Last Chance..

..to enter my December giveaway.!!

The details

1) Please become a follower of my blog if you aren't one already. 

2) This is open INTERNATIONALLY! Yep.! Everyone can enter NO MATTER where you live. 

3) This is open until midnight 31st of December 2011 (Australian Eastern Standard Time). I will use random.org to choose 1 winner who will be announced here on my blog in early January. All postage will be covered by ME!

4) All you need to do is write your FULL NAME using the Inlinkz Button down the bottom of this post. It will ask you for a link, so if you do not have a blog you can use your Facebook page, or any other link you like. 

That's it! Good luck to all of you and THANK YOU :o)

A friend in need is a friend indeed..

Isn't that how the saying goes? How true..! I wonder who came up with such sayings because they are just so true. When do you need a friend more than in your darkest hour? Never. 

As the year draws to an end, I am nostalgic and growing more melancholic with each passing day. This happens to me every year. I can't say that I deal with change very well. Actually, I do not think its change but rather finality that I don't deal well with. I do not like things coming to an end. Even though the end of this horrible year is nearing and the new year is full of promises, I still have a hard time letting go. I do not want the year to end surprisingly .. because with it a lot of things will end. I am strange in that I like to hold on to the pain..If I let it go it means I am forgetting what happened and if I forget what happened then it's like nothing ever happened. But it did. 

Over this Christmas period I saw many people that I had not seen since I lost my baby. People who saw me in my last days of my pregnancy when all was well and I was VERY pregnant. People that KNEW I lost my baby. It surprises me how people deal with things..people are SO afraid to talk to me about it. But the WORST thing you can do in this situation is NOT say anything. I know that everyone feels awkward and yes its true..NOTHING anyone says is appropriate. I understand that. But...please don't just say NOTHING and carry on like nothing happened the next time you see someone in my situation. That is so hurtful. Because what happened , happened. And when people say nothing it is like they are not acknowledging what happened and that is almost offensive. 

I saw some friends the other day and about 1 hour into the conversation I had to say "well you know what happened right?" And they said "yes of course , we just didnt know what to say?" ..So your solution is to say NOTHING? :(  I said to them, and I will say to all of you the only appropriate thing to do in this situation is to grab that person it happened to by the arm, look at them in the eyes and say "I know what happened and all I can tell you is I am thinking of you and I am so sorry" . That is it. 

Anyway, I am sidetracking ...I really just wanted to share this layout I created last week for my friend Heather Jacob. I have been creating a number of layouts for some of my friends these days as I find it helps to thank some people that helped me. Heather was a friend in need and she said all the right words. She is as old as my mum is and has endured her share of tragedy. She inspires me in so many ways and so many levels and I wanted to write a whole essay on her layout but I kept it short. I hope it makes sense..

She is a treasured friend and seeing that she is in Australia I have a chance to meet her one day. 

Here are some close ups ..

 I used Prima Marketing - Romantique ...

 ...my fave Martha Stewart Punch Around The Page Cherish punch ...

...Green Tara mini roses and Kaisercraft blooms. 

I also based this layout on the current sketch over at My Creative Sketches . 

I hope you are all doing well :o)

Take care now!

Christmas day!

Our Christmas Day 2011!! I hope you had a good one :o)

Merry Christmas ..and words of hope!

Dear friends, 

I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a blessed Christmas Day. I hope from the bottom of my heart you all have happiness and love on this special day and I thank you from the deepest of my heart for all the love and support you have given me this past year, especially the last 2 months. I will never have enough words to express gratitude on behalf of my husband and I for the support you all showed me and my family, the words that you all spoke, the care and love you extended during my very difficult time. I wish all the happiness in the world for all of you and I want you to know I am doing OK. I really am. I have not died from the constant pain of what happened yet, so let's just look forward to the new year and hope that someone up there knew what they were doing. 

Being Christmas, and being the season for love, happiness and hope, I finally wanted to share with you this amazing gift I received from my friends at Once Upon A..Sketch. i.e. my Design Team. I remember the day I announced to them I lost my baby. It was so matter of fact! And then I never really talked about it much after that. It was business as usual. But behind my back, they lovingly put together this album for me . They named it a Golden Book or The Book Of Hope with the theme throughout being just that..."hope". The day I received it, about 5 weeks ago I slept with it in my bed. I just could not believe that all these people conspired and did this FOR ME! I touched all the pages and cried and cried and cried. Cried at its beauty and its words, cried that these people cared for me enough to do this. Something inside me healed a little that day and ever since then I have this gorgeous book on my fireplace mantle piece, not far from where I scrap and glance over it and again, each time something heals inside me. 

This is by far the most amazing and treasured gift i have ever received, together with stunning handmade cards, beautiful flowers accompanied with touching words, emails, messages, gifts. All in the days that followed the loss from so many of you. I do not know what I did to deserve this but i just know that all this scrapping, blogging etc entered my life just over a year ago so I can meet all of you and for you all to help me with this. In the words of a quote that Maiko Kosugi wrote on her page below: 

" When you are sad, friends of the world walk with you hand in hand. The heart of the world wants to surround you"

I leave you all with these wonderful pieces of work and hope that wherever you are and whatever you are going through, you just keep the hope alive and take some inspiration from the words my friends have written on their pages. 

Take care my friends! Merry Christmas!!

