My boy's 11!

Yes, Nicholas is 11 today!
It's funny but I still remember every moment of the time leading up to his birth and his birth. I guess it's not something I could ever forget. One thing's for sure I never have an easy time of it having babies.... lol... each of them has their own dramas.
Nicholas didn't get much today for his birthday as he's been selected to go to Narrogin for the junior hockey carnival in a few weeks. We really are very proud of him.
But because of the cost of it, he didn't get much. He got a new jumper, socks for Narrogin, a lock for his bike and a little tin I did for him with some inspirational quotes. He seemed to be quite happy with it.
Sometimes I really want to spoil the boys and I have to stop myself from doing it. I guess they're only little for so long, even though he's not little any more.
I took this photo tonight of the boys... Nicholas is in the middle.


Aren't they just the cheekiest!

So what else has been happening... well I'm fully recovered from the allergy/virus. No sign of it left. Now just to work out what it was... I either wait to see if the kids come out in it or maybe just have a small piece of chocolate... lol Danny would kill me if I did that!
But otherwise I haven't done much scrapping this week after the fun on Monday. I've just finished a layout, but I will upload it tomorrow.

Other than that I got a heap (ummm.... hundreds!) of photos printed this week too. I'm absolutely chuffed with the quality of them and also the service I got. Can't recommend them more. I got them from Shona and her dh at Photo Express in Shepparton.
If you want photos printed at a brilliant price at a brilliant quality with brilliant service just email them at photoexpress1@bigpond.com.au
Honestly I can't recommend them any higher. I now have to go through the rest of my photos that need printing and send them off to them. I got over 400 printed and they had them done and sent back to me the same day! Now how's that for service!

So that's about it. Danny's home, work tomorrow, Saturday I have to clean this pig sty of a house but Saturday night there's a cc on over at Scrapboxx.

Oh and another thing... Jenny over at RJR has got some ribbon adhesive in as well as bella ds tape... just the perfect thing for ribbon. So if you haven't visited go and visit before her sale ends on Saturday.... there's some amazing ribbon over there at some amazing prices.... (I've really had to control myself not to go shopping... pmsl).

So have yourselves a wonderful day tomorrow and I will catch you all later.
Toni.

Much better today

Yes, I feel much much better today. Took the day off work and I'm glad I did.
Danny sent me up the hospital again last night because he was worried, and they think it could be a virus. Apparently they've had a few cases like this, but Danny and I still think it was an allergy.
We will wait and see, if Danny and the kids come out with it it's a virus, if they don't then I guess it's an allergy.

But the day wasn't a complete waste.... I got some scrapping done. I sorted out the pics for the circle journal I'm doing, did the file for the ideas I like from the mags, did the challenges from the Boxx, SNC and there's one for Scrapbooking 4 Less too.
And on top of that I also wrote out some more details of the family tree in the file I'm keeping.

So here's the layouts....


This first one I did for both the Scrap N Crazy challenge and the Scrapbooking 4 Less 14 day challenge. Is off my nieces Sam and Mel.


And this one was for the Boxx weekly challenge... to use circles, lots of circles. Do you think I managed that one? lol.... it's from a Becky Higgins Sketch. I so love her sketches.

So that's about it for me, back to work tomorrow... unfortunately!
But have yourselves a good day and thanks everyone for your well wishes.
Toni.

I feel awful

Sorry but I do. This allergy has knocked me for a 6. I woke up this morning with swollen hands and lips and slowly today that's cleared up and same with the hives. But now the hives are back again and my hands have been so very sore all day.
So don't think I will be going to work tomorrow unless I have a full recovery in the next 12 hours. Knowing my luck, that's what will happen.
I did get one layout done today. The layout for the Book of Me for Scrapboxx. I haven't missed a single BOM challenge yet so I think that's an achievement. The handwriting isn't very good because my hand was sore, and I guess I should have left it until I felt better but I just wanted to get it done.
Here's the layout and no I'm not going to retype the journalling... sorry.



