it's been a while....

A quick update on the happenings of this week.

Abbey lost another tooth at the begining of the week and wouldn't you know it....she swallowed it!! YES - YUK! This is the 4th tooth she has lost and the 2nd one she has swallowed!! She obviously just likes the taste of teeth lol

She had to write a letter to the Tooth Fairy to explain that she swallowed it - otherwise the fairy might not come!

My best friend Rochelle FINALLY had her baby on Thursday. Her and hubby Guy welcomed Paige Eleanor into the world at 12.35pm (via a very successful water birth) weighing just over 8lbs and she is adorable!!




As you can see from the pics, Abbey didn't leave her alone, she was completely smitten with her!! She hasn't stopped asking for a baby sister since then! (thinking, thinking, thinking.....)

It's almost the end of school holidays here in NSW. Abbey had a few things on her list to do and one of them was camping....I work 5 days a week and Daniel isn't here on the weekends so the best i could do was to put a small tent up in her room and let her sleep in it.

She LOVED it! She slept in it for 2 nights in her room and then when Daniel got home from work she asked him to put the tent up in our room so he could sleep in it with her. Of course, he did it....he's so soft when it comes to Abbey. He ended up in our bed by about 4am complaining that she was taking up all the room haha.

Well, thats all folks. Time to get organised for the rest of the day. Got some washing in the machine now waiting to be hung out and then we're off into town to go to spotlight. I have to buy some iron on letters that spell TURNER. I bought my nephew a football jersey for his birthday and I want to put his name on it. The jersey is a size 0 so lets hope I can get letters small enough to fit on it! After spotlight I'm going to take abbey to an indoor play centre. It's the last thing on her list of holiday activities.

I'm hoping one of these days I feel like scrapping again!! Then I'll actually have more to share.

OH! I almost forgot....I received 2 assignments back this week and I am so happy with the results. I got a distinction for one of them (That's a B) and a High Distinction for the other (an A)!!!!! I have been patting myself on the back all week!

bye for now
Shell xx

lots happening

With work and school holidays I feel that I haven't had a moment to sit for 5 minutes...so forget scrapping and taking photos!!

The first week of the holidays is almost over and there is still so much we want to do
Ok - lets start with a day in the life of Abbey

Abbey spent the day with my in laws while I was at work and I gave her my old camera (and 2 massive bags of activities) to take some pictures and keep herself amused and my plan is to get them printed over the weekend and help her scrap them. Kids take the strangest shots....

Abbey's self portrait

she loves these shoes!

a picture of a photo at MIL's house

the porcelain dolls in the grandkid's bedroom at the in laws house

Nanny (MIL) - busted reading when she was babysitting :o shock horror

for some unknown reason she was allowed to take her shoes off and wander the backyard with just her socks on...here is the 'before' shot...they are now soaking in a bucket!

So....that is what happened today...interesting huh?

other than that, she hasn't been able to do a lot of fun stuff...she did have a sleep out in Mummy and Daddy's room on Wednesday night. We squished the air mattress next to our bed and she was set, it was great...she slept until 9am the next morning!

We looked after Isabelle and Nate that afternoon and had a great time playing, singing and dancing.




And you won't believe it...I actually managed to finish an assignment this week too! WOW!!

We have a pretty full weekend coming up too. Tomorrow I am spending the day sorting paper work for my uncles business (he is so not organised) and Sunday we have a christening to go to but I need to be home by about 1ish so I can get all the ironing etc done before I have to go back to work Monday because Sunday night I will be scrapping.

I'm pretty tired this week...must be getting old! urgh!
Oh, I almost forgot. My 2 longest friends Rochelle and Kylie were both due to have their bubs on Wednesday...Kylie had her little one last night. Jack, 8lbs 12oz and poor Rochelle is still waiting. When I arrived at work this morning there was an email from her telling me she is NOT in labour! I guess she has been getting lots of phone calls asking that exact question. Not from me though, I'm restraining myself, Abbey was 10 days late and in the end I just stopped answering the phone - the constant calls were driving me crazy!

Until next time,
Shell xx

Happy Easter - Huge post!

We have had a great weekend so far! Lots of Chocolate and fun!

The Easter Bunny left some footprint and some of his little cotton tail behind

Abbey is downstairs as I type this eating her eggs and enjoying herself and I just heard her say to Daniel "This is the best Easter I've had!" How cute! :)

OK she just came upstairs, I can see now why she's so happy, check out the chocolate on her face...

The weather is terrible here today. It's been raining all night and it's overcast. A real shame because we were going to take Abbey to the park and have some fun. Daniel and I are trying to decide what to do today, it's the beginning of the school holidays. We will check out what's on at the movies and maybe go out for dinner or lunch...not sure yet.

And on a scrapping note. After Abbey went to bed last night and I was waiting for Daniel to get home from work I went into a scrapping frenzy and got 5 layouts done. I am shocked at how many I actually did - I had a great time too, scrapping, old episodes of King of Queens and Friends playing in the background and chatting to some friends on msn, here are my creations.

OK - they were all challenges that had been set...

