Living it large

It's been a busy few days. On Friday Rob and I celebrated our 16th Wedding Anniversary - check out just how young we were on that day all those years ago!


Rob not only sent me flowers, he also dedicated the latest edition of song of the week to our youth - check it out here: http://robwoozle.blogspot.com/ it made me smile :)

Then Saturday started waaaay too early with a photo shoot at Old Parliment House to farewell the Pedals 2 Perth riders - I was the photographer as Rob was one of those being photographed. The Canberra Times published one of my photos, so that was pretty cool, even if they did leave off the credit - grrr!

Then Sunday saw me again getting up in the wee small hours to compete in my first triathlon - now don't get too excited it was a team event and I did the 400 metre swim. This is me and my team mates - the Triple Threats (racing for Team Telstra - I was the ring-in lol).

For some reason the weather saw fit to change from hot to cold overnight on Saturday so it was freezing at the lake edge. That's me shivering in purple.



And here's the obligatory action shot as I came out of the water. Hmm, maybe a fake tan and some sit-ups are in order!!



And one last shot of Nerida - who was to blame for me being there in the first place - and I after we'd tagged our riders and spat out the lake water :) Nerida's team was called the The Pensioners and she may have 20 years on me but she still beat me out of the water (just).


And if all of that wasn't enough excitement for one weekend when I checked my email this morning I discovered I'd come second in the Scrapability Sketches comp - woohoo! Such a great site with lots of warm, friendly people. Here's the layout I did for round three.


And that (as they say in the classics) is that! TFSB - have a great week :)

An award.

Julie, my fabulous friend and amazing scrapper has bestowed me with an award - my very first - lol at the name :)


Now of course, as with anything, there are a few rules....

1. Answer these questions...you can only use ONE word!!!
2. Pass this along to 5 of your favourite bloggers!
3. Alert them that you have given them this award!
4. HAVE FUN!!!

1. Where is your mobile? bag
2. Your hair? messy
3. Your mother? Mary

4. Your father? Bob
5. Your fave food? brie
6. Your dream last night? spacey
7. Your fave drink? champagne

8. Your dream/goal? success
9. What room are you in? dining room
10. Your hobby? scrapbooking
11. Your fear? magpies
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? holidays
13. Where you were last night? home
14. Something that you aren't? tight
15. Muffins? now?
16. Wish List Item? coffee table
17. Where did you grow up? Raven St
18. Last thing you did? washing
19. What are you wearing? jewellery
20. Your TV? off
21. Your Pets? furry
22. Friends? fun
23. Your Life? cruisey
24. Your Mood? fine
25. Missing Someone? no
26. Vehicle? scooter
27. Something your not wearing? shoes
28. Your fave store? scrap
29. Your fave colour? green
30. Last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? hmm?
32. Your best friend? pass
33. One place that I go to over and over? Satis
34. One person who emails regularly? Rob
35. Fave place to eat? Pho Quok

Now five people huh? Ok I'm choosing some lovely girls that visit me here but not Moi (cos she said she doesn't like awards) and not Krissy cos she's already got one of these :)

1. Lana
2. Marie
3. Kerryn
4. Marisa
5 Hilde

Now onto some blog give aways.

The first is from the very cool and funky Hilde over at Scoobie's Lil Blog. She'll be counting down the days to Christmas with a blog candy draw each day - how cool - a scrappy advent calendar :) You could win some of this gorgeous stash - go on - check it out!


The next is from that fabulous flower chick Krissy.


Krissy now has an etsy store - so much flower goodness to be had. You can find her here: Etsy Store: My Vintage Blossoms

Why not add the link to your blog? - You'll go into the draw for a prize pack of your choice - how cool - you can never have too many flowers :)

Hmm - you still with me? Good, cos I have a couple of scrapping shares. I had a lovely day yesterday and whipped these up for a couple of the challenges over at Challenge Heaven.

I'm really please with how this one turned out. I used a Bo Bunny Christmas pp as the base (I love all of the 'plain patterned paper' in this range) and the rest is a mix of bits from the Kim Archer retreat - leftovers from a kit and my lucky dip. The colours were perfect with Zoe and the ironing board cover lol.


The second one is about the retreat itself - pics of me and all of the team - it was so cool to meet them IRL - I felt like a bit of a stalker knowing so much about them but never having met them - Mardi and I started it but all then all the girls said I could be their stalker friend (except Kim who told me not to be naughty lol) - in a nice way of course!! I'm also really pleased with how this LO turned out - I used another piece of Bo Bunny, which is kind of weird as I don't really have very much of their stuff, and some bits from a CIS kit. I'm not sure how clearly you can see it but on the right side I've used a fabric tag. The actual tag was made by the oh-so funky Mel Nunn and I decorated it as part of her make and take at the retreat. Cool huh?! I bought three more tags at the market stall and I'm looking forward to tarting them up :)


So, another looooong post - just making up for my blogging drought! Thanks for stopping by. I'm off to walk my hound before it gets too hot - enjoy your day chickies :)

Like sand through an hour glass...

