Karen Day

My last post!!!

2009-04-07T11:02:00.003+10:00

Hi peeps! Just a quick blog post to say that I have been thinking about what Im wanting to do in 2009! And blogging just isnt on the list this year. As you can tell, the growing disinterest has been going for awhile. And I just think its time to give it up :)

So Im going to leave this blog up, just in case I want to look back. But I wont be posting.

Thanks so much to those who still visit. Im amazed that Ive still been getting the stats I am, considering how neglectful Ive been. So thanks for stopping by to see how my family and I have been.

Yas can still catch me on Facebook (add me as a 'friend' if you want) and the awesome Scrapboxx forums.

But I just really feel that Im not really in the mood for blogging anymore. That part of my life is finished with now :)

Cyas around and about!!

xxx K

Send me for a time out!

2009-03-26T20:04:00.004+10:00

I know! No blogging. But Ive been very sick since I got back from the retreat! I had a cold and now Ive got gastro while still having a cold! So Its not really nice being me at the moment. Anyone wanna swap?

Ive got a fair few layout shares. About six i think? Wow thats alot for me haha. But no photos taken yet so I PROMISE PROMISE PROMISE I will post those tomorrow :)

Anyway, the Scrapboxx retreat was amazing! as i thought it would be! it was SO full on, but totally worth the hours of driving, and the mega hours of flying. On the way home I spent 11 hours straight either in an airplane or airport. Good times! haha. Actually it wasnt too bad cos i had my buddies Mardi Winen and Nikala O'Brien with me. I had so much fun getting to know these two girls better ... as well as the other girls at the retreat! Sheree you will always have my heart :)

Ill be back in the morning with photos. Im still feeling sick so had better go lay down. I was going to post photos in this post but its all a bit much at the moment.

night!

xxx K

Off to the Scrapboxx Retreat!

2009-03-10T11:35:00.003+10:00

Hey all!

Im just about ready to go - give me another hour and we will be on the highway :)

Im going to mackay today so that Ive got the kids settled ready for my 6am Thursday flight to head on over to Augusta in WA!!! Im heading to the Scrapboxx retreat and cant wait! Although I must admit, I am dreadfully tired. Ive been up working till after midnight for something like 10 days. Ive lost count. So I hope I am awake enough to get the most out of it that I can! And Im not snoozing the weekend away haha.

I will be back mid next week sometime - hopefully with some shares, considering im going to a scrapbooking retreat haha. So until then, take care of yourselves!!!!

xxx K

my kids aged so much today!

2009-03-06T21:07:00.003+10:00

Liam - well, when he was being cheeky i picked him up and was carrying him to his room for a timeout and he was yelling "no mummy, i be good, i be good, i be good ...". and this is the first time he has tried to bargain with us this way. u know, how they make promises about how from now on they will behave. it reminded me that every day he is growing and learning new ways to interact with those around him.

and yes, he still got his time out. :)

As for Miss Brianna - she got her haircut. *sigh* she looks so amazingly beautiful. she always does. but today she seemed to age at least 2 years with this haircut. it made her so grown up. it even has layers! Brianna's first layers. :)

BEFORE PHOTO (taken on wednesday):

AFTER:

Tonight Im scrapping :) Im heading off to western australia next week for the AWESOME scrapboxx retreat and i CANT WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im a bit anxious about leaving the kids, but I will be fine. I really need a break to tell u the truth. I havent been away from them ever. itll be a good experiment for me.

xxx K

So excited!!

2009-02-28T22:47:00.003+10:00

i just purchased a pattern from the 1920s to make a toddlers cloche hat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i can just imagine the possibilities with jazzing it up to make it more modern! i love Angelina Jolie's cloche from Changling

The flower in her cloche is totally like a prima flower!! so i think ill make one that looks authentic - thanks to Prima. But ill also make a red one maybe with a bunch of cherries appliqued onto the side, or a big funky fabric flowers in a bright colour. something more colourful thats suited to a 4 year old girl :)

aaaah im one happy mummy tonight :D

anyone know where i can purchase felt online? i know they sell it at spotlight by the meter but im not going to town for anther 2 weeks and im busting to get started! let me know if u know :)

xxx K

Innocent?? or not so innocent?!?!??

2009-02-23T22:09:00.003+10:00

Liam today was such a character. When Brianna is at kindy i see a whole new side of my little man :) he kinda comes out of his shell a bit!

but here he is in all his innocence ....

and then literally 3 frames later ... (he musta been thinking about brianna!) that little snarl is too darling ...

I have been scrapping to get ready for the next KDD release at SIA, but I cant share any of that at the moment :) So here is some sewing Ive done.

I got some half price spiderman polar fleece at Spotlight over the weekend when we went into town. So I used a meter of it plus also an old black Tshirt of troy's to make this scoodie and pants matching combo. The whole outfit took less than an hour to make and cost me $7. We are getting ready for winter now so Im prepared and dont have to rush out and BUY clothes. I want to make as much as possible so the kids have original clothes, plus also save some $$.

And I also turned a ladies skirt into a dress for Brianna. Ive made her another gorgeous teal and red dress but havent photographed it yet.

I need to grab some polar fleece for brianna so she can have a matching scoodie and pant set! If you want links to the tutorials for these items of clothing check the links in my sidebar to the right!

xxx K

Dress made from bed valance

2009-02-14T20:00:00.003+10:00

Today I popped back into the Salvos. I really have to stop buying clothes/manchester to recycle ... and start recycling the ones ive already bought!!! I spent $5 and walked away with 2 grocery bags full of some very exciting prospects, plus also a big double bed valance. I made Brianna this dress from the valance as soon as I got home cos the print was too cute! But I wasnt happy with it cos it sits a bit funny. But its still alright on her :) im happy with everything except it makes her look like shes preggers haha.

the scallop pattern was around the whole valance, so now ive got HEAPS of that left - yay!

I also made my first pair of boys shorts today and they are soooooooo cute on liam!! but he pooped in them straight away so they are already in the wash!! grrrr toilet training! photo tomorrow after they dry :)

Onto scrappy news ... Ive wanted to make a blessing book for our family for ages! i finally did. its so that i can sit down with the kids and record our everyday blessings, trivial and also substantial. a great keepsake for years down the track, but also an everyday reminder of how lucky we are! used up heaps and heaps of leftover rubons on this book cover, it was so theraputic :)

inside the front cover, waiting for a message plus also some cards i will write my fav family based scriptures on. the rest of the album is just going to be bazzill cut down to size. i have to order that though - no LSS here.

And lastly a sneaky peak at what is to come. this layout is for a very special person :) when she sees it hopefully she will recognise the people in the photo and know its for her! :D

xxx K

for all the mamas out there!

2009-02-14T07:56:00.002+10:00

I can totally 100% relate to this letter. While reading this post I almost wanted to memorize the whole thing so the next time someone tells me that i have time to do "just that one more thing for them" I can quote it :)

Found here: Mama Manifesto

************************************

1.31.2009

Where Does The Time Go?

Recently, a reader wrote in to an advice columnist at The Washington Post, asking about why her friend with children seemingly had no time to call her back. The author, Carolyn Hax, gave her a response I think we can all relate to:
Dear Carolyn:
My best friend has a child. Her: Exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc. Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What'd you do today? Her: Park, play group . . .

OK. I've done Internet searches; I've talked to parents. I don't get it. What do stay-at-home moms do all day? Please, no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners. . . . I do all those things, too, and I don't do them every day. I guess what I'm asking is: What is a typical day, and why don't moms have time for a call or e-mail?

I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events), and I manage to get it all done. I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy — not a bad thing at all — but if so, why won't my friend tell me the truth?

Is this a contest ("My life is so much harder than yours")? What's the deal? I've got friends with and without kids, and all us child-free folks get the same story and have the same questions.
— Tacoma, Wash.

Dear Tacoma,
Relax and enjoy. You're funny.
Or you're lying about having friends with kids.
Or you're taking them at their word that they actually have kids, because you haven't personally been in the same room with them.
Internet searches?
I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard. To claim you want to understand — while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom friends are either lying or competing with you — is disingenuous indeed.
So, since it's validation you seem to want, the real answer is what you get. In list form. When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering their coos, cries and questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head.
It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.
It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.
It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family members and friends, well-meaning and otherwise. It's resisting the constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense.
It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything — language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity, empathy. Everything.
It's also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy — and then when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, you wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend — a good friend wouldn't judge you, complain about you to mutual friends or marvel at how much more productively she uses her time.
Either make a sincere effort to understand, or keep your snit to yourself.

-Carolyn Hax

Posted by Kristen at 4:02 AM

xxx K

im SO excited!!!!

2009-02-13T12:01:00.005+10:00

for three reasons:

FIRSTLY:

Scrapboxx retreat is in LESS THAN A MONTH!!! I am just about hyperventilating from excitement :D My class kits are now up for sale, but no sneak peaks as yet because they contain gorgeous new CHA stuff. *heart is fluttering*

If you happen to be near Augusta .... or can make your way there ... I highly recommend coming along. Im nowhere near there - but im still going!! In fact, I have to drive two hours to mackay, then fly to Brisbane, then fly to Perth, then drive another 4 to 5 hours to get to Augusta. now THATS dedication! But then on the way back Im traveling the 4-5 hours to Perth, then flying to Melbourne, then to Brisbane, then to Mackay, then driving the 2 hours back to Moranbah. I will be touching ground in 3 states in the one day.

There are over 50 ladies attending so far, and its going to be an absolute blast! If you want more info go here. Im so excited to be teaching classes at this retreat :D Im SO looking forward to sharing some time with my fellow Boxxers :)

SECONDLY:

I got my next pack of Karen Day Designs from Scrapware!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These designs are going to be released at SIA and I had so much fun designing them! I got the packs yesterday and felt so inspired when they arrived. Once again I have tried to think "outside the box" when it comes to whats on the market at the moment with chipboard/acrylic/wood products and hopefully u will love the latest release as much as I do :)

I have another 12x12 inch design which I love, some more little handy bits and pieces, and also some new little characters who are busting to meet you! Ive even got an OTP item! And its made from wood, acrylic and also chipboard ... but its not a minialbum :) You will have to wait and see :D

and THIRDLY:

I lost 0.9kg at WW this week :D So I was wrapped about that! i cant wait to be back in the 60s. shouldnt be too much longer!!! probably another 2 months, which will go really quick!

I have some scrap shares for you! I will share some later today, and the rest will come at the end of the weekend cos Im not allowed to share with u yet!

And cos its virtually illegal to post anything without having photos here are my kids yesterday arvo. it was pouring rain here by the bucketload and playing in the rain is the ultimate kid thing to do!! so i couldnt resist kicking them out of the house for some fun.

(liam had jocks on, but it was still inappropriate for the net. so im sorry for the big black box!)

Have a fab weekend.

xxx K

more fun :)

2009-02-08T18:19:00.009+10:00

ive been having a ball lately with sewing! i sewed another dress and another skirt yesterday - both of them a bit more advanced than the ones i did earlier in the week. trying to build my way up to something really complicated. something like these:

1. corset top - http://youcanmakethis.com/info/hats/How-to-Make-a-Corset-Top-With-a...
2. layered tulle skirt - http://youcanmakethis.com/info/hats/How-to-Make-a-Layered-Tulle-Twi...
3. peasant top - http://youcanmakethis.com/info/hats/How-to-Make-a-Peasant-Top.htm

i squealed when i saw those patterns. i can totally see brianna wearing them in a gorgeous yellow, red and hot pink colour combo!!

and the fourth one im interested in is a really sweet hat that i want to make in matching fabric: http://youcanmakethis.com/info/hats/How-to-Make-a-Newsboy-and-Cloch...

but thats $40 US dollars ..... $60 AU dollars. just for the eBooks.

i nearly passed out when i saw those. but troy isnt too impressed with the price tag. but if i got it then id be making that for friends/family for special occasions. so itd be worth it. i just gotta convince troy ;) the hat would make an awesome gift.

but here is the free tutorial for the following blue and red dress. i made the dress out of two matching red pillowcases ($1), a blue skirt (50c) from the salvos, plus some buttons/ribbon out of my scrap stash. im really enjoying recycling fabrics.

for this dress i actually didnt pick apart the skirt once i bought it from the salvos. ive used it as i bought it. so i followed the tutorial for the bodice, then just made a ruffle out of more of the red floral fabric and sewed that onto the bottom. then joined the two sections. i also changed the tying of the corset a bit. i added an extra bit of ribbon that goes around her neck and ties into another bow at the top.

this is my fav item out of the 4 ive made this week:

i did a boo-boo with the straps. u can see it in this pic. i sewed the lining to the bodice forgetting about the strap loops. so i had to sew those differently. i now know for next time tho! i was so lucky that i had 2 meters of this ribbon in my stash as it was a perfect match to the skirt material.

details:

and i also made this twirly skirt using this free tutorial. for the fabric i found a floor-length size 10 girls dress (Pumpkin Patch brand) at the salvos for $2. i unpicked the dress and ended up making this skirt plus i have heaps of leftovers. the material was in mint condition but i wasnt too keen on the pattern. but brianna fell in love. and she was begging me for a "watermelon skirt" .... i dont know if she realised that its actually oranges on the material haha.

the skirt goes into a full 360 degrees - perfect for twirling :) her face is so silly. but i dont bother with her posing cos its just "her". its totally brianna!

i also grabbed this hat while i was at the salvos and tied some scraps around the top.

Cost of the hat and skirt combined = $6.

See - i should be allowed to get spend the $60 to grab those other patterns :D

xxx K

PS. if anyone else is keen on getting those "you can make this" patterns please let me know. i was love to share the costs because its a PDF document u get sent through email. so we can share the tutorial :D makes it affordable if we split the cost.

another bargain homemade dress

2009-02-06T18:09:00.003+10:00

i think im sewing so much so that i can avoid the photos i need to scrap. its not going to work. i know that this weekend i gotta get them out otherwise my kids scrapbooks will have a huge gaping hole in them from when i got lazy and distracted with other things :)

so here is today's scrapbooking-avoidance task ...

a pillowcase dress. this dress is made from a pillowcase from the salvos (50c) plus some trims/buttons from my scrap stash. it looks super-cute on Miss B. she loved it cos i let her pick the buttons.

i hope this weekend finds you inspired to create! but either way, make it a good one :)

xxx K

PS. if u wanna learn how to make a pillowcase dress just google it and u will find a bazillion tutorials and variations you can do. all very simple and quick!

