Living my dream

NZ Dares

Ok, so there is a new dare up! Go check it out here. Its all about multiple photos. Any of you who know my work, know that I love putting lots of pics on a page. So it wasn't tooooooo hard to do. LOL. So instead I decided to still make it a bit challenging for me and tried something new. OMG, Freestyle new. Yep, lots and lots of doodling. Now I can't say any of this is mine. Wish I could, 'most' of it is from a packet (yep, rubons!). But there are a ton of photos on this page all about our March! This LO is part of my year in review album and I'm still loving doing that!!!!!!!! Now I've just gotta get onto Aprils and then Mays. Eeeek. Starting to get a little behind. Sigh.

So here it is:

So have you seen this new blog? If you've got teens, or have some teenagers coming up in your family. Go check out what Lianne, Jo, Kim and Lee are doing. Way cool idea as there are so many inspirational pages about kids, babies, and hubbys, but not that many on the teens in our life. Go girls!

And lastly a very happy birthday to my Mum for yesterday! We were at our parenting course, so didn't get to make the birthday dinner, but hear it was lovely. Yay!

And in just one day, everything changes

Yep, he did it. My littlest boy and beautiful baby (yes, I'm allowed to get soppy! LOL), took his first step. Ok, ok, so Andy recons it was more of a stumble. But, he was standing alone and one foot lifted and moved!!!!!!!!!!! And it didn't just happen once. It happened twice. WOW.

Funnily enough I was already excited when Andy got home, dying to tell him that our boy was now standing up without using anything. You know, just straight up off the floor, when he says 'oh yeah, he's been doing that all weekend'. And it was like oh, ok. LOL! He thought I already knew about it! Amazing what you miss when you're away. Now I know what its like when he goes to China. But wow, then he actually took that step too! So much has changed! In just one day!

And hey, I've been working on projects for the SBO May kit. Ladies, its GORGEOUS! Seriously very cool. Make sure you go and check it out. I've made one LO and a card so far. Can't give you a sneak peek as I don't have any photos. But you'll see it soon enough right over here (or in your kits!).

And yesterday the kids were getting bored, so I got out the FISKARS squeeze punches. Man these tools are sooooooo amazing. No struggling to punch through paper. I mean seriously, if a 3 year old can use it?! Who can't! We had so many people trying them on the stand over the weekend and even people who had hand/shoulder injuries, or arthritis were able to use it. And the best part is that when you punch the paper faces up so you can see exactly where you're cutting and can choose which part of the paper to punch! Fantastic. Anyway, if you don't believe me about 3 year olds, check it out here......

Ok gotta dash. Breakfast time! Have a great day!

SENZ

OMG, what a weekend! This is gonna be one long huge post, so go grab a cuppa and sit down for a bit of a read....... So the weekend, it was a blast! I absolutely had the best time. Working with Helen Williams, the team from Fiskars, and of course Donna, Andrea and Lesley was such a treat. The classes were a HUGE hit. I mean really, where can you go for a free class with a magic kit and come away with beautiful creations? This is what you got with Helens classes. There were three running each day. A card class with 3 cards, a mini book class and a LO class. In each one you were able to learn about different Fiskars products and of course used the divine Heidi Grace papers/embellishments. Yummo. Silly me forgot to take pics, but I'll try and get some if poss. Helen is incredible to work with. She is fun, enthusiastic and has so much info to pass on. What a treat to work with such a talented lady! Fiskars were truely generous with their kits too. I bet you girls who took the class were stoked??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We all took turns being Helens teacher aide and while we weren't doing that we were demonstating the Fiskars products. It was great fun as alot of people have had trouble with the cutters and it was so rewarding being able to show people how to use them and for them to go away grinning about them. Very cool. Would love to hear some feedback from anyone who took the classes and saw us at the stand!

Check it out......

Speaking of seeing people. It was really great to catch up with everyone! And Janine, sorry I didn't catch you after I tidied up!

Paula, wanna say hi this time??? LOL!

We also got to catch up with the Up2Scrap team! Yeah. What a great mag this is. Have you seen the latest issue? Packed with great stuff from the ET! Here's a pic of some of the team....

