Where did yesterday go?

Seriously, yesterday was here, and when I turned around, the day had gone. Work was work ... busy all day and seemed to achieve nothing! Then a rush to get home, daughter off to BRYO, a local youth orchestra, fed the son, sent him to bed, worked on 1 1/2 layouts and then it was 10.00 pm and I was exhausted. Better sneak a blog in, in the morning, and no one will notice, seys I as I stagger off to bed ... so no checking the date, folks, and we will assume that this is yesterday, lol.
The excitement is mounting for the opening of The Sweet Shoppe ... just around the corner. It is the 31st here, so probably is half-way through yesterday elsewhere (am I the only one that is confused by what day it is where???) and not long to go. The galleries are filling up rapidly with beautiful new schtuff, and even though we aren't allowed to look in the shoppe yet, I know the shelves are filling rapidly. Busy, busy, busy ... hope you guys all visit ... I will send a link to the site when it is open for inspection, lol.
Other scrapping news ... Katie has a beautiful kit in the latest Digital Scrapbooking Magazine, that I am sure you will love. Here is a preview of the pretties in the kit ... Something to ooh and ahh over ... Lanne, no looking and DEFINITELY no buying!!! Have a great day, everyone ... more next time ...
PS ... will you look at that date ... I DID blog yesterday after all, lol!

Exhausted, but have photos ...

Busy Sunday ... we were on the beach by 7.30 am, and surfing, surfing, surfing! I didn't take my camera with me, but my MIL had hers, with a 300 mm lens, and I was able to get these two shots of Tash. Michael surfed around the corner, in another bay, so I missed getting photos of him. The waves were just the right size for Tash ... she is working on paddling onto a wave by herself, but isn't strong enough yet. She looks pretty cool popping up and casually surfing in, leaning over to touch the water, and dodging the rocks towards shore. My three fears watching my family from the shore are always sharks, rocks, and being clunked on the head by the surfboard when they are surfacing! But enough of this cheery topic ... let's move on. Look what I found on the beach ... her mum wasn't far away, but boy did she have fun! Absolutely fearless ... my heart was in my mouth as I saw her crawl into the surf and tackle the big waves. She could only just walk, and spent most of the time crawling on the sand and in the shallow water.
Doesn't this look yummy? The boys played in the kitchen on Australia Day and made damper, then decorated it with a pizza topping. Yum!!!
Oh yes, this is what my 6 ft square dining table looks like at the moment ... I stopped printing when I covered the table, they dry overnight, and then I start the next batch. I have never got so far behind, lol and think I won't do that again. Too much to catch up again ... Think this will do for tonight ... back to work tomorrow, weekends always seem so short ... more next time! :)

Beach colours ...

(Layout credits: Alpha a digital freebie by Kellie Mize for an ad challenge. Font: Nueva Std.)
Aren't these beautiful beach colours? Should you digi-scraping muse ever disappear for a while, visit DesignerDigitals at the beginning of each week, and you are sure to find something inspirational there. The girls throw out three challenges (at least) a week, and there are always little freebies with each challenge to give you ideas. This cute little alpha came with an ad challenge of a couple of weeks ago, and when Charlton's mum gave me these photos, I knew they would all work together.
Busy day today ... I got out all my digital scrapping albums and sorted and tagged them today. I have almost 800 digital layouts scrapped now, and as I finish them, I print them as 8x8 in layouts, then mount them in dry-mount photo albums. I tied little tags with the dates written on them, onto their ring spines, and lined them up in a neat row ... makes my little heart sing to see them all standing at attention! I was so tired of trying to work out what was in what album. Might take a photo of that tomorrow, so you can laugh at me!
What else ... did two layouts, one of Charlton above, and one to put in the Inspiration Gallery at ScrapArtist, so can't share that one. Listened to lots of inspiring music, LOUD music when the other 3/4's of the family disappeared for a short drive.
Oh yes, started printing off four months of layouts, that bad Sharon let mount up. So they are all over the dining room table and floor, drying before they are cut up and put into albums. Sooo ... hope your day was as profitible and as peaceful as mine ... more next time!

the best laid plans of mums and munchkins ...

