I've been busy again ...

Hello all - I can't believe another working week has come to a close ... time is just flying by so quickly - I'll be in Fiji relaxing on the beach before I know it ...

I've been busy again this week making a few little things here and there - I've done another of my overdue CJ entries, so I'm slowly (finally) working through my list, plus I decided to buy one of the Basic Grey card kits in the 'Indian Summer' range, to see what the kits are like.

I have to say that I thought the kit was great - it came with virtually everything I needed to make 8 cards, including the envelopes.   Even all the chipboard accents and letters were included, as well as a sheet of rubons.  The only things I had to supply were adhesive, some ink, and a small piece of string.  The instructions were very clear also - these kits would be great for people who want to make cards but don't necessarily do it very often - a clear picture of the finished product, and step-by-step instructions for each one.  Too easy!

Here's how the cards turned out ...

I really love the colours in this range ... I think the cards turned out really well.

And, here's a pic of the CJ entry that I did for Kylie ... the theme was of course my favourite photo.   This is a pic that I took of the boys during our extended family holiday just over a year ago ... it was taken on the pier at Mallacoota, with a fabulous salmon-coloured sunset, and my gorgeous suntanned boys with their sunbleached blonde hair ... it's such  peaceful pic, I just love it.

Anyway, Nick's out tonight with some mates, and the kids are in bed, so it's time for me to get crafty!   Hope you've all had a great week so far, and I'll talk to you soon.

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

A few more things to show you ...

Hello all - hope all you Melbourne readers survived the severe storms we had over the long weekend - thankfully, here at home, we missed out on the hailstones.    Probably not a bad thing too, considering we just spent a lot of money on having our roof restored!

I've been doing a little bit of pottering at my scrap table over the weekend, in between working on the deck.  I was working outside until the next band of rain came through, and then headed inside to scrap until the rain stopped.   Perfect!

I have completed the sample for the March card sketch challenge at Scrapchat, I have finally started work to complete all my CJ obligations, and I just did a layout of a pic that I like.   Hope you like them ...

And here is my CJ page ... had to be black and white with a splash of my favourite colour - what other colour combo was I going to use but black, white and RED!

I have just done a spot of shopping at my local scrap store too, and bought some of the new Kaiser ranges that came out at the start of March.   I also bought myself a new OTP to work on (as if I don't already have enough waiting to be done in my OTP drawer ...), so I have a nice new project to start on tonight.   Or maybe I'll do some more CJ entries, now that I'm in the mood to do them and on a  bit of a roll ... I'm sure I'll find something to work on.

Hope you all have a lovely week, and I'll talk to you soon.
Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

Here's my layout sketch sample ...

Hello again -

Just thought I'd post quickly to show you the layout that I have prepared as the sample layout for the March sketch challenge at Scrapchat ...

I bought these papers a while ago now, and absolutely loved them - so glad I finally thought of a use for them :D

Hope you've all had a lovely Thursday - mine has been particularly harrowing, but it's a long story, and I'm not really up to explaining it right now.  Everything's fine now though ... my nerves are just a bit frazzled.

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo

March sketch challenge time ...

Hello again everyone ...

Just thought I'd post up the sketches that I've selected for the March sketch challenges over at Scrapchat. 

The sketches are of course from the wonderful Pagemaps site - so full of inspiration if you're feeling a little stuck for ideas.

Here's what I've chosen this month -

 

Be sure to let me know if you use these sketches this month - I'd love to see what you come up with!

Talk to you soon,

Ness.

xoxo

Exstinked ...

Hello again everyone :)

I thought I'd post up this little pic of a layout I completed during the week.  I had actually started it quite some time ago, but lost motivation and pushed it to the side of my desk.   On cleaning up a little bit the other day, I found it again, and thought it about time I finished it off.

I wanted to record one of the great conversations that I've had with Ashton, when he was 5 years old....

