Puppy Puppy Puppy!!

We welcome a new member to our family today. Marty is a seven week old Kelpie x Border Collie. He is fitting in well and the kids just LOVE him!



This is the best photo of have of him so far. He has the BIGGEST tongue for a little puppy, I've ever seen! He actually looks a bit funny in this pic, but let me assure you he is absolutely gorgeous in real life. He has really taken to me, over the rest of the family, which is funny as I am the one who didn't really want a dog.

Happy New Year to everyone!! I have lots of Christmas and party news, but I will share all that later. Such a busy night tonight!!
xx S.

Forums, Weather & Tag

Yay!! The Scrapbook City forum is back up again. Alicia and I have been working non-stop to get things right again. So come and join in on the fun!

I can't believe the weather here at the moment - not that I am complaining, mind you! It is the day before Christmas and we have warm 28deg C, non-humid days!! VERY nice!!! Makes me a bit nervous about how the weather will be in the new year.

We have been to Sunday morning mass already and will soon be heading off to Christmas Vigil mass. I have nieces and nephews reading and singing in the huge outdoor mass, so am looking forward to it. My kids are looking forward to singing the carols.

BIG day planned for tomorrow - Christmas Day!! Can't wait!!

....but before I go, here is a tag from Miss Alicia.

A - Available/Single? Married
B- Best Friend? Alicia
C- Cake or Pie? Cake, usually
D - Drink Of Choice? Coke (but have only had SEVEN in 2006!!! I cut down from approx one a day in 2005!!!!!)
E - Essential Item You Use Everyday? Computer
F - Favorite Color? Purple or Pink - depends on my mood.
G - Gummy Bears Or Worms? Neither, I'm just not a jubes person. :)
H - Home or Homesick? Home.
I - Indulgence? Chocolate.
J - January Or February? February, usually, because the weather is starting to cool.
K - Kids & Their Names? 3 - Amelia (5), Christopher (4) & Nicholas (2)
L - Life Is Incomplete Without? My family, my camera and creativity.
M - Marriage date? 22 July 2000
N - Number Of Siblings? 1 brother (plus seven SIL and seven BIL)
O - Oranges Or Apples? Apples, nice crunchy green ones.
P - Phobias/Fears? Heights, spiders, geese...... the list goes on!! lol
Q - Favorite Quote: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. (Eleanor Roosevelt)
R-Real Hair Color? Brown.
S - Season? Winter.
T - Tag 3 or 4 people? Lusi, Amanda & Jill.
U - Unknown Fact About Me? Um.... I used to tend bar at one of my cities roughest pubs.
V - Vegetable you don’t like? Fennel. It is disgusting. (have to agree with you, Leish)
W - Worst Habit? Putting computer and scrapping before housework.
X - X-rays You’ve Had? Teeth, knee, leg, chest, neck - hahahaha, healthy aren't I?
Y - Your Favorite Food? Seafood, avocado, chocolate, icecream.
Z - Zodiac Sign? Scorpio.

(Please excuse last year's Christmas photo of the kids - you don't want to know what happened when I tried to take new ones this year!!)

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope you have a lovely, safe and happy day.
xx S.

Scrapbook City Forum

Yes, our home away from home is still experiencing technical difficulties. The Scrapbook City forum is down. Alicia and I have a lot of work ahead of us to try to restore everything back to normal. Unfortunately we seem to have lost our member list. We have been working on the site and will continue to do so. In the meanwhile we have taken it "off the air" to make that job a little easier. Keep your eyes on the board, to find out when it is up, so we can get our little community back up and running.

If you haven't been there for a while, or maybe not at all, once it is back up would be a great time to get onboard. Can't say too much yet, but this would be a very good time to get involved and ready for some very exciting news things coming up next year. You are going to want to be be a part of it all believe me.

Thanks everyone for your patience so far. Will keep you posted.
xx S.

Scrap Survivor - the Verdict

I'm nearly stunned into silence.






Nearly. ;)

I am so surprised and ecstatic to be announcing that I actually WON the Scrap Survivor competition I have been playing in!!!

