Saturday, August 25, 2007

Feeling Green



not as in ill...just have been stuck on green backgrounds this week..well, you've seen Mal (below), but check these out...do you ever get stuck in a colour rut???? check these out!








Don't get me wrong - I love them...but what's up with all the green?? Oh, perhaps I'm out of blue bazzill...hmmm something to look into LOL!





Hmmm wondering if there is any post-worthy news......OH, get this - how scatter-brained am I? (rhetorical question) I completely missed the dealine for the SE challenge - scrap a LO with no pics...I had all these ideas buzzing around in my head..and then Wayno buys me some Kahlua which came in this GORGEOUS packaging - totally tropical with a beautiful butterfly fit for Urban Lily rub-ons...and I was going to use this on my LO - well that was the plan anyway, so I'm happily contemplating sketches in my mind, then Tuesday night off I go to work - somehow thinking i still had a few days up my sleeve...and Wednesday morning at about 9am it finally dawns on me what day it is & that I have totally missed the dealine.....what an egg!!!





Oh well, you live & learn.





On a brighter note my goodies arrived from the US - yeehaaa!!!





I got my SiStv kit - delicioso!! and I made this puppy with it using my old pics...this is Tai & Creedy when they were about 3



Oh, I went & got my missing pics printed today too & did as Hannah suggested & asked for my 2ups (2 on a 4x6) to be printed onto matte paper...and they did - well the girl kind of made out that it might not work & that the paper may have to be changed over - whatever!!

Let's not get me started on the level of service at Harvey Norman...fortunately I love their prints ;o)

In other news, we were meant to go out for brekky today - we did a deal with Taigy that she could skip her bath if she had a shower in the morning...well, lets just say that didn't happen - so we didn't go out for brekky - she was happy to have a bath though & apologized for her behaviour (she LOVES supernanny!), luckily I was in the shower when she had her performance so it had no ill effect on my day ;o)

We ended up having a pretty good day - I went to the $2 shop witht he kids to get me some tattoos to try out Sares tatoo technique - flippen AWESOME, while Wayno & Dad went looking at cars.

Taigy had some spending money, so she was happy to shop & ravey was pretty well behaved..actually he was really good...so good that I took them to whitcoulls ( a stationery/book shop where they have lego, colouring, mini playground & things for the kids to play with for free) I did manage to lose him for a minute while instructing Taigy on where to give the Thomas train back...but next thing you know, there he is strutting around the corner with a big grin on his face...man he's cute!! And I really should know better than to take my eyes off him - even for a second!!

OK now its getting late...but before I go I just want to let my Pay It Forward girls know that their goodies will be in the mail on Monday..sorry for the delay - but I wanted to add something handmade & it took me a while to clear my desk to find the stuff I needed LOL, so my kiwi girls will have it by the end of the week & my aussie girls should allow two weeks (hopefully it'll arrive sooner).

Alrighty then, I'm off to see if I can conjure another LO before I hit the sack.

Nighty night.





Thursday, August 23, 2007

NZ Dares - 100% Scraps


Alrighty..I am doing another post today - can you believe it???
This LO of my cutie-pie nephew is made of 100% scraps...all the pps came out of my off-cut box...the title is from a pack of Heidi Swapp plastic alphas which was already opened & used..the sad little embelly is made from a scrap of felt, fibre, scrap of Q&Co felt & staples - so sad...and yet so appropriate LOL.
I found a CD of pics from dec 2003- oct 2005..so I toddled off to Harvey Normans to get a bunch printed today - VERY HAPPY with the bundle I came away with...but do you ever find when you're looking through your pics after having them printed that there are some missing...now I don't know if they went missing at the exporting from my pc stage or if I somehow completely skipped them while going through the whole printing process...but they ARE missing...OH but I found out something wonderful today...if you are on the printing options screen & you hit the bottom arrow you get more options - 1 of the being 2 pics on a 4x6 - although this only comes in gloss finish I'm happy.
I actually did try this option the other day - but ended up getting 2 of the same pic on each sheet, so I was thinking - OK that's actually good, cos it means that Taigy can have the extras -I'm limiting her to 6x6 LOs at this stage ;o), but when I was looking through my prints I saw that each 1/2 pic was different (if you know what I mean)...so if you need some 3x2's (like fro an Idol challenge or something) that's an easy way to get them :o)
Anyhoo, now I have pics of Taigy's 2nd & 3rd birthdays to scrap....but I just remembered one of the missing pics was from the 3rd birthday series...ahhhhh may need to make another trip...lucky its only 5mins away!!!
OK...I'm going to try to keep away from the PC tonight & scrap, scrap, scrap...I managed 3 LOs last night...so we'll see what I can do tonight with fresh inspiration in the form of old pics ;o)
Have a good one :o)
** Oh, forgot to mention that the bazzill was scrap too - I cut it to 8x8 for a CJ entry...but the colour just didn't happen LOL

