Vale Stuart Tasker

Well, on Friday I farewelled my friend and Mentor of 10 years, Stuart Tasker. He died suddenly on Monday morning after collapsing soon after Mass last Sunday. It's taken me some time to accept that such a wonderfully intelligent and giving man is no longer here. There was certainly a sombre feeling today at Mass - I think everyone felt his absence - especially in the singing LOL!!

The Requium Mass was beautiful. Lots of memories and laughter (as was to be expected)!! The church was full! Even the seating in the courtyard was full and people standing in any available spot. It was testament to the calibre of man he was and how many lives he touched in a truly loving and friendly way.

He would have turned 54 next month - he leaves behind wife Helen and children Daniel, Jayne and Amy. I even taught Amy briefly a few years ago and she taught my boys to swim!! Amy recently turned 21. It was such a privilege to have known Stuart and I'm sure my life has been enriched because of it.

Helen said that she is at peace because they have no regrets. Isn't that just so beautiful and special? How many of us could say right now that we have no regrets? I know I have many things that I can't forgive myself for, but I guess it comes down to the fact that he was a deeply religious man but not in a pious or a morally superior way. He showed by doing and in doing he loved everyone and everything about life.

I'll miss you, my friend.

AND on an equally sombre note....
My cousing Silvia continues her fight with Cancer. She has one more dose of chemotherapy to go but it has spread further throughout her body. We don't know what will happen but Silvia remains upbeat and confident that the next round of chemo will help. My sisters and I will hopefully get a chance to see her during the week. It will be difficult because I don't know how far the cancer and chemo have changed her appearance. That's the worst part for me - is the change in appearance.

It seems like the world is slowly closing in on me but I know this is just life and life is a continual cycle of birth and death and struggle.

AND on a less life-threatening note,
my guest Design Team spot at Scrapbook City has come to an end. It's been a great ride. It was my first ever DT spot and many thanks to Leisa, Kerri and all the DT girls - Karen Pedwell, Carole Jansen, Alicia Barry, Sara Pearcy, Katie Howard, Michelle Lindenmayer, Tanya Katt, Pauline Rossi and the latest addition to the Team - Nikala O'Brien.

BE STRONG-er

A Scrap a Day....

Tuesday is officially "Scrapping Day" for me now, and what a relief it is to finally get my hands "dirty" again!!

Here's my latest offering from the 123 Challenge Cyber Crop last Friday night. The challenge was to use buttons (oh, how I hate those things, except on clothing!!), chipboard (der) and bling. Because I also have limited bling in my stash (read: "none") I had to heat emboss some Pipe Dreamink Opals I had lying around. Wanted them to look like the steam coming from the coffee.....Mmmm yummy!!!

Can't really see it in this scan but it's a greeny colour called "Tarkine".

Some yummy product has just come in at Scrapbook City. Hopefully I'll get a chance to drop in tomorrow.

1. Drop kids off
2. Ash Wednesday Liturgy (don't forget you ashes!!)
3. Coffee with the girlies
4. Collect kids

Where will I find the time???

Time now to tend to family......Dragon photos yet to post and BOM to work on tomorrow as well.

BE STRONG

Valentine's Day and Details (don't be rude!!)

Valentine's Day was very relaxing for us....finally. The boys went to bed quickly and Michael and I were soooo stuffed, we ate a "celebratory" take-away dinner ... Seven Heaven Chinese ... YUM!! Michael gave me a gift certificate for a one hour massage of my choice at the Dome Retreat at the Marriott (God I love that place!!) and this is what I gave Michael. I blew my budget, but figured I no longer earn an income, so I'm ALWAYS going to blow the budget LOL!!

This is Metal Art from an Australian husband/wife team. I bought it at a groovy homewares place called "red works" at Paddington (Brisbane). Ladies were lovely. They also have these things called Troll Beads (click on their "For Her" link) which I might buy individually so as not to make a HUGE dent on the card.

Now the details....of the "He Chose You" layout. Some people have been asking about the texture of all the media I used, so I figured I'd just post some more pics so you get an idea.

I'm due to send a letter to my friend Michele in San Francisco and Vivian Bonder's Mail Art article in the Scrap Creations gave me some quirky inspiration. Thanks Vivian!! Love your work.

Off to dance with a Dragon tonight.....

BE STRONG.

Anyone Can....

post to this blog now. My new BFF Charmane (heehee) just told me that typepad people couldn't leave a comment. Well now you can!! Never knew this whole blog thing could be soooo complex...

Went to my next favourite scrap shop the other day. They were having a sale on flowers and ribbons - my 2 least favourite things to scrap with - but thought if I have to buy some, it may as well be CHEAP!! Also bought a concertina folder because Rainer loves to sabotage EVERY (and I mean, EVERY) item on my scrap table, including hiding my gel pens (grrrrr...), so the folder stores all WIP stuff easily.
Most are Petaloo petals and MM ribbon. Used them on the previous layout with Rainer and didn't turn out too badly. Have the BOM to finish too, so will need lots of girlie stuff on it. Which reminds me.....must do those next week!!

Have MSN chat with the 123 girlies tonight. Should be a blast!!

BE STRONG

Tag #3 and Personal Challenge

Scrapbook City site is down for the moment, which is a real bummer. Love to get some inspiration at the moment.
Here is my latest offering to the new album for 2007. Thanks to the girls on 123 Challenge for this one. No patterned paper, green, stamping!! God, they're good!! And I got it in on time this month LOL!! Mixed green paint with Iridescent Medium. It's a lot more vivid in real life - you'll just have to visit to see!!

