It has been a hectic Christmas but a very relaxing few days since then. We went to Cindy's house at 9am for breakfast and present opening. Charli has asked all along that father christmas bring her a purple fairy dress a purple wand and a purple crown and this is what she is wearing here, right after she opened it.

When we had finished at Cindy's we drove to Stockport to have lunch at my nephew's place. Mum was with us and two of my sisters and all of their families were there. It was great to catch up with them all. My nephew has a snake he calls fluffy and Charli was quite intrigued with it. I was surprised though when she was quite happy to handle it and let it slide over her. Poppy, of course, was close on hand.

We left Mark's at about 6:30 then spent the evening watching a movie on telly. It was a great day. A bit of everything.

I have done very little today. I have tried on every top (not t shirts) and pair of slacks that I own and decided which ones fit properly and which ones I am not likely to wear again. This process took me over two hours. I was reasonably ruthless but my wardrobe is still way too overcrowded.

I have not made a new year's resolution as yet but I am thinking I should make one to buy only things I need and have an immediate use for, not just buy things because I like them and might use them one day.
That is certainly an interesting concept. I was thinking of buying an iPhone and an iPad before I go overseas next year, how would that fit into this resolution I wonder. I should certainly apply this thinking to my scrapbooking. Perhaps create two layouts from my stash and then one from new product.

Ray & I are going to Sydney tomorrow with 8 of our friends for New Years Eve. We are booked onto a boat cruise that is in the inclusion zone on Sydney harbour for dinner, drinks and fireworks. Can't wait.

Hope you have got some great plans for NYE.

Thanks for dropping by
Till next time
Cheers
Julie

Well who would have thought I would be back again so soon!!

I have just finished my third layout for the challenge at My Creative Sketches. They have a competition where you can win a three month subscription to their kit club by submitting a layout for the three monthly sketches posted in September, October, and November. I have already posted the first two in their appropriate months so this is the last one for this competition. I thought I would do it now and then I can relax over Christmas.

The journalling for this layout is on a tag that is connected to the pink spotted ribbon on the left hand edge of the twin photos.

This is definitely my last post before christmas
Have a great one
Thanks for looking
Till next time
Cheers
Julie

I am just about organised for Christmas. I am waiting for a couple of printed decks of cards I ordered for Mum, with photos of her and Dad on one pack and a photo of all us kids about 40 years ago on the other, to arrive from Snapfish. I have to pick them up from Westlakes so I will get another present for my Secret Santa recipient while I am over there.

I have completely finished Mum's album now. This is the front cover

I hope she likes it.

I gave Daisy her Christmas bath and haircut today. I don't enjoy doing it but I love the finished product. I left her tail in the bluo for too long and now she has a mauve tail. I would post a picture to show you but as soon as she hears the camera turn on she takes off.

I have finally got my compression stockings off today. I had my checkup for my varicose vein treatment and all is good. You can not appreciate how glad I am to have them off unless you have had to wear them at some stage. I had both legs done so had to wear compression stockings on both legs for the last two weeks. I am glad they are gone before the really hot weather gets here.

This will be my last post before Christmas so hope you all have a great day. I know we will.

Thanks for looking
Till next time
Cheers
Julie

I have finished Mum's album all except for the title on the front cover. I will post the finished pages now and the front cover in the next couple of days when it is finished. I have used the Kaisercraft "English Rose" line of papers.

Each page has a photo of my sisters and brother and behind their photo is a tag that gives the details of that persons family. ie Their partner's details, their children's names, dates of birth and partners details, grandchildren' names and dates of birth. The first two pages are Dad & Mum. Mum is, of course, still with us but Dad passed away in 1988.

I am also going to share a card I made for a friend's birthday. Lots of us got together on Friday night to celebrate christmas and 3 birthdays. It was a great night.

The scalloped section in the middle of the inside is constructed so it can hold a gift card

Well just in case I do not get back her before Christmas, I hope you all have a great day. Mum is coming to stay with us on Friday (it just happens to be her birthday that day as well) and we are going to have a busy day on Christmas day. Will be catching up with 2 of my sisters as well.

Thanks for dropping by
Till next time
Cheers
Julie

Just a quick post today. We went to Charli's TheatreBugs concert this morning. Here are a couple of photos of her in her costume. She was Cuddlepie in Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. (Photos taken by Treasured Memories Photography)

Way too cute. She did very well during the concert following the teachers instruction and doing the whole routine. Got some of it on video as well.

