Animal stories

We got to see some amazing wildlife on our little adventure.... some that you'd very rarely get to see actually in the wild. Remember, we weren't in a nature park, or a safari park or anything. These animals were totally wild, and right near us.

First is a friendly Echidna. We found him at Loch Ard gorge, just off the path. He was hiding in some bushes, but decided that it was time to move on, and off he went. He was so close that we could have reached over the wall of the path and touched him.
WOW!!

Next is the most amazing one of the bunch. This friendly Koala got busted crossing the path and climbing up a tree. He figured that we weren't going to go away, so he just sat and stared at us, letting us take all the photos that we wanted. Again, he was close enough to touch and perfectly at eye level. This was the most awesome experience. We were blown away for a good 10 minutes afterward. Suddenly, not so excited about all the furry balls way up above us in the trees...
This was at Tower Hill - well worth the visit.

Also at Tower Hill some very cheeky, and not so friendly, Emus. They were scrounging for food at the picnic area, so they didn't mind getting their photo taken. There were 2 of them, had a perfect distract and sneak in approach by splitting up.

Still more to come tomorrow!

Meanwhile, make sure you check out Scrapbook-bytes.com. They currently have an AMAZING free download on their home page. Well worth the 30 minutes or so.

Now, I really need to get on with editing the other 300 odd photos..... lol

Night!

One more...

Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. The sea was such an amazing green colour this day. Love these pictures.



Night all! 

We're BAAACCKKKK!!

Hey everyone, did you miss me? We have just had a quick holiday to Victoria, including some of the Great Ocean Road and parts thereabout! Lots and lots to share with you, but I've got a mountain of work to do to catch up, so I just thought I'd tease you with this one.....

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!! When life gives you interesting weather, make moody black and whites!! This day started in full sunshine, and ended in mist. This shot was taken in the misty end of the day. So much for my new polarizing filter lol!



More tomorrow, washing and unpacking to catch up on now.....

C

Sigh...... P&P report!

Well, tonight I succumbed to temptation and went to see the latest version of Pride and Prejudice. Alone! I used to hate the idea of going to the cinema alone, but have been doing it quite often lately. It means that I actually get to GO instead of missing out because we can't agree what to watch and when to watch it.

So..... about the movie.

I am a huge P&P fan. I HAVE read the full novel (also Emma, Sense and Sensibility etc). I already have my own copies both of the BBC 5 hour version, and the Bollywood version (love that film!!).

I was concerned about this one. I didn't see how they could A) condense it into 2 hours and B) Keira Knightley didn't seem quite right for me...

Well, I am happy to report that I was wrong. Comparisons are out of the question, this version can stand on it's own merits. She is A Lizzie. Not a poor imitation, or anything of the like. She is her own version, her own character. Funny to say, I actually think I like her better than the BBC Lizzie, who's name temporarily escapes me.

They did weight the plot differently, some sideplots were much lighter and less screen time. This however, didn't detract for me. Some of the lesser characters were omitted, again with no noticeable damage. And many scenes were abridged or cut out entirely, without any appreciable impact on the plot.

Ok, I'll be honest. I loved it. I really really related to the characters as they were portrayed, and drove home in a total dream.

And if *skip* loves me as much as he claims, he'll have it bought within a week of it's release to DVD ;)

A totally enchanting love story. I hope Jane would have approved, I know I did.

Ciao!

What a crack-up!!

Ok, so after having read this over at Beth's blog "the Site of the Pain".... I had to give this a go too.

The trick is simply to type your name and "needs" into google, and see what pops up...

so....

Cassie needs a replacement.
Cassie needs to be kept occupied
Cassie needs to come back
Cassie needs assistance with her investments
Cassie needs to figure herself out
Cassie needs a headset for her phone calls
Cassie needs an operation
Cassie needs a diet coke
Cassie needs a sounding board
Cassie needs to check her facts a bit
Cassie needs someone to stand up for her.

Cassie also needs to go to bed soon, but that's nowhere near as fun as all these other Cassie's!!

I need a lot apparently!