I had plans today … well-laid plans that came to naught, lol! I had coffee and a Gold Class movie in the works, but mums don’t always get what they want, you know. A cherub got very burnt yesterday, enjoying the Australia Day festivities and stayed home to recover today. (Not one of my cherubs, btw, mine were at school where all good cherubs should be on school days.) So my partner in crime did the motherly thing … had coffee with me, then raced home to wipe the sunburnt brow … and eyelids, and arms, and back, and so on.
Fortunately, I had a reserve plan up my sleeve, much to the distress of DH’s bankcard. I bought a router, to set up the wireless network for our laptops, now that cable flows wild and free through our home. And then I thought I should stock up on photo paper and a complete set of spare inks. Then I wandered past the unmentionables section in David Jones … no, we won’t go there, gentle reader!!! Then I found some nice albums at Photo Continental … wasn’t hard to amuse myself. I tried to set up the router myself, but got stuck at IP address and secret codes and that sort of stuff, so finally gave in and asked an IT expert (thanks, Freddy!) and he set it up with the minimum of fuss while I watched at a distance … if I sat next to him, I would be distracting him and taking the mouse off him all the time, lol! The teacher in me coming out, I guess!!! So happy end to my day … I downloaded a trial version of NetNanny, but even with the security settings on the lowest possible setting, I can’t even open SBB, lol! And a girl can’t live without her daily SBB hit! More next time ...

'Fess up, now!

(Credits: Papers from Gypsy Dreams and Winter Wonderland, stitching and flowers from Mary Jane, Schmootzy frame, all from ScrapArtist. Font: P22 Garamouche, Century Gothic.)
Fess up ... you smiled when you saw this photo of Tashy, didn't you? I think it is such a funny photo, and I've used it for Week 4 of the 'Simply You' challenge at ScrapArtist. Don't quite know what happened to Week 2 & 3 ... I seem to have 'forgotten' to do them, but I'm gonna catch up, really I am. Honest Injun ... (Layout credits - Scrolls from Scrolls, ribbons from Caramel Paper and Ribbons, staples from Olde World, all by Tracy Ann Designs. Fonts: Two Century MT, Dream Orphans.)
I do love scrolls, but they are not the easiest elements to work with, I think. You need to find the right place for them, make them into the right size, and work out the right opacity for them … and it’s not always as easy as it sounds. I do admire artists who make it seem easy, because it’s not … like most things in the digi-world. Sometimes it is harder to make schtuff look simple and elegant, I think.
Well, Happy Australia Day everyone! We did the patriotic thing and went to the beach early, though we did leave the frantic flag-waving to the family setting up on the beach next to us. They came complete with at least three families, a big dog who dug up the patch of sand and grass he was secured on, and decorated the beach with doggy reminders that his family pointedly ignored, and a mother who smoked all over me and her children. What are people thinking? If I wanted to smoke, I would buy my own cigarettes, but as it is, I choose not to, and prefer to breathe my air unpolluted by second-hand smoke. Phew!!! Moving right along …
Did you know that the smart people who sell things along the beach have come up with a best-selling idea? They have opened a Gloria Jeans’ (yummy coffee and treats!) right next to MacDonalds? Hmmm … ‘Dad, I think the kids deserve a treat … a cone and drink perhaps? Oh, and look … a GJ right next door. I’ll just nip in and pick up a little something!’ Done deal … in a matter of seconds!!!
Hope you are enjoying your weekend … more next time!

Creativity angst!

