Last post for 2009

A very good day to all!

This will more than likely be my last post for this year. Before I go any further, I would like to wish all my visitors a very happy and wonderful 2010. May your best memories of 2009 be your worst in 2010. May all your dreams come true and may you only experience health, love, wealth and lots of happiness.

At our Stamping and cardmaking retreat in October, Blanche Varrie from Great Impressions taught us how to decorate these canvasses. She had them all prepared for us, we just had to do the stamping and putting them together. I just loved it. It has been quite a while since camp and as I was busy making other things, I never got around to making some more and I also did not have all the necessary supplies. At the beginning of the month I was in the city and were able to get all the things I wanted/needed to make these canvases. I've did not have the faintest idea how to prepare the canvases or the little wooden squares but took the plunge and did it as I thought it should be done.

I also did not have the stamps that Blanche used on the ones we did at camp, but hey, I suppose that is what makes each of us individuals - use whatever you have! You can see what the camp ones looked like on Susan Nel's blog. I also made this dusty pink one. There are lots that I will do differently on the next ones I plan to make, but for now, I am happy with these. Don't you just love the metal flowers! I found them at a bead shop in Bloemfontein for next to nothing.

That's it for today and this year. Hope to be more active in blogging next year, though I think that might be wishfull thinking!

Thanks so much for visiting!!

Some Quick Christmas Cards

And a warm welcome back to all! It's been some time since I was last on here - been rather busy with this and that.

Today I just have some quick Christmas cards that I made. I had to make 30 'more affordable' cards, and these are what I came up within the short time I had to do them.  The stamp used here is also from a local company - Great Impression.

These were made using some goodies that I bought last year and the only stamping done here is the greetings. All stamps from Great Impressions.

This stamp is from a local lady, Niki Zipp from Paperchain. I love her stamps - they are so nice and deeply edged. Only embossing done here and a couple of pearls on the side.

And that's it for today.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Have a great weekend!

SD Challenge 19: Polka Dots

A very happy Saturday to all! We are having wonderful sunny weather and it is actaully a good day to be working in the garden. But who wants to work in the garden when you can craft :-)

There is a new challenge over at Sunflowers and Dragonflies - this time the theme is Polka Dots! Pop on over and have a look at what the DT has come up with - there are some real beauties. This weeks prize is two cute stamps - White Rabbit and Cheshire Cat.

In a previous post I mentioned that I had to make some more Xmas cards for my daughter. And without knowing about this challenge, I used some polka dot paper! I had this paper for quite some time and when she picked the base card paper, I so hoped that this red and creamy colored paper would match it. Well, it did perfectly. She picked the stamps and colors. The nativity scene stamp is from Great Impressions and the word stamp is from Country Crafts (formerly Best Rubber Stamps) - both are local stamp companies. The card size is 15 x 15cm and the instructions were for it to be flat, no 3D, and with only a little bling. She contacted me last night to say that she received the cards and that she is very happy with it.

So, that's another entry to a challenge. Keep your fingers crossed for me - I just love the Sunflowers and Dragonflies stamps and would love to own these two beauties. Maybe I should start working on another entry :-)

Thanks so much for visiting!

Have a wonderful and creative weekend.

Another Award!

I have been so lucky to have been given another award by a new blogland friend, Deborah. Baie dankie, dit word baie waardeer! Thank you so much! It is much appreciated.

For this award you have to do the following:
1.  Place the award and a post about it on your blog.
2.  Thank the person who gave you the award.
3.  Tell us 7 things about yourself that we don't know.
4.  Pick 7 more people that you feel deserve this award.
5.  Place a link to their blogs in your post.
6.  Tell these people that you have given them this award.

Right, here goes 7 more things about myself that you did not know:
1.  I hate it when people just forward an e-mail to me without deleting all the detail of the people they got it from.
2.  Poor service delivery.
3.  People using the name of the Lord when they should not, puts me off big time.
4.  I wish I lived closer to my Mother.
5.  It would be wonderful to live closer to more of the RSA group girls.
6.  I don't like sewing - specially alterations.
7.  If I made an appointment with you for a specific time, I will not be late and I expect the same from you.

I would like to pass this award on to the following bloggers:
1.  Desiréé at Desiréé's playground
2.  Sharon at Sharon's Kardz Korner
3.  Hetty at Hetty's Scrap-Layouts en Scrapkaarten
4.  Suzanne Cimini at Crafting with Sue
5.  RosesMarijke at Marijke's Cards
6.  Vix Kennedy at Vixykins
7.  Shamela at Shamela's Stamp n Scrap Corner

Thanks again Deborah!