Today I made brianna a skirt :)

2009-02-05T20:32:00.008+10:00

for the grand total of $1. I went to the op shop to purchase material. but when i found this little linen skirt:

look at that print!

it was sooooooooo cute. but it had slight discoloration in places because it was really old. it had the yellowing thing happening to parts of the white. but cos of that it was only 50c. so i snapped that up. and then i found this matching pillowcase for another 50c ...

so I unstitched the pillowcase so i had a length of fabric. and chopped up the skirt.

then i resewed it all together and i had this gorgeous skirt, complete with a bow on the back! not bad for a noob sewer. she loved it. and i loved that it looked so "country".

now i just gotta get some green trim to dress up this pale pink singlet so she can wear them as a set :) i love that how when the singlet is tucked in it looks like a dress.

but i spent $8 all up at the salvos and i left with a big bag of fabric, clothes to unpick, and linen to chop. so im hoping to make brianna a bright red, white and mid-tone blue dress over the weekend :) ill post up here when finished!

have a great weekend :)

xxx K

ive actually been creative! (shock horror)

2009-02-02T19:44:00.009+10:00

ive had so much fun this last week. Ive been feeling a bit more like my normal self and have scrapped a couple of layouts, done some OTP and even sewed a bit! its been so refreshing and nice. hopefully it is the beginning of a very creative year. ive missed the feeling. im scrapping again tonight - so 'yay'!

anyways, I have shares. the latest awesome Scrapboxx newsletter came out today and I made something for it but its been moved to the next month - so u will have to wait for that one!

but something else, i have decorated this Scrapware milk crate in a super-simple way:

we've had rainy weather basically non stop lately so its been hard to get nice photos. so just excuse the horrible photo quality above.

my kids love to colour. and i mean LOVE to colour. they have a craft table and they colour in their books and do drawings probably 3 times a day, each time they last about 15 - 20 minutes at a time. they both love to be creative. so i made them this box to keep their colours in so i dont ahve to clean up pens off the floor what feels like 50,000 times a day! they both were excited about the crate and sat down to colour as soon as i gave it to them - almost as if to test it out. so cute.

also, big news in the Day household! brianna started kindy today!! she was such a big girl. i was so proud of her. shes very socially confident, so as soon as we walked in she went off and played with the other kids and couldnt have cared less when i left. when i said bye she didnt even look up from what she was doing. i was totally snobbed!!

here are some pics from today.

before kindy i tried unsuccessfully to get some nice pics of brianna. she gave me alot of silly faces and refused to look half normal. but i just ran with it and didnt pressure her cos she was so super excited about kindy she couldnt be bothered stuffing around with photos. haha. but i think she looks so sassy in this photo:

here is her once we got to kindy. she went straight to the blocks and built a zoo with the kids that were there already.

i was amazed at how many bags kids need for kindy!!! she needed 1 backpack, and 3 drawstring bags for sheets, hat and spare clothes. i made her drawstring bags and also her cushion cover for naptime. i was so proud of myself cos although i desperately want to know how to sew i really dont have the time to learn! but im so happy with how these turned out, even if it was really basic.

i made three of the following design, but in varying sizes depending on what they were to be used for. and each one had a different wooden tag attached. of course u have to name everything. so i threaded a wooden minialbum page that i had decorated onto ribbon so it couldnt be pulled off. each wooden circle was covered in Basic Grey and Sassafrass Lass papers, some journalling rubons, AC stickers, Sass chipboard and CC alphas. they turned out real cute.

this cushion cover was a bit harder. i made two boo-boos but u cant really tell :) the back of the cushion is just the plain red polka dot material.

Anyways, I hope u all have a great night!! im gonna watch a movie while scrapping :)

In awhile crocodile.

xxx K

time with the kids

2009-01-30T13:02:00.006+10:00

ive really been focusing on enjoying some time with the kids this month. so im sorry for the lack of posts! i was just so busy in nov and dec that i took a month off from all my "work" and just did family stuff.

here are some pics of the some of the stuff we have done since my last post.

we had a wedding to prepare and organise :) brianna and liam got married (briannas idea). liam was SUCH a stud ...

we had some fake smiles ...

some even faker smiles ...

and some real smiles ...

liam proved that "white men can jump" ...

and also learnt how to use a potty (apparently its easier to pee in a potty while wearing stilletos" ...

liam and oates found their best friends - each other ...

and oates learnt to sit on command (thankyou puppy preschool!) ...

we did finger painting (and liam did face/leg painting) ...

i got a second-hand double jogging stroller. this isnt my exact one, mine is fairly faded and doesnt have these inserts on the seats. plus mine only cost me TEN DOLLARS from lifeline. so now i can walk the dog and the kids together.

the only thing i didnt do this week was go to WW! (eep my bad!)

i do actually have scrap shares (shock horror) i will post them up tonight :)

have a great weekend!!!

xxx K

Alice in Wonderland Garden Tea Party

2009-01-18T19:51:00.006+10:00

brianna's official party has now finished :) it was yesterday and it was SO worth all the effort!

i normally invite over all the family friends with their kids so we end up having 20-something kids. but this time i decided to make it a "big girls only" party, and i narrowed the list down to 8 girls. this way i could focus more on doing individual treats for the 8 girls and it wouldnt blow my budget!

my fav aspects of this party:
- i did everything girly! so much fun!
- i LOVED the hanging paper lanterns and paper flowers
- i learned how to do a topsy turvy cake
- my mum and dad came!!!!!!!!!! this is HUGE cos my mum doesnt travel well. so she has only visited moranbah a three times since we moved here. so that was a huge blessing that she not only made it out here, but she also got to enjoy the party :) i really appreciated that mum!
- all the girls got presents during the games, these included barbies, colouring in books and fancy shoes. i kept my eyes out for specials leading up to the party so each girl got a nice toy to take home.

here are some pics:

the paper lanterns, fairies, glass candle hangers (i love these so much!), and crepe paper flowers. the pink tulle in the background is from my daughters bedroom. i hung it from the roof and draped it around the food and cake table to stop the flies getting on the food. was so handy - ill definitely be doing that again!

another shot of how i set it all up. i had heaps of teapots everywhere. on the sitting table i had them down the middle and i had coloured pencils, darryl lee large lollypops, lollypop sticks, massive sherbet straws and colourful fake flowers in them. i also had them on the food and cake table.

each setting at the table had their own lace placemat, mismatching teacups and saucers from Lifeline, their goodiebags and M&Ms. the goodiebags didnt have lollies in them, they had bracelets, necklaces, and lots of cool hairbands, clips and a scrunchie.

i did a doughnut tier instead of a cupcake tier for something different. ive done cupcake ones before but doing it this way made me realise just how much easier it was to fit the donuts on then cupcakes. i always seem to have the icing not quite fit when i make cupcakes.

this photo looks really pink cos of the tulle behind the table. but this was the cake i made. the top tier is buttercake, the bottom one is mudcake. colouring the fondant took awhile but was worth it. i had so much fun doing it cos i havent done anything like that before. the sticks on top were candles i found at coles. the teapot handle isnt part of the design, i shoulda moved the teapot behind it before photographing. oh well :)

my mum took pics of brianna so once i get those ill post those up. i didnt take any cos she was and she is fab at photography. but here is one i snapped of my neice Hula that afternoon after everyone had left while we were all relaxing beside the slip'n'slide. shes so cute :)

thank goodness the next birthday is at the end of 2009!! yay!

xxx K

What a beautiful day!!!

2009-01-14T22:17:00.010+10:00

Brianna turned four today :)

(warning: longest blog post EVER - for the family's benefit)

yesterday was NOT so wonderful!!!! i spent the morning cooking a cake, but it was one of those chocolate cakes where u cook most of the ingrediants in a saucepan, then u let it cool, then u mix in the flours and eggs. so i did the first bit in the morning - then it cooled while the kids slept - then in the arvo i added the other ingrediants. i was planning on icing and decorating the cake at nighttime. but when i added THE LAST EGG it was ROTTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was soooooooo spewin. i had to throw the whole thing in the bin. i was tired and emotional too, cos my hormones are crazy with this new pill im on.

so i gave up and i got packet mixes and made it lastnight. i was pretty disappointed cos i like to make the kids cakes. i had to stay up till 10pm to get it out of the oven. then i had to get out of bed at 2am when it had cooled (it was a HUGE cake) and wrap it in cling wrap. then i had to get up AGAIN at 4.30am to ice and decorate the cake cos i wanted it all to be done before brianna got out of bed.

i was SO tired!

but today just got better and better. brianna had an amazing day filled with friends, love, laughter and fun. i was so glad that troy and i got to give her such a fun birthday.

basically today brianna called the shots. anything she wanted to do ... she did! so here is the low-down:'

4am - brianna remembers in her sleep that i said her presents would be out in the hallway so promptly decides to wake up in the middle of the night for them!!!!! "go back to bed brianna!" haha.

5.30am - brianna wakes up again, this time we let her get out of bed for pressies from us :) she got three boardgames, 2 dressups, a red and white polka dot party dress for today, a gorgeous purple ballerina tutu, a cash register for the "shop" she set up at home out of cardboard boxes, a hi5 DVD game, a barbie, some little pet-shop dogs and her big pressie was a barbie doll house. she wouldnt stop playing with it all day!

her barbie doll house:

one of her new dressups:

this is the party dress and the register. its amazing how u can find presents for kids that are SO cheap, and they just adore what they get given. after getting her other presents and buying food for the parties, i only had a few dollars left out of her "birthday party budget" so i ducked into the local Salvos to see if they had anything in there. being a mining town its amazing what u find in there!!! i quite often get name brand clothing in mint condition there for $1. anyways, the register was only 50c and the dress was $1!!!!!!!!!!!! Gods blessing hey. He knew what would make brianna happy :)

9am - breakfast while watching Tinkerbell. i love that movie!!

10am - her "cake party". her alice in wonderland birthday party is on saturday morning, but today we had a morning tea at the local cafe so brianna could have a birthday cake on her actual birthday. kinda like a mini-birthday-party. some of her friends were invited and we just basically hung out and ate too much cake. very relaxed. i so enjoyed it!

here is the cake i made for this morning. she loves Tinkerbell so i couldnt resist that cake transfer!!! mind you, i ripped it a bit while putting it on (oops). its a bit hard to tell from the angle of the pic but its a two tier cake.

i found these cute edible icing frangipanis for the cake im making on saturday, so i stole some for this cake.

poor brianna actually put her mouth ON this candle when she was blowing it and she burnt her lip a little bit on the wax. poor little silly billy.

a few of her closest friends.

Midday - Home for a rest. she was exhausted.

3pm - We cracked open her new boardgames. They were awesome!!! she was so excited about them, and wanted to play all of them more than once. mummy needs a longer attention span haha. but i survived - barely. My favs were the Dr Seuss ones!! If you have young kids i highly recommend checking them out. We got the "ABC Game" and the "Cat in the Hat game". Brianna is pretty good with letters and numbers so picked it up quickly. They will help her practice her alphabets while also being fun.

5pm - Pizza at the park. Brianna got to choose the "what and where" for dinner. Family tradition. whoever's bday it is gets to choose. she loves pizza but doesnt have it often so i knew she would pick that. and cos it was a special occasion we let her have softdrink. she isnt allowed it normally. so she thought she was the queen. she doesnt like alot of softdrinks anyways, only raspberry lemonade.

liam with his pizza face. he thought it was awesome that he could have softdrink. he guts it more than brianna. typical boy! he was such a good boy today.

brianna giving me a dazzling smile for the camera haha:

Then it was just the normal routine of showers, milk, teeth and into bed. they got to stay up till 7.30pm tonight.

and thus ends my long long LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG blog post. i wanted to record it all for future reference!!!

xxx K

My exciting news ...

2009-01-05T13:11:00.002+10:00

... well, its exciting for me and my fam anyways! :D Here is my new little poochie named Oates. He is an alaskan malamute and he is 6 weeks old.

He is just a complete joy! Oates has a lovely nature and is very cuddly. Troy and I have wanted our kids to have a dog for awhile, but it was never the right time for a variety of reasons (eg. no fence) but im very excited to have taken the step now.

My two fav things about Oates are that (1) he looks like he is always wearing a batman mask, and (2) the fact that one ear flops over, and one stands up straight. They are always like that!! You can see it above.

Anyways, just a quick entry cos Troy called me from work asking me to post up a pick of Oates so he can show his mate :)

xxx K

Im back!!

2009-01-02T20:38:00.002+10:00

Wowza - im never going to move house over the Christmas/New Year period again. It was chaotic and terrible!!! Anyways, ill be back tomorrow with a proper post with some very exciting news :)

Just wanted to pop in and let you know that im still alive!

xxx K

idea for displaying prints

2008-12-21T20:32:00.003+10:00

My #1 fav photographers for inspiration and drooling is the amazing husband and wife duo over at the image is found.

Tonight im feeling a bit under the weather - i think im getting a cold. and i was just doing a very quick check of my fav blogs before falling into bed for some much-needed sleep, and Nate had posted up how he displays his family photos. i adore this idea!! so i just had to jump on here and share. he said that he finds it hard to select which pics get onto the wall, which i can SO relate to! so he just chops and changes the pics all the time.

Its just a magnetic white board and a heap of cute mini magnets. pick them up for cheap from an office supplies store.

i can imagine the most perfect corner of our new kitchen that this would suit fabulously. so ill double check the house tomorrow cos its been a month since we have been in there and we get the keys in the morning.

what do u think? also, make sure u check out the image is found blog. they will blow your mind.

xxx K

my wishlist ...

2008-12-20T21:23:00.007+10:00

Ive been having fun planning the furnishings for the new house and have been daily hopping around the internet checking out blogs and being inspired when it comes to interior design. Here are a couple of things that Ive spied tonight that I love. I am definitely gonna get the wall decal below!!

This decal is 8.5" high by 23" wide and would look PERFECT on the mocha wall in my living room. I love the idea of being able to put something other than photoframes on my walls. This can be found here for $35 (au$) which includes postage - and I could just about spend another $100 or so on the other gorgeous designs in that etsy store. Wouldnt it be fabulous to design your own little signs to put above ur kids bed and get them made there!!! I would LOVE to do that as my kids share a room with each side of the room being a mirror image of the other, except for colours, and itd suit the design perfectly.

