A very merry CHRISTmas to all!

Ever wonderecd what its like to have a summer Christmas? Just look at these pictures and you will know. There is nothing quite like being together as a family, hanging out next to the pool and having cold meats and salads. No hot stove for us - just a whole lot of fun. The first photo is of my two youngest. They are 22 months apart and have been best friends since the day Ankie was born. It warms my heart to know that they can still play together with such abandon. I hope they will still be like this when they are 50!

The next photo is of DD nr2 and her two children.Aren't they just beautiful? Because we got to spend Chrismas day with all of them last year, they are all heading to the in laws for Christmas day this year and we got to spend Christmas Eve with all the kids here (except for DD nr.1, she is on holiday with her little family) Santa came to our house to hand out the presents. He phoned a couple of times to speak to Luke and Hannah and keep them informed of his where abouts.

Lukie is 8 now and for the past three years we were convinced that he was going to recognise Santa as Braam, my husband's best friend, but he is still convinced (a little suspicious, but still pretty sure!) This year he said to his mom that it wasn't Santa, because he could see the elastic on the fake beard. Thank goodness for children with very active imaginations! Without missing a beat, Ankie told him that the elastic he saw, was not for Santa's beard. It was to keep his hat on his head while he was flying through the air. He thought that was a very logical answer and accepted it without question. We'll see if he figures it out next year.

We have just come home from church. What a blessing to fill an entire pew again. The minister said he hoped that we could see the grace of God in this very difficult year. It made me think how lucky, no blessed I have been this year. Amongst all the drama and trouble, the hand of God is so plainly visible. We nearly lost Ankie three times this year - twice in a car accident and once in a fire in her little house - and every time God has spared her life and she walked away unharmed! I don't know why I deserve such grace, but I am so grateful to Him. He must have great plans for that little girl.

A wonderful Christmas to all of you and may you be acutely aware of His presence and His grace in the year 2010!

At last! I finished Audrey's gift.

I posted a while ago about brave people making brave things, ( See this post: http://tertia-craftinggran.blogspot.com/2009/11/brave-people-make-brave-things.html) Audrey was the only one brave enough to take me up on the challenge. It took me a while, but I think I finally made her something that I am semi happy with. I started three different things, but abandoned them half way. Then I saw the instructions on how to make cupcakes from plaster of paris in one of our local magazines. The amazingly talented Candice Greenway wrote the article and everything she does is always good, so I thought I would give it a bash.
The card to go with it is my first attempt at an easel card. I think I will be making a few more of those!

The stamped image is one I recieved from one of my kind blogging friends. I coloured it with my Copics. The cardstock is Bazzil and the patterned paper is by Uppikit, a local South African company. Have you seen their latest papers? Just fantastic, really great quality. Ribbon, flowers and brads are from my stash.

Here is a picture of one of the cupcakes. I made 12 placecard holders and put them in a decorative box. As soon as I am finished typing, I am going to get ready and then deliver them to Audrey. Lets hope she likes them!

Have a great weekend everybody. I am taking the grandchildren for a swim and then DH and I are going to a concert at Carnival City, can't wait!

Its official, I am weird.

Yesterday I was told by a friend that I am very weird, I have to admit, she is propably right. LOL She finds it very strange that I will go and watch my daughter at water polo. You don't think that's strange? Maybe I should explain a little bit more - my daughter is the coach.


This friend of mine says that I am the only person she knows that takes photo's of her daughter coaching a team. What can I say, I like watching my child doing what she loves most in the whole world - being involved in sport. AND.... I am a scrapbooker, so I HAVE TO HAVE these photo's, don't I?
How wonderful is the expression on her face in this next photo? She is so angry, she can spit. She is looking at me, willing me to know what she is thinking. Funny thing is, I did know what she was thinking and I am so proud of her for not exploding there and then. One of the fathers from the team volunteered to be the manager of the team and then just took over, some kind of hostile take over of her team. Must tell you, she looks small and harmless, but don't think you can walk over this child of mine. She kept her cool during the match, not wanting to upset her girls, but after the game she called him aside and calmly thanked him for his help and politely asked him to refrain from coaching and stick to managing. You go girl!
Enough of polo and on to some cards. The new challenge at Sunday Stamptacular is to create a Christmas card, using no reds or greens. I seem to be hooked on the whole purple and silver thing this year. The stamp is from Inkadinkadoo and was embossed in silver. The background paper was embossed with my Cuttlebug. All Cardstock is Bazzil and the ribbon is from my stash.

