Do you recognize this flag? This is where we are all off to come 16th June for 5 1/2 weeks!!!

Rod’s brother Ivan and his Canadian fiance Jolene are getting married in July in the town of Winnipeg (right smack bang in the middle of the prairies) and we are going to be there! Actually half of us are in the bridal party so we better be there hey Rod is best man, I am a bridesmaid, and Janaya is a flower girl……exciting huh?

It has taken so much work to get all our flights planned and booked,(but even more scary paying for them….yikes!!!!), and we have a monster trip planned! First off we land in Vancouver which we will stay for a few days, then visit friends in the Fraser valley. Then we pick up a motor home which will then become our abode for the next 4.5 weeks! We hope to do the Rockies, Jasper, Banff, Calgary, and then up to Edmonton, through Saskatoon, and then onto Winnipeg.

After all the wedding festivities, we hope to high tail it to Toronto, and then visit Niagra falls, and head south to Baltimore, Maryland USA to visit Kate (my brother’s fiance) and spend some time with her and her family. Then last of all we will travel up to New York for a few days, and then fly home.

Travelling with 4 young kids is going to be quite an adventure I am sure!!! No doubt it will have it’s trying times, like on the 16 hour flight home!!! But with the hard times there is going to be so many exciting times too.

So you gorgeous Canadians out there, please let me know what you think is your top picks to visit. We are driving pretty much straight across the country so if you have any tips I would really appreciate to hear them!! Also any travelling tips for taking kids along, that doesn’t always involve drugging them with sedatives??? LOL!

I have all these stampers I want to visit, and of course the Stampingbella store in Toronto, I just have to get Rod to come to the party, as he assures me we are not on a stamping adventure holiday! It is going to be so great to meet the Canadian Design team girls, and hopefully some in the US too!

I am sure the trip will be here before we know it, so it definitely will be fun planning all our adventures, and I need to keep reminding myself that I don’t need more stamps, and have to save my $$$ for the trip Then I can buy it all over there and bring it home with me!

Anyway I am super excited to share with you our fun news, and look forward to hearing all your travelling do’s and dont’s!

Oh and I have stamping to share too, so be back in a mo with that for you too!

Have a fabulous weekend peeps,

Hey everyone,

Popping in again for a quick hello! As you know I love to share little tidbits of my life and that of my family on this website.  Since we have just moved, and there is always so much news to share I have set up a new blog called ‘Capturing Cairns’ to share more of my family’s adventure, moving to the other side of the country.

So just to save you having to read all that jargon, and doing my best to keep this a stamping dedicated blog, I will in future being posting all that news on that website…..

You are all most welcome to pop in and read it, and keep up to date on all our adventures…..

The address is: www.capturingcairns.blogspot.com

Hope to see you there!

Hey everyone,

Oh it feels so good to get the chance to sit down tonight and ramble on……well I hope I actually don’t drive you all a little nuts, but I just wanted to share with you some of the going on’s we have been up to this past week.

We certainly have hit the ground running here! So much to do, and well it has been a bit of a challenge too. We have never had to rent before, and boy oh boy that is a whole new world to us!!! We found a fabulous place close to the school, and nice and big with extra room for visitors, so we spent the better half a  day getting the application in. They want so much information just cutting short of which underwear you buy!!! Anyway after all that effort and being the first and only applicants, the real estate did a shifty on us and offered it to someone else!!! Talk about frustrating! Since then every house that would be suitable seems to be rented in a space of 5 hours!!! We are a little limited having 4 kids, as we need the space, and not to mention ALL that stamping paraphernalia too! We did look at another house yesterday, which is HUGE, and would you believe it has a complete separate office / craft room full of cuboards, drawers and shelves, and guess what???? It is all PINK!!!! Perfect for me no? I think so. I have been dreaming all day about loading up those shelves with my stuff,  &iPod and getting my fingers busy with some ink and paper……..OH fingers crossed we get it, and if we do I will promise to post a photo!

Yesterday was the first day of the School year for the kids here in Queensland, and so off the kids went to their brand new school! We enrolled them into Freshwater Christian College, which is on a beautiful premises right at the base of the mountains! They were anxious and excited to go, but poor Mali was a bundle of tears and very overwhelmed by the new faces, teacher and classroom! Hopefully it will pass. We of course had to take a few snapshots of them in their new uniforms, and I thought I would share with you:

Elijah, Tiarne, and Malakai

Don’t you just love those Certainly celery shirts with the night of navy collars?!  As you can see there is beautiful rainforest right behind them, and this is just a snippet of what you see everywhere! Cairns is a place where you really get to see God’s Handiwork all around amongst the creation! I am still getting used to all the new animals and insects though…… hearing all the gekko’s clucking at night, and seeing all the butterflies and lizards around as well. Apparently the holiday cabin we are staying in has had 3 snakes in there, so we are trying (as best as you can with 4 kids) to keep the doors closed at all times, as I definitely don’t want to see a snake slithering around. Elijah on the other hand is hoping one will appear, as he loves snakes and is a real Steve Irwin wannabe! I am sure we will soon get used to all the new surroundings!

