Day 11

Edited; I am just briefly putting this out here because I know a lot of my friends have read what I wrote yesterday. I have removed what was written, but I am glad I did write it because the person I was referring to did come forward and again differences have been ironed out (I hope). I want my blog to be nothing more than a reference for my hobby,business and my free designs which are downloaded a lot, also a reference for people learning about programs and digiscrapping in general.

I know feelings have been hurt in all sides and I really really hope that for all those that are concerned can move on from it, but I will say I am glad that these issues have been risen, because it shows that feelings that are kept bottled inside, confuses how others really feel;

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive ~ Colossians 3:12-13


CS2 day 11, well actually this I started playing around with last night and any little opportunity between laundry and cleaning and lunches! I realised that CS2 has a heal brush, I actually dont know if it is the same as the spot heal brush in PSE, although, CS has also a spot heal brush.

I decided to do some work on this picture of my kiddies in the pool.


I do want to scrap this picture, I love the spalshes of water showing, when Sarah was having a splash, but, the toys in the background are annoying! And also, because the trees were shadowing the kids, I didnt set the shutter speed on my camera correctly to get a good light. So it needed brightening up, not to mention a bit of color pop.

So, first layer was a screen layer to brighten it up and reduce the opacity to around 85%, then I played around with the levels, another layer of color dodge, then reduced the brighteness and this is the end result

No more fugly toys distracting the picture, and I LOVE the vibrant pink.

Just to see them side by side;

Day 10 with a freebie

You now what, I am actually not missing PSE!! CS2 and I are becoming friends, although I am discovering new things in photoshop that were not in PSE that I am liking, I am particularly in love with the warp tool, so much more advanced than in PSE. Making paper strips look like they have been roughly cut is more realistic!

I have still got a long way to go, even though I refuse to pick up the CS2 bible, flicking through it makes my head hurt. I am more a hands on learner than a sit down learner. Things like the warp tool may seem basic to more experienced users but for me it was a eurika moment, for one, the warp tool was not available in PSE there was skew and perspective but no warp, so it was fun warping things and getting excited about it (Seriously I need to get out more!)

Talking about getting out more, I am going to the movies tonight with my mum. I am treating her to Mama Mia, this tells you how long it was since I was last at the movies. I walked in to collect our tickets this morning and I got lost! I had no clue where to pick them up. Then a nice lady told me I just need to input my details into *this* computer thing and voila tickets!

Seriously does EVERYTHING need to be computrized? I am by no means old, and I understand that computers are the way of the future but dang, I need help with these things! And, to tell you the last time I went to the movies, I was pregnant with Sarah and I went to see Harry Potter, prisoner of Azkabam! Yeah, so this is a big deal! LOL

Problem is MG and I dont agree with movies, I admit I love the cheesy chick flicks, comedy romance and MG is into anything that involves violence and other gangster ways. So I am taking it upon myself that HE will stay at home and be mother to the kids whilst I go out and have fun!!

Ok, so here is a new free template which I made in CS2. I discovered grouping WOOT, so the element guides can be taken away in one fell swoop rather than deleting each one individually! See I am learning something every day!!

Here is a preview of said template

Link Expired

If you download, could you please leave a little comment :) I enjoy making them, really I do and it is nice to see a lot of downloads on my items, but sad when I only get a few comments :(

((((freehugs))))

Ooops..Long time no see! Day 9

Well, my friend Krista is giving me an ass whooping for not updating my blog.

I can assure you its no fault of mine, I am suppose to be on day 9 of my CS2 habit challenge but I havent had a chance to use it.

Thursday day 4 ~ My kids were at my MIL's, so I took the opportunity to do some shopping and some cleaning. Can you believe I opted for housework over srapping!

Friday day 5 ~ Roasting hot day, dude I was dying in the heat. I was screaming at Krista how hot it was I was restless, the last thing I wanted to do was scrap, I parked my behind in my kids paddling pool. Much to the disgust of Sarah.

