Beautiful bicycle.

This card turned out quite differently from what I thought it would, but I love it. I coloured the image months ago, but my Mojo upped and left at that point, so the bicycle waited patiently for mr. Mojo to return. I was looking for dp for another image when my eye fell on the bicycle and I realised that this dp was perfect. Dp is from My Minds Eye and the stamp from Flowersoft, the flowers are Flowersoft too. Cardstock is Bazzil and the ribbon is from my stash. I think that the bicycle was just waiting for the challenge over at Moxie Fab World to be made. (http://moxiefabworld.com/2010/06/moxie-fab-challenge-i-want-to.html)
The inside of the card, using my Martha Stewart punch (are you tired of it yet?) There will be tags in the pocket for everybody in the birthday club to sign.

The other side of the inside.

The next card was also made for the birthday club, so it will also have tags on the inside. The stamp is from a local shop, so no name anywhere -sorry. Paper is from my scrapbox. The background stamp is from Prima and the ink is Color Box. Ribbon is from my stash.

The inside of the card, using another Martha Stewart punch. (I have two now, so maybe you will see some variety - finally!)

Hope you are enjoying your weekend so far. I am watching the England - Germany game on TV. Poor England have been denied a sure goal. It still is an amazing game to watch though.
Germany just scored - again! 3 - 1 to Germany now.

Whiff of Joy gift set

I saw this wonderful tutorial for a gable gift box on the Whiff of Joy tutorial bog on Thursday and just had to give it a try. You fill find it here: (http://whiffofjoy.blogspot.com/2010/06/gablebox.html) Of course it helped that one of my friends have a bad dose of flu and that my WOJ stamp needed some love.

The cardstock is Bazzil and the Dp is from a new paper pad that I bought recently, (can't remember by who and it is way to cold to get up from the computer to go and check - sorry) The image is WOJ and was coloured with my Copics. Ribbon is from my stash and the flower was cut from some daisy trim.

Shame, just looking at poor sick Henry mouse makes my eyes water. I filled the box with some tissues, lip balm and of course, no gift is complete without chocolate!This gift box fits in perfectly for the challenge over at Totally Gorjuss (http://totallygorjuss.blogspot.com/)

South Africa just won the rugby test match convincingly against Italy. Poor Italians -no good at Soccer and even worse at Rugby. At least their men are good looking.

We went for a drive out to Dullstroom this morning, lovely place! We had lunch and came back to watch the rugby. I must say I am starting to enjoy this empty nest of ours. We can just wake up, decide to go for a drive and do it - no moaning teenagers or crying babies to spoil it. A girl can get used to this.

Have a great weekend everybody. Will try to post the rest of the cards I made tomorrow.

Doing the happy dance!

LOOK!!! Look what the postman brought me all the way from Suzanne in America. I won some blog candy on Suzanne's blog a while ago and it finally arrived. I was so excited, I was doing a happy dance in my dining room. Not a pretty sight, I tell you, but lucky for me, nobody was around to see it. I think Suzanne is one of the most talented crafters out there and I am in awe of what she can do with Copics. By the way, South African friends - and everybody else too = she is offering a discount on her Copic colouring online classes! You will find her blog here: http://scrapbitz.blogspot.com
Of course I had to ink up that Magnolia immediately. She is fantastic and I have already made more than one card with her. The colouring on the first one was not so hot, I think I was too excited and in too much of a hurry, but the next one came out OK.

I coloured her with my Copics. The dp is from Prima, so are the flowers. Cardstock is from Bazzil. The swirls were done with the fantastic pearl pen that I got in my pack and then I glitterified it. Tilda was cut out with my Nestie and the butterflies were cut from the patterned paper, glitterified with stickles and popped up. The feather is from my stash.

Here is a close up of Tilda, hope you can see the glitter on the butterflies and pearl dots. ( I still need to work on getting those dots perfect LOL)

Enjoy your Thursday. If everything goes according to plan, I will be back tomorrow to show you another card.

Where I've been and do you know what this is?

I know, I've been missing in action for a few days, but I had good reason. First I was so tired after the World Cup Opening Ceremony ( wasn't that just awesome? A bit messy, very busy and colourful, but so African! I sat on the pitch behind the girls, crying, I was so overwhelmed by pride and patriotism. When the crowd started spelling SOUTH AFRICA with the kids, I wept.)
After that I spent a few days in the Kwa Zulu Natal Midlands with some of my friends from school. It was bitterly cold, but we had a fantastic time. We stayed in Nottingham Road and spent a few days exploring the area. Went to see Michaelhouse school - where the Spud books are about - saw 'Pissing Pete' and saw the Paraguayan team practise .
I took the following photo in Nottingham Road. If anybody knows what plant this is, please let me know. I have never seen anything like it.
We went for long walks in the area, it is just so very beautiful and we had to, after all the food we consumed. LOL This is the road in front of the house where we stayed, actually I think it is the only road in the neighbourhood.

Then, on Fathersday, the kids took dad for a ride on the Gautrain. Great excitement! Juan has been visiting us the last couple of weeks, using the Gautrain and he swears that he will never again come to the East Rand by car. It takes just 12 minutes from Sandton to Rhodesfield! Compare that to about 2 hours on the Highway if you are lucky and you can see why.

