an amazing weekend

I was lucky enough this weekend to spend time scrapping with some amazing friends in Melbourne. It was great to finally to meet some of my online friends for the first time. :-) I would like to thank Malinda for all of the hard work that she put in to make the weekend a success.

I was very excited to meet this girl IRL.

When Bec told me she was coming I was so excited. We have so much in common especially our wicked (and some times crude hee hee) sense of humor ;-)

And what's a scrappy blog post without sharing a layout with you?

Most of my layouts over the weekend were for our overseas holiday album. I love this photo of the girls, they look like they actually like each other here :-/

My little break away is quickly coming to a end. Tamara, Scott and their beautiful children have made me feel so welcome in their home. I am definately going to miss them when I leave for home tomorrow, but I can't wait to give my girls and Craig big hugs and kisses tomorrow night. Time away from home certainly makes you appreciate what a wonderful little family I have.

Ok, enough of the soppy stuff lol. Until next time

D xxx

are you there?

Blog land seems to be a bit quiet out there?  Does anyone read blogs anymore? I know I sometimes flick through and look at the photos and not really read what is being said. But I do try and comment of my 'friends' blogs if I have the time.

As I was reading Marcia's blog post this afternoon I thought I would share what I was currently doing as well :-)

Reading: Reading is another one of my great passions. It always has been. I love getting lost in a book, And I love discussing them with like minded people...I was so excited to find  the website goodreads. It is both a website and an app for your iPad/iPhone/iPod. 

At the moment I am reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. 

Good reads give this book a 3 1/2 star rating so I thought I would give it a go. It is very slow going, nothing really seems to be happening but I will plod through!

Watching:  my beautiful girls growing up far to fast. For those of you that don't know I have two teenage daughter, Kirsten, 15 and Amanda, 13. And boy oh boy are we having some trying and stressful times with them, but I am also having some amazing times as well. I would do anything to take these damn spiraling hormones away from them and and wrap them in cotton wool to give them a easy life. But I do know I need them to develop their own place in the world and they do have their own personalities, even if they frustrate the hell out of me on a hourly basis... they are who they are and I need to remember that. I also need to take a deep breath and not lose the plot with them either. 

Working On:  finding balance in my life. I work hard at keeping my head in the right space and fighting to keep my depression at arms length. And I do this by doing what I love, being with people who love me and stepping away from things that bring me back down. And that last one is probably the hardest of all. I am a nurturer by nature and I try to help people, but I am starting to realise that sometimes I am the one that needs help.  And I have an amazing circle of friends that I know I can count on when I need them. And to you I thank you from the bottom of my heart xoxoxo

Thinking About:  To steal the words off Marcia ---- Not a hell of a lot really. Just whatever the day presents. I try not to think too much as I have a tendency to over think EVERYTHING! 

Anticipating: oh boy! this is a good one! I am heading to Melbourne on Wednesday and I am anticipating that I am going to have an amazing time meeting up with old and new friends and scrapping the weekend away.. CAN.NOT.WAIT!

Listening: I really can't stand absolute quiet, I think it is because my mind starts to wander and start that over thinking thing again. There is always background noise here at home, whether it is the tv or music.. the only time that I like quiet is when I am reading, then I can escape into that world.

Eating: Eating is always on my mind... telling myself that whatever I am about to eat/ cook is bad/good for me. Over the last year I have gained 10kg. I know it isn't necessarily what I am putting in my mouth that is the problem. I DO know that the cocktail of drugs that I take everyday to keep my depression at bay is mostly to blame... but as I told my husband the other day - I would rather be fat and happy then skinny and in a bad place. I know I have to eat super clean and exercise if I want to get back to my goal weight, but I also know you have to find that balance we call 'life'

Wishing: health and happiness to my family and all of my gorgeous friends... I have quite a few friends over the years that have fought hard against illness...some have been blessed with good results and others not so.  They are never far from my heart or thoughts....

So there is a little bit about me and who I am... why not tell us a bit about yourself and leave the link in my comments section so that I can pop by and say hi

Thanks for dropping by

kraft it up

Kraft it up is another challenge that I haven't done since last year. But after seeing the criteria I definately had to do it!


This month KIU wants you to use Kraft CS or PP as your base and we want to see another THREE kraft items on your layout, these can be anything as long as they are KRAFT, everything is else is up to you!!!

I have used some raw chipboard, JBS Kraft Corrugated Apha and a Kraft shipping tag. 


Thanks for dropping by

a savvy sketch

It's been along time since I played along with the girls at Savvy. So I thought I would dive right in starting with Sara's Sketch

I struggled with this one a bit as my scrapping style has changed and I don't use a lot of patterned paper on my layouts anymore. But I am pretty happy how this one turned out. I have used some photos of Craig at the cooking class that we did as part of our tour of Vietnam.

I spy someA 'lil somethin buttons and a cog and also a Purple Pumpkin button... I love using handmade embellies on my layouts. Especially if they are made by my friends.

Scrapbook Savvy is holding a cybercrop this weekend and I am definatley playing along. Lauren and I are doing a road trip to our gorgeous friend Lisa's for a scrappy weekend so I am planning on getting them all done there as I am leaving for a retreat in Melbourne next Wednesday and I need to start thinking about packing  LOL

thanks for dropping by

are you joining us?

Are you joining us at Scrap the Girls this month? Come on, I know you want to ;)
Malinda has a nice easy sketch for you this month

Looking forward to seeing your layouts

april challenge heaven

A new month means new challenges. My challenge this month is now up at Challenge Heaven

Banners/ Bunting seems to be a trend in Scrapbooking at the moment. So my Challenge this month is to create a layout using Banners. You can have large ones like the one that I have used below or smaller ones or even both :)

I hope you can all give this one a go!

thanks for popping by

D xxx

april already???

wowsers! I can't believe how fast this year is going! Easter is just around the corner and the girls have finished the first term of school. It seems like only yesterday that I dropped them off for the first day of school!

But the beginning of the month is always my favourite time as all the new challenges are released :)) I loved the Scrap the Girls sketch that Malinda had given the DT to work with this month.

It really suited the minimalistic style that I have been doing lately.

I love these photos of Kirst that I found on my iPad. One day she will learn to delete them before I get my hands on them bahahahahahaha!

Looking forward to seeing your Scrap the Girls entries
D xxx