Yillup's Place For Everything

"Cinderella" - Elizabeth style...

2011-07-19T11:38:00.003+10:00

Most little 5 year olds love princesses. They love pretending to be princesses, dressing in pretty flouncy dresses, wearing tiaras, bossing people around, just generally being a princess.

So, when Elizabeth said she wanted to pretend to be Cinderella, that's what I was expecting.

But of course my daughter won't be standard, she loves to do things all in her own way, she's really an individual...

Elizabeth's interest in Cinderella was more about doing the washing! So she got a lesson in how to take the dry washing out of the dryer, transfer the clean washing out of the machine and into the dryer and then turn it on, pop a load into the washing machine, pour in a scoop of powder, select the correct temperature and water levels and get the machine going.

She then swept the floor and wiped up a couple of dirty spots with a wet wipe.

Now, if only she'd keep her room clean in the same way!!! :D

Rainbow-y Yumminess

2011-07-18T19:19:00.003+10:00

Well, I guess you've all figued out by now that a weekly photo of myself just isn't going to happen regularly! LOL

So I guess I'll just return to my usual sporadic posting whenever the whim hits me to share a little bit on my poor neglected blog!

If you're after someone who's posting semi-regularly (and posting some very YUMMY stuff!), head on over to my MUMMY'S BLOG to have a good look around. Be sure to comment how lovely the background is seeing I created it for her! LOL

Today I'll just show off my own yummy creations... RAINBOW CUPCAKES!

They were so darned easy to make too, but oh so yummy. Packet cake mix, butter cream icing with half tinted blue and half kept white, and some yummy rainbow sour straps I found in our local Big W...

YUM!

4th Friday Self Portrait

2011-02-25T14:33:00.002+11:00

Well, I've missed a few Fridays, but I'm here again! Last Friday we were off on a holiday to Harrington. Heaps and heaps of fun was had by all! I might even share a few photos tomorrow...

3rd Friday Self Portrait

2011-01-28T13:55:00.004+11:00

Yep, it's Friday again, and here is my next installment into the pixelated webcammy world of Kylie! At least this time it has been taken during the daylight hours! If you look carefully you can spot the 3 year old chubby legs of Phillip on the lounge. They're having a bit of a TV day today because it's been raining on and off... They've also been doing heaps of drawing at the moment. You can't see it, but the coffee table behind me has a big box of pencils and their little notebooks which are rapidly being filled with drawing after drawing!

2nd Friday Self Portrait

2011-01-21T23:52:00.002+11:00

Week 2 of my weekly webcam shot! Wow - look at those bags under my eyes... I think I need an early night... LOL

1st Friday Self Portrait

2011-01-14T20:22:00.002+11:00

Hehehehe, you guys get to be subjected to a weekly webcam pic of myself! So here I am, warts and all, in a beautifully pixelated bad quality picture every Friday... :D

The post dedicated to Christmas lights

2011-01-03T10:37:00.003+11:00

Hehehe, so the photo inundation just keeps on coming!

It's a tradition for us at some stage in that last week leading up to Christmas to head out and view all the pretty lights. The kids get to stay up late, we get to see the prettiness, and sometimes people are collecting for charities too.

It was sooo funny this year now that Phillip's talking a little more. He just about went crazy every time he saw a slight flicker of lights! I think he got excited at some porch lights at times! LOL

So, that's the post dedicated to Christmas lights. I'm sorry the photos aren't too great. I still haven't had the flash fixed on my camera, so I had to make use of ambient light. Which at night isn't too much!

Did you look at lights leading up to Christmas? Maybe you put lights out yourself. Let me know!

The post dedicated to gingerbread houses...

2010-12-28T19:19:00.005+11:00

OK, so I have a thing for photos. I apologise in advance for the photo overload, but I guess if you're reading my blog you're probably interested in my life, so I guess I then retract my apology...

So this Christmas seems to have been the Christmas of the gingerbread houses. I bought a couple of house kits from IKEA at the end of last year after Christmas with the idea that I could make them this year with the kids (I of course checked their use-by dates! LOL). But then I was invited to the church's gingerbread house making afternoon. I couldn't turn that opportunity down! I did one a few years ago when we were at Ryde and it was soooo much fun! So off I went and made a house there with all the prettiness of cool lollies and cellophane and curling ribbon and friendly friends to make it with.

But what to do with the 2 kits I had left over?

Why, let the kids go mental of course!

So one day we had Alyssa and Stella (and their mum Rachael) coming over, so we planned to have a gingerbread house making day! We stocked up on lollies like M&Ms and Skittles and licorice allsorts and snakes, etc... I made heaps of royal icing, and away we went!

I haven't included the photos of Rachael and her kids cause even though she said it was fine to put them on Facebook, putting them out there on a blog is a different thing, so better to be safe than sorry! So you'll have to put up with photos of my kids instead! :D

The icing was a big hit - it got eaten straight out of the zip-loc bag piping bags...

Phillip was an expert at creating big enormous piles of icing all over the place...
Elizabeth and Phillip's creation...
Alyssa, Stella and Rachael's creation (Rachael did a good job of making it look a bit more organised than my kids' one!)...
And of course the eating part! We ate it after breakfast on Christmas morning after cherry and white chocolate pancakes...
I can see you... :D
How is it still standing???
And of course, my masterpiece! I am quite proud of this in the end. I think it looked great!

The pretty wrapping (which made sure the kids didn't pick bits off it while it was on display!)...
And all unwrapped and ready to eat...
Butter wouldn't melt in their mouths of course... ;D

Matt enjoyed pulling it apart too. It tasted pretty yum!
It took a bit, but it did fall down eventually...
And all that was left was put in a bowl to eat over the next few days...So, yes - that's the end of the post dedicated to gingerbread houses.

I'll be back in the next few days with the post dedicated to Christmas lights, and then the post dedicated to Christmas Day. Of course you are all waiting with bated breath for those posts, aren't you??? hehehehe

December Already???

2010-12-02T13:47:00.005+11:00

Wow - was that the whole year? Really? How on earth did it pass so quickly? Is it really December? We celebrated Phillip's borthday yesterday, so I guess it MUST be December! LOL

Well, I'll bore you all with a few photos from the last couple of months...

Did some digi scrapping

2010-09-10T10:19:00.004+10:00

In July we went to the Powerhouse Museum for the day. We took my little brother Ryan along too. It was such a great day - lots of hands-on play and learning fun. I've just finished a digi LO on it and figured I probably should share it straight away before I forget to (like all the other LOs I've done lately - I'll update with them soon enough! LOL)

It's of Elizabeth trying SO hard to climb the spider-web looking climbing thing they have in the playground. She was getting so frustrated that she couldn't climb as high as the older kids. But she stuck at it and did pretty well in the end (before she got scared of being so high and asked for help to get down! LOL).

I used a sketch from "stuck? sketches" to do this one. I almost never take photos in landscape, so I had to adapt the sketch to fit my photos. I love that about sketches - you don't need to be THAT exact! :D

Have a great weekend!

Our new house!

2010-06-21T16:45:00.002+10:00

Well, we're getting to be pretty settled in the new place now. We've still got bits and pieces to find a new home for, and the decorating section seems to have been forgotten for a bit (note to self, a pile of photo frames on the shelves is NOT decoration!), but we're pretty set with most things. For some reason one single shelf in one of our bookshelves hasn't been put in yet. Not 100% sure why, but it's not urgent I guess, so we haven't done it yet! How slack are we??? LOL

My scrap area has been condensed onto only the computer desk, but I've taken advantage of space under the desk for some plastic drawers which are already full of STUFF! Boy, do we have a lot of STUFF!!!!

Anyway, we're loving the new house. In fine weather the kids spend almost all day outside, and when it's raining the TV reception is so much better the kids can watch ABC2 (with a whole lot of kids' programmes) whenever they want! Plus when Matt and I want the main living area to ourselves, the kids have their own rooms to play in. Elizabeth doesn't need to keep her small toys in the dining area, because she has her own desk, and she can play with her stuff whenever she wants!

So, basically, we love our new house!

Oh, and you'll have to wait for some photos (of the house, of the kids, of my scrapping and crocheting, everything)- the computer's having a little hissy fit and I can't really do photos on this laptop I've borrowed off my mum!

We're moving...

2010-05-26T11:58:00.003+10:00

We're moving on Saturday! The owner of this place put the rent up, and while some people may be willing to pay $300 a week for a 2 bedroom townhouse with an un-useable backyard, we aren't. We'd prefer to pay $300 a week for a 3 bedroom house...

So last Saturday we had a garage sale. It was actually kind-of fun, even though it started raining in the afternoon which sent us scurrying for cover!

Our rather wet sign out the front - I reckon it just sets the scene for the whole garage sale... LOL

Where we ended up - under cover with water coming through and everything a little soggy!

Bellie getting all rugged up. It was COLD!
My funny man... He seriously needs a haircut (and a shave)! LOL
The kids trying to drum up some business by pointing people in the right direction!
So now we're packing and gradually driving ourselves crazy with the amount that needs to be done!

Wish us luck!

Happy Good Friday

2010-04-02T11:06:00.004+11:00

Is "Happy" Good Friday the right words? It seems strange to me to be saying "happy" when it's all about Jesus dying today. Ah well, it's the only words I can think of, so Happy Good Friday everyone!

I like Good Friday. It's a day when almost everything is shut so almost everyone has a day off (I feel sorry for those in essential jobs that can't take the day off - sorry to rub it in!). It's also a day to remember the great sacrifice Jesus made for us all those years ago.

I'm sorry I'm such a bad bad blogger. I don't get on here very often, do I? I can't promise that's going to change - I'm always going to be a bad blogger I reckon! Ah well. Good thing this blog is for me, and not for anyone else! If you happen to read it - good for you, but I blog because it's interesting to me.

My sister's gotten into blogging now though, and my mum has a new blog for all her recipes and food stuff. And they're GOOD bloggers! They actually have posts more often than once every 3 months...

Go visit my mum HERE and my sister HERE and let them know how good you think they are for blogging frequently :D

Well, I seemed to forget February, so I'll just jump straight into march. I might go back and update February some other time...

We had a blue-tongued visitor in the front driveway. Phillip was absolutely fascinated...
The kids are absolutely obsessed with brushing their teeth. It's their favourite routine of the day!

We went out the day after Matt's birthday and had a yummy lunch at The Entrance. Yummy Cold Rock icecream for dessert led to a need for the bubblers. Neither Phillip nor Elizabeth had ever used bubblers before. It was quite funny watching them try!
Matt's birthday cake was one of those new Michel's Patisserie (sp??) ones. They're nice and small - perfect for a small family. Just enough for 2 nights of cakey goodness!
Phillip did a good job of falling on his head and getting an enormous bump! Silly kid now knows not to chase balloons around on the concrete driveway...

I've been scrapping a tiny bit too (I seriously need to clean my scrap area so that can change from "tiny"). These were the cards I made for the March card swap at Scrapchat. Sadly Australia Post lost them in the mail, so I'm in the process of making another lot to send to people individually. Grrrrr..
A layout using paper I printed myself using my new Vintage Elegance kit over on Tanyah's Scrap N Craft With T blog...
A LO for a class I did with the awesomely talented Chelle on how to create spiral flowers. It's Elizabeth and our neighbour Ava - they are such good friends!
A digi one I've done for a CC challenge at Scrapchat - it's meant to be "whimsical", but I'm not 100% sure I really achieved that! LOL
And one of my kids and Tanyah's kids from earlier in the year having fun drawing with chalk (it's all it seems we do here! LOL)

My baby is back...

