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New in store at Designer Digitals:
Perfect for autumn, trips to the pumpkin patch, playing in the fall leaves or halloween.
And if you just need the papers:
And a new single page, single photo digital template:
Here they are in use:
digital scrapbook kit and papers for fall, autumn, automne, halloween, pumpkins, jack-o-lanterns, leaves, orange, black.
1. The other weekend we went out west on an attempt to find the walk to the Karekare falls. We never have much luck in finding tracks, but this time we found the falls easily. Only there was no walk to them, just a short stroll through the bush. Which suited me just fine. And, despite it being so easy to get to, we had the place to ourselves.
2. I've been eating the first of the produce from the vege garden - silverbeet which I steam and eat with brown rice for lunch.
3. We have our own "Occupy" protest on a tiny scale. Rather then "Occupy Wall St", it's "Occupy Aotea Square" and had suitable signage up for the day of the Rugby World Cup victory parade.
Daughter-One wandered down there during her lunch break yesterday and was impressed to see they had an article by The Husband pinned on their noticeboard.
4. We also went to the Rugby World Cup victory parade. The city was totally packed and (unlike Daughter-Two, who had a perch on The Husband's shoulders) I could see nothing. It took a long time for the parade to make it to where we were, and the crowd around us spent most of the time yelling at youths to get off the unsupported awnings and verandahs they were climbing on in attemot to get a view. So Daughter-Two got very concerned about this. It was a relief when Richie McCaw finally went past with the Cup and we could go!
5. A sneak peek of a new mini-kit coming to the store this weekend:
The very talented Amy had these two layouts in the gallery this week, and I love them both. the first uses the "Transylvania" kit and the second uses the new "Crafted Leaves" in a very creative way:
Here's what she used:
I love how Debi used the "Geometric Hints" brushes in this great page:
And both Jana and Linda used the "Ripped and Stitched No.03" templates:
(Jana used gorgeous papers by Katie Pertiet, and Linda used the Warm October kit)
All supplies from Designer Digitals.
New from me at Designer Digitals:
Here's my page with the template:
Melanie and I both used the Pen and Wash Fronds:
And I love these fabulous pages by Anke, Mel, Sharon, Jana, Lori and Merr using the new "Wild One" kit:
1. Coming into the home stretch of the school holidays. As usual the house is covered with bits of cut up paper, shoeboxes and creations of foil, polysterene and felt pen. Daughter-One is even joining in, with her floor covered in foam and material as she constructs a full-size costume.
2. A group of online friends are doing a "one a day challenge". The idea is you tackle one organising/tidying task every day for a month, and at the end you have a perfectly organised and tidy home.
(I feel, though, that it is a bit like the painting of the Sydney Harbour bridge. At the end of the month, the first things you tidied will be a mess again so you have to start over).
In my case it is not so much a "one a day challenge" as a "do nothing for several days then have a burst of productivity and do a whole room" challenge. The end result is still satisfying. So far I have done the spare room, The Husband's wardrobe and our bedroom.
3. In The Husband's wardrobe I discovered the fact that he did not listen when I suggested it was not a good idea to hang up dirty clothes. (who knew a pair of suit trousers could be completely covered in mould?). I also discovered the cycle helmet and reflective jacket recently "lost" (requiring the purchase of replacement ones). He said "It's always good to have two?". Is he planning on growing another head?
4. Last week was miserable and wet, but there was a sunny break one day so Daughter-One took advantage and on the spur of the moment went off to inspect the new Wynyard Quarter. It's an industrial waterfront area gradually being reclaimed as a public recreation space. There is an old tram, which looks great but the ride is around the block past some warehouses and nothing else. The super yachts moored here, no doubt for the Rugby World Cup, were more fun to gawk at:
5. A sneak peek at what's coming to the store this weekend:
And some random layouts for Daughter-One's baby album (all supplies from Designer Digitals):
Ripping paper for a digital scrapbooking page is easy when you use a template . Love how Carol used my "Ripped and Stitched" templates here (as she did, you can omit the stitches if you want a plain torn edge):
Love how Esther and Mollie used "Lots of Shots No.02" and No.03 templates to create these double page spread digital scrapbook layouts:
Mollie used the new "Crafted leaves" in her layout, as did Anke in this gorgeous page which also uses the "Warm October" kit:
Amy also used "Warm October" for this beautiful page:
And she used the "Polly" kit for this lovely one:
And, finally, Doris did beautiful things with the Late Summer mini-kit and add-on papers:
The kits they used are all available at Designer Digitals:
1. I've been trawling through the 1911 census in a fruitless search for my father's family. It's a mystery where they were that week in April. (If it was a bit later timewise I would just shrug and say "oh, they must have been on a package trip to Lanzarote" ... but not in 1911. They were mostly "down pit" in the towns I was searching). Interesting to see the same names coming up again and again. Lots of Freds and Toms - but every now and then odd coal miner called Lancelot or Marmaduke St. Clair.
2. What is it with The Husband and his ability to walk out of doctor's offices without paying? He does it every time he visits the doctor or pops in to collect his repeat prescription - leaving me to deal with it when the bill arrives in the mail. And this week he took Daughter-two for her allergy shots and did it again. And why do receptionists just let him do it? Does he just have an air of "I have people to deal with such things for me"?
