Cards n dolls

Morning all,
Compliments of the day to you. :)
Hmmm...I hope you get better compliments than me!
Michael is just out the front getting ready to take Jye to Winter Development cricket training and has a car full of kids, including some from the street as there is a bike track near the cricket field and they are going bike riding.
So I've walked out in my bright pink flanny PJ's n slippers only to have one of the kids laugh and say to my boys 'Look at your Mums hair'. Don't hold back Ryan...LOL
Nothing like an early morning kick in the reality butt!!

Nothing too much apart from the daily grind has been happening around here. We went away over the long weekend camping in the bush which is always fun and a great getaway. Bloody cold though!!

Jack has just been on his Yr 6 camp to Canberra. He'd been sick and off school before he left and came back even sicker!! Apparently most of the kids were crook. I just can't see why they take the kids in the middle of bloody winter?? They only visit the snow for just over an hour so it's hardly worth it. I asked him when I picked him up what he thought of the snow as it was his first time down there and his answer was 'Oh it was OK but it was a bit gay'. Theres that gay word again...LOL

My father came up for a visit a couple of weekends ago and I made hime a canvas for his wall at home with photos I'd taken when we were down there.
I tried a few different techniques on it and although it was a real rush job I don't mind the way it turned out.



I'm still having a ball on swap-bot swapping ATC's and Dotee dolls. They are just something you can whip up in no time which saves having to pull everything out.
Here are some of the things I've made:
ATC's
This one for Ancient Egypt swap:


Mushroom ATC swap:


Christian ATC swap


Tree ATC swap:


Butterflies ATC swap


Nursery rhyme ATC swap:


A Dotee doll I made for a clown swap:


These are some that have been made for me. This one for the clown swap.


This one for the fairy swap. I'm really disappointed that I took a pic of mine before I sent her but it didn't turn out. I'll have to contact the lady I sent it to and see if she'll take one for me.


This one for the polk-a-dotee swap:


I've only done one layout recently as I'm having too much fun with the ATC's and dolls but here it is.



Well thats it for me...I'm off to do the washing. Grrrrrrrrr.....
Chat soon and take care
Sharryn
xx

Bits n bobs and braces

Hey hey
Hope you've been keeping well :)
Things have been hectic here as usual. May is 'the month' for us with a million and one birthdays, Mothers Day and 2 car regos within 1 day of each other! Aargh.....
Rhiannon turned 20, Jayden turned sweet 16 and I turned 21! Woohoo! LOL
Rhiannon came up from Canberra and her and Steve came over for a lovely dinner of her choice which was the same as it has been for the past 10 years or so...my chicken and vege pie, caulirflower Au Gratin and baked veges. Yum...
Heres a pic of Rhiannon with the cake we almost forgot to get so ran up to Woolies for one...PMSL



The pics of Nugs birthday are on the other camera which has no charged batteries so will have to share those later.
Mothers Day was spent at the park with Michaels family. We go every year for breakfast and stay till lunch and it's always a great day for the cousins to all catch up.
Also a good day to let the inner child out...hehehehe
The toddlers park had new equipment fitted and there was one thing I just had to have a go on. Remember those spinning things you used to stand on and push like a scooter to make it go around? Like a roundabout type of thing? Well this thing was similar only you sat on it and have someone spin you around. Was really fun but I didn't quite feel the same after I came off it for a long while...must have been the bacon and eggs I'd had for breakfast...LOL Highly recommended though. Next time you're in a park and you really want to have a go...just do it!! You know you want too. :)





A fortnight ago I travelled to Nowra with Jack for the District cross country. This track is apparently a training track for the elite cross country-ists and man it's hard. Basically, it's on a mans property in North Nowra so the kids literally run through paddocks. The car pack is also one of the paddocks on the property.
The good thing about it is you can run from fence to fence to get pics of your child throughout the course which is what everyone does. Unfortunately the million and one kids down there on the day do the same thing to cheer their school mates along so you're trying to juggle the camera trying not to push the kids out of the way (hehe) while also trying to not to end up face down in a cow pat!!
So I've broken into a bit of a trot to get from one vantage point to the next when my left ankle went (I have the weakest ankles in the world!!), went to put my weight on my right ankle and that went!! It hurt like crazy!! So did my teeth going through my bottom lip when I was trying not to burst forth with a million expletives around the hundreds kids who couldn't care less that I was crippled!! It was then that I did that thing you do when you've hurt or embarrased yourself but you're kind of hoping that no-one has noticed. You kind of look around and act all casual...try and make out that you're really just brushing the hair out of your eyes or something.
I managed to hobble off like Forrest Gump to the next fence so it could hold me up!! Far out...I HATE that!
Heres Jack on the last leg of the cross country, determination on his face and me yelling...well whispering by now as I didn't want to draw any more attention to myself...willing him on to the end.



