Show us your stuff April challenge

April is almost over but there's still plenty of time to join in a few scrapbooking challenges. Of course I recommend SUYS. It would be wrong of me not to! This month the challenge is to get creative with stamps.

Since the prize is some fabulous Stampin Up products, I decided to break out some of my new SU supplies.

The inks, stamps and the paper are all current SU products. The little bag, doily, flower and flair are from D-lish Scraps, the other embellies (except for the Charms Creation luscious lollipop and veneer person) are from CTMH. 

Thanks for popping by to take a peek. Can't wait to see your creation - remember it doesn't have to be a LO. Why not make some cards or a canvas? Don't forget your handmade item! 

SBT50 November Challenge

The SBT50 challenge this month was a fab mood board. I loved the colours and they worked perfectly with my Scrappy Canary October kit. It even included pineapple paper!

So, here's the mood board:

And my take:

And some close ups. The doily came in my pocket letter (a swap being run over at Scrapping Clearly) from Jen Hall, the camera diecut was part of the kit and that's a Flutterby flair.

I also added a Charms Creations chevron in two shades of pink, a fabulous glittery cog from Burdy's Embellies and a cute heart button I've had since the dawn of my scrapbooking life.

Thanks for stopping by. Tomorrow is a new month and that means new challenges :)

Charms Creations November Challenge

Angus and his friends are taking part in November to raise money awareness for prostate cancer. So the Charms Creations challenged seemed like a perfect match.

Unfortunately as Angus isn't a hairy dude, there hasn't been a lot of mo action! Our weekly progress photo showed little progress so Angus used snapchat to create a mo every man would proud of!

Some close ups. I used a Charms Creations pink and denim arrow.

Part of the challenge was also to use a mo that Charm had included as a little extra in her October orders, I painted this one yellow so it match my LO and the quirky water colour zebra just seemed to suit the page!

Such a fun challenge!

SUYS DT reveal

This month's challenge at Show Us Your Stuff is travel themed. All of the design team's creations have been revealed on the blog so I thought I'd share mine with you and encourage you to give it a go!

So, this is the challenge:

And this is my LO. I chose to use a screen shot I took during the time Zoe was missing after Cyclone Pam. She was trending on Twitter and was the top news story on many newspaper sites. This particular one was the Sydney Morning Herald. I took the screen shots because I thought she'd like to see them when she was found safe and well - I never allowed myself to think we might not get her back in one piece.

My title uses a very popular travel word tropical and I also added nightmare - probably quite another fairly common word used to describe a less than perfect holiday lol. The green paper is a topographical map. My handmade items are a Rainbow Splendour Bow and two Burdy's Embellies arrows.

I also added a D-lish Scraps kraft mini bag and tag, some enamel dots and a random selection of brads stickers from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by. Let me know if you have a go at the challenge. Happy creating!

Simply Delicious!

I loved the black and white just add paper kit from D-lish Scraps this month. It was perfect for a fun photo of my daughter and her boyfriend at their formal last year. I based my LO on the sketch provided too.

And here's a close up of the gorgeous embellies that were included in the kit. And I have heaps left over that I'm sure to put to good use.

I also completed two challenges from the current D-lish cybercrop. Challenge two was to use white space. A boy and his dog :) I used a new grey cloud from Charms Creations - love it!

I also love the D-lish Scraps tags as they're really versatile and come in lots of great colours.

The other challenge I completed was Challenge four - a sketch by the ever-fabulous Sue Plumb.

I altered the sketch slightly as I had three smaller photos I wanted to use of Angus blowing out his Birthday candles.

I used some D-lish scraps feathers and a doily as well a Charms Creations chevron.

I then added some extra details using a new embellishment pack from CTMH that has lots of lovely bits and pieces in gold, brown and black. I then finished the LO off using some sparkles and sequins that I got in my pocketletter from Jen Hall. She sent a mix of blue and gold bits that were just perfect - thanks Jen!

I had the best intentions of doing all four cybercrop challenges but I just didn't make it. Oh well the next crop starts tonight with four new challenges - I can't wait!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're looking forward to a fabulous weekend filled with love, laughter and all the good stuff.

Grief and moving on

My life has changed dramatically in the past 18 months and not necessarily for the better. There are things I'll never get back. No more motor bike or horse riding, no running, stair climbing or even standing up without effort. I've lost my higher brain function, my ability to walk without a cane, my career and so much more. Sure, some of these things will eventually return but when is anyone's guess.

Yet through all this time, as I've watched myself unravel and disappear before my eyes, I've been told the strangest things by all manner of people - you're young and fit (when I was lying in a hospital bed unable to move), you'll be fine (when I had to go back for a second procedure), so many other people are worse off than you (I had no idea it was a competition), how lucky you are (when I had to extend my sick leave because I couldn't yet drive or walk) and the biggest stinker of them all - everything happens for a reason. Please!