Thanks to everyone for following Alicia's and my progress through the past eleven weeks. Thanks also for all the well wishes and encouragement.

The prize is for a six month's subscription for The Scrapbook Site's kits. They have an excellent choice of three kits. I am, of course, sharing my prize with the lovely Alicia. She is over in the US, of course. I don't think it fair that TSS pays SO much postage to get the packs to me. :)

I have made some unreal friends and acquaintences from the experience, too. So thanks again!
xx S.

Third Challenge

With Survivor now down to the voting, I'd like to share the third challenge with you. The challenge was to make three cards using either red/green/white or blue/silver/white, with a bit of bling. Because of other commitments, I only ended up with a couple of hours to make, photograph and upload my cards, but I am happy with them.

I'll be back to post again, with some super unreal news!! Stay tuned...
xx S.

Scrap Survivor BTP Challenge

I don't know what's going on with Blogger, but it seems to be eating up the writing in my last post. Maybe writing this post will fix that!!

Here is my BTP for the second challenge in the Scrap Survivor Final. I'm not a huge fan of doing BTP, so I did my best and was pleasantly surprised.

"You must create an altered item. This has to be a NEW ITEM created for this challenge. it can be anything you like. ornament, altered journal, cigar box, paint can..whatever. BUT........it must be for a HOLIDAY!!!!!! it can be christmas, birthday....4th of july....or whatever, but has to be holiday themed.

You MUST INCLUDE..... 3-D embellishments. (flowers, ribbon...whatever as long as it isn't paper or stickers)

must have someone's name on it. (should be for a gift I would think!)

must use at least 2 DIFFERENT manufacturers.

Must have a MONOGRAM on it somewhere."

So I made this dome tin for Santa. The HS chipboard shapes made great tags with the monograms and photos of the kids. They can't wait to write up their little letters and put them in the tin for Santa on Christmas Eve!!

Thanks for checking in on me.

xx S.

Scrapbook City & Scrapbook Creations

I have been SUPER busy catching up on some scrapbooking and DT work for Scrapbook City. Here are my latest four layouts for Scrapbook City. The first two using the gorgeous new Fancy Pants Mulberry Road products. The second two using the new My Mind's Eye Magnolia Kits.

I finally received a copy of the latest Scrapbook Creations and was pleased to see this layout on a page on its own! I love this layout, because it cracks me up that Christopher is still carrying this dog around, after two years!!

Viva la Scruffy!!

NB. Scrap Survivor Final Challenge #2 is a BTP. Arrgh! I am working on it and am loving it!! It's nearly finished.... just waiting for the Mod Podge to dry. Then I will photograph and upload it!

HUGE thanks to everyone for wishing me luck! I'll keep you posted.

xx S.

Survivor Final!

Wow. I have actually found myself in the Final for the Survivor comp I've been in with Alicia! The last twist was that only one person was voted out last week and there are three in the final.

There will be a few challenges over the week and I've just completed my first one. I loved the idea I had for this layout, but am not thrilled with how it came out.

The theme was Seasons. Winter, Spring, Summer & Fall (Autumn) had to be visible, four photos, at least two image stamps, paint & 75% patterned paper. Here is my entry:

I'll keep you posted on how it goes. I am predicting Miss Erica H will win. She creates some fantastic work! She's on a few DTs in US.

xx S.

Survivor - Final Four

As I previously posted, the Survivor competition is now down to the final four. It's a bit bitter-sweet that I am still in the comp, because Alicia was voted out last week. Only because she is so good, though!! Strategy - it will be my downfall this week, too, I'm sure.

Here are this week's layouts. The Challenge was an ABC123 challenge - Arrows (2 of), Buttons (10 of), Cardstock (3 of), plus 1 photo, 2 ribbons & 3 fonts. I've been having LOTS of fun with the Pink Martini papers, too.

The Immunity Challenge was "The Power of One"... one photo, one cardstock, one pp, one word title, one ribbon, one chipboard accent, one paragraph of journaling.

