Bye Bye Blogger...

http://nztreasure.wordpress.com/

I am on the move. See you over there. :O)

Scrap Camp '08

The Scenery

The Layouts

It was a very fun weekend, a total eyeopener for me. I learnt some new things. Some of those new things I would have preferred to stay in the dark about. I don't think I will ever forget the drive up and the first hand experience of bad tourist drivers - being passed by a camper van on the Devils Staircase and seeing a couple of camper vans coming the other way really gets the heart pumping.

Queenstown is a stunning place to visit at any time of the year, and this weekend was no exception. The Lakeland was gorgeous - thanks to the organizers for fabulous accommodation, fabulous food and thank you to Scrapbook Outlet and Scrapbook Essentials for the fabulous make intakes. I've made the acrylic album, will share later. I'm planning to print some pictures to do the chipboard album. I think I had a wonderfully productive weekend scrapping wise. Now the trick is to keep the momentum going and try to scrap more on a more regular basis.

Busy, busy

not anymore! Yippee I'm packed for The Retreat - I don't think I'm taking that much do you - although my desk has never looked so tidy and lonesome. Only 2 more sleeps for me and then its a weekend of scrapbooking, and fun with fabulous friends. Sounds almost amazingly to good to be true!
Tomorrow I have to bake (okay my wall oven is busted but I'm sure I can whip up muffins in my benchtop oven - they are actually quite yummy cooked in that because the top gets a wee crust) and I have to go to the supermarket and stock the cupboards for Leo and the kids so they dont tell me they starved and had to have takeaways for every meal! I have to keep it basic because Leo's idea of cooking is peeling a massive pot of potatoes... thats it lol!

I have been surfing around for some different storage ideas and whats out there is just fabulous, some ideas are really doable - I say doable because honestly some very lucky people have scraprooms that the done over with the budget we have to do over the kitchen!
If you get the time check out this - Michelle sent it to me and I told Leo it looked easy and he has measured my bookcase that sits behind my scrap table - so maybe I will have this in the very close future : sticker storage.
But I just love these Ribbon Rings, I have oodles of ribbon but hardly any of it is on reels so the gorgeous little ribbon holders are no use to me. My ribbon is in glass jars all nicely muddled up.

In my travels on the WWW I find so many cool creative ideas but this one just 'rocks'. Jess and I are going to head out to Riverton in the near future - it has the best rocks for this and have a go at making these.

And a great site for all you challenge junkies. One goal I set myself this year to journal more - check out The Journaler's Junction for the neatest prompts and challenges and inspiration.

Planning...

what to take on a scrap retreat is not as easy as I thought it would be! I want to take everything in case I forget something really important, and its not like I can pop home and get it! I'm guessing I will have a number of half done layouts done at camp and finish them when I get home. I do know that the March issue of Creating Keepsakes is coming with me - the article called Finish 5 Projects Today - get more pages and cards done with Easy Patterns - looks so cool this month. The concept is to create multiple projects with just a handful of supplies. Its probably very easy in theory - lol!
My niece has come for a visit. She lives in Perth Australia - my oldest sister having jumped the ditch nearly 10 years ago - check out his layout I did awhile back of her leaving - Tina is standing in front of her mother - and thats the last time I seen her...until she walked through the airport gate last night! OMG hasn't she grown up!? Her and Ashleigh have been making plans since the laid eyes on each other. Donna's 2 girls and Ashleigh were so close growing up, it was really difficult for Ash when Donna left. They have 2 weeks now to catch up. Mum I think was the most emotional - she last seen Tina 7 years ago! I don't begrudge Donna leaving for a better life - but I just wished she had of gone somewhere a little closer. 10 years is far to long! Okay my sneaky peeks from a week or so back have been published in a fabulous online EZine put together by Scrapbook Outlet. It was a big thing for me when I was asked, no one had ever asked me to do that before so I'm talking major confidence boost and head swell - trust me I'm really hard to live with now - lol!AND finally tonight I'm the proud owner of this totally awesome book I just love how adventurous it is. This book has opened a whole new world for me I am a font lover from way back and a huge huge fan now of dingbats (thank you Mz Renfree - her fault - lol) so this book is just perfectly perfect in every way.

Lookie Here

Thanks Trace for the totally neat wee "Funky Blog.
Now I have to admit I could never figure out how people seem to know that my blog had been updated - almost before I knew??!! I have the subscription doohickey but that has a few hours delay.
Anyhoo I was reading on the SE forum about Bloglines and you could have quite literally seen the lightbulb go on over my head. Now I have loaded all the blogs I read on regular basis onto it and you would think I invented it - man it rocks!! :o)
I can see this being a major time saver. So big thanks to Hannah for her random post that got me there

Here goes...

First things first - we popped all the names in a bowl and Brooke pulled out a piece of paper with the name Vicki on it - so Vicki I owe you!! ;o) but here are some flowers in the meantime, lol. Don't forget to PIF and make someone else's day.Its been an awful week here with a gastro bug laying the 2 males down low. Poor Josef was so upset he couldn't participate in his school sports day. With all the news about the low water levels and the negative effect the dairy farmers are having on our environment we have banned drinking tap water here until we get a filter/purifier installed. Ive been buying water and its not a cheap option but since we have been drinking bottled water both Jess and I have noticed we don't have queasy tummies anymore. Call me paranoid but we are just so sick of being sick! So if anyone else has a filter/purifier I'd love to know what you think of it and the ongoing costs if any.
On the scrapping front - its been pretty quiet - Ive been just to tired to scrap, to many sleepless nights make Julie a grumpy toad. So I was pretty pleased last night to find the energy and inspiration to whip up this layout of a Friday night challenge that was based on Ali Edwards use of patterned papers. Hands up those who like me have a teeny tiny issue with patterns? LOL its fun to be challenged and then really enjoy the process AND overcome that teeny tiny issue and discover patterns aren't so darn scary after all.

Pay it forward.

Now Neen PIFed me this gorgeous notebook - how cool is that. So I will pick a name from my comment box of todays post and PIF someone - gotta love this piffing - lol!!
Neen also had the task of scrapping a layout for me in response to a draw at Jack Me Up in December. I emailed her a photo and she sent this back - it is stunning Neen!! Thank you so much.And to round out this post - I have a sneak peek - I have completed 2 layouts for an ezine and just love them - had to share - lolThank you all for the wonderful comments about my layouts - it is amazing to read them and it gives me those warm fuzzies that so many of you like what I do.