Sharing is Caring:)

Well, yes now, I do realise that I am possibly the world's worst blogger.......matter of fact, I come so close it scares me! I do intend to rectify the situation however:) Life has been utter chaos,madness unfolding before me daily, and quite frankly, I just don't get here,between Facebook, and the internet:) I need to update more often!

I also need to put my Canon to use more frequently. I adore my camera. I wish I could carry it about with zeal,randomly snapping at everything that moves,capturing those precious moments. I seldom do. However,on a recent adventure to Calliope(that is via Woop Woop you know) I happened upon this gorgeous fog. I had the Canon handy-I snapped piccies. Then I felt bad for doing so,as not far from where we were parked,half of a family lost their lives in this fog:( A local gent, and his little son were killed in a head on collision in this fog. Very sobering . Very sad.

Onto happier topics now. I have been scrapping again,and loving it. I have been teaching some stamping too. This is the card I taught on the weekend,using the Cottage Garden set. I love the way this turned out. I am not sure the girls enjoyed cutting out the little flowers or butterfly though;p.

I have been joining in the forum at Bon's Scraps again too. It feels like coming home-I haven't chatted for yonks(other than FB) and love the enrichment of sharing my passion with others! The challenges are awesome, and the gallery at Bon's is very inspiring too, I am having a ball getting to know some new faces, and drooling over the gorgeous work! July CC at Bon's has seen this colour challenge:-

I love this photo of my baby:) I loved this challenge too-Black,red, White and Cream, with an element over the edge of the layout,flowers, and a quote. Oh, and finger painting too:0 It was lik revisiting my youth!

The Write Now challenge for July is to write your journalling in a Fairy Tale prose. With some bling thrown in,and I did this page. MMMMM , Glimmermist:) I have had it for yonks, and rarely use it. Loved it for this though!

The July sketch at BON'S is a cracker too-and you still have time left to complete your layout, I found some Gutter Guard that I squirrelled from Jacob, and used it on this layout. Some stamping too,and voila:)

I have more to share,but Blogger is not playing nicely,so that will give me an excuse to upload more later!

Thanks for dropping by-I am off to finish a layout on my desk-it won't make the CC deadline,but it is all about the process! Toodles!

The pregnancy is over:(

My AC/DC pregnancy that is!! After NINE long months, of anxiously awaiting their concert,it has now been and gone:( But ,my,oh my, what an AWESOME night we had!!! We left work early(something we never do-never close the shop early,rarely even on time!) and grabbed our ponchos,heading to Nathan. It looked like it was going to be a dismal,rained out evening...but yippee,it wasn't!!! The only time it rained was during "Thunderstruck"(how apt!) and once near the end. The crowd was fantastic-I got myself some Angus horns,and a cooler. Had to hold on to the horns while jumping about like a mad thing though....... they played all the classics, and paid homage to Bon Scott during "High Voltage"-honestly, the crowd just went wild!!! This was the stage........lots, and lots, and lots of speakers...mmmmm..I love it loud!!! So-it was Jacob's first big concert, and I don't think I will ever get him to another,but at least he went in style:0
I have been card-making, and scrapping a little...have also made a special OTP, but haven't yet edited the photos,so that will be for next post:) February is a mammoth month of birthdays in our family,so I made loads of cards then:) Snappy Birthday for my super cute nephew Jake- he is such a boy, but at six, I still wanted something cute-plenty of time for car cards later on!

I bought the crab stamp for about $1.50 at The Warehouse donkeys ago,and finally inked it!! All made from scraps, of course,and I love how it came out! Apparently, it was a cool card, and passed his inspection,lol.

I have a swag of others, but thought I would share some faves-this one was for my niece's birthday last week,sweet sixteen at last. Charita is Frangipani mad, so I watercoloured and played with this one. It too was met with happiness,phew, i am not failing to please my biggest critic!!

one of my layouts from Feb-a sketch from A2Z Scraplets challenge...which I forgot to send in !! Oh well, it was great to sniff glue again, and revisit my scrapping desk,lol. Just realised how wonky my pic is too*blush*. This was a fun layout to do-love the Kaiser papers:) They totally suit Jake and Jonathon, they adore their gaming!