Rockin' Blogs


Holey Moley!!! It's Thursday already...almost Friday...I had planned to post this later on Sunday - but you know how it is aye??!!!



So, anyhoo I've been tagged by the lovely Michelle & Julie & now that I have been bestowed with the honor I get to choose to tag some lovelies...so I would like to award the Rockin' Girl Blogger to the following ladies - I really enjoy reading their blogs:

Anthea

Nic

Lisa

Jody

Gigi

Adrienne

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Time For a Big Share

If I can fit it in before I get summoned....Wayno is cooking brekky (bacon & eggs - YUM!!) & he's got this thing about me coming to eat it as soon as its ready....which is probably a good thing, cos if I let it cool a bit while I finish my post it may just end up being a cold lunch LOL!!!

OK just got the call - be back soon :o)

OMG - he sooo knows me...I go out there & its not even ready, so I ask what's going on & he says "every time I call you I know it'll take another 20 minutes" hahahahaha


So, looks like I have 20mins up my sleeve LOL!!!
OK, so I had a SUPER FANTASTIC DAY yesterday!!

I "worked" at Scrapbook Studio.....had an 11year old birthday party & the 10 girls (9 girls & a mum, cos 1 girl couldn't make it) made a super gorgeous canvas. They all loved their finished product & all had a great time....they were an absolute pleasure to teach - such a nice group of girls..sweet as pie with just a touch of tween attitude - perfect...that's how I imagine Taigy to be at that age ;o)

Anyhoo, if you're in, or coming to Auckland check out the classes at Scrapbook Studio, there's going to be some cool kids classes in the holidays, so keep an eye on the calander & if you haven't already go & sign up for the newsletter so you can keep up to date with the goings on.

Speaking of goings on, Lisa is now running crop nights fortnightly - next one is August 31st - always a great night, there's a door prize & a challenge prize - the challenge packs are fantastic & its so awesome to see what people do with them....me I'm a bit of a cut & stick kinda girl...but after eying some of the other ladies' work I was thinking "Oh man! I could have made a couple of 6 x 12's" - not that the other ladies did - but something triggered the thought in my head LOL!

Speaking of Lisa, I've been trying to get a LO done using fibre (without buying any) & last night tried (and failed with) a couple of ideas....I think the real problem is that my fibre just ain't the right colour...so I might just have to ask Lisa if she has some bright stuff in her stash that I can borrow (forever) LOL!

Oh and I have some more super duper news.....I made it onto the Embellished DT..so proud to be working with the likes of Julie Heard & Sarah Gladman (SC colour comp winner) and ScrapperMaz (Marnie) & MessyHappyFun-K (Kirsty) are the two other wonderful ladies that are joining the team Yeehaaa!!! (links are to their galleries)

I suppose I'd better share some pix..as entertaining as my life is (LOL!) I'm sure you'd like to give your eyes a break from all that reading!


Summer Hats is created from Lianne's sketch for the SBD August Sketch comp...awesome sketch & entries are due 31st Aug - so go & check it out there's a $20 voucher up for grabs which can be used online at SBD or instore at Scrapbook Studio.


The monthly challenge is to use fibres creatively, stitching & a scalloped edge on a layout & the prize is:


One set of Fancy Pants Clear Stamps - Simply Stated $39.99

One set of Autumn Leaves Foof-a-la Rub-ons - Journaling Panels $9.99


How awesome is that!!!


Next, we have my Embellished DT entries...my single, this was a self-scraplift - I only realised on Wednesday that I hadn't missed the cut-off so I had to whip something up real quick...so I lifted this idea from one of my CJ entries...I always planed to lift it, just didn't know when LOL!


Next is my double LO entry - very simple, but I had fun placing the pics & loving Heidi Swapp masks at the mo.


