Scrap..... yes really I do Ocassionally!

It seems like it has been a while and I guess it has, Nicole's latest challenge came and went (you can see the results here), and while I got the photos printed I wanted to use, that is as far as I got.
So here are I few pages I have just added the finishing touches too and filed them away.
I love how the toes one turned out, I have lifted this a few times, it is one of Nicole's, I am just so pleased with the colours. Don't you love when things turn out better than you hoped?
This one is another lift of Nicole's, sorry you have to look for the exact post yourselves, the page was black and white and called Lucy. I love these pics of Noah and the colours.
This one is about Noah planting some seeds and the fun we had at the dip net fishing, same place as above, I love how picking out different colours can make the same pics look so different.This one is a lift of one of Nicole's again so uninspired at the moment! Wish I was thinking more outside the square but I loved how it turned out. The colours are not quite doing it justice.
This last one is one I have shared before but I have now printed it out and mounted it. I love how it turned out, and Nicole you were right, as much as I loved the patterned paper I had picked out, plain red worked better (sorry photo not so great fading light here). And I had to cut a hole out of the kraft cardstock so I could matte the one below. Some girls I know have cleaned out my supplier of her Kraft cardstock at a recent scrappy weekend getaway. You girls know who you are!
So here is the other collage printed and matted. Off to pick up Noah from pre school now, hopefully some more scrapping tonight, Di has posted a page that is just waiting to be lifted, if only she was close enough that I could duck over and borrow her butterfly punch!

My boy getting his own snacks

Well I just looked at Nicole's munchies post. I showed it to Noah and he asked if we could do it now and I said we would wait for Katelin to wake up. He was fine with that and went out to the lounge to watch his movie.When I went out there five minutes later, this is what I found!I love that he got his own food, and it is all so healthy! Good choices my boy!
This is what Noah calls a dog party bowl, he loves that it has the segments in it. And the name dog party bowl came about after we had been reading the Dr Zuess book Go Dog Go, and Noah asked if we could have a party like the dogs in the book. The name just stuck!

My birthday

I know I have promised this story for a bit, well here it is finally. It is such a beautiful sunny day out here I feel I should be outside but I am in trying to post and scrap.
So a few Saturday's ago while most of you were off on your scrapping weekend, I got up to spend my birthday with my family. We ditched our regular swimming lessons and packed up the car and headed to Sydney. Funny place some of you may be thinking, but one of my favourite things to do is go on an adventure with my family, and it was such a glorious day, much like the one we are having today. So for my first shot I should rewind to the night before, my husband came home early to stop off and get me some of my favourite flowers, how gorgeous are these!So on my birthday morning we packed up the car and headed on our mini road trip to Sydney. The kids watched a movie and fell asleep on the way so it was an enjoyable trip.
We made it to The Rocks, an older part of Sydney and we wandered around The Rocks markets and then went to the Discovery museum to learn a little history about the area. Noah loved it looking at all the old things and learning about where they came from, in the area.We then had lunch and after that we opened some presents, I got some beads the kids picked out for my pandora bracelet, a pink one Noah picked out and a handbag for Kate and I, we like to shop. I bought the exact same one but smaller for her. She loves that we have the same. And both the kids love looking at my bracelet and pointing out the ones they have chosen for me.We also snapped a couple of pics of me with the kids, this one is of Katelin and I, and yes that is the Sydney Opera House in the background. Katelin is of course wearing here tutu, which she chose to wear and I posted a story about it here.From the presents we headed around to the Australian Museum to see the dinosaurs, which Noah has a fascination with at the moment. I must say both the kids loved the museum and thankfully they have lots of hands on exhibits and even a child's play area.
In a side note, when we went into the museum Noah asked if we were going to see the walking sock, his memory amazes me, he is talking about our visit to the Powerhouse Museum in Sept last year, he was only 3 and a bit. He really loved the Powerhouse and I recommend taking the kids to see it, it is a great day out, lots of hands on things there too.While looking at the Dinosaurs exhibit we did some dusting for fossils, Noah has a great time. There were also some things to make Dinosaur noises and looking at Dinosaur bones and other fun activities. It was a great time for all of us, I loved watching their enjoyment and their learning. From there we walked back through Hyde Park and caught a free bus back to Circular Quay then onto The Rocks again. From there we headed home, it was a fun day but very long, we got the kids bundled into the car gave them some food I had packed and they watched another movie quietly. Noah fell asleep on the way home, I had changed them into clothes they could sleep in so we put him to bed and Kate got settled in before we did a quick change to get ready to go out for dinner. My parents watched the kids while we went out for dinner with some of our good friends. It was amazing to go out and have a real dinner without having to share, and to be able to finish a conversation. It was really great to spend time with such great friends. Really a great finish to a perfect birthday celebration. Here is the only (really bad) shot of is at dinner, there are a coupe of husbands missing from the shot.
To finish the day or weekend, I had to cook some cupcakes as Noah was really concerned that we hadn't made any kind of birthday cake to celebrate with - what birthday is complete without a cake!And finally my other birthday present didn't quite make it in time, it arrived about a wek later (from America) but it was so worth the wait. I love it! It is a pendant with all of our names on it and it is so special to me. It also has 3 crystals on it, usually birthstones but since my kids are born in the same month I chose a pink and a blue one, with a clear one in between! I am so happy with it and it is the perfect way to carry my family with me always!

