Getting things done....

Well I finally got this layout done...but not much else today....

The photos have been printed for MONTHS...the layout mostly finished has been sat around for at least a WEEK...and then today I thought I will just slap on some journalling strips and be done with it! Not everything has to be a master piece or be NEW and fabo :) Memories are still what it is all about!

AND I figured I couldn't keep thinking about it for another week...as I am supposed to be doing more important things like...1. packing...2. making curtains for E's new room...3... getting class samples done for the Hyden Retreat....

I have some fabulous ideas brewing in my head for the retreat! I am teaching two classes as is Alli and Sharon...we all have very different styles so there will be six different classes over the weekend...so if you fancy a weekend (March 30th - April 1st)in the country near the fasinating Wave Rock let me know and I shall put you in contact with Karen from Scrappin' Outback. I keep going back to teach as it is such a realxed and enjoyable weekend!

I hope you have all been to vote for the MM Idol comp entries....there are some talented scrappers so it is hard just to choose one....several Aussies such as my scrapping friends Chris Millar, Libby Morris and Kylie Bailey...there are other Aussies but I do not actually know them...check out the link to Mrs Positive for more...

And if you are dropping in to visit me please say HI...just click on the comments link below the post...

Hope your week is going well so far - Lissy

meow, bleet and other animal noises....

Well this weekend has been all about animals!

On Saturday we went to Alec's 5th birthday party at an animal farm - lots of kids, lots of animals, lots of noise and lots of fun! It was a great party and E had a ball. She really loved the rabbits and the goats.

Then Sunday we went and bought a kitten. So say hello to Lucas. He is about 4 months old which I thought was a good idea as he was a bit more robust! E picked him out of a few kittens at the vet. Not the cutest one but lots of personality and a lovely colour I think! E is so delighted to have a cat! And she hasn't terrorised him too much yet!

So other than that we had the plumber in to do pipes for bathroom renovation and went to a work BBQ for Ben's crew on Saturday. Then on Sunday we took Ben to the airport as he is off to Singapore for a course for work for the week, and then we went to see Alli and family for tea. And I am trying to finish a layout...

So a busy but fun weekend - hope you had a good one! Lissy

Music & Lyrics

Gotta see this movie...if you were a teenager in the 80s that is! Alli and I went last night.

It is hilarious...well worth seeing! I am beginning to think that Hugh Grant is under estimated as an actor as he played the part of an 80s Pop Has-been fabulously! And I always enjoy Drew Barrymore.

Anyway it gets my vote for a good movie...so go and have a good laugh!

And ta-da...got this layout done! I had the photos and patterned paper sat around for nearly two weeks but had no idea what to do with them...but today it all came together rather nicely...some pretty paper, some fabric, felt and ribbon and bingo! The photos are of E a few days before she turned 3 before we went to one of her little friends' parties.

Hope you are having a good day, evening etc - Lissy

So.........

Nothing happening here......well only very boring cleaning and sorting and packing and stuff.....getting ready for the move but the TO DO list seems to get bigger not smaller.....and trying to find tradesmen is completely hopeless!

Have photos and paper sitting on my desk for a layout but cannot seem to get around to it...and not really sure what to do with it as yet!

E has a cold and is tired so she is at home today...this is her the other day after school...she fell asleep in the car on the way home on Monday - and I carried her inside but she did not want to wake up and found the nearest chair!! Poor thing! She generally refuses to have an afternoon sleep!

So that is about it around here - off to the movies tonight with Alli - then more cleaning tomorrow! YAY!!

Hope you are all having a good day - Lissy

A Day Out...

Well today I had a fabulous day out! Valentine's Day with some good friends! I gave Ben the dodgy Valentine's Day card I made this morning but that is about it for the day in our house!

I dropped E at school and headed to Bullsbrook to Sharon's place....it is fabulous...high up on a hill amongst the trees with a great view! Very rural...Alli met us there too!

We had morning tea, got a quick photo (L to R: Alli, Sharon & Lis) and then headed to Ellenbrook to visit the Scrapbook Shop, purchase a few goodies (nice girls there and a good range of yummy pp and rubons and things) and then have lunch... and mostly just chat chat chat!

It was so lovely to get out and relax with a couple of friends.We are all going to be teaching at the Scrappin' Outback Retreat in Hyden in March 30th - April 1st (stay tuned for info on this one!) And here is a layout I did the other day....more of that scalloped pp....lol...not totally happy with this page but can't figure out what to do to it so guess I will just leave it as is!

