The life and times of the FitzGerald Family

Friends

2011-12-22T10:13:00.000+10:30

Are such important people. These two have been friends for several years now, no romance just comfortable. I love that my boys have female friends too. It's important for them living in a family of 5 males, gives them a female persective other than mine. It also helps that Georgia is gorgeous when I am in the mood for taking photos :-)

Landmark Christmas Party 2011

2011-12-12T17:44:00.000+10:30

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He's my guy

2011-11-14T17:48:00.001+10:30

Updating some family pics

2011-10-26T15:36:00.001+10:30

All of us. confession time, this is the first proper family photo we have had done, terribly embarrising :-) Thank you to Sarah, of Sarah Jay Photography for the gorgeous shot

Paddy's year 12 formal

My baby boy

He's growing so fast my 15yo.

End of footy season haul, Paddy best and fairest and payer of the year and Joe best utility (he missed out on runner up best and fairest to Paddy by one point, not bad for a kid who was out with a broken arm for 9 weeks and a smashed up face for another game. I was pretty proud anyway :-).)

2011-10-26T15:09:00.001+10:30

Today I had the pleasure of photographing a pregnant belly, love round tums, love that there is life growing in there and I just love the way the dad-to-be is looking at the mum-to-be, love pure and simple.

Monthly photo club challenge, wet wet wet.

2011-07-22T15:11:00.001+09:30

Each month our local camera club does a themed challenge, this month's wet wet wet. there were several terrific entries with our president Peter being the winner. Info on the camera club and photos on the website here http://capturedimagesnaracoorte.jimdo.com/

Lately I've been

2011-07-05T16:07:00.003+09:30

Playing with my camera, not blogging much (not hard to guess that one) FBing more than I've been blogging, watching the boys play lots of football (4 boys 6 games on Saturday) missing my DH who is away travelling the countryside, waiting for my new toshiba tablet to arrive (woo hoo) not doing any craft whatsoever and generally living a busy life(don't we all).

Joe and his gorgeous pal Georgia, such a cute pair of kids (and just friends)

Sarah and her sister Kimberly

And I really want to try and do this again this year without the dismal fail from last year. I made it two to three days in last year and just got too busy to finish it. I still have the album ready to go. Last year I used templates over my photos, edited etc, this year my word is going to be simplify, pictures and words and maybe a bit of pretty paper thrown in for good measure and that's it. I'll see how it all goes, and then there is always next year if all else fails,lol.

Yes there is work I should be doing

2011-03-30T14:30:00.001+10:30

But my oldest sons new kitten is sooooo cute I couldn't resist sharing these quick couple of pics. Meet pickles, his adorable little lap warmer.

Camera bag/actions giveaway

2011-03-26T09:33:00.001+10:30

Wouldn't either of these prizes be awesome to win???

http://florabellacollection.com/blog/2011/03/25/florabella-theit-camera-bag-giveaway/

A hodge podge of shots

2011-03-23T10:58:00.001+10:30

Well still no creative mojo so you have to bear with me with photos for the moment. I'm quite sure
Santa bagged up all desire to create things from paper and took them back to the North Pole with him. Maybe the Easter bunny will bring it back for me. Hope fully, I have too many dollars worth of crafty goodies sitting here gathering dust,lol.

Playing with water droplets, not perfected yet but still a fun thing to do.

The super moon which I didn't think was very super. Maybe if I got out a little earlier I would have been ok but by the time I got outside that night after a busy day it only looked like a regular moon. I was going to give it another shot the next night but it has been cloudy ever since. Guess I will have to wait another 18 years or so for the next one, hehe.

A pretty in my back yard

And this is how I filled in my time while the youngest was playing cricket (have to stay awake some how,lol) this little beauty flew by just as I was about to photograph the kids and I thought he would make a more interesting subject than boys all dressed in white.

As you may have noticed I have been playing around with watermarks. Not sure which one I like best but I think I may just go back to susy's snapshots. Sue FitzGerald photography sounds a bit pretentious as I am not yet a photographer in the professional sense although I suppose anyone who takes photos is basically a photographer, I mean what else would they be??? sue fitzGerald Captured moments is ok but sounds too much like a business name so I'm thinkin' susy's snapshots it is...Any opinions???

Tired of babies yet

2011-03-15T19:18:00.003+10:30

Not me that's for sure but I think he might be,lol.

Photography Giveaway

2011-03-15T18:16:00.002+10:30

Check out this awesome giveaway at the savvy photographers blog, fantastic.
http://www.thesavvyphotographerblog.com/

More piccies

2011-03-07T17:54:00.004+10:30

Today I got to take lots of piccies, lots and lots of piccies to be precise, I filled up three memory cards, whoops. I started off the day early with cute baby Rye, love it when friends have babies and I get to have a baby fixes, love me some baby cuddles. After a quick session there I raced down to the lake to meet up with Sarah, my photo buddy from the caves a few weeks back and her gorgeous family and there I got a girl fix with her two little cuties,lol.

Canvas giveaway

2011-03-06T19:40:00.000+10:30

Anyone who has read this blog will know how much I love Rita from coffeeshopblogs free actions, well today she has gone one step further and is giving away a gorgeous 16x20in wrap canvas from colorinc. There FB page is here http://www.facebook.com/pages/Color-Inc/190322407656875?sk=app_4949752878 and Rita's blog is here http://www.thecoffeeshopblog.com/ So what you waiting for???go enter.
As a post script I am going to add that it is a little embarrassing that I don't know how to add a hyper link in the new form of blogger. It used to be so easy now when I do what I used to do it doesn't work, maybe i should read some instructions, hmmmmm?

One more

2011-03-01T16:29:00.000+10:30

Same shot in colour and soft black and white. Look at those adorable lips. I love baby lips, so soft and perfect. Now I have things to go do before heading off to a meeting tonight, this computer is such an addictive thing.

Have I ever mentioned

2011-02-28T23:14:00.000+10:30

Just how much I love babies, new ones especially. I love the way they smell, they softness of their skin, the noises they make, even when they cry. So imagine how happy I was today when a friend allowed me to photograph her 9 day old baby, so beautiful and fresh. So without further adieu meet Stefan.

Now I realise I have a lot to learn in the baby photographing stakes but hey, I'm so willing to learn, especially if it means I get to have lots of snuggles.

The banned band cat.

2011-02-26T23:05:00.001+10:30

Meet Mr Whiskers. Paddy decided that him and the guys he jams with needed a band cat and that that band cat should live at our house...Big mistake...there are already two cats and one dog here, more than ample for a husband who wanted no pets at all, so you can imagine his reaction when he came home to another kitten in the house. i must add that he was one very cute kitten who took and instant liking ot sleeping on my shoulder and following me around every step I took. Me attached, never. Any way Mr Whiskers, now renamed Patrick has gone to live in another home and I will have to find something else to practice taking photos on.

But he is cute isn't he???

2011-02-26T22:55:00.001+10:30

Seamus' first game of cricket for 2011, and all I can say about it is bring on the footy season. I actually think he may just agree with me too. Watching cricket is fine for the few minutes your kid is doing something (I'm talking the few minutes out of hours and hours) the rest is akin to watching paint dry. I know there are many cricket lovers out there who would have me drawn and quartered for that statement but heck I've watched snail races more interesting. At least with a good game of footy there is always something happening. Thankfully none of the boys have shown any interest in the game beyond school boys so I tolerate it while it is on for their sakes. Good coffee and chatter always gets me though,lol.

Playing with frames and textures

2011-02-23T19:44:00.000+10:30

Playing

2011-02-21T10:55:00.002+10:30

With Rita's newest action velvet cream available http://www.thecoffeeshopblog.com/2011/02/coffeeshop-velvet-cream-pspse-action.html What do you think? Frames are hers also.

Bool Lagoon

2011-02-21T00:00:00.002+10:30

Ok, right at this moment I really should be tucked up in bed, so tired, but I thought I would quickly put up some photos taken today our at Bool Lagoon. a local wet land area (that is actually wet for the first time in years) It was pretty windy and the clouds didn't lift and give us great light until it was time to leave but still had a great day. Thanks to my photo buddy Sarah, good to have some one to talk camera to(someone to talk photogrpahy to who's eyes don't glaze over when you start talking f stops :-)Teeny tiny things, pulled out my extention tubes but it was quite windy and I was hand holding, fun still though.

The boys.

2011-02-14T12:48:00.005+10:30

On Saturday Naracoorte celebrated with the annual food and wine festival. Paddy and few mates got together to do a bit of busking and ended up pulling in a neat $100. They were very impressed for their first try. the boys have been doing a bit of song writing and need equipment to record it so it went back into a microphone and some other gadget. Happy that they have the nous to get do a bit of work for the things they want instead of expecting things to be handed to them, a good ethic for life.

