Rotorua Holiday | Hip Kit Club May 2015

Hi everyone,

Today I have a layout to share with you of with some photos of our recent trip to Rotorua with my sister Juliet and my gorgeous nephew and niece.  Whilst we were there we went on some adventures with the kids.  Here is us on the ‘luge’. It was the first time we as a family had all gone luging so it was loads of fun. Liam was a bit apprehensive at first but once we went down once he was happy as to go again another two more times.  It was a cold but gorgeous winters day in Rotorua and we were able to sit outside in the sun and have a coffee/hot chocolate/fluffies after our luge rides.

The May 2015 Hip Kit was perfect for a sunny but wintery day.  I started this one for a challenge but never got finished in time. So I added some cute cork embellishments from my stash and changed it up about as it was originally a sketch challenge.  Again, I am loving the ‘grid style’ layout but adding lots of layering and embellishments for interest too.  Some close ups: Thanks for stopping by my blog today!!

Michelle

Sketchabilities #114

Hi,

Back today with a layout share (another retreat one) for the latest Sketchabilities sketch:

My take:  I loved editing my photos of my iphone first and instagramming them. I find it makes it so much easier to print them out on my Selphy.  I like adding frames and scrapping square photos right now too.  Down in Browns Bay there is a famous icecream gelato shop which does really reasonably priced icecreams for the kids. When we go to the beach we usually head down to Penguinos for an icecream before heading home.  The kids all love playing in the ride on toy outside the shop and this is photo of them ALL inside.  Not sure how much longer they will fit in there to be honest.

I have used my CMK – January Kit for this layout. Love the Studio Calico Print Shop papers for pops of colour and the Alison Kreft Instaframes to add a bit of black to mirror my instagram frame on my photo. 

I enjoy creating layouts for Sketchabilities although I do admit that I struggle with the distressed factor sometimes!  To create the background I have found that if I paint my background in a bit of white gesso first it allows the colours to ‘pop’ more than if I just mist on the background (got this little tip blog hopping one day but now can’t recall where I read it!).  I then add mist to the background and to get it to drip down the page I then spray some water directly on top of the mist and then hold up the cardstock to allow the mist ‘to drip’ down the page.  It’s lots of fun!  First I think I have finely sprayed some pink Heidi Swapp mist in Rose and then followed by the Heidi Swapp Orange Mist on top of this.

details:
Thanks for stopping by!  I hope to have the rest of my layouts that I created at Autumn Escape to share with you in the coming days.   So do check back!!

Michelle xx

 

Playground!

The kids got a playground as a joint present this Christmas just been (2013).  It is really more aimed at the girls level but Liam does get on it occassionally!  It was a huge mission getting the playground down the side steps and installed in the backyard but this layout shows the kids having their first turn on the new structure!

This layout is for sketchabilities latest challenge.

Little details: It was so nice to scrap multi photo for a change.  I really dont do that ENOUGH.  I enjoyed making the background with my mists and texture paste and mask too.  I really like how the journalling on the clear dymo tape is subtle and you can see the background through it.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Michelle xx

I heart icecream

Happy Saturday!

The next case file is now ready to play along with at Color Stories Inspiration.  Hmmm, this one just screams Neapolitan ice-cream to me!

and this is my take:I started off spraying the mists on my white cardstock and basically followed the colours in order of the picture above.  To create the softer colours and to mimic ice-cream drips, I added some sprays of water into the mist and then held the page up and allowed the mists to dilute and run down the page.  The stickers are from a Dear Lizzy Collection (not sure which one now) which fit the theme perfectly – the little banners at the page and the cute camera and ice-cream were perfect embellishments to accompany my photo.  To create the little pictures within the white border I used an app on my called Pic Frame on my iPhone and added 3 photos, rounded the corners and created a little montage of my three kids eating yoghurt story at the mall.  All my kids are fans of ice-cream although I’m not a fan of the ice-cream madness that descends shortly after from the sugar rush!

Little details: Thanks for stopping by today.  I have one more reveal to go from my special investigator stint at CSI.  I have totally enjoyed being part of the team for the month and I hope you have enjoyed seeing my inspiration and maybe you have taken the plunge and had a go at the challenges too.  They are heaps of fun.

