Day 12 #blog12daysxmas In which I photograph SCKC layouts

The past few years, Trina has made a call for these small 6"x6" layouts to send to the Southern Cross Kids Camp organisers. They are used to make small memory albums for the children who attend the camps.



These camps are for children who've had it tough. So it's nice to be able to contribute in a small way to a bit of positivity in their experience.



This year I made 46. They are super easy to do and they are great for using up stash and scraps.

Today was the first day back at work after the festive break.  I was horrified surprised to see we had students coming back in!  But most of them were on the computers checking Facebook and Youtube so one does have to wonder at the virtue of opening this week.  Oh well.

Nothing much else is open on campus - the copy centre, bookshop and convenience store but no food apart from a minimal selection in the staff room (pies and sarnies) and no coffee cart.  The library staff plunger coffee thingy is broken so I had to make do with the excuse for coffee from the coffee machine in the staff room.



Tomorrow the kidlets will be coming with me so that will be interesting but at least I'll have company in the office! 

felting class

Today I spent the day in a felting class with 8 other people.  It was a lot of fun and I'm feeling quite inspired by it! I really like my scarf - I think it looks like the sea with sea creatures on it.  DH thinks it looks like a dog's breakfast. Humph!

Most of us were beginners so we made scarves with a lot of different embellishments.  One lady who had been before made a hat, and another a table runner.

This is my scarf and a little ball I made.



Close up of the dread lock loops on the end.


The little pocket.



A surprise!



Another surprise and the silk frill.



And the other layout I did yesterday.

Cards & a layout

Some cards I made to fill up my card supply box! I suddenly had no birthday cards left... still need to make a few suitable for children.

And a layout which isn't that great except for the fact it broke a drought in terms of scrapbooking.

Day 26: Lazy Sunday

1 Good Thing:
I managed to make a layout about Miss 3's hair cutting episode.  The journalling is the lyrics to The Haircut Song by Marci Appelbaum. 

Link for the day: You can download the free mp3 of her song from this place - look for Erin Lee and Marci.  Lots of other free kids mp3 songs here, traditional and contemporary.

1 Bad Thing: 
It rained on my washing so I had to feed the Energy Consuming Carbon Eating Monster (aka the dryer) so we would have school uniforms to wear.  Still haven't folded the washing mountain in my lounge.

1 Thing I Learned:
The pumpkin from my garden was too tough for the knife so had to be slain with the newly dubbed "Pumpkin's Bane" aka the axe. DH then went and sharpened my knives on the oil stone for me.

Oh and I made this egg-free Christmas Cake from Feast @ home by Julie Le Clerc (2008). Auckland: Penguin Books pg 152

Because I like fruit cake.

Amazing Christmas Cake

225g butter, melted
1 cup hot water
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 kg dried fruit
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sherry
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups self raising flour, sifted
1/4 cup whole almonds to decorate
brandy to douse

1. Place butter, hot water vinegar, cinnamon, mixed spice and dried fruit into a large saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring regularly.
2. Remove from the heat and stir in condensed milk and baking soda. Allow to cool to room temperature.
3. Line a deep-sided 20 cm round cake tin with non-stick baking paper and pre heat oven to 140 degrees C on fan bake.
4. Add sherry and vanilla to cooled mixture and stir in sifted flour.  Pour into prepared cake tin and decorate top with almonds.
5. Bake from 2-2 1/2 hours. Cool completely before removing from cake tin.  Prick with a skewer and douse with brandy if desired.
Makes 1 deep-sided cake. <--- and I mean deep sided. I used a spring form tin and extended the height with some paper and string.

Couple of layouts

I was lucky enough to be a winner in Scrapbook Outlet's Gok Inspired Fashoin Competition.  Andrea very kinly and generously sent me a box with some Prima goodies in it - Thanks!  I'd not used their papers before, and these are their stitched mulberry range which has a nice texture to it... kind of spongey soft and chunky.

