A late Dollies and a couple of other things.

I was very naughty this week and did not get my Trifecta challenge completed in time to put up on The Dollies Blog. This week's trifecta includes this sketch, the colour scheme (monochromatic pink with a touch of yellow) and the subject is me (or you obviously, now I'm just confusing things).

So I have put this together, possibly my pinkest LO ever! These photos, which I think I have put up before - is form a combined birthday party last year. Hopefully our next get together will be very soon.



I will admit to having neglected my scrapping over the past week. It is turning colder here and I always get distracted with other crafts at this time of the year. I am currently finishing a Dr Who scarf for Matt that I started last year and abandoned when it got warmer. Very easy and good for doing in front of the tv. I have also been inspired by Laura and have purchased a beginners crochet book, that is quite funky as well. Have been struggling with it the past couple of nights and am starting to get the hang of the basics. Stay tuned.

And today I managed to scrap a couple of pages about Meaghan and her indoor soccer team. these girls are just gorgeous, very friendly and encouraging to each other. Some of the other teams are not quite so friendly to each other and I am always proud of our girls. They tend to get most competitive against the other team from Girls Grammar...

They won the last game of the year, also there first win. great way to finish.

This one is inspired by The Studio's sketch (plus use a ruffle).


And here are the girls -



And here is my girl playing and having fun. Using Sketchy Thursday latest sketch.



Ok, time to go pick up Henry from school. Pop on over to The Dollies and have a go at the trifecta.

I will be back on the first on the month with something I am very excited about. keep an eye out. Have a great day xx

A Dollie, a samuari and a zombie

And a hint of Michael Jackson...

First the Dollie

Of course this is the latest sketch offering from Design Dollies.
Here's the sketch

and here is my take
Love the new coffee stain stamp that was in the latest Cocoa daisy kit. so very cool and I think will be in use possibly too much....

And now onto my latest (of many) addiction. I have had this book
for a couple of weeks, and its previous volume about a year but hadn't gotten around to using the zombie book yet. Now I have!!

Firstly from the old book, Felties. This was requested by Henry as he liked the fact that the cat had been a ninja first...And now onto the undead..


(may have been inspired by the fact that Plants vs Zombies - a computer game has been played constantly in our house over the past couple of weeks..)

and finally Thrilla -

Not a stunning photo but he is so very cool. (the little sequins are supposed to represent exposed brains..). Not sure which to do next but The Day of the Dead doll is high on the list. We shall see.

The next book by these authors is a Steampunk Softies, can't wait!!

have a great day. xxx

more cousin love

Hello on a nearly rainy monday morning. Two kids successfully sent off to school, one back at work today after recovering mostly from his throat infection.

Last night I spent some time on the computer and came up with my rather vague interpretation of the latest sketchy Thursday sketch



More photos of my littlest niece Holly, this time with Meaghan acting the role of adoring cousin (no acting required at all really)

Not sure about the blue across the bottom but I like the rest (a combination of Little Dreamer products and the tree is from 9th and Bloom).

Back later with the next challenge from the Dollhouse. Have a great Monday. xx

A quiet Saturday Night

Hope you are all having a fine weekend. It is definitely autumn here, a bit cold but not too bad. The cocky's have started attacking the trees (much to Matt's dismay, he has to rake up the resulting mess...).

Meaghan is off babysitting - her first time!! It is just around the corner and the boys are in 8 and 10 so not too tricky - hopefully. She is going ice skating and to the movies tomorrow with her newly earned wealth. Matt is home recovering from an ear infection that kept him home from work for a few days and Geoff has ridden off to a friends house with his new bright lights (I think you can see them from space!).

So it is very quiet here. I finished this today with some of the latest Cocoa daisy kit. And with this sketch from Get Creative @ Crafty Croppers for inspiration (although I didn't add the banner I wanted to - drats)

and here is my boy on our trampoline.
Off to finish watching an old Bond Movie now - sigh, Sean Connery.

xxx

Buddha Park

This place totally rocks in a bizarre, surreal sort of way. We had wanted to visit when we were in Vientiane but we had run out of time. Luckily we had one less day in Luang Prabang (bad hotel) than originally planned so an extra whole day in Vientiane was a bonus.

We caught a tuk tuk, as it is 25k's out of town. The ride was a blast, love riding on the back of these, it took an hour so plenty to see on the way (the only sight our driver thought to point out was the beer factory..).

This place, on the banks of the Mekong (never get tired of saying that, The Mekong has such an old worldly feel about it) and it was just a large park. But it was filled up with all these giant statues all made by one man in the 1950's. And oddly enough (I found it odd anyway) that it covered two religions - Buddhism and Hinduism. I guess it was the same in the ancient temples of Cambodia.

The reclining Buddha is over 40m long, and there is a little temple that you can climb into, far too steep for me. There is also this very bizarre stupa sort of, which you get into by climbing into a demons mouth (as you do) but that requires a whole new LO.

