Monday, April 23, 2007

New kit and another freebie!!

Well, I have finally finished another kit. After realising that the majority of kits out there are for girls, I was inspired to create a 'boy' kit this time! I called it 'Boys Will Be Boys' and it is full of richly coloured, textured papers, and grungy elements, great for those boy pages!

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And if you hurry on over to my store now, you will get it at 25% off, but only for 1 week!

Also, while you are there grab yourself this awesome sampler for FREE!!

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Just a little taste of the full kit, ENJOY!!

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Man, it's good to be home!!

Hi everybody, I'm back did ya miss me?? Well, considering I have been a very bad blogger and neglected to tell you I was actually going away, the answer to that is probably no...lol!!
Hubby took a week of work (perks of being the boss;) ) to look after the kids and Mum and I went to Darwin for the week. What a simply beautiful place!! Talk about hot though!!! 34 degrees celcius, which in itself is not too bad, but when you add to that 90% humidity, OMG!!! The first day I thought I was going to suffercate the air was so thick! All I wanted to do was get to the mall so I could get into the airconditioning, only to find it was an outdoor mall!!! lol!
I slowly got used to it, and by the time we came home it was actually nice to get outside 'cause most places had the AC so cold I needed to warm up a bit!! Went on some day tours around the place, and saw some absolutely amazing things. (I 'll post some photo's in a bit so you can all see)

Here is a quick run down of the trip....

Day 1:
Arrived at the hotel at 3:00am and fell into bed (don't ask me why, but for some silly reason, most flights either arrive or leave in the middle of the night!)Woke at about 8:00am, ordered room service and for the first time in I don't know how long ate breakfast in bed....heaven!! Showered and decided to go for a bit of a look see around the place. Took some photo's, and jumped on a bus to do a "city sites tour". Saw a few interesting things, but most of the tour was focused on the houses in the area, and how some silly people build houses without eaves, maybe the tour guide was a realestate agent or an architect in former life!?!?!? Found the mall (even though it was outside, ugh) found the supermarket bought ingredients for cheese sandwiches, went back to the hotel, made and ate said cheese sandwiches and went to sleep.

Day 2
Decided today was going to be bit of a nothing day. Slept in, went downstairs to breakfast, and made an absolute pig of myself at the all you can eat buffet. (I wasn't the only one, mum had a pretty good go at impersonating a pig too!)Spent the rest of the day either watching tele or lazing by the pool (it's such a hard life!!)

Day 3
Got picked up early (6:50am, which is usually not so early for me, but remember, I was on holidays!) and went on a day tour. Went on a jumping croc cruise and saw real WILD crocodiles *shiver*. Left the croc cruise and headed down the highway towards Litchfield National park with the promise of swimming in a tropical lagoon, when suddenly the smell of something burning entered the bus. Smoke billowing into the bus from the engine compartment, we were politley, yet hastily asked to leave the bus and stand back. After walking 500m back down the highway to the roadhouse that luckily we had just passed, we were told that it was only the fan belt that operated the air conditioning, and that we would be safe to continue our tour, minus the AC. Ate a delicious lunch at a hotel in the middle of nowhere, and then continued on to the waterfalls. I have never seen such a beautiful place in all my life, well worth the drive in sweltering heat and no air conditioning. The drive home seemed much longer than the drive in, so we were glad to get home (or at least back to the hotel) and had chips and fish (it was actually called that, which I thought was very clever, rather than the traditional 'fish and chips') and slept very well that night.

Day 4
Made the most of our last breakfast at the all you can eat buffet, and headed out to do a spot of souvenier shopping (I daren't turn up home without gifts!) Ended up buying more for myself than for anyone else, but needless to say the kids were happy with there, 'Darwin NT' pencils and the glow sticks I got at the bargain shop. Went for a walk in the evening to take some photo's of the amazing sunset of Darwin Harbour. Ordered room service for dinner and had a little nap, before packing my bags and heading to the airport at 11:30pm ( I told you planes come and go at weird times!)

