scrapjack

I finished this layout for this months Aussie Scrapjacked
using a sketch from Sarah Vanwijck, titled 'be like that then' I used a photo of Jacob, and seeing I find it hard to take shots of him without pulling a face, I scrapped one where hes poking out his tongue at me!
I will come back later and post up our Christmas and show of some photos!

gifts

I was inspired by the girls from Scrap of Faith to make Jacobs teacher a gift, which he gave her on the last day of school today, its a pen holder for her desk, Jake said she was quite impressed when she found out I had made it, I put boxes of smarties in it, because she was a good teacher and she made the kids a lot smarter because of her teaching! I thought that was clever of me to think that! and I told Jake to make sure he tells her what the smarties meant, but he forgot!

My next gift is a gift I treated myself to a - Clip it Up, I have had my eye on one for ages, but as they are quite pricey I knew Id be waiting for a while, until I stumbled upon one on an American ebay shop, I bought both tiers plus a cover for it and all up including postage it cost me $140 compared to $110 from Blue Bazaar just for the bottom tier and not including postage, plus I received within 10 days!! so it was an early birthday present for me!

I will finish up with a couple of layouts 'peace, joy, love' is just a Christmas one of Ella I did.

'When we were young' is one of myself and Ella and the quote I used is one I just love by Dorothy Evslin - 'What is the price of an afternoon when a small girl is soothed in your arms, when the sun bolts through a doorway and both you and the child are very young' - so that explains the title! lol!

Well its Marks birthday today and we are about to sit down and watch a dvd, Im just waiting for him to tell me to "GET OF THAT COMPUTER" he says that in a nice way of course!!

December

December already! I love this time of the year!! so full of celebrations, love, presents and fun! I am so excited about Marks Christmas work party - which happens to fall on my birthday! we have our hotel room all booked and Mum is staying over to mind the kids, Mark and I can have a full day and night to ourselves!
We had the kids party on the weekend with Marks work, and the kids received a present from Santa, such fun!

I have a few more layouts 'blessed' is of Bethany and Ella taken on Mothers Day,
'Slow down' is of Ella, the photo was taken a few weeks ago not long after she began to walk, I used the wall in the photo to write the journalling and used a rub-on,

and the blue one 'moments like this I love', the girls were sitting together on the chair swing outside, just giggling together and kissing each other, so I just had to photograph them and scrap it! the journalling is just how much I savour and love the moments I have with them!

I really must start scrapping Jacob, at the moment whenever I try and take a photo of him he pulls a face - very frustrating!!!

scrapjacked entry

here is my first entry at having a go with an Aussie Scrapjack comp. with Celeste Vermeend being the inspiration, I have been admiring her work for a little while now so I found this one quite easy to do, Bethany is the little angel in this photo with her fairy wings, I also used a quote from Allen Beck which I really like and fits Bethany very well ....
A little girl can be sweeter (and badder) oftener than anyone
else in the world. She can jitter around, and stomp, and make funny noises that frazzle your nerves, yet just when you open your mouth
she stands there demure with that special look in her eyes.
A little girl is Innocence playing in the mud, Beauty standing on its head, and Motherhood dragging a doll by the foot.

I used Rhonna Farrer paper with this layout- which is just gorgeous looking paper!

more, more and more layouts!

Here are some more layouts from me, 'moments to cherish' is of a photo of Mark and Bethany, a lovely photo I took of them just at the right moment!

'tis love' is of Mark and I, I was just playing around with this one, wanting to use up the Basic Grey paper I had and the 7 gypsies tape which I used as a border for the photo

I took these photos of Bethany ('spring rain') when it began to rain one day a couple of weeks ago and as it doesnt rain here alot I let her play in it for a few minutes - and she loved it!!

'little ray of sunshine' is of Ella taken funnily enough out in the sunshine!

and the last one 'this makes me smile' is an older photo of Ella and Mark a simple layout but I love the photo and Ellas gorgeous smile!

life is becoming more busier lately as we head nearer to birthdays - my little sister with hers on Sunday! and each weekend from now until Christmas is all booked up with something on!! and only 3 weeks till school holidays (and my birthday!) how fast has this year gone?

