ONION_SKIN

Happy Mothers Day

to all you mum's out there. I had a fantastic day today!! The girls bought me lots of homemade pressies in bed and then I got to sleep in!! We just had a nice relaxing day today, slothing around in our pyjamas until lunch time. We went over to visit my Mum and Dad for afternoon tea. My sister and her family also went. My Mum had made yummy scones and we all ate them with jam and cream. YUMMO!!

Thanks everyone for the warm wishes after my last post. I still don't know what exactly is the right thing to do here!! I suppose there is no real right or wrong answer? I just keep thinking about how much my decision may affect Ashleigh for the rest of her life and if I make the wrong one it could have disastrous consequences on her quality of life in the future. Being a parent is bloody tough, hey?

In scrappy news.....I have just posted on the Scrapgal blog this layout which I did using tags from childrens clothing I had bought.

I also just finished these 2 LO's which I made from the yummy May Quirio kit.

I haven't had time to blog hop lately or visit the scrappy sites much and so I am going through inspiration withdrawals. If anyone has some great inspo links I would love to have a look. Please post them in the comments.

Later taters.

Just where do I start?

OK....this one will require more than a cup of coffee and a chair if you are going to read the whole post. I suggest you stock up with a meal......some chocolate....and maybe a coffee on top just to keep you awake. OK, I have warned you now haven't I?

Ithas been a loooong while since I blogged and I know I have been majorly slack for some time now but this is for a reason. Whenever I have lots to think about or I am feeling stressed out I tend to go into my hole and hibernate a bit. Who wants to hear a whole lot of crappola from me really? You know what I mean? I don't want to be a downer. So, first I will start with something good.

Firstly, this little thing is called an Arte Y Pico award. I just can't believe that someone as supremely talented as Birgit has given me this award!! I am so extremely honoured Birgit. Sorry it has taken me this long to get around to doing this. If you haven checked out her blog yet then you really are missing out!!

So, the rules are :

I have to pass this on to five other bloggers that, I think, deserve this award for their creativity, design or what else and no matter what their language is.
- Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to her/his blog to be visited by everyone.
- Each award winner has to show the image of the award and put the name and blog link of the person that has given you the award.
- Award winner and the person that has given the award have to show the link of Arte Y Pico blog for everyone to know the origin of this award.
- Last but not least show these rules.

How the heck do I choose just 5 people for this? I have been very bad at blog hopping lately too. So, my 5 picks are :
1 Nat I know she has already received it but I had to choose her as she is so inspiring. She is IMO the queen of techniques.
2 Dina Wakeley I am seriously in awe of this womans work. She is an artist in every sense of the word.
3 Leena She takes such stunning photos and her work is gorgeous. LOVE her personality too.
4 Iris How can you resist the beauty of this womans work? So pretty.
5 Nancy This woman is the card making queen and makes freakin sensational LO's too. And to top it all off is the sweetest person you could ever find. Sorry I have been a bad freind lately.

Here are a few LO's to share too. The first I did for the Scrapgal blog using the new Sassafras Lass papers and of course Glimmermist, my fave of the moment.

The next one's I also did for Scrapgal using the Die Cuts with a View paper. I am not so sure on these LO's. Definitely had no mojo for these ones.

I want to thank Gigi for the shout out too!! I think I may need to send you some Tim Tams? What do you think Gigi? You will need to send me your address.

I have so much other news to tell but do I overload you all? Hmmmmm.....

Firstly, Ashleigh was so excited last week as she received a "Lions child of courage" award. There was a big ceremony where around 80 kids received their awards (on stage) and it was also filmed for tv. Can you believe which child was shown on the news? We didn't actually see it but friends rang us up to tell us. It was a humbling experience as it really made me realise how lucky we are. There was one family who had 3 children with muscular distrophy!! And 3 of the awards were given postumously(sp?) as the children had died of leukemia or other cancers. It was so sad to see their brothers or sisters receive their awards.

On the weekend we celebrated Ashleigh and Jade's 7th birthday!! We had a bouncy castle, a pinata, bubbles and chalk for them to draw on the pavers. There were around 30 or more kids here!! I did say 30!! Am I a freak or what? But luckily they were all really good and it all went smoothly, although it was a bit of a blur. They had a great time which is the main thing.

