YES ... I AM STILL ALIVE!

Nearly 2 weeks since my last post ... OMG ... just not enough hours in a day or days in a week lately!!

Just doing the usual things ... school, work, home, sport etc. etc.

Last weekend i was very spoiled and we had a Mothers Day Weekend (along with my mum and dad - as part of our present to my mum for M/Day)! We spent the weekend at Shoal Bay (i luv 'The Bay') and the weather was divine! Saturday night we went out for dinner ... had a yummy meal at The Fishing Club ... lovely atmospehere sitting on the outdoor deck looking over the water & boats. Sunday morning i was VERY spoiled with a scrummy cooked brekkie and beautiful gifts ... a gorgeous most fluffiest cuddliest bathrobe ever, new slippers, a gold euroball earrings set (3 different size pairs), a George Forman grill thingy (that i had been wanting since i blew up the other one when i toasted the cord between the 2 hotplates along with the foccacia ... oops!) ... and ... those precious Mother's Day Stall gifts (which a lot of thought was put into) ... a little scrapbooking folder set pack & a bead necklace along with a handmade card ... priceless! As i said ... VERY SPOILT!
We went out to the Taboggan Run park which was lots of fun (will share some pics when i can be bothered uploading)and then enjoyed a picnic lunch.

... If only every weekend could be Mother's Day !! LOL !!

Part of the present we gave my mum was this little mini flower album i made (which you may have seen on the SCRAPBOOKnBITS website)

This is the front cover.




Here are some random little flower pages



I love doing mini scrapbooking projects ... lots of fun!

Now for this week ...

Nothing out of the ordinary, except .... our tickets arrived at the Travel Agents for 'THE SUPRISE HOLIDAY'!!!

Ooooh .. i am sooo excited!!

For those of you who haven't got a clue what i am talking about ... last November i booked this holiday. It is for our 10th Wedding Anniversary and it is a surprise for my husband Mark (and Blake is coming too). He hasn't a clue where we are going - he just knows we are leaving the country (had to tell him this much to be able to organise passports) ...

We leave in 3 weeks ... Saturday, 9th June 2007 ... very exciting !!!!

Do you want to know where we are going .....





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Sorry can't tell ... it's a secret !?#@!! LOL!


I think this is enough blogging for one day ....

Off to wash dirty soccer clothes from this morning (Blake) and last night (Mark)and then to the kitchen ... I am in the mood for cooking!

Have a great weekend everyone!!

JULIE x

TAGGED

I've been tagged (thank you Jane) ...

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to blog about their seven things and post the rules as well. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

Here goes .....

1) I am totally "mouse-a-phobic" ... in simple terms .... totally freaked out by mice or even the thought of them!! Yes ... i am one of those women that would stand on a chair and wait for her husband to come home ... true!! Just a quick note for Jane (who's blog i have just finished reading) ... making "mice" for dessert ... OMG, that recipe would be so forbidden in our house LOL !!!

2) I am obsessed with achieving two lifetime goals ... owning a BMW and going to America/Disneyland. The latter is currently being arranged for October 2008 ... the BMW will have to wait a few more years!

3) When i was younger i was allergic to ice-cream ... grew out of my allergy with age (Not sure whether that is a good or a bad thing ... could have saved quite a few calories there !!)

4) I had always maintained that i was never getting married or having children ...
i have done both once ... it's all good!

5) I had never really "camped" until i met my husband ... our first weekend camping trip entailed 2 cars (one being a ute) packed to the brim with (in my opinion) "essentials" and "just in case items" (which included an ironing board) ... OMG, looking back it is a wonder he didn't leave me and my essentials at home!! LOL!! You'll be pleased to know (as was DH) that i became quite the "happy little camper" with just the bare essentials and we have enjoyed many camping trips over the years. We have now progressed to a caravan which is lots of fun too!

6) Hmmm ... thinking, thinking, thnking ....

7) I love watching Family Fued ... sad but true! I even visit the website and love doing the quizz thing which is where they get that "we've surveyed 100 people" thing ... and ... confession time ... even applied to go on Family Fued ... but ... never heard from Bert !!! LOL! So, there you go ... i am a self confessed "MOUSE-A-PHOBIC FAMILY FUED ADDICTED SCRAPBOOKING DAG" !!

