Scrapbooking Crazy

Two colour dare for No. 8 wired.

2007-11-05T13:55:00.001-08:00

Wow it's been a while since I completed a dare but this one really got me going and I put this layout together relatively quickly for me.

The two colours I used were brown and taupe/fawn.

The words say ''a perfect little lady... not!''

Sorry it's such a bad photo!

Thanks for looking,

xx Kate

Happy New Year!

2008-01-07T23:28:00.000-08:00

So I'm not really supposed to use this blog anymore because I'm posting constantly on Paper Pesto but that's not a personal blog and I kind of miss just rambling about nothing or dumb stuff if you know what I mean. So I've decided to try and update it every now and again. Will have to see how long that lasts!

I did a layout a few days ago with our Jan kit which is all about my goals for 2008. I've found that resolutions don't work so well for me.

Here's to sticking at it!
What are your aims for 2008?

xx Kate

School holidays are ok.

2008-01-22T17:26:00.000-08:00

So I'm getting back into the swing of having two at home and finally starting to relax and not be so on edge about every little thing. Funny because School goes back in two weeks! I think I'm feeling less stressed because we've stopped running around so much trying to stay busy and are now just happy to hang out at home.
Check these cuties out: up on the bench 'helping' to cook.

Plus I also know we are finally going on holiday on Saturday and that feels good! Dave didn't have a proper break over Christmas/New Year so we both really need it. We're off to Waiheke -close enough that it's not a hassle to get there yet remote enough so that you feel like you're actually away. Does that make sense?

I've been doing quite a bit of scrapping lately, some for submissions and some with the Paper Pesto February kit that will be going up on the blog in the next week.

Meanwhile I'll leave you with this one, don't think I've posted it on here before lol.

xx Kate.

Bella wants to share

2008-01-23T12:04:00.000-08:00

We have been making valentines cards together and DD no.1 asked me if we could 'blog' it. I guess she's seen me post up my work and now wants to share her own. It's very cute. She even took the photograph of it herself.

I hope us creating together lasts a very long time, but as it may not I will be appreciating every second together.

xx Kate

Paper Pesto sketch challenge

2008-02-14T18:00:00.000-08:00

Hiya,

I created this layout last night as part of our first ever sketch challenge over at Paper Pesto. It was a lot of fun as I had Isabella in there with me taking over my desk space. And I thought I spread out when I work!

Anyway here is the end resultThe challenge ends tomorrow night if you want to give it a go. Just head on over to Paper Pesto.

xx Kate.

Fur babies

2008-02-26T16:43:00.000-08:00

How cute are these little guys!
They will be residing mainly in our bathroom for the next few days till they get accustomed to a new house and new faces looking at them!
Why two you ask? Well I went to choose one this morning and was trying to decide between them when they started playing and cuddling each other. It was obvious how close they are and I just couldn't separate them!
Now we have to pick names, I'm rooting for Sooty and Sweep or Zippy and Bungle but Dave wants Megatron and Optimus Prime! HELP!!

xx Kate.

Awww

2008-03-03T17:21:00.000-08:00

Look what Annelie gave me, what a sweetheart!

I'd like to pass it on to Ilka because she inspires me with her scrapping and her willpower to quit smoking! Go Ilka!

Kate.

Time for an update!

2008-04-09T13:42:00.001-07:00

Hi! Well it's been a busy few weeks with launching our latest kit at Paper Pesto, whipping up some layouts with it, and the sketch challenges and freebies I have been running on the site.

To top it off, soccer started Saturday ad we turned up to find no coach or gear in site so Dave moseyed on down to the club rooms to speak to someone and came back as the team coach by default! It was not intentional at all but I think he will fill the role perfectly, he is wonderful with kids!

Yesterday was my birthday (27) and while the day started very early with miss 2 in our bed at 5.30 and then a run in with a nasty child on the walking school bus (he's seven and had a lighter in his pocket -what the!), but thankfully my day did improve greatly after meeting mum for some lunch and shopping. Ahh shopping always makes me feel better!

We then met all the family for a lovely get together and dinner at Gengy's. The kids love that place! There's something neat about putting whatever you like on your plate (in sometimes unusual combinations I must say) and having it cooked for you.

All in all it was wonderful day, I scored well in the present department and got to spend time with my extended family who I adore.

Hope you are all having a great week too!

Kate xx

Soccer, holidays and other!

2008-04-23T17:07:00.000-07:00

Does anybody else feel like the school holidays are passing rather slowly? Don't get me wrong, we are having a great time and the girls aren't fighting (much) but it just seems like it's going to be a slow two weeks.

Pictured above is 5 out of 6 members of Isabella's soccer team. Aren't they sooo cute! Isabella is the one next to the goal post.

