lollipop ladies

Well I had a lovely weekend - did you??
Went along to Paperific here in Melbourne and had the best day. I was also lucky enough to meet scrapping royalty like Ebony Van der Starre, Lisa Marsh, Sammi from Lollipop Ladies and other lovely girls - who opened my eyes not only to scrapping... but the "wonders" of the world (LOL!!!) Forgot to ask Master Ebony to sign my t-shirt... maybe next time??

The lollipop ladies have done it again and tempted me with this divine cupcake!!

All that pink frosting......... and we had to add ruffles..
So I came up with this

yeah yeah yeah .... I do have boys too but it was a PINK cupcake and well... this paper was new so I had to use it. It is the MME Quite Contrary range, some OA and not sure about the pink spots.

And I added a ruffled pink ribbon with a pin from Old Favourites that I added some buttons to, doily, glittery butterfly

And my boys helped me make these cute ruffled flowers - but they did a better job than mine!!

You cant see in this photo but mine is the top one and worked out average compared with theirs :(

Such pretty paper to work with!

So thats it for me for today - cant wait until the auction this weekend - then it will be all over (hopefully!!)

Thanks for visiting the zoo - please leave a comment... Mad Mel

AND THE WINNER IS........

Karennarelle!!!!
Thanks to my lovely assistant who cut and folded all the names and drew the draw!! (and posed for a photo too!!!)

Karennarelle - can you email me your snail mail addy and I will get these goodies posted out to you. Congrats
Thanks to all you girls for playing along, I will be doing another giveaway soon.

For all you girls who missed out - you only have a couple of days to register to win this one!! go here to get the details. entries close 31st. bye!!!

giveaway!!!

look at this beautiful giveaway!! all these yummy goodies would be really comfy at my place... but if you want you can go here and check them out too... and then go to the etsy shop and give your credit card a workout.

Anthonys LO

As requested from some of the girls on Challenge Heaven, Anthony has started his LO with no guidelines.
He is quoted as saying "how hard is it to stick papers together, add a photo and some sparkly s**t and call it art?" well .... he spent almost 3 hours wasting my papers, chipboard and stickers trying to piece together a masterpiece. His favourite product? My Versa Magic black Ink.
Just after midnight he nearly claimed defeat... he will complete it tonight (!) and I will post it ASAP!!
Its really not as bad as I thought it was going to be ... and I allowed him to use "brand name" stash - so he chose K&Co.... so I am being fair......
Stay tuned for the big reveal....

Dont forget my giveaway .... only a couple of days left!!!

Aftermath ... a scrap addix and book fair....

Here are some photos of the aftermath of our "scrapping bonding session" Anth and I shared the other night.
I will admit, I am a messy scrapper.... but .... not this messy!! and when something doesn't work out, I DON'T scrunch it up and throw it across the other side of the room while chucking a tanty .... like a cute little Collections tag that had ink on only one side ... I flip it over!! Or a piece of pp cut to the wrong size!!! Here he is scrapping - the scarf around his head is to disguise him ... so none of his mates find out he is scrapping .... a copy of this photo is now found inside my wallet and is used for bribery!!

As you can see.. there is STILL no photo of the final LO ... I'm not surprised.... after stabbing himself with the craft knife countless times, getting glue all over himself (and the table!!) and his favourite toy - the ink pad, I am happy for him NOT to scrap again!! (and if he knew how much everything cost..... I would be dealing with a divorce heehee)

OK - so in the mail the other day I ordered this awesome pack from scrap addix. The August challenge is to use as many of the things from your pack as possible...

So I managed to use them all!!!
I completed a LO about the day my eldest son (big) met Brad Johnston from the Western Bulldogs. Brad (as I'm allowed to call him!!) was promoting a new store at the shopping centre so we went and had him sign big's Guernsey and big shyly shook Brad's hand (while Mum checked him out!!!) and then we had some shopping to do... I noticed big wasn't holding on the the escalator rails, I thought he was being cool, then he refused to hold a shopping bag for me.... and it struck me that he had been walking around with his hands held in front of him.
I asked "whats up sweetie, have you hurt your hand?" he replied shyly "No.... I'm ok." I then realised he wouldn't touch anything in fear of rubbing of the germs from Brad Johnstons handshake!!! All the way home!! I had to take this photo of the germs because he was devastated when we asked him to wash his hands!!
Now for a game of "spotto" - can you find all the things from my pack in my LO?
Three arrows, 2 tags, 2 shipping tags, buttons, ribbon, hessian, transparency, cardboard, paper bag, photo turns, string and this post wouldn't be the same without a close up ... the paper bag I stamped and the shipping tag with the story.... the hessian, the arrow, transparency, buttons, string, ribbon....

cardboard...IT WAS A BIG PACK OK!!! Geez.... and a cute circle with a "germ" that got away!!

