It's been one of those days...

A wet day

Enough raining already.

I'm just sayin'.

My view out my office window.  Yes the new scraproom has been named 'the office' so far.  Perhaps because noone want's to claim ownership... we all spend time here... it's a 5 person office...

And yes, I know there are people a lot worse off than me.  A lot wetter.  Without power for the past 3 or 4 days.  Personally I'm being selfish and just asking for some sun for a few days straight.  I feel serious vitamin D deficiencies that will only be fixed by large amounts of sun, lollies or american crafts thickers. 

So I've been a little delayed with my blogging... I had this new theory.  I decided to scrap assignments during the day, be done by the time the kids got home from school and attend to computer stuff at night.  Which is kind of crazy theory because by the time I do all the organising and other stuff that is involved with what I do, probably 60% of my work is sitting at this computer writing instructions, emailing with people, typing the Queen blog, and all the other random stuff. 

So the theory was blown apart on day one.  And now it's 3.30pm and I haven't even started the assignment I need to do today. 

I'm going to try again starting tomorrow.

Scrapbooking - Here is a layout I did for the latest dare at No 8 Wired Dares.  It was their 50th challenge and it involved inspiration from a page in magazine and the winter theme.  Here is my take.  (BAD pic here... bad light... I took this pic at night! It looks way better IRL)

Again, hand journaling.  I see it and am all of a sudden releived to have found my printer again!

I got a comment from Kylie Tout the other day, and I quite often visit blogs of those that comment, especially if it happens I'm eating a meal and reading the internet when the comment comes through.  You know, that new thing I have where I'm trying not to go on the computer during the day....   Kylie's is a favourite because she has great songs on there.. I'll leave them to play for a bit. Anyhoooooooo Kylie mentioned she had done a layout for the Mojo Holder Blog based around one of my all time favourite layouts of mine - Check it out here, check out the mojo holder's DT layouts while you are there - all very cool!

Things coming up in the next week - SENZ classes open for VIP ticket holders on Friday I think?  Here's a little sneak of one of mine...

Also coming up over the weekend is the Stampin' Up! release of the new mini spring catalog.  I'm playign with some stuff and will be posting projects and asking for comments to win a few things out of the mini catalog.

First though, kiddies homework... then knuckle down to a yummy corned beef for dinner and Tuesday is my fav TV night.  Because I can see the TV from my scraproom now.  My best friend right through early high school (Janine) her hubby is on the Rich List tonight.  I saw Dave on the shorts last night - no hiding it from us, Dave!  Looking forward to seeing that, along with Sensing Murder.

oh - edited to add - please vivist this post on the Aussie Scrap Source blog, it has the entries for the first category in the Whose Layout is it Anyway thing that we have going on.... it's fun and the second challenge is here - everyday, distressed, Scenic Route or SEI, layers, lots of photos... sounds like me... join in the challenge if you can, there are prizes up for grabs!

laters

End of an era

Today marks the end of an era for me.  I've been working in a small room down the hallway with the bedrooms.  Small enough that I can pretty much touch each wall from where I'm sitting.  There is a small track in and when one is in here, it's extremely hard to leave.  My scrapping room has been affectionately known as the 'batcave' for years, but it's all about to change.

Today is the day the furniture for the new office arrives.  It's an office big enough to be a double bedroom.  It has 3 desks.  One for me, one for hubby and one for the kids.  I can scrap.  I can keep up with the accounting side of the business paperwork.  Paul can study and complete business paperwork and quotes.  The kids can come home from school and do their homework.  It'll be bliss. It's been a long time coming.

So it's goodbye little batcave.  I've probably spent thousands of hours in here over the past 4 years. I created Shauna's Chatterbox album in here, I've toiled over CHA layouts here,  I've written and created art for my book in here. It's going to be hard to say goodbye.

I still find it a little bizarre that I manage to be so involved in this hobby that it is now a living for me.  Sometimes I have to remind myself it's a hobby too.  So here's to scrapbooking, and here's to a new office.  BRing it on.

