Last day

Today was Aimee's last day at high school. I pinched this photo from her face book page! Looks like the last day of school was pretty laid back, and I see that her white school blouse has undergone a dramatic change!

Tomorrow night we have the graduation dinner to go to. Sunday morning we have graduation mass and in the afternoon its graduation speeches and prize giving, so all in all the weekend ahead looks like a busy one!

Next year Aimee was going to go to teachers collage, but has since been accepted at the college of Physical Education. As physical education is her passion she has decided to go with that.

Her course is a four year one and she is intending to do an extra year on top of that, which will enable her to teach physical education as well.

Good luck Aimee, we are very proud of you!!

Ive been missng for ages!

Here I am!! I haven't really been missing, just busy!! I have a photo here to prove it...me today in the garden, look at the state of me, no make-up and my hairs a mess.

...and this is what Ive been up to... take note of the garden behind my lovely family

...now look..the same spot ...only bald!! I decided that some of our large garden just had to go. Once the lawn seed grows I will have even more time to scrap and craft. (I hope).

I am so over digging ..and raking..and gardening in general!

and I have some news that is very exciting for me...
I made it!! WooHoo....
...onto the Up2scrap Elite 2010 team!!! I Could not believe my good fortune,but its true, check this out.

Lot of ATC's

Recently I took part in an ATC swap over at Better Scrapbooking, the theme was Fancy Frills.
The fist thing that comes to my mind, when i hear the word 'frills' are dresses, so I decided to make a set of ATC cards called...Fancy Dress.

Here they all are...

I really enjoyed making these, even though they seemed to take ages to make with all of that hand sewing!

Now take a look at the gorgeous ideas the other swap ladies come up with...


This delightful card has been created by Sherryn

Christine followed the same thought patterns as I did, here is her lovely "Ballroom Frills"

Sandra's card is wonderfully frilly and has lots of sparkle.

Sharon's card is very elegant, and has loads of tiny detail
and last but by no means least, here is Megan's stunning card
Thanks to you all for creating another lovely collection for me.

Music was the theme for this ATC swap at Scrapbooking by Design

I just love this Mozart card from Jean
Amanda's 'rockstar' is leaping off the card. Super cute Amanda!!

Soph has come up with a wonderful layered number

I have added a little texture using embossing powder and my cuttle bug.

Love the saying and image on Lilli's card

Music is Love, is the title of Ruth's master piece.

Ann has also had her cuttle bug out for 'Happy Days'

Love this classic from Robyn.

and this vintage music card from Sue

Thanks again ladies!

Look at the cute house guest we had in the weekend...

...well, we had two cute guests really, puppy's owner is none other than Cody's girl friend Shenae
I think Cody may be talking to the wee guy about hunting!!!!!!

Water Adventure

Saturday brought us sunshine and blue Sky's. I had my day in the garden all planned out but... the boys decided that a day on the river was in order, so we trailed boys and kayaks up the Danseys pass.

Check out this photo of the pass, taken from the Danseys Pass Website HERE The Maerewhenua River (the one in the photo) ambles all the way down from the gold mines of yesteryear. This is one awesome area and well worth exploreing!

The boys began their journey on the river at about the spot pointed out by the red arrow.

Here they are suiting up...

...and in a flash they were gone! This part of the river can almost be spotted in the photo above ( its on the downward side of the Camp) just below the blue circle Ive added to the photo.
There are some of the best swimming holes EVER along our river!

The Maerewhenua river held quite a few challenges for the boys..

...like this one...

...and this one..

Oh dear!!

Nearing the end of their three hour adventure and in calmer waters once again.

(that little green bank used to be our all time favorte spot to hang out in the summer, and it was well worth risking life and limb climbing down that rock face to get to!)

My garden will no doubt keep for another day...those weeds are not looking like running away!

Another week has whizzed by so quickly. I have achieved very little this week...again! Although today I mowed the lawns and pulled a few weeds out of my garden, still lots more to do!

On that note I found a photo of our house in my archives, before we had our alterations done , after Andrews accident. I loved our house the way it used to be! Sure it was not as grand, or spacious, and yes the roof could do with a little moss remover on it, but, looking back I can only say (as our friend John would say) life was good. With our new look house come our whole new way of life, and really...although I didn't realise it at the time I loved our old life just the way it was !

