Chit Chat & Scrapp'n

DECEMBER FREEBIE

2010-11-30T19:40:00.014+11:00

I am SO happy to be bringing you previews of our AMAZING Christmas Kit. This kit is HUGE!!!! 73 papers, 97 elements 4 alphas 1 glitter and 1 template and all you have to do to get your copy is come over to DRS and spend ONLY $5 in the shop and this kit will be added to your cart completely FREE!!! You just have to come and get your copy NOW!
Without further ado I present 'His and Hers Christmas'

TOTALLY YUMMY FREEBIE!!!!

2010-09-30T19:23:00.006+10:00

WOW!!!! Just look at this sweet and yummy treat Digiridooscraps has for you this month - AND its totally FREE!!!! Just look at that lip smacking colour scheme, all those delicious papers, and those extremely scrummy elements! Imagine all the beautiful layouts you could put together with this wonderfully versatile kit. Want this HUGE kit for yourself? Of course you do! All you have to do is head over to Digiridooscraps in the month of October, purchase any item from the store, and this taste bud tingling kit will just jump straight into your cart - FREE!! So what are you waiting for? Go claim your kit NOW!!!!!

Made with Be The Artist Freebie

2010-08-21T17:32:00.002+10:00

This is a LO I made using Digiridooscraps amazing August free kit 'Be The Artist'. Buy ANYTHING from the shop and this gorgeous kit will just jump straight into your cart FREE........but ONLY until the end of August, so you'd better hurry and go and get yours NOW!!!!!!!!

FREE - BE THE ARTIST

2010-08-01T19:56:00.011+10:00

For the month of August at Digiridooscraps, we have another brand new collab kit BE THE ARTIST!! This gorgeous kit contains so many beautiful papers and elements you will be using this kit time and time again!! There are also some fabulous alpha's included to complete your layouts perfectly. As always, this kit is FREE with any purchase for the entire month of August 2010!! Simply place any product in your shopping cart and this gorgeous kit will automatically be added FREE!! So come on over and grab this amazing kit NOW!

FREE - Gardenology

2010-07-01T21:40:00.006+10:00

Once again at Digiridooscraps, we are kicking off the month with another brand new collab kit GARDENOLOGY!! This gorgeous kit contains over 55 Papers, 110+ elements and 3 alphas!! And as always, it's FREE with any purchase for the entire month of July 2010!! Simply place any product in your shopping cart and this gorgeous kit will automatically be added FREE!! So come on over and grab yourself this gorgeous kit NOW!

New Freebie - Hanging the Moon

2010-04-04T19:52:00.004+10:00

ITS HERE!!!!! The new freebie kit 'HANGING THE MOON' is here!!!! This kit is HUGE! There are enough papers and elements in this kit that you can use this kit over and over again. Would you like to own this AMAZING kit? Well all you have to do is head over to the digiridooscraps store, purchase any product from the shop and this kit will magically appear in your cart *FREE*!!!! Easy! So come on over and grab your free kit NOW as it will only be available for the month of April..........and you certainly don't want to miss out on this one!!!!

New Freebie

2010-02-03T20:21:00.006+11:00

ITS HERE!!!!! The new freebie kit 'HEART OF THE MATTER' is here!!!! With over 430MG of downloads this kit is massive! Great for not only your valentines LO's, this kit is perfect for anyone in your life that you care about. There are enough papers, elements, alphas and word art that you can use this kit again and again. Would you like to own this HUGE kit? Well all you have to do is head over to digiridooscraps, purchase any product from the shop and this kit will magically appear in your cart FREE!!!! Easy! So come on and grab your copy NOW as it will only be available for the month of February.

ADSR Here We Come Again!!!

2010-01-23T17:18:00.002+11:00

Bree and I are teaming up to join in all the fun of the 'Amazing Digi Scrapping Race' again this year. We had such a great time taking part last year that even though we are both pushed for time, we decided we wanted to have a go again this year! If the challenges are as good this year as last, we will expect to be pushed right out of our scrapping comfort zones and made to do layouts that we would normally never think to do. Some of my absolute favourite LO's were done in the ADSR last year, so I hope I can challenge myself to do the same again this year. You can follow along with our progress by following our blog 'Ozziegirlz' in the side bar.
You can also follow our fellow DRS racers by following their blogs - located in the sidebar also.
Really looking forward to a few weeks of FUN!!!!

FREE! FREE! FREE!

2010-01-07T10:28:00.004+11:00

Check this out!!!!! URBAN JUNGLE is here.............and you can get it FREE for the entire month of January 2010!!!!

Just make ANY purchase in the Digiridooscraps shop and you will recieve this funky kit ABSOLUTELY FREE!!!!

So what are you waiting for???? Go and grab your copy TODAY!!!!!

Another AMAZING kit FREE at Digiridooscraps

2010-01-01T19:35:00.006+11:00

This months free kit "URBAN JUNGLE" is a HUGE kit!!!! Just have a look at how many gorgeous papers there are, and there isn't enough room on the preview below to show all of the elements that are available in this funky package!!! This is a deal you just don't want to miss so come on over to the Digiridooscraps store NOW, purchase any product from any of our incredible designers, and this FANTASTIC kit will be yours FREE!!! With a massive 380+ MG, it inlcudes 3 alphas, 70 papers and 100 elements. You can't get better than that!!!!

Our January Challenges are kicking off this week, so be sure to go check them out in the Corroborree Centre. All of our challenges have participation prizes and this month they all co-ordinate to create a fabulous collab called Envious. The more challenges you participate in, the bigger the kit you will earn. You can't get better than that!!!!

This month's spotlighted designer is the seriously talented Sarah Barber of Sarah Barber Designs. You can visit her fabulous store here. It's packed full of beautifully unique page kits, templates and she even has some fabulous CU products to snap up. You can also check out her brand new kit called "Andromeda"..........its stunning!!

Win a $5 Coupon to Stacy's Back Door Designs

2009-12-21T20:33:00.005+11:00

Yes, that's right, today you can win a $5 coupon to Stacy's store, by just letting Santa know which of Stacy's kits is your favourite. You can visit Stacy's store here, and the Santa thread to give your answer here. Don't forget you only have one day, so hurry!!!

Another Beautiful Freebie Kit From Santa

2009-12-20T21:00:00.002+11:00

Santa is back again today with another gorgeous freebie, so come on over to Digiridooscraps and see how you can get this kit for free:

Santa is Lurking with Freebies!!!!

2009-12-20T10:18:00.001+11:00

SANTA HAS BEEN SEEN LURKING AT DIGIRIDOOSCRAPS......WITH FREEBIES!!!!!
Todays freebie is this wonderful hybrid kit - printable cupcake boxes.
What do you have to do to get this freebie? Go here to find out!

Free Collaboration Kit

2009-12-03T20:39:00.003+11:00

Just purchase any item from the DRS store during the month of December 2009 and this HUGE kit will automatically be added to your cart for FREE!! With 65+ elements, 95+ papers and 2 alphas, it's OVER 420MG of Christmas Value!!! This is an AMAZING kit, so come on over to the store and get YOUR mega kit NOW! Can YOU find Rudolph?
Visit our store today!!

NDSD SPEED SCRAP

2009-11-05T20:37:00.003+11:00

COME AND JOIN US FOR A FUN SPEED SCRAP AND CHAT THIS WEEKEND. YOU CAN COMPLETE A GREAT LAYOUT IN 2 HOURS, WIN A FANTASTIC PARTICIPATION PRIZE, AND JOIN A FABULOUS CHAT WITH A BIG FRIENDLY GROUP OF DIGI SCRAPPERS.
SO COME ON OVER TO DIGIRIDOOSCRAPS, JOIN US FOR A WEEKEND OF GREAT SCRAPPING, A SWAG OF BARGAINS IN THE STORE, A BLOG TRAIN, AND A WONDERFUL CELEBRATION OF NDSD.!!!

NDSD CELEBRATIONS AT DIGIRIDOOSCRAPS

2009-11-04T22:10:00.004+11:00

COME AND JOIN US AT DIGIRIDOOSCRAPS THIS WEEKEND FOR OUR NDSD CELEBRATIONS. WE ARE HAVING A HUGE 50% OFF SALE, BUY ANY PU ITEM IN THE STORE FOR THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER TO PICK UP OUR SUPER COLLAB KIT 'DARKSIDE OF AUTUMN'. THIS IS AN AUTUMN KIT WITH A DIFFERENCE......A LITTLE BIT FUNKY, A LITTLE BIT SCARY, A LITTLE BIT GOTH, BUT PERFECT FOR ANY LO'S YOU WOULD CARE TO USE IT FOR.
JOIN US FOR OUR FANTASTIC SPEED SCRAP AND CHAT OR JOIN THE BLOG TRAIN AND PICK UP YOUR AMAZING BRAG BOOK WHICH COORDINATES WITH OUR NEW COLLAB KIT. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T MISS COMING OVER FOR A VISIT THIS WEEKEND!

Digiridooscraps Newsletter Subscription Drive

2009-10-19T15:09:00.002+11:00

Come and sign up for the Digiridooscraps Newsletter and get your 20% off coupon for any PU products in the store. Come on, you don't want to miss out!!!! Here is the link for the store, just go to the right hand sidebar and look for News.

DT Call Closed

2009-10-14T21:18:00.002+11:00

The Digiridooscraps DT call is now closed. Thank-you to all the wonderful designers who applied. Now comes the hard part.....choosing! And I can tell you they didn't make it easy lol!!!
We will let you know who our new designers are soon!!

