Get Your Boogie On

OK not words i utter much these days but definitely words Joe does mutter. Unusually for a male he loves to dance or should i say boogie and not to any type of music that i would ah boogie too either.
So i couldn't resist doing this LO of him that the photographer took at The Causeway. Incidentally Joe is friends with the photographer so he was hamming it up for the photo (I hope)

 This was a sketch from Shimelles blog way back in 2011 i think. I used arrows and cameras to depict the movement in the photo but yes i know cameras don't exactly move but they are fitting to the story.

 I wanted to do some ink dropping :) but had no blue studio calico mists but i did have some Stampin Up re-inkers in blue oh you should have seen me- how was i going to get this on my page..well i got a tiny piece of scrap and put a blob of ink on it then turned it over and started flicking it on the page, love the end result i got big blobs and small ones.

Everything i used came from my Studio Calico kit except for the cameras and the label.

I'm of to Nobu for lunch tomorrow, yes again Tracey i loved it that much, with Joe this time so we will get the full Nobu experience (Joe is a chef in the Nobu kitchen). Its my last hoorah before going back to work full time on Monday :( the holidays must finish some time right.

Thanks for stopping by
xx

Interactive Project Life

Sometimes I surprise myself.
This week i actually had a few too many photos for a one page spread but not enough for a double so i wanted to make a teeny tiny mini album to include in my Project Life. OK making it was easy but how to include it as i wanted everyone to be able to see the photos.
Hmmm...
After not much thought i came up with this

I cut a slit in one of the pockets and put the last page of the mini behind it and that left the rest outside of the page protector for people to flick through. Love it. So simple.

So here is week 4.

Terrible photo of me but who cares its me. I found this cute Journal reading card in my stash i had been waiting to use and as i am a book worm it didn't have way enough room to record the books i had read since Christmas. It normally takes me about two or three days to read a book, so about 2-3 per week is a pretty good average.
Again i used some washi tape and a little bit of stamping.
During the week i received a clothes package in the mail that was wrapped in this beautiful orange tissue and instead of throwing it away i made it into flowers. So still going with my interactive theme i stuck this on top of the page protector.

As it's only tissue it will flatten over time so it wont create too much bulk, but it does add some texture.
Love all this touch feely stuff.
I started back to work today, only a couple of hours a day this week, ease myself in gently, oh it's a hard life.
Have a great week everyone.
xx

Cyclones

I have a fascination with cyclones or hurricanes, ever since the late 90's when we lived in Port Hedland (far far north of Perth, its about a two day drive) and lived through a couple. All the cyclones we lived through were still not as terrifying as that earthquake we experienced in Penang last year, boy i really thought my time was up waiting for that tsunami. Anyway again i digress, back to cyclones.
There you are its hot hot hot usually about 43degrees Celsius then the clouds start turning grey but its still hot, then the rain comes and rain like you've never seen before (that incidentally is why no houses have gutters in Port Hedland) and its still hot.
before all this you watch the flags that are on every flag pole in town, blue first which means get prepared.
Full tank of petrol
Lots of water
fill the baths with water
go food shopping (and that's a story for another day just ask me about sausages)
bring inside anything that is outside that could be blown as a projectile which includes bbq's, tables, chairs etc.
make sure you have torches and a radio operated battery oops battery operated radio.

Then we go to yellow 
pick up kids from school Yay for them
Andrew home from work
everything closes

all the while its getting really really windy and you think the car is going to be blown of the road, its raining like unbelievable, lakes form where there were fields on one particular cyclone some crazy person went and got out his surfboard with a sail on it and was sailing past the roads in this big field of water that had appeared in a couple of hours.

then we go to red
police and SES and fire brigade drive around sounding alarms and making sure we're all inside, by this time i am excited and scared at the same time. We listen to the radio for updates that come every half an hour, if its night time Andrew and kids usually went to bed. Ahh not me, to scared the whole house is rattling you think its going to take off, you can feel the pressure in the house so you go and open the window a little so the house doesn't explode, i pray the windows wont shatter as surely the wind is going to blow right through them. (but no they a specially designed cyclone friendly glass)
..and then all of a sudden it stops just like that and its eerily quiet. If it was daytime we usually went out the front and talked to all the neighbours and checked out the damage. But its not over that's the eye of the storm so back inside we go and wait for the other side of the cyclone to pass us. Once we were on red for two days.
Then the sirens start and its all clear, back to work/normal/routine/school.
Did you know that after a cyclone you can find the most amazing shells on the beach
and i must add that we were never hurt or had property damaged in any of the cyclones we went through. Very lucky as we did go through a category five.
anyway i suppose you would like a couple of photos

this is from the year 1999 and one of our first cyclones

Just thought i would share a bit of our time up north with you.
If you are an Aussie Happy Australia day and to everyone else happy Saturday.
xx

