Janine- my ramblings....

HUGE Project 365 catch up!

2009-07-08T16:11:00.037+08:00

Here are my pages to the end of May!

May 31st-

May 30th-

May 29th- done but won't be shown.

May 28th-

May 27th-

May 26th-

May 25th-

May 24th-

May 23rd-

May 22nd-

May 21st-

May 20th-

May 19th-

May 18th-

May 17th-

May 16th-

May 15th-

May 14th-

May 13th-

May 12th-

May 11th-

May 10th-

May 9th-

May 8th-

May 7th-

May 6th-

May 5th-

May 4th-

May 3rd-

May 2nd-

May 1st-

April 30th-

April 29th-

April 28th-

April 27th-

April 26th-

April16th- 25th...Singapore holiday- pages not finished yet!

April 15th-

Janine xx

2009-06-22T18:40:00.002+08:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah.... I'm alive!!!

but I'm a bit over blogging at the moment! Hopefully I'll eventually get over this and return!!

Meanwhile you can catch up with me on facebook!!!

Janine xxx

I'm back....

2009-05-13T10:53:00.004+08:00

Sorry but I have been avoiding my blog because the thought of sorting through and uploading a heap of Singapore photos was way too overwhelming!
I have instead decided to just upload a few at a time so at the end of this post are some photos and when I next update I'll add a few more!!!

OK- I'm still on a high about my awesome girl winning the academic scholarship for Iona!!! We received the paperwork last week and the scholarship is for SIX years!!!! How good is that!!!!

In other news- I have a new favourite TV show. Is anyone else loving Masterchef? I love it!!! Hmmm I haven't decided which contestant I'd like to win yet although Tom, Trevor, Geni and Julie are a few of my favourites!!!! I even took a photo of the TV the other night while the show was on as my 'photo of the day' for my Project 365. I'm still plodding along with my 365 pages however due to going to Singapore I'm a little behind. I have still been taking my photos and have been slowly catching up with my pages- I think I'm still about two weeks or so behind!!
Hopefully next post, I'll show you my latest pages!

This weekend I have my Mum, my Aunty and my MIL coming up to stay. We are all off to the Craft and Quilt Fair on Sunday. I'm hoping there will be lots of scrapping stands to visit. Kim and Maursie will be there each day, on the Fiskars stand so if you go- stop in and say hello to them!!

One more thing- woo hoo, I've booked my place already for the Scrapboxx October retreat!!! I love, love, love Scrapboxx retreats and can't wait to go again. LOL- only about 149 more sleeps to wait!!!

OK- here are some photos from Singapore Zoo. We went and had breakfast with the orangutans. It was awesome!!!

This is Emma, eating her breakfast. You can see in the background the large flat branch. This is where the orangutans came and sat. We weren't allowed to touch them but we were so close- it was amazing!!!

Here are the girls with some of the gorgeous orangutans.

I took heaps of photos- it was really hard to pick a favourite but I do particularly like this one. The baby was soooo cute!!!!

More soon,
Love Janine xxx

AWESOME NEWS!!!

2009-05-03T09:46:00.002+08:00

Hi all,
We are back from Singapore- we had a fantastic time however I haven't yet had time to sort all the squillions of photos I took!! Soon I promise!!!

I just have to share our AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME news!!!
About six weeks ago Sarah sat a scholarship exam at Iona Presentation College.
Well.........................

SHE WON IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The principal left a message on our answering machine on Thursday night asking me to ring her. I did ring on Friday morning however had to leave a message. The Principal's assistant rang back and left me a message (my phone was turned off as we were at our school's ANZAC assembly) saying CONGRATULATIONS that Sarah had won the academic scholarship and I'll receive a letter next week with all the details!

I am so proud, proud, proud of my gorgeous girl!!!! I could nearly burst with pride!!!

Back soon with a SINGAPORE update!!!!

Love one PROUD Mumma!!!! xxxx

Nearly packed....

2009-04-15T16:45:00.005+08:00

I said I'd be back before we left to share my latest Project 365 pages.... so here they are-

April 11-

April 12-

April 13-

April 14-

I'm all up-to-date, except for today!!

We are nearly all packed. We have just over four hours until we are picked up. The girls are getting super excited...so am I!!!! I still have a few little things left to do but nothing major! I just can't wait to be sitting on the plane!!!

We are not taking a lap top with us. DH is buying a brand spanking new one so hope to be able to drop in here and say 'hi'....if we are not too busy!! We have a huge list of things we want to do and places we wish to visit. I think visiting Sentosa Island and having breakfast with the orangutans are top of the girls' wish list!! Both girls have a list of friends that they wish to buy a little something special for so I'm sure we will hit the shops too!!

Oh my- this time tomorrow I'll be in Singapore!! Woo hoo!!!

Talk soon.
Love Janine xxx

Woo hoo- I'm one happy chickadee!!!!

2009-04-13T19:52:00.007+08:00

We had a wonderful day yesterday (Easter Sunday). The girls were up nice and early to see what the Easter Bunny had left for them! As usual, he had left them winter jammies, in fact this year they got two pair each (mumma found one pair each- and then another pair each that she just couldn't leave in the shop-LOL)!!! Both received another pressie- Sarah, a book and Emma, a gorgeous beanie, and of course some chocolate goodies!!!!

We then got ourselves organized and were on the 9pm ferry to Penguin Island. It was a beautiful day- the weather was glorious, the company was fantastic, the food - absolutely delicious and for the first time (for us anyway) we saw wild penguins - previously we have only seen the ones in captivity. Here are some snaps from the day-

We were on the very last ferry home and were totally exhausted by the time we actually made it home!! We could see (from Penguin Island) that there was a fire on the main land. It looked as if it were down Port Kennedy way however once we got home we found out that it wasn't that far from our house. Our house was never in any danger- the wind was blowing the other way however it was a HUGE fire and houses were threatened!!!

This is the fire- as we saw if from Penguin Island.

And this is from our house.

This afternoon the girls and I went to the shops and Ennis Ave (the main road from Rockingham to Mandurah) was still closed. It is now opened now- opened about 4pm.

Tonight was my sketch class over at Scrapboxx!

Here is my sketch-

and my layout-

I also gave the instructions on how to make the flowers- you can see them here. I have given them once before on my blog so they are not new!!!

I was pleased with the people that came to chat- I'm always up for a good chat- LOL!!!

Okay- now that Easter and my sketch class are over, I can concentrate on packing for our holiday. I cleaned the house like a mad woman this morning and did a heap of washing although I haven't even thought about packing.

We leave in two more sleeps - woo hoo!!

We have been watching the news with interest and concern- while we are away, Adam will fly on to Bangkok (for business) and if you have been watching the news there is a lot of rioting and political unrest there at the moment. The girls and I aren't going to Bangkok (just Adam)- we are staying in Singapore for the whole time. He will only be there for three days and has a training course to attend for all three of those days so I'm not really that worried- I just hope that they don't close down the airport or anything!!!!

Tomorrow Emma is off to the movies and HJ's for her friend Kira's birthday. The girls have netball training Wednesday morning and we have hair cuts booked for Wednesday afternoon. We then, woo hoo, fly off Wednesday night- LOL- I m very excited!!!

I am a huge believer that travel is an essential part of life. I didn't fly on an aeroplane until I was 16 and I didn't leave this country until I was 26....so for me, it is really important that we give our kids the opportunity to travel. When they were little we travelled locally- you know- Bunbury, Busselton, Kalgoorlie, Esperance, Albany, Geraldton, Leeman etc. As they got older we travelled further- Sydney, Darwin, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Broome. Now that they are that much older still- we are venturing overseas with them. I can't wait!!! I intend to take squillions of photos so stay tuned for photo overload when we return!!!

Anyway- I must go!!! It is getting late and I haven't spent much time tonight with my girls!!

I'll be back to update my Project 365 before we leave!!!

Love Janine xxx

Happy Easter Saturday!!!

2009-04-11T19:12:00.012+08:00

Woo hoo- only one more sleep until the Easter Bunny arrives!!! LOL- 'chocolate overload'!!!!
He he he- I can't wait!!! :0)

We have now started the school holidays- yeee haaaaa!!
Actually we are two days in.......and YES- I'm loving them!!!

Good Friday was pretty low key in our house. We slept in and then slothed around in our jammies until lunch time- well I did anyway!!! Emma always gets dressed and Sarah quickly got dressed when Grace rang and invited her to the beach!!! So....Sarah spend the day at the beach with her friends Grace and Beth- in fact I didn't see her until she was dropped home about 9-45pm!!!
Emma and I had some 'us' time. Emma loves cooking so we make salmon patties together(yummo) and then she made Tinkerbell cupcakes. I also SCRAPPED!!! Woo hoo!!!

Here are my efforts-

This LO is for Lisa's sketch challenge over on the BOXX!! Lisa is the guest DT member for this month!!!

I still had all the 'Girl Friday' range on my desk so I did this layout...just because!!

I also complete my sketch LO for my Monday Scrappers class on Monday night(13th). Here is a sneak peek. Anyone is welcome to come and join the class- Monday night 6pm (W.A time) on the BOXX.

Not only will I share my sketch but I have some yummy flowers to show and give instructions for too!!

I've been keeping up-to-date with my Project 365 too-

April 3-

April 4-

April 5-

April 6-

April 7-

April 8-

Boy oh boy- this movie has been watched a zillion times already!!!! We love it!!

April 9-

April 10-

I have taken today's photo and am about to scrap it shortly. It is about a first for Sarah- stayed tuned!!

We are off to Penguin Island tomorrow for a family picnic. My Mum, Dad and brother are coming as well as Adam's folks, Aunty Lorraine, Roz, Keith, Kylara, Byron, Sarah & Georgia.

I'm sure I'll take a squillion photos!!!!! I'm really looking forward to it!

I hope your Easter Sunday is wonderful.

Woo hoo- only four more sleeps until we fly off to SINGAPORE!!!!

Love Janine xxx

Back again...with my news!

2009-04-07T21:01:00.004+08:00

Do you remember this page??

It says that we were getting our passports sorted with the intention of an overseas holiday very soon.....

well........

we are off to SINGAPORE!!!!!

Woo hoo- I'm sooooo excited!!! I love holidays and I love travelling!! I am so thrilled to be taking my girls to experience a different culture!! I can't wait to take a squillion photos!!!

and we are going next week!!!

We fly out next Wednesday night (16th) and we are staying at the Holiday Inn Parkview which is right near Orchard Road!!!

I'm just a tad excited- can you tell???
I have already checked out a heap of places to visit and things to do however would love to hear any suggestions. We are there for 10 days so I hope to pack a heap of touristy things in!!!

Well that is my super exciting news- hope things are wonderful in your world.
Love Janine xxx

Happy Sunday!

2009-04-05T20:55:00.007+08:00

Hello all!
Yet another busy week has zoomed by!! Term one is all but over...three more days at work for me, four more days at school for the girls- then HOLIDAYS!!!!!! YAY!!

We have had yet another busy weekend. The girls and I went down to watch the basketball grand final on Friday night- Grace's team won!!! I then dropped Emma off at a party she was going to and Sarah and I went to the Grace's house for dinner. Macca cooked the most delicious fish and prawns on the BBQ- yummo!!! We stayed there until it was time to pick up Emma.

Saturday morning was fantastic. The yacht club had a 'fun day' and Haydn invited Sarah to sail with him!! Sarah loved it and now is nagging me to start sailing next season. Emma didn't get to sail on any of the boats as she didn't have a life jacket. Kim's wonderful hubby eventually found her one and as all the boats had already left- Tom took Emma with him in the rescue boat - Emma had an absolute ball!! She loved every minute of it!! I actually think she had the best time out of all the kids!!! Thanks Tom!!!!

My girls still had acrobatics however after acro we went to Taylah's birthday party. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLAH!!!! It was at AquaJetty and Kim had hired the large inflatable obstacle course! It was awesome- I actually would love to have a go on it myself- all the kids loved it. We then had some afternoon tea and of course delicious birthday cakes before we headed home- very tired but very happy!

Today we spent the day at Adventure World. We went there with all the other families from Emma's basketball team as an end of season wind up. It was great. I took over 250 photos!!!! I also went on a heap of rides, water slides etc!!!! I love Adventure World!!
Here are just two photos from today- awwww, how cute is this beautiful koala!!!

My P365 is still going strong. Here are my latest pages-
March 29-

March 30-

March 31-

April 1-

April 2-

I'm off to bed now- I'm totally exhausted after all today's fun!

I'll be back in a few days with some super exciting news!!! I can't share yet as it isn't quite organized!!! Woo hoo!!!!!

Back soon,
Love Janine xxxx

Scrapboxx March Retreat!!

2009-03-31T17:36:00.027+08:00

OK- as promised...finally a retreat review!
The retreat was AWESOME!!! This was the 5th Scrapboxx retreat I have been on and it was, without a doubt, the best...but then again, each retreat just gets better and better. It was wonderful to catch up with old friends and equally as wonderful to make new ones!

We left Friday morning. Kim and I travelled in convoy with Evana, Kelly, Kathleen, Kayla and Kylie. We arrived at about 1 o'clock and quickly settled into our rooms and claimed our 'scrap spots'. We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with 'old' friends and meeting new friends!!!

At 4pm I had my first class- a LO class with Karen Day. He he he- lots of other people have said this, so I will as well- Karen is SO much taller than I expected!! LOL! Anyway Karen's class was awesome.
Here is my LO-

I love Karen's style and I am thrilled to bits with my LO- Thanks Karen!!!

After Karen's class, we got dressed into our 'Black Friday' outfits. What a blast!!! Check out some of these costumes!!!

Fuddy having a chop of Donna!

Tammy!!!

Kim and I...or is it Me & Kim!!

Mardi & Nikala!

Fuddy!

Kareena!

Karen!

Gorgeous bunch aren't we????

Later in the evening we had our very chaotic and noisy tag swap! I love meeting everyone and seeing their tags but boy is it full-on!!!

Sheree and Kel instructed us in a 'make and take' -making a gorgeous fabric tag booklet to keep all our tags in! (ops -forgot to photograph that!!)

The rest of the night was filled with chatting, laughing, drinking, eating and maybe a little tiny bit of scrapping!!LOL!!

After breakfast on Saturday morning, I began a marathon of classes. Four classes back to back!!!
Mardi started us off with an awesome class 'Not just for the girls'. It was wonderful. I love Mardi's style and I love, love, love my completed LOs-

Thanks Mardi!!!!

Straight after Mardi's class, I did Nikala's 'Grow & Bloom' class. It was fantastic!! I love the LOs and the gorgoeus colours- YUMMO!!
Here are my LOs-

Beautiful aren't they??

We did have a break for lunch and then Sheree had us working very hard making the most gorgoeus inspirational file. The file is fabulous despite the fact that I punched my holes in the wrong cover-ops!

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous- Thanks Sheree!!!

Kim and I then did Karen's second class- we hadn't originally booked this class however when we saw the sensational LO- we squeezed our way into the class!!! My LO doesn't have photos yet but I do know which ones I am going to put on it!!!

Far out- classes keep us busy all day but it was worth it- I love all my LOs and all the classes were awesome!!!!

The rest of the night was filled with more chatting, eating, drinking, laughing and a tiny bit of scrapping!!!

I had no classes booked on the Sunday so I scrapped!
Over the weekend I completed five LOs for Sarah Gladman's bush fire appeal and two of the DT challenges.
Here are my challenge LOs-

You can see that I was sitting next to the talented Kathleen- I used some of her ink spray stuff. It was fun to use and I am really pleased with the results- Thanks Kathleen!

Here is the 'group' photo

and a couple more....

Kim and I and the gorgeous Boss Lady- Maria!

A self-portrait of Kim & I!!! Look at the beautiful view behind us!!!

Nikala, Mardi, Karen & Maria- see I told you Karen was TALL!!

Boo hoo- the whole retreat was over waaaay too quick but it was so much fun. I can't wait until the next one- roll on October!!

Fortunately Kim and I stayed over an extra night. We went out to a yummy dinner with Denise, Tess and Donna. It was great because I caught up big time with heaps of Esperance gossip from Tess and Donna. (I'm originally and Esperance girl- born and breed!)

Monday morning came around far too quickly however Kim and I met up with Denise in Margaret River for a delicious breakfast before our drive home!

So there you have it- my Scrapboxx retreat review!!

Phew- what a looong post!
Stay safe,
Love Janine xxx

Finally caught up!!

2009-03-29T21:08:00.021+08:00

I have really been working hard the past few day to catch up with my Project 365- well today I did it! Woo hoo- I'm completely up to date!!! Here are all my pages except today's - I've scrapped it however it was too dark tonight to photograph it.

March 10-

March 11-

March 12- the girls' swimming carnival.

March 13- Day 1 of the Boxx retreat!

March 14-

March 15-

March 16-

March 17-

March 18-

March 19-

March 20-

March 20 (there are two March 20 pages!)-

March 21-

March 22-

March 23-

March 24-

March 25-

March 26-

March 27-

March 28-

Woo hoo!! Like I said, I've scrapped today's page but not yet photographed it! I took the girls to see Confessions of a Shopaholic today. Gracie came too- of course! The girls all loved it!!!

I'll be back soon with my retreat update- I haven't forgotten!

Bye for now-

Love Janine xxx

Woo hoo!

2009-03-25T20:53:00.017+09:00

I'm alive, I'm alive!!!!

I have been so busy lately that I have neglected my blog- sorry...however as more time goes on, I feel so overwhelmed due to the amount of news that I need to catch up on- I just don't- ops!

So...let me just tell you the important stuff....

this stunner has turned nine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My baby girl Emma has turned nine!!!!
We had her party before her birthday and we had a BALL!
Adam hired a mini bus and we took Emma and her friends to Fremantle. We played several games at Q-Zar.... a totally awesome game!!! After two crazy Q-Zar games where the girls ran around in the dark shooting each other, they then played in the arcade gallery. After that we went to Hungry Jack's for dinner - which was average as it was only HJ's- the kids liked it (I didn't- yuk). We then went to Cold Rock for sweets...now this was YUMMO!!!! If you haven't been to Cold Rock, then treat yourself- it was YUMMY!!!
After that we played in the park for a while then drove all the kiddos home again in the mini bus- we had the CD player blaring(on the bus), all the girls were rocking- we all had a ball!! It was a great party, Emma loved it so therefore it was a success!!!!
Man-I can't believe I have a nine year old- boo hoo!

