A couple of birthdays...

Firsty, a HUGE happy birthday to a sweet friend's little girl, Emily, who turned 1 yesterday. Unfortunately I missed the party, but still got to create this gorgeous card for her :)


I really love using these Prima journalling cards that Mel gave me on cards... the funny thing was I said they weren't my style, well.... I take my words back Mel, but they are now my most favouritist thing in the world (well, apart from stamps!!)

The kids also went to one of their friend Hayley's 4th birthday party on Saturday, and I was so glad Al had to do the rushing around from one to the next! I actually modified the cute little Tilda card in the previous post to make it a "Happy Birthday" card, and the birthday girl absolutely adored it! It sure did stand out amongst all the Barbie cards!

I created this layout this afternoon while the kids were jumping all over me, trying to help in any way possible... Erin even had a go at my twinkling H20s!! OMG she was actually really good too --- at mixing all the colours together!! OMG I nearly screamed.. but she was so quiet and obviously engrossed in her work! I sooooo wish I had my camera on hand so I could show you!! She's such an arty little thing, loves drawing and painting!!

Anyway, here's the end result.

It's for Simonne's last sketch challenge over at Scrap Pile. I decided I needed to document my weight loss journey, and here's my first layout. I was trying to find a smaller (before) photo to put in the gap at the bottom right of the photo that's there, but the only one I could find was of me in my pj's, so might have to stick that on later!!

WAHOOOOO!!! I am getting soooooooooooooooooo excited about heading up to Cairns in a couple of weeks to spend some quality girlie time with my bestest scrappy friends in the world!! Leone & Mel, we're gonna have the bestest time ever!!! How many bottles do you think I'll be able to fit in my bag?????????

Right, well, that's pretty much it from me today... I was hoping to get some cards made after the layout, but after my little helpers efforts, I decided to quit while I was ahead! Maybe sleep time tomorrow?????

No mojo...

Is it the weather? Is it lack of sleep, or is it just that I have too much going on in my life at the moment?

Whatever it is, it's really bugging me! I usually love to create in my scrap room, but I haven't ventured, or wanted to venture there for quite a while now, and I'm just not feeling good about that.

I want to scrap, but when I do, I just end up sitting there like a school kid in an exam, mind wandering, looking out the window, anything but the task at hand, is a welcome distraction. I think I might have to flick through some old mags to see if some inspiration strikes. Wish me luck...

A few of my latest LOs

A few of my latest LOs... well, actually, these are the first I have scrapped in over a month!! Shock, horror!! I've gone pretty simple with these. They were both for challenges over at Scrap Pile, which were super challenges. Thanks Leone & Mel!

This is Mel's challenge (although I was a little late)!

and this one is for Leone's 1-5 challenge.

Thanks for the inspiration girls! I loved doing both of them. It was nice to get back into it again with such quick and easy LOs too!

A change is as good as a holiday...

I've been copping a bit of flack about the minimalistic approach to my blog at the moment, so I thought I'd better right that quick smart!

Firstly, I'd like to explain that I have been awol for a reason. I've just started working for a design company, and have put my business on hold for the moment while I adjust to my new position and evaluate my lifestyle. Yes, it's the midlife crisis thing again! Although I think I've made the right decision and am really happy with the work I've been thrown to date. It seems much simpler (in a way) to work for someone else, and just do what I love doing... designing. I work from Wed-Fri and that's it. No weekends, no all-nighters trying to meet that looming deadline. Although there are still strict timeframes, it's nowhere near as stressful for me, which I am loving. Plus, I can spend quality time with my family after hours without feeling guilty for not working and building my business. All in all, I'm a happy camper for the moment.

On the scrapping front, I've been checking out all those fabulous CHA previews and some of them are absolutely gorgeous... now how's a girl supposed to save money when they keep releasing all this fabo new stuff!!

I'm still designing over at Scrap-Pile and am loving it. They're actually on the look-out for another DT member to fill Melanie's spot when she leaves next month. Melanie, we'll miss you heaps. You are such a beautiful person with loads of creative spark and I'm sure you will achieve all you set out to and much, much more.

