This is what summer is all about....

Yay!!! the stress of Christmas is over & the holidays finally feel like they have begun. We have been swimming, having BBQ's, bouncing on the new trampoline, have friends over for a few drinks, etc. I have even finally got a sleep in this morning, which was nice. The top pic is Scott throwing Nicola, the lower is Daniel & Uncle Evan who is visiting from Denmark for Christmas this year.

I think I have found my mojo again too!!! Maybe it was hiding with this years Christmas Spirit? Nicola & I have just finished a LO of her at a friends birthday party with her face painted. It was her idea to put he heart in the middle of the flower & I think i t looks cool. What this space I think we have an up-and-coming junior scrapper on my hands

I think I have a hang over!

hehe, this is blog worthy cos it's my first one ever! We were playing drinking games with friends the other night & it turns out they all started cheating on the shots except me! I felt fine yesterday, but this morning I feel like my head is floating 3 feet above my body, very weird. You will be pleased to know I am feeling better now (had some food & lots of water). And no I didn't get to sleep in, the kids were in bed with me saying 'shhh, mummy's sleeping' is very loud voices, hehe.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Well here we are on the 'other side' of Christmas. The kids had a great day yesterday, but Santa did forget about us adults :-( Yesterday morning started bright & early with the kids ringing Nana & Popa at 6:30 to "hurry up" They did ok, but knew most of there presents cos they had helped us choose. Daniel was most excited about his 'Club Penguin' Igloo & Nicola was excited about getting her own real camera (now she doesn't have to borrow mums) They were also very excited when they saw that Santa bought them a trampoline!!! They both think they heard Santa & his elves building it on Christmas Eve. Then we were off to lunch at Craig & Mel's & more pressies. The highlights for me were the dress mum gave me (that we chose together on Christmas Eve) & the scrapbooking stuff Evan & Hanne brought from their holiday in Sweden, (how cool is that!) So after stuffing ourselves with 3 courses of lunch, we went to Nana & Popa's for 'dinner'!! We were so full but yet we still ate more, lol! My Lemon Meringue Pie went down well, but the kids weren't impressed & only ate strawberries & ice-cream all day.

Another early start this morning (third in a row!!!) & we were off to the boxing day sales for presents for mummy & daddy. The kids got to spend their Xmas money & dad got a new fishing rod, (guess where he is right now). I managed to squeeze in a quick stop at a jewelery store & got myself a half price dress ring, but still haven't found any togs I like :-(

No I still haven't finished the advent calander, it is looking good, but i am getting 'over it'. Yes I know the drawers are upside down. When we took the lollies out & counted that day I didn't know what to do with them so I just put them back in upside down so they didn't get lost or damaged. If I am lucky I might have it finished by next Xmas (don't mention the other 2 I bought for presents,ok). I found some tiny playing cards in a Christmas Cracker & have swiped them for my scrapbooking.

Anyone seen my mojo?

I seem to have lost it. I have 1 advent calander to finish & another 2 I haven't even started (still in their wrapping) I just look at my desk & ......nothing. I have some presents to be made too, hmmmmm, think they will be birthday presents now.

Summer Hockey.....

So have you noticed I have been rather quiet on this subject lately? Well....they have lost the last 2 games! The funny thing is I think the parents are more upset than the kids, lol. They don't seem to mind at all, but us parents are getting frustrated at how uncommitted & unenthusiastic they are. Daniel still want to play every week, but misses having a practise as well as a game. He saved 4 goals (playing goalie) this week, so that was good as we have always been a bit bad on defence. So I told him that Scott had to go to a dinner cos he was nominated for an award the other night & Daniel asked if he would get a medal if he won. I said no, probably nothing but a certificate & shake of the hand. i said the only time adults get medals is in the Olympics & he said that was ok cos he is gonna be in the Black Sticks! What an awesome life goal! I said "go for it!"

Update on Scott. He is back at work full time & has finally figured out the stupid blood machine to check his INR levels at home. He is getting alot more active, but still not really up to kayaking (although he wishes he was!) Thanks for everyone's thoughts and payers through our difficult time.

Homemade Smiley Pizza

So my BFF is sick & went into hospital for surgery yesterday; so I looked after 2 of her kids so that her hubby could visit her. Their kids & ours are great friends, in fact Nicola & Jude are married (one of the older kids at school married them apparently) To keep them occupied & distracted we made home made pizza's for dinner. The kids had heaps of fun making the dough (thanks Shona for the recipe) & then decorating them. We made 2, one for the big kids & 1 for the little kids. Here are the little kids with their creation.And this is closeup of there smiley pizza. (Big kids didn't want a photo)

Another 1!

Nicola just helped me finish this page that I started over the weekend. She does like to sleep in funny places!

