Josh just giggled...

For the very first time... Mikaela was blowing kisses to him and he was giggling his head off.

We were in the car on the way home after visiting my cousins.

Christmas at ours was lovely, much better than I anticipated with my mother and father meeting up after not seeing each other in 15 years... all went well. We had both Nath and my clans here and it was a great lunch.

Flying out to Palm Cove in the am, getting up at 4. Looking forward to some relaxation on the beach and poolside.

I hope all is well at your house.
Talk soon.
Bx

Merry Christmas 2007...

LIVE AND ACT IN A SPIRIT OF LOVE

The place to begin to improve the world
is in your own heart, head and hands.
To get along with others, love them
without forcing your love upon them.

Imposing your beliefs on people will not bring you peace.
Have concern for others, respect their rights and freedoms, and let them be themselves.
Do this and you will enjoy peace.

Having consideration for others is the basis of a good life.
Most people are not against you, they are merely for themselves.
Let differing ideas clash, but not those of the heart.

Peace comes to you when you live and act in a spirit of love.

That was yesterday...

Things with Mikaela are on the improve. She has been spending time with friends that love her and make her feel good. Thursday night we were out to dinner with friends, their daughter and Mikaela adore each other, so it was a great night. Yesterday (LAST day of school for the year, 7 weeks of togetherness, yah :))... we went to the local pool and she had a ball with another friend... so all is goooood here.
Or improving :)

Life is good.
Enjoy.
Bx

Heartbreaking...

It breaks my heart when she is hurting, especially the heart and soul kinda hurt!

Mikaela has been in some trouble at school of late, with her "best" friend. Theirs is not a healthy realtionship, it is very LOVE-HATE (even co-dependant :()... and it is awful to watch.

We are in the process of setting up a more supportive environment for Mikaela at school. Your prayers for her easy transition to this change in her life would be much appreciated.

This mother/teaching job sure is a tough one, forget office politics, this is the REAL DEAL...

Bx

Easy Christmas Gifts...

I think Christmas gifts are getting easier and easier, or maybe its just me (I used to make lavendar bath bombs for my girl pals, now not so much :() just dont have the time.

So this year Mikaela made** some noodle boxes filled with lollies for her class mates and friends. We had a great time putting the gifts together. ** we didnt actually MAKE the noodle boxes, they were premade. Cheap as chips too, like $4 for 5 of them or something like that. Basically with the boxes and the lollies the gifts worked out to be less than $1 each. JOY :)


Mikaela also made cards. We acually made the cards back on the 2nd, Mikaela was really good at stamping and writing the message on about 20 cards. The whole production line set up went pretty well. There were a number of steps, 1. stamp top front, 2. stamp Merry Christmas 3 times, 3. ink the edge of front, 4. write message inside of card, and 5. stamp 5 times inside of card. We got out of sync a few times, but all in all it was smooth sailing and Mikaela was really happy and excited to be making gifts for others.


Happy ME. Happy Mikaela... and I am pretty sure today there will be lots of happy kidlets too.

Nath is seriously counting down the days, TWO more days and he is home with us full time for about 2 weeks JOY JOY JOY.

Oh and we just got her teachers a bottle of red. Lazy but useful, no? LOL

Happy Days...
Bx

My Only...

Photo taken by JinkyArt about 3 weeks after our little man was born... Life sure is goooood!
Bx

My little studio buddy and muse...

Inspired me to create these:





These layouts were also VERY inspired by Ayo and her beautiful music! The quotes are lyrics from her debut album.

Josh may also be Mikaela's muse... she was inspired to create this recently. Its the title page of a mini-book she is creating. She is obsessed with writting "chapter" books (as she calls them). I have quite a collection of them... they are so sweet.

Anne Marie, thanks for your questions in my previous post :) And thanks to all of you who emailed me too :) So here are the answers to your questions Anne Marie:

(a)I love the look of using white pens for journaling and hand-drawing doodles, but I'm having trouble finding a white pen that won't quit on me the 2nd time I use it! What brand do you use? I use Uni-ball Signo, they are my favourite by far. I also use a Bic Correction Pen, Wite Out too... idea from classes I have taken with both Em and Celine.

(b)I've just applied for my first Design Team. I know there's amazing talent out there and my chances are so slim ... but I'd like to keep trying. Any advice? Just keep applying, submit EVERYTHING. Even the layouts of yours that *YOU* dont particularly like, someone else will LOVE. We are our own worst critics. Mainly just ignore the rejections and keep going :)

(c)What are your "can't live without" scrapbooking embellishments? Ehmmm, good question! Is paint an "embellishment"??? WeeeeeL I would have to say chipboard, letters, shapes. Also prima flowers (LOVE THEM) and buttons. I go though phases, like everyone I suppose. My style is just like me, ever changing and evolving.
For your questions Anne-Marie I am sending you a RAK (you have inspired me to another purge of my scrap room)... email me your addy :)

I hope you are enjoying the last few days before Christmas. I ***LOVE*** this time of year, its just gorgeous. The sun, the warmth, the anticipation and excitement mounting in Mikaela...

We've done all our shopping, well Nath is out now getting my gifts, but other than that we are DONE :)

Peace out...
Bx

Imagination rules the world....

according to Napoleon Bonaparte and my "Art Quote of the day" some time ago... over that-a-way -------->

Therefore I am handing it over to **you** my dear reader... ASK ME ANY QUESTION YOU LIKE and I will answer soon...

Or if you dont want to ask a question, let me know what you want to see more of on my blog.

I have not been blogging as much as I like because I dont think reading about changing nappies, or bouts of mastitis are particularly interesting LOL! I want my blogging mojo back... and I need your help loves!

Go on, dont be shy.

Brought to you by: Finally-giving-in-to-brain-clearly-not-functioning-at-optimum-levels-for-interesting-posting! and cool-with-that!!
Bx

Life is tough...

For some *grin* ...
Joshua is such a cool babe... so happy and content. Last night he slept from 1am to 6am... a first! Whooot whoo! Lately Josh has been doing a LOT of squealing and "going off" with the hands and feet discovery.

Here is one of the layouts I did recently for Scrappers Warehouse.

There are another seven layouts and an OTP (off the page) to take a look at here.

A favourite poem of mine I share with you today. I got this from a family friend and put it up in my bathroom (where else??) when Mikaela was a baby. These words got me through LOTs of hard times let me tell you :)

“As you think, you travel; and as you love you attract.
You are today where your thoughts have brought you;
You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.
You cannot escape the result of your thoughts,
but you can endure and learn…
You will realize the vision (not the idle
wish) of your heart, be it base or beautiful…
for you will always gravitate towards that which you,
secretly, most love.
Whatever your present environment may be, you will fall, remain or rise with your thoughts, your vision, your ideal.
You will become as small as your controlling desire;
as great as your dominant aspiration.”

-James Allen

Love and peace out...
Bx

Christmas Decorations...

This was a class project I finished this week with Mikaela's class.
So cute.
They loved it.
All of them were so excited.
Basically I (along with a lot of help from Nath the night before... thanks hun) prepared most of the project before hand. Therefore the children just had to do the designs on the alfoil. I did the Indian Ink part for them and then they put it all together, with help from their teacher, Heather. It was a hoot. They were such fun, I had a ball. Little cuties they were, so eager and happy. My kinda morning :) Josh was awake when we arrived, then just put himself to sleep and slept the entire time :)

I got quite a few strange looks as I had indian ink all over my hands for the rest of the day (actually I just realised, I STILL do)... and it was SO worth it :)

I only have Mikaela's ornament to share due to privacy... but seriously some of the kids were SUCH artists!! Well they are ALL artists... but some of them had serious talent.

This little project is totally inspired by Celine, who came to visit and did a "Show and Tell" with them a few weeks back. I'd promised Mikaela's teacher, Heather, MONTHS ago that I would do some arts and crafts with them... who says 2 weeks from end of year is too late?? LOL !

Next year I am going to try a "Term Project"... I can't wait!

My 2008 new years resolution... to make it Christmas "time" all throughout the year :)
Love out...
Bx

Weekend in Review...

Now that it is HUMP DAY (already???) I can go over the past weekend... Friday night my sister Meeges arrived with her girlfriend Jayne to spend the weekend. Jayne made some fantastic pesto and I chewed their ears off until I reluctantly went to bed ALONE (groan). Nath was in Sydney for an annual work networking function... racing cars!! and staying at Star Casino overnight.

First up... Saturday early morning I had a radio interview with ABC 666... all about creating and recycling for christmas. NERVOUS was I !!! I have never done a LIVE radio interview before (I have NEVER done ANY kinda radio interview before LOL) and it was nerve racking! If I can post the audio here I will, it is rather funny. No photos... but go here to see the instruction sheets I created (links at the bottom of the page).

THEN we had Mikaela's ballet concert at the local Street Theatre, it was so great. Mikaela was really good, tho she did wave to me, which I am sure she is not allowed to do... it was very cute. I did her "stage" make-up just slightly TOO MUCH, but she didnt notice or realise, so thats good.

A quick stop home before we going to see Nath play his social basketball grand final. They lost, which was disapointing because up until about half way through the second quarter they actually had a reasonable lead. Nath played really well and I got heaps of photos. I am so proud of him.

Rush home to greet our guests as we had a house full of people to cook for. In celebration of Lee's 32nd... we had Katie, Lee, Jodes, Jake and Kim come over to celebrate. We ate very late (especially for us as we normally eat at 6-630ish) it was around 930 before we got to eat, but thankfully in bed by midnight.

Sunday breaky with Meeges and Jayne before they took off back to Sydney... relaxing and papers before Nath took Mikaela to horseriding. Kim came over for a few hours, we took some chrissy photos of Josh.

Nath looked after Josh while Kim, Kaela and I did some shopping at Woden. THEN Nath and Mikaela rode their bikes, while I walked Josh in his pram, to our local park for a picnic dinner. A storm was brewing and we saw the MOST incredible rainbow,or a double one, tho the main one was so amazing. It was the most spectacular sight. Gave me chills. I dont have any decent photos because I had my macro lens on.




Home and bed for the little lady, while Nath and I watched Rainman.

Its all good.
Bx