Just As Exciting!

I am getting published in Scrapbook Creations magazine again! I have removed the LO from the previous post but some of you may have seen it. Whilst I receive many knock backs from the magazines, it is such a thrill to have some of my work published and get paid for it too! Getting published is not the reason that I scrapbook, otherwise I would've given up long ago, but it is like the icing on the cake to realise that my work can be enjoyed by all.

Here are 4 more LO's from the weekend:

Have a good long weekend!

Lest we forget.

Rach xxx

Retreat Layouts

Here are some of the LO's I completed at the retreat on the weekend.
Nick enjoying a dandelion wish.

The children sharing lunch at sportsday.

Fun with cousins in Brisbane.

Backyard fun.

Straight haired Penny.

More to come. That's enough for tonight.

I've turned into a mad cleaning woman and have cleaned 12yrs of grime off my garage walls. It's always had a basic clean but nothing like it has had over the past 2 days! I have a sore wrist from rubbing the walls but am really pleased with the sparkling result. Onto sorting out the children's bedrooms tomorrow.

Retreat 2010

As usual I had a great weekend away with some scrapbooking friends (13 all up) at lovely Chaverim. We had a lot of laughs, fantastic food (as always thanks to sweet Pamela) and 10 scrapbooking LO's completed which is a record for me. On Friday night we saw an echidna on the veranda and all weekend we saw wallabies on the front lawns and cows out the back. It is such a relaxing weekend and I am already looking forward to next year. I will upload some photos over the next few days of my LO's.

Craig and the children had a good weekend with soccer (1 goal for Nick), a play at the bowling and leisure centre, breakfast at the RSL and a visit to the beach for an ice cream. They had a fun weekend too.

The scrapbooking has now been put away as I begin a major clean in the house.

I'll be back to upload some LO's soon.

Rach xx

Retreat Countdown

Four more sleeps until I leave for my annual scrapbooking retreat with a great bunch of ladies. We stay at this beautiful country location and the food is delicious. Good old fashioned country cooking that I don't have to prepare or clean up from. Craig will be home with the children and besides soccer I'm not sure what they have in store.

Nick is going back to school for Term 2 tomorrow. It has been a quick holiday but relaxing and much needed. The heat and humidity have been very oppressive over the last 4 days and this afternoon we decided to get the blow up pool out again which had been stored away. The children had a fabulous time as I'm sure the whole neighbourhood heard! Tomorrow they are predicting a cool day with the morning at 20degrees which will be a shock. We've had some heavy rain tonight which is the beginning of the cool down I suppose.

I went out scrapbooking with the group of ladies on Sunday afternoon but it was an intimate group with only 4 of us attending. Being the end of school holidays and having the retreat next weekend probably accounted for the decreased numbers. Nevertheless I had a great time and achieved 2 LO's.

I made this card for the party Nick went to last week. Very simple but a good boys card. I really haven't regretted buying these dinosaur stamps.

Have a good week.

Rach xx

Happy Birthday Mum!

It was my Mum's birthday yesterday. Penny and I had a great chat on the phone to her last night and will see her in 5 wks when she and Dad come to visit. We are then visiting Adelaide in June. Above is the card I made for her at a Stampin' Up party a couple of weeks ago. I also stamped the envelope which Mum and I thought looked most effective.

Below is another birthday card that I made for my godmother in Adelaide using some new stamps. Not so pleased with the colours but it is still bright and cheery.

Now I am busy getting ready for the scrapbooking retreat next weekend. Can hardly wait - 2 nights of food, fun, laughter and a bit of scrapbooking.

My Little Larrikin

At the beach the other day, Penny thought she looked pretty cool in Mummy's hat. I love the thought that she still thinks Mummy is lovely and cool and knows everything. It won't be long and she will think I know nothing and am so uncool.

We had a good day yesterday starting with a drive to a remote camping spot on the beach. It was a lovely location but I am unsure whether I could be without the basic amenities (power, toilet, shower) for too long. We did it as kids and I remember it fondly but I now realise how much work it was for Mum and Dad. We then ventured out to Bunnings to buy some plants. I chose some curly leaf basil which has a beautiful fragrance. It seems a little more bushy, so hopefully will last longer than other basil which tends to get too tall and woody, too quickly. We replaced some miniature roses with a row of gardenias which we are hoping to grow along the back fence for privacy.

I also managed some scrapbooking yesterday of an Easter photo from 4yrs ago. So behind but as I'm telling myself, it's a work in progress!!!!Nick is off to a bike riding party this afternoon, tomorrow we are going to see 'How To Train Your Dragon' and then he is going to stay with his grandmother for a couple of days. So we have the holidays all stitched up!

Have a good week.

Rach xx

The Hunt

This morning we were all awake at 5.30am and the children had already cased the backyard from the back windows for evidence of Easter Bunny's visit. The hunt got underway at 6am and was completed by 6.05am with 2 happy children having scoured the backyard for 30 eggs (15 each). Mind you I think they wished the hunt would never end with a continual replenishment of eggs. The children then came in and sampled some of their bounty and also opened some Easter presents from my friend Tracey and also from their cousins in Brisbane. Of course it wouldn't be Easter without the Humpty Dumpty eggs from us. They both have very full baskets of goodies.
After some yummy hot cross buns for breakfast we decided to get some exercise and ventured to a local beaching spot with a great riding path along which the children rode their bikes whilst we walked. I also took photos of many different things along the way. We enjoyed morning tea overlooking the beach where there was much activity. With people fishing, wind surfers and kite surfers we were well entertained and we couldn't leave without building a sandcastle. We visited another beach where we enjoyed an ice cream and then home for a lazy afternoon.

We've certainly had a Happy Easter and I hope that you have too!

Rach xx

Easter Creations

Here is sweet Penny in her hat which we cut out on the Cricut along with the shapes and then we spent a morning painting them. She had a lovely time at day care on Thursday. She won a prize for her hat in the parade and received an Easter present from her special friend, Angus. Easter bunny visited Nick at school on Thursday, evident from the eggs in his basket after lunch. Nobody spotted him though!

I've also been busy making the children's teachers Easter basket/bags. I ran out of time, so they weren't as fancy as I had hoped but well received.

On Good Friday we had a lovely lazy start to the day and then ventured off in our tinny up the river in search of fish. We caught a variety of fish including an eel and a gummy shark but only kept a dozen whiting. I caught the shark which was just over a meter long and good fun to reel into the side of the boat so that everyone could have a look. The children enjoyed the whiting fillets for dinner whilst I made Craig and myself some fishcakes from reef fillets.

Be back with photos of the egg hunt tomorrow after Easter Bunny has been.