End of Month

For some that might mean doing the accounts & tallying up....but for me Challenges are DUE!!! ROFLMAO!!

So today I managed to complete 3 LO's for various challenges & I have another one that I was working on when the thought crossed my mind that I have a class with Chris Millar tonight!!! I had 5 minutes to spare - So I had to put that aside & throw Ravey in bed (not literally) then get little Princess sorted.

Meanwhile Wayno is out tonight, farewell drinks for a colleague so not sure what time he'll be home.

Just finished my Jolly Holly Xmas with Chris & she's just sooo lovely...poor chickie wasn't well & still was there for us holding our hands - what an absolute angel!!

So let's see what I have here..I have combined a couple of challenges cos I'm running out of photos LOL..all the good ones are allocated for challenges ROFLMAO!!

OK, we have "Mini Me" which is Taigy wanting to be just like her Mum - how cute is she!!! This was for the DT sticker challenge (use @ least 15 stickers)over at Embellished & combined with a funky frame challenge at Scrapbook Essentials.

Then we have "any given day" which is for the November competition over at Embellished to scrap a day in your life - I kinda like this & I kinda don't...it's nothing how I envisioned it...but looking at it - it does look a bit chaotic & haphazard...so it might just be my subconscious influence bringing the truth to light ROFL!!!

What really happened was that I cut the circle without checking to see where I was cutting & typical of me I hadn't cut the manufacturer's strip off the pp...so I had no pattern & a brand name glaring back at me...so I did what any desperate scrapper would do - I inked ;o)

And finally "Birthday Girl" this one is for "The BIGGEST Competition Yet" at Embellished - a LO for each month of the year...this is August's entry - I'm trying to get back on track & get them all done before 31st Dec.. I have doubled up on this with the SE DT challenge to use sheers. For all the whanau who read this it's Ebony-Pearl, Kane & La's daughter.

So now I think I have done a page on each of the nieces & nephews...oops - No, sorry I haven't done Malakai one yet..I was going to say they all have the beginnings of an album...but alas I'm one challenge short ROFL!!!

I'm sure I'll be able to whip something up for him..I'm working on the make your own pp challenge (from Elsie's 52 Challenges) over at Embellished & then I have the single B&W LO to do...but after that I'm sure Mal Mal will get his turn to shine ;o)

Well tomorrow I'll stick down what I have done on my class LO

GIMP Helpful Links

Oops, forgot the links in my last post.

The blinkie one is here (although not strickly a blinkie tutorial LOL!) very cool - shows you how to do the thingy that makes it looks like you're writing.

Some gorgeous brushes are here

Some photographic tutorials - which I just found ;o) are here

And a knowledge-packed forum for any question you may possibly have.

And I remember seeing a beginners thing about docking your panes...but buggered if I know where that one went & I didn't follow the instructions - or put it in my faves...so I'll be keeping an eye out for that one...may have been in the forum.

Hope this helps someone :o)

LOVING the GIMP

I used to be such a Photoshop fan...but now I've found me the GIMP - its free...has the same functionality of Photoshop - & just as tricky if you don't know what you're doing (which I don't).

With the help of my pal google I've been playing with some tutorials & I created my very own challenge junkie blinkie - which I have added to my sig at SE & SBO.

I tried to show you here - but apparently blogger doesn't like gifs (that are on infinite loop) ROFLMAO!!

Anyway if you don't have the dosh for photoshop & want to be able to seriously play around with stuff get yourself the GIMP...it looks a little daunting at first - but there are tutorials galore online & I'm sure there's a help file somewhere that I forgot to download LMAO!!

Oh, I just checked the site & they're bringing out an updated version soon...apparently each one gets a little easier to use...I saw scaleable brushes mentioned...having a problem with that today - but that's cool

OK I really need to get some challenges/comp entries done today - Tai is off at a friends for the arvo - she's hoping to have a "make-over" which invloves painting her nails - too cute!!!


Also wanted to mention that Janine is having a 12 Days of Christmas challenge over at her place (blog) starting Dec 1...I think this'll be a lot of fun - so go & check it out...A Tarisota pack is up for grabs ;o)

Just a quickie

Thought I might as well add this one before I go to bed.

We had a one hour challenge over at Embellished tonight. Had to use a large flower, chipboard & bling...this is what I came up with..you may notice that the scalloped pp is the left-over BG fusion used in "She loves Painted Nails" (below) & the B&W pp is some DCWV paper I've had for ages - an off-cut that I was sure I was going to be able to use....hello, a year later I have. The "princess" rub-on is from the MME bohemia range...a little tip that I got from Lisa is to press down on the rub-on for a couple of seconds (I went for 20 with this one cos I stuffed up a crown on another LO) with the palm of your hand - apparently the heat helps the release/adhering process.

