Challenge ahoy!

It is the 31st of August..Which means I still have a few measly hours to post a couple of challenges!
I a not quite sure what took a hold of me? But inspiration struck a couple of days ago and I was able to create this:
Kraft It Up August Challenge:

This month was a sketch challenge.. So my layout was based on this sketch:



And then I set about creating this:

Scrap The Girls August Challenge:

The challenge this month was to use stars. Can you see them in there in amongst that busy bunting?
This layout also relates to this post about Milla right now..

And then after checking out Em Straface's Page Drafts blog..I simply love her sketches! I ended up joining in at over at Grand Diva's Creative Corner and created this:

Check out my handmade washi tape? Can you see it? Masking tape printed with stars.. I got the idea here at Maggie Holmes blog. Her layouts are always filled with such loevly little details.. I didn't actually watch the tutorial.. Just saw the idea and made it up as I went along.. Arrows on masking tape is my next adveture I think..This layout - which is my new fave - was based upon this Page Drafts sketch:



Phew! Scrapping overload for a change! So mojo officially back in da house! Sorry, terrible humor really..
 What else is happening in y corner of the world?

Lots of photos of various clients to share soon..

On the home front.. I had a great day..A breakfast out with my DH and two littlies.... Run home..Roughly 11km..La di da.... A snooze in the afternoon...Homemade hamburgers and salad for dinner.. Meatballs made for Monday at the same time...Washing folded and put away..More washing hung.. Purchased a mandolin to make a yummy and quick salad..Perfect for Summer... Picked up se bargains for my munckins at Cotton on Kids..And then a relax in our spa whilst reading Fifty Shades no3...

The kids also helped me make clean-eating, slow-cooked brownies for Rod's birthday tomorrow.. It's been in the slow cooker for four hours and I am waiting for it to cool. So I can't tell you how it tastes yet? I found the recipe at The Gracious Pantry..Admittedly I used white flour as I didn't have any wholemeal..And I may have been more heavy handed with the chocolate, ( it his birthday after all!)
but otherwise I stuck to the recipe...

Off to the footy on the train with our kidlets tomorrow..Taking our own hotdogs and brownies!
Go the pies!

Night xx

STUCK! Bday blog hop winner:

Congratulations Vicki Vardouka:

"Hi Celeste! Your take on the sketch is beautiful! TFS!! And what a nice prize to win!!!Thanks!!"

Your kind comment was randomly drawn out making you my STUCK!  birthday blog hop winner and will be receiving my little mini kit in the mail...
Hope you have fun creating something fab with it!

Thanks to everyone who played along with us all at Stuck this month....Keep scrapping!

Celeste xx

Maybe back later with some last minute challenges to upload...

Never easy:

Choosing MY most fave shots to edit and post here! A young couple having their first baby..They simply radiate happiness - even in the face of drizzle and a mere top of 7degrees!
As usual these are the shots that grabbed my attention..Enjoy:

STUCK on the DT:

Well I am happy to say that I managed to fight off the dreaded lapse of scrapping mojo and successfully maintained my postition on the Stuck! design team..

The layout above is my application...This photo was taken of Milla at bootcamp..one VERY cold Winter morning and the dear sweet thing still managed a smile..Bless her..

The flowere is made from a half a paper doilie all scrunched together.. I have had alot of fun playing with these sweet girly papers.. Some old bunting I located on there as well...

I have more layouts to share AND a giveaway kit as well... I will get around to it I promise!

xx

All about:

Miss M..Now aged 4:

• Is known as Milly Moo..Mooms...Moomy...Milly Moo Maa...Do I need to go on??
• Loves Thomas the cat to pieces.But continues to think he is female?

