English word for that) sack race, hat decorating, hoola hoops, hop scotch, pass the parcel and musical statues. We had lots of pink food like cupcakes, macaroons, meringues etc etc. All the kiddies were wonderful and seemed to be having a great time. And of course Lucy got loads of pressies. i made all the kids a fabric flower and pinned that on their tulle lolly bag. The flower is a brooch so they can use it again (hopefully!!)

Some impressions of the day.

I love this photo of Chris and little miss Sophie, she loves him so (and he her).

OK that's it for me today. We have a Cybercrop on at Scrapboutique so if you're in a scrappy mood come along. I'll be going to ACTSA tomorrow for a full day workshop, bliss!!

Happy Scrapping :)

and some more...

2010-10-02T20:53:00.000+10:00

Lucy had her first "performance" at school the other day. They did some bee dances, was super cute!!! She wasn't feeling well a few days before the dance but was fine on Thursday. Thursday evening she wasn't feeling well again, i was worried that she wouldn't be well for her performance but she woke up Friday morning telling me that she was all better to do the bee dance. So sweet. The day before, on Thursday, they had a pizza and pyjama day at school. She loved going to school in her jammies. She wanted to wear Ruby her nightie too so she was wearing her flannell ones plus the nightie, ah well, she had fun.
Here is Lucy in her jammies

And as a little bee.

So after the performances the school holidays started. Nothing like not having to rush in the mornings!! So far the girls have just been playing most days with a girl that lives in the neighbourhood. She is over almost every day and they get along really well. On Wednesday I had to work even though it was Chris his birthday, he turned 17!!! Him turning this old makes me even more aware of how quick time flies and how much we should enjoy every moment of the little ones being little, even though we all get caught up in the daily life etc. Teenagers aren't too bad either though (or I am just incredibly lucky). Chris is a good kid, of course I do have my complaints but in general I can't complain, in fact I'm very proud of him!!

On Friday I took the kiddies to Floriade. It was a lovely day. A little bit overcast but not cold at all. We looked at the flowers, Chris and I took photos, the girls had a play on the jumping castle, we ate ice cream, watched the fire juggler (Lucy thought it was a bit scary all that fire), petted a baby crocodile, turtles and some lizards. We just had a lovely relaxing afternoon out. Floriade is always fun, nice and relaxing!! (and a very good photo opportunity ;) ) Here are some...

A new month also means some new challenges. At 123 challenge the new criteria is to use

1. The colour green

2. The word go

3. A hand cut title

here is my example

At ScrapBoutique I have set the monthly challenge. My challenge this month is to scrap yourself and to be more specific. To scrap things about yourself that you are proud of. I think a lot of the girls find this challenge a bit too scary. I do hope that you are brave enough to take this challenge on!!! I did it, here is my version.

OK, that's it for now. Hope you have a lovely (in our case) long weekend!!

Happy Scrapping :)

October

2010-10-02T20:21:00.000+10:00

Well hello there. Yes I'm still here with quite a few piccies so will do it in a few posts.

First, 2 weeks ago I went to the ScrapBoutique retreat at Goolabri. It was fantastic!! A great weekend to catch up with some lovely girls, scrap the days and night away and to have a nice break. I was lucky enough to have my own room. I just loved having that "alone" time, spending time in the spa bath, reading, writing and sipping tea in my own room, just fantastic!! I guess everyone needs some time to them selves every now and then, I most certainly do, but it had been a long time since I had 2 nights to myself. Hope I will have that opportunity again soon!!

Here are the girls

And my lay outs

Thank you for visiting and happy scrapping :)

Fundraiser

2010-09-25T22:51:00.000+10:00

CAPA scrapbooking presents

Craftday

supporting Olivia Lambert and her family

scrapbooking - card making - stamping - quilting - sewing - knitting

2 October 2010

West Belconnen Leagues Club

9am to 5pm

Cost - $25 which includes morning tea

A day for crafters to come together to work on their projects in the company of others. Bring your own supplies and equipment.

Stalls with representatives from scrapbook supplies and other craft shops will be there for all your crafting requirements on the day

Seats are limited so please book on 0422314985 or email capa_scrapbooking@hotmail.com

More information on Olivia and her progress is available at olivialambert.com.au

123 tutorial

2010-09-01T21:52:00.000+10:00

Wow, it's SPRING!!!!!!! So happy that it's finally getting a bit warmer, had enough of the cold (remind me of that in the heat of summer ;) )

Being part of the 123 challenge creative team means that we make a tutorial maybe twice a year. This month it was my turn. I made a tutorial about hand made flowers. Go and have a look here!

Here is the lay out I created for this month.

Have a go too!!

Happy Scrapping :)

Too good...

2010-08-22T15:30:00.002+10:00

Per request! These cupcakes are so good, make them at your own risk ;)

Don't bother with cooking chocolatem get the real stuff.

White Chocolate Mud Cupcakes
Ingredients
125g butter, chopped
100g white chocolate, chopped
215g (1 cup) caster sugar
125ml (1/2 cup) milk
1 egg, lightly whisked
115g (3/4cup) plain flour
75g (1/2 cup) self-raising flour
1 tsp vanilla essence

White chocolate ganache
350 gr white chocolate, chopped
125ml (1/2 cup) thickened cream

Here's how to make them.

Preheat oven to 160°C. Line twelve 80ml (1/3-cup) capacity muffin pans with paper cases.

Combine the butter, chocolate, sugar and milk in a medium saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat. Transfer to a medium heatproof bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to cool slightly.

Use a balloon whisk to gently whisk in the egg. Sift the combined flours over the chocolate mixture and gently whisk until just combined. Stir in the vanilla essence. Pour mixture evenly among prepared muffin pans. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Turn onto a wire rack and set aside for 1 hour to cool completely.

To make the white chocolate ganache, heat up the cream (don't let it boil) and poor over the chopped chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl use a metal spoon to stir until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Place in the fridge for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, or until ganache is spreadable. Use a mixer to mix it till it's a bit fluffy.
Use a round-bladed knife to spread cupcakes evenly with ganache.

Enjoy!!!!!

Happy baking ;)

CC time

2010-08-20T10:45:00.000+10:00

This Saturday it's time to vote here in Australia. I am not allowed to vote but with I could. We do have choices though, especially this weekend during our "Choices CC" at ScrapBoutique. I hope you will come and join us! I will be hosting the speedscrap tonight from 8.15 onwards and am also organising a lucky dip challenge. If you want to join in please go to the forum before 7.30 PM and give us your lucky dip combination.

Do you like to do classes? I've joined up to do some more Suzi Blu classes, they are just fabulous and great value for money!! She is so fun and a great teacher!! I can really recommend her classes.

My stepbrother Hylke and his wife Simone came to visit us from Holland 2 weeks ago. It was so lovely to have them here. I had never met his wife Simone but she was awesome!! They were here for 4 days and were the most wonderful guests! We did some sightseeing with them. My favourite outing was our day at Tidbinbilla (a nature reserve). We went on a few walks and on our last walk we were surrounded by emu's and kangaroos which was fantastic, especially for them. A really nice day to chat and enjoy the beautiful country we are living in.

I haven't done a lot of scrapping, just some things that I can;'t show you yet. I did however do a lay out about Emma and me with the newish kaiser papers.

That's it from me for now.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Scrapping :)

Tarisota

2010-08-16T20:50:00.002+10:00

If you love cooking and tasisota as much as me then you have to go and read Tamar from Tarisota her blog. She has one awesome give away!!!
You can win this gorgeous book,

the Paper Treasures Collection

And a spot in the Styling for Home class.

Can't get a much better give away hey!!! Go here to enter!!!

Tutorial

2010-08-01T21:49:00.000+10:00

I made a tutorial for Scrapboutique and thought I would share it here too. Proper update soon :)

Welcome to my canvas tag album tutorial.

I’ll give you a step by step on how I did my front cover and will give you some ideas of how to do the other pages in your album.

Front cover

Pick out some colours of paint that you would like to use for the cover. Use the colours to paint your cover with, normal acrylic paints are great! Let dry.

Get some ink and ink the outside edges.

Adhere a piece of torn music paper in the middle of the page. I adhered mine with acrylic gel medium. I also covered the paper with the medium. Let dry.

Adhere a strip of decorative tape (there are a few different brands to chose from) a little below the music paper.

Adhere a piece of lace between the paper and the tape (I used dst on my cover).

Adhere some kind of trim (I used the thread with little pompoms) down the bottom of the lace.

For your title it’s nice to use a large lettered chipboard (or thickers) which you have sanded back a bit. Adhere this toward the right of your cover. (My letters are a little overlapped). I also had some letter stickers as part of my title. I adhered them towards the top left of the cover.

Finish your cover off by adding some flowers, ric rac and some trim.

Ideas for the other pages.

Painting

You can use different colours of paint to create a marble effect. Use a rough (dry) old brush and use up to 4 colours and roughly dab around on your canvas. Start with the lightest colour. Don’t be too precise.

Misting

Use 2 different colours to spray your canvas with.

Use a stencil to create the bird or what ever stencil you have.

Make sure you are very careful with the ink that is left on your stencil. You can place another piece of paper on it to get a print or you can gently wipe the remaining ink off.

Transfers

You can add some photos to your canvas using acrylic gel medium. You put some medium on your photocopied photos. Not too much. Not too little. Put it on your canvas and brayer it firm but gently. Then rub it till with a stylo or similar (fingers in my case lol) till it transfers.

You can also do it other ways. You can use some other methods as well. I haven’t tried those yet but they might be a whole lot easier!!

1. Use craftsmart “you can wash it” glue. Put one coast on your canvas and 2 coasts on your photocopied (or printed on normal paper) photo’s LET DRY!! When dry put the photos (print side down of course) on top of the area with the glue and iron it on.

2. Now I’ve hear of an even easier way. Again not tried and tested by me though. Print your photos on baking paper and simply iron onto your canvas (print side down again of course).

On the page next to my photos I used some distressing ink to roughly colour the canvas somewhat (I also used the distressing ink the distress my previous page somewhat),stamped a title and stamped around the edges with a florally stamp. I then used kindy glitz to decorate it further.

On my next pages I sew some paper on and decorated that like a normal scrapbook page. The last pages (which I did before the previous pages) I sew on strips on fabric and let them overhang on the outside of the pages for some funky effects.

The album is all about things I love, so on my painted pages I added a little painting that I did. Other pages include family and friends and the last one (the fabrics) are about trying new things.

Hope you give this a bit of a go and have fun with it like I did.

Signs...

2010-07-12T22:03:00.002+10:00

Last week I was in the library and while I was browsing near the cookbooks I saw this book that I read when I was a teenager.I didn't read it just once, I kept borrowing it from the library and used to dream about having my own little farm, grow all my own food, have a jersey cow (yes I had picked out the breed) etc. I loved this book so so much!!! Of course I took it home to show Allan. Luckily he showed interest in my child hood dreams ;) It did make me think though. I really would like to grow my own vegies and fruit and have some chooks in my backyard (even though it's not a small farm by a long shot). Hey I'd prefer to have a little farm though but don't think that will be on the cards anytime soon.
So now I'm looking through vegie growing books again ( I used to have a vegie patch in Holland), reading up about fruit trees that grow well in Canberra and am researching some chook breeds (I think the australorp might be a go-wer). I am slowly convincing Allan to get some chooks. I've already started to trim down some of the very boring bushes that were already in our garden when we moved in and I'll dig them out in the coming weeks to replace them with some fruit trees. I really want to make a good go of our vegie patch this year too. Just a shame it's so close to the fence but Alas, d~~on't~~ can't take the grass away from the kids (just yet).

