Well looks like monthly updates are my thing so maybe I should just stick to that commitment lol... This ones going to be fairly brief since not much has been happening in my world lately...

With regards to the house repairs - well I finally got the roof on woohoo! Looks HEAPS better and because its fully insulated now its nice and cozy inside AND I dont hear the rain (which means I can hear the TV - yay!)  I'm still yet to get photos of it though *sigh** so things on the home front are pretty much back to normal now which is a bit of a  relief :)

With regards to crafting - well not alot happening in that department either. Starting to get ready to go away again so all my crafting has been put on the back burner for now.

Peekaboo - They just wanted to say hi!

She's finished - looks much cuter
 in person though :)

I have managed to sew together a few little sock monkeys although my sewing machine decided to give up as I started my first monkey so I ended up having to buy a new machine. My mum loaned me her machine at first but it has major issues too. Its practically new but it must be out of alignment because the stupid thing kept snapping needles... I think I snapped 6 in the first half an hour of sewing... I finally drew the line when it snapped the needle and flung the tip into my neck where it remained embedded until the tweezers pulled it out *sigh* so I got the message and put it into retirement along with mine! My old one was a Singer... not a particularly old Singer but I seem to have had issues with it right from the word go (never did sew particularly straight) so i'm not overly disappointed about its decision to retire. I have replaced it with a cheap Brother machine (Im not a sewing enthusiast by any standard - I basically sew in a straight line or add a zigzag stitch - thats my limits when it comes to sewing im afraid) so the cheap one suits my basic needs but i'm loving this new machine and it plays so much nicer than the cranky old Singer ever did!  


 I also did my monthly ATC entry for SIWA - it was a free for all theme this time so we could pick our own design. I decided to do mine primarily digital with lots of bright colours and I put the words ''always look on the bright side of life'' because it seemed to be a month of heartache for lots of people so I thought it was an appropriate theme given the circumstances.  This months theme was 'boys' - Ive opted out of this one A) because I'm just not into boy things and B) because lately I just dont seem to have time to do anything. The months are coming and going before I have time to do anything (Is that a sign that i'm getting old lol)

This was the digital part of it (there are obviously 4 ATC cards here) - I cut them down, mounted them on cardstock and added a little 3D butterfly (which I glittered the tips of the wings on) to the top right hand corner and added some little blingy dots around the edges.  Not my finest moment but I did put alot of thought into them...  I used the Clock to symbolise 'time' - that life is too short to have unnecessary worries... I used the bird to symbolise the need to spread your wings and fly though life - to take any opportunities that come your way... I used the rose petals to symbolise the natural beauty of life - that everything in life has thorns but there is also always something beautiful that comes from it... I used the bear to symbolise childhood memories - to remind people that having fun and not being too serious is important... I used the butterfly to represent freedom - to go anywhere your heart desires... and I added the bright colours to encourage happiness and good cheer. because I believe its imperative in life to LIVE LOVE LAUGH and to ''always look on the bright side of life''! and THATS how my ATCs come about :)))

My Logo :)))

And the only other thing even remotely craft related was that I actually took the plunge and sent my facebook page live - woohoo - so i'm now selling some of my things through my kreatedbykim page. (heres a link to my site https://www.facebook.com/kreatedbykim) Its taken a bit of time to get it put together but I think i've done it ok. Pricing was my biggest issue - I wanted something fair to both the buyer and me. A few people made a comment about the price of my little albums ($40) but I dont think they realise just how much effort (and materials) goes into making them. They really do take me ages to make and because I don't use cheap products it costs me quite a bit to put it together - and its totally unique - I never make 2 the same! But not to worry - you cant please everyone right and they weren't crafters so I guess they don't understand - still gets a little disheartening though :( but i've sold a few things through there and taken a few orders for other things so it was worth the effort. I even created a little logo which I use to network the page teehee :)))

So as you can see nothing overly exciting at all to report this month. The boat is on the hardstand so its all go on that for the next month which means there wont be much craftiness happening this month either but we'll see how it goes.

And that my friends is where im leaving it for today. Hope you all have a lovely week and keep smiling xx

See you next month ;)

another month has flown on by...

