and I've finished.....

....the trunk...

flowers.....
the sentiment....
all makes up my canvas!
I'm so happy with how this has turned out....wasn't sure at first tho...

a bit too abstract - BUT now I'm loving how colourful & messy it turned out to be.

I really want to thank Gigi [GiSt Creative] for your amazing class - what an inspiration you are!

and Nic [Elocin Designs] for your fabulous tips & creations! I'm really looking forward to [one day] doing some of Christy Tomlinson classes, luv her use of colour!

look out world, think I'm hooked! :D

thx in advance for your comments, luv to know what you think! [aren't we a vain lot....it's like our creations a part of who we are!]

well schools back, life has begun on the crazy ride that is term 4!!! Christmas is just around the corner...eeeekkkkkk.....I am so not even ready to think about that!!!

GBU

X

mangoes!!!

YUM!

YUM!

YUM!

bowen mangoes are the best!

just one of the good things about living here!

$10 for a box of 24

and one of them was H.U.G.E........my hand and I'm sure it weighed a kg.
thx Mum & Dad

X

A.R.T. for ME

working on a canvas today, think I'm loving it....still not sure! ;D

do I do less, do I put on more, not sure so I'm just going for it

watch this space....

scrap this boy

having such a nice day, scrapping away....

this LO just 'happened' ;D luv when that mojo just flows!

I was inspired by the amazing Crystals style.....grungy, funky but so fresh at the same time!

I've now decided to enter it for the Scrap the Boys oct chllge - 'using a homemade embellie' (c/-a lovely lollipop from Charms Creations).

Photo taken in Bali, at the Elephant Safari park......bit too close for comfort for me, but he's as keen as, our boy!! The bear was trying to sleep but the keepers kept trying to hug him......that would make for a cranky one would think! ;D

had a lot of fun getting dirty with this LO......I'm constantly washing paint off my hands, but managed to control my OCD-ness and worked with dirty hands for the whole time!!! Well done ME! You'd be proud Gigi :D

have a great day all

GBU

X

sneaks...

wanna see more?

then pop over here to see the full LO.

{poor Catie, I'm super late this month, no fun being sick on school holidays :( }

I struggle with journalling much on my LOs but I'm trying to do more of it, reminding our boys the things that are so important in our lives - our family, our faith, our God.

Luv to know whats important to YOU!

Hope you're having a great day.

GBU x

revealed...

well, here it is.....my first ever 'real' commissioned canvas!

I luv it, even tho..........

its a bit too 'perfect', needs a lot more grunge/texture/stuff on it...but ah well.....for the first big canvas (40x50cm) it was a lot of fun..... and I'm still a bit partial to it!

And even better, my GF likes it - for her bubby boys room!

and now that I've done this amazing lady's class I'm hanging out to getting dirty and creative again!! You MUST go and have a peek, she is truely talented and lots of fun!

thanks for looking

GBU

X

123 blog hop....WELCOME!

If you have arrived here it’s because you have jumped on the 123 Challenge blog-train!!!

First of all, Charmane has asked us to answer a couple of questions to let you all know a bit MORE about us Creative Team Members. So here we go…A bit about me...

We live in beautiful Darwin, my darling hubby & 3 energetic (and ever growing) boys & I! I work as a Teacher Aide, with special needs children at a local christian school. I've been studying this year and whilst beneficial and I've learnt loads and loads (& grown a lot), I've really missed my creative time! With only 1 WEEK to go...I'm beginning to see a real bright light at the end of the tunnell - but don't worry,the only 'toot toots' are from this blog-train ;D

What’s your blog addy? You can find my blog at : http://nixnac.blogspot.com/ well now, you'd know that hey ;D

Are you on any Website Design Teams? I'm not on any DTs atm, life is just wayyyy to busy. Would love to be though.

Are you on any other Creative Team Blog Challenges? I am....I love being involved with BTD (Beyond the Door) and more recently KIU (Kraft it Up). It is so inspiring working with such incredible talent and totally challenges me to inspire others.

What else are you involved in creatively and how/where/when did you get involved? Well I haven't really had time to be very hands-on creative this past year, all my efforts have been mental ;D But I did manage to fit in some mini canvases for a kids bazaar. As soon as study is over, I'm really looking forward to doing some of the amazing art canvas courses out there.

What are you working on at the moment? A GF has a new bubby, well not so new anymore, and she has commissioned a canvas for his room, so I'm stewing away on ideas for that! ooooo can't wait!!!!

So there’s a little about ME, now its time for the 123 Challenge details!

