23 Apr
thanks for all the lovely comments re: my feeling guilty for wishing my wee fella was going to be a girl. I’m over it. Totally. Can’t wait to have the little guy running around with Joshie and we’ve even got the name sorted. It came to me last night and just fits. Even Steve agrees!! LOL
Won’t tell you what it is yet as I may have to hold a RAK competition thingy… heheehe
L x
22 Apr
boy!
I have to go back for another scan in 2-3 weeks time as it wasn’t an easy one to do as the baby is about a week behind in size (which is to do with me not getting my original dates right – baby is right size for a week behind!!). We’ll be able to confirm it then but she’s pretty confident and I saw what was most definitely a boy…
It was a bit of a surprise as I was so sure it was a girl, I’ve felt that all along (up until the last couple of days when I’ve begun to feel it was a boy). I admit I was a bit deflated as I’d have really liked a girl, but am now getting pretty excited about another little guy running around… just need to think of a name. I’m also feeling terribly guilty for being initially disappointed he was a boy, I mean it’s not his fault!! He just is what he is meant to be and I believe we get what we’re supposed to have… just feeling bad that my initial reaction wasn’t “how wonderful” but more “it’s a boy…” to Steve. I know it’s probably only natural as I’d gotten my hopes up for a girl but I know I’m gonna love him to bits as I already do and he will definitely be the last. I’ve only ever wanted 2 children so am very grateful I’ve got that wish.
Soooo to get myself out of that feeling I visited Pumpkin Patch on the way home and got the cutest wee pj all-in-ones, so the boy-induced cluckiness is well on its way. I also went through what we had of Joshie’s baby clothes left and am loving the cute boy stuff available so all is happy.
Anyhoo… as a tribute to my friend’s lovely little baby that left them too soon, I created this kit called Remembering Alice. It’s a super-huge mega kit (we’re talking 20 papers, and alphabet and 62 embellishments!!) and is so soft and pretty, I’ve put it in the store too so it’s available for anyone that’s looking for a really pretty but not babyish kit. Just click on the images to go to the items in the store.
There’s also a free quick page available for download that includes a special offer in the terms of use! So easy – just add your photo, title and journalling and you’re done!
Also keep your eye over at Eidou for the announcement of our new Creative Team! PLUS we have some new designers starting shortly in the store – lots of changes happening and all very exciting!
Soooooo, off to look for some boy’s names, had a few girl’s ones in mind but nothing for a boy so it’s back to the drawing board.
L 
16 Apr
Dear Lord,
Every single evening
As I’m lying here in bed,
This tiny little Prayer
Keeps running through my head:
God bless all my family
Wherever they may be,
Keep them warm
and safe from harm
For they’re so close to me.
And God, there is one more thing
I wish that you could do;
Hope you don’t mind me asking,
Please bless my computer too.
Now I know that it’s unusual
To Bless a motherboard,
But listen just a second
While I explain it to you, Lord.
You see, that little metal box
Holds more than odds and ends;
Inside those small compartments
Rest so many of my friends.
I know so much about them
By the kindness that they give,
And this little scrap of metal
Takes me in to where they live.
By faith is how I know them
Much the same as you.
We share in what life brings us
And from that our friendships grew.
Please take an extra minute
From your duties up above,
To bless those in my address book
That’s filled with so much love.
Wherever else this prayer may reach
To each and every friend,
Bless each e-mail inbox
And each person who hits ‘send’.
When you update your Heavenly list
On your own Great CD-ROM,
Bless everyone who says this prayer
Sent up to GOD.com
Amen
7 Apr
Ok, sit back with a coffee because there’s a whole lot of updates…
Firstly, I saw the midwife this morning and got some not fabulous news. While getting some blood test results I‘ve had a strange antibody turn up in my blood tests. I suspect it’s from the hospital infusions I had 8 months ago (we were told to wait 6 months before getting pregnant – which we did – and I suspect this is why). If the levels rise it could mean (in very rare instances) the baby being born with bleeding issues (like haemophilia). At the moment it just means having blood tests monthly to keep an eye on the levels, and personally as I suspect the levels were made by the infusions artificially in the first place then I can’t see why my body would suddenly go into mass production of them. Still it’s a worry.
Everything else is fine, baby’s heartbeat is strong and perfect and all my other tests are normal so fingers crossed. Just a wait and see but it’s obvious that this pregnancy isn’t going to be as straight forward as my last one. Lorraine (my midwife) said she’s had another woman recently with the same thing just have her baby with no problems at all, and I’ll be closely monitored by my OB this time around too… so fingers crossed all will be ok but it’s a worry still.
