Addicted to Books & Digiscrapping

don't hold your breath, but MAYBE things might be happening here .......

Its been a rotten sinus-y week here at my place with headaches and a doctors visit being the highlights and then antibiotics to finish the yucky week off with a bang. Finally on day four of the antibiotics I am starting to feel like myself so I'm a happy camper at last! Needless to say headaches are NOT conducive to creative exploits and my scrapping has suffered accordingly BUT I did manage to whip up some pages before I went down like a ton of bricks and I will share them with you now *grin*. This is my page for The Lilypad's April Product Challenge - mist. I used some retiring goodies from Emily Merritt and Valorie Wibben's Topography No. 9 (also retiring THIS weekend!) and Kaye Winiecki's lovely Mist and Paint. My Girl Credits  This is a page I created using Renne's new kit For the Record available at OScraps! I had fun reminiscing about my 80s heart throb Rick Astley!  Remembering Rick Credits Talking about retiring go...

Shhhhh be vewy vewy qwiet or you might scare off the absentee blogger ....... Its a fly by posting from me (surprise!). There is too much to say to catch up and I just think the best thing would be to start from today and continue the way I mean to go on ... scrapping and books! Its been a busy scrappy start to the week with the April BYOC out at The Lilypad. Of course I had to scrap a few pages for the April Challenges with the BYOC because its so much fun! Pretty Beach Toes - Template Challenge credits Happy Day - BYOC Challenge Credits   My Comfort Zone - Journaling Challenge Credits   Right Now - Scraplift Challenge Credits Added to all the scrapping I managed to get through this weekend I also managed to finish reading City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare.  Another enjoyable read although I probably shouldn't have launched straight into the fourth book of this series because frankly you can have T...

Well here I am ... Day 1 of Week 3 on Sarah's I Quit Sugar plan and I have to say, I'm feeling fine! I really am amazed that I haven't had to wrestle with the burning desire to attack people walking past me with chocolate bars. I honestly thought this would be harder but then again my hubby is doing it with me and he was a huge enabler when I tried changing my diet before. This time, with him with me we are a united front against the evil fructose (grin) and we have even convinced the smallest girl to start looking at the sugar on the labels of things - it was a source of great shock to her to see that her favourite juices had so much sugar in them! The big girl, ehhh not so much! In all honesty, I am probably not doing this whole plan right, but I have cut out all sweet treats, all soft drink and juice and all sugar in coffee.  I now check the labels on products that I want to buy and pick the options with the least amount of sugar (while keeping a wary e...

Well its been a long week but thank heavens I think I have come out the other side of the Caffeine withdrawals! Yay me! I woke up this morning feeling good for the first time since Tuesday and I know its only going to get better! I have been drinking loads of water and green tea and I have said NO to additional sugar all week bar 3 cups of tea with half a teaspoon of sugar (I'm on my way to sugar free tea people - baby steps!). Perusing the labels of packaged foods this week has given me a fright as I start converting grams of sugar per serve into teaspoons of sugar in my head ... I am sure that people at the shopping centre have found my gasps of outrage as I inspect product labels highly amusing! I looked at Sarah's shopping list at the back of the IQS 8    week Plan   ebook and tried to see if I could buy some of the stuff at the local supermarket ..... I could get some of it and tried the coconut water ....OMG gag! An acquired taste I can tell! ...

Another blistering headache today - I woke up with it this morning and it continued to try to pound my brains into mush  throughout  the day but I did not touch that demon drink ... coffee! Oh no, this withdrawal headache will not beat me (even if it feels like it IS beating me!) and I am going to come out the other side better for it! Its made me mad now and that caffeine addiction is going DOWN! I haven't had any additional sugar today apart from a cup of tea and (gasp!) one level teaspoon of sugar and the Uncle Toby's Plus breakfast cereal that I am finishing off this week in preparation for next weeks sterner restrictions. No sweets, no snacks, no bickies! For me that is pretty darn outstanding. I haven't really felt like sweet things today but maybe that will change once I have gotten through this caffeine withdrawal..... only time will tell! Having an early night tonight in the hopes that waking up tomorrow will be less head-a...