Is it just me or is this creativity business a bit of a stressful thing? I haven’t discussed this in great detail with any of my digi friends, but I am beginning to think that creating layouts is a bit frightening! Each layout I finish and post … I seriously think to myself, ‘What if that was the last one I ever do? What if I can’t think of anything new or interesting to do? What if I lose my sense of colour and placement overnight? What if I have a limited number of layouts in me, and that was the last one?’
Truly a frightening thought, don’t you think? And sometimes I sit at the computer for a day or two and absolutely nothing happens … and then the panic sets in … all my design teams are going to think I’ve fallen off the edge of the earth, and they’ll dump me, and everyone will think I am a ‘one layout wonder’ … Oh dear, perhaps it is only me that feels that way, lol! Now I’m beginning to really scare myself … So, just in case this is my last layout … I must tell you I like the pretty papers and elements in this little number … so enjoy!

(Layout credits - Schmootzy Frames 1 by Michelle Coleman. Paper from Brighton, elements from Old World by Tracy Ann. Font: Dream Orphans, Two Century MT.)

Just in case you would like to see the kit that these pretties came in, it is below ...

Aren't the photo corners gorgeous ... and I love the little beads and flowers too. And Lanne, please DO NOT BUY THIS KIT ... and can you show your DH what I have written. Apparently I am in trouble for tempting Lanne to overuse her credit card, but I think now that everyone will have to agree with me that I am totally innocent of such behaviour ... more next time!

Just a quick 'hi' tonight ...

Just a quick hello ... I have a big pile of books to cover tonight for a very excited little girl ... her first day of grade seven was wonderful, and the best part is no homework for a week! Going to have to get on to her teacher tomorrow, lol! I have to do mum stuff tonight, so here's a pretty picture to tide you over till tomorrow! More next time ...

Hands up all those parents who haven’t bought the correct school shoes!

Sitting at my post by 8.30 am, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed … I am doing uniform checks at registration! I start with hope and enthusiasm, which disappears bit by bit as I meet, greet and argue with parents and their inappropriately clad children …

I really hate to tell you this, Mrs Thingamebobby, but your son is wearing non-regulation school shoes … they need to be black leather lace-ups! And those are black joggers!
Well, they are black, and they have laces, and won’t they do???
No, they need to be black leather laceups … we let you know in the newsletter at the end of last year, where we outlined the uniform policy and asked you to be very careful when purchasing shoes.
Oh. I didn’t read that.

Sorry Mrs Ka-foops, but your daughter isn’t wearing the correct shoes.
But they are black leather shoes.
I know, but they have a strap and a button. Our school uniform policy says black leather lace-ups … it has been that for many years now.
Oh. Well, my eldest daughter wore them last year, and now her sister is wearing them.
I’m sorry, but they aren’t the correct shoes.
Oh.

Mr Hector Crawford, both your sons are wearing the wrong shoes. They are brown surf thongs, not brown roman sandals.
But we just bought them and they cost $60 each.
I know, but you have purchased the wrong shoes.
Oh.

I really am sorry but your daughter is wearing the wrong school shoes, Mrs I-Haven’t-Read-the-Uniform-Requirements. That has a big fat strap and a big shiny silver buckle and although I must agree with you that it is very attractive, that is not a regulation pair of school shoes. We have a uniform code … I don’t know why … and we need to adhere to it.
Oh.

*sigh* … and that went on for five hours. Without a break … *sigh* ... More tomorrow, if I have the strength.

Sunday has been and gone ...