On with some lighter stuff – this weekend being Easter I’m veering away from the egg hunt I did last year. Joshie ended up with way too much chocolate! So this year I’ve bought him an egg with a monster truck and two small eggs and Sunday morning we’ll be doing an egg hunt using clues. Now being only 3 1/2 he’s not likely to figure out anything too cryptic, so instead I’ve gone around the house taking photos of various objects and will print them out (complete with bunny paw print). Then in the morning he can find his first clue, go to the place/object and look for his next photo clue… all the way to the washing machine where his egg will be hidden inside! I’ll be taking photos… LOL.
I love doing things like this, growing up mum did fun things for us (including tying string to our bedroom door handles and making us follow it round the house until we found our eggs!). I appreciated the effort she went to and they’re some of my favourite childhood memories. I just want Joshie to have the same so thanks mum!
Ok, on to the retreat. I didn’t get to scrap with (and give grief to) Nic this time around, so poor Lesley Cooper copped it instead. Good job she share’s my sense of humour so I think she’s still talking to me… I didn’t have as much energy this time either and ended up going to bed around 11pm each night as well as having breaks and nanna naps in the day. Baby is having a growth spurt and I’m feeling it! I did managed to still do around 7 layouts though, there’s one I do really like – the others? well I got them done. Say no more. I didn’t come away with any that I’m really excited about sharing though, KWIM? The motivation was there but the mojo wasn’t… never mind, had a great time anyway! I also did a hybrid make and take card on the Friday night, I must have been stressing over it without realising because my heart was racing before it. Once it was over I was fine again though and didn’t feel too nervous actually during it. Hopefully people liked what we made and I know I did manage to convert a couple of scrappers over to the dark side.
Sooo here they are (and yep, you’ll see my obsession with a recently purchased leaf stamp, staz on brown ink and transparencies cropping up repeatedly)…
First up was this one (had only been there 40 mins and wasn’t into it… that’s my excuse anyway!). Bit of a chuck it on the page and glue it down job, oh well, it’s more photos scrapped!
This one I don’t mind, it’s a play on that “You had me at hello” thing from Jerry McGuire. I wish I’d vintaged the photo before i scrapped it though, might end up redoing the piccie and slotting it in…
This one isn’t really me but it’s very much for Joshie. He loves fun, bright pages and although I love the paper range and chipboard shapes, I’m not sure I did them justice.
This one’s grown on me, it’s a little Ali Edwards I think and much more minimalist than I usually do but I’m beginning to really like it. The gold spray paint on the background really shines and sets it off.
Don’t love it, don’t hate it… LOL
This is the one I really like, it took a while before it came together and the white journalling formed a frame around it that just finished it off.
This one is me playing with scrolls and cog chipboard. I painted, inked and dimensional magic’d the chipboard and then finished it off with some brads, it’s another one growing on me.
Anyhooo, that’s pretty much the updates for now, and before you all jump up and down and tell me not to be so hard on myself I feel my mojo returning… LOL… probably needed another day or two scrapping and I’d have come right! I’ll be back with some Rasberry in the next few days…
L
2 Apr
according to the pregnancy updates I get anyway! I feel like it’s more a melon. Or maybe a small compact car. I can’t believe how huge I’m feeling already! if we hadn’t have checked for twins (twice) then I’d be mighty worried. At the last scan baby was the right size though so it’s probably more the chocolate peanuts than the baby. LOL
Have you seen the latest challenge over at the Up2Scrap blog? You could win some gorgeous goodies from 7 Gypsies this month as well as learn a very cool trick from Delys. Gotta try that one myself.
Ok, packing and trying to organise myself for the retreat this weekend, got everything yet to do so better hop…
L x
1 Apr
I’ve been just crazy busy for about the last month and FINALLY I’m starting to get on top of it all. This week is the Sketchbook Retreat and I can’t wait but have a tonne of things to sort out before then! I’m meant to bring along over 50 photos for the classes that are on but can’t see me managing to print them. I’m thinking I’ll concentrate on a couple of projects I need to work on during the retreat and bring the class kits home to do at a later date…. anyhooooo
My first album for Rasberry is up on the DT blog – check it out! I’ve got some gorgeous papers, rubons and chipboard to play with too so will be taking that to the retreat with me as well… yummo!
Also – the Great Egg Hunt is on!! Over at Eidou we’ve hidden 10 eggs throughout the store, all you have to do is find them and email me with the products they’re located with and you’ll get yourself a free download of this cute kit – appropriately titled Easter Hunt!
What else? well I’ve taken a stand at SENZ this year, hoping to drag a few more traditional scrappers kicking and screaming over to the dark side… LOL. We’ve got some very cool stuff in the pipeline, and if you’re not able to attend the show then check online during SENZ weekend (mid-July – I’ll give you the details closer to the time) for some special show goodies!