So, now that all my friends would probably prefer to pretend they are not my friends (LOL) i don't know who to tag ... so ... if you haven't been tagged, or you would like to be tagged again ... consider yourself TAGGED!

Gosh i wander if you feel as long a time to read this as it felt to type it ??? (you know what i mean) ... thanks for stopping by ...

Have a great week!

JULIE x

KIWI SCRAPS

** WARNING .... Marathon Post & Pics Ahead **

WOW!! What a weekend!

I am totally exhausted (but it is all good exhaustion) LOL!

KiwiScraps was fantastic ... The accommodation & brekkies were A+ ... but most of all, the tutors were totally awesome!! A group of totally talented, friendly, beautiful, fun ladies ...

here are some of them:




My head is spinning full of inspiration and ideas ... so here goes ... i'll share some snippets of our weekend and some of the projects ... will try not to bore you.

Friday we left a little later than planned, got a little bit lost (just a teeny tiny bit) and i missed my first class ... OOPS!

No need to panic ... Rhonda (from Kiwiscraps) is the most patient "happy to help' kind person and had things re-arranged in a jiffy to slot me into the Saturday workshop so i didn't miss out.

My second Friday class (which became my first class) was with RHONNA FARRER (USA) ... one gorgeous little lady with the hugest brightest bubbliest personality and loads of talent .... here is my completed project




Friday night we drove into Brighton Le Sands and found a groovy little pizza/pasta place "The Jail House Rock Pizzeria" which was totally Elvis themed ... yummy scrummy pizza and a photo with 'The King'to finish off the night ... LOL!!




Saturday was packed with scrapping & projects galore ... i learnt to speed type many years ago ... now i have learned to speed scrap!! LOL!

Some more projects to share:


This is part of a project not yet complete but still pretty cute heh!



Another project to complete in my own time but check the groovy paper flower thingy we learnt to make with the gorgeous giant button (which i was half tempted to save for one of my winter cardigans instead!!). The "purple onion' calendar stamp you can see in this photo was one of the prizes i was lucky enought to win in this class ... Woohoo!!



This LO workshop was so out of my comfort zone and usual style and was awewome. I will definately be inclined to experiment more with fabric and more dimensional elements in my scrapbooking now.

I totally love this flower (mounted on the HS flower) which was made from lace and sewing pattern papers ... gorgeous!!



And last but certainly not least ... i think this would almost rate as my favourite for the weekend. Not becaused of what it is but because i have never used felt because i didn't think it was my thing, have never done stitching (whether it be for embroidery type things or scrapbooking) and really didn't think i was interested in this stuff ...

Well ... i will have you know that I (yes, ME) cut out, stitched and created everything you see on this gorgeous little project (even freehand little felt flowers).



This is a 'Forget Me Knot' pouch you keep in your handbag and has little envelopes in it to keep note birthdays, events, phone numbers, invitations, receipts, etc etc. I can't wait to use felt and stitching on other projects now and i guess that pretty well sums up the whole "Freestyle" theme for the weekend, it was very much about learning to 'think outside the square'.

Anyway, if you are still awake and still reading this, thank you for being interested in my awesome weekend. I look forward to attending more wonderful events like this and hopefully meeting lots of other scrapbooking and blogger friends!

Have a great week,

JULIE x

ONE MORE SLEEP ....

THAT'S IF I EVER GET TO BED !!?

Off to KIWISCRAPS .... Yeeeaaaaah!!

I am soooo bad at leaving things 'til the last minute ... but always manage to pull everything together at the 11th hour ....

Well, that's me tonight (or should i say this morning)!

12.20am - finally finished packing, checking all my homework & items are in place ... I'm all ready!

Have a great weekend girls ... will post on Sun or Mon & share with you.

JULIE x

SATURDAY

Wow 2 posts in a week ... doing well!

Up nice and early this morning (well ... don't know what's nice about it, but anyway LOL!) ... washing done, housework done (thanks to DH yesterday) and everything is under control ......

Off to soccer this morning for first game of the season, canteen duty 11 'til 2 ... then ... home this afternoon and hopefully ... scrapbooking time !!

