Where does your camera live?

As a scrapbooker, it's important that i don't miss ANYTHING that needs to be documented in life - especially when it comes to Calvin. It's so hard to believe that he's nearly 2!! I feel that i've done a really good job with photography so far this year. It may not all be first class, but i've got photos of most of the important things that have been going on in our lives.

I set myself a little personal goal this year - i wanted to take at least one photo each week on my SLR. My SLR may seem like nothing special, but it's pretty special to me. It's something that we really couldn't afford to buy, but i wanted for so long. When my dad got a new digital SLR a year or two ago, he knew that, so he passed on his old one to me. It's a Nikon D70 (yup, you read that right - just one '0'. I think they are up to three now LOL). It's basic, but it's digital. The screen is difficult to see, so i have to wait until i get my photos on my computer to see how the photos turn out, but i'm finding that isn't the worst thing in the world - it means that i get my photos on my computer really quickly!!

I've (so far) managed to achieve my personal goal - even more than once a week i'd say!! How do i do this? I've found it's all about where my camera lives!! The hub of my house is my kitchen, so that's where i now keep my camera!! I keep it with the standard wide angle lens on it - i only have one other lens (a telescopic lens) and it really only comes out on 'special' occasions - when we go out and i'm trying to get photos of Calvin playing on play equipment ages away or something fun like that.

It's a pretty weird place to keep an SLR - and it's definately dangerous, since all sorts of things go down in the kitchen - it's right next to the kettle for goodness sake!! But the beauty of my SLR is that it's like 10 years old, so if something happened to it, i wouldn't be devestated! It would be sad, but really it's only a matter of time before something goes wrong with it anyway!!

It's allowed me to get some fabulous photos of everyday life, like Calvin 'doing the dishes' last week:

Or him sitting down with the K-mart toy catalogue (he was pestering me in the kitchen, so i gave it to him and said 'here, go sit on your couch and read this' - and wouldn't you know it, he did!!! So cute!!!)

Or Calvin putting his massive toy bear on Napoleon while he was faaaassst asleep - and it was still there half an hour later!!!

The most exciting thing about my success in using my SLR so much more this year, is that i'm going to get so many lovely photos of my little girl when she joins us in the next few weeks. Though i had the SLR when Calvin came along, i was unpracticed in using it, so i immediately went to my point and shoot!! This time around, i'll be grabbing the SLR first thing - in fact, it will be one of the first things in my hospital bag :D

Finally Back to Scrapping!!

It's been over 2 weeks since i last scrapped, so today i decided to spend the day scrapping, while Calvin is in daycare. I actually ended up doing a double LO this morning - one side for the July Purple Pumpkin blog challenge and the other side for the 'once upon a sketch' July 15 blog challenge. Here's what i came up with:

The right side is for the Purple Pumpkin blog challenge:

And the right side was for the once upon a sketch blog challenge. It turned out to be a long way from the sketch, but i had to make it work with my first LO!! The challenge was to use a quote, so i used "Yoooooooo..... Gabba Gabba" as my quote - it's the last thing in the opening credits of the show, which i thought was appropriate :D

I've used a huge mix of products on these two pages. A bit of old Cosmo Cricket (from "The Boyfriend" range), some American crafts, Jillibean Soup (Monsters Stew), Scenic Route. Purple pumpkin embelishments and some random brads plus lots of misting with some glimmer mists and some of Mr Huey's (LOVE how bold that red mist turns up!!!). Alphas are Heidi Swapp and Making Memories, plus i've used a Stampin' Up! write marker.

On the knitting front, i've been doing lots for Calvin lately!! I finished the jumper i was knitting for him and it looks gorgeous - he loves it too - the sign of a well loved jumper is that he took one of the buttons off within a couple of hours of putting it on LOL

I just LOVE the buttons i got to match the jumper - SUPER cute, don't you think!!! Very glad that this project is done really - it wasn't the most enjoyable yarn to work with, especially given how much winding i had to do to get all the colours matching around the body and sleeves!!

My latest project is some fairly simple socks for Calvin:

I've dubbed them the "One team fits all" supporter sock, since they are such lovely bright colours!! My personal challenge for this pair of socks is to learn how to knit socks with contrasting toe, heel and cuff. I think they look good, though i think the heel would look much better if it was a toe-up pattern. Shall try this one next time i think!!

My Favourite Layout

Purple Pumpkin is after 2 guest designers this month, and to be in the running to be a guest designer, they are asking us to post our favourite LO on our blog. This was quite a challenge for me, as i'm so happy with so many of my LO's this year.

In the end i settled with this LO:

There are a few reasons why this one is a personal favourite. Firstly, the photo is just gorgeous!!! My two men - My husband in the foreground has and always will be my first love, and my son in the background whom i'm totally head over heels for too - he's a shadow of his daddy. They truely are pieces of me - it's like having part of my heart walking around outside of my body, having them in my life :D

Secondly, i just LOVE this paper range. It's MME's Lost & Found which i just LOVE. So there's lots that i love on this page!!! I love the monochromatic and the twine and the subtle bling, and it's got one of my favourite Martha Stewart punches on it and.... i could go on, but i won't.

Hope you enjoyed a little look into my favourite LO at the moment! Don't forget to check out Purple Pumpkin's blog this month - there's HEAPS going on :D

Have you seen Purple Pumpkin?

I've only just discovered Purple Pumpkin and their gorgeous range of embellishments in the last couple of months. Last month was my first order and i was most impressed with service, delivery and the products themselves!! I've used them already on a few LO's - including at least one of my masters entries!!!

July marks the first birthday of Purple Pumpkin, so they are having a HUGE giveaway. Go to the blog to check out how you can enter, and don't forget to check out their amazing range of embellies while you are there!!! I'm sooooo looking forward to their next sale towards the end of the month. The winners of their giveaway will be announced 22nd July - right before the next sale. Wouldn't it be nice to win $50, $25, $15 or $10 towards an order at their next sale!!!!

I've been busy working on a little jumper for Calvin for this winter (and hopefully it will still fit him next winter - though i'm starting to doubt it!!!) and i'm quite close to finishing now - just got to add the hood :D Check out the lovely colours created by the Noro Silk Garden (Colour 8) that i picked for this project:

Overall i’ve been quite disappointed working with Noro this year. I’ve had Noro envy for so long now and once i started working with it i’ve not enjoyed it like i should. I will certainally not be knitting socks or garments with it again. I’d like to give it a final try with a lace stole or something where the colourings don’t matter so much. But, this sort of project is pretty low on my ‘to knit’ list, so i probably won’t get it done any time soon.

Straight into July Challenges!!!

I had a lovely night out scrapping last night with Elana at Scrapbooks Etc. in Underwood, and as a result i've already done 2 blog challenges for July!! Been a while since i've done challenges on the first of the month!!!

The challenge for Scrap The Boys this month is to use tape and the word "Play" on a LO. I knew i had some lovely tape that i bought a while back (I think i got it in New York!!!) that i haven't touched yet, so i popped this in my tote before i left for the night. Here's what i came up with:

I've used a bit of a mix of things on this LO - stamps by Tim Holtz, Heidi Swapp, Maya Road and Stampin' Up. The little chippies i've used are so cute aren't they? It's from a Maya Road pack i bought last weekend that i have used almost constantly since!!! I've used them on the next LO too. PP's are a mix of a few things including the new October Afternoon 5 & Dime range which is soooo cute!!! And of course a bit of glimmer mist for the splodging!!

Love this photo - of my boys eating weetbix together at breakfast time - hence the title "Work, Rest & Play"

The second challenge i did last night was for the White plus One blog. Their challenge this month is to use White + Aqua/Teal + Chipboard. This gave me a great opportunity to use a chipboard title that i've had in my stash for a while "Wonder What He's Thinking". It's the second time i've scrapped this photo, because it's so gorgeous!!!!

I mostly stuck with one of Kaisercraft's newer ranges "Chapter One" for this LO, but added in some Maya Road chippies and some ribbon. I got the lovely effect on the title by first painting it cream, then misting with silver plus a teal colour - i didn't have the exact right colour i wanted in the mist, so i had to improvise a bit and i couldn't be happier with the result!!! So soft and lovely!!!

We've got a busy weekend ahead of us - we're painting Calvin's new room finally!!! Hopefully we'll be able to finish off this week and then move him in within a couple of weeks - it's getting pretty close now. I'm 31 weeks, but you just never know where God is going to direct your path!!! Have a great weekend all!!