It's OVER!!!

Last few layouts for the Scrapbooking Amazing race.....final results aren't in yet...but we are about team #5. All the teams were in within seconds of each other.

Dare to be Sassy!!!

Did this super quick layout for the Amazing Race.....well...it was a pitstop clue and my god....all hands on deck....my table got into a mess.....the floor around me was full of supplies...my hands were shaking...and oh the adrenalin rush!!! I got it done and we are team number 3....wooo hooo. Clue this time was to be inspired by the Christina Aguilera Pepsi ad. So I came up with this little layout featuring my Sassy niece Tiamara.

The other layout I finally did was for another amazing race (lol...yah....I am one of two people I know who are doing two scrapping amazing races at the same time). Challenge was to use at least 6 photos and scrap about my family. I've always wanted to do this....very very simple layout with maximum impact.
And oh yes....there is more....for the BB Amazing race....my AR partner Jay and I had to do a Time Capsule layout on what's happened so far in 2006. We decided to do an interactive layout with lots of added things so it was like a real time capsule. The BB AR rules are that we have to do half of the layout...physically half....so on each page....we have done half each. Jay did the orange bits and I did the blue/green bits.

Yay for Friday....I'm happy!!

Yay...it's friday and it's great.....great because my work week is over...great that I can scrap this weekend and catch up on my amazing race layouts for Blue Bazaar.

I have been so slack this week with scrapping.....and i blame it all on my tvshows.....

Greys Anatomy...3 episodes this week....season 2 finale.....omg...sooo good...watched each episode twice.

Desperate Housewives....fantastic episode this week....watched it twice. Finale on the 21st...double episode too.

Prison Break....season 1 finale....omg omg omg omg....what a great show......watched it twice and some bits more than twice. LOL

Lost....an OMG OMFG episode....can't wait till the season finale episode on the 24th.

See how much I adore my shows? It has been a huge huge huge tv week with my fav shows finishing up for the season. Tomorrow Joseph will burn episodes and make space on my hard disk so that I can download Amazing race finale and the Survivor Exile island finale.....don't tell me who wins.....or else!!

Ok...so...did I scrap or not? Yes...lol....this one for the M4M amazing race.....had to be motivated by an inspirational quote and some colours....so I did my aboriginal dream time layout....always wanted to try aboriginal art.


And then a double layout today for the same amazing race... loved the Cherry Arte papers.

More layouts!!

Firstly....a layout of Mich...this was done as an Elsie Flannigan scraplift for an Amazing Race challenge and it was soo much fun to do. Very very fast layout ...I think the clue was posted at 11pm and by midnight I was done! I loved using all the embellishments on this...you will find heaps of Christina Cole products, Mambi chester rub ons, Chip chatter flowers, there are brads, bling blings and a whole lot more. Title of this layout??? Gotta be me!!

This one was also for the Amazing race.....clue was emailed at 11am and I was not feeling too well...so didn't get to my computer till about noon...layout took hardly any time to do at all. The layout had to be done minimalist style with lots and lots of white space. While it was fun....I think it is a bit too bare for me.....I will ponder upon this for a while and see how it sits with me...often, I will find that it grows on me even more. Journalling says Your laughter brings all the colours of the rainbow to our lives. We love you so much.

Okay it is once again Friday and time to think about the weekend. Nothing much planned for this weekend...some minor renovation job to do tomorrow afternoon in between basketball games (the boys play...not me...tee hee). In the last few nights, we caught up with Prison Break, the real Amazing Race and Survivor Exile Island, Desperate Housewives and Greys Anatomy......little fact: I hardly ever watch tvshows on tv....I prefer to download them off the internet and watch them without ads and be up to date with USA. So this weekend....I want to catch up on LOST.

Scrapping wise....I have a roadblock to do tomorrow...clue hinted at making friends....I will get the clue at about 11am tomorrow...so looking forward to that. We've been told that there is a Yield and Elimination pitstop ahead...so hoping to get to the pit stop quickly.

3 layouts from me today!!!

Wow...can't believe it....3 layouts from me today. Did one this morning for the Amazing race challenge....had to scrap about why we are like/unlike our mother.

My journalling says:
You like travelling light like a backpacker
while I have to shop and have proper luggage
You enjoy museums and art galleries,
while I prefer shopping and movies
You like simple homecooked meals,
while I prefer to dine out.

I think we can agree
that travelling together
is not a great idea!




Then late this afternoon...I decided to do this layout...just for fun.....have had the papers and the photos ready to do for a while...just needed the right mood to do it. Titled: Don't Worry, It's All Good

And....is it all good today? Yep....I did my grocery shopping, I did the kinder run, I did 2 loads of laundry, I tidied up, I cooked dinner and I scrapped!! It's all good!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

It has been some weekend...it has been some week!! M4M Amazing race started off with a big bang and there have been days where it truly has been a race against time!! Mich and I are partners and we are TEAM CHUNKIES (We don't skinny dip...we chunky dunk!!).

