Urban Angels

When my friend Melissa showed me the amazing photos she took of her son the other day I just had to stage a little photo shoot of my own. She had found the funkiest graffiti wall in a near-by industrial estate, and it was the perfect backdrop for some urban shots of the hooded childerbeasts after church.

I was thrilled to get some nice shots of the feral fifteen year old. Many of the shots are a bit bright as it was the middle of the day, but I like them despite the technical issues ;)

Beggars can't be choosers and all that!

This kid is hysterical. No prompting needed...he broke out into 'Gangsta' mode and did the perfect Zoolander impression...LOVE! I have so many blurry shots from laughing!

I think he's meditating here...or something....

Not the best photos but pretty fun all the same. I'll definitely be going back for some more at a better time. I am in the market for a new camera and lens in the next few weeks so I might just wait and see what the tax man can do for me ;)

Mummy Guilt (or...foray into the full-time workforce)

It always amazes me to see that little blog counter still ticking over when I haven't posted in so long. I do have a good excuse this time though...I have re-entered the world of full-time work for the first time in fifteen years!
I have always worked part-time or casual jobs between birthing babies but this is my first full-time role in a decade and a half!
A month or so ago our Church Campus pastor asked me to step in as his new PA while his current (incredible) PA goes on maternity leave. I prayed long and hard about it as it was a huge decision....an awesome, humbling opportunity - but a massive change for our family.
But, in the end, I decided to bite the proverbial bullet and go for it! I have been training for three weeks and start officially on my own on Monday...*exhale*....yikes! Plus I will continue to teach scrapbooking classes on a Monday morning and a monthly Saturday.
The kids are all at school this year, and Rich has some flexibility in his job, which makes for an easier time. However...we are having to make some big changes to how we operate.
First big challenge was the change in the way I dressed every day.
Suffice to say that I have gone from looking like this...

...to EXACTLY this....seriously!

This little number was already a busy member of our family but has been utilised with increasing frequency lately.

A great little tip for all those busy working Mums...try turning it on before you go in the morning. Amazing what forgetting to do that just the once will teach you...imagine doing it twice. Yep, that's right *sigh*.

I'm drinking plenty of this...

Doing a whole lot of this....

And trying to avoid this...

So far, so good. I have a little pang of guilt every now and then but then I remember that I have been a full-time, school volunteering, taxi driving, hands-on mother of four for a long time and that this is a new season.
After all, it is only a maternity leave position. How long could that possible last?
...Mine only lasted fifteen years ;)

Roast Pumpkin, Bacon and Feta Frittata

Every now and then a recipe comes along that becomes a family staple. This recipe is one my sister Tracey first introduced to our family and it has become an absolute favourite. I make this every few weeks for my lunch during the week, or for a light, yummy dinner with a salad. It's the perfect recipe for a pot luck dinner or to make for a friend who is under the weather....which is what I am doing right now, prompting me to post this :)

My sister actually won a contest with this recipe recently for Philadelphia light cream for cooking!

These photos were taken on the day she created the recipe entry...recipes are nothing without photos don't you think?

Roast Pumpkin, Bacon and Feta Frittata


INGREDIENTS
½ cup (40g) finely grated parmesan cheese
600g pumpkin, peeled, chopped coarsely
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 green onions (green shallots)
4 bacon rashers, chopped coarsely
1 clove garlic, crushed
6 eggs
2 teaspoons cornflour
½ cup (125ml) cream (Philadelphia light cooking cream of course!)
salt and pepper
100g fetta cheese




METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to hot (200°C). Coat a small baking dish with cooking oil spray, sprinkle the base and sides with half of the parmesan cheese.


2. Combine the pumpkin and oil in a large baking dish. Bake, uncovered, in a hot oven, for 15 minutes. Cut the green onions into 1cm pieces. Add the bacon, garlic and shallots to the dish and bake for a further 15 minutes or until pumpkin and bacon are browned lightly.


3. Spoon the pumpkin mixture into the prepared pan. Reduce the oven temperature to moderate (180°C).


4. Whisk the eggs and remaining parmesan with the combined cornflour and cream in a medium bowl, season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over the pumpkin mixture and sprinkle with crumbled fetta cheese.


5.Bake, uncovered, in a moderate oven for about 45 minutes or until set. Stand frittata in pan for 10 minutes before turning out.


6.Serve warm or cold with salad, if desired.