So there you have  a little bit of news of what has been happening this week. I have really been wanting to blog more, and blog surf too, but here I am paying $3 an hour, and you know how fast one hour disappears on the computer!!! So I am having to behave myself and limit my time on the computer! I very much look forward to having my craft room set up, as well as my computer and having a routine as well!

Take care and I will be back tomorrow to announce the new winner of this weeks challenge……I am LOVING what I have seen so far that is for sure!

Have a great night,

Howdy Folks,

I am super sure some of you were starting to think I had completley disappeared, and well I suppose in lots of ways I have! I can hardly believe that Christmas, and New Years have passed, and it has been just over four weeks since my last past!

I can’t even think of where to begin telling you of all that has happened lately, it really is mind boggling, but I am going to give it a go all the same

So my last post was just before Christmas…… We had a wonderful Christmas with both sides of the family, sitting back and enjoying the very warm weather. I think the kids were in the pool for 5 hours total, so they most definitely had a wonderful time! I didn’t quite don the swimming cozy, but enjoyed sitting back on the patio catching up with my grandparents, and rellies. Unfortunately I forgot to pack the camera, so I can’t share any pics from that day.

The following day we had Boxing Day breakfast here with Rod’s brother, wife and kids who live away from us, so it was wonderful to catch up with them. I did however receive an awful phone call that day to say that a dear friend died from heart failure on Christmas eve. She was the sweetest gal, who I had the pleasure of teaching scrapbooking, and stamping in the past few years as a demo. She leaves behind a lovely husband and a 19month old son. It is so very tragic for all of them, and it was such hard news to hear. Just another reminder to live each day as a gift, and make the most of it!!!!

After all the commotion of Christmas and New Years,  it has been time to get stuck into the packing, and planning for our move to Cairns in Far north Queensland! We also had two lots of International visitors, My brother;s and Rod’s brothers engagement parties, a trip to Adventure world, and oh so much more.

Rather than it being a boring post I thought I would share with you a couple of photos whilst I can, but unfortunately it won’t be stamping

First up, I have some pics of a fun girls night out I had just before Christmas, with my dear stamping buddies. We had a wonderful girls night out, eating at a lovely restaurant, and of course a visit to the chocolatier for dessert!

My gorgeous friend Louise…

The beautiful Monnie Moo…

dearest Charmaine….

Here we are enjoying our decadent drinks!!! - what fun

What a great night we had and it all seems soooooo long ago already!

A couple of days later we celebrated Bryn and Kate’s Engagement party! What a fun night that was too! I had the pleasure of making all their party Invitations a few weeks earlier, and also arranged the cake as well., Oh la la, what an amazing job Julie did of it too! Ever thought of drawing the Baroque Motifs stamp by hand, let alone on a cake? Too hard right? Well not for Julie from “The Queen of cakes”, she even managed to make the Baja breeze as well. Here is a wee piccie of the gorgeous cake….

Pretty amazing huh?

You can see more of Julie’s AMAZING work on her website, HERE……

I managed to have a snag a picture with my spunky brother on the night, but not with Kate, which was a shame as she looked amazing!

Oh how I am going to miss him and Kate when we move!

So back to the big move, I am sitting here and it is 17 minutes to midnight, and we fly out tomorrow night! One last night in this house, and in this state. I would have thought that I would be really emotional about moving from here, seeing as it is the first property we have had since we got married and brought four little bundles home from the hospital, but it hasn’t been bad at all, which is good. I am sure it will really hit me as we drive out of that long driveway for one last time!!!!

So far we have been really blessed with good preparations and nothing has gone wrong. Let’s just hope that the rest all falls into place. We have so many decisions yet to make in regards to where we will live, Rod’s work, etc…. all we know is where the kids will go to school at this stage, so lots more to happen yet. What a relief to know that it is all in control and that God will guide us along the way.

Here is a couple of pictures of what is sitting in my driveway at the moment…….

This is the big Sea container with all our earthly belongings!!!

Nearly packed to the brim!!!

So we are nearly all packed and ready to go. The kids are excited, we are nervous, and it will all be a very big change for us all. I will be sure to keep you posted on what all happens, and I hope you enjoy this new journey along with me as well.

Since we have been so very busy, my stamps haven’t seen a lick of ink at all! I had really hoped to get some in but inbetween appointments, packing, cleaning, and farwells, I just haven’t had time. But I am dying to get my hands on some, and will most definitely be stamping the very minute I can get those stamping boxes ripped open!!!

