you got the cutest funny face

you got the cutest funny face, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

one more layout to go this month!

bro and sis

bro and sis, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

nearly didn't make the deadline!

playing peek-a-boo

playing peek-a-boo, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

I'll have to shop for thickers at the end of the month, a lot are not sticky, or peeling apart, or have odd letters left.

sad boy

sad boy, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

Riley was fsix months old when I took this photo - it was his first, real-face-scrunching-tear-outburst

5 {random thoughts} on Friday

• why are school photos taken at the start of the year? Chloe's were taken in week 2! Douglas has his next week, and Natalie's are in two weeks... I must check whether I purchased Cathy Zielske's school album kit, and if not get it and get printing! I have done nothing with Chloe's or Douglas' photos, I'd like to have a jump start when Nat starts school next year.
• Ella Publishing rocks! I own most of their ebooks, and have actually read the ones I have printed (I've bought the latest three, but haven't printed them yet - I much prefer to read a document in my hand than the computer screen). Yesterday I got an email with a discount code for the double page designs book. Always on the hunt for a bargain, I jumped on it, and purchased the personal heritage book at the same time. It wasn't until I was saving the file that I discovered I already.owned.it. So I sent an email telling them how much of a dork I am, and they refunded my money, and gave me a discount code for being such a loyal customer!
• been thinking about friends and family lately. More specifically, the lack of friends, and family that don't want anything to do with us. Trying not to take it personally, but it feels very personal.
• I think I have solved the overwhelming-google-reader-problem. I sorted fifty blogs into a favourites folder, and they're the only ones I read. Sometimes, if I still want to sit and read some more, I'll dip into one of the other folders, usually I just hit "mark all as read"
• I'm still trying to get myself into a better routine and be better organised... maybe I'm overthinking it, and trying to juggle too many things... I've got a new idea for menu planning that I'm hoping will make evening meals interesting again.

in the bag

load 23, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

inspiration from a magazine advert

tiny feet

tiny feet, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

tiny feet grow into big feet!

merry christmas

merry christmas, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

I don't like the quality of photos that I'm getting from my printer at home - can't work out if it's the printer, paper, or camera.

thank you

surfers beach

surfers beach, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

perfect imperfection was the prompt - I just can't seem to remember how to embellish!

sweet boy

sweet boy, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

one of my most favourite photos of Riley

snuggles

snuggles, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

love this photo of my mum and riley - he was only 11 days old!

ritual

ritual, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

I'm not sure I like chai, but I love the idea of taking a daily activity and elevating it to a ritual

seasons of the tree

seasons of the tree, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

still keeping up with layout-a-day - if I can finish this, I bet I can do anything f I put my mind to it!

beautiful smile

beautiful smile, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

I love this photo of Natalie - it's so hard to get genuine smiles from her when the camera is out!

right now...

inspired to share today by roots of she (found via Lee)

community - in the last two days, we've been to two new playgroups. It's hard stepping outside the comfort zone (and in hindsight, I wonder if we should have stayed home, because we got soaked coming home both times because of the horrible weather), but we'll do it again, because the kids had so much fun {even if I did feel uncomfortable}

wellness - the day after storytelling Sunday, I received an email from BPC about the new "write down to your nitty gritty" and signed up straight away. Having some guidance for writing and scrapping those stories will help.

reading - I've had a great run with books lately, starting the year out with The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins (better than Twilight in my eyes!), Ape House by Sara Gruen and Room by Emma Donoghue. I've slowed down a bit, because I'm reading Under the Dome by Stephen King, and it's an epic like The Stand (which I love to read and re-read!)

scrapbooking - I'm really enjoying the process of creating a layout-a-day... more of my stories are being told, I'm using up some of the paper I have stashed, and remembering how to create each day.

family - Steve and I had our first date last Saturday night - without kids! It was great to spend time together without children hanging off us... we ended up eating hamburgers in the park at sunset. Definately on the must-do-again list!

almost 37

almost 37, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

I have struggled almost 24 hours to create this layout, but once I started, it took twenty minutes to create... maybe I'll try creating that way again tomorrow

almost 9

almost 9, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

techno dude

techno dude, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

a quick layout toda - I'm trying to journal the stories that spring to mind when I look at a photo, so they may not necessarily explain the photo

chloe

chloe, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

I'm having a tough time with my girl at the moment... we'll muddle through, but it's hard

monkeys over the moon

monkeys over the moon, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

day ten - I struggled a bit, this is my second layout for the day, cause I thought the first was terrible!