(Layout created for my book, That's Life, in 2006.  It's still all true , it's just the same, I just have more wrinkles now....)

I remember my parents using the words "I remember when ------ was...." with reference to price point on alsorts of things... it did nothing but make me think they were really old.  It seems bizarre to hear similar words come out of my mouth these days.

Yesterday it was diesel.  I drove into the gas station, the attendant walked over and I asked for her to put $100 in please.  I could hardly believe the words were coming out of my mouth.  It seemed so bizarre since I remember driving in to a gas station not so long ago and asking for them to put $30 in. 

And the sad thing is that I drive a diesel.  And $100 didn't even go near filling it.
It just seemed so bizarre.

I haven't mentioned the Aussie Scrap Source Blog for a while, but I feel I need to today, there has been some changes recently and although many of you already check the blog daily, there will be more reason to do so soon with piles more inspiration and projects about to go up weekly.  I've taken on more of a role in creating projects for the blog as well, the first of which can be seen from August onwards.

ALSO we are playing a game "Whose Layout is it anyway...." and I see from today's post that there are lots of people joining in.  It's fun, check out the post here.

Stampin' Up!  The new Spring mini catalog is due to release on the 1st of August - you didn't think I was going to let that go by without some posting of small projects and giveaways, huh?!  They have sent me some goodies to play with from the catalog, so be sure to check back week of the 1st for prize giveaways!

Ok I want to leave you with something - Shauna tagged me about 6 weeks ago... I never did get around to posting despite the fact that i thought it was pretty cool and I learnt stuff about SHauna that I didn't know.  So here we are... I won't tag anyone because I was tagged weeks ago, but go ahead :o) Have a laugh!. 

laters

OH! Lainie!  Email me! :o)))

Five Things About Me

What were you doing five years ago?

5 Years ago, Jacob had just started morning Kindy, Braden (2 1/2) was learning how banging his head on the tiles in protest of any and all decisions I made was going to get him nowhere, we were building a new home and I was about 3 months pregnant with Abby.  I had lost all mojo.  I barely scrapped at all.

What are five things on your to-do list for today?
1) Take the boys to Karate. 
2) Clean the bathrooms
3) Start and finish (good luck to me) an assignment for an Aussie magazine
4) Try (again) to teach the kittens how to use a cat door.  How many times can one shove a cat in and out a cat door before they get it?
5) Get a full nights sleep. (please kids, leave me alone to sleep!)

What are five snacks you enjoy?

1) Weight Watchers Black Forest bars, 10 seconds in the microwave.  YUM!  All sold out in Pak N Save because everyone else has discovered the Weight watchers goodness.  If it is possible to have those 2 words in a sentence.
2) Corn thins with peanut butter.
3) Granny Smith Apples
4) Rice Wafers.  And Rice Wafers ANd RICE Wafers.YUM
5) the occasional freddo frog ;o)
note: I would also love potato chips, potato chips and potato chips.  If i could.  Without growing to the size of a house.  *sigh* infact if there were a potato chip land, I'd move there.

What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?

1) Send my hubby to Somalia to build houses.  He actually wants to go, we just need to find the means and the time away from our own business without it falling over
2) Buy a new car - on the plans anyway but we have a budget.  It'd be nice not to.  I need to get one with 3 diagonal belts in the back seat.  Abby can't be in a 5 point harness much longer LOL
3) Take my family and friends on trips to places like Disneyland.  I'd so love that!
4) Go on holiday again
5) Figure out some way to make a difference.

What are five of your bad habits?

1) Procras.t.i.n.a.t.i..o...n.
2) Perfectionism
3) Not getting enough sleep
4) goign through periods of eating really badly (inbetween those I'm on WW, lol)
5) Computer.

What are five places where you have lived?
1) Ruawai, Northern North Island.
2) Patumahoe
3) Puni
4) Pukekohe
5) and that is all

What are five jobs you’ve had?

