Log Your Memory: Week 9

Here’s the final prompt for February… and the last of the ‘Personal Style’ challenges which I’m quite happy about.

This weeks prompt at Log Your Memory is self-portraits, professional portraits, avatars and that sort of thing.

I’ve only been a part of a professional sitting once and we had a photo taken of Granny, Mum and me and my sisters.  I was about 18 when it was taken and it certainly isn’t my favourite photo in the world.

I decided to do my layout about two different times in my life… one where I felt fit, strong and resilient… plus I had some photos taken by one of my girlfriends that I wanted to scrap for myself. 

Here’s the layout:

It’s a very ‘different’ side to me… and one that I don’t show very often.  My girlfriend had access to one of the first digital cameras… the kind that used a floppy disk!  My girls had gone to Australia for a week with their Auntie and Uncle so we decided to spend an afternoon playing with the camera.

The photos are quiet pixelated… digital photography has come a LONG way since then.  I’m still quite proud of the fact that I actually used to look like that… it’s amazing what going to the gym every day for 6 months can do!

This is my personal favourite:

These days I prefer to be behind the camera catching the moments and memories.  If I take a self-portrait it’s usually with my face hidden… it’s just where I’m at with it I guess.

I’ve been losing a bit of weight taking Toby for walks but since creating this layout on the weekend I’m thinking that maybe it’s time to make ‘getting fit’ a priority.

I hope your week is going well and I’ll be back sometime tomorrow with a Scrapbook Dreams update :)

Project Life: Week 8 and a couple of FREEBIES

It’s a gorgeous day here today so Mikayla and I thought we might take Toby out for a play at one of his favourite places this afternoon :)

When I shared my Week 7 pages with you I mentioned that I had created a 6 x 12 insert but I didn’t have it printed… well now it’s all printed and in my album :)

Here’s a look at the front side of the insert:

My sister made such a cool invitation that I really wanted to include it on the insert… minus the address and phone numbers :)  I love that I’ve been able to include lots of the birthday photos on this insert.

On the back I’ve included more photos along with some journaling about the day:

So pleased with how it turned out!

This week has been really eventful… lots of things happening and it’s been one of those ‘out of the ordinary’ weeks.  Here’s my double spread:

We had a GREAT start to the week at school because they brought the REAL Webb Ellis Trophy!  We were one of only four schools in Rotorua to have a visit from them… definitely a great upside to being a teacher :)

Here’s a better look at the left side:

On Tuesday night I had a new night class group start and then we found out the Masterchef was starting that night as well so we brought all the goodies up into the lounge and did our class in front of the TV… Mr Toby was really happy about it because everyone was at his height!!!

The best part of the week was Dad and Jan arriving on Wednesday.  I hadn’t seen Dad for 14 months and it was so good to be able to talk, laugh, joke and spend time with him.  He hadn’t met Toby either but they became very good friends in a short amount of time.

I made a yummy tagine for dinner while they were here and we all sat at the table chatting over dinner.  Dad had a funny grin on his face and when I looked under the table there was Toby sitting on Grandad’s feet!!!

Toby followed Grandad all over the place and he even sat outside the toilet door and waited for him… very cute!  Dad left on Friday morning and on Friday afternoon when I got home from work Toby rushed out the front to see Grandad (he was staying in his flash caravan on our driveway) but there was no caravan and no Grandad… poor Toby was very confused about where Grandad had gone!

Here’s the right side of this weeks layout:

Even though Grandad was gone on Friday afternoon our driveway and front lawn wasn’t completely empty… we had the men (lots of men actually) digging up our front lawns to lay new cabling.  Toby was quite excited about what was going on.

Later on Nina and Dion came over for a visit.  Dion absolutely adores Toby and Toby loves that Dion will play outside with him… although he’s still not great about ‘fetching’.  Dion spent some time playing on his ipod and Toby was VERY interested in what he was doing… you could almost hear him ask to have a turn!

Meanwhile Nina and I got out her cricut that she bought when we went to SENZ last year.  She still had her Gypsy wrapped up in all the packaging so we got it out and had a play… it’s really cool!  Nina has discovered that she’s got ‘more on it than she’ll ever use’ and she’s super happy with it!

After that I got out my new cameo and I showed her how it works… we cut out a film strip and a HUGE old fashioned bike (it measures approx 8 x 11 inches!!!)  We were both really impressed with the clean cut we got and had fun listening to all it’s funny little ‘chirping’ noises while it worked… clearly it doesn’t take much to keep us entertained!

Here’s my creative card for the week:

This was made using a resist technique.  Basically you stamp and then emboss your image with clear embossing powder (I did mine on kraft cardstock) and then you ink all over it.  The embossing resists the ink and shows the original kraft colour through the ink.  Really neat technique and super easy to do!

After having so much fun with Toby on Friday night, Dion asked if he could come and stay for the night so he came back last night.  We watched a cool movie (The Indian in the Cupboard) and had popcorn and chips and then this morning Mikayla and I made this for breakfast:

Yummy pancakes with blackberries, ice cream, whipped cream, icing sugar and maple syrup…. can you FEEL the calories???

We sat outside in the sun and ate and chatted… perfect start to the day and even Toby managed to get some:

Now for something just for YOU!  You’ve probably noticed that I use lots of words on my photos.  Some are words that I’ve typed in but lots are PNG files… and lots of them were free on other blogs!  This week I had two particular things I wanted for photos and couldn’t find what I was looking for so I had a go at making my own… so I thought I’d work out how to give them to you to use as well.

The first one says: When I wished for a man… this wasn’t what I had in mind!

This is a PNG word art file with a transparent background (no shadows):  DOWNLOAD HERE

The second one says: When is it my turn?

This is a PNG word art file with a transparent background (no shadows): DOWNLOAD HERE

I hope you get some use out of them :)

Hope you all have a GREAT week xx

Log Your Memory: Week 8

Hi everyone :)

Well it certainly isn’t Wednesday anymore but I have a very good reason for uploading this post a couple of days late… my Dad is visiting.  He’s been here for a couple of days and we’ve had the best time just catching up and spending time together.  We haven’t seen each other for 14 months so there’s been lots of talk about and it’s so much nicer to do that in person.  You’ll be able to see some of what went on when I upload my Project Life on Sunday :)

The Week 8 challenge at Log Your Memory was all about accessories, perfumes and products and I’ve discovered that I’m a real ‘creature of habit’:

My accessories are all silver… and they all have special meaning to me.  I have my watch which is silver with inlaid paua… which also happens to be the only piece of jewellery that I remove at the end of the day.  I constantly wear my medic alert bracelet as well as three silver bangles.  One signifies gaining my Diploma of Teaching… one signifies gaining my degree and one was given to me by someone.  I also have my silver Russian wedding ring.  I’ve been wearing that ring for over 17 years now and it represent myself and my girls.  I liked the fact that the three circles are all complete but all interlinked… just like us.

I’ve always liked musky perfumes so I’ve got a couple of those plus I’ve got a little range of hair products to help me try and keep the curls and tangles under control!

Finally there is a little makeup.  I’ve never really been a ‘girly girl’ but in the last 6 months I’ve been putting on a bit of Thin Lizzy along with some mascara and eye liner for school each day.  Most people don’t even notice but it does make me feel good :)

So there you have it… a little late but still completed!

I hope you’re all having a great week and I’ll catch up with you again on Sunday xx

Project Life: Week 7

It’s been another busy week in our household and once again I’m so pleased that I’m creating a ‘visual diary’ of all that happens. 

Here’s my pages for the week:

We started off the week with Mikayla deciding to go back to Waiariki this year… but not to become a chef.  She passed her course last year but decided that it wasn’t really for her so now she’s signed up to do Fashion Technology.  It looks pretty interesting!

Along with going back to polytech she’s made up her mind to move back into the house… she’s actually been ‘camping’ inside for the last month but still with the caravan as a ‘backup’.  Now she’s decided that she quite likes being in the house LOL

Here’s the left side:

I’ve also done a bit of a focus about getting my classroom into this weeks pages.  I had one of the tutors from last weeks course come to do an observation of my teaching so it seemed like a good time to get some photos. 

Mikayla and Toby are getting on better than ever… although now that Mikayla is going back to polytech they won’t be able to spend quite as much time together.

The second half of the week was super exciting!!!  I finally took the plunge and bought myself a Silhouette Cameo :)  I’m going to have so much fun with it!

Here’s the second half of the week:

Thankfully the Cameo arrived after work on Friday so I was able to have a bit of a play… very cool!  Plus there was a $10 download card included with it so I’ve been checking out the cutting files available.

On Saturday we had my youngest nephew’s 4th birthday party.  He really wanted a ‘pirate party’ and the day was awesome!!!  Everyone was wearing pirates hats and quite a few people got dressed up… even Toby wore a red bandana to join in the fun!

Towards the end of the day a car almost knocked Simon’s bike over so Katey decided to move it.  She literally only moved it from one side of her vehicle to the other but all the kids came to watch so Tracey and I growled at her about wearing no helmet!  The kids all thought that it was funny to see their Mum/Auntie getting a growling from her sisters’… especially since she used to be a police officer LOL

Here’s my wee piece of creativity for this weeks pages:

I used some Tim Holtz Kraft Resist… love that stuff!  The XOXO was cut on the Cameo (as was the ‘love’ on the $10 download card) and then I added the date with the tiny attacher along with some bling.

I’ve also done a 6 x 12 insert page for this week.  It’s all about Reece’s birthday party but  it’s not printed yet so I’ll share it with you on Wednesday.

Here’s a wee story from the birthday… I took Reece down to the beach for a walk with Toby.  Mr Toby kept on trying to jump up and lick Reece and he asked why Toby did that.  I explained that Toby was still a puppy and he was learning not to do it, to which Reece replied… “When will Toby be a GUY?”  Very cute!

Here’s one more little 'Reece’ quote:  We were walking back to the cars from the beach (about 200 metres) and although Tracey had done her best to get Reece into the water he wasn’t having it.  As we walked up the dunes he turns and says to me… “Well that was a nice day at the beach”… out of the mouths of babes!

I hope you all had a great weekend xx