It's Happened!!!

I promised some exciting news and finally it has happened!! My first full kit is in (wait for it) my store at Digiridoo Scraps! Blessed is the result of a color pallette which reminded me of all the amazing, wonderful things I have in my life.

I am oh so very excited! It's awesome to see it in the store :)

To celebrate, I have a freebie mini kit for you guys.

You can grab Bright Side of Life here. I hope you like it! And don't forget to check out Scrappy Bits 'n Pieces by Becky (and buy my kit ;)

Here are some LOs using Blessed

by Jane

by Mumeroo

"Kiss Me""

After we came home from our time away with my family James and I noticed Ellie had started saying "Kiss me." It was so adorable, neither one of us could resist giving her a smooch on the cheek whenever she said it, and really, who could? Then, one day I noticed that, while she was quite happy (or maybe the word I want is reserved) to let us give her a kiss, she did seem somewhat annoyed at the same time. I gave her a quick kiss and then asked her if that was what she wanted. She shook her head and said no, so I asked her to repeat what she was saying so I could try and translate.

Eventually, I realised her "Kiss me" was, infact, "Excuse me". How cute is that? I sometimes still laugh when I think about the poor thing saying excuse me and getting kisses - I wonder what she thought? Probably something along the lines of  'Silly Mum/Dad' with an appropriate sigh, of course!!!

I think it's beautiful that she has manners. I remember reading somewhere that children don't use or understand manners until they're older, but I disagree. Ellie understands manners are the nice way to say something/ask for something. She's even started saying "Your welcon" to James and I when we say thank you to her. It warms my heart :)

And Kahlei said Ta that other day! It was some unnatural time of morning and she was in our bed, meant to be sleeping and she took out her dummy and gave it to me, saying "Ta" and then she took it back and said it again. Ahh, I love manners!

Not that they don't have they're moments - Ellie loves to tell me "Give me it. Now!" when she's in a mood. Thankfully, that's not the only way she speaks! She understands that I will not respond when she speaks like this, but that doesn't stop her trying it!

Before I go, I created a template today for a tutorial on using them, so I thought I would share it.



You can download it here. Please leave some love if you grab it and I would love to see how you use it!

Avon Calling... Again??

Just after I finished work as an Insurance Consultant, before Ellie was born, I had a wonderful plan to become an Avon representative. I figured it would bring in a little extra money and once I had a baby it would help me get back into shape. So, I started out, all excited about the prospect of this little enterprise.

So, I did my rounds and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, I ended up spending more money on the brochures than what I made - in fact I only got one order the whole time and that was because my mum was wonderful enough to 'need' something. In the end it was taking so much time and energy and costing us money so I gave it away.

From time to time they have sent me a brochure to look at and asked if I am interested in joining again, as nobody has taken over my territory. Each time I have politely decined. With the two girls and my previous experience I couldn't really see it working out.

But, now I am desperate to make some kind of money to help us along. Just a little. We need to get so much done to the house to have it ready to sell and we need to save whatever we can so that when it does go on the market we can be ready to move.

Back in July I revived my RedBubble account and started adding new content, hoping that a little money would come my way. No such luck. I have still not sold a thing. I suppose that's just not my thing. It's a pity because I really enjoy it and would love for it to be more than a hobby.

I have also started dabbling in designing digital scrapbooking kits (go here for my latest freebie, if you haven't already). I love it. I am currently halfway through designing my very first full kit. I am excited. And, again I would love for this to bring in a little money, but I don't know how exactly that can happen. I don't want to commit to a store time that I do not have to give and I don't want to feel pressured to meet specific deadlines which might interfere with my time with the girls. I don't know if there are stores out there with flexible commitment requirements who are willing to take on a newbie like me. I will have to do some research on that... But, currently, I am thinking this wont be what I want it to be, either.

Which leaves Avon or the like. I can't go out to work becasue we simply cannot afford childcare and I want to be with my girls. I honestly don't know what to do to bring in a few extra dollars. I keep telling myself there has to be something I can do, but everything seems to fizzle out or be a deadend. Maybe people want Avon products now?? Ideas, anyone??

