Been awhile...

Every time I think I am on a role and think I am going to blog every day, I suddenly realise that it has got away from me again and it has been awhile since I have been here... have been working and visiting with children and setting up new houses for children and grand children... waiting for my new baby grand daughter to arrive... hopefully soon... not keen for the extended wait... neither is the mother of the aforementioned child... so while I wait, I scrap and when I think of it i come here and make a statement about something that is of no consquence to any one but me!!!

Vintage...

I have some old photos that I must scrap before I forget where I have stashed them... I am getting overwhelmed with all my photo files and one day I am going to sit down and not get distracted by the internet and organise my collection... my digi kits need re organising too...
here is a layout i have done with a free kit sent to me by Denim and Daisies just for singing up for the newsletter... how nice is that... I didn't have to do anything just type in my email address...
JeanneMarie Scraps designed the kit - Rose Garden...is an old photo of my parents wedding...I must do more of these...

Found - another place to shop...

I have come across a new place to shop... I was attracted by the name of the site first then the graphics and have found it is easy to operate and besides the dollar exchange rate is excellent at the moment so what else can I do but, shop shop shop...
But first I will upload a layout I have done with a blog train freebie which lead me to the site in the first place... Denim and Daisies...great name... beautiful designs! First a layout then I am off to do another with a kit I just purchased, then I will add a link...

This layout done with the freebie blog train kits...

Another scraplift...

I can't help it... if I like a layout and I have the kit it was made with, I have to try and copy it... with my own photo of course... it is uncanny that many times a layout will have a photo and I know that I have a photo very similar, and I just gotta copy it!!! so that is what I did with the last few layouts that I have done with Jaelop's kits that were available from her website for free.

Another layout...

I am always searching for and downloading freebies... I have so many kits... anyway I am addicted... what can I do...so today I found Jael Lopez' blog and downloaded a few of her kits... I sketched a few of the layouts she had on her blog too... very beautiful work and great artistic layouts... so I attempt to replicate the layouts and I nearly have it... I am very happy with this layout and thank you very much Jael... I have uploaded your blinkie so people will/ can be directed to your blog...

Boring...

so you may have noticed I got bored with the whole giving thanks bit(does this qualify as 'talking to myself' as I am the only one that reads this blog)...well not the actual giving thanks bit - because I will have you know that i am very thankful for many things, but it is the writing them down bit that got me stumped... I have a million and one things on the go at one time and I get off track and don't seem to be consistent with anything... I have sewing to do... I have off the page scrapping projects to do... I have a house to clean(well that should be at the bottom of the list)... I have washing and ironing to do... I have cupboards to rearrange...I have a body to reshape(that is going to take a while)...I have a grand baby to prepare for... and I have a dog to look after... oh and the husband too of course! I had all intentions of posting a layout everyday and look where that has ended up... might sneak one(or two) in here today...

I was so surprised to get a present from Digital Scrapbook Place for my birthday... what a lovely thing to do...I registered there when i first thought of giving digi scrapping a go and downloaded their free kit and also followed many tutorials on the site... I then uploaded to a gallery there and the rest is history...so I used it to create a couple of layouts... the one with me on the bridge(I don't do bridges well... one of my phobias)is just my design using the birthday bonus kit sent by Digital Scrapbook Place, and the one of my daughter and granddaughter is using a template by Kristin's Scrap Design..I cannot remember where the pink flowers came from... sorry... I did get a couple of birthday greetings from other forums too...am I greedy? cause I was thinking it would have been nice to get a kit from them too!!

Happy Birthday...

happy Birthday to me...
Happy Birthday to me...
Happy Birthday Dear Me (and Sesame Street)
Happy Birthday to me!

Some layouts...

These layouts were done with Lauren Bavin - Touch of Gold... ducks in pond.
Dawn Inskip - Treacle Tart...Man with Bull... my dad!
elena and jasminolya - Our Hearts...wedding

Thanks for...

