Beautiful Day

The sun is shining here in Wellington and with the zoo offering $2 entry we've just spent the day at the zoo.


Kit Work
Our work is up at Scrapbook Essentials using the August kit. Lots of black and white and red. Out of one kit I've got four completely different looks, such a fun kit to work with.

A nice cheesy photo of Alexander and Me. Journaling is about how big he's getting. Angela sent me the glitter letters from Singapore last year - they've been waiting for this layout.

I really enjoyed using the tulle ribbon stuff - had to buy more actually. Here I've tied bits through some lace and then added lots of other shiny bits from the kit to make a border.


This is Angela and Grace at Pemberley - straight out of the pages of Pride and Prejudice - well, actually off the movie! Wish I was there too.


I haven't really done a lot of heritage type layouts, but the papers in the kit were just perfect for this. The photo is of my Grandma and her sister and friend. I love how in captures so much of who she was in just one single shot. The black script paper is Scenic Route I think.


This one was in the kit with instructions. I had to hide my journaling cause I didn't want it cluttering up the clean layout.


I loved these Jenni Bowlin frames but didn't quite get them on a layout, so I made them into frames which I can stand on my desk. Photos of my Nana and Grandad are very hard to come by, this one was taken at my parents wedding - they look a lot older now!


Alexander's party invites. These were a bit of a compromise really - I wanted to make something - he wanted to use the McD's fill in the gaps invite and also give his friends a picture he'd printed out. So I made these envelope thingys, wrapped the print out around the McD's invite and popped them in. He was happy, I was happy - done!

The week two layouts from the Ultimate Scrapbooker Comp are also up in the gallery. Some very amazing work there. I've just spent ages trying to pick out my favs - wish Meg would let me pick 52! The next challenge is to use no photo - should be interesting.

Broken

I got an e-mail from my sister this week - "What's up with your blog? It doesn't seem to have been updated recently..." Ah yes, it must be broken!

Just like the dishwasher broke, and the washing machine broke and so did the overlocker. Isn't it weird how everything likes to break at the same time? Only my blog isn't really broken - just neglected. I've been busy - doing stuff. (And reading Harry Potter - I've finished it now though)

And life is busy but not exciting busy and I had no pics to show so it didn't seem like I had anything worth updating my blog with.

But then it occured to me that even though I can't show you the layouts I've just completed, I can put up sneak peeks. So these are a couple of little parts of what's been keeping me busy. And no, these are not sneak peeks of my August Kit work - they are still to come ... I'd better go get busy!

Are you Scrapbookings Ultimate Champion?

There's a new comp up at Scrapbook Essentials. Fancy seeing yourself as an ultimate champion? Read up on the prizes/rules and other essential info here and then sign up here. There's already quite a list of names so it's shaping up to be an exciting competition.

Wish I could enter too - only I guess that wouldn't be fair seeing as I'm part of the judging team. :o) On that note all bribes of jellybeans will be accepted here! LOL

In other news ... did you notice how it was a beautiful blue sky, sun shiny day? Gotta love the sun, it makes life so much more enjoyable. For the first time in ages I managed to hang out a load of washing and it dried all by itself without needing the dryer at all! And I went for a big long walk in the sun while Jessi was at kindy.

It's been a good day.

Finally

...after saving up my hard earned coins, I took home from the shop my very own copy of Nic Howard's book.

This was a momentous moment in my life yesterday. I took that baby home and planned to read it all -cover to cover- right away. I grabbed a cup of coffee and sat for maybe 15mins trying to take it all in and fend off the kids who wanted my attention, while instructing Michael on the proceedings for preparing dinner.

Then reality took over and I realised that if we wanted to eat dinner at a reasonable hour I'd better get in the kitchen and do something about it. So I cooked dinner, did the dishes - our dishwasher broke, pulled the curtains ... you know - did what had to be done.

Then I walk into the lounge and find this:

I think he was studying the dishwasher 101 layout, or maybe he was impressed with the size of Nic's letterbox - whatever it was, the book is obviously just as amazing as I knew it would be.

Now let me get a cup of coffee and enjoy it!

Just wanted to say ...

...thanks - for all the comments left about the princess layout. :o)

And to share some photos from today.

All three of them looking at the camera at the same time!





It doesn't happen very often that the light is good and the kids are good too! Ok so Jessi was having a little grump there but she got over it.

This is a loaded layout.

Lets see if I can remember everything:

Firstly this is my kiwi jack layout. A lift off the lovely Roo.



I had to use the crown thing, I cut round my photo and even scrounged up some note paper from the kids stuff - couldn't do much about the words at the top of the note paper - except choose the pink or the blue words ... just as well they both matched the layout!

Secondly I also did this layout because Tam over at Scrap of Faith issued a Sunday challenge to do a layout using three of her favourite things - the colour teal, a bird and hand stitching. The deadline was Monday evening - so it's thanks to that challenge that I got this completed so quickly. And hence the reason why the bird replaces the flower in the whole 'jack' scheme of things.