Childrens book day yesterday .... here is big as - you guessed it .... Indiana Jones (with a toilet paper roll gun daddy made 5 mins before leaving home!! (but he still cant scrap!!)

and here is little as Flynt Lockwood from Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs movie. He had "rat birds" on his shoulders I made for him and spray on shoes. Mummy is happy now that after 4 years and 6 costumes she finally won a prize for the costumes.... hehehe. They are Jas's legs in the background!!!

Paperific tomorrow!!! ONE MORE SLEEP!! I will have to scrape up some cash for some goodies. OH .... wheres my wallet with that photo .... "Anth? Can I have $50???"

he he he he........

Until next time .......

Kraft It Up LO

Firstly - a big thankyou to all the lovely girls who wished me a happy birthday for yesterday - we may not have met "in the flesh" (no B&W in real life Miss ST!!) but I have made some wonderful friends on line that share their stories, families, lives and laughs with me and still count you all as great friends. So thanks girls!!
Had an awesome day - coffee with my bestie Jas - with NO KIDS so we could finish a conversation and our scones in peace, Julia and Angus Stone CD (LOVE IT!!), t- shirts, Oroton Purse from my Sis, Kaiser stamp from jas I have been eyeing off, and drawings from the kids. and of course cake (including a virtual one from Jess!!) and wine shared long distance with Sue for her birthday too.

NOW FOR SCRAPPING
Here he is - my little man finally stopping after running around in the sand at the beach - stopping for a bit of a reflection (and a pose) after spending 12 hours in the back seat of a car squashed between his brother and sister, stopping after screaming and giggling as the tiny waves nipped at his ankles.
Its not often he stops long enough to even catch a photo - often they are blurry or candid taken from a hidden place on the other side of a playground. But... here is one.
This photo was taken at the beach where my beautiful Nanna lives, 12 hours away so we don't get to see her as often as we would like.
This LO was inspired and lifted slightly from the very talented Flis, whose blog I have been stalking alot lately - her work is just so beautiful and her little man Brae is so cute!! This LO is for the Kraft it Up challenge this month where we had to use Yellow (my fav), Green and Black. This colour combo totally threw me until I saw the gallery - and gave it a go myself!!


Better get some cleaning done - after this house is sold - its back to messy living - I am over it!!
TFL and the luv
Mad Mel

Birthday Giveaway!!!

Its my birthday today!!!

But you get the presents!!

I have been a busy girl hand dying these doilies and "starbursts" (coz that sounds cool) in colours such as Raven, Cornflower Blue, Raspberry, Coffee, Schoolboy Grey and Stucco if you want to be cool too or you could just say black pink blue brown grey and white but..... the names I chose sound quite classy don't you think??

I have also added 2 buttons I made myself that have flat bottoms for easy "sticking" and 2 silk flowers - one rose and 1 peony (that's posh too eh??)

To have the chance to be the lucky winner of these hand dyed doilies, button and flowers made my me and few other bits and bobs, become a follower for one entry and leave a comment below.For an extra entry spread the word in the usual fashion by posting it on your blog along with a link where possible.

The Giveaway will be open for a whole entire week!! I will draw a winner next Sunday the 30th of August.(Due to postage cost this giveaway is only available to my Australian followers, sorry international girls.)

(or if you just have to have them - pm me at challenge heaven site)

WHATS THIS????

Come back here on Monday to find out what I am up to......

Challenge Heaven Sketch LO

I'm on a roll again girls - another LO in one night!! can you believe it??
This time I followed a sketch from the lovely Shell over at Challenge heaven.
I dug to the bottom of my stash again - after digs from my best mate Jas about my paper addiction ... seriously, I forget which papers I have sometimes ... and found some Sass lass ... don't know if I like the results or find it too much of the same colour... also added AC thickers, handmade button, lace, flowers, ribbon and bits and pieces.