Here is a close up of the stamp. I really like how this turned out.

Stamptacular Sunday - actually finished one on time!

Well, actually I finished more than one! Seeing how long it has been since I last made a card for a challenge, it is pretty impressive don't you think? The challenge this week is to let it shine. I used some freebie digi images and coloured them with my trusty Copic markers.

The second card also uses a freebie image. I seem to be stuck on purple this Christmas. The background was embossed with my Cuttlebug and the snowflake was cut with the Cuttlebug too. I glitterified the snowflake. I used some stickles on my snowman and in the snowflakes in both cards.

I spent the whole week except Monday, with my grandchildren. Had a wonderful time, we baked cookies and 'scrapped'. Hannah picked up a tummybug the day before yesterday, so we hardly got any sleep. I am 'moeg maar happy!' (tired but happy). Tomorrow is our family's Christmas, because all my children are going on holiday and won't be here on Christmas day. It will be the first time in more than 30 years that we will be all alone at home on Christmas. I know it sounds weird, but I am actually looking forward to spending some quality time with my DH for a change.

Have a great weekend.

Finally all my problems sorted!

Remember the parrot ate the USB cable for my camera? Don't laugh, it really happened and yes, the parrot is still alive! I finally managed to buy a new cable on Friday, so now I can show you what I have been doing.
As if that wasn't enough, my computer picked up a very nasty virus and there were no young person to be found at home who could fix it! Ankie had a fight with her boyfriend the computer guru (bad timing, don't you think?) When they finally sorted out their problems, she left on water polo tour and we didn't see him for a week. I could have kissed the boy when he brought Ankie home from the airport!
Tour went well, lots of drama, a whole other post, but I will say this: some people will go to very extreme lenghts not to lose! She made the SA Water Polo side again, but doesn't want to get her hopes up, she has been disappointed so often in the past.
My husband and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary an the second of December. Sometimes I feel as if it was yesterday when I was walking down the aisle. He still is the one person that makes me so angry I can spit within seconds and he still makes my heart skip a beat when he looks at me in a certain way. Most of all, when adversity strikes, I want nobody else by my side.
OK enough of that. I finally uploaded the picture of the ribbon cabinet DH made for me the other day. Don't you think it is fabulous? Every time I am in my scraproom, I love it more, it is just so practical. No more hunting around, knowing I had the right colour ribbon somewhere - its all there, just waiting to be used.

The next card was another one I had to make for the birthday club at school. One of our secretaries retired at the end of last week and they wanted something special, with a photo. I made a box, cum photo frame. They gave me the picture (she hates the picture, but this is how we will remember her, laughing with her whole being!). The ribbons sticking out at the top are all attached to tags. Everybody wrote a message on the tags and signed it. She loved the card and I think it turned out OK.

A view from the side.

Hope you all have a wonderful week. I am going scrapping with the TMW girls tomorrow. I can't wait, because I haven't scrapped in a very long time. Hope I still can.

Finally those Christmas cards I promised.

Sorry that I have been missing in action for a while, but it is crazy season at school. I have survived exams, marking, entering marks and everything else. All reports are done! All that remains to be done are the interviews with the parents of those girls that have failed the year, never a very pleasant thing to do. I wish I had the courage to tell some of those parents that their kids are failing, because they, as parents, don't give a #$%@ and therefore she doesn't either.
I woke up this morning with the mother of all headaches. I am not prone to get them, so when it happens, I don't know what to do. Eventually it was so bad that they sent me home from school to go to the dr. , turns out it was a migraine - I feel so sorry for those of you that suffer from them! He gave me a shot and 15 mins later, I was fine, I could not believe that I could feel that bad one minute and that good 15 minutes later. Thank goodness for modern medicine.
Here are the long promised purple Christmas cards. As I said, I wasn't too sure when the lady asked me to make them, but I actually love how they turned out. All stamps are by Inkadinkadoo, embossed in silver. All cardstock is Bazzil and the silver card was bought at my local stationer. Ribbons and flowers are from my stash.


A close up of the bow. The beads were just put on decorative pins.

