Is this Liam or Luka?

This is my grandson, Liam. He is adorable, but definately on the wild side. For the first year of his life he almost never slept, waking his mommy up 10 times some nights. He is now sleeping, thank goodness, but afraid of nothing. He climbs on everything and tries out every new adventure. He is often full of bumps and bruises and mom says she is afraid people will start to think he is an abused child - not the overindulged little boy he actually is. LOLWhen I saw this little Luca from La-La Land crafts, I just HAD to have him, because he reminds me so very much of Liam. I do not put it past Liam to have a red Mowhawk one day.

I coloured him with my beloved Copics (what else would I use?) The papers are from Fabscraps and a little piece of striped paper from my scrapbox. The ribbon is from Realy Reasonable Ribbon and the cardstock from Bazzil.

Hope you all are having a great Tuesday. I am finally on holiday, so I am crafting up a storm.

I will be entering this card on the La-La land customer gallery http://lalalandcrafts.blogspot.com/p/customer-gallery.html and the bright challenge at Ooh La La http://ooh-la-la-creationschallenges.blogspot.com/

WOYWW - Hanging my head in shame.

Good morning all the beautiful people out there. It is Wednesday today isn't it? Things go by in such a blur lately, I am never sure what day of the week it is. I have been sick at home with Bronchial Pneomonia (again!, so frustrating!!!), but that meant that I had lots of time to play, so that is my excuse for the absolute embarassing mess you see on my desk this week. Even the floor looks terrible! On the floor you will see the new paper that I bought yesterday - I know, I really need more paper don't I? On the right, under the box of ink pads and on top of my back up cutter, you will see the bag with coloured images that I found when moving my room. I am determined not to stop making cards untill all are gone. Made a good dent too - current card count is 12!
Here is the first one I am showing you today. I recieved this stamped image as part of a RAK about 3 years ago (could be longer), loved it and coloured immediately. It just never made it onto a card. Papers are all from my scrapbox. Cardstock is Bazzil and lace and bling trim are from my stash.

I found these images too and remembered I had a lot of Fabscraps paper left over from a class I taught years ago, so out came the paper and the fun began. I made a total of 9 cards and decided to make a gift box for 6. Dp is Fabscraps, Cardstock is Bazzil, Flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts (LOVE that store!!!) and some from my stash. Sentiment stamp is from WOJ.

The cards all follow the same sketch. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the butterfly border and added some bling to the bodies. Ribbon is from my stash. Images were coloured (ages ago) with my beloved Copics.

I made matching envelopes too. (told you I am on a roll!) Used the same MS punch and some of the butterflies from the cards to decorate them. Quite pleased with myself this week for getting so much done.

Please remember Cindy in your prayers. She has lost all her hair and is now sporting the most wonderful wig. Still being the lady she has always been and fighting the good fight with courage and dignity.

Have a great week and don't forget to visit the rest of the WOYWWers at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com

WOYWW - I am on holiday!!!!

Good morning all of you out there. When I say GOOD morning, I mean it in every sense of the word! It is 6h15 in my house, DH has left for work, DD is fast asleep and all is quiet. I have nowhere to go today, well, nowhere I don't want to go!! Marking? Done! Marks? Submitted. Reports? Done and dusted! School year is officially over for me. Can you all say: YAY!!!
This is the only space I could find to actually do some crafting last week. But, the good news is, I found a little flat surface not covered in DD's junk and if I climb over and sqeeze behind all her furniture, I can actually get to most of my stuff! I made this card for a dear friend and a fellow teacher who had a Matectomy on Monday. They discovered the cancer when she went for her yearly check up! She is one of the most amazing women I know, so strong and so dignified. I think I would be freaking out. I saw a card like this one a while ago on Becca Freeken's blog and knew I had to make one for Cindy. Hope Becca doesn't mind. ( http://amazingpapergrace.com )

Please say a prayer for Cindy for a full and speedy recovery.

