March Challenges

Well, i actually managed 2 of the challenges i posted in my previous post!! Amazing!!

The first one i did was the Purple Pumpkin sketch challenge, which i did in a 10x10 size for my little Scarlet's first year calendar:

You'll have to excuse the dodgy photography - i got lazy and took them on my phone. I've used some yummy October Afternoon on this LO, along with that lovely Pink Paisley music piece from one of their latest collections. I've used 3 Purple Pumpkin buttons - two red spotty ones along with that gorgeous vintage little girl. Couldn't resist adding some yummy new Prima flowers in too!! I have definitely stashed up big time on the new stuff - and yet i never can have enough!!!

The second challenge i managed to get done (just in the nick of time, finishing it off just now!!) was the stylist challenge over at Scrapboutique:







Well daylight savings finishes tonight. Very glad because it will mean that i won't have to worry about the time difference when talking to others on the east coast!!! And i won't get confused about when challenges are due etc. - can't tell you how many CC challenges i've missed thanks to the time difference!!

NSW and VIC mothers - welcome to the world of 5am wake ups!!

Looking for a challenge?

It's nearly the end of the month, which means there's plenty of scrapbooking challenges to get stuck into. Here are a few i'm deliberating between (if i ever get a chance to scrap - feels like i never will right now!!!)

White With 1

White + Kraft + Layering

Kraft It Up

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 challenge:

1 piece of Kraft card stock or PP

2 photos of any size

3 word title

4 different PP

5 different embellishments

Scrap The Boys

Create a LO using the title "Life is Good"

The colour red  must also be on your LO somewhere and handwritten journalling.

Scrap The Girls

Theme: Celebrations

Scrapboutique Monthly Challenges

Monthly Theme - Autumn! Using the sketch provided, draw inspiration from the image provided here (i've already managed this one!!)
Stash Stomper - Vellum!
Stylist Challenge - Create a LO with a hand drawn or hand-cut title, some other doodling on your page and one or more symbols (e.g. " ! @ # $ ? etc)

Scrapboutique March CC Challenges (Due Thursday)

Card Challenge - Create a card containing a quote that inspires you

Chelsea's Challenge - Scraplift one of the amazing Amanda's LO's which can be found here

Roast - Play along with this month's roast
Quote Challenge - "Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid" Franklin P Jones. Use this quote along with a painted/misted background and hand drawn lines for definition

Scrapbooking From Scratch Monthly Challenges

Sketch Challenge

Quote Challenge - "The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family." Thomas Jefferson

Colour Combo

Purple Pumpkin

Wicked Princesses Sketch Challenges

#1 - use sketch plus the word 'family'

#2 - use sketch plus paint

#3 - use sketch plus distressing

#4 - use sketch plus green

There's also a new challenge going on over at the Pagemaps blog (due April 15th):

Have you found this post helpful? Overwhelming? Got any others i could add?

My Little Sleep Demons

I really need to have a rant about my demon children when it comes to sleep. I don't know what i've done to deserve 2 children who hate sleep. You might recall that we ended up at a sleep centre to 'train' Calvin how to sleep, after 13 months of sleep deprivation. Scarlet is 8 months and we are already heading in the same direction.

We went and saw a child health nurse specialising in sleep and lactation about 2 weeks ago because she was waking 5-6 times a night (AFTER we went to bed), and she suggested taking the dummy away. We did that and she is now only waking twice. This is still not sustainable. And to top that off, she won't sleep for longer than half an hour during the day - something that Calvin has always specialised in.

I am literally going out of my mind.

We seem to have tried everything. We use controlled crying - only allowing it to go on for an hour during the day and 45 minutes at night; giving her a short break by getting her up for a bit then going through it all again for another 45. When she wakes up during the day i do not rush to her - i let her cry for a bit so she can try and put herself back to sleep.

I have tried 'save our sleep', following the routines almost religiously, to no avail. She has a snuggle rug for comfort, which i have worn in my shirt to get my 'scent' on it. I am sure to 'wake' her after a breastfeed at the end of the day so she goes down awake. I read to her before bed. We have a routine that we follow every day. I've tried topping her up with formula after each breastfeed. I feed her heaps of solids - until she turns her head. She has plenty of stimulation during the day - lots of time on her tummy, back and sitting. I watch out for tired signs when putting her down. She is happy and content. As long as i'm not trying to get her to sleep.

