Finished SENZ projects

It's hard to believe that this time last week I was still down in Christchurch at SENZ... have to admit that I've been really tired since I got back... must be all that creativity! Or else it might be the fact that I now have two teenagers!!! Miss 12 had her birthday on Friday and has joined the ranks of being a teenager! LOL I've done lots of catchups this week with projects and completed both of my SENZ projects so I'm pretty happy with that!

First off is the 2008 calendar. I love how it turned out! I decided to put some quotes on the back of each month so that it looks good from the front and the back. All the photos are of my niece and nephew so no doubt this particular calendar will end up at my sister's place but I've got an idea for another one for me... and hopefully I'll get it done in time for the start of the year!!!

The second project was the altered recipe tin. I love the vintagy feel of this one! I've got a few tins here so I'm sure you'll see more altered tins on my blog in the lead up to Christmas.

Now that these projects are completed I'm going to let myself start using all the goodies I got while I was at SENZ... Yippee!!! Although I did 'break into' my stash for the latest circle journal I've been working on! We've only got one more round before we get our own journals back so it's getting exciting now!!!

Thank you everyone for all your comments!!! I really appreciate them a lot and it's nice to hear what you all think of my projects. I've got a few SENZ swap pins left over so later on this week I'll be doing a random draw of names of people who would like a pin :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Creative update and SENZ!

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! LONG post awaits you... I highly recommend a large cup of coffee while sitting down to read this update!!!

Ok, I'm sure heaps of you have seen people updating their blogs since we all got back from SENZ but I thought I'd give my take on it as well :) But first I need to catch up about a LO I'm really proud of!

You might remember that I won a Guest Designer spot with No8 Wired for my Sesame Street LO. I know some of you have already seen my LO on the site but for those who haven't the theme chosen was 'Moods'. It had me stumped for a little while... until I looked at the photos I took of my niece while I was over visiting my sister a couple of weekends ago.... I also got some fantastic shots of my nephew but I'm saving those for a special project! There were some gorgeous photos of her playing in a bucket of water and then there was one of 'The Look'! I've seen 'The Look' aimed at her mum but never been able to catch it on camera until now. So here's my LO... I've called it 'Happiness is a bucket of water' and the journaling reads: 'You had so much fun playing in the bucket of water. You kept looking at the camera with your cheeky grin... but when Mama said 'enough' you gave her the 'evils'!I think this is my favourite LO for a while... in fact it's still on the wall because I like looking at it so much! I used Basic Grey papers for the Lily Kate collection. I've never used them before but I love the freshness :) p.s. This LO was inspired by a piece of work I saw on someone's blog but couldn't remember where I had seen it... Just found it and it's Jaimie Emmerton... thanks for the inspiration Jamie :)

Ok, on to SENZ! Where to begin?? I flew down Thursday night and stayed with my brother which was really cool. I love flying!!! Friday morning I did a class with Yolande. We did the Maya Rd Desktop Calendar and it was absolutely fantastic!! We used Fancy Pants papers which I have never even seen before but let me say they are now one of my favourites! Lovely papers... double sided... and a good weight (similar to Basic Grey!). As Yolande said in the class it was a bit ambitious for a 2 hour class... and she was right... but we got quite a lot done and once it's completely finished I'll share it again :)Then I was off to check out the stalls :) First stop was the information centre to pick up my 'goodie bag'! LOTS of awesome products in there!!! Eyelets, brads, stamps, little packs of paper embellishments, shaker bubbles, a punch, Delish transparency, and I also got to choose an unmounted stamp so I got a really cool Pacific themed stamp that I knew Miss 15 would love (and she totally did!!!)Second stop was the book stand where they had Nic Howard's book 'That's Life'! I have been wanting a copy since she first announced it and I've finally got my very own copy :) I have to say that it's a GREAT read (I took it on the plane with me on the way home!). I've jotted down heaps of ideas already and got a few layouts sketched so really want some time to get creating now!I looked around heaps of stalls and then stumbled on the Hastings Rubber Stamps stand. I got heaps of gorgeous flowers, some little buttons, another set of Rhonna Farrer flourish stamps as well as a gorgeous little flower and a stunning butterfly! Can't wait to start using them!!Next was the Scrapbook Outlet stand (my personal favourite!). I got HEAPS of goodies there! Some more Fancy Pants papers, a Funky Vintage paint set from Making Memories (and yes they do co-ordinate perfectly with the papers I bought!), a Maya Rd 8 x 8 binder, Basic Grey 6 x 6 Bracket album, a flower shaped Love Elsie mini album and a gorgeous house shaped Love Elsie mini album. Vicky from SbO made the most adorable mini album about waiting for Arlo to arrive using the house album and I loved it so much that I just had to have one for myself!While I was at the SbO stand I met Lara, Chris, Kirsty and Nik... It was awesome meeting you guys and I loved being able to see some of the Design Team work up close! You guys are a really talented team!!!

