Saturday, December 13, 2008

A Christmas poem

I read this on the destitute gourmet...

A Visit from the Christ Child
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A Visit from the Christ Child

by Père Robért for Maria, Ida, Isabel, Maxine, Crozet & Audrey

Twas the morning of Christmas, when all through the house
All the family was frantic, including my spouse;
For each one of them had one thing only in mind,
To examine the presents St. Nick left behind.

The boxes and wrapping and ribbons and toys
Were strewn on the floor, and the volume of noise
Increased as our children began a big fight
Over who got the video games, who got the bike.

I looked at my watch and I said, slightly nervous,
"Let's get ready for church, so we won't miss the service."
The children protested, "We don't want to pray:
We've just got our presents, and we want to play!"

It dawned on me then that we had gone astray,
In confusing the purpose of this special day;
Our presents were many and very high-priced
But something was missing -- that something was Christ!
I said, "Put the gifts down and let's gather together,
And I'll tell you a tale of the greatest gift ever.

"A savior was promised when Adam first sinned,
And the hopes of the world upon Jesus were pinned.
Abraham begat Isaac, who Jacob begat,
And through David the line went to Joseph, whereat
This carpenter married a maiden with child,
Who yet was a virgin, in no way defiled.

"Saying 'Hail, full of Grace,' an archangel appeared
To Mary the Blessed, among women revered:
The Lord willed she would bear -- through the Spirit -- a son.
Said Mary to Gabriel, 'God's will be done.'

"Now Caesar commanded a tax would be paid,
And all would go home while the census was made;
Thus Joseph and Mary did leave Galilee
For the city of David to pay this new fee.

"Mary's time had arrived, but the inn had no room,
So she laid in a manger the fruit of her womb;
And both Joseph and Mary admired as He napped
The Light of the World in his swaddling clothes wrapped.

"Three wise men from the East had come looking for news
Of the birth of the Savior, the King of the Jews;
They carried great gifts as they followed a star --
Gold, frankincense, myrrh, which they'd brought from afar.

"As the shepherds watched over their flocks on that night,
The glory of God shone upon them quite bright,
And an angel explained the intent of the birth,
Saying, 'Glory to God and His peace to the earth.'

"For this was the Messiah whom prophets foretold,
A good shepherd to bring his sheep back to the fold;
He was God become man, He would die on the cross,
He would rise from the dead to restore Adam's loss.

"Santa Claus, Christmas presents, a brightly lit pine,
Candy canes and spiked eggnog are all very fine;
Let's have fun celebrating, but leave not a doubt
That Christ is what Christmas is really about!"

The children right then put an end to the noise,
They dressed quickly for church, put away all their toys;
For they knew Jesus loved them and said they were glad
That He'd died for their sins, and to save their dear Dad.


interesting to think about? not sure where the idea of there being '3 wise men' came from though...the bible doesn't say how many! On the 3 wise men thing...I did get an email about that the other day...the virgin birth was believable but not the idea of 3 wise men *smiles*.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Warm, Fuzzy & Slicing

It was my turn to set the dare at No. 8 Wired. My dare is to put some warm fuzzy stuff into your page...i.e. felt, velvet, flocking.....Give it a go and remember to post a comment to say you have done it and where you have put it for people to see :-) RK & P are sponsoring it with a $20 voucher and a pack of 3 fat quarters which were being saved for kits in the new year (the winner will be very spoilt!).

I did this using a paper bag, peg, some buttons and the blue spotty fabric from RK & P. my fuzz is some felt lettering and some felt circles.


& a digi one using felt circles and a felt bracket thingy - all the elements are from We Are Story Tellers except the journaling page which is by Jessica Sprague.

so give the dare a go and maybe you can enjoy the goodies from RK & P.

Now back to playing with my slice... want some more memory cards for it now...luckily I'll get one with the rebate send in since SBO is a VIP seller and they can pass this bonus onto their customers...
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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

journals


handmade :-) check ScrappyKea Handmade for some more pics.
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Friday, December 05, 2008

No.8 Wired & Eidou


The dare is to create a layout about nature (no people photos) & it must include a haiku poem.

