At the end of the weekend ....

I am exhausted! Katelyn is always on the go, and as the weather was absolutely awful yesterday, had to be entertained inside! So, out comes the craft box, Barbies etc etc ... and we then spend half a day cleaning up today! But we do have a lot of fun :-)

I did manage to test the printer ... and woo hoo! The copics work with the ink we have ... so digi stamping here I come! I also picked up my 7 new pens (plus 2 extras lol) and have had a wonderful afternoonexperimenting with my new stamps ... just see what I have done!

Yeh, I know two of them are the same stamp *grins* but give me time! I will have more stamps soon, I promise :-)

Catch up time ...

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted ... been working the usual 10 hr days since the weather has warmed up, plus we had a grooming competition down in Sydney last weekend, which took a fair bit of preparation time, as well as long days in Sydney on Fri/Sat/Sun! I entered three dogs, all belonging to clients, and managed to come away with a 2nd place in the Other Purebreds/Scissor class ... I admit, I was disappointed that I didn't place with the other two dogs, but I gave it my best on the day, the dogs behaved brilliantly well, so I can't ask much more ... after all, it is just one judge's opinion on that particular day!

Not much else has happened in my little part of the world :-) This weekend, my partner, David has his daughter, Katelyn, till sunday evening, so whilst I am at work tomorrow, they are going to the Brisbania Public School fete (that's Katelyn's school) and then hopefully down to the beach as the weather is meant to be close to 30 degrees c. Sunday, the Putt Putt Regatta is on - plenty of future scrapbooking there!

Sometime over the weekend, I am going to test the ink in David's printer on Xpress It paper, and hopefully it will be usable with Copics - then I can go silly ordering digi stamps! In the meantime, I have my order of new Copics to pick up (which will be a surprise, as I have forgotten which ones I ordered!) plus two new stamps turning up which I ordered online!

More Copic fun

Spent today (apart from the time I spent doing housework!) making a couple of cards with stamped images coloured using my Copics. The birthday card will be for Katelyn, and the pirate card I did just because I could!

Having so much fun experimenting with these pens ... fiddling with colours and blending ... can't wait to do more classes! (and buy more colours *grins*)

A new philosophy....

I have decided, I think, that I should really try to leave what happens in the past, where it is. I don't mean everything, of course, as some actions, whether made by others or yourself, impact your life for sometime into the future, but I mean the little things - the things that don't need to influence your future .... think there is a saying "Don't sweat the little things" - I have to do that more often, or I'm just going to end up loosing sight of the big things

... to finish with a relaxing Sunday evening

Have had a busy weekend ... over to David's after work on Friday - we have Katelyn this weekend, so as usual, Friday night wasn't a relaxing affair, but the usual getting Katelyn organised and off to bed.

Saturday, was starting work early, and was determined to that Ellie over for a bath, especially after her accident on Tuesday, when she also wet herself in shock. But getting Katelyn up and dressed with hair done and shoes found isn't as easy as it sounds!

Long, busy day at work (nothing unusual for a Saturday); home a little after 4pm, and had organised for David to come over at 5.30pm. Once again, Katelyn was determined to stay up, but like most nights, she falls asleep most easily when being read to. She is also finally sleeping through the night, waking somewhere between 5.30 and 6am, which isn't too bad - she has Ellie to play with so we still get a bit of a lie in. It would be interesting to know if she is still sleeping in her mother's bed at home (probably) and whether she is still getting up twice through the night. Mind you, if she is, there is no way that information will be offered up willingly.

Slow day today ... weather on the miserable side; just when it starts to look ok, the clouds come over and it rains, so really can't plan any outdoor activities. Although, David did get the opportunity to walk Ellie tonight without getting wet!

I'm pretty sure Katelyn had a good weekend - she is starting to work out now that she can be herself here, but when she goes home to mum, I think she is not letting on that she has enjoyed herself . She can't miss the dislike that her mother must have for her father, and I don't think she wants to have her mother's disapproval.

