My News...

Well folks, I can now share some of my news with you finally! Phew! We have moved. Matt, the kids and I moved to Hyden to live yesterday. For many personal and business reasons we made the decision to relocate our family. It's only 100kms up the road (closer to Perth) and it has a school and shops and of course our beautiful new house....

I have mixed feelings. I'm a little sad to leave the farm and the Lake King Primary School - which is second to none - but I am also excited at the same time. Yesterday was a very emotional day for me...a few tears with the ending of one chapter and the beginning of a new one.

If you are a friend of mine and you are finding out this way I do apologise. In the chaos of making the decision less than a week ago and then moving in I have not been able to contact everyone I know and love. Once I am settled and have a new phone number and address etc. I will let everyone know. At the moment I need some sleep! Needless to say I have not had time to scrap and need to set up a whole new scrapbooking area in our home so it may take me a while to get going. I also have loads of stuff going on with the upcoming retreat which I am looking forward to immensely. Applications are rolling in fast.

I'm off to Newdegate tomorrow for a class. The girls over there have been eagerly anticipating their first class for the year so I hope to inspire them.

I'll be back!

You make it all worth while...

Those of you who visit my blog make is so worth while keeping up with I am stoked to hear comments that you read and are interested in this blog and knowing that keeps me going...so thank you.

I've not been scrapping as much as I'd like to in the last couple of days but have a few things to show that might be of interest to you.

Firstly, on a scrapbooking note, I have this new shoulder bag for my Cricut Expression - the larger of the Cricut machines - and I love it. I sell them for about $100 and I have been test driving mine and I'm very happy with the results. It is a tight fit though to get the machine into the bag but I don't think this is a bag thing. It has room for the machine and power chord only, not the mat and cartridges etc. but still a good buy.

I have been growing roses for about 4 years here at Varley and I'm very proud to share this bunch I picked the other day...and they smell amazing whenever I walk past them. I love gardening and I'm fortunate enough to have a large garden that is doing quite well at the moment.

On a bigger gardening scale, our sunflower crop are doing very well and has been flowering in the last week. Here's what they look like now. Very novel to have them growing on this scale!

I'm bursting at the seams at the moment with some very exciting news which I cannot share yet, but this year is going to be really exciting for me with some great changes. I cant wait to share them but have to zip it until I have more confirmation on details...aaahhh! this is so hard!

I have a layout screaming at me to finish it so when I have school stuff ready I'll go and get to it. Be back soon!

Still here...

I am still here...just insanely busy. I am so sorry for being gone for so long - I've probably lost you all and I'll be talking to myself but it's worth a go anyway. This post will be a long one as there is lots to catch up on.

I totally didn't realise how much school Mums have to do. I cant believe how organised you have to be with children at school full-time. Maybe this will help me with time management!

I had my first class for the year with the girls at Ravensthorpe including the Condy girls who travelled over, on Saturday the 7th of February. Times are tough for the Ravy community with the mine shutting down and the 2008 cropping season being a bit of a fizzer, but I cant get over how positive these people are and resilient too. It shows how strong people can be when faced with adversity. I love spending time with these girls and I'm so inspired by their enthusiasm. They certainly haven't lost their love for scrapbooking!

Brochures and applications are out for the March retreat being held on the 27th - 29th of March at Hyden. I am overwhelmed with the response so far - so many keen to come again and some new girls too - it's going to be a goody. If you haven't received a brochure from me and you'd like one just pop me an email to scrappinoutback@bigpond.com and I'll forward the relevant information to you. We have the lovely Gayle Smith, Sharon Manning and Lis Cassey back with us again to teach and they are busily planning classes. I already have one sneak peak from Sharon - a drop dead gorgeous off the page project that is going to get you addicted! Here it is...

Earlier on this year - after Christmas and early January - I began working on classes for the up coming months and I have been back working on more in the last week. I have shown this layout before and I have a couple more versions of the layout with different papers etc. to demonstrate the versatility of the layout and techniques. I am currently working on a 4th layout as well! Getting some mileage! Here are the first 3...

Also, I have been working on more heritage layouts with my family photos. I have found this project the most difficult because I have not been able to find a lot of heritage layouts to gain inspiration and ideas from. So I've stepped out and done it completely with my own ideas and creativity. Although I am happy with the results so far it is scary because I want this historical record to be so special. I am slowly getting through it and trying not to rush the process so I don't have to go back and redo pages later on. Here are a couple I finished recently (well almost finished - I may add a detail or two if I find the right ones)...

I did a layout a while back of Jett with lackeys in his hair titled "too cute for words" and i decided recently to use the layout sketch to scrap some of my childhood photos. The layout includes 4 - 8 small square photos (3" x 3") and I got to thinking, I have loads of small square photos of my childhood because that was how they were processed in the 70's. I must admit I have already scrapped these photos twice before and not been happy with the layouts, but now I am because I have used papers etc. that are more suited to the era. I am stunned at how many K & Co papers and embellishments I have found that suit old and new photos. I am stoked with the results I get from this brand - I am addicted to their stuff at the moment. Here is the layout...

New stock is trickling in for the retreat including items for class kits - it's all eye candy and there are far too many 'must haves'. I'll show some ranges in future posts.

I have made a decision to start having giveaways on this blog as I see the hit counter rising all the time but I don't know who is visiting. So I thought if i can get you to leave comments and reward you with prizes I will know that you have dropped by. Bribery in the 1st degree I know!

Well that's all for today folks. I promise to be back soon. Thanks for looking!