I'm working on an OTP Project Kit for Mothers Day for SCRAPBOOKnBITS ... have you seen the new arrivals .... Velour rik rak & flowers, beautiful Daisy D rub-ons, fancy pants etc, etc ..... Gooooorgeous!!

I had mentioned in a few previous posts that i had dabbled in sending in a few LO's for comps ... no luck ... :O(
Never mind, i have never been one to scrapbook for comps etc but i figure that if i'm scrapbooking for me & the fun of it, a dabble 'here & there' is no harm done!

LO share ....

Blake & his best mate Matty ... Blake's birthday March 2007




Blake's birthday March 2007 ... loving bright colours & sei iron-ons at the moment!



Have a great weekend everyone

JULIE x

P.S - Only 6 more sleeps 'til KIWISCRAPS ....

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER .....

The days are flying by ... not enough hours in a day, not enough days in a week etc, etc .... you get my drift !!

However, as time passes quickly ... that means .... only 9 more sleeps 'til KIWISCRAPS .... ONLY 7 MORE WEEKS 'TIL THE SUPRISE HOLIDAY .... only 4 more months 'til we go snowskiing ..... and .... only 8 more months 'til Christmas !!!!

Well, now that I've got that off my chest, what have we been up to for the last week or so ???? .....

We have been enjoying the school hols and i'm loving the no routine thing!

Last Sunday we went to Sydney for the day to the 4WD Camping Caravan Holiday Expo at Rosehill ... was a great day and we picked up some bargain items that we were wanting for our van etc.

I have been indulging in some 'me time' for scrapbooking ....


A trip to Dubbo Zoo last year. What a great place!





Our night out in January to see Walking with Dinosaurs! (yes, the one where i wasn't allowed to take any photos!!)





and .....

very proud of this one .....

my first attempt at a canvas!
Love this photo of the boys (was taken on our big trip last year whilst we were at Broken Hill - you make recognise the stone sculpture which is currently appearing on TV for the Broken Hill tourism ads!!?).
Had lots of fun making this and just love the MME transparencies and gems!!
This will take pride of place in my scrapbooking room and i intend to do a couple of others to go with it!




Have a couple of others that i can't share yet as I am dabbling in a few comps ... you never know your luck!!

Hope you have all had a good week so far.

Talk soon,

JULIE x

PRICELESS

We have had a pretty non-eventful Easter Weekend .... which was just lovely!

Friday we spent the days with friends who are holidaying down at Rafferty's Resort and left Blake behind to spend a night with this little mate.

Saturday, DH went off to work for the start of his "rostered on" shifts for the weekend. I got a day to myself but still had plenty to do. Went off and done my Easter shopping and went and brought some clothes for myself (haven't done that in ages!). Saturday afternoon Blake returned and we spent the afternoon at home. He watched some movies and i scrapped (will share later).

Sunday, we were up very early ... lots of excitement (and relief) to see that the Bunny had been .... rewind ... Saturday afternoon Blake and i had a conversation regarding his concern that the Bunny wouldn't come this year 'cause he won so many easter eggs/chocs in the school raffle .... oh to be 10 and that is your only worry in the world !!

We got to do a quick Happy Easter with Mark before he left for work at 5am, then Blake & I jumped back into bed for a few more hours beauty sleep (well .... for me!)

The most special gift i received was this little Easter box Blake made at school ... obviously made with lots of love & pride which is better than money can buy ....



Just Priceless!

Today was a little bit more shopping, some more scrapbooking and a quiet afternoon at home.

Tomorrow is back to work :(

However, i do love the fact that it is school holidays ... no organising, no uniforms, no lunches, no homework etc etc.

DH is home for the hols and hopefully i'll be able to spare a day here and there!

Have a great week everyone!

P.S - 3 Weeks to KiwiScraps ... yippeeeee!


JULIE x

HOP, HOP, HOP ...

The Bunny is on his way .....




HAVE A GREAT EASTER EVERYONE!

JULIE x

ONE VERY "EGGSITED" LITTLE BOY .....

Back a few posts ago when i was sharing some of my weekend scrapping ...

There was this LO.




