How quickly they grow

and though its not a birthday my oldest son seems to be maturing infront of my very eyes over the past five days. So is this puberty??? Looking at my nieces of the same age, I'm thinking yes, looking at my son... ummm not sure, physically hes not so much developing just getting bigger...thinking for boys it starts a little later... but took this photo of him and I cant see 'that' child anymore maybe I should put him on more vitamin to counteract the up and coming hormones...

On the scrapbooking front I haven't brought my gears home from the batch so havent done anymore than what I did in the weekend. Although I have finished my journalling but need my cardstock so I can cut it up ink it and then add it on.... but my picture mate has arrived so feeling stoked about that!!

Well end of my holidays to so thats something to mourn but dont lecturer till Tuesday and the folloing week I have Monday and Tuesday off so thats a great consalition prize :) Okay better go and clean my house................... boring............

Creativity Overflow

As per last post these are the photos for the hugh amount of space we occupied without a care

A night with friends

was exactly what I needed and inspiration flowed... Had a fab night with Yolande and Eileen and as per Yolandes Blog... it rocked.. although there were a couple of other action activities that were done that had us in massive fits most of the night....

Took heaps of photos and the amount of creativity being generated could be measured by the amount of dishes, food and fun had. so just had to take photos of those too.. (will post again cause could get it on the blog...)

But managed to do 7 LO (granted I carried on till 7 when the girls left at 3.30) so was stoked. As usual do have some journalling to do but am stoked. Also so want, no correction need a Epson Picture Mate and since the lovely Yolande brought hers hubby was able to view it, so my birthday next month so heres hoping (fingers crossed sending good thoughts out into the world) , shy of that I'll just by it for myself LOL

Am of course loving Keisha styled layouts and they seem to suit me and I love them and must haves included the heidi swapp floral (ps these were the small ones and yes this is a 12x12 LO) and scenic route papers I'm loving, ribbon ribbon and more ribbon, white cardstock and black cardstock..........

So looking forward to scrapcamp but also CC2006. Finally manged to get our accomodation sorted and decided to go thru ibis as the cost for three nights was about 380.00 and is only about 40 - 50m from the conference so hey if I have to drink a little more wine to make the walk seem shorter I'm sure that can be arranged! For scrapcamp am just putting together the demos and making sure I have some hand outs for the class and helping out Yolande and Lianne where possible.

On the home fromt havent had much of a chance to work anymore on my scrap space but will work at it once the kids are back at school, which is Tuesday so that will make for an extra two days for myself. M

yeah a layout........

Actually I have done a fewbut they were a couple were pretty much scraplifted just to get me past my rut but this one was not... a little late but it is our xmas 05 and this is one of six pages as we had xmas in three houses. our house, my parents his mums.....

On the class front............did the class of the kids and I can honestly say.................. never $@#?$% again. All good maybe 6 kids at once of the same age but twenty aged 5 to 11, wasnt so great... it wasnt terrible but it wasnt great.... adults classes that size sweet but yip not kids... also from that experience can confirm I so NOT suppose to be a school teacher so my hats of too you in this profession......

thats about it. off to complete some more layout that need journalling and touching up...

another class tomorrow and i have

just finished putting together the last bits of the packs. My friend Tina from Scrapbook Magik kindly order in the papers and made it look pretty, so all i needed to do was add the chipboard tags that I made (what a mission getting the holes thru), cut the ribbon up and choose two different paints as I have a girl and boy set... oophs forgot to mention its for an altered clipboard class with our holiday program which thankfully is only about 20 kids... otherwise I mighthave gone stark raving mad with more (thats is of course still a possibility). Thinking however that I may be a little ummmmm... whats the word I'm looking for.......... anal.... yip I'll go with that............... everytime I have a class I sketch out the layout of the room, what different 'posts' i need (ie paint, stamping) , a set of instructions and guides and a couple of games and prizes to go with it.... and it is delivered as what I could describe as an organised chaios (??? certainly no spelling bee winner) but hey thats my style and I enjoy doing that as well!!

Oh something to share..... one of the best memories I have being brought up by my nan is going to the library once a week. Got books galore as a kid, but from the little te puke town library I was allowed five books, of which one had to be a cook book ( so I would be a good wife! LOL) and one a junior novel to improve my comprehension skills. Ok fast forward........I'm a book worm no two ways about it.... so today since I'm spending money on scrapbooking now and not books I took my children to the library and we joined.... rewind... back in my day you had a paper library card with a number and your initials. Yah hand over the card it gets entered in the little library card pocket and the old date stamp went in with it. fast forward.... te puke library got rid of this years ago and removed all the little date slips and library pockets with it............present day... I'm in the te puke library and go to the corner where I hung out as a nine year old (some 21 years ago arrrghhhh) I spot one of my favourite books which I remember reading back in the day... hello open it up and low in behold theres the library card pocket with my name and initials on it and a date stamp of 26 June 1984..... how cool is that... so i go across to the librarian and ask if I can have the pocket, the card and the date slip then tell her why and she says, why thats lucky those where suppose to be destroyed years ago, of course you can my dear..... oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah (she does a little dance in her chair) and hello I find one other book and low and behold as if by fluke, chance, luck or whatever you call it I find another one with my name and number dated in 1983. I opened a couple of other ones not familiar to me and there were no cards, all removed and I tried a few more, yip all removed ... scary...LOL........so yip theres a page a brewing and a memory that held so dear to the heart that like a book it had gathered so much dust that it was almost forgotten, so I shall scrap and I shall cry , scrap and cry again and remember my grandmother with a quiet and sad ache that bring both a smile and a tear............ (and then go to the library and offer to buy those old versions of the books!!! LOL)

PS They were my favourite and you can tll becuase I had them issued to me every year, twice a year from 1983 to 1993, which was when I left Te Puke..... they were Heidi and Little Women :)

in an attempt

to contribute to the scrapbooking flavour of my blog just did a digi layout (tool me 20mins) as I havent posted one in a while. Not to say that I havent done one in fact somewhat the opposite, but in the short amount of space and given its after 1am I decided to quickly do one up. So here it is. Borrowed Yolandes book by Cathy Z and decided to try it out. Have now worked out how to make my alphas look like they are chipboard shaped so its one of those practice makes perfect things, but I have to keep doing it like 20 consective times in a row which ends up taking the joy and elation of actually having done the darn thing in the first place.

On the scrapbook front I am waiting for my tarisota, my heidi swapp ghost alphabet (x2), my basic grey baby girl and baby boy papers, my urban lily papers, my 12x12 album, fiskars scissors, sewing machine but just got my maya road chipboard goodies, my heidi swapp chipboard letter (in a pretty box I might add) and yes I managed to get some contract money to pay for this all.... food, rent, clothing all irrelevant........

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!! for my son growing up and being all of the big 16 months that he is.... his cot is being moved out of the room along with his draws and storage shelves and hello waalaa I have a space (albeit 1.9m by 4m) to create a permanent scrapbooking space. am so ecited about having a wall of my own... who knows when I grow uo it might turn into a room LOL. So what to do with the wall space. All ideas appreciated. Looking at rent to own paper racks, dad gonna make me a desk with a hole in it to sweep da rubbish away. getting a new computer desk that sits on a corner angle, just brought some agee jars with metal lids to stall my ribbon and gonna go to gararge sales for other bits and bobs................ am so excited about this little little newly created space...

will keep you posted!

Wednesday night and I just got home

and am thinking i still need time to unwind from the day... however this blog will be subject to a long line of the letter "t" from where my head would hit the keyboard from falling asleep... not making much sense... good exactly how i feel....

.......a photos of my dad. he has stomach cancer and has chosen not to seek medical interventions such as chemo and as his daughter this drives me nuts... however this was diagnosised 2 years ago and he still working being the man of the earth that he is. so a picture of the male role model in my life....

ok so just go thome from teaching a class of twenty five and what a buzz, really enjoyed it was hard work and required a great level of patience (which isnt one of my strong points) but felt great, and good so excellent feedback and have been asked to deliver classes every month so looking foward to that.

had parent interviews on monday night and my two boys are doing so well.. and one received a principles award in his portfolio and the other won the maori speech competition for his year. my daughter continues to be her ' wonderful' self while my baby is still getting used to being dropped off and picked up from homecare but seems to enjoy the hours between those times... i'm told that we always treat our babies differently because they are our last born and whislt i would deny it vermently with my family, here quietly on my blog i cant help but feel sentimental about his milestones and his life. one of the LO I have just done is one that celebrates this little man as he has a wicked sense of humour.... we have ordered him a t-shirt that says 'chocolate coloured moko' cause he is the blackest baby ever on hubbys side and often refer to him as our 'cheeky darky' honestly hes awesome

***Carol asked me if I could repost my journalling of my sons birth(oldest and youngest) so pulled them out again... ***

June 1997 (okay this is my first child and I'm 22. Yeah made it past my 21st!!) ** Personal note. I really wanted to go over this and change the language but it was written by a 22 girl so thought I'd better leave it... ........**

Given that it was winter, the sun was out. I’d been really tired but wanted to clean up. I’d read all the literature given you were our first and accordingly this was referred to as nesting. The midwife Jenny had been in earlier and things were looking great and she had said to me, your baby will be here in three days. So this was the second day and I’m exhausted but healthy.
Headed over to Tauranga. Dad had just arrived home from uni so picked him up from the bus stop. Dads in a good mood and its nice having him home. So back to the orchard where its quiet. Nana and papa are busy… its kiwifruit season so there not a lot of words in the house just the occasional grunt, but the fires blazing so we kick back..
Its been a while since dad home so being a guy he wants to say hello. But I’m uncomfortable and its not happening… not at all… its late and I’m tired. So second best option we kick back in the lounge next to the fire. I’m feeling some twinges…. I’m sitting on the ground with dad on the chair …. We check the clock…. Are these contractions neither of us are sure but we are excited.. this could be it, you who we have waited so long for. So being the first time parents that we are we pull out the note book and start physically recorded the time of the contraction the end of the contraction and the length. First time parents maybe we all do it the same but I’m scared now the reality has kicked in and though I don’t know what perfect looks, it’s what I want.
It’s getting later and the intensity kicking in so we call the midwife with the times. She says wait until there about five six minutes and then call her and come in. Its nerve racking, time and contraction are contradictions. It hurts but don’t come in till it hurts so more. I hear the door open, nans come home, I go to tell her but she’s just done a double shift in the pack house and looks grumpy and tired. But your dad gives me a nudge so I knock on the door… “What” - yip nans tired “Ummm, I think I’m having my contractions’ – I smile and grit my teeth… “ohh… ok…’ – change in tone to a softness that I need “let me finish my bath’ We call the midwife again, no your ok just have a sleep Didn’t happen, could sleep my mind was running a mile a minute, called aunty lah in Waikato. She’s spewing, she stuck with no car and she so want s to be here. She blames nan.
Ready to leave, the pains kicked in and I’m not sure I can do this, but I’ve been praying during my pregnancy for an easy birth and a healthy child so here hoping I can cope. I grab my pack that I packed two months in advance just in case and take a final glance at the room, there the bassinet with the net drape, the port a cot, the nappy holder and the Winnie the pooh pictures and that I've collected over the last six months all in preparation for you. We decide not to ring my nan. It’s late and as a general rule first time births take on average about 16 hours (again I’d read all the literature) so maybe in the morning so she doesn’t fret. Nana and papa come over in the truck and we tell nana Kath and koko on the way over.
The hospital so quiet and I try listen to hear the screams of women giving birth. But I’m not going to be like that, only päkehä scream my nan reckons. But I hear nothing but the footsteps of the nurses and whispers of awaiting dads. We ring nana Margaret and she growls your dad, its too early ring me later when it’s closer to the time.
I’m so nervous, your dads holding one hand, reassuring me were ok, and we get in the ugly hospital jimmies, because I don’t want to get me clothes paru…. I’m allowed into the bath to help soothe the pain (that’s what the literature said) but it doesn’t help but it took so long to fill that my contractions started to advance anyway. So now we're in the dim lit room and I’m pacing and trying to get comfortable but nothing is helping. Dad and papa are trying to help me get the pain of my back so I’m trying to suspend my light self by hanging off them, nana Kath gives me a mirimiri, nan holds my hand, man its intense… cant get comfortable it hurts to much ………
I want to push, you sure… yip I want to push… man I want to push…. So the midwife breaks my water to help me along…. Man I really want to push now……………..the pain is insane and papa is wiping my head with a flannel… and its all a bit much……….the pain………….. 3 minutes later from having my water broken……. The head crowns and the body follows all at once………….. the elation the relief………… the midwife nearly drops you….. you… all I can hear is sobbing……. In a towel your dad bring you to me and whispers ..its a boy……………my son…a beautiful baby boy……….. our son…I cry for that which is and that which wasn’t………. a boy… I always wanted a son first………. It’s a boy nan…………..my son…………. Born 6:07am 6 June 7pd 14oz Dec 2004

7 Dec 2004
(ok now I'm thirty and I want to cry.......) The day you arrived it was a warm morning and we didn’t have a lot of plans other than to await your arrival and we had kinda been waiting since mid November. But still made our midwifes appointment at 11 and on ‘inspection’ not much was happening, so applying a special midwife technique, Juanita hoped for the best. Feeling slightly dishearted and exceedingly ‘heavy’ we picke dup uncle Bernie and went to bayfair. I wasn’t feeling to great so stayed in the car while dad and uncle went and got a feed.
I started experiences twinges but nothing to much more that that and only on an occasional basis, plus I didn’t want to get over excited. So its latter in the day and we are kicking back at home and I realize that the twinges are getting more frequent though not longer and not so sore. Birth hurts so this wasn’t it! I’m laying on Parekotukus bed, reading with her jumping all over me and dad starts massaging my feet, it hurts a little more so we ring the midwife and she says relax we’re ok its not hurting. I explain its more frequent lasting longer but doesn’t feel like a ‘real’ contractions have kicked in! but dad gets the black car ready, opens up the back, puts down the mattress… if nothing else we’re ready to go!
Change in pace, contractions three/four minutes apart lasting two minutes, pain threshold low… umm ring midwife, umm midwife says ok make your way over but its sounds ok. So dad helps me off the bed I get up and whoosshh, my water have broken… that’s never happened before…… go to toilet, ok ‘stuffs’ hanging out….. that’s never happened before….. Change in pace… ring midwife… midwife says oh no… ring ambulance…we ring ambulance.. midwife says assume the position…. I go into the lounge and assume the position… my babies are worried.. Bernie takes kids outsie to play… its 6:30pm.. I’m on the floor.. I’m thinking man not my carpet… ok pain.. I feel pain… lots and lots of pain.. where did that come from… ohhh more pain… ambo arrives… are we going to deliver at home… juct a quick check… umm no.. oh man… ambos a guy, oh man….
Change in pace… lifted into the ambulance…. I’m ok boys (ok that’s a lie) Rangitautini is standing on deck with big tears… look after them Bernie…oh man…outside on stretcher…. Oh man pull my t-shirt down…now in the ambulance.. its cramped… its old, new one getting serviced… oh man…we’re away….
Change in pace.. the pain…why are we driving so slow… safety first… oh man…turn over on the stretcher…the stretchers for small people…oh man…. the pain…I’m looking at dad.. he’s freaked… the pain… we drive past the marae… dads thinking pull over have my baby outside moko… the pain… past uncle rays and the whanau… the pain… in town… parametic says pull over.. what!...
Change in pace… chronic pain… oh man… I wanna push.. keep breathing… its so hot.. its summer… why is he closing the window… starting pushing… oh my god the pain… I’m crying and dads freaked… oh man… its to hot… I’m getting frustrated… whats happening..breath babe breathe… oh man… whats happening… I have to push now… I’m gonna push.. the pain… its hot… oh man…. Pushhhhhhhh….breathe babe breathe……elation and relief… ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh….. tihei mauri ora…..its a boy…. Is he ok….. a boy…a beautiful bonny, kinda chingy looking boy………a son …our son …….another beautiful son…………Joseph…7:06pm Dec 7 2005 ...end

Scrapbooking wise completed another couple pages got my tarisota, brought my tickets to CC06, booked my flights and just trying to work out the accommodation thing....... well i feel a line of 't' coming on............. good night...

March is nearly over already

If I could pull myself away from my computer long enough I might find that I would get more scrapbooking done. However now that I'm lecturing have found that I need to be a bit more prepared for my class that I have been over the last two weeks. The first couple weeks were cruisy only because it was concentrating on things like oreintation and study skills 101 sort of thing. However lifes changed as today we started our level 4 on human anatomy and physiology so my head hurts MAJOR. Funniliy enough though, I have managed to incorporate scrapbooking into my class so have a session booked for my students next week... hehe cant believed management approved it and then determined to pay it... wicked who knows maybe able to convert somebody.

Attended a midnight scrap on Friday and managed to complete 2 layout of which was scraplifted except changed a few colours added and few elements and waalah DONE. Was having a tutu in photoshop using the photomerge tool, but ended up combining some digitial elements to get a feel of what the page might look like but instead did both... not the plan but worked out ok. As I have gotten so much more confident with Adobe, finding digital layout an excellent way to practice my new skills but happily report I love paper!!



Good to also have a copy of for keeps too. Mate that was becoming a mission trying to get one, not use to the 'new' layout as yet as the last one I brought came out with a completementary "g" from basic grey (I was serious when I said I was hard press to get one) and had converted back to buying Scrapbook Memories which I still enjoy especially for the photo tech info. Congrats to the new DT for Scrapbook Outlet, that must have driven some amazing publicity so great things for Scrapbooking in NZ.

Have been working with our little scrapbook storeowner in Te Puke, so have got four classes booked for April and yeah I get a amount for each student so that converts to product!! I so love product.

Good news on the whanau front, my mother in law was proposed to in the weekend infront of the everyone during a whanau BBQ and my son is competing for the Maori speech awards at his school. Like every parent I soooooo think he should win..... and I sooooooo will go and see the Principle if he doesnt:) Yip I'm one of those parents............ better get to bed........ well maybe soon.......

photos werent a go so rnew post

Bring on Friday

Ok so in theory have five day weekends means rest and relaxtion. Well after two weeks in my new role this is yet to happen. It would seem that even though I'm not working ona Friday or Monday, other people, including my parents believe me to be bored and as a result nominate me for those 'long term' tasks that need only a couple of dedicated hours to be completed... so that means ME. Too busy to scrapbook but cant think of anything else. Did manage to go and introduce myself to a women in Te Puke who has opened a Scrapbooking Shop called Scrapbook Magik (Tina shes lovely) and offered to run some classes for her. Ok I'm not usually this brave and given I have been only doing this for a year, determined that doing that was quiet forward for me... So why did I do that.. I mean I have four busy kids, am on numerous Trust and Boards, work full time and do a lot of community/ iwi work.... oh thats right because I'm an idiot!! Ok as well as the fact that I love sharing scrapbooking and get an especial buzz out of taking a class. So for April I have got four classes fully booked (20 in two fo the classes but thinking thats far too much) so ok taking myself to the next level....... cant wait... still want to open my own store......... umm how to make that happen... not sure one day........... maybe...... please...

Looking forward to Scrapcamp and hear numbers are looking good, so if you havent already booked you'd better hurry

Um photos of my week are... the powhiri for my new students, the graduation for my old students who just completed there Bachelor of Nursing, the Maketu triatholon which my oldest boy Rangitautini (Rangi toe tinny) did and a photo shoot for a teenager with attitude. Also doing part time photography and have got a few shoots lined up for the next months and being as original as I am it called......... wait for it ............tibblewilliams photography ...I know I know..........
** update** I did try and load those photos several times but to no avail. Blogspot/ Xtra whats going on??!! Will try again later tonight.........

I'm so proud of me!!

Have just completed my first digitial job and decided I did a spiffy job of it and couldnt seriously believe how easy it was.... I still love paper based but certainly had a lot of fun and did this layout in about half the time!! The papers are from the morning side collection including all the embellishments and was from the book digitial design for scrapbooking which I got via KS. Thinking I'm gonna be taking up heaps of that Gigage (is that a word?) on my broadband looking for goodies!!

Ok thats it just wanted to share my news. Sorry forgot to mention thanks to those who drop in but especially those who comment. I love getting them and it surely gives me a buzz and keeps blogging. Much appreciated!!!!!

It doesnt rain it pours

and as a result I got lost. So on looking at my log can see that this is the biggest down time I have had since I started this addiction. May be the addictions thinning... i think not... but instead i provide a gallery of my busy life for the past week as evidence!!

First photo... newphews birthday party on the Saturday, 2nd photo my farewell with some friends from Rotorua Hospital, third photo ... well my beautiful daughter with her face painted
What these photos dont include over the last 7 days are making birthday cards (learn to shut my mouth when busy) 75 individual birthday invitations for my sister in law (shes so lovely ) restoring photos from a reunion welcoming my hubby back from wellington ( thats was hard work had to listen and pretend to be interested in Wrestling) farewelling hubby (he went into the bush during a storm) welcoming him home (he returned safely yeah!) and then farewelling him again as he heads away for another five days for work. Also got pnuemonia again (thats iust annoying now) and have started my new job.... ok feel better now... as for my wonderful planned layots there not happening but thats about to change as my hours have changed!!! have started to write my ideas down cause Im dreamming about scrapbooking... thats what happens i guess when you cant actually spend time doing it!!

I miss him so...

as this is so the longest time I have been away from him. Its as though my view of the world has gone askew with no small frame which to explore it through........... I await your return and pray you come home safely to me my dscf 717 sony camera................. (funny yes... seriously h** yes!)

Did the Jenny McQuire Designing with fabric class with Yolande in the weekend and at the time determine that it wasnt quite my thing, what ever my thing is?? I mean making the pleats that was a mission, having the threads from the swatches stick to you, that was annoying and overall was thinking nah! But then it all comes together and looks amazing, so have in my mind a specific LO i would like to do. PS Whakatane Ladies miss you guys.. the crop is so quiet without you all!! Anyway there is a small story that goes with my LO I have in mind with the fabric so lets digress.....

1975 Born with a hole in the heart I was always going to be a high need kids. My parents had two other children and had to work cause treatment at greenlane was expensive. not so much the treatment but the travelling and time away from work..... rewind a bit... 1972 my grandfather dies ... fast forward ... I'm the closest grandchild born after my grandfather dies... result my grandmother becomes a intricate part of my life and I hers... fast forward... nan stays with my parents every night drops me of to primary school stays at her house in town picks me up after school........ fast forward... i attend the only intermediate school 10 mins from her house... Fast forward... pretty much live with her the remaining of her life (give or take Uni)... fast forward... she dies... I am not there when we got through the house to sort out her belongings but end up with all her old dresses.... what am I suppose to do with those!!??!! they are the dresses I saw her in every day and yip they remind me of her in the smallest and quietest of ways............. revelation.......... designing with fabric.......

So yip cutting them up, even though that feels really really wrong but think an album of sorts to go with a mixture of photos i have with those exact dresses... work in progress i think.

Anyway.. congrats to Yolande for getting Keishas Coasters I'm so disgustingly jealous... so can I come play! Xtra has a great summer photo competition and does anyone know anything more about the The Scrapbook Outlet DT.

Thought I start with the 10 fav layouts so heres the first two. This one was one of my first and completed it at ScrapCamp with Lianne and Yolande last year. Why I love it?? cause I thought I was so clever using the different fonts to describe her (if i did it again i would ink the edges put them on chipboards and sand them!) and its a great photo of her lovely lips and eyes plus the papers at the time matched. it was also the first time I'd used staples and the tags

This sums up my darling baby boy and again was pleased to find alternative cost saving ways to do lettering using the stamps and made the pocket my own self with journal on the card. He is nine months in this photo and I completed it in September 05 so was stoked that this new found hobby was lasting as often in my case they are short lived ........I bore quickly...


Ok thats about it another two in a couple of days me thinks....

Hubby has gone and I've moved to my

parents while he is in Wellington. Admittedly it was much needed for him to have a break. Being at home for the past 14 months being the SAHD hasnt been all that for him and at least he has an appreciate for the job itself. I on the other hand argued with him, that in guilt of bn a full time mother working 45 minutes from home, at least when I do arrive home I preceed to ...........
get the washing in a fold it, tidy up the kitchen if he hasnt got to it, hang out the washing (he hates that job) bath the kids and then do the dinner dishes... so it can get a bit of a counting points game but hey I said I do and I meant it but mate... could have done with a heads up!!! :) (she reaches for the vodka) . So hope he comes home happy and well rested cause hes away for the rest of the week kicking back spending lots of money on alcohol and going to the WWE match..

But to that he is staying at the Intercontinetal for 8 nights and having a fab time, so imagine my excitement in the bells rang and I relaised thats where Kiwiscraps CC is being held. When checking the prices the Interncontineal might not be an option but the Ibis is across the road so might have to check that one out. So looking forward to both the CC and KS Camp in Rotorua. Heads is ticking over in excitement but have to check my dates as hubby is in Canada in August so heres hoping its not on the 10th to the 13th arrrggghhhhh........

Have been busy scrapbooking and completed another three pages so moving along happily and wanting to be brave and submit to up2 scrap or ForKeeps not sure what but hey gotta give it a go. Also Tarisota March collection looks amazing and the SENZ already have early bird tickets avalaible for September in Plamerston North... What else oh KS has the new basic grey collection in and I'm currently poor. Timing suxs!!! Ok all linked out and still havent posted my LO.... damn havent got the camera its in Wellington woe is me:(

Dont wanna miss

a beat... Have had a fab time scrapbooking and am trying to make the most of it while its flowing. Found that in between major laout keeping up with little mini albums helps me. So have completed on count 27 layouts this years. My first challenge was to complete one for every week of the year but hey half my year is already gone so its looking good to completing that one!

Spent the weekend at the weetbix tryatholon here in Tauranga and although my son did all the hard work, I came away injured LOL. What is that about, I ask? So yip now walking around with a phat purple ankle which without a doubt is ugly! My son Rangitautini (rangi - toe - tinny) did the team event with his uncle while he did the bike and run. He was awesome!!!
Have finished a few more layouts and decided will have a go at submitting some work as well to where not sure where but somewhere! This is the two I did this weekend.........

Just got in...

so another one of those long days that is vastly improved only when I a) see the smiles on my babies faces and b) look at all the pretty products! Memories Revisted have just posted up for pre orders of the new Basic Grey kits which are due in next week...... need to see what others are charging!

Today was buzy and am bummed that I will miss some of the exciting projects coming up at work including the launch of an new admission/ assesment/ care plan/ discharge protocol and project management course which I have been waiting for all year... but such is life but more so will miss the people that I have so enjoyed working with in such a large organisation.

Tonight my eldest son and I headed over to Pilot Bay where he did a practice run for the Weetbix triatholon. He managed the run and the bike really well (needs more pratice on going around the round abouts so thats tomorrow nights session!) that my father in law shouted him a pair of new Asics Shoes and a meal at Burger King! As he is not a confident swimmer in the ocean his Uncle is doing this leg of the race for him. This is his first triatholon but having the competitive edge that he seems to be born with, it can get ugly. He doesnt accept that his mind sometimes exceeds his physical body given his age, he focuses on winning, not trying, losing is not an option and in short when he does lose, it aint pretty (oh I like that INXS song). I have no idea where he gets that particular set of ugly traits from. But he is motivated and he is an over achiever which he thinks is acceptable because its tempered by "my good looks mum!"

Have done another mini boxed album but am too tired to get the camera out of car...... will post up later

Did some one say Yolande Lianne camp???? Feel like Homer Simpson ........... ummm scrapcamp

I want it all...

and yeah I got it all from Tarisota. My package arrived today so will really have to think about a heritage vintage album/ LO. Lime Tart also looks scrummy so many choices so little money. Kiwiscraps are you going to put some funky kits together???

Kitchen Table Take Over

is what I'm resigned to at the moment. My take over the world plans are currently on hold, however on winning of Lotto I shall recommence.... So back to the table. Made a hell of a lot of mess last night which isnt my usual style as am usually somewhat tidy I think.. but last night all went to custard and I create an abyss where things that were in my hand then disappeared for about 10 minutes despite my frantic search and words of 'where did I put that bloddy thing'... spouted forth so.............. felt chaotic which is unusual. So thats my kitchen table aka scrap space...

To that I actually only started and completed a double layout and a single page LO while the rest of the time was spent complete other pages which had no journalling. This took ages which I guess resulted in my OHT frenzy but felt good to get it done. Also finished of my mini boxed albu, from last KS Scrap n Relax which just need me to add in the photos. So all in all a great night which ended at 2.36am.... tonight I'm aiming for about 12.

My double LO is using the Blitzen pack I won from a game of Bingo and it just happened that the colours match the green tarp we had used one night and of course the Lion Red, Steinies and Waikato, which I think captures most of the Kiwi Xmas I have been too. However used them for an imprompt Easter Party we had so yip....

Did I mention that I love.......

photoshop brushes.... may be in passing like in every blog I put up, but yip am again constantly amazed at how this continues to contribute to my scrapbooking. Anyway wanted to share this.

Whilst laying in bed with my one year old, Joseph, impatiently trying to put him to sleep my mind wandered back to the Scrapcamp held with Yolande and Lianne June 2005 at Finlay Park. Wandering wandering.... came to think about the People and Places class held with Nic Howard and remembered the OHT we'd used. So tap my son on the back faster and a little harder to encourage sleeping (does that actually work) I then jump on Adobe and create my own full set of OHT using the brushes and damn do my OHT look good. Adobe gives you the freedom of the page that MS Publisher or MS Word doesnt. So open up a new A4 page, fill it with brushes of different colours and opacity and walah! Funky OHTs.

Now text is a little different as I seem to have more control but in MS Word but all good because once the OHT is printed, I do my text back in MS Word and then feed the transperancy back through. Honestly they are awesome and I have decided that no one else on earth has done this and that I am the first! (yeah right) but okay just wanted to share my joy with you all... Here is the OHT that I did for a page with my mum and baby brother Anaru. So imagine if you will journalling over top of this OHT and thats pretty much what mine looks like. Hint dont forget to paint the background using inks if using on PP. In a bit of a scrapbook frenzy so will keep moving. Today completed a double 12x12 LO which I havent done in a while so onwards and upwards.....

All is right in the blogging world

Yeah one of my fav bloggers is not leaving us for the password world so yah!!! My blogging eyes would have missed Keisha work (again would post link if i knew how... hint hint) so lovin it that she is back.... Yolande are you back on line properly yet???