Some shots of Joe and Seamus in the back shed, aka, the man cave.

I know it is very cliche to say that I don't know were time is going and it only seems like yesterday that they were babies but it is so true. Seamus my baby, is 12 tomorrow.

Drivers beware

2011-01-17T16:08:00.003+10:30

there is another P-plater on the road

One very happy and excited young man.

What a difference time makes

2011-01-16T16:38:00.003+10:30

This is the Naracoorte creek in December 2006 taken at what is normally a large water hole.

The same Creek January 2011 (not exactly the same spot but just a few hundred meters downstream)

Water water everywhere

2011-01-15T22:55:00.002+10:30

A few quick pics from around the area of our local creek. Normally this time of year it hardly warrants being called that, more like a long stretched out puddle, but with the flood water coming in from various other creeks and rivers and a decent downpour of rain the other day it has burst it banks well and truly.

The two submerged metal handrails are normally well above the water, they are what you hold to step down onto the small bridge to cross the creek. that debris collected there is on the edge of the top railing.

At the very back of this stretch of water is normally where the creek runs.

Normally grassy area

I have written in red where the path normally runs, behind that green sign that says creek walk. It is normally no more that a couple of meters wide at this point, and at times it almost dries up totally. That slab of cement to the right of the sign is a bench that you sit onto look down into the creek.

Behind the pumping station (for you locals) a normally grassy area

another area that is normally dry.

Although the floods have caused devestation in some areas our little flood has not yet done any major damage and is actualy quite beautiful. We are amazed at the amount of wildlife it has bought into the water system, frogs, fish , yabbies, birds etc. It has also bought people in the town much closer as every one has a common interest to chat about.

Ducking in

2010-12-19T22:06:00.001+10:30

Seems all I ever do lately :-) Just sharing a card and the two youngest boys reluctanly doing Santa hat photos, can I hear a cheese...

The little Holly fairy is a digi image from http://digitalpenciltoo.com/

Great copic tutorials

2010-12-15T10:42:00.001+10:30

Right here on the copic oz website. This weeks tutorial is colouring poppies, lovley.
http://copicoz.blogspot.com/

See that

2010-11-30T18:28:00.000+10:30

On the side bar of my blog, no not the December daily logo although I will share a bit about that too, the sweet little banner that says I am copic certified, yay, more details and photos of the weekend to follow. Been such a slack cyber girl lately.

bit of this and that

2010-11-01T12:46:00.001+10:30

A little bit of card making. stamps SU bird cage, HA greeting and darkroom door, background.

Copic colouring practice

I even made a start on my Christmas cards. digi stamp CC's sugarplums.

And made the neighbourhood kids some goody bags (with my silhouette of course)

Another Christmas card, grunge paper background, stamps HA and SU and various die cut snowflakes also cut out of the grunge paper.

And a layout of my sweet nephew.

Pulled out my itop brad maker again for the felt brads (they still make me happy) and some SU corduroy buttons (not sure why SU would even think to discontinue these little beauties, so much texture, yum) Felt scallop border cut with a quickutz border die. Stamps Technique Tuesday, love Ali Edward's designs.

And this makes me so happy. Our little plum tree in the backyard has fruit on it in it's very first year, not much mind you but still exciting for us. I love watching the trees blossom and the fruit start to grow, kind of satisfying.

two more

2010-10-05T18:42:00.002+10:30

Firstly are some photos taken last year of Seamus. He loves all his holidays, Christmas, Easter and even a holiday that is not traditionally ours, Halloween. All he wanted to do last year was carve a pumpkin but at almost $30 for an imported pumpkin there was no way that was going to happen so we decided to make our own tradition and carve a watermelon instead. It was cheap, fun and best of all we got to eat the middle afterwards.

Photos were printed on an art mat paper by ilford and although you can't see it here look like velvet where the black is, quite cool stuff. The little spider, bat and pumpkin are cut with a die from felt, some sticky backed stuff that I found a couple of years back at craft store that has been hiding down the bottom of my fabric box ever since, so glad I found it as it is awesome stuff and die cuts so cleanly. Back ground stamp is a really old one from hero arts. title cut with some BoBunny paper using the silhouette and cobweb cut with the silhouette as well.

ETA that little bug at the top right hand corner of this layot is not part of the holloween theme, just a visitor as I was photographing it outside,he he.

The next layout is totally inspired by this gorgeous layout by the extremely talented Nichol Magouirk. So nice for me to be able to use pink. I had printed this photos off last week and the next day walked into my lss to find these papers by KI memories that were the perfect match, love it when things come together like that.
title cut with my silhouette from one of their files, butterflies cut with felt and paper using a couple of SU dies and the brads were made by meeee, love that I found out how well the ITop brad maker works with felt. so cool. I did another layout a coupe of weeks ago using them to and it made me super excited (will share that one later). Stamps are PTI (and the matching places please die) and hero arts(September).
Have a large load of towels waiting to be hung out so HooRoo.

Hello

2010-10-04T17:04:00.002+10:30

Just testing.

Free, yes I said free...

2010-09-28T20:05:00.003+09:30

7 day PS workshop on this talented and generous ladies blog. Don't know about you but I need all the help I can get in photoshop. Have a look around her blog while you are there, free actions and textures as well a several paid ones. I recently bought the Parisian set, gorgeous for that soft vintagey look so in now.

I love the school holidays

2010-09-28T17:06:00.005+09:30

Especially the days were we get a little bit of spring sunshine and Chocolate the cat and I get to stretch out on the grass and enjoy the warmth and gorgeous spring colours. And because there is not as much rush I get to play in my scrap nook.

Made this for the Pink Pixie monthly challenge. Although I love the papers and their vintagey collagey look they are not something I traditionally would work with. I am so not a collage girl, not that I don't love the look of it it's just so not me so I went with my linear style and hoped for the best.

the vintage camera I stamped down the side are not showing up too well, black is such a difficult colour to photograph.

And last but not least a cute little card for a cute friends birthday last week, happy birthday Sandie. We helped her celebrate with bubbles and cake, not sure who enjoyed that more, hehe.

Finished the football season in the nicest way possible

2010-09-19T17:43:00.005+09:30

Short of a win in the grand final yesterday that is, with the two middle boys taking out best and fairest for their age divisions and Joey getting the player of the year award as well. An extremely proud Mummy moment, even included a few tears from me. Paddy Best and fairest

Joey best and fairest and player of the yearBeing dorky (on my instructions He he)

Happy days

Kept busy

2010-09-18T23:56:00.005+09:30

Preparing for the two youngest boys grand final day and presentation day tomorrow(OK, Just checked the time, make that today) Unfortunately they didn't win but did well against a side that has been undefeated all season and were twice our size. Desperately need sleep now, been up since 5.15.

Joey, proud captain leading out his teamNice mark.
country football grand finals just don't seem complete without a dog running out onto the oval.

Just sayin' hi

2010-08-23T10:20:00.004+09:30

And sharing a couple of things I have done. The first one, a layout of Seamus, from a photo I took a couple of weeks back when we home for a few days. The boys loved being back on their old stomping ground. This is the beach that Seamus took his first steps on, totally naked toddling around on the sand. His brothers of course had to tease him and ask for a reenactment,he he, all in fun though, of course he wouldn't submit to their idea. They had the best time in the winter sunshine, it was actually warm enough for me to take off my coat and the boys to strip down to Tshirts.
Paper is Bo Bunny with just a bit of Cosmo Cricket (the fish, so happy when the colours coordinated)Bo Bunny stickers, Brad maker from Imaginisce and paper clips are from Tim (Mr creative himself) Holtz. Font is Task list form 2 peas. All products except for the brad maker and font are from Sandie and Jane's shop Pink Pixie and I'm sure if you asked nicely enough the girls might even look into getting you one, he he, theyare a very cool tool. The second project is a quick card I made for my boss' birthday a couple of weeks ago. Stamps, ledger and background-Hero arts, the date-making memories magnetic date set and the greeting is PTI. The cardstock and ribbon is also PTI, rhinestones-Kaiser and the felt from spotlight cut with cuttle bug and bosscuts dies.

Yesterday we spent at the leagues best and fairest medal count. Joe came in fifth overall which was a great effort. He was also selected for the all stars team which is an on paper thing only, selected after a carnival played in Horsham a few weeks back. It is chosen out of four leagues, so not a bad effort to be placed in the top 24 of roughly a thousand kids across two states. We were impressed anyway.Footy finals start this weekend so a busy few weeks coming up.

Cheers.