Hope you have had a good Valentine's Day - Lissy

My Life Without Me

Now this is something to contemplate.....my life without me.....

I watched a DVD last night with this title - a Canadian movie I think....and although sad it was very good. The basic story line is a young mother who finds out she has two months to live and tells no one...she is married and has two little girls. She writes a list of all the things she want so to do before she dies but the main thing that got me was she taped messages for her each of her girls' birthdays for the next ten or so years until they were 18.

This really got me thinking....if I died suddenly or got sick...what would I want to leave behind for my little girl and family????

I think this is really why I scrap book to share my love for my daughter, husband, family and friends...to record little moments in our lives that I want to remember for ever...and that I want to preserve for the future...

But it has also reminded me that I have not been doing much of my Book of Me and that maybe I need to do some more journalling about the sort I stuff I really want to tell my little girl and my family...just in case...life is pretty unpredictable...and what about all the little stuff I do for E everyday that no one else knows...(Lisa Bearnson had an article about this in the Feb 07 CK magazine)

It is kind of tough stuff to do and the sort of thing I avoid really...I am not good at emotional stuff, words and so on...but I really think it is something I need to do...

Anyway here is a pic of my cherub on the way to school today...I had done her hair in a very nice ponytail but she had other ideas!!
Hope you are having a super day - Lissy

Phew.....

I scrapped!

I was seriously worried after the BIG CLEAN that I wasn't going to get scrapping again!! I really did not want to make a mess in my fabulous looking room! And even worse I didn't seem to have any creative sparks flying!

BUT I am happy to announce that this weekend I have SCRAPPED! YAY!!!

Nothing that flash but I am always happy to have recorded the memories!

This one is of our trip to the zoo on the holidays with my mum and nephews. I had the photos sat there for 2 weeks so was glad to get this one done. It was a bit tricky with all the colours and so many photos so I just kept it simple. The ledger paper is by Mustard Moon

oops.. zoo is off to be published!!

This one is pretty simple too - some really pretty Creative Imaginations Scalloped Ledger paper and some scraps of my favourite SEI - Penelope's Potpourri.
I am really into ledger paper at the moment as an alternative to card stock - it is still quite subtle but a little bit interesting.

And you can see I have just bought a bit of Scalloped Paper by Creative Imaginations this week...lol...when I got this very green green I thought I had made a bit of a mistake but then I riffled through my photos and found this one I printed two months ago but hadn't found anything to go with it! Grabbed a bit of scrap pp by 3 Bugs in a Rug and some We R Memory Keepers words that I didn't have any idea what to so with, did a bit of stitching and journalling and voila - a layout!

And this layout using more scalloped paper and some Scenic Route...of my fabulous little stunt woman mentioned in the previous post!

This layout has gone to For Keeps for publication .....

SO I really have been scrapping this weekend and am pretty chuffed! Hope you have had a good and productive weekend - Lissy

PS... the scrap room has survived...a few things to put away but it is still looking pretty good!!

It's worth the effort....

Well you may sometimes wonder if fundraising is worth the effort....BUT believe me it is!

So that is why I am supporting the Autism Crop Day in North Beach on June 23rd....

I have seen the benefits to a fabulous little boy called Alec from attending the Early Intervention Centre....it has made a huge difference to his life and his family's life....and such places benefit so much from the extra funds raised to buy equipment....

So join in and do what you can - Get a ticket and come along on the day OR donate something if you cannot attend OR both!!

Know that you really can make the difference in someone's life! And it feels GREAT!


Alec and his brother Riley are E's special friends who she loves to send little letters to in the post! And she is always asking to go and play! How great is it to see a little boy with Autism having so much fun with his brother and friend!

NOTE - kids please do not try this stunt at home!...Do not be alarmed - those of you who know my daughter will know that she is a stunt woman in the making!

Have a happy Saturday - I have had a haircut and I am off out with my friend Jo to see Dream Girls - Lissy

Family Photo Shoot

OK so I am STILL having trouble getting scrapping again after the BIG CLEAN...lol....I am beginning to think I threw out my creativity with all the rubbish! Sure hope not! I am hoping that it will pop out of one of the drawers or something.....

Anyway in the mean time, I will share some fabulous photos taken at Christmas by Geoff Fisher of Fisher Studio. Just picked them up today...there are lots of them but just wanted to share a few...it was a whole family thing...my parents, my sister and family and us! The real prints of course look far better. He took our wedding photos and has taken other family photos for my sister too.

