High Tea

... to celebrate Janina's Birthday. Funny how we were all colour coordinated :)

I've been saving that handbag paper for just the right LO (or maybe just saving it). Anyway,  I was aiming for simple elegance with this one - just like the scrap girls pictured!

They say...

... it never rains, it pours! And this time they're right! First Australian Scrapbook Ideas liked something I sent them and now Scrapbooking Memories has accepted one of my LOs :) Got to be happy with that kind of atmospheric pressure!

Here's my LO for the wp cc - Kate's challenge - use a shamrock and your favourite colour or number:

Thanks for stopping by :)

I've got the power

Before Christmas, Angus was desperate to get his hands on a Powerband. All his sporting heroes were wearing them and they came in a rainbow of colours. He refused to believe that they were a gimmick and we refused to pay $50 for one!

This is didn't stop Angus' campaign to become the owner of a hot pink Powerband. It appeared on his Christmas list and every magazine ad was thrust before our faces. That's when eBay came to the rescue. $9.95 delivered from Hong Kong equals one happy boy on Christmas Day.

The other present of a subscription to Inside Sport finally proved to Angus that the Powerband held no power but that didn't stop him wearing it until it broke and ended up here:

I used some really old scenic route papers and diecuts, a couple of sass strips, some very cool MVBs and, of course, the pink Powerband.

Have a great weekend :)

A new challenge site

 

Hey people check out this new challenge site set up by Nadia Cannizzo. Sketches and journalling - fab combo! And to celebrate the site's launch, you could win this:

Nice prize! Can't wait for the first challenge next month.

I have news!

I'm a bit excited! Australian Scrapbook Ideas has accepted one of my LOs for publication :)

A couple of weekends ago I was meant to be at a scrapbook retreat. Unfortunately there was a problem with the booking and the retreat was postponed until June. Not to be defeated three friends and I booked a cabin at a holiday park up the road from my house (I had to drive for a whole seven minutes to get there lol) and had ourselves a mini retreat.

We even took a trip to a scrapbooking store, posed for a group photo and did a group challenge using the same key elements. These were the group photo, the birdy pp, a little chippy bird and a prima flower. Here's my take:

And yes, we're all wearing the same shirt lol. We had such a fun weekend - I laughed so much my jaw hurt!

TFSB :)

Blind scrap

Shop and Crop - the first online forum I ever visited - now has a Basic Grey kit of the month club. Fabbo! My first two kits arrived on Friday and I used one of them to complete the wp blind scrap. Pretty happy with how this one turned out :)

While I was trying to take a pic of some completed LOs a tennis ball suddenly appeared in shot, smack bang in the middle of my LO. I moved it, it reappeared. Here's why:


But then when I agreed to play. Sparky decided I couldn't have the ball:


Contrary dog! Oh how I love him :)

Not even a little bit Martha

In the past 12 months four people I know have died. I'm not talking about elderly people who have lived a full life, three of them were in their 40s and the fourth was newly retired and in the prime of her life. Three left behind children the same age or younger than mine. Attending the funeral of a 42 year old and seeing the grief in the eyes of her three sons and husband is beyond description. Hearing the eulogy of a person with so many things left to do affected me profoundly.

And then just as my sadness began to lift I watched Q&A - now this is not an earth-shattering event, I watch it often - but this particular episode made me boil with rage. The debate was about the representation of women on boards and the age-old argument about pay parity. It was a farce with none of the panel raising any points of note or even acknowledging the fact that woman have children and take time out of the workforce to care for them - such a simple fact, a no-brainer really - but a point never raised.

I'm not a stay at home Mum, I have a career, not a job, I'm not even a little bit Martha - hell I hadn't even heard of her until she started making punches - but I really resent the fact that society no longer acknowledges child rearing as an important and legitimate occupation.

But does this rant have a point? Yes, first I was too sad and then I was too angry and suddenly blogging was the furthest thing from my mind. For me blogging is about joy, light and laughter. It's about taking the everyday drudgery and spinning it into a story that makes people smile or if I'm really lucky laugh out loud. So, today I gave myself a strong talking to and breathed life back into my blog. I know I haven't shared a funny story but sometimes the stories that need to be told are serious if only to remind us that laughter is wonderful cure for almost all that ails us.

And now some scrappy shares, three LOs based on wp sketches.



Thanks for stopping by - normal transmission will now resume ;-)

March KIU

Just a quick post before I run out the door to the second half of Angus' cricket grand final - four hours yesterday and another four today and I wonder where my time goes lol.

Anyway here is my LO for the KIU challenge :)

I used two shades of green glimmermist and some Stampin Up papers :)

Hopefully I'll be back to later to share some of the 20 or so LOs I've done during my blogging hiatus.

Sketches and cybercropping

It's been awhile so I'll be brief but before I skip straight to the LOs here is the latest pic of my troublesome son - sans cast - hurrah! He's off to school camp tomorrow so who knows what mischief he'll get up to!


And now for the LOs - I have a few to share...

This my take on wp final February sketch. Looking at it now I think that flourish is trying to wrap itself around Rob's neck lol.

And this is my take on the first March sketch - created by the fabulous Kate :) I used some Echo Park Little Boy (shh don't tell Angus) and some bits and bobs from my handmade goody stash.

The journaling is on the yellow tag. When Angus was two we were feeding the ducks and then in flew a pelican, it zoomed straight up to Angus and grabbed the bread out of his little hand - slicing his finger open at the same time. Since that day Angus has been afraid of pelicans, posing with a painted one is as close as he'll come to the real thing.

I guess this LO is further evidence that stuff just happens to Angus. Some day I'll share the story of the boxing kangaroo...

WP had a cc on the weekend and I completed all three challenges. This one was for the speed scrap, based on another fabulous sketch by Kate.


These photos were taken of Zoë with my parents way back in 1998. It was my Mum's Birthday but Zoe was in charge of the cake and the candle. These shots are really precious as this was the year before my Dad got sick and if you look closely you can see the pure delight on both his and Mum's faces as they watch Zoë.

This is my LO for Krissy's number challenge. Angus and his friends posing at the Australia Day Fireworks :) I was inspired by one of Olivia Angel's LOs - I'm loving her creations.


And this was Kerry's challenge - scrap two photos of different birthdays, using circles and a party symbol. In the blink of an eye my red cheeked baby grew into a leggy teen.

Just in case you can't see the little cupcake here's a closeup. It was made by Mel and looks good enough to eat!


Ok, I'm done! Thanks for stopping by :)