ONLY 2 MORE DAYS TO APPLY FOR THE DIGIRIDOOSCRAPS DT CALL

2009-10-12T20:03:00.000+11:00

Digiridoo is looking to add some new members to it's Design Team!!
WHAT YOU GET
* X-Cart
* Site CT
* Full shop access to PU products
* 18% commission Exclusive
* 25% commission Non-Exclusive
* Choice of PayPal or Direct payment to your bank account
* Fun and friendly team to work with
Please note:- we are a relatively new site, building our customer base. We are into long-term relationships. We need our team to be there for the long haul!
WHAT WE NEED
* Fun and energetic Designers who are COMMITTED and willing to be team players
* Participation in teamkits and monthly participation prizes
* Active in site forums/gallery
* Samples of your work
* Links to any other shops you are selling at
* Link to your Blog
* A short Bio
All applications todesigners@digiridooscraps.com
APPLICATIONS CLOSE OCTOBER 14TH

October Progressive Blog Challenge

2009-10-02T23:59:00.005+10:00

Welcome to the Digiridoo Scraps October Progressive Blog Challenge!! You've just arrived at stop 3. If you're just jumping aboard, here's the 411. Basically, the PBC is a blogtrain that you follow along to pick up all the freebies and then use them to create a layout. Upload to the Digiridoo Cyber Crop Gallery and post a link to the finished product in Cyber Crop Forum before 9am Monday 5th October (GMT+10). It's heaps of fun and you get all of the freebies along the way,PLUS this fabulous Participation Prize!!
Here's your PBC freebie. Remember, you MUST use at least 1 thing from this download on your layout!!
download link here

Your next stop is stop 4, Bree’s Blog. As we are co-ordinating this across quite a few different time zones, please be patient if all of the stops are not yet posted. In case you've lost your way, or need to skip back, here are all of the stops on the train:-

Stop 1 - SZILVIA

Stop 2 - WILMA

Stop 3 - MAZ --------------> YOU ARE HERE

Stop 4 - BREE

Stop 5 - LINNIE

Stop 6 - SHARON

Stop 7 - KELLEY

Stop 8 - MELISSA

Stop 9 - VICKI

Stop 10 - SARAH

Stop 11 - KRISTIE

Stop 12 - LINA

Don't forget.....we have a whole heap of fun stuff happening in the forums for the Cyber Crop this weekend, including 2 speed scraps, Scrap Bingo and a Scraplift challenge!!
__________________

October Cybercrop at Digiridooscraps

2009-10-01T20:56:00.012+10:00

This weekend ladies!!!!! Get ready to scrap!!! Join us for lot's of freebies, challenges, inspiration and more!!!!!
Look at the fantastic huge kit you'll get for riding on our blog train!

Sarah Barber will be hosting the first speed scrap of the weekend (Friday night 10pm EST, 7pm Arizona and California (Pacific), 8pm Idaho (Mountain), 9pm Texas (Central), 10pm New York(Eastern), 10pm Ottowa Canada (Eastern), Saturday 12 noon (AEST), 4am London, 5am Budapest)!!!!

If you join Sarah, you'll get this fab freebie! It's a mini preview of her new kit, Delightful Happening, that will be released Friday, on sale, in Sarah's store at Digiridooscraps!!!! Stay tuned for that!

Saturday we start the Scrap Bingo call. This one is always a tonne of fun, believe me, these gals take their Bingo to the extreme, guaranteed a few laughs along the way!! But you need to get you lists in before we start calling. All the info is here.
Not much planned for Saturday arvo?? We’ve got a solution!! Come and join Marianne for another fun Speed Scrap!!

And another great participation prize!!

There’s also a great Scraplift Challenge if you need more scrapping fun to fill up your weekend!! And don’t forget to check out all of the other great challenges in the forums!! All of our challenges have participation prizes!
Hope to see you there!!

Digiridooscraps DT Call

2009-09-30T20:00:00.000+10:00

Another New Freebie!!!!!

2009-09-26T10:42:00.003+10:00

Another beautiful freebie this week, this time from 'by Wilma'.

Come on over to the Digiridooscraps Blog to grab your Friday Freebie now!! Please don't forget to leave a comment, as we like our designers to know their work is appreciated. While you're there why not visit the shop and pick up some of our fabulous products, check out the forums for some friendly chat and fun challenges, and browse the gallery for great inspiration! Come and introduce yourself, we always love to welcome new members, and this is a very friendly and welcoming site. See you there!

FREEBIE! FREEBIE! FREEBIE!

2009-09-18T20:22:00.004+10:00

Grab this pretty mini kit for free!

Just visit the DigiridooScraps Blog to get the link!! And be sure to leave a comment, we love hearing from our visitors!!Remember to stop by every Friday to nab a different freebie each week!!

ITS HERE..... The September PBC

2009-09-04T23:59:00.004+10:00

Welcome to the Digiridoo Scraps September Progressive Blog Challenge!! You've just arrived at stop 2. If you're just jumping aboard, here's the 411.

Basically, the PBC is a blogtrain that you follow along to pick up all the freebies and then use them to create a layout. Upload to the Digiridoo Cyber Crop Gallery and post a link to the finished product in Cyber Crop Forum before 9am Monday 7th August (GMT+10). It's heaps of fun and you get all of the freebies along the way, PLUS this fabulous Participation Prize!!Here's your PBC freebie. Remember, you MUST use at least 1 thing from this download on your layout!!
Download HERE and HERE

Your next stop is stop 3 (KELLEY)’s Blog. As we are co-ordinating this across quite a few different time zones, please be patient if all of the stops are not yet posted. In case you've lost your way, or need to skip back, here are all of the stops on the train:-

Stop 1 - SZILVIA

Stop 2 - MAZ------------>You Are Here

Stop 3 - KELLEY

Stop 4 - MICHELLE

Stop 5- WILMA

Stop 6 - BREE

Stop 7 - MELISSA

Stop 8 - KELLY

Stop 9 - LINNIE

Stop 10 - SHARON

Stop 11 - LINA

Don't forget.....we have a whole heap of fun stuff happening in the forums for the Cyber Crop this weekend, including 2 speed scraps, Scrap Bingo, a hybrid project and a Scraplift challenge!!

Guess What's On This Weekend????

2009-09-02T20:40:00.002+10:00

September PBC. Look at the FANTASTIC free kit you can get for yourself this weekend. Something for the guys this time to celebrate 'Fathers Day' here in Australia, but this kit is so versatile you will be able to use it for many different layouts.
Come and join us for the Progressive Blog Challenge this weekend........and don't forget we have Scrap Bingo, Speed Scraps and lots of other fun things happening over at Digiridooscraps........
so come on over and join us!

Some New Layouts

2009-08-28T21:39:00.005+10:00

Here are some new layouts I did over the last few weeks.
This LO is made with the fantastic freebie template from digiridooscraps blog by Mean Momma Designs, and with the fabulous Doodle-Luscious Kit by LDrag Designs.
This is my youngest dgd. Her answer to not wanting her photo taken? Poke your tongue out. Ahhh! But she forgot her nannie is a scrapper..........I thought the pic was even better because of the tongue sticking out LOL!!!!!!This was another freebie template by Mean Momma Designs which I changed around to fit more pics on the page. The background papers are mine, the main paper is from Rouge Noir by Scrap'It Designs by Brianna Cox, and the elements are by Lily Designs.
This is my middle dgd loving her time at the conservertory.This is a new kit by Scrap'It Designs by Brianna Cox called Basic Instincts.
A LO of our favourite waitress at our favourite cafe`.
This LO was done for a speed scrap at digiridoo scraps using Sarh Barbers Tangerine Kit.
My gorgeous youngest dgd again.
Not many LO's I know, but I have been doing wedding pages too for my nieces wedding album. I'm not posting those because I don't want her seeing them until the whole album is completed.

Its Here!!!! The August Progressive Blog Challenge

2009-08-07T23:59:00.001+10:00

Welcome to the Digiridoo Scraps August Progressive Blog Challenge!! You've just arrived at stop 4. If you're just jumping aboard, here's the 411. Basically, the PBC is a blogtrain that you follow along to pick up all the freebies and then use them to create a layout. Upload to the Digiridoo Cyber Crop Gallery and post a link to the finished product in cybercrop forum before 9am Monday 10th August (GMT+10). It's heaps of fun and you get all of the freebies along the way,

(not all items shown in preview)PLUS this fabulous Participation Prize!!

Here's your PBC freebie. Remember, you MUST use at least 1 thing from this download on your layout!!

Download HERE
Your next stop is stop 5, (WILMA)’s Blog.As we are co-ordinating this across quite a few different time zones, please be patient if all of the stops are not yet posted. In case you've lost your way, or need to skip back, here are all of the stops on the train:-
Stop 1 - KATIE
Stop 2 - KELLY
Stop 3 - SZILVIA
Stop 4 - MAZ --------------> YOU ARE HERE
Stop 5 - WILMA
Stop 6 - SHARON
Stop 7 - KRISTIE
Stop 8 - SARAH
Stop 9 - BREE
Stop 10 - KELLEY
Stop 11 - MELISSA
Don't forget.....we have a whole heap of fun stuff happening in the forums for the Cyber Crop this weekend, including 2 speed scraps, Scrap Bingo and a Scraplift challenge!!

Bandwidth Problem Rectified

2009-07-25T14:53:00.003+10:00

I just want to apologise to all you wonderful people who have tried to download the freebie papers and have been getting the message that there isn't enough bandwidth. I don't know what the problem was, but it has now been rectified.
I'm sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

New Freebie For You!

2009-07-19T11:10:00.003+10:00

I did a set of papers for the Design Me This Challenge at Digiridooscraps and got a little carried away. I ended up with 12 silver, lime and pink papers instead of 3, so here they are if you would like to have them. They are in 3 seperate downloads so they're not too large for dial up customers. HOPE YOU ENJOY THEM.
Send me a link if you use them for a LO, I would love to see what you do with them.

Grungy Garden Party 1

Grungy Garden Party 2

Grungy Garden Party 3

Would You Believe It??????

