A quest of sorts

Those of you who follow Write.Click.Scrapbook might recall seeing THIS post about organising ones scrapping/craft goodies.  And you might also have been astounded at how neat and tidy and organised, and like me, slightly wistful, about it all.

My quest, as such, began before I saw this post, and it is/was to make my supplies more accessable (but in the thriftiest way possible!).  Things were OK until I decided to reclaim the chest of drawers that housed my papers and cardstock and old photos and the like (it was needed elsewhere to house clothing, and needed some repairs - which still hasn't happened!). I replaced the drawers with an old science trolley, which is great, but not nearly as big as the drawers.  Problem - my cardstock needed a new home.  After quite some searching, and umming and arrhing, and waiting for stock to come in, I accidentally came across these drawers.

Bright yes (but guess who has plenty of black paint left over from a certain shelf painting job?) but half the price of the other more open shelves I was looking at - and more dust proof. AND they fit under my desk. Perfecto.

So that problem is solved (or will be when they arrive in the mail). But what to do with those pesky scraps, that sit in a messy, juimbled pile in the corner of my shelf. Use em all of the time (sometimes too lazy to look for other paper!) but just HOW can I organise them better? Then I was inspired by this:

Don't know why I didn't think of this before.  I even have a similar set in use on my office desk that I was tempted to (ahem) borrow.  But seeing as I am off to the city this weekend, pick up another set I shall (and my office space shall remain safe!).  Now, I can't say I will be labelling the draws, but I will be employing a rough sorting strategy - cardstock in one draw, and patterns - perhaps in loose colourways, in the others.

Below is the type of drawer I will be getting, available from Big W and Officeworks, for around $20 or less on sale. I would have a whole shelf of these if I could justify the need to my husband...

I might even see if I can find a deeper (ie. same size unit with less, but deeper drawers)  set  to house those problem big punches that I love so much.

Then I will have no excuse for having an untidy desk. :-)

The Weekend

Oh, what a full weekend. Wedding to attend, laaate night, sleeping in, Anzac Day Service, and THANK GOODNESS for public holidays. Tired, grumpy - and that was just the parents! ;-)

Quick photographic bits of Saturday - true bush wedding - held at local picnic race track.  The grooms best working dog was the ring bearer - albeit reluctantly (sorry, no pic).  Speeches - great. Heartfelt, funny, and not too long.  Bridal dance/waltz:  the BEST I have ever seen!  It was great - started off normally and then morphed into a fast paced rehearsed  show dance number that involved all of the wedding party and much hilarity. And the wedding cake was untraditional - cheesecakes - so delicious - I had strawberry and had to help my boy (who turns out to be a total cheesecake lover - who knew?!!) finish his tia maria version. Yep, I HAD to help him!

Particulary poignant for us was the missing father of the bride -  lost in a car accident nearly six years ago - and the missing grandmother (on the fathers side) who had a motorbike accident a year and a half ago.  They were there in our minds, and many others too.

Anyhow - some photos! The kiddos - with Angus' s favouritist big boy in the world in his cool shades.

And not to show bias between him and my other gorgeous children, but didn't my boy just look so darned CUTE its not funny?!!

So, my task was to be the photographer's assistant to Mel and organise people and make sure their knickers werent tucked into their dresses and the like.  I did get to snap a few shots:

The groomsmen - his brother and two childhood mates.  The bridesmaids - her three younger sisters.

Those four boys together= hilarious and quite unpolitically correct. 

This is why the photo below is my favourite.

I asked Nathan to say something wicked or cheeky in her ear (to get some different facial expressions etc for Mel). I won't repeat what he said here, but it WAS funny - and quite inappropriate (can you tell by Dani's face!) I have a series of these shots, capturing his facial expressions and her reaction....captures them perfectly!

And just to finish off, an official wedding portrait from Mel!

faking it

I posted this over at my other blog (photography one) but wanted to share it here to.

