KSK Auction

If you would like a LO scrapped by any of the highly talented KSK design - check out this auction and all the proceeds go to the ATHSMA foundation - a great cause and a great idea to go check out the auction!!

SOME BIG NEWS.......

and a quick share of some LO's. My mum has been up for a visit for the past week so I haven't done any scrapping - but my scrap space is sparkling!!LOL
Ok - quickly the LO's - this is done using the girl kit at Bon's Scraps which was gorgeous - but they were too gorgeous for their own good and were sold out sooo quickly.
and this one of my Dad.
Ok - onto my big news which is a little bit delayed and some of you would already know - but I was so excited to get an email from Karen at Karen's Scrappin Kupboard asking me to join her design team!!
I am so excited to be able to accept and can't wait to get started - still finding my feet a little bit but no doubt will be fully into the swing of it.

The kids really loved having their 'other' nana here for a bit. We packed everything up and went camping. Mum and I were trying to set the 2 room tent up and not being exactly the Alby Mangels we needed to be (did Alby even use a tent, come to think of it??) we were laughing so hard by the end of it that we couldn't hold the tent poles up and Mum was actually in pain - it was the funniest thing!! If only we had the video camera ................omg I'm giggling to myself thinking about it. Good thing "Thank God you're Here" is on so I fit fight in.
So anyway (no, story is NOT over yet!!) about 5 mins after we decided the tent might actually stay up without one of us holding it all night - and 5 MINS - I KID YOU NOT - we felt a spot of rain. Then roughly 10 mins after we had the tent up a thunderstorm hit - and omg - small petrified boy was more than enough to make me quickly take him home (we were only 1 km from home) and then another bit of the storm hit so we quickly had to go back and rescue Nana and the girls. I think I have scarred 2 of my children for life as the next day when we went back to the tent, Darcy was petrified we'd make him go inside - so funny!! Nice mother arent' I?? Well, I am cos I didn't make him go inside - so that makes me nice.
SO anyway - the tent is STILL up in the paddock and we didn't get to go camping - but it was all good.

First day of footy/hockey tomorrow - hopefully I live through it. Actually game day is usually ok, however if I want to move any part of my body on Sunday that could prove to be a problem............... I think I'm going to be a half-back tomorrow (for anyone that knows hockey) so that should be great. I love half-back. I'd also love to be fit enough to play it - but I will try my very best, run hard and then after that 5 mins is over, I shall go and sit on the sidelines in the shade!!LOL.

Anyway, I have waffled enough for this one lil blog post - sorry if you've made it this far expecting more, but by now you should know me!!LOL . This is as good as it gets.

Anyway - off to watch "TGYH" - love that show. Have a great weekend and feel free to feel sorry for me on Sun (or sat at about 1.05pm - game starts at 1!!LOL)

bye....

Really with pictures (plural) this time!!

Do you know what? It has been so long since it blogged (not my fault, but we are not going into that are we blogger??LOL) that I forgot my password - how funny is that. Also I have a terrible memory at stuff like that so maybe (just maybe) that was to blame................
So much has been going on since last time I blogged - I went to the Boxx retreat which was down in Augusta and what a fantastic time - it was great to catch up with everyone - Sheree, Kate, Kel, Leeann - oh just everyone that was there last time - and the new people I met. It was great to meet Miranda - and also to meet Mel Nunn who's work I adore - I did both her classes. She was an absolute blast.
I went through a huge guilt thing on the way down and nearly turned around 2 hours into the trip - but Bradley convinced me the kids would be fine- and as it turned out, they were - and Claire only got teary on the last night.
Ok - some sharing.........here's one I did for a comp - vey simple but I like it. And this one - for the same comp too! And hey, Belinda - there's my easel - spunky huh??
And Bon's Cybercrop in on at the moment - entries are due midnight Sun (I think!). My challenge was to use a sketch (LO example below) and to use something old which was my photo turns.
And not for much reason at all - and hope neither of mine or Bradley's mother reads my blog (highly unlikely) - here is a card I made. Have been in such a card-making frenzy at the moment - I think I'm made 12 in the last week. WOW:O - normally I wait til 5 mins before I have to post one before I make one - so now I"m organised............ish.
Oh - and this one is for another comp - a LO of our humungous scorpion - look at the size of this thing - well, it freaked us out nicely
And on 'other news' - I finally got a laptop and I LOVE IT!!!YAY. I'm sitting here in the loungeroom with the kids watching cartoons and it's so cool. Even the wireless router thingo for the satellite broadband was really easy to install - I thought that would be the tricky bit but YAY me - I did it.

