Just a little bit....

...I am off on a girls night away tonight. Fancy motel..Fancy restaurant..Fancy shoes! And new skinnies..Rasberry...Yum...

You have a nice weekend too..
Massasge and manicure and sleep in...Here I come...

Everything about this:

Makes my heart sing.. The supportive arms of his sister. The little canvas blue runners I was sure I would never have on a little boy...The pinkness of the skateboard..(A dash of the colour that surrounds his everyday..He often uses a pink toothbrush..A pink sippy cup..Pushes a pink pram..) The hoodie over his head..Courtesy of said sister... The little arms outreached for balance and support form another sister - out of the image...He is still so small..But has to be a part of everything that they do...

This..Today is my happy place...

Bye xx

woodgrain repeat:

Seeing how all everyone seemed to love the woodgrain paper from two post ago. I thought I would wet your appetite some more. I actually bought four of these patterned papers - because I knew I would want to use it as a background again and again ......and again....

Photos are different though. It rained once and Yarrawonga this Summer and having been accustomed to roaming free - the minute he was let loose he sat in a puddle and them rolled in it.. I'm generally a bit anal about dirt - the washing required on a normal day in our family is beyond imagining -  let alone a MUDDY day... Si I tend to instantly  go mental - but how happy was he?

Sigh...
Lucky the weather was still hot and the washing dry up there in a heartbeat...

xx

Happiness is:

I am a positive person as a general rule and smile everyday...

BUT...

You know those mornings you have? You know...Where you have a list of mundane boring tasks you have to do. And I mean have to do:

• five loads of washing ( if the girls want clean clothes for school ever again!)
• sweeping (if I ever want to see the floor again...)
• grocery shopping (if we want ever to eat again...)
• five little kidlets bags to unpack and fold away. ( if we ever want to holiday again.. Why?)
• my own bag to unpack ( if I want set a fine example...sigh...Do I really???)
• Diswasher to unpack ( if I want to see my sink again...)
• Dry clothes to fold and put away ( If I want to dry previously mentioned holiday washing.. this is critical. Damn.)
• menu planning for the week.. ( if we intend to actually go grocery shopping!)

And then there's the list of things you might actually like to do:

• scrapbook an online challenge...( but desk is to messy..)
• make a cute little canvas for my friends new baby girl.. (again desk way too messy.)
• cruise around other people's blogs leaving comments and wistfully looking into their orderly appearing lives...(secretly realising they are probably just like me...)
• get to your fitness class tonight before kids go to bed afer hubby gets home..(yeah right.)
• Call my girlfriend to chat about upcoming girls night away ..(sans children and hubby ..Is it really still four nights away???????)

So with all this in my head..Swirling..Making me mental.. Running around like a blue arse fly.. Putting washing on..Taking littlies to playgroup. My little core of calm and happy thoughts deserts me and I feel useless. I can't really accomplish anything I actually HAVE to do...Let alone the things I would LIKE to do...

And then I  sit down to eat lunch. The washing is on .. The menu is done.. Making a start..My head still in a whirl..

And then my sweet three yr old sits beside me with an orange crayon and promptly draws an M. A true and honest M for her name. I cry..I cheer and she smiles...Glad to have made me so happy.

Happiness is restored. Nothing else matters really. I decide to blog this instead of folding washing...And I realise happiness can be found in the smallest of things and that I should let THESE moments wash over the rest..Always..

I intend to continue to document these little spurts of happiness and look for them in my everyday..

What is your little bit of happy today?

I didn't have a photo at hand of her M...But this my little happy from last week..Her and her handbag...

Celeste xx

dude much?

I loved these photos when I took them and I love how this layout came out. It has a very graphic feel.
It is based on this sketch challenge over at Get Picky:



We had a lovely time at Mt Buller. We are home and everyone is tucked up in bed. Totally pooped! Photos to share soon.

xx

chocolate and sunshine:

When I first saw this challenge at Show Us Your  Stuff..I immerdiately thought of this photo of my darling Grace from Summer at Yarrawwonga. Every year I get an awesome photo of her - WET! She is always having so much fun... The photo her hair and the light - it's just all chocolate and sunshine...

This was the inspiration prompt... I have obviously used aqua as my main colour and Ihave sprinkles and chocolate throughout... Also didn't realise the canvas butterfly would have a pretty pattern after I misted it. So that was a nice little surprise too!

And another layout to leave you with for the weekend.  Up the river,when life was warmer and simpler... Sigh...
We are off to let the men mountain bike down Mt Buller this weekend! Even though it is probably going to snow..How's the irony?

Bye!

Tinsel and trees...Still...

I did warn you that my layouts would be on Christmas overload...So navigate away if you just can't bear to look at Christmas festivities so early in the year!

I have actually enjoyed scrapping them to be honest. Normally I find the them tedious. I printed only a select few this year and made them small too - which helps I think?

Purple Pumpkin March sketch challenge:
I flipped the sketch too..Worked better that way with my particular photos...I ove him in the too large Santa hat. I was lucky to get this photo - he kept pulling it off! Hand cut stars.. I keep thinking I would love a star punch - but I do really like the appearance of handmade ones?? Will ponder on that a while longer..

I might add that I never purchased eevn a piece of Christmas themed paper this year. I think the photos say it all - Christmas wise that is.. If I added Santas and stuff my pages just end up feeling overwhelmed? I think that makes sense?? It was also a challenge to not make them overly girly? As the kids are all in the shots..I have added only splashes of pink.

And I am still not done..More to come.. But I have made a really good start..Hehehehe..

Liz and Dan: cupcakes and cars..

