Life as I know it!

Week 2

2012-01-19T20:31:00.001+13:00

….is coming!

It is all done. But I have just been so busy at work this week, that I haven't had a chance to post it. And I am also busy trying to get us ready to go camping next week here at Cooks Beach on the Coromandel:

I just can’t wait!!

So…I will be posting Week 2 and Week 3 when I come back, hopefully rested and relaxed!!

See you soon!

Project Life – Week 1

2012-01-04T18:43:00.000+13:00

Wow, Week 1 is done and dusted! And I really had fun putting it together. I actually did it over several days, because not only did I not want to rush it, but I also needed to come back to it several times to figure out what little bits and pieces I needed to add to it. I think I am going to get better at embellishing it as I go along. So here is week 1…

Week 1 Whole

Here is the whole spread looking down at it with my insert on the right side.

And here is just the left side, which covers New Years day, Monday & Tuesday:

Sunday – New Years Day

Stayed home, Mark worked. We had been out til 1 the night before so everyone was very tired.

Monday – We to the movies to see the Muppets

Tuesday – Mums birthday

People came round during the day to see mum. The boys watched a movie in the afternoon – cars2 and played some soccer. In the evening we went to Papermoon in Mairangi Bay for mums birthday dinner with my sister Jo & her partner Dave.

Insert Left side

This is the popcorn box from the Muppets, along with the tickets. I had to keep that box!

Insert Right side

Week 1 Right Side

Wednesday – Mum took the boys to the Glenfield pools for a couple of hours while I went and had some physio on my back. Jo & Dave had been out fishing so we had fish for dinner.

Thursday – The boys had a friend over for the night and the mucked around and we went down to the park to play some cricket before coming home for a swim.

Friday – It was my last day off work so I took the boys to Glow in the Dark mini golf and then we headed into Takapuna for some movenpick ice-cream which we had down at the beach. The boys decided they had to go for a swim.

Saturday – The boys are going to Dunedin tomorrow so we spent the day getting them ready and then went to see Tintin for some family time.

Sunday – We got up at 5:00 to get to the airport for the boys early flight to Dunedin where they will spend the week with their Nana & Granddad.

___________

And that's Week 1. The orange strip on Wednesday is Rileys wrist band from the pools, and I have the mini putt score card behind the journaling as well. I feel like I could have embellished the right side of the page a bit more. But its ok. I still like it as it is as well.

On to Week 2. And its going to be a VERY different week with the boys away. So far, I have a picture of the dog, and one of Mark!! I must try and get a few of myself in there this week!!

Project Life 2012 – The journey begins.

2012-01-04T16:37:00.001+13:00

So I’ve taken the plunge and decided to do Project Life again this year. I did it a few years back and then also tried to do it in 2012 but failed, but as we are going to be having a pretty exciting year this year building our new house I thought it would be a good year to do it.

I bought the Clementine core kit, and are using the binder I had from the 2010 kit I didn’t end up finishing. I have just added the pages I did to to our 2010 family album.

So I’m pretty much ready to go, and I thought I might try and keep up a weekly log of some sorts to keep me up to date, cos I don’t think that many people read my blog anymore anyway.

so here is my title page:

I have used cards that came with the kit, plus I cut out one of Ali Edwards Hello Life Boxes with my silhouette and also added some pennants with our names and ages.

The last time I did this, I got my album all pre-made so that I had to do each week was slot in the photos and write the journaling, however this year I am going to go with the flow a bit more and do it as I go so that I have a bit more freedom with it. I will see how this goes. If it all gets too hard and I end up sitting there for hours trying to come up with something, then I may revert back to slotting in everything and having it ready to go. I’m not really worried though if I don’t get a photo a day as such as long as I have enough stuff to cover the week off.

So hopefully I will be back next week with week 1. See you then.

A Week in the Life – The Final Album

2011-08-30T21:19:00.001+12:00

Well, its taken me a while to get back here, but I finally managed it. I actually completed my album a couple of weekends ago when I got together with some friends, but just haven't had a chance to get the photos taken and get them up here, until now.

So now I can finally show you how my album has come together. I am absolutely thrilled with it. I love how it looks. I know its not the most original idea, as I pretty much followed Ali step by step, but I’m ok with that. Its my first time doing it, and I really just wanted to do it and get it all done and not be pressurised by trying to make it original as well. I knew if I did that, it would probably still be sitting there half done. Next year I might tweak things a bit more, or I might not. To be honest I love what Ali does with it, so why change a good thing??

So here it is day by day. I used an American Crafts 81/2 x 11 Album , and I added some trading card protector sleeves that I bought from Trade Me in for my smaller photos. Beware, this is pretty photo intensive!

Front Page

Saturday

At the beginning of the album I typed up about each of us title “Life Right Now” and stuck it in a page of its own. I still need to trim that protector and sew it to fit a bit better.

On the next page I had printed out a screenshot for the weather over the next few days.

And then comes the trading card insert for Saturday

right hand side of insert, and right hand side of Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

The End

For the whole project I used 4 sheets of patterned paper, 1 KI Memories transparency and I printed some of Ali Edwards digital brushes onto white cardstock. I also used a set of tags I had bought, and a few stamps that I borrowed from a friend for the journaling, and a couple of bits and bobs that I already had in my stash, and that was pretty much it. So it was minimal product involved.

I’m now looking forward to doing a similar project in December.

Thanks for looking!

A Week in the Life – Friday

2011-08-01T09:51:00.001+12:00

I made it!!! I completed a week in the life! And I have loved it. I have a week in our life, it was a special week, because the boys were home on holiday so there was no school stuff, no school uniforms, not lunch boxes, no homework and no meltdowns (I think Riley had 1). So it would be interesting to do this again next year at a different time. I’d love to do it in summer when we spend all our time outside.

But its been great. And I can’t wait to put my album together. I have sent off my 8.5 x 11 photo spreads to Scrapbook Pictures in America, as it was definitely the most cost effective way to go. I wanted my photos to fit my album, and to print them at Camera House (who printed that size) would have cost $15.00 per photo. To print them at Scrapbook Pictures cost $1.50 each, plus $5.00 shipping so with the NZ dollar the way it is right now, it was a no brainer. I will just wait the 10 days it will take to get here and then slot them in.

So anyway. here is Friday’s photos. I definitely took the least on Friday. The boys went to a holiday programme for the day, so I had no one to take any photos, but that's ok, I still managed to get some good ones when my sister and her partner came around in the afternoon in their new car.

Friday Left

(Riley & Connor in the back of my sister and partners new car)

Friday Right

(Riley got a blood nose after sticking popcorn up his nose (What the heck??? It was one of those got to laugh, but got to cry moments), looking into the backyard, rileys go to breakfast, dropping of the boys at the YMCA for their holiday programme, a couple of photos of the boys in my sisters new car (nice huh!), the boys watching some tv when we get home from work)

And thats it! All done. I will take some pictures once I have put it all into the album. I can’t wait to see what Ali does with hers!

A Week in the Life – Thursday

2011-07-30T15:27:00.001+12:00

Today my sister had the boys for the day, and I asked her if she would take some photos while they were out and about. Out and about consisted of going to the movies to see Captain America (lucky, I would have actually quite liked to have seen that one!). Apparently it was really good and they have talked a lot about it since.

Most of the photos were taken with her iphone, but I actually like the quality of them , they look kinda funky.

Thursday Left

(The boys having Mcdonalds for lunch)

Thursday Middle

(Playing at timezone (x2), Riley won the game, Getting my album ready to go on my scrap table, Riley & Connor in their chairs in the theatre).

Thursday Right

(Rocky taking a nap on the couch, Riley & Connor getting comfy in their seats, playing in timeout before the movie, in front of the Captain America poster, a couple of my owls in my bedroom, Connor watching Pokemon, my slippers (the first thing I put on when I get home each day), A few things dumped at the front door).

Only one day left to go. Coming to the end of it, I can’t believe how quickly it has gone now!!

A Week in the Life – Wednesday

2011-07-30T15:07:00.001+12:00

On Wednesday I had the day off, and I have to admit I was feeling a bit tired and blah, so we didn’t have the most exciting of days. I think my lack of photo taking reflected that. But then it also reflected more of a normal day for us too when Mark is on afternoon’s and my energy is low.

Wednesday Left

(folding the laundry, oh how I loathe the laundry, but it has to be done!)

Wednesday Middle

(Riley having toast with marmite for breakfast, groceries from Pak n Save, Connor bought candy floss with $2 he found behind his bed when we were out, choosing some video games at Civic Video, Connor…live long and prosper, Connors lego men)

Wednesday Right

(Connor..caught in the pantry again, Mark changing the light bulbs, Stirring the Crockpot for dinner, Connor checking out the games, Riley showing me his moves, I had my 3 month Rheumatology check-up in the morning, Riley had a friend over for the afternoon, and they are playing Fifa 11 here).

At least I managed to get a couple more shots of myself in today!! Goodness knows what I would do if I didn’t have the kids to fill up my pages :O)

A Week in the Life - Tuesday

2011-07-28T16:29:00.001+12:00

Wow, two posts in one day. But I’m almost caught up, so though I will post Tuesday now and then I can get started with putting Wednesday together!

On Tuesday Mark had the boys and they went up to Albany so that Riley could race his Ferrari on the remote control car track, and he must have taken over 150 photos, so that was great as I had heaps to work with!!

Tuesday Left

(Riley getting ready to race)

Tuesday Middle

All of these are of Mark, Connor, & Riley at the Race track. I think I will do another set of 9 at some point too, as I still have quite a few leftover photos from the day.

Tuesday Right

(Riley eating a foot long sub at Subway, Riley giving me a hug when I got home from work, Riley on the track, Rileys Ferrari going through a tunnel, Connor having a go, Mark and Riley having a snuggle before bed, Riley’s meltdown of the day. Mark wasn’t letting him have something so he locked himself in Rocky’s crate and rung me at work to moan about it. )

Looking at this I realise I was quite heavy on photos of Riley today, I will have to make sure I take a few more of Connor over the next day or so.

A Week in the Life - Monday

2011-07-28T16:17:00.001+12:00

So on Monday I noticed a big drop in number of photos taken, since I was back at work, I had expected that, and knew I would have to take more once I was home again, or try to get those looking after the boys during the day to take some. That didn’t work out so well on Monday as Mum took the boys to the pools, where we discovered you aren't allowed to take photos! However she did manage to get in a couple before they informed her she couldn’t take anymore.

So Monday features a bit more of me:

Monday Left

(Connor jumping off the diving board at the pools)

Monday Right

(Riley getting the mail, a very foggy photo of the boys at the pools, a view of the house as I get home from work. Me arriving at work, The boys sitting down to a very lazy dinner of Steak & Cheese pies (Mark is on afternoons all week, and I am not the best cook).

I didn’t have enough photos to do a middle page, so will use that page for some memorabilia I have and to do the journaling instead. I actually do have a few more photos of Riley getting the mail, which I might get printed for the middle page, but I figure it doesn't matter if I don’t have oodles of photos every day!

Also, although all of these pages have yellow strips at the moment, I will be swapping these out with patterned paper once they are all printed off. Just in case anyone was thinking that all of the yellow was getting a little boring :o)

A Week in the Life - Sunday

2011-07-27T19:01:00.001+12:00

So on Sunday, although we did things, it would seem I didn’t take as many photos as Saturday, and I’ve noticed that now mid week, it’s definitely getting hard to get the good photos, but I am still getting them as much as I can, and Mark is rather bemused when I suddenly say “stop” and have to run and get the camera!

So here is Sunday:

Sunday Left

(Connor and Riley upstairs playing with lego)

Sunday Middle

(Connor working on his lego, Mum playing Bejewled Blitz, Rocky and Fluffy chilling out, Westfield Albany when I popped up the road for a haircut, Riley upstairs in the messy playroom, my book on my bed in the morning, Riley recharging his battery for his Remote Control car, Riley & Mark cooking dinner, The laundry (yuk) ).

Sunday Right

(Riley eating his ice-cream, my coffee that Mark picked me up in the morning, my new haircut after having a trip, Rocking having a snooze on our bed, Connor chilling on nana & poppa’s couch, Riley kicking the soccer ball around up in Albany, Connor having Easy mac for afternoon tea (so gross) ).

So still a pretty good representation of our day, and as I type this up on Wednesday it brings it all back to me, so that's a good reminder too!. Now to go back through Mon & Tue’s photos to see what I have for them. Its a lot harder since I am back at work, but I am trying to get a few more photos of myself in (even if I do grimace at them), and also getting a few more photos of things around us, to make up the gaps if there are some.

I definitely think its a good idea just to focus on the photos this week, and worry about putting together the album next week, or in my case once I can get the photos printed!

A Week in the Life - Saturday

2011-07-26T17:34:00.001+12:00

Okay so A week in the life started with a bang on Saturday, we got out and about and had lots of material for photos, and I got lots of photos, although when I went back through them quite a few of them were blurry, so I had to make a note of that for the rest of the week.

So after humming and haaing, I actually decided to use Ali’s templates for last year. I decided I liked them a bit more than the ones she is using this year and fit me a bit better. So here are my photos for Saturday. I haven't got my photos into templates yet for the rest of the week, but I am so far keeping up with getting the photos taken and journaling noted down so I am still good, although now that i am back at work, its definitely harder to get good interesting photos taken, and I am having to rely on others to get some photos of the kids while they are on holiday.

