Wednesday Weigh-in, and Scrap Camp!

Ok, so here's the delayed report on last Wednesday's weigh-in... I guess that the 10 days or so of enforced rest is finally catching up with me.  I put on 600gms.  Not a great deal I guess, but disappointing all the same. 

I had been forced to rest by some very nasty abdominal pains, which my GP suspected may have been caused by an ovarian cyst or something similar.  I am pleased to report (following a most glamorous scan) that this was not the case, and it appears that a nerve was trapped between the walls of a torn abdominal muscle, causing some particularly uncomfortable spasms when I happened to move the wrong way.  For now (touch wood) that seems to have sorted itself out, as I went for my first run/walk on Saturday morning.  First bit of exercise in 10 days, and boy did I feel it later on! 

Exercise of any sort was an achievement in itself, as I was away at Scrap Camp.  Yes, we have just had the last ever (organised by Rachel, at least) Embellish It Raincliff Retreat.  As usual, it was a complete blast, and I am completely knackered!  The Raincliff Youth Camp is one of those kitschy 70's throwbacks that is ideal for school camps, and of course, scrapbooking weekends! 

It has 12 bunk rooms, that each sleep 6 people, (6 bunk rooms on either side of the main hall) as well as a room just off the main hall for another 2 people (right next door to two wheelchair friendly toilet/shower rooms).  There are basic (but adequate) shower/toilet facilities, as well as a large, catering friendly kitchen with walk in fridge etc.  And the bonus of all this?  It's only about 40 minutes from town.  Nice!  So, for the incredibly reasonable cost of $110 each, we had Saturday breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and tea, as well as Sunday breakfast, morning tea and lunch, all cooked/served to us (and cleaned up) without us having to lift so much as a finger ourselves.  I should mention that the kitchen staff were in fact Rachel's Mum and Dad, her Auntie Cicely, and a nice young man by the name of Michael (a cousin?).  They did a FAB job, as always.

I headed out there straight from work at 3pm on Friday afternoon to help set up, then it was all go, go go!  Amid all the talking (and a little bit of drinking), I managed to get 5 things made over the course of the weekend.  I made a Thank you Card for Rachel on behalf of all us campers (although not your ordinary card, it was a really large canvas one with Prima papers quilted onto the front, then covered with scrummy prima flowers.  I will have to get Rach to send me a photo of it so that you can see what I mean. 

Then I did 3 layouts (photos below), and got a Father's Day card 99% finished, all before we had to pack up and head home straight after lunch on Sunday.  So I achieved a LOT.  This might have had something to do with the fact that I slept VERY LITTLE!  Bedtime on Friday night was 2am Saturday, and I was back up again at 7.30am.  Bedtime on Saturday was 4.20am Sunday, and I was up again at 8am.  When I got home at 2pm on Sunday afternoon, I gave my boys a hug and a kiss, then went to bed for 2 hours! 

You see, I have a wonderful husband who knows to expect this after camp, and doesn't seem to mind too much.  (Thanks honey, xxx)  And I should mention that the grocery shopping was done and put away, and that the house was tidier than when I left it.  Fab.  What a treat!  My boys ROCK!

So, I can hear you saying "Come on, show us your layouts..."  Well here they are:

Layout 1 - My Great Grandparents (from my mother's side of the family).  These are the only two photos that I have of these grandparents.  The baby in the photo on the left is me, circa 1975!  I used a pink ribbon charm because Jessie Kearns (my Nanny's mother) died from Breast Cancer.

Paper:  Prima, Flowers:  Prima and small roses from Embellish It, Alphas: both Prima, Charms:  Dragonfly charms from Embellish It, Pink Ribbon Charm, Other:  German Scrap (around photo edges), Dimensional Magic (on cardstock alphas)

Layout 2 - Pitcrew in Training.  J decided he had to have a go at the tyre changing competition that The Front Store ran as part of the entertainment during the summer race meeting out at Levels.  He had to stand on two drill boxes in order to be tall enough to reach!

Paper:  Teresa Collins Junkitz, Large Chipboard Cogs:  Dusty Attic, Small metal cogs/screws:  Tim Holtz, Title Lettering:  Cuttlebug Alpha 'Red Tag Sale' (shadowing cut by hand), Other:  Dimensional Magic (on chipboard cogs)

Layout 3 - Make and Take Prima Paintables Layout, Me, age 4.  For the Make and Take we were given one sheet of Prima Paintables, one sheet of Bazzill of our choice, and some Dusty Attic and other embellishments.  The only condition in order to go in the draw for $80 worth of Dusty Attic product was that we had to use the Prima Paintables, in combination with any other papers/embellishments of our choosing.  Jo showed us how to make cardstock flowers using a retro flower punch, a brad and some water.  Seriously VERY COOL technique.  I made ALL of the flowers on this layout myself!  Awesome!!!  I coloured the paintables paper with Distress Inks using a water pen.

Paper:  Prima Paintables, Cardstock:  Bazzill, Flowers:  Made by moi, Journalling Block:  Prima Stamp, Journalling:  Hero Arts Alpha Stamps, Chipboard fence:  Dusty Attic, Bling Bird: made by me using Bazzill Bling Template, Other:  Vines and leaves from Embellish It, Shipping Tag from Dowells Office Products, Chandelier Charm by Heidi Swapp.

And of course there are the obligatory Camp photos of us gals....

Me, Nic and Kath, drinking our 'Mocktails' on Saturday night

Back, L-R:  Brenda, Nic, Jo, Shirelle
Front, L-R:  Me, Kath

L-R:  Kath, Me, Shirelle, Brenda, Nic

So, that is that, you're all up to date!  I'm hoping to get to Zumba tomorrow night, and before I know it, it'll be Wednesday Weigh-in again.  Rolls round pretty fast from week to week!  For now though, I am going to watch the end of The Mentalist, and head off to bed.

Toodles!

 

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in...

Well, this week was another good'un... Loss for the week 1.3kg, running total now 3.5kg.  FANTASTIC! 

A nice surprise, given that I was on enforced rest, and unable to exercise since last Friday.  Must have helped that I was off my food and missed a couple of meals.  Just don't tell my leader that, ok?!

And speaking of last Friday, Dancing on Ice has now finished :(  What am I going to do THIS Friday night?  I will be at a loss without my weekly dose of glamour and excitement. And no, I'm not kidding!  Although I was super pleased that Hayley and Dan won - they were my favourites right from week one....and their Bolero?   AWESOME.  No other word for it.  Hayley and Dan put Gary and Maria to shame.  No contest.  So now, I am lusting after this at Amazon.co.uk....

Even with shipping to NZ, it will only cost about $32.  Not bad.  Especially for a 3-DVD boxed set.  Seasons 1, 2 and 3.  (We have just had season 5 here).

I have been working on a little sewing project this week, which I hope to finish tonight and reveal once complete.  for now, it's a secret! 

Anyhoo, must dash, lunches to pack, school drop-offs to be done, work to get to.  Ho hum. Toodles,

Here's the other one...

Here's what Mum's finished canvas looks like...

We have quite different takes on the same basic project huh?! 

She painted her canvas base with a testpot that matched a living area in her house, and it looks just FAB on the wall.  She used some of her recently-learned techniques from SENZ too - altering the colour of the papers (and ribbon) with distress ink, and using her Tim Holtz distresser on the edges of the paper to 'rough them up' a bit.  Then she added some Prima Say It In Pearls Bling, some wings, flowers, buttons and a cross to finish it off.  VERY, VERY COOL!

Creative canvas, weekly weigh-in and a new reading packet!

Finally I get a chance to catch you up on what we've been doing!  Mum and I finished our canvases last week (although I still have to get her to email me pics of hers).  Here's how mine turned out...