These boots were made for walking

2010-08-18T20:46:00.003+09:30

And that is what I am going to have to do a bit of over the next few days. Some people really should know that you can not pull out and do a U Turn in front of another car from a car park, silly man. All the boys are worried about is loosing the van, they love that old thing, all we are worrying about is the cost to replace it as it was only insured at market value so we won't get too much back on insurance. The old thing was totally mechanically sound and never missed a beat. In the 9 + years we have had it, other than a regualr service, the only thing that ever needed fixing was a new radiator cap, cost $12 and a new battery in it once. And really, as much as I may have complained about it's age at times I don't want a brand new car that I have to be constantly worrying about the paintwork and the interior getting dirty. It has safely driven my own kids and possibly half the footy team and definitely nearly all their friends and my friends and family around for years, there are so many good memories related it.

Taken with my IPhone.

Calling all diecutters

2010-08-17T20:27:00.003+09:30

For those of you with digital die cutting machines pop on over to Kerri Bradford's blog
here and check out the fabulous design she has been creating. There is even a giveaway for those who become followers of her blog. Her designs not only work with the silhouette but also the cricut and several other electronic die cut machines. So what are you waiting for, off you go :-)

Gorgeousness

2010-08-15T17:05:00.004+09:30

I found these today while blog browsing, here is the link to these and several others. I think I will print the first one to frame for one of the boys rooms and the second one on a smaller scale to make a fridge magnet. So many possibilties.

resuming regular transmission

2010-08-10T10:42:00.009+09:30

If there is anyone out there who still reads this poor sad neglected blog you will have noticed a lack of posting lately. Several reasons, kids computer had died and they have been using my laptop (grrrr) they have their own again now and mine is back off limits again :-) , I did a complete scrap nook overhaul and getting to the computer for anyone for a few days was like doing a circus contortionists act and lastly the kiddo had 2 weeks holiday and Bren four so instead of living life via my computer I lived it via my family, hehe. We had some great quality time together both as a family and Bren and I when the kids went back, even managing to get a movie and lunch date. went and watched inception, as seriously cool movie, full of action and intrigue, not one for someone without a very long attention span though as you really had to watch it all the way through to follow the concept of the movie, so worth it though. Also saw this one (twice) once with the girls, thanks for the great day out

Donna and Wendy and once with my boys, another one I enjoyed.

Spent last weekend in Port Fairy stopping off on the way to Mum's at our previous hometown (only 15 min from Port) This rugged part of the coast is only across the paddock from were we lived, one regret I have is selling the house, sea on one side lake on the other, hindsight is a great thing.

Me, doing silly poses for Joseph.

It was lovley Jackson was able to come with us as he has a few weeks off work and decided he needed some family time (I think that equals me doing his laundry and cooking for him,lol)

The boys had a lovely time beach combing

and I did a few layouts. This one for the Pink Pixie monthly challenge and boy was it a challenge for someone like me who is very linear and those certainly are not my colours of choice to work with. I think it does us good to be made to step out of our comfort zone every now and then and I must confess I actually enjoyed doing something a bit different.
I think the papers are basic grey. after my scrapnook makeover I enjoyed pulling out items that I hadn't used for ages becuse they had been tucked away (I'm an out of sight out o fmind kindof person) I used my MM tag maker, micro beads and bitsof ribbon that were tucked away in a basket.

And made this baby card for my nephew and his fiance and there new little girl Laura Rose . the stamp is not a traditional baby girl image but I loved it and it is so feminine that I thought I would go with it anyway.
Stamps are stampin up and paper is fancy pants, love the colours, soft and vintagey.

And this layout which looks quite wonky but I can assure you is not,he he, of my youngest nephew Xavier. We had the pleasure of his company on Sunday for a few hours and all of us loved it and I'm sure he loved spending time with his big cousins at the beach.

All elements cut with the silhouette including grunge negative strip, ticket, all the words, numbers and waves(out of vellum) Stamps are PTI, his name and October afternoon, the camera. Cardstock is AC and Aussie scrap source.

not sure how this ended up down here, just a close up of part of the Mum layout above.

another one for a Pink pixie challenge a month back, this looks wonky here too, must start being more careful photographing my layout, getting a bit slack.
I was really cross with myself, when I went ot stamp the flourish it fell off the block and landed lower than I originaly wanted it to, the large flourish was meant to be tucked right up into the right hand corner not down, really annoys me each time I look at it.

Righto I'm off now, heading out to lunch with a friend,

Cheers.

She sells, sea shells.

2010-06-28T13:35:00.005+09:30

Ten times fast? Aren't these shells just gorgeous. the apothecary jar has been sitting empty on top of my bookshelf for months needing something just right to put in it. Being the coastal loving girl I am and after searching for ideas(many hours spent browsing gorgeous decor blogs of course, he he) the idea for shells came to me, inspired by this blog. You would think living on the biggest island in the world pretty shells would be easy to find but a lot of stores either where incredible expensive or only sold them individually. I was so happy when they arrived today from here. Click on the photo if you want to see some of the array of shells that came in the large white pack I ordered.

Today I also played with a set of cool new actions from here there are some wonderful free actions as well as some paid ones like this mini set I used here which was only us $5.00 and has five gorgeous Parisian inspired actions called French connections I ran it, played with the levels, regrouped the layers folder and then reduced the layer so the effect was really subtle. The photo is one that I have posted here before of my cute nephew Xavier. I really love the soft, light whimsical look it has given the shot.

Cheers

Playing along

2010-06-15T15:31:00.003+09:30

With the Delightful inspiration digi stamp challenge here , such a cute little guy. Drop on over and get your own cutie and then play along each week with a free stamp. This is what we woke up to this morning, brrrrrr. Not that I should complain really, our winters are fairly mild compaired to some places but still it had us shivering in our boots.

New do

2010-05-26T10:23:00.003+09:30

OK, firstly let me tell you a little about Joe; he knows exactly what he wants and when, like right now. He was born that way,impatient to get into the world, impatient to get on with life, no messing around. It used to drive me crazy when he was little. he had a great imagination and loved to dress up as his favourite characters, either from books , movies or console games and would pressure any adult he could into making the costume for him, usually it was my Mum because she has the best sewing skills and if no one would make a start for him then he would try and do it himself, four year olds and sewing machines are not always a good mix. Not that he would nag or whine or even get nasty about it he just has that way of putting the pressure on that is distinctly Joe. He will probably do well in life by it , that single minded dedication to what he wants (and he drives himself as hard as anyone else, whether it be drawing, I've seen him sit for hours drawing and redrawing characters to get them just right, or his sport) but sometimes there are times when I just have to shake my head and count to ten, thankfully he has a pretty sweet nature because it could really drive me nuts otherwise if there wasn't quite a bit of sugar and charm along with it. So when he decided he wanted his hair cut after trying to grow it out and it turning into a curly boof that was it , it had to be done, there, that night no matter what else was on we were going to have to work around it. He even fidgeted during a demo basket ball training session put on by the pioneers, a team from a neighbouring major town about an hour away, something he would normally love to watch, and never mind that I was enjoying watching too. so home, google research and half an hour later I had one happy boy with his new (tasteful, lol) mohawk. Those years of hairdressing still come in handy at times.

Side view (with a catching flies expression on his face)

There are so many things wrong with this shot, missed the focus on his eyes, colour wonky etc but still I love it.
Photos taken at around 7. 30 this morning in the fog :-)

Just because

2010-05-18T13:08:00.001+09:30

the weather is getting cooler and there is more of this going on inside And this outside
Enjoy Autumn

What did you get for Mother's day???

2010-05-13T17:48:00.006+09:30

As well as the usual

I woke to the sound of giggling to find this bit of gift wrapped goodness
Youngest brother had gift wrapped second youngest brother neck to toe in almost a whole roll of cling wrap. Now I know I shouldn't have been happy about the use of so much of the clingy stuff, you know the whole environmental thing, but how can you not laugh and be filled with the joy of it all. The fruchocs and bow just topped it off beautifully, especially seeing Joe with a nice red polka dot bow around his head, he is such a manly young thing normally, in fact his older brothers have called him the manchild for quite a few years now so to see him trussed up like that just made me giggle.

Have you met Miss Jones

2010-05-10T19:56:00.003+09:30

I found this gorgeous site while browsing(yes I did get a little computer time today)called have you met miss jones full of the most divine white bone china items. Just for fun, this camera lamp base.
I have someone who I'm sure would love this little elephant ;-)
Isn't this lamp just beautiful, so calming.

sneaking in 5 minutes

2010-05-07T22:11:00.003+09:30

of computer time while the boys are otherwise occupied. We are down to a one computer family at the moment and even though it's mine there is no guess as to who never gets near it any more, other than a hard fought few minutes here and there.