Seems I've turned into a bit of a Heidi Swapp junkie...most of my embellies are hers...the bling is one of the HS bling frames chopped...I won these a couple of weeks ago from the NZ Dares site & they were supplied by the lovely Meg from Scrapbook Essentials (be sure to check out the "what's new" section).

The little letter stickers are EK success - picked them up at scrapcam & they are AWESOME...now if I could find some coloured ones I would be a very happy scrapper :o)

Really need to go to bed now...4 posts in a day really should be enough ROFLMAO!!!

Mrs Claus is a Scrapbooker!!

Who knew??

She even has a blog, you soooo need to visit!!

Check out the pic of Dasher the reindeer - too cute!!

Haven't Been Busy

Well I don't feel like I've been getting much scrapping done - cos I keep checking the forums to see if anything is new - despite the fact that I get email notifications...I really need to sort myself out!!!

Had a great weekend so far...Friday night we went to Albany to pick up my niece so she could baby sit Sat morning while Wayne & I went to the Adidas friends & family sale...OMG some bargains to be found!!!!! check out out little shopping spree...most of our xmas shopping done - phew!! Ummm there's about 8 pairs of shoes there..a gorgeous jacket for Mum (which I'm secretly hoping she doesn't like) 6 pairs of socks, a singlet & maybe a dozen tees..I also got a couple of pairs of trakkies for next year - gotta love the Adidas sale :o)

Then, seeing as Jordy stayed last night as well Wayno decided we should go out for a drink...note to self alcohol makes me sleepy..so off to the Cock n Bull & ended up watching the league there Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi!!!!!!

This morning we went to brekky at Pickles down by Mitre 10 mega Botany - I do like it there - very friendly staff, quick service, great value & tasty food...

But back to scrapping - I didn't think I'd done much - but it turns out that I have done a double LO for an SBO challenge, a LO for the Get Real comp which has grown on me since the beginning of the week LOL! Combined a couple of challenges to keep on top of things...there's the bling/alpha challenge, and the strip journalling/3pp +stitching & the NZ Dares (post below)...so that's 5 LOs & I made a couple of banners for the SBO banner comp too - so really what am I talking about????

This week I've also been conscious about spending more time with Ravey...he's getting a bit upset that Taigy gets to go to pre-school & he has to stay home - so I've been doing more with him too.

Well Jord wants to go to K Mart before we take her home, so I promised I'll take her after this post - so I'd better skeddadle :o)

NZ Dare: Ad Inspiration

Here's my take on the ad inspiration...I was trying to keep to the "sketch" but had to work with the pics that turned out OK LOL!

Glad to get my scrapcamp pics on a page :o)

The Cards....

Just a quick post before I have to pick the Princess up form her Big School visit.

I promised to share the cards from Nic's class & here they are...absolutely GORGEOUS!!

Used Crate Paper pp & it is just delicious!!

The other LO I did was for the Embellished monthly sketch challenge:

Taigy doing her waa waas.

She's soooo cute, we went to her friend's birthday party at Lollipops Playland & she saw this ride & thought she might like it.

The first time round she was unsure, 2nd time she started to cry & I left her on so I could get a good shot of her waa waas (mean mummy aye!!!)

It says Waa Waa Waa somebody call the wambulance...I'm pretty sure its from that Bruce Willis movie where he's visited by a younger version of himself - story is something along those lines.

I dowloaded the GIMP the other day ...I have been having a little play with it & it is supercool...just have to figure out a few things - I'm used to photoshop so there are a few differences & it comes in bits a pieces - I need to get the help files I think..but there's quite a few cool tutorials and the best thing is that its FREE...it has pretty much all the functions of Photoshop...like I said I just have to figure out how to use it...but I know you van make your own brushes & there's a thingamee that will convert photoshop brushes to gimp brushes...but it looked like it was in a DOS window which is a bit beyond me...although I'm up for a tutuu.

