Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Well this seems to have turned into a weekly blog - i never seem to have anything really interesting to share, just layouts from throughout my week...and that must get a little boring after a while.

I have been busy, i know that i have been short of time the whole week - i'm just not sure what it is that i've been doing LOL.....must be losing my mind i think. Maybe i'll just do some highlights of our week


- Maddy was awarded an achievement award during assembly last week = she was sooo proud of herself....and i was equally proud. Her teacher had given me a heads up so i was able to have my camera there to capture the moment for her - she's such an awesome teacher. Wonder if maddy's told her i'm a scrapper hence the need for photos LOL.


- still going for my walks through the botanical gardens every now and then. I love it - its so quiet and peaceful. Even Rylan must think so, he rarely speaks throughout these walks, just happy to sit back in his pram for the hour we walk. Sometimes he gets a bit excited by the birds and ducks we might see and will give a squeal out ...which will scare the ducks away lol.


- taught my first class up here last night. WHAT A GREAT NIGHT WITH SOME AWESOME COMPANY!! It went really smoothly and I really enjoyed it. Have another class wednesday night. Love seeing the way each lady makes the layout their 'own', just by making slight changes or adding something a little different.


- Rylan took another spill the other night, so has a scrapped nose at the moment. This poor kiddo is seriously having a bad run since we've been up here. But the nose is healing nicely and its not bothering him. I guess it just comes with the age - being clumsy and that. He's fast approaching his second birthday - 18th march - and is such a character at the moment .....he is always cracking us up with some silly thing he does.
- Have been scrapping up a storm lately, think i have done like nine layouts. Man it must seem like i don't have a life lol. But i will usually get one done through the day when rylan goes down for his nap and then will usually get another done at night once the kiddo's have gone to bed. So no, I am not glued to my scrap desk and i do manage to get everything else I need to do round the house done. The kiddo's and I have also been getting out and about in the afternoons for a little exploring around town - trying to suss out our favourite spots here in Rocky.
Unfortunatly out of the nine or so layouts i am only able to share two at this stage. Most were done for the March kit - soon to be released at Embellished, keep an eye out for it, is AWESOME!! But i'll be able to share these layouts next post. a couple were for challenges coming up, but again will be able to share them next post. So will share these two:

This layout was a 'just for fun, just for me' layout that i put together at a scrap night round at Ali's (now that was a fun night!!). I love this pic of maddy, she has the most awesome natural laugh, though it is hard to get it out of her, when you do it is just like magic - i love this girl sooo much. So hopefully this layout was able to capture a little of that with in it.

This one is my sample layout for the latest Elsie challenge at Embellished - to tell a story. Rylan has a thing for my oversized sunnies, just these ones - he pays no attention to any others left laying around. No matter where i put them he will track them down and walk around with them , usually around his neck lol. This kiddo definetly has FUNK!!!!

Okie, well i've just put little man down for his nap in Nick's bed - gonna see how he goes in a bed during the day instead of his cot, just to get him used to it. so far so good, lol but then its only been five minutes.

Better run, got a few things to do while he's down for his nap. Take care and will catch up again soon.

Julie xx

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

little this, little that


Well it seems that if i blink a week flies by, might have to try pegging my eyelids back for a while hey? Have been so busy around here - not just scrapping but with life in general. Have fallen into my old patterns of being up late to try and get things done and then wondering why I'm so cranky and tired in the mornings - not a bright spark at times am i LOL. So this week i will be aiming to be in bed by 11 pm at the latest. Will see how it goes - i know that i enjoy this time when everyone else is in bed and its just me to do what i like.

Have scrapped a few layouts in the last week but can't share bout half of them as they are for things like the 'beyond the blue' comp for embellished and for class kits for scrapgenie. But i can share these ones :


This was the layout for the first online class Embellished held last thursday night - a nice and simple one to kick things off. It was a great night and i hope the ladies all enjoyed themselves heaps, it was the first time i have taught online and i think it went really well. This is my fav layout at the moment - its neat, simple, little whimsy and has my three gorgeous kiddo's on it - not biased much huh?? LOL.


