Monday, January 29, 2007

A PRODUCTIVE WEEKEND ...

Well .... scrapbooking wise anyway (the housework has suffered yet again!!).
Managed to get a few LO's done this weekend which was a really good feeling.
There is always something to sacrafice in order to enjoy a weekend of scrapping .... not to worry, the ironing, washing, vacuuming etc will wait!!

I hope this post is going to upload ok cause blogger is doint all sorts of weird things ... here goes ...


These pics were taken on our way down to Canberra about 18mths ago. We turned off to a little rest area to do morning tea and it was sooo quaint with all the leaves everywhere. Unfortunately my photos were a little underdeveloped and the colours came out a bit "pasty". Never mind.


I love Great Keppel Island! I had been there many years ago (prior husband, children etc) on a holiday with a group of girlfriends and had a fab time. On our last visit it was a different atmosphere (being a family holiday) but equally as fab and just beautiful. Now, you won't believe this .... i left the camera behind !#*?!! Mortal Sin!! So, we purchased one of the dreadful disposable cameras; however, i must say, we did get a few pretty good pics - so for that i am thankful for disposable cameras!


This is my nephew, Jacob! I took these pics at Xmas whislt he was playing with a piece of the foam packaging from the box of the present we brought him. Isn't is so true that old theory about the money you spend on little kids presents and they find such enjoyment with the simplest non expensive things like wrapping paper, foam packaging etc. LOL !! Anyway, he is a really cute photogenic (sp?) little fellow but an absolute nightmare to take photos of!! Don't be fooled, i took about 30 photos to get these few lovely pics (thank god for digital cameras!) It's not that he is bothered be having his photo taken, it is just that he is such a 'livewire' it is hard to get him still in one place for a mere second to take a photo! He is such funny little thing!!



I
I blogged part of this LO the other day (for the the SCRAPBOOKnBITS competition) but decided to make it a double LO cause i had so many pics of my little man's first day of school that i wanted to include! (They are meant to be the other way around)

Well, today we are off on one of our traditions .... the last day of the school hols we always do something special (Blake's Choice)as a family day out. Usually out to lunch and then who knows??!

Hope you all had a great weekend! Good luck to all the kiddies going back to school and all the mums/dads sending one of their babies for their first day!!

Cheers,
JULIE x

Saturday, January 27, 2007

MORE SCRAPBOOKING


Hubby is on dogwatch this weekend and i feel like I am having my own little scrapbooking camp!
I sat until the wee hours of this morning and "scrapped" .... haven't done that in a loooong time.
I'll share my creations with you over the weekend.
One of the LO's i finished was my entry for the "first" theme competition at SCRAPBOOK'n'BITS .
Ironically this LO has two 'first' themes for me ...
1. Obviously this is my son's first day off school (he starts year 5 this year) ... where has the time gone??
>
2. His first day at school photos were originally used for my first ever LO done at a CM workshop ... oh dear, what a shocker!
Thank goodness I discovered a different scrapbooking style very quickly and thank goodness I had duplicate photos 'cause the other ones were cut into ovals etc .... Arghhh!
I don't have anything against CM, it is just that i don't find their style appealing.
I had 'that' layout sitting aside with every intention of pulling it apart one day and re-doing it (i probably wouldn't have worried only that it is
such an important event).
So ... the 'First' theme challenge was the ideal motivation!

Regarding the poem ... I could make up some wonderful story about my underlying poetry talent ... but ... I'd be lying! A quick and easy search on Google for "first day at school poem" led me to this! How Cute!

Well, that's all for now ...
might even be back for another visit and more LO's later.

Back to the scrapping!

Have a great weekend and a belated "Happy Aust Day" for yesterday!

Cheers.
JULIE x

Friday, January 26, 2007

TIME FOR SOME SCRAPBOOKING

Well my spare room & scrapbooking space cleanout is coming along nicely but still not finished .... sooo ... once again i have taken over the dining room to scrap.
I have actually had a little time to myself today so it was so nice to get a few LO's done.


