Some more challenges

Managed to get another couple of challenges done, yay me! I feel like I am catching up after having such a lull in scrapping. It is a nice feeling too. Well the challenges that I have done are for Scrap the Boys and Kraft it Up.

For Scrap the Boys the criteria was - "School Photos", lucky I have a few of those lying around!

Had fun playing with my new chevron mask, and some Tim Holtz stamps, and this Studio Calico mist was the perfect colour match!

For Kraft it Up the criteria, besides the obvious Kraft is - Tell the story of something you would like to do/ wish to do in the future and must include journaling.

My wish is to be able to see penguins in their own environment down in Antarctica. I would love to travel there and photograph and be amongst the emperor penguins, wouldn't that be amazing! Hmm might have to win the lotto for that one! Unless someone would like to sponsor me of course!

Here are another couple of photos from down the coast too. Our accommodation was right next door to the "Sling Shot" and "Vomitron" rides and at night when they were going they were all lit up like Christmas! Was funny to hear the screams coming from there too!

One night we travelled down to Burleigh for fish and chips and took the camera too to get a different view on Surfers. I didn't have the best lens for the job with me, but the result is still all right, I think.

Anyway, that's it for me today. Maybe I will try and do some more scrapping this weekend! Or perhaps a photo expedition?!

More Photos and stuff...

Back again! Thought I would share another couple of photos from our coast get away.

Erin and Liam having a "Zen" moment in the water, also providing proof that despite the cold they did actually go into the water!

Love seeing the penguins at seaworld! Hard to photograph them well in the water and through the glass when they move so fast though! I liked this view, he looked like he was swimming right at me!

Penguins again! This time just through the glass and not through glass and water! They are such lovely creatures! Could watch them for ages.

So yesterday was first day back at school, so what is any self respecting Mother to do with her time? scrap of course, and I did! Finished a page for the Scrap the Girls challenge blog. This months criteria was: Black + White + One other colour (just like the penguin above!)

Love this photo of Niamh, taken using my phone when we were out at South Bank earlier this year. This is the common scowl I get these days when I try to take a photo of her. I wonder if she will grow up and then start asking why there aren't many photos of her as an early teenager??!! I just noticed too, that my colour scheme does match the gorgeous king penguin in the photo above! Too funny!

Anyway, done for now. Catch you later!

Scrapping and Photos!

Well, school holidays have come and gone and I can't really say I have done a lot during this time, but hey, who cares, right??!! I did some layouts for June for White with One and Kraft It Up, but never got them loaded in time, but hey, sometimes it is just about doing something. So here I am today instead to load some photos from our little break at the Gold Coast, and a few pages that I have done, oh and proof that I have met the wonderful man himself... Tim!

You can't half tell he's done this before! He was there for at least an hour smiling and signing while we all waited for our turn to stand next to him and smile!

So here are the June layouts that I mentioned, but forgot to load....

Then, when I had five minutes or so to myself I did a couple of pages just for me! My thoughts have been to not buy any new paper and just pick a kit/manufacturer and just use up all that patterned paper that I have lying around. So much of it that I really do not need to buy anything new for ages (I am sure that will not stop me for long though!). So Simple Stories and Echo Park have been used here, with lots of great MFT dies! These however I do not have enough of, yet..... LOL!!!





And last of all, thought I would get in early this month, and have my White with One layout.

White + Polka Dots + Tape

So I have had great fun playing with some of the new seasonal distress inks, squeezed lemonade from the spring collection and pickled raspberries from the new summer range. Aren't the colours just gorgeous?! So I created my dots using the inks and a mask and the zigzag tape (D-lish Scraps) I thought just helped frame the photos perfectly. A simple page that came together quickly, but was a lot of fun to create!

Last of all, a couple of photos from the coast. The first was funny as a group of tourists were captivated by Erin and Liam digging and playing in the sand in the middle of winter! So of course, I took a photo of them taking a photo of my kids!

And this next one is one of the views we had from our 29th floor! Pretty hard to take really, but someone has to do it!

Well, that is all from me for now. Catch you another time!

Weekend Away

Thought I would share some photos from our recent weekend away. This was an adults only weekend away! It was so nice to have time to ourselves and not have to worry about kids for a couple of days! (Although I did miss them, a little bit, just don't tell them that!!) We went to O'Reilly's guest house for two nights and had a wonderful relaxing time. We did some bushwalking, we took lots of photos and we just spent time together! So here are some photos from our time away. This was the view from our little balcony. Pretty hard to take isn't it?! The peak to the left of the shot is Mt Lindsay, with Mt Barney roughly in the middle. This is s beautiful little wren called the Superb Fairy Wren, but I fondly referred to him as Mr A Bastard. He was very difficult to photograph because he just wouldn't sit still, constantly hopping and flying around taunting me! The king parrot is a beautiful bird, and one of the parrots you could feed. We didn't get around to doing a feeding but enjoyed watching them from a distance. This little guy was in cleaning up the left over seed from the parrots feeding! He is a Red-Browed Finch. He was a little tricky to photograph also, but not as much trouble as the wren! This little fellow is a Lewin's Honeyeater. A pretty little bird, but he makes a hell of a racquet! The description in our little bird book describes his "machine-gun" like rattling call, and that is exactly what it sounds like! Not good in the early hours of the morning! Here is the pretty Crimson Rosella. This is the other bird that you can hand feed. Although I think they are opportunists too. This one was hanging around the cafe while we had lunch waiting for his left overs! This is the Satin Bower Bird. A bird I remember from my childhood visits to O'Reilly's, for the fact that we never saw one. They used to be very shy birds, but not any more! We also found an abandoned bower full of beautiful (according to the bird) blue objects. And probably the favourite of the weekend was finding how sociable the Regent Bower Bird has become. Again, one of the shy never seen birds from my childhood. One afternoon we found a tree just outside the restaurant with about ten of these birds and some of their mates. They really are a stunning bird, their colours so rich it looks like velvet. So apart from this we also saw (without cameras handy) a pair of Eastern Whipbirds, a White-throated Treecreeper and a Rufous Fantail. Who ever would have thought this little weekend away would turn into a bird watching safari! So that is our weekend! Since then we have entered school holidays. Which has been good, simply for the fact that I have not had to make lunches or rush around doing anything! I have even got a page done for the Out of the Hat September challenge, which I didn't think I would get done! The criteria was: Minimum of 6 buttons, Border strip and Title embedded in journaling. Well, that's it for now. Catch you soon.