I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the swirls and the stars were 'stolen' from my granddaughter's crafting stash.

I decided to use one of my 'stolen' stars at the top of the tree after the photo was taken.

The lady loved the cards, so I am happy.

I have not managed to find another USB cable for my camera, so I still can not show you my ribbon cabinet, but I will, I promise!

Looks like Audrey is the only brave person out there. I am thinking very hard about what to make for her, but I promise it will be done with love! Come on girls, don't be scared, I promise it will be nice! Maybe there are some brave men out there if the girls are not brave enough. If you don't know what the heck I am on about, read the previous post.

Have a fabulous week. I might post more often, now that school has closed.

Brave people make brave things!

Sounds interesting doesn't it? I saw that I had a new follower and went to visit her blog. Hallo Sarah, nice to 'meet' you! Found something very interesting there. One of the blogs she reads had the following post and I decided that even though I am not very brave, this is something I can actually do and enjoy doing it too!

Read the instructions and join in! If you don't mind waiting till 2010, I think I might just make it more than 5.

The first five (5) people to respond to this post will get something made by me.This offer does have some restrictions and limitations so please read carefully:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It’ll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. Heck, I might bake something for you and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.
7. Send your mailing address - after I contact you.

Now that you have read this far, don't you think it could be really cool to see what arrives in the mail?

Now that blogger is allowing me to upload photo's, Chicken, the parrot, chowed the cable for my camera, so: Sorry Audrey, you will just have to wait a little longer for the photo's of my ribbon cabinet. LOL I will post the purple and silver Christmas cards tomorrow when I have finished marking all those exam papers.

I am being featured!

I feel so humbled. Wendy, over at Digital doodling ( http://digital-doodling.blogspot.com/ ) is featuring one of my cards that I made with a freebie from her blog. Hop on over there and become a follower. Wendy has promised another freebie if she reaches 200 followers.
Thank you Wendy!
Gotta run, late for school already and I am not even dressed yet!

Don't you just hate it when.....?

Don't you just hate it when people let you down and everything else seems to go wrong? Blogger won't let me upload photo's tonight, so the lavender and silver Christmas cards I wanted to show you will have to wait.
I was bullied into teaching a workshop this weekend for 6 people. I told the person that I was too busy, my girls are writing exams and I have to mark all their papers, but NOOO ......, she didn't want to hear about my schedule! I had to do it. She even phoned the next day to tell me she had 6 bookings already.
Come Saturday, I spent hours preparing, making samples, packing goodie bags, baking, etc. Time I really should have spent marking. She arrives half an hour late, with one lady. ONE!!!!! Then she leaves the lady here and goes off to do something else. Sorry, I have something very urgent to attend to, you don't mind, do you?
Mind? Me? Why would I? I could happily chew bricks by then, but I smiled and said: Of course I didn't mind. Could kick myself now for being such a hypocrite.(sp?)
Is it just me, or does anybody else find that rude?
Oh well, I have learnt my lesson, next time I want to say no, I'll make sure I shout it if I have to. I am so not falling for one of her schemes again.
This weekend was not very good all round. South Africa played cricket against England and lost by one run after the match rained out! The South African rugby team played France and lost. At the start of the match the French had somebody sing our National Anthem. What a disgrace!! I think they just approached the first African looking man they saw on the streets and made him sing. He sounded like Donald Duck with a cold, high on something! The song he sang was so far removed from our Anthem its not even funny.
Have to leave you with something positve , because I promised myself at the beginning of the year that I would not dwell on the negative things. I have THE MOST AMAZING HUSBAND in the whole world! He made me a cupboard for all my ribbon on Saturday. It looks amazing and if blogger will let me. I'll show you soon. He felt sorry for me when he saw there was only one lady at the workshop and made it to make me feel better. How wonderful is that? One thing I know for sure, I can face any adversity with him by my side.
Have a great day.

My first Mo Manning creation.

Earlier I left a comment on Lynette's blog that it was amazing how clean my cupboards are when I should actually be marking. I think blogging has taken over from cleaning when it comes to doing anything except mark LOL. I am making cards at the speed of white light when I should actually be marking!

