It started with a baby card....

...for a favourite cousin of my husbands, who had a little girl a while ago....

...then I thought I could use the leftover paper from my LO yesterday to make another card.

Then I felt like stamping...as you do sometimes.

The "pink baby thing" then got the better of me, and I had to make another one (I told you, I've been having pink withdrawals lately hee hee)

And since I still had the other half of the cardstock, and the other half of the photo mat, and another tranparency, I thought I might as well make another pink one :)

I actually made another one too, but haven't photographed it yet!

I LOVE making cards :)

TTFN xxx

P.S. If you don't like making cards, these and many other gorgeous handmade cards are available at Tomorrows Memories ;)

Koala Club 2002

Still going on the Riley LO challenge...this is number 15 (YAY...only 5 to go!)


The paper is from the Making Memories Just Chillin' range....not one of my favourite lines from MM, but loved the graduated colour in this piece :)

The layered cardstock stickers are Wild Saffron by K&Co (nice to use some stuff from my stash) -I coloured the butterfly black to match my LO-and the photo mat is Baby Safari from Little Yellow Bicycle.

The stars are punched from orange paper, and the black circle line drawn with a wine glass :)

Enjoy your weekend

TTFN xxx

So...what's been happening?

Lots actually :)

The boy celebrated a birthday...a low key celebration with some friends, complete with sparklers and yummy dessert.


Lots of gifts to open too!


Miss Lydia did her dance exams...

...and this photo in particular took my breath away :)

And Baby Born finally learnt how to swim LOL! It had been so cold and windy around here that we hadn't bothered with the paddle pool up until today...such glorious weather! I can feel Spring in the air :)

While I seem to be in denial that we are moving house next week (arrrrgggghhhhh!!!!), photos like this one prove to me that maybe I am a bit more organised than what I think I am!

This empty cupboard magically became a bunk bed for Merryn and her teddy (teddy got the top bunk), and kept her busy for ages. Love her imagination :)

Until next time,

TTFN xxx

Some things just aren't meant to be :(

It's been a birthday tradition for ever in our little family to send cupcakes off to school with the birthday child, should a birthday fall on a school day. For ever.

Things have been way beyond hectic around here lately, so the thought had crossed my mind more than once not to make cupcakes for Riley tomorrow. In fact, I stocked up on funsize Cherry Ripes and Freddos as a cupcake substitute, just in case :)

It got the better of me though, and I set out at 8:25pm to make Cherry Ripe cupcakes-cupcakes iced in dark reddish icing, and topped with chunks of Cherry Ripe and coconut (can't you just see them?)

At 8:30pm my mixmaster died.

At 8:35 my hand held electric beaters died.

At 8:40 up until , oh, 10 minutes ago, I searched for my hand held manual beaters...not an easy task when your entire house is packed in boxes.

At 9:05 I called off the search, threw my hands in the air, threw the sugar-grainy mixture in the garbage, and admitted defeat.

Some things just are not meant to be.

Here's to a better day tomorrow :(

TTFN xxx

p.s. On the upside, I now have lots of full size Cherry Ripe bars to numb the pain...hee hee hee

Photos + words, paper + buttons....

...and that's about as basic as it gets when it comes to scrapbooking :)

I've been sitting on these photos for a long time, so long that I can't remember the when/where details, and neither can Riley (and his memory is usually fantastic!). They are the professional photos from a gymnastics competition he competed in back in either 2006 or 2007 ( I can't give the photographer credit, as they are not marked at all, although I DO remember they were expensive LOL). He was a gymnast before he became a trampolinist.


I've had a severe case of "scrappers stagefright" with these photos...do you ever get that? The photos are far too important/fantastic/meaningful/expensive (LOL) that you feel like you won't do them justice...and so you don't scrap them. I can imagine a lot of us would have wedding photos like this...or is it just me who hasn't scrapped their wedding?

So I kept it simple. Photos. Words. Paper. Buttons. And to be quite honest, I couldn't be happier with the way this one turned out. The alphas are cut using the Slice, the paper is all from Basic Grey Lime Rickey, the buttons mostly from Basic Grey Lemonade, all done on white Bazzill Swiss Dots. The story is told. The photos are scrapped. Moving on.....

