Olympic fever...

While I haven't watched one little bit of the Olympics so far (how slack of me), I have been checking out all the action at the Scrapping Olympics over at Scrap-Pile. Everyone's on fire! Check it out for yourself here... The gallery is really buzzing and it's great to see so many beautiful designs in there each day.

Here are a few of my latest projects...

I have had this one on my table since July and it's using the gorgeous BoBunny PP that Mel sent through as part of the July DT kit... These huge letter stickers have been sitting in my stash for so long (I'd guess about 3 years) that they are no longer sticky. I love these gorgeous photos of my brother's kids and our two little ones while they were playing in the trees at my parent's house. Erin sure does stand out being the only girl :)


As part of the PP Challenge that Maree, Mel and I cooked up, we had to design some of our own PP and send it to another person to create a page with. This page features the gorgeous PP that Maree sent to me :) I love how it turned out, although this one took a bit of time to get right. I must have bumped the tension switch on the good old Janome, and it stuffed up a bit at the top, but I think it all adds to the feeling of the page. I really loved working with these colours :) Thanks Maree :)


I cooked this meal for dinner last night, so it was the inspiration for Melanie's Recipe Circle Journal. I love making this meal, it's so quick and easy.


It's amazing how quickly some things can come together. You know how you can sit for hours thinking about how to do something, but once you get started, it kind of just falls into place. Well, that's how these pages came together. I'm very thankful for those moments, otherwise nothing would get done :)

Sweet child...

I couldn't wait to have a play with the gorgeous Fancy Pants PP that I chose for my August DT kit. This is the first real cutout work I have ever done, and let me tell you, it may just be the last.... my fingers are still sore from where I was gripping the craft knife!! LOL! I am really happy with the result, however I will definitely be purchasing a new blade for my knife shortly!

Just a quick share...

I've had a chance to get a couple of cards done this weekend, one for Jewls' Monthly Card Challenge over at Scrap-Pile... I loved this sketch Jewls!! Thanks for the challenge.


and this one's for Challenge #1 for the Clayton's Retreat over at LSS.


I've also finally finished the patterned paper for Maree, as a result of the PP Challenge that we started over 2 weeks ago now. I hope you like it Maree, and I hope you find inspiration for a layout in these to complete the challenge.


TOP LEFT - Painted then embossed AL stamps in gold.
TOP RIGHT - Painted a base cream colour, then painted giant bubblewrap in two tones and stamped, then chalked the edges.
BOTTOM LEFT - Painted a base cream colour, then used a piece of material Deb (Blurose) gave me as a RAK as a mask and painted over in the red colour, then chalked the edges.
BOTTOM RIGHT - This one is very textured, but difficult to see in this photo. I paint in a criss cross pattern with red paint, when dry, went over in a gold MM paint

Peekaboo Erin

Erin has been soooo naughty all day today, and we thought this new little word... Peekaboo, was so cute... although, she had to end it all with her funny little 'dinner throwing' episode #3!! Needless to say, she visited the naughty chair soon after... the cheeky little thing!

The EKKA

What a blast we had today at the EKKA! WOW! I discovered many things I had to deal with from my past!! LOL! I think I am permanently scarred that we never went as kids. The first time I went was with DH before we were married. And even though we had a great time, it was nothing like today! Man, did we have some fun! I was like a little kid going to the show for the first time... we did the whole deal... animals, showbags, sideshow alley, fairyfloss. I think the only thing we missed out on was the fireworks, which I'm kinda glad we missed, as the kids (and both of us) were tiring quickly by the end of the day!

We couldn't have asked for a better day, the weather was warm, the sky was clear, the kids were absolutely angels the entire day! They even sat relatively still on the hour-long train trip, both ways!

Oh, and it was also my second train trip EVER, so I was pretty excited about that, as you can see from these photos... Al was a little embarassed that I was taking photos of a 'train'! He also pointed out that I probably blinded the driver with this photo.... OOPS! I told him it's not like he has to watch where he's going or anything!!