And check out these cuties.

They are from this etsy store!! How sweet.

Anyways, im off to bed early. I had a terrible day. The kids were grumpy all day and had a few timeouts each, they didnt have a daytime sleep, i got stung by a bee on my calf muscle at the pool this arvo and it REALLY hurt, I was really tired cos lastnight i couldnt get to sleep till after 2am, and I ate my emotions by having a slight "im tired" binge of chocolate this arvo. Im so disappointed with myself!!

But I have to look on the bright side - at least my kids were with me to cuddle and kiss. Alot of parents dont have that this Christmas, so I cant take that for granted.

Im off to bed now. Night!

xxx K

PS. Catherine, that is the decal i was telling you about! ;) Christmas wishlist material :D

PPS. It was 44 degrees today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hottest day of the year. My shoes were basically melting into the road on the way to the pool.

Goodbye to my beautiful friend Dee

2008-12-19T23:03:00.004+10:00

Back when I was on the CIS DT I was fortunate to meet a wonderful person - Dee Lewthwaite. You may remember this post I made for her.

Over the past year she has been struggling with cancer, and this morning her body couldnt take anymore and she passed away. We used to sit in msn for ages and chat, and it saddens me that she isnt around to make the world a brighter place anymore. She will be missed by so many, especially the CISters. As she was very active in that community when I was a DT member there. I wish I was closer so I could go to her funeral, but I cant travel to Victoria at the moment because I cant afford it. This is so sad, and Ive been crying on and off about it all night since I found out. I wasnt going to post about it here but in the end I wanted to share in case someone who knew Dee didnt know the news and came here.

If you knew Dee and want to pass on a message to the family this is her blog:
http://dee-days.blogspot.com/. Her dad checks the blog and Dee taught him how to post messages etc.

She leaves behind two beautiful little children. And her scrapbooks will be there for these children as they grow up - a testament as to how much they were loved by their mother.

Ill miss you Dee ... I love you heaps.

xxx K

so what do u think?

2008-12-19T22:42:00.002+10:00

I wanted something a bit cleaner. so i dumped the left column and u can find the category links just below the banner. ive got 191 posts here though so i am NOT going to go through those and categorize them though :) so the sections only start today.

i am SO looking forward to next year, and this blog will help me plan stuff and document the process.

the blog will no longer only just be scrapbooking as alot of my family check back here regularly. so itll be about other stuff more to do with whats going on in my life. up until just recently i didnt really like to talk about my life online. but ive decided to open up just a little bit. the change of thinking came about because id love to be able to read back on this a year or two from now and not just have scrapbooking stuff documented.

anyways, ive been editing photos and working a bit on this tonight so im very tired. so just a quicky post tonight. i will be back with scrap shares tomorrow!

xxx K

Changes are coming ...

2008-12-19T14:40:00.003+10:00

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Hopefully will finish tonight :) Check back lata!

xxx K

i need a fresh start ...

2008-12-16T20:54:00.003+10:00

i SO cant wait for the new year. i think this is the most anticipation i have felt for a "new years" ever. i really feel that at this stage in my life i need to recognise a new beginning. this is for many reasons including:

im feeling a bit burnt out after a tremendously busy November
ive just rejoined WW with the goal to lose 15 kgs. I tried not long ago to do it from home but was unsuccessful. If I attend the meetings then I always have success. So ive signed up for the "unlimited" plan. And after only 1 week I have lost 1.6kgs already (woohoo!)
we get the keys to the new house on 22nd December so will be moving over slowly over the Christmas break. We have organised a holiday house for the break, so we are staying there for a bit, then back out here to move, then backwards and forwards a bit over 2 weeks.
im taking January off in regards to photoshoots - not one! (ok maybe one for my bestie Chantal who had her little baby boy 2 days ago!)
I need to reorganise and refocus my priority list. Ive yet to sit down and think it all over but I plan on doing this while on holidays.

So until the new year I will be quiet here. I am going to do another post tomorrow or the day after because the next awesome Scrapboxx newsletter is out and its jam-packed full of inspiration!!! So I will be sharing those projects with you here once I get on the other PC, as it has the pics on there.

While on holidays im planning on giving this blog a facelift too, cos its looking very outdated and im SO over that photo in the banner LOL.

The gorgeous Marni Telford is visiting me tomorrow so I am totally excited over that. And maybe I can con her into taking my photo so I can put an updated pic up. We will see how time goes.

Anyways, I hope you ALL have a wonderful Christmas!!!!! And try not to get too carried away with the sales :D

off to mackay tomorrow!

2008-11-30T20:25:00.002+10:00

i have two photoshoots booked in, one tuesday, one wednesday. but i will be back by Friday because I have another shoot here in Moranbah on Saturday morning.

i will leave u with this pic of the kids taken a couple of days ago. this is what you resort to when you are trying to save water in Moranbah! the pic isnt perfect, but most of the pics had brianna being quite "indecent", seeing as she is topless here. So this is the best you get :)

poor liam got SO ripped off with his tiny bucket! LOL. im gonna go buy another big one for the nexttime we go swimming in buckets on the patio :D

Have a safe week everyone!

xxx K

BlogParty on tonight!!!

2008-11-30T09:36:00.001+10:00

I will be there!!! So if you arent doing anything drop on over cos it only goes for 2 hours and there will be HEAPS of freebies. All you have to do is show up! There is a timetable up so go see whats happenin :)

http://www.scrapware.typepad.com

xxx K

late-night photo editing session!

2008-11-26T22:34:00.003+10:00

last night i was up till midnight editing photos for the beautiful Veronica! Here are two of my favs:

If you want to see more go here.

Im really enjoying doing all these Christmas photoshoots, but I tell ya what, it takes alot of time!!! Troy and I have decided that I need to take a break so im going to do only limit it to a couple of shoots in January, then get back to normal in February. Ive done something like 10 family shoots in the last month, plus the wedding, plus an upcoming promotional photoshoot for a school coming up next week. This is alot to take on ontop of my normal SAHM, DT and Scrapware commitments.

Did another shoot this morning and it was awesome!!! ive never met a family with such a unique "family-personality". Their family had their own unique-ness unlike anything ive seen before and it was so much fun to capture in photographs. They had their own vibe going on. Hard to explain!!

xxx K

my life is full of teacups, teapots & birds atm ...

2008-11-25T13:46:00.004+10:00

ive been scouring around the thrift shops finding heaps of hidden treasures for Briannas party ... its been so much fun! Ive found some beautiful items that i cant believe people would give away! but i spose one mans trash is anothers treasure :)

i wont share any pics yet, as ill wait until i have found the 20 teacups (i call the style "nanna cups") and the 15 teapots I aim to reach. Im also collected little china/porcelin bird ornaments to decorate the table with. all adds to the "garden" theme!

my fav find so far is a gorgeous teapot shaped like a cottage! the lid of the teapot is the roof of the house - complete with a chimney even! next week im traveling back into mackay for a couple of photoshoots and a catchup with friends so ill go around the shops there and see what else i can find.

i am fearing that ill become a collector of teapots because i just love them! this party is kind of kick-starting my collection. my bro in laws pay me out a bit for drinking real tea out of a teapot ... but i promise you that a cup of tea tastes SO much better out of fine china!

Invitations are done (shown below with the addy/ph smudged out so u cant come stalk my kids!). i chose some images online from random places and brianna got to pick her fav one for her invites. she chose the image of Alice below. so im ordering the invites to be printed today and ill have them by Friday! YaY!

Im also just waiting for a quote on the cake pictured below to be made. Ive always made the cakes myself, so im feeling a bit weird ordering one in. but i will be making her cake for the "family party" we will be having on her actual birthday - the 14th January.

Should I call this a blog-o-mercial?!?

2008-11-21T21:21:00.005+10:00

Cos it seems like I have a whole lot of Scrapware news tonight, and I feel like one of the people on those info-mercials on TV during Dr Phil!!! :)

But tonight is the last night of the KDD Blog - and I have to just tell people what is going on! Im going to leave the blog up so people can go back and see layouts using KDD etc. But I won't be starting off any new blog posts there. There is HEAPS happening over at the new Scrapware Blog where I will be contributing:

BlogParty - happening next Sunday!!! Check out all the details HERE! There will be tonnes of giveaways throughout the two hours. So make sure you pop over for a visit or the whole thing. There will be heaps of chances to win yourself some free Scrapware and KDD.
Giveaway - there are three days left to get a chance to win an awesome Birdhouse. This is yet to be released and is oh so cute. So go enter!!
Heaps of the KDD Limited Edition Trees have been sold. Already we have sold nearly a hundred!!!! So if you want to get your Christmas cards done then order a stack of them before they go. Even if you have done this years cards you can grab some more for next year.
A new mega competition featuring a certain KDD product will be announced at the BlogParty. So get your scrapping fingers ready because this is a competition you will WANT to enter!!!! All will be revealed on the night!
And lastly -
I have been doing some mega-simple Christmas Tree Cards trying to get as many finished before Christmas as possible! Check them out at the Scrapware Blog.

Wow, there is just too much to announce! too much fun stuff :)

Enjoy your weekend. Mine will be an emotional one that I will have trouble surviving. But Im not quite ready to share this online as its a bit personal. If I think about it I just want to cry. and Ive been crying a fair bit this last week and a bit. so I just try to push it aside for the now and deal with it tomorrow once Im in the thick of things. But it's life's experiences that teach us about what life is really about. But each hurdle you live through will teach you things and make you stronger.

xxx K

I didnt think this day would ever come ...

2008-11-20T21:41:00.006+10:00

we are finally ... FINALLY ... moving house!!!!! Those who know me well know that for the last TWO and A HALF YEARS I have been trying to move out of this place! And come the 17th December it will finally happen! This place is just too small for us and the list of reasons why this house just doesnt work for our family is just too long.

So the house we are moving into has four bedrooms, is fenced (yay), has a big patio/deck, and has just recently been refurbished with a brand new kitchen, bathroom, and lots of other stuff. The owners have invested a fair chunk of money into it. And for that we are eternally thankful :D

I still havent even seen the inside yet!!!!! So Im just going off what they have told us.

So come mid December I will disappear until the beginning of January. Because we are moving in on the 17th, and then on the 22nd we go away for a week for Christmas holidays. Cant wait!

yippee!!!!!

**************************************

In other news I didnt realise Brianna's birthday was sneaking up on me!!! Normally Im planning birthday celebrations months in advance! But its in something like seven weeks!!!!!!!!!! Where has the time gone???

So after being inspired by some photos shared at Two Peas Im going to have an Alice in Wonderland Garden Party.

So I started organising this morning and went shopping. So far I have bright yellow circle paper lanterns (I want some hot pink ones in a different shape), heaps of crepe paper in tonnes of colours so I can make hanging crepe paper flowers from the branches, bright yellow tealight candles, lace placemats (these are SO cute!), and some gorgeous big bright fake flowers to make table centrepieces.

Here are the images that are inspiring me with my party planning. I know there are alot of pics below but I want them all in one place so i can easily find them if I need some more decorating ideas. Today I bought some AWESOME sherbet straws filled with pink, purple and blue sherbet. They are like 80cms long each, so are perfect for in flower vases :)

Photos from Jessica Claire:

And some more Jessica Claire (from another post there):

This is similar to how im going to have mine. But Im going to do a mix of lanterns and also crepe flowers and hang them vertically from the branches overhead. Im having the party at this gorgeous lush parkland in Moranbah (there are no toys here, just beautiful plants and trees).

And some inspo from Two Peas (she has heaps of pics here, but im only using a few to inspire my party):

And here is a cake ive found. I adore the colours of this! But I think will decorate it differently:

Here is some tips on making whimsical cakes. I tend to use this page when i bake the cake :D

Let me know if u have done a party like this before! Any ideas would be fabulous :)

xxx K

PS. I know Im sposed to have shares today but my computer is being lame. Troy set up a new network and my computer craps itself every time i try to get my photos from the other computer .... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Tomorrow Ill post them up.

MyMini winner :)

2008-11-19T14:00:00.002+10:00

Ok so we have a winner! Thanks everyone who popped into my blog over the last week during the comp for a browse :) I did a lucky draw and the winner is Shandell, with this lucky comment:

********************

Shandell said... They are so cute - who wouldn't want one!?! What a great prize!!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 5:59:00 PM

********************

So please email me at karen (at) tkday (dot) net ... Ive got your MyMini all packaged up and ready to go

I hope you have fun with it!

Also, Ive been busy making christmas cards! So check back latas for some shares!

xxx K

sneaky peakys :)

2008-11-17T23:01:00.000+10:00

Oooh gee i wonder :) Get in quick!

xxx K

soooo ... tired ......

2008-11-17T00:16:00.001+10:00

Zzzzzzzzz ......

tonight i just edited 70 photos from the wedding a couple of weeks back. today i decided on the spur of the moment that tomorrow im taking the kids into town for a spot of christmas shopping, to get our christmas tree, and to go to the lagoon for a picnic and swim. so that meant cramming three night-sessions of photo editing into one night! so thats why its 12:20am and im just going to bed.

maybe i shouldnt have done this! the kids will be up in five hours and ill be driving two hours to mackay. but ill be fine :) im a morning person.

my eyes are about to fall out of my head tho!

but i will still be finding a computer with net tomorrow so i can talk about a few exciting things going on at the moment :) itll be fun!

night peeps. luvs.

xxx K

i have been SO blessed this year!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-11-13T19:30:00.004+10:00

* warning: secret revealed early *

this year has been an amazing ... AMAZING ... experience for me. Ive found out stuff about myself, skills I didnt know I had, interests I didnt partake in before, and opportunities that have landed at my feet.

Ive been given an amazing position that I LOVE at scrapboxx, I was given the chance to do some design work for Ange at Scrapware, Ive gotten two magazine articles as well as I got cover at SC twice (my goal this year was to get cover once!), and ive had a few guest DT positions come my way too. Ive been invited to my FIRST scrapping retreat to teach in Augusta in March ... and then in April Im going to SIA thanks to Scrapware!!!

