HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACOB

Happy Birthday to my little nephew Jacob .... a big 4 year old!



On Saturday, we had a birthday brekkie with yummy pancakes followed by birthday cake.

Gosh time flies, it only seems like yesterday that he was born



(Jessica and Blake look so young too!)


Blake went back to school last week, although it was only a 3 day week ... Monday was a holiday for World Youth Day and Friday was an inservice day. Blake's opinion was "what's the point of going back for 3 days, why don't they just give us another week off"!

Anyway .... we're back into the school routine and this term we are eagerly counting away until the next school hols 'cause we leave for our USA trip .... just 10 weeks to go! We are also off to the snow at the end of August .... this is our annual group trip which is always a blast but is a bit overshadowed this year by the excitement of our big holiday!!

After the birthday brekkie on Saturday, we headed off for soccer and then a quite weekend for the rest. Sunday was a house day .... one of those "stay in your pj's til lunchtime kinda day" ... i did some constructive housekeeping - washing, cleaned a few windows, dusting and some cooking.

I have done lots of scrapping over the past few days too ... but nothing i can share yet ... however, one of the projects i completed is an upcoming workshop at SnB using flocking ... i luuurved using this stuff.



Well .... enjoying a day at home again today (back to work tommorrow) and off to make a big pot of homemade chicken & vegie soup.

Don't forget my RAK giveway (last post) which is running 'til 31st July .... all you have to do is leave a comment ... don't be shy, come and say hello!

Have a great week, try and stay warm, keep smiling :O)

JULIE x

I'M BACK ... WITH A RAK

Hi everyone in the land of blogging ... i'm finally taking some time to update !

Gosh, the school hols is usually a time to 'chill out' & 'kick back'; but not for us i'm afraid, thing have just been so busy .... not necessarily any one thing in particular ... just BUSY !

One of the good busy things i have been doing is scrapbooking ...

This month at SnB is Christmas in July ... so, lots of activities, giveaways, challenges etc.

This month's SCRAP YOUR STASH is a 'blast from the past' creating embellishments with 'paper piecing' ... here is my example LO



Last night was the CC with lots of fun challenges & games ... here was my LO for the free sketch workshop



a shameless plug here ...

coming up on 19th August i am hosting a 3 layout "DUDE WORKSHOP" ... the products in this kit are totally scrumptious to create with ...



check it out HERE

On a different note ... the weather has been getting quite cool here and even better, very cold down south which means plenty of snow .... in 6 weeks we set off for our annual snow trip with a group of 26 .... we always look forward to this, we are lucky to have such a great group of friends and sooo much fun every year(which seems to come around soooo quickly). This year whilst we count down to our snow trip that means also counting down to our USA trip .... just 10 weeks to go ... i am feeling slightly excited !!!

Last but not least .... all this Christmas in July activiy this month has prompted a RAK ... yep, i'm in the mood to send someone a present .... don't know about you, but i loooove pressies he he !! Just leave me a comment (cause it's nice to know you still visit even though i've been a really bad blogger!!) by midnight July 31.

Hope you've had a great weekend, have a great week,

Keep Smiling :O)

JULIE x

BE BACK SOON ....

Busy, Busy, Busy ....

Hope to visit again over the weekend and do a decent post of the past few crazy busy weeks ...

in the mean time ....

HOW WOULD YOU LIKE TO WIN $100

Check THIS out !!

Be back soon ....

JULIE :O)

CC @ SnB TONIGHT

Howdy,
if you're looking for some indoor fun to fill a few hours tonight, join us over at SCRAPBOOKnBITS for the June CyberCrop.
This month the theme is babies (to celebrate with a few 'expectant mums' from the SnB Forum).
Fun, games, challenges, scrapping & chatting is surely a good way to spend a cold Saturday evening !!

See you there:O)

REWIND 1.5 WEEKS ...

WARNING .... LONG POST AHEAD !!

Lots happening/happened over the last week or so, lots of scrapbooking and finally a chance to update my blog !


THE SCRAPBOOKnBITS RETREAT



A fantastic 3 days of un-interrupted scrapbooking bliss .... great to catch up with old friends, meet forum friends IRL and meet new friends ... all in all, a great bunch and a fab weekend.

Here are some pics of the projects from the 2 workshops that i hosted:

FAMILY CANVAS ALBUM... a hinged double canvas display with an internal display and fold out mini album.





FAVOURITE PICS DISPLAY STAND ... some favourite pics featured on a little 'flip over' craftwood display stand




Last week was pretty much the same as every other week ... busy, busy with home, school work etc but certainly felt a whole lot better knowing a long weekend was to follow!

The lead up to the long weekend was a little shaky with bad weather and threats of a repeat of last years floods ... but ... thank goodness there were no major weather dramas! The weather was a little ordinary (although the sun did peak through a few times in short bursts) but poor weather makes for great lazy time at home and scrapbooking ... and ... celebrating our Wedding Anniversary.

To the day/date ... Saturday was our 11th Wedding Anniversary (and exactly 12 months since our cruise - gosh time flies) ... after a big sleep-in we had a yummy bacon & egg brekkie (which was more like brunch really LOL!) and true to form i received a red rose for each year we have been married ... and ... our bottle of Moet wasn't bad either!!



Sunday was another wet day which was perfect for scrapbooking ... got together with some friends and had a very creative day doing these:

SPEED
a no patterned paper LO ... just paint, stamping & scrummy grungeboard!


LIVE
using the gorgeous new Chatterbox range ... if you haven't already seen this new range you gotta have a peak HERE


FLY
a LO of my Dad doing his Tigermoth Joyflight earlier this year.


A DAY AT THE BEACH
using the KI Memories Lace/Word Cardstock i painted words that were relevant to make them 'stand-out' as a feature!


... told you this was a long post ...

the SCRAP YOUR STASH challenge for June is underway ... this month is Stamps, Strips & Stitches.



This is a fun challenge to use items and products from your stash that haven't seen daylight for a while ... and the opportunity to win SnB $$ to purchase more items for your stash!!! Come & join us !!


Yesterday was a very lazy day other than a brief outing to look at some camcorders/video cameras (or whatever they call them these days) ... mmm ... i think this one requires a little more homework than we anticipated. We have an older style video camera but it is a little bulky in today's standard, and we would like a little 'palm size' compact thing to take to America with us .... but then there's the dilemna of SD Card or HDD, memory space, filming time, optical zooms etc etc .... any suggestions, tips or information would be greatly welcomed!!

Back to work today [sigh] ....

Tommorrow night we are attending the Confirmation service at our school church with friends of ours whereby i have been asked to be the sponsor ... such a lovely occasion/celebration for the children (but i bet there will be a few Dads anxious about missing the State of Origin !! LOL!!)

Well i think i have rambled for long enough ... thanks for visiting ...

Have a great week ... keep smiling :O)

JULIE x

3 DAYS OF SCRAPBOOKING

Yep ... 3 whole days.

This weekend (commencing Thursday night) i am off to the SCRAPBOOKnBITS RETREAT !

Hoping to get lots done (but will probably get lots of chatting done as usual) LOL!

Will be back to share next week.

Have a great weekend :O)

JULIE x

I REALLY MUST

try and update this thing a little more regularly.

The weeks just go way to fast ... i think i'm doing ok then realise that it has been over a week !

We've been busy (as usual) but not doing anything terribly exciting ...

Last Sunday i took Blake shopping for his Winter wardrobe. Once upon a time i looooved a day out shopping ... these days i treasure my time at home and shopping is a bit of a chore. But we did have a lovely afternoon together and came home with all that we set out for. Our shopping trip wasn't without drama though .... we had a hellraising experience with the new pay/ticket parking system at the shopping centre and almost had our car locked in .... but that is a whole other story that i won't go into !!

My hand is coming along well ... still has limits and lets me know if i'm "overdoing it" but on the whole i'm very happy with the progress.

Friday night i took Blake and two of his friends to the movies ... we were to go and see 'Indiana Jones' but at the last minute they decided they wanted to see 'Ironman' instead ... i was a little apprehensive thinking i would have to sit through one of them movies that would be so not me ... but ... i have to say that it was actually quite a good movie and i did enjoy it.

This weekend we have had a whole weekend of soccer. Yesterday was their normal game (2 all draw) and then the boys had to back-up today to play a 'washed out' game from a few weeks ago (nil all draw) ... so much for weekend plans!

We are starting to get very excited about our holiday to America .... we have received the final intinary and details from the travel agent and have spent lots of time on the internet looking at our accommodation/s, all the theme parks and other attractions we will be visiting, reading up on their "tipping system" (this is something that has got me a little worried cause i want to make sure we do the right thing), etc etc. All of this has stirred up lots of excitement and taken over the general topic of conversation in our house !! Bring on September !!

On the countdown for this week too .... this weekend is the Scrapbook'n'Bits Weekend Retreat .... Yipppee (Thursday to Sunday) ... three days of uninterrupted scrapping, chatting etc.

I'm all ready for the workshop i am hosting ... here are a few more sneak peaks...




Hope you have all had a lovely weekend ...
Have a great week.

JULIE x

THIS WEEK .....

I can't believe how quickly the end of week keeps rolling around .... here we are at Friday again.

Wednesday i went back to the specialist and all the bandages came off and stitches came out .... [sigh] what a great feeling!
My hand is going really well .... lots of exercises now to get things back to full working capacity. It is amazing what a difference just two days has made ... as of today i can touch my thumb to my little finger ... only just, but pretty happy about that! Hoping to do a little 'scrapbooking therapy' this weekend he he !!
I go back in 4 weeks for my next check-up, so hoping all is in order by then!

Just 2 weeks 'til the SnB Retreat .... really looking forward to this! A '3 nighter' this time .... hope to get lots done.
I am also hosting a 'Family Canvas Album' workshop ....
here is a sneak peak ...



If you want to join in on a little fun this weekend ... i am running a fun competition over at SnB .... it is really easy .... have a look HERE

Talk soon,
JULIE x

a MOTHERS DAY outing

Just a short post & few pics 'cause i'm "one handed" at the moment ...

Had a wonderful day starting with a yummy breakfast and lots of gorgeous presents; a mixture of shopping and gifts from the school Mother's Day Stall (so cute) but the most special being a hand stitched placemat with "i love u mum" done in needlework/embroidery (a school project) .... just melts your heart !!

Then we set off for a driving day (along with my mum & dad) up & around 'Barrington Tops'.

Mum + Blake


Us ... (i worked out how to use the timer) !



We stopped at a lovely little park at Stroud and enjoyed a homebaked morning tea; and once up in the National Park had a BBQ sausage sizzle with yummy damper!

The drive through Barrington Tops was beautiful .... a long journey but beautiful ... all the way through to the other side to Scone!!

One of the things i love is seeing wildlife in their natural enviroment.

some of these ...


and these (a bit blurry but i'm sure you can see it's a kookabura LOL !!)


and you know your in the country when you have to stop for these gorgeous things ...



Feeling good after breathing in all that fresh country air :O) ... off for a shower, pj's and an early night.

Hope all you super women (aka - mothers) had a wonderful day.

JULIE x

In the past two weeks ....

i have obviously been very sidetracked and haven't blogged!

May the truth be known ... i have been around ... just hadn't gotten to updating.

Since my last post:

* The sun has come out .... yeah!! I am sure i absorb lots of happy energy from the sun ... i know we need rain but it makes me irritable and agitated.

* My Mum & Dad have come home ... Mum is on the improve but in the midst of organising lots of tests etc to find out what is going on. Thinking positive that nothing is majorly wrong and they'll be able to set off again real soon to continue holidaying.

* We celebrated Mum's birthday - 1st May (nice to have her home for this) ... Happy Birthday Mum! (sorry about the blurry photo)


* Blake is back at school ... that means we are back into the routine of uniforms, lunches, homework etc etc.

* I have done a truckload of scrapping ...

These LO's just for the fun of it


This is my niece Jessica and these gorgeous papers are the DreamStreet Birdie Bits range from S'n'B. I have used one of the long journalling diecuts to create a lift flap and this is the underneath.


Using the scrummy new fancy Pants range ... this is a LO of Blake when he was about 4. He used to love answering the phone but would always pick it up and not even say 'hello' ... just "Who Is It?".


