Wendy Treseder

happy unbirthday

Here's another layout from Leeanne & I's most recent scrap session. We are still working together on our Kim Archer Snippets workshop projects.

 

I used Picnik to create the polaroid photos for the page (I'm so totally in love with this amazing photo editing program).

The photos are from Harry's UNbirthday party in January. We had promised him a sleepover for his birthday in November (last year) but life got too busy and a suitable time never presented itself. Somehow, when the boys finally came for a sleepover in January they were under the mistaken impression that it was for Harry's birthday and they presented him with gifts! We had to hurriedly throw a party dinner together, with icecream birthday cake and singing and all! It was crazy! haha

Harry swears that he didn't tell them it was a birthday sleepover - but the jury's still out on that one - hmmm.

something pretty to look at

I wandered down the driveway to my letterbox the other day and found one flower on the entire camelia bush. I don't know if it's the first of the season, or the last, but I couldn't resist snipping it off and bringing into the house to look at and enjoy.

Pretty.

little duckypoos

Yesterday we found 11 tiny ducklings wandering over the pool blanket. I'm pretty sure it was their first time out of the nest because they are sooo tiny and are still firmly sticking by Mum's side. We rolled back the grungy looking pool blanket so they could swim around in what could only be described as pond water (it's still too chilly to start getting the pool ready for humans) and they seemed grateful.

We are on full time Billy (the cat) alert.

Click here to see some cute photos.

Happiness on my first day of semi-unemployment. :)

Radish!

I had time to kill before I met up with some girlfriends for lunch on Saturday, so I headed over to Spotlight to pick up some fabric for costumes. While I was there I spotted these super cute stick on badges (I think they're by Flair) and I couldn't resist buying them. When I showed them to the girls they told me my challenge was to use this particular badge (above). I don't know what it means, please tell me if you do. Does it mean you are semi-radical? I may never find out, but this afternoon I found this apple, having a personality crisis, sitting on my kitchen bench. haha

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Leeanne and I got together to work on our May Kim Archer Snippets workshop pages last weekend. We're getting really good at actually scrapping together and not just spending the time talking. I think it's because we're following the workshop, not having to free your mind so much to make design choices.

This is my version of the double page layout. I used photos from the day Chels and I spent creating a pretty sundress for her. I helped with the pattern making, hand sewing and instructing, but Chels did all the rest.

Some close up shots of the details. (Thanks for letting me have one of your glitter chipboard flowers Leeanne. haha)

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I ended up having a pretty full on week last week which is why I didn't get a chance to post the free workshop.

• Travelled to Sydney to handover my job on Tuesday & Wednesday.
• Found out on Wednesday afternoon that we had to be out of our office by Monday.
• Went to the eye specialist on Thursday afternoon. He put drops in my eyes to dilate the pupils which meant I couldn't see properly all night. (I was actually still a little blurry on Friday.)
• Saturday was lunch with the girls, followed by a big housework catch up and watching the Cats (footy team) win.
• Today I went out for coffee with a couple of my sisters and my Daddy for father's day.

My work situation is pretty stressful atm, but the good news is I've got plenty of time to catch up on some costume sewing for calisthenics, finishing Chelsea's dress for this Friday's Year 12 Formal and getting the workshop up on my blog. Promise.

Hope all the Daddy's had a good day today. Here's a pic of Peter and Chels at her final school netball game on Friday. I never go to the games, it's a Daddy/Fluffy (Peter's name for Chels) thing, but I sent my camera to the final game. The end of her school life is coming up so quickly now....wah!

free workshop coming.....watch this space!

I was having a little play last night and I made some "serendipity circles". They were super fun and easy to make and I've decided to show you how to make them too!

Stay tuned to this blog because I'll be posting FREE step-by-step instructions to make not just the circles, but the entire layout next week. FUN!

(You can take the girl out of Paper Doll, but you can't take Paper Doll out of the girl. -Wink.)

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In the meantime, I've been continuing to catch up on some of the Kim Archer Life Snippets Workshops I missed. This layout is from the March Snippets workshop.

I love how these workshops make you think outside the box to use the supplies you have on hand. I also love how Kim incorporates lots of fabric, lots of stitching and lots of lovely shabbiness in her designs.

The photos are from our recent family holiday to Merimbula, NSW. Good times :)

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Thanks so much for all your lovely comments and good wishes for my health too, I'm feeling better and better every day.

stay happy x

   

Vitamin D (& other deficiencies)

If you haven't already heard, I've been dealing with a few health issues over the last few months. I had almost no iron in my bloodstream, no Vitamin D and my thyroid kicked back into over-active. I've had so many tests and procedures I've been a bit like a walking pincushion, but the good news is that it's all coming good. After two iron IV infusions, my haemoglobin is back up and the thyroid meds have brought it back to normal function (but still waiting on one more test result to confirm all ok).

