Ahem … toot toot!

Yes, I’ve been published … in an Australian scrapbooking mag called ‘For Keeps – Creative Scrapbooking’, and I have two layouts to (gently!) toot about. Here is the cover, and here are the two layouts on pages 31 and 69. It’s always a thrill to see your work in a mag, and this is no exception. The ‘Goodbye Nibbles’ is sooooo sad though, I always tear up when I read it, and it happened months ago. Natasha was very attached to her budgie, and we miss Nibbles… she had a great personality.
For the regular readers of this blog, you will be pleased to know that I managed to look busy ALL day! And the funny thing is that I still have work piled up around my desk that needs to be dealt with! Oh well, there is always tomorrow … *smiles* … Must go get dinner, the natives are getting restless! More next time …

Quote unquote ...

(Layout credits - Messy Cream Stitches, Bella Floral kit, Grunge overlay from DesignerDigitals. Font: Century Gothic.)
Something a little shorter today … hands up all those who, 1. actually read all Sharon’s blog yesterday, and 2. were still awake by the end of it? Hmmmm … thought so. I’ll make it shorter today, lol!
It’s been an uneventful one … finished the stocktake, and tomorrow I have to finish running reports and tidying up the office, printing certificates for our reading program, trying to look busy so that none of the other harassed staff cotton on, and ask me to do something! Baaaaaad Sharon!!!
For the first time ever, I have redeemed some of my FlyBuys points today and ordered a big LEGO Bionicle set for the boy, a collection that retails for A$140.00, according to the LEGO site I looked up . He’s a lucky boy, isn’t he? I hope it will be here for his birthday or Christmas, but I am not holding my breath!Now, this is not a great shot, technically speaking, but the girls really wanted a picture of the dragonfly, so here it is. Have you ever tried to photograph one of these turbo-assisted little guys? They don’t sit still for anyone, for any period of time more than half a second!!!
Better run, or this won’t be a short post, and I did promise that, didn’t I? And there is a nasty storm brewing in the background too, so might have to go offline for a while … *sigh* … More next time …

Exam dramas ...

(Layout credits - Papers from Fall Delight, at ScrapArtist. Fonts: Arial, Arial Black, Futurist Fixed-width. Inspired by a layout called 'Experience Summer', by Susan Cyrus.)
Seems a fairly straightforward thing to do … collect daughter from class, drive to exam, do exam, drive back to school to work! Nope! Nada! No way! First I had to find Tash. I went to her classroom and said, ‘Come to the bottom of the stairs, I’ll get your violin, and then we’ll go together!’ I get her violin from my office, but she is conspicuous by her absence at the stairs. Not in her classroom, not in the car park, not in the library, not in the choir room, not even in the toilets … Eventually I find her lurking near the car, out of sight. So much for being organized … we are going to be late.
The exam is about 40 minutes away, in the country. The Conservatorium is being renovated, so the exams are being held at her teacher’s studio. Ok … deep breaths … we can do this. Halfway there, I glance down at the petrol gauge. Oh … we are out of petrol. Stop to (half) fill the car. Back on the road …
We eventually arrive at the teacher’s house. She comes out to meet us … the examiner got lost on the way and is very late. There are three students ahead of Natasha now, and we will have to wait. And then the examiner jams her hand in the car door and has to stop the exams, take a Panadol and have a cup of tea. Now we are even later … a bee stings one of the girl’s elbow … she applies ice and then does her grade six exam. BTW, this wasn't the bee that bit her ... I found this one digging for pollen Saturday afternoon.
We discover that all the girls have not brought music for the pianist, and it is illegal for our teacher to supply us with music for the exam. She does, anyway. There is a quick flurry to get stickits on the pages the pianist must turn to, before the examiner calls the next girl. Oh, and did you know that you were supposed to bring your fee with you to pay the pianist? Ummm … no, we weren’t told that!!! And why haven’t you photocopied the pages of your pieces so that you don’t have to turn the pages during your exam, Natasha?
Hmmm … we survive the exam. I am too nervous by then to even listen to Natasha playing in her exam, and almost stick my fingers in my ears. The pianist comes back to report that she played well in three pieces, very well in one! Now we have to wait for a week, and finally we will be put out of our misery! Exams, exams, exams … bah humbug! Well, till the next lot next year, at least, lol!
PS. She got honors for her piano theory, and a credit for piano practical! More next time ...

