5000 Visits GIVEAWAY

To celebrate 5000 visits to Scissors Paper Pen, I'd like to give away a little something.....so if you would like to be in the running for a special RAK from me, leave a comment on this post before the end of the month and I will select a winner (or two!) Hands up who bawled their eyes out on Saturday night watching this? It gets me every time. Love it love it love it....how beautiful is Ryan Gosling??? Who else was silly enough to stay up to midnight watching the Miss Universe Pageant last night? I know I'm pathetic, but I loooooove Miss Universe....some of the answers to the final question were so dopey - cracks me up!! I was sure our lovely Miss Australia would take it out...but it was Miss Venezuela yet again... Want to see some scrapping? I put this one together for my class which is on next week - so I can only show you a sneak peek so far....but it's very girly, sparkly and PINK... ...and I finished this double today... I love the days spent at home with just me and Mia...I sure will miss them next year with Miss M at school. This is the layout she created while scrapping with Mum...(loving the hand journaling)... ...and even more creativity outdoors... Do you like my new toy? Who knew you could fall in love with a vacuum cleaner? Maybe other Dyson-owners will understand... Hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather today...32 degrees here yesterday with a dreadful hot wind blowing...utter madness!!! Catch you soon xxx

Polka dot cookies, a new do and some layouts

Here is the recipe I promised you...we call them POLKA DOT COOKIES...makes about 27 cookies...fun and easy for the kids to make...Mia loves pouring in the M&M's best (and trying to sneak some dough when Mum's back is turned)! 125g butter 1/2 cup castor sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla essence 1 egg 1 1/2 cups sr flour 1/3 cup quick cooking oats (or one sachet if you buy that kind) 3/4 cup "polka dots" (we use mini M&M's, but choc chips or smarties are just as good) Beat butter, sugars, vanilla and egg with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in sifted flour, oats and mini M&M's. Roll dessertspoonfuls of mixture into balls. Place on lined trays and flatten slightly with fingertips. Bake at 190 degrees celsius 10-12 mins or until just golden. Cool on trays 5 mins, transfer to wire cooling rack. Mia announced she would like all her hair cut off. Aaarrgghh!!! was my first thought as I was only thinking the other day how lovely and long it was getting and so much easier to put into a bun for ballet class. Anyhow, it's her hair after all...so out came the scissors. This is the result... So very cute and grown up! She loves it and couldn't wait to go to the bus stop to pick up the girls and show them. I did these layouts this week...this one was using a take away pack from Pip Prosser and this one is with the Happy Bird-day range by 3 Bugs in a Rug...not a great photo, but oh well... Spending a day at home today house-working...ho hum...must find some time to get outside and enjoy this glorious weather though...is this the end of Winter I wonder???

Scrappin' to the raindrops...

Oops...that was a long "few days" wasn't it! Sorry dear cyber friends... Today I scrapped to the heavenly sound of rain on the tin roof...aaaahh, what bliss...I'd almost forgotten what rain sounded like. A few layouts to share: "If There's Mud" - yet another layout featuring Mia and mud! This one was done using some gorgeous goodies sent by the lovely Trisha all the way from the US - thanks Trisha!

"Two's Company" using Ruby Rock-it Vintage Beauty products, this one has some very cute photos of Tim and Bethany fishing at Yamba last April... Oh, and this was the layout I taught at my class last week...here are all the different variations that were created:

Libet...

Tracy and Jane... Deb... Rosalee and Katrina... Lee... Rhonda and Meleah... Gloria... and Dana... Aren't they clever!? So proud of my ladies... I've booked myself into a Thai Cooking class! Starts in a couple of weeks - so looking forward to doing something just for me (well...AND for the people that will be eating all the hopefully yummy food I'll be creating). What else, oh, going to visit my dear friend Linda this weekend - yippee! And Linda, I promise I will never feed another hot chip to a seagull...but as for the snakes, I'm sorry, but if they are where I need to be, it's bye-bye snakey. Today was a good day for baking...Mia and I had some messy fun in the kitchen...will share a recipe with you soon! Have I mentioned lately...I love my dishwasher!!! Toodle pips for now. xxx

Zoom....there went the holidays!

