WOYWW - quite a bit, actually

Good morning all, on this last day of the old year my desk is busier than it has been for a long time. If you look carefully you will see that it is even doubling up as a place to dry my washing. It was raining here when I wanted to hang the last few things.  There are newspaper clippings from the Dutch newspapers about the time my daughter played in the Netherlands. She was quite the celebrity over there and over here at home, nobody knows her name unless they play water polo. LOL There is also some coloured images and an experiment with ribbon that might just make it onto a card before next year.

 

Thought I would show you the fruits of my holiday labours. I made a clock from a discarded piece of wood. Painted it white, stuck some vinyl on of the names of the whole family, painted over in Blue, peeled off the vinyl and it became this awesome clock that DH will (or will not ever) hang on the wall.

 Also made the quote hanging in my playroom. Followed the same process, just reversed the colours.

 Then, I thought I would show you the place that stole my heart. It is a small little village on the West Coast of South Africa, called Jacobsbaai. I would move there tomorrow. So peaceful, quiet and beautiful! Pity we have to actually work if we want to eat hey?

That's it from me folks, remember to visit our leader Julia and to join in our weekly hop from desk to desk accross the whole earth, It is so much fun, but be warned - it is highly addictive.
My wish for each and every one of you, is that you will have a healthy, happy and crafty New Year.

WOYWW - having fun, listening to Christmas carols.

This is my desk today. My granddaughter plays violin with her teacher at a shopping centre. Mom and dad needed to go do some Christmas shopping and I am the only one left with enough patience to sit at a coffee shop for 4 hours while she plays. Lucky me!

It is so amazing to watch people's reaction when they walk past. They literally do a double take when they look and see that not only is it live music, but an 8 year old is playing like that. I am so proud of her, she has only been playing for about 6 months. Her teacher says that he has never come across such a young child with so much talent and passion for the violin. My dad is probably very happy in heaven, he used to play the violin and mom was an opera singer, sadly none of their kids or grandchildren showed any interest. As part of our school's curriculum all our grade 2's get to plat violin for a term and from the very first day Tertia-Lee walked into that class, that was all she could talk about. 

I am off on holiday in two days an will only be back on the 29th, so I wish you all a very blessed Christmas.

WOYWW -The big clean up!

Good morning all the wonderful WOYWWers, I have missed being a part of this wonderful creative community. Nearly had heart failure when I realised my last post was early October. How did that happen? 

 



As you can see, there is absolutely NOTHING on my workdesk! Do not be fooled, it is all on the floor and on any other flat surface in my craftroom. I am busy washing the tablecloths and having a big clean up. It is taking way longer than expected, because I am finding all this cool stuff that I forgot I had and DH is on leave, so I am being called every 5 minutes! Honey, where are you? Come an sit here, you know the story.

 I have been doing some crafting (I would go mad otherwise!!) I am colouring a lot with my Copic markers. The card above uses an image by Mitzi from Aurora Wings. I just love her work and own most of her digi stamps.

The next card is an image from Tiddly Inks and I coloured her following a class by the wonderful and talented Alyce Keegan. She has the most amazing classes on her site Kit and Clowder. Even though I have done classes and am Copic certified, I have learned so much from her and the facebook group for Kit and Clowder is one of the few where there never is any drama, just encouragement and lots and lots of fun.

I hope you all have an awesome week and those that are on holiday like me, don't work too hatd!

WOYWW - My 'real' desk.

Good afternoon all the lovely people from WOYWW. Thought I would share what my real desk looks like - the one that usually keeps me from joining the party. This is my desk in my classroom and as usual, covered in so much stuff, I hardly know where to start. You will see some tests, some text books, my lunch (courtesy of my wonderful granddaughter), some cards that a colleague asked to look at, my clipboard full of notes of things to do and papers to file. In the background, near the door are the dustbin, the paper recycle bin and some seedling trays that need to be planted full of the vegetable seeds on the cupboard and looked after until we can donate them to an underprivileged school,

And here you see some of the faces that makeme smile every day. This photo is my screensaver on my I pad. I left it in their care when I joined them for high tea and needed to go to the toilet. This is what I found when I opened my I Pad, a new and very fun screensaver. You just can not help loving these girls.

And this is what they look like when other people see them, real ladies and the responsible new leaders of our school.

Enjoy your week, I will be in Cape Town next week for the annual Drummie nationals.

WOYWW - A rare day off!