Plus my photography stuff is getting pretty big! I just did my first wedding a couple of weekends ago, and I just got a call from a school in Mackay wanting me to do a promo photo shoot for them in early December. Plus ive had a string of family shoots. So that all helps with the christmas bills!

But why am I telling you this?

Its just cos ive been realising the last few days just how lucky i am. ive been whinging alot lately about houses, kids sleeping (not sleeping), everyone in the family getting sick etc. and ive been thinking about how i need to "lighten up!". Ive had so much good stuff come out of this year that i need to focus on that, instead of the downer stuff.

But now Ive had ANOTHER blessing come my way :D This is the secret ive been holding out on you ;)

Two weeks ago I was contacted by Kim from Scrapbook Creations and she invited me to take over from Lusi Austin with a new column she was putting together :) So of course I said yes!!!! She invited me over the phone so I was trying to sound very professional and not squeal in her ear!!!!!!!! I said in my best cool calm and collected voice "yes well send me the documents when you have a chance and I will read them over". But as if I would turn them down :D

I wont tell too much because then what surprise would there be when it goes to print!!! But just very briefly the feature will be in every second issue. The first one I think is in next month's issue, so you wouldnt have seen them in the mag yet. Lusi has done the first two, and then my ones will appear afterwards. The feature is called "Show and Tell". So some of you ladies might be hearing from me soon to do some commissioned work!!!!! How exciting!

So anyways, if you read any posts with me whinging about how stuff isnt going my way, and Im being a total downer ... feel free to e-slap me through a comment and tell me to shutup. Because I need to focus on the good, not the bad :)

xxx K

PS. Is anyone else having trouble viewing TypePad blogs???

PPS. If you havent checked my blog in a few days scroll down cos there is an easy competition here on the blog :)

PPPS. Im working on a minialbum for Christmas 2007 so Ill have shares soon :) Im so glad Im scrapping this album as Ive wnted to do a chrissy minialbum forever.

i know something u dont know ....

2008-11-12T21:11:00.004+10:00

... doooo dahhh - dooo dahhhhh

:D

secret squirrels. i cant WAIT!!!!!

but not only is there announcements THERE on monday ... there quite possibly could be an announcement HERE as well. :D kekekekeekekekekekekeeeeee

gee i wonder what is going on!?!?!?!?? so much secrecy!

xxx K

ps. if u havent visited in a few days check the Giveaway post below :) there is a few days left to enter!

ten years today ...

2008-11-11T22:08:00.002+10:00

my hubby and i started dating 1o years ago today :D wow what a long time!!!!

i had a major crush in him when i was in grade 10, i was 15 years old. it was one of those stare at him across the oval at lunchtime but only talk to him like twice in six months. he was in grade 12 so was totally out of my league. he was so hot in his little school shorts.

but then he graduated so wasnt at school anymore ... and so i moved on ;)

but then when i was 17, him and his mates started hanging out with me and my mates. some ups and downs with him chasing other girls, while i was dating other guys. but then i started falling for him again, but he didnt notice for a few months. we became best mates and he would confide in me when he was crushing on some other girl. it was hard cos i wanted to be more than friends but i just was happy to be his friend.

but then on 11 of november 1998 he called me while at his mates and asked me out for the movies ... and the rest is history :D

dating at 17, engaged at 18, married at 19. those were my ages, he is 2 years older than me.

lots of memories in those 10 years. mum has photos of us when we were dating. i really must find those in her photoalbums cos that was in pre-digital camera days!!!

:)

hope yas had a nice day!

ok, you twisted my arm ... i may as well have a giveaway as well :)

2008-11-10T23:36:00.003+10:00

the MyMini took awhile longer to get into the Scrapware store than we had expected. Its a long story :) But anyways, it went up a few days ago and they are selling like hotcakes!! So I thought that I may as well have a giveaway here while Im up.

If you havent heard of the MyMini go here and check it out! Then jump into your email and ask your fav store to stock it!!! There is a big competition coming up, and not wanting to give too many hints away, but you may need one for it (*wink wink nudge nudge*).

So for this giveaway just simply leave a comment on THIS POST or ANY OTHER POST taking place up until midnight Monday 17th November to go in the draw to win your own MyMini worth of $22 free of charge!

anyone up for a quickie??!?

2008-11-10T23:26:00.003+10:00

just some layout shares :) its nearly midnight so thats all you are getting out of me!

My stuff from The Dozens kit:

And the layout I did for the latest weekly challenge over at The Boxx. This layout doesnt have a black background, thats just the floor I photographed it on. This layout has an odd shape - missing some of the right hand side, and also the bottom edging. But I was in the mood for something different!

four blogger attempts ...

2008-11-07T07:54:00.008+10:00

... that is how many times it took to get this post typed up! There was just too much to say and I kept having interruptions! So here is some insight into my last few weeks.

Liam turned 2
My last baby is well and truely not a baby anymore. a bit sad about that but i am more excited about what is to come. Liam is such a character. he is so funny and DEFINITELY cheeky!!! We had a pirate adventure party with buried treasure behind the shed (a box full of toys and chocolate coins), cannonball fights (waterbombs) and a pirate tattoo shop (I had 60+ pirate-themed temporary tattoos. Here is a his cake. I should have taken the photo BEFORE the candles were lit and blown out cos there is wax everywhere.

I made 30 of those sharkfins and used them on the top of the cupcakes. I had piped blue icing on them so that it was like water.

And here is my birthday boy!

Loss in the family
My mum's foster mother passed a couple of weeks ago. I won't go into detail but this really shattered my mum. A few days of my disappearance were due to going into Mackay early to be with her. I was sposed to be going in on a Tuesday but went in on Saturday instead. So I was gone for eight days in total. This woman saved my mum and I know I wouldnt be here if it werent for her influence. I just wish I had a chance to spend some time with her once I was older and could appreciate her a bit more. I just have a random memory of being at an avocado farm with her when I was really little. But she was in her 90s when she passed away so she lived a full life.

Photography
In the last two weeks Ive had three family photoshoots plus also my first wedding!!!!! So I have been BUSY editing photos. Its taking up every spare minute I have lately. You can see sneak peaks on my photo blog but I still have another about four hours worth of editing to do.

But then I have another three shoots coming up over the next ten days, so Ill still be editing once I finish these shoots :) Its so much fun though! I am really enjoying it.

Scrapware
There is some mega-exciting stuff happening over at Scrapware!!! I can't tell you yet, but Ill let you know when I can :) This includes a huge competition that you will just HAVE to enter!! Massive prize.

As you know, I have my KDD line through Scrapware, but I have also just taken on a new role there as well. I have taken on some employment doing some marketing for them and getting some of their other marketing-based designs done, including designing a kick-butt e-newsletter and such. So I start that next week which should be good! Itll be interesting getting back into designing html emails and such.

Christmas
I have started getting all my Christmas stuff done. Last week I sewed my first dress!!!! It is SO mega cute and I wish I took a photo before giving it to my neice Hula. But I bought HEAPS of the same material and Im makig a similar dress for brianna. i wanted the girls to have matching christmas dresses at the family christmas party this year. i cant believe i made a dress. and that it actually turned out!!! i havent sewed anything except for paper since i was at highschool ten years ago. once i finish brianna's dress i will take some snaps. :)

all my christmas present shopping is completed so i dont have to worry about that! thankyou to oo.com.au for being so awesome with offering free shipping every now and then. thanks to that i got some awesome specials and finished all the shopping by the end of august.

Scrapboxx
The latest awesome Scrapboxx newsletter is out! Go check it out here. Here are my two layouts for this issue:

Over at the Boxx we are planning some AWESOME stuff for the girls for Christmas. So if you are looking for inspiration you will have to keep your eyes peeled :)

Scrapbook Creations
While gone I got contacted by Kim to do a quick lastminute article for the magazine using Kaisercraft stamps. Wow what a gorgeous pile of stamps I recieved!! Was so much fun! So once that is out ill pop some images on the site and do shares.

I havent recieved my latest issue of SC however I got a phone call from my mum who has a subscription and she said that I have a layout in there. This is one of my favourite layouts. My heart just melts at the photos, and the journalling is ALL TRUE!! She really said "mummy quick ... take my photo, I look beautiful". One of my favourite memories because it confirmed in me about how my daughter sees herself. She was just watching TV and I was standing behind the chair fiddling with my camera. She jumped up and turned around, said that quote and then struck that cute pose.

The Dozens - kit club in America
I got a cool opportunity this month to be the guest DT member for The Dozens kit club in America. I fell instantly and totally in love once I saw the kits and so have added a subscription to my chrissy wish list (family if you are reading this I hope you come through with the goods!!!)

Check out this awesome I got to play with:

Marni - this is the kit I was telling you about!!!!!!!!!!!! its totally YOU. It looks good up there but even better in real life ;)

Check out their kits here: http://www.thedozenskits.com/
And their blog here: http://avocadoishyummythings.typepad.com/thedozens/

I just went to the blog and Dana has described me as "colorful and bold, yet sweetly classic" ... its so odd hearing people describe your style when you don't even know what it is yourself! haha.

Tomorrow I will be back with some Dozens shares and also another layout :) I also have some huge news that totally blew me away. But unfortunately I cant share that until about January or so, but when Im allowed to I will :)

Over and out!
xxx K

i have a looooooooong blog post coming tomorrow ...

2008-11-03T21:30:00.002+10:00

i promise! sorry i went AWOL. ive had alot of stuff happen (some very sad, some happy) and ive been out of town for a bit. plus when im here ive been totally flat out. so i have lots and lots of goss and stuff for u :)

but the good news is that i come back to moranbah to have probably the BEST kit i have ever EVER seen!! heaps of funky stuff that ive never seen before or would have put together. i grabbed a kit from an overseas store and im in love! i think i need a subscription for chrissy!!

(marni - this is TOTALLY your kind of kit ... so prepare to be jealous! lol chicky. maybe ill share!).

catch yas then!

xxx K

totally sucks :(

2008-10-13T20:15:00.002+10:00

ages ago we were promised something very important to us. a house to rent.

a close friend of my husbands was waiting for a BMA house to move into for free rent and he said when that happens we would 100% definitely be able to have his house. we even got pre-approval from my hubby's work for the rent $ he was asking. so then we waited. and waited. and have been waiting for FIVE months.

in amongst this waiting we have been looking for a different house because we had no idea how long itd be till he got his BMA house. and nothing came up!! so we were relying on this house because he had said without a shadow of a doubt we could have it. and there is just NO housing available in moranbah!!!

so today he told my hubby that his BMA house finally come through!!!!! yay! kinda. now he has decided that he isnt really happy with working for BMA and has decided to turn down that house and maybe look for another job. he hasnt decided yet. but now he needs his house in case he moves to another company. so we definitely cant rent his house anymore.

its totally not his fault - obviously he has a right to go back on his word. its his house after all!!!! im not cranky at him or nothing. im just disappointed that we are stuck here ... yet again.

thats what i get for getting my hopes up. i so desperately wanted this house. its beautiful. im totally 100% bummed over this. totally and utterly. :( sob sob

im gonna get a bit churchy now. i dont normally do here but it is on my mind so too bad! :) if u dont want to read it, just close this window down.

i was wallowing in self pity and was getting a big angry with God, because he knows how much i want a new house. ive really not liked living here for over a year now. and when u arent happy with ur home it really takes alot out of you. and ive had to deal with that for about 14 months. he knew how much i was anticipating moving into there. i was so sulky that i was even gonna just skip my nightly bible readings kinda as a subconcious tantrum. and so i tsk-tsked myself for being so childish and opened up biblegateway.com like normal. and guess what the verse of the day was!

“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”- Jeremiah 29:11

It certainly did lift my spirits. i am still bummed over the house. but i know things will work out for us. God is good. :) I just have to trust in Him.

***********************

In completely other news - i forgot to tell yas that i lost weight when i weighed in last Thursday :D :D :D I went from 80.8 down to 79.9 ---- booooyaaaaaah!!! :D im a 70s girl. woop woop! :) Ill let yas know how i go this thursday :)

Have a nice night!!

xxx K

Oh my goodness!! I got cover again!

2008-10-08T19:22:00.003+10:00

I just about passed out when I got word that I had Scrapbook Creations cover again. I am in total shock. This layout I didnt even think was anything special!!! But I guess thats they way it goes - you do a layout which you think looks good, and it doesnt even get chosen for publication. And then you submit layouts just for the hell of it and they get chosen!

I havent got my own copy of the magazine yet as the local newsagency hasnt got it in yet (typical moranbah!!!). So here is a tiny image of it taken from one of the online magazine subscription websites. I guess you can kinda make it out! haha.

Here is the layout itself. Its a bad pic once again. Bit fuzzy in the corner. I did this layout as a part of an article written by Tatum Woodroffe. I cant wait to see the whole article!!

I went through a craze where I was using this SR paper leaf cutouts on every layout :)

Hopefully the mag will be here tomorrow!

*****************************************

In other news, we just got back earlier in the week from a short mini-holiday in mackay. We woke up on Saturday morning and thought "lets go to mackay". So 2 hours later we were on the highway, bags packed, kids eating brekky in the car. It was such an amazing relaxing time. I reckon the unexpected holidays are the best ones :) even if they are short!

we took brianna to the movies, went to the blue water lagoon for some water play, fed the ducks geese and pelicans at the gooseponds, and hung out. we got babysitting on saturday night so troy and i could go out on a date ;)

we came back feeling like we had been gone for a week! Here are a few random snaps:

feeding the ducks (there were TONNES of ducks!!!!)

My boy isnt afraid of anything! this goose was nearly as big as he is.

This duck reminds me of our old pet duck "My Muscovy". They are the same type of duck - a muscovy. But my duck was cuter cos he was all white but he had a black mohalk! he was awesome. I miss him. He was a beautiful duck! He used to sleep on our feet.

Brianna is getting a really adorable little splatter of freckles on her cheeks!!! Its so cute :) If u click on this photo to view bigger u can just see them.

Enjoy your night!

xxx K

fresh out of the oven: rose moka!!!!

2008-10-03T19:01:00.003+10:00

i thought i had died and went to heaven when i went to the LSS in mackay and my eyes rested on the most amazing papers ive seen!!! maybe it was just cos i was sick of seeing the same old designs, but i bought one of each sheet they stocked. the colours are vibrant, the designs fresh, and they had yellow! and if u dont know - yellow is my fav colour!

this isnt a great photo of the layout. the colours look washed out. but i took this photo as it was nearly dark so thats my bad!

