I am still alive!!

Hello All,

I have been a bit AWOL of late, but that's just because I have been super busy with work, and actually having a social life..lol.. I have 2 weddings coming up in the next 3 weeks (My lovely Brother in Law Cameron to his Gorgeous Fiancee' Becky) and also a very old (he's not so old, I have only known him a long time..) friend Shaun to his fabulous Fiancee' Lesley. I have had the 2 hens nights which were BLAST, and now we are waiting for the big day..

Anyhoo, with St George (who own my employer Asgard) merging with Westpac, as you can imagine, things have been a bit manic on the work front. I have spent 4 out of the past 10 nights in Canberra, so have been super busy.

I will upload some work soon...

Some weekend work

Hi everyone in cyber land,

Just a quick one to show you a couple of LO's (excuse the awful pics!) I have done over the weekend, I have done a couple of LO's with our gorgeous 4mth old niece Olivia, aint she cute!!Thanks for looking, and I hope you like them!

Olivia @ 4 mths

Well, just a quick one before I turn in.. Here is a "back with 2 challenge" with yellow & pink for the site I DT on http://www.craftbitsandbears.com.au/ check it out.. It is of our adorable niece Olivia Jane Priestly.. How cute is she!! Thanks for visiting :)

Some more work to Share..

Here are 2 of the challenges I completed for the August Cybercrop at Craft Bits and Bears. The first one was a yellow challenge, and the second you could only use bling & flowers to embellish. Hope you like it!

My Stampin Up! Party

Well, I had a Stampin' Up! Party yesterday with Pam Godfrey, and we had a ball!

We made an 8 x 8 LO using some gorgeous stamps, and also a card, using a fake tearing technique, which was something new, check it out!

Craft Bits and Bears August Cybercrop

The Site I DT for had a CC (Cybercrop) last night, which was HEAPS of fun.. We had trivia, Bingo and door prize, and 4 challenges (they are due to be uploaded by Tuesday night, so a little bit of time up my sleeve..lol)

Here is the Card I did, and I will upload more as I go.

AND I have no VOICE!! OMG, for me, that is a total disaster. I am a talker, and am straining to make myself heard (with a 3 yr old who keeps whispering back to me.. it's hilarious!), not to mention I am supposed to train new clients all day Tue & Wed.. no idea what I'll do about that. AND we have a team "offsite" in the city Thur 7 Friday, and n o doubt some drinkies as well, so I'll just have to suck it up and get over it! Actually, I think it laryngitis, so I'll come home early tomo and get some antibiotics I think.

Gus & Em are down at my Grandparents house helping to get some stuff out of the Garage for a council pickup, isn't he a wonderful man?

What are you doing onb your weekend?

Cute LO to show ya :)

Last night I did my first LO for a challenge on Craft bits and bears. It's a LO of Darling Emily (surprise, surprise!), using dark pink & light pink. Very girly, but I like it! Excuse the shocking phot and all the glare.. I'll re do it in the daylight.. It has gone kind of orangey and yuk..

On another front, I actually emailed off some work tonight to start submitting to be published! I know, it's about time.. but I AM doing it! Yay for me! No more scaredycat.. I fully expect rejection, but I will just have to learn to deal with that..lol..

What else.. Oh, i went back to work in the city yesterday. It was GREAT to be back in the real world, but very very tiring. The boys at work were laughing at me shuffling along like an old lady, but I'm getting there. I still haven't had the pathology results back from the lump that was removed, so I think I'll call the specialist tomo about that, I just want it all done & dusted, ya know? I was in bed before Em last night, I slept like the living dead, but I guess I needed it. I will work from home tomorrow, then I'm off to Nelson Bay on Thursday, and home again friday. My boss and a few others are out of the office Friday so I don't need to go to the city Friday either, I will try to do something in Newcastle instead (which is cool, less traffic :))

Thanks for checking in, leave me a message, so I know you've been & can check out your blog too!!

WOO HOO!!!

I know I've already posted today, but I just had to share the exciting news!!

