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.