I am so lucky to have an amazing photogenic subject for my scrapbooking!!!!

life has been busy busy busy but I have a few christmas projects up my sleeve!!

WIll post from next week - pinky promise:)

Happy scrappin'

Splodgy Groovie Cover

This time we are playing with a little paint effects in our Groovie Covers!

This is the cover and it oozes inspiration....

 ..................................and this is my take on the cover!

As I didn't have a lot of drying time for paints to dry I used Glimmer mists to create the splodges on my page:).  The cardstock is from Tim Holtz and I love tearing and distressing to reveal the different colour core.  The faux stitching adds a nice frame to the LO and keeps it all together!

The photo is my hubby, brother and Dad on a recent fishing trip and it is very dear to my heart!

Have fun playing with splodges and play along with us!

Happy scrappin'

Happy Birthday Little one....

Wow, did we have fun creating this birthday cake!!  This is the first ever character cake I attempted and my little one helped (since it is after all HER birthday!) to create all the animals on the cake!  Proud to say everything is edible - even the crown I made by hand:).  the body of the octopus is made from cereal treat - even that was finished in no time!

I must admit, it took even longer to eat the cake than it took to bake it:) - didn't realise how many people eat from one layer - let alone two!!

The children loved all the animals and since the party was at the aquarium it was a real hit!

Now to scrapbook all the photos!!

Happy scrappin'

All tagged up.........

At my little one's school they have a "wellness week" where all the teachers are treated and pampered. Isn't it a wonderful idea - just showing them they are soooo important to us as parents - taking care of our "hearts walking outside of our bodies" - as my mom would say:)

 I've designed a tag class to give them some creative outlet:)

Fifteen teachers - one hour - with only a pair of scissors and a tube of glue:) - going to be oodles of fun!

Lovely to have the opportunity to give something back:) - and off course I'm baking my chocolicous death-by-chocolate cupcakes!

Happy scrappin'

Still alive......

..........and kicking:).  I just realised it is almost a month since my last blog!  Woweeeeee!!  As I'm back working full-time life happens in the few hours I have spare at night and with a sick family for 3 (YES THREE) weeks it's been hectic!

Anyway, no scrapping really happened and Thought I'll share some of the convention photos from Arniston.  This is the anchor of the Hotel (no, not me, the ACTUAL anchor:) - the venue was amazing and I must admit it was the best service I've ever had at a venue!!  Spectacular!

 This is what you missed if you didn't attend:0  - my kit box and the Thirst Aid Kit Ria presented to the delegates (perfect colour combination !!) - the thirst aid kit even had some Panados - just in case:)

 On the Sunday myself and two friends travelled home via Agulhas and this is me being the King of the world ..............okay maybe the Queen of the world:) on top of the lighthouse at Agulhas. The wind was sooo strong we battled to stay upright!

For my overseas readers a little something to make you jealous:)

 ............and this is me - torn in two!  I asked my friend to lie in the ocean across the crossing line but she didn't really fall for it - must be the rocky shoreline that put her off:)

Anyway.....hope you are creating wonderful memories to scrap!

Happy scrappin'

Life gives you groovie lemons...

Over at Groovie Covers we are playing with lemons this month:)  A very interesting and challenging book cover to play with!!!

I've decided if life hands you lemons I'll create hearts! This is my take on the cover....

I used the same principle, top half, bottom half as well as two elements in the middle - I just changed the elements into hearts to fit my photo!  I loved the way the yellow popped on the book cover .........I had the photo in black and white but decided to use the original in colour to get the pop of the yellow on my page:)

Play along with our lemony challenge and you might win a RAK:)

Happy scrappin'

Printers tray

What an awesome weekend we had in Arniston at the Scraphouse Convention!!  I LOVE teaching and sharing ideas and techniques and once again I wasn't dissappointed:). 

It was an awesome group of ladies and so much talent in one spot.  It always amazes me that we all come from different backgrounds and have a passion we all share - scrapbooking!!

The other teacher's did LO classes and I decided to stir things up a bit and design a Printer's Tray.  It was a new concept to most and we had OODLES of fun!!

I love the scrapping, chatting, laughing and laughing and the eating.........eating...........eating and EATING!  I feel like a Thanksgiving turkey. This morning I sat waiting for a cup of coffe to "arrive" out of thin air and an omelet - made to perfection! - to "magically appear" - needless to say I'm still waiting (looking at the way my pants fit after the weekend it may be a good thing!!)