This one I didn't do much to actually apart from silhouetting DS's daycare photo from when he was almost 2.  I wanted an aeroplane pulling the title so paper pierced one, and DS wanted the elephant to be riding the 'plane so that's what he got.

I caught Miss Moo after her shower looking for something in my cupboard wearing nowt but her "heels".  I blanked out the bare botty bit but you get the idea.  Naturally we all would like to be naked and wearing high heels when working in the kitchen so here is someone who is brave enough to do it. Ha ha!!



It was a pleasure to work with these papers - their texture really lends themselves to rolling, distressing and other sorts of manipulation.  You can get them from SBO :)

Week 6: Gok Inspired Fashion Competition

The last layout I managed to do for the Scrapbook Outlet's competition.  The challenges included silhouetting and a journalling spot (not pre-made).  Stamping was also a challenge but I didn't manage to get it on this layout and ran out of time for another one I'd planned.  Never mind!  The odds aren't in my favour for the draw but I'm glad I've got a few more layouts in the album which is all that really matters.

The journalling is about my first job.  I actually had 2 first jobs since I worked 2 part time jobs for a year.  This one was at Hebron Christian College.  The principal used to be my Form 2 teacher and I met him by chance just when I was looking for part time work and he was looking for a part time librarian.  Actually, I don't think that one happened by chance! ;-)

Anyway, fortunately for me, the head librarian B was happy to take me on his recommendation and we turned out to be a good team.  We did a lot in the library that year and I was able to use the stuff I learnt during my studies to good effect.  We wrote a new collection development policy which replaced an older set of guidelines.  We started to automate the library - this was 1996 and that project was finally finished a few years later.  I think we had one computer when we started!  I know poor B really wondered if it would ever be finished!  We gave the library a good weed and started the process of updating the non-fiction which was badly in need of renewal. 

Sadly, one of the library helpers in that top group died the following year from a brain tumour she had had since childhood.  She was in her early 20s.

They were good times, good people and it really felt like we were making a difference.  It was the kind of job that gave me a good grounding in grass roots librarianship.

Gok Inspired Fashion Competition Catwalk#5

Sadly I didn't manage to do #3 and #4 of this challenge - other stuff had priority but I did manage to squeeze this one out just before the deadline closed Wendesday night!!

 

Mr 6 is spending the last week of the holidays with his Gran and Grandad in Whangarei.  We rang last night to see how he was getting on and all seems well.  He'd been to the library with Gran and had got out a Richard Scarry book, one of his favourite authors.  He devours the pages for machines and then goes and constructs them with his Mobilo.  My conversation with him consisted of him telling me in excruciating detail how the wheat is grown, harvested, taken to the mill..... and finally made into flour.

Miss 2.5 is missing her brother.  She had to speak with him twice on the phone and asked me, "Daddy getting Tim?"  So sweet.  Pity their interactions aren't always so tranquil.  I feel like I need a blue beret at times, the amount of peace keeping that has to go on.

these boots

Another entry to the SBO's competition. This time the challenge was to use pearl bling, sewing and fabric. I combined them all on one layout.

Catwalk Challenge #2

Another entry for the Gok Inspired Fashion Competition at SBO.
Rules are here.
The Catwalk #2 challenge is here. I've combined 2 into one... elements of nature and a diecut' / 'lasercut' shaped or lace background. Used some Bazzill bling as the base, my Stampin' Up! stamps as well. Clear journaling tag is Little Yellow Bicycle.

The car has been towed off to the assessors so we shall see if it gets a fix or not. Meanwhile, we have some suspicions about which company the tanker trucks belong to but we can't prove it. The paint we got off the car is a very close match to the trucks - Rod went up to the company's yard and could see some of the tankers but none that he could see had any damage. However, there were 2 others he couldn't see from the road, and it's possible there were other trucks parked elsewhere. He passed on the information to the police (having made a report directly after the accident happened), but they weren't interested at all. *sigh*

Gok Inspired Fashion Competition at SBO

There is a competition running at Scrapbook Outlet at present - it's quite a fun one, and the prize is sweet. I'm having a crack at it, though at the rate I scrap I doubt I'll get many entries! Never mind. :)
The rules are here
The first week of the competition is here

This is the single entry I've managed (unless I get time to do one tonight... not too likely).