In other news...I have been to the Scrapboxx retreat!! I love Scrapboxx retreats- too much talking, laughing, drinking, eating, staying up waaaay too late and having an awesome time...like I said - I love Scrapboxx retreats!!! I have a heap of photos that I haven't even hardly looked at yet from the retreat so....I'll do a special 'retreat' update soon- I promise!

Meanwhile, I have been keeping up to date with my 365 photo taking. I'm a bit behind with my scrapping however here are my latest pages-

Feb 22-

Feb 23-

Feb 24-

Feb 25-

Feb 26-

Feb 27-

Feb 28- Emma's party!!!!

March 1-

March 2-

March 3- Emma's 9th birthday!!!

March 4-

March 5-

March 6-

March 7-

March 8-

March 9-

I promise I won't leave it soooooo long between post.

Be happy, stay safe!

Love Janine xxx

MIA

2009-03-16T20:29:00.002+09:00

Oh my......it has been forever since I have posted...sorry!!!

I have been busy- Emma's party, Emma's birthday, the Scrapoxx retreat!!!!!

I shall post a proper update soon...promise!
I'll leave you with a gorgeous photo of me- lol!!!!!

Mwah......

Janine xxx

I'm still here!

2009-02-22T21:44:00.014+09:00

I have been so tired and so busy lately that I feel my poor blog has been a little neglected. :(
I really do need a few more hours in each day!!! LOL!
However- despite my poor blog's lack of attention, the gorgeous Julie awarded me this-

Thank you so much Julie!!!!
I am suppose to award this on however tonight I just don't have the time or energy! Maybe soon!

My Project 365 is still going strong. I am absolutely loving it- yes, still!! I love taking photos each day and find I can quite easily keep up or catch up as I keep the pages quite simple.
Anyway here are my latest-
Day 44-

Day 45-

Day 46-

Day 47-

Day 48-

Day 49-

Day 50-

Day 51-

Day 52-

Day 53-

Day 54 is today!! I have taken today's photos however haven't scrapped them yet.

One of the reasons I have been so busy is that my tandem teacher has broken her ankle. Unfortunately for her, it looks as if she will be off work all term. I am picking up most of her days, which is really great money wise, but makes for much less scrapping time!

I have been on a huge cleaning spree too- yes another one! This time I've attacked Sarah's room. Last weekend we took practically everything out of her room and only put back what she wanted! Her room looks fabulous however I had a huge pile of stuff in my family room. Well today we attacked that- it either went in the bin, in a bag for the Good Sammy's or in a bag for me to take to my Pre Primary (games, books etc). We cleaned her bookshelves, the cupboard under her bed , everything!!! Sarah's room looks so much better so all the blood, sweat and tears were worth it- LOL!!!
I have other rooms on my hit list so they will be attacked very soon!
Today we also organized lots of bits and pieces for Emma's birthday party. We have lots of little surprises for the girls coming and today Emma and Sarah help me organize them. Emma's party is next Saturday- she is so excited!!! I'll keep you posted!

Anyway- I must go, it is getting late and I have to be up early to get my girls up and out the door for swimming training.
Have a great weekend stay safe!
Love Janine xxx

Feeling helpless...

2009-02-11T21:31:00.013+09:00

Imagine this being your home....and your neighbours....

I have been very emotional this week watching the absolute devastation of the Victorian bush fires. I feel gutted and teary as I watch the news reports. I couldn't even begin to imagine what these people are going through. It makes me feel so grateful for all that I have.

So...the least I can do is help-

This next blurb has been taken from Sarah Gladman's blog-

I feel for those families in the Victorian regions devasted by fire this week. I can’t help but feel frustrated at the limited amount we are able to do from here to help. I can donate money but I felt the need for something more tangible to be done for those families who have literally lost everything.
As scrappers, one of the most important things we deal with on a daily basis are memories. Family memories, memories of loved ones, memories of holidays, birthdays, christenings, bbq’s and days at the beach. These families in Victoria have got no tangible evidence of their lives left. No family photos. No happy snaps. You can replace a fridge, but you can’t replace years of momentos.
In order to help out these family begin to put their lives back together I have started a scrapbooking plan - called “MEMORY GIFTS”.
Quite simply, I ask each and every one of you who read this blog to donate a 12 x 12inch almost completed scrapbook LO to the “Memory Gifts” program. Each page will be sent to me. I will collect them and bind them, then hand them over to the head of Pastoral Care for the Victorian Catholic Education Office, Maria Kirkwood in Melbourne. It will not be just Catholic families benefiting, it will be anyone who needs it. The albums will then be distributed to the principals of the 4 schools that burned down, who will know exactly who to give them to.
Each family devastated by fire will be (in time) given album pages to help them begin their memories again. Those families can then approach their own families for copies of photos to put into the albums, or simply start putting in fresh memories.
If you think you can help, please lave me a comment and I will reply with my postal address so that you can send on your page. Any help you can give will be much appreciated.
I plan to have these albums finished by the 20th of March - that gives us a month to get cracking and create as many pages as we can!
If you feel you wish to contribute in some other way, please leave me a comment and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Many thanks on the behalf of the Victorian families who have lost everything.

I will be contributing by scrapping pages. I hope you are able to help in some way.

My Project 365 is still sailing along smoothly. Here are my latest pages-

Day 37-

Day 38-

Day 39-

Day 40-

Day 41-

Day 42-

Day 43 (today)-

I hope this post finds you and your family happy and healthy,

Many hugs,

Janine xxxx

Busy, busy, busy!!!

2009-02-06T19:40:00.012+09:00

I have been busy, busy, busy!!! Busy at school, busy driving the girls to their numerous sporting and after school activities, busy socializing, busy at home.....but I've been keeping up with my Project 365.
Day 26-
(Yes - I know I'm missing some letter stickers!!)
Day 27-

Day 28-

Day 29-

Day 30-

Day 31-

Day 32-

Day 33-

Day 34-

Day 36-

I have just printed off the photos for Day 37 and Day 38 and I'm off to scrap them now!

Chin, chin!

Love Janine xx

Happy Australia Day!!!

2009-01-26T13:26:00.012+09:00

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY!!!!!!!!!!
I am a PROUD Australian- I love Australia Day!!

We had an Aussie BBQ breakfast this morning- complete with lamb chops (Sam would be proud!) and later on today we are going to head down to the breach front and have a BBQ and a few wines with friends! Woo hoo!!

Here are my last few pages of Project 365-
Day 21-

My bucket list is only a 'mini' bucket list- it has things on it that I wish to accomplish this year!

Day 22-

Day 23-

Day 24-

Day 25-

Yesterday was happy and sad. We had a wonderful day catching up with all my immediate family. We had a BBQ lunch and even an early birthday cake for Brad and Mark. It was sad because later in the evening I drove Brad, Georgie, Matt and Jack to the airport and they flew off :( to Langkawi (via Singapore and KL) and back to their yacht. I don't know how long it will be until we see them again :(

Anyway- whatever you are doing today to celebrate AUSTRALIA DAY- have good one!

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!!!
Love Janine xxx

My house is so quiet :(

2009-01-21T08:33:00.007+09:00

Brad, Georgie, Matt & Jack have gone :( and my house is so quiet! After a week and a half of having a noisy, busy house- I didn't really know what to do with myself yesterday when they left! Sad isn't it! Good news is that they will be back on Sunday however only for the day because they fly back to their yacht in Langkawi on Sunday night.

Project 365 pages.
My latest pages-
Day 15-

Day 16-

I took so many photos on day 15 & day 16 that I really struggled to pick just some for the pages. The weather was HOT and we were really in a holiday mode- it was fabulous! He he he- the sangria's were deliciously refreshing too!!!!

Day 17-

Georgie and I left the husbands and kids at home and headed down to the yacht club to have a drink and catch up with Kim- it was wonderful...wine, girly chat, more wine, beautiful view, no kids to worry about (well for Georgie & I anyway!), more wine, more chat- just what us girls love best!

On our way home from the yacht club I got a message from Marlene to say that Grace was in hospital with a severe ear infection. On Sunday afternoon, when Grace was feeling a bit better, I took Sarah up to visit!
Day 18-

Day 19-

On Monday, Kim and I took the kids to see 'Hotel for Dogs'- very funny and very doggy cute!!! After the movie we went to McDonalds for lunch- the kid's meals had a 'Hotel for Dogs' toy with them so the girls and Jack all got a cute little doggy- very sweet!

Later that afternoon, Sarah had to go back to the dentist and have that tooth pulled out! Everything went well but you should have seen the size of the tooth- arrrgggghh- it had HUGE roots on it- YUK! The poor little possum bled for quite a while and had to lay down as she wasn't too well. Fortunately after a good night's seep, she was fine on Tuesday morning!

Tuesday morning was when Brad, Georgie and the boys left. I felt a bit lost :( I kept myself busy cleaning, washing, vacuuming etc and scrapping of course!
I was really at a total loss of what to photograph for the day- I did consider taking a photo of my clean, vacuumed, no Lego scattered everywhere mat but decided against it- LOL!!

Then when Adam got home from work, he was home no longer than 10 minutes when I heard these squeals of joy coming from the patio- Adam and Emma were playing soccer and having a ball!
Day 20-

So now I'm up to date!
Today is looking quiet too, well this morning at least. Sarah is going to a bowling party at 1pm and then Emma has a sleep-over party starting at 4. Hmm- what will I photograph today!!!

Anyway, my girls are asking for pancakes for breakfast so I may just indulge them. Have a great day.
Love Janine xxx

Still here...

2009-01-16T09:54:00.016+09:00

Hi all,
I'm still here, still scrapping my Project 365 and still loving the school holidays. Brad, Georgie and the boys are still here too so we've being doing lots of things together!
Last time I posted, we were about to go out to brunch. We did and it was wonderful! We went to 'The Merchant' - the food was scrummo yummo delicious!!! We had a wonderful time, eating, chatting, laughing, reminiscing, drinking coffee- it was great. We went with Aunty Lorraine, Vikki & Gavin (Lorraine's daughter & SIL) and Lynn (Lorraine's other daughter). Aunty Lorraine's family are up here to help her out as she required another operation last Tuesday. I won't go into details here however we have everything crossed that it is all good news)
So...brunch was my Project 365 topic for day 11.

Brad & Georgie and my two nephews, Matt & Jack, arrived in the afternoon.
Monday morning started off shocking. Adam got a phone call about 7:30 to say his office has been broken into. Adam is still on holidays however because we half own the business he had to go in to deal with the police, insurance etc. Rotten thieves stole about $13000 worth of mobile phones and equipment and caused a heap of damage- grr. It is all insured however a right pain in the butt. Sadly for the thief, Adam has gone through, worked out all the phones that were taken and blocked them so they can never be used in Australia (legally anyway).
Also on Monday morning Brad had an appointment at a specialist so Georgie and I took all the kids by train to The Art Gallery In Perth. There was a Lego construction zone with HUGE amounts of white Lego- all there for the kids to play and build with! I took heaps of photos- pity the Lego was white and the walls were white- no contrast!Anyway- day 12...

Sunday and Monday, Sarah had been complaining of a sore tooth so Monday afternoon I managed to get her a dentist appointment. The dentist said that she had a small crack in a back baby molar and that had caused a filling to slip. He took the filling out and replaced it, so I thought the problem had been fixed. Oh no.....
this is how my baby girl woke up on Tuesday morning- a swollen cheek and very sore!!!

Back to the dentist in the afternoon and the tooth nerve had begun to die so Sarah was put straight on strong antibiotics and the offending tooth will be pulled on Monday!
Taa daa- day 12's page.

On Wednesday I decided to take Sarah, Emma and Matt to the movies (Jack didn't come- he can't sit thorough a whole movie!). We saw The Tale of Despereaux. It was another great movie. I forgot to take my camera to the movies - shock, horror so took a photo of Sarah when we got home with the mouse toy that came with our drink/popcorn combo!

That brings us to yesterday. It was forecast to be HOT, HOT, HOT and it was! We decided to go out for breakfast. I wanted to go to The Merchant again but it was full. We went to another cafe and had a lovely breakfast before taking the kids to the park for a play. Eventually the park got too hot so we came home and Adam blew up our pool for the kids
.
Check out this photo- Adam took this one- cool huh!!!

About 5:30/6 ish we decided to all go to the beach for a swim. In about 10 seconds flat we collected up kids, towels, drinks etc and headed off to the beach. I'm so pleased we did, the beach was beautiful. All of us, except Georgie swam out to the pontoon, in the water. I had my camera on the beach, so Georgie pulled it out and took some photos-

This is us on the pontoon, waving to Georgie!

I've zoomed and cropped so you can see us! L-R. Adam, Sarah (sitting), Brad, Emma, me, Matt & Jack.
We played around out there for a while, jumping off over and over again- it was a blast!

All holding hands and jumping off (except for Matt- he would be in it!)

Emma jumping off the top of the ladder- it looks as if Adam has thrown her- he didn't, he was just holding her so she didn't slip before she jumped.

And if Emma can do it...so can I!!!! Please excuse my blowing out shirt. I wore my bikinis to the beach but in our hurry left my rashie on the kitchen bench. Not wanting to blind anyone with my lillywhite skin- I wore my shirt in the water!

It was such a great time. When we did finally come home we were all much cooler and had yet another BBQ for tea. Now I have a delima- we took SO many photos yesterday, I can't decide which ones to use for my day 15 page. Hmm the decisions- LOL!!!

Today Adam and Brad have gone on a fishing charter. It was meant to be yesterday but the charter man changed it to today. Georgie has gone out to do a few things and I'm at home keeping cool with the four kids. We haven't decided what to do today. It is forecast to get to 40 so we may head off to the lovely air conditioned movies!!

Anyway, enough for today. I hope everything is wonderful where you are. Stay safe. And to my gorgeous friend (you know who you are)- I have everything crossed for you that today turns out as best it can- thinking of you.

Love Janine xxx

Still going strong..

2009-01-11T09:09:00.011+09:00

...with Project 365.

Here is day 9. After seeing "Marley & Me" I realized that Rusty hadn't made it into my book- so here he is!

Here is yesterday's page-

We were up early and at the beach by 6am. It was beautiful- so calm and peaceful! Unfortunately we didn't catch any eating fish- just 7 blow fish!

See the two blowies on Emma's line?

After a while, the girls got tired of fishing so Adam fished on - he's in the background!

The girls played...and so did I - with my camera!

We found three star fish, a crab,

played in the sand

and even collected shells.

It was wonderful. We were home just after 8 so I then made us a yummy cooked breakfast and did a bit of housework before we headed out again for the afternoon! A totally awesome day!

Today we have another full day. We are heading off to have brunch with friends very soon (10:30) and Brad, Georgie and the boys arrive this afternoon! Busy, busy, busy!

Talk soon, stay safe.
Love Janine xxx

New look blog....

2009-01-08T21:47:00.007+09:00

Do you like it?? I do- a change is as good as a holiday!!!

Project 365- I'm loving it!! Honestly I am loving it!
January 6th- A page for Sarah & Grace and the special friendship they share-

January 7th- our 14th wedding anniversary. My wonderful hubby bought me the most gorgeous bead for my Pandora bracelet- I love it!! I bought him a new Wii game- Guinness World Records. The Video Game- it is fantastic!
(Thanks Kim- I copied her idea of putting a bling circle around the new bead!)

January 8th- Kim messaged to say that she was taking her kids to see 'Marley & Me' and did we want to come- absolutely! It was a gorgeous movie but reduced us to tears. Too close to losing Chloe I think.

The journaling reads-

Kim and I took seven kids between us to see the movie “Marley & Me”.
It was a gorgeous movie with lots of hilarious scenes however the last
few scenes reduced Kim and I to tears. I think it was a little too raw
and a little too close to losing Chloe & Tessa for us to handle. Emily
and Sarah had a good cry too- although I think it was good therapy
for us to have a good cry. After the movies Kim & I took the girls to
McDonald’s so we could have a coffee and regather ourselves! It was
a lovely way to spend an afternoon- with friends!

L-R (Back row) Jade, Grace, Emily & Sarah.
(Front row) Alisha, Taylah & Emma.

That's all for today-I hope your day has been wonderful. Stay safe.

Love Janine xxx

Project 365.

2009-01-06T20:46:00.012+09:00

With all the excitement of Christmas and the New Year over, I've embarked on a journey which I hope will last for 365 days!! Last year I admired Jen Hall's daily diary so when I saw Pip Prosser had bought this diary to document her baby's son first year- I jumped straight online and ordered one.....then I just had to wait until the new year started!
Coincidentally Danielle started a thread over at Scrapboxx about Becky Higgin's Project 365- taa daa, it was sort of what I had planned to do anyway so I jumped on board at Scrapboxx and I haven't looked back.

Here is my yummy Kikki-K diary- it is super cute and I love it!

January 1st- I really dislike having my photo taken and as my 'word' for 2009 is DO so I thought I might as well 'just do it'. This is a self portrait taken in the early hours of 2009. I might add here that we partied until 3:30 am- woo hoo!!!

January 2nd- After another slowish start to the day (Leeman is so laid back, all mornings start slowish!!!!) Brad and Adam sorted a heap of fishing gear and later in the afternoon we headed off to this gorgeous bay just south of Leeman. Emma was the super star of the day landing a blue manna crab. She was so excited!!! The bay was lovely, we walked around the rocks and found star fish, little crabs, shells and even saw a sting ray out in the water. We took a supply of nibblies and drinks with us and the boys built a big bonfire on the beach and generally we all had a fabulous time. Just after dark we made our way home and due to the lack of fish caught we had to settle with a BBQ. We did however cook up Emma's crab and Dad & I ate it- DELICIOUS!!!!

January 3rd. We were heading home today so we all went to Jurien Bay for lunch. Lunch was scrummo yummo- and after we had eaten I talked the kids into letting me take a photo or two.

About 2 o'clock we headed off home and Brad, Georgie, Matt, Jack, Mum, Dad and Mark headed back to Leeman. We arrived home about 5:30ish, all very tired but happy little campers!

January 4th- I was over at IGA stocking up on some food on Sunday morning when Kira's Mum rang to see if Emma would like to go over Kira's for the day. They were heading off to Q-Zar in Fremantle and Kira wanted Emma to go too. Emma was very happy to go. That left Sarah and I to do a bit of house work. I also took down the Christmas tree and all the decorations- all packed away until December 09!! Adam cleared everything off our patio and used a high powered water thingy to clean all the pavers- look a million dollars now! About 5ish when I went to pick Emma up, her and Kira convinced me to let Kira sleep over. Hmm- it was a late night!