Wow these days of my life have just been whizzing by! Can it really be three weeks since I posted here? So much has been happening but yet nothing at all so I think rather than trying to catch up all that lost time I'll just begin again from this moment.

Right a photo to share :) In the midst of the chaos that has been my life I attended the Kim Archer retreat - oh wow, it was awesome! I can't wait for next year. I haven't photographed any of the beautiful creations I made but I do have a couple of photos to share.

That's Kim and me - my version of the traditional sporting hero pic lol. This next one is of Moi, me and two fabulous girls we met - Delinda and Lisa - they were a hoot - so glad I met them :)

Much of my time has been eaten up by mother-sitting (her new knee is better than the old one but still wearing in...) but I've managed to do a couple of LOs.

This one uses the latest CIS sketch and features some gorgeous new Christmas products as well as a doily and some shimmerz (olive branch) and glimmer mist (coffee shop) - I love their names!

I entered a sketch competition over at Scrapability Sketches and the pace has been killing me! Here is my first LO. I took these pics of Angus and I when we went out for dinner - just the two of us. When I looked at them I couldn't believe how much he looks like me.


I won't post my second LO as I only have an extremely dodgy night time shot - maybe I'll take another pic sometime... probably not... so here is a LO I did for Moi's challenge over at SOUL - you couldn't use alphas (not even the teeny adornits).


And one last one before I go - this was for Karen's shaping up challenge at CIS - use zigzags. I used lots of them but you can't really see them in the pic - oh well you get the idea - Zoe rock climbing in NZ.


Thanks for taking the time to stop by - sorry to all of you who thought I had abandoned my blog ;) - life can be crazy sometimes!

PS My lovely friend Julie gave me a blog award - I haven't forgotten and will post it and my answers next time.

Take the long way home...

...believe me I did!

Late on Wednesday night I decided to go to Brisbane to spend a few days with my sister. With Rob's blessing I booked some flights and on Friday morning off I went for three days.

I had a fabulous time - Anne and I did some very successful clothes shopping, ate out, went to the craft fair, walked over the new foot bridge, ate prawns, supped champagne, talked and laughed and laughed some more. I also got to visit Andrew's classroom and watch both boys play a great game of touch football.

BUT my flight home took six hours instead of the usual one and a half. Storms in Canberra caused the pilot to pull out of the landing at the last minute (we were about a metre off the runway when he suddenly pulled the nose up and flew out of there!). We ended up being diverted to Melbourne, put on another plane (one with superior technology that could land in poor visibility) and then we flew back to Canberra. Home safe and sound at last :) Rob was the one I felt really sorry for. He was waiting at the airport for me and it took an hour for Qantas to tell him what was what - gorgeous man that he is, he then came back again to collect me at 10pm.

And now for some scrapping shares :)

This one is for Moi's challenge over at SOUL but I used fabulous products available from the CIS store. I love the ribbon! The pics are of Angus and his cousin Rory being a tad naughty at Granma's house.


The next two I did as part of the Wicked Princesses CC - this one was based on the Krissy's sketch. NZ grandma took these photos while the kids were visiting her in April.


I had to use bling for this next one - I think I got a bit carrried away lol. Not sure the cluster is exactly what I was hoping for! Never mind I did to get to use two of Krissy's fabulous poppies :) These photos of Zoe first thing on her 13th Birthday make me laugh - look at those bleary eyes - luckily she thinks they're funny too!

I'm not expecting to have a lot of scrapping time during the rest of the week as my Mum had a knee replacement yesterday. The operation went well - she was up walking on a frame this morning but the drugs have really knocked her around - not surprising considering she's 74 next week. She'll be spending her Birthday in rehab. I'm hoping she'll be a bit perkier tomorrow :)

TFSB but one last thing before you go - have you checked out the latest Lime Tart challenge? I do like a good recipe! Oh and the prize I was boasting about arrived - it was awesome!!

Scrapping Sunday

So, I've got loads of scrappy shares today. But before I start I've got a photo to show you - Zoe learning life skills!

Crazy, I know, but she asked if she could do some ironing - who am I to deny a girl her entertainment? She did three items and decided she'd learnt enough about ironing - now that's more like it ;-)

First up a couple of LOs using some photos I posted recently. Here's Angus and his burger - based on Krissy's CIS sketch. Don't forget you'll be in the running for a lovely scrappy prize if you do a LO based one of the October sketches and post it in the forum before the end of the month.


