Sleepy

Oh, how I dislike working between Christmas and New Year. Motivation is non-existant and the days d..r..a..g. Almost the long weekend and I can catch up on sleep again - yay!

Since I've been back at work, I haven't really gotten up to much else. Done a miniscule amount of scrapping (FK stuff, so I can't share) and hardly played with my sewing machine at all. I'm pretty keen to use it to actually sew (and of course, do lots of sewing on my layouts!), but I don't know where to start. Anyone got a suggestion for something easy to do? I've got a house full of blinds to make, but they're no fun. I suggested to Rog that I make him some clothes, but he gave me a death stare that basically said *if you make me clothes I will leave you*. LOL. Lucky I was only joking.

Out for dinner for my Poppy's 78th birthday tonight. Nice. Don't have to cook. But do have to look presentable, which could be a problem. The makeup is so not coming out today. They will just have to deal with me and my pasty face as-is.

Edited to add: I have been SO inspired by Keisha's blog today. Might be all the stitching she does making me want to use my new toy, or just the beautiful balanced simplicity to her pages. Been thinking a lot about simplifying my pages. Less product, more focus. Or something like that.

Open Boxes Day

Well... that's my take on Boxing Day anyway! Often we hit the Boxing Day sales the day after Christmas, but this year we were just too exhausted. Had a great day yesterday - lunch with Roger's family was lovely. Informal, lots of people. Then we headed off to my parents - just them, us, my sis and grandparents. They were patiently waiting for us so they could 'pick' the tree (which I've recently discovered is NOT a phrase that is in everyone's vocabulary. We have always said 'pick the tree' and I have a feeling it's an English thing. Any theories?) After dinner, a lovely seafood and cold meat dinner, then I promptly fell asleep on the couch.

As per usual, I was completely spoiled this year. For Roger's family we did a Kris Kringle as I have previously mentioned. His parents bought me a new wok, 'The Bronze Horseman', a cute crop jacket, a bracelet and a new lovely bathrobe. Nice.

Kel bought me a gorgeous Allanah Hill skirt and earrings and the game 'Cranium' for me and Rog. We got the game 'Simpsons Operation' from her ex-boyfriend - it's so funny. Just like the original Operation, but Homer yells at you every time you make the buzzer go off. My grandparents bought me another robe (oops - double up!). Rog bought me a great storage thingy for my scrapping stuff - it has four big drawers and it's on wheels. Very handy (I've put all my stuff in it already). And my parents completely spoiled me. I got the usual assortment of underwear, chocolate, kitchen gizmos, plus a new stab blender (with loads of attachments) and this:


OMG! When I put a sewing machine on my list, I only would have expected a little cheapy Brother one or something. How much does this one ROCK?! It does everything. Now I'm inspired to learn how to sew! Thinking about heading down to Spotlight to pick up some patterns and fabric :o) I've got a stack of pins and chalks and things stashed away somewhere from high school home-ec too...

So... I'm a happy girl today opening everything, finding homes for things, and playing!! Hope you all have fabulous Christmases and have had a lovely peaceful, restful Boxing Day!

Christmas Eve Eve

Just got home from work - made sure it was a nice slack day. The ED was pretty quiet - people were obviously too busy Christmas shopping to be sick. We opened a bottle of wine at lunchtime and sat around chatting which was really nice. Such a great group of people that I work with. I have four days off, and I'm back to work on Wednesday.

Still got lotsa shopping to do, and Rog has very kindly pissed off to his brother's house so it seems he won't be helping me. Grrrrr. Think I'll nap this afternoon and try to go later. Maybe try to do some scrapping, although the layout i'm doing (for FK DT stuff) has a TONNE of handstitching and it's driving me nutso!

Looks like I'll have a busy four days with shopping, Christmas services, Christmas lunch and dinner, Boxing Day stuff then more family stuff on Tuesday. Thank goodness I've decided to have a low key New Years (hopefully!) Feeling pretty exhausted and looking forward to all these celebrations to be over, even though I love them!

