New Beginnings

Monday always marks the beginning of a new week, but for me the new beginnings are a lot bigger this week.
Last Thursday I had an appontment with my psychologist & told her that I had relly appreciated her input over the last year & a half, but feel I am now able to take on board all the things she has taught me & no longer require sessions with her. So that was quite a big step. While it is quite a positive, encouraging thing that I realised I no longer feel I need to see her, it is quite scary to know that I no longer have that. But she is still there & she said I can contact her if I ever feel I need to. But I will leave that as a last option, for I'm at a point where I just want to be moving forward.
Another big part of my life came to an end last week. For the last 20 weeks I have been doing a course called Living Waters which is a Christian organisation based around allowing God to enter the broken areas of your life and allowing Him to heal these areas and bring you further through Him. And it has been such an amazing experience for me. Living Waters is another reason that I have made such a transformation this year. So I'm feeling quite anxious now that it has finished, but am trying to focus more on taking on board the skills it has taught me. I also really appreciate the support & friendship I received from the people at Living Waters & am particularly hoping to continue these friendships with Jenny, Ruth & Erin, three amazing women who have inspired & encouraged me so much & who I think are just beautiful women & would really love to remain in contact with them.
So that is the endings, now the beginnings. Over the last few weeks I have been really challenging myself socially & have been getting out there & doing a lot more.
I have recently started going to a new bible study on Thursday nights & am really enjoying getting to know that group of people.
Since the Scrapping With Soul retreat I have remained in contact with Jess & we are now getting together once a fortnight & scrapping together. That has been really lovely, getting to know Jess again. We were such good friends at school, but then lost contact.
I have been going to more events, including the 80s night at church a few weeks ago & Sarah's party on Saturday night (photos in the post below) & really had such a great time at both of those.
Last Friday night I had dinner with Jenny & Ruth from Living Waters & then went along with them to their church. I did this because I wanted to remain in contact with them after Living Waters & am interested in trying different churches, and found it to be a really lovely group of people & definitely think I will go there again.
Then last night Jenny & I went to another church to hear a friend of ours do the sermon, and I felt really encouraged by the number of people who came up to talk to us & I have been invited to a new bible study on Wednesday night, which I think I will need to give a try.
So I am becoming more social. I have something on every night this week, so that is such a big step to me. So heres to new beginnings, new friendships & a big week.
Thanks for reading this rather long post, I better go or I'll be late for work!

A Pirate's Life For Me

On Saturday night I went to my friend Sarah's 21st birthday party, which was a party theme. It was so much fun & everybody looked so great. Here are a few pics to share:

Stuart's Album

My uncle Stuart had a heart attack a few weeks ago, as most of you would know (seeing as it's mostly family who reads my blog & almost everyone else is on Scrap of Faith & would have heard through there). Anyway, he has improved so much over the last few weeks. And he is now back at Shoalhaven hospital. It is so great to have him local again. Such a blessing for the whole family. I am so amzed at the progress he has made in such a short time. There is still a long way to go, but we should all be encouraged by how far he has come already & know that he is a fighter. Love ya Stuart xox.

Simone organised a little album for Stuart, to give him something to look at while he is in hospital, so mum & I contributed some pages.
Here are the pages I made for Stuart:

Laughter

...is the song of the heart.

Charlee & I having a good laugh, though I can't remember why! Had Charlee & Cooper stay over last night. They were both so good & we all had a good time. I think the best part was discovering that Charlee is a big fan of my singing! She got excited each time I started singing! Especially if it was Video Killed The Radio Star. She sang along with me when I did the "Oh wah oh" bit & she clapped along with me when I was singing Mickey.
Good to know I've got at least one fan!!

Happy Birthday Aunty D!!!

Yesterday was my Aunty Davina's birthday. We had a lovely dinner together. We all had a great night & I think Davina had a very enjoyable birthday, though she did get cranky coz she didn't think I was taking enough photos of her- but here is a nice one that I did get!

Party Time 80's Style

Went to an 80's night at my church on Saturday which was so much fun. I am such an eighties girl at heart, wish I had've been born 20 years earlier! It was so much fun with all the eigthies muisc, tv & movie clips, trivia, snacks & singstar. We all looked quite crazy in our eighties gear. I grabbed my dad's Cold Chisel jacket & dressed it up with a heap of his collector badges. I can't believe he actually let me borrow the jacket or the badges- he is very protective of all his music memorabilia! Brett, the associate pastor of our church looked fantastic as one of the guys from Milli Vanilli- turns out he's a die hard Milli Vanilli fan!
Amy & Johnno getting into the 80's spirit.
Rob & Jess. Turns out Rob is a bit of an 80's guy, which definitely surprised me!
Kylie & Kathy looking gorgoeus in their outfits.
Anna was very cute in her Madonna outfit.
So yep, it was such a great night. We told Brett that next we'll have to have a 90's night!