Things I learned today ........... 1. I am addicted to coffee as well as sugar and 2. Withdrawals from coffee give you a BIG headache! Now you are probably wondering what coffee withdrawals has to do with Day 1 of my IQS 8 week Plan! Well I decided, in my infinite wisdom, that I couldn't handle coffee without sugar just yet so I would abstain from coffee entirely until I was a bit more used to this Sugar-free caper. All that did was make me realise HOW many cups of coffee a day I drink! Eeeek! I counted the number of times I DIDN'T have a coffee today and I had got to 6 cups by the time I left work today! 6!! I realised that the first thing I did in the morning was turn on the kettle for my first coffee of the day and it struck me that I was as bad as my husband when he smoked! It was a nasty moment for me and I was determined to stick it out headache or not!  Apart from the nasty coffee withdrawals I have been looking at...

I guess its fate that I found my blog again the day before I bought Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar ebook as she recommends keeping a track of your progress in a daily journal or blog ... so I have decided to blog my Sugar Free journey so that my friends can help keep my feet on the ground and help me feel like this ......................   image via 'break out' Wish me luck :) 

 ..... my old blog! Good grief, I can't believe it has been so long since I posted here! I could hardly find my way to the blog editor because of all the dust bunny's chewing away at my ankles!  Soooooooooo how's things been for you? Same old, same old here at my place. Pages scrapped, books read, housework done - you know the usual! I thought I might give blogging another try as I have missed my blog and the blogging world. Facebook is all well and good (its great really!) but it isn't ALL mine like my blog is. So I'm going to give it another stab and see how things pan out. I might even get back on track again and start a P365 next year ... but baby steps first I think. You have to walk before you can run, right? I might just leave you with a page I posted around the digi-verse just the other day for Sandra at Studio 68 (who I CT for now because I begged her and she caved in and let me haha).  XOXO Credits Maybe I'll make this a Sunday night thin...

Last week I was playing around with a new element pack from Kaye and I created this page for my B. When we went up to Bunya a few years ago (time flies!!) the house we rented had a pool table and the girls had a lot of fun playing with it ... what they lacked in talent they made up for in enthusiasm!! Credits here I hope you are all having a great weekend .. its a bit hot and humid here but at least its not raining for a change :)

A friend of mine (yes YOU Carol!) advised me to pick a word for 2011, something that speaks to me and that fits to where I am heading with my scrapping. She gave me this advice as I was struggling to find any JOY in my scrapping by the end of 2010. So over the Christmas period I sat down and gave Carol's very wise words some thought and I decided that I had way too much on my creative plate (so to speak) - I was trying to juggle too many things at once and it was playing havoc with my creative impulses. So I decided that my word for the year HAD to be ......... What followed was a period of tumultuous agonizing and then a few tears, and I then resigned from the Pickleberrypop's Creative Team and I have cut back on some of my other Scrapping commitments. Now I can spend more time creating for my individual designers AND spend more time with my family and less time on the computer. Its about time I reclaimed my hobby for me and remembered its all about preserving the memories. Sc...

Yes Brisbane and SEQ is going under ....some people are really suffering and I am sending out my best wishes to all those experiencing difficulties, I wish you all well. But thankfully we aren't in any danger of flooding at my house - luckily we are on a hill so we are nice and safe as long as we dont want to leave! Going to work tomorrow will be interesting as the river is supposed to keep climbing and I work in one of the flood areas of Brisbane so I will have to let you know how that goes. I managed to scrap! Yes I know it has been a while since I last scrapped but there you are ... better late than never I always say! Here is my page using the super gorgeous new kit by Flergs Freakazoid ! Isn't it a fun kit? credits here Well I had better go and start dinner - Mum and my step-dad are stuck here in Brisbane with me as they are cut off from their home by flood waters - so I had better feed them otherwise I won't be a very good family flood evacuation center will I? lol

Here I am wading through the dust to wish my blog readers (all two of you) a very very Happy Festive season and a brilliant 2011. Credits - Cherpea Designs - My Christmas available @ 2LP I look forward to seeing you all a bit more often this year - hugs

This blog has been temporarily abandoned ..... never fear I may be back blogging in the future ... I will pop in and keep an eye on my blogger friends though :) yes I have abandonment issues .... but its all ok

Just a quick reminder that Cherpea Designs July 2010 Grab Bags will only be available until July 30 so if you want to snag them at the amazingly ridiculous price of $3.00 US you had better hurry! Cherpea's Personal Use and Commercial Use bags are just full of yummy goodies and you will definitely kick yourself later if you miss out on such a steal!! And WOW thanks everyone who has grabbed my QP freebie - I'm so chuffed that some people actually liked it enough to take the time to download it hehe! If you haven't grabbed it yet please feel free to do so - it will be available until the 30th. Download HERE Check out my previous post for the links to the other Cherpea CT girl's blogs to grab their gorgeous QP freebies as well!! Don't forget if you would like to win a free Personal Use Grab Bag just repost this blog post or p ost on Facebook and come back and leave me the link and you could go into the running. I have decided to extend the deadline to the 29th...