Sketchbook Retreat

The weekend was FABULOUS as usual!! Lianne's canvas class was really enjoyable, so much so I have started to make 3! I haven't finished with the photo transfers on the first one & the third only has its paint on it, but this is the second one. It is a pressie for my girlfriend (don't think she checks my blog) When she told me her son said this I just had to capture it for her (she is not a scrapbooker) I am sure everyone (except the kids) thought I was mad making them pose in the elevator at Borders, but I probably am! This Lo is from the Crafty Tart goodie bag. The paper is Bo Bunny & I LOVE Bo Bunny atm, it is so cute! I used some glass sprinkle thingies on the trees (thanks Heidi) Not a very exciting Lo, but hey,

I am at home with Nicola for the second day in a row, poor thing has a high temp & threw up in our bed this morning. She seems to be getting better as she has had lunch today. Scott is staying home tomorrow if she isn't well enough to go to school.

Sketchbook Retreat this weekend!!!!

Hmm, when do you think I should start packing? I am thinking Friday afternoon? or do you think Thursday night? I have my costume organised, but that's about it. Poor Scott has a busy day on Sunday with the kids on Sunday, 2 parties to go to! (He is so excited)

Daniel had his third game of summer Hockey this afternoon & guess what? they won! Is this getting boring....NOPE!

Long weekend is over :-(

We had a good weekend. On Saturday I slept in & then we went to Dress Mart & got Scott some new shoes. The kids really enjoyed being dragged around, NOT! They spent their pocket money on Friday night. Daniel got a Club Penguin thing & Nicola got a cute soft toy tiger which I have had to make a collar, lead & name badge for. I have been wanting a new pair of casual shoes & I didn't see anything I liked at Dress Mart so I spent Saturday night on the net researching, & look what I found! Aren't they cool? I got the black/silver ones. They are like Melissa's ones that I have been coveting. On Sunday we took the kids to the Botanical gardens in Manurewa, Nicola went there on her class trip on Friday so she wanted to show it to us. I got sun burnt!!!! Unfortunately the kids didn't feel like posing for photos so I still don't have 1 for the present I am making. Then we had friends over for the first BBQ of the season for dinner!!! Scott took Daniel to the annual geek fest (otherwise know as Armageddon) on Monday morning which Nicola & I watched Barbie movies from bed. Then we had MacDonald's Hot Cakes for breakfast & I didn't even make her get out of her PJ's (we drove through). Then the kids went to the park with Nana & Poppa in the afternoon. All round a great weekend, even the sun shone!

This is the LO I did over the weekend with one of my new Bo Bunny papers, Nicola 'helped'

Gingerbread Mans

Nicola's class was studying Fairy Tales last term, so 1 day they made Gingerbread men. (Nicola calls them mans) The colours are a bit off in this photo, it is more purple & pink. The gingerbread stickers are cut from some Christmas embellishments I had. This is the school frame I have been working on. Sorry the photo was taken through the glass. It is to record the changes in the kids through primary & Intermediate using the little photos you get & never use from school. I have also made one for Nicola. Now I need to find Daniels Year 1 photo, it will be around somewhere.

I made a card!!!

Those of you who know me know I don't do cards, hence I felt the need to post this 1. My girlfriends birthday is day after mine so we call each other 'almost twins'. I saw these stamps at Spotlight the other day & thought they were so cute. I so wish I looked like the 'stamp chick'! hehe

It's that time of the year again........

My birthday!!!! hehe. Look at all the lovely paper I got from Scrapbook Outlet from my lovely husband. It is mostly Bo Bunny paper & a bit of Glitz paper, with some Prima Pearls & a stamp. I LOVE the Bo Bunny paper, I saw it on Raewyn's blog & knew I had to have some. We have a pool so have heaps of water pics in summer & these papers will be great. And a really cool 12 x 12 stencil which I am dying to try my glimermist with.

My boss gave me the day off today so I spent the day with mum. We went to Joe's Emporium in Howick to look for inspiration for my idea of what I want to make Nicola for Xmas. So now I have it planned & materials bought. Mum bought me a cuttlebug for my birthday/xmas present. I gave her the alphabet dies that came with it for her, cos I have the Cricut. Daniel gave me a lovely picture saying I am the best mum in the world! Nicola gave some flowers & lots of cuddles & kisses. The in-laws gave me some money which has already been spent on scrapbooking stuff. And my BF gave me chocolate!!! We are off to dinner with the kids at Lone Star now :-) It has been a great day!

It's blog updating day

Everyone on facebook is updating their blogs so I thought I would too. It's sooo freezing today that huddling by the computer sounds like a great idea. It's supposed to be spring!! & it is only about 8 degrees.

Anyway.....these are the last two of my school LO's. I am now up-to-date!!!! I still have Daniel's hockey photo to do, but it can wait, I am sooo over these, they are very limiting. The silver didn't show up very well on this photo, some of the butterflies are silver foil. This is last years photo for Daniel, the card has all my gripes & complaints about how his year at school went, but is hidden because I don't really want it to be read by everybody, but I needed to say it.

