Muggie's Hollow

Australia did not disappoint!

I headed off to see the movie Australia yesterday afternoon and am happy to say that I loved it. Some of the critics have not been very positive, but I thought it had that kind of old fashioned big epic magic that is missing from so many movies today. The storyline carried me through the almost three hours so effortlessly I could not believe I’d been sitting there for that long (comfortable theatre seats probably helped there LOL!) But the full recipe was there, a dashing hero, a strong heroine, a villian, an adorable child, undeniably magical scenery, lots of drama, a romance, a love story, a history lesson and a happy ending… sigh… it was a really good romp and worth seeing on the big screen!!!

The sun was shining when I woke this morning and I am thinking that in addition to some scrapping I will get out and enjoy the sunny yet chilly day. We've been in low single digits since I landed in Amsterdam last Friday and they are calling for highs below zero by the end of this week - along with snow!! So much for only one snow fall this year, looks like 2009 is going to start on a chillier note!

So to keep warm I am sharing a couple of layouts with photos from my trip home this summer. Both are based on sketches posted on the Scrap Delight forum earlier this month and both are a bit of an out of the box for me. The first "Commune" uses fairly muted colours, which is not like me and although the second, "Let's get Granny", is brighter I distressed the edge of the papers instead of my usual clean look, lifting a technique which is a look popular with the ladies I scrap with over here. TFL!

Paper-DCWV & MME, flowers-Prima, brads-MM, rubons-FancyPants, stickers-Carolee's Creation, diecuts(flowers & swirl)-BossKut, diecut(circle)-Spellbinders, ink-Ranger

Paper & flowers-Prima, CS-Bazzill, diecuts(swirl)-Bosskut, diecuts(letters, flowers & heart)-Quickutz, diecuts-Spellbinders(scalloped circle), buttons-MM, stickers-Carolee's Creations

All is calm, all is bright!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I had a great day with friends here in Germany even though I greatly missed my family who were for the most part able to celebrate together in Ottawa. I managed to get through on busy trans-Atlantic lines to talk to those in Ottawa but was unable to connect with Milwaukee where my older sister and family were celebrating when I tried. I will try again tomorrow once I am back in Amsterdam. Unfortunately there seem to have been a number of cold and tummy bugs running through Ottawa so people were not 100% but I hope that the week between Christmas and New Years is better for all.

I share tonight a couple of more seasonally appropriate layouts done for Scrap Delight and featured in the latest amazing issue of Scrap Delight Extra. For one of this issue's assignments Michelle asked me to do take more or less the same design and photos and just vary the colours to show how much of a difference that can make. The first follows the colours from the photo to give a softer look and for the second I chose red and green which pump up the energy a bit. Very interesting to experiment with the impact of colour palate! Of note, I love both of the resulting layouts, but obviously not as much as the little tyke featured even if I do call him a 'flake' and my Mum's bunny mittens rock!!

Supplies used: cardstock-Bazzill, patterned paper & stamps-Basic Grey, ink-Colorbox, diecuts-Spellbinders, Quickutz, Sizziz, Cuttlebug, embossing folder-Cuttlebug, rub-ons-American Crafts, ribbon-Offray, brad-Queen & Co.

Wishing you all a merry Christmas!!!

Here is hoping the post finds you comfy and cozy and surrounded by friends and loved ones. No snow has arrived so it looks like it will not be a white Christmas, but the lake is beautiful and it is still very 'Christmasy' in this lovely lively little town. Today will be spent on last minute errands before the shops close at noon and the afternoon will, I am sure, bring some singing and embibing of good cheer. Tonight we will go to church and then have what Joanne calls an extended fondue. Following that as is the tradition in Germany on Christmas Eve we will open gifts (at least the German bought ones!!). Tomorrow I will feast on frittata in the morning and pheasant breast and lemon roasted potatoes in the evening! I should probably ask Santa for a good diet as Joanne is such a great cook I am sure I will go home heavier than when I came! I wish you all near and far a most merry Christmas day!!

Today I am sharing two very UN-Christmasy layouts featuring Calvin. The first is of him expressing his delight as he showed off his swimming prowess after his father had swung him off the dock (albeit aided by a life jacket) and the second is of a moment that all three generations of the Lloyd males who were present were most proud of - his first fish! Actually I think his dad might have been proudest!

Greetings from a recently snowy Germany!

I was pretty excited as it was snowing when I landed in Zurich and the snow got thicker and thicker after I was picked up for the one hour into Germany. I've visited Uberlingen a few times but never following a snow fall and it was beautiful with all the snow decorating the trees. We could not even see the lake because there was major mist happening. Unfortunately after being colder and snowing for a few days it warmed up today and started raining.  We've now said good-bye to most of the snow and it won't be a white Christmas unless more falls - my fingers are crossed! 

