Saturday 31 March 2012

Log your Memory: Week 13

I’m late with this weeks layout for Log Your Memory … it’s been a hard prompt to get my head around this week. 

I was talking on the phone with Mum last night and she asked about why I hadn’t posted it on my blog yet and I told her I hadn’t actually created the layout yet as the prompt was proving a bit challenging. 

She asked what the theme was and I responded ‘Your Social Calendar’ at which point she laughed (not in an unkind way) and said… “But you don’t have a social life”… which was exactly what I struggled with!!!

After looking through some of the questions that come with each weeks’ prompt I saw there was one that asked… "’What kinds of social activities do you experience at this stage in your life?’  All of a sudden I knew how I wanted to approach the prompt and here is the result:Week 13

I work at a school with over 500 students… 23 other teachers and lots of support, administration and other staff members and by the end of the day I often feel ‘peopled out’.

Add to this, running local classes and retreats for Scrapbook Dreams which I totally love… and enjoy the social aspect of… but again lots of people.

I’ve never been a social butterfly.  I’ve always been happy to do something quietly with a small group…. and I’m finding that in the last couple of years I’m struggling to hear things clearly when there is too many people or too much background noise around.

I’m perfectly happy with my social life… it suits me… it allows me to connect with those that I care about. 

Happy socialising everyone :)

Sunday 25 March 2012

Project Life: Week 12

Well it’s been a great week and I’ve survived camp really well :) There were so many fun activities to do.

I’m a bit late uploading today because I’ve just spent 3 HOURS catching up with my sister on the phone… and my niece and nephews were really disgusted at seeing their Auntie covered in mud LOL

Here’s a look at this week:Full_1

It was absolutely FREEZING here on Monday. I’d been cold at school all day so that night we lit our first fire for the year and Mr Toby was quite unsure about the whole thing although he really enjoyed being nice and cozy.

Our former Principal came into school the week before and asked if I would make him some cupcakes with the ‘blue icing’… I had to really think about which recipe it was before remembering that it was the meringue icing… super nice! He gave me a lovely little thank you card which I included in this weeks pages.

Here’s a look at the left side:Left_1

Of course we’ve had the whole ‘Marmageddon’ episode as well so I wanted to include that in my album.

As you know, last week I was feeling really overwhelmed and still not completely sure why but this week that feeling has passed and I’m not feeling much more ‘Pollyanna’ like :)

Here’s a look at the second half of the week:Right_1

YES that is me under all that mud!! The mud run was one of the activities I was really looking forward to and I was so proud of myself when I’d finished.

The other activity that I REALLY wanted to do was the ‘swoop’… what an adrenaline rush!!! I’d definitely do it again. I really don’t like heights… I get nervous standing on a chair to change a light bulb!… and there is absolutely NO WAY I would ever do a bungy jump… but the swoop has everything a bungy has without actually having to step off into thin air! LOVED IT!!!

By the time I came home from camp on Friday I was absolutely exhausted and yesterday I didn’t even get out of my pyjamas but after another good nights sleep I feel great now :)

Even though I had quite a few photos of myself at camp in this weeks spread I wanted to include lots of the kids so I’ve done another 6 x 12 insert… and this time I even made my own template (love learning how to do new things!)

Here’s the front of the insert:Insert front_1

And here’s the back:Insert back_1

I had two great Dad’s in my group (The Force!)… thanks William and Murray for being the best guys a girl could ask to work with!!

All up we did 10 major activities at camp:

  • Flying fox/swinging hammock
  • Horse riding
  • Archery
  • Target shooting
  • Kayaking
  • Climbing wall
  • The swoop
  • Magic Carpet/hot swim
  • Mud run
  • Burma Trail

It was such a neat three days… but I did miss my ‘little’ Toby so much… and it was so neat when Mikayla brought him down to school on Friday afternoon to meet me at the end of the day!!! He was so excited he almost turned himself inside out!

I almost forgot to share my little piece of creativity for this weeks pages:Creativity_1

I cut out this quote using the Cameo and the mud and splatter were cut from a photo of camouflage… it cuts photos REALLY well.

I hope you all have a great week xx

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Log Your Memory: Week 12

Well it’s Wednesday which means time for another layout from the Log Your Memory project.

This weeks prompt is all about writing letters… and quite frankly, since it’s so much quicker and easier to email I have to admit that I don’t write letters anymore. 

When I was at high school I had a pen pal in Japan who I exchanged letters with… and I used to write to my friend William when we were still at high school… but these days if you did receive a letter from me it would be quite unusual.

