sick

I have finally succumbed to the first cold of the year. Like everyone else I hate being sick, especially on a perfect autumn day in Canberra. Matt is still home but he always takes a long time to get over things. Henry is mostly over it, finally and Geoff is still deciding which way his illness is progressing. Meaghan as always, is the healthiest of the lot of us. I wish we all had her immune system...

Anyway I got these LO's done yesterday so I can lay in front of the tv today and plan a few things that are due next week.

This one was a challenge at Butterfly crafts were Karen supplied a list to try and include on your LO.

Polka dots
Orange
Gingham Ribbon
Butterfly
Scalloped edge
Turquoise
Cherries
Pins
Felt
Bling

This was for the other challenge DT but it looked fun. I dodn't include the cherries or the felt and the bling is subtle, a bit of glitter on the butterflies wings. Give it a go, the major prize is still up for grabs.

The next challenge begins on the 1st of April and I am still trying to come up with my take on the interesting visual challenge Karen has set for us this time - stay tuned.



He learnt this from his big sister and never fails to amuse me. He has no idea what he is doing, only the suspicion that he looks cute doing it.


This is for one of my new fav challenge sites - twisted sketches.

The twist this week was green and although it is looking surprisingly green around here at the moment, I chose to go back in time, to a place some say is best forgotten. A place where flounces, taffeta and spots were the height of fashion. Yes back to the 80's. This was the first dress I paid for myself and i wore it to many occasions, luckily my social circle was reasonably diverse so no one noticed, or cared for that matter, that it was dragged out of the cupboard again...

The only thing missing was the shoulder pads but I think they were more early 80's.

And that is my husband (on the right) and his best man I am with but we didn't go out until probably 18 months after this photo was taken.

I love the texture of this cardstock but it doesn't show up too well on the photo's.

more Tathra

Did I say how much we enjoyed our weekend away yet?? Ok, this is the last (probably..) of our weekend away, time to move on.

Anyway, the place we stayed had a cracking mini golf course, we played both mornings we were there. The kids in one group and the death match adults group bringing up the rear. Geoff (normal handicap on real golf course - single figures, Pete also serious - well they are boys I guess). Michelle and I - scoring - needless to say with only a wee bit of tampering and no adding up the final score - the girlie's triumphed over the boys. Hooray for us - and we don't count the middle volcano hole where I may or may not have picked up the ball in the end and chucked it down the hole.

The kids also had a spirited game with one ball being fired into the trees in a fit of 'I'm going back to the start and you can't count my first few shots... The other kids didn't stand for that but the game contiued with only a few arguments.


And finally sketchy Thursday for the week. Kept this simple, Henry cutting a mighty fine figure on the beach (If he turned sidewards, we may lose him!)

As we are heading towards the end of the month, just a reminder there are some fabbo prizes out in challenge land with very few entries, so chances are good.

Butterfly crafts (a full Scrap a gogo kit up for grabs) and The Studio (not sure what their prize is for March but they always have wonderful sponsors) both need more entries. Even if you don't enter go check out the DT's Lo's, very inspirational.

Go Play xxx

Twisted sketches

I was cruising around the web, looking at my ever growing list of challenge sites when I remembered the Twisted Sketches Site. I hadn't been there for a while but remembered they had great challenges and to my surprise one of my entries for a month or two was featured and I get to be a Guest Twisted Sister sometime in the coming months, yay.

The twist for this sketch was staple, anyway, anyhow, so I made my heart out of staples, I guess I should of had a close up of that, but you get the idea anyway.edit by popular request (2 does count as popular, doesn't it??)

I have started scanning some of the photo's of the kids when they were younger. There is a disturbing lack of photos from certain time periods and a definite lack of quality as well. these ones were taken in our back yard just after Henry started walking. He was so little but very determined. Geoff's Mother was horrified that we let him walk so young - I'm not quite sure what we could've done to stop him though...


It's been a good week with Sketchy Thursday selecting this for their one of their weekly picks and making the top 5 at SPCC for my Tathra animals as well.