I'll try and be back soon! I have been doing a few of the page projects lately and have had trouble finishing one before starting another! lol! at the moment Im doing a ribbon holder I picked up from Spotlight from Kaiser, have been after something to store my ribbons and at $10 this should turn out pretty good (Im hoping!)

quick update!

wow another post from me within a week!!

have added a couple of layouts, this one of Jacob 'my love for you is unconditional' was finished a few weeks ago when I had a few days of those 'testing times' that I'm sure other 8 year olds put their mums through at some time! - although it was school holidays and he was getting a bit bored alot!

'live out loud' is of Bethany, I took this photo of her when I was hanging out the washing, she was playing with one of the towels that was flapping on the clothes line - she was having an absolute ball and was laughing her head of! and I managed to take the perfect photo of her! so cute!!

These photos are of Ella feeding herself yogurt, shes getting to the stage where she wants to feed herself and on this day I let her!
not that much fun trying to clean her all up though! lol!

We are taking the kids to the Christmas pageant on Saturday - which will be fun! I was quite surprised when I asked Mark about taking the girls and he said yes - he may think again when it comes around next year! lol! Jacobs the one who doesnt want to go now, he thinks hes to old!

I have finally updated!!

I have been meaning to update my blog over the past couple of weeks but I don't need to convince anyone just how quickly the days seem to go by!

I fell into a bit of a slump with my scrapping - just after I had written how well I was going with it! I seem to be using a lot of 'fresh' coloured paper (if that makes sense!) must be the change in seasons!

The first one 'Who do I love - You' is of Mark and I taken on our wedding day,I did this one a while ago now, I used Love Elsie paper and the matted photo lifts up to reveal hidden journaling, I have also used burgundy ribbon and Heidi Swapp ribbon.
The 'dad' one I used a sketch from Creating Keepsakes - not entirely happy with it but I love the photo of Mark and Ella.
Another dad one! lol! 'my daddy' is of Ella and Mark again - another simple one for me again! pretty sure I used Sassafrass lass paper for that one and a Heidi Swapp ghost shape (the love heart)

'two' is of Bethany, I love this photo of her, I have scrapped this a few times now and it was actually taken when she was about 18 months old, the layout is all about who she is at 2 and what she likes and says etc. I did this one a while ago now, I think I used Creative Imaginations and Collage Press paper.

The last one 'garden girl' is of Bethany I caught her playing in one of the bushes out the back, so I quickly grabbed the camera and snapped away! the photo is a bit blurry and it doesnt show the brightness of the layout, I used Scenic Route paper and a really nice pink linen cardstock, well thats the scrap talk out the way lol!
Ella is now walking just about everywhere! just over the past week or 2 she has really taken of! Bethany seems to have a lot more fun with her now, she likes to go into her room and call Ella and once Ella makes it in the room Bethany closes the door and they are both content to play in there for a little while! usually they pull out all the books and sit there and read them!

I love this time of year with only 7 weeks till Christmas, school holidays, Marks birthday then mine and summer just around the corner, I can't believe how fast this year has gone!

Well I promise I will update very soon - still have more layouts to share, I'll make sure I wont leave it a month next time! lol!

still more layouts!

I really feel as if I have settled in to my style of scrapping and I am now able to scrap s0 much quicker than I used to - I reckon I have been completing at least 3 each week for the past month or so, which is quick for me!
'My rugged man' is of Mark, he looks rugged in the photo as he hadn't shaved for a couple of days, I like that photo of him - would have been better if he had taken hi sunglasses of!
I did something funny this evening with him (well I had a bit of a quiet chuckle), I was at my desk and he was in the lounge watching tv and as my phone was with me and I knew he had to get up to get his, I sent him a text message for him to get me a drink while he was up! he did eventually! I think he thought it was kind of funny to!



this one is of Bethany titled 'whisper in your sleeping childs ear I love you' which is a quote I really like, she looks so sweet when she sleeps and this is her sleeping position!

