my diary!

Love how this turned out! All made out of scraps found on my desk!

Playing with photoshop

Been playing with photoshop a bit more and came up with this after grabbing a couple of actions and ideas from atncentral.com

Been busy!

Scrapping jars,
Baking the Christmas Cake

Making a calendar

and scrapping a page!
Busy day!

So chuffed!

I am so so so so so so chuffed! My house is VERY clean! My house is so clean I want to dance about happily with a silly grin!

So now I get to concentrate on the other stuff - laundry, scrapping, working, scrapping, dishes, scrapping, etc...

hehe! THANK YOU SHARON!

Too much of a good thing?

Hehe! Might be too much of a good thing!! School offered me casual work again today - this time in the library helping with stocktake!! So I'm rather tired out, but thinking of the money!!! Especially as there's a super long break coming up with the school closed until 29 January! Anyway, too tired to say more and need to get more organised for the Christmas Carnival stall I'm having... *sigh*

Thanks to Dee and Deb!

Dee and Deb have deemed me the worthy (though I hardly feel worthy!) recipient of a Tote-ally cool tote which was accidentally sent along with theirs and which Dee's hubby brought back all the way from the good ole US of A.

Very humbled - very surprised - very happy to be the recipient! So many thanks ladies for being so very generous! Edited to add: it arrived!!! Made my day even more and I spent quite a while just walking around the house with a stupid grin on my face!

Hasn't made a lot of difference to my scrapdesk though! *blush*

First paycheque for a layout!

Yay! (happy dance)

First paycheque for a layout in a magazine!

weird sounds

Since my dentist visit my good ear is playing up. I've had tinnitus since the drill and I've noticed some extra sensitivity to noise but some extra deafness. Bit worried but will see how it goes. Not a lot can be done if there's permanent damage though - just gonna have to get used to it, I guess.

Tooth whinge & a bit of positive stuff

Well, I'm a grumpy old soul this evening. Had a wisdom tooth out yesterday morning. Spent quite a bit of the time while being drilled into tensed up and fighting - talked myself through saying "Breathe through it" and "relax and let it go". Once I did this, it was all over. I've got lingering numbness today through jaw on the left side. Hoping this will go away soon - face feels a bit... droopy.

I'm now quite happy with our life. Still room for improvement on the cleaning house front. But I'm getting past the depression and thinking of coming off the medication - maybe next year. I've fallen in love with our house and I would dearly love to buy in the area if I manage to return to full-time work. I love that I can walk the kids to school, love that I can walk up the street and buy fresh fruit & vegies, and love that I can walk to work and get paid just enough to support my scrapping habit. I feel embedded in my local community and have a deep sense of belonging and helping in the work I'm doing in the Uniform Shop and for the school.

Meantime, I've been doing a bit more work at Ryan's school and everyone has been most kind in giving me loads of positive feedback which is a lovely boost to the old self esteem.

Almost time to set some goals - more scrapping goals will be great. Now I've had a layout published and a second accepted in Scrapbooking Memories, I want to be published in For Keeps. Will keep plugging away!

Oh, and another bit of celebratory news - I'm the Photoshop "guru" at 3 Angels Scrapping forums!

Published!

Well, after hunting through the magazine a few times, convincing myself my layout had been "bumped", and an embarassing email to the technical editor, my layout has turned up in Scrapbooking Memories on page 37.
And I've scrapped a digital page as well - the Pink October 2Peas free kit and a Rhonna Farrer free kit...

*happy dance*

very happy to say I had another layout accepted for Scrapbooking Memories magazine!!! That's 2 now! YAY! Happy dance! Had to pull it down of course - its the Dr Suess quote with my new shoes on it...

And I finally finished my entry for the EB Scrappy Awards Best hybrid layout...

Happy Happy Joy Joy!

a baby hybrid page

A hybrid layout I did using Rhonna Farrer's 2peas "Colour my world" free kit and MME Lime Twirl papers. Love the combo and am really pleased with the layout. Lyrics of the song are from the Dumbo movie.In case you don't recognise - its Toby at 2 months.

Scrappin' and canvases

Well, even though I haven't been posting here, I have done some stuff... Altered canvas of Anne Geddes babies from a little "fairies" book just $3.99 at QBD bookstore. And the pages are thick enough to gently peel apart so you can use the images on both sides!Book of Me to do a "Behind the Camera" layout.
And did this for the Scrapniques design team application but didn't get finished in time... Still love it! :)

busy chook!

Okay, been a bit busy with the 2007 EB Scrappy Awards and organising the blog for voting. Will get back to my blog in a bit!! ;)

slacker!

Yup that's me! Been busy as a blue-bottom fly though... Lots of work on web-stuff and digital-pics, but not much scrapping!! Oh, and the uniform shop was sooooooo busy yesterday! Everyone waits til the first day of term to buy uniforms?!

Anyway, just checking in and saying we're all okay this end of the internet!

Bit of fun!

Just a bit of fun for the "My heart's desire" submissions for "For Keeps creative scrapbooking" Had a bit of a hybrid scrapping moment and a play with the camera... Hoping they like the concept! LOL

Journaling says: When my 6 year old had his 'rocket ship' layout accepted for #63, I was so jealous (and proud). Pondering the topics for the 100th time I had a lightbulb moment for 'my heart's desire'. With BG's 'FIXATE' paper and a bit of fun with the camera – this is it! October 2007

Just for Gayle

A recent photo of my darlin' eldest boy, Ryan. Look ma! TEETH!

School website up!

Very happy that the school website is now live! Looking good if I do say so myself! :)

Bl**dy exhausted

Its been a heckuva day today... Uniform shop, uniform shop stocktake and then school website for the rest of the day. Exhausting!! But I've knocked it over, so it should all be done by tomorrow afternoon!

YAY for RYAN!

Ryan's "Rocket Ship" layout was accepted for publication at For Keeps Creative Scrapbooking!!! I'm soooooooooooooooooooooo jealous!

Cake and Candles

Here's the candles

And here's Caitlyn blowing 'em out!

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

Caitlyn's 5 today! So she drew out TASH 's name from the whole 3 people who commented!And we have a new family member: Jessica the gold-fish
And Look Ma! NO GREY!

A couple of layouts

Unbelievably, I actually scrapped a layout that wasn't for a challenge anywhere - this one of Caitlyn...And this one is for a challenge and is a scraplift of one of Tash's layouts over at EB.

been a few days

Well, I don't have any scrapping to show... I've been working on the school website instead and doing a bit of admin work over at Ryan's school too. I'm STILL recovering from Sunday - can't quite manage to catch up on sleep and everything. Checked in with Ryan's teacher the other day and he's doing well at school - using up all his "good" stuff over there. He's been fairly unmanageable at home, which is quite gruelling at times.

Hopefully get some scrapping done tonight, although Wire in the Blood is showing on ABC and I just LOVE Robson Green and the cast!! So perhaps not! ;)

A little something

EDITED to say its extended!!
I threw this together just because... So I'm giving it away - leave a comment before Sunday 23 September, and I'll put names in a hat and have Caitlyn, the birthday girl, draw one out.

Caitlyn's party

We had Caitlyn's party yesterday - Princess for a day!!
Here's the little book I did up for her using my new bind-it-all!
very tired after two full-on weekends and we're up for a third with next weekend's 60th for another family member - this is what I've made for them:that's it for now!

Toby making himself heard

I'm one heck of a horrible mother! I took these of Toby at 2 weeks old wailing his little lungs out... I did pick him up as soon as I took the pictures!! The title is "Not happy Jan!"

Time to sit down for a minute!

Things have been hectic! Caitlyn's birthday party is on Sunday, and I've been playing catch-up with time all week. I'm working up a storm trying to get a few things done that I'm actually being paid for!! Hope to do some scrapping tonight!

Happy 40th Darlin'!

Know you don't want a lot of fuss but worth a mention... Happy 40th my love! Big-ticket item is a Dri-rider jacket for the bike. However, I couldn't let the day go by without a little something:

And here's the layout I did at the crop last night - Ruby Slippers (Michelle's suggested title, thank you!!) with the new Basic Grey Mellow (flavorful) paper.

Michelle's and another CC bonus!

