Friday, September 28, 2007

Pay it forward!!!

I won the pay it forward rak from Michelle Vass blog, so now..it's my turn to pay it forward. Ok....leave me a comment on my blog and I'll randomly select 3 people to send a handmade rak to. I still don't know what to make....but it will be made with much lurve!!

Ok...what have I been up to....well...it's school holidays at the moment....so I've started my part time job as the chauffeur to the 3 boys in between entertaining them....in between feeding their voracious appetites and still make time to get out and about.

Last weekend was fabulous. We went to Chesterfield farm for a birthday party. Jeromel had a fabulous time feeding all the animals especially the kangaroos, sheep, goats, donkeys, horses and even a reindeer!!! He even got to milk a cow!!!
Aren't these piglets just sooo adorable???? I couldn't take a photo of the sow....but she was MASSIVE!!!! Saturday night...we got a very flustered phone call from some friends.....they had a surprise party for a family member and Angela thought her Mother in law had invited us...and the Mother in law thought that Angela had invited us. They only realised when the guests had arrived and we weren't there. LOL...so we quickly got dressed and went to the party for a few hours. We couldn't stay past midnight as we had to pick Jordan up from work and Jarryd from a party. But the party was fabulous and the hip hop dance off was spectacular and Jeromel really got into the limbo !!! Sunday we went furniture shopping and did our grocery shopping at the asian store and got our mooncakes for midautumn festival.

Monday, Julia and Matty came over for lunch and we went down to sidetracked entertainment centre so that Jeromel and Matty could have some fun. My camera battery was flat...so these are photos that were taken a couple of weeks ago. They played mini golf, bowling and played some arcade games to get tickets to redeem for prizes. Both had an absolute ball. I was sooo excited to find that they have dippin dots at Sidetracked. I haven't eaten these in such a loooong time. I had a bit of a funny throat that day...so I didn't indulge...but I'll be going back to get some. Anyone tried these before??

Castle themed mini golf.....all based around King Arthur. This is Jeromel's favourite bit.....get the ball up the ramp....and then you got to pull the sword up to retrieve your ball.

Highway 66 ten pin bowling......kiddy style. The balls are smaller and lighter which makes it easy for kids to handle....and no holes in the ball.
This is one of Jeromel's favourite games....feed big bertha!!! It's a timed game...so big brother Jarryd helped out. See Jeromel's little red bag? That's his new medicine bag. It's big enough for his puffer, bandages, antihistamine, creams etc.Tuesday - Dropped Jarryd off at work training and then Jeromel and I went to southland to watch 'Surfs up'. He really enjoyed it........I found it funny...but thought they talked too much. LOL. Southland also had some holiday activities and Jeromel made a cute little pet rock. How funky is it????
Wednesday was a fabulous lunch date with Mich, Vita, Jane and all the kids. It was sooo good catching up with them and browsing through mags. Talking about mags.....my first Rasberry ad is in For Keeps. Don't know what page but it's towards the front of the mag...and I did the altered box with the flower on top and the card. I also got a huge mountain of stash from Michelle.....I shop too much.....but it's all Mich's fault...she tempts me!!

The rest of the week....bumming around at home and just chilling. On the scrapping front. Not much done. I've done a small dring album...about 9 x8 album for Matty. His grandmother asked if I would make something to keep all his birthday cards and some photos of his 6th birthday party. It was a really great, fun and easy project to do.

Asides from that....I've been making Christmas cards and envelopes out of my scraps. I swear....25 cards and envelopes were made without cutting a whole sheet of 12x12 paper or cardstock. All made with scraps. So happy that I now only have a few pieces of scraps left. These are a few of my favourite cards. The embossing was done on a cuttlebug months ago when Arty pants first got their cuttlebug in. Since then...the bits have sat in my scrap box. So glad they have gone to good use.The card on the left....with the red panel...is actually an acrylic sheet....window card.....thought I was pretty clever!!!The green card on the left is a clear card done on an acrylic sheet.....I totally love it. Red card is again a window card using the negative bits of that Christmassy candles sticker.And here are some of the envelopes that I made with my scraps. I made my pile of cards..then realised that they are all odd sizes...so I made envelopes. I've learnt my lesson. Never making envelopes again....from now on...my cards will be standard sizes. But I think I did a pretty darn good job on the envelopes.

Ok....
Crop for Kids chipboard competition is on!!! Everyone of you.....yes you......must have a design or two that you wish someone made into a chipboard embellishment. So this is your chance.....submit a few designs to us. Don't tell me you can't draw....go find a colouring book and trace it....go find a clip art....take a pic of something.....it doesn't have to be a professional computer designed image....trace it....tweak it.....then take a pic or scan of it and submit it. Rockets, planets, trains, cars, fire engines, police cars, trees, gates, fences, lamp posts, sandcastles, unicorn, teddy bear etc etc This is a for a great cause and the winner gets a $50 voucher to spend at The Scrapbook Establishment as well as a $50 prize pack from Scrapware....and best of all you get bragging rights. Come back and tell me you've entered the comp and I'll put you in my pay it forward list twice.

And my good friend Michelle Vass will also be doing her first online class and it's something oh sooooo cute. You get to make a box that looks like slice of cake. Yes...a calorie fat free cake!!! What for???? Well....think Christmas gifts for teachers and family....pop in a few chocolates or some coffee beans or some home made treats or a hanky and you have a gorgeously presented pressie. I know that by Christmas, we are all on tight budgets, but we still like to give out small pressies...but these can be a bit of a pain to wrap....so this is perfect. The box has huge wow factor as it is so decorative...and there is a small pressie inside. And another bonus.....you use your scrapbooking stash to make it. So quickly.....go to the Crop for Kids blog and sign up for the class. Come back and leave a comment that you've signed up and I'll put your name in for the pay it forward rak twice.

