Scrapjack....uh sort of........

Well this is my take on Jilly's Scrapjack layout for this month. I have quickly discovered that I don't like to purposefully scraplift someone else so it was a bit painful to do this one and it hasn't really turned out like my style at all but hopefully it remotely resembles Jilly's!!!! lol This gorgeous little man is Cass's new nephew Toby who is now three weeks old. Isn't he so cute you just want to gobble him up?? (in a non-Hansel and Gretel way of course!!!! lol). So Jilly please accept this as my formal apology for such a shocking scrapjack which really hasn't done your gorgeous layout any justice at all!

I've started what I hope is going to be a fabulous layout for Bron, one of our fun chickies on the Cyberscraps forum. We're at the tail end of a photo swap and of course Lu is dragging along behind as usual!!!! I've been finding it so hard to do any of my own scrapping and I do admit that I tend to treat challenge blogs a bit like a job with a deadline and I just have to get them done if at all humanly possible. I think it's because sometimes the challenge blogs really do bring out the best layouts in people because it puts them on a direction they might not normally take of their own choice and that can make you do some very interesting stuff!

We had a fun day in the shop yesterday. We had to do some layouts for a wholesaler comp which wasn't hard as we absolutely loved the product in question and the shop wasn't so busy that we couldn't get our own stuff done. Cass just powered through but she wasn't stoked by what she'd done (and after Jilly's scrapjack layout neither was I!) but I have hope with the photo swap stuff I have to go because I can let my mojo run amok with those ones.

Oh I forgot to share what we did on the weekend! Friday night we had crop at the shop and the loveliest lady Julie came in. She had been a regular at a lss that had closed down she she was a bit lss orphaned iykwim. We had a fab time with her and hope she also had fun. Saturday was borning, didn't do much at all. Sunday Doug and I went to the new (well it's been open a year but this was the first time we'd gone) IKEA at Springwood. It is absolutely huge!!!! I love IKEA, always have but the downside is that it's depressing to go because all I can usually ever afford to buy is some extra bright plastic cups and bowls from the kitchenware section! lol We took James and Caeligh (big boys were with their dad) and were hoping to get some lunch somewhere. We walked in, up the escalator and into their huge restaurant. It's all self-serve and you have to clear away your own plates but I do that all the time at home anyway so it didn't bother me. The food was cheap, quick and tasty. We took the kids back downstairs to the kids room which is actually an enormous space with lots of climbing and physical stuff as well as the mandatory television showing a Disney movie. The kids were busting to get in there but how good was the security!!! We both signed them in, we got a matching number stamp to that of the kids, they had stickers with their names and number on them on their shirts and a corresponding plastic tub for their belongings, plus they give you a plastic pager which you keep while you walk around the store and if your children start missing you or there is any problem it beeps so you know to return to the kids area. How cool is that!!!! So we did the heavy duty stuff first, the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, desks, living areas and wardrobe stuff first plus a quick look at the kids section as well. We got some more plastic tubs for our timber storage unit in Jamie's rom, pink this time so Caeligh has somewhere just for her toys. Then after the hour we collected the kidlets and went through the kitchenware section and floor and wall covering type stuff. We ended up getting two waist height timber chests with two big deep drawers for the loungeroom. One is for Doug's computer bits and pieces that I don't want to look at in my lounge room and the other is for my "launch pad" which is a Flylady reference. It's a place just inside the front door where you can leave things like keys, wallets, phones, kids' school bags, important notes, letters and info plus I also bought a blackboard with a letter holder to put on the wall above it. The idea is that if all the important stuff you need to get out of the house on time is in one place then it is far easier to achieve that so we'll give it a go. I also decided that for the first time ever I want a grown-up loungeroom. My whole adult life my furniture has been hand-me-down, second-hand or cheap, nasty fall apart stuff as I haven't ever really had money for better furniture. So right now I really crave a room that is for sitting and watching TV or talking but not for playing in, eating in or running around crazy in. The kids aren't quite sure what's going on and I think they reckon I've lost my marbles a bit but I want what I want and surely one nice room in the house isn't too much to ask? So while my couches are pre-loved from a friend of mine and desperately need replacing after a couple of years in my house with my children, I am going to wait until I have a bit more saved before I get anything else. So to brighten up the lounge before then I got a bright red floor rug, new curtains, a tall paper floor lamp, new cushion covers and some wall prints that I need to find some frames for. The loungeroom is half way through being moved all around again so that's a job for today while I play nursey for the suddenly vomiting Jamie. That was unexpected! Great, another chucky one.....

Now I have to go and attend to the sick boy. Have a great day! Lotta love, Lu