2010-02-07T15:52:00.006+11:00

No, Elizabeth and Phillip didn't go anywhere, my baby is my computer. After almost 3 months, too many phone calls, one cock up after another, I finally have my computer back. Sadly it is minus it's harddrive. Just about every single thing I have done for the last 2 years has gone. It has run away, never to return. There is one final, last-ditch chance of getting something off it. It relys on them being able to get their hands on an identical model harddrive and transferring parts between them to *hopefully* get something working. Learn from my story - BACK EVERYTHING UP!

My Year So Far In Pictures:

New Year's Eve: It wasn't us who set off the fireworks in their backyard - Honest!

And they did the traditional thing of covering poor Judith's front yard with the leftover streamers from the party poppers...

First week in January: Tan and her family come for a visit. Even though we threw furniture at them (don't ask - it was a long and slightly scary story), they seemed to enjoy themselves! We had heaps of fun having the over for a visit too!

Most of January: We spend out lives out the front on the driveway... Playing with bubbles, drawing with chalk and doing water painting, and playing with the neighbour's kids. Lilli particularly loves playing with Ava. She calls her her best friend!

Oh, and I MADE Elizabeth this purple dress! Very proud of myself!

11th January: Finally took the Christmas decorations down. The tree came down very early, but all the other stuff just stayed up for a while...

15th January: Photo shoot with Bellie. Sarah just wanted to go somewhere and I stripped her child off while they were here and took some photos...

23rd January: Charlie finally decided to make an entrance after keeping everyone in suspence for most of January! Poor Cath had to have a ceasarean because he was taking his sweet time with it!

26th January (Australia Day): I cleaned the bathroom which caused bubbles to come up through the floor in the bathroom. The kids LOVED it!We had a yummy BBQ for lunch (wow - WAY too much food! I learnt from my mum to seriously over-cater...) and spent the day out the front playing with bubbles with Ava. TWO bubble machines certainly make a whole lot of bubbles! Elizabeth certainly looks patriotic enough, shame about the lack of enthusiasm...

And that's pretty much January 2010 for the Abel family in a nutshell. Hope your year is going well!

And on this very sad and reflective day, the anniversary of the horrible Victorian fires this year, I hope we can all spend a little time today looking back and remembering...

Happy New Year

2010-01-14T09:44:00.003+11:00

Well, it's 2010 already! I can't believe it! I saw someone with a car number plate which had "91" on it, and I thought to myself "They are SO not old enough to drive if they were born in 91", but then I thought about it... Wow, how fast the time is going past!

We had a really fun New Year's Eve this year. My mum and Dave had been in Darwin during their cracker night, so they had bought a couple of bags of mixed fireworks. It was heaps of fun! Some of them were duds, some were awesome, some really quite strange, but it was funny working out which was which!

When I get my computer back (IF I get my computer back!) I'll upload some photos from over the Christmas/New Year period. Of course I took WAY too many photos! I don't know how I'll be able to scrap even a quarter of them...

I am a bad mummy

2009-12-22T15:39:00.004+11:00

I am a bad mummy. I must be. So many people are telling me I am. My brother called me daft, a friend asked why I was ruining things for my kids, others just think I'm a nutter.

What have I done that's so horrible? So disgusting and wrong???

I've told my kids that Santa is a great story that heaps of people like to pretend is real, but it really isn't true. Santa doesn't magically leave presents under the tree, Mummy and Daddy do. It's something Matt and I have dscussed and something we felt was the right thing to do.

I guess it's unforgiveable. We are ruining their Christmasses for the rest of their lives. We are taking away the magic of their childhoods. We are scarring them for life and segregating them from all other people in the human race. Or at least that's the impression I'm getting from everyone else!

Why do we feel the need to out-an-out LIE to our children to create a magical and imaginative world for them to live in? Kids are amazing creatures. They can watch movies and be taken to fantastical worlds, read book and be transported to out-of-this-world wonderous lands. They play with a brown box that can amazingly become a car, a rocket ship, a boat, a house, a cave, or whatever else they want. But when it comes to Santa, we can't trust our kids to take it as an amazingly wonderful story about the giving spirit behind Christmas? Why do we have to tell our kids that Santa is alive and well today and lives in the North Pole and has magical elves and reindeer and delivers presents personally to each and every child? Why do our news programmes feel the need to perpetuate this downright lie by giving updates on "Santa" and even little graphics on where he is by using the modern technology of GPS? Why can we not trust our kids to create some magic themselves, and instead foist it on them in the form of our own ideas?

Elizabeth isn't missing out on anything. She gets to lie under the Christmas tree and count all the twinkling lights with me. Tonight or tomorrow night we're going to pop some popcorn and drive around looking at Christmas lights and ooohhhh and aaahhh. She's getting a chocolate every day from the Advent calendar as we count down the days. She has heaps of presents under the Christmas tree all waiting for her to unwrap (she claims there are 10 - that's a big number for her). She'll celebrate on Christmas Day with a whole pile of loving people and plenty of good food.

Phillip doesn't seem to be missing out on anything magical either. He screams with excitement at every single Christmas decoration he sees (if it has flashing lights that deserves an even bigger yell). He's overjoyed every time he comes down the stairs to see our Christmas tree (despite the original fear because he shattered a glass bauble). I can just imagine the noise tonight or tomorrow as we search for lights! I might bring some ear plugs. He's gobbled down each Advent chocolate as I give them to him. And he's sure to gorge himself silly on Christmas Day!

Why on earth do we have to lie to them about a big fat man in a red suit to make it magical???

And why am I classified as a bad mother and a killjoy because we have chosen this way, and why do I have to keep justifying our choice to every friend, brother, shop assistant, and meddler around?

I'm running away!

2009-11-11T08:13:00.004+11:00

I am a bad bad blogging mummy. I have neglected my blog. How bad am I???

Sorry blog. What can I do to make it up to you?

Maybe after my retreat this weekend I'll have some cool things to put up in here. I'm running away to QLD for a few days! I'll be heading to the Ohana retread with all my lovely ScrapChat friends (except for some that sadly couldn't make it - we'll miss you guys!).

As it is, I'll just have post up a few photos from the last couple of (rather busy) months. I hope that makes you happy, my poor neglected blog...

We've had Elizabeth's 4th birthday. That was heaps of fun. She got heaps and heaps of presents, and her cake was a treasure chest that she helped me decorate...

My sister had her baby - Isabella Ruth Alice. It was a looooong labour, and was set to go even longer, but they decided enough was enough and chopped her out by emergency c-section. Both mummy and baby are doing really well now.

I finished crocheting a dress for Isabella, about 1 week before she was born. Good timing I reckon! Modelled by the ever-poseable (but rather grumpy) doll Beatrice.

And we had fun around Halloween by actually carving jack-o-lanterns! Not that we actually celebrate Halloween, but I've always wanted to carve a jack-o-lantern, and now I have!

And finally, a quick picture of my 2 kiddles *acting* like little angels. Of course Blogger is having a little hissy fit, so you might have to flip your head sideways to get a good look at them...

OK, I'd better run. Phillip's having his immunisations this morning. That'll be heaps of fun...

2009-08-30T19:27:00.002+10:00

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Phillip is sitting on my lap right now about to head off to bed, and he just wanted to say "hi", and "good night". I guess his spelling isn't the greatest... LOL

I actually got a few photos of my kiddles the other morning. TOGETHER! That is virtually impossible. The last photo I had of the 2 of them together and both looking at the camera, and HAPPY was in January I think. I've been able to photoshop a couple of decent pictures from combining 2 vaguely decent ones, but it's not the same! So here's one of the photos I got on Friday morning. There are others that I love too. Maybe I'll share them in my next post...

Last weekend I got to stay over at Sharon's house (thanks for the hospitality Sharon if you ever read this!) to do a bit of scrapping on the Saturday, and then we headed off to the stitches and craft show in Sydney on the Sunday. I managed to complete a few things on the Saturday.

Sadly I'm not as impressed by the work I do when I'm out of the house, as the stuff I do when I'm at home. I tend to get a bit more arty and do a lot more detailed work at home. At crops and retreats I tend to do a lot more clean-cut stuff and it tends to be a bit more, I dunno, boring? Not really the right word, but I'm never quite as happy with the things I do. But in the end I have a few more memories down on paper, a few more challenges done, and most of all, I get to have fun! And I guess that is the point eh?

The "Fashionista" LO is the basis for a sketch over at TAN's blog if you want to have something to get your creative juices flowing...

I'm starting working on a rag quilt at the moment (I figure if I put it in here I might actually FINISH a creative project!). I haven't really made a quilt before. I made a king-sized quilt cover for my mum using a very random style, but never actually a REAL quilt! Wish me luck!

Woo Hoo! I'm on a roll!

2009-08-21T09:56:00.003+10:00

Elizabeth likes dressing herself at the moment. We have had some interesting combinations so far - dresses over jeans, singlet tops in winter, and of COURSE orange, navy, pink and red go SO well together. But yesterday's outfit was a stunner...

So what if the grey and black striped leggings are inside out? So what if the bright blue knitted jumper is inside out too? So what if the off-the-shoulder checked red gingham Dorothy the Dinosaur top doesn't match anything? It's FASHION daaaahhhlings!

All done, and some digi scrapping to share

2009-08-18T09:17:00.004+10:00

Well, Tanyah's blog is all set up. All pink and pretty with butterflies and flowers and gems.

My blog is set up too - a little bit different... A bit of a grungy, dirty and ecclectic look I reckon! I like the coffee stains particularly. Even though I don't actually drink coffee... LOL

I put in an order with BigW online the other day for 2 8x8 soft-cover albums. At less than $10 it's a GREAT way to get digi creations out of the computer and into a book. You can fit 20 LOs in each book (more if you put multiples on each page, but then they get pretty small and you can't see the detail). I wanted to do 2 books, but I needed a few extra LOs to bulk them out, so I whipped up these LOs in an hour or so!

So today I get to go pick up the 2 books. Added to the 1 I already have, I will then have just about all of my digi scrapping in a hard-copy form as well as on the computer.

It was my sister's baby shower on the 8th. Lots of preperation. Of course, like usual, we over-did it and had heaps and heaps of food, lots of games and all kinds of things. It was a fun day!

I made a nappy cake. It's got wipes, baby bath, 2 packets of disposable nappies, 3 cloth nappies, 4 pairs of frilly baby socks, and the thankyou gifts for everyone for coming (the lolly pops).

And I HAD to include an embarrasing present opening photo of Sarah here. Love the double chin... hehehehe

So, I guess I should go clean the house or something like that. Maybe go get some morning tea for the playgroup tomorrow. Lucky me is on morning tea.

Please excuse the dust

2009-08-10T14:42:00.002+10:00

I am in the process of changing my blog around a little bit, and also experimenting with Tanyah's blog (figured I'd muck around with mine cause I know I can change it back). So if you're popping in you might notice a few strange things happening...

Great news and my first Scrap N Craft With T Digital Freebie!

2009-06-12T19:55:00.004+10:00

I am very proud to announce that Tanyah at Scrap and Craft with T has asked me to be on her design team, and I (of course very reluctantly! LOL) have said yes! And to celebrate there is a gorgeous digital freebie (even if I do say so myself) all set for you to have a play with.