Hope everybody will have a wonderful weekend.

CupCAKE Heaven - Another Challenge Card

A very good day to all!

This is my second entry for the Sunflowers and Dragonflies challenge. Yes, you are allowed to do more than one entry - they just need to be in separate posts.

'Recipe' for this: Impression Obsession Cupcake stamps were used, this time the single cupcake imiges. Colored with Tombows, some Stickles on the icing and Glossy Accents on the cherries. The 'signposts' were done with glitter on double sided tape and the name stickers is from an old Making Memories scrapbook kit.

The 'roof' was made using tissue paper I got from our local Mr Price Home store. Stuck that onto ordinary white cardstock with wide double sided tape. I could not find scrapbook paper that I was happy with and when I saw this, it drew me like a magnet. I love the vibrant colors on it. As you can see from this picture, the 'roof' is at a slight angle - done with mirror tape.

Come on RSA girls, you still have till tomorrow to enter for this challenge!

That's it from me for today. Hope you like what you see and more so, that Beth and the DT will like it too. I have all my fingers crossed.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Have a wonderful crafty weekend.

My first challenge card!

Today I am posting a card that I have made for my first ever challenge! It is from the Sunflowers and Dragonflies blog - and it is the SD Challenge 18: Let them eat cake. You can find the post here. The prize is their fantastic cupcake set. Eversince I saw these stamps, I have been wanting them. If I don't win them, I will definitely buy myself all of the cupcake stamps early next year.

The stamp used is the Cupcake set by Impression Obsession. The cupcakes was colored with Tombows and the stand with Twinkling H2O's Sage. The floral paper strip on the side is from the Heidi Grace range - Flocked Cardstock, Heidi's Cute Cakes, Stripe Dècor. Other papers used is Bazzill Board and some locally purchased buff board. Oh, and there's some Glossy Accents on the cherries and strawberry.

Do visit their website - they have some great tutorials. Also pop over to their shop - some great stamps available there and they ship internationally.

Thanks for the challenge Beth!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Have a great day.

Xmas cards

Good afternoon to you all!

Today is just a quick post with some pics of the Xmas cards I have to make for my daughter. Well, I finished the first 30 (with two extra for myself) last night. This is what it looked like while everything was cut and when I started with the stamping on the base cards.

This is all the cards done and all spread out on my workspace.  All 32 of them! 

And this is the actual card.  I was rather surprised - it did not take that long. These are for their business associates.  The word stamp is from Country Crafts (previously Best Rubber Stamps) in Johannesburg and the image is from Great Impressions in George.

Now it is off to make the other 4 that has to be a bit more special and bigger but the same image and word have to be used.

Thanks so much again for visiting!

Keep warm and have a great evening.

Grandchildren

A very good afternoon to you all.

We've had good old winter back with us since Sunday. It has been freezing cold, had to pull out the warm clothes again. I don't mind it though.

As you see, I have changed the look of my blog. Been wanting something pretty for some time and found this great website Cute Bloglayouts where Ingrid is designing lovely layouts. It ws really hard to choose just one design. Hope you like my new look.

Today is just some pictures of my two gorgeous grandchildren. This is the eldest one - Sydney. Once she got onto this swing, we had a battle to get her off it again. I'm sure you can see the enjoyment in that little face.

And this is the precious big boy - Alexander. He always has a smile on his face. In the four days they visited, I have never heard him cry.

That's it for today. I have an order from my daughter for 34 Christmas cards that I need to get out by next week Tuesday. Luckily the stamps and colors were chosen - it is now just for me to deside on the layout of the card. Thirty need to be the same and four need to be 'special'. I better get started on it!

Thanks so much for visiting!

Have a great week!

An Award? How honored I feel!

Wow, I received my very first award! From Sharon Keanly. Thanks so much Sharon. I love popping in on your blog. There is always something intersting that you are sharing.

The criteria is to mention 10 honest things about yourself and then pass it on to 4 or 5 friends. I would like to pass this on to the following very deserving RSA Stampers:
Susan Nel
Jowilna
Cariena
Debbie
Amanda HRH

Thanks girls - you have all made such a difference in my life since I joined RSA just over two years ago. I don't think I would have known what I do now about crafts, and specially about Rubber Stamping!