If you havent seen any Rose Moka products yet check their blog out:
http://rosemoka.typepad.com/
If you scroll down a bit u will see all their mini alphabets. if you know anyone in australia who stocks them let me know cos i am 100% positive ill be buying them in each colour available. how cool!!!!! drool drool drool!

and just for shares, here is the photo im scrapping tonight. this is the best photo i have of me and my sisters and brother together. i am the oldest girl, im on the far right. my bro is older than me and my two sisters are there as well. the one next to me is the youngest.

my mum was keen for it i reckon. 4 kids in 5 years!!!! LOL. couldnt my parents keep their hands off each other?? :) they are STILL like that! haha. its a bit embarrasing when i stay there and i see my mum walking around in her sexy nighties. have a bit of decency you young hooligans!

surely my scales are lying to me!??!?!?!???

2008-10-02T19:11:00.002+10:00

I weighed myself today because Ive noticed that my summer clothes dont fit me like last year. i knew that i had put on a bit of weight but i had NO IDEA!!!!!!!! I have put on 8 kgs in a year. EIGHT KILOS!!!!!!

and the worst bit is that now im an "eighties girl". my weight today is 80.8kg. this is so depressing.

and so today i started WW again. today went really well. i was tempted a couple of times but resisted. the hard bit is that in moranbah cos its a small mining town u rely on your friends heaps. this means that your social life is pretty full on. we have playdates every single day, at least once a day. we generally meet a friend or two for morning tea every weekday, and then maybe 3 afternoon teas a week. sounds excessive but i love my friends and the kids adore getting together. but this means LOTS of cakes and bikkies.

so ive told a couple of friends today, and ill tell some more tomorrow, to not serve me cakes! slap me across the face if im so much as looking at a bikkie. especially if chantal cooks cos she is a genius in the kitchen.

so here is my goal. im reluctant even as i type this, but it MUST be done! there is a challenge on the WW forums which i put my hand up for tonight. its 10 kilos in 12 weeks. Christmas is 12 weeks away TODAY!!! i would ADORE to be a 60s girl by Christmas. that is just over 10 kilos. we will see how i go :)

so here is my official week one weighin announcement:

week 1 (2 oct): 80.8kgs (goal for next week - be a 70s girl!)

ill definitely post next thursdy and let yas know how my weighin has gone :D im not gonna touch my scales till then!

xxx K

PS. i forgot to photograph the layout i did lastnight so ill share that tomorrow

PPS. i miss chocolate already

PPPS. im totally gonna buy a new outfit when i hit 75kgs.

PPPPS. goodnight :)

yay fun night planned! :D

2008-10-01T19:32:00.000+10:00

i have some gorgeous papers from a company i havent scrapped with before - cant remember the name off the top of my head!!! so tonight im having a scrap night just for me! I havent had much of a chance to do this lately so tonight Im going to indulge :)

i could have done it lastnight but it seems my scrap table has become a dumping ground because I havent been scrapping much. so today I cleaned it off. and a clean scrap table always inspires me!!!

just gotta wait for troy to get out of the shower and fill up the ink cartridge for the printer ... *rolls eyes* ... why cant he be here to fulfill my every need when i need him?!?!?!?? anyone would think that i wasnt the most important person in his life. haha. i get so impatient sometimes. i swear his shower has taken at least 4 minutes so far! humpf!

tomorrow ill have shares. hopefully. i feel like im neglecting my albums. the kids will find a gaping hole in the albums where i havent been scrapping and there are no pics of them for a period of months :)

enjoy your night ladies.

layouts, minialbums, and photos shares :)

2008-09-26T21:06:00.004+10:00

hey ya'll!

i got my lens! yay! today I had a playdate with some friends and their kids so i took the camera so i could break in the new lens :D I was SO happy with the results. the sigma is fast, accurate, crisp, and sturdy. it felt great in my hands! sounds weird i know! but i just know we are meant for each other!

Here is one of the photos from today. but to see the rest of them go to my photo blog. the top 5 posts are photos from today with the new lens (up until the flowers).

And as for layout shares - the latest Scrapboxx Newsletter has hit the emails! Check it out here.

And here are my contributions:

This month's Boxx of Scraps -

And I scraplifted the gorgeous Janelle Wind (how could i resist!):

Her layout:

My layout:

And a quote from the Newsletter - "On September 13th my youngest sister got married to the man she has loved for the last five years. I was the matron of honor so of course Ive been thinking ALOT about the wedding. Her wedding colours were ivory and red ... so her wedding inspired me to create a minialbum using the Teresa Collins die cuts. The theme of the minialbum is the trip between the hotel room and the church for the ceremony. I was so honored that she chose me to be in the car with her and share her last moments before the "grand entrance"!"

Have a fabulous weekend ladies!!! Thanks for stopping by!

xxx K

oh and i forgot to say ...

2008-09-23T20:29:00.000+10:00

... my lens arrives tomorrow. the bag not till the end of the week.

woop woop!!!!!!!!!

photoshoot time :D

revamping blog ... plus another giveaway

2008-09-23T19:10:00.004+10:00

its still in the construction zone but i did a few changes today. im hoping to change the banner sometime over the coming week or so as well.

i saw this awesome new feature on blogger (well, its new to me!) where u can have a blog list and it will put on your blog when your friends have done an update on their blog. if u get what i mean! i added this feature here and included the blogs i had already included in my links list. so this now replaces my link list :)

so i thought i would bribe u into adding me to your blog list :) you totally should add this feature to your blog regardless of whether u add me or not - its awesome! to do this log into Blogger, then go to the "layout" section, and then go to "add a gagdet" and u will see the "Blog List" option at the top of the list.

i havent had any giveaways for so long, and now its twice in one fortnight!!! i must be feeling generous. but why not do something different??? who here loves Peanut MnMs?????? i adore them. so much that i sincerely cant resist them! everyone who adds the Blog Links feature to their blog and adds both this blog here and also my KDD blog (http://karendaydesigns.blogspot.com) will go in the draw to win a big family-size bag of MnMs. LOL. and i will send them Express so there is less chance to meltage. :) after all, arent these the chocs that are sposed to melt in your mouth, not your hand .... errrrrrrrrrrr ... i mean postal bag. or is that smarties?!?

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm i can taste the tastiness now if i really try hard enough. haha.

so if u are keen for this bit of fun let me know in the comments a link to your blog so I can then add your details to my own Blog List :) i would love to become a regular at your blog and i wouldnt be able to help myself if i have your blog updates on my own homepage!!!!!!!!!

have a wonderful night. im off to raid the cupboards cos now im in the mood for chocolate ... look out timtams here i come!

Scrapboxx Weekly Challenge

2008-09-23T13:16:00.003+10:00

hello there!!

I was in charge of the weekly challenge at the Boxx this week so head on over if u are into challenges. The prize is a $5 Boxx voucher.

Here is the challenge -
- only use black and white photos
- the papers, embellies, etc must be only black and/or white with only ONE other colour.

My example layout:

And yes that is another Nicole Lombardo diecut. what can i say - i bought alot of them haha.

Entries close midnight Sunday night so check it out!!!!

xxx K

and the winner is ....

2008-09-22T13:05:00.005+10:00

kayla renee macaulay!!!

congrats lucky chicken :) a box of Prima goodness will be heading your way as soon as you let me know your address! my email is karen (at) tkday (dot) net. Its all packaged up and ready to go.

Ive got some shares for you ... a fair bit of shares :) but you have to wait till the Scrapboxx newsletter is out! I am anticipating itll be out over the next couple of days.

But here are two more layouts which were in the latest Scrapbooking Creations. When I posted about the article I forgot to mention that I had two other layouts in the quickgrabs:

LOL and be happy: I did this one SOOOOOOOO long ago!!! but i still adore this photo of brianna :) she will hate me for getting this published when she is older haha.

And this is one for my friend Elisha about her family:

And just for something completely random here is the ONLY photo I have of me with my nephew Kris. It was taken last week in Mackay. He lives 10 hours drive from me and it makes me sad that we only see each other once or twice a year. Every time he sees me he has forgotten me. I hate having family far away :( I want to be close to him like aunties should be, but its so hard :( Oh well, at least when my kids are older we can travel down to see them more!

xxx K

guess what i just bought?!?!????

2008-09-19T16:33:00.002+10:00

Jill-E leather camera bag - Bone colour

and also a Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 lens for my nikon:

i CANT WAIT for it to arrive :D :D :D

i think i deserve it ... Ive been soooooooo ridiculously busy lately. and ive just booked my first wedding shoot. so that will cover this bill.

i couldnt get a normal new camera bag after seeing these fashion ones!!! how cute is it!!! a bit exxy tho. my bad!!! what do u think girls???? :)

Want to hear what happened to me?!???

2008-09-18T15:55:00.003+10:00

I got GDT for Prima! :D yay!

Go check out the awesome Prima blog HERE! Can I just say that I nearly fell off my chair what Sharon emailed me???? Seriously. I think I nearly broke the chair ;)

I was so honored to be invited. And can I just say that they are very generous!! I got a big box full of SO many papers, flowers, ribbons, rubons, tape, felt matties, bling, chipboard goodies etc etc etc. There was endless inspiration in that pack!

Here are the items I designed for Prima:

Below I added an AMAZING diecut frame by the genius Nicole Lombardo. See a blog post a couple down to read my rave about her!!!! shes amazing. I want about another 100 of those diecuts!

And of course I had to sneak a little bit of KDD onto the Prima blog - this is an extra minialbum made using three pages from the MyMini. haha cheeky me!!! Im going to store photos of Brianna's friends in this minialbum so she can see them anytime she wants :)

Sharon, if you read this - thankyou!! :) I had so much fun!

GIVEAWAY
Add comments to any blog posts here before 8pm Saturday AEST and go in the draw to win a box with some of the gorgeous Prima I got sent! I was blown away with how much I got and I would love to share some of it with my readers. I feel so spoilt!! Share the love around!!! Ive put aside some papers, flowers, ribbons, rubons and notecards :D

soooexcited*

2008-09-17T00:09:00.003+10:00

I cannot believe how excited I am to bring you my latest KDD product. But this is a week of announcements, tips and surprises on my blog and I just couldnt hold onto the secret for any longer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am very pleased to introduce you to my new baby ... the MyMini !!!!! Ive basically written a novel about the MyMini over at the KDD blog so head on over there for all the goss. I dont want to rehash it all here.

But I do want to entice you over to that blog to also get an update on the MyMini class (yes that is what is being showcased in my class next week!). I have a few kits left and I want them gone! I think they will go now that Ive told everyone about the class product, so its first in best dressed!!! Here is one of the sneak peaks at the KDD blog. To see more go there and check it out :)

http://karendaydesigns.blogspot.com

I sooo hope you enjoy playing with the MyMini when you get your hands on it!!! Ive been having a ball here at home already :D ive done two minialbums, and have another planned out!

:D

oh dear!

2008-09-16T13:28:00.004+10:00

i just got an email saying its not gonna be announced till thursday. sorry bout that!!! so now u have to wait till then :)

but just cos people are here today i thought i would pass on a tip!!!! i love to sometimes use non-mainstream brands/designers cos its so much fun to try something new!!! and for this reason i love etsy.

i have found my #1 favourite etsy girl - Nicole Lombardo. ive purchased heaps of diecuts off this girl and ive used a few already in projects I am yet to share. Her postage is SO cheap!!!! ive paid less to get her product sent from overseas then its cost me to get Aussie stuff!!!!! its like $2 for the first item and then 10c for every other item.

Nicole's diecuts are so unique and beautiful.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5211621

Ive used some of her diecuts for the KDD Minialbum class next weekend. So if you have a kit for that then you will get to try her out :)

here is my fav of hers i have purchased so far: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=15276277 I got it in black and its fabbo!!

So there is the tip - is that a good enough replacement to the other news?!?!?? its the best i can do! :)

But the giveaway is still scheduled for Saturday - so every comment before then counts :)

Giveaway!

2008-09-15T16:14:00.003+10:00

its been so long since ive given something away on this blog i thought i may as well do one this week :) ive got lots of announcements and stuff to share at the moment and I think there will be something new each day. so why not couple this with some goodies?!?

tomorrow i will have something super-duper exciting!!! I have been given an amazing opportunity to be a part of something for a short while and Im not allowed to share till tomorrow. ive been sitting on this one for awhile now :) and I cant announce the prize until u know whats going on!

so the prize will be announced tomorrow.

but the opportunity to join in starts now :D every comment made on each post made from today till saturday will go in the draw to win some FAB goodies from an awesome company :D Entries close Saturday night 8pm AEST.

Cyas tomorrow!!! :D

I guess you could say ive been in better moods!

2008-09-12T13:42:00.006+10:00

I got home today from my wedding trip and i came home to housework and a grumpy hubby. ive been gone for 2 nights and the only thing he did while i was away was one load of dishes yesterday. i make such an effort every single day to make sure the house is SPOTLESS at 4.30pm when he comes home from work. i vacuum every afternoon without fail, i put away all the toys even if i know the kids will get them back out, dinner is started most of the time, and the kids are always bathed. i just want troy to walk into a clean house, even if 30 mins later its got toys everywhere again.

i had a very busy weekend away on my own which i NEVER do .... and i come home to housework. the kitchen bin was full to the brim, the laundry basket was overflowing, todays dishes were still there to be washed, liams toys were out, he hadnt even opened half the windows to the house today. and the first thing he said to me when i walked in the door was a complaint about how i had come back into town in the afternoon and now we couldnt spend time together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i had stayed in mackay for an extra 2 hours so that i could spend time with my uncles and aunties who i never ever see. and i mean never! this was the second time i EVER remember seeing them in my whole life!!!! so i think that is sooo important. im never get to see any of my extended family and always felt that i missed out.

and then after making me feel bad for spending time with family he notices i bought a new belt (you know those wide ones that you wear high on your waiste) and this is how he tells me hes noticed it ... "what is that around your waiste?!??" with a screwed up face. how rude!

anyways, id better stop whinging before i get carried away! haha.

it just kinda wasnt the night i thought it would be.

But onto better topics!! here is a layout i did recently for me :) I love this pic of my little angel.