Not a lot to mention , Jacob has had a couple of sleepovers, last night he stayed at mums and tonight hes at Marks mums, I look forward to when all 3 kids can stay at their Nanas!
Well better head of to bed, have been so tired lately and my hayfever has really been quite bad the last few days, just when I thought it was starting to subside, as much as I love spring I could really do without all the pollen and stuff in the air, thats enough whining for me tonight!

more layouts

We are in the middle of school holidays here, so I have been hearing a lot of 'Im bored mum', 'Is this all we are going to do today mum' and my favorite (not) 'whats for tea mum?' which I answer 'Jacob we haven't even had lunch yet so please don't ask me that yet'!

anyway here are some more layouts 'mine' is a photo of Ella and I taken when we took the kids to the beach last Monday, it was a gorgeous day for a public holiday, to cold for the beach but the kids had a ball building sandcastles and Ella eating the sand whenever she could lol!

the one called 'Natalie' is obviously a layout about me! dont really need any other explanation!

and the last one 'love you girls' is of Bethany and Ella, they are just the perfect pair together, Ella has begun to develop a 'little Miss Attitude' lately - she only just turned 1!! at times I can tell that Bethany is just not quite to sure about her feisty little sister!

Till next time!!

Not happy!!

What started yesterday as a day of excitement and hope for my footy team ended in total disaster and humiliation! we lost by a record loss ever in a grand final, by the end of the game all I wanted to do was to go and hide in a very dark place! and watching the game with Mark in the room I began to feel rather small! as hes a Crows man there was probably no greater game that Crows supporters could've watched with absolute glee!!! I just had to recently apologise to him for my behaviour, so thankfully footy season is over for us all now!

Heres another layout I have recently finished titled 'In his arms' I took this photo of Mark asleep on the lounge with Bethany.

The next one titled 'beautiful, lovely' is of Bethany looking at herself in the mirror (which she often does!) I used a gorgeous Delish Design paper with this which has very delicate lovely designs on it in shades of pink and soft green (you cant tell with this photo) I glued beads for the title and I played around with photoshop to get the picture like that (not sure I could do it again though!) the poem reads 'when in the mirror of his love I look at my reflection, I accept myself for who I am with all my imperfection.' When I was a little girl I had a poster on my wall with that poem and the picture was of a girl looking at herself in the mirror, so I thought that would be the perfect photo for that!

Well thats all for today - I've done well over the past week with all my posts!!!

feeling excited!!!

Heres another layout I finished a while ago now of baby Ella taken just after she was born, I matted the photo on swatches of material and folded the flowers to make them stand out a bit.
The layout titled 'happy' is of Ella again, the photo was taken about a month or 2 ago and the layout was done not that long after - very simple one that one!
and the other one is of Ella again - 'lil blue eyes', this is a recent photo and layout and its about her blue eyes! I love this photo! and another quick layout!!

Well I better get some sleep before the big day tomorrow Ill leave with another GO POWER!!!!

layouts

Thought I would begin to update with some layouts, this one of Ella titled 'oops' is about her throwing herself all over the flip out sofa!, a couple of weeks ago when she began to be more confident on her feet she started climbing and throwing herself over this sofa and I would just find her like this just in her own little world - so cute! the rub on qoute I used is 'enthusiasm is a divine possession'

The other one titled 'sisterly love' is of Bethany and Ella, I used some gorgeous papers from Rita Marie and also used it to cover the chipboard letters, the border around the border is bits of pastel netted ribbon ties
I couldnt resist adding this lovely photo -yeah Port Adelaide made it into the grand final!!! unfortunately I wont be making the trip to Melbourne this time - too expensive, so my cousin is taking my spot and going up with my Mum and sister , will have to make do with watching it at home!

Still have more layouts to add over the next few days - so stay tuned! Emily leave me a message so at least I know someone is reading about my exciting life! lol!

Been a while (again!)

Well its been a little while since I last posted, I have been waiting to post up my latest layouts but for the life of me I can not figure out how to re size them through photoshop, there is only a few days left on the trial so I will wait till then as I have been on a good roll with scrapping lately!

Have been so excited this week with all the excitement leading to tomorrow, with Port Adelaide just one win away from playing in the grand final, I am of to the game tomorrow and have spent all week (actually 2 as we had last week of) counting down the days - I just hope we win!!!!!

Less than a week till my baby turns 1, both her and Bethany are just beautiful together! they play so well together and they bring me so much joy and bring many smiles to my face each day, I have managed to put up this photo which was taken a week or 2 ago - Bethany is so affectionate towards her little sister!