The one person who I wrote to for a long time was my Nana (great-grandmother).  Nana was pretty much perfect in my eyes… kind, understanding, fun, supportive and she always had a special twinkle in her eye when we were together.

Here’s my layout about the letters I used to send her:Week 12

When I was 25, Mum made me a special album with snippets of my life in it.  I’d seen all the photos before but it was nice having them all in one place.  Then I got to the end of the album and there were two letters written by me to Nana.  Such a cool thing to have!!

I must have been about 5 years old when I wrote them … there’s a few spelling mistakes, and some letters are around the wrong way like ‘bady’ instead of ‘baby’.  I told her that the ‘blossoms are being pink and white’ and I ended one of the letters with ‘we have jam’, so clearly Mum had been doing some preserving.

I couple of years ago Mum gave me a package that had a bunch of letters I’d written to Nana.  There’s heaps of them… and I remember trying to buy nice paper and envelopes to make them special.  Some of them still smell of the perfume I used to spray on them for her.

It’s really special to have those letters as they remind me of the special relationship that I had with Nana.

She’s been gone since I was 16 but our relationship is still very much alive in my heart.

So that’s this weeks prompt… does anyone actually write letters anymore?

Have a great week xx

Sunday 18 March 2012

Project Life: Week 11 and a FREEBIE or 2!

The weeks are really flying by and I’m already looking forward to the school holidays so that I can try and catch up with myself! 

This week has been especially busy at school because the entire senior school are going on camp… that’s 155 children along with 6 teachers and 35 parents!  It’s going to be really great… but… I’m going to REALLY miss Toby!!!

Here’s a look at this week:Full_1

We started off the week with a pre-camp visit.  Toby was allowed to come in the car but he had to stay in the car too which didn’t impress him much:Pre camp toby

Meanwhile Wendy (team leader) and I checked out all the cool activities we’ll be doing… kayaking, mud run, orienteering, the swoop (super looking forward to that one!), horse riding… and HEAPS more!Left_1

After we’d finished our visit, Wendy and I got some ice creams from McDonalds and headed for one of favourite dog parks.  He was a very happy camper :)  He’s decided the seagulls are great for chasing too!

That night Mikayla made us gourmet burgers and curly fries for dinner… I love it when she gets creative in the kitchen!!

Those that know me will know that I love power tools… and this time the drill was put to good use creating a BIG table for my craft room.  It’s 1.2 metres wide and 2.4 metres long so there’s plenty of room for everyone :)

Right_1

The second half of my week was filled with lots of ‘little moments’ and I’m super happy to have them in my album. 

Mikayla wrote ‘Toby is naughty’ in the dust on the TV… have to admit that I laughed and thought to myself… ‘Mikayla is naughty to write in the dust!’

Mikayla gave blood this week too.  Last time she went to donate she wasn’t allowed to because her iron count was too low but she’s eating properly again now and this time it was absolutely fine… plus she only got a tiny little bruise.

I’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed this week… I’m not really sure why… maybe it’s just the natural ebb and flow of daily life… maybe it’s school being so busy… maybe it’s that I’ve got so many things on the go. 

The good thing is that I’ve recognised the feeling and I’ve put my priorities in place so I’m feeling a bit better about it all… and since the simple fact of having washing on the line on a nice sunny day made me feel really happy I thought I’d include that too :)

Here’s this weeks creativity:Creativity_1

Mikayla came home from work yesterday with some gorgeous St Patrick’s Day badges and she offered me one so I’ve included it on my weekly card…  I know Mum is going to be jealous of that one!!!  Just in case you were wondering Mum… I’ve stuck it down with the HOT GLUE GUN so you definitely can’t have it :)

I’ve also been busy making some more PNG files to share.  They come with black writing on a transparent background.

