Haven't done this for a while.

Uploaded some of the creative stuff I 've been doing that is.

nothing too exciting. Card for one of my big bros birthday.
This is a piece of an addiction I did to a layout from a swap I was involved in. Didn't want to post the whole layout on here because I'm not sure how the owner would feel about having her kiddos on someone elses blog so only a little peek.

Aaaah, dang, the pictures have come out the wrong way again. This is my finished layout. the swap was organised by Kim Archer. We were divided into groups of five or six women from all over Australia. Each person started by putting together a background piece with a bit of accent (mine was the strip of black PP down the right hand side with the half circle cut out of it) we then posted it to the next person and so on until everyone had added a little to it. There was a form we filled out first with reference to what our colour preferences were and the story behind the photos etc . Most of our group were happy for us to just go for it and add whatever we wanted, except for the colour purple which I thought was funny that four out of five women didn't like it(I was one of them) I adore what was done with my photos and background.

Some of the close up s of the elements added to my layout.

The finished result, isn't it gorgeous, thank you to all the girls who participated

A simple layout I did a few weeks ago, just noticed that the top right star has come off, you can see a little of where the glue was,lol.

Brendy and I. bit of stamping, bit of bling.

these two are a couple of the layouts I made for the bushfire appeal. they look kinda funny without photos but I'm hoping the new home they go to will remedy that. I made a few more than this but was too lazy to photograph them before I posted them off.

The little journaling block came from here .Kim is selling the set to raise money for the bushfire appeal, aren't they cute. I'm starting to like little downloadable elements like this.

Tagged

I've been tagged by the extraordinarily talented TinaCockburn. Here's what I had to do

-Take a picture of yourself right now. No primping or preparing. Just snap a picture.
-Load the picture onto your blog.
-Tag three people to play. Remember, if you are tagged, we will all be heading to your blog to see if you played along.

so here it is, the shot, freckles, wrinkles and a bit of lunch in my tooth an' all. and I so stuck to the rules, didn't even check in the mirror first (hence the tiny bit of greenery in my tooth,lol) Oh, ok, I did cheat just a little. Paddy took the photo instead of me. Only because my slr can be a little heavy to hold one handed and my P&S isn't back yet. I hate the way my top lip dissapears when I smile in a certain way, I promise it is there. I will have to practice smiling in the mirror with out curling it under(ok, that's a joke, as if I could ever be bothered)

OK. so the grand prize(ha ha) goes to...........

Donna

Coco

Sandie

all super talented girls that I have the honour of calling friends.

I'm baaaack

there has been no blogging in this household for the last week or so, Mummas not been well. I seldom get sick and when I do it usually only lasts a day or two, not this time, 8 days now, for 8 days and 8 very looong night I have been coughing my innards up, ewww, sorry about that mental picture. I've just about had enough but hopeful I think I may be coming good. I didn't even turn the computer on for a couple of days, must be just about a record.
we had a fab time at the folkie the weekend before last, will fill in more about that next post. Just thought I would include a few picies from over the last month.
Oh and if I haven't left a comment on your blog and I normaly do it's bloggers fault not mine, I have been having issues with the comment part and I'm not the only one, yep Shaz, I have been trying on yours, kathryns and donna's too, coco's worked, I think anyway. Seamus' $2.00 of fun, we were at Trev's, our local junk shop, the other day when Seamus spotted these glasses and some drac teeth. His trade off for being allowed to buy the was me taking photos of him (of course)and as you can expect from something so cheap the arm of the glasses broke before he even had time to put them on his face, he still had fun with them though and I got to take my slightly creepy photos.

not quite Twilght!!!

Now we know why vampires seldom smile...there teeth fall out if they do.

A very noisy but still cute(I think, or is it just the subject) photo of Xavier playing with the bubbles from the bubblegun we bought him.

Our grotty little Princess, so much for a nice clean girly dog, I guess the male influence is just to strong in this house. check out those dirty ears, not sure what it was on them.

A shot of the robe beach taken on my point and shoot(which died on that day which is why these never made it to the blog before this) on Australia day.

the road to robe, P&S again.

Trying out some backlighting looks with Joey

Played around with PS a little, colours are a little funky.

this is from Jackos camera, his shots somehow ended up on my computer. It's his aborable friend Sarah on folkie weekend, such a cool young woman. They used the self timer for this. This is not long after she had dragged him on an eight km run down the town, around Griffith Island and back again, ahh to be so young and fit again.