The criteria for entry was to have a paper pierced fashion accessory.

Last day of August

and I'm having a sick day trying to recover from the "cold that never ends".

Some layouts I've done recently:

Reading back through my old posts recently and I realise my blog has got fairly boring - a fact reflected in the decreasing number of comments. Will have to muster up some enthusiasm for more interesting posts.

Sunday best

Submitted this to Innovations but the deadline for the relevant theme has passed and I haven't heard it was accepted so here it is on my blog! Did this a while ago - BG Lime Rickey collection.

Waikato Crop II

Last Saturday DH and I left the children with my long suffering Mum and sisters, and made our way down to the Waikato. DH went looking for waterfalls, and I joined a bunch of scrapbookers for a crop. :-)

It was a lovely warm room and a nice, low key crop. I enjoyed it very much. Great company, sweet baking and generous Prima goodness from Andrea at SBO too! It was nice to have no "pressure" to do anything in particular... not that there is anything wrong with that from time to time, but I wasn't in the mood for it that day.

I got 3 layouts done...

Biker chick - about how DD likes to ride with me on my bike to daycare/work. Not that I'm doing much of that right now! Too rainy and too dark on my way home. The papers are Cosmo Cricket's Snorkel range.

Time out - DS in time out for some misbehaviour. He looks so pathetic! LOL! Still we love him even when his behaviour isn't so good. This one used Basic Grey Lime Rickey.

Morning cuddle - this one mostly uses stuff from one of the SBO kits. The birdcage is Basic Grey Porcelain "Windermere", a beautiful paper. :-) The base paper is MME Bella Bella Bellezo "Pappillion", also very beautiful. I like the muted tones. The swirl is a Basic Grey Marrakech "Honey Bush".

Some of the participants - Vicky, Trina, Rae (holding sweet Arlo), Vicky and Maria..

Bridgett and Neen - seem to have missed out Neen's sister sorry!

I had a little pony

I made a little pony
I hoped you'd let it stay
'Cause Mummy has been anxious
For some cute hair dressing play

I've seen you by the mirror
Admiring your pretty self
I think that you resemble
A pixie or an elf






























Oh - and that is a ginger beer bottle she's holding. An empty one.

Here are some layouts I managed to do on the weekend instead of weeding the garden.

"Bur-day 2u": this is what DD says when she sees a birthday cake. In fact, ANY cake is a birthday cake. If you ask her who's birthday it is, she will say, "Yidia!"

In case you didn't know you must sing "Burday 2 you, hip ray hip ray hip ray" whenever you have cake. I am sure you will do that now. Don't let me down.

I broke out the BG Lime rickey for this one. Love the paper, not sure I am happy with the layout.




























This one is an attempt to scrapbook those inevitable "school" photos. I've created a pocket for the class one to go on the same layout (behind the pink dot PP). They laminated the class one much to my disgust. Again, this one didn't really turn out how I envisioned but never mind!

Choose - entry for final NZ Dare

Choose - entry for final NZ Dare
Originally uploaded by pdugmore2001.

NZ Dares is wrapping up and this is my entry for the final challenge - the topic "choices".

I used mostly stuff from the Scrapbook Outlet March SOS kit. BG Marrakech, Bazzill, Heidi Swapp butterflies, plus a few other things. The little book has the journaling about my career choice.

Day 6 & Day 8

Well, the deadline for layouts to be submitted to SBO's Amazing Scrapping Race has passed. It's been fun. :) I didn't manage all of the challenges but that is okay.

Here are the final two I did.
Day 8 (Japan) - went for the cutsey anthropomorphism of the kiwi fruit with the google eyes.

