Missed the kids like crazy, but they seem to have survived very well. What a cool Dad they've got! He even managed to get a new part of the garden done so we can grow MORE veges. We're really keen on getting some potatoes in for Xmas!

Ok, so thats about it for now.....got to get a few LO's done this week and off. One to the States! How cool. Its for a book coming out by Blue Media. They do sketches. You do your own interpretation and book number 2 is coming out and I'm in it! I can't wait! The others are for SBO, Up2Scrap and well....other stuff ;) Hmmmmmm, all this week?! LOL! Maybe a bit next too.

Have a GREAT week.

Bits and bobs

Well good news. I finally worked out how to reply to comments with the new system from typepad. Its very simple really. Just press reply! LOL. Sometimes I really do wonder! But as part of the email it says 'reply to comment here' (or something to that effect). I thought I had to do it that way, and well my system wouldn't. So I was asking Andy and he said just press reply. Honestly! LOL.

SENZ is coming quickly. Just one more sleep! I can't wait. Its going to be fun working with Donna, Lesley and Andrea on the Fiskars stand. Do come by, say hello and check out all their gorgeous product. I know I can't be without my Fiskars trimmer. But they have so many other things, including the gorgeous Heidi Grace range!

This week Matt and Sarah went on an outing with their daycare to the museum. Matt is fine when it comes to trying and doing new things. Especially without me. But it was traumatic for both Sarah and I. She didn't want to go without me. I couldn't go that day. She cried and screamed and clung to me. So I handed her over, turned around and walked away. Crying myself. UGH. I hate that part of motherhood. But I got a text not long after. She was fine. Lots of smiles. And when they got home she was buzzing! I nearly said don't worry. I'll take her home. So glad I didn't.

Dan said Mama yesterday! Wow. Broke this Mum's heart.

He's also standing by himself for much longer periods and also correcting himself when he wobbles. Its so cute.

And in the weekend we went to see my sister Lisa and all her puppies. She is a breeder of Siberian Huskies and has the most gorgeous dogs. Well Zeeka (spelling?) had her pups - all 9 of them - 4 weeks ago so while they are still small and fluffy and gorgeous, we took the kids down to see them.

  You see my two are terrified of dogs, thanks to the old neighbour who let her dog roam wild. He was only a small dog, but that made it worse. He would come through our cat flap, run up the stairs and jump all over the kids. They were only little so of course got terrified. We closed the cat door, but then he would jump on them in their buggy and well they are now for obvious reasons scared of dogs. If they see one in the street, they literally climb me to get away. All the while screaming their heads off. I imagine it would look quite funny if it wasn't happening to me. But hey, I don't blame them but are trying to help them realise that dogs are actually lovely. Buy the end of the weekend Matt was great with the puppies even chasing them around, having them sleep on his knee etc and best of all, would pat and allow the Mummy dog in. He realised how gentle she was. YEAH! Sarah is still a bit nervous. But much much better. Besides all that great stuff, it was really fantastic to see my sister and Paige again. And I was able to finish off a couple of LO's. One for the next dare which is coming up tomorrow. So don't forget to check it out here.

Speaking of dares, here's my one for this week. We had to scrap a childhood photo before we were 10! It took me a while to figure out what I was going to do. But here it is:

Later!

Wednesday

Why am I calling this Wednesday? Cause I'm too tired to think of another name. LOL!

So the last couple of days have had some cool things happen with Daniel. Yep, we've spoken about the twins heaps lately, Dan's turn.

We think he spoke his first word tonight. Can you guess what it was? The normal "dad"?, perhaps another standard, but not so common as the first word "Mum"?...............no. Not for our Daniel. He likes to do things a wee bit differently. His first word sitting in his highchair while we both had our backs turned was......

HELLO. Yep, he wanted our attention. So he said hello. We both heard it, turned around and he smiled at us. We both had the same reaction so it must have been true. Funny thing was that a couple of other times later tonight I also heard "Dad". I'm still not 100% on that one, but am pretty sure. How wonderful. Our little man is starting to talk. Which goes nicely with his sign language. I'm was sure he told me he wanted some water today. So I got it for him and he smiled and had a nice big drink. How cool!