Anyway, that's it from me tonight. Keep warm and stay safe.
Toni

OMG! I'm allergic to chocolate!

I've come down with a contact dermatitis and hives today and the only thing we can trace it to is a block of cadbury triple decker rasperry chocolate I got from Red Dot yesterday.
I know most of you will have already seen my posts on the various forums I visit but honestly... it makes you wonder what the hell they're putting in the chocolate or on the paper. I mean the first rash showed up where I held the chocolate in my hand.
So I hope it's only that chocolate and not all chocolate... what a horror story that would be!

And so, because my hands are sore there's been no scrapping done today. I got the ATC's done for the swap on the Boxx finished and that's it. The kit for the Boxx BOM is still sitting on my desk with the photo I took today.
So hopefully the hands are going to be all better for me to scrap tomorrow.

Mum rang me tonight and currently they're in Tenant Creek, heading to Mt Isa... watch out Tatum, they're heading your way. lol. From there they're heading up to Normanton and to Cairns.
Trying to find somewhere warm Mum said. I wish them luck.
They're currently travelling around Australia and are going where the winds take them basically. I wish them all the best, they so deserve it. They've worked hard all their lives, so it's a wonderful treat for them.

So that's about it... no scrapping, sore hands, cold weather and Kristofer's been sick today too with a vomiting bug.... all fun and games... NOT!

Hope you all have a good weekend and hopefully there's some scrapping happening tomorrow.
Toni

My 15 minutes...

Well I got my 15 minutes of fame. Jenny over at RJR is profiling the DT members on her blog and she has mine up at the moment. My little bit.. lol. She has recently had Dee's and Pippa's up and I'm sure Shazz's will be up shortly.
I can't believe that I've been included with such wonderful talented girls. So go check it out and don't forget to check out Jenny's sale over at RJR... she has some absolutely gorgeous ribbons there... and no I haven't bought her out.... yet!

And talking about the RJR ribbons, I've finally managed to find some peace and quiet to get a layout done with the gorgeous ribbons Jenny sent me tonight. I have plans for something else so hopefully I will get it done tomorrow afternoon when I have peace and quiet on my afternoon off.
So that's been about all I've been up to. Very quiet around the boards at the moment though.

I had to laugh this morning on my way to dropping the boys off. Kristofer was teaching Jonathan how to read. Sounding the words out on the card he had written for his friend Mason. I don't think Jonathan will have any trouble reading as he stands with me and Kristofer when Kristofer is doing his reading.
There really isn't much between that pair. We swear they should have been twins.

So that's about it... just a short post. Look after yourselves and have a wonderful day won't you.
Toni

What a weekend...

Well with the SNC cybercrop I spent the whole weekend scrapping!
It really was crazy, with a lot of challenges, a lot of chat and a lot of fun. Honestly I can't tell you how much fun we had.
Kudoes to the girls at SNC, they had new servers on Thursday and then they ran an absolutely top top top top cybercrop all weekend. They really are absolutely fantastic.
So what did I do...
Well you saw the layout on my ribbon... I still crack up laughing when I see that one. I guess we've all have to have a layout that makes us laugh when we see it. That's mine! (by the way... have you told me how much ribbon YOU have????? I so wanna know!)

But anyway, here are the layouts I did...

This first one was for Pen's sketch challenge.


This one was for Lisa's progressive challenge. She gives us instructions step by step, and this is the product. I so love this layout. Don't ya just love the lip! lol


This one was for Lisa's ad challenge. She uploaded an old Coke ad we had to get inspiration from. Do you believe that they're sleeping...