Any way I've popped on today to share my Mum's birthday gifts and card. What do you buy the woman who has everything???absolutely nothing, that's what. After 79 (in a couple of weeks) of life on this planet there is not a lot that Mum needs, she has a house full of treasures, gifts from a large continuous family, so I thought this year I would give her a couple of hand made gifts, her favourite kind. The scarf was made using a pattern found here on etsy. I thought she would enjoy the simple card set which I left blank inside as she is still a letter writer. the PP are from K and co, stamped with a little daisy stamp from crafty kids(now kassaz) and coloured with copic markers, all stored in a recycled PTI stamps box(they are the perfect size for a few 5 1/2 inch cards and envelopes). For the card I used PP from Websters page, stamps from stampin up(the rose) PTI (for you) Now to think of a birthdya present :-)

Well seems like my 5 minutes is up and I guess with an early start tomorrow for football I had better chase those boys still up and get to bed myself.

To all those Mum's (or Mum like people) out there, I hope your day on Sunday is filled with lots of love and hugs.

My Mum, mother to 6, Grandmother to 14, great Grandmother to 8 with number 9 due at any time, and stand in Mum for so many more I could never count them but if any one needed a feed, a bed for the night, a sewing, knitting or baking lesson, an ear to listen or even just a quick hug, she's your gal.

Just what I needed to hear

2010-04-27T09:43:00.002+09:30

14 years ago

2010-04-26T18:34:00.003+09:30

Today at 3 am in the morning a 9lb 7oz baby boy made his hurried entrance into the world, delivered into the loving arms of my sister on my bed at home. Happy birthday Joe.

ANZAC day

2010-04-25T09:38:00.004+09:30

"They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
we will remember them."

Dawn service

A day to remember the men and women who fought and died for us.

Today

2010-04-19T15:05:00.003+09:30

Today I started Ali Edward's week in the life project. there will be lots of photo taking over the next week and lots of memory keeping. This is all about your daily life, your routines, even the piles of laundry, yep, it's all part of life. Amongst all the tedium of the everyday life of laundry and vacuuming and dishes this little burst of sunshine arrived in my letter box. I won it a couple of weeks ago on Sam's blog and was super delighted when it arrived today and it fits perfectly. I have been admiring her mad jewelry making skills for some time now and remember seeing these beads on a bracelet she had made and instantly fell in love with them, they remind me so much of the ocean that I miss daily. Sorry about the wacky lighting, I didn't alter my white balance to take this but it still show the gorgeous beads used. I have titled it grateful because I am grateful for the world of bloggers out there and their creativity and their generosity. So Sam if you are reading this, woo hoo, you rock. Makes me think I really should do a 'just because' giveaway, will have to search for something super scrummy so I can pass on the love (of course it will never be as scrummy as this bracelet though:-)keep an eye out, think i have a big number coming up on my number of views so I might do it then.
Cheers for now, have some shopping to do.
:-)

So glad to be back

2010-04-13T11:18:00.002+09:30

to having normal Internet access again. I have been having computer problems for a few weeks now and have been blaming the kids because after their computer dying they have been using mine. Any hoo after trying multitudes of things to fix it and nothing working a thought came to me at midnight last night, check your Internet usage, yep that was it, in one week my usage was over 100% for on peak and the same for off peak. Now no one in this house uses off peak so it became time to do some investigating. Fortunately my anti virus(which I had let lapse for a few days so warning people, always check your anti virus is up to date)tells me if someone else is using my Internet and there is was, QE.pc plus one other . Hopefully now the problem is all fixed, the intruders blocked, anti virus up to date and no more slow internet loading, back to seeing all those gorgeous projects everyone is doing.

Canon 5D giveaway

2010-03-28T17:19:00.007+10:30

Not sure if you remember this post I did last year about the gorgeous new range of camera bags designed to be not only be functional but also a drop dead gorgeous fashion statement? well if you do(or even if you don't) race over to the epiphanie website and check it out becasue they are giving away the most awesome prize, they are offering a canon 5D mark II as a first prize (or the choice of travel vouchers). Woo hoo, how I would love this camera with it's drool worthy full frame censor making my lenses true to what they should be, totally awesome. (Plus there is a gorgeous turquoise bag there with my name on it hat I hope someone will remember when my birthday comes around this year :-)

Northern visitors

2010-03-25T21:44:00.003+10:30

Naracoorte has recently been visited by a colony of fruit bats(flying foxes), possibly from NSW or QLD. The erratic weather has sent them looking for food and calmer weather. It's amazing when they take off at night, it looks like a large flock of big birds until they fly directly over head and you see the bat wing shape. They fly out looking for food each evening and settle back in for rest at dawn. Apparently, according to the local paper, they are quite a rare breed of fruit bat. I raced up this morning and took these quickly before work.

Amazing work

2010-03-23T11:18:00.003+10:30

for any one wanting a little photography inspiration or simply enjoy looking at gorgeous images check out this slide show on the amazingly talented wedding photographer Susan Stripling's blog, so worth the time to have a look, her use of light is amazing and the emotion she captures at times almost brings a tear to the eye. Where was she 21 years ago(next month)probably still a child and on the other side of the world, that's where, lol, but even as a child I'm sure she would have had more artist flair that the wedding photographer we hired (hope he never ever reads this, lol).

Another fantastic photography website, and this one is a little closer to home (very close in fact) is my brother in laws brand new site here. His photography is awe inspiring with photos from home (Port Fairy) and around the world. Check out his portfolio, link is on the top left hand side. His shots of the whales in the bay at Port are simply stunning. Must remember next time I am home to pick his brain (ewww, that sounds gross) Some of his later stuff is shot digitally but his preferred method is with slide film and I must say that the quality is amazing, there I go with that word again but when he shoe fits...
Just a little side note- when I refer to home it covers two places, home of course where we live now in S.A. but also my home town of Port Fairy in the western district of Victoria. An extremely pretty little seaside town where most of my family still live, hence the fact that it will always be classed as my home even if I never live there again. so generally when I say I am going home for the weekend this is where I will be, then from there going home is coming back here, confusing stuff,lol.
And lastly a quick snapshot of two of my guys taken a couple of weekends ago at Bren's step sister's wedding (and yes I did straighten Paddy's tie afterwards :-)

Happy St Paddy's day

2010-03-17T07:43:00.001+10:30

:-)

Way behind

2010-03-16T14:29:00.002+10:30

On Shimelle's first class prompts so I thought I would combine the first two into one, metal and pattern paper. I pulled out some old foil sheets that have been floating around my stash for years (we moved here almost 8 years ago and I think I may have had them before then) brads, eyelets, alphabet brads, bead chain and an old bookplate that I think is from a similar era to the foil sheets. The alpha brad was originally pewter so I dunked it in some silver embossing powder to tie it all in. The word little and clouds cut with the silhouette and fish cut using quickutz cookie cutters and embossed using a cuttlebug bubbles embossing folder. Font is 2 peas tasklist. the cloud on the right looked heaps darker than the others in this shot although it is only a tiny bit darker, weird huh. Oh and the PP is cosmo cricket.

I made this card a couple of weeks back from a gorgeous set of unity stamps my wonderfully talented and generous friend Donna gave me as a Christmas gift. Love it when a card comes together very quickly because the stamps are so cute.

Now I have to run to catch up after the enormously busy time I had last week. Travelled over 2000 km, went to a wedding, a funeral, cuddled brand a new baby and not so new baby, baby sat my 2 year old nephew (twice), went to the folk festival, caught up with family and friends helped my oldest son move into a new home (by new I mean new to him not brand new)comforted my second son after the tragic loss of a close friend and my husband after the loss of a family friend, worked, baked for number three son to take on a holiday he was going on with friends of his, attended two meeting, paid the bills, went shopping as well as the other usual things that come our way all in the space of a week such as sport and training, so glad we were able to rest on Sunday.

Sharing (some of) my excess (gulp)

2010-03-10T14:55:00.002+10:30

Our first challenge for Shimmele's class, share you excesses, oh boy this is a tough one, admitting to everyone that I have a collecting problem. Must be what an addict feels like at their first meeting :-) at least I am not alone in this venture as I'm sure there are many out there with uninked stamps (just because they were pretty) or unopened embellishments they were really going ot use one day. After this class I am seriously hoping that my stash is going to be noticably depleted (more room to add more shopping then, hehe) Self explanatory I guess
One of six wooden stamps drawers, these are word stamps

My book shelf. I claim that if I had enough room for several of these then my nook would be so much tidier and organised. Do you think I have enough cardstock?

Rubons, love the designs on these and the ease of use but have a basket full of them waiting for 'some day'

Must confess that this is just a fraction of my ribbon, I have a basket too wound onto board.

I blame the manufacturers for my collection of paint, if they didn't make such pretty colours then I wouldn't have to buy so many :-)

One of two herb jar turns that hold brads, pins, etc. I keep my eyelts in a separate folder type thing.