This layout was for one of the challenges where we had to scrap on why we scrapbook. This is my layout ...
The journalling says: Scrapbooking is our way of planting Memory Seeds so that future generations can enjoy the flowers that bloom from them.

At the bottom of the layout..in the soil are teeny tiny triangular shaped pale green bling blings.

Yesterday...this layout had to be submitted after 2pm....we made team #2. Then surprisingly, next clue was revealed to write a 8 line poem with mother, child and love in it. That one was done in about 3 mins...then the next clue was released....a scraplift of a 2peas GG...plus a range of product range which had to be used....a pit stop clue...so amazingly....I did the layout speedy gonzales style and got us to Team No#1!!! Wooo hoooooo....this was my layout:

This layout was done in about an hour while cooking dinner for my boys and me getting ready to go out to dinner at the Titanic Restaurant. We had a fabulous time last night at dinner and the Titanic show was fantastic...we were in steerage class (work function)...but it would have been great to have been in 1st class and get all dressed up in period clothing.

Today we caught up with family for my Aunty Vivien's birthday ....we had a great time chatting, eating and watching the kids play. In Feb, it was my neice's 1st bday and I made her a canvas...my cousin loved it and asked me to make one for her mother's birthday....so this was my gift for my Aunty. The chinese words say popo which is grandma. A very very simple canvas but it was very time consuming cutting out all those flowers....the chinese characters were again done by Mich...and I printed them out....put dimensional magic on them to make them pop out. My Aunty loved her canvas heaps. The whole family went for a nice walk among the autumn leaves today....more pages in mind now!!!

Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeky

Ever since I saw Burberry Girl's (Michelle W- Some like it hot blog) Rock on layout...I fell in love with it. I shopped everywhere for epoxy stickers ....no luck in Australia....so I actually talked Mich into shopping with me from a US online store and got all my yummy epoxy stickers and a whole heap of other stuff of course.

Last night I decided to tackle this layout. This has always been the photo that I had in mind to scrap this doodling layout with. It is of Jarryd and his Aunty Jen when we were in Brunei. The cheeky boy had these cool sunglasses on and they were really being crazy when the photo was taken by my sister.

Michelle...did I do a worthy job with this layout??


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Ok this is a crazy spur of the moment layout done for The Amazing Race challenge which was to use some of the lyrics from Ben Harper's song 2 Hands. So here is my 20 min layout which I actually like...I wish my handwriting was better though. Sigh

I can change the world with my own two hands
Make it a better place with my own two hands
I'm going to make it brighter
I'm going to make it safer
With my own two hands

Balance.....

There are days where I struggle to find a balance....a balance between my commitment to my children, my dedication to my children and my love to scrapbooking....and the dreaded household chores.

It feels that everyday....I am walking a tightrope and trying to find a balance. A balance between working 3 days a week and having 4 days to keep the household running. It isn't easy...during the days that I work....I have to menu plan and usually cook ahead so that I am not too stressed and don't have to think about what we are having for dinner. At work, I cook for O, clean his nursery, do his laundry and tidy up after him and generally do a lot of fun things with him...but while all this is happening....I can be sure that when I get home......all the mess will be waiting for me.....waiting for me to tackle it....waiting for me to delegate chores etc. Everyone is more than capable of cleaning up but they don't see the mess that female eyes see....so them unwashed glasses on the bench is ok....after all....they are going to use them later....and crumbs on the kitchen bench...nothing wrong with that either because someone is bound to come along and eat again and make more mess. No need to make beds....after all it will just get unmade tonight. They have tons of excuses!! It is just endless!!!

Don't get me wrong...I am very very blessed to have two older boys who will help with the chores. Actually....they do a lot around the house.......they clear the table after dinner and do dishes. Once a week, they give the place a good vacumn (as in they move furniture).....and during the week, I will just vacumn up the crunchy visible bits on the floor. And since they are boys...and only boys make mess on the toilet....they do the toilets too....each boy gets a toilet to do once a week. Midweek....I also spray and wipe..........tee hee.....at least having to clean toilets means that they are more aware of the mess they make. When related to balance....my two six foot boys are on one end of the seesaw and the 5 year old is on the other......the 5 year old is a tornado!! Actually....pretty much a typical child.....he likes arts and craft and leaves his table in a huge mess....he goes through 10 dvds before he finds one he wants to watch....he will pull out 10 books to read and then leave them on the floor.....he plays with 20 toys at once....and have I mentioned matchbox cars???? Deadly weapons!!! He's also into golf....so we have a mini putting mat in the dining room.....and rogue golf balls. Sigh!!

And another thing that I struggle to find a balance with is me time and time with Joseph. He knows I love scrapbooking and sometimes he will watch tv or play games and then I scrap away happily in the same room with him....but there are times when he is just plain bored and he wants to play poker or other card games...and this is usually when I am in the middle of a layout I have to finish. I admit...there are times that I am sooo engrossed in scrapbooking that I get annoyed when he wants to chat or play games.....there are times when I don't even want to go to bed!! I get annoyed.......he leaves in a huff....and I feel soo guilty afterwards.

How do you find balance between work, family, scrapbooking, household chores? Give me some tips please!!