Is Rochelle Goodenough?

I'M MOVING!

2008-01-26T10:37:00.000+13:00

Yup I thought as it was a new year and all , it was time for a change. Craig has kindly moved all my posts etc. over to a new and very cool blog. So update all of you bloglines to my new home. Come and catch up on the gossip and our big news!

http://isrochellegoodenough.rcgcreations.com/

Our first wedding anniversary.

2007-12-03T20:30:00.000+13:00

Craig and I last year on our wedding day.

Wow I can't believe it's been a year since Craig and I walked down the aisle and became husband and wife. Last weekend (24th November) we started our celebrations with a family BBQ dinner at our place. It was nice to catch up with our family and we were spoiled with gifts which were totally unexpected. We got a beautiful bunch of peony roses, my wedding bouquet flowers and my all time favorite! We headed to Akaroa where we hired a beautiful cottage built in 1868. It was so sweet and set up in fantastic garden of roses etc. We had a dinner at one of the waterfront cafes sitting outside overlooking the harbour. The weather was brilliant , in fact on Sunday it must have been in the 30C's it was sooo hot! Mum and Guy popped over on Sunday for lunch and we sat out in the lovely garden and enjoyed the scenery. It truly was a great first anniversary.

Craig and I in Akaroa.

2007-12-03T19:52:00.000+13:00

Well it's about time I caught up with my blog, this time of year life just flies by!! We have been away are few times over the past few weekends. A few weeks back we travelled to Dunedin with my sister and finance for the night. It was a fun trip and we thoroughly explored Dunedin, even though we were only there for a short time. We went to see Baldwin Street (the steepest street in the WORLD!) , there were taxis taking tourists up it like a theme park ride! hehe We decided to get tough and not only get a picture from the bottom but from the top also. Yup you got it, we walked up! It wasn't to bad actually, mind you there was an older man running up and down it while we slowly climbed it! NUTTY!! We headed out to St Kildas, gosh it's a pretty cool beach. Really pretty! We stopped at Moeraki boulders on the way home and got some cool photos of us with the crazy boulders. It was a good trip but we were knackered when we got home. I did get to stop at the craft shops along the was. My sister was amazed at how long I could spend in one shop, she ain't seen nothing I was being good! hehe

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

2007-11-10T18:57:00.000+13:00

After having a great squizz through the latest Making Memories Season of Joy Christmas Idea book I've have been busily dashing about the place today gathering supplies to make up some Christmas decorations. I got some clear baubles that can be filled with photos etc. I will share pics of those once they are completed. But I couldn't wait to get this one done, so this afternoon I completed this fab Christmas tree made from the FANTASTIC new Basic Grey Figgy Pudding range. I am in love with this great range of papers!!! I covered a Styrofoam cone with loops of paper strips and secured with pins. It stands about 70cm tall and I'm hoping to make a smaller one to stand beside it. Check out the book for full instructions, it has lots of great ideas to decorate your home.

Anyhow better buzz and cook some dinner, we are trying out a new recipe. Chicken and cranberry salad with pine nuts then off out to a fireworks show. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Duathlon Mini Album

2007-11-06T10:20:00.000+13:00

Just thought I would share this mini album I made yesterday for Craig's Mum, to capture her achievement in the duathlon on the weekend. The pictures are a bit wrong in colour as it's overcast here today, just imagine the pictures are brighter :) I used the new range of Basic Grey papers and my new Fancy pants acrylic stamps ( I am in love with those!).

Catch up

2007-11-04T18:25:00.000+13:00

Time for a catch up I think! Gosh the past few weeks have flown by. Here we are welcoming in November, soon it will be Christmas! The shops seem to be in full Christmas decor and it's really getting me in the Christmas spirit. I LOVE all things Christmas but have made a pact with myself to wait until 1st of December to put up the decorations and tree.

Last weekend we were invited to our friends for some Halloween festivities, they had a Halloween cocktail party. Craig made a scarily convincing Dracula and I went as a witch. It was loads of fun and I got to try a few yummy fruity cocktails. Will certainly need to keep those recipes on hand for summer.

I managed to do a little bit of scrapbooking with some friends on Thursday. I'm still pottering on our wedding album and got a few more pages completed for that. It was great to spend the day just creating.

It's been a really enjoyable weekend, yesterday we took the new car for a bit of a drive out in the country (we are loving the car, it's fab to drive!) and visited the Jo Seagar cooking school on our trip. The gift shop is full of great cooking gadgets! A must see if you are ever out Oxford way. Last night we caught up with some friends and had a BBQ at our place. Gotta love BBQ season, such an easy way to cook :) Roll on Summer!

This morning was an early wake up as Craig's Mum was competing in her first duatholon. We headed along to support her and get some pics. She did so well, it was a 15km bike ride with a 5km run. She managed a really good time and we were so proud of her! I would add a pic of her but I would fear for my life :P Congratulations Lyn!!

Anyhoo, time to buzz it's Kath and Kim time! :) Have a fab week and keep creating!

Jack me up #5

2007-10-23T13:41:00.000+13:00

Here is my take on this months Kiwi Jack me up. I love Delys's black and white layout and decided to stick with her style as much as possible. I really enjoyed using some arylic stamps and hand doodling. Nice and simple but really striking :)

Labour Weekend

2007-10-21T18:56:00.000+13:00

Gosh I can't believe Labour weekend has come and gone! I seriously don't know where the year is disappearing too! I hope everyone one has had a nice relaxing weekend.

I know I said that there would be some creative photos but I never got around to getting anything done. I looked at loads of scrapbooking magazines and had a little play with my new cuttlebug so I have loads of ideas, I just need to sit done and get on with it. I did however manage to create a Christmas card and tag for the Labour weekend challenge at Scrapbook Essentials but that's all. I hope to create lots this week so do stick around :)

We've had a lazy weekend. After having Craig's car for sale for a month or so, we hadn't had much interest but last week we got a call from a very keen guy and have now sold it. We are a bit sad to see it gone as it has been with us for many years but we have to keep focusing on the new era of our lives. So on Saturday morning we headed out to have a look around the car yards. We've found a nice white Toyota Caldina that suits us fine. We took it out test driving for a few hours yesterday, and it's a dream to drive! We get to pick it up today or tomorrow and I can't wait! We are hoping to do a roadtrip to Dunedin with my sister to try it out, any excuse to go and check out the scrapbook stores! :p

On Saturday night we had my family over for homemade pizza and another game of Cranium. My sister and her fiance were victorious but we were close on there heels :) It's a such a fun game and we will be defiantly up for a re-match.

I worked on Sunday, it was really busy at work so Sunday night we just blobbed and watched some Outrageous Fortune episodes. Craig and I are catching up on season one and two as we only found out how great this series is last year when they played the Christmas tele-movie!

We caught up with some friends for a walk and coffee yesterday down at the beach and went visiting our familys. It has been beautiful sunny weather here but the wind is so strong!

After reading about Debbie's weekend and her Lemon muffins I have decided to go and whip some up. So that's enough from me, catch you soon!

2007-10-17T17:17:00.000+13:00

Well as most of you know, SENZ (a stamping a scrapbook expo) was on in Christchurch over the weekend. Ladies from all over the country made there way to Christchurch for a weekend of scrapping and stamping fun! :) I've never made it to a SENZ show before so I really wanted to head along and have a noisy. To be honest I was disappointed, there didn't seem to be that many stalls dedicated to scrapbooking. I'm not really a stamper, so the stamps weren't of much interest. However I have heard that some of the classes were good, and I did enjoy checking out some of the altered projects. I didn't spend much though, more at the local scrapbook shop. I wanted a set of these Fancy pants clear stamps last time they came in but talked myself out of it. This time there were new stamps in the range and I had to get a pack! :) I also have given into the cuttlebug monster and got one of those! Don't you love early anniversary and Christmas pressies :) hehe

Also a big thankies to Lara, I was lucky enough to catch up with her at the show as I had won a lovely handmade journal from her. I have added my own touches to it and hope to use it for challenges over at "This is me". It's a brilliant blog where you use the challenges to create inserts for your journal answering the weekly questions all about yourself. I hope to get some of them done in my own time, just to capture this time in my life.

That's all from me for now. I hope to create tomorrow so check back as I will post pictures.

2007-10-10T18:50:00.000+13:00

Just a quick update on some layouts I have completed for a few challenges. The first is for the Friday night challenge at S.E. I have been trying to get some of my older pics scrapped in the challenges. So this one is of Craig's birthday and the cake I made him. We had to use strip journalling , bling, 3x patterned paper and ink. I am really enjoying getting into these challenges.