On Saturday I did Yolande's other class... the Maya Rd Recipe Tin (you'll totally love this one Rangi!) We actually got our tins basically finished and then we learnt how to do the dividers and recipe cards so I've still got a bit to do to finish but I'll definitely share it once it's done:On Sunday my brother took me to a local scrapbooking store and I found some lovely bits and pieces. I finally managed to get some more 'My Minds Eye' papers! These ones come from the Bohemia collection and the have a lovely masculine theme to them... plus they're double sided! Got a mini album project in mind for these ones:I also got some really pretty papers from Karen Foster along with some Christmas embellishments, journaling cards and some chipboard shapes:Add into the weekend some family time catching up with everyone and it was a pretty full-on weekend! Then I flew home on Monday and caught up with my girls. Miss 15 was so excited when I got the new suitcase out... yep I had to buy a new suitcase to fit all my purchases into!!! I started unpacking everything and she made all the 'ooohhh' 'ahhhhh' noises at all the right places... and she's made me PROMISE to take her to SENZ next year!!! Including the fact that she wants her OWN goodie bag!!! Actually it looks pretty impressive when it's all out together:It's been a fantastic, inspiring, creative and fun time... but it's also TIRING!!! One thing you can count on is that I'll definitely be at SENZ next year!

Finally... I received my lovely prize pack from Neen today and it's gorgeous!!! So I definitely encourage anyone out there to give her Music in Me challenges a go! Also in the mail today was some 'Happy Mail' from Nie. I've actually been feeling a bit grouchy the last couple of days... I'm pretty sure it's just tiredness but my wonderful Happy Mail really did make me feel happy :) So THANK YOU Nie!!! You really are a wonderful person :) I've even got the perfect LO idea for how I'm going to use it so stay tuned for an update! And don't forget to leave me a comment :)

Back to School tomorrow!!

Yes it's true... the school holidays are almost over! I've had such a refreshing two weeks off work... and gotten heaps of creating done!! I must admit that I really love the school holidays but I've still got to pay the mortgage so it's back to school tomorrow. The upside is that my first three weeks back will all be 4 day weeks!! How did I manage that??? I'm taking this Friday and next Monday off work for SENZ (more on that shortly) and then the following Monday is Labour Weekend... yippee!!

Right on with the update. I told you in my last post that I won a spot as a guest designer on Neen's blog 'The Music in Me'... well here is the layout I created for Cyndi Lauper's song Time after Time. I've made my layout as a canvas so that I can have it on the wall and remind myself that I really do need to take time out regularly to unwind, relax and recharge my batteries!

The lastest ATC (Artist Trading Card) swap on SbO was fantastic! We used the theme Black & White and had a really creative mix of ideas. These swaps are getting really popular and I would really encourage anyone to give it a go!"

