Helen's family news and scrapping blog

January ... blink and you always miss it

2012-01-31T14:17:00.003+11:00

Why is January always the quickest month of the year? Summer holidays might have something to do with it ... anyways, work/school resumes tomorrow and the ol' routine kicks in once more. We have all had a good break and are as ready as we will ever be to begin our new year. I have the same Grade 5/6 class and Hugh is going into Grade 5 (with 1-2 iPads if you don't mind) and Katie my little Grade 2 girl! What adventures await us all. Both will continue there football and dancing activities as well this year.

But first, a reflection on the month that was .....

Den and I spent some lovely days together ..... he is my rock.

The kids and I always enjoy each others company and fill our days over summer. I am a mother that likes hanging out with my kids doing stuff, playing games or just relaxing in our own individual pursuits.

We played loads of games as always ... Cluedo was a big hit this summer and Scrabble/Words with Friends on the iPad/iTouch.

We had a wonderful family day out to the Enchanted Maze ... I think the tube rides were a BIG highlight! Katie was scared at first and Den took her down (I don't do rides LOL) and then she was happy (and so was Hugh thankfully) for them to go down together. Both love takign photos and that of course makes me very happy :)

I am still excited about my literary focus this year ... and love all the books I have been reading so far. I hope there are many more to come.

I am having great fun with my "from where I stand" photo group ... thus all the shots of my feet! It's all good. The kids really got into the tennis/Aus Open this year and it looks as if we may be having regular games and Hugh considers himself the next big champion ;)

As always, January involves many beach days. Hugh is getting a bit reluctant at times to go, but once there they both go crazy and hours just fly by in the sun! Love it.

New Year ... new focus!

2012-01-12T12:08:00.005+11:00

I do plan on trying my best to give monthly updates on the comings and goings of the Hancock family over 2012. However .... I am truly inspired with all the amazing reading challenges that there are to be had! Having given away most of my scrapping, "me" time this year involves taking lots of itouch fun photos and reading! Investing all I do in my job, I find that I just long to delve and escape into a good book whenever there is free time.

So, that being said, I have set myself a few fun goals. Take a peek!

If you are not familiar with Goodreads you simply must check it out! Wonderful to link up with friends and so much to inspire. My TBR (to be read) list is VERY long!

Take a look to the side ... all images are linked.

Firstly I am doing the "Just for fun" challenge - one book a month and located at Goodreads.

Secondly, I do love my chick lit! Fun! So I have joined the Chick Lit Plus Challenge (http://chicklitplus.com/chick-lit-challenge-2012-sign/) Samantha is well organised and this looks like fun!

Finally, I wish I could read everything on my Kindle! I am ashamed at how quickly I have deserted the humble paperback! I do love 'real' books - the smell and feel. I do check the library first and more often than not, grab my requested reading from there. But I long to dive into Kindle use this year and joined the 2012 ebook challenge.

So there you have it ... I am excited! Wish me luck as I embark upon this literary journey!

Goodbye 2011

2011-12-31T17:53:00.007+11:00

New Year's Eve - 2011:
Denis - has worked hard all year and is travelling well
Hugh - is minecraft mad and still the most responsible 10 year old I know
Katie - is Katie ... she's the Chonk and dances along to life

and me …..
I survived returning to work - tick
I managed to keep the wheels turning at home - tick
I can feel a readjustment going on ... sadly leaving all my scrapping commitments.
Right decision? Time will tell…

Here are a few snaps from the past week - Happy 2012 everyone!!!

The home stretch

2011-08-21T17:27:00.005+10:00

Half way through Term 3 - YAY! 5 weeks down and 5 to go until the next break! There have been good days, bad days and tough days. But I have come out smiling thanks to a great little family.

That and a 99cents app for my Itouch! Pocket photobooth! It has provided so many giggles and laughs ... best 99c therapy EVAH!!!

There have been trips into the city to meet with friends to dine and eat in the glorious spring sunshine.

Loved my Princess here!

Still having fun with my tiltshifting app ... the river above and Hugh by our lake ... love the effect.

Lots of sitting around and just hanging with the family.

Hugh and his 'boy' Mr Achilles ... this cat will let you do anything to him and gives you big smooches in return!

We went for long bike rides .....

And just fooled around with my latest fetish ... pocketbooth app. Loads of pics to scrap with now!

Been awhile ....

2011-08-07T14:59:00.003+10:00

It's been awhile ... life is busy to overflowing. I long for a day when I stand still, put my hands on my hips and think aloud, "what CAN I do now?".

So here is a quick recap of the past few weeks in the Hancock Household:

Hugh went on school camp and had a great time. We all missed him and had a wonderful home coming when my tired but happy boy returned.

On the same day as his return, Katie received the 'student of the week' award for writing such a great story. She was so tickled, "I am a star Mum!".

Hugh could not wait to get home to his boy .... Achilles had missed him too. Hugh's bed was not so inviting without him in it! LOL!

I decided it was time to claim some territory of my own! I needed some space. So the 'spare room/junk room' was cleaned up and "walah!" I have a new study! I am very happay with a great view, aromatherapy and my music in the dock. However, it did not take long for me to have a few too many visitors ... everyone wanted some of my special space!

In setting up my study, I got out all my old fave books as a child. ie. Enid Blyton. Someone just fingered and stroked them so much. They are a little beyond her six years just yet, but I had to go to the library to find her a copy - if only to preserve my ancient ones! I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to walk past MY study one weekend morning and saw this out of the corner of my eye!

One trip to the shops with her father, saw Katie return with these! "Disco ball" shoes Mum! I am telling you, she is Imelda Marcos all over! I will be honest ... the future scares me! LOL!

Hugh is starting to find a good balance with his computer and 'other' activity balance. Last weekend he decided to do this constructions and paint job! It turned out great!

Got to LURVE school holidays!

2011-07-09T17:34:00.002+10:00

Yes ... that time again ... one week down and one more to go. Forever the 'teacher', my children and I have it all planned out. We love organising a range of things to do: games - cyber and ol' fashion board variety, to the movies to see 'Rio" (highly delightful), a game of mini golf and other things.

Our calendar on the fridge helps us keep track and look forward to things!

I was lucky enough to open the App store one day this week and find the usual $9 apps on sale for $1!! YAY! Monopoly for Ipad has been loads of fun ... with such realistic noises and moves, one just has to love the way the car literally zooms around the board! Best of all, the click of a button for packing up or better yet, easily suspended to be continued for another day.

Den has been trying to teach Hugh some basic electronics ... it's just wonderful to watch.

Den has this coming week off, so lots of just 'hanging around' - literally as you can see! Den took this photo below; what chance do I have of ever training this cat if he thinks it absolutely wonderful to capture him basking in the sun on the kitchen table!

Move over Achilles ... that's my spot!

Achilles our three legged warrior!

2011-06-19T13:27:00.004+10:00

Here is the latest addition to our family. Isn't he beautiful! He has won over all our hearts. This photo is made more gorgeous by Romy's beautiful 'Vintage Garden' presets for Lightroom. Check them out HERE.

I am having a blast with my Tiltshifting app for my itouch - I am just in love with the effects ... take a look below at some shots from last weekend.

I really fell in love with the photo below .... I decided it was time for a new look header. Den and I have even noticed that some TV shows (Downton Abbey) are using this effect. It's not 'depth of field', it's simply the complete focus on one element of the image with high saturation and contrast. I love this image below as I feel it encapsulates so much ... the bucket as the feature and representative of how hard Den and I work, the whole house, two cars and kids backgroud and capturing Katie mid flight in skipping was purely coincidentaly. Love it!

Queen's Birthday weekend saw us into the city ... some more Japanese for lunch and then a bit of a 'cake crawl' with time spent at Federation Square to see the buskers and entertainers.

Just wandering around taking in all the many things there are to see and do in town. I can't believe my kids are growing so much ... gosh they both look so tall in these phtoos.

I had to pull out my SLR for this shot below ... isn't it a classic! I just could not decide whether I like the colour or b/w version? What do you think?

Just for now ...

2011-06-05T15:57:00.010+10:00

outside my window... sunny but very windy
i am thinking... how fast this school term has gone
i am thankful for... being organised
i am wearing... tracky and new Love Never Dies tshirt
i am going to watch on TV... Merlin
i am currently reading... school reports!
i am hoping... to walk more often
on my mind... getting on top of these last few weeks of term
pondering these words... there is a fountain of youth in your mind
from the kitchen... Den cooking chocolate torte
around the house... all is quiet bar the dishwasher
one of my favorite things... listening to Love Never Dies
i'm creating... a positive environment
a few plans for the rest of the week... just a regular week one hopes
from my lens: using my iTouch camera in the city yesterday .... me and my gorgeous little family.

My man (pulling faces as usual)

My boy

My girl

I am having a lot of fun with a new camera iTouch app - tilt shifting. Tilt-shift miniature faking is a process in which a photograph of a life-size location or object is manipulated so that it looks like a photograph of a miniature scale model. Lots of fun!

Katie is writing continuously of late ... the big one shows the introduction of our new cat and the top left is fabulous: "Mum...how do you spell 'sustainability'?" Yikes! A brainstorm of ideas from a six year old! Not bad!

A collage of some Project 52 shots over the past few weeks.

Meet Achilles ... Hugh's new cat ... he came to the shelter in such bad condition they had to amputate his leg. Trust Hugh to fall for him! He seems a great cat ... a real snuggler!

After much anticipation finally yesterday I saw 'Love Never Dies' - Lloyd Webber at his eccentric best in parts. The story was wonderful ... highly embarrassing as tears trickled down my face when the curtain came down.

"So look with your heart
and not with your eyes
The heart understands
the heart never lies
Believe what it feels
And trust what it shows
Look with your heart
the heart always knows"

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T19:57:00.004+10:00

for today...

outside my window... winter has arrived
i am thinking... things are going along okay
i am thankful for... staying home this weekend
i am wearing... PJs
i am going... watch DWTS with the Chonk
i am currently reading... a fab book ... thanks Melissa!
i am hoping... the sun will shine this week
on my mind... time to get on top of school report writing
pondering these words... life is good .. be happy
from the kitchen... scrumptious apple slice
around the house... boys computing, Katie creating
one of my favorite things... my new Body Shop butter
i'm creating... a positive attitude
a few plans for the rest of the week... work and more trips to the hosptial for Hugh
from my lens:

Happy Mother's Day!

an out-take from my Itouch camera

my boy's Cross Country achievements

we had a good Easter ... waaay too much chocolate!

loved watching the Royal wedding ... lots of re-enactment

still working on my One Little Word assignments

the new issues of Artisan Notebook is out ... check it out

Happy Holidays!

2011-04-17T17:47:00.004+10:00

for today... outside my window... a sensational autumn day i am thinking... I really must make the most of this second week of school holidays i am thankful for... for my understanding and loving husband i am wearing... 3/4 tracky and tshirt i am going... to try and remain centred this week i am currently reading... still the same book ... don't want it to end i am hoping... the weather stays fine for the break on my mind... having to get going on my term 2 planning for teaching pondering these words... "Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release! " from the kitchen... toasted sandwiches for dinner around the house... watching F1 with Denny one of my favorite things... playing "fashion shop" with Katie i'm creating... heaps of scrap pages a few plans for the rest of the week... haircut, shopping, library, visit Mum & Dad from my lens..... Hughie awarded student of the term

Football season has started .... Hugh was so excited!

We were fortunate enough to have a few days away at our favourite destination ....

Lots of things to do ... 'fun buns' for Katie, lots of walking and exploring with the children even going swimming .... brrrrr!

And of course time out for me with my camera to shoot and have some fun ....

Yesterday Denny finally cashed in on the 50th birthday gift I bought him last October .... hot laps in a V8 Super car .... he would do it more often if we could afford it! LOL!

Have a super week everyone!

the finishing line is in sight ...

2011-03-27T20:12:00.014+11:00

Outside my window... cool and overcast ... winter is on its way :( ~ I am thinking... I can make it through this last week before term break ~ I am thankful for... understanding people ~ I am wearing... tracky daks and 3/4 sleeve top with vest ~ I am going... to try and 'release' all that is weighing me down ~ I am currently reading... the last book in the Langani series ~ I am hoping... that things will plateau out soon, hopefully some time away will help me regain my equilibrium ~ From the kitchen... Den is cooking Sunday lunch ~ Around the house... Hugh and Katie are quietly playing ~ One of my favorite things... having new scrapping kits to play with and time to read You can join the simple woman's daybook where every day is a blank page..... and participate in creating a list of the simple things and every day moments of our daily lives.

I am excited to share that I have been asked to make monthly contributions to The Artisan Notebook magazine. I always thrive on fresh new challenges, and one page a month is not a big ask. It's a nice read that I can download and read pdf on my ipad. So I will start in the month of May and I am on the "Song Writers" team ... using song lyrics in pages.

Click on the cover for links ....

From my lens ......

goodbye summer

get that ball out of the tree

time for walking

brotherly love

making minecraft plans

recovering from a trip to the hospital

flowers from the 'clan' - Den's Call of Duty buddies

home made flowers from my Chonk

making his own school lunch

friendly reminders in case I forget

karting the itouch way

a trip to the theatre to see "Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber"

Some of my recent scrap pages ... credits can be found HERE

Cruising along ....