Saturday Left

(Riley scootering down at Browns Bay)

Saturday Middle

(Connor getting his lego out to play with, Mark mopping the bathroom floor, Connor and Riley on the tramp, Caramel & Chocolate Brownie, Riley stopping for a pic, Mark relaxing at the end of the night, Mum and Riley getting in a hug in front of the fire, Riley putting together a battle scene with the lego).

Saturday Right

(Connor & Riley watching ‘Fred’ on the laptop, looking out to Rangitoto down at Browns Bay, Mark getting dinner reading on Saturday night, Rocky chilling in front of the fire, Cookbooks out to give us some inspiration for dinner, Mark & Connor kicking the soccer ball around at Browns Bay).

I think its definitely going to be easier to put it together using the templates, and I think I am going to upload it to an American site at the end for printing. It seems the most cost effective way to print 8.5 x 11

But its good. Since I started two days before Ali officially started, I’m looking forward to seeing the kinds of photos she has taken, to give me a bit more inspiration of what to take, although for me, I think the main things I am going to want to look back on are about us as a family.

Hows everyone else going??

A Week in the Life

2011-07-20T17:19:00.001+12:00

So I have hardly been scrapbooking lately, and hardly taking any pictures at all, so when Ali said she was getting ready to do her Week in the Life project again that she has previously done I thought about it…and thought about it a bit more and then decided I am going to give it a go.

So I have been getting prepared. Since I am lazy, I thought it would be nice and easy if I tried to do it exactly the way she is doing it, but that hasn’t panned out the way I wanted as I haven't been able to get all the bits and pieces I have needed, so I am improvising a little. I still haven't found an album yet, but I have the page protectors, and some trading card holder pages and will get an album later to put everything in.

I’m not using Ali’s templates, as I think US$24.99 is a bit much for a few templates that I could probably knock up myself if I really put my head to it, however I did a bit of a search and found these that are going to do me just nicely instead, and they are totally free.

I have purchased these cute button embellishments that Ali is using:

ORMOLU DAY OF THE WEEK EMBELLISHMENTS | 2-Day Hooray Days of the Week Button Embellishments – when you purchase these buttons you also get a coordinating set of tags to print. Lovely lady to deal with, and really reasonably international shipping!

I’ve also bought a couple of the same patterned papers that she is using, which I am going to mix up with some of my own that I already have.

And I’m excited! The boys are on their school holidays this week and next week, so its possible we might even have something interesting to take a photo of. I hope so, It will be nice to get a week of 2011 documented, and I am looking forward to putting it all together.

Anyone else doing it??

2011-06-08T13:51:00.001+12:00

Hi there. Well I had almost closed this whole blog thing down. I haven't had much to say in a long time. I have been spending quite a bit of time pinning lately, and I pinned this today, and it has prompted me to come out of blog hibernation as I thought someone else might appreciate it (if anyone is still out there!)

Enjoy!! I think its pure genius!!

24 Days of Christmas

2010-12-03T10:19:00.001+13:00

So who can believe its December?? And its very much starting to feel a bit like Christmas. The shops are certainly telling me so. I have started to do a bit of Christmas shopping. The kids have been writing out their Christmas lists, and over at SBO we are celebrating with 24 days of Christmas. We are bringing you some Christmas inspiration every day right up til Christmas. so be sure to head over and check it out at the forum.

What’s on your Christmas list this year? For my boys its Beyblades. But they seem to be the “in” toy this year and are all pretty much sold out everywhere which is a bit of a bummer.

I have no idea what I want. Just some time off work, a book and a rest would be nice. I’m looking forward to the holidays and some down time, and looking forward to camping at the end of January. Its one of my favourite things to do and I always look forward to it.

We will get our tree next weekend, but i think I will start putting up some Christmas decor this weekend, put up my banners I had up last year, then we have some Christmas bbq’s happening and then I am off to Bon Jovi on Sunday. I’m really looking forward to it. I went to U2 last week which was totally amazing. So I’m very spoiled to be going to another concert so soon.

In the meantime I’ll leave you with this. I think I will be putting this up somewhere too. I already have it up on my office wall.

It says it all really doesn’t it! :o)

Halloween Treat Topper

2010-10-20T12:01:00.001+13:00

So our family really loves Halloween. I know we don’t really celebrate it here in New Zealand, but our suburb actually does get quite into it, so my boys love it, and I love decking out the house in a bit of spooky decor.

This Halloween I have created a little treat topper for my Freddo Frogs i plan on giving out. What do you think:

If you want to know how I made these (very simple) then head over to the SBO Forum post for the full instructions!

They look quite sweet on the table ready to go. I think I need to make a few more yet though or their could be a few disappointed trick or treaters :o).

Follow up to my last post

2010-10-13T13:32:00.001+13:00

So I have had a few emails about my last post asking me if I have found a source for the 7Gypsies Letter block trays. Initially I was going to see if Mum could get me one in the US as she is there at the moment, but after doing a quick search I actually found a local source for them.

So if you are are interested in doing Kerri’s cool Tray and want to do it exactly like hers you can go here to get one of the trays as they have them in stock and at a really good price and had super good customer service to boot!!

So now I have my tray and am really looking forward to doing this project once I have some Design Team stuff out of the way!! Which includes a new sketch challenge on Friday for SBO, so check back on Friday for that!! :o)

Have you seen this?

2010-10-07T18:00:00.001+13:00

Okay so you may not know this, but last year I made the switch from having a Cricut to having a Silhouette mainly because of two people Nichol Magouirk and Kerri Bradford. Kerri designed awesome designs for Silhouette and Nichol created amazing pages with them.

Kerri recently left Silhouette and is now designing stuff on her own and selling kits on her blog, and if you haven't seen them, you totally should cos they are very cool. but the reason I thought this deserved my third post in one week (what?) is because of the very cool this & that kits she has created that she is going to do monthly. Check out her first one for October:

How cool is that?? All of the kits are going to be sized perfectly for the 7Gypsies Printers Letterblock Tray. Next month its going to be a gratitude kit and then a Christmas kit etc, and even if you don’t have a Silhouette or Cricut you can still play along because the kits come with printables as well as cutting files.

I think they are great, and make such cool home decor items that are fun to put together.

So anyway, I just wanted to share. At at old house our whole street used to get together and do Halloween and trick or treat so it was lots of fun and I would decorate the front of the house so this kit would be great to get me in the move. Now that we have moved I’m not sure what they do here, but Mum are dad are currently in American and mum has hit target and bought some fun Halloween stuff so I’m thinking we will decorate the front of the house regardless and hope some stray trick or treaters come our way :o)

Something that made me smile

2010-10-05T13:13:00.001+13:00

So before scrapbooking came along, and all those pretty pretty supplies come along, I used to fulfill my scrapbooking needs I didn’t know I had by buying pretty stationery. I have never really gotten over this, and still love buying pretty stationery including nice pens. The kids are following in my footsteps and can’t enter smiggle without wanting one thing or another. I am also like that with Kikki K.

But my latest fave place to browse is Borders up at Albany. They have recently redone their stationery section and now have the coolest paper goods area with so many fun things like pens and pencils, tags and even that Japanese masking tape that everyone loves so much at the moment. While the boys were browsing the kids books the other day before we went to Despicable Me I had a bit of a browse. I could have bought lots, but since just the day before I had gone off at the boys because they had once again pinched my pencil and eraser out of my tool tote I came away with these:one of these:

A Pantone Pencil (HB), and one of these:

A Pantone eraser (mine in Tomato Red).

How cool? Only a small purchase, but none the less, something that I thought was rather nifty. I will definitely be heading back to borders for stocking gifts as we get closer to Christmas!!

Soo Soo bad

2010-10-04T14:23:00.001+13:00

Well I don’t even really know where to start with this post. I have been gone from my blog so long that I have no idea whether there is anyone out there still visiting. I can’t believe the last time I posted was in July. To be fair though, i can’t believe its now October. This year has just ZOOMED! We have had the busiest few months. In the past few months we sold our house, packed up our house, went overseas to Rarotonga, came home, moved the next weekend, unpacked, and then the next weekend I had my scrapbooking retreat. And in the midst of that we have had the boys sports, my work and Mark’s work. Things have just been totally crazy!!

But that is all over now and things have settled down and I am planning much quieter months leading up to Christmas, which will hopefully leave me a bit more time to update this thing.

We have moved into a rental property for a bit as we have bought some land that we are going to develop and then build, so that is going to be our focus for a while, its pretty exciting actually.

Poor Scrapbook Outlet has been a bit neglected by me these last couple of months. I have been getting my layouts out, but these past weeks we haven't even had an internet connection here in the house, so that has been a real bummer!! We are just now finishing up our big Celebrate NZ competition that has been running the last couple of months which is exciting. It will be exciting to see who wins the 3 Slices up for grabs.

And I have been scrapbooking when I can. I actually am scrapbooking more now as I now have my craft table back in the lounge which is what I like so you should start to see more from me again. The last few months I have been working with various Basic Grey ranges. The lastest is the Basic Grey wander range. I have used it for non travel pages though:

Then last month I used the Basic Grey Oliver range, which I loved, a really fun range to use:

So that has you caught up with a few of my layouts anyway. For the rest you can check out my gallery at Scrapbook Outlet., and I will try not to be so slack from now on :o)

Hmmm, what's going on here???

2010-07-18T17:49:00.001+12:00

Better keep en eye out at the forum for more clues.

I also added a few more layouts I did recently with the New Day Collection Kit.

You can see more closeups and information at the forum at SBO here.

Its a New Day

2010-07-05T20:38:00.001+12:00

Did you know that SBO have started up their monthly kits again??

Isn’t that just fantastic news! I totally think kits is one thing that has been lacking here in Scrapbook Land NZ.

The Design Team has been busy creating with the first kit (New Day) and the girls have been doing some amazing things so you should definitely check out the forum for all of their work.

I am running a bit behind as we have had a very busy couple of weeks with Open Homes and what not as we have been trying to sell our house. The good news is that we had an auction last Wednesday and it SOLD!!! It was amazing. It has been a pretty stressful month but was all worth it for the great outcome that we got. And we have got quite a long settlement as well so that's great, we don’t have to just up and move just yet. Phew!!!

I have got one layout to share. And another just waiting for some finishing touches so that will be up in another day or so.

For this one is I used Crate - Brook - Float as my background patterned paper (gorgeous paper):

I used a couple of photos of Connor from when we went camping at Easter. I caught him having some time to himself lost in his thoughts, so it was nice to get a layout done of these pictures.
I embellished the layout using the Crate chipboard accents which I layered and added a few buttons to. I also added one of the birds from the Prima Songbird Vine:

To create my title I started with a Flip note and then added the title using both the alphabets and then added some more chipboard accents.

I also added some of the Artisan tape over my photos to add some more dimension as another border.

I really like how it turned out. I’m not sure if there any any kits left. But I highly recommend checking out if there are!!

and check out next months:

How yum does that look???

Fancy Pants – Rusted Sun

2010-06-10T19:27:00.001+12:00

So we have received our first DT package for Scrapbook Outlet NZ which I have been busy creating with. We have two reveals a month, on the 1st and 15th. I got one layout done for the 1st as I have to admit it took me a little bit of time to get into the groove again, but I already have two layouts ready to go for the 15th so feeling good about that.

So here is my layout I shared. I have done this layout of Connor at his School's Inter School Swimming Sports using the Rusted Sun pack. The pack is awesome value and comes with 12 sheets of paper (double sided!!), 1 sheet of elements stickers, 1 sheet alpha stickers, 1 printed transparency, 1 flocked transparency, 1 sheet coloured rub-on's, and 6 Glitter Cuts. I love getting a whole pack like this as I find it so easy to put layouts together when everything is already coordinated.

You can find the pack in the shop here o r browse the whole collection here.

Here is the layout:

I also used one of the very cool Glitter guts as an accent on the other corner of my photo:

I dressed up the Glitter Cut a bit with some rhinestones and buttons, but these are so cool, that they really don’t need much, and then I added a title with the Alpha Stickers and some journaling using my typewriter that I am addicted to at the moment.

I can’t believe its the middle of June in just a few days. I will be back with more shares in very soon.

Also, if you are coming to Megan’s Retreat, be sure to check out the Blog as I am going to be updating it shortly with some sneaks of Louise's layout. It is absolutely gorgeous!!! And a HUGE congratulations to her on getting onto the Aussie Scrap Source Design Team. What a huge thrill for her!!

Woo Hoo!!

2010-05-16T22:55:00.001+12:00

So the secret is out and I am totally excited to say I have made it on to the Scrapbook Outlet NZ’s Design Team for 2010 along with a line up of 7 other equally talented girls.

I’m pretty thrilled about this. I have been out of the game a long time but since my mojo returned earlier this year and since I have been having fun again scrapping, with the encouragement of my friends and family, I thought I would give it a shot.

This is what I submitted:

Skater Boy Layout

Journaling Close-up

After the Storm Layout

Close-ups

Cards

Owl Birdcage Project

I bought the cage from spotlight and cut the owls with my silhouette out of various papers and perched them on a prima branch. I loved how it came out and its now perched it my bedroom :o)

Owl Closeups

So I’m totally excited to get started. Our “term” starts 1 June, which gives us a few weeks to get sorted and work out what we are going to be doing etc.

Can’t wait!!!

Congrats also to Sonya Pickles, Ruth Ross, Vicki Morris, Jane Hambly, Sharon Newport, Michelle McArthur & Nic Wilkinson who have also made it!!!

Check out the forum here for the full announcements.