Last week was the 3 night 'Mega All Boyz Workshop' for SnB .... here are the 6 layouts and OTP projects ...










Joined in on the fun at the SnB National Scrapbook Day CyberCrop last night ... what a great bunch of ladies ... lots of madness & laughter (and a little bit of scrapbooking) as well as the hilarious 'Sexy Slippers' competition (which i 'didn't win ... i think it was poor attempt of photo editing to make my
legs un-hairy he he !!)

... and if your wondering why i'm wearing odd slippers, that's becuase i couldn't decided which ones i liked best !! LOL

I am currently finishing off a few projects for my committments during May 'cause on Tuesday i have surgery on my hand and will be out of action for a few weeks (hopefully i'll still pop and and say 'hi' and test out my one handed typing skills LOL!)

Hope you've all had a great weekend.

Keep smiling :O)

JULIE x

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY ....

... I CAN NOT STAND ANOTHER DAY !!

If you are reading this and live in an area where rain is desperately needed i apologise in advance for sounding ungrateful ... but .... this rain is driving me insane !?@#*!!

Two weeks of continuous (sometimes torrential) wet weather has taken it's toll ... i feel irritable, agitated and generally crabby .... i need some sunshine!

On a different note .... after my last post about the S'n'B site being compromised but 'up & running' again, that night it was hacked again with irrepairable damage. Poor Karen, it was a nightmare ... but ... GREAT NEWS ... all is back to normal, all re-built, new Web host, all good .... and ...



Whilst the site was down lots more yummy scrummy products arrived including the new Teresa Collins, Pink Paislee, Crate Paper, Making Memories etc ... this stuff is gorgeous ... you gotta take a peak HERE

The 2nd week of the school hols has been pretty uneventful ... the weather makes activities a little impossible but Blake has had a great time anyway, between sleepovers, movies, playstations and pancakes for breakfast, he's happy!

My Mum & Dad are only 2 months into their 12 month travelling holiday but sadly for them they are on their way home ... basically everything imaginable has gone wrong for them but the main thing being that Mum has been very sick and spent several weeks in a few different hospitals in WA. Mum is hoping and trying to last the trip home in order to accompany Dad so he won't have to do the drive on his own; however, they will be across the Nullabor tomorrow and then re-assess whether to keep going or fly Mum home.

I have done a few LO's over the past week (at least one positive thing about wet weather is that it is a good opportunity to scrap LOL) ... but i haven't taken any pics ... will share in my next post.

Hope you are all well and enjoying the last few days of the school hols (for those in NSW).

Keep Smiling :O)
JULIE x

GOOD & BAD

GOOD - School holidays have started and even though we have 'hit the ground' running with activities, i soooo looooove school holidays ( i know i keep saying this but it is totally true!!)

GOOD - Blake attended a soccer coaching clinic the last three days (9am to 12pm) with lots of his school/soccer mates and totally loved it.

BAD - Us mums observing for the 3 days nearly 'froze to death' ... but all part of the love for our kids eh!

GOOD - This afternoon we went to the movies with approx 10 Blake's little mates and some of their mums to see 'The Waterhorse'. This was a pretty good show (some parts a little unrealistic but i guess acceptable to create some fantasy in a kids movie) .. certainly enjoyed it all the same and the kids were very impressed!

BAD - Fell down a driveway at work the other day ... i'm quite fine ... just a sore rump and plenty of bark off my elbow :O(

GOOD - Found some time to do some more scrapbooking ... can't share just yet but here's a little sneak peak of my upcoming class kit (over at S'n'B)for a Mother's Day Gift idea ...



GOOD & BAD - Went back to the specialist this week and confirmed details regarding my hand. Surgery should happen early to mid May ... whilst i'm not looking forward to surgery or the recovery, i am so looking forward to my 'day to day' struggle and living on anti-inflammetries to be over. My few weeks of recovery will be a bit of a killer - no activities or scrapbooking [sigh] ...

GOOD - The cooler weather is well and truly upon us ... i love winter ... bring it on!!

GOOD - This week i have spent some lazy time on the net looking at differenct places and activities in America we will be experiencing .... it still feels like we have such a long time to wait but it is very exciting.

