Jennie's Give Away

I have just visited Jennie's blog where she is giving away blog candy. Head on over and check out her site, it is fabulous.

Blog Candy Give Away

Tis the Christmas Spirit, so many Give Aways. Rica is having a little celebration on her own and is giving away a yummy Basic Grey pack. For your chance to win this blog candy head on over to her site. Rica creates the most amazing cards ever.

Cosmo Cricket Give Away

One of my favorite blogs to visit belongs to Leah Killian. At the moment she is having an amazing Give Away, $150 worth of Cosmo Cricket products. Who wouldn't want to win this prize pack, so get on over and check out her site.

December Daily Album

I have finally taken some photos for my DDA that I am happy with. Most days were too sunny but Saturday morning was overcast and I find that is the time to take the best photos with my camera. I am a little behind in completing the pages but I have tried to stay up to date with my journaling. I am finding that it is really hard to remember exactly what I did a few days ago, so I have made a point of jotting down a few things at the end of each day on my computer.

Front Cover

Intro

Journaling Page 1

I have hidden the journaling in between page 1 and page 2. On the back of the journaling card, I have adhered the business card from Sweet and Shabby (which holds more information) where my daughter and I enjoyed morning tea.



Hopefully this week I will get more time to catch up on a few more pages. I love checking out other DDAs and at times I am in awe of all the talent out there. Every one has such a unique style and they are creating an amazing keepsake.

Time Out

Life is getting hectic at present, what with all the Christmas parties, decorations, projects on the go, not to mention the normal day to day routines. So I decided to have a little ME time. A lovely stroll on our beach. The afternoon was quite warm and the tide was in. The blue sky was clear except for two osprey gliding on the breeze. The whole beach, all 1.5klm was deserted but for one seagull and even it flew away.

Of cause I took my camera with me.......I am doing a DDA (December Daily Album) and there is always something to photograph - like those osprey, and the beach and of cause ME. It was just what I needed, a place to clear my mind and simply enjoy the moment.

As I walked along the water's edge, I thought about what it would be like to have a white Christmas. Would I enjoy the snow and the cold. It all looks so lovely in the postcards.





Maybe one day I will experience snow flakes, scarfs and hot chocolate. But until then it's hats, sunglasses and bare feet.

Leah is hard at work

Leah Killian is one of my favorite scrappers. She has had a rough trot with her pregnancy recently but is back on board creating gorgeous projects. At the moment Leah is doing a step by step Christmas mini album which is so yummy and is also giving away a Cosmo Cricket Crafting Pack. So if you would like to be in the running to win this fab prize then pop on over and check out her blog.

Christmas Season

"Out with the old and in with the new"..... "Nothing like a change"...... I've heard this many times. !!!! I felt that my old look was a bit boring so while I decide on a new look to go with my new banner I think I will keep it plain.

This morning I woke and wondered what the day would bring. Well so far it has been all good. I got a message from Letters to Scrap By letting me know that I was the winner of the latest challenge, so that was cool news. If you haven't checked them out yet, then you should.

I also have been trying to add a slide show to my blog so with a little help from Bec my daughter, it is up and running and because part of the slide show was obscured, meant that I needed to change my layout so I went the whole hog. I now don't have to copy and paste the post that featured my LOs so it would always be at the top of the page. YEAH.

Anyhow, I am off to have a walk on the beach and get some sand between my toes.

Letters to Scrap By

Here is a layout I did for Letters to Scrap By. We had to do a layout using the colour F is for Fuchsia.


Thanks for this challenge girls, it was so much fun even though I got it finished by the skin of my teeth.

Blog Candy anyone?

Don't we all like the chance of scoring a give away. Well Linda is feeling in a very generous mood and is giving away this fabulous pack of goodies.




For your chance to win this pack check out Linda's blog for details.

Getting ready for December

Tomorrow is 1st December and here in Australia it's officially our first day of summer. I am really looking forward to December for many reasons. This year we will be heading down to Stacey's for Christmas and I am looking forward to spending time with our family and catching up with friends.

