Create...

Just thought that I'd add some layouts that I've completed recently.

I love this cheeky photo of Ethan. Journalling says: "he gets into all sorts of mischief, annoys his brother and sister relentlessly, runs through the house like crazy, pulls the dog's tail and all while looking angelic. xx" Describes him perfectly at the moment.

Tahlia and Liam in front of the bigger Ferris wheel at the Ekka this year. When we were at the top of the ride, Tahlia was terrified and Liam was quite casual about it all! It was the opposite while we were still on the ground! lol!!

Ethan picking newly planted flowers. This was a trial run for the weekly challenge at the Boxx. Patterned background paper and three photos of different sizes.

I got this great shot of Ethan and Jack. This boy loves this dog sooo much, and he lets me know it all the time. "Love me... love my dog!"

This last one is for the September Sketch at the Boxx. TFL.

Trampoline tricks...

Liam wanted to show off his handiwork on the trampoline... What better time is there then for a photo opportunity! (I JUST have to take advantage of what is thrown my way when I can. This boy runs from the camera! Lol!!)

I can assure you, it's all very impressive!

Doggie love...

I know I joke about giving this dog away ALL the time but... in reality, the kids love him. Especially Ethan. And they have been spending some quality time with Jack lately.

(ps - SAHM means Stay At Home Mum. Thanks for the query Bernice.)

Moving house...

One of the things I have wanted to do for some time now is have our infamous RED cubby house moved into the side garden. It had been sitting down towards the back of our house block for about 24 months now, just out of reach for Ethan to play in. When we got our dog almost two years ago, we decided to fence off a part of our garden to keep him out and the kids in. However, in the process, the cubby house was fenced out as well.

Ethan always wanted to play in it. Why wouldn't you. It was bright RED (another story altogether) and like a beacon calling out to the kids. But because of the size of our yard, I would never leave him down there unsupervised.

So after much prodding of the husband, a bit of pleading to the neighbours, I finally got my way. The cubby house made a 15-20 metre trip from one resting place to another. Yay!

Ethan loves it. And Tahlia and Liam have also enjoyed the benefit of the cubby being moved.

Furniture has been moved in and artwork went up on the wall. There are plans for paint work and the door has new hinges. *sigh* There's no place like a pretend, miniature version of home. Lol!

Let's play catch up...

Okay, I'm a little behind with the blogging now, especially since the computer spat the dummy last week! But now that it is behaving itself, I can continue rambling on about what we have been up to lately.

On Saturday, 20th of September, Tahlia and Liam had their break-up party for their hockey season. They had a great time, considering Tahlia's recent reluctance to go out onto the field.

A few weeks ago, Tahlia being tired and grumpy on a Friday afternoon, and directly after walking out of the school gates, declared she was never going to play the game again. Never. It didn't help her attitude, when later that same day at hockey practise, an awful incident, involving two boys, a hockey stick and missing teeth, occurred. Tahlia just happened to witness this accident and again was adamant in her view, that she was never going to play the game again. Never.

So... to my surprise, she is now wavering about going back to play next season. She is very certain she wants to continue her ballet. Stopping that extra curricular activity wasn't ever on the cards. But for a little while, hockey was. And that was okay, because hockey was meant to be Liam's thing. After all, his prep friend Simon plays, and it is Simon's dad who is the coach.

But, getting back to the hockey breakup, and after having heaps of fun with sack races and a parent vs kids game, both Tahlia and Liam have renewed interest in the sport.

Especially after receiving a trophy. That always helps! (Even if they do spell the name wrong. Whoops!)

The weather was fantastic considering there had been thunder storms predicted. It was a great way to start off the school holidays.

Grrrrr, computers....

Sorry! I'm going to be away for a few days! Something drastic has happened! The computer has gone down and now I have to resort to doing house work during the day!!!!! Hopefully I will be back on line soon. Very soon!!!

ps - Have logged on for a few moments from my FIL's computer! Have a great day!

Create...

Just adding two more layouts that I finished yesterday. Hope you enjoy.

A challenge for the Boxx. Patterned back ground paper and at least three photos of different sizes.

And one about Liam and his foot race to get to the bus. See here.

Swimming again!...

It has finally warmed up sufficiently enough to allow the kids to go swimming. I conveniently left my swimming togs at home (whoops!) but never the less, they had a great time reintroducing themselves to the water.

And when, after 5 mins, it got too much for Ethan, he spent some time with Grandma.

On another note, I have been tagged by Leanne. This is my first blog award! It's an enlightenment to know that my ramblings are amusing to some people!!! Lol! Thanks for your lovely comments.

So, this is what I have to do:

The rules for the award are - (1) The winner can put the logo on their blog.
(2) Link the person you received your award from.
(3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
(4) Put links of those on yours.
(5) Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you have
nominated.

Okay so here goes, 3 blogs I love to visit, instead of 7....

Fran Tynan - I really love the way Fran brings lots of elements together and makes it work.

Nic Hargreaves - We both started our blogs around the same time and I love how we visit each other offering support and encouragement.

and

Nicole Pomeroy - I love the way she uses texture in her layouts and it always comes out looking fabulous!