So other cute things he's up to.....he likes to play with his eyelashes when hes drinking his milk. The first time I noticed I thought he was going to poke his eye out. Then I realised he was actually doing it deliberately and his finger wasn't going in his eye. But literally playing with his lashes. Its really unusual but extraordinarily cute! I'm going to try and get a picture when Andy's home so one of us can feed and the other photograph.

He is getting stroppy. He knows what he wants and when he wants it. If we try and move him to another room or take a toy off him or put him in his highchair and he doesn't want to, we hear about it. No crying. No screaming. Just funny little grunts saying hey Mum this isn't what I want to do. Its actually really cute.

Scrapping news - cyber crop at SBO on Friday. Be there or be square (cor I haven't said that in like years! LOL). There are going to be some fun challenges so don't miss out!

Other scrapping news. I'm nearly finished a LO done 'just cause'. How lovely. Matt has been quite upset lately cause I've been doing LO's of everyone else. So I promised him I would do a LO about him. Now I've nearly finished it. Cool.

Ok, so no pictures for a while. Naughty blogger. So here's one of the kids and I taken on Mothers day.

Have a good one.

 

Lots of good news

Well, where do I start? Its been a BUSY few days and lots of fun and good things happening.

So lets start with the biggie.....SBO Survivor. Its all over and Vicky Gibson and I were asked to join the DT. How exciting! I am absolutely stoked. But as with these types of competitions there are people who don't make it through and I just want to say a big hello to Ilka and Delys who were in the final 4. Their work is amazing and I am really glad I wasn't having to make that decision.

SENZ - who's going? I can't wait! Missed it last year as it was down South. I so love it. Can you imagine, all those scrapbooking shops in one area. All those likeminded people hanging out together. Ahhhhhhhh....catching up with friends, buying LOTS! (but don't tell hubby! LOL). But this year, its gonna be a little bit different for me. I'm working with Helen Williams and the team at the FISKARS stand! I can't wait! How exciting is that! Do come along and see what new and wonderful product they have!

Sat was Puke crop day. Yeah! Man I love this time. Its taken me a while to become a regular, but I'm in it for the long haul now girls! LOL! I come home every time with a sore stomach from laughing so much. And my jaw hurts from smiling so much. Its really really great! And this month I actually took some 'stuff' which I then created into a whole finished LO by the time I left. Yep, from scratch without any idea of what I was going to do. Stoked.

Huge congrats to my Dad who graduated last week. I managed to get Abby to swap her nanny afternoon and got to go out with my sister to watch. It was a great moment for him and we are all very proud of him.

Ok, my kids.... tonight we were explaining to the kids how aunty Sue is going to babysit soon. You see we are doing a 6 week parenting course. Its run by Parents Inc (you know Ian and Mary Grant?). Well its called a 'toolbox' course and is to help give parents tools to deal with 0-6 year old kids. I'm loving it, although it has brought up a couple of things already. LOL! And Sarah pipes up with but why Mummy. Well I say. I'd like to become a better parent. They both look at us quizzickly (is this a word?) and ask but why Mummy? I try and reword it. Saying well Daddy and I want to be the best Mummy and Daddy we can be. Sarah's now looking really confused and says, but Mummy we love you just the way you are.

Can you ask for a better reply than that?

Have a good one all!

T

How to make a woman feel good in the morning (not)

We we chatting to the kids just now as they ate their breakfast. Trying to get them to describe their porridge. Was it hot/cold, soft/hard, did it make a noise? Was it black/white or red? It was a fun game until Daddy said can you describe Mummy? Up pops my head as I listen ever more intently....what wonderful things would they say about me?

Sarah: Mummy isssssssss......tired.

Me (thinking): mmmmmm, she's not far wrong, but its not good they know it.

Daddy: What else?

Sarah: Shes a tree stump.

Me (thinking): a WHAT! I know I'm a bit overweight, but a TREE STUMP?! A tired tree stump. Hmmmm. Great! LOL.

After many more discussions, it was finally decided I was a pink tired tree stump that smells of icecream. Oh well at least I smell good. LOL.