There are 2 papers, a 5x7 frame, buttons and more!

Head on over to HERE to get yours!

And for those of you who like a bargain and some great scrapping products, head on over to the Scrapchat's auction site this weekend!

WOW is it going to be BIG or what???

Come and grab a scrap bargain and the biggest bargain is a FREE DIGI PAPER!

2009-04-24T20:31:00.005+10:00

Hi there everyone. I have been a busy little girl lately. Sadly not too much to share on here. More washing vomit and poo. Sadly so many bugs have come throught this family in the last month!

But I still have had the chance to upload some (what I think are) gorgeous baby clothes to the Scrapchat TRASH AND TREASURE day!

Head on over to the auction site to check out the rest of my things (the trash and treasure day is Sunday 26th - all items are only available for one day!), and there's SO much more there too - crocheted flowers, transparancies, kits, hand-made buttons, felt and paper embellishments, and HEAPS of stuff! I am sure to be doing a bit of shopping for my bargains.

And next up to share with you lovely people is a small digital freebie. I made an antiqued scalloped paper for a page I did for Roll 2 Create's fortnightly challenges.

Here's the LO which includes the FREE PAPER...

And HERE is where you can pick up your own copy. I also used other elements from my different freebies for this LO - the blue paper was from my GROOVY GRUNGE Pt 1. The paper flowers are from my first kit I ever made KIT 1 (the colour of them have been changed). Hope you can use something in your own LOs! If you do please drop me a note and let me see your work!

I have also done a little scrap therapy in the last few days - scrapping about the every-day stuff. The stuff that takes up so much of my life, but so rarely makes it into my scrapbooks!

So here's my POO LO!

Hope it gives you a bit of a giggle. If you take up the challenge of creating your own "every-day" LO, let me know so I can check it out! It's great to have LOs like this that aren't the lovely posed portraits and beautiful landscapes...

A2Z stuff!

2009-04-19T12:10:00.005+10:00

Well, being on a DT is fun, but it means you can't share your work until it's all on the main site! Not a major hassle, but as I've been a baaaaad blogger you guys get piled up with heaps of LOs at once! :D

So, here's a couple of months worth of DT work for A2Z Scraplets. Hope you like!

I *think* that's all of them that I haven't shared yet!

Enjoy!

Love you all!

2009-03-13T21:45:00.001+11:00

OK, I'm a soppy person. I just wanted to say a BIG "I LOVE YOU" to all of my online friends.

I wake up every morning happy in the knowledge that I'll get to "see you again today.

I love sharing your lives with you, even if I'm a bit reluctant sharing my own.

I count you among my best friends right now...

Challenges!

2009-03-09T10:42:00.002+11:00

Just thought I'd give you all a "heads up" about some great challenges happening around the place at the moment.

Head on over to A2Z Scraplets for a cool sketch competition. No restrictions on products (so you don't need to use A2Z Scraplets, but I love them and would anyway!)

My friend Tan is holding a great sketch challenge at her blog too. There are 2 sketches and different products/techniques to use for each. It's a great way to win vouchers in her awesome shop (I LOVE her shop, it has so much I want!)

Biting

2009-03-06T13:15:00.002+11:00

What is it with my kids at the moment. I think they must lie in bed at night and conspire together how to best annoy me! They are having biting competitions right now. Eilzabeth has a couple of decent sized marks on her back right now.

How on earth do I stop Phillip biting?!?

2009-03-04T12:57:00.005+11:00

Feb 16: Raindrops keep falling on our house...

Feb 17: That Tendo is a real favourite! Pity she keeps giving the dogs away in Nintendogs...

Feb 18: My scrapping room needing a bit of work...

Feb 19: Phillip and some more mess!

Feb 20: Happy birthday to ME!

Feb 21: A nicely made bed

Feb 22: Some of our many many photos on display in the house (the squares below are mirrors - I'm such a child care teacher!)...

Feb 23: Matt and I - a vaguely decent photo (even if it needed some drastic Photoshopping!).

Feb 24: A major accident on the corner just near my house. A fire engine flipped a ute over into a neighbour's garden. The rescue teams and everyone were there for about 7 hours. Pretty scary stuff!

Feb 25: The Devil Wears Prada. What I'm reading right now. A pretty good read!

Feb 26: What a cutie this girl is! Elizabeth posing for the camera.

Feb 27: Phillip posing as well! He loves the camera.

Feb 28: My rockstar baby girl!

An update on the cleaning situation...

We did pretty good. The inside of the house got thoroughly cleaned and sorted (except sadly for my scrapping room. That needs some major sorting attention with a decent block of time). The garden hasn't been finished yet, but we're about half-way through the weeding. Sadly during our clean-out we found out cockroaches were having heaps of fun inside our bookshelves! They weren't in the kitchen or anywhere like that, but in our books! I was really really mad because they'd gotten into a couple of my scrapbooks. So now we've been spraying and squishing and cleaning out all the cockroaches (3 bug bombs, 1 huge can of surface spray, 12 baits, we've completely finished one can of spray now). If anyone has any tips on how to get rid of the little german cockroaches, PLEASE let me know!

Some photo file fun...

2009-02-18T13:53:00.003+11:00

The lovely Lyn has tagged me with the fun photo file game.

Find the 6th file in your photos and post the 6th photo in that file up onto your blog.

Sadly my photos are all sorted into files inside files so it's a bit hard to figure out exactly where my 6th file is! LOL I THINK this is the 6th file from the 6th folder..

Poor Lilli getting SO annoyed at her spinning bugs because they just kept spinning away from her...

It's amazing how much she has changed since then!

Just about EVERY person I have seen has already had this tag done, so I am taking the lazy person's way out and asking anyone who hasn't done it already who would like to do so to have a shot at it!

2009-02-18T11:36:00.003+11:00

OK, it SERIOUSLY needs doing.

My house is a MESS!!!!

And I WILL be cleaning it before the weekend.

Just as proof of how bad I have let it get, have fun looking through these pictures...

Our backyard. Complete with weed in the stones and huge over-grown grass in the garden beds. Plus a pile of weeds that I started pulling before it decided to rain every single day...

The laundry. not too bad, but certainly needs some sorting.

The kitchen - major sortage needed for the breakfast bar. Mostly photo frames that need to be put upstairs...

The lounge/dining. A sea of clothes being sorted - we're going though the kids' clothes for the colder season and getting rid of all the stuff that doesn't fit any more...

My scrapping room. I so need to clear the space to actually SCRAP!

My and Matt's bedroom. Needs some storage under the bed I reckon and to actually PUT THE CLOTHES AWAY!

Lilli and Phillips room. Phillip has a "thing" at the moment of pulling every single thing out of his drawers right now. SO annoying!

The computer desk part of the toy room - I need to clear my scrapping desk so I can start scrapping in there instead of at the computer desk...

More examples of Phillip's "pulling things out" obsession...

So, by the weekend it will be DONE! I promise!

I will put some progress photos up here if I remember and the final product photos once it's all done...

First half of February...

2009-02-16T08:43:00.004+11:00

Feb 1: A boy and his mess...
Feb 2: Happy Birthday Ryan!

Feb 4: A couple of sunburnt kids...Feb 5: Sparkly beaded necklace

Feb 6: Lilli in mummy's shoes

Feb 7: One cheeky monkey jumping on the bed

Feb 8: Why do we buy expensive toys?

Feb 9: A good read thanks to Grammy

Feb 10: Immunisations the day before take it out of you

Feb 11: Would Doll like a donut?

Feb 12: Playing at Jodie's

Feb 13: The new stroller that Phillip got to roadtest

Feb 14: Building (and smashing down) the blocks

Feb 15: Scrappy mess...

OK, I'm getting there! Have missed a grand total of 2 days so far this year. I'm allowing myself one muck-up a month but hoefully it'll become so routine to take a photo that by the end of the year I won't know what to do with myself!

Yesterday Phillip took 3 steps all on his own! From Matt to the lounge just so he could annoy Elizabeth. Gotta love the motivations of a starting walker!

We're getting the kids' winter wardrobes sorted mostly from end of and beginning of season sales. Why do they grow so darned quickly? And why is it that clothes get so much more expensive as they get bigger? Going from size 2 to size 3 for Elizabeth has been fun as it's a whole new section of the shop to look in. She's no longer in the baby/toddler section, she's a real little girl! And boys clothes! For some reason all boys this season HAVE to wear skulls. Actually, amend that, GIRLS have to wear skulls too, it's just they wear them in pink and black. I don't want to decorate my kids with bones!

Anyway, enough of my rant. I've been having fun getting stuff together for the millions of swaps I have signed myself up to this month. I thought I was limiting the amount of things I was doing, but in the end I have SO much to send! ARGH! At least Australia Post will be benefiting.

OK, enough of my rambling. I'm sure you have something much better to do with your time. Just like me! Weeding the garden here I come...

Victorian Bushfires and a Digital Freebie

2009-02-12T18:37:00.004+11:00

There isn't much I can do, but I am trying to do the little I can to help those who have lost everything. So many people have died, and so many have survived with only the clothes they had on their backs.

In case you didn't know, Australia has seen it's worst natural disaster ever. Almost 200 people have been confirmed dead so far and hundreds of homes have been lost in raging bushfires that took everybody by surprise.

If possible, you can donate with a credit card HERE with the Australian Red Cross. They have guaranteed that 100% of the money will go direct to the victims.

If possible, you can join this FACEBOOK GROUP to help win $10,000 to go towards the tragedy.

If possible, you can join PRIZE COLLECT and complete their free offers on SUNDAY 15TH FEBRUARY.

On a lighter note, I had some fun creating an orange and yellow LO on the weekend. Thanks to Tiddlypeep for the inspiration...

And because of this I am offering a digital freebie... The crocheted flowers I created for this LO!

You can download the set of 3 flowers HERE.

If you have used any of my freebies (listed on the left of my blog <-<-<-) on any LOs, I would LOVE to see your work! Feel free to send me a message and I'll check it out!

2009-02-01T15:08:00.003+11:00

It's ME!

OK, more or my 365 photos. Sadly I missed January 24th...

Jan 22:

Jan 23:

Jan 25:

Jan 26:

Jan 27:

Jan 28:

Jan 29:

Jan 30:

Jan 31:

So far I ahve a month's worth of photos! And I have completed my first digi LO using the photos for the month. I'll upload it in the next couple of days...

Some great news!

2009-01-26T19:01:00.004+11:00

I am very excited! I have been accepted into my second ever DT position! Thanks to the lovely Tan, I am now an official part of the DT at A2Z Scraplets. It is so exciting! They have put up my first lot of work to show and I am going to be getting my new delivery of brand new and top secret products very soon!

They are having a big sketch challenge over there with some great prizes too.

This is the sample I created for the challenge.

Make sure you head over to the BLOG to check out the details!

My house looks like a child care centre

2009-01-23T16:57:00.002+11:00

You can take the girl out of the child care centre, but you can't take the child care centre out of the girl.

I looked around the kids' toy room after I had moved everything around and realised I had made it look a whole lot like a child care centre...

I am absolutely crazy. The temp today is I'm guessing getting pretty close to 40. I'm in a house with no air con and very little in the way of insulation, and I decided to move furniture around! How stupid am I???