This one was for Sharryn's challenge... black white and orange, stars, 2pp and 2 sorts of alpha.


and this one was for Dee's challenge. Pink orange and white. I don't have too many little girl photos but this is one of my childhood photos. Guess which one is me.... I'll give you a hint... I'm not in the middle... lol


And this one was for Chelle's challenge.... 3 pieces bazzill, 1 photo, 1-2 sheets pp, 1 kind of embellishment and journalling. I'm not going to rewrite the journalling here, but it's for Nicholas. He's an adult in 7 years and its about how he has decisions to face in the next few years right or wrong, and that dad and i will always love him no matter what.

So I think that was all... if I've forgotten any please forgive me girls... so many challenges to do, as well as bingo and trivia and then fun with the avatars. So if you get a chance, check out their next cc which will be on August 3-4. I should have recovered by then... I think.

So now I had better get onto the dt work for RJR. Mind you with ribbon, it's not work... it's a pleasure! and if you want some ribbon, don't forget to check out Jenny's site... she's having a special on at the moment, ends June 30 so get in quick!

Until next time... have a great day!

Crazy day...

It's a crazy crazy day... especially over at Scrap n Crazy where there's a cc going on.
Lots of fun and challenges.
And they all thought they would get me with a ribbon challenge from Chelle. Use as many ribbons as possible on a layout or a beyond the page.
I don't think anyone can beat this little effort....
I had so much fun doing it.



So... the breakdown of ribbon....

92 blues, 67 black and white, 72 greens, 54 purples, 122 red and pinks, 86 yellows, oranges and browns...
That makes a total of 493 ribbons... give or take a few... lol
And that's not even all the ribbon in my collection.

So how many ribbons do you have?

I'm such a lucky girl...

In my little mailbox tonight was a pressie from Shona at the Boxx. We're part of the Swap with a Difference, where we do an embellishment each month on a theme. Well Shona did mine this month and it was themed around friendships.
I got the most absolutely gorgeous little mini book with all these quotes on friends and a card to go with it. It is really the most gorgeous thing I've seen! Thank you so much Shona... you have no idea how happy it has made me. I will have to take pics tomorrow and share them with everyone.

And we in the RJR DT are famous now... we rated a mention on the Aussie Pub Calls blog... you can't get more famous than that now can you! lol
Truly I still can't believe that it's happened to lil ol' me...I still have to pinch myself. I can't wait to get the ribbon and be inspired.


This week's challenge for Scrapboxx was to scrap a birthday.
I did one last night when I couldn't get inspired with the mini book.
Am quite happy with the way it came out. Used some Cosmo Cricket I've had sitting here. I so love that paper... very boy orientated which is good as I've found a lot of the papers are more for girls. There just doesn't seem to be alot of boy ranges available.
Even Basic Grey have been doing less for boys and more for girls.

So anyway, I'm going to do that minibook I was going to do last night. I've finally been inspired...

Have yourselves a good day won't you.

My Grandparents

Here's the CD tin I finished on the weekend.
It's of my grandparents.


This is the front of the tin.


This is the first page as the tin opens. My grandparents on their wedding day.

and finally....


These are all the pages. It opens out and the journalling is a short spiel on their life.
They had so many stories that no one knew. Grandad had alzheimers when I was younger and for some reason Grandma would never talk about the past and wouldn't talk about the family in Scotland.
It was only recently when I started researching the family history that we discovered that Grandmothers mother died in 1915 of breast cancer. Up until then every one had believed that she had died just after Grandma was born. So it's been well worth researching.
But I wonder how many stories they never told us. Grandad used to have a boat up north and went crocodile hunting, they lived in Darwin when it was bombed and Grandma and my aunties were all evacuated. And then they were in Darwin when Cyclone Tracey hit. But we've lost all of those stories now... Grandad died in 1988 and Grandma died in 1995. It makes me wish now that we had recorded the few stories they used to tell us as kids.
Unfortunately there's nothing we can do about it.... but if you're reading this and your grandparents are still alive get their stories. You will regret it one day if you don't.
Any thanks for looking and listening. I hope you have a wonderful day... me, I'm going to try to some scrapping... that's if I can figure out what to do with this mini book I have on my desk!

