So, I told you it wouldn't last!

The regular blogging that is! But it is only just over a week, so it's not too bad. So since last time, the reno has come along some, we now have a roof!!! Something we feel very relieved by. Plumbing and wiring has gone in, and there is a big hole in the wall where windows and doors used to be getting ready to be closed off! Aside from this, I have a new niece! My brother and his wife welcomed a second little girl to their family. I am really looking forward to meeting her this weekend, so until now I haven't been able to take any photos myself. But thank goodness for the digital age and facebook, which means I have seen lots of photos of little Alice already. Niamh is so hanging out to see her new cousin, I just hope Jasmine doesn't get jealous! I have scrapped a little. With so many other things going on it has been hard to find time to sit and do anything, even though there have been times where I really wanted to! So lets do some show and tell with photos. From the front, you can see our new roof peaking out! From the back you can see the safety rail and most importantly all those lovely tiles over the new section!! So, this is one of the big holes in the wall! It is covered at the moment, but not finished. The outside is clad with builders paper as we wait for external cladding and then the internal walls to go in..... things are happening! So, some scrapbooking! Using some Easter photos taken with my mobile phone. New baby Alice. Photo taken from Facebook from Richard or Jenny's album, edited slightly by me! Another photo "borrowed" from Facebook. Love this moment between Jasmine and her new baby sister! And this is little Edith! Well, not so little now in comparison to Alice. She is growing so quickly and every time I see her I swear she has grown just a little too much. So that is us for now. Til later. Katie

Lots happened this week!

Wow, I think this is my third post this week! Pretty amazing. But I am sure it won't last! A few things to share. My youngest, Liam, lost his first tooth this week. It came as a bit of a shock to me, as I only discovered he had a loose tooth about a week or two ago! As you can see by the grin, he thinks the whole thing was pretty cool! My sister in law gave birth on Friday 5th November to her second child. My brother is now the proud dad of two little girls. We can't wait to meet little Alice so rest assured there will be photos soon! I have also been the lucky recipient of a cherry on top award. This came from the lovely Michelle. Thanks Michelle! The rules are: 1. Thank the person that gave it to you. (see above) 2. Post it with pride on your blog. 3. List 3 things you love about yourself. Three things that I love about myself - well - I am generous, have a slightly wacky sense of humour and I am fiercely loyal. 4. Post a picture you love. Well, I have a lot of pictures that I simply love for many reasons, but I think this one is one of my favourites. I love this one for the memories it holds and the people who are in it. Not to mention it is simply hilarious too! 5. Tag 5 other people for the award. 1. Anne P - http://scraptastic-stuff.blogspot.com/ 2. Rita - http://budtobloomcreations.blogspot.com/ 3. Sandra - http://buttonsandbowsandmore.blogspot.com/ 4. Ronnie - http://ronniedoll.blogspot.com/ 5. Nicole - http://nicole-paperharvest.blogspot.com/ So thanks again Michelle! These kind of things are always good to make you think a little! I have done some scrapping too! Can you believe it?? I have just completed the November challenge for Out of the Hat. This month the criteria is: 1. Corrugated Card 2. Painted Background 3. String My result is this: I have white washed the background paper to tone it down and added paint in for the journalling spot and used it with a mask. The corrugated card I cut into scallops which I then wrapped the string around. I also used my fabulous new around the page punch from Martha Stewart! While on a roll at my desk I did this one too. This has some of my favourite photos of Liam it it too. We were playing with his "invisible writing pen" and a slow shutter speed, I love the fact that his arms were so fast too that you can't see them!! It makes me laugh! And lastly I am going to finish with a photo of Erin. Caught yesterday after she had finished eating a vegemite sandwich for lunch. How an almost 10 year old can still wear so much of her food I don't understand, but it makes me laugh! I can also see just how grown up she is starting to look too. Till next time!

Reno's continued...

Warning....this post is image heavy!!! So I am back with some more photos from the renovations. Things are stalled right at this moment while the rain is here. Which ordinarily wouldn't be a problem, but given they took roof tiles off yesterday for adding the new bedroom roof and we only have a tarp covering said missing tiles area I am a little more concerned about the rain! Especially since we are expecting storms today and tomorrow! Oh well, we cross our fingers and hope for the best.... So here are some more photos to show the progression... The new stairs go on and flooring starts to go down. The framing goes up for the bedroom. The 2D drawings finally start to take shape in 3D! Poles up for the roof supports for the deck and more framing for the bedroom. My kitchen gets cut up to put in the door access from house to new deck. My poor kitchen.... at least this means I will get a new kitchen soon too!! Then there was a large break as we waited for roofing structures to be ordered and delivered. I haven't added these pictures onto the computer yet so you will have to come back and check them out later! But I thought I would share some photos of my garden as well. A little while ago I thought I would put a rotting tomato into a pot and see if it would grow. Well grow it did! We now have about 40 tomato plants growing strong and now flowering and fruiting from that one old tomato! To this we have added capsicum and lettuce and it joins capsicum and silverbeet we already had growing! It has been a great thing for the kids watching their food grow, and we can't wait to try the tomatoes. I am thinking there will be a lot of bruschetta being eaten (just have to get some basil into pots now!!) not to mention salads galore and pasta sauces!! Lucky these are some of our favourites. One of the tomatoes full of fruit. These are all roma tomatoes one of my favourite varieties. We also have a few cherry tomato plants happy in another corner of the garden, yum! Cucumber starting to fruit. You can just make out the little cucumber behind the flower! I love fresh cucumber and I can't wait for these to be ready to eat! And one of the capsicum hopefully growing big enough to turn red and be eaten! OK, enough from me today. Catch you soon with some more updates!

Renovations underway

Another busy month or so has flown past here for me and there has been a lot happening! Our renovations have finally begun and it won't be too long (weather permitting) before Andrew and I have our new room to move into and the new deck will be ready to be christened! The kid's have been particularly interested in the whole process watching everything the builders are up to and checking progress every day after school. I have been recording the progress myself (as any good scrapbooker would!!) and have a few photos to share showing the process. Well, this is the "before" shot. Just how it looked before the work began. It doesn't take a long time to remove something, and the house just looked plain odd without the deck there! The area now level with holes dug for posts and channels for plumbing, just waiting for the slab to go down. And then it rained and it rained and it poured! See the holes where the poles are, that are to the top with rainwater? Well these holes were about 2m deep!!! There was a lot of rain! I reckon that the plumbing channel would have been around half a meter deep and it was full too! We joked that it was a new lap pool just the right size for Liam! Slab finally down, poles in place and the sun out again! It didn't take long for joists and framework to go up! Well, that will do for now, there are still more to come, but there is only so many construction photos you want to share in one go! On the scrapping side things have been busy. I did two all day classes last month focused around Tim Holtz's 12 tags of Christmas techniques. I used some of his ideas and techniques to create 12 cards using the wonderful Australian Dark Room Door stamps and lots of Ranger product. It was messy and plenty of fun and exhausting all in one go! Here are a couple of my favourites from the 12 cards. Using mini-misters with the re-inkers and perfect pearls and the gorgeous flourish mask. Playing with alcohol inks and embossing for this one. Lots of layers in this one! Blending, stamping, distressing not to mention getting those flowers right! And last of all, make sure you head over to the Scrapbook City blog for a great sketch challenge. There is a great pack of brand new Bo-Bunny papers up for grabs for this challenge. You have about a week to get your entry in! This is my take on the sketch: OK, that is it for now! Catch you soon.