Proud to be Australian

Well the last few weeks has been on a bit of a sad note. It certainly has made our family feel grateful for what we do have, especially each other. Two immediate family members of mine have recently lost jobs thanks to the low nickel price and economic downturn. Both of these people are skilled and trained people so it makes us all a little scared that the economy is having this impact. But with all of this, it is nothing compared to the fact that even though we are a little scared for the family, we all realise after the awful bush fires that at least we all still have each other and we still have a house over our heads.

This feeling of just being grateful for having each other has been strengthened by a recent fatality of a lifetime friend of both of my brothers. This happened all in the same time as the announcement of the awful fires in Victoria. It is very sad how quickly life can be taken away from us and certainly makes us appreciate our own health and life.

My heart goes out to all of those people that have been affected by the bush fires in Victoria and the floods in Queensland, NSW and now WA. Although I have felt very sad watching these events it has also made me feel extremely proud to be Australian to see the bravery and courage of the people affected and the heroic efforts of police, ambulance officers, firefighters, volunteers and ordinary citizens alike, to put their lives on the line to help each other. When things get tough in Australia, our strong Aussie battler spirit certainly shines through.

Here is a recent layout I have completed. I found a picture of my husband and I in 2005 and it reminded me of how I feel so treasured to have such a wonderful husband. I have added the words of our wedding song "All My Life" by KC and JoJo to the page because depicts how I feel about Darryl. I used the Bittersweet range from basic grey and Hambly Screen Prints on this page. I also used my Cricut for the trees (My Community) which made it lots of fun.

Getting the family involved in the 365 Challenge

I am having so much fun with the 365 Challenge. I love how my husband has also started thinking of photos I can take. I questioned what I could take a photo of one day last week aloud and my husband replied - how about your mess of chipboard in your box! I know he was having a dig but I though - what a great idea! So I took a photo of my organised chaos of a chipboard box - Mostly Collections chipboard of course! That night I sat down to watch a ripper of a semi final between Verdasco and Nadal and emptied my chipboard box on the floor. I then placed all the items into like bags so I could find my chipboard much easier. Remember - what you don't see you don't use! The next day I took photo of my new lovely box of very organised chipboard.

Not only did I get two pictures for my 365 challenge but I also got a very organised chipboard box. When I went to fond an owl the other day it took me 5 seconds to find rather than half an hour of searching and my chipboard spread all over the floor just to find its wings!

I am looking forward to what other ideas my family comes up with. Some other photos I have taken this week is my Vicks Vapouriser Unit (Cheekah and I have been sick this week) and a redback (right before I squashed it and her four mates!)

There are a few girls catching up this week at RTlicious to pool our ideas for the 365 challenge. If you would like to join us or just like to know some of our ideas please fell free to drop us an email at rtlicious@bigpond.com

I just wanted to share some projects from this week. Here is a wedding guest book i finished for my friend Mel. She wanted this as a gift for her sister and law's wedding guest book. I hope she likes it.

The layout was completed using the Bittersweet range from Basic Grey and Collections Chipboard. Check it out at RTlicious.

I had to share this pic - this is my bug grown up kindy girl. She just started her first day at Kindy on Monday. They grow up way too fast.