Did everyone enjoy the school holidays? To me they seemed to be over before they barely began - but every week seems that way to me lately..... Our first week was spent running Kate to and from town each day for Craze Dance Academy's Winter Dance School. She found it very challenging but extremely fun. By the end of the 4 days we had one very weary little ballerina. Then it was off to the coast to visit the family, staying at Mum's farm....extremely green and pretty after all the rain....managed to catch up with all the relatives, including my Gran (94 and gorgeous) who was simply thrilled to have the girls visit and to watch their Eisteddfod performances on DVD....we even had a mini photo shoot.... While in Taree we saw "Hannah Montana" at the movies, fed the seagulls hot chips on the riverbank, got addicted to Uncle Wik's WiiFit and Bethany had fun trying out her new pink fishing rod off the wharf at Manning Point... We came home to lots of cute baby calves....calving season is such a lovely time of year....checking the paddocks each day for newborns, and sometimes getting to witness a birth.... We had a fun visit by my old school friend Sue, and her lovely family and showed them the sights of Sunnydale including a favourite attraction "The Curly Tree" (an old fallen apple gum that crosses the creek and makes a great place for the kids to play....and a perfect backdrop for a photo shoot!)... We made some garden beds! This excites me somewhat because our garden has consisted of a few trees in a (not very nice) lawn....until now. We created two raised beds and used a heap of lovely granite rocks we collected from the front paddock....having to kill a brown snake in the process... No plants will go in just yet....we need RAIN first! Everything is bone dry, in fact we had to get a tanker out to top up our water supply.... Look what I got..... Yay!!!! And it's no longer sitting on the front verandah, it is installed and working and saving me hours of my life standing at the kitchen sink, and even saves water. To the person who invented dishwashers - THANKYOU!!! This little fellow waltzed into our life a couple of days ago and has made himself quite at home! Who knows where he came from, but he was ravenous and we fed him and now he stays. The kids are delighted and so was I when I found the present he left me on the laundry steps this morning....a chewed up mouse! A couple of layouts to share....... and did you see Creating Keepsakes (Aust. edition) mag this month??? I'm sorry I've neglected you, my dear blog readers, this month.....but I promise I'll be back in a few days with some more layouts and another Gum Flat workshop to share with you. Until then.....happy days! xxx

SM mag, new layouts and July workshop

It's nice to be buying SM again....ok yes, I know you can keep up to date with the latest products via email and the net way before they ever appear in a mag, and inspiration abounds on blogs and online galleries....but there's something special about cosying up in front of the fire with a nice mag in my hands oohhing and aahhing over the beautiful pages other people dream up. 7 pages I oohhed and aahhed about in this month's issue: "Snails" by Leanne Pearce on the editor's welcome page (pg 7) - so impressed by this girl's work atm, an amazing knack at layering. "J" by Louise Nelson in her Step-by-step tutorial about mesh (pg 29) - so original and fresh in a grungy kind of way. "Dobby" by SM newbie Pauline Dirrig from France in the Pets Gallery (pg 42) - the double layout and clouds got me, and how cute is that pussy cat! "Sun Kissed" again by Leanne Pearce in the Fancy Pants Product Challenge (pg 49) - love the vertical design and cute and crazy close up pic. "Mother's Love" by Tatum Woodroffe in the Quotes Gallery (pg 82) - her quirky combo of elements and groovy placement really appeals. "Oh Those Eyes" by Julie Gordon in the Melissa Frances Product Challenge (pg 101) - simple, gorgeous and a most stunning little girl! "Cherish" by Launa Valente in the Final Encore (pg 116) - unusual for me to like a digital lo, but this is unique and beautiful - well worth attempting using traditional methods! Lovely that Kate and Bethie still get a kick out of seeing themselves in print....here they are with my "School's In" layout on page 92.... A layout to share..... .....this is such a fun thing to do.....print out a heap of photos of someone taken within a certain timeframe and scrap them on the one layout. These are of my middle daughter Bethany during her year of being age 6. Another layout of Bethie - this time with her soccer team Spirit.......this is the layout I taught at my last class: And here are all the girls with their creations after the workshop.... Rosalee and Deb Meleah and Rhonda (Grandaughter and Nan) Libet and Dana Lee and Lisa Katrina Gloria Chris and her daughter Ellie both did amazing layouts using their kayaking pics but wouldn't let me photograph them as they're not quite complete....next week girls! Working on my August class layout (another double) using these little beauties........... .....will do my best to order extras so I can offer a Class-in-a-Box this time! See you next time and thanks for stopping by! xxx

Birthday Girl

A big day on Sunday....a party to celebrate our smallest princess Mia's birthday. She turns 5 tomorrow. Five! It sounds so grown up....a rather special milestone of course because it means SCHOOL next year....no longer a baby of the house....a "big girl" just like her sisters. Our Mimi is not one who likes to be in the spotlight - last year she didn't even let me bring a cake to preschool cos she'd be "too embarrassed" - so it was a huge thing for her to invite some little friends for a party at home where she would be the main attraction. She coped beautifully opening her presents with all eyes upon her and resisted the urge to hide when "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" blared out at 100 decibels.... We had Pass-the-Parcel, Pin-the-Cherry-on-the-Cupcake, a Treasure Hunt and a hilarious soccer match which had us giggling hysterically - not sure who had the most fun - the kids or the adults....do you like my sensible protective head gear...? One of my fave photos of the day.....my dear friend Tracy, Mia and I.....party queens in our inflatable crowns..... A couple of my latest pages to share.... .....and it was nice to be appearing in the mags again after a long break from submitting (check pages 48 and 81)...... The bottom of my wardrobe hides pretty pink-wrapped parcels awaiting (no doubt) an early-rising mop-haired excitable little girl....a choccy cake yet to whip up tonight for her to take to day care......and another busy day at work tomorrow packing (our office has been sold so we're moving)......and it's already after 9.....best be off this computer! Take care, see you soon xxx