I have had these photos for so long and they have always made me smile.
They were taken by my Mum in her hallway, so I can imagine poor Mum lying on the floor, my little Miss spotting her with the camera and giggling the whole time she crawled to her super fast. Mum wouldn't have been able to get up in a hurry (visualise a turtle on its back...) and so Miss would have been crawling on top of her.....

In this close up you can see her cheeky smile .... it would not have been a pretty sight. Who knows how long mum must have been lying on that floor for waving her arms and rocking to get momentum to roll herself over .....

This post wouldn't be the same without a close up - so here is my embellie cluster of a hand dyed doilie, sass lass stickers, vintage button and a pink paislee rub on ... and you cant see but it has DM on it (and on my sleeve!!!) and some twine for..... I don't know why...

Love you mum ... but its always funny watching you get up off the floor....

thanks for visiting the zoo ... the animals are getting restless (actually one is sitting here munching on unsupervised S&V chips singing "Six White Horses" for the 100th time!!!!)

you know I appreciate the comments!!!

lollipops and layouts

The lovely ladies at Lollipop Ladies have inspired me, all they had to do was dangle a "carrot" in front of me - and my carrot- a picture of a banana split .... now who wouldn't want to get their hand on this?


But then I realised that this wasn't the prize, but the inspiration for a layout. So I wiped my mouth and got stuck into my scrap stash and came up with this layout of my beautiful daughter and her amazing eyelashes.
The circles are for the ice cream, also in the colours of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate and the yellow for the banana.. all BG papers from the bottom of my stash ... and of course you have to have a cherry or two so I added a cherry flower and the cherry butterfly (MME)

the other criteria was to add sprinkles, so I added these silver micro sprinkles inspired from the silver bowl and a close up of my altered Prima hydrangea flowers and some red beads around the outside of my chocolate circle..

And because there is no such thing as too many sprinkles ... I added some sparkly sprinkly glitter to my title...

And last night I finished this layout (yes ... in one night!!) for the challenge at Scrap the Boys where we had to use flowers on a LO of our boys obviously and if we could, highlight their softer sides.

This is a photo of myself and my big boy taken by my little boy... how cool is that!!

I was inspired by Flis to make my own flower out of masking tape ... but I am not as clever as her but managed to make one out of crepe paper instead after I got the sticky masking take goop off my fingers....

And of course a close up of the journalling. At 8, it is very hard to keep this cool and tough outer shell when you are naturally soft and sweet on the inside... he tries so hard and I think he manages to be cool, but once inside in the safety of his own house and family, the guard is let down and he emerges as a sweet little boy we all love with a big heart.

All this talk of lollipops, banana splits and soft and gooey centres has inspired me to go and raid the left over party bags.... hmmm... wonder if we have any ice cream ...

TFL and I love to hear from you!!!

Mad Mel xxx

WACKY WEEKEND

Thank Goodness that's over!!
Nah, I had a great weekend but birthdays in this house seem to last for days.
Sunday was the last day of my little mans 7th birthday which has lasted for 5 days now (and 4 cakes!) we spent the day with good friends at the Melbourne Museum - nothing like boys, bugs and dinosaurs. I snapped this photo of all the boys (and Miss Emma) totally engrossed in a bug video ... very cute.

But on Saturday night I made this cute little alien cake (just before he got chopped) with the help of my crazy sister

who helped with the washing up......

We had so much fun, but this photo took about half an hour to take because we were laughing so hard that I had tears in my eyes and couldn't see and I kept shaking the camera when I laughed. And you all thought I was crazy ... put us both together and watch what happens ...

what did you get up to on your weekend??

Mad Mel xxx

Mr Mojo rising!!