Saturday day 6 ~ We went to Edinburgh for the day, off to the zoo with the kids. Got a ton of pics (for potential scrapping!) Jamie had a blast, particularly when a little monkey started banging at the window with a stone. AND, I never took a pic! I was obviously laughing so hard I forgot. Dude, I cannot be a real scrapper if I cant take a picture at a most awesome opportunity!!

Sunday day 7 ~ I did open CS2 whooo! I decided to finally scrap a makeover page for the Oscraps Makeover Challenge
I have to say I nearly caved in! I was trying with all my might to get a paper cut into a circle but I just couldnt do it! So with a desperate PM to Amanda that I was about ready to uninstal CS2 (again) Amanda jumped to my rescue, and told me the easiest way (IHO) was to select the circle tool, draw it out, then clip the paper in!

Seriously THAT EASY!! She is now officially my CS2 therapist!

Monday day 9 ~ So I was going to finish off my layout. This is the point where I just want to say




I HATE VISTA!!!


Windows Vista decided to instal updates, now stupid me never selected the option to inform me of installing updates, it does it automatically.

So, it was busy installing and I was working on my layout, when *BANG* CS2 shut down, as did my internet with a flashing box telling me that some driver was uncompatable with the new software. Nothing was working, I couldnt even back up files!! *crys*

Thankfully nothing much was lost, most of my items I had in files was my CT stuff from Oscraps which I can easily get. I do back up every 30 days, but now considering doing a weekly backup (probably wont go through so many discs) So the stuff I lost was just from the begining of July.

But, I did not instal PSE5 ~ How proud are you?? I thought if I didnt instal it I might not use it as a security blanket. But I tell you it was like mummy taking away my battered old teddy when I was 7, traumatising!!

I do miss my photo download though, and the fact that the organisor places my pictures into dated folders automatically. I might, just might, instal PSE5 just for that, or, even see if I can just download the organisor side of it only.

Tuesday (today) Day 9 ~ I Scrapped*WOOT* And I scrapped with CS2 *double WOOT* I finally got my layout done for the makeover challenge (although, you will note the circles are not present!)

This was the original picture *cringes*

And this is my do-over

Using the new Summer Collab
by the Oscraps Designers
coming soon to the Oscraps store

Day 3 of the CS2 challenge

Ok, today I havent done much with CS2, because I have been busy working on my new site

YourMemoriesLive.Com

Yep, I am going in to the scrap for hire business. This has been worked on on my side for a few months now, since before Christmas anyway, I have been busy researching other sites, thinking about what my clients would want, having printed off layouts and invitations taking them to friends IRL asking how much would they pay (yep, I am that balsy LOL) after getting all my paperwork sorted out, I contacted Genevieve Sass of Lilac Creative to help with my design and build of my new site. And she surpassed my expections, she is a joy to work with and I would recommend her to anyone looking to build a site.

Anyway, so, my CS2 was limited, I went on to see if there was a way to watermark/copyright my images to post to my site, but dammit, I could see anything. It looks like I need to make a brush.

Hmm, will do it tomorrow.

Hey, c'mon, I have been busy today, cut me some slack LOL

Day 2, in at the deep end

Yesterday I snapped this picture of Sarah climbing onto her swing



Now, these are my favourite kind of pictures, they look like you cant do anything with them, but I LOVE extracting images and making them look like something else.

Like I did here




And yes, I actually did this in photoshop CS2, took me (And I kid you not) 11hrs to do off and on thoughout the day and night.

Now the Magnetic Lasso tool, IMO, in PSE seems easier to use, It could be the detail of the photograph that made it harder in CS2, but for extracting this image in CS2 I found it difficult.

So, here is a tip for easier extracting.

Take your picture, and duplicate it, create a new mask layer, and hide your background layer like so.




Now, notice there is a 'white box' around the mask layer? well take your brush and paint out in black the detail you want to extract




If you make a mistake paint over in white and the erased detail will come back.


When you are done, drag the image onto your paper and add whatever elements you want.

