I'm baaaaaack.

Two and a half days spent in bed .... mostly.

Venturing as far as the kitchen every so often and then the computer - so I could sit down and rest!

On Saturday I announced to the kids when they came running into the bedroom screaming 'Muuuuuuuuummmmmmmm' ... 'There is no Mum in this house today - only a sick lady who wants to go back to sleep!'

Today I'm feeling good.

Today my three kids went to a friends house for the day, while I spent the day at Kiwiscraps - teaching 22 other kids the fine art of beginning scrapbooking.

Today I went to weight-watchers and lost 1.8kgs! (That's what happens when you spend a few days with a cold and don't eat like usual.)

Today I have started preparing for Rebekah's birthday on Wednesday. (Actually stressing slightly cause she has no presents to open cause I haven't bought any yet!)

Today I might just finish the layout that's been sitting on my desk all week - waiting for me to get better.

Today I can think of some happy things to write in the blue day c.j. (Which I have until Monday by the way Janine - so you can have a look through sometime before then maybe?)

Tomorrow (cause that comes after today) we have some people coming to put insulation under our house and in the roof space. Did you know how much stuff we have in storage under our house and in the roof? There's lots and lots and it all had to be moved in preparation - so the kids are playing with christmas decorations and suitcases.

And just for a second, when I saw the baby's bassinet ... I remembered what it was like to have a teeny tiny baby in the house. And then Jessi hit Alexander with the giant candy cane and there was screaming and yelling and no, there will be no more babies in this house!

A Blue Day

Look what arrived today:

Does it look familiar Nan Jules? I'm guessing it's a lot fatter than it was when it left your house earlier in the year.

I'm having a kinda blue day today myself so it was quite timely to get this and have a little flick through. It makes interesting reading to see what makes everyone happy. As to what makes me happy ... I think I'm gonna have to think about it for a little while - I'm sure I'll find something soon!

Off the page...

...and out of the box.

There's this blog I found dedicated to off the page scrapbooking stuff. It's called More than just scrapbooking - a good name really! It has heaps of really good inspiration if you want to step out of your 12x12 square and do something different.

Even better - Jacqui is offering a free on-line class to make a very cool looking felt book. You have to register your interest and then she'll send you a list of products required. Definitely a blog to keep an eye on!

More Layouts

So the layouts I did for Scrap of Faith over the weekend...



This was for Sal's challenge. We had to get someone at home to choose the topic - or if everyone was asleep someone at the crop could choose. The kids were asleep and Michael was out so Lara suggested 'Joy'. It had to include a Bible verse and use a non traditional scrapping item - like felt. And cause I wanted to get it done quickly ... I went back to Nic's sketch from the Paparazzi layout I'd only just finished. Hey - it's a good sketch when you've got three photos to work with!


This one was for Lara's challenge. She wanted us to use the word create/creation/creator in a layout and also use atleast one Bible verse.

And now - I'm working on a c.j with Elsie papers of course! And Rebekah's birthday invites might just see a bit of Elsie too!

It's been a scrappy weekend.

My new Elsie stuff has really got me going. I've done three layouts this weekend ... and considering how slow I am at scrapping that's lots.


The first was for a Nic Howard sketch comp over at Scrapbook Outlet to celebrate the release of her book 'That's Life.'

This is what happens when you (or rather I) mix Elsie and Nic!

I also did a couple of challenges for the Scrap of Faith Crop on Saturday night, but I'll have to share those later - it's time to brave the cold and wet and go get the kids from school and kindy.

I love Elsie...

... and Jack Me Up.

I finally found the time to finish off this layout for the Kiwi Jack Me Up blog.

Click the link above to see Vicky's awesome layout which was the inspiration for mine. When I saw it, I knew straight away that it was a perfect excuse to go get me some Elsie stuff!

These are Jessi's new church clothes - I love having the excuse to dress the girls up nice atleast once a week. I bought the matching hat, but for some reason she has decided she doesn't want to wear it - she's usually a real hat kid.

I love the scrapbooking inspiration that comes from kids clothes only trouble is I lack the discipline to only window shop ... if I go in I'm bound to find something I 'need' to buy for one of the kids.

My Scrapbook Essential's kit just arrived this morning ... have you seen what's in it yet? Click the link if you haven't and make sure you order early cause, in my opinion, this is one you won't want to miss. Sassafrass Lass stuff mixed with Elsie Stuff - yep I'm going to have a fun scrapbooking month!

