It's been one of those days...

Well the shortest day has

Well the shortest day has come and gone and thank goodness for that. Send me some sunshine already.

We had a slow weekend - well the kids did. I worked fairly steadily at various tasks. Including Paul's assignments for his study. I don't know that it was really what his tutor had intended when he sent those assignments home with Paul... Also, more taxes. Surprise surprise. Cleaning. No prizes for guessing that, and I scrapped a lot as well. I have been doing the occasional assignment for For Keeps (Aussie Mag) and really enjoyed a layout I did for them over the weekend.

Anyway. Other scrapping. I'm doing this journal where I write diary entries every day and I take a few pics. I am putting them all in a journal. I started this for the June Tarisota kit.

No exciting amazing design inside the book - just diary and snapshots.

BUT those of you that have attempted such projects before should have warned me about how hard it is to do. Esp in winter when we dont ahve all the social activities etc. Oh. My. Goodness. I am BORING. lol. 30 days of trying to say different stuff and take pics that look different. It's not as easy as you think.

Soooo will be glad to see the end of June :o)

I'll end with a snapshot from last night. Kids in Jammies, Pokemon books in hands, in front of a roaring fire.

laters

My washing machine has been

My washing machine has been on it's last legs for a while. It's 11 years old, it does multiple loads of washing a day and doesn't always get through the spinning cycle. I often go into the garage and am met with the bleeeeeeep of "Fix me" and occasionally even a nice pool of water on the floor. I knew the end was near.

So last weekend it started to take along time to fill with water. We tested everything, taps and all those essential items. Everything was tickety-boo except for the fact that it wasn't filling. Slowly this week it has stopped filling - and since water is the essential factor in cleaning clothes I have been filling it with a bucket, several times during the cycle. Not so fun.

So today I thanked the washing machine for it's 11 years daily service and I kicked that sucker out and went and bought a new one. It has to be a sad thing that I'm excited for it's arrival.

Which means I have to forgo my yearly treat of getting my windows professionally washed on the shortest day.
Because dammit money doesn't grow on trees. So my Dad told me many times in my youth.

So anyhow. Crafting Connection Nov 07 - Stacy Julian and friends. I know pre-registration has started for this event. Noone has told me to keep quiet about it while pre-registered people get to take an early look at the classes so I won't :o)
I have been told however that the Wellington venue has smaller classrooms so the classes will fill in a speedy fashion. I was happy about the smaller rooms. I like it cosy. Not so good for you ladies though if you are trying to book. I think there is one big classroom but me thinks Stacy might be gettin that one ?!

I am excited about my classes. I have three classes on offer - All very cool classes. I usually have a favourite when I do these events, but this time I don't. I love them all.

CONFESSIONS! ( 90 Min)
Scrapbooking isn't just about the events and the moments. It's also about showing a little of our personalities so that those that read our pages in the future know who we really are.
The best way to do it? Join Nic on a journey to unearth those funny little habits and quirks that in turn paint a picture of our personalities.
You'll walk away from this class with a fun project and new inspiration about the personal stories you'd like to scrap.
Bring along your sense of humour and your traditional basic scrapbooking tools.
Photos to be advised.

CONVERSATIONS! (60 Mins)
Inspiration doesn't flow easily for everybody. We sit with our scrapbooking supplies around us, we have the perfect photos of the subject we want to scrap, yet where are the ideas for the journaling? Where is the inspiration for a title? Often we find ourselves adding a quote or not journaling on our page at all, when we really wanted to tell more of a story.
So where is the story?
Through her writing of "That's Life" Nic has enjoyed discovering many methods of undigging the stories we could potentially tell in our pages. Join Nic to discover one way of finding inspiration in the everyday and complete a project to help you implement the idea at home.
Please bring your traditional basic scrapbooking tools - no photos needed.

CONSTANT REMINDERS (90 Mins)
Not only do the things you do and say form your personality, but so do the little things around you.
Grab 6 photos of items around the home that are distinctly 'you' and join Nic in this project based class.
The result will be a mini album that was 'clearly' a lot of fun to make!
Please bring your traditional basic scrapbooking tools.

Ok - so layout sharing time. This is the layout that was in the BasicGrey newsletter - it's hard to see the beads and sequin detail. Talking of BasicGrey - Kelly Goree was in Australia recently - so near, yet so far. One day I'll meet Kelly - can't wait. I love meeting people that are shorter than me. hehehe.