Not much else to report here-I am eagerly awaiting the outcome of weeks of work overtime at the shop-we have some exciting things going on there in the next week or so:) Jacob has worked so hard,some days 19hours, and I have barely seen him without a tool in his hand,roflmao. Not THAT kind though! I will be taking the Canon to work to capture the new fish-we have Nemo and Dory in now, and have expanded the fish range...and some other things to play with soon too!My new challenge will be to see if I can take fish photos,lol!

Thanks for droping by-I know I am nearly the world's worst blogger...but am off to edit those piccies I promised! Take care ,have fun, and don't do anything I wouldn't do;-P

For Superprincess Ava

I know a great many wonderful people-some I have met,in real life, and some I have spoken to via the phone/internet. Yes, gorgeous readers,that includes you:) Tonight I would like to write about someone who has touched my life profoundly,and I didn't ever have the joy of meeting her. I happen to think her mummy is a beautiful soul,a magnificent photographer, and one of the bravest people I have ever spoken to.
The lady I am speaking of is Sheye Rosemeyer, and if you would like to see her gorgeous work, look here www.sheyerosemeyerphotography.com/ I adore her photos,and one day would love to take shots like hers:) However,it is not only her photography that touches me-it is the way she has endured the tragic loss of her precious daughter, AVA, and taken a very important message to all-look here www.avasrule.com/ . Tomorrow marks three years since Ava flew to be a special angel,and my heart goes out to Sheye and her family. Ava reminds me how special each moment really is, how precious life is, and I find Sheye's blog so touching..... so beautifully written. Tomorrow I will be thinking of Superprincess Ava,and I hope you will join me in sending Ava's postcard as an email tomorrow to raise awareness of children , and the danger the family car can pose.
Sheye,Crayton,Luca,Mason, and Ivy-if you happen to read this, please know you are all in my thoughts on this difficult day, and that you are a constant inspiration to me. Ava will be dancing in her tutu(perhaps with six other skirts) and I am sure she will be watching you all with very much pride and love. Your little daughter has truly touched so many people, and I know Ava will continue to do so-your most beautiful Superprincess.
Thankyou to you for sharing your darling girl with us Sheye. As a mother whom has also lost a child,your words soothe,bring hope,and succinctly describe the emotions/thoughts that I struggle to convey. You have made me treasure the few photographs I have of my daughter even more, and no longer feel I have to "hide" her away.For this gift i am forever indebted to you.xoxo
This post is dedicated to Ava Florence-Beth Rosemeyer.......dance forever Superprincess.

FOCUS...........

that is what I have convinced myself that 201o should be all about-FOCUS! After a rather long hiatus from bloggin,scrapbooking,and generally anything crafty or remotely relaxing, I have made an executive decision to focus on the things most important to me this year. In no particular order(excluding the first one) Family, myself,friends,reading, crafty stuff, and Photography. This year will be full of highs and lows, I am certain,but I wasted a great part of 2009 procrastinating, and in a worrisome dither for much of the second half. No more! I have reacquainted myself with my treadmill, restored my goals, and am eagerly looking forward to the rest of the year!
I haven't done much in the creative way for awhile now-however, I have become THOROUGHLY addicted to Cardmaking......omg, I love it!!!All of those lonely scraps relegated to a paper holder ahve once again seen the light of day! Stamps are being used once again, and I am spreading ink with gay abandon:) Oh, and lovin' it! Here is a card I made for Aleisha's little school mate just before Christmas. Apparently it went down a treat:) Gotta love those Kaiser papers, and how cute is that monkey???? I am loving brights again too. I have evolved lol...:0
My next little creation was for my friend's youngest son's birthday-how hard is it to make cards for young men/boys???Luckily Clayton is a little hoon,so I could use the CM stickers I have left over from previous projects, making a Diorama card for him.I found it hard to show the dimesion well, but there is three sections. I loved this one.

I have also been spreading my Photographic wings a little,taking the plunge with my first paid shoot. Please bear with me-the photos here are unedited-I dunno how to use Photoshop yet(thought I do have Elements now:)) and so these are straight off camera. I took HEAPS of shots, and have come to the conclusion that childrens' photographers are truly in a league of their own:) Two hours flew by so quickly, and I took something like 50 shots.....some keepers,some bad,but it is a learning curve,and overall, I was stoked to take a shot like this, as J was swinging by..:)!

