i finally got to go on the zip line...and a couple of the girls will join me next week to really celebrate my birthday! it really is an adventure - not quite skydiving or paragliding...but right up there with the top 10 things to do in life

I got this award from debbie harris - talented cardmaker and capetonian. Thanks Debbie!

Always nice to get recognition and she said some really nice things about me...check out her blog for some stunning card ideas.

Now to tell you about 10 things that make me happy....

1. cloudy and misty mornings

2. the ocean

3. puppies

4. friends

5. creating and getting things done

6. God's Grace

7. the hadedas on my lawn

8. people caring for others

9. reaching out a helping hand

10. my family...and 2 puppies

yet another layout with some more off-cuts from this weekend. I used small squares and rounded their corners. these are stacked around the centre photo. The brown flocked paper matt behind the photo is a piece of handmade paper from India. I love using these handmade papers in my projects for some texture.

for my technique i used embossing powder to create this marble effect. The background cardstock is packaging from 7Gypsies product that i used - love that stuff.

supplies: Cardstock Fabscraps. Patterned paper Prima, 7Gypsies & Kaisercraft. Stickers Making Memories & 7Gypsies. Embossing powder and UTEE Ranger Industries.

A quick layout made this past weekend. The 7Gypsies envelope i coloured using Ranger's Color Wash dye. I sprayed the envelope with dye covering it completely in a dark brown layer. I then turned the envelope over and blotted it and placed it face up to dry naturally. i loved how it created all kinds of patterns.

This card was based on the layout above. I simply replicated the sketch on a smaller scale and used the left over pieces of paper.

this is a quick share of a layout of the owls at Spier. what an amazing experience that was. the photos were not cropped into at all and the amazing close-ups are courtesy of my amazing 1:2.8 100mm macro lens...

a fun layout with lots of photos layered on top of each other and overlapping...

Saturdays challenge over at Scrap and Stamp Saturday was all about girls...sugar and spice and all things nice. What I like about getting these prompts and participating in them is that I grab some unfinished layouts and then work on them...yes i have quite a few of them...things that were started and then i got sidetracked. This is my version - I used a background and base that i started last year and all i added was the photo, title, sewing, bows, journaling, and bling. The rest were all done.

I combined two colours of making memories stickers for my title...not something i really do or like - but this wasn't too bad.

This is my layout and word for 2010 – NEW. Ali Edwards continues to inspire millions of scrappers around the world with her word for each New Year. I think it is an awesome initiative and it really does get you thinking and focused for the New Year.

It wasn't even an option for me this time around.

I knew that it had to be new.

2009 was a really bad year for me on so many levels and hopefully

2010 will be much better in every aspect, physical, emotional, spiritual…
So the printer has run out of ink at a crucial time and the next best thing was to do a digital layout. I after all have the training…!

I often laugh inside myself when people ask whether

am able to do digital scrapping,

or if I would ever cross over and do digital scrapping –

when in reality I have done digital scrapping for the past 8 years!
I have been working in publishing and designing and doing magazine layouts, attended more photo shoots than I care to remember, did more styling than I ever wanted to and so I think that qualifies me in more than one way! So no – I will never totally cross over, but when I need to I can and will do some digital and hybrid scrapping. I after all love photos and telling my story even if I have no one to leave it to in the end.

It is just what I do – I create, I tell stories, I take photos and I love it.

not sure whats happening on my comments area...but hopefully it will sort itself out. thanks to everyone who let me know. i will follow up on the problem.

so after i finished the birthday invitations i had some scraps left and then made these two cards.
i used my butterfly punch and punched the butterflies from the Chatterbox patterned paper. layered them on top of each other and added a green diamante.

every year my mom invites 5 friends for a birthday lunch, and every year we get a new theme with a new colour and decorate the table accordingly. this year we are going for light blue and naturals. these are the invitations i made yesterday...they were quick and easy and maybe not my best but they will have to do for now...

the front has a white fold-over piece of glimmer card stock with a bird stamped onto the blue and then layered onto brown with a small light green diamante.

for some serious inspiration check out this book the next time you find yourself in a book store. Iets uit Niets by Renate Zipfel is published by Lapa Books. It show you how to turn your "trash" (said lightly) into wonderful works of art. You can find some of my work in there as well...The book retails for R135.00 and can be ordered directly from Lapa. visit them on www.lapa.co.za

a simple layout to forget all about 2009. what was good and the bad...

and then also a nice challenge to fit in with http://www.scrapandstampsaturday.blogspot.com/

my friend cariena is one of their design team members so go and check it out.

a piece cut out of the backgrounds cardstock, filled in with patterned paper from behind and then filled with dimensional glaze

flowers cut from the patterned paper - American Crafts.
i added some stickles to add sparkly bits to the flower centres

i haven't really been in the mood to make cards lately. unlike last December where i made over 150 cards - enough for birthdays etc all year long. not sure why? but i have been busy...

i have managed to make about 20 odd layouts for an upcoming project. so i would say that i have been rather productive - without spending a sent.

then last night it suddenly hit...the urge. so i made these quick cards.

i used my artistic outpost stamp set. love these birds. they are kinda waiting like i am. waiting for a new beginning, a new tomorrow, a new life, a new and fresh start. i simply repeated them by stamping the one stamp onto plain white cardstock. I matted the stamped images onto red and then onto a 7Gypsies patterned paper, and then onto a bottle green canson.

i have a box full of those pre-printed words and decided that this was the year to use them on cards. i tore the edges and adhered it just below the birds. a simple sewn stitch adds some texture.



this card uses another bird stamp. the image was stamped in black versafine on white and then inked with my green peeled paint distress ink around the edges. the image was matted onto the same red as before and then onto a lighter green. the same 7gypsies pattern was cut into a circle and added to the right side of the card.

at the end of last year I hosted a forest floor atc swap on our stamping group. the results were truly amazing and creative. above is my friend cariena's take on this swap. to view some other stunning ideas and samples by some of the participants of this swap visit