I will chick sit for my friends tomorrow and Sunday to give them a brief 36 hours away from their daughter to do some Christmas shopping and whatever else couples do when they escape for a while... I have a few tasks while playing child minder though. Tomorrow I have to turn a horse riding helmet into an elegant wide brimmed sun hat as Anna will star in a show with the rest of the children and ladies that are in her horseback riding class and she is to dress up as an elegant lady. Although it is going to take a little ingenuity I figure a scrapper should be up to the task and I'll be taking lots of photos as I can see it making a great page. I have also been charged with making Christmas cookies so that will be another photo opp!

Today I share a recent simple LO of a not so recent event - my little sister's wedding day (wasn't she just sparkling!) This layout is based on a sketch posted on ScrapDelight and when I posted it there someone asked if the photos were taken at Keukenhof which is a real compliment to the Ottawa Tulip Festival. TFL.

A dearth of Xmas spirit!!

I won't say "Bah humbug!", but maybe I should have gotten that Christmas tree after all. I am having a bit of trouble getting into the spirit of things this year... even listening to carols for two straight days has not really done it. Time to pull out the big guns and play the Muppets Christmas CD over and over! LOL! It may also help next week when I start wrapping the few gifts I will be giving personally this year - this year most of mine were purchased on-line and sent direct or are being looked after by elves on my behest so that certainly hasn't helped. I find Christmas shopping is one sure way to get into the thick of it.

I fly to Germany for work for the last few days prior to the holidays next week and then will spend Christmas with friends there before flying back to Amsterdam on Boxing Day. Maybe a German Christmas Market will help getting the old Christmas spirit working!!! The naked kitties will be receiving food from me of course. Why of course you ask? Well it will be no surprise to those that know them that food is ALL that is on their list.  The cat sitter will have extra work on Christmas day to lay out their feast for them and I am sure I will spoil them again on the 26th.  I also understand there may be a few treats for them on the way from Canada so they will be well taken care of this year!

I spent most of the weekend finishing up projects for ScrapDelight and Christmas and am panicking a bit that I still have to get the last of the Christmas cards written and off. But instead of getting to that I dug out a simple spread I started this summer when visiting my sister's and finished it off (thought it might help to get those dancing visions of sugar plums going). Funny how one seems to scrap summer photos in the colder months and vice versa!! I loved the cute paper from My Minds Eye on sight and it was perfect for these photos of Moo and family going to cut down a real Christmas tree. Although there wasn't room for the whole story on the LO (and there was a story!!) the photos bring it all back along with a big smile! I tried to be clever and build a bit of a tree shape with the photos on the second page... not sure it really worked though. LOL! TFL!

Big day today...

The World Health Organization released the World and European reports on child injury prevention today, which will hopefully result in new focus and attention to this important issue. As a contributor to both full reports, one of the writers of the executive summary and fact sheets accompanying the World report, and a lead member of the team responsible for the text and educational concepts in the child friendly version (which was also released today), I am both proud of the resulting documents and excited at what the next months might bring. In particular my family members can check out the the  child friendly version which was the project that kept me tied to my computer during my visit to Canada this summer.

The two layouts below use photos from this summer as proof that there were actually times spent away from the computer when I was attached to the camera instead ;-) The first is of my nephew Cameron who love his time at the cottage known as Lloyd's Landing and the second is a sweet one of Rachel using some SEI paper that I wish I had had when I scrapped my trip to India. TFL!

Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) cometh...

Well back safe and sound from Malta.  I really enjoyed my week and it was very productive from a work perspective, but as great as it is to get to travel I like my own space. 

Christmas is now around the corner and the cards are not done, gifts are only half looked after and I am yet to get into the spirit! They were selling Christmas trees today and it was tempting as everyone I saw was in a happy mood as Sinterklaas made his rounds on Friday with goodies for the Dutch kiddies with the help of Zwarte Piet. It is said that the celebration of Santa Claus and his elves in North America owes its tradition to the Dutch settlers who brought Sinterklaas over (they celebrate the Feast of Saint Nicholas on the eve of the Saint's day). However unlike Santa Claus, Sinterklaas lives in Spain and travels by boat and horse not reindeer and sleigh. At any rate despite the smiling faces the temptation of the tree was quickly tempered with visions of dragging a needle dropping nightmare back down four flights of stairs in a few weeks and then having to clean up after it... at least I got a giggle out of the notion!

On a creative note I received a bunch of new digital photos from my sister and brother-in-law this week so hope to be happily scrapping them over the next few weeks. Today I share another layout of Rachel (she is just too cute and I have all these fun girlie papers I want to play with including these ones from Basic Grey's Sugared collection) and as promised some photos from Malta which will eventually find their way into a mini scrapbook or onto a scrapbook page. The first two are Valetta and the second two are Mdina (the silent city).