This is the example for the latest elsie challenge at Embellished. Little man is really into his books at the moment - the other two, maddy and nick, love their books as well so its great to see rylan getting into it as well. The challenge was to go mega - make your title huge, mine kinda is i guess - it just wraps round the pic is all. Its a bit of a bitsa page, but i like how it turned out.


I was checking out the Dares blog last week and saw that their latest challenge was about what legacy you would like to leave behind. It really got me thinking about it over the next couple of days so i thought i would have a go at the challenge. This is what i have come up with. I'm a BIG reader and I'm all about education being a top priority in this country, but its not just about eductating our children, it's getting them to love learning, to be interested and excited by it. I never try and force it onto my kiddo's, but at times when they say 'mum, i'm bored' I'll usually say how about grabbing a book and we'll read together - they LOVE it!! So i am a little excited that rylan seems to be picking up the same enthusiasm - if you can tell by the fact that i've scrapped two layouts of him with a book this week LOL. So that is the legacy that i want to leave behind for my children and their children - A thirst for knowledge.

Well thats about all for now guys, thanks for dropping by, leave me a hello and i'll catch up for a chat again soon.
take care

Julie xx

Monday, February 12, 2007

Take the journey BEYOND THE BLUE........

Another busy week here at the Heard housedhold - so just gonna start with what i can remember and go from there LOL.

- BEYOND THE BLUE has been launched at Embellished and can i just say how EXCITED I am about this. Ali has put together an awesome, awesome compition but one with a difference. She has a cause and i love her determination to support it - this comp is a reflection of that. So check out all the deatils HERE, please think about taking part in this - this is a journey that will take you DEEP within yourself and i'm looking forward to being able to share the experience with other scrappers. It is also awesome in the fact that there will be no eliminations as each week progresses - yes there are prizes up for grabs (cool, fantastic prizes may i add ) and there will be voting each week, but the tally will be held of till the end before being shared - this is so that each member that chooses to partake is able to complete the whole journey and reap all the benifits to be had. I'm really putting myself behind this one as i feel there is just so much to be gained from it.

I have also started a Journal note swap on the Embellished forum - check it out, they are soooo cool. Sign ups for it will be for this week only.

Nick was home from school today and will be home till thursday - poor kiddo has had the sore on him mouth come back again, he first had it back in December. So while he is not ill or anything he does have to stay home as he is contagious. Oh the joys of it (insert eye roll ) But on the other hand if a kid in Nick's class still was sent to school with something like this then i know that i would be majorly peeved so best to be safe i guess.

Rylan's chin is healing really well, just a faint scratch now. Little kiddo's just bounce back so well don't they - must be all the energy they have to burn that helps them heal. If only I could bottle it to sell, reckon i'd make a fortune LOL.

Embellished will be running its first online class this Thursday night at 7pm - i will be teaching it , how cool!! and i absolutely love the layout I have made up for it, best of all its a free class, so if you've got thursday night spare then come along and have some fun with the rest of us (think we have like 12 or so so far). You will need to email Ali for registration to join - here are all the details HERE.

Have found a great balance to life at the moment. I have a set routine for nearly everyday that is allowing me to tackle most things i need to do - its awesome having a routine, really helps to get a heap done round here. You can imagine with three little kiddo's seven and under and running between schools and daycares and such it can get hectic at times. But after a couple of weeks back at school we've all settled in really well. It helps too knowing that i have set scrapping times, set cleaning times, set homework times (yes poor kiddo's have homework up here lol), set family time ...........it is just working so well and i've been able to slowly get on top of all the things that needed to be done. This bit is gonna sound really wierd to most people but i wanna share it anyway. Since the first week that we moved here i have been just SO HAPPY, its soppy i know but it is just so true. I have been in the best moods lately and theres not much that can 'get' to me anymore. I am 100% confident that moving here was the best thing we could've done, not just for me but for me, steven and our family. Steven too has a world of confidence about him and its just an awesome feeling knowing that for once we 'got it right'. So no more 'cranky' mornings, no more down days, no more un needed yelling, no more ridiculous fighting over nothing - AND I AM LOVING IT!!

Okie onto some layouts now.