The next one is for the S.E first fortnightly sketch challenge. This was more of a challenge as I have never worked with sketches before. they are helpful for many photos though. I have been trying to scrap these photos of the Lyttelton festival of lights for ages.

I now get to come up with some creative ideas for Halloween costumes. Craig and I have just been invited to a Halloween cocktail party and costume is essential. :) It will be a great night so better get searching for some great ideas.

Fun and Sun!

2007-10-08T11:22:00.000+13:00

What a beautiful city we live in! It's amazing how much I take for granted living in a city with so much beauty. It's certainly an asset that we have a huge park and the lovely botanic gardens in the centre of our city. Craig and I decided on Saturday to get out and enjoy the lovely weather. We headed into the Botanic gardens for a wander. The place was a blaze of colour with all of the lovely spring flowers blooming! We realised how long it had been since we just went for a walk through them, it's defiantly something to do more often. After our walk we headed over to the Arts Centre and checked out fudge cottage! Yum! We had lunch from the food stalls and sat in the sun and listened to a busker play. After lunch we headed back through the gardens and got more photos. We decided to continue our afternoon with a drive down to Sumner beach then over to Lyttelton harbour and around some of the bays. After an ice cream we parked by a little beach and spent awhile in the sun. It was a brilliant day out and we thoroughly enjoyed some time to ourselves just relaxing. I totally recommend it! :)

I did remember to pack the camera on on this excursion so here are a few photos from our day out.

Today so far has been really good to me, although the weather has turned grotty and is raining. This morning I woke and read my blogs, I've been lucky enough to be drawn to receive one of Lara's beautiful journals. So a huge thank you Lara!

Then I was watching a regional show on TV and they were giving away tickets to a Fashion show/Horse racing/Party on Friday night. It's a pre cup week event and sounds like fun! I got an email almost straight away back saying that I had two double passes coming my way! Wahoo, can't wait! It's going to be a busy weekend, with SENZ on and now this to head along too.

I must now get on with the pile of challenges that have crept up on me, at least when it's raining it's excellent crafting weather! :)

A great website...

2007-10-05T21:47:00.000+13:00

Just wanted to share with everyone this very cool website a friend showed me. It has monthly layout sketches for all size layouts and cards too. Well worth a wee visit!

www.pagemaps.com

In other news I was very lucky to have won last weeks "Friday night challenge" over at S.E with the photo frame fridge magnet I made for my Nana.

I hope everyone has a fun weekend planned, I plan to enjoy every bit of sunshine that is predicted so fingers crossed. Have a fabulous weekend and I hope there is time for lots of creativity.

Friday night challenge

2007-09-30T19:43:00.001+13:00

I hope everyone has had a good weekend, as we come to the end of it. The weather here in Christchurch has been really lovely over the past few days. Just maybe we will get a decent summer this year. Fingers crossed!

After work today I remembered the S.E Friday night challenge was due so decided to sit down and have a go. The challenge involved doing a layout, card or OTP including the colour pink, ribbon/felt or fabric and black pen. This is what I came up with. I wanted to do something special with this great photo for my Nana. This challenge was perfect! I altered a chipboard frame with Basic grey blush papers, added some Heidi Swapp letters, some bling, doodling and ribbon and voila! I have attached a magnet strip to the back so my Nana can put in on her fridge. It has inspired me to make one for my Mum and myself.

Anyhow, I better buzz. We rented "The History Boys" and "Catch and Release" on DVD so better go and watch them and indulge in a slice of leftover Lemon Meringue pie from last night.

Have a great week! Ciao.

Yay, it's the weekend...

2007-09-28T21:18:00.000+12:00

Well that's the end of yet another week. Roll on the weekend! Time certainly has been flying along, can you believe it's October 1st on Monday! Also daylight savings changes over tomorrow night. That is a change that I am happy with, I can't wait for warmer lighter evenings. We bought some bikes late last summer and really didn't get much chance to ride them as it got cold and dark pretty quick. As I work Sundays there hasn't been much chance over the weekends to ride. The lighter evenings will hopefully mean we will get our daily dose off fresh air and some quality together time. It's just so easy to zone out in front of the telly on cold winter night.

Anyhow on to other topics, here are a few more items I have been working on this week. I love how the door hangers turned out, so bright! The canvas is the inspiration of a customer at work, she makes a similar version and I couldn't resist scrap lifting the idea for myself. This one I made for my sister's bedroom. I have created a set of three blue ones for our own bedroom but I will photograph them when the sun is out.

A nice lazy weekend is planned, hopefully a walk or bike ride tomorrow morning then the usual coffee somewhere. Tomorrow night we are having a few friends over, it feels as though we haven't caught up with them in ages. We got the Cranium board game for Christmas so thought it was about time we had a game with friends. So tomorrow night Craig is making his excellent Chilli con carne, and we are having a Mexican themed meal with margaritas. If I remember to take any photos, I will share in the next post. We have only played the game once on Christmas day and it was a hoot! So I'm sure it was be a great night, especially with a jug of margaritas thrown in.

Over at Scrapbook Essentials , they are running a weekend challenge and I hope to get that done. Check it out if you have a spare moment to indulge in some creating over the weekend. Also this weekend heralds the end of this months Kiwi Jack me up and Neen's Music in me fortnightly challenge. It will be great to have two more challenges to complete.

The Music in me....

2007-09-27T12:23:00.000+12:00

Here is my take on Neen's Music in me challenge . The song was "The real thing" by Gwen Stefani, so I decided to use this family picnic photo and make family my focus. I really love the colours, I don't typically use or like orange but I have used it on a few items this week. Fun to step out of the box. I can't wait to see what the next song is. I'm really enjoying doing these challenges, so thanks Neen for a brilliant blog.

I have been working on a few other things but as they are gifts I will have to wait till next week to post pictures. Heres a look at another layout I have just completed about my Mum's love of taking pictures, she hardly ever appears in photos because she is always behind the lens! hehe Pity I can't talk her in to scrapbooking , maybe one day when life for her gets a little less hectic. In the meantime I can make the most of having some great photos to work with.

Anyhoo that's about it for me, I shall head back to creating.

Lemon Meringue Cake

2007-09-19T17:20:00.000+12:00

Here's the recipe for this great cake I made my sister for her birthday. I've had a few requests for the recipe. It sounds like a hassle but I can't honestly say it's worth the effort. It origanally came from a recipe by Julie Le Clerc but I have changed the cake recipe to a denser, easier to prepare cake and don't make swiss meringue just the usual stuff. I loved the original recipe but am not into making extra work for myself when it really doesn't change the result much.

Lemon curd

4 large egg yolks (save whites for meringue)
2 large eggs
¾ cup caster sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
½ cup of lemon juice
125g butter, roughly chopped

Whisk the egg yolks and eggs and place in a heavy based saucepan with remaining ingredients. Place over low heat, stirring constantly for 10 minutes or until the mixture thickly coats the back of a spoon. Remove to cool.

Extra note: This lemon curd is fabulous on nice hot toast if you have any left over!

Easy lemon cake

100g softened butter
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
Zest of 2 large lemons
Juice of 1 lemon
1 ¾ cup of flour
1 ½ tsp of baking powder
1 ½ cups of milk

Preheat oven to 180C or lower if it’s a fan oven. Grease and line a 20cm loose-bottom cake tin. In a large bowl cream the butter and the sugar till light in colour. Add the eggs one at a time beating well between each egg. Add the lemon juice and zest and mix through. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into the wet mix. Add the milk and mix to combine. Pour the mix into the prepared tin and bake for at least 50mins. It is ready when a skewer comes out clean. When the cake has cooled slice it carefully into 3-4 layers with a serrated knife. Spread each of the layers with the cooled lemon curd and place the cake layers back together. Leave the cake covered in the fridge for 30 minutes to set. Transfer the cake to an oven tray and cover the cake with the meringue, make decorative swirls over it and bake in a preheated oven at 200C for 5 minutes watching carefully until meringue has just browned around the edges. This cake will last in the fridge for 3-4 days if someone doesn’t eat it first. J

Meringue

4 egg whites (saved from lemon curd)
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence

Beat the egg whites in a clean dry bowl with clean egg beaters until it gets stiff. Start to spoon in caster sugar spoonful by spoonful whilst continuing to beat egg whites. Add vanilla essence and continue beating egg whites till white, stiff and glossy.

Pay it foward....

2007-09-18T15:54:00.000+12:00

As I said in an earlier post, I was lucky enough to be chosen for one of Janine's (angelgurl) "Pay it forward draws. The deal was that I had to pay it forward to 3 people. I could either send them a homemade or bought gift, then they in turn would pay it forward. My way of choosing was to take all of the names that had left a comment on my blog over the past week and pull out 3 names.