1) General cook at a fish n chip shop for years.
2) Kiwifruit packer
3) Travel Agent
4) Retail manager
5) general dogsbody

Third the golden eagle.

I could have sworn it was "Third the golden eagle".  Imagine my surprise when half the ladies at the crop said it was "Third the golden Princess, and only the other half backed me up with "Third the golden eagle".  I was so puzzled by it - why had I lived 30 odd years without hearing the 'third the Princess" one, I don't know. 

So I googled it.  And apparently it's half and half,  third the golden princess and third the golden eagle.  There are some other (as mentioned in the previous comments) other versions too.  I'm somewhat peturbed that my own brother didn't back me up with 'Third the golden eagle" but then he was third and the cutest so he always just made up what he suited. 

So. CHA.  Apparently not the huge show of yesteryear, infact I hear that the whole tradeshow is a little quiet.  I'm proud to have artwork, yea layouts, but it feels flash saying artwork, up at the BasicGrey booth.  So. introducing:

Eva.  Gorgeous deep colouring.  Loved the extravagence in this line.  Just downright gorgeous.  I'll admit my first reactions to this line were that it was pretty but it was going to be impossible.  I ended up loving it and wishing I had time to create more.

And then we have Granola.  It's a little more subdued than the other lines.  It has boyish rugged charm.  It has a lot of tan and dark greys that you can't so much see in my layouts. I wanted to do one boy layout and one girl.  And again, yes, you have seen these photos before, I always use pre-loved pics on CHA projects.  Really easy colours to work with.

And this is Urban Prairie.  It was the first Basicgrey layout I did and although I like it, I'd love the chance to re-do this one.  I was overwhelmed by the incredible amount of STUFF and patterns in this paper and clearly I just tried to fit it all on one layout. lol.  It's pretty. Like I said, it's full of designs..butterflies... birds.... just pretty stuff.

And then there was the line of paper that the ladies at BasicGrey correctly predicted I would love at first sight.  Yes.  Ambrosia.  Lay-all-the-papers-on-the-floor-in-a-line-and-stand-back-and-quietly-shed-a-tear-of-happiness, Ambrosia.  I exagerate.  But I liked it.  I think this layout made the Basigrey Catalog.  If we weren't sick of this photo already then now we are. 

(removed) 

 

The other line is called Offbeat.  And where is offbeat, I hear you ask?  I didn't create a layout with Offbeat.  It's a fairly graphic, geometrical line and I opted for 2 granola and no offbeat.  I like the papers, I am excited to try them, but didn't want to do so under tradeshow-layout-pressure.

NZ's own No8 Wired...  Who checks out this dare blog on a regular basis?... I started off with No8 Wired a few years ago and quickly found that I was dreaming , I could never find the time to dedicate to the blog while writing my book and dropped off the team.  50 dares later and I came back to celebrate their 50th Dare.  It's a goodie!  You can see the dare here... my layout is there among lots of others... if you haven't checked it out recently, do so, you might win a good old fashioned scrappy prize :o)

So anyway.  It's pouring outside and I can hear the rain down the chimney.  I love that sound.  Anyone that has read my book knows it was the sound I often fell asleep to as a child, as the chimney was just outside my bedroom.  We have a new chimney and I can hear the rain.  Awesome. Time to tuck down to bed *go the warriors*

laters

Friday

It's just past 1pm and it's possible that friday's lunch could consist of Freddo frogs and vegemite and chip sandwiches.  It's the evil diet witch's worst nightmare.  I struggle daily with the inner-mind battle of knowing what is good for me and what I really want.  Usually the good and somewhat skinnier health freak angel on my right shoulder wins and it's healthy stuff for lunch.  Today I'm not so sure.  It'll be dinner time by the time I've decided.