Anyway - I've got more stuff to upload so I'll finish this post and write more when I upload more.

Hope you all had a happy easter - oh yeah, Easter - better write about that too just for posterity...........we had a really nice one

Ok - I have no idea what is happening with blogger or if this post will even work but thought I'd try. It's all arse-about on my screen and it said my photos were uploaded but they haven't shown up here so I'll just post and see what happens!!
In case it doesn't work, I'm not going to write heaps - but will fill you in later on the retreat which was fabulous!!

Look - pictures!!

After probably being sick of all typing and no pics to look at I can now upload pics!! YAY
But always look on the bright side - now you know all that trivia about me!LOL
Well - on the newsy side - Bon had her baby girl, Lacey!! So happy for her, Matt, Kyle and Dylan.
And I'm off to the Scrapboxx retreat on ThursdaY!! Woohoo - well, the retreat doesn't start til Friday but I'm staying with a friend on thurs night and I'm just as excited about that as I haven't seen her since the last retreat! AND she's shaving her head for the leukemia on Friday, which I now dont' get to see but that's ok as I can see photos afterwards and still get to talk to the Nik I know, with hair, on Thurs.
Will be not so great leacing the kiddies, but great to have some fun at the retreat - and especially to catch up with Sheree!! ooh - and I get to meet Mel Nunn too who's work I have admired for a long time.
Oh ok - I know - stop waffling - here's some Lo's. On this one I used a quote I saw on Heidi Swapp's blog which was "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing". Love that

Oh and wouldn't you know it - only one pic will upload - so sorry!!

2 posts in one DAY!

Fancy that - I just wanted to wake anyone up, that was reading these posts - as if I put them all in the same post you would've fallen asleep so it was just a little intermission there!!LOL
Oh - and if you're wondering why I'm blogging without pics it's because blogger apparently is having one of those days - I don't know what I did, but it refuses to talk about it so therefore I don't need it's stupid pics anyway!

Ok - tag from Kathryn - just got to go find it first..........
oh - and look - it won't even let me do the 'nice' links - so here's a link to Kathryn's blog http://www.kathryngalloway.blogspot.com/.

Heres the rules
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Seven random facts -excellent - more thinking about how strange I am...........

1. I can quote more lines from The Young Ones than I'd ever care to admit. I will NOT quote them here as they have to be said outloud - much like the Joh Bjekle quote from the last blog post............it's just not the same

2. Ok - Im reading Kathryn's entries here while I'm typing and it's giving me ideas. I see two of my school friends maybe once a year - and sometimes not for 3 or 4 years but when we get together it's like nothing has changed, and it's perfectly easy and natural - and I LOVE it!! Seeing them next week - woohoo. I think thats a really special thing to have.

3. Oh - and I didn't even get that "Young Ones" from your ideas, Kathryn - how funnu is that?? And yes - I too can recite most stuff from Gone with the Wind, Grease, Breakfast Club and St Elmos Fire - oh, and Ferris Bueller - and most likely many more as thats what 5 years of all girls Catholic boarding school will do to you...........as well as get you expelled at the end of the year - but then they let you come back to do your exams - go figure??LOL (AND stay at the boarding school while you do them!)

4. ok - while we're on that note - I think my school year made a new record for the amount of students expelled on their last day - I think pretty much my whole boarding school year group was expelled that day for drinking. whoops..........fun while it lasted!

5. 3 more?? crikey - thinking......I think I've read nearly all of Agatha Christie' books - I love how it's never really scary when anyone dies, more like "oh, would you look at that?? Now I'll have to sit somewhere else and have my cup of tea........".