1. To use the quote: Dare to dream the dream and sing out loud.

2. To use White with coral and to journal on the photo

3.To use Lemon, pale pink, pale blue and cream

4.Number challenge to use 1 bird, 5 small flowers, 3 buttons, 6 rhinestones, 4 patterned papers and 2 different fonts in the title (there is a journaling tag attached the the ribbons at the left of the photo and the tag is hidden underneath the photo)

5. To use paint to make a pattern on plain cardstock, 3 buttons, 1 patterned paper torn or cut into 3 pieces, paint or stamp the title. (under the photo on the right you can see black ribbon - attached to the ribbon are our concert tickets and some journaling)

I love all of the layouts I have done but I think the last one is my favourite because it is something so different to what I would normally do.

I used my whole packet of wooden flourishes last night on these layouts and being a public holiday today I doubt there will be anywhere open for me to get some more but I need them, I am loving what they are bringing to my layouts!

I hope everyone out there is having an awesome Easter weekend
Until next time,
Shell xx

Good Friday Pics

we had a great time with Daniel's family yesterday...here are the pics

Abbey showing off her little cotton tail

my niece molly (9 months) enjoying an ice cream

the ice cream was a little cold for nephew Nate (11 months)

all the girl cousins (minus 12 yr old Emily who lives interstate) - wish you were here Emily xx

Abbey - proud of her hunting skills

Chloe (3), Abbey (6) and Isabelle (2) posing for a shot

here's a shot of the same 3 girls from last Easter...WOW, they grow way too quickly



After lunch and the egg hunt we went for a walk to feed the ducks. Here is Poppy with the girls

and after a long day of fun with her cousins...story time with Daddy before bed

Until next time,
Shell xx

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend will be filled with family, fun and of course and over indulgence of chocolate! Today we're to my in laws place for lunch, they do lunch for the whole family every good Friday. It should be a lovely feast of Baramundi, salad and the best potato salad in the world (not sure what her secret is - she wont share it). The kids (cousins) will all exchange Easter eggs and have an egg hunt and hopefully knackered when we bring them home!! Daniel only arrived home from work at about 6am this morning so I will let him sleep as long as I can and then we'll head over to his mums place. Tonight we have a lovely evening planned of NOTHING. Daniel, Abbey and I will have yummy prawn cutlets for dinner and will more than likely play a board game or do some fun family stuff together.

Tomorrow - not sure what we're up to yet. Daniel has to go back to work at lunch time so it's just me and my girl again. Maybe some scrapping seeing as I haven't had time to do any all week.

I'm sure I will be back tomorrow to share good Friday pics and whatever scrap creations I have managed to make,

Whatever you're doing for good Friday, enjoy it
Shell xx

I couldn't stop

I was trying to stay up and wait for Daniel to come home last night and here's what I came up with while I was waiting....

this one was a challenge to use: felt, at least 5 buttons, ribbon and stitching BUT you had to only use 30% of the page and leave 70% negative space....hhhmmm don't think mine quite equals that but I love the layout so it doesn't matter.

this is a photo I had originally scrapped using a black magic sketch a few months ago...I never liked the layout so last night I pulled it apart and re-did it. I love it now, especially those trees!

this layout is the perfect way for me to describe how I feel about Abbey. It's so true - I would rather look at her than any other view~!

I am loving the lady bug cut on the walk in my garden cartridge at the moment - I want to put those little fellas on everything I do...might be a trademark of mine!? I am trying to really step outside of my comfort zone with my scrapping and do things that I would normally shy away from, like hand cutting and mixing alphas and I really love the results I'm getting.

I received my latest order from Anna's craft cupboard this afternoon - WOW, so many thickers, flowers, chipboard characters (owls, birds etc) and the cutest little birdie stamp I've ever seen....now hhmmm can I wait for Daniel to return to work on Wednesday afternoon, I don't want to wait, I want to create!! (oh, is there a scrap title in that sentence?)

Until next time,
Shell xx

I'm on a roll....

I just finished another challenge - colour challenge to use pink, blue and cream - this is my fave layout of the 3 i've done this weekend.

shell xx

pics

The first challenge was to use nature inspired photos with a nature inspired title...
and then there is the sketch challenge

and here's my take (yes I know...I'm STILL scrapping Christmas photos, not many to go)


and here's Abbey's weekend craft project...
how cute are these little fellas??

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday!
Shell xx

SO STOKED

i WON A CHALLENGE.....ME!!!! ME!!!! I WON A CHALLENGE!!! If you can't tell, I'm rather excited about it!!

here's the layout I won with....

I love the beginning of the month because all the new challenges are out...but unfortunately haven't been able to spend as much time scrapping as I would have liked. Abbey came down with a flu Thursday night and then she started with asthma again so it's been another couple of days of very little sleep BUT, last night she was particularly sick and seeing as I was up listening to her every breath anyway I thought I might as well do something constructive to pass the time so.....scrap I did. I finished 2 challenges but didn't get a chance to take pics today so will try to get that done tomorrow so i can post them.

Our PJ day was a huge success today, we lounged, watched movies and made yellow pom poms that will transform into Easter chicks with little orange beaks and googly eyes once finished - Abbey is pretty excited to be making something for her cousins to go along with their Easter eggs.

Looking forward to getting some more scrapping done tomorrow...if I have to hang around the house washing clothes and getting ready for the week ahead I may as well enjoy the bits in between the chores.

Until next time,
Shell xx