Woo Hoo!!! It's done!!!

Well here we are girls!!
All good layouts MUST have a butterfly!! hee hee (mine anyway lol).
Finally I have completed my "WINTER WONDERLAND" layout for our Scrapalicious Scrappers challenge for July.
Just a little bit more ......

WAAAA LAAAAA -

here it is in all it's entirity!! (how do you spell that word????)

I must say that this is absolutely the complete OPPOSITE of what I had in my mind to do. I did have other photos to scrap but I liked these photos so much that I changed tac and created this one instead.

Hoping you like it.

For all the details check out Scraperlicious blog.

Cheers for now.

luv me xxooxx

Nelson Scrap.

Hi bloggers!!
This is me at Nelson, Victoria yesterday having some fun scrapping.
Janet Muller from Scrapbooking Anomymous in Mount Gambier, organised a scrapping retreat weekend. The venue was Karnkendi Camp, Nelson, which was absolutely fabulous!!! It is very well set up & we had wonderful catering supplied by Brenton & co.
There was the comforting warmth of an open fireplace and friendly girls to chat with which just made the day. The food was great & Janet had a selection of supplies from her shop there for anyone to buy from. (which I did!!!)
We were also joined by Marilyn who is a Stampin Up demonstrator from Kadina. She taught a class of three layouts for those who wanted to take part. I thought this was cool fun.
Jane, Maria & myself tootled off together from Naracoorte about 8am Saturday morning. We stopped off at the 'golden arches' in Mount Gambier for a hot cuppa and then continued on the scenic route via Port MacDonald to Nelson. hee hee hee (thanks Maria for NOT embarrassing Jane, but in the end ...... yeah!! lol) Finally we arrived and unpacked our gear to start some serious scrapping. Maria was busy making cards using Marilyn's gear there on the day, which was extensive!! Jane and I started the 'Blind Challenge'. This was where you were all given the same instructions but no pictures, and you had to follow the guidelines and come up with your interpretation of it . Many varied and excellent results were wonderful to see!!
All three of us took part in Marilyn's layouts and we came away with some great little tips and techniques.

We had beautiful homemade chicken & corn soup followed by pastry finger food, toasties, sandwiches, etc & flavoured milk for lunch. Fantastic food!!!

After having a big play and look at Janet's shop and chatting with Marilyn checking out her products and ideas, it was time to pack up and head for home. The others 26 girls were staying for their second night but we were only day trippers for this one. We headed back to Mount Gambier where we stopped off at the chinese restuarant to have another lovely meal. About 8.30pm saw us on the road heading for home sweet home.

Whew!!! What a fantastic day together!!! It really was so nice to be able to spend some time together without worrying about anyone else.

So look out girls - the three of us may have some BIG plans coming out of this great experience so keep your ear to the ground for some details!!

Thanks so much to Jane for driving us there & back and thanks to maria for the nibbles - yum.

Well that's about it for now everyone.

luv me xxooxx

Checking In.

Can you tell I just LOVE this girl???? Chloe playing in the trough!!

Hi all!!
Just a quick check in.
Thank goodness it's Friday!! I do so have to say that Friday would have to be my most favourite day of the week. It always seems to be busy, so the day goes by really quickly. And .... you know you have two whole days to chill!!! YES!!
I'm off to Nelson in the morning with Jane & Maria for a bit of a play. I'm looking forward to spending time with the girls scrapping. It has been bitterly cold here today so I'm hoping they have good heating at Nelson!!!
It has been a busy first week back to work & I can't believe that we are alreday one week down & only 9 left til more holidays!!! How time flies!!
Well I hope you all have a fab weekend. I better go & pack some stuff for tomorrow!!!
Bye for now.
luv me xxooxx

New Colour!!

Hi all!! Hope you are keeping well and fighting fit.
I have included a snap of my lounge room and the new cool colour on the walls. Last week while I was on holidays, Joe has a week's holiday too. We did that so we were able to finish off some painting, etc from our reno's!! It was sooooooo good to be home & be able to work on these things. It was also very nice to be home together, working as a team!!! All our painting is now done except for the enamel paint to go on the doors but it's a little too cold for that at the moment, so we'll get htat done when it's warmer.
Note: the 'green' on the back of the front door is the primed colour of the door and will be white when we get a chance to paint when warmer.
It's nice to have things clean & fresh in our place now. It's a good feeling.
Well that's all for now.
luv me xxooxx

Red Door!!!

READY ....... SET...........

GO!!!!!!!

Hi.

This is my front door and as you can see .......... it's RED!!!!!!

LOVE IT, YEAH!!!!!!!

I've been home on holidays and busy painting. Finally decided that I WOULD have my red door. So here it is, hee hee.

Cheers

luv me xxooxx

Swannie & Coco.

Hi to all my wonderful friends.
Well I tripped off to spend a few days with Coco in Swan Hill. I left quite excited at the opportunity to see her and Dave & Tom again.
It was cold & wet but the warmth from being able to spend time with wonderful friends far outweighed any dismal weather!!!
What a welcome & it just feels like home when I am there. Thank you guys for allowing me to feel this way.
Friday we travelled off to Shepparton which is a lovely place. While Dave was at his meeting, the rest of us managed to see the inside of K mart and a fabulous fruit shop & butcher!! (this was after we had done some 'block work' hee hee)
We then proceeded to a .........
yes you guessed it..........
Scrap shop!!!
We looked up on the net the night before & were thrilled to discover a small scrapbooking shop not far from where Dave's meeting was. How fortunate were we!!!
It was a beautifully laid out & presented shop with nice staff. Coco & I had fun browsing around and Tom was an absolute trooper for sitting quietly & patiently while we shopped. Thank you so much Tom!!! On checkout we were lucky enough to be able to choose FREE goodies from the bargain table as a special that started that day!!! Talk about being in the right place at the right time!!! How thrilled were we!!!! Woo hoo!!!
By this time Dave had finished his meeting & we grabbed something to eat & headed for home. Stopped off in Echucca & popped into COCO shop!!! It's soooo cute!!!
After a quick pit stop & change, we headed to 'Java Spice' restuarant for our evening meal. Talk about atmosphere!! It was such a gorgeous place to sit & taste the flavours of south east asia.
Service was brilliant & food spectacular!!! We all enjoyed a wonderful meal & some continued on to indulge in dessert while others had a cocktail!!! Mmmmmmm
Talk about spoilt & FULL!!!! hee hee
What a day, we tootled home to sit & relax with a Baileys on crushed ice (my fav!! thanks so much Dave - mwah!!) Coco & I then took a great deal of pleasure in checking out all our goodies we purchased through out the day.
Saturday the boys headed off to footy. Tom was playing & as they say - winners are grinners!! Tom's team won for the second time & Tom took the first mark of the game!!! How proud we were of the boys. Well done Tom!!
Coco & I had a little sleep in & chill. Then we popped on our woollies and ventured into town for brunch. Pleasant enough but now we know why so many of the coffee shop workers wear scimpy tops - it gets HOT & stuffy in there after a short amount of time!!! We were glad to get back out in the fresh air even if it was a bit chilly.
Then the pair of gorgeous princesses proceeded to shop some more & when in Target found some of the most beautiful glasses. Couldn't resist buying a pair each!!!
The boys were already home when we returned, so we all got into the comfies and chilled some more.
Sadly all too quickly my time was up & it was pack the car & leave time!!! :( That's just the worst part!! So in the drizzle, my many bags were placed in the boot of my car, several hugs & kisses were given & received & I hopped into my car to head for home.
Well, what a saga that proved to be!!! I was so busy concentrating on the road and the not so good driving conditions that I took a wrong turn and got lost!!!!!! Bloody hell, not a nice feeling when you are on your own in unfamilar surroundings, it's getting very dark, you're not sure where you are and it's cold & rainy!!! Aaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!
I kept on breathing and driving, trying my best to stay cool and calm, but I just had this sinking feeling that I was getting further & further off track. Text messages to Coco & Joe to let them know I wasn't doing too good. Dave - my knight in shining armour - who I would have sqeezed to death if I could have got my hands on him!!!!! - came to my rescue & rang to let me know that if I just kept going I would be alright. I was a little out of the way but nothing too drastic!!! Thank goodness for that. I wasn't sure at all!!! The roads kept getting narrower and I felt that I was so going in the wrong direction!! No road signs to help & it just kept getting darker & rainier!! Then my Joe rang to make sure I was ok, well that was it hearing his voice - I lost it & cried!!! Silly me but it was scary I tell ya!!! I so did my best to keep it all together & I knew I would be ok but it's just getting there sometimes. So then I was able to find a road sign that actually had the word HORSHAM on it & then I knew I was ok!!! I stopped off there for my recovery and a bite to eat. I rang both Coco & Joe to let them know I was there & ok. Talk about DRAMA QUEEN!!!!
Thank you again Coco, Dave & Tom for caring so much & keeping me sane!!! Thanks to Joe for being there for me when I needed you too.
So after all that I made it home about 3 hours overdue!!! Don't ask me what happened or where I ended up but I was ok in the end.
So now I'm home & happy to feel safe & secure!! Silly me !!!
But anyway, thanks to my Swannie family for the lovely stay. I really enjoyed myself. You can't beat great company, good shopping and wonderful food/wine.
Christina sends hugs & kisses to all.
Joe's home on a week's holidays now so we will be busy painting inside I think!!
So stay warm & safe everyone.
luv me xxooxx