I missed yesterday cause I had to go to work... so I guess today I am thankful to 2 things... my job (which i love) and my home (even though it is not mine and we are just here temporarily it feels like a home when we are all together and having fun...

New layouts...

So it is Melbourne Cup Day today and I have no interest at all in the race...don't care really but I do care about scrapbooking on the computer... here are two layouts done recently... one using sunflowers kit and Amy Melniczenko template and the other copying a design by Scrapping With Liz... I just adapted it to suit my 12 x 12 layout style...

Giving thanks continues...

Today I am thankful for the health and happiness of my family... sometimes things are not so great but for the most, we are very lucky!!!

Giving thanks...

I am thankful for many things... let me count them...
today I am thankful for my family...

Jessie is beautiful...

Jessie is growing up so fast... she is sitting up by herself now and playing with things... it is lovely when babies discover stuff and want to play and touch everything that makes a noise... here are a couple of layouts done with a couple of freebie kits... the strawberry one was from the SYTYCD contest and is Strawbery fields by Redju... and the other is using Harvest Blessings by Raspberry Road Designs
A BIG thankyou to the designers who foster the craft of digital scrapbooking by providing free kits and goodies for all us less talented people. I do buy a lot of kits online but a majority of my stuff would have to be freebies fom overseas... I have a huge respect for those talented designers who are so generous.

Raspberry Road Designs...

Just popped in to post a new layout... It is a quick page done by the fantastic team at Raspberry Road Designs...http://raspberryroaddesignsct.blogspot.com/
I saw this and immediately thought of this photo and my mothers dress just seemed to go with the background paper...It is a freebie offered by the fantastic CT at RRD...I am so appreciative of their kindness and genorosity...

it has been a while...

has been a while since I was here... been busy with extra people in the house... work... study... lots of stuff... not housework though! never too busydoing housework!... Wendy takes a lot of effort too! a new layout today done usin a freebie kit by Mirella from Scraps by Mirella. Was weird when I was looking through her site and i got a warning about content.... I hesitated and thought WT* and then proceded cause I thought if it was something that was objectionable to me I would just click it off etc... well the images she uses are very beautiful art done by ? i don't remember, they are depicted in rather sultry poses but i didn't want them so I continued and went on to download the kit called Let it Be... I think it is a lovely kit... great colours, and I like the "feel" of the elements. I like how they look...that clean crisp stylised look but sooooo real too!

10 things I hate about ...

I hate...

1. people who drive fast in carparks...what is the rush really!
2. mushy overripe bannanas...yuk!!
3. frozen peas...again yuk!
4. shop assistants who continue to have a private conversation with their colleagues while they are serving you...and all rude peole in general!!
5. kids on motorbikes/ 4 wheelers...noisy, dangerous, inconsiderate little punks in general
6. people who don't tell the truth...and they know who they are...makes me sad really...
7. celebrities...I mean who are they? just ordinary people like you and me really
8. slow internet...now that I have the faster one!!
9. people who call an ambulance at 2 o 'clock in the morning because they have run out of panadols...such a waste of time and resources...
10. any sort of liquid medicine...can't swallow it...makes me sick!

Nothing much to say...

I have nothing to say today... but here is a photo that i altered with photoshop using the photocopy filter...

...clever look isn't it...

Road Trip...

I am very tired... have just done a 1100 klm road trip...now I know why they invented planes...much better to fly... I never want to drive anywhere again...my second eldest, who is pregnant and has been living down south decided to move back up north to have her baby... so I flew down to help her pack up and drive home with her in her car...I should be having a nap at the moment but the puppy was crying so i am out the back yard with her... she found an empty coke zero bottle and is playing with it at my feet... the idea of coming outside with her was so she could run around and she sits at my feet...go figure!! so we left my daughters rented flat clean and because she still has 2 weeks left on the lease she is paying rent of course while she has already moved and the rental agency sends an email to remind her that she is responsible for the condition of the flat until the lease date... I hope not too much of the dust storm gets inside the flat... I hope but am not hopeful... it is an older style building that has cracks and wooden windows so I am sure she will get a call to say that her bond will have to cover the cleaning of the flat...now that really sucks... it is not as if she is just moved to the other side of town and could go back to rectify any problems... I just hope she doesn't have to pay too much out of bond to cover the expense... I am not hopeful about that one either...