Husband totally faking that happy smile in this. Grumpy so-and-so. But I still love the photo. Faking it or not..,

I realise now that perhaps I should have done some photoshopping on his legs. Yes, that is blood.  We'd just finished in the yards, branding and de-horning (it is just what the word suggests) some calves. Gets a little bloody at the time, but looks worse than it is (and the earlier its done, the better for all concerned). But its just that he is in the firing line for the messy part.

Actually, I don't know about that.  I work down the back end, and lets just say what happens down there is green, and smelly and...eww. Ever heard of projectile pooping?!! :-)

Does anyone else have a 7 year old that persists and insists in striking this totally wierd and unnatural poses whenever the camera comes out? Where DOES she get it from?! Too much Hannah Montana?!

Making some time

to do some scrapping!  Saturday was a good day - some blogging, some scrapping, and some bike riding with the kids, that quite frankly, I am still feeling today!

Anyhow, this time my biggest girl got some focus.

This one was done in true CZ hybrid style, printing just the frame and the journalling and then cutting the photos to fit. MAN I am pleased I decided to do DYL fully digitally - her small photo sizes would drive me nuts!  Because I am such a good photographer (ahem!) I tend to tightly crop in camera when doing portraits, so finding teeny tiny pics to crop is hard for me. (using photos already printed of course).

Hmm, quite some repitition happening here....getting quite lazy aren't I? These days I am hard pressed to even go to my favourites folder on the computer to find any inspiration ! Lazy = simple, does it not?!

New post of March month in review shots over at puddin n pie ip soon!

ps - I love how I can now fit HUGE photos in my blog posts if I want! Thanks to some playing - very easy - with blogger draft. Love love love!

Feeling Materialistic obviously!

I came across this by accident today:

The colours in this range of paper are making me swoon.

I don't know whether I want to scrapbook with it, or have the interior colour scheme of my house follow this palette.  Which is strange considering my adoration for green (making its way slowly around my bedroom, slowly only becuase of my slackness at geting my act together!) and red - featuring in my kitchen accents, mostly because of the stools I got (see a post down there below somewhere!)

And even more interestingly, I wonder if I will still feel the same when I hit the shops in two weeks time, where it will undoublty be sitting on the shelf!

Right now, off for a walk in an attempt to wear out the noisy rambuctions children who appear to have mysteriously ingested copious amounts of red cordial today (or are behaving like it, as we have no contraband like red cordial in the house!)

waiting for mothers day

so, I am just about resigned to the fact that I want gifts around here, I have to get them myself.  One day they'll surprise me and make me eat my words, but I can't see that day coming soon!

so, of course its Mothers Day SOON-ish, and {ahem} what an excuse to get oneself something nice.

In this case, the garden wins.  Look at what I have coming in the mail:

Metal garden ornaments. Inspired, over time, by the gardens in my magazines, that are lovely and have little quirkly touches here and there.

So, the butterflies - might land on a branch somewhere, or if I think they just might fly off somewhere in the hands of a certain five and a half year old butterfly lover, be firmly superglued to a heavy rock and placed lovingly under a suitable flowering bush.

Lizards might share the same fate (glue!), finding a home on an old log and basking in the sun in a garden bed, lest the three year old boofa stash them under his pillow or somewhere else entirely undesirable.

The chooks, I feel certain, might be scratching in amongst some flowers. My mum has these same ones, and from a distance you would swear they were real.  The biggest benefit of these ones:  they don't make a mess and eat anything precious!

And speaking of mail, our service is to change soon, with our little post office closing.  We are to become semi rural as the mail goes, getting a twice weekly delivery from the larger post office 40km away. Another loss to our small community, and good on Australia Post for trying so hard to find a solution (not).

But on the bright side, I now have the need for a mail/letter box!  Oh, the possibilities! Of course, I can't be having just the normal green-metal-sit-on-the-fence type of thing.  In fact, I do believe most folk living in our little town have grand plans for their mail delivery receptacles!  I feel a photographic tour of town coming on (after the end of April).

Sketch challenge - my version

So Nicole posted a sketch challenge over HERE

This was the sketch:

Simple stuff hey, and totally open for interpretation.  I decided to do it digitally, mostly because my desk is covered in large piles of crap stuff (see second last post!) and I really like making templates.  So I turned this into one!

