Brothers!!!

This photo is becoming to be a regular face in this house - the boys - of course are to blame (even if they are not home!!). This face is followed by the statement "nobody loves me - just Nanna". This face is also followed by ... "Mum, can I have something to eat?" like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth!!! If she is this emotionally confused now - what am I going to do when she is a teenager?? A trip to Dr Phil?? Nah - bring back Jerry Springer!! (actually - don't answer that, I don't want to know)
This is a layout I compleated for Challenge Heaven number challenge. 5 word title, 4 patterned papers, 3 flowers, 2 stamped images and 1 heart - yep its all there. Remembered I had this flower punch stored away in the depths of my stash, so I made this cute little flower with a beaded centre! very cute i think.

On another note - Congrats to my bestie Jas for landing her 3 DT position over at the new Lollipop Ladies site opening next month. Be sure to pop over and join in the sweetness.

TFL!!

the kids have escaped from their cages, better go change the locks... BYE!!

National Geographic eat you heart out!!!

You know those questions you see in magazines that ask celebrities who they would have as guests at a dinner party - mine on the top of the list would be David Attenborough - he is amazing, and the stories he could tell you would be incredible.
Since having the boys, my life has been an education in animals, from big to small. Toy animals of every species - alive, endangered and extinct dinosaurs with names as long as your arm - have been strewn all over my house for 8 years now. Its not uncommon to have a shower with a woolly mammoth, a green tree frog and a wart hog watching me.
And so, with this fascination every weekend is spent in the backyard lately looking for new "animals"(or I will be corrected to saying "mini beasts") to "torture" for a day... building habitats, the victim being stretched between taunts of "no... I want to hold him first, I found him"....or "does he need more water? (as he tries to scramble up the new Decor box I just bought for the kitchen) or buried under copious amounts of twigs, leaves and grass and lost as he makes an escape while they empty the habitat to look for him again.
So this is the new LO topic for MAS. Don't you just love the National Geographic photography!! You can see his insides ( the snails I mean!). It doesn't matter that DS had to sit REALLY still for quite some time while I got the perfect scrapbooking photo, snail slime on his arm. What matters is I got it!!above is a close up of my vintage childrens book lollipop flower with a cute snail expoxy.

The papers I have used are Ki memories cardstock, K&Co paper (which was one of my very first purchases about 4 years ago!!) and 2 fancy pants journal tickets. The journal card is from here (my new fav) ribbons and epoxy dots and pink paislee rub on AC and bella alphas.

And so another weekend full of muddy washing, holes in the lawn, over turned rocks,new Decor containers with dead mini beasts in them that will never come back into the kitchen but happy kids learning about the world around them. What do your animals get up to on the weekends?

New MAS LO

look at my neat stiching.... Mum will be proud!!

Oh isn't she just sooo beautiful?? Yes I am biased but sometimes I cant help but just look at her for ages and admire my handiwork (LOL) OK .. OUR handiwork. I helped make this!! She is all mine, and she is perfect (well...... apart from the attitude that is slowly growing and needs to be squashed....).

I have created this LO of my little Miss for one of the July challenges on Mad about Scrapping, don't know if I will have time to complete another LO to be in the running for a prize... we will see - couldn't do much last night - with Masterchef finale and all!! (Yay Adam!!)

This challenge was to use material somewhere on the LO - so I have used a monochromatic palette (sounds posh eh??) and fabric behind my title "everyday".

The papers are BG cardstock, freebie paper from SBM magazine and I am really not sure what the script paper is... stitching and a red heart from scrapware I inked red ...really simple but I was happy with it...

Thanks for visiting the zoo ... the animals are all out so I am off to clean the cages before they return .... again!!!!

Bye - Zoo keeper Mel...

Another yummy giveaway!!

wouldn't you love to win this one, Melinda at Moose and Bird is celebrating her 6 month (and 2 week) anniversary with this gorgeous giveaway - oh I am imagining a beautiful vintage page with that lace and my Mum would be eyeing off the pin cushion for her quilting table... hope I can win it for her as a birthday surprise!!! Melinda has lots of yummy things in her etsy shop - go - quick - have a looksie!!!