Hope everyone's dealing with all the Christmas madness! And if I don't get here again before hand:

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Huge thanks for all your comments, emails and general internet lovin (in the good way!) Have a fabulous Christmas, spoil your families, and blog about it :o)

More tagage

Wow. Can you believe it's the 20th of December already. OMG. This year is almost over. Bittersweet year. But I'll talk about that another time. Just got back from dinner at the local Thai restaurant. It was so yum. I flatly refused to cook after my first 10 hour day back at work. But it was nice to go out for dinner - just the two of us.

Now, once again I have been tagged, this time by the fabbo Miss Rachie.

Never in my life: did I think I'd be a scrapbooker, or a scrapbooker who won things, or a scrapbooker who knew other scrapbookers. Crazy stuff.

When I was five: I had a wierd English accent that I got from hanging around my grandparents too much. I have a tape somewhere of me reading a story about a duck, and the accent is so funny! For the record, I was born in Australia, and my mum has been here since she was 12. Go figure.

High School is: a six year period in which I tried to find my identity and failed miserably. I think I'm getting there now...

I once met: Tony Featherstone, the keyboard player from the Badloves. We met on an internet group, I was a wierd groupie, and talked to him at a gig.

There’s this girl: that I know who wishes she could say what she really feels.

Once, at a bar: I got drunk for the first time ever. A strange man pinched my ass when I went up to buy drinks, and when I went into the toilet, I hated the fact that my feet wouldn't go where I wanted them to, but I quite liked the sensation of the cubicle swaying from side to side.

Last night: I had a rehearsal for our carols service. I LOVE singing carols. And my friend and singer-extraordinaire Barry is singing O Holy Night. That's the BEST (see previous tag post).

When I turn my head left, I see: Our old desk with my camera, disorganised in-box and someone elses Apple computer on it.

When I turn my head right, I see: My printer, and some makeshift bookshelves that are covering the window.

A better name for me would be: Felicity. Don't know why. Just think it fits.

I have a hard time understanding: Negativity.

You know I like you if: I reply to your email pretty much as soon as I get it :o)

Take my advice: Get a massage.

My ideal breakfast is: Bacon and maple syrup at a cafe in the hills.

If you spend the night at my house: I will cook the most amazing dinner for you, play a board game, and probably fall asleep early!

I always make it a point to: have instant coffee in the house.

I’d rather lick the belly of a cockroach than: paint a house.

And by the way: I've got deadlines coming out of my ears. HELP!

Layouts home again... and good news

Got my CBX DT application layouts back this afternoon. And some lovely free stuff with it! About 5 bits of CBX patterned paper and 3 bit of bazzill - yay! Although, I think doing the DT application got all the Chatterbox out of my system and I'm finding it really hard to scrap with! Here's the layouts - the theme was 'What are you addicted to or can't live without'.




Funny. Again when they came back I though, gee my style has changed. But I think I just scrap differently for DT applications/competitions. Don't know why, just do.

Now for the good news. Just a few minutes ago I got an STD phone call from the lovely Dorlene at Bumblebee Crafts asking me to be on their design team! Yay me! I think all of my scrapping dreams came true this year - I got published, on a mag design team (never even dreamed of that!) and a store design team. Being on two design teams is definitely going to up the pressure, but yay! And with BB Crafts, I get FREE PRODUCT. Aren't they the best two words EVER?! Dorlene said there were five DT members so far - so I'm very interested to see who I will be working with.

Phew... too much excitement here. Did a fair bit of my Chrissy shopping this morning. Just a few bits and pieces to go. Plus Roger's pressie. Sigh. He like expensive toys. Grrrr. Gotta rush out to Spotlight, Kmart and the supermarket for some FOOD. Going to print some t-shirts for my niece and friends bubba - trying to think of some cute sayings to print on them... Suggestions welcome.

K... must go. Happy shopping :o)

More scrapping just for me

Happy girl

Why? Because it's Sunday and the mailman just brought me this:


Yummy, yummy new product. Scenic Route paper, lots of Heidi - scenery rubons, corner rubons, white apple pie rubons (been wanting them forever!), plastic alphas and tape - some luscious MM velvet alphas and two packs of downtown ribbon! I actually won an auction over at SAM and got all this for half price! Can't wait to play :o)

My week off is almost over - just tomorrow left. Today I really need to do washing and cleaning, but once that's done I might be able to fit a bit of scrapping in. Tomorrow I must be on a mission to do LOTS of Christmas shopping! Going to get out early - have to, cos the pest control guy is coming between 11.30 and 1pm to check out the mutant ants that have infested our roof space and are eating through our ceiling (yep - literally - we've got the holes to prove it!)

K... off to whack a load of washing on and clean the bathroom. I LOVE having a clean bathroom :o)

Puddings and PJs

Even now that the 'balls' challenge is over (thanks, Rach!) I still feel guilty that I didn't blog yesterday. Suppose I've gotten into a good habit - I quite like my little blog! I am enjoying my week off, but haven't really got anything done that I said I would. Looks like I'll be doing last minute shopping with everyone else.

Yesterday though, I made these:



Two Christmas puddings. The big one was supposed to be for the in-laws Christmas lunch, but apparently my SIL got in first and made one. So... that one will go in the cupboard for next year. The little one is going to a friend who said the other day that she LOVES pudding - so I promised her one. I really hope they worked out! I am loving the red pudding basins!

Today, I'm going to get out my to-do list and see how much stuff I can cross off it. Got the annual Christmas dinner with my two best friends from high school (sans husbands) tonight, and I need to make an entree to take. Should be a good night :o) Must take photos.

Can't believe it's 10.30 already. And I haven't got dressed yet. Disgraceful!

Cryptic

I'm a bit lost for words today. Wierd day.

Trying to get some stuff done but not having much luck. Planning to make puddings tomorrow, so need to get out to get a load of dried fruit, plus the pudding basins. Must finish writing Christmas cards.

Out to yet another Christmas party tonight. Greek. Yum.

Hopefully I will be more capable of stringing together a sentence tomorrow...

HELP!

Ok... so the in-laws got us in the family Kris Kringle this year. And they are asking for, no, demanding a gift list. Add to that the demands from my own parents, my sister, my grandparents and my husband. Most years I don't have too much trouble scribbling down twenty or so things I want, but this year I am really struggling.

Don't get me wrong, we are not obsessed with the whole gift thing. We all just like getting other people what they actually want. And my parents go way overboard with gifts - it's their love language - they just love spoiling us. And I'm not complaining ;o)

So a quick shout out to my girls who are reading - any ideas for things I can whack on this list of mine? What's on your lists? I might have to steal ideas. The Kris Kringle limit is $80-$100. Sigh. Christmas lists shouldn't be this hard.

Meanwhile... I haven't seen anyone else's lists. Grrrrrr.

Hmmm... I'm hungry. I'm in holiday mode (yay for my week off!) so although I still get up early, brekky doesn't usually happen until i get really hungry. Which is now. At 11am. Time for muesli and another coffee.

Tagged

Rozzie did the Christmas, sharing-caring thing and tagged me...

1.Do you decorate your house this time of year? if so… how? ( a photo or description. )

See my last post for our bee-utiful tree :o) Otherwise, not so much so. I have a wreath that I made at craft camp (no, seriously, I went on craft camp as an adult) a few years ago, but other than that, I haven't really got any decorations. We're not around much this time of year, but I do love having the tree up.

2.Have you ever been in a decoration competition?

Nope. Don't really get it. I just do it for me.

3. How much is too much?

I'm not one for anything that moves or has any element of tackiness. I like simple and classy. Lights are good. Blow up santas are not.

4. How do you celebrate this time of year?

Lots of cooking! We alternate between Roger's parents and my parents for lunch - this year it's lunch at his, dinner at mine.

5.Whose job is it to wrap all the Christmas gifts? Will you (or whoever) use gift bags, or wrapping paper?

Mine, cos I LOVE wrapping presents! I love all the pressies looking coordinated and pretty under the tree. I use wrapping paper, but get a bit obsessive about putting things in square boxes before I wrap them so they look nice.

6. What do you dislike most about the holiday season?

The preoccupation with Santa, busy shops (hate, hate, hate it... wish I could do all my shopping online), being out every night at Christmas functions when I just feel like relaxing!

7. What are your top 3 fav Xmas songs.

O Holy Night - sung by my friend and singer-extraordinairre Barry McKay
O Little Town of Bethlehem
When a Child is Born - sung by the amazingly beautiful Marina Pryor

8. Real tree or fake?

Fake all the way - LOL.

And it wasn't a question, but my most favourite part of Christmas is watching the Melbourne Carols by Candlelight on Christmas Eve. I sing at our two Christmas Eve services, then rush home to see the start. I LOVE Carols...

