Video Share

Just a quick share this morning. Just been watching video hits and this clip came on. I saw this for the first time last year and it always makes me smile. Apparently they did it in one take and there are no tricks involved.

Just a bit of fun hope you enjoy it. The band is called Ok Go and the song is Here we go again.







Cheers

Leeanne x

The weekend Part 2.

Saturday: Well after being on top of the ladder all year Madeleine's team won't even be in the Grand Final :( The team tried their best but just couldn't get on top of the other side. So sadly that's it for this year.


Saturday night we headed off to Caesars restaurant in Frankston for dinner with our good friends Judy, Alf, Jenny and Trevor. We all worked at Cheltenham Social Security back in 1979 through to the 80's (all bar Alf). So we have a long history together and have watched each others children grow up. Some of them have had their own children now. (hello to Willisa)

We usually catch up three or four times a year for dinner and the evenings are alot of fun and filled with much frivolity.

Sunday: Madeleine and I went shopping for her grade 6 graduation dress which luckily we found without to much trouble. We brought it in Portmans and it's a lovely girly, pretty, cute dress. Whats good is, it is age appropriate. It's is so hard to find clothes for a 12 year old (that has the body of a women) that are not to slinky and revealing. Then next we found the perfect pair of pink dressy thongs with bling to got with it in wittners. Voila graduation outfit all done, except for a little alteration to the straps which are a bit to long. Which Wendy kindly agreed to take up for me.
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Seague way to Wendy, most of you would already know by now that Wendy has made the decision to close Paper Doll.... well at least the bricks and mortar shop. Tough decision to make but a good one for Wendy and her family. I would just like to take the opportunity to say thank you to Wendy. Thank you for giving me a job when the shop first opened, even though I had never scrapbooked. I was hooked straight away and loved loved going to work there. All those beautiful papers, embellishments, ribbons, I could go on. Neil used to say I enjoyed it to much for it to be REAL work and that I was really only going there, to do what I do best TALK.

In someways he was right, I enjoyed meeting, advising and speaking with all the women who came into the shop with the same enthusiasm , excitement and passion for scrapbooking some who have become friends. I felt so lucky to go to work everyday and do something that i honestly loved. I especially loved Thursdays. Thursday is coffee scrap and chat morning and there is a loyal band of regulars who come most Thursdays. These girls became not just customers but friends and I know how much they are going to miss coming to the shop. Thank you for all the inspiration and new friendships .

At the end of the day Paper Doll is not just a shop it is Wendy and all those people keep coming back, because of her. She has nurtured a place where people feel not only inspired but welcome. It has become a second home for a lot of women. A place to drop in for a coffee and chat with a close friend.

Good news is that Paper Doll will go on in some form or another, and Wendy already has plans a foot for the next stage in Dollys journey. So stay tuned for the next adventure of Dolly and all her friends.

Big hugs to you Wendy and thanks for all your support & encouragement over the last 2 1/2
years. Lastly but by no means least. Your friendship.

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Sunday night was Chelsea Heights Netball Presentation evening. It was held at the Chelsea town hall with over 400 people in attendance. It was a huge night, raffles , give aways and a disco for the kids as well. When it was Madeleine's teams turn to go up on stage she was thrilled to discover she had won the coaches award and trophy. She grinned like a Cheshire cat she was so pleased.


Below are a few photos of the evening. The teams had to pick a theme or a colour to come in, Madeleine's team chose Disney animated characters. Bad mother that I am we have no costumes so she went as an evil queen. All that entailed was black clothing, a tiara and a wand she made from a stick out of the backyard with a paper star that said Evil. The kids all had a fantastic time laughing and dancing. It was a great way to finish off the year.



























As usual I have waffled on far to much again, so bye until next time

Cheers

Leeanne x

Spiegletent (mark 2), The Honeys and Melbourne

Last Friday night I drove into the city to meet Neil, and to see a band called the Honey's in at the Spiegletent again (click on the link in my sidebar to hear one of their songs). The band was great and this time we had front row seats. We parked the car about a 10minute walk from the Melbourne Arts centre and walked along the Yarra to the Spiegletent. The city was a buzz, it was a beautifully warm balmy night and it seemed like everyone in Melbourne was in the city. You could see and hear the noise from Federation Square and around the Arts centre there were people everywhere.

