Reflections of last year

The photo below was taken on the 1st July last year. This photo makes me really look back at where Seekara has come from in a year. Poor Seekara had to have her nasal passages scraped, a silica patch put on her right ear drum and her adenoids removed to stop her from being sick all the time with congested ear/throat/nose passageways. Her adenoids were so big it was pushing everything out through her tear ducts so she looked like she was constantly crying or had gunky eyes.

She was so brave for her operation at Colin Street Day Surgery. Her Doctor (the fantastic Dr Harvey Coates) was amazing and so was the lovely anaesthetist who told her a fairy tale as she went to sleep. The poor thing was so sick when she woke up from her operation and she didn't talk or smile until about 11pm that night when we asked her if she wanted some ice cream. We felt so bad that she was so miserable and it made us question whether we had actually done the right thing but we knew we had. In the long run she would be much healthier. Since then she has had a skin graft on her ear drum (the silica patch didn't work). We have the top passageways sorted we just have to get her right with her asthma and hearing loss from all the ear infections she has had on the way. Its funny though - she is such a happy kid and being sick with colds, chest infections and ear infections was the norm for Seekara. It was what she had since she was born so it didn't really bother her. We know now though we are on the right track and in the scheme of things it has been a minor problem compared to what some other kids face every day with other illnesses so we are grateful for that.

Papers used include KI Memories (love Elsie), Basic Grey Bittersweet, Kaiser Craft with embellishments from Tinkering Ink and Heidi Grace. Punch from Fiskars.

I made this canvas for a sweet little four year old, Brooke, for her fourth birthday yesterday. I used papers from Creative Imaginations, Sandylion, & K & Co. Embellishments were from Collections, Creative imaginations stickers, Kaiser bling, K & Co embellishments & Kaiser flowers.

This was a layout for the surprise baby shower that dear Rhonda and daughter Renee held for me last year. They told me it was a Tupperware party! (See entry from June last year on my blog).

I used Hambly Screen Prints, Autumn Leaves paper, Kaiser bling, Cricut die cut (new Arrival). Instead of using a title I took a photo of the Baby Shower sign Renee had made. I like to improvise for titles. I have also written titles in the sand or taken photos of signs as titles in the past.

I love this range - guess who???? Basic Grey of course - Eva range. This photo was taken a year ago when we went out for tea with Ken & Rhonda at the Seasons. I cut out a flower from some lace to make a nice little embellishment also.

Memories.... These photos were taken at my cousin Rhiannons 21st birthday about 4 or 5 years ago now. The photos are of the four older cousins - myself, Kade (my brother) and our cousins Ryan and Rhiannon. We have always grown up pretty close together which is really nice.

The page was made using Basic Grey Granola papers & Collections papers. Embellishments were from Basic Grey, Green Tara flowers and the Cricut.

Junior Soccer Season has begun in Newman

My eldest daughter Seekara played her first game of soccer on the weekend. It was so cute. I cant believe how small the soccer field is. She is playing for Cosmos in the Under 7 Juniors division. Soccer is huge in Newman. Despite the thought of the 8:30 am games on Saturday mornings (especially with Mum's 8:15 pm netball games on Friday night!) we are really looking forward to the season and watching our little girl get out there every week to have some fun. We really thought she would be too shy to even get onto the field but she loved it. Had to share a snap shot..... On the RTlicious scene. I am still going with some Basic Grey Lime Rickey papers I bought. These papers are so cool - especially for kids layouts! I bought five papers, the chipboard stickers and elements stickers and with some bits and pieces I already had at home have manged to get 5 layouts of this lot so far - with still some more to spare. Here is another layout recently completed:


Basic Grey Card Kits are so easy and fun. Even my Mum( a total non card maker) bought a pack recently because they are just so lovely and easy to do. You just punch the coordinating parts out of the die cut packs. Stick on your coordinating chipboard stickers and follow the instructions with coordinating paper pieces and card. All you need is some glue and either a black or white pen. Perfect for the plane. In fact, recently a friend of mine had a long journey to Ireland so she took a few different Basic Grey card packs on the plane. Good thinking Orla!

I recently completed these cards from the Basic Grey Wisteria, Lima Rickey and Marrakech card packs with my four year old daughter. It was lots of fun and so so easy to do. She had fun too because it was her job to match all the numbers up for each card.



Another Basic Grey layout... This time using Granola and Periphery ranges with Prima flowers and bling.

Mothers Day

Hi to all the lovely Mothers out there. I hope you all had a beautiful Mothers Day. I have been lucky enough to have my Mum up here for Mothers Day which has been really nice. I get to treat Mum by making sure she relaxes for 9 days and the girls get to play with Nan which is really nice. its a big effort for Mum seeing she has never travelled alone without Dad before and considering her fear of flight and her back pain.

The ball on Saturday gone was beautiful. I thought all the senior students looked beautiful. Here is a pic of our youngest niece with her partner Thomas... they looked very smart together.

Here are a few new layouts. Enjoy....

Using the bright and cheerful new Basic Grey Lime Rickey range

Using Urban Lily, Basic Grey Granola and Marakech range

Using papers from Jenni Bowlin , Hambly Screen Prints, KI Memories (love Elsie) & Sassfrass. Embellishments from Basic Grey, American Crafts, My Minds Eye, Kaiser Craft and Autumn Leaves.

