Notes from the side of a volcano

 
 The home of digital scrapbooker and designer Lynn Grieveson

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Five on a Friday

1. One thing I will miss when we leave this new house is the view from the living room and main bedroom of the ferries coming and going. (Only finished unpacking two days ago and already I am thinking ahead to when we leave ... the definition of unsettled I think)

2. This afternoon we are going to look at another couple of houses which have just come on the market. One of them I was very excited about (though concerned about the price which seemed a little too reasonable) so I walked past it while Daughter-Two was at her piano lesson yesterday evening.

It's as nice as it looks in the photos ... only atop a 20ft high bank that is fast eroding away leaving part of its fence dangling. Major engineering required.

I want a house I LOVE, no matter if it's a bit small or shabby. I'd settle for a house I like which has potential. What I DON'T want is a house that will keep me awake at night worrying if it is about to slide away or if we will ever be able to sell it when we want to. But that seems to be too much to ask! As our new neighbour said the other night when he popped over, you can never find the right house in Wellington. The best you can hope for is 7/10. It's a matter of choosing your poison. (I think a slowly eroding yard is a little too poisonous for me)

3. I have been enjoying scrapping more of my old OE photos:

4. And photos from this summer:

 

5. While this one is a sneak peek of a new template set coming to the store this weekend:

 

Inspiration from the Designer Digitals team

I love what Joanne has been doing with the new "Fade Out & Torn" templates, and especially her colour choices:

And here's how people used the new Walton mini-kit:

(by Chrissy)

 (by Pam)

(by Trace)

 (by Sharon)

Here's what they used:

Retro Monday: A dream in green

Definitely what I would choose to wear on a coastal walk. Possibly a bit itchy though?

Totally Trashed the Chevrons

A new paper pack now in store at Designer Digitals:

Five on a Friday

1. We have successfully moved house yet again. Despite the fact that The Husband, having left the house at the crack of dawn to do his early morning radio spot, found he had too much work on to come home. So, as the moving men stomped through picking up everything around me,  I had to agree to do the final last minute packing (as long as he got back in time to let them into the new house with the keys he had collected from the rental agent the night before).

The last minute packing included his clothes off the bedroom floor. Included, in fact, the jeans he had been wearing the night before when he collected those keys from the agent. He arrived back home just as the moving men slammed the door shut on the truck, looked for the keys on the vanished hall sideboard (packed hours earlier) then realised they were in his jeans (also packed hours earlier). Fortunately the rental agent had another set in the office a few minutes drive away. 

(The Husband also managed to lock me in the car then roamed about the empty house calling "Lynn? Lynn?", but I was quite glad of the quiet sit-down by that point so it was all good).

2. The movers didn't even blink at the sight of the path up to the new house and just loaded themselves up like Nepalese sherpas, strapping chairs and boxes of books to their backs. It takes a tough one to be a Wellington removalist.

3. The new house is on the side of a hill. The neighbours have a private cable car and in the morning while I make Daughter-two's lunch they sail right past the kitchen window giving a slightly embarrassed smile and a regal wave.

The new place is a very distinctive house and painted a very distinctive colour so here it is (hidden in the trees) in black and white.

(Despite appearances it is even more central than the other house, being a mere 15 minute stroll to Parliament. The cars on the street all appear early in the morning, parked by city workers walking from here into town)

The view from my office:

4. I organised and packed Daughter-two's costume for this morning's  Book Day parade before we moved. Here's Lyra from "The Golden Compass" (and her teacher Biggles). 

She is extremely happy with the new place, and sang in her room for two hours straight the first night here. She says "I LOVE moving house". So would I if I could leave for school from one house and return after school to a new house where all my Sylvanian Families and books were on the shelves.

5. This wonderful layout by Amy is a sneak peek of the new "Totally Trashed" paper pack coming to the store this weekend:

Inspiration from the Designer Digitals team

Total sweetness by Chrissy using the "April" kit

 

A great page by Nancy using "Yonder" kit:

 

 

Retro Monday: Ladybird

I don't have anything snarky to say about this ad because I just think it is adorable.

Ladybird clothes were sold in Woolworths and I used to sometimes buy them for Daughter-One in England. I still feel sad when I remember that all the Woolworths stores are gone for good. 

Winner of the May kit

Is Donnaz  :-)

Thank you to everyone who left comments. 

 

 

Five on a Friday (and the storewide sale)

1. The storewide sale is now on.

All  my products are reduced, including these new releases:

All available at Designer Digitals

2. For years I have been looking forward to scrapping the photos of my first travels, and I decided to just get on and start it. And I am loving it. I designed the new template album especially for the project. I am also surprised at how much detail I remember. Many thanks to Bill for many of the photos. 

3. Daughter-Two and The Husband have been away at school camp for four days. Apparently she is having a fantastic time, mud-sliding and horse-riding and kayaking and giggling.  The Husband, however, is shattered. I was initially not looking forward to being alone for four days but actually (shhh) I have loved it. We are moving in a matter of days so I have been able to do most of the packing uninterrupted.

4. Sadly we are not moving to a house of our own. The auction last week was postponed with 15 minutes notice. We rushed down to the auction rooms, plonked Daughter-Two on a seat at the back with the ipod and a book ... then were told we had wasted our time. We get another chance today ... unless it is postponed or cancelled again. In the meantime we had to find somewhere to live and in desperation rang up about a lovely little house advertised for rent to a "professional couple" (two people only said the ad). They agreed to meet us and we took Daughter-two along as an example of a ridiculously well-behaved child (she sat reading her science book on the doorstep and only spoke to remark on how lovely the place was). Fortunately they let us have it, and we move in a few days. It's slightly smaller than our current place and cheaper to rent, but much nicer inside and with harbour views instead of forest views. I doubt we will find or afford a place of our own with harbour views so I shall enjoy them while I can! In the VERY unlikely event we get the house at auction today we can live in the rented house while the work needed is done on it. 

5. We have had some wet weather, and someone thought the letterbox would be a clever place to shelter from it the other day:

(For non-New Zealanders, it's a weta - which gave its name to Weta Workshop and Weta Digital)