lou

Lou left tonight.

:(


What an amazing person you are. You are so nonplussed, grounded, and gracious. And a lady. Thank you for staying over the extra days after the retreat and mingling with my friends.

lunch at the 5 Loaves Bakery today. (no, its not my ice coffee!!)

You truly have won them over with you're being so down to earth and as they all have said "she's just like us!!"

When we first met last year at a scrappy weekend in Adelaide, (hostess with the mostess Nat), we both felt we had a connection. Well by hell, we have found so many more its just freaky. Not many similarities at all in a scrapping sense but oh so many in personality, family and attitude to life.

Life it to the full Lou, and smell the roses along the way.

oh and be sure to hold my reservation at Hotel La Nelson if Seriously gets their retreat organised.

Annie says you ROK.

mwah.

essence of innocence

LO from the retreat weekend. Big mwah to Mel for the little piece of picket fence. Love Twiddleybitz. and in case you're wondering I used an old manual dinosaur of a typewriter to do my journaling with.

a vision splendid

Lou and I had lunch today with Kylie, Miss B, Maryanne and Jaki.  BYO camera to catch the view.

And our overhead visitor. We had 4 of them soaring at one stage. I didn't have my camera out when all four of them were checking us out. tsk tsk.

like father, like son

I'll post the LO's I completed at the E2C retreat over  the next few days.

I wouldn't want to overwhelm you
:p

e2c10 wrap up

phew. awesome. simply awesome.

It was so different and wonderful being just a scrapper and not being involved on the team this year. I take my hat off to the girls this year. Yet again the bar has been raised and there is talk of next year as a definite. (Thank goodness.)

Just a couple of pics that I have the ok to post here. (thanks Lincoln girls for all giving me the ok on your group bunny pic).

I had the pleasure of sitting in with Louise Nelson and Ange on our table. I met these two most wonderful friends last year in Adelaide and it was just so lovely that we picked up from where we left off from them. I did watch how Louise does what she does out of the corner of my eye. Did I learn some new tricks!!!

(photo courtesy of e2c blog)

Lou's hanging around for a few days and tomorrow we're heading up North Block for a picnic lunch with Maryanne. Today was recovery and scouring Patches at the Bay and the second hand shop over in Tumby. And spending some quality time with Sandra.

I have had a few enquires over the weekend if I am doing a photo CD again. To be honest I hadnt thought of it until the first lady asked me. So I started taking a pic of just about everyone there and a fair few candid shots too. If you would like a copy please comment below, email  (most of you would have my email addy), txt, phone or Facebook me. I'll get in contact with you on how to get the disc to you and payment for it.

back and in it.

Unpacked, fed and watered after the retreat. And scrapping tonight.


pics to come over the next few days..... there's a few to go through  ;o)


mwah.
t

authentic expression

Wow. Powerful stuff. What motivation to really write from the heart and to live life to the full.

Found it on Ali E's blog by guest blogger Stacy Julian.

aqua kids

We had a warm blast of Indian Summer just before our public pool shut for the winter season. So with the water warmed again (its solar heated) the kids and I jumped in for our last aqua photo session. This time I mainly focused on Sean and his antics.

But I couldn't resist this one of Annie with her mermaid hair. Her hair nearly touches the bottom while she floats at the surface. Wow.

I'm all packed for the E2C retreat this weekend but I did leave my laptop out to the last minute so I could do photo editing tonight. I just cant sit still and do nothing now can I lol.

I'm picking up Louise N early in the morning. Can't wait to catch up with her again. We met last year at a scrap weekend over in Adelaide and we got on like a house on fire. We are so alike in alot of ways. Lou is staying over for a few days after the retreat and I've plans to take up to North Block of Marble Range for the panoramic view. On a clear day its breath taking. Oh and a bit of scrapping too!!

I doubt I'll sleep very well tonight. I'm far too excited about this weekend. This is my first big scrap weekend being on the other side of the table (so to speak). I stepped back from the E2C team last year and the anticipation for the retreat this year is powerful. I know exactly how much work goes on behind the scene for the weekend to run perfectly so I would really like to congratulate the team in advance for the most look forwarded to weekend that I've had for a long time.

chink chink.

our petal.

Another one I started up @ Lock last Friday night. Thanks to Karen D for letting me lift an element from one of her LO's. Then I got stuck. I just couldn't get anywhere with it so I put it away.

I pulled it out tonight and had another go. And stuff me, I had it all together in 30mins.

I'll be sure to remember that at the E2C Retreat this weekend. If I get stuck on a LO, put it away and pull another one that gets my juices in a lather. I will always come back to the other one with a new set of eyes and usually new ideas.

packing day tomorrow.....

stuff

I woke up with no voice on Tuesday morning. And felt rather crappy. I am SO glad it happened now and not in a few days time when I'll be on my retreat. phewww. should be mostly over it by Friday me thinks.

I've been gathering some stuff together for the Retreat, getting journaling tags done, photos in order, some papers to match and a huge tidy up of my scrap desk. I bought some white storage boxes from Cheap as Chips awhile ago and I put them together tonight. So crisp and clean. The bottom box is a large A3 size for all my printed photos and memorabilia that goes with them, all in date order. The top box it a bit like a box that hangs suspension files. That houses most of the crap out of view that was on my table. Ahhh, much better.

I've been tiding house over the last week or so, and even got a bit of gardening done. My yards have been somewhat neglected since the scrap bug bit. Fortunately when I planted it many years ago, it was to be a low maintenance garden, and it's certainly that.

I need to pack Annie's gear to go on camp this weekend, and Sean with his gear to go with Kym to Broken Hill for a couple of weeks as of this weekend as well. Guess what I'm doing tomorrow
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naa,     tricked ya. I'm mowing the house yard while Sean's at Kindy. Hopefully I'll have time to drive the ride on down the track to tidy up around our front gate.... and then pack.

primary producer

One from my scrapnite up @ Shabby Chick Shack last Friday night.

And thanks to Judy W for offering her idea of the coiled rope. mwah.

I've used textures in the photos to give them mood and to have a bit of a rustic look to them.

EP Camera Club - the wrap up.

*long post alert*

What an inspiring weekend.

I've come home very humbled, exhilarated, motivated and trigger happy.

None of my entries won anything, I really did not expect that they would. The whole reason for having a go was to broaden my horizons. Well, it certainly did that.

The winning pic for the year was indeed magnificent. As I'm still putting faces and names to photograph entries together I don't recollect off the top of my head the name of the lady who shot it.

This one of mine scored the best - 10/15.  I was pretty stoked with that.

Yesterday we had a photo walk comp. Some 25 photographers were given a sheet of 16 clues. We had to locate them, shoot them and have them back to be downloaded in 2 hours. I can tell you 2 hours flew. I was in a car with 4 people and by the time each person took their series of shots that time was chewed up. We had 20 mins left and still 4 objects to locate. So we ran from car to the spot, shoot, shoot, shoot, run back to the car, get to the next spot, etc etc etc. I watched what the others were shooting, their angles, the framing up of the object and did something totally different to them.

There was a curly clause chucked in the hints in small writing. All shots to be taken in horizontal mode. I think some of the people didn't read that one. lol.

We made it. We then downloaded our images, deleted all but the best one for each object. No editing allowed. All SOOC. These then were judged for overall effect for each shooter. These are some of my shots.

 the most well known letter M in the world (most of the photographers took pics of the Big M on the post, so I ran into the store and asked for one of their take away bags.)

Photograph a yacht at the yacht club. (most of the photographers took photos of an actual yacht)

how many elephants on Tasman Terrace. (most photographers took pics of the 8 in the business name.)

Photograph a horses head (just used a different angle)

Port Lincoln's newest pub (most of the photographers took pics of the building)

Air Force War Memorial (most of the photographers didn't use foliage to frame the shot)

A shot of the Anzac tree (most of the photographers took pics of the tree, where I wanted to signify the 'lone pine'

Propeller of the tuna boat Maria Louise (most of the photographers took pics of the whole prop)

shot of a seagull ( just in the right place at the right time with a lovely background)

Pacific Gull -worth 5 bonus points. (again lucky timing)

spiral staircase on the old Mill. (tried a few different shots and liked this on the best. A view from under the stairwell)

I was massively stunned when they read out my name as the winner. What a shock! What an honour! I was presented with this.

The trophy is all in the name of fun but an honour as well.

I've just joined the Lincoln Camera Club and I'm really keen to get a Cummins Branch off the ground. I have had a lot of support from Lincoln, Elliston and a very high up in the Association gentleman who lives in Whyalla who is keen as mustard to travel down to speak, educate and motivate our group.

I'm checking out what happens in camera club meetings by participating in Lincoln and seeing what I am committing myself too, before I fully go ahead with the plan. But I'm keen. Really keen.

sookie la la

From last night @ Scrapworkz in Pt Lincoln.

Based on an advertising page challenge from Write.Click.Scrap.

And I'm heading up to Lock tonight for a scrapnite up there.

Photography presentation dinner tomorrow night. So looking forward to that. Mainly to have a dinner with Kym. We've worked out that we haven't had a night off together since Paige's grad dinner, over 2 years ago. Yikes. Time flies fast

Have a great weekend.

framed

 colour challenge of white and orange over at the E2C blog. Originally I had other PP with this one, but I changed it over to suit the challenge.

have a great day.

me time

A quickie from today.

And what a coincidence is this? I know that Jancie and Sandra both have LO's on the go and we all have the same colour scheme. How ironic.

cloud scapes

Every now and then there are some wonderful clouds in the sky and if you take the time to pause in madness of life, and look up they can take your breath away.

While I havw seen some magnificent formations in the last few weeks (typical autumn) I hadn't had the camera at the ready to capture them.

Today was nothing outstanding really, but I took some shots to have a bit of practise. DH thinks the extreme whites are a tad overblown and after walking away from the computer screen and then coming back for a look, I tend to agree. But as I said, it's all in the name of practise.

The last couple of days have been super busy with study study study. After a week or so gathering information, interviewing 2 photographers in the business, sorting out insurance for a 'theoretical' studio along with pulling together start up costs I have finally been able to submit the assignment. 10 down, 2 to go.

check out http://www.sharpshooting.com.au/ . Its everything you could dream off and then some. And he's in Port Lincoln. And he has a complete white studio AND a complete black studio. OOOOOOHHHHHHHH YEAH!!! I took my portfolio with me when I interviewed him, LOL he ended up interviewing me. I think I got his attention. Time will tell.

Now I can sit back and breathe a bit, and scrap a bit too. Oh and start thinking about the E2C Retreat the weekend after next. Lots to do before worrying about that tho.

Photography exhibition

Eyre Peninsula Camera Club Association have an exhibit this week and this coming weekend in the Civic Centre in Port Lincoln. Whilst I am not a member (yet) it was an open comp so I was able to submit some photography for judging.

The public are invited to view the entries during this week and weekend. So if you have a spare couple of minutes, duck in and have a look.

There is a presentation dinner on Sat night that DH and I are attending. We are also having a whole night off without children. whoo hoo.

I have hopes for one particular entry, but I'm just in it to give it a go. Never know if you don't try.

high tea

The torn paper between the lines of sewing idea came from Natalie Perks LO of 'Sick' in this months SBM.
Its also an answer to a challenge posted on E2C awhile back to utilise a banner.

I've since added a gold clock face button below the floral cluster. Now it looks finished.

PS.
Sandra. Did you spot your hat pin??
Maryanne. Thanks heaps for those cupcake brushes. They're perfect.

its been awhile....

DH is away with a friend's Hubby at a Clay Target Shooting Comp, so us girls decided to have a play.

The kids and I have just got home from staying overnight at her home. The kids all got along so fantastically, and we another friend and her kids there too for the arvo and tea. No dramas, no arguments, no accidents and no blood. That last one is always the bonus.

By 3am we thought that maybe a bit of sleep would be a good idea before the kiddies wake up in the morn.

I haven't done that for such a long long time and it was wonderful.

But the best thing is, I have another wonderful friendship set in concrete. Gotta love that.

giving credit where credit is due

In the latest SBM mag (Vol 12 Iss 3.) I have a LO in there that was inspired by Sue-Ann Tilby's 'Along came a Spider.

I did make it clear to SBM that this was a lift and I did ask that Sue-Ann be attributed with the inspo. Alas this was missed in the magazine, so I will clarify that here.

Thank you Sue-Ann.
My LO here.

you take my breath away

Denise brought in some lace curtains last week that were destined for the Salvos. 'Hell no' was the cry and we promptly had her curtains dissected into 1x1 metre pieces for each person at the Scrapworkz Thursday Scrapnites. Lovely lace roses and daisies. So very vintage, and so very nice.

I made the little roses from paper torn from an old dictionary and the Creative Imaginations alphas were PERFECT for this one.

all alone

pulled the camera out at the bus stop yesterday.

hair unleashed

I took some shots of Annie in the pool last week to try to catch her hair that was free from plaits or ponytails. The water was bloody chilly, and Annie wasn't keen at all about opening her eyes underwater without her goggles (something to work towards for next swim season) so I didn't get the shots I had in mind.

