A birthday and a card :)

 

Life goes along smoothly until all of a sudden we're given little reminders that nothing is permanent.... we never know whether today is our last day, or moment that we have with the people we love.  In the past couple of weeks we have had a death in the family....a cousin passed away aged 47. She left behind a husband and two gorgeous sons. During the funeral, the priest spoke of how a good life is not determined by the number of years we have... not by old age and grey hair, but by what we do in the years we are alive.  That we live our lives to the fullest and be sure to tell those we love, that we love them often....

 

Hearing this gave me a real sense of peace....I love the idea that we make the most of  the time we have, and I'm a firm believer of that notion that God takes us when he feels our time is up, whether we're ready for that or not.

I don't ever let Stef leave our home without saying I love you and always end phone calls to my family in the same way.  I don't ever want there to be a moment that I wasted by not telling them that is how I feel.

 

We also celebrated a very special milestone in our home.

Noah turned 10 on the 17th of this month.

 

While it's a little hard to tell, his cake was a number 10, which he was thrilled about.  Ever since he was little he has and still does...LOVE.. cake.... of any type!  He also loves his birthday and over the years has developed a better understanding of what it all means and he participates with so much enthusiasm.  I look at him and can't believe we've had him for 10 years.  Having Noah has taught me so much and has helped me become the person I am today.  I am more patient, more empathetic, more confident and forth-right... I have had to become these things and much more in order to see that Noah's full potential is realised.  I think more than anything though, I have learnt what it is to love with such ferocity...the depth of emotion you have for your children is breathtaking....

I had just planned to post this little pic, and have been caught up in the emotion :)

 

Onto some scrapping stuff...

Here is Karan's latest sketch over at Cardabilities

 

and my card....

 



 

Be srue to pop over and check out the dt's amazing work!

Cardabilities is also having a design team call at the moment.  If you're interested in card making, be sure to email your application through to Karan. 

 Her sketches are beautiful to work with and so is she :)

 

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to tell your loved ones, that you love them each and every day! xx



Cardabilities Sketch # 66

With News Years eve upon us,

 I find myself sitting here wondering where the whole entire year has gone. 

I know 2012 has been an extremely busy one,

which could account for why time has simply vanished.

 

Having said that, I love this time of year and the thought of getting a chance to start a new year clean and fresh. I like setting gaols for myself and looking back on

how I've travelled in terms of reaching them.

 

One of my goals for the coming year is to do much more of this....

scrapping!

 

 

That said, here is a pic of our latest sketch over at Cardabilities

 

and here is my card...

 



 

Be sure to pop on over to the blog and have a look at the dt's beautiful work and of course join in :)

 

I hope whatever you do and where ever you are this News Years Eve, that you are surrounded by love and friendship.  May the New Year to come, be filled with only the most wonderful things.

 

See you next year!

xxx



Cardabilities sketch

Computers are fantastic when they are working correctly!!!

When something goes wrong, unfortunately I am nowhere near tech savvy enough to fix things or work out a solutions.  Suffice to day, the computer is back and is working well again :)

This reveal comes a little late as a result. Here is Karan's fantastic sketch....

 

  and here is my card....

I used one of my gorgeous magnolia stamps and went for a different Chrissie colour palette.

 



 

Be sure to pop over to the Cardabilities blog

and check out the gorgeous designs.

 

Thanks for stopping by :)

I'm Back :)

As I sat tonight to type this post I logged into Blogger to be greeted with an entirely new "interface".....like I know what that means..:) 

 

It's been sooooo long since I've visited and blogged anything, that the entire system has changed.... that'll teach me for leaving it almost a year in between posts!

 

So where have I been... no- where really :)  AT the beginning of the year I decided my "Word" of focus for 2012 would be "Balance" and my way of maintaining that was to try and keep things in some kind of manageable state while I completed my study and juggles the demands of a busy little family and working part time. 

 

 I am proud to say that this month saw the completion of my Graduate Diploma in Autism and I have also complete three out of six units of my Masters in Education...YAY!!!!  It's been a huge undertaking and the cause of some very serious brain strain, but for now...it's all done.  I say 'for now", as I'm thinking I might like to enroll to complete another of my Masters units at the end of next year, but for now Ive earned a rest and some time off.

