Got Milk?

For my sisters who are on MSN chat right now...here's a milky one :) Hehe

Hello Ween........

....That is what Connor is calling today...HELLO WEEN LOL. It is really very cute. He has only cottoned on to this whole halloween concept through some shows on Nick Jr today. He thinks it is all about costumes and lollies...fair enough assumption for a 3 year old. He is not particularly happy that he won't be knocking on stranger's doors for treats but he has embraced the costume part with great gusto :)

A couple of layouts to share...the one with the bugs....

One for the LSBS Think Pink challenge comp....Love the Sassafrass Lass stuff I won from the Aussie Dares comp a few months ago....

Some of the lovely sewing things I am collecting...new buttons (which will benefit my scrapping too of course, only $6 a bag from BIG W)...some jumbo ricrac....
And my lovey fabrics.Michael Miller 50's inspired pices and some others....more on the way too Hehe...

Day 7

Well it's been exactly a week since Rich flew off into the night and I am doing OK. The kids have been their usual selves hehe...pretty good really, to be fair. They've had their feral moments, but then, so have I ;) I am in the midle of doing another big cull and clean which is what I tend to do when Rich goes away. I find it cathartic and also gives me a goal to work toward to keep me busy. I have taken bag loads of books, toys and clothes to the op-shop and also thrown away a heap of old stuff...broken toys, old suitcases, bikes, prams etc etc that we have just never gotten around to getting rid of. Throwing stuff (and giving away stuff) is such a gteat feeling...like a literal load is lifted. I feel as I am getting older that we truly need less and less stuff and that I am being a more informed and responsible consumer. Great lesson for the kids too. The kids rooms are super clean and organised, the backyard and play areas are done and the storage cupboards are so tidy...love it! Now just to do our room and the kitchen, which will be pretty quick and easy. Don't get me wrong, we still have plenty of stuff...there are 6 of us after all.
No scrapping to share at the moment.Too much sorting and purging being done LOL. Hopefully my new organised home will make for some fab creativity and a new burst of energy. A couple of weeks ago I bought a new sewing machine. Nothing flash, just a basic machine with a few little functions. I used to quilt a while back but haven't sewn for ages. I am not really planning to get into quilting again but am keen to update my sewing skills and to delve into a little dressmaking and some soft furnishings. I have spent a bit of time on Ebay this week and have bought some gorgeous Michael Miller fabrics. Love, love, love them! Gorgeous retro kid's fabrics which I have some ideas for. Loving these ones especially and can't wait for them too arrive..





Aren't they so cute!?

Boy oh Boy

Well it's day 2 and I have to admit I have struggled the last two days :( I know that in the next couple of days I'll get in the groove but I swear the kids have been so testing! I know they miss their Dad in the first few days especially, but aaaaagghhhhh!!!
Now just when I thought I was losing it completely I have had an email this afternoon that has made me oh so very happy :) Scrapbook Creations has picked up my 'One Moment' layout for an upcoming issue! This is my very first paper layout to be accepted for publication so I am stoked!! I love my digi layouts and am thrilled to have them published but it feels extra sweet to have one of my 'real' (as many people are quick to point out my digis are not!) layouts accepted...very cool. Can't wait to see it in print as it is actually one of my all time favourite layouts I have made. I adore the photo and the subject was particularly emotive and special to me...lovely :)

Single Mum Mode :(

I am a temporary single Mumma :( The kids and I deposited Rich to the airport to jet off to Thailand for 17 days. His group are teaching English to some medical workers and some other school based teaching. He is often away but it is always a strain when he first goes away. I know that by day 3 we will hit our groove and the time will pass quickly....just have to get to day 3 first LOL. Rich is an amatuer magcian and is taking some of his illusions to use with the school aged children. It is always popular and the Thai kids love it! This is the Mikaela and Connor below playing with some of Rich's wigs and hats he had out to pack...so cute. I played with my manual settings with these and I like the way they turned out. I am learning so much about my camera and am enjoying the trial and error of taking a good self-set photo.

LOL My little Guy Sebastian :)

The kids have a pupil free day tomorrow so I might pack them up with a picnic and go to the park...for a play...and some more photos of course hehe.

All Creatures Great and Small

First off are a couple of layouts I have done this week. Loving this Scenic Route stuff and have used it for both layouts.




Now at the end of my last post I said I would come back to talk about our temporary addition to the family....well....let's say things got a little dramatic from then on. Jarred's class is doing a rat breeding program looking at life cycles, conception, birth etc and have bred rats as part of the unit. Now Jarred and his frind are partners and 'own' a rat between them called Eminem (the boys are 12...they love the name LOL). Now Eminem came for a one night stay last Wednesday and we put him in the recommended box with a shadecloth cover, food, water etc. All good right? Until 5am when Jarred woke up to check on our little friend and he had vanished!! Gone, kaput, finito, disappeared!! I was beside myself with worry for the rat, worry for Jarred's teacher's reaction and worried that I would have it living in my house for the next year (they only live for a year)...ewwwwwww.
We hunted until school time but he was well and truly gone. We went to school, braved the teacher and told him. He sent me home with some humane rat traps and instructions to lightly saute some bacon for our furry friend in the bid to trap him. Long story short was that he just never turned up. After turning the house upside down for days, we never saw a glimpse of him again....until today! Jarred went into his room to get something from his lockbox. He has a lockable toolbox for his special gadgets to keep them from his little brothers. He opened the lid of the box and Eminem sprung out and took off across the room! He settled under Jarred's bookshelf and huddled in the corner. Being the awesome mother I am I shut Jarred in his room and told him to stay there until he caught the rat....stuffing towels under the door while I fetched the biggest plastic box I could find to trap him in! With some intervention from Dad who wandered in during the middle of it all, I took off to drop the little ones to Grandmas...arriving home to find Eminem safely impounded in his plastic palace!! The little rodent had been trapped in the metal lock box for 3 nights with no food (except for Jarred's plastic case for his camping utensils!). Talk about survival skills.
Unfortunately we can not return him until Tuesday as it is a pupil free day here on Monday so I am keeping a very close eye on him!! Here is the little trouble maker....
Another little wildlife experience this week was the arrival of a mass of ladybugs in our garden. Here are the kids enjoying these cute little yellow bugs....also a great excuse to use my new lens...

Wednesday already.....

Firstly I need to update on the incredible Girl's Night In event held here in Brissie for the Cancer Council in support of women's cancer. The night was so much fun and we raised over $900 in support of this great cause....and had a mass of fun in the process. Amanda did an incredible job of pulling it all together and managed to accumulate heaps of wonderful door prizes and a big raffle package of scrap goodies to give away.......................................................................................................to me !!!! I won the raffle on the night and was able to take away the gorgeous pink bucket of stash and extra to boot! Every single item in the raffle were things I don't own so I am feeling very blessed and spoilt. I did the catering for the night which was a lot of fun and a great pleasure. We had a chocolate fountain with tonnes of fruit, marshmallows and biscotti to dip, savoury platters with vegies and dips etc, cute little pink cupcakes and lots more. Everyone really enjoyed themselves and some even managed to scrap...I made a card in 5 hours of scrapping LOL. Below are the LSBS girls who attended.....Back to front, left to right..
Angie, Me, Amanda, Gill, Michelle and Lisa...sporting some of the bras decorated for the night..

Here's me looking stunned with my raffle prize hehe...

THE pink cupcakes.........
THE chocolate fountain...mmmmmmmmmm
On the Friday we held the October LSBS cybercrop and this page was the challenge I set for the weekend. It was a ribbon challenge. I made a ribbon border (using my brand new sewing machine...woohoo) and scrapped this cute photo of my niece Jenna. My 5 year old Ethan took this photo actually LOL.

This is my interpretation of the layout sketch that Cath set for the cybercrop...my cousin's little girl with my Mikaela...

It is a hectic week here this week with me going through the winter clothes and tossing and sorting. I am feeling a weight lifting LOL. 6 people sure accumulate a lot of winter clothes that take up so much room. I'll be glad to have them packed away. Better go...Connor is screaming about something. He is an unhappy boy today :( Back tomorrow with some piccies of the new temporary addition to the household................could be the reason for the screaming actually hehe.

Toot Toot!!

I am just a tad excited today LOL. The digi layout I created with Pauline's new alpha is being published by Scrapbooking Memories magazine! Very happy with this layout so I am excited to have it published. This means Ethan will be the first of my kids to be in a mag...the other published digi has no people in it at all! My kids have been asking me who will be in a magazine if I have any work published as they love seeing all the kids in the scrap mags. There may be a little tension when I tell them it is only Ethan LOL. It really is their fault though...if they just sat still long enough to get a group phot I could scrap them all more often ;)
Tonight is the Cybercrop over at LSBS as the launch of the Girl's Night In fundraiser for Breastcancer research. Pop on over to bid in the silent auction or to participate in the many challenges happening over the weekend...and Deanne's super speedy Bingo on Saturday of course. Lots of cooking and baking for tomorrow night's Brissie Girls Night in to do tomorrow! It should be a great weekend!