In regards to the Inkspiration Challenges, the team and I are all set to get into them this coming Friday…..we have a fun suprise planned, so be sure to come back and read all about it then!

I look forward to sharing with you all again very soon!

Take care my friends

 and I am relieved……

As you know the past two weeks, have been not only busy but quite emotional too. With all the birthday celebrations to prepare for, as well as hosting them, along with selling our property, funerals and the like, it has been rather hectic.

So today, I am quite relieved to have that all behind us for now. Not quite the selling of the property, that is still going on……the offer we received the other day was rather low (like 300,000 less that asking price) and so we thought we could build on that, but no it seems that they were just thinking they could pick up a bargain? What is with that? Anyway, I know in my heart that it will sell when it is meant to and God won’t keep us stranded……all in His time

So talking of birthday celebrations, I thought I would share with you all, the cards I made for hubby and my daughter Janaya last week for their birthdays, as well as a wee piccie I took of them on their big day!

First off it was Jaye’s birthday, and I really can’t believe that my baby is 4~!!! Yup it is so wonderful to see her grow up, and I can’t really believe that she will be in Kindergarten next year!

Janaya was doing that goofy, I don’t want to smile at the camera thing on her birthday and well was trying to be shy by turning her head to the side like that, but hey it is just who she is, and that is okay

There are a few distinct things I love about Janaya…..

1. She has more nicknames that I care to admit

2. I love how she sings to herself in the car, making up songs as we drive along…( quite creative really, when the involve things she sees around her…..like, “la la la, you get yummy burgers at Macca’s) (McDonalds!) LOL!

3. Her ability to use really big words, which she also does very often, like  Fabulous, Wonderful, and the all time fave, BEWDIFUL!

4. How she can climb ANYTHING, I am telling you this gal can do pull ups of her own body weight she is so strong.

5. How she wipes off every kiss you give her, but smoooches you good and proper if she is the one giving the kiss!

6. Her determination……whilst can be a challenge to deal with at times, I admire her ability to set out to do something and doesn’t stop till she has it accomplished. I think she is the only child I know to be toilet trained in one day….yup dry bed first night!

7. How she has no fear of people. We can go anywhere and she will chat to ANYONE! Like the other day I went to the Scrapbook store, and she walks right in, goes up to the lady at the counter, and say, “Oh we haven’t seen you in a really long time, that’s not good. Then proceeds to tell this said lady, how she LOVES her, and will see her next time! Meanwhile I am blushing from embarrassment at my bold child. 

8. Whilst she is a very busy child, she can still sit and read books for an hour

9. How she can put on the best puppy dog eyes to get what she wants! Whilst is is annoying, it is pretty clever too

10. Her eye for detail, she will notice if you have had your toes painted a different colour!

Here is the birthday creation I made for her:

This is a cute CC Designs stamp, which I have coloured with my Copic markers. The cardstock and ribbon are from Stampin’Up.

Then of course there is hubby too, and I managed to snag a quick picture of him too, which is a rare event, trust me!

not bad for 37 eh?

He will probably die when he sees a photo of himself on here, without prior permission…LOL! But hey he is my man, and I want to show the world

Things I love about Rod:

1. I love that he sneek peeks my website whilst he is at work, and comes home dropping comments about things I have written.

2. He makes the BEST ever homemade pizza….the best I have ever tasted, and his spag bog isn’t too bad either!

3. He can still play the piano, even though he gave it up at 12

4. He is so passionate about serving the Lord, in all that he does

5. He thinks very deeply, and whilst that can drive me crazy at times, it is a really good trait to have……nothing is frivolous about Rod!

6. He is a planner……you know one that has the portable diary on his hip pocket…..you say the word, it is written in there 3.46 minutes later.

7. He never forgets a birthday or an anniversary

8. He gives the best massages (the above board variety *WINK*)

9. He does better vacuuming than I do!

10. He is the best Dad with the kids, and I can leave for a week and he would cope well

SO there are some of my top ten things I LOVE about Rod…..

And then of course here is my masculine birthday card for him:

For this card I have used a reverse masking technique and sponged up the background with So saffron, More mustard, and Really rust ink. Then the reeds from the Inspired by nature are stamped in Chocolate chip. I have used the Chocolate taffeta ribbon and some antique brass Hodgepodge hardware to hold the greeting which is from the On your birthday stamp set.

Also I wanted to show you two photos I took last week. They are of the paddock that is alongside our property. The first one was the first day, when i got up to go to the gym in the morning, the whole valley the we live in was filled with cloud (mist) you could hardly see through it!

I was standing pretty close to the fence post, and you can’t see the trees in the background……

Then this is a picture of the next morning….

Here you can see the contrast in this photo that i took the very next morning. There is a parrot sitting on the fence wire.

It really was very eerie having so much mist around that you could hardly see!. Anyway just a little tidibt of photo fun.

Hope you have a fabulous evening!