You know what ... I think my mojo has returned, I'm feeling that excitement again, gotta scrap - now!

Alone

I've got a secret ... shhhh don't tell .... I'm home alone! Yep, it's the middle of the day and there's no kids here. Jessi is now a big kindy kid.

So I now have 2 and a half childfree hours, three times a week. Oh the things I could do - lets see, housework - I don't think so, exercise - did it already, I left the car at kindy and walked home, uninterrupted computer time - this post will be completed in one sitting, a nanna nap - not today, too much to get done, scrapbooking - yes! Scrapbooking desk here I come!

Oh and while we're on the topic of Jessi. She likes to shorten words, like she says 'noon' tea instead of afternoon tea. But one word she really shouldn't shorten - shampoo. "Daddy you put poo in my hair didn't you?" What really does go on when Daddy looks after the kids I wonder?

This is one of the layouts I did with the June kit from Scrapbook Essentials - click here to see the rest.

Meet Jessi's new friend.

My NZ Dares cute critter - or Jessi's new friend. She claimed it right from the start, when it was still a floppy bit of felt cut in the shape of a girl like she has me draw for her. She always asks for 'up shoes' - so this doll has high heels.

The skirt is made from lace I found in Dunedin - I got more than a metre for 10cents. And cause the back of the skirt looked as good as the front I decided to go for a double sided doll. So she has two faces.

It's a bit hard to see in the photo but on one side she has a 'love' on her mouth - Jessi's way of describing the heart shape she wanted me to use for a mouth.

Thanks for the dare - I've been meaning to make one of these for a while. And cause there's three kids in this house I guess I've got two more to make! Maybe the next one will turn out more 'critter' like.

The new and the old.

The New.
I've been playing ... trying out a fresh new look. Gotta get me a flash new header thing to go with it now.

The Old.
My collection of lace has expanded over the last week or so. Did you know that antique shops often have very cool collections of lace and other bits and pieces which can be very useful for crafty stuff?

I spent a bit of time last week doing the antique shops of Dunedin with Mum and her sister. Mostly saw a bunch of old boring stuff but then I worked out what to look for. Buttons - lots of cool ones just like Grandma used to have. Ribbons and Laces - some very antiquey looking and most very reasonably priced - 10cents a metre. Hat pins/broaches and bling stuff. And little chests, boxes, baskets to keep all the stuff in.

I've just looked at the time - 3pm ... better go get the kids from school.

Three Things.

1. Well, I failed miserably with my focus goal! But that's o.k cause it's a new day, new week and I can try again.

2. Why is it, that every time I hang washing on the line - it rains? It was a beautiful sun shiny day when I put the washing out but now it's foggy and wet. I refuse to get the washing in just yet .... cause you know when I do the sun will come out!

3. Just wanted to show you my cool letters.

This is one of my layouts for the June kit at Scrapbook Essentials. I covered the letters with green bazzil and then stamped on them with my new 'script' stamp I got from SENZ and my new souffle pen which I also got from SENZ. And then I covered them with that liquid glass stuff.

Focus

I finally completed my little birdie layout that Tia Bennett did at freestyle. This is the needle felting one - the birds red bits are needle felted. The photo was taken by Trace at SENZ last weekend - makes a change from photos taken by one of the kids.

So if that little bird could say one word to me today it would be focus. I'm thinking about focussing on the goal. The weightloss goal. I've come so far but I'm not there yet and I need to focus. When I lost that 50kgs I was focussed. I wrote down every little bite I ate, I exercised - a lot, I visualised, I studied and researched weightloss theories ... I was focussed. Now, I've let life take over a bit. Sometimes I'm too busy to stop and write down what I eat, sometimes I don't have time to park further away and walk, sometimes life is just too fast.

But today I'm coming back to that one little word ... focus. Today I went out and walked before breakfast. I'm in Dunedin - I walked in the frost. It was -2 degrees and I couldn't feel my nose, but I walked. I saw some beautiful frosty sights too, tomorrow I may just walk with my camera.

In the bible there is a verse that talks about pressing on towards the goal, fixing my eyes on the author and perfector of my faith. It's talking about the Spiritual goal of heaven but the same thing applies to this goal. I need to press on, to focus on my efforts that will help me move closer to the goal but I also need to fix my eyes on the goal itself. When I first started I didn't dare set for myself a goal like 67 kgs. My goal was to get under 100kgs. Somewhere along the way that goal has changed and now here it is, 15 kgs away. It's within reach, I can see it and so I will set my eyes on that goal and press on till I get there.

