CASual Scrappin'

What I'm up to...

2009-06-27T12:30:00.002+10:00

I've been quiet... mainly cause I've had internet issues which is actually a good thing in a way because I've managed to get to bed early every night this week!!

This weekend I hope to be able to take part in this:

The Roll 2 Create CC is also under way so take a lookie over there as well :)

Other than that a quiet weekend is just what the doctor ordered as I'm feeling really low at the moment because I'm homesick :(

Thanks for reading.

Two LOs in one evening!!

2009-06-19T22:44:00.002+10:00

Here's what I did this evening:

And I think I can safely say that this is my first successful embellie cluster!

I'm really proud of myself this evening...

Hope everyone else's creativity is flowing!

Thanks for looking.

Finally... some scrapping time...

2009-06-19T19:10:00.002+10:00

Cailin is spending the night with my sister and her boys so I finally have the chance to do some scrapping :)

Scrapping that I want to do tonight includes:

- The beautiful sketch challenge that Talia has posted on Roll 2 Create

- The chocolate challenge at Enchanted Scrapbooking

- My DT commitment for Scrap Around the Clock

I've ordered a pizza and once that arrives and I get some food in me, the fun begins.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

A blog award... yippee

2009-06-18T21:10:00.002+10:00

The lovely Vicki gave me this blog award:

~The rules for this award are.....

~1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
~2) Pass the award to 5 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award. So my 5 bloggers are:

~ 1) Vanilla

~2) KirstyP

~3) Fran

~4) Jodi

~5) Talia

Thanks Vicki!

Lookie what I have tonight...

2009-06-16T22:01:00.002+10:00

Firstly, a big, big THANK YOU to Anne and Vicki for your supportive comments on my previous post. I really need to rant and rave so, while this is not the best format to do that, it did provide an outlet.

Happily, this is what I have tonight:

My sister gave me the following formula that she used with her two boys: go through the routine then say goodnight and whatever word you use to indicate that it's bedtime (in our case, "sleepy time") and leave the room and go do a quiet activity like read; when they come into the room that you're in, don't make eye contact, don't speak to them, just pick them up and put them back into bed... after about half an hour of doing this, repeat the word "sleepy time" and take them back to bed again. She also said to me that I have to accept that it can take three hours or more the first night and I just need to commit to being calm and firm.

Well, it worked like a charm... there were several trips back and forth and then Cailin decided that if he put his slippers on, I would let him stay out of bed because he came through and said "slippers on" (the beautiful logic of a 2 year old!) but that was at the half hour mark so I repeated sleepy time and put him back to bed... He lasted about an hour and a half...

I didn't do any scrapping as I didn't want to get anything colourful/exciting out but I did read Sydney Child and have found an activity for the two of us to do this weekend which is great... Hopefully, tomorrow evening, the procedure will work again and I can start having a little bit of time to myself. I'm definitely going to scrap this picture and the story of the slippers... lol

Thank you for reading :)

I am so mad right now!! (A pure vent post)

2009-06-15T21:43:00.004+10:00

I have been trying to get Cailin to go to bed since 7:30 and he is still awake. I am so sick and tired of having to have this fight every single evening... I do everything right: I make sure that he has enough sleep during the day but not too much; I do quiet activities in the evening so that he is not bored but he is not overstimulated; I have a bedtime routine that includes a warm milk drink and 2 stories and then the war begins... I'm actually at my wit's end as I really don't know what else I could be doing!!! This is the part that sucks about being a single parent - not having any back up; not having someone to say "I'll take over for a bit"... I am so tired and irritable and uninspired to do any scrapping which is my only way of actually relaxing.

I love him but sometimes I really don't like him and tonight is one of those times... I don't understand where I am going wrong and why we have to go through this every single night (and, if I'm with him during the day then in the afternoon before he has his nap).

I hate it and wish that this phase passes quickly as I'm not sure how much more of this I can handle! He's pushing me to the edge of my sanity and I have enough stress in my life as it is!!!!!

I am so mad right now that words actually fqaily me!

If you've read up to this far, thank you for letting me vent...

So far, so good...

2009-06-13T13:42:00.002+10:00

First let's get Cailin's latest development out of the way... lol. He now has pink eye... I kid you not. He must have picked it up while we were waiting for the doctor cause he hasn't been anywhere else for the past 10 days... And, at this point, I feel that it's important to say that I do not have Munchausen by proxy syndrome... Can a person genuinely be in the wars this much?? Anyway, here's hoping that it's the third thing and we're now finished with it because otherwise I need to start earning frequent flyer miles for doctor/pharmacy visits. Since I don't have medicare, I need to pay for everything up front first and then claim it back which can get quite expensive...

