Season's Greetings

Wishing all of my family, friends and followers a most wonderful Christmas, and a bright and prosperous 2010 !!!

I will be taking a break from blogging from now until the new year (not that you'd notice anyway LOL), and I will be back with some new and very exciting news !!!
Hope you've all been good this year, and Santa is kind to you - I think I've been slightly nicer than naughty, so fingers crossed for me LOL !!!
For those doing long haul - drive safely. Stop revive, survive. For those partying on - take a cab or get a lift if you've had a few drinks...play it safe at this time of year, your families and friends will thank you for it ! (Off the soapbox now LOL).

Hope you get the chance to scrap, and take some great Christmas pics. I know I am looking forward to getting some projects done !
Have a good one !!!

The Silly Season...

is upon us, and everyone is just so busy ! That's my excuse for not blogging, and I'm sticking to it LOL !
A few things of note:

1. Jacob was successful in gaining selection to the Targeted Sports Program with Narrabeen Sports HS. This will mean early morning training two days a week, but it will be great for him !

2. Jacob won the Junior Boys Cross Country Championship medal at Presentation Day. He just missed out on being overall Junior Boy Champion, but he still has next year !

3. Caden is running and climbing like you wouldn't believe ! He's not talking much yet, but I guess that will come (or at least I hope so).

4. No Masters phone call for me this year (sigh)...just kidding...congrats to those girls who did get a call, and I am now eagerly awaiting the mag. Still over a month to wait aaarrrrrgggghhhh ! Hoping for, but not expecting a HM !

5. ARTastic's December challenge is Vermeer's Girl with the Pearl Earring. Here is the painting, and my interpretation...

Additional Criteria
1. Single portrait style photo and 
2. An earring somewhere on the page


Still plenty of time to get your entries in. Hope to see yours soon !

Layouts from Retreat !

As I stated in the last post, I had a fabulous time on retreat. What was even more pleasing about the experience were the 11 layouts I completed ! A bit of a record for me !

I also taught a class, which was very well received, and used some of the older Scenic Route papers...quite fitting really, as they are no more ! A lot of my retreat LO's use older papers...it's a great way to use up my HUGE stash, and I am finding that teamed with the right embellishments, you can see it's potential all over again !

Unfortunately, there are a few I cannot show you just yet, but it's for a good reason !

Hopefully you will see them in an upcoming issue of Scrapbooking Memories.

Below are the 2 LO's I did for my retreat class:

I will have some other LO's to share from Wicked Princess' Project Fashionista Competition soon...don't want to use all my pretty pages up in one post LOL !
If you're looking for something to do this weekend, the pop on over to the November Cybercrop at Forever Always...it's going to be GROOOOOOOOVY BABY !!!

Retreat...70's Style !

OMG !

Retreat was an absolute hoot ! I haven't laughed so much and so hard in a long time !

The photo is from the Saturday night, when we all dressed in our 70's paraphernalia and had fondue ! The Girl Guides mural, which actually has a 70 on it (can't see it in this pic) was the perfect back drop for our fun photo shoot !

This isn't everyone...just those of us silly enough to allow for public embarrassment ! LOL !

There is a saying that what happens on retreat, stays at retreat, so that's about all I can share for the moment. I did manage to complete 11 layouts (which would have to be some kind of record for me), but haven't photographed them yet...I will share soon.

In other news, Jacob and the relay team finally competed at the State Athletics Carnival !

I am a very proud mummy and teacher !

The boys finished 4th in the State !!!

This includes Catholic and Independent / Private schools, so they really are 4th best !

It was a bit sad to miss out on a medal, but WOW, they ran so well, and they improved their time each time they raced ! Well done boys !!!

Excited !!!

I am excited !!!

And for a number of reasons !!!

1. As many of you will already know, I made the shortlist for this year's Masters. The list is 67 girls long, and I think you could make several Top 10's and keep a lot of people happy ! Congratulations to everyone who entered Master's this year, and good luck to the shortlisters.

As much as being a Master would be the bees knees, once again, I'd be more than happy with a HM (or two...not too greedy LOL !).

2. Only 2 sleeps, and I will be on RETREAT !!! It will be awesome to see Lou, Chrissy, Sharryn and all the regular attendees again ! Even though I will have some disruptions, Friday through to Sunday is looking GREAT !!!

3. Only 3 sleeps until Jacob's run ! I have a very nervous excitement building for him ! The team have been training well, and for quite some time. I don't know if they can win, but a Top 3 finish would be outstanding !!!

4. I have finally finished my promo work for Canon Pixma ! It has been a very long and tiring campaign, and a real eye opener to the world of promotions ! I liked the product so much that I did buy a new printer LOL ! As a crafter, the Canon Pixma MP640, will be a great addition to my tools. I think I did well overall, selling 7 printers...8 if you include my sale...and 9 if you include the sale I did, but a Team Leader took credit for ! Now for pay day !!!

5. And finally, two good friends from work have recently had their babies ! Jackie and Jacqui had a baby boy and baby girl respectively ! I am so happy for both of them ! Hope their babies are a bit kinder in the sleep department, than Caden was for me ! LOL !!!

Be back after retreat !

Blog Candy !

There is some awesome blog candy to be won on Bon's blog from Bon's Scraps !

Bon is celebrating her 100th post.

See the post HERE for more information, and a look at the giveaway !

In other news...

I am very, very excited to be heading off to the 13th Forever Always retreat next week !

I haven't "slept over" at retreat, since just before Caden was born !

This time I will be staying on for most of the nights, and I am soooooo looking forward to a good night's sleep LOL ! Oh, and scrapping of course !

Retreat will be interrupted on the Thursday however, as I head out to Homebush, and the State Athletics Championships. Jacob, Brad, Charlie and Tully will be running in the 4x100 Junior Boys Relay. It's very exciting, and Jacob's first time at a State carnival. I think they have a good chance of making the final...let's hope I'm right !!!

I begin my last 4 days of Canon Pixma promotions tomorrow !

We are at least on my home turf - Warringah Mall. I am hoping lots of Curly kids will come and do craft with me LOL ! It hasn't been all fun and games (or in this case, craft), but it has been interesting and eye opening to say the least - I even met relatives (whom I didn't know) whilst working at Macquarie Centre last week ! Amazing !

Cybercrops and Competitions !

Well with all of the Canon Pixma work I have been doing, it is certainly putting me behind in my scrapping !
As most of you will know, I love a good cybercrop, and I love a good scrapping competition even more !

Forever Always have been running their October cybercrop this weekend, and you still have plenty of time to get your layouts in.
It would be great to see some new faces, and as in the previous few CC's, there is a GDT position up for grabs !

Mystical Scrapbooks are partway through their Family Ties competition, and I think I need to get my Round 3 entry in by Tuesday ! This week our challenge is:
Parents or Aunty/Uncles, Grand parent or someone you look up to.
Colours - Funky - Hot Pink , Bright Orange Turquoise/Teal Black.
Requirements - Layering and flowers.
Should be an interesting challenge for me !

Wicked Princesses Project Fashionista has been a lot of fun, and after 5 rounds, I was fortunate to make the final 5 !!! Now I need to complete a set of 3 layouts for the finale ! These are due by the 23rd...so wish me luck !

And finally...a most awesome competition from Bon's Scraps !

The competition will start THIS Tuesday - 20th October (which is also Cybercrop Tuesday)
You will need to be or become an active member of the forum.
It will run for 4 weeks, one task per week.
The comp will be judged by "doing" not "best"
There will be no eliminations.

For your efforts, you could win this...

OR this...

Click HERE to see a sample of these gorgeous monthly kits !