Its Autumn finally!

A big hello to my wonderful scrapping/carding friends. It has been a while since I have been here and left a post.
I haven't been well again, but as many of us know, scrapbooking is wonderful therapy, especially as it helps me to block my mind from some of the pain, so I have still been doing some of that when I have been able to.
There has been so much going on around here, I have had many days just disappear while I played with photoshop. I have also nearly finished rearranging my scrapping area, and its still a bit of a mess, but its getting there!

Now that Autumn is here, I am hoping along with many others that the weather will cool down quite a bit. I am an Autumn person, not a Summer. LOL

Anyway, I have a few finished pages to show you, so here they are...

This is my second ever digi layout.
Its my darling granddaughter at her 3rd birthday party last December.
She adored her new baby I gave her, and carried it around for most of the party.
She knows how to make nanna happy doesnt she LOL
It seems to be taking an awful long time to upload, perhaps I should have shrunk it a bit? LOL
Ah well, I know for next time, keep something else to do while you are uploading big files or shrink them ROFL silly me......




This next one is a challenge for Ready Set Scrap.
It is a Negative space challenge by Janine from the RSS Design Team.
I absolutely love this, it would be my amongst my favourite of my own pages now.
It is my darling grandchildren, (my most photographed models LOL)
I used natural cardstocks with flecks of other shades in them, but it isnt noticeable.
The flowers are mainly Primas, along with 2 chipboard flowers and 2 chipboard hearts.
I had a lot of fun doing this, and it fell together very quickly.



The next one is also a challenge for Ready Set Scrap.
It is a Quote challenge by Shell from the RSS Design Team.
The quote being - So Happy Are The Hearts That Love You.
I enjoyed this once I finally worked out which owl to use LOL as we had to add an owl, and focus on handcutting. So I played for about a week making up lots of owl designs, finally settling on the one I used. I may use the others eventually though, why waste a weeks designing? I handcut the tree too, and shaded it and the moon with chalk.




The next one is another challenge for Ready Set Scrap.
It is a Number challenge by Nat from the RSS Design Team.
We had to use 1 large photo, 2 circles, 3 PPs 4 staples, 5 different flowers, 6 inch title, 7 crosses and 8 buttons. I sewed most of it on too, just to challenge myself with something different.
I will probably add more flowers myself, as it needs more I believe.


The last one is also a challenge for Ready Set Scrap.
It is a Colour challenge by Tracey from the RSS Design Team.
We had to do a double layout, 2 photos, 2 words in the title, 2 sentences in the journalling and main colours of red, green and pink.
I chose to use ultra bright colouring and I am very happy with the end result, except the title is a bit unclear in the photo. It says Heaven Sent.



Thanks for looking, and if you got this far, sorry it was such a long one LOL No Im not really sorry, I just said that to be polite.... hehe
I am trying to get back into a blogging habit, so wish me luck, and hope to see you again soon!
lots a love,
me
xxx

My first digi layout!

Wellllllllll I cant find my late note,
and I know Ive been a bad bad girl
for not being in here for ummm
nearly 2 weeks.....
hanging my head in shame........

Actually, its cos cos partly cos ummmm
oh yeah, cos of the heatwave we had here,
it took away all my mojo, and also
cos this room where the computer is gets quite
hot so I just couldnt think when
I got here to give you guys any cheek to read!

But, now you can be afraid cos I am BACK!!
mwahahahahahahahaha

Ok, regaining my sense of composure and sanity, at least for a
little while enough to let you know what I have been doing.
Firstly, we are rearranging the dining area, well really its my
scrap area most of the time, and occasionally I clean it up
enough for us all to eat there together. LOL

But the scrapping gives me such pleasure, its the only thing
lately that really makes my soul sing.
Thats why hubby doesnt mind at all the mess I make.
Isnt he a sweety pie?

So we made a mess in another room and emptied out one of
those 2 dr linen presses, and its now in the dining room for me.
Now Im trying to organize my stuff slowly.
Its amazing how much I have forgotten Ive bought already.
Its good to go back through it again every now and then isnt it.

When I have had time or the inclination to sit at the computer, I have been reading lots and teaching myself how to finally do the digital scrapping on photoshop.
Its a case of (for me) repeating the tasks regularly, as thats the only way it sinks in to this old cotton wool filled brain ROFLMAO
So after all this waffling,
I guess I should show you my first piece of digi work.....