Any hints tips and tips would be very welcome!!!

This weekend we went to the bay again. It was lovely. We stayed in a wooden house with a wood fire, oh so nice!!! The weather was gorgeous too. We went to the beach every day (of course) and spent every evening by the fire. Allan had invited one of his work colleagues over as well. It was very nice to meet her and her gorgeous family. We'll catch up again soon I hope :)

Here are some piccies of the weekend.

At Scrap Boutique we are busy celebrating the 3rd anniversary. I am teaching my class on Friday 30 July probably around 7.30PM est. It will be a mini album with a difference, I hope you can come and join me!! The weekend and week before (from Friday the 23rd onwards) we have a week long Cybercrop with a variety of challenges, games and Amanda's class.
Speaking of the boutique. I am hosting the monthly challenge this month and as it is our birthday month i have a very easy challenge. Create a birthday lay out with a birthday cake somewhere on the lay out, it can be on the photo, in the papers or an embellishment. Here is my example.

I have something fun on this weekend too, I'll tell you more about that later on in the week !!

Happy Scrapping :)

Bonny Blog

2010-07-05T23:02:00.002+10:00

My sweet friend Christine awarded me this blog award, thanks sweetie :)

Here are the rules that go with it: 1. Put the Swap Sisters Bonny Blog Award on my blog.2. Share 5 things about myself.3. Pass the award onto 5 other Bonny Blogs.4. Add links to my 5 chosen Bonny Blog Winners.5. Let them know they have been chosen to win the Swap Sisters Bonny Blog Award by leaving a comment on their blog.

5 Things about myself:

1. As a teenager I used to love reading books about self sufficiency. I dreams up my own place, what it would look like and what I would grow and what kind of animals i would have. Today I accidentally saw my favourite book from that time in the library and of course I took it home. (I think I still love it).

2. I have a really hard time to just sit still and watch something on TV, I tend to get up all the time to do stuff.

3. The first 7 1/2 years of Chris his life I was a single mum.

4. I am so getting into baking lately, anything, biscuits, slices, cakes... just love it :)

5. I secretly would love to be very good at mixed media... here is proof... This is my desk right now where I'm playing with paints, papers canvas, etc etc. It makes me a bit nervous as I would like to do it "right" and make something amazing but I should be realistic and allow myself to just play and make heaps of mistakes and not worry about it. Just enjoy the process. (If it only were that easy....)
Proof:

The 5 awesome people I want to pass this award on to are:

The school holidays have started here. We didn't start the holidays well with sick kiddies. Lucy has a little bug now but (as it is the same one as Ruby had) she should be OK tomorrow. We bought lots of craft stuff for them today and brought bag a few bags of books from the library so we don't get a chance to get bored in the next few days.

I have been working on a class for Scrap Boutique's 3rd birthday (which is this month!!). My class will be the last Friday of this month BUT the other stylists have also prepared some classes. You can join in every Friday night this month. Check out the forum for more info!! Hope you can join us for these free classes!!!

The only scrapping I have done last week is all still a "secret" so i can't show you so I'll leave for today with a piccie of Lucy with "crazy hair".

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

Happy scrapping (or painting of whatever you are doing ;) )

Want to join us?????

2010-07-04T19:40:00.001+10:00

As you know I am one of the stylists for the gorgeous ScrapBoutique. Chelsea (the owner) has been so lovely to organise a fabulous retreat very very close to Canberra!!! We would love you to come and join us. There will be fabulous food, plenty of scrapping time (like all day and night if you please), challenges, prizes and fun to be had. If you would like to join us make sure you sign up asap as places are limited!!! Here is some more info....

I'll be back tomorrow with some more fun news about ScrapBoutique!!!

Happy Scrapping :)

ScrapBoutique - South in September Retreat!!

Come and Join us for a fun filled weekend of Scrapping, deluxe food, old and new friends and plenty of laughter!!

When - Friday September 17th - Sunday September 19th 2010

Where - Goolabri Country Resort. Just 20 mins outside of Canberra.

http://www.goolabri.com.au/home

Cost and Inclusions –

Full Package- $370. Includes 2 nights accommodation in either twin share (twin room) or 5 share (2br units), Deluxe Food (all fully catered by the resort's restaurant) including- Full Buffet Breakfasts, morning and afternoon teas, lunch and Dinner for 2 days and nights. PLUS of course....unlimited scrapping!!

Day Only - $85 Includes Morning and afternoon tea, Lunch and Dinner (Saturday night only).

Bookings will require a $100 Deposit within 14 days please.

Bookings are closing soon!!

Don’t miss your chance to have a fantastic scrappy weekend away!!

Contact Chelsea at chitchat@scrapboutique.com.au or 0423173384 for Bookings.

So sweet...

2010-06-24T14:04:00.002+10:00

This morning I was busy all morning, buying Ruby a new back pack as her zipper broke the other day, did all the groceries and then rushed home to have a little while at home before I had to pick up the girls again. When I went to my scrap room I found this picture on my desk. Something like this just makes you stop and smile. I'm so lucky to have such sweet girls. Thank you Ruby!!

Last weekend was our monthly cybercrop at Scrap boutique. My challenge was the sketch challenge. This was my example:

The photos were taken last week when I took the girls to a park near Gungahlin. They have a rope bridge there and Ruby wanted to go on it and she walked all the way to the other side by herself. A year ago she would have been way too scared to go on it but she seems to have grown so much stronger and more confident in her physical abilities, really makes me feel good!

Our guest stylist Linda her challenge was to make a LO about a house of houses. I went on google maps and found some photos of some of my child hood homes so I printed them out and used them for this LO. Am very happy I got to do this, thanks Linda!!!

Amanda her challenge was the speed scrap but I submitted that Lo and it was accepted so can't show you that one.

The last challenge I did was Em's challenge, the Sunday roast, loved this. Am very happy with my lay out :) Thanks Emma!!!

I am designing a (free) class for ScrapBoutiques birthday month, which is in July, and am excited and a little bit nervous about, doing something that is new to me too, can't wait to get started actually but am procrastinating a bit... oops. Better get started hey. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!

Happy Scrapping :)

Jessica Sprague's free class

2010-06-21T15:19:00.000+10:00

Jessica Sprague spoils us from time to time with a fantastic free class. This time it's a card class, a week long one. You have one more week to sign up!! I've done a few of her classes and they rock so I thought I'd share this opportunity with you all!! Enjoy :) Join here

Happy Scrapping :)

Lay Out Share

2010-06-11T21:16:00.002+10:00

Ok, a few days later than I intended but still.;)

Megan is visiting us, it's so nice to have all the kids over. Drew, Mel and Sophie came over for dinner tonight as well and it is so nice to hear them all chatting away in the family room :) Good times.

Here are some of the LO's. The one about Chris and his beard and the one about Lucy drinking my cuppa tea are my favs. Sorry for the dodgy photo. I just can't seem to scan the LO's when they are a bit bulkier, ah well...

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Scrapping :)

Noonaweena 2010

2010-06-07T19:56:00.000+10:00

I'm back from Noonaweena!! Oh wow, we had such a lovely time. Catching up with Michelle, Chels, Amanda, Lois and some other lovely girls again and finally meeting the gorgeous Kate, Peta, Leanne and Jodi!! Those girls are truly gorgeous!!!! So glad I got the opportunity to spend a whole weekend with all the girls scrapping, chatting, eating and just having fun. Fantastic!! I went with Lucrecia just like last year. And I have to tell you, i really love this girl, she is truly amazing!!!! Every time we go somewhere together we seem to get closer and closer. Really good!!

I did however prove to myself that i am a truly slow scrapper, I only did 7 LO's, 7!! Even Chels beat me. Ah well, doesn't matter, it was great regardless.

Here are some of the piccies (the group photos will be sent to us later on).

Lucrecia and me

Chels and me

Kate and me

The lovely sunset on Saturday night.

I'll be back with some of the LO's tomorrow!!

Happy scrapping :)

It's baaaack

2010-06-01T11:36:00.000+10:00

The 123 Challenge is BACK>>>> come and check out the 123 Challenge blog on the 1st of June for our COMEBACK!!!

The 123 Challenge for June will be based on:

1 ONE WORD - this month it is NEW

2 ONE DOMINANT COLOUR - this month it is WHITE

3 ONE MYSTERY CRITERIA - this month it is paint smearing as background

I have a few of the old Creative Team Members coming back - with the chosen criterias to be uploaded and inspire you on the 1st.

The Rules:

The WORD can be used in the title, in the journalling or ANYWHERE on the page/project as long as it's VISIBLE and a feature - we don't want it HIDDEN it has to be seen!

The Dominant Colour MUST be dominant - you must use it so that it is the MOST NOTICEABLE of the colours you use on your page!

The Mystery Criteria will be given by either one of the Creative Team, Myself or even maybe a Guest or Contributor - submit your ideas to challenge_123@hotmail.com

We have 3 Websites donating - so three chances to WIN! More details coming shortly!

Want to be on the Creative Team? I will be keeping an eye out for the next few months or so, to see who regularly contributes AND is inspirational and most creative! We will be limiting the number on the Creative Team as I am wanting to "keep it simple" this time around....
Sound good?

Interested?
Looking forward to seeing you ALL join in!!!

Advertise on your blogs/facebook for you chance to win an awesome set of alphas! Check out the 123 Challenge for details!

http://ourbrightstarsandus.typepad.com/123challenge/

Here is my example for this month.

I'll be back before the weekend!!!! Happy scrapping :)

So....

2010-05-11T21:40:00.006+10:00

So... did you have a nice Mothersday?? I did have a lovely day. First the girls and Allan spoiled me with some school made pressies and some body shop products. After Breakfast Emma, Rhiannon and I took part in the Mothers day Classic, a walk to support research in breast cancer. It was extra special this year as my mum is undergoing treatment for breast cancer. She is doing great. She is tired but handeling it like a trooper, she is awesome!!

Here are Emma and me and a star wars person... (can you tell I never watch star wars etc? )

The rest of our mothersday was nicely relaxing.

The night before mothersday was our Chefs toolbox party which was a lot of fun!!The girls and I spent some time making cakes during the day. They love baking and helping to pre taste it ;) Our favourite cake at the moment is this Pineapple and coconut slice, far out, so delicious!!! I'll give you the recipe for it, you really have to try it, it tastes a lot better than it sounds. I didn't have a picture of the completed cake as it was gone before I remembered to take a picture... oops...

Remember I told you about the CC at scrapboutique?? I created 2 Lo's for it. The second one was for the speedscrap which was hosted by me and the first one was for Sharon, our guest stylist for April, her challenge. Loving these papers!!!!

Busy and fun times ahead as it's Ruby her birthday in 9 sleeps (as she told me today), Ruby her party in 2 1/2 weeks and then the retreat in 3 1/2 weeks. Fun though, lots of fun!!!

Here is our cake/ slice recipe, enjoy :)

Happy Scrapping :)

oops...

2010-04-22T20:28:00.004+10:00

Been neglecting my good ol' blog a bit hey, oops...
A bit of scrappy news though so get ready...

This weekend we are having a fun CC at ScrapBoutique!! Starting tomorrow night at 8 pm EST with a speed scrap hosted by yours truly.
2. We have a fabulous competition at ScrapBoutique called "Postcards from around the world". You can still sign up!!!!!

Guess that's it... lol, not that much news after all.

We've just come back from a lovely holiday down the bay (Batemans bay). It was wonderful. One of the nicer holidays we've had. The weather was just fantastic, the water warm, the beach very close, the kids had fun and so did Al and I. Perfect.
My cheeky Ruby didn't want to go on holiday at first, she said she didn't like the beach... didn't take though hehe. We got to the beach and we almost had to stop her from not going in too deep. She tried some surfing with a boogie board with Al too, very cute!! Lucy was quite happy just jumping over some little waves.
Chris was having a good time too but I guess he was missing his girlfriend a bit. They've spend every day together since we got back so i guess they were happy to see each other again.

I noticed that my "going to the gym" is paying off :) Feel so much fitter (and slimmer). Went for lovely walks/runs on the beach after spending time with the kids on the beach. Felt great running in the lovely warm water... hehe. I guess carrying 7 kg less around makes it all a bit easier and more fun too.

At night Chris and I would do some craft/art together. he would be drawing and I was making a holiday album. I let the kids each make a drawing every day and added them to the album. I love how Chris makes me cartoons which i can add, he's a funny kid with a great sense of humour and imagination.

Here are some of my fav photo's of our holiday.

Of course have I been scrapping a little bit lately too. The first one is one of my fav LO's I think. My cutie Lucy. I just love having her home all to myself 2 days a week, she is such a lovely little companion!!!

I've done some more LO's (yes of my other children... ;) ) but haven't scanned them yet... next post!!

Alrighty, guess that's it for today. Hope to see you at our CC this weekend and hope you are going to join in our comp!! It's lots of fun.

Happy scrapping :)

hhhmmmmm

2010-03-05T11:59:00.002+11:00

It's a Friday morning. I have the whole day (well school hours) to myself to scrap today. I promised myself i could scrap and scrap and scrap.... guess some little ones had other plans..... lol
Have a great weekend and....

Happy scrapping :)

Autumn

2010-03-03T21:37:00.004+11:00

Happy Autumn everyone. I love this time of year where it's a bit cooler and the leaves change colour... very nice :)

Anyone read "The Divine Comedy" by Dante? Chris got the game and he loved it so much. He now bought himself the 3 books and is reading them. I was very impressed!! It's so nice when a teenage boy surprises you in such a positive way!!

Next week I'll be teaching 2 card classes at my work for International Women's day. I made one card with a cute girlie paper piecing and one card with some stamping.
For my card challenge at ScrapBoutique I also made a card with a paper piecing. Here's my example.

This month I also host the monthly themed challenge. Because of International Women's Day I chose to create a LO about a woman I admire and love and gave that same challenge to the other girls. The other criteria is to use a quote for the title. I used one of Mother Theresa. Here is my example.Remember I told you about being flooded in during the retreat?? Well here is a piccie of the "flood". I have never been flooded in before so to me it was pretty special.

Drew, Melissa and Sophie moved last weekend to Canberra. So we can get to see them a whole lot more now. Sophie spend the whole Saturday with me and the kids while Allan helped them move. I was a bit nervous as Sophie cried a lot before every time I held here but she was absolutely gorgeous!! Such a happy fun gorgeous little girl!! And she stopped crying every time I held her so I was feeling all happy!! Here is the little princess being kissed by her Auntie Lucy lol.

That's it from me today. Hope you have a lovely rest of the week.

Happy Scrapping :)

CC ing, retreat and Chris his art

2010-02-20T13:41:00.004+11:00

Hi everyone.

This weekend we are having fun with our monthly cyber crop at Scrapboutique. This month I am responsible for "the other" challenge lol. I chose to do a colour challenge. For full details please click here.

Here is my exampleLast weekend I went to a retreat together with my friend Donna. It was a retreat from the CM girls that I regularly crop with on a Saturday once a month. It was near Canberra in Warrambui. It was a lovely place and we had gorgeous rain all weekend... it was fantastic but all the rain meant that the river was overflowing and we were flooded in. We were "stuck" in Warrambui for 7 hours. We were due to leave at 3 PM on the Sunday but couldn't leave till 10 PM. Now being at a scrap retreat and being flooded in is not such a bad thing :) Just meant more time to scrap lol. Here are some more of the LOs that I did that weekend.

I also worked on a mini album of my mum's visit in September/October last year and have it just about finished, woohoo!!. They had some really cute examples of these paper dolls so I made a family of 7 girls as well. They are in the girls room right now, looking very cute. I kept one for myself to hang out with me in my scrap room.

I think that Chris has been quite happy at his new school (college). He has been making some nice friends and is enjoying the subjects a lot. He has been doing a lot of drawing and put some of his stuff on devian art. Go and have a look here. My favs are pandora baby, nest of rebirth and montage of many.

My mum just had an operation. It is quite sad that I can't be there for her right now but I am thinking about her heaps and I'm always there with her in spirit. She's already back home and in great spirits. Hope the results will be good!!! Big hugs mum, love you lots!!!!!

Thanks for visiting :)

Happy Scrapping :)

Sophie's visit

2010-01-29T13:05:00.006+11:00

Hi everyone.
Wow, lots has been happening. Too much to write about. So am just going to pick some nice high lights :)

First of all, thank you so much to everyone congratulating me on receiving an honourable mention for the scrapbooking memories masters :) I'll show you my other creations sometime soon (when I have taken photo's of them ;) )

So, these last few days we had a little visitor with her mummy and daddy staying at our house. Of course I took some photos of sweet little Sophie. She is so so cute, 7 weeks now!! We are all in love with her. More about some new lay outs soon...

Thank you for visiting.

Happy Scrapping :)

All about me.

2010-01-10T22:19:00.003+11:00

How are you going in the new year??? Still enjoying your holidays??
Our "work" holidays have finished but as I only work one day a week it's not such a big change for me. Just that Allan will be at work again. Still 3 more weeks to do some fun stuff with the kids though.
Ruby and I have seriously started on reading with "reading eggs". Well, kinda more serious. Still fun though. Ruby did the computer chapters again and we are "reading " the books and she does some other activities with the letters. She just memorises the pictures though. Even when I cover them with my hand so there is only the word visible she still remembers where the pictures were. I do realise though that she can't read the words just yet as she sometimes uses a different word for the picture she had previously seen on the page lol, little tricker!!

On Friday Allan and I spent some time together shopping and going out to lunch. It was a long time ago that we did something together so it was really nice.
On Saturday I went to Woden to scrap with the CM ladies. I signed up to the retreat in Feb (woohoo) and scrapped 3 lay outs. All 3 about me. On Friday during our lunch Allan was telling me all these child hood stories and I said he should write them down for the kids etc. Then I thought that was a bit bad of me to say that as I don't really do many pages about me and my child hood memories so I thought I'd better change that! So on Friday night I worked on Em's challenge at ScrapBoutique about the year you were born and on Saturday I did 3 pages (minus the journaling... need a new pen). They are not too fancy, pretty simple, but they kinda turned out like that and that's ok with me.
The titles are all in Dutch but the journaling will be in English so the kiddies will be able to read it too.

Oh, yep still going to the gym. My silly belly button mini hernia popped out again so am NOT happy about that!! Avoiding the crunches till I see the gp so he can tell me what I should do. Sigh, and I thought exercise was so good for you....

Anyway, here are the LO's, starting with the challenge and then the other ones about me (don't zoom in to see the perm... it's pretty horrible pmsl)

Have a lovely week!!!

Happy scrapping :)

2010

2010-01-03T10:52:00.004+11:00

Hey, happy 2010 to you all!! Guess what I was doing New Years Eve??? The same thing I am always doing New Years Eve. Making oliebollen. It doesn't matter how hot it is i always make them. Usually wearing my Oma her apron. They were so good this year, yum!! Good thing I am going to the gym today... for the first time (in Australia). Am very much looking forward to it. I really want to become a bit more active and fit this year!! My mum is my inspiration to do this. She is so super fit, wow!! I know I don't have the time to do all the things she does but i can definitely make more time than I have been to get more active and fit!! So there you go, it's in writing ;) Do you have any resolutions this year???

In between Christmas and New Year we went to Sydney for 2 nights. We stayed at the Panthers in Penrith. Was a great deal, $150 per night for 2 rooms that were interconnected. Had some great Chinese food there on the Tuesday night, yum!! Of course our main reason was to meet Sophie and OMG she is so cute and gorgeous and pretty and easy going!! Here she is with Chris. There's also a picture with me... but let's put it this way... Chris is looking a whole lot better hehe.

We also went to Sydney on the train. We went to Darling harbour, circular quay and the rocks. We went on the ferry and the girls loved it!! On the way back to Penrith Lucy was singing her little heart out on the train. It was so funny. She asked people for requests as well.Hehe funny girl.

At ScrapBoutique we have a new guest Stylist for the next three months. This time it's the gorgeous Karen B!! I am so happy that she is on the team for the next three months. She is an awesome girl. She was on another DT that I used to be on and she was fantastic to work with!
My challenge for this month is the Stash stomper/sketch challenge. and this is my example. Go and check out the challenge here!!!

Happy Scrapping :)

Formal

2009-12-27T16:33:00.004+11:00

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. We spent Christmas at my SIL Jan which was lovely. Yummy food and lovely company. The kids were having a great time too. Chris is the only teenager so there is not much for him to do but he was good and just hung out with the littlies and entertained them.
The next day Chris wanted me to take him to the mall as he had been saving up for his present and it was time to buy it, lol. Him having a job has been so good for him. I'm just surprised in a way that he is so good at saving up... doesn't have that from me!!

Chris got his formal photo's the other day. I thought he looked gorgeous in his suit!! He said the party was great! Before they had their dinner and party we joined him for the ceremony. Lucy thought it was pretty fun and sang loudly twinkle twinkle...while every one was getting ready to sit down lol.

So College after the holidays... hope he has enough discipline to do it....

Here are the official piccies from the formal.

Chris and some of his school friends

Chris and his friend Daniel arriving at the formal. They went in his cousins car...

We are going to visit little Sophie next week so I'll share some more piccies and hopefully some LO's about her very very soon!!

Happy Scrapping :)

Sophie

2009-12-20T15:24:00.004+11:00

On Friday night my stepson Drew and his girlfriend Melissa welcomed into the world their beautiful little gorgeous girl Sophie May. Oh she is so so cute!!!! Allan went up on Saturday morning to welcome his first grand daughter. I stayed home with the kids so Drew, Melissa and Sophie can settle in a bit first. We'll go over very very soon though, I so can't wait to meet the little princess.... so what does that make me??? lol. Anyway, here is the gorgeous little girl...

Grandpa and his grand daughter ;)

The proud daddy and his little girl

I think I'm in love...

Happy scrapping :)

December CC

2009-12-18T15:19:00.003+11:00

Tonight we have our monthly CC at ScrapBoutique. I am going to upload my challenge early as we are going to another Christmas dinner. :)

The CC starts at 7.30 pm EDST with Chels her challenge. All the other challenges will be uploaded on Friday night (except the Sunday roast of course). Hope you can join us!!

This is my LO, for the challenge itself you will have to go into the Boutique's forum ;)

It was so cute. Lucy was in my room doing something. I wasn't sure what but grabbed my camera just in case (hey, you know you'd do it too!! ;) ). She was busy cutting and was so concentrated that she didn't notice me. She was making herself a little skirt and used my dst to stick it on her body. Even some cute hemlines were added hehe.

These art boxes were a class I taught at the Chrissy workshops. They were so much fun to make!!

Last picture of today is our Chrissy card. I don't know everyone's address so I will give it to you like this; hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!!!

Hope to see you this weekend at the Boutique!

Happy Scrapping :)

Month of December

2009-12-09T21:47:00.002+11:00

Are you doing a December daily album this year?? I have done one for the last 2 years and am doing one again this year. This year I am doing a digi one though. Just because this time of the month is quite hectic and I probably wouldn't get it all done and would not be happy about it. I do feel a bit like I'm cheating though doing it digi. I am using the templates from Katie Pertiet. It's so easy to do... If only I would not forget to take photo's from all the fun moments... Last night Lucrecia and I went to Wrapped in Paper for their annual Christmas party which was great fun (*Waving* Hi Renee, so lovely to have met you!!) followed by having our favourite dinner of roast duck. I did have my little camera with me but totally forgot to take any photo's!! AArrgghh lol. Oh well, it's ok. I'll just have to write about those moments.

Last Saturday it was the first time in a long long time that Allan and I went out together. We went to a party from one of his old school friends and it was lovely to do something fun together. Next week we'll do it again, going to a Christmas dinner for my work. Hhmm.. I might get used to this :)

No LO's to show today as they are for the boutique. Am working on a cute little mini album atm, very nice :)

I'll show you a few of my digi pages though. Nothing fancy, but fun to do nevertheless!

Happy Scrapping :)

December!!

2009-12-01T18:59:00.005+11:00

Wow December already... not much longer till Christmas. Tomorrow at work we are going to have a gift making day, should be good :) Really need to get a bit more in the Christmas mood I reckon... not much there yet.

My friend Donna came over with her gorgeous 2 girls on Sunday. It was raining outside so all we did was eat, drink cuppa's and chat, perfect :) The girls had a lovely time playing together, so nice to see them having fun!! She also brought me a big box of Cherries (she lives near Young) oh my... they are so so gorgeous!!

This month at ScrapBoutique I am giving everyone the monthly Challenge. My challenge is to scrap your new years resolution. I am going to hang mine in my room so I won't forget!!!

Every month the stylist all get a sheet of the same paper and we all do something with it. This month we all got a sheet of Cosmo Cricket Cherry Pie (oh I love CC ) and this is what I did with it. Lucy just loves little misty. She is so cute and sweet. Even sleeps in their arms... awwwww

Hope you all will have a go at the lovely challenges at ScrapBoutique this month!!!

Happy Scrapping :)

Online scrapping

2009-11-23T08:40:00.004+11:00

I think it's so nice this online scrapping community. You meet lots of lovely people, get inspired by all the gorgeous work and learn different techniques. It's even better when you get to meet the online friends IRL. Last night I met my fellow Stylist at ScrapBoutique Emma. It was so lovely. She and her hubby came over for dinner and she did the Sunday Roast from our place. She was as lovely IRL as she came across online. I'm sure we'll catch up again next time she is back in Canberra or when we go to the Gold Coast to visit Megan.

Earlier this year I met the gorgeous bosslady Chels and our guest Stylist Amanda who were both lovely. Now, I still haven't met Lizee. Lizee and I have been online friends for quite a while but have never met. I would really love to meet her!! One day I'm sure :)

Luckily some of the scrappy girls live closer by. I met Donna at the retreat earlier this year and she has been over for a visit. Soon she'll come again, woohoo!! Of course I have my other gorgeous (scrappy) friends here too. And I love spending time with them.

I wonder, would a retreat here in or near Canberra be a good idea??

Anyway.

This weekend was the CC at ScrapBoutique. On Friday night we did the speed scrap with Chels and this is my LO.

I set a colour challenge this month. This is my example.

Chels send me some lovely Pink Paislee Chrissy paper and i used that to make this LO. The photo is a few years old but I quite like having a look through older photo's and using one of them to scrap. This one is from 2006.

I taught my Chrissy album last week at ScrapBoutique. I also used my 2006 Chrissy photo's for that as i didn't scrap much then and had no Chrissy work from that year.

Of course I'm going to do a Chrissy daily again this year but I thought I would make it a digi one this time round. Just to make it a bit easier in the hectic month.

I am also trying to do Jessica Sprague's Holidays in Hand classes. She is a fabulous teacher and always has wonderful ideas. It's a free one so join in if you like!!!

That's it for now. Some girls tagged me so I'll do another post rally soon!!!

Happy Scrapping :)

New additions

2009-11-05T21:24:00.004+11:00

We have 2 super cute sweet little additions to our family.
Let me introduce you to.................................

Lexi and Misti... aaawwwwwww

We've only had them for 5 hours now but all of us are smitten *sigh*

Happy scrapping :)

2009-11-03T19:40:00.003+11:00

Well, hello gorgeous weather hey!! We are going from barely 14 degrees to 30+ degrees weather, nice :)

The girls are loving it so much. having fun with their tiny little pool outside! I've been enjoying the lovely weather too and have been going for walks almost everyday. Need to get a bit fitter I reckon.

Look at those chickies, love those "real" laughs, gorgeous!!

I find it a bit hard to take nice piccies in the bright sunlight. Really would love to do a great photography course around Canberra.... you know of any???

Chris and I have been out shopping this afternoon for a suit for him to wear to hs formal. He looked gorgeous, far out. A suit really does make a big difference hey!! Such a weird idea that his formal is happening already. Only a few more weeks...

Anyway... the stylists at Scrapboutique are busy organising the Santa workshops that are going to happen very soon. It's not too late to get your kit or access to the workshops!! It's going to be so much fun!!!

This month it is my turn to set the Sketch / stash stomper challenge at ScrapBoutique. This is my sketch.....

And this is the LO I created with it. The stash for this month is... glimmer mist (or if you don't have that, diluted paint, ink etc.) Can't wait to see what every one come up with :)

I also used some gorgeous Scenic route "Sonoma" to create this LO with. If you purchase some of this paper in the boutique you can get the step by step for this LO added to your order for free! Pretty cool huh??

OK, that's it for now, thanks for stopping by!!

Happy Scrapping :)

Another year

2009-10-27T10:17:00.003+11:00

It was my birthday a week ago. I had to work and thought that nobody would really realise it was my birthday. I even thought that they would forget at home, lol. No such thing though. Allan hadn't forgotten and neither had the kiddies so lots of kisses and cuddles and a few pressies for me in the morning. At work everyone seemed to know as well which was very lovely. All the members at work wished me happy birthday, sang twice for me, got me flowers and signed a card. Very touching!!! Really made me feel good. :D

I was a bit sad as my mum had gone back to Holland and I missed her but all the attention did wonders.

I share my birthday with a few people. My mum her partners has his birthday on the same day as me and my dad's wife has her birthday the day before mine. Also Tamar (the girl from the gorgeous Tarisota kits) shares her birthday day with me. Nice to share hey!

I wanted to make a lazy day skirt with Mel Goodsell last week as well but everything was a bit hectic so I didn't get around to doing it last week BUT I made up for it yesterday and made 2, one for each of the girls. I only have a piccie of Lucy in her skirt so far. I was really happy making them. I'm not a very good sewer BUT I do find I am loving making some clothes for my girls. Makes me happy seeing them wear something I have made for them.
Here is Lucy with her skirt... she wasn't really keen on me taking her picie as you can tell lol.

On the weekend I spent Saturday at ACTSA for a full day get together. Always so nice to have a full day of time to scrap and just do my own thing. I love it. Soon Sunday it was Allan his turn for some time to himself. I took the girls out to a birthday party for one of their little friends. It was held at a farmyard nursery. Very nice! They got to sit down and pat a bunny, feed a kid and lamb with a bottle, watch them feed the bull (Ruby didn't like the "slobber" hehe) and brush a little pony. They had a lovely time out!
In the afternoon we visited another one of their friends and they had a great time playing together. Anyway, here are the girls on a tractor.

Scrapping wise... I have been working on an album about my mum her visit. It will be for the girls so they can look at all the piccies and remember all the fun things they did with her this visit.

On the weekend we had our monthly cybercrop at Scrapboutique. I did my Sunday roast on Sunday. But it was a roast with a twist.... if you still want to participate... go and have a look here, the "projects" are due 3 November so you still have a while to work on it ;)

This is my example for Emma's sketch. Love the concentration on their faces.

I wanted to say a big thank you to all you lovely girls leaving me such lovely comments after the shortlist for Scrapbooking memories was published!! Really means a lot, mwah!!!

Happy Scrapping :)

Zoe Pearns

2009-10-20T09:42:00.004+11:00

Oooooohhhhh look what's happening at the boutique very very soon!!!

Baby girl

2009-10-18T16:02:00.002+11:00

Today it's my baby girl her 4th birthday!!!

Lucy, happy birthday little sweetheart, you are such a happy, bubbly, funny, smart and delightful girl, you have given us so much joy in the last 4 years!! I'm so proud to be your mummy and you will always be my baby girl :)

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-14T21:05:00.003+11:00

I just can't believe it!!! I am in shock... WHAT THE?????????????????????????

Yours truly is shortlisted for the Scrapbooking Memories masters this year.... OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell I'm in total shock????? Far out!!!!!!

And the best part is that some of my gorgeous (scrapping) friends are shortlisted too!!!!!
So congratulations to Christine, Krissy, Kerryn and all the other gorgeous girls!!!! WOOHOOOOO!!!

My mum is leaving again on Monday, so will be back after that with a bit bigger update.... Here's a LO about her and the chickies...

Wooohoo, doing the happy dance :)

Happy Scrapping :)

October 123 challenge

2009-10-01T20:14:00.002+10:00

A new month, a new challenge at 123 challenge!! It is a fun one this month. Well, I enjoyed it anyway!!

The criteria this month are.......

1. Use 5 different patterned papers ~ Paula Perry
2. Use 1 colour and 1 black and white photo ~ Jodie Armitage
3. Lots of tearing and crumpling ~ Tam Partridge

Send your LO to: challenge_123@hotmail.com by October 31st.

If you have any good ideas for criteria for next month please let the girls know as well.

Here is my example... it has quite a bit of bling bling on it but the photo doesn't really show it :(

Happy scrapping :)

Sweet sixteen

2009-09-29T20:18:00.002+10:00

My little boy is turning 16 today...OMG... what happened to my little cute boy!!!

He'll have his L's soon (for non aussies... it means that you can start to learn how to drive aarrgghh), will go to college soon and is taller than me now... and he's also getting a beard *shock*. One thing has stayed the same though. He's still gorgeous, sweet, funny, silly and a great son to me. So happy birthday to my gorgeous big boy!!! Mwah.

hhmmmm bit absent??

2009-09-28T19:55:00.002+10:00

Hi :) I've been a bit MIA... but have a good reason for that. My lovely mum is visiting us for a month. It's her birthday today as well so happy birthday to my mum!! Can you tell that the girls just adore her??

We've done some of our usual "mum visiting" outings as going to "Floriade" (but we want to go again, it was so lovely), going to the botanic gardens today (we are going again hehe) and a few walks (as she luuurves her walks).
The girls just adore having her around, she plays with the lots and gives them loads of attention so they are very happy!!

I haven't scrapped a lot as we've been doing other things but I did a few LO's before she arrived. here they are :)

My gorgeous boy and me :) I really love these colours together, never really use them together much but am sure I will do it again.

This one was for a challenge to make a bright LO... think it's bright enough???

My roast for the September cybercrop at ScrapBoutique.

A LO showcasing the sass lass monstrosities papers for ScrapBoutique. I really loved working with these papers, again not my usual paper choice but i really enjoyed it and really love the outcome :) My apologies for the silly pic, but gotta keep it real hey, these two are so close, it's very cute (at times) but they can be little monsters as well hehe.

Speaking of Scrapboutique... we have a lovely new stylist, Emma Stafrace joining us and we also have the lovely Amanda joining us as our fabulous guest stylist for the next three months. Go and check them out!!!

I'll be back again tomorrow to celebrate someone else his birthday :)

Happy scrapping :)

ScrapBoutique "Changes" CC

2009-09-17T22:17:00.007+10:00

This weekend we have our monthly cybercrop at ScrapBoutique. This month our theme is changes. There will be a few challenges uploaded on Friday night, the bingo plus the roast (both with me) will be on Saturday night. I hope you can come and join us!!!!!

Normally the roast is on a Sunday but I "changed" it this month as my mum will be here on Sunday, woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So no time to do a roast then :)

See you all on the weekend at ScrapBoutique!!

I'll leave you with a LO that I did on the weekend when the lovely Donna was staying here with us.

Happy Scrapping :)

One LO share

2009-09-07T12:46:00.002+10:00

Now that I'm not on the dt for CIS am anymore I have free time to scrap just for me. I do like challenges though so I did one for a challenge at Scrapbook 'n bits. This is it...

Yes... I know... another LO with Chris in it. I think I go through fases of scrapping certain people. i really needed to do some more Chris LO's so it;'s all good. I really have to make some mini albums about Lucy her birthdays too. I've made quite a few bout Ruby but not about Lucy, how's that, bad mummy!!

I think I need to get of this computer more often and scrap or do other crafts (no not cleaning etc ;) ) more.

I signed up for the Suzi Blu class. Drawing and painting "Petits" Suzi style, very cool. I had a look at some of the other participants blogs and wow, they are so amazing!!! I think some people are not really beginners as such (like I am...), maybe just beginners at Suzi her style. But it's good, I can only learn from them so that's nice.

Did you all have a nice fathers day? We didn't do much. Just hang at home, did some major pruning in the garden as it was fabulous weather and I took the kids for a play at Chris his work for a while. They had fun playing and I had fun drawing. One little girl came up to my table and asked me what I was doing, I showed her my drawing and she wanted to join in, so cute lol.

Might do some more craft this afternoon as the lovely sunny days have disappeared and we have some rain today. Don't mind it though, just means we get to enjoy the "green" a bit longer before summer starts.

Happy scrapping :)

Canvas

2009-09-02T15:45:00.004+10:00

Remember I mentioned that I bought 2 gorgeous prints from kelly Rae Roberts?? Well, they arrived and are gorgeous. The one for the girls is already up in their room, right next to their bed and mine is sitting on my desk. I want to have the perfect spot for it. I really love the look of mixed media so thought I'd give it a go too... but that was as far as I got... thinking about it.

Then Ruby wanted to do some craft so I decided to have a special little project with her on Tuesdays. Last weeks Tuesday we cut out paper and glued them with gel medium on a canvas, this Tuesday we added some paint. (Next Tuesday we'll start with our girl or animal... we're not sure yet). All good, nice and fun.

Then I ordered Kelly Rae her book "Taking Flight" and started reading it. Love it!! So last night I started on a little canvas for myself and today I finished it. That was fun!! I also came across Suzi Blu her website last night and she has a course on (starting tomorrow) drawing girls. Now, is this all a coincidence?? I think not ;) Woohoo, this is good fun. I am going to sign up and learn how to make pretty and cute girls for on canvasses. I know I have heaps and heaps to learn, but it's a start right?

Anyway, just wanted to share my first girl with you :)

Happy scrapping (and painting or whatever you do) :)

September 123

2009-09-01T12:03:00.005+10:00

Welcome to spring, woohoo. I love spring. Love all the flowers, warmer temperatures, the green Canberra instead of the summery brown one. We have lots of birthdays in spring too so it's a great time of year. Am looking forward to Floriade again, perfect for some nice photo's and am also very much looking forward to the Handmade market which will be in the wool shed in Yarralumla on the 11th (evening) and 12th (day) of September.

Anyway, back to scrapping ;)

This months criteria for the 123 challenge are.....

1. Book paper

2. The word - SMILE - on your page

3. Include a "non-scrappy" item

Here is my example using the gorgeous WeR Memory Keepers Teen Angst papers

I just love his gorgeous smile :)

My sketch for this month is up at ScrapBoutique too. I based it on this LO. I know a bit slack, but I have a cold and didn't have my normal amount of energy.

Hope you will give the challenges a go!!! I am looking forward to admire your interpretations.

Happy scrapping :)

Last day of August

2009-08-31T20:22:00.004+10:00

Wow, this month has flown by hasn't it. Less than 3 weeks and my mum will be here, woohoo!!!
In 2006 my mum and I spend a few days in Melbourne. I never really documented it but as Chels send me some of the gorgeous Octber Afternoon traveler range I had the perfect papers to make a little album about our trip. I'm very happy with how it turned out. Not too fussy and bulky but quite simple and nice. Don't get me wrong, I love bulky and busy mini albums but this is nice too, for a change :) Here is a page from the album. Chels might put the rest in the newsletter or on the shops website.
Speaking of ScrapBoutique... have you applied yet to be on our fabulous design team??? We are so excited to add another stylist to our team!! I love it so much there and would love it if one of you girls (or boys??) would come and join us :)

I finished the little dress I was making for Lucy. It's not a fancy dress or something really difficult but as it is my first little girls dress I'm very happy with it. I finished it last Thursday together with Lucy. She was helping me sometimes a little too enthusiastic lol. I was taking out the pins from an area that I just sewn and she thought she could help me to by taking out all the other pins as well, oops haha. She made me very happy by putting it on straight away and not wanting to take it off for 2 days in a row, good girl hey;)

Now I have a quilt to make. Am a little nervous about it but my friend Krissy (hey did you see this gorgeous chickie featured in Scrapbooking memories this month!!!) her mum is going to help me through cyberspace. She's already given me some great tips so let's see how we go hey!! Oh by the way, Krissy has some gorgeous flowers for sale on her site!! I already ordered some for myself.

It's going to be a busy week in the evenings this week, taking Chris to his work meeting, going to the info evening for kindy for Ruby and the day after to the info evening for college for Chris. I will have all my children in 3 different kind of schools next year!! The youngest in pre school and the eldest in college. A big difference. A lot of people are often surprised by the age gap (understandable though) but I find the age gap quite nice. Chris is very good with his sisters most of the time and they adore him. I also like being able to do big kids stuff with him and little girls stuff with the girls. Keeps me thoroughly entertained. I think Chris likes it (most of the times) as well. He does need his own space as well of course so I try to make sure the girls give him that space when he needs it.

Friends of the girls usually love having him around as well. He's great at being silly with them haha. On the weekend we had some friends over. I hadn't seen my friend and her kiddies for too long so it was very nice to catch up again!! Hopefully we can do it again very soon :)

I'll be back tomorrow with my LO for this months 123 challenge.. some very interesting criteria for September ;)

Happy scrapping :)

New stylist for ScrapBoutique

2009-08-30T08:59:00.001+10:00

Scrap room

2009-08-24T18:54:00.005+10:00

I haven't totally finished with my room yet but thought I'd post some piccies before it gets too messy again lol. There;s already baking paper on the desk that I used for a pattern for a little dress for Lucy so, sorry about that lol.

Today I spend a little bit of time creating in my new space. I made a LO fro ScrapBoutique's Cybercrop. One about Lucy being (almost 4. She's such a funny cheeky girl!! Love her :) She told me to let every one know that apples are not her favourite fruit even though they feature on the LO lol. She was very lucky today that blue berries were on special today. One of her favourite fruits!! I always have to make sure I get a few before she devoured the whole punnet, she's just crazy about them.

Luc and I had a lovely time at the Stitches and craft fair in Sydney. It was much bigger than the fair we went to late last year. It was in the same building but now there was so much more. Didn't buy many scrappy things as Chels sells them all for a much better prize BUT did get a lovely babushka set for the girls, some lovely material for some dresses for the girls and some nice smelling soaps. Oh, I won a dark room door stamp set while we were on the bus, woohoo!!! I'm actually looking for an online place that sells gorgeous material, let me know if you know of any!!

Happy scrapping :)

Goodbye CIS

2009-08-21T21:02:00.003+10:00

I have decided to step down as a DT-er for Crafting in Style. I had a lovely time there but my heart wasn't in it anymore and i don't think that's fair towards the other DT girls, the owner Lana and to the members.

I just wanted to thank my 2 gorgeous 2 fellow DT-ers Karen and Laura for their scrappy company, inspiration, chats and friendship!! And I would like to thank the lovely Lady boss Lana for all her hard work and having me as one of her DT's. The gorgeous Kerryn has taken over my position, awesome choice, she is a fantastic scrapper!!!

Alrighty... what else has been happening...

We are moving some rooms around. The girls are going to share a room together, the lounge room and... tadaaaaa, Ruby her old room is now my new scrapping room. I'm typing in it as we speak. I still have some things to hang, put away etc. but when that is done I'll post some piccies, also from the girls their room. Allan has been so fantastic, painting away all the rooms for me. He's a virgo and I'm a libra.... he prefers to do the painting himself..... IYKWIM LOL. He's done a great job!! My mum will be having my room as her room when she comes over in September so I'm going to make the most of it for the next month!!!

I'll leave you for today with a LO that I did for the Monthly challenge at ScrapBoutique. The challenge, using primary colours and stickers/die cuts, was set by our celebrity Jo!

Happy Scrapping :)

August cc-ing

2009-08-21T20:56:00.004+10:00

It's that time of the month again!! We are cybercropping at ScrapBoutique this weekend. We uploaded all the challenges tonight and they are due Monday at midnight. I am doing a speed scrap as I'm writing this. I used a sketch from pagemaps. Love them :)

Here is my LO.

Hope to see you there this weekend!! My friend Lucrecia and myself are going to the "Stitches and Craft show" in Sydney tomorrow!! Love going on (scrappy and other) dates with her!!

Happy Scrapping :)

August

2009-08-02T16:46:00.006+10:00

August already!! Less than 2 months and my mum will be visiting us, woohoo!!

We finally got some bunks for the girls, nice white ones!! We were lucky as they were clearing the floor stock so we got $200 off, yay, love a good deal :) Now we only need to get a new expedit and a desk for me and we can change the rooms around!!

