Give-Away

Hi friends

I've been seriously MIA.  Its just crazy at work at the moment, so blogging had to take a back seat.

I've come across the blog of Scraperlicious a while back and I'm a huge fan.  To celebrate a million hits on her blog she's offering a serious prize to be won, some Bo Bunny products as well as products of other companies she's working for.  All you have to do to win is post about this on your blog and link it back to her comments page.  Easy!!  Who doesn't like a freeby!

Have a cool week further, it ALMOST week-end.  The week-end will also mean the end of the exams!  Phew, writing Grade 4 exams with my DD is not easy!

Hugs

Natalie

Bangs

Hi there!
Just a quick uploading today of a LO we did (again) at the April 2011 SA Scrapbook event with Margie Romney-Aslett.  This was a really easy LO to make and I used a photo of  my daughter which was taken last month.  She wanted her hair cut in a fringe (bangs) and after long negotiations I agreed.  This was the outcome!  

Our Sunshine

Today was Freedom Day in South Africa.  We're celebrating seventeen years of freedom after the release of Nelson Mandela and being able to vote in the national elections as black South Africans.  May we never forget where we come from and how many have sacrificed to give us this freedom that we enjoy today.  If you're interested in the history of our liberation struggle then Long Walk to Freedom will make a good read and education.

Below I'm posting a LO I did as part of the SA Scrapbook Convention (Sept 2010).












I didn't have the appropriate photos at the time and when I printed the photos of diva junior taken on Good Friday, I knew I had the right LO waiting to be completed.  This is a LO Nic Howard did with us and it is STUNNING!  Its even more stunning with that lovely ray of sunshine that we call Tiffany in it.

The paper and embelishments are all Prima-liscious.  Thanks for looking!

Hugs

Natalie

Graphic 45 card

Hi friends
I just wanted to show you a card I finished today.  It was probably one of the quickest cards I made because working with such gorgeous paper is just fabulous!  This is from the Curtain Call range from G45.  Did I say awesome paper?

Have a fabulous rest of Easter Monday, oeps just realised its already 12:15am.  Suppose its time for bed!

Hugs

Natalie

BFS Prompt 5

Does your mail also get 'babies' overnight it seems? I have a continuous struggle with mail. Actually I don't EVER open mail. If you want to correspond with me, you'll have to send me a sms, e-mail or connect with me on Facebook. I do not do snail mail. I've requested e-statements to all the companies who have this service so that I can deal with less mail in the postbox. For those who do not have this service I want to say GET WITH THE PROGRAMME. Lets save a few forest/trees. So this MAIL caddy was born because the space in my kitchen where the mail goes is so untidy!! I made this last night. I havn't had much time to play in my craft room and when this goes on for too long I start feeling 'sick'!

So this morning I got up and admired my handy work and it made me SMILE! The paper is from Kaizercraft and this was also the range that was selected for the charity scrap as part of the 2010 SA Scrapbook Convention. So I made this project with some of the left over paper - and I even have more of that paper left over.

Lets hope that with the caddy comes better organisation.

Have a blessed Good Friday everyone!

Natalie

SA Scrapbook Convention April 2011

Hi friends
Just to show you a few pics (with Tim Holtz of course) of our most recent SA Scrapbook Convention in Cape Town (Spier).  It was an awesome event and of course you have to get a shot in with Tim and Margie.  Had the good fortune to meet up with old friends from last year and we sat at the same table again this year.  FUN.  FUN.  FUN.

I'll post more on the projects we did with Margie and Tim once I get good daylight!
Off to Hermanus for the week-end.
Keep well all
Hugs
Natalie

BFS - Prompt Four

Hi there everybody
I've been somewhat MIA as I've had a hectic work week.  I led a 2 day conference this week, attended a 1-day Intermediate Excel 2007, have an inbox thats grown to 600+ mails - and am completely wiped out!
This week-end I require some serious ME-time.  DH is taking diva junior to her horse riding lessons tomorrow am, so that I can attend a stamping and inking demonstration at my favourite scrapbook store, yeah me!
Schools are also on break from today and goes back to school on 11 April.  My daughter brought home a stunning report card and we are so proud of her.  DH then took her to Exclusive Books for a little treat, and these are the books she selected as she is an avid reader .  She gets her love of reading from both of us, but I must say its been a long time since I've lost myself in a good read.