Okay, I suppose now it is moving on to the honest things about myself. Here goes:

1. It was the most wonderful day in my life when I met my husband 27 years ago - it was the day that changed the course of the rest of my life.
2. I love my two grandchildren to death and will take them to live with me any day. My family is very important to me.
3. I am quite happy to be on my own sitting 'working' (playing) in my craft room all day, even though I would walk around some days complaining because I don't have any fellow crafters/stampers really close by.
4. Don't ask me to do Scrapbooking or Beading - that bug made a u-turn in a flash when it was given my address. Sorry guys, I love your goodies and what you do, but it's just not for me.
5. Retiring early was something I should have done many years ago.
6. It would be a fantastic day when our estate agent brings us the news that our smallholding is finally sold and we can move closer to our children.
7. I never thought that being involved with the RSA group would be so much fun and that I would meet so many wonderful people.
8. Not in my wildest dreams did I think I would take the plunge and also move to Blogland. It's been a fun ride.
9. It always amazes me to see how different people would use the same stamp or all the different ideas they would come up with for a given theme.
10. The thing that I am most petrified of is to come out of a shop and my car is gone! I have nightmares about it. And in the end - it is a replaceable thing!

Right then, that is it from me for tonight. My grandchilren is still visiting till Sunday (since Wednesday) and I am like a cat with nine tails. I don't even mind not getting to any crafting. I will post some pics of them after they've left.

Thanks again Sharon! Come on now, how about joining us at RSA?! Maybe in the new year?

Thanks so much for visiting.

Have a great weekend!

Sew Special

Good morning to all from a cool, misty and wet Vryheid. We've had some lovely rain and I'm sure all the farmers around here are very happy with the rain. Some are planting maize and some of the foresters are felling Wattle trees. The rain apparently makes it easier to strip the bark. Isn't it wonderful how nature works!

Just two quick and plain cards that I've made with the stamps from my Clear Art Stamps set - Sew Special. I just love playing with it. A tiny bit of Stickles were used on this one, though you cannot realy see it.

Both have been colored with Tombows - again! On this one I used the double sided glitter technique again.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Hope you will have a wonderful day.

Daisies and a poodle

A very good morning to all.  We had some lovely rain last night and this morning the sun is shining brightly (and very hot already) and everything looks so clean and fresh. Looks like we are going to have a lovely day.

After working on this parchment craft card on and off for about three day, I eventually managed to finish it yesterday afternoon. The daisies are 3D. Not one of the cards I enjoyed doing the most, yet still very satisfying now that it is done.

This Poodle card was done with an extra image that I stamped and colored when I was making the cards for my friend. It is a Micia image and was colored with Tombows. The border was done with a Fiskars punch and I used the glitter technique that Jowilna taught us at camp on the checkered paper. I think the glitter is far too rough/big but it was the only transparent glitter I could find in our little town. I finished it off with some Zoomz for the flower center and on the border.

Okay, that's it for today. I have to get started on my Christmas cards and today seems like the perfect day for it.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Have a wonderful day full of beautiful creations.

I won some Blog Candy!!

I won some blog candy!!  Were just going through my candybar on my blog and hopped over to All That Scraps where Christine had a Sweet November Stamps Fairy Sweets Giveaway which closed yesterday. And there was my name! I am absolutely over the moon with joy! Now I will have some 'cute' fairy stamps too!  Please hop over to All That Scraps and you can see examples of these adorable fairies.

Thanks again to Christine and Amy who is the designer.

Have a wonderful day! I am having one!

Ballerinas and Poodles

Good evening to all!

Well, I had a rather busy afternoon. A friend contacted me at around 15H00 to request two cards for tomorrow morning! They have to be delivered by 09H00! And specific instructions - one has to have something ballerina on it for her granddaughter and the color has to be pink. The other one is for her daughter who is going through a rough patch - no flowers or coffee or people - it must be some kind of animal! Bang! There I lost all my ideas and to top it I don't have any ballerina stamps for the granddaughter's card! What now? Oh well, thank heavens for the internet and freebie clipart! This is what I came up with for the granddaughter.  And can you believe it, I made two! Her name is Abigail - reason for the little 'A' charm on this one. Colored with Tombows with lots of Stickels on the skirt.

The next one I actually just did because I had the image printed and still did not know what I was going to do for the animal card. Again lots of Stickels on the skirt. I suppose this one will go into my stash as I am sure she will prefer the top one.

How wrong could I have been! She preferred this one!

Now the ballerina card is done and the animal one is waiting. Stamped a couple of images and did not like it. They were things like a frog and a mouse and that would just not do the trick for me. Then I remembered about a new Micia stamp I have which I have never used. This was a rather quick one. I hope the poodle with its head held high and the hearts on this one will convey the message.

Will soon enough find out whether my friend like them or not!

Thanks a lot for visiting!

Hope you will all have a very productive week!

Parchment Craft Cards

A very good afternoon to all!

Here is two parchment craft cards that I made in the last two days. I just love making these even though they take much longer to make than rubber stamped cards.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Hope you will enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Crafty Secret Stamps

Finally! I've had some time to play with my new Crafty Secret 'Sew Special' stamps today! They were part of my prize at stamp camp and I just love them.  I make cards for the ladies in my Mom's quilt group and I think they will like these. Tomorrow will be to try some of the stamps using vellum.

Cold weather is forecasted for our region for tomorrow so I guess I will be sitting in my little craft room playing all day.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Have a great day.

Cricut cartridge or stamp candy over at Holly's Blog

Go check out this great candy that Holly is offering over at her blog! If you don't have a Cricut, she's offering a stack of stamps (25 in total) instead. The draw will take place once she's posted her 222nd project. She's on 171 now.

Click on the title of this post and you will be taken directly to the post on Holly's Blog.

Stamping on vellum

A week ago this time we were busy with classes at camp and it was so nice. Can't we have camp more often? It does not matter, we don't have to have goodie bags and prezzies at meals - just classes will do fine :-)

I have finished the cards I still needed to do from Jowilna's class and I am rather satisfied with them. I am just having a royal battle to photograph or scan them. Will have a go at it again next week.

This card I finished on Thursday already.  Used my trusted ole stamp from Flourishes again. Stamped it on vellum with Versamark Watermark and embossed with Sea Foam White powder. Did some embossing and did the border on one of the PCA grids. It was colored on the back with Tombows. The ribbon is one of those that has the little string attached that you pull to make a bow. The rhinestone is actually a light pink.

That's it for this weekend.

Hope everybody will have a wonderful weekend.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Last of stamp camp cards

Good morning to all!

This is the last of my stamp camp cards. Again, the stamp used in this sweet pea card is from Flourishes. This is the other part of the stamp set. As you can see here I have used my favourite Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder as well. Again it was colored with Tombows and some Stickles were also added.

This last card is again the Poinsettia stamp from Inkadinkado. This time I have used only the flower part. The background paper was printed on vellum and the flower was colored with Twinkling H2O's.










Okay, that's it for today. I'm busy finishing off my cards from Jowilna's class and am enjoying using the glitter technique she taught us.  Sometimes I just wish that there were more hours in a day to sit and play.

Thanks so much for visiting! To those friends leaving such kind comments - it is much appreciated!

Have a great day.

Some more stamp camp cards

A very good day to all! Hope you all had a very productive day yesterday.

Here are some more cards that I made for stamp camp. The rose card stamp is from a local company, Great Impressions. The orchid stamp is from Stampendous, the flowers on the acetate card as well as the daisies on the daisy card is from another local company, Country Crafts.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Have a great day.

More stamp camp cards

Good day to all!

I am now well rested and everything is back in it's place after the weekend away.

This is another one of the cards I made for the camp. The stamp is from one of our local stamp manufacturers - Great Impressions. Again it was colored with Tombows and I added a little bit of Pergamano Pinta-Perla over it for just that slight shimmer. Unfortunately it is not seen on this picture.



I thoroughly enjoyed doing this Poinsettia card. The stamp is from Inkadinkado. It has five layers. This card will definitely be re-created a couple of times soon.


And the last card for today is this one. The stamp is from Micia and the sentiment from Flourishes. Here I've used the 'negative' from a Nestability cut-out to frame the flowers. The flower in the middle is also 3D.

Enough for today. Now I am off to start playing with all the goodies we received at camp and practice some of the techniques we were taught this weekend.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Hope everybody will have a wonderfully productive day.

Stamp Camp

A very good day to all!

We are back from a very successfull and enjoyable stamp camp! Exhausted, but with lots of enthusiasm and new knowledge. Thanks to all the ladies who did a marvelous job with organising it and also to all the teachers who shared their knowledge with us. It was wonderful to see some of our RSA group members and 'old' friends, but also to meet so many new people who have now become friends.

