and the winners are....Debbie Harris (magazines) and Yvonne Hellyar (e-zines) as chosen by my random chooser #1...Jayson! My apologies for the delay. I will get your parcels out next week.

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So this is KC the easter bunny who has brought me nothing but absent-minded-ness and an urge to clear out my stash. KC was given to me by none other than my friend Kathi Chapman! Isn't he too cute! It has been a liberating 2 days so far and I am taking it slowly because this time it is for real. So far I have chucked away ...my past bosses and workers..YEAH-HAH!!! I have chucked out all projects, paper work and stash that has anything remotely to do with the past. It has been long overdue but I have finally buckled down and TRASHED everything. In some ways I think this stuff has always kept me caught in a place and time that is over and now I have finally let go! Then I have filled plenty of boxes with cards gone to my mom to use, boxes of paper for a lady who does work with mentally and physically challenged kids and adults, and some other things for the girls. All my boxes are now colour coded with a colour swatch on the front and all the boxes only has paper in it. Then there are a few boxes I managed to empty (gasp), and then a few more with props and ribbon to do. I figure about another day or two that I will be missing in action. Have a blessed Sunday!

Quick Easter baskets that you can make for family and friends. You can hide them in the garden for the kids or use them of your Easter table as gifts and decorations. I used these little baskets for invitations I made a couple of years ago with a picnic theme. They are made of straw with a cute little wooden button. I replaced the closure with a ribbon that wraps around the button. I sprayed them white on the outside for a fresh clean look. The little card was made using free clip art downloaded from www.stampington.com. I printed the image onto cream cardstock, matted it onto pink Bazzill Basics and then added a gold glitter frame around the edge of the image. The Easter eggs are from Woolies. This was the one time I wished I actually bought a paper crimper. Now if you really knew me you would know that I think it is utterly kitch to use one of those tools, but for the first time in my crafting experiences I now see the use. But instead I made a plan... I simply used a piece of left-over patterned paper from K&Company and folded it into small pleats until the entire piece was one small strip. I then used my scissors and cut small pieces. When I pulled them apart slightly I had little ruffled pieces of paper to put inside the baskets. A quick way of doing things yourself even if you don't have the correct tools. 'n Boer maak 'n plan!
Here's wishing you a crafty week of getting ready for Easter celebrations! And in the case of my friend Natalie...go and buy some more Easter eggs because the box is empty!!

I am not a huge fan of punches...except for the odd ones like a corner rounder, circles and squares. Anything else that I can make myself is a plus. Like the fact that I can use my square punches to make photo corners out of any cardstock and paper to match my projects. Here's a quick how to.

Supplies: Cardstock Bazzill Basics. Punch McGill.

step 1: punch a square out of cardstock. Use any punch size that you desire. The larger your square the larger your corners will be.step 2: insert your punched square back into the same punch with a 1cm (1/2 inch) of the edge revealed on the outside, and punch a smaller square out of the one corner.

Ok so a bit more chalk than cheese...Here's a layout I did a while ago using some decorating chalks and stamped images, and lots of photos. I really like doing layouts in this portrait style to add a bit of variety to my albums. Here's a quick how to for creating accents using stamps and decorating chalks. If you have never tried your hand at it, it is really easy and you can create stunning effects. The arrow stamp was used to add some movement to the layout and coloured using chalks.
step 1: ink your stamp using a clear ink pad. I use Versamark for this. Lightly pat the ink pad onto the stamp. This ensures you have control of the ink and get an even layer of ink onto the rubber.
step 2: stamp the image onto your chosen cardstock. I used Arches Aquarelle from my local art supply store. **my favourite paper with a deckle edge!

today is a good day for a give-away! To celebrate three weeks in blogland I am giving away a full set of imagine magazines issue 1-12 printed format, and a set of digital magazines issue 13-19. All you have to do is leave a comment on my blog about what makes a great blog for you and what keeps you coming back again and again! So I need some inside information to create an even better blog filled with positive inspiration. Look forward to hearing from you. I will randomly pick 2 winners on monday 6th April. Have a fabulous creative day. Jowilna