This card is the first image that I have used by the absolutely fabulous Mo Manning. Everytime I look at her, I want to laugh and join in on the fun. Isn't that dog just awesome? I was asked to make a card for one of my girls. She is organising a surprise party for her mom's 40th birthday. She saw one of the cards that I made for a fellow teacher and came to ask if I would make one for her mom. How could I say no? She said that she wanted the card to be orange, green and purple. Not a combination I would have ever chosen, but it worked out wonderfully. Just shows you, we should be more daring when it comes to colour.



I used some free papers I got with a scrapbooking magazine ages ago. The cardstock is all Bazzil and the image was coloured with my trusty Copics.On the inside of the card there are 15 tags for the whole family to write a message.

If you would like to see the amazing work of Mo Manning, go here: http://www.digitalpenciltoo.blogspot.com/

When a good idea turns into a bad one!

Every year I give my girls a little gift when they write their final exam. It is my way of wishing them good luck and saying good bye to them at the end of the year. Usually it involves some kind of chocolate LOL, but a couple of weeks ago I found these pencils in CUM Books (A local christian bookshop), at R1 a pencil. That is cheaper than chocolate and a lot healthier too, so I bought them each a pencil. Each pencil has a Bible verse on. (What a wonderful priviledge it is to teach at a school where it is OK to give children such a gift!)



I added a tag to each pencil, with a freebie image of a bookworm. Cute, yes, but when you actually have to colour 103 of them, they stop being cute very soon. I cut the tags with my Cricut. They were tied to the pencils with matching ribbon and there was a message for every girl on the back of the tag.

This was a good idea untill I finished about 20, and then it became a VERY BAD idea. Who came up with this??? Whoever it was, she must have been out of her mind to think it would be a good idea.

When I handed them out to the girls this morning, their reactions made it all worthwhile. They loved it. The last photo gives you some idea of just how many there were.

Wish me luck, now the big marking of exam papers start, so you will propably see very little of me in the next three weeks till school closes.

Ankie has one more exam to write and then my baby girl will graduate! Such a strange feeling, somehow she still is a little girl in my mind and here she is stressing about being accepted into honours. Say a little prayer that she will be, please. She has worked so hard and she will be such a good sport pschycologist.

Doing the happy dance!

I am so glad nobody was here when I got home from school on Thursday. I found an envelope on the diningroom table with a US postage stamp on when I got here. It was from Becky Helwig and it had some Magnolia stamped images in!!! I was dancing around like a six year old girl, I was so happy. I have wanted some Magnolias for ever, but could never afford the postage.
It is all Becky's fault that I had to sit up till 2h30 Friday morning to finish typing my exam paper, because I just HAD TO colour some of the images straight away.
I saw the challenge on the Just Magnolia blog and decided to give it a go. Be kind, this is my first try people!
I decided to make her a Christmas Tilda, because we have Christmas in summer in South Africa.

The next card

uses some scraps of paper and I used Flowersoft for the flowers This little Tilda makes me want to get in the water with her. My granddaughter, Tertia-Lee, has a dress just like her. The flower is one I had left over from a kit I bought a very long time ago and the papers are left overs from the same kit (I think!) All the images were coloured with my trusty Copics again.

My girls are writing Afrikaans on Monday, so then I will show you the cute good luck gifts I made for them. Actually, after th 103rd one they were no longer very cute, but I hope they like them anyway. I am going to miss the current grade 11's next year. I have taught them for two years now and they have come such a long way.

Have a great weekend, I am off to colour some more Tilda's.

Busy is an understatement.

A while ago I found the most wonderful site while I was looking for some pictures for my grandchildren to colour in. It is here: www.dulemba.com and it contains the most wonderful free images drawn by Elizabeth Dulemba. I realised that they would make wonderful cards, so I tried and I just love them.
Don't you just love these little mice? The dp is BO Bunny and all other papers are Bazzil. Ribbon from my stash and the charm from my local bead shop.

The next image is also by her. Dp is a little piece from my scrap box everything else is Bazzil and the ribbon from my stash. I attached the wreath with pop dots to give it some dimention. A very simple card, but I love it.

The next image is one of my granddaughter's favourites. All papers are the same as the previous card ( I was too lazy to dig in my scrapbox any more and this paper was on my desk, so I had to use it :) )The bell is leftover from last year.

