I've been tagged ...

First I would like to thank everyone for their nice wishes for my birthday. I had a really lovely day. Spent some shopping with my friend Fiona, had lunch with my husband and cupcakes with Phyllis. Then at night hosted a dinner for Rolf's family. It was really lovely. 

I've been tagged by my Aussie cyber friend Kylee, (who i was very envious of when i read she had just spent some days at Twin Waters on the Sunshine Coast in Australia - our family's top holiday break when we are back in Brisbane.) so i will now share 6 interesting facts about me!

1. I am speak German and Swiss German (the dialect round here)

2. I have been on the Cross Trainer everyday for over a week (yeah me!) while watching episodes from season 3 of How I Met Your Mother. Am only allowed to watch it when i am on the cross trainer. 

3. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Reese's peanut butter cups - and i allow myself one (a mini one usually) once a day after the kids have gone to bed - my present for surviving the day. 

4. I still have not finished University. Only have 5 subjects left to finish but have lost the motivation to go on cause I can't find any external subjects that interest me, would love to learn photography or graphic design but my uni does not have those courses on offer. 

5. I won Miss Teen Australia (in support for Epilepsy) when i was 17 and won a trip to Disneyland. 

6. I find narrow mindedness very annoying. But even though it annoys me I always look for the positive in everyone i meet. (well i try very very hard to)

So now my turn to tag some people! First my swap buddie Christine, Karen (btw thanks Karen for all your comments, always nice to hear from you.), Sara and my new Aussie friend Angie 

Can't think of anyone else so 4 will have to do. 

It's my birthday

Happy Birthday to me! 

I am really having a great day and thanks to everyone for the nice messages, cards and gifts. It seems to be a week long celebration this year. Yesterday there was a great cake at the Aussie Party. Today i went to lunch with Rolf, shopping with Fiona and cupcakes with Phyllis and now Rolf's family are coming down for dinner. Tomorrow there is a breather - and then Thursday night dinner at Fiona's place with a lot of my friends. To finish it off a nice dinner on Friday.

Happy Australia Day!!!!!

Happy Australia Day!

Even though i have been in Switzerland for nearly 8 years now, it is still strange to celebrate Australia Day in the cold. No going to the beach for a BBQ or going for a swim. No walking around in flip flops. Instead lots of layers and the tendency to stay in doors. 

Today though i am celebrating with my fellow Aussie friends. We are meeting for lunch. I am sure there will be lots of Aussie goodies - and I am bringing a pavlova that i made last night. Just had to whip up some cream and prepare the passionfruit and kiwi fruit ready to go. Dylan has his wallabies onsie on and Alexandra took her puzzle of the map of Australia to playgroup. Must find my Aussie scarf!

So Happy Australia Day where you are!

Coming to you live from my iPhone

I have bought iBlogger app for my iPhone so I gave no excuse not to blog. Unsure if I can add photos though.

I am having a real productive week, have been doing at least a layout a day and am loving my new space! So easy to find what I am looking for!

Really looking forward to this week. It's going to be crazy busy but really fun!!!!

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Its finally finished.

Here are my final pages of my December Daily Album. I am so glad that it is finished, must be a first for me. I am already thinking of this year's album. Have to make it more simply as we will be in Australia most of December wont have all my supplies with me. 

Here it is, my scrapbooking corner!

A good view over my scrap table.  Sewing Machine is under the table ready to be pulled up when i need to use it. All the boxes hold some kits that i need to put together. Love my Making Memories  storage unit - VERY tempted to get the matching piece for the Slice. 

A view from the doorway as you come into the room. 

A view from over on the "playroom" side. 

My cabinent. Rolf talked me into getting it. Wasnt sure at first but it is fabulous. Its called USM and i think is available world wide. I have all my thickers in the blue basket on the left at the top. Next to that is my cardstock and then pattern paper and also kits in cropper hopper storage. I really do not have a ton of pattern paper. Then are some empty albums. Finally on the right in the basket are my other alpha stickers. The bottom of the cabinent stores some of my inspiration books, magazines and four baskets. The four baskets contains. 1. chipboard mini albums 2. other kids of mini albums 3. misc embellishments that are divided in ziplock bags 4. Scrapmuse Kits (the embellishments)I have to start using more of my kits as it is full 

Inside the first section. all my ribbon are still in the jars with magnets. The wooden draws have misc tools, altered art supplies, and lots of adhesive. The metal basket on top holds some embellishments that i want to see annd the two clear containers hold rub ons and misc alphabets

Next one dow holds my stamping supplies. The folder on the left holds my clear stamps (organized just like Jennifer McGuire) then the two clear boxes hold all stamping supplies including stamp pads, baby wipes, embossing dryer, etc. Next along are my foam stamps. 

Here i store a lot more embellishments. The two little boxes on the left have misc stickers that dont come under any catogries. The four draws are divided into birthdays, holidays, vaction/season, kids/family/baby. 