Go on,  search for those little itty bitty pieces and start creating your own printer's tray! It will be a treasure lasting a lifetime:)

Happy scrappin'

Scraphouse Convention @ Arniston

Mmmmmm, the project is still a secret (and yes, it will only be revealed at the convention - just a note to all the nosy scrappers:) but it's going to be gorgeous - even if I say so myself! Itty bitty pieces here and there, flowers and teacups and even a few trinkets and charms.......................

I will be teaching something off the page and I am tickled pink to be a part of this stunning event! Just look at the venue......................I feel relaxed already:)

The delegates will be blown away and thoroughly spoilt by Ria!  Visit here and have a squizz!

I'll be adding a few sneak peaks until THE day to wet your appetite :p

Join us for an amazing weekend in scrapping heaven:)

happy scrappin'

Fly fly away......... little tag:)

I've tried my hand at another chess box:0 - this time using my favourite colours: black, white and pink!

These are all the tags that fit inside the box!  As I wasn't scrapping at home I had no embellishments on hand - using a single butterfly punch I created a 3D effect layering one butterfly on top of another in different designs.  Simply lift the wings and they look absolutely awesome!  Some bling in the centre just makes them pop:) - no extra embellishing needed.

Create some interest inside the box using two different patterned papers and ink the edges as the brown wood isn't as pretty with the white background paper.

 The front of the box is big, bold polkadots with faint script running across in grey ink.  These paper designers blow my mind!!!

Enjoy creating awesome designs with your butterflies and punches!

Happy scrappin'

Doodling Noodling

I've always admired scrapbookers and cardmakers that can doodle on anything and make it look pretty!  the art of doodling is still eluding me - I must admit:)

I wanted to give it a go and this photo offered the perfect opportunity for childlike doodling (don't think I'm up to advanced doodling yet!).  My little one LOVES face painting and once again mom and dad were the subjects of her "artiness" - and we really love playing canvas!!!! (I know a few moms that would rather pluck their toenails with pliers:) :).  Mom is a dragonfly (facepainting goes hand in hand with imagination!!!!), daddy is a cat and then our pretty precious butterfly! I think she has mommy's crafty side and daddy's math brain (my math brain unfortunately never developed:))

I doodled the "Picasso" title as we doodled LOVE in primary school when we had a crush on someone :p - to play on the childlike feel of the page.

It's a bit crooked and scew but my little one was sooo impressed she immediately wanted to "noodle" too - hubby said sounds like a naughty plan.................men:)  LOL

Happy noodlin' scrappin' ;)

Dotty Groovie July

Playtime at Groovie Covers!  Yippeeee!

This month's cover is really funky and a little dotty.........

I've substituded the dots for blossoms and brads and  loved the black, pink, white and green colour combo of the dots - had to use those in the flowers! 

Play along and stand a chance to win a lovely RAK - you don't need a blog to participate- e-mail me your design and lets get dotty:)

Happy scrappin'

P.S. recognise the hair and glasses??  :-*

Chess anyone??

I bought a cheap and nasty chess set from a R5 store (it actually cost R12???) for my little one to play around with - and I bought one for myself!!  The box was made from lightly colored wood, with hinges and a clasp in gold (fake, I presume:) - not bad for a cheap chess set. 

I just had to do something with it..................

 I covered the front and back with the beautiful glitter print - LOVE browns and turquoise together!! There was a tiny bit of the chess blocks painted on top showing at the back but a little sanding with my sanding block sorted that like a charm:)

 The inside was also covered - had faint stains on it that didn't look gift worthy:)

After covering and inking all the edges - even the wood - I added a layer of Podge to keep the glitter at bay and to make the box last a little longer.

The box is really shallow and I was a bit perplexed as to what I'll put inside :-* ...............so I made a box of tags!  A friend is having a birthday next week and I thought it would be the perfect gift - if she then has a birthday or any occasion coming up she can wrap in brown paper and grab one of the tags to add and zwoozh up the gift- easy and pretty ;)

The box can then also be re-used as a travel jewellery box or stationary holder in the car - it fits a small notebook and pen..............mmmmmmmmmmm.........................I've got my daughter's box..................sorry, have to go..............have to cover another box.............

Happy scrappin'

Thank you in Bonjour style:)

Bonjour........    

My dear friend had a whole lot of sponsors lined up for the convention.  The apt way to thank them was to create beautiful thank you cards - scrapbooking style - and that's just what we did.  We designed and created 16 cards in a few hours and were very chuffed with the results.  Loved using the gorgeous Kaisercraft Bonjour collection - so easy to create with:)

                                       
All of the cards in matching printed paper makes for a beautiful sight - so pretty it took some convincing to actually post them:)

On the envelope is a pretty swirly stamp and "just a little note to say THANKS", completed with some stickles to add a bit of pizazzzzz!

