Floods & Fires

This week we had a HUGE storm in Sydney, and a friend's house was damaged by a flash flood. Her family were lucky to make it out of their house before the downstairs was completely submerged in water. Seriously, they were on the news and everything.

Seeing the pictures of their destroyed house has brought back some memories for me of the year that my family went through some devastation of our own.

Back when I was 10, our year contained both a flood AND a fire.

We were staying at a friends property for the Easter holidays when it and the neighbouring properties flooded. All of the kids were sent to higher ground, so I don't have many memories of the actual flood, but I do know that they travelled around in boats, trying to get things sorted and to save the stuff that was washing away.

After that drama, our year was relatively quiet (as far as I recall) until the end of November when we lost most of our home in a house fire.

We were all home, Mum out sewing a dress for a dancing competition, my sister was in bed and I was watching a video with Dad and our neighbour who I was having a sleepover with.  The fire started in garage, so luckily we weren't trapped and there was time for us to leave safely once we noticed it.  Unfortunately Dad lost all of his music equipment, tools, Square Dance records, and we lost our bikes and even my beloved roller skates!

our garage was on the left, that's the garage door frame laying on the driveway

our lounge room - you can see through to the garage

It was a really scary night, and it wasn't just the fire that caused damage - we lost many family photos and electrical items to water damage.  Our insurance only covered the building, none of the contents. We were lucky enough to have lots of our neighbours, family and friends rally around us to support us. An army of people showed up the next day to clear the house out. We had people take clothes and other items to clean them, and my parents Square Dancing friends held fundraisers for us to help buy the major white goods.  People gave us copies of photos to help replace the memories that we lost. I've since learnt, after seeing it many, many times on the TV, that this is the true Aussie spirit showing through.

the kitchen with the roof caved in

even in the rooms that weren't burnt, you can see the smoke and water damage. dig those retro arches!

We rebuilt, and moved about 4 years later into the house that my parents still live in, a new area, new schools (ha, I remember changing school being WAY more traumatic than the fire). And it will be 26 years ago in a few weeks. Some things stay with you though. I ALWAYS try to seek out the source if I smell smoke. I'm overly attached to the precious photos that we were able to replace.  Deep down I know though, that you will always be okay, even if you lose everything, as long as you survive, because the days go on, and roller skates can be replaced, and one day you realise that you haven't thought about it in so long that it was nearly forgotten.


Tracey xox

Retreating... to a Crafty Zone

I'm heading off to a Scrap Retreat this weekend hosted by the Little Scrapbook Shop. It will be (hopefully) a lovely girly weekend with some crafty friends. I am aiming to upload some of my pages as I go, so hopefully I will have something to show for all of the time it has taken me to get organised and packed!

Time away with my own thoughts and crafty encouragement is just what I need at the moment. I'm still struggling with a continual headache (since March), and life is a little hectic at the moment. I definitely need to recharge a little to get my focus back for the second half of the year.

Wish me luck!

Tracey xx

Meet & Greet with Becky Higgins!

Last Tuesday I skipped work and headed off to Lidcombe Spotlight to meet a scrapping idol of mine, Becky Higgins. This is certainly not my usual Tuesday morning, but was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.

You may be familiar with Becky through her industry-revolutionising scrapping system Project Life. I'm only new to Project Life and pocket scrapping this year, but I've been a fan of Becky's for over 10 years.

When I first started scrapping, the goto source of inspiration was definitely Creating Keepsakes Magazine (which is sadly no longer published). I can remember spending hours pouring over the submitted layouts, copying the ones I liked, and wondering why I couldn't get my scrapping to look as 'finished' as the published layouts.

Remember, this is way before blogs, Instagram and Pinterest. It was way harder to find great sources of scrap inspiration than it is today. I was also the only one I knew who scrapbooked - it was before I found my lovely scrapping community.

Then I discovered Becky's sketches. Each month she would have an article in CK featuring one of her sketches, and different interpretations of the sketch.

CLICK!