Mothers Day

2010-05-10T22:24:00.001+12:00

So yesterday morning the boys and I took Rocky down to the park for a run around as he desperately needed it. Mark normally takes him for a big walk and with him away he has had a lot of energy, so we went down to get rid of it, plus I took the camera in the hope to get a good photo of Riley since he has lost his two front teeth…which I did:

and also a really nice one of both the boys together

and then Riley wanted to get one of all 3 of us with the timer on the camera. It ended up a little bit skewed, but not too bad, although I was squinting rather badly

but not a bad photo of the 3 of us really. And quite a nice way to spend a Mothers Day morning with my boys!!

Hope you all had nice Mothers Day’s too!!

Baker’s Twine

2010-05-04T20:46:00.001+12:00

So I know there is a lot of interest out there at the moment in Bakers Twine. I myself am completely addicted to it and seem to be using it on every layout I am doing lately as seen on my layouts below.

I have been asked a few times now where I got mine so I thought I would share my source :o)

I bought mine from Etsy. I have only ever bought from Etsy a few times. Not because I haven't wanted to, but because like most things from the states the shipping cost is usually not worth the effort, however for the bakers twine it was really good value.

So to get your own assortment go and visit Annie42

She stocks 6 different colours and for $3.99 you can choose 4 colours (25 yards of each) plus $2.99 shipping to get it here. So all up it costs US$6.98 which then I think worked out to be around NZ$9.60 which is no more than you would pay for a fancy ball of yarn at Spotlight or for some fancy ribbon from Making Memories or Fancy Pants…and so much fun to use at the moment! :o)

So there you have it. My little bit of enabling for the day. The lady who sell’s it is lovely, I received mine really quickly (within around 7 days) and she has actually just had a really rough time and been in hospital) so I know she would appreciate the business too!! So feel free to click here and get your own bit of Bakers Twine goodness. And no, I in no way benefit from this endorsement. Just sharing for the good of it :o)

Thanks!

2010-04-27T10:24:00.001+12:00

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments!! Its nice to know that I wasn’t just blogging to myself!! :o)

And thanks for the best wishes. I hope all of you have also entered!!!

Recent Work

2010-04-26T14:59:00.001+12:00

So as promised, here is some recent work of mine.

Lets start off with a fun project I did with a 7Gypsies tray. I bought this before Christmas but wanted to something special with it so it had been sitting there for ages. I finally pulled it out and put these photos of the boys in the pool in it. And I really love it. If there is something we don't lack in summer its pool photos. so I really wanted to do a project I could put up around the house to look at year round (particularly in winter)

I used my Silhouette to cut out the title and the shapes behind the title plus added some buttons and my new obsession, bakers twine. It was actually really simple to put together in the end but I really love how it turned out.

Next up are some recent layouts:

Note. This one is a bit of a scraplift from the amazing Nichol Magouirk!!

As you will see I am completely in love with Baker’s Twine at the moment. I bought some multi coloured packs from Etsy and I just can’t stop using it! lol

I have some more that I have done but can’t share just yet as I am being brave and sending them off for a couple of things. Wish me luck!! I am really loving the fact that I have found my mojo again and am really enjoying being back in the Scraproom again.

And if anyone is still out there reading this let me know. I would love to hear from you!!

Turning over a new leaf!

2010-04-20T21:33:00.008+12:00

So I know I have been really useless on this blog over the last year or so, but I am going to try changing that over the next few months.

Part of that reason (I hope) is that I think I have found my mojo! I know, its been a long time coming, but I think I may have found it when I was down in Christchurch at the Scrappin Patch Retreat. I had a great time. It was so nice to be able to just sit and scrap. I got a heap done (well for me anyway) and since then I have felt like a tap has been turned on. I have just wanted to scrap. It doesn't mean I have had time to do much, but still its great that I want to!

I still havn't scanned what I have done yet, but I am going to take the layouts into work tomorrow and get them scanned and come back and do another post, and I promise to post a lot more regularly. Hopefully if I am scrapping again then I will have more to share and more reasons to post! :o)

In other news I have also been very busy planning my next retreat. With autumn here and the colder months upon I bet you would love something to look forward to to get you through winter? I've got just the thing...

My next reteat! You can find out all of the details at the new retreat blog here.

Its all set for 24-26 September and its going to be another fabulous weekend. Lianne Gray is coming back and is teaching a fantastic layout class plus Louise Williams is also coming along to teach a layout using twiddleybitz chipboard plus heaps of other amazing product.

I am currently working on sponsors and prizes and already have lots of fun stuff coming in there and some big names on board. If you are a retailer or sponsor and would like to sponsor the retreat please contact me at megang@ihug.co.nz . I would love to hear from you.

Plus Scrapbook Outlet NZ are going to be sending up a huge amount of the latest and greatest products to outfit the shop to keep all of the shoppers happy.

And places are selling very fast, in fact we are now 75% full already, and its only April. So if you are interested in coming and havn't yet registered your interest then I would recommend heading over to the Retreat blog and filling out a registration form to make sure a place is secured for you. Any queries, send me an email.

Registration is open!!!

2010-03-12T16:14:00.006+13:00

So now that summer is almost over (what a bummer!) I have been a busy bee and have started to get the next retreat organised.

So head on over to the newly revamed retreat page here to check out all the information and to register, but be quick as registrations have already started coming in. The last one was so fantastic I know a lot of people are keen to come back to the next one.

10!

2010-03-02T14:36:00.001+13:00

I seriously can’t believe that it was 10 years ago that my baby boy, after a harrowing 48 hour ordeal made his entrance as a beautiful blue eyed baby boy.

The first couple of days afterwards were a bit harrowing as well, but we got there in the end.

isn’t it amazing how quickly you forget how little they were!! Connor was such a sweet boy and was absolutely doted on from ages 1 – 3 when he was the only grandchild/nephew around…

Age 1

I can’t believe I don’t have a photo of him as a 1 yr old on my computer. Will have to track one down.

Age 2

Photo taken by Nana at the botanical gardens. He used to go on lots of excursions with Nana and Poppa.

Age 3

Who could resist this bare bum?

Age 4

Age 5

Age 6

Age 7

Age 8

Age 9

Age 10

And this is him now. And this is such a good photo. Not a great photo technically, but so good for what he is all about, sitting on the couch with my computer, his new puppy rocky sitting beside him, the tv remote in his possession as well!!

Happy Birthday Connor!! You have grown up so much. I can’t believe you are into your double digits. We are so proud of who you have become and can’t wait to see what the next few years hold for you!!

P.S. That was a hard post to write, made me want to smile, laugh and cry all at the same time! Its amazing to see how much he has change, yet stayed the same all at the same time!!

Cards for Kids

2010-02-22T14:37:00.001+13:00

So I’m sure you all have seen the amazing thing that Jennifer McGuire does for sick kids by getting people to make cheerful and happy cards and then sending them on to the kids and their families?

Well her latest list of kids includes a little girl very close to home. Right here in Auckland!! Every time she posts about these kids I have had great intentions to make some cards and send them away. Their stories always break my heart, I hate hearing of sick kids, its just the worst. I couldn’t imagine having to go through what some of these families have to endure. Unfortunately I just haven't been doing anything scrapbooking lately and I haven't done anything.

But tonight, I am going to make some cards for Karli and Aria (pictured).

And I really hope you do the same!! Aria is a kiwi kid, and I really think we should step up and encourage one of our own at a time when she could really do with a bit of light in her life.

You have until March 31st to send some cards over Jennifer and she will then get them to the kids. FOR THE INFO ON THE CHILDREN AND DETAILS ON PARTICIPATING, CLICK HERE. Prize info will be completed soon.

Thanks guys! And be sure to spread the word on your own blog too!! We really should get as many people as we can giving this little girl as much encouragement as we can!!

Meet Rocky

2010-02-04T21:57:00.000+13:00

Wow, so the last few weeks have been so busy, I went back to work for a few weeks, then had some more leave so that we could go camping near Waihi Beach. The first 5 days were fabulous, amazing blue skies and hot hot hot.

We were meant to come home on Anniversary Day but ended up coming home the day before as it started raining cats and dogs. It was an experience packing up in the pouring rain, but still for the most part the week was awesome, so I won’t be scared off just yet.

Then on the Sunday we got home we picked up our new family member. A few years ago we got our cat Fluffy. He was meant to be a pet for my eldest Connor, but unfortunately fluffy pretty much became my cat. I have wanted to get a dog for the boys for years but it was never quite the right time.

However when I went to pick up a base for our airbed that I bought off Trade Me and saw some totally gorgeous puppies I knew I had to get one for him….

So meet Rocky. He is a Cavoodle, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel / Miniature Poodle cross, and he is SOOO cute!!

We took Connor to meet him just before we went Camping. Needless to say he was absolutely thrilled. I think he couldn’t quite believe it.

We are all in love with our new little guy, he has been so good as well, going outside on the grass to do his business each time we take him, and apart from the first couple of nights when he was a bit sad and cried a lot, the last few nights he has been great, only waking once in the middle of the night to go outside before coming back in side and going back to sleep!!

And I have to admit its very sweet when he is snuggled up to me at night watching tv. I am really trying to step back though and let Connor bond with him. He is doing a great job so far!!

Twenty Ten is here!

2010-01-02T10:46:00.001+13:00

Here’s hoping 2010 is everything you want it to be!!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-29T23:32:00.000+13:00

WOW, was your Christmas as amazing as ours? The day was awesome, the weather was so freakin amazing and we all got completely spoiled beyond belief.

This was the night before, both my sister and my mum, who always go overboard, said they weren’t going over board. Guess what…they totally went overboard!

And Mark also went slightly overboard and bought me a flip. So cool!! Quite overwhelmingly, my sister also bought Connor a video camera. I know. totally totally too much, but Connor was ecstatic, and at last count had made 191 shots, mostly star wars lego freeze motions which he is going to put together as a movie. now he needs a You Tube account, but am holding off until I have seen the final version.

The flip is awesome though, something I had been wanting for ages, as we didn’t have a video camera and I feel like I have missed so much of the kids lives, especially when they were younger that we could have got on tape. So now I have this to keep in my bag and to take a quick video when they are doing something silly/amazing :o)

Here is one of the first “flicks” I did right after I got it. Connor and Riley were still very excitedly opening presents, but managed to get them to say thank you to their other grandparents that weren’t there this year before getting back to business.

Having a look at it, it doesn’t appear to be in “HD” which I’m sure the camera is, so will have to have a read and see what I’m not doing properly.

Hope everyone's Christmas was just as good. Fluffy even got a present of some new toys, he wasn’t so keen on his bow tie though :o)

I’ll post again soon, but if I don’t get to it before then, hope you all have a fantastic New Years!

You can’t help but feel Christmasy

2009-12-12T23:07:00.001+13:00

When this is the view outside of your lounge:

And inside their is bunting, a tree and some more pretty lights:

And of course Mark lying on the couch watching a movie.

This is the banner I made that hangs from the window opposite the tree:

I made it from a download from Elles Studio. Its a bad photo cos its dark, and my camera doesn’t like the dark much. I need to take a better photo in the day.

We spent all afternoon at the shops trying to put a dent in the Christmas shopping. We managed to do pretty well, but didn’t quite get it all done as I had hoped, so I will have to traipse out a few more times to pick up the last bits and bobs.

Off to two Christmas parties tomorrow, the social club bbq first at the beach and then to the street Christmas party on the spare section next door. Riley is super excited as he said he will get to see Santa twice (they get a small present at each one). I hope its a nice day for it. Wednesday – Friday was so nice, lovely and hot, and then today the rain came back! Boo!!! I don’t mind having a few crappy days this week though if it means we have sun for Christmas Day! 13 sleeps and counting! We have been watching xmas movies today and with the lights all up and looking awesome and the yummy smell from the tree, I can’t but help feeling like Santa is almost here!

Feeling Christmasy!

2009-12-02T20:40:00.001+13:00

Hello! Anyone out there??

I know, its been ages. I am feeling very Christmasy right now so thought I would share a few things.

As I’m sure all of you know The Sketchbook is now no longer. I made the decision a few months back that I was going to close down the site. For two reasons really, firstly because I really wanted to take a step back from all responsibilities. I haven't been scrapbooking and had really lost my passion for it, so I really wanted to be able to give up everything so that I would have the time to find the joy again. I am getting there slowly. The retreat helped, but I haven't had much time since, although I am trying to make myself come into the scrap room and do stuff, especially on the nights that Mark isn’t home.

Secondly, the site had really died down and I felt that there just wasn’t enough interest there for all of the work that the contributors and I did. I think the Sketch Book really filled a void when it started, but there are a lot more options out there now, so decided it was time to do something else. So that is that. It was weird the first few days, not having it there to check, but I am actually really enjoying not having the extra responsibility. The retreats will continue, but these are also going to take a break at the beginning of next year, so the next one is going to be around September / October 2010. The last one was a huge success and SO much fun, so I’m definitely looking forward to the next one, but I’m looking forward to spending summer with my family first before I start thinking about it.

So one thing I have been enjoying is getting some things ready for Christmas. I love this time of year, when the strawberries are abundant and the sun is slowly coming out, and I also totally love Christmas, so to get me in the mood I thought I would make some home decor projects. One thing I am working on right now is some Christmas bunting to hang in the lounge. I have made all the flags and just need to figure out how I’m going to string them up, but will share when I do.

The boys are also really getting into the spirit. I love how much they love Christmas, and that they still believe in the magic. They wrote out their wish lists the other night, and Riley’s was so sweet that I just had to share it:

Isn’t that just the sweetest? I love how he asks how Santa is first, and also the little bit at the end when he says he loves Rudolf. so cute!