Survival of the fittest!

(Layout credits - Cutups from DesignerDigitals. Fonts: Futurist Fixed Width, Arial Narrow.)
Wishing Kim at DesignerDigitals a happy birthday!
My blog is late today, as we have had big storms this afternoon and tonight, and I had to unplug the computer … but better late than never! We survived our day at MovieWorld today, with four big kids to watch, which somehow was harder than you would think, and with a big storm brewing overhead. It was a good day though, not too many people, fine but sultry weather, short queues, and a sprinkle of rain just as we left. Then the storm hit as we were driving home.
The kids loved all the rides … I have a cardinal rule though! I don’t do rides where I end up upside down, I don’t do rides where I end up wet and I TRY not to do rides where I fall from great heights at even greater speeds … sort of cuts out on the rides thing, I’ve discovered.
We tried out a new ride which has opened since our last visit, the Scooby Doo ride, which the boys loved, Michael being a big fan of the TV cartoon. I did it once but not again, thanks, as we did a rollercoaster thing backwards, and then whipped around very sharp corners on a very narrow rail at a very great height!
Tash kept her eyes closed throughout the whole experience, and consequently, has no idea what she could be scared about, as she didn’t see a thing!! She is such a scream sometimes. (Quite literally too, on the rides, I might add!)But the whole day was oh so hard on the pocket … it costs a fortune to do the family thing at theme parks like this now, especially when your family has four kids in it for the day. Glad we could hand them back at the end of it, lol!
However, we did hit our two birthday parties in one hit (Tash’s is in October, Michael’s in December, and they chose to celebrate in the middle together, November!) … the kids chose to take one friend each to the theme park for a birthday outing, instead of a big party … works for me!!!
The only serious downside to the trip was that I couldn’t take the good camera, and the quality just isn’t there in the photos today, so I apologise for that! You might notice that Michael has his bright orange t-shirt on … so much easier to keep track of the boy when he is in a bright colour, and easy to spot on the rides, lol! Must away … hope everyone else had a GREAT day! More next time …

Sunburnt feet, bees and flowers ...

The results of a wander in the hot afternoon sun … ... beautiful flowers, bees and sunburnt feet … enjoy!
More next time ...

Friday's frolics ...

Not much of excitement to share today … lots of running around! Coffeed, shopped, surfed and sucked bandwidth, picked up children, picked out dvds for the weekend, ferried said children to music lesson, then home … and that was the day! I have managed to create a very quick new banner for the blog, as by the end of the day, the bright tulips were making me wince! Bit tooooo colourful, I think, so we will enjoy a peaceful seaside scene for a little while. Much easer on the eyes. No time to create a new layout, so instead I will share some pretty pictures I have taken during this year.While shopping today, I picked up some shorts and tshirts for Michael. I looked at him the other day and realized to my horror that he was literally bursting out of his clothes and with summer and school holidays upon us, I had better do something about it. I found a tshirt with ‘Lost. One sister. If found, do not return!’ and almost bought it, then found the orange one below. Michael enjoyed the joke tremendously, and will wear it proudly. He has a great sense of humour …
Tash wasn’t sure she liked the jokes (being fond of her parents and all that), so in retrospect, I am glad I bought the ‘parent’ tshirt, and not the ‘sister’ tshirt, lol! Enjoy your weekends, everyone! More next time …

Beach weather ...

(Layout credits - Fonts: Scriptina, Arial, Adobe Caslon Pro.)
I tell a lie … it has been more like storm weather than beach weather today, but I figure that as some of my faithful readers are 14,000 kms away from here, you will never know!
The sad truth of it is, I have actually started tackling people around their ankles at work, pleading for photos I can scrap … my scrapping photo well has run well and truly dry! And today someone (two someone’s, actually!) said yes, so I have some new photos to play with. The above layout was inspired by a classy ad, from where I do not know. So thank you to the creator of the ad!!!
I love simple, and I love white space, even though it seems more blue in the above layout, lol! The payoff for photos is easy … just a print of the layout, and the photo-providers are happy. Tomorrow I have unlimited access to a huge store of digital photos of two cute kids and holidays to places like Rome and Italy. Heaven! I think I might be creating some arty stuff in the near future …
And … and … and … it is Thursday afternoon, and the end of my working week!!! Now let’s see what mischief I can get into! Tomorrow is coffee and shopping with Miss M, Saturday a visit to my parents and a wander through nearby gardens with my camera and my dad, Sunday a trip to DreamWorld with my family and two of the kids’ school friends. Lots of photo fodder, I think. Off to get dinner … more next time …

Baaaaaaaaaaaaa!

