sunday morning...

We have had a busy Sunday morning! After breakfast Ben and I took Ike and Evangeline to chase the pregnant ewes to water as they had been shifted to a new paddock. We will have to take E to see some lambs too. There are a lot of natural salt lakes on our farm and rocky outcrops.
Then Annica, mum and I took the kids up to the Rock for a picnic morning tea....yummy fresh scones, homemade apricot jam and cream...then we went for a big walk around the rock. It was pretty windy but the view of the farm is great.Then when we got home mum took the kids down the bush to collect some kindling for the fire...I remember doing this as a kid too! They had tractors and bikes and trailers to load up! And Lucas (the cat) went along too. He is enjoying his stay on the farm!

The men are out putting the crop in since the rain last week...hopefully more rain is coming today or tomorrow. It is probably the most important time of the year for us. So we are cooking for 12 at the moment...but 3 of those are kids!

So not much happening in the scrapping department but plenty of photo opportunities! Anyway I hope you are all having happy Sundays - Lissy

On the farm...

Well here we are on the farm again! We came for a few days but are now staying over a week. We came up for Ike's fourth birthday...which was on ANZAC day! Mum and I made the cake!It was a very wet day..we had about 20mm of rain...a good start to the season!

We went scrap booking at Scrappin'Outback the other day. Karen has the most fabulous shop and workshop set up in her garage on the farm for when she is not out on the road! I did four layouts...the theme for the day was School Photos..so I managed a couple of pages for my childhood album...pretty simple ones...have a bit of journalling to complete on the Year 3 one when I can remember the teachers name...I love this Kindy photo...I like this one of Ben and I ...a really quick and simple layout!And lastly a photo from a couple of years ago...was trying out a journalling stamp which worked OKAnd today we did some sheep work...E though this was fabulous!

That is about it form me - Hope you are all having a good week - Lissy

Photos, Gutters and such

I have spent a lot of time in the last week sorting out old photos....old family photos and photos from my childhood...that have all been in shoe boxes and such. I have roughly sorted them in to categories into some expanding files and am now going through and scanning them.

Some that I had thought were too yellow or faded or damaged have actually come up very well with a bit of editing. I have done about 250 this weekend from my childhood up until about 1980. About 50 of these are of out trip to the UK in 1977. I am amazed how much I can remember about that trip although I was only 8. And lots of us on our ponies. E loved these ones even when she discovered all the horses and ponies in the pictures were now dead!

I have done some pages for Ben's Book of Me recently and I am now keen to get on and do some of mine now that I have discovered that I do actually have some photos! A lot were eaten by white ants :(

Other than that Ben arrived home on Wednesday. And we have cleaned out the gutters today! I wasn't as bad as we anticipated and E had a great time.She even has her own gardening gloves!
Here are a couple of layouts that I have done for the SBO Survivor Comp....I have been voted out now so the comp is all over for me! The first one you had to "scrap a recipe"
The next one was a monochromatic challenge on which you also had to use ribbon and paint! There was a debate as to whether you could use any white so I made sure I had none....it is VERY orange! I am not sure I even really like it much! I really found this one a challenge!
Had fun with E on the trampoline yesterday especially when her shorts fell down! They need new elastic! She thought this was hilarious!

That is about it from here! We are off to the farm for a few days tommorrow - have a good week - Lissy

Art Work by E

It truly is special to be able to what your child grow and develop and learn new things...I am so lucky to be at home with E.

She is right into letters at the moment...writing them, putting them in envelopes and posting them to people...little drawings and some "writing"....usually the initial letters of peoples names. She always wants to know what letter someones names starts with and how to write it. Today she has written a letter for Lucas the cat!

The other day after playschool she"insisted" on painting an elephant....so we had to mix up some paint and away she went...a pretty good effort I think for a 3 and a half year old...though he does have five legs! This is A4 size.

She spends a lot of time at the moment making little things....and wants little pieces of paper to use...This little house collage she made yesterday...it is not quite 2" tall.The roof is plastic so a bit hard to see and the black lines are steps!

And this self portrait is only one inch tall. All very cute. She is very busy at her desk most days! She makes a big mess but then so do I so I cannot complain! I wonder what she will be doing next!

Hope you are having a happy Sunday - Lissy

a few things....

a few things happening around here...though not very exciting...

Yesterday there was a snake on the front steps...so OK that was exciting...the cat was playing with it! it was only little about a foot long...but it is the first one I have ever seen here and we have been on this property for 25 years! I am more determined to clear out the garden now so there a less snake friendly spots! Here it is...now dead...I do not like killing things but figured this was necessary. I was worried abut the cat dying as it was playing with it for ages before I realised it was a snake and the snake was pretty angry! But as you can see Lucas is alive and well this morning. And you can also see poor E is wounded...she fell over on the paving yesterday...ouch...so she is only blowing kisses at the moment!

I finally finished the layout from Sharon's vintage class at the retreat....needed to check the date...it is of Ben...cute wasn't he! I have a recipe folder too but since it is just abut an exact replica of Sharon's you can visit her blog to see it!

We went and visited my friend and her bub today who is already 14 weeks old and looking cuter all the time. E is fascinated by Imogen's little hands!

And finally...I got my next entry for the SBO Survivor Challenge done last night...phew! We had to scrap a recipe! The layouts are being posted anonymously in the gallery again! So fingers crossed I get through to the next round!

Hope you have nice plans for the weekend - Lissy

Another day...

Another day has passed...and we have not done much at all! Don't you love that! No where to go and nothing to do! Very relaxing!

