Christmas Wreath Wishes

This is the beautiful Kaisercraft Wreath hanging form my front door!! It makes such a welcoming statement and we're going to enjoy it for many years to come!!

This will be my last post 'till the new year as we are here and there and everywhere and I wanted to wish you an amazing Christmas. May the love of the Lord surround you and may He bless you every second! My wish for you is.........

JOY........

LOVE .......................

HAPPINESS........

and never withering FAITH!!!!!!

Merry Christmas and take lots of pics to scrap those awesome memories!!

Happy scrappin'

From me to you....

It was a romantic full moon when Pedro said, "Hey, mamacita, let's do Weeweechu.

"Oh no, not now, let's look at the moon!" , said Rosita. Oh, c'mon baby, let's you and I do Weeweechu. I love you and it's the perfect time," Pedro begged.

"But I wanna just hold your hand and watch the moon." , replied Rosita."Please, corazoncito, just once, do Weeweechu with me.

"Rosita looked at Pedro and said, "OK, one time, we'll do Weeweechu."

Pedro grabbed his guitar and they both sang.....

"Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, Weeweechu a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year."

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!

(this was too cute - couldn't wait till Christmas :)

Lilac Calendar

I couldn't really design a Calendar for only one of the Grandparents - that would just be soooo unfair!! I used the same basic idea with the lovely Lilac paper from Kaisercraft - oh so pretty!

Instead of the stamp I added one of Prima's bling swirls and it is absolutely gorgeous!! Isn't it amazing how the butterfly works perfectly with both colour schemes (thank goodness - I think it might be cheaper to import a real-life endangered butterfly from the deep jungles of the Amazon than buy another pack of these beauties:)

Mmmmmm ......Now which one do I prefer............

Happy scrappin'

Duchess Calendar

My Christmas Calendar was recently uploaded on the Scrap Shack Studio Blog. I designed the calendar using the beautiful Duchess range from Kaisercraft. The calender is adhered to 3mm wood canvas for extra sturdiness and to ensure it'll last the whole of 2010. I used a brayer and glue to adhere the paper - I find after a while with double sided tape the paper lifts where it is not stuck down.

The beautiful butterfly is from Prima and I love that if really draws the eye and adds that little extra magic. The blings are a definate and adds definition to the stamp....plus they BLING!!

The curly-petalled flowers at the bottom got a good spritz of Glimmer Mist to change the colour to a more subtle brown and it also gives them a little oomph! adding the glimmer.

Behind the Merry Christmas is a Monthly calender. Ring-binding makes it easy to tear-off each month of the year when another one bites the dust!! (before we know it we'll be designing for 2011 -- isn't is scary how time flies!)

I added a few beads and a charm to create an interesting element,

painted the edges of my photos with turquoise and then with

brown to give it a less even look - bit scrungy (if there is such a
word:)

Tie some pretty ribbon on your binder rings and add a funky Christmas charm to complete this Christmas gift (Hope Ouma and Oupa love it as much as I do!!!!)

Happy scrappin'

Gifts in the making!

This year I tried to make most of my Christmas presents! These two sets were created with wood canvas and can hang in your favourite spot or stand on a workspace. Firstly cover the wood canvas with mosaic style paper (my hubby was sooooo impressed with my neat mosaic work - but alas:).

The chandelier and words are laser cut elements, painted chocolate brown with added bronze glitter to the wet paint for a nice glimmer effect. The hanging crystals just add a little of the wow factor.

What I really love about the paper is the colour changing as you move around the room and when the sun sets. On the corner of each square is a tiny blob of silver glitter that really catches the light in the evenings!

Best of all these projects were made with lotsa love, time and effort and they better be appreciated or next year the recipients will go on my naughty list :)

Enjoy creating and Happy Scrappin'

Who me????

I was passed this lovely award by a truly amazing designer: Elizna Parsons. Coming from Elizna this is a real feather in my cap - Thanks GF!!! Your work truly inspires me and make me want to SCRAP!!

Part of the award is me telling you seven goodies about myself you wouldn't know.....mmmmmm.........now let me see.....

- I'm married to my high school sweetheart and we're still madly in love!

- I don't eat seafood - any kind

- I used to be pretty good at fly fishing

- I worked on an ambulance for two years and I am a qualified BAA ("paramedic")

- I'm a SERIOUS Blue Bull Supporter!!!

- I'm fascinated by bubbles

- I do not appreciate rudeness!

Now I pass this award on to seven others that inspire me ALWAYS!! Go visit their blogs and feel the inspiration seeping through your veins!

Sophia Allison

Debbie Olson

Lauren Meader

Kim Watson

Tania van Rooyen

Leanne Stamatellos

Venessa Matthews

Thank you for keeping my mojo flowing!!