So back to the decor, I’m hoping to get the bunting up in the next day or so, and we are going to get our tree this weekend I think, but this is what I have up so far. This is our front entrance table.

I have had the garland for several years now, the reindeer were from spotlight last year and the framed picture mum made a few years ago, plus we have branches of beads and berries in the cream bucket.

I was also going to show you the side table in our lounge but looking at the photo I now realise that it needs some more things on it. I’ll show it once I have the bunting up and have found another garland or something.

I also need a wreath for the front door. I’m not sure whether I should make one or buy one. If anyone has seen any nice ones I’d love to know where you got it!

Hibernating

2009-08-31T22:24:00.001+12:00

So I know I’m neglecting this place. But I’m in hibernation. I’ve been a bit under the weather, trying some new medication and its giving me a bit of grief, so I’m laying low and focusing my energy where it needs to be focused, i.e. with my family and at work.

I’ll be back when the sun comes out!!!

In the meantime check out the new comp we have got started over at the Sketch Book tomorrow. Can I just say right now that I don’t know what I would do without my amazing contributors. I can seriously say I don’t think the site would still be there right now if I didn’t have all of them helping me out! To Hannah, Annelie, Heidi, Ruth, Rachel & Beverley….Thanks guys!…you are all awesome, and SO appreciated!

Seeya soon!!

A few more to share

2009-07-21T21:30:00.001+12:00

As promised here are a few more layouts. These are the ones I did during the weekend.

This one is my favourite. and I finally managed to use a prima flower!

I have been home with the flu for two days now and am totally over it. Hoping I wake up tomorrow feeling much better :o)

Some sharing (esp for Hannah)

2009-07-19T19:00:00.001+12:00

So yesterday I got to spend the day scrapping with Hannah and Annelie. It was awesome as per usual, except for the fact that both Hannah and I were sick. This was a particular bummer for Hannah as she was meant to be singing a solo today. I hope it went ok Hannah!!

Anywho, both girls said that I needed to post my latest layouts as I hadn’t done that lately, and I have actually scrapped a bit in the last few months. So I thought I would share some of my recent work. Some of this is on the Sketch Book Gallery and also the Scrappin Patch gallery. I still have to scan at work the ones I did yesterday, so will share those later.

These ones are all original “Megan” creations:

These ones are scraplifts of one sort or another, mostly from the garden girls over at Two Peas or from my favourite blogs.

and this one is for Nichol Magouirk’s latest challenge over at Two Peas.

I’ll post my most recent few once I have scanned / photographed them!!

Have you heard?

2009-07-14T12:02:00.001+12:00

Hero Arts is a blog I read every day. The inspiration on there is just amazing and this week they are doing some huge giveaways for the launch of their new site.

Make sure you check it out here.

Welcome to our BIG week here at Hero Arts! We are so excited - we have SO much to share with you each day. Go ahead and take a moment to add to your calendar to “check Hero Arts” every day this week. It will be worth it. There will be DOUBLE prizes, games, ideas, giveaways and more! And Wednesday is the BIG DAY - the launch of many fun new things here at Hero Arts.

Photos from the rest of the trip of OZ are coming soon…promise :o) In the mean time, check out my new desk I made in the weekend. Previously I had been scrapping on a sewing cabinet which I decided was just a teeny bit too small. So I bought some cook trestle legs at Ikea in Oz, added some shelves to the bottom of them and then added some glass to the top (via a $15 coffee table on trade me) and voila…. .

(I still need to touch up the paint at the top right, so don’t look at that bit :o) )

I spent Sunday afternoon having a bit of a cleanout of scrap stuff too, so my corner is a little more organised.

I ended up with a box of scrapbook supplies that I don’t think I will ever use. A lot of it is chipboard, shapes, half used heidi swapp alphas, plus quite a few other bits and pieces. I’m not really sure what to do with it or if anyone wants it. But if you want it, leave me a comment here and I will draw out a name as a RAK.

OZ

2009-07-01T22:39:00.001+12:00

Well to say I’m a bad blogger is a bit of an understatement isn’t it! lol

Have just been a very busy these last few weeks since coming home from Oz, catching up on work and dealing with visitors from overseas. So I’m sneaking in a quick post just to show some photos of our recent trip, which was totally fabulous…well the two days we all spent vomiting from a stomach bug wasn’t so fun, but the rest was awesome!!!

So, here’s the beginning of some pics from our 11 days away:

On the Plane

Movie World

The happy family and Tweety

The boys and Bugs

They were both pretty chuffed with Batman

Australia Zoo

I got to cuddle a koala!

The boys got to (gingerly) touch a croc

Riley had his first ever pony ride

And we all fed some kangaroo’s

I will post more photos tomorrow from Sea World.

Needless to say, you can see we had an absolutely fabulous time!!!

The boys and I

2009-05-26T17:11:00.001+12:00

I went to do a challenge a week or so ago. It was a mothers day one and you had to do a layout with your children. Which had me going through my photos searching for a photo of myself with the boys. The last one I found was this one:

Its from Christmas 2007! 2007!!! How crazy is that???? So during the weekend I thought I would try and get a nice photo of myself with the boys. Dad has a really great Nikon camera, so I also wanted to have a little play with RAW files as I would really like to learn how to use it properly.

That however was not my only problem. Riley is currently going through a stage where he will not take a nice photo, instead he pulls faces, puts his arms up or moves just as I take the photo……so frustrating, so i didn’t really get the photo i wanted. That and the fact that the steroids I am back on are making me fat again…..sooooo not happy with that either, so anyway, this is the only one I got that was sort of semi decent (and hid my tummy):

As you can see Riley is jumping around being a loony and its amazing that it even came out in focus. See the stress lines on my forehead??? lol

I actually really like it, but am going to try again this weekend and see what else I can come up with….and then next on the agenda is a photo of all 4 of us, cos its been too long since I had a nice one of those too!!!

P.S. The twittering….not going so well. I don’t think a person with the memory of a sieve is very good at twittering….I keep forgetting :o(

I’m twittering

2009-05-11T21:02:00.001+12:00

I don’t quite know why, or what I’m doing, but I am now up with the play, so if you twitter let me know so I can add you, and if you want to you can add me too :o). Just click on the link in my sidebar.

Now I guess I will hve to find some interesting things to tweet about!

Who Scrapped?

2009-05-05T19:52:00.001+12:00

So it was NSD on Saturday. Well in America anyway, here not as much, but I did manage to finish a layout I had been working on all week so that was cool.

One of the blogs I read all the time is Stephanie Howell’s. She is on the DT for Studio Calico and has the most adorable two girls, as well as a hubbie who is posted in Afghanistan, so a lot of the time I really just read to see how she is getting on.

When Mark was in the Navy he was posted away for 3-6 months at a time, so I can totally sympathise with her, she has a 3 yr old and a toddler. Connor was 9 weeks old when Mark went away for 6 months, and I totally know how hard it is to be alone for such a long stretch with such a small baby, anywho I digress, so I read her blog, and last week she posted a challenge for NSD to use something vintage, so I took on the challenge, which actually kind of surprised me, cos I’m not really a vintagey person, but as I was writing the challenge down in my notebook, I found some journaling I had written from Feb last year just before Connor turned 8, and then found a photo to go with it from his birthday a few days later.

And then I fossicked around the cupboard in the scrap room and found an old hymn book I knew was in there and used some of the pages along with the cricut to create my title. I also used them on the flowers.

And I really love it. I really love the layered circles, and the title, as well as the fact that I now have this journaling documented!!

Hope you all got a chance to scrap too. I am off to a crop on Saturday to farewell Trace who is moving to the South Island, and I am really looking forward to another day. I think I have my mojo back, and now its just a case of finding some time to do something!!

Oh and keep an eye out on the Sketch Book Retreat Blog, I am about to post the details of the tutors in the next day and am then opening registrations. Yay!!

A Busy Month

2009-04-17T11:02:00.001+12:00

Well a friend kindly emailed me yesterday letting me know its been a month since I last posted. And its been on my list to do, but I have been so busy i just haven't really had a chance.

This weekend past for Easter we went camping to Ruakaka, which is a beach just south of Whangarei. We went on the recommendation of one of the guys at my work...we won't be asking for his recommendations again! The campsite it self was pretty good, but the amenities were pretty average. And after our experience at the beginning of the year which was SO great, we were a bit disappointed. But we still had fun:

We left on Friday and came back on Tuesday, and Friday night I thought we were all going to freeze, it was so cold, but the rest of the nights were not too bad, and I made sure we all rugged up warm, especially for the nightly poker game.

The weekend prior to Easter was the Sketch Books retreat. The weekend was once again awesome!! Mum and Rachel Tucker taught classes on the Saturday and Louise Williams and Kelly Slattery did a couple of make n takes. Crafty Tart were also on hand for anyone that wanted to do some shopping. On the Saturday night we had the infamous dress up party. The theme this time was “When I grow up I want to be…” and a lot of the girls had gone all out! Some of the costumes were hilarious!! I am going to be adding all the photos to the retreat blog shortly so check them out there if you want a giggle.

I was really happy with the weekend and even managed to get 6 or 7 layouts done, which was awesome. The next retreat has been set for 6-8 November, so put it in your diary now if you are interested as I think its going to book up pretty quickly.

Other than that, we have just been busy with life. Connor started training with the North Shore Swimming Club this week and will now be doing that 3 times a week plus swim meet’s, so that is going to be keeping him (and me as official mum taxi) busy. Riley is playing Rippa Rugby over winter and Mark is the assistant coach, which is great for them both. Riley even scored a try in their first game which was awesome. Definitely seems to enjoy it a lot more than he did Soccer last year.

Scrapbooking wise, I finally got my Project 365 kit from Laura in America which is awesome! I have spent a few hours starting to put it together, but am hoping to spend the weekend getting is sorted, so that I only have to worry about updating it each week. So far its looking great though, and definitely working for my more simple approach this year. I will take some pics of some completed pages this weekend for you all to have a squizz at!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

The cold has arrived!

2009-03-14T19:11:00.001+13:00

and I really wish I could stop feeling like this

and go back to feeling like this

Winter sucks, and it hasn’t even started yet!!! I think I might have to move to Brisbane or somewhere else warm, my body just does not like this colder weather at all!!

Wake me when springs here!!

Happy Birthday Connor

2009-03-02T14:17:00.001+13:00

I can’t believe my baby is 9 years old today. It just doesn’t seem right that I should have this young man as my son:

During the weekend Mum and Dad took the boys away for the night to my sisters and Mark and I spent all day Sat and Sun making over his room. Previously it had plain grey walls, babyish duvet colours and general clutter everywhere:

We took out a bit of the clutter, painted the walls a nice light blue, added some navy and red touches around the place and made it much more like a 9yr old room. You can’t really see it that well cos its just one corner, but you get an idea:

Still have a few things to do, paint his chair and repaint his drawers and add a few things to his wall as well as a notice board, but we were really pleased with how it came out. And he was absolutely thrilled, had no idea and when he walked into his room he started whooping and jumping everywhere. Was really nice to see that he appreciated our hard work!

Tonight we are having a family dinner for him, with a cookies and cream cake (his choice). He isn’t having a party this year, but I have said we will take him and a few of his friends to a movie once something decent comes out again.

Well that sucked!

2009-02-27T22:06:00.003+13:00

I learnt a lesson last week. And that lesson is to make sure your antivirus program is up to date. It would seem our one here at home wasn’t and we got infected…big time!! Total bummer. Let me give you some advice. Check your antivirus and make sure the definitions are up to date. You won’t regret it!!

And I discovered that I am really lost without my computer for a week!! Thank god our IT people were able to resurrect it from the dead, and I was able to resurrect our one here at home. phew! So we are back!!!

And I have so much to catch up on. And one of those things is sleep. I’m so looking forward to a sleep in tomorrow!!

So I will be back, but in the meantime I got the photos from Connors triathlon this week. Its his birthday next week and I plan on getting these put onto either canvas’s or photo blocks for his room. Love them. And so great to actually see him during the race, since I missed it all on the day!

Pretty cool huh. Very much worth the $8 prepaid for them!!

A big day for Connor

2009-02-17T21:02:00.013+13:00

I am so proud of Connor. Sunday was the day of the Weetbix Triathlon down at Narrowneck in Devonport.

We got up early and headed down around 7:15 to be there for the race start at 9. Connor was really excited, and once we got his race pack with t-shirt and race numbers in them we went and took his bike and box of shoes & socks etc to the transition area. You had to leave all of your stuff there by 8:30 and then be in the main area to listen to the race brief.

As Connor was in the 8yr old age group his race didn’t start til around 10:30. He looked so excited when he started and I think the fact that he had found his friend Alex to stand with helped settle his nerves.

They all started in small groups and when Connors group started their swim I walked along to see him come out and go up to the transition area for his bike. He was obviously a lot faster than I thought he was going to be and I missed him coming out. Mum and I then walked along to where the run starts to catch him there.

We were standing there for ages and hadn’t seen him, so I then went up to the transition area to see if I could see his bike and eventually to the finish line to try and see him finish. I stood there for quite a while too until I realised that most of the kids his age had already finished.

I went to the admin tent to see if I could see him there, and there he was standing there waiting for me. He had been there for quite a while!! He must have zoomed around the whole thing, certainly much faster than I had expected, and he didn’t even look tired!!