I promised you earlier tonight that Cheryl had been working on some fabulous goodies and now I can reveal that it is Grab Bag time at Two Little Pixels and she has 2 ... yes TWO great new Grab Bags in the store tonight! And they are a steal at only $3.00US!! WOW!! There is a lovely Personal Use Grab bag that is stuffed full of gorgeous goodies.... the previews are linked so click away!!!! and a Commercial Use Grab Bag that has three fantastic goodies inside that will help you out with all your digital designing needs! And did I mention that they are only $3.00 US each lol ... I did? Opps hehe! but you have to hurry they are only in the store for a week and then they are broken up and placed in the store at full price! Now I COULD post sneak peeks here and reveal all to you but that would be cheating soooo instead I hid the previews inside the zip for the FREEBIE QP that I made using the yummy goodies. So if you like the QP feel free to grab it here and have a peek inside for the ...

Things have been happily tooting along here at my place .. work..home..kids..scrap .. the usual. We just finished the school holidays and the kids are struggling a little to get back into the swing of things - knowing my luck they will just get themselves sorted and they will be back on holidays for the September break lol. But apart from that everything is going really well. Pippi is settling in nicely and it feels like we have had her with us always. We do have a couple of small issues with her but that is to be expected with a rescued dog - she suffers from separation anxiety, she is very aggressive towards other dogs (little dog syndrome) and she has food issues - but apart from that she is the most adorable loving little dog you ever did see. She has hubby wrapped firmly around her little paw! She has some cute bling now with her name and phone number on it and she is now FINALLY registered with the local council (thats a whole other story!). Here are a couple of recent photos of...

I am so EXCITED!! I have a new blinkie to add to my collection .... check it out ....... I'm now a proud member of Kaye Winiecki's CT!! Woot woot! Thats right - I'm so thrilled! Kaye locked the door to the forum so I couldn't get away from her team which was hilarious as I was planning different strategies to get her to let me stay includung hanging on to the door frame as she dragged me out ROFL. Thankfully she is letting me stay and physical violence was unnecessary. Its so much fun working with Kaye and her felty goodness! And she really has some amazing Collaboration partners too! This month I was overwhelmed to work with this AWESOME Birthday collab between Kaye, Karah Fredricks and Kate Hadfield called Bring on the CAKE ! and here is the page I made with it - Tasha's 8th birthda y! Credits here Well I have loads of other things to say but its dinner time and Merlin is on in a minute so I had better rush off - I'll be back in a bit!

Just popping in to say HI ... online is the only place I can say anything at all as I lost my voice a couple of days ago and I've gone from sounding like a chipmunk to sounding like a squeaky toy and now I am almost mute apart from grunting noises LOL ..... dont you love Winter and colds and flu???? Anyway I'm just stopping by to show you a page I made for the latest Template Challenge at Pickleberrypop starring my adorable Pippi! Here is my page - Welcome Pippi ! I thought you might like to see this Carol ;) Credits here Ok its not a great night for me coughing wise so I will leave it here for now and catch you on the flip side!

and her name is Pippi! Say hello to the nice people Pippi! She is a twelve month old black and tan Terrier X and she is the tiniest little thing, not a heck of a lot bigger than a chihuahua. She is a Best Friends Rescue dog and has been fostered after being neglected and starved. We adopted her yesterday and we already love her to bits. It is taking her a remarkably short time to settle in, she was on the couch last night with the girls watching TV, she slept on a little bed in Tasha's room (where both girls slept) and stayed there all night, no wandering around whimpering. She waited until this morning to do her business which was a pleasant surprise as we were not expecting her to be house trained! It is hard to tell with adopted dogs where they are at with their training. Right now she is sitting in her bed having a nice grooming session at my feet after running around the backyard with Bella like a crazy dog until her toes got cold :). I really want to thank you Carol for your...