Blog Everyday of June

OMG - June 30th is finally here and I have managed to blog everyday. I am so proud of myself! I have really enjoyed the experience. Not only have I enjoyed sharing the more personal aspects of my life with you all BUT I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts and learning more about you all.

So what now? I've lots of challenges coming up in the next few months and before I know it I'll be back at work where I will have to refocus and learn lots of "library stuff" again.

Looking forward to catching up with you all in library land (whatever form that takes) in the near future...

Cardmaking Challenge, the Final Two!

June 29 – Make a card using a border punch.



June 30 – Make a card with some sort of folds or folded paper on it.



I am so pleased that I managed to make all 30 cards from scratch in 30 (well 29) days. I have had such a ball doing this challenge and have learnt lots along the way. Think I'll keep uploading them from now on!

My bookshelves

I always love looking at bookshelves so here are a few happy snaps of mine. These of course only consist of my "reading books". Mine and hubby's uni books are in the study, cookbooks and mags are in the kitchen and bedroom and all my scrapbooking mags are in the bedroom too! But I love to look at these shelves everyday. It's my favourite room in the house. Just need more time to read!

Cardmaking Challenge, Week 4

June 22 – Make a Christmas themed card in non-traditional colours.



June 23 – Make a card with some embossing.



June 24 – Make a card using your coloured pencils.



June 25 – Make a vintage inspired card with lace.



June 26 – Make a card with torn paper.



June 27 – Make a card with hand made flowers.



June 28 – Make a card with some fabric on it.




Only two more cards to go!

Looking ahead to July...

Stealing Retrokatz post and looking ahead to the future. In July I want to...

UNI - Make a start on my Uni reading for HR. I am organised and contacted lecturer early so I know what I have to read. I even ordered the book through work. I unwrapped it today - now I just have to start reading...

Tax time - Get organised and do return in July!

My birthday - Enjoy celebrations. Dinner with hubby, Daylesford retreat...

Movies - Off to see Harry Potter in Gold Class. Bought my tickets weeks ago. Have never been so really looking forward to it!

Read more - Haven't finished a book in over three weeks! Gotta get back in the zone!

Continue blogging - just because June is almost over it doesn't mean I have to stop blogging!

Scrapbooking - start new scrapbook challenge (a double page per week) and also take part in the Week in the Life challenge. Make more cards and sell some.

Family - Spend quality one on one time with both the kids and hubby.

Sleep more - Is that really possible with two small kids??

Bonfire Night

There's nothing better than a bonfire with friends.

My house

We live just out of town between Ballarat and Creswick on 5 glorious acres. I love having the space. There is always lots of fun activities to partake in such as swimming, car racing and like tomorrow night - a bonfire!




Side view. Couldn't be bothered moving two cars to get front shot! Is a beautiful house though. Old station house which is about 130 years old but has been renovated and extended a fair few times!




The dam. Good for swimming in and for catching a few redfin too! Lots of ducks also!



We need lots of wood to heat the house. Lucky my hubby is an arborist so the wood is free - just lots of effort to prepare it. Love my heater though!




Fresh vegies! We have about 5 different vegie patches and we've planted an orchard too.




Adam loves the sandpit and his trucks!




Ah, paddock bombs - gotta have a few of them! And yes, paddock bombs have been driven into the dam, then winched out and have still been drivable!

Kid 2 - Luke

My gorgeous baby boy is almost 5 months old now! Boy time goes fast! He is such a good little bubba. He dropped the night feed at about 13 weeks but still needs to be settled once in the night. So waiting the day he drops this! But he is starting to get to that good age now. He babbles away to himself, loves his play gym and loves his big brother even more. His eyes follow Adam around the room constantly! He can roll from his tummy to his back and is almost there on his back to front... He has such a cheeky little smile. You go into his room once he wakes and there he is smiling and giggling up at you from his cot. Enough to melt my heart. Love you Lukey xoxoxo

Kid 1 - Adam

The above is a photo of me and Adam taken a few months ago when we went on the steam train for Heritage Weekend. The train ran past our property so it was fantastic to see the place from a different angle.

