My control center project over the National Scrapbook Day brought me an awesome opportunity and a lovely invitation to join The Hybrid Chick team. 
I was very pleasantly surprised, talked it over with hubby and the munchkins and accepted the position. I really look forward to work with this very talented group of ladies.
The wonderful projects they produce are such great inspiration. If you have not been over there yet then you need to check it out. There are all manner of project from hybrid cards to home decor.
Ultimately this will mean a guest blog post/project/tutorail each month on The Hybrid Chick blog and more involvement at The Digi Chick.
I already enjoy hanging out there and being a part of the community there. As well as participating in the challenges in the forums. They have a great points reward system to for earning kits or discounts.
So it won't be too much of a stretch.
Not to mention I'll be playing with a bunch of delicious digi goodies available there.
My first project will be in June.
I knew you would want a peak!
Watch this space and I'll let you know as soon as it is up at The Hybrid Chick
Remember this frame that I found at the op shop on Wednesday. It cost me about 30 cents and now looks like this. Add in about $1 for ink , paper and glue and you have yourself a cute little gift.
One of my girls is hoping for it.
It now looks like this.
Cute huh. You could add some extra bling and ribbons or other embellishments. This is just enough for me.
I used this gorgeous new kit {Always} Eden by Elise's Pieces over at The Digi Chick. It is the perfect blend of robin's egg blue, brown, greens and a touch of yellow. Not to mention my favourite paisleys.
I'll put a tutorial up in the next few days on how to make your own altered photo frame. So keep an eye out at those yard sales and op shops.
I also made these with the same kit.
The card is my own hybrid design. Used some brown card and other embellishments that I had along with the digital papers printed out for my design. Stamped and punched the sentiment for a pretty birthday card. Then layered them up with mounting tape for some dimension. The little button holding the flower on is tied with Karen Foster scrappers floss.
The sweet little purse is Sassy 2 purse template by Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs. With some scrunched up soft blue tissue and yummy treats it will make the cutest gift bag along with the card.
A trip to the local "new to you" store this morning turned up these.
The frame will come in handy for a project I have in mind. There will be more on that in a future post.
The hat box case thingy? Well it screamed my name last time I went in there and here it was still calling me three weeks later. I wasn't sure what to do with it but know something will come to me. I didn't have to wait long. Both munchkins girls fell in love with it. One immediately declared it had to go in the lounge as company to my vintage metal suitcase.
Now I need a third piece in that area to make a montage. Perhaps I can re-purpose something from elsewhere in the house.
The exciting thing about that whole episode was seeing the way my darlings are seeing possibilities and knowing instinctively what goes together.
Reminder. to. self. Take photo's.
The pine paper towel holder. It is well known in my family that I am not a lover of pine, unless it is painted of course.
I had planned on making it into one of the those spinny album's that are all the rage. Yet again one of my munchkins changed that plan. He grabbed it out of that bag, headed straight in the pantry, snapped up the paper towel plonking it on with a satisfied grin and declaring it "perfect".
Not being someone who likes the cluttered busy bench look I wasn't too sure about. Time will tell if it stays or heads to the craft zone to be altered.
Total cost for all three items – $1
Over the national scrapbook day weekend I participated in a card swap at The Hybrid Chick. Now I have done digital card swap's at many sites but this one was for hybrid cards.
So instead of just printing out a pre finished card you actually print it, cut it out and put it back together again. Easy peasy – right?
Not always. What if this is your first card swap? What if you have never "made" a card before. How do you put it together? What if you are a digi only girl and have never done hybrid?
Don't let those questions put you off though. Doing one of these can be very rewarding and the whole thing about doing a card swap is you get beautiful digital cards in a variety of designs. This is a real time saver and it is always lovely to see everyone's work.
This month I am joining in a month long card swap at The Digi Chick. If you like the card above – that is in the swap. So why not join us? These are a lot of fun.
Now back to my original topic. 
How do you work with one of these hybrid digital cards? You can read more about that here.
Though it is still not very clear here with a certain amount of dust just hanging in the air at least we can go out without feeling like we have a mouthful of sand.
Read down to the last post to see photo's from the dust storms of the weekend?
I came across these photos the other day, which I took back in Feb. That time of year is when we have the nicest skies. Most of the year it is just grey here…even in summer.
This is the same view out my bedroom window – you can see the high rise they are building over on the corner.
This is out the back window of my craft room. Much nicer hey? Such a shame the sky isn't this way more often.
Look at what we woke up to this morning. It blew hard again all night and this is the result.
This is out my bedroom window. Believe it or not there is a high rise building just to the left of the one you can see. One day when the visibility is better I will take a comparison shot.
Yes, I live next door to a salvage yard. No, I don't live in a prison. The extra tall walls and barbed wire are par for the course here with all the terrorist issues. It may seem shocking but we barely see it now days. It tends to lose itself in the background.
This is out my back window upstairs. You can't see the dust so well in this but it just looks grey anyway. The light is really weird when it is so dusty.
There is also a big high rise just over in this photo.
What a weekend! Not going yesterday was the right decision. The sandstorm and wind were just awful. Thankful it blew hard all night then settled around 4.30 am…not long before we were up.
The dust was hanging around in the air but dropped as the day wore on and the sun burnt a lot of it off. The wind kept up but not as gusty. More of a strong gentle breeze. Having said that that temperature was about 40 celcius so having the breeze was essential.
The meet is called the A Regionals. It is the Eastern Province finals and somewhat like a state final.
Some action shots.
Suck in the air boy!
Keep going honey.
More air?
The result of all the hard work. Both swam ten races. Miss C surprised herself with equal 5th place on the podium. The girl she shared with was the one she pipped at the post for the same spot last year. She is very sweet and it was nice to see the both of them up there together. It had come down to their placings on their last race and if Miss C had not made the right place in that race she would have not made the podium. They were both pleased to be sharing the place. Miss C swam very well over her races with five out of ten being personal best times.
Please excuse the terrible indoor photos. School gym, no room to set up the tripod, kids too far away, and terrible terrible lights. Add in my hot shoe flash piking out right as they started handing out the trophies. Not impressed!
Just look at the smile on that face. Can you tell the result?
JMan swam five out of the ten with personal best time improvements. He also took gold with a clean sweep winning all ten. First place in the A Regionals.
Nice trophy plaques for the wall.
Looking forward to the rest tomorrow. Then the focus will be on the National Championships in two weeks time.
Not as quiet as I thought..LOL.
See I do live an altered life. The dust sandstorm has come in so bad we can hardly see across the road. We have decided that the two younger munchkins and I will stay home tomorrow while the swimmers and hubby go to the meet.
There is not much point all of us being out in the horrible weather. Given that women are not allowed to drive here the Mr has to take them.
The house could use a good cleanup although with the dust I won't bother sweeping or dusting. It will just be all coated again in an hour. It could also go on for 3 days. So seeing as how I wasn't going to be blogging tomorrow anyway I am going to stick with that and take the weekend off.
Well off the blog anyway – the house cleaning awaits.
I'll be back with updates on Saturday. 
This weekend is the regional or state swimming finals for the older two munchkins. Side note – one of them is bigger than me, it may be time to change the munchin tag.
It is also stinking hot, blowing a gale and a dusty sandstorm has blown in. Yuk!
The two day meet is held about an hours drive away and we'll need to leave home about 6am to get there for warm ups. So on top of the yukky weather it is an early morning start.
Jman is hoping to win this year after a 3rd place last year. He has been ill this last week with a head cold, stuffy sinuses, dripping nose and sore throat. When he came down with a cold sore last week I knew it was coming. We have been doing all the healthy stuff this week and he feels fit enough to compete. I just hope that it doesn't hamper his goals.
Miss C is swimming because she enjoys it, though she is not overly competitive. Last year she came 5th and was very pleased with that podium finish and trophy.
Anyway – it will be pretty quite around here for the next couple of days, I'll be back after we have recovered.
Munchkin girl #2 made these today. Choc chip and banana muffins.
Have to love overripe banana's and a nine year old that loves to cook.