happy Birthday Ivan.

This is a card that I made for Ivan's 70th birthday. Ivan is my mum's husband. He LOVES Marilyn Monroe!! So I thought - yeah - I can do that!! So here it is. Sorry about the poor quality pic!! I'm not as good as Sue & Donna - yet!! lol
luv me xxooxx

Winter Walk.

Hi everyone.
This afternoon when I had finally been able to drag myself away from work, I decided to go and fetch my girl from Jamie's and we could both wander into the coolness and stretch our legs and disappear into a relaxing, mind clearing walk.
Here Chloe discovers something in the grass. What may it be? What does the smell tell of past goers by? I wonder what exactly it is that she can tell from what she has stubbled upon?

Here is my gorgeous girl sitting so pretty for her 'ma'. She makes me feel so alive and loved!! She makes my heart jump and I have to keep telling myself that she is 'just a dog'!! Well that's what everyone else keeps telling me but I have to say - yes - she is a dog but she is MY grand puppy dog! hee hee hee I just love her to bits. She is loving, so gentle and very smart.

This is a small piece of the winter wonderland that I was able to enjoy today. We have had such wonderful rains today and at times even hail. You can certainly not complain about the freshness of the wonderful water falling from the sky. It is so precious and we must enjoy every drop. Looking upon this small catchment of water, I thought how beautiful it was but how quickly it will disappear. I paused to suck in the moment, breathe the clean air and feel the coolness of my surrounds.

The bareness of the willow trees is certainly a sight to behold. There is something about the rawness of the branches, the wriggly form of the tree and the wonderous earthy colours it provides to us. Looking up through the bare branches and twigs to see the brightness of the blue sky beyond is breathtaking!!

Winter is a wonderful time of the year. Some say they hate it and it only brings cold and wet. I think that they are so wrong. Yes it brings rain but there is no life without water. Yes it brings cold but we need to experience the cool to be able to feel the warmth. To me it brings wonderful moments of warmth by the wood fire and hot homemade soups and family and just time to be together. It gives me time to get out there in my environment and enjoy the wonderment of the world and feeling the breezes rush over your face makes you happy to be alive and be able to experience life. Make the most of everything.

Cheers for now. Maybe I'll see you out and about on one of my winter walks????

luv me xxooxx