Sketches for all, Jillibean Soup

Good morning dear friends, cloudy thank goodness today, it was sooo hot yesterday, little cooler expected today?? Hope you and your family's are all well.

The above layout is my DT layout for Sketches for all and I just had to use this pic of Nate in the bath and me feeding him strawberries, Aunty Jan was taking the posed photo, this is not something I do on a regular basis but it was a fun example to show Nate later on that his mum really does spoil him. The layout's title appropriately reads "Feeding the monster in the bath".

Now this is the sketch that we used to create our layouts, now if you would like to have a go, I would love to see your interpretation. There is a fantastic prize too. I used the gorgeous Jillibean Soup Monster Stew papers, I am just loving the bright colours in them, if you would like to enter the sketch challenge just go HERE and I look forward to seeing what you come up with. Sketches for all is a great site with approx 13 challenges going on at the moment, lots of prizes, and the challenges are STAMPING, TAGS, ALTERED ITEMS, and heaps more.

How cute is this photo of my boy doing the vacuming (big bird he calls it) this is a photo this mother just could not resist, boy using Dyson - no pants - PRICELESS.  (a future 21st photo album shot to show his friends) A mum has to do what a mum has to do. By the way, he vacumes every day, he just loves it, so I am guessing that by age of 6ish when he is old enough to manouver it properly he won't want to do it anymore????? 

Off to the old lady's group this morning, I always look forward to their jovial antics, I so look forward to seeing them smile. Hope you all have a fantastic day, love to you and your families. Melxx

White with 1, Meeting Cathy Cafun

Hello everyone, hope your weekend has started well, it is soooo hot here, it must be going to storm I think, we are popping over to a friend from Lady's group to have a swim with her and her grand daughter, which means I will probably start a diet tomorrow once I see myself in my swimmers for this summer. lol

I had the opportunity yesterday to meet up with someone I met online through this wonderful hobby, I just loooooove her work, and to see some of it in real life, wow well what can you say, she blows me away and not to mention her amazing scrap area......Oh wow------ It was Cathy Cafun, and I was excited but a little scared as I had a little drive to get there, but found her place okay and well to say "we hit it off" I think justifies the fact that no scrapping was achieved. lol we just talked but we have said that next visit we will scrap.......I got to meet her beautiful children, and Nate just loved them as you can see below.

Cathy is on the Design Team for White with 1 and this month the challenge was to do a layout with white and yellow and journalling straight on the layout itself, you know this really challenged me, there is a little extra colour in the ink I used to highlight the edges of my handmade flowers, I used Sass Lass papers here, and I cut up tape measure and the pics are Nate playing on his swing out the back.....he is always wanting to go higher and higher. The chipboard circles and sass lass paper from the Mix and Mend range is from Tracey at My2angels.

Cathy and me

Brittany and Nate playing X-box. He told me last night he is going to marry her......she wants to be a doctor so this mum is all for it....she is just gorgeous to boot....good choice son.

Nate's new friend Luke. What a gorgeous boy, so polite and great with Nate. Thanks Lukey for teaching Nate how to use K'nex, and sharing your hot chips with him and showing us a little more about Cosplay.

Aunty Jan is coming down tonight so I am going to do a layout.....Hope you are all well, will check out your blogs over the next day or two, Love you all dear friends. Melxx

Scrap the Boys,

Morning everyone, Hope this post finds you and your family's well and happy. Well it looks like a fine and sunny day today after the downpour we had during the night. Nate and I are going to Storytelling at Riverlink Shopping Centre kids program today, he gets to make a fairy wand and some other crafty things. He really won't care he just loves crafts and there are other little boys going too......

The above layout is for Scrap the Boys this month. You know I just love my Sass Lass papers, can't go wrong with the amazing array of colours, and I got a baby pin, threaded on of My2angels camera charms on it and really like the effect. I have had these Sass Lass letters for quite a while, you know when you just hoard something because you really love them, well it was time to get them out and the amazing cutout of the superhero was from a cut out of a card in a rak from Glorygirl - thanks Julie. Oh and the flourish is by Flourish with a bling.

