The "jobs" List

So we are back from holidays, and returned to a house (having left on the 27th after a busy Christmas and Boxing Day) that was still covered in festive cheer, with lots of toys to find homes for and a few piles of stuff that I was meaning to get to once Christmas was over!

So began the list! Darling husband is always complaining and making fun of me, because I have lists everywhere and for everything, but to be honest, they make me feel better. Even if the list is a few pages long, with some pretty big jobs on it, just to have it down on paper, feels like you are half way there. Like its been recognised!

Anyhoooo, between the jobs, lots of play was had, and lots of destruction! Evidence below!

One of my favourite jobs on the list, was setting up my new Project Life Album for 2012! It FINALLY arrived on the 3rd January, after being Pre ordered in September. I am absolutely in love with the Clementine kit, and so pleased I ordered it (but I also order the Cobolt aswell, to finally get our Europe holiday from 2009 into an album to enjoy!)

 We managed to swap over the frames of our gorgeous baby photos in the hallway, and add Angus' to the wall aswell. I just love the effect, and being able to compare the kids in similaritites and differences. Not only that, they are a reall talking point for anyone who visits.

More frames were also added, and photos changed on our Photo wall in the living area (this opposes the kitchen). For anyone who knows me, knows how much I love photographs. I love having them around and love to take them , for everything..... We had a family session with an amazing photographer in the first few weeks home with Angus' so I was able to put some of those into the wall and love it to bits.
Sorry about the light, but its just a sneak peak, more to come when its finished!

Our bedrooms (the 3 kids ones) are quite small in our house, so to try and create more space and an uncluttered look in Stella's room, the bookcase was removed (and put in Angus' nursery) , and some Book racks put up on the unused wall just inside her door , at the end of her bed. They are fantastic, absolutely LOVE them, available HERE for $6.95, after a few coats of spray paint, they look awesome.
We placed them tall enough so the little ones can't reach them but so Stella can still stand on the end of her bed and reach ( not ideal, but better than the booiks getting wrecked during the twins "destructive" stage!!)

                                                        And her little reading nook, so cute!

I also reorganised her dressing table , and coralled everything in this tray , to make doing her hair before school (sob!) a lot easier and quicker!! I can already imagine how hard its going to be getting out of the house with a baby, 2 x toddlers and a stubborn nearly 4 year old! ARGH!

These have been up for a while, but I just wanted to share with you a few other storage solutions in our home.
I love these over the door hooks, available from Ikea ! No drilling holes, but still adding more hanging and storage. I have used them inside my Laundry cupboard, and this is now where Noel's sports bags hang, easy to grab and go when on his way to training or a game, a sunshade for the kids and a small backpack cooler bag.

                                 This is what they look like when the cupboard is closed , from the outside.

Stella also has one in her room, that hangs on the outside of her wardrobe door, for all her pretties and precious necklaces, and Max and Lacey have one on their bedroom door for their small backpacks. Great space saver, and cheap too!

Stella's clip holder was moved, as it was on the bookcase, and now hangs off the curtain rail. Yes, this girl has some clips!! But in my defense, I have only purchased a few for her, the rest are gifts. Thankfully we have a gorgeous clip holder, made by my talented sister , and they are displayed brilliantly and all used because of it!

And finally a sneak peak into dear Angus Frankue's room. I finally mnaged some time while Noel was off to get in there and make a nice space for our gorgeous boy. Again, its not finished, but I will share more photos tonight!

So there you have it, just a few of the jobs completed around our home, and I love the difference they have made. With 2 ute loads culled and chucked, a trip to the tip and over $200 made from selling unwanted items creating clutter, we certainly had a busy, yet productive end to our holiday.

Unfortunately its back to the norm today, DH at work and me back managing the 4 kids.

I am in the process of planning some Australia Day crafts and activities for the kiddos, and have about 10 posts lined up for the coming week, a few by request, so more busy times ahead!

Scrapbooking Storage

After sharing our family Project Life Album (who am I kidding, the album is ALL about the kids , but hey, thats our life , right?!) , I figured the next step would be to share my new scrapbooking space.

Normally when you get a "new space" its a new, improved and more functional version than that of your old one. Hmmm not so much here, but the things we do for our darling cherubs!

Since our spare room was my Craft Room, for sewing , scrapbooking and storing all my bits and bobs, and now we have a had a room reshuffle, to make a nursery waiting to be filled, I had to be creative with storing 'stuff' . Many may have seen our big, beautiful Liatorp TV unit in our open living area, and that is perfect for storage of our computer, printer, equipment, cords, papers etc. And the other side is great for my sewing machines, buttons, cottons, patterns etc, but where would my Scrapbooking things go?

An Expedit to the rescue!!

Thankfully, this is repurposed from my Old Craft Room (and Originally from my salon) but it fits perfectly on this odd shaped wall ( the entry is on the other side where the Buffet is), and snug behind the door. So its not unsightly when you walk into the room ( I would have preferred a white one if so, and purhaps doors on each cube to "hide" things).

These nifty units are the perfect size for storing Scrapbooking albums and I have managed to squeeeeeezzze ALOT of other things in too!

On the top , the white basket is a good dumping spot for all things that need to be put in albums, so Birthay cards, tickets, brochures. Even the kids drawings when they have come down from display etc. That way its all coralled in the same spot and every few weeks I go through and put them into the appropriate spots.

Also my PL tin, and my scrapbooking bag behind and the 4 boxes hold photographes waiting to be Scrapbooked!! YIKES!

Top left - is Wooden Stamps, Ink Pads and Punches
Right- is some divided boxes with Embellishments, Brads, extra tapes, etc and the 2 Green albums are 8,5 x 11 for the Kids craft, paintings and drawings.
Next Row Left - Our Project Life Albums (2 of them) and a General scrapbooking one and a spare ( I plan on moving the General Scrapbooking to another colour and using the 2 spare Buttercup ones for PL for next year)
Right- Files with Rub ons, Lettering, sticker sheets etc, and an album
Next Row Left- 4 Albums, one for each child for their Becky Higgins Baby Kits
Right - 2 Boxes for Paper storage ( I am still after the perfect storage solution here) and 3 x small 8 x8 albums for the kids.
Bottom Left - Some MDF kits for me to create with (drawers etc), Each childs left overs from the baby kits ( I haven't even started the twins but its all in the albums waiting to go ) and Magazines.
Bottom Right - A basket (From Target) that I pop different bits and pieces I find around for Embellishing. You know when you find a cool tag, or some ribbon that you think, " I could use that" well this is where it goes. Complicated hey?! ha

A closer view of a few shelves and following , the white boxes, all labelled and full of Photos. The labels are, Project Life, Baby Kits, Holidays and General Scrapbooking.

And just because its too gorgeous not to brag about, my new Scrapbooking tote. Complete with a lazy susan on the bottom!! Uber gorgeous, LOVING it!

Right, that is it. Seriously. Nothing to brag about, but you know what?! It works!

I have an area to store my goodies, away from little fingers, where I can close the door and not worry.

Where do I scrapbook? Well lately its been on the floor , right below the shelves. Yes I am telling the truth!! I can spread everything out, its more comfortable for me (with a big belly and I am a floor person anyway) and I just use a big chopping board to lean on, and have my trimmer on etc. Other than that, I take everything to the dining table, as I like to still be around Noel at night time if I am scrapbooking.

Its not pretty, its not fancy, but it is working for me, so I am going with it!

And you know what? Since moving to this space, I have completed about double the amount of LO's and organised other things like the Baby Kits, than I ever did when I had a whole room dedicated to it!

So, the moral of the story? It doesn't matter what space you have available to you, as long as its organised and you make it work for you, you can still achieve great things, and can never use the excuse, I don't have the space, or the time!! Its about making it for yourself!

Project Life Update

As previously mentioned, my nights of late have been filled with some serious Project Life catching up!!

I am now proud to say, I have only September to print and journal for. Yippeeeeee!

Then , before we know it, the baby will be here and the months will fly by and I will have millions of photos to scrap and fill my binders with!

To co-incide with my PL motivation, I have also started Scrapbooking classes , every fortnight. I am seriously loving it!!

I get to walk out of home, usually just as the kids are getting into their beds, and spend the next 2 hours creating a beautiful Lay out and learning some pretty cool new tricks!! I just needed something for me, we make time as a family for DH to go to sport training, games etc, but this is my time.

Anyway back to Project Life.  (Warning, this is where the photos begin, yep, photos of photos, who knew!!)

 Seeing as though so many people that I know have made the decision to do PL for next year, and a few have asked me about my album, I thought I would share some here.

Our year has now spread over 2 albums, first and second half of the year. Its pretty much our only way of documenting our photos for our family, other than my Scrapbooking layouts (which I use the really good pics for ) and our Holiday Albums (where I scrap and journal on our holidays as there is always alot of photos from them)

Not everything is up to date. I have a fair few spots that need photos (its a matter of going back through and finding them on the computer and getting them printed) and doing some special Lay outs for them (there may have been quite a few photos from an occasion or day that I want to show all of them on a full layout). But these can all be done anytime, and as long as the journalling and dates are done, I am set!

An enlargement from Australia day, with a bifold journalling card trimmed down . Note behind, I need to finish the
Aussie Day Layout.

I like to save alot of bits and pieces from the year, like this cutting from the Newspaper of Noel playing waterpolo, so this is a 12 x 12 LO and on the reverse is another clipping (he had a run in the media!!)

A layout from our Trip to Perth, throughout the album I have used the PL paper but also some from my stash to mix it up a bit!

Our Easter crafting page. I wanted to document all of these photos, and kept it pretty simple, just with a few chipboard stickers. I leave all the fuss for my Scrapbooking Layouts, PL is just about documenting day to day life for us.

An 8.5x 11 Page with a bit of extra keepsake stuff from the concert. Ticket, brochure etc, the reverse is more photos!

An 8 x8 Page, with some pretty cool photos!!

A few 5 x 7 Page Protectors (these are actually from Kikki K and are a bit stronger than normal PP, perfect for harder things like cards) for my Mothers Day cards. Cute hey!

To the left an 8x8 Page of the kids watching Dad mow the lawn, and a 8.5 x 11 on the right with some sister love!

On the right , is a We R Memory Keepers Page Protector , which come in handy for all of those vertical photos that you end up with, and after a day in the sun, I had plenty!

And a We R Memory Keepers on of Horizontal photos (on left) , all the same day so no journalling needed.

A weekly starter card, but this one is for the start of August. So I added some simple stickers and a little journalling to sum up the month that was!

And some Project Life essentials, if you are participating next year. My PL tin, with all the things I need, (Amazing Idea from Jade for SOM) and a few sticker books from Kikki K.
I have used the lettering, stickers,  corner stickers and borders from these books to just jazz up a few layouts and weekly starter pages. They are good for anything , and better still Kikki K has a sale on at the moment, but you have to be a fan of their Facebook page!

The tin is great, as sometimes I journal whilst sitting on the bed , and spread everything out or do it in another room, so I can easily transport all the spare Journalling cards, pens, sticker books , everything!

And just a few Layouts from Class, I LOVE these pages!!

And a few I did at home, by myself. Self Motivated and everything!! Proud of myself! ha

Well there you have it, hope you like our album so far! Its still a work in progress and VERY simple, but as I have said, its simply a way to document our life for the year 2011, moments big and small. The kids love it, I love it and its so nice to look back on!!
Do yourselves a favour and order it!!

Lately...

I had a short break from blogging (other than the few recent posts) but it wasn't by choice. Life just got away with me, lots of different things were happening in our house and I just couldnt' find the time, nor the energy!

Starting with this, Noel rolled his ankle during a football game and had to be taken to hospital. Luckily nothing was broken but some serious ligament damage occured!

Check out the size, and this is only day one!! For the next week, it only got bigger and blacker! And even now, nearly 4 weeks later, its still bruised and swollen! Eeek men!

They are kinda hard to see here, but Lacey has taken to having her hair put up when Stella does in the morning! Tiny little pony tails and oh so cute!! (Complete with a jam biccie and sand face during outside play time!)

Some Baby prep baking has been a happenin'! 100 muffins, a Choc coconut slice and a cake (the cake was consumed!) All put into stackable freezer containers and labelled. Feels good!!

Some cranky kids have been living here! Someone took my happy little cherubs and replaced them with these little whining, sooky babies!! Teething is the devil and we have had THE WORST run with virus' and sicknesses! Bring on Summer!

                                           Cruel but thats reality !! "Pick me up Daddy"

But on a good note! My new toy arrived!! A VERY welcome addition to our house!!

Our Robomaid! Still to be named, so if you have suggestions, pass them forward!!

She is a gem, and gets used a few times a day!! ( I am slightly anal about having a clean floor) And she is taking the pressure off my growing baby body!! Worth her weight in gold!!

Other than that, I have been making a HUGE effort to catch up on my Project Life! Believe it or not, I got nearly 13 weeks behind!! Such a mammoth effort to catch up, but a few nights of ordering my prints online (a new found system and I am seriously LOVING it!! ) and a few more nights of journalling and organising and I only have 4 weeks to go!! Yay, so worth it in the end, and I refused to give up! I have also managed to set up 2 of my 3 kids Baby kit albums and will do the other 2 soon!!

Gosh it feels good to be regaining some control and achieving a few jobs I thought were never going to happen!!

I will do a post when I have caught up on Project Life to show you my album and progress, for those that have preordered next years kit ( I have, Clementine baby!!)

But for now, check out one of the blogs I follow Mish Mash, such amazing inspiration for creating a gorgeous and personal PL album (rest assured , mine looks NOTHING like this, but it is preserving our memories and thats all that matters!!)

Life is starting to slow down a little, Noels football season has finished (but Waterpolo is about to start) but we have a few weeks of a little less on, and its nice!

Lucky.....

We have all had them.... Those times when something happens, there is a Kodak moment and you think, "Gee, I wish I had my camera handy", by the time you go and get them, the moment has gone, never to return again.

And then there are the times (which do tend to happen alot in our house!!) that you think " This might make for some good pictures" and you thank your lucky stars you can yet again, capture a beautiful moment that your kids are sharing together

This was one of them.

A warm day ( no different than the last month of temps over 30 degrees) and Lacey and Stella had awoken from their sleep,  and we decided to have some water fun!

And boy did they have fun!

Isn't she so beautiful (biased but thats a mothers right!!)

Cuddles

And then you capture images like these that melt your heart;

And the main man Max wakes from his slumber, to join his sisters. This is when I started to get wet from all the splashing! He is one excitable baby!

And a moment with the big sister!

Our little water babies!

And the cutest bottom around!

I hope this is inspiration or a reminder that sometimes the most beautiful images can come from fairly insignificant and spur of the moment events, and yet that memory will now last a lifetime for our precious 3 bundles! ( And fill a full page in Mummy's Project Life!!)

Happy Weekend everyone!! I hope it is a good one, we have a list of jobs a mile long, some Easter Crafting to do and some fun to be had so stay tuned for the outcome!