Just a few of my inkpads, notice there is room on the botom shelf for more ):-)

Alphabet stickers and now I mostly use my silhouette for titles, so they gather dust

Now seriously, do you think I have a stamp collecting problem???

All this and there's more, the adhesive drawer, how many kinds of adhesive does a girl need, sadly I use most of it though :-) then there is more punches and more ribbon and more, more more, you get the idea. I think I just like collecting pretty things, when I buy them I have full intention of using them but often find them months later at the bottom of a basket. I am very much an out of sight out of mind kind of girl and would love a room big enough (or a room full stop) to have every thing out on display and at hands reach. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it, lol.

Woo Hoo

2010-03-10T11:19:00.003+10:30

So what am I woo hooing about this time you may ask, well something really exciting, I have just received an email telling me that I have won a place in this class at Shimelle.com after entering on Jennifer Johner's blog (a visual delight). It's all about using your stash and anyone who has been into my little scrappy nook knows I sure have some stuff. Stamps any one,(too scared to count how many), chip board, a whole (untouched) box full, rubons, ribbons, buttons, brads and eyelets, you name it and I've probably collected it over the years and yet I seem to stick to the same lot of products all the time, maybe stuck in my comfort zone you would say of border punches, silhouette, buttons and the odd brad. I am so looking forward to being pushed out of my safe little box and this will be just the class to do it. the first challenge is to take some photographs of your excesses which I will be back with shortly :-)

2010-03-06T08:37:00.001+10:30

The beginning of our adventure

2010-03-06T08:34:00.001+10:30

Driving home(my home town, not where we live home)for the long weekend just on dusk we passed a mass of fur on the middle of the road. Thinking from a distance it was a dead roo it wasn't until we got closer that we realized it was a koala and although it wasn't moving except for being buffeted by the wind from cars and trucks as they flew past it seemed to be alive. As soon as we found a spot to turn we went back and found the poor thing in total shock still in the middle of the road. Except for a bloody foot it didn't seem to be too badly hurt but it was sitting there head down nose almost touching the ground. Now this is were I got brave ( for those who think of koalas as cute and cuddly you ought to check out their inch long claws) knowing it wouldn't be long before it was dark and the way the traffic flew along the straight there was no way it was going to stay alive for long, so I grabbed a blanket from out of the back if the car draoped it over it's still not moving back and heaved it's extremely heavy self to the side of the road. Knew things were good when it started to wriggle and it grunted at me:-) once out of it's stupor it walked off, turned and checked us out for awhile then slowly made it's ways towards the trees. The boys were extremely excited to be up close and personal with the wildlife and we were all glad to manage at least one hood deed for the day. Now for the rest of the weekend :-)
From my iphone

Pinch and a punch

2010-03-01T09:00:00.000+10:30

It's official, Autumn is here, woo hoo.

Happy birdday

2010-02-28T18:48:00.003+10:30

How this for a cute digi stamp? while I was checking out bogs on google reader the other day I found this card on Em's blog and the same image again on a card Dani's blog. I followed the link which lead me to designed2delight, an online store with some really cute designs, which I guess delighted me, hehe. the best part, well one of the best parts is that by buying using this stamp and participating in their challenge entitles you to a free stamp, yes you heard me free stamp for the next challenge, woohoo, gotta like that. PP-weather vain by october afternoon (my fave) ribbon, sentiment stamp and white card-PTI brad made with OA PP and the ITop brad maker. The first bird and the balloon are popped up a little even though it is a tad hard to see here.
ETA Ahh, I just realised I was going to stitch a line with brown thread along the left side of the card, lol, silly me, you'll just have to imagine it is there. I'll do it tomorrow.

Finally putting something on the walls

2010-02-25T22:15:00.004+10:30

During the process of painting Seamus' room I found an amazing site that sells digital files for you to purchase to cut on your electronic die cut machine. As soon as I spied this quote I knew I had to put it on the wall above his bed. I had begun to despair that Seamus was never really going to love reading like the rest of us do until recently when he finally caught the bug. He would read before but it was always because he had to or he would flick through magazines etc but now I have to go into his room and force him to put his book down, love it. The quote measures 36 inches long, it's a little hard to get a perspective of it 'cause I was too lazy to change my camera lens but it is around the width of his bed. I added the little book (a silhouette design) to the end just to stretch it out a bit as it need to be a couple of inches longer. I'm really happy with how it turned out and most importantly so is he. Now I want to decorate more walls with quotes but I have to paint first, patience girl, patience.

My baby and a card

2010-02-17T13:06:00.002+10:30

The Twilight Tuesday blog that Donna introduced me to back when is closing down. I have been following the girls and their fabulous work for a while now and have even occasionally play along with their challenges,(like right now). I put on the NM soundtrack, just to get me in the mood, and grabbed out some PP, stamps, inks and Dani's sketch and threw it all together on a card, not really sure how I like it, the jury is out, but it's done :-)

the challenge is in Rebecca's words

Creative portion: Create a project that uses printed text: a page from a magazine, book, dictionary, etc. within your project, as the background or focal point.

Comment Portion: I love to read the newspaper online but nothing beats a printed newspaper on Sunday mornings. And no matter how hard I try, I can’t abandon books (hardcover, softcover, or paperback) to a digital reader. Are you totally digital or do you prefer a good old fashioned printed page in your hands?”

well ok the comment part is easy, I am on old fashioned book kind of girl, there is nothing like having something in print in front of you, to take where ever you like, and the smell, nothing electronic could ever replace that new (or old) book smell.

Yesterday I grabbed this little drawer kit by Kaiser with the idea of using it to store my markers in. I have had them for some time now in a little wooden box but hated having to search for colours. there is some gorgeous dedicated storage out there for copics but most of them are either not manufactured here in Australia or they cost and arm and a leg to buy. When I spied these little shelves the other day the idea came to me straight away to cut the front off the drawers(they are heavy chipboard) the markers sit in there nicely and I can now see each colour in it's grouping easily. sorry about the dodgy photo, it was late in the day and they are on a shelf that does not get a lot of light.
And how's this for making me feel old, my baby turned eleven on Monday, although the celebrations started several days earlier with a party at a friends house on Friday night, party and sleep over at our house on Saturday and continued on until mid afternoon Sunday.

He woke to this banner I made for his wall. I think it looks like a great big birthday smile,lol.

An because helium balloons are a little hard to come by in a small country town I went down to the local junk store and bought these paper lanterns to use instead. He decided he likes them there and wants them to stay. I guess that's were they have the advantage over balloons, they don't deflate :-)

And his favourite breakfast by request, ham and cheese croissants served on a Sponge Bob plate. Croissants are the most chosen treat breakfast in our home, all the boys want them for their birthday breakfast.

Scraperlicious challenge-love

2010-02-14T18:13:00.003+10:30

this months scraperlicious challenge, by yours truly, is love, ahhh, where would we be with out it. I finished this layout a few days ago but thought I should wait until today, Valentines day, to share it. Boy was this a hard one to photograph properly, if I exposed for the darker areas, the details like the pearls were barely visible, if I exposed for the lighter areas the writing was barely able to be seen you you will have to use your imagination with this one, lol. Cut the words and decorative borders with the silhouette, the row of hearts is actually what was left over from cutting out the heart border and I thought it was too pretty to throw out so decided to use that too,hehe, waste not want not :-) It's very hard to tell but there are tiny kaiser pearls in the bottom scallop of the bottom and top border as well as on the top of the little cut out designs on the same rows. Paper is from Kassaz, hope I have spelt that right.

I really loved the row of words on this paper(click to see larger) and decided to cut it out to use on here as an accent.

It says here 1992 but I can't quite remember whether it was 92 or 93, I do remember that we had Jackson and that we were leaving him with Mum in Port Fairy while we went to the movies to see Forrest Gump. Working on our time line of meeting in 88, marrying in 89, pregnant in 90 and first baby born in 91 I can only assume that 92 was the year, oh well no matter.

I love paper with words on it :-)

Hope you all had a lovely Valentines day.

Happy valentines day

2010-02-14T10:20:00.001+10:30

Today I played

2010-02-07T19:01:00.002+10:30

The quote reads life isn't about finding yourself it's about creating yourself, it photographed a little blurry.

Donna Downey inspired canvas, hard to see here but the butterfly is double layered and brushed with perfect pearls in verdigris and gold. The canvas has several layers of paint washes the painted on rock candy distress paint and when that was dry rubbed it with metallic rubons and more perfect pearls in the vintage range. It's not too sharp in this photo (was too lazy to take it off the wall to a well lit place to photograph) the flower/branchy thing was hand drawn and the sentiment is a stamp form unity. I found it really hard to stamp on the canvas because of the fact that it was only a cheap one and not stretched really tight, next time I think I might use a flat canvas with a nice solid base. Not great but I had fun making it.