January 5th- Sarah, Emma and Kira played happily all morning. They played Wii, played outside and were generally very good. I did have to shoot Emma off for a doctor's appointment. Poor little chicken had a reaction to the suncream I was using on her in Leeman and had come out in a allergic rash all over her body. The doctor game us two different creams (one for the face, other for the body) and I'm pleased to report that it is clearing up very quickly. Anyway just before one we picked Grace up and we all met my friend Linda and her family for lunch. Linda now lives in Albany so it was great to catch up with her and her family again. Our next stop was the movies- we saw Bolt. It was a great movie- very funny in places, a little sad in other places but overall a fabulous movie- we all enjoyed it.

After the movie I dropped Kira home and then Grace. Sarah ended up staying the night at Grace's as she went to Adventure World with Grace all day today. I haven't long got home from picking Sarah up as she stayed at Grace's for dinner too. I've taken some photos of a very tired and slightly sun burnt girl- she's my topic for my day 6 of Project 365. I'll be printing my photo and I'll be on to my page very soon!!!

Now before I go... the gorgeous Kathleen has given me this-

Mwah-thanks Kathleen!!

Now the rules - I'm to list 5 addictions and 5 favorite bloggers...

5 addictions...
Shopping- scrap shopping, clothes shopping, shoe shopping, any sort of shopping really!!!
Scrapbooking- love it, love it, love it - I could quite happily scrap all day!!!
Taking photos- especially of my girls.
Holidays- Both holidays away and school holiday- love them both!!!
Reading blogs and forums- I'm a sticky beak at heart and love reading about what people are doing! Nothing beats a good blog hop!!!

Now 5 of my favourite blogs-
Kim- not only is she a good friend I love her fabulous scrapping too! He he he- and she comes shopping with me!!!
Belinda- oh she scraps the most amazing layouts- I love them!!
Petrina- not only is she a sensational scrapper, she designs fantastic chippies too!
Mardi- yet another inspirational scrapper and her little granddaughter is so so cute!! You should check her out!!!
Julie- Oh my- this lady scraps the most amazing layouts and cards!!! A must see!

Anyway- I must go it is getting late and I have photo to print out. Scrapping may have to wait until the morning now, my pillow is calling me!

Have a great day,
Love Janine xxx

ETA- (7-1-09) Can I have a 6th addiction???
PANDORA- It is Adam and my 14th wedding anniversary today and he gave me the most gorgeous gold bead for my bracelet- MWAH- love you honey!!!
I'll take a photo and share a little later!!!

Home again, home again, jiggety jig!!!

2009-01-03T20:24:00.014+09:00

We are home!
I love holidays however nothing beats returning home!!!
We arrived home about 5:30pm this afternoon and since then I've unpacked, washed two loads of washing, rang my Mum to tell her that we arrived home safely, organized food for dinner, made the girls shower and wash their hair, checked emails, collected and checked snail mail, downloaded my camera, spoken to Adam's parent on the phone (they are in Albany on holidays), cleaned up the jar of honey Emma dropped on the kitchen floor (OMFG!!), crossed my fingers that we are the winners of Lotto's 30 million super draw, printed off my day one, day two and day three photos for my PROJECT 365...and enjoyed a glass of wine!!! PHEW!!!

So.... before I go, here are some of my favourite layouts from 2008. I was going to do this before 2008 finished however we shot off on holidays!!!
(Please note: some of my favourites are missing as they are due to be published in the coming months so I can't share them here. )

So... (in no particular order) here are some of my favourite LOs for 2008-

Now we are home, I plan to catch up on with my first few days of my 365 diary- so stay tuned!

Have a great day!

Love Janine xxx

DO.

2009-01-02T15:19:00.002+09:00

Happy 2009 everyone!!

My 'word' for 2009 is DO....as in "JUST DO IT".

I haven't started actually scrapping my '365 Diary' yet as we are still kicking back here in Leeman. It is so relaxing here- good food, good wine and good company- just wonderful!
We are heading home tomorrow so I'll catch up on my diary then. I'm not going to put any pressure on myself with this 365 project..if I miss a day or two ...well - you get that. I know myself far too well and if I put too much pressure to 'have it done' then I probably won't!!! LOL! I'm going to enjoy this project!!!

As I type Adam and Brad are sorting fishing gear/fishing rods and we are all going fishing! Woo hoo- I'm taking the camera! Georgie and I are taking a bottle of wine too! Hmm- I think I know what day two's photo will be!!!

So my "DO" for today is to DO have quality time with family!

Have a great day!
Stay safe,
Love Janine xxxxx

Goodbye 2008, Hello 2009!

2008-12-31T11:00:00.001+09:00

Wow- that went quick- 2008 is all but done!
Hard to believe that this year is nearly over already!

We made the last minute decision yesterday to drive to Leeman to see in the New Year at my brother's house. Mum, Dad and my younger brother are staying here too so there is a house full!! Georgie's (SIL) family are here too- so there are heaps of us!! LOL!

2009 begins in just over 13 hours and I've been thinking about it. I've been reading Ali Edwards' blog and about 'one little word' so I'm going to have a word for 2009. I've narrowed it down to a couple of words and I'll make my final decision tomorrow- on New Year's Day. I bought myself this most fantastic diary which I intend to use as a family/scrapping/self journey type diary.

I'm really looking forward to the New Year- we have a party planned here so it's all good. We are just about to take all the kids to the beach- the weather here is beautiful so I'm off to take a few hundred (LOL) snaps to finish off the year.

What ever you are doing tonight- have a great night.
Please stay safe and I'll see you in 2009- WOO HOO!!!
Love and New Year Wishes,
Janine xxx

361 days until Christmas....

2008-12-29T17:55:00.015+09:00

Well, Christmas 08 is all done and dusted but what a fabulous time we had!
Sarah was the first awake, just after 6am, she woke Emma and then they were in waking Adam and I. Hmm, bit early for my liking however we got up but, mean me, wouldn't let them start opening pressies until we had a cuppa made and I'd taken some photos in front of the tree!!
All that done- the opening frenzy began!!!

Both girls were spoilt beyond belief and were, quite rightfully, very pleased with their acquired stash!!! I was spoilt too- my favourite being a new gold bead for my Pandora bracelet!!!

I think Emma's favourite present by far were the Heelys that the King family bought for her (Sarah got a pair too!)!
LOL- I think she would sleep in them if I let her!

Heelying in her PJ's!

Now dressed but still with the Heelys on!!!

After the present opening frenzy has finished, we had breakfast and then let the girls play with their goodies! Usually we pack up and rush off to Bunbury for Christmas lunch at one of our family's houses but not this year!!! We stayed home for lunch so the girls were able to actually play with lots of their presents!!!

Look at this girl- too busy playing one of her new DS games, she wouldn't even look up for a photo!!!

About 4 in the afternoon we headed off to Bunbury. We went to Adam's brother's house for dinner and it was wonderful. Most of Adam's family were there and some of Cherie's family (SIL) so there were a heap of us to celebrate. Of course the girls were spoilt with even more Christmas presents and we all ate ourselves silly with all the delicious food- hmm- the chilli mussels and garlic prawns were my favourite (Thanks Garth!)!!!!

We stayed in Bunbury overnight and very fortunately we all got to sleep in on Boxing Day!!! Adam organized breakfast when we all finally got up - Macca's!.... and we then we went to catch up with friends. Shane and Nat have a pool so the girls swam for most of Boxing Day while the adults ate more, drank more and socialized!!
Eventually, about 5pm, we headed home to Rockingham- all tired but very, very happy!!!

We had a lazy day on the 27th. Sarah went to Grace's, Adam and Emma went shopping- Bunnings and the supermarket, so that left me home alone to SCRAP!!!!! YAY!!!

We did however pick Sarah and Grace up in the afternoon and we all went to see Bedtime Stories- what a crack up!!! I thought it was hilarious even though I'm not a huge Adam Sandler fan- and Bugsy is just cutest!!!

Yesterday I made an attempt to put all the girls' presents away. Well that ended up in a HUGE cleaning frenzy! I first started in Sarah's room, then moved to Emma's room and I now have 6 garbage bags full of clothes to pass on the my friend's little girl and both my girls have perfectly neat wardrobes!!! Lots of other stuff went in the wheelie bin too, in fact, my bins are FULL and I have even more rubbish in bags waiting until my bin is emptied tomorrow!!! I love a good throw out- LOL!!!

Today has been quite relaxed too! Emma and I hit the shops to do some grocery shopping and picked ourselves up a few bargains at the same time!!! He he- I love a good bargain (but not enough to go to the shops on Boxing Day!!!)

I've continued my 'cleaning' today but have slowed down a bit as my bins are chockablock FULL!! Bins are emptied first thing in the morning!

I have done a bit a scrapping-

I'm loving lace card stock- can you tell!

I had to include this shot- Rusty came out to see what I was up to- so cute!!! :)

See the title of this LO- 6:36am....yes that was the time on Christmas morning that this photo was taken- far too early!!! LOL!

I made two of these calendars (Very similar)- one for Adam's 94 year old Grandma and one for Adam's Mum- I still have one to make (for my SIL Julie)- it's coming, I promise!!!

Anyway- I've rambled on enough. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas too and if you are travelling on the roads, please drive carefully- today is the 4 year anniversary of Adam's 27 year old cousin being involved in a car accident. She died the following day leaving behind a (then ) 2 and 7 year old. So, so sad.

I'll be back before the New Year so until then...stay safe!

Love Janine xxx

Christmas Eve.

2008-12-24T16:16:00.010+09:00

One more sleep!!!

Here are some photos from our visit to Santa Land on Sunday!

The girls rode the train- they had to have a ticket to ride (like on Polar Express!)

Smiling train passengers!!

He he he - I made them stand in front of the gigantic Christmas tree for photos!

Here they are making their 'Magic Sand' pictures!

Yesterday Sarah spent the day at Grace's so I took Emma with me and we drove up the Perth to pick up Emma's Christmas present from Adam and I. We bought Emma a new flute. She knew that we were going to buy her one as a Christmas present however was super excited when she realized that's where we were going- to pick up her flute! The two of us then went out to lunch- we had such a lovely time, just the two of us!!! :)

Later in the afternoon I picked up Sarah and Grace and we all went to Kim's house for Christmas drinks and nibbles! It was fabulous- catching up with friends, chatting, laughing, eating and drinking!!! Thanks Kim- it was a fantastic night.

I tried to get some photos of the kids....

these two cuties were happy to oblige,

but these three monkeys.....

Hmm this is the best of a bad bunch- cheeky little things- you think they would learn...let the scrapaholic lady with the camera take a nice photo or two and she'll take the camera out of your face!!! Hmmmm!

Today had been low key. I have done several loads of washing, cleaned and vacuumed through the house and Emma and I have made some Christmas cupcakes- ready to leave out for Santa.

We zipped out to the shops for about half and hour to pick up a few last minute supplies and a big bunch of beautiful flowers for myself!

I've spent some time blog hopping too- I really do love all the December albums people have been making. I think I will try one myself next December. Check some of them out here(Ali), here(Yvette) and here(Mardi)- just stunning aren't they!

Now we are just relaxing before the girls and I go to the children's Mass tonight. I'm all organized- presents wrapped, everything sorted and the house clean (except for my scrapping area which is never clean!). I do have a calendar to decorate for Adam's grandma but I'll do that after Mass.

Oh and I have some scrapping to share-

So lastly I'd like to wish you all A VERY, VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS. If you are driving, please buckle up and drive safely. Look after your loved ones and I hope the man in red spoils you- those who believe, receive!!!

Love and Christmas wishes,

Janine xxx

Four more sleeps!!!

2008-12-21T17:42:00.013+09:00

Not long now!!!

We have been busy getting into the Christmas spirit in the King household!!!! Our Christmas photo shoot- today was the day! We even got Rusty in on the act!! Here are just a few-

Then about 1:30 I made a last minute decision to take the train to Perth to make our annual visit to Santa! Yep- I made the girls get changed!

The girls and I had a great time. Santaland in Myer Perth has a fun area this year so as well as visiting Santa the girls had a ride on the Santa Express, made sand magic pictures and even watched a short Christmas movie! I love that the train now comes to Rockingham- makes travelling to Perth a breeze!!!

In other news-

This little man has been part of our family for exactly 12 months. This is him when we got him this time last year-

and this is Rusty today. (hmm, he's not too sure of this Santa hat the girls put on him-LOL)

On the scrapping front-

Here is the LO I did for Leeann's doodling class over at Scrapboxx. It was such a fun class and free too!!!

Thanks Leeann!!!!

This is what I've been working on-

For Sarah's birthday I took photos of her with her friends and got her friends to write a little something for Sarah. This is the box that the accordion album comes in. I'm still working on the inside pages! I know there is an 'h' missing- grr. I bought another packet of these yummy letters but then realized I had bought a different size! I will put an 'h' on Sarah as soon as I get some more of these letters!!!

Just to finish off, here is my Scrapboxx Whisper #4- I don't think I ever put it here on my blog!!

I hope you are being good! (Santa's watching you know!)

Have a great day!

Love Janine xxxx

Whoa, slow down!!!

2008-12-19T21:46:00.015+09:00

I'm on holidays, life should have slowed down...but it hasn't!!!!!!!!!
Let me recap-
Sunday was the girls' dance concert and it was fabulous! We (Adam, Mum, Aunty Lorraine & myself) sat in the audience and watched the matinee show and I must say- I had tears in my eyes. The whole show was fantastic but I only had eyes for my girls. I thought they danced superbly. Proud, proud Mumma here!!
I helped in the dressing rooms during the evening show and was able to get some photos- here are some of my favourites. Some are taken at home before we left and some are taken backstage.

Emma's hip hop costume.

Sarah's tap costume.

Emma's tap costume. How cute is she???

Sarah's hip hop costume.

Ninja Sarah (acrobatics)

Ninja Emma & Ninja Grace.

Sarah & Kait.

Sarah & Grace. (jazz costume)

Emily, Grace & Sarah.

Casey & Emma. (jazz costume)

We arrived home about 10:30 Sunday night extremely tired. My gorgeous little dancers just flopped into bed and were asleep almost immediately.
Unfortunately for them, they had to be up and off to school first thing in the morning. I had to go to work so they had to go to school. Good news however- Emma got the teacher I had my fingers crossed for!!!YAY!!! She also managed to get a good lot of her friends in her class as well- double YAY!!! I knew before hand Sarah's teachers. She has a tandem- a male and a female teacher and she's happy, so I'm happy. Grace is in her class again next year- that will mean that Grace and Sarah have been in the same class for their entire primary school life- amazing huh?

Tuesday- My Pre-Primary had their end of year graduation. Even thought it wasn't one of my work days I went in anyway. Everything ran smoothly and I was able to sneak away and join Kim, Lian and Sally for a delicious lunch at Bambinos. I love catching up with girlfriends- it's so good for the soul!
After we picked the kids up from school, several of us took our kids down the foreshore for ice cream to celebrate their last day of school. Emma didn't come as she went with Kira to basketball training however she rang a little later to say that training had been cancelled and she was having a play at Kira's. Eventually I made it to Kira's house and Jody twisted my arm to stay for a Christmas drink. Oh man- it was nearly 7pm before we arrived home!
Wednesday- I had to go to work -my last day before holidays YAY. Sarah had arranged to spend the day at Kait's and Emma came to Pre-Primary with me to help out. When I went back to collect Sarah after school, the girls had convinced Leanne to let Sarah sleep over so I only came home with one child.
Thursday- I did housework in the morning and then Emma and I went to meet Leanne, Kait, Sarah and 14 other kids for Kait's birthday party. The kids all had lunch at Hungry Jacks and then went to see Madagascar 2. Kait's older sister and her friend looked after all the kids during the movie so the Mums went to Bambinos for lunch- again!!!!
After the movie I had to take Sarah straight to another party! Man, this girl has a better social life than me!!! I eventually picked Sarah up a 6pm and my girls and I decided to hit the shops for a bit of retail therapy. We all managed to score some new clothes. I got myself two very nice tops from Esprit. The pattern on one of the tops reminds me of October Afternoon paper! We all came home happy!
Friday - the girls and I have spent today at my school's Christmas party. It was held on a farm down at Lake Clifton. It was a bit of a hike to get there but we had a ball. Good food, good company, good wine, Santa made an appearance for the kids, the adults played a stealing Secret Santa game, the kids swam in the pool- all great fun.
We had to leave just after 3 so we could be back for basketball at 4:30. Both girls played tonight- their last game until school goes back- YAY!

So...you can see how busy I've been! I'm on holidays- life is meant to be slowing down- arrrrggghhh!
I have done some scrapping but haven't photographed it. One of the LOs I've done was for Leeann Pearce's online doodling class over a t Scrapboxx. I missed most of the class on the actual night as I was on the phone however it was easy enough to catch up. Will post soon!
Tomorrow is a little quieter- nothing planned for the morning however Emma has a ten pin bowling party in the afternoon. Hmm, maybe I'll get some more scrapping done!!!!

Anyway I've rambled on enough.
I hope your week has been wonderful too!
Only six more sleeps until the jolly man arrives!!
Stay safe,
Love Janine xxx

Time for an update...

2008-12-13T18:00:00.007+09:00

Oh man.....only 12 days now until the big man in red comes!!!

Firstly- Dad's operation went very smoothly and according to plan! He had his kidney removed due to a cancerous growth contained within the kidney however all went very well and Dad was released from hospital Thursday afternoon- much to everyone's surprise. When he and Mum arrived at my house on Thursday afternoon I was stunned at how good he looked. He said he was a little sore but otherwise fine! Mum & Dad have returned home to Bunbury. Thanks to all who send warm wishes- they are greatly appreciated!

The King house has have yet another busy week. Friday was a bit crazy. I sent the girls off to school for the morning then proceeded to run around madly doing all the jobs I had to do. I then picked Em up from pool at noon (school swimming lessons) and washed and conditioned her hair (at the pool). I then zipped back to school to collect Sarah and we zoomed home so I could do their hair and make up ready to be in Mandurah for a 2pm start. Normally our dance concert rehearsals are on the morning of the concert however this year there will be two concerts instead of one, so rehearsals had to be on a separate day. I took two other chickadees down with me and I stayed to be a back stage dresser. Mostly things ran smoothly. A few girls turned up minus costumes, shoes or without hair and make up done- what????? I took my camera with me hoping to get some shots however only managed a handful as we were pretty busy.

Emma in her jazz costume.

Grace, Sarah & Emily in their jazz costume.

I'm hoping I get a lot more photos tomorrow (concert day).