Anyway, onto my weekend list:

I can cross number 1 off the list. I went to my LSS and bought some dimensional magic, another glimmer mist, some chippy shapes and some doo-dahs... A little more than I planned to but they're having a birthday sale and, well, buying scrapping supplies makes me happy :) Who doesn't feel that way... Anyway, I feel like I saved some money (lol, of course, I did SPEND some too but let's not think about it that way).

Cailin is now napping so I'm procrastinating a bit about moving on to number 2 on the list but I will get there soon :)

Hope everyone is having fun :)

So... what am I up to this weekend? and other random ramblings...

2009-06-12T23:21:00.003+10:00

I took Cailin to the doctor today to get a clearance certificate to go back to daycare on Monday but the doc said nope... Honestly, I have huge respect for SAHMs! I really need a break but then I have been working while trying to look after him so it's a small wonder that I'm not more frazzled!

Anyway, whinging over...

What am I planning to do this weekend?

1. I am buying some Dimensional Magic from my LSS

2. I am doing 2 LOs for DT commitments at Roll 2 Create

3. I am completing my DT commitment for Scrap Around the Clock Challenges

4. I am completing at least one of June's challenges at Enchanted Scrapbooking

5. I am getting to know everyone at Scrap Therapy - Scrap Around the Clock's sponsor!

6. I am working on Jenni's circle journal

7. I am working on an OTP project that has been work in progress for a while

Lots to do, so little time...

And, then, just a little promo: Check out The Photo Fixer. This is what he did for me: he took these photos:

And turned them into these:

So much more scrappable and really good value for money. I know that I probably could have done this myself in GIMP but it would have taken me ages and it would not have looked so professional. This only took two days and they capture a really valuable moment so I'm pleased that they look better.

Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope everyone has an awesome weekend :)

Some shares and some upcoming events

2009-06-10T23:00:00.007+10:00

I managed to get my last two entries in for Enchanted Scrapbooking's Slice of Life competition! Here they are:

I'm proud that I actually completed all the challenges in this comp as it is the first competition this year that I managed to complete.

Onto other news: Roll 2 Create has two easy peasy comps happening at the moment:

Blog Mini Competition: Post the following blinkie on your blog and come back and post a link to your blog. At the end of each month we'll go throught the list, check to see if you have our blinkie visible, and put your name into hat and one lucky bloggee with win a RAK.
THIS IS AN ONGOING COMPETITION - a new name will be chosen each month
To be fair to everyone, the site team will not be eligible to enter.

Posting Competition: We want you to post up a storm & go into the running for an awesome prize.
On the morning of Monday the 15th June I will be going through the members list and making a note of your current post count. At the end of June, we'll go back through the list and check post counts. The person with the highest post count jump will win an awesome RAK of scrapping goodies. If we have at ie there will be two RAKs.
So get ready to get posting :) To be fair to everyone, the site team will not be eligible to enter.

How easy is that?? You don't even have to complete a LO to get free scrapping supplies!

Also, our cybercrop is coming up and I'll be setting one of the challenges although it will be hosted by the wonderful Jenni:

And, one last little thing: I noticed I was tagged by the beautiful Talia so here goes:

8 Things I Look Forward To

1. Cailin's chicken pox going away

2. Summer (yes, it's far away but it's the only thing that gets me through winter)

3. The weekend

4. Completing my DT commitments for the month

5. Getting my DT pack from Roll 2 Create

6. Getting the thickers I ordered from Scrap Therapy

7. Getting my bargain alpha packs from Wicked Princesses

8. Taking Cailin to Jitterbugs on Saturday

8 Things I Did Yesterday

1. Cooked

2. Cleaned

3. Worked

4. Put Rosehip oil on Cailin's sores

5. Completed a LO

6. Showered

7. Watched TV

8. Read my email

8 Things I wish I could Do

1. Visit South Africa and see my friends

2. Speed up the visa process

3. Afford to buy more scrapping supplies

4. Meet nice people

5. Eat in peace and quiet

6. Spend more time each day scrapping

7. Have my own car

8. Make Cailin better quicker

8 Things Or Shows I've Watched Lately

1. Law & Order SVU

2. The Simpsons

3. CSI

4. The news

5. Neighbours

6. Recruits

7. Masterchef

8. Frequency

8 Blogs I am tagging....

Mmm. I've noticed that most people have already received this tag so if you're reading this and you haven't been tagged yet then... tag you're it!