Happy scrappin'

Pagemaps Sketch Competition

Sometimes life is so much easier if you have a plan!! That is how I feel when I grab a Pagemap. The plan is already in place, all I have to do is make it my own!! This is a Pagemap Blog competition where you are challenged to interpret the sketch to your own design. Hop over to the Pagemaps blog and be inspired!!This was our little angel at her first concert 2008. Mommy was in tears most of the concert ;) . Now it's already a year later - WOW!!

ALMOST Christmas - YEEEEEEEEEEH!!

Happy scrappin'

G.I. Esti

I had to share these photos with you. We went to a market yesterday to stroll around - nice peaceful Sunday afternoon - if only I knew!! There were a lot of things to entertain the children and one of them was this HUGE (about 6m high) soap dispenser blow-up castle thingie. My little one (just turned 4) is a little apprehensive of bigger, rougher children and things that are SEVENTEEN times her size!! So I said....wait for it............. "Come, Mommy will go with you!!!" .......

Noooooo, it is not as easy as it looks!! My hubby took this picture with my cellphone - I suppose it would have made a lovely memory in case I didn't make it! Because I am slightly (ever so slightly:) heavier than you standard kid, the rope ladder became one with the blow-up thingie and there was almost no chance of getting my feet even close to standing on it!! The higher I got - the more I giggled - the worse the problem became!! To cut a long story short .............. I MADE IT!! (to the amusement of 397 people on the beach and at least 47 children on the blow-up thingie!!!!).

My little one was seriously impressed (NOT with me climbing my heart out!!!) that she made it and went another 5 times...........by herself;). I did seriously impress my hubby and my brother (the grins on their faces as I looked down halfway said "yeah right, she'll never make it") .......and I impressed myself, but in all honesty I think there is now a new weight restriction added to all blow-up thingies:)

Try something new and exciting (and have someone stand by with a camera!!) and impress yourself! Create a memory for life.

Watch out Survivor (or is it Fear Factor!!!!!).... here I come!

Happy scrappin'

Birdhouses

I had so much fun playing with these cute wooden birdhouses! I covered the wooden blanks with paper then added the most beautiful beaded trim topped of with a feather mini-boa (or I suppose it's actually trim for clothing designs!). Looks like something a fairy would wear to a masquerade ball:)

I added letter stickers and stamps (Loire Valley Birdhouse) and die-cut lettering with dimensional glaze (Sublime Birdhouse) for the home tweet home. The cute birdie I found at a florist - you'd be amazed at the variety!!!

These projects were loaded on the Scrap Shack Studio blog - follow the Scrap Shack Studio button for some other amazing projects by my fellow designers!

Mmmmmm, it would be fun to try a Christmas Birdhouse with glittery paper............................sorry .......... I've got to go ...................... Birdhouses to play with .........

Happy scrappin'

Tins of festive creativity!

I spend a lovely Friday with my GF making these gorgeous tins! Every person she deals with during the year with her company receives one of these tins filled with yummy goodies - including the most divine shortbread you have ever tasted! She had a batch in the oven while we were scrapping (please excuse the little wet spots on the tins - it was my mouth watering the whole morning;).

We completed 20 in total on Friday (not bad for a days work!!) and that's while having pizza, scrumptious tea and a whole lot of chatting and listening to music!! After LOTS of double sided tape, Pritt Gel, Dimensional Glaze, glitter, stickles and ribbon - we did it! I would definitely consider this a day well spend - eating, chatting, laughing, scrapping. slicing (Slice Machine - my other BFF!!) and actually completing something!!

Hope you have a GF you can spend some time scrapping with:)...............and get a doggy bag of freshly home made Shortbread ;)

Happy scrappin'

P.S. I'm always confusing the living daylights out of this Spell Check with words like "Stickles" LOL

Birthday Wishes

A special friend had a birthday last week and I really wanted to create a card that would make her feel special. To create a flower I cut freehand circles from glitter and flocked paper with a gorgeous bling in the centre. For the stem I simply used a pink ribbon with polka dot ribbon tied as a leafy accent. The "your special" stamp is embossed to give it a really classy feel:). "Congratulations" is a 3 in 1 stamp from Autumn Leaves. First stamp the pink rectangle, then Congratulations in a contrasting pink, lastly add the scrolly border in black. I embossed the whole image (about four times) and raised it to give it an epoxy embellishment effect. Kaisercraft border rhinestones adds a little oomph to card front.
Inside the card I stamped a sentiment which is also embossed and added the same circle flower to compliment the front of the card. Some ribbon detail makes is feel really lavish (....that's if a card can feel lavish :)

The envelope is always forgotten but this time is was actually part of the gift presentation. A simple swirly rub-on with bling (I LOOOOVE my bling!!!) in strategic places, blossoms with a dotty brad (a dear friend bought these funky brads as a gift - all the way from England !) and layered ribbon made the loveliest envelope!