Here is a close up. I don't know if you can make it out clearly, but the little birdie has some 'fluff' on and the fur has been covered in Flowersoft. I think that is why Hannah loves this card so much, she is a touchy, feely kind of girl.

All images have been coloured with my Copics. What did I do before they came?

I am very busy at the moment. I have a huge order for Lilac christmas cards. I am making good luck gifts for all my girls for the exams. One of those - it was a good idea before I started, but now it has become a huge chore - projects. I will show you when they have written their exams.

Other than that I am trying to set the exam (I know, I know, they are writing on Monday and I am not done yet. Shocking!) Everybody seems to need cards for birthdays suddenly and then I got the most wonderful RAK from Becky - she sent me some stamped Magnolia images - I had to play with them.

Next Saturday I am teaching a class on packaging for Christmas and I still have to get my ducks in a row for that one, So no time for blogging.

Sometimes it really sucks to live in South Africa and I am so not showing you those cards!

Don't get me wrong, I am not one of the 'lets run everything about our country down' brigade, but sometimes it is really hard to remain positive about all the things in my beloved country. These two beautiful girls in the picture below. my daughter Daniela and my granddaughter Tertia-Lee were in the middle of an armed robbery at Spar in Benoni. Daniela stopped to get bread and milk on the way home from swimming lessons and the next thing they knew there were five armed robbers in the Spar, demanding cash from the owner and taking all the customers' phones, jewelery and cash.

For some unknown reason ( I think God had something to do with it) they left Daniela alone and didn't take a thing from her. Not any less traumatising for her though. Daniela was hysterical by the time she phoned me and she has not gone back to any shop since.

Lynette asked if I was going to show you the wedding invitations I was busy making and the answer is a very emphatic NO!!!!! Think - pink marshmallow that exploded, times that by about a hundred and you might come close to what they looked like. I did not even take a photo when I was finished, because I would like to forget about it as soon as possible. Think pink paper, two different shades of pink ribbon, two shades of pink beads, another shade of pink roses and pink heart shaped charms. Not possible you say? Believe me it was worse than your worst nightmare.I was too scared to go to bed that night in fear of having pink dreams! The poor, poor groom! My DH, who is my greatest fan, took one, looked at it for a very long time and said very quietly:' It is really well made dear'. I cried, I laughed so hard. The poor, dear man did not want to hurt my feelings, but he also could not bring himself to tell me it was nice.

The bride, you ask? she is in seventh heaven. She has never seen anything that beautiful in her life - thank goodness it takes all sorts to fill the world.


The next card was made for a friend. Her niece is getting married and the colour scheme is lime green and black. Don't know if I like it, but at least its not pink! Stamp is Heidi Swapp and all papers are Bazzil. Bling from the local bead shop.


These are good luck cards I made for a fellow teacher. Her matrics are writing next Friday and she always asks me to make cards for every one of her pupils. The stamp on the front is an angel from Inkadinkado. They were coloured with my Copics. All paper is Bazzil. (No surprise there!)

On the inside of the card there is a chocolate and space for her to write a personal message to each of her pupils.

Here is a closer view of the Angel. I put Stickles on the wings and then poured more glitter over them to get the effect I wanted. Hope you liked my creations.

Please leave me a comment when you visit so that I can visit you too!

Christmas cards in full swing!

It seems like it is going to be a very pink Christmas around here! Those horrible pink Copics just keep jumping out at me. You've got to admit that she just would not be as cute as this in any other colour. The image is a free digi stamp. Papers are all Bazzil and some leftovers from my scrapbox. The ribbon is from my stash and the snowflakes were glitterified with some diamond Stickles.

The snowman charm is from my local bead shop. Sorry about the bad photo, but we have had rain for the last few days, so no nice sunlight to take it. Here's a close up so you can see just how cute she is and see the shine on the snowflakes.

The next one is another one of Dustin Pike's freebies. The patterned paper is Bo Bunny (I think!)

Another one of Dustin's images. I think I may be addicted to them, but they print so well and they are so much fun to colour! Papers are Bazzil and Bo Bunny

This is an image that I coloured last year (come on, don't pretend you don't have any coloured images that have been lying around for ages and haven't been used!! You do, don't you???) The paper is Basic grey and Bazzil.

And finally, another one of Dustin's little fellows. The wreath was done with Flowersoft and Stickles. All papers are Bazzil and Bo Bunny. Ribbon from my stash.

I am really enjoying making Christmas cards and they are flying out the door, so people must like them.

I am actually supposed to start setting exam papers, but my SIL is coming over tonight with a friend so that I can help the friend make wedding invitations for her daughter. Sounds like more fun than exams, so what can I do?

Hannah has Chicken Pox, poor thing. She is covered in spots. She had her birthday party yesterday and mom was worried about the spots. She took her to the Quick care at the hospital and the dr. there told her that the spots on her head and shoulders were just an allergic reaction and nothing to worry about! This morning it looked like mosquito bites, so off we went to school. Mom was phoned at about 9h30 and told that a girl in Hannah's class had Chicken Pox, so they think that was what was on her little body. Mom took her back to the dr. and it was confirmed. Hope all the children at the party is OK.

A Pink Christmas card

When I saw this image in my digi file, The pink Copics just jumped out at me. Papers are all Bazzil and pieces from my scrapbox. The ribbon is from my stash. A really simple card, but I love it.
The image is a freebie by Wendy from Digital doodling. http://digital-doodling.blogspot.com/



I put some flock on her fur. Don't know if it came out clear enough in the photo for you to see.

I finally got my new car! Who would have known how much drama there would be when we decided to buy a new car? It takes us a very long time to make a decision this big (the last time we bought a car was 10 years ago!) So it came as a surprise to us that there was so much to be done. We decided to buy two cars instead of just one. Go big or go home I say!

We used the pay out from the insurance and traded my car in as a deposit. When we could not find the original registration papers for my car, DH took the morning off from work to get duplicates from the licensing office in town. I couldn't do it, because the car was in his name! Only those of you living in South Africa will know the agony. Took him two hours to find out that the original papers were still in the bank's posession. We paid off the car about 6 years ago, and they still had the papers?!!!

Off DH went to the bank to get them. Only to be told, "Sorry sir, they have been archived and it will take 7 - 10 working days to retrieve them." By this time DH was late for a meeting and could not stay any longer to argue. He phoned me and told me (actually shouted at me ).

I phoned the bank's head office, only to be calmly told the same thing. By this time, I was getting 'slightly' annoyed. After all. this document was legally ours, and you would think that they would make sure that a document that did not legally belong to them, was given to the legal owners 6 years ago. But NO! Sorry mam, it is your responsability to ask for the document, otherwise we just keep it!!! What the......?

Eventually that afternoon, I go to our local branch where I meet a delightful young man called Jacob Tau. Poor Jacob, he was the one that had to deal with my DH's anger that morning. This young man went out of his way to help. He phoned everybody he could think of that could possibly help, eventually finding somebody that was willing to write a letter stating that we are the legal owners of the car and that the bank would forward the papers asap. The dealer was prepared to accept the document, so we were very happy.

I must tell you, it took poor Jacob three days to get the letter out of this person. Eventually, on Thursday, he told me to sit in his office and not to leave without the letter. It took him three more hours! He would phone, tell the person on the other side who he was, ask them where the letter was and then tell them that the client was sitting in the office, refusing to leave untill he had the letter and that he did not feel like sleeping over in the bank that night, so would they PLEASE type the letter while he was holding? I was very amused, but also very grateful to this young man that so abviously was really trying to help me.

Finally, after he had to explain to the person on the other end how to actually scan and e-mail the letter, I had the document in my hand. While I was in his office, a very distinguished gentleman walked in, shook my hand and thanked me for doing business with Nedbank. I told him that I really wished that I could say that it was a pleasure, but it was an incredible frustration. He looked at me with surprise and I went on to tell him the whole story, making sure I told him what a wonderful asset Jacob was to Nedbank, and that I hoped that they appreciate having people like Jacob work for them. He assured me that they did and then left. When I asked Jacob who that was, he told me it was the new regional manager of the bank! Poor guy could not stop thanking me for saying what I did. I just hope that he gets his due reward. We need more people like Jcob Tau in South Africa!

After all of that, who would believe that the buying of a car would threaten to rip my family apart? I am still debating whether I should post about it. Maybe in a few days when I have recovered from the shock of it all an I can think logically about it.

Baby's first Christmas.

