Petrina McDonald

last day of the holidays :(

2012-01-16T14:05:00.001+10:00

I don't officially start back until Wednesday but I will go in tomorrow to just 'get over it' and start. I have lots of planning to do!

I'm sort of glad that today is rainy and relaxing....giving me a chance to just hang around the house and do not a lot. So far I've read my book, played a game of scrabble, and even scrapped a layout. It's for an upcoming CQ challenge so instead here are a few I prepared earlier:

This last one is a current fave. I love him with long hair!!!

Red and Green

2012-01-06T08:00:00.000+10:00

Some people think that using red and green for Christmas layouts is boring - I say too bad!! I like it!

I'm glad I decided to print these photos in black and white.

January Ribbon club

2012-01-05T13:53:00.002+10:00

I've created some layouts and cards with the January ribbon club from Craft Queen. More can be seen here.

This GORGEOUS green rosette trim is enough reason to buy this kit!!! So pretty to work with and it goes around corners....into circles even!

a little bit of a blog tidy up...

2012-01-02T16:22:00.002+10:00

....because this is easier than tidying up my house!!!

So I have replaced this super-colourful (but with very out of date pics!) header:

.....with this slightly boring and much simpler (but up to date!) header:

Probably if I got a bit more organised I could find a missing folder of all sorts of digital art and make it a bit prettier.....

inspired by Patty

2012-01-02T14:23:00.003+10:00

My creative friend Patty has been uploading grids of her instagram pics on her blog and I've been going a little crazy with them on my phone so I thought I would make a little grid myself. I am sure there is an easy way of getting the date in there below each pic but for the life of me I just can't do it today. So I've written it below the collage, top to bottom, left to right....

24 dec christmas eve * 25 dec christmas day girls * 25 dec christmas siblings * 26 dec boxing day leftovers * 26 dec elm haus for coffee at mt glorious * 27 dec bellbird grove * 27 dec jolly's lookout picnic * 27 dec nanna's tomatoes * 28 dec goat track bush walk * 28 dec green grapes and mint tea * 30 dec coffee at home * 30 dec sunshiny at neilson's

Of course it would be lovely if I could keep this sort of thing up, perhaps once or twice a month, organising myself and my photos into some sort of order.....but that could be setting myself up for something I can't continue so I will just have to see....

first layout for the year

2012-01-02T13:59:00.000+10:00

I thought I'd start the year with a pretty layout of me and my girl....an old photo, but a firm favourite. It's nice to have a brand new folder on my laptop ready to fill up with layouts!!

'tis the season....

2011-12-31T16:48:00.002+10:00

...for parties, Christmas, scrapbooking.....and cricket!!

My boy has certainly got the bug and he and John have endless conversations about tactics, current matches, future matches, etc. etc.!! So I thought it was fitting that my first Christmas layout for 2011 be about cricket and some of the gifts Angus received. These photos were from the McDonald family Christmas party we had at our place the week before Christmas. Ma and Poppy gave him a cricket bat, Aunty Simone gave him several cricket balls and other paraphernalia, and Aunty Theresa found him this cute little cricket tree decoration. Of course it didn't stop there, on Christmas day in Brisbane he received more gear, including gloves, pads, drink bottle, etc. etc.!!! My dad also made a pitch in the backyard complete with line markings, stumps, properly mown grass - the boys had a fantastic time with it!!

Here's a little close up of the Christmas bauble/cricket ball on the layout - sorta silly but cute I think!!

I suppose this will be the last layout I do for the year - unless I can squeeze one in before we go off to our NYE party next door tonight.

In the mean time, here are some photos from our Christmas in Brisbane (goodness knows when I will scrap these - there are other Christmases in the past that are still yet to be scrapped!!)

Angus and Thea on Christmas Eve at Mum and Dad's place....complete with milk and bickies for Santa (and mozzie bites all over Thea's face!!)

All 5 of the grandchildren on Christmas day at Renita's place:

A crocheted bowl Renita made for each of the children:
(no, I don't know why he is wearing a name tag)

And last but not least the delicious dessert that Renita made - yum!! In the background you can also see the one she made for the children - it was rocky road flavoured!!

To everyone who reads my blog - Happy New Year and may 2012 bring you health, happiness and good fortune!

Almost homeward bound

2011-12-28T20:45:00.001+10:00

Our wonderful family time here at my Mum and Dad's place is just about over; we'll head home tomorrow. Christmas was just perfect. I'll share photos from Christmas day when I get home. In the mean time, here's one from yesterday, a little day trip through the mountains ending in a bit of an exploration at the creek at Bellbird Grove: magic :)

Extra special hot chocolate - one for the kids!

2011-12-28T08:00:00.000+10:00

This is my last scheduled post of gifts that we made for Christmas this year.

Angus and Thea made these for their cousins. They even did the packaging!

Essentially what is inside the package is a plastic bag of the ingredients that are listed on the label. Below is the ratio:

2 parts castor sugar
2 parts cocoa
2 part powdered milk
1 part chocolate chips
1 part mini marshmallows

We used tablespoons as our measures and had a delightful mess on the bench by the time we were done!

my own home made granola

2011-12-27T08:00:00.000+10:00

This is another scheduled post - I was waiting to give the gifts!

What is granola you ask? A fancy name for toasted muesli I think!!!

I saw a recipe for slow cooker granola on pinterest so I thought I would have a go at making my own. Apparently it is usually done in the oven but knowing my luck I would have burnt the lot so I am really glad I found another way.

Basically I looked at several recipes and decided on making up my own based on what I could buy. I headed to "Nana's Pantry", the most wonderful shop of all things "foodie" here in Bundaberg. It's like a lolly shop for grown ups with the added bonus of a section out the back that is a lolly shop as well as a gelateria and a coffee shop. Wonderful!!

So here's a pic of the ingredients I used:

I stapled this to the little ziplock bag so that everyone would know what was in it. (Click on that image to make it larger).

So, essentially what I did was this:

In a large bowl, mix together :

6 cups of oats (I had a few other grains in there as well)
3 cups of nuts and seeds and coconut
1/2 cup rice bran oil
1/2 cup sweetener (I used honey and organic coconut sugar)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

It all clumped together and looked pretty ordinary, but I perservered. This all went into the oiled bowl of my slow cooker with the temperature on high. I watched it and stirred it on and off for about 3 hours while I busied myself around the place. I left the lid off so that the smell wafted throughout the house -yum!! At no point did it look like burning - yay!!!

I then added my dried fruit and kept it going for another half hour. I hate the taste of preservatives in dried fruit so I was a bit particular with what I bought. I was pretty impressed at finding local dried fruit that was preservative free!! All up I would say I had about:

a cup of chopped dried mango/pineapple

When it had cooled (and we had taste-tested it A LOT) I measured it out into zip-lock bags and packaged it up. Yet again on pinterest I found this tutorial (from "How about Orange" - the best blog for great tutorials!) for making bags from envelopes. I decorated the front with a stencil and some ribbon and a diecut shape. They are C5 envelopes and I fit about a cup and a half of granola in the bag inside.

And yes, that's another gift hiding behind there - back tomorrow with that one!

little gifts - spicy nuts

2011-12-26T08:00:00.000+10:00

This is a scheduled post - I couldn't put it up until I'd given the gift!!

I made these jars of nuts for the boys for Christmas. The recipe is from Taste.com and is super easy. I used a combination of almonds, macadamias, brazil nuts and cashews. You need around 4 cups of nuts which you toast in a moderate oven for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, mix up

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs honey

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp sweet paprika

in a metal bowl (or saucepan). Pull the nuts straight out of the oven and mix them into the spice mix. Pour the whole lot back onto the oven tray and bake for another 5 mins, watching carefully so they don't burn.
When they are cool you can package them up into nice jars for gifts. I used my cuttlebug folders to make these cute little embossed trees for the jar, along with some washi tape and the muslin and jute for the lid.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T20:15:00.001+10:00

I've got a couple of very excited children in bed trying desperately to get to sleep just to make Christmas morning come quicker! We are so lucky to be able to spend Christmas with family in Brisbane this year. Merry Christmas to everyone who reads my little blog :)

a last minute gift! hoot! hoot!

2011-12-20T10:38:00.001+10:00

If you're anything like me you are busy procrastinating instead of doing the actual Christmas preparations that should should be getting done. Oh well. It's more fun to make stuff!!

Yesterday I made a couple of phone cases for some friends. Here's the step by step:

I used some recycled denim for the case, measuring it against my phone. This is a bit of an obvious step (der!) but I put it in to show how I used the seam from the jeans as the top so that I didn't have to neaten the edge. It was already neat!

Next I took a circle of dyed doily (back from my madly dyeing doilies phase) and cut a piece of felt to fit behind it. The great thing about doilies is that you can cut pieces from them and they don't fray! yay!

I used some PVA glue to hold the doily in place (who needs pins!) and then cut the whole thing in half and placed them side by side on one half of the cover to form the owl wings. I then glued that all down too. You could probably do most of this cover that way, without stitching, but I think the stitching is nice.

More circles of another doily for the eyes, and a scrap of yet another one for the beak:

A little arch shape for the top of the owl head, and some buttons:

Finally I sat back with a coffee and did some hand stitching:

I quite like the colours on the orange/green one, but my favourite part of the turquoise one was the yellow stitched eyelashes!!!

Obviously you need to also complete the final step of sewing the denim along the sides and folding back the right way to reveal the owl.....and then hope that the phone fits! (it did!)

I've got heaps of other handmade things I've been making for Christmas but I can't put them up until I give the gifts ;-)

serious pasta making

2011-12-14T20:38:00.000+10:00

In a fit of "I don't know what", today I decided to make lasagne. From scratch. I don't mean just the sauces, etc. - I even made the lasagne sheets!!!

I bought the pasta machine a few months back, used it once or twice, and left it sitting in the cupboard waiting for me to give it another bash. The lasagne worked out well and tasted delicious I have to say (despite forgetting the sauce on the stove and having to avoid the burnt bits when I assembled it all).