Anyway here is our before house....

...and our after house.

The veranda now comes out beyond where my front garden used to be, my garden, if it was still there would now be in our lounge. So although its hard to tell form my photos our house has grown heaps! That piece added onto the right hand side is now our bedroom and ensuite on the bottom floor, along with the lift well that goes up into my craft room on the top floor.It really is a shame that things cannot stay the same!

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend.

Cody is working all weekend for a friend, hes putting down his tools to try his hand at tailing lambs.

Aimee is away down south for the weekend with two friends.

Camden is about to head off eeling with his mates who I believe are camping out at our house.

I am hoping for rain so I can catch up on a bit of scrapping, if we don't get rain then I'll be out among the weeds!!

Upsy Daisy

Checkout the yummy papers I have used to create this Good Luck card. They are from Upsydaisydesigns, the paper range is called Tweet and I have used 'Mommy Bird 'and 'Serenity' papers. These are double sided papers and they can be found at BetterScrapbooking.

The flower stamp, picket fence die cut and paper flowers also come from Betterscrapbooking

Hope you all had a lovely Labour weekend. We were super lucky to get sunshine here.

Both Cody and Aimee headed to the lakes with friends for the weekend. Both of them had their first water ski for the season. Daughter dearest hit the water at 8am, just in togs (no wet suit) and skied for quite a distance, leaving all of the boys somewhat amazed! She is one tough cookie after her Outward Bound adventure!

Camden headed into the high country with his mate and mates dad and shot his first ever deer...ugg..I had to bite my tongue and hide my horror and say "well done"...but, how anyone could ever shoot such a magnificent beast is totally beyond my comprehension!

I do not have any photos from the weekend except a few I snapped while outside. I have had a wee play in photo shop to add a little interest...here they are..

These shoes took my fancy, funny how things change over time, those huge shoes (size 11) belong to our youngest son, Camden and the small shoes belong to Aimee, who is almost four years older than Camden!

From our garden...

I just had to snap these busy little fellows!

...and this big fellow, just blobbed out on his bean bag!

It is indeed a beautiful life.

Happy Birthday hubby

My beloved Andrew turned 44 on Sunday. Thought id share a few photos of him...pre accident.

He's always been a top dad..

patient, and willing to please....
...see... he even gave hair streaks a try when I said he should :-)
He was the best water skier I have ever seen

...and always keen to drop his works tools in pursuit of an adventure with friends and family

(this photo was taken about 15 hours before his accident...Andrews on the right...the one in his grubby work pants!! :-{ )

How do I love thee...? ...Let me count the ways

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW I LOVE YOU HEAPS xx

Cup Cake anyone?

Take one Christmas bubble....remove the hanger and cut a slot....

...and vol la....one cup-cake!

this was one of the projects I completed with the goodie's I received from Megan this month.
Find out how to get Megan's Premium Scrap-pack HERE

Its been a while!

Goodness me, its been a while since Ive blogged! The days just seem to fly away lately!

We have a new house guest after the strong winds yesterday.... check out my dad tiring to feed our latest addition...

Now I know these wee guys are pests and frowned upon by the farming community, but really...its hard to believe this sweet little magpie could ever be anything except cute... and I can never resist a critter in need of a little TLC!

At the moment its sound asleep in the dog basket...at my feet!! Its a bit of a cold night so I thought he should inside :-)
Tomorrow i'll be back with some crafty stuff!

A change of heart

Today Camden had his first day at Waitaki Boys High School. Here he is, about to head to the bus stop (three minutes away) at 7.20am this morning. The bus does not leave until 7.35am but Camden likes to be early.

Camden has had a few issues at his last High School ( no real fault of the school )and his school work was beginning to suffer a little because of it. We hope that Camden will benefit from the shift and hope like crazy that we have made the right decision!

Im addicted!

Yes, its true I am addicted to this Digital scrapbooking!

I think its because there is just so much I don't know how to do... yet!

There is so much to discover and each time I 'play' I discover new things to do to my photos and elements!

I love challenges, and this new addiction is providing me with a huge, great pile of them.

Tonight I have been playing around with blending my photo into the background paper.

Here is a page I have just finished using this technique...