Preparing for Mothers Day

I'm really excited - my Mumsy is coming up to Newman this year for Mother's Day. It will be nice to have Mum here for Mother's Day and it will be lovely for her to see the girls. I think Mum is really looking forward to all the sports watching too - she will get to see two games of my netball, one game of Darryl's footy game in Veterans and Seekara's first ever soccer game next weekend. Not to mention watching me chase after Cheekah all day saying No Cheekah! which really is sport of its own!

In preparation for Mothers Day this year I decided to make both mothers of our family and my Nan a canvas tile with pictures of loved ones in the tiles. Here is what I came up with:

I have now started making one of for Seekara's little friends at kindy for his fourth birthday this weekend. Will be interesting to see how a boy tile canvas turns out.

I have been doing some layouts for our new released products this week. These layouts are using parts from Basic Grey's Lime Rickey range. Lime Rickey is just so bright and colourful and you will love the big googly eyed birds in the range too.

Can you guess who the Wally in my page is???? Picture taken at Hunter Valley April 2009.

Below is a picture of Maddy and Seekara at last years Newman High School Ball. The students walk into the Recreation Centre in their gorgeous attire in front of the public. It is really lovely to see what they are all wearing and a nice little outing in Newman. We have been lucky the past three years with having a niece in the ball each year. This year the youngest Castelli girl will be celebrating her year 12 ball. I cant wait to see her gorgeous dress on her. Next year certainly will not be as exciting without one of the girls in the ball parade. My sister and law has also been busy with organising the ball's theme and events. Dianne has been involved for quite a while in this and she really is a clever lady. You should see the way they transform a normal gymnasium into a ball wonderland to match each year's theme. It 's amazing. I cant wait to see the gym this year. This year's theme is PARIS!
This layout was used some embellishments from the Lime Rickey Range, Collections chipboard (I love the new little banners!); American Crafts rubons, German Scrap, Paper by K & Co and Cherry Arte; Flowers by Green Tara, Letters - Carolee's Creations, Basic Grey and American Crafts. Cherry Bling from Creative Imaginations.

Been busy creating...

I have had such a productive week! I have completed 14 layouts now bringing me only 11 months behind now :( hubby has been on nights this week so with the kids in bed I got lots done.

On top of this I have completed a mini canvas for my daughter's friend. It was actually Seekara's idea. She was watching me do my large tile canvas and asked if she could do one for her friend for her birthday - I thought it was a fabulous idea. Seekara helped with the painting, gluing, sanding and inking. See even four year olds can join in with projects like this!

I have now started some mini canvases for my Mumsy, Mother in law and Nansy. I am officially addicted to tiles! Hopefully I will have them ready to show by next week.

Here are a few of my fave projects completed for the week:

Gift for Seekara's friends birthday - using collections tiles, making memories paper, Kasier wood embellishment, Love Elsie buttons, K & Co embellishments and other bits and pieces. Broken jewellery and children's trinkets make great embellishments on these canvases. Even better - go through a man's shed - its amazing what bits and pieces you can find. Check out Tracy's blog - her hubby found some old cupboard handles whilst cleaning out the shed - perfect for a canvas!

My brother Kade and his beautiful wife Jacqui on their night - layout using K & Co papers & embellishments, Letters by Carolee's Creations and Basic Grey. The flower was made from ribbons and some spare material.
Seekara adores her Uncle Kade and Aunt Jacqui - papers and embellishments from Basic Grey Infuse Collection, Scissor Sisters paper, Bird and brackets from Collections, Hambly Screen Prints rubons.

Its not everyday a Newman kid gets to make a sandcastle on the beach - I think Seekara enjoyed it too :) hehe Papers by Creative Imaginations, Seven Gypsies, Collections & ProvoCraft. Letters from American Crafts. Castle and lettering from Cricut Storybook and Stretch Your Imagination.

Me - 7 months pregnant and proud. Basic Grey Granola Collection, Kaiser pearls and Fancy Pants stamps.

Thanks for looking!

Wilson Canvas

I finished my canvas tonight and was so excited that I wanted to share! I want to complete more now. It was so much fun! I cant wait to hang it up!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! Hope you had a lovely long Easter weekend. We certainly did. Lots of photos for Cheekah's very first Easter - that girl loves chocolate. Here is a cute little pic of Cheekah devouring her choccie...

Rhonda and I returned from SIA a few weeks back and just starting to get back into the swing of things again. As well as staying in Sydney for SIA we holidayed in Sydney and Canberra for 9 days with Rhonda and Ken. Together the 4 of us saw heaps, including two tours. Darryl and I (pictured above) loved the Featherdale Wildlife Park. This is only a smallish park but the animal keepers were very helpful and allowed you to touch most of the animals including a python, a tawny frog mouth and a koala. We loved it. The park was part of a tour to the Blue Mountains with Activity Tours Australia. We had a fantastic tour with guide Steve. Steve was so knowledgeable and really made this tour thoroughly enjoyable.

We were also very lucky to have our very own tour guides in Canberra (Paul and Robin Dearlove). Robin is a dear old friend of mine and lives in Canberra with her hubby Paul. They showed us so many things about Canberra. My highlight was the Parliament house tour - the tour guide was extremely full of knowledge and made the tour very interesting. Best of all - its free! The war museum was another personal favourite - this place is amazing. I thought Canberra was really nice. There is so much to do there and best of all most of it is free or a gold coin donation entry fee. We have to go back to see the rest at some stage because two days is just not enough!

Here are a few recent layouts... Enjoy

Using new Pink Paisley range

Using new Kaiser food range
Our kids class from Thrusday 16th April. The girls really loved this class and

did some gorgeous pages. The girls ages ranged from 6 - 13.

Tenaha :)