Over the past couple of weeks I have been busy working on my December Daily Album. My thanks goes out to Ali Edwards for coming up with this fab idea of capturing the Festive Season by journaling about each day leading up to Christmas as well as those important photos. I picked up one of those craft board albums earlier this year hoping I could put it to good use. It had to be used in 2008 because it has 2008 down the side.

I' m very excited about this project and even though it's not completely finished, I wanted to share my Front Cover with you and as I complete it I will add more pages in my posts.

I HATE water colours (well, I think I do)

Hi all, well today I tackled a task that I have been putting off for weeks. On Mondays I go to Art Class and our gorgeous teacher Gill always sets us a challenge for our end of year break-up. This year we were asked to do a Water Colour which had to contain a bird and water.

Now Gill knows I hate water colours. Actually that is not quite true, what I mean is that I find it very difficult using this medium. My forte if you can call it that is Oils. I love oils, they smell so nice, I love to smear them onto my canvas with lots of texture, but mainly because they take so long to dry that if you make a mistake there is plenty of time to fix it and even time for a cuppa and a chat.

Water colours on the other hand...........are not that forgiving. I struggle with the thought. Why did Gill choose water colours. I was going to do something abstract that didn't take much effort but the more I thought about it the more I realized I should put effort into the painting and see what I could come up with.

Well, I surprised my self in the end. I sketched it yesterday (putting it off a little longer) and painted today. It took me only 3 hours and I was done, which amazed me more than anybody.
So here it is.............da da



I hope that Gill is happy now. She had better choose Oils next year.


Here is a layout I completed last week for a challenge over at Cocoa Daisy. I didn't even get past round one, no surprise there, the entries were stunning. As soon as I had this photo developed, I knew what I wanted to do with it. I have cut away the bottom section of the photo but keeping the legs intact, then I slipped the title behind giving the illusion that Lachlan was jumping out of the photo.

Scraplift Challenge

Well I have managed to complete a challenge from To the Starres and Back and still have a few days up my sleeve. We were given this layout below, by the very talented Adia.


Our task was to lift this layout and we must use plenty of layers, a butterfly and also the title was to be any where but not horizontal .



Here is my entry. I used a photo of my daughter No 3 when she had four weeks left in her pregnancy. Even though we knew Deb was having a little boy, I still wanted to keep the layout soft and feminine.

So much happening round here

My head is spinning. I am starting to wonder if I have too much on my plate. What with the new kitchen going in (I am loving it) and inquiries about the old one. So far there has been only one hiccup. Yesterday the electrician popped in to wire up my oven, cook top and dishwasher, which I really appreciated. Unfortunately, when I came down stairs this morning, the cook top being all glass had exploded with bits of glass every where. The apprentice had tighten a screw too tightly and it had shattered the glass. All is fixed, I have a new cook top and it will be connected by Saturday. I will be posting photos as soon as it is complete.

Mean while I have been working on a couple layouts, putting together "A Week in my Life" album and compiling my DDA (Daily December Album) both designed by Ali Edwards. This lady has so much talent and is so generous to share it with everyone.

I managed to squeeze in an Art Class last Monday where we try to paint in between morning tea and social chit chat. I am working on a still life which is a piece of drift wood. Not sure if I will post a piccie of that one. Oh, I almost forgot the Graduation Dresses that I have altered plus
3 Wedding Gowns on the go. What do they say, " no rest for the wicked".

I also have to work out how to put my slide show on the side of my blog. Every time I add a post, I have to COPY/PASTE the slideshow then delete the original. It is a pain. I have tried several times with not much luck. But I am stubborn, and I will work it out.

Until next time...........
bye

E is for Ecru

Here is another layout for the Letters to Scrap By challenge. It is a little different as the focus is on my shoulders and what they are used for.



If you want to play along, then go on over and check out the site. You might even win a prize.

What a Day

This has been such a crazy day. I was expecting Scott this morning at 9am to start on my new kitchen. At 7.40, five guys rock up in trucks. I was up to my elbows in suds, two cupboards still had to be emptied and I wanted to give the microwave a last wipe out.

