Log your Memory: Week 22

Hi everyone :)

I’m almost back on track with Log your Memory this week.  The prompt for Week 22 is all about your handwriting and fonts.

I know lots of people don’t like their own handwriting… it’s a common thing when I run scrapbooking classes to hear people say that they NEVER do their journaling by hand. 

When I was at school I really disliked it when teachers expected me to use sloped or linked writing… I just don’t like doing it!  I ALWAYS print… and most of the time it’s straight up and down LOL  Having said that, I have absolutely no problem with my own handwriting which is good because at school a LOT of what I do involves me writing by hand… writing on the whiteboard, filling in my teacher planner and commenting in kids books. 

For wall displays I pretty much always use fonts and create the text for displays on the computer.  I’m always on the lookout for ‘just the right font’ for displays, kids activity sheets and scrapbooking layouts.

Here’s my layout for this weeks prompt:

For me the decision over whether to handwrite or computer generate journaling for a layout often depends on how much I have to say on the layout and the overall feel.  There’s no question that handwritten journaling creates a more personal touch… but sometimes I just have too much to say!  I know my family is going to laugh over that last bit!!

Luckily for me I think I’ve got the best of both worlds… handwriting (or in my case, printing) I like and a world of fonts at my fingertips.

If you’re looking for some cool FREE fonts then I highly recommend Kevin and Amanda’s website which literally has hundreds of fonts available for you to download and use!

Hope you’re all having a happy week and I’ll catch up with you again soon xx

Project Life: Week 21

Yes I’m back again!  This time I’ve got my Project Life post for Week 21.

When I put my pages together this week I realised that there are a LOT of words.  Clearly I’ve had plenty to say this week LOL

Here’s my spread for the week:

I’ve had a brilliant week at school.  We’ve been doing science experiments this term and the one we did on Monday was great!  It involved balloons, water and flames and had the kids totally gobsmacked which was funny to see.  We’re half way through the term now and there’s still so much I want to get through.

Here’s a look at the start of this week:

We also did some really wonderful autumn artwork and poetry.  The kids enjoyed doing their painted backgrounds using scrunched up newspaper for our brushes… and the best part was that at the end of the lesson we simply screwed up all the soggy newspaper and threw it in the bin… no paintbrushes to wash!

Mr Toby has been on an eating frenzy too!  I came home to find that he’d somehow managed to get my red bra (the only coloured one I own!) and chew it… there were little bits of red everywhere and Mumma was not happy about it!

Something that did make me happy this week was watching Masterchef on Tuesday night!  It’s getting quite exciting as we get closer to the final and I’m glued to my sofa every Tuesday night watching it.

Plus I’ve discovered that I can save $13.95 ordering my contact lenses online versus ringing through my order by phone… that’s a great saving!

Here’s the second half of my week:

I’m really enjoying books this year!  I’ve discovered a couple of new authors that I like and I’ve been really galloping through them.  Krystal introduced me to Cayla Kluver’s writing and it’s phenomenal!  She writes incredibly well and I’ve now read two of her books that form a trilogy… the third book is due out in November.  What’s really amazing is that Cayla is only 20 years old!  She’s got a great future ahead of her!!!

You might have noticed the photo of Tauranga hospital.  Mum was at work on Wednesday and doing all the usual things she does when she had horrendous pain through her chest.  They thought she may have been having a heart attack but thankfully it wasn’t.  She’s actually pulled a big muscle right through her chest.    I did a quick trip to Tauranga Hospital on Thursday afternoon to make sure she was alright and was pleased to find her sitting up in bed with a magazine… although she did have several needle marks in her from all their testing.

When I was talking to Krystal yesterday morning she said that she wouldn’t be surprised if it had have been stressed because she gets stressed running around uni and going to work and “Grandma is THREE TIMES my age” LOL  We also talked about how much Mum weighs… or in her case how little she weighs… and Krystal’s instant response was… “It’s just not right Mum!  Tell her to eat a burger!”  I won’t tell you how much Mum weighs but I will say that she is the only person I know who weighs less than her age!!!

I’ve got a little someone to introduce you to this week.  Meet possum:

I grew up hearing the saying that the only good possum was a dead one… but this one is stunning!  Besides, she doesn’t have a mouth so she can’t eat anything that she shouldn’t!  Possum is actually a hand puppet that Auntie Daphne made herself.  I was quite taken with it when I saw the photo Mum had but last night I actually got to meet Possum and she has lots of expression!!!  Toby was very enthralled with Possum too and Auntie Daphne, Possum and Toby spent quite a bit of time talking to each other!

Here’s my little bit of creativity for the week:

After having a couple of eventful weeks I thought I’d put it out to the universe that a bit of love and laughter was needed in my household… in other words… enough with the dramas!!! 

Auntie Daphne, I hope you had a great trip over to Tauranga and that you can get that mother of mine sorted out please!  Thanks for visiting… hugs from me and Toby!  xx

I hope you have a great week everyone xx

Log your Memory: Week 20 and Week 21

Hi everyone :)

Hmm what happened to Friday??  I have no excuse… I’ve just been getting other things done first LOL

Week 20

The prompt for Week 20 at Log your Memory is all about software and apps.  I have to admit that I was completely stumped by this one for a while.  Since my phone is still in the ‘dark ages’ I couldn’t think what I would do until I realised that I use quite a few different things on my computer… so here’s my page for the prompt:

At school I constantly use Microsoft Word to create documents as well as the very cool software from ActiveInspire which is for my smartboard.  I really, really like this software as it makes my lessons a LOT more interactive for the kids and I can also save and print everything I want to from it… which is better than trying to keep it all on the whiteboard.

