Christmas Card Frenzy

I had a great afternoon scrapping last Sunday with Kristy and Tanya.  I made a heap of Christmas cards and absolutely loved doing it.
Hoping to get the rest of them made this weekend.

 

I also made a card for my Godson who turned 5 this month.

And we got very spoilt by Tanya and Adam as they gave us this gorgeous little cat for Christmas.

Love Nic x

Nearly December!!!!

WOW!! I don't know where the year has gone!
It seems like only a couple of months ago that I was blogging about it being a New Year and here we are sliding into December.

OK, so a bit of an update in what is going on in my life.....

Sadly, just over 2 weeks ago, my Grandmother passed away and although it broke my heart to say goodbye to her, I know that she was ready to go and I will treasure all the years we had with her.  

On a brighter note, I was able to be in Perth to celebrate my niece's 5th Birthday with her and made a cake for her which you can see below.

Life has been so full on lately doing great things with great people and really enjoying ourselves.

As you can see by my lack of blogging, I haven't done very much scrapping at all lately but last night I went to a Stampin Up party and we made 4 Christmas Cards which were designed by Demonstrator Jessica Kassman.

I had a fantastic time meeting new people and making cards and I am now totally inspired to start making more cards!

Here are the fabulous cards that Jessica had us make.

 

 

Love Nic xxx

Retreat

Last Friday morning I caught the train to Merredin and was met at the station by my gorgeous friends Sharyn and Amie.  We drove to Sharyn's home in Kellerberrin, had lunch, then set off to a scrapbooking retreat at Bruce Rock which was held by Country Papercraft.
Marg holds these retreats on her farm and there are spaces for 12 people at a time.
Accommodation on the farm is in either the old railway barricks (which originally came from Merredin) or a donga which they are currently renovating. 
Marg has a HUGE shop which we all scrap in and meals are eaten in her house.
I shared one of the railway barricks with Amie and Sharyn was in the donga with another of her friends.
I had a fantastic time and spent most of the weekend laughing...and I also did a bit of scrapbooking!
I don't have any pages to show you as I spent all weekend making up two albums out of cardstock (thanks to Amie for her incredible patience and skills as my "teacher").
The "bones" of the albums are made but I still have a HEAP of work to do decorating them and putting in photos etc. so I will post pictures as soon as I have finished them.
I am posting a photo of a layout below which I started two weeks ago and have only just finished this week.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  I have also posted a few photos from the retreat.

Lots of love

Nic x

 

The room that Amie and I shared

Everyone hard at work

Sharyn and I went for a walk on Saturday afternoon and the dogs joined us (the other dog was camera shy).

Some of the locals

Caught out with some of my purchases!! 

Can you tell we don't have a scrapbook shop in Kalgoorlie!!

White With 1

One of my New Year resolutions this year was to play along with more scrapbook challenges and like most of my resolutions, this one has fallen by the wayside. 
We are now almost halfway through 2012 and I have finally completed one challenge...yay!!!
So here is my entry for White With 1.
The criteria was:

WHITE
+
PALE BLUE
+
FLAGS

Love Nic x

A Holiday and a New Hobby!

Just under two weeks ago, we got back from an 11 night cruise to the South Pacific.  My beautiful cousin Leanne and her fiance Keith were married during the cruise and I was also lucky enough to celebrate my birthday while on the cruise.
This was our third cruise and we have already booked another one for next year as we enjoy them so much.  There is always so many different things happening throughout the day when you are on the ship and one of the things they offer is quilling which I have wanted to learn for a while now.  I missed the first day of quilling as I was doing something else but the second day, I decided that I would make sure I went along to see what it was like. 
When I got to the bar that it was being held in there was no-one there except me but as I was sitting there, contemplating finding another bar that I could at least get a Margarita from (as my bar wasn't even open to buy a drink), in came two ladies and a man.  I looked hopefully at them thinking that maybe they were wanting to learn quilling as well but one of the ladies was getting her picture taken with a bronze "Bengal Tiger" so my hopes started to fade and my thoughts went back to a Margarita...but then, one of the ladies and the man left and the younger lady stayed so I got up the courage to ask "Are you here to learn quilling?" and she said "Yes", I was delighted that I was not the only person there and went and sat next to her.  This lovely lady was Courtney and she was just one of the wonderful ladies I met at quilling. 
That night, I showed Mum the card I had made and she decided to join me the next day and every day after that which was really great and I am hoping that she continues with quilling so we have a hobby in common.
I had a fantastic time learning this ancient papercraft and am really looking forward to using it in my scrapbooking and cardmaking.
Below are some of my creations I made whilst at sea.

Lots of love

Nic xxx

 

11 Years Ago Today...

....I married my wonderful husband.  It was the best day of my life and I was so happy that day.  11 years on and although I didn't think it possible, I love Dean more now than I did then and my love for him grows each day.  He is my best friend, I know he loves me unconditionally and I can't imagine my life without him in it.  I wanted to share a couple of photos from our wedding day as they are my "favourites".  I have also, as promised, included the layouts that I completed at Kristy's place last Sunday (they just need photo's and a few more embellishments to be finished).
Love Nic x

Easter Long Weekend

The Easter long weekend is almost over and I have had a really great one.  Normally we travel somewhere or have visitors come and stay with us which is always lovely but this year we decided to stay at home on our own.  I feel really good this afternoon because I have achieved quite a bit in the last four days and even had some time to scrap!!
Yesterday morning I received a text from Kristy inviting me around to her place for some scrapbooking and "High Tea".  We had a wonderful 7 hours....YES 7 hours!!! scrapping, eating and talking about anything and everything.  It was just what I needed!
I sometimes lose my confidence if I haven't done any scrapbooking for a while so I decided to take some Kaisercraft kits with me that I purchased from Circle of Friends as they have written instructions with them and this makes it so much easier to do.  I ended up completing 5 layouts!!!  The first layout, I created by following the instructions to the letter but by the time I got to the fifth one, I was creating a "Nic Original"! 
While I would love to post photos of my layouts now, unfortunately my camera is currently charging so I am unable to take photos of them but I will definately get them loaded onto the blog as soon as I can.
I have also been working on Project 366 and have a couple of pages to share with you.
Take care
Nic x

Cards and Project 366

I had a fantastic time yesterday afternoon scrapping with Rachel, Dee and Jenny.  I made a card and completed two pages for my Project 366 which I was really happy with.  
This year I am trying to make a few more cards as I really enjoy making them and they are a great way to use up "scraps" of paper.
One of my "New Year resolutions" was to make cards prior to when they are actually due so I am not making them at the last minute.  Well my first card this year was made at the last minute and I wasn't really happy with it but the next one, which I made yesterday, I really love.

Love Nic x

Card for Adrian - my beautiful Nephew























Project 366

Project 366 Begins

I have started my "Project 366" based on Becky Higgins Project Life
The general idea is to take a photo everyday for a year and scrap each photo. 
Here is my title page and my first page!
Love Nic x

Title Page
























First Page

Organising

The lead up to Christmas was so busy I didn't have any time to scrap and therefore my "Scrap Table" ended up being a dumping ground for anything and everything so I couldn't scrap even if I wanted to as there was no room!.
For the past couple of weekends I have been sorting out my scrapbook room and table and trying to find a place for everything.  Here is the before and after photos of my table! 
I was actually able to start a layout the other day!!
I have since added another set of drawers in the bottom section so it looks even neater now!
P.S.  Who can spot Agro?
Love Nic x

Before

After

Things To Do!

Dean and I constantly talk about "The List" which is a list of jobs and things that need to be done around the house.  "The List", until now, has only existed in our minds so after a chat the other day (and the gutters overflowing, which reminded us that they needed to be cleaned!!), I decided to buy a white board that we could hang in the kitchen to jot down anything that needs to be done like general maintenance etc.
So, here is my white board which I decided to "pretty up" a bit.

Love Nic x

Before and after photos.

Home Again!

Dean and I have just arrived back in Kalgoorlie after a few lovely days in Perth.  I had a great time as I got to spend 6 days with my lovely Mum and I feel really relaxed and ready to take on the world!!  I start back at work tomorrow and Dean has his RDO so he doesn't have to start work until Wednesday, lucky thing. 

I am now 2 days into "Project 366" and have managed to take 2 photos so I am on track :-) 

I also received an email from Blue Bazaar advising that they are running a "Bootcamp" again from 01/01/12 - 31/01/12 with a total of 15 sketches so I think I will try and complete that as well!  If Kristy and Jenny are reading this, I think you two should join me!!!

I also really need to get my scrap room back in order ASAP as it is a crazy mess so that will be number one on the to do list before I start any scrapping!!

Take care

Nic xx

Welcome 2012!

Well 2011 is over and it is the start of a brand New Year.

I have not posted a blog for over 3 months due to various reasons and due to having a lot going on in my life but one of my goals in 2012 is to blog on a regular basis.

Please note that the next part of my blog may be upsetting for some readers, especially my family.

On 28th October 2011 my Nanna's partner, John, passed away after a six month battle with Cancer.  John wanted to die at home so he was nursed by my Mum and my Nanna for approx. 9 days and passed away peacefully with Nanna, Mum, my Sister and I all by his side.

The days that Mum and Nanna were nursing John were extremely hard for them as there were several complications for them to deal with.  Jock and Fiona also needed to help out with caring for John at times to provide some much needed relief to Mum and Nanna.  I found these days so very hard to deal with as being 600kms away from everyone makes you feel so very useless and helpless.  I was due to fly to Perth at the end of October and I did not expect John to be alive when I arrived but he was. On the first night I stayed at Fiona's house and the next day she took me up to Nanna's house.  Within one hour of us being there, John had died.  Even though I knew John was dying, I didn't expect it to happen so suddenly....I know this sounds really stupid and even as I am typing it, I know how stupid it sounds but I really didn't expect it to happen when I was there. 

My Nanna knew the time was very near so she tried to protect all of us and Fiona also told me that John was close to passing so she told me to go outside if I wanted to but on my way outside I passed John in his bed and something made me stop.  I knew I had two options, I could go outside and wait, or I could be brave and comfort someone in their final moments.  I chose to stay and I held John's hand as he took his final breath.  Standing with my Sister, Mother and Grandmother as someone we loved passed away was a moment in time that will be forever etched in my memory. 

                    *                       *                     *                    *                    *

2012

I love the start of a New Year as it is a great time to reflect and focus on what is important in your life.

Like many people I have a few resolutions and one of the things I am wanting to do this year in conjunction with my scrappy friends Kristy, Jenny, Sharyn (and anyone else we can rope in) is "Project 366" which is based on a concept that has been around the scrapping world for quite a while now.  The idea is to take a photo of your life every day for a year and then scrap the photos.  I very rarely scrap any photos of myself so with this project I will have no choice but to do so.

I have also resigned from my job and am looking forward to having lots of "me time" to do the things I enjoy most in life like spending time with my family and friends, scrapping, looking after my wonderful husband and being a "Domestic Goddess!".

Take care.

Love Nic xx