So a big drum roll please.........

Congratulations to.......

1. Beverley

2. Neen

3. Ness

I will be sending out a wee something to each of you. Do bear with me though, it may take a few days to get myself organised. Also HUGE thanks to all of you other lovely ladies for leaving such nice comments on my blog, I really do appreciate your kind words!

All day crop

2007-09-14T09:18:00.000+12:00

Yesterday I spent the whole day scrapbooking. From morning till night we scrapbooked, I must say it's the longest time I have spent creating in one stretch and I was knackered by last night.

I did however get my version on Neen's challenge at her fab new blog " The music in me" done. This is a very cool site with fortnightly challenges based around music. I urge you to give a challenge a go if you have time. I added a layer of vellum over the entire layout then added the photos, I liked the feeling of frost it gave. I can't wait to see whats next.

Here is another layout that I really love. I used some really nice new Daisy D papers. They seem to always come out with such different and interesting papers. On this layout I made the photo open up and behind it I have written about some of the special things that Craig does for me that makes our marriage better.

We also worked on some brilliant recipes pages, we each supplied one recipe and shared them. A great 6x9 album for keeping our yummy recipes in.

It's inspired me to add great recipes to my blog from time to time. I have had some nice comments about the Raisin, oat and cinnamon cookies. For those who haven't tried them they are a must! :)

Raisen Oat Cinnamon Cookies

2007-09-11T11:30:00.000+12:00

I thought I would share one of my favourite biscuit recipes. I've just made a batch and they smell great! They never last long around our place, I do suggest you try them.

Raisin Oat Cinnamon Cookies

125g softened butter
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup of plain flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups rolled oats
¾ cup raisins

Preheat oven to 180C. In a bowl cream the butter and the sugars together till pale. Add the egg and vanilla and beat together. Mix together all of the dry ingredients and mix into creamed mixture. Roll dessertspoon amounts of mixture into balls and place on a greased oven tray, flatten with a fork. Bake biscuits for 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Makes 30 biscuits

Kiwi jack me up entry

2007-09-11T11:19:00.000+12:00

Here is my jack of this months Kiwi jack-me-up layout. I took these great pics of my sister while we were visiting them last weekend and just had to capture the love between her and her puppy Oscar. I really enjoyed stepping out of my usual colour schemes, the red and brown are great together but I would never usually use them. I can't wait to see what the next jack will be!

Road Trip and Pay it forward

2007-09-09T19:00:00.000+12:00

Yesterday we thought we would take a road trip up to Kaikoura for the day. My sister and her fiance rented a holiday home for a long weekend and we thought we would head up to visit. The weather was stunning as we drove along the coastline, it makes you remember how beautiful our country is! We spent the afternoon out on the deck in the sun, then after lunch and a relaxed walk around the shops we made the most of the spa pool. Oscar the dog enjoyed the company, we can't believe how big he is getting. After a fabulous day we headed home, both thoroughly relaxed!

In other news I was lucky enough to be drawn for Janine's (angelgurl) "Pay it forward" draw, so now I get to pay it forward to some people who read my blog.

So.. here’s the idea…I will send a gift (something handmade or something bought) to 3 random people who leave a comment on my blog. If I draw your name then all I ask is that you pay it forward to someone by doing of giving something nice to someone. It's always nice to fill the world with just a little more love!!

If you think this is cool, leave a comment on my blog and on Sunday 16th I will randomly draw 3 names and post you some goodies.

Till next time ciao!

2007-09-06T15:47:00.000+12:00

Well it's been awhile again since my blog has been updated, I just haven't had much to talk about. Here's a run down of the past few weeks.

Firstly spring has sprung in this part of the country. The weather apart from a wee cold snap earlier in the week has been pretty nice.

Also today I my younger sister's birthday, I made her a Lemon Meringue cake (her favourite). It's a lemon sponge cake layered with lemon curd then smoothered in Meringue. I also created a really cool mini album for pictures of her new puppy. I will add photos later :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to Vanessa!

2007-08-22T11:45:00.000+12:00

Here is my entry for the latest challenge over at Scrapbook essentials. We had to create a layout using no photos. I decided to use a family recipe, my Nana's traditional Christmas pudding. I wrote how she has for years made these delish puddings and now I have taken over the tradition and create two puddings each year.

Not a very long post, it's much to nice to be inside on the computer. I'm heading out for a coffee and walk with Mum. Enjoy your day and I hope it's sunny where you are.

Another weeks gone by... where are they all going?

2007-08-16T11:12:00.000+12:00

Just thought I would share my latest creations.

This is my take on Christi's beautiful page for the Kiwi Jack me up blog. I have often admired her work, well worth a visit to her blog. I'm so happy that I finally got these photos scrapped, they have been sitting around waiting for the perfect layout. I have also been admiring the fab Fancy Pants papers for ages and now love how it's turned out.

Below is my entry for the second challenge at Scrapbook essentials. We had to create a layout about an everyday event in our lives. I choose to scrapbook the daily conversations my Mum and I have. It was such a struggle to come up with a concept and then put it all together, but in the end I am happy with how it has turned out. I would never usually use these colors but like them on this layout. On to the next challenge now, a layout with no photos. I have a idea for this already which is pretty quick for me. Now just to make it happen! hehe

On to other subjects, I was wondering how many of you out there read books regularly and what sort of genres do you read. I only have a handful of friends who are readers. I enjoy to read "Chick Lit" anything that is easy to read and lets you live life through over woman's eyes. At the moment the book I'm reading I'm thoroughly enjoying. I don't think it's the story line so much as the fact that I haven't read in awhile and I'm being reminded how nice it is to read in bed at the end of the day. I found out that the author of this book has written several others that I will have to get reading after this one. It does amaze me how many Chick Lit books are set in the London/New York regions and seem to be based in either advertising or broadcasting, or at least most of the books I seem to read are.

In other news Craig came home the other day and told me he thought it was time to sell his car and get something different. I was a bit blown away by the news, it was sort of out of the blue. We had talked about changing cars earlier in the year but he didn't seem keen. I wanted him to make the decision, as it's his pride and joy or at least was. It's no longer very practical for us with wanting to go camping etc. Anyhow we spent hours on Saturday getting it looking like new with a wash, polish and vacuum and it's now listed on Trademe. So we now wait nervously for someone to want to buy it, so we can get something else.

Warm Weather and The Good Life

2007-08-09T17:03:00.001+12:00

Just a quick little entry today, I wanted to share my layout for the Scrapbook Essentials competition. Most readers of my blog have probably already had a squizz at the entries in the gallery at S.E but I thought I would upload it here for anyone else. :)

We had to use at least two homemade embellishments on a layout, so I choose to make some ribbon flowers. This weeks challenge is to scrapbook a moment from everyday life, including a photo and some journalling. I have an idea of the moment I want to capture but at present I'm not sure how to arrange it. Keep posted next week to see what I come up with.

For a blast from the past, Craig and I hired some DVDs of "The Good Life". What a funny old series, I used to love it as a kid and still think it's a good laugh. I totally recommend it if you are just after a laugh.

Well I hope everyone is having a good week and that you are getting as nicer weather as we are here in Christchurch ( I think it was 18C here today), hope it lasts for the weekend.

I've got my mojo back!!

2007-08-07T12:13:00.000+12:00

Finally yesterday I felt like really scrapbooking. Craig came home from work sick, and so I could hang out with him I set up all my things I wanted to get done on the coffee table and scrapbooked all afternoon. I got 3 layouts done and I'm so happy I feel creative again! I'm leaving the mess out and hope to get a little mini album I am working on complete this afternoon. I can only post pictures of two of the layouts I have completed as the third is for Scrapbook essentials ultimate champion competition.

This layout is of our day trip to Hanmer Springs in the weekend. We had it planned for weeks to head up there for a picnic and have a soak in the pools with some good friends. Unfortunately the weather wasn't so kind, it rained heavily all day. We did persevere and ended up picnicking under some fir trees, we must have looked so crazy!! After a few hours of soaking in the pools and some good conversation we headed home, stopping on the way for a much deserved hot chocolate. The rain didn't wreck the day, we had loads of fun and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

This other layout is using some of the pictures from our picnic last weekend with my sister. I wanted to capture the new addition to their family.

I wanted to say a big thanks to the lovely ladies who suggested some ideas for feeling brighter. My appointment with the nauropath went well and I have a range of things to do and take and I shall hopefully see them working over the next few weeks. Spending time with good friends and scrapbooking are certainly good ways to feel better!

It's been awhile.....

