What a Weekend!

"Race Round" is over for another year in Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the 3 major race meetings have been blessed with the most glorious weather (much to the delight of all the ladies and their hats, fascinators etc.). 
Yesterday was the final day of race round and this is celebrated by "Coolgardie Day" which is basically a fun day which has markets, stalls a parade etc.
We had the AGM and a club run at the gokarts so we went there for the day.
Again, the day started off perfectly, the sun was shining, the birds were singing etc. but then a bit of wind started to blow....and it got stronger and we could see big black clouds descending on us at a rapid rate.  There was also thick dust and it was getting worse.  Chairs started blowing away, 44 gallon drums started to blow over and I was getting a bit concerned.  We were at the pit bays which is a fancy name for a concrete floor and a tin roof!!  As the wind got stronger and the dust got thicker I said to Dean "Should we go and shelter behind the sea container", to which he replied "No, I don't want to leave the gokart on its own"    !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
So, realising my status in life, I suggested that we take the gokart with us and seek shelter behind the sea container.  Dean thought this was a good idea so he carefully wheeled the kart to safety.
Once the gokart was safely protected by the sea container we decided to put a few things in the boot of the car and as we were doing this we heard a horrendous roaring, cracking sound and saw people running.  I looked up and saw that the timing tower was completely gone and all that was left was the uprights at the bottom of the building.  I will never forget the feeling that I had when I saw this as, like just about everyone else there, I thought that there were people in the timing tower and I knew that there would be death or serious injury due to the fact that there was nothing left of the building. 
Thankfully, the ladies that were in the building had decided to evacuate it 5 minutes before it was destroyed and no one was hurt.
The building and everything in it that was lost can be replaced but precious lives can't be.
Here are some pics for you.
Nic xxx


The storm moving across the track

Image provided by Lee-Anne Martin


What the timing tower used to look like

Image from http://www.speedcafe.com/2011/09/18/karting-officials-escape-death-in-wind-storm/

What the timing tower looks like now!

Images provided by Lee-Anne Martin

Sketchabilities

I found another challenge blog the other day called Sketchabilities.....I am so addicted to these blogs!! If only I didn't have to work I would have more time to scrap!!!
Here is my layout for the sketch provided.

Nic xxx

Sunday Drive

Every weekend lately seems to be a blur of housework, gardening and maintenance so about the middle of last week I asked Dean if we could go for a drive out to Lake Douglas and have a picnic lunch on Sunday.
I woke up yesterday and made up some rolls and a fruit platter for us and we set off to Lake Douglas which is a man made lake about 10kms out of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. 
After turning off the main highway onto a gravel road with a convoy of other cars in front and behind us (of which every one seemed to have a dirt bike or 4 wheeler in tow), I could feel Dean tensing up and he started complaining about the off road bikes, the noise, the dust etc. so when he said "We should go to Coolgardie and have a look around", I agreed and we turned around and promptly left Lake Douglas and all the bikes.
We ended up doing a 220km "Sunday Drive" to Coolgardie, Rowles Lagoon (which sounds like a lovely place but due to no water is just flat brown dirt), Ora Banda, Broad Arrow and finally back to Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
I took my camera with us but after taking 3 pictures realised that my battery was about to go flat so I could probably only get one more shot in.  I wanted a photo of both of us so I quickly threw the camera on the bonnet of ute, set the self timer and ran like the wind to get back on the picnic table (looking relaxed and at ease) before our picture was taken.
Here it is (please note that the angle of the photo is due to the bonnet not being flat!!).

After a bit of a rough start, we had the most wonderful time and Dean was so enthused by the time we got home he went straight down the shed and made up a tripod to hold a billy over a campfire so I can have a cuppa next time we go out bush......I wonder if he could whip up a tripod for my camera.........
Love Nic xxx

A Bit of a CATastrophe!

