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Ry nou deur die plat , droe Karoo. Cute apies langs pad! Slaap by Noetsie kasteel vanaand – kannie wag nie!

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Absence makes the heart grow fonder…

ATC name

Hi everyone,
Sometimes life tends to throw us real curve balls… The past 2 weeks felt like I was caught up in some alternate reality – it’s like I existed outside the real world. I can’t go into detail, but at least let me apologise for my absense – and post at least one card to make up for the inactivity

I made this card for the “Handmade” Profile All Occassion Cards” swap on swap-bot.com. It was one of 3 cards, but I based the other 2 on cards I’ve posted previously, so I did not bother to photograph them again.

Have a great day!

Handmade magnets

‘Live Laugh Love’ magnets

I made the two magnets on the left and right for the “Fridge Magnet – No Theme” swap on Swap-bot, and the middle one I gave to a good friend for her birthday.

Here’s a good tip: when you make something, make more than one – you won’t believe how much time and effort it will save you in the long run!

Making cards with my Cricut

I am totally hooked on my Cricut! I joined a card swap where we had to use our Cricut to make 3 cards. I only have the “Stretch Your Imagination” image cartridge, but I’ve found the cartridge most versatile.

Bird at sunset

Trees in Autumn

Sunflower

Thanks for dropping by!

“All the flowers of all the tomorrows…” ATC

“All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today” (Indian proverb) – Quote ATC

I don’t have any photos to show for the Scrapbook Convention yet, so I thought I’d show you an ATC I made a while back but never posted.

I’ve never made anything that’s so… yellow, LOL! It’s very happy and sunny and bright, isn’t it? This is 100% outside my crafting comfort zone, so I don’t know how this happened, but luckily it looks great and that’s all that matters in the end, right? It was made for the “Stamping with Bleach” swap on Swap-bot, but if you’re wondering where those stamped images are… well, they’re not   I went through many (ruined) papers and card stock, half my stamp collection and half a bottle of bleach before just giving up on trying to stamp anything. In the end I used an ear-bud to ‘paint’ some daisies with the bleach.

This is what I’ve learned:

1. There’s a good reason why they invented ink – if we were suppose to stamp with bleach, Ranger would have been out of business by now.
2. If all else fails, blame the bleach!

Have a great week, and thanks for looking!!

I’ve got a date with Tim Holtz

I just wanted to share this exciting bit of news: I am attending a half day workshop by Tim Holtz (yes, the one and only) this Saturday!!! He is coming to teach at the SA Scrapbook Convention. Two weeks ago I was reading about Jennifer McGuire ’s weekend at Ranger U where Tim was teaching, and that just threw more fuel on an already raging fire! Oh, I just can’t wait, I SO can’t wait! I’m planning on getting so inspired and creative and full of ink that my life (and my nails ) will never be the same again!!

If you don’t know who Tim is, it’s worth finding out. I’ve seen some of his videos, and read articles and interviews and his philosophy on life, his motto to “live the life you’ve imagined”, to be and create - it’s real, and that is what inspires me. Not only is he extremely creative and artistic, he is also the mastermind behind some of the most amazing products I use every day!! (Distress inks, anyone?) But enough about this, I need to go pack since we’re leaving real early tomorrow. I’m attending the Cape Town one, and that means flying down to the coast. Although I live only an hour from Johannesburg, Stellenbosch is our favourate holiday destination in South Africa which means that my husband can now also benefit from a scrapbook class, since we’re making it a long weekend! So I’m signing off until next week. I figure the sooner I get into bed, the sooner tomorrow will come

Buttons up!

“Buttons Up!” thank you card

I had to make some “Thank you” cards for a Swap-bot swap, and based this one on the CPS112 sketch.

I used these beautiful papers from K&Company, tackled it with sandpaper and distress inks, then popped the diagonal strip up on foam squares. That’s it for now, will be back soon with the rest of the cards!

Thanks for looking!

Night Owl ATC

Night Owl ATC

This ATC was made for the “Paperless ATC” swap on Swap-bot, and based on the Sunday Stamper theme “birds” (due to connectivity issues I could not post it last week…) The “Paperless ATC” theme determined that we had to make an ATC without using the standard “go to” supplies (card stock and paper) – the idea was to stretch us a little; to think outside the box. Boy, did my head hurt trying to come up with something nice!

I have always been a late night person, and my parents have always affectionately referred to me as their little Night Owl. So naturally once I knew I was making an owl, the rest came together quickly!

I made the base out of some very nice, clear plastic that I cut from packaging, which is why I took 2 photos, one against my favourate dark background, and one against a light background. I sponged the back with black StazOn  (although I’ll probably try black spray paint next time) after masking small stars at the top to represent the night sky, and used a piercing tool to create a border. I cut the owl out of hessian cloth and used embroidery thread for an outline. I decided the owl should sit on something, so I affixed a genuine African twig :p to the background with copper wire that doubles as leaves.

Thanks for looking!

