Things are looking up!!

I had some happy email news this week that I can finally share with you.

I have been asked to join the Inspiration Team over at Scrapping Word Pictures blog.

If you haven't checked out their site, do so now - lots of great inspiration and a fun challenge each month. Sami gives us a list of written instructions which we follow to create a layout. Here's my version of April's challenge

Thanks so much for the opportunity Sami, I know I'm going to enjoy myself.

I've also been doing some other scrapping today - the weather is wet and the boys are occupied with friends.

This layout is a sketch challenge over on the Country Papercraft blog - thanks for the inspiration Lone. I flipped the sketch on its side for this one. I've used some Cosmo cricket and Basic Grey papers together with some Collections and Fancy Pants chipboard, the obligatory Bazzill cardstock and Basic Grey letter stickers.

It feels good to be scrapping!

We also met with our architect to make some minor changes to our initial renovation plans this morning - I can't wait to get started now, but on the other hand, I'm scared to bits - we've never tackled anything like this before. I think I've been watching too many renovation shows on the Lifestyle channel!!! hee hee

Take care everyone, cheers, Deb

I think I've walked under a ladder..............

Lots has been happening around here lately and unfortunately, not all of it good. I'm not sure what we've done to deserve the round of bad luck that's been following us around, but here's an update of the good, bad and the scrapping!! You might want to sit down with a cuppa for this one, it could be a long post.

Firstly the good stuff!

• Some of you may know that Remember When Scrapbooking Company has undergone a change recently. Kathy (the owner) decided to sell off the retail arm of the business to focus on the Laser Cut wholesale side. Good luck with it Kathy, I know you'll do great. Anyhow, Lee is the new owner of RWPC and she has asked me to stay on as part of her new Design Team. I'm so excited with what she has planned. She has already got all the latest Bazzill cardstocks back and I just LOOOVE Bazzill. She is also planning on introducing other products. I'm still blogging over there on alternate Tuesdays, but my focus will be on highlighting all the new stuff - how cool is that??


• We also found out that Shayne and I are off to China, well Shanghai to be exact at the end of May with the Toshiba crew. Very exciting!!!


• We finally got our concept plans back for the house renovations from the architect. They look great and certainly weren't anything that we would have thought of ourselves. It will mean almost totally gutting the interior but at least we won't have to build on. We just need to finalise the plans and then the work can start!
• Ryan and Bowen played their first games of football yesterday - wasn't my last post about cricket?? The year is really flying by. While they had mixed results (Bowen's team won and Ryan's didn't LOL) both got in the best players and won Fasta Pasta awards. I hope they keep them coming during the year!!

The not so good stuff now....

• I had my handbag stolen from our living area a couple of weeks ago. Apart from the scary fact they were in the house while the boys and I were home, it's been very frustrating firstly living without all my plastic cards and then having to get everything replaced again. They also took Ryan's DS, but he's pretty happy to have a new one. We've certainly become much more security conscious around here!



• We took the boys to Adelaide to watch the Port v Melbourne footy match over Easter. The weather was great but unfortunately Shayne got the dreaded gastro bug on the Sunday morning and spent his time at the footy lying down in the car - at least he could hear the crowd cheering. Not surprisingly, Ryan caught it on the Monday night and my only shopping purchase for the weekend, was a bucket for the trip home!! I caught it on Thursday and am only now starting to feel back to normal. Bowen is feeling very proud of the fact he hasn't caught it. Fingers crossed buddy!

On the scrapping front

• I completed March's challenge for Scrapping Word Pictures. It was the first time I have attempted their challenge and I LOVED it - they give you written instructions and your job is to interpret them to produce a layout. It's great when the mojo is on holidays or you want to get a layout done quickly. Here's what I came up with





• I've also just done an online photo editing course with Jessica Sprague - it's FANTASTIC and I've learnt so much. You can go back to it whenever you want which is a great feature. The class is a mixture of written information (not a lot) and recorded sessions demonstrating how to use Photoshop. It's so easy when you can see exactly which buttons to press.

