Scrap Camp was Awesome.

Well, it's over and I've come back to another full on week of life, but it was fantastic. Loved every minute of it - except the bit at 3am when I resorted to counting sheep to try and get to sleep!

I don't have much to show for my efforts, 3 layouts and a few cards. Basically I did what I was told to do (classes and challenges) and nothing more - so much for my intentions of getting christmas cards done. There's just something about a challenge, with a promise of a prize up for grabs, that gets me scrapping. Our table took the challenges very seriously of course - being so practiced in challenges as we are.

Loved meeting up with my imaginary friends - Kelly, Ilka, Steph, Delys , Kirsty and Megan from the DT at Scrapbook Essentials, and others too - sorry if I've missed your name off the list. Kelly is taller in real life and Delys is actually Deleese not Delis!





The Joshua layout is Faye's class, I stuck pretty much to the instructions on this one - the words at the bottom I copied off Kelly (Thanks Kell)

Little Miss Independent was a one hour challenge - had to have doodling and hand writing. One hour was a big challenge for me and some of that doodling happened after the layouts had been judged.

And the Christmas one - another challenge which I spent way too much time messing around with.

Nic's class was great too - but I'm not showing you that cause it will be a christmas present for someone. Not sure who yet!

As I said before I loved every minute of camp - only wish it had been longer!

We called in to Wanganui on the way home to see Grandad. He's looking very old - but then I guess he is! The kids kept their distance a bit - I guess we don't see him often enough, but I did managed to bribe them so we could get a photo.


I'm off to the zoo tomorrow - provided the weather behaves itself. Alexander will be disapointed if it gets cancelled. So if you've got sun please send it to Wellington tomorrow!

One more sleep...

...till scrap camp.

Sort of can't wait - but between there and here I've got such a lot to do - that I'm not actually that excited. I had this great idea that the rest of the family should travel north with me - and stay in Tokoroa while I was at camp. But it has now dawned on me that I now have five bags to pack - instead of just my own stuff. I am finding it hard enough trying to decide what scrapping stuff to take let alone having to think about the essentials (and non essentials) the kids need to take.

Still - I'm looking forward to the part when I get to be at scrap camp - without the kids - meeting my on-line friends, scrapping up a storm and having some good old fashioned scrapping fun!

I made my daring cardmakers card early this week - well, I didn't leave it till the last minute atleast. I wasn't very adventurous with my different language - quite predictable actually - but I'm happy with it. I was actually trying to figure out my card design for this years christmas cards - I usually come up with one design then vary it a bit with different papers/ribbons - but I think making three chipboard presents for each card may take a bit too long. I wonder what just one present would look like ...

I've been embroodling!

The girls on the SE forum were talking about embroodling a few weeks back - so I thought I'd give it a try. Monique came up with the word and Dallas gave us a good example - also a tip about how it helps 'anchor' stuff to the page - visually as well as literally! (Check out Dallas' blog - she has some exciting news to share.)

So anyway - you get to see a bit of my embroodling (just like saying that word) here and you get to see the rest of it real soon in the Scrapbook Essentials Gallery - as part of my very first design team assignment. Keep an eye out for when it goes up.

I have also fallen in love with black gesso paint - that stuff is amazing - sooooo essential for chipboard. Especially for chipboard books, shaped like flowers, with 10 pages in them! No more waiting for the paint to dry and then having to do another coat or two. With this stuff you just paint it on once and it's practically dry straight away, ready to go stuff!

Oh yeah - and going back to Dallas' tip about 'anchoring' stuff to a page - I had this little bit of advice in mind when I created a layout last week, and this week that same layout is flying it's way over to Australia. I submitted it to For Keeps and they wanted it! Totally exciting for me - it was one of my goals to get published in For Keeps. Of course I have to wait until something like April next year but it's still exciting.

I've just set a new goal - inspired by Megan - I want to get something on the Basic Grey web site. (Click that link and you should see Megan's awesome work.) I love Basic Grey - probably still my favourite papers. So it will be a fun goal to work towards.

Well, I had better get my head out of the scrapping clouds and find some dinner for my starving family. Until next time ....

Another year older...

