Look at this beautiful card!

Isn't this just the most beautiful card? Then she is giving it away as part of her blog candy, I can't believe she is actually willing to part with it. Go check it out here:http://stempelecke.blogspot.com/2009/06/sorellinas-kleine-blogverlosung.html

Then there is more candy here:http://craftingcreatively.blogspot.com/2009/06/blog-candy-just-for-youfinally.html

Some fabu;ous stamps can be had here:http://motivet.com/blog/?p=456

I did something, I promise!

I am home, sick. The flu hit me like a ton of bricks. My DH has been struggling with it since last week, but typical male, he refused point blank to go to the doctor, so he gave it to me instead. And don't you know what? He is insisting that I go to the doctor. Can't help but laugh at male logic!

After marking those dissappointing exam papers, I just had to do something to cheer me up. I have seen these fantastic cards on several blogs lately and find them very interesting. I finally found a fantastic tutorial on The Craftiblog (http://craftiblog.wordpress.com). It is actually pretty simple to make, but it looks awesome. I have already had several people at school asking me to make them one for birthday cards, so it seems to be a hit
The papers are all from Basic Grey's Porcelain range (don't you just love them?)
My favourite stamp, coloured with my trusty Copics and glitterified (is that even a word??) with Making Memories glitter glue. The flower is a paper rose that I picked apart and the charm is from my local habberdashery. The butterfly stamps are from the box of throw away stamps from a friend. Bet you she is sorry she gave them away now! Inks are Stazon Black and ColorBox pink. The brad is from stash, can't remember who made it.

Do you sometimes wonder why you do what you do?

I made this tag as for a friend on her birthday. She is one of those incredible people that always knows exactly what to say to make you feel better. She is a very special lady and has everything her heart desires, so giving her a gift is very hard.

She recently discovered Amarula ( a drink made from African fruit called Maroelas, The elephants love eating the fruit that has fallen from the maroela tree and it is a well known fact that when they eat the fruit that has fermented, they become intoxicated. ) it is really tasty, but hard to describe if you haven't tasted maroelas. She puts a drop in her coffee when she sits waiting for her children next to the sportsfield in the bitter cold. So this is why she got a bottle of Amarula for her birthday. The little frog is adorable and the bubbles (brads) the colour of the drink.

Getting back to the title of this post. Do you also sometimes wonder why you do what you do, or is it just me? Lately I have been wondering why I am a teacher and whether this is really what I am supposed to be doing. I have been teaching foe almost 30 years and have always seen teaching not so much as a job, but as a calling. Suddenly I am questioning myself all the time. I have just finished marking grade 11 exam papers and feel like I have spent the last six months wasting my time and energy, because these children have learnt absolutely nothing in my class! For goodness sake, they can not even do the simplest of tasks, let alone any that are a little bit challenging! It seems that children are becoming more and more illiterate as we speak, in spite of educators trying to change that.

As the head of the grade, I spend hours on the phone or in consultation with parents about their childrens' work, or lack there of and the behaviour that is often displayed at school. The parents make excuses for their children. They never seem to expect their children to take responsibility for their actions any more. One of my fellow teachers commented the other day, that the only thing we do not do for parents these days is to incubate their children for 9 months! Everything else has become our responsibility. We have to educate them, teach them manners, morals and everything else. Harsh words, but true in a lot of cases.

Ok, Rant over! Feeling better and remembering that there was one child that got 93% for the exam, so maybe I am not totally useless after all!

I finally finished a page!