In other news....we went to Nicola's friends place to watch the boxing on Saturday night, wow! what a match! Tua rocks!!!!! The kids were still up & playing nicely when we left at 11:30pm! They didn't even sleep in on Sunday morning, or have a nap (mummy & daddy did)

Grease is the word

GREASE (the original movie)
Sunday 11 October
1 pm
SkyCity St Lukes Cinemas
$10 tickets
NOTE: It is allocated seating.
Please let me know before midday Friday 02 Oct if you will DEFINITELY be coming and I’ll make a block booking to get us all seated together)
So… who’s coming?!

More school layouts

I am still working my way through the kids school photos.It is amazing to see how much they had grown, you don't notice when you see them everyday. So now I have decided I should make a frame for their photos to show their growth, (not that I have finished the LO's yet).

For the 2007 LO I used my alcohol inks to colour the frame & the numbers. Not sure if they were such a good purchase, they are really cool but I don't have many glossy things to use them on. Dora & friends were cut from stickers of Nicola's cos she loved Dora. For the 2006 LO I used the butterfly left over from the LO we did at the retreat. Theses daycare LO's are much more colourful than the school ones, so I thought I would go with that. Those are sequins around the main pic.

Hockey prize giving

It was Daniel's hockey prize giving on Saturday. The whole team got a medal each & Daniel got a special award for his team spirit. It was so cute. Just a shame they had to give their uniforms back last week, would have been even cuter if they were all dressed alike rather than in mufti.

Finished Janine's LO

Yes I know it doesn't look anything like Janine's original LO, but......I changed the papers to match my photo & used my new alchol inks to make the swirl on transperancy. The cool effect on the chipboard swirl was created by accident, this is the 'back' of it! I don't have a distressing tool so I sanded the background cardstock instead, looks good cos it has a white core.

In other news....Daniel had his last game of hockey on saturday, they won!!! 7-2, that means they have been unbeaten all season! The prize giving is this weekend so that should be fun, then on to summer hockey.

Paper Symphony Spring Break

Last weekend was the Paper Symphony Spring Break Scrapbooking Retreat. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to go. It had been 4 1/2 weeks since Scotts operation & he had a wisdom tooth pulled out on Friday! He was in agony & ended up going to ED for some voltarin on top of his Codine & panadol. He felt much better after that & said I could still go away. Aint he lovely! I really needed the break. The retreat was in Waves Motel in Orewa. I was an hour or so late because we had to wait for the pharmacy to open so Scott could fill his perscription. It was a nice small group of only 8 ladies (including me) & the tables were set up so we could all talk & socialise.

First class was by Melissa on Saturday morning. Here is mine:

I love the ribbon frill & had my first go at using alchol inks on the flowers & butterfly. I also found my Marrakech stickers were the right colour too! We made up some glimmer mist from ink & perfect pearl to spray the Buzz & Bloom corners with. I love the alchol inks, so much fun! I had to get some!!!!!! The picture is of my 'Year 0" class. I drew a cirle with kindy glitz around me cos I don't know anything else about that school, I was not there for long.

I took all the kids school class photos I have lying around cos I have been a bit stumped on how to scrap them, so that was my goal for the weekend. So I didn't do Janines class on Sunday, but took kit home & will upload it when I am done. I am very pleased with getting the kids 2009 school photos done, 1 double LO for Nicola & a single for Daniel. I used my favourite Kaiser Bohemian paper (think I only have 1 or 2 sheets left :-(

Book Week Parade

The kids had Book Week at school last week. On Friday they had to dress up as a character from a book. Daniel went as Aipom from Pokemon & Nicola wanted to go as a Princess cos her class is studying Fairy Tales. She was just gonna wear her party dress, the I got the guilt's about making Daniel's' costume & not hers so I decided to make her a dress. I already had some fabric, I love buying fabric from the specials bin a Spotlight. It took me 2 days to make!! I decided it might have been cheaper to buy her a Disney dress but they were $50-$60!!!!! I made the over skirt out of that cool shimmery fabric they used to make Barbie dresses out of, but I wont be sewing with it again!!!! I would sew a seam on the over locker & it would just pull apart! By the time she came home from school the hem was already pulled off, which was very upsetting to her & me! I also sewed her a new bookbag as hers broke.

Scott has been given the all clear to drive again, yay!!!! So now he has some independence back & is much happier, (so am I!). I am getting to go to the Paper Symphony Retreat this weekend afterall!!!!!!!!!!!! It's only for Saturday night. Dad is taking Scott & Daniel to hockey on Saturday (his last game). Nicola has her best friend Bronte's birthday party on Sunday morning; so the kids wont miss me at all!

I haven't done any scrapbooking for ages. I am still half way through week 3 of the inovations/crafty tart challenge & they have finished week 6! Mybe I will get it done this weekend.