2009-07-16T20:18:00.002+10:00

Just bought the new laptop right?
Got in touch with an old school friend of Bree's who has a computer business and asked him to take all the stuff off my old computer and put it onto my new laptop. I took the old computer to him on Saturday afternoon, and while I was there he decided to take the side panel off and just take a quick look inside. This of course means nothing to me because there is just a jumble of 'thingies' inside a computer, nothing that I'm interested in. He told me the capacitors were not looking good, but said he thought he could get the computer working again for me without too much trouble........this is the computer that the other guys said wasn't worth fixing and would cost too much so don't bother, remember?
So, I ask, how much do you think it will cost to get working again, thinking it would be way too much to bother even trying. He tells me with a new motherboard and some other bits and pieces, and labour....around $200, did I want to go ahead? Did I want to go ahead......if I had any idea the machine could be fixed for $200 I wouldn't have just spent a small fortune buying a new laptop!!! Go ahead and try said I.
Well, I had a phone call from this lovely young man yesterday letting me know he has fixed the computer, and has had it running for a few days with not a problem. I can go and pick it up. After a short phone conversation with him today, to arrange day and time of pick up, I was yet again gobsmacked by his response when asked how much it ended up costing to fix. He explained that he hadn't had to replace the mother board, that there had been a bit of a problem with the memory which he had fixed and would explain fully to me when I picked it up, so the total cost was $100. Can you believe that?????
I will have CS2 back again tomorrow, and my old computer is working better than ever! I am so thankful that Bree gave me his number, and I am so thankful that there are some honest, hard working technicians out there who believe in giving excellent service for a fair price. I will be reccomending him to everyone!!! Thanks so much Vaughn for excellent service with a smile. Vaughn runs QWA Computers in Bendigo, so if you live nearby and need your computer fixed, give him a call.

Two Exciting Pieces of News

2009-07-08T17:25:00.004+10:00

Firstly, I got the new job I applied for!!!!! I start on 3rd August. It has been quite sad resigning from my current job as I have been there for over 14 years, and the people I work with are like family. I always thought I would be there until I retired, but it just goes to show how quickly things can change. None of us know what life holds for us, and there are little surprises and unexpected forks in the road awaiting us even when we think life has become a bit humdrum. My last day in this job is July 16th, then a couple of weeks holiday, then training and into the new job. I am feeling re energised and excited that I will be doing something a little different, as well as learning new skills again, in my working life.
The really good thing is that I will still be able to see my current work colleagues often, as my new work place is not far from where I work now. I like that!!!

Another exciting thing for me this week is that I finally bought a new computer after being without a computer for quite a few weeks. I ummed and ahhed whether to buy another desktop or to go with a laptop this time. The decision was made more difficult because with my new job there is quite a bit of travel, which means I will be away overnight sometimes. This made me consider a laptop so that I could scrap and work on the site instead of being bored in a sterile motel/hotel room. The down side was that after reading a lot of the pro's and con's of laptops in relation to digi scrapping, it seemed that the laptop screens let the side down badly when used for photo editing and digiscrapping. As this is 90% of what I spend my time doing on the computer it seemed I was going to have to get used to the boredom in motel rooms.

Bruce finally came up with a solution that seemed to cover the whole gammut of problems - buy a laptop that I could take away with me, but at home plug in my monitor...problem solved!

After lots of searching and homework, I finally bought a Dell Studio 17. Pretty good gaming card for those of us who like to play games (512mb), 500gb HD, 4gb RAM, fingerprint security, face recognition, built in web cam and microphone, AND BEST OF ALL...........a 17" cystal clear screen...........nearly as good as my LCD screeen. So no problem with scrapping even when I'm away. I'm rapt.........sigh!

I still have to have ring the service guy and get all the stuff off my old computer syphoned off and put onto the new one, and of course I have to get Photoshop loaded again, but I am on my way. I haven't been able to do a LO since early June, so I am suffering withdrawals badly, but at least there is light at the end of the tunnel now. SOON I keep telling myself, SOON!

ITS THAT TIME OF THE MONTH AGAIN - CYBERCROP WEEKEND JULY 3RD - 6TH

2009-07-02T22:31:00.011+10:00

ITS THAT TIME OF THE MONTH AGAIN........CYBERCROP THIS WEEKEND (JULY 3RD - 6TH)!! - Forum:

Its CyberCrop time again! This one is SURE to be SWEET! Check out the CyberCrop Forum on Friday to see how you can get this YUMMY kit ABSOLUTELY FREE!
Basically, the PBC is a blogtrain that you follow along to pick up all the freebies, and then use at least 1 item from each blog stop download to create a layout. Upload your completed layout to the Digiridooscraps Cybercrop Gallery, and post a link to the finished product in the Cybercrop forum before 9am Monday 6th July (GMT+10). Its heaps of fun and you get to pick up a whole lot of freebies along the way. Who wouldn't want to end up with this fabulous kit?

If you complete and upload your LO to the Cybercrop Gallery at Digiridooscraps, with a link to the forum, you will also receive this fabulous participation prize.
We also have lots of fun stuff happening in the forums, including 2 Speed Scraps, Scrap Bingo and a User name Challenge. All this as well as our usual fun challenges.
So what are you waiting for? Come on over and join us for another fun filled Cybercrop weekend.

The Site is BACK!

2009-06-06T00:20:00.000+10:00

The site is back up, but running very slowly at the moment. Please be patient as they are trying their best to get this fixed as quickly as possible. At least we are live again........that's something! :)

A HUGE APOLOGY!

2009-06-05T23:38:00.001+10:00

Our host server system has gone down, so the site is currently unavailable....wouldn't you know it would be today! GRRRRR!!!!
Bree has contacted them and they will be getting back to us with an ETA on the server going live again. We are REALLY hoping this won't be too long!
In the meantime you can still continuewith with the Progressive Blog Challenge....maybe even get your LO's completed and ready to upload when the server is live again.
We will let you know when we have notification of an ETA for the site.
We can only apologise for the inconvenience this has caused......but this is TOTALLY out of our control I'm afraid.

DIGIRIDOO PROGRESSIVE BLOG CHALLENGE

2009-06-05T21:49:00.000+10:00

Welcome to the Digiridoo Scraps Grand Opening Cybercrop Progressive Blog Challenge!! You've just arrived at stop 10. If you're just jumping aboard, here's the 411. Basically, the PBC is a blogtrain that you follow along to pick up all the freebies and then use them to create a layout. Upload to the Digiridoo Cyber Crop Gallery and post a link to the finished product in cybercrop forum before 9am Monday 8th June (GMT+10). It's heaps of fun and you get all of the freebies along the way.

PLUS this fabulous Participation Prize!!

Here's your PBC freebie. Remember, you MUST use at least 1 thing from this download on your layout!!!!!Download HERE

Your next stop is stop 11, Katie’s Blog.

As we are co-ordinating this across quite a few different time zones, please be patient if all of the stops are not yet posted. In case you've lost your way, or need to skip back, here are all of the stops on the train:-

Stop 1 – Szilvia

Stop 2 - Felicia

Stop 3 - Kelly

Stop 4 - Bree

Stop 5 - Kris

Stop 6 - Marianne

Stop 7 – Melissa

Stop 8 – Sharon

Stop 9 - Keira

Stop 10 – Marilyn----------> You are Here

Stop 11 – Katie

Stop 12 - Tiffany

Don't forget.....we have a whole heap of fun stuff happening in the forums over the weekend, including speed scraps, scavenger hunt, Scrap Bingo and much more!! And remember, you can grab our awesome Digiridoo Collab kit free with every purchase of $10 (in the one transaction)!!

OUR GRAND OPENING IS OFF AND RUNNING!!!!

2009-06-05T21:47:00.005+10:00

Everything in the store is an ENORMOUS 50% off, and will continue that way for the whole of the weekend. Come over to the shop and pick yourself up a bargain or two!! Don't forget, if you spend $10 in 1 transaction, we'll send you our AWESOME Collab kit FREE!! You certainly won't want to miss out on this kit, the colours are gorgeous, and there are so many products in it, you will be making beautiful LO's for a long time to come. Its ENORMOUS!!!
Our Cyber Crop challenges kick off with the Progressive Blog Challenge Friday 5th @ 9am (EST)/11:59pm Australian EST.

THE FAMOUS SCRAP BINGO IS BACK!! You still have time to get your lists in!! See here for details!! Scrap Bingo may not sound like much, but believe me this is serious business. The competition is ferocious and everyone wants to win the 'Bingo Queen' crown and blinkie. This is something you don't want to miss, if only for the huge amount of laughs you will get from reading the posts as the game progresses LOL!!!!

There will also be a Scraplift challenge and scavenger hunt. Keep an eye out in the Cyber Crop Forum for these!!

WE ARE RUNNING 2 SPEED SCRAPS THIS WEEKEND. See here for details! Speed Scraps are so much fun! 6 instructions in 60 minutes, 1 LO in 2 hours...you've gotta LOVE that right? Come on and join in all the fun.

AND......if that's not enough for you, all of our June Challenges have just begun, with some fantastic Participation Prizes up for grabs!! Have a browse around and find one or more challenges that you would like to join in.

So settle in......enjoy the site, but most of all.....HAVE FUN!!!!!

YOU'RE INVITED!

2009-05-29T15:01:00.002+10:00

You're invited to a SPEED SCRAP at Digiridooscraps. Come along and join in the fun!!!

GRAND OPENING!!!!

2009-05-21T11:53:00.004+10:00

DIGIRIDOOSCRAPS GRAND OPENING: STARTING JUNE 5TH
HUGE SALE, CYBER CROP, SPEED SCRAPS, SCRAP BINGO, FUN CHALLENGES, FREEBIES AND GIVEAWAYS!!! ITS PARTY TIME! SO, IF YOU WANT SOME FUN AND GREAT BARGAINS, YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO MISS OUT, SO COME ON OVER AND JOIN US:

I Got Some Scrapping Done!!!