2011-03-13T21:51:00.010+11:00

FOR TODAY ...

Outside my window...

I am thankful for... today being Labour Day holiday
From the kitchen... time to think about some brekky & a cuppa outside
I am wearing... pink PJs
I am creating... time - aren't I clever! but I am making an effort with this months OLW assignment to find 'release' time for me
I am going... to sit and read today ... can't wait!
I am reading... lots of forms to enrol Hugh in secondary school
I am hoping... to regain my equilibrium this week
I am hearing... everyone talking on team speak and the birds outside
Around the house... everyone is on a computer ... we really must get outside!
One of my favorite things... this months One Little Word Assignment
A few plans for the rest of the week... holiday today, and a PD day on Wednesday - I only have to teach two days this week!

You can join the simple woman's daybook where every day is a blank page..... and participate in creating a list of the simple things and every day moments of our daily lives.

Den has introduced me to this fabulous app. We are really into digital radio and this is wonderful, it syncs with my ipad and lap top and there are thousands of stations to listen to.

I just love this tea as well ... its just so refreshing and wonderful and makes a nice change from my usual peppermint or chamomile.

Now time to share my Project 52 shots:

Den making some solar projects with the children last weekend. I love how he takes such an interest and tries so hard.

This shot below I used as my P52 photo:

Katie cracks me up .... she wanted the matching headband to her bracelet ... I said maybe next time. Unbeknowns to me she went to her father ... who ... instantly said "yes". Such a girl and he loves to indulge her so. It is very pretty and Den loves to fulfill her girly dreams.

Hughis is heavily into 'minecraft' - its a bit like lego online! Only better! He gets so inspired to be creative and now has little sister into it as well.

This shot below was my Project photo:

Football training has started once again. First match is in April. Hugh could not get his feet in last years boots. I liked the orange ... will go well with his jumper!

Finally a shot from today. I am working on a kit for Pickleberrypop called 'my hero my brother' - very aptly suits my two. Chonk idolises her brother!

In a good place right now ...

2011-02-27T11:15:00.011+11:00

FOR TODAY ...

Outside my window... a rainy front but after yesterdays brilliant sunshine I can't complain?
I am thankful for... feeling really content with my lot right at this point in time
From the kitchen... got to get up and clean up after our traditional cooked Sunday brekky
I am wearing... pink PJs
I am creating... cookies with Katie later ... she has been working on her 'restaurant' in one of her Itouch apps ... now she wants the real deal! LOL!
I am going... to sit and read today ... can't wait!
I am reading... the second book in a fabulous series (see sidebar)
I am hoping... the sun will come out later and I can go outside and read then walk
I am hearing... Den's latest digital radio station ... bird noises! LOL!
Around the house... Katie is beside me (surprise surprise) and the boys have gone to kick the footy - in the rain!
One of my favorite things... my good attitude, a new CT and a great book
A few plans for the rest of the week... footy training starts again for Hugh this week! Ho hum.

You can join the simple woman's daybook where every day is a blank page..... and participate in creating a list of the simple things and every day moments of our daily lives.

Firstly I would like to share with you all my pages for the February Assignment from One Little Word (see side bar). I truly believe that this regular monthly reminder is really helping with my continued positive outlook in all I have to do on a daily basis. This month we had to take photos of our one word. Here are my pages. (I am still using Joanne Brisebois photo pockets and NatashaNaSt kits to enhance the look)

Ali recommended maybe one photo would stand out for you. It did and using Nina's template I had to scrap my wonderful necklace.

Being part of the Oscraps CheeryO team I do have access to such a range of wonderful designer goodies. One of them is Zuzana! I *heart* her creations so much. I could not pass up the opportunity to go on her CT team this week for if she were ever to leave Oscraps I would be devestated! Click here to go and view her gorgeous products!

Here are some pictures I am sharing ...

My P52 selections for the past couple of weeks:

Katie has returned to dancing and could not be happier about that (thanks Jodie!)

I told Den not to buy flowers on Valentines Day ... so he sent them to work the next day!

Hugh ... he really is so very responsible.

I will miss the days when a bowl of water will not keep Katie amused for hours!

The homework saga! It's never really been a battle until this year. But I think its partly a lack of his organisational skills. For when I sat down with him and help to set it out, he was off like a rocket and we were both proud of the end results.

Scrap pages over the past couple of weeks. Click here for all credits.

Two weeks down ...

2011-02-13T10:55:00.005+11:00

FOR TODAY ...

Outside my window... cloudy and cool ... where is the sun?
I am thankful for... surviving my first two weeks back at work
From the kitchen... yummy yoghurt with passionfruit topping
I am wearing... grey 3/4 trackies and tshirt
I am creating... editing some photos in Lightroom
I am going... to two parties today for little girls
I am reading... the sequel to Phantom of the Opera
I am hoping... the sun will come out later and I can go outside and read
I am hearing... Den's loud podcasts
Around the house... everyone is on some form of technology *sigh*
One of my favorite things... my new pandora charm for Valentine's Day
A few plans for the rest of the week... Katie coming to school with me on Wednesday and then her testing after school, parent/teacher interviews (with my 'teaching hat' on) til 7:30pm Thursday, taking Katie to her new found dance class next week ..... just to name a few ;)

You can join the simple woman's daybook where every day is a blank page..... and participate in creating a list of the simple things and every day moments of our daily lives.

Here are some pictures I am sharing ...

My P52 selections for the past couple of weeks:

some fridge art.... hearts = green for Dad, red for Hugh, purple for Mum and rainbow up the top for everyone. Quite clever!

and then I spied this beauty that I had to record for P52

The tail end of Cyclone Yasi whipped us good .... but luckily advanced no further than the sunroom

My mother's 80th birthday last Monday - the whole family went out to celebrate last weekend.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

All good things must come to and end ....

2011-01-30T15:05:00.009+11:00

FOR TODAY ...

Outside my window... another hot day of over 100C
I am thankful for... the fabulous summer break I had
From the kitchen... Den made a batch of pasta sauce for dinner during the week
I am wearing... grey 3/4 trackies and singlet top
I am creating... organised piles of worksheets for my class
I am going... to the park shortly & Katie can't wait to ride her bike
I am reading... the most fabulous book
I am hoping... the transition to work won't be too painful
I am hearing... the neighbours air conditioner and Katie constantly repeating she wants to go out and ride her bike
Around the house... all is very quiet in the heat of the day
One of my favorite things... all these songs Katie and I sing to each other
A few plans for the rest of the week... last beach day tomorrow, then work begins

Here are some pictures I am sharing ...

You can join the simple woman's daybook where every day is a blank page..... and participate in creating a list of the simple things and every day moments of our daily lives.

One of my P52 selections

Some photos from today - trying to teach Katie to ride without training wheels! Den is a bit of a master at this - TG! After our walk today (practice run to school so Katie could find the bike shed and her classroom) I realised her bike was waaay too small. She has to move up to Hugh's old bike (a boy bike Mum yuck!) but learn to ride without training wheels. To her credit, as Den just told her not to use th pedals and glide for starters, she did amazing!

In this photo below, Den had to ride back home to adjust the seat so Katie could reach the ground. It is stinking hot here today and the children waited up under the tree.

So much 'advice' from the two experts!

Of course it was not all smooth sailing! LOL!

To say Katie was enthusiastic about trying is an understatement. I am really proud of my Princess! We should have started this at the beginning of the holidays, not the end! Yikes!

My P52 ... had to have a photo to mark this major milestone! And I think the face here says it all!

One week holiday to go ...

2011-01-23T15:11:00.010+11:00

FOR TODAY ...

Outside my window... afternoon sun is pouring in, waiting for it to cool down
I am thinking... I must go out for a walk then
I am thankful for... sunny days & watching the Australian Open
From the kitchen... Den made some awesome burgers
I am wearing... grey 3/4 trackies and singlet top
I am creating... some worksheets for my Senior classes to start
I am going... to the park for pizza shortly
I am reading... some great pdf's on photography on my ipad
I am hoping... for a great last week
I am hearing... Katie playing on the floor beside me
Around the house... the tennis is on in the background
One of my favorite things... raspberry spiders Den made - have not had one for years
A few plans for the rest of the week: folks tomorrow, school to set up a couple of days and Australia Day on Wednesday
Here are some pictures I am sharing ...

You can join the simple woman's daybook where every day is a blank page..... and participate in creating a list of the simple things and every day moments of our daily lives.

Last Sunday we went into the city to see the Legoland display. With a four hour wait and a queue stretching four city blocks to get in, we changed our minds much to Hugh's dismay. But we passed the time nicely ....

Home with my shadow to work on our "secret diary" apps:

The Chonk insisted on lace up school shoes this year and to her credit learnt to tie them in a day!

Thursday we went for our annual family day to Cowes, Phillip Island. We just can't get enough of the place.

I am delighting in the Ali Edwards course on "One Little Word" for 2011 and can't wait to do my monthly assignments. Finally finished my January pages:

Love my jewellery .... I was excited to find Lisa Leonard hand making jewellery with my 'one little word':

Finally my Pandora bracelet arrived (held up in the Queensland floods). But well worth the wait - Den selected my first charms to represent each member of my family .... can you guess?

Scrap pages for this week - credits HERE:

The half way mark ...

2011-01-14T13:25:00.007+11:00

Summer holidays are about half way done. The past two weeks have been the extremes in weather - brilliant beach days to now, torrential daily rain. Still, I am grateful not to be further north where so many are facing terrible hardships. I have decided to adopt my friend, Nini's, blog approach for a quick summary each post. With that being said:

.... FOR TODAY ....

Outside my window...the rain continues to fall
I am thinking...I want to work on my 'to do' list skills for I am failing miserably
I am thankful for...holidays - wet as they are
From the kitchen...there are lunch dishes to be stacked away
I am wearing...my fave summer PJs
I am creating...my first entry for 'One Word' workshop
I am going...to brave the rain and do my grocery shopping
I am reading...a fabulous book - so happy its book one
I am hoping...for the sun to shine this weekend
I am hearing...Hugh playing Forza on xbox
Around the house...things are relatively peaceful
One of my favorite things...is yummy leftovers I just ate - gluten free pasta
A few plans for the rest of the week...hoping to get out Sunday to the city

You can join the simple woman's daybook where every day is a blank page..... and participate in creating a list of the simple things and every day moments of our daily lives.

Now to the photo journaling .....

Loving P52 (though will end up much more!) Here are some recent additions:

My girl struggling with leaving my side. As we watched a movie the other day I was struck by this below ... her two favourite securities - me and her teddy.

My regulary way to relax and unwind

The 'monster' telling me to back off from his Daddy - the cat that thinks he's a dog

Collages:

Last weeks incredible beach days

This week's rain has seen a schedule of games and activities to do:

Beadoes

playdough and Barrel of Monkeys

To today .... word games and 'Penguins' don't let them fall!

Click here to go and view the latest scrap pages and read credits:

Now the real holidays begin

2011-01-04T09:01:00.010+11:00

Now I promise you not all blog posts will hold this much news ... but it is summer holidays right? I mean the first week after work/school finishes is just all about recovery; then its the week before Christmas which is always crazy; then the week between Christmas and New Year, Denny is home and there is never a routine that week.

So you see ... now! the holidays have really begun. Four fantabulous weeks of it.

I know I am thoroughly spoilt.

Now what can I share ... what have we been up to?

Well firstly, you can see I have gone for a new look. I have loved my 'black' background for the longest time, but this year with all I have to undertake, I want to go into 2011 with fresh eyes and a fresh attitude. So I am trialing the white ... what do you think? And as to my new blog header ... here is my first photo for my 2011 collection. Now let me say right from the outset ... I don't adhere strictly to P52 ... there will be more! But not to the total of 365 (I think!) This photo I constructed to make as my new blog header for the year. The mug was a Christmas gift from a very dear friend who I have never met, but knows me very well - my love of home and Jane Austen! It is very precious to me as is her friendship. So this photo encapsulates my work desk, my reading, my diary (and new pen Hugh especially went out and bought me for Christmas!) and my home comforts ... all the things I come in touch with on a daily basis that are me!

Firstly, one more shot of my boy on Christmas day. He is looking so older (and starting to becoming objectionally so at times!!) that it is rare to catch him unawares like this.

My little muse/shadow is 100% her Mamma's girl. Crying each night and begging to sleep with me, stating emphatically "I will never leave you Mamma!"

....sigh....

Here she is painting with one of her Christmas presents - she just loves to write and draw.

I just loved the detail on this one .....

During the New Year break we got rid of the "Mamma car" it was going to cost more to service it that it was worth. So here we are saying goodbye!

Now last day of the year was a stinker (HOT! The car said 48C/118F on the way home) and we had a quick trip to the beach. Do you think the kids were excited?

And as you can see, I am having waaaay fun playing with Lightroom ... just love what it does to some photos ......

The weekend we ventured into the city both days ... we call them 'mini adventures'. On the Saturday we went to the Myer windows ... this year's theme was 'Nutcracker' so I had to take my girl to go and see .....

And if you look really carefull in the shot below you may just see two people you know ;)

The kids have a blast ... looking like angels here but I know big brother is up to no good! You can tell by the cheeky grins!

Another Lightroom winner .... its just incredible that such a plain photo can be transformed into something so artsy. I love this - the old and new of Melbourne town!

And you just never know who might pop up in the background whilst you are trying to shoot! LOL!

On the second day into town, we promised ourselves some yummy Japanese ... we found this fabulous little place in China town and the food was DELICIOUS!

The kids LOVED their iced berry drinks (and I LOVE that my 50mm lens does this SOOC!!)

Den loved his Japanese beer .....

Now for the food ......

Am I making you hungry?

Of course to wash it all down with a Mocca Frappe on our waltz around town was a must. In a couple of weeks they are having a Lego expo, so I can see another trip in not too far way.

We finished off the day with a walk through the gardens. Melbourne is known as the "Garden City" and for good reason ... there are SO many gardens within walking distance of the city. Here is the Alexandra Gardens where Queen Victoria (who my state is named after) presides ...

Yup ... we just love where we live!

Click here to see this week's scrap pages and credits....

Another Christmas done and dusted!

2010-12-26T15:17:00.005+11:00

....*sigh*.... is it really all over? Blink and you miss it? That is why I love the first 24 days of December so much more than the 25th .... a lot more to enjoy. Still, all went well in this house with two very excited and satisfied children. Not too late to bed and not up too early. Hugh was waiting by our bed at 7:29am (per instructions) ready to dive downstairs.

I really am going to make more of an effort with my photography this year as I love it so. Below is a table ornament that was from Den's work Christmas dinner ... and my Chonk in the background - licking the bowl from the cake I had just whipped up!

I had used Picasa to edit this photo.

This week I did much spring cleaning and listend to my children while I did so. Katie wanted to write a book, so Hugh and I tried to help her out - her spelling is 99% phonetic and is a language unto herself. Here is Hugh setting her up to type out her story.

That is after he had kindly offered to scribe all her ramblings down! LOL!

I helped her with the finished product ... all printed off and placed nicely in a plastic pocket folder. "The Adventures of Wattle" (her yellow teddy). She is very proud of each installment she does - so far we have the 'Christmas' story and 'Wattle goes to the Park'.

Keeps her out of mischief while the boys and I compute!

Christmas Day saw us celebrate with Den's family and an outdoors BBQ. Here is a quick collage ... and no we did not get a puppy! I am not that silly! LOL! By personal favourite is the delicious pavlova in the bottom right corner - yum-oh!

Tomorrow we are off to celebrate with my family!

I could not wait to get my hands on Lightroom 3 for Christmas ... I could spend hours playing with photos and can't wait to use it fully. Here are a couple of quickly edited shots of my first play:

1. some ornaments at the Christmas table

2. Den and his two precious this morning - the Ipad I bought him for Christmas and his furry friend who never leaves his side! "Precious" is what he nicknamed his Ipad aka Lord of the Rings and the 'precious'! LOL!

Below are some of the pages I have recently scrapped. Click HERE for credits on any of the pages seen below:

So guess I will speak to you all again NEXT YEAR!

I'm baaaaack!!!

2010-12-19T19:03:00.009+11:00

Season's Greetings to all my friends far and wide. The working year has ended and I am VERY happy about that! Time to spend a much anticipated summer with my two gorgeous children. But first ... what has gone here of late?

I am proud of all I have accomplished this year after being a 'stay at home Mummy' for so long. It has been busy and a huge learning curve for us all this past twelve months, but we have all come out of it enriched and more appreciative of all we are and have. I have decided to make a few changes to my blogging for the future. I will no longer be uploading my scrap pages individually... I have decided to keep my blog for family news and photos. I do still adore my scrapping and it is such a essential part of my life, I hope to maybe do a slideshow of some recent pages. Of course there have been NO scrap pages of late, my scrapping 'to do' list is longer than Santa's present list - seriously! But holidays are here now and I can't wait to throw myself back into my passion.

I will leave you with one of my favourite Christmas pages of this year. Above is a page using some of Ange's fabulous designs. I believe no one quite makes Chrissy trees like Ange! This kit is soon to be released, so click on the image to go to Ange's blog where you can keep your eye on its release and some other amazing goodies Ange is always giving away.

On December 1st, the children and I had our usual annual Christmas photo shoot ... it was fun! Hugh and Katie even ventured to hold and snap with my camera ... thus Hugh and I uncontrollably laughing as Katie is pointing the heavy camera in every direction but at us and finally snapped that pretty good shot!

Each year 'Santa' leaves some ornaments around the house. This year you can see he left a whole wooden little tree where each day magically ornamenets would appear. Hugh was somewhat sceptical but the conviction and certainty of Katie's cries of awe left no one in doubt, "it really IS Santa".

Of course as the years go by ornaments become more meaningful and each year we delight in remembering who gave us which ornaments and what they have come to mean.

Can you believe my baby girl has finished her first year of school! She delighted in each and every day and ended it on an absolute high with a Prep Concert on the "Zoo". Her class were the frogs and all in all it was a fabulous concert.

December also see's Katie's birthday. She and a few little friends partied on at McDonalds eating, dancing and playing. She also had her dream fulfilled - yet another Barbie but this one came with a horse!

Her other request was some more Night Garden toys and what would a birthday be for Imelda without yet another pair of shoes! Happy Birthday to my darling little shadow!

You really are growing up too fast and by the length of those legs will soon be surpassing your mother in height!

I completed this application on Facebook the other day - a status review for 2010. I felt it fairly aptly summed up what a transitional year this has been for me.

So without another blog post before the big celebration, let me take this opportunity to wish you all a safe and happy Christmas!

CLICK HERE to go to credits for any of the above pages in the slideshow

Season's Greetings! I will be back soon ....

2010-12-04T11:46:00.002+11:00

Taking a blogging break

2010-11-07T17:24:00.003+11:00

Another week has flown by and I am beginning to feel that life is racing by faster than Hugh on his scooter down the hill today.

I am pedalling fast to keep up with my seemingly insurmountable list of things to deal with.

So unless I have some earth shattering news to share, I have decided to take a bit of a blogging break. I have about five weeks of school left, then Christmas and then finally the long awaited summer holidays. I hate wishing my life away (a lesson from my mother) but I really can't wait until the new year rolls around. Time to take stock and do some reassessment.

So remember to take some time yourselves and like Katie here, just sit back and chill a little and whenever and wherever the desire takes over.

I need to take a leaf from my daughters book (or in this case DS - bwahaha).

Goodbye backyard ... hello swimming pool! Hang on! What?

2010-10-31T16:20:00.008+11:00

Life has been marching along with nothing extraordinary to report. We have decided to 'do away' with our backyard. See the thing is grass seems to be a thing of the past given our climate. Last summer it was a crunchy painful mess. This past winter it was an absolute bog that required gum boots to walk over. So with our neighbour being a concreter we asked him to fill it in for us so that it might in some way become useful - if for no other reason than Hugh can play 'four square' :)

So finally the ground became hard enough for the truck and this massive piece of machinery to enter and dig up our backyard on Thursday. For you see Thursday and Friday were balmy springy days.

But then came Saturday ....

A complete change in the weather was to witness us get a months worth of rain in one day! Yikes! It seems we now had a swimming pool! LOL! Now the waiting game begins again as we will have to wait for this to dry up before the concrete can be poured. That does not look like happening any time soon. :(

One of my important rules in this house is if you use the last item you MUST write it on the shopping list so it can be replaced. Don't blame me if we run out of something. When I saw this on the list I laughed so hard. Here is Katie attempting to write she wants more 'fruit toast' but the little darlin' wrote the brand name "mighty soft" down ... good on her for trying I say!

And by the way XOXO is not hugs and kisses LOL ... it's our abbreviation for a lunch snack called 'naughts and crosses' LOL!

And yes Selena ... she has to do her 'best writing' on Mamma's shopping list and confine what she writes to one line LOL ... not bad hey for a Preppie!

Now to scrapping news ... please click on all pages for credits.

First up we have some fun new releases at MScraps:

The ever inspiring Nina has been designing her little creative heart out and here is what I have come up with:

A page here for Sue Cummings:

Natasha always produces amazing kit ... love this 'drama desk':

Ange is now at Little Dreamer and here are a couple of pages using her designs:

Finally my good friend Val is opening a new store at Zig Zag Scrap!

So be sure to check out her blog for some exciting news!

Have a super week everyone! It is our 13 wedding anniversary tomorrow and Melbourne Cup public holiday on Tuesday .... so a good week is due here :)

So much to share ...

2010-10-17T20:38:00.011+11:00

The past few days have been all about my boy and our ongoing effort to stay on top of his kidney issues - something we have faced since before birth for those of you who are unaware. Thursday was a huge day ... so incredibly draining ... I am still recovering ... lol ... don't worry about Hugh!He was in a lot of pain, the dressing covering the tubes was not to be changed, but every time he stood up blood and urine would run out of it. He was a mess. Even went into shock at one stage and collapsed on me! The tests on Friday went really well. We get results on 28th October. It would seem that although his bladder is 3x normal size for his age it is not applying pressure on the kidneys - which is a good thing. However it does not give us answers. He has incredible reflux and the kidneys are working too hard according to his blood work. I guess we will see what they come up with on the 28th. Hugh is fine ... going to come to school with me tomorrow. The tubes were thankfully taken out but they did not stitch him back up, so I don't want him to get knocked. It's me that is now a mess! ! I gave my all and now just collapsed in a heap! !

One day at a time this week.

Hugh has been incredible and I would do it all over again for him. He is a special child.

The weekend before this Denis was in car heaven with F1 and the great V8 Bathurst race .... all eyes for the telly .... except for my girl of course! LOL!

And its hard to believe that two weeks before that was the celebration of Den's 50th birthday. He had a great surprise and the highlight probably was the cake I especially had ordered for him - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare!

Katie was very concerned about Den being able to blow out all those candles given his age - ahem (polite clearing of the throat) however I saved us all and only placed one on the cake.

The latest scrapping news from me ... please click on all images for credits.

Oscraps news ... Nina has some fab new kits out ....

A definite scrap therapy page using Sue Cummings Designs:

Amanda Taylor has been in the Designer Spotlight this week and that is always a great journaling affair:

Now onto MScraps news:

Wonderful new kit from Joyce Paul Designs:

And I am still in love with all that Yoshiko creates:

Finally Ju is guesting over at Matrioshki and I just jumped on this kit of hers:

Finally my wonderful friend Val is in the Spotlight over at Digital Scrap Cafe ... please come and check out her blog to get this FREE template and play along.

Have a super week everyone!

A scrapping fest!

2010-10-06T11:36:00.009+11:00

I thought it best to have another mid week post to sum up ALL my new and exciting scrapping news.

I have been very privileged and fortunate to be asked on FOUR more Scrapping Creative Teams! It was a BIG decision to make and I certainly do not take the requests for granted. This life of mine is so busy with work, home and family, that I truly crave a creative outlet and scrapping provides that for me. I cannot tell you how I thrive on the challenge of working with amazing kits and designs.

My first new team is with my VERY special and long time friend, Val. I adore this girl and she has been an amazing friend for the longest time. I was the one responsible for getting her selling in a store in the first place! So it is my absolute pleasure to be with Val and work with her superb designs.

(for all links to my CT stores please see my sidebar and of course all credits for pages just click on the image)

So here is my first page for Val's latest release:

Yoshiko Designs I first came across at Matrioshki. Yoshiko comes from Japan and the Asian influence of her work is quite remarkable. She left Matrioshki and moved to Mscraps. She asked me to join her and I was thrilled!

Here are a couple of pages with her latest releases:

My friend Ona has been raving about Mscraps, claiming it to be a really fun and exciting digi site. With Yoshiko having moved there, it was exciting to also join the owner of Mscraps personal CT - Joyce Paul Designs. Joyce is a truly lovely girl and I am excited to work with more of her products. Here are a couple of pages with her latest release:

So after tenderly dipping my toes into the Mscraps site, it was both a surprise and thrill to be asked onto the site CT there! This is a VERY active and fun site chock full of amazing designers and friendly girls. How could one say no! My friend Nini and I delighted in joining this amazing team together. Here is my first page using the FREE newsletter mini kit:

So there you have it! Loads more yumminess to be inspired by and play with. Now if I could only find more hours in the day! LOL!

I was a little saddened but very understanding of Ange's decision of leave Mscraps. However, she has excitingly set herself up at Little Dreamer Designs and here are my latest pages with some new releases for Ange:

As always there is many fun things happening at Oscraps. Look at this fabulous kit of Molly's!

My wonderful friend Joanne Brisebois was in the Designer Spotlight and she had loads of school goodies - her work is always so unique.

It was fun to play in this months web challenge using some of Nina's goodies (who also has a new release coming up so stay tuned for that!)

And last but in no way least, Matrioshki. These Russian girls are an absolute delight - sweetness personified! They have a fabulous collab kit this month with all proceeds going to Breast Cancer Awareness, so be sure to check it out!