Project life week 3

True to form on the Christmas holidays i have no trouble keeping up with Project Life and other crafty pursuits, here is week 3

Again i have used mainly downloads cut using the Silhouette, i never thought i would use those framey ones with the @ and ampersand symbol but i found them surprisingly simple to use.
Sticking to last weeks theme( of sticking things on top of the pages) and as i want this to be kind of an interactive album and really if I'm honest the cute envy was too big to fit in the pocket and i wanted to use it so i stuck it on the outside.(envelope is from Amy Tan)
 My thinking is that its far easier just to open that little flap than delve behind the photo and find the journaling.
When i stopped and looked at this weeks page i realised there is only one photo that includes people OK 2 if you count my feet, again there is plenty of photos of food but hey that is a part of our lives (oops I'm wrong, there is a photo of Simon in the collage  with the envelope so that's three)

Again i went to my tin of washi tapes and closed my eyes and picked one-this is my very scientific way of choosing colours-am going to try this on every week, just hope i don't pick the Christmas washi, and i had all of my Studio calico stamps next to me to use, another thing i aim to use every week. I also noticed that my go to colour over last year and this short one is red, if it looks a bit dull or is missing something then i always go back to red.

Can you see that circle cut out? The one that says 11.49. Mama Mia..... Andrew and i both slept in until this time last Saturday cant say we have ever done that before. Luckily we had a relaxing day planned which involved going to our local mall/shopping center and having an all day breakfast it was delish.

So I'm still quilting my table runner, for goodness sake it's only a table runner but it's taking me ages and Joe is waiting patiently eagerly for more pockets and another Block of the Month has arrived and i really want to get involved with Shimelles sketches and do some 12x12 layouts gee if i was a LIST making person i could write all of this in a list.

Goodnight all and thanks for stopping by.
xx

A man card

Hello and welcome, happy Sunday to you.

Oops it was my brothers birthday on the 13th and although i remembered it and spoke to him i am yet still to give him his card and gift.

Male cards are always a challenge to me, so this is what i came up with yesterday.

Apart from the chipboard bubble which is from my latest Studio Calico kit the rest is made from scraps and as it was pretty basic looking i added two different types of stitching and my beloved wood veneer stars, have i said how much i love these things.

here's the inside

yep he'll get a big head when he reads this. The stamp set is from Simon Says Stamp and its called Shoot For The Stars.

Now Andrew is cooking tonight, another new recipe from his new cookbook , i don't have to do the ironing as i can do it tomorrow oh i love holidays, so my only dilemma is should i start quilting my table runner or should i print my Project Life photos for week three or should i play on the Silhouette Cameo or all of the above. Oh decisions decisions.

xx

Project Life week 2

Good morning, afternoon or evening depending on where you are in the world

I had fun this week doing something a bit different for me with Project Life. This time i didn't use a paper collection i used a whole pile of journal cards, stickers, badges, elements etc that i had downloaded and cut out with my Cameo that have been sitting on my desk for ages waiting to be used. It was fun going through my big pile pulling out this and that.

For something different and for ease of the cards fitting in their pockets, i am going to put all badges on the outside of the pockets.

 Here's a little close up, the one mind blowing thing on this page is that we learnt that Caitlin has got to the ripe old age of 20 and never used a rolling pin, well she has now. Although i seem to remember the play dough kit having a rolling pin. Anyway chef she is not, that is Joe's department as you can see by the photo where he is giving Andrew and i a lesson on deboning a chicken, yeah right why would i bother when I've got him to do it for me. Seriously it took him about two minutes. Quite amazing and not an ounce of chicken meat left on the carcass (that doesn't look right how do you spell it, spell check is not helping me i don't think its up on cooking terms)

and a sweet friend gave me a tea caddy full of tea for Christmas as she knew i wanted one, i just don't know if she knew exactly what i was going to do with it (i don't drink tea)

i just wanted to store all of my Pl goodness in it.

have a good weekend
xx

The last of JYC 2012

Hello there
I spent most of Saturday finishing of my Christmas album, so here are the last pages.

These are just two pretty simple pages, i like having different sized pages in my albums i think it makes it fun to look thru

sorry about the glare of the plastic and here is the other side

more glare but you can get the general feel, i loaded my mini Instax camera with new film on christmas day and put it out on the table for anyone to takes photos, its a bit of a novelty so everyone one was having a go.
Now here's the last page i shouldn't put it here but i'm saving my very favourite until last to show you

very simple this one and i thought i would go up to New Years Day and call it finished. I have journaled until the sixth in my ah journal (as you would) but i am going to finish my album here and i had to finish with lots of those would veneer stars, i love them.

Now on to the next page. I channelled all my inner Shimelle for this page, everything i've learnt in her classes i tried to put in this page, so here is my favourite page of the whole album and i even used circles the hardest shape i find to use.