OMG!! Another month has come and gone and yet again I failed to update this blog... sorry guys! :(

Well since last post much has happened... As you know i've been waiting to get repairs done to the house after the March floods and as yet i'm still waiting to get the roof replaced. The SES tarp has been removed and the ridge capping has been temporarily sealed to prevent further leakage but its only a short term fix. The roofing company has been organised, now its just a waiting game as to when they can do it (there are a alot of people in the same boat at the moment)... The carpets have been replaced and the plaster on the ceilings have been replaced and repainted so things are definitely looking up :) There is a degree of normality returning to my humble little abode - finally!...and I have my craftroom back - yay!!! lol

The alleyway next to my house -
about an hour into the rain.
Can only just see the footpath now. 

Looking down the street - about an hour into
the rain... The road is much higher than
the houses!

Me in my gumboots near my front door
(and yes thats a fence paling)

Back street - an hour in - eventually went
up to their waist.

 

The next morning - assessing the damage... 

<--- Ceiling after the roof leaked. The water came in from the ceiling, the floor and ran down the walls from the cornices... ----->

The next morning - after the SES tarped up the roof...

Well they say things happen in 3's and i've had my fair share of bad luck this year - firstly, as you know, I had my Staffy Buddha very sick (but thankfully she has fully recovered and is now back to normal), then of course the house flooded and left us with a huge repair bill, but then the most tragic thing of all happened - sadly, my beautiful old Silky Terrier, Fraggle, got very sick and had to be laid to rest :'( ...and I have to tell you that it absolutely broke my heart and was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life :'(

Turns out she had exactly the same disease as poor Buddha (pyometra)... Im still struggling to understand the illness because its not overly common and supposedly not contagious and yet there we were with 2 dogs at the vet within a month of each other and both with the same illness? My little brain cant comprehend how it happened and how it came on so suddenly in both cases - it just makes no sense at all to me... all I know is, if I ever own another dog, I will have it desexed immediately because undesexed bitches are the only ones at risk of getting this very serious illness and I dont EVER want another one of my beautiful pets to suffer this horrible disease!

Unfortunately my little Frags wasn't strong enough to take the treatment required to cure the Pyometra (Buddha only just survived and she's a strong healthy dog). Fraggle was 13 years old and riddled in Cancer and had we have continued to treat her we would have only been prolonging a painful life and I loved her too much to do that to her. But it was the toughest decision I ever had to make and even harder because I am a very strong believer in ''its not my place to determine life'' - I dont kill anything because its not my place to take their life, and yet there I was giving the ok for the vet to do just that :( Still makes me feel sick to this day! I stayed with her while the vet gave her the needle and I could literally feel her little life leave her body - in my whole life I will never forget that moment nor will I ever get over it. I think had she had died naturally, in her little bed, I could have accepted it easier but because of the circumstances I feel like i've robbed her of her life, even though I know deep down that she couldn't have survived the operation and she would've only suffered.

I have had her buried in my garden next to my other old girl (the one shown on the ATC from last month). Im going to plant a rose for her aswell and have decided on a beautiful yellow one - because her fur was a golden blonde and her personality was always bright and happy. So now I just have to find a beautiful, yellow, fragrant, double bloomed rose that is worthy enough to be placed at her grave. Im also going to put together an album all about her and i'm going to do a reverse canvas of her for my wall.

So thats my sad news... but it hasn't been all bad this month. I've actually had a pretty productive month as far as craft work goes. I managed to get my ATCs for my SIWA swap completed and I was really happy with how they turned out. Not sure if I mentioned last time that the April theme was in memory of the organisers baby boy whom she'd lost shortly after birth, so it was a little bit special this month. I put alot of thought and love into this months ATC and I truly hope I did baby Gregorys memory justice...

My interpretation on the April SIWA ATC swap
Angel theme

A digital card challenge

I also managed to get an 18th birthday mini album completed for my best friends daughter who turns 18 next month *phew* - this one was doing my head in. Originally i'd planned on doing it digitally using blue nosed bears as a theme but that proved to be somewhat impossible and became a rather painful venture so I ended up going back to what I know best and made her a traditional mini album with flowers, ribbons and lots of pretties... I hope she likes it. I've known her since she was about 7 years old and I can hardly believe she's turning 18 - but shes a really good girl with a good head on her shoulders and a beautiful heart and I really hope she has a wonderful 18th party and can use her little album as a life long keepsake.