SENZ is coming up this Friday!!! So excited!! It will be my first time on a plane in almost 20 years! I've been looking forward to going for months and trying hard to contain my excitement! I've booked in to do 2 classes... the first one is a 2008 Desktop Maya Rd Calendar with Yolande. I'm still trying to pick my photos for this one as there are so many I want to use! Then on Saturday I'm doing an Altered Maya Rd Recipe Tin (with Yolande again). Really looking forward to doing this one because I've got about 5 Maya Rd tins sitting here waiting to be altered!!! To help with the excitement I've been making SENZ swap pins so if you see me at SENZ please come and say hello and swap a pin with me :)

Today is my brother in laws birthday and I gave him the canvas I made for him back in August. Actually it was quite hard to give it away because I've really enjoyed looking at it everyday! Now my BIL is a man of few words and he often keeps his opinions to himself but it's safe to say that he really LOVED the canvas! I was so pleased with his reaction... and really glad that I was there in person to see what he thought of it! Happy Birthday :)

And finally... I also gave the 'Good Times' book to Dave and he was really blown away with it! He kept going back to have another look at it and couldn't believe that I had gone from never making a layout about him to creating an entire album just for him. I think I'll have to do some more gift giving because it is a wonderful feeling to make something special for someone and have them really love it!

So it's back to the reality of work tomorrow and time to get myself organised... have a great week!

Feeling very grateful

Hi all :) Miss 12 and I just got back late last night from 4 days camping on the rugged West Coast... yes I know the weather was lousy LOL

I've seen quite a few people doing 'gratitude lists' on their blogs recently and I thought I'd do mine about camping and coming home...

The highlights of camping were eating the freshest whitebait fritters I've ever had in my life... 5 minutes from river to pan is very fresh! We also had paua fritters that were amazing plus we caught a good size kahawai while we were there and after I gutted it (Miss 12 wouldn't even stick around to watch!) I put lemon inside it and baked it in the embers and it was delicious! Miss 12 loved me then! I also did quite a bit of 'rock hopping' (no sandy beaches for us) and found lots of little treasures... mostly sea glass which is amazing and will be finding it's home on an upcoming layout!

The highlights of getting home are still only really hitting me this morning. It's the 'little things' that have meant the most like:

1. Being able to have a drink of water at the turn of a tap... we had to go down to the river at low tide to collect water so that we didn't get sea water mixed in with it and then we had to boil it over the fire and let it cool before we could drink it.
2. Being able to have a hot drink at the flick of a switch instead of cranking up the fire enough to get the pot boiling.
3. Flushing toilets!!! You never realise what a luxury that is until you have to use a long drop... and trust me there is no elegant way to squat over a hole in the ground!
4. Hot showers... I've already had 3 showers since I got home... just because I can!
5. Sleeping in a warm, dry bed... while we were camping we had thunderstorms, hail and 100km winds on the last night but the tent did stay up! However... if you even touch the sides the tiniest little bit you get wet... last night I lay in bed listening to the wind howl and the rain on my windows and thought... this is luxury!
6. Being able to control the heat of your element... it's so hard to control the heat on an open fire so that you can cook whitebait fritters! One minute it's not hot enough and there's no 'sizzle' and then next it's burning everything.... but it does have the best taste in the world to know that you've caught and cooked your own food!
7. And finally... as sad as it probably is... I missed my internet! I missed catching up with my online friends and being able to see what others are up to. I missed getting emails (although I had over 50 on my return!)

I'm also incredibly grateful and excited about two recent web challenges. Firstly, just before I went camping I checked out the No 8 Wired blog to find that my Sesame Street layout won me a spot as a guest designer on an upcoming Dare! How cool is that??? I was definitely feeling really excited! So I went off camping on a real high!

Then when I got back I checked out Neen's The Music in Me blog to find: Woohoo! So exciting... thanks Neen! That was from the Abbey Road layout based on the theme 'The Real Thing'. Now I have create a layout based on Cyndi Lauper's song 'Time after Time' PLUS I will be receiving a cool prize pack containing: 4 sheets of Bazzil Bling cardstock, K & Co Glitter Alphas, MM Charmed Quotes all about Friendship, MM Metal Signs in All Girl and BRAND NEW Peelcraft Starform Crystal Glitter stickers! I'm feeling very lucky and grateful right now!!!

Ok it's time to get off here... Miss 12 is making toast and enjoying the fact that it hasn't got 'stick holes' in it and that it doesn't taste of smoke from cooking it over the fire! And I've got some layouts to create :)