Anywhere but here

Have you ever had that feeling that you are in the wrong place at the wrong time? Like a time warp, and you're supposed to be somewhere else, anywhere else, but here. I'm feeling kinda like that with work at the moment. I'm blaming mid-life, but I'm sure there's another reason. I just feel like there is something else waiting for me... something else that I'm waiting for... but what it is, it defies me at the moment.

I've designed websites, been a dental assistant, an accounts officer, a project manager, a scrapbooking design team member and now I'm my own boss. I truly love what I do, but I also feel I need a change. Which path do I take, which voice do I listen to... my head, my heart or my wallet?

Working from home definitely has its perks, but it also has its downfalls too. As much as I dearly love our children, I need some 'me' time to chill out and rediscover myself. I think I've forgotten who I am and what I set out to achieve. I think it's time to re-evaluate my goals and my future.

I'd love to teach scrapbooking or photo editing or something along those lines. I really love watching people learn and develop new skills, but finding a way to combine all the things I love, in a flexible environment and that earns enough money to help pay the bills... now that's the hard part!

Some new work

I've been trying to get a few of the challenges done this month at Scrap Pile and here's some of the outcomes...

This is for Deb's Purple colour challenge and I have also used the PP from this month's Design Team Kit.

This birthday tag is for Jewls' weekend tag challenge


This is the outcome of Melanie's partner challenge. I had so much fun with this one, as I rarely scrap myself. Thanks for the challenge Melanie!


Here's a simple little card I made for a friend of Erin's. I am really loving those little cupcake stamps! I also added a little flap (which opens under the photo flip).


I also created this door hanger for Erin's room from the Design Team kit this month.

A lovely day was had by all...

My Mother-in-law & I decided that since the boys were away, we'd shout ourselves to a lovely breakfast at Sizzler with the kids... so off we went at 8am this morning. What we didn't realise, was that every man and their dog had the same idea! We waited in the line patiently for around 3/4 hour, and the kids were surprisingly very well behaved, considering they hadn't eaten anything since waking up about 2 hrs earlier. We had a great time and the kids had a ball, eating ice cream, smarties and jelly beans for breakfast! I think we'll be back for a lunch soon (and hopefully without the line-ups).

Al left for Gympie karting early this morning, and will hopefully be home before the kids go to bed. They really miss him when he's away. We celebrated Mothers' Day yesterday, with a lovely cooked breakfast and take-away Thai for dinner.

Sketch Challenge

Although I've been flat out with work lately, I did manage to squeeze a little scrapping in for the Scrap Pile Mothers' Day themed CC on Friday night. I designed a sketch and my challenge was to use the sketch as a base and scrap about a favourite Mother memory.

Here's the sketch...



and here's my example...



I'm looking forward to scrapping some of the other challenges, as they looks like loads of fun. Deb's challenged us to make flowers from scraps, Jewls put a gorgeous flower card challenge forward and Melanie challenged us to make a heritage layout with pearls. A great opportunity to create some beauty for Mum on Mothers' Day!

February update

Okay, yeah, I'm a slack blogger already! Been super busy lately, but here are my February layouts for Scrap Pile, as promised. Better late than never, hey! I loved the PP. It was absolutely stunning!





I also made some cards with the remaining paper for Jaki's PP card challenge. I really liked how they turned out. The PP was so lovely to work with too!


This is the LO I did with the second DT kit. I used grungeboard for the title, and it was great to work with!


We've been busy getting ready for the kids Baptism, which is tomorrow! Just having a small gathering with family and a couple of friends over for a BBQ after. Should be nice and relaxing!

I don't know if it was the fab PP that the guys at Scrap Pile sent in the Feb DT kit or what, but I have my mojo back!! I've done 2 pages in 2 days and I think that's a record for me! Well, since Erin was born anyway! I've even got a few ideas to use the rest of the DT kits. I just loved that BoBunny PP Heart Attack and those gorgeous Creative Imaginations rubons!

Will post a pic shortly. Blogger seems to be playing up ATM!