And ready... wait for it... I even managed to complete some of the unfinished projects that have been accumulating in my drawers forEVER!!! Proud of me! heehee :D  It felt good to finish off what I had started so long ago. I have 2 mini albums which are now both complete, several quickpages that have had the finishing touches added to them and a heap of cards that needed glitzing, sentiments and envelopes added... I have even pulled out the sewing machine and started putting together some more sock monkeys!!!

 I have finally decided to set up a facebook page to sell some of the things I make - I've done the groundwork for it and its currently sitting unpublished until I get my photos organised and uploaded and then i'll send it live! A wise woman once told me that if I don't list I wont sell so i'm going to take the plunge and hope for the best (as I choke on my own nerves). Unfortunately i'm not very confident when it comes to selling my own stuff (I think its because i'm so fussy and compare everything to commercially made products which are normally quite perfect and error free) but I get good feedback from my friends and family (and from strangers on forums etc) and I know that people understand that handmade things aren't always so perfect and its the little 'quirks' that make them special, so hopefully it'll all turn out ok (I don't expect to sell much but if nothing else it'll give me a reason to keep creating if I have something/someone to create for)...

and finally... I have decided to attempt to make my own soaps and body products. Im sick of itching all the time and feeling yukky after using commercial products so i've ordered a heap of natural products (beeswax, butters, oils etc and im going to attempt to do it all from scratch. gulp! Wish me luck and stay tuned... lol ;)

Anyway guys - once again sorry for the lengthy delay between blogs. Hope everyone is doing well and is finding there craft mojo :)

Until next time take care and have an awesome weekend xx

Gosh haven't I been the slacker... Its been ages since I updated this blog. Once again I do apologise but I do have a reason for my absence - well a few reasons actually... Its been a horrible few weeks in my household. :(

Firstly my poor little dog Buddha got very very sick and ended up needing emergency surgery at 2 o'clock in the morning - it was looking very grim and she was given less than a 5% chance of survival but by some miracle, after 13 days in intensive care, my little girl made a full recovery and is back to her normal self *phew*... I am certain that her little hospital visit has taken years of my life and given me a few more wrinkles and greys but i'm just so thankful that she is better now!

Just 2 weeks later and the area of the Sunshine Coast which I live in took a hammering from a massive storm cell and left us wading around in knee deep water for several hours. I've lived in this area for many many years and have never seen it flood to this degree...

We have issues with local storm drains backing up anytime we get a decent downfall of rain and it tends to flood out the back streets but this particular night the rain just did not let up and it fell from every direction, and had a strong wind behind it. This particular night the main road filled up leaving cars stranded on the median strips filling up to the tops of their windows with water... A lady had stalled her car and was trying desperately to push it off the road with her children still buckled in the back seats... nobody would help her so we did and by the time we had her children out of the car the water was chest high. In all my time here I have NEVER seen this happen - it was pretty scary really.

We had to sandbag the house trying to keep the water from coming in the back and front doors. I think we did a pretty good job considering the depth of the water outside - we got approximately half a foot of water through the lounge, kitchen and dining areas. The worse part was the council drains backing up and sending sewerage up through the floor/shower drains which then spilled out into the hallway and onto the bedroom carpets leaving them completely destroyed (& they were only recently installed too) :(((

The roof started to leak bad and SES were called in to help tarp it up but it was too late. Before they'd finished tarping up the ceilings started to collapse in several places, the lightbulbs had water flowing from them and the walls had water streaming down them like a giant waterfall... it was the most bizarre thing i've ever seen. As a precaution we had cut the power early in the night when the roof began to leak so by torchlight we sat, all night, in wet clothes, feet in water, unable to get dry or warm. The dogs were up on the lounge and the bed trying to stay dry as best they could. It was quite literally a night from hell (and I ended up with a rotten flu from it - I NEVER get flus!!!)

Next morning as the sun shone brightly outside we got to observing the damage... carpets were soaked in sludge (and the stench was wretched), ceilings were sagging and saturated and the mold was already beginning to form. The kitchen cabinets were swollen and weak as were the sideboards in the bedrooms... Outside the gardens had lost their soil and the onions I had planted were completely gone... The line from the water levels was still marking the fences and the walls. The street had reverted back to normal (and had we not have been there to experience the flooding first hand we would never have believed it did, or even could have, flooded like it did)! The powers that be had declared it an official disaster zone (never thought i'd see that here) and the people who manage the sewerage and water in the area sent out a team to remove the carpets and sanitise the floors...

