Notes from the side of a volcano

New in store at Designer Digitals

New double page digital scrapbooking template and new journaling tags.

Find them here at Designer Digitals.

 

Here's how I used the template:

 

Five on a friday

1. I am on an organising binge. I am sick of clutter and things which are not pleasing to the eye. I dreamt of co-ordinated black photo albums and white blanket boxes. And then I went out/went online and got them. Without spending much at all, I might add.

2. I am also dreaming of the long white chest of drawers for the bedroom which I saw in Newmarket which could replace the two chests of drawers currently there - both of which were bought as temporary stop-gap measures when we moved into our first house in Wellington.

One was bought in the "bargain basement" of a seedy secondhand shop where the owner asked if I was about to start university and needed it for a flat. (Err .. no... I was nearly 30 at the time).

The other was bought in a charity shop selling old furniture that had been refurbished by "at risk" youths. It's drawers have never opened smoothly (you're at risk yourself of an injury whenever you use it) and one of the handles has broken where The Husband yanked at it in frustration.

But frustrated is what I shall remain as the drawers of my dreams, although cheaper than you might imagine, are still too expensive for now.

3. I sewed for Daughter-Two, using up a remnant of material I've had for about 15 years. The buttons are vintage (seemed a shame to take them off the card, but I am sick of "keeping" things and never using them)

4. I also scrapped for Daughter-Two:

5. And this one acts as a sneak peek for "pull out journaling", coming soon to Designer Digitals:

Really retro Labels: Love

Some retro love - new in store at Designer Digitals:

 

Plus new flowers and templates:

 

valentines labels, love tags, valentines digital scrapbooking, flowers

 

 

Five on a Friday

1. Daughter-Two was not impressed at having to take disgusting tasting antibiotics for a skin infection and her patience (usually impressive) is never at its best when she is sick. She was building up to a meltdown over having to take it until I said "OK, I'll pay you 50c for each dose". Immediately the tears stopped and she said "OK. Deal".  It seems I have one child who is completely and utterly unmotived by money and other material things ... and one who definitely is.

 

2. I, in turn, was not impressed at the state of her legs. We are back to the three-times-a-day greasing ritual that we had to do when she was a baby and toddler. I took her to the doctor a few months back saying I thought her legs were infected but just got the "it's her allergies" brush off. They have been better at times since then, but never completely right. With them worse than ever last week I took her to see the part-time woman doctor instead (since the regular one is on holiday). She took one look and said "that's an infection".  Thank you. Now I feel like the worst mother since she is SO much better in every way and I realise how under par she has been for months.

 

3. Our trip to Whitianga was tiring but worth it. The best thing was staying in a serviced motel instead of in a bach (private holiday home) as we have always done in the past. No more spending the last day sweeping up sand, vaccuming and cleaning fingermarks off windows.

We were congratulating ourselves heartily on the decision until we went to bed the first night in the tiny separate bedroom and realised how much we rely on our HRV ventilation system to cool down the house at night. Sleeping in the little motel room was like trying to sleep in an easy-bake oven. Fortunately the other nights were a bit cooler.

We went on a "cave coast" inflatable boat tour:

From inside that cave looking up:

One day we caught the five minute ferry across to Cooks Beach and saw what must be the smallest free-standing library in the world:

Before hiking to Lonely Bay:

It was a bit rough to swim there, so we walked to Cook's Beach and swam there instead before the heavens opened again. (Yes, half an hour after that photo above was taken, the skies were grey and it was pouring down).

On the way home, we drove via Coromandel and stopped at the Waiau waterworks which were pretty much like a mad inventor's playground:

4. Today Daughter-two and I went to Onehunga as she wanted to take a train trip. It was shaping up as one of those outings were everything goes wrong. The train was late, and when it finally  did arrive it was not going to Onehunga but to the nearby stadium because it was a "Big Day Out Special". But it seems music festival fans are too cool for public transport as we were the only passengers on the whole "special" train. We had to swap at Ellerslie where we discovered  the train we wanted was late because of a freight train crash further up the line. Fortunately it soon turned up, and we found our way to the outlet mall at Onehunga where I remembered that I dislike outlet malls, as they are full of stuff that nobody wanted to buy in the first place. If they were branded like that would they be as popular? Naturally the shoe shops had none of the school shoes we needed and Daughter-Two kept dragging me toward the $2 shops begging for the sort of gaudy, plastic tat I am despising more and more these days.