The tale of a turnip and the cat who fell in love with it.

OK, I start at the beginning, this weekend we are off to Port Fairy to the annual folk festival held there. It's called a folk festival but the mix of music is quite eclectic and caters for almost every one. any way although we haven't been in the last couple of years before that we never missed a weekend and it is a usual tradition to make a huge pot of soup before we go so that living is simple, fast and nutritious. You know the sort of soup that has every thing, loads and loads of veggies, huge quantities of soup mix containing things like lentils, split peas etc and a couple of lamb shanks thrown in for extra protein and flavour. The sort of soup that you could survive and entire winter on one bowl. The family love it and we can race in heat up a bowl and move on to the next concert. Any way one of the things that I put in this soupy concoction is usually a turnip. I had the bag of veggies, some from the garden, some from the green grocer sitting on the floor of the kitchen (yes Daisy was outside, remember the carrot stealing incident) ready for me to start grating the next morning. The turnip was on top and must have rolled out slightly. I turned around and here is Chocolate our old and quite peculiar cat getting all lovey with it (no not like that, get your mind out of the gutter) rolling on it, licking it, smooching up to it, generally adoring this poor small turnip. I called those of my family that were still awake in to witness, just in case they thought I was exaggerating, so we all stood around and watched him with his beloved. it lasted a good 15 minutes before he even showed any signs of stopping The weird thing was next morning he came in and did the same thing, pure adoration. Strange, strange cat. Needless to say that the turnip did not go into the soup and after I photographed it I binned it, ewww,cat lick all over it. so there you have it, the tale of mismatched love. does any one else's cat love turnips or nay other vegetable for that matter, mmm I wonder? The turnip
+ the cat
=love

Happy birthday Dr Seuss

Happy Autumn

Just popping in to wish anyone reading a happy first day of autumn. It's my favourite season, love the clear days, the crisp cool nights, the rain (hopefully),the colours. Not that it looks like it yet but when the grape vines change to their brilliant reds and oranges that's when I know it's really here. Photo above courtesy of google images, all my photos from last Autumn are on the external hard drive and I can't be bothered pulling it out.

Cheers.

Why it's still no to facebook.

I found this little facebook skit on Tara whitney's blog, quite a giggle, but kinda has a ring of truth to it. The info, your info is out there for all to see. So it's still no to facbook, i'll stick to the old fashioned way to keep in touch like email and text,lol.

Super shooper dooper turnaround bombs and the things that make me giggle

OK, normally I am quite a serious person, except around my immediate family , that's just me, but when I do get the giggles there is nothing that will stop me, not sad thoughts or biting the inside of my cheek, nothing. And it's always nearly always at inappropriate times like at church one morning. They had the hymn words projected onto a screen, Seamus leaned over to me and quietly and seriously asked "Mum, does that say from the lips of chickens". I lost it, sitting there in my seat shaking with uncontrollable laughter, at least it was quiet, but to anyone sitting behind me there would be no doubt as to what was happened to the woman shaking and rattling in front, luckily there where only a few rows behind me. What it actually said was from the lips of children, of course now the song is always referred to as lips of chickens and always has me on the verge of giggles again. my kids know which buttons to push, when they see me start to regain control they give me a gentle (or not so gentle ) reminder of why I lost it in the first place and off I go again. Tonight it was Brendan's turn, we decided to have a nice little dip in the swimming lake to cool off before bed, picture a large swimming lake with ducks paddling on it(I am surprised that they like it with the chlorine)in the dark surrounded by gorgeous huge old gumtrees and the air still warm,it should have been peaceful but instead Paddy challenged us to water bomb contests. We were the only ones still there and it was dark so I thought I may as well. Bren, well our whole family have a slightly off beat sense of humour that sometimes only we get. I'm sure most families are the same with their own conduct of what is funny and what is not. Anyway Bren was making silly names for each of the bombs he was doing. All he did was call out the name of his last bomb when it was my time to jump and I would dissolve into hopeless giggles and just sort of do an ungainly flop into the water. He did it each time I tried to jump and each time I laughed. We never did get to pick a winner but we did have lots of fun even if it was at my expense,lol