I haven't shared this creation yet!  The latest Tarisota kit came with some fabric hoops and I'm danged if I didn't stop in my tracks when I opened that sucker up and think to myself "what the heck is a simple non sewing kinda chick going to do with THAT" as I composed a "what were you thinking" email to Tamar.  But it only took one minute of lucid thinking to realise I didn't have to use it with fabric.  So I didn't.  I used it with paper.  I turned some white cardstock over and traced around the hoop, trimmed my cardstock to that shape and created a round layout.

Not just any old layout though.  This one is something special - it's for Abby's room, using one of my favourite pics of her and I.  And yes I have used this pic before and you will see it again... probably even tomorrow....I'm using them for different purposes and that is OK - it's a favourite photo!  I applied good old tombo to the hoop and stuck my circle of cardstock on there.  And see the little silver clip I've attached there?  Theoretically that is to clip sweet little "I love you, baby" notes on there.  It's very possible the notes might say something else.  Depending on Abby's mood, her behaviour and whether the evil lunch devil or the healthy freakazoid angel won the lunch battle. 

 

And again.  Handwriting.  Because my printer still hasn't surfaced from underneath the drop-sheets it is under. 

Talking of Tarisota - I'm currently working on 2 limited editions.  The first is a regular Teckni-Colour and the second is a Basicgrey 4 U using 3 of the new CHA releases!  I've done this twice before.  I take a whole lot of fairly generic embellishments and a whole lot of new BG papers (not released yet, but I have them here!) and I create 4 layouts with instructions.  As soon as the BasicGrey hits the Australian shores, Tamar ships the collections and you all are within the first to have the BasicGrey WITH instructions to do 4 layouts.  So.  I'm working on that.

And remember I will be posting my BAsicgrey layouts tomorrow!

Hey- thanks SO much to those of you that commented and emailed me about SENZ.  It was so nice to have the break from teaching but I'm over it now.  Really and truly and I can't wait to hit SENZ in Wellington with some newly found teaching enthusiasm.  It bought a smile to my face every time I read an email saying "Good on ya nic".  So thanks. 

Oh.  I need to leave you with a riddle.  I thought there was only one answer to this (as I hear it every single day as my kids all wait for each other to clip themselves in the car first so they can all be last...) but according to the ladies at the crop I was at last week, the rhyme the kids use isn't the only one!

So answer me this.

First the worst,
Second the best,
Third the ....?

(And I'm telling you, from now on when we get in the car it's first the best, second the not so good and third is going to get his butt kicked if he doesn't clip himself in right away)...

laters

Ah yes.  School holidays.  I forgot how busy one can be doing everything completly out of routine. Have I scrapped this week? No.  Is my house trashed? Yes.  Do I care? No.  I'm just loving having the kids home.  I'm also loving having carpet on my floor.  That was a big old YESSSSSSSSS moment when that arrived. The kids have been playing board games on the floor , yes on the floor, it's not bare concrete anymore!, since dinner time.  Except Abby, she tells me she can't because she has 'headaches'. - she's got that word wrong because I totally know she means hiccups!

BIG NEWS - I've just joined the team of Prima Endorsed Teachers called the 'Prima-Donnas'.  I've been involved behind the scenes with Prima on some other projects so it's a great feeling to extend it to the teaching.  The Prima-Donnas are a group of teachers - many of which you'll know ... Donna Downey, Adrienne Looman, Celine Navarro, The Iron Orchid design girls... there is heaps more but you get the picture.  But it means I'll be teaching some great Prima classes around the place .. keep an eye out for somewhere near you .. I'm excited...thrilled... I've taken a lot of time of teaching and so I'm refreshed and keen.  One of the first gigs I'll be teaching at is SENZ in Wellington in October!  I'm teaching 2 classes adapted from Donna Salazar.... both are amazing aand I'm so hoping to see lots of familiar faces there.   Keep an eye on the Kiwiscraps/Crafthouse or the SENZ website for details.