(Layout credits - Black frames by Jen Wilson, splotches by Tracy Ann. Font: Century Gothic, Eller.)
Found this little gem as I was wandering through my photo files, and it reminded me of how frustrated we were with the sheep in New Zealand. We dearly wanted to take photos of the cute little spring lambs, but all we could catch were bouncing tails disappearing into the distance. So Tashy bought her own sheep, and it was happy to pose for hours, lol!Guess what I held in my hands today, for about twenty minutes? A copy of Designing with Digital, no less. Some kind digiscrapper in the US sent my friend a copy, and nice friend that she is, she shared!!! It is simply amazing … nearly every layout had me going, ‘WOW! It’s the sort of thing you need to have for hours to pour over, with no distractions and interruptions … that means you, work and family! It truly is an artwork … and did I mention the cd that comes with it? Drool, drool … I have hunted high and low throughout most of Australia, and can’t buy a copy for love or money, and sometimes they take WEEKS to come from overseas … so frustrating being on the other side of the world. Never mind, we will plod on regardless … More next time ...

Taking stock ... ;)

(Layout credits - Shmootzy Frame from ScrapArtist, overlay from Old Friend at ScrapArtist. Font: Worstveld Sling Extra.)
Wishing Michelle at ScrapArtist a very happy birthday today!
Pretty boring day today at work … still stocktaking and wondering where on earth all our library books have disappeared to! Actually, we know where they’ve gone … out the door with students and teachers, lol! More stocktaking tomorrow … *sigh* …
Now, let’s move on to something much more exciting! Only 1 ½ more weeks of school … wooo hoooo! And THEN we get to get up when we feel like it, I remind the kids occasionally to feed and shower themselves, I play on the computer ALL day, spend all my money on Christmas presents, referee fighting siblings, shop online in scrapping shops, maybe do some housework every now and then, so that I don’t forget how it is done … have I missed any of the joys of the festive season??? The shops are starting to fill up, as kids and dads wander up and down aisles with desperate looks on their faces … what on EARTH does your mother want this year? Here’s a hint … she probably wants peace and quiet, lol! I know I do!
Do hope you weren’t looking for something profound today … just a bits and pieces day! … here’s a pretty christmasy-looking flower/cone to finish off today … more next time …

Busy shopping!

(Layout credits - Kit: Architecture, from DesignerDigitals. Font: Lucida Sans Unicode.)
Beautiful masculine papers in this kit from DesignerDigitals. Love the faded, understated look to it, definitely a good choice for scrapping ‘boy’ layouts, I think.
Yes, the designers have been busy over the weekend, and again, such an inviting array of goodies for the unsuspecting fans to go wild over, lol! In no particular order …
Tracy Ann at SBB has these tempting kits on offer … and I am a couple of kits behind, because there are even NEWER kits out, so go check it out. I have my eye on the gorgeous blue and brown papers of the Brighton Paper set!ScrapArtist has two pretty new paper paks hitting the shelves today … And in DesignerDigitals, there is so much new stuff out that I want to stay home all week and play … Oh, why oh why do I have to go to work! Oh yes, that's right ... so that I can afford to go shopping! Something I want to do over our school holidays is to research my options for getting OFF dial-up. It's killing me ... I almost cry when I use cable or ADSL, it is like greased lighting, and pages load IMMEDIATELY, and you can actually DO something while online! Oh well, maybe Santa will bring me the end of a cable down the chimney at Christmas time ... dream on! More next time ...

Quiet on the home front!

