9 Favourites of 2009

The gorgeous Felicity - a DTer at Bons Scraps has challenged us to name 9 things we loved the most about 2009.
Thanks for the challenge, Flis, it really made think, and apprecitate the little things in life, as well as the big things. It also made me realise I have achieved a few goals this - much more than I thought!
Here are my 9 things, in no particular order

1. I finally got published - Vol 11, no 8 in Scrapbooking Memories - this was a goal of mine for 09, so I was thrilled when it actually happened!!

2. I became a DT member at ScrapbooknBits. It is truly an honour to work with such talented ladies, and the boss lady Karen is gorgeous - love this site to bits!

3. I have continued to be challenged in my role as Mummy to this gorgeous little boy - I wouldn't swap this for the world, and I love him more and more with each passing day.

4. I cherish the rare times I can spend with my family. Mum and Dad have continued to show unconditional love and support for me and my little family, and for this I am forever grateful.

5. My baby boy starting Kindergarten. I was sad, but also tremendously proud of this little man. He looked so grown up in his uniform.

6. Mother's Day 09 was a beautiful day. We went to the Mackay harbour for an early lunch - then to the Mackay Entertainment Centre for a Wiggles Concert!! To see the excitement and joy on Connor's little face made the day oh so special!!


7. I adore visiting this place. Cape Hillsborough - just a 30 minute drive North, and here we are! It's a gorgeous place for a picnic, and a walk along the beach.

8. After living in Mt Isa for 5 years, I am so grateful we live in Mackay - so many beautiful beaches just minutes from our home, and I love going to this one in particular - Eimeo Beach, so pretty, and a great place for kids with a patrolled beach, and a wonderful playground.

9. We went to the Sunshine Coast in January, and went to Australia Zoo. It was fantastic to see Bindi, Terri and Bob doing the show - and Connor was thrilled to bits. Such a lucky boy!!

Well, that's it for me at the moment. I have been scrapping - have done 5 layouts that I haven't shared yet. I'll be back tomorrow with them ;0)

Cheers!

Some Scrappy Calendars

I just whipped up these super-quick calendars for the various doting grandparents. All I did was cut some chipboard to suit, paint the edges, and cover both sides in patterned paper. I then added the photo, and embellishments to suit - took about 1/2 an hour per calendar!
The calendar sheets were done up in Publisher - and I changed the colour to suit the topper ;0)

What do you think? I think I like the pink and grey one the best - followed by the blue and black. I'm not sure about the brown.....

Might make a couple more yet, one for us might be good!!! LOL!

Thanks for looking!

Typical Aussie Boxing Day

We couldn't have had a more Aussie Boxing Day if we tried - hehe. It started slowly, then Mark put on the Test Match, while I went and got some groceries - go figure - LOL.
We had a yummy BBQ lunch - steak burgers, and after lunch, decided to head to our local beach. We love Eimeo Beach - it's always quieter than Harbour Beach, and generally nicer surroundings.
This is one side of the beach, at the top of the hill, where the palm trees are, is the famous Eimeo Pub - it's beer garden overlooks the Coral Sea and a few islands - just beautiful views. A great place to kick back on a Sunday Arvo!

Now, for my southern friends:0) in case you are thinking we have gone completely mad swimming in stinger-infested waters - hehe - this is what happens on patrolled beaches, every hour, the water is "dragged" for stingers. If stingers are found, the beach is closed straight away!

Not a guarantee, but still a lot safer than being at a non-patrolled beach!

The headland in the distance is Dolphin Heads - where Mark and I got married 6 years ago!!!

I have been trying to take landscapes every now and then, and this is one of my practices!!!

Just a shot of Connor at play on the playground at the beach.

My favourite shot of the day - Connor and Mark having some fun in the waves - Connor is just cracking up!!

I'll be back tomorrow with some scrappy shares - I have made some calendars for the relos, and I have done more in my December Daily.

Till then, happy scrapping!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Well, Christmas has come and almost gone. Santa visited our little house, and left lots of goodies for Connor. This is what the tree looked like, before Connor got up and chaos reigned! LOL!

He adored the little train Santa left under the tree - it looked lovely going around the tree.