This month, I have been cleaning so much that I have scrubbed away my mojo and placed it neatly in a box somewhere waiting for the next chapter of our lives in a new house ... well cleaning is NOT for me and I needed some time out so I did this Layout for a challenge over at Scrap the Girls which required us to scrap the more "unladylike" girls in our lives .... this is not a challenge for me ... my challenge was trying to choose which photos to use.
It seems that before I was a scrapper - the photos of my daughter were all of her with a dirty face, filthy top and for some crazy reason, the kid NEVER had any pants on!! I cant recall why. Now when he camera comes out - clutter is cleared from the background, faces are inspected for dirt and I even change their clothes to colour co-ordinate with that perfect paper and journal card I just have to use!! Poor kids. Thank goodness for photoshop too!!
So here is my Layout -Grotty Growly Face of my little princess. She used to pull this face and make us all crack up - now when she does it she gets sent to her room!!
The criteria for the LO was to use a messy technique - I used ink in a perfume spray bottle - so it even smells like D&G "The One" which is lovely!! the paper I used is a very old Sass Lass paper, some buttons, kaiser rub on and pearls AC thickers .............
and a cute little OA piggy journal card that was perfect!!

And as for this little man and his birthday.... never mind the fact that Daddy searched the whole of Melbourne for weeks for the perfect bike for you - took you to the store to make sure it was the perfect size - made you a cola spider to "erase your memory" of the new bike, then trekked into every toy shop in town to find the now rare "Dragons Mega Blocks" kit, what was his favourite present??? the $15 massive Shrek Donkey Nanna and Pop bought him from the local Coles Supermarket!!! Oh the simple pleasures!!! Another donkey to add to the very much loved family.

he is a happy boy!!

FINALLY - THE DAY HAS COME!!!!

Finally - you are 7
My freaky little alien ... look at you all grown up!!
Happy birthday little guy, you mean the world to me.
This day has been a looong time coming, so long that we had to celebrate your 6 and a half birthday in January!
Last night, you were so excited that we had to do 6 claps for you for the last day of being 6, then a conga line to bed, then you couldn't sleep because you were just too excited.
You loved your presents, a new bike and a dragon megablocks kit that you are dying to put together!!
I love you so much and you make our lives so much fun with the crazy things you say and do and your amazing imagination. I know you will go far.
Happy birthday little guy. Wait until you see your giant donkey from Nanna and Pop!!

Happy Birthday Emma

Awww - so little ( and still in pink!!) This little girl - my beautiful goddaughter - came into our lives three years ago today. Emma I cant tell you how happy Mummy and Daddy were to have a little girl join there family.

I have loved watching you grow into such a girly girl and your little traits you have to make us laugh. It hasn't been easy for you but looking at you now, 3 years on, who would have known what you had to go through?

You are a tough little cookie, dressed in pink telling those boys who is boss!

I want to wish you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY princess and I look forward to sharing many more birthdays with you. NOW GO EAT SOME CAKE!!!

Giveaway!!!

Hi girls - Do you want some loot for your boy pages? I know I do so go on over to SCRAP THE BOYS and be in the running for an awesome boy giveaway in really cool colours - go go go....

LOST: my marbles and my mojo

If any one finds these can you please return them!!!

I have seriously lost my marbles due to the fact that we have decided to sell up and move on up to something a bit bigger and better - what and where exactly is the reason I have lost my marbles. We haven't found anywhere else to go yet, and I am FREAKING OUT!!!

I am not ashamed to say that I am a very lazy housewife and will do anything to get out of doing the housework - BUT - you should see this place, it looks so awesome and thanks to my baby sister and alot of sweat and scrubbing, it looks so good that I look around and think.... maybe we should stay... then I open a cupboard and, ensuring I am wearing a crash helmet, everything I have stashed comes falling down on top of me and that shakes me back into reality and I remember why we have to move.

So.. the auction is on 4th of September, but with all the cleaning and scrubbing, I cannot create!! I love my clutter and now I cant think and my eyes are hurting from the glare of shining surfaces!! So I am afraid I may have cleaned my scrapping mojo away :(.

I will try again tonight, there are soooo many fantastic challenges out there this month, and I don't want to miss out!!

Over at KIU - LOOK WHO ONE OF THE JULY WINNERS IS!!! ME - I have won a prize pack from the gorgeous Jodie at Sweet Vintage and cant wait for it to arrive - maybe it will have a bit of mojo attached...... here's hoping.

Gotta go - the animals are getting scared of their reflections in the now clean windows....
Start searching for my marbles and mojo --
Mad Melxxx