For the love of:

But it's bloomin' cold!
Seriously..Would chill the nuts off a .....Well let's just say Brrrrrrrrr..

So much so that my husband and I braved the biting chill to go to the shops to deck ourselves  out in a snug pair of uggs!
Well they're actually NOT the real deal..Obviously with five kids..We weren't shelling out the big bucks for a trendy pair of moccasins! I eventually got mine at Just Jeans after trying on about fifty different pairs in every shop I could say UGG in... Rod was successful in Rivers...

But seriously..I am living in mine.. I love how cosy and warm they are...They look good with whatever outfit I am wearing.. I even nicked to the supermarket in them yesterday and picked Miss M up from kinder in them today..
I step into them from bed..I have them parked beside me. And straight out of the shower..Ahem..Have to say they look good on me even when I am naked as J-bird...hehehehe...I'm right - M even said so...

The stink factor is yet to be determined though...Nothing worse than slippers than smell like old cheese eaten by an even older lady....

Will keep you posted..

Signing off in my uggs....Stay warm where ever you are...

XX

Longing for:

..these Autumn days again.. Cold but not cold enough to not roll around in the fallen leaves and giggle happily...Bitter here now..Truly..

I digress.. This is my layout for the inspiration challenge over at Show Us Your Stuff:



Love a good Autumn tree and had alot of fun creating this layout last week.. Am finding myself in a bit of a form slump of sorts now though..No real overwhelming desire to sit in my cold scrap space..
Let alone cut into paper or mist something!

Also - Sue my giveaway winner...I really need you to email me your address so that I can slip your goodies in the mail...

Ta!

C xx

PS. Doing well with the no sugar thing if you are interested.. None for two days...hehehe...

Feeding the frenzy:

My lovely friend Dani who has her own brand new blog: Fitness, Food and Style came over last Friday and while I buzzed about savvying up her blog she fed all of our kids and us too!

Pizzas on wholemeal wraps..A bit of sauce, ham, pineapple and cheese. whack in the oven and there you have it.. A perfectly healthy afternoon snack that doubles as an activity the kids can be involved in.. She's a goer she is...

Not sur about sucking on the pastry brush?? But the kid does love sauce.. Obviously ours had olives, feta, salami and basil..Yummo.. Not a bad effort feeding NINE hungry kidlets..

Thanks Dani...
She's talking about me giving up sugar??? What the??
I did have my coffee without one this morning!

Yay me!

It's Tues:

Congratulations Sue! Thanks so much stopping by my blog and leaving me such a lovely comment:

"I like you now have a little boy to scrap for after lots of girly's
although in a different way to you, 3 girls of my own, 1 granddaughter; now 1 grandson who turned 1 on the 30th May, so the chance to win some scrapbooking stuff is great thanx"

Can't wait to see what  you do with all my bits and bobs - and I am sure I will see some of your beautiful grandchildren on there!  And yes - it is delightful to scrap boy pages these days.. I really get a kick out of it! Swapping between the girls and Rylan sometimes is enough to reinvigorate me and get my mojo back on track too!

Thanks to everyone else who stopped by for a chance to win.. I will definitely be doing another giveaway! They are so much fun!

Sue - my email is the contact section at the very top of my blog.. Please email me your address and whether or not you would like me to mist your cardstock and your little gifty will be winging it's way to you ASAP!

C xx

Friday giveaway!!!

I was creating this layout the other day..Realising that I use very little of a piece of new patterned paper.. I have a HUGE scrap container that I quite often scrap out of without even remotely cutting into a new piece.. Any way...I decided I could create this layout:

And do this too:

This is my mini kit...All this is exactly what I used to create the 'R' layout and a little bit more too!

AND..

I'M GIVING IT AWAY!!!

YAY!

Now understand..It's full of bits and pieces.. There is a whole piece of cardstock. And if you win..I will happily recreate my misting on it for you if you wish..

I happily cut into many new pieces of paper this time so that I was able to put some in this kit.. There is also an entire dress pattern included and some of my own hand made stars that I used.. I didn't have an entire set f white alpha's so I have included a woodgrain set from Studio Calico instead..
Some of the bits included:

October Afternoon 9-5
bling
buttons
Jillibean Soup
Studio Calico
Crate
Echo Park

Lots of little bit and bobs..Because as you know I put heaps of little things on my work!
I am happy for you recreate the same layout or make your own..

But if you win I would love you to leave me a comment with a link to see what you created!

So how do you win??
The old fashioned way of course...
I am away with my husband - child free this weekend..

