CUTE KETE

An unashamed plug for my lovely niece....

Hannah Kereama, (Hannie to us!) my gorgeous 16 year old niece, is selling equally gorgeous kete as a part of her year 12 Business Studies programme (you know, where they learn all about how businesses are run and then get to run one themselves).

Each flax bag is approximately 33cm in width and 29cm in length. Bags feature a variety of paua/feather designs (I've got the one with a flower design in paua). They are also happy to custom make something for you.

I am told that we oldies are able to look cool (for a short while) if we use one!

Cost is $10 each plus postage. If you're interested leave me a message and I'll pass on your details to Hannah.

Cheers!

SELF PORTRAIT TUESDAY - THIS TIME LAST YEAR

OK Tuesday is tomorrow but I've got time to do this today and who knows tomorrow. Anyway...

The theme this month is time. I thought about that yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon Darryn and I took the kids to Kaitoke Regional Park. Elliot (and Darryn as parent helper) had been there recently on a school trip (picture 100 5 and 6 year olds in the bush - doesn't bear thinking about really). They wanted to take Caitlin and I to show us where they'd been. So we all did a one hour bush walk. It was an easy stroll - as Darryn described it - "Kind of like an after lunch walk". Caitlin stopped frequently to read up the signs about the different native trees. There was about one minute of uphill climb and the rest could be tackled by your grandmother. But the thing is here we were, the Thorns, outside in the bush having a walk. We would never have done this a year ago. Just shows you what a bit of weight loss and exercise can motivate you to do with your kids.

Now there was one bad bit. Right at the very end there was a swing bridge quite high up over the river. I confess to a fear of this sort of heights. I can get up on a ladder but a swing bridge - nup. Elliot ran across it first and I told Darryn and Caitlin in no uncertain terms that they were to keep off the bridge while I crossed. I put one foot after another and kept going. In the middle I nearly had a panic attack but thought "If I stop I will die". Irrational, I know, but I was totally freaked out (though determined not the let the kids know). Darryn wanted me to turn around in the middle so he could take a photo but I truly couldn't. As I got the the end I turned for a second (even that was hard) and Darryn got this shot.

I am not doing that walk again!

I'VE BEEN TAGGED...

Delys tagged me:

What scrapbook products/lines do you dislike?
Die Cuts

Whats the hardest thing you've had to scrap?
My weight loss/lifestyle change - really want to do this and have collected some stuff but haven't started. Not sure how to approach it - should it be a whole album? (probably) and what sort/size? (don't know)

What technique do you use more than anything else?
This changes every few months. Recently it's layering lots of diffferent patterned papers.

What is the smallest scrap of paper you save?
Around 2inch square - especially if I think I can layer it for a card

Have you had any scrapping related injuries?
No - but I think the kids sometimes want to shoot me when they're hanging out for dinner and I
say "I just want to finish this page".

Finish this sentence...'If I weren't a scrapbooker/stamper, I'd spend my money on..
To quote Delys "Antique shops, art for my walls, books and more books..well actually I still buy books anyway."

Give your best storage organisational tool...
The big triple cupboard from Mitre 10 that resides in our garage - holding all the overflow - things from my scrapspace that I couldn't possibly get rid of but don't access that often.

You just won a week long scrapping cruise for 5. Who is going with you?
I'd take my Mum, Fay, as she's a keen scrapper. And all you fellow scrapping bloggers who check into my blog. We've mostly never met but I feel like we're friends and wouldn't it be a great way to get to know one another more. (OK you can all come)

When you received your first publication notification, who did you tell?
Actually I 've only been published once. Haven't submitted anything else. My Mum (as a scrapper she gets it!), Darryn and the kids. Then my sister, who is not a scrapper and doesn't get it but the project being published was a gift I'd given her and I had to get it back to be photographed!

As for tagging someone else?
Michelle TW and Ali W

I HAVEN'T BEEN SCRAPPING LATELY BECAUSE...

I haven't been scrapping lately because I have found another creative outlet. (It's OK - it's just a small diversion - I'll be back scrapping real soon.) It's these hearts.

