retreat layouts

here are some of my layouts that I completed at the retreat - which will soon be one month ago - time has flown!

First up is 'me & you' a picture of Ella and I taken earlier on in the year,

Next 'its funny to be a bit silly sometimes' (the title is very similiar to a previous one of Jacob and I but I was stuck for a title!)

'Its your birthday today' is of Bethany taken on her third birthday back in July,

'you make my heart sing' is of Bethany again, I love this photo of her taken when we were away in October,


last one is simply titled 'I love her' Ella is quite challenging at times but theres no denying that I simply love her!

The Christmas tree went up yesterday and Mark totally surprised me by going of to buy some lights to hang up outside! I have been asking each year if he could put up some Christmas lights, and this year he finally gave in - they look really nice dangling from the roof gutters!

I am doing the December Daily journal that Ali Edwards is doing I finished of the finishing touches to mine last night, and I am really looking forward to completing this over the coming month, I will post some pictures of it soon.

Hi again!

Apologies for another long break in my blogging world!
I have had a busy month, we had the scrap of faith retreat a couple of weeks ago, I flew up to Qld with Ali and Ingeborg on Thursday and we came home the following Monday, quite sleep deprived but it was all worth it! it was a great weekend getting to meet all the lovely ladies who I have gotten to know over the past couple of years, the weekend was filled with lots of laughter, fun and a little scrapping! I managed to do about 6 layouts which I still need to photograph!

So hear are some older ones, and I hope I haven't put these up yet,
first one is of Jacob and I with a long title 'I hope we keep this kind of silliness with each other, because sometimes we just like to take photos of ourselves'

Next 'all I wanted was a nice photo of us' is of Mark and I, I was hoping for a nice photo but of course Mark had another face in mind!

'enjoy your life' is of Bethany, I used a KI Memories transperant sheet thingy,

Next is 'Make me smile', a photo of Ella having one of her toddler moments,

last photo is of Bethany and Ella taken last week sometime, just a cute photo!

Unfortunately both the girls have the cold/flu so the past couple of nights I have been constantly up and down throughout the night, mainly with Ella, so at the moment I feel very tired, I am very grateful that Mark has gone into work late so he has been getting Jake ready for school and taken him just so I can have an extra lie in - what a sweetie!

I have also fallen into the Facebook trap! I have found some lost old friends out there - some still not sure if I still need to keep them as old lost friends! lol!

Well better go, I better wish my sister Emily a very Happy Birthday for Nov 25th and also Karen, hope you both have a great day, this is the time of year when it flies straight past!

Hindmarsh Island holiday pictures

We all had a great family holiday! we came home yesterday well rested.

The house we stayed in was really nice and quiet, there was a forest behind us and a vacant block of land next to us so we were pretty secluded, thats Bethany climbing on the rocks there with Ella on Marks shoulders in the background.

We quickly realised we had very frequent visitors which we fed at their demand! there were a couple of magpies and 3 ducks that stayed around until they were fed! the kids loved that especially Bethany! thats Ella and Bethany feeding the ducks, I took that picture on the last morning we were there, it wasnt even 7am yet and those ducks kept quaking and walking around the outside of the house so me being the mother duck I am I got up and we fed them!

We visited Urrimbirra wildlife park, I think that was the highlight of our holiday! we had a great time there with the kids plus there were only a few other people visiting! thats Jake with a couple of emus behind him.

Bethany loved feeding the Kangaroos, apart from this Kangaroo who was a bit impatient with Bethanys hand feeding, so he grabbed the Kangaroo food bag from her and tried to feed himself - there were quite a few tears from Bethany then! We saw crocodiles, snakes, Koalas - heaps of wildlife animals!

Here is Ella, Mark took this as we were leaving the park, we think she didnt want to walk through the bird cage again!

We didnt do too much else, took a couple of drives but we mainly just relaxed, which is what should happen on a holiday!!

another month gone...

sorry about that! these days just seem to fly by!

A few weeks ago we celebrated baby Ellas 2nd birthday! and boy is she a feisty little thing! thats her in the first layout here titled adorable, she looks like a sweet little toddler but really shes a little miss bossy! I have given myself a little break for a few weeks by not taking her to the shops anymore - she really is a handful! she is starting to be rather unkind to her big sister at times and I have to deal with Bethany complaining about Ella hitting or pushing her around, so I am hoping she will grow out of this! she must get this attitude from her father as anyone who knows me knows just what a placid girl I am!