In other news, I got my FK ET entries back - apart from the one that is going to be in the book. I am also mysteriously missing my favourite layout - they didn't say they wanted it for the book, but it hasn't come back with the others... Here's the two I did get that you haven't seen! Funny, my style has changed so much since then, and it wasn't even that long ago.

I printed the photo in this one on canvas:

And lastly wanted to thank everyone for continuing to read and comment on this blog! I'm constantly flattered, amazed and given warm-fuzzies - love you guys!

Edited to add: ALMOST FORGOT... Rachie - you are SO tagged!

It's beginning to feel a lot like...

That's right, kids. I finally got the Christmas tree up - yay for me :o) And here's a really poor photo of it:


I took the photo on an angle, cos the tree seems to have a lean... will have to sort that out later, before the cat attacks it and brings the whole lot down. Oh, and here are my gorgeous angel candles that I got at Ikea last year:


And lastly, the mini album I made for my parents to say a big thankyou for taking us to Brampton Island:













I'm off to get sorted for my dinner guests.

I have scrapped

Excuse the darkness at the bottom of the layout - the crystal brads are a bit bulky for my scanner...

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh. That was a sigh of relief. I can still scrap.

Masters

OK, so I got with the program and bought the Masters book today. Had a good flick through, and... I'm a bit scared to say this in case it come across nasty or something (oh, what the heck, I didn't even enter the thing)... but I wasn't impressed with a lot of the winning layouts. Shhhhhh. Don't tell anyone.

There were quite a few that I did LOVE though - so here' s MY Masters list - LOL

• Alli Paterson's canvas on page 41 - the steel mesh got me!
• Rozzie's 'Scrapbooking... a whole new world' layout on pg 44 - just LOVE the composition and all that ribbon
• Roz's BTP on pg 46-47 - again, unbelievable. Love it, love it, love it.
• Quite like Mishell's 'Scrappin' always' layout and her calender BTP (pgs 60 and 63)
  
• Erica's 'Scrapping Mum' on pg 76 - I can't go past pink
• Andrea Thompson's 'Express' on pg 114 - really like how she put this one together

And there's a few in the HM section (including Brooke's, Julie Love's and Carol-Lea's calender).

So that's it... I said it! Just my humble opinion, and I'd love people to disagree with me.

Still haven't cleaned the house, still haven't scrapped anything. I'm getting there. Feeling a bit off today - I think the cold that has been threatening me all week is on its way. Less whinging, more vitamins, Tammy.

And I promise to upload if I actually manage to create anything anytime soon. :o)

Blogged out

K, so I'm really trying to do this blog per day thing, but tonight... I'm just feeling a bit tired and uninspired. But... can I just say that I just made the cutest flower accent out of fabric and a crystal brad that I got from my secret santa. Now, just to find a photo to scrap so I can use it. Nope, useless. No photos. Blah.

I'm going to go and admire my flower. See you tomorrow.

Wednesday

Nothing to report, troops. Busy day today, so it flew. I'm onto my short days now. So much to do. Realised I haven't posted any photos for ages, but every time I go out lately, I don't get any good pics. It's really frustrating. I just deleted a whole lot that I took at the bbq on Monday. Blah.

I really need to get Christmassy this weekend. Put the tree up. Write my cards. Do some shopping. They're all on the list. Have to plan the NYE party too - it always comes down to us to throw one. Mostly cos we throw good parties :o) I'm thinking about a bit of a 70s, fondue, Austin Powers type thing. Groovy baby.

Got to thinking tonight. I haven't scrapped anything for me in so long. It has all been FK DT stuff, because that's all I have time for. And last night I whipped up a mini album for my parents with Brampton photos. I almost feel like I can't waste my creativity just in case I need it for DT stuff - LOL! I have to do two layouts and a mini album for the next brief. Not too bad... hopefully the mini album won't cause me too much grief! I think perhaps my lack of inspiration is secondary to my lack of good photos. You know when you have a great photo, you just need to scrap it?

Let me leave you with one of my FK ET entry layouts - the only one I remembered to scan before I sent them off, and the only 12x12 I entered. Not really my style, but anyways...