I wanted to add something more to it, but just couldn't see that it would enhance it....meanwhile someone may recognise their RAKs being put to good use...I was rakked the photo anchors & flowers on "She" & on "Museum" I was rakked the little plaques.


And you'll notice HS tape on all three...when I'm on a good thing I obviously stick to it LOL, so slowly, slowly the stash is getting used.


I feel like I haven't bought anything for AGES...but in fact I splurged on a GORGEOUS tool tote on Friday. Lisa showed them to me on Wednesday night after class & I was thinking I'd like a hot pink one, or orange even...but then she mentioned "camo" & I had a look at my baby & fell in love - but was trying to resist, but I went up to the shop on Friday asked Lisa if she was still there, well, she hadn't been put out in the shop yet - so I was in luck!!!
Then I decided to get the little lady bugs, which are infact hole piercers for stitching...they come in a pack of two - single stitch & double stitch (like your levis ) Oh, and I got some Hambly transparency & a stunning piece of Anna Griffin pp which I have an idea for, but no pic...so we'll see how long that sits in the stash for :o)
On to other news...I was lucky enough to get my hot little hands on a Paper Pesto kit this month - man they are selling like hotcakes!!! Well done to Steph, Fi & Kate!!!
No, I haven't created anything as yet....I need to get some more pics of my niece & cuz...I have one - so we'll see if I can have something done by the end of the week.
Oh, the reason I feel like I haven't bought anything is because I'm waiting on an ebay purchase - which is taking FOREVER!! And also my SIStv kit got lost in a techno glitch after I ordered it - but that's now on its way too - so once again I am going to be inundated with kits - So I had better get my groove on & get soem serious scrapping done.
I was saying to Lisa the other day that I haven't been doing many LOs of my little Taiga-nui...poor little princess I just don't have many pics of her...she's always at school, or maybe its just that she's choosing her own clothes now & has lost her two bottom teeth - could I really be that shallow????
I don't think so...I've been taking more pics of her & Rave together too - and I think there's the fact that we always go to the same park & she always plays on the monkey bars - I mean how many times do I want to scrap that???
No doubt, when we get to the swinging from her legs phase that topic will be revisited - but until then that puppy can rest.
Meanwhile she's away this weekend, so no pics again - she went to her cuzzy's birthday yesterday - but I wasn't there - so no pics.
Oh well, this may give me incentive to scrap her baby/toddler/preschool pics...if only they were printed, or I could find the disc.
I remember one day when she was about 3, we got out all her dolls, put up a backdrop & had a cool photo shoot of her & her babies...I'd love to scrap those (if I could find them) and another shoot, with the tripod of her & I when I was 8 months preg with rave...some cool picks I can recall which woudl be awesome to scrap - IF I COULD FIND THE DISC!!!
OK, it seriously lunchtime now....I did stop for brekky...but I want to go out & buy something (don't know what yet) so we'll catch up later & I'll do the rocking blogger thing - cos that's another thing I was hoping to post about today....but at some stage I'm going to have to get off my widening butt & leave the house LOL!!
Have a fantastic day :o)

Friday, August 17, 2007

PIF Draw

OK I have printed all the comments & Taigy is drawing 3 names as I type.....



And the names drawn are:




Nicole said...
Gosh chick where do you get the time, I'm flat out getting two pages a week, and here you are doing two crops in a weekend. Love what you did for DT call at Embellished. Nicxx
12:51 AM




Siany said...
Congrats!! Ive already done the Pay It Forward on my blog! I think its such a great idea!! xx
10:30 PM



Lynda said...
Kelly how many albums do you have now?You are a layout machine.LOL.
3:56 PM




Roo said...
I love the pay it forward idea. Always cool to give and receive.
8:02 AM



So girls I'll pop by & let you know so you can send me your addresses.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Pay It Forward

I had a lovely little surprise today.

I got an email from Jess telling me that I was the winner of her PIF lucky dip from her blog - YAY!!

So it's now time for me to Pay It Forward

***copied from Jess' blog****

So.. here's the idea...I will send a gift (something handmade or something bought) to 3 random people who leave a comment on my blog!! The only thing you have to do in return is "pay it forward" by making the same promise on your blog. So, if you like this idea and a bit of 'happy mail', please leave a comment on my blog!!!

*****

So if you're a visitor just say hi & I'll add you to the draw :o)

Friday, August 10, 2007

Where did the week go????