Of course I made way more dough than I needed so started making fettucine with what was left. Thea found my Christmas ornament metal thingo (aka the festivus pole from 2 years ago) in the garage and decided it was useful for drying the fettucine......and then proceeded to TAKE OVER! By the time she was finished the festivus pole was full and she'd made more than two thirds of it herself WITHOUT ANY HELP. I'm so proud of my 'give anything a go' girl :)

(And yes, we did see children her age making their own pasta on junior master chef and think they were freaks!!)

one from the Melbourne trip

2011-12-13T20:54:00.000+10:00

It feels like a lifetime ago that Mum and Renita and I went to Melbourne for the weekend!! And this photo was before we even got there! Oh well, slowly but surely I'm getting some of the pics from the weekend scrapped.

This one went up on the Craft Queen blog on the weekend with a little 'how to' on the flower centres for anyone who'd like to take a look.

Sunday rain can be good....

2011-12-12T08:00:00.000+10:00

....if it means you get to do some scrapbooking!

This is one that I did yesterday. I was probably wishing it wasn't raining.....might be why the colours are so BRIGHT!

behind the scenes

2011-12-11T19:08:00.001+10:00

Have you ever wondered what the set of a movie would be like behind the scenes? Yes, I know it just looks like 2 kids on holidays who are still in their PJs at lunch time, but really, they're MOVIE MAKERS! Look:

Their first ever stop-motion film!

I promise no animals were harmed in the making of this film but 'someone' did have a bit of a headache after trying to understand the editing program.

our little tree banner

2011-12-06T21:13:00.001+10:00

Here's what we've been working on today. Second day of holidays for the kids, my last Tuesday off for....um...probably quite a long time....and it's been raining all day! So what else is there to do but a bit of craft!

Via Jaki's blog I saw this idea for little trees so we gave them a go with paper, ink and buttons. Even Angus pulled himself out of his "this holiday is ruined by the rain" mood (ok, those weren't his actual words) to help a little.

After we had about a dozen of them we strung them up to make a little banner.....and Thea took ownership for her room! They didn't photograph all that well in front of the curtain, but you get the idea.

I'm hoping we won't need to do too much more searching for craft ideas to do together because of the rain.....we'll just do them because we want to (after a trip to the beach or something!!)

I've got three days left of work - bring on the holidays!

Next year I've taken an extra contract on top of my part-time hours so I'll be working full time for most of the first semester - yikes!!

Christmas crafting

2011-12-06T14:17:00.001+10:00

We've got it going on!! I'll be back later with some more info and hopefully the finished product.

easy Christmas gifts

2011-12-04T19:41:00.001+10:00

Today I made these little Christmas gifts for some work colleagues, based on a gift given to me by my very clever sister Renita last year. They are hand/foot/body scrubs of varying flavours, all based on a simple recipe. I picked up the plastic containers at Kmart for less than 70c each and the other ingredients were found at the supermarket. The tags are from a stationary store (shipping tags) and are just decorated with the odd scrapbooking embellishment and some string, with muslin over the top of the lid.

Here's my recipe:

One part olive oil
Two parts Bundaberg (of course) raw sugar
+
"flavourings"

I've tried to be a bit inventive with my flavourings. The "health kick" flavour contains a generous amount of "Sencha Mint" green tea leaves, "wake up" has ground (not instant) coffee + cinnamon, "Aussie Gold" has honey and tea-tree oil added, and "sugar and spice" contains just that: the main ingredients plus cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, ginger and allspice. My favourite one though, is "good enough to eat" which smells absolutely divine! It has the zest of an orange plus cinnamon and smells just like Christmas - yum!!!

I didn't have any lavendar which was the main "flavouring" in the one Renita gave me last year. I really was just scrounging around in the pantry!!

On the back of each I wrote the ingredients plus the "how to use" instructions. Basically you just scoop out a handful to rub all over your hands or feet (or indeed your whole body if you are tough!!) and then you rinse off in the shower. Or the backyard. Or the surf!! Yes, it can be messy, and not a great idea if you have just cleaned your shower.....but the olive oil is so moisturising and lovely! Perfect after gardening...or to get rid of dead skin.

So if you are looking for a last minute gift you can create from your pantry - give this a go!!

(PS. I did find some lovely little glass jars in one of the cheap shops, but if this is the sort of thing you want to use in the shower, glass isn't the best idea. If you want to make a 'sensitive skin' version you could use castor sugar. No, the sugar doesn't dissolve in the oil.)

some layouts

2011-12-03T13:16:00.001+10:00

I've been doing some creating here and there in sporadic bits and pieces over the past few weeks. I guess it was about time I scrapped a photo from my trip to Melbourne in August!

What was really lovely last weekend, after a stressful week, was an hour spent in my room throwing things together and emerged feeling so relaxed!! Even more exciting was that I had that one picked up for publication...drought broken lol!!

This next one was created the other night (yes, me scrapbooking at night!!) for the next challenge at Craft Queen. Details here.

I had a bit of a fiddle around to make my little Christmas tree embellishment. I've wrapped pink twill around a triangle I cut from some clear plastic packaging and held it in place with the star pin. I remember doing this years ago - about time I did it again I'd say!

Emerging

2011-11-29T09:59:00.001+10:00

Just like my little zucchini plant I am emerging from the deep dark depths of end of year marking, reporting and general busy-ness. I'm SO ready to enjoy the summer sun!!

Watch this space!!

who knew?

2011-11-05T20:33:00.000+10:00

I've been enjoying the gardening! Of course I've been leaving all the proper work (read: wheel barrows full of dirt and forking over bags and bags of horse poo!) to John...but today Thea and I made some newspaper seedling pots and planted out a few vege seeds. I hope they sprout!

Life's been hectic, I even did a fortnight of full-time work in amongst it. Why anyone would put their family through that all the time I do not know... (Give me my bomby car and 2nd hand wardrobe any day!) Anyway, only 4 or 5 weeks of work and a few hundred reports to write and it will be the holidays before I know it.

Scrapbooking has taken a bit of a back seat, but like a good friend, I know it will be waiting there for me when I get to it. I managed this layout for the November challenge over at Craft Queen - one day I suppose I will get all of their birthdays scrapped??

I'm still slogging along with my photography group at school - they are a great bunch of kids. This pic is also part of the "Water is..." project over at ABC Open. We're enjoying joining in with it.

The next thing we're going to tackle is the 11.11 Project - super easy to join in with - go on! Join us!

A little bit of gardening

2011-10-29T19:00:00.001+10:00

Far too busy to blog!! This photo certainly doesn't do it justice. Macka and John have absolutely outdone themselves over the past week with the building of a magnificent garden in our once barren yard. I feel like sitting out there and watching it grow - it's going to be so good when that boring old fence can't be seen!
(those empty pots are marking the spot for some plants yet to come by the way)

one for the boys!

2011-10-16T18:55:00.001+10:00

Anyone following all the goings on over on the Craft Queen blog will have seen this one already - I though I had better update my blog with it as well ;-)

We've followed our "full-on" week with a similarly busy weekend here. To end on a good note before I go to work tomorrow (and John and the children have a day off) I took the kids to the beach this afternoon and look what we saw!

Nothing like a deadly seasnake to fill a person with confidence!

little helper

2011-10-09T18:45:00.002+10:00

Here she is in her "Volunteer Ambassador" t-shirt after helping my friend Jenny at the BRAG Art Market this morning - too cute!! Jenny gave her a bracelet she made as a thank you.

shhhhh.......

2011-10-08T15:04:00.000+10:00

She didn't want me to take a photo of her new haircut....in fact I was lucky to even get this one. Thankfully it is a good one.

When I tried to take more she declared she had had enough and that if I wanted to take any more I could do it when she was asleep!!!!

We've survived the first week back at school. It's going to be a very busy term but at least for the first week I am on top of things - in fact I didn't even bring home any homework!
Tomorrow Thea and I are doing some volunteering for Crush, first of all heading to the Sunday Art Market at BRAG and then to a live gig in Alex Park. Anyone local who would like to check out what's on you can click here to find the whole program.

It's been raining here today (a whopper storm - cricket was cancelled) so I'm hoping to retire to the craft room for the afternoon. In the meantime, here's one I did last weekend. I've shared a tutorial for it over on the Craft Queen blog as part of the birthday celebrations this month - here.

too busy enjoying the holidays :)

2011-10-02T13:17:00.000+10:00

I guess that is my excuse for not blogging as regularly this week? It's a much better reason than because of working too much - such a nice change!
We really have enjoyed this fortnight.
Before sharing any more holiday snaps, I do have to share this layout. I am so happy with how it turned out and I just love this photo of Thea and Tyler - look at their baby faces!! (Photo must be 3.5 years old because I think I remember Renita was pregnant when we went to Noosa for the weekend.)

Regular readers of the Craft Queen blog would have seen it already - it's part of the 5 year celebrations over there. There are competitions and extra shares running all month - check out the first comp in this post. There's also a new banner over there which I created - leave a comment on the Craft Queen blog about the banner and you can win a prize pack also.

Back to the holiday snaps. Friday we had Oscar over for the day and I went out to give them their morning tea picnic in the backyard and found an African animal safari going on.....complete with meerkats.....

....and a few chimpanzees...or something..?

In the afternoon Rachael and Carol and children came over for afternoon tea. The children all played beautifully - and energetically - (and consequently slept VERY WELL that night!) while we girls caught up. I had a go at making "Whoopie Pies" which were delicious, and also a strawberry shortcake which was incredibly easy and voted "the best" by a certain 8yo who LOVES strawberries.

Yesterday Angus had his FIRST EVER GAME OF CRICKET!! Yes, we have now given away a whole quarter of our weekends to cricket!! I have to say though, it was very good!! Angus was excited and so was John. In fact even Poppy was excited enough to come and watch him play!!
John has taken on the role of team manager and also had to umpire and score but even that didn't dampen his enthusiasm. It's pretty exciting for him that Angus is playing because he really does fondly recall all of his years playing cricket. It is awesome watching them practise in the backyard and listening to them discussing all of the various aspects of the game.

I have to be honest here and say I wasn't all that keen on sitting out there for the whole afternoon. I admit I wasn't the greatest "cricket wife" back in the day and wasn't sure I'd be a great "cricket mum" either but it was quite relaxing (despite the wind) and even Thea thought it was a great afternoon.

He was pretty nervous going out to bat. After a few balls though, he warmed up and was hitting them with some confidence. He managed to hit a four and eventually make 5 runs which was only one less than his team's highest scorer LOL! (I don't think the team is going to do so well, especially since they are the youngest team in the competition....oh well..)

He did manage to bowl someone out and take a catch so for his first game ever we are pretty impressed!

snowflakes?

2011-09-27T12:28:00.000+10:00

I honestly never thought I would need scrapbooking paper that had snowflakes on it so I have never bought any. I had to come up with my own version of "icy" embellishments for this layout!

These photos are from the last lot of holidays when Simone and the kids came to stay. We all trecked over to a shed at North Bundaberg where they had ice skating - so much fun!!!

Today is our 14th wedding anniversary so the kids and I are cooking a special dinner. It's not exactly masterchef but we're having a go.
It is also my brother Ben's birthday. I think he would have been 34 if he was alive today. He'll be remembered when we say grace tonight for our special dinner. I must say also, thank you everyone who responded to my post on Sunday. It brings a smile to my face to think that so many people would like to be involved in making cards for such a special cause.

cards today

2011-09-25T17:40:00.000+10:00

Today I have pretty much moved between the bed, the couch, the dining table, and the scrap room - what a great way to spend a Sunday!!!( I think if I was any more relaxed I'd be asleep.)
I've finished a Joy Dettman book I've been reading, and started another one, and the kids served me up pikelets for morning tea which I watched them make. The gas ran out and Angus went outside and showed me how to change it over - what a man!!

Here are the cards I've been working on - nothing too complicated for my brain today.....
My mum volunteers for The Compassionate Friends and one of her jobs is to send anniversary cards out to bereaved parents and families. She requested "thinking of you" as the sentiment so I purchased this stamp set which fits the bill rather nicely. I have a feeling that if anyone else out there in blog land would like to make cards with a similar sentiment they would be very much appreciated. The address for the drop in centre is on their website, and if you sent them c/o Lyn Macklin they would definitely be put to good use. Mum says that when the people who have lost a child receive a card to let them know that they are in the thoughts and prayers of someone on the anniversary of their child's death they are oh so appreciative.

and again

2011-09-24T17:02:00.000+10:00

An overload of prettiness with this one. I like to do that every now and then - especially when I have a daughter who hates to dress in pink and frills. It's nice to go overboard on a layout - even if it is one of the two of them together. Lots of details to share, and pretty much all Craft Queen goodness.

The love affair with the pleated ribbon continues:

.....and the little bronze fan charms came in handy:

...but I think my favourite embellishment at the moment still must be the satin seam binding which is so easy to fold and pleat and stitch in place.

it's started

2011-09-23T16:44:00.003+10:00

The scrapping..... Yay!!
I've got two packets of photos, a heap of new ribbons to play with and still more of the holidays left than are already over. Have I already said that I love being on holidays?

Visitors

2011-09-22T21:54:00.001+10:00

So busy with our visitors - not a lot of time for blogging. Renita and the kids arrived on Tuesday and we've been to the beach twice, the park twice, picked (and eaten!) strawberries from a local farm, and even attempted (unsuccessfully) a bit of op-shopping. Everyone is having a great time - feels like the holiday we should have had over Christmas.

holidays!

2011-09-17T17:22:00.002+10:00

My love for the school holidays is immeasurable!
I even got to scrap today!
A detail shot:
And the whole layout:
And even a little tutorial on how I created the banner: here.

Now if I can just shake this laryngitis which has rendered me speechless (actually, I don't think I ever would really be speechless, lets just say very hoarse and croaky) then all will be right in my world.

Can you tell I am super-happy that the warm weather is finally here?

Christmas in September?

2011-09-09T16:35:00.005+10:00

That would be a way of fast-forwarding out of this month, wouldn't it?

To say September has been a bit of a shocker so far would be an understatement. What with the adenotonsillectomy, the emotional turmoil of watching your child in pain, the lack of sleep from the child in pain, and the subsequent train wreck that is me from the sleep deprivation, this has not been a fun couple of weeks. The bit where I cut a big chunk from my finger on Wednesday night using the v-slicer to make coleslaw really cemented the need to take it easy and do takeaways and freezer meals for the rest of the week. THANKFULLY I completed all of these cards before that happened as I have been banned from handling sharp implements until the bandage comes off which could be another week or so.....

Needless to say the little bit of creating in the middle of the week was a lovely respite....changed the whole "woe is me" perspective so to speak. Can you believe I made TEN cards!! Go me!! More can be seen in the gallery and the whole kit can be purchased frome here. A $20 kit to make 10 cards is ridiculously good value I'd say - and if it gives you a creative respite at the same time like I did for me then you can't go wrong!

In othere news, yep, I'm 40 now. So nice of the Dr to reassure me of my age yesterday when I asked him to check out a spot on my face after giving me the (good news) results from the mole I had taken out last week. I have a bloody AGE SPOT on my face!!!!!

sweet pink and blue

2011-09-03T15:13:00.005+10:00

A while back I got to use some adorable new ribbons for the September ribbon club over at Craft Queen. Finally I can show them off here. Believe it or not there are some cards over in the gallery as well.

The first two show photos taken from when we went to Hervey Bay in May - seems like ages ago now!!

And this final one is a "just because" which I am rather pleased with because it is a bit girly-girly which doesn't happen very often with my tought little kid ;-)

She's doing really well still...and I just remembered the answer to one of the questions she asked the surgeon pre-op. He told her that when they are finished with the tonsils they feed them to the hospital cat and she thought it was a great joke!!

jelly and ice-cream...

2011-09-02T12:13:00.005+10:00

...and custard and chocolate milk and ice blocks and yogurt and all things cool and yummy. Thankfully Thea came home from hospital last night after having her tonsils and adenoids removed yesterday and is doing just fine. Of course she has a very sore throat and I am jumping every time she coughs (thinking she is about to start vomiting blood or something terrible) but apart from that she is being an absolute trouper. I'm trying to catch up on all the jobs around the house that have been neglected for the last month and I'll also have some not so exciting marking delivered from one of my classes this afternoon. When all of that is done I am going to get into that craft room - yes I am!! (apart from when I am delivering the ice-cream, custard, jelly etc. to the couch that is!)

Melbourne ROCKS!!

2011-08-31T20:33:00.000+10:00

I just had the most wonderful weekend away with my mum and my sister. I truly felt like the luckiest almost-40-year-old in the world.

Look at these two reading their map on the tram LOL!! (I was super-cool and used an app on my new i-phone....yes, I am totally spoilt now!!! Nothing like buying a totally unnecessary gift for oneself!)

I saw and experienced so many new things....truly a trip of a lifetime (so far that is, I still have another 60+ years left for more!).

Of course I've come home to reality with a thump. I got a big chunk taken out of my leg at the doctor's yesterday (a suspect mole) and tomorrow my baby girl is having her tonsils and adenoids removed. She's being pretty brave so far and all she is concerned about is that she will have time to speak with the doctor first to find out two important things: "What do they do with the tonsils afterwards?" and "How will they know when I am really asleep?"

We've stocked up on ice-cream and jelly!!

i haven't disappeared...

2011-08-21T14:39:00.003+10:00

....but sometimes I would like to.
Well that was a bit of a blog break! It's been a scrapping break too. Not an intentional one though - it's more like I need a break from work than my other loves but that's just how it is. I am happy to say, however, that I am about to take a break from work and I am more than a little excited. I've got a milestone birthday coming up in a few weeks so I'm taking a couple of days' longs service leave next weekend and we're all heading to Brisbane on Friday. John and the children will stay put, and Mum and Renita and I are heading to MELBOURNE for the weekend - EXCITEMENT!!
I SO need a break and I've wanted to go to Melbourne for a long time so now is the time. It's going to be a whirlwind tour and there are a lot of things on the list so I don't think there will be any time for resting....unless it is resting with my mouth around some Lygon St cakes and pastries or perhaps when I stand still in front of John Brack's 5 O'Clock Collins St at the National Gallery.
The kids in my photography club at school have challenged me to take some photos of Melbourne's skyline at night and also the graffiti wall in Hosier Lane so I'd better dust off the poor old neglected camera!
Typical, my post has reverted to talking about school! I have definitely turned back into a full-time teacher (without the full-time pay sadly). I'm learning all over again that you have to make the most of it - hence the photography club. This is one of my pics for our first challenge I think.
And I suppose I had better not have a post on my scrap blog without a layout...this one I did a few weeks back. Layouts of the kids' school stuff are pretty few and far between and there is never any hope of scrapping everything, so one every now and then will have to suffice:

Let's see if I get a chance to post on here again before my birthday?

the making continues...

2011-07-31T18:49:00.004+10:00

...I may well have to change my blog name to "make Petrina, just make!" I think. It seems I am happiest when I am making something...whether it is scrappy or not. Mostly this weekend though, we've just been making time for each other. I was able to spend a couple of hours with Thea on Saturday morning doing a bit of shopping and a coffee and hot chocolate, and then Saturday afternoon Angus and I took ourselves off to the beach for a couple of hours, just the two of us. Hopefully John and I will get to spend time, just the two of us, next weekend when Mum and Dad come for a visit.

On to the making...

Earlier this week I decided I would line Thea's denim jacket for her. It is one that I picked up at the op shop for $2 and we are in debate over whether it is hot pink or red. She thinks it is hot pink and if that is what she wants to believe then who am I to argue (try telling that to Angus though!). Generally denim jackets aren't all that warm so I bought some minky-furry-fleecy sort of stuff and lined it. Now she loves it (despite the fact that it is from Vinnies!) The fact that it is Fred Bare brand is also lost on her but who cares!
This bit of making started before the jacket and isn't finished yet - we're making a heap of yo yos in black and white for a cushion for Thea's room. Who knows when I'll get back to this.
The cooking making is somewhat out of control. Friday night I made an apple pie and then tonight I made this mandarin upside down cake in the slow cooker. Yes, the slow cooker. John and I gave it a thumbs up but the kids didn't like the mandarin skin.
Perhaps because it is winter I am going over the top with the baking. I seriously need to stop because I have absolutely no self-control when it comes to home-baked goods. Then again, it is all part of the "making" and I suppose we all have to eat so it might as well taste good!

Last of all, a layout from last weekend. Pretty simple, but one of the very few "starting school" photos let alone layouts. That is a photo from last year - she wouldn't let me take a proper one this year. As you can see from the photo of the jacket up there I'm not allowed to take many photos of her at all these days!

making and more making

2011-07-23T18:26:00.008+10:00

Lots of making going on here - in all directions - and from ALL family members!

Thankfully last Sunday the crafting DID happen, so that set me up happily to begin the week. I hate going off to work at the beginning of the week without have made at least something totally for my own purposes rather than school.

This layout I would put under the theme of "making a layout about summer because you wish winter was over". I've been doing these a bit, in fact a few more are half done this weekend already.

The journaling reads:
"the answer to a perfect summer: have enough to do so that you don't get bored, but enough time to do absolutely nothing at all if the day requires it" and is from January 2010. The summer of 2011 didn't exactly work out that way unfortunately, hence my wistfulness for summers past!!

Now on to some making from Angus. He is absolutely loving year 5 and has been doing some projects that he can really get his teeth into which is great for him. Despite being so anxious about his supposedly grumpy teacher - he loves her!! This is the "sustainable house project" he made last term. He brought it home and spent the first few days of the holidays "finishing it off" with several coats of paint - including the addition of a soccer field! Every sustainable house must have a soccer field after all...
For a while we debated what to do with this project as it is rather large... so eventually I got around to photographing it for him so it could be taken apart and ...um...recycled ;-)

I made sure I got lots of close ups of the details such as the plants inside the green house. I love the way he labelled EVERYTHING.
Thea has been making all sorts of things too, but the only thing I have photographed is the mandarin juice "cocktail" she made yesterday. She finished it off with a strawberry jammed on the side there.
We've been very lucky to have our neighbours sharing fruit with us lately. Graham from over the road brought us a bucket of mandarins yesterday and a couple of weeks ago Enzo from next door gave us a couple of hands of bananas. We carried a basket of lemons up and down the street in the holidays attempting to give them away but we still have a lot left in the crisper that we are slowly using. At least winter is good for cooking!!
This brings me to John doing some "making" of our pizza for dinner last night. The kids and I did the dough, and then we all stood around and put on our own toppings. Of course it was declared THE BEST PIZZA EVER.So it would seem we can all get into a bit of making in our house!

blogging at least once per week....

2011-07-17T13:46:00.004+10:00

...that's my aim. At least that way if I don't get to it more often I won't feel like I have to make an excuse as to why I am so busy and haven't blogged. It's a bit like the scrapbooking - I started it as a way of recording stuff so it is something I definitely want to keep doing.

It's John's birthday today so we've had a big breaky and a big lunch out so at the moment all I feel like doing is curling up for a nap. That's not incredibly productive so instead I am tossing up between doing my marking and planning for school, or doing a bit of crafting. I wonder which one will win?

The two layouts below are from some tutorials I have over on the Craft Queen blog.
Click on either of these layouts to take you to the tutorials - there are two different tutorials on how to create embellishments with ribbons (of course).
Below are a couple of layouts I did in the holidays - the first one is one of the many of the rainy summer holiday. The second one is for the boy's birthday - pretty impressive that I have scrapped that within a month of it happening considering there are probably another 4 or 5 birthdays of his that I haven't scrapped at all. Oh well.

Only 9 weeks until the next holidays!!

something with a bit of detail

2011-07-10T14:49:00.003+10:00

I think it would be fair to say that due to time constraints this year (aka too much work and not enough play), my layouts have become rather simplistic and quick in execution.... I guess a quick layout or two is better than no scrapping at all! I'm pretty much of the opinion that it doesn't really matter that much if my layouts have a lot of detail; I just go back to the reason I continue to scrap despite the time factor and that is to record things that happen in my family and have a creative outlet other than work. Having said that though, it has been really lovely to have a couple of days in my craft room to get my mojo back. I've created a couple of detailed layouts for Craft Queen (tutorials for which will be uploaded to the Craft Queen blog later in the week) as well as this one that I have just finished.
Not only did I g-mist the background (the paper has a lovely decorative ink resist which shows a doily design - made by PinkPaislee it is a "House of 3" design "Parisian Anthology") I also went to the trouble of cutting out some shapes with my Epic6 onto which I stamped my MME Stella Rose doily stamps.
Not content to just cut them out, I then cut them through the centre to create heart shapes which I then made into a banner. More than the usual amount of steps there already!

I also fiddled around with my Martha Stewart butterfly punch to create these little butterflies from some Collections tissue paper (I'm still in love with that paper!). As well as the large layered one below, I also made some of the tiny ones (see above) which are little stickers. I simply put some wide DS tape onto the tissue paper and punched out the tiny butterflies - hey presto - stickers!
Like I said, a lot more steps than my other layouts of late but totally enjoyable! I also finally got to use that piece of guipure lace that has been in my stash since I pinched it from Mum's stash years ago. Probably a family heirloom or something??

some scrapping!

2011-07-09T17:05:00.004+10:00

It's taken until the 2nd last day of the holidays for me to get a decent go in the craft room!!

I did these two today and have another one on the go at the moment.

I've been doing some layouts using the photos from our holiday to Pottsville in January...bits and pieces here and there. This is the fab house we stayed in - thank goodness it was so nice - we spent a bit of time in there because of the rain (and flooding!).This is one of those "just because" photos of my niece Amber. She cracks us up constantly. Whenever anyone compliments her on her appearance or even her general loveliness she replies with, "I know." Talk about modest!! She's just so sincere and sweet you can't help but love her.

See Rachael - I've been using my stencils too!! (That's gesso pushed thru the stencil with my credit card and a bit of gold powder sprinkled over...and a bit of pink g-mist for good luck!)

the birthday girl!!

2011-07-08T17:36:00.003+10:00

I can't believe our girl is 8 years old!!!

After a totally full on week with the cousins from Cairns visiting, ice skating, playing in the park and a big family dinner (and then sleepover with 3 cousins!) last night, my girl had to be woken up at 7am this morning. I just couldn't wait any longer!

She was very happy to receive a "proper" watch.

I am doing my best to foster a love of op shopping (which, disappointingly, she loathes at the moment) with this absolutely gorgeous "vintage" tea set. Thankfully she loves it!! Both children enjoyed drinking their hot chocolate from the cups along with huge stacks of pancakes with strawberries for morning tea today.
Isn't she just the most adorable thing!

home again....

2011-07-04T20:25:00.003+10:00

...the kids couldn't decide which they wanted more: to come home and see Daddy or to stay in Brisbane with their beloved Nanna and Macka. Poor John's ears were just about bleeding as both children chattered incessantly while they helped prepare our fish dinner tonight!
So yes, the fishing trip to Sandgate yesterday was a success! We had whiting for dinner tonight, along with some mud crab that John caught on the weekend. Yum!!
It was quite a busy day yesterday (every day was a busy day while we were away!!). Angus managed to fit in a spot of go-cart riding with Eli on his lap. They were both hugely impressed with themselves.
Of course Thea's birthday cake was a success also. I'm not sure how I am going to follow that one up for her actual birthday on Friday!
We love it when we go away, but oh yes, it is nice to be home.
Not that we will be relaxing this week: the Cairns cousins have arrived in town tonight and will be in Bundaberg until Friday - woohoo!!!

in Brisbane...

2011-07-02T17:23:00.008+10:00

...we came down on the train on Wednesday and John is away fishing at home so we're all having a great time. We've caught up with friends and yesterday Mum and I took the kids shopping at Chermside (never again!) and over to GOMA to see the Surrealism exhibition. I thought it was great but both kids thought it was "a bit wrong". Oh dear. I guess there is a reason that under 12s are free.....

Today we put our go cards to use and caught the train back in to South Brisbane. I felt sorry for everyone else on the train - 5 kids + Renita and I and Nanna! The main reason for the visit was the museum but we also took part in the Torres Strait Islander celebrations which were excellent.

At present the children are dividing their time between a fire they've lit in the backyard (!) and digging worms out of Nanna's vege patch to feed the neighbour's chooks!!
Tomorrow Angus and I are going fishing with Macka and Thea is staying home to bake herself a birthday cake with Nanna.
Holidays are happy days!!

neglected blog

2011-06-27T08:37:00.002+10:00

Crazy busy lives, report writing and marking, so many things going on....that's life I suppose!!

Thankfully we are on school holidays now - things will change!! Let the festival of the trackie dacks begin!!

home again

2011-06-14T11:59:00.002+10:00

The best thing about going away is coming home to my little family :)

It's also pretty good when your day off falls straight after the public holiday ;-)

I really did try and do my reports this morning so I could get a head start and not have to do them on the holidays but the site wasn't working so I just had to scrap instead. This first one was using all new stuff I picked up at the show in Brisbane - gotta be happy with that!

This one had been sitting unfinished on my desk (under a pile of what could best be described as rubble) and it just needed a title and some journaling. I'm glad it is finally finished. Thea had written her name and age on the slate she is holding but she wrote that she was eight!! A bit ahead of herself? I hope this is not a sign of things to come - I think she is already growing up too fast!!

80

2011-06-11T11:03:00.004+10:00

Poppy's 80th birthday went well, with everyone behaving themselves nicely and a delicious shared dinner served. The older I get, the less that 80 seems so old - funny, isn't it? Our children are lucky they have one lot of grandparents living so close by; they love their Poppy.

The weather is terribly cold and miserable here today. My flight to Brisbane is not until 5.15pm so I'm really just waiting around. Angus's soccer has been canceled (which is lucky as he is not well and has a terrible sore throat) and my other plans have also been washed out. I guess I should go and pack my bag? I'm really looking forward to catching up with Rachael tonight!!

In the mean time, here is another layout using all the great tissue paper that is available - much fun for making messy, textured layouts!!
I wish the weather in this photo was the weather here today!!!

the long weekend...

2011-06-09T21:53:00.001+10:00

...is almost here.

Just a minor event before I head to Brisbane for the Scrapbook Expo...we're hosting John's dad's 80th birthday party here tomorrow night!

In the mean time, I have a tutorial up on the Craft Queen blog, featuring the tissue paper I've used on this layout:

Can't see the tissue paper on there? Check out the tutorial then!

ten!!

2011-06-08T17:33:00.000+10:00

Where did the time go?
My goodness I love him!
Happy tenth birthday Angus :)

a day at the show

2011-06-02T15:17:00.004+10:00

For the 2nd time ever, we took the kids to the show today. Thea and I had entered photographs in the photography section so that was our first stop. Much to her delight Thea took out first, second AND third in the Primary School section!!!! She was literally jumping up and down with excitement - a welcome change after being sick for the last week. We were all really happy for her.

I did ok too, with a third prize for this portrait of Angus and a Highly Commended for one of the portraits I did for Portrait of a Stranger. Pretty good for my first ever entry.
The kids had been earning some pocket money so they would be able to spend it at the show. They were pretty disappointed that $20 didn't get them very far but I guess that's life!! Despite evidence to the contrary (below) Thea didn't think the dodgem cars were all that good but I suspect the blue fairy floss she ate before hand may have influenced her mood.....she's crashed pretty badly this afternoon now that the whole bag is eaten...

The bungee trampoline thingo was pretty good. I think she'd done about three jumps before I suggested she try a back somersault and then she just kept on doing them!!
Angus discovered that his larger body didn't quite do the same has her smaller one...but then again he doesn't seem to have the same constant desire to be upside down and bouncing around for most of the day either...
We all had a go on the ferris wheel, something I didn't particularly enjoy - it was a long way up! The fact that some past students (who weren't exactly the best and brightest) were working on it could have been why I wasn't feeling all that confident.

In a fit of insanity we've promised the kids we will go back tonight to watch the fireworks. I didn't even have any of the blue fairy floss but seem to have gone mad anyway?

home today

2011-05-26T10:24:00.002+10:00

I've got my girl home sick with me today :(
The weather has taken a terrible turn and it is so cold - parents of asthmatics will understand me when I say it is perfect asthma weather :(

In other news....I've been a guest blogger over at ABC Open! Check out my post about Portrait of a Stranger here. I went ahead and entered some of my photos in the local show too - just for fun! Thea also entered some photographs so we might just have to take ourselves to the show this year to check it out!

a bit of now and then...

2011-05-25T17:11:00.003+10:00

Looking through some old scrapbooks the other day I found this super cute photo of my baby girl...awwww...wasn't she so cute!!! She's still pretty cute actually...;-)

I love "now and then" layouts. Need to do some more of these I think!

I got to use some cool new stuff on the layout - the Collections "Victorian" tissue paper and a Collections chipboard swallow....not to mention the pearl trim (you'll have to click on the top pic to see that. It's a bit clever - goes around a curve or you can cut it up to make individual pearl thingos to glue on.
The tissue paper is lovely and strong so you can tear it or layer it and it doesn't fall apart when you scrunch it up. I've got another layout almost finished where I have done just that. ..watch this space!

....and some blog lovin'

2011-05-18T19:17:00.003+10:00

I tackled my first ever card kit and it is almost a sell-out! Yikes!! What a lovely surprise to find it on the Craft Queen blog with so many lovely comments. Thank you :)

And another surprise .... the blogger gets blogged! I'm featured in a post on the ABC Open web site this week.....oh the famous-ness!! [giggle]

I'm actually thinking of entering some of my 'stranger' portraits in the local show next month - wish me luck!!

some Craft Queen lovin'

2011-05-15T14:03:00.002+10:00

While I was on the retreat last month I got to have a play with the ribbon club for May. Here are the cards I created. I was incredibly happy with how these turned out - I don't think I can keep on saying "I am not a card maker" any more!!

This is one of the layouts I created as well - the other one is up in the Craft Queen gallery along with a close-up detail shot of this one.
After a bit of ummming and ahhhing I've finally got my tickets for the scrapbooking show in Brisbane in June. It's my father-in-law's 80th birthday on the Friday night so I'll head down after that. I'm looking forward to the retail therapy and all the inside goss Nicole is giving me about what she is getting in especially for the show has got me a bit excited!!

One last Craft Queen teaser!!!
If you have been ummming and ahhhing about the Craft Queen Retreat Nicole is doing in Brisbane in July, this might be what you need to get you moving and get your tickets. A free ribbon pack is being offered for anyone buying their retreat ticket after reading about it here on my blog. EASY! So make your purchase, tell Nicole that I've been spreading the word, and you get the ribbon pack.

If you miss out on a ticket then you will just be a sad sack like me and not be able to go and one sad scrapper is enough let me tell you. (What is it with the McDonald family and their birthdays? You would think John could organise his to NOT be on the Craft Queen retreat weekend wouldn't you?)

more strangers, hope, layouts, and little athletics

2011-05-12T17:11:00.000+10:00

I've been busy finding more strangers to meet and photograph. I went to the opening of the latest exhibitions at BRAG last night and my mission was to actually photograph some people who weren't old men!! (Three of the last strangers I have photographed for Portrait of a Stranger were old blokes LOL!!). Thankfully I found some lovely subjects - all can be found in my flickr set created for the project here if you would like to have a look.

While I was there I also viewed the most extraordinary installation in the vault space. It had been created by Keiron Jarvis with such dedication and hope for his brave wife Stephanie. As I crammed in there with everyone else and felt the range of emotions from each viewer it was hard not to be moved. I saw a young woman openly weeping, an excited teenager pointing out with pride a single pink crane, and several people who had probably never even been to the art gallery before looking on in wonder. Anyone who is a local Bundaberg scrapbooker may have known Stephanie Jarvis from our monthly get togethers at St Pat's Hall. Earlier this year Stephanie passed away after a very long battle with breast cancer and the installation of cranes was a tribute created by her husband.Keiron's views on hope are expressed in the exhibit and when you read the didactic on the outside of the vault it really makes you think about how we all view hope for ourselves.

As seems to be the usual with me and my haphazard blogging this seems to be turning into a long post!!

It's been a while since I have shared any scrapbooking on here so a layout or two is in order. I created these on Saturday (coincidentally National Scrapbooking Day??) and had a bit of a green theme going on with two of them and a patchwork-ish theme with the last one. It's got another, even more patchwork-ish mate but it's still sitting on my desk half-finished.
Last but not least I've got a couple of pics of the kids at Little Athletics on Mother's Day. Yes, Mother's Day. We've been going to Little A's for a couple of months now and I finally got to take some photos.

Here she is: up and over the high jump. Thea did really well this week considering she thought she didn't really want to be there. As if! Look at the grin!

And here is Angus getting some air in the triple jump. Apparently though they aren't really supposed to jump all that high. He's having an absolute ball with Little Althletics.

lucky

2011-05-03T22:04:00.004+10:00

The 'back to reality' only lasted 3 days and then another long weekend!! We got home today from an awesome break at Hervey Bay. The weather was absolutely divine - like the summer we never got to have.
Guess who caught the most fish?
(Hint: he'd be the one with all the fish-finding-light shining down upon him in the photo above!)

well all good things must come to and end.....

2011-04-26T21:14:00.003+10:00

....holidays are over. Back to school tomorrow.

We caught up with some friends at the beach yesterday which was lovely. The kids had only met eachother once before but got on wonderfully. I love how kids are like that.

Only 9.5 weeks until the next school holidays - yes I am counting!

s stamping tutorial AND a frangipani flower tutorial

2011-04-23T17:54:00.005+10:00

I have a stencil stamping tutorial up on the Craft Queen blog here...and now I have my little frangipani tutorial from this post earlier today.

I started with a piece of muslin that I dampened and then coated with equal amounts of gesso and PVA glue. I scrunched the whole thing up in my hands and mushed it all about. I wasn't very wet (certainly not dripping) and all I was trying to do was give it a coating so that it would be moderately stiff when it was dry. It only took about 20 mins on the clothesline in the sun.
Next I made a little leaf-shaped template out of paper. It's around 8cm long and 5cm wide.
I cut 5 leaf shapes from my muslin. I cut mine on the bias but I'm not sure that makes a lot of difference.
Each leaf was folded in half to make a 'petal' and I have used ink to make the centre yellow.
Lucky for me I won this cool ink pad from Print Blocks a few months back - it is perfect for getting in just the right spot!
Next I used a wide running stitch on each petal - I tried to do each one the same with three stitches across the middle.
You can see where I am going next...
The whole thing pulls together like a flower and is stitched together to hold the petals in place.
Once it was on my layout the white part didn't look white enough so I added a little more gesso to the edges for definition and texture.
Have I mentioned before that I love being on holidays?

Feaster?

2011-04-23T14:30:00.005+10:00

Good Friday is traditionally a day of fasting and generally 'doing without' as has been lent for the weeks before hand. I mentioned this to Angus as he asked for some snack biscuits from the cupboard for afternoon tea...the type of biscuits I would usually reserve for a 'treat'. He wasn't impressed. Despite learning about such things at school, and attending Holy Thursday mass the evening before, I guess it is hard to comprehend when the media constantly bombards us with slogans such as "Feaster" to encourage us to make a feast of Easter...with chocolate, etc. etc..... oh dear.
So when I invited friends around for a fish dinner for Good Friday I tried to keep it simple. I am not very good at keeping things simple. Let's just say that the fish and chips and salad were simple and if I say dessert was simply fruit it doesn't sound too bad. Honestly, it wasn't that decadent....but it sure smelled amazing!
So here is my 'fruit'.....and the subsequent photo of course....
I used the recipe from Taste.com here. I love that site!! Actually, as is the usual convoluted way I do things....I was most enamoured of the photograph initially (I love photos and artwork involving pears) and had pinned it to my wall on Pinterest long before I thought of even making them. But the photograph called me so I just had to make them. And photograph them. I'm a bit hooked on Pinterest now. Here's a link to my boards if anyone would like to check them out.

Something else I found on there was this image:

Source: marthastewart.com via Petrina on Pinterest

from Marth Stewart.....which of course led me to this:

Who knows where this Pinterest obsession will lead next???

I'll be back later today with my own tutorial on how I made my little frangipani flower.

meeting Des

2011-04-21T15:05:00.003+10:00

...no, not Des my grandfather, another one.
I've finally met another stranger and taken a photographic portrait as part of the Portrait of a Stranger project I am working on. You can see his photo and story on my Flickr photostream here. We had a great chat.

Of course I might just add that he was darn lucky to let us share our favourite spot with him! Seeing it is the holidays we've been catching up with friends and doing stuff with other people so it was nice to actually just spend a morning, just the three of us, doing something that we love. You can see Thea with her little bag ready to collect some wonderful shells...
How great is this grass - thank you rain!!
Apart from Des of course, we had the whole beach to ourselves.
Actually, this photo makes me giggle - Thea is seriously looking down in the search of shells and Angus is being a dill, hitching his shorts up so they don't get wet and prancing about.
Here are a few of our collected bits and pieces. Thea had grand plans that we would come home and sketch what we found. Neither of us have started yet!

... how cool would it be if I could meet Des, my grandfather, just walking down the beach on a Thursday morning....

and I'm still scrapping.....

2011-04-19T12:04:00.005+10:00

This is what I love about the holidays - time to muck around with paint and glue and make a mess :-)This would be my baby bro (aka Angus's godfather, Uncle Rowan) mucking around in January. My boy loves him so!
It's strange really....I did a workshop at school on Friday that was 2.5hrs of solid mixed media experimentation and I absolutely loved it. I was determined to come home and explore more of the techniques and really have some fun. I went through all of the materials on the weekend and thought about starting but you know what?

It just felt like I was doing school work.
In my holidays.
Ugh.
How can making artwork feel so wrong?
Totally disappointing.

So I just went ahead and did a few scrapbooking layouts and all of a sudden I felt like I was on holidays and I was happy. I didn't need to think about how I would teach it to a class of 20+ teenagers, how I would manage costing the materials I wanted to use, or how I would link it to the essential learning units in the curriculum......

So next time I do the silly self talk of: "You're an art teacher, why do you muck around with scrapbooking? Why don't you make art?", I will come back and read this and tell myself to just shut up.

p + holidays = awesome!

2011-04-17T16:33:00.002+10:00

Have I said how much I love being on school holidays? I've even scrapped today!! The house is a pigsty and the children are filthy but because I don't have to go to work tomorrow I don't even care! Even the thought of sausages for dinner tonight makes me happy! How's that for random useless info?

and the holidays are finally here

2011-04-16T15:20:00.007+10:00

After what seemed like a never-ending 12 week term, the much deserved Easter break is finally here. My children are exhausted, my students are exhausted, and most of all..... I am exhausted.

Thankfully a little mini-break came my way a couple of weeks ago when I went on the annual scrapbooking retreat out at Chaverim. As per usual it was awesome - great food, great company - and time to relax. I don't think I realised just how much I needed to relax until I got there. I've been a nicer person ever since!

....cue the relaxing sunset photo....
Here are a few of the layouts I created:
I didn't get many done really, but not to worry. I actually came back to Bundaberg for a few hours in the middle of the retreat because I was attending a photography workshop with photographer Brad Marsellos from the ABC. I've joined in with a project called Portrait of a Stranger. It's all very interesting but since that weekend life has gotten in the way and I haven't had much of a chance to go out and find any more strangers to photograph! Maybe this week I will get a chance. Thankfully the one portrait I attempted that day worked out really well - you can see it here in the ABC Open Camera Club section on Flickr. There are some fantastic portraits on there.

Soccer season has started again in earnest and Angus scored the first goal in the game last week and set the team up for their first victory which was terrific. He scored another one today but unfortunately they lost.
Angus and Thea have both signed up for Little Athletics this year as well. I've taken my camera along twice but as yet haven't even taken it out of the bag. Parental involvement is full-on so I am too busy to take photographs :(

I did, however, manage to have my camera out today when Thea did her first ever Eisteddfod with her friend Kayla as part of a duo for her acrobatics club. They did a routine to the song, "It's the hard knock life" from Annie, and despite intense nerves, performed admirably, gaining a "Highly Commended."

Here she is sulking because she didn't want her photo taken before the performance. She had to have her orphan costume (a conglomeration of old school uniforms I cut up and mish mashed back together) covered but you can see her grubby face and pillow and bucket props.

Here they go up the alley to get back stage - theatre on one side, bakery on the other - so flash in Bundy!!
The only photography allowed in the theatre is done by professionals so we will have to wait a few weeks for those photos to arrive. This is the best photo I could get of the girls together afterwards, when we went and had morning tea in a cafe nearby.
It would seem that the days of taking lovely photos of my girl are over - she no longer lets me take her photo without a fight!

If you've managed to sit through this lengthy post...actually if you've even bothered checking in after such a lengthy hiatus...thank you. Yes, I still scrap, I still blog...just not as often as I would like!

one from the weekend

2011-03-23T20:19:00.002+10:00

I missed the monthly get-together with the girls from Simply Crafty on Sunday. In fact, I probably won't get to many at all for the next few months as we've signed both children up for Little Athletics which is on a Sunday (Crazy I know!!! ....but still better than the Friday night alternative!!) Thank goodness the retreat is coming up :)

I managed to squeeze in a layout between Angus's soccer game and Thea's acrobatics class on Saturday. I got hold of some My Mind's Eye clear stamps last week that are shaped like doilies. So now I've got real doilies, paper doilies, and stamp doilies - LOVE!!! Perfect for my layout all about Grandma's big glass punch bowl set - she loved doilies. Photo from the in-laws' 50th wedding anniversary party last year.

tiny green visitors

2011-03-20T09:07:00.001+10:00

It's been raining again - but the upside is all the sweet little frogs around the place!

the things kids say

2011-03-14T21:31:00.002+10:00

I've had this image of Vinvcent van Gogh's Starry Night as my screen saver on my lap top for a a few months. It's one of Thea's favourite artworks and I rather like it myself. Tonight Angus looked at it and said that the hills on the right look like a tsunami that is about to engulf the town in the centre of the image. Whilst I am amazed at his perception and ability to interpret such an image in the current context of the absolute horror that unfolded in Japan on Friday, I am also deeply saddened.

Those poor people in Japan.

WARNING: eating less...

2011-03-13T20:30:00.004+10:00

.....can lead to a loss of 4 or 5kg!

YES!

Since the beginning of the year we've both been a bit more careful with what we have been eating - John has lost 4kg and I've lost 5.

I feel soooo much better!!

Now I just need to kick some sort of exercise plan into gear and then I will feel amazing!!!

Angus took this pic of us yesterday as we headed off to the Catholic Schools Race day. We had a great time :)

a layout from the week before

2011-03-08T18:58:00.003+10:00

Not just a layout - it's a tutorial over here as well. I'd love to know if anyone checks out my tutorials - or even has a go at them!
The other Craft Queen design girls are uploading tutorials over there all the time too - clever chicks!!!

2 WEEKS

2011-02-24T17:33:00.005+10:00

That's how long it took me to do this layout - doesn't look like it does it!? If I try hard I can remember back to what it is like to spend more than 10 minutes here and there on something I really want to get done....if I try hard.

my little hunters and collectors...

2011-02-13T20:24:00.004+10:00

....have been busy helping me get ready for a year 9 drawing class tomorrow. Today we collected cicada shells from the she oak trees at Mon Repos. Angus and Thea had a fantastic time and when we counted the spoils at home they'd collected 58 of the crunchy little things!

We popped over to Nielson's for a swim afterwards - bliss!!

Tuesday

2011-02-08T11:23:00.004+10:00

Tuesdays are technically my day off, but often it doesn't feel like a 'day off'. Sometimes I even go to work! I often wonder why I even work part-time and then I remember that there is no way I would cope if I had a full teaching load - insane! I certainly take my hat off to anyone who has a family and can do it.

So today I'll just share a layout from the weekend - simple and silly and likely to become a favourite.
I'll also link across to the latest tutorial I've done on the Craft Queen blog (here). Ok, it's more of an "idea" than a tutorial, but you get that. It also gives an insight into what I did with my "day off" last week ;-)

I have a feeling I haven't shared the January tutorial I did either (more of a 'real' tutorial too!). It's here and shows how I did this layout:

Happy Tuesday!

Slowly slowly.....

2011-02-05T20:05:00.005+10:00

....getting back into my craft room. I've certainly had my teacher hat on for over a fortnight now so it was nice this afternoon to create a very quick and simple layout and card.
Since creating all those 8.5x11 layouts a few weeks back from our 2008 NQ holiday, I've come to the realisation that this is a very handy way to scrap! There are ALWAYS leftovers from a layout and that leaves me with no excuse but to make a card of course!
Now, speaking of that NQ holiday....I'm sure even my international visitors to this blog have heard of the devastating cyclone Yasi that inflicted its fury on North Queensland this week. We waited anxiously for news from John's sister and family who live in Cairns and were very relieved to hear they were fine. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for some of the other places we visited.

Searching the net it was easy to find this photo of what is left of Cardwell (from here).
It's hard to imagine that this photo I took back in 2008 is the same place.
In fact this photo was taken across the road from those shops in the first photo. I know this because we had stopped there to enjoy the most wonderful lunch from the bakery that you can see in the centre of that photo. There were picnic tables across the road and we had fresh bread rolls and lamingtons for lunch.

It seems like 2011 is the year of the natural disaster in Qld :(
Fingers crossed it will be sunshine from here on as these places attempt to rebuild their lives (and I won't complain about the heat as I sit here feeling very grateful for my dodgy pedestal fan!).

a teensy bit of creating!

2011-01-26T16:33:00.006+10:00

The worst part about the start of the school year is that I get totally snowed under with planning my classes and don't have time to do anything creative for myself (other than the occasional example for a class!). Last night, however, I changed all that when Thea and I decided on a crafty name thingo for her chair bag. I was actually all set to make her a chair bag but when I saw that the bought ones were actually good, I relented and bought one. Of course we couldn't have it looking the same as everyone else's though, could we?!!

So here is my scruffy girl, fresh from the beach with her salty hair and scraped arm (and band-aid-ed finger!) with her chair bag.
Amazingly I even convinced her that an upside down "Y" sort of looks like an "H" and she is ok wih it!!

So, yes, we've spent Australia Day at the beach. It was lovely and the water is now a lot clearer (after the floods) so we had a great old splash around in there. The boys also enjoyed a game of beach cricket.Now for a shock - a photo of me (and my boy!). I got a new hair cut last week and changed the colour back to a little bit darker again. It is quite shaggy - but even more so in this pic as it was straight after the beach on Sunday.
Last of all - a layout share. I started this one before we went on holidays and finished it before school started. Just before Christmas I entered a competition on Facebook and won a whole pack of goodies from Printblocks. This is the resulting layout - not bad hey! The best thing is I still have plenty more in the box for more ;-)

back to work for me tomorrow....