I hope you like my layout, and again thanks to all of you, by visiting your blogs I have my mojo back to better than ever, you all motivate me to get into my scrapping with your wonderful craftiness and talent.

Thank you so much to the lovely girls who gave me blog awards this week, you are both very special to me, I you all have a fantastic Wednesday and will hop over to see you soon. Love Melx

These are a few of my fav things, Nikki Sivils

Hi everyone, well what a lovely weekend it turned out to be, sunny, very warm, and yay no rain.....got some washing dried. Went to the outdoor movies at our local park last night and saw G-Force, it was good.

Had a quiet day today, did some blogging, got some challenges ready for the week, and Nate is sitting here watching Racing Stripes so it is wind down time here, I may get some scrapping in tonight.......

The layout above is for "These are a few of my favourite things" challenge blog, the theme is do a sport layout, now Nate being so young I have no sport pics as such so I hope the above layout qualifies but I can assure you if tree climbing was a sport.....he would be very good at it. I used 2 lines from Nikki Sivils papers, Tree Love and I am actually not sure what the blue piece is from, I have lots of trouble finding them over here and won the pages you see here.

This is a card I made recently using the beautiful Bisous papers. Hope you like it and look forward to catching up with you soon. Love Melxx

Get Picky

Hi everyone, hope this post finds you all well and looking forward to a wonderful weekend. (Looks like a wet one here) a storm is rumbling outside as I type this and it is only 11.30am.

Above is the gorgeous inspirational photo (gotta love those colours in the lollies) from GET PICKY for their 1st challenge of the month. It totally did the trick for me, and my mojo soars when I see these bright colours. I can let my imagination go a bit. My layout of "Nate at almost 4" is using the gorgeous bright Sass Lass colours, I bought him a real tape measure a while ago and it got caught and broke (it was only $1.99) so not to go to waist, I cut it up, and that is it on the layout, Nate thinks it is going to be fixed by Uncle Col so I will have to get one soon before he remembers........lol

A while ago for Nook challenge they asked us to make a card using something old on it and it couldn't be the usually shape, so I cut out the car and used some "ends", have no idea what they are for but they were in my "fixing/man thing box" I have with nuts and bolts and screws in.......but anyway that is them sticking out from the middle of the wheels.

Okay off to do some blog hopping to see what you have all been up to, Nate is watching Buzz in Toy Story, it is raining now outside, housework is done,  I always look forward to Friday nights, my Channel 2 crime shows are on at 8.30pm and Luther is on at the moment and not only is he cute, it is a great show to boot......Love to you all. Melxx

Artastic, Nikki Sivils, sketches 4 all, Purple pumpkin

arTASTIC challenge blog this month has the amazing painting "The Beach" by Chris Wake (below) for inspiration:

I used the Indie Girl papers from my Nook kit here and I didn't have a pic of Nate and I on the beach, must get one this summer, and did you like the little Purple Pumpkin buttons I used for the flower centres?

The criteria for 6 pts is to add a sandcastle or bucket and spade to the layout (3pts)

add some seagulls (2pts)

a family photo at the beach (1pt)

I would love you to join in this month.

I was honoured in October to be Guest DT for Sketches 4 all and Fia has asked me to stay on as DT member and I humbly said YES, they have some fantastic challenges and an amazing DT. I will let you know my November Challenge list soon.

I love Nikki Sivils so when Sketches 4 all had a Nikki Sivils challenge, good friend Michelle Hodges said they were having a contest using her great products I made a layout and was just blown away to have won, but even more blown away that Julie Tucker-Wolek honoured me by showcasing the layout on Nikki's blog. Press HERE for a sticky.

Went to Amanda's for a scrap day yesterday and guess what - I did a layout I was super happy with so I think she helped me get my mojo back. YAY - thanks Amanda.

Good friend Samantha Hauzer who owns Purple Pumpkin designs has this amazing competition going, I just have to tell you their is still some amazing prizes, here is the link and a pic of the stunning prizes is below.

So it's Melbourne Cup today, the ladies from the Tuesday group are coming over for the race day celebrations. Hope you all have a lovely day and thank you all so much for supporting me through my no mojo October, but Novemeber is here and I am excited about the new month. I will be visiting you all later tonight and tomorrow. Until then. Love you all. Melxx

Get picky sketch challenge, Scrap Gal, Lynnda's give away

Okay everyone, I know you have probably heard way too much whinging from me re: my lack of mojo but I made this layout for the GET PICKY sketch challenge this month. I made the two top flowers and the bottom 2 rolled flowers the other is a prima. I think I like this layout....and these are the gorgeous broms that grow up the back in my garden. I have to show you now the layout I send to Tanya to get some advice on....this was my first go at the sketch challenge, It started out as a 12" layout and then got cut down to a 11"x8 1/2" - have you ever done something like this? but I still want to put it out there......

So I have achieved 2 layouts in two weeks but things are steaming up, I won some Nikki Sivils "Tree Love" paper over at SKETCHES 4 ALL, so going to do a layout today.......

As you can imagine their is no shortage of photo opportunities when there is a 3 year old in the house, Nate hates having his hands sticky and/or dirty so he says this is a better way to eat his mango.......

Okay, I have some friends at Scrap Gals (which I recently joined) thanks to Rita and they have this amazing give away so just click HERE check it out.

and good friend Lynnda Hosni is having a great give away also to check out her great blog and this gorgeous Wicked Princess kit click HERE

Okay now I am out the way for a couple of days, it is now off to get inspired by all your gorgeous works. Catch up soon, hope you and yours are well and happy. Love to you all Melxx

My little Shoebox

Happy Monday everyone, hope you are all bounding with energy to start the new week - yeh right....there is just something I still don't like about Monday's, not sure what it is exactly. Well my mojo is creeping back but very slowly, I did sit on the lounge whilst watching X-factor and cut some things out which is certainly a start.

The above layout I made a couple of weeks ago before Mr. Mojo left and I just love the bright colours of Nate's swimming outfit and it made using bright coloured My Little Shoebox papers just perfect. I hope you like it, this is when we took Nate to Wynnum Manly to the park there, we all had such a wonderful day. Uncle Col and Aunty Jan drove us and we ate her super yum corned beef sandwiches for lunch.

Nate has his own craft supplies and as I was scrapping away I was watching him amuse himself and it all seemed so nice, until the frantic cries filled the loungeroom, as I went over he had got some of his super large pipe cleaners and tied his foot to the bottom drawer of the tv cabinet, well what is a mother to do, I calmed him down and then ran for the camera, not missing this one, I was doing whatever I could to stop myself from laughing as in his deserperation to get his foot away he hadn't even noticed it was just twisted ever so slightly and his little foot came away so easy........haven't seen him try this since....he he he boys hey...

Off to check out your blogs and give Mr Mojo a big kick up the bum, love to you all. Melxxx

PS. Tanya, thanks so much for your encouraging words re: the Get picky layout, I took on board what you said about being too hard on myself. Thank god for wonderful blogging friends to boost your confidence when you are down on yourself..

Sketches for all, Purple Pumpkin, Spiderman

Hi everyone, hope you have all had a wonderful week. I know it has gone super quick. Well the mojo is still low, not much scrapping here, and the little bit I did just didn't look right to me and is on the scrap heap. But visiting all your blogs is sure to boost me. I know this is something we all go through from time to time so I am confident Mr. Mojo will return after his little holiday....

The above layout is for a challenge I set as Guest Designer at SKETCHES FOR ALL and the challenge is to use a movie as your title. I had this gorgeous Jillibean Soup papers (Monster Mash) so just had to use the title of one of Nates favourite movies - Monsters Inc.

If your looking for some challenges either for prizes or to boost your mojo I suggest popping into this great site HERE, really friendly girls, lots and lots of amazing challenges, and Michelle Hodges, for those who know her, is super talented, and she has an amazing competition HERE at the site.

Also it is reveal night for PURPLE PUMPKIN tonight, ooh, I have seen her new buttons and they are just divine, I can do super financial damage ladies without even leaving my living room........looking forward to this Sam.

I took Nate and Aunty Jan to a Community party recently and got the chance to meet Spiderman, this was the first time Nate has had his face painted and he just loved it, kept on looking at himself in the mirror, and just turning his head in all different directions, I can now understand why you need 2 bathrooms in a house, and I think the boys these days are just as particular as the girls from some of my friends comments....

Look forward to catching up dear friends. Need a big Mojo boost, so off to see what you have all been up to now. Love to you and your families. Love Melxx and of course "My little Spiderman"

Nook layouts from Uni, Nate and Pinecone.



























Okay, you know when you have lost Mr. Mojo when you search your photos for layouts that you haven't shown yet.....This was from Nook Uni Home Economics - I made the circle flower under the blue prima by sewing down one side then pulling it, and sewed the banner and number to the fabric which was an old linen serviette I found.

This layout was for the very first class which you had to use several types of letters on your layout, I used the negatives of some MME's stickers and stamped some and mounted some onto acetate to add some height to them.

In case Tracy from My2Angels wonders why when I place an order I always add 2 pinecone inks, it isn't because I do that much scrapping, just that Nate loves to be creative. lol..........For those of you with boys, is all this creativity normal for boys and for those with girls, what little things do they get up to, .............I mean I love it, never a dull moment and you know I end up laughing at most things.......sometimes wish I could enter his little head.....

Hope you all have a great start to the week. Love you all, Melxx

Nikki Sivils, My2angels, skirmish

Hi everyone, on the mend now, feeling lots better today. Still haven't been able to scrap so just pulling some of last months layouts out to show you. This layout was for the Nikki Sivils contest at Sketches4all and I was honoured to win so I look forward to receiving some of her gorgeous papers and embellies. I really love her gorgeous papers, and she is such a beautiful person, her love for dogs is another wonderful trait I love about her. To check out Nikki Sivils papers and gorgeous DT just PRESS HERE.


I combined her papers with some of the new October Afternoon Seaside papers from My2Angels which reminds me Tracy has a 15% off sale on until Sunday night...... 
 
  Here is Nate at his Soccer break-up playing Laser skirmish:

The gun was really heavy and it was starting to show after 10 minutes here. Thanks for all your wonderful comments, I will spend the next couple of days catching up with you all, just not able to scrap as yet but I am sure Mr Mojo will return with time. Love to you all. Melxx

Artastic Challenge

This is my entry for Artastic this month, PRESS HERE for the inspiration picture I designed the layout from. The criteria this month is to do a layout in shades of pink, have a bird on the layout and some roses. There are some amazing prizes for the winning entries. Hope you can give it a go.

Wow the Nook Uni is over now, I just couldn't compete with the girl's, the last challenge was 24 layouts, cards, tags etc in 24hrs. Nate has got a lot of congestion at the moment and now I feel like I am awfully slack too. It was a heap of fun though, I just cannot be on the computer like some of the other girls are.

One of the five cards I made for Final's challenge #2, made this for Nate's 4th birthday well in advance......

A layout I did for challenge #4 for the finals.

And while I was uploading this week, I walked into the kitchen and this is what I found, a whole tin of coffee, a tin of pineapple, and that empty container at the back was full of brown sugar.....and this is why I cannot afford to be on the computer for long periods, Mr Mischief would just have a field day,  I seriously wonder what the hang he thinks he was making......it was super disgusting and sticky, but I just had to take a photo and I did have a laugh.......to myself of course.....

Love to you all. Melxx

Sketches for all, The Nook Mini Album

Hi everyone, Well if you have noticed I have been absent a little from blogland of late, well I am back and looking forward to getting back to normality. Nook Uni was actually very full on, here was the mini album I made for the Final's challenge #1.

So this took me almost every scrappable hour this week, their was also 2 layouts, 5 cards and a 24hr = 24 projects day too, but unfortunately I just could not compete as I had to go shopping with mum to Orion for a dress for my sister's wedding.

I am again today missing the finals as I am taking Nate to the Pictures for his very first time to see "Cats and Dogs" so I cannot wait.

I am guest Designer this month at SKETCHES FOR ALL so I will be back in a day or two to tell you all about it.

Love to you all. Melxx