Back to the Canon ... sigh of relief! Don't get me wrong ... I have no doubt that the Nikon is a fearsome weapon in the right hands, but somehow my Canon feels good in MY hands, lol! I took this photo of a little water fountain at a friend's place recently ... and look what else I found in the garden!!! Whenever I need a pretty, fresh face with an interesting hair colour and milk-white skin, I head over to this garden. I just have to distract her mother with talk of coffee and shopping, because she loves to photograph and scrap her daughter too. So far so good ... and of course, the best thing is that she has TWO beautiful daughters ... sadly, I only have one, lol!
Do think think it would be pointed of me to encourage friends to have beautiful babies ... I don't know anyone with a beautiful baby (a baby, for that matter!) at the moment, too sad!
Bit of a non-event day ... surfing seems to take up half of our Sundays! Wicked waste of time, but I say that VERRRY quietly because 3/4's of the family doesn't agree with me, and it appears that I am outnumbered! It is almost at the stage when I can let the kids and their father go surfing on their own, but I guess it is a family thing, and I really need to get away from my computer every now and then ... don't I? The thing is I don't like sitting out in the sun for hours, and I always end up with a blazing headache, and that's not fun.
I also ironed for three hours ... wicked waste of time, but I did start watching my Alias dvd collection again as I ironed. I do love that show ... probably because it is so NOT my life, lol! Though I wouldn't mind kicking some serious butt every now and then ...
All is good with the world, scrapping-wise. Today I finished and sent off my last 'assignment' for the new 'The Sweet Shoppe' opening February 1. It was a big relief to get that under my belt ... now on to the next scrapping project. Here's a bit of trivia ... I have created 26 layouts this year to date ... more than one a day! No layout for today, but I'll finish offwith a fun set of photos. As she was bouncing on the trampoline, they are not in focus, but I thought they might make you smile! That's an infectious grin, and a whole lot of fun going on there. More next time ...

Hands up all those who want a new camera?

Today I had a little play with a brand-new Nikon D50. My dad has just lashed out and bought one, and I test-drove it quickly this afternoon. And you will be pleased to know that, 'No thanks, I don't want one!' Surprising, huh? Well, I didn't really give it a good workout but I could hear my Canon 300D calling out piteously from the camera bag, and I really don't want to get on its bad side, lol. The Nikon is smaller and lighter than my Canon with its battery grip that I love, and I found it hard to focus with the Nikon. It was a bit of a relief to me, because I have been thinking towards the Nikon, after seeing some friends produce wonderful images with their Nikons. But as my dad said, it is 95% the photographer, and the rest is the camera. I'm not sure I want to go that far, but I think who is driving the controls is very important. Anyway, camera review over, here are some images to enjoy.
If you are wondering why I photograph Tashy so much, it is because she is so very patient and happy to sit for me while I experiment. And this last photo is a scream ... it will teach her to pull faces when her mum is trying to do serious 'photography schtuff', won't it? It's the sort of photo you pull out at her 21st and embarrass her thoroughly!What a cutie, lol! More next time ...

Hmmmm … what happened to …

(Layout credits: Kit: Fresh Flowers by Tracy Ann Designs. Wordart by Katie Pertiet.)
… to my yesterday’s blog? It seems to have disappeared, or perhaps it never even existed! Let’s not ponder too long on that, shall we?
We all know what today is, don’t we? It is January the 20th, CABLE DAY! Yes, gentle readers, today I entered the 21st century and had cable connected to my home. Any one who has suffered under the restrictions of dial-up will understand the jubilation, the uncontrollable bubbling of joy in my soul, the uncontrollable urge to shop and download RIGHT NOW! It is fast, it is incredible … it is a very good thing for someone who accidentally found herself on six creative teams with no way of downloading kits. (Thanks to Miss M who has suffered my constant harassment over the last six months …. Sort of, ‘Psssst, can you download this for me, I will be over in six minutes to pick it up?’ sort of thing on a very regular basis!)
I was booked in for 12.00 today, but here’s one for the books … the cable guy turned up an hour early. We are technically in the middle of a drought, but it rained, and rained, and rained today. As he drove in, it rained … then the rain stopped, he climbed on the roof and put the cable through, connected me up, and then drove out in rain yet again. How cool was that? Two jobs before mine had been cancelled, but the rain stopped for me. It was in the stars. It had to stop … So now I have cable … now I roam the internet freely, as I always have … but now with SPEED! But enough of my excitement …
Did you need your sunnies as you clicked on my blog … LOVE working with Tracy Ann’s schtuff … it is so pretty and such great quality, and I could scrap with it all day. And yes, I know I’ve used this wordart recently, but I really like it, and it seemed to fit the photo beautifully. More excitement tomorrow, lol ...

