Another week gone

Well another week gone!  It's almost the end of the month too, so another month gone.  I don't know where the time is going.

Nothing spectacular happened this week - same ole, same ole.

The dogs went to the groomers and Nim is acting funny again.  I don't know what happens at the groomers but for about a week after, he runs around like someone is chasing him!

The groomer said Cilla doesn't like her.  She (the groomer) said Cilla thinks she is a princess and I treat her like a dog!  I think I will change groomers - of course Cilla is a princess!

It has taken me all week to finish one scrapbook page and a set of two cards! 

The cards were done for Scrap Therapy's Just For Fun Card Challenge.  I have probably shamelessly scraplifted Julie's cards, but what the heck?  I just love doing the challenges.

http://www.scraptherapy.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=368&t=11324

Here are my cards:  The criteria was to use shades of the same colour.  I love the colour combo, and to think I used scraps (apart from the base) and the ribbon, flowers and ric ric were in my stash.  I am not sure about the sentiment though.  I originally thought male cards, but I really wanted to use the little flowers, so of course that ruled out male cards.  I only have to change the sentiment, so will see.

 

 

 

The Layout was for http://blackwith2challenge.blogspot.com.au/

 

I was looking for a challenge - I tried to do Kraft It Up, but the papers and sketch I had out just weren't doing it for me and while I was browsing the net, I came across Black with 2 and it just spoke to me.  Here is my effort.  The photo is of Olivia when she was about 6 months old.  Again I have used scraps!  Cheap scrapper!  And I got to use some Washi tape!  I splattered the background with some watered down aqua paint and also coloured the while flowers slightly.  I like the end result.  I know - I am a VERY plain scrapper, but I am the one who has to like it in the long run!

 

 

 

 

 

Until next time. xo



 

 

 

Update?

Well, nothing much has happened to update, but I do want to try and be a regular or even semi regular blogger!

The weekend was magic.  The weather was absolutely glorious.  After the markets on Saturday, we came home and made coffee and sat out on the deck to enjoy it and the sunshine!  Love soaking up the rays - especially after the doctor told me a couple of weeks ago that I was deficient in Vitamin D!
I thought coming from the tropics I would still have a store, but apparently it depletes rather rapidly.

Dinner on Saturday night was great - a little toned down as the young fella had fallen off a bed and cracked his head, but it was decided that we had to eat anyway, so dinner went ahead.  As it became increasingly obvious he was going to be just fine, we decided to have a drink or two and a game of cards.  That makes for a great night!

Sunday we all decided we would go to Deloraine and have lunch at the 50s diner there.  I have never been but have been hearing a lot about it, so was keen to go.  It is halfway home for Shaz, so a win win situation!  Got there to find it closed for their winter break!  Never mind - still have the experience to look forward to.

We went to the park so the kids could let off some steam, and ended up buying burgers and milk shakes (I think we all had burgers and shakes in mind for the 50s cafe!) and ate in the park.  It worked - we were all still together and the kids were happy.

I had charged up my camera ready to take, but forgot it!  I think I had it in mind I would use the camera on my new phone!  Tareq bought me a  smart phone for my birthday (a little early) and I LOVE it!

No scrapping has been done - I am trying to use some of the papers from the past couple of kits I have received, but they just aren't working for me.  They are too bright.  I sanded the papers down and they are more muted, but I am still not happy.  I think I will just give it up as a bad joke.  I have been disappointed in these kits.  The first one I loved!  It was Glitz Pretty in Pink so that is when I signed up for the 6 months!  I thought they would all be similar - paper, alphas and bits and pieces  but they haven't been, and three of them have been so bright I have struggled to work with them.  The last one wasn't too bad, but I still haven't even unpacked it to have a good look, but seeing it on the site it seems OK. I have one more to go, so I hope I like next month's kit or it is going to have been a huge waste of money.

I think I am going to be better off buying a whole line from a certain online store!  But then I keep on telling myself I have so much paper etc I could probably scrap for a year and not have to buy anything.

I really need to update my blog layout, but will have to find the time to sit down and do it. 

Another week gone!

Oh joy - it's Saturday!  Haven't poked my head outside yet to see what the weather is like.  Lets hope it is an improvement on yesterday, when it rained all day!  I know we have been lucky with winter so far, but even so, I have had enough of the rain.  Luckily the cold doesn't bother me, but then I guess I am not in it much, what with being in the house and then work.

We are off to the Burnie Farmer's markets this morning.  It seems that I haven't been there for such a long time.  I am sure it is going to be squelchy after all the rain!  Times like this when I wish I had some gum boots!

Shaz is coming up from Launceston after work today.  It has been way too long since we have seen her.   She knows when to time her visit!  We have a roast pork dinner planned.  We are going over next door -  we will cook the pork in the weber and Vickie is going to do the veges.  (She does the BEST roast vegies!) I am going to do cauliflower au gratin and Paul has made a black forest cheesecake.  The dinner is in celebration of Tareq's birthday.  We were going to have it last Friday, but with everyone sick and Tareq jet lagged, we decided to postpone it until this weekend.  