First there is this one:

Power tools by Shell

DOWNLOAD HERE

I really liked making this one too:

Touch my dust by Shell

DOWNLOAD HERE

I’d love to hear from you if you use these PNG files :)

Thanks for visiting everyone xxx

Thursday 15 March 2012

Scrapbook Dreams March Challenge #2

It’s time to announce the mid-month sketch challenge for Scrapbook Dreams

We’ve got a great sketch for you from Page Maps and as the following layouts show it can be used in a variety of ways.March challenge

As many of you know, I LOVE being an Auntie!! I decided that the 6 squares on the sketch were a perfect opportunity to create a layout about being an Auntie... my sisters' both have three children so it worked out really well :)Only an Auntie_blog

One of our Guest Designers, Donna, shows that this sketch is perfect for everything pink! I love these two pictures of my daughter taken nearly 12 years ago. She wasn't too impressed by the whole photo shoot ordeal and she refused to co-operate with the photographer. You can see the expression on her face in the second picture! Haha- priceless! I really enjoyed doing this sketch :)Donna sketch

Our second Guest Designer this month, Mokai, kept things soft and subtle with her take on the sketch. These are 2 photos of Amba when she was younger. This digital set is one of my favourites its called Promise collection and it was a freebie from shabbyprincess.Mokai sketch

Now it's over to you to show us YOUR creativity!

All you have to do to enter is create a layout based on this sketch and upload it into our March 2012 gallery before the end of the month! 

We'd love to see how this months' sketch inspires you!

Happy scrapping xx

Wednesday 14 March 2012

Log your Memory: Week 11

The next prompt in the Log your Memory  ‘Personal Connections’ theme is family trees.  It’s true that you can’t pick your family, but I’m pretty happy with the hand I got dealt.

My parents divorced when I was in my teens and although it was pretty devastating at the time I’ve been lucky enough (and put a lot of time and effort into) having a good relationship with both my parents.  I’m really proud of my parents and all that they’ve accomplished and I’m happy to say that I chat with both of them regularly… and we catch up as often as possible.

My sisters and I were never described as being ‘peas in a pod’ but we’re all close in our own ways.  These days we talk and email on a fairly regular basis and when we see each other we enjoy having a good catch up… and thankfully they’ve blessed me with six fantastic nieces and nephews whom I love very much!  Being an Auntie is one of the biggest joys in my life :)

Here’s my layout for this week:Week 11

Life didn’t turn out quite the way I had planned though.  I grew up on a farm and I dreamed of one day having a husband and 3 or 4 children.  I dreamed of making the best scones in the district and when all the haymakers came to our farm they would go home saying that I made the best picnic lunches… it’s funny to think back on that now.

The reality is, that although I did get married it didn’t last for long and that I raised my two girls on my own.  It wasn’t in the ‘plan’ I had for my life but it has worked out well.  They’re both strong and independent.  I have a great relationship with both of them and I love them both very much.

These days Mr Toby is a very important part of my life too… and it’s a happy life.

Thank you for visiting and I wish you all lots of happiness xx

Sunday 11 March 2012

Project Life: Week 10

It’s hard to believe that we’re already ten weeks into 2012!  I’m sure time is somehow speeding up.

As usual we’ve had a full on week with lots happening.  Here’s my full spread for the week:Full_1

My niece (Kody) started school on Monday and from what she told me on the phone today she’s loving it! 

Mr Toby doesn’t like school… mostly because it means that Mikayla and I are too busy to be at his beck and call!  The other night Mikayla made us a lovely hot chocolate each… complete with marshmallows!!  When I was finished mine Mr Toby lay back on me and pulled the cup towards himself… the end result is that he now thinks hot chocolate drinks should be on his menu!

Here’s a closer look at the start of our week:

Left_1This week we also bought a new microwave.  When we did up the kitchen the old microwave had to go and we didn’t bother replacing it… but we’ve realised there’s a few things we miss like:

  • soft butter
  • popcorn on movie nights
  • caramel steamed puddings… YUM!!

Toby’s nails have been getting quite long and I TRIED to cut them on Tuesday but Toby was having none of that!!!  He bared his teeth at me… snapped and snarled and we both just got fed up so he’s been to the vet yesterday and now his nails are lovely again.

Here’s the second half of our week:Right_1

When Toby’s not behaving like a very naughty child (he’s going through a phase at the moment) he’s really quite lovely!  Last weekend some people in the park had a party and somehow a shoe ended up on our side of the fence.  Toby found it and he’s had a huge amount of fun chewing it up!  It’s now one of his favourite things along with an old dustpan brush and a piece of wood with a shoelace tied on the end!

Mum sent me the photo of herself… she was doing some gardening at her place and the little gate needed mending but before she did that job she got Richard to take a photo of herself ‘framed’ in the garden!  So nice that she got to have some ‘goofy’ fun!!!

This week I missed several photo opportunities… not because I didn’t have my camera… not because the batteries were flat… and not because I didn’t think about it.  The opportunities were lost because I was so busy ‘living the moment’ that the opportunity passed.  At least by having the ‘missed opportunities’ card in my album I’ll be reminded that all those things happened.

