Tuesday, November 30, 2010

I am so slack!!!

So so so so slack!
Life hasn't been too busy. I have been organising a family photo shoot as well as my WH (wonderful husband) birthday party and getting ready to have a Christmas Party with my WH's Grandparents. It will be the first time that his family has spent Christmas with his Grandparents in something like 16-17 years (wow!!!).
Also trying to figure out what our photo is going to look like for this years Christmas card, WH has an idea and we will have a go at taking it tomorrow night. Tomorrow night is 'Decorating Night', being the 1st Dec. After tomorrow our house will be totally Christmas, we will have the house decorated, play christmas music & eat Christmas food (fruit mince pies yummy!). It is also mean the beginning of my December Daily project (click here to find out more), sooooo determined this year to document all that we do for the Christmas season.
Today was my turn for hosting my Sisters bible study lunch, we have been doing a study about the God intented role of women. And we decided that it would be fun if each of us was to hold a lunch for everyone, not our usual affair where we bring something to share but a whole lunch where we provide all the food. It was a challenge but I did it. With only alittle anxiety. Wish I had taken pictures! Show how focused I was on cooking, but everyone loved the food & it was great to have my friends come to my home & share a meal.
I promise that I am going to be blogging more often!!!! Bring on Christmas!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

December Daily going digital




A couple of posts ago I mentioned on of my fav bloggers Ali Edwards and her annual December Daily project (click here to learn more). I have been umming & arring over whether I wanted to do a December Daily project for myself this year (mostly because of my lack of success in doing Christmas albums).
But I then thought to myself unlike Ali who does a traditional scrapbooking type album I could go totally digital, which would make things alot easier (wouldn't have to remember to print photos everyday or sit down & glue things together).
Last night my WH (wonderful husband) had a boys night with a friend of his, so I was home by myself so I sat down & designed a digital December Daily layout.
With projects like this I have found in the past making them totally digital works best for me, this year I participated in Ali's Week in the Life project. Similar to December Daily & other projects like Becky Higgins Project Life, you take a pictures everyday documenting one week in your daily life. Still havn't finished printed all my finished layouts, but all the layouts are done (click here to see some of my Week in the Life project & pictures).
Here are a couple of my finished templates for my December Daily project.
I put some random pictures that I had on my computer desk top into the sections for photos to see how the over all design was going to look. The templates are in 6x6 format so when I am finished I can either upload them to a printing service that does photobooks (I use Snapfish) or print at home slip the pages into a 6x6 album or adhere them to a chipboard album.
I like using 8x8 or 6x6 for project albums and albums that are about one event (holiday, birthday, etc....). They take up less room in our house & I can store them in a basket on our dinning table as a decorative feature.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

More freebies!

Did I mention how much I love this time of the year? Once or twice maybe......
I am a crafter by heart, love making things for others and for our home. Christmas is one of the best times of year for crafters, you can fill your house with Christmas crafts and it looks fantastic!
My cousin Talia who is also a crafter as done a great post about some free craft projects that you can do for the Christmas season. Pop over and have a look!

Let Christmas begin.....with a freebie!!!!


OMG!!!!! It is almost that time of year again, yep....Christmas.
Christmas for us is a month long event, starting Dec 1 when we get out our decorations, decorate the house inside & out. We literally light up the street!
My husband is adamant that we do nothing Christmasie until December, including not going anywhere near the Christmas sections of any store (which can be quite difficult!). But for me November is when I start, shopping for presents (actually start this in October, like to get in as early as possible), thinking about our Christmas card photo, how I am going to personalise each family members wrapped gift and planning Christmas parties.
A family Christmas photo is something we started doing last year. I love last years photo, it was a cute as picture of our pet bird Curios that I digitally added a santa hat to. It was a big hit with our friends & family, soooo cute if I do say so myself. To make the cards I used a free card template by Becky Higgins, she is one of my favourite scrapbookers & I am so in love with her Project Life kit (would love to have one but might have to wait till this time next year!). Becky is doing it again with offering free card templates on her website!
This year the cards weren't designed by Becky but by her readers, she held a competition for people to design a card template, and she has ended up with five beautiful cards. I have already downloaded my copy (of all 5 and in all sizes, but you can download only what you want). These cards templates are a great & fast way to create your 2010 Christmas card that you can print & send in the mail, send digitally or even post of your blog or website. So many options!!!!!
Click here to go Becky's website and get your free Christmas card templates!

Friday, November 12, 2010

Strange idea but happy








I am a TV watcher, and I prefer to have the TV on when I am in the house by myself. A few weeks ago I saw a show about curly hair.
I have curly hair I thought
In the show they said that people with curly hair suffer from frizz.
Yep! Preaching to the choir here!
Because of this frizz, people with curly hair shouldn't use combs or brushes, but instead use what God gave us, fingers.
Ok......made kind of sense, and to be honest somedays I would hate leaving the house cause the frizz was just so bad I couldn't do anything with my hair.
It has been about a month of trying this going without a brush or comb thing.
There has been a deduction in the frizz (woohoo!), but my hair has become alot softer. Somedays my hair can feel like a pile of hay, so I am very happy with the result.
I will say that going without a hairbrush & comb isn't for everyone. It takes alittle longer to get all the knotes out and I wouldn't want to have any longer hair than what I have. It could be abit of a nightmare.
I have always struggled with my hair, it is fine, with a slight curl, a cowlick & can be oily. But I am reasonably happy with my wake up run my fingers through my hair and out the door I go do that I have had.
What about your hair? Are you happy? Would you like a change? Have you ever made a change that was just so wrong!?

Monday, November 8, 2010

L-O-V-E this time of the year


It's November and its spring.....well it's trying to be spring. Personally I am sitting here in jeans, t-shirt & jumper. But I was in shorts, shirt & hat yesterday while at the beach with our Church's Young Adults group, who organised a bbq and a swim at the beach for the international students form our local Uni. Great day! Unlike the cool conditions we have today, yesterday was warm and I even got sunburn (not really happy about that, though not a bad sunburn it is in a not so nice spot on the back of my left knee).
November is also when I start thinking, planning and doing stuff for Christmas. Yep you heard it Christmas. Can't believe it, the year as per usual has flown by and we are now gearing up for what would have to be the busiest day of the year for us.
It is also the time when some of my favourite scrappers start doing their annual christmas projects, two of my favs are Ali Edwards December Daily and Jessica Sprauge who hold a free (yes free) digital scrapbooking class. Last years was holidays in hand, it was great! I am thinking of doing the class again (as I have it saved) as this years way of documenting the Christmas season.
This years free class is called Inspiration Everywhere
Click here or on the picture on the side of my blog to find out more and sign up yourselves. I do really enjoy Jessica's classes, she is a great teacher and I have learnt some great new digital techniques.