Creations From The Heart

Happy Easter to you all!

Don't ask me why I've got one bunny and then a hybrid bunny who's a bit of a mixture of Superman with a cape and a raincoat hat!

And here's a little hybrid project I did tonight for my DS4 and I've filled it with little Easter eggs.  It hardly took any time at all to make!

I've joined Kelleigh Ratzlaff's creative team to help show off all her gorgeous templates and boxes.  You can check out all Kelleigh's designs at The Digi Chick.  That little Easter egg basket I posted a couple of days back was one of Kelleigh's templates too.  She provides you with a digital template that you can use in your photo editing program to clip papers to it and them print, cut and assemble.  But you can also print off an outline template to cut out and keep and that way you can trace it onto your patterned papers so they're great for both digi and/or paper scrappers!

Kelleigh is also the editor for the DST Insider, she's on a number of fab CT's including Jen Wilson (a digi designer but she also has a range of papers with My Minds Eye), Bella Scraps ezine and is also on The Hybrid Chick team with me, so she pops up everywhere!

Products used:
* ICICLE/CARROT BOX template set from Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs
* EASTER HOP kit from Pamela Donnis (chick)
* TANGERINE TWIST kit from Sugarplum Paperie (paper, stars and alphas)
These are all available at The Digi Chick

Physical supplies:
* American Crafts ribbon
* Creamy Caramel ink from Stampin' Up
* sponge
* 3D foam tape
* hole punch

Look at my son!

Okay, what's wrong with this picture?!?  Look at how I found Toby an hour or so after he went to sleep!  He'd gone to bed with a set of plastic vampire teeth in his mouth and nearly bit my finger off when I tried to take them out as he was still in a deep sleep.  Man, he's obsessed with this vampire show on ABC Kids at the moment, hence he is wearing these all through the day - and the night it seems now!  Don't know how he even breathed with them in!

Toby's first day of school!

Well my DS5.5 started his first day of Prep this week and so far he's loved every minute of it.  He's seeing lots of his friends from kinder, playgroup, swimming and creche and there's so many things he's telling me that he's learnt which is great.  He's loved wearing his uniform, being able to walk 5 minutes through some local parkland to school and he especially loves the school playground.  They've got a dedicated one just for the Preps so that the big kids don't bowl them over.  And here he is in all his glory last Monday.  My baby boy is now all so grown up!

A pic of the boys....just because

This pic was taken yesterday with Millie who is the Kinder Teddy Toby has bought home for the week.  We've got to document in a scrapbook what we did for the week with her.  But the boys looked so cute, I had to post this on here!

Footy fun

Not much stamping or paper scrapping going on over here-- in fact NONE to be exact -- as you can see from how quiet this blog has been of late!  But I have been churning out the digital layouts though!  I've touched base today with a few of my July/August Stampin' Up hostesses so I'll need to get off my butt and make some card samples up...so stay tuned!

Well it's school holidays here in Victoria, and there's loads of things on for the kiddies to do but the weather is just beyond freezing here and I'm quite content to stay at home!  Brrrrrr...and today it's been raining quite a bit which  means I don't have to water the garden and hopefully it will be like that for a while of our Winter.  Yesterday, my Dad and I took the boys to AFL Mascot Manor Footy Fest which was basically a kiddie event to promote Cartoon Network, AFL Mascot merchandise and Auskick.  They both had a ball but those mascots can be a bit scary as Ryan soon learnt before we even walked in the door!  Bit like meeting Santa for the first time - big, colourful and overwhelming in real life!  But if we picked him up, he was still scared but happy to walk past the roving mascots, otherwise he'd run the other way!  Luckily there was loads of other activities for him to do to keep him occupied.  There was a main stage with rotating kids shows on throughout the day including Bob The Builder, Ben 10 (Toby just loves this show - have no idea why as you'll see the big red monster - Four Arms - one of Ben's 10 aliases for those who aren't in the know - in the pics below - he looks a little scary for a kid wouldn't you say?), Power Puff Girls, and a footy themed skit which was a little lame!  Most of the place filled the stage for Ben 10 but other than that, you could walk right up to the stage for the other acts.  There were two huge inflatable playgrounds with tunnels and slides and jumping pillows so the boys loved that except for when Toby jumped over the edge of one and landed on his elbow on the basketball stadium floor, so he screamed like he'd broken it!  Only my two could do such things!  He was okay - and by the way, Ryan has an ear infection so that's why he had that convulsion on the weekend but with some peniccyllin (spelling?) in him, he's now on the way to recovering and no fevers in sight so he was well enough to go yesterday).

