Crazy, Goofy Boy

Yep, that is our Lachlan. He is always goofing off and trying to make everyone laugh.  One of his favourite things to do at the pool is jump off the blocks doing what he calls a 'cannon bolt'. I have no idea where he got the name from as it looks nothing like a cannon or a bolt but it makes me laugh every single time.  I think it is the crossed legs and tongue poking out that cracks me up the most.  Gotta love this crazy, goofy boy of mine.

What do your children do that crack you up?  I would love to hear.
S xoxox

All about Lachlan

Lachlan is going through a 'look at me posing for the camera' phase (heck, who am I kidding, he is always posing for the camera lol).  While I don't really keep track of how many layouts I have scrapped of each child, having someone who is so willing to pose for the camera tends to create an imbalance of photos.  Just before the wheat harvest began, we had an impromptu photo shoot.  I managed to get a stack of great pictures of Lachlan but Mitchell was having one of 'those' days and I didn't get a single photo of him. Needless to say, it was all about Lachlan that day.
Had another go at playing with messy stacks again.  I have also been trying to use more patterned papers as the background to my layouts - gotta make a dent in this paper stash somehow lol.

I love the muted tones of the papers from My Mind's Eye 'The Sweetest Thing' collection, especially the blue and yellow tones.  Even though you can see the green of the header front in the picture, I wanted to steer clear of that completely. Instead, I used the colour from the wheat stubble as the focal point instead.  I think I got away with it ;)

 Layers, layers and more layers <3>

I have LOTS of these papers left in my stash so it is safe to say that a lot more messy stacks will be coming soon to more layouts.
Thanks for stopping by.
S xoxoxoxo

Little Swimmer

Our boys love to swim. Mitchell is in the Intermediate Squad and trains 4 days a week and Lachlan is swimming at the 'Dolphin' level and will soon be moving to the Transition Squad. All of their hard work has really paid off this season. Mitchell has taken 20 seconds off his time for the 50m freestyle across the last 12 months and, this past weekend, represented our local swimming club at the State Relay Swimming Championships (more to come about that in a future post). At his recent school carnival, Lachlan walked away with first places for all of the events he participated in. He was a very happy, albeit tired, boy by the end of the day. I was fortunate enough to be able go to the carnival because of my long service leave. Normally, I only get to make it if I have non-contact time at work or if I can't make it, one of my friends sends regular updates via text message. I made the most of being there by snapping heaps of photos.

And some closeups. Used washi tape, two different mists to create splatters across the page, a page runner from Charm's Creations, flair button from the Greatest View, Studio Calico wood veneers and vintage Heidi Swapp

Now that I have scrapped some of the photos from Lachie's carnival, I can turn my attention to telling some more of Mitchell's story and his adventures at the State Titles.
S xoxox

Big Air

This photo of Mitchell would have to be one of my favourite photos of him 2012. 

I snapped this photo during his birthday celebrations last weekend. I couldn't wait to scrap it, so I did.

I used some of the special effects on PicMonkey to edit the photo. I don't really know why but when I was going through my papers, the colour orange kept jumping out at me.  In turn Shimelle Laine style, I scoured through my bag of scraps and pulled out all of the little bits and pieces of orange papers and teamed them with different shades of blue and aqua so I could make a messy stack.  The diagonal striped paper for the background is actually the B side of one of the latest Christmas papers from October Afternoon - bet you wouldn't have guessed that! I don't have many orange thickers so used some orange ink to re-colour some pink ones in my favourite 'Lullaby' font.  Add in some washi tape, Studio Calico wood veneer shapes and a few flair buttons and the layout is done.

Shock horror - I have to say that I think this layout is my favourite layout of 2012, maybe of all time.

Thanks for stopping by.

S xoxo

Turning 10

It is hard to believe that Mitchell turned 10 last week. 10???!!! Where did all those years go? They have certainly flown by.  This year, Mitch asked if he could have a sleepover pool party, so of course we were happy to oblige.  All of the boys had a great time. They filled their time by spending hours in the pool, going exploring around the farm, 'Skylanders' contests on the Wii and hanging out around the house playing lots of different games.  I feel very fortunate that we are able to give the boys the opportunity to create such treasured memories. I hope they look back on these pictures one day and remember what great times they had.
I am in the process of scrapping some of the {many} photos from last weekend. Here is one of the layouts I have created using Fancy Pants' 'Life is Good' range:

I love the paperclip numbers I found recently at Typo; a quick way of adding another dimension to the title.  I have used stickers from the 'Life is Good' pack, Heidi Swapp buzz words and some Jenni Bowlin alphas that have been sitting in my stash for ages. Gotta love mixing new and old products together. 

Even though I don't particularly like my handwriting, I have started to embrace using it on my layouts more regularly.  I will never have 'pretty' writing but in years to come maybe my grandkids will get a kick out of seeing it ;)

I really wish I bought the whole collection kit now - maybe I should go Christmas shopping for myself hehehehehe.
Will be back with more shares soon.
Take care,
S xoxoxoxo

Our little farmer

Those of you who are familiar with my blog or our kids would know that we definitely have another farmer in the making with our youngest son. Judging by the poses in some of the photos from our recent photoshoot in the wheat crop he might end up on the Australian TV show, 'The Farmer wants a Wife'. Let's hope that is more than a few years away though ;)
Layout One: Such a Country Cutie. Nothing else needs to be said lol

Layout Two: Happy Little Farmboy. I love this photo of Lachie. Definitely think I need to enlarge it and frame it for my desk at work :-) 

Still working on a few more pieces so will be back soon with more shares.
S xoxox

Slowly getting back into the scrap of things

This week marks 5 weeks since my shoulder surgery and I am pleased to say that things are going great so far.  I am no longer in constant pain, I am sleeping much better and I can already use my arm and shoulder a lot more than I could prior to the operation. Definitely the best outcome I could have hoped for.
With the recovery process going so well, I have been able to get back to the scrapping desk a little sooner than I originally thought.  Progress is slower than usual but at the end of the day, it all adds up to more layouts in the albums. Today I am sharing some school-related photos from a few weeks ago when the boys received their Golden Letters for excellent behaviour across the semester. Both layouts are based on some of the ideas taught by Shimelle Laine in an online class I recently signed up for.  Still working my way through each of the tutorials ;)
Layout One: Golden Letter Boy.  Attempting to do some 'messy stack layering'.

And some closeups of the layering, misting and embellishments:

Layout Two: So very proud of you.  Another attempt as messy stacks and using a large piece of patterned paper in the background.  Think I have overdone the the green here but I will know that for next time lol. 

And some more closeups for you: 

I have some more layouts to share but I will save that for another day.
Thanks for stopping by.
S xoxo