new blog?!

well just testing it out here

WARNING though: there will not be much there!! :D

A Smudgy Post....

Well first off, thanks to Chris for her recent post reminding me that I had this thing.... Not that I really forgot about it, but it's not really a high priority I suppose.. anyway, I thought that I'd do a quick post on what I've been doing for the last 4 weeks..

SMUDGE PAINTING! And I LOVE it!!! so, sending some big thanks to Jude for putting me onto the class over at http://www.digitalartacademy.com/

The class is fantastic and the teacher Scott Deardorff is also fantastic, check out some of his brilliant work here: http://pbase.com/sdfp

Ok so here is what I've done so far.. one more to go as the course finishes on Sunday, and I'm a little upset about that!

This one was my first attempt before actually gettting any instruction..

Before

After

This was my next attempt of our dog Tigger (she loves picking her own fruit off the trees ;) )

Before

After
And this is one of our assignments. We also have to do a little girl, but as of yet I haven't finished that one ;)

before

After


Ok, my work is no where near the best of the class, but I think they look ok, so hopefully have tempted you into checking out the class. Even if they haven't check it out anyway, oh and definitely check out Scotts pbase gallery http://pbase.com/sdfp.. you will be blown away!

Well at least

I left you all hanging on a high point....... ;)

I'm so sorry about my seemingly ongoing absence... lol, at least it shows that some people do actually read this thing.. hehe, thanks guys for giving me a kick in the behind to get me blogging again, and thanks to Jane for calling me "witty" roflol.. I don't think that I've EVER been called that before, and not sure if it will happen again... definitely not after this post!! 

Anyway, what have I been up to in the past 5 months? (She says as she quickly flicks through all her photo folders trying to remember what has happened in her life... hopefully she's taken photos of all the important things..)

OK here goes.... 

September:

... had another MAC get together at the Lovely Lee's house.. had a great time, shame that my laptop was still on the blink and I didn't get to bring it :), but it was great just getting to see the girls, and Julieanne had a wonderful time with Quinn, Bronte  and Ash! Yep Sharon had made it down from NSW, which was fantastic!

... had the baby shower for SIL... and for the life of me can't find the card that I made (way to late I may add).. and i really liked that card too and wanted to upload.. oh well that will teach me for leaving things this long I suppose ;)

I'm sure that more happened in Sept, but as these are the only things I have photos of, they are the only things that I can remember off hand.

October

... My new niece Baby Grace was born! She is such a little cutie, and THE BEST baby ever!! I seriously mean that! has slept right through since about the 2nd week (might have even been the first, seriously!) and so very rarely cries... I'm waiting for her to be a terrible teenager.. i mean it's only fair right?!?

... had another couple of Birthdays as well. MIL's was the same day Grace was born (those people can't seem to have children with original days.. their other daughter shares my day ;) ), Waynes Grandma, and Wayne himself...

November

... NEW IMAC!!! Yep finally got it, and must say  AM LOVING IT!!!

... we all (ie, inlaws and us) went to Halls Gap for the Cup weekend.

... I got asked to take the photos at Wayne's cousins wedding.. needless to say that I REALLY didn't want to do it, and I'm still feeling all queasy thinking about it... but I did it and got a couple of reasonable shots.... 

... my birthday. Isabella's party was held at a kids cooking place in Malvern.. lol, Julieanne was the only child that wanted to wear one of the special hats, that's my fun loving girl :)

... at some point I bought Wayne an Xbox 360 to feed his Guitar hero addiction ;)

December

... did the Christmas card photo shoot, and I'm glad that I did too :), even if only a small percentage of cards got out ;)

... School Christmas break up.. this year MIL and FIL and Isabella made it too..

... Went to Inverloch Christmas week and Julieanne got a new bike BEFORE Christmas as we relised how small the one she had was. She doesn't do a lot of riding (as there is no concrete around here to practise on) so she got a bit of a go there.

