Create...

Don't you just love a face covered in chocolate?.... I guess this is the time of year, if any, to make sure it looks really cute!! hee hee...

He could probably get away with it at anytime though! LOL!!

side note: We are having a mini break over Easter so I would like to wish all my blog readers a very Happy and Safe Easter. Enjoy your time (hopefully with family) and relax....:) I will be back on Tuesday after what I'm sure will be a thoroughly exhausting camping trip!!! {smiles}.

Take care...xx

Happy Birthday Great Grandma...

We just wanted to wish you a very Happy Birthday for your special day!!! We hope that you have a wonderful day and really wish we could be there to help you celebrate! So the best we can do, for now, is give you this Pavlova...

...and all these cuddles!

Thanks for being a wonderful Grandma and Great Grandma....

...And for showing us how to have fun!

Many Happy returns. xxxx xx (a kiss from each of us).

Outside explorer...

We have had a little sunshine this week and it has helped dry up the ground....somewhat..! LOL! It has also allowed this little guy to go outside and play on the grass (or with the grass, as the case may be...)He is also getting very cheeky, although we praise him up and tell him he is very clever, when he does this....

...or this...

...or this...
...or this...

The thing is.... How much do I encourage him? LOL! We are going camping over Easter and...... do I really want a baby who is just learning to crawl, out there among the bugs! Wish me luck with my dilemma! hee hee...

Create...

I've been busy playing and sewing in the last week. I've been wanting to create a mini-book since.... FOREVER! And I have finally knuckled down to give it a go! LOL! So be kind! hee hee...

My subject was naturally "US"...!

{Us}

Of course being ever ambitious..! LOL!! I decided I would make this mini-book out of calico.

Pages 2 and 3...
4 and 5...

6 and 7...Just a simple little book, but I used heaps of techniques such as stamping, stitching and glimmer misting! And a few current favourites as well, such as the banner.

This was quite liberating in a way. Using up some more of my stash and getting to create something fun too! I'm going to journal our current favourite things in the spaces I've left available. Thanks for looking..xx

Little faces...

These are the expressions crossing the faces of my children in the last week...


And maybe in this case....something else in the form of a chocolate biscuit, crossed his face!!

Hope you are having a week full of interesting expressions! TFL..x

16 years...

Today, Mark and I celebrate 16 years of wonderful friendship.

To say our romance was a whirlwind, is an understatement. We had only met three days before we were declared a "couple"! Love at first sight....*sigh* hee hee...

And with today, after ten years of marriage and four kiddies later, marking 16 year of togetherness, we get to think, that maybe, just maybe, we are doing something right.

Of course it might have more to do with me "letting" him think he is right! LOL!! Happy anniversary babe! MWAH...

Journal It!...

The new prompt is up at Journal It! This fortnight is all about traditions. Old or new, this is a great idea to scrap. And as Easter is fast approaching, I thought that I would scrap about our traditional Easter Egg Hunt. A favourite thing to do, especially when there are little children running about the house!

(Ethan loves his new "pink" basket! LOL!!)

Don't forget to go over and look at the amazing layouts the new team has put together. Thanks for visiting...xx.

Create...

The Weekly Challenge is now up at Scrapboxx and it's my turn to inspire. I had three elements in mind when working on this challenge and this is what I've come up with:

1. It's a big thing at the moment, sooo... I would like to see you use up some of your stash! Whatever little scraps you have lying about, it's time to put them on a page. (note: the entire page does not need to be completely created from scraps, just don't purchase anything new - use your existing stash. ie cardstock.)

2. Scrap at least 2 pictures on your layout.

3. The title must have a "catch phrase"...

This layout is about Tahlia holding Cameron when he was having a not so good moment! The reality set in rather quickly, that babies do cry. LOL!

In other news....

Tahlia received a reading award on parade today. The school is doing a wonderful job with their reading program! Today was the first time they have had such large numbers of kids getting awards, just for reading. This is not their required home readers, but about all the extra books that the kids get signed off by their parents.

Unfortunately I have no photo.

It was going to be tough carrying a baby, having a tug-of-war with the four-year-old and juggling an armful of umbrellas (yes, it's still raining!), all at the same time, that I decided the camera just wasn't leaving the house today!

Hope the sun is shining where you are today...tfl.

Yummy etsy...

It looks like Jodie has restocked her little etsy store with some more beautiful goodies! Aren't they sweet! Go and check it out...xx

Create...

Have you ever had one of those days where your kids just seem so totally inattentive and it's an uphill battle just to get them to listen????? Well, I seemed to have hit one of those walls recently with Liam. Liam and his homework! *sigh*

He's a bright kid. And he normally just gets stuck right into his daily homework assignment as soon as he gets out of the car from the school pick-up. This one week in particular was a hard one to cope with... He had clearly made up his mind, that he just didn't want to learn.