Scrapbooking With Non Traditional Embellishments

After scrapping with Lusi last weekend, I was inspired to try using some non traditional embellishments on her layouts. So this weekend I set to work with a bunch of things I collected from home & work and came up with these ideas. This first layout is about how Lusi has inspired me to loosen up with my scrapbooking. I created my own patterned paper using bingo markers Lusi had given to me & decorated the page using a white paper bag with red hearts on it, an old magnet that says "shock" & a tag from a Rolling Stones t shirt I bought the other week. Then I matted the photo on a celephane choclate wrapper.
This is my fav layout. This is the one that started it all. At the scrapping retreat lasy weekend, my friend Erin gave me a hair net as a joke. Well, I thought it looked cool all folded up, so decided to create a page of me & Erin & use it as an embellishemnt (it is the blue clump underneath the bottom photo). I then grabbed a bottle top, a scrap of material & a buttefly shaped paper from a note book & added some other little supplies & it was done. And I'm really happy with how it turned out.
My mum handed me a postage packet & told me to see if I could use it, so it became a feature on with layout of Dominic & I. I also used an old teddy bear brooch & a clothes tag as embellishments.
For this layout of Melinda & Kaitlyn I created starts out of alluminium foil.
I love this photo of Mum dressed up as Wally, but just didn't know how to scrap it. Then I was inspired the other day & used the poster from a Where's Wally magazine as the background of this layout.

For this layout of Royce & Meagan I just threw things on randomly, such as bread clips, a poker chip, a cherub keyring, a sticky label & the heart from a broken necklace.
The D on this layout came from a promotion pack a drug rep gave us at work. They were just going to throw it all away, but I swooped in and rescued the D, coz I knew I could find a use for it! I also used another celephane choclate wrapper, a badge, a scrap piece of metal & a piece of note paper.
I framed this photo of Jhorjie using the insert of a photo farme, then used the December page from a 2007 diary, a unicorn magnet, a cardboard shoe off the cover of a diary and a piece of shiny wrapping paper.
I embellished this layout of Dominic using an alphabet stencil, dog tag, bottletop & paper fasteners.
Lastly, a layout about the scrap retreat. I used the key ring they gave us & cut out the loveheart & "SWS 2008 Love Is" from the introduction pack they gave us.

Well, I had so much fun putting these layouts together. I'm definitely going to incorporate more playing into my scrapbooking!

Layouts From The Scrap Retreat

Yep I did actually get some scrapping done last weekend! Here are the layouts I created for my Joy album. This first page is the title page.
Lovin Each Day- well that's what I'm trying to do!
I Love To Sing- as everybody who knows me already knows!
Hanging Out With My Dad
Enjoying the beautiful world God created for us

Spending time with little ones
Sitting by the fire during winter
Spending time by myself with my thoughts
Summer
My beautiful Feeny

My Friends. This page is from Lusi's class. I had fun playing around with her stamps.
Music
Thursday, my day off
Having fun with family
The love of God, which brings me so much joy each & everyday.

I read a bible verse today which has really stuck with me. It's from 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 and says:

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."

A beautiful verse, and very appropriate for the way we are all feeling at the moment. Definitely one I will be keeping in mind.

What a weekend!

I have just gotten back from the Scrapping With Soul retreat. It was amazing, I had the best time! I have never been on a scrap camp before, but it was sooooooo good. So many amazing ladies, and lots of time for lots of scrapping!
Here we all are. This isn't the best group photo, I'll have to get a copy of one of Rowena's, she got some good ones!
One of the best things about the weekend was getting to catch up with Jess. We went to school together, but haven't seen much of each other since, so it was so lovely spending the weekend with her.
The Scrap Of Faith girls. What a lovely bunch! Half of the ladies I had met before, and half I hadn't, but they are all such beautiful women & it was so great to hang with them all. And I'm not even an official Scrap of Faither!
My gorgeous friend Erin was part of the camp staff who catered for our cooking & cleaning needs. Thanks Erin, you did such an awesome job & I am so glad I got to catch up with you as well!

So yeah it was one of the best weekends I have had in a long time. Thankyou everyone who was there, especially the Scrapping With Soul girls for all their amazing organising, and also to Erin & the other Waterslea staff members for their friendly service.
Can't wait for next year :)