As always, thanks for reading :)

Just a quickie:

2009-06-09T21:15:00.003+10:00

Anne is giving a free class on paper piecing tomorrow in the Roll 2 Create forum... I'm lucky enough to have had a sneaky peak at her class and it's going to be great so go and check it out tomorrow night at 7:30 over here :)

Just a few shares :)

2009-06-04T22:37:00.004+10:00

This first one is my re-do for the week 4 challenge at Enchanted Scrapbooking for their Slice of Life competition. Of course, Wendy Smith is taking part in the same competition so I don't think I stand a chance since she is sooo talented.

And, next is my entry for Week 5. Thanks for looking :)

Does it ever end??

2009-06-03T21:12:00.005+10:00

So Cailin burnt his arm on Sunday night and it's yucky horrible but healing well with no sign of infection so far...

Tonight, I noticed that he has a couple of suspicious looking spots. Chicken pox is doing the rounds at his daycare at the moment and this morning, he went to daycare with two bumps on his forehead which I didn't think much of since he gets rashes on and off. This evening he came home with the bumps having turned into blisters and a few more on his neck, back and tum!

I just don't think I'm designed to be a 2 year old's mother, I just can't keep up! lol (laughing to keep myself from crying!)

Onto better things, I should have some shares tomorrow :)

Also, my OTP challenge for the month is up at Roll 2 Create... go and take a lookie

Here's a pic of one side (the other sides are in the gallery and forum :

TFL :)

Organisation....

2009-06-01T22:19:00.003+10:00

So I think I may have figured out what has happened to my mojo: I lost it in the clutter!

Here's a before photo of my cupboard full of stash and once I have organised it, I will post an after photo (hopefully, this is sooner rather than later):

Yup, the picture is sideways; sorry about that but it's a little past my bedtime. I'm sure you get the idea :)

Hope you all have a great week :)

Cha-Cha-Changes

2009-05-26T22:27:00.001+10:00

Roll the Dice have changed their name and their look... Come take a sneaky peak at the newly named Scrap Around the Clock challenge blog.

My pretty new blinkie is there ---->

Look how clever I am...

2009-05-25T22:40:00.003+10:00

I created a blinkie all by myself... yes, it is very basic but it was merely to test whether I could do it or not... Now that I know I can, I will be able to create a more intricate one.

BTW, I created this using GIMP (just like photoshop but free... lol)

A little bitty share

2009-05-24T22:04:00.007+10:00

Wow! I've had a good weekend of scrapping... I managed to get most of my DT commitments for the next two weeks done (except the LO for the crop that I'm hosting but I will do that during the week as the idea is in my head and just needs to come out... lol

Here are two LOs that I have done for Week 3 and Week 4 of the Slice of Life competition over at Enchanted Scrapbooking... You should go and check it out. You can win a MM Slice! (And registrations have not closed although you will need to buy a Slice of Life kit from them but they're uber cheap so that's good... Anyway, my shares:

Week 3: Not everything in life goes according to plan we want to see you scrap your life when it hasn't gone as great as you planned. For example chaos that has happened, blurry photos, muck ups, mistakes....those "whoops" moments in your life.

Week 4: For this challenge you need to scrap active activities that the whole whole family does... such as footy on the weekends, washing the car, 'grocery shopping... whatever..

and you need to include 50 words minimum of journalling and 3 photos minimum.... (Unfortunately I only noticed this last bit now so I'm going to have to re-do this LO):

Oh well, guess I'm going to have to re-do that one... I have a pretty good idea on what to do for the new one :) so it's all good.

Anyway, I must be off to sort out some washing and have a quick lookie look through my pictures... :)

Hope everyone has a great week and, hopefully, I will be able to post a sneaky peak of my LO for Roll 2 Create soon ...

I'm hosting my first cybercrop...

2009-05-24T12:25:00.001+10:00

Some exciting news...

2009-05-20T08:45:00.004+10:00

I've been asked to become a DT member over at the Roll the Dice challenge blog. So there's my new little blinkie---->

This is awesome for me as my goals were to be a DT member on a shop site and a challenge blog and, at a later stage, a manufacturer...

Onto other things, I'm still in two minds about whether I should enter the Masters Competition for Scrapbooking Memories. I know that my work probably isn't up to the standard required but I also know that some of my LO's are... decisions, decisions... I'm probably going to do the LO's and then decide.

Anyway, thanks for reading :)

I've been a bad blogger... :(

2009-05-17T22:33:00.004+10:00

I haven't posted anything for agesss...

Since I last posted, so much has changed: I've been made redundant, I've moved, I've taken Cailin for blood tests to see why he isn't growing as much as he should be (results are still pending). I've lost my mojo for now :( which I suppose is understandable given the amount of things on my plate at the moment.

