Conquering My Fear...

Of cardmaking that is!!!
I have a confession to make. Iappear to be card challenged. I seem to try to cram far too much onto that teeny tiny space and it ends up looking just awful.
However, with the HUGE stash of papers, stickers and alphas, I absolutely REFUSE to actually BUY any cards either LOL
So this weekend, before popping my OA goodies away, I steeled myself and made some cards...
Thank you 'Sew' much...
Get it??
**crickets**


I so love these colours...

Thanks for stopping by! If you have any good card links that may further help in my 'therapy' please hook me up!

Scrap The Boys!

I managed to get this month's Father's Day challenge done for Scrap The Boys! I was kind of excited to drag out my October Afternoon supplies...yeah I am a dork, I keep my precious OA stash seperate from all my other goodies ;) Lots of layers and foam tape...and twine!!!

I loves me some twine...I recently purchased 200m rolls in 5 different colours...LOVE! (I have ORANGE/WHITE twine folks!!!)

Thanks so much for stopping by...I have to go to work now...yeah, late start, its a hard life ;)

Her Hands...

It was my turn this week at Wicked Princesses to pop up the inspiring interior for their big comp. My room was a conservatory, with lots of clean lines, pinks and greens.
I did this LO about my mums hands (using my Storyboard kit again).... Lots of journalling...my mum had the softest hands you have ever felt.


I miss these hands. They were so soft. So scarred. So totally HER. I wonder how many times in my life those hands held mine. How many times they comforted me when I was sick or sad. They held your beloved grandbabies. Told stories, did craft, cooked and created. How many loads of washing did they hang, how many dishes did they wash? I loved how those hands were often held by my dad. They were so in love, even after 35 years of marriage. I love the scars, from all of those years of dialysis. I love that I got to hold those hands as you died even if it broke my heart. Selfishly, I want them back. Only you and your beautiful hands could help me get through something hurting this bad, but them and you are gone.
I loved her hands....

And some of the windows in the LO

I just love these colours...

And I really do miss those hands...

Photograph by KellyD

Thanks for popping by!

Its hard.

I currently have sitting in my email inbox a proof copy of what will be on my mums plaque to mark her grave.
It doesn't seem right that such a vibrant amazing woman's life can be *summed up* in just a few lines.
I hate this.
I am finding it hard to even read what has been written. I wanted nothing to do with choosing what went on this plaque. I knew that my dad and my brothers and sisters would choose something that was just right.
And they have.
I still don't like it though :(
I am amazed each an every day by how brave my dad is being. He would tell you he isn't, but he so totally is.
For him to get up each day is brave, when the love of his life has been taken.
But to go and arrange things like this, is beyond brave. He is amazing my dad.
Truly amazing. (even if he did let my mum talk him into that hat ;) LOL)

Scrap The Girls!

So it is still raining in Mundubbera, which means we are all trapped inside...(yeah first week of the school holidays, good timing weather LOL)
Which means we are getting crafty!
I actually got yet another challenge completed this month this one for Scrap The Girls. The criteria for this one? A white CS background, and the word 'new' or 'first' in the title. Very Springy, even if the weather isn't ;)

I used my kit from StoryBoard kits for last month, and the colours were perfect for this challenge! I think that turquoise polka dotted paper may be a new favourite!

This is one of my favourite ever photos of the girls. Its not very often that they both co-operate at the same time for a photo at the moment LOL

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Let's Get Shabby

Ahhh, it has been AGES since I found some time to play along with my favourite ever challenge blog 'Lets Get Shabby'
I am sooo happy I did!
This month's challenge was to use music paper/notes/bars.
I couldn't NOT scrap Sammy.
The child sings ALL day long.
Last month I had to take him to work with me. At the bank.
He sat in our tea room singing the entire score of High School Musical at the top of his lungs. No matter how many times I told him to quieten down.
He would start out quiet, and then the brilliant tea room accoustics would entice him to gradually sing louder and louder!
Everyone left the bank with a smile on their face that day ;)


I got to use a brand new Prima vine, and some gorgeous My Minds Eye PPs...I am now covered in glitter LOL
Can you see the music paper peeking out from behind the frame and photo, and then again as a little frill in the oval shape cut out from the paper?
I hope its enough 'music'!


I have now also used the last of my most favouritest ever Making Memories gingham ribbon *sniff*
Might need to track some more down ;)


Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a fabulous week :)

Ahhhh a Rainy Weekend :)

So, yeah...it has been miserable and rainy all weekend...just the way I like it ;)
The kids all have cabin fever, but I am loving it! I actually managed to get a few challenges done! It was so nice to rummage through my stash and use whatever products took my fancy ;)

This is my entry for the 123 challenge blog.
This month's requirements were to use orange (check), the word 'bloom' (check) and use handmade flowers (check!) My Nat.
Who seems to pull a face every single stinkin' time the camera points in her direction!

Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday Sketch :)

Looking for some inspiration this rainy weekend?
Head over to the Kaiser blog for their Saturday sketch :) Its a double pager with room for loads of photos! You could win a $25 collection pack of your choice just for completing this sketch :) (have you seen their new Christmas ranges?)
Here's my take...I totally got scared and only completed the sketch using the right hand side of the sketch ;)

I adore those photos taken by KellyD.

And I adore this Up Up and Away collection :)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!

Merry and Bright!

This new Christmas range from KaiserCraft is great...makes scrapping christmas photos from ANY era a snap ;) See...even dreadful photos from the 1970's! LOL

Hah...mum, dad and I were clearly very very cool ;)

I got these photos from mum and dads garage, and sadly mould had attacked them...so I scanned them and cleaned them up as best I could, but they are still not great. Any tips for dealing with mouldy old photos?

And I have used the last two pages to write down some of my favourite Christmas memories and traditions. So when the kids are older and wanting to pass on the crazy things we do, they can see where the traditions come from ;)
I found this quite a difficult project to complete, not in terms of product or photos, but emotionally. Mum loved Christmas, and her fingerprints are all over what I now do with my own kids.

Thanks for stopping by ;)

My Baby Boy....

Is 6 today.I still remember being 42 weeks pregnant, walking the streets of Mundubbera with my mum trying to move this stubborn little baby.

Someone had told us that walking with one foot up on the curb and the other down on the road would start things off...so we walked for kilometres.

It didn't work.

But man alive did it HURT!!!

Poor mum was dialysing over in Bundaberg (a 2 1/2 hour drive away) every 2nd day. Mum and dad had arrived on Sam's due date, so they made a lot of trips over there. The girls had both arrived the day before their due dates. So we kind of expected something similar. But not my boy! So we just waited.

And waited.

And waited.

I had to be induced eventually, and thank goodness I was, because this little guy arrived in a hurry! About 45 minutes of labour and he was there.

He was gorgeous.

And today he is 6.

An amazing, busy, chatty 6 year old boy with sticky hands and a gorgeous smile.

We started the day with present unwrapping in mum and dads bed ( a tradition started with MY parents when I was little)
It was kind of hard opening my dads card and seeing just 'love Poppy'. I bet it was harder for my dad to write than it was for me to read though :(

And then the little guy was off with his blue freddo cup cakes for the class.
I am just glad I don't have to deal with 27 kids eating that bright blue icing! LOL

Happy birthday Sammy Tom...I definitely love YOU more!

My Last Month as a Princess :(

Yep.
After 2 years on the DT for Wicked Princesses I am hanging up my tiara :(
I decided that I just don't have the time to devote to WP that I want to, and that it just wasn't fair to Krissy, Kate or Kerry...so the fabulous 4 'K's will now be the terrific 3.
I am really torn. I have loved working with these girls, but I realised that I will still be a part of the beautiful community there, I just won't be a designer....and now I can even enter challenges! LOL
Thanks so much Wicked Princesses, you have been amazing to me!
I posted my last step-by-step tutorial in the foum today, using the very cool, slightly grungey and totally gorgeous All Stars kit :)
My little monkey boy.
6 years ago I was 42 weeks pregnant with this kid. Walking the streets trying desperately to evict him. I was booked in for an induction the next day....

Thanks for stopping by friends!

I Have This Friend...

Her name is Claire.
She is one of the most kind, caring, generous, amazing people I have ever been blessed enough to meet.

For example...following a silly conversation with my sister on my facebook wall about reeeeeally wanting a Candy Apple Red KitchenAid, and about how she (Amy) was going to buy me one for Christmas...

This showed up.
Claire had read our conversation and quietly bought it for me.
It had no card, and she fully expected it to be forever a secret...but I was a detective and found her out ;)
How generous is that?

If someone is sad, or suffering, she puts aside her own needs and is there. To listen, to make you laugh, to pick up pieces :)

One time she arrived here (she lives in Ballina...an 8 hour drive away) wearing a sumo suit.

My kids STILL laugh about that (as do the neighbours LOL)

The last time she came, she was on her way up to see mum.

She had had a dream about visiting mum in Charter's Towers, and just did it. I was so impressed. I had put off going up there to visit because 'it was tooo faaaaarrrr' or 'I can't afffooooord iiiiit' (This is in my best whiny voice ;))

She just did it.

Mum loved her visit.

And yesterday, a car pulled up in my driveway.

The kids yelled out "Its that Sumo Claire come to visit!!"

She had come up to visit.

Not only that, she arrived with a freezer full of healthy delicious meals. She had noticed I was struggling and sad, and missing my mum and was in some need of help. Even though she herself is missing her precious friend Mary(my mummy), and currently has a horribly sore/injured back.

She ignored my messy house, helped me clean out my freezer (yeah, it was gross... *vacuum out the bottom of the freezer gross* lots of spilled frozen peas and flour...) and then filled it.

With meals made with love - I know they are made with love 'cause it says so on the lids ;)

I feel so blessed to have met this amazing woman. I am so lucky to have a friend like this :)
Have a great week my other precious friends...thanks for stopping by!

Some news I can FINALLY share!

My mum loved kids.
She was awesome with them.
She adored her Grandbabies, and was a Ginny to so many other kids through her story time activities at the Lismore library :) This is her, at her one and only Story Time session in Charter's Towers.

Which makes my brother's incredible news a little bittersweet.
The week after she died, my brother Danny and his beautiful wife Adele found that they were going to be having a baby!
(I know..I kept this quiet for SOOOO long!)

Yep, I am going to be an aunty for the first time!

We found mum's prayer journals...she has been praying for this baby for years. And, in true 'mum' fashion, she even shopped for this precious little bundle. We found his/her first Christmas outfit stashed away in her boxes of stuff...it had survived two moves and a monster garage sale! So precious.
Mum would have been so very very excited to meet this little baby.
I figure, that I am going to have to shop and spoil on her behalf...which sounds awfully fun to me :)
Thanks for stopping by and sharing our happy news!
Have a great weekend!

Happy Father's Day!

To my dad!(Yeah, we know we were WAY cool)
The most amazing dad a person could hope to have.

And also to my husband...
A pretty darn amazing dad himself :)

I hope you both have a wonderful day. I love you both SOOO much!

Its Scrapping Weather!

Its raining here today!

Yeah, its irregular enough up here that it is still a novelty!

The kids are downstairs getting soaked and picking mulberries...the red ones...yeah, they are going to have sore bellies tonight!

So while they are occupied, I am scrapping :)

I got this beautiful photo of my mum printed. I love this photo, more even than all of her photo-ready photos! This shows her. No fake smiles, no carefully posed face. Just her. It hurts my heart to look at it. She looks so relaxed and happy, it is hard to imagine that within the space of two weeks she would be dead. It just doesn't seem possible.

Such a special photo needed some special goodies...so I broke out some brand new Prima :)
And created this...
I promise its not crooked in real life...its just my photography LOL

I am gathering together all of the speeches said at mums funeral and making an album for dad. I think one day it might be nice to look back at the beautiful things that were said.

Thanks for stopping by my friends...best dash, the mulberry hunters have returned and are dripping all over my timber floors!!!

I think she would like that...

Anyone who knew my mum, knows that she loved pink and bling :) She loved jewellery. Diamonds and gold...the bigger and flashier the better.
She loved her Pandora bracelet. I think possibly because it was the sort of jewellery that she could get my dad to add to fairly regularly for a veeeeeery long time. LOL
She knew that I loved jewellery too, and last christmas she bought me a Pandora Bracelet of my own.
I have been looking at charms, I wanted one that would be my 'mum' charm. I saw the silver angel, and was almost going to buy it when I spied the GOLD angel.
She was perfect.
Cute, golden, and sparkly...a LOT like my mum.
The only way it could be anymore perfect is if it was a diamond ;)
It was, however about 15 times the price of the little silver angel.
So I came home and told my husband that I wanted it. That I was going to save and I was going to own my mum angel charm.
And today I came home from a terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad day at work...one where I randomly burst into tears and possibly scared the customers...to find this on my pillow
Mick had bought it for me.
My mum charm.
I love it.
Not as much as I love my mum, but I love that I will think of her every time I see it on my wrist.

I think she would like being represented by a cute little golden angel Pandora charm :)