I was thinking about swap pins for Crafting Connection 2006. I know that's not 'til August but making swap pins can take a bit of time. Last year I made about 30 little tag pins that were OK (just!). I swapped about half of them. So this year I thought I might do something a bit flasher. So I designed some cute little beaded heart brooches (which are actually brooches you'd wear - with absolutely no details about me or Crafting Connection on them). The first time I wore one was yesterday. Someone admired it so I took it off and gave it to her. Anyway - they take ages to make. They're sparkly and blingy and contain semi-precious stone chips and little glass beads. And they're fiddly and I'm not fiddly. And now that I've made 9 I'm thinking there is no way I can make 30-40 of these and then give them away to any old person. Maybe I won't make swap pins at all. Maybe I'll just throw some of these brooches into my bag and those of you who stop by my blog and who are going to CC2006 can sidle up to me and say - "Can I have a heart?" And I'll give you one.

SELF PORTRAIT TUESDAY - TIME - WHERE DOES IT GO?

I was looking at this photo of the kids which was taken about 3 years ago and I was thinking "Time - where does it go? "

This is where it went today:

6.25am Woken by DH as he's leaving for the day (he never goes without putting his hand on me to wake me and says 'bye, have a good day'. I like that. But how come he can get out of bed and get dressed for the gym and I never hear him and never wake up?).

6.40-7.50am Dragged myself out of bed. Woke Cait. Showered. Woke Cait again. Dressed. Woke Elliot (who had crept into our bed during the night). Talked to Elli about today, "Is it a school day?". Made the bed. Picked up the newspaper that D has thrown into the hallway from the driveway. Opened curtains. Turned on the fish tank lights. Fed the fish. Fed the cat. Made Elli's bed. Made Cait's bed (mental note to self - she's meant to make her own bed. I need to enforce that.) Got school lunches ready (mental note to self - Cait's meant to make her own lunch -she's 10) . Got breakfast for Elli. Talked to Cait about after school activities. Got clothes out for Elli (he's 5). Told Elli he didn't need the TV AND the computer both on. Threw a load of washing on. While looking at a couple of pages of the newspaper ate usual breakfast (Hubbards Bran and Apricot cereal and 3/4 cup Calci Trim milk). Reminded Cait to brush her teeth. Unstacked the dishwasher. Grinned to myself when Caitlin said bye to her brother "Bye, Elli - have a good day. I love you." Saw Cait across the road to wait for her ride to school.

This is how my day starts every day - Monday to Friday. That's where my time goes.

THOSE BANNER PHOTOS

Lots of people have told me it is time to have some new photos taken. OK I'll admit it those banner photos were taken in the middle of last year as a school fundraiser. I've used them quite a lot. We haven't had formal family photos taken since. In the meantime Darryn and I have both lost over 20 kgs and we are still working on it (20kg each more to go). So people say we need new thinner photos and I say - we do but there's a reason why I still like and use the old ones. I don't want to be judged by my size. Even at our heaviest Darryn and I adored one another. Being thinner makes us healthier, fitter and better role models for our kids but it doesn't change the way we feel for each other. These photos remind me that I'm not losing weight to be loved any more. I've always been loved.

SELF PORTRAIT TUESDAY - TIME

This month's theme is time. "For one month I would like you to document time - in order to ...- document and observe physical changes in yourself- create a discourse on identity- keep a visual diary of moods- tell stories"

This photos shows my sisters, my Mum and I at Darryn and my 40th birthday party last year. The theme was '80s. Theme chosen because we met in the '80s, married in the '80s and loved the music. Can't really see my costume which was a Madonna big boobed thing (I was too fat - didn't really work!). In the '80s I had curly blonde hair so my friend, Sherie, who happens to be a hairdresser curled my hair for the night. Darryn went as a punk which stole the show.

I am the eldest of three girls. Little sister, Katrina, had a 'Frankie says Relax" t/shirt on and Middle sister, Janine, went in an 1880's getup only because she liked trying it on at the hire shop! She's 40 this year. Mum wore a glittery gold top and headband and stuff. Everyone dressed up - all 70 of them- which was cool. Not a great photo but we don't have many photos of all us Joseph girls together. A special one because of that.