campfire fun

campfire fun, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

here's the funny thing - I'm almost late with this today... I created a layout last week that I haven't shared anywhere, with the idea of having a "spare" just in case... today's been one of those days, so I've had in my mind all day that I would use my "spare"... but when I finally had a chance to upload, I couldn't do it, because I was cheating myself. My personal goal is to create a layout every day. It doesn't matter to me if it isn't "on time" for the LOAD deadline, I just have to create every day. So I did.

santa hats

santa hats, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

I've worked out what's missing from this class - there's no journalling on any of the layouts! I might write the story of these photos on the back.

seven things I've learned from seven layouts

Back in August last year I wrote this post, sharing the thought that maybe my passions were changing. And that was okay. But now I'm wondering if they weren't necessarily changing, but I was taking on too many projects, or just focusing on one passion at the expense of others.

Since January 1st, I've read five books. That's three more books than I read in a six month period last year. It probably helps that they've been really good books (The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins; Ape House by Sara Gruen; Room by Emma Donoghue for any bibliophiles who are interested). Since January 1st, I have created 10 layouts, including two double layouts. What do these two things have in common? I keep doing them.

 

Can you hear Dory singing? There was a reason she was such a great character in the movie Finding Nemo, it's because her character had so many great one liners that just made sense. If memory serves, she told Nemo's dad to "just keep swimming" in response to his constant worrying about what would happen if such and such happened. But I forgot to just keep swimming.

I've learnt a lot more about time zones in the last week. The LOAD email is sent just after midnight USA EST, and you have until midnight USA PST to complete - effectively a 27hr day, that is 17 hours behind me in Queensland. Midnight USA EST on February 1st was equal to 3pm on February 1st, giving me until 6pm AEST on February 2nd to upload my layout.

I've had to learn this, because when I upload my layout to Flickr, it shows me the date and time I uploaded as AEST, even though I've changed my profile data to USA EST for the duration, and everyone else who looks at my exif data is seeing it as USA EST, if that makes any sense to anyone.

I create best in the morning. So, when the email arrives each afternoon, I read it, and think about what I'm going to do. After dinner each night I plan my photos, and layout inspiration. Then the next morning, once kids are sorted, I get stuck into creating my layout.

I love the stark white background, letting the papers pop, but I'm enjoying the subtleness of kraft, supporting the photos. I have a big stack of each, although I will probably run out of white before the end of the month.

For two weeks now I've been creating upstairs, at the kitchen table and freezer. It's not working for me, or the family. The last two nights we ate dinner in our laps, because I was fed up with shuffling all my stuff backwards and forwards. I need to get it all back downstairs, and get my craft room sorted and workable again.

I have forgotten how to embellish my layouts. This will change with time, but at the moment, everything I try feels clunky and added-just-for-the-sake-of-embellishing.

I bought the Echo Park Little Boy paper kit  recently, and that's most of what I've been using for my layouts. But this morning I really struggled to use the papers. So this evening I'm going to go through my papers, and see what I've got that makes my heart sing the same way. And at the end of the month, when I have no paper left, I can go and buy all the October Afternoon, Cosmo Cricket and My Minds Eye that I keep leaving at the scrapbook store.

What do you learn during your creative process?

fun at seaworld

fun at seaworld, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

time to raid my stash and find some new papers to play with!

party craft

party craft, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

slowly remembering how I create...

storytelling sunday

Sian comes up with the best ideas. I'm so jealous that Sian and Mel got to meet recently, but now I know why The Tall One is called such!

I've spent random moments thinking about storytelling Sunday, knowing that it was today. Seeing a police car on the side of the road with a bicycle rider made me think of the time I was pulled over on my bike by a police car.

"But I can't share that story, I don't have a photo"

We've been clearing our shed of water-damaged items, and one of the kids dropped something on the trailer, reminding me of the time my dad threw a tea cup at me and it shattered on the trailer.

"But I can't share that, I don't have a photo"

"But I can't share that, it's not a happy story"

I remember Chloe finding a photo of my dad when she was about 3, and asking who it was. "you have a dad?" she asks.

"But I can't share that, it's not a happy story"

But despite that inner voice that says "I can't", I'm going to share the stories. They are part of my story, making me who I am today.