I would love to get one of these in the mail - something handmade.................something other than a bill:)

Why don't you send someone special a handmade card - put a smile on their face and a WOW on their lips!

Happy scrapping'

Inspiration station!

My little girl bought this tape from a craft store - very chuffed with herself.................and it was only hers - I may only use one little piece on a  layout:).

The idea was perfect for a single photo I wanted to scrap for a while but it was just a pretty photo, no story to tell, no memories - just pretty!

 I created my washing line with baker's twine (simply tie a bow on each end and staple to your page) and used the thicker craft pegs - I split the pegs as they were just too thick for fitting snugly in an album. After struggling with the look I realised the pegs looked odd without the silver wire piece on top that makes a clothes peg a clothes peg:) - solution..........I snipped of the end pieces from the peg "spring" and added them to the pegs with dimensional glaze and voila! perfect. A few hand-cut t-shirts from matching paper (freehand draw them and cut out) and some pearls for trim, a title from card stock (also just draw freehand and cut out!) with a little dimensional glaze to lift the title and it's perfect!

I loved the look of the paper and didn't want to 'over' embellish the page - simply added matting to my photo in a co-ordinating print and two folded "fan" embellishments with rolled bakers twine centres just to tie it all together.  Distressing the photo mat gives the page a bit of dimension and adds texture.

Why not find something that's not really 'scrapbooky' and make a layout inspired by it?

Happy scrappin'

Chocolate roses............

I have decided that working with chocolate and scrapbooking are my favourite hobbies:)

This cake was oodles of fun - chocolate ganache filling, handmade truffles and chocolate clay roses (can't take credit for the red roses, those were so perfectly made by our amazing Lord:)  plus squiggles on my chocolate sleeve....................mmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........need I say more.......

Groovie June.

It is playtime again at Groovie Covers!  This is the book cover to use as inspiration for June!  Since joining the design team I've been looking at book covers differently:) - suddenly I see compositions of colours and fonts I would never have noticed before!

This is my take on the cover.  My little princess made a beautiful Protea at school and she bought me the most beautiful black Arum Lilies for Mother's Day.  She told her Daddy that is what she is buying and NOTHING else will do:).  I used teeny weeny letter stickers from Kaisercraft directly on the photo and it reads : " you are still the best gift of all!"

I used the teeny stickers around the edge of the circle as my journaling and added ruffles of tissue paper for a bit of dimension on the page.  A few chipboard flowers on top of the die-cut creates a lovely 3-D effect and the bling photo corners just round the page off.

Play with us using the June cover as inspiration and stand a chance of winning a RAK:)

Happy scrappin'

All about me:)

A friend had a bday last year - we were helping to set up the venue when I decided to alter the mood and give everyone a laugh!  My little girl got the hair and glasses in a package from "far-away" Grandpa and Grandma - I found it in the car after dropping her at Granny for the night.................just what I needed:)

We all had a good laugh and it was fun to do something seriously silly for a change!

I loved layering different elements and papers in the page - I wasn't scrapping at home so created all the ribbon and elements with the paper on hand!  Little fuzzy cut birdies in the corner ties the page together and the funky colours and elements suit the photo perfectly!

Why don't you capture a silly moment and scrap it so your children can one day have a laugh - even when it's at your expense:)

Happy scrappin'

Favourite colours!

The final product:)

I've decided to bake a cake for my Mom this Mother's day!!  I also decided to try something new and challenging!

I've never covered a cake, never used Royal Icing and certainly never piped before (especially not black on white!).

In the end I really LOOOVE my cake!  I even used the dry brush embroidery technique on my cake, piped swirls and created faux stitch lines with piped dots on my top tier.  Everything on the cake was made by my own hands - even the beautiful flowers! - okay, I'll stop ringing my own bell ;p

The best part - I have the perfect black, white and pink patterned paper for the photos:)

Happy Mother's Day and happy scrappin'

I love the versatility of a single circle punch!!

Simply punching circles from your print and cutting in halve will add a lovely border accent to any card or project (especially if you didn't pack your scallop border punch for the class:))

The font running both vertically and horizontally adds interest to the card and draws the eye to read some of the sentiments!

Try using your punches for scrappy things they were not really designed to do!

Happy scrappin'

Puppy love!