This morning Jye got his braces on. We've been waiting till his baby teeth all fell out before getting them on as he needs major orthodontic work. He decided on rainbow braces which means each tooth is a different colour. It looks quite funky actually :)



We had a cyber crop over at the Scrapbooking Memories forum the other weekend. It was great fun and was finally something to get me scrapping again. I managed to get 3layouts finished and had a ball with them. These pics are of my little sweet niece who unfortunately I don't get to see very often but was lucky enough to spend some time with recently.



This layout was for my 4th cousin. It's a photo of her lovely grand-daughter.



These are pics of the gorgeous girls I work with and I at the Canon Pixma party and also the night we met Melissa Frances.



I'm still playing on swap-bot with ATC's and dotee dolls. I'm just loving those sweet little dotte dolls at the moment :) This sweet flower faery dotee came all the way from Italy.



This one I made in a Polk-a-dotee swap and is about to be sent to England to live.



I've also finished the cardigan I knitted myself. I don't usually like variegated wool but I fell in love with the pattern as soon as I saw it and was lucky enough to score the last 10 balls of wool they had left in Spotlight that I needed and instead of paying $5- a ball I got them for $1- each! So along with the pattern book this cardigan cost me $13-60 to make...WOOHOO!


I've started a jumper for Rhiannon now...nothing better than sitting with your knitting on a cold winters night. :)
So thats whats been going on in our world. Oh, Jayden has a job interview this afternoon for after school so fingers crossed he gets it!
Have an awesome long weekend and stay safe.
S
xx

Another year older...

Not sure about wiser but here are 42 things I did in the past year before turning 42.

1) Went back to work
2) Bought a new car
3) Had my eldest two kids move out within a week
4) Had my heart ripped out (when they moved out)
5) Had my eldest move back in
6) Made new friends
7) Never spoke to my mother or one of my brothers
8) Never seen my gorgeous grandfather
9) Watched a sunrise over the beach
10) Holidayed in Orange
11) Went on a scrapbooking Retreat
12) Lost an awesome friend to suicide
13) Attended a funeral
14) Took hundres of photos of my family
15) Participated in a swap
16) Loved much
17) Laughed often
18) Cried
19) Holidayed in Tuross Head
20) Never seen my best friend due to distance
21) Had a girls night out
22) Came home at 4.30a.m in the morning
23) Was Secretary of my boys cricket club
24) Was Secretary of my boys high schools P & F
25) Made a friend a hand made gift
26) Hand sewed a quilt top
27) Watched my kids play sport
28) Taught myself quilling
29) Learnt many new things
30) Had a hangover (or 3)
31) Had a ride on playground equipment designed for a toddler
32) Went fishing
33) Went Geocaching
34) Succumbed to the Pandora fad
35) Scrapbooked
36) Was a shoulder to cry on
37) Went to a 21st birthday party (or 2)
38) Swung on a hammock
39) Read a book
40) Made contact with old school friends
41) Went op-shopping
42) The day I turned 42 I supported my son in one of the hardest decisions he has had to make so far. I am very proud of his choices and know he made the right decision. Because of this, another child will no longer be bashed, intimidated, threatened, harassed or flogged by his filthy, stinking piece of shit step-father.

S
xx

Cardmakers, nudists and being a bogan

Hi all,
Hope you're all well and looking forward to the weekend?
I know I am :) I've decided this weekend I'm making time to scrap!!

Speaking of being creative, Jacks soccer team is off to Canberra soon and us parents have been asked to think of fundraising ideas towards the costs of the camp. So I thought...hmmmmm...I guess I could make some cards and try to sell them at home games. Well that was a lot easier said than done! I just can't make cards!!
Whats the secret of churning out beautiful cards? Someone please tell me?
Kudos to the girls who can turn a card blank into a major work of art...
I then had a look on Etsy to see what the going rate was for selling hand made cards these days and some of them were around $5- US! WTF?? For a card???
I best come up with some fabbo designs if mine are going to be anywhere near that much...either that or mine will be the cheapest hand made cards in the entire world...LOL

I was so into my card making last night, actually I was stressing over the fact that I'd put my hand up to do all this when it was obviously not my forte, when I heard Michael and Josh out the front talking to an unfamiliar voice. My scrapping table is right under the lounge room window and not thinking I've just yelled out at the top of my voice 'Who you talking too?'. Michael calls back 'It's Jason from Kids (can't remember the next bit)...want to come out and talk to him?'...(obviously a telemarketer)...without skipping a beat or taking my eyes off the magazine I was skimming for card making inspiration I yelled back 'Is he selling?'. I heard Josh mumble something but being 'in the zone' I wasn't taking too much notice until they both walked inside a minute later shaking their heads and Josh said 'Mum you are such a bogan'.
It then hit me that to someone door knocking I must've sounded like one of those 'ol hillbilly women sitting inside on my rocking chair with a shotgun ready for some trespassing action.
'Get off my property ya yellow bellied varmint...can't ya see I'm making cards 'ere?' LOL

A few weeks back, during my extended blog relapse, Michael wanted to go for a drive to Goulburn one Saturday afternoon. He was going away for work for a week and wanted to see if he could get the truck down a certain road as a short cut. So he, Jye, Jack and I set off for an arvo drive.
I'd never been on the road he was talking about and heard that it was really pretty so of course the camera came for the drive as well. I'm glad I took it. We found a look out with the most gorgeous views of the Burragorang valley which were absolutely breathtaking.





Further along we stumbled across a tunnel through the mountains which was nothing short of awesome. A plaque near by told of how the tunnel was completed during 1899 and officially opened on the 29th of January 1900 as part of a new tourist road.
Inside the tunnel were carvings of names from people who had worked on the tunnel. Michael and the boys spent ages in their reading names and messages about these people from the past. Very interesting. Actually, just lately I've noticed this tunnel on a car advertisement!



The rocks overhanging the dirt road on one side of the tunnel were amazing and just showed how much work must have gone into making the tunnel all those years ago.





Once it had been established that there was no way Michael would get the truck down this road and after Jye's face had turned a sickly shade of green due to getting car sick from the windy road, we decided to head back home. I had noticed on the way down a sign for a camping spot with river views that I wanted to look at as it wasn't that far from home and was thinking that it would be nice to throw the canoe in one weekend when we didn't have sport on.
So I talked them into driving down another 3km winding dirt road for a squizz.
On the way down we were oohing and ahhing over the views and discussing how we'd get the van down there with the trailer and canoe without sliding off the side and marvelling over how they'd managed to get caravans and mobile homes down there in the first place. This was one narrow, dusty, winding road!! No room for error whatsoever.
This photo shows us about half way down so you can see we were still quite high up. The grass at the bottom of the photo is literally the side of the road...a massive drop to the bottom.



Anyway we're chatting away at how pretty it looked etc etc when we came to a sign that deserved no words...just a look at each other, then another one in the back seat to see if the boys had noticed it.



What was I thinking? Of course they had! So we were now in a situation where we still had at least another 300m drive doing about 5km's an hour down this windy, dirt road with nowhere to do a U-turn and two eagerly inquisitive boys in the back of the car. I swear I saw them rubbing their hands together in anticipation!!
So the conversation went something like this:
Mum: 'When we get to the bottom, if you see anyone, don't stare, don't even look at them'.
Jye: 'This is a one of those nudist places isn't it Mum?'
Michael: 'Just do as your mother said Jye and don't look if you see anything'.
Jack: 'Why don't people have to wear clothes here?'
Jye: 'Cos it's a nudist place stupid. Nudist means no clothes. Like der!!'
Jack: (with a smile as wide as any I've seen on his face 'Ooooohhhhhhhhh'.
Finally we got to the bottom and to my relief there was no-one to be seen, or so I thought.
In a cabin right in front of us was a lady and a man, stark naked, enjoying afternoon drinks on the verandah, as you do.
Michael: (while finally attempting a U-turn) 'Thank God there was no-one around'.
Mum: (whispering so the boys couldn't hear) 'Look over there, theres a bloke and a woman on the verandah'.
Michael: 'Oh..nah thats two blokes'. (through squinted eyes)
Jack: (in loudest, squeakiest voice I've ever heard) 'I can see them Mum'. (so much for me whispering)
Jye: 'I can too!'
Michael: 'Oh yep...that's definately a woman'.

Like....derrrrrrrrrrr!!

Chat soon
S xx

Broken blog

Hmmmmmm...I seem to have broken my blog with my last post :(
All my links etc are at the bottom of the post rather than on the sidebar.
Any suggestions anyone...I'm ripping my hair out.....LOL

Hey hey :)

Oh dear...where has the time gone this time? I've been the slackest blogger EVER!!

So where have I been? Just caught up in the web of life basically. Been so, so busy lately organising the cricket clubs presentation day which was on Sunday (thank God thats over!!)

It's such a huge job and one that I really love however the time has come for me to call it a day. Our junior club is merging with the seniors next month so once the AGM is over that'll be it for me. I've decided that I need more 'me' time to spend with my family or just chill, create, scrap...whatever the case I'm a bit over coming home from work and having to wade through at least an hours worth of emails, constant meetings and basically just the whole scene.

Running on adrenalin 24/7 just ain't a good thing...doesn't my poor 'ol body know that right now!!

Enough whinging...heres some pics of the trophies etc I took. (Just looking at them now makes me shudder...LOL)

>div>

I hope you all had a fabbo Easter! It seems so long ago now doesn't it? We spent Easter at my fathers down the south coast and had a lovely (but very brief) time.

Michael and the boys spent the majority of the time fishing out on the lake in the canoe however I chose to spend the time lying in a hammock knitting...LOL

I also decided to have a bit of a photography session with the local nature and I'm really pleased with some of the pics I got.

Heres' a couple I took:

The channel has closed between the ocean and the Tuross lake and this family of dolphins have been caught in the lake. They are quite famous actually, been all the major newspapers. They don't mind coming to the surface and showing off in front of the tourists but the cheeky buggers won't come all the way out so you only manage to catch their fins. Oh well...at least I got this I guess.

Michael and I got up early on the Saturday morning and went down to One Tree Point so I could get some pics of the sunrise. I'm so not a morning person and as sad as this may sound I think this is the very first sunrise I've seen that I've appreciated anyway. Not counting the ones back in the day staggering home from Sweethearts nightclub...PMSL So it was really worth getting up early for.

The photo above was just me playing with depth of field etc while watching the boys fish off the wharf. Love the pic though. :)

This last photo I captured on the afternoon we got there when Michael, my father and the boys took the canoe out for a late afternoon run on the lake. I love their silhouettes and the sparkling water and I really love how this is the actual photo...it hasn't been touched at all in PS. :)

Rhiannon turned 20 on Monday! OMG how old does that make me? LOL

She came up from Canberra on the weekend and we had a lovely dinner on Saturday night for her. Poor thing had a Uni exam on her birthday though...LOL

This afternoon we had Jack's high school interview for next year. I can't believe my baby, my last child is starting high school next year!! He is such an awesome kid, personality plus and I am so very proud of him. Did I tell you he made colour captain at school this year? Well he did. :)

We also changed his soccer club this year and he has made the Division One side. It's a fabbo club and the 2 coaches are fabulous!!

On the creative front...haven't had a lot of time to play but have rediscovered my love of ATC's. I've only just discovered Swap Bot...(yeah I know...deprived aren't I??) so I've joined a couple of swaps and so far have been having a ball with that.

Have only got a pic of this one I sent the other day to share but will be taking pics of others tomorrow.

This was an 'anything goes' swap so the theme could be whatever you please. I read my partners profile and she likes dark purple and green combos and birds were on her list so I made this for her. Hope she likes it :)

Another really cute thing I've discovered thanks to Swap bot is Dotee dolls. How sweet are they?

I made my very first one and love it!

Will be making more of these for sure. :) I just might even join a Dotee swap...LOL

On the scrapping side I just haven't been very eventful. I've found that dragging everything out for a layout hasn't been very fruitful hence the ATC's.

Here are a couple of shares though that I've done since my last blog post.

Well thats about it for me. I'm off to create some more ATC's and send them off around the globe...so much fun :)

Have an awesome Mothers Day everyone and I hope you all get totally spoilt and have the best day EVER!!

Take care and chat again soon xx

Scrappers / card makers unite!

Hi all,
As everyone, I am saddened by the complete and utter devastation of the Victorian bushfires.
The loss of homes, businesses and whole communities but, more importantly, the loss of so many innocent lives.
I can not even begin to comprehend what those poor people endured all I can do is imagine it to be like hell on Earth.

There have been so many traumatic stories in the media this past couple of days but also many of bravery and comradeship.
Australians have a way of bandying together in terrible times like these and it makes me even more proud to call myself an Aussie.

There is also one particular breed of Aussies that make me even more proud and that is our scrapbookers and card makers. I don't think I've ever met or been involved with a more sincere, genuine, caring, giving or compassionate group than those.

One of these special girls is the lovely Sarah Gladman who is organising a wonderful tribute to those that have lost in Victoria by helping to re-build positive memories by way of scrapbooking layouts.
She has called the project Memory Gifts and is asking for all scrapbookers to help out with donations of layouts to be given to families affected by the fires.
Please check out Sarahs blog and if you can, help her out.

Card makers please don't feel left out as Scrapbooking Memories are organising a card drive where we are asking for cards to be sent in, with sentiments, to be distributed also to families who have lost. Perhaps you could also make some thank you cards to the dedicated, hard working firies who have been working their back sides off trying to save what they can. These guys and gals are all heroes. Check out the thread in the forum for more details.

However way you chose to help remember there is nothing too small. Every single thing counts.

Sharryn xx