2007-08-01T16:53:00.001+12:00

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted a blog entry. I really just haven't felt much like posting lately. In fact I haven't even really felt myself at all. I've been putting it down to the grey and dreary weather getting me down, but I feel it's more than that this time. Since I was a teenager I have suffered with depression on and off again. It was quite serious when I was younger, but of late I have had it under control. As I've been feeling up and down lately I have decided to get it sorted, so have got an appointment tomorrow with a naturopath. It will be good to get some help, a bit of a health revamp is needed I think. This got me thinking about what other people do when they feel a bit blue, if you have a great pick me up idea please post it on my comments and I will randomly RAK a few comments.

Anyhow on to brighter news, on Saturday we headed out with my sister, her fiance and their new little dog to Port Levy, a small bay with a picnic area. The weather over the last days of last week were so lovely and warm that we decided to make the most of it. It was great fun to get out and have a play with Oscar the dog, he's such a cutie.

On Saturday evening we were invited to dinner at our good friends. What a lovely meal they put on for us. It's been a real treat to be invited over for dinner to several friends places lately. We had a good laugh listening to the "You choose 40" on c4, it was 90's hits. Our other Saturday night thing has been to watch the Star Wars movies on TV3, in fact I have hired Episode 3 to watch tonight as we haven't seen it. As I never saw them as a child I have had to have help to indentify all of the characters, I think finally I might have sorted it out in my head :) hehe

On Monday I was very lucky to be asked to go wedding dress shopping with a friend of mine. There certainly are some stunning gowns out there! As most know I loved every minute of planning my own wedding and it's so much fun helping with her plans. I sometimes think that wedding coordination would be a fun job for me, I love every aspect of them.

I've finally made a start on our wedding album, I have done the first four pages and are happy with most of it. I have found it so difficult to scrap as I want to keep it really classic and simple, yet I also want to tell the story of our special day. To keep the simplicity of it I have chosen to stick with just black,white and the teal of our wedding. I will post the layouts when I have finished the album, all 30 pages!!! I also got the layout for Junes altered tag swap finished just in the nick of time yesterday. I know it's meant to be anonymous but a huge thank you to Beverley for the beautiful and bright tag I received. Today the first challenge at Scrapbook essentials has been released, to create a layout using homemade embellishments so I better get my thinking cap on.

Lastest Creations

2007-07-13T10:43:00.000+12:00

Yay we finally got some sun this morning, so I was able to take some decent pictures. These were the things I worked on at our Monday playday. The clock and the letter R have been sitting around for months waiting to be altered, I am very happy to have them done! I altered them in the lime green and pinks to match the moniter and containers in my craft room. Thats me for now, on to the next project and out to enjoy some sun :)

About time for a catch up...

2007-07-12T15:20:00.000+12:00

Well as I always say times doesn't time fly by! I can't believe its been 2 weeks since my last blog entry. It's been a busy few weeks, yet I haven't felt like I have had much to talk about. In the past two weeks I have become another year older. My birthday was the 29th June and I had a lovely day.Craig got me some scrapping things earlier in the year for my birthday and made me an awesome card! My family and friends (especially my sister) went all out in helping make my day special. I had brunch with family at my sister's place. I got lots of lovely gifts, some of them were of the money variety which I will use to stock up on scrapbooking things!! :p

I had to work the afternoon/evening, but they hadn't forgotten and I got some lovely cards and gifts :) In the evening Craig and I headed out for dinner to our local, with some family then back to my sisters for her VERY scrummy carrot cake! Also over the days around my birthday I received several R.A.Ks(random acts of kindness) and cards in the mail from some of the girls at the S.E forum, thanks so much!! All in all it was a fantastic birthday and I felt truly spoiled.

On Monday some friends and I had another scrapbooking playday and catch up, was great fun. I wasn't totally in the creating mood but was happy that I got some things knocked off my to do list. I finally embellished the clock for my office, I altered a letter "R" and did a layout about my sister when she was little. I will put up photos as soon as I can get some sun to take the pictures in.

Over the weekend we just tried to stay warm, winter has certainly been blasting through here! I feel sorry for the poor people up north dealing with flooding etc. We watched a few different movies. We saw "In pursuit of happiness". It was pretty moving, a little sad but overall it was uplifting. Certainly makes you think how lucky we are. We also saw "Stranger than fiction" but I kept expecting Will Farrell to come out with some funny line, it's weird seeing him in a more serious role. One we watched recently that was good was "Music and Lyrics", but I am a real sucker for romantic comedies so of course liked it.

Anyhow take care and keep warm. Check back for my photos of my recent creations.

Monthly Guest Designer Layouts etc...

2007-06-27T17:54:00.000+12:00

At the beginning of the month as you all know I was lucky enough to be asked to create with a kit put together by Meg over at Scrapbook Essentials, it had many interesting papers and bits and pieces in it. It did challenge me to think outside the square and use papers and colours I wouldn't normally choose. I think it is important and fun to challenge yourself when creating. It's great to see what you can come up with and see other people reactions to different styles.

I tried to use as much as the kit as I could but still have a bit leftover, there was loads of things in it. I will continue to upload pictures as I create with it. Here are the layouts and little Maya road album I have done so far.

Big girls toys!!!

2007-06-26T16:59:00.000+12:00

I know it's usually men who get excited about big toys, but meet my new toy! I know it's a fridge and not a scrapbooking item but I couldn't be happier!! Small things aye ;p

We have been thinking about getting a new fridge for awhile, our old fridge was just getting to small and the plastic shelves were are cracking from to much excess weight, but it was put on the wishlist. Then seeing as our fridge decided to break down in the weekend, we decided it was time to bite the bullet and get a new one!!! I spent most of yesterday talking fridges,wrangling a great deal, who knew there was so much to them. It got delivered this morning all white, clean and sparkly and now I am having trouble filling it!! :) Give me time though! hehe

A weeks catch up...

2007-06-23T18:10:00.000+12:00

I just had to share these pics of my sister's new puppy with everyone. Vanessa has had many weeks of deciding what type of dog to get and I think she chose right. Now I'm not really good with dogs but this wee guy has stolen my heart so that says ALOT! They have named him Oscar, which suits him perfectly. He's a Bichon/Cocker Spaniel cross and he is such a smooch, a really placid dog which is great for me. I'm already thinking of how to create a little book so she can capture some of these cute pictures.

Last night Craig and I decided to brave the cold and head over to Lyttelton for the Festival of Lights Street party" It was a nightmare finding a park but when we had, we got there just in time for the fireworks. The main street was closed off with heaps of stalls selling hot food and mulled wines etc, a live band played at one end and street performers preformed to the crowd. Alot of the buildings were lit up, it was a fun evening out. Here are some of the pics I managed to get.

Even though the sun was out the wind today was soooo cold!!! So today we have just been doing a few odd jobs and spent the afternoon with a couple of DVDs 's on the couch, now it's off to make homemade pizza for tea! YUM!!! Now that's what I call a great Saturday relaxing.

Keep an eye out for the things I have created with the Monthly guest designer kit, I shall reveal all later in the week. Till next time, cya!

My "Jack me up" layout

2007-06-19T16:16:00.000+12:00

Late last week some scrap friends announced the launch of there version of the US blog "Scrapjacked". Check here for the details here - Kiwi Jack me up! How it works is that they randomly pick a NZ scrap artist's layout that they like and scraplift it, create their versions of it, then it's up to us to create our version and link it to there blog for the monthly competition.

So this afternoon I have completed my first "Jack me up layout". I had so much fun creating it, trying a little freestyle doodling with mixing and matching whatever I had on hand, it's so not my usual style but it got me out of my comfort zone, which I imagine this is what this new site is going to do for a lot of people. It was super fun, can't wait till the next one!

S.E Monthly Layout

2007-06-19T15:46:00.000+12:00

I have really set my mind to getting through my pile of "must get done" things in the past few days, I haven't made a huge progress but are really happy with the layouts I have got finished.

Firstly I got my S.E monthly layout done. I've haven't really gone into the monthly challenges recently but I'm glad to be back in the swing of it now. It helps that the challenge was a good one, so thanks Neen. You had to use the title or lyrics of a song and incorporate it in your layout. I choose one of our wedding pics and the song we signed the register too (From this moment on by Shania Twain) , I absolutely love the page, and because I have done it in the wedding colours I will use it in my wedding album.

We got some really exciting news yesterday, our really good friends Mike and Liana got engaged on Sunday! They have been together for a fair few years and they are great together so we are so happy for them! So had to get on to making a card for them and some other birthdays I have coming up. Everyone seems to be taking big steps in their lives around me at the moment, buying first houses, getting engaged, buying puppies, starting new relationships, I wonder whats around the corner for Craig and I????