Oh, and I nearly forgot to mention that I spoiled myself and bought a new camera for the occasion. I was getting sick of lugging around my S5 everywhere, so I bought a smaller Canon (Ixus 80is) for those 'point and shoot' type events, where size is everything! Still an 8MP though, and I'm pretty happy with the results, considering it won't be replacing my much loved S5! The only thing I would complain about if I was going to, is the flash, but really, you couldn't really expect to have such a small lightweight camera with a HUGE flash, now, could you? An okay trade off, I guess. I'll have to have another photo shoot around here just to test out its true potential before I decide on its fate. (Note, I haven't had time to edit these photos yet, so they are pretty much how they were taken.) Some of them turned out quite dark, especially the inside ones that required a flash.

Anyway, that aside, the kids both loved the animals and Erin got to use her new word lots today... FISH... or phssss... as it turns out!! LOL!


Aiden loved the donkeys, ducks, geese, birds, Llama, but most of all the cows & horses kept his interest. Everywhere we went, he'd ask if he could see the cows & horses!

Erin was fascinated by the phhhhsh (fish) and was a little scared of the goats and sheep, but she enjoyed patting the chickens and smaller animals that were more her size!

Some more happy snaps...


The kids enjoying a train ride...


Aiden loved the motorbikes... I think he's going to be like his Daddy! Into fast and expensive toys!


A much needed rest... for all of us! The kids only had about an hour's sleep in the pram, but it got them through the day!


When the kids woke up we went to get a couple of showbags and then for the tradition of Al's family of the strawberry ice-cream cone with cream and strawberries on top, which the kids just loved! Okay, so did we! Yummo!






And the show just wouldn't be the show without the ferris wheel! And I would have loved a ride on it, we took one look at the price and walked away! I did enjoy watching it while we were waiting for the train though!


We all had a fantastic day and we're definitely going to sleep well tonight!!

Christmas in July Cypercrop

We had a great night last Friday night at the Christmas in July Cybercrop over at Scrap Pile.

I am so excited to say that I completed all of the challenges! Thanks Jewls, Mel and Melanie for the super challenges, and to all of the participants for a great night!

My challenge was to create a layout using last year's Christmas stash. No specifics, just use as much stash as you can! Here's my example...



Here's my take of Mel's challenge to use only red and white about a Christmas tradition.


Some cards I made for Jewls' cool Christmas card challenge using some beaut little design sketches. I had a heap of fun making these, thank Jewls!


And here's my take of Mel's black, white, silver & blue challenge (8.5x11in).

Birthday Fun

I know it's a little late, but I wasn't really feeling up to celebrating my birthday at the time... after all 30 is a turning point as far as birthdays go. I wanted it to pass by quietly, so a I invited my best friend & sister to share a cosy little dinner at Hog's Breath with us. The kids had a ball playing under the table and running around afterwards in the playground outside. Even though I wasn't looking forward to the "turning 30" part, I have to admit, I really enjoyed celebrating my birthday this year.

I also received some gorgeous gifts. Al and the kids gave me the most gorgeous belcher necklace, Dana has booked cooking lessons at Spirit House, which I am soooo looking forward to at the end of the month! Mum & Dad gave me some kitchen things I have been wanting for a long time and Al's parents gave me a gorgeous painting that I admire daily in the living room, and a scrap gift voucher, which I spent right away!! LOL!

Dana & I had the best girlie time together. We spent lots of time catching up, scrapping and laughed so much when one lady at the shops asked if we were twins... Poor Dana was devastated, but I was pretty stoked. The lady was a bit embarrassed when we told her there were 9 years between us!!

Here are some of the cards that resulted from our little scrap session...

Precious Time

My friends have been asking me, how I manage my time, and honestly, I'm not sure how I manage at all at the moment. Just one day at a time. This month has by far been my busiest in a long time and while I have managed to start a new job, do the usual house loving and tend to the kids etc. I have also managed to fit quite a lot of scrapping in.

At the moment, my theory is that being busy, means getting more done! LOL! Okay, well you know just as well as I do that's true, however I really do enjoy being busy, and it really motivates me to do more, if you know what I mean?

I also really enjoy change, and over at Scrap Pile last month we got to choose someone else's design team kits, and I had a bit of fun chosing Mel's. In return, Mel chose these gorgeous kits for me to design with this month.

They are all so different and hopefully I managed to do them justice, Mel.