• Can write and recognize the letter M from her name.. Working on entire name..
• Get her colors right - MOST of the time..
• Can count to 20 - misses 14 everytime..
• Is polite..Thanks us for everything..To the point where you wonder if she knows some kids have NOTHING...Spooky..
• Sweet and kind..Looking after her brother ALOT.
• Complimentary to a FAULT.." Mum this dinner is YUMTASTIC!" 
• Invents new words..ie) YUMTASTIC..
• Can ride a BIG girls bike to the park and back.with training wheels of course.
• Loves dresses and bright colours..
• Loves Lucy and her blanket...
• Has outfits for Lucy..
• Likes to take her own pram shopping with Lucy on board..
• Loves Harry Potter..EVEN the scary bits...
• Can do a good impression of a sit up and a reverse lunge..
• Loves pear porridge and pancakes and french toast..
• enjoys my soups..
• Loves a morning coffee..( frothy milk)
• Loves a babychino when shopping..(frothy milk + marshmallow)
• Likes to roll on and over her baby brother..WTH?
• Has numerous boyfriends..Edward, Jacob, Matthew...Lucas..
• Loves kinder..
• Loves playgroup..More boyfriends here..Shannon, Blair, Curtis and Hamish
• Did I mention she was popular with the blokes?
• TALKS NON -STOP..I mean seriously..Chatter..Chatter...Chatter..
• Is getting into the creative play..and taking her little brother along for the ride..
• Still LOVES Peppa Pig..
• Other TV faves include..Mike the Knight, Arthur and Laura' Star..
• Loves to help in the kitchen..Can crack an egg like an old pro...
• BFF include Sarah, Katelynn, Scarlett, Lily, Charlotte, Sophia and Mietta..
•  Loves a good lipgloss and has three flavours always on hand..
• Is a fan of the Starship song..Ick..
• You know that snickers ad? Milla..You're not you when you're hungry..
• Tired Milla is whiny and sooky..BUT she tries always to stay up with her sisters..
• HAs taken to stamping her foot if she doesn't like what she hears.
• "Pleeeeease..Pleease" is her fave way of trying to get what she wants..
• Is in a size four..
• Likes her finger and toenails painted and pretty where ever possible.

She is our only 'planned' baby adn we couldn't have planned her better! She is a delight and funny little blond bundle.. Gorgeous and sweet natured...We simply love her to pieces..
She is a big girl now..Yes baby you are..

xx

Today:

I haven't done a post where I documented an ordinary day for quite some time..Actually I haven't got my camera out to take random every day snaps like I normally do...

So here's my day rolled out:

4.30am: Rylan is unceremoniously dumped into our bed as Rod leaves for work..
5.00am: Rylan rolls on my head as he repeats his sisters names in order over and over..
5.10am: I yell..He wimpers and goes quiet..
6.23am: He is asleep above my head..I have been sleeping too and resume doing so..Toddler on my head notwithstanding..
7.35am: Milla crawls in beside me and fidgets..and fidgets..
7.50am she settles and we all sleep...Aaah..
8.30am All in bed awake..Time to get up..
8.45am: french toast on the go...
9.30am: Big girls make an entrance after a well earned sleep in from the concert the night previously.
9.35am: MORE french toast made and smothered in syrup and raspberries.
10.15am: put on load of washing, make beds, raise curtains..just the usual..
11.00am big girls finally dispatched at school for a rest day before second concert peformance tonight...
11.05am: Jode's and her gang arrive and we pump out an ab workout with kids crawling all over us..
11.50am: COFFEE
12.10pm: sandwiches all round for kids..
12.30pm: drop Milla at kinder and watch her chat with her boyfriend Edward..sweetness..
12.40pm: Park Rylan in front of ABC kids and make my lunch..brown rice with peas, spinach, corn chicken and mushrooms..A splash of oyster sauce and soy..Quick and easy rice..
1.00pm: check email..facebook...etc...
1.10pm: hang washing from earlier..woops...Fold washing..
1.20pm: quick photo op before nap..our only ALONE time all week:

1.30pm: get Rylan ready for bed..
1.35pm: chase up Rylans blanket that he NEEDS to go to BED..
1.40pm: Rylan goes to bed FINALLY..PEACE..
1.45pm: reheat coffee from morning that I didn't get to finish..
1.50pm: SCRAPBOOKING..some creativity at last..
3.20pm: wake buster to go and get Milla..
3.40pm: pick up popcorn at supermarket and collect older girls from school..
3.50pm: popcorn devoured..Finishing layout..
4.10pm: ALL kids separately come ask if they can have MORE to eat..Sigh..Fruit it is..
5.15pm: quickly photograph DT layouts before I lose light..
5.20pm: get Grace to snap me quickly for my bio too:

5.40pm: quick email check...and get girls into outfits for concert..
5.45pm: CRAP..No time to cook dinner for kids..
5.50pm: toasted sandwiches and tubs of yoghurt devoured..
6.00pm: hair and makeup for concert..80's  'single ladies' here we come..no photos sorry...
6.03pm: Rylan fall head first into the empty spa...
6.05pm: Rylan insist on blue eyeshadow too...sigh..
6.15pm: shoes located..snacks packed..in the car..
6.25pm: drop girls off at hall and wish them luck and smother with kisses..
6.35pm: prep lamb souvlaki to have with Rod....
7.00pm: get into spa.. and read 2 pages of Fifty Shades and the littlies locate me..DAMN..
7.05pm: ALL three of us now in the spa..Book is WET..
7.15pm: Rodda home..Yay!
725pm: cook lamb and set table while Rodda bathes with littlies..
7.35pm: sit and eat TOGETHER..a small glass of red..
7.40pm: Rylan kicking Milla and rolling on her...sigh..TIMEOUT..
7.55pm finish eating after getting up from the table FOUR more times..
8.10pm: Leave to go and and sneak into concert and watch girls for ther second time..Still weepy..
8.45pm: Hallie performs 'All the Single Ladies' withe all the other grade five girls..She is awesome..
9.15pm: Grand finale..All school singing "can you feel it"..YES we can.. COOL..
9.30pm: Home..Girls reading..Littles asleep..Me blogging...

Night xx

Milla's bday take two and three:

I am getting the comment.."server returned invalid response' whenever I try to upload photos? If anyone knows what I can do to fix this so that I can upload properly..

I would GREATLY appreciate it...

Grumbly blogger signing off..photo free again..

Hey Hey! Thanks for your help Chloe and Teresa - I am functional and uploading!
Having no photos on my blog is like me without a voice...Seriously they are how I express what I wany to say..Didn't really realise how much a little snap means until I wasn't able to share them..

Any how here are Milla's birthday photos:

These were her cake pops I made for kinder last week. Luckily I was on kinder duty..So I was able to snap away happily. I rolled them myself. Following a recipe online.. BAke a cake..Crumble cooled cake and add some frosting..Roll mixture into ball and set in fridge.. Melt choc..Dip sticks in choc and stick into ball..Then swirl in choc ( this part I sucked at) and dip in freckles.. Leave to set..

 

Not bad..She loved them and the twins want them for their birthday now...

 

And now to the finale..Her ACTUAL birthday on Sunday..

She stated months ago, ( after viewing Harry Potter with her older sisters) that she wanted a castle cake..Think Hogwarts..Aaah...no..I convinced her a pretty fairy castle cake would be our compromise...

The idea started witha Donna Hay Fairy Castle cake...Thanks Cindy....

 

 

And ended up here...I didn't want to use fondant..Instead made swiss meringue buttercream and used sour straps for decorating.. The waffle cones were initially a great idea.. But they are angled? So had to jam them into the 'jam roll' towers.. Looks a bit wierd and wonky side on ( above) but ok full frontal!

Bye!

Popping in:

TO let you know I am still here.  Blogger is driving me insane and not uploading some of my photos?The photos of my layouts are going up no problem..But my photos from Miss M's birthday not so much..Well I will share my layouts that broke my scrapping slump - a fortnight ago - I am back in the slump...BUT it's more a lack of time than motivation so much now..Sigh...

Well it appears I can only get this layout up. I did another one too..That was the first to get me scrapping but it won't upload...rrrrrrrr....This layout is based on a sketch from the Page Drafts blog created by Em Straface....Whose personal blog I adore..Even if she is digi based! LOL..

I will TRY to get Milla's fairy castle cake photos up tonight..If only blogger will play fair..

xx

Stuck layout:

I had some fun making butterflies 'fly' so to speak on a boy layout! I think it works ok? Ireally like the finished result. The photos are some of my fave of him before his haircut. I get all wistful looking at them...So blond. The photos were taken at Mt Buller. The house we were staying at had stairs. For him and his little mate William..Well..Let's just say I went and got the camera and sat there to watch them go up and down..Up and down...Their joy was neverending..aah youth...
This layout  is based on the August 15th sketch over at Stuck:


It's a very versatile sketch really..
Go on have a go...

More Milla birthday cake photos to come...

xx

Ab challenge:

I think I might have gone quite simply bonkers?? But I am going to post these photos anyway...Make of them what you will..But by doing so it will keep me accountable to workout and stick with the challenge:

Dani at Fitness Food and Style is running an ab challenge on her blog and seeing as I am semi- sort of fit and my core is already strong I thought it might be a bit of fun to play along and if I manage to look good in a bikini in a few months it will have been well worth it.. It was just the though of taking these photos that made me skirm a little...But they're actually ok?

I think my mid-section is in it's best shape since well BEFORE kidlets anyway..So I will have a go.. I like the challenge concept? Playing along with others makes it less of a chore... I am following the Killer Core and Cardio program devised by my friend and trainer Jac of Crabtree Fitness Professionals and it is awesome - TOUGH but awesome...

