Child labour and layouts

You might remember the last time I asked the kids for their help in folding socks....this was the outcome....

Today I am paying them 5c a pair and hoping they might actually match a few pairs up. We'll see....at such cheap rates I might pass off some vacuuming or folding next :)

I was editing some photos this morning and found this gem from Saturday. Isn't he all grown up and broody LOL. I love how sometimes just a quick snap from the side of the road can turn out so beautifully.

Lethal Ethan is also the subject of the layout I taught at Scrapbook Princess last night. It was a big group for this masculine class and we had a great night. I am loving my Tuesday classes...such a great group of ladies :)

I scrapped a few layouts on Saturday at our 15 hour Scrap Attack...literally a few! I averaged a layout every 5 hours I think LOL. What a shocking effort. I just didn't have it going on I'm afraid.

Yummy Ducks in a Row by October Afternoon with my Connor and little cousin Lachie...*sigh*

More wintery shots of Miss Mikaela using some papers I've had in my stash for ages. Nice to use up some stuff.

Another design team layout for Little Scrapbook Shop using the My Mind's Eye Bella Bella range. Some rather random stitching and a couple of flowers is all I added to these beautiful papers and sweet photo of my niece Piper.

We are preparing to head to Sydney on Sunday for a 10 day working holiday and have so much to do before then. I'll more than likely be a bit quiet until I get back....see you soon :)

Layouts, Loaves and Lovely Lighting...

These two layouts are from my Design Team projects for Little Scrapbook Shop this month. This layout of Mikaela uses the Bella Bella Range by My Mind's Eye.

Nic challenged us to use two ranges on a layout and I chose the Fancy Pants Kraft Kuts and the My Mind's Eye Bloom and Grow range.

I played with my camera remote this week and took some wintery self portraits on the freezing cold day we had last week. I played with some lighting actions in Photoshop and quite like this one...I might have to scrap a wintery layout :)

The wintery weather has brought on the baking bug in a big way. Last weekend I had a baking marathon and cooked up a storm!

Honey/banana muffins and chocolate caramel muffins...

Banana Bread....

Triple Choc Chunk Cookies...

Mmmmmmmmm it was nice while it lasted...

I'm back!

I've been offline for a couple of days with some computer issues and am back online tonight after a visit from the friendly Dell delivery man with a new power cord for my laptop. The old one frayed away from overuse I think!

I have a layout to share and more to come when I get around to photographing them. I am also busy working away at some secretive projects I need to finish and will share them soon.
Monday was Jarred's 14th birthday! My first born is 14 already...amazing!

We took him to the Presets concert on Sunday night as a surprise birthday treat and he had no idea! We took him for a quick dinner and walked on down to the botanical gardens River Stage where the concert was to be held and he was clueless until we handed him his ticket to get in...he freaked! It was so much fun :) Until the next morning that is when I could hardly walk...I am getting old!
Rich was tickled to see his big surprise go off with so much success hehe.

Here is the birthday boy on Monday...



And with his proper birthday present from the whole family...


There was tiramasu torte made by my sister....

And chocolate cheesecake as requested by the birthday boy and made by The Cheesecake Shop....

There were cuddles with cousins......

And there was the passing on of old Ipods to younger siblings.....

Now there's another child in the family who shall be impossible to properly communicate with ...awesome! Like the male deafness genes aren't hard enough to infiltrate.....

Brown Paper Packages

I love, love, love receiving packages! Today was quite a haul, and I was super excited knowing exactly what would be in one of them!

First one was my prize from last week's Scrapbooking Memories Magazine's Cybercrop. I won one of the challenges from the weekend from the couple I had time to enter, so was very happy to spot the little Express Publications box today.
I won a Xyron Sticker Maker and a heap of Buzz and Bloom chipboard journaling panels and frames. Very cool indeed ;)
Big thanks to Buzz and Bloom and Scrapbooking Memories for my great prizes :)

The next package was a pack of layouts and projects returned from Scrapbooking Memories Magazine in super swift fashion as usual ;)

Now the last package had me hyperventilating in my car...seriously. I emailed the store Memories to Remember very recently in huge excitement about their upcoming October Afternoon shipment.

They replied almost immediately with an offer for me to preorder what I wanted....which I quickly took them up on!

Shan (who hasn't updated her blog since Valentines Day for goodness sakes) and I preordered the new Cherry Hill and Ducks in A Row ranges and they arrived today!

Oh my goodness!

The Wild Cards pictured below are the cutest things you've ever seen! I love October Afternoon and have some very special projects in mind for these ranges.


Huge thanks to Memories to Remember for my order and their fantastic service. Jo and I had a hilarious email, blog and Twitter 'relationship' there for a bit while I waited for the shipment to arrive. It may have been slightly one sided, but it was a relationship nonetheless.
Jo even appeased me by calling me when the stock arrived in as she could sense my fanaticism...that's service ;)

I have slunk back into regular admiration status and slipped out of my stalker role for a bit...until the next OA range is released anyway.........or when the rubber charms come in........

The Colour Purple...

....is my new favourite scrapping colour (for this week at least). I can count on one hand the amount of time I have used purple on my layouts, and for some reason I have turned!
It has a lot to do with the release of Basic Grey's Wisteria range, and perhaps a little to do with the cute purple hoodie photo I took of Mikaela....in any case I have converted to the purple side.

I found these adorable Little Yellow Bicycle papers yesterday that match this photo perfectly, so I gave up sleep for scrapping last night and put this layout together. I really like the colour combination.

***********Wow that was fast!!!***********

Little Scrapbook Shop sent me some of the beautiful Basic Grey Wisteria range this month to work with. I have to admit to being a little so-so about this range at first, but when I opened the package I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

The Mothers Day photos of my sister, BIL and nephew are perfect for this gorgeous range so I made a coffee table mini album for them :)

I also had the chance to play with this sweet Fancy Pants Kraft Kuts range which is so adorable.

I am working on a stack of new projects for LSBS right now and will be back with some new shares tomorrow I am sure ;)....just as soon as I tackle Mt Washmore *sigh*.....

Channeling Martha

This is my pet project for this week. I have had a 'Home Journal' for a few years now and have made it my goal to update and revamp it this week.

My Home Journal is a binder with all of the information needed to keep my household running smoothly and efficiently. With two busy adults and four children, this house needs a whole lot of organising to keep it running properly. This binder helps to keep all of the information we need to access in any given day in one tidy, organised place. It is truly the source of my sanity sometimes!

It contains phone lists, sections for each child, cleaning rosters/routines, sections for all of the kid's activities, calenders, To-do lists, shopping lists etc etc. Loads of information I need to store - some temporarily, some permanently.

I have redesigned the front cover in photoshop so it is cute to look at. That is important yes? ;)
If you would like to start a Home Journal of your own and like the cover I have created, I have shared the file here for you to download your own copy. It is an A4 sized jpeg file for you to print directly from your home printer.
I have mounted my image onto cardstock to fit the dimensions of my white plastic binder with a clear pocket on the front.

Obviously the image used on this cover is not my own and this share is simply for you to use at home :) Let me know if you download it for your own binder ;)

Winter is almost here.....

Afternoon tea on Friday....mmmmmm

This rainy weather has brought a cool change to Brisbane and we are loving it in this household! Cardigans, jumpers, boots, hot chocolate, jeans, socks, soup and doonas! Miss Mikaela has embraced the chill with some new threads from this week's Pumpkin Patch sale ;)

The pre-purchasing fashion criteria was strict...had to have a hood, be warm and snuggly and definitely had too be 'cool'.

We bagged a few cardi's and jackets for her and she is a happy camper. Ten year old girls sure know what they like!....and what they don't.

The photos above were taken the other day when she tried them all on again ;) Love that purple on her. She's a bit cute hey?