Anyway, a few LO shares:

This one was for week 2 at Enchanted Scrapbooking where the theme was The Best Things in Life are free and we had to use something starting with each letter of life on our LO (Label holder, Ink, Felt Flowers, Embossing Powder and Embroidery thread):

This one I did for Wicked Princess's Anger sin:

We had to use paint technique, black, white and red only and distressing. I didn't complete a LO for sloth as I just can't get inspired to do another monochromatic light blue LO. I think I did too many when Cailin was smaller... lol.

This one was for Enchanted Scrapbooking's first week. We had to create a LO inspired by the quote:

And, lastly, this one was done for Roll 2 Create's DT challenge before they were all changed. It was inspired by one of Cailin's T-shirts and I love the way it turned out:

That's it from me for now. I created a wordle today using all my previous posts and I plan to create one each month so that means I have to blog more regularly... lol. Let's hope I stick to the plan.

Hope you all have a great week.

7 Deadly Sins LO - Week 1

2009-04-25T13:31:00.003+10:00

Ok, so the first challenge for the Wicked Princesses 7 Deadly Sins challenge is complete and submitted... The them was pride and we had to use monochromatic purple, bling/glitter and make it about ourselves/our greatest achievement/our proudest moment and use "It's all about me". This is what I came up with:

Obviously, it's a little more tattered than my normal "clean" LO's but I'm trying to push the envelope a bit...

The next challenge is Envy and it has to be green and black (I'm not even sure how much green and black I have in my stash!) so I've got my thinking cap on.

In the meantime, I have to go and finish my Chinese Whispers LO... My little guy is asleep so it's the perfect opportunity.

Thanks for reading :)

Redesign complete (for now)

2009-04-21T22:39:00.004+10:00

Well, all my widgets are in the right place and all widgets seem to be working properly...

Tonight I had planned to do a chinese whispers LO from Roll 2 Create but I got sidetracked by getting this blog looking tip top :)

On a personal note, Cailin spent the weekend in hospital (and I with him) as he had a chest infection. He is on the mend now, thank goodness, but it was rather stressful... of course, this means that I'm way behind on my scrapping goals for the month.

Onto blog matters, I have no followers so please sign up as a follower. When I get to 10 followers, I will randomly pick (through the use of a random generator) one person to receive a RAK... lol, bribery in it's lowest form... can you tell I'm the mum of a two year old??

Well, thanks for reading. Towards the end of this month, I'm going to do a super LO share.

I've been quiet

2009-04-12T23:59:00.004+10:00

For the simple reason that I have been busy :)

Since I last posted, I have completed:

5 cards

3 1/2 LO's

1 OTP album

and I'm working on another OTP project but this one will take a little more time.

No picture shares yet but they will be here soon so watch this space :)

I did it

2009-04-02T14:40:00.002+11:00

A small announcement

2009-04-01T23:55:00.003+11:00

I have been chosen to be a part of the DT at Roll 2 Create. Come and check out my first challenge in the forum.

I'm so proud of my little DT blinkie! Of course, this means that I can no longer participate in the Scrappers Got Talent challenge which is a bit of a pity since I was looking forward to that... I am thinking of registering for the Wicked Princesses 7 Deadly Sins Challenge to make up for it but I'm not sure... I'll sleep on it and decide tomorrow.

Also, on the blog design front: I tried on many different templates and none of them really fitted what I was looking for and I don't have the xml skills required to create a customised layout so I have purchased a customised blog design from Roll 2 Create which means that this rather bland looking blog should be history soon!

Well, thanks for reading and feel free to pop a comment in now and then so that I know there is someone reading my random thoughts... lol

Making some changes

2009-03-30T13:18:00.003+11:00

For those of you who have visited my blog before, you will notice that changes are afoot... I'm working on a better background and until that's ready, I've changed my background to a very plain, stock standard one... so watch this space.

Once I have completed the changes, I will have a RAK or two to give away so keep visiting and checking for updates :)

I am in Noosa this week so no LO's to post but I might have something exciting to shre with you soon :)

Thanks for reading

Cas

Not going through :(

2009-03-23T20:15:00.005+11:00

I was eliminated from the amazing race... there were some great LO's there. In a way, I'm kind of relieved as I was worried about how I was going to get it done and go to Noosa for a week; also, I've been itching to do my LO's for the two remaining roll 2 create challenges this month so it's not all bad BUT I still feel kind of sad as I felt that I put loads of effort into my last LO and I thought it looked good... but then, doesn't everyone feel like that? lol

Anyway, I received my blinkie from Roll 2 Create today and I'm proud to be able to display it here:

Well, I have to go and take laundry off the line and hang some washing out to dry as well.

As always, thanks for reading.

Week 3 - Amazing Race

2009-03-21T18:59:00.006+11:00

Well, the bit reveal has happened at Mystical Scrapbooks for week three of the Amazing Race and all the layouts look amazing... the theme this week was Egypt so we had to create a warm weather layout and use the colour red. I'm really happy with the way mine turned out... I was a bit worried initially because I couldn't find any pictures but I scrapped some of my old photos and I think it looks great:

Roll 2 Create is having a DT Call so I've updated my online gallery and linked it to my blog. It's there on the left if you want to take a lookie.

Tonight, I'm going to work on a card as part of the DT call.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

20 complete!!

2009-03-15T14:45:00.004+11:00

Amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it... I've completed 20 LO's for the Memory Gifts drive... I know my math was a bit wonky in the last post and I only needed to complete 6 LO's but I have them done so this is what I'm sending to Sarah Gladman this week:

I hope that whoever gets them enjoys finishing them as much I have enjoyed starting them....

Now I have to go and attend to the more mundane things and take my washing off the line before it rains and gets them all wet again...

Amazing Race Week 2

2009-03-15T07:57:00.006+11:00

Well, I made it through to the second round of the Amazing Race but then everyone who completed a LO in round 1 did... 28 people in total. This week, 25 people completed LO's and the competition is just as tough - if not more so. The theme this week was Greenland so we had to do a LO in brown and white and use bling to represent the snow. This is what I came up with and I am happy with it - of course, there are LOs that really put this one to shame but I've never been someone who uses loads of embelishments on my LO's - I am starting to experiment with this though...

I found another nice forum and scrapping site: Roll 2 Create.

The challenges over there are really different from the normal colour, sketch, etc. challenges... This month, they have a recipe challenge, you're given the " ingredients" (list of materials required) and the recipe but not an example so it's a nice surprise to see a LO coming together. My attempt at this is this:

And then there is a card challenge where you had to use the words: " you make me happy when skies are grey"... I don't generally make cards but I gave it a try and this is what I came up with:

I'm quite happy with it... But, as I said, I'm not much of a cardmaker.

That's about it for this week... Today I need to do a mini spring clean of my unit as I have an inspection this week (it will probably pass in it's current state but I would like it to sparkle since it is my first inspection). I also want to get the rest of the LO's for Sarah Gladman's Memory Gifts. My goal is to complete 20 LO's and I've only got about 14 done so far. I need to get them to her by next Friday so I need to complete 7 LO's over the next two days - lol, no pressure!

Thanks for reading and hoppe you have a great week!

Amazing Race 2009

2009-03-07T20:46:00.002+11:00

Well, the first reveal for Amazing Race has happened over at the Mystical Scrapbooks site and the work is absolutely amazing... my lo is sooo boring in comparison, I don't think I stand a chance of making it through this round...

The theme this week was New York and Sex and the City... we had to have a pic of us with our mates having fun and the layout had to include pink.

This was my submission:

I may be back...

2009-02-12T17:52:00.002+11:00

So I have moved into my own place (after living with my folks since arriving in Aus)... Hopefully, this will give me the opportunity to scrap a bit as I did not have any time to myself while living with them - not their fault; I think they had missed me and just wanted to get to know me again after living in different countries for five years.

I have finally completed my first LO for the year (will post later once I have scanned it with my BRAND NEW multifunction printer).

Also, there's a wicked sale on Kaisercraft paper at Mystical Scrapbooking so I've stocked up there (eagerly awaiting the arrival of my order) and I'm already to go this month.

We have arrived!

2008-05-31T14:21:00.002+10:00

Just because this is probably the most unbelievable travel story around, I thought I should repeat it here even though it is completely non-scrapping related:

We were supposed to catch a 18:15 flight on 28 May so like a good little traveller, I arrived at the airport at 15:30 to check in. When I got to the counter, I was told that the flight had been delayed by two hours because the incoming flight from Sydney diverted and landed (short runways and all) in Durban. Two hours, not a problem... As I wondered aimlessly around the airport with Cailin in tow, I noticed that the departure bord had changed from "Delayed 20:30" to "Indef delay". Since we were already on the other side of passport control, there was nothing much that could be done except to continue wondering around. At around 20:00, I decided to make our way to the departure gate to see if I could find out any more info; unfortunately, now the departure boards were saying that I was going to depart through gate 18 while my boarding pass was showing gate 11. What to do? I asked an air steward and she suggested that I go to gate 11 since it was the closest and if it wasn't right then go to gate 18. Obviously, gate 11 was not the right gate so I went to gate 18 and just as I arrived there, the boards changed to "cancelled" under our flight's status. Please remember that by this time, no announcement had been made at all; we had not seen anyone vaguely resembling a Qantas employee! On masse, all passengers went to the information counter where we were told that the flight had not been cancelled; it had been indefinitely delayed and we should all go through to Ekhaya restaurant where someone from Qantas would come talk to us. Off we went and waited... After around an hour, we asked someone from the restaurant what was happening (since Qantas had not shown up) and we were told that we could get a free meal up to the value of R100. Alcohol not included - I know because I had to pay for it. Eventually, we were told that on landing in Durban, the plane had burst a tyre and since Durban does not accomodate that size of plane, no spare tyre could be found there. One could be found in Jhb however so they had flown the tyre and the engineer to Durban at 20:00 and were anticipating a 00:30 departure. At around 23:30, we all went to the gate (I think it was maybe gate 14 at this stage) only to be greeted by no staff and, worse, no plane!! At around 23:50, the plane taxied to the gate. At this stage, they still had to get all passengers off the plane (since there is no passport control in Durban, South African authorities would not allow the people to disembark while this circus went on!) and offload and onload luggage and clean the plane. Could they do this in less than an hour to keep with our 00:30 departure time??? At this stage, the Qantas person had arrived and I said that I was under the impression that it took a minimum of an hour to turn a plane around; I was told: no, they've been told to hurry; they'll get it done in time...We boarded the plane at 1:00 and waited... At 1:30, the captain decided to tell us what was happening: there was the bad weather divert to Durban, the burst tyre, the lack of a suitable spare, then when they arrived in Durban, there was another plane blocking their taxi route which is why they had arrived so late then the longest runway at Jhb closes at 00:00 and although they had received permission to take off from that runway until 00:40, that time had passed so they had been trying to renegotiate permission which they adn't received. Problem: the amount of fuel we required to get to Sydney would make us too heavy to take off using the shorter runways so we would have to offload some fuel before take off (which is what we were doing). Of course, with less fuel, we would not be able to make it all the way through to Sydney and the crew would be reaching their maximum hours so we would have to land in Perth but only for an hour to refuel and change out the crew and then we would continue onwards to Sydney and arrive there at around 22:30. There were some other complications but the other passengers and I were laughing so much at this stage that I couldn't tell you what they were! At 1:45, we took off!About an hour outside of Perth, the captain came on the PA to tell us that Qantas had made a decision for us to stay the night in Perth. This was because by the time we had landed, refueled and changed the crew, we would only get to Sydney around midnight and they have a curfew where they do not receive planes after 23:00. Anyway, we were put onto another flight to Perth which was delayed (with all the international passengers with their heavier luggage aboard a domestic flight, they had major problems with their load control schedule) and we ended up arriving at 13:15 on 30 May instead of 13:55 on 29 May!!!

I suppose the main thing is that we have in fact arrived...

Medicals Received

2008-04-30T17:08:00.003+10:00

Wow!! Our medicals have been received by the Department of Migration and Immigration in Australia. Mine have been finalised but Cailin's still have to be finalised. The migration agent says it will probably take about a week to hear further news but progress is being made.

On the scrapping front, Mystical Scrapbooking is having a DT competition at the moment and the first week's challenge involved sketches - designing and creating LOs with them. Here's my sketch. Feel free to use it and if you do, please post me a link to your LO so I can have a look at it. It would be great to see others interpretation of it.

Thanks for reading!

Some shares

2008-04-23T15:52:00.004+10:00

The picture on the left is my take on the DT challenge and the one on the right is my take on the second journalling challenge; together, they make one LO! I didn't have any matching monograms so I traced the monogram onto a square and cut it out...

Unfortunately the Mystical Scrapbooks gallery is still broken so I thought I should put my LOs on here until they get it fixed...

This is my entry for Spell 4 (can you believe we're already in the fourth week??) of the Potion Commotion competition. We had to use a large photo, inking and distressing and dominant embellies... For the distressing, I sanded the brown matting card and used tea to "distress" the backing cardstock. I inked the edges of everything and used a stencil to ink the title in two colours of ink. I also drew around the outline of my little man with ink. For my dominant embellies, I used a whole bunch of "beach findings"... I might have to go and find some more....

This is for the second colour challenge (green, blue and orange). Played with the saturation levels of the photos to make them a bit more orange.

My take on sketch 2 (turned sideways) - I still need to add the journalling... but my son managed to put this head band on himself and was so proud of himself (even though he looks like a clown!)

Anyway, thanks for looking!!!