I have my "relief" at work now - we had a few mishaps yesterday, but nothing too disastrous.  The new phone was installed yesterday afternoon, so now I have to show Natasha how to use that!

 I was dreading the new phone, but it HAS to be installed in 2 weeks, so I agreed to have it yesterday.  I still don't see why the powers that be think taking away something that is so easy to use and replacing it with something that takes more time to use is a good thing!

Next week I might be able to venture away from the front desk and get some other jobs done.  I think that is going to be the best part of having Natasha there.  Not only will I be getting my breaks, but I can do other things that I couldn't do before because I was "tied" to the front desk.

I am the only one out of bed at the moment (just me and the dogs), so I think I might go and have another play with the layout I have on my desk at the moment.

And talking of scrapping - I got the most gorgeous RAK in the mail yesterday,  from Julie at Scrap Therapy.  I won it for doing one of the challenges at Scrap Therapy!  Luckily it was in plastic, as our letter box gets full of water when the rain comes a certain way and you guessed it, it was coming that certain way yesterday!

So hopefully, next post I will have some scrappy creation/s to share.

'Til next time. x

Hello Blog land!

Hello!  Long time no blog!

There has been a "will I, won't I" discussion re blogging on the forum at Scrap Therapy, and I remembered I had a long neglected blog, so thought I might resurrect it.   I have just done one post, which I seem to have lost, so hopefully, second time lucky.

As you can imagine, a lot has happened since I last blogged.  We still love Tasmania - I now have a job, which has seriously curtailed my scrapping time.  I did go off it for a bit, or perhaps just wasn't inspired, but I have been following Scrap Therapy again and have been having a go at their sketches, and challenges and loving it.

I plan on going to Cairns in October and the lovely Lee-Anne and Danny from Scrap Therapy are going to put on a mini retreat.  Nerida and I will be there with bells on!  I decided to forgo scrappy camp down here for a trip to Cairns.  It was a hard decision, as I do love scrappy camp, but I think I needed to go and see Nerida more.  And a mini retreat just seals the deal!  Besides which, there will be another scrappy camp in March and Nerida is going to come down for it!

We have had lots of visitors since our move down here, and it has been wonderful to show them around our beautiful adopted State.  Honestly, even now, there is hardly a day goes by that I am not "gob smacked" at something I see.  It may just be the way the light shines on something, or something I haven't noticed before, but I love it.  I love my drive to work every day along the sea front and to see the sea in all it's moods.  It is especially gorgeous when the sun is shining and everything sparkles!

Now to see if I can post some of my scrappy creations.  I will start with a layout I have done for the August Sketch Challenge at Scrap Therapy.   http://www.scraptherapy.com.au/index.php

Oh yay!  Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise to have lost my first post, as everything is where it should be!
This is a photo of Livvie when she was about 3.  I think it is a cute photo, and I loved the sketch and am quite happy with the layout.  I used Glitz Pretty in Pink paper - love that range!  I bought a second lot of papers from it. 

Ok, that's it for now.  Hopefully I will be a better blogger from now on.

We had a quiet day at home yesterday. Paul finished painting the walls in our bedroom - looks good! I cleaned the oven after the shepherd's pie from last week spilled out all over it! Took this long to get around to it because (A) I had to buy oven cleaner (B) I then had to buy rubber gloves! It all came together eventually, and the oven got cleaned.

Also did some washing as the weather was fine - well for most of the day anyway!

I completed the technique challenge on Scrap Therapy - actually I made it into a Step by Step, as I followed the directions literally! It was an interesting technique - paper rolling. I don't mind the finished layout, but Idon't think it is something I would do again in a hurry.

Here is the completed layout.

I seem to be doing a lot of layouts with Thomas and or Olivia in them lately! Will have to ask Dean and Karen for more photos, or find the ones I do have.

That's it for now.

update

Well, it's been a while, but then a lot has been happening.

We are now settled in our new house in Penguin, Tasmania. We settled on 10th July, and were lucky enough to get our furniture delivered on the same day. Saved us a bit of money, as we were going to have to find accommodation for the 3 nights between arriving here and when the furniture was originally being delivered on Monday.

Between leaving Cairns and moving into the house, we had an adventure or two. Not really, but...

On the day before we left Cairns we decided we had to buy a new car. Paul's Camry was getting old and was leaking oil like you wouldn't believe. It was too late to put it in for repairs, and besides which, all the stuff that was getting left out to "go in the car" was getting out of control.
We were naughty and bought the first one we saw, but it fitted all the criteria, and it has proved to be a good decision, as we love it. It is a Honda CRV.

On our way down to Brisbane, we stopped off at Conway Beach, which is a tad way off the beaten track, but we were looking for dog friendly accommodation and this was on the net. It was nice, but nothing there - it is a fishers haven and caters for fishermen and women. But at least we could have the Cilla with us.

We left Conway Beach really early and five minutes into the trip were unlucky enough to hit a roo. We couldn't see the roo on the road, so have to assume it was able to hop away and we hope it wasn't too badly hurt. There wasn't much damage to our car, thank goodness.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We arrived in Brisbane and stayed with Dean, Karen and the girls for a few days until the Pink concert. The girls (and Karen) were so excited about it. I sort of enjoyed it - too loud for me. I love Pink and the show was wonderful, but, the songs I didn't know, I couldn't understand as it was just too loud. The support act was WOEFUL.

