Getting my mojo back with some MME!

I've been feeling like i've lost my mojo a bit lately, so today with Calvin at daycare i shut myself inside my scrap room and made myself scrap, hoping that if i did a page my mojo would come flowing back! Not sure if it's flowing yet, but i'm super happy with what i came up with!!

MME has a monthly challenge which is usually based on a sketch and a theme. Plus, you have to use 80% or more MME product. The theme was "Winter", which i interpreted with the colours i used - shimmery silver and cool blues and greys :) I'm totally smitten with the new "Lost & Found" range that MME brought out this season - it's glittery and glamerous, but seems to match just about anything. I tried it on with a black and white photo today, and this is what i came up with:

Isn't it gorgeous? I'm particularly proud of this one because i started with no mojo and came out with a gorgeous page!! This photo is such a favourite of mine too - with Jeremy in focus, and Calvin blurred out in the background. SO lovely. Check out the lovely glitter on the die-cuts:

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For the title, i started with a chipboard piece and dressed it up with a bit of Tim Holtz 'Broken China' distress ink. I was so thrilled with the colour match, since the blue in these papers is pretty unusual!!

The other page i've done this year is a Christmas page based on PageMaps sketch. It was actually for a challenge, but i never managed to get it up on time (since my lack of mojo was making me scrap SO SLOW!!). I've used some really old Scenic Route paper, which i've always loved but just never got around to using!!

The stars that i've used are cut out from some matching PP and then put through the cuttlebug, which gives a really cute effect, don't you think?

In other news, everything is fairly back to normal up here in Brizzy now. For us, anyway. I wish i could say the same for the poor people in Brizzy that have been flooded. The waters have receeded, but the real hard work has started. Please continue to keep these people in your prayers.

Calvin is at daycare today and something i've started doing is going to the pool straight after i drop him off. It's nice to get in the cool water in such hot weather and also have some scheduled exercise. I hope this is something i can keep up.

I have a job interview on Friday at a local lab for a materials engineering job. I'm not sure how to feel about it, but i'm going to give it my best shot. It's strange to think about going back to work, which i figured that i would never get a part time job in engineering!!

Some OTP and Card shares

I've been quite into OTP this year - only 15 days in and i've done 2 OTP's, 2 cards and only 1 12x12 page!!! Very different to my usual ratio!

I don't think i shared these OTP's from last year. I made each of my little cousins one of Kaiser's cute little handbag desk organisers for Christmas. They all LOVED them and can't stop talking about them. So cute. I was pretty happy with how they turned out too!

Here's the one's i did for the 5 year old girls:

And here's the one's i did for the 8 and 9 year old girls - much 'older':

The 2 OTP's i've done this year are a large Kaiser desk organiser for my scrap room, and a shadow box frame for my dad for his birthday. I haven't yet taken photos of the desk organiser, but here's the shadow box frame:

I made a matching birthday card for dad too. All using Basic Grey's newish "Wander" range.

And since Jeremy's dad has his birthday this month, i made his card at the same time in a similar style.

Madness!!!

Life has been MAD for me lately. Busy, busy busy. It's been about a month since my last post. Not much scrapping has happened in that time, I think i've done 2 pages so far this year. I really need to keep a running tally this year - i aim to do it every year, but for some reason it always goes by the wayside :(

I still haven't finished uploading all 25 days of Christmas, so i guess that would be a good place to start!!

13/12: Just Chillin'

Not much going on today - no one was feeling great, so we just 'hung around' the house. It's so cute how Calvin walks around with his blankie on days like this.

14/12: Reading before bed

This is something we do everynight at the moment, so i thought it was nice to capture it. We read 3 stories, the last is always "Time for Bed" by Mem-Fox.

15/12: Cooling down in the backyard

There's nothing better on a summer day in Brisbane!

16/12: Playgroup Christmas Party

What a great time Calvin had at his Playgroup Christmas party. He played hard, then ate with just as much vigour. He was HYPER afterwards - i guess chocolate crackles and fairy bread is a bit much for him!!

17/12: Santa Photo

This is clearly not the santa photo. But, i haven't scanned it yet, so this is a pickie of him all dressed up for it. So cute!!

18/12: Wrapping & Packing!

I wrapped ALL of the pressents this day, and we did all of the packing for our big trip!! The car was PACKED!!!

19/12: On the Road

Naturally with the doggies!!! We drove to Manilla from Brizzy on our first day. It was a VERY long day. A section of the road was closed so we had to detour an extra hour. We eventually go there at about 8pm.

20/12: Catching up with Family

Here's Calvin with his second cousin, Sarah on the farm. We drove from Manilla to Sydney this day, via Broke - Jeremy's parents place, where we stopped for lunch. It was another very long day of driving, but more broken up than the previous day, and filled with relief as we reached our final destination!!

21/12: Out to Dinner

Something we always end up doing when we are in Sydney is taking Calvin out for dinner - Grandma and Grandad just LOVE to show him off at the local restaurants. Dad usually takes him for a little walk afterwards. Such a lovely picture with the lighting!!

22/12: Playing at Grandma's

Calvin had a BALL playing at grandma's - new toys!! Well, toys that we played with as kids, but new to him!! And there's always a doggie around at grandma's. Indie took a particular fancy to Calvin while we were down this time, and she just followed him around the whole time!!!

23/12: ??

I have to track down a photo for this day - we were down in Wollongong without Calvin, who was being looked after by Grandma. Everyone was happy :P

24/12: Swimming with Grandad

This was just one of many swims that were had while we were in Sydney. Calvin was in the pool almost every day with Grandad! Even if it was just dipping his feet in.

Phew! I'm exhausted. Christmas day another time i think!!! A quick recap of what's happened since then though:

• We drove back to Broke and spent a few days there with Jeremy's family, even getting down to Newcastle to visit the grandparents!
• We spent New Year's Eve back at the farm - a very pleasant way to bring in the new year - 3 swims in one day, including one at 9pm!!
• Home at last on New Year's Day. Very glad to be home after 2 weeks away!!
• Same old until...
• Flooding!! Brisbane got hit with terrible floods this week. Jeremy was sent home from work, and Calvin was sent home from childcare Tuesday lunch. Jeremy has been home since - probably going back next week. We have been SOOOO blessed to not be evacuated, blocked in or loose power, unlike many in the suburbs around us. It's been tricky to get groceries, but things seem to be improving now.

Please pray for those affected by the floods. It's totally devastating up here, and the mood is grim to say the least. The real problems will start soon when the waters recede and people have to return to their homes and the harsh reality of what has happened hits.