Wednesday, July 23, 2008

the details....










Ok well I am not overly sure how to start so I guess the thing that would make the most sense would be to start at the beginning. Sorry if it is too detailed – you don’t have to read it but I wanted to remember EVERYTHING!

On Thursday night I knew that I should get to bed early – but I couldn’t! I kept checking and re checking my bag, weighing it (ouch the 15kg bag limit was doing my head in!) and making sure that I had all my photos right. By the time I got to bed it was about 1am. Knowing that Meredith was coming to pick me up at 5.30am and my alarm was set for 4.30am wasn’t overly reassuring and I lay there for at least another hour before I finally dozed off. Maybe my body had some sense of ESP of what the weekend had in store and was trying to get me used to functioning on limited sleep!

Anyway before I knew it my alarm was beeping. I lay there for a minute too excited to move but then received a text from Tiff (boy oh boy was she excited for us or what!!) Up had a shower, dressed, a quick two spoonfuls of cereal and a sip of coffee before I saw Meredith’s headlights coming up the driveway. I ran in and kissed all the kids and gave Greg a smooch goodbye too.

As we drove along the windy Tumby road I was so excited!! I know we were talking a lot about what the weekend would have in store for us, wether it would snow and what the people would be like that we were about to meet.

You see I have been a part of a scrapbooking group online for about 3 years. In that time I have made some wonderful online friends – which sounds kinda weird but they are truly the best bunch of girls. So we had all decided to go to this Scraptacular retreat and have a big meetup. Online there are over 50 in our group – probably about 20 or so are some of the ‘old timers’ that were there right from the beginning. I think there were about 15 girls who were able to come to the retreat. Two from Tassie, one from WA, one from Qld, some others from NSW and myself (and Meredith) from SA. It was such a thrill to think that we would all be meeting for the first time in real life very very soon!!

After holding our breath while they weighed our bags at the Pt Lincoln terminal (can you even call it that!??) we boarded our little plane. Now I am not the greatest flier – I get really nervous on take off and landing, but I tried to be brave so Meredith didn’t have to console me LOL! No in actual fact all the plane trips were quite good with one exception which I will get to directly.

In Adelaide we grabbed our bags, checked in for our Melbourne flight (again more breath holding) and then went to find the bar. By this time it was about 8.30am and while we felt a little strange ordering a champagne at that time of the morning, it had been a long standing plan and I am very glad we went through with the little celebration! Another man came in and ordered a beer so we didn’t feel quite so strange after that!


Our next flight started weirdly when shortly after we had all gotten into our seats the pilot announced that there was a problem with the front door – it wasn’t shutting properly and would need a technician to look at it. Meredith and I laughed and had visions of it opening mid flight and people being sucked out left right and center! Luckily we were in seats a bit towards the back so we felt as if we would have a bit of warning if the sucking thing happened LOL.
It didn’t seem long and we arrived in Melbourne. Coming through the gate I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t be able to find Clair straight away but I did. Clair is Clair Bremner, one of my online mates who I had met once before and a local Melbourne girl who had very kindly offered to pick us up from the airport and take us to the Scraptacular shop and then onto the retreat.

We loaded all our crap into her car and headed off to the Scraptac shop. OMG Melbourne is sooooooooooooooo big. After lots of driving and chatting we arrived at the store. Meredith was so keen to get inside she almost opened the door before the car had even pulled up – LOL – we had been joking about her elbowing people out the way (ala shop sale type behaviour) but she managed to contain her elbows. J

In we go and I saw Rach straight away. She is standing up in the classroom/crop room part of the shop. Meredith and I start to shop and she yells out at me to get my butt up there to say hello (whoopsie!) I go up and there are so many of the EB scrap girls I can’t believe it! I recognized them all straight away and immediately felt very overwhelmed by the whole situation. We chat for a little while and I notice Meredith sighing and doing a little dance from foot to foot – I can tell she wants to get shopping….and I have to admit I was getting antsy too. We excuse ourself and spend the next – gawd I don’t know how long – shopping till we are dropping!!! Quite a lot of money later *ahem* it is time to leave for the retreat.

We go and get some lunch and drinks and then head to the bottle-o to grab some booze. Meredith thought that 4 bottles would do us, I thought 6 so we compromised and went up to pay for 5. The man said that we should get the 6th one and then get 10% discount on all the bottles…………so we did!! After hopping back in the car I was panicking that I had wildly over-estimated how much alcohol we would drink. Fear not Amanda!!!!!!!!!