So leave me a comment over the weekend and on Monday night I will randomly draw a winner...

GOOD LUCK!

Happy weekend all.. You gotta be in it to win it!

xxxxx

Bootcamp beauties:

I had the pleasure of photographing some of my bootcamp crew for our clever and talented instructor Jac.. I even managed to do the workout and give up my 'baby'  to Jac for a couple of shots!

I must say it is extraordinarily COLD at 9am on a Wed..But well worth the effort once you are warmed up. And the kids don't seem to mind the cold one little bit either. In fact they often ALL do a circuit with me - or end up in the boot of Jac's car!

It really is all about 'fitting in fitness'.......

If you are in Ballarat and would like to find out more about Crabtree Fitness, you can find more details here or contact Jac at crabtreefitness@gmail.com :

Getting Krafty:

Kraft it up June Challenge:

This month your challenge is to create a layout using Kraft Cardstock or Kraft Patterned Paper
and the following...
3 Different Alpha's + 3 Photos + A title with 3 or more words + a masked background!

Done!!

I had fun making frames for the photos from simple journalling paper...

My two fave men!

xx

All about:

She is 8 years and 8 months old
Her fave colour is still purple.
She still sucks her thumb when watching TV - if she thinks I am not looking..
Still sleeps and plays with Friendy..Who is 7 years and 8 months old.. She has a wardrobe of clothing items...
She loves SLEEP.. and a sleep in.. almost always last out of bed on the weekend..After 9am..
Is the slowest breakfast eater..EVER..
Is so gentle and patient with her little brother and sister.And encouraging with them too..
Like to take the 'middle ground'..So is almost always the mediator in arguments with her siblings..
In the unlikely event she is involved in the tiff - well then we have floods of tears..
Wants to do the RIGHT thing so BAD..Decisions are hard for her..Seriously..
Likes raw red capsicum in her lunch box..
Her hair is almost down to her bottom.
Loves anything related to Harry Potter...
Is up to reading book number six in the HP series..
Like Moshi Monsters on the internet..
Is super smart - we've been told..
Sometimes called 'the passenger' during clean up..Tries to get away with not doing alot..
Hangs out with her twin and a gaggle of other girls at school
Is shy initially..She can come across a little aloof. But will open up in time..
Notoriously quiet around other adults..Still..
Loves my homemade spagetti and meatballs the best..
Likes to 'fly under the radar' on most things..Goes about everything in a quiet non-showy kind of fashion? She stays on the edges of things? And  in this way she manages mostly stays out of the firing line..Shifty but extremely clever little miss that she is..
So softly spoken I have to ask her to repeat alot of things she says to me..
Will have a go at everything new.. Has that 'I can' spirit in a soft version.
Is called 'Memmy' by most family members..
Also known as Lizzy and Jem-Bob..


She is one very divine half of my twins..I love her so very much..My sweet Lizzy girl xx

Happy Sunday all

XXXX

You Stuck?

Wanna scrapbook the weekend away? Beat the winter chill?
Need inspiration? Love a good sketch?
Well I have the answers -
Well Stuck does:

Jemma and I at the very summit of Mt Buller..There was time when walking this steep uphill incline in heels would have knackered me..Not anymore..It was obviously a kissing moment!)

( I have changed the layout - please pretend that you didn't see NEXT months layout..oops)

Have a great weekend everyone..
Off to our local farmers market tomorrow.
Making homemade Jamie Oliver pizza's for our guests..
Thanks for putting the idea in my head Dani!

XX

banana pops!

I  dont know about you, but my girls barrel in the door after school - Starving...You know.." We're STARVING Mum...." Said with venom and a touch of sarcasm, as if I couldn't possibly understand exactly how empty their stomachs feel... With only two hours or so unitl dinner it's always a minefield to walk (or should I say snack..) through!

Now I am the first to admit that on many afternoons I have quite simply opened a packet of biscuits ( sometimes healthier rice crackers - even though I abhor the preservatives in the flavourings these days) and sitting on the laptop while their mini mouthes demolish the entire packet before B1 can say "Are you thinking what I'm thinking B2?"... Easy..But not particulary healthy..

So having started to be mindful of this for myself, I decided I should probably be thinking of their empty little tums too..So yesterday I put together this delicious and fun afternoon snack for the kids:

It really is a mixture of nutrition and sugar! They really do desire crap food after school - so this was my way of adding a bit of fruit and fun into the equation! A few skewers and bowls of choc and caramel sauce..Honey, peanut butter and various sprinkles..Then I let them at it..