I am in post Christmas scrapping mode and getting some of my Chrissy pics done.
these are some more of those yummy 'Scribble Scrabble' papers i mentioned previously.
and .... i love the Maya Road chipboard range, especially the swirls .... groooovy!!




Now i am off to finish a 'first' theme layout for the
Scrapbook'n'bits January Competition.
Check it out on their website www.scrapbooknbits.com.au
$20 Voucher to win!
Cheers, JULIE x

Monday, January 22, 2007

CLEVER DICK!

or is that CLEVER DICKTRESS ???!

Ok, so some of you "clever dick's" might think this is nothing to get excited over ... but ... i am pretty pleased with myself 'cause i finally worked out how to put music on my blog!!

And ... even happier ... it's Kasey Chambers whom i think is awesome.

That's all folks ..... aren't you pleased I shared that with you !!!!!!?

Cheers,
JULIE x

Friday, January 19, 2007

OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE

I have admired so many other peoples layouts using flowers & doodling and thought how lovely some of them looked but this sort of style is sooo not me and i would basically say "out of my comfort zone". Evidently we all have our own style of scrapp'n; but, i decided to step out of that comfort zone and give something different a go .....
WHOLAAAH ! (sp?)


Whilst i can say i had fun doing the "doodling thing" it took me a while after the layout was finished to decide that "i think it looks ok" !
Some of you ever so clever talented doodling scrapbookers make it look so easy!
I think Jen Hall is a master at doodling ... her work is very inspiring!
The papers on my page are from the new range "scribble scrabble" from SCRAPBOOK 'n' BiTS ... very nice ... including the lovely christmas papers which i am working on a few layouts with at the moment.

Anyway, other than doodling the rest of my week has just been the usual stuff ... work, housework, washing and a bit of scrapbooking thrown in.
Oh ... and by the way ... my spare room/scrapbooking space cleanout is coming along nicely.
One thing i have discovered is that i need to go on a 'scrapbook shopping ban' ... i swear i have about 600 pieces of paper! You know those ones that you just have to have even though you have no immediate use or idea for them!!??
Have a great weekend everyone.
JULIE C x

Saturday, January 13, 2007

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY KAREN
It is amazing how much a memory can hold ...
I can still remember when Karen was born and
the day she came home from hospital.
I was nearly 6 years old.
Fast forward 30 years ...

As I wrote on her birthday card ..
I'll have to stop calling you my little sister and
start calling you my younger sister!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN!
xx


RRRRAAAAAAAHHH!!

That is a Dinosaur rrrraaaahhhh ...
just in case you were wondering!!
We have spent the last 2 days in Sydney which included
going to see the
Walking with Dinosaurs
stageshow.
It was a real "wow" factor for the kids (and the
grown-ups were pretty impressed too)!!
I reckon this is about as "life like" as it gets. These
incredibly amazing robotronic (i think that's what they're called)
dinosaurs were soooo realistic ... blinking eyes, weeping nostrils,
incredibly loud roars & deafning noises etc etc.
Besides all that, they were life size.
Yep ... I'm talking huge!
The adult Brachiasaurus (sp?) - or perhaps better known
as a "Long Neck" almost touched the lighting
equipment up in the top of the arena.
We were about 5 rows from the front and when they turned around their
huge tails swung out over the top of the audience.
In Blakes words ... "it was awesome"!