  Just in case it doesn't show up too well in the pic, the journalling reads "Me: So Ashton, tell me about the dinosaurs. Ashton: The dinosaurs walked around the planet many years ago, but they are all gone now. Me: Where did they go? Ashton: They all died. Me: Do you know what that's called, when they all die? Ashton: They are 'extinct'. Me: How do you think you spell 'extinct'? Ashton: E-x-s-t-i-n-k-e-d - when the dinosaurs died, they all got very smelly, and now they're 'exstinked'.

It was such a lovely conversation, I just had to capture it in a layout.

Now, in other news, our bi-fold doors were delivered yesterday, and we semi-fitted them last night - the suppliers are coming back tomorrow to fasten everything into place, and then fit the glass!   The doors look fabulous - and, they actually fit as well!!   Can't wait to use our wonderful new deck space, without having to climb through the laundry and around the back of the house LOL.

Anyway, I'd better go get dinner ready - we've got a 'getting to know you' meeting with Ashton's teacher tonight, and we need to eat and get the kids showered and ready for bed before we go.

Hope you've all had a lovely week so far ... talk to you soon.

Ness.
xoxo

The 52 week photo challenge continues ...

Hello again to you all ...

Just thought I'd quickly post up the next few layouts that I've done for my own personal 52 week photo challenge ...

I'm about to get cracking on the week 6 page now, so might have another one to show you soon.

Didn't get up to too much today - handed over the church booklets and placecards that I've been preparing for my friend's wedding, which is on next weekend - can't believe how quickly that's come around!  We also went shopping to get some clothes for the boys - they adore the couple that are getting married next weekend, and we're going to take them to watch the actual wedding ceremony (with permission of course!), so we needed to get them something decent to wear.   They're both going to look very handsome indeed.

Not quite sure what's in store for tomorrow - probably a bit of clean-up around the new decking, as the delivery date for our new bi-fold doors is fast approaching (which reminds me ... I'd better pay the balance soon!), and we need to clear a path so that they can deliver the door to it's new location.  Can't wait to have the deck all finished and usable ... the bi-fold doors are going to be fabulous.

Anyway ... time to go get creative again ...

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo

My own personal 52 week photo challenge ...

didn't actually start off all that well ... I kept forgetting to take the photos!

But, I seem to be on a bit of a roll now!   Aside from the first photo, which wasn't actually taken by me, I'm trundling along nicely, and have scrapped the first 4 weeks of photos, with another 2 layouts planned (that I already have the pics for).

I've taken pics of the first 2 that I've done ...

I'm loving the concept of putting everything into the black art journal - everything seems to 'snap' out of the page!   I'll take pics of the other pages I've done on the weekend, and post them up soon.

I had a rather exciting day today - I finally got to officially book our Fiji holiday in May - woohoo!   Ten fabulous nights at the Shangri-La Resort on the Coral Coast ... aahhhhh ....

It's our 10th wedding anniversary this coming May, and we had contemplated going away, just the two of us, to Thailand or somewhere similar, but then we realised that we'd want the boys there, experiencing everything with us, so we changed locations to Fiji, and we're all going together.  The resort has a fabulous kids club, and they stay and eat for free (although my boys eat a lot, so they may well regret not charging us for their food LOL), so all we need to cover for them are the airfares ... I'm so excited to have something to look forward to ... I'm counting the days down already.

I've also been in touch with the lovely Leanne Stamatellos, and have booked in a photo session with her when she's down in Melbourne later in the year - can't wait to finally meet her, and have her take some beautiful photos of my family.

Anyway, it's so humid here tonight - we had a fabulous thunderstorm roll through late this afternoon, with some of the loudest thunder I've heard in a long time, and a lovely, long downpour of rain too, but now, as a result, everything's got that damp feeling to it - not good really, because I'm scrapbooking tonight, and all the papers are warping!

Maybe it's a sign that I should go to bed (I am working tomorrow, after all), and revisit the scrapbooking tomorrow night, when the humidity has hopefully dried up!