I also made this little wall hanging for my great nephew's room, the accents in his room are turquoise and green. The tree was cut using brown suede paper but looks black here

, again with being too lazy to take it off the shelf,lol.

I also made a card (didn't get time to photograph it as it was whisked away for a birthday) and a layout which I cannot share yet as it is a gift :-)

It's amazing how productive you can be when the male population of the house drops from five to two.

I did it

2010-02-02T13:49:00.002+10:30

Made my new blog header. Papers are by Crystal Wilkerson and are available through Jessica Sprague's website, they were purchased last year as part of a kit for Kate package for a fund raiser, similar to the cards for kids that JenniferMcGuire is doing. the our story brush is one of Ali Edward's brushes available here at designer digital and the template its self is one of Rita's from the coffeeteaphotography blog. this is about the biggest it gets for me as far as the whole digi thing goes but stil it's kind of fun to do.
Hoo roo I'm off to go and do something, not sure what yet but something :-)

2010-02-01T18:32:00.002+10:30

Just posted this months scraperlicious challenge over on the blog .
On another note I have a layout in this month digi mag scrapstreet , around page 30 I think. I must confess I had never heard on the mag before they asked me to submit. I am a little disappointed at how crooked it is in the picture but without a 12 inch scanner I had to photograph it and the smaller shot on computer looked straight but not on the bigger page, oh well, such is life. I'm off to cook dinner, yummy fish and salad, perfect for a warm evening. Daisy is laying snoring at me feet, shame I will wake her when I get up.

It's all good...

2010-01-28T10:46:00.005+10:30

Some more bits and pieces that have been going on in our lives lately.
Seamus' room is finally finished and looks great, we keep going in there and just staring, such a nice change from the crappy grey blue that was in there (and yes it was even on the ceiling, blah)although a little hard to get the colour completely true this is a lovely coastal blue and looks so fresh but not cold.
After his first day back at school he was happy to jump into bed for a quick read to me before falling into a deep sleep (he is usually like his mother and has trouble getting to sleep at night, being a night owl must be genetic :-)
Joe loved his first day of high school although he had double art and double PE then early dismissal so it wasn't too much of a strain.

Playing with my silhouette, am I going to bore you by telling you again how much I love this little machine?
Decorating the new fridge

And my tool caddy

And some Christmas gifts. Yes my friends, that is one foot high of fruchocs, MMMMMmmmmm,and caramel popcorn, double MMMMmmmmmm.

A closer view of the Christmas vinyl on the jar, gold, decorated with a little red bling.
Was a little bit hard to photograph and I was in a hurry to pack them before the kids spotted them and started to sneak the goodies out, you will notice that the fruchocs aren't quite full to the top, they were when I started :-).
Nothing is safe from being vinyled, just don't stand still too long ):-)

I'm off, so much to do before I have to work tonight. A bit of a shock to the system to have to work tonight, tomorrow, tomorrow night and Saturday until three after having January off. The kids actually enjoyed being back at school despite not wanting the holidays to end so I am hoping I will be the same :-)

Cheers,

Sue
Oh and I plan to change my blog header next week when I get a little time.

Bits and pieces

2010-01-23T20:18:00.004+10:30

This young man turned 16 last week
These little guys have been growing like crazy. they come up and nibble on your hand if you put it in their tank.

We have spent a fair bit of time doing this, while the process may not be totally enjoyable the end results certainbly are, trouble is now I think I need to go shopping for new furniture to match the new room :-) OK will put better photos on later of the colour it looks washy here.

This boy went to Streaky bay for a fortnight with friends, he had a ball, arrived back yesterday.

Had a great night out with these gals, lots of giggles and chat.

Help for Haiti, etsy style

2010-01-20T12:57:00.004+10:30

Has anyone been checking out the fab finds on the help for Haiti etsy store. Very clever artisans have come together to sell their goods to raise money for doctors without borders, double(or is that triple) benefits, we get cute goodies, the people of Haiti get help and the people who have created the goods get a warm fuzzy feeling in their hearts :-). Here is the link. They have some gorgeous items.

Like this

Thought of Coco with this one

This cute crochet pattern

Ahhh, if only my boys were small again, love this.

Thinking of winter already :-)

Go check it out, they have new things coming in regularly and others are moving really fast, like a little hand painted owl I had my eye on, when I went back to check it had been sold, hope it went to a good home.

Another view

2010-01-12T15:06:00.003+10:30

Seeing as today is much more civilised weather wise I thought I would retake the photo of this layout, at least now you can see that the centre is clear, not grass:-). It was so hot over the last few days that even my shampoo was hot and a jet of steam shot out of the hose when I turned it on before the water came through. I don't know whether it is getting hotter over summer or maybe I'm just not coping with it as well as I used to when I was younger. Whatever, I am so thankful that today is cooler and we even had some wonderful rain early this morning, ahh bliss. Had a lovely morning with miss Sandie over a cuppa and loooottts of chatter, thanks Sandie Xx
Oh and thank you to my assistant Seamus for being the layout holder :-)

Blogging from my iPhone

2010-01-11T21:57:00.001+10:30

Hope it works

Doing a little catch up

2010-01-11T17:08:00.004+10:30

For the scraperlicious challenge blog. Sorry it is such a cruddy shot, it does look beter IRL, you will just have to trust me. It's just that it is sooo hot outside and I can't find a good spot were the light does not reflect off the transparency so I had to take it on the grass which does not show off the effect of it very well, and my brain hurts... Stay cool
Susy.

Getting back into the creative groove

2010-01-05T16:11:00.002+10:30

Cardstock-American crafts, Pattern paper-Bo Bunny Tis the season, Border punch-fiskars, Brad-ITop brad maker, Title, heart and bracket shape-Silhouette die cut machine

With the exception of Christmas cards and gifts I have not done very much of the ol' creative stuff at all. Like everyone else, Christmas and New year were highly enjoyable but very busy, then after all the festivities we started the mammoth job of swapping over the two younger boys rooms and rearranging and cleaning number two sons room. I also gave my little nook a partial clean up along the way. There is still a fair bit to be done in other areas but I am loving that the house is beginning to become more orderly and less cluttered and when six people live in one fairly small space it can become untidy and cluttered very quickly. We have purged so much, some to the second hand stores, some to be recycled and quite a bit has simply been tossed.Any way after all this cleaning I decided to treat myself to a day of crafting. I only managed one layout between loads of laundry(the downside of cleaning out rooms is all the clothes that I found shoved in odd spots around their rooms, as if I don't have enough laundry to do :-)running boys here and there and meal preparation, (the boys can eat and eat and). The layout used photos I took for our very first photography group challenge, 'home is where the heart is' I had done them up in a collage so decided to stick with that format, trimming them and putting them on a piece of cardstock in the same way they were on the page I printed. i had so much fun playing with paper again and have decided in my effort to have a more organised life that I will set one afternoon a week aside just for creative stuff.

Have a great day.

Sue.

Welcome 2010

2010-01-01T00:20:00.002+10:30

Just popping in

2009-12-31T19:18:00.002+10:30

(and popping in is all I seem to be doing lately)to wish everyone a very happy new year.
Hoping to have more time for the things I enjoy after the new year, namely crafting and blogging. Have a great night whatever it is you are doing to see in the new year.
Xx

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas.

2009-12-24T19:01:00.002+10:30

I haven't had a lot of time to post lately and I posted off/gave away most of my Chritmasy gifts and cards before I photographed them so you will just have to believe me that I did them ;-). Tomorrow is going to be one of the weirdest ever Christmas mornings as two of the boys are already at my mum's. It will be strange to wake up and only have two here and then we have to leave the oldest behind while we head off as he has to work over the next few days, not really liking the fact that this will be the very first year when we are not all together. I guess it's something I will have to get used to as they grow up but I'm not ready just yet. The lead up has been busy for us, as I suppose it is everyone, though we did take time out on Tuesday to go to the movies in Mt G to see Avatar, amazing movie, really loved it. I was surprised at just how much I really enjoyed it, I knew it was going to be visually huge as I had seen clips here and there but what did surprise me was how much I enjoyed and became involved in the story line. I sat there laughing, crying and gripping the arm of my chair in trepidation at different times throughout the entire movie. I have read reviews that have said the story line wasn't great but every one I have spoken to who has seen it loved it as much as I did, so much for the critics hey... Definitely one to watch at the movie theatre though, so big and so much happening and the sounds added so much to it. Righto I'm off to give the eggnog one last stir and wrap those last minute things that were missed. Christmas blessings to all
Xx