Anyhow still have a few ideas before the girls get here for coffee, so better dash.

HaPpY BiRtHdAy!

2007-06-14T10:29:00.001+12:00

It was Craig's birthday yesterday, so happy birthday babe! He had to work so Mum and I took him out for lunch to a great cafe with the yummiest food. Then had his parents over for roast beef and I finally mastered really crispy roast potatoes! hehe I made this cake for him, a chocolate/coffee cake with coffee buttercream icing. We ended the evening with coffee and cake with my family. He got some great gifts and I hope had a nice birthday :) Role on my birthday now!

I saw this card in a magazine and just had scraplift it and add my own flair, I know it's a bit feminine for him but oh well, I liked it! :) and so did he.

In other news we are off to the airport today to see my Dad off, he's heading to Aussie for a few weeks to take in the sites. I do wish there was extra room in the suitcase, warm tempteratures would be lovely right now! Well I better dash and get ready.

The weekend

2007-06-11T18:22:00.000+12:00

Wow, winter certainly hit here in Christchurch over the weekend. I might be being a wimp after the southern peeps had such cold weather and snow last week, but I'm feeling the cold :p Great scrapbooking weather though, so I shouldn't complain.

We had a lovely relaxing Saturday, we had coffee with Craig's parents in the morning at our favourite place over at Lyttelton, then continued on over to Akaroa. It was lovely and warm in the car but as you can see in this picture I took at the hilltop, there was snow lying about the tops of the hills. We had lunch over there and decided to head home, the wind chill was too freezing to walk about, but all the same it was a nice drive and lunch.

Today I started working on some page layouts from the monthly guest designer kit, it has been a challenge to get my mind around the colours and products. I do think though it's a great idea to challenge your creative side every now and then.

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and wish you a happy week too follow!

Monthly Guest Designer Goodies

2007-06-08T11:23:00.000+12:00

Heres the sneak peeks of the stash of goodies I got to play with for monthly guest designer, I'm so eager to get started, roll on the weekend.

My creations

2007-06-08T10:44:00.000+12:00

Well here they are, the layouts I busily worked on yesterday. I just love the photo below and it just had to made into a layout.

I have heard so much about people scrapping a layout of there handbags, I finally got around to doing one of my own. It made realise how many things I have in my bag that remind me of my friends, such as the bag itself and the wee bag charms my great friend Bronnie made for me.

I have had my Christmas photos lying around for ages waiting to be scrapped, so I have so happy that they are finally done. I find it hard to use so many photos on a layout, but love the way this turned out. Not flashy, it simply records this Christmas with family.

Although this page doesn't say it, it's to capture my sisters engagement and ring. She got engaged a fair while ago but thought these pictures were lovely, I have been eyeing up the soft green K&Co paper for ages. It all came together so nicely.

What a fantastic day!

2007-06-07T19:54:00.001+12:00

Does it really get any better than a day of scrapbooking from 9am till 5.30 solid? Well today that's exactly what I did with some lovely people from work. I started out with a complete lack of inspiration, after flicking through a few mags, with still no major ideas I decided to jump in and just get started and it worked! I got one double layout, three single layouts and two cards made! I will post pictures tomorrow, to dark to take them now.

In other news, on Sunday I found out that I had been chosen to be "Monthly guest designer" for Scrapbook Essentials, I was so excited about this and couldn't wait for the goodies to arrive. This morning I went out to find Mr Courier had been and left me my parcel :) What a great array of bits and pieces, now all I need is for this creativity burst to last a little longer! I have big shoes to fill after the other monthly designers have done some beautiful work. I will take a few sneaky peeks tomorrow of what I have to work with.

Just a quick post tonight, I've had some hints from regular readers *wink* that I need to update so here we have it.... catch ya tommorrow with some pics! :)

Picton Holiday....

2007-05-24T17:14:00.000+12:00

We enjoyed a lovely holiday away in Picton last week, we stayed in this fantastic holiday home that had all the mod cons. It was lovely, it had a real homelike feel, with many extra touches. We took most of the Saturday taking out time and enjoying the a really stunning east coastline. We stopped a few times along the way to check out Kaikoura, the seal colony and a few photo stops!

The weather was stunning, which only enhanced the colours of the coast and ocean.

I was in aww of the beautiful autumn colours of the vineyards through Marlborough and was utterly surprised at the vast amount of them!!

Over the few days in Picton we explored the surrounding areas, a day in Blenhiem, a drive round to Havelock via Queen Charlotte Drive (that was sooo whindy!!) and coffee at the Marina there. One day we took out bikes out for a cruise round to Waikawa bay, what a pretty and peaceful wee place.

After our days in Picton, we decided to break up our trip down to Moana by heading across through Nelson to Motueka. We stayed at the camping ground there in one of there motel cabins. We checked out Kaitereteri Beach, a stark contrast to the VERY busy summer season when we normally head up to camp there. We were the only ones on the beach!

After having a wee noisy about the shops in Motueaka and finding a very humble bookshop with a few scrapbook papers in was time to hit the road again. We made our way down to Murchison then on through the Buller gorge, which we were happy there has hardly any rain. A beautiful drive through much native forest. We stopped in Reefton and had a look at some shops, got lunch then it was back on the road. It was so nice to arrive in Moana at Craig's parent's holiday home, it's so comfortable and easy to relax there. We decided to head home on Friday instead of Saturday as the rain had set in, and when it rains on the West Coast it certainly rains!!

Now for the unforunate bit of our holiday, the bit that has made me not feel like myself for the past week. We were both looking forward to arriving home as we do after 6 days away. We went to open the front door and it was unlocked, strange we thought but when we got inside we found our house had been burgled. They had gone through drawers etc. and pulled things out. Luckily nothing was stolen but it has taken me a few days to get over that violated feeling of someone going through our belongings. Anyhow I'm feeling much better now, and we have taken further security measures so we feel more secure.

Till next time bloggers, ciao...

It's been too long....

2007-05-11T21:57:00.000+12:00

I have been meaning to catch up with my blog for a few days now, and I got the kick I needed when a friend commented on how she had been checking and nothing new was up. Oops, I will blame it on the fact time seems to be racing by faster and faster! I can't believe it was about two weeks ago I made an entry!! The other reason it there hasn't been much to tell...

I have however worked on something that I really love and have to share with everyone. This is the gift I made for my Mum as part of her Mother's day gift. I love the picture so much, and seeing as Mum has so much in her life right now (with my Nana suffering from Dementia) I thought it would be lovely to tell her why we love her soooo much! I have also entered it into the Scrapbook Essentials Mother's Day competition.

Sorry for the bad picture, was taken at night.

I also made this nice bright layout about the friendship between Bronnie and I, but must say I have been naughty and haven't caught up with her lately either, so we are hoping to have entire day of scrapbooking in a few weeks when she has time off, I can't wait!!

In other news, Craig and I are heading off on a wee break away. We are heading up to Picton tomorrow morning for 4 nights then down to Moana (Lake Brunner) for 3 nights. We have both been looking forward to it for ages! I intend to takes masses of photos (unlike our Dunedin trip where I was to busy looking at things to take them), so will have plenty to upload on our return. I'm taking my stash of scrapbooking mags too so will no doubt return with lots of inspiration!

Well not much else to say, better get the final things packed. Catch you all when we return. :)

I've been TAGGED!

2007-04-29T19:42:00.000+12:00

It seems that I have been tagged by a couple of people( Lynda & Tanya), I have been a bit slack with getting them done. These are always a fun way of learning interesting things about everyone and sometimes yourself! So here goes!

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. When I was younger I really wanted to be an opera singer and sing in Andrew Lloyd Webber Musicals!

2. I love to garden, it is such good therapy! I don't have much room where we live now, but my dream one day is to have a huge garden with long lines of hedges and borders, like you would see on Maggie's Garden show. : )

3. My all time favourite flower is the Peony Rose, LOVE LOVE LOVE them!! Such a pity they have such a small season, but since our wedding I have found a grower who just grows these. I am in bliss when we go out there in November!

4. I love Vanilla Chai Lattes from Coffee Culture (a coffee store chain) here in Christchurch. I go to Coffee Culture to have one probably at least twice a week.

5. I like heaps of music, but my faves are Bic Runga's older albums, Katie Melua , James Blunt and U2.

6. I'm just a little bit addicted to "Diner Dash 3" at the moment, even thought I know it's a complete waste of time it's fun.