Congratulations Liz and Dan. You had a beautiful wedding and a wonderful sunny day for it too! The botanic gardens was a perfect location to tie the knot. The Willows reception venue looks totally awesome in the photos I think.. I am glad I captured your divine cupcakes and the monaro for Dan..I hope the full shot of the car is is satisfactory!! LOL!

Thanks for letting me capture your special day and trail around after you constantly. I am also glad we agreed to give the thumbs down to Dan's one and only photo location idea too - Sorry Dan the thingmy in the garden just wasn't going to cut it!!!

C xx

Keeping Christmas going:

In an effort to scrap my backlog of photos you may reasonably expect to see alot of Christmas related layouts in the next few weeks.. I like to think of it as keeping the spirit of Christmas alive and well - right into the New Year..Makes it seem as Santa isn't all that TOO far away! Sort of...

I treasure these photos.. I was snapping away and then I noticed the very REAL tears of happiness she had. She was so beside herself to get a 'new' Lucy doll. I had tears in my eyes..

Apologies for the wonky photo too..Very dodge...

This layout was inspired by the Get Picky inspiration challenge for this month.. Pop over and have a squiz.. I missed the entry date though...Boo hoo...

Been down to our local Farmer's Market this morning and I have lots of fresh locally grown organic veges to have with our steak for tea...Photos of this lovely morning will be up soom I'm sure..

another test:

Just a little blog test:

A few everyday photos from this month..Just for a test as I am changing up my blog a wee bit..

Night xx

A challenge and a 'just coz':

First up..I was trolling through my photographed layouts and came across this one:

Started out life as a blog challenge..Went totally off the rails and was unable to contain it to the criteria and it turned out like this. It a photo from last May.When Master R had his first fascination with wheels....I had all the little strips lined up - but not stuck down - I went out for a run - I came back and Rod had cleaned up - including all my little strips....Aaargh.....

Kraft it Up Challenge:

Slowly working through my Christmas shots...This challenge was:

1:piece of Kraft
2: photos
3: word title (I figure I have three MAIN words??)
4: different pieces of patterned paper ( I have used 4. But more than once?)
5: embellies

Aaah close enough for me.. I struggle to not add bit and bobs as I go..Alas with the way of the first layout pictured...

See more layouts for you to see!!!

Bye!

mad colour!

I did say I would post HEAPS of layouts this month..You see I have done heaps of layouts..But I am finding it difficult to find time to upload them and blog... So here is one for you:

I love the MAD yellow of this Basic Grey background.. And this is one of my fave photos of him from the Summer.. I am having an obsession with hand-ruled lines at the moment? Gotta have them everywhere. This was a quick layout. Came together easy and I love it...

And Scrap the Boys:

Actually this is my fave photo of him. Nude, cheeky and trying so hard to be like his older siblings. I had to dash back to the caravan - wet from the pool- to get the shot.

 A bit of a busy layout.. I haven't used bunting for a while and this pre-cut one from Kaiser I think worked really wellBut I love the photo so much I really don't care too much! It has the appropriate title that was required -  "Life Is Good"... and isn't it just?

Well today anyway!

Bye!

12.3.2012

I have recently visited Liz Kartchner's site and thought I might join in her 12 on 12 challenge.

And seeing as today is a public holiday here..I had the perfect opportunity to catch some cute shots of my kids enjoying all the free kids activities at our local festival..

They made mini garden beds, visited a large petting zoo...Made scarecrows..(Which are all now proudly keeping the birds away from absolutely zilch, in what we around here pretend is a garden bed!) and played with clay to make some creatures they are currently now painting in the backyard..Yikes..

Rylan also got sand thrown in his face by some unknown miscreant toddler and had fun chasing the ducks, swans, chooks..Well just about anything of the feathered variety!

Mama was VERY tired from all this excitment..And from doing it on her own..Dad sleeping off a night shift...It was a VERY long walk from where we had to park our car..It was VERY tricky taking all these great photos from wierd and wonderful angles whilst manhandling my little man in tiny little tents where our pram could not follow...

But it was VERY much alot of fun..And beautiful Autumn weather too..

Early to bed tonight me thinks..

March madness?

I finally got all my photos printed from the Summer...A big edit and then a long haul to upload..

But I am so happy to have them in my hands..

New photos always bring on a scrapping fever. Which is really what I need right now. SO...I have decided to scrap as much as I can this month. I want to  keep updated. So be prepared for LOTS of layouts this month. Nothing flashy. No crazy awesome techniques..Just lots of layouts that I need to get done..
Stay tuned. Here's what I have so far:

(Edited to add:) Turns out this layout is perfectly suitable for entry at Scrap The Girls this month:

Not sure about the pastel layout as per usual...BUT I love the photo of Milla.. The joy on her face is priceless..Christmas is so her thing right now...I actually like the last layout the best. Brights. Paint.. And a photo of the two little men...

So anyways...My scrapbook table is a mess now..Ho hum....Probably have to clean it up before I manage to keep up with this scrapbooking madness I have going on....

Bye!

Sweet little Amelia:

My gorgeous friends Lind and Steve produced this adorable little bundle.. Are they clever or what?

Miss Amelia was such a little trooper. She was perfectly behaved..Apart from a few toileting incidents that I don''t need to go into here...Lind and Steve you are doing famously well...You so obviously adore this little person already. It's amazing how after only knowing them for a few days you feel as if you have been with them your whole life. Lind..love...I applaud you..You are in it up to your eyeballs and a doing wonderfully. You even fed her standing up so that she would be calm enough to get the amazing shots with Steve and his guitar. I think that might be my favourite one.. I even quite like the speaker and the guitar case shots.. A little funky???

Thanks for letting me snap your beautiful new daughter..It was an honour...

C xx