Adam turned 2 in March. He is such a wonderful little boy. Don't get me wrong, he is a NIGHTMARE to take shopping (grabs everything off the shelves, hates getting in his car seat etc.). BUT, he is wonderful in many other ways... He is so brilliant to his baby brother and loves him very much. Ads (or Addy as he is commonly refered to) is just starting to string sentences together like" I love you mummy". He has such a cheeky smile and is always the life of the party. He loves to sing and dance, and he loves his dogs, especially Jules (who is extremely patient with him!) He is a really laid back kid who plays well with others, and generally shares... He is obsessed with trains, cars, trucks and buses. His other passion in life is Toy Story and Shrek! He loves animals too - cows, sheep, dogs, fish... Just love him to bits and can't wait to watch him grow in a young man... Love you Adam xoxo

Cardmaking Challenge Week 3

June 15 – Make a gatefold card.



June 16 – Make a card using no less than 3 brads/eyelets.



June 17 – Make a card with heat embossing on it.



June 18 – Make a card with a stamped background.



June 19 – Make a card using the colours purple and yellow.



June 20 – Make a card with something metal on it.



June 21 – Make a card for a new baby.



This week was tough as many were first time cards for me. Loving it though!

Picture Books about Libraries

One thing you may not know about me is that I collect picture books that feature libraries and books. So far I have a collection of about 40 or so... They are locked in the "special" bookcase to keep prying hands away from them! It's easy to get newly published ones and thanks to Bookmooch I have amassed many others from around the globe.

Bookmooch

Logo artwork courtesy of BookMooch.com

I know we are all heading towards e-books and such devices but I am still a massive fan of the paper book! I do borrow from the library but generally I acquire second hand books from shops, markets, garage sales and my favourite book swapping site Bookmooch. BookMooch lets you give away books you no longer need in exchange for books you really want. I really encourage you to take a look. I have traded hundred of books over the years and have found hidden gems from all over the world...

Saturday Crop Day

Today I headed to Melton for a full Scrapbook/Cardmarking crop day. Basically you bring what ever project you are working on and all sit down and scrap and chat together. The above pages are half finished. They form part of my sons album which celebrates "When he was 1". These snaps are from when we went camping with a group of friends to Lorne early last year. I have never been to a crop day before but just loved it. I achieved so much (I did some of this weeks cards too for the cardmaking challenge). Here's hoping I can make some more crop days (though hubby generally works weekends...)

Friday Scrap Class

On Friday night I headed out to my friends for a scrapbooking class. We made the above double page and all I need to do is insert photos (when I decide what to use the pages for). I love heading to my friends as it's a group of women and kids who come together and scrap and chat. A nice relaxing evening once a month... Am hoping to attend more classes but alas am time (and money) poor!

My Other Personal Learning Network...

My other big Personal Learning Network (PLN) is my Mother's Group. These women are both amazing and fabulous and have gotten me through the first 2 years of motherhood with plenty of advice but most importantly warmth, love, friendship and lots of laughs. Each are amazing in their own way and the love and support has been invaluable.

The above photo is at Jo's parents farm. We all headed down for the day so the kids could feed the pigs, potty calves, chickens etc. Followed by a sausage sizzle for lunch and naps on the way home.

Tired...

Tonight I am EXTREMELY tired due to the following little munchkins:



I absolutely LOVE being a mum but sometimes it can be very draining. Last night Adam was up for almost 3 hours in the middle of the night - for no apparent reason. Highly unusual for him. Luke on the other hand still requires settling at least once each night. Generally I can function well and power through the day - IF I have enough sleep. So anyway, here's to a night of long peaceful sleep (I hope!)

Cardmaking challenge, Week 2

I struggled a bit with week 2 as we went away for a few days and I sort of lost my mojo. Happy with most of the below but it highlights to me how many more supplies I still need!

June 8 – Make a card using no less than 3 buttons



June 9 – Make a card using glitter




June 10 – Make a card in a shape that is not square or rectangle




June 11 – Make a card using the colours pink and orange




June 12 – Make a card that features some chipboard




June 13 – Make a card with lots of distressing




June 14 – Make a card using paint somewhere

Book: Rosalee Station

Summary: Sarah Clarke's dream is to experience life in the real outback. When her boyfriend Brad offers her a job with him on Rosalee Station, she can't believe her luck. But within days of arriving, her relationship is in tatters, and the dream is fast losing its lustre.