Last week of the Eidou challenges & I uploaded my response to the final challenge this afternoon which you can find in the Cropstar Week 5 gallery. There are some cool layouts and cards there...so take the time to vote for your fave this weekend...the winner gets a cool graphics tablet!
Have enjoyed learning about digital scrapbook stuff and giving something I was rather scared of a go! We have been given quite a few free digi kits as part of the challenges too -Thank You!
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Thursday, November 20, 2008

Book lover


Put this together using some yummy fun kits from We Are Story Tellers - used both emerritt 'truly madly deeply' and Holly Designs 'retroquirk' kits. She's definitely the book lover of the three...but has had a day at home today with a tummy bug :-(...now watching the princess bride and nothing further has come up since mid morning...hopefully back to school tomorrow.
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Big Sale

Just saw this on the SBO forum & you know how I like to enable:

Hello,

Next weekend we are bringing too our online customers the BIGGEST online sale ever!! Starting Friday 28th November and running through too midnight Sunday November 30th we will offer you between 30% - 60% (maybe more) off selected stock.

A new category will be set up in the online shop for the sale, there will be items never seen before in the SBO store. Heaps of stamps, storage systems, paper packs and more.

Due to the discount being offered freight per order will be $5 regardless of whether the min of $50 is reached or not and orders will ship within 10 days of the order being received (sorry but due to the demand we expect to receive we cannot guarantee a 24 hour turn around.)

Spread the word now ... we hope to see you there. :wink:

Andrea

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Eidou Week Two

The ballet photos were perfect for the week two challenge and the lovely papers and elements provided for the competition participants.
Created this layout using the white elements and papers by SG Artworx from Eidou as part of a Week 2 Challenge...also used a clipping mask from Rowena F, button by digifingers in bed of roses kit, white frame by Emily Powers (WST) first hour english kit & creamy lace by Audrey Neal (WST) in history kit. Was a steep learning curve working out how to create .png from .jpg files (making the elements transparent rather than with a white border) and to use the clipping masks in gimp but really like the result despite wanting to give up more than once!

Have just uploaded my layout for this weeks challenge which was to use a Vintage Wedding Kit by Digifingers...and nothing else from any other kits...very interesting...I decided from the outset that my layout wouldn't really be a vintage wedding one though so used the kit to create something NOT vintage :-) had fun. Check out what everyone is doing in the gallery.
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008

blog Analysis

ok, so I visited Penny's blog and once again she had something interesting...all about blog analysis! I had a play and here's some results (& the links so you can test yourself too):

Readability
blog readability test

TV Reviews



GenderAnalyzer
gender neutral (a slight preference for female).

typalizer
ESTP - The Doers
The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

the big one got away

 


My layout for the first round at Eidou - can finally share here as the winner for the week was announced...have been on a steep learning curve for the week 2 challenge and have just uploaded that into the gallery, getting heaps out of this comp in the way of learning new stuff with gimp and digital stuff.
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Friday, November 07, 2008

Cropstar

another addiction? less messy than paper, not so sure on how time consuming it is in comparison though... The first one uses some of a free kit at Eidou by Wendymadeit. I love that the papers aren't all about Santa!


Main part of this layout is from the Eidou freebie - Wendymade it -Christmas Carol
I also used: Emily Powers 1st hour english and Audrey Neal 'WST History. Staple from Audrey Neal's 'apple' and a little TBrady home economics paper.


This is one I created with the Week 1 sketch challenge at Eidou...I created another which I've entered in the cropstar competition...& I can't share it here yet...but you can check it out in the Eidou gallery.... only people registered in the forum can vote for their faves...and there are some totally gorgeous digital and hybrid layouts in there so make your vote count...in more ways than one this Saturday!

