Bronte

A quick welcome to my new subscribers, introduce yourselves in the comments section, so I can get to know you, visit your blogs, find out where you are from, you know, all that stuff…

Guess what! My baby is on the front web page of the Digital Scrapbooking Magazine site! Check her out (Proud Mum gone mad!) LOL. Isn’t she just beautiful?

OK without further ado (who really says that?), the link for the freebie is below in the alert window, beware, it is close to 80mb. Why? I hear you ask, well it is a layered file, saved as a TIF, so it is usable in various programs, not just Photoshop, you can move the Ribbon and Buckle (or hide it), and also move the frame, or just use the background on it’s own, the choice is entirely yours.

Please leave a comment if you download it, it may lead to a Freebie Frenzy, dancing in the street, and ticker tape parade, world peace….OK, I’m getting carried away! LOL (Download Link below)

CLICK FOR A LARGER VIEW

[download#2#size]
By the way, if you read this post , you may be interested to know that Quinn is STILL wearing my old slippers, melts my heart really. *sigh*

A quick thank you to Nick Ohrn who just rewrote some code for a Wordpress plug-in that I was having problems with and it’s now working. Thanks again Nick, I really appreciate that you made the effort to do this. You can check out this handy Pre-Publish Reminders plug-in here.

If you’re in Australia, have a great long weekend, if you’re not, well, have a great weekend!

I am very excited to have been asked to become a contributor at AussieScrapbooking.com. My first Introductory Post has been published. This is a great informative site with lots of good information and lovely ladies, head over to check it out.

What I am listening to…

Angus and Julia Stone. Loving this Brother Sister duo, every song is unique check them out here. This is one of their songs Mango Tree, but they are all great, it was hard to pick just one, check out “All Of Me” if you can too….gorgeous.

What I am reading…

The Mortdecai Trilogy by Kyril Bonfiglioli

Certainly it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I am loving it, laugh out loud hilarious, but it may require a certain sense of humour, I don’t consider mine particularly sick, but then who does? I had dog earred several pages to quote here, but really it won’t seem as amusing out of context. As you are reading, imagine a lovable, slightly alcoholic, effeminate English womaniser with a cutting wit, it will give you the right tone. I saw this recommended on First Tuesday Book Club, and I’m glad I bought it. After that I am reading The Confederacy of Dunces, which I am told by Link is one of his favourite books, and he should know, he has a book database and everything!

Did you know you can purchase books from Amazon directly through my website? Check out the link in the navigation menu at the top of the page. And when you think Amazon, come and visit and order through me!

This weekend we had our dear friends Mandy, Dave, Odette and Mallory come and stay, I haven’t been very well at all this week, but it was, as it always is, a delight to see them and spend time with them, I promise to be more fun next time we see you guys! Loved seeing the girls catch up again too. Quinn burst into tears tonight saying how much she misses them and wants them to move back, I so wish they could. We fitted in a few games of Puerto Rico, since we had to give it back, and I am sad to say my 7 game winning streak is well and truly over, in fact I think I came last in two of the games, Dave was the reigning champ, although there was some controversy over his first two wins… but he is so sweet he is forgiven… and I am going to tell John Faine to leave him alone too!

I am thinking the fact that I am unwell contributed to my dismal performance, well that’s my story and I am sticking to it!

Once again, bad timing with my being sick, but we had Quinn’s 11th birthday party (yes, it’s a month late, but I have reasons OK!), anyway, she told me tonight it was the best party she’s ever had (although she did say that last year), I will post some pictures soon of what we organised for the party, I think they all enjoyed it, it was quite fun, headaches and all.

Brian and Bronte went to the footy again today, and saw the mighty Hawks victorious again (just), Bronte received her 3rd (or is it 4th)? football given to her by one of the team members what a lucky girl!

Coming Soon:- I’ve been tagged, watch this space.

Bronte has decided to change her birthday. She is sick of being the last birthday in our family, despite the fact hers ISN’T the last birthday in the family. Mine is. The new date is January 1st. Consider yourselves notified.