(Click on the image to enlarge)  The bit that I will print is just the white part with the photos and journalling (which is 6x8 in size). For this challenge I digitally matted the printed part on teal then white cardstock, so I guess when its printed I will try and do the same. (Finished size 8.5 x 11)

Felt good to play around, even just digitally.  Hope to do some more again soon!

Bring out the Fatted Calf

the prodigal blogger has returned!

So, I left the ole blog in quite a grumpy mood, weighed down by everyday and not so everyday life's burdens - sometimes they feel light, and other times like lead weights.  Back then, that's what they felt like.

So, am I any further advanced in my quest to get that list of things done? Nope, not really.  That campdraft, niggling and annoying at me, got cancelled.  It rained, quite a wee bit, over Easter.  So we called it off, neccesitating in the best part of a day being spent on the telephone.  I tell ya, there was no running or competition to get the ringing phone in the house that day. NO ONE wanted to answer it, or have to make another bloody phone call!

Indeed, the cancelling of that campdraft has lifted some of that lead weight, and I feel free to move on and do some other things. Of course, the wretched thing will come back to bite me in the butt in August, when we have rescheduled to run again, but until then I will enjoy the so called freedom!

So, in my return to the blogging world, I thought I would share some internet goodness that I have been collecting for a little while, nothing like a bit of fluff to lighten ones mood!  Without further ado:

I found these cute cushions in an email from my favourite place for handmade inspiration, madeit dot com.  You see, I have a couple of old cotton crocheted doilies floating around - where from I don't know, and also if they are hand or machine made, I don't know either.  I didn't want to throw them, but didn't know what to do with them either. Until now!  Any other cushions I've seen incorporating this sort of things were just a wee bit too hand made looking for me, but this is perfect - combining yummy modern but vintage fabrics and the doilies! problem solved. on the DO list.

Went searching for a necklace to wear to a wedding we are attending next weekend.  Have left it too late, didn't buy this, but I think its lovely. Would like it longer though....

For my dear friend Yvonne, who lurves orange, in all its shades.  Which makes it odd, that she has no orange in or around her house and person. We might just have to go on a search and find mission to try and change the fact that she doesn't SEE the colour she loves more often!

Which we just might be able to do with the help of our old friend Target!  And see if you notice a distinct themethat is in both of the Target pages below - that has crossed from the scrapbooking and handcrafting world into homewares.....  Leave a comment and tell me if you can guess!

Scrapbooking related:  I must have these new divided page protectors from American Crafts.  Leave another comment if you know where I can get my hands on these babies in Australia!

I've decided that the family will be getting me some form of the following necklace for christmas/birthday this year.  I haven't narrowed down my final choice of style and where from yet, but here's another favourite:

Stay tuned, I have my version of Nicoles newest sketch challenge to share with you soon!

Taking a Break

You might have noticed that I haven't been posting here much lately - a combination of factors (and not much to share!) that meant that I haven't felt the desire to blog.

So I'm officially taking a break from blogging for a little while- a week, a fortnight, maybe a little longer? while I deal with the local campdraft (of which I am a reluctant secretary), school holidays (which, sadly for the kids, involves their mother preparing for the campdraft, and not many exciting things for them), and mustering and selling cattle and folding washing and cleaning house and our business and its bookwork and paying bills and juggling finances and watering the garden and trying to plant vegetable seedlings, and OH! did I mention the washing and folding and dirty floors?

So if you think I am feeling a little overwhelmed and not as one with the world at the moment, you'd be right. Easter as a holiday/break will be a non-event around here as its business as usual, with my husband going in many directions, and the kids and I poking along at home.  The Easter Bunny will visit though!  and I had plans of doing a treasure type hunt for them to find their goodies, but we'll see if that eventuates - I think Sunday might even involve mustering, so the time for egg hunts might be cut short as we try to get out of the house before its time to come home again.

So that's why I am taking a wee break, but rest assured I will be still visiting my favourite blogs, and answering emails!

Til next time!