I am off school, sick in bed with pneumonia and acute asthma, not fun I tell you! But... 4 days later and I am slowly starting to feel like a human being again. It also means that for once I can be part of WOYWW this week and have time to at least visit a few of you. My desk does not look too bad, considering how much I have done since your last visit.

I have made invitations for my granddaughter's 8th Birthday party. Another Frozen besotted little girl! Let me tell you, colouring those little images was no joke (they are about an inch and a half tall!), but fussy cutting them? Now that was quite a job! What we would not do for the grandies!

 This past weekend I felt terrible and was forced to just take the meds and stay indoors. It was also the Kit and Clowder 4000 Facebook member party, so I spent some time challenging myself trying to show how my colouring has improved since I joined Alyce's classes. I must say, this is the biggest image I have ever coloured with my Copics and I am so proud of it, I framed it and its on display on my antique sewing machine.

 Another card that was finished this weekend.

 I also had the wonderful privilege to attend the SA Scrapbook Convention at the beginning of September and finally got to finish one of the LO's this morning. Using Bo Bunny papers and photo's from DD's recent water polo tour to Russia.

Sorry Julia, this was a bit long, but I am so excited to finally have time to blog, I got a bit carried away!
Have a great week everybody, see you soon.

WOYWW - I present to you...

A very good morning to all my friends of WOYWWland. It is very early over here, 6h00 to be precise and I want to pop in quickly before I head off to school for an all day workshop.

I present to you, a sight so amazing, it will leave you speechless! A sight so unusual, you will have to look at least twice - My desk, all cleaned up, neat and tidy. The only thing out of place are the papers waiting to be used! Can you believe it? I feel like I am in a strange place when I walk into my playroom LOL!

 My DH saw me struggling when I was cutting vinyl for somebody. I hate wasting and the darn roll keeps slipping and going out of line and then I have to start all over and hover over the Silhouette to guide the roll, while I could be busy doing something else. I hate it! Then, I was reading the other day that Silhouette has designed a roll feeder, oh happy day. I told DH and also told him that it would probably take a year before the stupid thing would be available in South Africa. The very next day (I kid you not!) I got an email from our local supplier to say that they had a limited number available and guess what? Yip, DH jumped on the internet and ordered one for me straight away. I am now the proud owner of one of these babies, and let me tell you, it is AMAZING!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it and DH too of course.

I had better get myself ready to go off to school. Hopefully I will get time to visit some of you on my iPad while the girls are busy.
Have a happy and creative week everybody!

WOYWW - No excuses, I had fun!

Good morning all! Hope you have had a fabulously creative week since the last WOYWW. I have been trying to clean my playroom, without much success. I keep finding the coolest things to play with. LOL You will see that the work space on my desk has shrunk to an all time smallest record. 

 

 I have discovered the best ever digi stamps on Etsy. They are from Ppinky dolls and are just adorable! Had to do this one straight away.

 This was a freebie from Scrappers Delights. Love how she turned out.
Amazing just how many colours you use when you are having fun. If you look on my desk, you will see the small container filled with all the Copics used for just this image!

Hope you all enjoyed the visit and please call again soon,

WOYWW - I got distracted!

I was cleaning, I promise I was. I just happened to see all this cool stuff that I forgot about and decided to have a little play and now... well, as you can see, it still looks like a tip, just worse than last week.

 

There was (actually thare still is a sale at Herbert Evans) my all time favourite art shop and they are selling Copics for 40% less, so I just HAD to get some more, and then I just HAD to play with my new Digi stamps That were on discount on account of Kit and Clowder reaching 3000 fans on facebook.



 

 

And then?.... Well... then there was this fun colour along video that I just had to look at and play along with, so you see, it really isn't my fault that my room is so messy!

 

 

Thought I would also show you a fun photo of some of the SA woman's water polo side. They are currently competing in the World Cup in Khanty Manysisk, Russia. DD is top right. So proud of her as she will also be featured in the new FINA magazine as the 'Star of Africa' in their monthly One continent, one star articles. 

 



Have a great week everybody, don't forget to visit Julia to see more inspiring desks, I am off to Herbert Evans (there are some more things I HAVE to get LOL) and then I will be watching some water polo while visiting some fellow WOYWWers.

WOYWW - N0. its not an episode of Hoarders!

 Good morning and welcome back to my poor little neglected blog and my very messy room. I know, it looks like an episode of Hoarders are going to be filmed in my room, but I promise this is two days into cleaning up! Life just kinda caught up with me these last few months and there was absolutely no time for any kind of creative play hence the state of my room.

 School closed on Friday for a month long holiday and I am desperately trying to get my playroom in some sort of state where I can sit down and play without feeling guilty about the mess. I have thrown out at least 5 bags of stuff that I will never, ever use (well, passed it on to a local nursery school actually, could not get it over my heart to actually throw it away!)



 You will notice my feathery friend, Chicken, who gets to spend nights in my room. The remnants of last minute frenzied activity. I felt like the universe was conspiring against me these last few weeks. As some of you might know, it is that time of the year when the school I work at, chooses its new leaders and that is a monumental task, that happens to be mine. First, the company that has done the candles for the handing over ceremony for the last 15 years, closed down, then I could not find anybody else that would put the school badge and girl's name on the candles for me. You Tube to the rescue, I did it myself! No pics, sorry, no time!

 

That's it folks. I will be back more regularly this month. Remember to visit Julia to see some more inspiring desks.







WOYWW A scrapping frenzie.

Good morning all. It is voting day here in South Africa and we have a voting station across theroad from our house. People are lining up already, it's great to live here, you just wait till there are nomore lines and then you go. 

My desk looks like a war zone on this beautiful morning. It's hard to believe that I actually cleaned up after every LO I did this week. School starts tomorrow after the Easter holidays, so no more play days for me. I joined in the fun at Let's Scrap and used to national Scrap day sketches to make a small dent in all DD's hundreds of water polo photo's of World Champs last year and Common Wealth last month.

Not sure about this one. I like things ordered and in straight lines. LOL

One that will eventually be framed and displayed in my house somewhere. Her medal and South Africa's very first water polo medal EVER!!! So proud.

The SA team! beautiful girls!

Some great action shots.

    

Last but not least, the photo's from Worl Champs in Barcelona last year. The right hand side strip of photo's are a booklet that reveals more action shots and the journaling with some of the quotes from the FINA press releases after every match.

WOYWW - holidays are fun.

Good morning all. I am sitting in the des waiting rooms with DD1, waiting for her to have a follow up mammogram. Praying the lump in her breast has not grown. Last check up was officially 'nothing to worry about' till the dr phoned last week and asked for a new mammogram 'just to be sure'  

Did have time before we left to take a photo of my desk. Disgraceful, I know. How can one person create such a mess in such a short time?  In my defence, it's been holidays and I did have a lot of fun.

The colored stamps you saw last week made it onto some cards. I have decorated two shirts for the grandies with some rhinestones. They loved it so much, they grabbed the shirts before I could getsome photo's.  

I also started on the mountain of water polo photo's. This is the first page of DD3 playing at the World Champs last year in Barcelona. I also painted a box frame for this LO and it is now proudly displayed in the house. Makes it worth all the hard work when you get a ' Oh, thank you, thank you mommy' when they see it for the first time doesn't it?

Have an amazing week, see you all soon.

WOYWW Back in crafty mood!

Good morning fellow WOYWW deskers. It is a lovely morning here in South Africa. I am on holiday and finally back in my craft room. It felt so good to colour for the first time in a long while. My desk is a mess, that's why you only get to see a very small part of it this morning. You will see my scissors (some of them), the photo of DD playing in Common wealth Champs and the papers I am thinking of using for the LO I want to make. You will also spot some of the happy mail that arrived yesterday. A big order of flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts.

I also had some time to colour, no time to put them on cards yet, but here they are, my latest tries. You can tell I haven't been colouring for a while.

Have a great day everybody, I hope to visit all of you this week.

WOYWW - better late than never

Good evening all of you! It is finally school holidays over here and I have just returned from our annual Leadership Camp for the grade 11 girls. So the photo you see here, really was my work desk this week. How lucky can a girl get? I get to spend a week in the bush with the most amazing girls in the whole world. They never cease to amaze me, the sheer guts and determination they show during this camp makes me cry every year.

 

 While I was in the bush, my youngest went to Aberdeen in Scotland to play water polo in the Common Wealth Championships. Can you see the pride in that selfie with her bronze medal? First time ever that South Africa won a water polo medal!!

 Here she is, in the pool, playing her favourite sport with all her heart. I am so proud of her and the rest of the team.

Hopefully I will be more creative in the next few weeks and have a little more time to pay al the WOYWWers a visit. Have an awesome week everybody.

Abandoned but not forgotten.

My desk, fellow deskers, are as abandoned as it looks. life has been hectic and crafting has taken a back seat for the moment. School is busy, life is crazy - in short, I am spinning. A quick recap of the last month, sees my DD returning from Holland and moving back home, she got a job teaching at my school (her alma mater), she made the SA Water polo team that are leaving for Aberdeen next week, her American friend came and is living with us for the moment, the two of them got Hi-jacked in our driveway last week and I am trying to keep it all together, just hanging in by my fingertips.

The desk, as you can see is all but bare, not much happening except the box card and box of tags made for my dear friend, the school's swimming coach's 60th birthday. Had fun playing with my Silhouette with this one.

Thought I would show you what my actual 'work desk' looks like at the moment. I was watching a video by an Afrikaans singer, Joe Niemandt, about fear and got the idea to let the girls write their biggest fears (rational and irrational) down on Post-it notes. I then mark them and we then had a big ritual where we symbolically burn all our fears. They loved the whole exercise and I even got a few thank yous and a few tears were shed. Special privilege to teach at a girls school where we are able to share our fears with each other. This is the notice board before we burn the fears. Makes me happy, just looking at it. The heading was added by the girls, gotta love that they love making the class look good too. 

I am off to the National Water polo tournament in Durban on Friday, can't wait to just sit and enjoy watching my child play. Have a great week everybody.

WOYWW 245 - A new angle

Good morning to all the good people from WOYWW and all other friends that have come to visit. I thought I would take the photo of my desk from a different angle today, just so that you don't notice that nothing much has been happening in my play room. Still just a mess of left over bits and pieces from previous projects.
Thank you all for your prayers and good wishes last week for DD's surgery. Apart from the fact that there was no bed for her when she got to the hospital, all went really well. Turns out it was a piece of the cartlidge (so don't know how to spell that!) that had broken off years ago and got stuck in the joint. They removed it and ground the bone down where it had actually started to make a dent, and that was that. She should be back in the water to train by the end of this week and doing boot camp by next week.
Have a fantastic week, see you all later.

Supreme Scrap Challenge - 1000 steps from home.

Scrapbooking: 1000 steps from homeMake a double layout or double mixed media project that shows where your live.

But it all has to be within 1000 steps from your home!!!!
For example you could make photos of your favorite tree, bus stop, house as long it is within 1000 steps of your home!

- You can not use any spray inks!
- You will have to use at least 3 photos on your project (scrapbooking and mixed media!!)
- You will have to add a visible journaling of at least 50 words

 



 

That was quite a challenge, especially because my Mojo seemed to fly out the door, just as the Challenge was posted on the Supreme Scrapbooking Challenge.

I went for a walk around my neighbourhood and took photo's of the strangest things. Potholes and street signs, Old rusted cars in somebody's yard, the shop, the hospital, schools, dogs and kids. I really think my neighbours are now convinced that I am crazy. LOL

Still no Mojo and time was running out! Then I heard the song 'You are my Sunshine' on the radio and suddenly it all fell into place.

I live in sunny South Africa (even though we have had rain for the past week), my suburb is called Sunward Park, I live in Sonskyn Road (Sunshine Road in Afrikaans), the schools and almost every other place around my house has some sort of reference to the sun and... I would NEVER survive without the sun.

Mr. Mojo was back and just in the nick of time too! I spent the next few hours planning and cutting out the sun rays and clouds and the title and playing with the photo's taken on my walk. I love the result and I really hope you do too

 



WOYWW - I actually don't know whats there.

Oh my, its Wednesday again, time for WOYWW. This week there are a lot of things going on on my desk. I am part of the SA group of ladies in the Supreme Scrap Tournament. So I am frantically trying to finish the challenges and post them before the deadline on Friday. Hence the makeshift photo booth on my desk

 

Everything else has been shoved to the sides. I am too afraid to enlarge the photo to see what is there. LOL

Julia asked last time and the answer is NOOOOO!!! That is so not my bicycle in the background. Its my DD's She has moved back home since she got back from playing polo in Holland and that is the only thing I would allow in my playroom. 

Thought I would show you a quick photo of my first challenge makes. To read all about it, see my previous post.

I apologise for neglecting all of you last week, I hope to do a lot better this week.

Those of you that want to, please say a healing prayer for my DD, Anke, she is finally having a knee op for a very old injury and hopes to be fit and ready to play water polo at the Common Wealth Games. (Any good places to stay in Aberdeen, that is not going to cost my life savings? I would love to go and watch her play and see a little bit of Scotland)

Have a great week everybody, see you soon!