His little brother *j* was a bit more challenging to photograph,but this photo is him to a tee. Such cute little men, and very funny!

Well, I know I have been absent for ages, and don't blame anyone for not looking,lol! I do solemnly vow to return more often!! I am off to visit the gorgeous FOREVER ALWAYS, catch up with some lovely lasses there and start some scrapping for 2010. Happy New Year to all!!!

Home From Holidays:)

Fraser Island was just as gorgeous as I remember from our last visit. This time,however,I took some better photos than last trip:) Every day the whales came past where we were camped, on their way for babies, and it was gorgeous to see them. The only downfall was they were too far out to photograph,and it was too windy and choppy to boat it out there to take shots:( I didn't take as many photos as I would've liked to, I was crook as a dog, and it was so windy, I just wasn't ready to wreck my camera. These little Pellies came by one afternoon, and let me get quite close-I took a few of them:) They will be scrapped for sure!!Will share more of my feathered friends once I have taken them all off the Canon.
I have been making cards today, for World Card Making Day! I have yet to photograph all of them, but I made this one for my little nieces' birthday in two days:) I used my DARKROOM DOOR Butterflies stamp set,and some SU stamps on the inside. This card is for Rachel's challenge over at Darkroom Door, for cardmaking day:) If you haven't tried their stamps, you really should-they are top quality, and give a stunning crisp image every time. They are a fave of mine:)

Not the best shot I am afraid,but it was a tad blowy here today! You have until midnight Monday night to upload your creation-go check it out!!

I was super honoured to be Guest Design Team member at FOREVER ALWAYS in September:) Part of my duties involved creating a layout for the Recipe Scrap on the 30th September. I did this one, and all of the layouts the girls have done for this are FABULOUS!! I was so stoked to have them join in with me:) Love these CM papers:)

I also got my entry in for Scrapping Word Pictures challenge for September- I remembered-YAY! This one was also done using the CM papers, and a photo of my wedding car...well, hopefully:) I LOVE Troy's F-truck-it is such a groovy truck!! I keep asking him to swap for my Camry,but alas, he hasn't taken me up on the offer yet,roflmao,can't think why......

Okay, some more Fraser piccies for you. This is the Maheno shipwreck,which has deteriorated somewhat since we last went to Fraser. I really wanted sunset shots,but things were against me, and I quickly jumped out the car to take what I could.

See that aqua water-it was like that in so many spots,just gorgeous. The photos aren't doctored( I don't know how,lol) but it was hard to really show the rich aqua it was.

Sunset time from our camp,looking toward the cape.

This shows the water a little better. I took this one from on the rocks at Champagne Pools...nearly got VERY wet in one photo! Lots of Mr Sharky's out there though:)

Back to scrapping, this is a close-up of my vines and 3d flower for teh Sept CC challenge at FA. Miss Bianca's grade four photo:)

She is such a mop head,lol! I don't think any hair product will ever tame that hair!!!

The ANATS (A Novel approach To Scrapbooking) challenge is in full swing over at Forever Always-this month we had to do a layout with a) something gold

b) 4 different pp's

c)hidden journalling, and

d) title from a chapter in the book-"Flowers In The Attic". Oh I loved that series!!! I chose the title "Holidays", and came up with this;-

Aleisha in her grown-ups sunnies, on the way to Fraser:) The little owl is mounted on 3d tape, and slides out to reveal the journalling . Don't forget, there is a $30 book voucher up for grabs,from our sponsor Boomerang Books, so get your entry in!!

This month I am hoping to do so many layouts,get back in the groove. I would like to achieve all the FA, and Bon's layouts, 123,Scrapping Word Pictures, ARTastic, and Inkurable, to name a few. Well, see how it goes anyhoo!

Take care and thanks fro dropping in-you know it makes my day when you do:) Ciao for now!

Forever Always Cybercrop this weekend!!!

Come one,come all, we're going to have a ball!!! There is even a challenge set by me-stay tuned ,and don't forget to go check it out at www.foreveralways.com.au See you there!!!

Sink your teeth into this!!!

Okay there everyone-I know I am a slack ass-it's just been super busy okay!!?? I have lots to share and tell, a Sneaky peeky, and some cards too:)
Firstly though-some exciting news!!! The lovley Sonia, from FOREVER ALWAYS, asked me to be a creative team member for thei r new challenge, that's happening each month at FA. i WAS SUPER CHUFFED, TO SAY THE LEAST!!! The challenge is called "A Novel Approach to Scrapbooking", and each month, we tale inspiration from awell known novel. Now, if you are a bookworm like me, you've just gotta join in. The sponsor, BOOMERANG BOOKS- they are giving a way a voucher for $30, to spend on more reading matter, each month,how cool is that???I'm excited:) This month, we are taking inspiration from the first installment of a fantastic series-you guessed it-TWILIGHT!!!! OMG- I loved those books, and what's more, we all have a natter about the book throughout the month too,so this month,there will be lots of chatter about Edward Cullen,lol! As an extra challenge, this month's layout had to be all red(VERY minimal black and white allowed)with a monochrome photo. I used this one of Nanny and Pop, as Twilight represents to me , the concept of eternal love, and I think that 60 years of wedded bliss is pretty close,don't you? You really must go check it out here www.foreveralways.com.au

I have morer news to share too about FA soon- just uploaded in a wierd order though! Here is a sneaky peeky of the layout I have just finished for this month's Scrapping Word Pictures challenge. I love recipe scraps, so this was right up my alley-using mega cool Motor Grunge papers I bought, made by Creative Memories, of all people. So far , I have created two layouts, and a card from this kit, and still have some left:)Here is my sneak!

I found that mesh in my stash, I think it would be about 5 years old.....but I put it to good use:)

You have already seen the next one- computer challenged me uploaded the wrong file.....d'oh!

Moving right along, and here is the layout I did for LAST month's Scrapping Word Pictures-except I forgot to send my entry-d'oh! again....I thought I had sent it..oh well, I really like the page-Jacob's money pit:)

I am really enjoying being scrappy again-I did this one for the Blind Challenge over at A2Z Scraplets-this layout was created entirely from scraps in my stash-well the pp anyway:) I love the way it turned out, and I used a pre-digi photo too.

Life has been super hectic 'round here-so much going on. Yesterday, the girls and I went to my friend Julie's son's birthday. Her mum made this train cake-it was yummo,and doesn't it l;ook great?? Had to take a photo:) The top part of the engine is a chocolate scroll cake-it was soooooo yum!

I thought it was very cute!! Jackson was turning big 3-I made him a card from bits and bobs-and the girls couldn't wait to give it to Jackson...

Nothing flash, but I thought it came out cute for a little boy card:)

Now for a big boy card-a Father's Day one, made from the CM papers I have used on my layouts.Very big boyish-don't you think;)

My F-I-L is a hoon, so it was appropriate-Happy Father's Day Dad-hope you had a great day:) Jacob did,I think, even though I bought him a Toblerone , which I didn't know he doesn't like, and he already had his present three days ago....motorcross clothes. Aleisha bought him some choccies from the school stall-apparently they taste awful......aaaah well, lucky it's soon Christmas hey??

I had a win over at FA with this layout from the August sketch-I still love this photo, and have entered it into a photo comp. I have also won the honour of being a Guest Designer over at Fa this month-so go and join in my challenges!!!!I have a cool challenge coming up for the Cybercrop next weekend,sure to get the mojo flowing:) Thanks again Sonia, and the gorgeous DT at Fa!!! I do love it there:)

I was going to enter the Design Team competition at my other favourite place to chat and scrap- BON'S SCRAPS. However, with family commitments in a week or so(which I will have looooooaaaaadsss of photos to share from) I decided it wasbest to step aside, and let those that could properly fulfill the duties join in. I think I will just be patient for next year:) The new challenges are up for September at Bon's so go check them out-Charm's challenge is fab, Tam's room is gorgeous,and the list goes on, but I won't give it all away! I won a vouchree for a layout I did for Sandie's Blind Scrap-but Photobucket wasn't playing nice, so I will share that one next time:)

Well, thanks for stopping by my corner of the world-I think I might head for bed now-I went to a Lighting Course today, and studiedSpecular highlights,Polarization,and Umbra and penumbra ratio......so my brain is kinda swirling with lots of info now!!! Think it needs a rest:) Bye for now!