From Brisbane we flew down to Tassie - stayed the first night in Launceston, picked up my car in the morning and then drove to our booked accommodation in Somerset. There is another story, but it was adequate.

We then drove around for days on end looking at houses, more houses and more houses. We evenutally found this one in Penguin and put in an offer. Once that was all sorted out, we flew back to Brisbane for a couple of weeks.

Then we drove down here - stayed in Armidale with Paul's aunt and uncle and it was so nice to catch up with them.

From there to Geelong - that was a happy accident. I thought our ex neighbours, David and Yvette lived in Geelong and I said to Paul we should stay in Geelong overnight, as it is only an hour away from Melbourne, and we can go and see the Roses. Well, he booked accommodation (dog friendly) so we were stuck with it. It was way out of our way, AND David and Yvette don't live there! They live in Ballarat or somewhere. (Still don't know exactly)

But, talking about it being a happy accident - the Kaisercraft factory is there! And being a scrap addict, I just had to go there, didn't I? Bought up, but had to put on some restraints, as the car WAS rather full!

And for a second reason, it was a happy accident. If it hadn't been for me wanting to go to Kaisercraft (and we got a bit lost) we would have had a bigger drama getting Paul's lap top back. He left it in the accommodation!! Took the USB and mouse, but left the laptop. We weren't too far away, so it wasn't difficult to go back, but it could have been a bigger drama.

So far we are loving Tassie - it has been a bit wet (wettest July in 30years!) and a bit windy (if we were still in Cairns, I would have called it cyclonic), but really, the cold hasn't been bothering us a bit. We put the heat pump on in the morning for an hour or so, and again of an evening, but during the day, it is fine. Can't say I like going outside when it is wet and windy, but needs must - I have to hunt Cilla outside to pee when it is like that, and she won't go unless I go outside! B&%$y dog!

We are slowly finding our way around - we grocery shop in Ulverstone mostly, but occasionally go to Burnie. We have even ventured into Devonport once or twice. The nearest "big" shopping centre is Launceston, and I don't think even then it is that big.

The scenic route home from Ulverstone is just beautiful - we always go that way now.

They have the most marvellous farmers markets - one in Burnie and one in Devonport - or at least they are the only ones we know of so far. They are on every week, with then alternating between the 2 towns. We plan on buying all our fruit and veg there, or at least until ours are growing. Have planted a few things and they seem to be going OK. Have to wait for the weather to warm up before we can plant anything else.

Met up with Mandy, a scrapper I met on an online forum and also at the retreat in Cairns - she took me to the "local" scrapbook shop. Quite a good one too. The visit to the shop and talking to a fellow scrapper inspired me to start scrapping again. I was so worried that my mojo had gone and scrapping is such an expensive hobby that to lose one's mojo is almost a major crime. (What would you do with all the "stuff" you have accumulated?)

Here are the two recent layouts I have done - one was "just because" I had been to the scrap shop and was inspired to do a layout and I used what photos I could find, and the other was inspired by a challenge on Mandy's "Lets Get Shabby" blog. The criteria was to use floral and gingham, which I have done.

Well, that didn't happen as it should have! The picture has gone to the top of the page!

Will try again and see if I can get the next one in the right place!

Looks like I need to work on my blogging skills!

The adventure has almost begun!

Today is the last day of packing. I am so over boxes! The house is full of them!
Yesterday we paid for the removal, cancelled the phone and electricity, so we are slowly but surely getting organised. I keep thinking we have to have everything done by tomorrow, but there are still things we can do up until we leave on Wednesday!
I still can't believe we are doing this! However it is all happening and tomorrow the removalists come in. It has been strange being on the other side of a removal! WE have done our own moving when we have moved locally and when we did do a long distance move, it was with the government and they do it all and I don't really remember much about it.

Yesterday we had lunch in town with Sarah, Mark and Justin - tried to catch up with Shaz and Rob too, as they were in town, but they were at the movies. WE had a delicious chicken caeser baguette from Jesters in town and then went around to Cold Rock for icecream - yummy! We did actually catch up with Shaz & Rob at Central, as we went there to buy a wool quilt which was on sale at Myer - reckon we might need one down in Tasmania!
Shaz and Rob came out after they were finished their shopping and then Rob had a doctors appointment. They left once he came back from that. He was so long there, Shaz got really worried. It WAS a very long wait for an appintment - 1 1/2 hours!

Shaz and Rob had picked up a folding "kennel" for Cilla. Nerida had one and it is fabulous. She told us where she had bought it and we rang and enquired if they still had them, and the did, so we asked Shaz to pick it up for us on their way through Atherton. I put Cilla's bed in it and encouraged her to go into it the first time, and then last night whenit was time for bed she hopped right in, so it shouldn't be a problem travelling. What a good dog she is!

Not a lot to report for now and will probably be out of action for a day or so, while we sort out internet connections etc.