Thank you...

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone, for leaving such kind and supportive comments. I really, truly appreciate them all. I am slightly overwhelmed with all the love and positivity coming my way.

So, thanks. From the bottom of my heart.... xxx

WooT Woo!!!!!!!...

I am so excited!!!! I've been sitting on this news since late last Friday!!! Check this out.....

I am now a member of the Kaisercraft Design Team for 2010-2011. Can you imagine my delight and absolute shock when Alison e-mailed last week with the news? I think I was completely dumb-founded and even more so now, when viewing the list of super talented "baker's dozen" that were selected.

I can't wait to get started...... hee hee! *(insert happy dance here)*

These are the layouts I submitted....

{PONY}

{The Cupcake}

{Accessory}

And my Beyond The Page project...

{Free standing timeline}

And my attempt at a card..(*ahem*)...

Sorry if this is at all boring, but like I said...I'm so excited! And it is actually nice to post some complete layouts up here for a change.... rather than all those sneak peaks I have shown lately! Thanks for visiting and your continued support...x

Photo-a-day...

One of my many reasons as to why I DO NOT clean the windows on a daily basis! It's clearly a losing battle...

*sigh* Now they have Cam doing it too! LOL! And not to mention the dog, who likes to have his turn from the outside!!!

Sports Day 2...

Phew! Another sport's day over! And the reality of it is...I am too exhausted to even blog about it! (Trust Cam to have two incredibly unsettled nights...poor baby has tooth numbers 2, 3 & 4 poking through at the same time!)

Miss T had a great day. She participated in all events. And even though her nerves somewhat got the better of her at times...

...she put 100% effort into every event! I love that about her...x

And I must add a special thanks to Uncle Ian who raced across several suburbs to be supportive of several nieces and nephews who just happened to have their Sport's Day fall on the same day!! hee hee... Good luck next year, when there will be more of them at school! :)

Sports Day 1...

Today is Liam's sports day at school.

Tomorrow is Tahlia's.

This means two days of being well and truly organised. Two days of having not just two lunch boxes at the ready, but four. Two days of packing and having a baby pram nearby. Two days of restocking a nappy bag and bottles and have extra clothing handy. Two days of having that said pram, nappy bag and all the paraphernalia that travels with you, being pulled in and out of the car. And two days of praying for the mental strength and stamina to juggle a crying bubba in one arm, keeping a four year old within sight and manage to take some photos so I can remember the day when it is all said and done! LOL!

But that's what this day is all about right?!

It's a test for all Mum's who want to support and encourage their kids...even though they don't necessarily come in first. Or even second! LOL! hee hee...

A test about commitment. To say that I was there, to cheer you on. To give you a big squishy hug at the end of your race. And to be your very own cheer squad and number one fan!

That's what I love about this day (and tomorrow). That even though it would have been easier to drop you off at school and wish you well before driving back home, I was there. With you. To share your excitement and disappointments. Calm your nerves. And participate in team spirit. We were good sports together.

Love you Liam. You ran a great race today....x

ps - I don't want to offend anyone with my ramblings... I am very aware that some Mum's don't get the opportunity to do as many things as they like with their kids... I just wanted to document my frustrations about a hectic morning and remind myself, why I do this. :) It will all go down on a layout at some point. Of that I am sure! Take care...x

Create...

Woo HOO! I can finally share a full layout! It feels like it has been forever, but here's one from Inspired Blueprints....sketch #50.

Hhmmmm! I think I have a thing for this colour combo at the moment. LOL!

{He's a Human Vacuum}

j: now that he's mobile, all sorts of bits and pieces get sucked up into his mouth! We all need to be extra careful as to NOT dropping things on the floor...as Cam is ready to pounce.

Thanks for visiting..x

Create & a Happy Birthday...

The Journal Challenges prompt will be up soon and I just wanted to share this little sneak peek...

I seem to be sharing a lot of these sneak peeks lately, hopefully I can show you a layout in full, very soon...hee hee...

I also wanted to share my latest photo-a-day's for the month of June. My last post was on Saturday, so the following will be...

Sunday....

Monday....
(Our niece Moriah & Cameron - 4 mos age difference)

and Tuesday...

And finally I wanted to wish our gorgeous little niece, Leah, a very happy second birthday today. Hip, hip, hooray!! And our dear friend Lorraine (for who a lot of these blog posts and photos are for... ) also celebrates a birthday today. We hope both Leah and Lorraine have had a wonderful and exhilarating day! Mwah! Mwah!

Photo-a-day...

Yesterday was a crazy/busy kind of day. I'm not sure it could get any more "fun" though! hee hee... I, of course, went to the Papercraft Expo in Brisbane and met some incredibly talented and amazing people, who were generous with their time and tolerated the slack jaws and occassional uncontrolled stares! Hee hee... I was surely in scrapping celebrity, fodder heaven!

Strangely enough, I carried my camera around all day but didn't take a single shot while at the convention. Truly I think I was too star struck to even manage! Thank-you ladies for the opportunity to meet you all, face to face...x

After coming home from a day of shopping, we all bundled up and went to our local show. It was freezing outside and I was so glad to have put in the kids beanies and some gloves for Ethan and Cameron.

We walked around side show alley looking at all the brightly lit stalls, carnival rides and exhibitions, all the while listening to the kids asking (aka.. beg!) to go on every ride and play every game they passed. They weren't that lucky. LOL!

But we did try out the Ferris wheel...

...ate some dagwood dogs (as is tradition!)...

... and watched the fireworks!

As I said, a crazy/busy (long) day. But one that was heaps of fun!!!