I was ousted out of my kitchen - no room there for me with five large boys and their tools. Having said that, I really didn't mind because my new kitchen was on the back of one of those trucks. I started to grin all over again.

I left them to it and retreated to my scrap room to tackle a challenge which ends today. Out in the kitchen there was a lot of hammering, drilling, heave hoeing, re wiring etc but thankfully no "OH, NO". Not until I came back into the room and saw the mess.






There is plaster powder EVERYWHERE. Bits of cupboard, doors, screws, junk EVERYWHERE. But I just kept on grinning - I knew where my NEW kitchen was. They have all packed up and gone for the day. But, they are coming back tomorrow.

Well here is my layout for - to the Starres and back. We were given a layout to scraplift and
also the word "AMAZE" must be used.

The little verse reads:

Someday I'll jump through puddles,
take a stroll or urn a race.
Someday I'll walk across the street
or maybe walk in space.
Someday I'll scale a mountain
or I'll join a ballet corps.
Someday I'll walk a tightrope
or explore the the ocean floor.
Someday these feet will do some things
that only Heaven knows.
But for today they're happy
just to wriggle all their toes.

Author unknown

I am off to find the vacuum cleaner and get a little order back in the house before hubby gets home. I shall keep you posted.

Oh, I forgot to mention that this week of all weeks, I am starting a journal "A week in the Life".
It's a wonderful idea where you get to document your week, day by day. It should be a very interesting week for me I think. If you want to know more about this journal you can find out more on Ali Edwards blog site.

I am getting a new kitchen

And I am so excited. Melissa called last Thursday to say they would be starting on Monday. YEAH !!!!! I am having Two Pack satin finish on the doors and I asked her what she thought
of the colour I had chosen. Well, there was silence at the other end then she said "It's a bit dark".

I thought to myself "WHAT, have they got the colour wrong?" So I did what any woman choosing a new kitchen would do. I jumped in the car and twenty minutes later I walked through the frond door of the show room where the person who scared me sat.

Her hubby (this is a small family owned business) came through the back door and they both took me out to the work shop where my new kitchen had been laid out. I was expecting to see this dark swampy brown colour on the cupboards and my heart stopped.

There before my eyes was my kitchen. It was beautiful, the colour was perfect, even better than the tiny sample I had to choose from. I was behaving like a teenager, jumping up and down
and grinning till my cheeks hurt. I wanted to hug my new kitchen, I wanted to hug Scott (but I couldn't because his wife was standing right there).

Tomorrow I will be packing up all my kitchen stuff and let me tell you, I have heaps and storing in all in boxes for a week or two. In the meantime, our temp kitchen will be in the laundry. I am not sure how I am going to cope because I cook a lot and also use a lot of pots, bowls, utensils etc and no dishwasher. I think I feel take-aways coming on.....................

I received an Award.

I am honoured to receive this award from you Lynette. Your blog is packed full of talent, everything from layouts, photos and challenges.




The RULES for presenting this sought after Award are:

1. Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also for contributing to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog.

3. Each award winner (upon acceptance) should show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award.

4. Link to the Arte y pico blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. Show these rules.

The five I have chosen are:

Ruth from Alteredgiesha. I love visiting her side where she shows how you can alter everyday things and turn them into works of art.

Kazan from nunu toolies. I found Kazan's site by blog hopping. If you want inspiration for card making, then go have peek, you wont be disappointed.

Ronda from Help me Ronda. This lady makes the amazing mini albums and don't forget to check out her layouts........fab.

Jane from Fragments of Time. Jane take the most beautiful photos and her layouts are fantastic.

and last but not least........

Julie and Eric of Cosmo Cricket. This has to be the most fun blog ever. There are plenty of laughs (recently the mouse saga), giveaways, tutorials and so much more. So what are you

waiting for, go have a look.

A layout using the colour "D for Denim"

This is a layout I have completed for the Letters to Scrap By challenge. We were asked to create a LO using the colour Denim as the theme. I took this photo back in 2006 when Mia was only 14 months. I loved the photo and I knew, one day, I would scrap it.

Dinosaur Passion

Here is a layout I completed a couple of days ago. Lachlan loves dinosaurs, in fact, he loves any animals. What 3 year old boy doesn't love tearing through the house, with a dinosaur in each hand, helling at top note Rrrrrrrrrroar" !!!!!!

He spent so much time playing with them. They went to bed with him, sat quietly on the floor while he read a book or watched a DVD, went outside to play in the sand pit and even went shopping with him.

As a rule, I don't like my pages to be quite this busy but I had a set of Basic Grey that fitted in with a "dinosaur" theme and after all, I was looking for a rugged look.

I have been given an award

OMG, I have been given an award by the lovely and very talented Maddy Hill. Go check out her site you won't be disappointed.




Now I have to pass this award on to seven of my favorite blogs:

http://thelazyscrapper.blogspot.com/
http://tj-runningwithscissors.blogspot.com/
http://letterstoscrapby.blogspot.com/
http://scrapperlicious.blogspot.com/
http://gabriellepollacco.blogspot.com/
http://sares1911.wordpress.com/
http://stucksketches.blogspot.com/

Ben's Mini Album

Here is a little mini album I made for Benjamin's 1st Birthday. They had just spent a week down on the Gold Coast and my daughter Debbie phoned to tell me that she took plenty of photos with "Scrapbooking" in mind, bless her little heart !!

Like most kids these days, they have so many toys but fortunately, both Benjamin and Lachlan love to read books, so I thought that a mini album would be a good idea. It would be something that he could keep.

I spent the best part of a day in Rockhampton searching for the perfect papers. One of my downfalls is that I am too particular in what I look for. Close enough is not good enough. Ahgggggg. I finally settled on two different sets of papers but when I got home, they didn't match the photos all that well so.............I ended up using papers that I already had at home. LOL.

Mini Album

Earlier this year I made my first mini album for my very best friend. The photos I took back then were pretty average but last weekend while I was staying with Trish, I managed to get some better shots.

Since 2002 our friendship has grown into a strong bond and for her last birthday, I want to give her something special to show her how much our friendship means to me. It turned out completely different to how I first imagined it would be but I really liked how it turned out in the end.

When I walked into her home last Friday, there it was sitting on the sideboard. I made a comment about it being brought out because I was there but Trish assured me that that is where the album always stays and anyone that comes through the front door gets to look through it .

Here is my entry

WOW, I have come across this new blog which has a fun twist. Each week there will be a challenge with some great prizes so go check out Letters to Scrap By and have yourself some fun.

Here is my entry for this week.

A couple of layouts

I thought it was time to share a couple of my layouts. Earlier this year I flew down to stay with my daughter Cathie while hubby was away working on the Australian Open Tennis Comp. To say I was intrigued at the number of times little Mia change her clothes in one day is an understatement. So one morning, with trusty camera by my side, I started snapping. Changing her clothes was not the problem, it was the clothes she took off that were dumped on the floor all over the place that was a challenge LOL






The next layout was inspired by the photos I took, again staying with Cathie during the Beijing Olympics. Around 4pm, Mia was in the entry and the lighting was so perfect when I captured these photos. I also took inspiration from one of Ingvild's layouts. I think she has a truly unique style which I totally love. Head on over and check out her blog.

I can see my desk top.......

After many many hours of sorting, stacking filing and even throwing out, I can finally say, with a sense of achievement, I can see my desk top. I am one of those people that dart from one thing to the next and never seem to find time to tidy up as I go. Hmmmm maybe this could be a good New Year's resolution !!!
De-cluttering is good for the soul.

My tidy desk

My Storage Cupboard

One can never have enough stacker draws

Back in Control

In recent times I have lost my mojo. I want to scrap, I need to scrap, but when I make time, there is nothing there. I am not happy with the quality of photos I get developed. I am one of those people that must have a good photo to start things off and I am feeling despondent with our local photo development shops. I know that the digital "print while you wait" places are convenient, I am disappointed with the results. The photos are either too dark or too orange too cropped or all of the above. Arrrrrggggg. But I feel that it could be something more.

To tackle my problem I have taken a different direction. A week ago my scraproom looked like a war zone, papers stacked everywhere, stuff I had bought weeks ago still in their packs, boxes, files, ribbons, glue, tape, you get the picture. I even started picking my way over the floor.

Well, things are slowly getting back to normal. One of our LSS are relocating and are selling off their fittings and stock. I bought 2 paper stands for $25 each (each stand can hold 250 sheets) need I say more :). Now all my papers and cardstock are easily accessible and not stored all over the place. Next I tackled my ribbons, then came the stamps, the chipboard, the inks, the flowers and so on. I now can see the top of my desk YEAH !!!!!

I feel like I am back in control of my craft room and now I am off to see what Kodak can do for me.
Stayed tuned for a layout or two......

It's been a while.......

Two months have already gone and so much has happened. Even though I have been away for most of August, I must make a resolution to be more consistent with my posts.

I feel I should start with the sad news first. As I mentioned in my last post, Paddington was diagnosed with several aggressive tumours which were malignant. All we could do was give him palative care and make sure he was in no pain. By the 23rd Padd was sleeping in the family room and that morning we came down stairs and gave him a cuddle etc and everything was fine until he tried to stand up. From that moment, everything went down hill and the tough decission had to be made. Trish flew up the next morning and by 2pm...........the 24th of July was one of the most heart wrenching days for us all. It all happened so quickly, within 24 hours he was gone.




He was a gorgeous Golden Retriever with a great personality. He belonged to Trish who is now my very best friend. Even though he lived right on the beach, he would sneak away and come up to our place whenever he got the opportunity. It didn't take long for him to work out that we had air-con and almost every day Paddington would appear at our glass door tail wagging, waiting to be let in. He would then sprawl on the cool tiles and sleep. He was a large dog and would take up most of the floor and most of our hearts.




One of the things he did that I loved was.....greet you at the door with a soft toy in his mouth (he loved fluffy toys that squeaked) and at times he could get 3 in his mouth at one time. I don't know how he didn't choak on them. He loved the beach and always headed for the water. You can just imagine how much sand a large long haired wet dog can hold and he couldn't understand why he was not allowed inside the house !!!! He also left hair EVERY WHERE !!!! I don't miss the hair but I do miss him so much.




On a brighter note, early in August I flew down to stay with my daughter Cathie and her three children while Brian was in Beijing. I don't get to see the grandchildren as much as I would like so to spend 2 weeks with them was precious. I was so excited because I was going to meet my newest little grandson Hamish for the first time. Let me tell you that he did not disappoint. He was six weeks old and so tiny, but best of all, he was so snuggly, a real snuggle bug.




Of cause I spent oodles of time with Isla and Mia as well. Isla is in Kindergarten and Mia being only 3 is still at home. Mia would get excited when the Olympics were on TV and she saw the Bird's Nest would state that "daddy was in Beijingchina" (one word).

She is so sweet and very independent and I would often get "I can do it Grammy".






Isla has grown up so much since my last visit. She loves school and even though she is still shy, she will try most things. While I was there, Isla's school held a mimi Olympics day. They were divided into groups and each group represented a country. There was a good choice of Chinese food on offer at lunch time and they even had an opening ceremony in which Isla took part. She was so nervous before hand with a few tears but when her dance was over she was wearing the biggest grin. Go Isla !!!!




I also squeazed in a trip to Norfolk Island. I belong to a local Mah Jong Club here in Emu Park, called the Emu Chicks and this year we hosted the Annual National Mah Jong Festival on Norfolk. It's a beautiful but very small island and which ever way you look out to sea, there is nothing but thousands of kilometers of ocean before you reach any other land. Our festival ran for a week and was a huge success. We played four half day sessions. The festival wound up with a Presentation Dinner. The theme was "In your Dreams" and everyone was asked to come along dressed as a charector from your dreams. I was the Black Widow.




The rest of the days were filled with tours, fun, shopping, parties or just relaxing. One of our tours was "A night as a Convict". I have never laughed so much, it was so much fun.

I am on the left Front Row