Anyway... so scrappy thing happening.

The new 123 challenge is up! The criteria this month are

1. Use something metal on your LO

2. Use an out of focus photo

3. Use at least 5 staples.

Here is my example.

Chels from ScrapBoutique sent me the gorgeous new October Afternoon "Ducks in a Row" the other week. She knows how much I have fallen in love with OA :) Luckily I had a scrappy day the next day, the morning with the CM ladies (I don't do the creative memories part but like the company and scrappy time) and the afternoon was spent at actsa. I did 2 LO's and 3 cards with them. 2 of the cards are already at their new owners and the ohter one is waiting for the little one to be born ;) (in case it's a girl.... am not sure of that lol).

I also did the Sunday Roast for the week long CC. We did it instead of Sunday on a Thursday. I also added a little twist and lifted Chels her LO. This is the roast.

And the last LO for today is made for Crafting in Style where I put up the August shaping up challenge. This month it's all about circles. Here is my example.

Thank you so much for visiting and thank you to all the people that are leaving lovely comments, they are appreciated very much!!! :)

Happy scrapping :)

Etsy love

2009-07-29T20:41:00.004+10:00

I am probably the last person to have fallen in love with the things that people make and sell on Etsy. I really love multi media and would love how to learn how to do it. I especially love Kelly Rae Roberts her work. I spoiled myself and the girls and bought 2 of her prints on canvasses. The first one is going to be for my new room and the second one for the girls new room, so much looking forward to admiring them IRL!!!

I have been following Melissa Goodsell her blog for quite some time now. She has recently opened her own little etsy shop (One Crafty Mumma). She sells lovely little dollies quilts, washing bags etc. in it. I bought Lucy some little quilts. A bargain, there were three in the pack and they are all double sided. I think they are meant to be used with Barbie sized dollies in stead of the larger dollies that Lucy uses them for but i don't think the dollies are complaining, they are so cute (and came packaged really sweet :) ). Lucy was so excited when they arrived, a special parcel for her and her dollies.

Last but definitely not least is this gorgeous girl. It's a brooch. My friend Lucrecia brought it for me from her Niece Samantha. Her niece makes these and lots of other gorgeous goodies. Have a look!! Her place is called Jetta's nest.

Alrighty, all up to date with my etsy love now :)

Tomorrow night I'll be doing the Sunday roast at ScrapBoutique (it's like a blind challenge). Hope you'll come and join us.

Happy scrapping :)

Noonaweena

2009-07-27T21:05:00.004+10:00

About time I did a little update about our retreat at Noonaweena.

Oh it was so awesome!!! Lucrecia, Christine and I (see above) left in the afternoon and arrived just before dinner :) I was a bit nervous meeting every one for the first time IRL but it was all good, no better than good. The girls were all so lovely!! The lovely Michelle was waiting for us outside and Chels and Kristen came outside straight away as well (they saw us coming through the gates on the camera lol). All hugs and smiles, so good!!

View from our bedroom....

We had a great time scrapping, eating all the yummy food, going for a walk, sitting in the spa and just chatting, especially that!!

I used some photo's of other people as well here. I met the lovely Kate... didn't get to spend enough time with her!! This photo is from Kate.

Christine took the photo's of Luc, Chris and me and the one of Chels and me. Look how tall Chels is lol...

Christine and me at the billabong.

Lucrecia working hard ;)

I made a cute mini album about Ruby her birthday but haven't got a pic of it. Here are 2 of the LO's I did. (I didn't get that much done... got a bit of a flu/cold... but had plenty of time to chat instead).

Might do another update very soon.

Happy scrapping :)

CC and class at ScrapBoutique

2009-07-24T19:51:00.005+10:00

Tonight our week long Cybercrop starts at ScrapBoutique. We're kicking the week off with a speedscrap with Chels. I hope you will join me Saturday night in my free Mini Album class at 8 PM :) right here.

Happy Scrapping :)

More 123

2009-07-08T19:39:00.002+10:00

Tomorrow I'll do an update about the gorgeous weekend!! For now somre more 123....

The NEW {& old} 123 Creative Team Members are being added daily from today.... keep popping in and finding out who these wonderful people are!!!
Not only will we be showcasing their layouts and inspiring you to create YOUR July 123 Challenge Layouts, but they'll be in the Spotlight too!
So make sure you check out both 123 Blogs....123 Challenge Bloghttp://www.ourbrightstarsandus.typepad.com/123challenge/Who's in the Spotlight?http://ourbrightstarsandus.typepad.com/123_cybercrop/

PLEASE GIVE THEM A WARM WELCOME!!!
We also hope to receive YOUR beautiful creations as well!!!
Email your entries to: challenge_123@hotmail.com

123

2009-07-07T11:44:00.002+10:00

Guess what... I have been picked as one of the new Creative Team members for the 123 Challenge Blog and I will be representing ScrapBoutique, woohoo!!!!

Check it out!!!

The JULY 123 CHALLENGE IS:
1. altered photo - either digitally altered or manually altered (eg, sanded, journalled on) Kate Middleton
2. Use paint on a stamp (s) for your layout. Mandy Dodd
3. polka dots Karen Brierley

Can't wait to see what you come up with! Email your entries to challenge_123@hotmail.com by the last day of July!!!
JUNE WINNERS ARE UP - ALONG WITH THE BLOG PARTY WINNERS TOO!!!http://ourbrightstarsandus.typepad.com/123challenge/

Enjoy!!

Happy Scrapping :)

8 things

2009-07-01T18:19:00.002+10:00

Hi :)

My friends Krissy and Christine tagged me to answer 8 things....

Here we go...

Q1. What are 8 things you look forward to:

1. The scrap boutique retreat at Noonaweena this weekend!!! I'll be going there with Lucrecia and Chook :)
2. Ruby her dancing "concert" at school this Friday
3. Going for nice walks on the mountain.
4. My dinner cooked by Allan on a Wednesday night.
5. A cuppa tea in bed... tastes so much better ;)
6. My mum coming in 3 months time.
7. Going out for Lunch with Lucrecia.
8. Reading my books before going to sleep.

Q2. What were 8 things you did yesterday:
1. Washing.
2. Took Lucy to daycare
3. Had a haircut.
4. Went to the park with Ruby
5. Scrapbooking.
6. Made some challenges for the retreat.
7. Applied for the 123 challenge blog creative team..
8. Had a chat with Laura.

Q3. What are the 8 things you wish you could do:
1. See my family and friends in Holland
2. Have financial freedom.
3. Have my own scrapbooking room.
4. Have a big vegie garden and fruit trees and flowers.
5. Travel.
6. Cook whatever meals I like and have everyone enjoy them.
7. Hang out with friends more often.
8. Live close to the ocean.

Q4. Name 8 things or shows you've watched lately:
1. Packed to the rafters
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. Home and away (yes I confess).
4. Girls swimming.
5. Dora
6. Masterchef
7. All Saints
8. A tutorial about Charleston dancing on you tube.

I tag Laura, Karen, Liz, Chimene, Kate T, Kate M, Donna, Edleen.

This LO is one I did for the roast at Scrap boutique the other day. It is Ruby and her friend ;)

I'll be of to Kulnurra on the weekend with Christine and Lucrecia. So much looking forward to it but also a little nervous. I'll update after the weekend. Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Happy scrapping :)

2009-06-25T12:05:00.003+10:00

Ali and Donna were doing it yesterday... I thought it would be nice to do too.

Outside my window.... A beautiful sunny day... 2 loads of washing on the line already

I am thinking... about the annoying things when it's that time of the month :(

I am thankful for... Allan who never complains about me going away to enjoy my passion

I am wearing.... jeans. aqua t-shirt, black long cardigan, black shoes.

I am creating... I just finished my LO for this weekends CC at "Crafting in Style", I'm in charge of the colour challenge this weekend :)

I am going.... to do a big shop soon

I am reading... Just finished last night "By myself... and then some" the autobiography by Lauren Bacall (Chris picked it out for me at the library... surprisingly good choice... very interesting!!)

I am hoping... for a quick meeting tomorrow so I will have time to do some extra work at home

I am hearing... Lucy chattering away while she is playing

Around the house.... are toys everywhere... Lucy loves to spread all her toys around...

One of my favorite things... going for a lovely walk with my chickies on the mountain in the winter sun.

A few plans for the rest of the week... tomorrow...work and play, zone 3 and dinner with work, Saturday ACTSA, Sunday just spending time at home

A picture to share... Lucy just made me a play dough pizza and asked me if I wanted a cup of tea with that (the pizza is in the box lol)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Happy scrapping :)

Class Kit

2009-06-22T17:06:00.003+10:00

Do you like my class kit for Crafting in Style??? I had so much fun making it! I used all "Crate Little Sprout" papers and alpha's for it. It's for sale NOW and I think there are only 8 kits left. And guess what... they are only $8 each, yes that includes the die cut paper, patterned papers and alpha's. Bargain hey!! Kits are for sale here. While you're there you might be interested in joining our Cybercrop this coming weekend. Plenty of challenges by Karen, Laura, Lana and myself. I think Lana has a fun game up her sleeves as well!!
Hope to see you there!!

Happy Scrapping :)

Roasting and oh so proud!!!

2009-06-21T17:22:00.002+10:00

Please come and join me for the Scrapboutique Sunday roast tonight at 8PM AEST in this thread!!!

Hey did you see my little Lucy in Scrapbooking Memories??

Oh I can't tell you how good that felt to see my own LO with my sweet little chickie in there. Thank you so much to the gorgeous girls that congratulated me *mwah*

Happy scrapping :)

Ruby 5!!!!!

2009-06-15T15:12:00.005+10:00

Guess I have a few things I need to catch up on...

First of all...

2 1/2 weeks ago it was our sweet Ruby her fifth birthday!! Congratulations my darling :)

She has grown up so much already but fortunately she's still as sweet as the day she was born. :) As you can see I forgot to buy her a new candle so it was 4 + 1 lol.

I took these photo's of Ruby and one of her friends on her birthday. The LO is made for A Page From My Sketchbook. with this months sketch. Maybe you feel like having a go at it too???

More updates soon ;)

Happy Scrapping!!

123 Blog Party!!!

2009-06-14T22:11:00.003+10:00

Have you ever tried to do the monthly challenge at 123 challenge??

I have, they are great fun. I was very lucky and won a prize with my LO last month, woohoo ;)

This Lo is my LO for this month. The criteria were to use 1. Fabric, 2. Buttons and 3. hand stitching. I used some strips of fabric, some buttons in the flower and I stitched some cross stitches. I took the piccies the other day in the park. Lucy usually loves to pose for the camera BUT she loves even more to be silly and funny in front of the camera... I think she's totally cute!!!

"Have you checked out the 123 Party Blog??? There are 12 Websites donating.... with LOADS of prizes up for grabs.... and only ONE criteria to be eligible to join in.... to complete the June 123 Challenge by the last day of June!
SO BE THERE - Monday June 15th!!!
Complete the June 123 Challenge before the 123 Blog Party for a chance to win a $15 Store Voucher - one person who has created a layout with be randomly drawn!"

Hope to see you there :)

Happy scrapping!!

Queens birthday long weekend scrapping....

2009-06-05T21:40:00.004+10:00

Hey... remember me??? ;)

I have so much to catch up on but I won't bombard you all with one massive post, I'll do it in a few separate posts over the weekend.