This was a tip that I picked up in PSE, but, for me, I found the magnetic tool easier to work with. Mask layers in PSE seem more cumbersome than CS2. I dont know, maybe its a personal thing

But for CS2, points for masking, and extracting is a lot easier too using this tip :)

Maybe tomorrow I will try something a bit easier ;)

So its day one of my challenge

Ok, this is happening quite by accident!!

Some of my O family have been doing a 21 day habit challenge, Kat, Chris and Sally blogging everyday. And I seem to have been given this 21 day challenge with CS2, mainly because I always uninstall it within 20 secs, my habit is, install, wait, what 10 mins to get it installed (I know the terms of conditions by heart!) open it up, look at it for 20 secs and then say 'F**** this' and uninstal it again.

So, Chris suggested to do this 21 day challenge to make me keep it on, and Kat suggested I blog it so here I am.

I surprised myself, I need to get over this ridiculous fear with CS2 and let go off my blankey which is PSE5.

I tried to scrap a page using Amanda Taylors Scattered Template




And this is the layout;




Now in PSE, its super easy to do, normally, select picture(s) place it above the 'photograph' layer hit ctrl and G to clip picture in, drag in the corners to resize the pictures to proportion. stick on elements, title and paper and voila, page scrapped within 20 mins tops!

NOT, the same conditions with CS2!!

I automatically thought that the conditions would apply, I mean, for goodness sake!! Its an adobe product, surely the people at adobe wouldnt make big differences, I mean, Nintendo dont really with guitar hero on the DS and the Wii. Ok, not a good example there.

I place picture above photograph layer as per usual, and frantically hit CTRL and G to get the picture clicked in.

Nothing..

Nada...

Zilch happening

I am NOT referring to that bloody manual!

Ahh, wait, Amanda Taylor has a tutorial on her blog, Praise the lord for Amanda!!

Its not CTRL & G, its hover the cursor in between the layers, hit alt and click. Damit, Ctrl & G people, its easier!

Then went to resize pictures, I cant seem to drag them in together, which in PSE automatically brings the entire picture into proportion, it wasnt until I got the 2nd picture in, I realised there is a little chain link you click and it would proportion the picture. This took me 20 mins to figure out.

But I think after uploading my layout to the gallery I messed up with some of the resizing and a couple of the pictures looked 'stretched'

So definitely, this layout requires a makeover, and, I think I need to take baby steps with CS2, I will say this for PSE users going to CS, there is a huge learning curve, the commands are very different but, there are a lot of good tutorials out there You Suck At Photoshop is one of them, although WARNING!! If you have not seen that tutorial, please DO NOT open IF you have young ears around you, OR, if you are sensitive to some of the language, namely F words

Although, it is highly hilarious!!

All in all, my layout looks like its beginner status LOL well, for me anyway, but, I do think there is hope for me. I might actually begin to like CS2.....one day!

Conquering my fear of CS2 Day 1

I NEED to do this!!

For those of you who are not following my issues of CS2, let me fill you in briefly.

I have a hubby who understands my passion for digiscrapping, he understands that not only is it a creative outlet and a way of preserving family pictures. It also gives me some sanity, blows away the cobwebs if you like, when I have had a busy, and, often, stressful day with my kiddies. I mean, what mum doesnt.

He is also understanding when I get engrossed in what I am doing and dont venture up to bed until the wee small hours.

Its Christmas 2006 and there is a big box under the tree for me. I open it up and he has bought me Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 2. Seriously I was overjoyed, what an awesome hubby, this was the same guy that bought me the Wacom Bamboo Fun on my birthday ;) (see he understands me)

I have been a PSP girl, then I went to PSE and now I have CS2. CS2 has been installed and unistalled 5 times!! It scares the crap out of me. Its the same fear I have with clows and birds, if I see one it brings me out in a cold sweat!!

I love PSE, I love that it has a photo bin and I love how easy it is to use. The learning curve wasnt hard at all not as hard as it was with PSE.