Take care
Michelle

Color Stories Inspiration Case 110

Wow… another case file is up already at CSI.  This time it included a sketch by Emma Stafrace:

This sketch and theme was a tough one to do for me.  But one of the great things about CSI challenges is they force me to get those photos and stories scrapped which may be in the too hard basket.  This was one of them.  Last September, we said goodbye to Indy our retrospoodle,  I wrote about Indy before having a shunt in his liver which meant he couldn’t process toxins properly.  If you know anything about liver disease in humans it can make you quite grumpy.  Well in Indy’s case it certainly did and he was getting increasingly anxious and very needy – didn’t liked to be away from the family at all.  Indy also really didn’t like Aimee and growled a lot when she was nearby.  I’m not sure why as Aimee really loved Indy and was excited to see him. Aimee was also his main source of food for Indy with leftovers going over the side of the highchair for him.  Unfortunately, I had to often keep the two of them apart which was difficult at times.  Then the day after Gary’s birthday last year Indy was sitting under Liam who was on the computer.  I thought in my head, Aimee was outside and happily playing I won’t put Indy away just yet.  Whilst I was in the kitchen, Aimee walked into the lounge and I don’t quite know what happened next but Indy barked out loud and he had rushed Aimee and nipped her on her arm just above her elbow.  It was just enough to break skin but nothing more.  She wasn’t doing anything to antagonise Indy but for some reason he felt threatened by her presence.

We never really knew how Indy was feeling inside as obviously he couldn’t tell us but I honestly felt that in the last few months prior to this incident he was feeling worse and his behaviour was getting more difficult to manage.  We had to make the tough decision to have Indy put to sleep.  There was no way I could trust he wouldn’t try anything again and with his health conditions it just wasn’t possible to re home him.  The kids came first.  So this layout is us saying goodbye.  I have never had to put an animal to sleep, it was the toughest thing I have ever done.  Indy was always at my feet at home he followed me around, he was our vacuum cleaner and a huge part of our family.  It was certainly hard to take him to the vet and say goodbye for the last time.  Indy loved going to the vet, he was always so excited to go – this time was no exception, Liam said goodbye before going to school and the girls and Gary came with us to the vet.  Gary and the girls said their goodbyes and I stayed with Indy whilst he ate his last ever dog treat as he drifted off to sleep.  I am so pleased he got to eat some yummy dog food (which he wasn’t normally allowed due to his liver condition) as his last supper.

The next few days/weeks were weird, it is amazing how much a dog can influence your world, from walking him, to leaving the blind half way up so you could let him outside easily if he needed to go to the toilet, to making sure you didn’t leave food lying around to close to the edge of the bench otherwise it would get scoffed when you left the room!  You even expected to open the garage door in the morning and find Indy waiting right there to greet you.

I hope Indy is now finally at peace and enjoying playing with all the doggies in doggy heaven.

I have also included some hidden journaling and an extra photo in an envelope under the doily. Thanks for stopping by today.  

Mxx

 

CSI #98

Hi

Just a quick layout share today for Color Stories Inspiration challenge #98.

The scheme:My layout:details: Thanks for stopping by!  We are having our next reveal for Creative Scrappers tomorrow NZ time – with another awesome sketch.  Can’t wait to share it with you all.

Michelle

Blog NEGLECT!

Hello everyone,

I have you may have noticed began to neglect my blog apart from scrappy shares !  Not much in the way of personal shares SORRY!  There are lots of cool things going on so it is not for the lack interesting information but more the lack of time to record them all here on the blog.

It could have something to do with a wee thing called project life which I started at week 19.  Yep I did my cover page and then skipped forward a few weeks so now I am recording a bit of this information that normally would be on my blog in my cute little orange album.  I am really enjoying it.  It wouldn’t be possible if I didn’t have  my Canon Selphy CP900. Which is basically how the heck I manage to get any photos printed these days.  I quite like the grungy high gloss look on my layouts too.  It is nice to be able to just pick up a current photo and then scrap it or PL it.  The stories and memories are fresh too.  The PL is not a work of art by any means but I can then save my creativity for my layouts = Happy.

Anyway, lots of cool things happening here.

This month we put both the girls into the same room and now they are sharing!  After a couple of weeks of transition and a few nights of sickness which were a bit disruptive it is going pretty well.  Taylor still goes into her old room and asks if she could have that one back… um no sorry sweetheart!

Will just do a quick update on the Taylor and Liam and then do separate post on Aimee as she is another month older!

Liam

• Is playing Futsal on a Monday night – but is playing some amazingly good kids and they get thrashed every week.  I think it has been good for his attacking game too.
• He has a one on one drum lesson on Tuesday night.  And has been going for 4 weeks and is getting really good at learning the beats and seems really enthusiastic so great that he has something that isn’t just sport.
• Thursdays are just chaotic.  He is supposed to do swimming, miniball and soccer practice.  Yep.  Soccer he wasn’t really ever able to do and he plays about half the games of miniball when it doesn’t clash with swimming.  Mini ball they got into a really hard grade and didn’t make the quarter finals.  Swimming – he just got his 100m award.  There is only two awards left after that and he is finished the programme.  Can’t quite believe that as that award list seems freaky long.
• Saturdays he is playing soccer at a nice respectable time of 10am.  He has quite a good team this year and they have just been put into the top half of their 9th grade competition.  He is playing with a few 8th grade reps who are playing up into the 9th grade so some of the kids are only turning 8 at the end of the year but they are pretty good little players!  So far at soccer he is doing pretty well.  Definitely not scoring as much this year but definitely helping putting the ball through for others to score.  He is putting in a huge effort in his tackling and taking on players which I think is a reflection of playing futsal on Mondays !
• Right now he is doing pretty well behaved at home.  We have a tick chart of things he needs to do every day which we adapted from Ali Edwards one for her son.  Plus he has to earn his computer screen time.  Which means he is getting  stuck into helping a bit more with things like setting the table and emptying the dishwasher. If he gets his talking nicely tick for several days so no meltdowns and having to drag him to his room (it is 10 at the moment) then he gets his reward.

Taylor at 2 3/4 years you are:

• fiercely independent times.  I can do it myself.  You can peel your own banana – sometimes you even peel your brothers banana too.  You have to open your own cheese slice, your own Thomas custards etc.
• you are going through a bit of a defiant stage.  Your first initial reaction is to say no I’m not doing that!  Usually a short spell on the step means you are more willing to do as I have asked.  This usually happens when you asked to tidy something up!
• you are still really helpful.
• you are 94cm tall
• at swimming you have had a few firsts.  First time in life jackets without mummy or daddy.  First time in flippers.  First time floating on your back without anyone holding you for a minute.  You are I’m sure doing way more things at swimming than Liam at the same age.  Zoe frequently takes away bubbles and gets your guys to swim without anything and it just isn’t a big deal.  We just need to teach you to have noisy feet and kick rather than run in the water!
• at crèche you are doing really well.  You are really enjoying swinging at the moment and of course dancing and signing as well.
• you are no longer wearing nappies!  A couple of weeks ago we stopped putting you in nappies at night and you do wake to go to the toilet we haven’t had many accidents.
• you are still having sleeps during the day about 50% of the time.

Not much else is happening!  The months are just flying by… I am about to start creating my class for the SP retreat that I am teaching at in September !  Excited about that… it has been awhile since I have done any teaching… and I have lots of ideas that I want to try out too.

Until next time
Mxx

Right now

Watching :: an old episode of private practice on my mysky, and toys scattered from one
End of the lounge to the other. Jigsaw puzzle anyone?
Eating :: smoked salmon and avocado on corn thins
Listening :: to the sounds of the tv, the landscaper in the garden, and listening out to see if one of the children who is napping is awake
Waiting :: for birthday month to begin, a trip to Melbourne, and for cricket practice this afternoon
Doing :: half way through cleaning up the toys, the washing, and thinking about how to fit in dinner tonight
Loving :: family holidays to the beach with perfect weather, getting a new garden and that both girls are napping together
Planning :: a decluttering spree, Melbourne, running tonight, birthday month, and how to get through the rest of my day with a teething baby and a bored toddler
Buying :: um trying to buy nothing as I’ve well over spent in January! But on my wish list is a canon selphy, a 50mm lens, a gps watch, a raskog trolley in Melbourne hopefully, tickets to brisbane and at some point Sydney too, accommodation in rotorua, some amber beads for Aimee seeing as her sister won’t give up hers
Wearing :: my running bare bright yellow t shirts and khaki shorts and green havaianas
Reading. The third one of the girl with the dragon tattoo on my iPad and a Harlan Coben novel from the library. No idea what it is called…

And Aimee is awake… Thanks Hannah for the cool idea of blogging the here and now!

2012 in review

Hello 2013!

I have been meaning to post here for a couple of days but the nice weather has been keeping me away from the computer !! I thought I would do a combine post of our year in review by months (like Hannah did on her blog recently) and my favourite scrapping layouts for the year.

January 2012

Hahei 2012 – gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous weather!  Camping with a mobile Taylor went reasonably well.  I can’t wait to go in a couple of weeks time.  Next, a last minute trip booked to Wellington for the weekend – lots of walking, TePapa, and high tea at Sweetpea with Mandy.

February 2012

My 34th birthday, a weekend away at Kai Iwi lakes and the Bay of Islands road trip.

March 2012

Taylor started at creche (the same creche Liam went to when he was little). Concreted in the stairs and built all the gates to child and dog proof the back yard!

April 2012

Big month this month. An early appearance of Aimee Rose on the 10th meant an ambulance ride to Hospital.  A week and a bit later Liam turned 8.  We adjusted to life of a family of 5.

May 2012

Hmmmm, what happened in May!  Still adjusting to life with 3 children.

June 2012

Visit from my sisters from Brisbane and Sydney with their boys Mako and Roman.  Still adjusting to life with 3 children.  Taylor wore goggles and a swimming cap at swimming for the first time.

July 2012

First school holidays with 3 children.  Took the kids to Kiwi Valley Farm.  Taylor had her first ride on a pony and Liam enjoyed riding a big horse.  Taylor did lots of playing with her picnic basket.  Taylor slept in a big girl bed for the first time. She spent a lot of time sleeping on the floor and not in her bed.

August 2012

Aimee started sleeping in her own room and in a cot.  Gary and I celebrated 10 years of being married with a 9 course degustation meal at the French Cafe – we were the last to leave the restaurant and were personally escorted to the door.  That is what happens when you don’t arrive to dinner until 8:30pm.

September 2012

Gary turned 40.  Aimee and I had an ambulance ride to Waitakere Hospital and a few nights stay for Bronciolitis.  Taylor turned 2. Taylor and I joined Chloe and Sarah at one of the last Wiggles concerts.  Gary ran the Arthur Lidiard Half Marathon.

October 2012

We had a big storm and lost power for the night.  Aimee moved out her capsule and into a big girl carseat.  Liam started to play his 4th summer of cricket.  Gary ran the Auckland Half Marathon.

November 2012

Liam, Aimee and I went with Aunty Nic to visit Shannon, Shade and Mako in Australia.  Mummy spent up large at Target, Big W and Ikea.  We went to SeaWorld.  Gary and Taylor had adventures back home and went to the Zoo, lots of walks, and a bus trip to pick us up from the Airport.  Liam took part of the big Pacifica and Kapa Haka performances at Onepoto School.  Liam’s mini ball team won their mini ball league.

December 2012

I restablished my scrap table in the lounge, coloured my hair darker again, Taylor started to use the toilet regularly and is in knickers most of the time at home.  Visited  the Stanmore Bay Railway and then a swim at Manly beach.  Found out I made the D’lish Scraps Design Team but then couldn’t tell anyone!

So that is 2012 … in a nutshell.  I am looking forward to seeing what 2013 brings, getting to meet my new nephew and niece in Australia.  Hopefully gettting to visit them!   Life with 3 kids is pretty crazy and chaotic!  It will be interesting to move on from babies and into toddler and preschool years with my girls.  Liam will be in year 5 so senior school… and getting to do some fun stuff like overnight camp at Merc.  I am also excited about where my creativity will take me this year…

Kraft it Up! – December challenge

I’m on a roll… gotta love a bit of mojo and a bit of time to get some scrapping done.

This time I have created a layout for the Kraft it Up December challenge.  The criteria for this month’s challenge – apart from using kraft as your background is “All I want for Christmas…”  This year, Gary has taken off time between Christmas and New Year which is the first time he has taken this time off for years… so all I want for Christmas is to hang out !  And get out and do some things as a family which isn’t easy for me to do on my own mainly because Taylor would be  trying to climb to the top of the playground and poor Aimee would be left abandoned whilst I ran around after the toddler.

Cute litte vintage buttons are from Jenni Bowlin

I used a lot of the sticker sheet from my CMK December kit and gotta love my instax camera for the photos which I took today!

Thanks for visiting – I hope you are having a nice holiday break too!

//Michelle