Birthdays...

.....
My busy couple of weeks are now over - Dad's 70th birthday was fabulous and he was so surprised that my brother and his family had flown in from Noosa. We had a great sit down family dinner on the Saturday night and a picnic at Rouse Hill Regional Park on the Sunday which we all enjoyed.

I took Dad and his 4 granddaughters down to our local park for a "photo shoot" - it was quite difficult to get just the right photo with all the girls smiling etc (of course my Madi was in a "mood" but she eventually came good) and here is one that I took.

My brother-in-law's 18th went really well and he loved his cake. All his family and friends were there to help him celebrate. His Dad cooked a lamb on the spit and we had all the great salads, desserts etc that goes with an Aussie backyard celebration. It was great!!

I finished his 8x8 album and it was a hit - I did all matching paper throughout the entire album to make it easier and then I put the photos in chronological order. Steve and I then put little humourous notes etc throughout.

Of course, with all the running around all week I forgot to take a photo of it but I will next time I go to Newcastle and see them.

Then finally, last weekend Steve and I finally got away for our 20th wedding anniversary.

My parents came down on the Friday and looked after the kids and we had a lovely relaxing weekend at our van at Anna Bay.

On the Saturday we went for a drive to Morpeth and wandered along the old fashioned street - visited the teddy bear shop, the old lolly shop and the ginger beer store for tastings. We then drove into Nelsons Bay for fish and chips. YUM!!

A weekend without kids is recommended every so often to unwind and just be a couple for awhile. Although when we arrived home on the Sunday we were very quickly reminded what our life is like with one 15 year old girl and one almost (only 2 months off) 13 year old girl and all that goes with the attitudes of teenagers!! Yuck - but I love them and I missed them and I wouldn't swap them for the world (only sometimes!!).

Happy scrapping to you all and I hope the wind has now removed itself from Sydney and stays away for good.

Kylie xx

Bright idea when it comes to scrapping...

.....
I scrapbooked with my scrapping buddies on Friday night - did a couple of school pages in Lauren's school album. All is OK in the world!!

Then on Saturday night I had an idea - why not do an 8x8 album for my brother-in-law who is 18 on the 18th of this month - Yes - I did say "this month".

What a brainstorm of an idea!! Less than 2 weeks and I decide to do an album AND I have my parents and my brother and his family (from Noosa) staying next weekend to celebrate my dad's 70th - and no I am not doing an album for him as well as I did one for his 60th -thank goodness.

I probably could have done a sizeable chunk of this album on Friday night if I had of thought of it earlier.

So, last night after we did the Father's Day picnic thing I started - and gosh I am proud of myself - I knocked off 20 pages - just the backgrounds - cardstock and pattern - and I have scanned and printed most of the photos (about 100 of them) and (Yes, I know it just keeps going) I actually completed 2 pages.

Looks like I might get it all done after all.

We also superimposed my brother-in-laws head on a West Tigers players body to have put on his cake for his party....it's funny...want to see...here it is....he'll probably hate it...but we love it!!

Happy 18th Birthday Matt and Happy 70th to my absolutely, darling Dad!!

(Wonder what I can superimpose my dad's head onto for his cake?)

Scrapbooking Weekend Retreat....

.....

The weekend scrapbooking was fabulous!! It was so nice to just sit and scrap with no interruptions!! There was 9 ladies and we all had a great time - the food was good, the company even better and we all got lots of scrapping done. Here is some of our scrap area - the only time there wasn't bums on seats like this was when it was time to eat!!

I did 10 layouts which include a triple (it's supposed to be 4 pages in the flip out page protectors but I ran out of the colour cardstock that I was using so will have to finish page 4 at home - it just goes to show that no matter how much you overpack your scrap gear you can still be under prepared - lol), 3 doubles and the rest singles. Very pleased with myself!!

Here is one of my faves - Madi was standing looking out to sea on our Easter holiday down at Hutchisson last year and I was sitting back on the beach clicking away with my camera.

This is just one of those shots and I loved it!!

The page is just a simple one as I wanted the photo to shine. I was desperate to use my 2Crafty Chipboard Circles (from Papercraft Artistry) and so I covered them with patterned paper and they give a dimensional look to the page which I love. Add a title and some rubons and it's done. Too easy!!

Can't wait for weekend retreat...

.....
So many things going on...

I am getting organised for this weekend - My "once a month Friday night scrapping buddies" and I are going away for a whole weekend of scrapping!! And...we are all so excited!! The "I can't wait" sms messages have already started and I am busy packing my scrapping gear.

I have sorted my stuff so that I can pull out co-ordinated papers, cardstock and embellishments that I have already matched to photos - I am soooo organised. That way all I have to do is sit and SCRAP - oh and maybe chat a bit (wait - did I say chat "a bit" well you know me - I should have said chat "a lot") and eat lots of chocolate and lollies (bummer - I need to go and find sugar free lollies).

Hopefully, if all goes to plan I should have some pages to post here and on the website next week.

This is the first time in a few years that I am actually going on a scrapping weekend that I didn't have to run for my business and I am going to enjoy it.