Oh well...

2008-04-22T17:18:00.002+10:00

The Embellished DT has been announced and I'm not among them but, as I said yesterday, the standard was very high and the two people that they did pick are way above me in terms of the LO's that they submitted...

I have signed up to try for the Mystical Scrapbooks DT competition. This time around, I'm going to take a bit more time to think about my LO's before just doing and submitting because I was so excited about entering a DT that I kind of rushed the whole thing... You know how it goes, if at first you don't succeed... you're not a parrot! Ha ha.

No LO's to post today; the light still wasn't right to take pictures this morning as it is overcast and just generally miserable. I was not built for cold weather!!

Thanks for reading.

Sharing a family pic

2008-04-21T22:05:00.004+10:00

On the Mystical Scrapbooks forum, there is a thread called "Rock your blog" which basically gives a prompt each week to update your blog. This week, it's to share your favourite family picture. Because we only have a little family (of two), it's difficult to get some pics of the two of us together but I took a few of these a few weeks ago - on 4/4/8 - because everyone keeps asking for pictures of the two of us together. I think this one is my favourite out of the series. I've already scrapped a LO with it (it's in the scrapjacked section in the gallery).

So, there we go, that's my "share"...

I only managed to complete one double LO this weekend cause the little man's teeth were causing problems and I didn't manage to take a picture of it so I can't share that yet...

Embellished is going to announce the two new DT members soon. (Holding thumbs) I was one of six people who submitted all three LO's as required. the standard was very high though so I'm not confident that I will be chosen but I'm holding thumbs anyway because it would be awesome to be part of a DT!

Thanks for reading!

Medicals on their way!!! (a completely non-scrapping related post)

2008-04-18T19:46:00.002+10:00

We're making progress!! Our medicals have been finalised and it looks like I'm not going to die of any medically-related problems in the near future. The only time when a negative result is actually positive! LOL.

Anyway, so they're on their way to the Department of Immi in Sydney and they should arrive on Tuesday.

Cailin was such a cutie when we had the medicals done. He became all upset during his examination (specifically when the doctor was using the stethoscope to listen to his breathing and heartbeat)... then when it was my turn. Cailin sat next to me and when the doctor started using the stethoscope on me, Cailin became all upset again and tried to push the stethoscope away; protecting his mommy???

Anyway, thanks for reading.

Yay!!! My mojo is back!

2008-04-14T17:02:00.004+10:00

So I completed quite a few LO's this weekend but I think my favourite has to be for a colour challenge - use purple, blue and green - over at the Mystical Scrapbooks forum. It came out pretty much exactly as I had planned (and I planned it before I even took the photos LOL). It is a very simple LO and for materials, I just used the three different colours of cardstock (I think they are Die Cuts with a View but I'm not sure), two different colours of buttons and some purple thread. I handwrote the title using a metallic marker. I do think that I may change the lettering of the title but I'm leaving it as is for now:

Where has my mojo gone?

2008-04-07T23:02:00.002+10:00

So, I completed a sum total of (drumroll please) two layouts this weekend and I had started one of them on Thursday evening so it was literally just adding finishing touches.

I just really didn't like the way one of them turned out and it put me off scrapping for the rest of the weekend! So, each time I look at the LO, I think: "maybe I should change it..." then I think "nah... it looks ok..." then I think "maybe I should change it..." and so the weekend went. I haven't changed it; I'm going to put it away for a few days then have another look. In the meantime, I'm going to use this creative-less time to tidy my scrap supplies and hopefully this will inspire me again!

I have all the supplies, all the photos, all the ideas but I just don't have the drive to actually sit down and do it! This has never happened to me! Sometimes, I have the ideas but not the photos, the photos but not the ideas, the ideas and photos but not the supplies but this situation is completely unique!

It makes me want to scream!!!

Thanks for reading :)

Visa application lodged!!!

2008-04-01T20:53:00.002+11:00

Yay!!!

Our visa application has been officially lodged today electronically. Finally, progress... we had to change migration agents and this new person seems a hundred times more efficient than the last person (and such a pleasant person as well!). Australia here we come!!!

And, cause this is a blog about scrapbooking, here's my latest LO. It's for a challenge on Scrapbooking Memories forum called chinese whispers... it's quite different to my normal style, I think, but I guess that is what challenges are all about!

Simplify!!

2008-03-31T17:40:00.002+11:00

This weekend I did a bit of a back-to-basics scrapping session; my LO's have been getting a little more involved and embellished every time so I decided to regress a little because, at the end of the day, I want to keep the focus on the photos!!

