Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and that Santa was good to you all! We spent Christmas with Shannon's family as mine were all scattered far & wide (Townsville, Melbourne, Mildura). We had a big family get together on Christmas Eve at Shannon's mum's with all of his brothers, sisters, partners & kids - there are quite a tribe of us when we all get together! Brielle had a ball racing around with her cousins, but was especially interested in her 10 week old cousin, Olivia.

Although we didn't do any presents this year, Brielle got spoilt by everyone! Santa was very clever and brought her lots of new toys that she just loves...especially her In The Night Garden figurines! (She also received a small baby doll, which she promptly called Olivia!)

Here are some pics of my little Christmas doll...

Scrap the Girls Dec Challenge!

Just thought I would share with you the layout I completed for the December Scrap the Girls challenge. This month's challenge is to use Christmas carol lyrics as the title, and also the following criteria J - Jewels (bling), O - Orange cardstock or patterned paper, Y - Yellow embellishment. Here is my take on this challenge, "The First Noel", using pics of Brielle's first Christmas last year.

Home Again!

Well I am back home again, just in time to get ready for Christmas! After a few days visit at mum's place, then a trip up to my sister Mandy's place in Townsville, I feel like I have been away for ages. Brielle and I both had a great time, she especially loved spending so much time with her cousins and playing with all their toys! Mandy and I managed a few quick trips to the shops for Christmas (and scrap) shopping, but didn't manage any actual scrapping together as she was recovering from hand surgery. (I couldn't scrap without her, it would have been too cruel!)

Here are a few pics of the kids, taken during our "fairy tea party" one morning...too cute! (The only time we could get pics of them all together was when there was food involved!!!)

Awesome Giveaway!

You have to check out the awesome and hugely generous Christmas giveaway from the darling Kathie at Scraphappy Kat. I won't tell you what it is and spoil the surprise for you, you need to visit her blog to see what it is HERE!!! Simply leave a comment to be in the running - how easy is that???

December Monthly Challenge

Well the new monthly challenges are up on Scrapbooking Top 50 and they are all great challenges! For my challenge, the criteria is to draw inspiration from the following Aussie Christmas pic and as an additional criteria, to use paint on the layout.

Here is the pic...

And here is my example layout...

You can check out the details of my challenge here. (Make sure you also check out the other monthly challenges from Vicki and Kathie too!)