7. I'm a clean freak, well my friends think I am, I just like a tidy home! :) and don't mind cleaning.

8. I love being part of a great online community where all these fab gals share the PASSION and LOVE of scrapbooking!

Now who to tag, I think everyone seems to have been tagged .... Here goes :)

Kelly, Neen, Hannah, Megan, Michelle, Craig, Monique.

Sorry if you have already been tagged by someone, just ignore mine :) Look forward to reading all of your posts!

A.N.Z.A.C Day

2007-04-25T15:46:00.000+12:00

The cenotaph in Catherdral Sqaure this morning at the dawn service.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning.

We will remember them.

The Interview

2007-04-23T21:29:00.000+12:00

Here's a wee game that I got off Hannah, thanks for coming up with 5 questions for me!

P.S I put the picture of the peonie rose on this blog just because I thought it was beautiful :)

1.To play leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I will respond by emailing you 5 questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.Sound good?

Okay, so here are my answers to Hannah's questions:

1. What do you love most about married life?
Well not alot has changed for us now that we are married, felt like we have been for years already. But having someone you know will always be there in the good and bad times to support you and love you, also you have someone to share your life with which is the best!!!

2. What is your worst habit?
I wasn't sure what to put here so asked Craig, one of the things that annoys him about me is that I leave dirty dishes in the sink instead of putting them in the dishwasher or on draining tray. He then has to empty the sink before doing the dishes... hehe I just like a clear bench! hehe
If that's the worst he could come up with I'd say hes pretty lucky! :) hehe

3. Do you prefer to stay up late, or get up early?
I really don't like getting up early with a passion, I'm certainly a night owl. Not always so good when Craig is a morning person. I don't know how people are so chirpy that early :) hehe

4. If you could meet any famous person in the world, who would it be and why?
I'm not really a person who cares about famous people, but if I was able to meet someone famous I guess I would like to meet Jamie Oliver. I like his passion for life and the fact that he is happy to try and tackle big projects that others think are too hard.(Starting up fifteen & Britain's school lunches) He's not just a chef, I also love watching him cook!

5. Assuming money was no barrier, which country would you most like to visit?
I would LOVE to spend time in Italy, and explore there love of food. It looks so beautiful! At the end of the day though, New Zealand is pretty fantastic, so I don't feel hard done by living here :)

Yay!

2007-04-20T10:28:00.000+12:00

I just got an email to say that one of my layouts has been accepted for the Basicgrey gallery on their website. Yesterday I thought, why not give it a go and today I got the email... woohoo!

The layout they accepted is the "Coffee time with Mum" in my last post.

I've been having such a creative time!!

2007-04-18T17:04:00.000+12:00

No blog entries for me lately, I have been busy creating! :) Thought it was about time that I upload my creations, so here goes...

I spent all day on both Monday and Tuesday with some friends creating all day long, it was so much fun. As well as layouts and some cards made, I also was able to work on to two altered projects. I haven't posted them yet as they are not complete.

A layout about Wednesday coffee's with Mum, loved using the BG Blush range, they went so nicely with the coffee colours.

I have slowly been completing pages about each family member, here is one about my Grandad. It will be followed by the ANZAC tribute pages I am doing for a monthly competition at S.E.

I took this lovely photo of my Mum and had to use it :) and she is a "Mum in a million!"

Just a simple layout, I love the pic of me, I've have been busy making denim flowers so this was a great layout to use some.

This is from our Easter picnic, and had to use it. Love the greens, green is defintly my colour of the moment!

Just a quick wee card I made using the lovely BG blush papers.

D'oh!!!

2007-04-10T20:41:00.000+12:00

When I went to upload this layout, I noticed a bit of a spelling error! Yup I spelled Dunedin wrong, I must have been having a dumb day!! I have tried to remove the letters but they are stuck firm! I really like the layout so I'm not going to try and change it, it will just be a future reminder to check and double check my spelling (no chance of getting Dunedin to change its name I guess :) hehe Here is the LO for you all to have a giggle over :) hehe

2007-04-10T17:26:00.000+12:00

We had a fantastic Easter weekend, as I mentioned in my last post we started the weekend with a great family BBQ. I have already scrapped the page about it, record time for me! hehe

Saturday I spent shopping for scrapbook things and did a page. Sunday when we headed out for a bike ride, I got my first puncture, what are the odds after it only being my second bike ride!! hehe So we had to walk the bikes home, lucky we were on our way home when it happened so it wasn't to far to walk. Bike is all fixed now and ready to go again thanks to Craig.

I must say I am glad Easter is over, no more hot cross buns and Easter eggs to tempt me. hehe I'm not really a chocolate person, but I did discover pineapple lumps marshmallow eggs and they are yum! Just like giant pineapple lumps. :)

As for today ,I have been completely dull, I spent this morning pulling out the veges I had in the garden over summer and have planted a heap of pansy's and polyanthus. Then this afternoon I have cleaned the house and finished another page. I know it sounds funny, but there is much satisfaction to be found in having a lovely clean house and a nice neat garden! hehe Must get back to work on another layout.

I trust you all had a lovely relaxing Easter! :)

Rainy Days

2007-04-07T18:46:00.000+12:00

Seeing as it has been such a grotty day weather wise here is Christchurch, after a very nice sleep in and late breakfast I decided to spend the day scrapbooking. Well I spent most of my afternoon getting the pictures printed and then shopping for the paper and bits I needed. So I only managed to get this one LO completed, but I do love it! I have recently been cutting out my own felt flowers so just had to use them on a LO. It was rather time consuming! hehe I have ideas and supplies now for several LO's so will have to get creative on those too :)

Craig and I thought we would invest in some mountain bikes, and earlier in the week we decided on which ones to purchase. So yesterday we finally got a chance to venture further than the drive-way. I can't wait to get out riding again, it was so much fun! As yesterday was such lovely weather in contrast to today, we had a great day out on a family picnic. We had a BBQ lunch then played cricket all afternoon. It was loads of fun, but I am feeling a wee bit saw after it all.
Have a fantastic Easter break and eat way to many Easter eggs, or in my case hot cross buns!! hehe :) Catch ya soon.

Can't Sleep!!!

2007-04-05T01:44:00.000+12:00

For some reason I can't sleep, so thought I would get up and potter on the computer. Good time to catch up on blogs :) It's ridiculous that I can't sleep really, as I have had a busy few days and at 6pm tonight, I was almost asleep standing.
Anyhow today was my Mum's birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!
I organised a surprise breakfast at her place with croissants etc, then my grandparents and I took her out to Pukeko Junction in Leithfield for lunch. For anyone who hasn't been there, it's a must! Yummy cake and wholesome food at good prices.
We finally got a nice picture of the both of us, my Mum prefers to be on the other side of the camera! This pic will definitely be turned into a layout or ten! hehe Talking of layouts, that's another reason I couldn't sleep. My ideas and journalling for the April challenge at S.E were whirling about in my head. It's a really special challenge where you honour those who served, ANZAC day is special to me and I can't wait to ask my Grandfather for some help. I now have the journalling down and will get the pics and memorabilia sorted asap.
Well I do have to get up early tomorrow so better hit the hay, will blog again soon :)

I've been tagged!

2007-03-22T09:52:00.000+12:00

I've been tagged for the first time, thanks Neen :) Great tag, I must say I have found it hard to come up with these 5 quirks, not sure why? Maybe everyone around me is so quirky so mine just don't stand out, or that I'm not that quirky! I'll let you be the judge on that! :) hehe

So here goes.....

5 quirky things about Rochelle

1. When I open my eyes wide to apply Mascara my mouth always opens.

2. I'm a really bad channel surfer, I flick through the channels so fast! Much to Craig's annoyance!!

3. To go to sleep I have to lie on my tummy, I try to lie on my back and side but I always end up back on my tummy.

4. I am defiantly a night person, no matter how hard I try to get up early, it never works. Staying up late is just so easy and that's when my brain switches on. Another quirk much to Craig's annoyance as he is very much a morning person!

5. I have a huge fear of dogs and a slightly lesser fear of cats, this is defiantly a quirk, one I could happily live without but hey it's me.

Well what do ya know, I got to the end of them.... now who to tag! hehe

I will tag Hannah ( she is always so quick to read my blogs, so thanks) and Julie (another lovely comment giver!)

Coffee with the girls

2007-03-21T17:35:00.000+12:00

Almost every Tuesday night Karen, Jessica and myself catch up for a hot drink at Coffee Culture in Lyttleton. We know each other from working together a few years ago, we have been friends for about six years. This regular coffee break is a great way to keep up with the gossip in each others lives :) I'm really happy how this layout turned out, again it was a bit of a struggle to get the photos to work but it came together in the end.

Happy Birthday Jess!!!

2007-03-20T21:39:00.000+12:00

My good friend Jess celebrated her 25th birthday on Friday. Unfortunately we weren't able to catch up on then, so last night another of our friends had us over for a lovely roast dinner to celebrate. Here are a few pictures of the explosion album I made for her.

Catching up

2007-03-13T17:06:00.000+13:00

Over the past week I have been trying to get caught up on my craft projects. I am trying hard not to come up with any more ideas till I have made a big dent in the must do pile! :) hehe

So sadly I may not get a chance to work on this months and fortnightly challenges at S.E.

I have however finished my Christmas star book, and must say I'm very happy with how it has turned out. I have embellished it through out and added the "T'was the night before Christmas" story. It fits perfectly in the Christmas letterbox tin I altered earlier in the year!

I hope it will be treasured in our family for years to come each Christmas.

While I had the Christmas bits out I finally got the picture of Craig and I on Christmas eve scrapped with the fabulous BG Dasher and Fruitcake papers, don't you just love them!!!!!

I have had a range of cards to make, and have got most of them done except the 5 friendship cards for the S.E card swap which shall be complete by Friday.

In the mailbox last week was my package of scraps from the S.E scrap swap challenge, I have now finished the layout for that. Thanks to the person who sent such bright scraps! :)

Well better finish this off, it's Tuesday evening and that means vanilla chai latte's with some girlfriends, better buzz and get ready! Will upload more LO's when they are finished :)

Our weekend trip to Dunedin

2007-03-08T17:11:00.000+13:00

One of our New year's Resolution this year is to have more weekends away, so over the past weekend we headed for a wee road trip down to Dunedin, stopping along the way at the townships and of course, there had to be trips to scrapbook shops! he he
We set out on Saturday morning, stopping along the way and arrived in Dunedin about 5pm. I was really amazed how big Dunedin is, and the buildings are beautiful, I didn't get to take many photos as we were on the move all the time. I will certainly think about it more on another trip there. We stayed at the Leith Valley Touring Park in a cabin, I was impressed at how neat the place was and how friendly they were, we would defiantly recommend it. On Sunday we went for a drive around, out on the peninsular, then to St Clair's beach. The weather was fantastic and the beach looked so inviting! We had a look around the shops and found some more scrapbook places, but I must say we were both very tired from the trip down, next time I think we will go for a few more days. I would love to travel down further south on our next excursion.
These photos were taken at Moeraki Boulders, on Monday morning when we drove home the weather was stunning. We detoured to Geraldine and checked out the Barkers Jam store and other shops.

We really did have a fabulous weekend with the best weather, it couldn't have gone better!
Now on to planning our next weekend trip away.

2007-02-25T20:04:00.000+13:00

I thought I would have a few moments on the computer to catch up on my blog. Craig is watching "Pimp my ride",
I must say it's a funny show, but I would rather be here doing this at the moment.
We have had a busy weekend, two birthdays yesterday. My good friend Bronnie, had her birthday bbq last night which was heaps of fun. It's nice to get out and meet new people and catch up with people you haven't seen in awhile. Her and I started the celebrations of her birthday early, with a day trip to Akaroa on Thursday. We packed up a picnic lunch and headed off, the weather started out grey and cloudy, but turned out to be nice. We spent the day having a wee look all around Akaroa's shops, had a lovely picnic lunch, followed by smoothies. These were some of the photo's we took. I must say I like the one of Bronnie practising being a painter shows her personality to a tee! hehe

We also had my grandfather's birthday yesterday, we couldn't make his birthday dinner last night, so I baked a birthday cake for him. Also one for Bronnie. I love to bake as gifts for people, it's always fun to try out divinely rich cakes recipes! These ones were chocolate cake with layers of a raspberry creme fraiche filling, then covered in a mocha ganache. Must say it certainly wasn't a Weight Watchers cake!!! but I did have a wee piece :) hehe

So
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
to Bronnie and my grandfather Ed,
hope you both had a great day!

Beginnings of our honeymoon album.

2007-02-20T16:22:00.000+13:00

Just the beginnings of our honeymoon album, I am keeping it nice and simple as there are so many photos. Click on the photos to load much bigger images. Coffee time is over, I better get back to the creating :) hehe

P.S Thanks to Mrs Frizz (Michelle) from Scrapbook Essentials, for sending me the great flowers used in some of these layouts.

What a MESS!!

2007-02-20T16:07:00.000+13:00

For all those ladies that said my office was so lovely and tidy, what do you think now? hehe This is it now! I am in the middle of scrapbooking our honeymoon photos. I decided it was about time to do something with them, and another reason to put off tackling our wedding album. As you can see, when the creative juices are flowing I love to make mess! As long as there's a small square inch for me to work in I'm happy as larry.

Also check out my other blog today for my honeymoon layouts, so far. :)

S.E Fortnightly Challenge Layouts

2007-02-15T15:11:00.000+13:00

Here are my two entrys into this fortnights challenge for Scrapbook Essentials. The challenge was to use white cardstock as a background, I haven't found this challenge to hard as I have been experimenting with white backgrounds, I find it goes really well with bright colours.
Anyhow must get on with some other projects, I bought a cheap clock the other day that I really want to alter.

Sisters - Now & Then

My loves @ 24

2007-02-14T10:49:00.000+13:00

Yes, I am one of the people who thinks Valentines day isn't a bad thing, as long as you do something from the heart and not the shop! So I just wanted to say

"Happy Valentines Day"

to all of those in love and those looking. Hope your day is full of lovley things!

Also thanks Craig, for the digital scrapbooking card and dinner tonight. Love ya!

Sneak Peaks

2007-02-13T17:35:00.000+13:00

Everyone has been doing cool sneak peaks of there projects, and I wanted to give it a go.
So here are some pics of two projects I am working on at the moment.

My Weight Loss Challenge

2007-02-13T16:14:00.000+13:00

I thought I would start to write about my weight loss at Weight Watchers. It all began last year when my good friend Bronnie, got sick of hearing me moan about how I wanted to lose some weight (especially for our wedding). She suggested we both sign up for 8 weeks before the wedding and see how we went. It was the best thing she could have done, I am so happy I joined. I started last year with a goal to lose 7 kilos in the 8weeks before the wedding, and against all odds I managed exactly 7kg. I decided however to forget about weight loss over the wedding/honeymoon period, I just wanted to enjoy myself. Then there was Christmas, which I took the decision to also enjoy myself over and didn't watch anything that I ate. Soon as Craig went back to work I decided that it was time to sign up again, so I did for 12 weeks. I had gained 2.7kg over this period, but didn't mind. Today was my fourth meeting of the 12 weeks and I gained my 5kg bookmark. My total weight loss to date is 9.3kg, so I am stoked! I hope that by adding this to my blog, I might inspire someone to make the change too. I have a fair way to go yet but every little loss counts. So I am going to update my progress each week after my W.W meeting. :)

Latest Layouts :)

2007-02-10T20:05:00.000+13:00

As I said in my last post the new February S.E challenges have been posted and they are all great. They have got me inspired again so here are the latest two layouts I have been working on.

The first was inspired by the painting of my monitor last weekend, what better way to capture it than in a layout. At the moment I am loving everything bright, so my room is full of bright bits and pieces. It was a real struggle to get this layout together, I just couldn't make it work. After a lot of pondering I am extremely happy with the finished page. Enjoy!

This layout is for the S.E's February monthly challenge, you had to use the title "This is love" on the layout. I choose to use this beautiful photo from our wedding of Craig. It's also my first time using free hand doodling, it was hard to get into as I like things to be neat and tidy, but I do like the effect now. It will no doubt pop up on my future layouts now. :)

Just a quick catch up

2007-02-07T17:43:00.000+13:00

It was a wonderful Waitangi weekend, even though I worked Sunday it seemed to be a nice long break. Just what Craig needed after all the work he has had on recently. On Saturday we were so lazy, got up late then did some shopping, we caught up on watching a few dvd's, "Derailed" and "The Family Stone". We really just lazed about and enjoyed the day. Summer seems to have finally arrived! Then as I said I worked on Sunday. On Monday seeing it was such nice weather, and Craig was off work we drove out to Rangiora, stopping at a few shops along the way and had a picnic lunch there. Monday evening we headed along to Classical Sparks with our good friends Bronnie and Dave for a fun night. This year the event had a New Zealand theme. There was the NZ Army band, Crusaders on horseback with the Crusaders team members arriving in classic cars. Dave Dobbyn sung for the second half and the symphony played some well known classical pieces or the first half.
Then yesterday morning we headed to our favorite coffee shop, Lyttelton Coffee Culture (they make the BEST vanilla chai lattes!) we pottered about home and Craig worked on editing our wedding dvd in the afternoon. Like I said nice a cruisy and relaxing! :) Long weekends - Short weeks are definitely the way to go!!

