END OF MONTH CHALLENGES!!

There's been a scurry to finish some of my favourite challenges before the 31st rings out!!

I've been so hard pressed for time since returning from being away. The LO below kinda explains why...... I've been back in the studio (even though its still school holidays here) working on a new syllabus with my collegue from Melbourne. We had sooo limited time and the first day we worked 14hrs - thats right - on our feet. I cant even begin to tell you how tired I was to face the second day. Anyway, I know I havent had a chance to go blog hopping like I promised but I need SLEEP at the moment!! I promise I'll visit really soon!! Just got to get some dt stuff out the way!

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SCRAP-IT-LAH

I love this challenge site and the dt there are just fabulous!! This time the challenge was a sketch and it was an awesome one! Soooo here you get a glimpse at my day job!

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MISSION CREATE This is also another fabulous challenge site. There is a pick of criteria! I love this! The criteria I chose was the fabric, bookprint, flowers and raw chipboard! Here is Paige contemplating a return to school (for international visitors - we are at the end of our summer vacation here) so we are in a phase between end of holidays and preparing for schoolwork at the moment. .

. A TRUE FRIEND This challenge site is unique because it solely focusses on pets and animals. The challenge is to match a book title to your pet/s. Here is me in 1979 with my two horses. They were champions, strolling down the dirt road to be placed in the next field. Both horses had racing backgrounds. The one closest was my cross-country horse and the one behind was my jumper. I didnt have the patience for dressage and neither did my horses! .

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SOME SCRAPPING, but .......

I'm surrounded by incredible creatures thanks to Mother Nature!!

More about that in a minute, but first :

CHECK OUT RUBY STREET DESIGNS!!

There are some lovelies being uploaded in the shop!!

and check out the blog too!!

Ruby Street are generously sponsoring 'Lets Get Shabby's Valentine Challenge' !!!

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Now for some LO's!!

MY FAVE THINGS & it WON!!!

It's all about your favourite scent!! It has to be the salt air for me! By the seaside...breath deeply......there's nothing like it. You can find the challenge here

SCRAP THERAPY BLIND SCRAPI had a little poetic licence with mine...but I love the result regardless.

Find it here

USA SCRAPJACKED

I love seagulls...pretty much any bird really. Just to see them in flight with the use and flexibility of their wing and span is amazing. I photographed this bird a week ago.

It was perfect for this challenge!

CREATIVE TYPE #24

Its all about going neutral! I still couldnt get my seagulls out of my mind and did another LO which was perfect for a neutral state. This was an amazing pic of two seagulls colliding mid air. I scalpeled out other gulls and used some foam tape to give some depth surrounding the pic.

Here's a close up of the crash! ------------------------------------------

CAT VERSUS BLUE TONGUE LIZARD

TOTALLY BUSTED LIZARD!!!

(I have to tell you that I was laughing so much that some of the pics were too blury to upload...such a shame but I'll talk you through it!)

As I've shown before (scroll down to bottom of post if you go looking) the lizards have been helping themselves (one in particular) to Cosmo's expensive renal food! And up until now...Cosmo has never come face to face with a culprit!

Cosmo (17yrs old) steps outside the back door and stops! Check out the look on his face while the lizard gobbles his food! Notice how very fat it is!!!

Showdown!!! Right-ho Mr Lizard!

UH-OH!! I was laughing so much, the pic of Cosmo giving it two taps on the head was very blury! I had tears running down my face and couldnt look through the view-finder (I could kick myself!)

Mr Lizard scurries off dragging its belly along the ground!! It runs into its home - a drain in our back garden and again I took a very blury shot of Cosmo tapping it on the behind as it runs in!

Cosmo sat there for the longest time very very smug! I think Mr Lizard is smug too - he has a full belly!

Then later this afternoon....look what I found!!

Good grief!!

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LET'S GET SHABBY#8 and MORE!

We're home from our beachside holiday. And I'm sure there will be photos appearing in LO's soon about the fabulous things we did there.

It will be nice to catch up with everyone's blogs again and here's a start......... .

