A2Z Scraplets sketch challenge,

 Hello dear friends, firstly I want to apologize for absence from the blogger scene, I have a new computer now so hopefully no more technical problems and my job is in full swing now so I will be able to go back to my original 3 days per week next week.

The above layout is one I made just on Sunday for the A2Z scraplets sketch challenge, I did the awesome blog hop with them and this is the challenge for the month, I was fortunate to win last month and this is the awesome frame that was in the gorgeous stash I was sent as a prize. I used some amazing Ranger Distress crackle paint I got from Tracy at My2angels, and used the Toy box papers from Crate, again I layered everything and was happy with the result.

Here are Ambers gorgeous twin girls born 2 weeks ago, Issabella on the left and Matilda on the right. They are so cute, Amber is well but instead of a planned caeser she had them naturally,  oh the pain briefly enters my mind. But all are super well and happy.

Lynnda Hosni you are a naughty girl sending Nate these amazing gifts of Lego but can you see from his face how much he loves them. Thanks Lynnda you are an awesome blogger friend. I might add I picked up the gorgeous Playground kit from Echo park from the Post Office from  this arvo from this amazing girl and thanks Lynnda you have motivated this girl to no end.

Nate says a special "Hi" to Matin who is Lynnda's son, he says he is his bestest friend....

I just wanted to share how excited I was this morning to pop into "Bird is the Word" and find my layout (left) was featured this month, oh wow, it has been an amazing week. Work is full on, but so fulfilling. Life is good this end, tonight I will be hopping over to all your blogs, I am so sorry I have been out of action but I have so missed each and every one of you. Love Melxx

Bird is the word, cracking nuts

 Hi everyone, a wonderful sunny but cold day here today, this is my Bird is the Word layout using the word AMAZING, when waiting for a meal never fear Nate will find a way to occupy himself....lol

It was Ipswich Cup Day today and I always love this day as we are only 1 street away from the Race Track and cars line our street, you see the gorgeous suits and ladies fascinators and dresses (short was the fashion this year...) walking to the races but the trip home is a different story, often the girls are not wearing their shoes but holding them. And whilst they await taxis and Limos they are always jovial and merry......We instead went shopping, and spent the arvo at my friend's house, her mum carries oxygen and whilst shopping she was so impressed how Nate held her hand and carried her oxygen bottle for her....boy this made me proud. We are home now, super cold tonight and just going to put Transformers on....he loves this movie.

Here is my boy after we collected Macadamia's from our tree, he has been cracking his own nuts for over 18 months and has got very good at it. Yes I do cringe a little but I have told him how to secure the nuts and hold the hammer and the rest they say is experience.

This is his prize, he loves them and gets so excited when he gets a full one out of the shell whole. These are the things that I hope he will remember doing with me in years to come.

Okay, I will be over to check out your blogs soon, but Transformers awaits and I bought some popcorn so we could make it even more special, although I have watched this movie with him about 3 times before.....

Tonight it is just the 4 of us on the lounge, Max, Stan, Nate and I.


Love to you all dear friends. Melxx

Bird is the Word Challenge

 Hello everyone, hope this posts finds you well, this is my layout for Bird is the Word this month, you have to use the word LIFE, LIVE OR LIVING. I made the flowers myself, some spray mists, bit of tape measure, and had to scrap Nate telling us everytime we swing him"Go higher mumma" he is such a maniac, except when I am driving, you know when you go down a hill and it seems you are going faster! my little back seat
driver says, "Going too fast mum" immediately I look at the speedometer" and I am the one with the Rav 4 with the Baby on Board sticker still on the back window.......

This is him with his Bax (Max) this 16 yr old Hog has a dear friend with Nate, he loves him. poor old Stanley (max's son) is second best....

Granny and Grampsy went to Cape York recently and this is Nate with Cranky Croc and his new t-shirt, I know I am super biased, but he is so beautiful.

