My New Year's Resolution...

...is to actually blog! Regularly. About scintillating and fascinating stuff.


I promise...

The big reveal....

That's right...I'm a Scrapbooking Memories Master for 2011! I am so excited to be able to let the proverbial cat out of the proverbial bag and share my news.

When I found out in September I was in my office at work. I had only been working full time for a month and was still finding my feet...when Kristy called and told me I was one of the Masters. I muffled a squeal and tore off up the hallway telling her I was peeing my pants...not very professional!

I have diligently held my secret until now and then yesterday when I could finally share my news, I was so snowed under at work, I completely forgot! But now it is all out in the open and I am thrilled :)

The amazing list of Masters for 2011 are:

Bridgette Hatton

Emma Allen


Fran Tynan


Kathleen Glossop


Kerryn Leworthy (that's me!)


Lauren Bell


Michelle Winston


Tara Scobie


Tatum Woodroffe


Tiff Sawyer

So many amazing and talented ladies to share the ride with! I love the magazine and I can't wait to see what the year brings :)

Hey! Remember me? I am swamped right now...drowning not waving...
I promise a proper update this weekend...surely...hopefully ;)

And because no post is complete without a picture...my new Facebook Profile pic. Angelic, yes? Don't be fooled! hehe

When the 15 year old offers to play lego with the six year old....

...You just know it's going to end badly...

I forgot to post these here last week. Should I be concerned about the teen's violent tendancies or just be pleased he's entertaining his brother? Quandry!

Cosmo Cricket

I was very pleasantly surprised to receive a comment telling me that my layout is featured on the Cosmo Cricket blog! You can have a look here :)How exciting! I love the DeLovely range of papers...so bright and funky.

Thanks so much Melissa for pointing it out!

Almost famous...

I very occasionally post my layouts to the Two Peas in a Bucket gallery. Very occasionally. This time it was more to test if my computer could upload to it as I have been having issues uploading things lately.

I uploaded three layouts yesterday and today I have two of them in the top three of all featured categories! Top 2 in Most Viewed, Top 2 in Most Liked and Numbers 1 and 3 in Most Bookmarked! Yikes! Maybe I should upload more often!

See how technically savvy I am to take a screenshot?..so savvy that you can see the 'how to take a screenshot' text window still opened in my screenshot *blush*.

I can so see myself randomly taking screenshots of pretty much everything now that I know how.

*In the time it has taken me to type this post, they are all now in the top 2!*

My husband is flying out to Thailand next week for work and I am very sad to be staying home this year. I am particularly sad to be missing out on the trek to Laos they are taking. I only spent a day there last year and am desperate to see more...maybe next year.

In any case, he will be gone, and I am on a one woman mission to declutter and purge. The house is really not too bad, but has some troubling hot spots since I started work full time.

Like clothes...they breed. I swear they tangle themselves together in the wee small hours and procreate. We have way too many clothes, even for a family of six. I can do with some brutal culling in all of the closets, especially now with all of the kids at school where they wear uniforms 5 days a week.

Connor lives his life in a Superhero costume when he isn't at school, so he should be the easiest. His closet contains mostly lycra! It's a serious fire hazard now that I think about it...

Now the Divine Miss M, she's another story. More shoes and handbags reside in her room than in mine. And that is not right. Time to revert to the natural order of things!

Now to don my cape (or apron) and get to it. No promises, but I'll try my best to take some photos and record my progress. I am quite excited to start getting things more organised and streamlined around here.

Wish me luck!

Tomorrow is the last day to vote for my Smile photo! It would be remiss of me to not give you another opportunity to vote for my top 100 entry in the national Smile with Centro photo competition because you could miss out on the $2000 voting prize!

What sort of friend would I be if I didn't plead with you to click on the link above and fill out the quick, simple voting form and help me win up to $5000? A bad friend, that's what!

Thanks for those who have voted...I really appreciate it. Here it is again in case you missed it the first three times ;)

I haven't shared any scrapping for a while and there's a very good reason for that...I just haven't done much! I have done a few things for classes and upcoming DT work, but little else. I have just started to get back into the swing of things by moving my little scrap nook from the garage into the house.

Sharing my scrapping space with a People Mover and a washing machine does little for one's creativity, let's be honest! Since I moved my things indoors, I have been much more motivated to create :)

I don't think I shared this layout I did for Little Scrapbook Shop a while back using Basic Grey's Oliver range.

Need some scrapping inspiration this weekend?

I created this layout for this month's Cybercrop at Little Scrapbook Shop which is happening this very weekend. Pop in here to check out my sketch and challenge. I also designed the poster above. Designing the Cybercrop posters is always lots of fun with Nic's unique and creative theme ideas :)

I have a few new layouts I can share very soon. In the mean time I have a load of domestic chores to catch upon while the man of the house plays lego. Germaine Greer would have a coronary...