This layout is my example for the latest Elsie challenge in the forum - to doodle on photos. Ver simple and basic, but very fun....and i love this pic of Rylan running through the sprinkler.














These two layouts I made using a kit i recieved from Cathy at Scrapgenie as a christmas gift. It was a modern romance kit by Daisy D's - they are just some gorgeous papers and i really love their style of journalling tags and such at the moment = awesome stuff!!These next two layouts were both for One hour challenges that i ran through the week. The first one you had to use polka dots and the other one was you had to use scraps of paper only (besides your base) - love both the pix on these layouts.And lastly is this layout - was just having a play around with some fabric and i love the way it turned out. It will also be the basis of the first class that i teach up here in Rockhampton - cannot wait!!

So i think that is about everything i can think of for the time being. Thanks for dropping by and i will catch up again soon for another chat.

take care

Julie xx

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Almost a quiet weekend.

Hiya guys - how was your weekend, hope you all had a relaxing time. I dont' have a whole heap to share, just mainly some layouts that i worked on over the weekend.
We did have to take little man Rylan up to the hospital Sunday evening - kiddo took a spill and split his chin. Why oh why do head wounds have to bleed soooo much!!! I was freaking, kiddo was screaming and no-one quite knew what they were doing. But within the hour all was calm again - they patched little man up ....well glued him up i should say and he was home getting heaps of cuddles.
Poor kiddo - he has had a rough run since we've moved to Rocky - first the headlice shaved head, then the viral rash that came out in blisters all over his body and now this. Hopefully this is the last of his bad luck run - keep fingers crossed.

Nothing else interesting to share - has just been a week of mundane things - like Nick losing his school hat already ....it didn't even make the first week!! Steven's been flat out at work and is currently working six days a week - poor bugger is just so tired at nights and is crashing pretty early. Makes it a bit boring round here for me, i have no -one to talk to in the evenings. It does however give me time to sit at my desk and scrap in peace once they're all in bed. But that does get kinda boring after a while as well.
Scrapping wise things are going great. Having fun with all the challenges and such for Embellished. Have gotten back into my Scrapgenie stash and am creating layouts for class kits and DT layouts. Had another layout picked up by Scrapbook Creations, so that brings my tally for the year to eight layouts now - all in all its going well. Finding time to have a play with new tricks and styles - sometimes it works, somtimes it doesn't lol.
Well i think thats about all i have to share for today - its pretty boring i know, but oh well, sometimes its good to just have a quiet period in life.
Will leave you with these layouts.
Take care and will catch up again soon.

Julie xx




Saturday, February 03, 2007

February kit layouts........

Well its been a week since i last popped in. I know I've been busy.....am SO TIRED....... but for the life of me I just cannot remember what it is that i've done.

- We've done school everyday of the week so thats been early mornings.

-I've taken up walking through the botanic gardens for an hour when its just Rylan and I - pushing his big pram up and down the hills there has surely got to be good excersise lol - and its nice and peacefull as well.

-The house is nice and clean after a HUGE clean up this morning. We've had a bit of rain and the gloomy light just seems to make everything look dirty and messy - so everything is in its proper place for a couple of days hopefully.

-Went out for coffee and lunch with Ali yesterday - was great to have some adult company with no kiddo's around. Very relaxing - did a bit of brain storming as well.

- Maddy had to have a tooth pulled on Thursday - the poor poor kiddo!! She had an old filling half fall out and well eventually got an abscess, so they decided it had to come out so up to the hospital we went. Man the thing was HUGE!! Little kiddo did awesome though, didn't take them long at all.

Well i can't really think of anything else to share - seems a little boring but it has just been a draining week. The new kit for Embellished has been released - 'LUSH AND LAVISH' ......is just a gorgeous kit. Here are the creations i've made with it so far and i still have some bits left over for a couple more i reckon. They're a little relaxed for me, a little more subdued i think - not so over the top as i can do them sometimes....but am really happy with all of them.

Well I'll leave you with the pix of the layouts then guys. Thanks for dropping by and will catch up again soon - hopefully i'll be a little more energetic then.

take care

Julie xx