I love my vintage blossoms...

Check these lovelies out...

Using up Scraps...

Scrap Therapy's big thing at the moment is all about using up our scraps... so I thought I would do just that. I've spent all morning scrapping away using bits & pieces that have been left over from other projects. I also used a number of "too good to use" papers that have been sitting sadly in my stash waiting for me to pick them out and use them! It's definitely not my best work but it kept me busy and got some stuff used up. Using up my stash means I'm making room for new stuff... which means... shopping! Okay, maybe not just yet, as I was only down there on the weekend, but I'll definitely be making another trip to Scrap Therapy sometime soon!

OH... and here are some photos of my mess...

I am human and my scrapdesk does not always look as neat & tidy as you may have seen in other photos in the past. :)

New Layouts

It's Autumn already!! Can you believe it?! Where did Summer go?

Anyway, I had my first FULL WEEK OF WORK since like August or September last year and now I am soaking up the weekend by... SCRAPPING!

So far this weekend, I have created the following:

1. Journaling Cards for The Love Embellie Swap that I am hosting over at Scrap Therapy.

2. 4 Layouts.

3. I started a double layout but discovered I only have ONE piece of the appropriately coloured cardstock to put it together.

4. I wanted to start a mini album but... have not got an appropriately sized mini album for the bits i want to put in it... raaaa...now i have to wait till next time. :P

So here's some bits & pieces, anyway!

Two of them are for March Monthly Challenges over at Scrap Therapy. The other two are just cos i felt like it layouts.

Beyond the Page Albums

I think I might be starting to get the hang of OTP albums... finally.

I've done a few in the past but I've never really been 100% thrilled with how they've turned out.

In the last week I have made two albums.
The 18th album is for my cousin's birthday (still a few months away so SHHH top secret) and I still need to print off some journalling prompts to glue in for her to fill out. Things like; Favourite Song, Favourite Clothes, Where I work, etc so that she can look back on what she was into at 18.

The other one is a collection of funny quotes and memories of my first year of teaching.

The journaling is mostly hidden. It's done in the school colours of red/white/black.

***have removed these pics for privacy reasons***

DON'T WANT MY COUSIN TO SEE HER ALBUM!

January

Will need to put this into a layout (of a few layouts) eventually... but anyway, the month in a nutshell:

January 2010
Frantically trying to get myself back into teaching after taking a bit of a break from it at the end of last year. Lots of phone calls, emails, applications and daydreaming about places like Charters Towers.
Watching McLeod's Daughters Season 1&2 on DVD.
Listening to Adam Brand's Greatest Hits and Foo Fighters Greatest Hits. LOVING Adam Brand, disappointed to realise that all of The Fooies songs sound the same once you play a few of them one after the other.
Finding a church I like down this end of town with friendly people and a good vibe.
Celebrating Australia Day in the front yard of my cousins' place in a badly-blown-up pool.
Catching up with my girls over chocolate and Katie's yummy sausage rolls.
Failing to surprise Ben for his 25th Birthday "Surprise" party.
Using a "texas voice" with Jess while putting on an epic performance of Achy Breaky Heart on Singstar.
Actually maintaining my fringe for once.
Having that darn Fireflies song stuck in my head.
Waiting around for Cyclone Olga that didn't do anything interesting at all.
Catching up with Cat & Woody while they were in town.
Celebrating Mel Mac's (1st) & Nicoles (2nd) pregnancy news.
Being keen as for Meg & Johnny's wedding in September.
Hassling Adam that he should do something for his upcoming 21st.
Congratulating Josh & Loretta on their engagement.
Empathising with a close friend over the sudden death of her older brother.

2 Shabby Layouts

I had nothing better to do today so I scrapped...yay!

I produced TWO SHABBY LAYOUTS. WOOHOO!

Here they are:

What do you think?
If you read or follow my blog please comment, I'd love to read some love and know that people do actually see what i bother posting up here.

Before & After: Scrapbooking Surgery

I was upset with my attempt at a layout I did earlier today.

As much as i LOVE using lace, I just can't seem to get it right.

I consulted Scrap Therapy's resident Shabby Chicksters, Mandy & Beccy who gave some advice on how to fix it. Given that I had used glue and staples to stick it down originally, I was a little limited in what I could do to rescue this layout without totally starting again with a reprinted photo!! I changed a few things off my own accord and this is what I came up with. I am pleased with the result. What do you think?

Before:

After:

Today's Scrappings

Over the weekend we celebrated Ben's 25th Birthday (early!) with a "Surprise" Party. We had a few mates around for a BBQ; everyone brought a side dish to share and a lot of fun was had. After some discussion, my random 4th cousins and I decided to crank out the Singstar and, within minutes a small crowd had gathered and quite a few people had a turn at singing. Adam, one of Ben's groomsmen and one of our closest friends decided that he would sing Avril Lavigne's 2002 hit "COMPLICATED" with me IF I drank some more with him and not until AFTER he completed numerous random shots (including Rum shots. Hrmm). His procrastination techniques only worked for a while and eventually we got him up and singing with me. The girls even recorded a small part of it with the video function on my camera. He didn't actually "sing" but it was entertaining in a 'let's laugh with/at our drunk friend' kinda way. Anyway, I have started to scrap a few of the photos from the party so these are the layouts I've done so far. One shows our friends' Nicole & Aarron's little boy Ethan holding hands with Amanda's baby girl, Jasmine. They were incredibly cute when they played together, coloured in together and walked around holding hands together (they even went inside the house looking for somewhere quiet to play alone together - Dad to the rescue!!). All was going really well until Ethan decided he didn't want to share his colouring stuff anymore after all. There was a small tantrum. Jazzy must've spoken softly to him because after this, they were all cute again... and when it came time for Jasmine to leave, she gave him a peck on the cheek. "Mwah"

*sigh* Puppy Love!!

My awesome random cousins and I at the end of the night

Christmas Layouts

My cousins' children are such a joy to have around.

This Christmas that just went by was especially awesome as we got to see ALL of the baby 2nd cousins at least once over the holidays. YAY!!

2009

It's not quite over yet, but this year has been... woah.
This time last year I had *just* received my first full time teaching post and if you'd told me then where i'd be at now I'm not sure how I would've reacted.

Some parts of this year have been absolutely amazing... others have been shocking moments that I'd rather forget forever. Others still have been tremendous learning curves both professionally and personally.

Overall, I'd still say it's been a great year... though the most accurate adjective would be INTERESTING...

Best Bits
TERM 1: Things were going well and i was honestly LOVING my class of year 7s and felt good about the whole thing... it was going to be a fantastic year.
The Pre-Wedding Surprise Party put on by the kids of 7B. There was a slushee machine!!
OUR 4th OF JULY WEDDING!!! best day of our lives. enough said.
BUYING OUR HOUSE (just those two points alone smell of 'great australian dream' coming true in the space of about 6 weeks)
YEAR 7 CAMP. I can honestly say I loved every minute of it, it's just a shame that things took a turn for the worse at work the very next day.
MEETING MY 4th COUSINS... the timing was brilliant, they came into my life at a time when I really just needed someone to talk to about everyday stuff, to distract me from the bad stuff that had just happened. (Not to mention that they are fantastic people and i love them to pieces)

Big Achievement
Sticking out my job for as long as I did. Considering the factors that stacked up against me to make things rather miserable for me for a while there, I did well most of the time. So yes, I TAUGHT A YEAR 7 CLASS FOR THREE TERMS and the majority of my kids learnt many new things with me and just loved me to pieces, I know this for sure so I know I must've done SOMETHING right.

Big Curveball
Aforementioned Great Australian Dream came under attack when I abruptly left my teaching career behind. There was an on/off period of unemployment/casual work and I started studying a Certificate III in something completely & awesomely different.

Another Big Achievement
Kicking the black dog's butt. While it could be argued that i was suffering from a work-related depression of sorts for awhile there, the "true" depression that plagued me in 2007 & 2008 did NOT make its way into 2009. I wouldn't let it. So even when things were incredibly crap... even when I had left my job, even when i was painfully unemployed, even when things just weren't stacking up for me and it seemed I'd been dealt an incredibly unfair blow, i didnt let it get me down.

I'll probably add another similarly themed "2009" post before the year is through... it will be more of a highlight of the little moments that made this year just awesome in its odd way.

Recent Stuff

These are some recent, and not so recent layouts. Have been really slack with updating my blog especially now that this computer isn't working too well. Unfortunately, my laptop doesn't have cropping software sooOooo i have to try and edit on here (my old desktop pc) and hope for the best... hope that my stuff doesn't disappear or get virus infested while i'm sleeping :)

Oh, and I thought I'd share what my scrapdesk looks like on a tidy day...

Thanks for looking!

Long Lost

I don't normally celebrate Halloween, but when a long lost 4th cousin (who is just about MY AGE) invited me to her party, i just had to say yes! I really wanted to meet my cousins who, while they are only distantly related to me, are the only relatives i have that are CLOSE TO MY AGE. As someone who has hated being an only child and being so generationally challenged in my extended family, it was a hugely big deal to finally get the chance to know family around my own age. I went all by myself knowing NOBODY and had a fantastic time with Kat, Jase, Jessica and Mark as well as some of their mates.

Me & Jessica... she's been trying to tell me that, from my photos on facebook at least, she thinks we look alike. I was like nahhhhh i don't see it.. until we had this photo together on Saturday night. I sort of see it now :)

Jason & Mark

Jessica (devil), Me (minnie mouse) and Kathryn (witch)

Let's Get Shabby Sketch Challenge

Here is my entry for the current LGS challenge.

This month it involved a sketch and "something vintage" so i used some of the lace i found at the op shop a week ago and some random bits and pieces i got off ebay or as gifts as well as gorgeous prima flowers, heidi swapp alphas and journaling tags from both Daisy D's and Bella. Phew.

Uploading Layouts

Here are some recent layouts.

The wedding ones were completed during the month of September. There is one in there that is based on the current 'sketch to inspire' over at Pinkalicious Sketches. Can you guess which one it is? The ones that are of normal, everyday life were completed... TODAY! I finally did some more scrapping after taking a bit of a break from it for a few weeks.

They're pretty average, but... meh.