Digital FingersSplash mini kit white washed paper & doodling journaling block (Eidou) Marie Stone Messy Edge Alpha lower case Digital Fingers Bed of Roses paper-1 (Eidou) T Brady Home Economics elements (WST) Audrey Neal Apple of My Eye green label (WST)

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Arrowtown School Extravaganza

 

 

 

 


Our ballet star :-) The younger ones looked very cute... Ethan gave it his all...even if he did the ballet moves extra fast in comparison to the older girls...the tounge was out in concentration many times both at practices and in the show. cute. He's a bit tired now...to be expected as he had dress rehearsals on Monday, matinee performance on Tuesday and evening performances on Tuesday and Wednesday. He was in bed & asleep by 7 tonight!
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Wednesday, October 29, 2008

SBO Competition

 


wonder what the DT have in store for us all? Looks good!

so full on at the moment... even Labour Monday was busy...spent it at school with Ethan at a dress rehersal - from 10:30am through till 3:30pm. Looking forward to seeing his performance tonight though.
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Friday, October 24, 2008

Sketch Book Friday Night Challenge

Check out the forum at Sketchbook for a challenge I've set... really simple... but go there for the info :-) below is the layout and 2 cards I created for this challenge...there's a RAK from Scrappin Patch up for grabs...

 

 

 


Yay for long weekends... got me some housework to do!

Lara
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Monday, October 20, 2008

a few things

 

was the annual fishing trip for the boys/men last weekend... next year is their 20th
 

another digi layout, using mainly a free kit by 'digital fingers' called Bed of Roses but also some alpha from Sunporch by Amy Teets and a scallop frame by Natalie Malan. Bed of Roses is avaliable for a short time at eidou.
 

Did you know that Today is International Day of the Chef? I popped into Oconnells Pavilion today in my lunch break to watch my husband in a 'magic box' event (they get some stuff in a box - today it was a Mediterranean Market bag - and create culinary delights with it). Didn't get to taste as I had to head back to school before he was finished.
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Saturday, October 18, 2008

Trying Digi


Have blurred out the children's faces...created this today after downloading gimp and playing with some digi freebie kits - Sunporch by Amy Teets, a Messy Edge Alpha, and Spontaneous Delight by CStephens.

Was inspired to give it a try finally (after many thoughts of it LOL) when I looked again at a layout by Kathryn Wilson on page 15 of the last Up2Scrap magazine and a forum post by Louise of Eidou.

Don't think I'll give up my love of paper... but can see some possibilities in this...might be good when I only have my laptop and no scrap supplies!
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Monday, October 13, 2008

SENZ creations


just a little collage of layouts created for SENZ and projects/layouts for classes. love the new ways of creating collages in picassa 3.
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more SENZ photos


fast and fab. again.


the team. check out the pin cushion on my wrist... thanks Rachel. You are soo creative, love the story of the pattern for it too. Creativity must run in your family.


relaxing. long days. much needed.
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SENZ 08

So, back home from SENZ... got in last night then back into school days this morning.
Loved meeting so many creative and interesting people over the weekend as well as Design Team members who I only knew online for the last year or more. Thank you also to Andrea and Leith for the opportunity to be a part of SENZ 08. Hope unpacking those pallets isn't so daunting that you just don't do it... Nik... once again your energy was amazing not to mention your management skills. awesome. There were some other helpers which made the weekend much smoother too... Raewyn & Jenny, thank you!

Teaching Fast & Fabulous... what a fantastic group of ladies who got stuck in even with bossy teachers!


so not used to railways. fun.


just a little photography between the lodge and the racecourse (just couldn't help myself)


fast & fab tutors. love team teaching.

I have a few more photos... but blogger would only do these 4 at this stage. might add some more later.
I've heard rumours about Auckland and Dunedin for SENZ 09... wonder how true they will turn out to be...
OK. need to read up on some property stuff for a meeting tomorrow afternoon.
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Friday, October 03, 2008

win a free handbag

enter at handbag planet... maybe you could win one!

Thursday, October 02, 2008

posers


"can you take a photo of us doing a pose mum?" I did.
I downloaded picasa 3 the other day. love it. has text on photo options and scratch repair too! cool. free.

a note about the hens at the farm... we don't live on a farm but in a built up area and on a average but smalish section... we have 3 hens in our back yard with a cool henhouse that my dad built us for Christmas last year. After school they get to roam free in the back yard. Townie hens.

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