2009-05-18T15:34:00.011+10:00

Yes, I finally got some scrapping done! I completed the LO for my work colleague and managed to get it to her with some time to spare. I actually used the LO I did for the 'Font Challenge' over at Digiridooscraps. Click on LO's for credits:

I have also managed to find some time to do some other scrapping too. Here are some LO's I finished in the last 2 weeks:

This one was for the Recipe Challenge at Digiridooscraps. My absolute favourite scone recipe. Bruce and Bree loved the fact that I had to take a pic of the finished product, so actually had to make some LOL!!!!

This was the LO I did for 'The Week That Was' Challenge. This is a twist on Project 365 where you still make a page about your week, but don't need a photo every day. With this challenge you can use as many photo's as you like for the week, or no photo's at all - just journalling. That suits me so much better than having to find something to take a pic of everyday, but still allows me to record our everyday lives.

This was my LO for the BOM. The prompt for May was to record your very first childhood memory.

The Journalling Challenge for May was to complete a LO with a list on it. I had fun with this page, as I am a list fanatic! I don't always read the list when I've made it mind you, but I make heaps of lists anyway!!!! I have actually accomplished some of these 'To Do's', but I have now added a whole heap more things to my lists.....I can't win!
I've had this photo since March, and although I have scrapped it many times, I have always ended up deleting the finished LO because I wasn't happy with it. Yesterday I decided I would try one last time, and THIS time I managed to complete the page AND I was happy with it! I actually started this for the 'Layer It Up' challenge, so it must have been just the motivation I needed to get my scrap mojo back for this pic!

I only have one more challenge to complete now, which is the 'Inspiration Challenge'. I am hoping to get that LO finished in the next few days, along with my 'The Week That Was' LO for last week. I also have another LO to do for a friend, which has to be completed by the end of May for her friends 40th anniversary of his ordination as a preist. I am also slowly getting started on my nieces wedding album....this job is one I am going to totally enjoy! A real LOVE job!

Digiridooscraps is gearing up for the HUGE Grand Opening starting on Friday the 5th June and going through the whole weekend! We are planning on making this a really BIG weekend, so don't forget to come over and join us. Pick up some fantastic bargains and have a great time participating in the Cyber crop, Speed Scraps, Scrap Bingo and lots of other fun stuff.......including lots of freebies and giveaways!

The Speed Scraps are being held on Saturday 6th at 12 noon (GMT+10) and Sunday 7th at 6am (GMT+10). We would love to see you there!

I will be back with more information later in the week.

May 'Design Me This' Challenge Freebie

2009-05-07T23:47:00.004+10:00

Bree is running a 'Design Me This Challenge' over at Digiridooscraps, so you can learn how to design papers etc. Every month there will be a new tutorial and challenge, then you make the products and share as a freebie with others.

I have absolutely NEVER been interested in the slightest in designing.....I'm the sort who likes someone else to do all the hard work, I just like to download and use the product.

Anyhow, the challenge looked quite interesting, so I decided I would take part........and you know, it was actually easy, interesting, and darn good fun!!!

If any of you are interested in taking part in the challenge, come on over, register, and start learning some new skills. Believe me, its GREAT FUN!!!!

These are the papers I made for the challenge. I thought I would share them here on my blog, so I hope you enjoy them.

Download HERE

Thank-you to my Wonderful Friend

2009-05-05T21:27:00.003+10:00

I got this wonderful award from my gorgeous friend Vicki at Artful Validation of Vicki . Thank-you so very much Vicki.

Here are the rules for this award:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.

7 ThingsAbout Me.......

1. I love skinny latte' made from lactose free milk

2. I adore walking in the rain

3. The sound of rain on the roof makes me feel safe and secure

4. I love walking with my feet in the ocean

5. Autumn is my absolute favourite time of the year

6. I hate clothes shopping...loathe would probably be more like it!

7. I really dislike wearing shoes in the summer

Nominate 7 Creative Bloggers.......

1. Bree at Scrap'Itby Breeza because she is a fantastic designer/digiscrapper, tech person extrordinaire, motivational bum kicker, and all round creative person - as well as being my beautiful daughter

2. Pene at A Pene for your Thoughts is an artistic paper, digi and hybrid scrapper as well as being a beautiful person

3. Jane at Fragments of Time for being a great paper and digi scrapper, a brilliant photographer and a wonderful friend to boot

4. Helen at Around the World with Helen and Tony for not only being a gorgeous friend, but for allowing me to share her adventures and travels by doing amazing digi layouts of the places she travels to, and her articulate and interesting blog entries.

5. Lenore at Tales from Colorado for being the sweetest and gentlest friend I could possibly have, and a beautiful paperscrapper

6. Maz at Now Then Habibi for being funny, creative, funny, a fabulous digi scrapper, irreverant, and did I mention funny?

7. Sharon at Digital Creations for being amazingly creative, a wonderfully talented digi scrapper, paper scrapper, and for being on more CT's than anybody I know and yet still able to fit so much into one day

Vicki, thanks again for thinking of me, and you know this is 'right back atcha girl' - oh so talented paper scrapper, creative goddess and all round beaut person....and I'm lucky enough to be able to count you as a friend!

DIGIRIDOOSCRAPS GOES LIVE

2009-05-03T20:40:00.007+10:00

Digiridooscraps went live yesterday morning (GMT+10). We had the most wonderful day, lots of new registrations, and lots of friends coming for a browse around. The forums are rockin', especially the POLL that was started by a few 'dastardly digiridooscrappers' on "Should we make Bruce Scrap?" You can find the poll here .
There are some great challenges up and running in the forum , you can win yourself a $5 gift certificate by leaving a comment on the blog , and the gallery is full of wonderfully inspirational layouts for you to browse through.
The shop is filling up with lots of new goodies, and the designers are still uploading their products to the site, so don't forget to keep coming back and checking.

We have a HUGE Grand Opening planned for 5th June, with a crazy storewide sale, heaps of freebies and give aways, a cyber crop, scrap bingo, live chats, and more!!!! Keep a look out for more info closer to the date!!! You can't miss this, so put the date on your calendar so you don't forget it!

Come on over and join in the fun, take up a few of the challenges, upload your LO's to the gallery, come and chat in the forums, TAKE PART IN THE POLL, buy some of our great products from the shop. Come on, come and join our Digiridooscraps family!

We're Going Live

2009-04-24T18:01:00.003+10:00

WE FINALLY HAVE OUR DATES FINALISED!!!! Digiridooscraps will be going 'LIVE' on Friday 1st May.........we're hoping you will come and take a look around and maybe make this your new digi-scrapping home.
We will be holding our 'GRAND OPENING' on the weekend starting Friday 5th June. We have lots of freebies, fun challenges and a huge sale planned, so put it on your calendar and come on over and join in the fun!!!!
We will be introducing our new team to you soon. Watch this space..................................

Getting Closer To Opening Day

2009-04-23T23:32:00.004+10:00

Our DT and CT calls finished on the 19th with an amazing response to both. We have chosen the successful applicants for the DT and sent out contracts etc. Our CT is still being chosen but the succesful applicants will be notified in the next couple of days. As well as the new team members, we have quite a few faces that you will all know and who we are extremely happy and honoured to have on board. This is going to be a fun and vibrant team. We can't wait to introduce our whole amazing team to you all. We are hoping to give you a definite opening date, as well as the date for our Grand Opening in the next few days.
We are getting so excited! You will soon be able to browse our fabulous new shop, buy products from our wonderfully talented designers, make fabulous LO's with those products and upload them to our gallery, join in some very fun challenges or chat in the forum, read our newsletter every month, get some FREEBIES..............and then a few weeks later we have the Grand Opening to look forward to. WOW!
We have a new fan blinkie available for the site, you can see it at the very top of the right hand column here on my blog. You can help yourself to the blinkie if you would like to display it in your signature or on your blogs.
I will be back with some more news for you soon.
Until then, take care and ((((((hugs)))))) Maz

Here are Some Photo's Finally!!!!

2009-04-13T10:33:00.007+10:00

I finally got the pics off my camera, so here are a few from the last week.
Kady's birthday cake...a 'Lumberjack' cake and a pic of the birthday girl.

The rest of the pics are from Easter Sunday. We had a wonderful day with the kids and grandies. Here are the girls after their Easter Egg hunt.
Ashie and Phee had a wonderful time playing in the pond and in the dirt. The girls all have amazing imaginations and play together really well....MOST of the time! Ashie and Phee were playing restaurants in this pic. If you saw what they dished up to us it was enough to make you sick, but they thought they made wonderful food for us LOL!!!!

Bruce and Chloe played 'Upwords' after lunch. Chloe seems to be really enjoying board games now. This is Bruce concentrating on his next move......

and Chloe pondering how she can outsmart Gramps on her next move.
The girls didn't get their basket of eggs from Nannie and Gramps until it was nearly time for them to leave, as they had so many eggs already. Our eggs came with packing and the girls had more fun with it than the actual eggs........

OK, so it wasn't only the little kids who had fun with the packing.....a BIG KID did too ROFL!
We hope you all had a very happy Easter and a great Easter break!

A Quick Update

2009-04-11T10:02:00.003+10:00

Well, my scrapping seems to be suffering a LOT lately, but it is all for a good cause.
Bree has worked her butt off , with some help from Gill and Szilvia, to get the site ready for opening. It has been so exciting for me to see the site take shape. First the logo, then the calls, then the home page, forums, gallery and x cart. It has been amazing for me to watch Bree go through such a transformation - from knowing very little tech stuff to actually understanding a whole lot of the jargon, codes etc now. I am truly proud of my girl. ((((hugs)))) hon. None of this would have gotten off the ground without her giving us the big 'prod'.
We will give you more news as it gets closer to the opening day, which we are thinking will not be too far away now. We will keep you posted.

I have received the first CD of photo's from my neices wedding from the photographer. I am just waiting for the CD from friends of the bride and groom and I MUST get back into my scrapping again.......like I need to be pushed too hard lol!!!! I am REALLY looking forward to doing this album.
I have been asked by one of my friends at work to do a page for one of her husbands friends 60th birthday, so that is another little job I need to get done soon too.

