Sneaky Peeky!

Oh dear, seems I have broken my resolution to post 3 times a week. Well, what can I say? Life is hectic.

In scrapping news, I have been working on a great little project for Rochelle at Embellishbits. I am doing a class at the Embellishbits and Scrappin' Bitz retreat in July. So here is a sneak peak at the products I am using:

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Interested? You can get all the info on the retreat here or here LOL

I have a heap more news to share, but I have a hubby crying out for attention!

Catch Ya

A qQuick Post B4 Scrapping

Just off to Tuesday Club (also need to drop Henry at kindy and the dog at the hairdressers!) but wanted to share this photo of Grace. Apologies for the quality but it was very dark and I couldn't see through the viewfinder. Anyhoo, we always check on the kids before we go to bed and this is how we found her a couple of nights ago. Fast asleep, standing up with the sheet on her head! Oh well, what ever works for her I guess ROFL!

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Happy Easter, Happy Birthdays, Happy Scrapping!

What a weekend! Hope everyone out there had a great easter. Ours see-sawed between utter boredom and absolute mania. My mum and brother came to stay for the break which was fab. But we tend to do a lot of hanging around the house.

We eventually ventured out on Sunday to the Donnybrook Apple Festival. They have built the amazing FREE APPLE FUN PARK which the kids just loved. as you can imagine it was pretty hard to drag them away - however the Ester Bunny had been for a visit at Nana's so the pull of more chocolate far outweighed the park! Can you believe I forgot to take the camera though? Not a very good scrapper am I?

HAPPY EASTER

Monday was Henry's birthday. He managed to remind us about 100 times that "It's my Birthday tomorrow!" so there was no forgetting. We had a couple of little friends around for a play and some birthday cake. LOL They were so well behaved and had a great time. I just can't believe that my baby is four! Where did that time go? So here is a picture comparison. Henry at 21 hours old and Henry on the morning of his fourth birthday. *wiping away a little tear*






Henry shares his birthday with his uncle, who turned 21. So we had a great family dinner at a fabulous Italian resaraunt in Bunbury. Yum! And great to catch up with some of the extended family too.

Tuesday was back to TC. Great to get some quality scrap time in. I actually hadn't touched my scrapping gear for a whole week which is rare for me. I have submitted the page I completed to be published, so I will share a sneak peak or 2. Seems that the publishers are cracking down on pages being viewed elsewhere before they hit the mags - for good reason of course. So anyway - wish me luck! If it doesn't get published then I can share the whole LO much sooner. I feel it is one of my best for a while though. Does that sound conceipted? I hope not LOL Enough rabbitting on now though. I will leave you with these pics.




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More Classes and a Calendar

Exciting News! Thanks to My neighbour Leeanne and Ruth Stamps and Crafts, I will now be teaching scrapping lessons for adults and children here in Australind:

Mulgara Family Centre
Entry via Mulgara Road (next to Australind Library)
AUSTRALIND

Late Night Crop
Do your own thing and enjoy the company.
Meeting Monthly
First Wednesday of the Month
6:00pm - 11:00pm
Commencing WED 7th May 2008
Cost $5.00
(Tea and coffee provided, also use of Cuttlebug etc)

Adult Scrapbooking Workshops/Classes
Learn new techniques or just brush up on your skills. Beginners Welcome.
Meeting Monthly
Second Saturday of the Month
10:00am - 1:00pm
Commencing SAT 10th May 2008

Kids After School Activities
Drop the kids off for a couple of hours and let their creativity bloom.
Meeting Fortnightly
Thursdays
4:30 - 6:00
Commencing THU 8th May 2008
Cost - $20.00 per class

Kids School Holiday Workshops
Meeting once each week of School Holidays
Commencing July 2008
Cost - $2.00 per class

So if you are local, check out the calendar at the bottom of the page for the dates and details. Hope to see you there.

Hey . . . Guess What?