Poor Em started to fade out towards the end of rehearsals- it was hot and one of her costumes in particular is extremely hot. I'll have to make sure I send plenty of fluids along for her tomorrow as the temp is meant to reach 35!!!!

In other news- GGGRRRR we have some very unwelcome visitors in our house.... NITS!

Yuk! I was brushing Sarah's hair on Thursday night and when I put the brush on the bench a nasty little critter fell on to the bench- YUKKO! Poor Sarah- she's had one crazy Mumma going through every inch of her hair. Mind you- with the amount of hair product and hair spray going into her hair for the dance concerts- hopefully nothing will survive!!!! Luckily the rest of the house is nit-free.

I am one very proud Mumma. Both my girls bought home fantastic school reports. I know this sounds terrible but I expect Sarah's to be outstanding and it was. She is just that sort of child. She is a high achiever and her report reflects that however I was especially touched (nearly teary) by the general comment written by her teachers. I can see that they too can see the child that shines, that I see.

Emma (whom I'm very careful not to compare with Sarah) received a fabulous report. All her marks are either 'at target' or 'above target'. Her comment was equally glowing. She has had the most wonderful teacher this term and has blossomed. I have no complaints about her previous teacher however this new one 'nurtures' the children and Emma responds so positively to that. I have been told which teachers Sarah will be having next year so now I have my fingers, toes, arms, legs, everything crossed that Emma gets a teacher that will 'nurture' her so she can continue to blossom. We find out the 2009 teacher on Monday!!!

Finally- I have been scrapping! I haven't finished the project that I'm working on but I'll share soon- promise!

Have a great day!

Love Janine xxx

18 days until Santa!!

2008-12-07T17:14:00.013+09:00

I swear Christmas comes around quicker and quicker each year!!! LOL!!

OK- where to start??
Last weekend Sarah played in the U12 State Basketball Championships at Perry Lakes Stadium.
Adam went with her on Saturday. The team had three games and they were thrilled to win the first two however they went down in the third game.
I went up with Sarah on Sunday and unfortunately they lost both of their games so they didn't make the finals. Not to worry- they gained awesome game experience and I'm sure the girls will all be back next year to try again! Here they are- looking exhausted after their last game!

Tuesday Dec 2nd. The girls and I put our Christmas tree up. Taa daa...

Each year they girls get a new Hallmark decoration to add to the tree. Here are this year's selection!

Sarah's very cute nutcracker. His mouth even opens & shuts!

Emma's very sweet Cinderella. :)
Sarah's collection of Nutcrackers came out as well. She loves them and each year manages to collect a few more.

Scrapping news-
Scrapping Outback have been having Christmas classes. You must complete each class by a certain deadline to receive the next class.
Here is week 1's lesson- a gorgeous gift bag and card.

Week 2- a mini calender for your purse or wallet.

Front cover.

Inside.
Week 3- this is actually a frame however I converted mine into a LO. Check out the cool stamping/inking technique we did for the background!!!

I haven't finished week 4 yet but will upload when I do!

Yesterday I took my girls to see High School Musical 3. Hmmm I maybe 40 but I LOVED IT!!! We all thought it was awesome. The cinema were selling the CD soundtrack so I bought it and we have been bopping away to the soundtrack in the car!!!

I managed to take this dodgy photo in front of the HSM3 picture however with the window in the background it made it much too exposed but you can see it enough!!

I have been busy today. I've been scrapping but sorry I can't share. I've also finished off all the sewing that I had to do for the girls' dance concert which is next weekend. I still have to buy tights, black socks and some tan tap shoes for Sarah. It is all on my monstrous to-do-list!!!

One quick photo before I go-

How cute are these!!! Each year the girls give their friends a Chrissy decoration on their Christmas card. Here are Sarah's decorations to give to her friends. She had them sitting on the kitchen bench. They looked so cute I just had to take a photo!!!

Anyway- have a great week. Please say a prayer for my Dad- he will be having a kidney removed on Tuesday so any spare 'speedy recovery' wishes- please send his way!
Take care,
Love Janine xxx

Smiley moon!

2008-12-02T16:46:00.004+09:00

Last night the sky smiled down upon us! :)
Venus, Jupiter and the crescent moon created this gorgeous smiley face!
This first photo was taken on the auto setting.

For this one, I got out the tripod and fiddled with the manual settings. I was pleased with how it turned out!!

I've been busy at school today, even though it isn't one of my work days, putting the finishing touches to all my reports. All done now! :)

The girls and I are about to put up our Christmas tree- so stay tuned for Christmas tree photos really soon!!!
Have a great night!
Love Janine xxx

An award!

2008-12-01T18:24:00.004+09:00

I received this 'Kreativ Blogger' award fromNic- thanks Nic!!

The rules...
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 5 blogs.
4. Put links to their blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.

So I nominate....

Love spreading the love around!!! :)

I'll be back in a day or two with an update of our busy, busy life!!!

Have a great evening!

Love Janine xxx

Oh my, oh my, oh my!!!

2008-11-27T21:17:00.002+09:00

I went into Made With Memories this afternoon to drop off my LOs and..... oh my, oh my, oh my- this shop is FULL of eye candy!!! I was SO impressed!! Anne-Marie has really done a fantastic job of stocking and displaying all of the latest and greatest scrapping products!!!
I can so see my bank account rapidly disappearing- so much yummy stuff- I honestly couldn't stop looking!!!

The shop opens at 9am on Saturday morning- hopefully I'll see you there!!!

Have a great day!
Love Janine xxx

Bursting with pride!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-26T17:10:00.003+09:00

My gorgeous girl has been elected by her teachers and peers as the 2009 Head Girl for her school- I think I am going to burst with pride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sarah's teacher told me yesterday to come to the Mass this morning so I was there to see her as her name was read out- she had the hugest smile!!!

I have the hugest smile!!!

I hope your day has been wonderful- mine has!!!

Love Janine xxxxx

Tuesday again!!

2008-11-25T17:32:00.002+09:00

Hello there,
WOW- another week has flown by! My girls only have three weeks of school to go! Three weeks- that's it, three week of year 5 and year 3. It is hard to believe that next year will be Sarah's final year at Star of the Sea.

Anyway, on to my challenge over at Scrapping Outback for this week. I was meant to complete a LO using Scrapping Outback chippies however the chippies didn't arrive. So I thought of my own 'surprise' challenge!
Here is my LO-

and a close up of the chippie tree.

I had so much fun with this chippie tree- it took me AGES to make all of the chippies fit into the tree shape! The chipboard alphas and shapes have either been inked or painted. For the alphas I added DM and for the shapes I used Li'l Davis Glitter Glaze -love that stuff!!! I then added some bling at - taa daa- one chippie tree!!!

I have been busy scrapping LOs for this weekend's opening of Made With Memories. I have driven past the shop a few times and each time it looks a little more like a scrap shop!! All very exciting!

Anyway, must go- I have to pick Sarah up from basketball training!

I hope you are having a wonderful day!

Love Janine xxx

Happy Tuesday!!

2008-11-18T18:50:00.008+09:00

Happy, happy, happy!!!
I have had another wonderful day shopping with Kim!!! This time we went right into Perth City and shopped, shopped, shopped!!!! Hee hee hee - I love shopping - even managed to pick a few things up for myself!!! Thanks again Kim!!! I can't wait until our next shopping trip!!! :)

Emma's news-

How cute does Emma look in her new glasses!!! Emma doesn't have a dominant eye, which apparently is very important when you read so she has been given glasses for her school work and reading for the next 6 - 8 months to retrain her brain to have a dominant eye. Em is so excited about wearing glasses and I may be slightly bias- but she looks as cute as a button in them!!!! LOL- I'll have to work on taking photos without the flash hitting her lenses!!!

In scrapping news-
My weekly challenge over at Scrapping Outback was a sketch.
Here is my sketch-

And here is my LO-

As a bonus, I also go through step-by-step how to make these gorgeous flowers. So if you want to know how to go from-

to-

check out my instructions here.

Here is a close up of the flowers. They are super easy to make and I think they would look really good done in Christmas papers and used on Christmas LOs and cards.

I hope your day has been wonderful too-

Until next time,

Love Janine xxx

ETA- Check out this new blog!!!!

Ohh, it's been a while...

2008-11-13T18:34:00.006+09:00

I have had the BEST day!!!
I met Kim in the school car park this morning and we went shopping for the day!!! Christmas shopping!!! I am really pleased with everything I've managed to get so far- I now need to re assess what I have and then make a list for what I still need to get! Kim and I have pencilled in another Christmas shopping day next week!! Woo hoo- at this rate, I may have all my Christmas shopping knocked over before December!!!! Thanks Kim- I had a GREAT day!!!

In other news-
You may remember that Sarah went to inter school last week and it was cancelled at lunchtime due to the terrible weather... well someone decided that the schools should finish the carnival, so on Tuesday morning all the schools' inter school teams met again.... and as I don't work on Tuesdays..I was able to go and watch this gorgeous girl!!

Sarah was in three events- all team events. Nine schools were there. Her team came third in the year 5 leader ball. Her relay team came fourth in the year 5 relay and Sarah was put into the year 6 relay as one of the year 6 girls was injured. Well here she is LEADING the year 6 girls around the oval! She was the second runner and her team stayed in front to WIN this event!! Woo hoo!!!

More news-
My DT task for this week over at Scrapping Outback was to complete a LO using a favourite technique. I decided on "stitching" and here is my sample LO. If you wish to see the step-by-step instructions, head over here at Scrapping Outback.

I do have some news about Emma...but I will leave that until another post!

I hope your Christmas shopping is coming together nicely!!
Have a great day,
Love Janine xxx

Heeelllloooooo!!

2008-11-05T17:04:00.018+09:00

Hi all,
I know I am beginning to sound like a stuck record...but..... I've been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!!!

I'm not really into Halloween but my girls were invited to a birthday party on Friday night and it was a Halloween party- so....we went and we had a GREAT time!!!
The Mum of the birthday boy got right into it- the house was decorated, the games and the food was all 'Halloween' related and everyone had a ball!!!
I took photos for Sally but as you can imagine I can only put a few up here as most of the photos have other people's children in them!!

Emma went as a fairy because she really didn't want to go as something scary- cute isn't she???

Sarah went as a witch!! She's cute too!!!

Sarah and her friend Issy!

The birthday boy's Dad & Mum- how cool are their costumes!!!

The party was meant to finish at 9pm but we didn't get home until after midnight!!! Great party but it left me running short of time for Saturday!
We had Sarah's birthday party on Saturday afternoon and when I woke up Saturday morning I still had a heap of things to get organized.
Fortunately I got everything done just in the nick of time and we took a gorgeous group of girls to Penguin Island for this beautiful girl's 11th birthday party!

Sarah has the best group of friends- honestly she has- they are all gorgeous!!

We went to see the penguins when we first got there- oh man those penguins are so darn CUTE!!!

After we saw the penguins I got the girls to help me with a mini album I'm making for Sarah. I'll post this later- once I've finished it !!!
We then played the 'Chocolate' game- what FUN that was!!!
We then ate, had cake and played on the beach!

It was a lovely day- far too short but lovely!!

When we arrived back at the mainland Kim, Lian, Sally and I (with a heap of kids in tow) went to the yacht club for a wine or two!!! Yet another great day!!!

Sunday was a great day too. We went to a family reunion down at the Rockingham foreshore. The weather was beautiful and the company was wonderful (about 50 extended family members!) And again- another great day!!!
I just want to share this photo from the family reunion- this is Emma with her cousin Fraser. Fraser was on his knees and he is still taller than Em- LOL!!!! We all had a fabulous time and the kids especially had a ball!!!!

By Sunday night we all had an earlyish night as we were well and truly exhausted!!!

Sarah had inter school sport's carnival on Monday and then again today. I was very proud of her as she did well. On Monday she came 4th in the A division 400m and came 6th in the A division shot put!
Today she came 6th in the A division 200m, 7th in the A division 100m and then.... one of the SOTS year 6 girls pulled out of her 100m race so they put Sarah in- she came FIRST in the YEAR 6 100m D division- she was stoked!!!!!
Unfortunately the weather turned nasty and the carnival was cancelled at lunchtime so she didn't get to compete in the 100m relay or the leader ball. Never mind- she came home one very happy girl!!! Proud Mumma!!!

Yesterday I went out to lunch with a wonderful group of girls for the Melbourne Cup. We went to Betty Blues and it was a fabulous day- any excuse to get dressed up, eat good food, drink wine and be merry!!! I didn't take my camera (shock, horror) but Marlene did so I'll nag her for the photos she took!!! When Adam got home from work he informed me that I had won the sweep at his work- woo hoo- $70- yee haaa!!!! And again- another great day!!!

Before I go- the Made with Memories blog is now up and running!!! Woo hoo- not long now until the grand opening- November 29th- mark it in your diary if you live close!!! Oh- I'm really, really looking forward to this new shop opening!!!! Woo hoo!!!

Also- you may remember I was offered a guest DT position at Scrapping Outback. Well I've been busy!!! This week I provided the card challenge! I based my card design on Sarah's birthday invitation that I made a week or so ago.
Here is the sketch-

And here are my examples-

If you have some spare time, make a card or two and enter the challenge!!! Go on- it is easy, uses up your scrap scraps and it is FUN!!!!!!!

Anyway, I must go- I have a scrapbook whisper to get finished!!!
Have a great day!!!
Love Janine xx

Scrapboxx October Retreat!!!

2008-10-30T11:11:00.018+09:00

As promised- here is my run down of the absolutely awesome Scrapboxx October Retreat!

Friday-
I dropped my gorgeous girls off at school and drove straight to Kathleen's house to pick her up. I was a little nervous as I hadn't met Kat before however as soon as I met her we were chatting away like old friends!
We made it to the All Season's by 12- only stopping for the essentials- coffee, wine and a toilet break!!!
We unloaded, dropped our luggage into our rooms and then found our spots in the scrap room! The first part of the afternoon was spent chatting, catching up and checking out all the new goodies that Maria had in her shop- yum!!
It was so great to see old friends-Maria, Nic, Mardi, Leeann, Sheree, Kel, Nikki, Kareena, Denise, Fran, Ashleigh, Annette, Karen and meet some new ones- Lisa, Tina, Charlotte, Jackie, Lissie, Penny and of course Kathleen!!!

Leeann then cracked the whip!!! We were all given a little goodie bag with our own chipboard initial and a selection of other bits & pieces. We had to make our own name tag!
Here is mine!!

Once we had finished, Maria sorted us for our retreat tag swap...and as always, it was noisy but fun, fun, fun!!!
The talented Miss Sheree McGee then took over and she got us all to turn our collected retreat tags into a funky tag book. We used the 'Bind-It-All' and I'm in love- I think I'll be getting myself one of these great machines!!!

The bigger pages at the back are for retreat photos! I haven't added my photos yet- it is on my to-do-list!

We then went straight into a class with the beautiful and very talented Mardi Winen.

Mardi had us very busy indeed! We covered chipboard buttons, we painted our backgrounds, we used the Cuttlebug to cut fabric letters, we stamped, we cut, we tore .....and we ended up with two fabulous LOs. I love the colour combinations that Mardi selected- and the papers- yummy October Afternoon papers!!
Here are my LOs-

We had to be out of the scrap room by 12 so after a very busy night we all went happily off to bed.

Saturday-
After breakfast (and a visit from the local ducks) we got straight into Nic's class.
We had to make some really funky flowers out of threads and leave then to dry. These were for Nic's Sunday class but they time needed to dry overnight.

Nic looked gorgeous with her beautiful baby bump. The poor thing had a cold and being pregnant couldn't take anything for it- hope you are feeling better now Nic!!!
That didn't stop her from keeping us busy!!!

We made this wonderful mini album out of grunge board and the Bind-It-All. We inked, we painted, we stitched, we cut, we chatted and laughed along the way as ended up with a mini album plus a bonus LO!!
Here is my mini album-

and my bonus LO-

Yummy papers aren't they?? New Sassafras papers- very nice!!!

Later in the afternoon, Mardi took back over and we got busy again.
Mardi had instructions for us to make 3 LOs, a mini album and some cards (3 I think).
I managed to finished three LOs and the mini album- YAY!!!!
Mardi was fabulous, her instructions were so well written and easy to follow and she wandered around helping everyone- Mardi -you are so gorgeous!!! I so loved doing your class and I'm thrilled with all my LOs and mini album!!!

Here they are-

I couldn't photograph the mini album this morning as Sarah took it to school for news! It has all photos from her birthday last week! She loves it!

We were again kicked out of the scrap room at midnight but instead of going to bed a handful of us ended up in Nikki and Leeann's room. We laughed, chatted and drank into the wee hours of the morning!!!

Sunday-
After another delicious breakfast we were straight into it again!
This time Nic had us working hard again!!
We used those funky flowers on a LO and also completed two others!!

Yummy papers huh?? Basic Grey- yummo!

During the weekend we were also given 'challenge packs'
I managed to finish 3 out of the 5 challenges- not bad considering I'm a slow scrapper. I even won a prize (a Scrapworks mini album) for finishing a challenge so quickly!!!
In each challenge you had to use everything (or part of) that was in your pack- sometimes a real challenge!!!

Here are mine-

For this one we were all given a different 'quote postcard' - we had to use the card on the LO somewhere plus we had to use some given chipboard in the Cuttlebug and use that on the LO too.

I also finished a card challenge which I've forgotten to photograph- ops!

Wow- are you still reading!!!

Here are just a few photos to finish off with.
The scrap room-

and me with the Boxx girls-
L-R Nic, me, Maria, Sheree, Leeann & Mardi! Boy- look how tall I look!!

Phew- Kat and I left about 4 and arrived home very tired but very happy indeed.
I honestly had the BEST time and I'm now really, really looking forward to the March retreat- Roll on March!!!

Love Janine xxx

Home again, home again, jiggerty jig!!!

2008-10-28T10:54:00.009+09:00

Let me start by saying- the retreat was AWESOME!!!! I haven't caught up on my sleep or unpacked my stash yet...but I'm working on both!!! I'll do a full rundown of the retreat next post, once I've downloaded my photos and photographed all my LOs etc!!! YAY!

Let me go back-
This gorgeous girl is now eleven!!!

Her actual birthday was pretty low key-

She still however got spoilt with lots of pressies!!!

This was her favourite present!! We bought her the bracelet, safety chain and six beads to get started! I let Sarah select the beads she wanted. She choose a cupcake (for her birthday), a heart bead(for family), October birthstone bead, a dog (for Chloe & Rusty), a music note(because she loves music) and a teddy bear bead(for teddy!). My Mum & Dad let her select a bead too- the angel and my BIL & SIL sent her the flower bead.

We went out to dinner that night- to the Nag's Head Tavern and the girls were wrapped because Adam ordered them a mock tail each! ( I got a cocktail-yum!)

We came home after we had eaten and had birthday cake!!!

I made individual ice cream cakes - and put them on my cupcake stand!!! They were very yummy and the girls had sweets each night for a week!!!

With the retreat, I was too busy to have a party for Sarah before I went so said that she could have a party the week after- Nov 1st. No dramas until I thought that I really should send out some invites before I go on the retreat to give the parents some prior warning about the party- arrrr!!!
So on Thursday night I quickly whipped up Sarah's invites!!! Lucky we have only invited 10 girls!!! I was actually quite pleased with how they urned out- nothing like working under pressure-LOL!!! The card is silver, not grey as it looks in this photo!

The girls had their Sport's day on Friday. I was sad to have missed it however I was thrilled to received a phone call from Sarah to say that she had won all her races. She won the shot put and can third in the triple jump the day before!
So on Monday she was announced Year 5 Champion Girl!!! I'm so proud of my girl!!

Emma had a fabulous day too. She came home with four 1st (team events) and she came fifth in her running race!! Proud, proud, proud Mumma!!!

One last thing before I go-

This ad is in the latest SM (p58). This is the new Rockingham scrap shop- YAY!!!! The website isn't up and running yet- soon according to Ann-Marie. I've been and looked through the window- not much to see yet but SOON!!! Woo hoo- I can't wait!! I'll keep you posted on any new developments!!!

Anyway- I really must go! I have a Jar of Whimsy to sort and send off!!!

Stay happy,
Love Janine xxx

Hello from Margaret River!

2008-10-26T01:41:00.002+08:00

Woo hoo- waving ****hello***** - having a ball here!!!

This time tomorrow...

2008-10-23T20:21:00.002+08:00

I'll be at the Scrapboxx retreat!!!

Woo hoo!!!

I am really, really, really looking forward to this weekend!!!

The teachers for this weekend are two of my most favourite scrappers- Nic Anderson & Mardi Winen. I've met both at previous retreats and can't wait to see them again!!!

I'm nearly organized-

Tags- done

Photos- done

Scrap stuff packed- mostly done

Clothes packed- nope not yet!!!

Kathleen is driving down with me tomorrow (waving ****HI*** Kathleen!!) but I've very sad that my partner -in-crime isn't coming too. :( Oh well, suppose I can't have everything my own way!!!

Must go- I've got clothes to pack!!! Woo hooo!!!

Catch you in Margaret River- yeeee haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

Love Janine xxxxx

Goodbye ten...

2008-10-20T22:13:00.002+08:00

My beautiful baby turns 11 tomorrow so tonight I said goodnight to my darling ten.

I remember finding out I was pregnant with her, I remember going to my ultrasound wishing for a girl, I remember holding her in my arms for the first time- oh it felt like yesterday! Where has time gone!!!!

We have celebrated Sarah's birthday once already. Georgie, Matt & Jack stayed last night so we had an early birthday cake for Sarah & Matt (Matt turns 9 on Friday). Tonight I've been busy making a cake for tomorrow and we will have another one when we finally get around to having Sarah's party - which looks like it will be on the 1st of November!!!(can't fit it in before then- LOL) I'm also half way through making 35 wagon wheels for Sarah to take to school to share with her class mates and as since tomorrow is her teacher's birthday as well I'm getting up early to make pink kebabs!!! (for her teacher's surprise party!)

Busy, busy, busy!!!

Must go- wagon wheels are calling!

Goodbye ten.

Love Janine xxx

Broome.

2008-10-18T15:36:00.012+08:00

Here is my run down of our Broome holiday!

We arrived in Broome just before lunch on Friday morning and were met at the airport by our friends Sally, Karen and Karen's daughter Molly. Karen drove us back to their house (that's where we were staying) and the first thing the girls did was jump into the pool!

Murray (Karen's husband) had organized for the men (10 of them and 1 dog) to go fishing overnight so they all packed up and left. With the men gone Karen, Sally and I had a few drinks by the pool while the kids kept swimming.
Late afternoon we drove into Broome, got fish and chips for dinner and went to the open air cinema. You can see the kids laying on the rug on the grass eating their fish & chips. Karen, Sally & I sat in the deck chairs. We saw Mamma Mia, which of course was fantastic.

Saturday morning the girls (Karen, Sally, Sarah, Emma, Molly & myself) drove into town and went to this beautiful cafe on the beach for breakfast- yummo!

We then went and browsed through the markets. Check out Emma's cute butterfly tattoo. We all got one!!! Sarah got a green tree frog on her ankle. I bought a few goodies too- I love markets!

Later that afternoon we made it back to Karen's house and the kids went straight in the pool!

By then the men were back. We hung around the pool - swimming, drinking, eating and chatting.
The men had caught some big fish so we stuffed one and put it on the BBQ for dinner. YUMMO!!!
Sally made us Bloody Marys!!! I've never had one before and I was pleasantly surprised how delicious they were!

Early Sunday afternoon we drove down to the beach to meet the men who had hired a boat and gone fishing again. The kids swam, collected shells and played in the sand while the adults (again) ate, drank and were merry!!!

I swam at this beach and the water was so warm that I didn't really want to get out. I was in the water for well over an hour because it was so nice. The kids swam for hours!!!

On our way back home we drove around to some of the tourist spots.

Look at these striking colours. This is near where the dinosaur foot prints are.

Sally made the best curry for dinner and yet again we swam, ate and drank!!!

Karen had to go to work on Monday so she gave us her 4WD. The men were tired from all their fishing so they decided to stay at home with the boys (Karen & Murray's two boys- Jackson & Campbell). Sally, Sarah. Emma, Molly and I went shopping!!! We wandered through all the shops in Chinatown and through several shopping centres. I love shopping!!!
Later Monday afternoon we all went camel riding. I was so looking forward to this and I wasn't disappointed. Camel riding along Cable Beach at sunset- bliss!!!
I took heaps of photos but this is one of my favourites- our shadows on the beach with the moon in the sky behind.

Adam took this one. He was on the camel in front of Sarah & I. Check out how cute our camel is!!! Look at her long eyelashes!!!

After our camel ride we all went out to dinner at a local restaurant. More eating and drinking- LOL!!!

Tuesday - we just relaxed and hung around until it was time to be dropped off at the airport. We flew home (after our flight was delayed- grr) and arrived home in time to have a quick bite to eat, a shower and then we all crashed into bed- exhausted but very, very happy!!!

Sadly on Wednesday morning we all had to get up and go off to work and school.

So that was our Broome holiday- we loved it and I so wished it was longer.
Back soon with all of my Fiskars October photo challenge photos!!!
Love Janine xxx

All alone....

2008-10-16T09:22:00.006+08:00

Today is the first day in about four months that I've been in my house- ALONE!!! No husband, no kids - just ME!!! Woo hoo!!!

Some news- as you know I've been participating in the Scrapbook Outback's Chipboard School. It was a learning school but also a competition. Well the winner was announced while we were in Broome! I didn't win- the amazingly talented Kerryn did however SO have offered me a guest DT position- yay!!! I'm really excited!!! Their chipboard products are so yummy!!!
Sadly I missed their cybercrop over the weekend however I have been emailed all the amazing lessons hopefully I'll get time to do them soon!!

More news- several months ago, Anne-Marie contacted me to tell me that she will be opening a new scrapping shop in Rockingham and would I like to join the DT! Of course I said YES!!!
Last week Anne-Marie contacted me again to say the shop was getting closer to opening and she gave me my first DT goodies pack- well if what is in the DT pack is anything to go by- this shop is going to be awesome. I got so many yummy and NEW papers and embellishments- woo hoo- this is exactly what Rockingham needs!!!
The shop is called Made With Memories and is located at the Rockingham Shopping Centre (near HomeArt for the locals). The shop isn't completely fitted out yet however it will be ready for the grand opening on November 29th- stay tuned for more information!!!

More yummy news-
I joined a 'Jar of Whimsy' swap over at Scrapboxx and I was thrilled when this jar of goodies arrived from Georgia- so thrilled that I just HAVE to share-

How delicious are all those goodies- I can't wait to get in and use some!!! Thanks again Georgia!!!

I must go now- it is Sarah's birthday in 5 days so I NEED to go shopping!!
However I will leave you with an awesome Broome photo-

I'll be back soon with a full Broome run down!!

Stay safe,
Love Janine xxx

Still in Broome....

2008-10-14T09:31:00.002+08:00

Hi all,
We are still in hot, hot, hot Broome. We fly home later this afternoon.
The camel ride at sunset along Cable Beach was just awesome!!! I have HEAPS of photos. I rode on the very last camel in the 16 camel train. Sarah rode with me (2 people per camel). It was absolutely magical!!! One of the guides (whom walk along side) took my camera and took photos of us with the sun setting behind us- sensational photos- can't wait to scrap them!!

Anyway- catch you back in Perth!!!
Love Janine xxx

Hello from Broome!

2008-10-12T18:29:00.002+08:00

Woo hoo- HELLO from hot, hot, hot Broome!!!
We arrived here Friday morning and the first thing the girls did was- jump straight in the pool....in fact, my girls have spend HEAPS of time in the pool- fantastic pool weather here- hot, hot, hot!!!
We have also been to the open air cinema, the Courthouse Markets, the beach, shopping, seen the dinosaur footprints...and spend plenty of time relaxing, swimming, eating and drinking- in fact I'm sipping a strawberry daiquiri as I'm typing- mmmm yummo!!!
We have booked in to go camel riding at sunset tomorrow night- I can't wait. I've also taken a squillion photos!!!!
Hope your weekend has been wonderful!
Love Janine xxx

2008-10-09T15:23:00.002+08:00

Cybercrop @ Scrapping Outback.
Scrapping Outback is holding a cybercrop this weekend to celebrate the graduation of the chipboard schoool students. Theme for the weekend is 'BEACH". There will be free projects, challenges, childrens projects, games, prizes and giveaways. PLUS you will be able to grab a bargain with our Grab Some Chipboard Madness Sale. There will be spot specials on chipboard products including the cybercrop new release chipboard designs by Rachelle Minett. The spot specials will only be available for up to one hour at a time. If you submit more then one order over the weekend you will also receive free postage. Some products will be 50% OFF. Everyone is welcome. http://www.scrappingoutback.com.au/

Designed By Petrina Macdonald.

2008-10-08T14:19:00.006+08:00

I'm now allowed to share-

The very talented Petrina Macdonald has designed and released a yummy range of chipboard products and I was thrilled when she asked me to scrap some LOs for her- like YES!!!!

Here are the LOs I've scrapped using Petrina's yummy chippies-
This one is using 'Paisley Little Chick'

A close up of the tweet little chickie!!

This LO is using 'Arty Tree Cards'

LO REMOVED FOR PUBLICATION

For lots more yummy products and examples, check out Petrina's new blog-

Thank you Petrina for letting me scrap with your yummy products and I hope you design LOTS more scrummo yummo chippies!!!

Love Janine xxx

Hello all.

2008-10-05T19:49:00.011+08:00

Warning- long post ahead- grab yourself a coffee!

Firstly, thank you for all your messages about Chloe. Adam bought Chloe for me not long after we were married. Our poor Chloe-girl hadn't been well for a few weeks, however this past week to 10 days she really deteriorated. Her tummy had become swollen and she began to lose weight. She wasn't eating properly either. I made Adam take her to the vet as I just couldn't do it. Adam took her Saturday morning and the vet wasn't really sure what was wrong with her. He told Adam that he could do some x-rays etc to find out, as some of the things he thought could be wrong were very treatable. He did warn Adam however that it was risky putting a dog of Chloe's age under anaesthetic. The only other option was to put her to sleep. Adam agreed to Chloe having the x-rays etc as we didn't want to lose our Chloe-girl.
The vet said that he would ring Adam back about 2 -3 o'clock to tell him what they had found out. Adam had to go to work and I couldn't stand hanging around waiting for the vet to ring so I made a last minute decision to take the girls to the movies. We went and saw Wall-E. It was very good, just the distraction I needed.
Unfortunately later that afternoon Adam got a call from the vet to say our Chloe-girl had died while being anaesthetised. The vet also told Adam that they had found a cancerous tumor in her tummy and had she lived he would have recommended that we put her to sleep anyway.
I had the very hard task of telling the girls that our Chloe-girl, whom they had know for their entire lives wasn't coming home. It was so hard.
Adam bought Chloe's body home a few hours later and we buried her in our garden. Sarah picked flowers for Chloe and we cried some more.
Last night I scrapped this LO for my girl and I felt much better for doing it. The photo of Chloe is one I took yesterday morning before she went to the vet. She was such a beautiful girl and we will all miss her terribly.

This LO also fits -
J9. Take a photo TODAY (the day you intend to do the LO), scrap the photo straight away and include the word TODAY on your LO.
I have also finished -
J1. Scrap a non-layout i.e. card, note book, mini album, off the page item etc.
I can't show you more than a sneak peek as this is a product challenge for SM. I was sent the most gorgeous Maya Road mini album, a tin of delicious chippy shapes and some yummy fabric flowers- so...if you want to see this album you will have to wait for SM Vol 10 No 11.
I had also finished -
K5 Create a layout about a holiday in the past (not photos taken after the start of this challenge) however whilst I was photographing it, I felt it lacked something so I'll tweak it tonight and upload later.

Okay- here is my week 7 LO for Scrapping Outback's Chipboard School. Sadly this is the last week. I have thoroughly enjoyed ALL of the lessons and this week was no exception. Our teacher this week was Ingvild Bolme. We had to do the torn edge effect and use the 'crackle' technique on our chipboard. Here is my LO- I'm very pleased with how it has turned out. I must give some credit to Kylie- I studied the LO she scrapped for me as she does the torn edges technique brilliantly -thanks Kylie!!!

A close up.

You should really go and check out all the LOs over at Scrapping Outback's Chipboard school- they are amazing.

Some good news- my LO 'Always' - won week 6 at chipboard school. Woo hoo!!

In other news- Adam's brother and our nephew have been staying with us this weekend. Garth and Jaymin arrived Friday afternoon. Jaymin was racing in the BMX Sate Championships in Cockburn. This afternoon the girls and I went to watch him race. (Adam was at work again). We got there just in time to watch the finals. Jay races 'Cruisers' and 'BMX' and was in finals for both. We were thrilled to watch him come second in both finals so now he is second in the state for both bike types for 15 year old boys- woo hoo. I took some photos of him with his trophies tonight- I'll upload them later- the trophies are HUGE!!

Talking about photos- I have joined in with the photo challenge over at the Fiskars blog. You have to take a photo every day for the month of October. So here are mine so far-
Day one- these two dangling things hang from my lamp above my scrapping area. Emma gave me Betty Boop and Sarah give me the Diva crown.

Day two- this very cute bear was given to me on Thursday. I went out to lunch with my friends Linda and Ellen (and Linda's and my kids). 'Hamilton the Bear' was a late birthday present. He really is very cute!
Day three- Sarah trying to get her not very cooperative cousin, Jay, to smile for the camera. Can you see the piggy tails in his hair- my girls did that to him!!!

Day four- The flowers Sarah collected, that we used to mark Chloe's grave.
Day five- Linda and Ellen not only gave me Hamilton the Bear for my birthday but these glorious flowers- they are opening beautifully so I just had to take a photo.

Boy - are you still reading??? If you are -well done!!

I'm off to tweak that LO.

Remember to cuddle your loved ones- including the ones covered in fur!

Love Janine xxx

Sad

2008-10-04T18:07:00.003+08:00

This afternoon our furbaby Chloe left us to go to doggy heaven. We are sad, very sad.

Rest In Peace

Chloe Lakota King

1st April 1995 - 4th October 2008

Hey...

2008-10-03T22:18:00.001+08:00

Hey there Anne-Marie, did you get my email???
If not my email is
janine@wizardcommunications.com.au

Janine xx

Sneak peak...

2008-09-30T20:44:00.003+08:00

Okay- I received the nod from the head honcho herself that I'm allowed to give you all a sneak peak of the chipboard goodness that will be coming your way in about a week!!!

Believe me- they are sugar coated yumminess!!!!

J xxx

Happy Tuesday!!

2008-09-30T17:59:00.004+08:00

I love holidays!!! I can't believe that it is Tuesday already- school days never go this quick!!!

Yesterday I woke with a mission in mind - gardening!!! It was a glorious day here so we all went and worked in our garden. Adam fixed all the reticulation sprinklers that some naughty fur baby had chewed- RUSTY!!!! The girls and I weeded - and if I may say so myself, we did a fabulous job!!! Our garden bag is now full and our garden looks so much better. So...as a reward I took the girls to see Wild Child in the afternoon!! The girls loved it!! We had a few extras with us- as always and everyone loved it!! After the movie Sarah ended up back at Grace's house with Grace and Kaitlyn so Emma and I headed to Bunnings and bought a heap of new plants and mulch. We then headed home and planted all our new plants. Happy, happy, happy!!!!

This morning we went off to Aquajetty to meet my friend Linda and her kids who are here on holidays from Albany. The kids swam and Linda and I caught up over coffee!!! More happy, happy, happy!!!

This afternoon I have caught up on a few odd jobs that I had to do so...now I'm ready to scrap tonight!!! I really do need to get scrapping as I've only done two of Kim and my holiday challenges!!
Here is-
K4 Create a layout using a ‘group’ photo. There must be more than 4 people in the photo.
LO REMOVED FOR PUBLICATION.
This group photo is from the last Scrapboxx retreat!! I'm in the photo- right on the left, with the black and white long top on (not looking at the camera- ops).

I can also share another of the Scrapboxx whispers as well- this one is #2.

Okay- I'm off to cook dinner for the hungry mob and scrap some more!
Hope your day is happy!!
Love Janine xxxx

Happy, happy Sunday!

2008-09-28T21:41:00.008+08:00

Actually it started as happy, happy Saturday!!!

I was up bright and early on Saturday morning to go (woo hoo) scrap shopping with my partner-in-crime!!! We had a ball! We well and truly stocked up our scrapping supplies!! Taylah and Emma came with us. I didn't have Sarah as she had slept over at Grace's house. It was great- I stocked up on heaps and heaps of delicious scrapping goodness!!! Oh I LOVE scrap shopping!!!

I had to have Emma back here by the time acrobatics started ( 12noon) and we were only a few minutes late (ops). All in all a fabulous morning!!!

I offered for Taylah to stay and play with Emma for the afternoon, Grace and Emily stayed as well so I had five gorgeous girls all afternoon and they were no problems. They made biscuits first, then dressed up, then played outside and finally scrapped some pages. All good!!!

Okay- here is my entry for week six of Scrapping Outback's Chipboard School. This week's teacher was Raechelle Bellus and we had to use tulle and layers of ink and embossing powder to texture our chipboard. Here is mine-

It is actually done on lace card stock.

Here is a close up of my butterfly. The top butterfly is the one that I have layered with ink, embossing powder and tulle. The bottom butterfly is inked and embossed with sparkly embossing powder and had bling added. I've added some actual tulle to my LO as well to give an extra layer of wings to the butterfly.

I am having so much fun and learning heaps from this chipboard school. I'll be very sad when it finally comes to an end.

The holiday challenges. I've only completed one challenge so far-
J2. Scrap lift a LO from the Scrapboxx DT gallery.

This is a scrap lift of one of Ali's gorgeous LOs- Thanks Ali- I hope you don't mind! Mwah!!!

On to happy, happy Sunday- we started the day with yummy pancakes for breakfast. We all then had a relaxing day- the girls played very happily with each other today, they even made up a play that Adam and I had to go and watch!!! Me...well I scrapped all day today but not my holiday challenges. You may remember I said that I was asked to scrap some LOs for a very talented scrapper who was releasing her own line of chipboard products- well, that's what I did today, therefore I can't share ....yet!!! Soon I hope!

More happy news- I was so very proud of my gorgoeus Sarah tonight- she was an altar server at Church for her first time tonight. I was so proud!!! Proud Mumma!!!!

Anyway- must buzz- I'm hoping to still scrap some more tonight!
Stay safe and I hope your week is wonderful!
Love Janine xxx

Holidays... YIPPPEEEE!!!

2008-09-26T16:16:00.002+08:00

WOO HOOO- the holidays are here!!! I love school holidays!! School holidays not only mean time off school but that Kim and my school holiday scrapping challenge is on again!!!
Here they are...the long awaited holiday challenges!!!!

K1 Create a layout that has at least 3 photos on it
K2 Create a ‘baby’ themed layout
K3 Create a layout that is black & white with one other colour
K4 Create a layout using a ‘group’ photo. There must be more than 4 people in the photo.
K5 Create a layout about a holiday in the past (not photos taken after the start of this challenge)
K6 Use the following on a layout;
1 x patterned paper
2 x photos
3 x different alphas
4 x brads or eyelets
5 x flowers
You may use more than this but all of the above must be included.
K7 Do you have an obsession, a ritual or some dirty little secret? Something that you are compelled to do or something that makes every day that bit more bearable? Show us in a layout!
K8 Use a combination of your oldest and newest products on one layout.
K9 Use your computer to enhance your layout. You can print titles or journalling, use clip art, digitally alter your photo etc..
K10 Use one of the September sketches from www.pagemaps.com

J1. Scrap a non-layout i.e. card, note book, mini album, off the page item etc.
J2. Scrap lift a LO from the Scrapboxx DT gallery.
J3. Use paint to make your own pp then scrap a page using your pp. You can also use stamps etc with the paint.
J4. Scrap a LO using photo/s that you have not taken yourself.
J5. Try something new (well, for me anyway) –try quilling and use it somewhere on a LO. There is an article about quilling in the latest FK.
J6. Scrap a LO that contains “FRUIT”- the fruit may be in the photos, on the pp or an embellishment.
J7. Scrap a LO using pink and blue as the main colours (blame my kids- I got them to pick a colour each!)
J8. Look around your house and find an item that inspires you. Now scrap a LO using that inspiration. When uploading the LO, upload a photo of the item of inspiration.
J9. Take a photo TODAY (the day you intend to do the LO), scrap the photo straight away and include the word TODAY on your LO.
J10. Use a movie title as your LO title.

Feel free to join in with us!!!
Have a great evening-
Love Janine xxx

OMG- Broome ...here we come!!!

2008-09-24T19:50:00.002+08:00

I complained to Adam the other night that I needed a holiday- LOL- what I really meant was that I was over working full time and couldn't wait until the school holidays (which are only two days away- wooo hooo) well.......

My super fantastic husband came home after work tonight with an itinerary for a family getaway to Broome- these school holidays!!! Yeee haaaa!!! All booked and paid for- yipppeee!!
So.....we are off to Broome for 5 days!!!! YAY!!!! The girls are super excited!!!!

I've been online already, checking out the details to book a sunset camel ride along Cable Beach for us. Adam has already booked himself on a boat to go barramundi fishing- woo hoo- I so can't wait!!!
Has anyone been to Broome?? Any tips on places to visit, things to do- I'm all ears!!! I hope to pack 10 days worth of tourism stuff into five!!!

I hope your day has been wonderful too-
Love Janine xxx

5 days to go....

2008-09-21T15:56:00.006+08:00

Woo hoo- only five more school days until the holidays (four for the girls)!!! Yippeeeee!!! Kim and I will be doing our usual holiday scrapping challenge so 'watch this space'- the challenges will be up here soon. Don't forget- anyone is most welcome to join us- in fact, the more the merrier!!!
Hey Maursie and Kylie - are you joining in again?????

Hmm, what have I been up to this week???

Thursday- Adam and I saw Taken staring Liam Neeson- OMG what a movie, very full on and eye opening (especially if you have daughters) .

Friday- Basketball- Emma's division doesn't have finals, instead they finish off the season with a round-robin competition. All the U10s were given a medal for their efforts- cute isn't she??
If you look closely- you may be able to see that she has lost another tooth. Both front top teeth are now out!!! I love it when she smile- looks as cute as a button!!!
Sarah had two games of basketball- both finals games. If they won, they proceeded to the grand final, if they lost, they were out. Unfortunately both the games she played- they lost- so there will be no basketball for us next week (yay) although we may go down and watch the finals.

Saturday night- the girls, Aunty Lorraine and I went to see Beauty and the Beast at The Regal Theatre. Aunty Lorraine came in Adam's place as he went to a 30th birthday party that we were invited to. We had a great time. We arrived in Subiaco early and went out for dinner- yummo and then on to watch the show. The show was fantastic- we all loved it. I loved Lumiere the best- he was fabulous!!!!

Sunday (today)- Mum and Dad came up here for lunch. They had some paper work that I had to read through and sign so bought lunch up with them. It was a perfect day for staying home and indoor as the weather here is overcast, miserable and windy. Mum bought up a delicious lunch so we lounged around and ate ourselves silly!!!

Mum and Dad have gone now so I've just uploaded my week 5 entry for Scrapping Outback's chipboard school. This week's teacher was Iris Babao Uy and it was all about layering on chipboard. Some of my chipboard flowers have been painted, stamped, had a decorative washer and bling added and then coated with DM. The chipboard heart had been crackled, had glitter glass added and then a crown brad added on top. I've used lots of other bits and pieces too- buttons, bling, brads, pp, glitter glaze, acrylic shaped, glitter glass, ink, paint- it was all so much fun!!!

Some close up photos-

I can't wait to see what we have to do for week 6.

Both my kiddos haven't been 100% well this week- temperatures and chesty coughs. Fortunately Panadol has been keeping it under control and both have woken up this morning much better- yay!! I don't like it when my kids are sick- I would much rather be sick myself than have them under the weather.

Enjoy your week and remember to check back for our holiday challenges.

Love Janine xxx

Hump day...

2008-09-17T18:15:00.004+08:00

I only have seven more school days until the holidays- woo hoo!! The girls only have six!!!!
Yee haaa- bring on the holidays!!!

Here is my Week Four entry for Chipboard School over at Scrapping Outback. This week's teacher was Louise Nelson and we had to cover our chipboard with non-scrapping items!! This really took me out of my comfort zone. Some people were very creative and used band aids, dish cloths, bandages, floor polish, raffia, 100 & 1000s etc- I remained a little tame!!
I love this photo of Adam and the girls from Father's Day so I used a Golden Book we had called "Butterfly Kisses" which is based on the song 'Butterfly Kisses" by Bob Carlisle. I tore pages out and covered my butterfly and my chipboard corner. I then used a pink serviette on the chippie heart. Not as adventurous as some of the others however I'm pleased with how it turned out.

A close up.

We now have Week Five's lesson so I'm busy planning that LO!!! I do have some good news- my LO "Hold a True Friend" was equal winner for the weekend assignment - woo hoo!!! I think I win a chippie pack prize!!!

More good news - I have had a LO accepted for publication from Creative Keepsakes in the Aussie Gallery- woo hoo, my very first acceptance to CK- doing the happy dance!!!

Not so good news- my little possum, Emmy, is full of a cold. Poor little thing-my kiddos are rarely sick so I'm hoping she is fighting fit really soon.

Anyway- I hope your hump day has been good. Enjoy the rest of the week!!

Love Janine xxx

Kylie is AWESOME!!!

2008-09-15T19:35:00.002+08:00

A few weeks back I was lucky enough to win a "Kylie Original" in a draw on her blog! Well just look at this stunning layout that arrived on my doorstep this afternoon!!! How lucky am I??? I LOVE it!!!!

Believe me- it looks even better IRL!!

Thank you so much Kylie- you are an absolute gem!!!!

Have a great day!!!

love Janine xxx

What a great day!

2008-09-14T18:30:00.008+08:00

Today Kim and I took our girls plus an extra (Emily and Sarah's friend Hayley) to The Da Vinci Machines Exhibition. We met at the train station and took the train into Perth. Quite fortunately the shops were open so we did a bit of shopping before we went and had some lunch. After lunch and a bit more shopping (Oh I love shopping!!) we walked down to Langley Park for the exhibition. It was great- lots of interesting things to look at, things to touch and play with and things to built. We spent a good few hours there looking, playing and building!!! Here are some random shots -

*Outside the exhibition.
*Em and Taylah playing with some pulleys.

*Emily, Sarah & Hayley after they had built the smaller version of the bigger bridge behind them.
*Flying the parachutes that they had made!

After we left we made a stop in here- The Ye Olde Lolly Shoppe- yummo!!! I bought myself a bag of popping candy- do you remember popping candy!!!!! LOL!

It was such an enjoyable day. These five all got on so well- gorgeous little cuties!!! *Here they are all lined up on the train platform waiting for the return train!!

Thanks Kim, Emily, Taylah and Hayley- we had a fantastic day!!!

I also have some scrapping to share. I'm still working on my week four LO for Scrapping Outback's Chipboard school- we have an extension this week until Wednesday however we were given a weekend assignment. It wasn't compulsory to do but I did it and boy did I have fun!!! We had to complete a project that had a quote on it!! I started my LO Friday night and finished it last night. We didn't have to use any chipboard techniques but I loved Sandra's graduated colour technique from week one so much- I used it again!

The LO is actually circular, I have just put it on a piece of white card stock to photograph it.

Here is a close up- the butterfly wings are grunge board which I have used the graduated colour technique on. I have then used a HS clear butterfly and placed it over the top (bent up) to give a 3D effect. I was really pleased with how this LO turned out!!!

That is about it for today. It is Sunday night which means I have uniforms to iron. Woo hoo- only two weeks left until school holidays (not that I'm counting!!!)

Have a wonderful week. Stay safe.

Love Janine xxx

Phew- what a week!!!

2008-09-13T16:05:00.008+08:00

What a full-on week we have had!!!
Let's recap-
Monday- we had a very yukky incident at school- quite fortunately not directly involving me however it occurred in our Pre Primary centre. Our PP centre is very open, two classrooms with shared toilets and a kitchen in the middle and the ugly incident happened in the other PP so due to the openness of the centre, myself and my students could hear what was going on- I can't go into it too much but it involved a very angry parent, lots of shouting and choice language, crying children and gob smacked teachers. Not nice at all.
My day improved however when Emma came out of jazz later in the afternoon- my clever little chookie was awarded Honours for her jazz exam and received a gold medal- proud Mumma!!!

Tuesday- my school had their open night from 3:20 until 5:20 and my girls' school also had their open night (5:00- 7:30) - I left home at 7:50 that morning, taught all day, stayed for my open night then shot straight across to the girls' school, to their open night-phew!!!! It actually was alright, my open night went very smoothly and the open night at the girls' school was fantastic.

Sarah and her two gorgeous friends, Grace and Beth performed a song. Sarah and Grace played their clarinets and Beth played her flute and I know I'm bias...but they were sensational!!! Proud Mumma again!!!
Emma danced with the Junior Dance Troupe, the same dance that they danced in August at the Performing Arts Festival- they too were magnificent. Still a proud Mumma!!!

Wednesday- the day went okay until after school one of the Mums came back into the PP (we had already dismissed the children) to tell me that another mother had had a go at her (verbally) about a school related incident- arrrrr, what is it with some parents.

So on Thursday morning I have to ring the mother involved and sort out/calm down the situation- just what I needed to start the day- NOT!!!!

After that Thursday and Friday actually ran quite smoothly- yay!!!

Over the past few nights I have been doing this LO-
It is actually done on a transparency. I have been wanting to do one of these pages for ages so, taa daa....

I had so much fun with this LO!! Here is a close up of the cute little birdie!!!

Wooo hoo- three wonderful ladies have all awarded me the same award! Thank you so much Kim, Maursie and Kathleen!!!

The rules for the award are -
(1) The winner can put the logo on their blog.
(2) Link the person you received your award from.
(3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
(4) Put links of those on yours.
(5) Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated

So....I award this on to- (in no particular order)
Petrina-
Nic P-
Kylie-
Belinda-
Mel-
Mel-
Megan-
....all because I love seeing what they are creating on the scrapping front and I also like to keep up with what they are up too - oh sound like a stalker don't I?????

Anyway, I really must go- the girls and I are off to their netball wind up!!!

Have fun and stay safe!
Love Janine xxx

Happy Father's Day!!!

2008-09-07T19:38:00.005+08:00

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband, my Dad and my father-in-law!! In fact- Happy Father's Day to ALL the Dads out there! I hope you all had (are having) a wonderful day! Double celebrations to my Dad- Happy Birthday for yesterday Dad!!!
I took a few snaps out in the garden this afternoon and here is one of my favourites- gorgoeus isn't it!! I have printed it off already...now it is just waiting to be scrapped!!!

The girls were up early this morning (far too early for my liking- LOL) to give Adam their pressies! He received a lovely selection of school made things plus school stall bought things. We don't usually make a big thing of presents for Mother's/Father's Day however I was in Harvey Normal yesterday waiting for some photos and I happen to see a Wii game that I liked the look of...so I bought it!!! It is called Playground and it is so much fun. Adam and the girls have been challenging each other on and off all day today!!! Totally cool fun!!! The kids love it ...and so does the big kid!!! LOL!!!

As I said in my last post, Nicole has been cracking the whip big time this week over at Scrapping Outback's Chipboard School.
We had to do ALL of the following-
*cover chipboard letters in alfoil, etch a pattern in the alfoil, apply paint then remove some of the paint so paint stayed in the groves- IYKWIM.
*distress chipboard.
*paint around the edges of chipboard.
*use paint on our background.
*and complete ALL of the above using a given sketch!!!
I told you she had the whip out- LOL!!
Here is my end result...

and a close up of some of my techniques.

I am really pleased with how my LO turned out. I am really enjoying Chipboard School! I can't wait to see what week four's lesson brings!!! Roll on Tuesday!!!

More sharing- here is my September scrapjack. This month we got to scrapjack Nikala O'Brien.
I love Nikala's LO and I'm pleased with how mine has turned out!! Thanks for the inspiration Nikala!!!
I have also completed #1 and the last of the Scrapboxx whispers however I can't share yet- hopefully soon! I'm a bit sad that I have finished all of the whispers- I thoroughly enjoyed doing them and now have four LOs that I'm extremely happy with.

I must keep moving- I still have uniforms to iron for tomorrow (groan).
I hope your week in wonderful!
Stay safe,
Love Janine xxx

Just because...

2008-09-04T20:01:00.003+08:00

Here is a LO I scrapped 'just because'. I love 'just because' layouts!!

I'm busy scrapping away tonight on this week's entry for Scrapping Outback's chipboard school. This week's teacher Nicole has cracked the whip big time and we are working away hard!!! I'll share when I've finished! Also- big CONGRUTULATIONS to Nicole, for getting one of those phone calls from SM- wooo hooo!!! WTG!!

In other news-

*Sarah received a 'certificate of merit' for her clarinet playing in the Performing Art Festival. Proud Mumma. The school have asked her to play at the open night next week! :)

*Both my amazing talented girls were awarded a GOLD medal for their efforts in their Hip Hop exams!! Proud Mumma!

*I was thrilled to win a blog comp on Kylie's blog- yee haaa I've won a 'Kylie' original!!! Woo hoo - thanks Kylie, I'm absolutely super excited!! Happy Mumma!!!

Have a wonderful day!

Love J xxx

Remember this LO? I was really happy with it IRL but every time I looked at it on the net, the word 'AMAZED' just seem to get lost in the pp- so I've added a piece of torn black pp under the title just to have it stand out a little clearer!! Much better huh???

Howdy...

2008-09-01T20:43:00.007+08:00

I have, again, dutifully completed my homework for this week's Chipboard School over at Scrapping Outback. This week's teacher was the very talented Rachelle Minnett . Our homework was to stamp on chipboard. I've used a script stamp and then embossed it with the same holygram sparkle embossing powder that I used last week.
I am really enjoying being involved with this chipboard school and can't wait to see what tomorrow's lesson is!!! Yee haaa- bring it on!!

In other news- my big brother Brad, his wife Georgie and my two gorgeous nephews, Matt & Jack flew in from Singapore on Saturday night. Adam picked them up from the airport and we stayed up chatting and drinking wine until close to 2am!!! I haven't seen Georgie, Matt or Jack since we were in Darwin 18 months ago. Brad flew out to Port Hedland this morning but Georgie, Matt and Jack are still here. Georgie cooked the most scrumptious chicken curry for dinner tonight- YUMMO!!!

Look what Georgie brought for us- a big bag of Hershey's Kisses. I've never eaten them before but let me tell you- they are delicious!!! LOL- not many left!!!

More good news- Scrapboxx announced the dates for its March retreat today and YAY I've booked my bed- wooo hooo, doing the happy dance! The Scrapboxx retreat is absolutely fantastic- such a wonderful weekend and I so can't wait!!! Yippeeeee!!!

And finally, I just wanted to share....
Emma has been busy working on her 'Under The Sea' project which was due today. There were lots of parts to the project however this was the best bit- she had to make an 'under the sea' diorama. Now how gorgeous is this!!! I was so proud of her- I think she has done a wonderful job- my clever chickie!!!

Any way- must zip! Have a great day!

Love Janine xxx

Thank you...

2008-08-29T22:43:00.003+08:00

Thank you to those lovely people who emailed and left messages....YES I'm fine!!! I am just tired and was over it!!! Well, okay- I'm still over it.....

Amazing how a night of scrapping can make one feel better!! Last night I left the dishes (as Kim saw this afternoon- ops) and I scrapped!!! I scrapped the next whisper for the Boxx. I can't share yet but hopefully soon.

Tonight- well I'm scrapping tonight too!!! I've been and I'm back home from basketball- the girls played four games between them tonight (3 wins, 1 loss) !!!

Hey and guess what- NO NETBALL in the morning- woo hoo...that means I get a sleep in!!! Yee haa- doing the happy dance!!!

My wonderful hubby brought me home a new toy tonight which was totally unexpected - one of these...pretty cool huh?? I have been playing with it tonight and having lots of fun!!

And lastly- some secret squirrel news- I've been asked to do some LOs for an amazing scrapper who is bringing out a new line of scrapping products- OM flipping gawd- I am thrilled!! I can't share any info yet however I will as soon as I can- WOOOO HOOOO!!!

Anyway must buzz- I'm scrapping!!!

Thank you again- the scrapping community really is a wonderful one!!

Stay safe,
Love Janine xxx

Feeling crappy...

2008-08-27T21:04:00.004+08:00

Hmmm, I don't normally post when I'm feeling crappy but I am today.

* My TA is still off school. Don't get me wrong here, I know full well that she is genuinely unwell and I certainly DO NOT want her to return to school until she is fighting fit however she is my team player- IYKWIM and school is just that more difficult without her.

* Working full time has really ( I mean REALLY) drained me. I worked full time for a term about 3 years ago and certainly don't recall it being anywhere near this hard. When I think back- my girls are involved in about a squillion more after school and weekend activities than they were 3 years ago so maybe that is why.

* I'm having serious doubts that I will cope (given how I'm doing now) in 18 months time when Sarah is to attend a school 45-50 minutes away from home. I'm hoping that I will overcome this 'panic mode' however am considering alternatives- just in case.

* Sarah's basketball coach has just included and extra training session each week as it is only three months until the state championships- what???

*Christmas decorations are in the shops- double WHAT???

*My pre primary kiddos begin swimming next Monday -BIG BLAHHHHHH!!!

*I am so enjoying my scrapping at the moment however am having NO time to squeeze it in. :(

Oh man I sound like a real whinger, don't I.

Don't worry about me- really, I'm just whining...maybe I should be wining. Blah- haven't done much of that either as I've been so tired.

Here's hoping tomorrow is a new better day!!!

Be happy!!!

J xx

Chipboard School.

2008-08-25T20:33:00.004+08:00

A few weeks ago I followed a link from Nicole's blog to Scrapping Outback. Scrapping Outback were taking enrolments for Chipboard School so I signed up!!! Last Tuesday was the first roll call and class. Our homework is due by 11am tomorrow. I have dutifully done my homework .....but, what a gumby I am....I only registered for the forum, not the gallery....so I am unable to upload my homework tonight as my registration for the gallery hasn't been accepted yet!!! OMG- stress...first lesson and I may miss the deadline!

I am going to upload my 'homework' here as the rules state I am allowed to upload entries on my blog so ...

TAAAA DAAAA

My week one Chipboard School homework-

Our first lesson was by Sandra Gerdes and it was on “How to graduate colour on chipboard”

Here is a close up on mine.

I used three colours of ink - rocket red, rose coral and moonlight white and then embossed the letters with a holygram sparkle embossing powder. I was really pleased with how it turned out- I would definitely use this technique again!

I can't wait to call 'Present Miss' at tomorrow's class and see what we are doing!!!

While I'm here...

Over at The Boxx, some of us are involved in a 'Whisper'. Today we were able to upload our #3 whisper... so this is mine!

Go over to Scrapboxx and check them out- some of them are just awesome!!!

In other good news, both my girls got their results from their tap exams today and I'm thrilled to bits to say that they both achieved a "High Distinction". One proud Mumma here!!!

Sarah performs tomorrow at the Performing Arts Festival, playing her clarinet. Fortunately two of her gorgeous friends are playing in the same session so Marlene is taking Sarah with her- I'll be at work. I shall let you know how she goes!

Must zip, I've still got a squillion things to do before I head off to bed-

Stay safe,

Love Janine xxx

Half way....

2008-08-24T21:02:00.006+08:00

I have made it half way through this term---YAY!!!

I have to admit I'm struggling with working full time. It isn't so much the work but everything else. I'm tired and so over it however I'm soldiering on!!!

Check these out!!!

Saturday was the last game of netball for the winter season and one of the very talented Mums in Sarah's team made the team cup cakes. How gorgeous do these look??? And they tasted yummo too!!!!

Both the girls and their teams have had a wonderful season and Sarah has been asked to try out for the Under 12 Talent Development Squad for 2009.

Sarah played today at Perry Lakes Stadium in the last Under 12's basketball carnival before the State Championships in November.
The team played absolutely sensationally and WON every game!!! Woooo hooo!!!! One proud Mumma here!!!

While Sarah and I spent the day at Perry Lakes, Adam and Emma went to Bunbury to attend a birthday lunch for Adam's Nana's 94th birthday. Happy Birthday Nana!!! Bring on the BIG 1-0-0!!!

Yay- I have even managed to scrap this week.

I scrapped this LO on Friday night- after a crappy week at school, I so needed to lose myself in scrapping and after chatting in the Scrapboxx chat room for waaaay too long, I was determined to stay up until I finished this LO. I am really pleased with how it turned out- Emma is a total stunner- yes, I am bias!!! Proud Mumma here!!!

I do have another LO to share but by the time I got home tonight, it was too dark to photograph it so tomorrow or the next day will have to do!!! I am so loving my scrapping at the moment. I think it is my 'escape' from everything else!!! I am really enjoying creating!!!

Anyway, I had better go, I'm watching the closing ceremony at the same time!!!

Have a great week!

Love Janine xx

Just had to share....

2008-08-20T23:03:00.004+08:00

This cute little box will be needed tonight....

as we now have a 'gappy' in the house!!! Emma finally lost one of her top front teeth!!! YAY!!!
She was so excited - can you tell!!! I swear she is the last, by a long way, of all her friends to have a top front tooth fall out!

Yooooo hoooo- TOOTH FAIRY- please stop by our house tonight!!!

Some more happy mail arrived today!! I was lucky enough to win some delicious chippies from Ann Lederhose's blog and they arrived- yummo!!! I can't wait to use them!! Thanks Ann!!!

Just quickly- I so needed to scrap tonight that I scrap this month's scrapjack. Taaa daa....

This month we got to scrapjack Clair Bremner . Thanks Clair- I loved doing this.....actually I so needed to scrap! I have had a BUSY few days at school- Remember I said that I had my assembly item on Tuesday- yes??? Well, it was postponed due to rain- arrrgghhh. On top of that my teacher assistant is in hospital and I have a relief TA. Fortunately the assembly went ahead today and was a great success. Yee haa! Unfortunately my TA will be away until Monday. :(

Anyway- must buzz......I have heaps of things to do!

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

love Janine xxx

Hi there....

2008-08-18T21:33:00.002+08:00

Quick run down from last week-
Last Tuesday my gorgeous girl came fourth in the inter school cross country - wooo hooo!!! She was so excited when she rung me, I was thrilled for her! One proud Mumma here!!!

Wednesday- work for me, school for the girls and Hip Hop for both the girls after school.

I took the day off work on Thursday as both my girls had tap dance exams. After their exams, the poor little possums got dropped back at school so Kim and I could go shopping (hard being a kid isn't it-LOL). Kim and I first stopped off at Just Scrapbooking for a quick power shop then Scrapbooks From The Heart for another quick power shop- boy I love shopping. We still has some time to spare so we went out to lunch. We went to The Foundry Pub & Grill - the food was delicious and the wine just dissapeared far too quickly!! I could have stayed there all afternoon but alas we did have to thud back to reality and return to pick up the kiddos from school. Thanks for a great day Kim- I so NEEDED it!!!

Friday- work for me, school for the girls and then basketball after school. Sarah's Flames coach wanted all the team to go and watch the Flames (men's) play at the stadium on Friday night and I was lucky enough that Macca took Sarah with him- this allowed me to spend the evening with Marlene and Leanne, catch up and have a wine or two. Good night for all!!!

Saturday- netball and then acrobatics for both girls. We ended up with one of Emma's gorgeous little friends for the afternoon so all three girls played beautifully when we got home. This allowed me to clean the house, vacuum, washing, cleaning etc so that on Saturday night I actually got to scrap- YAY!!!
I managed only this LO because I've been glued to the Olympics! Oh my- I am LOVING the Olympics!!! It is so easy to not do anything else but watch. I am really, really enjoying watching all the sports!! I love them!!

Sunday- we went to the First Holy Communion of my friend Leanne's son Aaron. He looked so handsome and I got to take a heap of photos for her. The day ended up much longer that I thought it would and we didn't arrive home from lunch until about 6:30pm!! Big day but a good one!!

Monday- work for me, school for the girls. I did get some happy mail after school. A parcel arrived from Nic Howard in NZ. I won a paper pack on her blog the other day and it arrived- woo hoo, Thanks Nic, I love the papers and Nic also sent me two little idea booklets!! Woo hoo- you're a gem Nic- THANK YOU!!!

I was lucky enough to win another blog prize the other day too- so yummy chippies from Ann Lederhose's blog- they haven't arrived yet but I will share when they do!!!

My Pre primary class are doing the item at tomorrow's assembly and I've invited all the parents back to PP for coffee/tea and home-made wagon wheels after the assembly. The PP kids and I made the wagon wheels at school today. I go the recipe from Mel Goodsell's blog- boy they are yummy. Everyone in this house thinks they are delicious too!!!

So I had better go- I still have some things to get done around here!!

I hope your week is wonderful!

Love Janine xxx

YAY- I've scrapped!!!

2008-08-11T21:17:00.006+08:00

It has been over three weeks since I've scrapped a page! I've sat at my scrapping table several times but have been too tired, remembered something else that needed doing or simply not had the mojo...but on Sunday, while glued to the TV watching the Olympics...I actually scrapped!!!

I love how this LO has turned out. The quote is a little hard to read but it says "May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day"

LO removed for publication!

I'm pleased with this one too- I like this quote as well. I must admit that finding page titles is what I find most challenging about scrapping at the moment- there is only so many times you can write 'Adore', 'Cherish', 'Beautiful' etc. I love using meaningful quotes and I'm always on the lookout for good ones- if you have any...please send them my way!! :)

Look what Sarah got!!! In Mel's sewing swap, Sarah's swap partner was her gorgeous friend Emily (Kim's DD). The girls swapped their goodies last Wednesday and Sarah was thrilled with her stash of goodies. LOL- it even went off to school the next day for her news!!! Thanks Kim and Emily!!!

We haven't had much time to do any sewing because the girls and I have been glued to the TV since last Friday. We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE watching the Olympics here. I zoomed home from basketball last Friday so we could watch the opening ceremony- WOW, WOW, WOW...it was spectacular!!! Gee the Chinese know how to impress!!! The drumming was absolutely amazing, the precision- WOW!!! I loved all of it and have been glued to the TV any spare second I have!!! Wooo hooo- GO Stephanie Rice- an amazing swim to win GOLD and break a WORLD RECORD!!! He he he- can you tell I love watching the Olympics!!!

In other home news...Sarah was awarded her medal today for winning the Year Five girl's cross country. Taa daa...

She goes tomorrow to compete in the inter school cross country and ... sob, sob...I'll be at work and will miss seeing her. Adam will be going to cheer her on so I will just have to wait for a phone call. (She came second in the inter school cross country last year) Please send 'run fast' wishes her way!!!

Anyway, I must go...the Olympics are calling me!!!

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI!!!!

Love Janine xxx

I survived Mad Monday!!!!

2008-08-05T18:13:00.004+08:00

Firstly, thank you for all your birthday wishes!! I really did have a wonderful day!!!

Okay- on to Mad Monday!!! Why mad you ask....well, it was a crazy day with lots of things happening and I had to time everything so that we could be at everything at the right time before shooting off to the next thing!!!
The day started with me up early, making kid's lunches, getting Sarah ready for school and Emma ready, with her hair and make up done, for her Hip Hop exam. Emma had her exam, then she went with Kim by train up to the Convention Centre for rehearsals for the Catholic School concert. Sarah had her Hip Hop exam at lunch time so after Emma had gone with Kim, I picked up Sarah and her friend Grace from school and got them ready- dressed, hair and make up!! Their exam was at 12:30ish. After their exam, I took the girls back to school. Meanwhile Emma had caught the bus back to school with the rest of the dance troupe and she was having her make up done for the night's concert. I was able to take her home a bit early for a rest.

When we arrived home, Emma found a parcel in the letter box from Thea. It was the sewing swap parcel that Em had been waiting for!!! Wooo hooooo!!!
Here she is with all her gorgeous goodies (excuse the pink eye make up- that is for the concert)!!! Thanks Thea (and Petrina)- Emma loves all her beautiful goodies and can't wait to get in and start making something!!! Thank you also to Mel for organizing this super swap!!!

Taaaa daaa- here is my gorgeous Emma- looking stunning!!! I had a few minutes to spare before we shot out the door so snapped a few photos of her!
I dropped Sarah off (she stayed at Grace's for the night), picked up Adam and zipped off to catch the train to the Convention Centre.

We all arrived in plenty of time for me to snap some more photos of some gorgeous girls- adorable aren't they!!!
I was very impressed with their dance- I thought all the dance troupe danced beautifully and did a fabulous job representing their school. Proud Mumma!!

It was really late by the time we arrived home and we all went straight to bed.
Luckily for me, I didn't have to get up too early. Sarah was at Grace's so went to school from there and Emma wasn't going to school as she had another dance exam- jazz this time.
After a relaxed morning, I again did Emma's hair and make up and off we went to the dance studio. After the jazz exam, Kim and I took the little girls out for a well deserved lunch- well deserved for us as well as the girls!!!
We even had time to let Taylah and Emma have a play in the park.
So, you can see I've been busy, busy, busy!!!
LOL- I'm back to work tomorrow for a rest - LOL!!!

I'll leave you with one last photo- look at these two. This is Taylah and Emma hugging when they realized that their play time was over today and we were off to pick up the other kids. Beautiful hug isn't it- you can almost see the strength of their friendship!! BFF!!!

Have a great week.
Love Janine xxx

I am 40.

2008-08-03T21:20:00.003+08:00

Well the inevitable has arrived.....I am 40!!!!

Mind you, after the way I have been spoilt, I think I'll turn 40 again next year!!!!
Do you remember, a few weeks back when Adam asked me what I wanted for my birthday...well I said "I'd like this or that but what I would really like is a gold Pandora bracelet" - knowing the price I didn't expect Adam to say yes so readily....well blow my socks off- he did and that's what I got!!!
It is absolutely gorgeous- I love it!!!
Adam and the girls bought me the bracelet, the safety chain, three spacers and a crown bead- because I'm a King of course!!! My Mum was with me when I had the bracelet sized so she and Dad bought me a bead too- they bought me the flower bead with the peridot stone because that is August's birthstone!!! I so love it!!!!

Adam thinks now that picking birthday, Christmas, anniversary presents etc will be a breeze- he just has to buy another bead- too easy!!!!

But that's not all....

I'm also off to the Scrapboxx October retreat!!! Woo hooooo!!!
What a spoilt girl I was!!!

Look at these beautiful flowers- they were delivered yesterday from my Mum and Dad!!!
Adam and the girls made a roast for dinner and we had cake too- a perfect top off for a fabulous birthday!!! Hmmm I really do think being 40 is fabulous after all!!!

I had better buzz off now, I'm still making sure I have everything ready for Mad Monday tomorrow. I so hope I survive it- I'll update you later!!

Be happy,
Love Janine xxxx

Happy Friday!!

2008-08-01T21:17:00.004+08:00

Two weeks down...eight to go!!!

Hey there,

Life is still zipping along. I've been busy this week with lots of school related things. I had a 'Teddy Bear's Picnic' today with my pre primary class. I was fantastic. All the kiddos brought in their teddy bears and we made lots of yummy goodies this morning. Then this afternoon we spread out a huge picnic rug and the kiddos and their teddies had a picnic with all the goodies we had made- it was excellent. I took lots of photos however I'm unable to share them- for obvious reasons!!! Great day!!!
Another reason I had a great day... my girl won the cross country!!!!
Woo hoo Sarah!!! She will now be off to the inter school cross country on August 12th- yee haaa!!! Proud Mumma!!!

OK- in my last post, I forgot to award this on

I read lots of blogs, in fact I could spend all day blog hopping...I love it.... so there are HEAPS of blogs I could very easily award this to... however I've decided only to give it to bloggers whom have not received it before.... so ....
taaa daaa...
without further ado.....
the awards go to...

Kim
Maursie
Fran
Nic
Sheree
Alice
Kayla

Here are the Award Rules:
1. The winner can take the logo
2. Place a link to the person that send you the award
3. Give the Award to at least 7 other Scrapbooking-Blogs, which by its currency,the issues of choice and for their designs are especially noteworthy
4. Put a link to these sites on your Blog.
5. Write a comment on their Blogs that they’ve won an Award.

I didn't follow all of them..but you can (if you want)!!!

No scrapping to share as I've been sewing for Mel's sewing swap. I posted off a parcel today to here!!! Emma is so super excited- it is so wonderful to see. The other parcel will be hand delivered to here!

Anyway- I'm going to go and sit at my scrapping table and see if inspiration hits me!!!
Have a great day.

Love Janine xxx

Still here...

2008-07-28T20:48:00.006+08:00

Yes....I'm still alive and kicking!!
Things are buzzing along nicely here. All the after school and weekend sports are back up and running now so there is little time to be idle (sigh).

