The Scrapbook Store | Project Life...

Hello Friends!  Today I am sharing my last project using The Scrapbook Store dt kit for August.  The new Little Yellow Bicycle: Makin' The Grade focuses on back-to-school.  And since I am dreadfully behind with my project life I thought I would put together my Week 5.  Yep.  I am that far behind!!! LOL!  Good thing I have my other blog where I write it all down until I can put it together in my album.

"Project Life - Week 5"

products used: pp - LYB, Becky Higgin's PL filler cards; alpha - Jenni Bowlin Mini Chalkboard, Kaisercraft alphas, Collage Press Alphas; other - LYB: canvas stickers, tear-out tickets, chipboard shapes; Jenni Bowlin flag banner, Crate Paper stickers, 2Crafty chipboard, brad, vellum; tools - machine stitching, typewriter, printer.    

This was the week where we had no electricity for four days straight.  Even thought the sports ground at the bottom of our street was supplied with power and our neighbours 200m down the road were living in luxury!! LOL! I can smile about it now but at the time... sigh... It was a frustrating week for sure.

 

We were cut off from most of the local area once again because of the flooding in our area.  This time caused by Ex-tropical Cyclone Oswald. 

The kids were meant to start back at school for their first day after the Summer holidays but due to flooding some schools had closures and other didn't.  Tahlia was one of the lucky ones!  The boys made it to school.  A little harassed from the 15 minute notice we were given, but none the worse for wear!  *grin*

We had to go to friends houses for warm showers and to iron school uniforms and work clothes.  I truly appreciate them allowing us to intrude into their space at such a time.

This year we have a high schooler!  Grade 8 and incredibly nervous about the change to her schooling environment.  And while we had a lot going on, I didn't actually have the time to focus on taking photos.  I had bigger things to do - like entertain bored and stir-crazy children inside a house they were all sick of looking at!  Quite a hard thing to do when they couldn't go outside to play, because of the rain and it was too dark and gloomy inside due to no power.  *grin* I've documented a lot of the emotions of the week and tucked them all into a vellum pocket on off-cuts from the LYB patterned papers.

 

 

 

left side..



right side..

I've included a note from Ethan's teacher that came home in that first crazy week of back-to-school.  It pulls out to reveal the whole note and class agenda for the term.

I've incorporated a number of LYB embellishments on this spread, such as the canvas stickers, tear-out tickets and chipboard shapes.  The clock has to be one of my faves...

..and the back pack is pretty cute too..

If you would like to get your hands on any of these Little Yellow Bicycle: Makin' The Grade products, please check out The Scrapbook Store.  Thanks so much for visiting and letting me share a little of my PL..x

 

A little update | floods...

Hi Friends.  Just letting you know that we are experiencing some flooding in our area at the moment.  Nothing disastrous and scary like the 2011 floods but we have been without power/electricity for the last 22 hrs.  The water here is running off quickly but I thought I'd share a few photos of it around our house...

We live in a semi-rural area with a few little creeks on either side of us.  We are up on a slight rise so there is no danger of water flooding into our house.  These photos show that the water here is much lower that two years ago... see this blog post >>here<<.  But the rain and the wind were quite fierce this time around.  And all thanks to ex-tropical cyclone Oswald.

We are thinking of all the people who are and will be affected in the coming days, by this weather in Brisbane, Ipswich, Bundaberg & Gladstone.  I'm sure the "mud army" will rally once more even though so many Queenslanders are flood weary at the moment.

Thanks for visiting..x

Create = Therapy...

Does it feel weird to be moving on with things when there is so much devastation on my doorstep? To me, yes. It is so hard to comprehend. Honestly. I know some people are starting to become desensitized to the sight of a raging river, but it still makes my heart hurt. And my head hurt, just trying to understand this disaster.

But Queenslanders are stoic people. We will bounce back. And bounce back strong. Because we have a wonderful spirit as Australians and it amazes me how something such as craft, paper or otherwise, is being used to help others in need.

This wonderful lady, Sharryn Thomson, has started a blog called "The Rising Waters Flood Appeal for Crafters". There's a call out to all crafters to donate their time and talents to creating projects for the people who have lost everything in this chaos.

Kaisercraft has donated a $100 voucher to be awarded as a ticket draw prize, to a person who gets involved in the appeal. Their challenge is "For every item contributed to the appeal, we'll issue a ticket in the draw for a $100 Kaisercraft gift voucher. However to be eligible for the draw we ask that you use mostly Kaisercraft products."

The Toowoomba Kaisercraft outlet was affected by the flash flooding and they are getting involved too. So please check out this appeal and if you can help, I'm sure it will be most gratefully accepted.

It is my blogging week at Kaisercraft and I wanted to share my projects with you here because as my blog title suggests, creating = therapy. (Thanks for that one LJ!)

These projects are created using the gorgeous new "Love Notes" collection.

{Mini Rock Eisteddfods}

{Love} album

To see more, head on over to Kaisercraft. Thanks for visiting....x

ps - I will post my Storyboard Kits layouts tomorrow! LOL!

*We are safe*...