*AAaaaarrrrggghhhh!!!*

Of course this tantrum came directly from following an amazing week of Grade Two, where he received 100% on his spelling test, extension words and number facts! Looking back on the whole struggle, I now realise he was starting to get sick and in all reality, he just wanted to be outside to play with his brother...

Never the less, I felt compelled to scrap it. That's what we do as scrappers, right? Scrap the good, the bad and the UGLY! LOL!

Journalling says: "please READ and do your homework. It's all I ask. It's not that it is hard. You certainly don't struggle to find the answers. You just prefer to be outside. Plain and simple..x"

I am glad to report now though, he is back to his normal chatty self. Happy to be annoyed by Mum and her on-the-spot spelling tests! hee hee..

Scrapboxx sneak...

Here's a little sneak peek at the up coming "Book of You" (BOY) kit from Scrapboxx. It's full of delicate and pretty girly papers as well as a nice balance of masculine patterned papers too!

AND... Shock! Horror! That is a pic of me!... LOL! tfl...xx

Smiles...

Happy baby means we are feeling better...

...much better! xx

(and I managed to scrap somewhat too! In between the bouts of housework, of course!!) LOL!

The Publishing trade...

I was very excited yesterday when Christine left me a little message to congratulate me on being published in Scrapbook Trends! Well... excited was an understatement ( I think I ran around a bit and jumped up and down - you know, as you do! hee hee..)

I promptly rang my hubby at work and ask/told (that's debatable) him to run-just-run! as fast as he could to the nearest news agency and grab a copy. I couldn't go and get one because all four of my kids are sick with a nasty virus. That and the extremely wet weather wasn't going to make me drag them out in the car just to get a magazine...(well, I could have got them to do it, but hey... hee hee!)

So I patiently waited for him to ring me back after he accepted this mission! LOL! He rings me from the news agency a little while later with an armful of magazines asking which ones I have at home. He then let me know that issue 76 of Scrapbook Creations was out too! Yay! That has my layout in it as part of the sketch feature... Now I was just bursting!

Again I was patiently waiting, this time for him to get home. Of course he was late.. *sigh*! And he decided he would tease me a bit. Typical male thing. I couldn't wait to have a little look at the mags.

The thing is, I didn't think my layout for Scrapbook Trends was going ahead. All they had asked for was a photo. Not a layout. Sooo, I just thought, when they didn't get back to me, they didn't want the layout anymore! I really didn't have the time to chase it up, my mum was pretty sick at the time and the magazines often change their minds.

So when I turned to page 14, I burst out laughing! It has to be the tiniest photo ever in a scrapbook mag! LOL! Hey at least I was published right...?!

And the good thing...(apart from the belly laugh), my layout in Scrapbook Creations made up for it. The sketch challenge is a full page! But the bonus is, I had a second layout published in SC too. First time published in a big way!

And if you are remotely interested after that little spiel, here are my layouts.

Thanks for visiting..xx

Create...

It's still raining here... and the kids are still sick too. I guess the weather just isn't being very accommodating for them to fully recuperate. Oh well. One of the good things at the moment is, at least they are home and not out getting sicker in the wet weather, (which knowing Liam who can't resist puddles...) would be, if they were at school.

So we have had a few games of scrabble, some hot chocolates and a lot of lying on the couch watching tv. *sigh* I really don't like it when they get really sick like this.

I haven't done a lot of scrapping lately. But I did manage to squeeze this one in yesterday while they were all having a quiet moment...A rare thing I know!! (For all FOUR kids to have a quiet moment at-the-same-time!!!) LOL!

{Almost Outgrown}

Ethan loves this little bike. It's three wheels have had a truly amazing workout. The poor thing has travelled some distance in its day too. The bike has lasted through both of his older siblings and I'm wondering if Ethan will ever have the heart to pass it onto Cameron, when the time comes!

Anyway, I hope the weather is lovely and sunny where you are. Us, at the moment... Well we have gumboots permanently attached to our feet! LOL! Happy puddle jumping everyone..xx

Another rainy day...

What do you do on a rainy day, when your kids are home sick from school and your little ones are climbing the walls and not letting you scrap?

Well...while it's reasonably quiet... you sneak in a photo shoot! hee hee...

And because we think he is so very cute, Cam drew the short straw!! So here is an update Mum and Dad, so you can see what this little man is up to the moment.

Still playing with his tongue! And now experimenting with pulling himself up!! *sigh* What's next? A driver's license...?

Thanks for visiting..xx