I did however take a little time out during the weekend to spend time with my girls. We live very close to a nature reserve. Plenty of times we have walked through this reserve however we have never gone so far in that we have come across Lake Cooloongup...so that was our mission on Sunday. The girls took the dogs, I took my camera and off we went. It started out lovely and sunny and we did indeed find Lake Cooloongup, which looks more like a salt swamp than a lake. I had just pulled out my camera to start taking a few snaps when down came the rain. Oh dear, we had no choice but to walk home in the rain. It wasn't too bad, quite lovely actually, to walk in the rain...luckily it was light rain and not a torrential downpour!!!

We made it home safely although a little wet!!! I didn't end up with very many photos because as soon as the rain started, my camera went away!!
Here are a few I did manage...

Once we were home and changed out of our wet clothes, we decided to cook. We made a delicious Sultana Slice and then the girls made some yummy chocolate biscuits.

Here is the recipe for the Sultana Slice - it really is very easy and very yummy.

Sultana Slice

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups SR flour

1 cup coconut

1 cup sultanas

1 egg beaten

1 tablespoon Golden Syrup (or honey)

4 oz butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Melt butter, mix in all dry ingredients. Add golden syrup, beaten egg and vanilla.

Press into a greased tray. Cook in moderate oven for 15-20 minutes.

Ice with lemon icing or sesame seeds.

No scrapping to share as I've been a busy little bee sewing things for a sewing swap that the girls and I are in over at Mel Goodsell's blog. I'm loving all the little sewing things I've been doing- great fun and very relaxing!!!

Anyway must go- time for a shower and bed!!!

Have a great week.

Love Janine xxx

Just quickly...

2008-07-23T20:48:00.003+08:00

Look what I've been given....

.... by the gorgeous Julie! Thanks so much Julie!!!

I get to award this on to other blogs I love to read however I'll do that on the weekend.

As you may know, school's back and this term I'm working full time. I'm three days in and doing just fine at the moment. I didn't really want to be full time however it is only for this term as my tandem teacher is on long service leave. One bonus- I know I'll be smiling on pay days!

I will definitely miss my days off however I'm sure 10 weeks will fly by.

Anyway must go- hope you are all keeping dry and warm.

Love Janine xxx

Happy Sunday.

2008-07-20T12:27:00.008+08:00

My girls and I did indeed go into Perth on Friday- we braved the wild stormy weather that was happening in Perth but it was all good because we got to have lunch with Mum, do a bit of secret squirrel shopping (he he he) and also catch up with Dad.
On the way home we went via Kim's house and picked up Taylah, who was coming for a sleep over! Taylah, Emma and Sarah had an absolute ball.... as you can see! I think every dress up in the entire house was on my family room floor at one stage!!! All good however- they had a great time, I got some classic photos and it was easily cleaned!

We had to be up and out early on Saturday morning for netball. Emma and Sarah's teams both won and after netball we had a couple of extra sweeties come over for some more fun.
Morgan and Beth came to join in the fun!! It was only the three little ones who dressed up this time- Beth and Sarah got into the big box of scrap stash and scrap booked away happily. After a while Taylah, Morgan and Emma joined them and the girls all scrapped up a storm!!!

About 5ish Kim and Lian came to collect their little possums and ended up staying for a wine (or two) and nibbles!!! Yay- my sort of end to an afternoon. Thanks girls, the little ones for playing and behaving so well and the big ones for having a drink or two of wine and a catch up with me!!!

I've been scrapping too..... more challenges!
K5. Do a non-person layout. Ops, I hope these little chipboard people don't count- ops...too bad if they do, LOL, layout's done now!!!

K10. Create a layout using only products from the June Tarisota collection.

K9. Use a diecut shape/picture on a layout. How cute is that cup cake!! The other day I got to have a play with Kim's cricut- super little toy!! Thanks Kim!!!

J4. Scrap a LO about your husband. (Photo of husband- optional) This is the first photo of Adam and I together- one of those self portrait ones!!! Bit dodgy looking aren't we!!!

Well that brings us to today- while I'm doing this, I'm also cracking the whip...both my girls' bedrooms look like disaster zones and they are both in their rooms cleaning away- I had better go and crack the whip, ops I mean supervise some more!!! LOL!!

I hope your day is fabulous!!

love Janine xxx

Still busy, busy, busy!!!!

2008-07-17T20:34:00.005+08:00

Hey there!!! I'm in such a happy, happy, happy mood at the moment!!! These holidays have been fantastic although I'm very sad that they are nearly over (boo hoo) - I'm really happy that they have been so wonderful- IYKWIM.

Tuesday, while I was cleaning away, my friend Leanne rang me and said she was organizing a group of girls to go out to dinner and then go and see Sex and the City- was I interested?- WELL YES!!!!

So Tuesday night Leanne, Marlene, Sally, Lian and myself went out to dinner at Bambinos. The dinner was delish- I had chilli prawns and vegies- mmm mmm I'll definitely be going back for more!!! We then went to see Sex and the City- what a GREAT movie. I loved the TV series and I was not disappointed with the movie- I laughed, I cried and laughed some more- It was fantastic. Afterward we all went back to Leanne's for wine and coffee- such a great night. I love nights like this and we have all agreed we NEED to do it again soon!!!

Wednesday- Leanne and I took 9 kids ten pin bowling!!!! We didn't bowl but all the kids did. I had Emma's friend Kira with me for the day as she was meant to come ice skating with us on Monday but couldn't at the last minute. After the bowling and lunch Leanne asked Sarah back to play with Kaitlyn and Taylor. I took Emma and Kira home with me and the little cherubs cooked cup cakes- making a total mess of my kitchen. Never mind- easily cleaned and they had fun...plus the cup cakes were yummo!!!

Tuesday afternoon the girls played happily while I cleaned!! My wonderful husband bought me a new printer so I totally cleaned out our study. Our study was more of a dumping ground than a study so it took me a good few hours to go through it and really sort it but now it looks sparkling and my new printer is set up and working beautifully- in fact I love it!!! I've printed out lots of photos already!!! Woo hoo!!!
Late in the afternoon Leanne rang to ask if Sarah could sleep over, so with one less child in our house, Emma asked if Kira could sleep at our place.... so I ended up with two anyway!!! The girls were very good, in fact, no trouble at all.

That brings us to today- I made Emma and Kira pancakes for breakfast and the girls then amused themselves while I cleaned some more- never ending isn't it!!! Just after lunch Sarah was dropped home and I dropped Kira home - in time to pick up Aunty Loraine..... the girls and I took her out to afternoon tea- mmm cake and coffee at Y2K-yum yum!!!

Tonight I have made a very delicious chicken and vegetable soup and I've managed to scrap another challenge!! I've now complete K10. Create a layout using only products from the June Tarisota collection - boy was it a challenge, I so wanted to use other bits and pieces but I refrained and I'm really pleased with how it has turned out. I'll photograph it tomorrow and show you- promise! :)
Here is J5. Scrap a LO that has the word FRIEND/FRIENDSHIP in the title.
I scrapped this Tuesday in between cleaning!!!

My plans for tomorrow have changed as Dad has to come to Perth tomorrow for day surgery- (last minute thing) so the girls and I are going to catch the train to Perth about lunch time and have lunch with Mum.
Let me divert here for a sec- a few weeks ago my wonderful husband asked me what I would like for my birthday (I'm 40 very soon- eeeekkk!!). Well I said I wouldn't mind this or that but what I would really like is xxxxxx- not expecting any more than a grunt.
Well tonight DH says "While you are in Perth tomorrow, seeing your Mum, you had better order xxxxxx (it has to be ordered) and give me the details so I can pick it up before your birthday"-WOO HOO, how happy am I???? I really couldn't believe my ears!!! Doing the happy dance here!!! Sorry but I'm not letting on to what xxxx is, just in case I jinx myself- however I'll be sure to share when I'm 40!!!!!!

So this happy little camper is signing off now- I so hope your day is wonderful!!!!(Yes- I'm still smiling!!!)
Love Janine xxx

Busy, busy, busy!!!

2008-07-15T10:43:00.012+08:00

We are still loving the school holidays!!! Boo hoo- they are far too short!!

Sunday- the girls and I went to Emily's birthday party. It was at The Steel Tree Restaurant and man the food was delicious!!! I have a new favourite sweets too- an afagatto with baileys- mmmm mmmmm very scrummo!!!

Here is the gorgeous birthday girl-

and check out these two cuties!!!

And my other cutie who (boo hoo) will be 11 before I know it. After the yummo scrummo meal we took all the kids to the park across the road and played some very hilarious party games. It was such a great day and the weather was beautiful!!!!

Monday-

Ice skating- YAY!! This is becoming a set activity that we do each holidays and the kids love it!!

These fabulous kiddos were so well behaved- the only downer was that Maursie was meant to come too however Connor wasn't very well so she gave it a miss! Hey Miss Maurise- we'll be going next school holiday so you will definitely have to come then!!!!

Here are some random shots from the skating session-

After skating Kim and I took the kids to Gateways SC for lunch and a wander around the shops. Look what Miss Taylah (well, Kim) bought for my little Miss Emma-
Taylah has the other half of the heart that says "BEST". Emma tells me she is going to wear it forever and ever because Taylah is going to be her best friend forever and ever- too, too sweet!

Today I'm at home washing, vacuuming, cleaning, etc etc- all the boring stuff!! It is a good day to stay home as it is raining. I'm hoping to get some more scrapping done a little later!!!

I had better go- it is 11:25 and I'm still in my jammies!!!!

Have a great day!

Love Janine xxx

Wow- this is post # 200!!!

2008-07-12T17:33:00.008+08:00

200 posts- well I'll be!!!

Our happy household is still enjoying the holidays!!
I didn't actually scrap on Thursday night as I had planned, rather I spent some quality time with my wonderful husband. It was a weird feeling however having no kids in the house- I missed them and was really pleased to see them when I got to Kim's on Friday. The girls had an absolute blast and didn't want to leave. Thanks again Kim!!!

Today- oh, before I tell you about today-
HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY.
Kim's DD turns 11 today! All here in the King house wish you a wonderful day Emily- pop over to Kim's blog and wish Emily a Happy Birthday- she'll be thrilled!!!!

This morning, my girls were slothing around on the lounge and still in their pjs at 11am so I cracked the whip, made them get dressed and we hit the shops. We went down to Mandurah and boy did we shop!!! Four or so hours later, we staggered back to the car with all our bargains!! Lots of shops are having sales at the moment so we all got some new goodies!!! I was especially pleased to get some new skinny leg jeans so now I can wear my new rocking red boots to Miss Emily's party tomorrow!!! Both the girls scored new clothes- not that they need any!!!

Yay- I also have some scrapping to share-

J1.Scrap a LO using no patterned paper.

J8. Scrap a LO using the journaling rub on we bought (bird or owl)

Tonight I hope to get another LO or two finished- I'm seriously loving this holiday challenge Kim and I have got going. Maursie has joined in too- woo hoo- check out her rockin' LOs on her blog!!! I'm now half way through- yep, 10/20 LOs done!!!!

Please stay safe and remember to snuggle cuddle your loved ones!!!
Love Janine xxx

Oh man, my house is quiet......

2008-07-10T17:13:00.006+08:00

I'm kidless...... again!

The very brave Kim took my girls home with her (and her girls) this afternoon for a sleep over! All the girls were SUPER excited and I see Kim's point - the girls will all keep each other company and she'll have time to scrap- well here's hoping anyway!!! Thanks Kim- you're a gem!

So....that means my house is very quiet and very empty (DH is still at work). I may just have to scrap myself- yay!!!

I managed three more challenges yesterday as I was kidless yesterday too! During Tuesday my friend Jodie and I played phone tag, leaving message after message for each other before we finally caught up Tuesday night. Jodie invited Emma (with her daughter Kira) to go to a basketball clinic for the morning and then a play in the afternoon. So Jodie picked Emma up at 8:30 in the morning and I didn't see her until 5 that afternoon. Just after I got off the phone from Jodie, Gracie rang and invited Sarah over to play so off she went too. No kids all day!

I did do several loads of washing and other bits of house work before I started scrapping.

K1. Complete an online challenge & link the website when you upload.

This is this month's scrapjack for Aussie Scrapjack. We got to scrapjack Zina Wright. I found Zina a little challenging to scrapjack as her style is so unique, so Zina!!! I am pleased with how this LO has turned out and I just love this photo of Emma- it is SO her!!!!

J3. Scrap a LO that uses a song title or song lyrics as the LO title.

K4. Use more than 10 eyelets or brads on a single layout.

I've used 12 brads- they are on the wings and the body of the butterfly.

I love this Irish Blessing. It says "May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun. And find your shoulder to light on. To bring you luck, happiness and riches. Today, tomorrow and beyond."

This morning both my girls had dentist appointments. Straight after the dentist we met Kim at the cinema with her girls and we went and saw MAMMA MIA!!! WOW- what a great movie. We loved it!! My toes were tapping the whole way through. Kim gave me a copy of the Mamma Mia soundtrack CD and I've been bopping away to it in my car- love that too!!!

I highly recommend Mamma Mia, in fact I would love to see it again.

After the movie, Kim and I took the girls out to lunch. We went to Betty Blues again- boy their food is delicious!!! I ate far too much but it was YUMMY!!! That is how my girls ended up at Kim's house- they followed her home after lunch- LOL, not really!!!

Kim just messaged and she is scrapping and the girls are behaving- thank goodness!!!!

Anyway I must go and get scrapping- I have no excuse tonight for not getting some more LOs finished!

Hope your day is wonderful.

Love Janine xxx

Another one down...

2008-07-08T21:08:00.007+08:00

I have managed another challenge!! Woo hoo!!!

J6. Kim scrap lift one of Janine’s LOs and Janine scrap lift one of Kim’s LOs.

Here is my LO and below is Kim's.

I love both LOs- thanks Kim, I loved scrap lifting you!!! :)

In other news, this special girl received the sacrament of reconciliation for the first time today.

Afterwards, Emma, Sarah and I went out to celebrate with a yummo scrummo lunch at Betty Blues. We then continued to celebrate and went shopping!!! The surf shop just around the corner from Betty Blues was having a sale- he he he ..... say no more, we came out with a nice big bag of goodies!!!! I {heart} shopping!!!
Check out this photo- it was one I snapped in Betty Blues. Check out Sarah's hair colour...NO I haven't dyed her hair, this is totally natural!!! Stunningly beautiful isn't it????

After our little shopping spree at the surf shop, we went to our local shopping centre where Sarah scored some new ugg boots and some new black boots!!! Lucky possum!!!
We then met up with friends for coffee and cake down the foreshore. Kim, Lian and I managed to survive coffee and cake with all seven of our kiddos without too much drama and the kids even got a play in the park across the road. We then relocated ourselves to Lian's house for a wine- all in all, a fabulous day!! I love catching up with friends, whether it be coffee or wine.....it is so good for the soul to spend time with friends!! I love it...thanks Kim and Lian!!!!

I'm home now and hopefully I'll be able to scrap another LO tonight.
Be happy and stay safe.
Love Janine xxx

More scrapping....

2008-07-07T12:47:00.004+08:00

Last night I managed to finish two more 'holiday challenges'-

K2. Use a Grungeboard alphabet on a layout.

The word 'beyond' are grungeborad letters that I have inked.

J10. Scrap school photo/s – the professional ones we pay for every year and never scrap!!!

Hmmm, I really should try harder when I photograph my LOs...they're all so crooked- sorry!!!

I have been busy cleaning, washing, vacuuming, washing floors etc this morning. Grace has gone home now so it is just me and my girls. The girls are happily playing MarioKart- again, so I am going to see if I can scrap another challenge or two before we head out later this afternoon.
My friend Lian has organised for a group of us to go and see the West Coast Fever play against NSW Swifts tonight at Challenge Stadium. The girls and I are really looking forward to it, it should be a good game!!! (West Coast Fever is the WA netball team).

That's all folks!!!!

Love Janine xxx

YAY...holidays!!!

2008-07-06T18:50:00.008+08:00

Woo hoo- the holidays are finally here!!!! Yeeee haaaa!!! I {heart} holidays!!!!

Not that my life has slowed down, in fact I have been as busy as ever!!! Friday night the girls still had basketball, so I braved the cold and sat through three games of basketball when I would have much rather been at home. Never mind, once I got home I had a well deserved glass of wine and scrapped my first 'holiday challenge' LO.
Here is my first challenge- K3. Create a layout using the sketch shown below.

The girls didn't have netball on Saturday morning however they still had acrobatics. After acro Grace came home with us and myself, Sarah, Emma and Grace all went off to the movies. Emma has been filling in for her friend Kira's basketball team and the team had a holiday outing so they invited Emma along.....so Sarah, Grace and I went too. We went to the movies and saw Get Smart. I enjoyed it but I think some of the jokes went over the girls' heads. After the movies we all went to Hungry Jacks for a snack!! The kids loved this and played away happily until all the parents finally dragged them away!!!
Grace slept over because Marlene and Macca were going to a 40th. We had a wonderful time playing with the new MarioKart Wii game I bought while the girls were at acro. I bought an extra steering wheel too so we spent the night racing each other- great family fun!!! I made the girls go to bed reasonably early as Grace and Sarah had to get up for a basketball carnival Sunday morning. Grrr- my normally quiet street wasn't so quiet last night. A house about five house down from me had a rather noisy party- now I'm not one to deny people a good party however there were people everywhere, walking (or rather staggering) up and down our street, past our house all the time. Bottles were being smashed on the road and the party goers were generally being a pain. Rusty kept barking at all the noisy drunks staggering by. The police were eventually called however I was awake much longer than I had anticipated.
I did manage to finish a LO while all this was going on!!!
K8. Scrap a layout using no card stock and at least two patterned papers
There are two pp on this LO- the blue one and the second is the black Rusty Pickle paper surrounding the photo.

Sunday morning I was up and organized early. I prepared a curry in the slow cooker and even made the girls home made bacon and egg muffin burgers for breakfast!! Then we were off- Sarah and Grace had to play in a basketball carnival at Willetton. They played well, winning two of their three games and only losing the third game by two goals.
Emma stayed at home with Adam and when we got back here the girls (Grace was still with me) made cup cakes. A week or so ago I bought these gorgeous silicone star shaped patty pans and the girls were itching to try them out. I let all three loose in the kitchen and they cooked up a storm. I scrapped while they cooked. They even made the icing themselves- can you tell!!!!
Do not adjust your computer- this is really the colour of the icing!!!! Despite the in-your-face colour, the cakes actually taste yummy!!!

Tonight Grace is still here- she has managed to score another sleep over so all three girls are watching Gladiators. We have eaten our scrummo yummo curry and I'm just about to top up my wine and keep scrapping!!
I hope your day is wonderful!
Be happy,
Love Janine xxx