Another February baby...

Congratulations to Jeanie & Damo on the birth of their son - Oliver Knox Perry on 25th February! He was deteremined not to come out - but arrived a healthy 7lbs 15oz! Mum and bub are both doing well. I can't wait to see little "shake 'n' bake"!

Mum and I are off to Rocky this weekend. I finally get to have a cuddle of baby Connor :o) My camera batteries are all charged up and the cards are all empty - I'm set! LOL

DH is staying home this weekend - he was meant to be working Saturday, but the other supervisor swapped shifts with him. He is now going to spend the weekend fishing and watching footy :o)

I finished this challenge LO for Creative Artz.

The midnight "happy scraps" is on tonight, but I have a 4:30am start tomorrow, so I'm going to have to miss it this month :o( I have a few others LO nearly completed - I'm hoping to get them finished next weekend. I didn't finish Bec's OTP - I need to get some more pics of Connor first.

These are some of the cement mushrooms that mum has been making. I'm supposed to be the one painting them, but she tends to get in and finish them before I get a chance. We think they are fantasitc - DH thinks we are both crazy!! LOL

Scrapping & fishing - the weekend in review...

Saturday I spent 6 hours scrapping & chatting at Creative Artz. There were a lot of familar faces and I met some new ladies. I remembered to take my camera and get a few pics of everyone scrapping away...





I managed to get 2 LO completed and started work on a 3rd LO.



I love the fact that Kylie & I have different scrapping styles - it was great scrapping out of my comfort zone. This is the make & take from the day.


Sunday we were up and on the river by 6am. We fished for 5 hours, but still came home empty handed! LOL I did manage to catch 3 fish this time - 2 toadfish (YUK!) and one undersized bream. One of the toadfish was huge-I got Craig to measure it - 43cm! I didn't realise they grew that big! When we got home we did some gardening. We pulled nearly all the plans out of the side garden - the ferns & bamboo were starting to take over! The rest of the afternoon was spent watching TV in the air-conditioning. We watched "Hancock" - it was a pretty good movie with a few suprise twists & turns!

My PINK goodies from the White with One swap arrived last week... I already have mentally planned some LO around them :o)

Animal tales...

If you live in Bundy and spotted a crazy looking lady jumping in the gardens opposite the council building in the main street yesterday....that was me! While waiting in the car for DH, I spotted 3 little kittens hiding under a hydrant & electricity box and in the gardens. Of course, being the softie that I am - I refused to go anywhere until they had been rescued. I went across the road to the council building and found a guy from the council and a lovely lady from animal control to help us round them up! I didn't realise how fast kittens are!! After getting them out from under the boxes they would run and hide in the gardens! The plants in the gardens are chest-high bushes and not easy to find dark-coloured kittens that are intent on hiding! Our biggest concern was that they might run onto the road. A builder came across the road and managed to grab one for us. LOL It took us about 30 mins of running around, jumping through gardens and making sure we didn't get run over by oncoming traffic to finally catch 3 little kittens!! So funny :o)

Then, driving home from work today DH says "There's a chicken walking up the road!". After laughing at him and telling him that he was having hallucinations - he turned the car back around and proved he wasn't going crazy!! LOL Life is never dull!

I'm going to pack up some scrap kits tonight, ready for the scrap day at Creative Artz tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to 6 hours of scrapping and even more exciting...Kylie's make & take! I don't even get friend's privileges and see the finished product - I just get sneak peaks! LOL

Fishing...

We woke up to a clear blue skies Sunday - so we packed up the boat, brought some bait & ice and tried out the new boat motor! The motor started first go and we went for a run up the river. We only fished for about 3 hours because it was in the middle of the day and too hot to stay any longer. DH caught 2 bream, 1 flathead and a stingray. He thought the fish were undersized, so threw them back in. Boy was he kicking himself when he got home and checked his fishing book (with legal sizes and bag limit info) and found he could have kept 1 bream and the flathead!! I guess that will teach him to put things back in the boat!! LOL I didn't catch anything - I had a few bites and something bit through my line. I did manage to break my fishing rod -first time I've ever used it too :o(

Happy Birthday Kirsty!

Hope you have a fantastic day!

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone was spoilt rotten by the ones they love :o) I got a dozen red roses and a very spunky teddy (his jacket has "Born To Love" embroidered on the back)!



After saving, researching options and shopping around for ages we have finally got DH a new boat motor on Wednesday. He's been missing fishing in his own boat - he has been doing a bit of fishing with his mate Chris though. We had a fishing trip planned this weekend - unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans and it's been raining since Wednesday - poor DH :o(

I've done a bit of scrapping today. This one is for the 123 Challenge blog.


And these are two LO that I have been working on at different crops.




I'm sure everyone is aware of the Victorian bush fires and like myself, would like to provide some support. DH & I wanted to help so we are arranging donations from our salary. Our company is matching all donations dollar for dollar - so far we have raised $80,000. Each centre / site within the company is also participating in various other fundraising activities. I'm glad to see the Aussie spirit as we all pitch in to help those in need. I wanted to do more than just donate money though, and was lucky enough to find this on another blog...



I've copied this from Sarah Gladman's blog:

As scrappers, one of the most important things we deal with on a daily basis are memories. Family memories, memories of loved ones, memories of holidays, birthdays, christenings, BBQ’s and days at the beach. These families in Victoria have got no tangible evidence of their lives left. No family photos. No happy snaps. You can replace a fridge, but you can’t replace years of mementos.