After taking 25 shots of 'other ideas' lol. I did catch a something that showed the movement of her hair in the water.

This one I love.

this one too.

cheers

t

glorious mud

Lurve texture paste. It gives paint 'body'.
Perfect for imitating mud.

Photoshop workflow.

Wow. I've just sat thru 17 videos and taken 6.5 pages of notes on workflow techniques in ACR and Photoshop.

This www applies from capture in RAW and processing in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) or capture in JPEG and processing in CS3. (This will apply to all CS versions)

go to http://www.cbrush.com/

Chris deals specifically with CS3

now here's a tip from me. You can also process JPEG images in ACR for finite adjustments without data loss. I love this. I love this a lot.

Go to Edit/Preferences/File Handling
click in the box for Prefer Adobe Camera Raw for JPEG Files.
ok.

From here on in all JPG files will open in ACR for loss-less data adjustments. Very powerful stuff!!!!!!!

It does add another step to processing and time to go thru it, but the results are so so worth it. If it ticks you off and you would like to revert back to JPG files open straight into PS then just untick that same box from before and ok.

viola.

puddle jumper

This is my answer for a LO challenge over @ E2C. You needed to use only one colour or shades of that one colour and use one single element in a contrasting colour. After I had it done and sent it to be posted, I had a bit more of a fiddle. To me it didn't seem quite finished. Using the lace punch for the green borders makes complete. Well to me it does.

Have a great long weekend if you're in SA.

boys are 90% mischief and 10% dirt

Well Mr Mojo left me for a few days and this LO was taunting me on the desk. (Just imagine a little voice saying na na na naaa na).

After coming home from watching Avatar today with a Gina and Leonie (waves) I thought I'd get stuck into it. I grabbed Sue's sketch challenge at Escape2Create and the March colour scheme from Twiddleybitz ning and threw it in the mix.

Done, done, all done.

depth gauge

Alas. The mojo dried up a couple of days ago. But that's okay. It gave me the kick in the butt I needed to get a couple of modules done for the course I'm studying. 10 down, 2 to go.

This LO has been staring at me from the desk taunting me. At last I got it done in Lincoln on Thursday night @ Scrapworkz.

I'm heading off to watch Avatar tomorrow with a few girls. Cant wait....

twisted paper rose tuturial

I've been getting into handmade roses lately.... in case you hadn't noticed lol.

Most of the links I've found via Sandra's blog but I did find this one today over at Lime Tart. Nic Aspinal is the queen of handmade roses and this tutorial is hers. (PS. She's coming to the E2C retreat too.)

I've seen a tutorial on Scrap-a-little that is very similar but uses ribbon instead of PP. 2 complimentary ribbons are sewn together, twisted, and shaped into a rose in the same fashion as Nic's. This one does need a stitch here and there to hold it all in place. Lurvely.

I made these one's last week in Lincoln and that turned out fantastically.

Tutorial also from Scrap-a-while

I have wondered if handmade blooms have become really popular due to Prima's being so damn expensive, but so drop dead gorgeous. Hmmmmm......

very excited.

Having a go with an underwater camera this arvo to capture Annie in the deep end of the pool with all her hair loose. I'm going to be on the bottom with a weight belt and flipping big flippers. Hope it all turns out ok. If not, it'll be fun having a go!!

Inspired by having a look here at Light on Kids, check out the underwater gallery..... I can only wish lol
ps. this fella is also known as Childish Dave. Ring any bells. Yep the guy that made those lurvely actions for Photoshop.

size 10

***eta*** I txt a couple of friends last night to see if they had a little foot charm that I could dangle from the hat pin. Alas, no one had one. Sandra, being one very clever Chicky made me a little itty bitty footsie by quilling one. How cool is this. And how amazing is her mind. She's is constantly thinking up of things to apply on LO's somewhere down the track. This chick is one melting pot with brilliant ideas that flow forth.

Had a bit of a brainwave with this one. I had the outline of Annie's foot on a piece of note paper and I was going to use that. After a bit of thought I scanned it in to PS, played around with it and printed it onto Pink PP. I thought it worked really well. She likes it and that's the main thing!!

The tattered heart comes from Sheoak Craft Cottage. Lovely isn't it.