April..

has been and nearly gone...My little man has turned ONE!! omg. What a gorgeous little boy he is - he loved his red car!! Tilly hs played her first game of inter school soccer, We had a fantastic Anzac Day - Clancy's first march - and Zach is loving Prep - and painting in the backyard! Jeff has got in touch with his inner Jonny Depp for a fancy dress party (scary!!)

head down bum up

yep - Uni is great - FULL ON. I have just handed in the first round of assignments and done exams - 6 more weeks until the next lot are due and then a break - man...busy????? oh yeah.

No I haven't fallen off the edge of the world..

it just seems like it..
man - talk about busy. I am absolutely loving Uni - but it is full on with 3 kids and a 40th birthday in the middle.. I am manic with the first lot of assessments all due in the next few weeks..breathe.....just breathe. So I am missing this years scrap retreat :( ..oh well have to make some sacrifices right??
Well I have been published in NZ in UP@SCRAPS and in Oz in For Keeps Creative Paper this month - I will post some pics tomorrow.. I also have some layout in an online magazine called Scrapstreet. - Have a look it's great and all free online>>
this months One Little Aussie Word will be up on Friday too so blog on over..

OK

I've nearly caught up...we have had a huge week - me sicker than I have been in a long time and in hospital, week 2 of Uni, Jeff's family from Ireland arriving and Jeff's 40th birthday - with friends from Texas and Gold Coast making the trip up...Thanks guys!!
I found my camera TODAY....but I have been promised some photos of the weekend from Row - a fellow scrapbooker, seems we both picked up the same hobby since not seeing each other 8 years ago!!
But I did take a photo of THIS. On day 2 of every visit we seem to always have a major accident - Dad falling in the Thames and breaking his leg in London, Jeff's Mum falling over in a carpark and breaking her elbow when she was out last year...so we got through day 2 with NO INJURIES...and then on day 3..............poor little Indiah ran straight into the glass door and knocked herself silly...Thank God it was safety glass - considering that the door has been in there for God knows how long - she got away with a concussion and bruises - the 2 breaks are her head and knee hitting the glass...it could have been a lot worse............ what is it with us and visitors???????
Anyway - the Irish contingent are having a great time - recovering from St.Patrick's Day and having a quiet one tonight, before going to Lady Musgrave Island tomorrow...
BTW -- A huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MRS THORNE!!! who celebrated a v. special birthday on Friday..... I have a bottle of bubbly just waiting to have a belated celebration mate!!

sick, sick, sick

not a great way to start uni..I have been in hospital for 3 days and I am now home on gate leave with mastitis and resulting blood poisoning. Feeling very crook. so I will see you all next week when I am a bit better "(

I think it's going to get a little windy:

Tropical Cyclone Hamish has been upgraded to Category 5 and is heading down the coast toward us - it is very dark and gloomy and has just started to rain - so Bundy is battening down the hatches - Jeff is supposed to fly home from Brisbane tonight - if the cyclone keeps heading this way - then he won't be on a plane!! Good luck to everyone up north - let's hope that this cyclone peters out and doesn't cross the coast.

One Little Aussie Word

This is my layout for March One Little Aussie Word Challenge Blog - the word this month is RISE. Head over the OLAW site to join in!!

just some photos

It is still so hot up here - we try to go somewhere after school to run off the remainder of the energy - yesterday we headed to the zoo..

and the good news is that the CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG!! Thank God - I hate keeping secrets.. Jeff's Father and 2 sisters are arriving next week to celebrate his 40th birthday - I have been keeping the secret for ages - and I am so glad that he finally knows....I think he thought that I had made a new special friend at uni with all the deleted emails and dodgy phone calls!!
So the Summer of 69 Party is gearing up!!!

Sunday, sunday..

so good to me...
Well the creaking that you hear are the cogs and wheels of my rusty old brain slowly winding itself up...after many years of lack of use!!. I have had a fantastic week at uni - feeling ok about it all now. the workload is daunting, but the availability of help and support is pretty amazing........so poor old scrapbooking has a timeslot of Friday nights only (to start with anyway) - until I get the hang of it and get through the 1st 12 weeks are are apparently pretty full on..
anyway, on another note:
The winners have been announced over at One Little Aussie Word - so pop over and have a look at the beautiful layouts that were entered in our first challenge...a huge thank you to the creative team - I can't wait to see what they come up with this month!!! I have managed to finish one Layout!! the title says it all...he's just delightful.
So off to bed..
oh and a HUGE Congratulations to Mrs Cassandra Thorne!! A little birdie told me you are being published in NZ!!!! you BAAAAAAAd girl.Way to go girl!!

Thanks!!

for all my lovely messages of support on my new beginnings at Uni - wow - my head is spinning after 2 days of lectures about referencing and essays...but there are loads of mums - at least 60+% are mature age - so I don't feel out of place..

First day at big school

(for me!!!)
hey Cass - I am in a class with one of your students from last year! - because I am very young and studenty!!
don't laugh at the photo - this was the "Good"one..v.sad, but true..
Had a great day for my first day at Uni - my head is spinning a bit though - so much info in one day...so I am having an early night...

There's still time..

to put in an entry on the the One Little Aussie Word site - for a chance to win some prizes form Stuff2Scrap!!

Productive Day

I have finished 23 layouts for Sarah Gladmans Make New Memories drive for survivors of the Bushfires...it was surprisingly quick -based on the same design as my "M" embroidery hoop below -no theme - just general lo's that can be used for many different themes..

not quite finished with Brisbane..

This layout was done as part of my Scrap Around the World trip... I felt moved to do 2 inspired by Brisbane.. this one is all about the colours of Brisbane - Dark Blue ;the water - Azure - the sky -Yellow - the sun -Grey -thunderstorm clouds - and black for Brisbane at night.. I just painted big blobs of the colours that I wanted onto cardstock, and then cut them out to use as a colour frame for my photo..

Take OFF!!

from Brisbane.. I was inspired by this photo of The Storey Bridge with the City behind it... This is a famous landmark over the beautiful Brisbane River... So I drew up this basic sketch (sorry about dodgy photo!)
and then ended up with this layout.....and yes ..that is me with The Socks... so next stop Beunos Aires...

right now

in my backyard..the skip is here.. the backpackers looking to make a few bucks are here..and of course...it's absolutely pouring!!!!
It hasn't stopped them though - we are doing the Mother of all clean ups - so far I have heard 2 screams from our poor Taiwanese Boys - 1 for a metre long brown snake and one for a big hairy spider on someone's leg!! lol - they'll remember this day in their travels - talk about wildlife experience!!

some inspiration

came to me today ...from my DH - no less...he is a travel agent, and before we settled here in Queensland we spent 10 years living in London and were lucky enough to travel to many destinations around the world. Before we were together we both did the backpacking thing as well separately..and travel is something that we both love....
however the reality of 3 kids living in regional Qld with one salary and one full time uni student...travel to exotic and far off destinations is just not something in our reality for at least 5 years.
so...............while at my husband's store today I was looking at an Around The World fare - 19 stops in some amazing places - I thought (insert light bulb here) how I would love to Scrap Around the World...(from my scrap room of course - no passport or travellers cheques required..)

I am going to create an Around the World Route...and use each destination as inspiration for a project - hopefully it will stretch my creativity and get me (virtually anyway) away from it all!!

I have been planning my dream trip and so far here it is:
Leaving from Brisbane, Queensland, and then heading to Beunos Aires - Mexico - New York - Rekjavik - Dublin - London - Paris - Florence - Prague - Lapland - Cairo - Nairobi - Cape Town - Delhi - Kathmandu - Tokyo - Singapore - Bali - Home.....
WOW imagine that trip !!

Feel free to come with me..I think I will probably need at least 2 weeks in each destination to really see the sights, so I will be "travelling" for at least 6 months

.......I am leaving from Brisbane. I will post some images of "BrisVegas"..but when I think of Brisbane - I think of Jacarandas, fireworks, one-way streets, the Storey Bridge, the Brisbane River..huge electrical storms and blue, blue sky.....

So each project will be a layout or OTP - inspired by the flavours, sights, sounds, colours, culture and people of each destination...

Scrapathon...

I have just been bloghopping to Aga's blog and read about Sarah Gladman - She has started a wonderful project to send memory books to the survivors of the Victorian Bushfires - imagine losing every image of your loved ones?? Imagine how that becomes a million times worse when your loved ones have lost their lives in a tragedy like this??? Sarah has come up with a great idea to help these devastated families build new memories. Have a look at her blog for full details on how you can help...

I forgot

to say a big WELCOME to Sheree McGee - who has joined the creative team at One Little Aussie Word - welcome aboard Sheree !

whose bad???

Gotta be in it to win it right??? Well with that in mind I have worked my butt off over the last 48hrs to put together and entry for the Bad Girls Design Team... If you have never been over to the dark side...then have a look - the design team is truly original and innovative.. the calibre of entries will probably be way beyond my humble skills - but hey - you never never know....if you never never have a go...
oh ---and the kits are AWESOME - really eclectic and right up my street.. I will share my 4 projects (yes there has been some EXTREME SCRAPPING going on in Bundy!! and not much housework - what a shame...) as soon as Wendy makes the announcement.....
...waiting..
...............waiting..
(I'm a sagitarrius you know - waiting is not really one of my strong points....)
...umm.........
...........................
how'bout now?? no?

Okay - here's another Lo from today (While we are waiting) see I can do clean and crisp!