Didn't take Connor long to get into the groove of the the present unwrapping, though - he was so cute, he loved absolutely everything he unwrapped! I think his favourites though were a Buzz Lightyear, and one of those moving, roaring dinosaurs that are around now - he got and Anklysaurus!

Here is the evidence - all the presents unwrapped, toys unboxed, and the chaos left - hehe, didn't really want to unwrap it!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Stay safe over the Christmas Break.

God Bless!

Some Challenges

Here is what I did for the December challenge over at Let's Get Shabby

It's a tad late, Christmas got the better of me I'm afraid - LOL - but better late than never! I have used one of the gorgeous Christmas kits from WIOIN

Not really sure if it is as "shabby" as it should be - hehe, but I was pressed for time!
Here is a close up of the journalling cluster - the silver flower is a Prima Holiday Lights Poisettia.

This is my entry into Week 11 of Addicted to Crafts 12 Weeks of Christmas Challenge. We had to do a mini about our favourite Christmas Carols, using A Piggy Tales Mini, and Scribble Scrabble Paper.

Here is a sample of what I cam up with:

The next two pages are the same carol, you just lift the flap to see the photograph!

The whole book has lift up or out pages - very cute!!

That's it for me, now - back to feeding my hungry son, followed by still more Christmas preparations!

December Daily Diary

This year I decided I didn't have quite enough to do during December (hehe) and I decided to put together a December Daily Diary. Seriously though, I just thought it would be a lovely way to document our family's fledgling traditions, recipes, and the other activities that happen during this magical time.
First, I put together a variety of pages - mainly bracket shapes, Kaisercraft Acrylic circle album, and Kaisercraft tag album. As you've probably guessed, I love using a variety of shapes and materials in my minis - just love to add interest that way:0) I then covered the pages using mainly papers from MM Fa La La range - a range I "collected" last year, and didn't use much of, even though it is gorgeous!
Here's a sample:

This is the cover - if you haven't scored yourself some new American Craft thickers in Nutmeg yet, you really should - they have an awesome glossy painted finish, and come in great Chrissy colours. This is the Spinach colour. The embies are bits n pieces from MM, Green Tara and Jenni Bowlin.

Page one and two - that sheet music is something that was in a kit from WIOIN - Mel is also showing her Daily December Diary on a blog, too!

Page 3 and 4 - more bits in pieces from MM, and the stamp, music sheet and Tim Holtz ticket also came from a WIOIN kit.

Finally, page 5 and 6. I made the little accordian album on page 5 to pop on some more photos of decorations from out tree. I got the idea of page 6 from Mel's Daily Diary blog.



That's it for today - not going out today, hopefully. I am going to do some more gardening, Chrissy cooking, and scrapping cards.

Will be back with more shares in a "coupla days"

Cheers!

Trip to Eungella

One good thing about holidays is there is lots of time to do all those things there is usually no time for.
On Sunday, we went for a drive up the range to Eungella. It was great to get there, on the drive Mark and I worked out that the last time we were there was when I was in the early stage of being pregnant with Connor (I remembered feeling like death with morning sickness whilst driving up the range LOL!) So THAT would have been over 5 years ago - Eeeeeep! Time sure does fly by, doesn't it!
Anyways, it was a lovely day, we had a picnic, then went for a walk through the rainforest, and went to the river to try to see some platypuses, of course, we were too early in the day to see them, but Connor was a bit disappointed that the platypuses were asleep in their burrows - we'll have to go up there for a weekend to try and see them.
Only one small incident - I managed to pick up a hitch hiker for the trip home - I found a tick on my neck just after we got home! Ugggggh!!! Would have to happen to me, hay? Of course, I then got totally paranoid and stripped Connor down to make sure he didn't have any on him!! Thankfully he didn't

Here are some pics:


Connor in front of a gorgeous old curtain fig - don't you just love the root system??

Mark and Connor on a bridge during our walk.

A photo of the canopy.

Here is my entry into Addicted to Craft's 12 Weeks of Christmas. I am just a little bit excited - hehe - I just found out I won!! This is my entry!!

We were required to use Piggy Tale paper, and create a layout depicting our boy's wish list for Santa.
I used the Billy Goat Gruff range, which I got from Scrapbooking Stock.

Here is a close up of the Christmas tree I made. I tore and paper rolled the paper strips, and used brads as Christmas lights.

Thanks for looking!!!