Yes Im still here....................................................

Well hello there :) If anyone even still looks at my irratic blogging, I fully understand if you dont - Im not exactly regular like a clock now am I? :)  Although even I was a tad mortified when I realised at had been just over two months since I last blogged, I have no idea where that time has gone!

Its been a busy time and a lot of decisions have been made and things are changing in my life. I have been becoming quite stressed at work, (to put it mildly) and something had to give before I did.  I did think of leaving my position and look at working in another specialty but I actually love Urology nursing so after discussing it with Forbes, I have decided to cut down to from four days to three days a week. Theres always a catch though is'nt there lol. I had to give a months notice, which turned into 6weeks notice because the roster was already out when I submitted my letter of intent. So, all going well I will be one very relaxed chick by the end of May! :) :)  We've also decided to book ourselves a wee holiday in the middle of winter and get away from the cold, to Rarotonga for 6 nights, I cannot wait!!

On the scrappy front I went to Finnbair's classes - which I'll show you next time.  And went to the Scrappin Patch Retreat in April - I do not remember the last time I was quite so productive! Over the course of the weekend I altered four wooden letters, one word, one picture frame, one double layout and three single page layouts, phew!  The food was glorious as usual, the company great and I also got to meet Annelie and Michelle for the first time too :)

One of the layouts I made was the sketch challenge over at C'est Magnifique - I love their sketches! Ive been trying to use up papers and embellishments Ive had for a long time, so I used some very old Collage Press papers, Knave of Hearts - told you I'd had them a long time ;)  The photo is me and MacKenzie, its one of the photos from a photo shoot we had last year with FURtography - brilliant, very animal friendly guy, I would highly recommend.  I can understand that some people might think us weird to have a photo shoot with our animals, but hey they're our family and while they might not be human they still matter to us.  MacKenzie came to us around the time we were not going to be able to have children, so I have a different bond with her than with Dougal although I love him to bits.

And a few close ups :)

Going with that whole "using things you've had for ages!" Ive added some Vintaj metal embellishments and Ive stamped two different Kaiser stamps over the top right corner.  I love how this turned out!

If you've hung in there waiting for a post, thanks for popping by!
Megan

Happy Birthday Mumsy!

This month my Mumsy turned 70! In our household when its your birthday you get to do whatever you like - after all its the only day of the year that its your day :) so you should get to celebrate it the way you want to, well within reason!  This year Mum wanted to have a girlie day, so my sisters and my niece travelled down to Geraldine and spent the day catching up, and celebrating with her friends. Her gift from us was a lot of different things, among them though was some framed black and white prints of Christchurch buildings that are sadly no longer there, and this gift became her favourite amongst all the wonderfully generous gifts she received
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Mums card I made from left over scraps of Websters Pages. The background is made with a new Spellbinders die Ive just purchased, and I think its going to be one of my favourites :) - the lattice background die.

And some photos of the day - and yes Luka came along too, I think he had a great time too - whats not to like, being fussed over by a group of women lol.  So here we all are together................

One if my colleagues is also having a milestone birthday, turning 60 next month.  She is a fellow scrapper as well, so while we were thinking about gifts for her I suggested an old hatbox decorated and used for storage of bits and pieces.  I had picked it up in Briscoes sale a long time ago for $5! the only problem was that by the time I finished I wasnt quite sure I wanted to give it up :)

The papers are from Kaisercraft Magnolia Grove and Ive used quite a few of the pieces from the collections pack with a mixture of Prima and Kaiser flowers. On the front of the suitcase Ive distressed the background paper and then stamped randomly with Kaiser stamps.  The wooden lock and flourish are painted off white and randomly inked with dusty rose  - they seem to have turned out looking very white in the photo but they don't looking at the natural light.  I was wanting the whole thing to have a heritage feel to it and the papers fit so well and the theme being friends was perfect!

Thanks for popping by!

Megan

Lil' Robots for little men

While waiting for my great-nephew to arrive I started hoarding  collecting paper ranges to create layouts and OTP for little boys. There was'nt a lot out there that particularly grabbed me at the time, but I loved this robots range from MME. I quite like their new boys range too, so I will be throwing some of that in my trolley shortly :)  And probably to prove to myself that I can do modern and bright, and don't have to restrict myself to heritage!
I find boy pages and masculine OTP's a bit of a challenge, probably because I don't always feel comfortable layering them with flowers, just does'nt seem right to me.  Or maybe it is and I need to just stop thinking, and start doing :)
I thought for his room I'd decorate a canvas with his name on it, but this time I got the letters from Typo - have you been there? I love this place, its very funky and hip, they're like a stationary shop I guess but they stock some scrappy goodness too, and wooden letters, and best of all they already painted - black or white. Black was the perfect  choice  to blend in with the brights of the robot range, so this took very little time to complete.

The cogs are themed throughout the range, so I die cut some more from scraps leftover using the Donna Salazar Sprightly Sprockets Spellbinders dies; cut out some of the robots and layered them up with some of the diecuts that come with the range.  Heres some closeups:

I also made a layout with the same range; my plan is to give my niece a completed photo album for Christmas this year progressing his first year. So this is Luka at four months old in his car seat out with the girls - that would be me and my sisters :)

On my desk I have a storage unit which I throw odds and ends of lines in. The problem with it became "out of mind out of sight" - I never used any of it! So this year I have challenged myself that everytime I create something, I have to utilise something from that storage unit! In this layout I used a few things, the chipboard cog, and heart, and the chipboard 'original' circle. I also have had the metal tools in my stash forever!, so decided they fitted in with the whole robot, cogs theme too so they were thrown in as well, and the end result? I love how it turned out :)

Heres some closeups:

Thanks for popping by :)
Megan

A few thoughts

Its been awhile again since I last blogged, and not without the best of intentions. Most of the time I struggle to think of what I want to say, I mean its not like I have children with lots going on in their lives to share or scrap about. But I do have a lot of things going through my mind, whether you think they're shareable I guess is up to you.

• I'm astounded that with all the trouble the Minister of Education had created this year, that she has kept her portfolio. Have you noticed that she has never fronted to cameras but always left someone else to answer for the Novopay mess. That's just shamefully wrong.
• I learnt on the news tonight that NZ has one of highest rates of child abuse in the developed world. That makes me so sad and angry at the same time.
• I worry this world won't be around in a liveable state for our children's children - and there's me with none but still it concerns me.
• I don't understand why someone's belief in God whichever religion that maybe, in whichever country, means they have to kill others if they don't believe in their religion. What makes their God better than mine? Maybe I'm naive but I wouldn't have thought believing in something good would mean killing others. Why can this world not just agree to disagree and get on with it.
• eating celery does not in anyway shape or form help in stopping power surges - yes ladies I'm talking about menopause, you heard it here first :)
• Temperatures of 30° absolutely kill me. Give me a nice balmy 25° any day
• I have an extraordinary bunch of online friends at jellybean scrappers that I'm grateful to have <3
• My sister-inlaw has just engaged :)
• This year I've decided to embrace project life - albeit with a bit of a twist.

So, all of that has been running round my head lately, some of it not nice, some of it I can do nothing about, it just is what it is, and yes I am a worry wort :) If you've read this far you're doing well it was pretty dark at he start, so I better end with a bit of light entertainment - here's my latest attempt at C'est Magnifique

Theres a lot I love about this layout. The paper is Graphic 45 Ladies Diary, I just drooled when this paper came out, mind you have you seen their latest releases at CHA? - oh I can't wait for those to come out either :) Then theres the photo, its my Grandmother and my Great-Grandmother. I love that they used to dress so well whenever they went out with everything matching, hat, gloves, handbag, very classy.  Ive thrown a little texture pasture on with a Prima stencil, and one of their zips, some muslin and a scrap of some lace I had in my stash. I love how it all came together.

Thanks for popping by, promise I won't be quite so dark next time!
Megan

On a Roll!

Im seem to be on a roll at the moment with creating layouts instead of OTP, but yet again Im creating for someone else :)  I mentioned recently that my niece has made me a Great Aunt, so I thought as part of her gift this Christmas, I would give her a layout of him in a frame.  Im not sure that it flows right but can't put my finger on what it is, anyway its done, hope you like it :)
So this is Luka at 7weeks old, giggling away after listening to one of his mums stories :)

The paper is 3 Bugs in a Rug that Ive had for awhile - feels good to put some of that old stash finally to good use! I have used two different embossing powders on the chipboard title, white and a greeny colour called Tarkine from Opalettes range, then inked the edges with pinecone. The stars are applied using texture paste to a WOW (Words or Whatever) template - you can find these at Scrappin Patch. The layout is based on the sketch challenge at Once Upon a Sketch.  Ive included the required journaling - the tag is in the top upper corner of the photo with  some seam binding attached that Ive coloured using Distress Inks, Stormy Sky and Frayed Burlap - Ive left this blank for my niece to write on.

thanks for popping by!

C'est Magnifique & Scrappin Patch challenges

Two posts within two weeks, I know! shock horror lol!

Last weekend I went to the crop at Scrappin Patch and had a great time being entertained and hosted by the lovely Belinda :)  Part of the day was an optional challenge with a random draw, from a kit provided which included two pieces of cardstock - one of those had to be cut on the accucut using the block format.  I had never used this before but I had put together a Kaisercraft frame in the past which is a similar sort of thing, so I had a go, and this was what I came up with.

You could add whatever you liked to your layout, you just had to use the kit provided.  My photos were taken by FURtography earlier in the year - a fabulous animal friendly photographer, I would highly recomend. Ive added a Prima notecard and flowers, 7Gypsy stickers,  Kaisercraft wooden flourishes and Imaginarium word chipboard, that Ive just inked with Pinecone ink.

The other layout I completed that day was my first sketch challenge at C'est Magnifique. I had been looking at this site for awhile thanks to Francine :) but this was the first time I had go and Im thrilled with the result.  The photo is my friends wee girl Aoibhinn (she lives in Ireland), and this is her precious Granddad who passed away this year.  Im sending this over to her for a gift.  The papers are Fancy Pants Winterland, which I used to decorate some Kaisercraft desk caddies but I will share those later - you would never guess this paper was snow themed would you?! I love that :)

With this layout I embossed the wooden words with white embossing powder and then inked around the edge.  Im loving those new dice from Prima that have just come into Scrappin Patch :)

I hope you like them, its not often I share my layouts!
Thanks for popping by.

Its been awhile............................

Sometimes I have the best of intentions, but have difficulty following through on them.  Does'nt seem to matter what they're about, sometimes they just slip under my radar again.  Blogging is springing to mind!, and I have lots to share, so to make it quicker Im going to bullet point it, otherwise you might turn grey by the time I finish :)

* I had an awesome 5wk adventure travelling to the UK catching up with friends that I used to nurse with.  12yrs is a long time, and it was like I'd never left.  Sightseeing with Michelle in London, staying with Emma and David and their two boys in  their static - its what we would call a mobile home, but very flash and sits in a holiday park year round - in Barmouth, Wales.  Never been to Wales, even though I lived in the UK for four years and its just beautiful.  And then to Drogheda, Ireland to stay with Pheadra and Ritchie and their girls.  All in 3.5 weeks!  It was a whirlwind trip, but thoroughly worth it.

Michelle and I in the gardens of Althorp House

The Memorial to Princess Diana

The NZ Memorial in Hyde Park

Close up of one of the monuments

The closest I got to Downton Abbey :( it was shut for filming

The chinese gardens at Portmeirion in Wales

Part of the village in the Snowdonia mountains, Wales

My friends Emma, David, Matthew and Adam at Harlech Castle in Wales

Pheadra and Caoihme at the Drogheda fire station - her husband is on the fire brigade.

* A week in Sydney on the way home catching my sexpot husband at the airport and some friends of ours to  shop, sightsee and watch Muscle Car Masters at Eastern Creek.

* I applied to join Twiddlybitz DT and have been asked to be a guest designer for them in June, July and August!!!!  Grinned a lot that day :)  This is part of my application, I altered a jewellery stand, hanging a Twiddlybitz chipboard birdhouse from it, which I had painted, stamped and distressed.  The base I created a 'cobblestone' patch using texture paste and brick stencil then inked.

* work has been so busy since I got back, we've had some really sick pts through the unit, and Ive been exhausted going home.  Was so tired one night, that when I got to my car I waved my security tag at it to open it :) lol! You never know it might happen one day :)

* My niece gave birth to my Great-Nephew on 7th October weighing 7lb 12oz  - Luka James Anderson - and hes very cute, not that Im biased or anything :)  My gift to him was a Kaisercraft train, and I filled the carriages, with bootees, little tops, and rolled some nappies up into log shapes and tied them up. I used MME Little Robots range of papers, and Donna Salazar gadget gear dies.

* Forbes's aunty Jenny died last week, the last of the Gourlay siblings.  She was the loveliest lady, so easy to chat to and always had a smile on her face despite what was happening with her.  It was a very sad time for us, and travelling to Oamaru for the funeral we reminised along the way. Im going to miss her a lot.

* My birthday this year, my family all got together and bought me a kindle.  This would be one of the most awesome presents I have received.  I read 8 books while I was away in the Uk - it came in handy on train trips and airports I can tell you! Can you imagine carrying 8 books around in a suitcase?!  I also realised yesterday that I have read 32 books since getting it the first week in august!

* Scrappin Patch Retreat this year was at Glentui again and this time we had the awesome Cindy Porter teaching us.  This lady has so much information to impart, shes like a walking encyclopaedia on all things distressed, ink and stencilled! I learnt so much from that weekend.  Theres another retreat coming in April with no classes at this stage, but that could change, wink :) and a lot of time to create to your hearts desire, can't wait!

That roughly catches you up! Im planning on being back soon with another post :)
Thanks for popping in and not giving up on me!