Hello everyone. I just wanted to respond and say thank-you to all the numerous e-mails, sms texts, facebook comments and phone calls we received yesterday regarding our situation here with the floods in Caboolture. I know our family and friends overseas and in the northern parts of Queensland, were very concerned. But thankfully, we are safe.

Because I want to record these moments in our lives I will try to document what happened with "Our Little Family" as events unfolded yesterday. After all, that's what I do here! LOL!! Words and photos right!

Late Monday night we went to bed with shocking and horrifying images of the Toowoomba images fresh in our minds. I was so worried and concerned for my friends up there with the devastating flash floods up on the hill. Yes. On the hill. By now everyone knows about what happen. It is world wide news.

Unimaginable.

Just let me clarify, that we were never and currently are not in danger to that magnitude. Even though we received the National Emergency text.

"Immediate Flash Flood Warning from SES for Caboolture, Burpengary Areas. Very high water levels in Rivers and Creeks. Seek higher ground NOW."

Frightening? Most definitely when you have four children aged 10 and under in the house.

We woke yesterday morning to the crack of lightning and the boom of thunder. Massive thunder. Water was already streaming down our street.

We are in a situation here that because we live on a bend in the road, this time with the heavy rain the gutters are not able to cope with the downpour. The road yesterday, became a river and it was headed straight to our front door.

I didn't want Mark to go to work. He works for the Brisbane City Council right on the Brisbane River. At this point even if it were urgent for him to get to work, he couldn't. The minor roads around us were cut by rising waters.

Fortunately it didn't get any higher than our front door. But the water was rising in our backyard.

The overflow drain pipe beside our property was gushing. It could no longer direct the flow of water let alone hold it. The debris along our fence line seem to act as a small barrier and dam it for a while. But breaks in it allowed waterfalls to pour freely into our backyard.

We went back to the television to see what was happening and saw even more destructive images of Toowoomba, Helidon, Grantham and surrounding areas.

I called my friend Leanne, very concerned for her welfare and her young family's safety. I also suspected she would know the situations of other online friends. Thankfully she was safe.

The next little while was a blur. I was glued to the tv, watching images of everything happening and frantically wondering about the constant heavy rainfall here.

We were in front of the tv when a brief "breaking news" story hit the airways about Caboolture. All I heard was "Caboolture needs to be evacuated NOW. Do not hesitate to leave. Get out now. " And then the power went out.................. Just like that. Seriously.

Mark went out to check on our neighbours and to see if they had heard more about the situation. I started to back some bags to go along with the emergency kit I'd already put together. During this moment of panic, Leanne sent me a text to see how I was holding out. Little did I know when I spoke to her earlier what was coming for us.

Our neighbours had one of their boys at Summer School. They had gone for a drive to see what was happening out and about. They took their camera with them and took some amazing photos. At this point they were also concerned about getting their son home and went to collect him early, managing only just, to get home. They were all with us when the emergency text came through.

By the time we got this message though, we had no where to go.

Towards Elimbah...

These guys risked it. I wasn't about to take my children through fast flowing water. Many got caught and had to be towed out by one of our neighbours who owns a semi-trailer. He had to go through water up to the truck's headlights! Even 4x4's got caught.

So we waited it out. On our own little island on high-ish ground. The power came back on after a few hours. Thankfully Cam slept through most of it. The rain eased in the afternoon and by 10pm last night, the waters had started to recede.

This morning amazingly, we have no rain. It's not clear skies but at least the roads have been opened. We were able to stock up on a few groceries, as did everyone else in the shire!!! LOL!

So thank-you again to all those who sent messages of concern. I'm absolutely certain that my story is insignificant to the thousands of others who have lost lives, property, family members and even pets. My heart goes out to them. The devastation is wide spread. I can only hope and pray more survivors are found and the destruction is not as tremendous as is predicted by the experts. Please keep the victims in your thoughts and prayers. We will need all the help we can get in the coming months.....x

Rainy days = create...

Lately we have been doing a lot of this...

...just waiting for the rain to pass...and watching the water build up and up around our house...

See this water above ^ ? Well it backs up here, in our backyard before going through the trees....

...and comes out here.

A fair amount of water fell yesterday! AND we are up on a bit of a hill! But we are lucky. The amount of devastation in Queensland at the moment is phenomenal. And we are hopefully, fingers crossed, not going to be affected. Flood waters are coming our way though...just because they have no where else to go. The local rivers have cut the roads and swamped bridges.

So we are back and forth to the window at the moment, wondering when the rain is going to pass. With one eye on the rain and the other on the water levels, forgive us if we go a bit cross-eyed!

The good news? I've been scrapping! YAY!! A week's worth for Kaisercraft and played lot with the new Giselle kit for Storyboard (now sold out).... those layouts (4) I can share tomorrow. Today I can share this layout for Kaisercraft, created using the fabulous new line "Love Notes".

{Family}

It's rare that we have a photo altogether as a family, (thx Cindy!!) because I am usually the one behind the camera. As mentioned previously, I do want more of these photos! And I am still trying to get at least one shot for this month! LOL!!