More CJ entries completed ....

Hello again ...

Well, I've had some more time to do some scrapping this week - and got to continue working on my outstanding CJ entries.   That is, the entries that I need to do that are still outstanding - not saying that my entries are 'outstanding' as in fabulous ... LOL!

I'm ripping through them now - only a couple more to do.   Unfortunately, the outstanding ones are going to be a little tricky, so I think I'll procrastinate on them for a litlle tiny while and up come with some ideas.

Anyway, for FIGs CJ (with the theme of 'A funny thing happened ...', I have done this one -

And for Frangipani's CJ (with the theme of 'The girl in the mirror'), I have done this one -

Nadine - yours is next on my list ...

I'm off to the movies tonight - I'm seeing the Twilight/New Moon double feature first tonight, prior to then seeing the midnight screening of Eclipse at 12.05 am.   Thankfully, it's school holidays, so I don't have to be up too early with the kids ... I see a fairly quiet day in store for me tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm off now to taste one of the Raspberry and White Chocolate muffins I've just baked with the kids, so I'll talk to you soon.

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

Another CJ entry complete ...

Hello again -

Well, as promised, here is a pic of the CJ entry that I finished the other day.   The theme for this CJ was "I'll get by with a little help from my friends ...", and asked for a friendship quote.    I'm not sure where this quote comes from, but I do really like it.

I'm happy with how this one turned out too - I just love the colours.

Anyway, I'd better go do some housework now .... talk to you soon!

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

Kraft It Up! submission accepted ...

Hello again ...

Just letting you know that my submission to the Kraft It Up! challenge was accepted, and currently appears on their blog - here.

Look at all the stunning layouts that people have sent in - there are soooo many talented scrappers out there!  Such a fabulous site for inspiration ....

I actually got some more scrapping done on Saturday night - I managed to cross off another CJ layout from my to do list ... it's too dark now to take a pic, but I will try and remember to take one tomorrow, and will show you my finished page soon.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo

Finally .... a layout has been completed!

Hello again -

Well, after what seems an eternity, I finally sat down at my scrap desk last night, and had some inspiration for a layout!

I've been browsing a few scrapbooking sites this week, checking out some of the fabulous work that people out there are doing, and checked back to the Kraft It Up challenge site.   This month's challenge is 'minimalistic' - which suits me just fine!

I've been wanting to do something with this lovely pic of my boys for a while now .... and here's what I came up with last night.

I often think that my boys look so different to each other ... then I look at this pic again, and see the eyes, and realise that they really are very similar indeed.   I just love this pic.

And I'm so glad to have done some scrapping again - it's been soooo long.

Anyway, now that I'm feeling inspired again, I'm off to peruse the many photos from our Fiji trip, and will hopefully have some more pages to show you soon.

Thanks for looking!

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

Ooooh it's been a while ...

.... since my last blog post!   Sorry about that, but life just gets in the way of good blogging sometimes.  Boy, have I been busy!

My family and I have just returned from a fabulous holiday in Fiji - we've been back just over a week now, and unfortunately I can see my tan fading by the second.   Fiji was just lovely - the resort was great, the staff were wonderful, and we all had a wonderful time.   Our days consisted of breakfasts by the lagoon; swimming in the pool; swimming in the lagoon; snorkelling; playing volleyball, cricket, boce, soccer, soft ball, touch rugby; massages on the beach ...  oh, and cocktails at happy hour each night too - you get the idea.   It was a very tough ten days, but we struggled through :)   So tough that we're already trying to work out when we can go back there again!

Prior to our Fiji trip I was still busy working an extra day in a second job, plus I had picked up a few scrapbooking jobs as well which were keeping me busy, as well as working on samples for another wedding invitation job I've picked up.   Busy busy busy ....

Anyway, now that I'm back to reality with an almighty thud (back to freezing cold Melbourne and back at work already) I'm hoping that my scrapbooking mojo will kick in soon, as I have some stunning photos from Fiji that MUST be scrapped soon!

However, until then, I will leave you with some photos of a few pieces that I completed for the lovely Paula at DIY Blockmounts ... I hope to have more work to show you soon!

These first three pics are done on 20cm x 15cm block mount boards, using the beautiful Devonshire range from Kaiser -

This pic is of a piece done on a 9cm x 9cm magnetic board -

And this piece is a collage set which comes complete with a backing board - the finished size is about 25 cm x 25cm -

Thanks for looking, and I'll talk to you soon!
Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

I forgot to post up this layout ...

Hello all!

I'm justing having a little clean up of the desk before I start my new project, and found a layout that I'd forgotten to put away, and I guess had also forgotten to post it up here to show you ... so here it is.

It's a great shot I took of all the kids up at Porepunkah over the Cup Weekend last year ... and I just love how Thomas's expression matches that of the chipboard owl!   I still don't think it's finished, but I'm not sure what else I want to do with it, so it will do for now.

Another busy week ahead for me this week and a busy weekend planned too - we've got a BBQ lined up for the long-weekend Monday, which will be nice, and dinners with both sets of our parents on Saturday and Sunday nights ... plus on Sunday we inherit Gabby the nutter of a dog again for a few weeks, which is going to be interesting ...

Anyway, I hope you all have a lovely week ... I'm off to do some creating!

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo

A lovely little holiday over the Easter break ...

Hello again - long time no blog!

I've been pretty busy again of late - we headed away to Porepunkah for a week or so during the school holidays - over the Easter weekend - which was lovely.   The weather was just perfect ... lying on banana lounges in the afternoon sun, reading and enjoying smoked salmon, crackers and ciders .... most enjoyable indeed!   Thanks for a great weekend, Kath!   Let's hope the weigh-in at Weight Watchers tonight isn't too unpleasant ...

The school holidays seemed to go by really quickly, having Easter in the middle.   Ashton returned to school yesterday, and is right back into the swing of things again.

We're counting down to the big Fiji trip - only 39 days to go I think now .... can't wait to get there.   I have a very important date with a cocktail and a banana lounge on the beach that I'm very much looking forward to :D

I'm still working my extra day during the week at the other company ... not sure how much longer I'm going to keep doing that - I'm really missing my Wednesday time to get the housework done and just recharge a bit.   Tomorrow is technically the last day that I'm contracted for, so I'll have to negotiate with my 'boss' and see how much longer he wants me to work.

I've been doing a little scrapping here and there ... nothing much though.   I do have some projects on the go, but I don't think I can really talk about them yet  - will provide more info as soon as possible though :)


Anyway, there's really only one layout to show for now ... hopefully I'll have more pics to upload soon.

Well, I hope you've all been well ... time to go get dinner ready, then it's off to WW for the post-Easter weigh-in ... wish me luck!

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo

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.