HAPPY NEW YEAR to you! I really was hoping to get to this post earlier than this, but boom the time is going by SO quickly! School holidays sure keep me busy…yep I feed the troops, then clean-up,…..two hours pass… I feed the troops, then clean -up… then repeat that pattern several times a day and vroom the day is GONE! I admit I might get to have a dip in the pool in there amongst all that…oh and a smidge of time on Pinterest fits in there too, but hey you get the picture…. the poor old Blog-o just gets neglected once again!

Seriously though as much as i love ya, it has been great to have a blogging break and to get inspired for the New year too. Besides, i am sure you are doing far more enjoyable things over the summer holidays than blog surfing! You are probably out at the beach, or sitting by the pool drinking MaiTai’s …. or if you are on the other side of the continent, snuggled up in front of the fire devouring a book…whichever it is, you surely haven’t missed lil ol’ me.

Okay, so I confess to not being a huge big New Year celebrator. I don’t tend to set resolutions, but rather do set some goals. I think that can be healthy as long as they are realistic.

The other thing about a New year is that I tend to be a little reflective about the year gone….WOW what a year we have just had…. yes it is starting to wear us a little thin, and we have gone into the new year rather weary, but have a read and i think you will see why….

2011 in bullet point reflection…..

JAN :

• We experience camping as a family for the first time…yep that means surviving a category 1 cyclone the very first night in our new camper….scary & very WET!
• Got a tan and read several books on holiday
• Finished watching season 3 & 4 of House on Dvd
• Packed up the rental and moved to another rental…only the owners hadn’t quite moved out yet! we had to endure all their items in the family room for over a week
• Kids went back to school
• I started to waddle
• We watch in horror as half of Queensland floods and many are sadly killed

• Cyclone Yasi hits….a very nasty category 5 cyclone! Freaks us and family half to death
• No power for a week, and all the trees are down
• Throw out the freezer contents
• Kids back off school
• Rod’s is crazy busy fixing all the damaged and dirty pools from the cyclone
• We are running two business’
• I am still puzzled by invoicing…ah bookkeeping becomes the bane of my existance
• Feeling homesick for Perth, and wondering what in the world we were thinking about moving to the tropics!

MARCH:

• Rod starts a new job, and I’m running the pool business with the help of our employee
• Nellie visits from Perth
• Elijah celebrates a birthday
• Ivan & Jo immigrate from Canada
• I drive into a steel column at the Shopping centre carpark….DOH!~
• Still feeling homesick

APRIL:

• Ivan & Jo move in with us for 5 weeks
• Our gorgeous Niece Teleah was born
• In- laws visit for a week
• School holidays / Easter break
• Finally getting used to white gloss tiles (MEANING: i have now got accustomed to permanently having Mr. Miele, or Mrs. Enjo in either hand!!)
• Quick 4 day trip to Perth to cure said Homesickness
• Crying buckets because my dear friend Lou is re-diagnosed with cancer
• Discover every public toilet in all of Cairns due to pregnancy

MAY:

• Really waddling now
• Ivan & Jo move out
• Get nursery set up
• Parent teacher interviews
• Rod shoots to Perth for surprise for his best mate’s 40th Birthday
• Sleepless nights - many!
• My mum arrives…
• Lost 4 kg’s instantly!
• Josiah is born last day and the last hour of MAY!….hence losing the 4kg’s!

JUNE:

• Lots of sleepless nights
• Rod’s best mate and cousin visit from Perth for 4 days
• IN-Laws are in town for a month
• Mum leaves
• Rod goes to Sydney for work conference
• Sell the pool business and train new owners all the paperwork paloova…
• We all fall in love with Mr.Jo
• Im loving this new mother gig, and thinking I could do this again
• Slap myself silly for thinking the above mentioned silliness!
• Finally get the car fixed for the shopping centre pregnancy dingle

JULY:

• Umm more sleepless nights, dirty nappies, smiles and goo-gaa’s from the little man
• Wearing jackets and jeans and thinking this is very strange for the tropics!
• Rod goes to Townsville for another conference
• Earthworks start on the block and we are very chuffed that we got all the approvals and it started!
• Mr. Jo starts to smile, and our hearts melt some more
• Join a Mother Group…..first ever, and meet some lovely ladies, that help me not be homesick
• Nice cuppa’s with the mother’s group ladies, as we exchange, baby talk….which was a BIG adjustment for me after almost 6 years!
• Mali’s celebrates a birthday
• Secretly planning and making invites, games, decorations for Monnie’s Kitchen Tea and Hen’s night in Perth

AUGUST:

• Surprise visit to Perth on my own to spring my bestie on her birthday, AND spring Monnie at her Kitchen tea
• Spent a day at Chemo with my dear friend Lou (special times)
• Celebrated our anniversary
• Turned another year wiser
• Rod goes to school camp with Elijah, and I get a nasty bout of gastro, and a bladder infection
• Busily booking hotels, car hire, flights etc… for our impending trip to the US
• Contemplated a diet…haha
• Elijah starts speech therapy
• Planning Hen’s night for future sis-in-law Kate, in the USA
• House gets steel poles and deep holes to concrete them into

SEPTEMBER:

• Fly to Perth for Monnie’s wedding
• ENJOY the fabulous wedding and being Bridesmaid for the most gorgeous Bride!!!
• Fly home to Cairns and have school holidays and 12 days to have everything sorted for our trip to USA.
• Fly to the USA….with all 7 of us!
• House has floor joists, and subframe…

OCTOBER:

• Bryn & Kate’s Wedding Day… gosh, the best day ever, and so very special to be a part of the bridal party along with Mali & Jaye…
• Travelling around US with Bryn & Kate
• Sad, sad, sad and very tearful goodbyes
• Fly home on Tiarne’s Birthday
• More parent teacher interviews…
• House has a roof and wall frames

NOVEMBER:

• Getting some sleep at last, as Mr.Jo sleeps through the night
• Last term of school, busy, busy, busy
• Book week i have to find 4 costumes…..seriously??!!
• School production - Tiarne was Narrator, and another 3 sets of costumes!!!
• Awards night - Tiarne topped her year 6 class, & Mali got the Christian Character award
• Janaya has a birthday
• Rod has a birthday
• Rod scoots to Perth for his parents 40th Wedding anniversary
• Contemplate Christmas cards….?
• The house has gyprock on the walls, and some lights and fans up. Ceilings are in!
• Mr Jo sits up!

DECEMBER:

• School Summer Holidays begin! yay!
• Start at a new Bootcamp… LOVE! (well maybe not the 5:30am get-ups, but still amazing trainer!)
• Rental property we are in goes on the market for sale….hello home opens!
• Inkspirations Challenges closes down:(
• Muscle up a smidgen of Christmas cheer…
• Scramble together a few Christmas cards…
• House now has windows, and bi-folds, and the tiling is on the way
• Mum & Dad arrive to spend Christmas and New years with us….

Phew….i have still got ya, or did you get lost back up there at Mr Jo being born??

Yes it sure was a lot to fit into one year, and these are just all the big events, it doesn’t include the mundane like laundry, groceries, meal planning/making, paying bills, dropping off, picking up… yadda, yadda! In a nutshell it has been one crazy year! Having said that, i am still amazed at God’s continual care, and provision in ALL THINGS! He is so good, sooo very good to us that i am truly humbled.

So what is in store for the new year? umm whilst we desperately want to be saying, it will be much quieter, for the time being we are still FLAT OUT with the house building. My poor hubby is up at the house at all the odd hours, working full time by day, and tiling, laying timber floors, and painting by night! Even i have been whipping out the old daggy painting clothes and getting my fingernails dirty! We have a little ways to go yet, but we do have a move in date, which is the 20th of Feb, and then it will be onto the outside, like the retaining walls, the pool, fences and the driveway etc… I hate to whinge about it, but it is actually wearing us both quite thin… but everyone that has told me they have built a house, says that it will all be worth it in the long run…. so just trusting that it will and that we will survive in the meantime.