Here’s my creativity for this weeks page:Creativity_1

I kept it pretty simple this week while I was learning how to ‘weld’ and ‘offset’ on the Cameo.  Really easy to do once you know how :)

And finally for this week, I’ve created an insert of a different kind.

You know how you get sent funny emails… most of mine get read and then either forwarded or deleted… but this week I received one that really did make me laugh so I played around in Photoshop and made myself a whole lot of cards with all the different bits on it.

Here’s the front:Insert front_1

And here’s the back:Insert back_1

I made all the quotes ATC size (2.5 x  3.5 inches) so that I could use an ATC pocket page for them.  The holes in the pocket match up perfectly with the rest of my album too!

Here’s what it looks like with this weeks pages:Full with insert_1

 

 

 

 

 

So there you have it… 10 weeks completed and still going strong!

Thanks for dropping by my blog!  I hope you all have a great week :)

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Log Your Memory: Week 10

March has begun and the new theme at Log Your Memory is ‘Personal Connections’. 

The prompt for Week 10 is all about your home.  Owning my own home was something really important to me.  After years and years of renting and moving it’s really great to have somewhere that I can call home… somewhere that if I decide to paint a wall I don’t have to ring anyone to get permission. 

At the end of 2006 I knew that I was moving back to Rotorua so my sister and I came over for the day to look at possible houses.  There were six on the list from the real estate agent.  The first three houses all ‘ticked the boxes’ but they didn’t ‘speak’ to me.  Then we arrived at a house that just felt different.   I can still clearly remember walking through the front door and ‘feeling’ like I was home. 

soldsign

There was that elusive ‘X Factor’… and it had a HUGE room off the lounge that I knew would be a fantastic scrapbook studio!

We did go and look at house number 5… for about 10 minutes and at house number 6 we didn’t even get out of the car!

I put in an offer on the house and within three days I had bought my own piece of New Zealand.  Six weeks later we moved in and we’ve been living here ever since.

Here’s my layout:Week 10

I’m still doing D.I.Y. projects… I still love being a home owner… and I still have things I want to do here.

Have a great week everyone xx

Sunday 4 March 2012

Project Life: Week 9 and an award!

Hi everyone and welcome to my world :)

One thing that I’ve noticed since starting Project Life this year is how much more positive I feel.  I find myself having more and more to be grateful for and I think I notice more of the ‘little things’ now that I used to… it’s a good place to be :)

This week started off quietly but as usual it didn’t last long and then yesterday we had a big family get-together so there’s been lots of photos taken!

Here’s a look at this weeks spread:Full_1

We’ve been doing lots of work using our imaginations in Room 4 and I have to say that kids of today are far LESS imaginative than we were as children.  When I was a kid (you know you’re getting older when you say things like that!) we used to ‘make our own fun’ but most of the kids in my class are really struggling to be imaginative.

Here’s a look at the start of my week:Left_1

Hopefully I’ll be able to show you all a great wall display we’re working on in our class where we’ve been posing different questions and challenges like… What if the earth was a cube?

EarthCube

Makes you think doesn’t it!!  We also had some fun on Leap Year Day… especially when they worked out that the 29th of February won’t happen again until they are all at high school!

I’ve also discovered that ‘the apple has fallen rather close to the tree’ so to speak!  I quite like relaxing by playing card games on the computer and I’ve currently got one that I’m really enjoying:game

The other night Mikayla asked if she could have a game and I thought that was fine… until she started beating my high scores!!!  It turns out that I’m quite competitive about this sort of thing… and so is Mikayla!

She made mention of the fact that she’d beaten several of my scores (the game goes up in levels) to which I replied… “Well I have the ultimate power because I can just delete you!!”  Not very ‘motherly’ of me is it!

Here’s a look at the second half of the week:Right_1

I got one of the other teachers to get a couple of photos of me supervising road patrol on Friday… just another one of those interesting jobs teachers have!

I also got the cutest photo of Molly and Jack when I went to visit their Mum and Dad.  Jack is all bark until he realises that it’s just Auntie Shell… and Miss Molly loves jumping up into my arms for a cuddle :)

Yesterday we celebrated one of my nieces 5th birthday.  Krystal came home for the event too which made Mr Toby very happy :)

By the end of the day Mikayla and I were more than ready for a Girls Night In!  In spite of the fact that we got all that junk food we barely touched it… I guess we were too full from the party cake!  I quite liked the movie “Country Strong” but I really, really liked “I am number 4”!!