(Layout credits - Kit: Jack'n'Me Fall Fun. Stiches from Messy Cream Stitches. Staples from A Bear's Life. Font: Adobe Caslon Pro.)Katie is putting this pretty paper pak in the shop tomorrow, so I am allowed to post my layout! Thanks, Katie! Not much (read NONE!) scrapping done today, but I have ironed for 2 ½ hours, done 3 loads of washing, been to the shops, snoozed on the lounge, supervised an hour of violin practise and generally relaxed. It has been a remarkably quiet day.
Speaking of shops, the boys toddled off to the shops to do their Christmas shopping for the girls, while we entertained the neighbourhood with our violin ‘music’. (We did wait till after ten, folks … just thinking of people sleeping in, Lanne, that would be YOU!) It was interesting to see what they came back with … I am definitely going to be organized this year, (how many weeks to go?) and I am streamlining the whole process, now that the kids and their cousins are nearly all teenagers. It is no good buying what I think they would like … most of them would rather a gift card or money so that they can choose what they really want. I made my two villains write out a Christmas list this morning, and it was interesting to see what they put down.
Michael – 3 PS2 games, money, apples, and a bigger room!
Natasha – ‘any interesting looking books, a cute-looking teddy, some colourful gel pens, a pencil case and a small amount of cash’. Isn’t she a scream?
We looked in Pumpkin Patch briefly this afternoon, and she found a few pretty things she liked, so I have an idea of what to get her.
One more layout to finish off with for today … this is using the pretty Sun Prints kit, also from DesignerDigitals. Enjoy!(Layout credits - Kit: Sun Prints kit from DesignerDigitals. Font: Lucida Sans Unicode.)
More next time.

Busy, busy, busy!

Here’s a sad thought … I can scrap all day and do NO sharing here on my blog! I’ve scrapped six pages so far today, and most of it goes into a vault at one of my CDTs, to come out of hiding in a few weeks for newsletters and the like, but I have scrapped a layouts for fun.

(Layout credits - Gingerbread Quick Page, at DesignerDigitals. Font: Adobe Caslon Pro.)
Even though you’ve seen this photo fairly recently, when I saw Katie’s Gingerbread Quick Page at DesignerDigitals, I knew I had to use it again. This layout took me three minutes, and that included the time it took me to find the photo, lol! I love this page, and the photo of my niece, so sweet and new and fresh to this world.
The boys are cooking up a storm in the kitchen tonight … apparently we are having chocolate fudge cake, and scones for dinner!!!! Don’t you love it when the boys cook? No thoughts of vegies, salad, stuff with minerals and vitamins in it. Their conversation is a scream to listen to …
Michael: ‘This has the consistency of wet cement, Dad!’
Dad: ‘Don’t eat the flour!’
Michael: ‘This cake mix looks like dirt!’
Dad: ‘You used to eat dirt, you know. With a teaspoon. Sitting in the middle of the garden!’
Most entertaining! More next time …

Another one come and gone ...

(Layout credits – Fonts: Lucida Sans Unicode, Century Gothic.)
Another day off come and gone, drawing closer to the end of the year magic Fridays off disappear, and instead I have two children for 24 hours a day, pretty well 7 days a week … of course, the upside is that we all don’t have to go to school and work. But oh, how I miss my days off from responsibility and children!

I had coffee with the girls this morning, then wandered off reluctantly to the dentist. We have this relationship, my dentist and I … he checks my teeth (gently!) every six months and I promise to go back again. Shudder! Don’t like dentists, but I dislike even more having lots of work done while lying in a dentist’s chair, so a little bit every now and then I have reluctantly agreed to put up with. (That's not a grammatical sentence, I know, but it's the end of the week ... )
Then I rewarded myself with a little shopping expedition. I found some weekend bling, a pretty georgette blue and cream lined top, and a pair of earrings that fell into my bag as I walked past the stand, whispering to me as they dropped in, ‘We match your top sooooo well, it would be a crime to leave us on the shelf!’ I find that earrings often do that to me as I pass them … Is it just me, do you think, or do you find some things call to YOU as you pass them by???
I hope you all have a restful or busy or both weekend, whatever your heart desires!!! More next time …

Girl!