2011-01-19T10:47:00.006+10:00

....so I'm caught in that awful place between wanting to still be on holidays but needing to get stuck into some serious planning! I went in for a few hours yesterday to take the edge off it and I will go back again this afternoon before the full finality of it hits tomorrow. Thankfully we've been to the beach both mornings and it has been lovely (if a little murky still) which has made us wonder why the heck we traveled 500km to Northern NSW for a holiday last week!!
So before my brain turns to teacher-mode, and I regret my inability to finish off the last book of the Arthur trilogy that has consumed me for the past month, I sit and listen to my children whinge that they should be allowed to watch the TV even though the sun is shining and end of the holidays are nigh. Before it all gets too much though, I'd best do a bit of a blog post so I can remember what we actually did while we were away (because goodness knows when I will get to scrap this holiday!).
This is the view of beach track on the first afternoon. It was about 150m from our townhouse at Pottsville - the steps were ok going down but coming back up...eeek! When we woke up early on the Sunday morning, Angus and I decided to walk up along the beach to Hastings Point, the next 'town' north. It was just less than 4km away and took us over an hour for the round trip. Needless to say we were sore for several days after!! It rained a little on our walk (so I didn't take my camera) but we didn't let it worry us. One lady walking her dog was lucky enough to find a nautilus shell washed up so we thought that was pretty special. We also saw evidence of where a turtle had come up and nested on the beach - a bit of a surprise seeing they usually nest on OUR beaches 500km to the north!
Also on the second day we decided to have a go at fishing in the Mooball river (creek?) at Pottsville. We didn't have the right bait so it was rather unsuccessful. Unfortunately there had been rain in the days before we arrived so the creek was brown instead of its usual clear blue, so that was a little disappointing.

Later that same afternoon we headed north in search of a nice beach for a swim (Pottsville beach was the colour of sick with a cappuccino foam so we didn't want to swim there!). We stopped in at Kingscliff and it was very windy so only John and the kids had a paddle in the shallows.
We had a bit of a look around the shops and cafes while we were there and agreed that Kingscliff was really nice - we might consider staying there some time in the future.
As we drove back to Pottsville the car felt a little strange - we pulled over to find we had a flat tyre! John changed it and then we noticed that another tyre had a nail in it!! We managed to limp back and arranged for it to be fixed the next day.

I think it was at this point, and with the addition of the terrible news of the flash flooding in Toowoomba, that we wondered why the heck we had even come away on a holiday at all.

Of course we managed to get the tyres fixed on Monday (hanging out in the rain for over an hour in Cabarita - thank goodness for an excellent bakery!) and then drove north again to Coolangatta. The kids had a great time at Point Danger, jumping back and forth across the border and making jokes about which team they would go for in the state of origin if we were staying there. We had changed our watches to the local daylight saving time when we arrived in NSW so we had to keep reminding ourselves of what time it 'really was' throughout the holiday.
The kids and I had a swim at Coolangatta - John forgot to bring his togs! The current was strong and there was a bit of seaweed but thankfully the water was clear.

It was still raining when we awoke on the Tuesday, but we went out and pumped some yabbies and did some fishing anyway. This time we were rewarded with several small whiting! Angus finally mastered casting his line himself, but still refused to learn how to put the yabbies on the hook! He doesn't have any trouble getting the fish off the hook now either. Thea is another matter entirely. She COULD cast her line if she wanted to, but remains lazy!
Finally on Wednesday we saw blue sky! I had to take a photo of the sky to prove it!! This pic also shows the outside of our townhouse. It was an impressive building, designed by an architect and only 2 years old. Built over three levels, it was an open plan, split level design with massive windows and lots of light. Up the side of the walls were vines on vertical wires that helped soften the exterior as well as give some afternoon shade. From inside it felt like we were under the sea in a strange kelp forest - so different and inspiring!
More photos can be seen here. We got a fantastic deal through the Union Shopper - so good compared to even the cost of staying in a caravan park at this time of year!

That night we had dinner at a local Thai restaurant. We bought ice creams for dessert and brought them back to eat on the deck - I actually got a family photo!!

Thursday brought clear skies again so we did some more fishing and also some exploring on Pottsville's southern beach. You can see there was still some brown foam about, but it was so much clearer that we even went for a late morning swim on the northern beach. The waves were quite strong - so different to what we are used to in Bundaberg!!

Thursday afternoon we headed south to Brunswick Heads for the annual woodchop event, part of the "Festival of the Fish'n'Chips". I'd been to this same event nearly 30 years before so I was keen to go again and we were not disappointed! We ended up staying all afternoon, having some fish and chips for dinner, and then staying for the night session as well. And the best thing of all - the whole show was free and the kids loved it!!
We woke on Friday to the news that flooding had devastated Brisbane, almost reaching the height of the infamous 1974 floods. We'd also heard that earlier in the week Gympie had been flooded and the highway home was cut. There had been some concern that we might not have been able to return but it became clear that it would be ok. It was strange not being able to access the internet to get the latest news (without gluing ourselves to the tv) but in the end I was glad to have a break from it. The floods in Bundaberg started at Christmas and we were a little compassion fatigued but in awe of the brave and tireless work of the rescuers who worked so hard in places like Grantham.
On Friday we headed north again for another swim at Coolangatta - this time we all had our togs and the water was lovely, although the current was strong.
Coincidentally, I ran into a childhood friend while we were swimming there - I'd only seen her in September but it was great to catch up again!
We spent the afternoon at the beach as well, with the kids making all sorts of sand fortresses and castles.

It was sad to leave our townhouse on the last day - we felt that the weather hadn't been particularly kind but we were still grateful to have had a holiday away.

We ended up driving home over the gateway bridge. It was strange driving through Brisbane knowing it had been devastated by the floods but not seeing any actual evidence of it as we drove out to Samford.

Before returning to Bundaberg, we stayed two nights at Nanna & Macka's place. On Sunday we had a lovely family lunch and invited my friend Rachael and her children out to join us. It was so good to catch up again!

So, if you have stayed with me for this epic post - congratulations!! And congratulations to me for putting off my work for just a bit longer!! I'd best finally get into it!

home again....

2011-01-17T22:19:00.004+10:00

Yes, we left flood-affected Bundaberg, to go to the rainy shores of Northern NSW, where we sat and watched the horror of the floods unfold throughout the rest of Queensland.......it's been a very unusual summer holiday to say the least. Words cannot express my sorrow at seeing the devastation and loss of life throughout the towns of Grantham, Toowoomba.....and now there are floods in NSW and Victoria as well.
My family is safe, thank goodness.

This pic shows the beach at Pottsville on the afternoon we arrived. Thankfully we didn't let the rain stop us from going to the beach!

...a return to normal programming...er..scrapbooking...

2011-01-06T08:42:00.005+10:00

Shock! A Christmas layout! Ok, this was the Christmas we had in November while the Cairns cousins were visiting, but it technically is a Christmas layout nonetheless.Yes, I still know how to scrap 12x12. I think. Actually, I did these before the 8.5x11 blast, so I hope I can still remember how to scrap 12x12! We're heading away tomorrow for a week in Northern NSW so I do believe I have been cured of the scrapping bug (for a little while anyway).

This super-quick LO is Thea with her friend Tas. They had a sleepover this week and it was soooo cute!!! She's a great kid :)

A bit of an orange theme going on here....must be me subliminally wishing for sunshine!

fancy that?

2011-01-05T19:12:00.002+10:00

t

Just as I finished uploading the layouts from yesterday I discovered another three that I hadn't photographed. Then I discovered another WHOLE PACKET of photographs from the trip that I had forgotten about!!! aaaggghhhh!!!!!!!!!! Just when I thought I was getting somewhere!!!!!
It's all good though - they were mostly from Long Island so I was happy to scrap them - we had a great time there. I've noticed a pattern with the photos from this trip: Angus is the adventurous one, keen to give things a go. Thea is the one pulling faces and being silly and hamming it up for the camera.
I've also noticed something else - I took a lot of photos on that trip!!! Note to self: with digital you don't HAVE to print every SINGLE photo you take - der!!!! I still have one of those Camera House boxes (the big ones) solid with photos. Sigh...

maybe this is why they call it SCRAPbooking?

2011-01-04T14:53:00.004+10:00

Over the last few days I have been using up all my scraps!!! I knew there was a reason I kept random bits of paper that I cut, and endless bits of cardstock, embellishments, buttons, etc., etc.!!
I've had great fun using up so much old stuff - surely that gives me an excuse to go out and buy some more???
These 16 layouts have made a minor dint in the photos from our big holiday to Cairns in 2008 (and a minor dint in the stash too!). I still have loads more photos to scrap but it does feel good to get this far. This is only the 2nd time I have done an actual album from a particular event (the other one was an album that Renita and I did of my brother Ben, as a surprise for Mum and Dad a couple of years back).
I'd better get myself off to the shops to buy some page protectors I suppose - then I will really be organised!!

2011!

2011-01-02T19:52:00.004+10:00

Well 2010 ended with a gurgle and a puddle - let's hope there's more fizz and pop in 2011!!

I've been madly scrapping LOTS of photos from our trip up north in 2008 (amazing hey?!) but I want to see how many I can get done before I share them. In the mean time, here's a layout I did a couple of weeks ago for the January Ribbon Club for Craft Queen. I love how the colours have turned out on this one - so bright and cheery!!! There's another layout and some cards on the Craft Queen Blog here for anyone who would like to have a look. I've seriously been going through some old holiday photos before I take any more that need scrapping - such a good feeling!

I suppose I had better go and make a "layouts 2011" folder on my computer....

how high's the water mama?

2010-12-29T18:48:00.005+10:00

With little else to do we've been sightseeing around the river - some once in a lifetime (I hope!) scenes. The little yellow arrow on the left here corresponds to the yellow circle on the right - that is the 8m mark. Someone must have sprayed over the blue paint overnight so that a big "8" is visible (click on the photo to see close-ups of the levels). There's no way I would have let him go and stand next to the same mark today (not that he would!).

The Burnett River is set to peak around midnight tonight - they are predicting 7.8 metres. Hundreds of people have been evacuated and they said on the news that 400 houses have been inundated. Some people have lost everything; it is so devastating for them. Both traffic bridges across the river have now been closed. To see how fast the river is flowing and how wide it has become makes me in awe of the power of nature.

Thankfully we live approximately 4km from where these photos were taken so we are safe. My parents and sister and family were able to return to Brisbane this afternoon - we are thankful they had a safe trip.

So now we just sit and wait for things to return to normal. I'm trying to be patient!

Not drowning: waving.......

2010-12-28T21:52:00.003+10:00

We've had masses of rain here and the Burnett River is still rising. It has been a very, very wet Christmas. My sister and her three children as well as my mum and dad are still here, and as the road south has been cut all day, they may not be able to return home tomorrow to Brisbane as planned.