I have been telling you that mr. Mojo has been back, but I had no time to share. So here goes, some of the Christmas cards that I made. First one is an image from Mo Manning called Sugarplum Fairy. I just love her! All papers and embellishments are from my scrapbox and from whatever I could get to. Cardstock is Bazzil and all images were coloured with my beloved Copic markers.

The next one is a Magnolia image that was sent to me as part of a RAK about 2 years ago. I just never got round to colouring her. Isn't this little Tilda adorable? She got a liberal Stickle treatment to her wings, halo and stars.

Lastly the wonderful La La Land stamp by Irena Blount. I fell in love with her Marci and Luca stamps at CHA and had to have most of them. LOL This one is so wonderful, because it is so hard to find summery images for Christmas! My son keeps having a hissy fit when I use snowmen or Reindeer on my cards. I get the whole 'for goodness sake mom, we live in Africa, it is 35 degrees out there!' thing from him every year, so finding the Summery Marci and Luca was such a bonus!

Have a great week everybody! I am going clothes shopping with the grandies today. We are leaving for Jeffrey's Bay on the 15th and the all need new costumes ans of course ouma has to take them (because I will buy what their mothers won't AND we always go for lunch afterwards!LOL)
Remember to pop over to Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com for your weekly WOYWW fix.

WOYWW 122 - I thought it would be worse.

A very good morning to all. I am feeling so much better, I broke into song this morning when I woke up singing 'oh, what a beautiful morning'. DH thought I was crazy, but it is a really beautiful Spring morning here.
As you can see, my desk is still relatively tidy. It has been 4 weeks now and they say it takes 21 days to form a new habit, so maybe I am now a neat person. LOL That is so never goimg to happen. I thought my desk and craftroom would look much worse when I walked in this morning. I have been so busy and so tired, I can't even remember cleaning up, how sad is that?
Yesterday was International Teacher appreciation day. We are having an assembly today where the girls are giving each teacher a little gift.
Traditionally these gifts are really very stupid. (One year we got toilet rolls - because our patience is that long?!) Because I am in charge of the leaders, I had to help them and OK what they wanted to do. Surprise, surprise, the decided on bookmarks. I had the stamps and the equipment, so guess who did the colouring? In their defense, the leader of the Public Relations Committee, did the printing. cutting and pasting. She also found the most beautiful prayer for teachers to go on the back of the bookmark. All I had to do was laminate them and add some ribbon.

Here they are... all 44 of them.

Some close ups. A beautiful shoes, for those who are real ladies. (Guess I won't be getting that one LOL)

Some apples, and lastly, some bookworms.

The stamps are all digi's. The shoe and apple are old ones from before I knew to keep the artists name. The bookworm is one from last month's progessive freebie challenge on PCP. I could not show them before today, so I guess I am way too late for the next lot of freebies (bummer)

I have also finally finished those wedding invitations - It only took them 2 months to finally decide on the wording and then, of course, they wanted them within 24 hours!

Have a great day everybody, hopefully I will visit more than 5 of you this week. Thank you to all for your kind comments.

Please remember to visit Julia at: http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ and to join in the fun.

WOYWW 121 - Slowly going South

My desk has remained clean for 4 weeks, that must be some kind of record, don't you think? Does that mean that I can be forgiven for the little mess today? Its not too bad. Just going South very slowly, getting worse daily, little by little. The leftovers from previous projects. My heatgun from embossing, the embossing powder, the embossing pad, some papers, some tools and some UFO's.
I have not done a whole lot in terms of crafting, but really love this card. The image is from Michelle Perket. Coloured her with my Copics and glitterified her dress and wings. Flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the local Chinese shop.

I recieved my Tag! It is beautiful in real life! Hanging on my craftroom wall and everybody comments on it. Thank you so much!

For some reason Blogger is not allowing me to Publish these next photo's the right way up! I finally got my cardreader to transfer the pics of the tag I made for Frankie's swap to my computer, so if you turn your head, you will see it the right way up.
Used lots of embossing and stamping and the ATC I made for a previous swap. Hope Jane recieves it soon and likes it.