Hey. Exciting news. That's Life released early and is now flying it's way around the world to various destinations. Nope, no book release party - no time. LOL. I have visitors arriving next weekend! 10 of them - Holy squashed scrappers batman.

Besides, I'm holding my copy very close - I'm not keen on people just flicking through it quickly. I want people to sit and read it. I don't truly think you can benefit from the whole essence of the book unless you read it.

(Ok so I linked Amazon up there but I have to link Kiwiscraps who have done an amazing amount of promotion for me and Scrapbook Outlet too, who are both stocking it in New Zealand.

Ok if you were going to read any other blogs, you are out of luck - I took up all your time. happy days. I get a new washing machine tomorrow. NO more filling out of a little blue bucket.

Laters.

I don't think I ever

I don't think I ever showed any of my Tarisota gallery layouts. Bad me. This is a layout from the Moulin Rouge collection. Six and a half, actually.

Shortest day is on it's way - I normally celebrate by shouting myself a professional window wash. lol Best $65 I spend all year. Gets rid of the window mouldies. Inside and out. Must book that in. I have heard of people buying themselves flowers on the first day of spring etc, for me it is a professional window wash. I'm not sure if that is sad or really quite clever. Nothing like all the windows being clean at once. For a few days anyway. I'm sure there is a layout in that.

Did you know that Invercargill gets an hour less daylight than Auckland at this time of year? Reason number 2 I won't ever move to Invercargill. Shortest day being Friday I think? We get a whole 9 hours of sunlight that day and a polar blast is forecast that will see windchill below zero. Even in the North Island. I am so struggling through winter this year. And it's only just begun.

Hey cool thing - Tia used one of my layouts as inspiration for the 2peas garden this month - take a look here. Crack me up, Tia got a little zealous with her creating and apart from the fact that we both have large circles and clocks, I think they are really quite different. I'm flattered though.

OK crack me up. Aussie Scrap Source has "meet the design team" and this week it is me. I have some of my fav inspirations there as well as 2 layouts I created to try and reflect my style. I'll post them here in a ew days, in the meantime, here is the link if you want to peek. I have a layout by a few of my favourite scrappers there too.

16 days til my book releases in the U.S.A. :o))

laters

Sunday 17th.

The wood fire is my friend. With the temperatures between 8-12 degrees for most of the daytime lately, and down to 2 or 3 degrees at night, and as a self confessed wuss when it comes to the cold, the woodburner and I have become extrmely close. The kids went out to ride bikes this afternoon. Although we live in a cul-de-sac, I still go out and sit out there to make sure they are avoiding the cars backing out of driveways etc. Well today I just didn't cope. I found the most sheltered spot, and sat and shivered. I called the kids in after about 45 minutes and that was it. I stayed inside. So did they.

And then Mr Whippy drove down our street and parked outside our driveway. Cos he knows we are suckers for icecream. His merry little tune played, bringing back instant memories of summer at Hahei beach and Mr Whippy Icecream at 6pm outside the campgrounds every night.

BUT who did he think was going to buy icecream today? Seriously.

I have some big weeks coming up. I have some cool assignments - some of them(yet another MM book) pushing me totally outside my normal zone. Totally outside of my 12x12 square. It'll be interesting.
I also have some pretty special visitors coming to stay and crop at my home for a weekend in 2 weeks time. More fun. Pressure's on to get everything sparkly and clean.

Hey - look for Kiwiscraps to release their class descriptions/registration details for CC07/November with Stacy Julian and friends - that's happening really soon. Watch the Kiwiscraps forum for details I guess.

Did you see the BasicGrey newsletter?
I have a layout in there, and Evana has her Basicgrey ribbon bags. She sells those bags - messenger style kinda - I had one with me in Sydney, love love love it and woohooooo that basicgrey snaffled up one for their newsletter!

Just a few snaps from the weekend - Abby helping out in the garden yesterday with a poncho on that is extremely distinctive and she doesn't take it off. So all my layouts of her will look the same for the next 6 months. (yep, she looks cold, huh?)