The kids should enjoy it though...

Week 3! I'm going well...

2009-01-22T12:14:00.003+11:00

Well, here we are again! Another week gone and another lot of photos all set and ready to go...

Jan 15:
Jan 16:

Jan 17:

Jan 18:

Jan 19:

Jan 20:

Jan 21:

We've had a bit of a busy week here. My mum and all the Hope St clan are going on a 'round Australia trip in a couple of months, and they've been sorting out all the extra bits and pieces that need to be done for that. My mum was worried about travelling so far and for so long in areas where phone reception is really really bad. So we went and found out heaps of information about all the different options available - satellite tracking, satellite phones, Telstra's Next G network (with extra mega huge aerial to boost reception), satellite TV (and of course Foxtel), mobile internet options, etc. etc. etc.

Just a tip, don't walk in to the Telstra in Westfeild Tuggerah wearing crappy clothes. The people there are ignorant at the best of times it seems, but if you don't look like a yuppie they'll not only show their ignorance, but they'll treat you like a piece of dirt that got dragged in by the cat.

So now it's all sorted and she has a Telstra Next G phone with an extra aerialand the phone itself can be used as a modem for the laptop. They're also getting satellite TV so the Foxtel box will work on it as well.

And the camper is in getting a new FULL SIZED fridge and a stove top put in so it'll be fully functional again soon.

Here in our little house, Lilli is still not liking wind, bumpy roads, storms, cars (me scraping the car on the garage contributed to that) and heaps of other things. But last night at my mum's place she actually spent time in the pool without screaming! And using the floaty ring thing she actually struck out on her own and "swam" across the pool! Very proud of her. Phillip also took a sideways step yesterday, but I didn't see it and so it doesn't count... LOL

Hope everything is going great wherever you may be. Fingers crossed it's not as hot wherever you are! I'm sticking to the computer chair at the moment!

2nd week of project 365

2009-01-15T12:55:00.003+11:00

Well, week 2 of the year has already flown past! It's going so quickly already!

And I haven't missed a single day of photos yet. Admittedly I woke al 25 minutes to midnight one night and realised I hadn't taken a photo and had to jump up to do it, but still haven't forgotten any!

8th January:
9th January:

10th January:

11th January:

12th January:

13th January:

14th January:

I've also been able to get some scrapping done! Finally! Next post I'll put them in as I hate how Blogger mucks around with photos when there's quite a few of them.

Hope wherever you are it's cooler than here! I'm sweating just sitting still!

Project 365

2009-01-08T21:27:00.004+11:00

OK, I'm doing it this year! To celebrate my brand spanking new camera, I am dedicating myself to taking at the very least one photo a day for the WHOLE year!

1st January:

2nd January:

3rd January:

4th January:

5th January:

6th January:

7th January:

What do you think of the photos so far? I am guessing I'm going to run out of things to take a photo of and you guys are going to be subjected to heaps of photos of the kids! LOL

Wish me luck!

Really cool news!

2009-01-02T07:59:00.003+11:00

I am part of a design team for a brand spanking new online store called Roll2Create!

They have opened the store in the last couple of days and it is filling with some awesome stuff, and for the month of January EVERYTHING is 10% off! What a bargain!

There is also a very cool forum to join. Feel free to come on over (and use "Kylie" as your referral so I get some points! LOL) and join in the chat and the challenges.

The awesomely talented RUBY is the other design team member.

I am very excited to be a part of this new store and hope you can join me in supporting Caroline and her new store!

2008-12-30T10:03:00.002+11:00

The Rules for the Kreativ Blogger Award are :
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to their blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

Thank you to Susan for this award! I don't get too many, and seeing it's taken me AGES to get this one up it's no wonder! LOL

I would like to nominate:

Crazymumm - Lucy
Midnite - Lisa
Jenny
Belynda
Gypsyangel - Karen

Thank you to all of these beautiful women for inspiring me. Check out their blogs!

2008-12-29T12:14:00.003+11:00

The big family "do" at my mum's place this year was absolutely crazy! There were 22 people there, aunts, unclues, cousins, brothers, sisters, neices, nephews and everyone all having fun. It's starting to get a bit TOO big though - we're all hvaing kids of our own, and with Kim due again this year it's only set to get bigger! We might have to start breaking into smaller family groups.

But as it was it was a good day!

The opening of presents was loud, chaotic and heaps of fun for the kids. Caitie got to practice her photography with her NEW camera...

And there weren't enough seats for everyone, but somehow these 3 monkeys managed to claim the best spots in the house!

The tree looked pretty bare by the time everyone was finished...

And then everyone separated to have a bitof fun while lunch was getting prepared and served. Of course the boys dissapeard to Ryan's room to play the Playstation. Both Ryan and Ethan got new games they couldn't keep away from...

We were serenaded frequently by the blue penguin singing "Blue Christmas". Phillip absolutely adores it and comes racing whenever it plays, but it freaked Elijah out!

I don't have any photos of the actual lunch to show, but I'm sure heaps of others in the family have some they'll share. I was too busy having more than my share of the 3kgs of prawns!

ALSO, I want to share a parting Christmas present with the scrappers out there...

The shop I have been a guest DT for - SCRAP N CRAFT WITH T - are having a HUGE sale. up to 70% off a lot of the product and a patterned paper sale where you can get paper from as little as 25c! To get to the specials page click on this link...

SPECIALS

There are HUNDREDS of specials!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and enjoyed the time with your family celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus!

Christmas Morning at Last!

2008-12-29T11:53:00.004+11:00

As i guess is usual for a family with 2 young kids, we had WAY too many presents under the tree! Even though we thought we had been really good with not going too overboard, the tree was still overflowing on Christmas morning...

I TRIED to get a decent photo of the 2 kids in front i=of the pile in the morning. After taking about 10 (and this being the best of the bunch) I gave up. It was just NOT going to happen. Why interrupt Christmas morning with a whole pile of photos?

There was heaps of wrapping paper, laughing, lots of "oooooohhhhhh"s from Elizabeth, and some screaming from Phillip as he couldn't wait for the toys to be taken out of the packaging (WHY do they put SO many layers of packaging on everything? Cardboard, plastic, twist ties, etc. etc.). The kids had so much fun!

And not a mention of Santa even once. These 2 I am hoping to raise not believing in Santa. I reckon Christmas is about family and friends and giving and receiving presents and celebrating Jesus, and I don't quite get where a big fat red suited guy comes into it? Christmas is so magical with lights, carols, family, etc. I don't think it needs more! Besides I hate to lie to my kids and I think it's demeaning to think kids should believe in something so obviously fake (on the news on Christmas Eve they had a report that Santa was just leaving the North Pole, and then it was followed by the weather girl in the shopping centre with "Santa" standing next to her... How stupid do we think our kids are??).

Anyway, off my soap-box. Christmas morning was heaps of fun. Breakfast was delayed and we had fun spending it as a family and ripping paper!

Everyone got some things they really loved. I was spoiled and got a new printer/scanner that has a negative scanner. So you all may be subjected to some pretty old and daggy photos as I gradually scan in all those old negatives...

Elizabeth LOVED her dolls house and her Nintendogs game. Phillip loves it all (particularly anything that makes noise). Matt got Holden stuff and a portable DVD player for watching things on the train.

And then we headed off to my mum's house for the HUGE Christmas lunch. I don't know how she does it, but each year it's big, loud and well organised.

So, on to the next post and next lot of photos...

The lead-up to Christmas...

2008-12-29T11:42:00.003+11:00

Twas the week before Christmas and all through he house you could hear Carols and kids who have had too much advent calendar chocolate...

We went looking at Christmas lights a few days before Christmas. Managed to get a couple of photos of the kids! Not exactly the best lighting conditions! LOL

The kids had HEAPS of fun as we were driving around. We were expecting them to get tired and possibly even for Phillip to fall asleep, butit got to 10:30pm and they were BOTH going strong! We had to call it a night because Matt and I were getting tired! LOL

And then there's the traditions of watching Carols By Candlelight on TV. I love this time of year - snuggle up on the lounge eating popcorn and shortbread while watching actors sing Christmas Carols badly (with the occasional "real" singer making it more bearable!)

So as not to overload poor blogger with too many photos (they really should work on the way photo uploading works in blogger - it's REALLY bad), I'll follow this post with our actual Christmas celebrations.

How do you celebrate in the lead-up to Christmas? Do you have any family traditions? Having a young family it's fun watching the traditions gradually develop and it'd be great to have some ideas of what others do...

Christmas Tree

2008-12-09T11:54:00.003+11:00

We have finally decorated our Christmas tree for the year. It's taken a couple of weeks. One week we put the tree up, and then we put lights on and found that they didn't work, so I had to get MORE lights and put them on, and then FINALLY it got decorated.

Phillip didn't really do much actual "decorating", but Elizabeth really got into it this year!

I love Christmas! It's such a special time of the year. I love how families get together, I love shopping for presents, and I love listening to Christmas carols in the shops. How cool is it that at this time of the year people can sing such loving songs to such a wonderful Saviour and not feel self-conscious about it at all! Even those who don't believe in God still join in this wonderful time.

We've almost finished out Christmas shopping already! So proud of us!! Only one more thing to get, and I'm off to buy it today.

Have a great second week of December, and if I get around to clearing out my scraproom I might even have some scrapping to show some time soon! LOLOLOL

Phillip's Birthday and Party!

2008-12-05T20:40:00.004+11:00

Well, my baby is now 1! It's hard to believe, but he had his birthday last monday.

We had his birthday party on Sunday.

Excuse the photo innundation! I guess each one is pretty self explanatory...

And then on his actual birthday on Monday we had another cake. Chocolate this time!

It's amazing how quickly the past year has gone. It only seems like yesterday that he was a tiny baby in my arms.

New mini digi freebie and my KIT is on sale at ScrapNCraftWithT!

2008-11-19T15:29:00.003+11:00

YAY! My kit I designed for Tan is now in her gorgeous SHOP! It's exciting seeing stuff I've created being sold in a REAL shop!

This is the album you can make with the kit. It has over $35 worth of stuff in there and it's selling for only $30 and seeing Tan has the lowest prices of any online store I've found, that's awesome value!

You get the entire collection of Bella Damsel papers, some gorgeous chippie letters (I SO want more of these!), journaling blocks, plenty of flowers, JAC paper, glitter, pearls, ChelleyBean Designs felt (I LOVE these! So cute and such beautiful colours made specially for this kit!), plus the AWESOME album that Tan herself designed!

Go check it out!!! The link for the kit is HERE, but if you want to check out the store as a whole the link is HERE...

I also have a little mini digital scrapbooking freebie to give away. These cute little flowers have been sitting on my computer just WAITING for a play! So finally inspired by a class at Point Shoot Play that I did on the weekend at Warana, I finally got around to doing them. The tips and tricks they taught really did come in handy!

There are 3 flower doodles in gorgeous pastel candy colours for you to go crazy with. Hope you have fun with them!

The link for the download is HERE. Leave me a comment if you do download it. I love hearing if you like what I've made!

I promise I WILL get back here soon to put up more pictures of my weekend at Warana. It was so much fun! I just have to sit down and go through my favourites (and possibly delete just about all of the ones of me. I shudder to think what my Sing Star pictures look like! Particularly me as Britney Spears! Complete with a rainbow wig! Pity that one's on someone else's camera!!!)