Becci's giveaway

wouldn't you just love to win all these yummy crochet goodies??? Becci is giving these away by random draw on August 1st - so be quick and visit her here for your chance to win!!!!

New Layouts

Hi All!

As promised, here are some layouts I have just finished for a few of the challenges on my fav sites.

This one is for Kraft it Up where we had to use between 4 and 6 photos and obviously use Kraft! the photos are of my Little Miss in her cubby making herself a cup of tea. First to get organised she flicks her hair ( too cute) and then makes the "shh" noises for the sugar and hot water (love that!!) Do you like my tree??

I used my fav CC "Girl Friday"patterned papers and the ladybugs are MLYB which are sooo cute and I think a bit of OA is thrown in there too and AC "grass" Here is a close up of my tree - just tilt your head 90 degrees for a better look!!!

And just showing the layering.....

This one is for Scrapboutique - I haven't loaded it up yet as they are (or I am) having technical difficulties... Ill post it as soon as I can.

This one was a theme on Birthdays as the boutique is celebrating its birthday and we had to include a birthday cake somewhere in the LO. (little vintage circle tag)

I love this photo of me at one of my parties and so had to scrap it. Apparently I cried at every party I had - well ...... I used to cry at anything for any reason.

This photo is of me sulking about something and Dad is in the corner of the shot... I can only imagine what he would have been saying!!!

Now Karma has come back to bite me on the bum because I have a sooky lala here too - he cries at ANYTHING.

How many times do I have to say sorry to Mum and Dad before the curse is broken????

here is a close up of my cute little tag from here (go check it out - I promise you wont be able to resist!!) and a closer shot of sooky old me... (not little miss sunshine at all!!!)

Thanks for stopping by for a peek. I love hearing from you so leave a little love ...

see ya soon - Mel xxx

The Stamp Spot and Mad for Markers have joined forces and put together a brand new challenge site with rows and rows of sweet delights to temp the sweetest of all sweet tooths called The Lollipop Ladies. I dare you not to be tempted. I am looking forward to some sweet shares with the Lollipop Ladies. Well head on over to the Lollipop Ladies and read a bit more and join in the challenges starting in August.

This lovely award was recently passed on to me by the lovely Cathy.

She is so talented and does the most grungiest (is that a word??) boy pages, and then the prettiest girl pages always with intricate cutting... you have to check them out

...so this is me passing it on...
Here are the rules that go with it:

1. Put the Swap Sisters Bonny Blog Award on my blog.

2. Share 5 things about myself.

3. Pass the award onto 5 other Bonny Blogs.

4. Add links to my 5 chosen Bonny Blog Winners.

5. Let them know they have been chosen to win the Swap Sisters Bonny Blog Award by leaving a comment on their blog.

5 things about myself...

1. I am a bad housewife .. if there is an excuse not to clean, I'll find it!! There are so many better things to do with my time. A happy family is more important than a clean house!! (that's my mantra!!!)

2.I cant dance. I cant even clap to a beat but I have awards to say I was a fantastic dancer when I was young. Dad says I danced like a wounded gazelle because I was always so tall, now I rely on "running man" every time.

3. I am a Naturopath and Aromatherapist specialising in Pharmacology and Nutrition ... but do as I say, not as I do.

4. I don't drive (yes, yes I can hear you all gasping from here!!) never have as I am absolutely petrified, even as a passenger!!!

5. Everybody who knows me knows I love to cook but hate my oven with a passion. Everyday I wish for it to blow up so I can have a sexy 900mm oven that stays lit and doesn't burn!!!! I have put up with it for 12years now - I think I have earned a new one.

I nomiante for the award - drum roll.........

1 Jas

2.Ali

3.Sue

4.Sheree Power

5. Lisa Marsh

Mad about Scrapping DT entries

Hi All!!

I have some new LO's to share with you. I have been busy creating these pages for a chance to win a spot on a DT with Mad about Scrapping.

We were required to do 2 projects. The first one here was a layout using multiple photos (my DD crying again probably because she didn't get her own way!!), paint (around photos, border and title chippies), distressing (on main photo edges) 4 patterned papers (BG Urban Prairie), 3 embellishments, 2 word title and 1 Cardstock....
The other requirement was to follow this sketch

Here are the results - my DD again looking like a super model!!

close ups of the roses, prima pebble, lace and butterfly....

and again of the distressed roses and little clock face

Thanks for coming over for a looksie - please leave a comment and I will be back soon with a LO I am finishing for Kraft It Up

Mel XXX

Happy Birthday Nanna

Just wanted to say a HUGE

Happy Birthday to my Nanna

who is 90 today!!

Man if she had the Internet and saw this I would be in trouble!!! And even more trouble for printing a photo of her.

This is a photo of the four generations of girls in our family - Nan, my mum ( who would also kill me for this photo) Me (looking HOT) and my little Miss with a fake smile.
Nan is not your typical Nanna - you need to make an appointment with her to make a phone call because she is NEVER home - totally independent and constantly busy with all her social outings - her social calendar is busier than mine!!

I so hope I can be like her when I am 90 - she even has a motorbike!!!

Love you heaps Nan and we all wish you a very happy birthday, get spoilt by all the girls and we hope to get up to see you soon!!

Welcome to the world Scarlett

Look what I got yesterday!!! A new niece!!

Welcome to the world Scarlett Judith Booth.

She is soo cute and squishy and a healthy 4.75 kg!!

Congrats to Lisa and my brother Ashley for their new princess!! Thanks for making me an aunty again and for giving me a new bubba to play with and watch grow.

Here are some quick pics but I will post some more soon!!

Here she is meeting Poppy - my dad

Scrap the Boys!!

Stuck Sketches

Sorry all - for some weird reason, these photos are not giving me a shortcut link - so here they are again!!!

Some Newbies!!

Hi all

Hope the school holidays are treating you well if you are in Vic and only 5 more sleeps (and counting!!) until school returns.

What did you get up to on the weekend? On Americas Independence Day - July 4th - we spent the day as American as we could with a trip to Disney On Ice!!

My sister and my Mum surprised myself and the 3 kids to a trip into the city to watch the show - the little ones loved it and sang along and joined in and even Mr Cool got lost in the excitement and let his guard down to join in and really enjoyed himself too. So a big thankyou and a kiss *mwah* to Tam and Mum for organising this surprise.. they are still talking about it and still "skating" in socks up and down the hallway!!

Now.. scrapping stuff..

Firstly - congrats to my bestie Jas for winning a spot on the CT over at stuck... so proud of her. Jas' work is truly beautiful and I cant wait to see what she has up her sleeve for the next couple of months...

I have been creating layouts for all the challenges on the sites I love...

Firstly is a sketch over at Scrap the Boys

Our challenge was to scrap a portrait of the boys in our lives - the photos with no story attached and journal about all the crazy things about them. Seriously.. I could write a book on this kid!! He has such a great character and an amazing personality - he is my crazy freaky alien.

I have dug out some Basic Grey from way down deep in my stash and used a rub on my friend Gwenda kindly gave me - thanks Gwenda!!

close ups...

Then over at Stuck?! we had his great sketch to work with

I have gone and dug out some of my older papers and am determined to use them up before buying any new ones ... well ... we'll see how I go.

I flipped the sketch onto its side so I could use the landscape photo of my sweet princess. I have used MM and Urban Lilly pp's and a handmade silk and paper flowers and some yummy German scraps. I bought these stamps from Mel Nunn - love her work too...

That's all for now - the kids are calling me so I better go and use more tape....

Mystical Scrapbooks

Jedi mind powers at work.....

How spooky is this!!!
Last night I decided to sit down and scrap a "just because" layout before all the new challenges come out today.
Whining from DH on the sofa in the same room was "You never do a layout on me!!". So I thought - fine, I'll show you - so I printed off a bigger than average photo of both of us that my son took in April at my sisters wedding.
Look at the sketch Shell gave us this morning over at Challenge Heaven..... And look at my layout... How scary is that!!! Its exactly Shell's sketch!!!

And a close up of my transparency butterfly.....

And yes - hopefully this will shut up my DH for a while!! He still thinks he could scrap a LO just as good as me .... I will challenge him to this and post the results shortly... now back to scrappinga picture of the kids......