I was asked to make cards for twins. This cute little image is a free digi stamp, but I can't find the link anywhere! They were coloured with my Copics. The fur is flowersoft and the papers Bazzil, Pebbles inc and American crafts. Ribbon is from my stash.

I have had a crazy few days. Bought two new cars. Fought with the bank to get my old car's registration papers ( long story- don't have time now - will tell all later). Went to a seminar, heard Nataniël, had Valedictory at school (very sad to see this group leave), was SIL's birthday on the 15th (Iforgot!!!!). Is my sisters birthday today (going to her to wish her happy birthday). DD is playing a water polo match at 1, want to go watch. Have to buy a present for Hannah, she is turning 5 on Monday. Everybody is coming over to watch the semi-final between the Bulls and Western Province (GO BULLS!!). So you see- NO TIME -GOT to run. Talk more later....

Some cards for Dustin.

A while ago I discovered Dustin Pike's blog. I fell in love with his images and he has some freebies every week, so I felt it was about time I tried the digi stamp thing. I just love these little fellows. Then I saw that he was appealing to cardmakers to help him raise money for a good cause, he is giving away some free digi images too. Read all about it here :http://dustinpike.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-candy-alert.html . I have been making cards like crazy and I am hoping to post them tomorrow Hope they get to America on time. The South African postal service is not very famous for their good service.
The first lot of cards are Christmas cards made with one of Dustin's Freebies.Papers are Bazzil and Bo Bunny. used some Flowersoft for the sock - that stuff is really growing on me! For some weird and wonferful reason, blogger is insisting that this photo should be uplaoded the wrong way, I tried to fix it 6 times and then gave up. Just turn your head sideways and it looks perfectly fine. LOL

Here is a close up shot of the little fellow with his Flowersoft sock.

The next card was made with another freebie that I found somewhere, but I could not find the link. If you know who, please let me know so that I can give credit where credit is due. Papers are Bazzil and some leftover from my scrap box. The flowers were from some silk flowers that I bought and pulled apart and some Enmarc paper flowers. The brad is Making Memories (I think!) The cute frog charm is from my local bead shop. I put some Dimentional Magic on the umbrella and water droplets.

Here's a close up of the flowers and the frog.

The last card is a stamped image. I bought the stamp ages ago from the local stationer. All papers are by Bazzil. All the images were coloured with my trusty Copics. I just love those pens! I wish they were more readily available in South Africa.

Hope you liked my cards.

We went car shopping yesterday and bought two cars (yes, TWO) in half an hour flat. I don't think my DH has ever made such a big decision in less than a year, so this must be a world record. Getting them on Wednesday. Will show you pictures then.

Family weddings are so much fun!

My niece got married on Saturday. What a fantastic day it was. It was a real 'boeretroue' (I don't know how to translate that. Literally it would be a farmers wedding, but that is not what it is at all - maybe old school? Somebody help, please!) The reception was in the church hall and all the food, flowers, cake, decorations were made by the bride's family. Her uncle baked the cake. Mom's sister did the flowers and her mom and stepdad made all the food. I think this photo says exactly what kind of day it was. A day filled with joy about two young people who still believe in marriage. So often today people are so busy trying to find the best venue, the best photographer, the best caterer that they forget what it is all about.
This is the bride and her father, my brother in law.

This was Hannah's first experience of a wedding. She has only been to a couple of funerals when close family members passed away. She did not know what to expect at all and when we got to the church, she asked her mom, in a very loud voice: "Mommy, do we HAVE to cry?" Needless to say, there were lots of smiles all round.
When she saw the bride, she was completely bowled over. She came to me at the reception and asked if people were allowed to speak to the lady. When I said yes, she wanted to know if it was allowed to touch her at all. I took her to Wilma and said that Hannah just wanted to say hallo. Bless her heart, Wilma bent down and gave her a big hug. That sealed it, Wilma had a shadow for the rest of the night.
When we said grace I happened to peek at Hannah to see what she was doing and could not help myself. I had to quickly snap this photo. I am sure God will forgive me for this one.

The next photo is of my two youngest with their cousin. Wilma is exactly a year younger than Ankie and her brothers are the same age as Juan and one between them, which meant that they were very close growing up. It is such a gift to have cousins.The last photo is just here because I am very proud of myself for managing to take it. I saw the snail in the church garden and just snapped it.