Purple Pumpkin - October sketch :-)

G'day!  Well I'm spending a Friday evening in my craft room with my two boys.  We're renovating at the moment and our house is freezing!!!  So we've had an early dinner and bath and are now lovely and snug in my craft room with the little oil heater going :-)  We've had to sacrifice a couple of cheapy Santa hats for tonight's project... but I think it's worth it.  Evan has been wanting to make a King's crown for a while now.  And of course Royce is happy to go with the flow.  The main thing is that we are spending some quality time together. 

I really should be doing something crafty too.  My plan was to make a few Christmas cards... but I'm really just too tired to be bothered at the moment.  So instead, while they are going completely crazy with the 'jewels', I thought I might quickly pop in here and share my layout that I've completed for Purple Pumpkin's October sketch.

Here is what I came up with:

This really was my 'type' of sketch.  One photo, a few clusters of embellishments... yep I liked it :-)  LOVE this range of paper from My Minds Eye.  And the Purple Pumpkin button and heart were perfect for the touch of orang in the patterned paper!  Okay well this is really short and sweet for me because Evan is ready to glue his crown together.  Hope you're having a lovely day and thanks for popping by!

Purple Pumpkin - September Sketch

Good afternoon!  I thought I would get one quick challenge in before the end of the month.  This is for the Purple Pumpkin September Sketch.  I stuck SO close to the sketch!  That's what I love about sketches... they require A LOT less thinking about placement, which I'm just not that great at.  Anyway,  here it is:

As usual there is nothing too tricky here.  I've used a whole heap of old Christmas paper (Kaiser and Francheville) and lots of gold ink and Perfect Pearls for that extra sparkle :-)  And of course a couple of Purple Pumpkin buttons, which I just love!  Head over to their store if you want to check them out.  Well that's it from me today.  Nice and short!  Hope you're having a SUPER day and thanks for stopping by :-)

Blog Hop.. Time!

"Time is more valuable than money.  You can get more money, but you cannot get more time." ~ Jim Rohn

Yep, couldn't agree with this more!  Thanks for joining us on our blog hop.  Here is a list in case you get lost along the way:
Chloe
Karen
Kerri <<< You are here!
Marcia
Sharryn
Sonia
Susan
Wendy

The theme this month is 'time'.  Well I'm sure I could waffle on for hours about this theme, but I think I'll just pop up a few random images related to time.

Here are some recent photos of my three boys.  Evan dressed up as a farmer for his school concert.  They sang 'Home Among the Gum Trees'.  Too cute!!!  And I couldn't have been any prouder of him :-)  A cute photo of Royce taken in Queensland a few weeks ago when we went up for my cousins 18th.  I couldn't be any prouder of this little feller either... he just oozes personality!  And last, but certainly my hubby.  He's been spending his time off renovating our kitchen and dining room!  LONG over due... but like my husband says... patience is a virtue... good things come to those who wait... blah, blah, blah lol.  But in all seriousness, he truly is a wonderful husband and father.  And I have had to be VERY patient (like 9 years lol), but I know it was the sensible thing to do and we are definitely in a much better financial position because of our/his patience.

At this point in time we also have some local magpies who have taken up residency in our front yard.

This little guy fell out of a tree outside our house so I brought him into our front yard to keep him safe.  It would have been the funniest thing to watch.  His dad was attacking me relentlessly as I move him from the footpath to our garden.  Lucky I took advice from the local wildlife sanctuary and took the umbrella with me.  He's growing so quickly under the care of his mum and protection of his dad... who absolutely hates me and has drawn blood more than once!   As much as it is a pain (we have not been able to go into our front yard for a few weeks now) I love that my boys are getting to see this little guy grow!  It's experiences like this that are completely priceless!

Finally, something crafty!  I'm going to be OH SO brave.  I'm going to take you back in time and share my VERY FIRST layout!!!  Here it is:

Yikes!!!  Not even any cardstock used here.  I didn't even know what that was lol.  But even back then I included journaling... it's hidden behind the photo of us.  I know some people who have thrown out their earlier layouts they hated them so much.  But I really love to see how they have changed over time.  So you can see (hopefully) some improvement, here is my most recent layout... I haven't had too much crafty time lately, so this one was completed in record time!

I guess this relates to the 'time' theme as well... Woody has been a part of our family since Royce could walk.  As you can see we've been through a few of them over the years.  I have a really bad memory, so I love that in years to come I will be able to look back at these pages and remember and cherish all these beautiful moments :-)
OK, I will stop waffling now :-)  Thank you so much for stopping by.  It's now time to hop on over to Marcia's beautiful blog to see her take 'time'.  

Scrap the Boys - August Challenge

Scroll down if you're here for the YELLOW blog hop :-)

I thought I would quickly sneak this in.  I'm getting an ever growing collection of artwork from my eldest son, Evan.  But Royce really is just not that 'into' it.... although in saying that, neither was Evan until his hands had the control and coordination to do what he wanted them too (he's quite fussy lol).  I think Royce might be very much the same.  Anyway, the week before last I did get a little something home from kinder.  Royce made a magic wand!!!  Very cute... and he spent most of the afternoon and evening turning the very obliging Mummy and Daddy into frogs!  So, once he was all magicianed out I asked him if I could scrap it... and yes he knows exactly what I mean by that!  He said no first, but with a 'pretty please' thrown in he replied 'sure, no worries'... he really is the dearest little mite!  SO... here's the layout

I've used My Minds Eye (On The Bright Side... LOVE this range) paper and lots of other bits and pieces :-) I'm going to enter this into the August Challenge over at Scrap the Boys.  I remember reading about this challenge a while ago, and thought it would have been last months... but no, I'm just in time!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're having a wOnderFul day!