Last ATC for 2009

Hi All
Welcome to my last post for 2009.   I decided last night that I wanted to enter a WTA (winner takes all) lottery and of course I have nothing available to enter.   I have had very little mojo for ATC's of late and only started this one about 5 hours ago.  Naturally I had to wait for the paint to dry, so a few games of Uno with the girls passed the time.  It is nice that the mojo was found just in the nick of time.

Oh what to do. Kept looking at images and nothing jumped out at me and said do me. I ended up going through some images I have printed for a Gypsy swap in January. Now I have to find another image but that is cool.

So here is my entry to the PaperArts yahoo group WTA lottery. Perhaps in 2010 my luck will change, and my numbers come up.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL.

Till Next Time
XoX

Almost another year gone

Wow, hasn't 2009 just flown by?  This time last year I was starting to sort out books for my youngest daughter for her first year at school.  In less than four weeks she will start year one.  

This year has certainly had its moments, its highs and its low's that is for sure.  The one consistent thing I have had is what I have acheived this year on a creative level and on a personal level.   There are parts of me that I don't like (the Wobbly BITS!!!) and 2010 is the year to lose them as I will be hitting 40 in 2011.  Creatively, I have branched out and participated in three art journals, with many talented artists in the USA, Canada and England.   I am trying new things but scared to at the same time.  

I love my scrapbooking and wish to do more of it in 2010.  I want to do some mixed media classes but will have to wait to win lotto, then here I come to the USA!!!!  We can all dream right.

Hope you all have had a wonderful 2009 and lets hope 2010 is everything you wish it would be.

Love and Hugs
Sarah

Another Blog Giveaway

We all like a raffle or a lottery and the chance to win awesome blog candy.  This is just a small selection of what you can win. 

CANDY LINK  There is heaps and heaps of craft items that this wonderful person is giving away.   Be sure to read the post and follow the rules.   Must be quick as this ends on Christmas day.

You have go to be in to win.

Love and hugs to all

Merry Christmas to all

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you who have taken the time to look at my blog, leave comments both publically here or privately.  They have all been greatly appreciated.  

I have learnt so much this year and hope to learn more in 2010.

I take this opportunity to reflect on the past year and the friendships I have made and those that have gotten stronger.   To those people, thank you, you have been wonderful people and value your friendship.

This has been a year where we sadly lost a mother, a mother-in-law, grandma in January.   My husband lost his mother to cancer at the beginning of the year aged 57.  The girls still talk about Grandma which is wonderful as she had a lot to do with them even though we lived in separate countries.

Please don't take your loved ones for granted, treasure them, you just don't know when they won't be here.  For my friends who do have a sick family member, my heart goes out to you, as Christmas is all about family and being together.  Treasure the moments as the memories will last forever.   

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND A HAPPY 2010.

Love and hugs to you all
Sarah
XoX

Through the Eyes of an Artist Journal - part one

Earlier this year I began a somewhat challenging experince (for me at least) and accepted an invitation to participate in a mixed media art journal.   Well I had only ventured into this Art Form about 12 months prior by doing ATC's.  So to get this invitation from Elena was very humbling indeed.  I was one of 14 very talented artists at the beginning.  Sadly one had to withdraw for personal reasons.  Hopefully, one day she can be back with us creating up a storm.

Following are the layouts from all contributing artists to my journal.  I received this on Thursday 17 December and made most of assembled by Friday night so I could take it to a friends house and show it off.  Am I proud to be a participant in this journal.  I sure am.   I have learnt so much and still have much more to learn.  Thankfully I am in two other groups all with different themes and challenges too.  One day I will try Altered Books, but not right at this moment.

Pages by Alison Brandist, England

Pages by Eileen Bellomo, New York, USA

Pages by Elena Vigil-Farinas, Florida, USA

Pages by Gina Goodling, Oregon, USA

Just so that these don't get too long, I will upload the pages in separate posts. 

Our new fur-babies

Billy, aged 4 mths.  This is Claire's kitten.

