Time waits for no one!!

Surprise!! Surprise!!!

Bet you didn't expect to see me back again so soon!!!  Me neither!! LOL Im getting better with the updates lately!! (touch wood)

I have still been busy with classes and scrapping lately and still loving it!! Stay tuned!!! I will be uploading a couple of tutorials soon, just have to finish sorting the photo's!!

This one is from one of our Scrap-A-Holics Workshops, these pics are of me when I was little, most of my childhood photos are either sitting on  horse or a bull or playing with all the dogs.

 

Love this photo of my sister Susie with my niece Chloe, this was a while ago now too Chloe is 8 now! Time sure does fly!!

 

A few more heritage LO's, I still have heaps to go!!! The more I do the more questions I have, I hope I get the chance to get some of them answered before it is too late!!
This LO is of my Grandad's Sister, out of 8 brothers and sisters my Grandad is the last one left in his family.

 

This one is of my Grandads Mum and Dad. I love all the dresses they wore in those days but I don't think I would like to have to wear them myself though!!
The patterned paper on both this one and the Aunty Ethel Lo are from the one sheet of Basic Grey PP.

 

I made this card for my Grandma's 85th Birthday last month...

 

One more class one for you, I just love a good sunset or sunrise as in this case...
This is my favourite place in the world!!

 

Until till next time..... and you never know it could be in the next couple of days too!! LOL

Have a great weekend!!!

Cheers
Michelle

I have to send Ruthie!! a huge thank you for this honor!! I really don't feel very worthy of this award as I have been such a bad blogger this year. I have finally got it up here!!! :)
I feel very blessed and lucky to have Ruth as my friend and all the friends I have made through the art of scrapbooking!!
With the way the industry has been changing and since all the smack blogs etc started coming about it has made me reluctant to share as much as I would like to. You really do wear your heart on your sleave in this industry and I haven't been in the right frame of mind to handle any negativity in the last 18 months!!   In saying that I am so glad I am one of the lucky ones who has been fortunate enough to have found so many like minded friends out there!!!
It's funny how something as little as this award has restored my faith in expressing my thoughts! Thanks again Ruth for thinking of me for this... It really did make my day!!

 

The rules for the award are -

(1) The winner can put the logo on their blog.

(2) Link the person you received your award from.

(3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

(4) Put links of those on yours.

(5) Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated.

Ok so here are my nominations, all of which I am sure would have been tagged already!

 

So I nominate the following amazing girls!  This was mega hard for me...
I could listed a 100 or so for this award, so I have chosen a few who have inspired me in different ways this year! It's also funny that the one thing I have been avoiding this year of sharing all my ups and downs on here is the the thing that has inspired me most in others.  It's not all just scrapping everyone has a story to tell and I really admire the strength of characture in these lovely ladies. Thank you for sharing your stories with us and keeping it real!!! Hugs to you all!!
And that goes to all my friends too!!!

 

Jacqui J - This lady is such an inspiration to me, her journaling of a very traumatic experience really touched my heart!!! I have so much respect and admiration for this lady and what she and her family have been through!! Jacqui is also the stitching queen of scrapping her style has really evolved this year!! !

 

Roz J  - Another gorgeous lady who has shared her personal journey with us also!! I really admire Roz's strength of character and scrapping style.  This girl sure knows how to party too!! :)  I wish for you that all your dreams come true Roz!! You sure do deserve it!!!

 

Chris M - Has always been there for me too!! I so value her friendship and never ceased to be amazed and inspired by her beautiful work!!  I am so grateful to have your support and friendship Chris!! xx

 

Maxine  - I still feel like I owe so much to this wonderful lady!! Max was the first person to plant the seed of self belief at the start of my scrapping journey. This lady is mega talented  and will always be a pioneer in Australian scrapping!! Max is the most beautiful and friendliest person you could hope to meet!! 

 

Kate Mason  - Another lady who's brave journey has helped me appreciate life a lot more also!
Kates courage inspires me no end!! I so admire that these ladies have been able to share their stories with us!!! Kate sure is a gorgeous gal and mega talent to boot also!! More than one curve ball has been thrown at Kate in her life and she is just an incredible person in my book.

 

Jen Hall - I really admire Jen's ability to capture the everyday!! Her style and talent are second to none, and never fails to inspire me!!  Her love for all her kids shines through too, I don't know how she fits everything she does into her life!! Her skill with the use of colour is second to none!

 

Susan J- This is another awesome lady who has a heartwarming story to tell and is such a beautiful lady too!! Sue is always there for everyone else and is such a giving and loving person. I love Sue's individual style and personality.

 

Ngaire B - Need I say more, this lady is just a legend!!! Not just on the scrapping front but for sisterhood everywhere!!! 

 

So really I nominate these girls not only because of their awesome blogs but perhaps even more because of their generosity and intergrity as scrappers as well. I am also very lucky to have met all these gorgeous girls!!

Now we only nominate 7 in this case but there is many more and those too that don't personally blog but visit and comment on those who do, you are all equally cheered on!  

 

I want to give a shout out too all my other friends as well... I told you I could list a 100 or more... But I know once I start I miss someone!!! Just know i appreciate and love you all!

Thank you everyone linked here for you support and friendship.....

 

 

Hugs!!!!
Michelle xxx

 

 

 

 

A few more Class LO's to share....

Back again!!! Yeah!!! I know!!  I hope you were sitting down so you didn't just fall off your chair!!!  Back 3 times in one month, things must be looking up hey!!! LOL  I have finally been getting more computer time back again lately!!! And it has been so good catching up with people I haven't spoken to in ages!!! It's really good to be catching up with all my cyber friends again!! Facebook has played a huge part in catching up with old friends too!!! I'm under Michelle Burns Grant if you want to add me to your friends!  Living in a mining town I saw many groups of friends come and go over the past 20 years, and I have even found a lot of those friends and school friends on FB too!!!
It is definitely a great networking tool!!

Among other things going on with me, Leonii has scored a job at Gloria Jeans on Thurs nights in town and so far so good!! She is loving it!! She only has a few more weeks of school left before she finishes year 10!!! My babies are growing up way too fast!!
Wil has his end of year ceremony for Army Cadets this weekend!! That boy has grown so much this year, both in height and maturity, at 13 he is already taller than me and is wearing a size 13 shoe. His hands are twice the size of mine too, he is going to be a strapping lad that is for sure!!

We had an all night crop last Saturday night at Scrap Happy!!! It was another top night with good company!! Denise and I locked the doors at 5.15am, I even stopped along the road to get a pic of the sunrise on the way home!!! Sunday was a bit of a wipe out though!!

Anyway I will leave you with a few more recent class Layouts!! Last month we had a holiday theme happening, it was great to get a few of these LO's done!!

  

 

These next 2 are records for me of Leonii at 15 and Wil at 13. You both make me so proud!!!

 

   

OK I will leave you with one more... this is one I started at least a year ago and I have changed it a few times now LOL, So I got it out Sat night and just started sticking everything down...   and I sort of went a bit overboard then!!! LOL

 

Thanks again for dropping by!!! I still have more to come!! You never know I could even be back tomorrow!!! LOL

Take Care Everyone!!! Stay Safe!!
Hugs
Michelle xxx

A little bit of History....

I have really been enjoying working on my Grandparents heritage photos this year!! There is just something about old photos that I love, I never get tired of looking at them. Just the history behind them and the stories that have never been told fill you with wonder... what where they like?  what were thier lives like? sometimes I am even a little bit envious at how simple life must have been then, don't get me wrong I dare say it would have been 10 times harder but just a lot less complicated than life seems to be these days!  A lot of the photos I have need a lot of work, but I have left most of them in their natural state as I like the authentic look of the faded older photos with cracks and all. I am still only scrapping copies of the original photos.

 This is one is of my Grandfathers Parents and the one below is all the photos I could find of my Grandad with some of his brothers and sisters when they were little.

The logging  one is of my Great Grandfather and Great Great Grandfather!!  The more I get into doing the heritage LO's the more and more questions I have for my Grandparents about their lives back then. I fell like I have so many questions and so little time to get them all answered!!

 

More heritage to came soon too!!

Have a great weekend!!! I'm off scrapping at an all night crop!!! Yipppeeee!!!!

Catch ya all LAter!!

Cheers

Michelle xxx

Filing Digital Photos

I have taken on the monumental task of organising my digital photos on my computer!!
I always seem to start some sort of system then get caught up with other things and don't get back to it for awhile and then forget where I was up too or what I was doing!! But I think I have finally cracked it!! I have 2 external hardrives and photos on my computer. one external hardrive is about a 160GB which is full of photos and I think there is over 70GB of photos on my computer. I have a new 500GB HD that I am trying to sort and file everything onto!  I have attempted this a few times now with no luck, but I think I have found a system that is working for me!!  

First I right click on the start button and click on explore, this brings all the folders up and lets me move them around. So far I have just been going through all the photos on the 160GB HD.
I have set up folders like:

First Folder...           -Photos Master Copy
                               - Layout Pages and Scrapbooking Master Copy

in the Photos folder I have - 2005 Photos Master
                                        - 2006 Photos Master
                                        - 2007 Photos Master
                                        - 2008 Photos Master 
                                        - Heritage Photos Master
                                        - etc etc etc

then in the each years folders I have it broken it down to:
                              - 1. January Photos 2007
                              - 2. February Photos 2007
                              - 3. March Photos 2007
                              - 4. April Photos 2007
                              - 5. May Photos 2007 
                              - 6. June Photos 2007 
                              - 7. July Photos 2007 
                              - 8. August Photos 2007
                              - 9. September Photos 2007 
                              - 10. October Photos 2007
                              - 11. November Photos 2007
                              - 12. December Photos 2007 etc etc etc......  
I find putting the numbers in front of the month keeps them in monthly order and not alphabetically and is easier to find them when you are sorting.

Then in each monthly folder I have these categories:
                               - Family 01 2007
                               - Home  01 2007
                               - Kids 01 2007
(in the kids folder I have a folder for Leonii and Wil and any events they are in like
- Leonii Sports day 01 2007 etc etc)
                               - Pets 01 2007
                               - Sunsets 01 2007
                               - (And any other events that have happened that month) 01 2007

I know I have doubled up with the dates on all the files but it has made it easier to see at a glance if I am in the right folder when you are sorting a million photos and are back and forward between folders it can get confusing.

Some tips I have worked out along the way.....
-If you hold the curser over the photo thumbnail a little information box comes up and it will show you the date the photo was taken if you are not sure!!
-When sorting my photos I have found it easier to view the folder in the filmstrip mode so you can see each image one at a time, I have been deleting the blurry ones and turning others the right way up with the little green arrows under the photo. Then I move them into their new folders for where they need to go!! (I change back to the thumbnail view to select a few at a time to move into their new folders.)  If you click on the first photo then hold down the shift key and click on the last photo you want It will highlight the whole group you want to move.
- My last tip for this is I have made a commitment to spend at leat 15mins a day sorting my photos until they are all done! So far so good!!! I have got further than I have done on previous attemps!!
- To create a new folder just right click in the folder you want the new one, in the box that pops up go to New then click on Folder. You can also right click on a folder and go down to rename if you want to change the name.

I hope this was able to help you too!!!
If anyone has any other tips that can make this job easier I am open to suggestions!! 
But all I can say is so far so good!!!
Good Luck!!!

Cheers
Michelle

{edited to add another tip}
- I also have a folder called [Photos to Print] set up in My Documents - in My Pictures.
I COPY anything I want to print or enhance in photoshop into this folder.
I leave them in this file if I ever need to print them out again or do somthing else with them.
It's also easier to find everything you are working on in the one folder, and being a copy the originals are still safe in the master files.

 

 

                             

 

What do I want???

Do you ever ask yourself that too??  Some days I really know what I want and where I am heading, then in the next breath I feel lost and unsure!!  I wish I was more focused and was able to priotise my life better on a daily basis. There is so much I want to do and I never seem to be able to find the time to do everything I want to achieve!!

Through everything the one thing that remains constant is my love and passion for my family and scrapping, they have helped me through some pretty stressful times in the past couple of years. Scrapping has been a real sanity saver for me to say the least!! I love teaching this wonderful craft!! It can mean so many different things to so many different people!!  It really is more than just a hobby!!  Those of you who are already addicted know what I mean, and those of you who are thinking about giving it ago not only is it hugely rewarding and satisfying it is also very addictive!!!
Here are a couple more class LO's I can't remember if I have already posted these or not!!

 Still more to come very soon!!! Stay tuned!!
Thanks for dropping by!!!

Cheers
Michelle

Just ducking in tom upload this LO for someone!!

Hi All, I just had to get this LO up tonight!! I have heaps to upload and update!! Hopefully I will get a bit of time next week!! Catch you all later!!

Cheers

Michelle

Another Quick Update....

Life seems to be up and down for so many of my friends at the moment as well as myself. It's nice to know that friends are there to support each other through all the highs and lows. Thank you to you all just for being there each and every one of you!!!! :) And know that I am here for you too!

OK just a couple of quick updates with what I have been up too...

I was asked to be a guest Sketch Artist for the Sisterhood of Scrap site!! These guys have loads of inspiration and challenges!! Worth checking out!!
Thanks Deanne and ladies for thinking of me!! I feel honoured!! Cheers!!!

