tulips. and a couple 'o pansies.

Yes, spring has definitely sprung. Can you tell the yellow tulips are my favorite?

We had the most gorgeous weather day today and we celebrated the welcomed warmth by heading to the Botanical Gardens. I've been wanting to catch the spring blooms at their peak for years. I'm so glad we finally made the time. Dogs were there en masse, so the pups had a blast and drank 4 bowls of water when we got back to the car. Unfortunately, it didn't work out to meet Ollie and fam this time.

One other thing, Jeremy has rechristened Kai, Keinstein. At the duck pond, she sniffed a nice chunk of bread under the gate. She tried several times to squeeze that little snout of hers under to get it, but it was just out of reach. She stood up, regained her composure, as she had a bit of an audience by now. She went back in, this time on her side and used her paw to swoop it out. What a trip. Poor Berkley wouldn't have stood a chance.

an all-time low

If Jeremy thinks I've reached a new all-time low in the scrapping arena, I wouldn't argue. This morning I enlisted his help to paint the dogs' paws black. Berkley squealed twice--in pain, not delight--and Kai, well, she was just freaked out.

Sorry dogs.

But I got what I wanted in the end. As well as a few bonus black paw prints on the deck.

Sorry Jeremy.

In other news...

Last night I scrapped through a 5.0 earthquake centered about 50 km from here. Interesting. The lights flickered a bit. Glad I wasn't in the middle of painting, because let me tell you, I was a painting fiend until approximately 1:33 this morning. Kai was a bit alarmed, but she quickly fell back to sleep at my feet. Jeremy and Berkley slept right through it. Boys.

I love that I can actually walk around in my new office. At least I can when I don't have 9 pages on the go at once. And as you may have guessed, they all involve paint. I used 14 paintbrushes last night. Definitely a record for this "light on the time-consuming techniques" scrapper.

Finally, for someone who never felt artistic, I love that this is my world right now...

connections

Ali Edward's October 2006 article about connections really resonated with me. I spend a lot of time scrapbooking the obvious connections, the ones in my day-to-day life. But after reading the article, I was inspired to make this layout about my connection with one of my favorite high school teachers. She impacted me so profoundly. She taught me so much. Sadly she died very unexpectedly 7 years after I finished high school. She was only 43. The photo was taken 10 years earlier when she was my age.

I love that the photo is so far from perfect. It doesn't matter. I don't need to see her face to remember exactly what she looked like.

i no longer need to use my imagination...

My niece is now nearly 4 weeks old and I have finally seen some photos of her! Until now, pretty much all I knew was that she was born with a head full of black hair (who could blame me for having the image of Suri in my head), that she took the title for biggest baby away from me, and that she had a very difficult birth. She is my 22nd niece/nephew and I can't wait to meet her in person.

After a bit of begging, pleading, long distance arm twisting, and laying a guilt trip, my brother-in-law sent me heaps of photos to satisfy my auntie curiosity. Thank you!

Such proud big brothers...

And they weren't kidding about the black hair...

A little photo shoot...

Photo shoot going, well, gone a bit awry. This is my favorite. It's so real. You gotta love the picture where none of the subjects is on the same page...

These guys seem pretty happy with their new sister...

And, Simon says, photo shoot DONE!

you know you're a hoarder when...

you eat your last Reese's Peanut Butter Easter Egg on 7 September.

Sad, huh? But, man, it was so good. And so worth the wait. I am an obsessive saver. Can't help it. I am my father's daughter. I treat my care packages from the States with the utmost respect. I pace myself. Not always easy unless you live alone. Jeremy could learn a thing or two from me, I tell ya. He doesn't eat care package delicacies in moderation. At all. Can you tell it's an issue for us?

In related news, I have just learned that the dairy in Eastbourne, where the shoppe owner not only knows my name but knows my video card number by heart, sells Reese Cups. Good news for all Amerikiwis in the greater Wellington region.

creating like a crazy woman

So I've been creating like a crazy woman! What else should I do while my computer is on the fritz?

Two of my current favorites...
(If you were at Crafiting Connection, spot the leftover swap pin...)

When I first worked with my Greener Pastures papers, I made heaps of NZ-themed pages for my Being Kiwi class at KiwiScrap's Crafting Connection. Lately, though, I've been having a lot of fun making "non-NZ-themed" layouts with my products. I thought I would get bored using the same 2 paper lines for so many projects, but not yet. Thankfully. Instead I'm having a blast and enjoying the challenge of using the products in fresh new ways. They really are versatile and not limited to layouts about NZ. Seriously.

On my website I have a gallery with thumbnail images. Eventually those thumbnails will pop up to reveal larger images, but for now, you can see a slide show of the enlargements of my gallery layouts here. Just click on the image if you want to read the journaling and see the product details.

(warning: Clicking on the above link will expose you to non-canine layouts, offering proof that I do in fact enjoy scrapbooking other subjects.)

By the way, gallery submissions of projects using Greener Pastures products are more than welcome!! Just email me.