Before I go, I want to share another layout with you. This one is kinda special, I've always loved this picture, but the boys came in and watched me on the computer making this layout, had some definite opinions about what I should do with it, and generally gave some good critiques.

Thanks Amy for the freebie kit, I love it!!

Papers and elements from Amy's Fresh Laundry mini kit, brushed edge
from Schmootzy Frames (ScrapArtist). Fonts used were:
Boswell, Antique Type, Top Secret and CBX Watson.

Have a great night/day/whatever it is... I know I have a few international visitors,
so HI everyone!! Love to hear from you, where you are, what you're doing.

Cassie needs TO GO TO BED!!

Full day...

Boy I was busy today. I got up and had a shower first thing, had all the shopping done by 10.30 as I had promised to help my friend with her baby go and get a haircut, she was Soooo overdue. So am I as a matter of fact, haven't been able to use my straightener for a while as my hair is so thick and long again.

And today I bought myself a NEW keyboard and mouse!! Wireless AND optical in fact. I had gotten used to using Andrew's wireless, took me ages to go back to Corded when I got my own computer, and now I'm back and free again! Makes designing so much easier when you don't have that weight slowing you down. And my mouse was DIRTY too, so it wasn't tracking so well.

Now all I need is a bigger mouse pad, preferably one that isn't KIDNEY shaped as I always seem to fall off the edge right when I'm doing something really tricky.

Speaking of doing stuff, I have been creating more and more layouts lately. I ended up getting a 3rd one done yesterday, for the font challenge at SBB. And then today, 2 more in between chores. Well, I burnt dinner on the last one, but only on the edges ;)

This layout was made with Amy's Bubba's Sweatshirt page kit, (with matching alpha).

Fonts used were FB Salsa (the challenge font) and Jeana.
I really love how this one turned out... I kept on trying to
add stuff to it, but had to say, it's done....

This was just a quickie to try out Amy's new Lavendar Mini kit. Love these soft romantic papers, but it's a bit of a challenge for me to find appropriate photos.

Not many soft romantic pictures around here! ;)
Used Fabulous 50's font. So cool!

This layout has been a while in my head. I was ripping some old photo cd's and found these
pictures, and knew just what I wanted to say with them.
Used Kim Hill (CGEssentials) free mini kit for September, nice and masculine, but
not macho! Fonts were FB Salsa (again!) and BigMister C (I'm not kidding, it's called that!)
I have just loaded up on some really nice handwriting fonts, and I'm loving them!
And I also used Grumble on the little file tabs.

Journalling is quite long, and reads:

"You have both been making me very sad lately. You seem to be always arguing about
“Mine’ and ”Yours” and wanting your own space. I know you both resent having each
other in your faces 24/7, and want to have your own identity and not feel like you are always
competing.However, when I see these pictures I still have hope that this is just a stage and that you will eventually apprectiate each other. When you are quiet, and still. When you are distracted, you turn to each other for comfort and company.
It warms my heart..."

It has NOT been very peaceful around here lately, something that I am working very hard on. Tyson has got a very helpful to me attitude, but he is very snarky with Sam on a regular basis. He resents most of what Sam is and does, not only because he's the youngest, and Mum's pet (well, he IS my baby....) but because everything COMES so much EASIER to Sam. Which is really strange because Tyson is extremely bright. So what that makes Sam, I don't even want to think. I just keep telling myself that it's second child syndrome, they have absorbed learning from their older siblings, so naturally they learn faster. But he is also more popular at school, and that hurts just as bad. So Tyson's way of coping is to try to shut him out. But he reckons without Sam, who just won't take NO for an answer, never has and never will. We don't call him Napoleon for nothing around here.

Neway, enough ranting....

Hope you like the layouts.

Time for bed now,
Ciao!

New layouts!

Well, I never did get to the lounge... I decided to check in at ScrapArtist and they had a new weekly challenge up, so I whipped up a quick layout to enter. I also had spotted a photo in Picasa that I decided I wanted to scrap, grabbed some "paper" and a tutorial on torn edges that I had been meaning to have a go at. So here they are!