We drive on, getting higher and higher, colder and colder until we reach ‘The Country Place’ which is located at Kalorma in the Dandenong Ranges. It was fantastic and we lugged (well some of us did and some of us had male help!!) our crap up the stairs. No welcoming party from Scraptac so we weren’t sure what we were doing so basically we just walked around looking for everyone else!

We finally found everyone, had a few drinks and then the Scraptac girls came in and gave everyone their passports. We went and had an early dinner in the dining room which was scrumptious and we were all split up so we could get to know other people who were on the retreat rather than all the online friends sticking together. At the time I was nervous about this but in hindsight it was great as I wouldn’t have met anyone else otherwise! There were 70 attending the retreat in total!!

After tea we were able to go up to our rooms and bring back all our scrap stash into the crop room. The doors opened and although the room wasn’t huge (maybe half the size of the shed on our retreat) there were a LOT of people in there. Each person had a little goodie bag full with lots of yummy new product – it really was fantastic and I thought that it was very generous indeed! I was sitting next to Meredith (thank God) and Jody (a fantastic scrapper who I admire and LOVE LOVE LOVE her style – unfortunately poor Jody had to put up with my mess and me squishing her up all the weekend…………..sorry Jody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Not long after we had set up and Kim Nutley kicked off her class. I really enjoyed attending my first class…it felt a bit strange as I had only ever attended classes that I had taught so it was reassuring to know that what I do is basically what others do as well!

After Kim’s class (15x30 page!) it was free scrap time. Meredith and I hooked into the wine and decided to do a 24 hour-y so we stayed up until 4.30am.
(berocca start to each day)





I woke up to hear Meredith in the shower at about 8.30am. Feeling a bit crappy I got ready for the day and after a strong coffee headed into the scrap room. Rach was beginning her class at 11am so after a little bit of free scrap time we started that. It was two pages using splatting paint which I felt so nervous about as paint and myself usually don’t get along, but I was so pleased with the end result. Amazing what you can achieve with a plastic cup, some bottle tops and some watered down MM paint!


After a late ‘make your own cold meat and salad sandwich’ lunch it was back into free scrap time. I can’t quite remember how the rest of that afternoon passed – I know I chatted a lot to the girls, scrapped a bit and decided that I desperately needed some munchies on the table so was able to hitch a ride down the mountain to grab some chocolate and nuts. Nibbles were BYO and that is the norm on retreats so we were a bit under=prepared in that sense.

At about 5.30pm we headed up the the room to get ready for out themed dinner ‘Xmas in July’. Meredith and I had bought fairy wings (oopsie I think I still need to pay you for those Meredith!!!) and had tinsel so we were going as angels. Not a lot of prep time needed for that so we settled in with a pre-dinner drink in the room and had a little mini-debrief on the day!

Dinner was nice – I am not a huge Christmas dinner fan but it was nice. We were lucky enough to be visited by Mrs Claus, Santa and his three Ho’s. Very funny and the plastic boobs from the Ho’s were a big hit in more ways than one!

After dinner it was back into free scrap time so Meredith and I settled in with our wine and scrapped, scrapped and scrapped until it was time to go up and get a refill bottle from our room. We had these swanky key card thingos to get into the room, which is great when they are working but not so wonderful when there is a problem! Meredith went up to try first – no luck. Then myself – nope. It was 2am and in the end we had to call the after hours bloke to come in to rescue us as there was NO WAY I was sleeping on the pool table as was suggested! He came in and told us that he could let us in but we would have to have a dicky door until the morning….eeeek! We didn’t tell him that we weren’t planning on going to bed yet…so we devised a cunning plan with a towel as a door stop. Problem solved, wines filled and we were back into it.

We finally hit the sack at 5.30am.