6. I also love James Patterson and Patricia Cornwell books but I had to stop reading them when I had tiny babies as I hated getting up and sitting on the couch in the dark at night thinking of the books!!LOL. Oh - and I haven't read a Patricia Cornwell book for a while as I thought if one more person hacks into the computer and comes after the medical examiner personally, then I'm going to get bored!LOL

7. My fave food as a kid used to be potato fritters - grated potato, with egg and lemon pepper and curry, fried - sounds gross and all but omg - YUMMO. They'd probably still be my fave food if I didn't want to live past 35, but I thought it would be nice to see the kids grow a bit older and all.......

oh - now how many ppl do I have to tag??..........
7, ok -

1. Sandie http://creatingimages07.blogspot.com/
2. Kylie (kylie27) http://kylie-kyliesplace.blogspot.com/
3. PJ http://pj-petesplace.blogspot.com/
4. Nic http://naspinall.blogspot.com/
5. Kerryn http://kerrynlawson.blogspot.com/
6. Kylie Bailey http://krb87.wordpress.com/
7. Kate M http://kate-thehappyscrapper.blogspot.com


aaannnndd I'm out.....thanks for listening.....

Catching up........

on the things I've left off for the last few blog attempts!!
Ok - firstly - to finish off the first tag and then get onto the 2nd tag from Kathryn

I thought on the first one I only left off 5 odd things about me or whatever it was (only 5??LOL) and then I realised that I'd left off one of the "things I'm bad at" or whatever that one was (do you think it could be "remembering stuff??"LOL) and I thought "wow - will someone think that is some kind of Fruedian slip where I could only think of two things wrong with me" - because that soo isn't the case. It was more like when I go out somewhere to eat (which doesn't happen often) and there's sooo many things on the menu that I think I'd rather not choose than have to use my brain and choose between them. Thats why I left that list unfinished.......at least thats why I think I did - I don't really remember!LOL

Ok - so back on track -
THE EXTRA THING I'M BAD AT (or bad habit - isn;t it??)
Eating breakfast! My number one thing I just can't bring myself to do - even if it's really yummy and I didn't have to make it - it will make me sick - like bacon and eggs - or hotcakes from McD's - I WILL regret eating them,but I forget everytime and do it to myself anyway.
I just get the fact of being hungry the minute you get out of bed. A cup of coffee will do me to lunchtime - and YES - SHHH - I know, it's bad for me - you don't have to point that out.

5 things ppl don't know about me (HA - I remembered - well actually , I cheated and looked back on the other post!)
1. I actually quite like the smell of StazOn ink (what, is that a problem??)
2. Bradley's and my dream would be to work on a ranch in the States. Watch this space - one day it just MIGHT happen!
3.Ummm I think I've been to 18 countries, by a quick count - oh, and Cocos Islands which is technically part of WA but it still costs more to fly there than to all the other countries combined!!LOL. Seriously - the absolute cheapest flight which is $1326 and this is for a child!!
4.Crap, I'm only up to 4?? Man - think think think - oh, I know - I actually LIKED (no - LOVED) the sequel book to Gone with the Wind ("Scarlett") despite numerous ppl telling me it was crap - but I'm pretty sure most of them were talking about the movie. See, in the book - you can still imagine Vivean LEigh as Scarlett, which you just don't have the privilege of doing in the movie!
5. Last one - ummmm - we've been married for 10 years this year and haven't planned a thing - but we WILL do something - don't you worry about that (you have to say that in a Joh Bjekle Peterson voice).

SALE!!!

Bon is having a 20% off sale at the moment - excellent stuff!! It includes everything but current kits! So get on in and grab a bargain.
And just to share a couple of LO's - here's yet another christmas one of the kids with their cousins And an old wedding pic of ours
And I know that I missed some of the tag 'requirements" from last post but I'll get onto that tomorrow.......
And Kathryn - I promise to do your tag too - just so berry berry tired...............
The weekend is sure the rejuvenate me!
Be good
Fran xx

I've been tagged.........