Thank you for your lovely comments about last night's news :) The competition is in Adelaide late next month, and Sunday mornings are no longer sleep-in morning due to extra training. Yawn yawn :)

TTFN xxx

Late news...and it's exciting!

It's official...Riley has made the Western Australia team to compete at the Trampolining National Age Championships...WOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Exciting times in our house tonight!

While I'm here I thought you might like to see my LO from today...


I really love these photos, taken back in 1999...sounds like such a long time ago :(

I was waiting for my crackle to dry so that I could apply the top coat, and crackle it did! These little birds and the tree branch are made by Collections here in WA.


The eyes are black Kaiser Pearls. Paper is Earth Love by Cosmo Cricket...not my usual colours, but the snail strip reminded me of life in Mount George :)

It didn't feel complete without some machine stitching. Once again, I've traced a Making Memories journal block to create the shaped part....I've actually cut out a cardboard template now, because I use these quite often.

That's now 12 LOs about Riley completed...and I am having pink withdrawals LOL!

TTFN xxx

Watching paint dry :)

Yep, that's about as exciting as it gets here at our house today :) Well, it's either watching the paint dry on some embellishments I'm working on for a scrapping page, or packing some more of these...

Which would you be choosing? I probably should clarify that I'm packing boxes, not children (as tempting as that is sometimes!)

So while I wait for the paint, I've been checking out this website...

www.modabakeshop.com

I've had a few people ask me what exactly you can do with the yummy fabric layer cakes, jelly rolls, turnovers etc that I've been showing you......look no further than the Moda Bake Shop! (Be sure to check out the cute Christmas stockings in the Basic Grey Section while you're there) See, you really can justify buying more fabric!

Enjoy your weekend

TTFN xxx

Clocks, faith and number 11!

The world is full of beautiful things :)

You probably won't believe me when I say that I don't really enjoy shopping. Seriously. I don't.
I just seem to find myself in all sorts of locations trying to kill time, while waiting to collect my children from one activity or another. Sometimes I hand-sew. If I have the non-involved kids with me, we might find a park, or go for baby-cinos, or find some other way to fill in the time. And sometimes, just sometimes, I stumble across something that I just can't resist, like this clock. It's only 13cm high, so will be perfect on my desk....cute, huh?

A new page...

I've had the journaling for this one done for a while, and thought it would be perfect for the number 5 August challenge at Scrapsidaisy... scrap someone/something that you admire, or that inspires you. Riley's confident attitude to life inspires me every day...there's nothing that he won't attempt, and he doesn't let silly things, like the possibility of failure, stop him.

I've used some Jenni Bowlin and October Afternoon Hometown patterned paper on this one. I traced around the letter "f" , cut out and then ran through the Cuttlebug with the Houndstooth check embossing folder, before adhering it to the original chipboard "f" and then sanding ...an old technique, but a good one!

The stars are punched out, then fastened with a brad into the corners. Rubons are from Creative Imaginations (I think)...yes, I dug deep into my stash for some of these supplies!

And number 11? This is number 11 of my "scrap 20 Riley LO's" challenge! But I bet you had figured that out already :)

TTFN xxx

Roly poly roly poly roll :)

Wow...it's been a while since I completed a scrapbooking page. Things have been busy around our house, and scrapping/sewing/anything time has been non-existent! This one has been sitting on my desk for quite a while....covered in other papers etc LOL

I unearthed it and completed the cutting and hand stitching this morning...

One of the challenges at Scrapsidaisy this month is to complete a page that incorporates winter. A soon as I thought of winter in relation to Riley (for my own challenge) I thought of these photos, and had to go searching for them. He's SOOOOO cute, all rugged up! The journaling came pretty easy, as it's all I think of when I see these photos :) Click on the photo if you'd like to read it.

The washing line paper is from Cosmo Cricket's new "The Boyfriend" line, and was perfect for my story. I've cut random clothes out from the scraps and adhered them with foam dots to the washing line to make them "POP". The "clothes line" aka twine is adhered by cross stitches, but I cheated and ran it through the Zyron machine first so it was easier to manipulate. The journal block is by Collage Press, and the alpha stickers by Basic Grey and Jillibean Soup.