As mentioned in a previous post, we had to make some cards for the camp with a floral theme, with which we also stood the chance to win some prizes. Much to my surprise one of my cards won first prize!! This is the card. Sorry about the quality of the picture, I never scanned it before I left and had to take a photo of it there at camp after the announcement. I made this card Wednesday last week, only because I had some time to kill before camp and when it was done I liked it so much that I decided to take one of my others out and enter this one. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that it would be a winner though.  The stamp is from Flourishes and was colored with Tombows. The little buckle was bought at Just Imagine. Some Crystal Stickles were also added.

I will post some more of the cards that I made for camp over the next few days, also some of the things we made in the classes.  Now it is back to unpacking, looking at all the goodies we received and planning how and where they can be used.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Have a great day!

Wedding card

Good morning friends! It is a lovely cool morning here but according to the weather forecast we are going to have a very hot day today.

A friend asked me for a card for her stepson's wedding which is towards the end of the month, but she wanted it today. As this is a card that I have made many of, specially for weddings, I decided to go with 'old trusty' again. I love doing this card as it looks never looks the same, depending on what colors and ribbons you use. This time they don't know what the wedding colors will be and I decided to go with just a hint of color and gold. The inlay is pearly white board.  I really hope she is going to be happy with it.

Well, that's it from me for today.  I am off to get ready to meet her for coffee a little later.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Have a great day!

Card for a friend

I have not written a post for quite some time! Been busy making parchment craft cards and enjoying it thoroughly. I originally started doing cards in parchment craft and later got interested in rubber stamping whilst on holiday in the Eastern Cape. Blanche from Great Impressions (one of our local stamp manufacturers) kindly gave me a basic class in rubber stamping, and I've been hooked since! Since I joined the RSA Rubber Stamp group I have not had much time for parchment cards with taking part in all the swaps. I am now done with all my swaps for the year, thus having time to do some parchment craft again.

Our Card Making Retreat weekend starts next week Friday. I cannot wait for it. This is where I get to learn new techniques and enjoy the company of our fellow stampers.

Todays card is one I made for a friend who owns a small craft shop in town. The stamp is from Flourishes. I love this Sweet Pea stamp set! You will see lots more of it in future.

Thanks for visiting and I hope that you will have a wonderfully creative weekend.

Vintage Rolls Royce Tour

This morning around 23 Vintage Rolls Royce cars from the 2nd Wholly Ghost Tour South-Africa passed by Vryheid. Our local Vintage Car Club met them on their way and we were able to chat to some of the participants and look at their cars. The cars are absolutely WOW! They are all such grand ol' ladies! All the members of the tour group were very friendly. Here I am with one of the ladies, Mary, from Australia. There were also cars from the UK, USA, Portugal, Canada, Monaco, Switzerland and New Zeeland. They shipped their cars from their country to Durban from where they started their tour through SA on Monday. The organisers are taking them through some of the most beautiful parts of our country. They will end their tour in Cape Town in around two weeks time from where their cars are shipped back again.

Wishing them all a good time in SA!

Rubber stamping

It looks like winter is back here in KZN. It is cold and overcast outside and the wind is blowing. Proper craft weather.

We had visitors for the weekend and I had no time to craft. But it was lovely to have the visitors. However, I could not sleep last night and I did some stamping then. I love my coffee stamps. This one is from Impression Obsession. The wording is from a different company. Sorry, I don't remember who from.

You can have a look at another one of my rubber stamped cards on my friend Susan Nel's blog through the link on my sidebar - Sunel's Crafts.

Hope everybody will have a wonderfully productive week.

Thanks for visiting!

Parchment Cards

Parchment craft is another one of my passions. Here is a card that I have made. A lot of my parchment cards are made for a friend of my Mother who prefer to give hand made cards to her friends. She has requested some cards again so for the next couple of days that is what I will be busy with.

Thanks for visiting!

I took the plunge!

After I did a blog hop and could not enter for the candy at the end because I did not have a blog, I decided to take the plunge and start my own blog. Well, here goes! I still have a lot to learn about blogging and you will see how my blog changes as I learn.

I will probably not be a busy blogger, but I will do postings now and then.

The last couple of weeks I have been busy making cards for a Card Making Retreat I will be attending during October. Therefor no pics to post. All cards made by attendants will be donated to the New Hope School for Cerebral Palsy. I will post some of the cards after the Retreat.

That's all for today. Off to learn some more about blogging.

Amanda