Soccer is going well, as I predicted Dave is an amazing coach and the kids just love him. He plays games like having them kick or throw the ball at him while he runs around and of course they think that is great! So did he till he got a direct hit to the groin by one of the bigger boys!
Last week's game was not such a good one for Isabella, she ended up off the field and in tears on several occasions. She's quite small compared to the others and is frightened of the contact and getting hurt. I can't believe how crazy a bunch of 5 year olds can get when they're going for that ball!

Yesterday I took the girls out on a 'date'. We got all dressed up, went to mums for lunch and then down to the Berkeley Cinema at Mission Bay to see 'Horton hears a Who'. It was brilliant and I couldn't believe they charged significantly less than Hoyts for tickets and it's a much more pleasant experience.

I've been scrapping but nothing I can show you yet, some of it is going to be in the next Scrapbook Outlet Ezine which comes out on the weekend. They very generously offered to feature Paper Pesto in the mag and so I put together some work using our upcoming May kit (or well a 1/3 of it anyway because that's all that had arrived at the time!). It was a lot of fun as I scrapped some beautiful nature photo's that dad had taken in Phuket, Malaysia and also in France. I never realised he was such a good photographer but he has a real eye for detail.

Okay I think I've kept you long enough! If you are still reading that is =)

Kate xx

I have a good excuse honest!

2008-06-09T13:48:00.000-07:00

Yes it's true, I have been absent a lot lately. But there is a reason...

We are having another baby =)

I'm 10 weeks and all is going well, I've had some nausea and some strange reactions to smells but since I went gluten free last week I am feeling much much better.
I went to see a lovely doctor who practices Chinese medicine about my diet because for years now I've had awful digestion problems starting with my first pregnancy and culminating in an emergency surgery to remove my gall bladder just after Isabella was born. Since then I have never felt right, no energy and experiencing vitamin deficiencies. Even though I thought I was eating healthily I couldn't seem to absorb the nutrients I needed from my food.
Since doing some of my own investigating and research over the weekend I now believe I may have Coeliacs Disease which is a complete intolerance to gluten. I won't know for sure till I have a special blood test and an intestinal biopsy and I'm not too keen on that idea while I'm pregnant!

Anyway I've taken the plunge to go gluten free and hopefully this will mean a healthier me and a healthier baby too!
Baby is due on the 11th of January all going well.
We are very excited!!

All ready!

2008-05-22T17:32:00.000-07:00

Just sitting here waiting for Nikki and Fi so we can head off, pick Steph up and make our way to Rotorua for Scrap Camp. Am so looking forward to this, last year was a blast! Such friendly, lovely ladies all with the same passion as me, what more could you ask for!!

See you when I get back!

xx Kate

Things to look forward to.

2008-05-12T19:45:00.000-07:00

Just a few reminders for myself just because sometimes I need reminding!

Scrapbooking tonight with a new friend met through scrapbooking. Man I love this craft!

Scrap Camp in two and a half weeks, yipee! A whole weekend away with friends and other like minded people.

A possible trip to Ayers Rock in September for mums 50th. How cool would that be!

This is like Janine's Woohoo Wednesday in a way, maybe I'll try that too tomorrow.
There really is so much to be grateful for in my life and I need to remember that.

Kate.

First Boyfriend.

2008-03-23T22:57:00.000-07:00

I feel like such a bad blogger, it's been ages! We've just been so busy with well just life really!

Miss 5 gained and lost her first boyfriend at School last week so that was an interesting couple of days. When questioned about the young man she was holding hands with after school on Monday she said that that was her boyfriend (we'll call him T).
''Oh'', I said, ''and how do you know he is your boyfriend?"
"Because he kissed me on the way back from the swimming pool and I fell in love and now he is my boyfriend.''
My reply was a quick "What! he kissed you?"
"Yeah" she said. "So?"
(You have to remember that she is 5, an intelligent, mature 5 but 5 nonetheless)!

I brushed it off thinking that it was a silly playground game and we'd never hear anything of it again.
But... the next day when we got home I asked her how she had enjoyed her lunch. I'd surprised her with a mini easter egg and thought she would be pretty chuffed about it.
"I gave it to T", she said.
"What!"( yes I know I said that the first time) "Why?"
"Because he is my boyfriend," she said. "And that is what you do when you're in love". "Oh and by the way he also ate my biscuits".
Does anyone else think the little beggar was just trying to raid her lunch box?!

Anyway a few days later he stopped holding her hand and she stopped following him around with those puppy eyes and that was it.

What I want to know is is this normal 5 year old behavior? Because we were just about ready to sit them both down for a little chat!

xx Kate.

Paper Pesto layouts with the March Kit

2008-03-13T20:25:00.001-07:00

Hopefully there's a little weekend inspiration for you here, this was such a fun kit.

xx Kate

It's proud mum time

2008-02-29T18:28:00.000-08:00

3 great things happened with Isabella this past week.