Did not like the boring white envelope, so stamped some birdcages on there too - I had the birdcage stamps on my table, so I had to use them.

I am typing this in class, while my girls are preparing a debate on the death penalty. Young people never cease to amaze me with their wisdom. I am listening to their talk and thinking that I would never have been able to come up with such arguments at 17 and that in a second language!

Please spare a prayer for a fellow teacher who has lost her husband this week. She is in dire financial straights. She had to sell her house to cover her hubby's medical costs and is now forced to live in a low cost shell of a house. No inner walls and no ceiling.

One of my pupils also just told me that they discovered a huge growth in mom's uterus and that she is having tests done today to find out what is wrong.

Makes one grateful for the troubles in your own life.

Have a great day everybody and don't forget to visit Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com

WOYWW - 118?

Wednesday again?!! How did that happen? I am glad to be able to tell you that even though I have been incredibly busy in my craftroom, it still looks relatively presentable. OK Maybe not as beautiful as the last three weeks, but still quite clean don't you think?
In the background you will see the pile of wedding invitations I have been working on. To the left is the box of coloured images I found when I was cleaning up. Some I had actually forgotten about! LOL. There is also a tin of fudge (Almost empty!) and then the left overs from the pink Elephant Challenge card I was making and of course my beloved Copics and the new La La Land Crafts stamps I got yesterday in the process of being coloured. I was so excited to finally find summery Christmas images, I forgot that its too early for the C word.
Thought I would show you some more of the awesome La La Land cards I made with my new stamps. The first one is the cheerleader. How cute is she? Papers are from my scrapbox, The cardstock is Bazzil and the doily from my local grocery store. Her dress and poms were glitterified with Stickles.

Seeing that the Rugby World Cup starts on Friday in New Zeeland, I just had to make this little rugby Luka. Coloured him in green and Gold for the Springboks of course! The dp is from a Basic Grey paperstack I have had for ages and the ribbon and button from my stash.

Last but not least, this cute little Luka. Love him! Its so hard to find male images that are not totally depressing and look more like sympathy cards than anything else. The dp is also from my scrapbox. Used a Martha Stewart punch for the border and the ribbon and brad are from my stash.

If you still don't know why I am posting pictures of my desk, go to Julia's blog and join in the fun. ( http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ )

Have a great week everybody, I am back at school, but will do my best to visit all of you.

WOYWW = bet you thought it wouldn't last 3 weeks!

Here we are, its Wednesday and everybody all over the world is snooping around other people's desks! (not sure what I am talking about? You must be the only person in blogland that doesn't, so go check out Julia, our leader's blog to find out http://stamping=ground.blogspot.com )
I bet you did not believe that my desk would be clean for three weeks and actually get better with time, well, I did not believe it was possible, but here it is in all its wonderful glory! Looking even better than ever.
You will see the usual got to have close tools, a zillion scissors, some pens, some glue and other important things in my orange buckets and my caddy. There are the stamped MFT image that I want to colour later, the LO that I still haven't gotten to (Mr. Mojo is gone, OK?!) and the beginning of a batch of wedding invitations for a friend's son. Other than that, only clean 'white' space. How did I do it? Its all DH's fault. He found a paper stand at a shop thats closing down and bought it for me, bless his little heart. Thinking and saying that I would never be able to fill it LOL! Well, I had to prove him wrong didn't I, took me a whole day to rearrange the playroom, but look! Now I have my old single paperstand and the glorious new double one!

Of course I have to remind you of DH's other contributions to my playroom. First there is the ribbon storage, that he said I would never be able to fill, poor man, he never learns, does he? Look at the overflow on top and on the shelves!

Here is my sewing cabinet (a gift from my dear mom and dad, many years ago) with some of my creations on top and next to it the chocolate stand that DH saved from the dump.

Tired of looking at my room yet? Thought I would show you the gifts I made for the top four leaders of our school. Their term of office starts when we go back next week. Made each of them an altered notebook and a postit holder. Hope they like it.