I'll be a busy scrappy girl this weekend scrapping at my 2 fav places!!

We have a mini crop at Crafting in Style here. I have a colour challenge there for you all!!

At ScrapBoutique we are celebrating the Queens birthday with some fantastic challenges as well. I chose to challenge you all to scraplift a LO from one of the DT's ;).

We have a very special sketch challenge as well. It's the a special exclusive!! Liz her June sketch for A Page From My Sketchbook is revealed a day early on ScrapBoutique. As I am lucky enough to be on her DT, I had already made a Lo for it. Here it is :)

Now go and join us for the challenges at both places!!!!!!!!!! Hope to see you there :)

Happy scrapping :)

We're cc-ing this weekend

2009-05-15T12:09:00.003+10:00

Woohoo, the CC starts tonight at Scrapboutique with a speedscrap with Chels. Yay, love the speed scraps!! Kate and Liz will reveal their great challenges tonight and on Sunday night you are all invited to join me for the roast at 8 PM!! The ingredients are all up here.

Here's sneak of my roast. Hope to see you all there!!

I am scrapping a bit today as the kids are all at school and I have my scrapping time. Chels just sent me some gorgeous new papers that will be the new paper of the month (you know the ones you get all the steps for a Lo or other project with) and I am working on a holiday album using the lovely sass lass paper for a DT assignment.

Lana from Crafting in Style has all the new Kaiser papers and Albums in and she sent me one of the gorgeous new ranges plus an album which I am working on as well. Yes I have both these albums around me as we speak and am working on both of them. I am cutting out paper for one while paint is drying on the other. Might sound confusing but I love it, it's good fun!! I've got some of Chris' music on so I'm having a great time here.
Hope to see you all on the weekend.

Oh just wanted to say a big thank you to all the lovely people leaving me feedback or just saying hello, love it!!!!

Happy scrapping!!

Lights, camera, action.....

2009-05-12T10:47:00.006+10:00

Lights, camera action.... (no not wiggles this time ;) )

We have a fabulous competition starting at CIS called lights camera action... It is on for 6 weeks and we create LO's based on Film posters (and some extra criteria). Go and check it out here, it's so worth it!!!!

We had a lovely mothers day on Sunday. The girls made me lovely pressies at school :) and Allan got me some yummy chocolates and some tulips. Love it!! The kids were all in a good mood and they took me out to dinner at night, what more could you want. Had a lovely chat with my mum in the evening, she's pretty awesome!! Can't wait for her to come and stay with us in September for a month!!

As promised some of the work I made for the kaiser dt call. I never ever do double LO's so it was a bit of a challenge for me but I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

A lay out about myself, don't do them that often either...

And a mini album about Lucy and her love for her dollies :) This is the cover and a few of the inside pages

I so much appreciate every ones lovely comments!! Thank you so much, mwah :)

Happy scrapping!!

Ruby her book

2009-05-03T16:12:00.006+10:00

Happy belated national scrapbooking day ;) , how's that, our own special holiday!!

I have been working on a special 4 year old book. I read about it last year on Nic Howards blog and did one page just before Ruby turned for and then nothing. Yeah right. So I thought I'd better make the book before she turns 5 so we started 2 weeks ago. I still have quite a few pages to go but I thought I'd show you what we have done so far!

This is the inside cover. The other pages go after that. Still have to make pages to go in between and behind them but it will give you a bit of an idea.

I also did a LO for Becky Flecks Pagemaps.

I love being asked to do these kinds of things, they are an honour and fun to do!!!

There are some fun new challenges this month at Scrapboutique, go and check them out. Mine is the monthly challenge go and check it out here!!!

Lastly, I wanted to congratulate my lovely and super talented friend Christine Rumley for being chosen for the Kaiser Design Team. She is one awesome scrapper and an even nicer person!!! Congrats love, mwah!!

I didn't make it, snif, but that's ok. I'll share the projects that I made for it next time.

Have a great week!!

Happy scrapping :)

REVA and songbird

2009-04-29T19:44:00.005+10:00

I just have to do some advertising for some totally cool stuff. My super and multi talented friend Rebecca vavic is starting up her very own REVA scrapbooking kits.

They are full of all sort of gorgeousness. You can buy the first one this May. You might even be lucky enough to win her very first kit!! Check out her site for all the details here

Check out all this loveliness.

As I am trying and dabbling a bit into the digi scrapping I bought this kit.

OMG, it's so gorgeous!!! It's a songbird kit... some info about it...

Bloom and Grow is a collaboration kit with Ali Edwards, Meredith Fenwick, Amy Wolff, Jan Crowley and Janet Phillips. This kit has been designed to benefit Autism Speaks. Between now and the end of April 30th JessicaSprague.com and Ali Edwards will match each kit purchase with a $2.00 donation each to Autism Speaks. Perfect time to buy one I'd say!!!

This is one LO I did with the kit.

We had a great time during the CC at Crafting in Style this weekend. Just sharing one of my LO's that I did. The challenge was to make a paper piecing. I made the sun. Did lots of sewing on my LO too, don't do that very often, love it though! Maybe when I'll have my own scraproom I'll do it more often as I want to set my sewing machine up on a little table so I can use it whenever i want to without having to set it all up every time.

Also did some work for for ScrapBoutique. I wrote a review that you can find in the design studio on the site and did 2 LO's. Chels was very generous and sent us all some gorgeous goodies! I still have some fancy pants left, but this is what I did with the other gorgeousness.

Not that much happening the last few days. School has started again, work has started again. Life back to it's normal routines which is nice though. It's great having them all home during the school holidays but it's also good when they go back to school and do their other activities again.

Till next time.

Happy scrapping :)

BrandNew

2009-04-23T11:41:00.002+10:00

CIS has changed hands and we have a fabulous new Lady Boss "Lana"!! She is full of enthusiasm which is so awesome for all the members and us, the DT. Today we have our first cybercrop with Lana. We start of tonight at 6.30 PM AEST with my challenge and finish up on Sunday night 8 PM with a speedscrap with Lana. Come in and have a look at all the challenges and fun and games we have planned for you here.

So we're back from our holiday to the coast. We had gorgeous weather (most of the time), we spend most of our time on the beach, playing in the waves, building sandcastles and just hanging out. This was my fav photo of the week.

I took some nice photo's but realised even more that I really would like to do a good photography course so i can take great photo's. Don't know of too many here in Canberra though...

Melissah at scrapbook'nbits picked my Lo for the snatch 'n scrap this month. I was so honoured. Go and have a play too here :)

Have done a little scrapping on holidays but they are all for Dt stuff so can't share (yet).

Hope to see you around at CIS this weekend!!!

Happy scrapping :)

Easter

2009-04-11T09:05:00.002+10:00

Happy Easter everyone! So what have you got planned for the weekend? Today the kids and I will be making some Easter cupcakes and meringues and paint some real eggs. A creative day I suppose, like those kind of days :). Tomorrow we will be having a morning tea at my SIL where the kids will go on an egg hunt. I was going to organise a game or 2 but can't find any (whole) walnuts here. So odd!! So I guess and egg and spoon race it is then ;)

I have been busy scrapping but can't show it yet except for this one. It's a LO for a challenge at this weekends mini Cybercrop at ScrapBoutique. Go and check it out. 5 Challenges, so not that mini, are up, including one for the kiddies. Hope you can join us!!

Happy Easter scrapping :)

Ball...

2009-04-06T23:37:00.004+10:00

I had never been to a ball in my life. Wasn't sure what to wear, what it would be like etc. I always imagined a ball as something that was held at a castle, with the ladies wearing these enormous ball gowns... So when we got the invitation to go to a ball from my work I was a bit worried!! Really, where would I ever find a ball gown and how much would it cost me!!!

"Luckily" the dress code was cocktail dresses. Now for people in Australia it might be a term that they can work with. For me... not so much. I went out shopping and tried out these shiny cocktail dresses. Well let's put it this way, strappy dresses do not look nice on me, at all!! They look lovely on the mannequins and lots of other people but not on me. I ended up buying a black dress at target and bought a nice shawl at a little shop at Gold Creek. Cocktail enough for me :) So here we are, Allan and me, ready to go to the ball. Of course Lucy wanted to have her picture taken with me as well. Gotta love that little chickie, she loves getting her picture taken at the moment. Chris took the photo's. I think he did a fantastic job!!!

Anyway, the ball was fantastic. Delicious food, a bit of a dance and nice company. So it was a good night for us. We hardly ever go out together so it was special for us.

I had to do the monthly sketch and stash stomper at ScrapBoutique so I made a sketch and chose ribbon as the stash stomper part. This is the LO I created with it.

The new sketch at A Page From My Sketchbook is out, go and check it out!! And create something gorgeous with it!!!

Been busy with some other scrappy things which I can't show yet, soon hopefully though :)

I'll update again after our holiday to the Bay :)

Happy Scrapping :)

We're still fashionable ;)

2009-03-20T20:00:00.006+11:00

We're still busy working on our fashion decade LO's at ScrapBoutique. This week we're working on the 1900. I took these photo's of Lucy a fortnight ago in a garden centre, so sweet!

Last week we were in the 1950's. I used this old photo of my lovely mum for it. Was very happy with how it turned out. They are not my "regular" kinda colours but it's good to do something different every now and then. Hope you like it too Mama.

Some other LO's I made for the Boutique. This one about Lucy (at the boot) using the gorgeous new Bo bunny "Love Shack" papers

Ruby and Lucy at "The Boot" using the lovely My Minds Eye papers..

And this one about Connor his 4th birthday using Cosmo Cricket - Snorkel.

Speaking of "The Boot" (the yearly cricket game)... it was fantastic. No one broke anything, all the achilles's stayed intact and yay, Jol's team (on which Allan was) won, woohoo!! Made it just a little better. It was as fantastic as always. It's just so ice to spend a day in the country, super relaxed, watching a bit of cricket, playing with the kids, eating great food, what more could you want!! Thanks to Emma and Jol, mwah :)

That long weekend (it was Canberra's birthday) we were out a lot. On Sunday we went out on a picnic near the cotter with some friends and their kids. Again, great food, great company, relaxing and the kids playing in the gorgeous surroundings. Chris, Jeremy and Ruby built a dam for the little frogs, Lucy played in the water with Allan and me and older girls just relaxed, chatted and had a lovely time.

The next day we spent the afternoon and early evening in the park, watching Dora, Jessica Mauboy (she was great!!), Kate Miller-Heidke and some other bands. We didn't stay for the hoodoo gurus as the girls were getting tired. It was a fantastic weekend.

This is a photo of Chris and Ruby having a chat and enjoying each other company.

Playing a game at ScrapBoutique now... have a great weekend!!

Happy scrapping :)

Pinch

2009-03-01T16:04:00.004+11:00

Pinch and a punch for the first day of the month. March already!! February always goes so fast with so many birthdays in Allan his side of the family. Today we had a BBQ lunch at my SIL her house with the family. Allan missed out as he was spending some time down the coast with his mate. We made some chocolate brownies for dessert and took some ice cream to accompany them, so yum!!

The kids were having so much fun playing with their cousins. It's almost like they get to know their cousins again in the month of February each year as we don't see each other all that often the rest of the year, unfortunately. I would love to see them more often as we don't have my side of the family over here but I suppose everyone has their own lives and is quite busy.