Mixed up day

So, I fell off the wagon yesterday and forgot to blog. But I'm back.

Had a shocking day at work - it was quiet and slow and felt like it lasted forever. I've got a cold coming on so I'm all achy and snotty. And worst of all, they have blocked access to Blogger so I can't blog from work - GRRRRRRR. I can, however, still chat on msn (go figure) and had lovely chats to Roz and Ali today - yay!

Everything got a whole lot better when I got home and discovered a nice big package - my Scrapboxx secret santa pressie! I was very spoilt with SEI coasters, ribbon, gem brads, iron on letters (OMG how cool are they?!), embroidery thread and a whole lot of other cool stuff. I got all inspired to scrap then got caught up here. Must... get... off... computer...

Had a break-up bbq with one of our church groups last night. Had such an awesome time. There were 4 kids there - aged 1, 2, 4 and 6, and we had a ball playing with them. I love watching Rog play with kids - they absolutely love him. Makes me sad too tho, cos I really want him to have kids of his own to play with. He will be such a great daddy.

Really gotta go and scrap. And do my Christmas list cos all the rellies are pestering us. Can't really think of anything I want this year... oh, except a Canon 350D, but I think that's over the Kris Kringle limit...

Getting there

Firstly, let me explain a few things. After reading over yesterday's blog entry, it made things sound a bit vulgar - LOL. Yes, I was out late, but no I wasn't raging drunk. Only a little drunk. We just danced all night - and I really do love dancing, so it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be to stay awake. I crashed on the floor of a female colleague and drove home the next day. No hangover. No regrets.

Today, I was trying to be very productive. And I have finished my last two layouts for my DT commitments. Quite happy with them. Just need to write up all my text and a biography - eek! Already have the brief for the next one, but have a week off to tackle that.

Got my free FK in the mail this week, because my first published layout is in it. Not DT stuff. It's a Christmas layout that I did about 18 months ago - and I truly hate it. LOL. Anyways... it's there, it's done, and I have moved on! And I was very happy to get a contract in the mail this week for one of my ET application layouts to be in the FK book. It's a layout I did on my old stereo which got demoted to the shed when we got our new one. I quite liked the concept - and apparently so did they!

Rog has been very helpful today so I could get my stuff finished. He's gone down to the shops to bring back some lunch. Then I'll get back to it all. And go to do some grocery shopping...

Feeling slightly overwhelmed! Better get off the pute and back to work.

Let's just say...

... that I didn't make it home last night
... that Rog left me in the "capable" hands of my fellow physios
... that the show we saw at the casino left much to be desired
... that we ended up at a very, very bad nightclub
... that I danced so much that I thought my feet were going to fall off
... that I got about one hour sleep on the floor of a colleague's bedroom
... that I hope noone ever sees the photos

Blogaday

K... so Rachie threw out the challenge on her blog for us to do a blog a day. I don't know how I'll go with that, but this is a start :o)

Off to the work Christmas party at Crown Casino tonight. Sure to be a messy one, I think! Rog wants to leave early cos he has school tomorrow, so unless I'm having a fantastic time, I'll head home with him. Otherwise... well... who knows what will happen. Fun to get all dressed up with makeup and all (and my sister's top!!) and head out on the town. Altho it's raining like you wouldn't believe in Melbourne.

And can I just say, I've been SO inspired by Ali Edwards' blog this week. Amazing girl.

Back tomorrow... maybe ;o)

Moving

No... not us. My parents. They are moving out of the big four bedroom house that they built 12 years ago, into a three bedroom house with no garden at a ritzy golf club estate. Moving up in the world. How happy is my golfer dad?!

We've spent the last few weeks getting all our crap out of the house - old school stuff, uni notes, wedding dress (really must get the wine stain out of that one!). And have inherited some new stuff - an extra freezer, some tools, a cot (*sigh*). It's a little sad to be saying goodbye to the house, but I'm happy for them to be moving somewhere where they can have more of a social life, not worry about the garden, do something different.

My mum is sounding stressed. She's like me (or I'm like her). We don't do change very well. So, I'll head over there this arvo and try to lighten things up. Take my camera and get some pics of the house where I spent my teen years. The house I first brought Rog to to meet the parents. Where I studied for my degree. The house I prepared for my wedding in.

Will post some pics later on...