Here is the whole family after breakfast in Sandton, waiting to get on the train. The only ones missing are Juan, because he stays in Sandton, Vaughan, my SIL - because he is too scared of the train (don't ask!) and Barry, Ankie's BF, he is taking the photo.

So girls, as you can see, I have been very busy, doing very little. LOL I am back in my craftroom, playing and will show you something soon, I promise.

Have a great rest of the week.

Can you feel it? IT IS HERE!!

If you are South African, you will understand the title of this post immediately. For the rest of you, it is the slogan for the Soccer World Cup. During the build up to tomorrow's opening, we have heard it a gazillion times on radio, TV and everywhere we went. Yesterday was the final dress rehearsal for the Opening Ceremony and the first time we got to practise at Soccer City on the actual pitch. FIFA would not let us go near their precious grass before, so we had only one run.
The first photo is of our kids, walking from NASREC, where we are stationed to Soccer City, all dressed up in full costume. The rolled up pants is an attempt to stay clean during the dusty walk.

This photo should give you an idea of just how many kids are involved in the show.We are more or less in the middle of the procession. In order to get this shot, one of our girls sat on the headmaster's shoulders. Not many headmasters would allow that just to get a good photo for the school's yearbook. In the next photo you can see the two of them.

Here you see one of our girls being interviewed by a member of the foreign press. A lot of them were stopped and interviewed on the spot. I am very proud to say that all of them handled it with such poise and were amazing ambassadors for our country and for the World Cup.

The marching band that played while we walked to the stadium. In true African style they could not play without dancing.

The flags of the countries affiliated to FIFA that did not qualify for the final tournament waiting to be collected for the run through.

This is what teachers look like when they have just walked with thousands of kids down a highway with thousands of cars, taxi's, trucks, etc. whizzing past at breakneck speed. Incredible to think that every vehicle that passed us, sported a South African flag or had a Vuvuzela being blown through the window or hooters blaring.

This is a once in a lifetime shot. A case of being in the right place at the right time AND pressing the shoot button at exactly the right time! The Flying Falcons (South Africa's elite flying squad) are doing a fly by over the stadium tomorrow. They will be led by a couple of Mirages - sorry girls, Mirages are just too fast for me to even get a picture! All I got was blue sky, beautiful blue skies, I give you, but no Mirage. LOL

Some guys from another section, in costume. I think they are dancers.

What I wouldn't do for you dear blogging friends. This photo nearly got my camera confiscated. I was not supposed to take pictures inside the stadium. A very scary guy came and growled at me. I promised I would not take any more pictures and smiled my sweetest 'granny' smile at him and called him 'my dear'. Figure he thought I was harmless and let me go. Another guy was not so lucky, he got forcibly removed after they took his camera. See, it helps to be 'old' sometimes! This is a Boabab tree in the middle of the field. It is huge.

The last photo should give you some idea of just how big the flags are that our kids have to carry. They are in metal frames and they are VERY HEAVY! The poor kids have to spin them, on top of carrying them. Some of them have black and blue shoulders from the weight. None of them are complaining though, they are just so excited to be able to do this. The fact that they are going to be on the field with R Kelly also helps.

If you read all the way to here, then you are also definately feeling it! Remember to watch the Opening Ceremony tomorrow, it will be broadcasted in every country around the world. It is at 14hoo South African time. Our kids are on in the finale - look out for huge spinning flags. I will be standing at the back watching them, so send me a wave!

Sneak peek and a card.

I got the day off from practise for the World Cup Opening ceremony today, because it is my godson's Confirmation tonight and I really can't miss it. I made him a quick card this morning. The image is one of my new WOJ stamps, coloured with my Copics. The image reminds me of my godson, Jattie. Cardstock is Bazzil and the Dp is 7 Gypsies and Kaisercraft.

The ribbon is from my stash.

Yesterday was the first time that we were allowed to take cameras to practise. I took lots of photo's, but can't post all of them. Thought I would give you a little peek. One of the parts of the show has a giant dung beetle that is manipulated by a group of men. In stead of a ball of dung, it pushes a giant soccer ball.

I never knew that the dung beetle is the only animal that is found in every African country. So using it in the show shows African unity. The first photo is a model of the beetle, made by one of our local wire workers.

The next photo is one that i took when the actual beetle that will be used walked past us. Imagine how big the ball is.

I will edit some more pics and post them in the next day or two. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

What a week I've had!

Its been very busy here. I have to set exams, mark tests and we are frantically trying to finish off work before we go on holiday on Wednesday. Then I am spending a lot of time with the girls that are going to be in the World Cup Opening ceremony. Its a case of hurry up and wait at the moment. We are spending hours at rehearsal waiting for our turn and then only actually rehearsing for about an hour. Its starting to look really good. We were told that we could take cameras on Saturday, so maybe I will be able to give you a sneek preview by Sunday.

This card was another quick one for the Birthday club. I just love this WOJ image. I popped the shopping bags and used some blingy (is that a word?) ribbon for the tissue paper. She was coloured with my Copics. All papers are from IOD and cardstock from Bazzil. I used my Martha Stewart punch for the edge. Ribbons are from my stash. Here's a close up of the image. O, I forgot, I used liquid pearls in gold for the pendant. The inside has tags for everybody to sign again.

Have a wonderful Friday and think of me, spending the entire weekend rehearsing.