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!

A lot to share

Well, it has been ages since I blogged, I know. Everything has been so hectic of late, and there never seem to be enough hours in the day anymore!So, I got to it tonight, and decided to overhaul the blog, and post too!
I haven't been scrapping as much recentl;y, as a matter of fact, I hadn't been in my room much for WEEKS( unheard of)but the last two weeks have seen my mojo return:) Lovin it!! I have been pottering around with some different stuff, and also using stash that I have had for yonks too- always a bonus!!!
Today, we went to a Cool Companions party for one of Aleisha's school friends. The kids had a ball- there were three lizards, a Shingleback, a Blue Tongue,and a Spiky Tailed, also two snakes( shudder) a turtle( which slept through the party,lol) and a CROCODILE!!! His name was Snappy Tom, and he was a huge hit with the kids! Any how, I took the camera along-really hard spot to get decent shots, and I couldn't ask the dude to move all the critters for camera position,lol. Aleisha loved Stripey the Blue Tongue, and had a hold:) Bianca was zooming about too, and she loves the snakes-so she had her photo taken with one- the kids had to stand like "trees", hence the folded arms,lol!

I can't remember this snake's name- but it was only a wee one:) I decided to be brave- more for the fact that all the kids there are in Aleisha's class, and I help out, and they would never let me live it down if I didn't have a go- I am so proud, I held a SNAKE!!!!!! For those that know me, I am PERTIFIED, SCRAED S #*tless, of snakes, and of course, I enede up with the BIGGEST ruddy one there-her name was Flower.....an Olive Python, and I think about 5ft long-what was I thinking?????? I forgot to upload the photo,der, so will share next time...still can't believe I did it.

Now, for some exciting news- BON'S SCRAPS IS LOOKING FOR DESIGN TEA MEMBERS!!! Could it be you? The comp starts this week, and there are a few things you need to know before you put your name down to try out!!

*** You must be a regular forum user, chat like you would if on the team,start discussions,etc.

*** There are two spots available.

***There are four rounds to the competition.

***Registraiotn is on now- so get over there and register, chat as you would regularly, and give it a go!! Bons is a lovely place to visit- great forum, lots of laughs, and an inspiring gallery too!!!

I have done some layouts for some recent Bon's challenges-firstly Sandie's August class- this was fun, and I love having a laptop now!!

I didn't have the kit, so I improvised with what I had for this one- but such a fun layout to scrap!!! Thanks Sandie:)

I also did this one for the August sketch:) I apologise about the bad photo- long story, but the little camera I used is crap:(

Love how this turned out- used some old pp for it, and bitsand bobs from my stash- lov it!!

Now for my oops- I uploaded the wrong file....I am such a doofus with a computer!

Well, I am off to scrap some more! More coming to share, so stay tuned!!!!

SOME PHOTOS,SCRAPPING,AND MORE PHOTOS!!!

Brace yourselves ladies and gentlemen, this here is a mammoth post!!!So much has happened the past month...no idea where to start,so I will start with the bad stuff. I haven't been around much due to the untimely hospital stay that Bianca and I had. Before I go any further,a HUGE thankyou to all of the staff in Surf ward at the Royal Children's Hospital-thanks for looking after Bianca so well,and being such Wonder Nurses!! To Dr McBride, and Dr Alex-thankyou for performing the surgery...Bianca has done so well, and chats about how nice you both were to her;) Bianca had to have her appendix removed , as they had ruptured-very scary, very agonising for her, and a lengthy operation due to an abcess that had formed behind the appendix.With the recovery, and the fact that I have just been plum tired trying to catch up again, this is why i haven't been blogging as regularly as I promised. But I'm baaaack!!
Oh, I finished my camera course-boohoo. I would go there all YEAR if I could!!! We had a great time again, and I learned heaps from the camera guru himself,Peter. Here he is , receiving his thankyou bottle of refreshment, and no-one has seen him since,lol!!!I reckon that white bear bottle would be very yummy...... I made him a card,using my Darkroom Door Photography stamps,he loved it:) I put a shot of our class in the card for him too, and we all chipped in for his Bundy,but I got him the good stuff,he deserves to be spoiled! This man is such a great teacher, I can't thank him enough for changing me from a timid camera owner, to a person who wants to take their camera EVERYWHERE!!
Thanks Pete!!!
I have finally been scrapping again-OMG I have missed it heaps!!!I went to my friend Julie's last Saturday night, for a scrap session, and got two layouts done,gotta love that. I have also been chatting up a storm at FOREVER ALWAYS, and at BONS SCRAPS too. So many lovely ladies to chat to!!!
I have tackled my first sketch challenge for the month, at the FABULOUS FOREVER ALWAYS. Renae inspired this fabulous sketch over at FA- drop into the gallery and check it out-it is GORGEOUS!!! I would give you all alink, but I dunno how to do that:( One day I will get the hang of it,lol! But go and see the July Sketch, it is fabulous, and there are heaps of other lovely works of scrappy art to inspire you at Forever Always too,oh and it's CYBERCROP time this weekend as well!!!Oh, here is my layout that I did for the July Sketch, I turned it to accomodate my photo. I got to use my Glimmermist that I bought at the expo(Nic you super saleswoman you-so glad I watched your tutorial!!!)I used it on the Grungeboard flourishes.