Spot the first photo in the background that I 'dissolved'

If you want to have a go at this I used this tutorial HERE

Flying high

Our dear eldest son has a new love......so today my dad and I huffed and puffed our way up the hill to see this 'love' in action.

(that's my house down there...with the red roof)

my mum and dad are our neighbours...and that is their back yard...spot my dads grape vines there on the left.... this is what we found at the top of the hill....

Cody, with his new love.... it's a kite thing, that is meant to be used on the lake, or in the sea
at the moment Cody is enjoying 'flying' on dry land. there looks to be quite an art to this contraption!
up up and away!

We all think Cody is a little crazy!!

Hand made Fan

Megan, from Better Scrapbooking has made a wonderful job of putting our fan pieces together.

Thanks to everyone who made a fan blade!

Thank You Cards

Thankyou cards...from a swap I took part in at Craftytarts...

Great arn't they!!

Thanks ladies, I love them all!! I would love to know who made what.

Below are the cards I made for the swap...

Shadows for 'pop'

Today I sat for some time and 'played' in photoshop. I have worked out how to add more shadow effects to my digital scrapbooking. These help add a 3D type look and do add a little 'pop' to my pages. I just had to whip up a page to show you. Check out a close up of my shadows...almost as good as the 'real thing'!!

Here is the whole of my digital page

I have used a kit called Chocolate Mint which you can download for free from Digital Fingers

Thanks again Louise!

I did do other things today...truly !! This morning, after the house work I carted wood into the wood shed, just in time as at lunch time the rain arrived and its still pouring now. Also I got to work on the ATC's that I am creating for a swap at Scrapbook Studios The theme is music and I have almost finished. Next, waiting in line I have Amanda's gorgeous circle journal to complete and Megan has some scrapping goodies on the way for me to 'get creative' with.

Check out the scrummy new lace papers in Megan's Shop..

These come in a lovely array of colours. Check them out HERE

From Granmar's Garden!

I've been digi scrapping again! I love it, such a cool way to scrap for a 'tidy freak' like myself!! No sticky bits, no paper scraps...nothing to clean up at the end....and no rubbish bin fill of failed attempts.
:-)

Here are two more pages for Aimee's Outward Bound memories album

These photos were taken at the final assembly, just before everyone boarded the boat for home.I get the impression that emotions were running high after three weeks of 'surviving' together. Aimee still maintains contact with all of her 'watch mates' She has made many life long friends I think!

I love this digi kit. Its another one from Louise's My Digital Fingers site called Granmars Garden AND its only $2.00!!
You can buy it HERE
There are many more elements in this kit than you can see on my two pages, I will be using this kit alot!

Check out the challenge

I was super lucky to win this very cool magazine/book with my entry for last months Up2scrap blog challenge. And super lucky as I just might have been the only person to enter!!
Be in with a chance to win another great prize by taking part in this months challenge. All you have to do is create a Christmas card using die cuts!! Check it out HERE

Thanks Up2scrap!

All things spring...

...that's the title of the challenge on at the moment over at Scrap Box

I had this fun snap shot of Cody's pup looking through the kitchen window at this freshly picked bunch of daffodils that I have been planning on scrapping for a little while now so....

.... here is the bright 'spring themed' LO I created for this challenge

Check out the textures
the raffia and crocheted flower

and ribbon flowers hand made especially for my page

Here's how I made these....

Take a length of ribbon about 6 inches long , fold your ribbon in half length wise and hand sew a row of stitches down the entire 6 inch length ( sewing both sides of your folded ribbon together).

Once you reach the end pull the thread (still attached to your needle) so that your ribbon length gathers in.

Next fold your gathered ribbon length in half width wise and stitch the two short ends together.

Repeat all of these steps again, this time using a different ribbon. I have used a narrower velvet ribbon, still 6 inches long.

Once you have your two flower pieces made sew the smaller flower on top of the larger flower and add beads, buttons, or what ever you like to decorate.

I have attached my flowers onto silk flowers on my LO just to add a little more 'pop'!

Add a layer of lace under, or between your two ribbon layers to add more depth and texture, or mix and match ribbon colours, there are so many possibilities! Grab a needle, thread, some ribbon and have a play!
Have Fun!!