Thank goodness I pre-payed for the photos they take of them going around, otherwise I would have nothing to show for it at all :o)

We had to hang around for the prize giving before we were allowed to get his bike again and head home. Riley did pretty well the whole morning. It wasn't as much fun for him hanging around waiting, but he did at least manage to play at the playground for most of the morning while Nana and Poppa watched him.

The traffic getting back out of Devonport was the pits and took us a good ¾ to get out. But it was well worth it to see how proud of himself Connor was. He was really pleased to see how proud we were of him. It was a real boost for his confidence!!

I highly recommend it for any kid to have a go at, its really well organised and all the kids looked like they had a blast doing it!!

I've been challenged!

2009-02-09T22:44:00.001+13:00

So, I just discovered I have been challenged by the lovely Annelie.

Normally I am useless at these challenges and always forget to do them, but this was easy and fun so thought I would give it a go.

This is the challenge:

Go into your “My pictures” folder
Go to folder no 6 and choose the 6th photo in that folder
Put the photo on your blog, and tell your readers about it
Challenge 6 others by comments on their blog to do the same

So I went into My Pictures. The 6th folder is actually Connor's photos. He got a camera for Christmas and has since become a little snap happy. Then I looked at what his 6th photo was and had to smile. Its of my husband Mark:

And what is funny is that Mark does NOT EVER smile at the camera for me or anyone else, but has done so for his son!! Who knew that was the way to get a semi decent photo of my hubby!! He would be / will be mortified when he finds out I have put his photo on here!!!! LOL

As for who to challenge. I'm not sure who has done this already, so sorry if you have, but challenging:

Lara
Laura
Michelle (cos she thinks I never read her blog)
Ruth
Janine (who I have missed seeing online)
and I'm tired and Mark is telling me to go to bed, so if you are reading this, and your name is not on the list above, you are my 6th :o)

The way it should be!

2009-02-01T13:35:00.001+13:00

Camping....was fantastic!!!

Totally how a holiday should be. Blue skies the whole time, good friends, so many laughs, amazing views and a new found addiction with Texas Holdem Poker. Proof is in the collage's below:

The boys chilling out with their DS's, Our tent, my toes chilling down at the beach, camping life with a straw hat.

Connor having a ball boarding, Riley while exploring for caves, this bunch were insperable, Riley enjoying some wave time.

Connor & Stuart boarding, The view back to our campsite, the common site of beach umbrella's, Mark keeping an eye out.

Some Beach Volleyball, burying Connor, The Connor Merman, Group Shot.

And I can't believe its only 2 more days til the kids are back at school. These last couple of weeks have flown!!! I think they are ready though, they are start to get pretty bored at home!!

A Couple of things

2009-01-19T21:51:00.006+13:00

Have you seen this site: http://www.yourfonts.com/ . I found the link on Kelly's Blog. You can turn your handwriting into a font. Its very cool, and totally easy. I just did mine, I think it may need a little bit of tweaking, but was pretty close. Very Cool!!

Secondly, have you seen this:

If you upload 20 of you layouts/cards to the gallery before 31st Jan and follow theire which you can read about here. Then they give you $20US credit in your shopping cart! Pretty cool. Now I know that they charge huge amounts of shipping to here, but I figure $20 off that is pretty cool, alternatively you could always use it for digital stuff like I plan to.

Gotta love getting things for free right :o)

My Photo Collages

2009-01-16T11:07:00.002+13:00

So I've had a couple of queries as to how I did my photos.

It was pretty easy, just takes time to figure out what photos you are going to use.

I used Picasa. Its a free photo management program you can download here. In it there is a collage feature. All you do is click on collage in the menu down the bottom and click on the "clips" tab at the top to find your photos you want to include. If the collage takes the wrong area of the photo you have chose, you can right click and go to view and edit to then crop the photo or change the orientation etc. when you have finished you just go back to the collage and the changes will be saved.

Once you have all your pics as you want them click on create collage and it will create the new "photo". To print it 6x4 you choose the 10x15 size. Thats it, once it was created it, I copied the jpegs to my flash drive as per normal and went and got them printed at Harvey Norman.

Hopefully that helps. I really like it. Its a great way of getting lots of pics on one page.

I Scrapped!

2009-01-15T20:34:00.012+13:00

I finally managed to get my act together and scrap some photos.

After seeing Laura's layout that she scraplifted from Sarah Klemish, I totally wanted to do one too. Love the collage photo look. So I got my photos sorted and went down to Harvey Normans to get them printed. The only big difference between mine and Laura's is that I had too many photos so I turned mine into a double, other than that a few of the embellies, its exactly the same:

And I had so much fun doing that one, I did another one for Christmas Day:

Pretty cool huh. Do you think I could get away with doing all my layouts like this?? lol

I also managed to do a layout for a challenge from Simple Studio. It was a sketch challenge and I really liked what I came up with:

My motto for scrapbooking now is Keep is Simple. I just don't have the energy to spend hours looking for stuff to add to it. So I'm going to scraplift, or use a sketch or just use cardstock, so I can get some scrapbooking done. It seems to work for me now.

I'm looking forward to the Retreat to having a couple of days of scrapping. And was also thinking of organising a day crop here in Auckland for Feb. Will post the details on the Sketch Book forum when I have sorted out the details.

Other than that, I am still taking a photo a day. I think I got off track a little and was trying to make it too "arty" but after seeing Beckys post today of Maggies layouts I realised it didn't matter if I have a photo every day of my boys. They are my life and fill my days. Why wouldn't they feature in most days. I have taken a few other photos though. I went back to work this week, so it makes sense that there is a photo of me driving to work in there:

and with all my blog fiddling, I really need a photo of that there too. I'm done fiddling for the moment, I don't like how the date is displayed but will work on that later. I adapated a bird theme I found to include (of course) owls :o)

so I'm still doing good so far. Looking forward to getting the actual kit so I can just do it as I go. It should be to Laura's very soon and then coming my way. It will get here eventually :o)

Fiddling with my template

2009-01-14T14:34:00.002+13:00

Will let you know when I've finished. Sorry for the disruption if you are trying to read it :o)

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-06T17:00:00.006+13:00

I know, I've completely skipped Christmas. Have oodles of photos and it was a fabulous day, and of course its now come and gone, as has the new year and we are staring down 2009. Can anyone else not quite believe it? 2008 absolutely zooooomed by!! I hope 2009 slows down a little so I can catch my breath!

I've decided to do Becky's Project 365 this year. I have been really struggling with my scrapbooking, just have not had the oomph to do it, which I have found really frustrating, so I like the idea of taking 1 photo a day and adding a bit of journalling and then creating an album.

If you know about it then you probably know the absolute shambles Creating Keepsakes had when the kits went on sale. They sold out in hours and international buyers pretty much had no chance of getting one, or if they did were told it would be $140 - $200 for shipping! CRAZY!!

I am incredibly lucky though they my friend Laura managed to get me one. So excited!!! So once she gets it she will send it to a hotel for my neighbour friend who is an air steward to pick up and bring home. I can't wait to get it and will share when I do. Its the first time I have got one of these kits as the shipping has always been astronimical, but I really wanted to do this one as the work is all done for me (yay!)

There are lots of blogs now devoted to the subject, and I have started a thread on The Sketch Book about it. Plus Mandy in Wellington is also following it, and all those doing it, so be sure to check out her blog.

Most of my photos for the first couple of days are still on the camera, but here is my Day 5 photo:

Its of Riley getting some water in his bucket at Browns Bay beach yesterday. Mark is back at work this week so I took the boys to the beach for a few hours. man was it hot. The weather has just been amazing this last week or so. So nice to come back all sandy and hot and jump in the pool!!

Todays photo is slightly different as Mum and Dad have taken the boys out for the afternoon and then to stay over at my sisters place, so I have been pottering around all by my self. I had intended on spending the time scrapbooking, but it hasn't happened, so today's photo is of the view from my lounger outside my bedroom where I have been spending a lot of time sitting and reading:

Right, I'm going to close the computer and attempt to at least get one layout done!! Surely it can be done!!

The Sketch Book Retreat

2008-12-30T19:41:00.002+13:00

is back!!!

For the information pack and registration form, please email me at megan@sketchbooknz.com.

And if you didn't go to the last one, feel free to hear what people said about the last one here. 2 Great tutors again, Mum is returning with a fun mini album plus Rachel Tucker is also teaching. If you havn't seen Rachel's work, check out her blog. She is amazing!!! I just love the way she incorporates so much texture onto her layouts. I am totally sure that her layout class is going to be amazing!!!

School's out for Summer!!

2008-12-20T11:07:00.005+13:00

You can totally sing that if you want too.

The boys finished at 12 yesterday so the boys and I spent the afternoon together at home swimming and playing candy land.

Who knew Candy Land could cause so many tears?? It started off well. We have lost the actual pieces so Riley and I were army men, while Connor was a lego stormtrooper :o)

But then Riley got Mr Plumpy....twice!!!

And from then it was all over red rover. He is a bit like me, and only likes to play if he wins! lol

This morning we have already had a few tears and squabbles. They are so excited for Christmas that they are wound tighter than rubber bands. I have just sent them out to the pool to have a swim and get rid of some energy The sun is trying to poke through. I hope it does.

Mark and I are off on our own this afternoon to do some shopping. I hope I last the distance. I woke up at 3 this morning and for the life of me couldn't get back to sleep. Will just have to drink some coke or something though as its pretty much our only chance to do the shopping childless!!

In the mood they are both in at the moment, I think I will try to drag it out as long as possible and enjoy the breather! :o) I have almost had to phone Santa three times already today to tell him not to bother coming to our place. Poor things....works a treat though!

Happy Christmas!!

2008-12-16T10:39:00.005+13:00

I am here!! And actually I have written a couple of posts in the last month or so, but whenever I went to post it, something happened and I lost the whole darn thing, and its taken me a while to get the oomph back to write another one :o)

Not that I really have anything all that interesting to post about. Life is sooo busy at the moment with the whole lead up to Christmas thing. Last week I had something on nearly every day/night. I was knackered by Sunday, and had the migraine to prove it :o)

The boys have been busy wrapping up the school year at school. They got their reports yesterday. I was really proud of Connor, who has struggled since he started school, but who has really tried this year and been given the support he needed, and I think he has done a great job. I'm peeved that his teacher couldn't find the heart to put that on his report herself and kept it as impersonal as she could, but nevermind, I will get over it. Also really proud of Riley too. He started off a bit shaky at school, taking his time to figure out it wasn't kindy anymore. I think the visit to the principal's office finally did it for him :o) but since then, and also since his class had a change of teachers he has gone from strength to strength and I am actually amazed at what he is doing already. I am also a very proud mum and have to tell you all that he is getting an award at the school assembly on Thursday for effort. Only 2 kids in his class are getting awards, and I can't believe that Riley is one of them. I will be there..with camera in hand. He doesn't know about it yet as his teacher wanted to keep it as a surprise. So cute!!

I have been taking a bit of a break from the computer these last few weeks. Just havn't really had the time to spend that I usually do. Have also had quite a bit of a break from scrapbooking. I think I needed it. Was feeling very uninspired. I am still also struggling with the fact that I no longer have the energy to scrapbook at night, so I really only have the weekends, and at the moment they are so full with the boys cricket and then other things on, that I just havn't had any time to sit down. I did manage to get some christmas cards done though, and I have even posted a few, so that is a bonus. And I also started a December Daily journal a la Ali Edwards. But at the moment all that consists of is dumping all the things I am gathering to put in it beside it. I am trying to print off some journalling every few days though to remind myself what I have been doing. I am looking forward to getting some time to start putting it all together soon.

I'm hoping to get back into things next year. Really want to spend some more time on Crafty Tart too. Have you been there lately? Its such a new site, that you should keep checking back as Kate is still adding lots of new things there. I have been useless this month and havn't even uploaded my design work yet. Here is a Christmas hanging I did though that I will be uploading soon. Its now hanging on our front door and I made it using the new Basic Grey Wassail range as well as the Basic Grey Christmas Chipboard shapes:

If you want to see some more Christmas layouts using products from Crafty Tart, be sure to check out the Gallery for Hannah's awesome work.

Ok, I better get back to work. But will be back soon to add some more photos from the lst few weeks shortly!

Feeling Happy

2008-11-07T13:22:00.008+13:00

So I think I’m still riding off the coat tails of the success of my retreat that was last weekend. It was such a great weekend. The camp we used has a great hall that was used for cropping. Everyone had heaps of space, which to me is a must!! Add to that the yummiest food and heaps of prizes plus 2 amazing classes by Faye and Nic, I don’t think it could have been any better.

Check us all out at the Halloween Party on the Saturday night. I was so original and dressed up as an owl. I think I may almost have worn the owl thing out.

Oh except I received this stamp on my door step this morning to do some Christmas cards with, so maybe not :o)

And its really given me a bit of a boost both mentally and physically, which is great. Long may it last (touching wood). What is even better is knowing that this friend is also having a happy week, which does not always happen, and also that this friend, who struggles like me most days is also having a happy week. So I am awarding them the Happy Day Award. I just made it up :o)

And I’m running with the energy and scrapping while I can. I resigned from all but one of my Design Teams last month as I didn’t feel like I could keep them up, so this week I have been on the hunt for some cool comp’s to enter online. Not Design Team stuff, just layout challenges etc, getting me back in the groove. I did a layout last night for an online challenge that I really enjoyed doing. My first double in so long and I used the gorgeous October Afternoon papers that I bought at SENZ that I had been “saving”. Really pleased with how it came out.