Ducking and weaving ... but I've been tagged!

(Layout credits: Kit: Hugs and Kisses. Stitching from Mary Jane. Shmootzy Alpha. All from ScrapArtist. Font: Book Antiqua.)
I've been tagged by Krash, so here you go ...
Four jobs you've had in your life: Working in a hospital kitchen, a nurse aide in a retirement village, a teacher librarian, an English/history high school teacher. (See, I'm really REALLY boring!)
Four movies you could watch over and over:- Lord of the Rings trilogy, Pride & Prejudice, Under the Tuscan Sky, Alias series.
Four places you have lived:- Fiji, the east coast of Australia, Tonga, the Solomon Islands.
Four TV shows you love to watch:- CSI, House, home improvement show, any sort of detective show.
Four places you have been on vacation:- New Zealand, Tasmania, Whitsunday Islands, Australian ski fields.
Four websites you visit daily:- Scrapbook-Bytes, ScrapArtist, DesignerDigitals, The Sweet Shoppe.
Four of your favorite foods:- chinese, chocolate, pizza, any sort of desert.
Four places you'd rather be right now:- right here lol, at a shopping mall with an unlimited credit card, a bookshop, Gloria Jeans (coffee place).
Four bloggers you are tagging:- Megan, Lanne, Peta and Kelly, lol. Have fun, girls!!! More next time ...

Bah humbug to going back to work today!

(Layout credits: Kit called Fresh Tulips by Tracy Ann. Font: Black Jack, Myriad Pro.)
Very quick blog tonight … it’s 11.29 pm as I type and I have to be on a bus to a school function tomorrow at 7.00 am, so it will be a short night! The usual round of meetings at school, no routine, nothing really achieved, except that I am now overwhelmed with the thought of what has to be done before school starts, no time to iron, or even throw a load of washing on, and tomorrow isn’t looking any better, but hey, we’ll survive. I didn’t want today to finish without saying Hi! to my blog readers though. I created a layout for The Sweet Shoppe tonight, and rewarded myself with a very quick but fun layout using Tracy Ann’s beautiful ‘Fresh Tulips' kit. I hope you enjoy it! More next time …

How do you top yesterday's post?

(Layout credits: Wordart is a freebie from a DesignerDigitals quote challenge. Photo edges from DesignerDigitals. Inspiration from a layout by Jennifer Harrison, called Rock Solid. Font: Century Gothic.)
Can’t top yesterday’s excitement … so I’ll just share two layouts I did today. The first is in response to a quote challenge at DesignerDigitals. If you ever get stuck in a rut, check in to DesignerDigitals at the beginning of the week. Katie and the girls run at least three new challenges each week, a quote, an ad, and a web inspiration, with great freebies attached. The quote for this week was so pretty, I couldn’t resist, and it was perfect for a photo that was really too exciting to scrap any other way than with lots of white space. (Layout credits: Kit is called Forget Me Not from Scrapartist. Wordart by Katie Pertiet.)
The second layout is very simple, but with a great photo, courtesy of Lanne, and beautiful paper, and a gorgeous frame, how could a girl go wrong? Hope you enjoy tonight’s layouts, and think of me kindly, as I trot back to work tomorrow after a loooooooong holiday! More next time …

Here's a hint!