. LETS GET SHABBY #8

With Valentine's Day It's all about those heart-string tugging letters, child notes, vintage war loveslost and won etc etc....these are just examples!! Whatever you chose, your creation must contain a letter/s or note/s that you've written or been written by you or others living or passed.

Put yourShabby Valentine styleinto a wonderful creation!!

I made a little booklet to slip in all the love notes I get from Paige. She has always been a note giver and her little Valentines are beautiful. I've decorated with fabulous lovelies from Ruby Street who is our sponsor with a magnificent prize!! Ruby Street will be restocked with new goodies on 1st February so remember to check back then!!

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PENCIL LINES #170

This was a fab sketch!! Check it out here

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And now to my news!!

I've been entering in Twisted Sketches for a little while because Anam's sketches are unique and there is always a twist which kind of makes the challenge a little more challenging! (and use things I forget I have!!) I won a couple and got an invitation while away on holiday to join the new team. This is exciting! I had to throw together this LO ready for the announcements with the twist being transparency, and though I'd taken some scrappy supplies away on holiday with me, no transparencies! However being a bit resourceful - I cut out the title and put some plastic behind it!! Hope to see you visiting there too!!

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WEATHER IS IMPROVING!

.........and into the BOAT!!!

and a little scrapping!!

SKETCH INSPIRATION #107

You can find it here

ARTISTIC DOCUMENT JAN SKETCH CHALLENGE

Find it here

INSPIRED BLUEPRINTS #40
AND IT MADE THE FAVES!!

Challenge is here

Bit light on words today...but gotta run!!

HOLIDAYING...

I'm away on holidays at the moment staying in a cottage on the east coast of Tasmania. We did the same last year and it was beautiful....only so far this time - the weather hasnt been that agreeable, so a little scrapping has been done!! Poor dh couldnt come so he had to stay home and work. However despite the weather both Hannah and Paige have still managed to swim each day and finished up freezing!! We drove down on Sunday in driving rain and hail with lightning forks everywhere - it was a horror trip that took forever!! Anyway, the worse that is happening, is that we are just kicking back and enjoying each others company along with socialising with the friends already holidaying too. I sooooo apologise for not getting to blogs and leaving comments because my prepaid internet stick thing swallows buckets of money with the amount of downloading I'd have to do....but as soon as I can I will catch up!!!! Promise!

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SCRAPPING THE MUSIC #118

Boy oh boy, STM has had a surge of participants since starting to offer weekly prizes!!

The song this week is adorable!! You can check it all out here

These are my dear little finches 'Scrappy' and 'Booky'

Very appropriate names!! (grin)

SCRAPxSCRAP #20

This is a new Japanese challenge I've come across and thought I have a go as the criteria was fab!

Use a popped up element - I've used butterflies on extensions

Check or tartan - check (gingham) yellow ribbon

Scraplift an old LO - you'll find it here 'Chill'

Oh and I won both Challenge 29&30 for TWISTED SKETCHES!!!!

What a fabulous surprise!!!

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Hopefully I'll be able to pop in to see you all soon!!!

hugs

A SPECIAL DAY TODAY

. Today is our Anniversary and Hannah's birthday! Yes she was born on our anniversary! Soooooo to celebrate, we went to the Races (the 'Trots' as they are called here)!

It's a LOVELY warm evening tonight starting at 5pm and finished up by 8.30.

We had a table right next to the track just about 5mtrs from the finish line! Hannah came home with $30 in her pocket!! We know NOTHING about horse racing , but we had a VERY good night! (Poor old Paige was at rehearsals for 'Oliver' so couldnt come).

Here Hannah is with one of her 'winners'!! (We're a bit sea-breeze swept!!).

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. MISSION CREATE #8

There's five criteria to choose from! (minimum 3) I managed four. Rubons, Paint and stitching and a curved title! Amy sent me these dandylion rubons in a rak a while ago and I love them! I really like doing criteria based challenges too....because they make you use 'stuff' that you might have tucked away!! .

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. CREATIVE SCRAPPERS #86

This was a sketch that easily fell into place! You can check it out here

Yes weeeeell, it doesnt happen very often where I do a LO with me in it...cos I avoid it like the plague, however everynow and then I pluck up enough courage and do one (I have no idea why I'm like this!) then I quickly pack it away, not left out standing up for everyone to see. (whats with that!) Anyway, its what happens and weeeeell, its done for another generation!! LOL! .

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TWISTED SKETCHES #32

I struggled with this one...not because of the sketch, because it was great, but because my 'visions' of what I 'could' do with it had to come alive on paper LOL and I can sometimes get myself in quite a pickle!

Eventually this came to pass and I became happy with it! I've used stamps with paint (my fav medium!!) You can find the sketch here

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INSPIRATION SKETCHES #106

Here's another one I struggled with a bit too! But finally got there in the end. Look at how close my girls are. I'm so extremely blessed. You can find the sketch here

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SCRAP THAT POETRY #8For this challenge, I'm lucky enough to be the Guest Designer and offering a RAK to the winner! There's a lovely poem to scrap this week!! You can find the CHallenge here

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LAST BUT NOT AT ALL LEAST!!!

YVONNE!!!!

Such a sweet sweet girl is Yvonne who sent me this lovely gorgeous suprise RAK!!! Thankyou thankyou thankyou!!! I was so thrilled to open it and see who it was from!! I was like a little kid in a candy shop!! MWAH!!

I'VE BEEN SCRAPPING UP A STORM!!

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Yes I've been getting quite a bit of scrapping done.....but I'm on holidays and loving it. It sure will peeter off when I have to go back to work mores the pity.

Anyway..... lots to tell. Lets start with 'What is Old is New'!! A new comp is starting!! And I think its a FABULOUS idea!! (The sketch will also be continuing)

Here's what Mel has to say:

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A YEAR IN REVIEW 2010

We are starting a new challenge this month, this will be a year long challenge that documents what you have done this year.All you are going to need to do is create 1 layout a month about what you did in the previous month, so we will be starting on the 15th January so between then and the deadline February 15th you need to create a layout about something you did in January... You need to add a calendar of some sort on your page, photo(s) and journaling and at the end of the year you will have 12 layouts that you will be able to look at and remember some of the things you did for that year!

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Now just check out the prizes here

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Here's my sample which was done for December to show what it can look like, you'll start yours in for January! I REALLY love this idea!!! It can be any size - its more of a layout with a monthly calendar on it rather than a Calendar thats been scrapped. I cant wait to see my LO's altogether at the end!!

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PENCIL LINES #169

Cool sketch! Find it here At first I thought...'uh-oh - mulitple photos...do I have any???' Sure enough digging deep I found these ones of Hannah back in 2003 playing in a ballet costume! I just clicked the camera as she frolicked away on the back steps. I'm so pleased to have scrapped this delightful moment.

CREATIVE TYPE #23

Ooooh the thing I love about Creative Type is that it pushes me well out of my comfort zone and I love it!! This turned out to be a bit of an 'Art Journal' piece. The criteria was to use newspaper...so I did with gesso and a bit of hard warped paper mache resulted too! I ADORE this photo I took of Paige. I've been wanting to catch her asleep in the morning for ages! She is unbelievable!! Paige gets into a nicely made bed and by morning this is how it looks. We call her the 'mini washing machine agitator'! Feet hanging out; pillows and/or blankets piled up on her back....and that dark pile near her head is a big furry blanket - curled in a big heap!! And she tells me she has NO idea how her bed gets that way!

Heaven help her husband-to-be one day!!! LOL

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MORE CHALLEGES!!

Scrap Therapy have recently held there CC and being about journeys, scrapped this one as we got off the ship at Vila (Vanuatu) We'd left Tasmania via Sydney a week or so earlier in the midst of a very cold cold Winter that was doing my head in - and to be in the tropics was just the best medicine for lack of sun! The flowers and folliage is just sooo vibrant there and I tried my best to recreate that. Its great to be doing challenges again as a player at Scrap Therapy (though being past dt arent eligible for prizes...but that doesnt matter!)

CC THEME CHALLENGE

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TWISTED SKETCHES #31

Sooooooo, while I had my cruise photos out there were some fab ones I really want to scrap! These were a couple of them. This was a little water-colour I picked up over there - just fell in love with it the minute I saw it! It reminded me of the warriors hiding in the trees.

In the tiny pic, the man had a snake entwined up he arm.

ANWAY.... this was the result of the sketch found here and the twist being white is the paint I used under the photo rather than another paper. ;

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SCRAP THAT POETRY #7 I couldnt believe my eyes when I read such a beautiful poem at Scrap That Poetry

It was soooo perfect ('Hope') for the little seagull I rescued on Saturday.

I loved it so much that the complete poem is on my LO. I even worked out specific words in each line to highlight and therefore create another line for the poem.

This little baby seagull is now doing well with the 'Seagull Lady' expert. We took her there yesterday and I spoke on the phone today to hear it was eating greedily!!

So far, so good. ;

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ANOTHER EVENTFUL WEEKEND!

Weeell, there was some scrapping going on too!!

The weather has been gorgeous and the garden beckoned a bit

(more about that later)

AUSSIE SCRAPJACKED

This was my 'Agnus' Jack. The Jacks are here Ive slid the top half of the background paper behind the bottom half, framed the photo and the layout, created a tiny bit of a doily look, and water coloured around the edges, with a splash of blue alcohol ink.

What a life my cats have!! ;

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A TRUE FRIEND CHALLENGE BLOG

I stumbled upon a challenge blog just for pets! And just loved it!! So here's my interpretation of the challenge to scrap a pet Christmas gift....so fun. This is Macca, he is my in-laws doggy My FIL has bee-hives....and well - look what Macca got for Christmas!! The little suit even has wings on the back of it!! He does love to wear it and thinks he is something special in it (as everyone makes a fuss) ;

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; SCRAP THERAPY SKETCH CHALLENGE CC

The theme over at Scrap Therapy is all about Journeys this month.

I scrapped this pic with the journey on stage in mind - as each story unfolds and performed from beginning to end.

I love the response look of Hannah here.

This was in rehearsal of 'La Fille Mal Gardee' (2006) a comic though pretty ballet about love. Hannah and Paige were farm girls working the fields

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, Now to my garden!

Look at the expression 'uh-oh'!!

This is what I caught at the cat bowl....that is expensive renal food for my 17yr old cat from the vet who will ONLY eat in the garden!!! Look at the evidence around his mouth!!

These blue tongue lizards are such characters!!

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And I found this little bundle not far from my back door not long after.

For some reason....seagulls visit me when they arent well ..it is limping badly, I have it away in the cat pen now (without the cats!!!) to keep it from being killed by cats!!

It is eating well and seems settled. Tomorrow I'm taking it to a lady who has a permit to look after seagulls and hopefully she can help this one and when its well enough, set it free.

LGS EMBELLIE RAK, PENCIL LINES, STUCK?SKETCHES, AUSSIE SCRAPJACKED

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'Let's Get Shabby' has its third and final guessing game going on right now!! You get three guesses over three days!! Julie has put together this FABULOUS embellie RAK....count what she has amongst it, and leave your answer in the comments at LGS!!

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PENCIL LINES

I had visions as soon as I saw the sketch and wanted to scrap these pics of Paige for so long. She LOVES cooking for us and often ponders over recipes. This is one of my favourites she made!

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STUCK? SKETCHES

There's so much joy in creating beach scenes! I've flipped the sketch a little to work with my portrait shaped photos. You can find the sketch here

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AUSSIE SCRAPJACKED

My dt postion doesnt start until next month, and because I fell instantly in love with Danielle Quarmby's creation and here is my interpretation... (I hope I've peaked your curiosity!!Its not digital, its two photos, a large and a small, its hard to see, but the driftwood has been cut out(from another copy) and double mounted over the underlaying large photo (my dd shot this driftwood) so its actually 3d in real life. The words are stickers. The blue sea is alcohol ink. The dark spots that appear in the top half of the big photo are actually grains of sand and stones....but the perspecive of Hannah and the waterline makes those marks look like seagulls!

You can find the Jacks here