I have also been making some Christmas layouts and cards for Crafty Tart which has been fun. You can check out the layouts I have done in the gallery here. My cards and more will be up at the end of this month. I don’t know why, but I always have the best intentions of scrapping my Christmas photos, but then don’t. So it has been good to catch up on some of these. Still a heap to go though, and since I discovered we hardly took any last Christmas Day, it has made me aware of this and I am going to have the camera totally handy come Christmas Day, which my work colleague just told me is only 7 weeks away! How crazy is that????

If you after some Christmas inspiration yourself, then be sure to check out the Sketch Book forum this month. We have the big Christmas Build Up on all month and are posting new Christmas goodies everyday to inspire you. Such great stuff already up and its only our first week!

I Suck!

2008-10-22T12:20:00.005+13:00

I've almost given up on myself and this blog. Just don't seem to get the time these days to update it, oh and also the fact that I don't seem to have too much to say :o)

So thought I would add some random photos of recent months for anyone who is still hanging on out there!! hang in there, you never know, I might get my blog mojo back one of these days.

Actually in uploading these I realise I have hardly taken any photos in the past few weeks! Note to self, get our camera...point and shoot!!

Scrapbook wise I have been very slack lately, with Up2Scrap and Magistical Memories finishing I really just had a bit of a break, but am now starting to get back into it and have been doing some work for Crafty Tart which I just sent off to Kate today so should be able to share soon.

Have also been getting things ready for the Retreat. Only a week and a half to go. Coming around soo quickly! Have finally figured out what I am dressing up as, so need to get that sorted this weekend too!!

Back in a few days (I promise) to share some Christmas layouts :o)

Did you hear the news?

2008-09-25T19:44:00.005+12:00

Magistical Memories has put out a call for their new Design Team. MM are an awesome company to work for, the team is totally fun and the product is totally awesome. I highly recommend all of you apply. The current team has been asked to reapply, however with everything going on in my life right now I have decided I won't be applying...But you can!! Heres the details:

Magistical Memories is looking for a few awesome Chipboard Artist that can showcase our chipboard products!! If you LOVE chipboard and use it on layouts and cards you just may be the Artist for us!

We are looking for talented artists who inspire others to create.

A Chipboard Artist must have the following –

∑ The ability to showcase our products!

∑ The ability to take good photographs of their projects

∑ The ability to interact with our members on our forum

The Details –

The Magistical Memories Chipboard Artist Term is for 6 months from January 1, 2009 – June 30, 2009.

∑ Create a minimum of 3 layouts/projects per month to be featured in the Magistical Memories DT gallery; on a rotating basis you will also feature “Are You Kitting Me” kits twice during your term.

∑ Participation in the Forum and Gallery is a MUST. Participate on our message board, during online events, and leave positive encouraging feedback for our members.

∑ Submit work for publication.

∑ Monthly blog entry.

∑ Participate in Sketches, Contest & Challenges.

∑ Promote Magistical Memories by posting the above layouts/projects on other online galleries and blogs with working links to the store and forum.Magistical Memories Chipboard Artist will receive -

∑ Magistical Memories products for your term, shipped in 2 shipments one for the first 3 months and the second for the other 3 months, participation will be rewarded.

∑ New Products release, your participation will be rewarded.

∑ Discount off all chipboard orders placed(* Discount will be reflected in your log in information)∑ Your bio and picture featured in our Design Team Gallery, promotion of your work in our newsletter, on the forum and blog.

How to Apply –

Our DT call will be in two parts!!! We want to make sure you are the right person for us!!! But don’t worry it has perks!!!

Part 1 – Deadline October 25th (12PM PST)

Submit 3 projects via email to chipboardartistDTcall@gmail.com that best represent your talents and skills. These items MUST utilize chipboard in an obvious and meaningful way. All must be your original work, they do not have to be created specifically for this call and could have been viewed or posted elsewhere on the net.

Join and interact on our forum, we want to get to know you! Participation is required if selected and we want to see you in action!

The following Questions are required with your project submissions:∑ First tell us a little about yourself!!!

∑ When did you start scrapbooking?

∑ How would you or others describe your style?

∑ Why are you applying to design for us?

∑ Do you have any other talents you feel that would benefit our products and how?

∑ Do you have an active blog that you update regularly? (Provide Link)

∑ Magistical Memories Forum/Gallery User Name:

∑ Are you active on any Forums or Message Boards? (Please List)

∑ Give an example of a class or technique you would like to share with others. If it is one you have done previously please link to it.

∑ Finally please provide a list of all current and past Design Team Experience (past design team work is not required) for current design teams please list your design requirements and term for that team. If you have a scrapbook resume, or a link to a gallery you would like us to see please provide that as well.

Part 2 – November 5th – November 25th (12PM PST)

You’ve shown us what you can do with your stuff we want to see what you can do with ours!

We will select 20 designers to move on and receive a sample package of chipboard!!

With these packages you will be required to fulfill the below Chipboard Artist requirements

∑ Create a minimum of 3 layouts/projects to be featured in the Magistical Memories DT gallery.

∑ Participate on our Forum and Gallery, and leave positive encouraging feedback for our members.

∑ Promote Magistical Memories by posting the above layouts/projects on other online galleries and blogs with working links to the store and forum.

All of those selected for Part 2 two will receive the same package of chipboard, so everyone will be on an equal playing field!!!

Final decisions will be made on December 5th and the new Magistical Memories Chipboard Artists will be announced shortly there after!!

Good Luck!!!!!

I know I've been hopeless

2008-09-18T21:03:00.002+12:00

And I know I'm always saying i'm busy. But it is true!!

I have lots to share and talk about, but time has gotten away from me again today. I have been away for a couple of days in Dunedin, and have things to catch up on.

But first I wanted to say "Yay" for me for becoming part of the Crafty Tart Design Team. I have been getting quite close to Kate, the owner and I am delighted she has asked me to be part of her team. I know now that I have The Sketch Book I will have to be careful of their not being a conflict of interest, cos I do not want that at all. But I am also excited to be given the challenge of working with a kit and creating layouts for her gallery. I have missed doing that since Meg hung up her coat!!

Its my last month with Magistical Memories. They have been amazing to work for. So generous, and incredibly understanding when I got sick and couldn't do all I needed to do! Thanks so much Crystle and Michael for giving me the opportunity. It has been so great, and I really hope that I have done it justice!!

I have a few bits and pieces to show for them before the month is over, but here is a cute little mushroom album I did of Maia from some photos from Christmas. I loved being able to use some of these beautiful girly Heidi Grace papers:

I kept it pretty simple, just using a few embellishments as I think the papers and albums are enough. She's a cutie, and its a great album for the boys to look at when they are missing their favourite cousin.

Cute huh! She was down in Dunedin while I was there the last few days. Such a cute wee thing!!

In other news, if you have been thinking of signing up for the Sketch Book Retreat, make sure you email me and do ASAP. Places are being filled very quickly. It is really shaping up to be an awesome weekend. I have sponsorship for prizes from heaps of shops, Nic has an awesome class sorted out, and Faye has found a VERY cool new album she is going to use!!

Email me on megan@sketchbooknz.com if you want a registration form.

The Sketch Book Retreat

2008-09-11T16:54:00.003+12:00

If you havn't emailed me yet for an information pack please make sure you do. Spaces are filling up REALLY quickly!!

A weekend retreat sound appealing?

2008-09-09T16:24:00.004+12:00

So things are in the works. And I am working out how much interest there is for...

The Sketch Book Retreat

When: Fri 31 October - Sunday 2 November

Tutors Extroadinaire:
Nic Howard (http://nichoward.typepad.com/) &
Faye Gregory (http://fayegregory.blogspot.com/)

Included in price:
2 Nights Accommodation (Fri & Sat)
Breakfast, lunch & Dinner on Saturday
Breakfast & lunch on Sunday
2 classes (approx 2 hrs each)
Prizes & Goodies
A shop to buy scrapbook supplies from
Fun & laughter

Cost: $180

Sound tempting, if so can you please email me at megan@sketchbooknz.com to register your interest. I need a mimum number of people to attend to make it doable, so need to know who might or might not be interested!!

Can't wait!! Scrapbook Retreats are the best, so much fun, you get to meet new people and people you see online, and they are always a blast!

Everyone welcome!!!

Photos of our week away down at the snow to come. Just trying to finish my deadline for my last Up2Scrap brief first!

Thanks!

2008-08-26T20:25:00.001+12:00

Thanks to everyone for all your birthday wishes! They mean a lot!

And yep, my blanket rocks!! Its soooo toasty warm. The downside is its now even harder to get out of bed in the morning :o)

Can I really be 32??

2008-08-25T21:10:00.003+12:00

So I know I have turned into a bad blogger, but work, the family and The Sketch Book just keep me so busy these day's that I keep forgetting to update!!

But as it is the momentous occasion of my birthday I thought I better pop in and see if there is anyone still out there??

Our house has been hit by the flu bug so it was a bit of a miserable weekend, and then I had a crap day at work, however...this evening has been lovely!

I was throughly spoilt by my family with a couple of surprises I had no idea about including my new Heated Throw that I had asked for:

I am so cold all the time these days, especially at night, so this new blanket is just going to be perfect.

I also went shopping with my sister in the weekend and she bought me a Guess Bag. I tried to find a picture, but couldn't! Its very cool though, very different!!

Mark and the kids bought me some new foundation and the Stefanie Meyer Book "Twilight" I have heard sooooo many people saying this series is the best, and since I'm 140 on the waiting list at the library I figured I better just buy it!

I also got the Making Memories trimmer, a huge (and very nice) surprise which Mum bought from Crafty Tart and as an added surprise, Kate, the owner also included one of the Making Memories albums I had been talking about! Thanks Kate!!!

Thanks also to my friend Annelie who sent me a gift card. I can't decide what to buy, but I'm sure I will get there eventually!!

So a very nice night indeed. Mum made Lasagna, and we had Black Forrest Cake for dessert, and I am totally full now. I'm going to go hop into bed with my new blanket and start my book!! :o)

Oh, and if you are scrapbooking inclined, the 2 Week of the Olympics starts tomorrow, and I have also just announced our new celebrity Susan Weinroth who is going to post a challenge on Wednesday, so heaps on over there to keep everyone busy!!

Are you ready to become an Olympian?

2008-08-15T22:44:00.001+12:00

Announcing...

The Sketch Book Olympics

Over the next 6 weeks we challenge you to participate in our mini version of the Olympics. All with a scrapbooking twist (of course).

This is the ultimate in challenge competitions and we hope you will 'go places' you never expected with your scrapbooking!!!

The Details
The competition begins on Tuesday 19th August at 7:30pm with the first challenge being set. You will have until the following Monday at midnight to upload your entry into folder in the Gallery. All entries will be 'revealed' at the same time the next day just before the new challenge is posted.

Each week one layout will win the gold medal (4pts), one will receive a silver medal (3pts) and one will receive a bronze (2 pts). All remaining entries that don't place for a medal will be awarded one point for participation.

The Judges

Nic Howard

Nic Howard lives with her husband and 3 children and has been scrapbooking for 9 years. She confesses to having scraps of paper littering the floor and small handmade paper items in every nook and cranny in the house; something I think most of us can relate to.

In 2004 Nic won a place within the Memory Makers Masters competition. Her work appears frequently in many international books and magazines. She juggles this work alongside teaching and freelancing for numerous manufacturers and distributors in the scrapbooking industry. She has recently extended her teaching role to include classes at Big Picture Scrapbooking.

Her largest and most fulfilling accomplishment to date is the release of her sole Authored book “That’s Life, Finding scrapbook inspiration in the Everyday” through F+W publications in 2007.

Kate Bray

Kate is the owner of Crafty Tart, a brand new online Scrapbooking store, and The Sketch Book Olympics major sponsor. Kate lives in Auckland with her husband Michael and their most active and dynamic 2 year old son Guy!

Kate and Michael have been living in the UK for the past 5 years in the lovely part of Guildford (Michael is English). They came back to NZ in October last year to try and relax a little. CraftyTart.com was started from Kate's desire to capture the milestones and many treasured memories of her son’s life whilst he is growing up more than what a photo can capture. As her desire of sourcing and researching products grew along with her mother’s (who owns the retail store Flying Saucers) life long love of specialty paper, her supportive husband thought it was getting a little out of hand to just remain as a hobby and CraftyTart was born.

Megan Renfree

Megan Renfree is the owner of the Sketch Book and lives in Auckland with her husband Mark and two sons Connor & Riley. Megan's work has been published numerous times in various magazines in New Zealand and Australia and she is currently on the Elite team for Up2Scrap and the Design team for Magistical Memories

The Prizes

We are delighted that the brand new online scrapbooking store Crafty Tart will be our major sponsor and will be supplying weekly prizes to the Gold Medal winner in each challenge and will also be providing a product package worth over $100 to the overall winner!!

Fiskars New Zealand have also come on board and are donating products for the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners overall

Thank you so much to Crafty Tart, and to Trina McLune and the Fiskars team for supporting our fun event!

The Small Print (Rules)

No correspondence will be entered into by the judges
All results are final
No late entries will be accepted

To get started check out all the details here and then sign up for the Opening Ceremony/Warm Up prior to the competition starting on Tuesday 19th.

Guess whats coming to The Sketch Book

2008-08-12T20:50:00.002+12:00

Check out the Forum on Friday night for all the info!!