Urban Angel

I borrowed some gorgeous wings from a friend the other day as they instantly screamed 'photo shoot' as soon as I laid eyes on them! I convinced Miss Mikaela to pose for me in a gorgeous little bushland area near our house.

I really like the way they turned out with the vintage summer edit. I might see if I can con one of the boys to go next. Yeah....good luck with that...

The voting opened today for the Smile With Centro Photo competition! Click on the link to take you to the voting page. It is fast and easy and you can win cash just for voting...why not!? Please vote for my photo...it's the last one in the gallery.
That has to be lucky, right?
Thanks :)
Here is is again in case you forget what it looks like ;)

Smile, I'm in the Top 100!

This Photo.....

....has been shortlisted as a top 100 finalist in the National Smile With Centro photography competition! I was a finalist last year in my local competition but this year have made the final top 100 entries!
Public voting opens on Monday for a $10,000 prize....wow, that is a lot of shoes :)
Stand by for shameless pleas for votes and some happy dancing :)

Free Retro Printable Shopping List

I have designed this free printable shopping list by request of this awesome lady.

You can download a copy of this A3 sized printable here. It is designed to be printed and laminated, making a cute little whiteboard to write your weekely shopping list on as you run out of something. I have created it as an A3 sized file but it can be printed smaller if you wish.

It is similar to the other free printables I have made in the past. Just in case you missed out on them the first time, here are the links below.

Download the Family Chore Chart Here.

Download the Menu Planner here

Download the Weekly Study Planner here.

* These printables are for personal use only and are not to be sold or reproduced for profit.

Layouts, LSBS and lots more

Actually, the 'lots more' bit is just work really. Lots and lots of work. I am loving my new job and feel like I am hitting my groove now that I am over a month in.

It helped to have had the chance to escape for a few days to the 4th Annual Little Scrapbook Shop Retreat a couple of weeks ago...what a fantastic weekend!

I managed to scrap quite a bit between, teaching, chatting and helping out around the place. It was the best retreat, seriously...so relaxing and fun with just enough naughtiness to make it hilarious!
I am sure I lost my uterus sometime during Belle's Ball...oh my! I will never look at rub-ons in quite the same way ;) And that's as much as I'll say about that...

I have even managed to have a few of my retreat layouts accepted for publication which is a great feeling...I haven't submitted anything for some time.

I was asked to teach at this year's retreat and chose the gorgeous Basic Grey Olivia collection for my class. I love this line and the class went really well...the ladies produced some amazing layouts.

Cath has the stunning new Prima lines instore right now and I managed to snaffle some at the retreat and have a play.

I also came home with some Basic Grey Wander papers and embellishments...so good for the little man in your life and perfect for travel pages.

This layout is one I did for a 45 minute challenge at the retreat. One layout completed in 3/4 of an hour...sure thing. That's what die cut papers are made for!

I got to use some of my strawberry photos on a double layout. Who could resist some October Afternoon with it's sweet strawberry diecuts! A simple, straightforward layout, this one :)

I love Studio Calico and their paper ranges. Ecclectic mixes of pattern and colour right up my alley.

Gorgeous new My Minds Eye ranges with glitter galore. We were all covered with the stuff!

One of the best Sassafrass ranges for some time. I love this gorgeous range with it's stunning colours and slightly understated patterns, compared to their usual stuff.

This layout is one I used to host my challenge at the Clayton's Retreat...the retreat for those who did not make it to retreat!

It's been fantastic to scrap again after a few weeks of very little. I am planning to pull out my supplies a little more often and have some crafty time to myself now that I am finding a better work/life/family balance....well here's hoping!

I also plan to spend some quality time with my new camera this weekend...can't wait to get better acquainted with my new baby.

Strawberry Sunday

Wow. I have been absent huh?!
This full time working gig is consuming...I haven't had 2 seconds spare to scratch, yet alone blog. I do apologise but there really has been little to share!

One very exciting thing I have done in the last few weeks is purchase these little babies...

Bestill my beatng heart! I literally had an asthma attack handing over the money for these but I am in sweet, sweet love with this combination.

I added a little tax time refund to the prize money I won early his year for the Australia Day Photographic competition and made the plunge. So far I am loving this camera and am finding my way around it's features.

Here are some of the photos I have taken so far.

Today I bought some sweet, gorgeous strawberries from the local fruit market and couldn't resist taking a few photos of Miss Mikaela.

I am looking forward to having some more time to play soon. I am heading off to the Little Scrapbook Shop retreat on thursday which I am desperately looking forward to! It should be a whole lot of fun and a little breather from work for a few days. I absolutely love my new job but am in need of a little R and R. (That stands for raunch and rabble by th way ;)