And how cool is this!!! my first magazine article!!!! :D wooohooo!! Check out this month's Scrapbook Creations if you havent already and you will find an article about embellishing boys layouts written by me. It was trippy reading the words "Karen Day reports ...". If you have the mag and read the article, I hope u liked it!!! It was alot of fun to do. Kinda felt like i was at school again writing an essay! Here are the layouts I did for it.

(when i photographed this i didnt realise the "L" had fallen off)

Thanks for looking!!!! Check back tomorrow for something exciting :D

Scrapboxx newsletter update

2008-09-09T12:19:00.007+10:00

hey all!

sorry ive been MIA. i was in mackay mending for 10 days - then when i came back to moranbah i was here for literally a few days then was back in mackay for my sister's hens night. i cant believe my little sis is getting hitched. here i am on the left, with my sis Kat who is getting married in the centre and my other sister Jen on the right.

I organised the night, which was hard work!! there was 30-something ladies there and we booked out a function room for the event. ever tried organising games for 30 people?!? just as well they behaved themselves. it made it easier :)

Scrapboxx Newsletter

In other news, I have something to share with you. The latest Boxx newsletter came out while I was away and I had some projects in there. Check out the whole newsletter here - it was such a great newsletter!!!! It always takes me so long to read them because there is always so much to see.

I made these wooden letters for two of the kids friends. Getting in early for Christmas! yay!

And I also made this minialbum for Fathers Day. Its got quotes and convos with Brianna about how she feels about Troy. She says the funniest things sometimes!! love it! So I packaged it all up in this Scrapware minialbum. Its a fun album cos all the pages are different shapes (heart, star, scalloped semicircle) and also different textiles. I also used some of my latest KDD on the front cover.

Well - thats all for today. Im off for a nap cos Liam has TWO middle ear infections and an inflamed throat. so I was up heaps lastnight looking after him. I had about three hours sleep. so i need my nanna-nap :)

ive been scrapping and will have some more shares tomorrow - I just have to photograph it so its ready to upload. So check back tomorrow for that!

i know ive been slack lately, so hopefully u girls are still checking back here :D

Oral surgery

2008-08-26T12:04:00.002+10:00

hey - im rushing off to hospital to get my wisdom teeth out now!

wish me luck!!! the surgery is in 25 mins :D

mwah mwah!

sobsob*

2008-08-22T08:42:00.005+10:00

something very exciting arrived in my mailbox today and i cant share the news with you ... sob sob!!!

it makes it not as much fun when u cant share your good news with friends - i have to wait till mid-september! boooo!

;)

Shares = YaY! :)

2008-08-21T19:40:00.005+10:00

see - i wasnt fibbing! I have some stuff to share :) This is proof ive been doing stuff! haha

Here are a couple of sneaks into two projects Im not quite allowed to share yet: ;)

so check back latas if you wanna see what that is all about!

And here is something I am allowed to share:

Some super-duper quick cards I whipped up ...

And a layout about Liam. I love the way his fingers are all over the keys in this pic. Its so him. He adores visiting grandad so he can play on his piano. My dad is an amazing classical pianist. I love to hear him play church music when he decides to grace me with a 'performance' :)

I took the distressing a step further than normal for me and i distressed the photo with the point of my scissors. Here is a closeup of the technique if anyone wants to try it out.

Im planning a scrappy night tomorrow which will be fun :) then Im off to Mackay for all of next week for my dental surgery - eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkk. soooooo scarey!!!!

booooo i hate dentists .... so i wonder if a 'surgeon' will be much better??!?!???? dont think so!

anyone have any NICE stories about getting wisdom teeth out??!? if its scarey stories filled with pain i dont wanna hear them haha.

i promise ...

2008-08-21T08:20:00.002+10:00

that i will get back to blogging more.

ive been feeling a bit busy lately with non-scrapping stuff and ive been missing my 'therapy'. ive been doing some scrapping and have three things to share - including a minialbum. im rushing out the door now but i promise i will be back at around lunchtime with something. :)

i feel so happy tonight ...

2008-08-15T20:02:00.006+10:00

im not sure why ... but i just do!

i love friday nights cos they always are followed with saturday morning. i love saturday morning even more than friday nights cos troy is home and we always take the kids for a walk through town square for some morning tea. then we go to the park or library for some family time.

i love it so much! plus i am SO in need of a chai latte - im gonna get the biggest one EVER tomorrow. bliss.

yesterday i took some piccies of my beautiful friend talia. she is 8 months preggers and ive edited a couple of the photos. this was my fav one:

if u wanna see all of them ull have to go to the photography blog. she is so gorgeous!!!!

a couple of shares:

a layout i did for the boxx a few weeks ago :) using my new KDD.

and a layout that is in the latest SC. i love this pic of MissB! :)

i am so bad!

2008-08-12T14:32:00.002+10:00

ive been sooo not scrapping which is totally unlike me! but i am planning a scrapfest tonight so hopefully i will have shares for tomorrow :)

in other news ive been busy planning my next KDD class which will be online as well as offline this time (yay!), taking photos of local real estate for sale, booking in and organising family and maternity photoshoots (in two weeks ive gone from just starting a business to being booked up till NOVEMBER!!!!!!!!!), planning my sister's hens night, getting ready to be her matron of honor, designing invites for my baby neice's 1st birthday, designing new Scrapware, designing for Scrapboxx, stressing over my teeth surgery taking place at end of August .... and looking after sick kids!!!!!!!!!!!

wow im exhausted just writing that list!!! never mind living it! haha

i promise ill have shares soon. scrapbooking is my de-stresser and i love it. my heart always wants it when Im feeling like im lacking in "time off".

luv yas always - even if i neglect you!!!

kristy's photoshoot

2008-08-04T22:04:00.004+10:00

so excited! i got to photograph kristy's wonderful family over the weekend at a cute little cattle station. it was a PERFECT location and was so beautiful and peaceful!

so far im not even halfway through editing and ive got 25 gorgeous photos done. so it looks like u will have 50+ photos from this shoot kristy! :D

check the photo blog for a few sneak peaks :)

http://karendayphotography.blogspot.com/

my first digi scrapping attempt!!!

2008-07-31T12:20:00.002+10:00

i saw on the aussie pub calls blog the other day a competition for digiscrapping and thought i would give it a go cos of the awesome prize!!!

here is my entry with more info about the credits and etc: click here

i wanted to do a layout made completely from non-digiscrap-kit-stuff. i found a great site called Urban Dirty and ive used one of their textures and turned it into a page background with alot of cropping and editing to make it more urban and grungy. this is the one i used:

and then i used some cool fonts that i found for free at 1001freefonts.com and some urban brushes ive had for awhile.

i tell ya what - talk about using alot of layers!!!!! i ended up having 20-something layers with this file. but it was so much fun. im definitely gonna stick to paper-scrapping. but this was a nice way to waste a couple of hours on the computer :) it was some nice 'down time' for me.

wish me luck in the comp!!!! the entries close midnight 31st july Tokyo time.

it looks a bit gammin small, so click on it to see all the details if u wanna.

This is the prize on offer: Bamboo Fun Tablet - Medium

sweet!!!!!!! i doubt ill win cos there are some pretty amazing layouts on there! and this is my first try at it. but oh well. doesnt hurt to try!!!!

************************

in other scrappy news a french scrapper friend of mine - Sophie - has started off a free scrapbooking online magazine with monthly editions. this month is the first month avail in ENGLISH as well!! and it has an exclusive interview with THE tim holtz. so if u wanna go check it out here is the link to download. u will see the english version is the last link on the page:

http://www.scrapea.com/Zine/download.php

this is the site for the free e-zine .... but its all in french so i have no idea what it says haha

http://www.scrapea.com/

was a fun read :D congrats sophie!!!! i havent heard of this before :)

getting ready for tonight!!!

2008-07-25T14:02:00.002+10:00

got any blogs u can recommend? send them to me via email - karen (at) tkday (dot) net - as Im going through to find the most inspirational, fun and creative blogs out there in aussie and international cyberspace :)

and i am STUCK on the playlists for tonight!!! So if you have a song/band you like listening to head on over let me know! :)

KDD BlogParty - Starting at 8PM tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

still sick .... so still scrappin

2008-07-23T14:33:00.003+10:00

I know - two posts in one day! its a miracle! but im still sick so ive been scrapping while troy runs around after the kids. a couple of weeks ago brianna and i built a little herb garden in pots. its raining today so the photo of the layout isnt the best. but i think the herb garden must have gotten washed away because it hasnt stopped raining in three whole days. not one bit of sunshine. so ill find out over the next few days if it is still next to the cubby house or not! i hope it is!

I included a list of the herbs we planted (and yes i know rocket isnt a herb but that plant was on special so we grabbed it). :)

All this scrapping is making me feel better!

Playing with new stuff ...

2008-07-23T12:34:00.004+10:00

Im sick today. So ive been shut in the bedroom with strict orders to stay here!

Here is a layout i did lastnight for the KDD blog using the new stuff:

Don't forget to come along to the BlogParty on Friday night :)

Something interesting happened to me. I used to submit to SM all the time. like - ALL the time. but they never ever once accepted a layout. so i stopped subbing to them over a year ago. then i decided the other day that i may as well try again - so subbed 4 layouts. got acceptances for 3. but SC already snapped up one so I am only sending into SM 2 of the layouts.

whats the moral of the story??? dont give up subbing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! all u girls who sub and dont get acceptances dont do what i did and stop!

i was shocked to say the least :) yay my first SM acceptances!

Scrapboxx Cybercrop - on NOW!

2008-07-19T20:45:00.003+10:00

http://www.theboxx.scrapboxx.com/

check out that timetable girls!!! it couldnt be more jam PACKED with fun!!!! hope to see some familiar faces there :D at the moment there are around 30 or so girls in chat .... so come and join in the fun!

hellohello*

2008-07-14T21:10:00.004+10:00

Yay KDD is now offically launched! not that it really needed a party but hey .... if there is an excuse to throw a party than i throw one!!!! :) visit the KDD blog for pics and a soon-to-come post with more info.

i was at the building from 10am till 3.30am the next morning - but didnt manage to scrap until 10pm. But I sooooooooo enjoyed meeting some locals who are also into scrapbooking and cant wait to catch up with them again! here are my creations from the night:

"its a sweet life" .... lluuuuuurve this sassafras lass stuff. fun fun. there is something sneaky on this layout too - can u guess?? if u think u know the sneakyness then post a comment and let me know :)

"every tiny detail" ... isnt it amazing how u can even love every tiny minute thing about ur kids!!!!

"ill always remember" ... i still remember when she said these exact words. it made me so happy :)

"amazingly beautiful" ... this is the layout i taught in the class. fun!

back to the real world! i let so many things slip to get this launch organised. so my to do list is a little bit daunting. not too bad though.

Self portraits

2008-07-08T13:31:00.002+10:00

just logging in to share my self portraits from today and yesterday :) three down - 28 to go :D

Self portrait #2

everyone has to do one of those typical self protraits in their bathroom mirror at some stage dont they????? but i did flip mine so the word "nikon" was the right way around .... is that cheating? ;)

Self portrait #3

troy got a new mobile phone on friday and brianna is obsessed with taking photos with it. so here i took a photo of me in the mobile camera while she took the actual photo of me ... or whatever. so is this still technically a self portrait .... or does it even make sence??

i have some exciting scrappy things to share ... but must hold off!! :)

Happy Sunday!!!

2008-07-06T15:59:00.002+10:00

Today I created a couple of simple cards with the leftover scraps from the KDD Launch kit. Im SOOOO looking forward to next weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a sneak peak into something secret that the wonderful Tatum Woodruffe has been concocting behind everyone's back ;) Thanks for letting me in on it T :D luv ya!

Self portrait #1 - 30 left to go!

I must admit that i didnt wanna do a non-face photo for my first self portrait in this series, but today Im not feeling 100% so wasnt in the posey mode :) But I thought I would share with you a part of me that I am self-concious about ... my "monkey toes". my husband lovingly labelled my toes monkey-toes when we were dating. I seriously have long toes. they are kinda like fingers. i bet i could write a novel with my monkey-toes. i freak out my hubby every time i spread them out like in the second pic. haha.

... and yes my toenail polish is slightly grown out :) tomorrow i promise a 'face' photo!

luvs,

new photographer to add to my links

2008-07-05T21:31:00.002+10:00

i am browsing flickr cos tonight im feeling MUCH better for some reason!! i havent used bonjela on my gums in THREE HOURS!!!!! up until tonight i was using it about once every hour to an hour and a half. so woop woop to that!

im feeling so inspired to take photographs because i finally have no pain. but its dark. boo! haha. so instead i went searching for a flickr album that just blew my mind!

and i found it ...

clickity-click (go on ... you know u wanna!)

my favs just from the first couple of pages:
http://flickr.com/photos/emmacherry/2447304019/
http://flickr.com/photos/emmacherry/2367919718/
http://flickr.com/photos/emmacherry/2360156322/

i keep seeing ppl doing these 365 photo challenges where u take a self portrait every day for a year. wow what a commitment!!! but seriously, how cool would it be to have a self portrait every day of your mum to see!! i would adore having that to look back on.

i cant commit to a year.

but i can commit to a month :) and then after that we will see. i may be bored of it. i may be enjoying it. time will tell.

anyone willing to jump in the deep end with me? it doesnt have to be your face, it just has to be you. any part of you.

starting tomorrow!

im gonna blog me every day :)

sorry if this post is a bit gramatically incorrect ...

2008-07-05T15:27:00.003+10:00

... but im a bit spaced out. it should be alright tho cos i read over it.

since tuesday i have had absolutely agonising teeth/gum pain and constant headaches that never relent!! its been horrible. i went to the dentist on thursday and she took some xrays. $150 later i find out that my wisdom teeth have to get pulled!! cos i have to see a specialist oral surgeon who is from brisbane. the dentist here said she wont touch them. my bottom teeth are completely turned sideways and pushing against my molars, and my top teeth are actually up ABOVE my other teeth and are kinda next to/in my sinus area, around all the nerves.

anyways, i ring to organise the appointment with the brisbane dentist and they have a cancellation so i can now go in late august. it would have been december!!!! so i have to wait about 6 weeks. but im on really heavy painkillers, antiinflamitory tablets, and also antibiotics in case there is an infection. but even with all that the pain isnt going away. its so horrible. :( :( :(

i constantly feel like someone is stabbing my gums with a knife. not nice.

anyways, so thats my story. ive still got a headache now but had to come whinge. im a woman. i like to whinge.

its all up going to cost me just over $3500 to fix!!!!!! so im basically gonna be sleeping on the streets i think!

im so out of it with pain and drugs. ive never felt anything like this.