And Abby taking a pic of Jacob with our little camera. I love the pics the kids take. I download them all and I'm sure in some way I'll scrap them one day!

laters

Been a busy day. I've

Been a busy day. I've been creating macrame plant hangers all afternoon. lol. Kidding. Paul and I have remained encouraged and involved in our respective hobbies, although Paul has sworn himself off alcohol until the Warriors win. I warn him that Steinlager may go broke waiting. I'm still picking the daggers out of the wall behind me from the looks he gave me.

It's past the 10th of the month so my new class is up at Aussie Scrap Source. It's called Flourishes and Flowers ...I love this one.

I've been making layouts for the Aussie Scrap Source blog this week, they've made a few changes over there and one of the new features is a '4 products, 4 ways' kinda thing. Suz picks 4 specific products and 4 of the DTers create something with it. The first one is up now I think? Anyway - something new goes up every few days.
There is also a detailed bio on Chris Millar (who is in NZ soon - YAY!)

Hey talking of talented Aussies - congrats Loretta Grayson on becoming a 2peas Garden Girl.

A quick shout out to Sherry Steveson I need to send congrats her way and good luck too - lots of it, lol - as she ventures on her own journey into sole authorship of her own book. Click the link to her blog to learn more about it. I'm contributing artwork along with 7 other ladies - fun fun fun. I haven't started on my pages yet. Clearly I need to wait til the very last minute, nothing is as much fun when there is plenty of time left.

Interesting random useless piece of information for the day - Cadbury have changed the packets of Freddo frogs to 12 in a pack. Each freddo weighs more. Why. Why would they need to do that?

laters

Monday Morning and the house

Monday Morning and the house is remarkably quiet after a busy weekend of Junior Monopoly and Shrek Operation. With a constant temperature of about 8-10 degrees outside and an actual temperature of about 35 degrees inside thanks to a roaring fire it meant there were lots of board games and TV. And scrapping. lol.

So Paul went to the Warriors yesterday. He has to be one of the most loyal fans out there. 12 years of going to every game he can. Wind, sleet, snow... lol.. So dedicated that he is nervous and can't eat properly for a day before each game.

Well last night he came home pretty defeated. They lost again. He looked at me and he said "12 years I have remained totally dedicated to those guys and I think today I cracked and possibly admitted that I can't keep the enthusiasm up, I need a new hobby". I just about fell over. He just doesn't say stuff like that. This is the Warriors.

SO I look at him. "Me too" I say. "This scrapbooking is over-rated. I've had enough. 8 years I have been dedicated to sticking coloured pieces of paper to other coloured pieces of paper, I don't think I can keep the enthusiasm up".
I was being sarcastic, but actually there was an ounce of 'maybe' in those sentences.

His answer? He got all energetic. "I know!!! Those crochet knitted kinda plant hanger things they made in the 70s! The ones with the wooden beads!!! We could make those!"

It's ok. I didn't take him seriously. Although I might go find some of the materials used and leave them lying on the bench for him to see when he comes home. A few wooden beads here. A bit of macrame stringy stuff there. lol

OK now seriously.
In my inbox this morning.
A voucher for $10 off at Kiwiscraps. Here is the link to the printable voucher. It's for any new customers. And if you use the voucher, either in an online order or in the shop, be sure to mention I sent you, because then I get $1.00 store credit too. I think. lol
Just think Aussie girls, that $10 would just about pay for your postage. Exchange rates mean you dont pay the full NZdollar either.

More scrappy stuff - a page I did for the Aussie Ss blog - WeRMemoryKeepers Comstock range. Not my fav page, just not my colours I guess. And the title is missing a dot for the 'i'. If anyone knows the location of the dot, let me know.

Congrats to Sarah Gladman, winner of the Scrapbook Creations Colour Comp. I had a page in that competition. Apparantly I got into the finalists - there might have been a few of those though. lol.

laters.

A crop.

I went to a crop today - I try and get out once a month and just talk even - Goodness knows I don't crop, lol. Anyway. Lucy had her best singing voice on. She was trying to sing Mika, it didn't work, and when I came home I had to refresh my memory what the song really sounded like. Here is the website. Anyway. It's cool to have playing actually, kinda catchy, but the website is cool too. I could even see it being inspiring for some. Lots of circles and poppety things. The song that Lucy was trying to sing was called Grace Kelly. Random unimportant piece of information for the day. lol

Tarisota gallery went up last night.
June Tecknicolour and June Inklination are here.

oh - just a quick post tonight - all that talking today wore me out. I see Scrapbook Outlet has my book on pre-order.