... another year wiser - well, some would debate that one! Check out what I got for breakfast:

Pancakes, berries and cream - yummy. Isn't my hubby nice! Nevermind about the weight-watchers points I used up just looking at it! And of course now there's a whole bowl of cream in the fridge - just waiting to be eaten....

I'm having a pretty good day - but boy did it go fast. Not sure how that happened, I didn't even do much. Nevermind. Thanks to the lovely girls from the Scrapbook Essentials Forum for the birthday greetings, cards and gifts I have received - you guys are awesome!


And I know I've left it till the last minute again, but here's my card for the daring cardmakers dare. Sewing this time - and the buttons are from my Grandma's stash - gotta be atleast 60 years old I reckon!

Going out for dinner - gotta go!

Time for more show and tell.

I made this last week for Grace's Nana. (My kids call her Nana Harding) I was planning on making a canvas but I didn't have a lot of time so I just scrapped it like an ordinary page and then stuck it on a wooden board with the sides inked black. The ribbons go right round the sides of the board.

Took some cool photos today of Jessi and her little friend Charlize. They go to Mainly Music together - and spend a lot of time jumping up and down and squealing together.

Right, gotta go make some dinner - wish it would make itself just once in a while!

Goodbye Grace...

...and Tim and Angela. They've gone - we didn't think they'd actually do it - or rather hoped they wouldn't- but little bro Tim and Angela and baby Grace - who isn't really a baby anymore- really did get on a plane today heading for England. They've sold their house, put their stuff in storage, packed a couple of suitcases and gone. Little Gracie had no idea that she was saying goodbye and blowing kisses for good. Well, for a good two years atleast - not just overnight, or a week, or even a month, but for two years. Will she even recognise us when they come back? She'll have grown up and she'll have a little English accent. They'll have a fantastic overseas experience and hopefully they'll buy us lots of presents but we will miss them lots...

Just a quick post to put up my card making dare card. I found a white candle and drew a flower - then painted it with food colouring. (Back to school stuff) Added some poppy seeds just for interest!

My Entry - the real story!

Am I totally crazy to use a photo like that? What on earth was I thinking? I remember not more than a few months ago I had no photos of myself - it was so difficult to scrap that first page about me - and now here I am using a crazy photo like that - and putting it on my blog for all to see.

Isn't she such a beautiful princess! I had to hang this on the lounge wall to get the pics cause her bedroom wall is actually bright blue - maybe one day we will redecorate to match the mirror! The board and mirror were actually left over from the craft day I ran. We did mosaics - broken tiles and grout - I thought it was a good use of supplies I already had.







Any guesses as to how many photos I took - just to get one good one of the three of them? It was lots - and not without a bit of bribery too.

"But Mummy why do we have to lie on this white table cloth?"

"Alexander's squashing me ..."

At first when I looked at these photos I was really disappointed - I'd tried really hard but they just weren't perfect. But then I looked at them again and I began to see a layout forming. These photos show my kids as they really are - there's personality in them kids!

Wow ...

...who would've thought. Me, I was picked, I'm now officially on the

Scrapbook Essentials Design Team!!!

I'm totally excited and going around with a huge grin on my face. Let's just say this is awesome news for me and the next year is gonna be so fun!

I am of course sad that everyone couldn't be selected - I know there was some awesome work entered and Meg's job must've been so hard.

I've gone through the "happy dance feelings" - not being able to sleep Saturday night, and then through the "I hope I can do this" feelings - what if I stop being able to scrap, and now the "it really is true" - it's official, that's my name.

So now I'm back to the 'happy dance' - this journey is gonna be so fun.

I made cards ...

It occured to me that I have the need for a few cards in the next week or two - lots of birthdays coming up. So, I made cards.

I managed to get 7 cards out of a few scraps of basic grey paper I found. I pulled out my 'friends' stamp for some of them so they fit with the card making dare - meet a challenge, fulfil a need.


This is my favoutite - I didn't mean to, but there's symbolism there: a circle of friends, friends stick together and hold each other up, friends wrapped in love.

So - if you've got a birthday coming up and you read my blog - try and forget these cards incase one of them is for you!

There are a million cool challenges out there at the moment and the deadlines are passing me by without a hope of me meeting them. It's kinda frustrating but also cool to sit back and see what my scrapping buddies are coming up with. I am in envy of those who seem to manage all the challenges and produce some amazing work.