George aged 2 mths.  This is Katie's kitten.














It is a nice feeling to have kittens here again.  It has been almost 2 1/2 years since our last cat who got frightened by the alarm one day not long after we moved in here.

The girls have loved the kittens today.  Like all kids (I guess) when there is something new around.  They are always trying to pick them up.   One good point with Billy being that little bit older he is more placid and doesn't mind the cuddles.  Which is good as there are plenty to be had.  George on the other hand is the playful one.   Although these two are not related, we got them from the Animal Shelter and they were in the same pen together.

I will leave you with a pic of the scratching post or more like activity gym for them.  

We did get the cats a scratching post that we got online, a huge saving of at least $300.  We (note Hubby) put this together on Saturday.  The girls though there soft toy animals would love to use it first.   This measures over 2 metres (6ft) tall.  It is huge.

Now we are 6!

This morning we left home as a family of four.  Now we are a family of six.   We were planning on just visiting the local Animal Welfare League and to just look at kittens for the girls which we were planning on getting next weekend.  Well that all just flew out the window.   We came home with two boy cats, Billy which is Claire's cat and Katie has called hers Bubbles, but we are trying to get her to decide on another name.  I like Max. So we will see.

I will post some photos in a few days once they are all settled into madness and mayhem.

Till Next Time.
XoX

Two more layouts

Last night I was able to get some scrapping done, it felt great to get three layouts almost completed.   Two are done, one has to have one more detail added to it.

The evening started with a trip to Scrapbooks Etc, at Underwood.   Boy I love this place, the paper selection is just fabulous.  One shop that is well worth the trip too, you will not be disappointed.

One thing that I actually managed to do was plan my layouts before I went out.  Bought a couple of papers and some completed pages.

 A stunning photo of my eldest Daughter Katie.  This photo was taken by a friend of ours at our place.  Did I doodle the letters - no way.  A clear stamp set.  I have used this one a lot now.  The size is just right and did fill in the space that I had. 















Another lovely layout featuring my youngest daughter Claire.   Whenever the camera is out she is more than willing to pose.  Again this photo was taken by a friend of ours who took the photo of her sister in the other layout.   It wasn't until I was blogging that there are two layouts of Claire that have the title of beautiful.    Maybe I am just biased,  But this girl does love the camera.










Hopefully I can get the third layout finished.  This could be the first time I have scrapped the Santa photo within days of it being done.  I do have another one of the girls talking to Santa while I was deciding which one I wanted to have printed.  


Till Next Time
XoX

A long break between posts

I can't believe it has been over a month since I last blogged.  So much happening and with it being school holidays the girls want to be with me, but it does every now and then interrupt the creative flow.

One of the art projects I have had to do is my pages for the journal group Through the Eyes of An Artist.  As we are nearing the end of this journal those people who reside outside of the USA had to do pages without actually having the journal with them.  I found this hard as I like to look and touch these wonderful pages.

This is page one of the journal for Valerie Brincheck in Michigan, USA.
Although an easy page, one where I wanted to show the background.   I do love the colours of Autumn (fall) they can give one so much pleasure.

This is page two for Valerie's journal.   The tree was one I picked up in Sydney when I was there a few months ago.  I used my Twinkling H2O's for the tree.   This is one of the pages that I love. 

Page one for Lillian Mederak's Journal.  This was origianlly done for someone else but the size was wrong so Lillian got lucky and get her pages early.  For this group I have to post to Lillian in Canada so it felt right to get them done and hopefully Lillian will have her completed journal soon.

Page two of Lillian's journal.  Trying to encourage the birds to walk the line as we see them so frequently just sitting on the power lines.
















With these two journals on there way to Elena in the USA I hope to have completed the last two which I have here. 

I received my completed journal in the post on Thursday, and the pages by these wonderful and talented artists is just phenominal, so much to learn and just drool over.  I will post more about this at a later time.

Till next time
XoX

A couple of Layouts

Today I headed off to the Scrapchat retreat as a day-tripper.  Only decided on Monday that I needed to get away and do some scrappin' with no interupptions.  Only one phone call while I was out and that was to find out where I had hidden a DS.