I even used all of my christmas papers (mainly b sides) to complete this LO the only things that weren't in my christmas stash were the flash pin and my new sequins which i think give it that sparkle. (i couldn't quite get my christmas washi to work on this page)
here's another angle

So that's it for JYC 2012 i have loved writing in my journal and completing a scrapbook album, it really did help me enjoy christmas more and if you are not signed up for this class i really really encourage you to do so next year. You don't have to do a scrapbook some of the photos on Instagram just had a lined journal with a bit of washi tape and lots of writing and they looked awesome.

So thanks for reading and following along with my JYC 2012.

Block of the month update

I love school holidays i can catch up on things that are a little behind like my monthly block of the month quilt

here is block 6 its called Town Square and was designed by Kate Spain, i pieced this at Susan's last week when the Three Of Us caught up for chat,morning tea, chat,lunch, chat and a wee bit of craft, oh and i forgot to say the numerous amount of list making that Susan and Tracey both love to do.

the next one seemed to take me ages to sew its called Moonlight Serenade and it's designed by Sandy Gervais

so that was block seven five more to go and guess what? I have already signed up for this years kit club. How could i refuse when the fabric we will be using is made by Fig Tree my all time favourite fabric designer.
and i really like this pattern, just may have to buy it and then wait for some pre cut honeycomb packs to reach Australia.

Enjoy your week
I'm going out to High Tea tomorrow
xx

Where has the time gone?

Hi ya
I just wanted to share this photo of my kids. It was taken last weekend when they went out together.



Here are Joe & Caitlin (the blond ones) and Caitlin's friend Cassandra.
I had to do a double take when I saw Joe. Wow he seems to have grown up over night.
Love these guys.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Project Life Week 1

Good morning
today i thought i would share my first week of Project Life and being the start of a new year i thought it called for a bit of sparkle and glitter so my title looks like this.

2013 cut using the Cameo

here is the actual page

i have used the 6x6 paper pad and embellishments from Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic
i have made a mental note to myself to use washi tape every week as one has a wee collection one should better start using it

and here is a close up of Joe at his New Years Day work do

I love including tags and ephemera in my pages, and no Joe did not go out in his PJ's they were his kris kringle so he had to model them.

hope you are all having a lovely day.
xx

Journal Your Christmas 2012

Hi there, i hope you are all well
I did promise in my last post to show you my JYC, a lot of other photos you have probably seen on my Instagram account, if not feel free to browse away on the link on your right.

Now i have never done a December daily as it didnt really suit my life style, by that i mean that my kids are older and we just dont attend the end of school plays, functions christmas parties etc that you would do with young children, as you know my children are all grown up. Over the last couple of years we seem to have lost the christmas spirit, although i used to mumble and grumble at getting up at two then three then four in the morning of christmas day you kind of miss all that now when your children would sleep in until noon if you let them and the excitemnt on their little faces when they unwrapped a present and how there used to be hundreds of presents and now as they get older we spend more but the presents are fewer and in most cases are something that my children have asked for so there is no surprise.. Then there was my dad he was perhaps the biggest kid of anyone and really loved christmas, ahhh so all in all i miss christmas THEN as you all know i have started stalking following Shimelle and read up on her JYC class, perfectamoondo, this was just what i needed.

This class runs from the first December up until January the sixth which is the twelfth day of christmas another reason i had to do it-dad always went on about the twelve days of christmas. Anyway you get sent two prompts each day one for journaling and one for photos. You can do all or as little as you like. I just liked the fact that we were given different things to photo, things i had never thought of and heaps of photography tips and scrapping videos.

I did this two ways, i have a book like a diary that i did all of my journaling in and let me tell you on the first day i had tears running down my face as i was writing about my dad and christmas. Some days i wrote heaps and some days nothing and some days just note points, it all depended on what i felt like doing. Some of the prompts were hard like what was your favourite childhood christmas gift. Boy i cant remember what i got last christmas let alone 30 years ago. Any way after a couple of days of thought all these memories came back to me that i had forgotten it was amazing. My diary/journal is only for me. I then started a mini album and am still going, a page here and a page there, i am having an absolute ball, so here are some of my pages

I have been hoarding this album for about the last five years, its a Making Memories one.

Never would have thought to take a photo of my friends hands

I have included the first card we received and one of the cards i made this year.

This page was a direct lift of one of the videos from Shimelle, i just happened to have the same papers.

I included one of the tags i made for all the presents i wrapped and even kept some pretty sparkly wrapping from gifts i was given (thanks Tracey)

this page is about what traditions you have and its my favourite.

surprises from far away places (thanks Dawn)

details from the day

more details

and some some instax photos.

i still have quite a few pages to do and when this is finished it will be put away with the christmas quilts etc and brought out next year as a kind of decoration for everyone to look at.
Once you have signed up for this class you get it for life so next year we will be sent prompts and it all begins again.
Bring it on i say and thank you Shimelle this really worked for me and i enjoyed christmas so much more even putting up the tree.
xx