So here's some more CJ love...apparently the Whirlwind Romance entry was for the wedding CJ - you may have guessed that I don't actually keep a record of what I create ;o)

So, today's CJs are: Romance...I think that may be Debbie's ...I loved this one & decided to try a red/green combo...I quite like how it turned out....wish I had done one for me too LOL!!
And the KMD was for LouLou's when I was a girl CJ...so much fun!!
Now I'm thinking I'm going to have to recreate some of these LO's for me...I really love them.
Oh, taking a closer look at the romance one I'm having a memory flash....I was wondering what the grey stuff is behind the photo...But I recall Ravey getting creative with this one morning (I left it overnight for the kindyglitz to dry) & he tried to ehnace the B&W photo that was originally on the LO, so I had to add the coloured one over top :o)
I don't have any more pics - how slack is that!!!
So, I'm hoping the girls take some good pics to share - cos I'm dying to see the Dessert Recipe one I did...I loved that one...xmas 2006 turned out better than I expected. I can't remember what I did for "this Word"...oh actually I do have "when I grow up" around here somewhere...I'll share that next time.
Going to go work on my SBD sketch now

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

CJ Share

OK, the CJs are on their last round, ready to be sent home...some have already made it...so I'm going to share some of my pages...now the CJ round started in February, & I forgot to take pics of some of my entries...but I'll share what I have :o)




All up there were 14 participants in the round & we had a two week turn-around & used couriers to cut down on our postage time...the girls who set it up had it running like clock-work (I was the cuckoo hehehehe)

The first CJ theme was friends, and I did a LO about Heidi & I...can you believe that we have lived in the same street for 3 years????...but it was only through the SE forum that we actaully got to meet each other...what a crack-up..the sad thing is I still don't know any of the other neighbours :o{
The second CJ was a Wedding Day theme...I totally LOVED this one




This was a 6x6 double about our whirlwind romance...yes I know you've all heard the story before but I love the fact that I got it right this time - even after knowing him for only a week before agreeing to marry him...anyone who tells you it takes a year to arrange a wedding ain't serious about tying the knot!!
I had my dress made from scratch, my bridesmaid & flower girls dresses too, arranged a photographer & venue, did the invites myself (yeah, that was stressful), made a wedding CD with songs to be played at the ceremony & during the reception, got a celebrant & wrote my vows all within 6 weeks....anything that wasn't done didn't need to be done...and to top it off I met my step daughter on the day...now any wedding day prep will give you some stress...but no point in draggin' it out over months I say ;o)
Well, I'd better change Ravey's sticky butt...will share some more CJs tomorrow :o)




Monday, August 06, 2007

Cyber Weekend

Friday night kicked off my weekend of Cyber Cropping.
Over at Embellished there were 3 delicious challenges.
Ang set challenge 1, which was to scrap 8.5x11 with "star" in the title & embellies...now I have only ever done 1 other LO this size & I gotta say it sucks LOL....not enough to toss or anything - it's probably just my least fave LO...but I think that's beacuse I had this notion in my head that I "had" to scrap it portrait style so that it sat right in the album (an imaginary one that I don't have LOL)...but that was quite a while ago & the limitations I put on myself seem to be falling by the wayside (ever so slowly)...so I got cracking with "singstar" (the LO, not the game ;o)) & I LOVE it!
Heidi printed off the transparencies for me a while ago & they have been sitting in my stash waiting for the right moment...and now it has arrived :o)
Challenge 2 was to change the use of a coaster....I had some double-ups of pics from Harvey Norms & I had these magnet coasters sitting around for a while..now I haven't done much to them in the way of embellishing cos I didn't want to take away from the pics, so I have turned them into hanging pics instead - too cute...I showed them to Rave & said "who's this ravey" and he says "cheeky Taigy"