A special card for a special friend - perfect!

Happy creatin'

Weaving and Masks

Wheeeph, this is now really the end of the Kaisercraft Penny Royale we received at Spier (not even remotely the end of the stash - but the end of my creating with it for just now:).

The ribbon design paper lends itself naturally to paper weaving.......but I wanted it to really shine (literally;). To create the blossom effect I added a Heidi Swapp mask over the weaving and sprayed Latte Glimmer Mist over the mask. Clever, really clever BUT it ended up barely visible - then for the A-HA moment - a fine tip marker to outline the mask design and this enables the eye to complete the picture and see the complete masked image in the busy weaved pattern.

Another problem creeped up as the letters also faded into the vanilla cardstock - same solution! - use a fine liner all around and inside the letters to accentuate the letter stickers. The corner design was cut from some left-over paper to balance the LO and a journal block completes the picture. A few pearls as blossom centres and VOILA - another one bites the dust!

Isn't it amazing how similar the Penny Royale is to my Ouma's dress!! .....and look at that frizzy permed hair - Cool I say:):):)

Watch this space for an awesome calender idea!

Happy weavin' :)

Spier Clearsnap

These are the last of the Spier layouts! The classes for Clearsnap were geared more to teach different techniques (I was amazed how little of the group have embossed before!!). We stamped, inked, embossed and painted! The letters on the Friends LO were coloured with the Smooch Inks - I LOVE the applicator bottle in the shape of nail varnish and the sharp pointed applicator makes it a breeze to use on fine detail elements! The colours are also really vivid and brightens your projects. The red and green looks absolutely stunning on Christmas products - will definitely incorporate them this festive season.

On SNOOZIN' we used roller stamps to create your own background paper to match your photo. As I live in close proximity to MANY - too many:) - scrapbook shops, this is not a technique I will really use to create my own paper, but the effect is marvellous, even on printed paper! We also used the technique to rollerstamp on vellum (the background for my Snoozin' title). The example was a 8x8 card with two vellum strips under the title - as I love putting my own swing on things I created a LO using the bits and pieces we created with the stamping technique. The dots in the flowers were created with purple Smooch - it just gives your page a tinge of colour - use sparingly as it can VERY quickly turn your page into a circus of colour! I painted purple Smooch photo corners on my paper (what a disaster!!) and designed the layout so I can quickly covered them with a lovely blossom and the "pretty little girl" saying!!

As the scrapbooking saying goes - Every mistake is an opportunity for creativity! (or an embellishment!!)

Happy scrappin'

Puppy Love

Yes, this is a scrapbooking blog... but I simple couldn't resist these cutest puppy photies!!!! It's not our puppy, so luckily I can spend late nights scrapping, not potty training!!

It's just the most amazing little miracle:) The warm tummy smell (kinda like Pronutro?!?), soft little pink feet, neck snuggles and eyes not even open yet!! The puppy just wants to suckle (understandably - I suppose) and we put her next to my daughter's ear.......the giggles that came from that little body will be imprinted in my memory for the rest of my life!!!

Hope you have some little miracle make giggles rupture from your heart!!

Happy scrappin'

KI Memories Spier

Isn't the photos just too cute?? This is the Spier layout from KI Memories. We played around with different techniques and I love the outcome. We toned down VERY bright paper with double sided tape and iridescent glitter - a beautiful effect! I added a few blossoms and letters to make it my own (and I skipped the flip-up piece and envelope booklet :)

I like the use of white space on this layout - very effective.

Happy scrappin'

WOW, at last I had time to finish all the layouts from our Spier day! Have you ever had a week where you thought it would be peaceful and quiet and you'll get LOTS done - well....... needless to say it NEVER turns out the way you thought it would!!

The Kaisercrafters were sooooo abundant with their product, I finished the double layout, off-the-page project, two single layouts and a card and I still have half the embellishments and even some full sheets of paper left over!! I loooove the fact their ranges come with rub-ons, stickers, letters, die-cuts, embroidered badges and paper - all perfect for each other. It helps taking the thinking out of planning when you really have only a few minutes to spare or are rushing to a crop with friends (you met in the Spar and decided - yeah, let's crop 'till the wee hours of the morning :) and need to grab something on the run!

On my Zz.. layout I really enjoyed the straightness of the "skewy" lines - I saw a similar style in a mag and thought it a nice variation to the normal horizontal lined LO's. Hope it inspires you to be a little left wing low on your next LO's :)

I'm now looking forward to Christmas (yes, already!!). I love everything about Christmastime - the crowded shopping malls (I really do!!!), the Christmas tunes playing over and over until you know each and every single one by heart, the looking, finding, sorting, googling, e-baying for the perfect gift, the shiny wrapping and quirky gift tags (since most people chuck it with the paper a selected few will get the handmade scrapped version!!) but most of all the feeling of contentment, pure happiness and really truly knowing... An ALMIGHTY King was born this day - my Saviour!!