VERY BAD - Karen at S'n'B has had a hell time for the last week recovery from the site being maliciously compromised. Apparantly there has been a spait (sp?) of scrapbooking websites hacked in the past week or two. This is like the electronic version of vandalism .... there are some real low-life dispicable people out there.
The site has been down for a week but as of today, is 'up & running' with just a few more small adjustments to be made to the forum. Hang in there chicken ... it'll all be fine :O)

Hope everyone has had a good week.

Chat soon,
JULIE x

GOSH .... i blinked and ...

IT'S APRIL !!

We seemed to have 'hit the ground running' since Easter.

Just the usual routines of work, school & home.

Soccer season is underway for another year. Last weekend Blake had 2 trial games (won one, lost one) and the season officially starts on Anzac Weekend.

I have been very busy scrapping to finish some upcoming workshops etc for SCRAPBOOKnBITS ...

Over 3 nights ALL BOYZ workshop is taking place - 6 layouts and 1 OTP



The kit is 'jam packed' with products (including loads of new CHA stuff - Cosmo Cricket, Fancy Pants, Cherry Arte, Thickers, Fancy Pants BigBoard etc etc) ... i loved working with these products ... totally scrumptious!! More sneak peaks HERE !

You may recall my previous post/s mentioning the monthly SCRAP YOUR STASH challenge over at SnB.



A challenge is set each month with an example layout focusing on different product/s and encouraging you to delve into your stash.
It costs nothing to participate and at the end of each month all participants that display their creations in the gallery go in the draw to WIN a $10 S'n'B VOUCHER to buy more yummy products for their stash !!

Last month we focused on using left over chipboard letters & frames ... this was my example LO:



This month's SCRAP YOUR STASH focus is on ribbons & eyelets.

Here is a sneak peak of this month's example LO ...


Click HERE for all the details.

More scrapbooking ... a quick share of the 2 layouts completed in last months free workshop ... the theme was 'Rustic'!





Looking forward the school holidays starting at the end of this week ... i loooove school holidays. Really looking forward to a break from uniforms, homework, lunches, assignments etc etc.

So much for the quick post i planned to do tonight ... he he ...

Hope your all having a good week :O)
Chat soon,
JULIE x

EASTER CATCH-UP !!

I know it's been nearly a week since the Easter break but i'm still catching up ...

We had a lovely time ... took the van down to the Central Coast (well DH took the van down, he had to work for the weekend; so he set up for Blake & I and then came back and collected us on Monday afternoon).

... and YES the Easter Bunny finds you even when you are away caravanning (much to Blake's relief !!).





We had the weekend with friends ... lots of fun and very relaxing but not long enough!


The kids had a great time ... Blake spent the weekend with his little shadow (our little godson)!
Nic just adores Blake and vice versa!!






Whilst the weather was a little overcast and cool on Friday & Saturday, there was still heaps to do as the park we stayed at had planned activities all weekend ... craft, movies, Easter egg hunts, plaster painting [and the list goes on] ....
The kids on our little strip also entertained themselves for hours with a bucket of chalk displaying their talents on the pavement (as it rained each night, this cleaned the canvas for new creations everyday !!).

Sunday started with a 'chocolate smorgasbord' for breakfast and the sun came out which meant lots of fun in the pool!
The weather was also lovely on Monday which allowed for more water fun!






This little guy (our godson) is such a cutie ... he has just turned 3 and is very entertaining (maybe his parents don't think so at times but we found him quite funny). You forget the funny little things they say and do ... it's been a while since we had a little person in our house but it does jolt the memory !!



One of the things that entertained us all weekend was his infatuation with being Superman (he did have a day as Spiderman but Superman is his preferred identity) he he !!



This little caped crusader was in action all weekend.

My Blake was never into superhero's or dressing up; but this little guy assured us all weekend "i'm Superman" ... how cute!!
My girlfriend advised (that much to her dismay) the costume has to be coaxed off him and he usually only co-operates to change into Superman PJ's at night!!!

Isn't it funny how their little minds work ??!! ... but that's ok cause he is certainly our little Superman !!

Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Keep smiling :O)

JULIE x