And for challenge 3 JulieH gave us an awesome sketch to work with and I came up with this LO of my cutie-pies wating for the train at Glenbrooke station.
a big thanks to TRACE from SE - she sent me the Rhonna Farrer rub-ons for my b'day & I have finally cracked them open :o)
While I was waiting for the crop to start I finished off my CJ entry for Karen's CJ...When I Grow Up. I might have a big share later of in the week of the entries I did (that I remembered to take pics of) oh & get this...I'm SUCH a DORK!!! It wasn't until about 2/3rds of the way through the round that it "clicked" that the pages are totally small enough to scan, so I didn't need to be waiting for decent light, fighting with flashes or anything dramatic...I tell ya the lights are on, but nobody's home sometimes!!!
Oh, I must say this round of CJs has been super-well organised, everyone has been on time- or pretty close in my case ;o). So a super huge thanks to tanyaleigh for the organisation & to Karen for hooking us up with the spreasheet/schedule - that was a life safer!
I'm really looking forward to getting mine back..no rush Michelle ;o)
Oh & while I'm on the topic of challenges...Lisa has some awesome prizes to give away this month at SBD....the monthly challenge gives you the opportunity to win some Fancy Pants stamps AND a set of Foof-a-la journalling panel rub-ons...YUM!!
And Lianne has whipped up a gorgeous sketch for the August sketch challenge...prize: $20 voucher which can be used in store (Scrapbook Studio 62 Lunn Ave Mt Wellington) or online at SBD .
You gotta be in it to win it ;o)
I'll be back later with a post about the SBO cyber crop :o)



Cyber Weekend pt 2


Now, my 2nd cyber crop for the weekend was Saturday night at SBO, it was great to catch up with the girls & meet some new ones :o)


First challenge up was Lara's...she always likes to dish out a doozy ;o) The challenge was to create 2 cards: 1 birthday & 1 wedding one, using the same pp.


Not sure what I was thinking here...but I REALLY liked the pp..it was a big off cut & I thought it could do the trick...well for the birthday card part at least LOL ...now, someone asked what pp it was & I didn't know because the name had already been chopped - I said it's bound to come to me in the middle of the night - and sure enough, just before I was about to fall asleep "Fancy Pants, Key Lime Pie" pops into my head...so I'm thinking its from that collection ;o)


Anway it turns out that my niece is turning 6 in a couple of weeks, so I decided to make the birthday card for her...although the thought never even entered my head when I started the challenge - don't you love how some things just work themselves out!!!


Rach had a FABULOUS challenge of scrapping a diffferent size & suggested giving a 6x12 a go...so I did that & I've gotta say I LOVE it - it was soooooo easy & such a great way to use up off cuts - I can see my box of scraps rapidly diminishing over the next couple of months!!



Donna's challenge was just perfect...the theme was Names...your name, nick names - whatever name turns you on ..I loved it because its one of those topics that I always intend to scrap - but never actually do..and so for this challenge I did Taiga's name...well I managed to cover one aspect of it - what the name conveys to me ;o) (click for bigger pics)


And finally there was Vicky's challenge, which was to use just cardstock, rub-ons, alpha stickers & pens...I saw a waaaaaaay cool LO the other day which used American Crafts stickers as a photo matt & was going to do something similar..but as luck would have it I couldn't find the stickers (so we'll save that for another day)...but I had printed off these 1/2 size pics of Rave when we went to trial playgroup & to be honest they're making my piccy piles a little bit messy, so I wanted to get them scrapped...I was thinking of doing a double...but then once I put them all down they seemed to fit OK...actually they worked perectly the first 2 times I put them on the page - but when it came to sticking them down, they went a bit haywire & I ended up with the gap where I have the stars LOL....I'm actually realy happy with how this turned out becasue as much as I love to buy rub-ons, I'm not all that good at placing them, so this was a good practice...I think I'll do some more LO's with these elements.
Oh, i just had a thought then...but I lost it..so I'll change the subject LOL
The first round of the Ultimate Scrapper had us creating our own embellishments & I really enjoyed this...I would say I had fun - but that'd be stretching the truth...it was frustrating & fiddly - but I love the end result & I could be tempted to do it again & then I'd have no more of those thing-a-mee-jigs that have been sitting in my stash wondering if they're ever gonna get used :o)
The LO's are under wraps until Tuesday night I think...this is actually a pretty interesting comp becasue its Meg & the DT who get to judge - not the voting public - I kinda like that, just because its different.
And over at Embellished Idol the gallery is rapidly filling with AMAZING works based on Ali's sketch... like this little number from Binxy, this one from Michelle W, Maggie's entry is just precious & Hetty's is just sooooo pretty - I love pretty things...don't you??
My LO is of my Bro & SIL...they were over the other day & I managed to grab some snaps before they left...don't you just LOVE willing subjects.
Well I think that about wraps up this post...I'm going to get to work on my SBD entries soon & then I might work on some class layouts for the shop.
Time to pick Taigy up soon - so I'd better get little Prince ready :o)