............and off course the three Christmas ranges I already bought for those awesome Christmas layouts :)

9 weeks to Christmas ladies - better get cracking!!

Glitzy Glitz

I loved the bold colours of the Glitz Design LO we did at Spier. I would not in my wildest dreams imagined putting a black rub-on on black paper - and as you can see, it looks super cool! (must admit the background is more dark grey than black!) It gives the effect of black heat embossing - a shiny, sassy feel to the LO.

The overseas designers definitely work on a different budget than us. The black background is actually a printed sheet of paper - if I had any cardstock I would definitely have replaced it with a cardstock sheet!! .... but as the saying goes - when you're in Rome do as the Romans do :)

The frame was traced and cut from a template and we "inked" the edges with paint dabbers!!! I honestly thought - agh, why not just use inks?!? - I was impressed! You can see the definite black edging on the very busy paper - for me, this actually softens the busy paper a bit and draws the eye to the frame.

Although I thought "SJOE!!!" when I saw the paper I really love the finished LO! I even bought more paper in the range to play with!!

Happy Scrappin'

This is my take on the Prima layout we did at Spier!

I absolutely fell head over heels in love with the flowers and bling swirls! Not to mention the absolutely adorable butterfly -bling, beads and all - sounds like a winning combination to me:)

The papers we used were magnificent. The pink paper was covered in a beautiful glittered finish with the turquoise in flocked velvety swirls. The pearly swirls added a bit of softness to the layout and the flowers balanced everything out. The pink flower is one huge blossom we manhandled (literally cut in half with a craft knife, manoeuvred insides out and stepped or squashed to flatten!!)

Faux stitching finishes off the double page and I have to say, of the Spier layouts, this one is definitely my favourite. The cute photos does help:)

Still very busy scrapping everything else. will post as they are completed!

Happy scrappin'

Spier 2009

There is only one word ....... WOOOOOW-WEEEEEEE !!! We had a blast!! This was the most fun I had in ages. To top it off - we have (for once) something to brag about that was unique to the Cape Town Convention - we actually scrapped in a tented venue!! (not mentioning it was about 34 degrees!!!) - it was still so much fun! - I always say: "you are here now - you can just as well enjoy every second!"

Myself and two friends stayed over from the Friday night at the Spier Hotel - amazing! This is such a tranquil and beautiful environment, we felt totally relaxed. I had so many laughs I still smile when I think about all we did and the fun we had. Great friends make the weekend SOOO much more memorable!! To be able to share laughs (and be laughed at!!) and laugh at yourself is certainly what makes it all worth wile.

I will post some of the completed projects as they are actually completed :) - still recuperating from a hectic week!

To sum it up it was a perfect weekend:
Friends
Scrapping
SHOPPING
Eating
Laughing
Relaxing
ENJOYING.......

Hei ho Hei ho it's off to Spier I go..... Yeaaaaahh!

I'm attending the International Conference and it's been a while since I had a weekend of doing nothing (that's besides scrapping like crazy to keep up with the classes!!) but enjoying myself. I'm counting the sleeps..

I wanted to share these amazing photographs with you. I think they can be entered into Time Warp. My hubby (dear, dear man - lying flat on his stomach on the grass for most of the shots!!) played with the camera settings to capture these shots! The BIG bubble set was a birthday gift (from mom and dad - with ulterior motives - I just imagined the photo's !!! :) and as we played dad took about 75 photographs!! These two are definitely my fav's - I like the action shot with the feet in the air.

I always end up playing with the bubbles by myself (she is either on the swing, slide or baking mud pies!!!) they absolutely fascinate me!

Play with your children, pets (or blow bubbles by yourself!!) - the photo opportunities are endless - and FUN!!

Have bubbleblowing scrappin' fun

Ahoy!

Dilemma, dilemma.... a card for a boy pirate party!! Since EVERYTHING - well almost everything!! - in my stash is pink (or purple) I had to think quickly. These free papers were included in a carding magazine and I added (more like discarded:) them to my stash of carding papers (I generally do not fancy the thin glossy mag papers - and I prefer not to cut the 3D stacking pictures!).

I decided to give them a go (sigh.....big sigh!!) but must admit, in the end, they turned out pretty cool! The best part is they were free (besides paying a fortune for the magazine - of course!!) and since they'll most likely be chucked in the bin after the party - absolutely perfect!

I've now decided to use my freebies (hope I can make a dent in the stash before 2011!!) and be creative with what I have!

Ahoy mateys.... have a scrappin stunning time!!