A Few More Pages...

Well, aren't holidays grand! I have had some time (between trips to the pool for lessons and the shops for groceries!) to do a few pages and play with some new things. I finally had a play with my new deep edge Martha Steward punch and I have to say another favourite has been born! Anyway, enough blabbing here is what I have been up to. I also played with the spiral flowers that Anne had on her blog a little while ago. These ones were made with felt and add a real depth to the page. I am also loving these hydrangea flowers I picked up from My2Angels. And the strip in the middle is my new punch, very cool isn't it?! Again playing around, old photos to scrap and older papers to use, making my own flowers with paper and felt, love how these ones look. And can you believe the little girl in the stroller is now almost 9! And speaking of little girls. These two are now almost 11 and 9, a far cry from these little urchins clean out of the bath! I used the MS punch again, as a mask with chalk ink down the bottom of the page and as the original strip at the top. Again making my own flowers. This time from shaped punched circles sewn together. Quite effective I thought. This one has used the newer Vintage Findings line from Making Memories. And given we are so close to Christmas and the cards have been sent, I thought I could share with you my Christmas card for this year and take the opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Safe and Happy New Year. Make sure to spend time with loved ones and enjoy every moment! Till next time...

As Promised....

Ok, here I am back, as promised! With stuff to share and news. Firstly, I was lucky enough to get my hands on an i-top from Imaginisce to play with last week and then demo to a number of eager ladies. Let me tell you this tool is very cool! It is really easy to use and makes me feel the need to buy it (no, I do not have a tool problem..... honestly....), for the potential it has to make coordinating and decorating pages so easy and cost effective. Below is the page I created as a sample for the demo. I created two medium sized brads which I covered in coordinating papers, then one was coated in Kindy Glitz and the other sprayed with Glimmer Mist (pearl I think). You can see the actual brads better in the close ups further down. It was just such a lovely and easy way to finish off my page. Scrapbook City are selling the i-top and accessories (although I do know they sold out of a few things on Friday after the demos! See it is not just me!!) Hmm, maybe this will be something on my Christmas list!! Or I can just go and buy myself a present and put it under the tree! The other great new tool to add to my collection is one of the new deep edge border punches from Martha Stewart (these sold out pretty quickly too). I picked up the one that actually creates a doily lace strip, very cool! I haven't put it into use on a page yet, but rest assured that is coming soon! I did however manage to do another page. This one you may remember the photo from June or July from our 10 year playgroup reunion. I finally printed a copy and scrapped it. I really enjoyed keeping this page simple and elegant and I managed to use up some older Chatterbox papers too. Well, the kid's are all finished at school and kindy (for the last time) for the year and I am trying to exhaust them with intensive swimming lessons this week each morning. I think I am only serving to exhaust myself! Oh well, Christmas will be here soon and then there will be new toys to keep them occupied. I have also had a birthday since last posting (not including the brief update yesterday!). I scored a hot pink i-pod shuffle to help me ignore the kids over the holidays! Very cool, it is already loaded with some groovy music and some classics. I have found though, that my ears are just not right for the hard larger ear phones and I need to get myself a set of softer inner ear phones. Perhaps another item to add to the Christmas list! I also scored a new cuttlebug folder and the Music and Dance Slice card. Can't wait to play with those new toys! It is Andrew's birthday tomorrow so more celebrating for us! Obviously we have worked out that just dealing with Christmas is not enough pressure! Hopefully I will have some time to be creative soon and then have some more to share! Till next time, thanks for stopping by!

Check out the cool new feature...

Check out the Google Translater feature I have just added! How cool is this??!! Anyway, just a quick note to say I have been busy but have some cool stuff to tell you about shortly. Hopefully tomorrow I will find the time to get it in!