Hope you've all had a lovely week so far.

Talk to you soon,
Ness.

Another card to show you ...

Hello again - hope the week is treating you well so far.

Just thought I'd share with you a card that I made last night (well, actually I made 10 of them!), for the January card swap at Scrapchat - a 'love' themed card swap.

I've used the beautiful MME 'Be Loved' range of papers ... I just adore this colour combo!

I've got a few ideas floating around in my mind for some of my 52 week photo challenge layouts too - I've got the photos from the first 3 weeks, but I haven't got around to scrapping any of them yet!  Not off to a good start with that project eh?

Hopefully I'll get on to them on Saturday night - Nick's heading out with his old uni mates for the night, so I get scrapping time :D

I had a lovely chat with the delightful Leanne Stamatellos last night, and have arranged to have a session with her when she's down in Melbourne later this year - VERY much looking forward to that, I can tell you - she has a fabulous eye for fabulous photos ... one talented lady.

Anyway, that's all to report for the moment, so I'll say goodbye for now.  Hope you enjoy the rest of the week, and that you celebrate Australia Day next week in style!

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

Happy birthday to me!!

Hello all ...

Just wanted to write and tell you how very blessed I'm feeling today ... it's my birthday, and I've had a lovely day.   Actually, I've had a lovely few days to be honest - it's been a bit of a birthday festival for me ... started with a lovely dinner on Saturday night with Kath and Justin (thanks so much for my sparkly Pandora pressie - I absolutely love it!), and then we had dinner with Nick's folks on Sunday night (and they gave me a beautiful polished stone necklace), and then last night I got a gift from Nick and the boys (another sparkly Pandora addition - just gorgeous), and then this morning I've had a lovely coffee with Kath (as is the tradition on Tuesdays), but Mum joined us as well this morning, as we also went shopping for my present from my parents - 2 more charms for my Pandora bracelet.  :) :) :)

How lucky am I??

My authentic Pandora bracelet that was full of cheapy charms is now rapidly filling up with authentic Pandora charms instead ... and it's looking fabulous.

I also got a beautiful bunch of flowers from Kath ... look how full the rose buds are!

So yes, I've had a lovely lovely day.   And I've had so many well wishes from all my Facebook friends as well ... thanks so much to everyone :D

Off to do some housework (I know, I should boycott it on my birthday, but this house is such a mess at the moment due to the renovations, so I can't really avoid it), and then I might treat myself to some daytime scrapping time - it is, after all, my birthday :D

Hope you've all had a lovely week so far, and I'll talk to you soon.

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

Happy 2010 to you all!

Afternoon all ...

Here we are, almost half way though January already!   Twelve days in, and already we've all been very busy.

We did have a lovely New Year's celebration at a friend's place - how fabulous was the storm that Melbourne had that night??  It's been a long while since I've seen that much lightning ... and rain too, for that matter.   Very very welcome rain indeed.

We've also been very busy around the house - we've pulled down a couple of old pergolas, and we're currently building a new deck off the dining room - we're going to install bi-folds where the windows are currently, and make what is currently wasted space a lovely new outdoor area, with a spa!!   It's coming along quite nicely - can't wait until it's all finished.  Here are some progress pics for you ...

 

 

So you can see we're going to have a lovely, usable space there - really opens up the existing dining room too, which is great.

And I've had the chance to get a little creative too - it was Mum's birthday last week, so of course I had to make her a card, and I've done a sample for the January layout sketch challenge at Scrapchat ... feels good to get creative again!

Here's what I came up with ... using some of the lovely Kaiser Empire collection papers.

 Well, I guess I should go and do some housework, and then think about starting to get dinner ready.

Hope everyone has had a great week so far, and I'll talk to you soon.

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

The year is almost over ...

Hello all -

Can't believe it's nearly the end of 2009 already!! I have very vivid memories of discussions with my friends when I was in primary school - wondering what the world would be like in the year 2010 ... back then, it seemed soooooo far away, and now, here it is, only one day away.

