My Bad

No, i haven't blogged this last week... but i have scrapped!

Bit of a mixed bag kinda post really, so i thought i'd start with this...

... the last washing of the bibs.  The soccer season is finally over {{big sigh}}!!

oh, i love that the kids are passionate about it...

and i love the camaraderie that they experience from it...

and i love that it keeps them fit and active...

and i love the social interaction...

but i also love that we get a break from it for a little while too! 

The big trips to attend carnivals and the constant pick ups and drop offs and training for

three out of the four kids do take their toll.  Just last weekend Troy traveled 2.5 hours

to get to a carnival with 2 of the kids, refereed and watched games all day,

then had to drive the 2.5 hour return trip at the end of the day.

Big Committment!

But it hasn't been all work and no play this week   :)

Over at the Boxx, we played a bit of a game with a 'Scrap Build'.

A group of 10 ladies progressively added one element or 'step' to complete a page.

Each time a step was added, each player posted a photo and instructions for that step.

It was really fun to play and amazing to watch all the different lo's completed,

especially considering we all had the same instructions!!

This was what i came up with...

go and check out the amazing range of lo's for yourself.

The fortnightly challenge over at the Boxx was to use up your scraps.

Absolutely no fresh sheets of patterned pp were to be harmed in the process...

which was really easy for me!  i could use scraps on the next 20 lo's and still have mountains left... :)

Here is what i did...

... and finally...

i just scraped in with the second Scrap the Boys lo this month...

a lo using ribbon.  I scrapped an old pic of my eldest boy Cooper...

(can't believe i've never scrapped this one before).

Not wanting to take anything away from the blue of his eyes in this pic,

the only other blue i used was a little cluster of ribbon at the top left and bottom right of the lo,

using the ribbon and Coop's pic to create a visual triangle with colour.

Hope it worked  : p  ...

oh .. and i'm not sure if the 7Gypsies Gaffer Tape counts as ribbon, but i accidently

ripped some to start with, and i quite liked the effect... so i just went with it  :)

hope u like:

... and the journaling up close...

thanks for stopping by ... 

jules

x

New Trick

Funny how loud the TV is once all the kids have gone to bed... no music, no arguing, no giggling or shouting to be heard above the constant {but somehow comforting} din.  Time to turn the telly down and take a deep breath!!

What a day.... a trip to 'the big smoke' today entailed a 4.5 hour drive {in total}, a 1/2 hour orthodontic appointment for dd.... and 5 glorious hours of shopping!!

I'm exhausted.... too tired to assemble my new office chair!

Had to share my darling little man's new trick though.....

Nothing is safe any more.... no frontier unexplored!  Not yet 2 and he has engineered a method for:  emptying the soap dispenser.... patting the goldfish.... reaching big brother's precious lego men and helicopters and the like.... and tasting big sisters moisturiser!!  We simply pull out the bottom drawer and step up to 'bench height'.  The same principle applies to the kitchen, bathroom, sisters' bedrooms and brother's bedroom.

I took these yesterday...

How can he be so clever, cute and naughty all at the same time??

Funny Story

For the latest Scrap the Boys challenge, i couldn't resist telling this story.

During a recent camping trip i asked Maddi to keep an eye on Lachie for me while i started getting some dinner organised. Being a super adventurous toddler and camped near water as we were, there needs to be a 'designated babysitter' at ALL times!! Ten minutes later i looked up to find Lachie happily tossing stones into the dam ....... while tied to a tree!!!

Good on you Maddi! ... I've gotta give it to you honey for thinking outside the square though ... :))

I started out using the sketch... but it all went a bit pear shaped.

We had to use stamps in some form on the layout, so I used Kaisercraft 'duchess' scalloped border around the edge of the page and a Kelly Panacci memo stamp for extra journalling. Oh, and i also used a date stamp at the bottom of the journalling

... and i just adore these flocked damask pp's from MME.

I really liked the colour contrast with the Basic Grey Recess range paper i used as a background.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by... xx

A Nice Surprise!

Super thrilled this week to be one of the featured artists on The Colour Room again, with Palette # 15 - 'my boy' layout. Thanks so much for all the well wishes ... really, really appreciate them!!

Also, this week I submitted a layout in the weekly challenge over on the Boxx, set by the uber talented Leanne Allinson. We had to 're-invent' an old layout style in our 'today' scrapping style.... we also had to upload the old version in addition to the new {grimaces painfully}...

I think this is the second layout I ever completed....

....this lo is so typical of my early style {cringe}. Big photo, big title and every space on the page full of stuff!! I would agonise over the placement of every detail and embellishment. Consequently it would take me a week to complete one page!!! lol

and this is the re-invention....

I decided to use the big photo and big title again, but in stark contrast to my early style, really grunge it up and create a 'haphazard' look! I couldn't bring myself to cover the whole page though ... just had to have some white space on that page!! ... :))

here are some closeups too...

thanks for visiting!! :))

Scrap The Boys

Here is my Scrap The Boys layout ...

amazing inspiration from this collection of ladies... good stuff!