I read an interesting blog post today on that very topic. Tim Lawrence wrote a compelling piece about living with pain and how everything doesn't happen for a reason. Sometimes bad stuff just happens, there is no life lesson to be learned, the person isn't better off for the experience. It's simply bad. Horrible even.

I realise now I've been grieving for my old life, my easy mobility, my quick wit and reliable intellect. Of course I have, it's only natural. So why then am I not allowed to acknowledge this grief and why do others try to so hard to convince me that this very bad thing is actually not so bad or even good?

Probably because it makes them feel better. Probably because they have no concept of what I live with every day and you know what? I wouldn't wish that upon anyone else. But if you ask me how I am and I tell you I'm fine it's because I can see that you don't really want to know. Or worse still, if I make an effort to tell you what's going on, don't invalidate my experiences by saying 'well it's great to hear things are improving' when I've just told you the opposite.

Of course the flip side is the core group of people who do understand and have been incredible. And I'm lucky to be surrounded by them. But still it hasn't insulated me from the worst people of all; those who believe they fit into the latter group but are actually the former. The advice givers. The ones who rush to tell you their own tales of woe and then sweep out of the room before you've had a chance to utter a word. Or the fair weather friends who simply disappear only to reappear later when they need something from you.

So, please, let me be sad for a moment, let me mourn the loss of the old me and move on to embracing the new me in my time. No, not the timing that works best with your schedule, fits your world view or matches the advice you gave me. My time, this moment right here. Now.

The worm farmer

This year has been a long hard slog. The ongoing challenges caused by the pain in my knee and hip have put a dent in my creativity. Some days I'd really like to scrap but I just can't get there. So, I've been looking for other distractions and outlets and have been having some fun in my little veggie patch. On the weekend I constructed a worm tower.

I was given this four (ok, almost five) years ago but somehow never got around to installing it. I have a vague recollection of thinking the hole was far too deep for me to dig...

Anyway we've been in this house for a year now and my veggie patch could do with a boost of wormy goodness. What's a worm tower you say? Well, it's like a regular worm farm but its tube-shaped and you bury it in the garden so all the goodness is right there where it's needed. Of course this means you don't get the worm juice but the real bonus is that in this hot dry climate the worms are nice and cool and are less inclined to die after a baking day in the sun. Conversely they're less likely to freeze in Winter either.

Zoe is currently in Norway and while taking a break from learning about the Viking ways and chasing the Northern Lights, she was very excited about the upcoming installation so, I took a series of photos and gave her a blow-by-blow update via messenger. She was very impressed by my hole digging skills. I've popped those pics into a couple of collages to share here.

Installing the tower was incredibly easy.

Step 1 - find your long-lost worm tower or watch a YouTube video and learn how to make your own, McGyver-style. Mine's from Birdies.

Step 2 - dig a hole 400mm deep. This was surprisingly easy but I was installing mine in a raised garden bed. Not the cold hard earth elsewhere in the backyard.

Step 3 - insert the tower.

Step 4 - backfill the hole, making sure all the holes are covered by soil. Only about 100mm of your tower should be above the ground.

And now for the fun part - installing your worms.

Step 1 - add about 100mm of shredded newspaper (thanks Roslyn) and wet it down.

Step 2- add your worms. the experts suggest you add at least 500 but can add up to 2000. They also say that your worms will double in population in 10 weeks. My worms came from my friend, Nikki's compost heap. They're a lovely healthy wriggly bunch. No idea how many of them there are...

Step 3 - add some snacks. This is a thin layer of kitchen scraps to keep your worms happy and well fed. I added a banana skin, the ends of some snowpeas and a pear core - delicious!

Step 4 - whack the lid on and you're done. Check back in a week to see if the scraps have been demolished. Add some more adjusting the quality accordingly. If you find your tower is a tad on the nose you can sprinkle some lime on top.

Note - If, like me, you want your worms to deal with your cat and dog's poo drop some in the bottom of the tower before Step 1. Again there are loads of YouTubing experts out there to reassure you that this an ok way to compost the poo without risking a nasty transfer of toxins to your soil or the food you're growing. If you're worried do some research or just leave out this step. One of the keener YouTubers had a series of four towers all looking after his dog's poo. He doesn't add garden scraps just more poo whenever his dog delivers!

Now skipping to the end of this process, in about six months your tower should be full of lovely composted material, worm casings and, of course, worms. Time to pull your tower out and start again in a new location. Feel free to recycle your worms!

Happy worm farming!