Here are some close ups of the note books. All coloured with my beloved Copics and glitterified with Stickles. All cardstock is Bazzil and dp from my scrapbox. Ribbon is from my stash. The first one is for the SRC president, She has the loveliest black hair and this new WOJ stamp reminds me of her.

Next one is for the head girl, the'queen' of the school. She has the poise and grace of a real princess, so I thought this image would be perfect! Also a new one from the WOJ club.

Next one is for the head of Committees, she is an avid swimmer and water polo player, so hence the mermaid from the WOJ club.

Last, but not least, the head of Houses. She is responsible for the Spirit in the school, so out came the Cheerleader Tilda from my new Magnolia club. Coloured her in school colours and the poms are for the three houses.

Congratulations if you made it this far, this was a marathon post!

Have a great week everybody, see you soon!

WOYWW 116 = More new stash!

Very good morning to all. I am pleased to anounce that my desk is still relatively clean. Two weeks in a row now, must be some kind of a record! LOL! You will see some really yummy new stamps on my desk today. The mini Maggies that I ordered at CHA and my Whiff of Joy Stampclub! They arrived yesterday and I have already stamped all of them, they are so gorgeous! The biggest problem was which one to colour first. There are some finished cards and I am sorry to say, the same photo's from last week (month? since Christmas?) waiting to be scrapped - mr. Mojo is not feeling the scrapbooking thing right now.
Here are some of the mini Maggies I used. The first one is an oval card cut with my Nesties. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the bling from my stash.

Another mini Maggie. How cute is she? Papers are from my scrapbox and a paperpack that came free with a magazine. Ribbon is from my stash and the sentiment from the Magnolia Spring Club from last year. Her wings were glitterified with Stickles once again.

The last card for today is the first one from the WOJ Club. How beautiful are those princesses from Elizabeth Bell? Paper is from the scrapbox once again, ribbon from the local habby store and so is the butterfly. All images were coloured with my beloved Copics.

My 4 scrapgirls are coming for a playdate tthis morning. They were here last week and as always I loved having them. It is very exhausting to work with 5 girls between the ages of 4 and 14, but very rewarding! Kids are so creative and not afraid to try a new technique at all. This afternoon a friend is coming to look at the samples I made for her son's wedding invitations.

All in all a great day ahead for me.

My thoughts and prayers are with my friends in America that were affected by the earthquake, I hear there is a hurricane heading their way too, so I really pray you all are safe.

Happy WOYWW everybody and don't forget to visit Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ to find out what I am talking about if you still don't know!

WOYWW - You got me!

OK, I admit, I was ashamed last week, very ashamed. More so because I got the messy award. It took me three days (yes, I am hanging my head here!) but... Behold! Its a work of art! My desk is clean. I put everything in its rightful place, which theoretically means that I should be able to find it again without too much bother. I managed to visit and leave a comment for everybody lasy week, so I do have some reason to feel good about myself!
Today is going to be a crazy day. I am babysitting my 8mo granddaughter, Gemma, for the day and my other granddaughter phoned her oupa to pick her up too. Tertia-Lee is almost 5, so not too much work, as long as I let her into my craftroom (EEEKK!!!), she is happy.
I am having my regular scrapbooking class too - 4 sisters between 4 and 13! Should be fun, it always is, but I don't know if I will still be able to walk after all of that. LOL I just remembered - my beautiful room!

I have been playing with some more La La Land Crafts stamps from CHA (I think I am slightly obsessed) and loving each one more and more.

All of them were coloured with my Copics and all cardstock is Bazzil. This one has little teeny pearls in her hair and her dress was glitterified with Stickles. The Dp is from a DCW paperstack that I got at CHA. Ribbon and trim is from Realy Reasonable Ribbon.

This one uses some freebie papers from a magazine. She had to get some real pearls of course and the shoes just 'had' to get the Stickle treatment. The die is another new one from CHA and the flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and my stash. The ribbon is from the local habby man.

How cute are these swimming stamps? This one was so bright that I did not need any more than one sheet of Kaisercraft paper. Even the 'ribbon' is from the same sheet of paper!

Here is the boy version. Don't you just love the goggles and feet? Papers are from a paperstack(DCW I think) the ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbon and the charm from my local bead shop.

I have made 18 (yes 18!) La La Land cards this week, so I will show the rest during the next week or so.

Remember to pop over to Julia's blog ( http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com ) to join in the fun!

Well, I better get my hair dried before all those girls arrive at my house, have a great day everybody.

CDAC Progressive Freebie challenge and more La La Land.

The lovely Priscilla Styles has this Progressive Freebie Challenge on at CDAC ( http://priscillastyles.ning.com/group/cdac-progressive-freebie-challenges ) If you join before the end of August, you get 6 gorgeous free digi's and then you just use them to get more, how very clever and generous is that? I could not decide which one to use first, but then realised that I needed a card for my DD who happens to be a trained chef, so the choice was obvious!
The background paper is from my scrapbox, I think it might be Fabscraps, but I am not sure. The lace was punched with my MS punch and the image was coloured with my beloved Copics.
While I was at CHA there were so many make and takes. I could not do a lot of them, because it would have been impossible to bring home on the plane, but I did take some to make at home and these three gorgeous La-La Land Crafts stamps were some of those.

All coloured with my Copics and the mermaid's tail was glitterified with Stickles.

How cute is this Rollerskating Marci? My granddaughter is going to love her.

And last but not least, there was this beauty. All of them were easel cards and they are quite small, only 4x4 inches.

Sigh, now there are more of these beauties I HAVE to get.

Had a huge to do with my cellphone provider today. My service was suspended 'due to non payment' when the payment gets done by debit order! Took MTN 5 hours to fix the problem. I am proud to report that I did not lose my temper once and stayed relatively calm the whole time. My DH's phone was suspended too and no patience there I am afraid! All my fault (isn't it always?) At least we are both up and running again, so hopefully he will be calmed down by the time he gets home from work.

Have a great evening.

WOYWW and some CHA finds.

I can not believe its been only a week since I have been back from CHA! So much has happened. I came back and had to organise a huge prize giving function at school (the old leaders were handing over their reigns to the new ones!) and my grandchildren (3 of them) are being Christened next Sunday, so invitations needed to be made and of course, I was itching to get my hands on all the new toys I got at CHA.
That is the reason for the mess on my desk this morning. I was hoping that it would look better if I took an artistic photo with sunbeams reflecting, but it still looks terrible LOL.It was so bad that I had to flee my craftroom last night and work on the couch!

Now the couch and the TV room looks just as bad as my craftroom! I think its time for a clean up, don't you?

One of my favourite finds from CHA was La La Land stamps. They are just too gorgeous! I bought a whole lot of them, because I could not actually find any that I did not like! For my South African friends - she has some Summer Christmas stamps!!! They were not quite ready at CHA, but I have ordered some if anybody is interested!

The first one uses some Prima and other flowers from my stash and some lace from Wild Orchid Crafts. Of course they were all coloured with my beloved Copics.

Here is a close up, hoping you can see how I glitterified her shoes and jewelery.

They have some awesome boy images. Don't know about you, but I always seem to battle with the boy cards. These images are so cute, this card just came together. The bread tag with the sentiment on is another new CHA find. The die cut is from My favorite Things.

Last, but certainly not the last LA La Stamp you will see from me is this gorgeous Cupcake Supergirl! Just love her! The sentiment is from My favorite Things. All other dies are Nestabilities and all cardstock is Bazzil and the dp all came from my scrapbox.

I am going shopping for paper - not for me, I have to make wedding invitations for a friend's son!

While I am gone go and snoop at all the other talented ladies' desks over at Queen Julia (http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/)

Have a great week everybody, its school holidays so I hope to post more than once a week.