Paper, ribbons, tags and clip from Fernlili called The Twist. LOVE THIS KIT!!
Fonts used are Dali and Jeana.

Papers, letters and staples from a new SBB Freebie called Falling for you by Ali and Dawn.
Font used is FB Sprinkles, also available from SBB.

So, that's 2 layouts so far today, 3 yesterday, and Amy released a new kit overnight too, so there's more and more and more toys! I think I'm going to run out of photos one day....

But now I must go to the post office!
Ciao

Download!!

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to let you know that the previously mentioned download was fixed by *skip* and that it then finished Monday night/Tuesday morning woohoo!!

Can't show you anything yet cos I haven't done any layouts with it yet... I've been working on a special project.

Have a splitting headache today, so I'm off the puter and onto the lounge for a while.

{{hugs}} to all

Obsessive Compulsive

Ok, so admit it.... We all have some Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in our system... I know I do. I have one in particular which is rather funny, but has its benefits too. Whenever I go out of the house I HAVE to have the keys in my hand. Not in my pocket, or my bag, or whatever. Actually touching my hand. Touching my hand IN my pocket is ok, but I'll usually pull them out, just to be sure. I don't need them to lock the door - it's a set and bang lock, but I am SO paranoid about shutting myself out, I don't even trust my bag not to have lost them in the 30 seconds they have been in there. I'll just hold them, just in case.

OCD number 2 is compulsive figure watching. Particularly downloads, but it's migrated into Zip progess watching etc.... I just CAN"T tear myself away, and have been known to run into *skip's* office shouting, 90% I'm nearly there!! on occasion. This is a source of fun for the whole family in fact. Which isn't normally a problem until today. I am downloading a rather large kit. 790mb worth. Which wouldn't be so bad, but I am supporting a 'bittorrent' download version, and as it's early morning in America, and not many ppl have downloaded it anyway, progress is S L O W..... it's averaging something really sucky as far as speed goes, and I'm SOOO frustrated.

If I was to sit here and watch it, as I normally do, I would still be here next week. Seriously. *skip* promises that it will get faster as the day progresses on the other side of the globe, but I am not so hopeful anymore.

However, I will persevere, because the Kit is totally worth it. It is a donation kit, to fund Breast Cancer Awareness. $10 US get's you the link, and it's HUGE. All donated by wonderful scrappers, including my boss Amy!

Find out more HERE and get a preview of the kit HERE. It's a great cause, so go ahead, download it and have fun!!


On another topic entirely, I would like to give Douglas Adams a slap upside the head. *skip* and I decided last night that we would rent some movies. I cannot remember the last time we did so, and was really looking forward to it. We rented the new "Hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy."

Ok, rewind a few years to my disreputable past. I have been a Hitchie for a long time. I have the books, the radio plays on cd, and even an old video of the tv series. Leon, if you ever read this, ooops sorry. Would return it but, Ummmm can't. I know it WORD for WORD. I know the characters, their motives, flaws, plots and sub-plots. The one-liners and the whole pagers. *skip* got so sick of feeling left out, after nearly 9 years of marriage, he gave in and read the books. The first 4 of them, straight up. (I hated no.5) Then he listened to the radio shows with me 2.

We had some hopes for the movie. We didn't expect it to be such a bad caricature. It was HOPELESS. Ok, this is just my opinion, but hey, I paid MONEY to see this, and it was terrible. So I'm entitled to a little vent! The characters were poor, and over the top. I didn't expect it to stay faithfully to the plot, but it was wayway wayway off track. The only character I liked was Slartibartfast, and that was very unexpected as in the book he didn't seem to be that likable. But as for Zaphod, and Ford, and even Arthur, well, words fail me. Not to mention that the chick who played Trillian is a DEAD RINGER for my next door neighbour. I mean, that's disconcerting enough as it is!

We watched "The Bourne Supremacy" straight afterwards instead of leaving it until another night. Just to wash the bad taste out of our heads. That was a good movie. (I like Matt Damon!) and I have 2 more to watch "The Pacifier" (just for you Peta!) and "Under the tuscan sun" or whatever it's called. I can't remember if it's sun or sky. You know the one I mean....

So anyway, it's back to school in the morning, so I guess I'd actually better go to bed before midnight for the first time all week.

Just let me watch my download a littttlllle longer.... lol. It's at 7.7%. This could take a little more than a while.

Bye guys!!

Amy's New Kit

So Amy has released a new kit and I got to play with it today. I got these shots of the boys on Wednesday. (so much for trying to catch up on OLD photos!) Mum and Dad brought the kids home from their little visit, and then Dad (as grand-dad's do) helped me to put Tyson's new bike together. We had got it last Friday, but the weather was terrible all weekend, so there was no point putting it together before.

So there we go, Tyson had his new bike, and grandma put the seat down on his old one, and I put the training wheels on, and Sammy got to ride his first big boy bike.... It didn't even matter to him that it was years old, and a bit rusty. He LOVED it. He wasn't in the least bit jealous of Tyson's shiny red bike, with 6 gears and front suspension (we got a BARGAIN there!). That's Sam all over.

Tyson just hopped on that shiny red monster and off he went! I was a bit nervous for him, but he was so confident. I just wish he could ride around the streets like I used to as a kid, but these days it's so different. Shame really....

Ne way, here's my layout with this fantastic new kit. It's not even in the store tonight, so it's a sneak peek so to speak!

All papers and elements in the Bubba's Sweatshirt kit, expect for the alpha which is being sold separately as an add on kit. Well worth it, has lowercase and upper, and symbols!
Fonts used were feltpen and 28dayslater.

Love these colours.

Love these kids!!

Night all!

Curious fact about scrapping....

I did always think that I was producing a regular supply of digital layouts, but since I got on to this design team, (last week! lol) I have turned into a prolific creator....

I did three layouts yesterday alone (2 using DT papers). I hate to count how many I've done in the past 2 weeks, but it's something like 10 or more. And the flow is not stopping.

However, I've had to resort to sweet-talk to get some new toys.

Dianne Rigdon just opened up her own shop and had a opening sale, so of course, I had to get a kit I've had my eye on for a while. "Provence", and I grabbed her 'Rococo brushes' just in case too!

And now ScrapArtist has had a sale.... first it was the Schmootzy frames, and today it was the Schmootzy Alpha stamps and the Distressed alpha stamps. I love paypal! But where will it all end?

I think the time has come to give my computer a bit of a cull.... When I started digi-scrapping, all of 3 months ago haha, I went a bit nuts on free kits. There are a lot out there if you know where to look, and believe me, I LOOKED!! However as time has gone on, I have found, made, been given or bought more and better kits. I have saved everything I've downloaded onto cd's, but they are still cluttering up my directories. Maybe it's time to really look at what I will and won't use.

Meanwhile, Remy's album is still chuffing along. I've got 5 pages now I think, I was aiming for 8 cos then I can make a folded mini album for his mum. I also got my pocket money yesterday, so I got 4 more layouts printed for my little album. Only four spots left, I really must buy some refills soon. Especially as there are.... umm.... 50 odd layouts still to print and put in there? and I'm producing more than 4 layouts a fortnight, so I'm not really getting AHEAD!

Here's one of yesterday's layouts, I totally love it. One of those form follows function ideas - I HAD to change it to black and white, Sam was wearing a red tshirt, with a bright orange jumper under his arm, and had a bright green wheelbarrow behind him!! The butterfly got a bit lost in all that. It was also a special layout because it was the first one that my Dad had been interested in watching me make. He's suddenly got quite interested, and has taken my Ali Edwards book home to read. So maybe he'll be scrapping next?

Paper, strip and "Wonder" plaque all from Amy's All Boy Page kit.
Fonts used are Salamander and Sloppy.
Created in PS7.

Ok, off to shops, post, etc etc.

And yes, the boys are home now, and YES they are driving me nuts! Wouldn't have it any other way!

Cassie

More babies!

I don't have the time to scrap these right now, but I HAD to share them....