Since my last post we have celebrated Kady's birthday. Kady lives with us during the week while attending university. All her family drove down for the evening and we went to a local Thai restaurant for dinner. We came back here for coffee and birthday cake. Her real celebrations with her boyfriend and friends took place on the weekend, and I'm sure it was a much less sedate affair than the family dinner LOL!!!!

Bruce and I travelled up to Echuca yesterday (Good Friday) to spend the day with his family. We had a lovely day...barby fish fry, salads, a few drinks, chockie and sweet things, and the fact it was spent with family, reallymade it a special day.
Bree, Michael and the girls are coming around on Sunday for a barby, Easter Eggs etc. So another special day to look forward to.

No pics for you this time sorry, but the camera hasn't been used very much lately.

SOME EXCITING NEWS!

2009-03-27T20:37:00.015+11:00

Calling all Digital Designers
We are looking for New or Established digital designers to join our team
at a fun and exciting NEW digi scrapping site
OPENING SOON
We are looking for Full, CU, PU, S4H/O, template and QP designers

What Do You Get?
#A new fun site with a great team to
work with
#Site advertising and promotion of your
products
#Site CT
#X Cart for full store control
#Personal forum set up for you and your
team if required
#Full shop access to all products
#18% commission Exclusive
#25% commission Non Exclusive
#Choice of PayPal or direct payment to
your bank account

What We Need:
#Fun, energetic, pro active designers who are
committed and willing to be part of a dynamic
team
#Maintain products and pricing in your store
#Participate in Mega Kits/Participation Prizes when
required
#Active on site forum and gallery
#Maintain self promotion and participate in store
wide events
#Samples of your work
#Links to your shops (if any)
#Link to your blog (if you have one)
#A short bio
#Why you want to join our team

If this sounds like a place you would like to call home then we can’t wait to hear from you
Contact us at designers@digiridooscraps.com
Calls Close: 19th April 2009
We can give you lots of help and full instruction if you have never had a shop or used X Cart before, so please don’t let this put you off applying for a position with us Calling all Digital Scrappers
We are looking for talented digi scrappers to join our team
at a fun and exciting NEW digi scrapping site
OPENING SOON

What We Need:
#Fun, energetic, pro active scrappers who are committed and willing to be part of a dynamic team
#Complete a minimum of 4 layouts per month

#Active in site forum, gallery and challenges
#Post layouts in Digi_ridoo, DST, and at least 4 other galleries
#Participate in site blog updates and CT enabling
#Commit to a 6 month contract
#Link to your most complete gallery
#List of current CT’s and commitments
#Link to your blog (if you have one)
#a short bio
#Why you would like to join our team

What Do You Get?
#A fun new site with a great team to work with
##Full shop access to all products##

If this sounds like a place you would like to call home then we can’t wait
to hear from you.
Contact us at: creative@digiridooscraps.com
Calls close: 19th April 2009

You all know by now that Snap and Scrap is closing down at the end of the month which has left Bree with no shop to sell her digi kits in???

Bruce and I have talked for a long time about starting an online business, especially a digi scrapping site, as we thought this would employ Bruce from home, whilst giving us a small income in the future. Of course I HATED the idea ROFL!!!! With the demise of Snap and Scrap Bree and I got talking, and before you could blink an eye Bruce, Bree and myself seem to have landed ourselves a NEW BUSINESS VENTURE!

We have finally taken the plunge and will be opening our new online store SOON! As you can see our name had to be a take on something Australian, but we hope we will have nationwide appeal. We have some really fun and exciting things lined up for our Grand Opening and lots of idea's for ongoing challenges and fun things to do on the site. I hope those of you who digi scrap will come and join us and take part in our online community. We would love to see you there.

Bree is extremely busy at the moment getting the site set up....I'm not much help to her at the moment, but I will be learning in the near future, and so will Bruce! We all aim on becoming tech savvy as quickly as possible. We have had a lot of help from a lovely lady who knows exactly what she is doing when it comes to tech stuff.......thank-you so much Szilvia.

This last week has just flown by in a blur, we have been really busy getting things finalised, having meetings to agree on where we go next, putting idea's together and deciding who does what. As you can see above, we are putting out designer and CT calls. We have a small band of wonderful girls on board already from Snap and Scrap, but hope to be able to attract lots more designers, and to add a few more girls to make up a really great CT. I'll keep you posted!

I 've had a weeks holiday, mainly to attend my neices wedding last weekend, but have to go back to work on Monday.......Eeeeewwww!!!

My neices wedding was absolutely beautiful. It was a relaxed affair, with the bride looking stunning (of course I am a little biased), and the surroundings and scenery just breathtaking. We stayed at a very nice place while we were in the Dandenongs...just happened to be the same place the bride stayed on Friday night and the bride and groom on Saturday night. It made it very easy to take lots of pics of the girls getting ready...and we had a blast with the girls on Friday night, gourmet pizza's and wine, yum. Actually Bruce had the best time...surrounded by 3 young beauties who all loved him...he was in seventh heaven lol!!!!

Here are some of the pics I took:

The beautiful bride and her friends

My gorgeous sister and her husband with the bride and flower girl and ring bearer......the brides little neice and nephew, and 2 of my sisters grandchildren. How do you like the look on poor Baileys face? He had just gotten a glimpse of all the people looking at him, and being an extremely shy young man, his little bottom lip was quivering, and he looked terrified..poor kid!
My neice chose to have both her mother and father give her away....what a beautiful thought.
The bride and groom after the nuptials. They did a lot of this sort of thing during the photo's...LOL!!!!

A very relaxed bride and groom
A beautiful moment with a beautiful backdropThe first dance

I so love this photo, but need to get rid of that speaker between their heads!!!!
This was a group photo....about 1/4 of the people got cut off....ah well! The week before the wedding, Bruce and I went to the Golden Dragon Museum in Bendigo for Yum Cha. They only hold it one Sunday every month, and it was very nice to share this meal with some very good friends. We had been told that if it was authentic Yum Cha they would serve chickens feet. We didn't believe it.....but lo and behold what was one of the very first dishes after the soup??? Yes! Chicken feet!!! I have to say, I will always try anything once, and I'm so glad I did this time, because the chicken feet were actually very tasty......mostly skin and bone.....but tasty! LOL! We all had a wonderful time and have promised to go back agian some time. Here are some pics:

Zinnia enjoying some snacks before lunch

Lots of chatting took place during lunch

The guys between courses

I just had to get a photo of the shop, it intrigued me

The entrance to the walkway that leads to the Museum and the Chinese Gardens

Well, I think I've caught you up to date with what's been happening around here for the last 2 weeks. I'm now off to bed for a little shut eye....BLISS! Night night and see you again soon.

I'm BAAAAAAACK!

2009-03-13T16:33:00.007+11:00

What a wonderful surprise to come back to this award from my beautiful friend Jane. Thank you so much Jane, I am really honoured, and right back atcha girl!!!

I am going to share this with some amazing friends (in alphabetical order):

Helen

Lenore

Vicki

Thanks for being such a great bunch of gals, and thanks for being my friends!!!

Ok, Ok, I know I have been extremely slack lately, but I do have a good excuse, honest! Well sort of anyway!
LIFE! Yep, life got in the way of blogging, phot challenges, scrapping, and just about everything else. Life can be such a pain, but it can also lead us into doing the things that are so important in our lives....spending time with and for family and friends.
Work has been extremely busy, and weekends have been taken up with friends, family, chores and just STUFF! I just don't know where the last few weeks have gone.
Bruce spent a bit of time in hospital and will be going back for some more surgery later this year. He has made such a huge amount of progress recently. It probably doesn't sound like much to most people, but for us it is a gigantic milestone. Bruce has morning personal care, which means he has a worker who comes in for 1/2 hour 4 mornings a week on the days I work. These wonderful workers help get Bruce out of bed, dressed and into his wheelchair for the day.
Bruce informed me this morning that he put them on hold a week ago and has been managing to get himself up and ready in the mornings. He is going to continue for another week and then if everything is still going well he will cancel the service completely. This is such an enormous breakthrough for someone who cannot stand at all, and who has trouble balancing properly when sitting. Of course it means less work for me on days when I don't work, so that is an added bonus. I am mighty proud!
Bree is still offline after her move, but hopes to be up and running again by mid next week. She is now 'out of work' as she gave up designing at Scrapmatters because designing for 2 shops became too much while trying to look after the girls etc, and now Snap and Scrap is closing its doors at the end of the month. Poor Bree, sometimes she just can't take a trick!
Bruce and I are heading off to Melbourne next Friday to stay in the Dandenong Ranges for a few days. We are booked into rather luxurious accommodation which will be a real treat for us. I will post pics later! We are attending our nieces wedding, my sisters daughter, on the Saturday. I am going to be taking lots of pics as I am doing her album for her. I am not the official photographer, I wouldn't even contemplate that, but I want 'scrapping' photo's, which all you scrappers out there will fully understand. I am even being allowed to go and take some candid shots of the bride before, during and after she gets ready, so it should be lots of fun.
This weekend is another busy weekend for us. Today, Friday, we have had the guys in laying the new bathroom floor. After months of walking on 3 different types of flooring in the one room, it looks amazing with the new flooring down.
I had to go for a field test at the optometrist today. I had my regular eye test for my glasses last week and the optometrist found that I have abnormal blood vessels in my eyes....they are enlarged, which most often is a sign of Glaucoma. My Field test results for my right eye were atrocious. I don't seem to have any peripheral vision in the bottom/bottom right of that eye. So now I am being referred on to the eye specialist for more tests and a better look at my eyes. At this point I'm not too worried, as enlarged blood vessels can sometimes also be genetic. I went down this road once before some years ago, but the specialist although originally concerned, decided that there wasn't any sign of Glaucoma, but also didn't know what WAS wrong with my eyes IF anything. So off we go on the roundabout of appointments again, as my tests seem to be quite worrisome to the optometrist again.
Tomorrow night we are going to friends for dinner, then Sunday we are going for Yum Cha with other friends at the Chinese Dragon Museum.
I will post pics later. I think I have brought you all up to date. I'll be back soon.