I am most excited to see that the new challenges for the month have been released on S.E, so I have begun planning my layouts for them. The book of me pages are a great idea, and I will certainly be taking up the challenge!

Better buzz as we are heading to Craig's parents place for a roast dinner (Craig's Mum makes GREAT roasts!)

2007-02-06T12:08:00.000+13:00

I just had to blog these pics I took of my new monitor! hehe Craig has set up one of his old computers for me to use while scrapbooking, and in my colourful office it looked so boring! I felt the need to decorate it, I was just going to stick on some rub-ons etc.
Craig suggested I paint it, but I don't think he thought I would go so far as to stick on some flowers, ribbon and jewels as well. hehe
Now it's done it certainly doesn't look dull anymore! I would paint the keyboard too, but that is a huge messy job that I can't be bothered with.

During its transformation! hehe

What a pretty moniter!

My Scrapbooking/Craft space

2007-01-30T14:43:00.000+13:00

Over the past weeks everyone on Scrapbook essentials has been uploading pics of there scrapbooking areas, so I thought I better put mine up. I am very lucky to have a room that's all mine! Besides I'm sure I wouldn't fit anywhere else with all my stuff!
Recently I got my dad to build me some shelves for my desk (BIG THANKS DAD!!) and they are great.I wonder what I'll need next!
I love the way you can keep your scrapbooking things on display, like my ribbon jars. I LOVE ribbon and it's so inspiring to have it all there in front of me looking pretty. hehe
I must admit I did tidy up a bit before taking the photos, and have realized I could do with some sort of storage for under my desk. It is the area where everything gets dumped!
I am glad to get my space back, during the past year of wedding planning it was taken over with invites, favor boxes and wedding cakes, the wardrobe which is now tidy was full with my dress, veil and wraps etc for bridesmaids. I didn't realize how much space you need to plan your own wedding! hehe

Busy Weekend :)

2007-01-29T21:27:00.000+13:00

Well it has been a busy few days. A few weeks back my friend Bronwyn and I thought it was time that us girls got a chance to get all dressed up and have some fun, so we organised a girl's night out. On Saturday night eight of us girls gathered at our place for drinks,gossip,games and a bbq. Then we headed into town for some good old dancing and fun. We then finished the night off with hot chocs at Le Cafe. It was heaps of fun to catch up with everyone! Here are a few photos from Saturday, but I'm sure there will be more to come.
We must make the girls night a regular event, maybe a movie night next, we all really want to see "The devil wears Prada"!

Today I have been busy doing the boring jobs one must do, but did get a chance to do some scrapbook shopping and have made up four RAK parcels that will be going in the post tommorrow. For those who don't know what a R.A.K is, (I didn't a few weeks back) it is a Random Act of Kindness, and lots of fun when they are scrapbooking RAK's. It's so nice to do something for someone that's completely unexpected! Well that's about it for me, will probably blog again tomorrow with the layouts of my hen's night I am working on!

24 things about me

2007-01-26T11:12:00.000+13:00

The other day I was reading some blogs and came across this cool questionaire,(thanks Michelle) and thought I would answer it, so here goes.

1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before? Got married!

2.Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for 2007? Yup always to lose weight, and I did lose 7kg in 2006 and am signed back up at Weight Watchers for 12 weeks more! :)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope

4.Did anyone close to you die?
Thank goodness no!

5. What countries did you visit in 2006?
Surfers Paradise, Australia on our honeymoon.

6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
A sense of purpose.

7. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
24th November, our Wedding day.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Organizing our wedding and starting to work part time again.

9.What was your biggest failure?
Wow, don't think I had one.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No, luckily.

11. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Craig's, for being a great help with wedding preparations.

12.Where did most of your money go? Our wedding! but our memories are priceless.

13. What did you get really, really excited about?
Marrying Craig! and our honeymoon.

14.What song will always remind you of 2006? From this moment - Shania Twain, the song we signed the register too.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder?  b) thinner or fatter?  c) richer or poorer?
a.Happier
b.thinner
c.about the same

16.What do you wish you’d done more of?
Living today,today instead of always waiting for the future.

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Not sure.

21. What was your favorite TV program? So many, Home and Away, Mcleods Daughters,Travel docos (Intrepid journeys etc.) ........

22. What was the best book you read? Not sure, but it would be chick lit, probably by Jane Green.

23. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
To laid back for my liking, working on that :)

24. What kept you sane?
Craig, family and organization.

January's S.E monthly layout entry

2007-01-23T12:25:00.000+13:00

A few weeks ago I came across a website called Scrapbook Essentials, it is so much fun for scrapbookers. They have challenges, galleries and a forum. Anyhow I have worked on this layout for there monthly layout challenge. The theme was "Mermories of Summers, Past and Present" and as this years summer has been fairly non-existent, I found some old photos of my sister and I making sandcastles when we were children. The journalling says "Childhood summers, hours by the sea, building sandcastles, carefree. These are the moments to remember!" I hope you like it. :)

2007-01-23T12:16:00.000+13:00

This was my first layout where rather than scraping an event I simply captured a moment, I love the simplicity of it.

This is a tin that I had lying around, it just called out to be altered. I used papers from the BasicGrey Dasher,Fruitcake and Blitzen ranges. The papers are so easy to work with, I am now working on a Christmas star book, that fits in this tin. Will post photos when it's finished.

2007-01-23T12:05:00.000+13:00

This layout is of about Craig being " The one".
The journalling is the poem called "The One", which was read at our wedding.
I loved the combo of blue and green and the lovely b&w photo.

This is a layout I scraplifted from Creating Keepsakes, I loved the simplicity of it.
It's so important to focus on what you do have, not what you don't.

This is just to capture our New years eve,
I later realised that the journalling should read "New years eve 2006" not 2007 but oh well. hehe

I love this layout as I didn't use any patterned paper in it,
it's all hand cut and punched from Bazzill cardstock.
The bright colours go really well with the crazy hen's night photo! hehe
Many more of these to come, it was more time consuming but so much fun!

2007-01-23T11:52:00.000+13:00

Here are some of my older scrapbook layouts.

This layout was inspired by these beautiful photos I found,
of my Nana in her younger days. She has always been so elegant and I wanted to capture this.

I came up with this layout to showcase all of our Christmas photos for 2005,
the squares with the ribbon is supposed to look like a present.

This was the first layout I used Dimensional Magic on, it works well with the pool theme.
I love the aqua theme with the photos.

I finally got around to scrapbooking a layout about our first flat, although it was difficult choosing which elements of the house to use, I think it came out well.

2007-01-22T14:05:00.000+13:00

The last of the wedding photos for now, these give you a good idea of how fabulous our day was.
We really could not have asked for better!

2007-01-22T13:49:00.000+13:00

I thought it was about time I uploaded some of our Wedding photos,
I think every moment of our day was captured by someone with a camera. :) hehe

My Bridesmaid and me after we had been to the haridressers.
Bubbly and strawberries are must for any special occasion.

Dad and I arriving at the church, I think this is such a lovely photo of us both.

My beautiful sister walking down the aisle, she looked very stunning on the day!

Dad walking me down the aisle, wow what a moment!

2007-01-21T20:56:00.000+13:00

These photos were up at the Sign of the Bellbird,
they turned out well and the changing sky in the background made for some interesting photos.

2007-01-20T22:28:00.000+13:00

Thought I would put up some of the great photos taken at my Hen's night back in November, it was one of the best nights, so much FUN! In fact because of the sucess of that night, all of us girls are making it a regular thing, starting with the "Absolutly Fabulous Girl's Night" this coming Saturday. I am sure there will be plenty more photos from that evening.

The day started with my bridesmaids picking me up for a surprise, I was thinking all sorts of things :) but we ended up at Pukeko Junction Cafe at Leithfield for a lovley lunch, then back into Christchurch for coffee and cake at Coffee Culture. mmmm... they have the best cake! but that's a whole other story! hehe

My sister and friends had done a great job, with the usual embrassing but fun games, lot's of great food and music, we all had a hoot!

2007-01-20T18:58:00.000+13:00

Yay! Finally I have gotten my blog up and running with alot of help from my lovely husband Craig. He helped me add the very cool header, that I am very happy with! Anyhow not much to add right now, will no doubt be posting very soon. I hope to get my scrapbook pages uploaded along with some of our beautiful wedding photos really soon. As for now I better get back to our wedding thank you notes. Catch ya.