Next week we'll all catch up again though at the boot (the yearly cricket match from the Tabers at their farm). Hopefully it won't end the way it did last year...

Tonight I'm doing my Sunday Roast at ScrapBoutique, 8.30 EDST. I made a quick and easy 8.5 x 11 LO for this one and used some gorgeous new MME papers for it. I hope the LO will look good with other papers too though...

I also should finish my 1960's LO for our Passion 4 Fashion 2 comp. I really enjoyed the 1980's LO. I used a photo that was taken by my good friend Wim who died quite a long time ago. It was so good to go back and remember those times. I used my all time fav song for the title;"to look at you" by INXS. I bought that album (shabooh shoobah) when I was a teenager in Holland. I was saw the cover and loved it, didn't know the band though as they were like totally unknown in Holland at that time, and I've been a fan ever since :)

I also created to LO's for ScrapBoutique using BG Marrakech papers. Love love love those colours. They are just perfect for funky lively LO's, love that!! The first one is about Lucy and about what she is like at home, a crazy, funny, determined and super sweet little girl.
The second one is also about Lucy (I know... so many of Lucy but she is just so cute at the moment) about her love for her dollies, so sweet.

That's it from me for now, thanks for visiting!!

ps. Do you like my new background?? I'm going to figure out how to get the heading a bit more in the middle though... the background is by house of 3, cute stuff!!

Happy Scrapping :)

First day and the Retreat

2009-02-18T20:54:00.006+11:00

My big girl Ruby started pre-school last week. 2 days a week. She already made a "best friend" as she called it on her second day. She also got into a little fight with 2 boys but they sorted all that out, was nothing serious though. I tried to take photo's of her on her first day but it was hard as someone was trying to hog the camera...lol

I did end up with one kinda cute one of Ruby. And funny thing is her new "bestest friend" is right behind her.

Miss Lucy wanted to go to school too. Her daycare is now "her school". So 3 kids in 3 different places... not every day though. I get to spend one day a week with Ruby alone and one day with Lucy alone. Lovely!! Ruby and I already had a few days alone but tomorrow will be the first one with just Lucy. We're going to visit lovely Bek and her cutie Josh. So it will be fun for both of us!!

Bek and I also went to the retreat together 1 1/2 weeks ago. it was great, we had so much fun!!That girl can really make me laugh :)

On the last day I went outside to take a photo of this emu dad and his children. While I was taking a photo of them this mob of kangaroos started to jump around. Can't get much more of an Australian picture than that... I know the photo itself ain't fantastic but the animals on it are!!

Of course I did some scrapping too. No Lay outs this time! I know, shocking!! I decided to do some projects that I have wanted to do for a while so I made an 8x8 album for Chris about his trip with Oma and Jeroen to Kiama, an album about the girls in their pretty pink dresses (I just love love love those dresses) and I am still working on our holiday album. Was very happy with what I achieved!

On Saturday night I'll be going to a crop night at the LSS with my friend Lucrecia, will be fun!! It's been ages since we've scrapped together. I usually just visit her at the shop or we go somewhere together, so this will be a real treat!!

Everything is slowly returning back to normal after the school holidays. Chris is in year 10 this year, only one more year at this school. I really hope he will enjoy and make the most of the last year at this school.

oh that's right, I've been tagged by Rihani. Thank you Rihani! The 6th photo in the 6th file on my computer.

Let's see... (I'm not sure what it will be...)

Awwww, my cutie Lucy when she was just over 1 year old, cute!!

At Scrapboutique we've started out Passion for Fashion2. Oh it's so much fun. This week it's all about the eighties. Everyone has been digging out piccies of them during that time, so much fun. It's not too late to join in, there are some awesome prizes up for grabs!!

And to finish off, one of the cards i taught at CIS last weekend during our CC. I did 5 cards, one valentines card for each of the kids and one birthday card for a little cousin. Perfect!

Thanks for visiting.

Happy scrapping :)

Do you have a passion for fashion 2??

2009-02-15T23:12:00.003+11:00

Yes it's here," A passion 4 fashion 2". It will be fun, challenging and most definitely fashionable. Come and join us for six weeks of fun at ScrapBoutique!!!

Hope you can join us for some scrapping fun!!

Scrappy and family update tomorrow!!!

Happy scrapping :)

Bushfires

2009-02-09T16:03:00.006+11:00

No blog about the retreat today, that will come another day.
Instead I would really appreciate if you could all spare a thought or a prayer for the more than 100 lives lost in the Victorian bushfires and for all their families and friends. It is so so sad.

Thank you.

Being published

2009-02-04T22:14:00.004+11:00

Woohoo. I just received an email saying that Scrapbook Creations wants to publish one of my LO's. I'm so stoked!! It's my first time so it's very special to me. I even made a little sign saying "out for publication" and saved it, just in case it happens again lol.

This weekend I'll be going to a scrap retreat near Canberra. I am not sure who organises it or what is going to happen when we are there but I'm sure it will be great!! I'll be finally seeing the sweet Bek again!! Yay :) I'm a little nervous, not so good with meeting loads of new people but hey, if you want to scrap for a whole weekend, that's what you gotta do. I have printed a lot of photos and now have to make some kits so I will get something done while I'm there hehe.

From the 11th till the 16th of Feb. we'll have a Crafting for cancer CC at CIS. In rememberance of Dee Lewthwaite. Dee was a member of CIS for a long long time. She was a bright bubbly girl who sadly passed away in December last year after losing her battle with cancer. Have a look at CIS for more info. I'll be teaching a card class on the 13th of Feb, Laura is teaching a LO class on the 15th and Karen is teaching another LO class on the 12th. The rest of the weekend will be filled with challenges. We hope you can join us for this event.

A sneak peek of my card class

The other week we had our Summer lovin' CC at ScrapBoutique, oh it was so much fun.So many girls joined us over the weekend, it was great!!

I did the Sunday roast and it looked like this

Another LO I did was for Kate her challenge...

Thanks for visiting :)

Happy scrapping!

Cybercrop weekend

2009-01-22T10:18:00.004+11:00

Hey, it's cybercrop weekend today at ScrapBoutique this weekend!! We'll have a lucky dip Friday night, some gorgeous challenges from Liz and Kate and then on Sunday (at 8.30 EDST) a Sunday Roast with me. And if you are keen for a game of Bingo, come in on Saturday night 8.30 (EDST). It's going to be a weekend of fun!!

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I have also been working on some other challenges. This one was made for scraplounge (see Mum, here is Ruby ;) )

and this one for scrapbooking top 50...

Ruby and Lucy have this fascination for slaters! They pick them up, carry them around and make parties for them in a bottomless bucket with little sticks and leaves, very cute!! So if they are looking at something on the ground or picking something up it's most likely a slater (pissebed for the Dutch girls) they are interested in... funny girls :) I guess I can kinda relate though. I used to love snails. Had them even in an aquarium in my room when I was a young girl AND I let them walk all over my arms as well....

My boss and I are working on a card workshop on the 5th of March for the international womens day. The ladies create a card and we mail them all to the women they admire. Sounds good? It's all for a good cause (mental health) and only $5!! Send me an email if you are interested.

See you this weekend at ScrapBoutique!!

Happy scrapping!!

Half yearly sale at ScrapBoutique!!

2009-01-19T10:19:00.002+11:00

Girls grab yourself a bargain this week!!!!!! as it is the half yearly sale at ScrapBoutique

HALF YEARLY CLEARANCE ON NOW!!

It only happens Twice a year, so hurry in to the Boutique to grab some Fantastic bargains! All the major manufacturers are bringing out their 2009 releases, and there's no room for them in the boutique at the moment......so current stock HAS TO GO!!

20-50% OFF Storewide TERMS OF SALE - *Sale excludes Gift Vouchers, Club Alpha Kits, Retreat Payments, and some New Items.*Sale Ends Saturday Jan 24th 2009. *Same Day Shipping MAY NOT be available depending on workload.* In the case of an ordered item being out of stock, a refund will be given.*Cuttlebug Machines and Totes or Storage Items that need to be ordered in, will attract the "actual" postage charge.* Loyalty Discounts and First Order Discounts will NOT apply!!

Summer Holidays & challenges

2009-01-17T20:27:00.004+11:00

It looks like we have been too busy enjoying the summer holidays to blog. Anyway....

We have been going to the park heaps, going to the pool, hanging out at home, visiting friends etc the last few weeks. Just a relaxing holiday :)

And guess what, I've taken the plunge and started on my journey into digi scrapping. I've given in and started the 365 photo "challenge". I'm just not going to paper scrap all these pictures. I've done that before and found it too hard to stay on top of it, so I purchased a Weeds and Wildflowers 365 days kit. OMG it's so lovely!!! I'm still learning how to do it all but am having lots of fun with it!! Here's my first half of a week...

I've also started joining in at Blue Bazaars art journal. Now I have never ever done any

multi media stuff or art journal but am so ready to learn something new!! So here is my first attempt :) I've used my word for this year on it, positivity!!

This next LO was done for a challenge at Karen's scrapping cupboard. My little Lucy drinking for my cup of tea. For some unknown reason everything tastes better coming from my plate or cup..hhhmmm lol.

This lay out is an example for the sketch challenge at ScrapBoutique this month. A sketch by the lovely Liz Weber!!

Speaking of ScrapBoutique. I am running a photo challenge there for the month of January. Every week I post another challenge and you have till early February to take the photo's and create some gorgeous work with it. Why don't you come over and have some fun with us! You can find the challenges in the random challenges.

One more thing i wanted to share with you all today is this book, oh my, how much I loved it, but I've finished it!! I can highly recommend it!!

This week I also had an MSN chat with my sweet bestest girlfriend from primary school. Our first chat in about 25 years I think! Oh it was so so lovely. It's funny how our first friends somehow always keep a very very special place in our hearts. Big hugs to you Juliet, mwah!!! We won't be waiting another 25 years to have another chat let me tell you!!

Better go now.... create some more stuff :)

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Happy scrapping :)

Happy happy happy

2009-01-01T18:53:00.004+11:00

Happy new year to you all, my lovely blog readers.

Hope you all had a fabulous New Years Eve.

We had some lovely BBQ dinner with some lovely friends followed by some games with some other lovely friends. A lovely night all together.

I was however hoping for a little more of a sleep inn but Miss Lucy thought that 7.45 was late enough for New Years day :) Gotta love her.

It's so nice to have everyone at home these 2 weeks. We've just been hanging at home, taking the kids swimming, taking them to playgrounds and a bit of (Mini) pool fun in the garden. Perfect days.

The last few days of 2008 saw me scrapping quite a bit... some DT work for ScrapBoutique (which I can't show just yet) and some examples for the challenges at ScrapBoutique.

My stylist challenge is an inspiration one. Go and have a look and have some fun with it!!

I also set the monthly challenge as Chels is out camping; "Use some new scrappy goodies on a LO and let us know why you love them so much"

The first example is for the stylist inspiration challenge and the second on for the Monthly challenge.

Hope you are all enjoying the holidays.

Happy scrapping :)

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T00:39:00.002+11:00

I would like to wish all my blog readers a lovely christmas from my family to yours!

Love,

Manon xxx