Since I had so many photos from the party I made another 6 x 12 insert.  Here’s the first side:Insert a_1

And here’s the second side:Insert b_1

Kody had a great party and she’s VERY excited about starting school tomorrow!!

Here’s my little piece of creativity for the week.  It’s actually one of the swap pins I made for the retreat last year and I found it as I was doing a little bit of tidying up:Creativity_1

And now for the award!!  I got a lovely comment from Jenny telling me to check out her blog for an award… so I popped over to her blog to discover that I’ve been awarded this:libsterblog award

The Liebster Blog Award is meant for those blogs in Blog Land that have 200 or less followers. Liebster comes from German, meaning dearest or beloved but can also mean favourite. This award is such a wonderful way to show appreciation for those people who do beautiful work and inspire you but have a small following. As part of the tradition the award is passed along to five other blogs that have motivated and inspired you.

To accept the award you must:

  1. Link back to the person's blog who gave it to you and thank them.
  2. Post the award on your blog.
  3. Give the award to 5 bloggers (less than 200 followers) that you appreciate and value.
  4. Leave a comment on the five blogs you chose to let them know.

So here are 5 blogs that inspire me:

  1. Vicki 
  2. Esther
  3. Lynne S
  4. Brenda
  5. Jane

Thank you for the award Jenny… it really made my day :)

I hope you all have a great week… I’ve got to get myself organised because Nigel Latta’s, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Grown Ups is about to start!

Scrapbook Dreams February Challenge Winner!

Hi everyone :)

I meant to upload this the other day but ‘life got in the way’…

We had some truly wonderful layouts uploaded into our Scrapbook Dreams February challenge (you can view them all HERE) and the winner is:

Vicki

Here is Vicki’s layout for the ‘candid photo’ challenge:P2040007

Vicki used some fabulous new My Minds Eye paper to create her layout and then she’s used a Crafters Workshop template with the blue distress stain under the photo… love the effect!

Here’s Vicki’s layout for the sketch challenge:P2210011

I’m a real fan of Vicki’s work and I love how she layers everything… she makes it look so easy!

I’m looking forward to seeing what Vicki creates for us as our Scrapbook Dreams Guest Designer in April :)

Congratulations Vicki and happy scrapping everyone xx

Friday 2 March 2012

March Challenge #1

Hi everyone :)

It’s the beginning of March which means a brand new challenge over at Scrapbook Dreams

This month the theme is FOOD! 

If you’re anything like me it’s a nice treat to go out for dinner but not something that happens every week but for this challenge there’s lots of possibilities... you could do a layout about a picnic or party. What about going out for a coffee? Or maybe you could do a layout about a restaurant or cafe you’d like to go to.

You could do a layout about your favourite family meals or recipes. You could even do a step-by-step layout about how to create your favourite dessert or even making the kids lunches for school. It’s totally up to you so long as there is some food on your layout.

In early February I went out to breakfast with one of my girlfriends and it was a divine way to start the day... and in our defence we had done a 6km walk before we had breakfast!!  We went to a local cafe called Third Place and not only was the food fantastic (we both had eggs benedict… I had mine with smoked salmon and Carey had hers with crispy bacon) but the service was also excellent and the views are prenominal! 

Here’s my layout celebrating our breakfast:IMG_5903 copy_1

The ‘breakfast’ letters and date square are all digital and I had them printed out at my local photo centre.  I got busy with my Cameo (absolutely loving it!!) and cut ‘The Perfect’ as well as the shadow layer for ‘breakfast’.  Esther asked me what was the ‘cool paper’ with all the stick people and I had to confess that it is one of those gift bags you get at card stands.  I cut it up and used a section for the background… love the effect!

This month we are lucky enough to have two Guest Designers at Scrapbook Dreams. 

Mokai is one of our Guest Designers this month and she created this gorgeous layout about her daughter's 3rd birthday cake. Here's what Mokai had to say: This is the cake my mum made for Amba for her third birthday as you can tell she is a big fan of Dora the Explorer, she thought it was just the best cake eva lol. Here's Mokai's layout:Mokai cake

Our second Guest Designer this month is Donna and she’s created a fabulous layout celebrating ice cream! Make sure you read the journaling because it tells a great story!Donna food_1

If you’d like to join in on this months challenge (and maybe get the opportunity to be a Guest Designer for Scrapbook Dreams) all you have to do is create a layout using the theme FOOD and upload it into our March Gallery.  Super, super easy!

Happy scrapping everyone xx