Enlarge Image  Mary Poppins: The Complete Collection By P L Travers  On Sale: 1/12/2010  Formats:     Trade paperback Single-Click Shopping: See More Retailers Book Description When their new nanny, Mary Poppins, arrives on a gust of the East Wind, greets their mother, and slides up the banister, Jane and Michael′s lives are turned magically upside down. Familiar to anyone who has seen the film or the West End adaptation, you can now read all six of these wonderfully original tales about Jane and Michael′s adventures with the magical Mary Poppins. In each book Mary takes the children on the most extraordinary outings: to a fun fair inside a pavement picture; to visit Uncle Andrew who floats up to the ceiling when he laughs; on a spectacular trip to see the Man-in-the-Moon! With her strict but fair, no-nonsense attitude, combined with amazing magical powers, things are never straightforward with Mary Poppins! But she has only promised to stay until the wind changes... Titles include: Mary Poppins Mary Poppins in Cherry Tree Lane Mary Poppins and the House Next Door Mary Poppins Opens the Door Mary Poppins in the Park Mary Poppins Comes Back Age 12+    There's no escape When everyone is watching you. Emerson Watts was pretty sure there couldn't be anything worse than being a  straight A student whose brain had been transplanted into the body of a teenage  supermodel. But it turned out she was wrong. Because that supermodel could turn out to have a mother who's mysteriously gone  missing, a brother who's shown up on her doorstep demanding answers, ex-boyfriends  crawling out of the woodwork who want more than just a photo op, and a British  heartthrob who's written a song about her that's topping the charts. How can Em balance all that with school, lingerie runway shows, and weekend jaunts  to St. John—especially when she's got final exams; a sister who is headed to the high  school cheerleading championships; a former best friend, Christopher, who's intent  on destroying Stark Enterprises to avenge the death of his lost love; and a company  she represents that seems to be turning to the dark side... But then, nobody said it was going to be easy, being Nikki. Wings Aprilynne Pike's #1 New York Times best-selling debut, Wings,  is the first of four books about a seemingly ordinary girl named Laurel. Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful--too beautiful for words. Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings. Laurel discovers she is a faerie, sent among humans  to protect the gateway to Avalon.  Thrust into the midst of a centuries-old battle between  faeries and trolls, she's torn between  a human and a faerie love, as well as her loyalties to  each world. In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue,  romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever. Have a great week-end, and hopefully I will get big chunks of time to just CREATE! Hugs Natalie

BFS - Prompt Three

Good Saturday morning to all
I have had a beautiful slow morning as my DH and diva junior went to go watch big brother play hockey this morning, so I had a lay-in, relaxing cup of coffee and some surfing time.  I'm also playing catch-up, so here goes for prompt three:  my 10 favorite things as recorded and scrapped in 2009, but never blogged.  I did this as part of a Book about Me, which is still a work in progress.
I hid the 10 favorites in a tag at the time, not sure why I did that, but here is my list and it is still true now in 2011.

1.  Diva Junior - she's the best part of me and amazing to have conversations with.

2.  Movies - all time favorite "Pretty Woman" - not very deep lol

3.  Music - especially jazz

4.  Food - sushi at the moment (salmon roses) yummy!

5.  Scrapbooking (no random order)

6.  The Beach - living in CT is such a blessing

7.  A day at the Spa - reflexology, Indian head message mmmmhh

8.  Experimenting with my hair (it still hasn't fallen out from all the chemicals I nail it with)

9.  Seduko (this has taken a back-seat of late in favor of craft magazines)

10.Travelling (domestic and international), planning a trip to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe for Easter break.

I'll hopefully have time to post promp four later today.  Its diva juniors birthday tomorrow, she'll be 10 years old and we are having the family over for lunch.  I still have to go hit the shops for groceries and a gift.  She's into Wii at the moment, she's had it for two years, but I think she's only now really getting into it.  So I'll buy some Wii paraphanalia and additional games and stuff.

Have a great Saturday all and thanks for all the lovely comments you gorgeous ladies are leaving.  My cup runneth over!