A quiet day....

Another quiet day at work. I have to admit though, I do enjoy it because it gives me a chance to cruise the scrapbooking sites. Bad I know, but as long as the work is done I can get away with it.
I finally finished a cd tin with a mini album on the weekend. I've had the kit sitting here for absolutely ages, so I'm glad to have finally done it. It was from an online class from Chook Scraps about 3 months ago.
I couldn't decide on what photos to put in it as it didn't seem to fit the boys, but I ended up using photos of my Grandfather and Grandmother.
I was really happy with the way it came out, though this morning I decided to take the ribbon off the front to put a tie all the way round and guess what... yep ripped the pp and the photo.
I knew I should've left it. But I've printed the photo again and it will cover up the torn paper.
And the whole time I was doing it Jonathan was standing there waiting to get the flowers left over for his scrapbook collection. Kept asking me if I had finished yet and he could have the flowers.
I'll have to upload a pic of his collection. He's got all these bits and pieces sitting in the cups from an egg carton. Thinks it's just wonderful.
I will have to take photos of the tin tomorrow when it's actually light. It's dark by the time I get home and that's just after 5. That's the problem with winter here.
I was also hoping that the parcel from Jenny at RJR would show up today but it hasn't. I've also got another couple of prizes coming too sometime. There's nothing like new scrapbooking stuff to play with now is there, especially ribbon.
I guess I had better go fix this tin so I can take photos in the morning.
And then I'm thinking about changing my desk. It's something I always seem to be doing... lol. But I'm allowed too...
Hope you've all had a good day.

I've been busy....

Here are a couple of layouts I did last night.


The first is for the Book of Me Challenge over at Scrap n Crazy. The challenge was for the things we like about Winter.
This wasn't what I originally wanted to do but I couldn't find any snowflake paper, but I do like the way this one came out. Very wintry.


And the second one is for the Scrapboxx EF challenge for this week. It was to use arrows on the layout. Very simple but I like the way it turned out. And yes Kristofer is always up to mischief one way or another.

I'm beginning to run out of photos so I had better get some printed soon otherwise I won't have any to scrap.

Thanks for looking.

Wow...

Wow girls...
I can't believe you have all taken the time to visit my blog and leaving comments. Thank you so much.

Well I thought I would upload my first layout. This one is a scraplift of one of Sharryn Thomson's layouts for a weekly challenge over at Scrap n Crazy. With their gallery down at the moment, I thought it would be a good test to upload here and see if it works.



I had fun with this layout and used a photo I've had sitting here for a while trying to work out how to scrap. Poor teddy bear... abandoned by one of the boys. lol
I still need to work out how to scan the pages properly without dark spots.
Thanks for looking.
Toni

I've joined the trend...

I've finally joined the Blogging trend.... still not sure why but there you go.

One of the main reasons I've done this is to share my work with everyone. Currently I am a member of 4 different scrapbooking forums, and sometimes when I do a challenge for one site I'm not sure about displaying it in other galleries, even though I love to share the pages I do. For some reason it just doesn't seem to be right.

And now I've been accepted as a Design Team member for Really Just Ribbons. I felt I needed to start my own blog to share my creations for my friends from the different sites I visit to view my layouts.

Some people have asked me whose Design Team I'm now on (did ya see... Really Just Ribbons), but I don't want to offend anyone on the various other sites I have visited for many years. I have got too much over the years from them to want to offend anyone. So I've decided a Blog would be the easiest way to go. And there you go... that's why I've joined the trend.


So what will I be putting on my blog....

My layouts definately... well the ones I really like anyway! And really anything to do with scrapping.

Occasionally I might post something about my private life, but at this stage I'm not really sure about posting these things for the whole world (as it were) to see, but as I gain confidence in the whole blogging thing, that might change.

So I guess that's it... Please bear with me as I discover the world of blogging......