And thirdly this layout - being a layout of myself - is a rather late attempt at the whole 'scrap a layout of yourself with the word beautiful in the title' thing. Ann kindly cut the beautiful word for me using her cricut. I've had it sitting on my desk for ages - waiting for 'this' layout.

And the topic - the princess thing - it's a God thing. It's kind of a popular Christian topic at the moment. You can buy t-shirts that say 'I am a princess - my father's the King' Not sure if you can read the journaling - but it say's that I don't always feel like a princess - in fact right now I feel (and look) rather like a frumpy mummy but it's about knowing that I am because God says so.

Oh and a couple of other things - note the flowers on the pink background - lifted from one of Neens dt layouts, using the heidi swapp mask and the white ink. And I also borrowed an idea from Jo - inking the embossed Elsie paper so that the patterns stand out more.

When I took a photo of this layout on Monday to post in the scrap of faith gallery it looked slightly different. I decided after I'd taken the photo that I wasn't quite finished and it needed a bit more! So this is a slightly different version. There is one other little detail that I'd like to add - but I'll have to buy one first - and that is to add a tiny little crown to the 'e' in princess. Maybe a metal one like Meg had in one of the previous SE kits - or maybe a bling one ... I don't know ...

So there you have it - one very loaded layout!

Spare a thought for Reef

You may have heard on the news over the weekend about this train crash. As it happens, the little girl who lost her parents was in Alexanders class at school.

Reef is such a sweet little girl and it's so sad to think she lost both her parents in such a horrible way. I didn't know them well. But I stood outside that classroom alongside her mother each day. We spoke briefly about the weather and stuff and shared the same look of motherly concern when our children were kept on the mat a little longer ... because they'd been talking too much.

It's another reminder that in an instant something could happen that will change life forever. Another reminder that life does not go on forever. The big plans we make now for our future may never happen. The small concerns of day to day living don't mean a lot when looked at from the big picture.

What will Reef remember of her parents? I hope she has lots of memories of quality time spent with them doing stuff that made her feel loved and accepted in this world.

What would my kids remember if I was to suddenly be taken from them? Would they remember the constant nagging to hurry up and get ready for school? Would they remember that I was too busy folding washing to play hide and seek today? Would they remember that I cooked a nutritionally balanced meal for dinner?

It kinda makes you question what is important in life. What good memories are my kids building about life? Where are my priorities? What do I spend the most time doing?

Just a few things I've been thinking about. As for Reef - I'm sure she could use a few kind thoughts and prayers right now.

Thanks also for all your kind comments about my recent layouts. It is really nice to receive positive comments. I still haven't taken a good picture of the kiwijack layout - it's a rather grey and dismal day in Wellington today. Right - gotta go do pilates before going back to kindy.

Design Team Stuff

Well, 'A Sassy Lass Called Elsie' was an awesome kit to work with. I loved the combination of Sassafrasslass papers with Elsie papers. Check out all the other dt girls work here.

My favourite layout for the moment would be this one:


It's refreshing to have all that space around the edges. When I took photos of Dad in the hospital Mum said they better not end up on the internet or in a magazine or something. But I think this one would be o.k. For those of you who don't know ... Dad came off his motorbike on the farm and had serious head injuries. He spent two months in hospital but is now at home - still recovering but very much alive.



This one I started scrapping with the big photo and then remembered that I had some photos of a younger Jessi in exactly the same spot. The frame around the smaller photo is a Zina Wright stamp which I doodled onto acetate.



Just playing with the lined paper in this one.



And the torso. This is actually a Wendy Redshaw-Bruhns design from Freestyle 07. The girls at Rebekah's birthday party did a very simple version and all the time they were doing it I was thinking - 'that paint colour would go so well with the sassfrasslass paper from the kit.' So I took one home to dress up in Sassa style.

And I'm still going with the kit. I've just finished my take on the new Kiwi Jack - lifting a layout by Ruth Cahill. But I'll wait till tomorrow to take a pic of it and put it up here.

Wow at how fast Hannah was on that Jack. Hers looks awesome and I loved how she explained all the thinking and reasoning behind the layout. I should do more of that ...

Right, off to bed - in hope that I can then get up at a suitable time for getting the kids up and dressed and fed and ready for school - before 9am!

It's the 14th already.

I'm honestly not quite sure how it got to be the 14th already. Time flies when you're having fun - or busy or something I guess.

I only have a couple of sneaky peeks before my design team work goes up at Scrapbook Essentials. To be honest that's all I've done - two things. I have another layout sitting on my desk half finished and loads of ideas floating around in my head for more. It's incredibly frustrating to have such a lovely box of goodies to play with and yet not enough time to play.

I think I'm ready for school to go back and my nice little routines to return.

It's party time.

Eight years ago, today, after waiting what seemed like forever - and then another 10 days, I walked into hospital expecting my life to change forever. Eight years ago, it did change - I became a mother for the first time.

And now she is 8. I haven't got any cute baby pics to show you - that was before we went digital. But I can show you a few from today.




The Cake.



The candles.




The naked torsos.



Choosing the papers.



Dressing the models.




The finished project.




The party bags.

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!