I have a friend who has 6 week old twin girls. I haven't been to see them for a while because I was so sick. Today I went over for the morning feed (and stayed until 5, but that's another story!!). After they were both fed and changed, I used some natural light and got some very personality filled portraits.

This is Madison (the elder, just!). She has a perpetually worried look, and is totally adorable!

This is Charli, who loves the camera, and is also totally adorable!

I'm so PLEASED with the photos I got today, can't wait to get to work on them!

Ciao!

Good night boys.....

*sniff* I NEVER miss my kids when they are away. So why, now, all of a sudden, am I having a cry? Well, it's all Sharons fault - she put up a layout on her blog with a gorgeous poem, and now I'm sniffling away.... so goodnight boys, blowing kisses at the sky.

Thanks Sharon, we all need these reminders sometime.

You can read it here!

But I will scrap that poem one day... I just need a photo like that! Hey, Sharon, can I borrow your photo? :P

More baby Scrappin!

You didn't really think that I could just limit myself to one layout on this gorgeous little guy did you? I've got lots and lots of photos, and hopefully I can get some more done for his mummy!

This one celebrates his little chubby feet and hands, which were amazingly HARD to photograph! Next time I'm going to wait until he's ASLEEP, he won't wriggle QUITE so much then.

I was stoked to find this poem by Christina Rossetti to go on this layout. *K* introduced me to her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a painter and poet, and we got to know Christina's work thru that. She wrote a whole book of lullabies, I'm sure some more of them will be appearing on my work. Love it!

Fonts used were ValerieCapitale and firstgrader. Once again, using Amy's Baby Blanket kit.... I'm going to try to make a whole mini album for her with this kit, I think it's got that much potential.

So now, with the house quiet and the kids at Grandma and Grandpa's house for a couple of nights, I think I might take a nap!

Thanks for stopping by, please, feel free to give me a shout out!

Baby kit!

Amy has just released a gorgeous set of Baby Kits, one Boy, one Girl, and one with Stitched Alpha's and elements.... - available HERE

I took a photo of my friend's little boy, and scrapped it before her very eyes!! Ain't he a cutie?

Everything used here is from Amy's Baby Blanket Boy kit, and her Stitched Alpha, except for the stitching down the side of the green paper which is my own. Font used for date is Typewriter.

I love this kit, it's very fabric-y and soft. And the little animals and labels that come with it are totally GORGEOUS - his Mum and I had a vigorous discussion on which one to use! ;)

Later dudes!!

Layouts can be fun!!

I had so much fun making this layout! It's another DT one, with the same Expectant Moments kit as the Tyson one from Friday, but man, you would hardly recognise it.... rule number one on my list is, what makes a great kit great..... VERSATILITY!! If you just make one page with it, and then think hmmmm, I'm kinda done with this kit, then that's not good. A great kit lends itself to many layouts. I'm sure that I'll do more with this kit, but true to form, Amy has already released a new one (woo-hoo) so I've got NEW TOYS!! You can see them tomorrow, ok?

This layout is pretty self explanatory - all done with this kit, and lots of fonts... Eliot Swonger, FoxScript, Uptown, TinBirdhouse, Splendid 66, Bergell LET, Fontdinerdotcom Loungy, Marydale, Fulton Artistamp Trial, Petitscript.

Hope you like it, as much as I do!!



Later everyone!

More layouts!

I'm finally starting to want to scrap older photos, last week I did a layout about the school holiday activity the boys did in October last year.

Papers are by Tammy Bankston "Cherry Koolaide" available at ScrapArtist, eyelets are from Shabby Princess, fonts used are Beautiful Ink, Clear Typewriter and CBX Kelly's Pen.

Last night, I was playing with another of Amy's kits, "Expectant Moments" which I have fairly quickly fallen in love with. These photos just seemed to fit, and I'm super-extra-happy with the resulting layout.

Papers, tags, ribbons and brads used are by Amy Knepper, Expectant Moments Kit,
fonts used are Liorah BT, Halbstarke and JSL Ancient.

Today it's very cold again, after such a warm weekend, and it's also pouring with rain. So I think I'll just stay inside and get some more scrapping done! After all, it's a toss up between that, and turning out Tyson's drawers, and believe me, there's no competition at all!!