But things quickly turned around. On the main street we found some  sturdy but comfy school shoes for a third of the price you pay in Newmarket. Then we passed an op-shop (aka thrift store) where, for 50c,  I found a great book to take on our upcoming trip. Daughter-two was tempted by a dust-mite ridden toy duck until a Chinese man walked in with a big bag of toys he wanted to donate. The woman behind a counter pulled out an "interactive planetarium" toy (press buttons and it gives you a myriad of facts about the solar system). I thought Daughter-two was going to combust with desire and couldn't hand over her money fast enough when the woman said she could have it for $5. Obviously bought in Hong Kong or somewhere similar, it has a very authoritive man giving the facts, unlike similar English toys which usually have a Mary Poppins type woman with a sing-song voice saying 'press any button to continue", this one just shouts "Press a BUTTON". It had Daughter-One and I fits of giggles .. the first twenty or so times. A huge hit with Daughter-Two.

5. Two new templates and two element packs are coming to the store at Designer Digitals this weekend.

This layout is a sneak peek for the elements ....

 

 

 

 

More scrapbook layout inspiration from Designer Digitals

My new Project 365 (or any multi-photo event) templates, "Worn Out Reviews" have been put to good use by Melanie and Julie:

And Melanie also used the new "Stormy Weather" kit for two great pages:

And Sharon used it for this powerful and beautiful layout:

I love what Doris and Debit did with the "Midwinter" kit:

A fabulous Christmas page by Kathleen using "Santa's Stockings" kit:

 

A fun family page by Lynnie using "Raspberry Sundae" kit:

And Merrilee used more kits that I could possibly mention to create this wonderful ode to the colour pink!:

Five (not) on a Friday

1. It's early Saturday evening here and we have just got back from three days on the Coromandel coast. Isn't that the most wonderful name for a holiday destination? It lives up to it too, even in this washout of a summer. I haven't seen "Prince Caspian" but this (taken from an inflatable boat we were on) is the arch they walk through when they arrive back in Narnia ...

 

2. More on the trip next time - but a quick warning to anyone else with a child with severe shellfish allergy. If they do this in a rockpool with lots of shellfish in it ...

... you may have to strip them off and pour your drinking water over them when their legs go red and blotchy all the way up to the wading line.

3. She was almost as red as the very sunburnt English TV star on the same beach  (one of several now resident here to film "The Hobbit"). He's shorter than I thought ....

 

4.Fortunately she is NOT allergic to bees:

5. New stuff in store at Designer Digitals now:

 

 

Here's how I used the new kit:

And this gorgeous page is by Merrilee:

digital scrapbooking date stamps, digital scrapbooking vintage kit, digital scrapbooking valentines pink grey

 

Stormy Weather

Very appropriately, this week's new kit has a wet weather theme:

I used it here:

And some of the papers here:

Also new, for Project 365 and Project Life pages (but useful for any multi-photo page):

Love this by Carol:

Wendy, Doris and Mel used the new kit too:

And Merr and Julie also used the new templates:

weather rain digital scrapbooking kit, project 365, project life

 

Five on a Friday

1. We all seem to have been struck by some form of sleeping sickness here, thanks to The Husband being on holiday for weeks and no school either. We go to bed at the usual time (before 10pm usually!) but have been dozing until 8.30am or later. Rolling out of bed groggily after ten hours sleep. It's all rather relaxing and probably just what we needed after months of his alarm going off at 5.35am, but not very productive. Thankfully the past few days I've been waking about 7.30am which is slightly more respectable.

2. Thanks to the La Nina weather system (so we are told), the summer is shaping up to be a complete wash-out. Grey skies every morning, and rain most days. The clouds parted briefly yesterday afternoon while we were out at Devonport, so we went to Cheltenham and snuck in the second sea swim of the season (a little tongue twister we dreamt up to celebrate it). Here's The Husband looking up and wondering how long before the next downpour:

3. But today, after another grey start, turned into a proper summer's day. We grabbed the chance to go to the gloriously retro (circa 1950) Parnell saltwater pool:

However, even though we've been swimming so much less than usual, I have managed to get swimmer's ear. Naturally. Off to the out-of-hours doctor tomorrow for ear drops because it is driving me loopy.

 

4. One good outcome of the appalling weather is that we managed to get the spare room painted. A task that neither of us like, but especially not The Husband. I moved everything out of the room and he walked in saying "tell me WHY we are doing this?" ... then he looked around at the walls and said "oh, I see". Such a relief to cross that off the list of things to be done before we do our exciting house-swaps in a few months ....

5. Another good outcome was the kit which is coming to the store at Designer Digitals this weekend.

Here's a sneak peek:

 

 

Freeze day

New in store at Designer Digitals, a bold and slightly grungy winter and snow digital scrapbooking kit:

And, yes, I have the photos for it even though it's summer (in theory!) here:

Also - do you do Project 365?

A photo a day project makes a wonderful record of everyday life. I have some new (and some older) Project 365 digital scrapbooking supplies: