Saturday 15 November 2008

Hello, geez, I should not leave this blog 2 whole months, way too many layouts to share. News to share? well, nothing earth shattering...
since September I have had my eldest DD turn 8, I turned 38, I was a month guest Creative Team member for Amanda Rockwell, we had Halloween, we have a new designer at Inspiration Lane, I've had 2 computer screens drop dead on me and I've fallen in love with the Twilight series ....so fairly eventful...all involving many layouts, lol....
here are a few of my favorites :)

This is my eldest DD using our new designer at Inspiration Lane: FruitLoOp Sally's kit Not So Gray Anyway.
Next on the list was my birthday. My DH was on night shift, so was unable to share a birthday dinner with me. I am a bit of a pizza addict and normally I only order a pizza when DH can go pick it up and share it with us, but I was feeling a bit miffed about missing out on pizza on my birthday, so I ordered a delivery of pizza. I got 2 pizzas, one for the boys and one for me and the girls to share. Ailani only ate one slice and she slid all the toppings off, Amethyst had 3 or 4 slices and I had the rest. Within 4 hours of eating the pizza I was violently ill. Whether it was the pizza or not, I don't know, the girls didn't get sick and neither of the boys got sick either, so it is a bit of a mystery, but I spent the rest of my birthday night with my head in the toilet and the next day I spent in bed sleeping, too ill to move. To make up for a fairly atrocious birthday, I was a guest CT member for Amanda Rockwell. I love her designs, they are beautiful and quality products and so I felt quite blessed to be able to work with them for my birthday month. Here is one of my favorites, tho I did 9 or 10 layouts all upI love this one too, especially as 6 days after I posted this Tinker Bell layout, I won and went to a special movie screening of the new Disney movie 'Tinker Bell' with the girls on the 25th of October! It was great to have a girls day out. It was quite some time ago, but the boys have had a boys day out with their Dad to see a movie, so it was nice for us girls to do it too. Makes for a fun day.
Then Halloween came around. Here in Australia kids very rarely go trick or treating, but Halloween is starting to catch on in one way or another. I have celebrated it on a small scale for the past four years, mainly for the fun of it and to bring a bit of joy, I mean, why not! lol! For us, Halloween means "lollies" and scary kids movies and that is about it. Four years ago, I had gone into the city for some reason or other near Halloween and I had gone past a specialty sweet store and noticed that it had really cool Halloween lollies, like vampire teeth lollies and 'blood' lollipops and witches and bat and skeleton shaped lollies. I couldn't help myself and I bought said bags of lollies and decided to host a Halloween mini party just for our little family. Tho I went a bit overboard and I made frozen 'eyeballs' and also a big batch of caramel popcorn and I got Eddie Murphy's "Haunted Mansion" out on DVD for the kids enjoyment. The next year I scaled it down a bit and made my 4 kids a Halloween bag full of treats and made Halloween cup cakes, with purple, green and orange icing with a spider ring on top to hand out at any trick or treaters at the door. The first year we had about 4 kids come to the door, in 2006 I think I gave out about 9 cup cakes, then last year I decided to make full on Halloween treat bags to give out, after seeing a Halloween treat topper layout at Little Dreamer. I made about 30 bags (which included a bag each for my 4 kids, hubby and me) and we were assailed with 25 little kids in one hit! I was happy to give out my bags, that is the whole reason I made them, but it was a bit disappointing to have my little bags gone in one fell swoop! Anyway, we are in a different neighbourhood this year and I again made about 26 bags. This time we only got 13 young teens at the door, so this year I had left overs!! so that was just as disappointing ...I know....I'm never happy, lol... Tho of course we will probably have twice the amount now that word is out, lol! I also gave our trick or treaters another surprise.... this year I decided to get dressed up with the kids! I found a fab pair of ceramic single vampire fangs! I've wanted some proper fangs ever since I first fell in love with Bram Stokers "Dracula" (the book) when I was a young teenager. They have a setting putty that moulds around your teeth to keep them in place, not 100% but much better than the daggy plastic row of teeth that is usually available. I also bought a set of bat wings and ears for each of the girls and I and a new Dracula cape for our eldest boy and we already had a good fabric cape for our younger boy...so we were a family of vampires and vampire bats! lol..here is a layout of me crouching in the doorway, waiting to spook any unsuspecting and un-expecting trick or treaters...they said that we were the only house decorated or prepared to give out treats, lol...so nice to see those happy faces when I flashed my fangs at them, lol!credits: Here and here is a layout of the girls and I in our bat wings and ears.and here is a photo that I just love but haven't got around to scrapping... can you tell I love this adopted holiday! lol!next on the list of events...the 2 dead computer screens...the less said about this the better *roll eyes* , isn't it amazing how a computer put out of commission for even the slightest amount of time puts your whole world in a spin...well, I'm addicted to mine, so it does for me. A very sad affair... at least I was gifted a friend's old sewing machine last month too, so I have nothing to complain about if the computer plays up on me, I can gather comfort in front of the sewing machine instead! lol.
(bg paper by Joyful Heart Designs from her Evoking kit)
And that brings me up to my Twilight obsession. Not sure when I bought the first book. At the non scrapbooking forums at DST I had noticed people talking about a series of books called Twilight. I thought it sounded interesting, as it is about vampires but I thought it would be hard to come by maybe here in Australia, so didn't think too much about it and then I was in KMart and noticed a big display of the 3 Twilight books...(the 4th one came out about 3 weeks after I started reading the first 3) So I bought the first book, it was only $15. I put the book I was reading aside (Ivanhoe) and started reading Twilight....at first I thought I couldn't relate to a teenage girl going to school, but was impatient to 'meet' the vampire...and when I did...I was hooked! I only get to the shops once a week and I read Twilight in 2 and a half days, so I was impatient to get back to the shops the next Friday to pick up the next book in the series. I dropped the kids off at school and got the bus to the nearest shopping center. I did a Meg Ryan from the movie 'You've Got Mail' When I got off the bus, I walked really fast toward KMart, then I stopped myself and tried to walk like a normal rational person, then sped up again and then slowed down, all the while, my heart was racing to get my hands on the second book! I got into KMart.....and they had sold out of 'New Moon' !!!!! My stomach did flip flops, what was I going to do!! and then I silently scolded myself for not getting all 3 books the week before, but how could I have known they would sell out! I thought it was just the women at DST that knew about it! They still had some copies of 'Eclipse' left, so I snatched that up and then went on the hunt to find 'New Moon' elsewhere....there are 2 book stores at the shopping center that I go to, both of which were charging $10 more than what they were selling it at KMart for, but what could I do, I HAD to buy it, so I did and excitedly went home with 2 books, knowing full well that I would read 'New Moon' and 'Eclipse' within the week! Then it was another 11 days before the latest book was released. 'Breaking Dawn' came out and I pre-ordered it! I just love these books and there is a movie of Twilight coming out here on December 11, I can not wait, and the best thing is I begged, pleaded and fluttered my eyelashes at my DH and coerced him into reading them all too! It will be so exciting to go and see the movie with him! He thought they were OK, a bit lovey lovey, but still good. This makes 3 books, or sets of books that we have both read. When we first started going out, he kept telling me that I aught to read 'Lord of the Rings', that he'd loved it and he was sure I'd love it too, but for years I resisted, then of course the movie was soon to be at the cinemas, so I decided to read them before we went to see it on the big screen. Then this year, DH decided to read 'In Cold Blood' : (classic Truman Capote novel that I read when I was a teenager) after watching Bennett Miller's 2006 movie 'Capote' with me and the Twilight books makes 3 books that we have in common. So nice to share a book with someone close to you and be able to chat about it. However, I think I annoyed him by constantly saying "What part are you up to now?" so in the end, I would run over to where he kept the book and look at where his book mark was and find out for myself, lol! And here is a layout I did

And now we are heading on to Christmas! I know this is a clique, but it is so true, that the older you get, the quicker the year slips by. Thankfully, having a December baby, I am in the habit of being fairly organised and the Christmas presents have been on layby since July, so no dramas there, it is really just the food to buy and decorating that needs to be done.
Here is my first Christmas layout for the season...using FruitLoOp Sally's: 'So This is Christmas' kit. At Inspiration Lane, they have a 'sneak peek Saturday' with 40% off the newly released kits, fabulous savings!
and that brings me up to date for now. I will try and be a bit more regular, coz it is a PIB getting the images into the right order, or maybe I just don't know how to use Blogger! Goodnight :)

Thursday 18 September 2008

Fun scrapping news!

Whoo Hoo! I have made "the honor list" at two sites I adore... first I made Layout of the Week at Authentic Artistry for this layout... credits here
and my layout "My Daughters" using the Weeds and Wildflowers kit I won also made "Best of the Bunch on the Weeds and Wildflowers blog last week.
Also, I have got a guest spot for the month of October, on Amanda Rockwell's Creative Team!! It starts on the 7th of October, which is the day before my birthday, so it is like an early birthday present, so excited about that, thank you Amanda! :)
I also have another guest spot coming up that I am super excited about, but I can't reveal that as yet, as I am unsure of what month it will be, but I can't wait for that also. It's so very nice to have something to look forward to!! :)
Also I have to give a shout out for Miss Huni Buni's new Doll Baby kits at Inspiration Lane.
these are the most adorable little Miss-ies and I have picked up the #7 in the series. There is 10 kits all up. I have customized mine, I've put freckles across her cheeks and even 'painted' her toenails purple. Tho I have to admit, I haven't had a fringe (or..are they called 'bangs' overseas??) since I was about 19 years of age, lol..... I am currently doing a layout using a photo of me with my 'baby doll fringe' when I was younger...lol! So this is my new avatar, I am done with trying to 'Photoshop' my photo for my avatar. A couple of weeks ago I took about 10 photos of myself and then roped the DH in to take some head shots of me, trying, in vain, to get a decent photo of myself to use as a new avatar....needless to say, they all 'should' go in the bin....I hate photos of myself and like a lot of people, I guess, I just can't smile naturally when someone has a camera in my face. But I am happy with my little Missy :) I will have to crop her down a bit to fit her in at Digishop Talk, as their avatars have to be 100x100, whereas at Inspiration Lane they can be 200x200. Such a shame, coz I do so love those cute toenails, lol!
So....just incase you are thinking I am a little kooky, I will seal the deal, lol and leave you with a couple of kooky layouts about myself...just to show that, even tho I hate photos of myself, I still scrap about 'ME'.....for the sake of leaving a true account of myself for my kids and future grandchildren.
The title 'I Am Purple' has been inspired by Will Smith's movie 'I Am Legend' Credits Here My Hat: Credits Here

Wednesday 27 August 2008

More Layouts

Not much news but plenty of new layouts.
Here is a layout I made using The Great Outdoors by Weeds and Wildflowers that I won at their Birthday Celebrations...Another layout... look at this, a pink layout!! but when I saw Joyful Heart Designs new paper pack, A Burst of Happy! I just had to use it straight away, I just love these papers, the patterns are so colourful and really do make you feel happy!

all these products that I used in the layout are new this week from Inspiration Lane.
I love a good vintage frame ... these are by Ali Folendore and these Vintage Alphabets are by Holly McCaig, guest designer at Inspiration Lane.
ooh, and I see Joyful Heart Designs has just released a matching alpha for those papers! Cool!

Monday 18 August 2008

It's almost Spring!

Only 2 weeks till Spring! Yeah, tired of the cold, bring on the sun! Ekka time is over here in Brisbane. We didn't go this year, as we went last year. Our eldest daughter went with the school and her best friend's Dad, who was one of the parent helpers, bought his daughter and my DD a big Cadbury showbag, so she was very happy with that, so no complaints about not going. Maybe we'll go next year. I have been lucky again and won the new and very beautiful kit by Weeds and Wildflowers 'The Great Outdoors'



Gorgeous huh?! Can't wait to play with it! Here are some more layouts I've done over the past couple of weeks.., the first one is using Countryside by Natali Designs that I won on my Anniversary...

I also became a site CTM for the new scrapbooking site Inspiration Lane some wonderful designers over there and I am enjoying myself being on their team and meeting new scrappers. Here is a couple of my layouts from Inspiration Lane. credits: HERE
credits: HERE






Thursday 24 July 2008

I Am So Lucky!

Yesterday was my DH and my 14th wedding anniversary and what did I find in my PM box over at Digishoptalk when I got up in the morning...?
Two PMs with the news that I'd won something! Yeah!
First, I was lucky to win a RAK from Natali Design and I got the very beautiful Countryside
and the 2nd PM was that I had won a $15 GC layout challenge at Christina Renee's Authentic Artistry blog!!!!Talk about being in heaven!!
And what makes it even more special is that we just moved house and in all the stress/work load that comes with house moving, we had both totally forgotten that our anniversary was coming up, so had not planned for it and had no money to do anything, so these 2 wonderful wins really brightened my day immensely!
Thank you so much Natali Design and Christina Renee!! :)
Normally I make DH his favourite cake ...Black Forest cake, on Birthdays and Anniversaries, but I was unable to get to the shops to get cherries, cream and chocolate, so I decided to make his next favourite thing...biscuits. I made love heart shaped jam drops and also a plain chocolate cake as well. Next year we vow to do something special for our anniversary, but really, it is the little things that count and we had a nice day regardless.
(frame is one of the Christina Renee products I got from my Gift Coupon, 'Antiques The Frames')



Thursday 3 July 2008

I've Moved House!

Around the last time I blogged, I found out that I would be moving house, so I have been in a bit of a deep depression. I hate moving house so much that I've found life pretty hard to handle the last couple of months. But the horrid job is done now and we are in our new house. There are still boxes everywhere, but beds/lounge/TV/computer/kitchen are all where they need to be, so I guess the rest will come together eventually. I'm not rushing it, alot of it needs organising and sorting, so I am in no hurry. I have managed to keep up my scrapping and am also very pleased to become an ACDsee convert! I love it! I SO enjoyed tagging everything and organising and purging my stash. I just wished I was as energetic about the house, LOL!
I will include a few layouts, if I can figure out to insert them, I haven't blogged in so long, I've probably forgot, not that I knew how to do it properly before anyway, lol.
My gallery at Digishoptalk.com is my most used gallery.
The first one is about my love of vampire stories.
The next one is made using a beautiful kit I was RAKed with from New Life Dreams Designs called 'Spread Your Wings'
This one was made using the gorgeous kit by Christina Renee: 'Ultimate Art Collection 2' that she created for the Diamond and Gold Members at Digishop Talk. I have always wanted to become a Gold Member but could never afford it. But as DST is my main hang out and the fact that Christina's kit was too beautiful to pass up, I finally became a Gold Member, so this is my layout using it.

It is my Mum (on top) her friend Renata and some boy who was chatting them up, lol! Images are clickable (I hope) and the next one is my most recent layout using the Digishop Talk Gold members kit by Shabby Princess for this month called Summer Cottage.


Hopefully when I blog next I will be able to say I am all done sorting and unpacking and we are all happy and settled in our new home. The kids seem to be happy and that is the main thing I guess, especially as we are quite close to a good park. We went there yesterday and they enjoyed themselves and I got some nice new photos to scrap with, yeah! :)


















Sunday 13 April 2008

Harrah! My computer is back!

Jacque Larsen paper, Kate Hadfield doodles, Tiff Brady frame.
Made using Creative Confusion Designs: credits

Finally, after almost 2 months my computer is back from the shop! We blew a motherboard, which seemed simple enough to replace, however, they don't make the kind of motherboard that our computer was using anymore and so we needed to upgrade a few bits and pieces that plugged into it. The original computer store that we bought our computer from wanted $700 and we just didn't have that much money on hand, so we took it to our cousin's place, who lives an hour drive away (when we were able to) but things didn't work out as we'd hoped there and then we (meaning my DH) had to drive down there when he could, to pick it up, as we found a computer store right near us, who said they could get a new system up and running with a guarantee for about $200, so we did that. Then the c-drive decided to drop dead, so that was an extra $100.....*sigh* computer problems....don't ya just hate them!!!


Well, I can tell you, it almost killed me! Luckily our cousins had given us an old computer last year, for the kids, so I was at least able to move the modem over to the kids computer and get onto the net, so that wasn't so much of an issue, but my scrapbooking program is on our main computer, so therefore I couldn't do any scrapbooking......that was the most painful part!


Then the computer store said it would be ready this Tuesday afternoon, but it wasn't, it was going to be ready Wednesday...and it wasn't...When they rang my DH at work, to say it wouldn't be ready again, he immediately rang me, so that I was aware that "my baby" wasn't coming home. The day before, when he came home from work, I ran to each of the car windows to see where he had the tower, I almost choked when he said it wasn't ready! So he felt he needed to warn me on the Wednesday, just in case I took it out on him, LOL!


Anyway, on the Thursday, they said it would be ready about 5.30pm, so when DH got home from work, we watched some television together. No word from the computer to say it wasn't ready..that was a good sign, so after we had done watching our TV show, I got ready to go down the street. My hands were shaking like mad...when we got there, they were still working on it, 3 guys, all working on it to get it finished. Background information: this computer of ours is a great computer, in theory, but we have had nothing but trouble with it. Constantly blowing motherboards and power supplies. For the first 3 years, while it was under warranty, it was constantly in the shop, getting fixed. I really don't believe the shop we got if from really had any idea how to fix it, things were incompatable and etc, etc...Hopefully this new shop have sorted out all the glitches once and for all.....if that is ever possible for a PC.


Anyway, we got it back on Thursday night. I set the internet up on it and let DH reset the programs...(we had lost most of our programs when the original c-drive crashed, they tried to transfer as much of the programs as they could, but then it was up to us to re-set or re-load our programs. Did DH prioritise and put on my scrapbooking program immediately to appease his 2 months cold turkey scrapbooking challenged wife?? NO! Grounds for divorce, I'd say! LOL.


Anyway, yes, I guess I could have done it myself, but as DH says...he does all the organising/fixing/maintanance on the PC and I just get to enjoy it....(I am terrified of installing a program) So I spend all day Friday, with a beautiful computer, but with no scrapbooking program...


When DH got home, I sweetly begged him to reset our program....."can't find the disc, other things to do!!!" Did I flip my lid? You bet I did!


So I kicked him off the computer, searched, found disc, rang my computer savy sister and got her to talk me through installing the program....wasn't such a headache after all! Yeah! :)


I love my DH very much...but sometimes, if you want something done, you have to do it yourself! LOL...


so...today being Saturday, I will upload the 2 layouts that I got done today. The Easter one was a 2 second job, the other one, I started last night, after DH went to bed and I didn't finish it till this afternoon. Hopefully I will soon learn how to put photos at the end of the post, or how to get them where I want them...blogger is still very new to me...


Wishing you all a good weekend and a problem free computer! ;)

Tuesday 19 February 2008

More layouts!

Off To Kindy Credits Christmas Toes Credits

First Haircut Credits
Well, I said I meant to use my blog to showcase my layouts, so here are three I did today. Admittedly, two of them, I had started a few days ago, but today I must have had some mojo, LOL!


I started off this blog with a layout about my eldest son starting High School, well my first layout for today is about my youngest child starting Kindy.


It is unbelievable to me that she has started Kindy, she is our last child, our baby, but she is no longer a baby *sniff* I have only just recently been able to break the habit of referring to her as "the baby". The time sure does go fast!
The second layout is simply a funny layout about my love of toe nail polish and Christmas wrapped up in one... erm...pair of feet, LOL!
This Christmas past was the second time I painted my toenails red and green. I love looking down at my toes and feeling all Christmassy...tho right now, they are purple but are actually in need of a new coat of polish. A job for the week end!
And the last layout for tonight is my Kindy girl in the hair salon after her very first haircut, a nice little bob cut, fresh and ready for Kindy.
Gee, I hope I am as productive tomorrow as I was today. I even did a little bit of scrapbook graphic sorting. Tomorrow I need to do a back up burn. Too many downloads and not enough saves to discs!



Sunday 17 February 2008

St Valentine's Day






Well, Valentine's Day has been and gone.
Normally we don't do much for it, if anything... Last year I made the kids and hubby cards that I put in their lunch boxes to find later in the day and made love coupons for hubby. I still honour them whenever he produces them ;) So this year I decided to go with something a little more tame for Valentine's Day! I made altered Valentine's Day tins and treat bags for our kids. The kids and Rob (husband) got the small treat bags in their lunch boxes and Rob got the burgandy tin and I got the purple tin (but of course! :) and the kids got the larger treat bags for after school.

I said to Rob,..."lets watch a romantic movie together for today" and so he chose "Titanic" so that's what we did for Valentine's Day this year.
Rob has a lot of movies, the majority are his, so there is very few romantic movies in our collection. But it was nice all the same!

I am not into bright red as a rule, so was happy to have the priviledge to play with Creative Confusion's new kit Quixotic. It doesn't have red as the predominant colour, which is a big plus for me.
Quixotic
and here is the layout I scrapped with it of Rob and I about to go on our first Valentine's Day 'date'
Where DO the years go! LOL!
Layout Credits

Wednesday 13 February 2008

CT challenge layout


The Digi Chick is having a layout challenge where the winner gets to be a Creative Team member for the whole site for a month! wow! Too cool an opportunity to pass up!

As Valentine's Day is tomorrow, I centered my layout around a love heart and am quite happy with how it turned out.
Credits are HERE

Thursday 7 February 2008


This really isn't a new layout, it is a do-over...

everything here is recoloured, except the stitching,the ribbon and the material flowers. Ribbon and metal charm by Shabby Miss Jenn, papers by Kathryn Wilson, paper flowers by Weeds and Wildflowers, stitching by Gina Miller, flower on the left by Rina Kroes, other flowers by Petit Moineaux, frame by Gina Maria, staple by ksharonk, journaling card art work by Jackie Eckles.

Wednesday 6 February 2008

School's in!



Ok, another post...


I am going to try and post my layouts here and blog more.


The kids are back at school. Our eldest is off to high school and our youngest has started Kindy!

Layout credits are HERE

Another reason I wanted to start blogging again is that I wanted to have a 'diary' of sorts. I had one growing up and I find my journal entries an endless source of entertainment. Reading about what I did as a teenager and what I thought and how I felt about life's goings ons is hysterical and also theraputic in a way. Some things that may have been forgotten can be seen with new eyes and can be quite liberating. It also helps me remember what being a teenager means and helps me be more patient with my eldest son, who just last month entered his teens!

When I first started this blog, I introduced myself and explained the blog name. Somehow it has been lost or deleted, so I will add it in here....

Purple Is My Colour is a song lyric from an alternative Australian band called 'Beasts of Bourbon' It's a fun song called 'I'm a Drop Out'

I discovered the band through watching 'Rage' late at night and spent many a happy hour listening to their record.

At the time, my circle of friends and I wore black exclusively, but as a younger child I was always drawn to the colour purple. My Mother also loved purple. My strongest memories of the colour purple was my Grandmother in New Zealand who sent matching knitted mauve jumpers for my Mother, sister and I.

I also distinctly remember some hand me down sandals I recieved that were violet and I adored them!

When I was a clad in black teenager, I seemed to be drawn to songs that had the word 'purple' in them, like the song 'Drop Out' by Beasts of Bourbon....

I wanna make the in scene

You know it's not such a bad dream

I give my ma some mean looks, Burn all my old school books

I buy a leather jacket so I look real tough

All the little girls will think I'm tough

I spend my time playing pool

That's how I'm gonna be so cool

Because I'm a drop out

I wanna be a guru I wanna be a god

I wanna be your baby I wanna be in love

Purple is my colour

Baby your my heart

So let's take some LSD

We can make a start Cause I'm a drop out


There were other songs too,

'Purple Haze' by Jimi Hendrix, of course,

'Murderess in a Purple Dress' by The Scientists
and up until this point, I was under the impression that one of the lines in 'Wildflower' by The Cult was...
'you're a purple creation'....but I just found out that it is actually
'you're a perfect creation'...LOL!
well....I always considered myself to be a Purple Creation! LOL!
there are probably other songs that had the word purple in them,
but it is 11.30pm and I need to get to bed and I can not think of them at present.
And yes, I did force myself to get into "Deep Purple"
I always thought "Smoke on the water" was funny and when I got an old LP of theirs I really liked 'Speed King' and 'Space Truckin'
Funnily enough, I have a husband that loves 'Deep Purple' LOL!
So there you go, that is the story behind the name "Purple Is My Colour"