I sumbitted some work to the Buzz & Bloom Guest album and guess what? It has just been uploaded. I popped over to have a look and ther is a little post there with my name on it! How funny! Anyway, if you want to have a squiz click here. It is all stuff that I have posted here before though.
Just thought I would toot-toot anyway LOL

On a Roll

I've been quite a busy little scrapper lately. I have completed another LO. This one is for the march White With 1. It is a fun twist on the old challenge blog. Basically each moth a new challenge is listed with the premise of white being the main colour, with one accent colour (changes each month) and one other requirement.

March being the month of St Patrick's Day, the accent colour is green and the extra requirement is to include the word luck or lucky in the title. So here is my offering:

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I have decided on the old collage pick to save viewing time - what do you think?

I have also finished another class LO for 2D's but forgot to photograph it before I took it in to the shop! That's about three I have forgotten now ;)

That's it for today. TFL

Been Busy . . . .

I have completed my first NON DT or class project in ages and it felt great! This is a LO for the March Sketch Challenge on the SM forum.

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The colour combo is a little unusual (especially for someone that always "plays it safe") but this was a lot of fun. Basically I was dying to use the felt FTI trim and this is what resulted. I am hoping I pulled it off. At any rate the fun is in the trying!

FYI: I have just discovered that Dimensional Magic is a perfect adhesive for ghosties. I used it on the little birdie and you can't see it at all!

I have another FOUR projects I need to get on with. Three for classes and one for fun. So I had better stop chatting and get out of here!

Ribbon: Reorganised

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon/evening reorganising my ribbon and embroidery floss collection. Yes, my life is riveting LOL. But I am very happy with the result.

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I went to Spotlight yesterday and cleared thier stock of embroidery floss spools, and bought two cases. I have only used one so far, but I have to have room to grow LOL.

A lot of you scrappers and crafters out there are probably already using this system to store your ribbon and embroidery floss - So OK I am a bit slow! But I can't believe how beautiful it looks. And thanks Vikki, for letting me C.A.S.E. your idea :x

Sneak Peeks

I have a couple of Sneak Peeks to share from my RJR DT work.

As some of you are aware, I am not, nor do I pretend to be a Stamper. I believe that being a stamper requires the massive amounts of care and concentration that I sadly lack :(

HOWEVER I have done quite a lot of stamping, including a card set - YIKES! - in this month's projects. So here are the peeks and I will reveal all when they go up on the RJR blog

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Competition Time

I have just picked up this gorgeous blinkie ------------------------------------------>
from the Buzz and Bloom Blog. Isn't it cute? Just reminded me though that I am a bit low on my stash of B&B so I shall have to go andd visit Rochelle at Embellishbits to stock up. Not sure if anyone out there is aware of the amazing value for money in the B&B Alphas? The minis have 9 sets per pack!

Anyway the cometition: To win a Buzz and Bloom prize pack visit the blinkies competition page on the B&B blog, pick up a free blinkie for your blog, post a comment with a link back to you and on April 1st a random winner will be drawn. Too easy. GOOD LUCK!

You Can Dress 'em Up But . . . .

We had a lovely night down on the school oval last night for the "Night on the Green". Basically a youth band called The Stratz - who were suprisingly very good :)- played to the crowd while we snacked on discounted fish and chips, Chicken Treat, Mr Whippy and whatever picnic food was brought along.

We got the kids all dressed up, which in hindsight was probably not the smartest move. My Mum gave Grace this amazing party dress which I thought she should wear before she grew out of it . . . hmmmmmmmm. Party dress . . . Mr Whippy . . . 2 year old. You can guess the rest LOL. I think the pictures tell the story. Remember to click on the images for larger view.

Off to do some scrapping now. Wish me luck!

