Finishing Off Friday - 1st March 2013

We had a lovely long weekend at the Sunshine Coast last weekend, with my family.  The sun came out on Saturday, and us girls had a lovely day lazing by the pool, chatting, laughing and eating while the boys went crabbing and fishing.  It was such a lovely weekend away!!

iPhoto - Digital Photo Books & DVDs

I have been using iPhoto to make digital photo albums for the past 3 years.  I could talk all day about this awesome program, but I just thought that I would pick out the features that I love the most and share them with you, as I often get asked lots of questions about it.

Firstly, iPhoto is a Mac program.  It is not online, it is a program that is installed on your hard drive.  There is apparently a version of it for the iPad, however I have been told that you can't make the photo books using the app (it is more just for storing your photos).

A Mini-Album

I wanted to share with you this great little album that I found at K-Mart recently for only $4!

Finishing Off Friday - 21st February 2013

This week my accomplishments are:

Photos

- I completed Macy's album.  Totally.  Completely.  Fully.  Done.  There will be no further updates on this project, since it is now complete!  Yippee!!  That is one mammoth task that is done, thanks to my system of breaking it down into weekly mini-projects.

Cleaning Up After the Storm

We were very lucky during the recent bad weather, to have not really been affected.  We are so grateful, it was just heartbreaking to see so many people lose their homes and prized possessions in the floods - I can't even imagine how devastating that would be.

For us, we had lots of rain and wind, but no threat of flooding, and luckily, we kept power for most of the time too.  

When we first moved into our house over 8 years ago, we cut down any tall trees around the house.  However, we still have plenty of huge gum trees scattered around the yard, which regularly drop branches during storms.  But this time, it wasn't a branch that fell, it was a massive tree!  

Cath Kidston Sticker Book

Today I thought I would share this gorgeous little sticker book that I was given for Christmas.  It is the Cath Kidston 'Book of Stickers'.  It is jam-packed with stickers for all sorts of occasions...

Finishing Off Friday - 15th February 2012

The Nursery

- We hung this gorgeous wall shelf above the drawers in the nursery!  I think the hooks will be so cute with little toys hanging off them, and also special outfits can get displayed here too.

Spoiled

So, yesterday I messaged my husband and told him that the local IGA had lots of lovely bunches of flowers in store, and I wouldn't mind if he stopped and got me my Valentine's blooms early...  hint hint!

He arrived home quite late, but I just thought he must have worked back late.

It was lovely to see that he walked in with a gorgeous bunch of red roses and lilies (our wedding flowers)!  How sweet of him to remember ;)

Choc-Cherry Slice Recipe

As promised, here is the link to a super easy recipe to make the delectable choc-cherry slice that I shared yesterday which I have given as my Valentine's Day treats this year.  I got this recipe out of one of my Super Food Ideas magazines - the online link to the recipe is here.

Valentine's Presents - 2013

There are so many amazing ideas out there for Valentine's Day gift giving, you really could go quite crazy!  But, I have kept it quite simple this year...

Valentine's Decorating - 2013

Just a few quick photos of the decorations I have put up in our home for Valentine's Day...

I have kept it pretty simple - especially since I shouldn't be climbing on ladders to hang up decorations!

I have put some ceramic hearts on the entry way table:

Finishing Off Friday - 8th February 2013

I have to admit that this week has been a bit quiet around here.  I have really felt the fatigue that comes with being in your third trimester, and although I am not one to do much lying around and napping, I have just had to stop and take it easy.  So, this week, my focus has been on 'Finishing Off' baking the baby in my belly, rather than the dozens of projects that I have around the house!

This is my growing bump - we are 30 weeks today!!  This is my favourite 'around the house' dress - it is so comfy, which makes up for its lack of class ;)

Mangoes

This year we have been lucky enough to have a bumper mango crop!  We have 5 mango trees in our yard, and after a dismal season last year, we have been so excited with the hundreds of mangoes that have popped up this year.  Anyone who we see has been given bags of mangoes, as there are so many to go around - and we like to spread our good fortune :)

For the first time, this year we bought a net for one of our trees.  Lots of the fruit get picked at by the birds, and this year we wanted to trial minimising our loss.  As it is now the end of the season, we are thrilled with how the net kept the birds off the mangoes, and will definitely be investing in more nets before next summer.

Photo Printing Tips

It is obvious one of my major goals this year is to get on top of my photos.  I have been thrilled with my progress so far, and I just wanted to share some things that are really helping me to get the photos off the computer and into the albums in a logical, sequential order.

Firstly, last year I organised my photos digitally, which you can read about here.  This has saved me SO much time recently, as I know where everything is and it is in chronological order.  This is the first step to success.

I must admit however, that since having given back my work computer at the end of last year and now being solely a 'Mac' family, I am still adjusting to organising my new 2013 photos on the Mac, and this is something that I am refining and will share with you once I have a good system in place.

Secondly, I went through all of the digital folders of photos and did a big cull.  Anything that was blurry, had someone's eyes closed, etc has all been trashed!  I know it is hard with digital to let them go, but often I can have 3 or more of the same photo, each with something a little different or wrong with them.  I was very strong, picked the best one and trashed the rest.  This helped immensely when it came to decision time for the albums.

Next it was time to print my photos.  At the moment, I am using Big W.  It is nearby, it is quick (I usually only have to wait 30 minutes from the time I place my order), it is fairly cheap at 15c a print and I am happy with the quality.  I also like that I can print 3x4 photos that fit perfectly in the little journalling holes in my Project Life page protectors - this means I can fit lots more photos on a page than just the standard four 4x6 photos.