Artastic December challenge, Frosted Designs.

Hello dear friends, hope this post finds you well and happy, well it may be Christmas but there is no stopping the challenges they just keep coming, and this month at arTASTIC it was a doozy, for the full diva demand points you have a stable, gold embossing and and angel displayed on your page. I called in the big guns for this, prima papers, my a2z window which is actually looking into my stable and I gold embossed the word child and the star above the "i", the angel is on the right and is cut from a diary I once had. Hope you like the end result.

I just love arTASTIC, Shazza always manages to set "out of the box" criteria and I always really have to think about my layouts. Isn't this pic of Nate super cute....he is so gorgeous with his angelic face when he sleeps.

Friends Deb and Ange are on the DT for "Frosted Designs" so I participated in their Blog hop today, it was great, so much eye-candy and great prizes too. The layout you need to create has to incorporate bling or sparkle. I created this layout of "Angel" she is good friend Amanda Taylor's beautiful dog and I added kindyglitz to all the flowers and the trail of the butterfly and was totally guilt free as their is no Nate in this layout....

In this pic Nate is flying a kite but he let go of the string and it just flew off and luckily I caught him laughing his head off as he ran after it. We had a wonderful day at the park. We have tried several times since this day and unfortunately there has not been enough wind to fly the kites again. So I guess this makes this day extra special.

A few weekends ago we went to the O'Neill yearly Christmas get together and Nate got to catch up with my cousins kids, it was just wonderful, here is Harriet and Nate just looking out over Wivenhoe Dam. I had a great time catching up with my cousins, Aunt's & Uncles, and to see our kids playing together was just priceless. This photo is just another example of Nate growing up. Wow he is growing into a little man right before my eyes...SLOW DOWN......not too fast.......just a little longer.....

Love to you all and your families. Melxx

Bo Bunny Challenge, A2Z sketch challenge & Wedding photos

Morning all, not sure what is happenning but I just seem to be getting up earlier and earlier, Nate stays in bed until 8am and I am up around 5am. It is raining here and apparently is not going to stop in the near future, so their may be a great chance to get lots of scrapping done.

The above layout is one I did for the "Bo Bunny" Challenge - which was design a layout and say what you love most about YOU. I had these one handed photos I took of Max and I so just had to use them. Now the gorgeous flower I made using a great tute from Julie Dudley which you can find HERE, these are my new fixation. The round yellow crepe paper flower is from Chelley Bean Designs and the little flower centre and gorgeous ladybug pin are from Mel Pizzinga Designs.

This is my layout for A2Z for November, I used the gorgeous We are Memory Keepers papers "Maple Grove, this is a picture of Nate sitting on our wooden seat up the back yard eating star fruit.

And here are some gorgeous pics of my sister's wedding, Nate was the page boy and really did a great job, my sister looked simply stunning.

This is the pre Ceremony photos of Julie and Morrie's wedding, Nate  looks debonaire and little Lolita (Morrie's Granddaughter) looks stunning.

And this is after the ceremony, no music just lots of Boogie happenning. Just love the shirt hanging out, it's a boy thing.....

Love to you all, hope you are all happy and you and your family's healthy. Love Melxx

Sketches 4 all Rak challenge, Handmade by Suzanne

Hi everyone, hope you all had a fabulous weekend, we did, started off with a fantastic day Friday, Saturday we had a Christmas Party for local Charity I volunteer for and Sunday I took the 2 dogs and a small boy to have their photo taken with Santa, our local shopping centre put on a day we could bring our animals to sit with Santa too, the boys (all 3 of them) were fantastic.

The above layout is for my challenge for Sketches 4 all for their 1st birthday celebrations,

The challenge is: Make a Christmas layout using what you call the traditional colours for Christmas. I am a red green white girl, what are your traditional colours,  once you create your layout just post it in the Sketches 4 all gallery HERE and you could win this Rak from me.

Please post the tag: MELCHRISTMAS

This is the winning RAK

The layout below is one I created for the "Handmade by Suzanne" sketch challenge this month, I used the gorgeous Sass Lass papers and my favourite flourishes at present "Flourish with a Bling" just love there awesome gloss finishes. I hope you like the layout: The gorgeous border punch blue paper side and bottom was courtesy of Cathy Cafun....

And you know I cannot leave you without a pic of Nate:

Santa couldn't make the Christmas party for the Charity but Mrs Claus was on hand to distribute the pressies, Nate and I had a wonderful time.

Love to each and all of you. Melxx

Sketches 4 all - 1st Birthday blog hop

Sketches 4 All is having a Blog Hop starting today and runs for a couple of days!

Here is the gorgeous sketch for the 1st Challenge:

The idea is to take inspiration from the sketch and make it your own, I hope you like my layout of "surprise surprise" Nate up a tree (no hands mind you) lol!!!! No wonder I am grey, he is not up high, but they just don't see any fear........

This is my depiction of the sketch with a bit of a spin on it, I tried the technique using the leftover letters and then painted and misted over them. I used the stunning Nikki Sivils papers and made some little scroll flowers and I hope you like it.