Win some blog candy over at Paper Symphony

Paper Symphony is giving away some nice Buzz & Bloom stuff on their website. I love Buzz & Bloom!! See it here

Well Scott's been home for a week now. There have been good times & not so good. He is still having difficulty getting comfortable for sleeping (I have been taking his sleeping pills!!) He did make it out to sit on the sideline for Daniel's hockey on Saturday, which was nice for Daniel. (of'course they won!) I went back to work on Monday, so poor Scott is home alone without transport bored out of his tree & it's still awhile before he can drive again. We are all much happier now that Daddy is home with us. The kids seem to be completely unaffected by it all.

Oh & Daniel came 13th in his school cross-country. He was very excited & disappointed. He bet the kids he wanted to beat, but missed out on going to inter-school competition by 1 place!

He's coming home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He has been up & down alot in the last few days, even developing a new pain & irregular heart beat, but he has been cleared to come home lunchtime today!!!!!!!!!!! Now my hard work starts. I have missed him so much I have been neglecting myself & the kids to spend time with him in the hospital. Will keep you posted, right now I have to clean the house & then go to pick him up.

On another topic this is my week 2 entry for the latest Crafty Tart competition. I had to go & take special photos around the house for it, but I am happy with the result. I kept the white background (been a loooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnngggg time since I did a white page!), but my photos are colour. I love the way the colours pop out at you. I kept the journalling like the add & also put my title in the same sort of place. So basically i had used it as a sketch for my LO. It is so simple yet so effective. They are currently up to week 4, but I have not even had the chance to think about scrapbooking lately.

Happy Anniversary?

Right now where was I up to?

Saturday. We picked Scott up from Middlemore & he came to watch Daniel's hockey game (they won again!) Then we went to the beach for lunch & some sun. Scott was tired by the time we got him back to the hospital.

Sunday The kids went to their friends houses to play, mum picked them up at 4. I spent the day keeping Scott company in hospital. It is so nice that the kids are happy at mums & I don't have to worry about them.

Monday Scott was supposed to be moved to Auckland Hospital at 10am so I went to work. At 12:30 he was still waiting!!! My boss tried to cheer me up by taking me to one of the building site I had drawn (I don't get to see many finished houses), that was cool. I went straight from work to Auckland hospital to see Scott (yes he finally got transferred). Unfortunately I missed seeing the surgeon. Scott was very upset when I got there & the nurses were worried about him. I could just see them postponing his surgery cos they were concerned about his mental state, so I had to find out what the problem was. It turned out that no-one has ever told us the results of the various tests they have been doing over the last few months, but the surgeon knew. Apparently his aorta was dilated meaning all the research Scott had been doing on mechanical valves was a waste of time cos his condition was now different to what we thought it was. So I told this to the nurse who explained the differences to us in lay mans terms. apparently the surgery is the same, so are the risks, it is just a valve with aortic extension the put in rather than just a valve. So we felt much better after that. They scheduled his surgery for 7:30 am on the Tuesday. But when they kicked me out at 9:30pm it still wasn't definite cos he needed a CT scan to measure the dilation before the surgery & he still hadn't had that. He did get the CT during the night. Oh & it was our wedding anniversary & he had to take his ring off.

Tuesday I went to work to keep my mind off things. They told us surgery was gonna be 4 hours, but it was 8. Apparently it is a bit complicated removing the homograph valve then putting in a new mechanical one. Scott parents & I finally got to see him about 6pm. When I first walked into ICU I was so relieved to see him still alive, we were both so scared, but the longer we were there the more obvious it was that something was wrong. He was still bleeding & they had tried all sorts of clotting agents so they decided to take him back into surgery to see if they could find the problem. It was so scary watching them all run around him not really having any idea what was going on & feeling so helpless. The surgeon sent us home saying he would ring & he did, they fixed it. Mum came home with me to help me put the kids to bed. Then she gave me a sleeping tablet after we got the call from the surgeon.

Wednesday. Mum came over to help get kids off to school, I was still half asleep with my sleeping tablet. Then she took me to hospital to see Scott, I didn't trust myself to drive. Wow! Scott was sitting up & off the ventilator. He was drugged to the eyeballs & kept coming & going from consciousness. He kept asking what day it was. I didn't tell him about the complications from night before, figured he didn't need to know that right now, he just needed to get better. the staff at the hospital were amazing! I was so shattered that I went home after lunch & his dad went to visit him. I picked up the kids from school like a normal day, Nicola & I watched Spongebob while Daniel played on the computer. Mum & dad brought us dinner.

Thursday Visiting hours are 11 till 1 so I went to work for a bit this morning, then went into the hospital. I can't believe how much better he looks, when I said that to him he gave me a filthy look & said he didn't believe me, I guess that was the lack of morphine talking! He is obviously uncomfortable, but in a ward bed & eating a little bit of food. He is still very sleepy. The kids have been asking to see him so I am gonna take them after hockey practice tonight, just for a few minutes.

It's been a long week.

Monday was normal.

