Middle of May

Well I’ve thought about blogging ALOT over the past weeks – but just haven’t had the time to visit here.

I must say I’m really enjoying my stampin’ up! journey – I’m plaig it like a trtoise – slow & steady – I honestly love sharing what I do – so I don’t want to burn out with trying to achieve targets – I want to achieve BALANCE )

The kids are doing great – Oh my goodness they are so adorable – they’re so sweet – they love  stampin’ up! and now that I’ve got he studio set up it’s so much easier for them to come & play along with me.

Ravey is getting into scrapbooking – he’s loves doing his little bit.

He’s so cute at the mo (well , always) his latest things are:

I’m a dinosaur expert and an animal expert

And

Don’t say the P S word

He’s such a crack up – PS = poos, or pooh , or any derivative of it – he was watching Go Diego Go the other day & there was an animal on it & he says to me I can’t tell you what that animal is because I’m not allowed to say the PS word – here I was thinking it was a tiger – so I’m saying yes, you can say that rave – and on & on he goes about not saying the PS word – so I told him he could whisper it & he wouldn’t get in trouble – so he whispers “it’s a puma” as in poo-ma – he’s so funny!!!

ANd obedient – gotta love that – although he is allowed to say the PS word in context – he just likes to take rules to the extreme & he LOVES to do what his mummy says – another story – tonight I was teaching & he came in before everyone had arrived and was sitting there quietly – then Wayne comes to get him & tries to bribe him by saying “come with me & we’ll watch cartoon network” Ravey’s reply was “but I’m not allowed to watch cartoon network”

Gosh, I’ve got work to do – so I’d best be off – got a workshop tomorrow night – I’m excited about that!!

UpDate

Well, here I am again…. Nana’s 80th was absolutely fabulous!!

I have no pics to share because I took them all on Lisa’s camera – left mine at mum & dad’s – silly me!!

We drove up to Whangarei Saturday morning & back Saturday night.

I gotta tell you that tunnel makes a HUGE difference!! We left Whangarei at about 8pm & were home in Howick(ish) at 10pm – 2hours flat, that’s awesome!!

My cousins Ada & Craig, came back to NZ from England & Sweden for Nana’s 80th – how sweet!! Meanwhile, if you’re gonna make the trip next time you might want to say a few words at speech time – obviously Nana means the world to you ;o)

This month sees me finishing p at Scrapbook Studio as a teacher – I’ll be focussing on my Stampin’ Up! business.

I’ve got so many ideas buzzing in my head – just got to prioritise, organise & action them – so far so good.

Batteries are flat on Taigy’s camera, so I have no pics to share – & my camera is still over at Mum’s – or maybe Lisa picked it up on the way home – either way I don’t have it here – it’s not very pretty blogging without pics – but I’ll run with what I’ve got for ow, not like anyone is reading anyway )

Right, I’m off to create something.

K

xx

Hello Again

I’ve decided to use my wordpress blog for my own person use – I’ve missed blogging about nothing LOL.

SOmetimes I just want to ramble & empty my head & I think this is the place for me to do it.

I don’t think anyone looks here, so I should be safe to keep this as a private journal – open to the whole wide world LOL.

I’ve been dying to share about the reunion & how much I enoyed it – how much I’m looking forward to the next one & how excited we all are about organising the next one!!

I also want to talk about Nana’s 80th – but the kids are calling – Oh yeah I’d love to tell you about the dramas I’m having with Taiga’s nits at the mo & how much I’m loving being a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator.

And I think I can do it all here under the radar so to speak – so really ‘m just talking to myself- nothing unusual there ;o)

Alright – I’ll be back later to update ) I’ve got nits to terminate & kids to clean.

Oh, is it bad to have crackers & pate for dinner?? Didn’t feel bad hehehehe

Hello world!

Just playing around with wordpress at the mo…giving it a little test-drive…hhhmmmmm will have

Start of the Month

So a whole new round of challenges have been posted.

Dad’s Boy is my entry in the SBO Feb monthly challenge – Donna’s Sketch )

A HUGE thank you to Lisa for my prize of Autumn Leaves Stamps for winning the January Challenge over at SBD. I have used the stamps below in the LO of Ravey digging.

You ought to check out the feb challenge – its a doozy – got my thinking cap on for this one & I have a few ideas up my sleeve – but am going with just one ;o)

Well, we got home last Friday & Embellished had a cyber crop – I know what you’re thinking – I’m mad!!! But only halfway so…I missed the chat cos I was seriously tired – but I did do the challenges – cos they were simply irresistible….& I actually only combined one of the challenges.