2009-02-07T20:14:00.005+11:00

Bruce and I went to the 'Puddler' Restaurant last night for dinner. It was my birthday, so we decided to go all out and have one of the more expensive items on the menu, which was an ocean platter. It was the most delicious meal we have had out in a long time......a platter for 2 which consisted of a fresh whole lobster, crab, Moreton Bay bugs, oysters and king prawns. There was a seperate bowl on the platter which held a cream, wine and garlic sauce with mussels, scallops and calamari strips in it. This all came on a bed of salad with home made tartare sauce, limes and lemons. Fizzy finger bowls, excellent service, and the best palate cleanser I've tasted in a long time....fresh passionfruit, pulped mango, and champagne in a shot glass, just added the final touch. I could become quite addicted to the palate cleansers...YUM!!!
We were totally decadent with a home made liqueur chocolate pudding with melted chocolate sauce and ice cream for dessert, followed by very good coffee.
The waiter and waitress must have thought I was a total idiot because I took so many photo's while we were there. My excuse was that the photo challenge this week is titled 'dinner time', so I was snapping away trying all sorts of different shots. LOL!!!!
Here are some of those pics.....
Bruce having a wonderful time.

Sorry, I ate it before taking pics........
ooops, and again......
All I can say is it was too good to spend time taking pics when the plates, bowls and cups were full......

Today was a terribly hot day - 46C . There has been a lot of dust in the sky today, so much in fact that at around 3.30 today it looked like a grey overcast day. We have had quite a few grass fires around our area, and at 6pm tonight the big water helicopter flew very low over our house and filled up at the lake. I didn't have time to go and grab my camera, it all happened so quickly. Boy those guys are BIG.

Here are some pics of the sky full of dust........

At about 6.30 tonight the wind turned and brought with it lots of smoke from the fires. The smell was quite overpowering and made our eyes sting. It was so bad at one stage that while I was cooking dinner I got these photo's from our back door. You have to remember that even though this is 6.30pm, it is summer here and we have daylight saving, which means it doesn't get dark until around 9 to 9.30pm. The red ball is the sun poking through very thick smoke. The photo's are a bit darker than it actually was, but if I try to lighten them they lose clarity. This is how they came off the camera on a normal scenic setting.

This lasted for less than an hour, then we got the dusty, light, sky back again thankfully. It is now after 11 pm, and the air is still slightly smokey, but nothing like earlier today.

I just keep thinking about all of those poor, poor people who are experiencing devastating bush fires at the moment. Just horrendous! Our thoughts are with them, and those very brave souls who fight these awful fires......most on a voluntary basis. They really do the most amazing job.

We are hoping there may be a cool change tomorrow, but at this stage they are saying it will still be around 30C, but with cooler weather Monday and Tuesday....we sure do hope!!!!!

ADSR Challenge #9

2009-02-07T14:17:00.003+11:00

This week’s challenge is: Generations.
Your scrapbook page completed for this challenge must include:
Photos of at least two generations of family members (the more generations, the better). KB and Friends specializes in vintage and retro-style digital scrapbooking kits, so we encourage you to dig out those old family photos and scan them, if you have any.
Lace.
Something metal, preferably, old metal.
At least one flower.
At least one vintage or retro-style element. It can be ephemera, an old book, an old clock, and so on.
Credits

Photo Challenge #5 Dinner Time

2009-02-06T23:04:00.002+11:00

Bruce and I went out for dinner tonight, so this was the perfect opportunity to get some pics for this challenge.

Photo Challenge #4 - The Elements

2009-02-03T21:58:00.003+11:00

I chose earth as my element. Because we are going throught the worst heatwave in over 100 years, and are still in the grip of a drought, that in the country regions, has been going on for a few years now, I thought I would portray the heat and drought in a picture of a dried up creek bed.

Its Been Over a Week!

2009-02-01T16:53:00.015+11:00

My goodness, I couldn't believe it had been over a week since I last updated my blog........more than just a pic for the photo challenge. anyway!

On Sunday 25th January we finally got
to meet 2 of the wonderful girls from Bree's CT. We met as planned in the Botanical Gardens in Bendigo, with Pene and Sharon driving up from Melbourne on a very hot day. It was very nice under the shade of the trees in the park, so much so that we didn't realise quite how hot it was until we went to get some ice creams, and spent some time in the hot sun with no shade. We had an amazing day.

The girls were every bit as nice in real life as they've always seemed on-line, the kids all got along well, and we whiled away the afternoon with talking, cold drinks, picnic food........and LOTS of photo's. The kids had a huge playground to play in and lots of room to run around in the gardens, so most of the time they were happy to go off and do their own thing. I was really sorry when Pene had to leave, her children are gorgeous and she is a delight to be around.
We spent an extra couple of hours with Sharon and Toby, but finally had to pack up and leave, as we were taking Bree out for her birthday dinner. It was sad to see Sharon go. We had such a great day. I really hope we get to catch up again some time real soon.

Here are some more pics of our day.

We took Bree out to one of her favourite restaurants for her birthday dinner in the evening. We were able to get one of Bree's favourite meals, which is crayfish meal. 1/2 a cray, a couple of fresh oysters, prawns, king prawns done in filo pastry, salt and pepper calamari, salad and chips. YUM! Mick tried the duck in plum sauce, which was nice but very small. The girls had fettucine and another noodle dish....the girls LOVE noodles. We had a lovely night, but eventually had to get on home.

Monday 26th January is 'Australia Day' and therefore a public holiday. We went to a barby at Micks place in the afternoon.....another extremely hot day. Bree and the girls came, and Mick put on a fabulous meal for us all. I tried to get pics, but the girls were all tired and a bit grumpy, and it was so hot it left me feeling rather lethargic and unmotivated to keep chasing around trying to get that perfect shot.

In the end I only managed to get a couple of blurry shots of Ashlee who every time I pointed the camera her way pulled her T-shirt over her head....as in the pic posted, or poked her tongue out....charming!

I did get a shot of Mick cooking the barby and the dog was very accomodating, but that was mainly because she was so hot she didn't want to move lol!!!! I used one of the dog pics for my photo challenge photo last week.

These are my lo's for the ADSR - Challenge #7

For the challenge instructions for both of these challenges you can go to our ADSR site ozziegirlz

Credits

And Challenge #8 - the lo I scraplifted by Mru can be found at ozziegirlz. Go and check out Mru's gallery , she is a very talented digi scrapper.

Credits
And finally, last weekend, Bruce and I went out for a drive on Saturday afternoon. We went out to a beautiful spot that Bree and Sabby take the girls quite often. There are lots of rock pools, big trees.......and the afternoon we went there were LOTS of teenagers and family's there. My aim had been to get some photo's of the water flowing over the rocks, but there were so many people there that it was difficult to find a bit of water that didn't have a body in it lol!!! Hmmm, wonder if that is where the saying a 'body of water' came from??????

Anyway, here are some of the pics I did manage to get -

This tree caught my eye
firstly because of this huge hole in the trunk,
and secondly, because of the amazing texture of the trunk of the tree, which wasvery knobbly and rough, almost like
thorns. It was really something quite unique.
Well, thanks for staying with me to the end. Sorry it was such a long post this time, I will try to be more regular with my posts in future.

Photo Challenge #3

2009-01-26T19:29:00.003+11:00

This is my pic for Photo Challenge #3 - Girls
I know she isn't real pretty........although I am biased and think she's gorgeous!........but she is a girl, and she is sort of girly if you look long enough. lol! This is my son Michael's dog Raz.

Blog Award

2009-01-26T11:07:00.008+11:00

I'd like to thank my wonderful family, my manager.........Ooops sorry, getting a bit carried away here lol!!!

I'd REALLY like to thank Jane for the fabulous award....thanks so much Jane.

I am so enjoying this new world of blogging as I get to keep a journal of the comings and goings in mine and my families lives....with pictures, plus I have an online 'brag book' to share with friends and family, and I get to occasionally vent when things aren't going so well. As I get so much enjoyment from writing this blog, it seems really strange that others might actually like what you are doing too.
I have made new friends and been able to keep up with other friends through their blogs, and I am amazed on a daily basis at how creative, artistic, and interesting these blogs are, and how talented and wonderful the people who run them are. Two of the people I would have put up for this award, because their blogs are little miracles of artistic creativity, have already just received it, (yes thats you Vicki and Jane) but never fear, I still have a list of blogs that I absolutely love visiting and that really deserve this award - so here we go:

Girls just right click on your award, save to your computer, and upload to your blog. Please pass it along to 6 blogs that you love to frequent.

1. Scrap'It by Breeza Bree

2. Around the World with Helen and Tony Helen M

3. Tales from Colorado Lenore

4. Now Then Habibi Maz

5. A Pene for your Thoughts Pene

6. Digital Creations Sharon

Congrats girls, and thanks for giving me such great sites to come and visit.

Happy Birthday Bree

2009-01-24T23:39:00.004+11:00

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Bree ee
Happy birthday to you

Yep, its my little girls birthday today. Where does the time go? I can still remember the day she was born. Bringing her home from the hospital. Her growing up years. SO, how on earth did she suddenly become 31??? I DON'T KNOW! I don't think she knows where the time has gone either. But, no matter what, it is her birthday today, and I'd like to wish her the best birthday EVER! Happy birthday hon, love ya!