Hope you had a great weekend

TTFN xxx

A new addition...

...to our family today :)

While "she" looks real and sounds real, thankfully she is not real.

Which is probably a good thing, as "she" would have been smothered by now.

Her name is Pippi...this was decided upon the moment she became a member of our family.

She has been with us everywhere today.

I love having little girls :)

TTFN xxx

Eleven

Challenge number 2 for August over at Scrapsidaisy is to create a page using 8 different elements...and that is why they are called "challenges" :) I knew mine would have to be a double...I just can't fit that many on a single page!


As you can see, I'm still scrapping Riley. Being a double, these count as number 8 and 9...almost half way!

So the 8 elements are:

1. K&Co paper ribbon

2. MM metal signage

3. Creative Cafe ticket stubs

4. Machine stitching

5. Brads

6. Satin ribbon

7. Die cut alphas (and the diecut shape...does that count?)

8. Paper flowers

You can cheat a little and count your cardstock and patterned paper, but I made it without cheating...YAY! I probably could have counted doodling as an element too :) The paper is Basic Grey Granola, Bazzill and Swiss Dots cardstock as the base.

Thanks for visiting

TTFN xxx

Back on track...

...with my challenge to create 20 Riley LOs. This is number 7.


Definitely a simple one, but recording the memory just the same :) The paper is Making Memories Flower Patch and Bazzill cardstock, alphas by Jillibean Soup and AMM, journaling block by Elles Studio and a Basic Grey rubon. This LO came together pretty quickly...gotta love that!

Have you checked out the August challenges over at Scrapsidaisy yet? The fabulously talented Debbie Kingston came up with these, and they are sure to get your thinking cap on! Challenge number 4 is to create a predominantly green page, so this is my take on that. Deb has already created some beautiful examples....get over there and check them out!

Have a wonderful weekend

TTFN xxx

In pictures...

...is probably the best way to show you what we got up to while in Brisbane! Although, if I kept the photos in proportion to the amount of time we spent doing them, there would be hundreds like this ...


After all, that was the reason we went to Brisbane in the first place. Trampolining competitions can go on for days and days...trust me on this :) I have never seen so many competitiors in the one place...it was HUGE! One of the highlights was seeing the "big boys" compete, their routines are amazing and dangerous and so very impressive. The kids were awe struck when Ben Wilden competed (he's the guy who competed in trampolining at the last Olympics). The event was a qualifying event for the World Titles to be held in Russia later in the year, so the performances were incredible.

Once the competition was over, the team could relax a little and have some fun! We spent a day at Movieworld before saying goodbye to the others...we spent an extra day exploring a bit.

Top of the list was the Lego Education Centre...


...which was a little disappointing to be honest. We were wanting to check out the robotic Lego, but they didn't have a very large range at all. So we moved on to Southbank for morning tea..

You know I can't walk past a cupcake! These were divine, and tasted every bit as good as they looked!

Love the tea served in glass teapots too. I took my chances and brought some home for my girls...the plane ride didn't do too much damage :) Do I admit that we went back for afternoon tea? LOL

The rest of the day we spent hanging out on the riverbank, checking out the waterpark, and generally just exploring the beautiful parklands...such a gorgeous spot, and the weather was perfect. The lolly shop is also a favourite :)

The plane ride home was looooooooooooooonnnnggggg, but worth it to be back in our own beds again! There's no place like home!

TTFN xxx

Home again, home again...

...jiggety jig.

Just popping in to say hello! We're home! Brisbane was fun, exhausting, educational, exhausting, great, and...exhausting! Lots of sleep and laundry to catch up on, so I probably won't be back on deck for a while :) Riley did well...he made the finals in both his events and ended up sixth in both, which is pretty fantastic for a National level event...so proud of my boy!

I can't let the day go by without wishing my sweet husband a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY for today...hope your workmates are helping you celebrate ;)

Will catch up with photos and news soon

TTFN xxx