A couple of quick cards to show you ...

Hello again -

So, so busy in my world again at the moment - it's getting a bit out of control!  We had a 40th birthday party to go to on Saturday night (and they begin!!), and Nick had been away for work all the previous week, so it was just me and the boys from Sunday to Friday night.   Did I get any scrapping done?   Nope.  Absolutely none.   I was happy to pile into bed and read most nights, but I did watch a movie one night - Black Swan - a rather disturbing, but strangely compelling movie. 

Anyway, I managed to get a couple of cards made a week or so ago ...

And that's really all the creative work I've done of late.  

My photography tour is coming up this weekend, and I am SO excited about it!   The weather doesn't look too bad ... at least for Melbourne in winter anyway ... I just hope we're all able to get some good shots.   And I've signed up for a seven-week Digital SLR Camera course at Box Hill TAFE which starts at the end of July, which will be great - really looking forward how to REALLY use my camera - you know, take it off auto and play a little??   Will be great fun.

Anyway, unfortunately, the pile of washing on my couch isn't folding itself, so I'd better go do it.

Talk to you soon!
Ness.
xoxo.

Proud as punch ...

... of my biggest little man, Ashton.   He was selected to play his guitar as part of the music display for his school's open night last night, and he was an absolute star!

He had been practicing his song, over and over, and over again, for a couple of weeks now, and had it absolutely nailed.   He played "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In", accompanied by his teacher, Damon, and was given the honour of playing the final song for the night.   I was so nervous for him, I thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest it was beating so hard, but Ashton was as cool as a cucumber, and just sat there in front of the microphone (and the 40-odd people watching!), and played the song exactly as he had practiced.   No stage fright whatsoever!

And, what's more, he had such a rocking little rhythm going, with Damon on support, that the little kids sitting at the front were clapping along, and one even got up and danced!

I was beaming with pride at the end of his song ... so proud of my little man :)


Anyway, on another note - I treated myself to a new lens for my camera the other day, and I think it's going to be fun to play with!   I was driving down our street the other day, and drove past this amazing Japanese maple tree, so I just had to go home and grab my camera, and drive back and take some pictures - just love the autumnal colours in Melbourne at the moment ....

I'm very impressed with the clarity in the following pics - given that they're hand-held photos, AND using a lens that doesn't have Image Stabilisation - when I zoom right in, there's so much detail in the veins in the leaves!  The little bit of lens flare was intentional by the way ...

I can't decide whether I prefer the darker or lighter pic ...

Anyway, I think that's all for me for tonight - might go put the electric blanket on and curl up with my book for a while.

Hope you've all had a good week so far - I'm going to get the chance to (hopefully) do a bit of crafting in the next week or so, so I may well have some new pics to show you soon.

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo

I love my camera ....

Hi there again!

It's been a while since I've been here - whoops ... sorry about that!

I haven't really been creating much over the past few weeks - have been working on something else in the background which has been taking up a bit of my time, and will hopefully be finished soon.

So what have I been up to lately?   Well, we had a lovely Easter - we had the chance to head away for the
weekend to a friend's family farm in Bengworden (between Sale and Bairnsdale), and of course I took my camera .... just love these pics!   The first ones are of a fabulous falling-down fence on the shoreline, just as the sun was starting to set ...

 

And then I tried my hand at a couple of zoomed-in shots of the moon - not bad, considering I wasn't using a tripod ... I love how you can even see the craters!

 And this last one was just taken on my deck at home - was playing around with my tripod and some beautiful roses I bought ... thought I'd get in nice and close ...

So there you go ... can you tell I just LOVE my camera?   My full-day photography course with Mark Gray Photography is coming up soon .... here's the link if you're interested - looks like he's put his prices up since I signed on though!   Hope I manage to take some pics that look even remotely similar to those ones ...

Anyway, that's it for now - time to get ready for the school/kinder run.

Talk to you soon!

Ness.

xoxo

A couple of cards and a layout to show you ....

Well, for some unknown reason, I seem to be on a bit of a roll with my creating at the moment - I went for sooooo long doing absolutely nothing, and now I'm doing a layout or card every day or so - woot woot!

Anyway, here are the latest things to show you -

And some lovely paper from the Olivia range from Basic Grey -



And how cute is this little dude?  I bought a mixed pack of chipboard bits and pieces, just because this little guy was in the pack  :)

Well, that's all for now - I had a play with my Copic markers and one of my new La La Land stamps last night - have to turn him into a card tonight, so I might have something else to show you tomorrow.

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo

We're all famous -

Hello again -

Browing through all the Facebook newsfeeds last night, and noticed that Leanne Stamatellos now has her very own website (and what a fabulous job her designer has done, too!)  ... and I highly suggest you check out pic 15 in the Portraits gallery ... might see some little rugrats that look familiar :D

And we all feature on her new blog header as well - which you can see here.

Leanne really does do such beautiful work ... I can highly recommend booking a session with her if you get the chance!

Anyway, that's it for now - will hopefully have some pics to show you later today.

Take care!
Ness.
xoxo

Yay - another layout done ...

Hello again -

Well, what a busy week it's been!   All the usual running around during the week, and then I had the chance to do a Copic beginners course with Vicki this morning at the Picture to Page scrapbooking show.

It was great to spend a couple of hours learning how to use these markers properly - they really are fantastic!  And then we got to do the obligatory scrap shopping at the show afterwards - picked up a few bargains, and a couple of super-cute La La Land stamps, to use my new Copic markers on ... and I even managed to win myself a door prize!   I never win anything, so this was a lovely surprise.   I chose a beautiful pack of Fancy Pants papers - the "That Boy" range - lovely muted boy colours on Kraft cardstock ... right up my alley!

Anyway, only one pic to show you tonight - whipped this up during the week after flicking back through our photos from Christmas time .... I never thought I'd end up using the St Kilda Schoolgirl saga as inspiration for a scrapbooking layout, but there you go.   I really love how this series of photos turned out.

Well, that's it from me for now - I'm off to play with some of my new purchases from today.   We've got another 1st birthday party to go to tomorrow, so not much crafting time for me I'm afraid - hopefully I can get back into it again tomorrow night.

Hope you're all having a great weekend so far, and I'll talk to you again soon.

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

Everybody loves Liam ...

Well, here it is, as promised - the pic of the layout I worked on last weekend while Nick took the boys camping.

Finally opened up my new sewing machine last night (only bought it a month ago!) and had a play with the machine stitching border around the pic ...

For info, the journalling reads: 

I don’t know what it is about Liam …

but it seems that all the ladies love him!  

He’s always had more girls for friends than boys

at ABC … Hannah ( of course!), and then Emily

and Alexia, and then there’s Daniella up at school

while we’re waiting for Ashton, but now that Liam’s started at kinder, 

the trend for female friends

is continuing!   After each kinder session,

there are long goodbyes with Emily, and now

there’s also Elsa, Eden, and Tori  

to contend with - they even jostle for position,

to be able to sit next to Liam for story time!  

I don’t know how he does it … but then again,

he’s so darn cute,

I guess it’s no real surprise ….

Thanks for looking!

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo.

Feeling a bit like the family taxi ...

Hello again!

Haven't had a lot time to do very much creating lately - I seem to be either working, dropping off at school or kinder or childcare, or picking up from school or kinder or childcare, or driving to basketball, or driving to gymnastics, or driving to swimming, or attending kinder as a parent helper, or attending kinder Social Committee meetings, or attending kinder Management Committee meetings, or attending morning teas at either school or kinder .... spare time - what's that??   So much for taking 2 hours each week and having some ME time ... so far, each week, something else has had to come first.   Hopefully, next week, I'll get 2 hours of ME time, all just for me, but knowing me, I'll either book something into the diary, or if I do have free time, I won't know what to do with myself!

Anyway, I did have a chance to put a little layout together very quickly last night while Nick was out at (yet another) work function ... and I also did a card using the February card sketch challenge over at Scrapchat -

And I'm currently putting the finishing touches to a double layout I started on the weekend when Nick had taken the boys away camping ... it's almost finished, but I want to do some machine stitching on it, so I will need to actually open up the sewing machine that I bought about a month ago, and learn how to use it first!

Stay tuned for a pic of that layout though - I'm really loving how it's coming together so far ...

I had the opportunity to be a helper at kinder again last week, and it was great fun!   Liam has settled in really well to the kinder routine (we haven't been late once - not even when it's an 8.30 am start!), and he has already made many friends.   His teacher and her assistant are just lovely - they really do run a fabulous program there.  


Anyway, I need to go peruse the instruction manual for my new sewing machine, so I'll leave it there for now.

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo

Finally, some creativity strikes ...

Hello again -

Well, isn't time just flying by this year?  I can't believe we're over half way through February already ...

I've had a little bit of inspiration lately - finishing up some lettering that has been lying around, and I also decided to embark on my first ever paper bag album ... here are some pics for you.

I have decided to give the album to a friend for her birthday this week - she can choose whichever photos she would like to include in it.   There are also cards inserted into each of the open bag ends, for additional photos or journalling.   Hope she likes it!

And here are a few cards I've made ...

Things in the Bradford household have been pretty busy of late - school is back, with Ashton now in Grade 2, and Liam has started at kinder, which he's loving!    We've had dinner with friends both nights this weekend, and have been busy most Friday and Saturday nights since the start of the year!   It's all good though :) 

One thing I'm loving is getting back into playing 500 again - we used to play it A LOT with friends, but they aren't together anymore, and so our card playing ceased forthwith as well.   But, we've been teaching Kath and Justin how to play, and they've picked it up really quickly.   We also had a chance to play 500 with Greg and Brooke when they came for dinner last night, which was great.

We took the boys to the Victorian Herpetological Society Expo yesterday - there were snakes and geckos and frogs and turtles everywhere, and it was actually pretty cool.  The boys got to hold a couple of snakes, so they were pretty excited about that.

Well, I'm still feeling inspired with the whole paper bag album concept, so I'm making another one for a friend who has a birthday coming up in a week (and she's just had a new baby too), so I need to finish it off and post it to her in time for the big day.

Thanks for dropping by,
Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo

A quick link about Formula 1 ...

Well hello again everyone, and happy new year to you!

Can't believe it's taken me nearly all of January to actually post in my blog ... sorry about that.   And sorry that this isn't even a scrapbooking post!   I did actually sit at my desk and create a few things last night, for the first time this year, but I'm not ready to post pictures yet.

I did stumble across this link last night whilst going for a bit of a surf, and thought I'd share it - it's a fabulous montage of coverage by the FIA of the 2010 Formula 1 season.  It was shown at the F1 Gala at the end of last year.

Awesome footage, mixed with a few little funny bits (funny to those that follow the sport).  Maybe a little bit too much Sebastian Vettel coverage for my liking, but I spose it's understandable, given that he was the World Champ last year.  Even so ....

Anyway, without further ado, here's the link - FIA Gala Formula 1 montage

Enjoy!

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo

Some cards to show ...

Hello again!   Long time no blog ... I'm afraid that life has switched into overdrive again, what with work and school winding up for the year, and Christmas fast approaching, time is just flying by ..

Anyway, as far as Christmas goes, I'm fairly organised this year - I have basically finished my Christmas shopping already.  Woot woot!!   There might be the odd little gift I need to buy, but I can't think of them yet,so I'm happy calling it complete.

I've even made and sent out my Christmas cards already, which is way too organised for me!

Anyway, I have finally found some time this week to get back to creating a few little things ... today I have had to make this sympathy card for my boss and his wife, as her father passed away this week -

And here is a card I had a play with last night, using the lovely After Five range from Kaisercraft....

 

And here is a cute little birthday card I made, that I coloured with Copic Ciao markers (thanks for the loan, Vicki!).     I would love to get some of these markers, but there are sooooo many colours to choose from (344 at last count I think), and you need to get the right colour combinations and numbers, to make sure that the shading works properly.  Anyway, Christmas is coming up (and I've been VERY good this year!), and I sold a few Stampin' Up! sets on Ebay recently, so I might just treat myself.

And finally, here are some pics of some extra Christmas cards and general cards that I've made, just to have on hand, using scraps of letters I had lying around.  

 

So, with Nick out in the garage playing with all his new car audio bits and pieces (and there's a LOT of them!), I think it's time to get creating again.

Hope you are all surviving this weather we've been having - I'm starting to feel a little waterlogged!

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

Finally, another layout to show you ...

Hello again!

Just thought I'd quickly post a pic of the layout that I did last night - it's pretty similar to one I've done before in style, and there's certainly nothing complicated about it, but I just HAD to do something with this fabulous photo of my boys from the photoshoot with Leanne Stamatellos.   And also I just love using Kraft cardstock ... I think it makes the colours in the photo really pop out at you.

Anyway, here 'tis!

I'm hoping the inspiration continues tonight - Nick's away at the moment, so I've got the boys in bed on time tonight, and I'm heading down to my scrap space - might work through some ideas for Christmas cards - it's not very far away at all!

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

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

Introducing Lily ...

Hello again -

Just thought I'd make a really quick post, to introduce you to the newest member of our family, the lovely miss Lily ...

Isn't she gorgeous??   We got word through Nick's mum that a friend of hers was looking to house a couple of black labrador puppies, so we decided we just had to have one.   It will be great for the kids to be involved with raising a puppy, and will also give Zali a bit of a spark back too ... and anyway, all excuses aside, who could resist such a beautiful face??

She's been terrific so far - very playful when she first wakes up, but pretty chilled out for the rest of the day - and she's very, very snuggly!   She loves cuddles, and loves to climb on to my lap as soon as I sit on the floor to play with her.

So now I have even MORE photos of things that I want to scrap - guess I better finish organising my stuff then, so I can get cracking on the scrapbooking front.

That's all for now ... just had to share a pic of our new baby girl ... so I'll talk to you soon.

Ness.
xoxo

Here's my layout pic ...

... I'm going to try again and upload the pic of the first layout I did using one of Leanne Stamatellos' beautiful photos .... here goes!

Having a little bit of scrapping inspiration of late too, so hopefully I should have some more pics to show you soon.

Hope you're having a lovely weekend so far - Nick's gone to the Phillip Island MotoGP, so I'm with the kidlets today.  I think we'll take a trip to the aquarium in Boronia and get a few more fish ... our tank is pretty healthy I think, as we have baby fish and baby snails at the moment, and 2 more fish are about to pop as well (livebearers).

Other than that, I'm a bit stuck for ideas today, but I'm sure we'll think of something fun to do :)

Talk to you soon,
Ness.
xoxo

It's been so long ....

... since I last updated my blog, but so much has been happening in my world of late, and not all of it good I'm afraid.

First of all, I had to bid a very sad farewell to my gorgeous pussycat Winston a couple of weeks ago.  The little spunk had been part of my life for just on 16 years, and it was so sad to have to say goodbye to him.   And to make matters worse, the last couple of weeks of his life weren't the best, as he decided to run under the car while I was driving up the driveway, and I ran over his leg!   So, off to the vet we went, and we did a series of blood tests, to determine that, even though he was 16 years old, he really was still in top condition, so we decided to operate to pin his leg, and $850 later, we had Winston home with us again.

Things were going along really well for about a week and a half, and then on the Thursday of the second week, he just wasn't himself.  I went in to feed him in the morning, and he just looked so grumpy.   That was the day that the stitches had to come out, and I was a bit concerned about him, so I got the vet to check him over.  He didn't have a temperature, but did seem to have some fluid on his shoulder at the surgery site, so they drained some fluid and said to take him back if he hadn't improved in a day or two.

Well, that night we went to dinner for Dad's birthday, and I came home to find Winston in quite considerable distress in the bathroom - front legs locked outstretched while the rest of his body was floppy, and his head was lolling around with his eyes tracking from side to side ... he was breathing very rapidly and was 'moaning' a bit as well, and as soon as I saw him, I knew that the end was near.  

Thankfully, I still had one syringe of painkiller left for him which I gave to him straight away, and we went and had a long cuddle on the couch.  I could feel him slipping away in my arms, and it was so distressing.   After about 10 minutes he let out this really big sigh and finally his legs relaxed a bit and his breathing became more regular, and he gave me one last nudge under my chin and snuggled into my arms.   We sat there for what seemed an eternity, but I decided that I just couldn't be holding him when he actually passed away, so I put him up into his bed and made him as comfortable as possible, and said my goodbyes.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case may be), when I went to check on him in the morning, he had died during the night.  He hadn't actually moved from the position that I put him in on his bed.   At least I didn't have to take him to the vets and make that terrible decision that I had dreaded making only a week and a bit earlier.

I hope that I made his last moments with me as comfortable as possible ...he really was one of the most beautiful cats I've ever known. 

Writing this is proving to be quite therapeutic, as I currently have tears streaming down my face again ...   Winston came into my life in 1994 after a very difficult time in my life, and had been with me ever since.   I will miss him terribly.

The boys took the news really well - Ashton's first response was that we should go and buy a beautiful tree for the garden - The Winston Tree - so we can remember him forever.   We have done this, and planted a nice little garden for him to boot, and we go out and visit him daily. 

Here's the most recent pic I have of Winston - taken back in summer this year - with him totally flaked out sleeping under the back table .... so chilled out ...

And, on top of all the Winston drama, I've had another operation on my knee, so I'm back to hobbling around again with a knee the size of a football.   Thankfully the recovery is tracking along nicely though, and I should be back to normal again in another week or two.

We've also had school holidays to deal with again, and so many birthday parties for the boys to go to as well - including Ashton's 7th birthday.  We had a lovely party for him at the local minigolf centre, and I even organised a terrific cake for him ... how fabulous does R2D2 look??  (With a big thankyou to Max from Megamax cakes for making such an awesome cake!)

 I have also done a layout using one of the pics from Leanne's photoshoot, but Blogger has now decided to be rather annoying, and isn't letting me upload it, so I'll have to have another go at it over the weekend.

Well, I know I have a very busy day at work tomorrow (including organising for our hot water serve to be fixed as it blew up today), so I guess I should get to bed.

I will write again soon, I promise ...

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo

The CD has arrived ...

Hello all!

Very excited tonight, as I checked my letterbox today, and the CD from Leanne Stamatellos Photography had arrived (packaged beautifully, I might add  - of course!).

Here are a few more pics from the shoot ... there are so many great shots, it's hard to choose a favourite!

So there you go - some really great shots there - lots to keep myself busy at my scrapbooking table for the next little while, that's for sure!

Thanks for looking, and I'll talk to you soon.

Cheers,
Ness.
xoxo