It was like a light bulb seeing those sketch designs! They guided me through my first steps into page design, and pretty soon I was doing my own rough little sketches in my sketch book. As Becky said, 'that was what worked for you at the time!'

Of course, now I've come full circle and get to see my sketches come to life at the Dizzy Izzy Crafternoons & Retreats. It's always such a thrill to see how others interpret something I've created!

I took along my copies of Becky's Sketches books for her to sign. These books were like my scrapping bibles, and are now quite well used/loved. It was so exciting to sit next to Becky, and chat with her about my scrapping journey, and about Dizzy Izzy Scrapbooking.

I love this! A pic of Ness taking a pic of Becky & Kell

Kell & Ness were also there, and I got to meet some other lovely scrappers, including Ruth from Polly! Scrap Kits.  Becky was gracious enough to answer all of our questions, and then she got stuck into signing goodies like journal cards and core kits.

The first of many days of signing for Becky on this trip

Ruth from Polly! Scrap Kits

I had seen her on Creative Live, and I'm familiar with her mantra of 'Cultivate A Good Life & Record It', but I was pretty blown away. With Becky, what you see is what you get. One question I asked, as a scrapping entrepreneur myself, was how many hours a day does she work on the business. She spoke about when they first started the business, and the kids were smaller, that they would put them to bed, and she & David would be working until 3am. Every Night.  Now, she said, she has a bigger network and support team, but she still feels like she puts in hours & hours. Every Day.

 Becky also mentioned there were some big announcements coming in April and then in a few months - I can't wait to see what she has planned next!

As a scrapper, and as a woman, I completely admire Becky for both her business sense and also her work/life balance. It's something that I hope to work on and I definitely aim to be more like Becky.

Here is to Cultivating a Good Life, and Recording It.

Tracey xox

My Scrapbook Beginnings Part 1

I did my first ever 'official' scrapbooking class while I lived (briefly) in Queensland when I was 24, but I had kept scrapbooks before.

My first scrapbook was started when I was about 12 and my uncle gave me a large notebook as a gift, and it featured all of the celebrities that I was in love with at the time. I loved magazines like TV Hits & Smash Hits, and would scour them looking for the right photos to cut out.

I do still think Johny Depp is a spunk.
NKOTB on the other hand....

I was definitely an early Neighbours fan,
but my parents wouldn't let me watch it

Still love ya Kylie, and you dress waaay better now love.

The Hoff. 'Nuff said.

I was pretty crushed when they turned out to be giant fakes...

It was certainly a Pro-Corey zone

90210 - the original and the best.

Hours and hours were spent cutting and pasting, and not much has changed between now and then. I still love Johnny Depp and I still love cutting and pasting, but now my papers are waaay prettier. And I use better quality adhesive.

Did anyone else have a scrapbook like this?

Tracey xox

February Round Up

February found me back in the full swing of work, Grandpa duties and keeping up with life.

I kicked off February with a girls day at Hair Time Hairdressers, hanging out with Jodie, Mum & Leasie. A much needed and long overdue haircut later, and I felt a little more human.

Early in Feb we celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary. Apparently the traditional gift for 3 years is leather. But for us, it was sushi dinner. Much love and rice xxoo

I finally got to the Ramsgate Organic Foodies Market with Melle, where we sampled the wares, and of course had a Madame Pop!

Now that all of her munchkins are in school, I've been heading over to Louise's on a Friday to do some scrapping and chatting. Still working on the album for my cousin, but I'm really happy now with how it is shaping up. Still haven't started any more Project life, but I will get there. I think.

My sister has launched her own venture into business and started a Stampin Up business and blog. She has named her business Tracey's Sister, and I recommend you read her blog post here to find out all about it. I'm pretty proud of her now that she's "All growed up", LOL.

I'm still walking, though now I'm back at work its not as often as it should be.  And we snuck in a casual reunion BBQ for our old Rotaract crew.

It was definitely a busy, busy, busy month!

Tracey xox