I found a really cool forum with heaps of stuff to keep the mojo going:

http://mysticalscrapbooks.com.au/forum/

Definitely worth a look and they have an interesting challenge coming up soon (like tomorrow!).

We've been having a few challenges with our bandwidth so I'm not going to upload all LO's completed; I'll just put up the one that I like the most:

Thanks for taking the time to read!

Update on scrappin over the long weekend

2008-03-26T23:14:00.003+11:00

I don't know what happened this weekend but I just didn't get a lot of scrapping done. I did complete a few LO's: one for pencil lines (using an old photo of mine), one for Scrapbooking Memories March sketch challenge (using photos of Cailin), and a couple of others - Cailin at 12 months, me as a 4 year old and another one of Cailin in the garden (again) and one of my neighbours so all in all: 6 LO's (I think) ... not as productive as I had hoped but my mojo is gone away (temporarily, I hope).

I think I'm coming down with the flu so that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

I did manage to take some awesome photos to scrap in future and I visited my LSS and stocked up (chocablock!!) on cardstock so that I don't have to worry about that...

I haven't taken photos of the LO's so I can't post them today cause we've had rainy yuck weather and the light hasn't been right but I should be able to post some tomorrow (if I remember to take pics before I leave for work).

Here's an interesting pic - I think it may make a pretty good page once I figure out what to do with it:

Yup, that's my boy in the pot cupboard!

Also, I received points from Just Cre8!! I really wanted to take part in some of their birthday challenges but I just never got round to it... altohugh I did submit a bit of a story about the big thing that I do so maybe I'll get lucky in their draw.

Found a new forum today: Mystical Scrapbooks. They're going to have an interesting looking competition starting soon but I will post more details another time cause I'm still waiting for the administrator to approve my registration.

I'm receiving some nice comments on this blog now so that must mean that people are reading it! Thank you to those who commented and thank you to all who read my random meanders...

Awesome Scrapping Weekend!!!

2008-03-17T18:04:00.005+11:00

Wow! What a prolific weekend. I completed 5 single LO's and 1 double LO! I've decided that for every LO I complete for my son's album, I'm going to do one using my old photos so hopefully I can get through all the old photos before I leave. I'm determined that that box is not going to go with me!!

(Edited 01/04/2009: Unfortunately, I moved these images in photobucket and the links became broken however these can still be viewed in my online gallery)

Another Layout and a blinkie!

2008-03-13T20:16:00.003+11:00

So, I thought that I should add another layout to my blog... Got the idea for this from the Embellished forum - Sarah Gladman rocks with her Tips and Techniques section!!

Unfortunately, she has said that she is resigning from the Design Team over there. That means there's going to be huge shoes to fill because she really is awesome - in my opinion anyway.

So, back to this layout: I used acrylic paint and cardboard to create the edges. Two pieces of patterned paper (I think they might be FabScraps - a South African manufacturer) and ta-da - I like it.

It's messier than my usual work as I generally go for clean lines but I think it looks good nonetheless. I am absolutely loving using paint at the moment. I can't believe that I've never thought of using it before!!!

On a personal note:

So, our migration continues; received my contract of employment this morning and made contact with the migration agent. All seems to be on track but it's still taking too long!! Can you guess that I'm impatient?? I'm just tired of living in limbo. I kind of feel as though I have one foot in one country and the other in another and it's just not cool!

I haven't done any scrapbooking this week - pure laziness! I have the pictures, I have the ideas, I have all the materials, I just don't have the energy!

I recently came across this site http://www.scrapdreamie.typepad.com/. I'm liking it a lot. They have a blinkie patrol happening now so:

Thanks for reading (if you are)

Today is the day!

2008-03-10T23:58:00.004+11:00

Today is the day that I start this blog properly (and keep it going). I've spent a bit of time changing and adding things and I'm hoping that now I've got the hang of blogger, I'll be able to post regularly.

So, what's news? I've decided to enter a DT Call at Embellished and I've completed all required tasks. I can't publish any of the pictures here yet because they asked us not to publish anywhere else. I'm absolutely loving the forum at Embellished. Awesome challenges (I have completed the March sketch challenge) and brilliant tips and techniques from Sarah Gladman - she's absolutely phenomenal!

I've completed one of the March sketches at Scrapbooking Memories; planning to complete the other two during the course of the next few weeks.

I've also completed sketch 74 for Pencil Lines.

So, to post a picture:

This first one was one I completed for Scrapbooking Memories for Sketch 2 of the March sketches. I also used one of the dares from Embellished to use wings and one of Sarah's tips on watercolour flowers. I originally had a white background but I didn't feel comfortable with it so added some watercolour. I really like the way it has turned out!