Ebay. Birthday. Layouts.

OMG.... I so need to be kicked in my behind so bad. I just realised I haven't blogged in my own blog for over 1 month!!!!!!! It just seemed like 2 weeks ago I updated my blog. I am very sorry for neglecting any readers of my blog, if you are still reading that is.

I think a lot of my time went into 'contemplating' -- I contemplated on my kids birthday parties, I contemplated on what to blog about, I contemplated on taking photos of my layouts, I contemplated on selling loads of stuff on eBay in the name of decluttering. Contemplation.... is that a sugar-coated edition of procrastination???

Anyway, in the past month, I have probably done 3 rounds of eBay listing. I seriously had to declutter my house. I finally got my act together (just a little) and brought out the stuff that I really should get rid of, took photos of them and listed them in batches. Kids clothing and shoes, Tupperware, pram, cot, etc etc. I must say it has been relatively successful. I even begged and bribed Ruey to come to my house to raid my scrap stash, so she can make up kits to sell on eBay. In one afternoon, we made up 9 kits with various paper combinations (read: tonnes), added ribbons, buttons, chipboard embellishments and alpha sets. I also have a few sets of Poppy Ink kits from earlier this year which I have not used. As much as I'd like to see them sell at good prices, it is also quite shocking to realise the amount of money we spend on scrapbooking. I guess I don't have to convince anyone here of that, do I?

2 weeks of school holidays is almost coming to an end. We started the holidays with a movie session of Kung Fu Panda which was truly entertaining for both kids and adults. Then we had a birthday celebration at McDonald's for Ellen's 6th birthday with her classmates. It was our first 'outsourced' birthday party. I told myself over the past 5 years, that I need to keep things grounded, and only have small parties at home with family and close family friends, and that she will have plenty of big-ish birthday parties when she starts school cos she would have made friends. She started inviting her friends to her party before I even knew it. Of course, I had to start accepting that 'this is the time' and organised this Macca's party for her. Naturally, she and her friends had a ball. So much so that while the kids were inside the party room, and all the parents were sitting in the dining hall relaxing and watching the kids through a massive glass window, she caught me looking at her, and gave me the biggest smile and two thumbs up. That was enough to convince me that she was happy. Check out these lolly bags I made up for the kids!



Then there was the family birthday party. I made this invitation card for the regular family and friends. Of course, the kids got spoiled with lots of pressies. Toys, textas and loads of colouring equipment, Build-a-bear vouchers (I shall do a show & tell next post), even a small MP3 player for Ellen! Now we hear her do Kylie covers on a daily basis.

And of course, my birthday cake wannabes ..... A caterpillar cake for Phaedon and a castle cake for Ellen.


I also went to Scrap & Chat organised by the lovely Kelly, owner of KitiQ. It was her last Scrap & Chat as the owner because she has sold her business, so it was a farewell crop as such. Here are some of the layouts I finished on the day.






OK.... I think I've bombarded you with enough of updating and photos. Hope you have a lovely weekend ahead.

Cheers!!!