Tuesday was Nicola's first class trip, so I got the day off work to go with her as they needed a 1:4 ratio. We walked to the local supermarket bakery. The most exciting part was getting an iceblock! Kids, hehe. Because I had taken the whole day off I decided to spend the afternoon putting my scrapbooking in chronological order. To do this I had to take apart about 6 albums & spend them over lounge floor. I was still doing this when the kids came home from school, & when Scott came home from work & when Scott told me he wanted me to take him to the hospital! Turns out he was having chest pains. So I phoned mum & she came & picked up the kids & I drove him as fast as I could to the Middlemore ED. I dropped him at entrance & went to find a park. He was already in a bed, hooked up to machines by the time I got there. He had blood tests & was on monitors & oxygen & we waited & waited. Scott was feeling heaps better on the oxygen, but they needed to admit him overnight cos they needed to do more tests in 8 hours to compare results. We were so bored waiting we started pretending we were extras on Shortland Street & were guessing which nurses were sleeping with which Doctors etc. Scott was so bored he even let a student Dr ask him questions, etc, apparently Scott is very exciting to student Drs. So eventually I left at 10ish cos I was so exhausted & I still needed to pick up the kids & go home to bed. As soon as I left the ED I started crying, it was so horrible to leave him there. I rang my girlfriend & she calmed me down enough to make it to mu parents. I lost control completely when I saw mum, but felt much better after a good cry. I took the kids home to bed & was asleep myself the moment my head hit the pillow.

Wednesday I sent the kids off to school & then went to the hospital. he had been moved into the short stay department awaiting a ward bed not long after I had left the night before. I seem to be jinxed, when ever I go to the toilet or go for a walk; a dr arrives, he gets moved or something. So they have decided to admit him now until his surgery.

Thursday I went to work, spoke to kids teachers so they know what is going on. i took kids to see him in the evening so they would know daddy is ok. They will not be able to visit him in hospital after his surgery. Nicola thought it was great fun. She made daddy bed go up & down, spoke to the nurses & other patients & weighed herself on the weighing chair (17.6kg) Daniel was reading the Top Gear mag I got for Scott, so he was fine too.

Friday. Scott rang this morning, he hadn't had a good night with his room-mate dying. So I took day off work again to spend some time with him. I was even there when cardiologist visited (woohoo). Hopefully he will be having surgery on Tuesday, so will be moving to Auckland hospital on Monday. My girlfriend picked the kids up from school this afternoon & I had a nap.

Tomorrow they are letting him out of hospital for a couple of hours to watch Daniels hockey game, which will be so nice cos it is the last one he will be able to attend. It is funny little things I am noticing while he isn't here. Like I had to do rubbish this morning & I don't know how to pay the bills, etc.

So that is my week & I am exhausted.

Kaiser's Scrap your Summer competition

There is a competition on the Kaiser blog to use your summer photos with either of their new summer paper collections, either 'Pina Colada' or 'Off Shore'. I used the 'Off Shore' collection & some dark blue rhinestones. I loved the way the orange brought out the colour in the kayak but still keeping a beach theme.

Crafty Tart's Innovation challenge 1

It's that time again! these challenges are a bit different so the easiest way is probably to check out the site your self here. This is my take on the challenge. I looked through some old photos of me growing up (as I like to for a change from always doing the kids). Anyway I found these photos with pink in them with my 'PERM!!!!" so I thought that I could put them with the beautiful glitz paper for a contrast to how I wish I looked. The flowers are cut from Bo-Bunny paper & layered with foam tape. I used the parenthesis in my title & sideways below the journalling. I just loved the contradictions on this page "Beautiful Disaster" hehehehe

I already have some ideas for this weeks challenge,yay! bring them on!

On another topic.....Daniels game of hockey was very tense today! They ended up with a draw (unbeaten record remains intact) but wow it was close; the score kept going from them, to a draw, to us, to a draw............ All the parents for our team went home with very sore thoats from shouting. But everyone had fun!

Oops, I forgot to put up the Sewing technique Challenge LO. I did the page on the right ages ago, but had no ideas for the facing page. It all came together rather well with that Basic Grey Marrakech paper (that I said I didn't like, but was given). I have actually used it heaps, the stickers are awesome. These are photos of me when I was little 4-5years. My grandparents when they came to visit from South Africa & my Auntie Elaine. As for the sewing...well only used to tied buttons into flowers centres & ribbon on, but hey.

........sooooooo.........