We have LOTS of prizes to giveaway – you will see as you check out everyone’s blogs what we have in store! Unfortunately I can't put up a pic of what I'm donating atm, but I've got a couple of yummy chippy products from Scrap Matrix (local) and some handmade flowers. {have you ever been given something that you've NEVER used - and found it years later? Well this is a poncho maker, where you make flowers & join them all together from MIL. I discovered it and had a play making some very cute twine/wool flowers. I'll be putting some of those in there too!}

For your chance to win, leave a comment and collect the words from each blog.

Once you have finished, email the list of words to challenge_123@hotmail.com along with your name by midnight Wednesday 21st September.

And, here is the full list just in case you get lost...
Charmane Koch - http://ourbrightstarsandus.typepad.com/charmscreations/
Angela Churchill - http://angc-littlebitsofme.blogspot.com/
Nicolee Cable - http://nixnac.blogspot.com/
Louise Nelson - http://louise-justloolabelle.blogspot.com/
Kerry Murray - http://kerry-scrapskerry.blogspot.com/
Giovanna Scott - http://giovannascott.com/blog-2/
Mandy Dodd - http://www.teacupofscrapisms.blogspot.com/

So, your next stop on the hop is Louise Nelson - http://louise-justloolabelle.blogspot.com/

Don't forget to write down your word, before you go – 'Beyond the Door'

Hope you've enjoyed this train journey! Looking forward to seeing all your comments.
and GBU
X

watch this space....

for some exciting stuff....

...

...

tomorrow!!!

MIA

hey there.

sorry I've been MIA lately.....theres a light at the end of my study tunnel and I am hanging out to be creative again!!!

why don't you pop on over to a couple of my fave blog chllges and give them a go for this mth

123

BTD

KIU

GBU

x

we're home!

back from our holiday to Bali!!
You'd think, living here for so long and so close...
we'd have been there many times by now, but this was our first!
To sum it all up, we had a BALL! :D
we came home bruised, sore, achy, tired, exhausted...but utterly happy & content with all we'd done and seen in such a short space of time!
So here are just some (of the 1000 taken) of our shots, a very small snapshot of our visit.
{in no particular order...which bugs me...but I couldn't be bothered fighting with the computer anymore today!!}
our hotel in Ubud (Ananda Cottages...definitely recommend this place to anyone who wants a bit of peace & quiet...STUNNING!!) The restaurant overlooks this...
lots of yummy fruit, reminded me of home. I tried some different fruits like snake fruit (hmmm interesting!)

this was our room there.......overlooking a big slope down to the badminton court & pool! WOW! I so wish the photos captured an overall view but that was really difficult!

these 2 decided to go 'Thubbing"....{tee hee hee} we think it should've been called Tubing.....an 'Inglish' thing! lots fun ....at Nusa Dua

we saw lots of funny 'Inglish' signs (Indonesian English)..this was just one of them, even our driver thought this was gold.....a Money Changer! ;D

we stopped at a roadside farm to see how they grow coffee etc. This is Kopi Luwak (you know, where the animal eats it and they harvest it from their dung.....EEEWWWWWW!!!)

a gorgeous lil hut behind where we stayed in Ubud. On a rambling adventure DS2 lead me on, our to the rice paddies & ducks!

driving there was INSANE! thank goodness we had a driver....this was just one of the intersting things we saw, coming down the mountain!

DS1 'Eurobunjy' at Waterbom Park. Definitely a must for a full day of fun and relaxation! I have never seen a waterpark built into such amazing gardens as this one!!!! WOW. First class service.

our little bungalow at Kuta (Ida Cottages)...not sure that we'd stay there again....tho we did have all 5 of us in one room!

good old GJ's!

on DS1's 16th birthday! This Elephant Safari was AWESOME!!! We had the funniest guides, who kept apologising for his bad english...but it was a great day!

we went jetskiing in Nusa Dua & also Sanur.......the later place was the better cause we could do it without one of their guys on the back with us! The boys had a blast.....flying over the waves & getting lots of AIR! ;D

this is what these two really went to Bali for!! Sports shirts.....and they got plenty!!

this was so beautiful....a trek thru the jungle, with fresh coconuts to drink from.....

the scenery driving up and down the mountains was incredible! WOW! I never knew there were so many rice paddies.....or have I already said that ;D

this was where we did the tree tops rope climbing thingo. At the Botanic Gardens up in Bedugal. I would definitely recomment this to anyone (with or without kids)!! Its a whole series of high rope climbs from tree to tree.......and a whole lot of FUN!! The kids were like little monkeys up there......with only a 5 min instruction session! I just had to NOT think about the dangers too much and just have fun! The highest point on the hardest level was about 20m up in the trees..........I only did one level and left the scary bits up to them....someone had to take the photos hey??!! {in fact just about everywhere you go to 'do' anything in Bali, they have somethere very willing to take your photo...for a price!! }

just some indication of the heights........

absolutely stunning forrest!

yup!! Banana boating!!

and yes.....that is me there too........this was a lot of FUN!! The scenery here was INCREDIBLE!!!! starts off in a really deep ravine (about 400 steps down) but what they don't tell you about is the 150-200 steps back up (feels like 1000!!!).