(Layout credits: Kit is Warm Cocoa by Tracy Ann. Font: Century Gothic.)What a pretty little kit … this freebie is found at Tracy Ann’s blog, and is full of cute schtuff … don’t believe me? Well, here’s a look at Warm Cocoa … should you decide that it is indeed as gorgeous as I have said it is, you can click on the name of the kit and it will take you to her blog.I’m sunburnt and tired and worn-out, so I won’t keep you long from your exciting lives. We were up by 6.00 am, on the road by 6.30, and at the beach by 7.30. You have to understand that you do your beaching in my part of the world very early in the day, because it is just too hot, and you get too sunburnt, to be out during the hottest part of the day. Add to that the fact that you can’t get a park near the surf beach and worse still, the surf comes early and leaves early at full tide … you understand why we were on the road early. Kids and dad had a great surf, Tash tried out a new smaller lighter board, which she handled well, and Michael took his grandmother’s digital underwater camera out in the waves to see what he could find. I saw some very large front teeth on one of the photos … he said he was looking down his throat (underwater!) to watch a bubble of air come up! Perhaps you have to be a boy to really appreciate that photo …
I’ve discovered that one of the downsides of being part of a creative team is that often you have to create, and then sit on your creation for a while … I think I have up to 10 under wraps at the moment! Very hard for a sharing bunny like me! But when the new shoppes open at the end of the month, they will all come out, and you will think, ‘What a busy little bunny Sharon has been!’Today, I finished one layout that I had to put in the bottom drawer, figuratively speaking, and then I did the pretty one at the top of my blog for Tracy Ann. Yes, you did read that … I did it for Tracy Ann. Did you get the significance of that??? My big news is that Tracy Ann has asked me to be on her design team. Now, how exciting is that??? Can’t tell you how thrilled I was … and straight after I said yes, I promised myself that no one could top THAT offer, and I was now closed to any further teams. And I’m telling you all that, so that should something else come up, you can all shout very loudly, ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!’ or else I’m telling you my family will give me away, and I will have to live with some other family. Hmmmm … how’s the space at your house, Miss M? How do you feel about a border, long term probably!!! Now I’m getting tired and silly, so I’ll finish off for tonight … more next time!

Can you hear me cheering wildly???

Just time for a quick blog before I call it a day … wandering around the traps I see that lots of people have exciting things happening to them these last few days! Congrats go to Cass, who has a new team to work with, and congrats to Kelly who has stuff being published in SS … *YAY* … and congrats to Peta who also has a layout coming up in SS … I have exciting news too but I don’t know if I can share it yet, so I’m going to have to sit on it, which is something I really hate on other people’s blogs, cos I’m a sticky beak and NEED to know things. *sigh * … maybe I can share tomorrow.A couple of pretty picture to tide you over till I can do a proper blog … more next time!

Sometimes I hate inserting images ...

(Layout credits: Papers from The Toy Chest, photo edge, Messy Cream Stitching, flowers from Digital Pixies, all from DesignerDigitals. Fonts: Loosie Script, Two Centuries MT.)
Is is just me, or is creating sometimes REALLY hard work, so hard that banging your head on the keyboard probably feels better than looking at your layout that just won’t behave one more time? Today was one of those days … I had the photo, taken at 8.30 this morning, I had put all my newly acquired photo-editing skills (thank you, Katy, again!) into good use, and the photo had scrubbed up okay, I had a beautiful set of papers from the ‘Toy Chest Paper Pack’ at DesignerDigitals, but do you think I could get them all to work together? Several hours later I had something I liked, having tried an 8x8, then a 10x8, and finally an 8x10! Phew!!! Seriously though, I’m going to have to go kidnap some gorgeous kids, cos mine are over photographed and over scrapped! Seriously, if you have good quality digital files of gorgeous kids, and you want them scrapped, let me know!!!
Oh, oh, oh … little wee toot here … a layout in an Aussie mag, just hit the stands, and it’s my beautiful boy after a hard day of skiing.

I'm sure that I had lots of schtuff to tell you ... but as soon as I sat down at the keyboard, it all fled from my head. And why do I hate inserting images? Cos I had more to share, and Blogger won't let me put them in. Grrrrr! More next time ...

Thursday musings ...

Inspiration for me comes from all sorts of places … magazines, bilboards, digi mags, photography mags … just about anything … displays in shop windows, wall colours, flowers, friends … This layout of Tash was inspired by an ad. PLucky at The Digi Shoppe runs an ad challenge, and she shared with me this morning the ad she was using for this week.It ‘spoke’ to me, and I knew at once I had the photo to go with the colours in the ad I liked. Plucky helped me with the photo editing again, though don’t blame her if it looks a bit wonky because she had to leave half-way through the process. But I love it, love the colour, the flower doodles, the simplicity of it, even the photo!!!
I’ve been a busy girl over the last couple of days … guess most of you know I have been asked to go on the creative team for The Sweet Shoppe … I can’t tell you how exciting that is. Robin is super SUPER organized, and so easy to work with … I really look forward to working with the team, and showcasing the beautiful work that the designers are producing. Finishing off today with December’s PAD photos … that’s it for PBase for a while … enjoy, and more next time!

Mid-morning blog entry ...

Have to share my excitement ... made a new friend ... *waving, hi katy* ... yesterday, spent some time with someone who lives on the other side of the world, discovered the joys of Hello, and had a tutorial of an hour or more in post-editing my photos. Here is a before and after set of images for you to look at ...

Can you see the grey is no longer there, and Tashy's beautiful eyes really *pop* now! Thank you soooooo much, Katy. I love this digi/photography world, where friends are so generous with their time, friendship and knowledge! BTW, I can recommend Hello, if you love chatting, and want to share photos/layouts/designs at the same time. Even works with dial-up and that's saying something ... more this afternoon!

Interesting assortment of images for you to check out today! I found this great little action called Triptych Action at www.atncentral.com. How cool is this … you run the particular action you want, and then all you have to do is slip your photo behind it. So quick, and so effective, I think. I just happened to have the perfect picture for the frames.
What about a layout? Okay … I’ve decided to run with the 52 week challenge at ScrapArtist … obviously I need some more pressure in my life, lol. It is loosely based on ’52 starting points to inspire us to scrap’, designed to keep us off the streets at night, obviously! Our challenge for week 1 is … ‘What books and magazines are you reading right now?’ And this is the resulting layout … (Layout credits: Papers from Everyday Tango. Stitching from Mary Jane. Photo corner from Still Life. All from ScrapArtist. Font: Century Gothic, Impact.)
Next pictorial delight … these are the images that had the most views in my PAD gallery. It is sort of interesting to see what grabs people’s attention, when they are looking through photography galleries.
And this last image is my collage from the month of November. It was a lot of fun to participate in this year-long challenge, but in a way I am glad it is over now, and I can concentrate on my scrapping.Oh yes, if you look closely, you might notice that digiscrapping featured during the month of November in my photography gallery! Hope you enjoy the piccies ... more next time!

Catching up ...

Just a quick blog today … too busy playing on the ‘puter to ramble on for too long! I have been tidying up my PBase gallery today. It has been ignored for a little while now, so I’ve spent some time playing with gallery content, and updating my collages in my PAD gallery. I’ve popped October’s collage in to show you … these are the photos I took on a daily basis in October.I’ll share the next couple of months tomorrow.
And a layout using the Daydreamer kit from DesignerDigitals I shared earlier this week … (Layout credits: Kit: Daydreamer at DesignerDigitals. Photo frame from DesignerDigitals. White overlay from ScrapArtist. Fonts: Acoustic Bass, Arial.)
I love orange and yellow in photos (not to wear, I might add!!!) and these papers shouted, ‘Poppies!’, so here is a layout using a poppy photo I took in Sept of last year. I know, I know … it’s a bit bright, but it makes you smile … confess! I did try to tone it down with Michelle Coleman’s white overlay, which I must have used to death almost, but I really love it. That and Katie’s messy stitching are my two scrapping staples, I think. They seem to pop up on every second layout I do! More next time ...

On a Sunday afternoon ...