I HATE TO BRAG .... BUT....

I got this email last night -
"Congratulations, your layout has been selected to appear in our on-line gallery at http://www.basicgrey.com! We appreciate your time and talent and thank you for using BasicGrey papers and embellishments. "

I love Basic Grey and only bought these papers last week. Recognise the photo?

This is the layout they published.

A PHOTO THAT WASN'T A POTENTIAL ART STATEMENT

I was just browsing various scrapper's blogs (as you do) and I saw Katrina's latest entry. It was a layout she'd done using some simple photos of her kids playing at Orana Park a few years ago. It got me thinking...

... Maybe we should challenge ourselves to go back and use some of those photos from a few years ago. The photos we took before we were scrappers. The photos we took to remind ourselves of a great day out. The photos that were never destined to be part of great works of art. The photos that weren't glamour shots. The photos that weren't taken with the aim of getting published. Back to basics. Maybe?

Here's one of those photos I dug out -

this would never win any awards and certainly hasn't made it to a scrapbook page but when I look at it I remember an awesome day. We were driving up to Palmerston North to visit my sister and her family (as we do often). As Elliot usually throws up about half an hour after leaving home we decided to stop at Pukerua Bay for some fresh air. We ended up climbing over all the rock pools for half an hour. It was a gorgeous day. Elliot found a crab. And picked it up. His first crab. We were so pleased that we'd slowed down and stopped instead of racing to get to Palmy as quickly as we could. The kids loved it and so did we (didn't love Darryn's all yellow attire, though - what was that?).

But the thing is this photo brings back such warm memories that it doesn't need to be published for me to enjoy it. It's just a photo of my family having a great time. That's why I scrap. I will scrap it and write about how I felt when I took it. It's about the journey.

"I AM ELLI BOY..."

I've just finished a series of 3 classes at Kiwiscraps on using Photoshop Elements. Here is one of my practice attempts. I still need more hours than I have to actually sit and play with the software. The class was great, though.

The quote at the top is something Elliot said a while ago. "I am Elli Boy and there is my Caity Girl". How cute that he loves his big sister (and she even put him to bed tonight - how sweet is that?).

My next task is to make a banner for my blog (and figure out how to install it - the instructions are a bit daunting). And then, I need to figure out how to install new brushes - I love those grunge ones. Watch this space.

SELF PORTRAIT TUESDAY - TIME

The theme for Self Portrait Tuesday this month is time.

My first photo is simple. It's my wrist. Where a watch would go. I don't wear a watch. Don't own one since my Christian Dior copy watch (purchased in a sugar plantation in Malaysia - but that's another story) died. I'm always on time. I hate people who are late. I consider it the height of rudeness. I'm never late but I don't wear a watch.

SELF PORTRAIT TUESDAY

So I've never really been one for sticking exactly to the rules. It's the 1st of March (Happy Birthday, Hannah - my eldest niece is 16 today!) and the Self Portrait Tuesday topic has changed for the month but I'm still going to use February's "warts and all' theme.

The photo is of my kitchen rubbish bin. I don't have one. I love those Brabantia stainless steel flash ones but I can't justify the $300 spend on a rubbish bin. And any other stainless brand seems second best. And sometimes I see the Brabantia bins in a half price sale. But $150 is still way too much to spend on something to hold the disgusting rubbish that comes from our kitchen. So.... I have a plastic bag in the sink that gets filled and thrown out to the outside wheely bin about 3-4 times a day. Needless to say in our new kitchen, if we ever get one, I am going to have one of those cool bins hidden in a cupboard so no one can see it.

(Another confession - I have not had a clothesline for 7 years - through two houses. Yep - everything goes in the dryer or on the line in the garage or (just occassionally - on the verandah. And no, our clothes and towels and stuff don't look any different to anyone elses!They are clean and white and talk of needing to dry things in the sun to keep them naturally bleached white and bright doesn't cut it for me!)