THEN….onto much brighter and fun things! I am really hoping to dig out the sewing machine this year, as there are just too many darn cute things on Pinterest that i am just dying to sew! Then do some more work on learning all there is to know about Photoshop…. And i really want to start teaching my kids to cook, some dinner meals. There will be all the fun adventures with our little man Mr Jo as he learns to walk and talk. As for the blog-o, it is on it’s way to being updated, which i am excited about, and hopefully once we have moved into the house, i will have much more time to stamp and share the things in my life that i love! Really excited about that.

So many many good things to look forward too, which is a real blessing! We sure live a joyfull yet FULL life!

So with all that I wanted to just share with you a couple of photos… some of the house, Tiarne’s graduation and of course the little man and how he has grown SO much since the last photos i shared with you!

Okay so first up we have Tiarne all beautifully dressed for her Year 6 Graduation! I can hardly believe she is off to High School this year!!! She is excited but a little nervous…

Mr Jo, at 6months old…..

Mr Curly Tops!

He sure is the Little Brother….of 4!

one serious little cutie pops!

Okay so next up are a few shots of the house…. It isn’t finished like i said, and there is no point me showing you photos of a tiled floor in the bathroom, so have kept it pretty brief

The front of the house as of today…. We still need to add the front porch and paint the contrasting panels on the front of the house and the garage doors underneath the house, and the stairs up to the front door, and the deck lining.. the list goes on and on!

Now this is the view from my front door, and the pool area…

Inside the main living area, which goes out through the bi-fold doors to the deck area…

and this is the view from the centre section of the deck….

So that is just a few photos. I promise to share more when they are far more exciting… like the kitchen is in, and the timber floors are down etc…. but at least you get a bit of an idea of where we are at as far as progress goes!

Okay my darling peeps, this post has taken me a long time, and i am sure a long time for you to have read as well! It feels good to get you all up to date though on what and where we are all. I really appreciate you faithful readers out there, especially when i just haven’t had the opportunity to stamp, and share as much as i have done in the past. Let’s hope that in the months ahead that will all change!

Enjoy your weekend!

How are you all? Going stir crazy with Christmas craziness, or lapping up the festive season? I have to confess, i haven’t got there yet….it is has been hard to get into the season with so much else going on here. My parents hope to fly over for Christmas and New years, and to help with the house building so that should be very special for all of us.

School holiday update, the kids are still loving the points system and it has already been two weeks since they began! I am now starting to the think the 8 weeks of holidays is going to fly by!

Okay so back to the topic! Today is Friday, and that also means it is Inkspirations Challenge day!

Today is a BIG day for the Inkspirations Challenges for a few reasons…..

1. It is challenge #100!

2. We are doing a Christmas themed Challenge, to launch ourselves into the festive season!

3. This is the very last Inkspirations Challenge…

Okay to explain each three points for you..

Point 1: - Challenge #100! woo hoo. Originally when i started the challenges we did them as colour #1, then sketch #1, inspiration challenge #1…..so we really have done more than 100 over the time that we started, more closer to 170 challenges, over the time, firstly on my own site, and then for the past year on the Inkspirations Challenge website on blogger! It sure has been a fabulous ride, and it really couldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for all you wonderful stampers joining in each week! Some of you only once, others more and others 50+! Always feels great to reach to a milestone and perfect timing for the end of the year!

Point 2: - Christmas Themed Challenge….

Okay so this weeks challenge is Christmas themed….. We would like to see all those items you have been making for the Season this year! There is no limit to your links, so that means you can show it all! Your family’s Christmas card, your 3D items, your ornaments, or Christmas favors….we would love to see them! So get to the Inkspirations Challenges Website to link up your creations and be inspired as well!!!

Point 3: - Last Inkspriations Challenge

Hope you haven’t dropped of your chair when you read that one! YIKES, now that could be funny! Well you probably have noticed my lack of posts on the Blog-o over this past year, and sadly a lot of my posts have only been because of the challenges…..you are probably now wondering if you will ever hear from me ever again?! LOL! Nope that is not the case, but i do want to explain. I have been running challenges of various types for 4 years and 7 months! Yes that sure is a long time. It has been a blast, but i am a little tired, and a little uninspired. So I have thought for a little while, that when you are uninspired you need to mix things up a little bit.