As an added aside: Bree and I have a really exciting day tomorrow. Two of the girls on Bree's CT, who live in Melbourne, are driving up to Bendigo tomorrow so that we can all finally meet and spend some time together. Sharon and Pene (skyezac and rtoose) are meeting us at the botanical gardens, where we are going to have a picnic lunch, watch the kids play, and get to know each other for the afternoon. I am sooooo looking forward to meeting them both. I have my camera charged and ready!!!!
Bruce, Michael, Chloe, Pheobe and I are taking Bree out for dinner tomorrow night for her birthday. We are going to one of Bree's favourite restaurants, so should be a good night.
I will report back.....with pics of course, in a couple of days. I will have to download tomorrows pics before going out in the evening I think lol!!

Oh So Windy

2009-01-22T21:51:00.003+11:00

Thats the weather, not me lol!!!!
Yesterday was another very warm day, and late yesterday afternoon the wind started to blow, getting stronger as the evening wore on. By 3am this morning I was up and trying to find out what was banging, what was rattling, and checking our side gate was still latched as it tends to come undone in really strong winds. The wind at this time was whining and moaning and was extremely strong, hitting the house in regular huge gusts that actually shook the house. It has stayed that way all day. Hot, very windy, with so much dust in the air that it looked almost misty. It reached a high of 34C today, but now, at 10pm, the temperature is around 23C. Much cooler and so much nicer for sleeping. The wind is still blowing quite fiercely though. I just heard a huge crash before, and upon investigation found that the bathroom mirror had blown right off the wall. Bruce had opened the bathroom window to let some cool air blow through the house, but it decided to try wrecking the bathroom instead. Lol! Thankfully we will not be experiencing 7 years of bad luck as the mirror, believe it or not, is still in one piece. How lucky is that?
I am hoping the wind ceases a little by tomorrow, I'm not a big fan of strong wind....weather or otherwise!

ADSR Challenge 5

2009-01-21T12:13:00.005+11:00

Welcome to Round 5 of the Amazing DigiScrapping Race! Your challenge for this stop is to create a layout that has no photos on it, but includes at least 3 different and separate photo frames. Sometimes we have special thoughts, feelings and/or memories about a person or place or event or pet or whatever, but no photos. OR, we could be missing someone who has passed on or something that is no longer in our lives and would dearly love to be able to express that on a page.Because scrapbooking is all about recording our life journey and that of our family we can still create a page to record and preserve those special thoughts, feelings and/or memories with a little thought and planning and with the creative use of photo frames and journaling (although journaling is not required for this challenge).You could even try doing a collage of elements and paper cut-outs within the photo frames to create a pictorial representation of your missing photos.
This is what I came up with.....it was a lot harder than I imagined.
Credits

ADSR Challenge 4

2009-01-18T21:03:00.002+11:00

Challenge 4:
The Art and Soul Challenge!You both must complete this challenge! However, this is a FAST FORWARD challenge which means that the first team done can SKIP the January 18th challenge if they wish!
1. The Art of it: Your LO must have artistic flair! Literally! Your LO must have at least 3 things "artsy" and/or "altered" on it--(such as but not limited to: paint splatters, a paintbrush, paint spills, crayon doodles, goopy glitter, watercolors, canvas AND/OR altered art items such as wings on photos, art dolls, vintage doodads, ephemera, etc). Really stretch yourself and try something "artsy" that you haven't tried before!2. The Soul of it: You must journal something from your Soul. Something positive, heartfelt and meaningful to you in your life! Something you've learned, something you've gleaned from your life experience. Perhaps something you would want to pass on to the next generation! (It can even be your favorite quote and why it touches/inspires you) Uplift us, make us smile--inspire us! You must share your journaling with us-if it's hard to read or blended into the background-part of the challenge is to share your journaling in your description.
credits

We've Had a Busy Weekend

2009-01-18T19:52:00.005+11:00

I had a little bit of a sleep in on Friday morning, but only a little bit. After a leisurely breakfast Bruce and I got stuck into the housework, washing, and FINALLY (I'm a little ashamed to say) taking down the Christmas decorations and packing them away. After lucnch we both headed off to our computers to do what we had to do.
Friday night we went out to a friends house for dinner. We had a great night, 3 other couples and a single lady, great food, good conversation, wonderful company. Most of these people don't drink alcohol, so it was a soft drink only night (ha! ha! you didn't think I could go out for dinner without having a champers or a wine did you...well! there you go, I have some secrets you don't know about!). The friends we visited only live a couple of blocks from us so we were able to walk to their house, which is so much better than having to load and unload the wheelchair. By the time we left at 10.30pm the evening had cooled down giving us a glorious evening to walk home.
Saturday morning we were up bright and early to meet friends (one of the couples from last night) for breakfast at a lakeside cafe called the Boardwalk. We arrived at 9.20am and after a very hearty breakfast, lots of coffee and water, and obviously a LOT of talking, we left at 11.30am. We strolled over to have a peek at an artist at work on the lakeside, and after about 1/2 hour of chatting to this wonderful Irishman, we dashed off home to grab the camera, then headed out to White Hills Botanical Gardens to take some pics of the sunflowers. The schools around the local area planted a maze of sundflowers and they are all in bloom at the moment.
The different sizes and different varieties were amazing, and so pretty.
Here are some pics we took:
A small portion of the maze of sunflowers.

Some were very tall, towering above like golden sentinels.

So many beautiful colours.

The bees were busy in nearly every bloom.

The different patterns in the centres of the flowers were amazingly beautiful.

This one had just started setting seed.

The seed looks brilliant up close.

After taking the pics we went home and had a fairly uneventful afternoon. I did race up to one of the local cafe`s where they encourage dog owners to take their pooches for coffee...puppicino's. It is a 'normal' cafe/resataurant, but they believe you can take your little furry friends with you...sitting outside of course. They even provide beds for the dogs to lie on.They have a picture wall of all the visiting dogs, and the person responsible for this little venture has asked me to do an album for her pets, so I went to pick up the phooto's. She is thinking that if she leaves her album on the counter, most pet owners will either want an album for themselves, or want a special page done to frame. We'll see what comes of it.

This morning, Sunday, I went to Bree's for the morning and picked her brains on CS2. I have been working on my lo for challenge 4, and this time totally needed to use a program other than FotoFusion. This afternoon I finally finished my page for the challenge and will post it after this post. I am having an early night tonight, then off to work again tomorrow. Won't that be fun????

Challenge 3 Finished

2009-01-15T21:19:00.002+11:00

The weather here today was a really beautiful 28C AND we have been loaned a portable air conditioner for as long as we need it.......BLISS!!!

This is my lo for challenge 3 and a re-do of the lo below this one.
All the info on what the challenge was, the rules etc is here

This was my original lo, and also my very first digi lo.

Its SO HOT!!!

2009-01-14T18:19:00.002+11:00

I've been back at work for nearly 2 weeks now, and if that isn't bad enough, the weather has decided to warm up considerably. Last week we had a few hottish days, but this week it has been horrendously hot. Yesterday 40C and today 41C....I HATE this weather. We, as yet, still have no air conditioning here at home, as we are still trying to save and get all the modifications done to the house for Bruce. It is travelling up the list now at very high speed lol!! We have the non slip bathroom floor going down in the next couple of weeks, then we only have to put the rails on the new ramp, then we can seriously start saving for the cooling/heating. It can't come soon enough for me....especially with the weather getting this hot. Everything else that needs to be done can wait until after the cooling/heating goes in, I'll be a happy little vegemite then!
I have been seriously thinking of changing jobs for a long time now. I used to LOVE my job, but I'm getting to the stage now where I hate all the responsibility, hate the beaurocracy and red tape, hate the inflexibility, and most of all I HATE how our clients have become less than important when it comes to the dreaded 'bottom line' and 'making a buck'.
Only problem is that after working in this position for 13 years, I have found that none of my qualifications are worth the paper they are written on any more......can you believe I'm not even qualified to clean toilets now....you even need a piece of paper to do that....pardon the pun!
So, I guess for awhile I am stuck in this rut......but don't worry, I am keeping my eyes and ears open for any possible solutions to this problem.
If anyone out there knows of a job that pays an excellent salary, especially the type of job where you can travel, try out different resorts, holiday destinations, hotels, restaurants etc, maybe to look at access options for people with a disability so that Bruce can travel too....I'm the gal for you lol!!!! OK stop your fighting, I know NONE of you would tell me about this job until you had tried out for it yourselves LOL!!!!
OK, I've had my vent for the day, and my only excuse for being such a sourpuss today is the damned HEAT!!!!! Looking forward to a cooler day tomorrow.

Second Challenge for ADSR

2009-01-12T18:14:00.005+11:00

The second challenge for the ADSR was not very inspiring for either Bree or myself, but we finally managed to get a layout finished.
These were the challenge instructions:
Cabin Fever
(interpret this as you will, but it must be evident that this is the thought/theme behind your page!)

Must include:
3 photos
4 papers only (no more or less)
8 different elements - at least 1 must be acrylic
2 different fonts
Must have a title, and journaling (which must be visible - if it is not readable, please include in your description)
Bree and I spent some of Saturday and Sunday together and this is what we came up with:

Credits

First Challenge for ADSR

2009-01-09T22:57:00.006+11:00

Well, after a very slow start I finally finished my lo for the first challenge. Bree finished hers way before me......and its gorgeous!
I haven't done much scrapping lately (actually neither has Bree) and I found it really difficult to get a page done, I had really lost my mojo. I started, restarted, restarted again, and again, and again! I finally got something done and uploaded, and I am happy with it.......not thrilled, but happy!

Challenge 1#
1) Rip and tear a photo into three or more pieces! (that's a photo, not papers!)
2) Use journaling on your layout (something I stress is SO important).
Journaling: Dictionary.com: A personal record of occurrences, experiences, and reflections
This is a challenge to be completed by both racers.
That's it! Anything else goes! You can have more than three tears. You can have more than one photo on your layout. You can have a lot or a few elements. You can use any theme. Just get a memory preserved as that is what scrapping is all about.

Credits

Challenge 2 has already been posted and has to be finished and uploaded by midnight Sunday. Its a hard one!