But seriously, its these conversations that really make a child think. They start to imagine and I am so stoked that they can do that.

This morning we are off to the doctors. Matt got a wee burn the other day and we have to make sure its not infected. Mother of the year award goes tooooooooo....Trina, NOT! He's fine, its only superficial, but I was totally shaken. I guess the good thing is it was a reminder of what to do and where to store things. And as the doctor say 'this is why these things are called accidents'.

Anyway I need to put Bad Jelly the Witch on and get the kids socks on ready for daycare.

Hope you have a good day. Looks like another beautiful one out there!

T

Happy National Scrapbook Day

Hello everyone. Happy national scrapbook day! Especially to you scrappers out there! Its our special day today. Yep, a day for scrapbookers to scrap without abandon! Have you tried something new? Have you thought about your journey? Have you loved the fact you found this craft? Yeah, me too.

And to celebrate, why don't you try and win some product? Maybe head over to the Junkitz blogz and take part in the design teams challenges, games and competitions. You could win a wonderful package of Junkitz products and yep, its for everyone! I've set up a fun little game for you. Not too difficult, just answer a few Junkitz questions.....c'mon would be fantastic for a Kiwi/Aussie to win something!

Hope the rest of your weekend has gone well. We had my sisters 3 girls here today and had a ball. They are good kids and our two love them to bits. It was Kathryns birthday recently so we decided it might be nice to have them here for a wee birthday tea party and present time. Well worth it. I didn't do too much, but we had some cheerios, lollies, chips and cupcakes. Very cool. Take a look at this pic from after. They wanted to dance, so whats a Mum/Aunty to do?! LOL.

Boys!

• We had our first blocked toilet today thanks to the kids. Ugh. Thankfully Jane was here to help with the plunger, but it was my hand that went into it. OOOOOOOO Yuk!
• Along with that. What is it with boys and their willies? Yep, even at 3! And makes it even more interesting when twins sis wants to help.  Eeeeek. LOL. OMG, what to do?! LOL.
• What is it with the new way of getting a comment from typepad? I can't reply to things now. Ugh. Sorry all. Am working on that!
• Once again there are not enough hours in the day. Sleep is over rated. LOL! Hmmmm, maybe that's why I've been a little bit grumpy lately. LOL!

Vegemite and chip sandwiches

Did anyone else used to have these for lunch as a child? Yep, me too! I loved them. And then when I was pregnant I 'needed' them. Something that didn't make me feel sick. Today I happened to find some chips in the cupboard and thought why not (hmmmmm, bad call!). It was yummy. Ahhhha. LOL.

Did you know its NSD on Saturday. That's National Scrapbooking Day. Yep. All day. Do you have anything special planned? Well, we do over at Junkitz. Games, challenges, LO's. All with prizes too. How exciting is that? VERY! So make sure you pop on over to the Junkitz Blogz and take part. You might just win some very cool product! Don't forget for us Kiwis we're a day ahead, so you'll need to check it out on Sunday.

Well this week I've started and finished 2 double LO's and one canvas. I've been scrapping up a storm! Its been good, I've been scrapping non stop since I returned home and I'm loving it. Its giving me some much needed relaxation in the evenings and some 'blob' time. Where I don't have to think too much. Well, except for which color goes with which! LOL.

So you wanna hear a bit more about our Tassie trip? We happened to be near the Don railway in time to see Thomas. So we just had to go. The kids thought it was the bees knees. They got to ride the train, see some new scenery and eat chocolate (easter eggs were on sale!). Then we moved down the island a bit and went to Mole Creek. There are some very old and magic caves there. We had to do a bit of walking and to be honest in hindsight for 3 year olds it was probably a bit much. But we didn't realise until too late. Whoops. The crunch came when we were right in the middle of the caves and the guide turned off the lights. It was pitch black and I mean absolutely no light at all. You couldn't even see your hand right in front of your face. Has anyone ever been in such darkness? Well its pretty darn scary. And I'm an adult. Poor Sarah lost it and from there on cried. Poor wee thing, but at least we got to see glow worms as we left. It kinda made up for it a tiny bit.

After that we spent time at a animal park and the kids got to see some more animals. They patted Koalas and wombats, fed some roos and watched the Tassie devils also getting fed. It was a great park.

We then spent the night in Sheffield and saw a town of art. It was incredible. They have a competition there every year to paint murals and we happened to see them all just finished. Cool. Apart from the competition each year they also have walls on buildings painted with murals and, well, its just a pretty town.

So that's another couple of days.

Hey, have you checked out the dare on No8 Wired? There's some great LO's up by the contibuters and a fun dare with some awesome entries already. Go give it a go. You might just win some cool stuff from Junkitz.

Ok, gotta go. I need to do some much needed paperwork/catch up.

Also off to pick up Jane soon. Cool!

CU.

I love you, I love you, I love you.....until dinner time.

Yep, that's what my beautiful girl came running up to me yesterday morning and said as she gave me a cuddle. It was so beautiful. I mean at 3, dinner time is such a long way away from when you've just woken up. I can't imagine she would be able to think much further than that? What a gorgeous, wonderful sentiment.

So, have you seen SBO have revealed the names of the final 5 in their DT call? OMG, I happen to be one of them! Vicky Gibson, Sharee Mortensen, Ilka Adam, and Delys Cram are also in the final 5. And I tell you its been somewhat nerve racking. I mean people vote on the LO's they like best. No matter how many LO's you may have created, or shown to people, to have people actually vote on them is quite something else. Now thats nerve racking! LOL. But its also been interesting. Its been really cool to see what people have liked. And its been fun trying to work out whose LO is whose.

So tonight I asked Andrea if it was ok to show my LO's now that everyone knows whose still in. And.....here they are.

This is my favourite from the very first entry (and its just been added to the Basic Grey gallery!)

Then we had to do one on our favourite place/spot. My favourite place has always without fail been One Tree Hill. So early one morning I got up and tried to get some sunrise photos for my LO. Unfortunately the weather wasn't playing nice so I didn't get any bright colours, but I did get a heap of cool photos. This is the LO I came up with. Not exactly my fav, but hey, at least I tried something new with the brushes and journaling printed onto a transparency, then put over the bottom photo. Here it is...

Following that we had to do a receipe page. Now I really enjoyed this. I had some great pics of brightly coloured biscuits, so really had fun making a bright coloured page. I still like it.

   

The next challenge was to do a monochromatic LO using ribbon and paint. Now in scrapping terms monochromatic means all the hues of one colour. So while remaining annonymous, and working on a short time frame, I had to come up with something all in one colour. I had no photos that were working cooperatively and no time to go print some more pics, so I decided to do an all white LO. I was stoked with the way it turned out, but when I saw everyone elses LO's thought I was out for sure. As it turned out I wasn't. Here it is (my and Dan's hands). Please note the black is just background. I had to take a photo of this one as the scan didn't look very good at all. The LO is actually scalloped shaped.

We then had a midweek optional challenge with a twist thrown in. We weren't to know that immunity was up for grabs. We had to think of a special number, then use it 6 times in the LO, as the number of embellishments, the actual number and the written number plus another 3 times as well. Can you find my 6 times the number one is shown? I wasn't going to give it a go, but in the end did. Unfortunately I didn't win the immunity, but hey, I created another LO which is always good. This is it....

The last challenge we had was to make 4 cards - and we had to use one piece of PP that was the same on each of the cards. I chose a crate paper. OMG! I do cards on occassion, but it hasn't been something I've found easy. However, I actually really enjoyed this challenge. It made me think smaller. It made me use my scraps (yep, apart from the one sheet we had to use, they were all scraps). And cards being smaller are quicker. Which for me right now is good. LOL. Here are my four. My favourite is the 'thinking of you' closely followed by the Xmas card...

So this week the challenge is to create a canvas (and its no longer annonymous!).

Oh dear. I've never actually done a canvas before. LOL! So today I went and brought one (or three! LOL). And I guess I'm gonna have to get it done in the next day or two. Eeeeek.

So that's it for now. I need to get to bed. I'm still catching up on sleep. Only 2 days til I see my buddy Jane! Can't wait!

Later!