Another place in Laos I would completely recommend visiting.



I have used a rare double sketch from Sketchy Thursday for this Lo. I struggle with doubles but is easier with travel photos as we have soooo many of them.

Here's the sketch-


and my Lo completed.


The latest Cocoa Daisy kit has just lobbed on my doorstep so hopefully will have more to show this week. xx

It's all about me

Ahh- isn't it always??? But this week, it is specifically about me (or you obviously..) in the latest challenge at Design Dollies. It is so hard to do a LO about yourself - esp if you are like me and always behind the camera, so there are very few photos of me out and about.

I have written about how hard it is to be yourself but I am finding it easier as I get older. I have more confidence now than I have ever had I think. It helps that I am in a happy stage of life where everything is reasonably easy- touch wood. I am also finding it a bit easier to speak my mind - hmmm by the time I am a bit older, watch out - I will be one of those cranky old women who harps on about the good old days and mutters about young whipper snappers...

So pop on over and tell us something about yourself!!

Now on to more exciting matters - the random winner of my little blog candy give away for Trace's birthday blog hop is

tada - Julie B from Rainbow Days.

Yay Julie, also a member of the hard working Southern Girls DT. Gotta Love that!!

And lastly a few photos from our lovely little city. It is Canberra's birthday this week, 98 years old (a mere baby I know). To help celebrate, a couple of the major institutions have put on a light/picture display using their building as a canvas. The results are spectacular. WE toddled along on Saturday night, it was perfect weather wise and when INXS are giving an open air concert that you can hear quite easily any where in parliamentary triangle, just wonderful. Photos are quite dark though - still getting the hang of the new camera and haven't had time for post production work on them.

This is the National Library

And the Art Gallery (unfortunately only half the show was working the night we were there)

Old Parliament House

And lastly New Parliament House
I think I will be back later today as I have nearly finished this weeks Sketchy Thursday Sketch - a double Lo which is a stretch for me - we'll see how it goes.

xxx

Welcome to 'Yay - It's Trace's Birthday' Bloghop

Welcome to those who are visiting from the talented Patricia's Blog.

It's Tracy Jackson's Birthday (well very close to her birthday anyway -oops) and to celebrate we are having a surprise blog hop for her. 3 design teams have come together, to show our appreciation of the work she does (I have got to know Trace as she co founded The Southern Girls Challenge site with Lovely Lou).

To help kick things along I will be having a small blog hop candy give away, as mentioned yesterday, I am currently addicted to crocheted edging (see here, and here and here completely addicted) and have bought quite a lot of it. More than happy to share some of it around, along with some other ribbon trims (and maybe a couple of other extras that didn't make it to the photo..)

So to have a chance at winning a little bit of yumminess, just leave a comment - no need to become a follower unless you want to of course ;) and maybe tell me what you would love to get for your next birthday. I will draw a winner on monday at some stage.

Then pop along to Lou's blog next and don't forget to go visit Tracy's blog and leave some birthday love. Tell her I (or one of the other fabby girls) on the hop sent you - it is sure to put a smile on her face!!).

Thanks to Michelle for organising this, I'm sure she will have a full list of participants on her blog. There's bound to be other candy on the hop, but also a heap of talent on display, so go check out all the girls.

Happy Birthday Tracy!!! xxx

Easy Challenge this week

Ok - expecting hundreds of entries this week at Southern Girls - the only stipulation is FLOWERS. Use lots, use a few, but more than one is preferably..

I have also used an image from one of this weeks sponsors - Whimsy Stamps. The very bright butterfly (no subtlety in my colouring I'm afraid) is their daisy butterfly. Go check out what the girls have done with some of their other stamps and also form our other sponsor, The Paper Shelter (completely adorable digi stamps here)..

And if you like the crochet trim on my Lo (another very sweet photo of my nice Emma), come and visit me in a day or two as I am having a little give away (stay tuned for more of that later). I am using it on all my Lo's at the moment , completely obsessed by it. I picked it up, along with that fabulous crocheted flower, at out local fabric store, Addicted to Fabric. Who needs a specialty scrapbooking store close by?? (sigh, I would love that actually..).

And a quickish (although not as quick as I first anticipated of course!) digi Lo, for my friend Irini's challenge site, Get Creative. I have been so naughty not participating much yet but I love the work her and her very talented team has done. This week was a list challenge. Very simple, hard if you like adding lots of stuff , here's the list

1 pattern paper

1 card stock

1 strip of ribbon/lace

1 button or brad

1 die cut

1 title

1 picture

and my Lo. The happy/grumpy look is an institution in our house. The boys do it so well and it is guaranteed to get them out of a bad mood.

Isn't that typewriter (which is my digi version of a die cut in this list) cool? You can get it at Little Dreamer Designs but only for the next few days as they are closing down their store. Good news is that everything is half price. I have stocked up on a few kits, so cheap and I love their stuff. Will miss them, sigh again.