Day 5
Day 5 dawned whilst on the plane somewhere in between Darwin and Brisbane with very little sleep. (It's very hard to get comfy in economy class of a boeing 737) and watched the most spectacular sunrise I have ever seen! After sitting in Brisbane airport for 2 1/2 hours trying to keep my eyes open, finally boarded the plane for home. Getting off the plane to 15 degrees C was, needless to say, somewhat of a shock to the system!
The looks on my kids faces at the airport as I came down the stairs, were the best, and I nearly cried, but managed to control myself!! Usually I get embarrassed and tell them all to be quiet when we are out in public, but this time it didn't matter, as they all ran towards me screamming "Mummy, mummy, mummy!!"
I had a great time, but gee it's good to get home again!

Here are some pics I took...
(click on thumbnail to see larger image)

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Bogainvillea

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Carpenteriar Palm

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The veiw out towards the Timour Sea

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More Bogainvilleas - very pretty

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One of the wild crocodiles being rewarded for a jump with a pork chop

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Here is the broken down tour bus, as we walked back down the Highway

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Cathedral termite mound. See out tour guide standing next to it? That's how big it is!! They reakon this one is over 50 years old

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Wangi Falls

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Sunset over Darwin Harbour on our last night

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A pretty flowering plant...have no idea what it is! If you do know, please tell me :)


Like I said, I had a great time but man it's good to be home!!

Saturday, April 07, 2007

April Mega Kit at DSO -Springs the thing

Head on over to Digital-scrapbooking.org and check out this awesome Mega Kit - Springs the Thing!! With contributions from all the designers at digital-scrapbooking.org, this kit is so huge it is simply bursting at the seams!



This absolutely 'mega' Mega Kit contains:
7o papers
20 Ribbons
7 ricrac
4 lace
3 Alphas
30 buttons
8 brads
5 bookplate
1 ribbon slide
7 eyelets
9 frame
5 Corners
1 safety pin
3 swirl pins
10 bugs
5 eggs
9 bows
4 flowers
9 stickers
18 tags
5 notecards

Friday, April 06, 2007

Who will win for April, will it be YOU???

Love challenges? Then you will love this contest.
Want a chance to win a great gift for participating?
I mean, lots of FREE STUFF?
Sure you do!
Enter the DSO Delights Ultimate Challenge Contest and win, Win, WIN!

What do you win?
The winner of the random drawing will receive a FREE 6 Month Membership in the DSO Delights Club!
The membership, regularly priced at $50, includes six Monthly Mega Kits (one each month, starting with the current month) AND another Mega Kit of your choice from any of the previous months. That's SEVEN huge Mega Kits! In addition, you, and the other club members, will receive occasional coupons and bonus gifts. What a great prize!

Contest Rules:
1. Complete ALL the April challenges at DSO.
2. Post your name and email in the contest forum, once complete.
3. The 'Contest Contessa' will check all the entries and place your name in the hopper. Only one entry per person, please.

The random drawing will be held May 1st. So you have from now until April 30th 2007 to complete all of the challenges! Only one person will win! WILL IT BE YOU???


What are you waiting for? Go visit the Challenge Forums TODAY!


*Challenges This Month Include:
Ad Challenge
Art Journal Challenge
Book of Me Challenge
Color Challenge
Element Challenge
Font Challenge
Heritage Challenge
It's In The Numbers
Journaling Challenge
Lyric Challenge
Quote Challenge
Scrappin On My Desktop
Scripture Challenge
Shape Challenge
Sketch Challenge
Template Challenge

Sunday, April 01, 2007

A New Month, New Challenges

Hi again everybody, hope you have all had a great week!
Can you believe it's April already? Wasn't Christmas only last week??
Well with a new month, comes new challenges! Head on over to Scrap 2 Basics, where I am hosting the scraplift challenge, and earn for yourself another little sampler of my latest kit Earthy Plum
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and while you are there, check all the other great challenges happening!

At DSO this month I am hosting a brand new challenge! I'm so excited about this one, I think it's going to be great fun! It's called 'Mel's Monthly Shape challenge, and you can check it out here...
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I finished a CT layout for Scrap 2 Basics this weekend too, using Pamela Gibson's kit 'I Dream of the Prarie'
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(click on the LO for full credits)

Have a great week everyone!

Mel