Apparantly for those of you in Aussie, Blue Bazaar has it on order too.

Apologies for the totally selfish self promotional post tonight!
Lucy's singing wore me out. lol

laters

New BG, tamagotchis and beaded phones.

And Tia thought it was windy when she visited in April. IN the wise words of a friend. "I shall not hang my washing out today in fear it may end up in Fiji". Me too. lol.

Anyone else suffering from winter-itis? I swear I cannot handle many more of this dark-at-7.45am-still days. Apparantly sitting under fluorescent lighting will help. I have fluroescent lighting in the batcave. I now have a medical reason to scrap. Perfect.

A new BasicGrey line - Infuse. This one seems specifically designed just for me. lol. Love it. I see everyone desperatly outclicking to the BasicGrey website. New diecut shapes and letter stickers. Greens, pinks, reds, gorgeous. A bright ray of sunshine on a gloomy day.

Go TEAM NZ! No doubt there is a lot of work beating Alinghi will not be easy but pleeease bring that cup home! I'll be getting up to watch those races. Well, the 5th one at least ;o)

I've lost the plot. This proves it. (Scroll to the bottom and click on featured products. Those beads are still on there.. sticky stuff that dimensional magic... 10 days and counting...)

I failed being a successful parent yesterday. Well. It started Ok. It ended badly. My 8 year old is just exercising his right to practice his independance, I know, BUT it drives me nuts. Just before he was meant to go to bed he stood up. Hands on hips. He says. "I will not go to bed. Nothing you do or say or no punishment you come up with will make me".

I just looked at him. I stood up. I walked to where his tamagotchis were and I picked them both up. I looked at him straight in the eyes and threw those tamagotchis up on top of the kitchen cupboards. "Go to bed" I said. "I was just triiiiiicking" he wailed as he walked down the hallway.
I went down to his room, tucked him in, all that stuff and walked back to the kitchen where my hubby was.

"I am SO GOOD at that " I said to Paul. I was perfectly convinced I had won the battle in a fabulous parenting manner. I could give the tamagotchis back after an apology from Jacob in the morning.

Paul looks at me. "Any chance you heard that funny noise as the tamagotchis hit the top of the cabinets? You know, like they were falling down behind the pantry in some unretreivable-even-by-unwound-coat-hanger type of place?"

There are HOLES on top of the kitchen cabinet? That let things fall in unretreivable places? Women did not design that kitchen did they. Such flaw in design.

Ok so long story short. Jacob has no idea that in 8 degree weather, wind that could fly a washing to Fiji, torrential rain and pitch darkness that his Daddy (note not his Mummy) had to go outside to the shed and find something to retreive said tamagotchis. This was done. The major hookey thing with extremely long handle was made. Tamagotchis were retrieved. It was not easy. Positive thing is that the top of the kitchen cabinets were dusted with my hubby's clothes as he lay across them. lol.

"I'm sorry you married an idiot" I said to Paul as he handed me the toys.

he didn't answer me. LOL.

laters.

New BG, tamagotchis and beaded phones.

And Tia thought it was windy when she visited in April. IN the wise words of a friend. "I shall not hang my washing out today in fear it may end up in Fiji". Me too. lol.

Anyone else suffering from winter-itis? I swear I cannot handle many more of this dark-at-7.45am-still days. Apparantly sitting under fluorescent lighting will help. I have fluroescent lighting in the batcave. I now have a medical reason to scrap. Perfect.

A new BasicGrey line - Infuse. This one seems specifically designed just for me. lol. Love it. I see everyone desperatly outclicking to the BasicGrey website. New diecut shapes and letter stickers. Greens, pinks, reds, gorgeous. A bright ray of sunshine on a gloomy day.

Go TEAM NZ! No doubt there is a lot of work beating Alinghi will not be easy but pleeease bring that cup home! I'll be getting up to watch those races. Well, the 5th one at least ;o)

I've lost the plot. This proves it. (Scroll to the bottom and click on featured products. Those beads are still on there.. sticky stuff that dimensional magic... 10 days and counting...)