I don't know what to say so I haven't said anything, but I will try. It all started 36 1/2 years ago when my wonderful husband was born with a damaged aortic valve. It was replaced not long after I met him when he was 17. So the other day Scott had an angiogram to find out why he has not been my normal self lately. It turns out his arteries are fine, but his aortic valve is now severely constricted. It was really hard to watch my man in pain & I couldn't do anything to help him. I have always known in the back of my head this day was gonna come, but that was a dose of reality. The typical life of a human graft is 10-15 years, and his has lasted 19. So I always knew he was gonna need another operation. I was always paranoid he would need it while I was trying to birth one of the kids. It is not a hereditary condition, however I got both the kids checked at birth & Daniel had an ECG a couple of months ago, so they are fine. I didn't see him after his first operation, so don't really know what to expect. I am worried about funny things like the fact that kids aren't even allowed in the cardio part of the hospital. So what do I do with the kids? They will want to see their father, but do we want them to see him? How sick is he gonna be afterwards? How much time do I need to take off work? When is he gonna be able to drive again? What about his fishing? How am I gonna keep him from going mentally insane inside these four walls for a couple of months, (there is only so much TV you can watch). So it has been 10 days since his aniogram & we haven't even heard the official results yet, just what the nurses told him. I am going insane with all this waiting!!!! They said it was bad so he should be getting another replacement operation, probably sometime in the next 3 months. So that's good I guess, he will be on the road to recovery by Christmas.

Birthday Sleep-over

Well Daniel's sleep over went as well as to be expected. He is still obsessed with Pokemon so I had to make Pokeball cake (one of the easiest so far!) It is one of his figurines in the centre, no, not made of icing, hehe. Scott went fishing on Fri afternoon (& did very well, see his blog), Nicola went to stay at her friends house as his big bro was coming to stay with us. So it was me & 4 eight to nine year old boys..........They had pizza, a spa, DVD's & finally dropped off to sleep on the lounge floor after midnight! They were up & playing PS3 around 6am! I was exhausted!!! Scot woke me up at 9 because I had to get then dressed, fed & home at 10. Daniel had ordered pancakes for breakfast (I cheated once again & used Betty Crockers box of pancake mix, just add milk. I would use it again, it was amazing only about $3 & every single 1 was perfect) Anyway the kids got home a bit late (noon in fact) but they were happy & not fighting so I left them to it while I lay down & read my book for a minute or two.

I am re-reading the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. This will be my 4th or 5th reading of them. There are 6 so far with a new one coming out later this year so I thought I would re-refresh my memory. They are the best books ever & even thought I had read them so much I still can't put them down, all I wanna do is read, (even more than scrapping ATM!!!!!!!!)

So for those who don't know what I am talking about the first book is called Cross-stitch (no not sewing).

"Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century and a lover in another.... In 1945 Claire Randall is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon in Scotland. Innocently she walks through a stone circle in the Highlands, and finds herself in a violent skirmish taking place in 1743. Suddenly she is a Sassenach, an outlander, in a country torn by war and clan feuds. A wartime nurse, Claire can deal with the bloody wounds that face her. But it is harder to deal with the knowledge that she is in Jacobite Scotland and the carnage of Culloden is looming. Marooned amid the passion and violence, the superstition, the shifting allegiances and the fervent loyalties, Claire is in danger from Jacobite's and Redcoats- and from the shock of her own desire for James Fraser, a gallant and courageous young Scots warrior. Jamie shows her a passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire, and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives."

Daniel is 9!!

It's Daniel's 9th birthday today! wow!!! We had family party tonight, he is having friends over for a sleep over on friday. I can't believe my boy is 9!!!!!

I have been published!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited!!!! Scott & I went to the movies last night & while we were waiting for it to start we went to the book shop. I was surprised to see the latest copy of Up2Scrap. I hurriedly turned pages until I found my LO on page 54! Can't wait to show Daniel, he will be excited too. Also big congratulations to Melissa on page 32. Publishing rules mean I can't show you, you will just have to go & get your own copy of the magazine.

Around the World

Nicola had to dress up for school today, the costume had to relate to one of the countries they had just studied. Nicola wore the Lion costume I made for Daniel when he was Year 0! She was a South African Lion, hehe! Her best friend (at school) was a crocodile! I drew whiskers & a nose on her with eyeliner pencil. Don't they look sweet! They did a parade in front of middle & senior classes, so lovely having a nice small school. All the 'big' kids cheered & waved at the little-ies, it was lovely. The school is amazing, a few kids in Nicola's class didn't have costumes when I dropped her off this morning, but but the time I got there for the parade they all did. The teacher 'found/made' some for them, wow! I ordered some stuff from Crafty Tart with my winnings from The Trend Scrapper Competition. Now the waiting & watching the letterbox begins......

Spice Up your life!

I started this LO for the last Craft Tart Challenge, but it wasn't feeling very distressed. I painted the Union Jack onto a piece of paper then put vellum in front of it cos it was to bright & I felt the photo didn't stand out enough. I did play with the photo a bit, the old fashioned way with scissors not photoshop! I gave my arm a bit of lipo-suction & cut Melissa out & lowered her a bit (she was a full head higher than everyone else & was making the page unbalanced). hehe!!!
I must say I am enjoying the sudden influx of Michael Jackson songs on the radio, I had forgotten half of them. He sure was amazing.

Hockey Practice

Dad came to Daniel's hockey practice last night He was amazed at how many kids turn up each week (full team). Unfortunately Coach has a bit of a cold & wasn't feeling 100% so he roped some of the parents in to help. Next thing Dad knew he was playing hockey with 7 excited kids! This is a smig of video from the hockey bull rush they played at the end of the practice, adults against kids!

Michael Jackson died......

I understand this is sad news for his family & the music community, but if you don't know him personally I don't understand the strong reactions. Nicola's dance school has cancelled lessons tonight & a whole lot of other Jackson inspired dances. Is this not an over-reaction? Maybe I am just too cynical? I mean he was good & I loved his music but the fact that he has died will not be changing MY life, I do wonder what is gonna happen to his kids? Another fight coming up I recon.

Woohoo! (doing the happy dance)

I came third overall in the Crafty Tart competition!!! I am soooooooooo excited. I have never even got points in one of these before!!!

Busy, Busy, Busy (& week 6)

Well where do I start? At the beginning I guess.

Nicola was not well last weekend, high temperatures, cough, etc. So she ended up staying home on Monday with Scott. She went back to school on Tuesday, but was not good again on Wednesday so I took the day off & we watched Grey's Anatomy all day. Then we had her final dance lesson before her exam on Friday. I had to wake her up & drag her out of bed to go to it, but thought that at least if she watched it would be better than nothing. Apparently this was not the case. I was told that if she didn't dance on Wed she couldn't sit the exam on Friday! I mean she has been to EVERY practise until then but now the teacher was telling me she might not get her medal on Friday in the exam I was told she couldn't fail. She is only 5 for goodness sake!!!!!!! I was a little annoyed at this, they also taught them something new! I was a bit stressed at what this was gonna do to Nicola, & ended up crying myself to sleep (she, of course, knew none of this). Anyway......... I took her to the exam on Friday (so annoying had to take the afternoon off work & take her out of school). I had to give her full make-up & backcomb her hair, neither of which she liked, but it was 'required'. We had to be there about an hour before she went on. The dance went as well as expected, the 3 girls got stage fright. But they all got their medals at the end! yay!!! I think I am gonna pull her out of dance, she only does it cos her best friends does & it was soooo stressful for me! We will see............

The final week for the Crafty Tart challenge was distressing. Once again not something I am big on. I love sanding, but that's about all. I know my LO isn't very distressed, but figured there were gonna be some amazing ones this week as so many people love distressing. I did sand both the photo & the paper. I made the paper out of ripped pieces left over from another LO (this is my 4th LO using this paper - Sandylion) I wet, crumpled & ripped the vellum, I also dropped dim magic onto it to look like water drops. The title is my fave tho. I used Acrylic Raw Sand to give it texture then inked it gold & edges brown. Then dipped bottom part in real sand. I think it looks cool. In the top left corner are 3 mirrored mosaic tiles that I have never got around to using in my mosaics. Not a very distressed LO tho.

Today was Hockey for Daniel. I quiet enjoy watching him play hockey, far more relaxing than dancing. His team won 13 - nil !!!!! Daniel was awarded player of the day!!! He got into the action even tho he didn't actually score any goals, he did set some up for the other players. He played a very good game! Proud mummy, daddy & little sis!

the other 1 for week 5.....

This is the other Lo I was working on for week 5. I just wasn't 'feeling' it, but Nicola & I finished this afternoon. It's ok, wanted this moment documented but the colours in the pics came out weird cos they were taken In the dark! Nicola & I love our morning snuggles, but I am worried she will grow out of it one day :-( I hand cut the stars (I don't know why I didn't use the cricut) & kindy glitz then dimensional magic them. They are hung from moon & eyelet border with wire threaded with beads. I made the star shaker box, but I put to much glitter in it & sealed it so well it would break if i tried to take any out, lol. The Moon was printed on the paper, so I cut it out, mounted it on chipboard, kindy glitz & dimensional magic it.

Week 5 - Handmade embellishments.

Ummm......most of my embellishments are handmade! Like the paper scrolls & the flowers on last weeks , etc. I find it hard to use some of the bought ones, they are sooo pretty or expensive they just end up sitting in my drawers! So I did this LO quickly between challenges. The paper matches the pics so well (I think) & enhances the quite boring photos. When the new challenge came out I thought I would have to do a whole new LO cos I thought that 1 was finished, but I added some extra embellishments to it instead. I think the rusted grommets & copper wire fit in well. I do like how thiese chellenges are stretching me, I would have called this LO finished with out the wire thingys, but they are cool. I am definately being inspired to do some different stuff. I did however start another LO too, but it just isn't working.Onto far more exciting news.... my brother & his wife had their second baby on Thursday night (on her birthday!) A baby girl called Lucy Anne Dixon weighing 7 pounds & 6 ounces. Mother & baby doing well. Nicola & I are excited to have another girl in the family.

Week 4 - non square Lo's

This week the challenge was to do a 'not square' page. Scott (my humble assistant) chose the oval from the selection of shapes I gave him. I decided to do the pic of Nicola with her vaccination plasters & new earrings. I Photoshopped the pic to have a black & white blurred background as it was very busy. The paper was actually black & white too, but i inked it pink to match Nicola's clothes. I also picked the hibiscus flower from her shorts for the flowers embellishments. But the thing I was most excited about on this LO was the coloured journalling on the black background. Can anyone guess how I did it?Love those clear micro beads!

