OMG Life Is Crazy.....

Well mine is, that's for sure!!!!
The past month has passed in a blur of paint fumes, cleaning, lots of noise & commotion.
You see, we have made a life changing decision & it is requiring an awful lot of work in order to make it happen. For the past 20 years we have run our own patio business but it has come time to start lessening the physical load on my dear hubby so we have decided to close the business. This in turn saw hubby apply for a fantastic job, which he was successful in gaining, which just happens to be about an hour away from where we currently live. Another decision was made, a heart wrenching one at that, to put our house on the market & move somewhere closer to the new job.
We started building this house 13 years ago with our own little hands & even though it's been incredibly tough at times, we're pretty darn proud of the achievement. It's not going to be easy to walk away but on the other hand we are looking forward to a life that is simpler.
There are loads of bits & pieces that we need to finish off on the house, hence the flurry of activity lately.
This month also saw our son turn 18. A big milestone birthday for my little boy who has grown into a gorgeous young man. He had a party at home with some of his friends which went really well.
He has also done himself very proud by receiving an awesome TER score of 95.45 & to top it off, he was awarded an impressive university scholarship. So he's off to uni next month to start his Commerce degree.
This is the card I made for his birthday. It ties in with his gift from us which is a trip to his holy grail, the Melbourne Formula 1 Grand Prix.







I've also been very busy making the wedding invitations for a long time friend. I was thrilled to be asked to make them for her & here they are all finished.








School started back this week & Miss Molly adores her new year 3 teacher. This will probably be her last term at the school which is sad. I've had children attending this school for the past 20 years so it's going to be hard saying goodbye to everyone. I've been spending hours on the computer lately researching new schools & getting to know which areas would be better to move to.

I don't know how often I will be able to update this poor blog of mine in the near future, not that I get much time to create anything anyway.
I hope you are all well & happy & until next time, take care & I'll keep you posted on the madness that is my life :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR....

Even if I am a little late. Gee it's been a busy start to the year so far, which is really terrible because I'm supposed to be on holidays & relaxing!!! Ahhh well, never mind, I'm sure things will quieten down one day....hah!!!
How was your Christmas? It was a wonderful day here, quiet but lots of fun.
We ate wayyyy too much, all got spoilt & enjoyed each others company very much.
I just have to share this adorable photo that I took of my gorgeous little grandson.
My daughter raced against time to get this cute little hat knitted for him in time & it was so worth it to get a photo this gorgeous.







Hope you enjoyed your first Christmas baby boy.

I hope 2010 is a wonderful, happy & fulfilling year for you all. It's looking like it's going to be a year of change for me. Lots happening at the moment but I'll fill you in on that another time.
Change is a good thing though. It can bring many new experiences & opportunities, as well as challenges, but I'm really looking forward to something new & interesting in my life & feel ready for it.

It was Chloe's birthday shortly after new year so I was back into the card making quick smart, to make her this birthday card.







I had some other cards to make too but unfortunately I can't show you those ones....they're a secret, LOL.

Before I go, I just wanted to let you all know about a great challenge that is being held over at Scrap Pile.
Here are all the details:

JOIN US FOR OUR

'LAZY DAYS OF SUMMER'

COMPETITION

To celebrate the start of 2010, Scrap Pile is holding a "Lazy Days of Summer" competition. It will run over six weeks, starting MONDAY 18th January. Each week, participants will be challenged to create a layout or other project, with a different summer theme each week. There will also be games and challenges each week, minor weekly prizes and an overall prize for the winner.

Here's a sneak peek at the prize which has kindly been donated by our main sponsor BUMBLE BEE CRAFTS:

The runner up will receive a beautiful 12 x 12 Floral Brocade Pearl White Album by PRINT BLOCKS together with a Scrapbooking pack.

All are welcome to join. Register for the forum now , and indicate your interest.

So if you are looking for a bit of fun with a great bunch of girls, head on over & sign up.

That's it from me for today.

Take care :)

The Last Post For The Year .....

WOW, this year has seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye!!!!
It's been a good year in many ways though it had it's challenges too. I love New Year & always look forward to it. There's something about having a clean slate & a fresh start that I find very invigorating.
I wish you all a truly fantastic 2010 filled with good health, happiness & dreams fulfilled.
Thank you very much for stopping by my blog & leaving such kind comments.

Just thought I'd share a few projects that I've made lately.
This is a Kaisercraft Wreath that I made for my good friend, Mel.







This card was made for a challenge at the recent Scrap Boutique cyber crop.
My criteria that I needed to use for the card were: pink/purple, chipboard & a wreath.
I made the wreath from a chipboard ring & tied lots of pink, purple & white ribbons to it.







This card was also made for a Scrap Boutique challenge. Liz showed us how to make cool pocket cards & I really loved making this, it was a whole lot of fun.







A friend from Scrap Pile sent me a little hanging calendar as part of our Christmas Swap & I prettied it up a bit & will be hanging this in my scrap room.