My friend Jenny left Kalgoorlie today with her Mum and two of their friends to go on a 3 night cruise off Fremantle so I volunteered to dogsit her fur baby "Lucy".
Jenny dropped Lucy off last night to our house and we settled down to watch TV for the night with Lucy lying at the back sliding door looking in. 
Our youngest cat "Agro" noticed Lucy and the next thing we knew, his hackles were up, his tail had doubled in size and he was spitting and trying to get at Lucy through the glass door.  I told Dean to grab Agro while I went outside and showed Lucy where her bed was. 
The next thing I have Dean holding the side of his face and yelling at me to "HELP" him.  I get to the back door and say in an aggitated voice "WHAT??" and he tells me that Agro has scratched him and he needs me to help him.  So I promptly tell him, "You'll be OK, your not gonna die!" and that I will be there in a minute.  I am just getting inside and the next thing I know, Dean is chasing after Agro, lunges at him, misses and ends up on the floor!!!
So after telling Dean to get up, I finally have a look at his face which he has tissues held up against and see that Agro did a good job on him!  There were 4 large, deep scratches across the side of his face and there was quite a bit of blood.  So after rummaging through the first aid kit, Dean had one side of his face covered in large wound dressings (not so much because the wounds were bad, but because I didn't want the blood or betadine ointment leaking onto my white sheets and pillowcases).  Anyway, this morning, after ripping out half the whiskers from Dean's face when taking the dressings off, the wounds don't look too bad and a couple of butterfly stitches are now doing the job nicely.   Dean is still not talking to Agro.  Agro is oblivious to any wrong doing.
PLEASE NOTE:  No cats or dogs were harmed in the above incident, (only 1 human).

Nic xx

P.S.  Mugshot below of the culprit!

Black with 2

I stumbled across a new challenge blog site the other day, purely by accident, so I thought I would have a crack at it.
The challenge site is called Black With Two and the criteria for August's challenge is;

ON A BLACK CARDSTOCK BACKGROUND, GREEN WITH NO FLOWERS
So here is my entry.

Nic x

Kraft It Up!

I had a lovely night on Friday, Jenny and Dee came over for a scrap night and it was great to catch up with them.  Unfortunately, I was feeling really exhausted and only managed to get one layout done :-(

So here is my Kraft It Up! entry for August.
This month's challenge is a sketch.

Nic x

Stuck?!

I haven't attempted any challenges since March, but I have now got my mojo back and thought I would start off with one of my favourite challenge blog sites. So here is my entry for the 1st August 2011 Stuck?! sketch.



Enjoy!

Nic x

The sketch was provided by CT member Louise Nelson.

Retreat Layouts

OK, well it is time to confess up about the retreat and how many layouts I completed....or rather didn't complete :-)

I only managed to complete 4 and a half layouts which pales in comparison to my scrappy friends Kristy (a massive 20 layouts and winner of Scrapbook Queen..YAY!)  and Jenny (a huge 10 layouts!).

I think I spent too much time having fun and talking and forgot that I was actually there to Scrapbook!!

I met some lovely, talented ladies and had a fantastic time with Sharyn and Amie who were also on our table.

Anyway, here are three of the layouts that are complete.

Nic x

This layout was from Circle of Friends Kaiserkraft Kit Klub

This layout was from Circle of Friends Kaiserkraft Kit Klub

I Can't Believe How Long It Has Been!!

It is over 4 months since I last posted on here so I thought I had better get my act together and at least write something!!!
Work has been so crazy it is not funny.  It really does get in the way of my scrapbooking :-) but I guess that until I win lotto I will have to keep working to support my habit!
I have just had the best weekend at a Scrap Away in WA retreat in Yanchep.  It was so much fun and even though I didn't get many layouts done, I had a fantastic time and can't wait to go on another one!
I will post my layouts as soon as I have photographed them and downloaded them but in the meantime here is a layout I completed in March.

Take care

Love Nic x

Inspired Blueprints

Here is my first layout for Inspired Blueprints.  I have been trying since Friday night to get this layout done but every time I got some papers together they just didn't seem to work so I would start again!!  Finally, I finished it this afternoon and I am really happy with how it came together.

Mum and Jock came up from Esperance yesterday to drop off their cat "Boots" for us to cat sit as they are heading off to New Zealand for 4 weeks with Nanna tomorrow night (lucky buggers!!!) and they drove to Perth today.
Feeling a bit sad as I will miss them heaps :-(
Feeling very happy for them as I know they will have a fantastic time and they have been waiting for ages for this holiday.
Have fun!!
Miss you heaps already and love you lots!
Nic x

Scrap The Girls

Here is my layout for the March Scrap The Girls challenge blog.  The challenge was;

To use ONE of the SHE quotes by Kobi Yamada as the title & inspiration for your LO

The quote I used was "She just has this way of brightening the day."

I adore this photo of Kenya hugging Fi just 4 days before Adrian was born.  It is a beautiful moment in time captured forever.

Enjoy your weekend.

Nic x

Kraft It Up and more excitement!

I found out this week that one of my other scrappy friends, Jenny, is coming on the "Scrap Away in WA" retreat with us at the end of July...Yay.....very excited!!  

Well, here is my first Kraft It Up challenge entry.  The requirements for this challenge blog are "to complete a challenge using Kraft and at least ONE other requirement, you can use whatever else you want but it must be on Kraft and include that month's requirement."

So, the challenge for March is;

to incorporate the following saying on your layout, this could be using it as your title or in your journaling...

"There is no greater gift than today"

Here is my layout.

Nic x

White With 1 March

I was two thirds really happy when I read the March challenge for White With 1.  The challenge is;
To create a layout using

WHITE .......No problems at all
+
BRIGHT PINK.........Even better!  Every one that knows me knows I LOVE pink!
+
ARTISAN SHAPES/ARTISAN PRODUCTS*...........WHAT THE ???????????

Thankfully......after recovering from a mild panic attack, I kept reading on and there was a description (and pictures!!) of what Artisan Shapes and Products are (thanks so much to all at WW1 on behalf of all the uninitiated).
Low and behold, I just happen to have some Artisan Products in my scrap collection (mental note to self.....it helps to read the packaging of the products you get in your kits and not just admire how pretty they are!!).
For the non-scrappy people that read my blog it is the little white shape in the bottom right hand side that has journalling in it!
Nic x

Stuck?! 1st March Sketch

Here is my Stuck?! layout based on the sketch below;

Nic x

I'm so excited.....

....and I just can't hide it!!!

My scrappy friend Kristy and I are attending a scrapbooking retreat at the end of July!!
The retreat is organised by "Scrap Away In WA" and I can't wait!!!
We are staying at Club Capricorn which is near Yanchep YAY!!!

I was looking through my scrapbook albums the other day and realised that I haven't uploaded any more of my bootcamp layouts.....YES, I am still doing the Blue Bazaar Bootcamp from last year but I am really enjoying doing them at my own pace so I will get all 50 done.....eventually!!!
So here are layouts 16, 17, 18 and 19.  All sketches are designed by Becky Fleck of Pagemaps.
Enjoy!
Nic x

White With 1 February

The challenge for this month from White With 1 was;

 

WHITE + BROWN + A VINTAGE ITEM(S)
Vintage could mean anything from bookpaper, crocheted doiles, vintage photos, buttons, lace/ribbon, vintage brooches and any other ephemera.

 

I have left my layout to the last minute for this challenge as I always find vintage scrapping really hard.....but I had a creative burst on Sunday night and I really love this layout.

I have been wanting to use one of the chipboard dress forms for ages and I think it really suits this layout.  The photo is of me, my little sister and our Great Grandmother who is no longer with us but remains close to our heart thanks to our memories.

Take care

Nic x

 

Stuck?! February Sketch

I can't believe it is the end of February already!  I have been really busy lately and haven't really had a chance to get much scrapping done.  I had a few of the girls over last Friday for a scrap night which was great fun but I think we did more talking than scrapping!!!
Below is my take on Stuck?! sketches 1st February sketch:
Enjoy what is left of your weekend.
Take care
Nic x



Stuck?! Sketch

Here is my Stuck?! 1st January 2011 sketch.  Absolutely love having a sketch to work with as it means I only had to concentrate on photos, paper and embellishments!!!
Take care.

Nic x

White With 1 January Challenge

Here is my layout for the January Challenge from White With 1.  The criteria this month was;
WHITE + ROYAL OR NAVY BLUE + BANNERS

Take care

Nic x