Home Sweet Home ATC

Home Sweet Home ATC

I had to make an ATC of my choice for a Swapbot swap, so I thought I’d join in the fun over on the Sunday Stampers blog, where the theme for the week is “Our House“. Since I bought this really cute stamp set at a sale the other day, I immediately knew what I was going to make I was initially going to use the house image to tie in better with the theme, but in the end I just had to use the couch stamp. You see, we have this amazing leather couch in our living room that is just perfect for sitting, sleeping, entertaining, relaxing, chatting, watching TV, typing long blog posts like this one, and many other random activities pertaining to life.

So, this ATC celebrates the well known fact that “no house is a home without your favourate couch” …okay, I made that up, but I can’t think why it should not be true! I used mostly “Love, Elsie” products except for the background and journalling frame. This little piece of papier kuns is also laden with foam tape and Glossy Accents like there’s no tomorrow

Here’s to many more years of happy couching!

Luxurious 60th birthday card

Luxurious 60th Birthday Card

I made this card on special order for a lady at my LSS after she saw some of my cards. I took great pains to make it worthy of a lady who is turning 60. Oh, and the entire image is made up of a serviette!

I got the idea to use a serviete when I saw some cards in the Australian Cardmaking Stamping and Papercraft magazine that used serviettes as very successful focal images. When I saw these beautiful flower serviettes at a small craft store, I knew what I would do with them! I only bought 4 at the time not knowing I’ll use them all at once (I only thought of layering them later), and when I went back for more the shop has closed down . So this is truly a “one of a kind” card.

I decoupaged 4 serviettes onto pieces of card stock (for strength), then cut one of them out to serve as the background, letting the flower “hang over the edge” of the border. For the rest I only used the flower part, which I cut into smaller pieces and layered using foam tape to create a 3D effect. I stuck some of the card stock mats on mounting board for a bit of depth and strength. Finally I decorated the inside with beautiful paper and gold ribbon.

A list of my favourate blogs

I thought I’d do some enabling today and list all my favourate blog hangouts:

Crafters (cards/stamping/paper crafts)

• Pickled Paper Designs – Amy Sheffer
  Amy Sheffer is my personal Card Maker Idol. She has a mature, balanced style that uses lots of layers and detail without it ever feeling overwhelmed or cluttered. I also love the papers and “extras” she uses.
• Capture The Moment – Nichole Heady (Papertrey Ink)
  Nichole is an Inspirational Genius. She has this innocent, simple style that catches me off guard all the time. My head usually can’t think how something so simple can look so beautiful. She’s also the owner of Papertrey Ink, a stamp company that carries the most beautiful, functional line of stamps and relevant products.
• My Time, My Creations, My Stampendence – Lauren Meader
  This woman is an inspiration on all levels of life. She has so much joy and energy, and her creativity knows no bounds.
• Stamping with Markies Mom – Faith Hofrichter
  I love her cards, and I love her stories – her “Speedy the cat” stories are legendary & so funny!
• Poetic Artistry – Julee Tilman (Verve Stamps)
  Julee is the reason I’m into cards. I stumbled across her blog a few years back, and her clean, layered style immediately appealed to me. She’s also the owner of Verve Stamps.
• Freedom In Creating – Michelle Zindorf
  She is the well known “brayer queen” who’s cards are awe inspiring artworks, using only inks, a brayer, lots of post-it notes, and stamps…
• Mish Mash – Michelle Wooderson
  Her blog is a recent find for me, and it’s quickly making its way to my top 3 favs. Michelle is an expert with mass producing cards, and also makes great looking notebooks and bookmarks. I love all her stuff.
• Amazing Paper Grace – Becca Feeken
  Becca makes these “larger than life” luxurious cards with silk ribbon and lots of layers and textures.

Scrapbooking

• Ali Edwards
  She’s a graphic designer/scrapbooker/mom/expert life liver. She views and captures life in a way that is inspiring and fulfilling.
• Donna Downey
  This woman’s approach to life & scrapbooking can only be described as “outside the box”. She puts the capital in Fun.
• Stacy Julian
  Stacy is known for her “guilt free” approach to scrapbooking. Her enthusiasm for life is also addictive. She’s the founder of Big Picture Scrapbooking.

Paper Craft Resources

• The Vintage Moth
  Free vintage images for your crafting pleasure.
• Card of the Week
  Susanna Boyd scour the world wide web and collect the gems in one place. There’s  inspiration for everyone – scrapbooking, card making, mini albums, paper projects, tutorials, etc.

Oscar Wilde Quote ATC

“Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.” Oscar Wilde

Yes, it is time for another ATC swap! This one was inspired by the Wilde one. I thought the quote was quite funny – and it kinda makes you wonder…

I wanted the image to look like it was floating off the edges, so I made the base out of acetate. That piece of pink card is a page from a new range by Making Memories that includes beautiful spiral notebooks with diecut pages.