I only managed to get two Layouts done, and was dissapointed that I had left a batch of photos at home.  These were the ones I wanted to do.  I had a feeling that one daughter would be upset that I hadn't done one of her, and I was right.  But I did manage to get the paper I wanted for the photo which was good.

I will update these photos with a better quality one taken during the daytime.  Will try and get it done soon.  On Sunday we are heading to the Animal Shelter to look at a pet.  It has been over 2 years since our cat went missing.  Time for the girls to have another pet.

Claire's first school excursion to Currumbin Valley Farm. 
June 2009 approximately. 

Claire at Paradise Point Park, August 2009.
Always willing to let Mum take her photo.
Such a beautiful girl.









15 November - updated the photos.  Not as blurry.  Looked at the Animal Shelter, and it looks like we might be getting two kittens.  Will have to get the girls to write to Santa.

Till next time
XoX

Journal of Dreams group

This is the third journal group that Elena has us on.  The first is quickly coming to an end. 

Last week I finished my pages for Heather Fenn-Edwards' journal.  I knew what I wanted to do and took two attempts at doing it.  I did do a double sided page and both sides have different techniques.

Page One of Heathers Journal.  I have used a napkin that I got from a napkin swap on anther group and outlined the Tulip with pen.  This didn't require much more.   One of the suggested requirements was that we did more hand journalling.  

For this page I just wanted to do something simple that followed on from page one with the Flowers.  

I have the next journal here to work on.  So looking forward to doing it as this is for our fearless leader and brains behind all of these groups, Elena.

Till Next Time

XoX

A blog award

I have been awarded so many of these awards, that I am finally going to put one on my blog.

This came through a few weeks ago from the super talented Valerie Brincheck The Sum of All Crafts   For some reason what I can fit into a day is exhausting.  Seriously, it is.  I do wish I had more 'ART' Time.

As Valerie mentioned I have to mention five interesting (but little known) facts about me and then pass this award onto five other bloggers.  This will be the hard part.  Chosing which 5 bloggers...........

1.  I have a size 11 foot!

2.  When I was younger I was a competitive swimmer when I was living in Singapore.

3.  I didn't get my drivers license until I was 22, but had my motorbike license when I was 15 (the legal driving age in New Zealand then)

4.  In my last year of High School, I was going clubbing and the legal drinking age then was 20.  I was 18.

5.  I have never taken an Art class, even at school it was a subject I avoided.

Now to pass this award onto five other wonderful bloggers.

1.  Tanya  Tanya's Treehouse a great friend, a brilliant artist and needs a few more smiles ;-)

2.  Belynda  Creative Butterfly has just had her first layout published and a few more on the way.  A brilliant scrapbooker.

3. Elena V-F has such an upheaval personally over the past 8 weeks.  This wonderful lady has so much confidence in me that I am part of three journal groups that she has organised.

4.  Eileen Bellomo a wonderful artist, so willing to share all that she knows. One person I am pleased to know and share our art journal journey with.

5.  Diana has awarded me so many awards previously, that I haven't put them on my blog.  Diana was one of the people to help me do this.  

Wow this was hard.   Hard to think of bloggers who haven't received this one or bloggers that have already and what is one more of the same.

Till Next Time

XoX

New art.......... Another journal group

Seriously, I must be crazy for signing up for a third journal group.   Again there are about 16 of us so I hope my journal will be back in time for christmas 2010.   This one is about our Dreams.  We all have them.  We all dream for good things.  I feel that this is a good way to get to know some more of my fellow artists.  What I love about this group is that there are at least 4 new artists, that are not in any of the others. And then there are the Suckers for Punishment that are in all three.  You certainly know who you are.  I am one. 