One more photo to share, a layout of Jacob which didnt go through photoshop so I was able to re size it, I want to do more boy and manly ones as have been doing lots of girl ones lately,

Anyway its after 11pm - way past my bedtime, a big day for me tomorrow, must get my beauty sleep!! Go the Power!!!

Layouts

Heres a few more layouts I have managed to whip up over the past week, this one is of Ella, I gave her some nappy free time and her just sitting there like that was just to cute to forget about!
The Sweet Dreams one is of Bethany who refuses to nap in her cot during the day but quite often find her fast asleep anywhere in the house!
The other one -Your blooming smile is of Ella, I took the photo a month or so ago, just after she begun to pull herself up and she started playing peek a bo with me outside in the cubby house!

Not a lot going on at the moment, we are at the end of footy season, getting a bit nervous with both my team and hubbies team in the finals - and am really hoping we dont end up playing in the grand final together - which hopefully is highly unlikely as Port is just to good for the Crows! lol!

I have had to stop myself from checking out ebay on a daily basis as it was getting a bit expensive - in just under 2 weeks I have picked up some bargains!! 3 billabong jeans a top and a brand new Rusty jacket! I am getting a bit embaresed when the delivery man shows up combined with my scrapbooking parcels he comes here quite often now! lol!

Allergies, sleepless nights, ebay and yay John Butler!!

With spring just around the corner and this gorgeous weather which has began I have been taking the kids outside alot to play - which they love to do, but on the down side Bethany's allergies have sprout again, just as we thought she may have outgrown them, she is scratching herself so much lately and at night has been waking up squirming from being so itchy, so sleepless nights have started up again and tiredness and exhaustion has been my friend again! plus my hayfever has started as well!

my goodness ebay! what a mistake that has been for me to delve in to! in a week I have bought a Billabong top and 2 pairs of Billabong jeans! yes I love the surf wear brands! although Im beginning to wonder if Im getting a bit to old for these brands now! and how frustrated did I feel when I was outbidded on another pair of jeans - frustrated enough to bid and win another pair! lol! better stop talking about this for fear of incriminating myself!

We had a busy weekend, with Phils birthday on Saturday, Mark at footy on Saturday night, Church then my footy on Sunday then Emily took me to see Josh Pyke and John Butler Trio, John Butler is just amazing to see live, I have seen him perform at one of the Big Day Outs a few years ago but his performance was just stunning on Sunday night, I took some photos on my NEW! fuji, but I left my memory card at home and I cant figure out how to transfer photos from just the camera

Ill come back later with some photos, we are trialling photoshop and I cant figure out how to resize photos through that, poor Jacob has to have a tooth pulled out today, I never got around to changing the appointment as I didnt realise mum is at work today so I have to take the girls in with me! - that will serve me right, I did make this appointment 3 weeks ago so I have had plenty of time to change it!

been a while!

I have been a bit slack with my blog lately - sorry Em!
We have all recovered from the flu and its taken me all week to catch up on all the housework and shopping!

Mark and I went out to tea last night with his company, it was a nice night and it was great to get out of the house and enjoy some yummy food, it was a banquet style meal which was finally served up at 9pm - I was STARVING by then, after having bacon and eggs for breakfast and skipping lunch knowing we were in for a big tea I saved my hunger for tea but gee it was a long wait!!! I wasn't brave to use the toilets as one lot was a unisex one and the toilet doors were clear glass until you locked the door then changed to a frosted look, another lot of toilets had fish in the cistern so when the toilet was flushed the water for the fish would disapear then rise up again! it was a big place - even had a driving range for golf players, there were 16 of us and the bill was in excess of $900, its good that his company does things like this for them, after tea we went to the bar for some drinks and finally got home at 2am, my poor mum was looking after the kids so thanks mum!!

Well not a lot else to rant about, I signed up on ebay yesterday and am hunting down a camera, what a huge world it is in ebay lol! I wasted a good couple of hours yesterday on it just looking! - probably not a good idea to join! lol!

I better get some housework done before I sit down and watch Port play, then of to mums tonight for tea while Mark goes to his footy, more yummy food for tea tonight!

sympathy please, I'm sick!!