I applied for a Guest DT position at Craftbitsandbears.com.au, and the lovely Yvonne asked me to be a part of the permanent Design Team! I am so thrilled, and couldn't be happier.

So come and check out the store, and the fantastic Forum. There are already some lovely girls there that you might know, so it would be great to see you there.

every month I will be Desiging for the site, and we have challenges and cybercrops too. At the moment, the weekly challenge "Black with 2" where black is the dominant colour, with both dark & light pink. C'mon guys, give the challenge a go!

Hope to see you there!

More scrap creations to share

well, I have just had THE best weekend, catching up on all my lost scrapping time..lol..

I created a card for the scraptherapy August Cybercrop, using a piece of plastic out of a chocolate box for a transparent window, that was fun.

I also did a LO from an inspirational picture, and I scrapped a LO of myself as a baby I have wanted to do for ages.

I also made a CS Cd holder, to send out a DVD of a Jaime Oliver show "Fowl dinners" that was on a few weeks ago.. a few of the gals at the SM forum asked for it, and I happened to tape it, but a scrapper can;t just send it without prettying it up first! lol.. I need to make 2 more and all ready to go.

I have started making some journal cards for a swap over at SM too, heaps of fun! I'll post pics when I am all done. I am in 4 groups of 13, so I better get cracking!

I also have to make a pile of recipe cards for a cupcake recipe swap, and a spring recipe swap, so I have a bit on the go at the moment.. which is how I like it!!



Gus is outside washing and vacuuming my car for my return to work tomorrow (Eeek!) and I will have to jump (correction, shuffle!) into the car and do a test drive (pardon the pun..) to make sure I can drive the car, and more importantly, slam the brakes on if I have to, so I can drive into work (In the city, sigh..) tomorrow.





Well, I hope you like my latest creations, and hope you are outside enjoying the gorgeous weather today :)

Lots to tell..

Well, first of all I would like to thank the lovely Sandy B from the Scrapchat forum for sending me a huge lot of gorgeous flourishes and fancy borders, I really really appreciate it, even after she knew other people had sent me some, the generous and gorgeous lady sent me even more, how lucky am I!!

On the same day, I also received a package of die cuts done on the craft robo of the lovely Jenni (scrapajar)after I said how much I liked them in the SM forum, I got a few colours of pretty flowers with, you guesed it flourishes on them lol.. and Jenni also cut out some stunning snowflakes out of metallic white paper.. I will use these on a skiiing LO for sure!

It warms my heart that there are so many amazing and giving poeple out there, THANKYOU GUYS!!

Now, I have been busy tonight! I made a card for a pagemaps sketch challenge on scrapchat, I like it!

I have also done 2 LO's for the Scrap Therapy August Cyber Crop. It's only my second one, the first was a baby shower for Leilz on the Sm forum..

The First LO I did was of the Carrington Hotel. The challenge was to scrap a photo of something old (not a person) using mainly papers that have been in your stash for a year or more and to include 3 different types of distressing. I used some historical pics from the website and used Inking, Scrunching & Tearing.

The second LO was for a sketch challenge using a pic at least 10 yrs old and NEW product. I scrapped an old pic of me in Kindy (1984 - I think that qualifies..lol) and some gorgeous MM Noteworthy & 5th avenue stuff for the LO.

So I have been a busy girl tonight, catching up on some scrapping I missed while I was recovering.

On that note, I went to see the surgeon yesterday (and I am SORE today.. I didn't even do much, which worries me about going back to work on Monday) and he said I am doing very well, he expected a LOT more brusing. He said my Endometrioma was only the 5th case in 40 yrs he had seen, and my condition was very rare (I didn't know that before!). He didn't have the pathology test results back yet from the lump he removed, but will call me when they come in, so I hope it's soon...

Thanks for looking!

Photo case

Well, I was desperate to make SOMETHING, even it had to be in bed.. I got Gus to bring me the "essentials" from the scrap room, It was so funny sitting in our bed trying to explain where things were kept (or where I "thought" I kept them..lol..) and then remembering I needed something else.. I had the stable table on my lap, my AMM tote and some paper & embellies. I created a little sort of holder for some Pics I want to send to my Step Sister Sharine that I found of her 21st (years ago..). I like it! And LOVED doing it.. Now that I have had my fix, I want to do some more!!