New Magistical Memories goodness

2008-08-09T19:05:00.003+12:00

So along with the prize that Magistical Memories have sponsored for Becky Higgins Celebrity Challenge over at The Sketch Book, I also received a very yummy package of chipboard of all the Latest Releases!

And man I just wanted to stay home for a week and scrap them, cos they are so cool!!

I think it is the fastest I have scrapped in ages. I've already got 1 layout and a mini album done and another layout just waiting for me to figure out how to finish it :o)

Check out the cute happy tree that I used on this layout of the boys down at Browns Bay beach, one of our favourite places to hang (click on any of the images to see them bigger):

And then this Travel Time album pretty much put itself together. I used some K & Co travel products and some Denim Glimmer Mist to decorate it:

I'm really thrilled with the layout and album. And looking forward to showing you some more new chipboard in the next day or so too!

A few Layouts to share

2008-08-05T14:03:00.004+12:00

The other weekend Mum, Michelle and I trecked down to Hamilton for Neen and Vicky's first Crop Waikato.

It was awesome, even with the storm forming around us, and I had a lot of fun. I went down with the intention to just scrap for fun, not for assignment, or design team, but just to get some photos done.

It ws great cos I found I didn't obsess over my layouts, but just added what I wanted to. I got 2 complete down there and another one finished once I was back home. Which is pretty good going for me!!

Here's what I did. This layout of Riley I had been wanting to do ever since he got his glasses, so was glad I finally got stuck in and got it done:

Just one of the boys mucking around at the park. I have a gazillion photos like this, so I need to stay on top of them.

And then this one of Riley on the spinning chair at the Park. I really liked how Ali Edwards created layouts using divided page protectors and wanted to try it, so grabbed a sleeve out of my old Cropper Hopper Sticker Binder to bring with me. I really like how it turned out and am going to do another one of these for Connor. Its quite simple, but I think its effective, and makes the photos stand out.

So that was a productive day for me. I'm back in the mood, now that Riley's birthday is over, I'm going to spend some nights getting back into it.

How cool is this

2008-07-27T21:03:00.005+12:00

Found this link on another blog.

Wordle. Check it out. I plugged in the url for The Sketch Book's blog and it came up with this (Click to make it bigger):

Can't you totally see this on a t-shirt??

This is what it came up with for my blog here:

Fun stuff!!! I could see it taking up a fair amount of playing time :o)

Magistical Memories New Release Giveaway

2008-07-27T12:10:00.000+12:00

Hi everyone, MM have just put out a very cool giveaway for their new releases.

Go and check out the blog here: http://magisticalmemories.blogspot.com/ and make sure you comment, to be in to win their new releases:

I love thier new scroll borders:

and these super cute dinosaurs:

There are heaps more to check out at the blog though. Awesome Stuff!

This is Hilarious

2008-07-25T12:33:00.004+12:00

So I was just checking out Kendra McCrackens blog where she has posted her blogs "supposed" readability level of your blog.

Kendra's level was Junior High, check her post here, its hilarious. And it totally made me go and check mine, which came up with this:

Which is just crazy, cos there is no way you have to be a Genius to read anything I write!!! Go check it out and let me know what your site is :o)

New Fave Song

2008-07-14T16:07:00.003+12:00

I forget sometimes how much I love to have music around me in the home. My ipod has been a bit neglected lately and I havn't been playing it much.

But I downloaded a whole heaps of new fave songs over the weekend, so its time to dust the speakers off.

Anyone else hooked on Army Wifes? Its only just started here in NZ, but I totally love it, and like most shows it has awesome music. My latest favourite song is one from the very first episode. Its called Ocean Size Love by Leigh Nash, who used to be the lead singer for sixpence none the richer (useless trivia :o) ): There doesn't seem to be a proper video for it, but you can at least hear it.

Also on my playlist at the moment is lots of The Veronica's, Amy Winehouse (even if she is a total nut case) and even a bit of Miley Cyrus (what? its too catchy not to love!!!)

What Riley Likes

2008-07-14T14:27:00.002+12:00

I was cleaning out my computer a bit (as you do) and came across this video of Riley that I made a couple of months ago but never shared. Its pretty funny! I have one for Connor too. I will post his in a day or so :o)

Feeling a bit better

2008-07-05T08:31:00.005+12:00

So Tuesday was obviously my meltdown day.

Thanks to everyone for listening and for all the nice comments and emails. I was having a rough day, but just after posting Mum phoned to see how I was and could tell I wasn't doing so well and came home and looked after me (thanks Mum).

I'm obviously going to have my good and bad days. I'm heading off for a day of scrapbooking today though, so I'm thinking that today will be a good day!!!

If you've nothing else to do, make sure you check out the challenges in the Forum over at The Sketch Book. Elise Blaha has posted a very cool mini book challenge. Plus there is the Friday Night challenge on right now and the Fortnightly sketch challenge. So heaps to do over there!!!

I don't think I shared these cards I made last week for the Friday Night Challenge. Arn't these owls just adorable? I totally love them:

And I also got some happy mail yesterday. I won a prize for an Owl Challenge over at the Simple Scrapbooks Blog and received some very cool Sassafrass Lass owl stamps on my doorstep, as well as some papers, stickers and rubons. Very nice surprise!!! I'm thinking I will use them today!!

Have a great day, and for those still on Friday...Happy 4th of July :o)

Lupus Sucks!!!

2008-07-01T16:22:00.002+12:00

So you know my post a couple of posts ago where I was really positive and was not letting this disease beat me.

I have now moved into the angry and peeved stage :o)

On a Tuesday at the moment I start work early and finish at lunch time so that Mark can then start at 1:00. It means I get to take Riley to swimming, but it also means that I am on my own in the afternoon, which in the normal world is fine. But when your in Lupus world and suddenly find you are running on empty really sucks!!

I had been on steroids for the past few weeks to help with my energy while the medication I am on kicks in, but I have come off that now and am not overly keen on going back on it. The side effects are awful, most noticebly the fact that I turned into a bit of a cow!! (sorry family!) But it also means I have gone flat again. And its ticking me off. I want to do so much. I want to scrapbook, I want to play Hockey with Riley outside, I want to do the vacumming.

And basically I can't. Simply do not have the oomph. Pisses me off!! And how do you explain to your nearly 5 year old that you can't play with him?

I'm hoping this angry stage will soon pass. I'm hoping venting on here will get it out a bit, so bear with me while I get past this stage and hopefully move into the next stage (please let it be the medication's kicking in and I'm feeling better stage) :o)

In the mean time if you are waiting for something from me, or anything can you please remind me, cos the other thing is my memory seems to have fallen out of my head and whereas before I used to be quite an organised multi tasking sort of person, I am now a forgetful, can only do one thing at a time kind of person!

Lupus Sucks!!!!

Thanks for listening :o)

The Dragon Fights

2008-06-27T20:58:00.003+12:00

Take a look at this.

At Riley's kindy they each did a special ITC project using their Apple Mac's to tell a story that they made up on their own.

This is Riley's:

Totally cute!!!! He loves playing it over and over.

I'm sure its the beginning of great things for him :o)

The Celebrity Challenge is up!

2008-06-19T22:02:00.004+12:00

And Nichol Magouirk has done an amazing job so be sure to check it out here.

Scrapbook Outlet NZ has kindly donated one of their amazing monthly kits as the prize, so trust me, you don't want to miss out.

I got out the cuttlebug and folders tonight to give it a whirl myself, but didn't quite manage it yet.

Thanks also to everyone who sent comments on my health. I'm feeling totally positive about it all, and don't really see it as something that is going to be a huge issue once I have it under control.

It is however definitely nicer to have a bit more energy than I have in the past few months with the pills I am currently on. Unfortunately they are short term, so I may have another lull in a few weeks time when I come off one of them, but hey, I will see how I go.

In the meantime I am going to enjoy it while it lasts and get some scrapping done :o)

Wow! Anyone still around??

2008-06-16T10:47:00.006+12:00

I know I have been neglecting my personal blog lately. But the new website has been taking up a lot of my time.

It is going amazingly well, so if you havn't joined the party then you should definitely check it out!! Jennifer McGuire just had an awesome sketch challenge on that we got an amazing response to, and our next guest Nichol Magouirk is posting one one Wednesday, with the prize being sponsored by Scrapbook Outlet.

I have also been working on my new brief for Up2SCrap, which is different this time for me, an altered item piece, but it is a lot of fun, and I keep waking up and having to scribble down ideas.
Plus I have my work over at Magistical Memories as well. So it is a busy time. My latest thing I did for them was this most adorable Owl album that I don't think I have shared yet.

Pretty cute right. Unfortunately I havn't been keeping up with my work there as much as I would have liked, as although I havn't actually put it out there before I havn't been that well over the last few months. I was feeling a bit like a hypochondriac and seemed to be constantly at the doctors with something else, but the short story is I had some blood tests done which showed up some strange anti bodies so I then had to wait 3 months to see a Rheumatologist who then made me go for a heap more test and x-rays and then wait another 3 weeks for my follow up with him, which i had on Friday.

And it would seem that I have Lupus. Which is a bit of a bummer. Its not an incredibly well known disease, but essentially its a non-curable, but treatable disease that taken from the Lupus website in a netshell is:

Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can affect various parts of the body, including the skin, joints, heart, lungs, blood, kidneys and brain. Normally the body's immune system makes proteins called antibodies, to protect the body against viruses, bacteria, and other foreign materials. These foreign materials are called antigens.

In an autoimmune disorder like lupus, the immune system cannot tell the difference between foreign substances and its own cells and tissues. The immune system then makes antibodies directed against itself. These antibodies -- called "auto-antibodies" (auto means 'self') -- cause inflammation, pain and damage in various parts of the body.

There is more information on the Lupus Website here if you are interested.

The main thing for me has been the inflammation. I went from having a sore neck and back like usual, to having sore everything, particularly my hands, and chronic fatigue so much so that some days I found it near impossible to get out of bed. I also have several of the other symptoms, but nothing effecting my kidneys which is a good thing.

And the good news is that its treatable and that most people go into a type of remission from it, so now that I have been diagnosed and have started having treatment, I am really hoping that life will get back on track and that I will get some energy that has been seriously lacking over the last several months. Its actually great to know that I'm not just lazy!

So thats where I am at. I thought now that I know what is going on, I would let you all know. It may explain why I have been lying low in recent months. Thankfully my family is now being very supportive and are coming to terms with it and my limitations at the moment. I know its not easy to see me constantly lazing about, but unfortunately its what I have to do at the moment to get back. Stress is a bit factor in making in flare up, so I have given up a few of my commitments that were giving me stress and am just going to concentrate on getting better, going to work and my scrapbooking commitments.

Sorry if it all sounds doom and gloomy. I will be back to my regular bubbly self soon :o) And in the meantime go hang out at The Sketch Book. Plenty of bubbliness and enthusiasm going on over there! :o)

Wowsers

2008-05-31T20:40:00.002+12:00

So I knew when I hit 100 registered in the first two days that I was onto something good!

But I have to say, I have been so blown away by the response to The Sketch Book!! Its just awesome to see so many girls on there, from all the different design teams and sites, all chatting together!

It is so what my site is about :o) And absolutely anyone is welcome to join. We have even started a kiwi definition post to help overseas users understand some of our crazy slang. I didn't even realise we did until a friend asked me what the heck we were talking about! lol

And to make things even better my scrapbook idol Jennifer McGuire agreed to be my first celebrity guest to post a challenge. Which happens this Wednesday! I'm on the hunt for the next few. So if you are a celebrity, then give me a yell :o)

It has been a crazy week of incredibly late nights getting the forum and gallery up to scratch, but I think I may be finally happy at where it is. So I think I might have to start going to bed a bit earlier. I had to have a nana nap this afternoon to catch up on some sleep, and I think there is still a bit more catching up to do.

My crazy new adventure!!

2008-05-22T22:36:00.001+12:00

So it would seem no-one can wait til June 1st!!

So go check it out:

www.sketchbooknz.com

I hope you like it :o)

A Busy Bee

2008-05-19T21:49:00.007+12:00

Wow, time flies when you've suddenly decided to take on a new project.

And I have to say, its coming along nicely. I have roped in a few contributors who I am very happy to have on board and we are busy getting things sorted to have the site up and running on June 1.

So what is it. Well, here's a peek:

Not much right. I'm not giving away too much just yet, but I'm pretty excited about it, and I hope you all will be too. Just to quash some rumours though, I have not bought Scrapbook Essentials. May 31st will be the last day for that site, and then I'm still sad to say it will be gone forever.

However I'm hoping our new project will keep you busy enough to help you get over the absence.

More to come...soon! :o)

Don't go anywhere!!

2008-05-17T11:39:00.005+12:00

Hey Guys & Gals,

Firstly thanks so much everyone for all the amazing comments, pm's and emails!! I am in total agreement that I don't want to see the challenges and forum end, and in saying that the wheels are already in motion so that it doesn't.

So if everyone can bear with me for a few weeks until SE does officially close their doors, then June 1 will see the arrival of a very cool alternative!

And I also want to say thanks on Meg's behalf. I know she agonised over her decision, and in fact could not even get it out for quite some time through the tears when she told me, and I just want to say, that it is so great to see how supportive everyone has been of her decision. I don't think i am quite ready to let her fade into the distance either, but its just awesome how everyone gets it!!!

So stay tuned. I will have teasers :o) , as soon as I have more information!

Oh and the stalker comments.....hilarious!!

A Sad Day!

2008-05-16T20:23:00.008+12:00

So you know when you are going along in life, everything is good, and then something happens to rock that boat.