I just love the city and that feeling it gives of being so alive and vibrant, which in turn makes you feel the same way. Here are a few photos from the night,some inside the tent and others just of the city and the Yarra. They show just how beautiful Melbourne really is.






























































We picked up Madeleine at her friend Laura's house and stayed for an hour or two, catching up with Laura's parents who are friends of ours. It was a perfect night to sit out on their decking, having a drink and eating pizza. Neil and I didn't eat while we were in town, so when we got to Rick and Phil's house we ordered Pizza to be delivered. Very nice it was too and much appreciated at 10pm.

Well that's enough for one post, I'll catch up with more O'Connor family antics from Saturday and Sunday next time.


Cheers

Leeanne x

Last weekend and Finally!!! a layout to share

Back to last weekend..............


Caught up with Wendy last Friday night to buy the lovely Connie (& Mark of course) an engagement pressie. We make a great team when it comes to present buying, it took us all of 5 minutes tops to buy their gift. We were so lucky to find the perfect gift (well we thought so anyway) so quickly. Which luckily enough meant we had time for a coffee and a natter.


Saturday Madeleine had her usual Piano lesson in the morning, she played a lovely piece called Air. When she finished her piano teacher was crying. Not because she played badly, (of course!!) but because she had played the piece such, that it evoked an emotional response. It is a haunting and beautiful piece and she played it superbly. Serena was so proud of her and of course so was I.



After that it was of to Netball for the first Semi Final, which sadly they losed. Good news is they have a second chance this weekend to make amends. It was a nail biter of a game. Both teams are pretty evenly matched and the girls only lost by 3 goals.



Madeleine fortuitously had a sleepover birthday party on Saturday night which meant babysitting wasn't an issue as we headed off to Connie and Mark's engagement party with Wendy and Peter (who kindly drove). What a great night we had catching up with Will & Sean and the girls and having a few laughs. It was a warm night so the new fabulous decking and pergola got put to good use. Connie and Mark's place is lovely, and we also got to check out her Photography studio and best of all, got to to have a sticky beak at her scrap room. Sadly I forgot to take photos so I have nothing to share. :(



Sunday was fairly warm, here in Melbourne and Madeleine had Laura and Alex over. They were desperate to get invited next door to have a swim in their pool. Subtle as sledge hammers they got Jakob (who is also 12) to ask them in. They had a ball, I was going to post a few of the sneaky shots of them I took over the fence and amongst the trees but I haven't resized them yet. I felt like the Paparazzi taking photos hoping no one would notice. I got a few good ones they were having so much fun.



Sunday night Neil and I went into the city to see Lisa Miller and band in the world famous Spiegeltent between the Melbourne Arts Centre and Art Gallery. The tent is there for a limited season until mid December, show casing various artists. Lisa Miller was fantastic she has an amazing voice and her songs are lovely. The spiegeltent holds no more than around 200 and it has wooden ornate pillars with lots of etched mirrors and red and blue velvet hanging from the roof. I felt very cosmopolitan sipping my G&T and watching the band. We're off again this Friday night to see another band, so I'll let you know next time how that went. Madeleine got to spend the night at her friend Laura's house and went to school from there on Monday. Laura just happens to live in the same street as the school. (very handy)



Lastly but by no means least here is a photo of the cards I made for the November No Scraps and also believe it or not an original layout FINALLY.

This layout was inspired by watching Wendy make Connie and Mark's engagement card on Saturday afternoon. She was using a glue pad, stamp and silver leaf. The effect looked stunning and I had this black, white and silver layout on the go. So I borrowed her glue pad and used the autumn leaves flourish stamps to create the background for placing the silver Metallic Heidi Swapp flowers. The words Classy and Fabulous are done with Basic Grey Chipboard alpha and I used silver embossing powder on them. Then I finished it of with lots and lots of BLING, which hasn't photographed that well, but looks far more glitzy IRL. I finished it off with a splash of red (Heidi Swapp book label) and a little doodling in silver pen. Love that quote by Coco Chanel.

Cheers for now

Leeanne x

Time for a Quickie............

Layout share that is.