Over the last week all of us has been hit with this awful flu, with Mark and I the last to deal with it, hes been home from work all this week, I feel so tired and unwell and having to deal with a toddler and a baby on the move is very tiring!! Jacob went back to school yesterday after nearly a week of and Bethany is returning back to her stubborn self lol! she was the sickest one, on the day I took her to the docs she spent all day on the lounge laying down poor thing, so anyway hopefully in a few days we will all be back to our normal healthy selves!

On another note heres another layout I finished a few weeks ago, I love this photo of Jacob on our wedding day - (Mark and I), Emily took this of him after he had had enough of the day and all the photos that were taken!

Well I think I need to rest and put my feet up, the kids are all in bed and all I feel like doing is going to bed too!

layouts to share

here are a couple of layouts I finished a couple of months ago, I am still having trouble resizing images at the moment, so I will have to seek advice (again) from my better half (Mark) lol! The 'angel' layout is Ella positioned on a pile of towels - an image I tried to recreate from an Anne Gedes picture (emphasize tried!!) I also used rub on angel wings and the journaling is the poem ' Where did you come from baby dear?'
The 'sweet heart' is Bethany, I just used left over scraps with this one.

the chop

well today I finally got my hair cut! not all of it but practically half my hair is gone, I still have the length at the back but it is layered all over - it feels so much better and so much lighter, both Melissa and Wendy were so excited when I walked in to the hairdresser, my hair was at least half way down my back and really thick which created a huge pile of hair! I was at the hairdresser for just under 3 hours (I had a colour as well)!!!! but well worth it - I feel like a new woman! it is a bit hard to see in this photo how much I had cut of, but it was A LOT!!
If it wasn't so late and if I wasn't so tired I would upload some layouts but I will do that later, the girls woke a fair bit during the night last night for some reason, so I need some sleep!

lost - yes I am!

I have just finished watching the last episode of Lost, which I have stuck by and watched after the last few years, but tonight is the first time I have had to check up on the web site to figure out what on earth was going on!!! and when I did and proudly told dh he replied 'you didnt figure that out yourself?' - apparently he did! so now I know what is going on I will eagerly await the next season! lol!

The last few days have had a touch of spring in them, the weather has just been gorgeous, so much so that I have walked to school to pick Jacob up, 30mins each way, add an extra 10mins with Jacob and all the 'why did we have to walk home' and 'I hate walking', so I think I'll leave the walks without a tired school boy! lol! I have spent most of the last few days outside with the kids, they all love playing outside and its been nice just pottering around in the garden,

Ella finally began to crawl properly today and she likes to head straight for Bethany and grabs whatever she is playing with - its so cute! I don't think I'll be thinking that in a few weeks though! shes also trying to stand up and she does if shes got something to help pull her up, shes 10 months old tomorrow - shes growing so quick.

well my brains a bit sore from all the Lost theories so I better head of to bed!

cutting back

I have really cut back my computer time over the past week, I was getting to the point of leaving it on for most of the day and simply wasting time on it, so this week I challenged myself to only turn it on at night after the kids were in bed, there have even been a few days where all I've done is checked the e-mails, I have been missing what has been going on in forums and blogs though, but it was something I had to take a step back from for a little while, so hopefully when Jake goes back to school next week I can begin to manage a 'disciplined' computer time!

the computer has also been playing up again and I have been unable to access photos and loading up images etc. which is a real pain, Mark has tried a few things but to no avail so it will still be a while before that will be fixed - I need photos for scrapping!!

Jacob has hardly been home over the last week with sleepovers at both his Nanas and tonight at his dads house and gee I miss how helpful he is with his little sisters! Bethany is missing him now when hes not at home, she calls him 'Doe Doe' and she calls herself 'C C' which we have all began to call her now! lol!

We have passed the halfway mark of winter and I am dreaming of the gorgeous spring days which will be back soon, I have had the heater on during the days lately and my hands are constantly cold.

Well I think its time I head of to bed for a decent sleep actually Mark just got some lollies out so time to snuggle and eat his lollies!