After the Blog Hop they are having a Birthday Celebration with more RAKS been given by the DT and all you have to do is join in any of the DT challenges - this will end on Dec. 6th!!

My secret code letter is "E" and if your joining on the Blog Hop in order you should have came from Stacy

From my blog you will visit a fantastic card maker who has tried for the first time a layout, she is extremely talented - Jackie

There are some amazing prizes, not including RAK's from the DT members also.

All you have to do is:

1. Take inspiration from the sketch above and post your layout in the "Sketches for all "gallery  - write your name in the gallery details about what you think the mystery word is from gathering all the (random) letters from each blog?  (Mine was"E") and while you're there become a follower.

2. Leave a comment on each of our blogs.

3. Become a follower on Sketches 4 All blog.


Hope you enjoy the Blog Hop.  Love Melxx

Had to leave you with these two contrasting photos of my boy and my friend's Great Grand-daughter Natasha..........Just makes me laugh.......he is such a little man already......

Here I am acting like I just don't give a Damm!!!!!!

 I seriously think my boy has a good chance of winning an Oscar, he is such an actor. lol...........

Anna's Craft Cupboard Sketch, Sketches 4 all, Cosmo Cricket Showcase

Morning dear friends, hope this hump day finds you all well, we are keeping ourselves out of trouble this end, the weather is windy and drizzly here today, so you know this is perfect weather for........scrapping...

The above layout I made for the gorgeous sketch challenge at Anna's craft cupboard and I made both of the layouts using the NOOK 1934 circa Cosmo range of papers and they were really gorgeous. The above layout is to document that whenever we go driving, you will go under a bridge or overpass at some stage and not at all but randomly Nate will yell out "DUCK" and it always makes us laugh. He always manages to catch me when it is not expected too.

I recently had to get rid of this drum set, (not because of the shocking noise) but because both the side drums fell off and the plastic broke and Grampsy just could not fix it because of the flimsy plastic so I can honestly say, this little drummer boy gave it his best bash.....

I was once again honoured by both of these layouts appearing on the COSMO CRICKET BLOG, and this certainly made my day.

I was super happy Monday night because ALTYAN won X-Factor, he is so humble, a fantastic singer and of course very easy on the eye too......

7.56am here Nate is still sleeping, so I have a good chance to do my blogging, talk to you all soon, good friend Ann maree has given me the names of 2 wonderful christmas movies Nate might like, "The Grinch" and "Elf", so I might have to invest in these this week, I love Christmas movies....and it is so so close now.

Love you all. Melxx

Get Picky 2nd November challenge

Hello dear friends, hope this post finds you all in great spirits and all your family's are well. Monday again, I actually don't like them, but today we stayed home all day, I got to make the above layout for GET PICKY No. 2 Sketch for November. I have had these awesome Crate Paper papers for ages and have never made a layout with them, that is really terrible, but I kind of bought them knowing that I would use them when Nate goes to school and thought they may not be available by then so I was better off buying them now.....well that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I love these random shots Aunty Jan took of us sitting on the lounge one night and the title is "My mummy, My teacher". I hope you like it.

We had a lovely weekend, went kite flying on Saturday arvo at the local park, Nate had a blast, and Sunday went to Wivenhoe Dam to catch up with dad's side of the family, this is a yearly event, Nate got to play with all his cousins (well my cousins children) does that make him and them 2nd or 3rd cousins???? Heaps of fun. We watched X-Factor last night, GO ALTYAN!!! so the final is tonight.

Okay some problems with Blogger this end, so I will leave you and off now to visit all your wonderful blogs to check out what's happenning around the blogging world. Love to you all. Melxx

Scrap the Boys, Cosmo Cricket Showcase

Hello dear friends, hope this finds you well, and you have all had a wonderful week so far. We had a lovely Tuesday lady's day, Wednesday Aunty Jan and I scrapped for half a day, dear friend Amber told me she is having twins......and today we wrapped Christmas pressies for a local charity and this was so much fun, Nate helped out and the lady's just love him, so it's been full on here.

I made the above layout for this month's 2nd Scrap the Boys challenge this month, it is a stunning sketch and I used the gorgeous new Cosmo Cricket range of papers I got in The Nook kit this month, and the round part of the layout is chipboard, I inked it, then stamped on it and clear embossed over the top, I was super happy with the result and got the honour of being on the Cosmo Cricket Blog and had this layout showcased so this was a wonderful start to this week.

The above photos were taken at Cathy's house (I hope you don't mind me posting Cathy) but when I saw them my first thoughts were "Where has my baby gone" I know we all talk about how time seems to just be beyond comprehension the way it travels so fast, but here is my baby sitting driving a car (not well though) using X-box - wow, guessing we all feel this way about our kids, I miss my baby....he is now a little man....

Love to you all, enjoy the rest of this week and the weekend, I am looking forward to seeing your gorgeous projects, will visit over the next few days.  Melxxx

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