Lastly....I have what has been troubling me the most. If you have been a regular reader of my blog you would know that we have been doing an alternative therapy for Ashleigh for the past year. While initially we saw some progress with this, for the last 6 months Ashleigh has had a progressive decline in her function and her hips have worsened. She is now wheelchair bound all of the time and also in pain when in certain positions. Weight-bearing of any sort is too hard for her. We went for a hip x-ray last week to see the status of that troubling left hip. The news was NOT good. Her hip is now 66% out of it's joint. We have come to the realisation that surgery is now no longer avoidable and something needs to be done and now. She will be undergoing surgery on the 9th of June. They will have to cut her femur and reposition it and put a pin in it as well as "shape" the pelvic bone to form a better joint. That is what the boney surgery will entail. Then they will have to do surgery on her adductors (inner thigh muscles) , cutting them to lengthen them. They will also do this on both of her hamstrings (back of thigh muscles). They will then Botox her calves and put her in full leg casts for 6 weeks!! I am terrified to say the least. We will be in hospital for at least a week. We have decided to go over to the big wigs in Melbourne for a secong opinion later on this month. So, needless to say..I have been stressed about whatthe poor girl will have to go through. Making the decision to go this way was a big enough one in itself.

Sorry to be a downer. I justhad to let everyone know why I have been so bad with the blog hopping and emails..yet again.

I am trying to think positive here and hoping that only good will come from this surgery and she will regain her function and have better functioning than before.

Fingers crossed.

xoxoxo

Sue

Lurkers....

I've noticed there are so many lurkers over at Scrapgal and we want people to come out and play so I thought I'd offer an all Aussie RAK over there....and it will include Tim Tams!! What more could you want?

I want some more Aussies to join in on the fun too!! I can't be the only one!

I'm even offering something small to the first person who jumps aboard!!

What are you waiting for?

Channeling my inner Dina

Weird title I know. Hope you don't mind Dina. I have been loving this girls work since I first saw it when she guest DT'ed over at Hambly. I love the way she uses the little odd bits of paper and the distressing and stitching. There is always so much to look at in her art. So, this LO is totally Dina inspired. Used some yummy Glimmermist over the KI lace paper and then went to town with some stitching and bits.

It is honestly better IRL!! The colour looks too washed out here.

Man......Tuesday I went to my first pump class in years (literally) and I am in PAIN!! My arms are aching and try bending down or sitting!! YIKES!! Exercise honestly is BAD for you!! LOL!!

Tomorrow night I am going to a friends house with a big group of girls and there is a psychic coming over to do readings. I've never done that before. I am going along just to see what it's like. Should be fun.

Anyone out there ever done this?

Hey, can everyone take the time and go and say Happy Birthday to Tammy today and don't forget to go check out Quirio Kits!! There are some surprises going on over there next month. BIG surprises.

Can I also just say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for wishing me well on the DT spot over at Scrapgal. You gotta come on over and check out the place. They always have the newest stock in before everyone else and with our dollar going so well right now the prices are soooooooooooooooo cheap. Come and say hi in the forum and jump on in the fun. I'd love to see you over there.

I did say exciting didn't I?

well here it is!!

Exciting News

just came my way in the form of an email!!

I will spill the beans tomorrow.

Don't you hate it when people do this? I know I do!! Mwa ha ha ha ha!!

Is anyone out there?!?

STELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Tagged!

I know this has taken me ages to get to but I have been tagged not only by the lovely Jaimie but also by the wild and whacky Sasha!!

Here are the rules:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

Now I did this tag a little while ago and I'm sure you guys don't want to know more weird things about me!! At least maybe I don't want you to know any more!! LOL!! My answers went like this :

1 I double-bag rubbish before I put it in the bin!! OK i never thought this was weird until someone told me it was!! Basically I put food stuffs or generally yucky rubbish into a plastic bag and then into another plastic bag in case the first one tears!! Sometimes I even use 3 bags when it's really gross stuff.

2 i cry in sad movies!! I saw "Walk the Line" 3 times and cried every time. But when I was in primary school
we went to see ET with the whole class and I was one of the only ones that didn't cry!!!

3 I have an irrational fear of sharks! Yet I think they are such interesting creatures and think it's ridiculous to kill them when one of them kills a human!! When I was younger I even was scared of sharks when I swam in a swimming pool.

4 When I was younger my sister and I used to make up songs thinking we were going to be "famous" rock stars!! One song sticks in my memory "Tweedle ee dee went the bird". You can see why we gave up!!

5 I did drama in high school (and loved it) . I went to an all girls school though and our end of year performance was "Romeo and Juliet" and I played Romeo!!!! No one else would put their hand up and I knew I wasn't good enough to get the spot of Juliet and I wanted a main part. Call me an egomaniac!!

6 I have lived with the "black dog" for 8 years!! I first got PND after my eldest was born and went off my meds until I found out I was having twins and that neither of them may survive the pregnancy. We were going for ultrasounds every week to see if they were still alive. They were 3 months early and as a result Ashleigh has Cerebral Palsy (moderate) and so I still need my meds!! BUt do I care?!? NO WAY!!