Inside here i store my Curvy Cutter that i got for christmas as well as threads in the middle glass jar. And some empty jars behind that for anything else that might wonder into my room. The right you can see my Xyron 150 and behind that the 250. Also the rest is my chipboard embellishments and alphabets. 

My cork board - which i would love to do up - just have no idea what i want to do with it. It will be my inspiration board and holds my clipboard below for my LOM class. Getting excited about that!

These three boxes are long clear containers. The bottom one is on wheels. The bottom container is my gift box. So all the things i buy that i think will make great gifts get put in here. I like that it is still hidden enough away from my kids but easy enough for me to get to. The middle box has all my extra scrapbooking supplies. Page protectors, all sized zip lock bags, extra albums etc. Things i rarely touch. The top box stores all my Christmas supplies. This Christmas was the first Christmas as a scrapbooker and i quickly outgrew the small container i was holding all my holiday supplies in. Now Christmas has it own largish box. On the very top is a tray that i use to take a project out to the lounge room so i can spend some time with Rolf once in awhile. 

Scrap space

I am having a lot of trouble taking photos of my scrap space without a flash. So here is the only photo that really turned out well enough. All of the shelves and bars on the wall are new and all are from my big IKEA trip on Thursday. 

The top shelf on the wall has a orange bucket (from Jysk) with currently nothing in it. Then the jar (from IKEA) has my treats in them Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! They are up high so i have longer to think about if i need one when reaching for the jar. Then the frame next to it is from IKEA and i used my new Butterfly Punch to make a collage like Ali Edwards. I used my fav papers of 2008, Pink Pailsee - Spring Fling Collection. 

The next shelf down has another bucket from Jsyk but in blue which stores my mini alphabet stamps, next to that is one of my background stamps i want to remember to use and then in the big glass jar in the middle is my wooden stamps. Far right is a clear container that i just got at a local shop and contains my square punched photos of my family and good friends to make personality pages with (idea from Stacy Julian i think!)

Down another level and we are at the top of the little shelves from IKEA, the Hensvik line. Here is another little green bucket from Jsyk (BTW Jsyk is i suppose a mini Danish IKEA that opened up here in Switzerland a couple of years ago) More clear IKEA glass jars this time filled with my AC ribbon and some felt, and of course some tissues. 

In the bookshelves themselves is little jars again from IKEA. Top three shelves are all my flowers and then the bottom two are little things, brads etc. divided by color. the last little shelf has my new Canon photo printer. 

The bars hung on the other wall are also from IKEA found in the kitchen department. I have been able to hang all my punches from them and the little ones that didnt hang are in the basket on the middle row. I have my acrylic paints in one basket at the top and have hung my trimmer with hooks. The big wire basket in the middle right has a cutter mat in it at the moment, but will store my new goodies as they come in, be that a new kit or just goodies in general. The bottom little bar has an empty (for now) black bucket and then a basket that holds the printing paper and other things for my photo printer, and the right black bucket has paint brushes in it. 

Will wait and see if the lighting in the room changes today and try and take some nicer photos later on.

Happy Sunday to everyone!!

A real busy day

Boy has it been a long day, well it feels like that anyway. 

I have been working all afternoon on my scrap area and i would say i am almost done. With everything in its place. It is too dark to take any photos today, but will take photos as soon as the sun comes up in the morning. 

I have also got lots of new goodies this week. Will share more tomorrow, but they include lots of stuff from the States (Thanks Phyllis!) including Thickers, AC Cardstock, and some new punches. 

Night!

Simple Scrapbooks is no more :(

I am actually really sad this morning. What do i do first thing in the morning, go read my blogs. First up Emilie Ahern. And there it is - she mentions Simple Scrapbooks is closing. I almost thought i was dreaming - but clicking on this link on saw that is really true. Then went to my next two stops, Stacey Julian and Cathy Zielske and the same messages. It is really a sad sad day in the scrapbooking world. I just finally signed up for a subscription to Simple and am awaiting my first in the mail soon. I am so sorry for what the scrapbook industry will be loosing, a fantastic magazine, but sorry for all of those people who are out of a job. Hopefully they will find something soon. 

My Sweet Daughter when she asked why i was sad, i said why, that my fav magazine was no more. She said don't worry Mamma, I will share my magazines with you. So so sweet

BTW

Thanks for all the get wishes. I had a terrible tummy bug and felt so terrible all Wednesday. But woke up Thursday almost a new woman, so i am feeling 95% better. It is going around, Dylan has had it, Alexandra has had it, 6 kids at her school have had it. Dont you just love winter! 

I'm sick

I'm sick so no posting till i feel better. Hate to feel sick, especially on a Wednesday cause its my scrapping day. You know you are sick when you don't feel like scrapping at all. Poor me :(

December Daily - 12 to 16

December 12 - talking about how much i love Rolf, and that each year he gets more and more into the holiday spirit. Big change to the guy who didnt want to buy a christmas tree when we first met!

December 13 - Buying the Christmas Tree - Rolf and Alexandra go each year together to choose one. This time i made him take the camera with him!!