Hugs

Natalie

BFS - Prompt Two

So yes, I'm a bit late with prompt two, but I still really want to do it.  This is my take on thinking back to a time when I was really happy and scrapbook something about it?  And you might think this weird, but I've been reflecting a lot lately on my late father.  He's birthday was on February 26th and he's been gone for almost 20 years now.  I am at a place now where I have really happy thoughts about him, instead of feeling sadness.  Before his birthday I was really missing having him around, and for some reason I looked around old photo's as we sometimes do when we get nostalgic.  I then came across my Mom and Dad's wedding photos.  I knew immediately that I had to scrap them as vintage is very in at the moment lol.  
Regrettably, in 1962 (the year my parents got married) they didn't have digital photo's where the photographer could take hundreds of pictures and you could take your pick.  It was mostly a few selected studio pictures, a few in church and a few in the gardens.
I looked around on the internet, as I normally do for some inspiration.  And came across the tutorial by Cathy Files  (scroll right to the bottom of her blog post) of Paper Phenomenon, of a wedding mini she's made of her own wedding.  Coincidentally I had the exact same paper line she used and so this mini album was born which is a testimony to the love and commitment my parents made to each other, so that my two brothers and I could have the lives that we have today.  So this post is NOT sad, its HAPPY.  I'm in a good place, my Dad is in a good place, we are all in a good place.  Here is celebrating HAPPINESS.
This is the cover of the mini album "Always and Forever", inspired by Paper Phenomenon.
 
 I used vinyl for the cover, Tim Holtz buttons for fasteners, bling and a bride and groom.

Here you get a glimpse of the bride and groom pages.  Its a gate-fold album.

 Brides pages ...

Bridal bouquet ...

 The wedding cake ...

 The grooms pages ...

 The ring bearer pillow ...

Love and happiness to you all ...

Natalie

Card for Max

Here is the card for Max.

Hugs
Natalie

Scrap Dreams: Max-A-Million

Scrap Dreams: Max-A-Million: "I received this email today: PLEASE HELP US FILL A STUDENT'S WISH!!! Received a request this morning to help a child with cancer. Max..."
When I read Cheri's blog post today I was immediately moved into action. Last week-end I made a boy card, which I rarely do as I have a girl and lots of girlie birthday party invites that require girlie birthday cards. But I made a boy card. When I saw Cheri's appeal I immediately knew that I had the right card for this brave boy. Here is the card that I've already written the iside message and address on the envelope, ready for the mail room tomorrow. Okay, somehow I published this without a photo and when I wanted to add the photo the computer didin't respond, it was just staring at me. I'll post the photo in the next post, sorry!
Off to bed now, so sleep well to all those on my side of the hemisphere.
Hugs
Natalie

Off to Johannesburg tomorrow

I'm off to bed now as I'm flying out to Johannesburg tomorrow on business. It will be a 1 day trip which is always exhausting, but not so taxing on my family life.
Hope to have bags of time over the week-end to catch up with some of the Blogging for Scrapbookers promps. Its day 3 today, and I've still only done promp 1, so I need to catch up.
Laters
Natalie

Blogging for Scrapbookers

Hi fellow bloggers
I started taking a class by Shimelle Laine from http://www.shimelle.com/ on Monday this week called Blogging for Scrapbookers. My intention since last year has been:
a) to become a better blogger as I enjoy the outlet it gives me in terms of creative expression as well as articulating my feelings and emotions on my life journey
b) in order to become a better blogger, I at the same time took the challenge of also becoming a better photographer (I'm a Nikon babe!)
c) lastly, all of above was born out of a love of SCRAPBOOKING! It is scrapbooking that led me into these two disciplines a) blogging and b) photography. I must admit though I am not very technically savvy. In fact, as I'm sitting typing this post I am so FRUSTRATED because it seems I'm challenged with both these passions that are turning into nightmares. I guess I put too many irons in the fire at the same time, because I never have enough time. I don't even have enough time to just do the daily prompts of this course! The same happened with the 10 week photography course thats coming to a close this Wednesday, and I am far off from even producing decent photos with the right lighting settings etc. etc. I will have to move off manual back to Auto untill I have head space to figure this all out, just so I can have SOME photo's because at the moment my scrapping has come to a standstill because I don't have decent photos to scrap the meories. And BTW, who wants to scrap a blurry photo. Ever heard of Depth of Field? Agggh!

OK, so enough of the wining now, but I just had to put it out there and get it out of my system or else I won't be able to sleep tonigh LOL (which will be in the next 10 min). Learning a new skill is very HARD! But we LIVE and we LEARN. Its much better than being anaethesized by the TV.