Thank you for wading your way through this massive post. I really appreciate all your comments each week. Have a good one!

The week that was ...

2010-09-30T17:48:00.026+10:00

Blogging mid week! I must be on holidays - and reveling in confusing my dear Oxford friend, Sue! No ... seriously, I have so much to share of our week (still away!) and I have a HUGE weekend to come starting with a humungus pile of washing then: Saturday is the Grand Final replay and Sunday someone is turning 50 and it sure ain't me! But we have a wonderful lunch planned so you see Sue, I really don't know what condition I will be in come the week's end ;) Also, I am mentally preparing myself for a return to work and four days a week which may 'do me in' but I am up for the next 11 weeks....I think?

This blog post is purely to tell of the magical time we have had away - a story in photos of course! I have MUCH scrapping news with LOADS of news but I may do another mid week blog come next week filled with just that digi scrap news. For now ...

Cowes, Phillip Island is our favoured destination because

it just makes me want to do a happy dance to be away!

and some days the weather was perfect for dipping ones toes

or really letting loose in kicking the footy

it really was a hint hopefully of the summer to come

I am spoilt to just sit on the sand and click away ... who needs a book?

one must simply JUMP for joy!

for there is just so much to do in building a city

the weather was so good we were down to our undies (or at least the kids were!)

cooler days took us to the playground

I will treasure the days that my children wrote love letters in the sand to me

the bakery became a huge fave for morning tea 'fun buns'

here is Phillip ... one clever seagull who would return for his daily feed

and this fella above, the Australian kookaburra was my unwanted morning alarm! If you have never heard this native bird they are REALLY LOUD especially at 6am!

Not having a dishwasher, heaven forbid, we were back to the old wash and dry by hand *gasp*. What is this Mum? A tea towell. What fun ... she gets to dry the dishes and wants to do it more often!! LOL!

Team work was required for the flying fox.

but we made sure to take time and smell the flowers.

We must always dine at the famous 'Harry's' but this time there is a great story to go with it. This particular incident will be retold in an upcoming scrap page! It is a real hoot!

rainbow ice creams all round!

the children delighted in the ol' fashioned card games - who would be the 'Old Maid'?

We ventured to the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit where there was the hilarious Hancock family slot car race!

We all - ALL - had a go-kart race - the children going tandem - Katie and I 'girl power' came a very worthy last! Den could not hold back and had to go round by himself and full pace.

Finally my girl got her wish again to go for a pony ride. Can you see her smile ... "why do you like pony riding Katie?" ... "because I look good!"

BWAHAHAHAHA!

Thank you for taking the time to share in our holiday.

One week down and one to go ...

2010-09-25T19:49:00.005+10:00

The first week of holidays complete and I am very happy with what we did NOT do! LOL! We did not travel far or wide and we did very little that required us to get out of our jammies! Got to love that. We did a couple of free activities at our local shopping centre - painting terra cotta pots, decorating cup cakes and making football paraphernalia (see photo below) Other than that a Subway lunch and hair cuts was about as exciting as it got. My kids must be so like me, they had no complaints. Home sweet home.

Today was the Australian Rules Football Grand Final. And even though our team was not in it, we supported the 'underdog' (a very Australian thing to do) especially when the opposition is the most dreaded team in the league - well their supporters are. Hugh and his neighbour friend delighted in a pre match kick and wrestle! Can you believe it was a draw and we have to go through all this pain again next week. That decision needs some serious reconsideration.

One thing I did accomplish this week was to play some games with the children. They wait all day and it is the highlight of their day. Makes me feel real bad that I don't do it more often. These holidays is was 'snakes and ladders' and 'ono' and 'cluedo'. We had some family fun. It's been many years since I played "Mrs Peacock in the Dining Room with the dagger" - LOL - Hugh loved it.

The rumpus room became a 'mess' .... ah, sorry ... construction site as Katie assembled the train set, the farm set and the car set to make a mega city. And best of all, I did not make her pack up! Heaven! Both Hugh and Katie have played each day really nicely together in their imaginery town.

Onto scrapping this week.... please click on all images for credits.

Well my style of scrapping can never really be defined ... I will try anything. I love that.

At Matrioshki this week Katya released this fabulous Safari kit that bought back memories of my time in Africa and I just had to scrap about that.

Dawn Inskip has bought her store to Matrioshki, her kits are always fun and so was making this page:

Over at Oscraps Liz of Paislee Press released this FREE template ... makes scrapping a breeze when design is so elegantly decided for you.

Finally I just had to try these stunning overlays from a new designer at Oscraps "ZuzanaH". They are stunning and just perfect for this challenge set by Kat this month - the Ostash.

Well I intend to lay back and make the most of my second week's break. See you on the other side!

Happy Holidays at long last

2010-09-19T20:07:00.006+10:00

It's been a busy ten week term so I have happily fallen into a two week term break. Lots and lots of NOTHING planned. Much like our monster cat is doing below! Hugh loves it when Monster sneaks up to his bed.

So yup ... the children and I are just hanging out at home this week and doing loads of relaxing. The children seem as tired as me, Katie is sick (bacterial conjunctivitis and a terrible cough) and Hugh is so like his parents and says "do we have to go out?" So time to just chill ;)

Therefore it was great that today was our BIG outing. Off to the city we went and all these bikes caught my attention. I have never noticed them before and at $2.50 and drop off at various other stations around town, isn't it a great idea!

If only the kids were bigger LOL!

So off we headed. And I just never tire of shots like this one below.

Here is another typical Melbourne shot ... the city circle tram that loops around the city for free.

Where we were off to is right near China Town. Luckily we all adore Asian food and our Japanese lunch was scrumptious!

Finally we arrived at our destination!

I love the theatre ... no .... I ADORE the theatre and Katie is taking after her mother. It was just a fantastic show. The highlight for me was at the very end, sick as she was, Katie was just right into it. She crawled onto my lap for the last dance then encore and she clapped and jigged and bounced on my lap. Den and I just sat back and watched her. A joy to behold.

My smile was HUGE!

(google image - linked for credits)

I just love it that Den immediately thought to commemorate the occasion and bought her this item below. The sweetest charm braclet with little boots, hat, carpet bag and umbrella etc "so she will always remember this day".

Love you Denny!

Onto scrapping this week - please click on all images for credits.

Natali has a wonderful new kit at Matrioshki and she is giving this Quick Page away for FREE on her blog! Isn't it gorgeous!

Still working through Cinzia's amazing bundle ... this one below was fun to do.

Loved this kit from Kathryn Wilson and knew I wanted to journal with it.

Finally Ange has teamed up with none other than Amanda Taylor. It's just gorgeous and I loved using it.

So hopefully after this week I wont be so overwhelmed as the page above describes. I hope you all have a good week ahead.

Lots of things to smile about and celebrate!

2010-09-12T19:58:00.010+10:00

It has been quite a week in more ways than one. Friday was a pretty tough day for me and much soul searching this consequent weekend (can't wait for this week to be over just quietly and school holidays to begin). My sweet sweet man presented me with this exquisite orchid on Saturday to cheer me. I had to share as the colours were so amazing!

The highlight of the week was undoubtedly my boy getting presented with an award on Friday. Den and I are just both so proud. Hugh received "student of the term" for organisation! (wonder where he gets that from ... let me just so check my list - bwahahaha!)

Both children received this particular term award this year. I am thrilled .... must be doing something right! But as I said to a friend, it's such a classic. Katie's in term one was for 'getting along' ie. party girl and Hugh's is for perseverance and organisation. Sums up my two perfectly.

The highlight for Katie was her 'high tea' on Saturday morning. Denis promised this particular morning and much was planned. At least you know Den is a 'hands on Dad' and pulls it all off beautifully! After the initial squealing and playing, we settled down to some craft activities, eating and then outside to enjoy the spring sunshine.

Below is the Chonk working away on the craft table.

Then outside to my fave sidewalk chalk.

And what was on the menu I hear you ask? Den was racking his brain and finally decided on pancakes with strawberries and ice cream. Yum-oh!

It is always sad when everyone has to leave but I hope the smile below is of a very satisfied girl.

Shock of all shocks our cat 'monster' came out to see what all the noise was about.

He would just about brave anything to be with his Daddy ... did you know Den is the 'cat whisperer"! Truly!

And after all his hard work, here is Den reclining on the driveway just taking it all in. I want to take this opportunity to thank Den for being an incredible father and amazing chef! Love you babe.

Now to scrapping this week. So much going on .... it is all rather exciting. I tell you, my scrapping life and cyber friends keep my creative heart burning when real life gets in the way! Remember to click on all images for credits.

Firstly some amazing pages from Cinzia Designs. I just could not get over how its out of the box for me, but all came together so well. I will try anything.

So much yumminess at Matrioshki ... I could not wait to scrap with this fabulous kit by Toma.

And I am such a HUGE fan of Yoshiko. She consistently produced amazing kits ... this movie night one was perfect for a page I never thought to scrap before but so happy I did.

Finally Matrioshki came up with an amazing 'boy collab'. I did change half the elements to b/w, but it suited the page so much.

A couple of new kits from Ange. Her French elegance always shines through.

Below is the new Digital-Crea collab about 'back to school' which is FREE! Be sure to check out the links!

Finally Natasha came out with a new kit ... I am always inspired by her artistry.

The papers in this kit cried out to be used in full ... amazing for blending!

Thank you for sharing this past week with me. I hope you are all well and have a peaceful week ahead of you.

Father's Day 2010

2010-09-05T16:26:00.005+10:00

Today is Father's Day - the first Saturday of every September! The children and I have done our best to help spoil Denis. A new banana lounge, some Guiness and a Dad's bag from the Darrel Lea Chocolate shop. Not to mention the wealth of cards and bits and bobs that have been made and assembled by the children. Den 'ohh" and 'ahh" in all the right places! WTG babe!

In honour of the occasion Katie spontaneously put on this shirt ... another WTG as her reading is obviously improving out of sight and she knew what she was putting on! LOL! But it was a really sweet gesture.

Other than that not much else to report for the day ... I promise you we did give Den a break in the cuisine department and I managed to put togther some scrambled eggs etc for Den (big of me I know LOL!). But nothing keeps him out of the kitchen and here he is whipping up our yummy Sunday lunch and in protest of me taking a photo of it!

I was also thrilled (relieved might be more accurate) when Den offered to help Hugh with his Van Gogh project. A Powerpoint presentation is being put together here I believe.

Scrapping this week - please click on all images for credits.

This page was fun to scrap of Katie having a ball at the beach last June, made so easy by Nina's fabulous template.

Sue F was the inspiration for this page and unknowingly, she also provided me with the FREE template! Thanks Sue!

Mornings are a big rush around here on the days I have to work. I am so busy dressing everyone and getting lunches I often neglect myself. So a couple of days Hugh has made me breakfast - thank you babe!

This page was total fun trip down memory lane inspired by the latest Oscraps collab release "retro".

Finally at Matrioshki a stunning new kit by Komarik as been released and I just love the elements here.

Have a fabulous week everyone!

End of more than one season

2010-08-29T16:47:00.007+10:00

I am so happy that this week see's the commencement of spring. Although the spring rains do not appeal to me, some more sunshine will be a welcome relief. Some flowers in our yard have started to bloom!

So it was time to get into the garden last weekend. It is always such a family affair as we shredded and 'spreaded' to begin our revamp of the dismal winter garden.

When you capture moments like this, it can only make a mother smile.

Katie adores her brother so much and is his constant shadow.

I have given up 'fighting' with Katie over what she wears at home. She see's nothing wrong with gardening in a ballet outfit! LOL! I mean doesn't everyone pull weeds attired so?

It gets a bit of a problem when the prima donna gets bark in her boot! LOL!

And if you continue to take my photo Mum, then I am just gonna have to pose for you! LOL!

This weekend saw Hugh's end of season football presentation. Every player received an engraved medal (below) with their name and jumper number on it which I thought was rather nice.

And we are very proud to say that Hugh was awarded the Coaches Award for the season. You rock Hughie and we are so proud of you!

Scrapping for the past two weeks - please click on all images for credits.

I tell you I tried SO MANY photos with this amazing template of Amanda's below! This is not what I intended but I was happy with the results when I finally found something to suit.

Ange has a lovely freebie on her blog, that went perfectly with the freebie on Nini's blog! Be sure to check them out.

This page was fun to do for the Oscraps Spotlight on Sally's designs last week.

Sue Cummings has some amazing new kits that make scrapping a breeze!

Matrioshki has some wonderful new kits out! Love this fashion one below:

And this fun kit on 'childhood':

Have a wonderful week everyone!

A week of surprises!

2010-08-15T16:11:00.004+10:00

Half way through the school term and finally I had what could be termed a 'normal' week! Well that is with the exception of a couple of surprises.

Firstly Katie's forever wobbly front tooth finally came out! But at school and she lost it! Too funny! Still, she was as happy as ever - twofold really - one for the impending Tooth Fairy visitor and secondly, that she could finally eat hard foods once more. It's amazing how one small omission from their usual appearance can change the whole look. Too cute!