Checking In

Not really much to report tonight, except that it is great to be back at Tuesday Club! For those that are not familiar, we meet at the Stirlling Street Arts Centre in Bunbury every Tuesaday in the school term. There are classes for everything from teddy bear making to mosiacs to (yep you guessed it! lol) scrapbooking. The kids go to the creche, and we mums get to play for three whole hours every week. It is fab.

Today I actually managed to complete a LO from start to finish. How exciting! Only I am unable to share, as it is for Jenny at RJR. I will just have to wait until they get put up on her blog.

So Let's see I can can find a pic worth sharing . . . back in a sec . . . . .

Here's a NO MORE PHOTOS MUM shot of Henry I took the other day. Just love the look on his face. I was trying to get a good shot to take to Kindy the next day (pert of their book list). I had both kids stuffing around and failing light . . . you know how it goes.

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And here is the one we went with - apologiies for the blown out nature, but I think it is pretty cute none the less.

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And, as my Grandma used to say, "there is no show without punch". So, not to be outdone here is one of Grace mucky post-dinner-pre-bath face LOL.






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That's all for now. I have found a couple of incredibly cute photos in the archives, so I think I might post a "This time last year" pic in my next post. CU Soon

Project Share

I forgot to mention that Jenny at RJR has posted our DT work on the blog, so I can now share. I went with the idea "FULL COLOUR" this month. What do you think?

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We had gorgeous girly ribbons and felt this month. I had a great time experimenting with the felt most of all. I think my favourite technique is using JAK paper to adhere the felt to some thin chipboard and running it through the cuttlebug (Tiny Dancer alphas). Such a great result.

That's all for now. Catch ya!

For Art's Sake

I have been turned on to the world of ATC's. I was one of those people that poo-pooed this art form as a waste of time. "What is it's purpose?" I would say/ "What a waste of time" I would say. But most of all as the puritanical scrapbooker that I am "What;s the point - I mean it's not like you are documenting your family hisotry or anything". I know, I know not very nice.

So what has changed my mind I here you ask? The girls on the Scrappin Bitz group were organising an ATC swap (which I had initially opted out of), but in interest clicked on a couple of the info links that were being passed around. One of which was the blog of one Kelsey O'Mullane. OMG, what an inspiring blog. If you are looking for something to freshen your outlook, and give your eyes a treat, check it out.

I then decided that I would order a couple of supplies from Scraptivate havingg been to the store (before my conversion) and seen all of the ATC paraphenalia. I placed a call to ask a couple of questions and who should answer the call, but Kelsey herself! She was so very helpful and I was totally inspired.

I know now (for me at least) that ATC's are about technique and about creating art for art's sake. And what is wrong with that? And then being able to share your art with like minded souls. It is a very special process.

So here is 1 of 5 . . . my very first ATC.




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And on a side note, here is some gorgeous Prima lace that I also ordered from Scraptivate. Isn't it delicious?



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And on a side note, here is some gorgeous Prima lace that I also ordered from Scraptivate. Isn't it delicious?!

So that's it for tonight. I think I will go and do a little scrapping tonight. Take care

Enough's Enough

I have just confirmed my long held belief that I am in fact the world's worst (or best depending on your take) procastinator! Have you seen the date on my last post? What a disgrace. I am sure if I were to look back on the other posts in this blog, every second one would start with me berating myself for being a total slacko!

So I hereby turn over a new leaf. Even if I feel I have nothing of value to say, I will post a quote (possibly one of the many pearls that pop out of the kids mouths LOL) or SOMETHING. And what is the first rule of Goal Setting? Be specific - no more ambiguty here folks. No more "I will post more regularly" What does that mean? Specifically: I WILL POST AT LEAST THREE TIME A WEEK.

Right, I feel much better now. So on with the news :)

A couple of developments - I am no longer an AVON rep. It has been just over a year now and I am starting to lose my motivation. And thanks to DH for his astounding vote of confidence when I announced this decision to him: "Oh well, it lasted longer than I thought it would". Gee thanks babe! Still love the products, but I am going to find it difficult to pay full price again. LOL. Same thing happened when I gave up hairdressing actually. I still hate paying to get my hair done.