... and some more...

Thanks for visiting ... :)

Photo Board

I just love the concept of photo boards .... so I decided to do a layout showcasing random shots of all the kids at various ages... just demonstrating the inevitable passing of time.

I'm constantly blown away by how quickly these amazing everyday moments are passing us by ... and I wanted to use my new chippy clock face! ... :)

Little Athletes

Phhhew! Day one and two of the Athletics Carnivals are over..... and I'm led to believe that it is no longer cool for mum to attend Athletics Carnivals when you are in Year 9 ... so I think I am done for the year!! :) ..... at least until the the regional level of competition that is. But just let me cope with one week at a time .... please !!!

The kids gave it everything as always.

Claire won the 800m very convincingly. She ran a really clever race and I was so very proud. Her sportsmanship when she finished made me even more proud... personally congratulating every one in the race as they crossed the finish line {gave me goosebumps}.... where did she learn that ... must be from me... right?? :) hehe.

Cooper achieved gold level in all of his events {love his enthusiasm!} .. and I did not know that poking your tongue out for an entire race actually makes you go faster!! Our kids teach us so much ... lol.

... and of course... there is no show without punch!!

Tomorrow is another day, but for now ... just let me rest!

Surf, Sand and Sea

Still scrapbooking from our hols in January ..... actually truth be told, I had an idea of how I wanted this layout to look and the picture just fit the mold! ... I couldn't wait to use this new chipboard butterfly I bought at the expo in Brisvegas. Really ejoying playing with lots of layers and textures at the moment and using stitching and paint in the layering process....

Serves Me Right

Ok ... so that's what I get for trying to steal 2 minutes of time for myself and print out some photos while Lachlan was still awake. I literally turned my back for no longer than 2 minutes while he was playing with cars on the coffee table in lounge .... seemingly content and oblivious to what I was doing. When I 're-engaged' with him, I noticed him rubbing moisturiser all over said cars and coffee table!!! Moisturiser he had somehow snuck past me to retrieve from his change table. Whilst I sat him down and proceeded to clean up the mess, he miraculously picks this moment to learn the art of making no sound whatsoever, sprouted wings and {no doubt using 'the force'}, reappears in the bathroom...... where he decides it would be really cool to empty a new bottle of bubblebath all over the floor and then skate Tom-Cruise-style through the hysterically funny, slippery stuff!! {sigh} lesson learned ..... no more scrapping unless he is securely ensconced in the cot.... and very.... very .... asleep!


The Discovery


Sk8er Boy

The Boxx Challenge

Oh... forgot to mention i also won the Boxx Challange last week too {thanks Leanne!} ... was very pleasantly surprised, probably because i was forced to keep it simple due to time restraints. I guess there's a lesson in there somewhere.... something about not getting bogged down in the detail!

Go Girls

The same competitiveness that prompted this Boxx Challenge layout...



has seen both my girls qualifying to compete for inclusion in the Cap Cross Country team for State Titles ... woohoo!! So Proud. Another trip away ... overnighting in Rockhampton this time. Story of our lives. Would move mountains to make sure the kids were involved in sport and keeping active though, so it's all good.


Maddi and her bff

Meanwhile... Lachie continues to be a fabulous spectator and cheer squad all rolled into one. For now! Love this little guy....

Featured Layout

Super thrilled and excited today!! My layout was featured on The Colour Room for this week. It's quite a 'little-girly-squeal-worthy' moment ... : ) particularly given the international feel to this forum. Really quite an honour. It was DH's day off today, so I even dragged him over to the computer, skipping like a 5 year old (me i mean... not him .. lol). He was suitably impressed also.

This week's palette in The Colour Room was:

and my take on the challenge was:

A Little Bit of Silly

What our kids teach us .... I think we get too busy and tend to forget to put a bit of silly in our everyday. Good thing I have four little reminders who can't help but be silly...

Easter Break

Having a week away at mum and dad's with no plans or running around was just what we needed. A chance for the kids to just spend time with nanny and poppy without an itinerary. I don't think we have ever had a trip to Brisbane without plans and 'catching up with people'.... it was really lovely ... notwithstanding Lachlan getting stuck into some prednizone tablets that I had in my handbag for my chest infection. Luckily no harm done, but a really big scare nonetheless

Obviously easter sunday morning was a big highlight, and it was a thrill to see Lachlan participate in his first 'I am allowed to eat chocolate' easter! I think the other three were just as amused by his excitement as we were.

Here's the evidence...

!!

The preparation while they sleep



The frantic searching



The sharing?



The amazing combined haul



The best part ... the eating!

Hope you all had a fabulous easter with family : )

This is it

This is the inaugural blog! I have no idea what I am actually doing, but here goes. This is the place for me to share stuff about us and what we do, to celebrate what we have and what we are. I anticipate that my place here will be a work in progress for some time... talk about life imitating art! Let the games begin.....

This pages pretty well sums everything up fairly accurately.

Easter pics are coming.... i just have to find the time to download the camera!! Watch this space....