It happened today with the incredibly sad news that Scrapbook Essentials is closing their doors. Anyone that reads my blog knows that SE is a bit part of my life. I have been on the Design Team since November 2006. I have made amazing friends, have been given inspiration again and again, and have just had the best ride ever!!!

And all of this is due to Meg! who opened up an amazing online site back in 2006 for all of us to enjoy. Not only did I make friends through the site, but I also made a fantastic friend in Meg, and trust me, she did not make this decision lightly. I totally support her decision 100% to close down so that she concentrate on her young family. I'm totally sad, but I understand!!

Thanks Meg, for everything! It has been such a blast. Seriously!!

As most of you know I currently run Friday Night challenges every week and also Fortnightly Sketch challenges. I don't think I'm ready to give these up just yet, so I'm going to have to do some thinking and see what I can do about that. But challenges will still be here til the 31st anyway!!

And as I said to Meg yesterday, in the words of Julie Andrews...when one door closes, somewhere another one opens. I'm sure this will be true for me as well. I have been exclusive to SE for quite a while now, and now that that is no longer the case it is very VERY strange. So I guess I will just have to see what is out there again in the olde scrapbook world, to see where the road may lead to my next challenge!!

If anyone has any ideas, then feel free to offer an opinion :o)

The gallery is Up!

2008-05-15T22:23:00.003+12:00

Over at Scrapbook Essentials!

And the Design Team have done another amazing job. Amazing!! I am so happy that I have had the chance to work with these girls!! You all rock!!!

Here are my layouts:

I love the story behind my "The Note" one as told in my journalling:

"This year we started to let Connor walk to school in the mornings by himself. However soon after he started, I came out of the shower one morning to discover he had gone to school without telling me. I told him later that afternoon that he needed to make sure that he let me know if he was going to leave the house.

A few days later I came out of the shower and walked down the hallway to find this note taped to the inside of the front door. It said “Mum, I have gon to Scholl”

It totally cracked me up. I was so glad he had listened to me!

Another great kit to work with! Thanks Meg!

A couple of Cards!

2008-05-08T21:08:00.005+12:00

So with Mother's Day on Sunday and my sisters birthday yesterday I have had to make a few cards.

The one I did for my sister Jo, was a variation of my Bird in the tree one from a couple of weeks ago, this one using my new owl:

And then I made one for my Mother in Law for Mark to send down to Dunedin. This one was inspired by all the very cool Butterfliy ones on Hero Arts at the moment. I found I had this butterfly from Autumn Leaves:

In other news, the latest kit arrived on my doorstep from Scrapbook Essentials , so I'm hoping that Mother's Day for me includes a sleep in and a few hours behind my desk to have some creating time!!

I also got the latest Up2Scrap in my letterbox today. Awesome layouts in there from lots of names I recognised. My friend Annelie had her first published layout in it, and its such a beautiful layout. Very proud of you Annelie! It is a really great issue! I have a sketch feature in there too, so if you can, you should pick up a copy! :o)

Did you know...

2008-05-01T20:01:00.008+12:00

That it's National Scrapbook Day this Saturday???

We did, and Scrapbook Essentials thought it was the perfect time to celebrate this amazing hobby of ours!!

So if you are around on Saturday, be sure to check out the forum where "a number" of challenges will be set, and some awesome prizes will be won!!

This is just a taste of some of the stash Meg has put together:

Hope to see you there!!

And because it is National Scrapbook Day in America on Saturday too, which is actually our Sunday, there is heaps of different things going on on various sites, so in essence its really National Scrapbook weekend over here :o)

Creating Keepsakes is hosting a free class, which you need to prepare for during the week. It sounds like its going to be pretty cool, so I am slowly getting the things needed to do it. To check it out, and to see what you need, go here! Scroll to the bottom of the page to see Day 1 of the preparation!

See you on Saturday at Scrapbook Essentials!!!

The Envelope Challenge

2008-04-28T18:58:00.003+12:00

I ran out of time for this one, so just whipped one up this afternoon, which I wouldn't say is my most favourite card, but it was kinda hard using an envelope on a card.

So this is what I came up with:

I stuck an envelope on purple cardstock to form the card base and then stamped the woman image onto cream cardstock which I then coloured with watercolour pencils and blended in with a blending pen.

Also stamped on the clear buttons with stazon and sewed them on.

And while I was procrastinating over the Envelope Challenge I created this one that I really like using Magistical Memories Chipboard (Scalloped Circle & Winged Heart):

I have also been doing a really cute mini album which I am going to finish tonight hopefully and will post tomorrow!!

I know. I havn't done a layout in days. But I am totally hooked at the moment on doing Cards and Mini's! :o)

Whoo Hoo!!!

2008-04-25T08:43:00.004+12:00

One of my cards won Second Prize!!!

How cool is that!!!! I'm totally excited considering there were soooo many entries!! The next challenge is to use an envelope. A bit more challenging but I think I'm up for the task.

Have a nice ANZAC Day everyone. And perhaps whatever you are doing you could take a minute to remember all of the fallen soldiers who gave their lives for our country so long ago!! I'll be wearing my poppy, the boys already have theirs on too, although Riley doesn't quite get what its about and think its for anyone who has died, including his great Nana who passed away a few months ago :o)

Mark, Dad and my sisters partner Dave are building the kids a fort today. The boys are so excited, they are already outside and waiting :o)

A few more!

2008-04-21T16:19:00.005+12:00

I caved and went out on Saturday to browse some cute bird stamps to do another card for the Bird Challenge over at The Hero Arts Blog. In between the boys locking my keys in the car (don't even ask), I managed to pick up a really cute owl, which I turned into this:

And then for the Friday Night Challenge over at Scrapbook Essentials I said you had to use a bird, a 5x7 photo and 2 patterned papers. And amazingly I even managed to get the challenge done myself, which I have also thrown into the mix over at Hero Arts.

Check out all the entries for the challenge this week. The girls have done some amazing creations!!!

Used that cute owl stamp again, as well as some dotted circle stamps, plus some Fancy Pants papers and a library card.

And then if that wasn't enough there is also a Calling Card challenge going on over at Magistical Memories, which is a fun way of creating some cards to use when sending RAK's, packages, cards etc. I made up a few examples:

The smiley face and the leaf still need some embellishing on the front, but I wanted to get the examples posted to show people what I was talking about :o)

The mojo is definately back and I'm itching to sit down and do some more, but will wait til the kids have gone to bed. I had the day off work today as its the first day of the school holidays, so I took the boys to see Horton hears a Who!! Cute cute movie! I really liked it, definately one of the better ones I have seen in a while!

I have Monday & Tuesday off next week, so we are going to do The Spiderwick Chronicles then. Mark will have to entertain them for the rest of the week, but at least it is Anzac Day on Friday, so only a short week for me!

Oh Bugger!!

2008-04-20T19:50:00.004+12:00

If you havn't yet taken advantage of the amazing limited edition $99 deal for a cuttlebug that Scrapbook Essentials has going then you should check out Jennifers amazing new cards she has made with it!!

I now totally need one!!!

Darn your enabling Jennifer!!! :o)

Only kidding. I love it really, but don't tell Mark!!

Another Day, Another Challenge

2008-04-18T07:35:00.006+12:00

Man, what a busy week. I have had sick kids and after school activities and birthday parties coming out of my ears at the moment, and no signing of letting up just yet either!!

I have found a few minutes a couple of times to scrap though. The Scrapbook Essentials gallery for April is up and looking very Flocked & Fabulous!

I have done a project for the kit this month, and as I have been doing a sketch challenge each fortnight I created a sketches tin to store my sketch inspiration and current challenges:

The other girls have all created equally amazing layouts, so make sure you check it out!!

The challenges over at The Hero Arts Blog really seem to be giving me my mojo back...which is great!!!

I whipped up this card for their latest challenge which was birds. Unfortunately I had used my one and only (well Mum's actually) bird stamp on the Clear Challenge, so I had to use it again, but I cut off the legs of it and made this:

This time I stamped the bird onto some KI Memories Love Elsie paper with brown ink and embossed him, then chopped off the legs and sat him in a tree which I created by stamping a Hero Arts small leaf stamp on a cardstock scallop circle over and over and then embossing. Then I rubbed my bamboo ink cube all over the tree to make it green.

The base of the tree is made from cardstock, the grass is made with some KI Memories Love Elsie paper, and the base of the card is Scenic Route paper.

I added pop dots to everything to make it pop out. and stitched around the base and added my greeting which. Thanks to my friend Jennifer I can now safely say I am hooked on pop dots!! They look so cool on cards!!

I have a few more challenges to post about but need to do an example tonight for one, so I will be back later with some fun challenges for you all to do :o)

RAK Winner

2008-04-09T19:04:00.005+12:00

Ok, so this managed to get a few of you out of lurkdom and commenting, and for that I say Thanks! Its so neat to see who is reading about my random bits & pieces.

So in saying that, the winner of my RAK, which I meant to photograph, but didn't get round to it, but is a very cute Magistical Memories Mini album is...

Lisa Spiegel said... I'm not surprised you have that many hits...you're
adorable, your kids are adorable and it's fun to read!! Luv u Megan!
April 06, 2008 10:45 AM

And no, I didn't choose it cos she called me adorable :o) It was totally random. Lisa if you could send me your address to megang@ihug.co.nz I will pop my RAK in the mail for you!!

And keep on commenting, you never know when I may do another commenter RAK ;o)

In other news, have you all checked out the new Hero Arts Blog yet?? Totally inspiring. I loved Jennifer's video so much and immediately after managed to rock out a card for the clear challenge compeition. Some amazing entries, so it may be a long shot, but still fun to play along. And I really like my card too:

I cut out a window from a normal card and added a transparency insert into which I then randomly stamped with the paisley and circle stamp. I create the little label and stamped "warm wishes" on it and added some ribbon and then attached it to the front.

For the inside I stamped the long legged bird onto some bazzil and coloured in with watercolour crayons. Pretty simple really but I thought it was quite effective!!

Some order reinstated

2008-04-09T08:13:00.002+12:00

But I know I am still missing a heap of my links. But at least I have some back!!

Thanks for the comments on the new look. You can get it from www.suckmylolly.com. Thanks Becky for the link.

Word to the wise though. Save your template before uploading a new one!! I was in the process of doing this when I accidently wiped it completely! Total dork :o)

Heading to work where I will sneakily do my draw from all my comments for a RAK!! Be back later :o)

Uh Oh!

2008-04-08T19:00:00.002+12:00

I was just fiddling with my blog, and have lost ALL of my links!!

Total stink bum!!!

Megan

For Keeps Issue 64

2008-04-08T18:05:00.006+12:00

I have received a few emails about my Sprinkles layout in the latest For Keeps out - Issue 64.

This is one of my all time favourite layouts, and I'm so excited to be getting such great feedback about it!!

Toni, Crystle & Ang are my LA Pals, and showed me the best time when I was over last year. The Sprinkles layout was about our trip to "Sprinkles" the cupcake shop! Sooo yummy!! And such GREAT memories!!!

If you want to see the whole issue you can see it digitally here. My Sprinkles layout is on page 85 :o)

How cute is this Monster

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My little ratbag being his usual cheeky self. I did this layout about Riley at 4 1/2 and his favourite things at the moment, documented before my sieve of a memory forgets them.

And I just had to use this Magistical Memories Monster on it.

Isn't it just perfect??? I love it!!

Just realised

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I have now had over 20,000 hits on my blog!! That is AWESOME!!!

Now if you will all just come out of the woodwork and say Hi, I'd be so happy!! Oh, and I'm going to do a random RAK on Saturday to someone who says Hi in the next few days :o) Just because I can :o)

Life as I know it!

Week 2

Project Life – Week 1

Project Life 2012 – The journey begins.

A Week in the Life – The Final Album

A Week in the Life – Friday

A Week in the Life – Thursday

A Week in the Life – Wednesday

A Week in the Life - Tuesday

A Week in the Life - Monday

A Week in the Life - Sunday

A Week in the Life - Saturday

A Week in the Life

Pinterest

24 Days of Christmas

Halloween Treat Topper

Follow up to my last post

Have you seen this?

Something that made me smile

Soo Soo bad

Hmmm, what's going on here???

Its a New Day

Fancy Pants – Rusted Sun

Woo Hoo!!

Mothers Day

Baker’s Twine

Thanks!

Recent Work

Turning over a new leaf!

Registration is open!!!

10!

Cards for Kids

Meet Rocky

Twenty Ten is here!

Merry Christmas

You can’t help but feel Christmasy

Feeling Christmasy!

Hibernating

A few more to share

Some sharing (esp for Hannah)

Have you heard?

OZ

The boys and I

I’m twittering

Who Scrapped?

A Busy Month

The cold has arrived!

Happy Birthday Connor

Well that sucked!

A big day for Connor

I've been challenged!

The way it should be!

A Couple of things

My Photo Collages

I Scrapped!

Fiddling with my template

Happy New Year!!

The Sketch Book Retreat

School's out for Summer!!

Happy Christmas!!

Feeling Happy

I Suck!

Did you hear the news?

I know I've been hopeless

The Sketch Book Retreat

A weekend retreat sound appealing?

Thanks!

Can I really be 32??

Are you ready to become an Olympian?

Guess whats coming to The Sketch Book

New Magistical Memories goodness

A few Layouts to share

How cool is this

Magistical Memories New Release Giveaway

This is Hilarious

New Fave Song

What Riley Likes

Feeling a bit better

Lupus Sucks!!!

The Dragon Fights