Double dipping was fair game..we share and share alike around here! I wish I had taken a photo of the pile of banana peels - wowsers! But the girls didn't complain about being hungry again until we had dinner after 7 o'clock.

A win in my book!

xxx

O Summer..Where for art thou?

Scrap the Girls outside photos challenge:

Thank goodness for Scrap the Girls this month as I am truly leaning towards my pile of Summer snaps! Winter has  hit us big time around here.. Brrr..  Let me just say bootcamp this morning was very breezy - to say the very least... Took some time to warm up...

I took this photo of M and J as they leaned over the back of Tracey and Fernando's boat. I love the chipped Summer nailpolish..The way J is protectively putting her arm around her little sister and the the speed! You can tell we were moving - their hair was whipping in the wind...

What a lovely day we had with our friends on the river. I really miss them all..Summer goes so fast.. It was the first time Tracey and Fernando had invited us and we all had a ball..

Here are some more shots..To warm you and make you long for January:

50,000 +

Oh my..I just noticed I passed 50,000 page views..Cool..

Once upon a Sketch:

There was a challenge  over at Show Us Your Stuff to create your own book paper blooms..I watched the video and then had a go. I changed the style up a little bit. Not quite so fluffy I think? I also made some smaller ones. And I used dress pattern papers. I bought a whole heap of them at a local op shop and have been punching and cutting from them for months! 50 cents well spent! I haven't actually done a layout for Show Us Your Stuff yet - but I will - I have more flowers left over!


It also based on this sketch:



I flipped it and then turned it 90 degrees. I replaced the fence with bunting. You know it actually looks nothing like the sketch anymore - and considering how spatially incompetent I am - I probably stuffed it! I promise I kept glancing back at the sketch - ALL the time!

A photo of me and my beautiful twin girls...On their birthday last year..Oh how I love them..

Night all xx

A little sketch:

Hopped over to the Studio Calico blog and found this sketch:



So when Fee came over to knit while I scrapbooked..I had a go at it..I went with Summer photos..Feeling the Winter chill around here..

I adore these photos..Rod is so happy and so is Milla..Rylan just looks chuffed to be getting a go at the waterslide!

Happ Queens Birthday Monday all..Off to watch the footy!

xx

camp:

They went off to camp last week. There were tears -

from their little sister and brother!

Milla was sad to see them go and didn't quite get that they wouldn't be home. Rylan on the other hand - well all the parents standing around as the grade three's got on their buses were very symapthetic to a little boy who seemed very miserable at his sisters leaving on a bus..But secretly I think he just wanted to be on the bus himself!

Check out the cheeky little person who sidled into the shot in the first photo??
Cute much?

Hope you are all having an ace long weekend..
Cold and wet here..
Girls all having friends over..
Milla and Rylan going to see th model train exhibition tomorrow.
I am going to the movies tomorrow..

A win for one and all!

xx

Heady love:

He love his 'headies'...Every night after his sisters are in bed he gets them out and plays. He takes time to put arms, ears and eyes in any hole he can locate and then shows them off proudly to Dadda and I..He loves their hats especially and will locate every variety that we have - and we have alot!

I think we have about six potato bodies - a giant leap from our solitary My Potato Head who was obviously bored alone and often found himself hanging out with cats, dolls and wearing and arm for a leg. Amazing what lengths a lone potato will go to in his endeavours to gain himself a family of potatoes isn't it????

But we got him..Now he has a wife and kids..He never gets out of the house and can be found on occasion wearing her lips and high heels.. He gets about in a cowboy hat often and I worry that he might think he is one of the village people? Maybe having kids changes things and the cowboy fetish is just his way of letting off steam??

Ho hum.. I can ponder potatoes and their thought processes all day..But it gets nothing done..

Needless to say...Rylan loves him and his little baby chats..

XXXXX

winter sunshine and warm chocolate:

I really do love our cold little town.....Sometimes I tend to just whinge about how absolutely freezing it is..The I get to look at it through my lens and then the beauty of it in Winter is abundantly clear..

Here's what I saw camera in hand on this day..

And I'll just let this gorgeous family show you how magical our Winters can be:

I wanted to add a little 'thank you' to this family..

I said from the beginning before I took the first shot..Please just be natural.. I  will get the shots.. You did. It was perfect. At the cafe was just awesome and might I add warming for us all!

My photos will hopefully help you remember a tradition in your family with even greater fondness..

xxx