Want to play along???
Check out the links if you do...

Please be kind to my naked stomach photos....LOL

xx

Her bday week begins:

Miss Moo Maa is four on Sunday..We kicked off her birthday celebrations this week with a self-decorated cake at playgroup. The idea was simple enough..We pre-iced it and then set it in the middle of the kids with bowls of various sweeties and away they went.. They clearly emptied the bowls of lollies and the resulting cake was a HIT! Many little hands make light work!

On a side note our Miss Milla is very popular..Please note THE kiss..She's a popular girl these days..Twin boyfriends at playgroup and a boyfriend at kinder too...

We also have cake pops to make for kinder on Friday and a fairy castle cake for her birthday proper...No party this year..BUT plenty of cake it seems:

Disclaimer: All kids hand were sanitized prior to decorating procedure...LOL..

XX

STUCK!...Blog Hop:

Happy Birthday to you..Happy Birthday to you...
It seems that birthday celebrations are a mighty good way to break the dreaded curse on my scrapping mojo! YAY!

If you have arrived here because you are hopping along with the Stuck! Sketches blog hop, welcome! If you've just discovered the hop, you can get started here.

StuckSketches is celebrating its 5^th birthday this month. And to celebrate, we are having a giveaway on each of the CT members blogs! That’s an amazing 13 prizes on offer! Here on my blog, I am giving away this:

My RAK is created with items I used on the layout below.. A min kit of sorts..With a few handmade objects and bits and pieces you can use to create a great layout of your own - and with a bit extra thrown in for good measure:

And this layout is based on the Stuck! sketch from the 1st of the month:

 

For your chance to win, leave a comment here and on each blog on the hop. Once you have been to visit all of the blogs, email your name and address to stucksketches@optusnet.com.au. Emails are to be received by midnight Sunday August 26^th.

And, here is the full list just in case you get lost..

Stuck Sketches Blog

Celeste

Debbie

Gillian

Jess

Kim

Kylie

Linda

Lindy

Sarah G

Sarah W

Tarrah

Tess

Tomomi

So, you're next stop on the hop is …………..Debbie

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the blog hop and happy scrapping one and all..

xx
C

Here we go: snow

I have been promising to post our photos from our trip to Falls Creek with our good friends... The big girls had an absolute ball. But don't get me wrong - we had pre-warned them that it was going to be COLD and hard work. They were certain to fall over ALOT.

It panned out pretty much as we thought it would. The twins had a stoic attitude to toppling. Um Hallie..NOT so much. Wailing, hysterics and if I didn't know her as well as I do - I would have thought she had broken a few bones! After their morning lesson Rod and I were so chuffed with how much they had learned ( I was grinning like an idiot!) we bravely took our three, the Lockhart's three and their Dad ( also on lesson one) down a green (easy) run.

About a third of the way down, having stopped a gazillion times to heft a fallen child back onto their skis, after screeching like a Fishwife "Bloody snowplow..For *$#@ sake, SNOWPLOW!"   and when they had fallen, "Ski's sideways to the mountain, BLOODY sideways!"...

Rod ventured, "Perhaps a bit ambitious?" A bit????

Needless to say, we made it down.. Me, having only having needed to ski away from oldest - wailing - child once, for fear of piercing her prone, crying form with one of my stocks....

They all went back to the beginners slope - successfully I might add. Rod and I went off and skiied a few runs. Hallie, after some gentle discussion admitted her screaming was sheer frustration and she elected NOT to take the afore-mentioned green run back to the carpark at the end of the day - opting instead for the relative calm of the ski lift.. But I was proud of her anyway for having a go, admitting to her weaknesses and smiling at the end of it all..She even laughed at the video footage of herself falling - go figure!

The twins however were truly keen to give the run another crack. So we did it again. Apart from giving up on Sam and letting him slide to his feet when he fell - our girls were so successful. Perhaps it was knowing what they were up against this time - but Jemma ( trooper and the one with the never-fail attitude) never fell once, (!!!!!) and Grace fell only twice and got herself back up both times.. To say I was proud of them - well understatement. My heart swelled that they obviously seemed to love a sport like I do!

Back at the house, a full belly and a room filled with six kidlets - SOUND ASLEEP within ten minutes of lights out...

Swearing and frustration aside...WONDERFUL......

Big thanks to Helen and David.. Our beautiful friends who we have such a cracking time with..Thanks for inviting us and letting us be a part of you snow holiday..
Here's to next year!

xx