As I type, the wind is howling and the rain is pouring. It's hard to believe that this time last week it was actually sunny and warm and it was soo lovely to sit out in the warm sunshine for a little while before work, and instead of feeling guilty about it I reminded myself I was just following Dr's orders. hehe

This is another of the talented Kim Archer's designs for the Life Snippets workshops. It was fun to paint and rip the corrugated cardboard piece and I got to use some of the pretty new fabrics from my stash. yay!

I always seem to get on a creative splurge the more stressed I am and with redundancy looming it's ugly head in a few weeks time, I've really been on a roll lately, scrapping most nights I'm at home.

I finished off this layout last night - my own layout design this time - using some of the professional shots Chelsea had done for a school project.

 

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Thanks for visiting - stay happy :)

it's never too late to scrap & catch up

This Layout is from the Kim Archer January Snippets Workshop

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Each month Kim and her creative team upload a fresh workshop (a double and a single page spread) usually themed for that month. Each workshop stands alone, so you can join any time. Leeanne and I have started getting together once a month to work on our pages and I'm catching up on the earlier months I missed (I've got a lot of homework - Leeanne started in January) and since I started so late and don't have photos for each month, I decided to put my layouts together to create a Random Snippets of 2009 album instead.

I'm using neutral tones with green, blue and black to try and give the album a cohesive look.

 

We went to Merimbula for a break in the last school holidays and I took this silly photo of the four of us on a beach walk. When I look at it, it makes me wonder whether Chelsea will still want to come on family holidays with us, or if this might be the last time we go away as a family of four since she is about to turn 18 and start striking out on her own.

I hope not....

Stacks of fun

After seeing Leeanne's beautiful fabric stash the other day I began suffering severe pangs of inadequacy (read jealousy). Two days later, by happy mistake, I found myself with an hour to fill while I waited for my thyroid ultrasound appointment. So I headed over to Spotlight for a spot of retail therapy.......

There's always WAY more than I could possibly ever use, so when I got home after work I ripped it all in half to make a stack for me and a stack for Leeanne.

I love, love, love fabric! I love to touch it, look at it, mix and match the colours and patterns.....(sigh) It's hours and hours of entertainment. haha

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I've hooked on to picnik photo editing lately too, so much so that I had to go get my neck adjusted yesterday because it had locked up due to my excessive editing sessions over the weekend. haha.

I took this photo of a foggy morning in my backyard about a month ago, but was really disappointed at the time that I couldn't really capture the mood I was after (pic on top). It's too clear and bright. But after applying a few easy actions I was able to make it look more like it did in my imagination. Welcome to Sleepy Hollow (pic on bottom)...

Happiness :)

a job for the boys

I scrapped an 8.5" x 11" double page spread to commemorate the day that Peter taught Harry how to mow the lawns. A classic "Father & Son" passing the torch moment.

 

The eagle eyed among you will notice that I used the 7Gypsies logo as an embellishment on this page. I cut it off the packaging (7G have such beautiful packaging I can't bear to throw it in the bin).

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btw. I don't really believe mowing is a boys job, it's simply a job that I don't fancy doing myself and so I'm happy to leave it to the boys. I've also taught Harry how to clean the toilet, do the laundry, vacuum, cook, etc... In fact, pretty soon I'll be able to sit back and do nothing while all the housework gets done around me! haha

More soon. :)

ready to fly...

I think I've finally made it out of my annual costume/sequin sewing nightmare and now it's time for some fun. woohoo!

 

 I'm never sure how long the mojo will last so I decided to commit to a small project first and played with this page in my journal. The rules were....

Must use aqua blue (paint), must use grungeboard (wings), must use glitter and must NOT use scissors (I couldn't find them - haha).

I usually find it easier and quicker to limit myself to using just a set number of techniques and gathering a small selection of products for a project and (here's the hardest part) sticking to just those things/ideas. Just like you, I've got a pretty decent collection of stuff (okay, it's huge) and I can get stuck with an unfinished project for ages while I'm looking through my stash for "the perfect" thing. Pfft! Who's got time for that?

So my challenge to you is to do the same. See the list of must and must nots above and make something that makes you happy and when you do, post the link to your project in the comments section. I'll send everyone who does it a little surprise in the mail. You up for it?

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More journal pages from this weeks' mojo attack:

I'm masking tape obsessed atm and adding it to just about every project. I layered strips of tape on this border and added a crinkly strip layered with a scrap of patterned paper (just scrunch and stick the tape as you go). You can see the crinkly effect better in the close up image below.

   

I made this next page last night. I need to stay positive and remind myself that no matter what life dishes out, that if you're patient, there is usually something good just around the corner.

On this page I used the masking tape to tone down the colour on this piece of pink pattered paper. I tore off strips of tape and stuck them directly over the paper, slightly overlapping some strips and leaving tiny gaps between others so that the colour of the paper could peek through. I love the fragile, crepey skin look of the tape. It kinda looks like the skin on the back of my hands, but I hate how it looks on them (because it reminds me that I'm old - haha).

I've made a couple of scrapbook layouts this week too, but I'll save them for next post.

Stay tuned and stay happy :)