Ok back in a day or two for a special blog hop and a little give away.

Have a great day. xx

A day of scrapping

Geoff is in Melbourne for work, so I could spread my stuff everywhere, ahhh. It felt good (much as I miss having him around - he's back tomorrow), and I got lots of stuff done.

First up for My favourite things challenge site. I love this site but haven't played for ages. This month it is favourite feature. i have chosen Henry's lovely curly hair. We should move to a rainy country just to keep his hair springy. It is too dry here to keep the curls for long. And he loves his hair. Any threat of a haircut (or even brushing) is met with a LOOK!!! Do not touch the locks!!

This photo was taken in Kuala Lumper so nice and moist to keep the curls (ok, quite messy as well..). I am quite happy with the way this turned out - yay.



Secondly, One of my favouritests sites, The Studio had a blog hop this weekend (and I've just found out I won some yummy stuff, yay again - from Natalie, go check out her work - it is wonderful). Anyway back to the blog hop, the DT snagged a sketch from Anna Bowkis at Pencil lines (another fav) and came up with some stunning Lo's. So thought I must give it a go.

here's the sketch

and here is my interpretation

We went for a walk on Sunday and took lots of fun photos of Henry on his scooter (Ok mostly from behind as he is quicker than I am..).

I have done a couple of other things that I will show you later in the week.

Just an extra piece of happy news for our Meaghan, she scored her first goal at indoor soccer tonight - so proud. She has developed into a very reliable back, but found herself running forward to take the ball and took the chance. She looked quite stunned but everyone was very excited for her. She has such a lovely team, and really nice supportive parents as well - if only they could win occasionally - that would be nice as well.. sigh.

Ok, time for bed (or watching tv for a while) so have a great day - sending out hugs to Julie and hope all goes well for her surgery xxx.

later x

Be prepared

For those who know me this weeks Design Dollies challenge will come as a shock. It is Monocromatic pink!! I have always avoided pink, not matter how much Mum would have loved me to be a pink girl I just could not do it!! She was most disgusted when I had my little girl and she loved pink (for a time anyway - now she favours blue and/ or black..)

So for mum I have done a Lo from my toddler days when pink was still a faint hope on Mum's horizon...

drum roll.....

PINK!!

In all it's glory. Actually I quite like the way it has turned out in the end, I have a few ideas for the trifecta at the end of the month now. Stay tuned.

Go check out the DT's work and then join in. It is fun, I can guarantee it.

It is rather late here now. Geoff is in Melbourne on business, Matt has just finished work (11pm - but he is enjoying it so far), Meaghan has the day off tomorrow (hmmpphh, we never had moderation days in our time) and Henry is just Henry (lovely and cuddly if a bit boney...)

Have a great day, am hoping to have a crafty day tomorrow - that's the plan, wish me luck. xxx

PS blogger is driving me nuts at the moment . And I have messed up my background paper so just ignore it for the moment, I am too tired and annoyed to try to fix it yet. xx

February trifecta - a bit late...

I cannot believe how quickly February flew by. I had planned (in my head anyway) to enter a number of challenges all due by the 28th - well that flew by with the challenges remaining in my head!! I will do better this month...

First up the very important and quite tricky Dollies trifecta for the month. The colours are cream, green and purple, the sketch can be seen here and the element is love. As noted in an earlier post, I struggled with the purple element and the gorgeous Julie sent me some Nikki Sivils products from the 'sugar cookies line" How yummy is that???




And here is what I came up with. My curly haired son with his equally curly haired cousin. Very cute together. Go and check out what the other dollies have done and give it a whirl. Can't wait to see what you come up with!!



And I finally managed to get some extra scrapping done for the latest Sketchy Thursday challenge - here is the sketch
and here we are, back in Laos.


This place, Pha That Luang, is an astonishing sight . It took a little while on the back of a tuk tuk to get there from our hotel, we went down a sort of lane way, not paved, with chooks and dogs running all around, turned the corner and there it was. In the afternoon light it practically glowed. It is huge, we got there just before closing time (for visitors anyway) so we didn't get a great look around but so glad we got to see it. We are still unsure how they paint the upper sections...


Some more photos from the Stupa and surrounding areas. These were inside ...



I am glad they resisted the temptation to put plastic googly eyes on their dragons which we had seen in some other temples..

This is a wat just next to the larger stupa, much newer, very colourful and obviously in constant use by the locals.

And we think this is where the monks live. So over the top in decoration, just fabulous. You can just see some of the monks cleaning the outside.


I loved Laos...

Off to do the rounds of picking up kids, tennis etc. Geoff's birthday tomorrow, luckily he organised his main present himself (very power lights for his mountain bike) so I just have to put together a few little things and cook lasagna and cheese cake, his all time fav's.

Have a great day. xx