The pretty girl I used above had a beautiful pair of legs that I just couldn’t throw away, so I made another ATC, which is currently available to trade:

It’s not really a shorter skirt…

I wanted to use an appropriate quote for “legs”, and narrowed the search down to one of the following two:

“…Apart from having 2 good legs I also have 2 good degrees and it is just possible that I know what I’m talking about.” -  Edwina Currie (former British Member of Parliament, novelist)

“It’s not really a shorter skirt, I just have longer legs.” – Anna Kournikova (Russian professional tennis player)

I decided on the latter, just because

Have a great day, and thanks for looking!

Annual Holiday Ornament swap

Christmas ornaments: sparkling see-through stars!

If you haven’t participated in the annual Holiday Ornament Swap yet… you don’t know what you’re missing!! Here’s a taste of what you’ve missed. This was such a fun project! I have never been covered in this much glitter in my entire life

I have wanted a good excuse to start a Christmas ornament collection for some time, so I didn’t think twice before joining the swap. But when I started thinking of what I was going to make, it slowly dawned on me that mailing 10 medium weight packages overseas is going to cost me a small fortune. So I decided that a few design limitations will be in order, especially since I’ve learned a long time ago that it’s when we have to stretch beyond what’s easy/comfortable that we do our most creative work.

So I set my restrictions: the cheapest type of mail is a standard letter. That means it has to be flat (there goes my “angels made out of large beads” idea), it can’t be metal (there goes my metal tree idea) and it has to be very light (there goes most of my other ideas). And because I don’t do fabric, it didn’t leave a lot of “light, flat, non-metal” options. Which eventually didn’t matter, since these ornaments turned out perfect!

I used a glue ink pad to stamp winter swirls on the large star, and the word “joy” on the small star, traced the edge with white glue, then covered everything with glitter (and I mean everything, including myself and half the room LOL). Then I added some beads as a final touch Now I just have to come up with a new “flat, light, non-metal” ornament before the next round…

PS: Thanks for all the amazing ornaments I received, they are a joy to behold!!

Pop it up ATC swap

Seashell on the beach

This is one of the ATCs I made for the Pop it up Swap on swapbot. We had to make 2 ATCs, using foam squares to layer the image. I just love how this one turned out – one of my all time favourites!

Vintage ATCs

Cookie?

Genuine… Chicken

I just love these two ATCs! I have never considered myself much of a “vintage artist”, but these two came out quite nice. They were made for the “Vintage ATC Swap” on swapbot.

The “Cookie?” ATC was so easy to make – I used a sheet of paper that was already covered with vintage labels, picked the spot that I wanted to show on the ATC and I was done. Except, it just feels so wrong if it’s not complicated!! So I ended up adding a word. Then layered the girl a few times. And then added some ribbon. And of course something to dress up the ribbon. Does anyone else ever do that?

The chicken was… genuinely harder. I had downloaded this beautiful vintage image from The Vintage Moth of a rooster and a hen, and wanted to use the rooster-part on my ATC. Well, the poor thing never recovered from all my aging and inking, so I ended up using the hen Why the word “genuine?” I don’t know. Really. But it works, huh? Cracks me up every time I read it.

EDIT: I had more than one person say they don’t find it funny. Well, if you must know, it’s the irony of the word “genuine” next to a drawing of a chicken (i.e. a representation of a chicken, not the real (genuine) thing), not to mention that it’s a vintage chicken (no genuine chicken can be called vintage and still be a real, live chicken…) — that is what cracks me up. And it’s made even more funny by how comfortably these two discrepancies sit next to each other without drawing any attention to themselves.

Notice about coming change

I have so many things to show and have been taking photos faithfully of all those beautiful ATCs, including 2 new swaps, but I’m asking everyone to bear with me — I will be uploading all my images to Photobucket from now on and I’m still finding my feet. Plus during the following few weeks I will move everything there. This process might delay posting a bit, but please don’t fear — the end is near! (Well, not really, but it does rhyme nicely ;-p)

If you’re from Swap-bot and wondering about my participation in swaps, I’m up to date and going strong. (I did fall slightly behind with my Granny’s death, but everything is caught up now).

So thank you for your patience!!

A death in the family

My granny passed away on Wednesday. She has been ill for a long time and it was not unexpected, yet it still caught us all off guard (as Death always does). I will be MIA for a bit till things are back to normal.

Granny Lulu’s “wall of remembrance”

Granny Lulu never liked photo albums – she wanted to see her photos! So she would stick all her favourate photos on the walls of her bedroom with Prestik, and over the years her display has grown quite a bit One of her favourate things to do was to point to a photo on the wall and tell you all about the special memory associated with it. She was also always writing down Bible verses, quotes, lists and thoughts on bits of paper and in small notebooks. That yellow piece of paper is just one of many.

This layout is basically a small “wall of remembrance” in memory of her, and it will go on the cover of her funeral letter.

Ribbon tree Christmas card

I thought I’d take a quick break from ATCs and share a Christmas card with you that I made a while back but never posted here.

“Thank You, L” ATC

Thank you, L

This is an extra ATC that I sent along with the 12 Months ATC swap to thank my swap partner (who’s name starts with ‘L’) for being so patient. Ironically, this extra one came out better than most of the required ones, I think! This is definitely one of my all time favourites!