Just because I can, here are my latest uploads to RedBubble







(Images are linked)

And for those of you who are interested in checking out my newest layouts, head over to my CT Blog. I was having WAY too much trouble uploading them here. Don't forget to leave me some love :)

xoxo

As Promised :)

Here is my newest freebie!!!



You can download it here. I'd love to hear what you think.

Now, I am looking for some creative people to join me as a sorf of  'Creative Team' to get my designs out there and to give me feedback on my products. I hope to have a full kit finished sometime soon and will give the people that help me out now the opportunity to stay on as permanent CT if they decide they want to. If you're interested, email me a little bit about yourself at beckyandjames @ beckyandjames DOT com.

An old school friend was lovely enough to whip me up a gorgeous LO of her daughter. I'm thrilled to have her aboard!

My First Mini!!

I have just finished my very first mini kit! It's for the August Color Challenge over at Enchanted Studio Scraps. I really loved doing it, once I got into it anyway. At the start I struggled to get going until I made a paper I really liked and from there I was able to complete the rest!

You can download it here. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think if you download it - thanks :)

Ellie is sick now, too. James is a little under the weather and I can feel something coming on. It's so annoying! I still haven't looked thru the photos from Ellie's birthday, but here's one from that day at the park.



We gave her a doll's house with a barbie and some In The Night Garden figurines to play with and she loves it. She has all her little people sitting or sleeping - or going to the potty, lol. She has a wonderful imagination.

Sounds like Kahlei is awake already, so I had better go and get her.

It's That Time Again!

For round three of BOTCT we had to come up with and work to a formula as a team.

Our formula was;
10 – flowers
9 – buttons
8 – staples
7 – leaves
6 – ribbons
5 – stitches
4 – papers
3 - swirls
2 - pics
1 - Alpha

And here is my Layout



I really struggled with this, I simply do not scrap this way. I start with a kit or a photo and go from there - adding what I feel is needed as I see fit. Starting with a list and creating to fit that really put me off, but in the end I actually love what I finished with.

Check out the amazing layouts Erin, Jenn, Sarah and Brenda created here.

In keeping with the last two weeks I have another freebie for you to pick up and all I ask in return is that you vote COLOR ME CRAZY!



You can download it here. I'd love to hear what you think!

Okay, it seems Ellie isn't going to sleep again today (the neighbours are having work done and it's noisy). It's going to be a loooonnnggg week!

VOTE COLOR ME CRAZY!!
Thank you :)

Design Me This Freebie

This month's Design Me This challenge at Digiridoo Scraps has been more of a stretch for me than the previous months. I really struggled with the way my elements were coming out and with the coloring of certain things. Anyways, I finally finished a few that I was kinda happy with:



You can download it here. I would love to hear what you think and if you use them, see what you come up with!

Now - here are my newest LOs

Digiridoo Scraps:

Tough Stuff by Jscrapbug

Zoolander by Scrap'it Designs

Twilight by Sarah Barber Design

***

Sláinte! by Jeanette Bollinger

Tomorrow I will be back to post my BOTCT layout and probably another freebie :) Goodnight all.

BOTCT Week 2 Freebies

It's that time again! This competition sure goes fast, as soon as you've uploaded a layout you're thinking about the next one. This week the theme was to incorporate a musical theme into our layouts. We - team Color Me Crazy - decided on the song 1, 2, 3, 4 by Plain White Tee's. Each of us used a different verse on our layout, for which we used Color With Caryn's Happily kit and scrapped our significant other. Only them. No kiddos, no wives just our lovely men.

Here is what I came up with



Pop on over to the Color Me Crazy thread to check out the awesome work Brenda, Erin, Jenn and Sarah have turned in for this round. Don't forget to leave them some love. Once you've had a look-see don't forget to vote for us!!