I will get there. Today I will focus.

The SENZ report.

So I had a fantastic weekend away. SENZ was a lot of fun.

I met heaps of people - it was great to meet in real life my fellow design team members and Meg from Scrapbook Essentials. Loved watching Jo at work teaching (while pretending to 'help' in her classes.) Megan was a great taxi driver, Neen is sooooo much younger looking in real life and Meg is... well, Meg!

We had dinner out together on Friday night which was a great opportunity to get to know each other.

I stayed with Trace at the motel she was sharing with a couple of other ladies. She was a fantastic host and taxi driver. Took me to a bunch of other shops ... even found a starbucks for me on Sunday morning for that much needed 'real' coffee. Thanks for everything Trace, it was great to get to know you.

I met lots of other on-line people but there were also heaps that I missed meeting ... like Debbie - I had the next circle journal to pass on to her.

I don't seem to have a lot to show for it but I managed to spend quite a bit! I guess I got a lot of little bits and pieces which all add up. I managed to find Arthur's Emporium which was a fantastic treasure trove of lots of things. They had lace and ribbons and felt and bling and buttons (a huge bag for $3) and beads and lots of other stuff.

And SENZ South is only 5 months away!

Taking the Scenic Route.

Got this on my doorstep today.

The June Kit from Scrapbook Essentials. Meg has better pics on the S.E. site here. If you haven't already ordered - go do it now, cause these are gonna sell quick! It is seriously yummy. Just love the birds and the arrows and the colours and those alphas by Junkitz are very, very cool.

Actually it's the box they come in that I like best of all - I can just see it altered and filled with something ... gotta work on that idea I think.

Love that I get the kit now ... and don't have to wait till the 1st of June.
Love that I get to design a layout to go in the kit - so that when you get your kit (which of course you've ordered already) you'll have instructions on how to make stuff using the kit.
Love that half the stuff in this kit was already on my wishlist of must have scrapping supplies.
Love that these kits are great value for money and everyone who gets one will be extremely happy with the contents.

Right .... kids are going to bed early tonight ... I need to play!

Photography 101

Mandi Haynes is taking a photography course over at SBO. One of my goals for this year was to take better photos for my layouts - so it made sense to sign up and actually attempt to achieve that goal.

I've had my new (Gary's old) Pentax SLR camera for a little while now, and I'm quite comfortable with using it on automatic - but last night I was busy searching the manual for the technical bits Mandi was telling us to change it to. Talk about jumping in the deep end! And you know, I've learned all this before, years ago. It was so very familiar yet so very over my head! My task for the next two weeks is to read the manual, read the class notes and attempt the class 'assignments.' Mandi's disclaimer says she can't make me a professional photographer overnight - but I don't know .... just maybe ....

And this is for Angela...

Hope you like. I'm thinking your parents will be very close to their baggage weight limit when they come to see you. The photo is slightly blurry but I thought it was still worth using. Don't imagine that Tim or Grace would be terribly co-operative when it comes to taking photos. Tim being Tim and Grace being two!

Um .... sneaky peeks?

Well - I stopped scrapping ... and boy was it hard to start again. It's kinda weird cause I know I love it, the kit was just perfect for me this month and I've had all that freestyle inspiration but I couldn't seem to make myself do it.

But - I did eventually. Angela put an order in for some scrap canvas' - apparently her walls in England are bare. So that was a good starting point - I scrapped a canvas for England. Is there any point in actually putting up a sneaky peek when you can see the whole thing in the morning? Maybe it's best looked at as a close up of the flower - kinda freestyle inspired. (Thanks to the mystery raker who sent the flower bits.)



Time for bed ... all will be revealed tomorrow at Scrapbook Essentials.

Wednesday

I got a really cool gift today... a peg ... a little tiny peg with a ladybird on one side and a magnet on the other. It came with this poem:

This peg is for holding
lists
starcharts
and notices
kindy help rosters
that tell you
whose go it is
doctor's appointments
appointments in town
all of this paper war
sure wears you down
more stuff to remember
more stuff to forget
you're lost in the middle
so busy
and yet...
all of the details
on this peg you shove
adds up to a child
who's secure in your love.

Another cool gift from Mainly Music and even cooler ... it came with a coffee bag and an after dinner mint and a bannoffi pie chocolate. (Yes, I will work out the points before I eat them.)