We had a good trip home... Her car is a manual transmission and i usually drive an automatic so there were some moments when I forgot and tried to navigate a corner in 4th gear... and several times when I started the car in gear! Much laughter and instructions from the passenger seat and I did finally get the hang of it and was able to start the engine and change gears appropriately for most of the trip...

so here I am sitting in the back yard and all I can see is dust!!! It is awful, not as thick as it was in Sydney and not as red but not nice just the same...
Because I am outside i don't have my external hard drive atached to the laptop and so I don't have any layouts to post on the laptop so have added some photos from my garden... the first one is of a vine that grows along the fence and i have no idea what it is called but is very pretty with the bright red colour and the black in the centre... the nest one is a gardenia flower and then the begonia flowers...well actually it is the other way around... enjoy!

Graphic designs...

So these layouts are all graphic designs by me... done with photo shop elements 7

***********FOODOLOGY***************

What is your salad dressing of choice?
Maldon salt, balsamic vinegar, extra virgin olive oil

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
sizzler

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of?
fish

What are your pizza toppings of choice?
Pepperoni

What do you like to put on your toast?
cinnamon & sugar, peanut butter, or vegemite

***********TECHNOLOGY***************

How many televisions are in your house?
4 (3 people)

What color is your cellphone?
dark blue

Do you have an iPod?
No ipod. My husband has one...

***************BIOLOGY******************

Are you right-handed or left-handed?
Right handed.

Have you ever had anything removed from your body?
a child!

What is the last heavy item you lifted?
a person (I am a nurse)

Have you ever been knocked unconscious?
no

************BULLOLOGY**************

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die?
no, I wouldn't be prepared anyway...

If you could change your name, what would you change it to?
When I was little I always wanted to be a Sally, but now not so much...

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1,000?
definitely not. $10,000 i would give it a go....

**************FAVORITOLOGY****************

Season?
no discernable season in the tropics...

Holiday?
any holiday where i can get away somewhere .

Day of the week?
any day of the week that I have nothing to do...

Month?
no favourites.

***********CURRENTOLOGY*****************

Missing someone?
my family... all of them always...

Mood?
Content.

What are you listening to?
some #$%@ music on my daughters computer and the Nintendo wii...

Current worry?
not having a house to live in when my husband retires soon .

***************RANDOMOLOGY*****************

First place you went this morning
home... I was on night duty.

What's the last movie you saw?
slumdog millionaire.

***************OTHER-OLOGY*****************

How many pairs of flip flops do you own?
too many to count...

Last time you had a run-in with the cops
never

Last person you talked to?
DD

Last person you hugged?
DH

Do you always answer your phone?
Yes

It's four in the morning and you get a text message, who is it?
My second eldest daughter or my son...

If you could change your eye color what would it be?
green

What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic
no idea what where or who sonic is!

Do you own a digital camera?
Yes

Have you ever had a pet fish?
yes several.

Favorite Christmas song(s)
Away in a Manger

What's on your wish list for your birthday
nothing special

Can you do push ups?
yes if the need arises...

Can you do a split?
Not a chance.

Does the future make you more nervous or excited?
Excited and nervous

Do you have any saved texts?
yes... special announcements from the kids etc...

Have you ever been in a car accident?
yes when i was a little girl...

Do you have an accent?
of course, we all do don't we...mine is Australian...

What is the last movie to make you cry?
'slumdog millionaire'... all movies make me cry but if we are talking about full on sobbing, then it would have to be '7 pounds' and then 'shawshank redemption' for the 15^th time...

Plans tonight?
Scrapping, sleeping.

Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom?
No.

Name 3 things you bought yesterday?
food, food and petrol for the car

Have you ever been given roses?
Yes.

Met someone who changed your life?
Yes. My husband and my children.

How will you bring in the New Year?

Just spend time together as a family.

What song represents you?
I can't think of any

Would you go back in time if you were given the chance?
Yes. Not sure where though.

Do you have any tattoos/piercings?
My ears are pierced.

Does anyone love you?
hell yeah.

Would you be a pirate?
oh yes it would be fun

What songs do you sing in the shower?'
none... i don't sing out loud at all...not a good sound!

Ever had someone sing to you?
Yes.

Do you like to cuddle?
Who doesn't?!

Have you held hands with anyone today?
no not yet

Who was the last person you took a picture of?
DGD

Are most of the friends in your life new or old?
New!

Do you like pulpy orange juice?
yep.

What is something your friends make fun of you for?

My kids make fun of me for everything!!!

My complete lack of talent...

Just so that you know that I have not very much artistic talent I am posting some layouts that I created all by myself...

The first one is made using Kristin's Smell the Roses Kit and the next one is from Carolyn Kite's Autumn Breeze...then we go back to Kristin again with her It's Spring Kit...Pickleberrypop is the place to shop!! See I lack so much talent that I can't even put journalling on my layouts unless I have inspiration to do so!!

Meryl is a favourite also...

This is done using the Looking through the window kit by Meryl Bartho and is mostly a copy of a layout done by Meryl, I just didn't have all the stuff that Meryl had... Meryl's stuff is available at Digital Scrapbook Place...

Kristin's design are the best!...

These layouts are all copies of layouts done by Kristin's CT and they are all done using It's Spring or Julie both Kits of Kristin's and available at her shop or Pickleberrypop Shop...I uploaded the last one and realised that I forgot to fix the bit where the ribbon comes in front of the twig... have fixed it on my copy so you will have to imagine it on this one... Oh and Word art by Bethany of course... she is the best!!

The dog is clean...

I have just finished 8 days straight of early shifts... very exhausting but nice to be home every night for dinner...lucky I go to bed early these days. One night the phone rang at 2 am... I was needed to go into work early... so did a 12 hour shift on friday, from 0230 - 1430.

So the dog is now clean... but the house is not! Gee things can get out of hand really quickly if you don't stay on top of them. I have a pile of ironing you can't jump over and a heap of folding that is folded but still on the folding table. Also a heap of things still hanging on the clothes line in the laundry/garage. Two people do use a lot of clothes! Maybe we just have too much!

Super Saturday...

I had a reasonable day at work today. Not too busy means not too many sick people I guess. But that can change at the drop of a hat. I will probably get there tomorrow and there will be no empty beds and people everywhere...

I went to the shops on the way home from work and picked up some hamburgers for dinner. they were YUMMY! Gotta love homemade hamburgers! Olivia our 2nd youngest is a Maccas restaurant manager. She is currently in Hawaii at a managers convention! She loves my homemade burgers too!

I washed the dog before we had dinner! She was sooo dirty after digging in the yard. You can really see the dirt on her fluffy white coat.

My husband is in the lounge room watching the football, i.e. rugby league, rugby union, aussie rules and the soccer, on about 5 different stations, hence I am spending my usual Saturday night in the study on my computer. The place I love to be! I don't enjoy much sport on TV.

The layout I am posting today is an older one done when I was learning how to use PSE. I had discovered the 'clone' tool and I had this skinny photo of my daughter dancing at her wedding and I wanted to put it in an oval frame. Well it was too skinny for the height of the photo and I didn't want to cut off the feet so I cloned the extra bits on the sides. Not very well, I might add. I tell myself when I do these things that I will do the next one properly and well, I never do!

The kit is Looking Through the Window by Meryl Bartho (DSP) I think the font is Kunstler Script.

This layout is a recent one done with a couple of freebie kits by Isa Marks and Bia Bonfim with word art by Choukette...

The Very Beginning...