Stuff to Share

Well, its been a busy couple of weeks. You can feel the pace increasing as we slide into school holidays and then Christmas! I now have 2 days left to myself (or sanity days as I am referring to them!) until the kids are all on holidays. So you can imagine a lot is being packed into my spare time! Throw in birthday and Christmas gatherings and the odd photo shoot or two and its a wonder I have time to do anything! Well, I have managed to do a few things! One of which was to get myself onto the Out of the Hat Challenge blog design team! I was pretty excited about this as this is one challenge I try to do each month. So I am now officially a Mad Hatter for the next 6 months along with 4 other talented ladies! Make sure you check out the challenges, they are lots of fun.

The challenge requirements for December are:

1. Spots/Dots 2. Use paper/handcutting 3. Use rub-ons

And this was my result:

I have also finished another few pages, having fun using up bits and pieces and photos that are lying around, oh and playing with my cuttlebug! Oh and also playing with some Glimmer mist and new chalk inks. I must say I am loving these new things! I have to laugh at Erin in this photo! She really wanted here photo taken before she removed the face paint for bed, but she was really not in the mood to have her photo taken! Such a contrast to Liam's happy smiley face, but it makes me laugh as it is so Erin! I love the looks on Liam and Erin's face on this ride. They really don't look like they are having fun, but as soon as the ride finished they were both laughing and giggling and wanting to go right back on it again! I learnt last year that I am no longer up to these kinds of rides, it throws my balance right out and it took me a day to recover! We are all so proud of Liam and his swimming. Especially since he started the year needing to be dragged into the pool grounds. Since this certificate, he has been moved up again, so he is hot on his sisters heels and getting more confident every lesson! Plenty happening at Scrapbook City at the moment too. Classes are being planned, a Christmas party in the works and a newsletter to put together. No wonder I am tired!!! So I had really better get on with it I suppose! Til next time.... Katie

More pages and getting ready for Prep

Another week has flown past and it is starting to really feel like summer is upon us. I think it is about 34 degrees in this room right now as I type and today isn't even supposed to be that hot! Oh well, lots of time at the pool I am thinking! I have managed to get a few pages done this week. Including a sketch challenge from the My Minds Eye blog! This was a fun sketch and these MME Breaking Free papers worked really well with the Easter theme. The next two layouts were simply born out of wanting to scrap, having papers to use and trying to use all sorts of odds and ends I have lying around! The Easy Rider page helped me use some of my left over bits of chipboard and old letter stickers. While the Bed Toys page had me using up buttons, clips and older MM paper! Last week saw us purchasing some new uniforms for Liam for prep next year. To say he was excited was an understatement! He was able to wear uniform to Kindy the next day and then insisted on wearing it again the day after to swimming lessons! I think he is really ready for being a school kid now. Me on the other hand, I am not coping so well. I really didn't think I would be too sad about Liam going to school, but as the reality sinks in I am feeling pangs of sadness thinking I won't have my baby at home with me anymore during the week. I guess I will have to find something else to occupy my time! Catch you soon.

More Playing!

Hello All! I have been having great fun playing with my Slice and experimenting with ways to use the things I cut from it. My new favourite is to cut shapes from transparency sheets and then use them on my page. Here is an example. I cut the title and painted the reverse side and used a pen to outline the letters on the front, I also used paint to edge the little girls. I was really impressed with how easily the Slice cut the transparency sheets. The other fun playing came about trying to jazz up some of the welded words I had cut for the title of this page. So what I did was flocked them! I simply coated the word in dimensional magic and then covered them in flocking powder and waited for the glue to dry before tapping off the excess. One thing I did learn is don't coat all the words first and then add the flocking because the glue had already start to set on the first one and not as much powder stuck. But it still looks ok. This next page is for the November challenge over at Out of the Hat. The criteria was:

1. Die Cut paper 2. 3 photos of different sizes 3. A tree

I used one of my Martha Stewart punches to create the die-cut paper and while it is not perfect I think it worked out pretty well. I had fun with the tree, a simple hand drawn and cut trunk with punched circles that I stamped using a tree stamp from Imaginisce, and then I added pearls for a bit of flair! I am really happy with this page, I love the simplicity of it! This page was in memory of my Sister and Brother in laws dog Dana who recently passed away. She was a beautiful dog and so good with the kids. Worse still only a couple of weeks later their other dog Gemma passed away too. (Both of them were old/sick so it wasn't a great surprise just sad it happened so close together). I did use a KI Memories Sheers background for this one though. It had been sitting in my stash for a while so I thought it was about time I used it. So the background is really see through, I just photographed it on a piece of white cardstock. This was a fun page, using some of the new Q2 Kaisercraft papers. I loved how this one turned out too. It seemed to be the perfect paper for the scooter theme. Well, that is it from me for now. We are starting to get into the silly season so I am thinking my free time is going to start disappearing, but I will try and update as often as I can. Oh, one more thing, I just bought myself a cuttlebug!! I had been thinking on it a little while and said to hell with it and just bought it! I think Andrew is glad, he was getting sick of me talking about it too! So I have a new toy to play with!! Yay! Catch you later.

More to share

Well a couple of weeks has flown by. Since I last posted I have worked at the Craft show, worked at the shop, done some scrapping, bought a new punch, bought some papers, wished I could do some more scrapping! Just the usual really! So I have a few pages to share. Most of them have some Slice bits and pieces, and can I say (not that I have used it yet on any of these pages) that the Vintage Findings and Think Pink cards are absolutely beautiful with their frames and flourishes and leaves and things! I will have so much fun with these ones, and I got my hands on some of the vintage findings papers too. Plenty of playing ahead I can see it now! Anyway, lets get on with it hey! This one had sat on my desk for a little while not quite complete. It is one of those "I can't believe how grown up she looks" moments when I saw the photos. I think it was the Wedding card I used for the title, I really love the font on that card. This was one of those funny moments looking at these photos seeing my one year old niece and Niamh's friend (10 years old) in exactly the same embrace with a kangaroo on a visit to Alma Park Zoo. This is my sweet but very funny little niece and her standard face for the camera! I used the Big Kids card for this one, just love the little monster and the font is cool too! Well, my Niamh is playing water polo at school for sport! I didn't even know that they offered this let alone that Niamh was interested! She is the one in the purple cap. Anyway, it has been fun to watch even if they don't really know what they are doing! I used the Fonts card for the title, another really nice font this one, and the Studio Essentials for the little tabbed folder, this is another great card for those little bits and pieces. The letters for this one came from the Fa La La card (lots of cool fonts on this one), and the little people from the Just Chillin' card. The kids loved the people and I had to cut a few more out after they saw these ones! Well, there you have it! What I have been up to lately. I do need to edit some photos too so more things to share later. Here are a few more photos from our Sydney trip though.

No Liam isn't taking the photo, but he certainly did not want to be in the photo!

Warning, warning Will Robinson! Sydney Aquarium What a view these mountain goats have!

Thanks for stopping by, until next time!

Back Again...

Well, I am back again as promised. I have had a play with my new Slice card with the speed upgrade and all I can say is "WOW"! The difference is amazing, and I wasn't terribly bothered by its speed before but now it just races along. The shadow feature is great too. I used it on the layout below about Liam's 5th birthday. I have also been lucky enough to play with some new stock from Scrapbook City. I have some of the new My Minds Eye Abby Road range. I used papers from the Round and Round collections. These are great for little boys pages and travelling pages. There are some great chipboard, ribbon and brad accessories too, as well as the usual great die-cuts. Also I have been using the new BoBunny Delilah papers. These are really rich in their colours and were great to use. I particularly loved the sticker/alphabet sheet a great way to get co-ordinating bits at a great price! These last couple are some older ones that I have been finishing off and meaning to photograph. They have used some older papers, but notice the use of (my other favourite tool) border punches! I am using the border punches almost every page that I do at the moment and I am really loving the Martha Stewart Lace Doily most of all! So, now to just finish photographing the others that I have finished and I can show you some more! Catch you soon.

Back in the Swing

Well, school holidays have come and gone (and I think I need a week all by myself to recover!) and life is getting back to the usual routine. School, Kindy, Work and all those things that go along with that. The bright side is I have been able to get back to doing some things just for me! Like buying new Slice cards....I know I probably don't really need any more new ones...but....I am waiting for my Vintage Findings and FaLaLa ones to arrive in the mail and I have Mix and Mingle sitting on my desk waiting for a play! Very cool. I also really like the look of the Jungle and Sea ones being released soon. I think these might have to go on the Birthday/Christmas list! I also bought Big Kids during the holidays, taking my total to 12 cards (ok, I do have a problem, but at least the obsession is mostly harmless!) I have a couple of pictures to show you the day the sky went orange when we were in Sydney. Andrew described it best as feeling like we were in a glass of Fanta. It really was that orange. The first is the view from our apartment on a normal sunny day and the second, well its orange and the visibility is pretty low. I also have a page to share, this was done a little while ago and I just haven't got around to posting it. It is from last years fete and the look on Liam's face in the last shot is priceless. It is funny to think that this year he was doing this ride all by himself! What a difference a year makes. I have a few other pages in the wings and hope to get them up soon so keep an eye out. Not to mention I will have to report back on the new Slice cards! I will also add in a few more photos from Sydney. We had a ball and the kids really enjoyed the experience too. Till later, catch you soon.

Christmas is coming!

Well all the new stock is starting to arrive at the shop! I had the pleasure of playing with some of Basic Grey's new range Eskimo Kisses. I can say that I loved the colours in this line and was even able to do a page with the left overs that wasn't Christmas related! Gotta love that kind of versatility. This is obviously the Christmas themed page, and it has one of my favourite photos from last year. I was helping out my SIL with some Christmas photos for cards and little Rachel had got over the whole thing pretty quickly. At the time I knew exactly how she felt as I was feeling completely over Christmas by that stage too! But what a photo, the body language says it all! This is our "grumpy old man" Chooky, all of 16 years old and still going strong. He finds any opportunity to hop into something, be it a box or a flower pot! Such a funny old thing he is! I have been pretty busy taking photos too and doing assignments. Got one back just recently with some great comments! Thought I would share a couple of my favourites. Well Liam is now a whole handful at 5! He had a great birthday that as usual lasted more like a week and a half than just one day! He scored on the Lego front too! So much Lego in our house! This is my little niece, what a character she is! This is the response you get when you have a camera in her general vicinity, you don't even have to have it pointed at her! And this one was for one of the Kindy families. It was blown up to 16x24 and mounted for a Fathers day gift and it looked sensational! Well, that does it for now. We are heading off to Sydney soon so will no doubt have lots to report back on then and plenty of photos to share too! See you soon!

Things to share...

Firstly my little baby boy is getting ready to turn 5! Can you believe it? I can't, in fact I really don't think I want him to grow any older..... but I guess you can't stop the sands of time can you? Anyway, he decided he did want to have a party with his Kindy friends so to make invites simple (you know me I am all for quick and easy!) we decided to take a photo and use this as his invite. Well, it turned out great and I have been having some lovely feedback from the Kindy mum's too, so I thought I would share it with you! Isn't he growing into a handsome young man?! He is really looking forward to his party now too. Not long, next week for that, again a simple affair, a play in the park after school with afternoon tea and birthday cake! Lots of fun. I have also managed another layout to share. Used some older Kaisercraft papers, loved how they looked on the black background too. A simple page, but the expressions in the photos say it all really! These photos were taken at last years fete and we are gearing up for this years one on Saturday. I have a feeling it will be hot.... oh well, not much I can do about that..... Now this next photo is especially for Georgie. It is Josh and Niamh as little tykes sharing a see-saw. I think it was at Gymboree which they used to do together. I think this could make a great 18th birthday photo for both of them!! Oh and last of all I might put up a final layout that I created a little while ago but didn't add when I knew it was going to be included on the Making Memories blog! Very cool, I am over there as a guest designer with two of my pages using the Just Chillin' line, and of course my Slice! The other page featured over there is here on the blog... somewhere..... it was done a few months ago I think.... Anyway, if you want to check it out there is a link to the Making Memories blog on my sidebar. Ok, enough from me, things to do, people to see...you know how it is. Catch you later!