Thanks Angela for the help with placing my pics - it's kinda simple really. Duh me.

Have a great weekend everyone - 'specially those going to camp in the south.

The Sun is Back

Yay the sun came back. I was starting to wonder what had happened to it.

Well, I got my design team application in - as have most of the rest of the scrapping world. Hope you have fun looking through all the entries Meg.

Now for that tag - thanks Kelly - atleast it gives me something to write about.

1. Things that scare me: mice and mouses and those little rodent thingys.

2. People who make me laugh: Jessi and the things she says. The girls on the forums I hang out at.

3.Things I hate the most: unreliable and inconsiderate people, brussel sprouts, when it rains at 3 0'clock just when I have to get the kids from school.

4. Things I don't understand: how to speak computer language to get my blog looking good. How the t.v. remote can go missing for days on end and then just turn up again.

5.Things I'm doing right now: blogging, watching my two year old make a mess, watching Suzy on d.v.d - I should be doing pilates.

6.Things I want to do before I die: see my kids grow up, ride an elephant, go on a cruise somewhere tropical.

7.Things I can do: make crafty stuff, teach kids, procrastinate

8. Ways to describe my personality: fun, friendly, reliable

9. Things I can't do: Hey - I can do anything if I try hard enough!

10.Things I think you should listen to: Your kids - take the time to hear what they are saying. Your mother - she's always right in the end. The birds after it stops raining.

11. Things you should never listen to: Put downs from other people. The little voice that says I can't. Telemarketers that ring at tea time.

12.Things I'd like to learn: How to make a stained glass window. How to make a curry from scratch - with spices not a jar of chicken tonight! How to speak another language.

13.Favourite Foods: watermelon, chocolate, jellybeans.

14.Beverages I drink regularly: Green tea with raspberry. Water.

14a. Beverages I'm trying not to drink regularly:Coffee

15. Shows I watched as a kid: Smurfs, The muppet show, The Henderson kids.

16. Persons I am tagging: Angela, Dallas, Heidi

What's my style?

O.K. so I need some help here - what's my scrapping style?

I like things straight - not crooked.
I like to fill up the page - so it's not simple.


So what words describe my style?

Once I figure that one out I'll be able to apply for Meg's design team - well that and I need to take good pics of my layouts and the weather is not co-operating. The glare from the fog makes the photos shine - so I'm hoping the sun will come out tomorrow.

A few wooden blocks

Today I connected with Kevin. He has been in my Religous Education class all year, I see him once a week and today it finally happened. Kevin has autism.

Today we built the walls of Jericho, Joshua and his army marched around the walls and after seven days and a great shout and blowing of trumpets - they fell down. Kevin loved the wooden blocks - he built the most amazing wall, then he made his trumpet and wrote the verse on it - just like the rest of the class.

It was fantastic to see his eyes light up, to see that he 'got' it and he enjoyed being part of the class. That is why I love teaching ... seeing that light go on ... whether it be in maths or reading or R.E. or whatever ... just knowing that the dots are joining together in a kids head. Totally worth it.

NZ Dares - Not sure if this is allowed: I did this orange and green layout for last months Scrapbook Essentials Challenge, but seeing as it fits the 'dare criteria' I thought I'd put it up for all to see. (My third colour being brown.) If I knew more about what I was doing the pic would be here - not at the top of the post.

Love Letters

Well, I've finally got my love letters from CC06 up on the wall. They have been perched on the shelf for ages but I decided today that the shelf needed a good dust so they had to move.

Fantastic Gymnastics

I just did this layout for the Scrap of Faith cyber crop. It had to have a circle or circles, journalling as a frame and rubon's in with the journalling. It was fun chatting on Friday - a pity about the three hour time difference. I was trying to answer treasure hunt questions at midnight - I think my brain had turned into a pumpkin. I won a voucher for my efforts though.

Rebekah had her first pre-comp gymnastics class Saturday morning at 8.30. Gone are the lazy sleep-ins while the kids watch t.v. She seemed to enjoy herself - hope it continues. She's definately the most flexible kid there anyway.

I've got one too.

O.K so I caved in - I've got my very own, spanking new blog. Watch this space - I may even post on here every now and again.