This week I have created my first ever template and wordart. I hope you like it :)

Download

Download

Caryn's Happily kit is currently 50% off, so be quick to pick it up and make your own layout about your significant other!! And don't forget to VOTE for us! Thanks guys :)

Inconsiderate + Layout Overload + Freebie

I haven't written much here about our neighbour, possibly because I have nothing positive to say about the lady. As a rule I disagree with the use of 'Bitch' to describe women, but in this case it is truelly fitting. She hasn't spoken to us in 6 and a half months after she decided to yell at James on our front lawn. We were in a hurry to get to the Doctors and he didn't have time to stop and talk to her about the fact taht she had hired a man to prune (hack) the trees in our front yard (on common property) and had taken the money out of our joint account without so much as a word to us. Once we got home, she had a fit about how we parked our car and came around banging on the front door while Ellie was having a sleep. Since that day (a day before Kahlei's birth) she hasn't said a word to us. Instead, she makes it known that she doesn't like us by being as loud as possible when the babies are trying to sleep -  stamping up and down her front steps, practically yelling when she speaks and general annoyances. But, today she surparssed all, even the times she used to yell for James to come talk to her from her verandah or phone us and demand he come around for any whim that took he fancy. More so than her ripping us off in how we split our bills and suggesting that she should pay even less.

This morning she had a garage sale. On common property. Without a single word to us. Luckily, James's mum phoned last night to warn us, otherwise I think James would have stormed out there when all the noise drew his attention to the people milling around on our driveway, near his car and all the cars in our street parking us in. Last night her family arrived late, making as much noise as could be possible and then this morning they started scraping the furniture from out the back to take down to the street (which is right next to my head in bed).

To save James from making a scene (mainly because we have to stay in this street) we went to visit his mum. Ellie had a lovely time playing with the dogs, cat and watching the fish.

And when we came home we decided to get into the house as noisily as she normally doe (yes, a little childish, but it was fun) and boy she must use a whole lot of energy to be so loud and annoying!!!!!!

Anyway, she will be gone soon and we'll have new neighbours. I really hope it's somebody nice and we don't have any dramas.

Now, I have some layouts to post :)

Digiridoo Scraps Designers:


Spice of Life collab kit by The Digiridoo designers


Sweet Turtles by Designs by Pebbles


Counrty Charm by DigiDesigned byWilma


Country Charm by DigiDesigned byWilma


Tangerine by Sarah Barber Designs


Template Pack 2 by Felicia Staulters
Zoo Friends by Felicia Staulters


Family Time Word Art by Felicia Staulters
A Day Just For Dad Remixed by Inspiredbydominic Designs

Oh, also - I have some Sims 3 Inspired Papers available for download here

June Design Me This + P365

I have been a bad, bad blogger of late... but with two sick babies, a sick hubby and feeling under the weather myself I have found it too hard to wade through the fog that is my brain.

The girls are still sniffly and not sleeping great at night but they have improved. Ellie is well enough to run around all day like a nut and for the past three days has cut her day sleep down to an hour. Can't say I'm thrilled with that, especially as she was up during the night last night.

Okay, on to a catch up for P365!

Day 123: Backyard Safari

Day 124: Sisterly Love :)

Day 125: Beauty

Day 126: Tree View

Day 127: Tootsies

Day 128: Blue What?

We've had sooo much rain and cloudy weather it's a relief to finally have some sun!

Day 129: Flower

I have no idea what kind of flower this is (James?), I've taken it for the Digiridoo Scraps June Photo Challenge

Now, this month's Design Me This Challenge has really had me stumped. I've been playing with my papers since my birthday and nothing has really come up the way I wanted. Finally, I have come up with four papers I can live with

If you like them you can download them here (click image to view larger preview).

Well, I best be off - really need a nap!! Before I go; check out my picks for Twilight Character Sims 3 downloads. Do you have a completely different view of the characters from the books??

My First Freebie

I am very excited to post my first attempt at digi scrap designing! I have often thought about trying my hand at creating some papers, but have been at a loss as to where exactly to start, so when I came across the Design Me This challenge over at Digiridoo Scraps I was thrilled. The challenge for May was to design a solid and a patterned paper. I was inspired by the beautiful colours of Autumn.

Without any further ado (mostly due to a crying babe), I would like to share with you my Autumn Leaves papers

If you like, feel free to download! If you do, please leave a comment :)