The people that put these shows and characters together are amazing!
Now as expected, it was well announced that no cameras, video recorders etc
were allowed to be used in the show.
But, i did take along Blake's new camera that Santa brought him for
Christmas (cause it's compact and fitted in my handbag) in the hope
of being able to take some photos being relevant to our outing.
I took these pics of Blake with one of the posters that were placed
around the foyer areas outside the arena so at least I would have
something for a scrapbook page.
When we got inside and the show began;
people were taking photos, flashes going off
'left, right & centre'!
I sooo wanted to join in but my DS must have seen that
i was itching to get the camera out of my handbag and
repeatedly informed me that it was the wrong thing to do
and "please don't take photos mum"!
The man in front of us was having a wonderful
"happy snappy" time and i could see his
camera screen with great pics throughout the show ... damn!
Well, at the last part of the show when the big
T-Rex came out (they always save the best for last),
the flashes were going off like a lightning show and in
his excitement Blake decided that it would be a good
idea to sneak one photo cause the T-Rex's were sooo cool ...
can you believe it !!??
Anyway, we did get a few pics of the T-Rex but this part of the show
was very dark & gloomy (setting the scene for the big battle) and
the photos are very ordinary ... more of a dark hazy shadow!#@?!!
Doesn't matter ... the night was a real hit and I think we
brought home half of the merchandise range they were
selling to remember what a great night it was!!




We stayed at our favourite hotel in North Sydney which looks out over the
Sydney Harbour. The lit up diamond & coat hanger are still being displayed on
the Bridge from New Year's which was a treat to see. I love looking out over the harbour etc at night, it is like everything comes to life in Sydney after dark ... all the lights, the boats on the harbour etc.
Our big buffet brekkie the next morning was a real treat and then we
caught the ferry over to Darling Harbour for the day.
We went and seen Open Season 3D at the imax theatre ... how cool is that place!
We arrived home just in time to go out for tea to celebrate my sisters birthday ...
and then all collapsed into bed last night absolutely exhausted!
Now for a busy weekend keeping up with my New Years goals ...
I am going to clean out & organise my spare room/scrapbooking room.
Wish me luck, it is a HUGE job!!
Cheers,
JULIE x


Wednesday, January 03, 2007

PINK SCRAPBOOKING FOR A CHANGE

I don't really do pink when it comes to scrapbooking 'cause 99% of my pages and projects are of my one and only little man!

So, i do enjoy doing pretty pink projects every now and then!

This mini album (love Maya Road chipboard products) was a special little gift to a dear friend of mine. About 2 years ago she gave me a gift of chocolates which came in a gorgeous unusual box ... so, being a scrapbooker ... i kept the box and when her first grandaughter was born i done a little album &
decorated the box as a gift to her. Sooo, when gd no.2 came along i thought i would do
another littlekeepsake for her ... here it is!

I love doing little & mini stuff. Even though it is fiddly it is always so cute.



On a different note ... here we go for another year. I wonder what 2007 will bring??

I was glad to see the back end of 2006 ... it wasn't really a bad year i think it was just that with Blake unexpectantly getting sick and being in hospital for nearly a month early in the year, it really through everything 'out of whack' and i felt as though we never got organised to start the year until about June ... but, by then the year was half over and we played 'catch-up' all year but just never seemed to get organised and/or on top of things.

There were plenty of good things too; like our wonderful holiday and we achieved our plans with improving our house (renovate bathroom & kitchen, outdoor improvements & landscaping).

Anyway, looking forward to 2007. I won't call them resolutions but three things on my Agenda this year are losing weight (that one tops the list every year!!?), going to bed earlier & getting organised!

Oh, and i forgot one more .... plenty of scrapbooking!!

Cheers,
JULIE x

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

JUST A FEW FAVOURITE CHRISSY PICS

I know Christmas now seems like a distant memory but
just wanted to share a few of my favourite
Chrissy Pics before I start with the New Year blogging.
this is 'THE PRESENT' ...
(you know ... the Santa present saga from a few blogs ago!!)
One very happy little boy on Christmas morning.
That Santa is an amazing fellow ... he can work miracles!!




I can see a very cute "Cousins" page coming on !! ...




This is our little nephew Jacob with my DH "the Kid Magnet".


I actually got a little project done for a friend just before Christmas
and will post it on my next blog.
Wishing you all wealth, health & happiness
for 2007!
Cheers,
JULIE x

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