Again I woke up to hear Meredith getting ready for the day at about 8.30am (thank god I had brought her as I would have slept till lunch and missed the whole thing!) I felt sad that this was our last day but I knew that all good things must come to an end L

After a quick bite for breakfast we settled in for Kim Ogden’s mini book class. Wow wow wow is all I can say. It was VERY fast paced, which made it difficult for slower scrappers. We managed to keep up as we weren’t obsessing over cm placement of things and at one stage we were even asking to be shown the next few pages. I think the things I got from that class was totally mind blowing in that the way she used products. I am not a huge fan of chipboard words – but the one she used looked totally awesome inked on the front cover. Also the Kaiser bling swirls – which I have thought totally crappy in the past as I am soooooooooooooooooo not a bling person – looked amazing how she used them in this mini album. I am yet to finish mine but here it is 90% done. The front cover is supposed to say 'ten things about you'


This class went for a very long time (4 hours I think) so by the end it was almost time to pack up. I sat there for a while not wanting to believe it was all over but then realized it was L

Packed everything up and tried so hard to squoosh everything into my suitcase. Repacked several times and in the end gave a parcel to Rach to send back in the mail (I received this today and it was so exciting going through it!!!)

Clair took us back to find our motel which was very nice in the end (we were so worried after listening to everyone saying it was the ‘quickie hotel’ and looked very scungy from the outside - where in fact it wasn’t that one at all and was quite flash from the outside!) We had a quick drop off of bags and then went back to Tracey’s place to kill time before tea. We had a great chat about books – Tracey loves the same books as me – and our eyes glazed over talking about the Diana Gabaldon book ‘Cross Stitch’ and the subsequent books in the series. LOL it was nice talking to someone who spoke with the most beautiful Scottish accent about these books and sharing our love of Jaime the main character. The other girls there thought we were mad but I managed to convince some of them to buy the book the next day!

We then went out for Chinese dinner which was a fantastic experience! I know some of the girls really wanted a quiet dinner at Tracey’s home but for two country girls, going out to the Chinese restaurant was so much fun!

After dinner and a LOT of laughs we went back to our room where we contemplated having a bottle of wine out of the mini bar (we had depleted our stash) but decided not to and had an early night instead (well just after midnight I think!)

Woke up Monday morning (again Meredith is my alarm clock!) and got ready to shop! Clair was picking us up again to go shopping in a ‘small’ shopping centre. OMG at this! Small is big!! We met the other online girls at Gloria Jeans coffee and after a quick drink we headed off. I managed to get quite a bit of stuff for the kids (I was only planning on one thing each but Pumpkin Patch had a sale on and since I only get to go there once a year thought ‘what the hell’) Piper loves her ‘Clair’ top that I got at cotton on kids, and Tracey…Georgia absolutely ADORES that white top with the little grey/yellow belt – thankyou for showing that to me! Kelsey the apprentice Goth loved all her things – particularly her red scarf – go figure!!

After shopping we hitched a ride with Felicity and went back to her home to kill a bit more time before leaving for the airport. We met Brodie who was a very cute and gentle little boy and said hello to Felicity’s husband!

We left for the airport and wowsers - again Melbourne is sooooooooooooooooooo big! We arrived and Felicity dropped us off and a few more teary goodbyes. It is always hard to say goodbye to friends when you don’t really know if you will ever see them again in real life. L

We checked our bags in – major panic attacks waiting in the queue for that. Meredith’s case was 21.1 kg and then they popped mine on – and the scales read out 39.8 kg and we both fell about laughing thinking that it was the weight of my bag. We then realized that it was the combined weight and mine was only 18.7 kg YAY! Big sighs of relief then!

Mind you for someone who was worried about luggage weight, I am not sure why on earth I bought Greg a HUGE big hardcover book that weighed over 3 kg!! I had to lug that around and omg my hand luggage was soooooooo heavy!

Our flight back to Adelaide was great – we had a wine to celebrate the end and had a fantastic flight attendant – Marsha – who giggled and laughed the whole way through her safety spiel. It was nice after all the stiff and starchy performances you usually get.

We had a bite to eat in Adelaide airport after checking our bags in and noting that our medical expertise (or lack of) may well be needed inflight on the way home. Thank Christ Mrs C didn’t collapse although Meredith said that she was monitoring her closely from the aisle seat! (OMG just realized I had the window seat AGAIN!! Sorry chook!)

We arrive in Pt Lincoln, grab our bags and load the ute. About 8.30pm at this time. In stark difference to our trip to the airport, there is a bit of quiet silence as we think about all the stuff that has happened, ideas we have brought back for our retreat and wondering how everyone has coped at home.

I walk in at about 9.30 and the kids have stayed up to greet me. The looks on their faces are priceless! Piper just hugs and hugs me!

Meredith was a pure delight to be with for the whole weekend. I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to be with – just a fantastic friend. I enjoyed every minute, so thankyou for coming with me and for being perfect J

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

ROFL

I did laugh my arse off.
Sandra, you have a wicked sense of humor. LOVE this. Love it because we all need to have a good laugh about ourselves at times. I do like the flourish and the stars. Sooo nice.
Sandra says....things that make you go hmmm.
no more needs to be said really :D
Yes a digi..did it tonight after gc meeting! so quick..
but I must admit I prefer the hands on approach . but at night when you don't want to get all your
stash out... this is the way to go...
off to bed in a minute...
ps I don't mind if you post it... might give the girls a laugh.. or even help them
'think outside the box'.

Jingos Jenny

Jenny has stepped up big time to this mini me challenge
1. MY BROTHER UP THE TOP, SAM, MY SON, THEN MY GRANDFATHER. CRAP PHOTOS BUT THEY REALLY DO LOOK ALIKE. Jenny says.

love the embossed ribbon and the big brad. The bloom balances the page nicely.Well done Jen.
2. JUST FOUND A DIFFERENT PHOTO OF SAM.
I reckon its the nose that all 3 have. What a great pic of Sam.

3. Sorry about the photo quality, but they really do look alike

Yay. Jenny's done a girly page. And I love the glass dome with the flowers thingy. That must be u on the bottom pic Jenny !

Monday, July 21, 2008

we're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Well Meredith and I are home.

OMG is about all i can say at this stage. Totally amazing, mind blowing and inspirational.

Am very tired after only 10 hours total of sleep for 3 days......so will fill you in later. Hopefully Meredith will come in and give her perspective too.

Amazing stuff.

who's who.

Rito scrapping chicks. Pop quiz. U tell me who is who.
:D
Oh, I just remembered not everyone will know who these people are.
Errrmmm have a stab.
Either my daughter Annie or my son Sean.

Help

I have been asked by a friend if I knew anyone who would like to scrap an album of my friend's family and be paid for it. It would need to be done before Christmas.
I seem to recall someone telling me that there is a scrapper around EP who does this for a price.
Anybody know who this chic is????

Sandra's in.

Wow Sandra. You digi chick. What an amazing likeness to Tegan. Or Tegan to you LOL. Loving all the embellishments, bloom, paperclip, ribbon slide, stitching, buttons and the ties on the buttons.
Bloody Awesome.
Sandra says:
Here is my entry for the mini me challenge..
Talk about going right out of my comfort zone!
one... me on the page.. not really my thing .. lol
two ... digital... still learning! (and a long way to go!!)
three .. the colours I chose are ones that I have never really tried before..
Great challenge... very 'challenging"!
I based my layout on a Becky Fleck sketch... LOVE Page Maps!



Marika's first cab off the rank

HI Marika.
Loving this LO. The doodling around the border is so delicate. and the dotty paper and flower coordinate nicely. And aren't they the same. Siblings I gather.
Well done chick.

Is anyone there....

Very quiet on the blog front. Hopefully that means everyone is madly gathering their photos and supplies to pull together their MINI ME challenge.
;)

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Challenge 10

Rito. This will challenge you all a bit.

MINI ME.

Find a photo of anyone who has a strong resemblance to someone else in your family.

Like mother/daughter,

father/son,

grandparent/grandchild.

Think out of the box a bit if u want. IE. Mr Bean, Friar Tuck from Robin Hood (great for those baby bald spots).



Base your LO of any size on two photos that show that strong likeness.

Post your challenges to Tiff katmfirth@bigpond.com until Amanda and Meredith are back from the jaunt.

Challenge closes midnight Friday Aug 1st.

Friday, July 18, 2008

drum roll please....

And the winner for the last 4 weeks of challenge enteries goes to

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LISA




Congrats to you Lisa. Email me and I'll arrange a parcel to be sent to you



Stay tuned for your new challenge

will post very shortly.

hint hint (.... me)


Just for interest sake we had a total of 42 challenge LO's loaded onto your Escape2Create blog this last month. How bloody awesome is that.

:D

the retreat chicks.

had a txt from our explorers this morning having a champagne breakfast at the Adelaide Airport.
And this one just came in. I reckon they are having a ball already.