(Layout credits - Papers called South Beach, by Andie Smith at The Digi Chick. Font: Century Gothic. Shmootzy Alpha from ScrapArtist. Vague inspiration from a layout by Lizzie19 called Happy Happy Dance.)
Something very quick and pretty for tonight ... just enough time to throw this together before back to the shops! Isn’t she gorgeous? One of my nieces, taken 13 years ago, enjoying Nana and Poppa’s pool during a hot, hot summer. Love the colours in this paper pack by Andie Smith at the Digi Chick. It is a Designer Sample, a freebie in the Downloads section, and works so beautifully with white, and water photos. Such pretty colours, aren't they? Must go or Miss M will start coffee without me. More next time ... :)

Falling in love again ...

(Layout credits – Fonts: Impact, Arial Narrow.)
I took this with my 80-200 mm lens from upstairs above the pool, through a screen, so the quality is not crash hot, but I think it’s a good action shot … and I wanted to scrap it, so I DID, lol! And that’s the glory of Photoshop … you can pretty much play, play, play till you are happy with the end product.
In love again? Oh yes, I finally managed to get PSCS2 loaded, activated and running, so I guess this is my first official layout. Lots of new stuff to learn, some of my favourite buttons have disappeared somewhere, and some new buttons have popped up. If only I had time to play …
Last night it was a haircut, tonight a party, tomorrow night shopping, Friday night is movie night with hubby ... sigh! When is a girl going to find time to play ... More next time!

I've been tagged!

Sandra has tagged me, so here we go … probably waaay more information than you need to know about me!

2 names you go by:
Sharon
Oh no … I don’t have another name, a polite one that I will answer to, that is!

2 parts of your heritage:
English
Irish

2 things that scare you:
natural disasters
something happening to my children

2 of your everyday essentials:
a shower
coffee & my computer (ok, I can't count!)

2 things you are wearing right now:
¾ pants
linen shirt

2 of your favourite bands or musical artists (at the moment):
Sarah McLachlan
Katie Melua

2 favourite songs (at the moment):
Angel, by Sarah McLachlan
Who Makes You Feel, by Dido

2 things you want in a relationship (other than real love):
trust
dependability

2 truths:
there is always some good in someone somewhere
family is forever

2 physical things that appeal to you (in the opposite sex):
clean hair
eyes

2 of your favourite hobbies:
digi-scrapping
photography

2 things you want really badly:
Photoshop CS2
Canon 20D

2 places you want to go on vacation:
Canada
England

2 things you want to do before you die:
create a quality kit and sell it
see my children happily settled in life

2 ways that you are stereotypically a dude/chick:
LOVE bling
enjoy coffee shops and shopping

2 things you are thinking about now:
dinner menu
how many days till the school holidays begin

2 stores you shop at:
anything with pretty stuff in it, lol!
QBD

And NOW I get to tag someone:
Lanne, and Cass.
More next time …

Toot! Toot!

(Layout credits - Kit: called Diva by Dani at ScrapArtist. Stitching by Shannon at SBB. Fonts: Century Gothic, Bodoni Classic Ornaments.)
Aren’t these the most delicious spring and ‘little girl’ colours? This is a beautiful freebie from ScrapArtist by Dani, and when I saw the kit arrive in the gallery, I went hunting for a photo to go with it. Usually the design process goes the other way for me … start with photo, and find kit. But not this time … I love the pinks and blues, and they go so well with white space. And what a look on Miss Elizabeth’s face. I’m not sure her mother will want a copy of this photo, but it fits the quote and kit beautifully!
Toot! Toot! I hear tooting all over the digital scrapping world at the moment, and I am pleased to say I have another layout being published in an Australian magazine soon. Will let you know when it hits the stands! THIS time it is a layout I really like, of Emma that I took in April, and now a pretty pink page is where the layout used to be in SBB. I LOVE seeing ‘removed for publication’ in my galleries … SUCH a thrill.
And here’s a tip … if you want to be in print, you have to submit! Then grow a thick skin, and when no one wants your beautiful work, don’t despair, just try again! Sooner or later, it’s going to happen. More next time …

Sunday happenings ...