Happy Birthday Bethany!

our gorgeous little baby has suddenly (lol) turned 2! where the time has gone I'm not to sure! she was oblivious to what was going on, we gave her a few presents before Mark left for work, then Emily came over followed by Daniel and mum for lunch, I think Bethany was getting a bit overwhelmed that whenever someone came over she was given new toys! I think mum was a bit shocked that I had put a dress on her! lol! she looked so cute, mum caught her staring at herself in front of the mirror with her dress on while I was out!
for tea we had some party food and sang Happy Birthday which freaked her out a bit! then she opened up the rest of the presents which I bought today - I know I am very slack! then just before bed Sam came and dropped his present off, so by the time she went to bed her and Ella were both so tired.

I am spending way to much time on the computer lately and not accomplishing a lot else (in my spare time - I'm not on here all day lol) instead of scrapping I waste it on here, mainly with myspace lately, I have a few more friends now (blush) and commenting back and forth gets a bit addictive!

well I got to go to bed, one worn out mother here! how fast has this week gone! one week of school holidays left, its so nice not to be so rushed in the mornings!

The Wedding!!

Well yesterday was the big day for our cousin Carmen when she married the man of her dreams, we all had such a great day and I remained stress free all day! (I had a reading to do - a small one!) the reception was so much fun thanks to my younger brothers and sister and we learned that Sam can't be trusted with a portable camera! lol!!
The weather held out, it poured when we were in the Church and Emily said it was freezing for the photos, Carmen was the most relaxed and excited bride I think I have ever seen! it was just such a beautiful day for my Aunty Veronica and Uncle Nicky after all they have and are going through and it was even more special that Uncle Nicky was well enough to walk Carmen down the aisle, after all the photos I took the majority of them came out blurry and I only got 1 of Mark and I! and Daniel most of the photos you either had your eyes closed or pulled a face - not happy lol!
It was great to catch up with the extended family and we all had a fantastic day and night, by the end of it my face was sore from laughing (mainly to all the mischief Sam was getting up to!)
The reception was held at the Port Adelaide club rooms and unfortunately we lost and more misfortune when Adelaide won so a few Crows supporters including my dh delighted in rubbing it in!
I'll have to start scrapping some of these photos of my family!
Emily you made a BEAUTIFUL bridesmaid, I said to Mark after that I can't wait till you get married and I will be your bridesmaid!

I bought a dress!!!

I found a dress for Carmens wedding on Saturday! I prayed God would lead me to the right one and I found it in the last shop I looked in! for a while I thought I would just have to end up wearing whatever looked decent in my wardrobe! its a gorgeous black one - plus it was a steal! marked down and my size!!! I just need some shoes and stockings and I'll be all set to go! I think the last time I wore a dress was at my own wedding, I am so looking forward to Saturday and Mark bought a suit for it too! I'll make sure someone takes some nice photos of us.

The girls seem to be better now and Ella is just on the verge of crawling - still! I think I said that last time lol! and Bethany just gets more adorable with each day, she has begun to say 'wuv you' when I tell her I love her , at the moment she loves to stare at herself in my mirror (I dont know where she gets that from) she just stares at and talks to herself, this photo I took she had been staring for a good 5mins! she loves to go in my (our) room and look through my bedside drawers and now she can reach my perfumes, I usually find lipbalms and perfume around the house now , the door is missing its handle so we can't close it, I can't believe she will be 2 next Friday! where has the time gone?

Jake starts school holidays tomorrow - I love school holidays!! and not being rushed in the mornings, I asked him if he is excited about the holidays and he said sort of, he likes school now!

more stuff

The dreaded cold season has hit our household, Jake has been fighting it over the past week, and now Ella and Bethany are showing signs of it, Ella's poor nose has been running non - stop today.

I took this picture of Bethany after she was fascinated at the rain drops on the leaves of the plants, typical that the only decent photo I managed to take half her face was covered by the plant! lol! and her shirt reads My dad is a hunk (rofl) well I think hes a hunk!!

I still have trouble posting photos on here, the other photo is Bethany playing (pretend) the Xbox with Jacob and yes I know hes sitting to close to the tv!

Well we are on the countdown now till Carmens wedding (my cousin) and today I cut out around 90 hearts for her bon boneire(spell), my arm just about fell off during the process! another week to go, I have to find something to wear this week for it, right in the middle of winter to, so praying the weather will be ok for it.

Well better trod of to bed, a great day topped of with my beloved Port winning, hopefully dh wont be as happy tomorrow when he watches his team! lol! I know I'm a bit mean!