port lincoln gym competition 2010

I had the chance to scrap a bit over the weekend. I've been looking forward to this one. The water colouring so worked well for it. No embellishing other than the medals, the WAG 1 level badge and the Competitor Ribbon.

he plays!

Today was a milestone for Sean. He had his first ever game of footy. United Yeelanna were a few players short so he was able to fill in for them. 

I can tell you he was so nervous. He was thinking he was going to get hurt and didn't really know what to expect out there on the oval. Footy practise is a bit different than the real thing.

So much swelling of my heart and butterflies churning in his and my tummies, he ran out with the team. 

And he surprised me. He surprised me a lot. He was either on the ball, under the pack of kids on the ground or chasing the player with the ball as fast as he could. He wasn't tentative at all. And when the ball wasn't down his way, he was mucking around with a couple of his mates who were also filling in the blue and yellow guernseys for the day.

I have an absolute cracker of a shot with him and the football, but you do see other players, so I won't show it here. But I did catch this one of him on the oval.

His persistence to get involved with the ball didn't go unnoticed by our coach and Sean was awarded the Mars Bar incentive. He inhaled that within a minute.  He ended up with the compulsory muddy knees and a few bruises to show his Dad. We are so very proud of him today.

mud larking

Surely there is nothing more exciting for a kid to be *allowed* to go play in the mud. Encouraged in fact. Each year when winter is here I let the kids just go for it for the sake of a few photos.

Their laughter is gold and the pics make it so worth while.  Sometimes I put the camera down and jump right in there with them.  Kids grow up far too fast so I relish being a kid with them.

cut file idea from Amy Fourer and Silhouette America.

happy birthday dad

Each year the kids make Kym and I hand made birthday cards, which I then keep to put in the albums next to the layout about it. I love preserving the history of their handwriting, their spelling boo boos and their sentiments.

lolly pops, laughs and little girls

I had a family visit me over the school holidays for a fun photoshoot.  Included in the shoot was a pram, umbrellas, lolly pops, balloons, sour sobs, wild oats, a path into an enchanted forest :)  and puddles. Basically it was more fun than you could poke a stick at.

a few more here at Tiff Firth Photography on Facebook.

conceptual photography

I'm not long home from a Full Spectrum weekend workshop in Port Lincoln on Conceptual Photography. It was organized by Arts SA with two lecturers from Adelaide.

To give a definition of Conceptual Photography this is what was given to the 19 participants: Conceptual Photography intends to convey an idea or concept to the viewer, rejecting the creation and/or appreciation of traditional objects.

To me it meant the license to bastardise what would normally be a traditional view in a photograph. It was also shown as a way to create a self portrait in a way that you would have not normally thought of.  We had an overnight assignment to shoot a conceptual image and bring it back for soft critique.

I latched onto the idea of a self portrait so with limited resources as I was in Lincoln overnight, this is what I finished with.

My necklace represents all the important people in my life. They are clear and crisp, giving them priority in the image therefore in my life. The camera being out of focus lends itself to my other passion, but is of a secondary nature.  The bright bold background represents my personality. Happy, positive, bright, glass half full kind of girl.

The workshop was a bit on the arty farty side for me. I found it a bit of fluff and nonsense, but it did get me thinking a bit about being bit more random in my shots. More about giving myself artistic license to not being a sheep and one of the mob. IYKWIM

Laura and I stayed at the YHA in Lincoln just for a lark. I've always wanted to go in for a sticky beak but have been gutless to do it on my own. So as we both stayed in Lincoln we stayed there together.

What a most impressive place. They can sleep up to 70 people. We had a room with reverse cycle air conditioning, and believe me, with this weekend being only 10-12 degrees, it was on the heat cycle. We had our own bathroom too. Much cheaper than a hotel!!  Everything is spotless, and clean clean clean. The people who run the hostel, own the hostel. She is often referred to as Mum, and she really revels in it.  They both have great fresh new ideas for the future too.

 I would have absolutely zero qualms about staying there again. In fact there was a family of 6 staying there atm.

So with Laura's and my conceptual ideas in the bag we started playing with Bruce.

Lots of laughing was to be had.

always

Dug out of the stash a very much older Making Memories metal word for this layout. The journaling came about because of that word and the photo that shows Annie standing above me.

there's no such thing as too much chocolate

In case you hadn't noticed, I'm really into the watercolours atm. 

This layout is the third press from the pooled colours I used. I end up with zero product left on the sheet and I've been using all the cardstock with the watercolour effects on them. 

I'm using very little as far as patterned paper goes. Maybe just as the backing colour or matting. I'm using scrap pieces for embellishments and of them that's few. I just don't want to cover too much of the patterns created.

I'm loving the scrappy groove atm as not so long ago I had absolutely bottomed out of it. 

I'm still seeking a balance between scrapping and photography, but when I have clients waiting for their set of images, of course that takes priority.

Keep warm and safe today. We have bunkered down out of the elements and it feels awesome to have all 4 of us home. That doesn't happen too often on a workday.

fetish

Layout number 8 from WWWW.

I had zero planning/organising done before this weekend away. I just had crazy times happening and it was all I could do to clear my desk of photography commitments, before even thinking about scrappy stuff.

So, I was a bit amazed that I actually achieved as many layouts as I did. And I love them all. Usually on weekends away scrapping, some layouts I feel a bit so so about. Don't absolutely love them, but its done - move on. 

For this particular weekend I took up our newly acquired multifunction centre so I could print out my journaling. It meant that the home office had to do without a fax machine for a day, but meh, I 'needed' it.  hehehehehe.  I don't think Kym even noticed it not being on the office table. 

Having the ability to print right there, right then, as I needed it, was awesome.

cummins air show (his)

Layout number 7 from the Wild Women's Weekend in Wudinna. Still have a few more up my sleeve for reveal later on.

When the photo(s) deem it, I do a his and her LO for each of their albums. I seem to do them differently more often than not, rather than do a carbon copy (even tho that would be so much quicker lol)

Have had a top first week of school holidays. Relaxing pj mornings, personal gym competition training for Sean, Annie had a friend here for a couple of nights stay, Sean had a friend here for a play day, movies (Despicable Me 2 and Epic), Scrap night in Lincoln with Annie, taking the kids for 3 holes of golf (took us 4 hours, and they played their own balls the whole time), netball on Saturday, puddle photo shoot (that was a hoot), hair models for a children's book photo shoot, a bit of scrapping, a lot of EOFY (end of financial year) paperwork done, shopping, visiting. And that's just the first week.  I've had a family visit for their photo shoot and I'm currently working my way on post production of that.

Today Sean had another gym comp training session (comp in four weeks) and a quick photo shoot in the wild oats.  I think they have more fun judging by how much they laugh in our time on location.

This weekend I'm going to a Full Spectrum Photography Workshop and staying at the Youth Hostel with Laura in Lincoln. I've heard lots of rave about this place and have always wanted to check it out, so what better way than staying there. I wouldn't do it on my own, lol, but with Laura pretty keen on the idea too, we thought we both stay and get the feel of the place. Looking forward to it.

Not sure what the next few days will bring..... depends on the weather......

till then Cia.

cummins air show (hers)

LO. number 6 from the WWWW weekend away. I'm noticing a definite tendency to the watercolours. It just seems to work with most colour blends. Bliss in my book.  Thanks Gina for the little birdie veneer. x

you...

Layout no. 5 from the fabulous WWWW weekend away.

I was trying out my bingo bottle to make splats but the inner piece that holds the sponge blew out as I was about to splat resulting in a larger pool of paint. So I grabbed a card and swiped the paint around the page instead.

Sometimes the accidents are meant to happen :)

annie

LO. number 4 from last weekend with the girls. Such a pretty girly one. 

I'm finding with the watercolour backgrounds that I embellish very little. The smaller photos are perfect as they don't hide so much of the watercolour effect.

you & me

LO 3 from the wwww weekend away. 

This one is a blatant lift of a digi layout from Designer Digitals. Lots of foam tape to lift different elements for depth.

5 loaves bakery

LO no 2. from the wwww weekend.

journaling says it all.

quiet time

he gathers his monkey, a pillow and props himself near the natural light coming in through his window and enjoys a little quiet time

mini minis

1 of 9 Layouts completed at the wwww weekend.

really loving the watercolour thing atm.  Roks my soks.

:)

Journalling says "It's all about learning the skills of footy by having a bunch of fun. And holding the tongue just the right way."

wwww 2013

What a cracker weekend. So much fun. So many laughs. Lots of scrapping done. And just a little wine. And lunches and dinners catered for. What more could a girl ask for.

Thanks so very much to Shabby Chic Shack for pulling it together. Fantastic stuff.

Friday started with my packing the hilux to the eyebrows with my gear, some of Amy's gear, Denise and her gear. Plus a few extra bits and bobs for all the girls to use if they wanted.

I then had a sweaty session gym and came home for a shower before I met up with Gina, Amy and Denise at Sheoak for any last minute supplies. A delicious lunch at the Bakery was required before we headed up to Wudinna for a 2pm start.

Lots of scrapping, chat, lots of laughing so hard. By 12pm we were all just plain tuckered out.

Back on deck and rearing to go by 9am Saturday morning. I had a very productive day and loved what I created. Really dabbling in watercolours with a passion.

Amy and I ended up being the night owls and we touched our pillows after 2.30am.

Sunday saw most of us at the Pygery Bra Fence to make our Over-The-Shoulder-Boulder-Holder donations.  For one of us, it was just a bit extra special.  Love you girl.

Then we had a group shot of the scrappers back in the scrap room.  I loved this one as soon as I saw it on the back of the camera. The best thing about this shot is that the 'supporting hands' was totally spontaneous. No one mentioned the idea, no one suggested the idea and with the last 2 seconds before the shot was taken, the 'supporting hands' just appeared. So very cool.

thanks to all for giving me permission to post this totally awesome shot. Love you all. x

Pack up started about 2.30  :(     I'm always sad about the packing up and the farewells. And amazed at how frigging fast the time flies.  Must have been a big bucket of fun I guess hahahaha.

no screens rule

We not long ago had a week of no screens after tea and before school. Just to see what happens.

Well, the board games came out and Monopoly was king. Sean's a Real Estate Tycoon, Annie is Madam Banker and Kym and I had our butts whipped. We found a set of 'fast game' rules, which has a game done in an hour. It's brilliant.

The kids have had a lot of fun so I see a week of it happening in the holidays. Just for fun.

play it loud

The saxophone never seems as loud when she takes it outside.