So, yes that was a lot of fun!
It was for a challenge on my Ready Set Scrap Forum, and we had to only use Black, white and red. It was finished when I realised in the poor light, I had thought the spots on the black paper were white.... they are actually pale purple.... hope Im forgiven LOL

Allright, off to do some more work....
look at the dishes or something... hehehe
Hugssssssssssssssssss

Just a short little extra note,
I tried to keep the sad emotions out of my blog,
so I hadnt mentioned the Victorian bushfires yet.
I just couldnt close off without mentioning it at all.

I would like to just quickly say, my heart felt thanks to the Heroes in Victoria who are trying there hardest to save as many lives as possible, and risking their lives to do it...

My heart goes out for all the burn victims who will endure many many months of pain while they are healing, sometimes even wishing they hadnt made it through the flames.... be strong... know that you survived for a reason... gentle hugsssssss

My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been devastated in any way, loss of loved ones, or loss of property, even those who are just like me, in another state and just feeling all the pain...
My deepest sympathies to all of us that have been touched by this shocking disaster.
Pictures are still floating around in my head, and I wish you all
love, light and speedy healing.

Thats all for now,
I have to go at least think about
some scrapping on my list LOL
hugssssss
lotsa love
xxxxx

How hot is it?

Hi girls,
Nothing to show you in this heat, because my brain has fried, its so hot! Although that could be interesting to see if I could get a camera in there....LOL
Every time I sat at the table yesterday, the coolest spot in the house too, I looked at the scrapping stuff and just stared into space. I so wanted to move the bed into the dining room LOL, Not enough room, trust me, or I would have done it heehehehehe

Here in Adelaide we are expecting a top of 44 again today, and probably for the rest of the week I reckon. The fireys are on major alert, as they are in Victoria also, and expecting similar heat for the week. Victoria though has the nasty hot winds, so I hope and pray no fires start in either place. Water is rationed too much as it is now, imagine the stronger rationing after they've had to use so much more of it to drop it on bushfires. So I ask everyone that reads this to please send out all your good energy, in whatever form you do it, prayer, meditations, etc.... send it out to keep us safe from bushfires starting during this heatwave and beyond.

Back to my whinging now though, you know I have to.... How hot is it??
Its so hot that even with the airconditioning on, it is still too hot!

How hot is it???
Its so hot that I found my cat floating and doggy paddling in the pool, so obviously I rescued her and plucked her out. But as soon as I put her down on the grass, she jumped back in!!

Actually we dont have any green grass in this heat, nor do we have a pool ROFL but it sounded good didnt it. And I know, I cheated, they said this one on sunrise this morning except with a lizard.
Come on then lovely ladies, fill our days with smiles with a few How hot is it?? jokes..... LOL

Ok, now back to my whinging about the heat here and our tiny little airconditioner LOL.
(I know, be thankful you have an airconditioner....) It really only works well if you can shut a door in a smaller space basically, its not strong enough to keep an open style house cool. But at least we have one, its cool when I sit in the best seat in the house, or stand behind that seat still, and it does cool the house to the stage where the dining room is cool, and the lounge room is a little bit cooler than it was, but you still sit there struggling for breathe LOL. In other words, who ever decided to take out the doors from the kitchen/dining and turn them into arches so we couldnt shut it off to help it cool up to the bedrooms, was crazy. Trust me, Im not exxaggerating when I say the air struggles to filter through to the lounge as it is, and it doesnt really filter through at all from the semi cooled kitchen to the sunroom where the computer is. The only time you even notice a little of the cool in the hallway is when you step out of the steaming hot bedrooms into the hall LOL and thats when the doors have been left open. When we close off the hall, which I do during the day on days like this, and then I will be putting a little cold water in the tub today to step into occassionally, as that helps me to stay cool too. I just didnt do it yesterday as I was worried that kittypuss would jump in and drown. Now Ive worked out that Im smart enough to shut the bathroom door after I leave it LOL. It will only be enough water to cover my feet though.
The frustration is that we are renting, and cant put in ceiling fans, and also this aircon used to work so much better when we got here. They wont fix it cos it is actually working, it just doesnt work as well as it used to anymore. It needs re-gassing, but since it works a little, the electrician says it is still "working". Now it would be easy to say if you arent happy then dont renew the lease, but we are happy with everything else, and besides, I am that unable to do things like packing and lifting with my chronic pain and stuffed back, when is hubby supposed to do it all when he works 6 days a week to keep us afloat?? I would be completely unmedicated if he had to drop down to 5 days pay, and to be perfectly honest, if I was unmedicated, I would be in the funny farm in a screaming heap rocking backwards and forwards in the corner. Besides, Im also Diabetic and on insulin as well as tablets, so if we couldnt afford the medications, Id be in a terrible state. So nope, we cant move unless we win lotto ROFL

Ok, thats enough whinging, this heat has already fried my brain, its probably nearly 40 already and its only 9.30am and my fingers are sticking to the mouse and cant even think to type properly LOL so I am off to cool myself down a little somehow, and look at my scrap papers some more LOL. You never know, I might even be able to unscramble the brain enough to scrap! Hope so......
TATA for now my little lovelies
giggles
hugsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
lots and lots of loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Julie
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yayyy its Saturday!!!

Im not really cheering, it was sarcasm actually LOL Saturday is food shopping day, even though I do go a few times a week to get extra stuff and more milk.
You see, I really do love supermarket shopping, but I also hate it as it causes me a lot of physical pain with the walking and lifting, and bending etc etc LOL
But I so dont want to give up my shopping rights, i mean, its what makes a girl a girl!
isnt it? hehehehe
So I shall put up with it for longer, and keep trying to ignore the pain, and pushing it to the back of my mind for yet another day...
Besides, honestly, if I let hubby do the shopping on his day off, I reckon the trolley would get so much more chocolate in it, dont deny it Mr LOL, you know its true, yes you doooo! hehe
He does most of the housework as it is though so really I would feel guilty making him do the shopping, and then Id never get out of this house except for lunch at mum and dads on Wednesdays . Im such a recluse LOL

Ah well, I guess I should get up and get organised to do it, I just wanted to post something in here so you didnt think I was being slack. hehehe
Im still sorting out the scrapping stuff, I do have to get and do something today, at least a birthday card or two LOL Its my neices birthday tomorrow and my sisters in a few more days, so we have a birthday lunch for them on Monday. 2 cards to make, so I will at least be doing something crafty later on today or tonight whether I want to or not! hmph! so take that mr lazy bones mojo *giggles*

Alright, enough waffling and procrastinating, I swear Ive looked at everyones blogs twice LOL
Love and hugsssss
xxxxxxxxxxxx

More of my Drawings

Just so you dont think Im really teasing LOL I have found the disks the pictures were backed up to, so I can put some more of them on for you LOL. The hard thing is you have to put up with seeing MY favourites, which may not necessarily be yours. But still, Im sure that doesnt matter.

This one is a Gnome that appeared as I was daydreaming outside one day. He seemed to pop out of the cement in around a dried mud puddle. He was just begging to be drawn he was LOL




I do hope you do truly believe in faeries, for I really do. They don't often appear in full form though like so many humans believe. They sometimes just leave what I have come to call
"faery imprints" such as the gnome above, and the faery below. This is basically where one
has traveled through, touched the plants or ground long enough to leave a "photographic" image on what they leaned on or spent time healing etc. They do this purely for the benefit of us humans that need to see to believe. This little cutey is a little smaller than A4 sized, and I cant
remember the story behind her, I only remember waking up and needing to draw,
and doing this in just 15 minutes.

Pictures like this one below are also in my future plans of playing with in photoshop, and colourising, then printing as a photograph for scrapping LOL. This is so I have a book of
those wonderful pleasure filled memories for me to read when Im old and to help me tell
fairy tales to my great great great grandchildren LOL


This next one is a copy of and inspired by one of the most awesome artists of today
in my opinion; Froud of the famous Froud faeries. I so love his work!
He is so very special and he most certainly has Faery vision!
I wouldnt mind betting the little faery folk actually come up
and model for him ROFL



I also have a strong love of spiritual and saintly drawings - not for any specific religious reasons, its just that I love the works of the great masters, Leanorda Da Vinci and Michelangelo. So I have felt inspired by them and regularly pick up my pencils to draw in this similar style. Perhaps one day I can do more than dream to be as good as them.... perhaps.... This next one is a delicate waif like young lady, still in 2B but on larger paper than the others. This is one from my A3 sketch book. One day I will paint her.

Another from the A3 book. This next one is partially coloured to accentuate
certain points. I colourised her eyes and lips to accentuate her beauty,
and the energy around her to show the "halo" effect.



Anyway, I hope you enjoyed your little glimpse of me. There is much more, but obviously I cant put them all up as this is supposed to be a scrapping blog LOL. Besides, I am stil supposed to be sorting out that mess in the dining area that my scrapping has taken over hehehehehehehe
I will try to put some more up another day for you though.
Back to the sorting, actually Im not going too badly doing it, I really thought it would take a lot longer than it is. I thought it would be much harder too. I wonder if Ive put some more things somewhere else and forgotten where they are....shhhhhh......I hope thats not what has hapenned ROFLMAO ohhmaaaaaaa now that could be hard to explain if I need a second cupboard for them LOL. I am also intending to share the pics of it, just for you, cos it might inspire you LOL

Hope you are all having a wonderful day,
Hugsssssssssssssssss
Me
xxxxx

My Artwork

Hi all, I know this isnt scrapping, but I just wanted to share with you a sample of my pencil sketches, as I sometimes get the urge to draw instead of scrap LOL.Besides, Ive been doing the drawings for a much longer time. My favourite medium to work with is a 2B pencil, but I do occasionally add a little colour to the eyes etc, or a lot of colour just for a change LOL. I tend to do a lot of angelic
I do have a few ideas in my mind revolving around some illustrations for a childrens book I have written that I want published in the not too distant future, and I felt like you guys are the ones that I feel confident in sharing these ideas with LOL. So this will come later.
But for now, I would like to share a few sketches, just cos that is all I have to show you LOL
This first one is my latest, I only drew it a few nights ago actually, Im just a little bit rusty, and the shading hasnt shown up as much as it should have. But I still like it... it is on white sketch paper by the way, I have no idea why it shows up looking more grey LOL


And now, after much searching I realise the file with my other sketches in it hasnt been put back on the computer after reformatting the hard drive after that evil virus was eating up all our space ROFL sooooo it will have to wait. Its a good thing I know you will come back isnt it LOL
ok, thats all for now, I dont want to burn the spaghetti...... hugssssss
catch you laters..... xoxoxox

Hello From Me

Im sorry I havent posted for a week now, that is shocking isnt it! I have had a very busy week with a migraine at the start of it and a few other problems there to annoy me as well. LOL. I also had a fantastic afternoon babysitting my grandchilluns on Sat. Thankfully my middle son had free time, so he came up to visit with me. Scott is landscaping his yard and Jules was out on a shopping expedition with a girlfriend, so they had asked me to come up and watch the chilluns for Scott so he could get dirty with the cement etc and not worry. We had a fantastic time, and I am very thankful for Ash coming up with me, as its very hard being in two places at once when you are still feeling a little weak (to say the least). It was an absolute pleasure though, and I forgot my camera so I have a few pretties on my phone. I still need to check how good they worked out, being a lesser pixels etc though, LOL.
I will have to share them later as for some reason this Blogger isnt working properly this morning. I have no way of changing the font, colour or adding pictures..... "sob sob"

I also have a wonderful page to show you, but that still has to wait and... Im teasing now arent I heheheheee. No, I will be nice and go put it on the Tear Bears website gallery for you. But you will have to wait for what I really wanted to do this morning, since pictures arent able to be uploaded to my blog today for some reason.
What I had planned for today was to share with you a small array of my own sketching, which is not scrapbook sketches, but artistic sketching with pencils as I am also an artist. I had finally built the courage to share some of my favourites with you, and alas, no photo adding section to be found. I have still got to work out if its my site only or if the blogger site has a problem today. Hope its them, cos it will be fixed much easier then if it is their problem ROFL
Allright, enough waffles for now, Im off to have brekky and answer emails and check out my favourite forum LOL
hugsssssssssss for all that stop by, and I promise I will try to get it working as soon as I can.
Lots a love, Julie.
xxxxxx