On Tuesday at work I was presented with this delivery of flowers! Being at a new school they were all abuzz, especially as there was no card attached. I just shrugged my shoulders and met their barage of questions with "what can I say? He is a flower man" ... " but delievered!" They exclaimed!

Love my man!

Thank you Denny - they are exquisite!

I tried getting creative with my teaching last Thursday and decided to dye macaroni for a craft activity on rainbows! Sheesh! My hands were more green than Elphaba's from Wicked! But it was fun and worth the effort.

Scrapping news this week - please click on all images for credits.

Firstly from Nina ... totally fun mini kit!

Some lovely summery designs from Sue Cummings to warm up our wet wet winter.

Matrioshki has a wonderful new guest designer for the month of August and it was wonderful to scrap with the kit for the occasion from Charlize Creations.

Yoshiko has also made her amazing kit into a fabulous photo album book ... I am working on a grandparent photo book ... it is just gorgeous. Here is a collage of a few of the pages and I used some of Nini's fabulous new word art to add the finishing touches!

Have a fabulous week everyone!

The week that was

2010-08-08T18:58:00.010+10:00

Another busy week ... I will get a 'routine' week one of these days :)

When I saw advertised this "power mate" for loan from the library, I knew it would be right up Den's 'techno-geek' alley! Having recently installed solar panels, I knew he would delight in plugging this little contraption in and educating us all on our energy consumption. I should take it to school seeing as I am teaching 'climate change'. So what energy saving things do you do in your home? I think we are now converted to actually switching things off at the wall as we have just learnt the amount of energy generated by an appliance just remaining on 'stand-by'.

On one of our busy mornings I came downstairs to find my children hiding this behind their backs. They are so sweet. Here is my standard 'school day' brekky ... OJ, kiwi and chocie milk! Hugh had it on a 'tray' (chopping board) so that I could take it over to the couch and sit down to eat. Thanks kids .... made my day!

Hugh is dying to 'invent' something ... anything! I love the way his mind works. He did this experiment at school. Some classes he has missed out on as I have had to pull him out for all our hospital runs of late, so I promised we could do some at home. We bought all the food colourings and just added milk, water and washing detergent for this one below. He delighted in being 'Professor' to tell us all about it. He has THE most super teacher this year and learning so much. We love Mrs Chandra.

Here are my two goofing around this week. They really do get along so well all things considered.

We thought we had a bye on this last weekend of football for the season. But Hugh was up to play for another team ... so our Sunday sleep in has to wait one more week. Katie's huge yawn pretty much testifies to how much we can't wait for that!

Still the sun was shining, Hugh got to have a run around and I scored a couple of wonderful shots. He has loved every moment of his first season playing 'real' football! Well done Hugh!

I realised I did not have a P52 shot this year of his football playing, so decided to make this one below my photo of the week to add to my collection. Awesome kicking style my boy!

Not that much on the scrapping news this week. But please click on all images for credits.

Below is another fun kit from Matrioshki Scrap Designs. Katie and I just LOVE this particular 'Little Mermaid' song and I delighted in making a page of it so we can now always remember how we used to belt it out together!

Nina is still producing an array of amazing products ... the page below is total 'scrap therapy' about the big week Hugh and I had on his health front.

I have done quite a bit of reading this week. Really enjoying my novel and the book on "boys" is truly enlightening! Highly recommend it! But I picked this quote up below as I was scanning through a Wayne Dyer book. It's a quote from Laurens Van Der Post - I first became acquainted with his writing when I worked in Africa. It is most worthwhile. This particular quote caught my attention. I seem to always be chasing my tail and whine to Den that we don't laugh so much these days or have fun. How to be happy? The $100 question I guess. But when I read this, I had one of those 'aha' moments: I have no doubt that my life has real meaning on many levels and I thought 'well yes! I am content". It was a revelation.

There is nothing wrong in searching for happiness … but of far more comfort to the soul is something greater than happiness or unhappiness , and that is meaning. Because meaning transfigures all … once what you are doing has for you meaning, it is irrelevant whether you’re happy or unhappy. You are content – you are not alone in your Spirit – you belong.

Laurens Van Der Post

So on that philosophical note I leave you to ponder ... what are you doing that brings meaning to your life?

Time is slowly passing ....

2010-08-02T21:27:00.008+10:00

Time is slowly passing with not that much to report. Some random thoughts from yours truly: can't wait for winter to be over; teaching is still enjoyable after all these years - I do love kids; happy to be there for my children before and after school; Den is an incredible support ... and ... there are just not enough hours in the day!

Firstly some excting news. I read this book below a few months ago and LOVED it! You know me .... anything to do with Austen! A real modern day Agatha Christie type approach. I went to check out the author, hoping for further reads, but alas it was her first. I droppped her a line. Well ... to cut a long story short, we are now 'friends' (thanks to Facebook). Sometimes the internet is an amazing place. Got to love that. We even discuss who we would both love to play one of the lead roles. Lyn is a wonderful person and I eagerly await her next novel.

Anyway, needless to say I could not attend any English book signing so Lyn asked for my snail mail to send me something similar to what you see below! She wrote: I've just had the idea to do some signed bookplates for readers who show a particular interest in the book, but where I can't get to sign their copies for them (which is not too say I wouldn't do just about anything for a trip to Aus!). Anyway, I've found some nice ones that actually show Jane Austen's school, which happens to be in the town nearest to where I live, so it all comes together really nicely! I know it's not much in itself, but would you like one?

Would I like one! Thank you so much Lyn! You are wondeful! And here is a LINK to Lyn's website.

I have some collages to share of my shadow ... I mean dear daughter! A couple of weekends ago she ventured into the 'slosh' which is our backyard for some 'investigations'! I particularly like the wiped mud marks on the back of her skirt!

Last weekend she was busy creating. I just did a scrap page this week about my 'box' cupboard! Katie is SO creative at the moment, Denis and I are impressed with her ingenuity. Here she is busy making people out of toilet paper rolls, a bedroom with individual chocolate box beds and a small sultana box as a TV (mind you NO ONE has a TV in their bedroom!) LOVE IT!

My boy is coasting along ... getting back into online gaming with his Dad which is nice to see. Den is appreciative of the male bonding time Hugh is craving for. Still you will mostly find him outside kicking the football around. Weekend before last he got his first shiner at football ... worthy of a P52 photo of the week would you not say.

This week's P52 I spied while getting the mail out of my letterbox! Still in love with my 50mm lens and our early morning dew!

Now onto scrapping news, please click on all images for credits.

Leiko Beck is guest designing this month ... please see HER BLOG for all details. A new kit which is just fantastic is on offer.

Oscraps gallery is finally back up .... how we have all missed our hOme! Be sure to check out all this yumminess!

One page for Sue Cummings with some gorgeous brush work from Nina Scraps:

Fun! Fun! New additions to Nina's Designs:

Molly (aka Biograffiti) is doing the Digi Dare this week ... check it out ... provided some wonderful scrap therapy for yours truly:

Kathryn Wilson has a lovely new kit out: three things:

Some new goodies for Matrioshki Scrap Designs .... this mini kit below is for free for the August challenge:

Love the Twilight theme for this latest kit from Dasha:

And finally NatashaNaSt has a new collab kit out all about the famous book, 'The Little Prince'. Thoroughly enjoyed researching and putting this page together.

Thanks for looking everyone and have a super week!

The past couple of weeks .....

2010-07-19T20:01:00.004+10:00

The past couple of weeks have just flown by with sadly very little to report. The holidays ended and we already have over a week of Term 3 under our belt. I have been very busy preparing for my classes and have had little time for anything else. It certainly is a major balancing act with all that goes on in this modern day life.

Katie is my continuous shadow and I have to admit 99% of the time I just love it. The collage below is just so darn cute! She has her own computer but "its not near you Mamma". So she made her own - as you do when you are five and incredibly imaginative! Don't you just love her mouse! LOL!

Therefore I had to make this photo below last weeks P52 shot - me and my shadow!

There was a funny story last week as during a hail storm Katie cried out that there were "witches at her window". I was a bit too tired to deal with it and when I told Den he said "well why didn't you make her a magic wand?" Oh yeah! Like that was the first thing that popped into my head! But that is just one of the many reasons why I love my man and the fabulous things he does. Denis was very prompt in making a wand from a chop stick and cutting up a ribbon with a lacker band! Needless to say they chased those witches away!

My P52 photo this week is my Dad and Hugh. These two are SO much alike it is amazing! My Dad has taken a real interest in Hugh's football games and the two of them get on the phone each Sunday night and chat about it. Hugh was thrilled when on the Sunday just gone Pa came down to actually watch one! Sorry we could not get a win Pa (or even a score for that matter!) Still Hugh did a stirling job with kicks, tackles, handballs and loads of running!

Scrapping of late includes the following - please click on all pages/photos for credits.

Sensational new goodies from Nina Scraps:

Leiko Beck is back designing the odd freebie on her blog, be sure to stop by and pick some up!

Matrioshki Scrap Designs have many wonderful new kits available this month:

The past week we have ...

2010-07-04T19:40:00.015+10:00

The past week we have downloaded apps for the ipad like there is no tomorrow.

LOADS of FUN!

We have celebrated my Dad's birthday!

We are battling sickness again! *sigh* I was sick last week, unsure if I have passed it onto my girl. Getting up three times a night ... well I am too old for that LOL! At least someone gets to recline on the couch and play with the ipad all the next day - and it 'ain't me!

But I love this photo as beloved 'Wattle' (teddy) is never far away in times of need - maybe he is into apps also???

But I digress ... this past week we went away for a few days. Apart from me being unwell the kids had a blast. It's been awhile since we have "had a sleep over" - the bunk beds and spa bath were a huge hit.

We had technology with us needless to say.

We had chilly weather and plenty of rain but happy times were had.

We had moments that made my heart melt.

We had a sunset that made me remember why I love this time of day so much.

We had an incredible view from our bed.

We had amazing hot drinks:

.... that apparently tasted deeeelicious!

We had a boy who ran and ran and ran in all kinds of weather.

We had a girl who could simply not contain her excitement and happiness.

Yup ... we had a great time!

We had spa baths every night!

And sick as I was, I still tried to have some photo fun!

Scrapbooking for the past couple of weeks. Please click on all images for credits.

Gorgeous new photo pockets from Joanne Brisebois:

More Nina Scraps template with Nini's elements to accentuate:

Speaking of Nini, her self analysis pages continue to inspire me:

I combined Sue Cummings word art, Joanne's photo pockets and Nini's splats for this page about our solar panels:

We had a challenge at Sue's CT ... this was fun to do:

Ange has a fab new collab out with Lien, "comfort":

Over at Matrioshki Scrap Designs, a fun kit made for Den and his passion for gaming:

A fun new freebie challenge for the month of July:

This kit just instantly made me want to do a page about standing out from the crowd:

Finally a page to both recognise and celebrate the amazingly warm and friendly place that Oscraps is. I am very sad to say that due to unforseen circumstances I was forced into retiring from the CatScrap CT. And just like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz (thanks Linda!) I clicked my heels and quickly ran back into the arms of my waiting "O" family.

Love you girls!

Almost celebration time!

2010-06-20T18:36:00.006+10:00

The end is in sight ... yes, one more week to go until term break. It has been a busy 11 weeks and I will be very grateful for the fortnight break. I am so proud of my family in this first six month adjustment on so many levels - we are working like a well oiled machine. But all good machines need a service every now and again ... right?

Or at least this Mum does.

Katie had a party on Saturday ... in a pub of all places! LOL! Well, technically the bistro with the kiddy playground. I took my book and settled in for a quiet read when my boys turned up for a bistro lunch. What a welcome sight to see them. We had a nice lunch the three of us whilst Katie played. Thank you boys.

When Katie came home and dumped her newly acquired party hat with her 'tiara' (headband to us peasants) and her wand ... I could not help but snap it.

And of course Hugh is still into the World Cup despite our embarrassing effort. I just love the way my boy fully absorbs himself completely into new experiences.

Above he made 'soccer' shirts for himself and his buddy from across the road. And below .. well this is so Hugh. I think I made lists when I was younger ... must have because I am THE greatest list maker today. He sits of a night writing and organising. I walked past this in the garage (below) and had to go and get my camera. Told you if nothing else this World Cup would prove a great geographic exercise.

Photo challenges this week. There is a fab new kit coming out at Matrioshki shortly that necessitated me taking these shots of Den. SO glad I did. Gaming is a big part of his life and he was very tolerant as I snapped away whilst he played. Below is my shot for P52 this week.

Amy set a great PCF Challenge of reflections this week. I tried a few but the weather was not on my side. Today I took these photos down by the lake before Hugh's football game. They were very grey and gloomy until I spiced it up in Picasa ... quite like the result.

Scrapping this week - please click on all images for credits.

CatScrap has this wonderful template on offer below with a challenge to go with it.

I just adored these papers at Matrioshki when I saw them ... what fun!

Kat has a fabulous 'stash' challenge at Oscraps. I used Kitty's fab kit to come up with this page about Hugh:

Nina has some fabulous new family word art:

And finally Ange has the most amazing offer at MScraps be sure not to miss it!