I really need to start photographing my layouts with the Canon.They don't look as sharp on the little point and shoot! Loved this sketch Sonia, and Renae, and thanks for inspiring me like you always do!!!:)
Here is my layout for SONGBIRD SCRAPS first July challenge-the song is "MINT CAR" by The Cure.I haven't jouranlled on this yet, as I want to put some special stuff on there for Aleisha-this was taken on her birthday:) Yeehaw!!I did this one at Julie's , it just kinda fell together, definitely not how it started out!!!

This is my July layout for the first sketch of the month at Black Magic .This month we have a palette of Burnt Orange,Green,Cream,red, and Black.the technique is embossing.Here is my take on the first sketch:-

Love the Webster's alphas on here! Lucky the sheet has heaps!!!I think I will use them alot! I bought them with my winnings from Bon's May sketch:)

On the weekend I went to the Abbey Medieval Fest, with Chris and Julie from my camera courses.OMG-I had a ball, tok heeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaps of photos too! Here are some faves,in no particular order, these are just some of the many that I have uploaded from my camera. Let me just say, if you have never been to one of these,go the next time you get the opportunity-it was great fun!And the photographic topics!!!! This Turkish Dancer was just gorgeous....

Her costume was beautiful, very detailed, and she danced so elegantly too. The costumes were divine!!!
I also watched the Turkish Oil Wrestling-very funny-to think that in Medieval times, men did this until some of them died of exhaustion...roflmao...the gist of this is, they get smeared in Extra Virgin Olive oil(only the good stuff,lol) and then they wrestle in these pants that weigh 13kg or so. If they can't get a hold on the opponent properly, they can stick their hand down the opponents pants(?) and grab them by the bottom hem, and throw them to the ground. When these guys did that to eahc other, the crowd got very loud, and laughed so hard, that in the end, they cracked up laughing too!!!It was very entertaining, and I had a good chuckle!!

The Tourney of these men was great to watch-men fighting in chain mail-YAY!!! I really loved all things Medieval when I was younger, and it was my faveourite segment of Ancient History,next to Egypt. seeing the period costumes was fantastic, and some of them looked so authentic. All day ,I was spoken to in Ye Olde English-buying a drink was like you were royalty-m'lady! Very funny!!

The combat was awesome to watch!!!^^^^^ this is one of my faves from the day.

I think these guys fought the longest! One guy took three attempts to be "killed off", he just kept getting back up with smaller and smaller weapons,roflmao. Here is another dancer-this was taken just before the grand finale.Again, the most exquisite costume:) I am just sad her eyes aren't a bit sharper,but with a long lens,zoomed up, I was just happy to have her in the shot,lol!Especially hand-held:)

Now for my MOST FAVOURITE PART of the whole day-the fantabulous JOUST TILT!!!!!!! These riders were nothing short of spectacular to watch,my only regret is that we weren't higher up in the Grandstand, so we didn't have bars to contend with:( But this was where my camera lessons came in soo handy, using autofocus on a point,switching to manual, and panning with the horses-the shots were pretty clear considering. These competitors hit HARD, and the horses were so stunning-one a huge Percheron Black Stallion...he was magnificent. The regalia was just perfect,the horses looked like they had stepped out of a castle somewhere. These guys(oh and ladies too)travel the world doing this, one of them is an 8 year world Joust champion.... it was fantastic!!!!

The horse on the left of this shot was called Goblin-he was gorgeous too. He and his rider are the Champions at present, and have been 8 times...his horse would rear on command, made the whole thing more theatrical. Just awesome!!!The best $2 I ever spent!!!Needless to say, I took lots of the Jousting:):):)

Well, that's all from mre for now-be back soon, with more photos! Take care, and thanks for stopping in:)