This journal was due to go north to Lee in September, but I had lost my mojo.  Nothing was coming together at all.   I have just returned from a week away and somewhere during the trip my mojo was found and this journal started to come together yesterday.  We only got back yesterday afternoon.  You know how it is, you need just one thing to get it going and in construction.  Well for me, it was the Thickers Alphabet.   The words after DREAM came to me when I was watching the final of the Amazing Race a few weeks ago.

Sadly, I cannot find my black alphabet rub-ons but remembered I had my acrylic stamps.  I love the letters for M and E.  I have sent the journal off to Lee without Discover and Respect done.  Hopefully one of the wonderful ladies in this group will have something that fits and can add it in for me.

This is to read
Discover
Respect
Evolve
Admire
Me

 A list of the wonderful artists participating. Thank you.

Just a few of my dreams that I am for and some of the dreams that I thought would not happen.   I do dream of sitting under a tree reading a book (lets hope no bird poops!).
I am dreaming of Paris and Europe for my 50th. 

Just a little about me, my dreams and aspirations of me, for my girls and life in general.  













This is one journal I am looking forward to doing.  I have been reading a few art books and have so many ideas now that I just want to try them all.  However, there is only so much one can do in a day. 

Till next time
XoX

It is nice to be home

Oh boy, it sure is.   Decent internet speed.  Although we had mobile broadband, coverage was not great and felt like dial up again.  

This morning we left Port Macquarie just after 8am and had two stops at Coffs Harbour and a little place by a river called Woodburn.  After then it was straight back home.   We took this detour that bypassed Grafton as the GPS was programmed to 'take the shortest route'.  Well I was nervous and worried.  The car handled it well.  The 'Male' driver was going a bit faster than what I would on these country roads, there were a couple of other cars, not many and no livestock were crossing the road. 

We arrived back home around 2pm (Qld time) and have unpacked, cleared the mail and I have done some groceries for the next few days.

Next job is to tidy my craft room, finish journals, have show and tell of the things that I bought.  That could be a whole new post.  Once all of that is done, Katie is turning 8 on Saturday.  Where has the time gone.

Till next time
XoX

Time out in Port Macquarie

Yesterday we left the rat race of Sydney.  I have no urge to live there.  I love the warmth of the Gold Coast too much and the lifestyle is more me.  Relaxed and casual.   Besides my friends are there.  

On thh way home Justin wanted to stop at a place called Corlette which is east of Newcastle.   Lovely little town and we stopped and had lucch at one of the many reststops along Sandy Point Road.  The girls loved it.   A play in the playground and a splash in the water.

Having fun in the water.  For some reason Katie was more interested in her Mexican Doritos.







I will upload more photos of our trip when we get back home.   Internet connection here is not great.

The girls are enjoying that we are staying in a Hotel.  We are enjoying Rydges at Port Macquarie.   Four people one room, cozy.   Miss the comforts of home though.  In 24 hours we will be there.  

Till next time.
Xox

Almost time to start the trip north

It is almost time to pack the car and start the trip north back home to the Gold Coast.  I for one is looking forward to putting away the winter clothing that I bought with me.

Not much happened today, so no photos.  We ended up at the Liverpool Train Show.  Not ideal for me but one vendor had 8 baskets of scrapbooking stuff so I did buy some.   There was no way I wanted to leave empty handed. 

There have been more thunder storms tonight.   Nice but I would like them to head north to water the garden and fill our water tanks. 

So by this time tomorrow morning we will be on our way.  Not sure where we are stopping or even staying so will wait and see.

Till next time
XoX

We ventured into the City

Day three proved to be another cold and wet day.  Not as much rain as the past two which was good.

Due to the weather we decided not to go to taronga Zoo but headed off to the Aquarium instead.  Finding the carpark was an adventure.   Found a spot to park and re-programmed the GPS and we got there.   Had trouble finding the mono-rail as there is little to NO signage at all.  But once we got there it was a breeze.   Claire was a little unsure of the mono-rail.   She has been on a roller-coaster but wanted to get off the monorail.   Strange. 

