Xmas in July Swap

I recently took part in an Xmas in July card swap with our Rubberstamp group. We had to do a slider card. A first for me! The colors we had to use were black, white and either silver or gold with as little as possible coloring or no coloring. I opted for the silver with the black & white.

I stamped the Xmas Father (a stamp I love from one of our local ladies' collection - Niki from Paperchain) in silver on shimmery paper and added some bling to the buttons and hat tassel. The Happy Holidays were stamped in silver and the trimming on the left is also silver. Some of the snowflakes were cut from coffee can sealers. I have been hoarding these sealers not really knowing what I was going to do with them and here they came to good use. The part behind the Xmas Father was bugged with the Swiss Dots folder. I rather enjoyed doing this kind of card and will probably try it again.

Thanks for visiting! Hope you will all have a very creative weekend.

Postcard Swap

Most of you have probably thought I have left the face of the earth as I have not been blogging for quite some time. Well, LIFE has been happening around my ends of the woods. Wow, I only realize now that it has been nearly 3 months since I have last written something! Since I last wrote on my blog, my dear Mother lost her battle with cancer (4/9/2011); it has been a rather sad time for us all. We are however thankful for the 75 years that she lived a full life and for having had her as a Mother. (You can read a bit about her here.) Everyone who has lost a parent will know that it is not easy; thankfully, the every day Lord is there to to make the hurt more bearable.

We have also had our annual Stamp Camp from the 14th to the 16th of October. What a wonderful weekend!! I will at some or other stage post pics of the cards we made there. I have learnt sooooo much. Every class were on a technique that was either altogether or relatively new to me. Have heard about some of the techniques, maybe tried my hand once at some of them, so it was wonderful to be taught all these techniques by our talented tutors. All-in-all - I wish we could have had a stamp camp every quarter!

Our local craft shop also asked me to show a couple of ladies who have bought Cuttlebugs how to use their machines. I was nervous as can be - never taught a class in my life! Some had their machines for up to 6 months and have never taken it out the box! I think after the class they will be making more use of these little treasures they own. I for one will definitely be using mine more often too. Self inspiration :-)

I am also still busy with my share of the preparations for our WI Conference next year and hope to finish with most of it this week. Some of our invitations have been handed out at our last meeting with the other areas, most of the others are boxed and ready to be posted. We also took a short break - much needed - and after the rest, feel ready to take on the world. VBG!

Recently one of the ladies on our stamping group proposed a Post Card swap. The theme this time was Asia. Some time ago I received a lovely Asian stamp from Jo at JoZart and were able to take part in the swap. I colored it with Twinkling H2O's and Steadtler Luna Aquarell Silky Pastels. The background was done with  Distress Ink (Shabby Shutters).
The stamp on the front of the postcard is a Hero Arts stamp.

It was fun doing this swap & I plan on taking part in the rest of the range Rosemarie might propose.

That's it for today. Thanks so much for visiting. I hope to be able to be a bit more active again as far as blogging goes.

Have a wonderful & blessed day!

Alphabet ATC Swap - K, L & M.

A warm hi and hallo to all my dear visitors! The weekend is nearly something of the past and I am happy that the new week is around the corner. I will have enough time on my hands to do lots of cards and other crafts. Today I have been trying to re-organise and re-arrange my craft room. Somehow everything just got disorganised and too messy to my liking. Hopefully when I am done tonight, I will be able to get creative in a more organised environment again when I walk in here tomorrow morning.

These are the last of the ATC's that I can show for some time from our rubber stamping groups alphabet ATC swap. My next 3 sets are all done and waiting to be posted to the hostess. I can hardly believe that the first set for the swap was done a whole year ago!

K for Kitty. This is a stamp from Micia.

L for Ladybird and Love. Both these stamps are from Inkadinkado.

M for Marriage. This stamp is from Whiff of Joy.











I hope you will all have a wonderful week and get to do lots of what you really enjoy.

Thanks again for visiting and thank you so much for leaving such lovely comments!

Alphabet ATC Swap - H, I & J.

A very good day to all! Hope you are all having a wonderful, peacefull weekend.

Here's H, I & J of our rubber stamping group ATC swap.

H for Heels, Hat & Handbag.

I for Insects.

J for Jester.

That's it for today!

Thanks again for visiting!

Alphabet ATC Swap - E, F & G.

A very good day to all and hoping that everyone is having a blessed Easter!

These are the E, F & G ATC's I did for our group swap

E for Eight.

F for Foot.

G for Gifts, Green & Gold.

Thanks for visiting!

Alphabet ATC swap - A, B, C & D

It's been some time since I did a craft post! Life just happened far too fast around me - it feels as if I am on a roller coaster ride that does not seem to want to end!

For the next couple of days I am going to post mostly pics of an alphabet ATC swap that our rubber stamping group is doing. At the moment we are working on N, O & P.

This is A, B, C & D with a close-up of the little ants on A for Ants. They were made out of beads and wire by a friend who runs a project here in KZN where ladies are making these little beaded animals.

Oh, I nearly forgot - this ATC of mine was published in a local craft magazine - Craftwise. First time ever something of mine were published!

B for Butterfly. A layer of Angelina fibres were used under the parchment butterfly.

C for Cupcake.

D for Daisies.

Thanks for visiting!