There was an area where the kids could do colouring, puzzles, a merchandise shop and plenty of footy clinics (handballing at a target board, kicking for goal, marking, etc).  Toby just jumped right in and we even got to meet a Collingwood play, Ryan Cook (no idea who he was--great supporter aren't I)!  But the kids all wore their team colours and mingled with the mascots and here's a few pics of the day to share. Click on images to make them huge on your screen to show the kiddies!

 

Isn't Ryan just so cute!  Couldn't get a pic of him with a mascot, so these were the best of what I took of him!  He can kick a mean footy though, and had a few kicks with Ryan (the Collingwood player).  The back of the stadium was like being out on the MCG after the game (remember those days) with kids and footys going left, right and centre around you!

Another scary moment

Don't you just hate having sick kids...I hate seeing them so vulnerable and you're unable to help them.  Well today, after nearly 12 months, Ryan had another febrile convulsion.  This one was by no means as bad as what he's had in the past and they seem to get shorter and less severe each time he has one.  But they're still scary to witness and I hate not being able to do anything except ride it out with him.  He was fine yesterday but woke up today saying he was freezing cold.  He literally had two spoonfuls of cereal for breakfast so I knew he wasn't well.  Gave him some Nurofen when he woke up and by lunchtime, he seemed to be picking up a little.  But then about 4.30pm, I gave him another dose of Nurofen, walked away from him lying on the couch for a minute and when I returned, he was staring up at the ceiling not moving.  I knew something was happening after going through the previous 4 or 5.  So I tried getting him to respond by calling his name, but he didn't move.  So I flipped him on his side and he was a stiff as a board and just went into the fit gradually.  He didn't change colour this time but his breathing was erratic for a few minutes and about 5 minutes after he came out of the convulsion, he finally responded by moving.  It's horrible to watch and as it started, I had a knock at the door from a lady who was coming to look at some baby goodies I had for sale.  So she stayed with me while we saw if he'd be okay before I called the ambulance to come and check that all was ok.  So he is fine but he may have a virus of some sort which is always what seems to bring on the fever and make his temperature rise up and down so quickly.  In the past half an hour, he's sat up and started chatting and jumping around me while we're watching Collingwood play the Swans.  Good signs at least.  So we'll just need to visit the GP again and see if they suggest anything further, but this is common for kids and can go on for another year or so yet...last time we visited the GP, he said "oh, he'll be well over these fits by now"!  He spoke too soon.  Mum will be more cautious again with her sick bubby.....

God I hate Typepad...I've just typed heaps more than this, and it's bloody logged me out and now I've lost the rest of this post....grrrr....next time will finish with an update of putting our house on the market shortly.....off to watch the Magpies walloping the Swannies!

guest CT spot at Snap & Scrap

This would have to be one of my favourite digi kits...this is a layout I've made for my time as a guest Creative Team member at Snap & Scrap (a digi shoppe).  I've used a kit called Moroccan Sunset that all the shoppe's designers have put together for July and it will be showcased on their blog along with all other layout samples by the regular CT team.  If you want to check out my last layout, here's a link to the Snap & Scrap blog post and this one will go up at the end of June as the kit is promoted in July.

In other digi news, I have accepted another CT position, this time at Laura Lively Designs.  At this stage the new CT are just on for one month to see if we fit in there as Laura's shoppe is brand new but full of beautiful goodies.  Hopefully it will lead to a permanent role there....who knows but I'll be doing a couple of layouts with her kits shortly!