Well guess what? I came second!!!!! Now I am second overall with 2 weeks to go. The leader is waaayyyy ahead so it will be a fight between me & third place (only 1 point between us atm). So now the pressure is on for this week!!!!!

Onto other news...... Daniel won his hockey game again on Saturday. So far they are 1st equal in the overall Juniors competition for Auckland (south of bridge) They haven't lost a game yet, only 1 draw.

Nicola was complaining about itchy bites all over her body on Thurs night so I stripped her off & it looked like chicken pox to me. Daniel has been vaccinated against it, but they wouldn't give Nicolas hers at the same time as her pre-school shots. So I put her in the bath with Tea-tree oil & covered her in anti-histamine cream. I took her to the Dr at lunch on Fri but they had scabbed over already. So we aren't sure if it was chicken-pox or not, but we kept her home all weekend & Scott took her back to the Dr today & we still don't know We can get her blood tests to check, but I dunno.

Just call me "Your Royal Pinkness"

Do you like my new profile pic? I decided to get PINK highlights in my hair. I think they are cool, so do the kids. Scott thinks I am trying to look like my favourite singer, P!NK. Now I feel like I need to go to a party, but mum is really sick, so no babysitters :-( By the way, Nicola took the pic of me!

This week of Crafty Tart competition was paper scrolls. Didn't really like this challenge as I don't really 'get' paper scrolls. So I tried to make them do something, rather than just be there. I love blogging, the journalling for this LO is just a copy of earlier blog posts! I did love the way the dimensional magic reacted with the handmade paper for the 'baubles'.

Waaaaayyyyyy back when I went to the NZScrapbooking Mega Crop I started on a page to submit for publishing in Up2Scrap magazine. I finally got it finished & have been accepted for publishing!!! Posted it this morning, I can't show you it but it will be in the July/Aug Issue. Daniel is very excited about having a pic of him in a magazine.

Nicola's party went well & already feel like a lifetime ago. She is onto her second week of school already! She loves it & always gives me her newsletters & does her homework as soon as she gets home. There is a pic of her on her first day on Scott's blog.

We have decided to take Daniel off of the ADD meds as the neither the teacher or us noticed any difference & he was getting headaches. Also the more people I talk to say it is just a boy thing. We will have to see. He is still doing really well with his hockey.

Cousin Peter had his party on Monday (Queens birthday). We gave him all of Daniel's Thomas stuff. All three kids (and the 2 daddys) played with it for hours, it was so cute.

I'm sure I have forgotten something........

OMG!!!!!! I am speachless!

I won week 2 of the Crafty Tart Challenge!!!! I am in shock! I love my LO but wasn't sure if anyone else would get my sence of humour & it was so different to everyone elses. (I don't do shabby chic). Woohoo! (Doing happy dance)

NZ's Top Trend Scrapper - Challenge 2

This week the challenge was to use packaging. I used a V can, can tabs & a V crate (for the 4 pack). This was a fun challenge & a very important LO to me. I had fun with the puns, the border is a slightly altered version of the song "100 bottles of beer on the wall".
In other news.....

It was Nicolas last day at Lighthouse Preschool on Friday. She has really enjoyed her time there & the staff feel almost like family. She even had a graduation ceremony which was so cute. I made my standard smiley face cake that the kids love, which is great cos it's so easy, cake out of packet, pour home made purple icing over & add smarties to create face. Tomorrow is the big party at Chipmunks & I have finally finished & filled the goodie tins. Cake number two was baked this morning before hockey & has been iced & decorated by Nicola & I this afternoon. I was worried cos she wanted a Dora cake, but when I went to get the tin it was already out for hire! So she is having a crown instead, well she is our princess. Big day on Monday!!!!

Daniel's hockey went really well today. It was a home game again & not raining! The final score was 12 - 1 with Daniel scoring one of those goals. He did really well today, got right in on the action, tackling, running, etc. I was so proud of him I made him my player of the day. We had a team lunch at MacDonald's afterwards which was really nice. Unfortunately there is no game next weekend cos of the public holiday, all the kids were disappointed so there will still be practise.

NZ's Top Trend Scrapper - Challenge 1

We had to use a page from a book. I used one of Dad's Motorcycle magazines to create a page with pics of my bro & me. Do you like my Post-It?
Daniels hockey went well again. They drew 4 all, the other team was much tougher this week, very good on defence.
I am not feeling the best, hopefully I am not getting a cold!

Pics of Nicola's School Visits

Nicola on the playground with her class. She is the second from the right.Daniel & his best mate showing Nicola the playground at morning tea time.Nicola practicing her letters. Yes I know they are backwards, apparently this is quiet common.
My baby is getting so big!!!!!