I also "upgraded" to the go large plan with Xtra...if you're thinking of doing it make sure you do it via the internet & not over the phone.....save yourself alot of hassle :o)

OK time for me to dash, might be back later :o)

ScrapCamp: The Story

OK....now that I have a little time I'll share my story with you {grab a cuppa}

So, the plan was to meet Ilka @ the Bombays: 3pm...turns out I don't know where "The Bombays" are...I was at the rest stop before the the bombays...the "other" one with the McDonalds, BP & bloody Craft/Souvenir shop.....anyways - I get there early (obviously - cos I had another 5-10mins to travel d'oh RICHARD!!!)...well long story short I get to the Bombays @ 3.30 {meanwhile if NZ had decent road signage this never would have happened}

Meet Ilka (pronounced ill ka), load up the wagon [stationwagon that is] & cruise on down to Matamata to pick Stef up...find out Matamata is Hobbiton...opportunity for an Embellished Exposed moment ;o)

I honestly thought I was a shy kind of girl...but I guess I'm not really - give me a challenge & I'm up for anything it seems ;o)

So after picking up the lovely Stef, we zoomed on down to Rotorua, stopped off at BK for dinner & then straight on to ScrapCamp....not even close to being late :o) although finding cabin no.9 was proving to be a bit of a challenge until we went in & registered & found out we were in cabin 40 ;o)

Then it was time to meet the peeps...awesome, awesome, awesome bunch of ladies...Delys I found out is pronounced del lease - not dellis as it was playing in my mind ;o) and would you believe she hadn't had a sleep in SINCE JULY!!! I tell ya - you do NOT want to vacuum at 7am if you're in the next cabin ROFLMAO!!!

It was such an incredible experience to meet these fab ladies....I thought I was hooked on challenges - man, watch out scrapcamps...I think I've got the bug - hope Wayno is as generous for the next one ;o)

Ok...onto the nitty gritty - I know you want to see the LOs ;o)

So, Faye Gregory had us distressing, inking, stitching...all sorts of fabbo techniques & bless her heart she encouraged us to do our own thing - dance to our own tune & make our LO's our own...so being the tutu bug that I am I had to modify my brackets cos I cut the piece of pp we were supposed to cover them with...but just look at this GORGEOUS boy!!

At this point I just have to mention how generous the packs were...I could scrap for a week on what was unused in our packs...and well you all know how I love to scrap ;o)

Oh and I got a weeeeeee bit carried away with my distressing & actually ripped the top corner off the LO...but a little bit of DS tape & Bob's your Uncle...who'd know???

Now the rub-ons at the bottom I added - they're Crate rub-ons & they are sensational...still have HEAPS left in that pack...very versatile words...so keep your eyes peeled for them in upcoming LOs :o)

Next, we have Nic Howard's class: Cards.....I'm not a big card maker...just cos I'm a tight-ass & like to think that I'm saving my stash for great LOs ROFLMAO.

Having said that I absolutely adore what we made...I'm going to give these to my SIL cos she's the kind of girl that is thoughtful & actually gives cards & their beauty matches hers ;o)

Oops don't have a pic of them - will upload tomorrow.....

Moving right along... we got this DELICOUS pack from SBO & to be honest I didn't have a clue what to do with it....I'm more of a bright kinda girl...but there was a challenge ;o)

We all had to complete a LO/project using 75% of the product from the pack..the things that weren't included in the pack were my doiley ;o), title & journalling letters & CB heart...so that was a great challenge & plenty left over...hmmmm I'm thinking there may be some xmas cards coming to a blog near you soon ;o)

Karen Ridgeway couldn't make it to NZ to do her class...but we were issued the class pack & given a ONE HOUR challenge & we had to use a piece of each pp from the pack {all 7 of them } this is what I came up with (and you know I loved every minute of it)

I did do another LO as well, but I'll save that for tomorrow too...give us something to talk about ;o)

Back at the Ranch

Well I made it home safe & sound from a SENSATIONAL weekend away at ScrapCamp Rotorua.

What an awesome weekend!!!

I got to meet my girls from the SBO/SE forums & they are just lovely!!! (total understatement!!!)

Photo taken by the sensational Miss MichelleTW

Back: Ilka, Me

Middle (l to r): Bev, Delys, Kirsty

Front: Stef

We did some amazing classes (will share pics later), had some awesome challenges - you sooo know I can't resist a challenge...throw a time limit in & I'm in heaven ROFL!!!

Man, Lianne & Yo did a fantastic job of organizing the weekend....the prizes, the challenges, the games, the shopping, the venue, the meals, the demos, the classes everything about the weekend was amazing!!!

I had a sensational time...loved every minute (did I mention that??? LOL)

Soooooo awesome to meet the girls in real life...can't find the right words to convey how much I enjoyed their company or to describe just how much I enjoyed sharing the weekend with them...they are all just so absolutely precious!!!

And as much as I enjoyed my time away man, it was great to get back home & fall into the arms of my darling!!! Then wrap my arms around my two little angels & smother them with kisses!!!

I was greeted by a freshly bathed Taigy, the delicious scent of a roast in the oven, a freshly baked apple pie on the bench & a lemon tart in the fridge....what a homecoming aaaaahhhhhhh.

Well I suppose I'd better share some pics aye! There's the group shot above, the doing our duties shot and our Green Theme shot...I'll share some scrappy shots later.

Out of Embellished Idol

Well I didn't make it to the final of Embellished Idol & just quietly I'm thanking my lucky stars - OMG Ali has come up with a challenge & a half for Anthea, Melissa & Amanda...an OTP plus a single LO!!! Holey Begoley...I don't think there's any way I could pull challenge No. 8 off...my mojo is having a siesta at teh mo!!!


Mind you, I can't wait to see what the girls come up with I love the work the 3 of them produce!! I've been a big fan of Anthea for ages - I just love the way she pulls everything together...Melissa's work is absolutely lovely, I love the prettiness in her work & Amanda's is kind of minimalist in a knock-down-jaw-dropping kind of way.

So good luck to the 3 finalists!! I can't wait to see who will take the title of Embellished Idol 2006!!!

Oh I just got my copy of Up2Scrap in the mail today...again a big congratualtions to the new Elite Team.

My boy just woke up so I'd better go :o)

Global Dare

What a cool concept, uniting all the dare sites for a global dare.

The dare goes like this:Childhood Memories or Dream themeCover the whole background/pageThrow in some paintTitle on the photo

And this is what I came up with.

I just loves these pics of me & Lis when we were kids....sooo cute - but the amazing thing is our girls look just like us!!!






Meanwhilie I have bitten my thumb nail to the quick over the Embellished Idol comp, down to the wire on this one...next round is the final.

For this round we were given a sketch to work with...again we sent the entries to Ali so voters do not know who they are voting for...what a totally cool concept - I seem to get more votes this way LOL!!

Only the top 3 will be going through to the final....good luck to all the girls it has been a fabulous ride!!!

The talent in this comp is phenomenal!! Seriously if your lost for inspiration - or between mags go & check the Idol entries out you'll be blown away!!

Once Idol is over I'll be able to concentrate on my entries for "The Biggest Competition Yet" & SBO's "Get Real"

Cute story to share...my SIL, La rings me this morning wanting to know what the kids want for xmas....so I say to Tai "babe what do you want for xmas" & she says "who's on the phone? Santa?"

How cutie cutie is that!!!

Oh & AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME news...Taigy got accepted to Sunnyhills Primary I am so excited about that!!!!

It means we don't have to move into the zone...which is fab...we probably eventually will - but it alleviates a bit of pressure - cos the houses that have been available haven't been quite what we're after - or quite the right price LOL!

Well, I'd better leave it here for now - the timer's just gone, so time to get the bacon & egg pie out of the oven - YUM, I'm starving!!!!

Woooohooooo - I made it to Round 7

The votes are in ladies & I'm absolutely thrilled that I made it through to the next round of Embellished Idol.

For those of you who were guessing who's LO was who's (should that be whose??), mine was #12...

I went over to get some supplies from Lisa's for the comp & she gave me the idea to do a LO where I could replace/cover the scrapped pic, so it was with that in mind that I created my LO (thanks Lisa)...now I need to get a pic of my little angels together ;o)

I haven't started on my Global Dare yet...well I have the pics but haven't got a concept yet...might work on that today...oh & I'd better whip something up for the Maya Rd DT...that took a bit of a back seat...

This LO was done for challenge #3 at the Embellished CC... a black & white challenge with 1 other colour allowed.

I have scrapped this pic before...but I had to reprint it to scrap it - cos I had lost this one...then I was tidying up yesterday & voila there it was under a pile of PP...so I thought I'd better use it :o)

The "vows" LO was done for the monthly challenge over at SE...this challenge was to use handwriting on a LO...so I dug up Wayno's wedding vows. And I lifted the top corner from Amanda's Idol LO...loved it! The title is BG mini monos with some BG rub-ons..messed it up a bit - but happy with the overall LO...this is the one Raven got his hot little hands on!!

OK well I'd better get some things done while the Prince is sleeping.

My poor Taigy came home from her Dad's last night with burns & bites...not as bad as it sounds...she got burned by a sparkler so she's got a couple of sore fingers.

I'm not sure what bit her but I think it was mighty hungry!! she's got about 5 bites on one hand...one on her "index" toe (don't you just hate bites on your toes) a big on on the thumb of her other hand & a couple on her arms...so she was wriggling & scratching like a maniac last night so I went in to soothe her (as you do) & I ended up falling asleep.

She wasn't even sure if she wanted to go to pre-school thismorning..now that's serious!!

OK gotta dash!