This next one features the kids in their new bike helmets :) I did it for the Challenge Heaven numbers challenge. Every time I look at that expression on Angus' face it cracks me up!


Next is my creation from the virtual CIS Girls' Night In speed scrap. It was based on a sketch by the very talented Karen - she has an amazing eye for layers of ribbon and trim.

Janina made the journalling block for me using a new stamp from the US. Unfortunately it didn't show up in the pic but it has a gorgeous flourish on it that I highlighted with some bling. :)

I did this LO while I was at an actual GNI. We had a fabulous time. I laughed so much that my stomach hurt. Thanks for a wonderful night girls :). We took some great photos too - I'm planning on scrapping them later today so I'll share them another day.

I really love how this LO turned out. Rob has finally decided to do his scooter course (he's there right now) so yesterday we went to buy him some gear. He was very chuffed to get a groovy orange helmet. I fear that I may never get near my scooter again once he has that Learners' Permit!

I used my latest Scarlet Lime kit and the die cut is from Creative Memories - they have five different and equally fabulous shapes to choose from!

And to the last one. I started it a couple of weeks ago and then couldn't find it anywhere. I finally found it again on Friday. It's a just-because LO featuring a just-because photo from 2003 - this time I look at the expression on Angus' face and smile rather than laugh! I'm a bit disappointed with how it photographed though. The colours are much stronger IRL and you probably can't see that I stamped on the numbers using paint and bubble wrap and the little circles are flocked. Oh well...
I'm midway through a challenge for the Wicked Princesses Birthday cc and I want to have a go at least one of the great monthly challenges over at SOUL so I'm going to be a busy little scrapper for the rest of the month. I got 70 photos printed yesterday and a pile of pics always makes me itchy to scrap.

TFSB and for all your lovely comments - it's always very exciting when people let me know they've been visiting :)

Winners are grinners

Woo hoo - I won the Tuesday Challenge over at Lime Tart - how cool :) Big thank you to lovely Lime Tarts! Now, if you'd like to be a grinning winner too, hop over to their blog and complete the new challenge - go on click on the blinkie on the left of my blog and you too could be sporting an ear-to-ear grin :)

No scrapping shares today - the only LO I've done this week is for the CIS sketch blog so make sure you check it out on Friday.

One of the reasons for my low output is that my scrapping space morphed into the TV studio for the Sunset program. Yes, the dynamic duo of chaos and mayhem combined creative forces to bring us Sunset - half an hour of news, current affairs and an audience quiz (Rob beat me by a whisker). This picture shows the whole set - the bits of paper spell out Sunset. Note they both have laptops and glasses of water.

Here they are in close-up, complete with ear pieces!


It was such a funny show - Zoe was the serious newsreader and Angus was the zany sports reporter. Apparently they'll be back with a whole new program on Sunday - I can't wait :)

TFSB xx

A bit of a tart...

Did I get your attention? Oops sorry if you were hoping for a bit a juicy gossip - this is my entry for the Lime Tart Challenge :) I've long been a lover of Lime Tart - they have fabulous kits, jam packed with scrappy goodness. This year I lashed out and subscribed to the Greedy Tart and so far I haven't met a kit I haven't fallen for ;) Anyway I digress, the real point I was meant to be making is that Lime Tart have a challenge over at their blog - create a something (doesn't have to be a LO) using at least two brands of pp (I used three but I have no idea what one of them is lol), a flower embellie and some chippie. It's a random prize but there is an extra incentive if you use some kit leftovers - so I did - some pp and the dragon fly :)


This LO was inspired (and lifted) from the fabulous Julie's puffing billy LO. I love her scrapping style! Julie and I met on online and then in person when we were roomies at the first Shop and Crop Escape. We were roomies again this year and now we're booked in for next year yay - I can't wait :) It's at a fancy new venue - looks very nice!

Recently, Mum was given a couple of photos by a friend of hers - they were taken at Government House at my Queen Scout ceremony in 1987. They are just so funny! Mum complained about the shirt Dad was wearing and told us that my brother was extremely hung-over (something I don't remember). I laughed myself silly at my hair - it was just so 1987 lol and my sisters were equally rude about themselves - oh well it's a moment frozen in time and that's why I love it - what do think?!

I won't put the other photo up - I'd taken my beret off and I had serious hat hair - a poodle could have mistaken me for its mate!

It's back to school tomorrow. So, my children are finally playing nicely together - grr typical!

Oh and a big hello to all the lovely girls who've left comments of late. It's so lovely to hear from you. TFSB :)