Back safe and sound

2008-11-18T13:09:00.004+11:00

Warana was absloutley AWESOME! I had so much fun and definitely not enough SLEEP! LOL

My creations for the weekend...

Because Blogger hates heaps of photos I'll be back again soon with some photos of actual people and a bit more of a description of all the stuff that happened...

OFF TO WARANA!

2008-11-14T06:49:00.002+11:00

YAY! I'm heading off to Warana today! We're just packing the car and we'll be leaving soon! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA! I'm having a holiday! And the BEST kind of holiday! A SCRAPPING holiday!

I think my my constant use of "!"s that you might get the idea that I'm excited!!!

If only Matt and the kids could be in a house next to us. Then I could have a holiday at the same time as not missing them!

So to you Warana girls, "see you soon!"............

The Prize Collect Fun Stop!

2008-11-10T08:58:00.002+11:00

OK, I am dragging you all in. I am part of an awesome site called the Prize Collect Fun Stop. It's attached to a site where you can get some great prizes just for clicking on links and signing up to 100% free offers. But you can choose to join the main site or not (I would recommend it - it's so easy to get points!).

But the best part about the forum is you get to play games, join in raffles and all sorts of awesome stuff, and have some fun chatting to some great people from around the world!

If you decide to join I'd love it if you could put my name "Yillup" in the comments box when you register so I can be credited with the referral. There's a great competition on at the moment where you can win a memory stick!

Things to share PLUS a digital scrapbooking freebie

2008-11-09T11:09:00.004+11:00

My next guest design team position has started at Scrap N Craft With T for the month!

As well as being able to create 2 LOs for Tan, I have also completed a mini album using a beaticul album that she created! The step-by-step instructions are here.

Most of this stuff is available in Tan's shop. I just LOVE all the products there. I haven't been shopping online for long but so many of the shops I visit have such a limited range of stuff I like. Tan's has just about everything I want! And sadly for my bank balance I DO want it all...

And I have been slack and haven't put up my last 2 entries in Project Scrap Away! It's the last week this week. I am really sad as it's been a huge highlight of my week for the last 10 weeks.

Week 10 entry...

Week 9 entry...

I also have a digital freebie that I keep PLANNING on posting here on my blog. A couple of people have found it already through my 4Shared files, but I haven't gotten around to posting it here! So here you go - 3 aqua and purple papers for you. I know they don't *really* co-ordinate with each other, but they were fun to make and I loved the colours. My favourite is the purple paper with the map on it.

You can download it HERE. If you do download it I'd love to see what you create with it! Leave me a comment either here or on 4Shared and I'll come visit you and see you and your gorgeous creations.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

MELBOURNE CUP!

2008-11-05T17:57:00.005+11:00

OK, be prepared, you are about to be inundated with photos from our Melbourne Cup lunch...

I got all hat-happy and actually decided to create myself a hat for the occasion! I was very proud of myself!!!

I reckon it's pretty snazzy, even if I do say so myself...

I also got fascinator happy and made a few for other people...

Elizabeth:

Kim:

Caitie:

And Aunty Bronwyn:
This is a very bad picture of her (but a good one of the fascinator) so to help her feel better if she stumbles on this blog, here's a MUCH better picture. This is what she looks like usually! LOL

My mum got her own fascinator this year - very classy looking!

Phillip enjoyed playing in my hat while the race was on. I had to use it as a distraction as this was his first reaction to the race! He was scared by the noise! LOL

But he calmed down with a hat to wear! :D

The reason I have SO many photos from the day is that I let Elizabeth roam with the camera for part of the day! She took some interesting pictures that I would never have thought of taking...

It was a great day full of really really good food, good drinks, lots of laughter and friends and family.

By the end of it though I had one VERY tired little girl on my hands...............

My baby is famous!

2008-10-27T07:52:00.005+11:00

I got a message from the gorgeous Lucy last night telling me to have a look on Scrapchat - there was a message I might be interested in on there.

When I had a look, this is what I found...

My Phillip baby is famous! And obviously some people out there think he's cute! LOL

So a BIG thanks to all who voted for him. I can't wait to see what the prize is. The website says he'll be getting $250 worth of Little Tikes toys. How cool is that?

I haven't got the magazine myself yet, but guess what is at the top of today's to do list?

Actually, maybe I should write my to do list here so I have something to remind me of what I SHOULD be doing...

Buy Practical Parenting to look at my famous little boy
Keep going on my DT Album Kit for Tan @ Scrap N Craft With T
Complete second Guest DT LO for Tan as well
Start my mini album swap
Finish mini album I'm creating as a fraffle for The Fun Stop
Clean my computer desk
Vaccuum upstairs
Sort out all the clothes on the floor in our bedroom
Send Fluffy the Toy Voyager on to her owner in Austria
Check Battrick for updates on my payers
Buy Dead Ant to get rid of the millions of the tiny little blighters that are taking over my kitchen
Decorate my noodle box for the Warana trip
Put together LO kits to take with me to Warana

But right now at the top of the list is to change Phillip's bum because he is REALLY STINKY!

Lilli's Birthday Party

2008-10-21T08:30:00.002+11:00

My little baby girl is now 3. She had a great day on Sunday at The Entrance. If only everyone else hadn't decided it was a great day to go out... We might have gotten a table and avoided the crunchy bits of dirt in our food! Other than the dirt, things went fairly smoothly and the best part of all is Elizabeth wanted to do it again the next day, so she obviously had fun!

Opening presents (with daddy in the background cutting up the bread stick):

More presents (and a bit of posing!):

The birthday cake. We couldn't light the candle, but she didn't seem to miss it!

The best of a bad lot of family photos we took while we were playing at the water fountain:

Hope you all had a great weekend. Ours was tiring but it was fun!

My baby

2008-10-19T10:50:00.001+11:00

My baby isn't my baby any more. She's THREE! I cannot believe how big and old and grown up she's getting. We're having a picnic at The Entrance for her birthday, with lots of yummy food. I'm sure she'll love it. I'll be back with some photos to share...

I could be RICH!

2008-10-14T09:50:00.002+11:00

From The Desk Of
Mr. Amal O. Ahmed.
National Bank of Dubai.Shaikh Humaid Street,
AjmanUnited Arab Emirates (U.A.E.)
Email:**********
Dear Friend,
I am sincerely sorry for bugging into your privacy, its due to a business deal in my bank of which I require your kind and honest assistance. Please let this massage not be a surprise to you because I got your information and lay trust in you before I contacted you; believing that you are in the position to assist me. My name is Mr. Amal O. Ahmed, the Branch Manager, National Bank of Dubai (Ajman Branch). I have an urgent and very confidential business proposition for you.

An American Iraqi Foreign Oil Consultant/Contractor with theChevron Petroleum Corporation Company Late Mr. Thomas Stone Made a numbered time (Fixed) Deposit for twelve calendar months, valued at US$12,000,000.00 (Twelve Million United State Dollars in my branch. Upon maturity, I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply,after a month we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his contract employers, Iraqi Foreign Oil consultant Chevron Petroleum Corporation Company that Mr. Thomas Stonedied in a plane crash in Egypt Air Flight 990, 1999 air crash.

For more information about this crash and person you can contact this website:**********

Since we got this information about his death and on further investigation I found out that he died without making a WILL and all attempts to trace his next of kin was fruitless. I therefore made further investigation and discovered that Mr. Thomas Stone did not declare any kin or relations in all his official documents, including his Bank Deposit paperwork in my bank.

This sum of US$12,000,000.00 is still sitting in my Bank and the interest is being rolled over with the principal sum at the end of each year. No one will ever come forward to claim it. According to Laws of United Arab Emirates,at the expiration of 9 (nine) years, the money will revert to the ownership of the(U.A.E) Government if nobody applies to claim the fund.
Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand in as the next of kin to Mr. Thomas Stone so that the fruits of this old man's labour will not get into the hands of some corrupt government officials This is simple,I will like you to provide immediately your full names and address so that the attorneywill prepare the necessary documents and affidavits that will put you in place as the next of kin. We shall employ the services of an attorney for drafting and notarization of the WILL and to obtain the necessary documents and letter of probate administration in your favour for the transfer.

A bank account in any part of the world that you will provide will then facilitate the transferof this money to you as the beneficiary/next of kin. The money will be paid into your account for us to share in the ratio of 60% for meand 40% for you. There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for this transactionwill be done by the attorney and my position as the Branch Manager guarantees the successful execution of this transaction. If you are interested, please reply immediately via the private email address above. Upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details and relevant documents that will help you understand the transaction. Please send me your confidential telephone and fax numbers for easy communication.Please observe utmost confidentiality, and rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us because I shall require your assistanceto invest my share in your country.

Awaiting your urgent reply via my confidential email address:**********

My Best Regards,

Mr. Amal O. Ahmed.
NBD, Ajman.

So what do you reckon? Should I go for it? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

I have removed all clickable links JUST IN CASE they're dodgy - would hate somoene to get something because of my blog...

Random stuff

2008-10-13T12:08:00.002+11:00

Well, another week of Project Scrapaway is completed. I am really loving this challenge! Sadly I am no longer tying for the win, but I will be continuing to upload as quickly as possible! I SO want to win the graphics tablet. matt has said that if I don't win it, when his grandad's probate comes through he'll get me one as a special pressie. How nice!

This week's challenge was inspired by spring weddings...

Use white as a base
Only use one other colour
Have black included
Have 1 photo
Use lots of flowers like a bouquet
Use lots of bling and pearls
And as a bonus if you use tulle you got 2 extra points...

I figure I'm having a bright and funky wedding with fuschia bridesmaids and a maid of honour wearing a sexy little black dress! LOL

This is in response to the sketch challenge over at Scrapbooking Memories. My 2 gorgeous kidlets. I reckon they're just about the cutest things ever. But then I'm thier mummy and I am biased...

And I had forgotten to upload the LO I got published in Scrapbooking Memories a few months ago! A little sad that my only publication is of Matt's cars... Ah well, I'll keep trying to get the kids and possibly myself in there at some stage.

And I'm getting set for Christmas! I'm planning on making (simple) cards for close friends and family this year. And so I've done some editing on my favourite picture of the terrible two at the moment. I'm getting them printed and that makes cards a lot easier this year! LOL!

Playing around with the camera the other day - took this nice bright picture of Lilli's lei in the back yard. Tried taking some pictures of Elizabeth herself out there, but she was way more interested in playing with the rocks than looking at the camera...

So yeah, some pretty random things for this update. I'm off to the post office to send off some lollies and some toy voyagers to their new homes. Australia post must love me at times! LOL

Have a great week...

More self portraits! LOL

2008-10-10T15:22:00.002+11:00

Been having a play with more of the photos I took (I took a LOT! Hoping ONE of them worked the way I wanted to!

I actually am starting to like photos of myself! What a strange phenomenon...

Playing with self-portraits...

2008-10-10T10:33:00.004+11:00

Well, it was revealed this morning that one of the warana challenges at Scrapchat is going to be using a self-portrait. So I got snap happy this monring and had some "fun" taking photos of myself. I hate photos of me! I guess I always will. I'm so used to seeing myself in a mirror that when I see pictures of myself from a camera I think they're fugly!!!

So here are the results of some of my photographing (and editing! LOL)

There are a couple there that aren't too bad. Hopefully one will fit the challenge well! Let me know which one is your favourite - maybe you guys can help me choose! LOL

My minicity!