With study out of the way, I have decided to slowly get myself back into my much loved and sorely missed creating.  I recently saw that one of my favourite card making sites had placed a new design team call and I'm thrilled to say that I'll me joining the

Cardabilities Design Team

 

 

I am so grateful to Karan for giving me another opportunity to come and create with her gorgeous sketches. I loved my first time designing for Cardabilities and am thrilled to be doing so again!

 

Well, that it's for now.  Report writing time for my gorgeous Grade One / Two cherubs.  At least I can reward myself with some serious scrapping when I'm finished.

 

Take care xx

 

a catch up and a new year....

Welcome to a brand new year and the first of what I hope to be many posts ;)

It's been months since I last posted anything on my poor neglected blog, but I guess real life well and truly got in the way of all things scrapping towards the end of last year.

That said... here is a little picture catch up of some of the things that occupied my time...

 Miss Isabelle turned 6 in November.  We decided to have a friends party and also a family party, which resulted in the two cakes and birthday which drew out to several days.  Suffice to say, Belle was pretty happy :) Her first cake was a Little Miss cake...

 and cake number two for the family celebration was a rainbow layered cake with meringue frosting... this one was a huge success and was actually quite easy to make.

 Master Josh turned 5 in December.

 and here is his cake.  This year I took the easy option for Joshua's cake, given that this is the third tractor cake in a row he has requested.  We have made a little red tractor cake, a green John Deer cake and this one here below.  I am hoping by the end of the year, he may have broadened his horizon's a little.... I don't like my chances, so we'll just have to wait and see.

 In a midst all of the madness of birthday's was Christmas.  Here is a happy snap of come of the pressie opening with family.  I was very proud that in amongst all of the chaos, there were three very grateful children who were thrilled with the gifts they received.

My first year of my Graduate Diploma in Autism has drawn to a close....

I am proud of myself beyond words, that I've not only completed my first year, but have done this while teaching 3 days a week and most importantly managing a family with 3 small cherubs and of course 1 big one :) I didn't really love University first time around, but at that stage it seemed like a natural progression...you finish high school and go onto Uni. This time around, I'm studying because I want to and I've loved every minute of it. I have learnt so much about Noah and the reasons why he does some things.  I have come to understand how difficult it must be for him to manage and cope in this crazy world of ours and am so grateful to be better able to help him learn and grow.

In the past week, we have returned from a family holiday to the beach.... here are some pics of the cherubs at play :)

Stef and I decided that with our children the ages they are... family holidays are more about them having fun and experiencing new and exciting things - than us have a rest and a relax :)  The holiday was lovely in that it was a change of scenery, but it also came with it's challenges for Noah with the change in routine and unfamiliar surroundings.  That said, we all had some really fun times and Belle and Josh absolutely loved the time away too.

So there you have it.... a little snap shot into my busy world of late.  There has been very little time for scrapping.... I think the last layout I scrapped was in November!  In all honesty, I do miss it.  I miss the time to myself and that happiness I feel when I get totally lost in creating.  As a result, I am making a resolve this year to make sure I find some time for me to do some of the things I love.

Over the past two years, I have decided upon my one little word for the year.

Last year my word was learn....hehe.. I think that was a pretty good one :)

This year, my one little word is..

Balance.

I am going to concentrate on finding a better balance in all things this year.  My life is really busy and is definitely a juggle and there were patches where I had to retreat within myself just to find the strength to keep everything going at once.  There were patches where I hardly managed the time to chat with friends or to catch up, let alone do things for myself.

I still have as many commitments this year, but I want to make sure I keep things in better perspective.

I am setting the goal to scrap at least I layout a month for myself... it doesn't seem like much, but for me it will be a terrific start.

I hope your start to the New Year has been a fantastic one and that the year ahead holds the most amazing experiences and moments for you all.

Take care.

xxx



WOOOHOOO!!!

If you're here for the Get Picky Blog Hop...

Please scroll down to the next post :)

 

I am a tad excited...hehehe...

A little while ago, I shared some sneak peaks that I'd been working on for the magazine,

Australian Scrapbook Ideas...

Well... one of my projects made the front cover of the Christmas Craft Ideas
magazine special...YAY!!!

It's my very first ever- cover.  I'm a tad excited about that really :)

Here it is...

This is the project up close...

 I used a shadow box to create a Christmas pressie for my Mum. I loved the idea of creating something with non-traditional colours and these papers from Authentique were just perfect.  It's very soft and I think .. pretty... I love how it all came together.

I also made lots of little paper flowers and added little embellishments here and there.  My favourite sort of creating :)

This is the actual issue the Craft mag comes with...

and inside this one, I also have an article with some Christmas gift ideas for men.  It's always a hard thing to try and make a masculine inspired gift.... Stef did laugh (as he is a farmer) at how practical this gift would be for him, but if you have a husband or Dad that works in an office or has a desk area, then these gifts would be great.  I made a calendar using a small canvas and easel and also some photo cubes.

 And this is my first time to appear in the Australian Papercraft Essential Magazine.  I've created  a set of cards using some Paper Tole like flowers from a company called La Pashe.

 Here's what they look like...

and some close ups...

I used Little Yellow Bicycle's Elizabeth Park papers to make the cards and they matched beautifully with the flowers, which were super easy to make.  The come already in pieces on the sheet and you just have to cut them out, shape them and stick them back together.
They are really easy to make!

I know this has been a whole "magazine" post thing, but I'm really excited :)  These days I don't get to scrap nearly as much as I would like to and am largely just scrapping my magazine commissions, so it's nice to be able to share these finally and also to see them in print.

Hope your coming weekend will be filled with happy scrappy moments
or just an all round wonderful time.
Take care and thanks for stopping by.
xxx

Happy Birthday Get Picky!!!!!

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!

I am so excited to be able to share our very first birthday celebration with everyone.  When Tanya and I talked about our vision for a multi-photo challenge site, we only hoped that people might think  the idea was worthwhile and occasionally be happy to come and play along with some of our challenges.  Now with a design team of 12 truly awesome and ridiculously talented  ladies, a fantastic array of sponsors who have supported us and some 652 followers later....

we are still going  and having a blast bringing our challenges each month and sharing some

 truly beautiful work each month.

So, thank you all for your amazing support!  I hope you enjoy the blog hop and the awesome talent ahead.

xxx

 Welcome to the Get Picky 1^st Birthday Blog Hop! 

 

We are celebrating our first year with a very exciting reveal as we unveil our 13^th Sketch with you today and share the beautiful creations of both present and past designers from our first year!  Some of the team members will be offering prizes so you will want to visit all of the blogs to increase your chances of winning a prize.  We are also offering a major prize along with the chance at a Guest Designer spot for the month of November if you visit and leave a comment at all of the blogs in our blog hop and participate in Sketch Challenge #13.  The Blog Hop starts today and will remain open until midnight (Australian Eastern Standard Time) on October 28^th so this will give you all plenty of time to visit everyone’s blogs and create a layout for the sketch challenge.

Here is Sketch #13

And here is my layout

 

 

As we mentioned, there are lots of great birthday pressies up for grabs along our hop today.  Some of our designers will be offering a RAK of their own and I have a very special little parcel of goodies to giveaway myself.  All you have to do to be in the running for my RAK is to become a follower if you're not already and leave a comment at the end of the post!

Of course there is also the chance to become our Guest Designer for November....but what's a celebration without that very special gift.

We are so very excited to also announce that Imaginisce have been kind enough to sponsor us with an awesome prize for our very special birthday celebration.

(Included in the prize..... the two latest collections with embellishments and stamps from both Geek is Chic and Bon Voyage plus an i-bond cordless glue gun with glitter glue sticks, a d-stress tool and a box of fabric flowers. )

Get Picky is the first stop of our birthday journey where you will find the complete list of all blogs in case there is a glitch along the way.  If you would like to play, just follow along the blog path in order so you don’t miss anyone.

Remember, if you want to be considered for the Guest Designer spot in November, once you have visited all the blogs and uploaded your entry for Sketch Challenge #13, please make sure that you go back to the Get Picky Blog and leave a comment on the challenge post.

The blog hop begins here: Get Picky Blog

Your next stop is here: Tanya Tahir

Thank you so much for joining us for this very special birthday celebration and for your continued support!