I started work today, paperwork mainly, security cards, credit cards, lap top and mobile phone applications, but the job is going to be a challenge but very rewarding as it is starting from an vacant school class room at Leichhardt School, no phone lines, no carpet, just a bare ugly room and once we are up and running it will be awesome to look back and see how far we have come. I rang him this arvo and he said "mum you've been away too long" how cute, but my mum was with him and she told me Charlie from next door was over all day so I am sure he had heaps of fun with her. I missed my little man today so am going to sit with him and try to get a movie in (Cats & Dogs 2) before I sneak it over the see Queensland beat New South Wales for the 6th year in a row....lol. May the best team win...Love to you all.

Mel and Natexxx

Show us your stuff, A2Z,ArTastic.

 Hello dear friends, this is my layout for Show us your stuff this month, firstly their was a gorgeous sketch by Sara, who hails from my area and I did one of my first classes with, apart from the sketch you had to scrap a winter photo, this is Col and Jan and me....on a cold day of recent weeks, I cooked them dinner and it is a rare photo of us just being together, these guys are my family and Nate loves them very much. Ipswich had it's coldest day on record last Thursday with a maximum of 13 degrees....our winter is here......gorgeous Rachel Funnell is the Guest DT for them this month too.

As you all know I have just recently printed out my blog and although sometimes looking at my gorgeous son doing some crazy things may not be scrappy creative, the book I received is a recap of my last 2 years so now I feel propelled to add a little photo of him each post, I am usually with him, but as I start work next week the whole routine we have had until now will change no doubt. He is so cute, even toothless....

I was stoked to find I won the DT Artastic layout for last month, what an awesome sight, so many great prizes each month, I am proud to be on this amazing DT.

The criteria for this month is HERE, check it out, the sponsors are amazing.

And I had the honour of winning the A2Z scraplets sketch challenge for May, I am again honoured to win this great challenge. Might I add, it has been a while since winning any challenges. lol

They have an awesome Blog hop starting tomorrow night at 8pm....I love a good Blog hop.

Hope you are all well, been dreary, overcast and at times rainy here today, thank goodness for scrapping and my favourite thing, blog hopping. Looking forward to your inspiration...Melxx

What flood, meet Edward,

 Hello everyone, I have had these photos above for over 2 years and finally decided it was time to use them, we had flash flooding back in Nov 08, and whilst we did the clean up Mr. Nate just slept.....I used my echo park papers and some older sass lass, my MM corrugated and gorgeous purple pumpkin flower.

Two weeks ago we took Nate to the Ashton's circus tricks activities held in Laidley, he had a ball and so did we, just watching him in action. Here he is doing the human pyramid. 

And here learning to walk the tightrope, this is one of the only shots I got of him looking where he was going, lol their was so much action he didn't know where to look first.

This boy has no fear of trying new things, you should of seen him on the trapeze, my camera battery of course went flat but he is a monkey I swear.

I printed out my blog and received it in the mail last week, so photos of other things we do on here seem so important, you know it is an awesome book and Nate and I are reading it at bed time now. Totally recommend it, it cost about $80 but is just amazing to see 2 years of journalling and layouts in a book format. Pics next post....

Meet Edward, he is helping me to get fit.....I got him last week and so hoping the novelty with Nate will wear off, they are so huge and it sits in my dining room so I can watch the tv, wish me luck....I don't like walking outside, I always feel like when we go for a walk, Nate might get tired and last time we went a dog came out of its yard and I picked Max and Stan up immediately .....just too scary.....

Hope you are all well. Melx

Do more with less challenge, Us shots

Hello everyone, hope you are all well, I created the above layout using some new Fiesta papers from We are memory keepers. Over at Yvonne's blog - Do more with less, she has a challenge each month, this month we were inspired by the stunning work of Elizaveta Danenkova from Russia, the idea was to create a vintage style layout, I still wanted to use these bright colours though....I hope you like it. 

Above is my toothless terror, looking at me when I am a little further away, I do have to get a better photo but since I printed my blog out in book form, photos like this will be awesome to look back on. (By the way, I have him booked in for a eye test) he does this quite often like he cannot focus unless he used his hands like binnoculars....but probably just a phase, worth the check though...

This is us on the balcony of our unit we stayed at whilst holidaying at Burleigh Heads.

He had his coffee (cammomile tea) and I had the real deal and we would sit out on the patio on what we called Poodle alerts, anytime we saw one (and there were heaps) someone would sing out....POODLE ALERT.

We had so much fun.....

Just a shot of my boy with his gorgeous teeth in tact, I know I am so bias but this photo melts my heart. Melxx

ArTastic DT layout, cousins

 Hi dear friends, this is my ArTastic DT challenge layout for June, I know it is still May by a few hours, but we have a tight schedule tomorrow. We have play and grow early and then going to a play centre for lunch so I won't be able to post until night.

This is the amazing inspiration painting (left) for this month, the extra criteria is to have 2 people in the photo, well I have Uncle Col and Nate, reading the instructions to his new remote controlled quad bike. Use some striped paper, well I have lots of stripes going on, even in those stunning Making Memories Kraft alphas, and to add a boat, see that cute little boat charm, it is from My2angels of course, and I tried to use the colours that appeared in the picture.

The papers are from Jillibean Soup and again layering different papers to get the texture and dimension I see to have gravitated to.

This is my cousin Alex(far right), can you believe I met him at the Burleigh Heads kids park, I said "Hey is that you Mr. Crighton" and he was super stunned too and said "yes it is Miss O'Neill"...he was leaving that day to go home with his family, damm, but we still had a great day together, the kids got on really well, Nate loves his cousins, we haven't gone there with the 2nd cousin thing (the explaining) they are his cousins and that is how we have left it, Alex was always my fave cousin, he is my age and we had to go through 12 months of communion training together every Friday....say no more.....

May was ArTastic's birthday again, where did that year go, this was the card I sent my mum for Mother's day this year.

The other part of the contests for the Celebrations were to make up a poem......well here was my poem, first time so be kind.


NATE AND ME

So now I am a mum
never sitting on my bum

Putting things away
Is it really already May

The things you say are funny
that's right we're out of honey

You love your 2 black poodles
Hang on, I have to turn off the noodles

Not as much time to scrap
And forget about that arvo nap

I love you so very much my boy
You are a delight, my love, my joy

by Melissa O'Neill


Talk soon, Melxx

A2Z - Challenge -I love Bax -Crate Toy Box

Hello dear friends, hope the weather is awesome where you are, gorgeous and sunny here, and Nate and I are having a lazy Sunday, going to take the dogs for a walk to a friends later but just relaxing this morning.

I created this layout for the A2Z challenge using a photo I have used before but I wanted to document how Nate calls Max our 16yr old poodle BAX. I know he can say Max but he just chooses to say it. I bought this poodle die for my sizzix about 3 years ago and would you believe it is the first time I have ever used it.....I bet you can believe it.

I used the Crate Toy Box papers here, backed the sticker sheet onto black to give it some extra oomph. and those little circles are just the end of a glue bottle, I have added some of the gorgeous Purple Pumpkin products I bought recently and also the gorgeous felt heart and pin from My2angels. Which reminds me she is having a HUGE SALE, so bargains to be had...

A close up of the gorgeous PP embellies and my glue bottle top stamping. Those pins from My2angels come in super handy to add the date too.

And this time I decided to add the journalling around the page a bit, just had to get this story down.

I layered the red alphas over some stickers for a little extra dimension.

Hope you are all well, Blogger is so far okay, so I will spend some time visiting you all now. Have a great day. Melxx

Lollipop Ladies, Bad Blogger

Hello friends, well it has been a terrible time with Blogger this whole week for me, thankfully, it is all back to okay again, only makes me think I did the best thing by printing my whole blog out a few weeks ago, should come today so I will show you the book soon.


Well Lollipop ladies has their new challenge up, this time it is custard (see the gorgeous inspiration Picture here ) it wouldn't let me copy it over today....Bad blogger, the added criteria is to make it a bit shabby so that is what I tried to achieve here, by inking, and layering. I hope you like my design. Please pop over it is such an awesome challenge site.