By the lovely Tara Ward!! So here goes.........
A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B: Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog

10 years ago: We had recently got back from our big overseas trip and were settling back down into farming life - we moved to a new farm in Feb and got married in March. Was such an exciting year for new beginnings - new farm and new last name!!LOL

Things on my to-do-list today:
Vax the carpet
Mow the lawn
1,2,3 blog challenge

What I would do if I was suddenly a billionaire: Get all new carpet and curtains throughout my house and get someone in to landscape the garden - and then hire a gardener to keep it nice! Oh - and a new couch.
And fly to Cocos next week!! (and pay the $2000 airfare each!LOL)

Three of my bad habits:
Not ringing people - they always have to ring me.
Wasting time on the computer!!

Three places I have lived:
Ongerup
Kaiwaka, NZ
Morawa

5 jobs that I have had:
Shop assistant
Bookkeeper for a general store
Post office manager
McDonalds!! (NZ)
Domestic engineer!

5 things people dont know about me:
Now this is a hardy!! I so can't think about this atm - so I'll do this one later......

I TAG:
1. Sheree
2. Belinda Venables
3. Melanie

OK - onto LO's - this is my Scrapjack of Jolene Pienaar's for this month - I love the LO of hers that I was 'trying' to jack here!LOL. Oh - and the LO is called Bubble Head - in case you can't read the tiny writing.
And Sharon, if you're reading this - SHUT YOUR EYES - cos this card is for you!LOL
And this is my 1,2,3 LO for this month - to use transparencies, journalling strips and a number in the title............see - I did SOMETHING on my todays' TO DO List (See above - LOL). The lawn got half done...........
Oh - this is just another LO done with an old kit - but I still love the kit - and that funky square stamp...........
Anyway - some small people living in my house have just found a big square bouncy thing in my room which probably doesn't resemble my nice neatly-made bed anymore so just off to yell at said small people.........
night night

Fran xx

Been scrappin'.........

Geez - how unusual! Well, actually haven't really been doing heaps but there seems to be a lot of stuff that I haven't shared so thought I would.
Here's one I did from a Becky Fleck sketch of Claire in the pool - again - but is has been HOT this summer!!lol And here's one for Bon's theme this month - 'the first day of...........', so of course I did the kidlets first day of school/kindy. Madison is in REAL school now - Year 1 - oh my golly gosh!
And this was done from another sketch - by Bec Geach - an older photo that I scrapped for one of the girls albums. I went to a scrapping day at Dalwallinu on sat with Karen Teakle and it was really fun - Anna from Annas Craft Cupboard was there with soooo much stuff to sell - it was amazing how much she fitted into her car!!
Anyway - it was a fabulous day and I even got 3 LO's done - and this was one - it was so fun to start your LO and THEN go looking for what paper you wanted, instead of making do with whats in your stash. I've never done that before - and I could really get used to that!!lol

This is just another card made from Hambly Transparencies for a friend who is moving back to England.
And this is just aquick easy one of Darcy in his Dockers outfit!! Can you believe they make these in a size 2 to sell like suckers like me?? So cute though............
So the girls have been back at school for a week and going pretty well with the whole "tired" thing - Madison did extremely well and I've only had to get a sleeping Claire off the bus twice!! And both times was Mondays!

Now they have swimming lessons so, of course, it is raining today - murphy's law strikes again.

And Darcy boy has been coping relatively well with no company other than me, which is probably worse than none, in his eyes!! If he can make it til 9am without asking when dad is coming home from work then we're doing well!LOL

Oh and MUST tell you about the humungous scorpion we caught the other night but I'll leave that

Some stuff.........

I really should write something interesting on my blog one day - then it might make for an interesting read -but at the moment I just want to go to bed I think. Promise I'll write something wonderfully witty next time I'm on.
This is my example LO for Bons CC which started tonight - check out the sketch in the gallery. And just having a play with the new Hey Sugar pp's - this is my little Claire bear getting extra brave by getting in the deep end of the pool with no floatie - have you any idea the fear in her here??LOL
And I didn't know if I'd put these on before, so sorry if I have - these are Claire's canvases for her room - yay - don't blame me if she gets middle child sydrome just because everyone else in the whole house got her and she came last for no apparent reason!!

Anyway - see you all later! (LOL - my eternal optimism that more than one person should ever read this blog!!)

Wanna be on a design team??