This is Blake in 2000 (3yrs old) when he won the Easter Raffle at Pre-School!

Fast forward to 4th April 2007 (10 yrs old) at approx 2.50pm when i picked up Blake from school and it went something like this ......



one very excited (bordering on hyperactive)screaming child ......



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"MUUUUUUUUM ..... I won 2nd Prize in the Easter Raffle !!!!!!!"





OMG ... a basket (roughly the size of a washing basket) full of easter chocolate!! WOW !!


He was ranting at 100 mile an hour, couldn't sit still in the car and couldn't wait to get home to unpack it all.

Needless to say we have Easter Chocs spread all over our loungeroom floor and DH & i have been privilaged to be allocated a few treats this evening !!?*#! LOL!

He has set aside a large pack with lots of eggs to take to school for his classmates tommorrow and a small pack for his teacher!

Not sure what the plan is for the rest at this stage but there is a fair chance we'll still be eating Easter Choc at Christmas !!

Well, i think our little man has a lucky streak; besides theses raffles he also won a christmas raffle one year which was a large wheelbarrow piled high with food, electrical appliances, beer, wine etc, etc. ...... it think i'll send him down to the Newsagency to buy me a Lottery Ticket tommorrow!! LOL :)

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

JULIE x

MINI HANGER PROJECT

Bit of a plug here .....

SCRAPBOOKnBITS APRIL KIT

I recently designed these MINI HANGER PROJECTS which were a popular workshop at the CraftAlive expo.

This month they can be purchased as a kit ... a great Mother's Day Present!




Find all the details here

Happy Scrappn' :)

A SCRAPBOOKER'S CHILD ...

You may recall (from a couple of posts ago) it was my son's birthday and he received (in his world) the ultimate presents .... Star Wars Lego !!!
Well, over the past weeks in our house we "eat, sleep & breath" Star Wars Lego!

Blake has built the kits he got for his birthday, and more kits he purchased with some of his birthday money.

We have Star Wars battles, characters, sound effects etc. etc. (you get my drift)!

On Sunday Night (whilst DH was on nightwork), i scrapped whilst Blake occupied himself with his Lego .... then, he had a great idea ........

"Mum, will you take some photos of me & my Lego and do a page (LO) for me" ??!



So here are the pics from our "photo shoot" !! don't you just love the 'setup scene' with the little orange man surrendering .... How Cute !! :)














and ... soon i will share with you our Star Wars Lego Layout!!

Keep Smiling :)
JULIE x

GOODBYE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS

Well, there's another round of daylight savings finished. I am always disappointed to see Daylight Savings end; however, i must say, today seems to have lasted such a long time ... that is a real bonus for a Sunday!
I can't believe the freaky weather patterns at the moment. Yesterday we were near melting and had the air conditioner on until night time; today it has poured and we're into long sleeves !@#??! Crazy !!!
To make matters worse, the soccer season unofficially started today with trial games ... oh goody ... soccer in the pouring rain ... grrrh!
I just don't see the sense in kids running around in the pouring rain, parents trying to stay dry under umbrellas, a fair chance of getting sick with a cold etc etc. Very annoying. I don't know why they don't just split the points between the teams and hope for better weather next week! There you go ... i have just solved the problems of the world with wet weather and children's sport !! LOL!
You want to know the silliest thing of all ... it is only us parents that stress about 'cause i think the kids actually get a bit of a buzz out of it!!

Well, other than trying to stay dry at soccer, i have had a very non-eventful "chill out" weekend and oh boy it feels good!

Loved having some spare time to scrap. Here is another LO to share. Loving those American Craft papers at the moment!





... and another ...





and i do have another .... but .... i have found a publication comp that I am half considering entering ( i have never bothered with any of this sort of thing before ) so i'll have a bit of a think about it .......

I think i'll have a rest from my scrapbooking for today ... now time for some reading and hopefully an early night !

Have a great week everyone.

JULIE x

A week of Ups & Downs ...