Cassandra has stepped up


Ohhh Cassandra. The stars are so hip and the orange kinderglitz outline around the them is fabo. Loving the ricrac

Cassandra says:

Reckon these boys are oranges and lemons sometimes sweet and sour. Anyway journalling reads-
Those eyes:
Sparkle.
Talk to others.
Get you what
they want!
1 Blue eyed
1 Brown eyed
The two of you
individual.

how to comment

Just for you.
At the bottom of each post is 'Comments'
Click on that and a little text box will open.
Type what u would like to say about that LO. Don't forget to leave your name as well in the text box.
Click Anonymous.
That's it. Easy Peasy.

Beautiful

Denise you clever chook.
What great photos you captured. Your Granddaughter is just angelic. To explain those wings. Denise stamped them with white ink and very carefully used crystal kinderglitz to detail the wings. And u should see it irl (in real life). Very delicate. And those butterflies are different. firstly stamped onto the LO and then stamped again on the same piece of PP (orange), cut out and attached by one wing over the original butterfly. She has bent back the wing to give it height and dimension. Looks so good.

And the other shot with the fairy and toadstool is so clear and sharp. Also has a hint of Kinderglitz.

Awesome Denise.

Ronnie's gone Rural

Welcome Ronnie.
I snapped this one for her at Scrapworkz in Lincoln tonight. Ronnie has been very clever with her gold kinderglitz. The script font was already on the PP so she used the glitz to carefully write over it. And it looks awesome. Isn't it amazing how well blue goes with orange. Who would have thought..... only a scrapper of course.


Thanks Ronnie. Cant wait to see your next one.

Welcome Denise E



With a bit of arm twisting I managed to get Denise E to let me shoot a couple of snaps of her LO that had orange or yellow in them while I was scrapping in Lincoln tonight. The little yellow daises are gorgeous with the tiny little green centres. What great pics to keep the memory of the girls in the canola forever remembered.
For those of you who were at the Retreat, Denise was the one you chose as the People's Choice on the LO Brag Wall.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

the last hoorah

Well here i am the day before Meredith and I set off on our big adventure to Victoria!

I can't believe we will be attending a MASSIVE scrapbooking retreat in the Dandenong Ranges by this time tomorrow!! There are 70 people attending so it will be just mindblowing!

Stay tuned for details when we come back - we will share all the excitement we promise, however we will keep some bits a secret to use on our own retreat!!!

Dont forget to post your entries to Tiff katmfirth@bigpond.com for the weekend. The draw will be friday-ish and the prize pack is a nice bright collection.

Good luck to all and goodbye from me!

now sing along -

my bags are packed, i'm ready to go
lah lah lah


i'm leaving on a jet plane
dont know when i'll be back again................................(monday night)


byyyyye!

This Girl is on fire.

pardon the pun, but this girl really has the bug. The scrapping bug that is.... there is no known cure, but the symptoms of madly scrapping can only be dealt with by madly scrapping. That's all one can do.... oh and have results posted on the blog of course.
So Jenny, doesn't this one really suit the challenge theme. Loving the black branch drooping on the right hand side. Where do u download some of brushes from???

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

(mini)fishers part 2

Due to tech issues now resolved hopefully, I have received this from Jenny evening. It is one page of a double LO. The other page is the (mini)Fishers of the deb ball.
Jenny has worked the triangle method which helps to lead the eye around the page. Photos in a triangle and the embellishments in a triangle. Still love those blooms. Looks like u could touch them.

Thanks Jenny

wow wow wow

Put your sunnies on scrappers. Its a bright day of sunshine with Lisa. How many metres of ribbon and ricrac did u get thru. and the buttons are fabo. One way of getting thru the stash.
Lisa says
Yaay, I have completed my LO for this challenge, and before the deadline too!! :-)
Quite happy with this one, altho the letters in the title are stamped with Pink ink, but looks quite orange in the picture. Oh well, still seems to blend ok.
Made using Stampin' Up PP and lots of ribbons and buttons. Don't ask me how long it took to stick them all down! LOL! Based on a Becky Fleck Sketch.
Sunshine - the journalling around the circle says: "Every single day, help to light my way. And darling, right before my eyes, it don't come as no surprise...........that it's easy.........easy.........loving you".
From the Nazareth song, Sunshine.
Journalling on the PP says: Our first trip to Ceduna as a family of FOUR. It was lovely sitting and playing on the front verandah, enjoying the sunshine.
Photos taken 23 Feb '08.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

my mini

I thought I'd share with you the mini album I have done for a very special person in my life. Paige turns 18 on the 18th and I have loved doing this one for her.
Rather than post all the picks again from my blog and if its ok with the E2C team I would like to paste a link here to my blog.
http://www.fluffingaround.blogspot.com/
thanks chicks.
dont forget to pack the thermal undies A & M!!!!!
;D

Amazing!!