And random fact #3 (thanks Kelly) I drink my coffee black because when I was flatting we used to run out of milk - or it would go off in the fridge - so I just learned to drink it black.

It's about time...

I blogged again.

It seems I have been tagged ... ages ago actually.

Question is - can I come up with 5 quirky things and 7 random facts/habits about myself? I don't know that I'm that interesting!

1. I don't eat green lollies - unless there is no other choice and I'm desperate, oh and green eskimo lollies are allowed.

2. When sleeping in a sleeping bag I have to have the zipper at the end open - hate having my feet trapped.

O.K - I'm done, I can't think of anything else! Help me out - ask me some questions and then all I have to do is come up with the answers.

I'll leave you with a photo - Zina and me!

Freestyle was fab!

I have just had the most awesome-ist weekend! The freestyle tutors were absolutely fantastic. I loved every one of them and each class I did was the 'best yet.' I think I was most impressed by Tia - she was just so neat.

These photos are of Emily Falconbridge and her Altered State class. We altered a photo by wetting it, sanding it, painting it and bleaching it oh and then doodling on it. Very messy but very fun. The white/orangey dots on the photo are from the bleach. This was a class I was helping in so I didn't have the black and white photos everyone else was using. Just happened to have these printed for a different class so thought I'd give it a go. It's not finished yet. The writing was supposed to be about yourself, I think - didn't get a chance to write down the journaling prompts she gave out. So last night I was just playing and wrote down some of my impressions of freestyle 07 and the different tutors. If you can read it - it makes a good summary of the weekend!


Helping in the classes was a lot of fun and kept me totally busy - a good thing. But I now have a whole bunch of projects half started cause I didn't get as much time to work on stuff as the others in the class. (Not that many people actually got stuff finished.)

I will need to go through the photos I took and do a longer post later when I get back from seeing Dad in Dunedin.

Going for the Mum of the Year title.

I sent Rebekah to school with a container of Easter egg biscuits.


And Alexander went to school with this gift for his teacher who is leaving to have her first baby.


Rebekah had a shared lunch. She wanted to take a packet of chippies, I decided to decorate biscuits with her. She made the icing and decorated them mostly by herself ... with the help of her siblings ... I showed her how to make them look like Easter eggs and then let her go for it. I had to let go of that desire to see them all done perfectly! And after school, when I asked what everyone else brought she said 'I'm glad I didn't bring chippies, most people brought chippies.'

It's probably a little early for sneak peeks, but I've used the April kit from SE to cover this tin for Alexanders teacher. He chose the doggy to go in it ... all kids need a doggy right? You'll see more of that later in the month.

It's Easter weekend and the plan is to relax, maybe do a little cleaning of the house - inside and out, maybe a little scrapbooking, a little chocolate eating, I suppose I should do a little exercise too. Hope you all have a fantastic Easter weekend and you keep safe.

Something to think about:

In 1361, a monk named Father Thomas Rocliffe made small, spicy cakes stamped with the sign of the cross to be given to the poor.

Ever since then, Hot Cross Buns have been a very special Easter symbol. Here is what they mean:

• The bread reminds us of Jesus' last meal with his disciples and how they broke bread together.
• The raisins are dried grapes and can be a reminder of the cup of wine Jesus and his disciples shared.
• The cross on top is a reminder of Jesus' death on a cross and a symbol of God's love for and desire for justice among all people.
• The spices used in the dough recall the spices the women brought to the tomb with which they planned to anoint Jesus' body.
• The buns are round and remind us of the stone that was rolled away from the tomb.

Freestyling

Well, I had a go at lifting a freestyle layout. Just laughing now at my inability to actually freestyle. Even a layout that looks 'freestyle' is planned and thought out as carefully as any other. Gotta practice a bit more, loosen up and just freestyle it!

Here's the layout I lifted, by Rhonna Farrer.


And here's my take on it.


As you can see I wasn't even very adventurous with the lift - more of a copy really using my own papers and photo. But it was fun, I love the brightness of the Rouge De Garance papers. Oh and I'm not sure on the 'rules' of using quotes - the vast oceans thing is sort of part of a quote that I changed by Isaac Newton. But he didn't actually say it like that so I didn't write his name under it...

Oh and thanks for all the support and comments with the weight loss thing - of course you were all right and I lost 1.1kg this week! Next week will be a different story with all the chocolate eggs and hot cross buns around at the moment!