I coloured it with Ranger Faded Jeans Distress Ink, then got busy covering it up with gorgeous Prima flowers and bling, and Dusty Attic chipboard.  The two stamped pieces (background of wire dress form, and quote) were coloured with Faded Jeans, Shabby Shutters and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks.  The mini flowers were too pink (can't believe that I just said that - ME, the pink queen!), so I coloured them up with a bit of Spiced Marmalade so that they matched the larger flowers better.  Here's a couple close-ups...

I was really pleased with how it turned out.  Huge thanks to Nic who loaned us the stamps to have a play with.  SO much fun!  They will be winging their way back to you real soon Nic, promise.

Weigh-in was on Wednesday.  Not a great result, but a result all the same - lost 400gms.  I was a bit disappointed, but who wouldn't be after having lost nearly 2kg the week before.  You can't keep producing losses of that size every week, huh?  Oh well... a loss is still a loss.  Running total?  2.2kg thus far. 

I have been trying to get out for an evening walk twice a week, doing drills on the Soundshell stairs twice a week, and also going to Zumba with Mum.  It's all gotta be helping, right?  Right! And when I say the Soundshell stairs, for those of you who aren't locals, these are what I mean...

Not exactly an INSIGNIFICANT set of stairs! ROFLMAO!

And what else have I been up to this week?  Well, last night after Zumba (and this morning before work), I made J a new reading packet for school.  His one fell apart last week.  I've had this motorbike fabric sitting around for a few months wondering what to make it into for him, and then it struck me!  All I needed to buy was some PVC and some velcro, as I already had black lining left over from another project, and enough other fabric to make a binding for the edges.  So here it goes...

He just LOVES it.  He didn't want to put it in his bag to take it to school this morning, he had to carry it (with great pride, I might add!) 

And once in his classroom, he had to show it to absolutely EVERYONE. I even heard one little boy remark on how cool it was, and J replied 'I know, my Mum could make you one too' !!!  I think not.  One is enough for now.

And that, my dears, is that.  This week in a (rather large) nutshell.  This weekend?  Well, we're having tea at Mum's tonight cos my sister is down from Auckland for a few days (with a really cute baby bump on board!), and we haven't planned much else for the weekend.  I think the boys are going for a ride on their motorbikes tomorrow afternoon, and I spose I'd better prune my roses (if the weather holds out) as they are long overdue some attention. 

Oh, and THE FINAL of Dancing on Ice is on tonight... my FAVOURITE program on telly at the moment.  Excited to see the final, but disappointed that it is coming to an end :( . 

What are YOU up to?

Much better this time...

...thank goodness :)

I went to weigh-in tonight with a touch of trepidation.  I've been on Prednisone for the last week to try and shake a really nasty cough, and the doctor warned me that it may not do me any favours on the scales.  So I dragged myself along to WW, expecting nothing brilliant, but hoping like crazy for a good result.  I have been eating SO much better, and even getting off my butt and exercising a little.  Luckily all my hard work this week has paid off though... Loss of 1.9kg!

I have decided that the key (for me, anyway) is preparation.  If I have to grab something in a hurry, I never grab the right things.  That's just me.  BUT if I make the time in the morning to make myself a tortilla wrap for lunch (with hommus, shaved chicken, celery, red onion and baby rocket leaves - yummo), and prepack myself something for morning and afternoon tea, then I eat well all day.  If I get tempted to slip, then the gateway is open for all kinds of disaster!

So I decided to get myself a treat on the way home from the meeting.  But not in the way that you might think.  Oddly enough, this chocoholic chick didn't stop off at the dairy for a chocolate bar.  I went to New World and bought myself a WW frozen meal, and a WW dessert!  Satay Beef Wrap (Beef, Rice and Green Beans in a Tortilla) for tea, then a pottle of Butterscotch ice-cream for dessert.  $8.44 for both, and each has two serves in it, so I still have yummy treats in the freezer for another night.  Bonus!

On the crafting front, Mum and I spent some time tonight doing the tissue/gesso thing on a couple of 12x12" canvases which we are going to colour-up and decorate tomorrow, so more on that then.

For now, it's bedtime.  I am tired.  Although it's a good, healthy tired.  If that makes sense?!

Nighty-night!