I'm actually heading in to work for a few hours tomorrow too, which is really not much fun at all, but we do have party plans for New Year's Eve, which will hopefully be a blast.

It's about this time of year that I normally get a bit reflective about life too ... I'm not silly enough to make New Year's resolutions (because I know I won't stick to most of them LOL), but I do like to take stock of my life, and see if I'm heading on the right track for me. I have to say, that at the moment, I am so happy and content with my life - I can't really think of much that I want to change. I want to be a little better at documenting things - the scrapbooking layouts haven't been that regular of late, and I need to work on that a bit, and I also want to start a 52 week photo journal too, to document 2010 in some way... and I really hope I can stick to that one. I've got my A4 black are journal all ready to go ... time to clear out the memory card on the camera, and start taking some pics!

I hope that 2009 has been a good year for you all ... and that 2010 proves to be even bigger and better!

Stay safe on New Year's Eve - and I'll be back next year!

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo

Can't believe it's Christmas Eve already ...

Well hello again everyone -

It's been over a month already since my last post - where has the time gone?? Oh that's right, I've been really busy, again! Is life ever going to slow down for me??

I had another successful day at the Warrandyte market at the start of December - it's nice to know that people are actually prepared to part with their hard-earned to purchase things that I make. I'm certainly not planning to retire on the profits, but it's still nice to know that I make stuff that people like enough to buy.

Here are a few pics of some of the new cards I made using the new MME Christmas range - just love the colours!!





We also had a very busy end to Ashton's first year at school - I helped at the Prep breakfast and we had Carols on the oval, Ashton competed in the chess tournament at school (and apparently actually won 2 matches!!), Ashton had his orientation for his Grade 1 class next year, and we also had Liam's Childcare Christmas party (which I thought was a Christmas concert, but turned out to just be a party), I had a work dinner, and a work lunch, and a dinner for Nick's work ... and somehow we even managed to fit in starting renovations on the house and getting our roof restoration done, and I also did all the Christmas shopping. Phew - no wonder I've been a bit weary lately ....

Oh, and yesterday, we constructed the gingerbread house that I bought in kit form at the Warrandyte market - here's a pic of our handy work - I reckon it looks great!


We're going to take it over to Mum's for lunch on Christmas Day - almost seems a shame to eat it!! But, it does smell soooo delicious :)

Now, unfortunately, I haven't scrapped a layout in a very, very long time now, so I don't have any new work to show you other than the cards above. Hopefully, now that the Christmas madness is out of the way, I'll get a chance to sit down and scrap some pics soon - and I'll post them up once they're done.

Well, I guess I should go get ready - we're heading to the Carroll's for Christmas drinks tonight and I've just got a text from Nick that's he's knocked off work already - YAY!!

Hope you all have a truly wonderful Christmas, and a very safe and happy New Year !!

Talk to you soon,
Ness.

Midnight screening of New Moon ....

Firstly, for all those who haven't seen New Moon yet .... probably best that you don't read on ...

I just had to tell everyone how totally fabulous New Moon is!! Kath and I went along to Eastland for the midnight screening last night (well, it didn't start until 12.45am, because there were so many people queueing to get in and grab their drinks and magazines), and I'm so so glad we did it.

It truly was an absolutely fabulous movie - I had purposefully not watched any of the previews for the movie, as I didn't want to spoil it in any way - and it met, and then surpassed, my expectations.

I'm still buzzing. Totally totally awesome. Want to go right back to the cinemas now and see it again, except that I have a 3 year old with me today :(

The acting really did step up a level in this one, both Jacob and Bella's parts were played brilliantly - I really warmed to Bella more in this movie - and Edward of course .... *sigh* .....

Jacob's buff-ness is very tasty indeed .... I had seen some shots of the new buff Jacob, but watching him in action - yum! There was an audible gasp in the cinema when he first rips his shirt off ....