In order to help out these families begin to put their lives back together I have started a scrapbooking plan - called “MEMORY GIFTS”.

Quite simply, I ask each and every one of you who read this blog to donate a 12 x 12inch completed scrapbook LO to the “Memory Gifts” program. Each page will be sent to me. I will collect them and bind them, then hand them over to the head of Pastoral Care for the Victorian Catholic Education Office, Maria Kirkwood in Melbourne.

Each family devastated by fire will be (in time) given album pages to help them begin their memories again. Those families can then approach their own families for copies of photos to put into the albums, or simply start putting in fresh memories.
Sarah asks that you leave a comment on her blog if you can help.

Donna from The Creative Artz Cottage in Bundaberg has offered to be a drop off point for anyone creating layouts for this cause. The first package will be posted the week after next so if anyone local wants to try and get them in there by the 23 Feb that would be great. No rush though, there will be more parcels posted as layouts come in. Thanks Donna.

Introducing...

Connor John French! Delivered by c-section at 9.19am this morning, weighing 6lbs 15ozs. He is 45 cm long and his head is 35cm. Mum and bub are both going well. Dale texted this to me today and I had to share it.


Okay - I just popped onto Bec & Dale's blog and found a pic - so I'm going to post it here too :o)


I can't wait to give him a cuddle :o)

More wall "art"...

Saturday I had lunch down on the river with Cathie & Kylie - it was nice to just relax and catch up :o) We did a bit of shopping in the afternoon. I found some more wall stickers at a different cheapie shop that look perfect in my scrap room!


Saturday night we went out for dinner with Craig's team mates. We had dinner, a few games of pool and just sat around chatting - it's nice to catch up with them outside of work.

Yesterday I went to Simply Crafty - 4 hours of scrapping - bliss!! I worked on a few LO and finished this one. For some reason the colour of the c/stock has come out weird - might have to photograph it again in better light.


Well, as I type Bec is getting prepped for her c-section this morning! It won't be long until baby French enters the world - this is so exciting :o) I'm hoping to have pics some time today. I already know the sex and bub's name, but will wait until bub's born before announcing it :o)

Change of due dates...

I had a chat to Bec today - due to elevated blood pressure and some other things, she is going in to have a c-section this Monday morning!! How exciting - only 3 more sleeps and baby French will enter the world :o) I guess that means I had better stop procrastinating and get the OTP I'm making finished :o)

Scrapping takes up the majority of my spare time, but after reading the Twilight series it renewed my love of reading. I had forgotten how nice it was to just curl up on the couch and lose myself in a wonderful book. A few weeks ago I read this book- "Jillaroo" by Rachael Treasure.

It was a fantastic Australian story - I read it over 2 days - I couldn't put it down. My MIL actually brought it from an op-shop and thought it was great too, so she passed it onto my mum and I to enjoy. I loved it that much that I went to the 2nd hand book shop today and was lucky to pick up another of her books - "The Rouseabout".


While I was looking at the books I also picked up this book "The Memory Keeper's Daughter" - will let you know what I think :o)


I want to redecorate our bedroom, so I brought this wall "art" up from one of my local cheapie shops yesterday...

It's actually a pack of 4 (removable) stickers placed on the wall. I absolutely love it - DH being a typical male, but doesn't "get" the decorative concept :o) t's above our bookshelf, between the 2 wall lights. I cropped this picture because i realised the bottle (unopened) of Jim Beam sitting on the bookshelf might make us look like slushes ROFLMAO

Bec & Dale's (amended) baby countdown...3 sleeps!

Lots of scrapping & a baby shower...

I had a very scrappy weekend :o) I went to the Midnight crop at Creative Artz on Friday night. I managed to get a bit scrapped and brought some of the new goodies - I'm totally loving the Jenni Bowlin stuff! I got some small & large bingo cards. I scrapped the January challenge pack - will have to share pics next month after the judging is finished. I also caved and decided to buy a ticket to the 12 hour scrap day with Jill GG on the 21st February - I'm really looking forward to it :o)

Now for some LO....
White With 1 January challenge


And I finally finished this LO. I wanted this to be a very shabby chic LO - I tried a few new techniques and love the finished result :o)



Saturday I went to Jeanie's baby shower- lots of fun games, chatting and lunch with work-mates. I felt a bit lazy and didn't take my camera - so no pics sorry! Probably a good thing...one of the games was guessing what the melted chocolate in the nappy was - yep, looked as gross as it sounds! LOL

This morning we cleaned the house, did some washing, picked up some groceries, then I spent the rest of the day watching SATC and scrapped some more. I put some final touches on these two LO + I am still working on a few others ATM.
This was a challenge pack from Creative Artz that I did last year - I just added a few extra embellishments to it

This LO is one I started at Petrina's Glimmer-mist class a few months ago (love her cute Koi chippie)-finally finished it :o)


Oh..I also helped my mum make cement mushrooms! She's been wanting to make them for ages and finally got the sand & cement she needed. We made the first 2 Saturday afternoon and they turned out really well. Mum's going to make them and I'm going to paint them. There are 4 rubbish bins full of sand - I don't know what mum plans on doing with all the mushrooms she makes?!?! DH thinks we are crazy! ROFLMAO I will take pics next weekend when we make some more :o)

Bec & Dale's baby countdown...13 days!