MORE mail Luurve..

Hbetter.. I am trying to soak up all those good healing vibes coming my way, and guess what? I think it's working.. I am definately on the mend, WOOHOO!!

Digi LO

Well, I thought I would put together a Digi album of Emily's 3rd birthday.. firstly because she's nearly 4 lol.. secondly to learn digi scrapping and lastly .. I can do it in bed!!

So here is what I have come up with.. after doing my blog header, I thought.. I might be able to do this! It's not as good as my traditional stuff (IMO..) but It's not too bad.. I am going to print them out 6 x 6 and put them in a mini album, maybe do some embellies the traditional way (can;t help myself, gotta have some bling!!). But this way I can print multiple copies to share with the family.

So, what do you think??

I got a present :)

I think this is the earliest I have ever posted, but I couldn't wait to share.. Dh opened the door to the postie knocking with a parcel for me! How exciting, I wasn't expecting anything..

I joined the Scrapchat forum (which is AWESOME!!), and I know a lot of the ladies there from the SM forum, so I am settling in already..lol

Anyhoo, there's a thread on Scrapchat for diecut requests, i went on and asked if anyone had any flourishes, as I had run out of the last lot the gorgeous Alison (aka Alz, aka Maxwell, aka Me) had sent me.. I jokingly said on the thread not Alz, as she had already been kind enough to send me some previously.. well! This wounded Alz, who felt rejected :( rofl.. So I said if she absolutely had to I wouldn;t say no, just to make her feel better hehehe..

THEN this morning, the wonderful, generous gal sent me a 12 x 12 pack of Fancy Pants (OMg I adore Fancy Pants stuff.. drool) chipboard flourishes.. they are DIVINE! Here's a pic.. (sorry it's a but wonky, I took it on the laptop webcam in bed hehehe)

AND the cheeky thing attached a sweet handmade notecard apologising (jokingly of course) that they were not die cut!! Alz, if you're readinmg this, I forgive you!!

So after waking up very sore, I now have a HUGE smile on my face, and am feeling all warm & fuzzy that I am so lucky to know the amazing people I have met through scrapbooking.

Alz, thankyou so much, you have made my day :)

New Blog Header!

Hi Guys,

So, todays creation is my new Blog header, I quite like it! Not bad for a first attempt at digi scrapping, and I was able to do it sitting in bed..lol..

My Lovely Mum Gayle came up to help out with "the invalid" - aka Moi :) for a few days. She drove through wind and rain to get here! I am thankful to have people who love me so much in my life, thanks Mum xoxo

My grandparents have been ringing me religiously too, which is fantastic, as has my lovely "Mum2" or MIL Heather, Love you guys MWAH!

Thanks to for all the well wishes that keep coming, it keeps my spirits up :)

Recovering..

Well no exciting pics, but I thought I had better update everyone on how things were going.

I went into Wyong hospital for my surgery to remove an endometrioma from my ceasarion scar on Wednesday. I got there about 12, and went into surgery at 3, and was in recovery by 5. Dr Docker (Gynae specialist) was fantastic. He came around at 5.15am the next morning (and scared the life out of me standing over my bed to wake me up!!) and said he removed an acorn sized lump of endo and some surrounding tissue, but there was no endo in my uterus, it was all perfect inside (GREAT news!).

I went home on Thursday with some good strong pain killers (bring on the drugs!!) and am getting a little better every day.

I am walking like the hunchback of Notre Dame, and can't use my right side much, but the left is just fine, so it could be worse..

I have to say, I now have an insight into what the frail and elderly must feel at times, being unsure of your balance, and not being able to stand unaided.. I have decided, I'm just NOT going to get old! Not interested thankyou very much.