I have also come to the realisation that I am going to have to go back to work. I am still completely confused and hurt as to how this has come about. How can it be? I am going to go on a rant now, but please bear with me. We have a mortgage that is less than $200k, own both of our cars, have no credit card or personal debt, DH is 4 year university trained, almost at the top of his profession (and believe me we do not lead an extavegant lifestyle). . . and yet we are stuggling to come through each and every pay cycle? Oh that's right, DH is a Teacher. If this wasnt our second home (in that we have equity) we would be one paycheck away from homeless. . .

Believe me this is not about careless money management. We budget for bills so that they are expected and covered when they arrive. We do have a few luxuries of course - Internet, foxtel (which I might add was paid in advance by some extra responsibilities that DH took on)

The cost of living here in WA (and I expect elswhere in Australia) is rising it seems by the day. And yet our treasured teachers are hacving to beg the government to give them a payrise that JUST meets the CPI. I bet that those working in the resources sector are not having to ddo this - or the MP's making the decisions for that matter. "We feel like a 12% pay rise so we shall jolly well have one". Don't you think that our MP's should be petitioning us, their employers, next time they want a pay rise?

Well that is my rant, and you know what . . . I'm not sorry :)

Check back soon

Pippa

Time To Share

OK, I know I promised to share the Masters Projects but I have been totally slack and haven't re-photographed them. I will do that as soon as I leave the computer - PROMISE!

But I do have something else to share that I am a bit excited about. This is a chipboard mini album for a 2 Devils class. I have actually made it for my mum for her 5oth birthday (which was actually last week), but mum will get to keep it when the classes have finished. IYKWIM.

I am just so pleased with how this has turned out. If you happen to be in the Bunbury area at 12:30 on the 18th of January (not really likely I know) but I would love to see you!

I have also completed a LO and a canvas for the Kids School Holiday classes. But they needed the finishing touches so I didn't want to photograph them - I NEED A CUTTLEBUG!!! :( Oh well, there is always Mother's Day lol.
That's all for today folks, I will share again soon

Happy New Year . . . . What a Ride!

How was your Christmas and new year? Hopefully a little more relaxed than ours. It was probably one of the busiest we have ever had - and I am including the one where we moved from Sydney to Perth - LOL. In the week leading up to Christmas we had a trip to Perth (2 hours) to do the Christmas Shopping, Grace's Party, Grace's Birthday and A funeral (in Perth). Then Christmas Day a Boxing day Scorcher (40 degrees), and on the Saturday after Christmas yet another trip to Perth for my Mum's Birthday! Yikes - that looks even busier when you type it all out - LOL!


In that time though I actually managed to get some scrapping done (belive it or not!). I actually made a canvas for each of the grandmothers for Christmas presents. I am really happy with how they turned out.

This is the one I made for my mum. The one for my MIL was the same, but the title was "Adore". This was the first time in ages that I was able to scrp just for myself - no DT, no class prototype, just for me. It felt great.

Not that I am able to rest on my laurels though. I have a tonne class work to get through for 2D's and my DT Pack from Jennr at RJR has arrived. Can't wait to get stuck in to that little ripper!


So in other exciting news - I HAVE FINALLY BEEN PUBLISHED!!!! Yes it actually happened. You may remember some months back that I entered into the Scrapbooking Memories Masters, I am not sure if I blogged that I had made it to the top 100, but there you go! The Mag came out on Friday, ant there was a LO from little old me in the Honourable Mentions Gallery! I'm stoked! and thatnks to girls from the Scrppin' Bitz Yahoo Group for pointing it out. I'd have had no idea otherwise. But what that means is that I am finally able to share my masters projects . . . in my next update :) You see I have just gone to upload the photos to share, and realised that they were taken in rather a hurry, so I need to tweak them before they are ready to upload - tomorrow I promise!