Now my Oscraps girls have been chewing off my ear about getting CS2 installed again. I did so last night and was about to uninstall it again. The whole layout, the way the pallettes are set on the left hand side looks like its all in a foreign language.

Then Chris had a bright idea. Do a 21 day challenge with CS2, do something simple like open a paper and an element one day, resize the next day, the following day try a hue/saturation adjustment the next.

Even following Amanda's blog she has the amazing and easy to follow tutorials, I always read them and think I am going to try that, so, my pledge is, I am.

So today is going to be day 1 converting from PSE to CS2, I really should uninstal PSE and give DH the disc to hide so I have no choice. But going cold turkey from PSE is just so not an option LOL

So, I am going to try and play with CS2 today and I will report back my findings!!

First off I want to thank Bettina Groh, for uncovering the mystery of frying birds on electricity pylons. Its not little rubber boots that stop them from frizzing, its their little legs not doing the splits across the wires that prevents them from buzzing up over our heads. Big Bird wouldn't stand a chance!!

I promise you Bettina, I have been sleeping well at night knowing that these little flying creatures are pretty bright :) In fact, they are brighter than me, its plainly obvious I sucked at science at school! Biology I did well in funnily enough!

My baby girl is going on holiday tomorrow without me :( My mum has decided to take her to the Isle of Harris which is the Outer Hebridies of Scotland, where my family all hail from, where they speak a funny language called Scots Gaelic, where all the elderly still call me 'agool' which is their way of saying darling child! I havent the heart to tell them I am a 34yr old mother!!

Actually I love it there, so peaceful, great places for the kids to explore and if the weather is great, the beaches are fantastic. Its a very religious Island, although, its getting a bit easier adapting to 'western ways' as the older generation are no longer.

When I was younger, my granny (God rest her sole) threw a fit when she caught me watching T.V on a Sunday, its blasphemous to the ideal that the sabbath was literally the day of rest and I was inviting the devil into the sitting room watching a cartoon!!

Another time, It was a hot hot Sunday afternoon, and my granny was having a nap, so I decided to take a can of coke and a packet of crisps, my Judy Bloom book 'Can you hear me God, its me, Margaret', which, personally I thought was quite a good read for a Sunday, I mean, God is mentioned in the title. But I forgot the time. If I was outside on a Sunday, I had to be back in the house for 2pm as the minibus that was shuttling people from their homes to the church would pass then. Of course I was spotted, and it was mentioned to my granny at the evening service at 8pm (I must point out there are no fewer than 4 services on Sunday, English in the morning and at 6pm, Gaelic at 3pm and 8pm), of course when Granny got home from the evening Gaelic service I got the yelling of my life.

hmmm, The holy spirit wasnt working in her that night.

Anyway, things are a bit more relaxed now on a Sunday, we can go out, we can watch TV and we can cook and quickly run the vaccuum things that were near impossible to do 10yrs ago. But, shops will still be closed as will the Ferry, it wont run on a Sunday, if it did I most likely would go home more often for weekends, but as it is, I can only go during school holidays.

And Sarah loves it, she loves being able to watch the sheep roam free from her bedroom window, in fact, any window. It is a nice sight, particularly at this time of year when the mama sheeps are out with their baby lambs! But, out walking its advised to watch your feet, you never know what you will stand in!!

Cows are a different kettle of fish for me, I am scared senseless of them. Probably due to the fact that I used to have a pony in the field next to my granny's house, well, I actually had to leg it over a field to get to Trigger the pony, literally leg it as Granny had a cow called Oliver, whom she used to feed scraps of anything, probably food stuffs not really recommended to feed to cows. She would give him vegetable peelings, some potato and SAUSAGE, really not the ideal thing to feed cow! Anyway, I would have to cross the field to reach trigger whom I fed actually proper horse feed, granny did try to give him sausage once, the one and only time I disagreed with granny!