Have a fabulous week everyone!

World Cup and a royal birthday

2010-06-13T13:19:00.014+10:00

Let me say straight out ... we are not a soccer nation. AFL (Australian Rules Football) and rugby are our thing. There is soccer to be had ... but when you say 'football' in Australia you ain't talkin' about soccer. Still ... this World Cup fever is worldwide - isn't it great! And it brings back so many memories of the time I lived in Africa. Hugh has gone nutso on it ... McDonalds (got to love those happy meals! NOT!) that make a child want the whole collection of whatever is on offer. And now there is the "free" (*snort*) FIFA Coke glass ... got those as well; and don't forget the "free" Aussie green and gold scarf to collect with your newspaper (thanks Grandma and Pa for that one!) - it is neverending! Still I see it as a geographic exercise for Hugh and we are having a blast recognising the flags and who is playing whom. And my girl .... well my dear friend Nini can be blamed for her interest! LOL! Nini recommended the Shakira song (see my "listening to" in sidebar). Now you just gotta love the internet when you can go "yup .... get that song NOW". Instantaneous gratification hey. So now Katie and I are having a BLAST doing the "waka waka" around the house - but only when Den is not around - he is sick of it already! LOL! Thanks Nini!

It is a long weekend here ... got to love those. It's the Queen of Englands birthday - well not really her actual day but its when we get a public holiday - so hey! A bonus day for my family to all be together then I am all for it! Happy Birthday Lizzie - here's to the Commonwealth! I just wish the weather were kinder .... never mind. Katie and I are doing some fun things together ... loads of jig saw puzzles and Den bought her the latest issue of "In the Night Garden" magazine with a packet of Iggle Piggle snap cards. Yup ... this Mum is having a blast this weekend ;) Would I trade spots? Not on your Nelly!

That is of course after all the chores are done. Don't you just love winter and trying to dry the washing!! I do have a dryer used for emergencies as the 'greenie' in me tries to dry clothes naturally and so my house looks like a laundrette! As I was fixing my washing yesterday I noticed below occuring. The children have swapped chores and now Katie is in charge of emptying the dishwasher! Is it any wonder it ever gets emptied at this rate! This girl makes me laugh so often - especially when all goes quiet and she is sitting in front of the oven talking to herself. She has done that since she was a baby - such a girl!

Photo challenges for this week:

P52 is my new ipad ... yes ... Den surprised me with it. Highly decadent but truly wonderful! The problem is now you have to book time on it! Everyone wants a go as it would seem app after app was being uploaded and it necessitated everyone having their own 'page'. Mine was empty apart from necessities - that is until Nini came to the rescue once more. I now have a 'gratitude' app - LOVE IT!

As you can see below this is NOT my page .... dress up, red carpet, tinkerbell, draw and angry birds ... hummm .. who's page could this be?

PCF Challenge this week was fences ... here are a few snaps I got on my pod walk today.

No this is not a funky new walking style, this is my Den patiently doing stretches waiting for me to do my happy snapping on our daily podwalk - thanks babe!

Scrapping this week: please click on all images for credits.

The latest collab kit out at Shabby Pickle ... "story book" LOVE IT! Forever grateful to Natasha for introducing me to fantasy pages.

This page is for the June CT scraplift at CatScrap:

This page is for Matrioshki 'folk challenge':

Nina has some AWESOME new products out ... waaaaay too much fun with these!

The fabulously talented Nini has a range of new products out ... here is a page with a whole swag of her FREE designs. I love the introspective approach her kits/word art encourage:

Finally Ange has a new kit out "rain coat" - I have to admit a real partiality to non photo pages - love the self expression it allows ... this page includes the lyrics from the Carpenters songs "rainy days and monday get me down". LOADS of rain around here lately .... but my Den and I bounce off each other and support one another. This page is dedicated to him.

Have a super week everyone!

I thought I was getting old .... now I know I am old!

2010-06-06T18:45:00.007+10:00

Picture this ...... Friday night - quiet night in as usual? No .... my children are getting older - school disco? School what? You are five! Nine! "But Mum ... there will be a disco ball" - hold that thought ... FLASH BACK! "Disco ball?" - LOL! - oh well then!

So Mum the "night taxi" is now invented ... Katie 6-7pm ... Hugh 7:30-9:00! But firstly Katie is still unwell .... entering our third week now. My poor baby .... to the doctors or not?

Friday morning she awoke in a terrible state and the age old "well are you going to school or not?" discussion ensued - I had to go to work. See, my daughter LOVES school and throw in my strict rules of "if you don't go to school then don't think you are going out to the disco" into the equation and you have a girl desperate to go to school. She went, she survived (came home and fell asleep in my arms at 4pm!) and above you can see her recuperating on the couch on Saturday with our ageing puddy 'Monster'.

So back to Friday night. We line up to go into the disco ... Katie CLINGING to my leg. We get inside ... picture me ... dark room, roving lights, music I thought I would not recognise until they thankfully played some PINK, girls SQUEALING when a fave song came on, Katie and I wandering the dance floor in semi darkness searching for someone she might know, Katie finally detaching herself and holding some girls hand to go dance in a circle of girls, me standing to the side praying this hour would go fast, then the strobe lights start! SHEESH! I used to be grateful for these in my youth for you could actually scan the room for anyone worth looking at, this night those lights just plain hurt my eyes! LOL!

And dare I add at this point I was naieve, daggy enough to actually put in my pocket my latest Jane Austen book in the hope of finding a quiet 'well lit' corner to while away my hour. Dream on Helen! What was I thinking! Disco's were never really my thing obviously.

So rush home after 7pm to drop off one child, have Den rush me out a toasted sandwich and pick up child number two to take down. Thankfully for this child we find a buddy quickly and I was able to leave, " you can go now Mum".

So all up this night proved one thing ... I thought I was getting old .. now I know I AM old! But I am happy to add the Michael Jackson and Grease still make it to the mega mix. Maybe not THAT old just yet!

New topic: monkey bars!

It seems to be something that goes hand in hand with the first year of school. I clearly remember Hugh three years ago coming home with blistered hands in his efforts to master this skill (something I still cannot do to this day). So on my day off I ventured/ was dragged to school to witness Katie's attempts with a bit of worldly advice from big brother.

I love this photo below ... I made it my choice for P52 this week. Hard choice as I quite liked a couple I have included below as well.

The weather has got cold, frosty and foggy of a morning. We called our wonderful Grandma and put in an order for mittens. They arrived in the post this week - school colours and all.

Thank you Grandma! Love the "K" embroidered on them.

This photo belows just demonstrates why I love my 50mm lens SO much!

And this one too! The light and the focus on Grandma's letter to Katie. Love it!

Photo challenge this week ... Leah set the fantastic topic of books! I had fun trying to capture this great love I have of the written word .... especially my undying love and dedication to all things Austen!

LOVE this book below .....

And the swag of books I collected at the library last Wednesday ... yes it is indeed a truth universally acknowledged .....

Scrap pages this week - please click on all images for credits!

Kitty has the funnest kits .. this one just PERFECT for my monkey bar memories!

Fabulous new designer at Oscraps - Mary Pop ... got to love this kit!

Ange has left Two Little Pixels and joined MScraps! Here is a new kit from her:

Catscrap news ....

Take a look at this fab collab kit - Liz of Paislee Press and Shen from Creashens! What a dynamic duo and sensational kit!

Matrioshki Designs ... a fun page about homework:

and a wonderful kit called "Music of the Night" that just demanded a Phantom of the Opera page be scrapped!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Exciting news from my digi scrapping world!

2010-05-30T15:27:00.004+10:00

Apart from scrapping news, this week has been rather uneventful. Working every day, sick children and poor weather have seen to that. Both children have had coughs and colds and Katie's is just not going away. Hugh stayed home with Den on his RDO on Wednesday. More 'father/son' time than anything else I think - but that is not a bad thing. I am in full support of 'mental health days' especially with Dad. I was concerned about Katie however, and told her if she felt unwell at school, they just had to call and either I or Dad would come get her. Well it was Den who got the call on Thursday - after lunch time I might add - she had to play first LOL! Real sick as you can tell! Soooo lucky Den has that flexility to drop everything and run. Still, I think I have been through enough paracetemol and dimetapp to sink a ship this past week.

Photo's this week: I have not had my camera out until today at football - where I stayed in the car for 95% of the time might I add - cold wind blowing. Here is my P52 shot of my sick little pink kitten in the back seat of the car playing the games on "Mamma's ipod".

PCF Challenge this week was set by Leah: white/negative space. Given my rather limited opportunites of this otherwise fave topic of mine, here is my boy at football today. (ps. Leah, please note the length of Hugh's hair! Let's see who can last the longest before a cut shall we - Hugh or Jordan? Hugh was thrilled to tell me his hair was blowing in the wind today LOL!)

Time for scrapping pages this week - please click on all images for credits. First up is a page using the designs of two of my favourite friends Nini and Sandrine! I had a play on words for the 'aries v zen' opposites in me ... 'an aries girl searching for a zen attitude'.

My fabulously talented friend Val has made this amazing kit and her stamps are my absolute fave product of hers. This kit has incredible elements and she even made a Melbourne stamp - thank you Val ... it's Valicious!

Now to my exciting news. I have been asked onto two Creative Teams. Taking on more scrapping responsibilities is not a decision I made lightly. I fully appreciate the goodwill these people extend to me and thank my lucky stars daily for the incredible products I have the privilege to play with. Yes life is busy with family and part time work but scrapping is both my creative outlet and relaxation. It is a very crucial component in my life.

Firstly I was asked by Marina who is setting up a wonderful new Russian site to help out. It is a pleasure to work with these lovely girls and we had fun at an international chat yesterday with people from all over the globe. Please click on the image below to go and have a look around this new site. Matrioshki is of course the famous Russian dolls!

There are some fabulous new designers there and here are a few pages with some of the latest goodies available.

The second team I was asked on was Catscrap. The big draw card here for me is the amazing sister duo of Annika and Maria. Not only are they good friends but I am a HUGE fan of both their work and would love to learn more from them. Annika is working very hard as CT leader over at Catscrap and it pleases me greatly to be able to help her out in my little ways. ie. taking my Aussie sense of fun into their forum ;)

Here is my AAM page:

And another page using these gorgeous papers from Micheline Martin:

Have a peaceful week everyone!

My life: now and then

2010-05-23T15:24:00.005+10:00

This week I ventured into the city ... alone! *gasp* Yes .. it's true! As part of maintaining my teacher registration I have to do PD (personal development days - 20 hours in 12 months). Not associated with any school this responsibility falls on me to organise and that I did. To the city for a full day workshop on Web 2.0! Fabulous. So first I had to work out how to catch a train into town ... dare I say there used to be people at the actual train station selling you tickets last time I used them a decade ago! Yikes .. I am that old! For you see I did my degree at Melbourne University so for four years of my life I caught the train into town and lived the life of an academic .... *sigh* .... yes those were the days. So on the train I sat and thankfully at the beginning/end of the line I gained a seat for the almost hour long trip stopping all stations. Normally this might be annoying but to me ... it was heaven. An hour of uninterrupted reading! How fabulous was that! And it was nice to see that apart from ipods as opposed to 'walkmans' remember those (bwahahaha!) I was happy to see that most people were still engaged in reading to work. Once arrived there was the buzz of work people and students going about their business and me ... leisurely grabbing a mocha frappe awaiting for my entry to the State Library. The course itself was fabulous - but once again I was sadly reminded of my age as one other member of the workshop a 28 year old teacher ... came up and called me by my maiden name! Yup ... ex student now teaching. We sat together and caught up and remembered the 'good ol' days' as she quoted me verbatim on things I said almost two decades ago. Now I am just scaring myself LOL! The day was held in our Victorian State Library ... nothing special compared to the age of European buildings ... but to us it's old! I opted for a tour at lunch time and had a blast feeling really smart and young again (as opposed to dumb and old - LOL) as in days gone by. So all up .... that was the definite highlight of my week ... a trip down memory lane in more ways than one.

So of course my P52 photo this week had to be from this excursion. And here is some 'art' that is found on the front pavement outside the library.

This week the challenge at PCF we returned to 'Aleida's Challenge'. In brief as Leah so aptly put it at PCF: basically, it enforces the importance of getting BEHIND the camera with our kids, because time with them is so precious and unfortunately we aren't all so lucky to see them grow up. So here is my 'lot' this afternoon and it struck me that this is the me of 'now' as opposed to that girl on Tuesday who was walking down memory lane.

I like my life now. I am blest.

Of course I am always far more amused by the out-takes!

Scrapping pages for this week ... please remember to click on all pages for credits. Next week I have some exciting news .... so one more week until all will be revealed ;) What have I got myself into now ??? !!!???

Have a super week everyone!

The days are getting shorter ....

2010-05-16T16:09:00.004+10:00

The weather is certainly changing ... the sun is setting earlier and the mornings are dewy and foggy! Have I mentioned how much I don't like winter? Mild as it is! Oh well ... just over a month will be the shortest day of the year and then it's towards the warmer months we can head.