As you know we as a family have had the HUGEST year! We started the year with moving house, surviving a catergory 5 cyclone, hubby starting a new job, in-laws living with us for a month, doing business paperwork again and again….. Hubby starting a new job, more visitors from the West, having a new baby, a surprise visit to Perth, selling the pool business and training the new owners, start building a new house, another trip to Perth as Bridesmaid for my dear friend Monnie moo… All of us travelling to the US for my brothers wedding… more house building, year 6 graduation, school play, more building of the house….and on and on. I feel dizzy just thinking about all that this past year has brought! No wonder it feels like it has just flown by! So with all of that, and my lack of inspiration due to fatigue, or not having enough time to even think about it, my heart has called me to know that it is time to close the challenges. I am not viewing it as a bad thing, rather an end to something that has been a very exciting part of my life. I feel great peace about this decision and I hope you do too! Seriously there is also no lack of challenge websites out there, so one less really won’t hurt! LOL!

So at this time i would like to say a very BIG THANK YOU, to all of you that have played the challenges on and off over the past 4+ years…. it sure has been a blast, and without you it wouldn’t have been possible from the start.

Also another very BIG THANK YOU to my fabulous DT, for all their amazing inspiration and weeks and weeks of wonderful creations to make you drool, or be inspired to pull out the cardstock and get creating! It has been a wonderful addition to the challenges for the past 2 years!

So at this point i should share with you my own Christmas creation! I made some teacher gifts for the kids to give their School teachers at the end of the year. They are called Holiday Baking jars…. so fun and really easy to do too!

I made 7 of these jars, and decorated them with ribbon and hand made tags that have the recipe instructions on them….

A close up of the tags…..

A side view of the yummy layered ingredients…..

According to the kids, the teachers loved them! They really are quite simple and just something fun for them to do.

The DT have some other FABULOUS creations to share over on the Inkspirations Challenges Website, so be sure to pop on over and see what they have made and to link up your very own Christmas creations.

So there you have it peeps, a BIG post, with BIG news! I will be back again shortly with lots more to share, a new look too, and some fun things planned for the new year. Wishing you all a very special and safe festive season, and God’s Blessings in the new year!

Woo hoo another mid week blog post from me…..beyond excited right now! LOL!

Anyway i have a bit of stamping eye candy for you today! It is a card i made for my Sister-in-law, Jolene who is expecting a baby! Yes very exciting for all of us! The kids are excited to be getting a new cousin and i of course are excited to be getting my Aunty hat on again, and not to mention those newborn cuddles too!

So here is the wee congratulatory card i made for Jolene and Ivan on their very special news……

I used a gorgeous Stampingbella stamp, that i have been wanting to ink up for a while now. I paper pieced the big couch, and coloured her in with my Copic markers. I love this colour combo too!

Anyway it was nice to get inky again…let’s hope it isn’t so long between stamps!

Take care!

Happy Challenge Day to you!…..well it is actually two days past. My post dissappeard into cyber space! I had pre-scheduled my post and assumed it posted, but discovered late last night that it wasn’t up! Went on a search and wham it was not there. SO…uummm i have no idea where it has gone! So my biggest apologies that this is only just up. Good thing you can see it over on the Inkspirations Challenges Website before now huh?!

Okay so onto this weeks Sketch Challenge…..that being number 99!

So here is the sketch for this week to work with:

Here is my creation….

Don’t you think this stamp set is super cute? I LOVE those wee lil shirts / dress hanging on the line! This set is called Hanging out by Papertrey Ink. I have been itching to use it since i bought i back from the US. Love how it turned out.

Okay so be sure to pop round to the Inkspirations Challenges Website to see all the amazing creations the DT have put together, and to link up your very own creation!

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend and take care!

PS….school holidays and points system is working a treat! woo hoo!

Happy Friday to you all!