(Layout credits: Little Love Paper Pack, frames, messy white stitching, white overlay from DesignerDigitals. Font: Times New Roman.)
Spent loads of money today, spent literally half of it driving around, have a headache, but a warm sense of accomplishment … details???
5.30 … son wakes me up with the usual – sliding door slides open, loud toileting, vigorous washing of hands, other door in bedroom opened, tramps through house to PS2 in front part of house. Mother sends him back to bed.
6.00 … ¾’s of family up to check surf report. Too much surf, wind and rain … why don’t we sleep in??? Ha, ha …
6.30-8.00 … coffee, read mail, blogs, create layout for DesignerDigitals’ ‘homework’ for January. Wonder why SBB is still down?
8.30-9.00 … load of washing, make beds, tidy up, get four people through showers/dressing/breakfast.
9.00 … on the road to a shopping centre that specializes in outlets. DH needs new black work pants, and will only buy them if I literally force him to go. The only reason I think he succumbed is that he has worn the others out. I only shop with four because I have no other choice.
10.00 … two pairs of pants and belt, school backpack (it had to be just the right shape, colour, number of zips and pockets) for Tash, suit carrier for DH. Let me out of here …
11.30 … we patronize Maccas, and you would be amazed at what it cost me!!!
12.30 … on the way home we visit a lychee farm, buy 5 kilos of fresh lychees, then drop 2 kilos off at my parents.
1.30 … the girls drop the boys off at home and head back to the shops – one laptop backpack for Michael, a pencil case for Tash (again the right colour, size, shape, etc.) and a pair of brown leather roman sandals for Tash, her school shoes for summer.
3.30 … we drive in, pick the boys up, and drive into the city where DH drops off his changes of clothing for the week. He rides his push bike into the city and then home again, for exercise, each day. This is a round trip of 50 km.
4.30 … I drop the other three off and head back out again to feed a friend’s cat, water her husband’s beautiful bonsai plants, and steal her internet bandwidth and air-conditioning while she is away. It’s okay folks, she encourages me to!!!
5.30 … home finally, and hubby has done dinner! And that’s it for the day, expensive, but lots of important things have been done! If you are still reading …. here is something pretty to finish off with … he was sitting on our back verandah!More next time!

Sharing layouts and shopping ...

(Layout credits: Papers from 'Adventurous Spirit', white overlay, white photo frame, stars, at ScrapArtist. Font: Century Gothic.)
You just have to love freckles on cute kids’ noses … of course they aren’t quite so attractive when they are big and dark and ugly, and on MY nose! Here is a layout of Tashy I did for the January issue of The Muse at ScrapArtist, using Jackie’s kit called Adventurous Spirit.
We had our eldest niece over to ‘play’ a couple of times this week. She lived with us each weekend for a couple of years, and my children adore her. At almost sixteen, she is growing into a gorgeous young woman, and I always try to get a photo of her when she visits, as we don’t get to see her as much now as we would like to. Katie made this outfit for a class at school, and both she and Tash played ‘dress-ups’ for a quick photo shoot.(Layout credits - Paper from Thelma paper pack, black frame from Shmootzy Frames 1. Font: Teletype.)
Now … all those who complain vigorously about me tempting you into all sorts of shopping ventures, look away now … cos I’ve been shopping!!!
First stop – Tracy Ann! I probably have not purchased her latest stuff, but this kit, Tea Time Peppermint & Raspberry Leaf spoke to me, and you know how utterly without defences I am when something speaks to me … this pretty kit comes with papers, and an elements add on. Can’t wait to do something girly with this one …Second stop - ScrapArtist … this is called Forget Me Not, a collaborative kit by Jen Wilson, Nancie-Rowe Janitz, Michelle Coleman and Lisa Cohen … wow!!! And it is huge, over 300 mb … lots of potential there!

And the third stop – well, I can’t show you what I got cos it’s to go in a BRAND NEW digishop, opening round the end of January … so you’ll just have to wait!!! So … enough of the blogging … off to do some creating … and you guys had better stop reading blogs and start making beautiful stuff too, so I have something to look at tomorrow, lol. More next time ...