So, off I would go with Trigger's feed bucket, climb the barbed wire fence to Olivers field, hear an almighty 'MOOOOOOOOO' then quickly pray to God that I would reach Triggers field as quickly and as painfree as possible, it was a race between Oliver and I. If I loose I would be knocked over by 300+lbs of cow who would stop at nothing to get the bucket, if he looses Trigger would be lapping up his feed happily whilst Oliver would Mooo and grunt at the fencing.

And the fields in Harris are not normal flat fields, they are hilly and boggy so simply running is not possibly, its actually more like a running and jumping combo.

I dont even know why the heck she had a cow, her son in law was/is a butcher, thats what my family are, farmers and butchers, except my father, he is the black sheep of the family, he became a bricklayer. However, she refused to have him served up, but dammit I wished she did, for years after that I had to say Good Morning to Oliver every morning as she had his head mounted when he 'died'

When granny passed away, the first thing that went when we all cleared out the house was Olivers head, still gives me the creeps when I think about it!!

I did have some fun times out there, all my cousins are still there, we all grew up together, the ages between us all range from 30-40 and there are 16 of us, we are all really close, and all of us got married with little gaps, it was constant weddings for 5yrs straight!! and we all had our children with little age difference too, the oldest child is 8 the youngest (my Jamie) at nearly 3.

So its like history repeating itself. I was discussing it with 2 of my cousins who are a year younger than me, and Diane stated it was like when we were all kids, Mhairi her sister stated she didnt know if it was a good thing knowing the things we got up to as kids.

Ahh, that could be another story LOL

Ponder this thought

This evening I was out at my horses. Poo picking if you need to know! As I was shuffling sh&t into my barrow, I heard a buzzing sound.

This was due to rain hitting the electricity pylon above my head, always freaks me out when I hear this sound.

I looked up and saw 5 little sparrows sitting on the pylon, then this thought hit me.

Why are these little suckers not being fried sitting on what is a surge of electricity at elventy billion volts???

Someone enlighten me, I thought I would ask my DH the answer, as he is very intelligent.

His answer, they wear rubber boots

Give me a break, I am stupid, but not that stupid!!

Anyway, ponder that for me, send me the answer and grab yourself some colored stickered alpha!

Link Expired

Kitty Designs is at Oscraps!

Such exciting news. Oscraps is certainley the place to shop now! All the coolest designers are there now!

2wks ago, Kitty designs closed her store at We Are Storytellers. And the confusion and angst amongst the scrappy community was high. Where was she going? That was the question on eveyones lips.

I knew the secret long before then, and I was itching to say 'I know!!!' But, if I had done that, Mama O, aka Vicki, would have kicked my a$$

But, July 1st the secret was out, Miss Kitty Chen is at the O (horray)

I have always admired Kitty, firstly as a scrapper, then as a designer. But, I will admit I was intimidated by her designs. She has the most amazing and talented CT who make her creations look easy. But, I just thought I was not worthy to work with them.

That was until she brought out Sunshine Smiles

The doodles are to die for!!!

So, I thought I would give this kit a try. Even though in the North of Scotland, summer is a rareity! Yes, we have the season called summer, but by all accounts, the sun goes on vaccation, hardly ever shows its bight smiley face in this direction!!

Which explains this layout!!

linked for full credits

Its such a fun kit, I love it!! I altered some of her doodles and made stickers out of them, and also, with the sunglasses, I colored in lenses, using a low opacity brush, then I burned some of the edges to give the impression of glare. I had a lot of fun with this kit, and its the first time I really did any alterations to a kit to make it my own.

So, this, is my must have kit, as you can see from my layout, you dont need to be sunbathing to use it!! LOL Although, I do hope that Mr Sun comes out soon so I can get some summer pics!!

The Crocs have Croaked!

I wasnt going to blog today, I was going to enjoy my (6th) wedding anniversary with my husband. But, his idea of romance is wash the car.

Em, thanks honey, but I'll pass!

So I have let him wash the car with the entire street of children. He looks like the pied piper actually, its quite endearing!

