Pencil Sketches...

What a week!  And its only Wednesday!  Its been a whirlwind of activity at our house.  First one boy was home sick, then another, Bryce in Christchurch helping with earthquake clean up, and lots of visitors.  Its been good but just busy.  I'm thankful to say all boys are well and will be going to school tomorrow!  :)  And Bryce is on his way home from Christchurch.  We are having a huge....and seems to be getting bigger all the time....BBQ here tomorrow.  I'm thankful to have friends (and the space) to share with.

I was able to get this layout done for the sketch challenge over at Pencil Lines done between taking care of sick boys and entertaining friends.  I'm so happy to still be able to get some scrapping done!  Looking forward to more visitors, busy days, and of course more scrapping!!!  :)

Exciting news!!!

I am so excited to be able to share some exciting news with you!  I have been selected to be on the Design Team for FrostedDesigns!!!  I'm going to be sharing challenges with you every other Friday so be sure to check back to see my projects.  Click on the Frosted Designs link (above) to find out more information, details on the challenges, and how you can play along!
Ooooooooo.......I'm Soooooo excited!!!!!  **happy dance**

Design Dollies...

I had started this layout yesterday when I heard (and felt) about the earthquake.  Today in between catching up with friends in Christchurch, running errands, and getting some computer work done, I was able to finish my layout.  It feels a little selfish to be able to scrapbook knowing my friends in Christchurch are trying to figure out what's next in their lives and deal with the effects of this earthquake.  Right now all I can do is pray and wait.  Wait to see if we are needed in any way.

This layout is for the current challenge over at DesignDollies.  For some reason, the stripes don't seem to be photographing straight even though it is in real life.  Loving these flowers from Kaiser Kraft!!

Well, I'm off to get my boys from school, get their hair cut, and figure out what's for tea tonight.  Life as a busy Mum!  :)

Another Earthquake and Sketchy Thursdays...

Yesterday a massive earthquake hit Christchurch.  This one was a 6.3, 5k deep (not very deep means extra hard shaking), and only 10k away from Christchurch.  Having moved to Dunedin, we felt this one but as a 3.3, which felt like a big truck rumbling by.  Our family is fine.  From what we can tell by facebook posts, our friends in Christchurch are fine.  There are a few we haven't heard from and of couse we are concerned.  If you are reading this and happen to be a person who prays, would you please offer up some prayers for the people of Christchurch?  I know they would be much appreciated.  The city will have a massive clean up and rescue mission ahead of them.  Many are without water, power, phones, and even homes.  Many people are still missing in the rubble.  My heart is breaking for the city of Christchurch.  I remember the feelings of helplessness we had after the earthquake we experienced.  I feel even more so now being far from Christchurch.  This is a link that is updating all the events surrounding the earthquake www.stuff.co.nz

Last week I was able to get my layout done for SketchyThursdays.  Aron loves to start fires but in a safe environment.  This particular day, he asked if he could use this pan for one.  He knew I would probably let him if he would stay safe while doing it.  So he had his bucket of water ready and was on the driveway.  Smart boy!  And with me right there....camera in hand....he was ready.  I think both he and I were suprised that he was able to get one going so quickly.  We've promised Aron that we would take him camping over night somewhere and that he would get to start the fire.  Of course that made him very happy and now he can't stop asking when we will go.  :)

Play time...

Yesterday was a great day for me.  I had my new friend Lynne over and she taught me to come out of my "clean" scrapper's box.  I have often seen "grungy" looking tags, journals, and even layouts and always wanted to try it.  But as much as I like the look, I've always thought I couldn't do it.  Thanks to Lynne I now know that I can!  And its not nearly as hard as it looks!!  Thanks Lynne!!!  :)  So this is my first attempt at a tag.  I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.  And now I'm hooked!  I'm ready to make some more.  :)

I also made a layout for the element challenge over at DesignDollies.  This time around the challenge was to encorporate "love" into your layout.  Immediately I thought of these pictures of Aden and Ian licking icing from when we frosted Christmas sugar cookies.  I just love their expressions of "yummmmmm.....".  Here in New Zealand, a tub of Betty Crocker icing is almost $6.  I'm missing the $0.97 tub at Walmart!  It was quite the anticipation to be able to lick the end bits of the icing.  The sketch is from the gals over at GetPicky for this page.  I used paint on this page thinking it looked like icing that had been spread.  Overall I am pretty happy with this layout.

After my day of playing, I super cleaned the house last night so I could play again today!  But first is my Weight Watcher meeting and lunch with Bryce and our teammates.  Then its play time!!  :)

Filling up and Sketchy Thursdays...

As I type this, I'm listening to my 3 boys and a friend of Aron's playing upstairs.  Its fun to me to hear the mix of American and Kiwi accents.  I was telling my friend Jess that I can tell I'm settling into Dunedin being "home" as my weekly calendar is filling up with events, meetings, coffees with friends, and play dates.  That tends to happen when I find routine and get to know people.  Its a good feeling.  A very good feeling.

I was a little stumped by this week's challenge at SketchyThursdays.  Don't get me wrong, I think its a great sketch but I was having issues finding just the right pictures.  I think I pulled out 5 sets of possibilities.  I finally settled on these of the boys at the park.  When we were house hunting for our friends, they got quite bored of waiting in the car as we saw the houses.  This park was the perfect reward for their waiting.  I would say patience but I'm not so sure it was patient waiting!  :)  The boys LOVED it when Bryce pushed them around this flying ring thingy.  "More!  More!" was what we heard over and over.  I have to say, it was pretty fun but I couldn't hang on as long as they did.  We've visited this park a time or two since and this continues to be their favorite thing about it.  Even more fun than the little stream flowing through it and if you know my boys, you know they love to play in water!  Funny thing.....we almost rented a house in this same neighborhood.  If only it had a dining room.  But instead, we are about 10 minutes from it and its a great "treat" for the boys to play at.  I think its about time for a trip over there!

Sketchy Thursdays...Guest Designer Challenge

I thought the sketch over at SketchyThursdays for the Guest Designer Challenge was a great one.  These pictures of Aden were just perfect for it!  The requirements this month were to use....

*Pink and green or red and turquoise
*hearts
*a list about something or someone you love
*their provided sketch

Check, check, check, and check!!!  It would be a thrill to design with the gals at SKT for a month!  Crossing my fingers!!!