... went to Mum and Dads for our annual Christmas eve thing

... Christmas day at Inverloch, Lisa's family was there too.. AND SINGSTAR!! Isabella (niece) got it for Christmas and we all had a ball with it.. I couldn't wait for the kids to go to bed at night so the adults could get a turn... lol, I'm now going to get it for Julieanne for her birthday next month ;)

January

... went to Matthew's (SIL nephew) birthday at the adventure park in Geelong... it was packed!! so really didn't have as much fun as we should have... also it was probably the coldest day in the week.. too cold for all the water stuff

... NEW CAR!!! yep see the LO below....

... went to Seaspray (finally) house was a little on the small part and WAyne and I had to sleep in the tent, but that was ok.. ment we could get away from the rest of the family lol 

.. also got to see the Wrek.. not that there was much left of it

Well that was all I could tell from going off my photos.. I KNOW that there is stuff that has been left off, but really I dont' think that any of you care about that (well that is if anyone has actually made it this far!! Well done if you have!!)

Oh and the layouts have been few and very far between... I have only done 2 (not counting cards that might  have been made lol) so here they are.. sorry no credits as I'm running late and must get off my butt ;) CC as always most welcome

This is of the new car

and this was done only because SBM asked me to do a sport theme one ;)

and on a final note I would just like to say how much I'm hating blogger!!! I can't even drag my photos into position now and have to cut and paste!! Not sure if it's a safari thing or not, but am definitely going to have to change I think.... 

thanks for visiting TTFN :)

Ooooo... Less than a month

Between posts... lol, must be on a roll!!

Well I really haven't got a lot to say just needed to do some updating ;).

Spring is definatly around the corner (although the past few days have been FREEZING!!) and I got one of the first bunches of freesias the other day (from work).. also got a bunch of tulips, but freesias would have to be one of my favs.. just love that smell.... the blue gum was from our garden.. love THAT smell aswell :).

I also have to apologise to some of my blogging buddies.. I've been soooo slack in the blog visiting side of things lately... I'm sooo sick of these stupid computer issues. My laptop is away again.. fingers crossed that they can fix the motherboard and it doesn't need to be replaced.. and then to top things off, the desktop is now running even slower than is was!! I didn't think it was possible but there you go lol.. it's supposed to be running on 512 ram, but the last few weeks it's been 256! VERY frustrating.. the funny thing is that on the odd time it will run at 512 so I'm thinking it's a connection problem.... we've switched ram around and given it a good clean, but still the same..... thankfully there is an end in sight >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'M GOING TO GET ONE!!!!! Well when my tax eventually comes in anyway lol....

And on that high note I'll leave you ;)

TFL and TTFN

The monthly rundown....

It seems like it tends to be a monthly update doesn't it? lol.....

Well lets see.. I hate not keeping up to date, as it's so hard to remember what has been happening! I'll just go off the photos I have then ;)

School holidays started at the start of July, and I must say that I always love them.. .no rushing around in the morning, and I get to spend the time with Julieanne... She never seems to get bored at home either (touch wood) and that always helps.

I got tickets to go and see Disney on Ice (finding Nemo) so that was the first Friday of the holidays taken care of.... We took mum with us (as she missed out when we went 2 years ago as she'd put her back out), and we all loved it.. it's amazing the amount of work that must go into producing these things. Julieanne got spoilt again, and came home with some silly light up nemo thing.. that will just take up more space in her room! Oh Well...... ;). We ended up catching the train into the city as I wasn't too sure how the parking would be (I'm confident to park at Jeff's Shed but that's about it!!). Got off at Richmond station and walked to the rod laver... it was a fair hike (especially since mum has got shocking knees and back) but we were lucky as it didn't start to rain until we were on our way home!

{Hmmmm... blogger isn't letting me move my pictures for some reason, anyone know why that would be? Very annoying!!!}

Then that weekend Wayne had the *bright* idea of doing the driveway... I did ask him if it wasn't too wet, but he said no it would be alright!! Anyway, you can see the result above... he now calls it "the missile testing site!! It's terrible!! Instead of having our circular driveway, we've had to block half of it off as it was too boggy..... just something else to add to the list of things that need to be fixed!! ie the laptop!!! It's still not working properly, and I don't want to take it back to the guy that had it, as I don't think he fully knows what he's doing. Wayne's great uncle knows a fair bit about them, but I've been told that he's pretty flat out at the moment so don't want to bug him with it.. maybe I can just ask him if he knows of anyone I can take it to?

In the second week of the school holidays, I took Julieanne to Fountain Gate, as they were having a simpsons show on (it was pretty lame lol, but she liked it) then she had to have her photo taken on the simpsons couch.... shame that the Canon peoples camera died just before it was her turn so they had to use the point and shot, lol, luckily I had mine stashed in my bag... LOL, I felt right at home with my Canon... hehe, should have offered it so they could take the rest of the photos with it, but no way! would I give up my baby!!! hehe.....

I love the fact that I'm a SAHM when I get to do these things with Julieanne....

I was also supposed to go to Adelaide with Wayne during that week, but at the last minute plans got changed, so we had Isabella over a night, and I took them to Docklands Winter Wonderland to get their faces painted (as Isabella had got it into her head to have it done... ) I only found out about it after doing a google on face painting in Melbourne! Anyway, we had a great time (well once we'd got over the initial complaining of sore legs that is ;)... and I took some nice photos of the girls.

I also saw MAC Deb!!! On the way back to the car... really shouldn't have been that surprised as it was outside her work ;)... come to think of it, I think it was just outside her work that the bird pooped on my bag on the way to docklands lol! It's supposed to bring good luck isn't it? Maybe that's why I saw Deb.......

Also did some layouts.. only because Krys from Scrapbooking memories asked me for a birthday LO... I did 2 instead not knowing what type they would have wanted.. so anyway they both got picked up!! Pretty happy about that!! Also I used painter on the one of Julieanne, and I just have to say that I LOVE it!!

Credits for 15:
Journaling: It’s kind of hard to believe that the gorgeous little boy that I first met 12 years ago is now 15! The start of the real teenage years in my eyes. OK I know that 13 is the official start to teenagerness, but at 15 I think the real “fun” begins.. and the not so fun.. I know that you will have the strength to see your way through it all, and to enjoy yourself (but not too much ok?!!) in the process :).
Poem (from 2peas):
Somewhere in the middle,
A journey lies ahead
for all teenagers today
A journey to adulthood,
Our growth a kiss away.
But as we go we find ourselves
at a truly awkward stage,
We’re partial, unripe, Sketchy and
crude at this tender age.
We’re old enough to make a choice
Yet still young in many ways.
Too young to pack our bags and go,
too old to want to stay.
Young enough for fun and games,
TOo old for carefree lives,
Young enough for hopes and dreams,
yet for reality we strive.
Old enough for heartfelt pain,
too young to find the cure,
Too old for childish ways of past,
too young to be mature.
Old enough to fall in love
and gie our hearts away.
But, still too young to understand
just why we feel this way.
We’re trusted, loyal, proud and true,
Yet scolded, sneered and scorned
Between the role of adult and child,
We are somewhere torn.
Like an uncompleted work of art,
We’re awkward, unsure, half-baked.
But be patient please
for we’re on our way
to becoming something great. Liza Ortega

Credits: Anna Aspnes - Monoblendz origins papers
Anna Aspnes - Monoblendz Grafix papers
Anna Aspnes - Sk8ter Dude Brushes
Anna Aspnes - Painted Circle Splatz Brushes
Rhonna Farrer - roughed up tool kit
Nancie Rowe Jantz - textures vol 1

Fonts: OCR A Extended, LD Unconventional, Guilty

Credits for The Wish:
Journaling: Sweety, I can’t believe that you are 6 years old already! I hope that all your wishes come true.. whether they be birthday ones or everyday ones...

Credits: Anna Aspnes - La Playa papers
Anna Aspnes - Magical Sparkles brush set 3
Anna Aspnes - Celebrate Doodle stamps
Rhonna Farrer - Roughed up toolkit

Fonts: ITC Avant Garde, Beautiful ES

Well that's about it.. will see if I can move these picture into the correct positions, but if not it will just have to do won't it?

TTFN TFL :)

I know, I know...

It's been over a month, but only just.. and you can't honestly tell me that you have been missing the boring stuff that I go on about.....

Lets see... where should I start... really there isn't much to say.

First off here's a photo I took on Mothers day when we were in the City.. sad to say it was one of

the only ones. It's of the new Eureka Tower. didn't manage to go up it and have a look (as it hadn't opened yet), but am wanting to have a look at that skybox thing!



Um.. what else have we done.. gee I hate this trying to have to remember things.. lol, I suppose it will teach me to update more often!! NOT!
We dropped BIL and SIL off at the airport as they were going to Germany for 2 weeks.. for business, but still I was jealous.. after we'd said goodbye, we headed off to a look out where the planes land.. and they get sooooo close!!

Nulab had a special on the other week too for super cheap 20x32 inch prints, so I had to quickly do some.. was going to do something for the lounge as our walls are very bare, but ended up doing one each for the kids. Now I just need the money to pick up the frames that I had made for them lol...

And I also did this at some point

If you want to see credits for these please see my gallery at Designer Digitals as all the details are on my laptop... ahh why aren't you using your laptop you might ask! WELL............. After the in laws came back from said Germany they wanted me to put some stuff on the mp4 player they brought back for my niece.. anyway, to cut a looooonnnngggg story short, she knocked Julieanne's chocolate milk over (which I'd already moved once grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!) and it spilt all over my baby!! It's been over 2 weeks and I still haven't got it back ggrrrrrrrrr! Still angry thinking about it.. Hopefully tomorrow... So I'm stuck on the old desktop... mind you it may be slower to process, but the Internet is a heap faster lol!

To top that off, the tipper work has really died off with the rain we've had lately (yes we've had some rain!!) So we've had to go in another direction with one of the trucks... it's now hauling trailers to SA... and while I don't like the fact, I fully understand that the wheels need to keep moving, so to speak, to pay the bills (not too mention getting my new iMac roflol - new model should be coming out sometime this year! Please!)

On the positive side, our homeloan mess has finally been sorted out!! so that should save us a fair amount per month.. just need to finalise some paperwork. Shame that it could have been sorted by tomorrow as we've got a mortgage payment due... oh well.....

Queens Birthday weekend was a fairly big one.. we headed down to Iverloch, and stayed there the Friday and Saturday night with the in laws, celebrating Stewarts 15th birthday on the Saturday night (his birthday was the following Thursday) at a local pub... I had a very nice chicken wrapped in prosciutto (sp) thing.. yum!

lol, and after all that effort of getting down to the bottom of the phantom lens spots.. stupid me forgot to take the filter off before taking these photos.. good thing the spots weren't as bad as Julieanne's and I was able to heal them out with PS (gotta love that!)

Queens' Birthday Sunday was our MAC get together in the city, to meet the wonderfully talented Karen!

We had lunch at Egusto's on Southbank, and had a delicious lasagna (thanks to the persuasion of Deb)... We then went up to Lee's hotel room, and then Karen took some photos of the girls outside, although it was starting to get a little on the darkish side by then.. the time just flew, and next time we will get some more in! Also we will make sure that Sharon and Shez are there in the flesh!!

Finally I'll leave with a photo of the four of us.. we really don't get enough of these, and the other day when Wayne's parents were here his mum wanted one so out we all trooped in to the garden.. non of us was dressed the part, but who cares... although Wayne could have had a better expression on his face!(and I should really do something about that belly) Oh and I had my hair cut last week, so it's a little different now lol...