Do you tell the sad stories? How do you share stories without photos?

decorating the tree

decorating the tree, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

day five and still going strong

I'm wondering why I ever stopped scrapping in the first place!

park life

park life, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

day four layout... forgot to share on my blog...

stop making things more complicated than they need to be!

I've had this idea in my head for a few days that I need to design myself a weekly goals planner to help me, particularly with changing my eating habits. So I started to work on it this morning, only it's not going too well.

I started out thinking I wanted to set weekly goals. The main areas I'm looking at are food, exercise, creativity, family, learning, blogging, organising, reading (most of my wellness areas), so setting a weekly goal for each of these with at least one action step is quite easy to do.

Then I remembered about my plan to try using a to-do list every day to help feel better organised. Sticking to those areas would still be pretty easy, and I could leave one or two of them blank every other day so as to keep it manageable.

Then the scrapbooker in me took over, and asked how I was going to keep a record of the things I have achieved. Could I write everything down as I finished it, to remember how far I've come, and how far is still to come?

And that's how I ended up here - thinking too hard about how to record my ideas, instead of focusing on actually achieving my goals. Now I've gone back to my original idea of weekly goals with little check boxes to tick when the task is done (but I've been wanting to try stamp carving, maybe I could carve something cool to stamp in the box when I'm done?)

Here's what I came up with - I'm hoping that it helps me stay on track and keep my priorities in mind as the year progresses. Now I just need to print and bind this weekend, and start using it on Monday.

Do you start your week on Monday, or Sunday? How do you keep track of your goals each week?

choose you

choose you, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

day three, and still going strong!

cyclone yasi

Queensland has taken a real beating this summer, with floods, and two cyclones in the last week!

I've taken all these pictures from the Cyclone Yasi Update page on facebook.

I've marked on this picture where my sister is in Airlie Beach, and my mum and aunt in Mackay.

My brother's ex and her parents also live in Airlie Beach, as do many of his friends.

I have many online friends that I met through ScrapTherapy who live in Cairns and the Atherton Tablelands.

It's been a tough few days.

10.30am on Tuesday, February 1st

4.14pm Wednesday, February 2nd

11am Thursday, February 3rd

The weather in Brisbane has hardly changed. Wind is blowing, there are some clouds and drizzly rain, 

and lots of heat and humidity. Both mum and sister are fine. I've heard from most of my friends up north via facebook, and they are okay. Now I'm waiting to hear from a friend who moved with her family to Charters Towers six weeks ago.

Thank you for thinking of us.

showtime

showtime, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

I did finish this layout Tuesday my time, but it was too dark to photograph without the flash.

I think I chose the wrong word for 2011

I chose the word COMMUNITY during December, and shared my thoughts at the start of January.

But as my year progresses, it feels as if community isn't ENOUGH. That somehow it is limiting the things I can achieve for myself this year. I think I need a word that can encompass everything, and still give me room to grow.

WELLNESS is defined as "a multi-dimensional state of being describing the existence of positive health in an individual as exemplified by quality of life and a sense of well-being." (source)

I was inspired to start on this journey of reassessment after reading Karen Grunberg's series on resolutions at Write.Click.Scrapbook. I realised that my priority list had lots of things on it that were important, but COMMUNITY didn't provide focus to those priorities.

While I was exploring the dimensions of wellness (social, occupational, spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional, environmental, financial, mental, medical) I realised that it was easier to summarise those dimensions as mind, body and spirit. Then I took my priority list, and worked out which priorities fit into these areas. (and I made some pretty labels to keep me on track)

Karen's idea of a project for each priority was what motivated me to sign up for LOAD. I'm still thinking of ideas for projects that tie in with the other priorities, but I plan to focus on one priority from each dimension each month.

Is your word still a good fit for your year? Are you creating a project to guide your word this year?

{purple and yellow labels from songbird avenue March 2010 kit, font is lobster 1.4}

move more, eat less - month 1

In the spirit of keeping myself accountable, I'm going to post here once a month. Sometimes with a photo, sometimes just words.

I have lost 3kgs since January 1st

I have walked on the treadmill at least 3 times every week since January 1st

I have made excuses for the other 4 days each week

I have eaten a packet of mint slice biscuits in one day

I have eaten a better breakfast at least 5 days every week (and discovered the tastiness of BLTs)

I have introduced meat-free meals at least once each week

I have eaten a bag of jaffas in two weeks

I have reduced the amount of coke I drink each day

I have increased the amount of water I drink each day

LOAD day one

tent, originally uploaded by purplecrazymum.

Day one completed