Next layout is another one of Ella titled 'Lifes a beach' this is one I did for Pencillines, in the school holidays I took the kids to the beach for a bit, we only live a few minutes away from there but we hardly ever visit the beach, so one nice afternoon I took them for a bit of a play.

next one 'Hes my funny dude' is of Jacob and I, I did this for another sketch site but I never got around to posting it in.

'she doesnt get that frown from me' is of Ella and myself, she has a real big frown in this photo, I know my Mum would say that she definately has my frown but I think its another thing she got from her Father!

Last up is an old photo of Bethany 'shes a day dreamer', I did some hand stencilling on this one.

Well thats a handful of layouts, I do seem to be getting my mojo back again, I just need some fresh photos and everyone seems to be less willing to be photographed! we are going on a family holiday on Monday for a few days to Hindmarsh Island, down by Victor Harbour, which we are really looking forward to, then in another few weeks I will be in Queensland on the Scrap of Faith retreat, which I am really looking forward to aswell!

Friday catch up

Back again!! this past week hasn't been too good as I came down with this dreadful flu again - I cant believe how many times I have had this over the last couple of months, I still have a lingering annoying cough as well as the start of my hayfever season, anyway here are a few 'oldish' layouts, I seem to have gone off scrapping a bit, I cant really afford to tho as I have so much stuff to use! lol! so hopefully I can crawl out of this scrapping rut I am in!

First layout 'I love my sister is a gorgeous photo I took of Bethany and Ella, full title reads 'can you tell I love my sister'

next 'she is growing ever so quickly' is of Bethany,

last one is of Ella and her bouncy hair titled 'love those curls' I love her hair at the moment, it bounces as she toddles along!

Here is a photo of the girls I took last week, Bethany was rather keen for me to take a picture with Ella, who was more interested in eating her sandwich!

I'm hoping I haven't posted any of these layouts yet! apologies if I have! I will be back soonish with some recent ones!

I know I have been .....

MIA for a long time now! procrastination is a big problem for me sometimes!

I will start of first with a few of my recent layouts, first up 'look mum' is of Ella, the full title reads 'look mum I just ate your flavoured lip balm!', the picture shows Ellas lips covered with one of my lip balms - which she destroyed!!

Next 'sweet baby' is a sketch taken from pencil lines
a baby photo of Ella.

'As good as it gets' is a family shot of Mark and the kids - for some reason I thought I would be able to take a nice family photo where everyone would smile and look at the camera! (dont know what I was thinking) - the sub title reads this is as good as it gets (photowise).

4th up is another one of Ella 'lil miss sweet cheeks', she does have the cutest chubbiest sweet cheeks! I used the new Scenic Route papers.

Last up is Jacob 'you are a wally', whenever I try to take photos of him he pulls a face at the last minute, it is seriously hard to take a decent photo of him!

The last time I blogged I said about how we were all getting better again after the colds and flu, well since then we have all had it again, with the girls and I getting it for the 3rd time, so I am so looking forward to warmer weather and sunshine.

Marks work had an award night a couple of weeks ago, the Steel Industry Awards, his company was one of the sponsors of someone who had won, so for me it really meant a really nice cooked meal, free drinks and the chance to buy and wear a new dress!! plus Jacob was excited when I told him it was hosted by Cosi who was a winner on one of The Biggest Loser shows, well thats probably the only exciting thing that has happened to me lately!

I WILL be back soon - within a week - I promise!!!

Friday catch up

Back again with some more layouts - a few pink ones today!

First up is 'Pretty girl' starring Bethany - my little photogenic girl! I used KI Memories paper for this one, one of my fav papers to use!

Next one titled 'two sisters' is of Bethany and Ella playing around in Bethanys bed, the sub title reads 'who like to climb into made beds' at the moment they like to either get under the sheets in our bed or Bethanys bed during the day, which means I have to remake the same beds over and over!

Third up 'yummy' is a layout of myself and Bethany making her birthday cake - thanks to Jacob for taking the pictures!

Last one 'eating ice cream at Nanas' is a layout I completed for a challenge on the Aussie
scrap source blog, the criteria was that you had to use Tinkering Ink paper, I didnt realise that people can vote for these layouts and sadly no one has voted for mine yet (sniff sniff)
They have a great challenge over the next month if anyone is after a bit of a challenge, I have just about finished my next 2 - hopefully I may get a vote or 2 for those!!

Well thats about it for my week, school is back, the girls are well enough to go back in to the creche at gym, which means Im able to work out again pumping some iron, so life is in a routine again! - still there never seems enough hours in a day to finish things!

Friday update

Back again with some more layouts - they mainly consist of Bethany!

First up is 'you glow with your beauty' its hard to tell through the computer but this picture of her seems to just radiate with her beauty - hence the title!

next is titled 'funny girls' a 2 photo layout! it is of Ella and Bethany, who are both pulling a face!

'Be still' is a layout which I initially completed for a Pencil line sketch, but it has taken me ages to photograph it and have probably missed the cut off!

next layout 'what are you thinking' is another one of Bethany, this photo of her was taken in April of last year, my sister Emily took this one of her, she looks so deep in thought!

and last one is of Ella titled 'this picture says Cuteness', she was wearing her red and white gingham top from Pumpkin Patch and she has a tiny little ponytail - cute!!

The school holidays are coming to an end, the weather hasn't been that kind - not complaining about the rain, but it does get a bit hard keeping the kids occupied!

It was Bethany's birthday last Sunday, 3 she turned! she received plenty of Dora and Strawberry Shortcake toys! she had a great day and was totally spoilt!

I am aiming to update with layouts on a weekly basis, I still have lots to photograph! I seem to be whipping them out in record time lately!

Chatterbox layouts

A very cold and wet start to the school holidays today! I am back with some more layouts, all of these layouts (except for 'Play' one) were for a Blue Bazaar
Chatterbox challenge, the first one 'sweet' which is of Bethany is featured in the portal for the week and the other 3 plus another one was featured in the newsletter.
I was pretty proud of myself as it took me about 5 days to complete 6 layouts! I had 10 sheets of Chatterbox paper i had to use - very nice paper aswell! the 'Baby of mine' layout is like a fabric paper.

The 'Play' layout is of Bethany and Ella, I journalled about how they love to play outside, and the tiny photo on that layout is of Ella giving Bethany a kiss as she is laying on the grass - cute!!

Well just a quick one tonight as my hands and feet are freezing and Im longing for my nice flanellete sheets!

another month gone!

Another month has gone without those extra postings I always say I will do! but I do have a good excuse tho, we all came down with the awful flu that is going around plus with the end of financial year Mark was working overtime plus! but thankfully we are all better now and things are settling down again for Mark, even tho Mark had been working so much he was still so much help to me when I wasn't very well and struggling a bit - what a blessing he is to me!!

Anyway I have tons of layouts (not literally!) heres a few that I have photographed first up is 'My daddys loving hand', is of Ella holding Marks hand,

next 'a toddler moment' is of Ella again throwing one of her tantrums, which she is famous for especially at the shops, I had one of those moments with her the other day at the shopping center, we had been there a while as I was birthday shopping for my Mum and by the time I was in the last shop she was out of the double pram wanting to walk so I had to pick her up which started one of her screaming rages and as she went all stiff I had to carry her under my arm while pushing this awful pram, every now and then I had to put her down as my arm was killing me and I thought it may stop her crying but no she proceeded to scream and lay down on the ground - by this stage I was past caring what people were thinking! and I was a bit like Moses parting the sea with her as everyone just got out of my way!! thankfully Bethany was as quiet as a mouse and just sat in her seat!

'feel the sunshine' is of Bethany, she loves looking at my layouts, especially the ones I do about her,

'you make me happy' is of Jacob,

and last one 'my dear children' is obviously my children, Bethany is on top then Ella then Jake - I love that photo! and the paper, its one of the new Sassafrass Lass lines, I loved the dear, reminds me of Bambi.

Thanks for looking!! and a big Hello to Leanne, wheres your blog hey?

I cut it!!

Well I cut my long locks of!! A week ago I went to the hairdresser for my usual colour and word had got around (thanks mum) that I was ready to cut my hair, so as not to dissapoint my hairdresser I said 'ok we can cut it today!' - I was going to dwell on the thought for a couple of weeks! she really thinned it down and layered it, and now a week later I love it! I have had it so long for over half my life, it took a few days to adjust to my reflection and not see so much hair! I do miss my long ponytail though, like when Im at the gym and Im doing high impact stuff and my ponytail resembled a horses mane running a race and now my tiny little ponytail begins to fall out during my workout! anyway enough of my hair, or as Mark says stop looking at yourself and stop taking pictures of yourself!!

Here are a couple of older layouts first is Blessed is what I am, the photo is of Bethany and I, I was taking a self portrait of us 2 and I accidently took that photo of us and I love how happy I look!

Very ladylike is of Bethany, you probably cant tell through here but her little jeans are halfway down her little bum and I couldnt resist taking a shot of it! I also loved the new Daisy Ds range of paper which I used for this, I also have journalling on the side of the photo but I dont think its that noticeable through here.

I do have so many more layouts to upload and finish, I tend to leave the journalling to do at a later date, so at the moment I have quite a few that need journalling as their finishing touches.