Too many ideas in my head

If only I could get the ideas out of my head and created faster, I would be doing so well. So on the weekend I had an idea to use Nicole's last sketch. I dressed Katelin in a top she has been wearing since about 6 months old, it started out as a dress with tights and the straps tied up.
I thought it would be cool to write the story of her in this top at different stages and I knew I had a few pictures I could use.
As I started to work on the sketch, I found some photos of Noah building his robot and changed my mind. So I was left with this idea and these pictures. Today I took the final shot, added it to my collage, which I will print out 8 x 10 and crop a little.
For the purpose of showing you now I have done it digitally but I would like to put the rest on paper and use a red pp where the solid red is.So here it is what do you think? I think perhaps another embellishment or two, will wait to see, and I am also not sure of the middle little photo, still searching for a better one.

So there is some benefit in being sick

I have some kind of virus which has left me feeling like a rung out rag with a headache and an upset stomach. It has meant I have been lying on the lounge as much as my 2 and 4 yr olds will let me. While they have been quietly watching Wall E I have been working on Nicole's last sketch.
And here is what I came up with albeit a little late.
I know it is digital, but I plan to print it out as an 8x10 and mount it on a piece of kraft cardstock. I am fairly pleased with how it turned out. And I so love the topic, my boy is so cute and I love to see his imagination. Thanks for stopping by, hopefully tomorrow I will be up to sharing my birthday story.

Pages for Sharon too

As I said these are all definaltely lifts, and I do have a few others that use a portrait 4 x6 and a landscape 4x6 but all of them have the landscape one cropped. I really must stop turing the camera while taking pics of the same subject.
This first one is a direct lift of Di's page, and I love it. Sorry I can't find where I saw it, perhaps her flickr gallery.
The next one is a rotation of the same page.
This last one is the same page just for Noah.
This next one is also a lift of Di's again I think from her flickr gallery, and the portrait pic is cropped. So this may not help.
This last one is a favourite of mine and I will share two of this lo, as I really love Katelin's one. Nicole's original had two thinner portrait pictures, I just changed it to suit. Nicole I can't find a link to this one, it was Lucy's muscles page, think it was on RW.

I have also found a really old page, now I remember it was lifted from Nicole, but I can't remember what her page was, Nicole maybe you can remember?

That's all I could find Sharon hope it helps, I so relate it often seems to be my dilema. Sorry if there are spelling mistakes, not quite with it, am lying on lounge feeling lousy. Kids watching movie me not moving much!

A quick note and some layouts

It has been a while, and I have been flat out - and not much to show in the scrapping department. I have been very inspired by the girls layouts from the Remember When getaway. Lee shared a few in the newsletter and Nicole, Di and Jo all blogged about it.
So I sat down last night and made myself scrap and here are my efforts.
Some I am more happy with than others but they all come under the heading completed, so who can complain really.This one turned out ok, but nothing like I first thought.
Here is the same pic again, but for Noah's album, again not how I envisioned it but I am fairly happy with it. Sorry about the flash, forgot to turn it off, at least this pic is straight, unlike the other one I took!This one could have matched the colours in the picture better but oh well.
Love this one and I lifted it from Alexandra who completed it as part of Nicole's sketch challenge, when I saw Alexandra's I fell in love with the colours, having a boy who loves orange I scrap with blue and orange alot myself.
This one I am happy with you just can't see my white journalling and stamp - oh well!This is my digital collage from a few weeks ago, printed and matted, it is my fav I really love how it turned out, finally one that does justice to some of my most special photos!

I did say this was a quick note so I am off again I will come back soon and share pics from my birthday and my cool present which arrived last week, late I know but so worth the wait.
Until then.