3. We went into the city on Sunday, and parked the car on the edge of the CBD which resulted in a longer walk than I envisaged but the chance to see some new corners of the city. I just can't warm to Auckland, but I know the problem is with me and not the city.We walked up some steps past a practically derelict hotel now housing foreign students. These guys were smoking a hookah outside, and waving to Daughter-two:
Then through the university/courts area and Albert Park:
It was a match night, so the rugby fans here for the Rugby World Cup where already making their way downtown:
4. As if earthquakes weren't enough, we are now contending with the pollution and huge financial costs of a shipwreack off the coast.
5. A sneak peek of what's coming to Designer Digitals this weekend:
Available from Designer Digitals.
Here's how I used the new designs, as I continue to work my way through Daughter On'es baby album:
And two fabulous "Warm October" pages by Jana and Anke:
Fall digital scrapbooking kit, autumn digital scrapbooking supplies
1. Daughter-Two has been planning her Halloween ever since the girl down the road suggested they go trick or treating together.
I wasn't prepared to rule it out completely if this other girl kept asking, but I'm certainly not encouraging it. Daughter-two asked why I wasn't that keen on Halloween and I explained that it would be lots of fun in the States, where all the kids in the street would dress up and everyone would get into the spirit of it and have candy ready etc etc ... but here it's basically just knocking on strange people's doors and asking for treats which they aren't even likely to have on hand since it is not an established tradition here. (Although admittedly the one time Daughter-One and her friends did it they got a great response from Chinese families who had seen trick or treating on kids' TV shows but never experienced it so were very excited to see them). But still, we like to take a stand against creeping globalism ..
Daughter-Two thought for a moment and said, "yes, it's a bit rude to just go around asking for things and, anyway, I probably wouldn't be able to eat most of what they gave me, so why don't my friend and I dress up and go around with a huge bag of lollies and say "trick or take" and GIVE people sweets when we knock on their doors?". Sort of a reverse trick-or-treat if you will. I like this idea MUCH more!
2. She would be able to buy the big bag of lollies herself, since I had to bribe her to have allergy shots this week. I told her I couldn't afford to do it each time but it was the only thing that worked. Hopefully now she realises that it doesn't hurt that much AND you get jellybeans afterwards it will be easier. Otherwise it is going to be a very long 3 years. And she'll be able to pay for her own school fees at the end of it.
3. How wonderful it is to see the sun again. Nothing like spring and the promise of summer to lift the spirits. Even if we probably can't afford a beach holiday this summer. (Don't feel sorry for us, it's because we have something very exciting planned for later in the year)
4. Yesterday (to keep an overly-cautious specialist happy) I had to have an MRI. Given it sounded like a painless, glorified X-ray type procedure I agreed.
Big mistake.
If you've never had an MRI scan yourself, you're still probably familiar with them from programmes such as "House". It's that big tube-like thing that they slide people into, then talk to them through an intercom from a safe distance until they realise the patient has stopped responding/started convulsing/blown up because they had metal inside them.
It's never particularly reassuring when you have a procedure which requires the technicians to retreat to a safe distance in another room while you are left alone with the death-dealing equipment is it?
After confirming once in writing and twice verbally that no, I didn't have metal inside me so was unlikely to blow up, they slid me into the machine.
Basically it is like being inside a white coffin with your arms above your head and just your feet sticking out the end. Because it is a very noisy coffin they also give you earplugs and head-phones.
At first I thought "this isn't so bad providing I shut my eyes". Because there is fresh air piped into it, you don't get the suffocating effect that I imagine would mar the whole coffin experience in the event of being buried alive. So as long as you don't open your eyes you can pretend you are lying on a beach or something. Of course, then you open your eyes and realise that the lid of the "coffin" is three inches above your nose.
The other thing to remember is that your arms are above your head when they slide you in and that is where they stay because you can't bring them forward because the lid of the "coffin" is ... three inches above your nose.
For an hour.
Surprisingly it wasn't until about 40 minutes in that my shoulders really started burning.
They also get you to do a lot of holding of your breath for 20 seconds or so at a time. At first the technician was very good about saying "keep holding ... keep holding ..aaaand .. breathe normally again". But one time he just forgot to tell me to resume breathing. So I kept holding my breath until finally I had to breathe. Or maybe there was a temporary fault in the intercom because he didn't say anything for what felt like ages but was probably just five minutes. In the complete silence I lay there wondering if maybe aliens had landed or they had all been struck by a sudden attack of a zombie virus and I was the only one left (invisible in my tube in my sealed room) and how long would it take me to wriggle out with my arms above my head . Of course I realise now I wouldn't have been able to wriggle out at all because I was well and truly strapped down and I don't think MRI machines come with eject buttons.
Eventually to my relief he started talking again, and not too long after said "I think we are just about done now ... we're just checking but I think we have everything we need". And left me there for another five minutes wondering if I ever regain use of my shoulders again or if I would walk around with them raised above my head for the rest of my life.
5.Moving on to more cheerful things, here's a sneak peek at this week's new kit, coming soon to Designer Digitals:
I love this fun, bright page by Christina:
She used "Never Stop" element pack and Scrap Express 107 template:
Merrilee created this lovely page for her grandson:
She used "Fall Festival" kit and "Lots of Shots Template No.02"
And Sharon created a great train layout:
She used "Steam Friends" kit:
