A Talented Friend :)

I have a wonderful, and talented bloggy friend Tiff.

She takes the most incredible photographs.

She has entered this beautiful pic in a comp....
If you have time, and love the pic as much as I do...could you please go and vote for her pic?

http://www.myregion.strutta.com/entry/177443

She is currently coming in 4th place....but a few more votes MAY get her into 3rd postion and win a prize!

Thanks SO much :)

School Dress Up Day :)

Traditionally, on the last day of term 2, the kid's school hosts a book themed dress-up day. Now usually I am fairly organised, and order/plan costumes in advance. This year however, the last day of term was very sneaky and arrived before I really had a chance to think!

Our costumes were thrown together in a hurry, but the kids were happy and had lots of input...which is the whole idea I think!

Sam really wanted to go as a character from the Emily Rodda series of books Deltora Quest (his and Charlotte's new passion)

So we threw together a 'Leaf' costume (the jewelled belt of Deltora is under his jumper...*sigh* Why did I bother burning off all of my finger tips making it??)
Charlotte was happy with her cobbled together Hermione (Harry Potter) costume :)
And Nat loved her Where's Wally costume!
Three happy kids and one happy mummy are now blissfully on holidays!!!

Its official!

I got notice this week, that I have officially graduated uni with a Bachelor of Education (Primary).

I am so relieved that it is over.

And call me crazy, but already thinking about my next course of study...

Maybe once my family recover from this one ;)

I got a phone call from our local mechanic/courier guy on Wednesday.

The conversation began with "do you got a boyfriend in Bundaberg?"

I was intrigued.

And of course answered "yep"

"well" says he, "I got some pretty flowers here for you. They aren't opened up fully yet, but when they do, they'll be beautiful. I'm gonna keep them here in my office until you get here".

Fair enough.

I think to get the full giggle value from this, you'd need to see this guy.

He's one of the least likely guys you would expect would describe flowers as beautiful.

Anyways.

I went down straight away and got my not-yet-fully-opened-flowers.

And they ARE beautiful :)

My brother, his wife and my nephew sent them to me as a congrats for graduating :)

This is the brother who sent me flowers on valentines day the first year I moved out of home 23 hours drive from my family.

He's a bit nice is my brother :)

Some More DownUnder Inspiration :)

Another quick post showcasing the wonderful purple and green colour combo from DownUnder Direct :)I love how the strong Bazzill colours worked with these Prima flowers and papers :)

(full materials list here)
I love this vintage paper lace from my stash :) The Hot fix crystals seemed to set it of perfectly!
Thanks so much for stopping by!

KaiserCraft And Glue Arts!

This week, the KaiserCraft DT were given some gorgeous Glue Arts products to play with!Now, I am a big fan of their Pro Glider already.

I used to be a DS tape girl, but this? SO much quicker and easier!

Heeee...this is me!

Yeah. I used to be super cute!
And some close ups...cause you couldn't see all the glitter in the full shot ;)
I loves me some glitter!

And LOVE this Pink Gelato range. I can't get enough!!

Actually...there is a new range coming up...its called Bonjour, and I am IN LOVE. Can't wait to share that one with you...but shhhhh...you didn't hear about it here ;)

Down Under Direct Inspiration :)

Okay...hold onto your hats...this is a BIGGIE!

I have been very slack in posting my projects for DownUnder Direct this month...not having a computer is NOT fun :-/

There is forward movement though...my brother has managed to rescue all of my photos from my harddrive, and thinks Old Faithful may be salvagable!!!!

Anyways...onto these projects.

First up, Tracey sent each DT member a little colour challenge. This was FUN! I got use a combo that I hardly ever use...green and purple!
Full materials list here and here

These next little bookmarks are not an original idea...I found them when browsing through Pinterest :) tutorial here

The kids LOVE them. They have had them in their possession for more than a month, and they haven't lost them!
Full materials list here

This next card was a step by step tutorial
Full materials list and step by step tutorial here

And a quick LO of my gorgeous sis....using some gorgeous embossed Bazzill

Gosh she looked beautiful!
Full materials list here

***phew***

HUGE congrats if you made it through!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by :)

Almost One Whole Year

Since she left.

The change in the weather brought so many feelings to the surface.

Feelings I have been ignoring in the effort of keeping things together and running a family. Living a life.

Next month marks one year since my beautiful mum died.

Yesterday my Kaisercraft goodies arrived. Instead of the excited feeling I got last year, all I could remember was that I received my Kaisercraft goodies 2 days before we go the phone call from mum telling us she was sick.

She was so brave. Instead of letting dad ring and talk to us all, she wanted to speak with each of us. To reassure us. She was SUCH a good mum.

The cooler weather feels like it did this time last year. The time of year my world kind of shattered. I feel constantly fragile. Constantly close to tears.

I seem to be focused on the night before mum died when she rang us to let us know that she had dropped her vomit bag on the floor and couldn't reach it, and that no nurses were answering her buzzer. Why didn't I go back? (I now keep a change of underwear in my handbag at all times, in case I need to stay somewhere without knowing beforehand...I let the lack of a change of underwear stop me from spending precious hours with my mum?!?!)

I feel sick every time I think of how when I was offered the opportunity to sit with her and massage her sore shoulders and neck that final afternoon, that I let my sister go in. Don't get me wrong...I am so happy that my sis got to spend that time with mum, but I thought there would be so many more opportunities.

I was so wrong.

I have been woken up every morning at about 5am with dreams about mum. Dreams where no matter what I do, I can't get to her. I can't make her hear me. She is surrounded by everyone but me.

I can't believe that such an amazing woman can have been gone for a year, and its like nothing has changed. The world has just kept going.

It seems so very very wrong.

So much of this is wrong.

So much of me is still unable to comprehend that she is truly gone.

That I will never see her again.

That I will never be able to speak to her again.

I am such a mess of yucky emotions.

This time of year sucks.

My Baby Sis

I probably haven't mentioned this yet, but my baby sis is getting married :)

In December.

(I got a bit of a reminder last week, that my family still read my blog looking for updates...not crapbooking LOL)

I have been very excited for my sis, but also a bit worried.

See, I didn't really know the guy she was marrying.

I've *met* him twice-briefly. I follow him on Twitter. We are friends on Facebook (well, we were until I got all weird and deactivated my account). But I hadn't really spent any time with him.
They also have had a bit of a whirlwind courtship ;)

Its not that I don't completely trust my sister's judgement. But, you know?

My *worries* changed this weekend.

Friday night I was all cosied up in bed with my book, when there was a loud pounding on the front door.

I bravely sent my husband to open it, and there was my sister Amy and her fiancee Tones! 8 hours from home. They had come up to spend the long weekend with us as a surprise!
Now this weekend was cold. Saturday it didn't get above 10C. So we all stayed at home. Just hanging out, drinking cuppas and chatting.

It was very boring for them I'm sure. But it was great.

My sister is marrying a wonderful man.

He is gentle and patient and kind and generous.

He spent time getting to know my kids, and he bought his PlayStation with him so they could have fun with that too.

He treats my sister like a princess.

As mum was dying, my sister asked her to have a word to God about where her Prince Charming was.

I think mum had that word, and she got God to send this man just for Amy :)

They truly are a special couple :)

Cross Fingers, Pray...ANYTHING!!!

I have just submitted my first ever written job application!

So, please pray, cross fingers etc....it would be SUCH a good job to get!!

SO Excited!

I can now share...KaiserCraft have been kind enough to ask me to be on their DT again for this year!!!

To pass the 2nd round, we were asked to decorate the gorgeous little Trinket Chest with Pink Gelato ...
I made a cute little writing chest for my daughter....

everything that she needs to send cards and letters is inside :)

Including the pencils, covered with Pink Gelato, and topped off with a gorgeous pearl brad :)
I also made a co-ordinating set of Pink Gelato cards
And a LO using Velvet Ensemble...
My mummy and Dad. After 35 years of marriage, they were still madly in love, definitely a fairytale in my eyes!

Thanks for stopping by!!

KaiserCraft Share :)

I'm on blogging this week over at the kaiserCraft blog along with super talented ladies Nerrida and Monika :) I love blogging week! Its all rush rush rush to get the projects finished, then just sharing :)

This card didn't quite make the chop ;)
The new Pink Gelato collection was perfect for these pics of mum.

I remember taking these like it happened yesterday.

Mum, Dad and I went over to Stradbroke Island a couple of days before everyone else, only to discover that the beach where my sister was to get married had been washed away in the cyclones.

So we went for a walk one afternoon to find a new beach.

To prove to Clare that we had found the perfect spot, we took photos, with mum posing as the bride :)

She was so cute and funny.

I really love the soft pastels in this range.

So so SO girly!

At least my girls (who are fighting over who now owns this set of drawers) think so ;)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day!