A little scrapping & a publication!

I've just had my second L/O published this month in Scrapbooking Memories Vol9 No6 which was a bit of a buzz! I was very excited to see my page in the Summer gallery as well as on the contents page!!! They must have really liked it. Lily of course was thrilled to bits as it was a L/O of her again.

Hooray!! I've scrapped a couple of pages for the Word Inspiration competition running at Scrapworld. Haven't done my Week 3 page yet but got my photos ready. The word for this week is "remember". The words for Weeks 1 & 2 were "bright" & "new" respectively. Having fun with this comp & at least I'm getting to scrap a page a week with everything that's going on in the lead up to Christmas, birthdays etc.

Other than that I've been busy again making Christmas cards to try & sell at the markets...really hope the weather improves for Sunday!

3 Angels Scrapping have their CC on this Saturday night, looking forward to the challenges & chatting the night away with my cyber buddies.

Also had my second L/O published this month in Scrapbooking Memories Vol9 No6 which was a bit of a buzz. I was very excited to see my page in the Summer gallery as well as on the contents page!!! They must have really liked it. Lily of course was thrilled to bits as it was a L/O of her again.

Just awaiting the next issue of For Keeps (61) as I had a L/O accepted for the Christmas gallery.......almost starting to regret subbing that one though as I sent it away ages ago & it's well & truly past the time period they estimate for the return of L/Os. I've been too afraid to call up & inquire as I'm really still hoping it'll turn up safely anytime & really am not prepared at this point to hear that my L/O has gotten lost in the mail.

Happy belated 6th Birthday to our gorgeous "BIG" girl Lily!

......no we didn't forget to celebrate with her, I just haven't updated my blog in a few weeks, so I thought I best start by wishing my big girl all the best for her birthday which was on Sunday 18th November.

It's hard to believe that I have been a mum now for 6 years....WOW! Have loved every minute of watching you grow up & am so proud of the wonderful, kind & caring girl you are becoming.

I know she had a great day as did we all. It was a fairly relaxing sort of a day, as we needed some rest after a day of excitement & lots of driving on Saturday when we went to Jamberoo to celebrate our god-daughter, Kate's, 7th birthday. The water photos above were taken in the wave pool. That was awesome fun. If you're ever out & about in the Wollongong area & need something to do Jamberoo is fantastic, there's so much for the whole family, even little kids can go on almost everything with adult supervision, which was so great as we got to enjoy the place together as a family, not just one of us with Lily & the other having to sit out & watch over Mackenzie. As a consequence though I really didn't get the opportunity to take all that many photos because as the Jamberoo slogan says- I was "controlling the action!"

Back to her birthday- after Lily opened her presents we took her out for breakfast at a cafe in Erina Fair, did a little shopping where Lil bought a scooter with some of her birthday money, came home & Craig assembled her bike (pressie from us). She was a bit afraid to ride it as it's larger than her little bike but after a couple of sessions in the wide open space at the park, she's cruising along nicely!

In the afternoon we went down to the beach for a twilight Nippers session which was great, then back home for a BBQ with her friend from school & her family.

Happy Birthday & love you always princess xx

How time flies......

We're definitely on the countdown toward Christmas now, this year seems to be just flying by. Only 11 more days & Lily turns 6 and boy is she excited! There's only 6 more weeks of school for 2007 as well, so hard to believe she won't be a little kindy kid anymore, she'll be moving up into Year 1 in 2008. It's been the most amazing year so far with lots of fun & celebrations still to come.

I'm so proud of Lily, she received another merit award from school at assembly today bringing her total to 7 for the year so far plus the extra special "Aussie of the Month" award she received in May. It's been a remarkable year for her & we really couldn't have asked of more from her & it's so special to have her be not only commended for her efforts & achievements but also be very highly spoken of & thought of within the school community.

Pity about the latest interest rate hike today though, that'll just make finances a lot tighter for many people just like ourselves I suspect. Frustrates me that we work so damn hard at doing the right things & you just can't seem to get ahead on one income with kids.

A few more cards

As you may be aware, I've been quite busy lately putting together a selection of cards of cards to sell & also to use as demos for card Stampin' Up! workshops. I managed to sell quite a few on Sunday although I am yet to crack that elusive first party booking without having to run the workshop myself. It'll happen I'm sure & my goal in 2008 is going to be to try as hard as I can to tap into the local market.

I was very happy though to receive a lot of compliments & interest from ladies wishing to buy Christmas Cards at next month's market.

Thanks for stopping by & please comment on my card creations, I'd truly appreciate the feedback.

More cybercroppin'

Did a little scrapping on Friday night for the 6x12" sketch challenge designed by Dee Heath at Scrapworld. Really love how this one turned out & even got to use my BG Phoebe PP that I'd been procrastinating about using for so long as I just could get around how best to use the pattern in my head.....kind of had a mental block of sorts as I've seen so many amazing L/Os done by other scrappers. Also hoping to get a chance to do a page for the Pink Ribbon challenge they still have running.



Then on Saturday 3AS had their cybercrop & although I didn't scrap for it on the night as I was busy making cards & preparing for my stall at the markets, I did get 3 of the 4 challenges done before last night's deadline. Got the OTP to still do, a cute little felt bag to store cards & other Christmas knick knacks, hoping to get around to that in the next few days.

Market Day

If you happen to be around the Penninsula area of the Central Coast on Sunday, why not drop by & say "hi " to me.

I'll be at the Lions Club Car Boot Markets on Ocean Beach Rd, Woy Woy.

It's quite a good little market that runs on the last Sunday of the month. Lots of interesting stuff new & old.

I'll be selling handmade cards & gift tags as well as trying to promote my Stampin" Up! business in our local area.

Nippers & cards....

...........that's what we've been up to.

Seeing as we are living near the beach now, we thought it would be a great idea for Lily to join Nippers at the local SLSC so she can learn some beach awareness & survival skills. Great for a bit of fun & fitness too. The kids all seemed to be having a great time & poor Lily ended up with sore muscles in her legs from all the running in the sand after the first week. She's pulled up fine after this weekend so it just goes to show how adaptable & resilient kids' bodies are! Gone for now are our Sunday morning sleep ins but with the weather the way it has been the last 2 Sundays, no complaints from here! Even got in the surf myself & had a bit of a boogie board. I'm really settling into this whole beach lifestyle now, can't imagine ever going back to live in Sydney (not even the Blue Mountains) & anyone who really knows me knows that's a huge call for me to make.

I've spent a fair bit of time using my Stampin' Up! stuff to make lots of cards too lately, some of which I donated to my friend, Sonja, who generously hosted a fundraising "Girls Night In" at her place on Saturday night. All the proceeds of the night are going to the Cancer Council to help in the fight against womens' cancers.

Also been making cards to sell at some of our local markets in the lead up to Christmas. It's going to bit of a joint venture with a friend from school who has lots of wonderful handmade wares to sell. It'll be great to have company for the both of us as neither of us has done this kind of thing before. Looking forward to the challenge & hope to make some sales & maybe even make some workshop bookings, that'd be really neat!

Images © 1990–2007 Stampin’ Up! Artwork by Susanne Perry