There was another challenge to create a card – might upload tomorrow…I really like how it turned out – but to be honest I’m a little tired & blogger adds all these extra lines when I add a pic – which then takes me another little while to edit the post and I’m not really feeling like editing at the mo (you’ve probably noticed my horrific typing & sadly I have edited quite a few of my errors – so can you see where I’m coming from??? hahahaha)

Oh, if you have a solution for the adding lines when I add a pic please share it…cos I’m thinking of having a look at a typepad blog…only thinking at this stage – cos the grass may be greener )

OK back to the topic:

For the last couple of days (it seems) I have been dying to scrap LOs but I’ve got a couple of CJs on the go & really need to get them sorted before post-off date & then I had a couple arrive from a current circle..so I have managed to do one & conceptualise another..I’ve got my SE CJ nearly 1/2 ready & my SBD CJ 1/20th ready LOL!! But by the end of the week they will be good to go I promise ;o)

OK I was just popping in for a quick share before I hit the hay to wake up as the mother of a school kid – I still can’t believe that…all of you who have been there know what its like, so I shan’t keep raving on about it ;o)

The enjoy/happy LO was fun to do – I got to use my new stamps from Lisa & combined a couple of Elsie challenges – JulieH’s create a funky photo mat (it transparency stamped & painted) & Meg’s Use a white background…sometimes combing the challenges just gives you a little something extra – I’m really quite happy with how this turned out – I probably never would have done the pp strips otherwise.

And “we’ve got a Groovy Kind of Love” was another JulieH challenge from embellished to “work those words” so I used Phil Collins’ song to go with this pic of Wayne & that i took while we were on holiday )

Back From Holiday

Oh we had an awesome time away…was just fab to get away from it all…even though I took my scrapping with me LOL!

We went to Matata, which is about 40 minutes from Tauranga & 30 mins from Whakatane. Stayed in a friends caravan at Murphy’s Motorcamp & we were just 100 steps from the beach – it was wonderful, well…stinkin hot but in a good “I’m stinking hot on holiday” kind of way…I guess Summer finally arrived hahahahaha

I managed to get quite a few LOs & cards made while Wayne spent some “quality time” with the kids ;o)

I also visited the lovely Delys

I got the latest Ali Challenge from Embellished done (Friends), but I concentrated on getting my “Get Real” comp LOs up-to-date & I’ll share my faves )

The rest are in my gallery at SBO.

I just love how “My Bliss” turned out..its about my Wayno..he’s such a honey-pie!!! Just love him to pieces! I was STOKED with my doodling on the paisley – go me! hahahaha The cool wee hearty metal embelly was a RAK from the super generous Mrs Frizz

My gorgeous “Little Gardener” is another fave…borrowed the tape hinge idea from FK 49. Man my boy is a cutie!!! Perhaps I’m biased – a little, maybe LOL!

And “Good Times” is all about good friends & good food. Took these pics when Heidi & Richard came for dinner the other night – God I love scrapping – who knew Heidi lived in my street???!!!!

I think I may be a bit unbalanced in that area – I should spend some more time with my darlings LOL!!!

Well I’ll just make this a quick one…even though it’s probably taken an hour to post – considering I had to pause to give Rave a bath LOL!

Update before our Holiday

Oh my goodness…we are off on holiday tomorrow & I can’t wait…I have been hanging out for this hol since October when Wayne’s mate said we could use his cabin any time we wanted…I said “book it Babe!”

So we’re off to Matata…but I’ll have no computer access – how will I cope????

Not to worry, I’m a survivor hahahahahahaha!!!

Well I haven’t been as busy scrapping as I had hoped to be…to many forum distractions I think ;o)

But I have managed to create something at least….”Forever Mine” is a combo of Jacqui J’s weekly challenge at SBD & JulieH’s Elsie challenge at Embellished.

Jacqui’s challenge was to select a theme from an upcoming magazine call & scrap it, Julie’s challenge was to take inspiration from fashion…found a cool men’s T-shirt on the 2 for $15 table at JayJays the other day…with a tatto print on it – so that was my inspiration.

The photo of Wayne was originally colour…but I took it into the GIMP & desaturated it & then posterized it (at 2) then added a Jason Gaylor tattoo brush…simple, but not necessarily easy ;o)

So I guess I’d better submit it to fulfill the other half of the challenge )

“Hitchin’ a Ride” is another page for Mal Mal’s album…I used Ali’s January kit for this – the papers are just sooooooooo YUM!!! They’re Piggy Tales – Frog Prince range.

This is for the Embellished Jan/Feb sketch challenge.

I trimmed some Heidi Swaap alphas down for the title…jeepers they are BIG!!

Gotta say I am loving these pics of the boys & I love that I can scrap them over & over cos they’re going into different albums.

We had a lovely dinner last night, Heidi & Richard came over for dinner – so Wayne whipped up his entertainer’s special: Salmon – YUM!

And after dinner Wayne & Richard discussed the many virtues of having scrappy wives hahahahahaha.

And I even managed to get a good pic of Heidi & I together – woohooo.

Well I need to sort & pack all my scrap gear for my holiday & Taigy is whinging about a sore thumb – so I guess I’d better get off here…and no I haven’t sorted the clothes to be taken yet – I’ve got my priorities LOL!!