Today I feel like the first week I brought my little princess home - sleep deprived but smiling..............and this is the reason.................our new addition to the family!!

Isn't she cute (I'm talking about the puppy now;)

7 weeks old and a mini "sausage dog" - she weighs 1.2kg and has the sharpest teeth on this side of the earth........................and her favourite time to chew (and by chewing I mean chewing on me - anything goes - ears, lips, nose!!) is at 3am!!

A few times today I thought - why do we do this to ourselves and then she curls up in the nook of my neck with her baby puppy breath and baby puppy sighs in my ear and I remember why!!

So glad...now I can get some new puppy paper to scrap with!!!!

Happy sleepin' (oops...meant scrappin' ;P)'

Resist stamped tags.

It seems the only thing I get time to play with at the moment is tags:) 

I love using the resist stamping effect and colouring with my Distress Inks!

Using a swirly stamp and clear embossing powder to create the white swirls on the white cards is perfectly easy and creates a striking image.  Use different colours of Distress Inks to create a bit of a variety and add a puched butterfly for 3D texture.

These make a lovely gift if boxed or simply tied together with matching ribbon.

Why not play with bold colours or black and white - you might find you like both:)

Happy scrappin'

Groovie April Fool

You'll be a real April fool if you don't hop over to Groovie Covers and play along with our April cover!
This is my take on the cover for some inspiration! I wanted to use a decorative scissor or punch for the edge on the green and blue but nothing really mimicked the black wiggle on the original cover. In the end I opted to cut it freehand and like the effect on the LO:)

The flowers added the perfect layered feel to the LO and I love the spring green - it just lifts all the colours!

Be inspired and have fun with your news prints:)

Happy scrappin'

Round and round......

I had a few of these round Kraft tags left over from Christmas (a few round tags and a whole lot of debt:)) and wanted to use them for gifts during the year.

Amazing what a stamp and a little brown embossing powder can achieve!!
All I need to do now is ZWOOSH - yeah, I don't know if that is a word either:P - them up with funky ribbon ............... maybe some wax string with beads and pearls...............maybe some raffia

...............maybe................... maybe ...........................sorry, I have to go, I have some tags to finish off:)

Happy scrappin'

Delectibly delicious!

I've been baking some more cupcakes and I am really enjoying it! I love the decorating part - playing with all the colours and creating toppers - a lot like scrapbooking:)

This is my double chocolate - it is truly divine (and I dare you to have more than two:))

These I baked for my little girl's class party for her teacher - I wanted to capture the playful feel and excitement of having a party when you're six years old (mind you - I still get that feeling!!!!)

I think I have to scrap a LO with all my cupcake creations......................off to find some "cakey" paper!!

Happy scrappin'

Adventurous Advent:)

You might recall a few posts back I made this beautiful advent calender for my daughter - only it wasn't an advent calender!! We turned it into a earring / jewellery holder:)

My mom fell in love with it and I created this one - also the advent calender from Karen Foster - with more mature colours and prints.
I decided to also cover the back - if you stand it in front of a mirror it looks beautiful from all sides:)

The sides are covered in co-ordinating prints and I love the subtle glitzy effect the glitter paper adds to the project!

Think out of the box when purchasing or using off the page projects - they might have more uses than intended!!

Happy scrappin'

Tag, your it!

Over the weekend I played with plain blank white tags and some beautiful black stamps. I love using newspaper to wrap a gift with a nice coloured ribbon and one of these tags - simple but effective!

The first set is more on the feminine side - just LOVE these birdie stamps! All the stamps are embossed and it adds a little glamour to the tag!

Then I created a set more for the guys - maybe around a bottle of wine or a nice sauce for the BBQ?

The last black and white set I added a smidgen of colour with my Smooch - love the sparkle it adds! These are more for the kiddies gifts................cute, aren't they??

Play with your stamps and off-cuts - a simple rectangle creates a beautiful tag in an instant! use as is or use your corner rounder for a softer effect.

Happy scrappin'

Groovie March...and a little dotty too:)

Hop over to Groovie Covers and join us in the dotty madness of March!! Remember you don't need a blog to participate in the challenge - e-mail your LO and stand a chance to win a lovely RAK:)

This month's cover is really colourful and fun - and the dots made my imagination run WILD!!

I designed my LO using not only the dots as inspiration, but also the colours.

Inspired by the dots I used buttons in all the colours and as I only used plain cardstock I thought it a nice opportunity to freehand doodle on the page ...................yes, freehand - it was totally scary and liberating!!

Get dotty with us and do something a little out of the box:)

Happy scrappin'