2008-10-08T12:02:00.000+11:00

http://yillup.myminicity.com

Come and visit my one solitary person in my minicity!

Hello again

2008-10-01T09:18:00.004+10:00

I have had an interesting few days. Poor sick husbands and kids. I'm the only one who's escaped so far! Of course I said "so far", I'm just waiting now...

I've been having some fun with my digi work too. Ilove this one of Elizabeth, but SM disagree! lololol

Actually, SM have been disagreeing with heaps of my LOs lately! HAHAHA - lots of rejection emails coming my way. I'm glad I've got thick skin, but I can see why so many people get discouraged.

I'm off to the dentist AGAIN today. I am getting really really sick of sitting there on a chair while they poke and prod and burn my gum. Hopefully it'll all be over soon enough and I'll actually be able to eat properly for once! It's been a while!

Productive Week!!!

2008-09-28T19:45:00.005+10:00

OK, first up is my submission for week 4 in Project Scrapaway at Scrapchat. Check out all the talented work here. I am having so much fun with this challenge! If you are a member at Scrapchat, I'd love your votes for the bonus points. If you're not a member sign up and vote for me anyway! LOL

And now we have 3 LOs from the Thursday night CC over at Scrapbooking Memories. I had fun, but it was very strange having a CC in the middle of the week, and only having a very very short time to scrap and upload.

Challenge using a title with the words I AM, a transparancy and stitching. I guess I didn't use too much else! LOL

A challenge where you had to choose at least 7 of these 8 options... Stitching, paint, punches, flowers, butterflies, eyelets, 2 or more photos, 3 patterned papers. I left out the eyelets as I was doing it at night after everyone else was in bed...

And this one had to have only 2 colours, a black and white photo, and something from around the house that wasn't a "normal" scrap item. I used a jar opener from the 2nd draw in the kitchen.

And for the CC at Stampshack I have so far created these...

A LO that uses a chipboard shape, different lettering in the title, and kindiglitz...

A LO that is a strange shape and inludes stitching and felt on it...

And then there are things that I have done for the fun of it. A LO of Ryan using a Photo Caitie took that I reckon is gorgeous. I played with it in Photoshop and had it printed a while ago and have been waiting to scrap it...

A LO of Elizabeth with a photo ALSO taken by Caitlin. She's taken some beautiful photos lately, and they are so much fun to scrap with.

And finally I have scrapped the photo Witchy gave me of all the girls together at Pammy's place in July. This LO uses things that have been given to me by my beautiful online friends. Thank you to all you lovely women. Your friendship and generosity mean so much to me.

And I got out of the house and went to a really great park over at Long Jetty with a friend from mother's group. Her daughter is just too cute and loved playing up to the camera. I couldn't resist doing a digital LO about her. I actually got to play with some of the funky Rhonna Farrer stuff Mel from Point Shoot Play sent me as a prize. Such great things to use!

Poor Matt, he had a flu/cold bug last week and he just about lost his voice and was home from work on Thursday, and this weekend he's got the tummy bug that poor Caitie and Elizabeth both had earlier this week. So he has been in bed most of the weekend. Either that or on the toilet.

And now Phillip's getting the bug. His burps smell absolutely DISGUSTING!

OK, I guess that's enough from me. Hope you guys have had a great weekend...

Little Hair LO

2008-09-23T22:43:00.003+10:00

I love digi scrapping. No waiting for photos to be developed, no stressing about getting things right before you stick it down...

This is a LO I did to commemorate Lilli's first haircut (and the cute way she calls it "little hair"). It's using a kit by Andrea Whitt called "Flower Patch". The colours are so cool!

I want you guys to know that I love the comments you leave on my blog and want to apologise profusely for being a slack commenter. So I'm making a deal. If you leave me a comment for the rest of the month, I WILL come and comment on your blog too. However many comments you leave for me I'll leave on your blog!

Oops, the LO!

2008-09-23T07:50:00.002+10:00

OK, I TOLD you I had a LO!

It's for the 3rd challenge for project scrapaway over at Scrapchat. We had to use a choice of colours from aqua, lime chreen, bright orange and hot pink, plus some doodling. Love the colours!

I'd love for you to come and check out the other entries here. You don't have to sign up to the gallery and guests can even leave comments, so come by and support us all!

And look at my "little" girl with her "little" hair. I finally decided to cut her hair! She's been asking me ever since I mistakenly told her one day while she was complaining about the knots, that I could cut it all off instead. And so since then she's been asking me to cut her hair. and then my mum got her little dog clipped and Elizabeth thought it was sooo cool to have "little" Coco, and asked me if she could have "little" hair. So finally I gave in.

She keeps looking at herself in mirrors, and even in the reflections in windows. She thinks it is so cool!

Elizabeth's input and some photos PLUS a LO!

2008-09-22T12:22:00.004+10:00

yyyutyuytyuytuytyutyuyututuyyuy

hgtyytyyyyyyyty767y76y76y77y76y7677677y76yuyuu6yyy676yu

yii7ooo7oo7o7766o67ooi7hgthhyjhtjjtjgj

OK, now I have got Elizabeth away from the keyboard I can say MY bit!

We were so slack this month with Philli's monthly photo, but he's fitting so well in his size 0 outfit now! By the time he's one it'll look pretty funny!

Took some of the kids together too. How hard is it taking photos of 2 kids together? They just won't sit still!!!

And Philli decided it'd be a great time to learn how to pull himself up! How proud of himself does he look?

Un-packing is continuing here. It's making me a bit of a grumpy bum though! I just want it all done now and I want it all done properly and that is taking time. I'm sure I'll get over tis little mini-meltdown. I just have to look at the positives! Just think about what I was like a few weeks ago! Un-packing is really only a small worry!!!

OK, I'd better go make a quick lunch for my kidlets!

My mummy has a blog!

2008-09-20T10:55:00.000+10:00

My mummy now has her very own blog!

She's only JUST started it (about 20 minutes ago...) so she's having fun adding all the bits and pieces to it she wants.

Have a look and let her know what you think!

New house!

2008-09-18T21:50:00.002+10:00

We have finally moved, and now the house seems to be swimming in boxes. Boxes and MORE boxes!

Why have we accumulated so much stuff??

Working on some more freebies, so will let you guys know when they're done.

As I am such a slack blogger I'm guessing I won't be back before the weekend, so have a great weekend everyone.

We're moving!

2008-09-10T11:29:00.003+10:00

Last minute packing is underway - all our clothes are in bags, the pantry is all cleared, we're MOVING!

I put together a box for Elizabeth to play with. I was expecting her to climb in it, and "play" with it. Her form of playing was to pack her books.........

OK, I'd better get back to packing and getting ready to go sign the lease...

Welocme to the weekend

2008-09-06T11:31:00.002+10:00

Aren't we such a cute couple? LOL. I'm trying to get some photos of the 2 of us together instead of just the kids... Elizabeth and Phillip are cute and I love taking photos of them, but it's kind-of sad when you look through all the photos for the month and see none of yourself or your husband!

We have been busy packing as much stuff as possible before we move. Trying to minimise the amount we have to pack at the last minute. There's still heaps to go though! We have been so bad the last few weeks and haven't been to church. It actually got to that stage where they sent the church bulletin to us as we hadn't been! LOL With heaps of stuff happening on the weekends we have been taking the time to sleep in and have some family time. I love Saturday and Sunday mornings when we spend time together playing on the bed. Elizabeth loves to jump on the bed and Phillip likes to pull hair!

Because of the packing Elizabeth and Phillip have been entertaining themselves a bit more that usual. With some funny results...

Phillip fell asleep on the floor!

Elizabeth helped out by bringing toys for her little brother to play with. I don't think he appreciated it too much!

They both got into the newspaper we've been using. They had fun scrunching and throwing it everywhere. Both of them got pretty filthy though - newsprint rubs off on everything!

I finished my second week challenge for Project Scrapaway over at Scrapchat. We had to use at least one photo, have a title, use sewing, hide the journalling and scrap about an important past event. I was the first to upload! YAY!

If you'd like to see the other entries you can do so HERE. There are some pretty awesome scrappers taking part!

Anyway, I'm off to move some cupboards downstairs. Have a great weekend everyone!

2008-09-05T10:05:00.003+10:00

OK - the Masters calls have been made so I can put my entries up now!

A big HUGE congrats to all those talented ladies who are in the top 50! CONGRATULATIONS!!!

My "Beyond the square" LO - a round one...

My calendar - a mix of perpetual and traditional...

My double LO about my dreams...

And my keepsake - a clock...

I'm so glad I entered as now I have these beautiful creations to keep!

2008-08-31T19:59:00.002+10:00

OK, I haven't done ALL of these in the last week or something, but this is probably about a month or so's worth of my digital LOs. I don't think I have shared any of them before now! If I hvae, I am sorry, I don't MEAn to repeat myself! LOL

Thanks for having a look. I love getting comments on my blog and would like to apologise to everyone for being such a blog lurker. I go looking around at everything but so rarely comment... So SORRY!!!

phew we're all OK!

2008-08-29T08:18:00.003+10:00

Well, we have had it all sorted out. The agency we were approved through are NOT the agents, but she rang the new agents and almost forced them to accept us! So we're signing the lease on the 10th september!

Anyone available to help us move!?! lololol

Also just got this blinkie from Tan at Scrap N Craft With T. Very cool...

With all the house dramas I forgot to put in my creations from last weekend. I had heaps of fun over at Wyong for a scrapping day. Nice and productive, and it was great to watch up with Witchy and Pam too, as well as meet some lovely new people...

OK, we might not have somewhere to move after all...

2008-08-26T17:43:00.002+10:00

After all the excitement this morning, we might not have a new place after all. The agent who thought they were managing the property we were approved for may not be the real managers and therefore not authorised to approve us after all.

And I didn't find this out until AFTER I had given notice for this place.

So now we might not have a place to move to, AND we only have until the 16th September to get out.

I don't quite understand what has happened. The agents we went through (Coast Real Estate) had approved everything and we'd paid a holding deposit. And then I got a call from The Professionals who were also advertising the property online and who when we were first looking I had rung and asked to inspect but they didn't have keys at the time. So they took my name and number and told me they'd call me back. So they called me back this morning saying I could have a look through now, and I told them we'd just been accepted for one of the properties. They sounded a bit surprised at this, and I got a few phone calls in rapid succession asking who we'd been approved through and told that we'd still be able to move in but The Professionals may be managing the property. So I rang Coast Real Estate and asked them what was happening and they told me that I was definitely moving in and everything was OK and not to worry. And no-one got back to me. So I rang again this afternoon and Pam at Coast told me again not to worry that we were still able to move in. Just to check I rang The Professionals and they sounded like if they were the eventual managers of the properties that we would have to re-apply for them.

I am so stressed. I have no idea what is happening. We may end up in a MUCH worse situation than we were before.

And I can't even do anything about any of it!

I just want to burst into tars, but I can't. I have to go get pumpkin soup on to cook...

We have a place to move!

2008-08-26T09:03:00.003+10:00

Look at that huge kitchen! I like it. It's a little more than we were going to pay at first, but it's perfectly positioned. The kids will be sharing a bedroom, but there's a big playroom as well which will be great for them.

I am so releived to have a place.

Thanks SO much to all you lovely people who left messages and emails after my last post. Fingers crossed this is a turning point and things will get better...

Why does life suck?

2008-08-20T15:22:00.003+10:00

Sometimes life sucks. That sometimes for me is right now. I have had a terrible week.

Wednesday 13.8.08

Was meant to have root canal at 8:10am. Woke Elizabeth and Phillip up (of course they weren't happy about that). Rushed through the morning, tried to get Lilli to eat her breakfast quicker, got eveything for the day ready and dashed out of the house about 5 to 8. Of course running a bit late. Got to my mum's and dropped the kids off with Sarah in the camper, parked across the neighbour's driveway as I was only going to be there for a minute. Went back to my car to find I had locked my keys as well as my bag (with medicare card, mobile phone, spare keys, etc.) inside. Freaked out for a little bit (insert swear words of choice here). Had to wake my mum up at 8:05 to drive me. Of course only just having woke up she was startled and took a bit to be OK to drive. Finally made it to the dentist around 25 past/half past, and went in while my mum drove off. Only to be told that I was too late for the appointment and they wouldn't take me in. I'd stolen my mum's mobile so I could call when I was finished so I couldn't even call her to ask her to turn around and get me. Waited about half an hour for her to get home and then have to turn around to come pick me up again. Had a bit of a cry about how sucky life was. To pay my mum back for driving me all over the place I paid for her movie ticket to see Mamma Mia.

Thursday 14.8.08

Got a nice little letter in the mail from the real estate agent telling us we're being evicted. About 2 months ago, Matt, thinking he was helping, did some gardening. Admittedly the garden did need some tidying up. After the floods in June last year it was a bit worse for wear. But Matt took everything out... All he left was a rose and a couple of plants. The whole thing had been covered in ferns, but he stripped it bare. And the owner came for a visit a couple of weeks ago to look at some general maintenance that needed doing. Sge was NOT happy, but at the end she gave me a cuddle and said she just had to think about what to do. I guess what she decided to do was kick us out! So the search starts for a new place.

Friday 15.8.08

Elizabeth wakes up covered in very crusty dried vomit. She'd been sick in the night and slept in it. So the day starts with a bath for Elizabeth. Internet searches for rental properties. There's not too much in the area, but I book in to see what we can. Figure it's going to cost about $2000 what with 4 weeks rent as bond, weeks rent in advance plus truck rental. I have no idea where that money's coming from... While doing some of the vomit washing I see a mouse run around the laundry. When Matt comes home he enlists the help of Aggie and goes mouse hunting in the laundry. Between them they catch a couple of mice and we think the mouse dramas are over. Until one pokes it's head out from under the TV while we're eating dinner. Elizabeth (having been whingy all day as she was sick) was very upset that things were a bit crazy. Matt's moving bookshelves around trying to find the mouse, and Phillip's screaming for a bottle, and the Elizabeth vomits everywhere again. So now I'm trying to do bottle and bath in a house increasingly topsy turvy with furniture trying to find a mouse that doesn't want to be found. After an hour or 2 of looking we give up. The mouse has gone into hiding. The kids get washed and put to bed and Matt and I start packing some things.

Saturday 16.8.08

Phillip wakes at 6am. Matt goes to give him his morning bottle only to find him bleeding everywhere from his thumb. He freaks and pulls back the covers to find our lovely little friend the mouse gnawing on Phillip's thumb! It gets flushed down the toilet (the mouse, not the thumb!). We ring the hospital to find out what to do. They have no idea either and promise to call us back. We get ready for the first inspection which is at 9 in the morning. Get there on time, the real estate agent is late, and then he tells us he doesn't have the keys and we have to wait for the owner. He turns up 20 minutes later. We have inspections all day at different places and put in applications for 2 of them. The hospital rings us back after having rung their vets and googling away and all sorts of things. Because he's up to date with immunisations and the wound bled they reckon he'll be OK.

Sunday 17.8.08

Yay - we actally make it to church! We pack some more boxes and keep praying for our applications to be successful.

Monday 18.8.08

Matt comes home early from work as he's been vomiting at work. Phillip starts vomiting all over the loungeroom floor. Where can I hide from the vomit?? More vomit, with a bit of diarrhoea thrown in for good measure. Both Elizabeth and Phillip are running from both ends. Phillip goes through about 5 changes of clothes. Yay - lots of washing - sheets and clothes and wraps!

Tuesday 19.8.08

Matt stays home from work. Both the kids seem OK, so we head off to a friend's place for the morning. Out to lunch with my natural grandmother. If you've ever seen Bridget Jones 2 you'll understand what I mean when I say my natural grandmother is a jellyfish. No comment is said without something mean intended behind it. Elizabeth and Phillip get really grisly as neither have had a sleep, and we finally get home to rest. Dinner sucks because Lilli wakes up very grumpy, but we put her back to bed and have a very early night. Phillip does very large diarrhoeas in the afternoon. He seems perfect.ly healthy, but his butt begs to differ.

Today 20.8.08

Got knocked back for both rental places we applied for. Rang agent and was told it's possibly because of the garden issue. They have been informing possible new agents. Want to go fire bomb owners house (of course not really, but just so frustrated). Luckily both children have an early sleep and I can cry in peace for a couple of hours. Still going through heaps of clothes for Phillip. He won't stop pooing!!!

Can I please have a new life? Or maybe a loan of $2000? Pretty please? Maybe a number of a good (free) removalist????

In honour of the Olympic Games in China - Digital FREEBIES!

2008-08-11T22:08:00.003+10:00

What better way to celebrate our athletes in China than by scrapping with some Asian inspired digital freebies. I have a collection of 5 rich coloured dragon papers for you to base your next LO on.

You can download them HERE.

Please leave me a message if you do download them, and if you have created anything with any of my kits I would LOVE to hear from you!

New Digital freebie and Guest DT at Scrap N Craft With T

2008-08-02T14:11:00.003+10:00

My Guest DT position on Scrap N Craft With T has started now! You can go see my creations on the front page (and of course because you are amazing people I know you will spend heaps and heaps at the shop!!!)
I have also completed a small set of doodled swirls - 4 doodles in all. And they're all FREE! For you to complete your digital scrapbooking pages!

You can download the files HERE Be sure to leave me a comment here or a bit of love on 4 Shared if you have enjoyed using them.

And if you have created ANYTHING with any of my kits I would LOVE to see the finished product!!!

I have STAMPS!

2008-08-02T13:45:00.003+10:00

I went to my very first Stampin Up! party a couple of weeks ago at Pam's place and now I have my very own set of stamps!

Thanks Pammy!

2008-07-23T15:55:00.003+10:00

My babies are the cutest ever (I think), so I would LOVE for you to vote for them in this competition I've entered them in!

You can vote for Elizabeth or Phillip

They're both absolutely gorgeous, and any votes you can send their way would be really appreciated!

I hate colds

2008-07-20T16:09:00.003+10:00

Everyone here seems to be getting different colds and passing them around. How rude! LOLOLOL

I've completed my very first DT project ever! So excited!!! The package from Tan's shop Scrap N Craft With T arrived a couple of days ago and I've been inspired! :)

I really really like it. It includes sooo many great products. Check out her shop in the first week of August and it'll be right there on the front page! :)

A new digital scrapbooking kit for FREE!

2008-07-15T08:17:00.003+10:00

Well, I've been a busy little bee and have created a new digital freebie for all of you. It's called "Groovy Grunge". It has 6 12x12 patterned papers (3 with metal studs, 3 with graffiti), and 2 scalloped papers (with a brick wall texture), 6 buttons, a raffia bow, 2 doodled corners, 2 lengths of corrogated cardboard and a whole alphabet set.

It is such a big kit I've had to put it into 2 lots. You can download part 1 HERE and part 2 HERE

I also heard from Tan - the owner of Scrap N Craft with T that my package was sent yesterday, so I am hoping Australia Post deliver it really really quickly and it turns up today!

We're off to mother's group this morning. Hopefully it'll all go well!

2008-07-14T14:50:00.002+10:00

I'm excited! I've been invited to be a guest design team member at Scrap N Craft with T!

I got a $20 voucher to spend in the store and I get to have my creations on their home page and them linked to the actal products I use. How cool is that??? I've taken the opportunity to get a coupld of bits and pieces I've been wanting for a while. YAY! I'm so excited! I'm a DT member! Even if it is only for a month...

Single mum of 4...

2008-07-11T21:04:00.003+10:00

Wow - it's been a busy few days. Sometimes I wish I had a remote control for life and could just pause it for a while. But then I guess life would be pretty boing!

Matt was in Sydney doing some more stocktake at work last night. So I thought I was going to be at home alone. But then Caitie got a wishing well of the gorgeous Jodie yesterday. So I thought she should come around and raid my scrapping stash too and actually do some scrapbooking. But then my mum was going out and Ryan would have been at home alone, and that wasn't too good. So I took them both! We went off to the doctor's together (the doctor thought all 4 kids were mine! I started young seeing Caitie's only 13 years younger than me!), and then came home where they proceeded to have heaps of fun messing up myhouse with Elizabeth - throwing balls up and down the stairs and stuff...

We also did some scrapping! Well, THEY did some scrapping, I was busy with dinner, and kids and other stuff. I TRIED to do some but all I got done was a couple of rows of stitching on a page. LOL

So, here's Caitie's LO. She's really gotten into photography lately, and this is just one of the gorgeous pictures of Elizabeth she took the other day.

And then there's Ryan's LO - Of course it's about Pikachu!

This is one I did the other day in response to the Sunday Power Scrap over at ScrapChat! I don;t think i't's quite finished, but I haven't had a chance to do too much to it yet.

I've been tagged!

2008-07-08T11:30:00.002+10:00

Thanks Ruby!

So here are the rules of the game:

Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 4 people and posts their names with links to their blog, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answers.

#1. 10 years ago - OMG! 10 years ago I was getting ready for the HSC! Oh, now I feel old. 10 year reunion this year!

#2. 5 things on today's to do list - 1.Post my Toy Voyagers and Circle Journals and the prize from The Fun Stop, 2.Finish cutting out the 70 little pictures of my LOs this year for page, 3.Buy milk! 4.Do a load of washing, 4.Sort out my scrapping area - still not finished after the crop on Saturday!

#3. Snacks I enjoy - Cholcolate! Gummi bears, Pringles chips, plain corn chips and salsa, the list could go on...

#4. Things I would do if I was a millionaire - I would buy a house first, a brand new car for me, and one for Matt, furnish my house (probably still from IKEA and Freedom, but hey, I'm such a cheapie!), give a couple of thousand to each of our relatives, and go on a BIG holiday! Maybe to Disneyland/France/Greece/England/Egypt.

#5. Places I have lived - Lane Cove, Lalor Park, Wyong, Northbridge, Noth Ryde, Epping, North Epping, Marsfield, Mardi - wow! That's more than I thought! LOL

OK, now I have to tag people!

My sister Caitie
Maz
Jodie (check out her etsy store www.kittyrobot.etsy.com)
Gypsy
Emstar

OK, I'm off to tell them they've been tagged.

Have been scrapping a bit the last few days - will come back to show off!

YAY! Fun crop!!!

2008-07-06T10:36:00.005+10:00

I had a very productive night last night!! Heaps of funness! Thanks SOOOOO much to Pammy for letting us crash your house at the last minute!