The links from the previous post

2009-12-17T19:15:00.002+10:30

Ok Sushi made and eaten (yes Delicious thank you :-) and for now the links from the post below.
Template from Rita at coffeeteaphotography , she has the best range of templates, actions etc and most of them are free (unless you feel like giving a donation which I think I will do this Christmas) The brushes, 09 and Christmas are from designerdigitals also love their stuff, I am not nor will never will be a digi scrapper but I do enjoy dabbling in hybrid stuff and they have great brushes and things that work really well with scrapping.I'm not really sure where the flourish brush came from, I did a google search for flourish brushes a few years back and this is one that came up. And lastly the gorgeous papers are designed by Crystal Wilkerson and are available for sale here
I'm about to try and create some semblance of order in my scrap nook so I can get a few last minute cards done because there will buckleys of getting them done tomorrow as Paddy is going into have his tonsils removed. He's not really looking forward to it at all, not so much the op itself as having to stay overnight in hospital.
Cheers

Wrong hemisphere

2009-12-17T16:03:00.002+10:30

I'm quite sure this time of year that I have been born into the wrong hemisphere, especially after yesterday when we had a 42 degrees day. Today it has been drizzly rain for most of the day and I have loved it. I would so love to have a white Christmas, just once.
How do you like my new blog header???It's very simple, my first attempt. The template is a coffee shop one (link on the side bar) the digi papers are by Crystal ? and are available from Jessica Sprague's website and the brushes where bought from designer digital. Sorry about being slack and not putting links in but I have a date with Seamus to make Sushi.
Cheers

Transcending: Words on Women and Strength by Kelly Corrigan

2009-12-14T23:17:00.001+10:30

So worth watching

Hey now, he's a rock star

2009-12-02T21:19:00.004+10:30

A quick couple of shot of Joe from last nights school concert, they did old time rock and roll. Dontcha just love that big 80s hair, ahhh, the memories,lol. Joe and one of his besties(yes the other kids faces are blurred out deliberately)
Seamus' class did boom, boom, pow by the black eyed peas but I don't have too many shots of it because they used a lot of UV lighting which was really hard to take decent shots of.

Happy 1st of December

2009-12-01T07:56:00.001+10:30

The countdown begins.

I love to see what they see

2009-11-29T23:26:00.003+10:30

While driving in and out to the swamp (this post) last school holidays Joe grabbed my little camera out of my handbag and started snapping away as we drove. I love that they see beauty in this world and hope it stays with them forever. The yellow fields are canola crops BTW.

This bottom one is my fave, love the moody sky and misty rain.

Not entirely sure why each photo is a different shape and one has a black frame and not the others, must have been the mood I was in at the time :-)

Advent calendar

2009-11-29T17:37:00.003+10:30

We've started getting into Christmas mode here the last few days, Seamus has been making paper decorations and I made this using a kaiser OTP kit, rubons and papers and my fabulous silhouette, man I love that thing. The gorgeous Christmas tree, gifts etc are stuck on transparency and mounted on a few layers of foam dots and the stars are stuck on the back panel. the numbers are from the silhouette cut and print range. I love that present cut out, it's meant to be for a wedding but was so easy to ungroup and remove the part that said to the bride and groom. Love that most of their designs can be altered to suit what you are doing.

We have had our nativity scene up for a few weeks now but still haven't gotten around to taking photos of it yet. Must soon, it's so pretty.

I off now to go and cool dinner before Glee starts, they have just moved it to Sunday nights. I really didn't want to like it but alas I was sucked in after 1 episode. A good thing that has come from Glee is that it has broadened the range of music the kids listened to, their computer is pumping out Bon Jovi as I type and I never thought I would see the day when they were searching youtube for Neil Diamond,lol.

Cheers,

Sue.

cool iphone app

2009-11-27T08:14:00.002+10:30

The gallery girls

Called shake it. Makes your photos look like old style polaroids, you even get to shake it to make the picture appear faster.

Long time no blogging

2009-11-18T17:36:00.003+10:30

I have times like that, blog heaps for a while then nothing for ages, nothing like going with the flow. I have been making stuff though but only one layout to share, the rest were gifts which I forgot to photograph before I gave them away,lol. Since my last post there has been a new arrival in our family, no not another baby but a beautiful petite little silhouette digital cutter. Oh how I love it, it's sleek design, it's speedy little blade and the designs, oh the designs. I had previously owned the klic'n'kut element, a birthday gift a few years back, which although I liked, I never really loved it. To get the most out of it you really needed to learn it and honestly I just could never be bothered. The capabilities of the software were huge but you really need to be quite techno savvy (although my husband claims I am, he has mistaken time spent on the computer with knowledge about it ;-)I also find that the silhouette cuts are much more intricate. I know it doesn't have the chipboard cutting ability of the knk but everything else just rocks and the software is very user friendly. I made the elements for the layout above in minutes. the 09 in the circle (which I straightened later)the fun and games in the bracket and yep even the run, jump, skip and play is from the silhouette too, they have a fantastic print and cut range. I can see me using this in almost every layout I do from now on. I have even used it for making costumes for the boys school concert in a few weeks, more of that later..

It was so worth it

2009-11-08T17:14:00.003+10:30

To do the 7 hours of driving for a quick overnight stop if only to meet this little man for the first time. Introducing my newest great nephew baby Mitchell, he weighed in at 9lb12oz and is all that of smoochie baby goodness. Even though I didn't arrive until 10 o'clock on the Friday night and left for home around 3.30 on Saturday I managed to catch up with family, drive over to the next town along and cuddle the new baby and had a birthday morning tea out with some of my pals from back home, two and a half hours of girlie chatter and giggles, even made time to squeeze in a quick walk around the Island to the beach. All in all a great day, just feeling a little brain dead now, I think the adrenaline rush has started to wear of,lol. 8 day old cuteness and check out the cute smooched up cheeks and milk spots on the shot below, pure baby goodness..

(forgot to sharpen the shot above for the web, sorry it's a little soft)

Yes, you are in the right spot for the blog hop

2009-10-27T22:01:00.004+10:30

It's the post below. while I am waiting for most of you to get out of bed I thought I would share Halloween Australian style. Being close to summer here there was not a whole pumpkin to be found anywhere so we thought we would do the next best thing and carve a watermelon,lol. My youngest son is still right into celebrating all of the holidays, even those we don't normally celebrate here like Halloween, and really wanted to do something. I think maybe he looks over his Mum's shoulder to much at all the lovely decorations on the American blogs i follow. any way he had great fun and we got to have yummy watermelon for dessert tonight :-) He named him Mr Watermelon head, original hey?

It's birthday time

2009-10-27T09:54:00.006+10:30

Or anniversary time, whichever you like to call it it's been a year of awesome Twilight related creative bliss over here at Twilight Tuesday. I was introduced to Twilight books by my uber talented and most awesome friend Donna. Donna, knowing my taste in most things rang me one day explaining her lack of socialising for a week or so on a series of books, "you should read them" she said, I did, and the rest my friends is history. so when she said I would love the Twilight Tuesday site I jumped on and checked it out because Donna is always right,lol. I have only played along with a few challenges so far but those that I have have been really enjoyable. so here I am at the blogaverssary once again sharing my humble offerings for your viewing.For the blog hop we were to make something from any one of the 50 previous challenges or something Twilight related. For my first project I did challenge 6, rain. Normally when I use this stamp I tend to lean towards brighter colours with it but but bright colours and rain in forks just didn't seem to fit so I pulled out my ever favourite cosmo cricket papers and even though they have bright colours in them they are a vintagey bright not a vibrant bright if that makes any sense at all(if not I will blame it on lack of sleep). I think if I was told I could only use a limited range of pattern paper for the rest of my life I would choose Cosmo Cricket and October Afternoon, I just looove their ranges.

The next challenge I chose was number 37, a little romance. No matter what it is that lights your torch about the Twilight series it is first and foremost a romance so hence my choice of theme.

In an effort to get more photos of Bren and myself together (I made a mini album about us last year and gathering the photos together I realise we didn't have that many of the two of us despite being together for well over 20 years)I handed the camera over to my number 3 son. DH seeing the camera grabbed me for a big smooch session, he has never been camera shy unlike me who hates being on the other side of the lens.

A closer view of the hearts on the page

It is a little hard to pick up the embossed polka dots on the white paper. When I first discovered stamps it wasn't to colour at all, that came a bit later, my first use of them was for making my own background paper which I did lots of once so it was great fun to do this again by pulling out this gorgeous polka dot set from PTI.

And finally I'm not sure what challenge this would fit into, maybe the great Northwest, but I'm sure somewhere in Forks there would be and owl in a tree somewhere, maybe looking down as Edward walked away from Bella in the forest, who knows. I actually did this because I had purchased the digi stamp a couple of weeks back and not had the opportunity to use it yet so while I was on a crafty roll and my desk was messy anyway I thought I would pull it out and play, that and the fact that the owl is soo cute and I seem to have a thing for owls. The yellow behind the owl is vellum, it doesn't show really well here but looks quite pretty with the light shining through it.