Scrappy Weekend

What a fab weekend!! Had a chat Friday night with the girls at SBO....Sat am went out with Wayno on a mission to get pics for the Embellished Exposed activity...soooo much fun - Wayne's really getting into it LOL!!!

Then had the Embellished CyberCrop last night..so I've been working on the challenges today, so far this is what I've come up with.

The first challenge was to use 10 lengths of ribbon & a photo anchor.

The 2nd was a sketch challenge.

I thought voting for Idol finished last night...but I had my dates wrong - it finishes TONIGHT at 9pm QLD time...which I think is midnight our time.

I'm dying to find out who gets through to the next round...the 2nd to last round OMG its just soooo exciting!!!

I've been working on a couple of monthly challenges for SBO & SE...had one laid out ready to stick down...went to have a shower & came back to find Raven had munched on my pp & screwed up my pics MAN I was gutted...but I think its salvageable.

Well I better get back to work LOL!! I want to get a heap accomplished :o)

Oh My Giddy Aunt!!!

The entries for round 6 of Embellished Idol are up in the Gallery.

Do you think you can guess which one is mine???

Oh I'm getting excited!!! Voting starts later on tonight...so it'll be VERY interesting to see who makes it through this round.

7 are being eliminated from this round.

And there will only be 3 left standing in round 8...which means there's only 2 rounds to go!!

The work that has been done by the girls is sensational!! I'm totally surprised to have made it this far...mind you I would have been out in round 4 if it wasn't for the wild card ;o)

Need to go scrap something to take my mind off the competition.

Ooohhhh who's keeping their eyes peeled for the NZ Dares big reveal at 9pm tonight...can't wait to see what the challenge is :o)

Oh guess what...I won challenge #10...so I'll be keeping my eyes out for a prize from the lovely 30 year old Ms Meg of Scrapbook Essentials

OK off to do some scrapping before tonight's chat at SBO & tomorrow night's Cyber crop @ Embellished

Oh...just ONE last thing before I go (I promise) I got my November Kit from SBO today & it is SENSATIONAL!!!!

Fantastic value:

7 sheets of gorgeous PP
2 x Bazzill
BG raw mini monos
Maya Rd Lunch Break CB book
Scenic Route rub-ons
L'il Davis beach house Tape
& 2 lengths of ribbon

Not to mention a brand new stamp designed by the talented Miss Rach...sensational stuff.

Can't wait to use that stamp!!

OK that's it, seriously...I'm off ;o)

Embeliished Idol Round 6

OMG this is going to be the most interesting round yet!!!

I've completed my LO & sent it off to Ali, it was definately a challenge scrapping someone else's pics...but I'm really happy with the result...it'll be interesting to see what the voters think.

The entries will all be uploaded to the gallery tomorrow.....oh the sweet anticipation!!!

I don't think I have any LOs to share at the mo...start of the month - waiting for some challenges...aaahhh no I could be doing Julie's arrow challenge...hmmm yeah might whip something up for that tonight.

So, I'll share with you my Halloween...now I thought we lived in a child-friendly street...it a double-ended culdesac (goes like a T) so I went to Countdown, stocked up on chocs, whipped up a little scary wannabe pumpkin face for the letterbox to let the kids know we're ready & then went inside & waited for the knocks.....and waited....and waited...and waited..........not even ONE little rat-a-tat-tat.

I was sooooo disappointed...especially for Taigy...she'd heard all out it being trick-or-treat night - I told her we're not going knocking, but we're gonna give treats to the people who come to our door (I'll start taking her out next year with some school buddies...or I'll round up her cousins LOL!) She was happy with that idea & I thought it'll be great for her to see the costumes & get an idea of how it works.

Ahhhh well....the next morning she wakes up & the first thing out of her mouth "Is it trick-or-treat day today Mum?"

Oh well, couldn't let those treats go to waste...unfortunately there's no pics to share ;o)

Next year I'm going to make sure Halloween happens!!! I saw on a blog this cool idea of filling gloves (like the hair dye gloves) with popcorn & tying a ribbon to close it & I think a finger may have been dipped in red for a bloody effect - very cool!!!

Hmmmm I have a bit of time on my hands cos Taigy's gone to her dad's for dinner, he got dropped off & picked up Tai & a car to take her in ROFL!!!

He blew the engine on his car so Wayno offers him one of ours...what a sweet hubby I have - I swear he can't resist helping people...he's such a funny bugger - when we first got together Taiga's dad got a restraining order against him for some supposed threat & here he is loaning him a car....not to mention that the same car had problems a couple of months ago so my darling goes to fix it....saving the guy like 700 bucks!!

I sure did pick a winner this time around :o)