Saturday

Today is a wet, miserable day. So I spent the morning putting up the Christmas tree & decorating the house, to make it look all Christmasy.

We've got a brand new Christmas tree this year, so we decided to buy all new decorations for the tree as well, so we went with some pretty purple, white, silver & a splash of blue & pink.
Feeny wouldn't stop bugging me as I was fixing up the tree! He loves getting into everything! Last year he knocked over the tree three times! But that was when it was a smaller tree sitting on a table & he pulled the tablecloth off! So he shouldn't be able to pull the tree over this year! But he could still cause some trouble, so I kept shooing him away, but he kept coming back! We'll have to keep our eyes on that one!

We had so many decorations, both hand made & bought, that I distributed throughout the house.

Then my friend Jenny came over this arvo & she made Christmas cards while I made some more Christmas decorations. I didn't actually get anything finished, but I had a lot of fun catching up with Jen & we put some Christmas music on, getting fully into the Christmas spirit!

I don't know what I'm going to do with this J! Probably find a nice bible verse or something to put on it.

I was also making Christmas decorations on Thursday when my friend Jess came over for the day. I'm really happy with how this star turned out.

Made some Christmas tins as well.

I started this one last year & never got around to finishing it, so hoping to finish it this year!

One last pic, just cause I think he is sooo cute!

More Layouts

Here are some of the layouts I have made over the last two weeks, since getting back from Queensland. This first layout is of our last day in Berry before Erin moved to Mackay.

Simone with her beautiful twins Isabella & Jackson. Mum & I had our first gig babysitting the twins last night. They were asleep for the first couple of hours so I spent the time playing ponies with Jhorjie & cars with Dominic. Then the twins did wake up twice & they were still awake when Simone & Greg got home. I was hoping they would be asleep for them, but no it was too exciting having Aunty Gail & Haylee over!

Royce & Meagan at their year 12 formal. Can't believe that was two years ago!

Remy- such a cute puppy, but very naughty too!

I really love this song & wanted to use it as a heading on a layout of how precious God's creation is & how I often take it for granted, but I do hope that we never lose all the beauty of His creation with all our developments & technology.

After Bev's class at the retreat I have been inspired to create my own backgrounds for my layouts. This is my first attempt. I created this whole layout using only pens. It didn't turn out quite as I had imagined, but I'm happy with it. It was an experiment, and hey I had fun creating it!

This last layout is about the Thursday scrapping days we have with Esther & Jess, which are always a lot of fun.

We have the Scrapping With Soul day today. This is the least I have ever been organised for it! I usaully am packed ready to go a few days ahead of time, but I've been so busy this week that I only just packed today! I haven't really organised anything, just threw everything in! So hopefully I'll still get some things done!

Lastly I just want to share I bible verse that I found on Thursday. I was reading the princess book we got at the Scrap of Faith retreat & discovered this verse:

"I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go."

~ Isaiah 48:17

I found this verse so encouraging as I struggle to know what I should do next year, but I am encouarged by knowing that God knows exactly what it best for me & He will lead me in the right direction. I just need to continue to trust in Him & never doubt His ways ;)

Farewell Dani

I got back to work this week after 1 and a half weeks off to discover that it is Danielle's last week. That came as a bit of a shock! I knew she was leaving, but I didn't think it would be this soon. I am going to miss her sooo much.
We had a farewell dinner for her at Kohli's Indian Restaurant, so that was quite lovely. Eight of us girls went & it was really nice just chatting & hanging out outside of work.

Bel & I. I straightened my hair for the occaision.

My dinner. Tandoori chicken. It was really nice, but i couldn't eat it all, it was so big! (I had rice & naan as well)

Dani opening her present. I love this rubber ducky, it is just so cute! I want one!

The girls.

Still trying to get back into work mode. I am so over my job & after such a lovely break, it just hit me so hard when I got back to work. Still praying that God will lead me to what I should do next year. I'm so torn as to whether to stay where I am, where it is familiar & safe, or whether I should venture into something else.

Layouts From The Scrap Of Faith Retreat

Here are the layouts I completed at the retreat last weekend. I won the award for Scrapping Machine, meaning I got the most layouts complete. I completed 15 layouts during the retreat.
The theme of the weekend was "His Princess." It was all about celebrating the fact that we are God's princesses. Our father is the most high king. The layout above is my reflection on being His Princess.

This is my fav layout that I got done during the weekend. It is of my two very beautiful friends Jenny & Erin.

Christmas is quickly approaching, so to kick off my Christmas spirit I created this page about how much I love family Christmases.

The first layout I have ever done of Isabella & Jackson. I'm not a big fan of pastels, but thought it was very fitting for the baby theme.