I enjoying playing on my blog, but time passes so quickly and i never get to update as often as i would like too.
Another usually busy week ... busy at home, busy at school, busy busy at work; but all is good until some sad news yesterday ...
My husband's cousin & his wife were awaiting the birth of their baby girl (had already found out the baby's sex) in approx 3 months time. We spent last Saturday night with them at a family doo and as well as our chatting about her less than easy pregnancy, her very swollen feet & ankles and looking so exhausted was obvious. She was telling us that doctors were monitoring closely due to symptoms of pre-eclampsia.
On Thursday, her symptoms became quite serious and she was hospitalised for treatment; however, on Thursday night everything went "pear shaped" and this ended with an emergency caeser (sp?).
Sadly, their little Lara Jane was without oxygen for approx 17 mins and whilst they were able to resucitate her and keep her stabilised with a life support machine, her short little life ended at 1pm yesterday.
Events like this make you step off that busy roller coaster ride called life, even if just for a moment, and realise how lucky we are for all the good things.

On a different note, this weekend is planned to be totally non-eventful ... i am trying hard to not have to "do this, be there, get that" .... so .... this means some spare time for scrapbooking !!!!

I finished this LO of our family day out on Blake's 3rd Birthday ... sooo cute, feels like such a long time ago .. sigh !!





More to come ....

Have a great weekend everyone.

JULIE C x

PROUD

WARNING ... LONG POST AHEAD!!

The last few days in our family life have been filled with "proud" events!

On Friday, our school held a liturgy as part of their celebrations for 'Catholic Education Week'. As usual, the liturgy was lovely and the participation of the children makes it very special.



My little man was so excited to taking part in the special readings. He was so proud and so serious .... we were very proud too. He done a great job!!

Today were up at 5am and gone by 6am .... it has been a huge day.

REWIND .... A few months ago DH decided to set a personal goal of training to get fit and enter the 'Spark & Helmore Triathlon' in Newcastle (which raises money for the Hunter Medical Research Institute).

So, as planned, he has been training (swimming, jogging and riding his bike) for the big event.





As you can see in this photo he made it to the finish (completed the course in just over 1 hour) ...

He is was proud of himself as were his two biggest fans ... Blake & I!



I got some other great pics and hopefully will find the time to do some scrapbooking this week.

After all that excitement ... we made our way over to Energy Australia Stadium to see the Newcastle Knights & Bulldogs game. It has been years since i have been to a league game. DH is a mad knights supporter, DS has been brainwashed into being a mad knights supporter and I don't mind themeither! It was a great atmosphere, a very close game and the knights won by 1 point ... all in all it finished off a great day out.

Just one more thing ... through the week i lost a post (stupid blogger !!?!) and I can't be bothered retyping whatever the general conversation was but will share the LO i completed with the bright & beautiful American Craft papers from SCRAPBOOKnBITS.



I really like this range ... it is bold & bright which makes it easy to do simple layouts on a limited time budget! SnB has also just got in the biggest & bestest range of chipboard titles (approx 50 different titles) ... everything imaginable from boy titles, girl titles, easter, pets, ballet etc. etc. (if they are not showing on the website send Karen an email ... she's bound to have what you are looking for or at least something very close).

Have a great week everyone.

JULIE x

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK

I still haven't had a chance to redo the post i lost the other night; but more important post for now ....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DH ... MARK!!
16th March 2007




We got him a pair of crocs and the thing he wanted most ... surfing lessons !!
He has been talking for months about learning to surf ... so ... we brought him 4 x 2hr personal surfing lessons.

He was quite impressed with his present but i have to say ... i don't share his enthusiasm for the beach. I hate sand, and, wading around out there in the water makes you pretty good shark bait in my opinion!!! ... god forbid ... i hope he'll be safe!



Anyway ... once again ... Happy Birthday Mark xxx

JULIE :-)

STUPID BLOGGER

I have just sat and typed the longest bestest blog ... lots of pics ... yahdee yahdee yahdee ... and lost the lot!!!!

Can you hear that SCREEEEAAAMMMING ... yes, thats me!

Stupid Blogger ... SHIT, SHIT, SHIT !?*#!! (am i allowed to swear on this thing?)

Too tired to do it again ...

will try again tomorrow night!

JULIE :O(

ANOTHER WEEK GONE!

I can't believe how fast this year is flying ... but i guess we say that every year!!

Every week just feels like it rolls into one ... work, school, sport etc etc .... BUT ... i have finally found some time to scrap and actually finish some projects.

