Blogger issues.....

Here is the layout that is missing from my last post. I deleted it to try to fix the size issue I was having, but then blogger wouldn't let me upload! Looking at it, I could have made it a little bigger.. Oh well :)

Just a quick one...

Because there really isn't a lot happening, which is good in a way I suppose :).

I had to post though and do a little "toot-toot", lol. Picked up the latest For Keeps mag(for some reason the website hasn't been updated), and it's got this

in it. I know I know, they would have sent me a copy of the mag, but I couldn't wait to have a lookie, and because the Magazine is in sealed plastic I had to buy a copy! I'll give the other to mum I suppose :). The only thing is, you can read my journaling... not too sure if I like that. Credits: Papers by Denise Docherty (www.spaceraven.net) Fonts Broken 15, DSP can you hear me now?

Being the geek that I am, I had to contact the mag to see if it was ok to post here lol, turns out it was, or none of you would be seeing it ;)

That said here is the one that was in last months.. (gee this really is a self promotion post isn't it?!) Ok, it's turned kinda small, but you get the idea.

Credits: Papers by Shabby Princess, font Will n Grace.

Sorry no new stuff yet. I'm having major download issues, which has put me out of the mood lol. Anyone know a good download manager?

Once again, thanks for visiting.

TTFN :)

Lazy day....

Just one of those lazy Sundays today.. hope it stays that way, but Wayne just got a phone call from one of his friends to go round there... personally I'd rather stay at home... we'll see ;).

Anyway I finally managed to get this done

I'd worked on so many versions, just was never happy with any :(.. Still not sure, but I think this is the best of the lot lol.

Not sure if you can read the text, so here it is. I though it was nice, and got it from 2peas.

Sometimes looking deep into the eyes of a child, you are conscious of meeting a glance full of wisdom. The child has known nothing yet but love and beauty. All this piled-up world knowledge you have acquired is unguessed at by her. And yet you meet this wonderful look that tells you in a moment more than all the years of experience have seemed to teach. Hildegarde Hawthorne

Papers in there from spaceraven (aka Denise Docherty, LOVE your stuff ;) ), fonts, itc avant garde, al sandra, mamma gamma.

We went to the home show on Friday night, and it was ok. Not as many things there as I would have thought, but did see some things that I'd love to get.

I've been thinking of getting a trampoline for a while now, and they had these, and they look fantastic! Bit on the pricey side though, the smallest one going for just under $900, the one that I'd get just under $1500! Julieanne had a turn at the show, and she didn't want to get off. I suppose it is good exercise... lol, she says trying to con dh into getting one ;).

I also saw a bath that I'd love. We don't have one at the moment, and I loved the fact that I could just leave Julieanne in the bath, and she's play for ages. Can't do that with the shower, and water restrictions and all. I couldn't get a pic of the one that I loved, but it's one of those claw foot ones... can't find any prices on it either so that can't be good!

TFL

So what's been happening?

Not a lot really, lol, and it's been over a week... boy time does fly!!

Ok, the news that you all have been waiting for - NOT - the Krispy Kremes were nice, I especially liked just the plain glazed ones.. will probably just get them next time (yes there might be a next time) and maybe a jam one too. I'm glad I didn't spend hours in the queue for them though... I wouldn't go that far!!

I picked up some LO's, that I had printed out, on Friday (not bad as I only sent them in on Tuesday, and they were ready to pick on Thursday!). As usual the quality of the prints is second to none and they look terrific.. My only wish is that I could get my monitor to match the printouts, they never seem to look the same :(.

Also had new tyres fitted to the car on Friday, the old ones were way beyond being safe! Not happy about spending the money (would have preferred to spend it on a new macro lens lol) but I suppose it's one of those things that needs to be done. Earlier on in the week we put 4 new tyres on the truck, and that cost about 3 times as much!! Grr, not nice when the money really isn't there.

Work has died off again. I'm happy in one sense as I get to do more things at home now (like scrap - sure, that will happen lol), but the money did come in handy, and I did like to get out and do something.... Sometimes I feel really worthless when at home. I know it sounds stupid, but I think there is a stigma attached to being a SAHM, sad really :(.

Umm... what else (gee this post is going on and on......). My SIL had a Tupperware party on Saturday, boy that stuff is expensive, but being me I felt obligated to buy something, so I got a grater, as I don't have one at the moment, I didn't feel too bad about getting it lol.

I told dh that I was going to set up my home studio to take some photos on Sunday, but he seemed to have idea of working in the garden... boy was I happy when his brother showed up to help him, lol, let me play inside ;). Also he brought some more models with him that I could use.

The results from the shoot, were terrible though. I haven't done it for so long (nearly a year I think) that I've forgotten how I had my lights set up, as a result, most of the shots were very blurry... note to self: next time move the lights closer! Here's one of the better ones (thanks to photoshop!), shame the kids weren't very cooperative either... could not get a nice expression at all!



And I think next time I'll use the black. Julieanne just gets washed out in the white. Though her cousin looks striking with it..

I then went and took some outside... much better! Though still not the best expressions lol.

Oh, and I actually managed to do a LO on Mondy night (while watching Cold Case and Criminal Minds).

The kit used is Embrace Life, by Denise Docherty, and I just love the colours in it. I really don't like to blur out bits, but thought that I'd better... you never know.

Anyway, thanks for making it to the end of this post... must be the longest yet :).

On the bandwagon..... (a bit late as always)

OMG! Blogger actually let me upload!!

First off, I have to let you all know that I've jumped on the Krispy Kreme bandwagon. Well sort of, I finally got some today, haven't actually tried them yet I'll wait for Wayne to get home lol. I didn't go the full hog, and only got the 1 box, everyone else in front of me in the drive through got their 2 boxes, lol... I made up for it with a hot chocolate, which was actually very nice.

lol, had to get a picture ;)... not sure if that 450 is the number of orders they had today.. if so they are still doing some good business.. I think I was there at about 1.30, not bad for half a day!

Umm.. what else? Obviously I had the day off today, work is starting to die off again, and I had to go and drop some stuff of at the accountants in Narre Warren(I suppose we'll have to wait another 3 months for the returns to come in! Grrrrrr!).. hence the Krispy Kremes ;). Finally got round to doing some reading at the school too. Julieanne has been nagging me for ages, but never found the time, terrible mother that I am ;). I'm glad that I went, it's nice to see how she is going with her reading compared to the other children... Just needs to work on her writing!!

I also managed to get this done for the colour challenge at PBP. The colours are really not me, and I did struggle with this one... PS crashing on me halfway through not being any help! But I think it turned out ok, sort of... might try and see what it looks like with some other colours... Kit used is Denise Docherty's Henna kit.

I was attempting to do a LO with this

Last night, thinking that I'd do something that Wayne would actually comment on, lol. Couldn't find my mojo though, and nothing came out of it.. though I'm not going to hold my breath for any compliments from him anyway ;).

Here's another one that I though actually turned into not a bad shot.... hehe, see I did manage to get those 4x4 shots in ;0... sorry.

Ok, thought I'd see if blogger would co-operate for me.....
Well what do you know....

Open your eyes

(credits Anna Aspnes)

lol, hope this one will make some more sense Started with the background paper and duplicated that, moved it so it is on an angle to the fist layer. Added the bottom photo, and changed blend mode to luminosity 100%. New layer select the photo area (marching ants), fill with white, blend mode soft light 81%, move a little to get an edge, and mask out the faces.Add the top photo and using layer mask and grungy brush erase some of the photo edge. New layer and useing the same brush, paint some white around the photo edge. Duplicate this painted layer, and move it slightly to get more of an effect.Add the next photo, and repeat the above.Add an edge around the whole LO (I think that I used a pre made overlay for this, but you could just use a brush), then add the text. the "open" was cut out of a copy of the background paper, "your" was blend mode muliply, and "eye" blend mode overlay, with the layer duplicated.The rest is just a few curly brustes added at soft light .

Also managed to pick up a bunch of Freesias from work today, and I can't wait for that smell :).

TFL everyone :)

A "grrrrr" day

Well it started wonderfully (note the sarcasm in that lol)! As I was having a shower this morning the power ran out.... the thing is, when we don'thave power, the pump doesn't run, so there is no water! I had to get out go outside (sopping wet), and attempt to start the generator (which a finally did, after a lot of "nearly" swearing lol). The sad thing is this isn't the first time this has happened lol. Anyway, there is some good news about the whole power thing. Yesterday I registered for the fuel grant scheme, so we'll get 38 cents back in the dollar for the fuel we use in the generator... better than nothing I suppose :).

Went to work, and felt like I got nothing done today, but in reality I did ;).

Got home and found in the mail my first cheque for scrapping... pretty chuffed about that. And I didn 't know that for keeps sends you a copy of the mag with your lo in it. Is this normal? If so, I won't need to buy a copy next month ;). Then as the day was looking up, I drove all the way in the drive, and saw that the bin had been knocked over... the bin that hadn't been emptied for the last 3 weeks! The stupid dog from next door has been paying visits... and our dog as decided that it is now a friend!! Anyway.. had to go over the whole backyard and pick up the mess... not happy Jan!

The day did pick up again (lol, what a rollercoaster ;) ). when I got inside and checked my emails (of course the first thing I do). I'd received a pm at SBB, from someone wanting to know how I do my Layout.... well how do I do my Layouts?! I really have no idea. I attemtped to answer her, but feel that my explanations were a little lacking lol. Anyway, thought that I'd post the los that she was interested in, and the attempt at explaining... note the word "attempt", as most of you know, i'm not the best at explaining things... especially when I really have no idea of how I get to the finished lo.

That Face:

(credits: Denise Docherty)

I started with my main photo and positioned it. Added a paper for the background, but moved it on an angle under the photo, so some of the white background still showed. Added the other photos, in strip form (believe me this is NOT how it started lol), and added some strokes around them. Added 2 more of Denises papers, and changed the blending mode to pinlight, opacity 100% for the first, and hardlight opacity 52% for the second. Also added some layer maskes to these layers to get rid of some of the effect where I didn't want it.Then added a gradient fill layer above my main photo, and created a clipping mask so it only coved that photo, blend mode to hard light 100%. Added 2 rectangle shapes above the photo, and masked out the centre leaving a feathered edge, and played with the blending modes of these too.Finally I added a solid fill layer (red) and blend mode to linear dodge 74%, using the layer mask to adjust where I wanted the effect. Phewww... lol

Grrrr... blogger won't let me upload the other one!

The weekend

Friday
We ended up going to Knox. Dh wanted to look in the ABC shop for something (didn't find it lol), and I just wanted to go out, so I didn' t have to cook dinner lol. Turns out that everyone came hope with something except me :(.. The kids both got a book each (though Julieanne's only cost $3.00 bargain!) and Wayne got a dvd (ummmm... what's it called....... Crackerjack!) I wanted to look in Teds, but it was shut by the time we got out of Kmart, which in hindsight was probably a good thing ;).

Saturday
I actually managed to get another LO done :). This is Stewart and Julieanne last year, when I actually got round to doing some photo sessions lol... once again "need to get the stuff out again"! It's a little different, but nothing seemed to look right with the photo, and I wanted to somehow use the white backgroud.

We went out to my BIL for dinner, and had a roast, which was nice (once again not having to cook lol), and a yummy apple crumble type thing.

Sunday

Well, we ended up going 4x4ing. I really didn' t want to go, wanted to meet up with Shez instead, but Wayne talked me into it..... We started in Rokeby (sp?), but I have no idea of where we ended up lol. Here's some photo's, not that they are really interesting ;).

Nope, blogger won't let me upload them, so lucky you lol. Oh, and forgot to mention that I found a Lyrebird (sp?) feather :).. .pretty chuffed about that lol.

Special Luncheon

Julieanne had her special Luncheon at school today. It turned out that it was only the junior schools turn today, so there was only about 8 children and 8 adults there. It was a nice thing for the school to do, and I think that it made the kids feel very special... Especially when the principal said that they were the perfect (or near perfect as he later amended lol) students. The food wasn't anything special.. just party food.. but the kids loved having the softdrink lol. I did think that it went on a little too long, Julieanne getting restless towards the end, but I'm glad that I went. They also had an award certificate presented by the principal, but my stupid (ok I didn't mean that lol) camera wouldn't work for some reason so I missed that photo op. Good thing it later worked for the photo sessions outside ;)...


I ended up taking the long way home. I was going to go into town but decided not to at the last minute, and took the back roads home instead. Nearly ended up getting lost along the way, but saw this gorgeous house... .I was going to take a photo, but thought that it might have been a little to weird to take one of some strangers house rofl ;). Did manage to get back home after about 20 mins (and a few more nice houses).

Ummm... what else? I did this LO, for the challenge at MAC, using Denise Docherty's Whisper kit...


Ok, I'll leave it at that, and sorry for another not too interesting entry... I don't know why you bother ;).... Thank you anyway :)

Smelly House

Thanks to Julieanne being sick last night.. I was up from 2.30 to 7 am (when I snuck back in bed for 2 hours). She came home from school yesterday complaining about a sore ear, so I thought that I might of needed to take the day off for that, little did I know, it was going to turn out into a definite day of. Oh well, not a total loss I did manage to get this

done. CC welcome as always. Papers and brushes by Anna Aspnes. This is when Julieanne had her first ever face paint last year. I think that she has had it done at least another 2 times since then.

Umm... what else? Oh, I'm now a published scrapper lol. Picked up the new For keeps this week with my Lo in. I'm a little disappointed with how it looks in there, the colous look terrible (ok, they are a bit garish lol). I've got this one printed professionally, and it does look a LOT better thank goodness! I've got another one coming in the next issue, so I'm hoping that it looks a little better :)

Ok, that will do for now TFL ;)

Toot toot (well maybe)

lol, checked my inbox this morning and had 2 messages from Krys at scrapbook memories. I'd submitted 4 for the black and white theme, and it turns out that this

was being considered. Don't really like the way they say that.. it means that I'm still not 100% sure if it is actually accepted lol. The second message was letting me know that this

is being "considered" (that darn word again) for their teen theme, which I didn't even know about lol. Anyway the day got of to a good start, and just had to let you all know.

Still on the submission front, still waiting for the new issue of For Keeps, which has my first ever published lol in it, lol, I've got another one coming in the issue after that too! lol.. ok that's enough gloating for now ;)

Oh and miss Lee, if you'd re read the previous post, you'd see how much the lights were lol ;)

The lights

Just because Miss L, asked for it I'll share what lights I used for the last photo (don't you feel special L? ;) lol).

They are just some basic 500 watt halogen (sp?) ones that I picked up at Bunnings (I saw them there on the weekend for $25). I also use a shower curtain in front of them to diffuse the light (just need to be careful not to get them too close, as they get VERY hot!). I did the home studio course at dsp, and this is what we were told to use.. lol, looks very shonky but seems to do the job... just as long as I remember to set the custom white balance that is. I even managed to get some half decent shots of some seats to put in the 'recaro' catalogue that the inlaws sell (well, as interesting as car seats get!)

Gee... I really want to take some more photos now... might just have to start the generator up to run them ;)... This green power really gives me the poops!

On a different note, I just put Julieanne to bed and got out all the notices that she gets on a Monday, and found a peronalised envelope in there.. being the pessimist that I am, I naturally think it's bad news, but it actually turned out to be a letter informing us that Julieanne has been selected to go to special luncheon at the school. Apparently 2 students from every grade get to go because of excellent work and behavior (or something along those lines lol). I hope that this is the start of something good lol, fingers crossed!

Oh and here are some photos from a few months ago. We went to the apple cider festival in wonga park... Julieanne playing in the fountain with the ducks ;)

Once again... TFL

Ok, just wanted to share this photo with you (some of you may have seen a version of it before ;). I just found it (amongst the too many that I have hidden on my computer) and was wrapped when I did lol, still not really sure about the b&w editing, but I think it looks ok. I actually think that I took this about a year ago, when I was first trying out lighting inside. I should do some more, but the lights that I have use a TON of power, and with us running on solar power, it's a little short in winter (darn Melbourne weather lol).

TFL :)

An early morning....

Not seven o'clock yet and I'm up at this computer.... do I have a problem or what?!? LOL. Had a brainwave last night in bed for a layout, so got up with Wayne to have a go, but got sidetracked with this blogging... LOL, I thought that I'd better post something with a little more substance than my last one (well as substantial as my posts get ;)!).

Ummm...ok, well what can I write about? Went 4x4ing on the weekend with one of dh's friends... I think that I must be getting old, because I've turned into a real nervous nelly lol, although must admit that a car nearly going over the edge is worthy of some panic!! I generally just like going for the drive in the bush, with a couple of bumps.. none of this serious stuff :(... In the end, Wayne managed to get him back on dryish ground. I think next time I'll stay home and attempt to do some scrapping lol, Wayne will probably want to stay too ;).

Also managed to get 2 LO's done for some challenges at MAC. Seems that I need to scrap someone's else's photos, to actually get me to do something LOL.

Think that might be all for now.. turned out to be more than I thought. Hope that some of you are still with me, even though you really have better things to be doing... go and do them NOW!! lol!
TFL

For Lee ;)

Ok, here is my post...




















Done ;)

Another photo, and a Layout!

Yes that's right, I actually managed to get one done today! Yay! Not too sure about it, but then I'm never sure about any that I do.

For some reason, blogger won't let me insert more than 4 photo in a post, so I had to create a new one to add this extra photo, bit of a pain as it seems to take AGES.. does anyone else find it slow?

Anyway, this is where we were staying on the Broadwater.. well across the road anyway, we did have a roof over our heads LOL. It was very nice, and a shame that we didn't have more time to explore futher. This shot was actually quickly taken one night after coming home from wet and wild. I ventured out on my own, as everyone else was to lazy! So it was a super quick shot, as I felt really self conscious of being out there be myself and my tripod (really need to get used to taking that!)

The LO from the animal farm shots... didn't use the tongue one as the main.. thought that I should actually get her face in. CC most welcome.

TFL

It's been a while....

Sorry. I have the utmost respect for all of you that work full time and still run a family. I've been starting at 9 (meaning I have to leave before 8) and finishing at 3 (getting home after 4.30) and am exhausted! There is no way I could do more hours, so a huge round to those that do!
Anyway, not having much to say (what else is new?!) I'll post some more holiday snaps. This time from wet and wild. I think that this is the park that I actually got the most shots, and some of them are classics LOL, though I don't think the subjects would appreciate me posting here LOL.

Julieanne having a ball at Buccaneers bay (sp?). Good thing the water was heated, as I think the temperature only got to about 20 degrees. It was a lot of fun though, and as long as you stayed out of the wind, it wasn't too bad. The wave pool was a little cold though, but the hot spas were fantastic!Can you tell she doesn't like the water in her face. I was very proud that she did go down some little slides though. No way was she doing the bigger ones though. She climbed all the way to the top to 2 of them only to chicken out at the last minute, not that I blame her LOL.

Wayne and Stewart going down one. Have no idea how Stewart is sitting, but it looks mighty awkward ROFLOL!

And this is Wayne and his brother being dumped on by the big bucket in the children's park. It was fantastic, and the kids (the old ones as well LOL) loved it.

Just a quick one

before I go to work... yep, back to work today :(, not looking forward to it, but the money will help out.

Just one from Dreamworld that I'm sharing. I did not take a lot of photos there, only 31! Must of been because I spent too much time on all the rides LOL. Did buy a couple of those Dreamworld ride photos, but there is no way I'm sharing them here..... they actually have me in it!!!



This is Julieanne feeding the baby animals in Wiggles World.... at first she didn't want to, but eventually got the hang of it. Just love this photo, as both of them are sticking their tongues out LOL.

Anyway, gotta go ::sigh::, will attempt to update later, but not promising anything :)

Seaworld

For some reason it always seems that I take less photos than I actually think I do. After going through all my holiday pics, I've realised that I really didn't take as many as I would have liked, ranging from 30 to 75 photos a day... I probably would have taken more if I had've remembered to take my second CF card away with us GRRRRR!!!! My memory is shocking, the whole week before leaving I told myself to get it out from under the desk (terrible place to have it, but it was still plugged in to the desktop LOL), but did I? NO!

Anyway, enough of the complaining ;). Here are just three of the shots that I got from Seaworld, which is where we went on the first day. I did manange to get a heap of dolphin shots, just love what they do LOL. The polar bear one was taken through some glass, and has had some ps work done on it, as the original was terrible. We all had a great day, and there was hardly anyone there, always a plus. I guess that my favorite thing would have to have been the 4D sea adventure, it was very cute :).

Oh and here is another photo that I should have included with my last post, but for some reason blogger wouldn't let me.... what is a series of beach shots without a seagull??

Kids on the beach

Well, this will be super short, as I have to get Julieanne in 10 mins, but thought that I should upload something from our holiday. We all had a WONDERFUL time, and nobody wanted to come home.. .but life reality has to kick in at some point doesn't it?
We found that 1 week was way to short, so next time (yes already planning the next LOL) we'll make it 2. Did all the theme parks, and rides, and loved all of it. Julieanne even surprised me by going on the runaway raptor ride (think that's what it's called) at Dreamworld, and loved it...


Anyway.. here is a couple of photos of the kids on the beach taken on our last day, the only day that we actually made it down to the beach. They weren't dressed for it, but had a ball anyway.. just love the shot of Julieanne taking her clothes off.. no modesty there LOL. Haven't had time to play with them in PS yet, and some of the shadows are bit much, but I like most of them anyway... shame about me chopping off some body parts with the action shots.. .why can't I just get ONE perfect shot?!?!


Thanks for looking, and hopefully will share some more later ;)