Once we got to the aquarium the girls enjoyed themselves.   Katie enjoyed the crocodile and both girls loved part of the Great Barrier Reef Exhibit as you were able to touch the startfish and hold the empty shark eggs.   Katie really wanted to see a clownfish like Nemo and she found a fish like Dory.

Katie and Claire with a Mermaid and Dugong at the Aquarium.

 A Dugong eating Lettuce.   Now if only the girls would eat lettuce willingly.

With a small shark behind them.    Katie is still looking.  Not so sure.

Here we are about to go over the harbour bridge. Naughty me took the photo while I was driving.   Not recommended.









Not sure what is planned for today.  No doubt it will be interesting.


Till next time
XoX

day two of the holiday

But is it really a holiday.  It is wet, cold and raining.  Quite frustrating as I did not bring enough warm clothing for all of us.  

We spent yesterday doing some scrapbook shopping and I had fun at Fantasia and will be heading back there today to buy a stamp set that I though I had bought.

As it was raining we went to Westfield at Parramatta and saw UP.  Was a challenge to get there but GPS was great.  Was even more challenging to get out of the car park.  Took 25 minutes and the drivers here are so arrogant and pushy.  Unbelievable.   Looking forward to heading back to the Gold Coast.

Today, the grand plan is to go to the Aquarium.  Hopefully it is undercover and we won't get too wet. 

Till Next Time
XoX

I've crossed the boarder

Well it has happened, I have crossed the boarder and headed south to Sydney.  Hubby wanted to go to a model train thingy.  What a way to get a 'family' holiday except he gets three days of pleasure first. 

We are now here in Castle Hill, not far from where he will be and I was advised to take two sets of clothing, summer and winter.  Well my jeans are on now and my jumper(cardigan) to keep me warm.  We are in a double bed and I miss my king size already.  I left temps of 30's for something around 17.  Not good.

Girls have been good.   Mind you I was over 'are we there yet?' or 'are we in Sydney?' at least they were interested.   Was a good trip down but OMG the road works and spped cameras literally in the middle of nowhere.

One thing we had to do alot was stop for toilet breaks.   Interesting to say the least.   Thank goodness for the Dettol Hand sanitizer.

I managed to get a couple of photos. 

 Here is the sunset on our way into Grafton.  I was in the car. 
The sunset was more pinky than this.









On Friday morning after overnighting in Coffs Harbour we had to have morning tea at the Big Banana.  
One chocolate covered banana for the big kids and the little ones had regular ones. Anyway here are the girls in front of the Big Banana.  This is the only one were Katie is not being silly and hiding her face.

This banana you can walk through and it tells you how long it takes to get banana's from the banana plant.  Something I did not know. 










Now that it is Saturday.  The weather is not great and we had a thunder storm last night. Today we are off to a couple of scrapbook stores for me and then off to the Movies.  Hopefully tomorrow we get to Taronga Zoo and the Harbour Bridge.


Till next time
XoX

ATC's for the live swaps

Each month on a Sunday now there is a live swap, generally at 10am so some of us grab a coffee and something to munch.  This is the one day a month I end up at Macca's (McD's/Mc-Chucks/mcDonalds) and have hotcakes.   I am thankful this is now on a Sunday as the girls have nothing on and between swimming twice a week and karate once a week, there isn't much space for other things. 

Anyway here are the ATC's I have made for the past two swaps.

Finally a Non fattening cupcake.   I used watercolour paper for the packground and a Cupcake stamp and my beautiful Twinkling H2O's.  I just love these.  Fantastic for a little splash of colour.

The cupcakes were traded at the August 2009 Swap.

This is one of my favourite images from Paper Imagery Designs.   Such an innocent look.   The background is a baby wipe that I used to clean up the overspray from the Distress inks I used on another project.

This ATC was also traded at the August 2009 swap.

This ATC only came to me at 8.30am on Sunday morning.  By 9.15am I had made 8.   Nothing was forming on Saturday night so I left it for the night and came back to it the next day.   The red really sets off this image.  This is a paper that I bought at the Scrapbook Expo back in June 2009.  I knew I would use it eventually.

This ATC was for the September 2009 swap.

So much to share

It has been such a long time since I have had anything to post and share with you all.  But finally I have done it.  Plugged in the scanner and scanned pretty much most of what I have done lately. 

These four ATC's were for the yahoo group "The sum of all ATC's".  This was another lady lucky dip where you chose four titles and send them in and receive four different ones in return.   My returns came in the post yesterday and they are all fantastic.  Love them all.

I chose to do Eve, Silent Screen Star, Silver Screen Star and Domestic Goddess.

Silver Screen Star - Audrey Hepburn
What a classic this lady is.  So elegant.  This is my favourite.
Nothing beats the classic lines of this.

Domestic Goddess - Martha Stewart.
I attempted to find an image of her in her prison outfit but I ran out of time. For the American's Martha knows it all - apparently.

Eve.
As there are some who do not like nude at all, Eve was slightly modernised with a bikini and bling. This is one of my favourites.

Silent Screen Star - Anita Page.
What a stunner she was.  Nice and simple which suited the style of films made way back then.

just an update

I have been busy doing my journals and a couple of ATC's and other stuff. I have a bit to upload at the moment, but as I busted the printer and jammed the printer head - it just ain't working. Hopefully by tonight I will have a new printer and all will be sweet with me.

Till Next Time
XoX

ATC time

This week, I also completed my Vintage Fashion ATC about two weeks late, but never late than never right. Mind you some will naturally disgaree about this.

I love the simplicity of this ATC and the image which is from Paper Imagery Designs.

Till next time
XoX

I've done a layout

Miracles can happen and this is one. Earlier this week I recevied the photo that was taken during my photography class at the Scrapbook Expo in June 2009. This is the first time I have actually done a photo of just Me. Generally I am with the girls or it is a family shot or I am where I would rather be, behind the lens.

I love the simplicity of this, the colours are just amazing, so many possibilities. Now to do some more layouts along with an art journal or five, some ATC's, some tags and perhaps other stuff that is not crafty at all.

Thia is possibly the 4th layout this year. There are a few that do require finishing so I should get onto that as well.

Till next time
XoX

Another page for Elena

But this time it is for our Through the Eyes of an Artist group.

I started this a few weeks ago with a very old (1982) map of Brisbane. Tonight I added the rest. I love how this page has come together. Now to do page one. But that will be tomorrow.

On the inside of the door it says "Home for me is just south of Coomera in Pacific Pines. Pacific Pines was established in 1998. This Map in 1982".

I have done two very different pages for the lovely Elena. I sure hopes she likes them.

Till next time.
Night Night
XoX

Elena's Journal page two

Finally, it is done. Page two of Elena's Gold and White journal for the I Dream in Colours group. I have enjoyed doing this page. I got to use my Twinkling H2O's and love them. There are three shades of gold with the alternate petals and leaves in Heavenly White. I even found a use for the ribbon that the paper was wrapped in. I like the way this came together and I hope Elena does too. Now to work on the other journal group, Through the Eyes of an Artist and do Elena's journal for that group. Thankfully I have until Wednesday to get this off to Lillian in Canada. If I get my act together I will try and send Sharon's too.

Elena's journal page 1

After pondering (again) I have finally done page one of Elena's journal. The colours for this journal are shades of white and gold. I did page two but did not like it so I will do it again, which means out comes the sewing machine.

The dove is a glimmer screen and I mixed heirloom gold perfect pearls with water. Looks so much better up close.

Now to work on page two of this journal and Elena's other journal for the other group we are in.

Till next time

XoX

Live Swap

Finally a live swap that is not on a Saturday and I can actually get there. This year I have not been to many of the Saturday due to other committments, mainly the girls swimming lessons.

I decided to use my PID www.paperimagerydesigns.com image of Marshall as I was not doing the image swap this month as it was 4*4. Behind the Microscope slide is pages from a 1952 German Dictionary that I picked up earlier this month. I quite like how this came together.


Now if only I had more of this image I could have made more ATC's.

Till next time
XoX