Anyways, I got quite a fair bit done. Sorry about the quality of the pictures - they've been taken on my camera phone as my hubby's off at a car show with the real camera today. I can't wait until we get a digital SLR!

The photo of this one is particularly bad. The background's actually a nice bright orange colour. But ah well. Maybe I'll change it when I get the real camera back...

The colours in this one are soooo cool. I just went mental with ribbons and ric rac! Thanks to Ruby for letting me steal her paint! I think everyone did last night!

And a pretty rare double for me. Once again stealing things off people - the stamps I used were borrowed too!

And another bright and colourful one! Picking strawberries at Portland was soooo much fun! Even if it was raining...
For all the fun pictures you'll have to go visit Scrapwitch's blog!

I had SO much fun and as you can see was pretty productive - I had to take full advantage of time away from the kids!

2008-06-20T09:59:00.002+10:00

Don't I have the most gorgeous hubby? I don't know when he did it, but I was sterilising Phillip's bottles this morning and when I tipped it out there was this beautiful message written on the window. I couldn't photograph all of it, but it has an eye, a heart and then a U, "I LOVE YOU". How gorgeous?

I've been having more fun with my digi scrapping too. I spent so much time creating my kits, nd not actually using!!

So this LO has the flowers from my "Kit 1" in it.

This one's using one of my frames, plus some doodles I'm getting done soon for you all. It was in response to the challenge over at Aussie Scrap Music. Very cool challenge blog with heaps of great prizes. Go check it out HERE!

Another using my frames and the papers from my peach belle set. Plus those doodles I'm getting done eventually.

And another using my Victorain Post kit.

I've booked my flight to Brissie for Scrapchat's retreat in November! Majorly excited! I've never done anything like this before! YAY!

2008-06-13T08:23:00.000+10:00

This is my rock, and I'm hiding under it for a while...

Next freebie!

2008-06-05T11:41:00.002+10:00

Just a quick freebie today - a set of 4 doodled frames for you.

You can download them here

AND LOOK! A cute little "here" link!!!!!!!! YAY!

I have had an interesting couple of days. Poor Elizabeth was very sick the other night. I felt so helpless not being able to help her. She just kept crying and nothing I did could help. So yesterday was a quiet stay-at-home watching DVDs day.

Off to do the shopping. What's everyone up to today?

Victorian Post Digital Scrapbooking Freebie

2008-06-03T17:02:00.004+10:00

Another kit - 4 stamps, paper, and 2 laces. Hopefully I'll make kits that suit just about everyone's tastes! I like so many different things myself I wanted my kits to reflect that!!

You can download it here: http://www.4shared.com/file/49931801/e12fe40f/Yillup_Victorian_Post.html?dirPwdVerified=369c4183

If anyone wants to help me out by letting me know how to do links that are attached to normal words, please please please let me know!!!

I LOVE the paper in this kit. I think it might be my favourite thing I've made so far!!

It has been a wet and cold day here. I'm in the middle of defrosting some mince for lasagne for dinner tonight. Yummmmm. Lasagne and salad. When I was younger my mum used to let us choose what we could have for dinner on our birthdays. I would almost always choose lasagne! Very nice comfort food for cold days.

A BIG thanks to Ruby for her help with my list of blogs. You're a GREAT teacher chicky!! ------->

I'll be adding more blogs over time as I go blog surfng. there are heaps of people I consider online friends and I will hopefully be putting their links in. I'm just so lazy it'll be happening over a bit of time!

Anyways, hope you guys enjoy the newest freebie.

Peach Belle ~ Digital Freebie

2008-06-01T19:44:00.003+10:00

I think I'm addicted to making digital stuff!!! Here's a set of 6 papers. 3 patterned, 3 co-ordinating plains. I hope you like them! If you do please please comment and link to my blog from yours. And if you do make anything from my stuff, I would LOVE to see it!

You can download it here: http://www.4shared.com/file/49708265/bd2d566c/Yillup_Peach_Belle.html?dirPwdVerified=369c4183

Other than that, life's been puttering along nicely. I've got a few ideas in my head for the Scrapbooking Memories Masters competition. I have absolutely no chance, but it's nice to challenge myself to create.

I've been feeling a bit sick this evening. Don't know what's wrong, but I just feel icky in the tummy.

Hope you all have had a great weekend and I'm looking forward to the long weekend next weekend!

Second digital freebie! Doodles in Brown and Blue

2008-05-30T11:31:00.003+10:00

I always have heaps of trouble doing pages for oys, so I've created a few doodles for boys. A few word art bits and some arrows. Hope you like them!

You can download here: http://www.4shared.com/file/49458960/8f66b0dc/Yillup_Doodles_in_brown_and_blue.html?dirPwdVerified=369c4183

Yay! I figured out cute little links! :)

Edit: OK, maybe I didn't work out cute little links... At least you can still download! :)

My first digital scrapbooking freebie!

2008-05-29T11:44:00.003+10:00

Well, I've been playing with photoshp. I've put together my first digital kit, and I'm offering it for free!

Download it here: http://www.4shared.com/file/49331253/de5ad7d6/Yillup_Kit_1.html?dirPwdVerified=369c4183

Sorry, I don't know how to do those cute links yet!

It has 3 papers, flowers, ribbons, a button, a stamp and a staple.

Please leave a comment if you download it, and I would love to see anything you create with it!

2008-05-16T20:58:00.002+10:00

I really should be cleaning my scrapping area instead of being on here, but I guess I'm the queen of procrastination!

This is what it looks like at the moment...

Embarrassing.............................. LOL

Sorry I've been MIA

2008-05-15T18:54:00.003+10:00

I had such a nice Mothers Day. Matt spoiled me by looking after the kids and cooking and cleaning. I also got papmered at the hairdressers! Cut, colour, foils - it was all good! Matt was calling me a "sexy mumma"!!! LOLOLOL

I really really have to clean my scrapping space. The lack of organisation at the moment is really stifling my creativity!

I have had some absolutely wonderful friends send me some great great great products to experiment with in the last couple of weeks. It's nice knowing I have some stamps, some decent quality papers, and many other bits and pieces all there ready for me to use. I am absolutely stoked and I was actually in tears when I got my packages! Thankyou SO much Alz and Ness - you 2 have no idea how much your beautiful generosity has meant to me.

I have found myself singing along so much to my own blog since I added my playlist! "Come What May" is the song I walked down the aisle to. It's such a beautiful song and it brings tears to my eyes with the memory of that day. Even through the stresses of organising the day and trying to keep to the budget, having a bridesmaid who was determined to not enjoy herself, and having torn the ligaments in my ankle the week before, I really really enjoyed the day. I hope you enjoy listening to some of the music that brings a smile to my face!

How disgusting!

2008-05-03T14:38:00.003+10:00

I was just sent an email, and had to put something in here about it. I am absolutely shocked and disgusted that someone could do something so absolutely foul and dispicable to another living creature, no matter what the message they were trying to say.

In the 2007, the 'artist' Guillermo Vargas Habacuc, took a dog from the street, he tied him to a rope in an art gallery, starving him to death. For several days, the 'artist' and the visitors to the exhibition have watched emotionless the shameful masterpiece' based on the dog's agony, until eventually he died. The title of the exhibit was written on the wall entirely in dog food - adding to the dog's torture as he could smell the food, but not eat it.

I check all emails I receive like this, and sadly this one is true. There are conflicting reports for how long the dog was tied up, and what happened to it after the exhibit, but no matter the circumstances, to do this to an animal is just plain wrong.

Please sign the petition to stop this artist exhibiting in the 2008 exhibition where he has been invited back...

http://www.petitiononline.com/ea6gk/

Thank you, and sorry to post such a horrible story.

2008-04-27T21:54:00.002+10:00

I've been doing heaps of challenges today! It's been Leilz's cyber baby shower at scrapbooking memories yesterday and today, and so there's been heaps of challenges!

And a challenge at scrapchat - the sunday powerscrap.

And here's my latest digi - Elizabeth eating her free donut from her birthday (a little late of course!). We'd spent the day at Chipmunks at Westfield, and had a bit of a relax afterwards with a milkshake and choccie donut. YUM!

I've not just been doing scrapbooking - I also got a sleep-in this morning! matt took Elizabeth and Phillip for the morning and I actually got to sleep in until 10. Ahhhhhhh, bliss!

While I was sorting the washing I had Lusi Austin's blog open because of the music (http://lusi-austin.blogspot.com/). She's got a whole lot of really great Christian music on her blog and it was almost like the radio. I also stole her idea of daily bible verses on your blog. Hope you don't mind Lusi - they do say immitation is the highest form of flattery... She's having a HUGE RAK giveaway on her blog too - click the link above to check it out!

Anyway, I've had a really good long weekend, and will be back tomorrow to upload some photos of our trip to The Entrance yesterday!

2008-04-25T13:54:00.004+10:00

It's ANZAC day today - a great day to remember our past and the sacrifices many have made for our freedom and safety. Lest We Forget...

I've been pretty busy in the last few days. Finally have a car again! And my gorgeous purple sticker's on the windscreen and we can drive it for another year. Rego is so expensive!

This morning I did a 'ready steady scrap" at the scrapbooking memories forum and did this crabbing page.

This was my next chinese whispers contribution. It didn't really work the way I hoped, but it's still a LO!

This is my April swap for Skye. Her and her best friend. I hope she likes it!

2008-04-21T20:38:00.005+10:00

I am feeling a bit better today. Phillip's been started on a bottle, so he's sleeping slightly better at night. We get a 5hr block of time where he sleeps now! He's also having one bottle during the day so far, and will be gradually having all feeds from a bottle. It's kind-of sad that I'm not feeding him, but also relief that the violent feeding won't continue for much longer!

I've been doing a little bit of scrapbooking this weekend - more sorting and planning than scrapping! I did the sunday powerscrap challenge over at scrapchat. A record of "now". I chose to work with how much things cost. I emptied my purse for lots of receipts and stuff!

I have a few more bits and pieces in progress. I get so tired of interruptions though!

Purple sheets

2008-04-15T14:02:00.001+10:00

Doing all the sheet washing today and to save time I put Elizabeth's purple sheets in with Phillip's blue and white striped sheets. Everything's a nice purple shade now...

Sorry I've been gone a while!

2008-04-13T20:35:00.006+10:00

I've been a little bit slack with my blogging! Where does the time go?

I've been pretty busy - scrapbooking and more...

I've been experimenting with digi again - a few LOs I've done on the computer. I quite like the effect I'm getting - like using expensive supplies without the money spent!

I also took part in the Cyber Crop at http://www.scrapchat.com/ - and I actually won a prize! So cool!

I've completed my page in Scrapalot's CJ too. I quite like it and it was nice to get what I believe down onto paper.

I've also been busy with other scrapping just for me...

Mother's group's at my place next week. We've decided it's a good excuse to clean everything PROPERLY! So I've been scrubbing out the shower, and Matt's done a lot of sorting through Elizabeth and Phillip's clothes, and we've moved furniture around and cleaned under stuff. A pretty busy weekend this weekend! There's still lots to do, but it'll all be done before Wednesday.

2008-03-31T09:44:00.003+11:00

I've been pretty busy scrapping over the weekend! Finished my Circle Journal for Simmibear's swap on the scrapbooking memories forum. I quite like it!

So it's off to QLD today! Good luck little circle journal!! :)

I've been experiemnting with digital scrapbooking too. I've done 2 LOs so far...