Memoirs of Michelle

Layout: Panda

2012-01-28T16:25:00.001+10:00

Another layout today...
I'm nearly all up to date on sharing...just a few to go!

I did this one a few months back.
We had a trip to Adelaide about 18mths ago now for a big family get together.
We spent a few days in Adelaide before heading out to Hahndorf where
the get together was.
Jase and I wanted to take the kids to the Adelaide Zoo, as it had just got
2 beautiful Pandas.

Here's some photos I took...they are just gorgeous animals!
We all loved seeing them.

This is Wang Wang. He came outside while Funi sat inside and was
eating bamboo at the time. Wang Wang loved the crowds and really played it up!

Loved the black and white look for this one.
Kept it simple!

Chat soon,

Polly Party this weekend

2012-01-27T18:07:00.000+10:00

There's a Polly Party on this weekend at Polly Scrap Kits!
I'm going to check it out and join in the fun. Are you?

The first Challenge is already up!

Lots of prizes, fun, chatter and scrapping!
Check out the forum here.

Chat soon,

Happy Australia Day

2012-01-26T11:38:00.000+10:00

Happy Australia Day!

We don't have much planned for today.
A sleep-in, bacon and eggs for breaky, a movie, a trip to the park later this afternoon
before lamb for dinner! Yum!

We normally catch up with my BIL Scott and his family as it's his Birthday today,
but this year they have gone away camping...we planned to join them for the day
but the weather has been crazy so we decided to spend the day in...together!
So, Happy Birthday Scotty...we're thinking of you!

I love this year's Sam Kekovic ad on TV for Aussie lamb.
As a country girl, we ate tons of lamb as kids.
I still love it now, and so do my family!

In keeping with Australia Day...this years ad was brilliant!
Gave me a good laugh. I wonder what they'll do next year?

Make sure you have some lamb for dinner and keep our Aussie farmers in business!

Chat soon,

Back to School

2012-01-25T13:16:00.003+10:00

Yesterday the kids went back to school.
Zac is in Grade 4 this year and Ella is in Grade 1.
Both were excited about heading back to see their frends and to meet their new teachers.

This will be Zac's last year at St Columba's as next year he heads off to the next phase
of schooling at a Boys School. He's also excited about that too.
So, the last year my two kids will be together at the same school.

Ella's teacher is Mrs Wolton this year and she's in Possums class.
Very excited about it too. There first activity yesterday was to colour and
decorate a possum picture. She showed me in the classroom this morning.
She was very proud of it.

Zac's teacher is Mrs Davis and he's in Kookaburras class.
Bit of a step-up for Mr Zac this year. Grade 4 sees more responsibility
and being accountable for homework especially and there will be plenty
of it, but the letter I got home yesterday afternoon.
All good though, he's up for it!

Here's Zac with a few of his mates...Cooper, Rohnan and Zach!
I bet they won't be sitting together for long?

All in all, a good start to 2012.
The rain has been a little trying the past few days.
Lots of areas flooding due to the very heavy rain.
Another weather event, we're told. I think we're all
a bit over the rain after it's devastating effects of last year!
Fingers crossed it's not as bad as that.

Chat soon,

Layout: You + Me = Us

2012-01-23T21:45:00.000+10:00

Still sorting through my photos from last year...
Came across this one and I know I haven't shared it.

This pic is from Jase and my 10th Wedding Anniversary.
Nearly 4 years ago...Wow!

Loved this pic!

Just adored that paper range by Crate paper too...Delish!!

Chat soon,

Underwater World

2012-01-19T08:00:00.000+10:00

We headed up the Sunny Coast a few weekends back.
Ella's request for the holidays was to visit Underwater World.
It had been many years since Jase and I had been there.
The kids had never been.

It hasn't changed heaps and currently the tunnel is under
construction, which was a bit of a bummer but the kids loved it
and that is the main thing.

They loved the starfish...

How amazing is this fish??
He's a Lion fish.

The seal show was great!
Zac and Ella were amazed by it.
For being such big animals they sure are strong.

Now is this guy one of the ugliest fish you've ever seen?
We thought so...poor bloke!

Always lots to see there.
We spent the morning at Underwater World.
Zac and Ella spotted the jumping trampolines so they had a go.
I was surprised Zac had a go as he has a bit of a height issue.
Maybe he felt secure in the harness?
Ella on the other hand would have a go at anything.
She's the thrillseeker!

Then off to have a lovely lunch at the pub before heading
down the coast back towards Bribie island.
My BIL Scott, SIL Kate and their 3 kids were fishing down there.
So we dropped in for a fish with them on the way home.

Scotty, Kate and Jase having a fish while the 3 little ones...Ella, Seth
and Millie all had a swim.

I went for a wander up the beach with the two bigger boys...Griffin and Zac.
They could see a Soldier Crab army up the beach and wanted to check it out.

They were mesmerised by them.
They chased them around for ages and even caught some.

These two just LOVE to fish...
Nice to see them share a hobby!

A great day out!

Chat soon,

Layout: Straddie Camping Trip

2012-01-14T08:00:00.000+10:00

I found some more...
More layouts that I haven't shared.

This one's photos of our Camping Trip to Stradbroke Island, or Straddie.
That was a fun week!

Here's another one...
Zac's 7th Birthday Party!

I love the simplicity of this one.

Chat soon,

Layout: The Wall

2012-01-13T07:44:00.000+10:00

I've been sorting photos on my PC and came across this layout.
I don't think I've shared it yet.
I created it way back in May last year!
So, I thought I'd share it.

It's called "The Wall".
We've been to Ballina several times and usually always walk out the Wall.
It's a memorable place,especially for Jase.
He holidayed here as a kid withhis family.
It's nice to be able to take our kids there too.

I'll keep sorting and see what else I can find!

Chat soon,

Show us your Stuff

2012-01-10T22:38:00.002+10:00

I checked out some new Challenge blogs the other night while setting up
the linkson my blog. Came across this one...

It's a fabulous challenge blog.
I had a good look around and decided to give this month's sketch a go!

This is the sketch...

Here's my take on it...

Some closeups because I LOVE checking out detail.
I recently bought some of Charm's cute embellies!
LOVE them...been busting to use them and they suited this perfectly!

I just LOVE this colour combo!
One of my favourites. The background paper is a paper I created
using paper scraps and paint. Might have to make me some more.
It's a cool effect!

Chat soon,

I've been playing!

2012-01-10T21:00:00.000+10:00

I've been playing with my blog tonight.
Gave it a good once over. Changed some links, added a ton more.
Changed the fonts too. What do you think?
I think it's more me.

I haven't changed my profile pic in forever.
Like the new one?

I kept my blog look for now. I quite like this one.
The colours are pretty and they make me happy!

Just thought I'd let you know in case you wondered
what was going on? LOL.

Anyway, must go!

Chat soon,

Scrap the Girls - January Challenge

2012-01-09T09:00:00.000+10:00

I'm happy to reveal I'm part of the NEW LOOK team at Scrap the Girls for this term.
I do love being challenged every month and I do love scrapping girly pics!
Who doesn't?

The NEW team for Jan 2012 til June 2012 are:
Marelize Frisby
Crystal Goulding
Fiona Johnstone
Kerryn Lawson
Kerry Murray
Leonie Neal-Dawson
Marisa Page
Paula Perry
Donna White

This month's Challenge is...

Scrap a Monochromatic layout
Minimal black and white is allowed, that means...
for inks or journalling, or rubons, doodling or the odd small embellishment.

Here's my take...

The pic is of my SIL Trace and my friend Kimmy.
We were bowling in this pic...was a very fun night out.
Love my girl time.

Some closeups...

Be sure to check it out.
Up for grabs are prizes from 2Crafty, Scrap Friends and
Scrapbooking from Scratch!
Make sure your layout is hooked to the Linky tool by the end
of the month!

Chat soon,

Daring you to Scrap

2012-01-08T09:00:00.000+10:00

It's January!
That means the very first Dare at Daring You to Scrap!
It's a great one to kick off this brand new Challenge Blog.

January's Dare is:

Use paper scraps to create a background

Sound like fun?
If you are a scrapper, you'll have plenty of paper scraps.
Everyone does!

Here's my take on the Dare...

I went with a different look.
I used my scraps as a border and did some sewing along it.
I thought most people would do their background in the centre of their page.
Loved using these bright bold colours!
It's a fun layout, that my kids will probably cringe at in years to come!

Make sure you check out the Daring you to Scrap blog and the Facebook page.
Plenty to check out on there.
Make sure you look at Polly Scrap Kits too...they are fabulous and I have a
couple to play with myself. Looking forward to that!

Entries must be in by the end of the month.
Add them to the Linky tool on the blog!

Chat soon,

Macleay Island

2012-01-07T10:00:00.000+10:00

We headed off to Macleay Island for a few days after Christmas.
Over to Pop's place...Jase's Dad's.

It's always so relaxing over there.
He lives on the water so the kids have plenty to do.
They kayak, swim and fish, just out the front.
There's a bike track up the road and we took the bikes this
time so it got a work out!

Pop works in Papua New Guinea. He's a Builder and supervises
teams building Eco Lodges, high in the mountains.
This time around, he brought a friend home to Australia
with him. His name was Dubine. Such a lovely guy and we
learnt so much about PNG.
From the war to what people are like,
the landscape and a bit about politics.
It was an interesting visit and it makes me want to
visit there one day.

The kids had a ball, as always.
All the cousins have an Ipod Touch...seems Apple
did pretty well out of the Jamieson's this year!

They loved playing on their bikes.
Millie, who's 4...even had a go at Ella's bike with training wheels,
although it was too big for her! Ella did very well riding Seth's bike
which has no training wheels. Just need to get that confidence up a bit
before we take the training wheels off.

The bike track was fun. Here's Griffin, my nephew doing tricks!

Plenty of water activity.
The girls played on the boogie boards, while the
2 bigger boys headed out fishing on the kayak and Scotty(my BIL)
did some fishing. I'm still waiting for the fish...
We gave in and went and bought some prawns and fish!

The girls decided they'd have a go on the canoe...Look out!

This was funny to watch. Both Ella and Millie are so
strong willed. Makes for some funny conversation and
plenty of "You're not doing it right!". LOL.
It started off well...

This pic tells the story...Haha!

Then Uncle Scotty did all the work.
They were much happier with that!

All in all, a lovely few days away.
Plenty of fun, movies, relaxing, reading, snoozing,
eating and drinking. I even scrapped a bit one night!
Loved it!

Chat soon,

Christmas Wrap-Up for 2011

2012-01-06T20:25:00.000+10:00

Well, Christmas is done and dusted for another year.
It won't be long and we'll be thinking about this Christmas.
Scary thought, isn't it?

The kids did very well this year.
Santa came through with the Ipod Touches that they've been
begging for all year. Makes for some quiet time, that's for sure!

I thought I'd share my favourite photo from the day.
This is my kids with my sister, Kellie.
We opened presents at her place early with some nibbles
before heading to our Lunch date!