As I type this, my kids are cleaning up the loungeroom. When I was downstairs, they shreaded a box of tissues and made "snow" with them. Very pretty, I'm sure, but now cleaning the mess up has become the issue. I'd better go and help. :)

xx S.

Tagged....

1. NAME: Sara
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Today
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yep - most of the time
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Ham
6. KIDS? Yep. Mia (5), Chris (4) & Nick (2)
7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Absolutely… then I’d have a friend - lol.
8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Only my blog
9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Probably too much!
10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? No, but I’ve been skydiving.
12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Fruit Loops! -- our holiday cereal!
13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Yes
14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG PHYSICALLY OR MENTALLY? I guess more mentally strong, although I feel like I am losing it at the moment.
15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Cold Rock (anything)… or macadamia & white chocolate
16. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Eyes, as I make eye contact to talk to them.
17.RED OR PINK? Pink
18. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Being overweight
19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Alicia!!!!
20. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Yep - or let me know they've done it in their blog!
21. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING? Blue & no shoes (I’m at home)
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Purple
23. FAVORITE SMELL? Someone else cooking dinner for me!
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My husband
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yep – I was tagged by two people and like them both. I might even meet one of them one day – lol!
26.FAVORITE DRINK? Coke, but I don’t drink it much any more.
27. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH? Cricket, then Rugby Union
28. HAIR COLOR? Brown, although I was called a blonde yesterday (??)
29. EYE COLOR? Bluest of blue
30. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No, glasses.
31. FAVORITE FOOD? Mmmm… Thai, icecream, seafood……
32. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? happy ending!
33. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Finding Nemo (with the kids)
34. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Pink
35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Winter
36. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs
37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Mousse, chocolate, icecream… don’t know. I’m a bit of a sucker for sweet things.
38. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Vonnie P
39. MOST LIKELY NOT TO RESPOND? Jill maybe… I don’t know
40. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? Pride & Prejudice (again… been reading it for months... only do so when I can’t sleep, otherwise I would rather be scrapping)
41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Taz & Bugs Bunny. My first ever mouse pad from TEN years ago!
42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST ON TV LAST NIGHT? nothing
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? The quiet when the kids are all in bed.
44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles, definitely
45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? New York or London – not sure which is furthest.
46. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Yes. You didn’t ask what it is, though.
47. WHEN WERE YOU BORN? 9 o'clock on a Friday - same as my Mum AND Brother! Weird, huh?
48.WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Brisbane
49. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WITH THE REST OF YOUR LIFE? Professional photographer and also scrapbooker.

I guess I'll tag Von, Jill & Lusi.

Scrapbook City Classes

Alicia is running a FREE class to whet everyone's appetites. Join in! It'll be LOTS of fun!

xx S.

Missing Alicia All Over Again

Earlier this week, the unthinkable happened with Scrap Survivor. Alicia was voted out!! I'm so sad that we aren't in this together any more.

On the positive side, we both made it to the TOP SIX together (from 34 contestants), we had an absolute ball travelling through the challenges and Alicia is now on the jury.

The voting took a HUGE swing this week, from voting for the layouts to voting strategically to stay in the game. Alicia (and Carla, the other girl voted out) only received votes because they were very fierce competition! It was a three way tie, including me, for a while and voting took a day longer than usual because of the tie. The only person not sweating it, I imagine, was Erica who had immunity. lol

Another week is here and another challenge has been issued. I have to get my thinking cap on!! I'll be VERY surprised to make it through this last week of voting.

xx S.

Scrap Surivor (Again)

Not much going on here. I've been busy with all sorts of things and hoping to do a little scrapping tonight. I have some wooden letters to scrap for my Christmas card photos that I hope to take tomorrow.

I LOVE my layout for Scrap Survivor this week. I'm not going to share it with you, though, as I am planning to do my very first online class with it. Stay tuned for more info!!

I can share my immunity challenge. We had to make a mini album using nothing but cardstock. I made a star album. I have been asked how it stays shut.... well, it will eventually have magnetic clips to keep it shut, but for the photos I have very creatively used a wad of bluetac!! lol - Well, I wasn't allowed to use the clips for the challenge!!

xx S.