Head on over to Bons' and register - and be on her FABBO design team. I know it's fabulous because I'm on it!!lol. Oh - and Sheree................

Scrapjack

Just sharing my jack of Kim Archer for January

Not really anything exciting....

Bradley has gone fishing overnight so I've been scrapping away and it feels great!!
We had a fabulous christmas with all the family up here even though the temperatures were sky high - the pool got a workout with all the kids!!LOL
Now here's some LO's - here's my 1,2,3 LO - to use red, use a scalpel and to make the title part of your journalling This was one to use paint, chipboard and something else which I can't remember!lol
And another - a review of 2007 - I should do this more often as it would be so interesting to read back - just simple things even like your fave movie of the year and stuff thats relevant to the time.
My scruffy boy with his new favourite toy (well, this was after his birthday anyway!! Christmas has been since then)
And a challenge to use pink, ribbon, your own handwriting and alphabets
I'd stop and chat more but I'm making the most of hubby-free time and I'm getting back to my scrapping desk!!lol

CC on tonight........

Just a quick post to let you know that Bon's Scraps CC starts tonight!!

Just like to clarify...........

Now I know that this is the second time in about as many posts that I've shown this LO - but I've just looked at my copy of my SM Masters mag and am astounded at the colour difference with which they have printed my LO - now this is the REAL colour And this is what it looks like in the mag!! Not even close and those bright colours aren't really me!! The Heidi Swapp ledger alpha looks GREEN in the mag!!lol
Anyway - not complaining about the HM but just don't even like the LO in the mag and I love my one in real life!

Some more Masters entry.......

LOL - I went to upload the rest of my masters entry but realised I must've deleted the pics off the computer so I've only got my double left on here - I'll upload my mini-album and storage item later when I've got more time!
OH - and this is a christmas challenge.......seems to be the season
Anyway - I'm so looking forward to christmas and so better get on with organising.
You all have a fabulous christmas, won't you??
And I'll just leave you with this I read on Roz' blog.

A woman was Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours of walking down row after row of toys, and of hearing both her children asking for everything they saw on those many shelves, she finally made it to the elevator with her two children in hand.
She was feeling what so many of us feel during the holiday season time of the year; the need to get the perfect gift for every single person on our shopping list, the overwhelming pressure to go to every party, to taste all the holiday food and treats, to make sure we don’t forget anyone on our card list, and the pressure of making sure we respond to everyone who sent us a card.
Finally the elevator doors opened revealing a crowd on the public transport. She pushed her way in and dragged her two kids and all her bags of stuff in with her. As the doors closed she couldn’t take it anymore and blurted out, “Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up, and shot.” From the back of the bus, a quiet, calm voice responded, “Don’t worry, we’ve already crucified Him.” The rest of the trip was so quiet you could of heard a pin drop.

Good day!!

It's been a fantastic day, scrapping-wise!! First I got an acceptance from Scrapbook Creations for one of my For Keeps elite entries, so was happy about that!!
Then found out I won one of the Scrapjacked prizes for last month............and here's my one for this month - of Sarah Van Wijck, of whom I'm a big fan anyway. This is a jack of her 'space' LO that was in FK a while back. (and this is just coincidentally a quick little frame I made for a christmas decoration - also inspired by Sarah!)
And...................apparently some people have got their Scrapbooking Memories Masters mags early and so the masters have been named BUT I got an honourable mention!! Yay me. Now, I have no idea which part of my entry this was for, and I was asked by a friend to put my entry on my blog - so here's a bit of it.
This is my single LO
Stay tuned for the rest...............

