Take a bit of this, add a bit of that ....

Challenge - Tell us about our scrapbooking creative process.

Hmmm - I'm not sure I have a set one. I tend to scrap according to my mood and what I'm currently working on.

Sometimes its product driven because I'm using a scrap kit or have something specific I just want to get onto a layout so I build my entire look around that product or those papers. I find pictures that match the paper or embellishments and then work a sketch in my mind that co-ordinates with both.

Other times I have photos first and find paper and embellishments to work with them.

A lot of the time I have a sketch in mind and then find pictures and papers etc that go with the sketch.

This one was a case of having the photos and finding matching papers and designing a layout to suit them.

Here I had a layout in mind and found photos first then papers etc to match the idea.

Pictures ....

We are back to Snapshot Saturday with Katrina who has asked us to wander around today, see what we can find and post a picture of something ...

1. Red - a Ferrari at the Top Gear Live at Acer arena show last summer
2. Sweet - celebrating a birth with an Italian birthday cake
3. Four - sitting on a bench at Mt Penang Gardens enjoying the view

Signs ....

It's my last Finding Fun Friday and I thought we should make this one memorable.

We see them everywhere, you catch a glimpse of them out of the corner of your eye, they suddenly appear around corners, they seem to crop up when we least expect them. What are they? Funny signs.

I thought I would share with you a few of my personal favourites and I'd love for you to share some as well. If you don't have a photo just tell us of one that tickled your fancy.

All too much ....

Michelle tells us that for today, we are keeping it simple and straight to the point with two short lists 1) What I have gotten done today 2) What I still need to get done today.

You know the sad fact in life is that There will always be too much to do.

Last year I was frantic because my to-do list was growing faster than I could complete items on it. I was literally afraid to put down things I really wanted to do simply because I was terrified of making my list even longer. It was all getting to be too much.

I then found myself saying things like "I'll get to it when the kids are at school" or "When the kids are on holidays and I don't have to do the school run I'll have more time"; then things started getting pushed back to "It can wait until next year - I'll be able to do more then".

And then it hit me - I am never going to finish everything on my to-do list! Simple as that. So what did I do - I took a few items off the list and made a commitment to myself not to do them. I realised that I needed to concentrate on what was do-able and leave those that were not. So maybe I'll never complete that hand knitted item in the back of the cupboard I started four years ago; so what and perhaps the windows can need washing for a bit longer. My list is lighter and so are my shoulders; the light at the end of the tunnel isn't the express train after all.


Mother, O mother, come shake out your cloth!
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up the bed
.........Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
.........She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue
..........(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
..........(Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?
..........Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.)

Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby. Babies don't keep.

~~~~Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Show and tell ....

Tania has asked us to:-

*snap a picture of a current scrapbooking project in the works, or
*tell me (and/or show me) how you store your scrapbooking scraps, or
*show me where you scrap!


Well telling you how I store my scrapbooking scraps might not be very inspirational, in fact ... it ..... could .......be .........zzzzz ..zzzzzz.zzzzzzz ..........

And showing you where I scrap might be downright ^^^^^^^^ freaky!

So it might be safest to show you what I worked on last night.

Random ....

Overheard this afternoon.

Christopher:- "Hey Rachel .... Dad and me is going on a bike ride".

Rachel:- "No ! .... Dad and I are going on a bke ride".

Christopher:- "What !!!! ... are you coming too?????"

Up close and personal ....

Katrina wants to see details for Snapshot Saturday. She wants us to show her something up close.

My meal at a local restaurant.

Water Lily in pond.

10 things ....

So now it is my turn for Finding Fun Friday and I thought we should all get to know each other just a little better. So I'd like you to each to list 10 random things about yourself on your blogs - can be good, bad or downright ugly, but list things we may not already know; things that you probably haven't divulged openly (No we don't want any family scandals or closet secrets) just some fun things so we can get to know the real you.


Here's mine:-

1. I cuddle a pillow when I sleep - have done since I was a child. Not sure what a psychologist would make of this.

2. My husband tells me I snore (lots) I tend to believe him considering each morning he wakes with a pillow over his head to drown out the noise. :)

3. I rank honesty above any other virtue - my kids have learnt not to lie, cheat or steal around me or the consequences will be grim.

4. If I never had to iron another business shirt in my entire life I would be the happiest woman alive.

5. I love the sound of rain on a roof and the fresh smell in the air after a shower.

6. I love long hot showers (but rarely have them) - there is no greater luxury in life.

7. I hate wearing makeup and avoid it whenever possible. I reckon this is who I am - get used to it.

8. Same goes for high heels, I dress for comfort and aching feet just isn't on my list.

9. I'm known to sing along to music on the car radio - my kids hate me doing this and repeatedly ask me to stop - I usually smile and sing louder.

10. I have no maths sense at all - hate anything to do with numbers, equations and formulas. Have no idea why I learnt calculus, logarithms and algebra in school - might as well have been Martian for all the good it did me.

Out of the mouths ....

It's Thought Provoking Thursday; well it is for those in the US following along with this blog challenge; it's Friday here and Doris has asked us if we have any amusing anecdotes or words of wisdom to share about the ways of children.

Kids !!! W C Fields wisely advised against working with them and good old Bill Cosby had a very successful and extremely funny television show based on the things they say. Out of the mouths of babes comes .... well just about anything, at any time, really. Kids do say the darnedest things, they say them when you least expect it, when the mood takes them, they say them loudly and quickly and there are many, many times you wished they hadn't said anything at all.

Like the time in the crowded supermarket when my daughter was about 4; she was a real chatterbox back then, now she's a 16 year old teenager and I tend to get one word answers like "Whatever", the odd grunt or if I'm really lucky "I don't know"; but I digress. Way back when she was a real cutie and talked incessantly; like I didn't get a minutes peace. So here we were cruising down the dried fruit and cake mix aisle and I'm preoccupied getting stuff off the shelf and she spots something. She wants to tell me about it so she starts tugging on the back of my top and stupid me ignores her; the tugging gets more persistent until she can contain herself no longer and at the top of her voice she says "Mum !! That man has NO HAIR." Pause for effect. "See ..... he has NO HAIR on his HEAD".

Yeh Gods !!

Here and there ...

Am I ready for a fun Wednesday Blog challenge? Sharyn asks. Sure I say, bring it on.

This one is all about where I go. No not literally; in my little cyberworld - where my daily computer journey takes me.

The first stop when I turn the computer on in the morning is to see what emails have winged my way overnight. There's always some; I read them and zap off replies as necessary.

Then of course I have to check out what is new, add some comments, see what challenge is in store for me over on my home away from home on Get It Scrapped!

In fact most of the places I visit are over on the side bar - check them out. I also like to look through what is on offer at Etsy. The treasures there are amazing.

My kids also have favourite places. dd is a My Space sort of girl. It's the modern way of killing hours on the phone I guess. ds is into Club Penguin - one of his most favourite places to visit. He meets up with his friends there for some innocent fun (and those penguins are kinda cute you have to admit !). Now dh is more of a current affairs sort of guy, so every morning once he gets to the office and has coffee in hand he's online to The Sydney Morning Herald for some up to date news.

And to think in the good old days we went out to chat with friends, played Monopoly, talked on the phone and read paper newspapers - oh the horror !!

At'ems and Is'ems ....

I wake this morning and open one bleary eye. It's uncharacteristically bright for 5.20am. Glance at clock and groan. Whack snoring husband behind me who wakes and responds with grunt.

"You forgot to set the alarm clock again didn't you" I mumble.

"No, I set it,' is the taunt reply.

"Well if you set it," I say, "why is it 6.30?"

"Oh sh*t", exclaims husband flinging back the covers and dashing for the bathroom. He normally leaves at 6.00am .....

~~~~~~~~~~

Michelle has asked us to list our family isms as part of the Get It Scrapped! blog challenge. After thinking hard I realise we don't have "family" isms that I can name right off the top of my head but I can think of a few of the individual variety.

dh - "I'm just resting my eyes" (standard response when woken after dropping off on the lounge and snoring loudly while "watching" TV)

dd - "I don't know" (what she always says when asked any sort of question that involves an opinion for an answer)

ds - "Just one more thing" (he says as he tries to fit 15 minutes of talking into a 5 minute window)

Me - well, I just yell and say "No" a lot !!

~~~~~~~~~~

..... and guess what? It's 5.20pm and I can hear the not so sweet vibrations of the clock belting out its little bell heart down in my bedroom. The old man did set the alarm after all !!!

In awe ...

This has turned out to be my word of the month. It seems to crop into my sentences at surprising and unexpected turns; it pops out of my mouth when I least expect it - even my daughter seems to think saying "awe" is awesome !!


AWE n.
1. A mixed emotion of reverence, respect, dread, and wonder inspired by authority, genius, great beauty, sublimity, or might: We felt awe when contemplating the works of Bach. The observers were in awe of the destructive power of the new weapon.
2. Archaic.
a. The power to inspire dread.
b. Dread.
tr.v., awed, aw·ing, awes.
To inspire with awe.

[Middle English, from Old Norse agi.]


Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, "There are three ways in which we may relate ourselves to the world: we may exploit it, we may enjoy it, we may accept it in awe".

I couldn't agree more.