so so excited

Well its here.

My long awaited, anticipated weekend in Adelaide where I catch up with 5 very good online friends. I 'met' them about a year ago on a scrapbooking forum. The girls are all flying in from Melbourne and one from Perth (I think) and we all land about the same time early Fri morning.

We are all staying with Nat and her very amazing hubbie in their home. There's a couple of Adelaide chicks joining us as well for the weekend. We'll land, we'll coffee, we'll shop, we'll unpack, we'll eat a lot, we'll open the bar early, we'll talk alot, we'll laugh alot, we'll scrap a bit amd we'll sleep little.

lol. My weekend escape starts tomorrow as I have appts in Lincoln and scrapnite tomorrow nite. I'll stay down at my Grandpa's rather than drive back and forth.

I don't think the plane will allow a trailer to be hitched on behind it, and the thought of downsizing what I need to bring stash wise breaks me into a cold sweat. I dont pre plan LOs. It all happens as it happens. So I had to either drive it all across or take none at all and fly. So I am flying with the lappy, the camera and a toothbrush. (and a few necessaries like a change of clothes). I have left plenty of room to bring goodies home tho!!!


Yipppppeeeeeeeee. I am nearly out of here

I'll be back Sunday night. Very weary but I'll be very happy scrappy chicky.

santa's little helper.

I've had a fairly busy last 24 hours.

Sean developed asthma late Friday night and by Sunday early arvo I couldn't manage it home anymore. As soon as he doesn't respond to the nebuliser at home, I pack hospital bags and head on in.

As Kym was away as of Friday and not returning till after tea last night, I had to find someone to have Annie for me. Huge thanks to my very good friends the Nicholls family. My stress level dropped dramatically when you said yes and I was there within 10 mins. I am so lucky to have you to lean on when I need someone. Thank you so much.

Hourly nebs for 48 hours are exhausting for Sean. He is such a little trooper and he is the 'happiest wheezer' I know. Not really grumpy at all. I know I would be just horrid if I was in his shoes. At last he had a stretch of 3 hours sleep about dawn this morning.

Kym has gone in on 'day shift' today, and if Sean is still there tonight, I'll head back in. I much rather the night shift as Sean gets on a Neb high during the day and starts to buzz. Tricky to keep him reasonably quiet in a very busy country hospital. Kym is much more patient than I am in this situation.

So I came home this morning, had a snooze, caught up on emails, FB and finished a LO.

***edited to add*** he's in again tonight so I am too. Sean's improving slowly but surely.

sorry that the focus is a bit out, but I reckon my eyes were a bit blurry from a severe lack of sleep. lol.
Now to explain these little roses.

I love Prima flowers. Very very much. They are shockingly expensive. So when I found this little tutorial on Nic Nac's blog I jumped all over it and made myself little rosettes straight away. Zip over there and have a look, leave her a comment and say where you found her link from. ;o)


If you have those Kaiser flowers by the dozens, or the little Prima flowers, then this tutorial is for you. Use up a few, make some room in the stash for newer blooms and its such a cool look a like for a fraction of the cost. And it takes about a minute for each one.

Easy Peasy.

stop to smell the flowers.

been having a play with Jessica Sprague's classes again. (now that I found some time to do so). With so little effort, photos can take on a total different feel. And now that vintage and shabby is back in vogue scrapping wise, what perfect timing.

just gotta love Jessica.

da da da daa (as in the wedding march)

WIRED

I woke up half an hour ago. I woke up in Annie's bed. I fell asleep while she was reading her reader to me. Oh dear. Little poppet must have realised that I was a bit pooped so she let me be and didnt wake me up. Lucky for her and me she sleeps in a queen size bed (not bad for a nearly 7 year old).

So now I am wide awake. After this I post this I intend to finish my assignment for Module 3. No excuse of being tired now!!!!

genealogy

Hi there. Miss me. LOL.

with one thing and another this week got away on me.
What with BAS, IAS, end of month accounts, reconciling, and working thru module 3 of the course I'm studying, I didnt have much inclination to scrap.

Thank goodness for Thursday nights in Lincoln at Scrapworkz. My sanity saviour. With a tiny bit of pre planning - something that I normally do not do at all - I managed to get this one done and nearly another.



And I hope that FB and my blog are now communicating so my posts go on my wall with the thumbnail pic without me manually putting it there. Fingers crossed.
;)

123 again.

lol.
I fluffed it the first time round so have had another go at it.
so
testing testing 123.

hopefully now FB and my blog are now networked.

fingers crossed.

;)

ps. apparently having your blog posts on FB is the new trend thing to do. Its also an easy way to get your word out 'there'. instead of relying on people finding me here. lol. Its a 2 way thing if you ask me.

testing testing 123.

just seeing if my blog is now 'networkedblogs' on FB.

holiday check list revisited

As I had said that I would come back to my holiday list of activites and check them off, I better do it.

PLAY tick
sleep in (I wish) tick, only got two in.
go to Lincoln to watch a movie with the kids. tick, Ice Age 3. its a giggle
picnic on North Block up by the tower big tick. It was fantastic.
they'll come with me for my photo sessions. (handy distractions for the kids coming to see me) tick
have a least 2 whole complete Dad days (already have one booked!!) tick tick
come to the Hunt with me. tick
have at least one pyjama day tick
cook with them. (big challenge as I burn, I don't cook) lol da daa didnt happen.
hopefully see the newborn guinea pigs of which we are acquiring two. da daa. They're still not born yet. I think the two Mum GP are having phantom pregnancies.
go visit Granny. tick
visit Port Lincoln Kinder Gym. tick
See Paige tick (Happy 19th Bday chicky!!)
Play in the playground and have an ice cream in Tumby Bay. tick
Have friends over to play. tick
Visit friends to play. tick

For me
PLAY. with the kids. with scrapping. with photo sessions. with photo editing. with life!!! TICK!!!
change over office file systems for new financial year tick
I need to be in Whyalla so I will need to visit Spotlight and the Scrapshop (of course) tick.
attend both scrapnites in Lincoln and the one in Cummins. tick tick tick and a tick for Lock srap day.
finish module 3 and 4 and to have started 5. (this is a biggie) da daaa. Became so busy with photo sessions that they became my focus for the holidays instead of study.
Complete the online Jessica Sprague photo editing and frameups course (so looking forward to this one) half a tick. Half way thru and LOVIN it. If you didnt sign up, give yourself a swift kick in the bum. You should have!!
sleep in (I wish) tick
start on gathering end of financial year paperwork for the accountant. (gulp) a bit of a tick
shoot the photography sessions I have booked and add more bookings to my diary. tick x 10. Had the most awesome sessions with lots of families including Dads. Soooo much fun.

So that's it. I covered nearly everything but failed miserably with Study. Have a day planned with Tanya on Tuesday to make some head way.

Hope you all had great holidays with your kids.

4g

oh it felt good. With all the photography sessions I've done in the school holidays, (all 10 of them) my scrapping and studying has been sadly neglected. So now that I'm up to date with the processing, I scrapped. And I loved it. These gorgeous crochet flowers are hand made by Lindy at Sheoak Craft Cottage. Aren't they lovely.

Journaling says.
Sean. You come from good stock.
Ol Grandpa Noble. He is your Great Grandfather. He was 82 years old in this photo.
Then there is you. Everyone’s golden hair boy. You were 22 months old.
Granny Smart is holding you. Grandpa Noble is her Dad. This photo was taken on her 60th birthday at Tumby Bay.
Mum. Granny is your Mum’s mum. I was 37 then.
Uncle Brett. He drives trucks and you thought he was so cool because of this. He was 35 back then.
Annie. Your sister and protector. She loves you so much. At this time she was 5 and a bit.
So between Ol Grandpa, Granny, Mum and you there are 4 generations.
1.12.2007

me & mine.

at last. Some pics of me with my family. All too often I am behind the camera for the family photos and very rarely get the chance to step in front of the camera to be with them.

Tanya has the same problem. So we set up a day to take a few pics of each other's families.

So thanks Tanya. I am very grateful.

I look so tired. Hmm... if I was vain I'd be thinking Botox....

my three reasons for living. They are the centre of my world. I would do and give anything to keep them safe and healthy.

my golden hair angel.

Mr M, Miss T & Miss A

If ever Billabong, Roxy or Ripcurl need a family for their beach clothing photography shoot, this family is so it. Blonde, blue-eyed and devastating.



The camera loves them. I ended up with so many rippa photos after processing, I had to burn a DVD as there were just too many for a CD.



There is a lot of love in this family. It really shows.



Thanks heaps guys. You make my job far too easy.

;o)
t

CHA peeks.

Meredith posted this link on the e2c blog.

http://www.thescrapreview.com/

All the goodies being released from CHA Summer. Other sites I've visited to peek I had to do a million clicks to see the products. Not on Scrap Review. Just scroll, scroll, scroll. It took me nearly an hour and a lot of drooling to have a good look at them all. Just too easy. So thanks Meredith for the link. That made life much easier. Now I want, want, want.....

5xP

These boys were a pleasure to work with. They gave Mum and Dad no stress at all. So I didn't have any either. I did manage to get a quick shot of a set of eyes that were brimming with unspilled tears but he was all smiles the next minute.

Thanks Mum and Dad. Enjoy your sneak peek.

ps. I reckon Granny Sue will be looking for a copy of these. *wink*

twilight eyes. How unreal are these. I have dropped out the skin tones and left the eyes exactly as they are. Doesnt the ring of hazel really stand out.

awwww.

north block picnic.

At last.



Something that I have wanted to do for a very long time. A picnic on top of North Block. Up by the tower. I only discovered recently that North and South Block are not actually Marble Range. MR is a set of hills next to them. The view from home shows them all pretty much all joined together. That is so not the case.

(Nth Block from home. We had our picnic at the very top )

So that really motivated me to go for a picnic and check out the views (and to see how wrong I was). With school holidays here, this was the perfect time. We waited for a good day weather wise. And waited. And waited. And finally today was it. The perfect day.

KM and her boys came along for the day too. We even had a spray plane spreading Urea below us. How weird to be above a plane instead of below it when its working.

Picnic with a view.

The towers. Discovered the large tower is for aircraft navigation. and those satillete dishes were humming. You could really hear them.

It was only a little bit hazy. It wasn't cold, it wasn't windy. We had a tiny light shower of rain that drizzled over. That just lent to the atmosphere.

Today was magnificent. Just how I hoped it would be.

Thanks K and the boys for the company. All the kids had a blast. Esp with the bubbles flying off up, up and away.
the real Marble Range with T on the left.



Rain on Lake Malata.

Rain on Lake Greenly.

me checking out the vista

Ridgeway men.

oh the joy.

3 photo shoots today. AND all the came Dads along. AND they were all really keen to be there. I'll post the pics as I finish each set.

The first one was a bit of a challenge for me. 2 reclutant teenagers and a nearly teen. I had been trying to have this one happen on the sly for the last couple of weeks with no luck. So I asked Dad to help me be conniving. Why, you ask. Well, it was to be a surprise for Mum. Maryanne is a very good friend of mine and I know her boys frustrate her immensely when she picks up the camera. And with N in Year 12 this year, he has nearly left home. So I really wanted to get the fellas together while everyone is still living as a family under the one roof.

In the end, Maryanne was suspicious this morning so the 'surprise' didn't quite happen as planned. No big deal. I had a yarn to her on the phone and asked if she wanted to come on in with her camera and take some shots too. Go check her blog for her angle of photo shoot.

Surprise Maryanne. (well, sort of)

;oD

t

annie's clock

Annie's clock from today scrapping at Shabby Chic Shack. Thanks Jane for the critiquing.

;o)

Sean's clock

This is one of the clock faces I did today up at Shabby Chic Shack Scrap Day. Just love the vintage feel that the paper lends to this one. The clock face is a Heidi Swapp Overlay. LOVE them. The journal spot is recycled Prima packaging.

ps. Thanks Jane for her jeans button *wink*. I called it something else but its a little bit rude to say it here. lol.

colour swatch link

ever unsure of what colour cardstock or PP to go with a photo. go here.

http://pictaculous.com/

very very cool.

found it via Jessica Sprague on FB.
thanks chick.

she's done it.

Proud Mum moment.

go here and then scroll down just a little bit.

http://fluffingaround.blogspot.com/2009/07/medical-report.html

I'm so proud of her.

She is very very excited by it.

Nicholl's x3

oh so photogenic.

S - you're smile is so real.

M- thanks mate for being happy to sit in with the 'girls'. You're a legend.
And J. My very good friend. You should be so very proud of yourself. You have two very well grounded young adults that love you very much. They are a reflection of you.

enjoy your sneak peek. I loved having time with you today.

:oD

just checking

is anyone having problems with my blog page loading up?? Or an error message in regard to the slide show on the right hand side? A friend of mine is having hassles and so I am wondering if its an isolated problem or if its happening to everyone. could you please comment and let me know either way.

I really appreciate it very much.

with thanks.
Tiff

photoshop FUN

I've been learning some photo editing techniques in Photoshop with Jessica Sprague tonight. And I am having so much FUN.
Have learnt heaps and cant wait to wake up tomorrow and start on the next session. I am involved in a 14 day workshop and an very very glad I signed up when I did.



check this out.



before (untouched from the camera)

after

shit hot!!

mum & dad

can now reveal after publication

A LO done for Sean's albums. I strongly believe in putting Kym and myself (aka Dad and Mum) in the kids books, to show how much we love each other and just so the kids can look back one day and have a good ol laugh at how we used to look way back then lol.

This LO is in response to a sketch challenge at E2C blog.

stay warm!!

**edited to add** I have trimmed the edge on this one since I posted it and added Red cardstock as a border on the outside edge. Now it looks finished!!

medical report.

t's confirmed. My good knee is stuffed. Not in a major way, but I am now looking at my 3rd knee op since I was a teenager (looong time ago lol). So with fingers crossed, I can be slotted in at the beginning of September.

To find this out I needed to see a doc up in Whyalla (some 2.5 hours away), so a girlie road trip was in order, with retail therapy in mind. Sandra and Janice jumped on in and off we went. I never knew that Whyalla was as close as it seemed yesterday. Talk about laugh, chat, goss and generally all round good times made the time absolutely whizz by. 1.5 hours in Spotlight is just not enough. And that was just in the Craft section. I never had time to see the rest. The girls checked out Cheap As Chips next door while I had my Dr's appt. Lunch in Westlands, quick look around and then off to Daisy Chains. (little treasure trove that place).

As Maryanne had to work and so wasnt able to come with us :( we brought back a little something to let her know that we missed her.

By the time we got back it was about 5.30ish. Scrapnite at the Sheoak last night. I ripped home, dropped off my goodies, picked up the lappy with a couple of ciders in the esky, and tore back into town. Photoshopped my back log of pics. It was a lot easy to grab the 'puter, than to lug everything in and then work with it. ( I must be geting slack).

can now reveal after publication in Scrapbooking Memories Young Scrappers Iss 12 no.2. pg 110

 

This is Annie's answer to the E2C music challenge. She sat and watched the video a couple of times and off she went. She had very little input from me (it ticks her off if I interfere, so I usually go to a different room in the house and come in if she calls out for help). TBH trees and birds just dont do it for me. Never have and probably never will. So I wondered for ages how I could support the blog with this challenge. LoL, I woke up with the answer this morning. Little blossom has asked me to sub it for the junior scrappers in SBM as well. ( I wonder where she got that idea from??) rofpmsl

We have the M men (3 young chaps) staying with us tonight, so a household of noisy fun is sure to be had. Cant wait. These guys all give me hugs and kisses and I just love it!!