Today I have completed Mum's page in the album I am working on at the moment. I am going to give it to Mum for Christmas. I have got 7 pages to go but I just don't seem to be able to get into it. I am going to have to get a wriggle on because it is only 8 days to Christmas. She arrives here on the 24th so that only gives me 7 days. I am hoping that I will be hit by a sudden wave of creativeness and everything will fall into place.

Anyway that is it for today, I need to get back to the album. Tomorrow I will post the pages I have finished.

Till next time
Thanks for looking
Cheers
Julie

It's Monday again already. Time just goes too quickly and at this time of the year there is so much to do that time goes even faster that usual.

It has been a very hectic week and I can't even begin to remember what I did a week ago.

Friday night we went to the Dance for Fun Christmas function and had a fun night. The band was the Rockin Dally Roos.

Saturday we went to the boat launch held by our friends who have built their own boat. What an achievement. It has taken them ten years but the sense of achievement must be huge for them now. They were going to spend the night on the boat on Saturday night. I have not heard from them since but I am sure they would have enjoyed the night so much.

Saturday afternoon I had my final class at Camelot for the year. I will resume again when school goes back at the beginning of February next year. I know that won't take long to come around. I have really enjoyed the time spent with my regulars on a Saturday and am looking forward to february and seeing them again.

Sunday afternoon we went to the Old Melbourne Hotel in North Adelaide to hear The Rustlers. They were great. It was nice to have a change of venue and a change of band. This band does not play the Rock n Roll circuit and I really enjoyed listening to them. We even had a few dances. A very enjoyable afternoon. On the way home we picked up the Bridesmaids on DVD and watched that during the evening and I did the ironing.

I have spent the day in town today. After we had our Puratap serviced Ray & I drove to the Entertainment Centre then caught the tram into the city. We did a few odds and ends in there then Cindy joined me and Ray went home. Cindy and I went shopping for some clothes for Cindy for her Christmas present then in the afternoon we had a lesson in applying makeup. This evening Ray & I went to the Stanford Plaza for dinner and now I am home checking out blogs and saying hello to you.

Tomorrow Charli has her concert at BeeBoppers so we will both be going to that. On the way home we have to call in and check out her sizing for a new bike as the one we gave her last year is too small for her now. Apart from that I plan on taking it pretty easy.

I have decided to make mum a 7" x 7" wooden album for christmas with photos of her and Dad and a page with a photo of each of her children, and behind each photo there will be a tag giving the detail of that particular daughter/son ie date of birth, spouses name, children's names, grand children's names etc. I have selected the photos and I just have to get them printed. I will start work on this project tomorrow night probably.

Wednesday I am off to work and as it is Cindy's birthday I have agreed to have Charli while she goes out to celebrate in the evening. My baby is going to be 38!!!!

As I have not had a chance to do any crafty stuff I am sharing a few layouts from a while ago.

This first one is using a photo taken when I was about 17 and my sister (16) and I went out with my Mum and Dad to one of the local football clubs in Whyalla for the saturday night cabaret. It was probably a special guest artist because we did not go out with Mum & Dad very often.

This photo was taken at my brothers wedding.

This photo was taken at my Deb. I remember we used to have to go to practise for this and we had to learn to dance the waltz. We had fun anyway.

Well that's about it for this post.
Thanks for dropping by
Till next time
Cheers
Julie

A quick post tonight to share with you the layout I did for the challenge at Black with 2. The criteria was Red and Green with a touch of metal on a black background.

The photo is of Charli last Christmas morning. I have converted it to black and white as the fairy dress she had on was pink and did not really go with the colour scheme. The christmas tree is made up of strips of paper that I punched one edge of and then layered onto a piece of card shaped into the Christmas tree shape. The red paper used as a background was cut on my Cricut using the Paper Lace cartridge.

Been at work today and tomorrow we have Charli. Tomorrow afternoon my sister arrives from Roxby Downs to go to the Cold Chisel concert so it will be good to catch up with her and her family.

Till next time
Thanks for looking
Cheers
Julie

It has been another busy week and I don't know where the time has gone.

Today I did manage to make some Christmas cards

This first one was inspired by a card I saw on Natalie May's blog.

This one I actually made last year

This one I taught at a card class

I saw this zig zag fold and star in a magazine and thought I would give it a try. I have given the star a light coat of Dimensional Magic to give it that shine

This card uses some SEI paper I have had for a while. I love SEI papers

A gatefold card

A nice bright, cheery card

Another card using the SEI papers and I have embossed the front cover of the card using my Big Shot

Thanks for looking.
Till next time
Cheers
Julie