Lusi had done a layout with this title & I thought it was very cool, so I decided to borrow it!

The Kenya Team. What a wonderful bunch of people. So looking forward to going to Kenya with them.

I never have a boring time with Melinda, Heidi & Amy around! We are always laughing!

Sarah & Kyle at Sarah's 21st Pirate Party. I was working on this layout at 1:30 Saturday night (Sunday morning), so my heart wasn't quite in it as much as it could have been.

Another one from Sarah's party. This layout is of Tranye, Dani & I & is about how we used to all be in a choir together & were reminiscing about the good ol' choir days.

Tasha took this photo of me shoving an easter egg into my mouth at Easter & so i did a layout about it. A bit weird I know, but I liked the humour behind the photo!

Davina, Mark & Erin, I created this layout using items out of my goody bag.

My friend Heidi. She is such a free spirit

Me & my cuz Tash

The first couple of days in Queensland I was having a few personal struggles. I was very self conscious of my little quirks & was feeling really embarrassed about them, so was very stand-offish at first. But during the day on Saturday I decided to embrace my quirks & enjoy the weekend. So I created this layout as a way to set myself free from those feelings of self consiousness & self resentment.

This is the layout I made at Bev's class. It was so much fun. You did such an awesome job Bev. I really love how my layout turned out & I love how they all look so different. Everyone put their own spin on them & they all looked really cool.

Double Celebration

Thankyou so much to everyone who has left me birthday emails/ messages on facebook. Definitely feeling the birthday love!

We've just gotten back from Sydney. We went up there because it is my Great Aunty Glady's 90th Birthday, so we went up there for her party. We share the same birthday. She turned 90 today & I turned 22.

Had a lovely day, but feeling quite tired now. And I have to go back to work tomorrow :(

But I've had such a lovely break. Especially the SOF retreat. Still on a bit of a buzz after that & I'm missing you girls soooo much!

What A Week!

Wow what a week! I'm on holidays at the moment & I must say, it has been the best holiday ever (s0 far)! Had an awesome day & night in Wollongong yesterday with some of my church friends. But of course the reason for my holiday was the Scrap Of Faith retreat.
We flew up to Brisbane on Thursday & flew back on Tuesday, so we had 5 lovely days up there.
It was so hot for the first two days, but luckily it cooled down after that.

The retreat was just awesome. Most of the girls I had never met before, but they were all just lovely. Not being from the forum, I was a bit worried about how I would fit in, but they were all so welcoming & I loved hanging out with them & getting to know them.

We had a lot of fun & yes, even a few sing a longs!

Thankyou to everyone for making it such an amazing weekend. Especially to Sal & the Design Team for making it all come together, you did an awesome job. And Ingeborg & Bev, my two partners in crime, it was so much fun hanging out with you guys, I think you both brought out the craziness in me!

On Saturday night we had a special Princess dinner & all dressed up in our best princess gear. Here are Mum, Lou & I looking all nice & swish.

Of course, what is a scrap retreat without some PJ scrap time?!

(And still in my Princess jewellery!)

On Sunday & Monday night a group of us were going to stay at a hotel, but were blessed by Sam, one of the ladies from the retreat, offering us to stay at her parents place. That was such a blessing & we really enjoyed it there. Thanks Sam & Tanya for your generosity & hospitality.

We had dinner at the Hogs Breath Cafe & above is Ingeborg, Bev & I with our beautiful mocktails!

Spent some time shopping on Monday. Bev & I went off shopping together & had a good time, though we never ended up getting cupcakes, which we had our hearts set on!!!

So yeah, I had such an amazing time, so definitely count me in for next time!!!

Been Scrapping

Here are some of my recent layouts. This first one is the girls from work at Neeta's farewell.

Amy at the beach when we caught up a few weeks ago.

Melinda & Kaitlyn catching waves & Kaitlyn getting wiped out by a big wave!

Kaitlyn looked so cute wrapped up in her towel with just her face poking out!

Ziggy doing his fav activity: playing soccer

Tasha not very impressed that I was taking her photo

Balloon fight at Jhorjie's 2nd birthday party, instigated by Tony!

Royce at his year 12 formal

Jhorjie Rock Star

Dominic bouncy away while I'm trying to get a pic of him & Tash

My crazy family

Back at pre school when we got to dress up as fire girls

My kitty Feeny

Jhorjie, Cooper & Dominic creating materpieces

Heidi & I

I'm getting excited coz this time next week I'll be at the Scrap Of Faith Retreat! Yay! So looking forward to that & getting to meet all the beautiful Scrap Of Faith ladies.