The humour was an unexpected part of the movie, but totally suited it - the whole cinema was laughing out loud many times, which was good - I think it was needed to lighten the mood a little - and it gave me time to work at blinking away the welled up tears :)

The blank pages in the book were dealt with so well ... such an effective way to convey the passage of time ...

And Charlie was super cool again - he's been cast so perfectly for that role.

The CG was awesome - really really loved the bit after the cliff dive, with Edward under water, where Bella's pulled away, and Edward just 'dissolves' ... very cool. The wolves were fabulous - brilliantly done.

And the ending ... the whole cinema went 'nooooooooooo', but it was a perfect way to finish it, very well done.

Oh, I so want to go back now ... must make time to go see it again on the weekend me thinks. A stand alone movie, that has more than met my expectations.

Chris Weitz, and the whole cast and crew for that matter, deserves a big round of applause.

Can't wait to see what they do with Eclipse ... and I can't wait for New Moon to come out on Blue Ray - I want to watch it again and again and again.

At long last ... some work to show!

Hello there again everyone :)

It's been soooo long since my last post (over a month!!), which is just terrible, sorry!

I have been very, very busy of late, but I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel now, so hopefully I'll get a chance to post a bit more regularly from now on.

I got back late yesterday afternoon from a fabulous weekend away on the Gold Coast for the Ohana retreat with many of my fellow Scrapchat-ers - I had a great time, and actually managed to get a few layouts done!! The first I've done in so long, it felt really good to get back into it again. Wanna see them?? Well, here they are :)






Noticing a bit of a trend with the Kraft cardstock there?? I really like using it - goes with just about everything....

And, the weekend prior to that, I had another stall at the Warrandyte market, and did really well - sold 22 cards, and heaps of little gift cards, so it was a great success. I'll be at the market again on the 5th of December, so I hope to have another successful day then too!

Something else that has been taking my time up lately is the Twilight saga (thanks Kath for getting me into it!). I have very quickly become completely and utterly obsessed with the series ... read all 4 books in a week and a half, which is SO not like me! I don't read much at all any more, but I just couldn't put these down. And, I'm getting very excited now too, because the New Moon movie comes out on Thursday, and Kath and I will be there to see the opening session at 12.05am on Thursday morning! Yes, just after midnight, we'll be watching New Moon, and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

I've also been pottering on another round of wedding invites for MJ and Andy, and now that the retreat is out of the way, I need to focus on these again, as they need to be sent out at the start of December. Really pleased with how they're turning out too.

Well, that's all for me for now - hope you've all been well - and I'll talk to you soon!

Ness.
xoxo

Busy busy busy ...

Hello - sorry it's been a long time since you've heard from me, but there's so much going on in my world at the moment, unfortunately keeping the blog up to date got pushed down the priority list.

Firstly, the knee is healing quite well - I'm getting around without the crutches now, but I'm still limping, and the knee is still very weak, but I'm working on strengthening it and the physio I started a couple of weeks ago seems to be working very well.

And, the main source of my busy-ness of late has been preparation for the Warrandyte Market - yes, I've got my first ever market stall lined up for this Saturday morning. Sharing a site with my mother-in-law. I've been busy sorting all my cards into themes, and working out how best to present them, preparing little display boards to show off a select few and buying black velvet to cover the tables - you get the idea. Lots of time-consuming running around. I've had the trestle table out today for a practice run setting it all up and laying it out - up to now, it's just all been ideas in my head - and it looked pretty good. Just a couple of finishing touches to one of the display boards, make a quick sign, and maybe bang out a few more cards tomorrow night, and then I think I'm ready.

Can't have too late a night though ... need to be down at the market by about 6.30am to start setting everything up, as the market officially opens at 8.00am - ouch!

Anyway, I'm certainly not planning on retiring on my profits from Saturday, but I will walk away very pleased if I sell even one thing :D

Wish me luck!

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo

I'm still alive!