So wish my luck on my journey. I'm going to try and keep up with the pace, but if I don't ... I don't. And I need to take advise from the Master Scrapbookers like Shimelle, don't STRESS!! I'm STRESSING!!!!
Laters
Natalie

Just Married cards

Today I'm posting two cards I made last night on request from a colleague at work who has to attend a wedding over the week-end
Mr and Mrs recipe:
These cuts are from Stretch Your Imagination which is such a versatile cartridge. The bride and groom was cut at 4" and the Mr and Mrs at 1.5".

Just Married recipe:

I used the Sweethearts cricut cartridge for all the cuts. The car was cut at 3" and the just married sign at 1.5". The paper was in my stack from last year's Valentine range, so I'm not sure of the manufacturer

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Weigh-In: 17-01-2011

Hi there
I joined Sure Slim and am battling the bulge during 2011. My first milestone is to loose 15kg and today the countdown began. So for my first weigh-in I lost:

-3.2 kg and -2.6 kg body fat (another 11.8 kg to go)

Thats good isn't it! I was very pleased with my progress, but at the same time very worried as well.

You see the reason I am worried is that I AM ALWAYS GOOD AT STARTING, but not so good at ENDURING. That makes me sad because this is the year that I MUST overcome. I have tried so many times before and I have to strengthen my resolve. So I'm checking out some blogs and trying to find others who are battling the same thing, and it really helps.
So wish me luck on my JOURNEY (I see a possible mini scrapbook coming) documenting the ups and downs of what I've taken on. Next week I'll be in Jhb for a conference and it will be my first test of being away from home and staying on my programme. I'll see how that goes. I'm packing dried fruit, almonds, fruit so that I do not fall into temptation because confereces are the worst, especially when they come out with these lovely treats over tea breaks! I will be strong!
Untill my next weigh-in its going to be high protein, lots of fresh fruit and veg and no carbs.
Again, whish me LUCK!
Ps: My reward to myself is to buy a big Scrapbook items for myself when I reach my first milestone. I already have a Cricut, Cuttlebug, Gypsy and lots of Cricut cartridges. So does anyone have any suggestions as to what my scrapbook reward should be? Let me know what you think.
Hugs
Natalie

Last day of holiday cards

Hi there

Today is my last day for playing in my scrap room. Tomorrow we have to get a few/a lot of things ready for school, so its going to be a hectic day, thats why I got some time today for play, I wasn't even out of the house! I just enjoyed crafting and watching movies, a real lazy day.

This card came out a bit blurry on the scanner, probably because it was a bit high with the flowers and stuff. Nevertheless, I used some DCWV patterned paper (Stack 6), a petaloo flower and some smaller flowers I had in my stash. I coloured the Whiff of Joy stamp with copics, but my stazon ink was bleeding into the flesh colour - arggh!

This second card was fun to make because of the bright colour. I've come to know that I like bright hot colour combinations.

The third card was also great fun as it is the first time that I broke out my Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations die. Even though the bird and cage is very popular at the moment I have just not gotten around to it untill today!

Thanks for looking and comments are always appreciated.

Hugs

Natalie

Happy 2011

Eish! 2010 is finally behind us and I can look forward to only good things in 2011. I have been absent for a while because I got frustrated with my photographic skills BUT I have NOT given up, I will conquor the Nikon D3000 that I have. I'm starting my photograpy course again on Wednesday, 19th, and promised myself to give myself grace, patience and perseverance!
I also have my FIRST FOLLOWER! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Isn't that exciting! This gives me the oemph I needed to still use this space for a creative outlet and just push on pushing on!
I also have my top 5 New Years Resolutions to share and maybe if I put it out there, the universe will conspire to bring it about! FOR SURE! Here is the list:

• I will conquor my Nikon and move away from Auto


• I need to drop some/a lot of weight and I'll check in weekly on my progress (only if its good!)


• I will forward plan family vacations and not wait till the last moment and untill every place under the sun is FULLY BOOKED! Can I get an AMEN anybody?


• I will consume/spend less (including scrapbook supplies)


• I need to get more physical ... physical ... I wanna get physical ... physical ... Rheumatoid arthritis will not get me down.

I hope your year started off well. Tiffany is starting Grade 4 on 19 January, so then life will pretty much start falling into a comfortable routine again with summer sport, horseriding, violin, Kumon and church activities.

Speaking of horseriding, here is a pic of Tiffany today at her first lesson in 2011 as part of a group. Up till Dec last year she received 1-on-1 coaching. She was very nervous before the time but did very well. Still needs to work on the cantering, but it will come.