Of course, I could always do a layout ABOUT his clothes, and how fast he's growing!

Ciao All!

Quick post, quick layout!

Just a quick Helllooo for the day.

I have been a bit busy with shopping, visitors and house cleaning, but I had time to whip up a quick challenge layout.

This was for the Art Inspiration challenge at Scrapbook-bytes this week.


I am trying to work on my brush work, I'm still very rough with it all, I think I need a new mouse... Papers and flowers by the fabulous DaniB, fonts used are French Script and Eras Bold ITC.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some more cool stuff for you, but gotta run now.

Cassie

Digital Scrappin' roll.....

I'm on a digi scrapping roll today! I started one layout on Monday, and then yesterday I took the boys to the city for school holiday activities. Tyson's went all day, which meant that Sam and I had the afternoon to amuse ourselves with. We went to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens for lunch, and took quite a few photos as well.

Today I finished 2 more layouts, as well as the one from Monday.

The other big piece of news is that I got accepted onto a design team, by the very talented Amy Knepper, of KDAStudios. Her kits are available exclusively at Digitals, well worth a look. At the moment the team is until December, but we'll worry about that when it's over, it's gonna be fun for the next 3 months.

All Amy wants from me is a minimum of one layout a month, which is going to be hard... NOT! I did 2 with one of her kits "Comforts of Home" today, and she's told us that there are a couple of new kits due out this week. Lots and lots of toys for me to play with.

I love getting new paper. I thought that with the digital thing, the love of paper would fade, but no, I get the same buzz unpacking a new download as I do unwrapping a real package! Straight away I want to get into it and start creating. It's a good thing I have thousands and thousands of photos.

Although I have to get more dedicated and start scanning in older ones of the kids and doing layouts with older photos. The memories aren't getting any fresher, and I should start getting them down into layouts. I keep telling myself that, but then just keep on scrapping new ones! There's got to be a trick to this.

So here's a visual feast for you.

Precious

Comforts of Home kit, fonts were Fulton Artistamp, Infinite Sadness and CK Bella

Smile
Comforts of Home Kit, fonts were Love Letter TW and Jane Austen, stitching is my own.

And this final one

{To see it a bit larger, just click on the layout!}

Background, lettering paper and photo mats are all my own creation!!
Fonts used are Arial, Barbara Hand, Elliot's Bad Day, Dirty Ego, 2Peas Favourite things and Bernard MT Condensed.

This was only my second digital Double page, so I'm very happy with the result, and the new papers are going great. However, I'll have to make some elements or something to go with them. Hmmmm.

TTFN (ta-ta for now!)
Cassie

My apologies...

Just to let you know that I've had to turn on word verification for comments due to an AVALANCHE of spam over the weekend. I turned on my computer Monday morning to 21 new comments, all junk. I was averaging 10 every 12 hours, so if I hadn't stopped the flood, I can't even imagine how many I would have had by the end of the week.

I DO appreciate everyone's comments, and I am sorry to put you to some extra trouble. Don't let it put you off, I love hearing from you.

*C*

Excitement plus!!

Hi everyone!

I'm so excited to be blogging tonight. *skip* is off watching the rugby with some mates (haha I know who won and he's not going to be happy!). I have spent the evening playing with Photoshop, downloading kits, and lots and lots of filters, and ...... drumroll please ....... making my first kit!

Well, I actually ended up working on 2 kits, about 20 pieces of paper for each. No tags or ribbons or anything (yet!) but WOW! I really feel like I've made a breakthrough with this. And it was TOO easy - I don't think I can stop! I'm looking for feedback on them, to see if anyone would like me to package some/any/all of the paper as a free kit, just for some practice.

So, without further ado, here it is... it has a working title of "Gum tree Kit", I think we'll have to work on that.



Since I made this layout, I have made even more paper including a dotty one, so I will have to make some more layouts to really use everything up!

Ok, off to bed now (I'm in trouble if *skip* catches me still up!)

Night all!