ADSR Season 4

2009-01-03T17:54:00.003+11:00

Bree and I have teamed up and entered the ADSR (Amazing Digital Scrapbook Race)season 4, which starts on the 4th. It is being run by 'Natural Designs in Scrapbooking'. I am really excited, but also a little aprehensive. I start back at work on Monday 5th, (which also happens to be Sunday the 4th, the starting day, in the US) so I'm really hoping I can still squeeze in some scrapping time.......I don't want to let Bree down. I guess I will just have to make sure I MAKE the time! If you would like to follow our progress we have an ADSR blog site, which is listed here on the right side bar under ADSR. Bree set up the site (that was before I learned how to do ANYTHING on a blog), and made the blinkie. It looks great! I'll keep you posted on what we are up to. Wish us luck.....the prizes are AWESOME!!!!

Christmas Day

2009-01-01T14:52:00.008+11:00

It seems strange writing about Christmas Day after New Year, but I'm a bit behind and still trying to catch up....so please bear with me.
Picture this.......Friday 19th December, Maz and Bruce still haven't bought one single Christmas present, no food for Christmas, NOTHING! I was having heart failures and having a little panic attack....especially as we were hosting Christmas at our house for Bree, Mick and the girls, as well as Bruce's family. Around 13 adults and 3 children.......and nothing prepared, crikey!
So off to the shops we went after my hairdressers appointment on Friday morning, vowing not to return home until all the shopping had been done. We arrived home at 6pm with most of the shopping done, and a list of things that we still had to buy....but at least we now had a list.
Saturday morning saw me up bright and early and off to finish the rest of the shopping on my own. I was back home triumphant at 9.45am. ALL DONE!!! Saturday afternoon Bree came round to wrap all her pressies (not safe to be left at her house), and I got all mine wrapped too. Whew!
We had arranged to eat Christmas lunch outside under the verandah, as there isn't enough room in our little house to seat all these people and still allow Bruce to get around in the wheelchair. The forecast was for a cool Christmas Day....we were keeping our fingers crossed.
I took Christmas Eve off work so that Bruce and I could prepare some of the food, bake, and set up for the following day. Everyone brings food too, so we never go short, in fact there is usually far too much food, but it doesn't stop us always having to make one extra thing! It never goes to waste.
Christmas morning Bree and the girls arrived followed by Mick and Ashlee. It is an early morning because the girls open most of their presents at our house, and its unfair to keep them waiting too long. This makes Christmas day for Bruce and I, we love watching the kids open their pressies.
After taking pics of the present openings, I put my camera down and didn't pick it up again for the rest of the day. I just seemed to be so busy, I forgot.......can you believe it? I am kicking myself now because I don't have any photo's of Christmas lunch, no pictures of the DS addict, the tipsie one, the sleeping rellie, the X Box competitors, the first ever bike ride on a 2 wheeler bike, the walk around the lake on a far too hot day. I have no pictures, but I do have the memories. So my challenge now is to do a scrapbook layout with no pictures, just journalling, so that I can keep those memories forever.....oh! and a big reminder for next year NOT to let that camera out of my sight........and USE IT!
Here are some of my favourite pics from Christmas Day:

Pheobe with the new dress she got from Aunty Gill. Don't you just love that cute little face????

Arrrhhhh! What about this cute little face too? Bruce with his charity teddy bear and CBR gift certificate from Bree and the girls.

Chloe opening one of her presents. I don't know what the orange glow is, but suspect it is the glow from the wrapping paper. Look how fast her hands are working...they are nothing but a blur.

Ashlee, our little present opening champ. She was a blur in most of the pics I took, this is the only one where you can actually make out it is Ashlee lol!

Bree was SOOOOO excited to get her present from Bruce and I....an external hard drive (1TB).

Now we can look forward to lots more new kits from her, with no excuses that her *%^&$%^$

computer is overloaded yet again. ROFL!!!!

Mick (with a lot of help from Ashlee) opening his present from Bruce and I....a new fish tank and everything to set it up......including a gift voucher for the fish. He was rapt!

Mick and Ashlee in a quiet moment.

We had a fabulous Christmas. It was hot, so we sweated and sweltered over lunch (so much for the weather forecast) but we had our family and loved one's around us, and to me, that is what Christmas is all about........being together, and being thankful that we are able to all be together. That is something so precious and special.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!

2008-12-31T22:35:00.002+11:00

Just wishing you all a very happy New Year and we hope you all have the best year ever for 2009! Take care and stay safe!

((((hugs))))) Maz & Bruce

Santa Visits

2008-12-30T16:08:00.004+11:00

Around the 18th December each year Bruce and I hold a dinner at our house for a couple of good friends, Bree, Mick and thee kids. Its strange how every time we hold this dinner we always end up with an extra guest at the end of the evening. It was the same again this year!!!
18th December:
Geordie, Lin and Zinnia, Drew, Bree, Chloe, Pheobe, Mick and Ashlee along with Bruce and myself all got together for dinner. We had a lovely meal, great conversation and lots of laughs. When dinner was over we all went out into the back garden so that the kids could have a run around and play with the dogs.
Maybe 10 minutes or so after we got outside we heard a loud HO! HO! HO! and a bell ringing at the front of the house. Chloe and Pheobe knew straight away who it was. They were so hilarious. Chloe was screaming 'Santa, its Santa' while running frantically on the spot. Pheobe was just plain screaming at the top of her lungs, its a miracle the neighbours didn't come running thinking the girls were being murdered. Ashie now knows who Santa is but didn't understand what all the fuss was about, but she took off after the girls anyway, straight to the back door, through the house to the front door to let Santa in.
Zinnia on the other hand isn't impressed at all by the jolly red fella. She watched the girls screaming, jumping up and down, and running off into the house, then toddled off round the other side of the house, where she got a full view of Santa standing on the front porch. She pointed and smiled and just had that knowing little look that nearly 2 year olds often have when they have just outwitted and outsmarted their older playmates.
Santa was brought into the house with very little ceremony this year. Of course he still had to have a go at Bree about some extra packaging as he was making his way to the couch.
Here is a photo of Santa just to prove he was here:

First up on Santa's lap was Pheobe. She was more than happy this year to chat away to Santa, telling him what she wanted for Christmas, and just taking it all in her stride that Santa was actually in Nanny's house again.

Ashlee had us in stitches. The look she had on her face was so comical. She wouldn't look Santa in the face and stayed totally rigid the whole time she was with him, but she was more than happy to take the present and run. She finds Santa rather curious, but understands the present part really well.

Here's Chloe. She has been a little bit (quite a bit) naughty for her mum over the last 12 months.
Santa asks her 'have you been a good girl?', she replies 'not really, but I've been trying'.
Nothing wrong with this girl! We thought this might be the last year Chloe would fall for this, but NO! She was as mesmerised as last year. We do wonder how much longer she will share in the magic though.......she's nearly 9 now.

Zinnia liked Santa OK from a distance, but DON'T SIT ME ON THE FAT MANS LAP!!!!
She cried and crawled onto her mums lap and wouldn't have anything to do with Santa......that is until Santa asked her if she wanted a present. She slowly came around to looking at him from the shelter of mums arms, shyly gave him a little wave hello, took her present, but was ready to scream if Santa came any closer (not bad when it was her much adored father under all that red material and white fluffy stuff! lol!)

Santa eventually had to leave, saying he had to go and visit a few more lucky children. Bree made comment on the fact that Santa wasn't wearing his big black belt.........something along the lines of maybe Santa had got too fat for the belt. Santa replied that his big elf had forgotten to pack the belt. Bree pushed the too fat for the belt line again.
Santa, always having to have the last word, made a quiet but snide comment about making sure there was a Jenny Craig gift voucher under the tree for Bree at Christmas....what a nasty Santa!!!!
Santa left the house, and we're sure we heard the reindeer stomping on the roof. By the time we got into the back gardenagain, Santa was nowhere to be seen.....gone for another year! THANK YOU SO MUCH GEORDIE!

Christmas Lights

2008-12-29T13:47:00.004+11:00

We took the girls out for a drive to look at the Christmas Lights before Christmas. We set off at about 8.30pm.....still light, and returned the girls at around 11pm after a fairly lengthy drive, and a stop off at Hungry Jacks for sundaes and Storms, YUM!!!!

Other than the lights being absolutely stunning, the thing that amazed me the most was the generosity of the people who had set up these wonderful displays for others to share.

The first house we visited, the children came out with a bag of candy canes and gave one to every child visiting, how generous is that?

At another house the owner was dressed as Santa, his grandchildren as Santa's elves. They were giving all the children chocolates or balloons. They also had a HUGE projector TV set up in the garden with the WIGGLES DVD playing, so the kids could sing along too. Amazing!

Yet another house, the owners invited the girls onto the verandah to have a look at their very special angel teddy bear, which played Christmas carols and changed colour....just beautiful.

We let the girls get out of the car at most of the houses and the look of wonder and awe on their faces really made the night for us. They would often find hidden treasures in the gardens that you couldn't see from the car, and their excitement was catching.

After a wonderful night where our senses eventually went into overload, we took 2 very tired little girls home to their mum.

Here are a few of the pics we took that night:

My Very First Blog Post

2008-12-28T22:02:00.003+11:00

Well, here it is, my very first blog post. I have had the blog site named and waiting to go since June, but being totally blog challenged, I didn't know how to set it all up. Anyway, after a visit from Bree today, and an hour or so of tutoring, we had the banner, the pic, and the blog list set up, and I was well tutored in how to go about setting everything else up.
So here I am finally with my very own blog.........nearly set up, but not quite finished yet. I will be adding more stuff over the next week or so, so that it is all finished by the time I go back to work on the 5th.
I will be using this blog to post my photo's and digtal scrapbook layouts, to keep a sort of journal of what is happening in my life, and as a way to communicate with family and friends overseas and in other parts of Australia.