I am having a lot of trouble with my email updates at the moment, and if you are currently a subscriber you will know that you have been getting numerous emails even when there have been no updates on my blog. I have now cancelled Feedblitz, and have switched to Feedburn, which should hopefully work as it should. For those of you on my current emailing list, I will send an email on how to join, for those who wish to get an email when I update so that you don’t have to keep checking back you can subscribe now by clicking HERE, or using the box in the sidebar.

~Layout…

As a follow-up to the last post, here is a layout that was published in the previous issue of Digital Scrapbooking Magazine, I also have another coming out in the next issue, which is a very simple layout of my Bronte Boo, but it’s one I love, so watch out for it!

Click on the picture for a larger view…

~MAC’s with viruses, it can’t be so…

I stumbled across this little MAC virus. What? MAC’s get viruses? Apparently they do. This is the good kind and it’s so smart it works with gravity!…. Check it out at Troika and watch the video below… Judy and Angela, I was tempted to send this to you! MAC’s have all the cool stuff *sigh*

~Have you heard the news?

The current issue of For Keeps is the last one! The magazine will now incorporate cardmaking and will be called For Keeps Creative Paper, you can read all about it here. ANgela, did ask a relevant question…will they still publish Digital layouts? Hmmmm.

~Should I?

Oh I know I am insane, but I am thinking of redesigning my blog again… call me crazy…hey! That was just a figure of speech! I really want a theme with two sidebars in it, the question is, do I want to do all that coding again and have all those headaches and ridiculously late nights…. I think I’ll sleep on it, but I’d like your opinions please.

~Movie Review…

Suzy and I went and saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall yesterday and we had a great laugh, it certainly isn’t for the faint of heart, lots of full frontal nudity (although I don’t think any females can be included in this, Suzy, is that right?). Lots of funny lines and a few poignant moments too, can’t pick out too many favourite bits as I enjoyed the whole thing, but the singing in the bar scene was funny and several scenes with the sexually dysfunctional newlyweds were priceless, there was also a bit of Karma Sutra thrown in too.

~MAC dinner….

On Monday night the MAC girls had another get togather, Shez, Ruth, Angela and I drove down to Melbourne on Monday night to meet up with the lovely and talented Karen from New Zealand. She was out here having a holiday with her lovely family, we had a beautiful meal at Docklands and chatted the night away. Unfortunatley, Sharon and Judy were unable to make it this time, but Deb (Judy’s gorgeous daughter) was able to come and stand in for Judy and she also brought Corey along as well, it was great to see these love birds together. It was a long drive and Shez, Ruth and I got home close to 1.30am, so it was extremely hard to front up to work next day, but of course we all did… Photo’s are still on the camera at the moment, but I will post when I get around to downloading them.

~Quinn’s Birthday…

It was Quinn’s birthday on Sunday and she had a lovely day, she only got one little present, but don’t feel sorry for her, it was an 80gb iPod Video Classic!! She is soooo happy with it, it’s a long story but she wouldn’t usually get something so pricey, but just to see her happiness made it worth every cent. And to top it off, she is staying at a friends house tonight (Rachael’s) for a sleepover, out of the blue, about 20 minutes ago, I got a call from Rach’s Mum, she just wanted to tell me what a great kid Quinn is, that she is respectful, polite, fun to be with and an all round pleasure…. well, I couldn’t be any more proud than I am at this moment… it was lovely for Simone to call me just to say that, but even better that others see the special little girl that I do!

EDITED TO ADD:

Almost forgot, we had another Puerto Rico night on Friday night, i won the 1st game, which brought my winning streak up to 7, Brian ended it when he won the 2nd game, and Suzy won the last…Link is still yet to win a game. (Sorry Link, just reporting the facts). We followed it up with the last episode of Lost which Suzy and Link hadn’t yet seen, and which I am glad I watched again…

Leave me some love….pretty please ;-)

This was my big news! I got the front cover of the US Digital Scrapbooking Magazine!

I am completely chuffed as is Bronte (Quinn is slightly miffed LOL, wanted it to be a layout of her).

Thanks to everyone that emailed me or commented here with congratulations, it was great to see you as excited as I was!

Don’t forget to snaffle the freebie below.