Hi all,

I am amazed at the number of entries!! I think our colour challenges have been the most popular so far!! (Think back to the blue and brown challenge Sue set!!)

Maybe we should throw a few more in down the track. I thought yellow and orange ... mmm maybe not but we obviously must all use these two colours!!

I have a nearly finished page but just have to see how I go. Madly trying to pack for the big trip and thinking I have too much stuff!! Much easier when you can load a car up and then take everything!!

I love the mini albums that I have seen on the blog. Thank you to Karen and Marika for sending them in!! They are great to inspire all of us. I know someone who might have one to feature after Father's Day!! It is beautiful.

Look forward to seeing what Tiff's next challenge is on our return from Melbourne ... think of us, it will be freezing in the Dandenongs!!

This is simply stunning

Janice says
Guess what have finally finished my orange and yellow challenge, and this was a challenge for me, very much out of my comfort zone. Not a photo I would have scrapped if it hadn’t been for the challenge but will be nice to look through the album and see something other than my pinks and blues. When I first saw this challenge I thought nah I won’t do this one, but after being at the 5loaves nite I came home and looked through my photos and found this beautiful one that Sarah took from our backyard, and thought well maybe I’II give it a go, and here it is.
Great to see so many layouts and lots of new people on the blog, you must be really happy
This is stunning. clean and understated which lets the sunset dominate the page. Perfect. love the stamped flourish, the dymo and the pins.
I think you should submit this to a mag or at least put it in the Cummins Show!!

mini fish (ers)


awww how adorable is this. You have attained balance and symmetry with the placement of photos and embellishments. Looks the five on a dice. The eye naturally flows with this. Love the blooms. Do you know the date of this one??

This is Jenny's third in the oranges and lemons challenge. This chick is on a roll...

Jenny's Boys


What a fabo photo of the boys Jenny. Personality plus for all of them. The twisted ribbon is very eye catching and I spotted your butterfly on the paperclip. Just goes to show u can use them on fella pages too ;D

well well well...look who we have here!

It is just amazing who is having a little look at our blog!

Welcome Marika! She has written in her email to me -

Hi Amanda,
I have been looking at your blogspot and would like to join I wanted to share this mini albumn that i made for Tarnyas birthday.
Thanks Marika


What a gorgous album too! A fabulous gift and i am sure that Tarnya will LOVE it!


Those Kaiser papers look like they were made especially for that project!! Thankyou for sharing it with us!


now the rule is that once your work is shown you must comment and visit us regularly!!

Commenting is easy - just click the comment button down the bottom. Write your message and either press 'anonymous' (making sure to leave your name in the main body of text so we know who you are!) or register with blogger (very easy to do) and your name will pop up automatically.

Also dont forget to forward your oranges and lemons entries to Tiff on katmfirth@bigpond.com as I wont be able to upload anything after thursday night. Will be back on duty by Tuesday though :)


orange digi




whoo hoo. u girls are embracing the digi world. Maryanne this is awesome. Love the brushes. What are they?? The stars are so hip and I like the slight grunge on it. AND your boys have grown up so much, still cute as ever tho!!

Monday, July 14, 2008

orange and lemon tart

two challenges in one... lol double layout and orange
lovin' the blog at the moment.. so many entries and posts and comments! and the layouts have been outstanding... stunning even... lots of talented people..
green and orange. who would have ever thought of putting them together and guess what, Sandra has pulled it off. With pzazz I might add. Gotta love the pup. Do I spy a little green peg near the green sunflower????

Sea Lions

I was so lucky. Fletch asked if this photo could be done next and if I could please use the starfish! So here it is. ps I recommend this as an adventure but wait til March when the water is a bit warmer.
It reads : Baird's Bay
We went and swam with the Sea Lions. Grandma, Pa, Uncle Scott ,Aunty Kerri and You and me. It was very cold but we all enjoyed it so much we want to do it again. March 2007
Wow Trish. Once again using cord really makes this page stand out from the crowd. Love the frayed end and the knot. Journalling strips are so popular and the starfish are perfect. Fletch must be a challenge mind reader.