Lets go back to the start... how did this digi business get a hold of me... One of the girls at work, who is right into craft said she had this thing called photoshop elements and had I thought of getting it... she said she was going to use it to do stuff and print it off for her regular paper scrap pages...blah blah blah...long story cut short... she said try it... I did...borrowed hers for a while 'til I got the hang of it...Got totally sucked in!!! like TOTALLY... haven't done a paper page for 7 months...got my own copy of photoshop elements 7 (started with 3!) Now my life is completely governed by the laptop and all things digital scrapping... I even take my laptop to night duty with me so I can scrap when it is quiet!

I have 12 albums that I have done of paper scrapping in my house , plus a few that I have given away for gifts, I have never counted the pages. This took me 5 years to accumulate... and now I have 264 digital layouts on my external hard drive that i display on my digital photo frame. I owe it all to Sue really, and of course to Digital Scrapbook Place... that is where I got my first freebie and today I post my very first layouts done with the Free Welcome Kit.... which combined with the easy to follow tutorial allowed me to produce a rather amateurish first layout... I am still learning and the hardest thing is that all important artistic touch... which, sadly i lack, but with inspiration from other scrappers and the occasional burst i am able to produce something that looks reasonably good... so here are my very first layouts... The group photo layout is of my 50th Birthday dinner party with my husband and all my children, and the another layout, when I was really starting to get the hang of it, is of me my son (25) and my 3rd daughter (21), we all celebrated significant birthdays in the one year (2007)...

Layout by me...

So I finally have a layout put together by me without copying from someone else... well the basic template is the same as many layouts I have seen but I did all the placing etc... the Kit is Smell the roses by Kristin's Scrap Design with word art by bethany again... the photo was taken in Sydney and is of my baby girl Sam...

Olivia is off to Hawaii...

Olivia is jetting off to Hawaii tomorrow 10 days of sun surf and sand (and a whole lot a alcohol I imagine)... Lucky girl... I haven't had much sleep after working night duty last night so I am off to bed but before I go I will post another layout... this one of Olivia holding her little niece Jessie... The layout is a copy of another one of Kristin's CT. The Kit is Kristin's of course ... the victoria mini kit...and freebie word art by Bethany of course

A child is born...

Our nephew and his wife (well his wife anyway) have just had a baby boy... She had c-section on the weekend...He is my sister-in-laws first grandchild. Can't wait to meet him. That could be awhile as they are 1000 klms away. Babies are such treasures and oh so much fun. The layout for today is the birth announcement. I did this exact layout when my grand daughter was born... It is a combination of a great kit Look through the window, by Meryl Bartho and the actual calendar by Bethany Harty as in Elegant Word Art by, and the ducky and weeds is by Carol Harden's Just Ducky Kit...No! I didn't make a mistake... I don't have permission to publish the baby's name so I have blacked it out...

It's Spring...

It is officially spring and I think it was colder this morning than it has been for the last 3 weeks! I have another day off today and I have a million and one things to do... The house is messy and some places are rather grubby. Not disgustingly grubby just slightly grotty. I have no motivation to clean something that only I am going to see and appreciate. It would be nice if there was someone who would say "my! you have been working hard, the house looks fantastic" but that has never happened and I don't suppose it is ever going to happen... Wendy, the puppy is growing and learning to do the right thing. Everyday is a joy with her... she is sooooo cute and follows me everywhere. It is hard work though. The layout for today is an old one I did when Jessie was born. It is a photo of my only son, Julian holding her for the first time. I used Dawn Inskip designed stuff. Daydreamer Kit from PBP and coloured it myself. I use PSE7.The word art was a freebie from somewhere but I can't find it in my files... does that mean I have too many? I have just done a count... is this normal for a digital scrapper...? I have approximately 50 purchased kits...over 100 free kits... 20 alphas(apart from those that came with a kit) 41 quick pages (free) 103 elements (free) and over 50 masks, templates and overlays (free stuff), 80 cluster frames and over 284 different word art downloaded for free!! Obsession reigns supreme!!

Slump...

I have been in a bit of a slump for a couple of months now... thought this blog thing may help get me out of it ... I thought that maybe writing stuff down will help to put things in perspective... I just haven't got that much to spread around and when I think of stuff to vent about, it just isn't that important... I have read some other blogs and really I have nothing to complain about... I am thankful that I have what I have and that my family is fit and healthy and I have plenty of food to eat and a roof over my head... so this slump is just me and I will have to think of other ways to get over it... I think I have to scrap more and worry less about the little things...That is what I will do!!! Just scrap!!!

This layout is a copy of one of Kristin's CT... from the Smell the Roses Kit which i purchased from Pickleberry pop shop... My second eldest Kacey, at 5 months...The word art is from Choukette freebie word art... (thankyou thankyou thankyou) There are some very generous people out there...

Don't you just love this layout... I wish I could be this creative on my own... And aren't Kristin's Kits the best... I love love love them...Hopefully I am going to upload all my layouts to this blog... that means that I will have to remember to remember which kit I used!!

Monthly more like it...

This has turned in to be a monthly thing... Apparently I have nothing to say of interest to anyone. I have nothing to say most of the time really but now that I have started this blog I may as well put it to good use and use it to store some precious memories so I have decided to publish my digital scrap layouts here... for me to see really, cause there is no one interested in what I have to say or do...here is the first one... using a template for the first time number 2 from template 23 by kristin's scrap design and the 'victoria's mini kit' also by kristin's scrap design... she is my favourite designer at the moment and has beautiful kits for sale at PBP and her own shop...The photo is by Footprints photography and is of my daughter Rebecca and her daughter Jessie. Aren't they beautiful?

A Cleaning Frenzy...

Well the last couple of days has been a bit slow with me being attached to the computer as usual and actually not feeling 100% as well... I had a tummy virus that knocked me flat for a whole day and it has really taken another three days to get over it... I just started to feel like doing something today, (well something physical that is, I always feel like being on the computer)... My eldest and her hubby and baby are coming to stay over night so I really needed to clean up the house a bit...
So I have swept and steam mopped all the floors, cleaned the showers and the toilets, tidied the kitchen and made an 'attempt' at cleaning the cupboard doors. I did, however, clean the oven. I managed to avoid looking at the windows and if I can't see them I don't have to clean them...
All the while I have been potty training the puppy... now that is hard work! I am getting better at reading what she wants now and have not had that many accidents... also after reading some web sites dedicated to maltese puppies I have been able to put some useful ideas into practice...Ooops I think it is time to go for another potty break so I must off and see to that immediately...

My puppy...

...so I almost forgot about the puppy, my Wendy (shake-n-dog), here is a photo of her...we were having a little outside time after going out for pp and she found a pine cone that had been mangled by the mower (not so sharp anymore) and had a good chew. She is a tiny little thing only 9 weeks old. It is hard work having a puppy! All the potty training etc. I am exhausted already and we have only had her for 6 days!

How do I?

So now I am getting the hang of this blogging thing, A question... how do I make the sides of my blog look pretty... I see other blogs with patterns and pretty things that scroll down the sides... and I can't seem to see where I can do that... Help please!!

Such fun...

I have had such fun making this blog... I still really don't know what I am doing, but, some things worked and others didn't... I am supposed to be cleanning house this morning and then off to the bank this afternoon... I haven't even eaten breakfast yet and that is very naughty of me... I am a tad hungry now so I must off and get some food into me...DH will be home for lunch soon too! I have a new puppy that I must talk about too! Maltese x. She is adorable. Her name is Wendy (as in - " Wendy's shake n dog $5"... get it?) OOPs starveing now must go.

The beginning...

This is my first post... talk about stating the obvious!...so I will be very brief... don't know what I want to include here but whatever appears is about the best that I can do!
Welcome to my life. Please come back and check out my progress... I am a very slow learner!