Sunday, May 30, 2010

And then we could breath again...

At precisely 10:30am today, the bank and the conveyancers got together, exchanged a huge wad of cash and our land became ours (under a biiiiig morgage).

The final drawings are a few days away from completion and we have been advised that there are about 2 weeks from there for council to approve everything and then we shall be well and truely on the right road to building! Finally!

________________________________________
Because we were a week behind (because of the bank not having the documents for us to sign in time) some of our neighbours titled last week. It is easy on a visit out to the estate to see who these people are, as they are the ones with the shiny new taps out front!

Our tap will be there soon enough!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

As promised...

As I posted earlier in my Blog, I have been working on something for an OS label. What I have been working on exactly is an application for a spot on the Design Team of My Little Shoebox.




The call ended on the 15th of May 2010 US time so I am sure that I should be able to post what I have been up to now, as my entry is safe as... well.. houses. hahah.

I had to create 2 layouts, 1 Project & 1 card using their products. I think it was something like 80-90% their product, which I have done, using only cardstock, Heidi Swapp & Basic Grey alphas as my extras that were not theirs..







Ofcourse, what would this journey be with out my bestie to take along for the ride? I guess, its a bit of an inside joke, although with anything that I have done, in the sake of the scrapbooking industry, I have done a layout of Cath and I. I am sure she is thinking "OMG, not again!!" but honey... where would I be without you? You and I have travelled Australia and the US so far in the name of this art... why stop now!? right? ;-)

and lastly... a card. I hate taking photos of stuff that has had kindy glitz and stickles used on it.. It never looks quite right, though I hope it is good enough to give them a look-see. The glitz on the umberella is meant to be crystal... not blue like it appears, though, it is most definately blue tim holtz stickles that has been used on the cloud and the puddle beneath the birdie.
Oh well... not a lot that I can doto change what looks wrong to me now! ha.

Anyway... they are bold.. they are colourful, though I think they are a good representation of me... ~shrugs~ What do you think!? Me?

Scrapbook Housekeeping..

I have just spent the last hour or so doing some much needed housekeeping for my scrap layouts. I had gotten to the point where I had a leaning tower of scrap layouts on my desk and barely enough room to store them - so after calling on my work in progress album - I have found just enough room to store the tower of layouts that were on my desk, although while putting them safely away, have realised that there are many of them that I have failed to share with you. Eeeep. So, I will endevour to get these photographed, cropped and uploaded ASAP.

Looking at the way that my darling husband is staring at my desk as I type and he waits to gain ownership once again of his laptop, I would suspect that he believes that there is way more to scrapbook housekeeping than just putting away a mountain of layouts... ~looks sheepishly to the mess that once was my desk~ Okay... so we have operation catastophe on our hands... so!? Okay... I guess I will go fix it up too... but... in my defence, I must say that when one works with as much purpose at her desk as I did today, one must expect a little scrap "fall out" in return.

I mentioned that I had been working on something for an OS label... well...my work is done and that too, is something that I hope to share, in detail with you soon... instead of the teaser that I shared last time I blogged. In a little while, I will add some more teasers of the rest of what I have been working on... and since the deadline was the 15th of May (which is today in the states - its times like this that I love that they are a day behind us... which means that I had a day more... ) I should be able to share in full with you what I have been up to... for now, though... I will just say this.... My Little Shoebox!!

That leaves me with one little scrapping secret then... and that one, while it is absolutely killing me NOT TO SHARE, I will have the go ahead very soon to share with you......

well... I guess I have stalled enough... I best go clean up before he makes an inventory for a garage sale!
Hope you have had a happy and fulfilling weekend.
Love and hugs.
xxxx

Saturday, May 01, 2010

3 months on...


If you have been following my blog you would have known that three months ago I started out on journey... the journey was to take control of my life and a major part of that was to start attending a gym regularly.. and ultimately lose the weight that has crept on (and many times rushed me) over the last 17 years..
I am still a long way from the end of this journey, though every day, gaining more and more control.. and the scales thankfully are showing the winning results...

Since I put the extra weight on, i have hated having my photo taken. While I will let the kids and Matt take my photos sometimes, for prosperity sake (so their children can see that i truely did exist)I smile, deep down I am hating every minute of it.


