Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday Babe!!

Tuesday was our 8th Wedding Anniversary and Thursday (today) is Michael's birthday!! Double reason to celebrate this weekend. Can't wait to have some time on our own Babe.....love you.

From him....



And for him...

Leenie the Legend and more stuff...

Oh oh oh oh......
Pauline Rossi

You are the Queen of Digital Scrapping and I'm so honoured to be your friend...because it means I can get cool headers like this one!!!!

Thank you
Thank you
Thank you

And now for more visual stimulation (but nowhere near as good as Leenie!!)

This was for Bon's Scraps Cyber Crop LAST month, but got it in late...seems to be the story of my life at the moment HAHA!!!
Rainer pinched the "U" so I had to put a flower in there instead (grrrr)



This is for Bon's Monthly layout competition using ROYAL COLOURS and GEMS. The winner gets to be guest DT member for a month with a cool play pack!!! I just enjoy the challenges..but a freebie wouldn't go astray LOL!!


This is for the Cyber Crop at Scrapbook City (only managed one challenge)


Can only show a little of this one because it's for the Chinese Whispers at Bon's. Pollybaby has the full version and her layout will be passed onto one other person before we look at the entire journey.


This is for the ScrapFix at Scrapbook City...week 2 I think...late again!! Won these papers at the Scrapbook Expo...noice!!


FINALLY..... my Book of ? page at Bon's...still behind on that one too (and Scrapbook City's PMSL!!)


Rainer said THREE words very clearly the other day. He came into bed and said "COME" then "CUP". So I asked, "Do you want a drink Rainer?" there's always a glass of water next to my bed....and he said, "No!" but I still grabbed the glass and offered it to him, and he said, "NO!"

HOW THRILLED AM I???? But in true "Rainer-style", it's not been that clear since. Oh well, small steps. At least I know he HAS the language, just probably not enough incentive for him to use it because his mother always knows what he wants before he asks for it!! Need to stop doing that!

An AEIOU Mum gave me a disc of the Oprah show about Autism and I wish I'd never seen it. It was as a result of the Autism Speaks documentary in the USA and I think I started crying in the first 5 minutes. I just looked at these children and thought, "He's 13!! He's no better than Rainer!! There's NO HOPE!!"

But then I slap myself REAL HARD and remember that he doesn't "stim" and he HAS eye contact and is affectionate and responds to others, so there IS HOPE!!

I need to say it, hear it, believe it, and live it...

BE STRONG...

Just pretty pictures today....

So much has happened since last post so I'll just upload all the scrapping to-date and some photos with a couple of gorgeous ladies I had the pleasure to meet in person....finally...

Did a Cyber Crop "Purple Challenge" at Forever Always which was based on the novel "The Colour Purple". I love working with purple and found an old wedding photo which fit the requirements perfectly. Love the result. Based on a Zina Wright layout.


and a layout for their Random Challenge. Buttons...that was certainly a challenge. But it did make me buy a mask...finally...from the Scrapbook City Garage Sale. Only $2...love a bargain!!


From chilli (Tania Davey) for the photo swap at Scrapbook City. Thanks Tania. Just gorgeous.


and the layout I did for Tania. Started this one at Scrapbook City's Midnight Madness. I think she likes it?!!


My 123 Challenge entry for June. We had to use polka dots, acrylic stamps and a bird. Luckily, this IKEA pillow has a cute birdie, so I enlarged it and made a birdie to highlight. Lots of scraps used here.


Some MME Everyday Tango papers from Bon's Scraps. Had to wait for the sewing machine to finish it off. Love bold colours...(can you tell?)


Scrapbook City's Scrap Fix entry for May Week 4 based on a sketch by Alicia Barry. I was late but really like the result. Bought the framedangoes from their Garage Sale (nice and cheap).


...and some cards I made with the left-overs from May's Kit




Scrap Fix June Week 1 (late again). Love how Rainer pops out of the photo.


And these lovely ladies I spent time with at the Scrapbook Expo on Sunday:
Tanya Reedy with Ngaire Bartlam(didn't get one of the 2 of us Tanya!)


Me and Ngaire (what a fun class!!)


and me and Loretta Grayson (gorgeous soul and another inspiring class)


Go have a lie down now!!! Can you believe there's another layout, but I can't find the file!! LOLOLOLOLOL!!

Be strong!

Happy Birthday Mackinley

Yes, much fun had by all!! Include me...it's been a long time since I've actually enjoyed my children's birthday parties. I've been way too tired and suffering from the devil known as PND while they were younger.

All went well. The Mums stayed to help with the supervision of their own kids while Michael cooked the sausages and I ran after Rainer. Lots of great presents which we are thankful for because Rainer has a habit in the past of commandeering all of Mackinley's cool toys - Thunderbirds especially, so it was nice to see him get HIS stuff.

It's now June and I'm a little peeved that I didn't do what I "wanted" to do in May, but I knew this week was going to be a tough one, so in that respect I did well.

I managed to do little in the way of scrapbooking. Some "Book of Me" things. Well, there's the cover that I finally finished ...












...and some layouts to go inside. This is to scrap at least 5 photos (I think I managed that one well) about an everyday event. I did photos from one day and cut them up and arranged them onto 1.5 8x8 page. Used a big blossom for a hinge and sewed like mad to keep it all together.












This "today" layout is a BOM entry and part of Charmane's Funky Friday challenge at Bon's. I'm mixing up stuff from Scrapbook City and Bon's at the moment - whatever takes my fancy - which is making for some interesting entries. It had to contain wings and a journaling block. Well, the closest thing I have to wings is some paisley from some old WRMK pp. That'll do!! The journaling block is Fancy Pants which I am LOVING at the moment. Michelle Coleman is a wizard with design.








This FF Challenge is to use a colour combo not normally used (I did blue and orange) and rub ons. Had these rubons for yonks and just made a background and some on the photos. Having fun with my sewing machine too. Have also begun altering my sewing machine with the winning name. Won't post pics until finished...it's a work in progress (haha).





Mind you, I've had to re-think my strategy on the BOM pages, because the cover looks MUCH better than the clean and simple layouts inside!!

Still having fun at Bon's and she gave us a challenge to scrap things that our Mum's used to say. Here's my "Mummy-ism" (with some detail). Still using her MME Everyday Tango pp - delish!!!

Enough for now. Collected my June Kit from Scrapbook City today and a couple of items from their Garage Sale. Still good stuff on the tables....lots of Creative Memories stuff too LOL!!! Oval City -- what were they thinking!!!???? Have to finish Alicia's sketch challenge by the weekend (thank god they extended the deadline) and then a random challenge at Forever Always and then back to Bon's.

I might have to slow down a little.

Be strong....