Bit of this and a bit of that

Where to start!! This morning I found this photo in my inbox from my Mum!!! Help us ... a week tomorrow we leave for New Zealand and parts of the country are looking like that?? I think I will be feeling the cold ... just a little! (probably a huge understatement!). Sure looks pretty though doesn't it :-)


(By the way it was 35deg at 11am today!! Temperature has dropped now though as we've had a big storm, it's now 28deg!) :-)
.
Every day Aaron tells me he doesn't want to go to school, he wants to go in the plane to see Taylor & Mitchell hehehehee. I am doing the countdown with him ... it's only 5 more days of school left THEN we can go in a big plane! It's helping, I think, because he trots of to school happily enough after that :-)
.
Speaking of school I have spent a few hours there this week with my camera taking pics of the 5 kids that are in their classes (3 in Aaron's and 2 in Maddison's). I don't have enough to do you know, so decided I would make the 2 teachers a little mini album with pics of the kids. It's been a bit of a laugh trying to get halfway decent pics, but they aren't too bad. Tomorrow afternoon Aaron's little friend's mother is coming to help me put them together, and we are going to do one each for ourselves as well. Basing them on the little pink friendship album (with the tulips on the cover) that I made at Scrap-n-Crop's art retreat with Rachel Greig. Making these ones a little bit smaller though so I can get 6 photos per A4 page instead of 2 like the ones for that album!
.
Here's the pics of Aaron & Maddison that are going in the album.

(yes she had been doing the taste test!!)

What else ... oh yes ... today I finished off one of the canvas's I did with Donna Downey at Creative Escape in Singapore. Still have 2 more to finish, but they need paint and messy stuff, so they will have to wait till I get back from holiday.

.

This one I just had to add a few eyelets and write in the smaller words. I actually would have got this complete in class, but I was having trouble setting my eyelets. I have the Cropadile Big Bite, which is fantastic for punching holes anywhere in a 12x12 area, but when it comes to setting eyelets I have found it a huge disappointment. On this canvas in particular all it did was just squash the eyelet and scrunch it up, instead of splaying the back out nicely. I set the last 4 with my old "manual" eyelet setter and hammer and they worked beautifully. Does anyone else have that trouble with setting eyelets with the Big Bite, or is it just me? Is there a special technique that I don't know about?

So this canvas ... the pink/plum coloured flowers are actually drops of alcohol ink. I found it quite difficult to do neatly as you can tell by the random splatters all over the place and on the big flower as well! :-) hehehee ... but they are supposed to be like that you know! It was purposely done LOL The big flower is made up of hole punch cast offs from cardstock and pages from a book. (Fancy keeping that sort of paper waste for treasure!)

I've also been working on Scrap-n-Crop's June kit ... here's a sneak peek. Been working with some old photos again :-) Love these pics of Aaron with his shaggy hair doo heheehee

I'll leave you with some things the kids have been saying ...

.

Last night we were at a friends house and just before we left Aaron was running around like a wild thing in their garden (he'd been sitting nice and still for an hour, so was burning off a bit of steam!). Next thing we heard him crying and it was a hurt cry. He told me the tree hurt him! What happened was he was running around it and tripped on a tree root. I told him he was okay and I'd look at it in the car. Well when I got him in his seat I could see why he had been crying! He had a very nasty graze and lump which was already bruising on his shin! He was very brave though and stopped crying (cookies helped!) and when we were all in the car ready to drive off he pipes up from the back and says "it's really really painful Mummy"! :-) LOL Lyndon asked me if I had taught him the word painful. Nope - must have been from school. Sure enough when he went today (with the bandage still on so he could show it off!) 3 teachers one after the other asked him if it was painful!! LOL I just grinned to myself because Aaron very seriously with a little frown on his brow said "yes, it's really painful"! hehehehee

.

Maddison runs up to us and demands a "uggggg" every now and then! Ugggg is her word for Hug! :-) She's also saying sish (fish), book, Bob (Bob the Builder) and alright! You ask her to do something and she says "awwright". So cute.
.

Oh and if you like Graphic 45 papers, check out Kinda Sweet's blog here. They have put up pics of their new stock! Very nice :-) I have my stash already ... it's coming with me to NZ. Hopefully I will find/make time to have a play with it while huddled next to the fire!! LOL

Creative Escape - Part 2

Well actually this is probably part 3 ;-) Part 2 is still to come! Today's pics are from our last class with Tia Bennett. The kit included some digital things (which I haven't even looked at yet! gasp!) and we could make a mini album either in size 6x12 or 6x6. I chose to do the 6x12 one as I haven't done a mini album that size before. Oh the product in this kit was beautiful ... truly gorgeous. Prima goodness :-) heheee me like very much! We re- purposed the packaging that the rub-ons came in including the plastic bag! :-) You can see one of the pages has a scalloped edge that sticks out - that's the card backing of the rub-ons and the white clouds on one of the pages ... that was done by finger painting with white paint on the plastic bag then cut out once dry. Pretty neat effect. (More trash to save now! LOL)
.
By the way ... this album isn't finished - I still have to add some more photos and embellishments, but if you waited for me to do that you wouldn't get to see it for a couple of weeks!!! Oh and I added left over paper from Kah Mei's class to the album as well, so that's why I didn't have enough photos and embellishments hehehee.
.
First pic is of the kit, then the album with a couple of close ups of flower details.

Thanks for looking :-)

Creative Escape

Okay - here's some pics of my weekend of escape! LOL
.
I've made the pics small so (a) they aren't taking up mega space on my blog, and (b) because some of our family is on dial up and this would take AGES if I left them the size I usually do!
.
So - here's a pic out the window of the plane shortly after takeoff. And the Singapore flyer taken from the taxi when I arrived in Singapore (one day we might go on that!).