 Here is my toothless terror, on the trampoline with a sheet over the clothesline so he and Charlie can make a tent over them.

Here is little miss Charlie, she loves to do whatever Nate does, so thankfully this mum has more than 1 Spiderman suit.


I will pop to your blogs this weekend, sorry about the problems but like I said Blogger has been playing silly buggers.


Love to you all. Melxx

Playing Typrewriter....

Hi everyone, raining cats and dogs here today, which has worked out super good for us, the above layout was made documenting the "typewriter" on the chest game that I have played with Nate since he was  little, hearing his laugh, and him saying "more, more, more mummy"  Ijust had to get this memory onto paper.....This particular shot is where I asked Col to hold his arms, (for maximum impact of course), I got Aunty Jan to take the photo for me. I love the mix and mend papers from SassLass and those MM corregated letters are my faves.

 Today Karen Brierley came for a play, Amber came over and of course we had gorgeous coffee for the day as Karen takes her Bodum with her everywhere, caramel coffee from Gloria Jean's was the flavour, and it was so beautiful.

I did some scrapping, Karen made several layouts (or finished some she had already started) and we talked scrap, kids, childbirth.....well everything, I think we solved heaps of the world's problems. lol

Karen took this photo of me trying to feel the twin girls that Amber has coming in approx 3 weeks, this lady is so positive and fun loving, and if you didn't already know, she lost everything in the January Floods, her kids have so much stress now when it rains, but the good news is that she may qualify for the round 2 money from the Premier's Flood relief programme. (gosh so she should) the family was lucky enough to be able to find a nice home to rent, and although she doesn't want to go back to the old dwelling. Things are looking positive at last for her and her family.

Amber's neglected blog is HERE, I had to have a laugh as when she sits behind her steering wheel she says she will soon need platform shoes to reach the pedals, I can remember this time when I was due also with Nate.

Life is good, there is always so many families in stress, I feel fortunate to have you all as like an extended family to share my trials and tribulations with.

Love to all of you, hope you and your families are well fed, have a warm roof over your heads and there is laughter coming from within the walls. LOVE MEL xxxxxx

My layout "It's a Faux Pas"

Good morning everyone, a little nippier in the top end of Australia today, harder to get out of bed. Hope you and yours are well.

I created this layout just for me using last month's Nook Kit papers, I love Emma's shopp, they are so beautiful. Nate loves blowing out candles, and their is often no special occassion just like this photo. I put down some random hambly doily white rub ons and then used my finger to add some pink ink over the top. Tanya sent me some SRM stickers, they are awesome and allowed me to add some words above the photo. As you can see, banners are still something I love to make, whether still in fashion or not....

The journalling reads, "There was candles but no birthday, it's a faux pas" I hope you like it.

Nate is fine, still waiting to hear re: the operation dates, I start a 15hr/wk job in less than a month as a Pre-Prep tutor for Adults to help them prepare their kids for the transition into school, and Nate is starting Kindy, so things are happenning this end.....

Off to Tracy's at My2angels this weekend with Cathy Cafun, so so looking forward to seeing all the gorgeous things in her shop.

Have a great weekend. Melxx

What I see for you, gappy shots

Hello everyone, just started raining here and I wish the areas over in WA were getting it, I heard today they are in desperate need for it.

I went into my October Afternoon papers again and started with them on my "What I see for you" layout above. A friend bought me some wands, I cut the wand bottom off and backed the bling stars with a Kaiser red paper and I really like the effect.

I am enjoying scrapping again, I think for me, the less pressure I put on myself with DT's etc, releases a passion in me to just scrap for me.....This is us looking out to sea whilst on a day trip to the coast...seemed like a great opportunity to scrap my feelings for how I feel about this little gappy man of mine.

NOW YOU SEE 2 GORGEOUS FRONT TEETH

NOW THERE IS ONLY 1.........