We dropped her back to her mum at the usual 5pm, which this evening has given me the time to start on her birthday card, and a stamped Alicia the Strawberry Pirate done in black and white (will upload soon) Really enjoying my Copics, although I didn't dare get them out whilst Katelyn was here, as I know she would absolutely destroy them! She does love her colouring in, and painting, but at her age, cheap textas from Kmart are still the same as expensive Copics!

David is working tomorrow, so I will get up with him and at least organise his lunch, or he would forget it. have a bit of housework to do, but also plan to nick down to Erina Fair to get a birthday present for Katelyn (it's this coming thursday) and craft stuff to finish her card, and finish the pirate one as well.

My new obsession!

Recently, I have discovered the wonderful world of Copic markers! For those of you who don't know what these are, they are the pens that the Japanese "created" in order to colour their Anime cartoons...they are essentially texts, but with the ability to blend shades and colours like you would with paint. They are 334 colours in the total range, and the possibility to create more, as you can purchase empty pens, and ink refills, and therefore can mix inks to create colours and shades of your own choice.

I have been doing Copic classes of a thursday night at Erina Scrapbooking Shop, with the amazing Dawn Lewis as our teacher (see www.dawnlewisimagery.com.au) ... and these pens are amazing! Not cheap, they are $6.50 a pen, but what you can do with them is awesome. I have finally found away that I can create my own handcrafted cards with having a die cut machine, like everyone else seems to have *grins*

So, look out everyone ... not only is my house as messy as ever (got Copics and scrapbooking stuff everywhere now!) but if you get a card from me for any special occasion, be sure to look twice - coz I probably made it!

My first two creations, using Copics! The butterfly is actually two dimensional - there is a second one underneath, coloured in the same shades. Now I just need to get creative with filling out the rest of the card!

The week ahead ...

Well, this evening we are heading back to the coast ... back to working and slightly warmer weather, I hope!

Tonight, have to finish off the dog coats I am making for Wiz the Pug, and Thunder the British Bulldog, so I can take them to work with me tomorrow. Must remember to get the clothes washed as well, or I will have nothing to wear to work this week!

Thursday night, is my 3rd scrapbooking class using Copic markers - I'm having so much fun learning how to use them! Looks like my scrapbooking is going to expand into cardmarking and stamping - guess it just means more mess!

Gretchen visits her birth-mum ...

Still in Canberra, and brought Gretchen (Lowchen) and Meiko (Chinese Crested) with me as Cath, Gretchen's breeder, is down for the weekend visiting her sister, and competing at a set of dog shows being held down here.

So this morning wee toodled off the the showgrounds so Cath could see Gretchen for the first time since she put her on a plane 2 yrs ago!

Don't think Gretchen remembered her ... which doesn't surprise me ... she doesn't have a lot of grey matter between the ears! But Cath quite liked the way she turned out, which is good, and has told me to go ahead and breed her to Binkie (my boy at home) as he is getting older, and she has to yet find a dog suitable for Gretchen, who has good points to cover where Gretchen has bad ones.

Weekend away ....

Have ventured down to our Nation's capital this weekend, as being the long weekend, we have a little more time to spare, but also because it's nearing the end of Floriade, the big flower festival which is held each year at the Exhibition Gardens.

It was beautiful! Literally, millions of tulips (... will upload photos shortly) in every concievable colour, from white through to black, and a miriade of varigated colours as well. I tried to take a photo of every different colour, but as the weather was overcast, the pics are not as bright as I would have liked, had it been a beautifully clear sunny day - but they still portray the colours fairly well.

We also visited the Da Vinci exhibition ... a showing of 60 of his more famous "inventions" taken from his codices (books he put together over his lifetime, containing all his notes, thoughts, and inventions). An amazing collection, which really makes you sit back and realise just how much this man has given the following generations.

So, a good day. Have had a laid back afternoon - just about to settle in and watch the last of the Rugby League grand final, have dinner, the visit my brother's family ...