Hello again :)

Just thought I'd check in with you all and let you know survived the big op! Everything apparently went well, and I ended up being in hospital from the Monday until the Saturday. My knee was the size of a football for a couple of weeks, but thankfully the swelling is starting to go down now, which makes bending my knee and doing my exercises just that bit easier.

It wasn't really as painful as I was prepared for after the surgery.... until I moved it, that is! Lying around it would just ache, but when I had to get up and move around, boy oh boy was it sore!

It's been just over two weeks now since the surgery, and I had my check-up with the surgeon a couple of days ago. He's very pleased with my progress - my leg strength is great, and the bend I'm getting in the knee is much better than he would have expected so soon after surgery.

So, it's so far so good for me. The only thing I might need to consider in the near future is an "MUA", or a Manipulation Under Anaesthetic, which sounds quite gruesome. I may find that I plateau a bit with regards to the amount of bend I'm getting, so they may need to knock me out and force the knee to bend and increase the range, but at this stage it's not looking likely, which is a good thing.

I'm very excited for Ashton today - he's off on his first ever school excusion! They're going to the zoo today, which should be great fun for the preppies. Unfortunately, it's been raining a bit this morning, so I hope it clears up soon and the kids can all enjoy their time at the zoo without getting drenched.

Well, I have a date with my scrap room today I think ... might go re-introduce myself to all my supplies.

Hope everyone has a lovely Thursday, and I'll speak to you soon.

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

Well, the time has come ...

... for the big knee operation. I'm off to Latrobe Private Hospital tomorrow, and should be in hospital for around a week or so.

After having to wait 8 weeks after the harvesting arthroscope, the last couple of weeks have actually gone by very fast indeed, and it's now come up with a bit of a rush! I've got so much to do around the house before I go in to hospital - had a very busy day yesterday making sure every single piece of the boys clothing is washed and hung up in the wardrobes ready for the week, and have vacuumed, cleaned out the fridge, cleaned the mouse cage, changed the kids bed sheets ... you get the idea.

Today I need to clean all the bathrooms, wash the floor, wash the dog (!), sort all the socks and jocks, do a final grocery shop to get the fridge and freezer well stocked for the next few weeks, and pack my bag. I'm sure there's more on my list, but I can't think of it at the moment. But, unfortunately, today I have woken up with a doozy of a migraine, so that has put pay to any housework so far. I've only just managed to get out of bed now, thanks to the magic migraine tablet starting to do its thing (I LOVE Imigran!), but now the usual muscle cramping is beginning in my neck and shoulders, so I think it's going to be at least an hour before I feel up to doing any housework.

Thankfully the boys have been great this morning - I put Ben 10 on for them, and apart from a few toy disputes which were easily resolved, I haven't heard a peep out of them.

Nick should be home late this afternoon to help out a bit - he's doing a St John First Aid Course this weekend, and was very keen to show off his bandaging skills to Ashton last night :)

We did have a lovely dinner last night - we went out for dinner with Kath and Justin, to a great Japanese restaurant at Southbank called Miyako. The food was delish, and as always, the company was fabulous too :)

Well, I guess I should try and get something done ... probably wasn't a bad idea to get a bit of extra rest this morning, as I doubt I'm going to have a very good night's sleep tonight. Feeling just a tad nervous about what lies ahead for me ... having never had anything done like this before, I have NO IDEA how much it's going to hurt ... but I'm sure they'll give me some stunning painkillers, and I won't particularly care for the first few days LOL.

I've got the roster sorted out for the boys - unfortunately, they're being shipped off all over the place next week while I'm in hospital, but it's only for the week, and then we will return to some semblance of normality while I'm home.

So, it's going to be at least a week before I manage to post again ... so wish me luck, and I'll speak to you again soon!

Ness.
xoxo

Busy busy busy ....

Hello all :)

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth ... life in the Bradford household has just been so very busy of late.