My wrist is stinging...

from that slap I just gave it for being such a bad blogger!! It's been a month, but honestly I don't think that a lot of noteworthy stuff has been happening (lol, although does it ever?)...

Well first things first.. I finally got a sever set up so I can upload photos and share with the family (mental note: must get onto the last lot!!).. the site itself isn't much but I've had a go: http://www.thistledoo.com/ any CC is most welcome, just remember that I've really got no web experience (well apart from a small community-house course) so be kind ;). Also most of the links don't work sorry lol, another thing I need to get on to!

Some other things that we've done have been: Went to the city (docklands) spur of the moment and had red rooster for dinner, and also had a beautiful fruits of the forest gelati! YUM!.. then after that we went to a spot where you can see all the aeroplanes land..

Not the best photo, but you can sort of see the plane... the lines and stars near the right light pole... didn't have my tripod, so I had to rest my camera on the car.. also it was hard to know where the plane would actually go lol.

Also had to share this one.. very spooking looking I think.. it looks like Julieanne is choking Isabella ;) (actually not sure what they are doing!).. this was just a shot taken while I was playing.. just having the shutter open and really not paying much attention to what I was doing.

Julieanne had her house school sports on the 4th (she is in yellow house) and I had to go out especially to get her a yellow top as she didn't have one... I picked this one up at Target for $3.00!! Bargain! Not too mention that it was the only one that I could find lol.

She wasn't the best sports person there, but she did come first in the sack race.. last in the egg and spoon.. but going from the look on concentration on her face she did try her best ;)

That Saturday PMA was on in Melbourne (big digital imaging show).. I only found out about it that week, so didn't really have a lot of time to try to organise a time to go (which i really wanted to do!) we had a big family do at Wayne's aunties house that night (the whole family was there for a change) and the show didn't open until 2 that afternoon.. so I rushed around and actually managed to drive into the city myself!!! Wow I was so proud of myself.. even though it really was just off the freeway ;). Did not have enough time there though (only an hour and a half) before I had to head off to pick Wayne up (the kids were with his parents). And the amount of people that were there!! WAY to busy for me, I HATE crowds!! But I did see a demonstration of the Wacom intuos3 , and guess what? I got mine in the mail yesterday!! Haven't had much of a play, but I'm liking it so far.. bit of getting used to though.

The Sunday we went to the Cider festival at Kellybrook winery. We went last year as well, and as Wayne just loves cider, had to go again... must say that the weather was a bit better this year ;).. I think it rained last year.

The have a storyteller there for the kids (under this GORGEOUS old oak tree) and Julieanne was all excited as she got to go up and help him make a picture of a monster (she called the purple faced monster... very original ;) )

Ummm... what else? Oh yes Mothers Day! I hope that you all had a great one.. Mine was ok, though I didn't get to spend anytime on the computer ::shock horror::.. we went into the city for lunch with Wayne's mum, and then had dinner at my mums..glad to get home in the end..

Oh and here is what i did for Wayne's mum...

Not much on the layout front... just this one

Credits: Rhonna Farrer: Roughed up tool kit Anna Aspnes: hipster plumes mega pak Anna Aspnes: Ephemerosa Paperie Katie Pertiet: Ledger Frames 2
Fonts:2peas DW Bunny hop Al capone 2 peas Bad hair day Al Sandra

Ok, will leave it there I think.. although no doubt there is something that I've left off ;)

TTFN, TFL

Edited: I'm such a doofus.. I knew that I'd forget something lol.. see that is what happens when you rely on your photos to try to remember what you've done lol...

I forgot to mention that I met Lis at fountain gate on Wednesday. It was great to see her. We met up at Krispy Kreme, and then had a wander around the shops... stoopid me forgetting to pick up a layby there too... see shocking I am!

Also wanted to just send some good vibes to DebF at pickelberry.. Hoping that she finds the strengh to make it through this time....