Found a cool website

I was on youtube last night looking for some tutorials after being inspired by Picture to Page yesterday.
Anyway, I came across this little gem of a stampin' up demonstrator..
dawn's stamping thoughts
She does a tutorial every day, so you can imagine how many videos she has. The link is for her blog and she has all of her tutorials there. So thank you Dawn for your inspiration - loving your all videos and cards!!

Back to bed for me...feeling quite yuck, and wondering whether it is the flu injection. :(

Latest photoshop edit

Playing around with texture backgrounds - it's my first attempt.
This background is from ishkamina

New cards

I've got gastro...so finally have time to upload some piccies...

Twilight

I am absolutely loving this series!!! I don't care what people say about it being "badly" written, etc, etc. For entertainment, I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Life is so short and why shouldn't we be allowed to read a book for pure enjoyment, rather than to sound all posh and "high and mighty" by dissecting it!!??

I have almost finishing the 4th book and will probably start again! So who else is with me and loves this series?? :)

Been busy

Well I've been busy making and organising things with Nicole for our friends' baby shower. So yesterday we went shopping for prizes for games, items for games and presents for mum-to-be.

We then made 20 invitations, and a nappy cake (one made out of disposable nappies). Very cool if we do say so ourselves :)
Will try and pop some pictures up later.

2 more days until 2009!!

A Year of Reading

After just finishing another novel I have thought back to all the books I have read this year. It certainly has been a year of reading for me! I love reading, but normally don't have the time. This year I have had such a burning desire to read, that most nights I will read a chapter or two before sleeping (much to my Dh's worry that I am not getting as much sleep as I should be in the first place!).
So here are some of the books I have read and enjoyed this year:
- PS I Love You
- The Jane Austen Book Club
- Wicked
- My Sister's Keeper
- The Tenth Circle
- Nineteen minutes
- Don't Kiss them Goodbye

Next on my list is The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Might have to go shopping next year for some more books!

Chrissy photos

It's been a long time since I have given an update!! I have done a bit of scrapping, not as much as I would have liked though!

Been very busy with work, but enjoying it all the same.

These are the photos I have altered on photoshop of our furbaby. I am going to use them on our Chrissy photos (which I am making this weekend!!)

Photoshop Elements

I had another play with photoshop elements...keeping the background black and white and the subject colour. Could have done her hair a bit better, but I think it looks ok :)

More yummy stuff

More yummy purchases from 2 weeks ago! Scraptherapy and also Scrappers Warehouse. Can't wait to scrapbook on the weekend...also got some photos printed...lots to do now :)

Photoshop

I've had my first little play with photoshop elements (finally). What do you think? :-)

80 posts :-)

My latest purchase from Scraptherapy. Can't wait to try out my new punch!!!!

Sunday

Well where to start?
I have had an ok week at school...was off to a great start on Monday when my Prep grade performed at assembly. They were so cute and did a fantastic job - they ALL talked into the microphone!! So there were lots of proud mummy's and daddy's and one very proud teacher! :)

The week was pretty uneventful...on Friday it was a bit chaotic with different chn have to come into the grade b/c their teachers were away or out of the classroom, so it was a bit unsettling for my grade. We coped and got through the day.

Lots of work still to do at school...out of hours stuff, that I am not looking forward to. Hopefully we can get it done efficiently and quickly.

I got home on Friday to a parcel from SM...my prize arrived from the Best Photo in the Community Section!! I got approx 30 sheets!!!! :) :)
Friday night I did some scrapbooking at a CM crop...didn't get anything finished, but started 4 pages. Saturday we went shopping...and had trouble with one of the BigW self-serve machines, it decided to stop working and they weren't sure whether the sale had gone through or not. I was there for 1/2 hour!!
Saturday night we went out for a belated birthday dinner for Dh with my parents. We went to a really nice restaraunt in Rowville, except it was very windy when the door opened!
Today I went to a work friends' baby shower, which was fun. Played some games, ate some food, etc.

Now I am home..printing out school stuff ready to laminate (and they say teachers only work 9-3:30!!!). Thinking I might finish my recipe cards for my swap on SM so I can send them off.

Hopefully this week Dad will hear about when his latest operation is to be, so they can work out what is making him sick. It is going to be fairly invasive as he needs to take 6 weeks off from work!!

update

well to top the week off our dog has been sick. He managed to be sick 5 times in the space of around 9 hours...then sick another couple of times during the day and once after seeing the vet. He is not a happy camper...and neither are we. We are so tired already with everything else that has been going on. The vet said she wasn't worried, he just has an upset stomach - keep an eye on him, and bring him back if he doesn't improve. So he had an injection and has started back on little bits of food today. He still doesn't seem himself, but he is ok otherwise.
2 more days to the weekend...and aren't I hanging out!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday

So today I have been to visit both my Nan and my Dad.