7 I am always the first on a dance floor when out at a party or night club!! (back in the day) I LOVE to dance!!

8 I am the worlds worst singer but I LOVE to sing, even at work!! Worse still I love to do Karaoke!!

9 I LOVE animals!! IN fact my life long dream while growing up was to be a vet. However, we moved interstate the year I was to go into uni and Vet Science didn't take interstate students. I did Pharmacy instead as it has been in my Mum's family for 5 generations. I have always been the good girl, the responsible one and it can be SO FREAKIN BORING!! I fear SUCCESS!!

10 When I have a Crunchie or Kit Kat I have to eat all the chocolate off the outside first and then eat the insides!! Like who doesn't ?

So, I did 10 back then.........surely that is enough?!?

I did these LO's recently for Scrapbooks from the Heart. I got to play with the yummy new Making Memories 5th Avenue. This first one was inspired by Janine Langer's awesome style!! LOVE her stuff.

Now this second one is straight in real life.

I forgot to post this one that I did for Scrapbooks from the Heart with the Creative Cafe stuff. Not too happy with how this one turned out though.

Not much going on here lately but I can tell you I am hanging out for the CHA releases that still haven't hit the land of AUS yet!! Anyone know where I can get some Sassafrass Lass or the new Hambly from?

Scrappin' in da HOOD!!

Wowsers do I have a story to tell you guys!! I still can't believe this myself.

On Saturday night after going out to a barbeque at a friend's house I came home and put the kids to bed and then decided to go to a LSS to crop with some friends I hadn't seen in a while. So, I turn up to see Audrey, Max and Tania and it was so good to spend some time with them, even though I didn't do anything productive. I must admit I feel a bit intimidated every time I scrap with these guys as they are just so talented. Anyways, I digress. We all decide to make it an early night as Audrey had a class the next day and the rest of us were knackered. We went to leave the shop just before midnight and there was a bit of a commotion outside!!

There was a group of about 15-20 outside making quite a bit of noise and we all thought they were playfighting due to testosterone overload!! Boy were we wrong!! They were fighting for real!! It must have been two rival gangs or something as one had a machete, one a knife, another a baseball bat and a few had bits of wood and they were using them!! OMG!! As soon as we saw this we turned the lights out in the shop and called the cops!! We hid behind paper racks and the counter because we were worried that if they saw us there they would realise who called the cops and then retaliate on the store later!! BLOODY HELL!!

The cops came about 10 minutes later and by that time half of the group had left being chased across a really busy main road. The rest tried to escape once they saw the police roll up. One car load actually did leave the scene with it's lights off and tyres screeching but came back!! What's with that? Anyway, we decided to hang low and just observe again for fear of retaliation until everyone had gone!!

Anyway, to cut a long story short there ended up being 3 police cars, an ambulance and a police helicopter on the scene and 10 brawlers still there. A few were treated for cuts and contusions at the scene and the police retrieved the machete, a knife and a baseball bat that must have been tossed when escaping!! The brawl was started we think because someone stole someone else's car keys!! We had to wait in the shop until the car was towed away and everyone left the scene. Can you guess what time that was? 3 AM in the freakin' morning!! So much for the early night hey? I want to thank Max's son Jason for the scones that provided us with sustenance during our imprisonment!! They were so delish!! MAx and I tried to make up a gangster rap to keep ourselves amused during the wait but Tania and Audrey thought it was pretty lame!! LOL

So, while we were Scrappin' on the inside the gand was scrappin' (but in another way) on the outside!!LOL!! You gotta laugh. At least none of them was seriously hurt.

Here's something to leave you with :

I had a ball doing this one. I used a Collections Owl and their new branches. The patterned paper is Sassafrass Lass, October Afternoon and Imaginise. Did lots of stitching and the moon is made of felt.

I'm going to frame it and put it on my wall.

Winner of the RAK

So, it was meant to be last Friday that I drew the winner!! Ooops!! Better late than never though hey?

Drum roll please............................................................and the winner is :

yay on the DT spot!! How exciting :) All the best :) how cool are your ETSY purchases!!!! Sharmaine

Please email me your name and address and I'll get these goodies out to you, plus a few extra things I have thrown in. Thanks everyone for posting a comment for the draw.

Sneak Peek for Quirio's March Kit

OMG!! Check out the sneak peeks for Quirio's March Kit!! Are these freakin yummy or what? This baby goes on sale on March 10 so get your cards out!! LOL!!

Don't forget you have until Friday to place a comment on the last post for a chance to win an RAK of Etsy goodness.