*sob sob*

wow i actually have been creative!

2008-07-02T12:48:00.005+10:00

marni left me again yesterday after sleeping over! boohoo!!! it was so lovely to have someone so creative share my life with me for 24 hours :D there is nothing like having a like-minded soul basically glued to your hip for a day to really inspire u! we had a lovely creative time. but i tell u what marni - im SO tired still!!! wow i dont bounce back so quick these days! haha.

we stayed up late scrapping, chatting (gossiping?!?) and browsing blogs. brianna was so disappointed when she left. she cried a bit. so sad!!! so marni this means u gotta come back soon. cos brianna said that she wanted "marni to stay forever". i think u are brianna's new best friend :)

i took some pics of marni and she hasnt emailed them to me yet (HINT HINT!!!!) so here are some of the ones i stole from her blog. see, i have resorted to stealing now marni - see what u make me do?!!?!?? haha

anyways, onto some scrappy stuff ...

i am in charge of this week's challenge over at the new Boxx :D This was the challenge i set: Do something unique with your background paper. whether you want to create a pattern using ink/paint, or do your own decorative edging, or sew all over it with your sewing machine ... do whatever u want!

for mine i used black bazzill, then put a sheet of black lace cardstock over the top, then held it down with verticle lines of stitching running from the top of the page right to the bottom. ive done about 10 lines all up running across the page. here it is (with a piccy of my gorgeous hunk of a man). i really struggled with this layout cos i havent scrapped in awhile :(

when marni was here i did this one. lots of painting and inking here.

The June newsletter is out at the boxx and here are my contributions:

i had to do a layout using office supplies. i used staples, notebook paper, nikko pen, foam rings from the DVD stand in my office :)

And i also did the top 10 feature:

i ADORE yellow at the moment. i cant stop using it! ive done a few layouts which are secret at the moment so ill share later - and 3 of them are bright yellow! i cant stop myself. :)

I nearly forgot ...

2008-06-27T21:12:00.004+10:00

check out my new tea set. I am totally and utterly in love!! this photo i found online doesnt do it justice!

I have an unusual interest in all good quality items that look "nanna"! Maybe its cos i didnt have a grandma or nanna that i grew up with. my mum's mum is in scotland, and my dad's mum sadly passed when i was about 5-ish.

anyways, i adore anything that looks like its belonged to a grandma :D you should see my address book! yes I have one of those floral address books! I use it nearly every day as i dont have a mobile phone (did i hear u gasp?!!? yes i DONT own a mobile phone!). i love it.

so when my sister saw this fine bone china teaset by Maxwell and Williams she apparently nearly shouted at the sales woman "my sister would LOVE this!!!!!". she reckons she really embarrased herself. lol. so she couldnt say 'no' and bought it for me. isnt she lovely!

because the teapot sits ON TOP of the teacup until u are ready to pour the tea it actually warms up the cup. stopping the tea from cooling down once poured. and if there are any other tea-drinkers out there u will readily agree that tea tastes SO much better out of a china tea cup.

loves! *sigh*

(yes im drinking tea from it now!)

ok ill stop talking about my tea set now - LOL

Scrapboxx Website - woohoo!! :D

2008-06-27T20:51:00.004+10:00

Wanna know part of the reason why ive been so busy??? Go check out the NEW Scrapboxx website go - NOW!!!!

http://www.scrapboxx.com.au

Im really excited about the changes cos I designed the new banner/logo/background etc. Maria and I have been working together on it for a couple of weeks however I must say that although I designed the graphics - Maria has done about 1,000,000 hours of work on the new launch!! And it is totally amazing. She did a wonderful job setting up the new community site called "The Boxx" and getting it all streamlined. I dont know how that woman fits everything into her days!!?!?!?!?! wonderwoman.

I sadly havent had any time to scrap as i have been out of town AGAIN. but it is finally over. Im going into town for a photoshoot for Kristy at some stage, but no date set yet. But apart from that my next plan to go into town is in September! So I hopefully will have lots of weekends to scrap in :D

I am SOOOOOOO excited. The beautiful Marni Telford is coming over for another sleepover this coming Monday. I love it when she comes to town and stays at my place because we do nothing but scrap, take photos, browse photography sites and flickr for inspiration, eat yummies, and chat/gossip about boys. Its all totally "high-school" and i LOVE it! You never get too old for sleepovers. So hopefully u will see a few new layouts come tuesday :D Im so looking forward to a night of creating and fun!

Sorry I dont have any shares for u tonight but I havent been scrapping :( Im so sorry! But the next Scrapboxx newsletter may be out this weekend so if that happens I will have something to share! :D

luv yas all the way to the moon and back! mwah mwah!

To my beautiful friend - Dee

2008-06-18T20:22:00.006+10:00

my lovely beautiful friend, tonight in MSN i was blown away by your attitude towards the hardships you are facing at the moment. in the face of cancer, radiotherapy and three hour long trainrides EVERY DAY to get your treatment you could still giggle about how u at least now have an excuse for a messy house. this attitude will help you survive this illness.

you are wonderful. you are an inspiration. you are beautiful. and i am truely blessed to have you inspire me, motivate me, and share God's word with me.

for no reason other than that i am a "dag" i wanted to write u a note, photograph it and put it on my blog. what can i say - im weird! haha. so here i am in all my glory - chipped fingernail polish, no makup, pink and white polkadot PJs, chapped winter lips and bad flash/background noise ... just for YOU!

And I will have u know that that isnt just ANY paper i used. i have been SAVING this piece of yellow notebook paper by "Little Yellow Tricycle" ever since i bought it over a month ago!!!!!!!!! i was saving it for the 'perfect' layout. you are a scrapper ... you know what i mean!!! hahahaha. and i couldnt think of anyone more worthy of my special paper than you - ROFL. that is how much you mean to me babe! (my right-hand is hiding the letters "P.S." .... and yes u are hot!).

And I couldnt have a blog post like this without giving u a bit of sugar ...

... so there is a blow-kiss for u.

love u love u love u!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE: I just realised in that top photo i kinda look naked. how saucy!!!!!! hahaha

happy dance

2008-06-18T13:57:00.005+10:00

my last goal for this year was to get a magazine cover - and i got it! yay! :D

so go check out the current Scrapbook Creations and you will see my sis-in-law Sally and her son Baden.

The layout:
I remember having so much fun getting three random pieces of patterned paper each being 4.5 inches wide and stitching them together to make a rough 12x12 backing sheet.

I am sorry for my absence but ive been doing so much non-scrapping stuff lately! ive been working on my sister's wedding invitations (there are SIXTY OF THEM!) and doing some secret squirrel stuff for Maria from Scrapboxx (cant WAIT to share that!!!!!!!!!) and also been having some fun playing with my photos. You can see my latest snappies at my photography blog. Ive been enjoying taking some snaps of Liam - normally he is running too fast to photograph!!! typical boy :)

Ive also been busy planning the KDD Launch Party. Its going to be AMAZING!! And I cant wait to see the 100 profiterroles that are going to make the celebration cake - shock horror!!!!!!!! i think the local bakery died of shock when i mentioned it to them :) if u live near moranbah u should come.

And Marijana - this is just for you :) a little sneakypeak at your layout :D

Have a lovely hump-day everyone! :)

Just as I promised :)

2008-06-05T20:02:00.002+10:00

It was such a nice break to finally be able to do a girly layout. And I could stare at my little Brianna's photos all night *sigh*

Have a wonderful night lovelies.

:)

I promise ill do shares!!!

2008-06-04T21:44:00.002+10:00

Ive been flat out working on the SC article and i was in DESPERATE need of a girly layout!! Tonight I finished the fifth layout for the article so I happily threw myself into a 'therapy' layout. its pink, its shabby, its got lots of flowers. It was SO much fun!

So tomorrow ive just got to write the article and its all over :D yay!

So next on my scrap list is Marijana's layout! yay! ill be able to do that one over the weekend for you M :)

so I PROMISE tomorrow I will finally have something scrappy to share with you here on the blog!

On a sidetrack, Ive been wondering how I should showcase my photos for future potential photography clients. So Ive put up another (yes, ANOTHER) blog. This one has no text, its just a photo blog. Ill be updating it over the next few days to include my favourite past shoots - both impromptu and also planned. Its basically where I will house my fav photos. I didnt want to overload my scrapping blog with photos. At least Im organised now :) You can check it HERE if you are interested. i ADORE the photo in the top post. I took it today and I cant stop staring at brianna. Shes just sooooo pretty (ooh gushy mummy moment!). haha

rainy day today

2008-05-31T19:54:00.004+10:00

i was SO disappointed!!!!!!!!! i actually had trouble sleeping lastnight because i was soooo inspired to take photos. i did a bad thing - i browsed photography blogs before going to bed. and i was too inspired to sleep!! i kept tossing and turning thinking about photos of the kids. so i was going to go do a shoot with brianna first thing in the morning. but i woke up to POURING rain!! and it rained all day. it drizzled/poured the whole time.

But i managed to get this indoor photo. brianna was very uncooperative though because she was cooped up in the house all day. at least i got one though :)

Liam in the bath. all i did was crop this photo. the colours and everything are straight from my nikon d60 .... MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. i love my nikon. i love the way it picks up the colours.

i took this photo yesterday. the best thing about early winter (before it gets too cold) = kneehigh socks with 1960s style knitted dresses.

just thought i would do a photo share :)

but im doing real well with my to-do list:

SCRAPPING TO-DO

1. Scrapboxx BOS layout - COMPLETED TWO LAYOUTS
2. Scrapboxx Feature 1 - COMPLETED
3. Five layouts for an SC article - ONE LEFT!!!!!! YAY!
4. Marijana's layout - my serious badness (sorry!)
5. SC Top10 layout for the beautiful Lusi :) - COMPLETED

OTHER STUFF TO-DO

1. Clean out my incredibly messy MM Tote - COMPLETED
2. Clean out scraps boxes and get rid of at least 70%
3. Edit photos from Sally's Bridal Boudoir photo shoot - COMPLETED
4. Do the wedding invitation for Kat's wedding - COMPLETED
5. Design the July KDD line - COMPLETED

Have a beautiful night :)

photography challenges/inspiration ???

2008-05-30T21:11:00.002+10:00

i was just thinking tonight about how i would love to get more experimental with my photography. Just wondering if I decided to do it publically on my blog would ppl be interested in reading that sort of thing and maybe participating?

ive got lots of ideas but dont know if I want to do it on my own or share the experience here.

any thoughts? :)

Another weekend ... another wedding ...

2008-05-29T21:45:00.004+10:00

My beautiful friend Jamey got married to her long-time partner Tim. She looked like absolute royalty!!!! her dress was amazing.

And here is me and my 'date' for the evening. My best friend in all the world - the wonderful Elisha. We even wore matching dresses like normal 'dates' do at a wedding, haha. We went into town without the boys and my parents babysat so we could go and enjoy ourselves. We didnt know anyone, but it was heaps of fun!!! I got heaps of pic

YaY my series of crazy hectic weekends has finished!!!! we've decided not to go into town this weekend for Troy's cousins bday.

Got a few layouts to share which I did for the latest Scrapboxx Newsletter that went out today. The first two layouts were for the last BOS kit, and the last layout was for a feature on journalling.

"Which way?" Featuring my stunning lil sis Jen :)

"silly girl"

"cousins"

look what marni made me!!!

2008-05-22T20:02:00.003+10:00

Isnt Marni Telford just wonderful!! A couple of months ago we had a sleepover and she came and stayed over my house overnight and i kicked out troy for the night. she took some pics of me and brianna that day which i LOVE. Anyways, she scrapped it for me in true Marni-licious style :D She gave it to me last weekend at Maccas (mmmmm mcCafe hot choccy).

Thankyou beautiful!! i LOVE LOVE LOVE it!! MWAH!

And while Im here, this is a pic of my beautiful boy this morning while we were playing outside. I decided to put a cute shirt on him and try to get some pics. This was my fav. He looks so serious!! looove his beautiful big eyes.

And thanks for ur opinions about the wedding invite. I agree about the font and the strip - so ill have a play and see what works :) thankyou beautiful girlies!!!

can i get your opinions ...

2008-05-21T19:54:00.004+10:00

... on this wedding invitation (RSVP details have been changed to get rid of nasty stalkers haha)?? it would mean alot to me as ive never done a wedding invite before! i looked online a fair bit i found that wedding invites are generally quite simple. the below image would be printed onto ivory bazzill so that there is that delicious texture to the paper. and I was then going to find a bazzill the same colour as that red horizontal line (thats the colour of the bridesmaid dresses) and do something like THIS. See the purple one second from the right?? i was going to do that with some ivory straw. or maybe even a wide ribbon bow like the middle image???

i have no idea

opinions please :D

im thinking that maybe that horizontal line makes it look like a business card? feel free to tell me its crap LOL

Also - as for the wedding I went to last weekend here are a couple of pics ....

Even with my hair set in curlers and under the hair dryer thingo i still cant put my camera down. this is my photographing the bride-to-be :)

and here is Sally. so beautiful! just dont look at her feet. she got a spray tan done and her feet are soooo orange its not funny. actually .... it was VERY funny. i lied. hahahaha. we couldnt stop laughing when we were doing pedicures saturday morning.

Me and my man. he has a bit of a goofy smile here - but i still like the pic.

And me and Linda - another bridesmaid. i only just met her and she is so sweet.

Oh well - off to go finish my next KDD line. It was due yesterday ... my bad!!!

But before I go, Id better update my todo list so i keep on track:

SCRAPPING TO-DO

1. Scrapboxx BOS layout - COMPLETED TWO LAYOUTS
2. Scrapboxx Feature 1 - COMPLETED
3. Five layouts for an SC article
4. Marijana's layout - my serious badness (sorry!)
5. Secret project that I cant share yet
6. SC Top10 layout for the beautiful Lusi :) - COMPLETED

OTHER STUFF TO-DO

1. Clean out my incredibly messy MM Tote
2. Clean out scraps boxes and get rid of at least 70%
3. Edit photos from Sally's Bridal Boudoir photo shoot - COMPLETED
4. Do the wedding invitation for Kat's wedding - NEARLY COMPLETED
5. Design the July KDD line.