It's Sunday night and Neil and I have just got back from an evening in the city which was fantastic. I don't have time for a whole week recap right now, so I'll save that for another day.


Following are 4 layouts I have completed this week. I love them all, sadly I can't take credit for any of the designs as they are all compliments of the lovely Wendy and her fabulous No Scraps On Line classes. The first layout is the final layout from the August No Scraps class which I had forgotten I hadn't done.


This layout uses Autumn Leaves paper, paint, Heidi Swapp sticker, Sei alpa stickers and MM small sticker alphabets. This would have to be one of my all time photos of Madeleine when she was a baby. She's about 7 months old in this photo. It was her first time in the wading pool, the weather was stinking hot (40c) so we all appreciated sitting in the pool under the gum tree in the backyard. She had the biggest baby blue eyes in those days, I don't really remember when I noticed they had changed to green. Anyway here it is.

Baby's Got Blue eyes

The next three are this months No Scraps class from last week. All the pp is Pirate Princess range of papers from Rusty Pickle. I've also used the metallic chipboard alpha from Heidi Swapp, bling by Kaiser, hambly overlays, Making Memories glitter jigsaw pieces, ribbon etc...

Cherish Friends

Piano Lessons: Love the cool punched out circles on this one.

M Sept 2007.

There is also a photo of the 3 cute cards that I made with these papers as well, but I can't seem to locate the photo at the moment. So I guess I'll share those as well next update.

Take care and stay Happy.

Cheers

Leeanne x

bout time for an update

Well I don't know where that week went, but it certainly whizzed by.

Lets see what have I been up to??


Wednesday I took Madeleine over to the Cranbourne basketball stadium to participate in the zone girls basketball. Carrum Primary had made it through to the zones and they had to play two matches and win both to get through to Regionals.


The first game they blitzed the opposition by about 34 baskets, but sadly they were beaten in the second game by 5 points. They did so well and should be very proud of themselves, as its the furthest Carrum Primary have gone in the girls basketball. Here's a couple of photos, notice who is shooting the basket in the second photo.
























From there it was off to Pearcedale to catch up with Sue B in her lunch hour, then back home to get organized for Netball training. After that we ended up at the Mahoney's for take away chinese which was very nice I have to say.


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Saturday we had a BBQ for John and his boys and the Kennedy's came over as well. It was a great night, lots of fun and laughter. Our neighbour Noeleen also came in and ended up staying for dinner (she's the one in blue}. All the kids went for a really quick dip in her pool (heating wasn't on) and then they came back for a bit of sing star fun. Madeleine's friend Alex was over for the day as well and I couldn't help but take a couple of shots (or 3 or more) of them with the new camera just hanging around. I'm starting to get the hang of it. In auto mode anyway. Neil is experimenting all the time with different exposures and depth of field etc. I figure when he's mastered that he can teach me. Connie also told me she would let me in on her secret for great black and white shots. So Connie I'm waiting on that email (lol).



























You probably can't see in these photos because I've made them small, but I've had a really sore left eye all week. It's been getting sorer and sorer and has ended up being a sty, Saturday it was quite swollen and had a real reddy, purplish look to it. Attractive I hear you say. Anyway last night before going to bed I tried an old fashioned (old wife's tale) on it. Having been brought up Catholic I remember my mum saying that if you rubbed a blessed wedding ring over the sty it would heal it. So I got my mums wedding ring out and rubbed it over my bottom eye lid before bed last night. You wouldn't credit it but this morning when I woke the swelling had gone down considerably and the soreness had subsided. Tonight it has nearly gone altogether. Oggie Boggie hey!!! You've gotta luv those old wives.















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Sunday it was a beautifully wet and miserable day. It didn't stop raining most of the day today and last night. It was fantastic, its so good to see good soaking rain. Aside from that I caught up with Karen for a hot chocolate at the Blue Chair in Carrum this afternoon, while Neil was back home with Mark and Norm having a jam. Of course I took a few photos of them together, here's one of them.

Then tonight we have been at friends place for a roast dinner. Love roast dinners and especially when you don't have to cook them.