(Layout credits - DesignerDigitals - Staples: from A Bear's Life. Patterned paper: from Tall Tales. Plain paper: from Music Lessons Paper Pak. Fonts: Arial Narrow, Artistamp Medium.)
Apparently there is a second part to the story retold in the journaling above … our two families lived on a school campus in Tonga, as our fathers were teachers there. Brett got his own back … some time later he hit me over the head with the plug bit on the end of an iron’s cord, so to him the story had a happy ending, lol! Neither of us remembered the dramas, but when we met some twenty years later, he ended up marrying my sister!! So now you know …
I had a good day today … created two layouts, and snuck over to a friend’s house and sucked away at HER bandwidth while downloading the last of the stuff I really REALLY needed! I bought some beautiful kits from Mindy at The Digi Chick, so expect something pretty in the next couple of days from me.
And I downloaded new stuff that is in the ScrapArtist and DesignerDigitals’ stores in the next day or two. Now all I have to do is find an extra six or seven hours each day to sit down and play with it all, and life will be sweet! More next time …

Smile!

(Layout credits: Kit: Bloom by Tracy Ann, Shmootzy Stamps by Nancie Rowe Janitz at ScrapArtist. Messy Cream Stitching from DesignerDigitals. Font: Two Century MT.)
Aren’t these polka dots pretty? I love them on a white background. I am determined to scrap for fun this afternoon … and this is the first layout. (Optimistic, aren’t I?) I set Tash up for a mini-photo shoot yesterday between music exam and lesson, the boy put on a DVD, I got one shot, and she disappeared!!! Such a fickle model … I believe the pay is dreadful!
I enjoyed visiting (by myself!) my parents this morning. They have just got back from a trip to the bottom of Australia, and Dad has lots of beautiful scenery photos, great calendar stuff! I have my eye on a few of his photos to work some magic with. I always take my laptop with me when I visit, because they have cable and I don’t … enough said??? Today was not a good day to steal broadband though, as I took the wrong laptop which wouldn’t hook into their wireless network. Then the batteries on the wireless keyboard went flat, the mouse went on strike, and then the internet slowed right down. Someone was definitely out to get me … I downloaded for several hours, but still don’t have some stuff I need to do some CTM stuff with. When I meet the crew responsible for putting poor phone lines in our estate that won’t support cable or ADSL, I am going to make their little lives verrrrrrrry miserable!!! Hard to believe in my civilised little suburb, I have to be subjected to dial-up … grrrr!Thinking happy thoughts now … More next time!

Frantic Friday ...

Two music exams (piano and theory) down, one more (violin) in a fortnight for Tashy girl. Today’s exam has taken up most of my day off L and I haven’t even played on the ‘puter at all today, so I don’t have a layout to share yet. We think she did well … it’s very hard to guess these things. I have a photo idea in my head for the next layout but I have to wait for the daughter to get home before I can take it, lol! And now I’m off to a violin rehearsal … but shhhh! I’m going to sneak the laptop along to keep myself amused while I wait. Later … here’s a thought! Check to see that your passenger can navigate before you hand here the street directory and ask her to find somewhere neither of you have ever been before, in peak hour traffic at dusk. The good thing is we eventually found her music teacher’s studio! And we were only the third late student for the afternoon.
We got home after seven … I was exhausted and went to bed at 9.30, an unheard of hour for me, leaving poor DH to finish the movie on his own! Let’s hope for a calmer, more productive day on the ‘morrow! More next time …

Bad, BAD blogger ...

(Layout credits - Sanded overlay by K. Pertiet, at DesignerDigitals. Alpha - Nancie's Shmootzy Stamps by Nancy Rowe Janitz, at ScrapArtist. Font: Times New Roman.)
I know, I know … I’m sneaking this blog in this morning and pretending it was yesterday! But I was sooooooooooo busy that I didn’t get a chance to play yesterday! We are stocktaking in my library which is a boring and dirty job … not sure what the relevance of that is, but when I got home, it was ironing, ironing, ironing … then out to window-shop for Xmas presents for our 70 staff, then home to read a Photoshop mag I bought, and before I knew it, it was 11 pm and time for bed. So that’s my excuse … and I’m sticking to it!!! More next time …

More beach stuff ...