A couple of layouts

I have done a couple of layouts this week. Both digi this week :) This layout uses a fantastic alpha freebie from the lovely and talented Pauline Rossi...owner of Designs in Digital. You can find the freebie here if you like...I can see myself using it a lot. It would be cool to print for the hybrid scrappers too :)

This one is a photo I used for a paper layout a few weeks ago but wanted to use again...I love this pic :) My gorgeous Niece Jenna.....

I haven't ventured into my scrap nook much this week as I have been so sick. I have had bronchitis and a sinus infection to top it all off :( I am an assortment of pills, puffers, potions and prayers at the moment to get on top of it. As of this afternoon we are officially wireless so I can snuggle up in bed with the laptop and do lots of digi layouts hehe...I must remember to get in and do some 'real' scrapping tomorrow though as I have a heap of deadlines for projects...eek.

Some awesome and brilliant news today was the long awaited text message from a friend of ours who's gorgeous wife had a beautiful baby girl last night...Welcome to the world little Jaime :) Can't wait to meet you when I stop spluttering LOL.

Weekending

Yay it's Friday :) Even with school holidays and the change of routine it has still been a hectic 2 weeks with vacation care. I still need to dress, organise and pack lunches for 3 kiddies every day with a little one in tow so it hardly feels like a break really. No real complaints though - the kids have had a blast and spent 2 weeks, skating, bowling, going on excursions, watching movies, playing games etc etc. Much more than they would have ever done at home! And they spent heaps of time with Daddy..bonus!
The pics below are of my stash of goodies from the US my awesome MIL brought back for me. Thank goodness for online shopping and a SIL who lives in the US :) I am working my way through Photoshop slowly and playing with my lovely new lens. Love the 7 Gypsies interchangeable stamps...very cool.

Just a few Thickers :) Hehehe

This is a layout of my Lethal Ethan using some Scenic Route in a challenge to use up some old PP's before I buy any more (Haven't we all made that pledge!!). Love the Hambly rub-ons that came with the cute collaborative kit from EB and Kiti-Q. Love Kelly's lovely little store. Great stock and awesome service.

Last thing to talk about tonight is the amazing Girls Night In activities planned over at the Little Scrapbook Shop for the month of October in aid of raising money and awareness for Breast Cancer research and funding. It is a disease that most of us are affected by in one way or another so I appeal to anyone reading this blog to do what they can this October in joining us in raising much needed funds and awareness. In Brisbane we are hosting a Girl's Night in crop night alongside many other awesome ladies around the country. The details are available here. Other locations throughout Australia are listed here . Feel free to contact anyone hosting one of these events if you want to participate. Everyone is very welcome to join in for a great cause and a fabulous night of scrapping fun! Remember the October Cybercrop at LSBS will be all centred around this theme too....come along and join in! Lots of gorgeous pink products instore for those who want to help out their stash at the same time ;)

It's Sunday but really Monday

It is about 1:00am on Monday morning but really still feels like Sunday night. I suffer from insomnia at the best of times but with Rich away I get double doses of sleeplessness. He'll be back on Tuesday though, so not too much more sleep deprivation. I may try to catch a Nanna nap tomorrow (today?!). I picked up my MIL from the airport this morning after her month long trip to the US. She was so excited to see the kids (and me too hehe). She is coming for dinner tomorrow (today!?) and I will be able to see all my goodies...yay! She had a great trip and really enjoyed spending time with Didi (My SIL).

I have had the bigest weekend and a stack of fun! Yesterday was the Brissie meet up of the Scrap Of Faith girls and we got to meet the beautiful Lusi Austin...yay! She is gorgeous -inside and out. Also met the amazingly talented Jill GG, Sal, Nat, Karen, Lu....and other lovely women I am forgetting right now... and we all had such a great time. Here are a couple of pics of the day. I will add some group pics later when I get them....didn't have my camera out for those.

All the gorgeous kiddies..

The boys 'fishing'....
Me and the gorgeous Lusi....
The boys...again...getting wet, wet, wet LOL....
The kids were all so good and we had a great day together.

Today was another big meet-up day for me as I met up with the lovely Shannon from LSBS and also met the fab Celeste Vermeend. We went to the Papercrafts festval here in Brissie and shopped and lunched together....bliss. Shannon and Celeste had their collective female offspring with them and they were all adorable and so good! It was so nice to see Shannon again and to meet Celeste....and to get to scrap shop together of course. I was very good though and managed to only buy a few 'necessary' items.

Better try and get some sleep....wish me luck ;)