I'm finally back to somewhat normal routine...it's taken a day or so to wash, unpack holiday gear, shop and restock the fridge....oh, had to buy a new fridge first as my old fridge died just before we went away so had virtually no food in the house because we were going away and because the old one carked it!  Not good.....  I still haven't even looked at uploading some more pics of what else we got up to in Cairns, but they'll be done at some stage.  I caught up on lots of magazine reading while I was away.  I have never thrown out any of my old scrapbooking mags as I can't bear to part with them "just in case" I ever needed them to refer to!  Well, I'm in a cleanout mood lately, so I just ripped a few pages out of each mag that I took away and came home slightly lighter than when I went....felt great to offload them as I rarely find time to sit and read them cover to cover as I'm usually scrapping at night when the boys are in bed.  Another thing I got around to was watching loads of shows I'd downloaded off the internet that I have never had a chance to watch.  I don't even turn the TV on anymore and just download the few shows I do want to watch....caught up with the current series of Grey's Anatomy, Survivor All-Stars (thanks heaps for lending me these Ange), The Apprentice & Private Practice.  I just loved PP, which is a spin-off from Grey's.  This first series was only 9 episodes and I want more so hoping they air it soon in the US.

Toby had his last day of kinder for the term.  Ryan is now enrolled to start 3 year old kinder for the rest of this year which he is excited about.  He always loves going to Toby's kinder and will find out for himself what it's like to go on his own.

Off to get things rolling with my solicitor next week in regards to my financial settlement with Mark.  It's been over one and a half years since we separated and with everything rising in prices, I need to know where I stand for the future.  Hopefully Mark agrees to everything so it doesn't have to go through court.  He's heading off overseas for 2 months in September, so that will mean the boys are going to struggle even more with not being able to see him and my parents are going travelling in their caravan at the end of July for up to 4 months so it's going to be interesting to see how I manage with things while Mark and the family are away.  Won't be able to do any workshops or go too far with these two little terrors in tow!

If Mum and Dad are serious about moving to Port Douglas, I'm off like a flash to move in with them!  Just need a house big enough to fit all our scrapbooking stuff in as I could never go back to not having my own scrapping space after what I have here...a big luxury I know!  Anyway, time to get to bed as have some visitors coming tomorrow and need to get the house waaay more cleaner than it is!

got to be quick....

Here's some pics of the kids with their faces painted on the Virgin Blue flight up to Cairns.  The plane was full and our two were the first ones to have their faces painted...the young hostesses did a great job and the plane was full of babies and toddlers.  Cairns is obviously a family holiday destination!  This is my Dad with Spiderman!  Got to be quick when I'm online as my allowance is either 2 hours or 50mbs which goes fast by just receiving my emails.  The resort we're at is just amazing and I'll upload the pics of us on these huge jumping pillows tomorrow.

what NOT to take on holidays with you!

Tonight I just had to laugh as Toby spent a good bit of time quietly in his room.  When he surfaced, he asked me to come and have a look at what he'd packed for our trip to Cairns next week.  Well, on the floor piled in the middle of his room were about 13 kids backpacks and library bags (yes, we do have THAT many and some more!) and they were all chock-a-block full of stuff!  He starts telling me that this is what he's taking on the plane with him and I'm like....are we????  I lifted one and it was like rocks were in it.  He'd stuff books in, toys in, clothing in and anything else that he could find in his room.  His bookshelf was nearly empty.  Don't you just love how kids think....he's such a smart little boy my often naughtier-than-nice Toby!!!  But ya gotta love him X X X :)

So, 7 more sleeps till we hit Virgin Blue to take us all the way to sunnier-than-Sunbury Cairns!  Gosh, I cannot wait for the high 20's, surf, sunshine and relaxation.....well and truly need that right now.

Songbird Avenue challenge

Every time I remember to do something in Photoshop that I've learnt in one of my previous online classes, I get so excited!  Like the blending of the photo bit or the blending modes bit.  It's so much fun and trying to bring it altogether is always a challenge at best!

I have submitted this layout to the Songbird Avenue blog scraplift challenge for May using their "Take Flight" kit.  You had to pick a layout from their creative team's Inspiration gallery and lift it so here's the layout I started with from Kirsty B and you can see what I ended up with above!

This blog is dedicated to selling digital scrapbooking kits each month, put together by an assortment of amazing digi designers and all proceeds go to a different charity each month.  This one is for a foundation for breast cancer.

In case you can't read my journalling it reads:

My little bubby Ryan trying to crawl.  You were so much fun to watch, and look at how happy you were that you could hold yourself up! Aged 9 months old.