SENZ Photos..............

Some photos of SENZ


Fiskars Stand -demonstrating their latest and greatest

SENZ Main Show Area

Kelly Rotherham - Fantastic lady and new sub-editor of Up 2 Scrap!

(L-R) Jo Burney, Meg, Janine, Neen, Megan, Beverley, Ann

Some of the amazing tags being swapped!

A junior scrapbooker we found in the hall - so many young girls at the show with their Nana's and Mum's - and they are talented!!!

More tomorrow - off to bed, am shattered after a big few days at the show!

Ciao

Meg

Airports

Are funny places, have been in a few over the years, full of extremes mostly, people rushing to catch flights, people either really upset or overly happy. I am sitting here in Christchurch airport waiting to catch my flight to Auckland and even though it is busy and noisy it also very peaceful, now don't me wrong I am missing the children like mad already but not having to change dirty nappies, explain to Paige why she cannot have crackers and cheese for breakfast and putting all the books back on the bookshelf after Max has bulldozed his way through them for a couple of days is going to take a little adjustment but I am sure I will get there!! (winks)
This is a quick post as my plane is due to leave shortly - as I sit here typing Tina Cross and Suzanne Lynch from the 'Ladykillers', the all woman group who sang on "dancing with the stars' on Tuesday night have just sat down across from me - do they classify as celebrities????

Will update once I get to Auckland!

Ciao
Meg

One sleep to go...........

Wow - cannot believe that SENZ is just around the corner!!! It's my first one and I am a little excited about being part of the BUZZ - people, scrapbook products, classes, inspiration, the list is endless!!!! I finally get to meet our DT girls in the flesh (well apart from Mrs Renfree who is always down this way LOL!!!) which is going to be great and alot of our customers and forum members as well - make sure you are wearing your Scrapbook Essentials Pins, some faboo spot prizes are going to be handed out!!!!
For those of you who are headed to Christchurch from the 12th-14th of October for the South Island SENZ, we will be revealing our tutors (and we have a pretty cool guest tutor joining us) next week, classes will be available for purchase from the 13th August and trust me when I say the classes will be nothing short of AMAZING - we have some big BIG plans in the pipelines so WATCH THIS SPACE!!! If you want to be one of the first 150 lucky people to purchase your tickets for SENZ in CHristchurch and receive a show bag full of product then go here on the 25th May and purchase yours!
Well it's off to bed for me - big weekend ahead!!!

Ciao
Meg

So much to do, so little time.................

Well the last few days have been crazy to say the least - the last of the kits for the classes of our very talented DT member Jo Burney who is tutoring for Up 2 Scrap are gone, stock for their stand is all boxed and Mr Courier came this afternoon and got it, fliers will be picked up tomorrow, last of the class extras are packed in my suitcase, have made Max's vegies and these are in the freezer for while I am away in Auckland (how did I ever think I could leave my babies for 3 days - eek!!). AM hoping like anything that my new MM Tote - and yes Tanya it is pink!!- will be here tomorrow so I can pack all my scrapbooking supplies for the class I am taking with Kelly Rotherham on Friday and for the crop night on Friday, still have a 101 things to do before I fly out on Thursday but have taken to making lists and it's a great feeling ticking them off!!

It's amazing all the little things that have to be done so that Aaron has a stress free time with three small people while I am away!!!

Our latest kit went up on the site tonight and I must say that is is my favourite of all our kits so far, love love LOVE Scenic Route papers and this is kit is full of them, go here to get yours!

I do plan on blogging while I am away with updates and pictures of SENZ, so make sure you check back!!!

Ciao

Meg

Belated Happy Mothers Day!!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful mothers day and were all spoilt rotten or spoilt their mums or the special people in their lives who take on the role of Mum for them!!! I was very spoilt with breakfast in bed - okay so in the end I had to get up and poach my own eggs as Aaron was boiling them?????? But it is always nice to feel appreciated and I guess having the excuse of a day all about me is as good as any for a sleep in which with three children tend to be few and far between these days LOL!!!! Aaron has told me to pick something out but since I am away to SENZ next week for three days and Aaron is flying solo, I figure that is enough of a pressie........ (maybe a quick trip to the shops though while I am up there!!!)

Okay so the winner of the Queen and Co containers for guessing our new house number which will be 39 is................. Christi Nelson with her guess of 38!!!! Congrats Christi - those 6 cute containers on their way to you today!!! Right so this is a quick post but here is a recent photo of our wee man - aren't those chubby thighs yummo!!!!

Have a great day

Meg

I have bugs.......

Lots of them - the head cold, coughing bleuck kind!!!!! Max has had a cold with his teething, so bad in fact I relented and allowed our GP to prescribe him some antibiotics!!! Well now it's my turn, I am one of those people who thankfully hardly ever get sick but when I do it's a doozy!!!!!
So last night instead of getting to meet Hannah and her hubby Rob, I was hunched over a steaming bowl of eucalyptus - that stuff smells BAD but it works so hunch I did!!!! So to Hannah and Rob, HUGE apologies for missing out on meeting the two of you, Michelle tells me you had a great time!!!
Not long now until SENZ in Auckland - I am sooooooo looking forward to this, am taking a class with the talented Kelly Rotherham and getting to meet some of our DT girls in person for the first time PLUS so many of our customers have emailed wanting to catch up!!! Am taking every known cure to help get rid of this flu so that I am fighting fit for the weekend!!!!!
Our monthly kit has been HUGE as usual - there is only I think like 3??? left so head on over to the shoppe and grab yourself one!!! The fancy pants papers in it were part of the new releases from Fancy Pants in January and we have been saving them up to create a yummy kit - we have had so much positive feedback on this months kit - and next month's is all ordered and is going to be a cracker - a hint I hear you ask - okay........... let's just say you will be taking the 'scenic route' to creativity next month!!!!

Ciao for now
Meg

Update

Well I blew it - my 30 day challenge that is!!! I started off with great intentions but it all turned to custard day 4 - whoever designed the 24 hour day obviously never had a very sick 9 mth old from teething, a sick Mum to look after him, hockey games, dance classes etc etc!!!! Anyway no self pity lurking here - too busy LOL!!!! No seriously I think that I need to just blog when I can, if it is every day then great, every week fine so will see how often I can manage it!!!

Okay so the winner of the RAK - Janine aka Angel Gurl - woohoo Janine, will get the yummy scorll corners away to you today, they are YUMMO, so have fun playing with them!!!!

Well the house went unconditional on Friday, we got the deposit cheque in our hot little hands for about 5 mins before paying for our section - sigh!!!! Here's a couple of photos of where our house will be built, Amelia insisted in being in one of them!!!

Also another little giveaway - 6 Queen and Co felt containers which are now empty, these are awesome for storing buttons, ribbons etc so leave a comment on the blog what you think the street number will be for our new house - it's between 20 and 50 - closest to gets the containers sent to them!!!

Our House is Sold!!!!!

It's Monday........

and day 3 of my challenge to blog everyday for 30 days - I must admit that I can think of lots of things to blog about but are they interesting??? So Mondays are always a funny day for me - they are obviously the start of a new week but also a definite reminder that the weekend is one again over and I find myself counting down the days until the weekend!!! As some of you know we listed our house and it sold in like 6 days - subject to finance which has to be confirmed by the end of this week, it turns out as they are Australians who have bought our house (moving from Brissie to Invers????) the banks are a little more pedantic about the finer details but it's done pretty much a done deal!!! So now the BIG question - where to from here for us? Well we bought a section today in a new subdivision here, not our ideal move in terms of where we ultimately want to be, but a great area, lots of families building there so we are pretty happy in the short tem - just have to decide what sort of us we want to build now - there are SO many companies that offer the complete package - right down to the toilet paper holder, so it's a big decision!!!!
We start shipping our monthly kits tomorrow, so for all those of you who receive these, start stalking the yellow vans from Wednesday!!!!!

Woohoo - day 3 done!!!

Ciao for now
Meg

Day 2 and a sneak Peek

Holy cow I had no idea so many people read my blog, now the pressure is really on with my 30 day challenge!! Two days in a row - 28 days to go!!! Well busy day today, we had some friends visit us who had wonderful news that they were going to be parents for the first time - so excited for them and it couldn't happen to nicer people, Shannelle looks fantastic and you can't even tell she is pregnant - don't envy them those first few weeks though and can say in all honesty I am pleased we are now past all those 4 hour feeds and tiredness!!! For those of you who get our kits, here's a sneak peek of one of the gorgeous projects you will learn how to make

Isn't she gorgeous - her name is the Prima Fairy and Megan Renfree designed her, every time one of the girls sends me a completed project for the kit, I am reminded of how lucky we are to have our talented design team who work alongside us to provide you with lots of inspiration!!
To purchase the kits and learn how to make your very own Prima Fairy go here!!

Talk to you all tomorrow!

Meg

Day 1 and a RAK!!!

Okay so here we go - day one of my self imposed 30 day challenge!!!! Will try and post interesting stuff each day so thought I might start off with a RAK!!!

Leave a comment on my blog so I know people still think it is worth visiting and I will draw a random name who will receive some of these yummo scroll corners from Maya Road, their chipboard is just divine and I have to say that they are my favourites when it comes to out of the box products dripping with quality!!!!

Not sure if I have mentioned it before now, but we are selling the house, we don;t really want to but with 3 kids, and a busy business we need more space so we listed it last week - the market is sooooo busy here that hopefully it won't be long and we will be on our way!!

You have been warned.......

Hello, hello anyone there??? I am the worlds worst blogger, so if anyone still checks this blog out, then as the title says you have been warned, long post ahead!!!

Righto so the must do stuff first, I have been tagged by the lovely Lynda and the flower crazy Michelle!!!!

Each player starts with 7 random facts/habits about themselves, people who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names.Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!

1. I LOVE LOVE my family, even when I am covered in milk vomit, raspberry jam from sticky little fingers or felt pen, I am thankful for my three little angels every single day!!

2. My nickname is Cyril - long story and I am not elaborating............

3. I love Japanese food - teppan, sushi, sashimi, maybe I am half Japanese?????

4. I am not really an animal person, which is weird considering I grew up on a farm full of deer,
goat, sheep, hens etc etc.

5. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE shoes - last count 35 pairs............

6. I really want to go to the Octoberfest in Germany one year, only regret of my OE is not
doing that, I really think the Oompa Loompa bands that play in the Hofrahaus would benefit
from my chemically inbalanced (hey it's a beerfest) input..... or not!!!

7. I love to talk - and this love intensifys with a few wines.......

So who to tag, well all the blogs I lurk around have pretty much been tagged so will leave it open to anyone who feels up to the challenge, let me know if you do so I can sneaky peek!!!

Right so on with the rambling and a little shameless self promotion!!!! The May kit is up on the Scrapbook Essentials site and it is GORGEOUS!!!!! There are only a few left so if you have been umming and aahing, then quick, go here and hit the BUY NOW button, you will be very pleased you did!!! And this month we have the uber talented Design Team girls Megan Renfree and Janenne Sloan designing 2 gorgeous projects, of which the instructions will be in the kit, I have seen the odd sneak peek and what they have come up with is simply stunning!!!!!

Also we are running a mothers day competition over on the message board so go and check it out - fantastic prize of a voucher to spend instore and with all the yummy new products, will not be hard to spend!!!

So we have had a mad few weeks with the business, children being sick, Aaron working crazy hours and generally life, I always feel guilty about neglecting my blog and so have set myself a challenge - to blog once a day, even if it is a simple hi for 30 days - so wish me luck! The fantastic thing about a blog is that is a permanent way to record stuff, big and little that you can refer to, so tomorrow is day one of the 30 day challenge!!!

Some photos of the kids

Max has just started crawling (fast I might add!!) and I ahd to snap him fascinated by the TV - this fascination lasted about 30 secs and then he was off on a misson again!!

Amelia in action at her school sports day for years 1 & 2 in the All Saints zone, was more like a games day, they apparently don't do the whole athletics thing until year 3!

Right - so more tomorrow then, what will I blog about....... perhaps a RAK????

Tagged......

Thanks Tanya Leigh for tagging me - I have to post 5 quirky things about me so here goes....

1. I HATE lights being left on if no-one is in the room - drives me nuts, must be the obessesive compulsive side of me lurking!!

2. I hate feet, they are such a necessity but don't think I have ever ever seen a pair of feet that I thought looked nice - feet just gross me out full stop!!

3. I am addicted to Sprite Zero - if I drank as much water as I do Sprite Zero I would have the complexion of a newborn!!

4. My wardrobe consists mainly of black and white - you can't go wrong with this colour combination!

5. If something is the colour pink then I will always buy it regardless of whether I need it - think ipod, cellphone, shoes, bags, you name - I LOVE PINK!!!

So who to tag - well I am tagging Beverley, Megan Renfree and Hannah - so lets have it girls!!

Check out my Slide Show!

Max and his Mum

A new do

Well I finally gave in and cut my hair off - it's been a long time coming and with the recent HOT weather, couldn't bear it anymore
so chop chop and bobsville here I come!!! Stil getting used to having my hair short but it's so much easier to do - photo looks a bit posey I know but I was taking a self portrait photo and it's quite hard to do and make sure you are in the center, hence the funny pose as i was trying to make sure I was in the middle in the reflection on the lens LOL!!! Lots happening around here, went to scrap camp in Bannockburn last weekend which was FABOULOUS - man it was HOT HOT HOT, we were all melting but we suffered for the sake of ART!!! Well done Nik and Lara for organising this, AMAZING group of ladies who all get on so well and heaps of laughs too!!!
Our wee man is growing so fast, he is 8months on the 25th of this month, he is on his hands and knees rocking and then bunny hops a couple of times, collapses and cries - sooo cute, well except the crying part!!! Amelia has settled so well into school, I went along and did the mother help thing this morning as they were decorating photo frames with shells they collected on their beach visit last week - let's just 18 frames took a LONG time, Max rolled around the flook which was funny to watch and Millie was so funny - she kept coming up and cuddling me saying that I was her Mummy!!!! Very cute!!! Then there is Miss Paige - she is now apparently leading mat time at her pre-school, she's officially one of the big kids and tells them all that it is tidy up time and claps her hands like the teachers - too funny!! I went and bought the girls some of the new red, white and black girls stuff from Pumpkin Patch, it is gorgeous and they look very sweet, will have to take some pics and upload them.......

Ciao
Meg

Going to the chapel......

One of the ladies on our forum is getting married today and we have been invited to share in here and her husband to be's special day, everytime we go to a wedding it reminds me of when Aaron and I got married, will be four years ago in November, I look back no at the lead up to it all and it just went so quick but on the day it was just amazing that Aaron and I took that step, the big one, promising to spend our lives together through the good and bad times, when you think about it marriage is like this huge leap of faith and I am thankful daily that I have Aaron in my life and for all his love and support of me - it never waivers, and his heart is so big that it truely does amaze me sometimes that he chose me to be his lifelong partner! Don't get me wrong sometimes he is so the opposite of me that I struggle to 'get' where he is coming from but that's the good part - figuring it out and learning a new perspective!!! He is yin and I am yang at times, but together the pieces fit and make a whole........
All the best Rachel and Brendan as you start this wonderful new chapter of your life together - may you have much happiness and joy in your lives together........

From Kahil Gibran's "The Prophet"...

"Love one another, but make not a bond of that love. Let it rather be like a moving sea between the shores of your souls. And stand together, and yet not too near together. For even the pillars of the temple must stand apart; and the oak tree and the cypress will not grow in each other's shadow. Remember that love gives nothing but from itself. Love possesses not, nor would it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love. And think not that you can direct the course of love. For love, if it finds you worthy, will direct your course."

Happy Days

We have finally changed ISP's from Telecome to Vodafone, no more shoddy service and lost emails in cyberspace - LOVING IT!!! All I need is that wee guy in the pic above and I can go anywhere in NZ and have internet access and that's all I need, no more cords, wireless routers that do not work - freedom is bliss!!

Red foil covered chocolate hearts that I gave to Amelia for Valentines Day - they have a wonderful teacher who just inspires all of them and so on Valentines Day once they had finished for the day, Amelia walked out of class, gave me a red cardboard heart that said I love you Mummy, too cute....... so as she had made such an effort, I made one back and made her my valentine and gave her these hearts.....

On Tuesday morning before she went to school she whispered in her Dad's ear, they went outside and picked this rose for me out of the garden, she walked back inside, gave it to me and said Happy Valentines Day.......

I read alot of blogs, some non-scrapbook related, some not but this chick makes me laugh everytime, I love her sense of humour and her take on life, she make me laugh out loud! She also loves Neil Finn from Crowded House, and I mean seriously loves him and his music!

Just loaded the sneak pics of March's kit to the site - the papers in this kit are cool, uber cool in fact and I managed to source the cutest metal embellishments to go with them, full kit will be revealed on the site on the 20th......

Creating.....

Flip it's been nearly a week since my last post, so much for trying to blog daily!!! Anyway I was persuaded (does arm twisting count LOL) to join in a circle journal over at the Scrapbook Essentials forum, as usual I left it to the last minute as I do and while I would not rate it amongst my best work (why are scrapbookers so self-critical!!) I am happy with the end result! There are 14 talented ladies involved in the circle and we all have a different theme to our individual albums, I chose words to inspire your life for the year - my word is simple! I am always frantic mad with the business, school drop offs, preschool pickups, family, friends, the list is endless but I am not someone to sit around so while I may be simplifing things in my life and learning to say no to the odd thing I have no doubt that I will always be 'busy' it's just who I am!!

Quick post but will try very hard to blog tomorrow.......

Leaving on a jet plane.....

That song has normally always reminded me of the movie 'Armageddon' (love Ben Affleck by the way!) but come tomorrow it will mean something very different..... my baby sister is leaving Invercargill tomorrow to start a new chapter in her life in New Plymouth and I am very sad..... I only have one sibling and over the years we have both lived away from home but this time I think it's a permanent move for Amber as she is moving to where her partner is based and for a time will be living on his family's horse stud until their new house is completed later in the year! We told Paige and Amelia tonight (Max is only 6 months) but that's one of the blessings of being so young is that they don't understand and won't until Aunty as they call Amber isn't popping into see them everyday, so to my baby sister who I know will read this - be safe, we will miss you and love you very much........