Here's Karen's


Karen's answer to yellow. Great to see a yellow challenge LO. I do like the stitching and is that American thickers vinyl letters. Lovely colour. Well done Karen. the owl's a hoot.
Happy is the colour of bright gold.
It smells like flowers and roses.
Happy looks like bunnies in a paddock.
It tastes like lollies and chocolate.
Happy feels like going to the beach.


the tally and the draw

I have just done a count up of pages done for challenges as our monthly draw will be on the 19th July. Tiff will have to do this as Meredith and I will be away on our scrapping retreat in Melbourne (just incase we hadn't screamed it from the rooftops enough!!)

so i have only counted challenge entries from the past month here - no extra layouts or off the pages that you wanted to show us.......

sandra - 4
maryanne - 4
jenny - 4
trish - 2
karen - 2
janice - 3
cassandra - 1
lisa - 1
tracey - 3
brigette - 1
zani - 1
julie - 1


I will leave it up to Tiff to do the draw and i can't wait to see who gets a mini prize for this one!

Dont forget it still isn't too late to do an entry for Tiff's Lemons and Oranges themed challenge......

more layouts you submit in then the more chances you have at winning!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

'angi'

You girls have got me all inspired!! There's been this photo sitting on my fridge since 2002, when our AFS daughter was with us. After looking thru my albums for a photo to scrap - i decided the one of Angi was perfect for Tiff's challenge.


Here's my page...
My journalling reads: "Our AFS daughter Angi from Germany fell in love with alot of things here in Australia, but one of her favourites were the Australian skies. She loved the clear starry nights, the beautiful clear blue skies on a summery day and her most favourite was the colour of our sunsets. Angi made us realize how beautiful they were too, so now when we see a beautiful sunset.... We think of our Angi..."
Orange and Yellow is perfect for the sunset behind Angi, what a beautiful sunset & a beautiful girl!!
And lo and behold.... Tiff you will see a butterfly has made it to my page too!!:)

Julie's on the challenge


Great to see you here Julie C. This is the front page to a album of her "Our family trip". snapped with Tracey W camera last Friday night at the 5 Loaves Bakery scrap nite
Loving all the little tags and the info on them esp the 6078kms. Long long way. the pp on your chip words is so nice.
onya Julie. love having you here.

ta-da. Zan's on board

Oh my Zani. This is bew-di-ful. Hasn't Koti got the most amazing colour hair. And she is a mini u. Blue compliments this one so nicely, with her jeans and the sky. Is this at the Grampians (not sure how to spell-that place in Vic). The gathered stitched ribbon is perfect. Make sure you show her that she is on the blog.....!!!!

Sam & Sarah.


Awwww Tracey. This is gorgeous. The blue blooms and ribbon tone down the orange beautifully. I love how you anchored the ribbon and the slide on it is lovely. the PP is perfect.

All Aboard!!!!

With much pleasure we welcome Brigette H to the blog. With a bit of encouragement and Tracey W's camera (thank goodness u had it) Brigette had her LO snapped at the 5 loaves bakery scrap nite.
I do like how Brigette has shaped her photos in the shape of the sandbucket. nice grab of orange.
Just a quick note on how to 'comment'. At the bottom of this and each post is a word 'comment' or 'leave a comment'. click on that and a little text box will open up. type in what u would like to say and your name or initals, click annonymous and that's it. Easy peasy. you can go further and registar with blogger as a blogger and then your little photo is left automatically. totally up to you.

I'm sorry this and the last 3 LO's have been awhile to post but I have had Sean in hospital with Asthma since yesterday, and Kym and I are taking turns being with him. He had a night of hell last night but has now turned the corner and should be home tomorrow. I have come home to check the blog, post and then get some sleep, in that order!!.
Please email all your creations to me this and next week as Amanda is under the pump. So send to katmfirth@bigpond.com

Thanks Brigette. We will be seeing more of you.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

'bells of St Clemens'

Sandra has a wicked sense of humor. Took me a bit to work out what bells of St Clemens was all about.... der me. Its that nursery rhyme that continues from Oranges and Lemons.
Cheeky chook
Anyway she has risen to the challenge and in style. I wish my Mum (or me for that matter) could whiz up cakes like that. And you used both orange and yellow.
onya Sandra. Stars are so hip right now too....
The journalling on the tag says...
Every birthday I try
and make the cake
of your choice.. For your 8th
birthday it was
Charizard... the pokemon character.