Ok.. better get my A into G, got a page to scrap today for an alphabet album for a lovely little boy (also called Joshua and the same age as my wee fella too), who had a near drowning and is struggling with brain function. So sad but he’s lucky to be alive and is a little battler.
As for other stuff I’m into my 16th week of pregnancy (wow – entering my 5th month already next week!!) and in a few weeks time we’ll be finding out the sex. I’m feeling it’s a girl, and so are Steve and Joshie. Fingers crossed but I really won’t mind if it’s a boy… I wanted a girl the first time around and couldn’t love my little man any more if I tried. I believe we get what we’re meant to have, I also believe our children choose us so we’ll just have to wait and see!!
L
27 Mar
A couple of weeks ago I got a lovely box of goodies from Rasberry – lots of papers, rubons, chipboard, stickers and a cute chipboard heart album to play with! So here’s a sneak peek, if you want to see the rest you’ll need to rendezvous over at the Rasberry DT blog… hehehe
23 Mar
This gorgeous kit is all about growth, renewal and a fresh start and has been created by a group of Eidou designers to benefit the victims of the Victorian Bushfires in Australia. It’s our way, however small, of trying to do something to help. And you can help us! Just purchase the Rebirth kit and ALL proceeds, yep 100% of the sale price, will go the trust fund set up to help the victims rebuild their lives. At only $3.00 for the kit it’s a small investment to make a big difference.
The kit contains 22 x 300dpi papers and 24 elements, including word art, frames, vines, plants and so much more!
16 Mar
Are you a digital designer? Do you want to be one? Eidou is a growing hybrid and digital scrapbooking site and we’re looking for new and exciting talent to join our growing team of designers. We want fresh faces offering a range of great designs that will give our customers the quality and value for money they’ve come to expect from us.
We’ll be taking applications until the end of April and will announce all our new designers then. All applicants should email me at info@eidou.com with their details and some samples of their work, where I can find their items if they’re already selling elsewhere and a little about themselves.
We’re officially taking applications to be part of our inaugural Elite Team.
We’d like to see 3-4 layouts that you’ve created especially for us, they don’t have to feature products from Eidou but do need to be original, not scraplifted or based on a sketch. Please email them to info@eidou.com with the subject line Elite Team Search. Please include your name, blog details, design team experience (if any) and all the items used for each layout. The initial term is for 6 months but may be extended by mutual agreement. The call is open until midnight on the 12th April (NZ time) so you’ve got plenty of time to get your entries in!
We’re looking for designers to work with some of our new kits or a selection of products, providing us with 3-4 layouts a month to help promote these products. We would also expect you to post this work on the blog and actively participate in the Forum. In return you will get these products given to you free of charge, as well as promotion of yourself and your work in our monthly newsletters.
This call is international, and you’re welcome to be on other design teams.
Go for it!
9 Mar
What is it with boys? They all seem to be obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine? As a parent I can’t STAND to watch the toneless voiceovers and terrible animation, Ringo Starr’s voice just drives me up the wall. But Joshie loves it. I mean REALLY loves it. So Saturday we headed allllll the way over to Glenbrook (for anyone who doesn’t know Auckland it’s about 90 mins away) and took him to the Thomas day.
He had a ride on Thomas and Tod, with the Tod trip being a long one through infestations of sandflies, rain and a lot of coal dust. We were last to board thanks to Joshie playing up so ended up in cattle class (the open air carriage) and it wasn’t pleasant. Fortunately about 2/3rds of the way through they stopped and lots of people got off to have a walk around for 10 mins. We shot into the first indoor carriage we could find with some empty seats as we didn’t want a face full of sandflies on the way back too!
There was even the Fat Controller, and Joshie even agreed to a photo with him! It should have been a great day and would have been if it hadn’t have been for Joshie’s behaviour. Let’s call it a phase. A long phase. I’m soooo over it too, he’s just been so naughty lately! REALLY pushing to see how far we’ll let him go.
Well after Thomas he just pushed us to our limits so we came home, put all his toys into the naughty bin (a big tub we bought to put his confiscated toys into when he’s naughty) and he went into time out. About an hour of screaming, crying and tantrums later he decided to settle down and be good. After about 6 hours I let him have his Thomas train back, the rest are still sitting in the naughty bin as a reminder to him that we’re not going to have a spoiled brat. It seems if we give him ANYTHING then he plays up. And that sucks. I WANT to give him things and take him nice places but he makes us regret it when we do. Still, this morning he went happily to kindy and seemed much better so hopefully we’ll keep on this track and he’ll get it that we’re not kidding.
Off to the midwife tomorrow to hear the baby’s heart for the first time, I’m taking Joshie as M&D are away on holiday on the Gold Coast (cyclone is going to pass them by fortunately!)…
L