Getting there!

2008-05-20T15:20:00.002+10:00

Yesterday ended up being a very scrappy day :D I was inspired by the To-Do list, and also a box of delicious goodies from the Boxx. So here is my updated list ... ready to work on again tonight!!!

SCRAPPING TO-DO

1. Scrapboxx BOS layout - COMPLETED TWO LAYOUTS
2. Scrapboxx Feature 1 - COMPLETED
3. Five layouts for an SC article
4. Marijana's layout - my serious badness (sorry!)
5. Secret project that I cant share yet
6. SC Top10 layout for the beautiful Lusi :) - COMPLETED

OTHER STUFF TO-DO

1. Clean out my incredibly messy MM Tote
2. Clean out scraps boxes and get rid of at least 70%
3. Edit photos from Sally's Bridal Boudoir photo shoot
4. Do the wedding invitation for Kat's wedding

And because posts are always more fun with images, here is a little something I did for the last Scrapboxx Newsletter. I had forgotten to upload, so here it is :)

Apple tree :)

Its time to get organised!!!

2008-05-19T15:01:00.004+10:00

Im taking some advice from the forever beautiful Tatum Woodruff. I have so much on my plate with so little mojo - so Im going to do up a to-do list to keep me on track, motivated, and organised. So starting today I will tick these off as I complete - even though Im not allowed to share online any of these yet. But the time will come when they can be shared :D You will just have to wait.

I luckily had a chance to scrap today while the kids slept. Its so lovely when brianna decides to nap :)

So here goes ... time to clear the brain ...

SCRAPPING TO-DO

1. Scrapboxx BOS layout - COMPLETED
2. Scrapboxx Feature 1
3. Five layouts for an SC article
4. Marijana's layout - my serious badness (sorry!)
5. Secret project that I cant share yet
6. SC Top10 layout for the beautiful Lusi :) - COMPLETED

OTHER STUFF TO-DO

1. Clean out my incredibly messy MM Tote
2. Clean out scraps boxes and get rid of at least 70%
3. Edit photos from Sally's Bridal Boudoir photo shoot
4. Do the wedding invitation for Kat's wedding

hmmmmm I feel more motivated already!!!

two posts in one day after a drought!! :)

2008-05-15T19:45:00.004+10:00

wow - no posts for 10 days - then two in one day. im a good girl arent i! :)

i forgot that i did these two layouts for the April challenges at the Top50 site. thought i would share.

MOTHERS ARE A BLESSING. i got really arty with this one. lots of painting and colouring with coloured pencils. i love those prima paintables when i get them out. this is my mummy. :) this layout doesnt even come close to fitting in my scrapbook. the thick cardboard was bad enough, but then i had to go and mount the paintables onto foam tape cos it looked cool. so now it is sitting at mums place on a stand on the paino.

Check out the dimension ... i didnt even think of that when making it. my bad! :)

WEEEEEEE - liam adores slides. typical little adventurer boy. i didnt think of this at the time but now i have no white "e"s left. none. it was hard enough to come by as it was!!! i wasnt having a good night the night i did these two layouts was i?!!?? just wasnt thinking all night. haha. i really need more white alphabets now. :)

also - Ive updated the KDD blog with the latest release. So go check it out :D im so happy to be bringing out the second line. let me know what u think! but so far my fav i think is my fourth line. cant wait to show u :)

life in slow-motion ...

2008-05-15T13:38:00.006+10:00

have u ever felt like ur life is totally in slow motion?!? my weekends have been so incredibly busy that my weekdays seem like a preperation for them - and im finding it so hard to get things done. i havent had time to be spontaneous. to let go and have some fun. and cos of that im kinda feeling all ho-hum and like i dont have the energy to even get dressed in the morning. im wishing i could be a homebody but the kids arent allowing it.

oh well - three more weekends of trips into town (2 hours away) and then itll be all over. last weekend i had sally's hens night. this weekend is sally's wedding - which im a bridesmaid in. then next weekend im heading back into town for another friend's wedding. then the following weekend im going in for troy's cousin's bday party.

5 weekends in a row.

bleh.

so because of this, plus looking for a house to rent, im not getting much scrapbooking done. or taking photos. i love and i miss these.

so i apologise for the lack of posts!!! soon things will be get back to normal.

but ill leave u with some work i did awhile ago that i hadnt had a chance to upload yet :) This is a Scrapware minialbum. I decorated this for SIA and had so much fun. Its a combination of wooden and acrylic pages, with some of the wooden pages having windows in it. its such a fun album that i ordered some more to do again. It is probably the funnest design for a minialbum ive ever had in my hands :)

Papers are Kaisercraft and Fancy Pants. I used my white stazon to ink around all the acrylic pages.

FRONT COVER (acrylic):

PAGES 1 (acrylic) AND 2 (wood):

Gotta love those windows to see whats under!!

PAGES 3 (wood) and 4 (acrylic):

PAGES 5 (acrylic) AND 6 (wood with window):

PAGES 7 AND 8 (wood):

And here is a layout I did for Scrapboxx using SR papers. The two ppl in the photo is my bezzie mate Elisha (who is totally awesome!!!!) and her hubby:

my FUN long weekend is over!!!! doh!

2008-05-05T20:20:00.002+10:00

what a crazy fun weekend! so busy!

Friday night we had the KDD blog party - which was AMAZING!! We had over 120 visitors for the night, exactly 20 girls chatting, and lots of blog gatecrashing and giveaways :) thankyou so much girls for coming along and playing with me!

So that was a late LATE night, then we got up early in the morning to drive to mackay to stay there overnight. I went shopping and bought both liam and brianna their winter season outfits. yep - the WHOLE of winter! i got them PJs, socks, shoes, boots, new singlets, jeans, and some SUPER cute new going-out outfits. it was so much fun. brianna got lots of funky stockings, knee high socks and adorable footless tights. i love shopping for the kids. i spent a fair bit of $$$ though - but it had to be done. its already getting cold here in moranbah. i even picked up a few things for me. thank goodness troy hasnt logged into internet banking yet LOL. he will die! hahahaa

but now with all these new clothes i dont know what to dress the kids in. i want them to wear all of them at once! haha

after shopping saturday troy and i went out for dinner and went to a mate's place for boardgames while the grandparents babysat. so we didnt get to bed till about 2am saturday.

then sunday morning we went to the botanical gardens after breakfast for a photoshoot of the kids. they LOVED it. especially the little miniwaterfalls going under the bridge. ill show u some photos later :)

then we drove back to moranbah sunday night. finally - an EARLY night!! and yay for sleepins! brianna woke up this morning at 8:10 and liam woke up at 9:40. shock horror!! they were exhausted.

but then cos today was mayday we went to the big BMA party that gets thrown every year. its just like the show but its all free. cos we are a mining town BMA pay for it all every year. so much fun!! they have about 10 show rides and heaps of stalls.

so now im very very tired. Desperate Housewives starts in 5 mins so im off to make a HUGE cup of tea and sit back and relax.

goodnight my lovelies!! i got to use my new camera alot over the weekend so ill show u how it went. the photos turned out very well :)

mwah mwah!

word

2008-05-02T12:38:00.002+10:00

cyas tonight my lovelies!!!

my boy is growing too fast :(

2008-04-30T19:24:00.002+10:00

Today I edited this photo that i took of liam a couple of days ago .... the day before my new camera! doh! anyways - it totally reminds me of how quick time flies. especially seeing as he is in his little pinstripe suit here. too adorable. my baby is growing so quick :(

thank goodness for scrapbooking - it helps me to capture each stage he is at. but still - its making me feel a bit sad. probably cos one of my closest friends here just found out she is preggers (woohoo!!!!) and Im not planning on having more.

but one thing that made me happy today is I got an email from Kim at SC and she has invited me to write an article!!!!!!! how exciting! my first one :) so i gotta get on top of that one quickly while my mind is buzzing with ideas!

KDD blog is now live!!!

2008-04-29T20:04:00.001+10:00

ive decided to start off another blog specifically for my KDD stuff. I wasnt too happy having it all here on my personal scrapping blog. I prefer it seperate! Anyways, so if u wanna keep up to date with the latest KDD goss and for chances to participate in blog parties and giveaways then head on over to ...

http://karendaydesigns.blogspot.com

It went live about 10 mins ago :)

And also - check out my new baby!!!! Nikon D60. MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm. It arrived yesterday in the mail courtesy of my darling, wonderful, spectacular husband. I didnt think i could love him more but now i think i do!! haha.

But I dont think he was too impressed lastnight when I said we had to co-sleep my new camera until he was used to his new surroundings. And no, he didnt sleep on my pillow .... he slept on my bedside table. (and yes, my camera is a "he")

Here is a layout I recently did for Pencillines. I was the guest designer this week. So much fun!!!
Check it out - the layouts this week are amazing (as always!!)

Coming soon to a computer screen near you!

2008-04-27T17:19:00.003+10:00

http://karendaydesigns.blogspot.com

I love having little projects to work on. And Ive wanted to be a part of a challenge blog for a little while, but noone asked me (boohoo - haha). So I thought I may as well start up my own little venture :)

So keep an eye out! There will be layouts, monthly KDD giveaways, layouts, competitions, layouts, blog parties and even more layouts :) Ive already got a list of 10 lucky ladies who will recieve KDD giveaways this week coming. So check your mailboxes if I have your postals!!!

FIRST BLOG PARTY THIS FRIDAY NIGHT!!!!!! So keep that night free ladies :D

can i get a *woop woop*!?! so much fun!!!

Blog should be up by tuesday night :)

also - guess what!??!!??! Im sorry to talk about KDD so much tonight but i just cant help myself. ive got too much to talk about and my husband is sick of me talking about it to him :D so i have to put it here!! KDD has only been out for something like 3 weeks. and so far there has been over A HUNDRED AND FIFTY packs sold to stores!!!!! for me this is exciting. u should see it popping up in stores cos it was all sent out over the last week.

Some fun stuff to share! :)

2008-04-26T19:50:00.007+10:00

Last night was SO much fun!!! it was great to be able to do some therapy scrapping IYGWIM. ive missed it so much :)

Firstly Im entering the comp at the Paper Trunk blog! So I did this layout for that lastnight. Must not forget to email that!! I always forget stuff like that haha.

This one was just for fun. Brianna and Troy are soooooooo sweet together!!! Ever since I bought this BG Boxer paper ive wanted to use it with this MM diecut sheet. they go well together.

I also did two layouts for the current Scrapbooking Top 50 monthly competitions. But Im not allowed to upload those to my blog yet. I have to wait till the comp finishes. But u can check out my layouts here:

"Mothers are a blessing" - I had SO much fun with paint and pencils for this one. its WAY too thick fit into my album. my bad!! :)

"Weeeeeeeee" - this was a sketch challenge. But I wanted to go two steps further for some personal challenges. I wanted to use up two sheets of bazzill in a colour i dont use - medium toned blue. and also do a double-page layout ... which i bascially never do! So it was fun :)

Scrapbook Creations

I got an email from Scrapbook Creations yesterday and the following layout of my friend Elisha's family got accepted in issue #59 for the theme: Families. Its been ages since I sent in any to be considered so it was nice to get one accepted when I sent a few emails in last week. gotta love SC!!! mwah!

Have a wonderful night peeps.

i spy with my little eye ....

2008-04-25T23:15:00.004+10:00

a blog post!!! well ... kinda a blog post.

i just wanted to say that im still around and all that! but i havent had much time for scrapping so havent been blogging.

but i do have some layouts to share :) ive been scrapping tonight so ive got some goodies! ill post them up over the next couple of days!

another secret!!! oooh i quite the secret-keeper now arent i!!!

2008-04-17T12:26:00.007+10:00

I have a secret ... Sssssshhhh! will announce in the next fortnight. but it requires a headshot. so here is what i looked like this morning! it was so cold here this morning so ive got my PJ bottoms under my dress and ive still got bedhair in this pic. just straightened the front so i looked half decent. i feel alot more comfortable behind the camera taking other ppls pics - so ive gotta get used to sharing pics of me!

And my beautiful neighbour Leeann got induced today!!!!!!!!!!! no word yet. I have no idea what she had. But I took these pics of her just before she went into town to have the bub. ive been thinking of her all day so thought i would share. we got sooo many beautiful photos its hard to choose which are my favs!

hopefully ill soon be able to share some photos of her little newborn!!!

Which Desperate Housewife are you???

2008-04-15T18:58:00.005+10:00

Go on!! Do the quiz and find out!!! Then scrap your answer as part of the Scrapboxx monthly Book of Me challenge! Im in charge this month and this is the layout I came up with:

Maria asked me to design a couple of acrylic stamps to match the papers so they are included in the kit if you wanna purchase that one as well. These are exclusive to the kits so go GET IT!! You get two stamps in the kit. One is shown above. Check them out over at the Boxx!!

so for a bit of fun you have to do this quiz: http://uk.tickle.com/test/desperatehousewives.html

do NOT fill out the contact details at the end, just click "Skip this step" .. you dont have to fill out the details. Then you have to scrap a page about your results. Do you agree? Disagree? what type of housewife do u think you are??? Thought I would keep it very lighthearted and fun

Im sposed to be like Bree!!!! I think I am partly Bree - but i see alot of Susan in me too. what about u???

Upload by the end of the month!

How exciting!!

2008-04-15T07:53:00.007+10:00

Im seeing KDD pop up in places now - a couple of DT blogs and a little bit from ppl after the SIA when there was some class or samples available I think?!!! this has to be the most exciting thing to happen in my lil old country life in a while :D Here are a few Ive spotted around the place:

Found on Michelle Vass's Blog (clouds):

Found on Kathie Link's blog (trees) and also at Scrapboxx gallery:

Found in a minialbum on Kim Arnold's blog (birdie):

Ive seen it in two other places but cant think of where ?!?

Anyways, its now up on the Scrapware wholesale page so send your stockists HERE and request some stuff :) Its now released to the public. Let the fun begin!!

Ive already sent off some more designs so u will see them coming out soon. There should be new stuff each month. yippee!!