Day 6 (UK, use time or a clock):Trip to Australia

Don't like this one, but the photos were difficult to work with. I would have binned them were it not for the historical significance of a few of them. My parents emigrated to NZ a few months after they married so all our relatives are over in Australia. My paternal grandparents eventually came over here to live. This is one photo I have of their Australian house, my grandfather's gladioli's and their cat Millicent. My grandfather's beloved V8 car was actually shipped over here when they came. It was sold when he became too old to drive safely and I've seen it out here in our neighbourhood which amuses me greatly.























So totaling up my entries:

5 layouts = 5 tickets
plus one bonus ticket for doing more than 4 of the challenges = 1
bonus ticket for making comments in the gallery = 1
bonus ticket for answering Nic's question first = 1
blog entries = 3
Total raffle tickets: 11

It only takes 1.....

Day 4 France

La belle France... how I long to go there.

Day 4 of the Amazing Scrapping Race at SBO, and here is my attempt at 4 layers. :) The challenge for France was to get layering! (Note I said layering and not laid. Although you could do that too if you want. Just don't blog about it ok? Ta).

This is a blast from the past as DH said when he saw it. While we were courting we went on some bush walks including one to Fairy Falls in the Waitakere Ranges. Nothing has changed since we got married. We still do walks in the bush only now we have 2 sprogs following us and we're not quite as slender as DH is in this photo. Hee hee!

Can you tell I've run out of photo paper to print on? I'm scratching the bottom of the barrel in terms of photos to scrap on 12x12 at present. (Apart from old school class photos which are so hard to scrap nicely). I'm digging out the real old ones.

Amazing Scrapping Race: Day 2 PNG Entry & Day 3 China

This is my entry for Day 2 of Scrapbook Outlet's Amazing Scrapping Race. The layout had to use the Papua New Guinea flag for inspiration.

I managed to upload the small version to my Flickr stream so it's hard to see the detail. The title is Family in Christ. These are some special people who I consider family even though we don't share DNA. I realised when looking at the photos (taken 2006 and 2008) that 3 of the folks pictured are no longer on earth.

And I'm pregnant in the top photo and DD has arrived by the lower photo.

*Faces blurred for privacy*

Day 1 (Canberra: Aussie Scrap Source) layout is done, but I need to take a decent photo of it.

Day 3 is China and we need to make our own embellishment - not too hard, but not sure I'll manage to get it done tonight since I have to do grocery shopping... unless I can sneak in an online order with Woolworths somewhere today. ;-)

Edited to add: well my Day One LO is a dead loss since I used Bazzill which ASS doesn't have so here it is for China since I did some simple hand made embellishing on it. There is some strange gunk on the left hand photo which I tried to get off but couldn't so I'll have to scan it and re-print it once I get some photo paper.

Enjoy the little things

Trying out the scrunchy rumbled look with my October Afternoon Detours paper and my Stampin Up! stamps.

Not sure about this layout, but anyway, it's done now and I'm not going to re-do it.

Taking the opportunity

Home with a little girl who isn't well today, so I thought I would do a blog post!

Excuse the black frame+husband's watermark on the photos. I uploaded them without noticing he'd turned on some settings. *sigh* I can assure you they are my photos! Can't be bothered redoing them.

There has been a lot of jam making in our house. So far I've made 46 jars. Some of which I'll be sending to Jenny as soon as I find a suitable box! Others I've sold at work.

This is my entry to the Scrap the Boys March Challenge. Go here for more details.

Used the lovely Snorkel paper from Cosmo Cricket.

Also managed to do another layout (don't fall off your chair) using my strawberry paper and Stampin' Up strawberry stamp.

We've finished the painting of our room and the curtains are up. :) Very pleased with the end result thought we did encounter some problems. We discovered the enamel tint was too different from the wall paint although they were allegedly the same colour. So we had a choice buying another 4litre tin of the correct colour and redoing the 3 walls, or painting the outside of the wardrobes in the wall paint (inside with the enamel). I'm afraid we chose the cheaper lazier option. I had bought the paint in 2007 so it would have been no point returning it and asking for a refund etc. This photo is of the feature wall.