.

.

.

.
.

.

.

.

.

.

And I got to meet Serene on Sunday morning before we left :-) So she is no longer my imaginary friend heheee. She was very sweet and gave me this absolutely awesome tee-shirt which she printed. You will have to check her blog to see a pic of the tee-shirt because I haven't taken a picture of it yet ... I will blog a pic of me modelling it later on :-)

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

And my back pack ... you won't believe this, but we took the MRT from our hotel to the community club hall where Creative Escape was held and at 8.10am in the morning a security guard in the depths of the MRT pulled me aside because she wanted to check my bag! The girls missed out on a photo op, so I had to take a pic of the bag on its own :-) Couldn't believe it. Mind you it was jolly heavy with all my tools in it! But I don't think I look that suspicious do I???

So the day began ... first class started shortly after 9am and here's a photo of our teachers ... Kah Mei Smith, Tia Bennett & Donna Downey.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

And with me ... and whoever had my camera took this random shot of our feet LOL (it's kinda cool though isn't it!)

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

We had front row seats which was great. And the second photo is the 4 of us ready to head back to the hotel with all our bags and on the left is Sasha who very kindly helped out our table and the one behind us.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Back in the MRT waiting for our train.

Okay - today just going to share the first class we did which was with Kah Mei. We created a mini album which incorporated stamping techniques. The first picture is of the kit (and my pencil case etc!) Then photos of the album. I haven't finished the cover because I don't know what I want to call it ... Kah Mei's had "the beginnings" on the front, and after I had put down "the" I decided I didn't think I wanted to say the beginnings! So left the 2nd word for later on. I have already UTE'd the cover, so won't use rubbons for that word, maybe thickers or something that's a bit more bulky.

Will share with you tomorrow what I created in Tai's class, and when I have completed the things from Donna's class I'll share them ;-)

.

.

.

Here's the prizes I got ;-) - 1st is the door prize (think everyone got this), 2nd two pics were prizes from random draws throughout the day :-)

And of course shopping!!! Basic Grey stuff was on a good special and the rest was just little random bits and pieces heheheeee (the sort that just sort of fall into your basket as you wander around the shop!).

.

Thanks for looking.

.

p.s. I don't consider myself tall by any means (I am only about 5 ft 4"), but these photos make me look like a giant! Why is that? I didn't even have big heels on! LOL

.

I'm Home

It was great :-)
.
Not going to blog all about it now ... will save that for tomorrow or day after maybe!! Here's a quick peak of what I was doing though ... have some bits and pieces to finish on a few things before I post other pics.

Glad to be home and I got the bestest hugs from Aaron & Maddison :-) Maddison decided she needed to be carried everywhere for the first half hour I walked in the door!

"Need a Rest" and some exciting stuff ...

I just had to share what Aaron said when he got home from school today ... it so cracked me up.
.
He walks in the door and says "Ohhhh it's good to be home Mummy. I had a good day, but now I need to rest!" Followed by the biggest sigh! LOL Now where on earth has he heard that?? Don't recall saying something like that myself ... heheehee (might have thought it though!)
.
And thought I'd share my exciting news :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
.
In April I am going to this ....
Whoopee ... Soooo Soooo Sooo excited (if you can't already tell!). Laines (a Scrapbook Shop in Singapore) are running this event, and there are 3 workshops with Donna Downey, Tia Bennett and Kah-Mei Smith. I am going with some scrapbook friends here from KL, we've got our air tickets booked, accommodation sorted and of course our tickets to the event! :-) You can read about the event here. And I have my darling hubby booked in for baby sitting :-)
.
On Saturday I was over at Scrap-n-Crop picking up a few things (which ended up being rather a bit more than a few ... thanks Val! :-) heheee) and watched a demo with the Zutter. Such a neat little machine. Val made a little album very similar to this one I've shown here, and I decided to make one too after I saw how cool hers was. Thought it would be just the ideal thing to have when I go to Singapore in April to record my "Creative Escape" :-) (love that term).
.
Used Theresa Collins covers and die cuts to make it. (Used 8 sheets of the die cuts!) The cover is just plain black, but I am intending to alter that in some way or another before I go. Have got white and red paint in my mind ... hummmmm
.
Here's just a few pics to give you an idea of what it's like.

I used 2 sheets of the blank die cuts so I have lots of room for journalling or taking notes at the workshops. And of course photos!

.

And to cut a long story short ... Val said it would be real good if I could purchase this little blue Zutter for myself because she wanted to order in the new colour (which happens to be pink). LOL (actually she didn't say that ... but she does want to order in new pink ones!). So I helped her out ... prefer the blue myself anyway. Now ... if the new colour had been red it might have been a different story! :-)

.

So this little blue Zutter now lives in my Scrap Space :-)

Looking forward to using it ... LOTS! Wish I had it to bind the little cousins mini album I made actually. Maddison is very rough with it (I've had to glue back on the dot of the i and the c already today!!) and I am not sure how the pages are going to hold up where the ring is ... the album sort of gets flung around in the air a fair bit!!!

.

Made some progress this afternoon on the covers of the other little memory album I'm finishing. And this morning I also started a double LO of a friend's 30th birthday pics (Aaron was only a few weeks old ... I am so far behind in my scrapping it's not funny). I found this flocked paper in my stash which is perfect for the photos and on Saturday I bought this damask mask, so did that in the corners, and look what I did ... I can't believe how STUPID I was. Grrr ... and of course there's no photos going to be placed there ... I think I will have to do strip journalling around that area to hide it. (Showing this LO without pics sorry, because I can't be bothered blurring all the faces etc!)

Okay, I need to get on so I can "have a rest" too :-) hehehee

.

Till tomorrow ...