Anyway, Sarah had a DISASTER this morning.

She wanted to go out to play, and she collected her favourite pink Crocs;

They are neatly arranged by my favourite wedges!!

But alas, I heard this most terrible scream, the kind of scream you would have if a large crocodile came wandering into your house, not that we have a huge problem with crocodiles in the most Northen part of Scotland, but imagine you had a Crocodile wander into your home, you wouldnt smile, I quite believe you would really scream too.

Anyway, the screaming was coming from Sarah, and it wasnt due to a real crocodile wandering into her home, its was her Croc shoes which were the issue. Her most favouritst shoes ever!

The Crocs had croaked!!

Now, I knew instantly what the problem was here.

Me; Sarah, what do you think Happened to your Crocs?

Sarah; *sobbing* I dont know mummy, can you fix them, *sob* They are my favouritist!

Me; No Sarah, they cant be fixed, but we will have to get you knew ones as there is noway you can run around like that.

Sarah; Ok then, but can I get the exact same pink Crocs.

Me; We can try......Listen, I know why this happened

Sarah; Why

Me; see these things on your bike, they are called brakes, when you want to stop, you squeeze them. We do not trail our shoes along the ground when you are zooming at speeds over 80 miles an hour because sweetie, this is why holes appear in shoes.

Sarah; Oh ok then, I promise to try and use the brakes, Can we go now, please, can we, can we pleeeeeeeeeassse

So we proceeded to go get the new pink Crocs, and dayumit, could we get pink crocs in her size?!?

NO, is the answer to that.

I told her we will have to find another pair of shoes for her to run around in.

Sarah; Can we get Doodles then

Me; What?! What are Doodles

Sarah; SHOOOOOOOEEESSS

Ok, since when do 5yr olds know more about shoes than I DO!! I am the shoe person in this house. My husband can vouch for me, he sees the bill every month for the shoes I buy! I cant believe that I have never heard of Doodles.

Ok, scrap that, Doodles are shoes specificaly for young feet, I dont require doodles for my own feet.

We got doodles!

And, I have to admit, they are adorable shoes! But dude, seriously, what a price!!

They are cute, but at $50 they are pricey!

So, she loves her new doodles. And the crocs aren't even 10mins cold, but they have been forgotten

Time will tell how long the doodles will last for though!

Is it August yet?

Seriously, I dont think this mummy can make it anymore!! As I said to a friend today, in fact, at a chat over at Oscraps (very improptu chat, we occassionally do that over at Oscraps!) I mentioned that I am going to turn into a chain smoking alcoholic by the time the kids go back to school. And I am a non-smoker and I dont drink.

Ok, the latter is a lie, I occassionally like a glass of wine.

Ok, I like a few glasses of wine.

Alright, already, I like wine!!

Anyway, the point is, I am cracking up. I have had kids in and out, in and out, its like watching human yoyo's!

Dont get me wrong, I love my kids with all my heart, and I adore Sarah's little friends, but seriously, they all for some reason bombard my home be it for food, or drink or the toilet!

One of the other mums told me that it appears I am inexperienced, as this is the first year my daughter has been old enough to go out to play with friends, wheras, Sarah's friends have older siblings and have had a few years to adjust to this version of human yoyo-ing.

I have to treat them like stray cats. Because I constantly fall to their demands of food and drink, they keep coming back.

So, now, I have a great big jug of juice sitting out on the porch, and a bowl of potato chips so they can come and go without disturbing me. Although I do say to Sarah, pop in every so often to tell me what she is doing.

But, they still want in to use the toilet, and they let the dog bid for freedom, 3 times, and my dog is not the most obident dog, she wont recognise the word 'COME' or 'STAY' in fact basic commands for dog language, she doesnt seem to understand.

When Molly was a puppy we took her to puppy school, and she was close to being expelled, but that is another story.

Molly dog in all her finer glory!