My last piece of news is that I have had some cards published for the very first time. It seems really weird to see my cards in a magazine but very exciting too.
They are in the current issue of Cardmaking, Stamping & Papercraft - Vol 15 No 8.







Well that's it from me for now.
I'll be back next year :)

Merry Christmas To All.....

Just popping in to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas & a fantastic 2010.
Take care :)

A Fun Blog Award....

I received this from my friend Karen, thanks so much!!

I'm so sorry that I haven't done this earlier, Karen, I completely forgot.

Here are the rules:

* You can only use ONE word
* Pass this along to 5 of your favourite bloggers
* Alert them that you have given them this award
* HAVE FUN!!!


1. Where is your cell phone? Charging
2. Your hair? Frustrating!!!!
3. Your mother? Deceased
4. Your father? Deceased

5. Your fave food? Cake

6. Your dream last night? Nil
7. Your fave drink? Cappuccino
8. Your dream/goal? Perfection :)
9. What room are you in? Kitchen
10. Your hobby? Cardmaking

11. Your fear? Crowds
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Younger :) :) :)
13. Where you were last night? Home
14. Something that you aren't? Messy
15. Muffins? OK

16. Wish list item? KitcenAid
17. Where did you grow up? Brentwood
18. Last thing you did? Showered
19. What are you wearing? PJs
20. Your TV? Loud

21. Your Pets? Bella
22. Friends? ScapPile
23. Your Life? Busy
24. Your Mood? Sick
25. Missing Someone? Chloe

26. Vehicle? Lucius
27. Something you’re not wearing? Socks
28. Your fave store? IKEA
29. Your fave color? Green
30. Last time you laughed? Today

31. Last time you cried? November
32. Your best friend? Hubby
33. One place that I go to over and over? School
34. One person who emails regularly? Mel
35. Fave place to eat? Chinese

I pass this award on to these fabulous ladies who are definitely OVER THE TOP!

CHLOE - My gorgeous daughter

LEAH - Too lovely for words

LIZ - Inspirational!!!

HELEN - Sweet chocolate junkie

LEONE - Funny & talented lady

Over to you girls :)

Some More Christmas Projects.....

Hi again :)
I just wanted to quickly pop in & show you another Christmas gift I've made.
This is for my daughter's grade 2 teacher.

I've decorated a plain glass jar & filled it with Smarties. She'll get a laugh out of it I'm sure.















And also, here's a card from another batch of Christmas cards I made to hand out to friends.







Lots of gorgeous Making Memories supplies on this one.

OK, the weekend is over again. Only 4 more days of school to go & then we start our glorious summer holidays.....can't wait.

Have a fantastic week everyone :)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas.....

Yippee, it's less than 2 weeks until Christmas!!!!
I've been working on my final Christmas gifts & cards this week & am happy to say that I'm all ready for the big day & can't wait :)

It's been very busy here with some very important occasions lately also.
My son graduated from high school last week at a beautiful ceremony held at UWA. We were all so proud of him & his achievements which included receiving 3 awards on the night, for being the highest acheiving student in Accounting & Computing & he also received the ECU Business Award.

This is the card I made for him to celebrate his graduation.







Three days later he set off to his Year 12 Ball looking like such a handsome young man in his 3 piece suit. Such a proud Mum moment, I can tell you :)

It was also my birthday this week & my darlings spoilt me with wonderful presents & lots of love.
I just had to show you this awesome snail card that my daughter, Chloe, made for me. Isn't it too cute???







Anyway, I thought I'd show you some more Christmas cards that I've made. These ones are all for family members.
This one is for my daughter, Chloe. She made a special request to have that beautiful Making Memories felt embellishment on her card so here it is.







This one is for Til, my little grand daughter.
I've used Kaiser papers on this one & handmade the little stockings.
This card was also for a challenge at Scrap Pile's last CC.







This card is for sweet little Oliver, my baby grandson.
The papers are from October Afternoon.







This one is a little different but it's for my son, Luke.
I wanted to make it meaningful to him by including one of his interests into it. So I printed out this picture which is of the bird on the Liverpool Soccer Club Logo, he's a Liverpool fan.
I thought, hey, at least it's a festive colour, it'll be OK. Anyway, he'll love it so that's all that matters.







Thanks for stopping by & I hope your Christmas preparations are on track too.
Bye for now :)

Christmas Preparations.....

Are well under way here. I am so ridiculously excited about Christmas this year that I already feel impatient for the big day to arrive.
I'm not sure where this bubbly enthusiasm has come from as nothing extra special is planned. I think it's more to do with how much I love us all spending the whole day together & having silly fun & enjoying each other's company.
I've got nearly all of my shopping finished which is a relief & I've also made a few gifts too.

My Christmas cards are nearly finished too.
I decided to make it a bit easier this year & make lots of the same design.
So far I've made about 30 cards from two fairly basic designs.
This was my first batch, made using Basic Grey Figgy Pudding papers.