1)On Monday at dinner she told me a story about something that happened at School that seriously brought a tear to my eye.
They had a class colouring competition and when they had finished all the kids were given counters to put on what they considered to be the best ones. Isabella(age 5) noticed that one little boy had received no counters on his picture and felt bad for him so she took a counter off her picture and put it on his! How sweet is that? Talk about a heart melting moment.

2)Isabella has always found it difficult to make friends. She seems to relate much better to older
children so when she came home Wed with a little girls phone number and said she wanted to come over to play at our house I was rapt. That night the little girl (C) who had been given Isabella's number rang up to chat. They talked for about 15 mins, it was so cute! But then C rang back again, and again and again! She's supposed to be coming over in the morning to play so here's hoping all goes well. The only concern I have is that C and her little group of friends are all 6. Isabella is in the year 1 part of a year 1/2 composite class and these girls are all year 2.

3) Isabella got a certificate in assembly on Friday for 'always concentrating and doing 'quality' work'. We are so proud of her! She tries so hard at everything she does and it's really paying off for her. Her Teacher's think she is wonderful and so do we.

So all in all it's been a pretty great week.

xx Kate.

Where have I been?

2008-02-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

Good question... I have been pumping all my leftover energy after family straight into Paper Pesto. I'm on my 5th layout with the upcoming March kit and can't wait to be able to share! I think I'll put some instructions together for a couple of them too. I'm also really enjoying slowly revealing the sneak peaks each day and hearing how excited people are about this kit.

I've also been creating layouts for SCKC. I'd done 30 and thought that was great till Fi told me she was doing 20 pages for each of her children and challenged me to do the same! So I have another 10 to do now. Not that I mind as they are only 6x6 and pretty simple and fun to put together.

I got a phone call last night to say the kittens are ready! We (ok mostly me) have been hanging out to get a kitty for ages, now if only my car wasn't broken down I could go out and pick it up! He's a little grey male and is apparently adorable so I can't wait to meet him!

Right must go! Have a toilet training 2 year old sitting on my bed watching Hi5 and it's been a little while since she last went.....

xx Kate

Back to School, back to reality.

2008-02-06T18:02:00.000-08:00

We came home from a much needed holiday on Monday and are now straight back into life with a school girl! She was so excited to get back into it, tidying her room off her own bat and getting her bag organized. Dave has gone up to collect her now and I'm hoping her first day went off without a hitch.

Waiheke was wonderful, bliss to my soul. We read, swam, played, ate and just generally relaxed and had a fab time for the entire 9 days. Not having a computer in sight was great! It became pretty obvious while we were away that I spend far too much time on here just mucking about!

Still, it was nice to get home to a familiar routine and our own bed. I think 9 days away was long enough.

While we were away we did some serious thinking/talking about the future and two things in particular came up.

1) I do want to study to become a Primary School Teacher.
2) We do want to move out of Auckland at some stage, maybe to the Hawkes Bay.

The trouble is they don't really go that well together! I'd like to train up here so I have the support of my friends and family while I study and the Akoranga campus is so close!

So when we do move it won't be for at least 4 years but the idea is in place anyhow and it was good to talk about our options and goals.

Steph and Fi handled Paper Pesto with ease while I was gone as I knew they would! The February kit is doing well and is my favourite so far! I'm still enjoying being a part of it all and it's lovely to see us getting such good recommendations and praise lately on other scrappers blogs. Jo Kneller very generously put her January kit up as a giveaway on her blog and got 77 responses! Everyone had such nice things to say about our kits, (so now buy one people come on!).
It certainly helps to make the time we put in seem worthwhile. We've been approached by the Dominion Post this week who want to put something about our kits in their style magazine (it's like Viva in the Herald).How cool is that?!

Anyway must go, I can hear a little voice coming down the driveway!

xx Kate.

Just an update

2008-01-15T12:39:00.000-08:00

I met my sister's new squeeze for the first time yesterday. He was so shy it was really cute! Shook my hand and everything. Think we'll have to watch that one, Di's seems pretty smitten.

In other news Scrapbook Creations magazine has asked me to be their 'artist in the spotlight' for issue 55. I really didn't see that coming as I've only submitted to them once but am totally chuffed! I think issue 55 is about 6 months away though LOL. I'll be sending off my two layouts for them in the next few days.

We are off to catch up today with long time friend Aroha and her girls who used to be our neighbours when we lived in Onehunga. Think we will take the girls to the pools if the weather fines up a bit.

Take care,

(Hugs) Kate.

I'm not here so much anymore

2007-06-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, you can find me at our wordpress blog www.paperpesto.wordpress.com

Come say hello and check out our website www.paperpesto.co.nz

Kate.