Monday, August 30, 2010

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!

 

5 comments:

Bronwyn said...

Way to go Becks you achieved heaps - awesome stuff

Rachel said...

Awesome post Beck might have to pinch a photo of your group :-)
Have taken a photo of the fab card you made and will hopefully do a post today. Glad you are feeling better.
And again thank you SO very much for ALL your help for EVERY camp and crop it is much appreciated - more than you realise :-)
A big thank you for organising the thank you pressie for me and mum, dad and aunty we all feel sad that it was the last one with us at the helm anyway and hope that it continues and I can sit and scrap to the wee hours too!

Trace said...

Hi Becks, now I know who the girls are talking about lol (as in "did you see Becks?). You were my kitchen buddy eh, when we were both making our dinner on Saturday night. That card you made for Rach, was out of this world - just fantastic.

mandyb said...

hey firstly the ww weigh in.... i have had a few weeks like that!!! and i was so annoyed....but i can now see that my body does that often...nothing i can do about it!!! hang in there!!

and.....i LOVE all the layouts and pics...sounds fun!!! hope you have caught up on all that MISSED sleep!!! lol!!

topkatnz said...

Don't you hate weigh-ins like that?! never mind, not much you can do in retrospect.It can be a battle this weight-loss thing! Looks and sounds like you had a fab time at Raincliff! If I'd known Trace was heading down...! Just LOVE all your LOs - esp. the Grandparents one! so pretty! well done you!