I have been working on this page for a while. First it was floating around in my head and then it took about two weeks to get it done. Why? I don't know. I think mr. Mojo was on strike or visiting somewhere.
This photo of Hannah was one of those rare 'perfect shots'. The lighting was perfect and she was completely unaware of me and my camera. She had been following Juan's veggie garden with great interest and when he decided to pick the first pumpkin and cut and peel it for supper, she was absolutely riveted!
I am the world's luckiest grandma. I get to see my little angel every day of my life, because she attends the same school I teach at. Logic dictates that I take her to school and drop her off in the afternoon. It is during these journeys that I get to hear amazing things. I just had to scrap them, before I forget.
Papers are all Bazzil and an offcut from my waste paper basket, EK I think. Flowers, ribbon and charm are all from my stash.
Journaling reads:
i) Coming home from school one day, you wanted to know whether God made people. When I said yes, you double checked and asked if He made everybody. When I said yes again, you thought for a while and then asked: "What do the doctors do then? Do they just stir us?"
ii) You adore all the members of your family and love to give hugs and kisses.
iii) You have an imaginary friend - Katie. Katie lives with you and has a brother that you don't like.
iv) Your best friend at school is Shana and you look after her.
v) You prefer sweets and chocolate to food any day!
vi) Your favourite snack is a chocolate muffin.
vii) You love all animals and get really upset when you can't watch Animal Planet in TV. The big cats are your favourite.
viii)You are getting so big that you don't want to sit on oupa's lap all the time anymore. The other day when he asked you to come and sit on his lap for a while, you answered that you had 'no more sits left for the day'!
ix) 6 more random facts:
- You would like to have even more animals apart from the three dogs and four cats you already have.
- You are going to be a great mommy, because your friends and dolls are cared for so well. No child of yours will ever be cold or hungry.
- You love school. Your teacher is mrs. Krige and you adore her.
- You can't wait to go to Physio every Tuesday. You have to go for very low muscle tone and you have made great progress.
-You LOVE tea and will drink tea whenever you can.
-You eat Coco Pops for breakfast, but calll it Popo Cocs.

One for the boys.

This card was made for a male birthday at somebody's office. They asked me to make a card that has enough room inside for about 15 people to write messages and sign. I came up with this, The tags are double sided so they can be used by two people.

The stamp is from Crafty individuals, Paper by 7Gypsies, Cardstock is Bazziland ribbon is from my stash.

This fits in perfectly with this weeks challenge at Stamotacular Sunday.

I have had a very busy weekend and only finished setting and typing my exam paper for Tuesday about an hour ago. I can't believe it took mr this long to do. This will teach me to postpone everything to the last minute!

Stamptacular Sunday challenge

The theme this week at Stamptacular Sunday is Weddings. I recieved a box ful of stamps from a friend(Thank You Jenny) a while ago and these adorable birds were among them. I think they are so cute and couldn't resist playing with them.
DP is from my leftover box. Image was coloured with Copics, fluff was a free gift with a magazine, Cardstock is from Bazzil, Flower from Prima and ribbon from my stash.
I have been very busy setting papers for the exams that start tomorrow and the girls are writing my first paper on Friday, so I will propably be spending my weekend marking papers and not crafting, so wish me luck. Hopefully the marking will go relatively quickly and then I will be back with a vengance.

This reminds me of my dad

This image reminds me of my dad. Not really sure what it is exactly. It could be the fact that he was wrinkly (is that even a word?) like the turtle in the image. It could also be the glasses, or it could be the pipe with the smoke billowing from it. My dad smoked like a chimney till the day he died. It could be the way the image makes me smile - I don't know. All I know is that from the moment I saw him, I started thinking of my dad.
My dad was the most intelligent human being I knew. There was nothing he didn't know and very little he couldn't do. He loved my mom so much that he couldn't live without her and died ten months after her, from a broken heart. I remember so much about him and most of it makes me smile. He could not walk past a Wimpy without stopping for coffee. He read every roadsign, no matter what language, in Afrikaans and made up some really insane translation. When I was at the lowest point in my life as a young girl, he didn't say much, he just took my arm one morning and asked me: "Have you spoken to God about this my child, you know He doesn't talk about what you tell him, don't you?"
So, this card is for him, even though he isn't here in person, I know he is still around, because I can hear his advice so clearly sometimes.
Love you dad, always!