A week in review

~  delighted in plenty of creativity with my 2 youngest kids.  Scrapbooking was my favourite this week.

~  made up matresses on the floor for sleepovers. All the kids have their own rooms but often on weekends Sarah and Tim like to sleep over together. So cute.

~ loved watching Sarah cooking pikelets for us all to enjoy. They were delicious.

~ lovely day relaxing when nanny came to visit. Lunch, chats and puzzles made it a great time by all.

~  enjoyed our trip to one of our favourite parks. Queens Park not only has a fantastic play ground but an small animal sanctuary as well. This is a must do every time we go, especially for our animal loving 8 yr old.

~  witnessed an amazing and exciting cricket grand final win. After a draw the teams played a super over, which lead to another draw. So another super over was played and finally our team won. Great atmosphere.
And of course we had to celebrate by having a yummy dinner with 2 other families at the tavern. I think the boys might have enjoyed discussing their vistory around the table even more than the yummy food we had.

~  spoilt with a yummy, colourful  meal made by my husband. Love his stir frys.

~  receiving a flower left for me on the dash board of the car by my 14 yr old. Love his thoughfulness.

~  met reality TV stars from a renovating show here in Australia. We went to our local hardware store and enjoyed some social time.

~  watching my son practice his cricket in the back yard. He had the idea to hang a cricket ball from a tree and asked Dad to help hang it. He gets ready for school super fast then outside he goes to work on his batting. Such discipline and dedication.

~  had surgery. Removal of 4 wisdom teeth whilst fast asleep. Haven't had surgery since I was 12 so I was a tiny bit nervous. I think being a nurse and knowing too much doesn't help with nerves. But it went well and now I am relishing this time of rest and recuperation. Time to read, sleep and watch art videos. Ahh bliss.

                        

 

                                                                                     
                                                                                                                 

Scrapbook revival.

I have been a bit slack in the scrapbooking department over recent years.

 Not as much time,

lack of motivation

and

wanting to spend time in other creative pursuits

are some of the reasons scrapbooking has taken a backseat.

I still love photos and stories

and

most of my photos are printed and in albums.

 They just lack the embellishments and creative touch.



The red albums are part of our family photo collection, the blue albums are my 3 sons
and the pink albums are my daughter's.

I could leave it this way forever.

I know that.

I have the pictures printed and in albums chronologically (and per person) for us to enjoy.

I have the memorabilia organised in boxes for anyone to look through and reminisce.

 I have the stories written in pages of journals, notebooks and even on scraps of paper
so I don't forget the details.

But I want them all togther,

in a scrapbook.

In multiple scrapbooks.
 I want creative scrapbooks not just photo albums.

Over the summer I considered how I could go about fitting more scrapbooking into my life.
How could I get the results I am wanting without putting in endless hours?
In the past it wasn't uncommon for me to take many hours to complete just 1 scrapbook layout.
It is not realistic or doable for me to spend hours scrapbooking anymore.

I needed a way to scrapbook that was simple, fun, enjoyable, creative and quick with no pressures.

Over the years I have followed Becky Higgins who is a scrapbooking icon.
 In recent years she developed a new way to scrapbook that made it simpler and more efficient to get photos and stories
into scrapbooks quickly with a creative touch.
Her system is explained here.
It is her system that I have decided to use to make scrapbooking fun and achievable for my life.

First projects are my  kids baby scrapbooks.

 Over the 14 years I have been a mother I have completed a few pages of each child's first year.
 I just don't have a complete year for any of my four children.
I have the photos,
the stories
and the memorabilia
all organised.
 But just not all in a completed album.

Well times are changing.
I started with my daughters first year.

I made the decision not to buy the baby kit that Becky Higgins designed as I wanted to make my own.
I wanted the scrapbook to be unique and one of a kind.

I am happy to announce my daughter's first year scrapbook is now 85% complete.

I just have to finish the title page, add the journalling and I am done.
This took only part of 1 weekend and a few extra hours over this past week.

I think I am still in shock as to how quickly it all came togther.
Obviously the fact that I already had the photos printed and in chronological order helped.
And having all the supplies I needed to custom make my embellishments was an advantage too.
But it was still a much quicker process than anything I have ever done in the scrapbooking world before.

I imagine if you used the designed kits that Becky Higgins has for sale
it would be an even quicker process.

Despite my happiness at the speed at which this project was done
more than anything I am happy because
 watching Sarah enjoy her album was amazing and rewarding.
She had fun and I am sure she felt special and loved.

A very satisfying project indeed.



Sarah enjoying her scrapbook.



Sarah showing her Dad her new 'almost' completed baby scrapbook.



                                                                                                                  

In the studio

Here is what I have been working on in the studio over the past few weeks. With a rain-filled weekend predicted here I am hoping to spend some time in the studio to finish them off.