We had a roofing company out to fix the roof but have been told that its beyond repair and needs a new roof installed. The plasterers have said that the whole ceiling needs to be taken down and replaced and some of the wall needs to be fixed where the water has saturated it. The kitchen will need to be replaced eventually but that can wait a bit.  The insurance does not cover for flood - its never been needed - this is not a classic flood zone - and in all fairness I believe a major contributing factor to the flooding in this instance was due to council drains being insufficient, they are in dire need of an upgrade but our councils wont do anything about it, so i'm chasing those in charge of drains for carpet replacement - thats still in negotiation (typical).

Apart from losing a few projects I was working on (and its my own fault because I always work on the floor even though I have a perfectly good work bench *sigh*) and a few insignificant items that can be easily replaced, most of my craft things were saved, albeit a little damp (but have dried out nicely)... & with everything that's been happening I did still manage to finish some ATCs for the little scrap group I always speak of so i'll post a pic for you. - This months theme was flowers with bling so I decided to do a hybrid layout. I used a photo of the rose from my garden and a photo from my old dog radar and I layered it on several layers of cardstock - I added pink bling around all the edges... the photo below was the first part - the digital component - (before I layered it on cardstock) :)))

ATC for March Swap

Back of ATC for March Swap

I managed to get a few photos of the flooding as the water was starting to rise but once the flooding really set in I was too preoccupied to care about taking photos... once I locate the USB cable for the water camera (everything is literally everywhere at the moment) I will post some pics for you all to see :)

So anyway, that's my reasons for being a little neglectful this month *sigh*... see, for once I really DID have an excuse lol.

Hopefully by the next post i'll have a new roof and a new ceiling, new carpets and possibly a new kitchen, and things will be back to normal. In the meantime my crafting has been put on hold since I don't have any space to work nor can I access the stuff easily. But I do have an emergency supply handy so I still can have a little play around - I plan to participate in the next months ATC swap (the theme is Angels - in memory of the organisers unborn baby that was lost in April 2000) and I am also going to try and get a couple of mini albums made for some charities to auction off - they both need as much assistance as they can get - I'll post the links - please take the time to have a quick look at each of them and if you can help out it'd be awesome :)))
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gracees-Appeal/168686466580580
https://www.facebook.com/yasminahsgiftofhope

And thats it for me - hope your month has been better than mine and if not then I hope you are still finding some reason to smile. At the end of the day we are all still here to tell the tale and its just another story to add to my book of life, so I will continue to be thankful for small mercies, appreciate life and keep smiling.

Take care and have a great week :)))

ohhhh I've been bad!!! VERY bad!!!

Oh dear! I've done it again! I've started a blog and, well, i've managed to forget to update it!  Now I guess one thing you have to know about me (or you'll certainly come to learn anyway) is that I have a goldfish brain!... Yes my friends, my brain is like a big mooshy bowl of jelly... I forget everything :/ So forgetting to update this post is, well, its expected from me *sigh* But its no excuse and I really need to try harder! (& dont worry - I have another blog that has all my sailing adventures on it and that one hasn't been updated since new year ~uggghh~ so im doing ok on this one lol)

So what have I been up to... Well in terms of actual scrapbooking, not very much but in terms of craft projects quite a bit! I've discovered the world of digital scrapbooking so i've been playing around with that! I think I like it? Its definitely more me when it comes to layouts. I've never really been into creating layouts for my own photos but i've been having a little play with some of the kits I downloaded & I think I could definitely get used to doing them digitally. But boy oh boy downloading those kits sure does use up a lot of data!!! It took 5GB and I really didn't buy that many kits lol... oh well, once you have them you have them forever I suppose! & now I might finally get some of my beautiful photos from years gone by into albums where they belong! I think i'll stick with traditional styles for my little mini albums though! Not sure they'd have the same impact if I did them digitally.