Well if you've managed to stay with me this far, congratulations you deserve a medal!! Maybe if I posted more often, you wouldn't have to read such long posts........

Well, it's my turn to blog at Remember When tomorrow and I still have a layout to finish.

Talk you soon, Debxx

Proud Mum Moment and a share

It's been a few weeks since I last posted, but that dreaded jury duty has taken up quite a bit of my time. Hopefully it will be finished in the next couple of days and life will return to normal.

We had the West Gambier Cricket wind up on Saturday night and the boys were both very excited to win some awards.

Ryan was presented with a trophy to celebrate his hat trick earlier in the season. He finished that match with the figures of 4/0. The trophy contained the match ball as well as a plaque that recorded the details.

He also won the batting trophy - the most runs for the year. He finished top 2 in batting, bowling and fielding - a pretty mean effort!

Bowen also starred in his first year of cricket. He won the bowling trophy with 7 wickets, beating his brother by 1 - not bad for an 8 year old! He also finished 4th in the batting award.

They both made lovely speeches as well.

I haven't had heaps of time to scrap lately, but here are a couple that I did for the Remember When Scrapbooking blog last week.

Don't you just love the Laser Cut owl?? I'm trying to use up some older photos as well.

The boys have changed just a little bit haven't they??

That's it for now.

Cheers, Deb

A Flying Visit

A quick post to let you know that I'm still around. I'm on jury duty for the month of March, so I don't know what I'm doing from one day to the next. It makes managing work and a family, more than a little challenging!! Luckily, I'm not needed for the next few days.

It's a long weekend here this weekend - yay!! We SO need some chill out time. That should mean some scrapping for me!!

Meanwhile, here are a couple of scrapping projects I completed using RW Laser Cuts.

This is a really quick layout, apart from the measuring LOL! I chose a photo of Ryan for each month last year and used my labelling machine to type the months. I really want to do one for Bowen now.

For something completely different, I created this canvas. My manager Dawn gave us all one for Christmas last year with the challenge to be creative. This is what I came up with - it sits in my office at work.

Anyways, better go and get a few jobs done before bed.

Cheers, Deb

My Big Boy is 11!

Not sure where the time went, but this time eleven years ago, I was lying in a hospital bed while DH Shayne watched the golf!!!

At just after 9.30pm, with a little help from a surgeon, Ryan Anthony arrived in the world.

The last 11 years have flown by and we are so proud of the young man he has become.

He loves his Ripstick - so does his Dad! With his usual determination, he has spent as much time as possible mastering it - and I mean both of them LOL!!

Ryan also got a Port Power football jumper and a Wii game.

After cricket this morning, he is now entertaining his mates Tyson and Dylan who are staying the night. We've been ten pin bowling and had KFC for tea and they are now locked in a serious cricket match with Bowen and Brad from next door.

Cake soon and then sleep - for his tired parents at least!

Happy birthday darling. We love you very much - although I know you would be very embarrassed to hear that out loud!

One Proud Mum!

Ryan played in the Under 12 Future Champions Cricket Trophy cricket match yesterday. He was one of only 22 boys chosen from across the competition, so to get selected was one major achievement.

His team won the toss and elected to bowl. Ryan was given the job of bowling the second over - he was pretty nervous, but bowled well, only giving away 1 run. His next over claimed the wicket of the opposition's captain and best batsman - I think I screamed with excitement LOL. Luckily Ryan didn't hear me. He went on to take another wicket, finishing with 2 wickets for only 3 runs for his 3 overs.

Although he didn't do well with the bat, his team Gambier Green won which was also really exciting.'

Ryan had a GREAT day and we are all so proud of him!

Beyond Comprehension

I have been watching in disbelief the news coming out of Victoria over the past day. I can't imagine what those people must be going through, having lost family, friends, neighbours and homes. It's beyond imagination.

Kathy at Remember When doing her bit to help those affected - proceeds from the sale of all laser cuts this week will be donated directly to the bushfire appeal. Stock up on laser cuts and help Kathy donate as much as possible.

I'll be back later to share some happier news.