I'd like to thank all the sponsors for the blog hop (did I mention there was blog candy, mmm, love candy and this is the sort that won't go straight to the hips :-)

Stamp Happens Shop http://stamphappens.com/shop

Stamp Insanity Stamps http://stampinsanity.com/

The Greeting Farm http://thegreetingfarm.com/shop

Unity Stamp Co. http://http//www.unitystampco.com/

Die Cuts R Us http://www.diecutsrus.com/

Sassy Studio Designs http://buysassystudiodesigns.blogspot.com/

Stars Fall Designs http://starsfalldesigns.etsy.com/

OK, that's is it for me, now it's time to move along to Laura's
blog to see what tasty creative Twilighty treat she has in store for you.

And in case you have missed someone here is the list of other participants.
1. Twilight Tuesday (http://www.twilighttuesday.com/)

2. Tonya (http://stamphappens.com/)

3. Margie (http://ohbumbleismemargie.blogspot.com/)

4. Dani (http://countyourbeautifulblessings.blogspot.com/)

5. Alison (http://alisonsrandomthoughts.blogspot.com/)

6. Donna (http://donna-wardle.blogspot.com/)

7. Jen Shults (http://deconstructingjen.com/)

8. Heather Lee-Reppen http://inkonmyear.blogspot.com/

9. Tamara Bennett (http://scrapcationgetaway.blogspot.com/)

10. Jacquie (http://jacquiemakescards.blogspot.com/)

11. Erica (http://inkedupandreadytoplay.blogspot.com/)

12. Jennifer O. (http://wannabecr8tive.blogspot.com/)

13. Juanita http://stampintwilghtmom.blogspot.com/

14. Steph http://www.apaperbuffet.blogspot.com/

15. Lisa J. http://www.stampincraftinsnowohmy.blogspot.com/

16. Julie http://www.starsfalldesigns.com/

17. Beth http://www.stampinsanity.com/blog

18. Holly http://www.inkadinkadoodle.com/

19. LaToya http://lmac-emac.blogspot.com/

20. Randi http://www.thedarkmermaid.blogspot.com/

21. Rebecca http://bellacarta.typepad.com/

22. Gabby http://confessionsofastamper.blogspot.com/

23. Sarabeth http://www.scraphappie.blogspot.com/

24. Susy http://susysspace.blogspot.com/

25. Laura http://craftylittlewoman.blogspot.com/

26. Liz http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=2461

27. Lady-Sonya http://www.kreativplanet.blogage.de/

28. Twilight Tuesday http://twilighttuesday.com/

enjoy

Another thing I found

2009-10-20T15:14:00.002+10:30

while browsing blogs today were these...the nicest camera bags for women (or I guess there would be some men who would like them too,lol) they are available here soon. So much prettier and cuter than my ordinary camera bag.

Stacy Julian giveaway.

2009-10-20T09:59:00.005+10:30

While flicking through a scrapbook mag last night I happened to read about the new brad maker from inaginisce and thought how cool it would be,this morning while checking google reader I read about this giveaway on Stacy Julian's blog. I'm entering, what about you???

I did it again

2009-10-18T17:41:00.002+10:30

I've added to my layout again, the day ofter posting this I decided it needed something added (see a bit of a theme happening here, like my last three layouts,lol)Not that I add much but I think seeing it on a big monitor right in front of my face makes me pick all the little bits and pieces (or lack of them) so my old friend string was added, a little heart charm and a date block.

Next time I think I will wait for a few days before posting just to make sure I really am done :-) Life has been pretty busy around here lately and it seems like there isn't many days go past without extras added to our little house so when we do get a little time for just us a lot of this happens...relaxing and enjoying the quiet time.

Even the pets enjoy it.

And even more stuff...

2009-10-13T16:30:00.003+10:30

So what season did you say it was?

Just on six weeks until the official beginning of summer and we are still getting days like this, not that I'm complaining mind you. He's a good, good man...Chopping wood to keep his family warm.

We thought it would be the last of fires for the year but with a cool wet snap here I'm just glad that I never went to the trouble to give the fire it's last thorough clean for the year.

Scraperlicious challenge number four-change.

As soon as I read on the blog that this months challenge was about change I knew I wanted to use this photo. When I looked at it the first time after printing I was amazed at how much things have changed in the last 17 years between Jackson's birth and the day this photo was taken(My nieces wedding)He from a tiny baby that Mum used to cuddle on her lap to a teenage boy that stands a good head taller than her. and her... well she has had many changes in that time, both happy and sad, good and bad and then there is ever effecting time. I am surprised that I was able to fit the journaling in,and me not usually a big journaler, could have written double what I have here, not easy to condense so much about their lives into a few short paragraphs.

A closer view, you can see here the tone on tone border strip which doesn't show clearly in the top photo.

PP-cosmo cricket, Stamps-Technique Tuesday, Border punch-(you knew I would have to squeeze one of those in somewhere,lol) fiskars Diecut frame-Quickutz Cardstock-(Kraft) Aussiescrapsource (brown) brand unknown but purchased from Camelot studio in Adelaide.

Bella butterfly

2009-10-12T16:43:00.003+10:30

Last year some time I won a name this stamp competition run by Bizzy Bec, now while I have used this stamp a few times I have never posted a card with it on, tut tut. With Bec having just drawn the winner of the next lot of name your stamp comp I had thought I had better get off my slack butt and do something, so here she is Bella butterfly. The photo is at a funny angle because I raced outside in the rain, it was a matter of sit the card on the gardening table, shoot one shot and bolt back inside, it was that wet. Previously I have used softer girlier colours with her but today I discovered these SU papers while searching through my paper stash for inspiration and decided to go with them. I realised after posting this that I had forgotten to put a flower in her hair, I have a tiny brown one that would have gone perfectly, I'll have to add that later. Just paying with this terribly over exposed shot of a pot of ranuculas that is sitting at our front door, crap photo, but the flowers are so pretty.

Some stuff...

2009-10-11T16:24:00.002+10:30

A little bit of a redo for this layout, only added a few buttons and stamped the play all day circle but I feel a bit better about it now, it's still simple but at least it feels a bit more finished than before.

Ooops, forgot about the reverse loading for blogger photos. These are some of the butterflies I stamped and embossed with white embossing powder on the layout below.

A closer view of some of the stamping and elements, the heart is acrylic backed with p paper and stamped with the family stamp from the hero arts original definitions set with white stazon. The quote is from an Ali Edwards set embossed with butter zing(love this colour, so soft and well, buttery)

Something a little different from my usual layouts. Used lots of stamping and embossing. It was also good to use older products, the PP is one that has been out for quite some time from MM(except for the background, it's MM too but not so old) and the butterfly and definition stamps from hero arts have been in my drawer for years. the other stamps are Ali Edwards by technique Tuesday and Heidi Swapp. I even used vellum, something I haven't done in ages. It's one of those layouts that looks better IRL, or maybe it's just my photography.

Yesterday we took Seamus for a walk down to the swamp to catch tadpoles (yes, we are a catch and release family, at least they will be released soon, it's good for the kids to see the changes the little tadpole's bodies go through to become a frog, takes longer than a kiss from a Princess,lol)
After catching them with him for a while I layed down under his beautiful wattle tree and enjoyed the feeling of the spring sunshine.

Back again

2009-10-09T18:56:00.004+10:30

From our little break. Had a wonderful time, caught up with lots of family and friends, got to rub some beautiful pregnant tummies (two of my nieces and my nephew's fiance are all expecting, one of them less than three weeks away)baby sat my almost two year old nephew, (gotta love a spread out family, my nieces and nephews on mine and Bren's side of the family range from under two through to thirtysix), sat by the river, walked on the beach, drank lots of cuppas, took lots(and lots) of photos and generally had a lovely busy time.

the river mouth, that's Seamus walking towards me, the others boys are in the background.

(not so) baby Xave

In honour of world card making day/weekend...

2009-10-04T15:22:00.004+10:30

I did a layout,lol, well at least it involved using paper and glue... a quick, simple page, came together so quickly. Knowing me I will probably go back and add a little, I'm thinking maybe some buttons but for the moment this is it 'cause I have to go pack. I taking the three younger boys plus 1 to the coast for a few days. Bren and Jacko get to bach here while I enjoy strolls on the beach and some fishing(not that the fishing would excite either of them, they are not big fans, me I just love the excuse to kick back with a rod and a good book by the water).
Woo roo till later in the week...
Oh and I decided while I've been typing this that I need to put a tab on the top of the photo block with a date or something on it, mmmm, may be a bit more work for this one. Cheers,
Sue.