Have a great day :-)

~ LAYOUTS ~
First a couple of layouts, the first one is my baby, Bronte and I used a song by Van Morrison in this one, which I love, called, Into The Mystic. Love the dreamy look on her face in this pic.
Credits: Textured Overlay from Scrap Artist. I also grunged it up a bit more with standard PS brushes.

Next one is my bigger baby Quinn, this is the pic I posted last time, which I just love. The frame is by C Borgfield, but I am not sure where it is from, sorry, also the brushes are just free downloads from somewhere, but I can’t remember where. I wish people would name their brushes so I can give due credit. The background and word art are by me.

~ BREAK ~
Hope you all had a great Australia Day and long weekend. We came back a day early as the weather wasn’t great and was going to get worse. But it was nice while it lasted! Got to finish my audible book and got lots of relaxing in, and a lovely walk along the beach and we also got to sit on the beach, all snuggled up with the girls and watch the comet which was pretty spesh, so we did fit a lot in for the short time we were there!

Also met these lovely people that were camping behind our friends, I was in the van and heard Brian chatting to them, and came out and had a short chat, I thought they mentioned something about lambs and that they were from Thorpdale, so I assumed they were Sheep Farmers, then they went off to cook dinner and we ate ours. During dinner Brian mentioned that they were actually potato farmers, I said that Shez’s parents were from Thorpdale and they probably knew Shez’s family, later on we started chatting again.
I said “I have a friend whose parents are potato farmers in Thorpdale, you might know her family. I can’t remember her maiden name but her married name is Sherryll Ray, do you know them?”
The lady (Joan), said “Sherryll Ray…hmmmm….OH!!!! Sherryll Ray, that’s our daughter!!!!!!!”
ROFL!!!
Then they asked my name, which I said, and before I had a chance to explain how I knew Shez, they both exclaimed “You’re Lee!!! You’re to blame for our daughters’ obsession!”
“That’s me”, I say sheepishly! LOL. What a small, small world we live in! They are just the loveliest people, not that I am surprised, their daughter is very special and a great, true and loyal friend to boot!

We are busy today doing more stuff around the house, painting old pots and clearing a few more boxes from the garage, we are also clearing a spot for one of those slimline sheds in the backyard, mainly to house the lawn mower and maybe the bikes, if they fit. I would dearly love to be able to move in our garage, but it is chock full of CRAP! LOL Then we are going to do a bit of plant shopping tomorrow, severely restrained by our budget, we are also in desperate need of a doorbell, all our friends have taken to ignoring the front door and coming straight round the back as we never hear it!! LOL

~ CAMERA CLUB ~
Shez, Tenille (a friend from Brian’s work), and I all went off to the Coal Country Camera Club meeting on Tuesday night. It was a great night and I look forward to more meetings. They have field trips and weekends away and best of all, families are welcome on the trips! The level of skill there is amazing and more than a little intimidating, but I just know I will learn heaps and best of all the people were lovely!

~ INTERESTING STUFF ~
Well, at least I was interested LOL. First this blog had me in hysterics http://www.thingsmyboyfriendsays.com/ it could be my sense of humour but I hope you get a giggle too, I should mention that there is some ‘colourful’ language going on here, so beware.
Also thought this was pretty groovy too, some interesting effects…http://www.typorganism.com/asciiomatic/ . This is a blog I stumbled across, I have no idea how, but I did http://dooce.com/, the interesting thing I liked on this blog was this series of pics here http://www.3situations.com/BillSullivanWorks/MT4.html loved the candid looks on all the faces, wish I had the courage to set up and take pics of random people like this. I found myself wondering about each persons life and where they are going and where they are now…like I said, interesting, at least to me… ;-)

Have a great day and go spread some happiness ;-)

As a kid, having a birthday on Christmas Day really, well there’s no other way to say it, sucked. Big Time. I only ever remember having one party. And while my parents tried to separate it, Christmas in the morning, Birthday in the evening, there really is no getting away from the fact that you share your special day with everyone else’s special Christmas Day.
The last two years there has been a bit of a turn around though, and while it has been a long time coming, I have noticed a benefit. Mostly, when people find out when my birthday is, they groan and say “Oh no, I suppose you get combined presents?”. Well as a rule I usually didn’t, but the past two years I have and they have both been the BEST presents EVER!
If you are a regular reader of my blog (all 10 of you ;) ), you will know that last year I got a Nikon D70s Digital SLR, no complaining about that! Woohoo, I just love it!

Anyway, this year I got…..

A 30gb VIDEO iPOD!!! Yay. And I am loving it! I have already filled 10gb with music and a good handful of Photoshop TV Video Podcasts, so I can watch them when I do school pick up or take the kids to Tennis Lessons etc etc.

I am already almost half way through my first Audible Book, called Water for Elephants which I am just loving. I thought my mind would wander while listening but I just get lost in a new world! It’s great.

We had a lovely, but very hectic Christmas Day, having both lunch and dinner here. The morning started early, which was OK, because for a change, we weren’t up until 3am wrapping presents. Brian and I have both decided that Christmas should be on a Monday every year. Girls came hurtling down the hallway at 6am, but were coaxed back into bed with us for another half an hour. They got stuck into there presents as soon as we said OK… they had a good day, present wise, a little too good, we think! Both getting, from us, MP3 players, iDogs, Doona Covers, gorgeous Clocks which I bought at Southbank while on the MAC conference, a portable DVD, with two separate screens for the car ( I like this one, because they can’t nag us to watch it, I don’t like them watching too much TV and they can’t really use it unless we go on long trips, sneaky I now), they also got a Netball Ring, a ridiculous amount of clothes from Pumpkin Patch.

From Santa they got an array of things, mostly from the Australian Geographic Shop I think, the elves must pick up stuff from there too…) from, Spyrograph Machine, Kaleidoscope Makings Kits, Fibre Optic Torches, a watch, booklights, even a pedestal fan each for their rooms (Santa obviously likes to keep them cool, fun and practical! LOL), also Squiggle notepads (they are great, think Mr Squiggle), and Nipple Balls The family got a MP3/Stereo radio for the family room, and a Stunt Kite. Brian got an MP3 player and Travel Scrabble too.

So we are a very happy little household here!

As the year ends, and a new one is about to begin, I realise what a big year this has been for us.
I started teaching Digital Scrapbooking classes and had the great pleasure of meeting some fabulous people through that, who have become very good friends.
I started a new and very rewarding job and look forward to developing that in the future as the girls get older.
We moved into our new home, which we just love, and I don’t believe there is a day goes by that we don’t thank our lucky stars for it.
I got to meet the BEST bunch of MAC girls ever, these girls have made me laugh, given me cyber hugs when I needed them and have just been there always, and make they make their presence felt in sometimes copious amounts of emails, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have felt fierce support and friendship and getting to meet them was a privilege and one that I hope will happen again next year, but this time with the lovely Karen also!
I have met some lovely new cyber friends, especially at Pickleberrypop and via blogs too. This Art that is digiscrapping is a great one and I am glad that I do it, along with all these talented girls, I look forward to continuing these friendships and making more.

Lastly is a list of Movies that Suzy and I saw this year. I know I have missed a few and in 2007 I intend to keep a proper list. Can’t say that any of them was bad, in fact, I really loved them all, in varying degrees. If I had to pick from the list though, I would say that “The Departed” and “Little Miss Sunshine” were the standouts. Although I could barely pick between the two, you could not get two more different movies.

Before I list them, I am putting a layout here so that the big white space is filled LOL.
This layout was done from pics I have wanted to use for ages of Quinn trying to help Bronte climb a tree. Background by me, flower brush, Rhonna Farrer.
Journaling Reads: If at first you don’t succeed, then try, try again. Click on the image for a larger view.

Anyway, here goes.
*Beyond The Sea
The Lakehouse
*Walk The Line
*Capote
Failure To Launch
*Inside Man
Poseidon
*Brokeback Mountain
Kokoda
*Little Fish
Pride and Prejudice
Proof
Pirates of The Carribean 2
The Da Vinci Code
Seperate Lies
*Wah Wah
*The Departed
*Little Miss Sunshine
Thank you for Smoking

OK as I typed, I realised there were some “must sees” in there, I have put an asterick next to them, so try and see them if you can!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I wish you a New Year filled with love, laughter and happiness!

Happy New Year!
Edited to add: As you can see, I have done yet another makeover on my blog, the credits are in the side panel! Feedback welcome.