Gus (DH) has been an amazing nurse, and I love the fact that I can use the intercom function on the cordless phone to buzz him downstairs if I need anything. .. Lucky Gus.. lol

A big thanks to everyone for the calls, messages and well wishes! Gus bought me a huge bunch of gorgeous flowers, and Kate (my lil sis) made me a lovely card.

Thanks for checking in, I'll keep you updated, and hopefully next post will have some scrapping pics to share!!

I've been tagged!

The lovely Sheri has tagged me :)

So here are the rules of the game: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 4 people and posts their names with links to their blog, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answers. Question #1: Ten years ago. I was living in SA in Glenelg, I was just about to move home and fall in love with Angus, my now Hubby! Question #2: Five things on today’s “to do list” Wash up, do some clothes washing, go on the SM Forum, update my BLOG, play with Emily. Question #3: Snack i like- Popcorn & dried apricots mmmm Question #4: Things I would do if I was a millionaire - Buy a house, go on an awesome holiday with my whole family, buy a tackle shop for Gus and a scrapbooking shop for me (and employ all my scrapping buddies :)), pay Emily's school fees until she finishes year 12! Buy my sister a house and a better car, Donate to charity, the list is endless really! Question #5: Places I have lived - Forrestville, Warragamba, Glenelg SA, Penrith (Jamisontown & Sth Penrith), Glenbrook, Long Jetty (Central Coast)NSW now i tag........... Anne-Marie (Binxcat) http://satisfactionbroughtitback.blogspot.com/ , Leila (Nanny_leilz) http://leilzcreationz.blogspot.com, Alishia (Cassidygaff) http://alishia-myscrapping.blogspot.com/ and Nicole (NMPomeroy) http://nmpomeroy.blogspot.com/ Enjoy!

New work

Hi there,

Sorry, these pics are all over the shop.. but bear with me!

Well, First I wanted to share the LO the lovely & super talented Lisa (aka Scrapwitch) did for me of my darling daughter Emily (the "endless Energy" LO). THANKS LISA!! i just love it..

I also uploaded the pic of the inspiration journal (as promised!) inspired by RubyRox, I think I will submit this one as an OTP, I really like it..

Also a page in Maz's CJ over on the SM forum.. Hope she likes it! (and the sign in page too..)

AND I have entered the call for creative team member for Mystical Scrapbooks "Black Magic" BLOG. Here's what I did, we had to do 2 LO's (using their colour combos & sketches) and submit an original sketch of our own. Hope you like them! Wish me luck, I can't believe I did it! I am so nervous.. Not that I actually think I will get the 6 mth position, but I can dream..

Check out some of the amazing Entries here, see what I'm up against!!

http://blackmagicsketches.blogspot.com/

Just random stuff

Well, all is going as well as it can I suppose. I am over not being able to do the normal stuff I can, but I am OK. I go to Wying hospital tomorrow at 1pm for pre admission tests, and get admitted for my Op on 23rd July. I have never waited for an op before, I don't like it!! I had an appendectomy about 7 yrs ago, but spoent the night in agony & was in surgery the next day. The only other op I was had was an emergency ceasarion, (which is what caused all the problems I am having now, come to think of it!) so no waiting there either.

Luckily I can work from home, and I'll probably do some project work over the next few weeks. I have a great job :) I am lucky.

Anyhoo, I created an altered book last night (inspired by the lovely and talented Ruby). It almost felt sacriligeous, I love all books, but it turned out really well. I went for a really old style to go with the beautfiul old aged and yellowed pages and blue leather cover (a great find) and am really happy with it. I think I might even submit it! I will post a pic when I have taken one :)

I also created a LO for the black magic dt call, which I will post too, arrch! Due tomo.. better get a move on! I still need to add the finishing touches to the first one. I will post pics soon too.

Emily is wonderful as usual, she is asleep in our bed but will happily transfer into her own when we "retire" as she does every night. I love that child so much it hurts!

Gus on the other hand has a cold.. he said he heard a quote on "Top Gear" (a car show he likes.. such a boy thing - actually it's not bad, I watch it myself at times!) from a guy with a cold who said "it's bird flu and I'm going to die".. that sums it up.. I am the one going to hospital but HE's the cranky sick one.. ah well, such is life. He did help me by picking Em up from my sisters and drying the dishes. Oh and cooking dinner - BBQ Chook! But that's fine by me..