This blog is the closest thing I have ever had to a diary and it's a great spot for me to write down all these funny little things that make us us, so sorry if any boredom was caused to anyone reading this.
Cheers.

simple layout and a shoe warning

Seamus' birthday photos on a layout (already I know, what a shock) I went simple and fast and included most of my faves from the day on one layout. Seems to be the way I'm heading a bit lately. For a one photo per page girl it's a big leap but I kind of like that it's doing it's job and getting more photos on pages and into albums.
Just some cardstock and letters I diecut using my cuttlebug and quickutz dies and my klic-n-kut element and of course the cuttlebug embossing folders and nesties die for the circles and scallop. Oh and I altered the brads from silver to red with embossing powder. Note to self buy more colours of embossing powder in Adelaide this weekend. A little close up of the title, cut with quickutz dies and mounted on some nestie diecut and embossed circles and scallop and a bit of paper string wrapped around and then mounted using magic mount, simple.

And the shoe warning, don't wear cute shoes to extremely dusty places unless you don't want them looking cute anymore. At least now after a wash they resemble the colour they used to be

but I don't think I will ever get the white to a really white again.
Ohhh and I'm excited to be heading to Adelaide this weekend for the stamping and scrapbooking fair. Not only do I get to do some retail therapy but I also get to catch up with my buds

Donna and Sharon.

It's all about spongeBob and being ten.

Last night we celebrated Seamus' 10th birthday at Willalooka. Today is actually his day but the Willalooka community did their annual outdoor movie night fundraiser and we thought it would be the ideal opportunity to to have a party with a couple of his friends. what a great night it ended up being, lots of space for active boys to burn off excess energy before they settled to watch the almost three hour viewing of Australia, yummy food and good company. The boys were so good during the movie, it kept their attention the whole time. this is the first time we have watched the movie and could not have picked a better spot to do it, much nicer that sitting indoors, the cool summer breeze(ok it did turn into a cold breeze as the night progressed but we were prepared), a comfy chair (I took my banana lounge,lol) and few blankies and lots of nibbles.
Seamus is all about sponge bob square pants at the moment, his cake, his first DS game (we bought him a DS for his birthday) and the four sponge Bob DVDs the boys hired to watch this morning.

Photos are not that great a quality, we left it until it was getting dark to light the candles and sing happy birthday and I have quite and aversion to using the onboard flash but I'm sure he is still going to love looking back at them in years to come. Reminder to me for the next time I have to make a sponge bob cake, make sure it is cooler, the frosting was very soft to work with in the warmth of the house.
Making his wish. He told me his wish beforehand and then worried that it would not come true because he had. His wish, to help the bushfire victims. I told him because it was such a good wish and was not for himself that I was sure it would. They can be so sweet at times.

His DS, he has waited so long to get one, so many of his friends have them but I don't think it hurts them to have to wait sometimes(and that cursed flash).

The movie screen. They hoisted a large screen up onto a semi and everyone sat around on chairs, blankets and some even went to the extent of bringing lounge chairs and couches. My verdict on the movie, I actually enjoyed it. I had heard so many mixed reviews but I went with an open mind. Not every thing was 100% factual and there were moments were the acting wasn't exactly Oscar material but it was an entertaining flick and that is after all what it is all about. I think things have come so far in the movie industry with special effects and such that we have forgotten the pure entertainment factor. And it was, there was a little comedy, some romance, a bit of history, great scenery and then there was Hugh (sigh) what more can I say,lol.

Not related at all but Paddy played his first game of cricket this season. He filled in a little last season and despite his mothers protests, decided he enjoyed it enough to play. In case you didn't pick it up i very much dislike cricket, especially when they have to field, it's like watching paint dry, no sorry, paint dries so much quicker that a game of cricket goes for. Bring on footy season.

Happy Valentines day.

My Valentine

Calling all scrapbookers.

I was just browsing a few blogs when I came across this post. Sarah Gladman is organising for scrapbookers to make pages for the fire victims who have lost every thing so they can start their memories again. I think it a wonderful thing, ask anyone what the first thing they would save if a fire hit and aside from family and pets, photos and memorabilia almost always come next. so if you can pop on over and read her post and leave a comment. It really makes you realise how lucky those of us are who have never had to directly face these things first hand really are.

A double, woo hoo

I'm not generally a double page layout person but when I saw this layout on 2peas for the celebrate the season class by the extraordinarily talented Nichol Magourik I knew it would be perfect for these Australia day photos. I didn't stray far from the original as far as title placement etc goes just simplified things down, changed the hearts to stars and added an extra photo. I loved her layout so much that I didn't feel like anything needed to be changed drastically. this little flag embellishment came off a key tag bought for a couple of dollars from our local cheapie store. I wrapped it in white paper string (love that stuff) to make it stand out a little.

And just a quick one of Daisy looking a little bit cute, although it looks darker here than when I first opened it,sorry.

A very sad time

map of fires taken from the DSE website

I'm sure there are not many out there who have not heard of the terrible bushfires that have burnt and are still burning uncontrollably across my home state of Victoria. My heart and prayers go out to the affected families to those who have lost their homes and those who have lost so much more. with the death toll currently standing at 108 and still so many more still missing it is hard to believe that some of the many fires may have been deliberately lit. You wonder what kind of sickness is in a person who could do this. I have sat in front of the television in tears most of the morning. I remember Ash Wednesday and the devastation it bought not only to housing but to the farming lands and wildlife. We drove through one of the affected areas a couple of days after the fires were out and all you could see for miles and miles were blackened lands and the smell of burnt livestock was sickening. The red cross have set up a line for donations, the number is 1800811700.

A quick little Mummy brag

It's been a big week for the Fitz boys this week with Jacko appointed as sports captain, Seamus elected as his class' representative for KIC (kids in charge, equivalent to what we used to have as junior school council) and Joseph was today elected as the KIC vice president for the school. Yay boys.

I say, there is a thief in the house.

Lesson learnt, don't turn your back on a bag of groceries when you have a dog that loves her veggies. She grabbbed the carrot that was sticking out the top and ran like crazy outside to devour it. I was too busy laughing(and taking her photo) to growl at her, maybe not good dog whispering techniques but dang funny all the same. Does any one have a pet with strange appetites? Daisy loves most fresh fruit and veggies and goes so far as to steal the bottom layer of cherry tomatoes and snow peas from off the vines. She sniffs along until she smells a ripe one and then pulls it off the bush and chows down on it. Last time I was at the vets she commented on how healthy her teeth and gums were, I guess it's all that freshness,lol. Black and white and slightly cropped.
My baby, not looking babyish enough for his mothers liking, he is growing too fast for the youngest in the family.

And colour

Me and my guy...

In the quest to get more real life photos of our family I have decided, (gasp) to hand the camera over to the kids more so at the end of my life time there will be some proof that I actualy existed. This was tonights capturing, Brendy and I having a little smooch session. Joseph snapped the shot and in typical tween fashion told us to get a room,lol.

The bird poo layout.

It's hard to believe I could be so unobservant when I was putting this together, I added my bits and pieces, dry embossed the back of the paper where the leaves, grasses and birds are, pulled it half to pieces again to mount the middle panel up a bit, reassembled it and still did not notice until it came time to photograph it that where I had placed the bird there was a white mark on the paper that looked like the bird has pooped on it. Next time I will try to be more observant about this sort of thing,lol. It has become known now as the bird poo layout.

PP-rose moka, Pens-uniball, every thing else die cut (including scallop edge)using craft foam and dies from bosscut and quickutz using my cuttle bug.

Paddy's gone straight

On the weekend I straightened Paddy's curls, it's amazing how different it makes him look and makes me realise how much he needs a hair cut,lol.

Belated Happy Australia Day

As seems to have become a tradition the last few years we spent Australia day down at Robe on the beach. It was very typical with swimming in the surf, beach cricket and sand castles and I'm sure many other Aussie families did the same. We followed up with ice creams or smoothies at our favourite ice cream store in Robe.
Sorry about the mix up in photos, still can't get used to the idea that blogger now loads the photos back to front.

I wanna go home

To Port and the ocean, ahhhh, cool ocean breezes, how I miss them. Brendan came home with the official temperature today at a very icky 47 degrees (116.6 fahrenheit for any one OS) and no relief from it until Sunday. Our summer is finally here and in a big way. Righto, that's my hot weather whinge out of the way, I'm off for a swim in the lake.
cheers.