Nan's new place looks sooo much better than the last place. A lot cleaner, and brighter, more spacious too. They have classical music playing throughout the building, so at least they are not just sitting there in silence.

Dad was hopeful he was going home tomorrow, but the doctor on duty thinks either Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest. His heart murmur has gone, but they are still going to check it out with an echocardiogram tomorrow.

Nicole has had her baby - so welcome to the world Luca, I can't wait to meet you...hopefully tomorrow.

Tonight I am feeling quite ill. I am hoping that kiddies haven't passed their gastro on to me, otherwise I wont be visiting anyone!

Tomorrow I will be taking my Prep class on an excursion, for many of them it will be the first time on a bus!! Should be a good day (please rain, stay away!).

Good news in the midst

Two things to brighten my day today...
1. My mum has just got a place on the ship from WA to visit HMAS Sydney. She is very excited, and I couldn't be more happy for her. Not only does she deserve it, this week especially, but it is something that will mean so much to her. She never met/ saw her Dad and this is his final resting place. So yay Mum - I'm glad you won in the ballot!!!
2. DH just bought in a copy of Scrapbook Creations - I got a free copy (yay!!!) to entice me into buying a subscription!!

Off to visit Dad this afternoon to see how he is going. Then tonight we are going to my school's trivia night.

The last 24 hours

So it has been hectic here. Mum called last night, distressed, to let me know Dad had collapsed and the ambulance was to take him to hospital. We got to Emergency just after 9pm - the same time as the ambulance. After a 45 minute wait (and we had to ask what was happening) we were told we could go through to the room.
They weren't sure whether it had anything to do with operation yesterday or not. They were thinking maybe an infection in the blood stream.
So we left around 11pm, knowing that Dad was to be admitted for observation.
Drove Mum home and got home and in bed by 12am.
Today I spent the day at school - busy, busy, busy. Wet day timetables at both recess and lunch - so extra duty! Got home, called Mum and found out that Dad has a heart murmur and needs more tests, probably to be done on Monday. We went to visit him tonight, he seems ok, but frustrated that he has to stay in hopsital. I think he is also frustrated that it is something else to do with his heart, since he has lost soooo much weight and exercises daily. I must say I have frustrated enough for him it's just not fair!

Not a winner

Well I didn't win any prizes in the cybercrop. But at least I now have 10 cards made and did some LO's too.
Also had my first rejection...waiting for the second one now..haha.
School again tomorrow...3 days til the weekend ;)

Holding it together

Do you ever feel like you are hanging onto "normal" life by a string? I'm feeling like I'm loosing my grip and slipping a bit. But I am trying to keep it together. I'm trying not to whinge or complain. I'm trying to be positive. I'm trying to concentrate on the "now".
I'm just not sure how long I can hold it together. Do you ever feel the same?

This weekend...

We helped my Nan pack her things on Sat, she will be moving to a new home tomorrow (a retirement home) this time where hopefully she will get the care she needs!
Dad's hospital tests were put off again this week, cos the hospital stuffed up (forgot to put him down on the list!?!?) - so hopefully he will be done this week. Then we will know if we need to be tested for anything as well. Fingers crossed it is something simple!

Wow - I completed 5 layouts this weekend along with 10 cards!! And I didn't even pre-plan or prepare anything!! I felt very creative. Of course the downside was that I didn't do any school work, or much housework...but maybe i needed to scrap to keep me sane! Not sure whether to try and sub any of these or not..?!

The first are the 10 cards...a challenge from the Claytons Retreat Cybercrop at Little Scrapbook Shop. This was a lot of fun, and I think I will do it again with a "pretty" paper. This has certainly re-stocked my card pile!

Next are the 5 LO's. The first was also a challenge from the LSBS (sketch challenge). The second was another page for my Japan album. The next 2 are of my god-daughter Amelia and the last is of Ella! :)

2 challenges completed

Here are two challenges fro this weeks CC at Scraptherapy
The first is a card - the challenge was to use a rescued item (a drink coaster in this case) and scraps of PP.

The second challenge I completed was a photo of something old (statue) and 3 or more distressing techniques (inking, sanding, ripping, scrunching and I also used a distressed looking PP)

Thanks for looking :)