December 13 cont. (left side) that night we celebrated my godson's 5th Birthday 

December 14 (right side) Love this photo of Alexandra, she really has grown up

December 15 - the Christmas Tree all decorated

December 15 (left side) more Christmas tree

December 16 (right side) a note about how things dont always go to plan. Dylan got ill so we couldnt go to a dinner we had cooked for. Oh well. 

Project 365

Some more photos from this week for Project 365

Thursday - we stayed at home on Thursday, just to make sure that Alexandra had recovered. I got a chance to work more on my December Daily Album and I really hope that it will be finished by next Wednesday when i scrap with Phyllis and Lesley. 

Saturday - Today I worked really hard. Got up and Rolf had already gone to work. I then took the kids up to the inlaws so i could go shopping for some food. When i got back we had lunch and Dylan went down for a nap. Then the worked begun. I worked so hard cleaning up the masterbedroom. It has become the dumping ground for everything we dont know where to put and so not the most relaxing room. I was having trouble sleeping just thinking of all the work to do in there. So i got to it and it looks now so amazing. Anyway because i was so tired totally forgot to take photos of the room in the daylight and was even too tired to make the curry i had planned on starting (as it has to sit overnight). rolf came home we had raclette, a huge headache formed and so i headed to bed at 8pm. 

Sunday - The headache wasnt totally gone when i woke up so the kids went upstairs again for a bit and Rolf had to go to work for the morning. By lunchtime i felt better. When the kids came back down we watched a little tv and Dylan fell asleep in my arms (love that feeling) he then had a long nap and Alexandra and I had wraps for lunch. Rolf came home and i worked even more on my December Daily Album. When Dylan woke up we headed up the mountain for some Sun. It was beautiful. We had so much fun and lots of fresh air which made me feel so much better. 

Yes .... even more December Daily

December 8 - the films we watched during the Holiday Season

December 9 - List of 25 things i wanted to do this Christmas 

Dec 10 - my December Daily kit arrived (a little later then i had hoped) so i spent the whole day putting the album together and then catching up 

December 11 - Alexandra writing her first letter to Santa

Dec 11 cont. - Inside the envelope is the actual letter

More December Daily

Inside December 3

December 4 - decorations

back of journalling card

December 5 - Sami Claus

December 6 part 1 - Alexandra's Christmas Play

 

December 6 - part 2

December 7 - meeting Santa at the IMKC Christmas Party

A big THANK YOU to Becky Higgins

If you havent checked out Becky's Blog today go and do it, NOW!

She has released a set of downloads that go with Project 365. So those who don't get the kit can add these elements to make their homemade kits A LOT easier. Thanks so much Becky for sharing it with us all. 

I will be having a go later on today, so will post something tomorrow with this weeks photos. 

Later on today i will post more of my December Daily Album. I am not as caught up as i would like to be, have a huge headache that wont go away, but hopefully by tonight or at least by Wednesday. 

December Daily

Here it is the first part of my December Daily. I took a load of photos today of the first have and only a few turned out due to bad lighting (we have a lot of grey skies these days) so I can only share the first 3 days with you today. I used the Ali Edwards December Daily Kit from Cocoa Daisy. It was great to use a kit. This was my first ever mini album so it helped a lot in putting it together. But next year i will try and do it on my own. 

December 1 - Advent Calendar

December 2 - our advent candles. 

December 3 - Christmas Cards

Will show more tomorrow. I am so glad to almost get this project done. Feels good. 

More photos from my week

Monday was back to school. Alexandra went to Teddy Bär in the morning and Dylan and I tidyed up my Scrap space and the playroom. In the evening we went upstairs to the in-laws and ate the 3 Kings Cake. Its a sweet bread that is eaten around the 6th Jan to celebrate 3 Kings Day. It is divided into 6 little rolls around a  large roll in the middle (sorry forgot my camera when we went up there) anyway there is a little king hidden in one of them. Ok hard to explain but if you got this far, good on you!!! So Dylan choose one this year and lucky him there was a king inside his, so he got a crown! and to be King for Tuesday, but he is always the king so nothing new there. 

Tuesday

I woke up feeling a little off color so didnt go to Physio. I did a little surfing looking for some cheap tickets to fly home to Australia for a bit in March with Alexandra. We want to meet little Jaxon before he grows up too much. So off searching i go. Some how i ended up on a UK site and found out flights are soo much cheaper if you fly out of London (even with the ticket from Zurich to London) so i saved a lot of money and get to fly on the A380. Very excited about that. With Singapore Air you can choose your seats online and so Alexandra and I will be sitting UPSTAIRS in economy. How cool is that!

Wednesday 

We didnt have the greatest of starts. Alexandra woke up early, and then was sick every hour after that till the afternoon. Poor little thing, it hurt her a lot and she screamed so much when she was sick. She did have a nap too, but didnt move far from the TV at all. So not like her. I got a phone call from Beck - my best friend in Australia - i told her that we have tickets all booked! She then asked me to be Godmother to her son - i was so surprised and honoured. I can't wait to head back and see them all.