These are my dad's old cars, truck and tractors....the family shot is the best of a bad bunch...lol...very hard to get a decent one of some many people! They were taken at home - where we are moving back to in the next few weeks....we have 5 acres in Caversham in the Swan Valley amongst the vineyards...beautiful

Here's to a great weekend - Lissy

Home...

"Daddy Daddy Daddy!" was E's very loud cries through the airport today as we went to meet Ben's plane!


To say she was excited is an understatement! I picked her up after school (she finishes at 12) and headed straight to the airport. And she rather enjoyed a ride on his suitcase!


This is our life every 5 weeks. Ben is a Ship's Officer and works away....he is gone for 5 weeks..so it is just E and I at home ...and then he is back home for 5 weeks too.


A bit different to most people's lifestyles but the only one we have ever known. It can be tough when Ben is away but I am getting pretty used to it! And we all have a lot of time together when he is home!

Here is a layout using a photo when he went away on the last swing...nothing flash...but the moment is recorded... Happy day - Lissy

A few layouts published recently...

OK - so here are the latest of my layouts published in Scrapbooking Memories...

The first is in last months issue Vol 8 No 7 in the Black & White gallery

Unfortunately in the mag you cannot see the really nice textured white card stock ...


This one is in the latest SM Vol 8 No 8 which is out this week in the Final Encore Gallery

And this one is also in the current SM. I was asked to do the Cactus Pink Challenge....the patterned paper inspired me to do lots of doodling on the photo!















So there you have it! Lissy

well...since I can't start anything new...

...because.....

I am trying to keep my scraproom tidy at least until Ben gets home tomorrow....lol... so all I have made is a birthday card for my sister....and working on a Valentine Card...cards are not my thing so they are far too lame to share...lol...

and....I cannot find anything in my nice neat room...had to phone Alli and ask her if she had seen my bone scorer...lol

and... after a flurry of creating in January I have come to a ....hopefully temporary..... halt in inspiration!

So I thought I would share some layouts from January...a bit of all sorts created just for me!


Some very Jennifer Johner inspired stitching on some,

some Ali E photo gathering on others.....

But generally just trying to capture some moments at home and some days out!



My approach to scrapbooking is to play around with the photos and see what works with them...hence sometimes I use lots of patterned paper and bits and other times keep it pretty simple...


Some even using some paper that has been in my stash for a long while....



I create some 12 x12 pages and some 8.5 x11 depending on what seems to work with the photos.



And I must say a HUGE favourite of mine is Heidi Swapp letters...love them!











Oh and the other reason why I am not creating is that I am trying to keep sorting and cleaning...
clearing out old scraps and stuff for school and so on...

so the house move will be real simple...lol...wishful thinking...

Anyway thanks for dropping by...

Have a good day - Lissy

aaah....coffee

How wonderful to get up this morning and have REAL coffee...that is coffee roasted by my own personal coffee roaster....lol...and not bought from the super market....I grind my own beans and this real fresh stuff is BLISS...the smell and taste is sublime...

OK so now I have this beautiful looking scrap room I do not want to mess it up...lol...so all I have managed so far is to finish this page I started about 10 days ago....I only had to stick the arrows on...lol....so that didnt make too much mess...

I have had this Rhonna Farrer paper for months wanting to use it and these photos from last January of E and her cousin....talk about being in the right place at the right time with the camera!

I shall post about my stuff in the Scrap Needs newsletter later...hope you are having a jolly Sunday morning...I am off to have another coffee - Lissy

Scrap Needs Guest DT

Well I had a lot of fun last month playing around with some yummy papers and things....mainly SEI and Basic Grey...but some other stuff too for the Scrap Needs February newsletter.

Kell asked Alli and I to be the Guest DTs for the month...how exciting is that! (WARNING...lots of pictures following....lol)

so...I made a mini album for E's third birthday....she had a butterfly party...I had too many photos for a page and I wanted to use lots of pretty pp and make it really girly...for her birthday I put butterflies all over the window for when she woke up, made butterfly shaped food and I even made a tent to go in the back yard....











and...I made a growth chart for her room - I am really in love with this...lol...can't wait to move so I can put it up on the wall!










And a couple of layouts using some very pretty pp, rubons and things...


Phew - that was a long post! Thanks for looking and have a great day! - Lissy