Just coasting

Hello, hello! Nice to see you ;)

It's been awhile so let's cut straight to the scrappy shares - this month's sketches over at Wicked Princesses. The sketch challenge has had a makeover (it's looking hot, hot, hot!) and is now called Sketches +

So sketch #1 required the Sketch + stitching + love

Sketch#2 + paint (to be honest I forgot about the paint so I sprayed some on at the end - think it worked ok :) )

Sketch #3 + twine

Life has been busy, the kids finally went back to school and Rob and I went back to work and the days have flown by. But I'm off to the Hunter Valley next weekend for Jules' Shut Up and Scrap Retreat - I can't wait!

Oh, and have you all marked the next Vintage Blossoms release date on your calendar? It's on Monday, 20th February. You can check out all the sneaks on the Blossoms Blog or on the Vintage Blossoms facebook page. I think my favourites are these:

 or maybe these...

Happy scrapping :)

Sweet Summer Days

Hello! There is something magical about waking up on a hot Summer's day. Maybe it's the cool air and the clear blue sky, perhaps it's the hint of the scorching heat yet to come. I don't know what it is but I love it! Makes me feel glad to be alive, makes me think that the day could hold all sorts of wonderful promises, a day to be savoured...

Today was such a day, finally at the end of the long Summer holidays we got a little bit more Summer! Here's how  the day looked when the dog and I were out walking. Just perfect!

Anyway in scrappy news here are a couple of LOs I did for the Challenge Heaven cybercrop. This one was for Leah's challenge - something new (but no people).

This one was for Donna's puzzle challenge - a journalling block, a ribbon, a flower and stitching. A huge thanks to Kate and Helen for the fab embellies on the right of the photo :)

These last two are for Challenge Heaven's February challenges. This is one is Bek's obsession challenge - Angus and his cousins meeting Deano from Bondi Rescue (he is obsessed with that show!).

And this one is for Leah's make up challenge. Zoe and her friends dressed as goths on their way to the theatre restaurant during Yr 9 Band Tour. One of Leah's requirements was misting so I decided to go patterned paper free - not really sure about the end result... what do you think? The photos are funny though!

I hope you've had a fabulous day, thanks for stopping by :)

Walking on sunshine

It has been the most gorgeous sunshiny day here today, finally feels a bit like Summer :) Maybe the weather inspired me to choose yellow for my LO for Sue's white with one challenge at Scrapbooking Top 50, then again it could have been Zoe's very yellow outfit (and she had the audacity to accuse my LO of being too yellow lol). 

Even though I only used one piece of patterned paper on this LO I loaded it up with lots of other goodies - some washi tape from Sawyer's Place, a Burdie's zipper flower, a Handmade Halo cabochon, a Lovelybugs button and some fabbo flowers that Jules sent me :) Wow that list makes me want to sing "...a few of my favourite things...".

I spent some time today going through my paper stash and ended up with a big pile to donate to the local pre school. I seem to spend a lot of time tossing stuff out of my stash, I really can't think why it never gets any smaller... (yeah right who am I kidding?!).

It's going to rain tomorrow and I'm going to scrap - maybe my chosen colour will be grey to match the weather - somehow I doubt it ;)

Coasting along

January is whizzing by and that means that the school holidays will soon be over, we've had a busy time but now we have one last week to kick back and relax before the tyranny of the school routine consumes our lives once more. I'm going to savour every moment!

My decision not to plan seems to be going well, my family is organising me left, right and centre - turns out they are good planners too :)

So amongst the jet-setting and gadding about I've found a few moments to scrap. I've had a lot of fun with the basic grey kissing booth range - lovely pinks and browns with some green thrown in.

This LO is the result of Barb's blind scrap over at WP. I love Barb's style, so I was very keen to give this challenge a go. Another page for my Hong Kong album :)

This one, of my Dr Who obsessed daughter, is for Kel's sketch over SFS. I added some prima packaging and a Charm's heart as well as the cute little buttons that the ever-fabulous Jules sent me. Oh and see that little strip of star ribbon? That was sent to me by the lovely Helen of Red Earth Scrapping. She and I share a mutual fb friend who put together a sweet little swap (thanks Kate!!). It made my heart happy to get a parcel of goodies from a total stranger just because she could! Truly a random act of kindness!

Seems like I've been in the pink of late. Here's a little bit of New Zealand cousin fun - Angus and Meg enjoying the pool on a rare sunny day. This one is for Sue's sketch over at Scrapbooking Top 50.

After losing all my photos last year I decided to print a big batch of photos from Christmas and New Zealand - I only printed 200 to start with as I thought I'd pace myself lol. Truth is, it turns out that many photos can be a bit daunting, it took me a few days of admiring them to get my scrap on. But don't worry  I've tripled backed up all my photos and those back ups are hidden where no burglar will ever find them!

Time to go - thanks for stopping by and I hope your January is treating you well.

The last LO

Tomorrow we hop on a plane and zip over to New Zealand for two weeks. It's going to be great, shame the weather is both arctic and wet but what can you do? It's the land of the long white cloud after all.

I thought I'd pop in and share my final LO for 2011. I used the Get Picky sketch but missed the deadline to submit it - loved the sketch though :)

For some reason, of which none of us are very clear about, my Mum decided to give Angus a can of cream. Guess she thought he'd like it and he did! He had a fabulous time squirting it straight into his mouth :) 

It's at this time of year that everyone starts talking about goals and resolutions. I'm not big on resolutions at any time but I am a planner and I do like to have an idea in my head where my days, weeks and months are headed. But I've decided that given the truly random nature of 2011, 2012 will be the Year Without a Plan. 

That's right I'm going to see where the tide of life takes me and hope that it washes me up on the shores of happiness and contentment and that I weather the storms it brings with patience and common sense. And that in 12 months time I can look back and say I made it through another year, older, perhaps wiser but most importantly happy and healthy. 

We all live such busy lives, our everyday is spent thinking about and planning for the future, so much so that sometimes we forget to live in here and now. Enjoy the moment - squirt cream from a can straight into your mouth, it will make you smile. Then pause and acknowledge all the good things you have, hug your kids and pets, kiss your partner and then do it all again.

Happy New Year - I hope that 2012 is kind to you. xxx

Christmas past

Well Christmas was loud, fast and fun! Here's little pictorial summary :)

This year was the first year my side of the family had all been together since my Dad died seven years ago so, it was all about the cousins. All the boys bunked down in the lounge room and thought the fish was the place to hang their stockings - it's over the fireplace after all.

The girls (slightly outnumbered) and sleeping in the study found their own artwork for their stockings.

Then it was time for a bit of cousin chaos, with Granma thrown into the mix.

Christmas day saw the new slip and slide put to use - Rory insisted on using it as a bubbler much to everyone's disgust!

Here is the table(s) laid with care :)

Boxing Day saw three cousins meet one of their life saving heroes. That's Deano folks. The small Sydney cousin refused to be part of this photo, he couldn't understand the star attraction, Bondi is his local beach. And the biggest cousin had gone to work (as a lifesaver).

And that's it - bright colours, happy smiles and home again to the peace and quiet.

Hope you all had a fabulous festive day too.

LOs galore!

I had to check which LOs I'd shared and what I had in the wings. Seems I had a whole cast in the wings - oops.

Since I have no idea where to begin, I'll share the LOs I did for the Scrapbooking Top 50 cc back in November.

Thanks for stopping by - I'm sure I'll get my head back in the game at some stage...