**all album inserts and covers by Heather Jacob who also collated this special album. 

Natalie May 

Georgia Heald

Lene Neby

 Vibeke Harila

Jasmine Shea

Pamela Young 

Helen Tilbury 

Heather Jacob 

Sandi Taloumis

Jeni O'Connor, who together with Heather initiated this project I am told :o)

Maiko Kosugi 

Irma Peredne 

Natalie Elphinstone 

 Vicky Varvadouka

Prima December Build-A-Page

Hey there! How is everyone doing this Tuesday? On the home stretch to Christmas now huh? Sunday will be here before we know it. I think scrapping is the only thing keeping me sane these days. 

Well anyway, as you all know I have entered a few challenges lately and ..well..I have been lucky to win a few :o) The latest was just announced today at My Mind's Eye blog HERE . Yikes! That's a big one. I get to choose 3 complete collections! OK so let me have my moment and brag a little more..In November I won Scrap The Girls HERE, White With 1 HERE and Challenge Me Happy HERE , Crafty Sketches HERE, Scrap-It-Lah HERE as well as a few other places. It feels great. Its fantastic actually :o) Well anyway, just sharing with you all . Oh and I was going to ask..do you all believe in Karma? Well I do. You know how it goes..what you give is what you get in return. People are always telling me I am SO generous with all the stuff I give away. But the thing is it makes me happy to share. It really does. So..after winning all these challenges I have won and the prizes I will receive, don't you think that maybe this is the way it works? You give ...you receive. Even though I TRULY and HONESTLY do not enter challenges to win the prizes, I think I have just about won back all I have given away. LOL! So ..expect a few more giveaways I say! 

Now..lets move on to this month's Build-A-Page over at Prima. This is my layout...

and here is the sketch I based this on...

I have used the Romantique collection , which is available at Handmade By Suzanne HERE. The big flower on the right hand side is from my beautiful friend Georgia :o) Thank you :o)

The title "remember" is from Imaginarium Designs (who have announced that they chose their Design Team and emails should be going out but I dont think I made it! CONGRATS to all that did. ) 

Remember, Forever & Together on a board

I inked the chipboard and went over it with puffy paint which puffs up when heated. 

Take care everyone and MANY thanks for letting me share my little joys with you...!

xoxoxo Nadia. 

Kaisercraft Sketch Challenge

Hi all! Hope you are well. 

Just wanted to share with you this layout I did using Kaisercraft  Sweet Nothings collection which is available at Handmade by Suzanne HERE. Must say I really LOVE this collection and I purchased almost the entire collection last week. 

I kind of intended this for something else, but in the end I based it on this sketch that is up at the Kaisercraft blog

Take care everyone. Have a great week. 

Guest Designer..

Hi everyone. I am posting this quickly this morning just before the kids wake up and then there is NO chance LOL! 

I was asked by the super friendly Anne Pennington, owner of Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge blog to be Guest Designer there for their December 15th challenge and also in January! SO happy about this. I have mentioned before how much I love the challenges there. Make sure you drop in and have a look!

Let me tell you I am SO glad I designed all my layouts for their upcoming challenges nice and early because scrapping is nowhere in the horizons at the moment! The last 2 weeks have been just crazy. Is it just me? We have had one thing after another..dance concerts, swimming, Christmas parties! Oh I tell you one more thing and I will just about lose my festive mood..:o)

Anyway...moving on..

For the December 15th challenge at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge there is a sketch to follow plus some added criteria...

Scrap a favourite recipe – use a photo of the item if you can or wish to. Make sure the recipe is included on the layout!!

Something you probably do not know about me is that I LOVE cooking. I mean..I LOVE it! And OK I have been told I am good and whatever but besides scrapping , cooking is my other passion and relief. I just love seeing the look on people's faces when they dig into my food. My hubby thinks I am THE BEST! LOL! Which is a good thing because he is very picky. But anyway, I couldn't really decide which is my favourite savory recipe so I decided to go for my all time GREATEST sweet recipe...which is actually the only one I make! 

Look yummy huh? I made this a while ago, but I think I used the Glitz Designs Beautiful Dreamer collection. 

So what do you say? Will you find some time to come along and play with us? 

You have until December 31st and you will fin more examples of this challenge HERE

Bye for now everyone!

Hi there lovely people. Thanks so much on your kind words about me joining C'est Magnifique yesterday! I am not sure if you have been over to the BLOG yet, but there is a little section at the top left where you can sign up for their newsletters. Well I just received my first newsletter and the January kit and add ons have been released in detail and here is and idea of what January's papers and embellishments look like...

Cést Magnifique January 2012 Paper Reveal 7 Dots Studio's  from Poland  and some Kaisercraft from Australia  For a better look at the details in the 7 Dots Studio Dreamer Collection, please visit the  7 Dots Studio website and click on each individual sheet of paper.   January 2012 Flower Add-On                            Our flower add-on features many beautiful Prima and Petaloo flowers!  Flowers will be sold individually as well.   Member Price: $19.49 List Price: $21.65

January 2012 Embellishment Add-On Our embellishment add-on features products from 7 Dots Studio, Prima, Dusty Attic and KaiserCraft.  Embellishment items will be sold individually as well.    Member Price: $24.08 List Price: $26.75 ******** Over at Handmade By Suzanne  there have also been some super cool additions to the shop including .. October Afternoon Farmhouse.  Gorgeous colours and embellies!  New ZVA Creative New Echo Park Yours Truly  and do not forget our December sketch challenge.. There are some awesome layouts already in the gallery, so do not forget to upload yours by the end of December for your chance to win a AUS$30.00 voucher (+ free shipping) to the store.