E and I stayed in our PJs most of the morning then went down to the post office. I have done a couple of loads of washing and swept the floor but that is about it....plus trying to catch up on a rather a lot of emails and blogs since being away! We got home yesterday afternoon...

Then this afternoon a very good friend of mine Liz popped into visit an it was lovely to catch up with her...her second baby is due in about 6 weeks...I think this one will be a girl! Her little boy Charlie is two and a bit...

Here is my layout for the first round of the SBO Survivor contest...you had to scrap your favourite place...a challenge for me as I do not usually do anything without people! I made the acetate butterflies my self using a stamp! Still trying to come up with something for the next challenge! We will have different survivor numbers this week.

And another layout I did while at the farm...it started off as a scrap lift of a layout by Alli called Sand Baby...can you guess!

Anyway I hope you are all enjoying your week! Lissy

Scrapbook Outlet NZ Survivor

Well I survived!!! The first elimination that is of the Scrapbook Outlet NZ contest for new design team members...you had to scrap your favourite place...and it was posted anonymously in the gallery for voting....I did a layout on Broome...but cannot post it as I am at the farm and do not have it here! So shall do it when I return home....the next challenge is to scrap a recipe.....and my mind is blank....So I am in the last 9...I shall keep you posted!

Here is my Easter Egg Hunt layout I did yesterday...a version of Alli's double pages with lots of photos...not 100% happy with it as not so keen on the pocket on the side...but had to put the letter from Easter Bunny somewhere! And good to finally use this pp by Crate Paper which I have had for some time....I am enjoying scrapping this weekend as I have only some pp, some card stock, decorative tape, SEI and Heidi lettering and very few embellishments...so it makes it a lot easier as the choices are limited...and I only bought my pile of old photos that have been printed for six months or a year! Good to get some of them done!

Hope you are having a Happy Easter Monday-I have cooked a few slices and now plan to do some more scrapping - Lissy

Cooking up a storm....

Normally when I come to the farm I cook up a storm...like making 200 + biscuits, 6 cakes and numerous meals to give my sister a break BUT this time I haven't...well it is Easter and the workmen are away and seeding is yet to start so it is quieter on the farm...I have made a couple of batches of biscuits for my brother in law and a few meals...but mostly I have been scrapping! E is busy playing with the boys so my sister and I have been scrapping! YAY! A very nice way to spend some time!

The Easter Egg Hunt was a big success today...a letter from Easter Bunny was found and they followed the trail and then ate chocolate!
Here is few more layouts....more old photos that have been printed for about a year or more!...and using some of those Rouge de Garance half paper things....we have even printed and scrapped our Easter photos but will have to post that tomorrow after I can take a photo of it!
Anyway I hope you have all had a nice chocolatey Easter - Lissy

Layouts

And while here at the farm I have managed to do a few layouts...I am using photos I have had printed for quite a while and brought limited supplies with me to the farm so I am keeping them all pretty simple...using some of the pretty Rhonna Farrer patterned papers....and this one has a little felt bird...I drew a template using the sassafras lass paper as a guide! Now off to do some more layouts! Might do one of the bunny biscuit making session (see last post) have a good day - Lissy

Bunny Biscuits

We are at the farm and E is having a fabulous time playing with her cousins. On Good Friday I made Bunny Biscuits with the kids!

Hope you are having a Happy Easter - Lissy

A Little Tree.....

Well today was E's first school concert! They were little trees and performed a poem about trees as they have been doing botany this term! They also sang a song with the other classes about a monkey eating coconuts. So here are some pictures...

E and her BEST friend Jake!

E in her tree hat....

The concert!

E in action

My hat off to their teacher Naomi...amazing work in organising ten 3 year olds to perform! They all participated and were very cute!

Other news -I have sent in my entry for the first challenge of Scrapbook Outlet NZ design team competition...it is a layout on your favourite place...They are being posted anonymously but will be in the gallery....Voting will happen this weekend so we will see if I get through to the next round!

I can now share my entries for the initial part of the competition that got me through to the top ten!

These are little houses to go on E's bedroom wall...I plan on making a few more so she has a little poppet town of friends and family! This is her aged one, two and three....

We are off to the farm for Easter so I may or may not post over the next week - so have a safe and Happy Easter all! Lissy

A Weekend Away...

Well I had a great weekend away with Alli and Sharon at the Scrappin' Outback Retreat in Hyden...they are a great bunch of girls out there so it is always a fun weekend!

It is the third one I have taught at and hopefully they are not sick of me yet! It is fabulously organised and run by Karen so a pleasure to be there.

All the classes went well and people were really pleased to get projects finished! And I agree! I managed four layouts with Alli and a layout and project with Sharon...all completed in one and a half days - plus I taught two classes!

This first layout is from Alli's "brads and things" class...but I did mine a little differently and then didn't actually use any brads! Really like this page! The next three layouts are Alli's class on how to scrap lots of photos quickly! And I did three layouts really quickly! Great way to get some layouts done!


I will upload my stuff from Sharon's classes soon! Check out Alli and Sharon's blogs for pics and other version of events! And you can see my fab pic of the Tin Man there too!!! I am lining my dad up to make some metal sculptures like these for me!

E was VERY excited to see me...Mum and Dad had moved in to look after her...I know she had a ball with them...but it was wonderful to get lots of hugs and cuddles and to hear her say "I missed you..I missed you all the time" over and over again! And more again today! I missed her too but was so busy the time went very fast.

Having made it into the Top 10 I have to get cracking this week and do my first challenge for the Scrapbook Outlet NZ design team competition!

Hope you are having a good day - Lissy