SBD Monthly Sketches Have Started

Well Lisa has started the monthly Sketch Challenges over at Scrapbooking by Design. She’s made an early start on February’s Challenge & this is my take on the sketch – the original has only one photo…but I had to use 3 cos these boys are so freakin cute!! I am also making a point of using my RAK’s/swaps this year – no point keeping them for “someday” so I have used some of the Heidi Swapp chipboard letters I received from Janine & also the “cousins” down the bottom is mostly made up of ribbon letters that I was RAKed by Lorrie…I gotta say that using these products brings a certain sense of specialness to the LO for me…so thanks ladies )

The rest of the LO is mostly from Ali’s January kit…which I am in love with…also if you want a sensational kit for Feb you simply have to check out the sneaks of Embellished’s Lush & Lavish kit

My other little share is a sneak of a CJ entry I whipped up last night – forgot that I ought to get it off before I go on holidays..so this is for Nan Jule’s Christmas CJ…yes I slipped a concho in – only one left now hahahahahaha.

I also recycled my poinsettias from the xmas crackers I made – they were just too gorgeous to toss, so Nan Jules has managed to score one LOL.

Well my boy isn’t feeling too well today , so I’m going to see if he’ll have a bot-bot & moe nui.

If not maybe he’d like some snuggles while I try to finish my book…its such a good book (The Janson Directive) – but I haven’t had the chance to just sit & read…so its like I’ve been matching a movie for 2 weeks & hitting pause after every 10 minutes…meanwhile I discovered that I just love to munch while reading…and I always reach for choccy bikkies first…well once I realised this I made a change…the first day I got myself a huge bowl of sprouts (YUM!!) and the next I got a bowl of grapes…OK the 3rd I was back on the bikkies…but today I’m heading for the grapes again )

Ok geting the summons…better dash )

Latest Creation

Here is my latest LO…its a double…WOW!!! I can’t remember the last time I did a double that wasn’t actually a double LO challenge LOL!!

The inspiration for this puppy came from a few sources….Embellished Monthly LO comp – theme “What Summer Means to You”, NZ Dares challenge and the SBD & SBO challenges of late getting us to use our old stash…I think I only have 2 conchos left now ;o)

I’m actually quite pleased with how this turned out.

Journalling on the left talks about how different kiwi summers are to the summers I grew up with on the Gold Coast, and on the right it talks about how Rave & Tai love the wet sand – but Rave is always 1st to get his hands dirty.

Well this is just a short & sweet post – Tai is home after 4 nights away & she’s ratty…woke Rave up from his nap {{gggrrrr}} with her performance about not wanting a bath – BELIEVE me she needed one – and is need of lots of snuggles to settle her back down.

So I’m off – but before I go…I got my kit from Embellished theother day & it is SENSATIONAL!!! I soooo can’t wait to use it – I thought I would have by now – but I keep getting distracted….so perhaps tonight when the kiddies go to sleep…or does Prisonbreak start back tonight??? hmmmmm we’ll see

Busy Weekend

Well I scrapped & scrapped & scrapped this weekend.

I received my Jan kit from SBO & had to create some LOs…I’ll share a sneak of that…made 4 LOs, 3 cards & still have left overs…so pretty happy with that & the MM paint is just delicious to paint chipboard with.

On Friday night I went to scrap at Heidi’s – SBO had a chat ‘n challenge to get any 2006 projects completed.

Well I had 2 CJs sitting on my desk from December..so I managed to get them done & dusted….One CJ from last year went missing – so I re-did my pages for that…and they are winging their way to Ilka as I type – PHEW!!

I should be receiving another CJ in the post today..so I’ll try to get that one off my desk within a week ;o)

I’ve popped up sneaks of the CJ pages too cos I don’t want to spoil the surprise for the girls (just incase they stumble across my blog ROFL!!)

SBO also had a couples of challenges on top of/combined with getting to projects done:

1. scrap a pic older than 6months

2. use embellishments older than 6 months

For each of my CJ entries I used old embellies…conchos, vellum heart, clear tag thingy etc.

On my old pic challenge I used a sheet of index prints that had been sitting on my desk since Jorjy was a baby…2004 & on that puppy I used some photo corners, a bottle cap & an old puffy sticker in the centre of the cap…I used Sares1’s (Sarah Gladman) ribbon technique very cool!!

I’m very happy with how this turned out..looks like Jorjy’s album is well under way for the year )

And finally, JacquiJ has posted her weekly challenge #3 over at SBD..it was to use white cardstock as your background.

I took this pic of Mal Mal & his Grandma at the beach when we went to Army Bay a couple of week’s ago…I love it!!

I used BG blush pps & mini monos… I think its a great start to Malakai’s album )

The stamps along the side are Rhonna Farrer Autumn Leaves Flourishes V2….if you can get your hands on a set – GET THEM!!! they are divine…I borrowed these off Heidi..she got them from Lisa’s Shoppe…seriously, if you don’t have a handy dandy neigbour down the road with a set of these puppies you really ought to treat yourself!!!

OK, so far this year I have done pages for Jorja, Malakai, Ebby & the Pace/Renata clan…so I have Kohatu, Reign, Ethan, Creed, Jordan & Keziah left…and if I manage to get some pics of Troy & Lexi I’ll have another 2 albums to do )

I think somewhere I said one of my resolutions was going to be to NOT do every challenge I see…ahhhh who am I kidding???

Now that I’ve freed my mind to double up on challenges, perhaps I can do twice as many hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!