Photo-a-day...

Cam's latest habit is to pull off his socks and chew on them until they are wringing wet!! It is very cute but as the weather gets cooler, I would really like for him to keep them on and keep his feet warm.

So today Cam is getting used to wearing "big boy boots"! (Did I just say "big boy" and "Cam" IN THE SAME SENTENCE!!!) *just breathe* LOL!

And "boots" they are... SO funny... He is still getting used to them! When he is standing, (or cruising around on the furniture really - no Mum, he is not standing independently yet!), he acts as though his feet are glued to the floor! hee hee... The weight of them must feel really strange.

I think I need to really thank Janelle for motivating me again with this photo-a-day challenge. It's these little stories that are recorded (and are going to be scrapped!) that make it so joyous for me.

Tomorrow I am off to the Brisbane Papercraft Expo and I am so excited to finally meet so many of my online friends (providing you are not the psychotic kind or have stalker-ish tendencies! LOL! Just had to throw that in there..!)...x

Photo-a-day...

I don't know if this makes me happy...

...but it sure helps when the kids aren't feeling great. Oh! And these pizza muffins help too!

Thanks for visiting...x (I've got to go now and organize a birthday party for Ethan's Invisible friend!!! LOL.. The things we do!)

Photo-a-day...

...for June, that is! First let me explain. The wonderfully talented Janelle Wind has set about a challenge for those interested, to take at least one photo a day for the month of June. Not only will this help motivate me for my Project 365 (* cough, cough...ahem!*) it might motivate me to pick up the camera a little bit more. Full-stop.... :)

Today's photo is an update on Cam. This makes me happy, to see his cute little face looking back at me.......mixed with a mild look of curiosity! LOL!! He is now 11 months old! Sheesh!!! Loves his food and adores his siblings. Even the fur-baby kind....

He is just now! cutting his second tooth, but this feels like it has dragged on for an eternity! (hence the bags under our eyes!!) He waves bye-bye, plays the most adorable game of peek-a-boo, and does some of the actions to "Twinkle, twinkle, little star". His kisses are still the sloppy open mouth kind, but no-one is complaining. He can crawl at the speed of light and he likes to be "shy" at the strangest of times! hee hee...

I think I am in total denial that his first birthday is early next month and on that note I am making a mental note to just enjoy THIS month. The month of June...x

Create...

This makes me happy too....

A scrappy sneak peek. This layout is part of a scrapping whisper which started off with Elise. I'm sure it is almost at the end of its run so it won't be long before we have a reveal....x

It makes me happy...

...to see this little bit of bright and cheeriness on a winter's day.

Especially when we have many visits to the doctor and the kids are missing quite a bit of school at the moment. *sigh* (Liam this time...)

Winter sun and bugs...

This term at school, Liam is studying mini-beasts. Fantastic, I tell you because he has had a fascination with the jumping, crawling, wriggling type for some time now. He is truly in his element (as most boys are, when it comes to spiders and insects!!!)

(warning! Cringe worthy layout about to appear!!!)

{Grasshopper?}

Yep. That's an old one. One of the first layouts I completed! LOL!..............cringe!!

Anyway....back to the story....

Have your kids ever come home with a note from class letting you know what they need to complete a project?? Have those "said" kids said to you, "Mum, I gave you a note about a WEEK ago, to let you know what I needed to build a bug catcher!!!" And did you reply with "WHAT???!!!! I beg to differ. Go and check your school bag....like, right NOW!"

And did the outcome of this scenario end up a little bit like this?.... "Muuuuuummmm! It's NOT heeeerrrrreeee! Oh! (*insert a long pause*) Sorry Mum. I thought I gave it to you. See Mum. It has a picture on it that I designed. So can you get me that stuff. Puh-Lease!"

Ggggrrrrrrrr!

So...here I am searching my stash for something that can be used as a net. Tulle, sewing machine, skewer - check. Something that can contain the mini-beasts BUT still lets them breathe. Take-away container, more tulle, rubber band - check.

double-Ggggrrrrrrr!

Liam's only saving grace was at least his request wasn't in the morning on the way to school but the previous afternoon. And then *sigh*..... Of course, Ethan wanted a "butterfly" net to catch bugs with. So out comes the sewing machine etc. again....

And his only saving grace was.... that he let me take some photos! LOL!!

Thanks for visiting!

Create...

After I set the weekly challenge at The Boxx last week, I started thinking about how I could use more of the kids art work as part of my pages. Tahlia has been home sick and I wanted to distract both her and Ethan from feeling so unwell. As part of this therapy, I dragged the paints out for them to have a play. I gave them sheets of plain paper as well as some torn book pages.

I loved this little flower she had painted. The effect was quite delicate. I knew I wanted to include it on a layout but not necessarily let it be the focus of the journaling. I mounted it onto raw chipboard and inked the edges. I've punched a hole in the top and thread a piece of string through it, so it resembles a tag. Her art has now become a unique embellishment on a page about her growing up.

{03.05.10}

journaling says: please don't be in a hurry to grow up. be a little patient and enjoy the journey..

Thanks for visiting..x

Create...

The new sketch is up over at Inspired Blueprints. The challenge given to us was also to scrap about ourselves. Just to let you all get to know us a little better. I find it very difficult to scrap me. The kids....no problem. Everyday....no problem. Bits and pieces...again, no problem. But when it comes to me, well... (just quietly, that's boring!! *snore*....) :)

So here is the sketch....
And this is what I've come up with....

I've turned it up-side down. hee hee... Please come and join us and share your work in the gallery!....x