So that was my day, just the usual really!

P.S Lisa i will photograph the LO you did for me when I take the other pics and post it up here for ya xoxo

Central Coast scrap Day

Well, last night I went to Kariong to the lovely Pam's house for a scrap afdternoon / night with some Forum buddies. We had an absolute BALL!

Not too much scrapping got done (except for Kylie's 5 pages!) but lots of goodies were swapped and drooled over and we met & caught up with everyone which was awesome!

Food was great too, tacos, Lucy's soup, Kylie's mini quiches.. lots of snacks (and a few drinks.. Thanks for those Pam!!)

Thanks Lisa for scrapping 4 pics of my DD Em for me, I love your work chickie xoxo

Thanks to Pam for having us at the last minute! Mwah!

A new LO

Hi all,

Well i went and had an abdominal wall scan today (another ultrasound) which was painful.. to get pics of the hernia, yuk. It was at 12pm, and I had to fast for 6 hours so I was STARVING!! And in pain as I couldn't even have water to take painkillers.. ouch.

So I will take the 2 scan results I now have to the Gynaecologist tomorrow and see what happens from here.. I am over this, I hope they can fix me up!

Anyhoo, this afternoon I have done a LO of Gus & Daniel (his mate) fishing. It was for the June sketch challenge on the Sm forum. Gus always says I never do any page sof him, so he's happy now :)

Hope you like it!!

Card Stuff

here's a card I made last night for Sandy & Glen's new baby girl Paige. She is just so adorable!

I also made this cool transparent card after seeing a tutorial on You Tube, very cool, here's the link so check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGM8zS0Ittc&feature=related

TFL

Stuck in Bed on this beautiful day..

Well, I am thankful that the forum and BLOG surfing is giving me something to do, 'cause I am stuck in bed.I have been having pains in my right ovary kinda area for a few months, but it was quite bad on Thursday, which is unusual as the pains usually stop after I finish my period (which was now 4 days ago..) so I got worried and went to the doc. He sent me for an ultrasound (I got in yesterday thankfully) and the lady who scanned me said she thought it was a hernia (on the edge of my ceasarian scar from Oct 2004)- AARGH!So back to the Doc who sent me to Wyong hospital. So I had to have a canula (I am such a big baby, I cried..) some blood tests (which all came back normal) and some morphine for the pain (YAY, pity I can't get THAT every month! ROFL) and the Surgeon examined my very sore belly (so many ppl had already poked and prodded me..) and said he didn't think it was a hernia YAY but probably endometriosis. This is happens where part of the endometrium (Uterus) cells break off and start growing where they shouldn't.So I have to go an see a Gyanecologist and probably get a laparoscopy (camera in througha cut in yoru belly button) as it's the only way to diagnose Endometiosis. But I had a laparoscopy when I had my appendix out, so I know all about that. Not good, but it sure could be worse. Apparently if the Endometriosis is accessible, they can cut or burn it out. That doesn't mean it won't come back though.But it would help for a few years, and reduce any risks of possible infertility (scary). My mum's cousin had endo, and had such bad pain she had to go to the hospital for a pethidine shot every month.I have always had bad period pain, but just went to bed when it got really bad and thought nothing more of it. I guess it was more than just period pain.So wish me luck with it all. Just sucks it came to a head now, I work in the financial services industry, and all our financial advisers are going nuts calling me with 30 June stuff (I am just ignoring them..hehehe) but my boss is amazing and just worried about me, she's taking care of all the work stuff.So I guess I am venting a little and having a whinge, and just generally feeling a bit sorry for myself!Time for more panadeine Forte, which also means a sleep (it makes me dozy..)Thanks for your patience in listening!P.S Maybe no gym for a while either - DOH!!! I was just getting into it, dropped to a size 14, was hanging out to get back to a 12.. guess I'll put that on hold.. sigh..