Okay, now for part 3 of the super huge tag from Leenie:

q's and a's

q: first thing you did this morning: got Rainer breakfast
q: last thing you ate: Scotch Finger biscuit
q: do you have anything bothering you? “Why are people so unkind?”
q: what's the last movie you saw?: Casino Royale at the movies; High Fidelity at home
q: where is the last place you went? stack the dishwasher (so exciting!!)
q: do you wish upon stars? Mainly Robert Downey Jnr & Johnny Depp LOL!!
q: are you a friendly person?: Yes, but don’t cross me, especially when I’ve had little sleep Grrrrr….
q: where did you sleep last night?: on the right hand side
q: what colour shirt are you wearing? blue/purple singlet top – nice and cool


q: when was the last time you really cried? Read an article in the Australian Magazine about a woman whose son suffered from schizophrenia and ultimately committed suicide. He had painted on his walls “Don’t kill Mum” and “Ann is a good person”. The night before he died he hugged his Mum and thanked her for not giving up on him. Bawled my friggin eyes out!!!!


q: what was your last thought before you went to sleep last night? Why are the kids still up??
q: what are you about to do? Dinner, update blog, work on another layout
q: if you could drink anything right this second, what would it be? Jameson's Irish Whiskey
q: what's your job position called? Retired High School Teacher, now Mother/Domestic Goddess, Design Team member Scrapbook City.
q: what's your favourite month(s)? October – water’s warm enough to swim in, but no nasties and the sun’s not too hot.
q: what was your school's mascot? Well, catholic schools don’t have “mascots”, we have Saints – so in order of attendance – St Columbas, St Benedict (no not the Pope), Mary
q: what's your favorite bottled water? Pump, cos it fits in the car’s cup holder and the boys can sip without spilling everywhere.
q: what were you doing at 9pm last night? Sleeping.
q: did you attend your high school formal? Duh!! of course.
q: did you go to someone else's formal? yes. 2 others
q: do you prefer coffee or tea? Coffee
q: something red within 5 feet? empty Snugglers nappy box
q: how much french do you know? just enough to order a sandwich and a bottle of water
q: ever crash a car, been in an accident? Was the lead car in a 3 car pile up. Neck hasn’t been the same since.
q: do you look good in yellow? Of course.
q: do you sing? all the time!! the kids hate it.
q: ever sing in public? only after a few. {{Princess Karaoke!!}}
q: least favorite colour? white
q: ever had dippin dots? What’s that?
q: how many driving tickets have you had? 3
q: do you own your own house? Yes, now to demolish it and start again!!
q: at what age did you/do you want to get married? Wanted to marry Anthony at 23 but he dumped me unceremoniously (oh, well he was 3 yrs younger!!). Met Michael and married at 31,
q: have you ever been married? not before this one.
q: how many kids do you have/want? have 2 boys, but wanted a whole lot more
q: do you like anyone right now? hubby’s been behaving himself – been liking some new bands at the moment - but not the same way I like my husband (heehee)


Thanks Leenie, now I'll tag....... Raquel, Charmane, Julie D. (Very busy girls, but I'll see now if they've been paying attention LOL)

BE STRONG

OMG!! OMG!! OMG!!

...another one of my layouts, "Daredevil", made it to the front page of the Online Shop!!! You need to scroll to the bottom of the page, but so very excited. This is the second one so far.

Been a very bad mother today. After Rainer's Speech Therapist session he fell asleep in the car then had a little kip on the sofa. Saw a brilliant opportunity to scrap more!! But, the little bugger woke up and wanted a video - cool!!! Back to scrapping....and finished this:

Alicia's February Sketch Challenge (I wonder why no-one did my fabulous sketch for January??)

Now he wants another video and I thought.....upload layout to SBC, update blog, make a coffee, think about BOM and RS Passion challenge to do next week.....

so here I am

and there I go....

Be STRONG

Tag and Leesa

This is a really really long tag from Leenie

... so I'll post sections of it over a couple of days...


are you...
1. a cuddler? absolutely – especially my boys
2. a morning person? only since having kids
3. are you a perfectionist? TOTALLY – takes me ages to do a layout
4. talented? I can balance a spoon on my nose!!
5. in your pyjamas? I wish!!
6. left handed? no, but married one


last:
1. friend you saw: Michelle – at Newmarket shops
2. phoned: Mum
3. sent text: Varna
4. received text: Jo
5. message over myspace: hmmmm???
6. instant message: Julie Dudley
7. wore: to bed? new jammies from Sussan
8. last night was: Tuesday night
9. got any plans: finished a layout, coffee’s gone cold – again, 40th Birthday party this Saturday but can’t find a sitter.


Okay, now for some more stuff..

Here's one I finished today even though Rainer sabotaged it before I got to stick everything down ... grrrrr. My GF Leesa, now living in Sydney, taken at her Brisbane house on New Years Eve. I had about 2 hours sleep and looked like absolute crap!!

As soon as I started this Alicia posted her February sketch on the site and I thought hmmm, similar. Then I open the Feb edition of Creating Keepsakes, and there's another similar. But one has circles, and another has hearts.

Oh well, great minds think alike. I always need an extra dose of inspiration!!

Reality Scrap final 20 have been decided. I've done the first scrap challenge with 3 Bugs in a Rug papers - "Scrap your Passion". Can't wait to see what the ladies come up with.

My Friday Night Games challenge is in a couple of weeks though. Tanya Reedy helped out with the idea for the game via Zina Wright!! How tangled is the scrapbooking web???