Layouts and Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Andre! Brooke wants to Skype you tonight and sing happy birthday. Her first words this morning was "It's Uncle Andre's birthday today!" We hope you have a great day and get totally spoilt.

Did I tell you all that I am now a Layout Artist for Digital Artist Magazine? I was so honoured to be asked. This Merry Christmas layout was my first one published in the Nov/Dec edition of DAM. I will have more in current and upcoming editions, but I can't post them on my blog until a month after each mag comes out.





And my week EIGHT for project 365. (I still have to change the week number on the layout).





Thankyou so much to Regan and Danielle for the little gift you sent over. I was actually looking at that cupcake book last time I was in Whitcoulls, and loved it. I enjoy creating layouts for family - I put a lot of love into it - and it makes me want to do even more when I know the pages are really appreciated. As you can see below, I scrapped 3 more pages of your girls as soon as I opened up the DVD of pics you sent over.

Back with a freebie

Hubby's Grandfather passed away last week just a few days short of his 94th Birthday. We ended up flying down for the funeral, taking the girls with us, which they thought was just fabulous. Our girls love their Nana and Poppa to pieces, and Brooke has been asking to go down for the last 3-4 months, so you can imagine how happy they were to spend nearly 5 days with them. Granddad's funeral service was really lovely. Read the little story on this layout about what Elisa did:





We came back just in time for Brooke to start school for the year. She is Year 2 now, and has been placed in a Year 2/Year 3 mixed class. Her teacher is fresh out of teachers college, and seems OK so far (fingers crossed). Brooke is happy to be back with her friends again.

Elisa started Kiwi Kids today, which is an extended Playcentre Session for the over 3 yr olds. She loved it. Got paint everywhere. Now that Brooke is at school, Elisa and I will have little teaching sessions at home each day. Topics will include letter and number recognition, counting, writing practise, computer skills, music, art etc, concentrating on just one topic each day. She enjoys that too. Today we did some art, then practised counting on the Playhouse Disney Games Website. I think I'm going to get her a little wee computer mouse that fits her hand better. I've seen them around. I made this for Elisa too. She of course thinks it is just wonderful and insisted I post letters to her immediately. I'll make one for Brooke next week using different papers.



I also finished last weeks 365 pages. The theme was all about Brooke. This week will be about Elisa.


See the separate pages close up HERE and HERE.

And I promised a freebie didn't I? Here it is, a quick page of this layout from my last post. Click on the image below to download from 4shared:



OK, that's about it for now. Have a great week!

Annnnnd.... we're back! (with a freebie)

(Note: if you're here for the Digi Chick Blog Train, scroll to the bottom of this post).

It's a feast or a famine with my blog huh. I alternate between posting 3 times a week to only once or twice a month when things get really busy. I don't suppose I'm the only blogger to do this though huh. Well where do I start? Christmas I guess. I was going to post a stack of photos, then thought I might as well just wait till I'd scrapped my pages and show them instead. So here is our Christmas. Since the photos had so much colour in them I decided to go with a fairly neutral background palette and let the pictures do the talking.

















And of course I had to scrap Elisa's broken arm didn't I? She was lucky it was just a greenstick fracture and that it healed quickly. She only stayed in the plaster cast for 2 weeks, getting it cut off on Christmas Eve.







I've done a few CT layouts too, though am still in the process of uploading them to my galleries. Lucky you, you get a sneak peek here on my blog first. There are a few more to come, but I can't post them for another day or two.









Oops, I nearly forgot. Here are my latest 365 pages. I've decided to continue Project 365 in 2010, but simplify it somewhat with Biograffiti's templates. I was lucky enough to win her January set this week. Yay!





OK, you've made it this far, now I guess some of you are here for the Digi Chick Blog Train.



Here is the template freebie I have for you. Perfect for scrapping Christmas photos, or any multiphoto page. Just swap the tree and snowflakes for other elements if you're not doing a christmas page. You can see the page I based it on HERE. I'd love it if you left a comment saying what you think. Click on the preview to download.



I should be your last stop, but if you've missed anyone, retry the links below. Remember, we're all on different time zones, so it may take a little longer for some to get sorted.

Tiffany: http://ascrapaway.blogspot.com/
Jenn: http://jennamy82.blogspot.com
Kelleigh: http://kelleighratzlaff.com/
Sylvia: http://sylviascraps.blogspot.com
Neenee: http://www.itzaneetdesign.com
Jude: http://lildigibits.blogspot.com/
Holly: http://lv2scrapnjp.blogspot.com
Pam: http://www.pameladonnis.com/blog/
Jana: http://www.janam-designs.com/blog/
Marianne: http://www.nowthenhabibi.com/scrapping-stuff/
Jacinda: www.digikiwichick.blogspot.com (you are here)

I hope you had fun and picked up lots of goodies on the blog train. Now go check out what yummy new things the Digi Chick Designers have released in the TDC Store this week. (Pssst.....while you're there you will definitely want to check out the huge NEW range of products in the Studio 365 section).

Scrappy stuff

OK so I was going to update the previous post, then thought hey....why not just start a new one. I have some exciting news to share too. I've been asked to be a layout artist for the Digital Artist Magazine! At first I was like "What? Me?! Seriously?" because the chicks that already create for the mag are like my heroes and their pages are just stunning. I have a much simpler style than them, so I'm hoping they just want to showcase a different scrapping style rather than think it's a mistake and they meant to ask someone else. LOL. OK here are my latest layouts. The first two are my latest 365 pages. Click on them and they'll take you to my 365 blog:

Latest projects and another 365

So how was YOUR weekend? Mine was great. Packed the girls off to Mum and Dad's on Thursday night and pretty much did whatever I wanted the rest of the weekend. :D I shopped my heart out on Friday and got a haircut while I was at it. Saturday DH and I wandered around the shops buying more than we intended (par for the course for us). He's sorting out a new sandpit for the girls which will be ready for Elisa's birthday on Saturday. I found a couple of really nice Christmas Story books to use with my new Activities Advent Calendar (see pic below) in December. One of the books has a collection of christmas stories, while the other one is a kids version of Jesus' birth with accompanying nativity magnets and magnetised pages. Super cute. I intend to only bring these books out around christmas time so they stay special. Sunday I spent most of the day at church, so DH went south to pick up the girls and bring them home. We got the hugest hugs and kisses from them which was just lovely. They pretty much got home, brushed teeth and went straight to bed, falling asleep almost instantly. Thanks so much Mum and Dad for having them.

So first up here is my Advent Calendar. This is a template by Mari Koegelenberg, and was sooo easy to use. I searched the net and came up with a list of activities the girls can do each day. You can find the list HERE if you're interested. Between Brooke and I we went through the list and picked activities that interested us and that wouldn't be too hard to do. We also added a few of our own ideas.







Last week I was asked to speak at the Young Women's Excellence Night at church. Instead of throwing out my notes afterwards I decided to scrap them in the hopes Brooke and Elisa may get some benefit from them in the years to come. This layout made the Gallery Standouts Blog too which was a nice surprise. After church on Sunday I was ambushed by three of the Young Men wanting me to speak at their Careers Night this coming Tuesday. They must have heard the girls talking about my speech because they were all excited and really wanting me to come. LOL. I said yes, and went down to the Army Recruiting Office today to pick up some pamphlets and posters for them.


And my latest 365 to match last weeks.