Tuesday, June 26, 2012

I {heart} Holidays

Yep I most certainly do and this one could not have come at a better time.  The last weeks or so have been nothing short of total mania between farm life, school life and family life.  The contractors have finally finished picking the cotton and when we drove out of the farm on Saturday afternoon, the corn harvest was well underway.  All that means that the farmer in my life is a happy man; my guess he will be a very happy man once it is all finished.  It has been a long time since most of the crops were planted last October.
And me?  I couldn't be happier too.  I went without lots of sleep in the last two weeks of school to get everything finalised so that I didn't have to do an ounce of work on the holidays and after three days at the beach, the lack of sleep was totally worth it. 
Not a lot to report about our holiday - we are at the beach in winter so I will let you fill in the blanks.  The bonus is that the place we are staying has an indoor heated pool which is AWESOME to say the least.  It is the next best thing for boys who were dying to spend their holidays swimming.


Lots of fun has been had by the boys despite the fact that it has turned wet and cold here yesterday and again today.  Again, thank goodness for the indoor pool ;-)
I am hoping to get some pictures printed in the morning and playing with some pretty paper.  Need to do something to fill in the nights - my sleep habits have turned to putty over the last few weeks with the craziness of work.
Thanks for stopping by.
S xoxoxox

Monday, June 11, 2012

A Surprise Post

Well it is for me considering that I honestly thought I would not have anything to share until the school holidays at the end of the month.  It has been a interesting few weeks to say the least - lots of challenging moments that left me feeling battered and questioning a lot of things but all through it I have been reminded of how lucky I am to have a great group of friends and students who appreciate the hours of work that goes into ensuring they have the best outcomes possible.  It has been hard to find the silver lining of late but the more I go through life, the more I am starting to understand that if I focus on the negatives, nothing will change but if I stay true to myself and give the 110% that I always do, there will always be a way out.  And that has lead me to today.  Even though the silly season - in my world that means end of semester exam block, report cards and all that jazz - is nipping at my heals, I took time out today to focus on ensuring all the housework is up-to-date.  In the past I have found that I focus better on marking, reporting etc if I am happy with the state of the house.  So while I admit I could have had another class of reports pretty much finished, doing the housework was my focus today and when it was finished, I rewarded myself with some scrap time.  I love Echo Park's 'Note to Self' range - worked perfectly with this photo of Lachlan.
And a close-up of one of my new favourite brands - Ormulu.  I went a tad bit crazy and went on a spending frenzy getting my hands on a stack of their buttons, swatches, flappers and journal spots.  I have used one of their flair buttons on this layout.
So that's my surprise - not a surprise for you as much as it was a surprise for me.  I am off to write some more report cards so I will leave it here.  Hope you all have a great week.
Take care
S xoxo

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Reluctant Punks ...

... were the first words that came to my mind when I saw this photo of Mitchell and Lachlan from our holiday in Melbourne earlier this year.  Melbourne is famous for its 'painted lanes' - little side streets filled with a variety of street art.  Some may consider it graffiti but to me it was the exact opposite.  There are some super talented people out there if the artwork in Hosier Lane is anything to go by.  Rebecca and I spent ages there with our boys as our very reluctant models.  Surprisingly though by the end of our time there, Mitch seemed to actually enjoy himself - although I am pretty sure it was because I told him that I DIDN'T want him to smile in the photos and I wanted him to show me how 'tough' he was.  At the end of the day, I think that my little farm men will always be reluctant punks ;)
I think that might bring my scrapping to a slow down for a few weeks while the end of Semester madness sets in - exams to mark, report cards to write and units of work to prepare for next term. 
Thanks for you comments, it really does warm my heart to know that people out there take the time to comment on my work and actually praise it (still can't believe that people out there 'like' my stuff).
Have a great day/night depending on where you live in the world.
S xoxo

Sunday, June 3, 2012

These Two Boys ...

... make me laugh, make me cry, sometimes make me feel like I am at the end of the rope and am barely hanging on, but most of all they bring joy and happiness to my life.  As someone who has worked the whole time the boys were young (part-time initially and full time for the last four years), I have gone through phases where I have succumbed to the guilt of being a working mum and missing out on so much of the boys early years.  Truth be told, I was in such a bad way after the boys were born (depression wise) that the best thing I ever did for them - and me - was to return to work.  They learnt to socialise, they learnt about the outside world (which I had no hope of teaching them buried under my black cloud for weeks at a time, barely able to leave the house) and I learnt that quality time did not equal being there 24/7.
It is only now that Mitchell is almost 10 and Lachlan 7 I can appreciate that while we all have missed out on some things, the memories made from all the times I have been there will always outweigh any of my absences. ... Now to remind myself of that next time they are driving me crazy lol
I love the bond of brotherhood and friendship Mitchell and Lachlan are forging.  I really hope they will always be close enough to know that in each other they have a best friend.

I hope all of you have had a good weekend, filled with love and happiness.
Take care
S xoxoxo

Friday, June 1, 2012

Finale of the Retreat Roundup

Wow, three days in a row - anyone would think that I have been scrapping recently lol.  Today sees the last of my scrapping shares from the Wicked Princesses retreat.  I had a blast creating some of these layouts - not that I will admit it to certain people (who you who you are, you arty farty sharty types lol).  I was fortunate enough to have a one-on-one lesson with the gorgeous and uber talented Krissy, owner of Wicked Princesses.  She attempted to inject some arty, farty shartiness (aka She Art) into my life but I resisted as much as I could and settled for using some of her less messy techniques.
Layout 1: Soccer Star (my take on Krissy's grungy style).  Using stamps, mists, masks and washi tape to create a background instead of using patterned paper.  In fact, the only patterned papers on this layout are the tags - a massive difference for me.
And the obligatory close-up:
Layout 2: Crazy Stuntman Moves.  Used a combination of Echo Park, Crate Paper and October Afternoon on this layout.  I love these photos of Mitch and have scrapped some of them before.  Both he and Lachlan love pulling out a cotton tarp during the warmer months and using it as a super-sized slip and slide.  They often ask me to go out and watch them do their crazy stunts.  If I am really lucky, I get to 'score' the jumps.  I think these three got perfect 10's from me lol
Layout 3: Leaving his Mark.  This layout is a bit of a lift of the gorgeous Tamara Wade's work as well as a sketch found on Pinterest..  I have used no patterned paper on this layout - just stacks of washi tape or as us retreat girls call it 'Wasabi Tape' - that makes me giggle every time I hear someone say it ;)

Layout 4: Such a Clown.  A super plain and simple layout using this totally hilarious photo of Lachlan.  He thought it would be great fun to dunk his face in the soap suds at the bottom of the slip and slide and dance around the yard.  There is no other way of putting it - that kid is a clown, no doubt about it ;) I know it probably doesn't look it here, but the layout is slightly better in real life :o
  
So that is it - those are all of the layouts I created on retreat.  Ended up with a bit of a Lachlan layout overload there at the end but that is what happens when you have one who loves to pose in front of the camera and another who runs most of the time the camera appears.
Heading into the busy time of the semester with the lead up to exams and reporting.  Not sure how much scrapping time there will be over the next 2 1/2 weeks.  I am determined to have all of my marking done and report cards completed prior to the holidays so I can enjoy our two weeks at the BEACH (yay!) knowing there is no school work to be done.  Wish me luck with that.
Have a great weekend everyone.
S xoxo