What a mammoth post!! Anyone still awake????

Thursday, September 20, 2007

What a weekend!!!

I had such a fabulous fabulous weekend at Portsea!!! Lots of great food, lots of creative energy to soak up, heaps of laughter and chit chat, fabulous massage, great company and very few layouts done. tee hee..isn't that always the case? Ok.....quite a few people for me to thank and mention...

Jess - for organising such a fabulous weekend ...the accomodation, surroundings....everything was perfect. Thanks to Paul for the fab sausage rolls!

Mich - for driving me to and from the retreat, for letting me use your stash, for the yummy chicken curry and music. Thanks a ton!!

Jorja - for the gorgeous smiggle boxes which have found a place in my scrapspace and for the lovely BG papers which made my 5 min layout (cough cough splutter splutter....yah....5 mins my foot) so easy to do. Also thank you for the yummy chicken satay and for making such a yummo breakfast. And our late night cuttlebug experiments!! We found out that you can cut and emboss acetate...sooo much fun. And we found a way to cut felt!!!

Suzanne - omg...how you made me laugh and nearly wet my pants with the 'for $5 more....' comment. I still can't think about that line without laughing out loud. Thank you so much for the Pritt Gel and letting me use your inks! And you've inspired me to make more Chrissy cards!!!

Trish and Anne Marie - I can't separate the two of you....your names just belong together.....thank you soo much for the hilarious eye opening conversations! Thank you so much for bring stash to make me part with my money and giving us all such fabulous discounts. I'm still kicking myself for not stocking up on cardstock.

Monk - for the great many laughs, title brainstorming and I lurve watching you scrap!!! You make it all sooo effortless!! Thanks for teaching me how to heat emboss......I came home and had to sort through my scrap mess to find the two little sachets of black and clear embossing powder!!

Jeanette - was great meeting you and omg....your card creations are just gorgeous!!!! When I grow up I want to be a cardmaker just like you!!!

Tanya and Jackie - I can't think of one of you without the other.....is that bad? Thanks for the heaps of laughter and the deep n meaningful conversations on the balcony *wink*. Thanks for sharing your stash of chockie with me...that picnic bar put me on heaven!!! Been sooo long since I've indulged in one!!

Special thanks goes to Monk, Jeanette, Jorja and Suzanne who invited us to meals. It was FABULOUS to have a hot cooked breaky and we all enjoyed a fabulous dinner and lunch together. Thanks heaps!!!

ok.....now down to why I was at the retreat......to scrap.....I only managed to do 5 layouts and a mini album. I can't share the mini album yet as I have to finish the journalling in it. And I can't share one layout because it has Jeromel's friends in it. So I have these 4 to share.
Since I've been back, it's been busy busy busy in this household. Our sofas finally got picked up ...to go back to Bay Leather Republic. Honestly, after 3 swaps on the 3 seater and waiting 2 months for the 2 seater....they were all rejects. We got our money back so now we have no couch to sit on....we have the old futon back in the loungeroom and are back on the hunt for new sofas. Know if anywhere in Vic with firm, comfy, leather, stylish sofas??? Do you think that is too much to ask from loungeroom furniture????

I've also cleaned out and re-organised my tiny scrap space....and last night sat down in front of the telly and decided to do some chrissy cards...so in about 2 hours while watching RPA and Damages (omg how great is that show???)....I churned out 12 cards!!!

Also forgot to mention that my kit has launched on Scrapping Angels!! So please do go and check out this masculine 'Celebrate Fatherhood' kit. Very often we forget to scrap about the men in our lives. So this is a perfect chance to scrap those father's day photos. The kit comes with full instructions for 4 layouts as well as two wooden blocks to alter. You'll also pick up lots of tips on how to distress. Here are some sneak peeks:

Friday, September 14, 2007

Portsea here I come!!

I am sooo excited.....Portsea here I come!!! I'm off for a bit of a scrappingfest this weekend with a bunch of other lovely girls. I'm sooo excited and sooo darn unorganised. I'm sitting here in my jammies.....and I still haven't packed my scrapping stuff or my clothes. My attire for the weekend will be pjs....plan to stay in pjs for more than 24 hours straight (ps...I will bring more than 1 set of pjs though!). So the washing machine is washing a load of pjs and clothes. And before I go.....in between packing...I still have to tidy up the house....organise a birthday pressie for a party that Jeromel will go to tomorrow, pick something up from Chadstone, go for a lunch date with DH and do 4 school runs. All before 3.45pm today. On top of that.....I couldn't get to sleep last night...well I fell asleep ok...but then got woken up with an overseas phone call....then couldn't get back to sleep for ages. Oh Norm norm norm.....I'll need your help today.
The layouts are for Arty Pants. I used their latest kit which is just sooooo gorgeous. Click here now to get them!

Asides from those ones.....I've done another 4 layouts and one OTP for the new Scrapping Angels kit....that one will be coming online in the next week or earlier so look out for it!

Well....I'm off to get the kids to school and then come home and quickly pack and do all the errands before Mich picks me up this afternoon. Wish me luck, may Norm grant me speed and clarity while packing, and I must remember photos, phone charger, toothbrush, Norm, adhesive refills, etc etc etc