This week we had the final week of school for my kids. As of today they are on holidays for 8+weeks! YAY! It will be great to have a slower pace of life, but will still be busy as they are around and there is not a lot of down time for me. BUT having said that, i plan on really enjoying the kids this holidays, and making lots of fun. I have a whole rewards / points system i am trying out with them these holidays, and lots of fun activities planned, so here’s hoping it all works out a treat! I will keep you posted!

Okay so this week we have a colour challenge for you. It is rather pretty if i say so myself! Love these colours together and feel like i could do lots more with them too!

Here are your colours to work with:

Here is my stamped creation:

A super simple creation this week, but i love the simplicity of it. I LOVE these button sets from PTI, they sure are fun! Be sure to pop over to the Inkspirations Challenges Website to see the other amazing creations by the DT and to link up your very own creation!

Have a wonderful week peeps!

Happy weekend to you all! This week we have a Sketch Challenge for you, which is so super easy and a real fun one. I am totally amazed at what the Design Team have come up with….. so much diversity!

Here is the sketch to work with:

Here is my sketch creation:

As you can see i have flipped the sketch around. Love this wee lil icecream stamp set from PTI and it comes with the greeting as well. Be sure to pop round to the Inkspirations Challenges website to see all the fabulous creations the DT have come up with and to link up your own creation.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! I am home with the kids this weekend as hubby (+ Tiarne) have popped over to Perth to celebrate Rod’s parents 40th Wedding Anniversary!

See you soon!

Don’t fall off your chair! Hard to believe i am this week here before the challenge on Friday! I have a few cards i made recently which i just haven’t had the chance to blog for you. Today i will show you one of them. This wee lil creation I made for my newest sister in law Kate, for her on her Hens Night. I think it was suitable for the occasion

Here it is…

The paper is from My minds Eye, and the stamp is from Stampingbella, called Never stop sparkling. Cute hey?

Hope your week is going well peoples!

Take care,

Happy Friday to you. I don’t know about you but the week sure has zipped by!

Going to be brief as i have a sick son This week we have a Colour Challenge for you all…. quite simple, and definitely usable for Christmas…well that is what i used it for! So maybe give it a whirl as Christmas sure is just around the corner!

here are your colours to work with:

My very simple sample for you all….

A cute lil Gingerbread man!

Be sure to pop round to the Inkspirations Challenges Website to see all the other fabulous creations by the DT, and to link up your own creation as well!

Have a great weekend!

Well it is rather sad that all my posts for the past few months have just been for the challenges….aside from the post about my trip etc… It is just the way of the times around here unfortunately! Each week i think…yup this is the week i am going to post more than just a challenge and the voom the week goes by in a blink and it is back to the newest challenge Ah well it can only go up from here i suppose! LOL!

Today it is my littlest princess’ 6th Birthday! Hard to believe she is growing up so fast! I know that I will be like a stuck record for the next 15 years, saying how fast they grow up! Anyway it was delightful to see her all excited this morning

Okay so onto the newest challenge for this week. We have a Sketch for you, and it really is an easy one!

Here is your sketch to work with:

Here is my creation for you all….

Be sure to pop round to the Inkspirations Challenges Website to see all the lovely creations the DT have come up with and to link up your very own creation too!

Have a wonderful weekend, and fingers crossed i will be back before next Friday!

Sure has been a busy and hot week here in Cairns, but we are chugging along. The house is getting there, we have the roof on and the front balcony, and the gyprocker starts on Monday so we sure are getting there. It is becoming tiresome, but hopefully with a little more patience we will soon be able to enjoy our new home sometime soon after Chritsmas. I will post some pictures of the progress soon!

Okay so onto some stamping. This week we have a colour challenge.. and ooh la la, i really really liked this one. So fresh and funky and the DT sure has come up with a fabulous array of different samples for your inspiration too.

So here are your colours to work with:

Here is my stamped creation:

See it is fun right?

Okay be sure to pop past the Inkspirations Challenges Website to see what all the DT have marvelously whipped up!

Have a great weekend everyone!