Anyway, if you call Molly, or attempt to go and catch her, its like tackling a really fast rugby ball, or, in Harry Potters term its like trying to catch the golden ball when its being released!!

But, there is one girl in particular I dont like Sarah playing with, also the mum (Who I get on really well with) of one of Sarah's BFF doesnt like her DD playing with her either. She is a couple of years older than our girls, and she seems to have latched herself onto them. But, she is a bit of a trouble maker.

I informed Sarah, and Halle (BFF) that they were not allowed to play with or go to this girls house, which was around the corner of the street.

Needless to say, I could not see the girls on our driveway, and when I popped my head out the door, I couldnt see them at Halle's house.

I grabbed Jamie and decided to look for her. Now, I will say, that we live in a very small part of town, where everyone knows everyone and its safe to let our kids go out and play. Of course we need to check on them every now and again.

Anyway, I found both Sarah and Halle at this girls house and I asked them both to come home immediately.

This is the convo with Sarah.

Me; I told you, you were not allowed to go to *insertgirlsname* house

Sarah; Yes, I know you did mummy

Me; So why did you go against my wishes?

Sarah; I dont know what happened mummy, one minute I was playing in our front garden, and the next, my feet were at *insertname* house, they just seemed to have got there themselves.

Now, how in goodness name do you answer that!! Seriously!

Anyway, do you want a new freebie.

Well, as you know, I am a huge fan (and hopefully friend) of Amanda from Taylormade Designs
she always has the most rocking tutorials!!

She recently had a tutorial of turning elements into stickers which I adapted in making text into stickers :)

So, for the first time ever, I have made some wordart stickers :)

Here is the preview


They are all shawdowed wordarts all in PNG format.

If you like them, grab them here

And remember, it would be lovely if you left me a wee comment, it makes me feel good and makes me feel my time spent making these things are worth it :)

(((freehugs))) to everyone

Coffee is a hug in a mug!

I love coffee, I would bathe in it if I could. I am perched on the barstool at the breakfast counter with a darling cup of coffee. The coffee jar and the kettle have been singing to me for at least an hour. But, I have been in the zone, that zone which is bleach!

We are on day 3 of summer term, and I am short of going bald with pulling out my hair. Sarah insists that her entire class need to be at our house! Ok, I slightly exaggerated on the entire class, but she has had, her 2 BFF Halle and Eve round, her SO Aarran, her new BFF Jessica, her not BFF but just a friend Shannon her other SO Jack, they were all here yesterday. When they left my family room and her bedroom looked like it had been bombed! And dont even get me started in the back yard!

So, close to robbing a pharmacy and getting a big stash of prozac I have turned to coffee, by the bucket!!

Of course, this morning as soon as she had eaten her breakfast. I say eaten, I actually did not witness this, I served her pancakes and strawberries, turned around to get my coffee on and her pancakes were gone. The only evidence that she had eaten it was the ring of red around her mouth from the strawberries! She wanted out to play. She was allowed but on the condition that she STAY OUT!! I need to get Ty round from Extreme Makeover for a serious demo of this house! Ok, exaggirating again! I just think Ty is hot!

As soon as she was out, Jamie was escourted to the lounge (which he is only allowed in at Christmas!) and plugged in Nick Jr The ultimate babysitter!! And I got attacking the bombsite in the family room casually throwing out toys that have not seen the light of day for months, and those broken ones that the kids insist they still play with!

4hrs later I am done, and realising that I have not had a coffee since 9am I was all a quiver. That first gulp is like a big hug makes me feel all better, either that, or I am getting high on the smell of bleach, you decide!!

I did a new page of my DD at her 5th birthday party, its a very rare occassion to see her in a dress!!

Linked for full credits

And, I also turned this into a template. Now, before you say anything, it does look like my last one just changed about. But, on closer inspection, you may note that the photo and the square blocks are wavy like, just to give that look of uneven cut.

Preview of template;

The template is a 12x12 in both PSD and TIFF files

and you can grab it here

Have a great day, I am off to refill my coffee mug!!