The weekend weather has been very kind and outside time has been abundant. Hugh just loves to be outside for every sunlit moment possible .... here he is in his new football hoodie - love it when I score a good shot of my boy.

And of course there is no "Punch without Judy" and little sister is right by his side for every waking sun filled moment. But the days are shorter as the sun sinks earlier to the horizon.

My childhood memories are full of time outside, parents chasing you to "go outside and play". That is the way it should be in my opinion and I fully encourage it with my own children. Yes ... they do love their computers and DS but fortunately if they have a choice, its outside they play ... even if they have to take the sticky tape, paper and craft goodies with them as they busily make a "shop".

Football was at the more respectable hour of 10am this weekend but you can see that the fog and dew are still present. My photo taking opportunities were cut short due to helping/supporting the team so this is all I got this week at the warm up. Still, despite another heavy loss, the weather was great, the team did score and Hugh is doing awesome in full back!

I guess the news of the week was the installation of our solar panels. This is a government incentive and Den prides himself on our growing self sufficienty - what with water tanks and all. So on the roof to the right of the tree extends the whole line of solar panels - big aren't they! It's fun to watch and see that we are generating our own electricity during the day.

So this is my photo for PCF52 this week: our solar paneled house ;)

This week PCF challenge was portraits. I tried a couple but came back to one of my shots from last weekend of the Chonk and played around in Picasa with the editing.

Scrapping this week was loads of fun with some incredible kits. Be sure to click on all images for credits.

Loving this template of Amanda's - makes collages look great and combined with Nini's FREE word art it came together really quick and easy.

I took the Copycat Challenge at Oscraps as my opportunity to grab this delightful kit of Cinzia's ... aren't the elements lovely!

Another fun collage this time with a template of Nina's using some more of Nini's WA. These are the fun out-takes from the annual April photo shoot the children and I do in front of the bathroom mirror! LOL!

Finally ... I was dying to play with this kit of Brydka's ... if ever you want to try fantasy/extraction pages, this is the kit to start with ... Mystique Designs makes it so easy and I just love the results.

Busy week for me coming up ... out and about quite a bit so I may not be around as much as usual. Each and everyone of you take care and make it a good one.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T19:09:00.007+10:00

This weekend Downunder we celebrate Mother's Day - always the second Sunday in May! So happy Mother's Day to all you incredible women out there! My children were SO excited with their purchases from the school stall. They were in to visit before 7am wanting to present them to me. And I just have to share.

I am sure you are all incredibly jealous ... have a look below ... hands up to everyone who has their very own solar powered flower pot! Isn't it gorgeous! And so very much Katie! It has a little solar panel and bops along when charged by the sun! Got to love that.

Then of course there is my very mature and ever sensible 9 y.o son .... a magnetic shopping list for the fridge!

Both items make me smile - ALOT!

So Saturday was wonderful! Let's see ... it was sunny, I read, I scrapped, I photographed, I had watched a brilliant movie the night before, I went for a (i)pod walk and I drank champagne! Don't ask for much do I?

Chonky wanted to "play" with bubbles ... here are some shots! Beware ... more bubble scrap pages on the way. Can't resist!

Of course I capitalise on the photographic opportunity and not only for bubble shots! *sigh* ... I *heart* my girl for all the amazing photos she provides me with.

Though mind you ... they are not all so pretty! LOL! LOVE this fashion statement below!

Sunday was football time. My mother had knitted Katie a club colour scarf during the week and sent it through the mail! Thank you Grandma! Here she is! The collage below see's Hugh warming up and a wonderful father and son shot listening to "coach" before the game. Oh ... and the arms all linked shot I hear you ask? Yes we lost again (badly again) HOWEVER ... we SCORED! HOORAY! One goal, four points (which in Aussie footy equates ten points total) and even better Hugh kicked one point! The future is looking bright!

Photography challenges this week. PCF is shadows .... nothing remarkable to share but had fun trying and editing.

PCF52 ... well this had to be a Mother's Day shot didn't it!

Scrapping this week (click on all images for credits):

Fabulous new templates and a kit from Nina:

I love how Sue Cummings Designs (and encouragement from my dear friend Nini) see's my doing more pages on myself:

A CheeryO page ... yes I *heart* my two:

This month Natasha is guest at After Five Designs ... here is her kit "Soft Vintage" and a page using a photo of my mother and father from when they were dating:

Katey Green of Handmaid Designs sent me a few kits .... another BOM:

Ange has this fabulous frame set for FREE on her blog to celebrate her two month guest stint at Zig Zag Scrap. Be sure to drop by and collect these:

Have a fabulous week everyone!

An interesting week

2010-05-02T15:23:00.007+10:00

It has been an interesting week ... my second to last scrap page pretty much sums it up. Say no more. On top of that I still have a little girl crawling into my bed regularly about 3am. I try to spare Den her terrible snoring and after 5-10 minutes take her back to her own bed. If she is struggling with her breathing (Katie is a mouth breather) I lie with her to settle her. By this stage having been awake for the better part of an hour, it is hard to fall back asleep, not to mention the interruption: *sigh* Chonk needs me and I am there for her. But throughout the day we are all counting the cost to our sleep patterns. She is my girl, the girl I longed for all my life and I would do anything for her.

Here we are outside this past weekend -this little girl lights up my life.

My poor boy ... another massive and scoreless defeat in football today. Personally Hugh is doing incredibly well. But the bumps and bruises hurt that much more after a defeat. I think as the weeks pass, the tears will be harder to dry. Still we have come up with a plan that sees me outside kicking the ball to him for at least ten minutes each night this week.

And I wonder where my time goes.

Leah set the fabulous challenge of "seating" for PCF this week. So I decided to do a family "seating plan" - LOL - my square eyes daughter watching Tinkerbell on the couch; my ever productive son working on some diagram or other for me to see his latest hobby; my Denny diligently capturing his weekly does of vitamin D each weekend (and being served a cup of fairy tea no less!); and me ... starting my new book! YAY!

As the sun was going down I captured quite a few shots and finally setteled on this one for my PCF 'seating' submission:

PCF52 this week - it was all about my preparation for working each and every Thursday and Friday for the next eight weeks. Not much one might contemplate ... but having to amuse and educate 24 6 and 7 year olds according to Victorian government guidelines ... well needless to say after a ten year break and not familiar with this age level, I was tearing my hair out. One word: paperwork!

Scrapping this week (please click on image for credits):

Love how quickly and effectively this page came togther with Nina's new kit:

My friend Nini has some fabulous FREE splats out ... be sure to collect these:

Ange has a wonderful new kit "correspondance" (the french spelling) and it was "just what the doctor ordered" to scrap therapy my way out of this past week:

Finally, I just can't help but dabble in the occasional fantasty page ... love to step outside my box:

Happy Days Everyone!

ANZAC Day and a footy match!

2010-04-25T15:56:00.007+10:00

Today is ANZAC day. A very special day for all Australians. I like to educate my children about this occasion. Anzac Day (the acronym ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, whose soldiers were known as Anzacs) is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, and is commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all those who died and served in military operations for their countries.

Each year we get out Hugh's Great Grandfathers WWII medals and other memorabilia that has been handed down throughout the decades. Below is a little selection and also the compulsory ANAZC bickies (biscuits/cookies) that we all know and love.

Once our quiet reflective time is complete, it's all off to view either live or on the telly the national Aussie Rules football match. Hugh has been training hard to commence his own footy experience these past few weeks and will commence Under 10s on this day! How poetic.

A couple of week's ago they had some professional footballers from the Melbourne Football Club attend their training session. It was a fantastic occasion and great for these budding players.

So the big day arrived today and Hugh had an 8am (extremely uncivil hour on a Sunday morning!) game today. They looked the part and stood tall for their minutes silence to remember fallen ANZACs. Sadly they failed to score and were whalloped but Hugh did a magnificent job and got a kick and many awesome tackles. The only way is up from here.

Photos from the past couple of weeks. First my PCF52 from last week ... Hugh for the first time had a couple of sleep overs and loved them. I cannot lay claim to this shot (thanks Kim) but I just love how happy Hugh is at school and what a great group of buddies he is lucky to have.

This week's PCF had to recognise the beginning of Hugh's footy playing days. Probably the only time he will ever be seen this clean!

This week Amy has set the PCF challenge of vehicles. I took this shot a couple of week's ago and was really thrilled with my bokeh.

Having missed blogging last week I have two week's worth of scrapping pages to share with you all. Please remember to click on all images for credits.

A fabulous Oscraps collab "tweet tweet" has been released. Love all the elements in this kit.

Some new goodies from Sue Cummings:

Some new goodies from Nina Scraps Designs:

A lovely new kit from Ange Designs:

Another page using Natasha's spring kit:

Finally my dear friend Nini has released some more fabulous freebies on her blog. Be sure to drop by, say hi and nab these yummy goodies to play with.

Have a fabulous week everyone!

And there you have it!

2010-04-11T19:08:00.007+10:00

And there you have it! I blinked and the two week break is over! *sigh* ... one more week and I think I would be good to go! Oh well. I tried to keep it quieter this week, but still there was so much happening.

I took HEAPS of fun photos this week. That made me really happy. My inspiration to shoot outside my box is my gorgeous friend Leah. You simply must check out her photography website HERE - her work is breathtaking. So having wandered through Leah's flickr gallery and been truly motivated, I came up with these shots below. Just some of our everyday moments from this past week.

The children and I did venture to Bunnings (hardware store) to decorate bags ... so watch out Grandma ... when we see you this coming weekend you will be the envy of all other shoppers with your gorgeous new acquistions!

Our shopping centre offered some free sandart days ... the children always love that, so we ventured up there a couple of days also to make these creations.

Apart from that the children were really good at amusing themselves at home ... Hugh playing cars and still diligently working on lego. I luckily convinced him to open an "old" box and that took him a couple of days to re-create. They also ventured out for some chalk drawing ... I can't help but grab my camera when that happens.

Then a very excited little girl comes and tells me (in a very proud voice) I simply MUST come outside to see what she can now do! Super work Katie ... and Mum did great with her 500mm too! LOL!

With April here I forced myself to get out my Powershot and stand in front of the bathroom mirror and do our annual photo shoot. "Why?" asked Hugh. I tried to explain the importance of capturing our days together and doing this each April was now a bit of a tradition. When we finished he said, "that was fun Mum".

Katie had a little friend over to play one day. Gosh I just LOVE watching little girls play and I drew them a pretty mean hop scotch grid too :)

I was totally cracking up over the constant whispering ... such girls and so soon all this secretiveness! I just had to capture it for future scrapping.

Photo challenges this week ... I have set the challenge of within five miles or about 8kms from your home. Time to check our everyone's local area. Here is our favoured 'tree park' location a couple of clicks from home.

My P52 shot had to be one from our little photo shoot ... this one really makes me smile: my ever protective boy and my cheeky little Chonka!

Scrapping this week .... please click on any pages for credits.

Fabulous new kit from Nina:

My lego page using products from Emily Powers:

A fabulous kit collab with Ange and my wonderful friend Val capturing our adventure Easter weekend:

Finally Natasha has a new kit out also:

Thanks for looking everyone and have a fabulous week!

School holidays week one

2010-04-05T18:39:00.009+10:00

Two words: I'm tired. Not quite the "relaxing" holiday week I had planned. Let's see when I left you last we had just celebrated Hugh's birthday party last Saturday. Then:

Sunday: Hugh off to his first sleep over after a trip to Luna Park and the rest of the family off to at BBQ

*recovery*

Tuesday: Bunnings and Library for crafts

Wednesday: shopping ... mainly for Hugh's birthday gift

Thursday: was meant to go out but Katie was sick. Hugh kindly babysat (very motherly too I might add) while I ran around like a mad thing.

Friday: Hugh's actual birthday

Saturday & Sunday: theatre and twice into the city

*picture this* ... Helen has run out of steam! So in photos that equates to:

Bunnings: this craft was REALLY cool - still can't believe its free. The kids were given hammers and nails to make a. girlie money box or b. boyie pencil box.

Rushing Chonka off to a packed library for stories, making bunny ears and hunting for eggs (Hugh wisely forwent this activity) :

Purchased for Hugh's birthday ......... long story that I will scrap about this week ..... LEGO! *sigh* .... tried valiantly to resist but truly speaking ... he LOVES the stuff ... for the whole 100 minutes it takes him to assemble it!

Hugh's birthday on Good Friday. Poor baby ... nothing opened so we arranged for our 'famous' Hancock Restaurant! He wanted candlelit dinner and loved the attention.

Saturday and Sunday involved trips into Melbourne city for our theatre excursions. I am biased but we do live in a fab city! The city was pumping on Saturday ... you could just feel the energy and before the theatre we LOVED walking around and absorbing all there was to see and do.

So Saturday was 'CATS'. I have seen it before ... would probably not have gone again but Den had not seen it. His impressions afterwards were much the same as mine .... not your traditional theatrical production. I was therefore immensely surprised at how much the children loved it.

Sunday was the real long awaited treat .... 'Mamma Mia'. All one could hope for and more. Just light and fluffy and thoroughly enjoyable!