AWOL

I've been AWOL, I know. We have just returned from a whirlwind week away in Sydney. My husband and I are the children's Pastors for the Hillsong Church Brisbane campus and we had our church's annual conference last week. It was a brilliant week of speakers such as Bishop TD jakes, Andy Stanley and Judah Smith...incredible stuff.

We work in the Kidsong program where we look after all of the conference delegate's kids for the week....over 1000 of them! 

Rich and I ran the outdoor programs with big scale games like 'World Cup Soccer' on the program. I am still trying to get the grass stains out of our clothes from that game!

Before I left I managed to create a few layouts at a small crop with some great friends. It was lovely to catch up and scrap away with a lot of laughs and good food to share :)

Miss Mikaela with some beautiful Bo Bunny papers. This Mamarazzi range is stunning. I know the title strip has the American spelling of Colour but I loved the quote so much I went with it ;)

I have been loving the look of these Studio Calico papers. Perfect for Lethal Ethan's Sports Day layout :)

This is my layout for this month's July Cybercrop at Little Scrapbook Shop. I set a challenge to use a word that defines you - a word that is descriptive of what you believe, stand for or just simply describes you. The challenge also asked to use the dictionary definition of the word and a self portrait on your layout.

This last layout is one I created for our gorgeous little friend Danielle who's birthday party I photographed a few weeks ago. I made this layout for her and framed it for her bedroom as a reminder of her wonderful day. I hops she likes it!

I have a few new projects going up at A2Z Scraplets this week and will share them as soon as they are released. I also have some new class projects for work to share as soon as I have photographed them. 
In the meantime I have loads of washing to catch up on from our week away. The kids have a pupil free day tomorrow and Rich has a day off so I may enlist some laundry assistants ;)
Got a good tip for removing those stubborn grass stains with minimal effort?

Layout Shares

These layouts are some recent ones I haven't shared yet. A few are class examples from Scrapbooks Etc and some are just for fun.
This one uses some of the gorgeous Crate Paper Pink Plum range. So fresh and bright...I love it. 

Miss Mikaela and my niece Jenna with some sweet Upsy Daisy Designs papers.

A cute piccie of Ethan and his little mates from church...love them :)

A class example for Scrapbooks Etc for Lyndal's amazing Sketched class. A double layout featuring photos from my visit to Laos last year and 7 Gypsies papers.

A layouts used for the front display at the shop. Yummy Jillibean Soup papers.

And one of Miss Mikaela using some My Mind's Eye, Prima and Websters goodies. This one feels a bit *meh* but I included it anyway ;) I'm all for keeping it real...

I haven't taken photos of my last couple of month's classes so I will share those soon. I am currently designing July's classes with some fantastic Crate Paper goodies and lots of girly touches. Love, love, love!

Celebration!

A few posts back I lodged a shameless plea for votes in the Scrapbooking and Papercraft Convention 'Celebrate' layout competition....well I am pleased to say that I was the winner of the digital layout section!

This is my winning layout featuring my adorable niece Piper :)

There is a $250 cash prize which is a blessing right now...so exciting! There were so many amazing entries and the paper layout competition was especially fierce! Many thanks to Scrapbooking Memories magazine and Expertise events for a great convention and competition :)
There were so many stunning layouts. This was my top 20 entry in the paper layout category.

I'm looking forward to spending the prize money on something fabulous...something really exciting...something out of the ordinary and spontaneous. Yep, that's right. I'm getting the car serviced...woohoo!

Oh the glamour *sigh*

World's worst blogger

uh...that would be me :(
How slack have I been? The truth is I am flat out crazy busy, the interwebs in my area have been tangled and in a mess and I have a stack of unfinished projects that rivals my wash pile!
The commissioned album for QUT is almost done and I am very excited to hand it over at the end of the week :)
I have a few projects I can share very soon but until then I'll share some photos from a very special birthday party we attended on the weekend.
Miss D is a sweet little lady that celebrated her 5th birthday a few weeks back. Unfortunately her Mum and Dad had to cancel her party a couple of times as she was in hospital. Miss D has been fighting leukaemia for six months now and is in the last round of this stage of treatment. She unfortunately had a few health issues which led to the party being postponed, but on Friday night she was finally released and we celebrated in a big way!

Wishing you blue skies and balloons from here on in, our beautiful little lady :)


My kids had a ball at the party...we blew bubbles, kayaked on the lake, ate lots of yummy treats and played for hours. What a brilliant day, made all the more significant for the celebration of life itself!

And one of Connor....just because.