.......and thats about all for now! Like I said, just a small snapshot of our trip.........it was so worth going....{yes, even with teenagers!!}......would definitely go back there....next time, maybe just with my DH!

hope you enjoyed looking! X

coming to a

challenge near you!

keep your eyes peeled in the next couple of weeks....... ;D

if you missed it

...........then BE QUICK to catch this one.... Friday night! I guarantee they will sell out quick, so get over there QUICK STICKS! ;D

some sneaky peeks....

if you wanna see more of this......then pop on over here and join in the challenge for this mth
its an amazing room.....I think you'll luv it!

and if you wanna see more of this LO.....then pop over here and join this mths challenge!
criteria are:
the colour: BROWN
the word: CREATE
the technique: using TAPE {of any sort}

luv to have more entries this mth.......so COME ON, JOIN IN THE FUN!!!!! x

ok, so I thought I'd just say....

.....QUEENSLANDER!!!

;D

I Got Picky

I luved trying this new (for me) challenge site, this sketch really took my attention so here's what I've come up with! Hope you enjoy!

I flipped it on its side and made it 8 x 11.

And you can also see I've used one of the gorgeous Charm Creations lovely LOLLIPOPS............they are soooo super cute!!!

Thx for your comments ;D

have a great week

GBU! x

so I joined the party.....

well everyone seems to be caught up in the She Art craze...

so I decided to join the bandwagon.......

and heres what I've come up with!

{I watched Nic P's video....man you're quick girl!!! ...and SO INSPIRING!!}

the canvases are all 5x5 (in)...so they're TINY, but oh so cute!

these are 3 in a set

luv my cute lil owl?? ;D

{it hides the fact that the canvas is really badly made and wonky}
and my lucky last for now......BEAUTY

{I'm donating them to our church kids bazaar this week, hoping someone will buy them ;D}

Week 6 of school here...wow time flies!

hope the week is good for you

GBU

X

first LO for May....

....YAY!! ;D

my WW1 LO for May...

wHiTe

oRanGe

scAllOpS

hope you enjoy!

{I'm hoping this post will be set out properly??

I'm having trouble with the spacing....can't seem to get it to only single space....hmmm}

anyway...

have a great day

X

GBU

oh and do you like my Charms Creations Lollipop? too cute hey :D

{every time i edit this post, it makes the spacing wider......HELP?????}

our boys

just a couple of recent shots of

our wonderful boys!

luv you more! :D

just thinking about to-morrow......

mothers day

and DH 40th birthday!!! {but that later....}

I luv my mum

and i like celebrating mothers day

but know what really annoys me....?

is when 'they' TELL us we have to do all these

things for our mum, tell her you luv her,

buy her something.........blah blah blah

ITS SO COMMERCIALISED &

JUST OUT TO GET OUR $$$$!!

thats what annoys me!!!

I luv my mum,

she is amazing

she is inspirational

she is beautiful

and I tell her that very often!

I buy her things whenever i feel like it,

I ring her often,

and I'll visit her whenever i can...........

so, not sure that i need a day set aside

just because THEY say so!!!

I'd rather take her to lunch,

or do something for her,

than spend, just for the sake of it!!!

So tomorrow.... for ME as a MOTHER of 3 boys......

I would luv them to GIVE ME

joy

love

peace {& quiet}

pride in them

and a great sense of satisfaction

that they are becoming all that God wants them to be

.....all under our {very imperfect} direction!

OK rant over!

So, my DH turns 40 tomorrow!

wow time has flown,

it just seems like yesterday that

we were in our 20's together!!!

well........ HE inspires me

HE challenges me

and HE helps me grow into all i need to be!!

I luv this man that I married nearly 19 ys ago.

I know our 40's will be another great adventure

to be discovered together......

I'm so excited!

{and to think I used to think 40 was SO OLD!!!!} ;D

Happy birthday sweetheart

{not that he reads this}

hope all you mothers have a fabulous day tomorrow

and your children spoil you rotten with luv and affection

and make you proud of the strength of character they are developing,

under your guiding, gentle hand!

luv my God

luv my family

luv my friends

luv my church

luv my life

:D