I will leave you with a couple more of my latest class LO's... I have really been enjoying getting my Grandparents Heritage album started..

This LO is of my Grandma when she was just a toddler in the early 1920's.

This is my spunky Grandad in the 2nd WW. The letter behind the photo is of an interview Wil did with Grandad this April with his story on the war. He had never spoken about it before and I am so glad we now have it recorded.

OK I will be back again soon!!! And will add some more later!!  Thanks for dropping by!! 

Stay happy and Healthy!!!
Hugs to you all!!!

Cheers
Michelle

Life as we know it!!!!

Life for the last couple of years has been exhausting to say the least!!! It feels like there have been so many more low's than highs lately!!

Scrapbooking has probably been the only thing keeping me sane during all this time!! I have had a couple more drama's to test me this last month, starting with a doozy of an argument with Don when I got back from Brisbane in June, just over him being an insensitive and selfish bloody male!!
Then the Thursday of that week (3 weeks ago) Our Gorgeous cat Missy went missing! We are all  devastated. We heard dingo's howling close by that night, but we are still hoping a miracle will bring her back home to us.  We have since got a new kitten to try and fill the void in this house!!

This LO was published in the latest scrapbook creations the day after she dissapeared, it brought another tear to my eye!!
Here are a couple of pics of our latest addition to the family.... She like to help me scrap and loves chasing the curser around the computer screen. She is great company into the wee hours!!!


But in the bigger picture I think that was just preparing me for what was to come, this time last week I nearly lost my Grandfather, he is 86 this year and was admitted to hospital with bowel blockages after he couldn't keep food down for 3 days. He went into emergency surgery 11pm last Monday night in Rockhampton, which was when we heard about it. We were told to not expect him to make it though the surgery. It was a long and agonising wait on my own until 2.30am that morning to hear that he made it!!
The doctors even told both my Grandmother and Grandfather that he wasn't going to make it!! I have never seen them so scared!! It just broke my heart!! I am glad to say that he has cheated death again and proved them wrong again. This hasn't been the first time he has cheated death during surgery's or illness!! He really is a miracle and has some mighty angels looking over him!!

I did this LO a while ago now, but I still love it!!

I got home late on Saturday after being in Rocky with the family last week and have been scrapping today trying to catch up, so I am feeling a tad drained and tired tonight.

On the upside I have been really pleased with what I have been scrapping lately!! At least things are just working on that front!!
I will leave you with a few more of my latest ones...

"Birds of Feather" This one was from My "Design By You" class that I teach. It was an exercise to show that absolutely anything can work together. Everyone got to pick one thing out of the shop and throw into a box and this is what I had to work with! I love these sorts of challenges too. I really enjoy teaching this class!

   
This "Putting On The Ritz" - was another from last months classes. It's hard to get a good picture of double LO's.

"I Say Boy..." Is one of this months classes, I have found a quick and easy way to turn any design or picture into a paper piecing!!! All you need is an A4 Sheet of black carbon paper!!

I have more LO's to share later, a few heritage pages and another paper peicing one!!
Hope This finds you all well!!
Thanks for dropping by and for your comments!! They really do make the hard times a bit easier to know you have friends out there!!
Thanks Again From the bottom of my heart!!
Hugs
Michelle xxx

Back again!!!! So Soon!!!! LOL

Yep believe it or not!! Thought I had better add a few more LO's that I have done recently!!
Oh and also to say that I will be down for the Brisbane Scrapping Expo next weekend, and I am so looking forward to catching up with everyone down there!!! I so need a girls weekend away!!! Can't Wait!!!

I have been having ongoing drama's with our Internet since we moved, We could only get wireless broadband and it has been so unreliable!! I was definitely NOT HAPPY JAN after spending most of the day yesterday on the phone with telstra trying to get the problem fixed. Especially when the 3rd guy or was that 4th got me to do something the other ones had done already, only to put me on hold then hang up on me 15mins later. Obviously I was put into the to hard basket!!! I really let the next guy know how I was feeling then!! At least he was sympathetic and helpful!

We now have access to ADSL so with fingers crossed our lines will all be ok and I will finally get a better, cheaper, faster and more GB's and hopefully a more reliable Internet service. So hopefully I won't have to keep my fingers crossed that I will be able to get online to do anything or spend 1/2 an hour everyday trying to get online.

Anyway I will leave you with a few more of my recent class LO's now!

Catchya Later!!
Have a great Day!!!

Cheers
Michelle xxx