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In sad news, Neil's Aunty Babe passed away today. She was 96, so had lived to a ripe old age. However for at least the last 5 years she has been in a nursing home and not well at all. So in alot of ways it is a blessing for her, and her two daughters who have religiously been visiting her everyday since she was placed in the home. She has merely been existing rather than living, which has been so hard for her, as well as all her loved ones that have been there for her through it all.

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In other brief news I have won an RAK on Kim Archers Blog for being the 1st person to book into her christmas extravaganza workshops. It was a pleasant surprise to get an email from Kim to say I'd won. Looking forward to mail this week.

I also had an email from For Keeps to say they would like to pick up one my layouts. So that was exciting as well.

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Well that's it for me today, Keep on smiling everyone and have a good week.


Cheers


Leeanne x

ANOTHER FULL WEEKEND

FRIDAY:

Well Friday night I was supposed to be going out to two functions. The first one was to Deb Ross's for a stamp it up party. A big apology to Deb because I failed to turn up. Sadly I was asleep on the couch by 7pm and in bed by 8.30pm. I just couldn't keep my eyes open. So a big sorry to Deb and also to Rachel who lives in my street and had organized a girls night in for cancer research. I was supposed to be going there after Deb's. Good news is, they raised over $4000 at the Girls night In. Well done to Rachel for organizing it and for all the girls who went and obviously spent up big and donated generously.

SATURDAY:

First thing in the morning was Physio for Madeleine's ankle, which is a lot better. Now if she would just remember to do the exercises 3 times a day, I'm sure it will better a lot quicker.

Then it was off to Piano and back home again to get organized for Netball.

Saturday was pretty hot in Melbourne around 32c and windy. The girls certainly didn't play how they have been playing and were soundly beaten by the second side on the ladder. They are still on top, but will have to lift in the finals. Mind you it must be pretty hard to run around like that on a hot and windy day.

Later Saturday afternoon we went around to friends for a couple of drinks and to catch up. It was nice to kick back and relax and enjoy a couple cold drinks together.

Then Saturday night it was off to the Greek restaurant in Frankston called Seagulls with another couple of good friends. Every time we go to that place it seems to be a hot night and the owners have never modernized the place, and it still doesn't have air conditioning. Let me tell you its not a place to sit and linger over a hot coffee after a meal. So we headed off to where the cinemas are and had a coffee and a piece of cake outside in the beautiful, fresh and warm night.

SUNDAY:

Was Crop for a Cure organized by Scrappers Warehouse and held at Pin Oaks Reception Centre in Hallam. There was 11 of us from Paper Doll that went and what a great day we ended up having. I have to say it didn't start off that wonderfully at first, but after I got over being a little petulant and disappointed it was fine (lol). The tables only held 8 which was fine, but we were supposed to be all at least sitting near each other. However Lynne and I ended up on another table away from the other girls (no big deal) however then we discovered that all the make and take classes were full and we and quite a few others couldn't participate. Not "Happy Jan"

I must give the organizers due credit though and within about 1/2 hour they had arranged either extra classes or extra seats within the classes. So our first class was with Nicole Finlayson and we made a very cute little felt album incorporating a bit of blanket stitch. Then it was a very sweet felt xmas decoration designed and taught by Ngaire Bartlam and last but not least was a ribbon album by Suz Doyle.

There were silent auctions, raffles and lucky door prizes through out the day. The big big news was that the very lovely Kim C won the major prize which was a trolley bag filled to the brim with products from lots of suppliers. Kim's reaction was priceless she was so thrilled, excited and dumbfounded.

Deb R (not Ross) and Amy B were two of the finalists in the speed scrapping. They had 4.5 mins to create either a pair of knickers, a bra or both. Amy went for the bra and very stylish it was too. Deb made a very tasteful g string that she named "Debbie does Hallam"

Deb was picked as the winner along with another lady who's creation was called "Storm in an E cup". They all did amazingly well in such a short amount of time, there is no way I could have created in such a minimal amount of time.

I'll leave you now with a little collage of the day. The photos include shots of Lynne, Kim, Wendy, Willisa, Connie, Deb, Sharon, Amy, Mel, Joanne and Me of course. I'm sure you may see other incriminating photos on others blogs over the next couple of days. But don't believe everything you see (hehe).

Have a great week

cheers

Leeanne x