And here is a close up of one.







This is my second batch, which I used Pebbles Inc papers on.







And this is a close up.







I've also made some one offs for some challenges.
This one is for Liz's monthly challenge at Scrap Boutique.
I've never made an easel card before but really loved doing this one. Thanks for the inspiration Liz :)







This is for another of Liz's challenges, a sketch one this time, for the November cybercrop.






Lovely Making Memories Falala papers on this one.


How are you going with your Christmas preparations? Are you making any cards this year.
I'd love to see them.
Hope you all have a great week & thanks for popping in :)

OK, I Know It's Been Awhile.....

Chloe has been giving me heaps about not updating my blog & I have been meaning to but just haven't found the time lately.
This time of year gets busy for us all & our son has been doing his TEE exams & there have been lots of functions & events with it being his final year of school.
So I do apologise for my lack of keeping my blog up to date & hope you all understand.

Anyhow, Chloe & the grandkids came over to visit today & Clo & I sat at the table & crafted together for the first time in ages. It was so much fun. The girls played happily all day & Oliver got passed around for lots of cuddles with everyone. He is so adorable & has the cutest little smile.
It was a pretty perfect day I must say :)

This is the card that I made today. It's for the Lime Tart challenge which was to use black & white with one other colour.
I used my Cuttlebug butterfly die for the first time which I love.
I've also used October Afternoon papers & a Collections transparency.





I've been working on lots of Christmas cards too so will try to pop back tomorrow to show you.
Take care & thanks for stopping by:)

Short & Sweet Sunday.....

Hi all :) Tomorrow is the last day of school holidays...gee it went quick!!!
I still haven't taken Molly to the movies so I'd better take her tomorrow. She really wants to see "Up".
Yesterday I had fun with Liz's monthly challenge at Scrap Boutique.
She gave us some great instructions to make a dahlia flower, which I've never made before.
So I gave it a go & this is the card that I came up with to use it on.







I've used October Afternoon "Detours" papers.

That's all for tonight.
Thanks for popping in & I hope you all have a wonderful week :)

More WCMD Cards.....

Hi there. Did you all have lots of fun on WCMD? I hope so because I sure did.
I am a bit late posting the rest of the cards I created over the weekend but here they are.
These first 2 where for challenges at Scrap Boutique.

This one is for a sketch challenge set by Liz.





I've used Cosmo Cricket "Girl Friday" papers.


The next one was for a colour challenge also set by Liz.
I've used Cosmo again on this one, this time it's the "Early Bird" range.







The last one is for a challenge at Scrap Pile, set by Bel.





The challenge was to use something old, something new & something borrowed.
I used some old Scenic Route paper, my new Diamond Plate Cuttlebug Folder & my borrowed was a piece of kitchen foil.

Thanks for stopping by to say hi :)

Happy World Cardmaking Day.....

Hi everyone, woohoo, it's finally WCMD. Can you tell I'm a little excited, LOL.
I've been having a great time today with online friends, enjoying some fantastic challenges that have got the creativity pumping around again.
I kind of prefer to think of WCMD as a weekend long event so I'll still be at it tomorrow trying to get even more challenges finished.
I'd love to hear what you have all been doing to celebrate WCMD. Did you get together with friends or enjoy some quiet creative time by yourself?

So far I've finished 3 challenges but have only photographed two of them.

This first one was a challenge set by Manon at Scrap Boutique.
She posted the instructions to make a cute tag accordion style card. I changed mine a bit though as I got an idea to use the cute K & Co tags that I had.
This is going to be Molly's Christmas card for this year.

This is the cover & as it unfolds it tells a little story that I'm sure she'll get a giggle out of.






1st fold





2nd fold





3rd fold





& 4th fold.





This is the back cover.





And this is how the inside looks unfolded all together.





The second one is a challenge set by my friend, Gill, at Scrap Pile.
Naughty Gill really mucked around with my head on this one, LOL.
Her challenge was to make a simple Christmas card that was only one layer & using a stamp & one other embellishment.

Now I'll be the first to admit that I don't do simple very well, I love putting heaps on my cards, the poor things can't stand up sometimes, they're so heavy, LOL.
Anyway, I tried & I tried & after tossing 3 failed attempts I came up with this.
It was really hard to leave it alone because I kept wanting to add stuff, hehehe.

I used a piece of double sided MM paper & tore the bottom edge of the front to reveal the pattern on the inside. The stamp I used is from Stampin Up & I added a MM poinsettia flower.






Well it's gone midnight here so I'd better head off for some sleep as I'm off to visit Chloe & the grandkids tomorrow & we're all going along to check out the garage sale at Just Scrapbooking.
Hopefully there will be some great bargains. Molly has even saved her pocket money.
Hope you all had a wonderful WCMD & please leave me a link so I can check out what you created today too :)