This week i completed a 'Mini Hanger Project' but can't share this with you yet 'cause it is one of the workshops with 'SCRAPBOOKnBITS' at the Craft Fair this weekend ... make sure to pop in and say "hi" if you get over there this weekend!

And ... talk about first time for everthing ... last night i completed by first on-line crop ( i have registered before but then something has cropped up and i haven't got to join in ). Kim Archer's 'ALWAYS' workshop was lots of fun and i have a completed LO to show for it!








Sorry that the pics are a bit dark ... i'm a bit "hit & miss' with my camera at the moment!

Anyway, back to scrapbooking ... hope to share some more LO's with you over the weekend.

PS: Is anyone out there going to KiwiScraps in April??

Have a great weekend.

JULIE x

MY BABY IS 10 !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLAKE xx






This weekend has been filled with celebrations for Blake's birthday - 3rd March.

10 YEARS ... Wow, where has it gone. A decade ... double figures, where has my baby gone??

We have had little friends here all weekend end, sleepovers etc. Last night we went to the drive-in with a little group of his friends and today was a big bbq birthday at the park.

Blake is now enjoying a quite evening putting together some of his 'much wanted' Star Wars Lego kits that he received and I am planning on a rest (that is after tea is organised, uniforms ironed for the week, everything tidied and packed away from today's party and the house is order for the start of another busy week) ... mmm, now what was that about a little rest !#*?!




This is my very happy boy with a few of his new Lego additions!





Here is Blake's best buddy (and our almose adopted son!) ... Matt & Blake met at Pre-School and have been best buddies ever since. They are such beautiful little boys .. i hope this is one of those friendships that continues into adult life when they have wives, children of their own etc etc.




What a bunch!! Oh how wonderful the world is to be 10 and life full of fun, fun, fun!!

Hope you all had a great weekend.

Off to do some projects with some of the gorgeous new products at
'SCRAPBOOK n BITS' for "Craft Alive" coming next weekend.

Cheers,
JULIE x

JAMBEROO

What a great weekend!






I mentioned in one of my previous posts that we were off to Kiama/Jamberoo for the weekend with a large group of friends ... 59 of us.

We stayed at a bunkhouse complex .... just like being back at school camp.

I love the South Coast ... it is just so country by the sea! Really think i could live there, just beautiful!!

Jamberoo recreation park was a great day. For anyone who hasn't been, do yourself a favour and take a trip. LOTS of fun!

This is just a quick post, hope to have the time to upload some projects i've been working in the next few days.

Talk soon,

JULIE x

VERY SPOILT

I have been very spoilt this week.
A wonderful birthday last Sunday which continued through to Monday with out to dinner with my girlfriends. Such a thoughtful bunch and lots of beautiful pressies ... a pink 'bling' ring, a recycled jeans dilly bag (very groovy), lotions and potions, scrapbooking supplies (they know me well), and a pretty little travelling jewellry case.
But wait there's more ... family presents ... a labelling machine, gorgeous jewellry set (chunky beaded necklace & matching earrings), candles & choccies !!
And, just when my birthday celebrations are over ... then there's Valentine's Day.
My DH is very thoughtful and always marks a special day. I got a very sweet & meaningful card & a beautiful flower arrangement. I think i'll keep him for a bit longer !!
On a different note ... you may have notice that i have changed my music video (I love playing with this thing!). I love the Dixie Chicks ... yes, i am not ashamed to admit it ... i am a Country Music girl. I like other music too (not heavy metal or the like), but my favourite is country especially the modern country music that is out these days. In particular, i love this song. I have it on one of their albums which i play in my car regularly. I turn it up and sing to my heart's content ... must be an interesting look for passers by !!?*#! LOL
Well, other than singing, the rest of my days have been filled with hectic schedules at work, busy finalising the details for out group trip to Kiama-Jamberoo next weekend (very excited ... can't wait) and even busier finalising the arrangements for a trivia night i am hosting in Sydney this weekend ... Phew, talk about no rest for the wicked ... I must be a very bad girl !
I won't get a chance to post again til next week ... so, have a great weekend!
Cheers,
JULIE x