It's been over a week since the kids have been allowed out into the backyard - there's not a single spot that isn't fully sodden :(

Still, we've had a great time and the kids have really enjoyed playing with their cousins. Thankfully we enjoy cooking, doing jigsaw puzzles and the odd game of boggle and monopoly!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T16:55:00.004+10:00

We've been busy in the kitchen all day (and yesterday!) preparing our Christmas feast. These are the berries for the Summer Pudding we have decided to try for dessert this year.
Just a quick post as we now need to get ready to eat something before we head off to mass.
To everyone who pops in to my blog for a little look:
Merry Christmas!!

and some scrapbooking for good measure!

2010-12-20T17:25:00.004+10:00

Using up a bit of the stash....Eli looks so sweet with his hair all slicked back after a bath. Babies (ok, he's more of a toddler than a baby) smell SO good after a bath don't they?

Some ancient rub-ons on this one...and a bit of opal dust to make a simple layout all shimmery and fancy.....

...and a great pic of Mum and Dad for their 40th wedding anniversary.

I gave my craft room a bit of a tidy up (and rearranging) and it's amazing how much I feel the need to scrap when it is sorted. Darling Eli will be sleeping in there over Christmas so I had better clean it up all over again before then! As well as my mess in there I've had Thea in there organising scrapping "kits" so her cousins can scrapbook when they arrive. She's got everything laid out with matching papers and embellishments sorted into pizza boxes. I hope Santa doesn't bring anything too good for Christmas or they might not want to scrap LOL!!

my little christmas crafter

2010-12-20T13:41:00.003+10:00

Thea has been going flat out since we got home from Brisbane. I've been cooking up a storm in the kitchen and she's been making messes all over the place. These particular specimens are paddle pop Christmas tree place settings for the table for Christmas night. After a heck of a lot of debate we made some play dough that we squished into some plastic shot glasses from the cheapie shop. We've been getting extreme value from the play dough ever since!

happy birthday sweet Rose

2010-12-17T19:05:00.001+10:00

11 years ago today. Thank you for the short time you spent with us.

a river somewhere....

2010-12-14T17:12:00.003+10:00

...actually, it's a dam.

Can you guess what this pseudo-santa has in his sack? Or what his biggest little helper has in the bucket?

This is what was in the sack:

And this is what was in the bucket!!!! Actually, there was about 20 of them!!! They bear the obvious name of "red claw". Interestingly the red part of their claws is all squishy and jelly like, unlike the rest of the hard shell. My brave girl even got in on the act, picking them up. They've been cooked up ready for Nanna's birthday dinner tomorrow night.

We let a few go - they were a little bit small. No doubt we'll be back for them another day!

busy in Brisbane

2010-12-13T13:26:00.005+10:00

We arrived here (by train) on Saturday and it feels like we haven't stopped! Ok, I have had time for a nap each day so far, but other than that it has been flat out.

Macka took Angus on the 'last steam train to Ferny Grove' on Sunday morning and Renita and I took all the girls down to the station to watch it roll in. I secretly think Macka was more excited than Angus!!

We then headed back for morning tea and of course a group photo of all the grandchildren to update Nanna's album.Sunday afternoon we headed into St Andrew's church at Indooroopilly for the Annual TCF Christmas Candlelight Remembrance Service. This is the charity that my mum works for, supporting families who have lost a child. It was a beautiful service and at 7pm we lit candles:Angus lit one for Luke and Thea lit one for Rose:Of course it was rather emotional and the tears flowed freely - but then again there are worse things than tears!!

We're sort of taking it easy today, although Mum dragged me along to her water aerobics class this morning which was a pretty good work out. No pics of this thank goodness!! I've been hanging around in the garden - and found a butterfly in the butterfly bush - pretty cool!

Even more spectacular than the butterfly bush is the display of Agapanthus out the front - you can see them behind the kids playing "slops" on the verandah. "Slops" is a special recipe involving rose petals and mint leaves - nice! There was even a tadpole in there at one stage. Last of all (so far) has been the food. Of course after the candlelight ceremony there was a feast (of the bring a plate kind - yum!) and today we cut the Christmas cake for morning tea. There were other treats as well - and the kids each had a 'lemondae fruit" from Macka's garden - just like a lollipop on a fork!!!

Apparently later this afternoon we are going 'red claw' fishing with the hope to pull out the pots tomorrow morning. Then off to a friend's place for lunch on Tuesday. I have a feeling we will be exhausted by the time we come home on Thursday - oh well, that's what holidays are for after all!

the colourful ribbon wreath

2010-12-10T22:04:00.000+10:00

I almost forgot!!
I've got another slide show tutorial on the Craft Queen blog this week, but I thought I would just show another quick 'how-to' on my blog as well. I did this for Thea's teacher as an end of year thank you.
All I did was grab a handful of double sided ribbons that matched the label on the bottle of wine, as well as some paper and a large round bronze charm.
The next step just involves threading the ribbons through the charm and tying them off into tight double knots. I snipped each end at an angle and eventually the whole charm was full, just like a Christmas wreath. Attached to the paper with some stickers and a chipboard frame, I had a cute little tag on which to write my message.

Obviously this shot just shows two ribbons - you could tie all the same colour all the way around or different colours as I have done.

Don't forget to check out the tutorial on the Craft Queen blog - Nicole is having a competition where if you leave a comment in the next week you could be the lucky recipient of a stash giveaway (she's had a big clean up). Become a follower and you’ll receive 2 entries!

officially ON HOLIDAYS!!

2010-12-10T20:45:00.003+10:00

hurrah!!!

It's been a busy week with the kids having finished the week before me but we managed. They both spent two days with friends at the beach this week which was excellent fun! Angus came home with sunburn and Thea came home with a burning desire to become the world's next pro surfer!!Wednesday afternoon she kept repeating, "Mum I didn't know I was going to be THAT good at it!"
When I dropped her off Thursday she was back in the water with me (in my work clothes) standing in the waves taking photos at 7.40am!
Oh well, it doesn't hurt to have a passion, does it?

We're off to Brisbane tomorrow, leaving Daddy at home to fend for himself . I think he'll manage.

Yay for holidays!!

It won't be the last...

2010-12-07T20:40:00.002+10:00

...but it sure felt like it was :(

My dear dear friend Rachael is moving away to Brisbane in the next couple of weeks and today was "goodbye". We met through scrapbooking (I think about 6 years ago??) and we have become such wonderful friends. When you find a friend like Rachael you know you have found a gem and I am going to miss her badly. I'll try not to go on, as I am getting myself all sad again.
Over the last couple of years the planets have aligned and we have both had days off together, meeting for coffee on a regular basis (with Miss Penny also of course!!). So today we had coffee at my place and Angus took this photo of us.I managed quite well until she came back later with these gorgeous roses for me (and to pick up Miss Penny who stayed a bit longer, eating my crustless vegemite sandwiches - only for you Miss P!!!)

Aren't they just lovely?

Thanks Rach, you are one of a kind.

(Thankfully we've already organised another coffee date in Brisbane for January!!)

four years!

2010-12-05T19:12:00.002+10:00

That's four years of Scrapjacking at Aussie Scrapjacked for me! I have met some absolutely lovely people through this challenge site over the years - and so many of them I have had the opportunity to meet in person which has just been wonderful. Who would think that scrapping a layout inspired by another scrapper each month would lead to such wonderful friendships?

As my final jack I have been inspired by the very talented Louise Nelson - her style is just so unique and so innovative. The whole team has in fact done layouts inspired by Lou this month - check them out!

7 year old card making maniac!!

2010-11-28T20:49:00.002+10:00

She's pretty special my girl. If she really wants to do something, she'll do it to 110%. Like this card making for example....

It all started at the last Sunday Scrap when Lorelle was getting things together for the Girls Night in Fundraiser. Thea gave her a hand sorting things in to packs for us to make cards on the night to be donated to the Cancer Council. She had a ball. When I went to the fundraiser I brought my card packs home to make a few extra and when Thea saw me making them she wanted to join in. But she didn't want to make the cards - she wanted to DESIGN THEM - you know, making up the packs like Lorelle, choosing the papers and ribbons that matched. Her intention was that she would be the designer and I would be the lowly card maker, slogging away with the glue and scissors. I obliged of course, but unfortunately had to stop and make dinner. She, however, continued on and before I knew it she'd made 6 cards! And the next morning she made another 4 before she went to school!! They are all her own design, her own stamping (in a 'rustic' fashion LOL!) and her own attaching of embellishments (I think I might have helped straighten up that black one).
I am so proud of her and she literally beams as she shows them off to her brother and father as she completes them. They make all the right noises too. So good.

Like I said, 110% to stuff she wants to do. We won't mention what happens when she is asked to do stuff she doesn't want to do..........

one from way back

2010-11-26T21:31:00.007+10:00

Often when I do layouts for a ribbon club for Craft Queen, they are done a few months in advance and then I forget to share them on my blog. I think I did this one back in July! I've shared a tutorial showing how I made this layout over on the Craft Queen blog for anyone who would like to take a look.

On the home front, things are starting to slow down work wise and ramp up socially - which is always a good thing at this time of year! My year 12s have finished and the end of the school year is in sight. Apparently Christmas is less than a month away now!!!!!

i've had worse messes....

2010-11-12T20:24:00.003+10:00

...in the kitchen, currently in the laundry....the kids' wardrobes (and floors) are a disaster...

....but this sort of mess is fun! I don't even mind cleaning it up - because then I get to make another mess all over again. It's lucky I am good at making messes, isn't it?

layout share

2010-11-10T21:36:00.002+10:00

Apart from some creative paper shuffling around my desk at school, I've not done any actual creating this week. I've been marking and date stamping and senior profile updating, blah blah blah....so it is nice to have a layout from the weekend to be able to share mid-week.
It's all girly and flowery and sweet...the layout I mean....and one of my favourite photos. The white doily parts are actually the Prima packaging from those gorgeous flowers.

we're having a wonderful sunday

2010-11-07T12:29:00.002+10:00

I got up ridiculously early for a Sunday and went for a walk and then we went to the beach for the morning. Summer is here and we are embracing it wholeheartedly :)
I've even started an early countdown for the holidays!

a fundraiser for the cancer council

2010-11-06T19:59:00.002+10:00

Once again Lorelle is organising a fundraiser for the Cancer Council. I bought my ticket today - looking forward to a great night!