Sarah stays on to prove herself in the unforgiving land, earning the admiration of Matt, the station owners' son. Beneath the wide outback skies, the pair are irresistibly drawn to each other, until a stolen kiss leads to disaster. Sarah leaves Rosalee, convinced she'll never see Matt again – but fate has a way of intervening . . .


Loved this. Only criticism is that there is ALOT of Aussie slang - much of which I don't know. Otherwise awesome outback romance! Love that this genre has grown so much the last few years.

Long weekend, Day 3

Whenever we stay with our friends (or vice versa) the board game challenge is on. I absolutely love board games but we only play a few times a year with these friends. Generally we play Cluedo, cards and most importantly Monopoly! The winner reigns supreme! This weekend consisted of lots of cards: spit; gerzunk and canasta. Then Boogle and multiple games of Monopoly. Can't wait for my boys to grow a little bigger so we can sit down to good old fashioned family fun!

Long weekend, Day 2

The next day we headed further afield - 20 minutes to Walkerville. This beach is a gorgeous spot which overlooks Wilsom's Prom. The beach has lots of rocks and caves to explore and is much more secluded and the waves are MUCH smaller. Adam had more fun splashing about and playing here than at the BIG BEACH!

Long weekend, Day 1

On Thursday afternoon we headed off to the beach for three lovely nights. We stayed with friends down at Venus Bay in South Gippsland. We are so lucky to be able to head down to this gorgeous location a few times each year. Adam was VERY excited to go to the beach but like at Xmas it takes him a few days to warm up to it. We had been there about 2 minutes before he was waving and saying "good-bye" to the water. He slowly progressed the next day at Walkerville...

Book: How to make a bird

Summary: Mannie is escaping - from small town life, from family mysteries, from grief, from her fragile former self; she's heading for the city in search of an elusive 'something' to make herself feel right.

A good teen novel about finding ones self. I enjoyed as she was from the country in a place not too far from here so I always enjoy reading about places I know.

Off to the beach soon for the long weekend so posts may not be forthcoming dependant on internet access!

Library Storytimes...

I worked back in public libraries when I was 18-21 on the service desk and in tech services so I kind of got what storytime was about - sort of...

In reality it hasn't really been embedded into me what a fantastic asset they are until I had my own kids. We go to Rhyme time every Friday to see Sam (fantastic girl - does a brilliant job). Over the past few months I have really seen Adam blossom and each week he now picks up more actions to the rhymes etc. I also love the special storytimes that we take part in.

In Library and Information week we went along for the National Simultaneous Storytime session to hear Phoebe's Feathers being read by the local Mayor. Adam hardly listened and was more interested in the toys but it was still lovely to be part of the event.

Today we went to the library and the Gruffalo came to visit. Adam is probably a little small for some of these sessions but I still get a kick out of taking him. At least he got to "draw" afterwards - one of his favourite things.

We've also been for Easter where we made a bonnet and a basket and got chocolate eggs. We've also go when authors come to read their own work. All in all a fantastic service offered but one I probably gave little kudos to until I started using it! Thanks to all the brilliant staff at CHRLC.

Cardmaking challenge, Week 1

This month I am a glutton for punishment. I am taking part in a "Make a card everyday of June" challenge too, care of Scrap Everything. Each week we are given a brief on what to make - the rest is only limited by your imagination. For instance, this week was:

June 1 – Make a square shaped card for a male




June 2 – Make a sympathy card




June 3 – Make a card using the colours blue and brown




June 4 – Make a card using at least 3 different ribbons




June 5 – Make a card using die cuts




June 6 – Make a card using flowers




June 7 – Make a card using the colours red, black and white




All in all I'm pretty happy with how most of them turned out. I'm still just a newbie to cardmaking so I look at others work and think WOW, AMAZING. But in reality, who cares! I'm loving participating and that's the main thing! More cards in a week!