This photo was taken last weekend, when we went on a picnic for Mirandas Birthday... Even though I know that I still have a way to travel, I am really impressed with the way my body is starting to look and can see the results myself.. I didn't mind having this photo taken, and I am glad that someone wanted to take it, as I think that it is proof, that I am on the right track. (a good comparrison shot is the photo that is in the layout below, "me @36" which was taken only this January gone, before I started on this journey!) Oh yeah.. and to celebrate reaching my first goal weeks ago and approaching my second goal, I decided that a trip to the hairdressers was in order. I got it lopped and seriously thinned!

A picture tells a thousand words..

They say a picture speaks a thousand words... and this picture is definately no exception. It was Mirandas birthday last friday (she turned 9) although unfortunately, when she was born, she collided with the long weekend that we celebrate ANZAC day and since over her short life, most of her friends are children of defence members, the weekend just does not work to arrange a birthday party. Especially since it sees her own daddy marching and often away.


Even though many of her friends now are not defence children, their parents see it as a great opportunity to sneak away for a lovely weekend away.. so ... I think you get the picture.



Anyway... This year I promised Miranda that she could chose her own cake and I would make her a cake. She is the only one of the three that has not regularly had me make her a cake and the only one that has not had the opportunity to chose the design of her cake. So, she chose a castle and had a giraffe as backup.. though do you think that I could find all the trimmings required to make either of them? Bah... no way!
I tookyesterday off as an accrued day off from work so I would have time to make her a cake, shop for the party favours and food and have a little nap before being overtaken by a hosue full of 8 and 9 year olds.


Well... at 7am yesterday morning, Kiera and I were scouring the internet like crazy loons trying to find a wow factor cake that would not necessarily require me travelling to all corners of Melbourne to look for trimmings when we came across a whole heap of "topsy turvy cakes"... the colours in these cakes were amazing... and there was definately some WOW factor to say the least, so we started off sketching out our own design ideas... only i knew i did not have enough time, i sketched the cheshire cat out of Alice in wonderland, sitting plump and round with the mad hatters hat on his head and a tea cup precariously balanced on top. (the teacup would have been made out of fondant)... anyway... we figured that since Kiera was going to school so i would not have the extra hands i would need to make such a cake, and that I was going to the gym, heading across town to the bank manager with Matt, then getting back at about 1.30pm to start the cake decorating, that I would only have a few hours before firstly, Miranda came home and secondly, party guests would start arriving... so, the cheshire has been put off until next year and I settled for this instead... The cake : children ratio was alot out, and there is just under 3kg of sugar in that baby... though who cares when I got a responce like i did!?


All morning we had been telling her that we were going to be making her a cake with a dinosaur on top. My darling friend Richard sent over this amazing cake topper that when batteries are inserted, roars and has eyes that glow red. When i say cake topper, I dont mean the pathetic little things we get here in Australia, I mean, about 6" of roaring animated cake top action!
While my baby is a little too polite to say "mum - pull your head in, im a 9 year old girl and so not into dinosaurs" the look on her face was telling me exactly that, mixed with a lot of worry and concern. So when she returned home from school and automatically ran down the hall and headed to the kitchen, she was

very concerned when she was stopped short and told she could not see her cake!
This poor babe had to wait until 9pm last night before she finally got a glimpse at her cake and Matt was on hand with the camera... This photo was not staged, this is the first snap of the camera - taken precisely at the second she first laid eyes on her cake!

I love it!

From the depths of my scrap desk..

I peeked at my blog last night while I was hosting a birthday party for a bunch of eight and nine year olds after I was made aware of the fact that not only have I not updated my blog in a while, January was the last time I uploaded anything that I had been scrapping - That long!? Surely not!

Well... the information was correct... so I am going to attempt to right the wrong and upload some work over this weekend... though, while I get the other stuff sorted and photographed, I figured, I would start with these few things...



and finally, I can only give a sneek peek of this one. I have been working on this for weeks now. I am using it to apply for a position on a DT for an OS scrapping label... so obviously, I would hate for any of the competition to move in on my design and get the position... right!? I promise that you will be the first eyes that see it when I can show it!

It will be a few weeks yet, though I promise you, I think it is worth the wait.
;-)

Anyway... happy Saturday... The sun is shining.. its a little fresh here this morning, though I think that it will be a lovely day anyway.... Enjoy what ever it is that you have planned... for me, that is, leaving you now and heading to the Gym!
Love and hugs.
xxx