Off to check out your gorgeousness for more inspiration. Love to you and your families. Melx

Lollipop Ladies 2nd monthly challenge, Challenge Masters Corregated layout

Morning everyone, super cold here is Ipswich today, but the sun is shining and it is expected to be a perfect 24 degrees....The above layout is for our 2nd challenge at lollipop Ladies, how gorgeous is the inspiration photo below. Adding circles or squares is the added criteria, I squared a few papers on here and also added the great clock embellishment from My2angels for one of my circular pieces. Please go here and check out the other awesome designs from the DT here.

I created this layout for the awesome Corregated Challenge at Challenge Masters HERE, I love these photos of Tracy and Ann, when I visited the My2Angels shop recently.

Master Nate had a little accident on his bike this last week, he fell off and severed his front tooth just under the gum, we have seen to the hanging bit but now he has to go into hospital to get the roots removed, thankfully they are just baby teeth, I will take a photo for next post but am still in a little shock with it all at this stage, he was so super brave at the Dentist and Hospital.....

Love to you all, now blogger is up and running I will be visiting you all real soon. Love Melxx

Just for me, pics at the coast

Morning dear friends....oh no blogger has changed the way you upload in the post, is there anyone else having problems? I had to change back to the old editor... so please bear with me...

The above layout is a "just for me" layout on my way quest to document all the important memories we have had. This was New Years Eve, Uncle Col had so much fun using Nate's play doh hairdresser....I just love how he had the bright shirt on, I am just really enjoying using bright coloured paper at the moment. Nate's speech is getting so much better and at the moment the funny things are just pouring from his little mouth....the latest being "Oh gross mum"
he is a huge vege eater so when I put Lasagne and veges on his plate last night he separated them and said I like this (pointing to the veges) and said "gross mum" to the lasagne.....it is so cute though, I don't even know where he would get these words from, I don't say them.....but I just have to make a layout to document this...

Whilst on holidays, Tim Patch who is a renowned cartoonist was at the markets we went to so I got him to draw Nate and I....

Off to check out what you have all been up to, I would be interested to know if blogger has changed for anyone else.

Love to you all. Melxx

Get Picky, Just for me, sketches

Hello everyone, what a glorious day here, sun is shining, 25 degrees, just perfect. I took Nate to the new park here in Ipswich and we ended up staying for almost 4 hours. Had a picnic lunch with a friend and her 2 kids and then the kids played and we ended up meeting others to chat with....so relaxing and the kids played so beautifully.

Above is my Get Picky layout for this month, I had previously did a layout on my finished little face painted spiderman but I also wanted to document his face whilst he was getting it painted. Look how he screws his little face up.

This is a just for me layout, I recently asked Nate. "Why do you always eat the bottom of the cone first"? His reply to me was "Had to mum". So I just had to tell this story also. I am just love love loving the For the record papers from Echo Park, love my Nook kits, this next one is Basic Grey Hello Luscious.....cannot wait.

Look what I got in the mail today.....these are just gorgeous and if you would like some yourself just go HERE.















Hope you are all well and your families are well, I will be visiting you all in the next day or so. Love to you all. Mel and Natexx

arTastic challenge for May, lollipop ladies

Good morning my dear friends, hope if you are in Queensland you are enjoying your Labor Day holiday, we woke up late and are just plodding around, it is so nice, nothing is open here today so I am going to do some scrapping......cannot wait.

The above layout is for ArTastic Challenge this month, what a stunning inspiration photo (below) the criteria is a photo of mum/grandma holding a baby, include some lace (mine is a lace doily just next to the first fob watch) and something orange. (well I added lots of little orange bits and pieces here). What a great challenge I hope you can join us because this month is ArTastic's 2nd birthday and there is going to be lots of wonderful prizes and challenges.

The stunning inspiration painting this month by Mary Cassatt. How perfect for mother's Day.

A reminder that you still have time to do the latest LOLLIPOP LADIES challenge for this month.

How gorgeous is this inspiration pic below:

Trish from the wonderfully talented Lollipop ladies DT did this card, how gorgeous are those ribbons with the stitching and the little hippo......so cute. Pop over HERE to see what the other DT were inspired to create.