Long time, no see

It's been a while since blogger would let me post pics so now I can upload a few................
But a quick update on my life - Sharon (my sister) is coming tomorrow - I think, anyway. Just heard via the family grapevine that her plane didn't get in on Friday like it was supposed to. Nothing to worry about but didn't know, thats all - so don't know if that will delay her getting up here at all.
So that means Matt is leaving with her when she goes on Tuesday - he's been working up here on the station for a bit of a different view on life but don't think it's helped much!! Especially at the moment when there's not much work on.
Oh - and we're officially charity cases!! Due to the drought, all primary producers in this area are given a hamper of christmas goodies! So we got this massive bag of food, drink, christmas pudding, custard - and even christmas decorations and presents!! It feels funny to be in that position, but it IS actually really nice to know that someone cares that farmers are really struggling at the moment.
And the funniest thing is that Bradley has been shearing with a mate - who was given a christmas pudding from the church earlier - and so there has been no end of hassling about "at least he has a christmas pudding" and we have nothing!! So when we got the hamper I had to ring Bradley and go "Stop hassling Jumps - we got one too!!".
And apparently on the front page of the West Australian in the last couple of days there has been an article on how Christmas hams are being delivered to Morawa farmers - front page!! I bet Jumps gets one because he's been in the West a few times this year, with the hard time they are going through.
Anyway - thats me in a nutshell (doesn't that remind you of that Austin Powers line "No, THIS is me in a nutshell") School's finished so now we have 8 days of swimming lessons - perfect time for the cold weather to come in - it never fails!!LOL
Here's Madison's sports day earlier in the year (this LO is for her album in case you're wondering why I do some photos twice!!) And here's some LO's from the Dec Boy kit at Bon's - I seriously love this kit and might need to get anothery - LOL!!
This one is a LO of me trying to take a pic of Darcy but he was so excited that Santa gave him "Scoop" (from Bob the Builder) that that is all he would show me when I held up the camera
And this is of the girls when they went to Geraldton for a Playschool concert this year.
And these are the cards I made for all the kindy teachers

Want a challenge?

Bon's Scraps cybercrop is on at the moment - you have til Sun 2nd Dec (midnight) to get your entries in ................and this is mine. You have to use this sketch to do a LO AND A CARD!! I'm really doing you a favour by giving you a kick start on your chrissy cards if you haven't already done so!! Here's my example - of my brother's family - aren't they cute?? I'm loving those Buzz & Bloom stamps from Bon's!! I've used them so much in the past few days. (you can check them out here)
And I've had this Hambly transparency for a couple of months but was stumped as to what I was going to use it for - so I thought I'd try a card - and I love it so much I made another one!!
All these cards are made using the sketch.


A $20 voucher is up for grabs - just think - you could get put it towards your own Buzz & Bloom stamps!!

So far, so good.....

Blogger is letting me post both text AND pictures!! Will wonders never cease?? Now to be brief before it figures out I'm mocking it and to just get on with posting my stuff........
Now this one was done for a challenge set by "my colleague" - Charm Koch - the star she is!!
To use some kind of fabric (mine is lace), to use pattererned paper from at least 2 diff manufacturers and to put the date on. This is old one of Madison on christmas day 2005. And this is my mini-album in this months SM (or by now - it might even be last months!!LOL) I have 2 things in that mag but I just really liked the way they photographed this one - so thought I'd show it.
And this one was done using a sketch by the highly talented Louise Nelson
And this is my 1,2,3 chall for this month - to use no cardstock, make your own embellishment (the chipboard frame) and to journal on the photo.
And some fun news yesterday - I got an email from Krys at Scrapbooking Memories asking if I'd like to do a product challenge for them. Very cool - they send you the stuff to use AND pay you as well!!
As to the home front - Madison has had such bad conjunctivitis - she's been home from kindy for a week now and her eyes are still so red and sensitive to light. The poor little thing has been really brave though - she spent 2 whole days without opening her eyes - she must've been so bored!! She kept falling asleep - but I think that was more to do with having to have her eyes shut all the time rather than 'real' tiredness.
It's going around like wildfire at the moment and I'm surprised Claire and Darcy haven't got it yet - but I'm sooooooo hoping they don't.
Bradley is harvesting for another farmer at the moment andthe crops are really crappy - don't know how he can concentrate for so long when he's harvesting so close to the ground. And here's my brother down south harvesting 19 bags crops which is so fantastic it's unbelievable!
Anyway - should really get off this thing and do something - oh, but hope to see you at Bons' Scraps cybercrop on the weekend. There's bound to be some fab challenges - and excellent prizes. Remember for the challenges it's a $20 voucher!!
And we've been putting next months kits together too - which are looking sooo fantastic I think I'm going to have to buy all of them.