This a close up of the flower I had made from the last post but for some reason refused to upload the other day - I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out

It is perfect weather here at the moment so lots of bike riding and we are off for a mystery dinner tomorrow night for Matt's house - always a great night (although I have to prepare an entree for 13 - eep, serves me right i guess for RSVPing late, i had wanted to do a dessert...)

Have a great Thursday/Friday {depending where you are} xx

Thanks goodness for challenge sites!

Two more challenges to help me scrap our weekend to the coast. I think that I would get very little scrapping down without the helping hand of some wonderful ideas. I also used Basic Grey backgrounds for both LO's (see Laura, it can be done, not sure how well it is done BUT it can be done!!)


The first is for Mission to create which has a list of items to create a page with. Mission 012 has the following:
use a pp background only...no cardstock
colours brown, green and blue
Decorative Tape/Gaffer Tape
one or more vintage/retro style products on your page

plus an album cover which can be seen here

Geoff took this photo of Henry jumping over the waves at the beach. He was having a great time until he turned blue from the cold and felt the need to bury himself in the sand. The colour in the photo isn't spectacular, the close up has the more accurate shades and I'm not sure why the decorative tape appears to be striped in blue, it is folded onto itself but the colour is all the same (see the close up as well). maybe I will redo this photo tomorrow I think!) {edit, new photo, more natural colours..}




As always, sketchy Thursday's sketch for this week was a cracker and I used a photo of us and the family we went away with, on the way back to Canberra. It was at the top of a winding road so a perfect place to run out the car sickness. There is a little path into the bush and another lookout that the kids loved running around and as a bonus there was a geocache there, not too tricky to find. This place was named after a bus driver (Tom Piper) who took passengers over Brown Mountain a few times a week, must have been a goat track back in the 50's. He had a heart attack while digging his bus out of the snow, how much hard work would that have been? I like that it was named after someone deserving rather than a politician or royalty (don't get me started..).

Tathra wildlife

The wildlife at Tathra was every where. The lodges were we stayed was set in bushland (Kianinny Resort - great place) and they have a resident goanna, possums that visited at night and water dragons on the road. On one walk, an echidna was spotted but didn't uncurl.

The colours are from SPCC, love these colours, very good for the Australian bush.

Just a reminder that Butterfly crafts has a wonderful prize from scrap a gogo, for the month of March (see my related blog post here)and they have only one entry so far. It's a great sketch and it always fun to play along. Looking forward to seeing your entries.

Have a great day xx

Sketchy thursday goes digi

Ok, starting to go back for photos of the kids when they were smaller. This is Henry when his hair was at its' curliest (a time he pines for). The arrival of a box is always a big thing, Matt loved them, they were his refuge, to Henry more of another toy to climb on/in/over.

This is for Sketchy Thursday as they are going digi this week, I thought I should follow suit. The elements from this lo are either from Digital Designers or Cat Scrap, probably my two favourite digi shops.

We have just got back from a long weekend in Tathra, plenty of scrapping material there, loved it! More during the week as well as our night at The Merchants of Bollywood (lots of very buff men keen to get their shirts off and loud Bollywood music - could it get better than that?)

Meaghan is off to camp bright and early (sigh) in the morning so off to bed I must go as well.

have a good one xx

Bikini girl

I am pretty sure this was the last time I wore a bikini in public (although I'm not sure it was my brother, Robs' last time in speedos). I was never a bikini kid, prefering full piece suits and now, although I do wear two piece suits, they are covered up with rashie tops. Of course back then having a tan was the healthiest option and even egtting burnt at the start of the season somehow protected you for the rest of summer. No hats or sunscreen, so different now where it takes an age just to get the kids out the door. Mind you having seen some very badly sunburnt kids over the years I'm glad it's changed.

The sketch is for sketchy thursday of course - wonderful sketches.

Butterfly Crafts Visual Challenge is up

Yay, my first LO for the visual challenge at Butterfly crafts is up. Very excited, go check out the other DT girls interpretations and then have a go at the sketch. There's a great prize from ScrapaGoGo up for grabs. Hmmm maybe being on the design team does have it's downsides as it looks like a cracker.

The photo was taken just before Matt had his golden locks lopped off. Geoff had been pointing out the similarity between him and the paddle pop lion all summer and sometimes, when his hair was sticking up, he did have a point.