Everything i read just infuriates me more (or makes it all seem more hopeless), as we are doing everything everyone suggests!!! Putting a baby to bed 'drowsy but not asleep' is something that totally alludes me. My children seem to know 2 speeds - flat out and flat out. There is no intermediate stage. Same with crying. They do not just do a whiny cry. They go straight to a scream.

I just don't know what to do to get her to sleep longer than half an hour during the day. I am living in a state of total and complete exhaustion, even only getting up twice a night. I know it will all pass and that eventually i will be dragging her out of bed when she is a teenager, but i just don't know what to do now.

Purple Pumpkin Sale Soon!!

Many of you will know that i'm a HUGE fan of Purple Pumpkin. Well, they have their monthly sale on this week, so don't forget to check it out. Make sure you're there on time if you want to get the good stuff - it sells out real quick!!!

Be sure to jump on their blog and Facebook page for your chance to win $50 to spend at the sale. Their sneaks so far are awesome! I particularly like the helicopter and hot air balloon buttons they haven't had before!! Got to get some of them :D

They also have a design team call on right now. Be sure to apply if you like to work with handmade embellishments and enjoy blogging :D I've already sent my application in!!

Not much scrapping has been happening here this weekend - i've been flat out with crocheting a hootabelle for order plus working with my playgroup - we had a clean out day on Saturday :D I did get along to somewhere to scrap for my 'krafty koncepts' class last Thursday, and i even got a bit of scrapping done for it Thursday night - nearly finished my month's worth of 'homework'!! I'm really enjoying this class. It's fun to be challenged to use some of the split album pages in a creative way!!

Hopefully i'll get into some scrapping this week. There's lots of monthly challenges that i'm yet to try, so i hope to at least attempt some of them!!

Some charming layouts

I had a night of interrupted scrapping last night - the first in a loooooong time!!! I took the opportunity to play with some of Charm's Creations Heavenly Hearts i got from last month's sale.

The first page i did for the Scrapboutique monthly challenge, which was a combination of a sketch and inspiration challenge:

I had heaps of fun creating the feather on the side of the page - i misted over it, and then drew around the edges with my fine tipped polka paint pen



The second layout tonight is for my wedding album that i'm creating with the Krafty Koncepts class at Somewhere To Scrap. Since i was having fun with my Charm's Creations embellies, i thought i'd follow this month's theme and enter this page over there - the theme was to use at least 1 heart, misting and of course a Charm's Creations embellishment!







I got my Stampin' Up! Crystal Effects out and dusted it off for this LO last night - it's the best thing for adding a glaze - much thicker than dimensional magic, so you can use it straight on regular PP on any element you want!! I decided to use it to highlight my 'title' and one of the hearts that i misted. Cute, huh?

Well tonight i'm feeling a little weary, even after such an awesome sleep last night (Scarlet slept all the way through to 5am!!!), so i'm back to my knitting i think!!! Hope you are busy creating something that warms your heart wherever you are :D

Flat Chat!!!

Life is so busy right now!!! I've been totally exhausted with getting up half a dozen times a night to my little one lately, but it seems we have turned a corner in that department!!! Friday night we took the dummy off her, and she only woke once!!! We are really kicking ourselves now, wishing we did it much sooner. Nevermind.

As a result of my exhaustion i've done hardly any scrapping in the last few weeks. I've just been so mentally exhausted that it's seemed like a massive task every night!!! But, i've been doing a lot of knitting and crochet as all I've had energy for is watching TV!!! Here's my first 'Hootabelle' - isn't she cute?

I've also been knitting some hats lately. Last year was lots of socks, and it seems that this year might be hats!!! I'm enjoying myself with 'oxidise' from the new Ysolda Whimsy knits book!!

Here's a page that i did a little bit ago that i forgot to share with you. It took me a few nights to complete because i kept getting interrupted by my girl. I've got another like that that i'm going to finish tonight - i've already spent 4 nights working on it, so hopefully i'll knock it over tonight :D