I’m also finding myself using PDF programmes more and more both for creating and reading documents.  Of course the great part about it is that in general they make all documents much easier to send via email!

Right now I’m using Live Writer to update my blog and it’s seriously GOOD!  Unlike Blogger it actually puts my photos exactly where I want them.  It doesn’t try to have a mind of it’s own… and it’s so super simple to use that it makes blogging so much easier.

This year I’ve been using Photoshop 7.0 and learning how to do a lot of different things.  I know there are more modern versions out there but this one is perfect for me. 

And finally there is the internet.  For a long time I was loyal to Internet Explorer but after changing over to Mozilla Firefox a few months ago I’m a real convert… it’s so much quicker and easier to use… and it has some neat toolbars that really work for me.

Week 21

This week’s prompt was all about mail… the kind that gets delivered to your mail box.

It’s true that some weeks I can get absolutely no mail except for the kind that gets thrown straight in the bin/recycling.  Thankfully this week has been a little bit more interesting!

Right now I’m hosting the ATC swap for Scrapbook Dreams so I’ve had some wonderful artwork coming through my mail box… of course I can’t show you what’s inside those envelopes just yet!

I’ve also had a ‘personal’ invitation to use the new Westpac branch in Rotorua that will be open 7 days a week along with a pre-approved loan from a finance company… (don’t panic Dad I won’t be taking them up on their generous offer!) 

I’ve also received the registration details for my new car along with a voucher to go to Lonestar next month… and so long as I take four or more friends I can eat for free!  I might have to think about that one because last year I didn’t use my voucher.  Maybe I should organise a ‘team dinner’ with some people from work!

So that’s me all caught up… and I’ll be back later on today with this weeks update of Project Life :)

Project Life: Week 20

Hi everyone :) 

If you saw my post on Sunday you’ll know that I had some issues last week… and I had planned on having this updated last night… but it would seem that my ‘plan’ was not meant to be.  I had my photos all set to go… finally got down to my local photo centre to have them printed… BUT the machines were all turned off!!!  Nope I hadn’t missed the deadline… the guys working outside on the footpath had cut through the gas main and everyone had to be evacuated!!  Talk about dramas!!

Finally… here is my full spread for the week: 

The week started off just fine… I got my classroom wall display in the foyer up and had lots of positive comments. 

On Tuesday I headed over to Tauranga for another Tutor Teacher course… but on the way over the car got REALLY hot!  It took 2 1/2 hours to do what normally takes one hour!  I finally got to the parking building near the course with steam coming out the front and water gushing out underneath… but at least I’d arrived.  I was at my course until after 3.00pm.  Then I sent a text to Loreen and turned up ‘unannounced’ at her work… amid a LOT more steam!  She was able to get the mechanics to have a look at it for me and they told me what was wrong… not good news!  The head gasket had blown! 

There was no way my car was getting me home but thankfully Loreen is a really wonderful friend and without even blinking an eye she offered to drive me home to Rotorua!  She even took me up to the tow truck place so that I could organise getting my car back… now that’s a GREAT friend!

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

On Wednesday night I had one of my night classes.  We were all crafting away happily when my cuttlebug decided that it wasn’t going to work anymore.  Well that didn’t impress me but ‘Mouse’ said she reckoned we could fix it.  Out came all my tools… we took it apart… worked out what the problem was… fixed it and put it back together again… and YES it’s working absolutely fine again :)  Girls can do ANYTHING!

We also had cross country this week which was exciting for the kids and I have to say that I was pretty jolly proud as every single one of my kids ran in the race!  Good on you Room 4!!

For some reason I’ve had some good quotes come my way in the past week so I decided to include them in Project Life this week too.

Here’s the end of my week:

On Saturday morning Nina took me down to have a look at some cars.  We actually had quite a bit of fun and it was pretty darn exciting when I actually found a car I really liked!

After a test drive and a bit of negotiation it was off to the bank to get some money followed by a quick morning tea… always eventful when Miss Nina is around!  We had a few laughs and I made sure to get a photo of my holding the money LOL

After buying the car I headed over to visit Loreen and Veronicah in the afternoon.  We had such a good time catching up and Veronicah brought some of her gorgeous art journals with her… trust me they weren’t just ‘eye candy’ they also had texture galore!!!  You can have a look for yourself on her blog!

Next we were off to see Mum as she was back from her trip to Australia.  It was good to catch up and Mr Toby thought it was pretty darn awesome having a vegetarian dinner for a change… mashed potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, peas, corn all mashed together with a bit of gravy!

Here’s my creativity for the week:

I did some inking and distressing before adding a felt tree cut on the cuttlebug after we fixed it and then I added some bling for a bit of glamour.

So that’s been my week… a couple of major dramas but all in all it’s just part of life I guess.  The one thing that I’ve learnt this week is that you can never have too many friends! 

A big THANK YOU to:

• Loreen for really being there for me when I needed some help and bringing me home on a cold and wet night when you could have been sitting at home all cozy and warm!
• Carey for taking me to and from work for three days while I had no vehicle!  You were awesome and I really appreciate it.
• Nina for taking me car shopping and giving me some much needed laughs in a stressful situation!

You are all wonderful women and I’m so thankful to have you all in my life xx

Have a great week everyone and I’ll be back with Log your Memory on Friday xx