Just a quick post for tonight - I feel like I've been chasing my tail a little bit with the chaos of the holidays and the madness of tradesmen in the house and I'm still catching up.  I'll leave you with a Tarisota layout from the latest kit, Citrus Sorbet.  You'll notice the handwriting - something really rare on my layouts.  My printer was under dropsheets at the time!

Oh - and a reminder that I'm allowed to show you all my BasicGrey layouts on Saturday.  Looking forward to that!

Laters.

Materials:
Cardstock, Bazzill. 
Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee, Makign Memories, Sassafras Lass.
Chipboard: Cosmo Cricket
Letter Stickers: Scrapworks
Felt flowers and butterflies: Heidi Swapp.

I gotta say...

I gotta say... I was pretty stoked when the editor of Get Creative contacted me a while back and asked me to contribute to an article about Memory Craft.  I try and maintain that I'm just a scrapbooker with an overflowing inbox, a house that I try to keep beautifully clean but don't always manage, 3 kids that know exactly where I'll be if I go missing -since when do I go missing, I'm always in my scraproom or the kitchen - and a home business that takes up far too much scrapbooking time.  But occasionally I get clues that make me think that this scrapbooking really is more.  It's bigger than just a home craft.  It's something people are really interested in hearing about, and this is where the editor of Get Creative magazine steps in.  Jacquie Byron -editor of Get Creative - contacted me back in March.  Jacquie asked me some interesting questions about the craft we've all come to hold fairly close, and I answered best I could, knowing that the answers were going to be used in an article to hopefully inspire more readers to join us in the hobby.  The article came out this week in the July 08 issue.  My answers were paired with those of Carol Wingert and Helen Bradley.  I'm thrilled with the way the article came together - grab a copy if you see the magazine!

Images shamelessly borrowed from Carol's blog -

Other stuff - I created some layouts for the July tarisota gallery -  my favourite by far is one I did on a sewing hoop sof rAbby's room but I'll show that later in the week.  First I wanted to show you this layout I did while trying to channel some amazing Lesley Cooper or Suz Doyle vibes.  I tried to take a deep breath and take comfort in my white space, but I think I failed somewhat.  It left me with a slightly different layout though.

Journaling is about how Paul & I enjoyed fishing before we had kids, and how we owned a boat, but went on to sell it when our family was little.  AND how we might nearly be ready to be boat owners again.  Abby's first fishing experience... she loved it...bring on the boat...lol.

I'll share more Tarisota in coming days... encouragement for me to blog everyday :o)

laters.

Where do I start. 

The Basicgrey layouts I finished just in time, packaged up, just moved out of the way before I sent a full can of Coke Zero flying across my desk?  Which I had there just to look at, because, you know, I gave it up weeks ago.... I thanked the God of BasicGrey layouts for taking care of me, that day.  The final stages of the renovation?  The dust through my house that is so bad it is inbetween my layouts in my cupboard down the hallway?  The fact that as I sit here in my itty bitty scraproom I realise it's just 2 weeks before I move into a bigger office in a different part of the house where I'll also run our home business from?

It's all too much.
But it's all good.  So close to finishing.  I can't wait. I'm a happy girl.

But in the meantime I have sadly neglected both my blog and my emails.  My inbox is overflowing out of my computer and onto my desk.  Which I can't see for mess anyway.  Today I am cleaning it up.  I should be back to normal blogging from today though.  If I can warm up my hands to type.  I hear the South Islanders laughing at me right now - YES it keeps freezing overnight, we are suffering up north here! We just about hit -1 this morning~! Today's main mission is to set a work-to-do timetable.  I might even try and get some submissions away, I haven't done that in months!  this is all after I clean my desk properly from the Coke Zero.  The quick clean up I did yesterday just won't cut it.

I woke this morning to an email from Big Picture Scrapbooking saying that all my classes are up.  I'm a happy girl, and incredibly proud.  I'll give you a run-down and I'm hoping some of you will join me at BPS.  The classes are instant downloads and really cheap.  You are encouranged to use your stash, or the full materials lists are there.  Here's how they go, anyway.

Confessions: A full audio and powerpoint presentation, handout and instructions to complete a mini album.

We all have funny little things that we do. Call them quirks, call them habits; perhaps they are better known as personality traits. our quirks paint pictures of our personalities in ways that we could never describe ourselves.
If we include these aspects in our projects, then when we look back years from now, it’ll be easy to see the true picture of who we really were. So let’s get honest – take a look inside and think of the things that define the real you. We’ve already pinpointed some fun facts about ourselves; now it’s time to include them in our very own ‘Confessions’ albums.

The next one is Conversations, and this one has been up at BPS for a while and is doing really well... I'm getting amazing feedback.  It's a really relaxed class, people are enjoying it... 

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 we wanted to tell more of a story.  Through the writing of her recently released book That's Life: Finding Scrapbook Inspiration in the Everyday, Nic Howard has enjoyed discovering many methods of unearthing the stories we could potentially tell in our pages. Keeping scrapbooking 'real' is something Nic is passionate about. She is well known for looking behind the obvious and finding inspiration where others don't see it. If you want fresh inspiration for journaling, page subject and titles, then this class is for you!

(woohooo!  Like that advertising speeeeel there?  Sounds all professional-like!)

Ok and the last one is different than what I taught with Stacy -Constant Reminders.

It's still an acrylic album but it's newly designed.  I used making memories and Rhonna Farrer, although you can use anything.  Again, handouts etc all provided, it's instant download so do it in your own time.. use your stash or use the stuff I have in the materials list (Kiwiscraps has a special link to buy it Iand they have special promo pack freebies available if you buy any BPS stuff through them).  I LOVE this class.  Have you been curious about Acrylic but not able to attend a class?  This might be perfect.

Alrighty.  That's one crapload of promotion really.  A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do to justify her living! 

I'll be back tomorrow with images from the Tarisota gallery.  I'm also working on some more promotions like the Stampin' Up! one we did - I'm sure the info is in one of these emails that is spilling out onto my desk. lol

laters.

Whatever happened to Sunday being a day of rest?  Did it count people that are renovating their homes when that plan was made?  Paul and I are both well and truly sick of doing stuff in the house for what seems like forever.  We look forward to the day we have a lounge and a lounge suite and can relax in front of the TV and just do nothing.  And actually even when we had a completed house we never realy did that, but we can dream, right?

Today it was the grinding down of the concrete to get the floor ready for the tiles.  We haven't got much furniture and what we do have was under drop sheets. I didn't imagine that much dust and it is everywhere.  The kids and I evacuated outside and watched through the windows.  Which was pretty much useless because the dust was so thick we couldn't see in.  Paul eventually opened the windows which created clouds of dust piling outside.  It was so bad the neighbour came over to see if we were on fire.

But at least now we are ready for floor coverings.  And after that comes a fireplace.  Which is so good since this is the kind of weather we had in Pukekohe yesterday.

The kids played in the hail for an hour or two.  It ended up in a large hail fight with the neighbour.  We all loved it.  The thunder and lightening and occasional torrential downpour was a great setting for where Paul & I went in the evening also.  A friend was hosting a murder party so we found our best going-out-to-a-murder-party attire and off we went.

I was a mad dentist, we also have a cannibal, a fortune teller and poor Paul was Roger & Hammerstein.  We were all given our roles before we went and can I say it was the BEST fun ever.  And just for the record, despite the fact that I was accused several time of being a ruthless nasty deceitful killer, it wasn't neccessarily me. :o)

I woke this morning (reluctantly, lol) to the BasicGrey newletter in my inbox.  I had a layout in there, I'll post it here so you can see it a little larger.  It's called two, three, four and it is using 2 scoops.  Lucky two scoops has that teal colour.  One day I'll find a new fav but for now I'm incredibly happy with the teal. Surprisingly enough I'm working on a layout now that doesn't use blue.  Who would have thought?

Laters.