Finally finished my ATC's

Hello again... What an amazing day it is outside - too beautiful to be inside on a computer so i'm only making this a quickie today (I know you understand lol) :D

Well it was a challenge but I finally got them done - yes my ATC's are DONE!!! Woohoo!!! Very excited! Problem is I think I may be a little addicted to them now lol...

The theme was ''LOVE'' - we were allowed to make them all different (& since I needed the practice I figured that'd be a good way to learn)... Here's my interpretation of love (the photos are not so great though - you cant see the pretty glittery effects of the shimmer paints I used - but not to worry, its better than nothing)

...and who says you cant teach an old dog new tricks... I learnt today that instead of uploading all my photos individually I can add a link from any of my public facebook albums & share them with the world - that's pretty cool! That'll make life a whole lot easier since I have everything already uploaded into those albums :))


Now its just a matter of working out HOW to add the link???

Oh well lets give it a whirl...

album 1: 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.436381439898.226044.735024898&type=3&l=ffe824e7d8

album 2:

 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150421626684899.447316.735024898&type=3&l=a94e1ddbc5  

Hopefully they work!

Anyway thats it from me today - I know booooooring lol... but I have to run and soak up as much of this beautiful sunshine as possible because over yonder I can see some nasty looking clouds a brewing... 

Have a great week & take care xo

goodness time flies

Goodness can you believe we're in February already!! This is going to be another fast year I think!

It's been a sad few days watching the poor communities in northern NSW & QLD that are flooding - AGAIN - it's breaking my heart. I swear Mother Nature has lost her marbles... I have a few friends who live in and around these communities & I can only pray that they all stay safe & dry! Its just such a helpless situation - there is nothing that can be done to stop the rain falling, I just wish people would stop going into flood waters & taking the ''i'll be right'' attitude & putting other peoples lives at risk!...  On a more positive note - the Charleville evacuation centre is allowing people to take their pets along too - yay!. Its about time these evac centres acknowledged that pets are family too... Alot of people simply wont leave their beloved animals behind & would rather stay in their homes & put themselves at risk rather than abandon their furry friends... at least now they might be more willing to seek shelter :)))

Moving on to another (cheerier) topic now... :)

Finally managed some photos :)

Well that was an interesting weekend - it didn't stop raining once. Thankfully its eased up now & I can even see a little glimpse of sunshine peeking through (wonder how long he'll stick around for?)...

Didn't get all my projects finished but I did manage to join a scrapping forum (which I haven't done for many many years), even managed to complete one of the challenges (which reminds me - I must upload the pic onto their site!)... Still trying to figure out how to add their ''button'' (is that what its called) to my blog??? Told you i'm new at all this stuff lol... I'm sure i'll get there eventually though :)

I also managed to take some photos which i'm going to attempt to upload. Unfortunately due to the dismal weather & the fact that my scrap room gets minimal natural light the photos have some flash blow out & colour distortion but it'll give you some idea. Some of the things are older styles from a little while ago & some of them are from quite recently.  The cards are all done within the last 3-4 months (i've only just started making cards - never been much good at it *sigh*) so don't be too harsh when you're looking at them lol

Well wet weather makes for great crafting days at least :)

Well here it is - a general blog about pretty much anything & everything relating to... well anything & everything really... 

This ones a little different to my other blogs, im finding this site a little harder to navigate so you'll have to bare with me for a bit until I get the general jist of it... Once I get used to it i'll get some photos happening & some more interesting posts up :)

Its a pretty gloomy looking day outside again (& not looking like its about to clear up anytime soon) so I guess its the perfect excuse to go & finish off some of the crafting projects i've started over the last few months (with good intentions) but always seemed to get side tracked so never got around to completing. 

I've got little mini albums that are half created, cards that are pretty much done but need finishing touches, I have a Santa doll that i've been trying to knit since before Christmas (was supposed to be given to my Mum at Christmas but oops - cant rush these things huh lol)... I've got little plaster of Paris embellishments that need painting & I have some paper sculpting projects that never did get completed, not to mention the massive stash of photos sitting in a storage box waiting to be added to layouts & put into albums... so there's definitely no way i'm going to get bored in this icky weather :) oh well better go and clear a spot on the table so I can get started. 

Have a great weekend everyone & i'll endeavour to get some project photos up in the next few days. 

Keep smiling :)))