I failed being a successful parent yesterday. Well. It started Ok. It ended badly. My 8 year old is just exercising his right to practice his independance, I know, BUT it drives me nuts. Just before he was meant to go to bed he stood up. Hands on hips. He says. "I will not go to bed. Nothing you do or say or no punishment you come up with will make me".

I just looked at him. I stood up. I walked to where his tamagotchis were and I picked them both up. I looked at him straight in the eyes and threw those tamagotchis up on top of the kitchen cupboards. "Go to bed" I said. "I was just triiiiiicking" he wailed as he walked down the hallway.
I went down to his room, tucked him in, all that stuff and walked back to the kitchen where my hubby was.

"I am SO GOOD at that " I said to Paul. I was perfectly convinced I had won the battle in a fabulous parenting manner. I could give the tamagotchis back after an apology from Jacob in the morning.

Paul looks at me. "Any chance you heard that funny noise as the tamagotchis hit the top of the cabinets? You know, like they were falling down behind the pantry in some unretreivable-even-by-unwound-coat-hanger type of place?"

There are HOLES on top of the kitchen cabinet? That let things fall in unretreivable places? Women did not design that kitchen did they. Such flaw in design.

Ok so long story short. Jacob has no idea that in 8 degree weather, wind that could fly a washing to Fiji, torrential rain and pitch darkness that his Daddy (note not his Mummy) had to go outside to the shed and find something to retreive said tamagotchis. This was done. The major hookey thing with extremely long handle was made. Tamagotchis were retrieved. It was not easy. Positive thing is that the top of the kitchen cabinets were dusted with my hubby's clothes as he lay across them. lol.

"I'm sorry you married an idiot" I said to Paul as he handed me the toys.

he didn't answer me. LOL.

laters.

And then all of a

And then all of a sudden it was Wednesday again. I've spent today doing taxes. I hate doing taxes. Paul and I own a small business so I spend far too much time doing taxes, PAYE etc. How can the time to some things drag so slow, yet it seems every second day is GST day? OR PAYE day? Or today is was end of year tax summary stuff. I know. I need to stop before I make some of you physically ill. Seriously. Enough already. Anyway - the reason for my absence - was not that I was too busy making batches and batches of M&M Dream bars as you suspect, although that is true also ... but it was Tarisota pizza box time. You can tell when I have a Tarisota box in the batcave ... I hardly surface to do anything. My months seems to revolve around that pizza box now. Moulin Rouge is this month's theme. Loved it. Just finished uploading tonight. (You guys get to see it on the 8th, I think?) Did you know Tarisota has gone digital... Tiffany Tillman (USA) has joined the team. They are going all techo on me. I'm a digi-loooser so I'm hoping I may learn something? There is hope... no? lol ok maybe not.

I have some layouts that have been posted on the Aussie Scrap Source blog to share. Tinkering Ink. Not my most fav range of papers. I struggled. Lucky for me I had Lianne to help and Lesley and Trina in the background cheering me on. This layout is not my usual. It's tooo patterned for me. Too busy. I'm a sedate kind of gal really - but here you go. That gorgeous baby is my nephew, Aden.

And another LO - this time it was a Strano Ribbon Stiff assignment - seriously, who thought of that name, guess it tells the story - but anyway, this stuff is very cool. I painted the ribbon and twirled it around a pencil to dry and it stayed totally curled. I looped the petals around the pencil and they stayed looped. This stuff is cool.

Brief stuff : Danielle Thompson had her bubba. She may not scrap anymore, but she still inspires. Love the colour on her blog. What colour? Just all of it - pics, photos, just everything.

Keisha - I hadn't visited keisha for a while - I forgot how incredinly inspiring she is.

Emily cards - Ok so she is up to number 22. I have done. um. 6. AND I am making up my own subjects as I go along. Emily loves creativity. I'm sure.

And finally. I'm DONE with the lack of light. You know, I can handle that it is currently 12 degrees outside. That's OK. But I don't like that it is sunrise isn't until 7.31am and that it is gone by 5.14pm. Bring on that shortest day! Then at least the days will only be getting longer, right? (BTW I have the coolest little website here that shows the exact weather in pukekohe where I live, like right NOW .. love love love this website...)

Whoa. Long post. When it rains, it pours.
laters.