Photo challenges this week. PCF52 has to be Hugh and his lego ... man on a mission. It's expensive, the thrill is so quickly over but as I listen to his humming and 100% total dedication and absorption while he builds ... it would take a harder soul than mine to resist. And trust me .... I am pretty hard.

Maria set the PCF challenge of 'food' this week. As I was cleaning up after the 'Hancock Restaurant', I was struck by the remnants of Hugh's 'cake' aka chocolate bars!

Scrapping this week:

My time is up after three months at Catscrap. HUGE thanks to the two incredibly sister Annika and Maria whom I just adore and each and every time inspire my scrapping.

So to finish my time there.... Maria and I have an 'in' joke about my early scrapping pages. Catscrap has this fun challenge 'new and improved'. So to appease Maria I resurfaced an old page (again!) and re-did it .... I must REALLY love you Maria! Here is my initial page from November 2006:

And my 'new and improved' version:

With the same kit by Creashen I did this page about my girl and how I want to remember when she was convinced that I was the centre of her universe!

Oscraps news, remember to click on images for credits:

Finally ... as part of Natasha's CT we are given access to the Shabby Pickle collab. This kit was waaaaaaaaaay fun! So FUNKY! Do you like the shoes I put on Katie's bare feet!! LOL!

YAY! Two week break!

2010-03-28T18:31:00.005+11:00

Here in Australia we have four school terms in the calendar year. I can't believe the first one is already finished! My girl has completed her first term of school! We now have a well deserved two week school break. I averaged two days work a week in relief/substitute teaching for the term and to those two schools where I am now a happy regular I send out my thanks. It has been busy but thoroughly enjoyable to return to the classroom - I have not lost my touch after a decade ;) Now for some R&R and the fun times I have planned with my two adorable munchkins for the next fortnight.

What a surprise to receive this letter bought home from Katie this past week. This is also my photo for this week's PCF Challenge "blurred" - great idea Leah!

Each week they have a "student of the week" which you may remember Katie received in the very first week of term. Well I am happy to report my girl was chosen as student of the TERM! How happy and proud are we! It is quite funny .... Hugh received this award a year or so ago. Each term they have a different theme ... Hugh received his for 'organisation'. What did Katie get hers for? 'Getting along" aka socialising/partying - and thus you have my two children summed up in a nutshell LOL! No seriously, she knew no one and I am tickled pink that she loves her teacher, class, friends, school - makes my job of waving goodbye each morning that much easier.

Hugh will be turning nine years old on Good Friday! Eekkk! Where has that time gone. We offered parties here, there and everywhere ... what did he want? A few good buddies over to run around his front and back yard! LOL! So - as he loves 'army' so much - we went with that theme. Saturday saw this scene below ... he had a blast! And what pulled at my heart strings most is that there was not a second thought on his part that his little sister should be included. LOVE you for that Hugh.

This was Hugh's fave photo ... you have to bear in mind he plays online war games with his father regularly and thinks he looks "so good" in this shot!

Let's see ... apart from running around like a "pack of dogs" according to Denis (!) they played posion ball, went down to the local park to play 'army', played four square, had a Bakugan treasure hunt, flippin' fish, bocci and ate pizza, chips and lemonade!

Yup! I think that smile says it all!

Now onto scrapping news ... remember to click on all images for credits.

My wonderfully talented friend Nini has released her first mini digi kit. Congrats Nini! It is wonderful. Please stop by her blog to collect your own.

Have a fabulous week everyone ... I know I will!

A busy week .. .and one more to go.

2010-03-21T17:24:00.006+11:00

It has been a busy week with work and sickness. We all fell into Friday and have spent this weekend at home recuperating. So not much to report this week :( One more week of school and then it is first term break! YAY! You all know how much I LOVE having my children home and all the fun things we get up to. We have Hugh's birthday, Easter, trips to the theatre, Bunnings (hardware store), library and much, much more!

So I leave you with some really GOOD news! This week see's the fabulous Oscraps turning four! Oscraps really is my cyber hOme! We all LOVE the "O"! So be sure to stop by this week and join in the many fun activities and free give aways we have planned.

Here is my scrapping this week ... remember to click on all images for credits!

Have a super week everyone!

Storms, awards and footy training begins!

2010-03-14T18:37:00.008+11:00

It has been one week since we experienced a "once in a hundred year super cell storm"! It was very wet last weekend and we had some thunder and heavy rain in my neck of the woods but not much else. It was bought to my attention the next day when my Dad phoned to see if we were okay: "sure Dad, why we wouldn't we be?". I then turned on the news! YIKES! And this week at work to hear the stories of others and the flash flooding and hail damage to their homes and cars ... well we were obviously very very lucky! Monday was a public "labour" day holiday and we went to the Botanical Gardens in the city. There we discovered the aftermath of the storm as the paths were littered! Still we had a lovely walk - me taking photos, the children bonding and Den sneaking in an iphone status update when he thought I was not looking! LOL!

We were very proud during the week for Hugh to be presented with his SRC (student representative council) badge for his class in an assembly at school. And the collage below shows a little sister proudly looking on from the masses in the school hall.

After much talk our local suburb has decided to start it's own junior football club - Hugh could not be happier. He does love his Aussie Rules Football. Training started this week and Friday night was a gorgeous autumn evening for me to sit and watch my son doing something he so loves.

Of course there is a certain someone else who is equally thrilled at the prospect of weekly training/games - well at least while the sun shines anyway! Katie gets to play with all the other little sisters!

I loved this photo below and had loads of fun playing with it in LightRoom and using a 'preset' (thanks Selena!). I am currently using the free month trial of LR and quite impressed at the finer tuning it allows. I was considering using it as my PCF Challenge photo of "awakening" as it's such a joy to see my little girl waking up to the big wide world and running off to play with new found friends. Don't you just LOVE the way little girls skip and hold hands!

On the weekend Den's nephew turned 18 and we had a family get together. The children delighted in playing Wii - something we don't have. I LOVE that shot of Katie - not only for her 'action' but gosh! that 50mm lens is GOOD!

Onto photo challenges for this week: First my P52 - easy choice this week with my boy and his presentation. I took this photo with my phone and tried saving it in Light Room.

Here is my eventual selection for Selena's PCF Challenge of "awakening" - Katie with her beloved 'Wattle" (teddy). Awake, retiring of a night or feeling poorly or sooky throughout the day - he is there! Once again SOOC with the 50mm - for a girl who loves to edit photos there is still such a buzz with taking a shot that you think requires NO editing ;)

Develop on Friday new assignement is up (check the sidebar for links). It was a great lesson on using natural light - quite a challenge for me - here are my results:

Final selection:

Scrapping for this week - please click on all pages for credits:

We set another super challenge on the Rocking Girls blog and the super talented Nini came up with this outstanding template - you can collect for FREE. Using all Nina's goodies it was fun to document our week:

This week's spotlight at Oscraps is on frames and I delighted in using the talented Shutter Sisters goodies:

It is with great sadness that Leiko is taking a break from designing. I owe much to this very talented lady who gave me my first big break in CT work. I will miss her greatly. So be sure to check out Oscraps and grab yourself a bargain before the 15th March!

Ange came up with a kit "Miss Pink" ... could I use it? Could I what! My girl LIVES for all things PINK! LOL!

Dawn Inskip (catscrap) has a super fun new kit out called Fairyland (what would I do without my girl for all these pages????)

And leaving the best for last ... my very precious friend Val! Gosh this girl works hard and having a baby due soon and all! She has this fabulous template out for FREE and running a challenge to win goodies. So be sure to stop by her blog to check it all out. This page was also created using a kit of Kitty's and can you believe this kit (and many others!) are for sale for the huge sum of $1 until the end of March. Be sure to stop by Oscraps and check it all out.

Thanks for stopping by and have a super week everyone!

It's always just the little things in life ....

2010-03-07T09:37:00.012+11:00

Isn't it funny when you look back ... on a moment ... on a day, week, month, it's always the little things that one remembers. So my girl's Wednesday's off have come to an end ... *sigh*. While she is eager to begin a full week of school, I treasured and clung to our remaining "you and me" time together. This whole "you and me" day thing was a concept my mother started with me growing up.

The tradition continues.

So here is my girl this past Wednesday out in the backyard. It was a lovely day and one only needs give her a bucket of water and a paintbrush and off she goes. Simple but memorable.

You all know my love of reading and I long for the day I come down and happen upon a child of mine spontaneously reading. Hugh will read, enjoys reading ... but the catch is, when I tell him to. Katie I think will be a different *fingers crossed*. Quite often I will come upon her with a book and she has really taken to learning to read in these first few weeks of school - bless her little soul. She is so proud of her accomplishments - I think her smile of satisfaction says it all!

During my weekly house clean this past week I also came upon our box cupboard and it struck me ... I wonder when the day will come when I DON'T have to throw every cardboard box into it. My kids LOVE to create - in fact I think this lot has already been taken yesterday to make a robot. *sigh* I really must scrap about this.

My Project 52 photo this week is another thing I happened across in my house cleaning this week - I obviously don't clean enough to really notice these things LOL! Currently the children share a table for working on. Hugh was so fed up with Katie 'tornado' girl mess, that he requested a yellow demarcation line on the table. Quite funny really when you come to think of it. My boy so clean and ordered, my girl a walking disaster zone. How she comes home from creche and now school with all these stamps for "great cleaning up" I would love to know! Just goes to prove my girl is a home devil and street angel (another saying of my mothers) and all my lecturing proves useful somewhere ... just not at home!

This week in PCF Maria set us the challenge of "red". Here is what I came up with. I got out my wonderful Canon Powershot and utilised the "colour accent" function. Got to love that. I like my peg photo and Den who happened to be wearing red on Saturday, went out and quickly returned with a bunch of red roses and said "here is your challenge shot". Anything to get out of being photographed!

Scrapping this week - click on all images for credits.

I am hosting the March Camera Corner Challenge at Oscraps ... the number four!

Kim (aka Gilmore Girl) is in the spotlight and here is a lift of one of her pages.

We played a scrapping game over at Nina's CT ... I had to lift Nini! Eeek! Always loads of fun that game.

Finally Sue Cummings has some wonderful new goodies out:

Some pages ... for Ange:

Dawn Inskip:

and the latest collab from Shabby Pickle Designs:

Have a great week everyone!

I think I have fallen in love!

2010-02-28T18:16:00.007+11:00

I think I have fallen in love! This week I received my first pay cheque - a nice little reward. And to celebrate Den bought me a 50mm 1.8f!!! I have had my eye on this for some time - so many of my friends have it - Leah, Amy, Val and Selena to name a few - who swear by it. When I saw Nancy's photos this week and I was drooling onto my computer, I thought I have to have this lens! I put in a request for my birthday in April. I was rewarded early!

What an amazing lens! Hard to describe ... rich and vibrant but at the same time subtle and soft. Just got to get used to having a fixed lens. Take a look at this photo below. Katie and I got a new Disney CD from the library this week - just to add to our collection (take a look in sidebar) and I was busy adding numbers to our/my ipod. Here she is below dancing her little heart out to Hannah Montana "Best of Both Worlds"! LOL! She issued a request for pom poms! I obliged! But look at these photos - mostly SOOC - and her moving at a million miles an hour!

I wonder who gave her the cheerleading tips - hmmm ... lol ;)

Onto photo challenges for this week. My PCF52 - my very first photo with the 50mm! The late afternoon light streaming in our window is very harsh. But what a photo! Can you tell I am really impressed .... with Katie learning her words for school and my SOOC photo.

Linda set the fabulous "nature's grunge" challenge in PCF this week. As I was hanging out the washing on Saturday my eyes fell on this little fella literally "weeding" his way through our pavers out the back. Always nature attempting to reclaim.

Develop on Fridays is now fortnightly. This fortnight Jefra (new link in my sidebar) set a fabulous challenge of simplicity. I have become much more aware of distractions in photos, that is why I am a big fan of fill the frame. That is why I also struggle with many of the full body photos I require to do the fantasy/extraction scrapping pages I love to dabble in - I usually don't have any! The challenge was to take a photo and then simplify it. Here is Katie playing school and taking the roll. My out-takes:

My final selection:

Here is Den preparing lunch on Saturday - the out-takes:

My final selection - whilst still a "busy" photo, I converted to black and white as I really loved this shot telling more of the story.

Scrap pages this week (remember to click on all pages for credits) Oscraps: Spotlight to highlight some of the fab designers we have there:

Hollie of "Holliewood Studios" came out with this fab kit "The Thing Finder". I straight away thought of all the "I Spy" books or "Where's Wally" we have read. The children and I put this page together and had a blast.

Finally the very talented Emily Powers has these amazing textured photo overlays. I thought to try them all and then decide on one for my page. I could not decided and stuck with using them all! Combined with Nini's fabulous FREE frames, I really liked this page:

Catscrap news this week - a wonderful new collab out and one more using Dawn Inkip's kits - I loved the elements so much I thought they needed a page of their own.

Finally a couple of pages with Ange Designs. I always love a full pager and having done a few pages on the restorative powers of a cup of tea of late, I decided to adopt a different approach on this one and went with one of my favourite philosophers quotes.

Have a fabulous week everyone!