Then it was off to Lunch at Kris and Ian's place...
There was quite the crowd this year. 18 in all!
It's great having so many people.
Feels very much like Christmas!

Here's Jase and I...

Then there's always a game of backyard cricket!

I love Christmas.
Happy kids and some time off...Love it!

I'll tell you about our latest trip to Macleay Island tomorrow!

Chat soon,

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T23:30:00.000+10:00

Well, it's that time of year again.
Just one sleep to go...
So much excitement with the little people in our house!
Such a special time of year.
I LOVE Christmas!

I thought I'd share my Christmas cards I sent out this yearto family
and close friends. Remember a few months back, my friend Leanne
from Leanne Stamatellos Photography took some family photos of us?
Well, part of the session was some family shots and the other partwas
some crazy pics for our Christmas cards.
Although, instead of a card, they were a filmstrip.

So much fun playing with props and pulling funny faces!
The kids LOVED it!

Sorry for the dodgy pic. It's late!

So, from our family to your family...
Have a very Merry Christmas and a happy and safe new Year into 2012!
Love the Jamieson family - Michelle, Jason, Zac and Ella XXxx

Chat soon,

Christmas in the City

2011-12-23T23:30:00.000+10:00

After yesterday's traumatic events, Mum and I took the kids into the City
to seethe Myer windows and watch the Myer Parade and Pantomime.
So, we headed in a bit earlier to have some dinner before the Show.

The City is busy at any time but x4 during Christmas time...it was crazy!!!
The Parade was great, although way too many people for good photos!

Afterwards, we looked at the Myer Windows.
This was the last window and oh so cute!
The kids were pretty impressed with these.

After the excitement of the windows, we did some Christmas shopping.
I still had a few things to get. Been a very long time since I shopped
in the City at night. We're talking pre-kids!
It's always nice. So much going on, hustle ansd bustle...love it!

We got to King George Square about 9pm, just on closing.
Everyone had sore feet but we had to stop at the Christmas tree.
The BIG Christmas Tree in KGS!
It's a Brisbane tradition, this tree.

Here's Zac standing in front of it.
Ella was over it by this stage.

It was a nice night out.
Just what the Dr ordered.

Chat soon,

Goodbye Reuben

2011-12-23T23:03:00.001+10:00

Our beloved 11 year old cat Reuben passed away yesterday,
just 3 days before Christmas 2011.
Such a very sad time for our family.

He got a paralysis tick a month ago, but luckily we found it
and he was lucky. No such luck this time.
We went looking for him yesterday morningafter he wasn't
at the door to greet us. He usually always does each morning.

Zac found him under the house, laying in the dirt...barely alive.
He didn't respond to his name. I found the tick and pulled it out.
When I picked him up, he was cold.A sign of tick paralysis, I'm told.
Every animal deals with the paralysis differently, but Rube was hyperthermic.
We are so lucky to have out Vet at the end of our street, so a very quick drive
down to them and they delivered the horrible news.
It was a paralysis tick and he had a severe case. He wasn't well.
They hoped if they could warm him up, they could give him the anti-serum.
At that point, although bleak...they were optimistic.

So, releuctantly the kids and I left him in the Vet's capable hands.
She told me she'd call if anything changed.
That was the last time I saw him.
2 hours later, I got the phone call.
Rube was deteriorating quickly.
We had no choice but to put him to sleep.
Many tears were shed that day.

We brought him home and he has his own little spot in the garden.
The kids drew him pictures and Zac wrote him a letter, as well as a photo
with each of the kids to keep him company.
Flowers adorn his grave today...the kids sweet touch!

He was 11. Not real young, but not real old either.It can happen to anyone.
With the floods here in Brisbane a year ago, ticks have bredout of control.
Ideal breeding conditions makes for more and agressive ticks.
Not good for our pets.
They are not fussy either, dogs or cats...they'll suck blood from anyone,
including humans.

So, make sure you check your pet regularly...we did after the episode a mth ago.
Unfortunately we didn't get this one.

Time will begin to heal wounds and we'll get another pet, just not yet.
All too raw for now.
My kids have not experienced death before, so this was VERY real.
Both are doing ok now, thankfully.

Such a traumatic experience for our family.
We lost a family member. :(

Thanks to all those who have sent lovely messages on Facebook.
It's nice to know you care.

Chat soon,

Happy Scrappy News

2011-12-19T16:12:00.003+10:00

I have a little Happy Scrappy news to share today!!!!

I'm on the Design Team at Daring you to Scrap!!!!!
Woohoo...I'm a little excited!

There's also a Facebook page.

It's a brand new Challenge blog starting in 2012.
The very first Challenge will go up on January 1st!
Looking forward to it.I love a good challenge!

I hope you can join in the fun!

Chat soon,

Layout: Araucaria Falls

2011-12-16T10:00:00.000+10:00

I think I have a Kraft cardstock addiction?
My last layout was on Kraft, too.
Love the stuff...it goes with anything!!!!
Can never have too much!

It's the Araucaria Falls today!
We visited there on our Easter Camping trip to Gordon Country.
Feels good getting this trip scrapped.
I have a few more to share yet from this trip.

This walk was in the National Park. The sign said 1.8km.
We thought that was for the round trip, but no...that was each way!
It was wet, muddy and a LONG way down.
But we made it...the big boys were less than impressed.
Although we did snap these cool pics down there!
The falls had plenty of water.

I think this layout is one of my favourites at the moment.
Some of my favourite colours.
Love the tag, the big doodled flower, which is a printable btw.
I used more chipboard...this time a black bracket frame.

Chat soon,

Layout: Down the Creek

2011-12-15T11:13:00.000+10:00

More Camping photos...
These photos are from our Easter Camping trip to Gordon Country,
near Warwick.We camped down by a creek.
Beautiful little spot, but boy was it cold?
Good mountain water...freezing!!!!
The kids never do seem to mind.

I do like this layout.
I like that the photos aren't together but are joined with
a journalling spot. I finally used a chipboard butterfly.
I have a great chipboard collection but don't seem to use it that often?
Felt good to use some.

I have more to share...I'll be back tomorrow with another layout!

Chat soon,

Layout: Play hard and live for adventure

2011-12-14T20:53:00.001+10:00

We love a good 4WD adventure.
Back in May 2011, we headed up to Janowen Hills, near Warwick.
We'd camped across the mountain at Gordon Country at Easter time
so we decided to give the other side a go!
It was so much fun!

This hill Jase is coming down was HUGE!
So much so, the kids and I got out.
But he attempted it, down and then back up.
He ended up with bragging rights as he was the only one to
make it up this hill.

Here's my layout...

I'll be back with another layout tomorrow!

Chat soon,

Trip to Geelong

2011-12-10T10:20:00.001+10:00

I can't believe it's nearly been 2 weeks since I had a whirlwind trip to Geelong in Vic!
My Aunt hasn't been well and has been having treatment in Geelong.
She and I share the same Birthday and this year was a big Birthday for her!
So after much deliberation and phone calls, my sister Kellie and I decided
to make the quick trip down for her special 60th Birthday Celebrations.

It's been a little while since I saw my Aunties, Uncles and my cousins.
Lots of fun surprising someone who knows nothing about you coming along!
I love those sort of surprises!!

Here's Aunty Margaret and her cake...

The family...

I got to spend some time with my cousins, which is so nice!
We are all a year apart...and grew up together in a small country town in Vic.
We are all very close and after lengths of time with not seeing each other,
it feels like we spoke yetserday!I love my close bond with them.
We live in 3 seperate states...Qld, Vic and SA!
Thanks goodness for Facebook, Skype and phone calls.
Technology has made it really easy to keep in touch!

As well as a little shopping...Geelong has really come along in the
shopping stakes, from what I remember as a kid!

We also had a little look around Geelong.
It had been so long since I'd been there, I couldn't remebr too much.
We headed down to the beach. A lovely lady stopped and snapped this pic for us!

This is the girl cousins...
L-R : Kylie, Nicole, me and Kellie.
Missing are the boys...Tim and Scott!(the youngest two cousins)

It's so nice down there...there's a ferris wheel.
Haven't these come along in recent times.
Seems everywhere you visit has one?

Lovely foreshore...

The pier...

I also love these pylons. Very arty!
Looking forward to scrapping these!!!

My favourite was the band!

Here's me conducting them...

One quick stop at the Geelong Cats!!!
Mainly for Zaccy, but it made my day when I saw Cameron Ling!

I even got to share a cupcake with Aunty Margaret for our Birthdays!
That doesn't happen too often!
It was special!

Chat soon,

December Challenge at Scrap the Girls

2011-12-04T21:09:00.001+10:00

New month = New Challenge

This month's Challenge at Scrap the Girls is to scrapBABY PICS!

Seeing December is all about Christmas and Christ's birth, it's
time to find all those cute baby pics...but remember, it's girls only!

I had to dig out my baby pics of Miss Ella.
This one was my favourite.
So, I scrapped it x 3!

Loved these papers by Crate paper.
It's the Restoration range...delish!!

Make sure you upload your entry to the Linky tool on the blog
by midnight Dec 31st!

Chat soon,

Scrap the Boys: November Challenge

2011-11-23T10:39:00.001+10:00

I loved this month's challenge on Scrap the Boys!
Who doesn't have tons of sports pics?
My son Zac plays AFL Footy in the Winter and Cricket in the Summer.
He loves both sports and is quite the sports junkie!
The best part of Cricket season is Jase coaches his team.
It's a love they both share, which is wonderful!
Every Tuesday is Cricket training and every Saturday morning it's off to the game,
bright and early!

These photos are from last year's team...U8 Gold!
Most of the boys have played again this year, with only a few changes.
I love that Zac loves his sport so much.
He and Jase have a real passion for cricket!

Chat soon,

Retreat Challenges

2011-11-12T13:47:00.001+10:00

Every Retreat there are Scrap Challenges.
They differ each time, but we always make a 6x6 album with everyone who attended
the Retreat to create a page for it. It has to include a photo of yourself and your name,
either real name or online name.

I used a different colour combo this time around.
I took these pics at home after a recent professional photo shoot.
Loved the simplicity of this page.

We also have a Card Sketch.
I used the scraps from this page and made a card.

Here's the Sketch...

I converted mine to a regular size card.

Super cute sketch!
Love the result of it.

Best go and take some pics of the work I did at the Retreat.
I'll share those soon.

Enjoy your weekend!

Chat soon,

Scrapchat Retreat

2011-11-11T12:53:00.001+10:00

The lead up to Christmas is always so busy.
So many commitments, sees my running some days!
Lots going on in family life too, which makes me time poor!
It's what we have to do, huh?

I've also been struck down with a head cold.
Always happens to me around September, but this time it's a little later.
Usually the change in seasons, but it's hot here in Brisbane lately and having
a cold when it's hot is NOT fun!
Our whole family of 4 have had it, all at once. GREAT!
Feeling better today, though...thankfully!

I thought I'd update about my fun weekend away with the Scrapchat girls.
This was our 10th Retreat, and always tons of fun!
We headed to the Gold Coast again, to the huge house we occupy.
There was around 20 of us this time around, from all over Australia!
I love catching up with them all. A special visitor this time around was
the lovely Lucy or Crazymumm! I met Lucy in person way back in 2006,
at the Sydney Papercrafts Festival. But we'd been chatting online for quite
some time before that! Some friends are meant to be!

Here's a photo of the group again...
Seeing it was the weekend before Halloween, it was a Halloween theme. Most of the girls went scary,
but a few of us went as other characters. I went as Madonna and Maz as Charlie Chaplain!

The best dressed prize for the night went to Trish and Sylvia.
They got right into character and came as a Zombie Bride and Groom.
They were awesome! Well done girls!

Here's a full length shot...

Amazing, huh?
No, that's not Trish's wedding dress. Her hubby would have shot her if it was!
It was a Salvos number!

Looking forward to scrapping these!

Here's me as Madonna, receiving my gift from Gyps.
Love my bat, btw...Manda!

One of my and my good friend Lex...

I love spending time with these gorgeous girls!
Makes my creativity sing...

Chat soon,

Scrap the Girls - November Challenge

2011-11-07T17:30:00.001+10:00

The November Challenge at Scrap the Girls is a good girly one!
You have to create a layout using:

Pink as the dominant colour,
Polka dots and
Multiple photos.

I pulled out some cute baby pics of my niece Millie.
She's 4 now, but I loved these pics so had a play with them.
Happy with this one...

There's some great prizes up for grabs this month.
Make sure you upload your layout to the Linky tool by the end of the month!

Happy Scrapping!

Scrapchat's 10th Retreat

2011-10-21T09:00:00.000+10:00

By the time you read this, I'll be on my way to the Gold Coast to spend the weekend with those crazy Scrapchat girls!
This Retreat will be the 10th for 3 of us...Gyps, Manda and I have been to every single one!
Quite the milestone!
Many other lovely ladies from all over Australia have been at one time or another!
So, this one's gonna be BIG!!!!!!

I can't wait!
At this time of year with so much going on, it'll be nice to get away
with the girls. Time for me...to chat, have a wine or two, enjoy time with special girlfriends, oh and of course scrap! No husbands or kids...my time is my own for 2.5 days!!!

I did this layout about one of our Retreats...

There's lots of fun ahead this weekend...

Here's a pic of our Dress-up Night last Retreat, back in May!

Can't wait!

Chat soon,

Layouts to share...

2011-10-20T22:02:00.000+10:00

A couple of weekends ago, I spent half the weekend scrapping.
It doesn't happen too often, but hey...Bathurst was on, so I got busy!

I went through my photos and found some older ones to scrap!

I had a few from Zac in Grade 2 that I hadn't scrapped yet and seeing he's nearly
in finished Grade 3, I thought I'd better scarp them before I forgot what they were all about!!

The first is from Qld Day!
It's a day the Grade 2's held for all things Qld.
Their major assessment for that term, was to do a project about a Qld
town that they'd like to visit on holiday!

Zac chose Port Douglas!
Such a beautiful part of Qld up there.

These photos show him telling the parents all about it and posing with his teacher,
Miss O'Sullivan and mate, Callum...all in their Brisbane Lions gear!

I was reading my friend Crystal's blog the other day.

I love her work. She's funky, fresh and loves paint.

Makes scrapping look so easy...

Well, I noticed she uses lots of brads.

So, I had a go at putting a few on this page!

I have heaps of brads, so thanks Crystal....you made me use

something I don't use very often!

Onto the next layout...

Seeing we're on a Grade 2 theme, I pulled these out!

Zac on his very first day of Grade 2!

He became a member of the Student Council too, and was very proud of it!

He's grown up so much since that day!

It's nice scrapping those memories!

I'll post another one tomorrow!

Chat soon,

Kraft it Up

2011-10-11T21:21:00.001+10:00

I had a play with the Kraft it Up challenge for this month this past weekend.
This month's challenge was to scrap a layout in one of the following styles:

*Monochromatic
*Minimalist
*Vintage/Romantic/Shabby Chic

I chose the Minimalist style.
My work is not really minimalist, so I had a crack at it.

I've had these pics from Ella's Kindy Graduation from Dec 2009.
They've been sitting in my pics pile for ages, and I think they kept turning me off
because there is so many colours in the pics I wasn't sure what to go with?
So, I started with a piece of Kraft and away I went...

I like how it turned out!

Chat soon,

Macleay Island

2011-09-29T00:02:00.000+10:00

These school holidays have been great for some time out.
With so many commitments during the school term with sport, markets and
various other things on the calendar, it's hard to get away.

This time we decided to get about. Last September holidays it poured rain
while I painted our new staircase walls that had just been put in.
Seems like so long ago...

After having last weekend in Ballina, we decided to stay close.
Jase's Dad currently works overseas, so his lovely house on Macleay
Island sits there with no one in it. So, our family + Jase's brother, Scotty's
family thought we'd go over for the weekend. Both jase and Scott are keen
fishermen and the kids love it too. So, why not?
Chillin and relaxin...who'd say No?

I and 3 kids(Zac, Ella and my niece Melanie) caught the ferry over mid morning
on friday to unload the groceries and settle in before the others arrived after work.
Dinner was ready when they got there and then we settled in to watch the footy and
have a few quiet drinks. Pity the Broncs didn't win? Luckily the Wallabies did!

Here's a pic of Zac, Ella and Mel, that I took on friday afternoon...

Saturday everyone was up early.
My two nephews are early risers...like 5am early risers!!
Thanks god my two aren't, although they were up just after 6am.
Big day ahead with a start that early!

Up and had breaky and I went and picked Tracey, my SIL(Jase's older sister)
up from the Water taxi. She came over to spend the day and seeing Mel was with us,
take her home at the end of the day.
Trace and I decided to stay at the house, and Seth stayed with us too.
The boys took all the other kids fishing.

Some chilling after lunch with not much doing.
Kids had fun playing together, in the mud when the tide went out.
Hmmm...who's great idea was that??
Griffin and Zac went out on the kayak and did some fishing.
They were out there for a few hrs and had a ball.
Didn't catch anything, but had fun in the process.

Here's some pics from the day...

Scotty, Millie and Ella heading back to the house.
Tide was out, with lots of mud and mangrove roots exposed.
You can see Griffin out on the kayak fishing, in the background.

2 of the boys...Seth and Zac.

Ella and Millie.

Seth and I.

Melanie and Tracey.

Seth and Jase.

Some sunset pics...

Sunday morning saw an early fishing session.

I stayed in bed and had a sleep-in after everybody headed out.

It was lovely.

They all arrived back about 9am and we had a big cooked breakfast with

bacon and eggs...Yum!

Then out we went again for one last fish.

We headed down towards the main jetty to try our luck.

It's a lovely spot, but no fish!

I caught a tiny one. It'd rival a goldfish...poor Scotty got a barb in the

finger from this feral little fish. There was no way I was getting it off...

We've all decided there's no fish near Macleay...well, none legal size.

Just tiny fish or stingrays...seems we caught a few of those varieties!

None the less, we had fun...the kids had heaps of fun and that's what it's all about!

Back to the house for some lunch.

Some more chilling before packing all the gear up and heading for

home aboard the ferry.

A great weekend away on Macleay.

It's nice spending time with family and hanging out!

Loved it!

Chat soon,

Scrap the Boys - September Challenge

2011-09-27T22:38:00.002+10:00

I love having a go at the Scrap the Boys Challenges each month.
Being on the Scrap the Girls Team, I scrap plenty of girls pics so it seems
only fair to do the boys ones too. Seeing I have one of each...Boy+Girl!

This month's challenge was to scrap using a clothing tag, ticket, household item, etc.
Seeing I keep most clothes tags that look interesting, it was a great idea!
I took this cool pic of Zac a few mths ago, very impromptu in the backyard one afternoon.
He was willing so away I snapped!

When I was looking through pics that I could scrap I came across this one.
Zac wearing one of his fave shirts...His Ed Hardy shirt and this one is his
absolute favourite. I even still had the tag!

So, my layout's titled "He's a Ed Hardy fan".
Simple one using some coordinating scraps, paint and glimmer mist!

I'll be back tomorrow to tell you about our weekend away
on Macleay Island.

Chat soon,

Layout: He loves mud

2011-09-21T17:07:00.000+10:00

I finished this layout off late last week.
Titled "He loves mud", this one's all about my BIL, Scott.
He loves his 4WDriving, almost as much as he loves MUD!

We had a 4WD trip for the long weekend in May.
We headed back up to Warwick and did the Janowen Hills
4WD Park. Heaps of fun and there had been some rain through the week
making it very sloppy with tons of mud.

Scotty had also bought a new winch, so he got himself stuck,
just so he could try out his new gear!
Was very funny seeing him get himself out!

I used some Crate Paper papers...love Crate paper!
One of my favourite manufacturers!

Chat soon,

Back from Ballina

2011-09-20T22:28:00.000+10:00

We had last weekend in Ballina.
The first weekend of the Qld School Holidays for us.
I had a Craft Show to attend for 2 days but fun for the rest of the weekend.

It was warm down there, which was a nice start to the holiday break.
It was 31 on Saturday!

We stayed in a cute little cabin down on the Lake.
We'd never stayed there before, but I think we'll definately be going back.
Such a great spot with heaps for the kids to do.
They've got a pool, water playpark, jumping pillow, putt putt golf and it's
only a short walk to the Wall or you can fish in the Lake.
Fabulous spot!

A fun weekend away was had by all.

Chat soon,

Ella's now 6

2011-09-13T22:08:00.001+10:00

Yep, my baby is growing up!
Ella turned 6 last week.

We've been counting down to her Birthday for months.
Anything she saw on TV that she liked, she said...Mum,
Can I have that for my Birthday?
So, now that it's been and gone, it'll probably be...Mum,
can I have that for Christmas?
Haha...yep, it's coming and fast!

She also lost her very first tooth, a few days before her Birthday!
That was an exciting event, and couldn't wait for the Tooth Fairy
to pay her a visit!
She woke me up next morning, with the shiny $2 coin in her hand,
and a grin from ear to ear!

Chat soon,

Scrap the Girls - September Challenge

2011-09-09T16:58:00.001+10:00

If you've got a Scrappy kinda weekend coming up, why not have a go at
the Scrap the Girls - September Challenge.

The Challenge this month is to use Stationary items!
Think CLIPS...Bulldog clips, Paper clips or whatever else you can find.

Here's my layout of Ella and I...

Such pretty papers from My Little Yellow Bicycle.
Then I went through my scraps box and matched
coloured papers to it, a couple of random embellies,
my beloved washi tape and some cool clips. Done!
Love it when it comes together!

Challenge closes Friday Sept 30th at midnight!
Get your layouts in!

Chat soon,

Ballina Weekend

2011-09-08T22:29:00.000+10:00

It's been very hectic around here of late!
Crazy, busy you might say!

I thought I'd give you a little update of what I've been up to!

A few weekends ago, the kids and I headed down to Ballina in Northern NSW.
My Mum and Dad were at a Craft Show down there, so my sister and her family came too
and we made a weekend of it.
Jase was away on a Boys getaway at the Gympie Muster having fun, no doubt!

It poured rain all day Saturday and Saturday night but cleared for Sunday,
which ended up a fabulous day.
We headed out to Alstonville, about a 5min drive from Ballina.
The kids wanted to go to Amaze n Place. It has a big maze, a cafe and
lovely surroundings. So, off we went...

We all decided to have a Teams Event in the maze.
We had to answer questions and find the fort to be the winner.
So, we got into teams...Dine + Kellie, Mike + Ella and Zac + I.
Kellie and Dine ended up winning, much to the kids disgust!

Here's the Maze...

All finished on the Fort...

Ella and I...

After the Maze, we headed out to the Macadamia Farm.
My kids just love this farm. They've been a few times before.
So, we had lunch, played Putt Putt, had a train ride, had an icecream
and fed nearly every animal the farm has!
They LOVED it!

I sometimes forget my kids are "City kids".
We live about 7km from Brisbane City, so no farms close by.
I grew up on a farm in Western Victoria and feeding calves, goats and sheep
was an everyday occurance and to me second nature and no big deal.
Incredible what you take for granted?

Zac and Ella just loved it and were first to feed any of the animals.
They both would have loved being farm kids, if life were different.

Mike and Zac being boys on the train!

A fun weekend away...We're back there next weekend.

I have a Craft Show to attend so it's a good excuse for everyone to get away!

We love Ballina!

Chat soon,

Scrap the Boys

2011-08-30T22:40:00.000+10:00

I had a go at the August Scrap the Boys Challenge.
We had an inspiration photo to use.
Loved the colours in it, as well as the shapes and ran with it!

Here's the Inspiration photo...

Here's my layout all about Zac's Zone Cross Country Carnival,
back in late June!

Chat soon,

Layout: Prep Cross Country

2011-08-26T20:56:00.000+10:00

This was Ella's very first Sports Event as a School kid.
She was so excited about her Cross Country. It was the Prep-Grade 2 Carnival.
She's in Skehan house which is red.

Here's the layout I did about it...

Another layout with Kaiser's "Class of 87" range.
Man, I love those papers!

I'm off on a road trip tomorrow.
Heading to Ballina for the weekend!
Catch up with you then...

Chat soon,

The Ekka 2011

2011-08-17T23:13:00.000+10:00

We headed off to the Ekka on Sunday.
For those that have no idea what the Ekka is, it's the Brisbane Show.
It's known as the Exhibition or Ekka up here!

We awoke to great excitement and lots of singing..."We're going to the Ekka".
Both kids couldn't wait to get there.
It was a nice day. Warm enough, but with dark clouds looming and they
eventually hit us about 4.30 til 5.30pm...rain...oh joy!
Wasn't too bad though. We found a dry spot to ride it out!

We wandered through the gate and found the clowns.
Ella had to have a go!

After the Clowns, Ella decided she wanted to go on the Rollercoaster.

Yes, my 5 yr old. She is quite the daredevil and loves anything wild!

Zac on the other hand, will happily stand back and say "No thanks".

He's your more on the ground type guy. No wild rides for him.

He did love the Ghost train and the House of Horrors with Dad!

That's more his style!

We wandered through the Cattle Pavilion, then onto the Dairy goats.

There was plenty of these on our farm growing up.

Sweet Memories from my childhood.

Ella got in with one of the baby goats and had a cuddle,

til it started nibbling at her ear!

We headed off to the Rides area for the kids to have some fun.
They loved the Magic Circus that is about 3 storeys high and goes
through all different rooms and areas with crazy stairs, slides and conveyor belts!
They loved that!

Onto the Animal Farm, with all the baby animals!

After the baby animals, we wandered through the Horses, Cattle,

Chickens and the Birthing Suite.

A little bit of pressure for the poor ewes waiting to

give birth to new lambs. Not sure I'd want to be giving birth

in front of that many people?

Nothing was happening when we walked past.

Back to the Rides.

The Slide was fun!

Ella loved the Pony Ride.

We stayed til after dark.

The kids had some more rides before heading to the Showbag Pavilion.

Now that takes some time. The kids had no idea what bag they wanted.

Ella ended up getting the Pretty Pony Showbag and Zac got the Combat bag.

Both are very happy with their bags.

Then the usual choccy and chip bags...as always!

We ended up heading for home, all tired and weary about 8pm.

Due to the rain we decided not to hang around for the fireworks,

even though that was our plan earlier in the day!

We had fun, all totally buggered by the end of the day.

Another great Ekka!

Chat soon,

Doing a little Scrapping

2011-08-14T00:10:00.001+10:00

Seems quite a while since I scrapped anything.Yesterday I went and had some new photos printed and got inspired!
So far, I've created 3 layouts all with the same range of papers.

For me, scrapping School photos has been a struggle. There was no "nice"
school/primary ranges of paper out til the last few months.
So I bought plenty of them to keep my stash stocked
up as you're always going to be scrapping those type of photos.
They are sweet memories after all.

Here's one called "Pamper La Prep".
Ella's Prep Class treated their Mum's to a pamper day for Mothers Day.
She gave me a pedicure and painted my fingernails before having
afternoon tea and a cuppa.
It was a lovely outing and the kids loved spoiling their Mum's.

Next, I scrapped some photos from Zac's Cross Country Carnival at school.
For Grades 3-7. He did really well and came 2nd in his age group.

I've scrapped Ella's Cross Country tonight using the same range.
I'll put that one up soon.

We're off to the Ekka tomorrow.
For those in southern states, the Ekka is the Brisbane Show.
Should be a very fun. The kids are so excited about it all.
Can't wait to see their faces tomorrow.

Chat soon,

Scrap the Girls - August Challenge

2011-08-05T22:16:00.001+10:00

It's August already?
Can you believe that?
Not long and the year will be over and we'll be saying Goodbye to 2011 and Hello to 2012!
What a thought?

This month's Challenge at Scrap The Girls was a quote.
You must use the quote as part of the title or in your journalling.

Here's what I came up with...

I used a cute and cheeky photo of Ella.
Loved these papers from Crate Paper...Yum!!
I do LOVE that Paper Company!

Have a great weekend!

Chat soon,

Layout: Swim Star

2011-07-28T11:07:00.000+10:00

Here's another layout I started last month for Scrap the Boys
but just didn't get finished. I loved the Colour Palette of Yellow,
Blue and Red. Right up my alley!!

Here's my layout of Zac...

Beautiful bright colours. I love it!

Chat soon,

Layout: My Girl

2011-07-24T20:42:00.000+10:00

I did this layout a few weeks ago. It's called "My Girl".It was actually for last month's White with One but I just didn't get it finished
and uploaded in time.

We had to use the colour red, spots and white cardstock.

Here's what I came up with...
A little different for me.

Super cute pic of Ella...Love it!

Chat soon,

Scrap the Girls - July Challenge

2011-07-22T16:47:00.000+10:00

I'm a little late this month telling you about the Scrap the Girls - July Challenge!Telling you about my Cruise took it out of me! LOL
There was lots to tell and tons of pics to share!

So, this month's Challenge is...

Scrap a Layout using this album cover by ‘Pink’ ‘Greatest Hits….So Far’ as your inspiration.

Choose the colours, design, words whatever grabs you and use them to create your layout, girls only of course.
AND you have to choose any song title or lyrics by Pink and use them anywhere on your layout,
either as a title on your page or in your journaling.

I loved this challenge being a big Pink fan.
For my layout, I took the inspiration literally and scrapped some photos
from the last Concert that I hadn't yet scrapped.
I liked the result.

Loved using these Prima papers by Adrienne Looman.
I've been saving them for a special layout...this was it!

Chat soon,

Last day on board the Dawn

2011-07-16T15:00:00.000+10:00

A week went by so very quickly on board the Dawn.
All of a sudden it was friday and we were getting closer and closer
to Brisbane.We could feel the change in the weather.
From hot to very cold.While we were away Brisbane had it's
coldest day in 10 years at a top temperature of just 12 degrees.

Our last day still had plenty of activities to do.
After breakfast we headed up to meet the Captain.
His name was Salavatore Lupo. He is an Italian man who started on
big freighters then progressed to Cruise ships. He loves his job.

Next for the day was the Kids Concert. There was various acts in the
different age groups of Turtle Cove, Shark Shak and the teens.
Ella got up and sang with her group. Was very cute!
Zac on the other hand, wasn't so keen.

We watched the last round of the Horse-racing on the last day.
We'd seen the decorated horses wandering around the ship for days,
but didn't really know what it was all about?
So, we headed in to find out. You could bet on each of the different horses
and they ran via a dice system...Kinda like a board game...that was hilarious!
They had lots of fun playing that!

On the last night we said Goodbye and Thanks very much to our
fabulous cabin steward, Arjun. He was wonderful and looked after us
and Tracey and Barrie's cabin. Anything we wanted or needed he saw
we got it. He was wonderful!
Even better, he made our beds every morning...Yes, you don't even
make your bed on board! Loved that...Arjun even popped back later
that night and put a chocolate on the pillow!
How good is he? So the last night, the kids had their photo taken
with him.

After that, we headed to the bar for a pre-dinner drink.
Our nightly tradition!

Zac and Jase enjoying one last cocktail!

Zac's was a mocktail, of course!

Then it was off to dinner.

We ate at the Palm Court Restaurant every night.

On the second night we met two lovely waiters, Selamet and Jamart.

They were so nice and encouraged us to book again on that table.

That table became our table every night.

They really looked after us, night after night.

So, on the last night we let them sit down and we had our

photo taken with them.

It really was a fabulous trip. Seeing amazing ports and having so much to do

on the ship on sailing days. I would highly recommend a Cruise to a family.

We thoroughly enjoyed it and are looking at another one, probably in 2013.

Next time we are thinking the Fiji Cruise...but, that's a little way off!

Chat soon,

On board the Dawn

2011-06-28T22:35:00.000+10:00

While we were out at sea, there was so much to do.Activities
were on from dawn til well after dusk, even into the early hrs of the morning!
Lots to see and do!

On Thursday morning we headed off to a Culinary Cooking Class.
The Executive Chef on the Ship, Brent cooked 3 dishes that we'd be eating
that day and the next. Three lucky people from the audience got to
sample the delicious food!
I learnt a bit too, which was great!

The Tour Director Sandy, the Maitre'd was Darren and Brent the Head Chef
all get along very well. They poke fun at each other too, which made it
quite a funny presentation! I suppose you have to make your own fun
when you're at sea with these guys for months at a time.

Here's Brent in action...

After the Culinary Cooking Class, we could do a tour of the Galley, where they
prepare all the food. Kellie, Tracey and I went for a look.
It was amazing. The doors where all the waiters headed to get our meals
actually had escalators and went downstairs. It was HUGE!!

Here's the chefs cvooking the BBQ lunch.
Check out all that lamb!!! Yum!

How's this for a dishwasher?

They had some amazing hand carved fruit on display down in the galley.
The big marlin was down there too. There were more than
a dozen carvings on display. Aren't these amazing?

How beautiful is the Dining room in the daylight?

It was Formal Night again on the ship on Thursday night.
Time to dress up again!

Yet again we headed to the Show after dinner.
Tonight's was Dancing through the Decades.
It was from the 60's right up to modern day! Fabulous as always!

It was a bit much for one little person...
It had to catch up with him sometime!

After the Show we woke him and I headed back to the cabin with the kids.
I put them to bed when Trace knocked out the door.
The Champagne Waterfall was in full swing and she brought me a glass of bubbles!
Bless her!!!!!
She stayed with the kids while I bolted out and snapped a few photos of the festivities!
Isn't it cool??

That brought Thursday to an end.
I'll tell you about our last day onboard tomorrow.

Chat soon,

Island Night

2011-06-25T20:52:00.000+10:00

Last post I told you all about our day in Port Vila. Once we hopped back on the ship,
it was in full party mode!
Lots of fun activities and gearing up for Island night.
Island night is fancy dress and everyone dressed up!
How could you not with the fabulous array of sarongs on offer??

I bought two. One was for Ella but she wanted to wear a new dress we bought her
with the Disney princesses on it. She was obsessed with it, so I now
have two new sarongs! LOL

We had a few drinks before dinner at The Dome...

Now, seriously...Could Jase have picked an uglier shirt?
I think NOT!

The kids had a bit of a boogie on the Dome dance floor...

Then it was off to the Top deck for some fun...
There was lots of dancing!

The kids joined in the fun of the Hoola Hoop Competition.

There's always lots of fun at dinner.
There was a guy who came around after dinner singing...
"Feeling HOT, HOT, HOT...Have a SHOT, SHOT, SHOT"
It cracked us up and on Island Night it was Shots all round!

I didn't get a photo of the shots but I did of the guy...Can't for the life of me
remember his name? He was LOTS of fun!!

After the excitement of Island Night was over, we headed back to our cabin.
We were greeted by this guy...
A cute elephant that Arjun, our cabin steward has made for the kids.
Ella loved him so much she slept with him!
Thankfully, he was still intact when she woke up!

Next door, Melanie found a rabbit wearing Tracey's sunnies!
The kids loved it and thought they were fantastic!

Cool huh?
Tomorrow I'll tell you about what we got up to on our way back to Brisbane,
onboard the Dawn!

Chat soon,

Port Vila

2011-06-25T16:36:00.000+10:00

I'll tell you about Port Vila today!Port Vila is in Vanuatu. Jase and I had our honeymoon in Port Vila
13 years ago.Can I say, not a lot has changed. Still very similar
in appearance.

One thing I remember from last time was how friendly the people are.
That hadn't changed either. They always greet you with a big smile and a Hello.

We arrived in Post Vila about 7am and by the time Customs clear the ship it
was about 8am. We had an early tour, yet again! It was good though.
We had plenty of time to shop and look around!

Our tour today was a Jet Boat and Snorkel Adventure.
We were picked up early and off we headed into town to meet our boat.
We had two lovely guides that took us out the the reef to snorkel.
Our boat anchored just behind Iririki Island and the reef was amazing.

We saw heaps of fish, including Nemo.
The fish are very inquisitive and happily swim up to you, especially
with bread. The coral is lovely too, but the fish make it.

Neither Zac or Ella had ever snorkelled before, let alone been that deep in the ocean.
Once Zac calmed down and realised that you breathe through your mouth and not
your nose, he was ok. It took a little time to adjust.
Ella was happy with a snorkelling mask, dipping her head in
now and then to see the fish.
Thank goodness for noodles...the floaty variety...it made Jase and my life easier!

Here's me feeding the fish bread out of my hand...This was very cool!

After our snorkelling our guides took us for a ride in the jet boat.
Not your usual "jet boat" we see here. It was more like a tinnie with a
V8 motor!! LOL But, it hooted along and they guides swung it around
and gave the kids something to squeal at!
The more they squealed, the more they swung it around. It was fun!

They took us around near the ship, which was great!

The kids had a ball on the boat!

Check out this seaplane, just tied up on the beach.
The water was super shallow here. It would have been knee deep.

Here's Iririki Resort...

The main street of Vila...Jase and Zac in search of shopping bargains!

Here's the fruit markets in the heart of Vila.

After our day in Port Vila of snorkelling, shopping, having lunch and a little
more shopping, we headed back to the ship.
The kids were tired and it was hot! Back to the ship for a swim in the pool!
It was the hottest day of our trip at 30 degrees!
May as well make the most of it.

While sitting up on the top deck and after the kids had their swim, the festivities
began on the ship. We waited and watched the Ice Sculping demonstration.

This guy was amazing. He started with a huge block of ice.
It took him 25mins to create this masterpiece, from start to finish.
Impressive huh??
Can you guess what it is??
It's a marlin!

After the ice sculpting, it was time for the barmen to give us a cocktails show!
This was very cool! Very Tom Cruise and the movie "Cocktail". Loved it!
They were good at making them after a week of me drinking them! LOL

Time to leave Port Vila!
Sad, I know.
But the fun was just beginning on the ship. It was "island night".
A big dress-up night for the crew and the passengers! Party night as the crew call it!
I'll do a post tonight with some photos from that!
It was a blast!

Here's some photos as we left, just on sunset from Port Vila!

Ella and I on the top deck, as we left...

Next post is all about "Island Night".

Chat soon,

Lifou

2011-06-19T22:05:00.000+10:00

The Pacific Dawn arrived in Lifou early on Tuesday morning.
We had an early tour, so were up early and had breakfast before heading to
our meeting spot for our tour.
Lifou is also in new Caledonia and is french speaking.
It's quite primitive compared to Noumea.
The people live in grass huts and life is quite simple.
The day the ship comes in is obviously their big day of the week.
Pay day, so to speak!

Lifou doesn't have a harbour or anywhere for the ship to dock.
So, they anchor in deeper water and all passengers are taken to the
mainland by tender boats. They seat about 100 people.
Depending on your tour time, depended on what time tender you got on.
We were the 2nd tender boat of the day. The boats ran all day to and from the ship.
We saw them getting the tenders down early in the morning.
It's quite the process.

After the trip over, we were welcomed with a local band.
I love their bright coloured clothing.

Here's the jetty that the tender ferries you to...

Here's Jase and the kids.
You can see the Pacific Dawn in the background.
Such crystal blue water. It's beautiful!

We headed off on our tour, just after arriving.
Today was a Melanesian Adventure.
Our first stop was a Catholic Church, that was built back in 1898
by the missionaries that taught the locals the good word.
They are an extrememly religious nation, even today!

Next we headed around the corner to the Chief's Hut.
The Chief's Hut is bigger than anyone else's. It's not for sleeping in though.
This Chief is responsible for around 17 different villages in the area.
Instead of going to court about a problem, you go and see the Chief, along
with the leader of the 17 villages. They sort it out.
The Chief is held in very high regard and would never be disrespected.
Not as bad idea for sorting things out!

It's a custom to wear a grass hat when you enter.
We were handed a hat by a young boy when we walked into
the Chief's Hut gate. Funny part was, Zac's was too big and
mine was too small, so we swapped once we made our way inside.

After the Chief's hut, we walked through a back gate and came across
some ladies organising food and men around a fire.
We were all handed some coconut water from a coconut!
I'm not a coconut fan, but tried it and it wasn't that bad.
Can't say I finished the whole drink, but it was refreshing.
I passed on having it cracked open and eating the coconut inside!

Our guide was telling us about how the Melanesian people make
a meal. One of the ladies was preparing a chicken with various vegetables.
I've never tried a yam, so I had to try that. Just like potato and their
sweet potato was yummy too. Not orange like ours.
The kids loved the chicken. Was very yummy.

It's all wrapped up in banana leaves. Must be what keeps it all so
moist, during the cooking process.

After it's all wrapped up, it's time to put it in the ground.
While the women are preparing the food the men were seeing to the fire.
There was no fire to be seen, only coals.
So, the food is placed on the coals, then it's loaded up with layers of dirt.
It keeps the heat in and it cooks away.

After it was cooked...One they'd prepared earlier(LOL)...it was
unwrapped from the banana leaves and we were able to try some.

After our tour we headed back to the village.
The kids were busting for a swim. The water was so crystal clear.
A little on the cool side for Jase and I but it didn't faze the kids.
I swear they'd swim in arctic waters!

After a swim we headed up to the village.
There was plenty going on. There were some locals singing...

After the singing some of the ladies sat down and did some weaving with
palm leaves. They made hats, bags and this lady whipped up a basket in no time.

By this time, Jase, the kids and Nadine decided to head back to the ship.
My sister Kellie was keen to walk up to the church on the hilltop and see the view.
So, the two of us set off. We took a wrong turn to begin with, but eventually
found the right one. It wasn't too far. Only about a 15 min walk each way.
It was the last bit up the steep hill that was the killer.
Burning thighs...get the picture??

Here's the little white church on the hill that we could see from the ship...

Here I am standing outside it. We made it!!!!
Such an amazing view from up there.

After our walk we headed back to the village and down to the jetty.
This was just before we hopped on the tender back to the ship.

Another busy but very fun day in paradise!
I headed back to the ship for a nana nap. Aunty Kel bribed the kids to go
to Kids Club so I could have a snooze. After all, there was a big sundae
in it for them.They happily obliged and I got a snooze!

That night was Pirate and Cowboy night. Always fun dressing up
although I have no pics. Not sure why?
After dinner we went to the Pirate Show and it was fabulous.
Hands down the best show on the Cruise!
Very audience interactive and lots of laughs!

Tomorrow I'll tell you all about Port Vila!

Chat soon,

Noumea

2011-06-17T09:00:00.004+10:00

While waiting for the ship to dock on Monday afternoon, the kids loved playing shuffleboard. It was on the deck of the ship. They became quite good
at it by the end of the week.

After we had lunch it was "Land Ahoy"
We could see Noumea. It was a beautiful sunny day too.

Our first port stop was Noumea, New Caledonia.
We arrived in port at 3pm local time. Only an hr behind Brissy time.

Noumea is a french speaking nation, as they were discovered by the French
and they settled there. Noumea is a very "white" city.
By "white" I mean the buildings are very white. Not a whole lot of colour in their buildings.
It's such a pretty port!

Here we are, just stepped off the ship...

There were LOTS of signs like this...
Pity I could remember any french from school?

While waiting for our tour to arrive I saw this cement truck coming down the street.
For anyone that knows me well, knows I LOVE polka dots!!
My fave colour is red. So when this cement truck came down the street, I had
to snap a pic of it! I couldn't believe it!!
How cool is it??

We did a City Highlights Tour and our bus was running a little late,
so the sun was going and with no sun means no good photos.
This was one of the last I took in ok light.
It's looking back towards the port and where the ship was docked.

Right behind where I took this pic was a huge concrete wall.

It had the coolest graffiti wall, so we took some pics.
Here's Zac and Jase in front of it.

I quite liked Noumea. I'd like to see a bit more of it in the daylight.
It was bigger than I thought. Made up of lots of smaller islands.
The beaches looked nice and the weather was beautiful.
Being winter, the sun went down early...about 5.20pm!
Much like at home.

After our tour, we headed back to the ship.
Then off to dinner before going to the Show.
Tonight's show was by a dance group from Noumea.

Here's the girls...

and the boys...

They danced in their formal dress and showed us how to tie
up a sarong. It was great! They pulled up a heap of guys from
the audience, up onto the stage late in the show.
They had to take off their shirts and they taught them how to dance.
Was quite funny. To finish off, they taught them the haka. It was hilarious!
I must have been too busy laughing to get any pics! LOL

After the show, they hopped off the boat and we left port.
On our way to Lifou...
We watched the ship push off from the dock and head out.
It didn't take long at all.

I'll be back tomorrow with our day at Lifou!

Chat soon,

Our Cruising Holiday

2011-06-16T11:36:00.001+10:00

Time to tell you all about our holiday!
We went on a P&O Cruise to Noumea, Lifou and Port Vila. Noumea and Lifou
are both in new Caledonia and Port Vila is in Vanuatu.
Vanuatu holds a special place in my heart. Jase and I had our honeymoon
in Port Vila, Vanuatu...13 yrs ago on this coming Monday.
It was nice going back to see what had changed.
Even better to take the kids back and show them this beautiful place.

I'm going to do it in a sequence of posts, as I have tons of pics.
It won't get to boring for you that way!

There were 9 of us altogether. Our family of Jase, Zac, Ella and me.
My sister Kellie andher partner Nadine and Jase's sister and my sister-in-law,
Tracey and her hubby Barrie(my brother-in-law) and their
daughter(my niece) Melanie.

Ok, so we boarded the Ship, the very big Pacific Dawn in Brisbane on
Saturday 4th June around lunchtime. Takes a little time getting all 2000 people
on the ship. Once we were on we found our cabins, some lunch and
then the fun began.
The Deck Party was underway with lots of fun games, the Conga line,
more dancing and a few drinks thrown in for good measure!

Here's Tracey and I at the Deck Party!
You can see the Brisbane Skyline in the background.

After the excitement of the first day and working out what deck
everything was on...This was a topic of great debate for nearly the
entire cruise! LOL
"Which direction are we going?" and "Which way is the front?"
As each deck looks very similar, it can cause confusion! haha

Sunday we spent the day at sea, cruising along towards Noumea.
On the Cruising days, there's heaps to do on the ship.
There's activities all day long. From dancing lessons, bingo, trivia,
Survivor, Name that tune...just to name a few things.
Nadine participated in a golf chipping competition in the top deck pool.
It pulled quite a crowd. Pity she didn't win!

Sunday night was Formal Night. We all had to dress in Formal

wear to go to dinner. They have plenty of theme nights over the week.

I quite like getting dressed up. We don't do it often enough.

Here's Kel and Dine all dressed up...

The Sandford family...

Our little family..

After dinner, there was usually a show.

This night's was "So you wanna dance". A dancing show with heaps

of costume changes. It was great! The kids loved the shows!

This photo was of a Spanish ballad...

After the show there was a Pacific Cirque show in the Atrium.

The Atrium is a big area that can be viewed on 3 decks.

So, there was a few shows in there, especially with the

Circus performers. They were amazing!

After the shows, the boys and kids headed to bed.

The girls all went to the Comedy night.

We saw Mick Meredith. He was hilarious.

It was standing room only at The Dome.

It was packed to see his one and only performance at 11.30pm!

Of course we had to have a cocktail or two...

Fruit tingles tonight!

I'll be back tomorrow to tell you all about Noumea!

Chat soon,

Scrap the Girls

2011-06-15T14:43:00.000+10:00

The June Scrap the Girls Challenge is a Colour Combination.

Nice girly one too...

White, Pink, Deep Pink and Black

Here's my take on the Challenge...

Make sure you get yor entries in by midnight Thursday June 30th

to be in the running for the prizes!

Holidays pics coming tomorrow...

Chat soon,

Scrapbook and Papercraft Convention and Expo

2011-06-12T22:23:00.000+10:00

I'm back from my holiday!
We got in bright and very early Saturday morning to an
extremely chilly Brisbane!I suffered all day yesterday and froze.
Feeling a little more climatised today, although
haven't got my land legs back just yet.
Still feel a bit jelly-legged from being on the ocean!

I'll tell you all about my holiday this week. Have heaps of pics to share!

Today I headed into the Scrapbook and Papercraft Convention and Expo.
It's on this long weekend here in Brisbane at the Convention Centre.
A huge turnout of stands, workshops and lovely ladies from all over Australia!
I caught up with plenty of friends, which is always nice.

I was lucky enough to be selected in the Top 20 layouts for the "Scrap Yourself"
Competition being held by Scrapbooking Memories magazine.
I saw my layout on display...

It's always cool seeing your work on display!

I purchased plenty of new goodies.
Looking forward to having a play with them!!

Enjoy the rest of yor long weekend.
I'll be back to tell you all about my holiday.

Chat soon,

Bon Voyage

2011-06-04T09:00:00.000+10:00

Guess what we are boarding today?

That's right!
Our Cruising holiday to Noumea, Lifou and Port Vila!
There's been a big countdown this past week from sleeps til hrs!!

It's the first time the kids have been out of the country and to say they
are a little excited, is an understatement!

We're all packed and ready to roll!
Bring it on!

I'll tell you all about our adventure when we get back!

Chat soon,

Zone Cross Country

2011-06-03T23:19:00.000+10:00

It's been an exciting week in the Jamieson household.
Zac has been training for week's for the Zone Cross Country.
He came 2nd in his School Cross Country and that automatically
put him into the Zone Team.

Well, Wednesday was the day.
He was so excited and very nervous all at the same time.
Poor kid!

Once there, he calmed down and he ran fabulously.
He listened to the tactic his Coaches had given him and
ran a great race. He left nothing in the tank and tried his heart out.
I was an extremely proud Mumma, as was his Dad!
He also had Aunty Kellie, Nana and Pa to cheer him on!

He came in 7th for Combined Zones(3 and 4) and came in 3rd for
Zone 4. We were so excited for him. All that hard work at training
had paid off.

His school won the Boys Competition and the Girls Comp they tied with another school.
So, they ended up winning overall and regained the trophy.
Very proud of them all!

Here's Zac and the Junior Boys team.

Up Heartbreak hill...

Down the hill he goes...

He was pretty proud of his efforts!

Chat soon,

The Hangover - Part 2

2011-05-29T21:38:00.001+10:00

Jase and I went and saw this today...

And yes...it's VERY funny!!!!
Not sure they could ever out-do the first movie...It's one of my all time
favourite movies. Cracks me up every time I see it!
But, this was pretty funny too and "Chow" is hilarious in it.
Plenty more mayhem and one crazy night out!

As promised here's another layout...

A layout about the recent Floods here in Brisbane.
Such a crazy time, that I wanted to document it.
Kept this one plain and simple.

These photos were taken down near my sisters place, near Jindalee.
The highway was cut, a friend's house came very close to flooding and
the photo where the kids were standing looking at the water...just
behind them on the hill is our business.
Thankfully, it was safe and sound.

Chat soon,

Layout: Totally Rad

2011-05-27T11:44:00.000+10:00

Here's another layout I created away on my Retreat recently.
This pic of Zac is from my BIL Scott and SIL Kate's wedding nearly 2 years ago.
They had a black Hummer as one of their wedding cars and Zac wanted
to have his pic taken in it. The driver told him to put his hand up and gesture!!
Hence the name..."Totally rad"

Have a great weekend.
I'll see you tomorrow with another layout share...

Chat soon,

Layout Share

2011-05-26T17:22:00.002+10:00

I planned on puttting up a layout yesterday but it was a crazy
insane day with Hair Appts and Kids sport,
then followed by the NRL Origin match.
It was a big day.
Great result in the Footy too. Go Qld!
So, today I'm going to share two layouts!

The first is a double.
I have trouble scrapping School photos. Not sure about you?
Finding primary coloured papers that I like usually proves a test.
The "Playground" range by Echo Park suited these pics to a tee.
Loved this range very much!

The photos are from Zac's very first Sports Day, some 3 yrs ago!
Nice to have these finally scrapped. I can see me using every
scerrick and scrapfrom the "Playground" range.

I also did a single with these papers.
Another from Sports Day...The Classic Tug-O-War!
The kids absolutely loved challenging the parents!

Thanks for popping by...
I'll be back tomorrow with another layout!

Chat soon,

Scrap the Boys

2011-05-24T16:12:00.000+10:00

This month's Scrap the Boys Challenge was to Scrap about a collection
your son or husband has.
This ended up being tough for me to decide on what to choose.
Zac has a few collections and Jase has a huge collection of T-shirts!! It's insane!
When I chatted to Zac about it, he wanted me to scrap about his beloved AFL cards.
So, there really was no contest!
He just loves them. Knows so many facts and who plays for who.
He's forever hitting me up for a new pack of cards!

I used some paint and used up some scraps and older
embellishments on this layout.
Always feels good using up some bits and pieces!

I have a few layouts to share, so I think I'll share a layout a day
for the rest of the week! :)
Thanks for stopping by!

Chat soon,

White with One

2011-05-19T17:14:00.000+10:00

While away on my Retreat last weekend, I had a go at the latest White with One challenge.This month was WHITE, with SCALLOPS and the colour ORANGE!
I liked this one...

I did start with a White Cardstock base(not that you can tell now...LOL),
thenused a leftover alpha "negative".
I used glimmer mist over the top, then doodled the letters in.
Then scrapped over the top.
My scallops I hand drew with a black artline pen and filled it in with a white signo.
I haven't doodled in ages and I totally love the result. You'll be seeing that a lot
more in my work!

Chat soon,

Scrapchat Retreat - May 2011

2011-05-18T22:22:00.000+10:00

Last weekend I headed away with a fabulous bunch of girlfriends to the Scrapchat Retreat.Held on the Gold Coast, we rent a big house that this time housed 16 lovely ladies and a ton of scrap supplies! We go twice a year, to scrap, drink some wine, play Singstar and enjoy each other's company. Away from all that's at home and
in our daily lives. A weekend off, for us!

I got quite a few layouts done, that I'll share with you in coming posts.
Our Saturday Night Theme Night was a 60's/Hippie theme.
So much fun was had with this.
From Woodstock Hippies, to Flower Power and I even went as a 60's chick from Austin Powers!
Lots of fun was had with that!

Here's some pics...

Here's the whole crew!

It's always a fabulous weekend.
Loved every minute of it. Now just have to wait til Nov for the next one!!!

Chat soon,

Exciting Scrappy News - Top 20

2011-05-10T16:35:00.000+10:00

I received some exciting Scrappy news yesterday!
Last week I entered the Scrapbooking Memories competition "Scrap Yourself".
I had to scrap a layout about me.

Yesterday I received a lovely email from Cassie at the magazine to
say I'd made the Top 20!
So, my layout is on it's way to Sydney to be put on display at the
Scrapbooking and Papercraft Convention and Expo on the June Long Weekend!
Very exciting to say the least!
There's some fabulous girls in the Top 20...Just excited to be included
in such great company!

Here's my layout...

You can vote your favourite layout if you attend the Expo.
Then a winner is announced shortly after.

You can check out some of the other girls pages on the Facebook page!

Chat soon,

Mothers Day

2011-05-08T22:31:00.000+10:00

I was greeted this morning with kisses and cuddles and "Happy Mothers Day"!Who doesn't love that?
Ella got me a Oven Mitt from the School Mothers Day stall, while Zac forgot his money...LOL
Daddy took him shopping on Sat and he picked out a set of makeup bags...after a little whisper in Dad's ear! We are going on a trip very soon that they will be perfect for!

Then we headed out for lunch, followed by afternoon tea at my sister's place!
A delightful day, really...I loved my Mothers Day!
How about you?

Chat soon,

Easter 2011

2011-05-07T14:21:00.000+10:00

Easter seems so long ago now.We've been lucky here in Qld with Easter then the following weekend with our
Labour Day public holiday. I'm losing track of what day it is??
Back to routine now though...

We headed away Camping with 4 other families to a fabulous place called Gordon Country.
Located just outside Warwick, Qld...High in the mountains!
A working Cattle Property on about 4000 acres, so there's cattle everywhere.
It's an amazing place. Such picture postcard scenery, everywhere you look!
It also has the most awesome 4WD tracks, which was heaps of fun, although a little
hairy in some parts with the very steep landscape!
It backs onto the Goonburra National Park which has some great
places to visit as well. We visited the Waterfalls and Sylvesters Lookout!

Here's some pics of our time away...

A great weekend was had by all!

Chat soon,

Scrap the Girls

2011-05-05T21:24:00.001+10:00

This month's Scrap the Girls Challenge is up!
Seeing it's a Special Month for Mums, this month's Challenge is a beauty!

Scrap a layout based on an important female in your life.
Extra criteria: more than 20 words of handwritten journalling!

I decided to scrap about my younger sister, Kellie. I took these great pics of her some time ago, but just love them! She doesn't pose for pics that often, so this was fun!

I don't usually use purple too much in my layouts. I probably own about
2 sheets of purple patterned paper. (Yes, really)
But seeing Kellie was wearing a purple jacket, I thought I'd give it a go!
I thought the Lime suited it perfectly, so I splashed on some paint and
added a few bits and bobs and Wa-La! Loving those "Collections" Butterflies.
They suit everything!

Make sure you get your layouts linked by midnight Tuesday 31st May!
Check out the blog for some great samples!

Chat soon,

Happy Easter

2011-04-21T22:55:00.000+10:00

Just wishing everyone that reads my blog, a very Happy Easter!
Have a wonderful break, spending time with loved ones and eating too much chocolate!!! LOL

We are off on a Camping trip, bright and early tomorrow morning.
Should be fun!

I purchased a new camera a few weeks ago in readiness for an overseas trip that's coming up!
I'm looking forward to having a play with it.
I bought a Canon G12 and I LOVE it!!
It does some cool stuff. Promise I'll share some pics next week!

Chat soon,

Layouts to Share

2011-04-20T22:36:00.000+10:00

I've got a couple of layouts to share.I did these a few weekends ago for my Yahoo Group's Cybercrop.

The first one is "Rain Rain Go Away".
The Challenge was to scrap about a weather related topic and to use a wet product.
I used glimmer mist!
The photo is of my adorable nephew Seth(4) from our Camping trip last Christmas. The layout was about the wet weather we had over Christmas and New Year, finally resulting in the Qld Floods.

The next layout is called "Just Goofing Around".
Our Challenge was an Alphabet Challenge. This week it's up to "G".
My bribe these days is if the kids do their "nice" shots, I'll let them do their silly faces.
So, why not scrap about it right?
I'm sure everyone's kids do this? Not just mine...right?

We're enjoying the school holidays at the moment.
Relaxing, Sleeping in, Catching the odd movie, Hanging out at home and not doing too much.
It's nice! I love the holidays...

Chat soon,

Kraft It Up

2011-04-12T22:40:00.000+10:00

This month's Challenge at Kraft it Up was a 12345 Challenge.I really liked this challenge.

We had to create a layout using:

1 piece of Kraft cardstock
2 Photos smaller than 6x4 - 2 half size 6x4 pics
3 Different Alphas - turquoise stickers, red felt stickers, Black MM tiny alphas
4 Different Patterned Papers - white, red, black, blue
5 Different Embellishments - raffia twine, tag, ticket, fishing icon, journalling spot

I used some photos of Jase and Zac fishing on our Camping trip at Stradbroke Island during the Christmas holidays. I wanted to do a layout about their love and passion for fishing.
It was the first trip that Zac actually "got" fishing and could cast out himself.

Thanks for popping by!

Chat soon,

The Mud Army

2011-04-08T22:00:00.000+10:00

I've had these photos of the Qld Floods on my desk for a while now.
I thought it was probably best to scrap them while it's still
fresh in my memory.
I could have gone on and on with the journalling on this one.
Such an emotional time...

We helped out at my SIL's friends place. She was in one of the hard hit
suburbs of Sherwood. So sad seeing all those most loved and valued
possesions, just sitting on the footpath.
It was amazing how high the water went and the damage it left.
I was on inside cleaning(mopping and scrubbing),
while the boys were outside in the mud!
Did it stink too? The mud was putrid.

I've used Echo Park papers - For the Record. Aren't they divine?
Love the colours and look of these papers.
Echo Park are so getting it right of late! :)
Right up my alley!

Chat soon,

Sneak Peek

2011-04-07T21:45:00.000+10:00

Here's a sneak peek of a class I'm teaching next month.

It's for the lovely Ann at Queensland Scrapbooking Retreats.
The Retreat is being held at Kilcoy, about an hr from Brisbane.
My class is on the Saturday morning(30th April) at 9am!

I'm teaching how to make a couple of embellishments, as well as
a technique or two.

There's still places available and you can Day trip if you'd like.
Be sure to drop Ann an email!

I'm looking forward to it.

Chat soon,

Cricket Season's Over

2011-04-03T22:07:00.000+10:00

Well, cricket season officially ended last weekend. The boys had their last game on Saturday, followed by their team breakup.
Then on the Sunday, we had the Club Breakup.
It was a big weekend.

I can happily say they won their last game by 5 runs! Woohoo!
It's nice to finish the season on a high. Zac loved playing and Jase really enjoyed
coaching them. The parents already have him coaching next season!
Seems he's keen to do it too, which is nice.

Here's Jase and all the boys in the team talk!

Here's Zac in action!
Here he is Batting...

and Bowling...

Then there's the official team photo! LOL

Now that cricket's finished, we've had one weekend off and Footy
starts next weekend. Nothing like a break, huh? LOL

Chat soon,

New Look

2011-04-03T00:06:00.000+10:00

I've been playing with a new digi kit I found at Weeds and Wildflower design.
The creator is Gina Marie Huff. Loving her kits!

So, my blog has a new look. The old one was ok, but took so
long to load. It annoyed me.
This one is much quicker and I even made it myself.
I followed the tutorial over at Cutest Blog on the Block.
Very easy to follow if you have a little knowledge of Photoshop!

I'll be back tomorrow with an update!

Chat soon,

Scrap the Girls

2011-04-01T21:00:00.001+10:00

I've had the dreaded lurgy the past week and a half.
Starting to feel better, thankfully.

It's a new month and that means a new challenge at Scrap the Girls!
This month is an inspiration challenge.
Take whatever you like from the pic and pop it on a page!

Here's the image for inspiration...

and here's my layout...

I loved the bright bold colours in the image, as well as the tree, bird and butterflies.

Had fun with this one!

My layout's about Ella's very first Passport photo, for her first overseas trip in a few months time.

Chat soon,

Wet Weekend Scrapping

2011-03-20T17:06:00.010+10:00

It's been raining here in Brissy for most of the weekend.

Zac had cricket on Saturday morning and the rain held out until about 2/3 of the way through, but they were determined to finish it. They kept playing in the rain for the remainder of the game.

They won the game, which was great. (64-53)

An even bigger surprise this morning, was Zac's name in the newspaper for batting and bowling. He's been in for one or the other, but not both! He's quite chuffed about the whole thing!

Well done, Zaccy!

After cricket and a Birthday party we had the rest of the weekend free.

I decided to sew the curtains for the kids Cubby house. Now we just need it to stop raining and we can put them up in there.

Then I hit the scrap desk.

I created 3 layouts, which was great. It's nice to just create!

I'll share one with you today and save the other two for another post.

This one is about Zac's 7th Birthday last year. He was lucky enough to have a helicopter ride over Brisbane, as a very special surprise!

A bit of a different layout for me. Used lots of pics, which I love to do.

While I finished off the last of my layouts this afternoon, I had a helper.

She insisted on creating her own layout.

We also had Ella's Class mascot for the weekend.

Her name is Tilly the lamb. She is very cute and was included in all our activities over the weekend.

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

Chat soon,

Teaching at Queensland Scrapbooking Retreats

2011-03-06T22:51:00.001+10:00

I'll be teaching at this fabulous Retreat...

Queensland Scrapbooking Retreats will be holding a
weekend retreat at Kilcoy, (just over an hour from Brisbane)
on 29 April to 2 May.
2 & 3 day packages are available.

I'm teaching a class at the Retreat on Saturday morning 30 April,
commencing at 9:30 a.m.
(Sneak peek to be posted in the coming weeks...)

For further information regarding the Retreat, check their website: www.qldscrapbookingretreats.com.au.

They also have a blog...
http://qldscrapretreats.blogspot.com for updated information.

I hope to see you there!

Chat soon,

Scrap the Boys

2011-03-06T14:07:00.006+10:00

I finally got some pics printed yesterday and was busting to pull out the Scrap Supplies and create!
I checked out Scrap the Boys and they had a great challenge this month.
The challenge is to:Use a date as your Title and Inspiration.

Seeing Zac has lost teeth and it's a date I wanted to remember. Not every day you lose your 4 front teeth. He's only lost a few compared to some of the kids in his class.
It'll be nice to look back on and see when that time was.

My title is the 2.2.2011.
I used some older boy-orientated Kaiser papers that suited this pic of Zac perfectly.

Today we have finished putting together the kids Cubby House.
A Christmas gift from Mum and Dad. It's a work in progress, as we still have to build a platform for it to go on. But, they can play in it and that's the main thing. Isn't it cute?
It comes complete with doorbell, shutters on the windows and a rooster and directions on the roof!
Ella's even hit me up to make curtains for the windows. So, another thing to add to the list! LOL

I hope you are having a lovely weekend!

Chat soon,

Scrap the Girls

2011-03-04T12:33:00.001+10:00

It's March already!
Where is the year going?
Time for a new Challenge at Scrap the Girls!

This month is a SHE Challenge.
Use a quote from the book "She"by Kobi Yamada and use it as the title and inspiration for your layout.
Here's the quotes:
- She must be something special. She is.
- She loved life and it loved her back.
- She listened to her heart above all other voices.
- She pursued big dreams instead of small realities.
- She saw every ending as a new beginning.
- She discovered her real measurements had nothing to do with numbers or
statistics.
- She was kind, loving and patient…with herself.
- She woke up one day and threw away all her excuses.
- She realized that she was missing a great deal by being sensible.
- She turned her can’ts into cans, and her dreams into plans.
- She ignored people who said it couldn’t be done.
- She had a way of turning obstacles into opportunities.
- She went out on a limb, had it break off behind her, and discovered she could fly.
- She walked in when everyone else walked out.
- She just has this way of brightening the day.
- She decided to start living the life she’d imagined.
- She colored her thoughts with only the brightest hues.
- She was an artist and her life was her canvas.
- She designed a life she loved.
- She took the leap and built her wings on the way down.
- She remained true to herself.

Here's my layout...

Make sure you get your entry in by midnight March 31st!
Check out Scrap the Girls for prizes and where to upload your layout!

Happy Creating!

Chat soon,

Painted Backgrounds Swap

2011-02-20T21:37:00.000+10:00

I'm currently hosting a Swap over at Scrapchat.

After being inspired by mixed media and a love of paint, I thought I'd host my first swap in years!

It was a Painted Backgrounds Swap and each participant had to create 5 backgrounds using paints, papers or any other media they'd like. They send them to me and I swap them out and we all end up with a wonderful array of A5 backgrounds to use in art journals, on cards or on layouts!

Cool huh? They are looking fabulous, with the ones that have arrived so far.

So, I thought I'd share my 5 groups that I created.

Lots of fun playing with paints, I can tell you!

From Brights, to Earthy, Neutrals and my favourite Brights!

I have been scrapping this past weekend too.

It felt good too, I must say.

I don't get a lot of time these days to scrap.

Here's a layout I did from Easter last year. We were away camping at Murphy's Creek and the kids participated in the Easter Egg hunt. Always a fun event!

I used one of my practice painted backgrounds as my patterned paper.

I also used up some very old Elsie paper!

Turned out great!

I have another one to share, but you'll have to wait for the next post!

Hope you've had a lovely weekend!

Chat soon,

Update on Scrappers Flood Relief

2011-02-11T21:45:00.001+10:00

I just thought I'd give you an update on the Scrappers Flood Relief!

Firstly...NO MORE DONATIONS, PLEASE!

We have had so many donations from all over Australia. My Mum loaded her van with 40+ boxes, parcels and satchels of scrappy goodness on Tuesday, all bound for western Qld.

Tomorrow they start their journey out west!

So far we've helped Scrappers in:

Charleton, Vic

Several scrappers in Ipswich, Qld

Fernvale, Qld

The rest of the supplies are being sent to scrappers in Western Qld.

Chinchilla, Condamine, Tara and Dalby...just to name a few!

Condamine in particular, was flooded 5 times in several weeks. Some of those ladies are still living in tents because their homes are not liveable. Sad, isn't it?

Brisbane is recovering. Life is back to normal here for the rest of us, while flood victims fight the Insurance companies for flood coverage on their homes. As if the damage to their home and all their possessions isn't enough? Like they need more stress?

We have organised with a lady in Chinchilla to distribute the remaining supplies to ladies in her area. She knows of many Scrappers/Cardmakers out that way that are in need of some Care Packages.

They have organised a "Ladies Pamper Day" in a few weeks time, where the ladies can come and have a massage, a cuppa, scrap, make cards and generally enjoy each others comapny and forget what's going on. Some of the Supplies will be handed out to the Scrappers/Cardmakers there!

I think it's a fabulous idea!

One of the "Care Packages" went to a lovely Scrapper in Ipswich, named Amber. She has a young family and lost their home in the floods. My Mum hand delivered the box of supplies to her earlier this week.

Here's the beautiful email I received from her:

Hi Michelle,
My name is Amber. I just recieved your scrap parcel and what can I say? I am so overwhelmed with the products that you have sent me... I was not expecting so many great products to get me started again. It just made my day and I had to get on here and say a great big THANK YOU to you and to all those wonderful scrappers out there who have donated so many of their beloved scrap supplies. It will be put to great use and now I have some wonderful supplies I can now start making some wonderful new memories for my family... The support from so many people who don't even know me or my family, just shows the true spirit of Qlders and Australians have and it makes me so proud... Well I just wanted to thank you personally and I will send you a picture of my firstt new layout as soon as I am done.. Please send a thank you to all those great caring scrappers who have donated so much. I am very appreciative and overwhelmed...
Thank you again,
:) Amber xxx

That email from Amber made me cry. All the hard work organising the donations made it worthwhile, just with that email. I'm VERY proud of the wonderful Scrapping Community that we have here in Australia. So giving and helpful in such a time of need for these lovely scrappers that lost everything.

I was amazed with the response from you all out there. I was flooded with emails from across the country and I just wanted to say Thank you, so very much!

Just waiting on the last of the donations to arrive including a very large delivery coming from Perth!

You girls did an amazing job collecting these for me. An extremely BIG Thankyou to Anna from Anna's Craft Cupboard and Mel (and Jenny) from Scraptivate for organising this for me!

Love ya all! XX

To see what these fabulous girls organised, check out the blog.

To all the wonderful scrappers who donated in the West...Thankyou!

I can't thank you all enough!

What a great response from you all across Australia!

I know we've put a lot of smiles on faces this past week, and some tears were shed too, but all for a good result. A job well done!

Chat soon,

Weekend away in Ballina

2011-02-10T14:41:00.001+10:00

Last weekend we headed off on a little getaway!

We travelled to Ballina in northern NSW. A nice break away for our little family.

Here's the kids having icecream at Macadamia Castle.

We did some fishing.

The kids loved fishing while away at Straddie over Christmas so they were busting to go again!

Ella got bored while the fish weren't biting, so we took some pics!

(She wanted the fishing rod back when we started catching them! LOL)

Then the fish started biting!

Zac caught a nice big Bream and was so excited.

It was the first fish he could keep!

Then I caught this...

The ugliest and biggest toad fish(we think) that you've ever seen!

Jase caught a little Bream, but it was too small and we had to throw him back!

He was most annoyed he was missing out on the biting action while he was rigging lines for us all! LOL

Here's Zac with his catch!

Very proud of it too.

So, all in all the fishing trip was a success!

We caught fish, kids had fun although I got quite sunburnt! Ouch!

You know you're sunburnt when you can see the link chain from your watch on your arm when you're not actually wearing the watch!!!!!

Ballina is such a pretty little coastal town.

Jase's family used to holiday there when he was a kid, so it's a favourite of his and it's fast becoming one of ours!

Here's a shot of the river from our balcony.

Such a gorgeous place.

Chat soon,

Layout Share - The Puppet Shop

2011-02-04T23:38:00.000+10:00

Just a quick Layout Share for today.

I have a heap of pics from our Hahndorf trip last year to scrap and thought I'd use these cute ones of the kids at The Puppet Shop. They fell in love with this shop and we visited it daily. They finally decided on these two puppets. A Knight for Zac and a Princess for Ella!

They both love their puppets!

Have a great weekend!

Our little family is having a weekend away and we all can't wait!

I'll post some pics when we get back!

Chat soon,

Scrap the Girls - February Challenge

2011-02-02T12:50:00.000+10:00

The brand new Creative Team at Scrap the Girls has been announced and I'm happy to say I stayed on for another term. Love playing with the challenges that's asked of me!!

With a new month, comes a new challenge and this month is a sketch!

A very versatile one, too.

Here's my layout of Ella and about how she's just like me.

Love these pics of her!

Get your entries in by midnight Feb 28th to be in the running for some great prizes!

Check out the blog for all the details!

Chat soon,

Kraft It Up

2011-01-31T22:27:00.000+10:00

I think I'll just sneak in for this month's challenge!

This month at Kraft It Up, we had to create a layout with a Summer theme and the word "summer" had to be in the title. So, I scrapped some pics of a fun day celebrating my BIL's 40th Birthday and Australia Day. Not bad huh, having a public holiday to celebrate your Birthday?

Here's my layout...

Thanks for looking!

Chat soon,

First Day of School

2011-01-31T22:21:00.000+10:00

My kids went back to school last Tuesday, but today was Ella's very first full day of school. She did all half days last week. She had her lunchbox packed brimming full and ate every thing in it!

All very exciting for a 5 yr old, this school thing!

I met her Grade 4 buddy, Claire this morning. They were off to Church for singing and she couldn't wait to get there! LOL

Zac felt every part the big brother with some responsibility and met us up at the Prep Classrooms at 3pm.

He loves having Ella at school and when we drop her at her classroom he heads off to his classroom, but she won't let him go without a kiss and cuddle! LOL So very sweet!

Can you believefor the first time in 7yrs I actually got the groceries done, changed all the sheets on the beds, vaccuumed, mopped, dusted, did 4 loads of washing and had a bank appt that lasted 45mins.

All before I picked the kids up at 3pm? Unheard of.....LOL

In saying that, still feeling a bit weird without my offsider, but I'm sure I'll get used to it!

So, school's back for 2011!

Here's some pics from Day One...

She's loving it!

Chat soon,

A very BIG Thankyou

2011-01-30T16:26:00.000+10:00

I just wanted to say a very BIG Thankyou to all the wonderful Scrappers across Australia that have sent my boxes of Scrap Supplies over the past weeks. So far I have 27 boxes/parcels/satchels sitting in my Scrap space, with more on their way.

I am very proud that we have such an amazing caring Scrapbooking Community here in Australia, all willing to help out fellow lovers of our Creative Craft!

I've even heard from a Crafting Group in the US who'd like to make a kind donation as well. Isn't that wonderful?

Currently, I'm still taking donations but I'm getting full. I'll let you know when we cut them off.

I can happily say the first of the "Care Packages" will be leaving this week and is heading to northern Vic, to the town of Charleston, where a Scrapper lost everything. I have a friend who's hand delivering it to her.

I'm sure she'll love it! Keep me posted, M! Xx

If anyone knows of any scrappers across Qld or Vic that has lost their stash, please don't hesitate to contact me on michellejamieson@optusnet.com.au. I'd love to help them out!

So from the bottom of my heart to yours, a very heartfelt and BIG Thankyou from me! Xx

Chat soon,