Well, I had a lovely time at Michelle's today (and SHHHHHHHHHHHH! look what I got!!!)
Will show off the layout I did tomorrow as its too late to take a photo. And just might have to have a play with my new toy! *grin*

Also, I forgot to mention I won another prize for the Cyber Crop at 3 Angels... For the father's day mini-album I did in the heart tin. Voted by the 3AS girls, so THANK YOU ladies!

Cute girl...

Here's my girl all dressed up for school! I needed a model for the uniform so I can make a poster - she fits the size 8 summer dress right now!!! And she's SOOOO excited to be going to school next year. This is one of the photo rejects (can't see the shoes enough)
And here's a layout I worked on today after digging through loads of photos to find a different one of me!! Edited: added some inking around the arrows and moved the green flower on the right a bit more off my face.

Scraplift myself!

Heike Brennan's September Challenge over at 3 Angels is to scrap a layout about a challenge you have had to face. This is my layout (sans stitching OOOPS!):Text reads: learning to be comfortable in my own skin, growing into motherhood, has been a long, winding road. I'm not quite ready to forgive myself, but the journey is bringing me closer to this goal. Sept 2007

Passionate, Optimist, Sociable, Talented, Nifty, Affable, Tender, Affectionate, Loving, Dependable, Expressive, Positive, Romantic, Effusive, Supportive, Steadfast, Insightful, Open, Nurturing

Caitlyn's haircut

An everyday moment if ever I saw one! Here's Caitlyn's haircut layout - quick to do once I'd decided on papers!! Changed the flowers about 5 times..And here's the culprit in his new Robot jumper - jumper from Target for less than $10 on special, and Robot by ME!! :) He is rather pleased with it, as you can see!

haircut

Here's before:

Here's after:
Its a bit shorter on one side than the other because of where Toby clipped it... But I don't think it looks too bad considering I got my instructions off the internet!!! Its kinda a Pixie cut with a bit of a bob thrown in... Of course, a wriggling almost-5-year-old isn't the world's best subject!

EB Scrappers Friday Challenge + Caitlyn's hair

Well, here's my take on the challenge - was pretty easy because I had this layout almost done anyway! LOL! Here are the specs:

• Must contain the colour orange : tag on brown petals, all petals under green have been inked orange & orange paper clip!!
• Title has to be a song : Song is Queen "You're my best friend"
• At least 2 photos : yup!
• Have hidden journaling : lyrics of song behind the smaller photo - forgot to take a pic of the flap open!

Didn't take photos, but Caitlyn and Toby got up to mischief today with my cordless hair clippers... I'm kicking myself for leaving them in reach of Toddler Toby REALLY dumb! So Toby has helped 'thin' Caitlyn's hair on one side. I'll take piccies tomorrow morning and then try and "fix" it... Needless to say both myself and hubby aren't impressed.

Heck of a day!

I'm just so tired! Today was very very busy. I've been here there and everywhere sorting out the magnets for the remaining coasters. They're sent to Miracle Babies and should get there tomorrow by express post, but still have another day if needed. Put my hand up to make some more for the school for the Father's day stall *rolleyes*. I'm a glutton for punishment.

Oh, and tip of the day? A Cheerios box is about the right thickness of cardboard for a coaster! LOL

AWESOME effort!!

The wonderful Scrappers at Essential Baby came through for me and this is the stash of Father's Day coaster-fridge-magnets we'll be sending off to Miracle Babies for their gift baskets. 49 are expected to go to MB in total (46 are pictured below). I even had enough to keep one for Grandpa for my kids!Thank you everyone who contributed! Cordelia, Dizzy, Col, Jesse, Kimley, Debbie, & Kirsti all contributed. Thank you for donating your time and materials to bring some happiness to the parents of premmie babies!

I'm always looking for parent related causes to donate scrapped items to - message me, email or here, if you know of a cause to which we can contribute. Acting as coordinator for these things is soooo fulfilling!

Cybercrop at 3 Angels

Here are my cybercrop scraps:
Challenge 1 - Green + photo altering in some way. Can't really see it, but the edges of the photos are sanded back.Challenge 2 - use a sketch + transparency.Challenge 3 was simply to make a Father's day card for the man in our lives, but I got a bit carried away...

she is my springtime

Layout challenge at Essential Baby scrapbookers forum. Love how this turned out...
This is for a 3AS challenge - something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Can you guess who it is in the picture??