There are many other blogs I love visiting (see side bar) but I'll just stick with these three recommendations for now! Thanks for visiting.

The journey...

From my last post, I was asked if I always scrap in the 8 1/2" x 11" format. I love this size and I feel very comfortable creating with the perimeters it gives me. But to be honest, I have only started doing layouts in this size from around, maybe...May?

I was converted from the 12 x 12 by Belinda. I stumbled across a step by step project she was teaching in Scrap Therapy. I was very nervous about not only trying this size but going through with the cutting of the card stock! And so it began with this.

The question however, has given me a chance to go back through some of my older work and re-evaluate my journey into scrapping our family history. Looking back, has given me the confidence to go forward. Does that make sense? I can clearly see my style developing and the elements I continue to use.

"So knowing" was one of my first attempts at scrapping. Even on the larger size I tended to use only one photo and colour. Basically, I just threw down some paper and left it where I liked the look of it! I do like to have white space on my layouts and my own hand writing usually played some part.

"The Gumboot Story" was an early example of wanting to have a funny story written down for posterity. My Mum used to tell an exaggerated shopping trip tale to Tahlia, about what she did in a shoe shop one day. Funnily enough, Mum also had her camera that day, and took a picture of the particular incident.

This layout is extremely simple in its design, still leaving the white space around it and including lots of colour. I felt that the text here, needed to be neat and ledgible to provide a storybook feel, and since my handwriting is neither, it was important for the mood page!

"When I grow up..." was a probably a scrap lift from somewhere, but it left me with the love of clean lines and the commitment of telling the story. Computer fonts still played a large role for a while.

"2nd Birthday" brought home to me the use of my own handwriting to make the page feel personal. To put all the details on and not be concerned about the look of hand written text, like a birthday card. And it had to be personal when writing about that cake which took me nine hours to put the details on!!! I'm not kidding! Lol!

I know all the layouts here are of Tahlia, but I haven't been doing this craft for that long... and I'm playing catch up! But that's the other thing with the smaller size. It helps me get things completed a little bit faster! And I'm no longer bothered about doing things in chronological order!

So, thanks Leanne for the question...(simple that it seemed at first!), but it has allowed me to explore my own work and style in a little more detail, than I would, if I were just flipping through pages in an album.

I hope you enjoyed looking at some of my work on a bigger scale!

Post no. 100...

Woo hoo! Here we are in blogger-world, at post number 100. And you would think that I'd have something exciting to say but....in my real world, not a lot has been happening. It has been a really slow week. No ballet and very little hockey. And before we know, we will be in school holidays mode again.

Ethan has been unwell (not that you'd know during the day) and I have had hay-fever that has been driving me insane.

But in this slow week I have managed to create another two layouts.

This one is the Weekly Challenge at Scrapboxx. We had to use an older, imperfect photo. These ones were taken in Tahlia's first bedroom. I wanted to record this special moment for her and also those bright pink walls!

And this layout was part of my "7 layouts in 7 days" challenge. The journalling on "Dancer" implies how much Tahlia loves to dance and on any given day, this is what you will find her doing. Especially in the back garden.

Perhaps next week, something more exciting will happen...if not, then I'll have to be creative and make something up!! LOL! TFL.

Create...

Just a few layouts that I have completed over the week-end.

One of Liam at 17 weeks old. Journaling says: "Liam, I don't mind being exhausted...You are worth every minute of the sleepless nights..." I have used some more of Belinda's RAK on this layout.

And here is that same boy, several years later. In fact that photo was taken last month. This is a scrap lift of one of Fran Tynan's beautiful creations. Journaling says: "Liam Jacob, you like to have fun and mess around, always making silly noises and facial expressions."

And finally one of Ethan playing with his favourite thing at the moment. Play-Doh. Journaling says: "It really is the simplest of things. You love to push your fingers through the soft dough and make all sorts of wonderful shapes!!"

TFL.

It's Father's Day, every day...

...or so my Mum says! But we may as well make it official today. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! That's a shout out not only for Mark...who is a wonderful dad to his kids and couldn't love them any more if he tried...

...but also to my Dad. The old bushie that he is. Yes Dad I just called you old. And yes, I even said it on Father's Day!

...and of course, there's my Father-in-law....Hmmmm. I could get really even with some of his joking around...but will just post a photo he didn't want here instead!!

Happy Father's Day! We love you heaps!

Lusi's challenge...

Okay, so this is a dodgy pic taken at 9.30pm after a super fast challenge with Lusi and friends! Hi girls! Thanks for the challenge. Here it is. Must have red: check. Must have star shape: check. Must have fabric: check. Must have vertical title: check. Did I miss anything?!

Twinkle, Twinkle Super Star. My first attempt at a 6" x 12" layout! (Chat inspiration!)

Journaling says: "Ethan, one of your very favourite nursery rhymes @ 2 1/2, is Twinkle, Twinkle little star..." I will replace photos with better one tomorrow. TFL.

*EDIT* new "clean" photo's have replaced others!!