Today was a new (and better) day … though it was the usual busy Wednesday with morning and late afternoon music lessons. DH stayed home today to study for tomorrow’s law exam (he is studying externally while working full-time!), so I dropped the treasures off at home, and raced back to the shops. Ahhhhh … free time!
Hang on, by the time I paid DH’s bill at the Post Office, picked up Michael’s watch from the jewellers, deposited a cheque at the bank, dropped some books off at the second-hand bookshop, picked up a book voucher for school, it was time to race home through peak hour traffic to pick Tash up for her lesson. Oh yes, somewhere in there I managed to try on and buy a ¾ pair of jeans … I’m thinking ahead to school holidays …. ahhhhh! … when I have six weeks off to lounge around in jeans and tshirts. Can’t wait!!!
If you are wondering what the beachy photo is above, it is a cuttlefish, the backbone of a fish. I found it (and lots of friends and relations too!) lying in the sand when we were at the beach on the weekend. Very pretty subject matter, I think.
And speaking of beach photos, here is another one of Michael at the beach. I love the carefree look on his face as he runs with the wind, and plays with the grass heads that were racing along the beach. (Layout credits - Shmootzy Alpha and frames by Nancie Rowe Janitz, at ScrapArtist. Font: Courier.)
I love grungy photo frames and edges too, on layouts. They add that artistic, clever touch to photos … and are sooo easy to play with. These were actually black photo frames that I filled with white … it makes this digital effect very easy to customize. Enough of the ramble … hope Wednesday was (or is) good to you. More next time …

Just one layout ...

(Layout credits - Kit: Olivia's Flowers by Sandra Boddington, at the Digi Chick. Stitching by Shannon at SBB. Font: Impact, Arial.)
Photographic tip of the day … when photographing babies, get Mum to stand behind you and act really, really silly! It works like a treat!!!
Charlton was very active, and tired and hungry, so we had to work as quickly as we could. As you can see he had the most beautiful curls and eyes! A definite heartbreaker …
Bit of a non-event day … would like to be a turtle now, and pull my head in and retreat from the world … except that I suffer from claustrophobia, and the turtle thing would only be momentary before I was screaming to be let out, lol!
Michael had a bad day too, lots of little things going wrong which all add up to one big thing, he told me. The last few weeks are beginning to tell on him, as assignments and tests start to mount up. Tash was at basketball practise, so we came home, de-stressed, and then went to the shops to get a couple of things before picking the girl up.
I feel old and boring and uncreative today … probably because I woke up at 3.00 am and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I lay there for the next three hours worrying about stuff I can’t do anything about! That’s me … worry, worry, worry! Consequently today hasn’t been pretty! Think I’ll go find something beautiful to post! Oooh, found something, a beach artist with heaps of creativity. PS. The beach artist has just gone indoors! ;)
More next time ...

Lots of layouts ...

(Layout credits - Kit: Jacaranda, designed by Sandra Boddington, at the Digi Chick. Fonts: Arial Narrow, Century Gothic.)
Lots of lovely layouts today … that’s what happens when you take the camera away for the weekend … either that or you suddenly find yourself on several creative teams and have to produce new stuff, lol!
‘Baby Blues’ is a layout using some of the pretty papers in a kit called Jacaranda that Sandra Boddington has just put out. Michael crawled along the floor and leant against my leg and looked up with such a loving smile … for some strange reason, I had my camera in my hand, so I said, ‘Freeze!’ (which in my house means, ‘Mum wants to take a photo … don’t you dare move!) and I caught the moment. I think the colours in this kit work beautifully with white space.

(Layout credits - Fonts: Futurist Fixed-Width, Typist.)

‘Lunch’ was a layout that started out as something and morphed into its present state … don’t quite know how that happens, but it happens a lot to me, lol! The photos were so beautiful that they needed to be scrapped in a very simple way. Love the yellow in those flowers, and the slightly shy-looking bird. And I absolutely love the background in the photos … right time, right place, right lens on the camera!

(Layout credits - Dotted brush stamp from DesignerDigitals. Fonts: Fazings One, Century Gothic.)
And likewise with this layout … beautiful photo, simple scrap. The light was soft on the beach at that time of the day, and Tashy wandered along at her own pace, completely unconscious of the fact that her family was bellowing at her to catch up … gotta love kids!
More next time …