We have had friends over for dinner and drinks, we have brewed (and then had to bottle) more beer, we have been doing Wasgij's (backwards jigsaw puzzles), there's been go-karting (although unfortunately I was only able to watch - didn't want to push the knee so close to surgery), more gigs (The Butterfly Effect at the Forum on Saturday night), working, school holidays ... need I go on?

I think we are all subconsciously trying to fit as much stuff in as possible before I have the knee op LOL.

Oh, and add to that the fact that I am working on more wedding invitations for a friend of mine, so I'm a very busy girl right now. But it's great! I'll obtain permission, and will post a pic of the invites as soon as I can.

We also thoroughly enjoyed watching Mark Webber win his first F1 Grand Prix a couple of weeks ago too - a very deserving winner. He has had his challenges over the past few years, but it's great to finally see him in a reliable car, with a great team behind him - here's hoping there's more success ahead for him too!

I do have a couple of exciting things bubbling away in the background too, which I can hopefully share with you all very soon ... I will of course keep you posted.

Well, back to these invitations ... I guess I'll talk to you again soon!

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

Sketch challenge time again ...

Hello again :)

Happy July! Can you believe that we're half way through the year already?? It's doing my head in - time is moving way too fast ....

Last weekend Nick and I had an absolutely fabulous time! It was finally time for the long-awaited Karnivool gig at The Forum. Justin, Kath, Nick and I all headed into town nice and early to grab a bite to eat, and we had also arranged a couple of rooms at a hotel in town too, so that no-one had to be the designated driver. The gig was just awesome - they played almost all the songs off their new album, and a couple of the faves off Themata as well, and we all had a great time. My knee was unfortunately still letting me know that it's sore, so I wasn't able to go too far forward and get close to the stage, but I was standing directly behind the mixing desk, and had an uninterrupted view front and centre of the stage. After the gig, we headed up the road a bit to a bar, and continued enjoying our evening. I think we left the bar around 2.00am, with a few friends in tow, then headed back to the Carroll's room for another drink or two. It was probably around 3.15am by the time I got to bed, but I had had a wonderful night - it was everything I'd been looking forward to.

Saturday morning saw us sleep in (for once, which was great), and then we had a lovely late brunch in town, wandered around town a bit, and then headed home early in the afternoon. I went over to mum's to pick the kids up, we had a relatively early dinner, and watched a movie. A fairly early night was in store for me - I was sooooo tired from the night before.

Sunday was good too - a bit of time at the park, a visit to Great Grandma, and then the Carroll's came for dinner and we had another Trivial Pursuit challenge.

All in all, a totally fabulous weekend for me :)

Anyway, with the new month comes my new sketch challenges at Scrapchat, and the sketches this month are again from the fabulous Pagemaps site.

Here is the layout sketch ...


And my sample layout ...


And here is the card sketch ...


And my sample card ...


If any of my blog readers ever do one of my sketch challenges, I'd love to hear about it, and see your layout or card too! Please leave me a comment to let me know ...

Well, it's off to help the boys play with their newly acquired pet mice .... I'm still getting used to them, but they are actually very cute little things.

Hope you've all had a great week so far, and I'll talk to you soon.

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

Finally ... a layout done ... almost ....

Hello all :)

Just a quick post from me today - I'm about to head off for my review appointment with my orthopaedic surgeon, to get de-briefed about the surgery I had a couple of weeks ago, and find out more about what lies ahead for me in about 6 weeks time.

But, I do have to share a layout that I did last night ... it's been so long since I've done a layout, it was great to get creative again. It all started after having a little clean up in my scrap room - I discovered that there was actually a desk hiding there, so thought I should put it to good use :)

Anyway, here is a gorgeous pic of Liam's girlfriend Hannah, that just had to be scrapped. Thanks to Kath for permission to post the pic!



I'm still trying to decide on a title, but this will do for now.

Anyway, better run - got to pick Nick up on the way through. Thought it best to have another pair of ears there for this appointment ... I have a feeling there's going to be lots of information to absorb.

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo