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 = 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 100 - I'm late, I'm late!

I am very late today, sorry girls, but life is hectic! We started ( actually the builders did ) building a very large verandah (for my South African friends - 'n lekker groot stoep) in our backyard, I had to go for my VISA interview at the American consulate. My DD had an Epeleptic seizure while driving and drove into a ditch (thank goodness nobody was hurt!) and I was on Granny duty for the last few days.DH just phoned in a panic, the Building supplies are closing at 5 and I HAVE to go and buy something RIGHT NOW!!!! Don't you just love it when they think that you can just drop everything and run when they need you?
SO, before I tell you about all the photo's I have to run. Be back soon with more.
OK I'm back. Went there, bought what DH wanted, loaded it into my tiny little car and drove the 8kms home in about an hour in peak hour traffic.
Now for the desk - As you can see, I am proud to present a clean workspace. You will see the e-mail I printed out to get the address for somebody I promised some stamped images. There are some jewelery cord and yes, there is the obligatory chocolate!

And here I give you, my newly resorted bookshelves. On it my beads, sorted into colours. There is also my art journal - OK, my empty journal, I bought it and the Gesso and the texture paste and the paint and I will be trying my hand at it soon ( I hope! ) I have all these ideas in my head and all the inspiration I can hope to get from all the wonderfully talented WOYWWers ( http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com )
I thought I would show you the card I made for a friends birthday. I found a great tutorial and true to form couldn't find the link when I wanted it. The image is a Maggie and was coloured with my Copics. The papers are freebies from Papercraft Planet. The border was done with a Martha Stewart punch and the lace is from Really Reasonable Ribbon. I used some flatback pearls on the cake.

The ribbon is from my stash. Here is a close up of the image, hoping you can see how I glitterified her dress and flowers with Stickles. The bacground was chalked (Haven't used chalks in such a long time! Forgot what a lovely effect it gives.

And the closed card. Ribbon and flower are from my stash.

By the way, My VISA was approved so Chicago here I come! i think I am going mad, here is the close up. I am blaming it on old age and the fact that I am so excited about going to CHA that I can't think straight.

What's cooking at Friday Sketchers?

I have been up since 5 o'clock this morning. So what could I do other than start surfing and reading all of the challenge blogs out there. The first one up was the Friday Sketchers Challenge. It is a fab sketch so I set to work immediately.(http://fridaysketchersblog.blogspot.com I do have all those images I coloured in hospital, just waiting to end up on a card you know.

So here is my card. The Tilda and cupcake was a RAK I recieved in the post more than a year ago (about time I used her huh?) All papers are from a DCWV paper pack that I bought at the Craft & Hobby expo. The only other things I used was one of my new EK punches and some ribbon from my stash.

Hope you like what I did. Please leave me a comment so that I know who came to visit and can visit you too.

Crafty Creations challenge

I got this lovely stamp from my friend Paola and have been dieing to use it. Wedding season is starting so I will be needing a lot of cards and decided to get started. The challenge over at Crafty Creations ( http://craftycreationschallenges.blogspot.com ) asks for white and one other colour, so this fits in perfectly. It also fits in with the challenge over at Creative Card Crew which calls for sparkle and shine - you don't get much sparklier than this.

The cardstock is all Bazzil. I made the glittery white paper by spraying adhesive onto a piece of cardstock and covering it with glitter. Very messy, but very effective. After the glue dried I sprayed a layer of fixative over it just to make sure the glitter stays on the paper.
The image was coloured using my Copic markers and Tilda's dress was covered in Stickles. The lace is from my mom's sewing box again and the flowers are from my stash. The ribbon I found at the local haberdashery store.

Here is a close up of the image - hoping you can see the sparkle!

This is my second post for today. Please scroll down for my WOYWW post.

Have a great day, mine is not too hot - my other DD's car broke down this morning - but I refuse to give in to negativity!

Lazy Sunday.

Summer seems to have arrived. Finally! I am so sick of the miserable weather. Only worry is that we have not really had any of our usual August winds and its those winds that are supposed to bring us rain, so here's hoping the winds are just a little late and we will get some much needed rain soon!
This has been such a rslaxing weekend. I have been busy crafting, (making some more boxes! I kid you not) I will show you as soon as I have taken pics. We had my SIL and her hubby over for the rugby yesterday. What a game!! I actually felt like I played after that, it was SOOOOO Scary! At least we beat the Ausies and regained some pride after our recent spate of losses.
Here are two more cards I finished last week. The first one uses a sheet of velum map paper that I found in a gift shop and I thought it would be perfect for the Magnolia Spring club Maggie. I have a lot left over, so I am contemplating making a whole set of cards.

The Maggie was coloured with my Copics and cut out with a Nestie. Other than that the only decoration is a piece of string and a button from my stash.
The next card is another Mo Manning image. The paper is from a local company, Upikit. Cardstock is Bazzil and the centre strip was cut with a Martha Stewart punch. The ribbon, flowers and leave is from my stash.

I am not entirely sure about this image. Its one I coloured in hospital and there is quite a lot of bleeding around the edges - must have been the meds that affected my eyesight (thats my story and I am sticking to it! LOL)

Have a great rest of Sunday everybody. I have some more cards to show you tomorrow

Oh yes, I almost forgot, I have the most wonderful husband in the world. He was helping a friend out, building some cabinets for his garage when he spotted an old chocolate stand lying outside in the rain and wind. He asked his friend who it belonged to and if he could buy it from him. The friend said he was planning to dump it, so my DH was welcome to take it. He came home as pleased a anything, because he said that he thought it would be perfect for my craftroom. He was right! Its absolutely perfect. I spent most of the weekend sorting through my stash and reorganising my room. Will take a picture of the stand for you. It says 'Cadbury's' all over, but I love chocolate, so it doesn't matter.

Mermaid Tilda and... Do you sometimes question yourself?

I am posting during the week, amazing isn't it? I was supposed to have my scrapping friends over for a playdate tonight, but it is SOOOO cold, we decided to leave it till it warms up. Roll on summer!
I have had this card made for a while, but never posted it. Not sure why not. I just love this little Tilda. She is the ideal image to use on a card for my little 'mermaid' Anke. She always says that it is only when she is in the water that she truly feels alive.
Tilda was coloured with my Copics and given a liberal treatment of Stickles on her tail. The bubbles are covered in Dimentional Glaze. Cardstock is Bazzil and the Dp is a little piece from my scrapbox. The image and mat was cut out with a Nestie. The ribbon is from my stash and the pearls come from Paola.

I took a closse up of the image, hoping you can see the bling on her tail.

Personal rambling are following, so you can stop reading now if you wish. LOL

I have had the worst two days at school in - well maybe in forever. Being a teacher is never easy. Kids are by nature very ungrateful and selfcentered - I get that and I don't expect them to be any different.

Over the last few years there has been a particularly 'difficult' girl in our school. Actually, I am of the opinion that it is not the child that has been difficult, but more her father who is a self centered, opinionated, pompous a@##, that makes excuses for his daughter's behaviour and never lets her take responsability for anything.

At the beginning of this year just about every single person on the staff had had enough of this little man and his big ego. The principal of the High School refused to deal with him any longer, the Deputy did not want anything to do with him either and he refused for his child to have ANY contact with the school councilor. I am the grade head for her grade, so I was called in by the Headmaster and asked if I would take her under my wing and try to help her.

Strangely enough, even though I had had a terrible run in with dad, I can't help but like this girl. I get the feeling that all she wants is a little bit of love, so I said I would do it. I had meetings with her and the headmaster on a monthly basis, checking on her progress. Because I teach her, I see her every day. We had long talks about what was appropriate behaviour and what was not. On one occasion, she screamed at a teacher and walked away. She ran straight to me and told me that she thought she had just made a terrible mistake. After I listened to her story I asked her what she thought she should do about it. She could not verbalise the right reaction and when I suggested that she should go back to the teacher and apologise, she nearly died! She did it though, begging me to walk with her to the teacher's classroom. I said I would walk with her, but that she would have to go in by herself. She did and I could not have been prouder of her if she was my own child!

So, silly me, I thought that we were making progress. We have just finished writing exams and this girl failed the term. She came to me crying and I consoled her and told her that even though she was still failing, her marks had gone up and that she was so close to passing that she would definately be able to pass the year if she keeps working.

Next thing I know, the deputy knocks on my classroom door and informs me that she is busy with an investigation into my exam paper. Turns out, this girl's father sent an e-mail to the Headmaster, saying that my paper was full of spelling and syntax errors and that the instructions were contradictory. He also demanded that another teacher's papers be marked by an independant person because that teacher is victimising his daughter!

My paper had two typing errors that slipped through and that was corrected BEFORE the girls wrote the paper, there are NO syntax errors (don't know how he would know that, seeing he is Portugese and the paper is Afrikaans!) no contradictory instructions either.

I can not tell you how this episode has thrown me! I don't know how to handle this. I am angry (VERY), I am sad, I am dissapointed and most of all I am starting to question my ability as a teacher.

I might just remove my rambling tomorrow, but I just had to get it off my chest.. If you read all the way to here, thank you for listening, I will propably feel better tomorrow and wonder why I made such a fuss.

Have a great weekend everybody see you soon.

Kenny K and 2Sketches for you Challenges

I think mr. Blogger has caught the African bug! He is on slow strike today. Took me 4 tries to upload my photo's. I have been very productive these last few days since school started. Had 8 cards to photograph today. Do you think it could have something to do with the fact that the girls are writing exams and I should be marking papers? Amazing how I just HAVE to craft when I should actually be working.

For the first card I used the challenge sketch over at the Kenny K Challenge blog (http://kennykkraftygirlzchallenges.blogspot.com/) I loved working with the sketch, but I think it is the rebel in me that made me do a boy card. When I saw those flowers on the sketch, I just HAD TO replace them with buttons. The image was the first freebie I got from Kenny and I just love him. Cardstock is Bazzil and the dp is from a local company Art at heart. I coloured the image with my Copics and cut it out with a Nestie. The edges of the cardstock was punched with my Martha Stewart punch and the buttons are from my stash. The sentiment is also a freebie but I can't find the link right now, if you know who created it, PLEASE leave me a message so that I can give credit where it is due.For the next card I used the sketch at the 2s4u blog ( http://2sketches4you.blogspot.com) I am in the process of making a whole set of cards using this mini Tilda from the Spring club kit. Isn't she adorable? A lot of work to colour, glitterify and put on pop dots, but worth it I think. The cardstock is Bazzil (are you surprised?) The images were coloured with my Copics and the wings were given a generous helping of Stickles. I punched the circles and cut the scalloped circles with my Cricut Expression. Clean and simple card, but I like it very much. This is definately a sketch that I will be using again.

A close up of the Tildas. Hoping you can see the stickles on their wings.

Have a great day everybody. I am leaving you to set next weeks exams, so wish me luck, or no, maybe you should wish my girls some luck. LOL

Magnolia-licious free standing pop-up card

I seem to be trying all sorts of new things lately. This is my first free standing pop-up card. It was actually a lot easier to do than it looks. I made it for the Magnolia-licious challenge. The challenge was set by the lovely and talented Suzanne Dean. (http://magnolia-licioushighlites.blogspot.com/2010/07/july-2010-dt-sketch-project.html)

I used the Tilda stamp that I won in her candy for this card. The cardstock is Bazzil and the dp is Making Memories. I used my Martha Stewart punch to punch around the image. The image was coloured with my Copics and the ribbon and flowers are from my stash. I have a feeling I will be making a lot more of these cards. My granddaughters are crazy about them!

The next card was made for the Birthday club at school. The stamp is from Flowersoft. I just love that bicycle, it reminds me of one my mom had. (Hers was red though and she only rode it once! Very funny story, will tell you some day) The Cardstock is Bazzil again and the dp is My minds Eye. I just love those papers, its got glitter. Used Flowersoft for the flowers in the baskets and the ribbons are from my stash. Very simple card, but I like it.

A close up of the image, so that you can see the Flowersoft.

I am having trouble breathing the last few days, thats why I haven't been around much lately. School has also started so I am very busy too. Feeling a lot better today and hoping that the breathing will improve soon.

Have a great week everybody.

Just Magnolia Criss Cross card.

This is the first time I have made a Criss Cross card, but I am pretty sure it will not be the last time. The challenge over at Just Magnolia (http://justmagnolia.blogspot.com) is to make one of these. I used my Tilda that I recieved as part of the blog candy that I won.
The Cardstock is all Bazzil and the Dp is from Queen of Hearts, a local company. I used my Copics to colour the image . The ribbon and heart pins are from my stash. I cut the tab with a Nestie and the heart trim was cut with my new Martha Stewart punch.

The back of the insert was left plain to write a message.

This is what the card looks like without the Tilda insert.

A closer look at the flower corner. Flowers are Prima and the big rose was pulled off an old card. The buds were bought locally. The feathers are from my stash.

We have just come back from a lovely Sunday lunch. Hope your Sunday is as pleasant as mine, just a little warmer. Happy 4th of July to all American friends and a very happy birthday to my cousin, Luna.

Well done to all whose teams have made it to the semi-finals of the Soccer World Cup. Looks like its going to be a Germany - Netherlands final!

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.

Just Magnolia - take 2 and 3

I know why we have had this terrible cold spell. I am posting for the fourth day in a row! That must be some kind of a record.
A big pot of soup is simmering on the stove, homemade bread is cooling down and the 'vetkoek' is made, waiting for the family to come home. (I have no idea how to describe vetkoek - somebody help please!) The whole family has been busy this wonderful public holiday. Ankie is coaching Netball, DH is building kitchen cabinets with his friend and apart from making soup, I have been crafting up a storm. I can't show you yet, because the people I am making it for, read my blog, so it will have to wait.
I have been playing with my Magnolia stampclub a lot lately and will enter the next two card in the Just Magnolia challenge.http://justmagnolia.blogspot.com/2010/04/week-52-anything-goes.html


Dp is Basic Grey, Cardstock is Bazzil. The sentiment was cut with a Nestie and all ribbons and flowers are from my stash. The big rose was white and spritzed with Glimmer Mist.

I coloured Tilda and the frog prince with my Copics. The golden ball was covered in Stickles and when that dried, I added a layer of Diamond Glaze. Looks like a real golden ball!

The next card I started for the previous weeks Just Magnolia sketch challenge, but then I got sick and the rest is history! The Dp is a piece from my scrap box all cardstock is Bazzil and the flowers and ribbon is from my stash.

I added some stickles to Tilda's dress and headband and thats it, a very simple card, but I love it. I am starting to think that simple is my style!

Well. for us here in South Africa its back to school tomorrow, so my crafting time will be a lot less. Enjoy the rest of your week everybody. See you soon.

Just Magnolia - anything goes.

I recieved my Magnolia club order last week and could not wait to get going, but then I was floorede by pneumonia. I have never felt so sick in my life! I think having Asthma on top of having pneumonia, was just not what the dr ordered. It took me so long to do anything. I am amazed at how much I actually achieved while I was sick, because I can't even remember doing half of it. The weather has been miserable here, no sunshine for more than a week. Its raining and very cold.
Anyway, here is my first card done with my new stamps. I am entering it for the Just Magnolia challenge (http://justmagnolia.blogspot.com/2010/04/week-52-anything-goes.html).
The Dp is from Teresa Collins and Cardstock is Bazzil. The ribbon is from my stash and the flower is Prima that I put some stickles on. I used some liqued pearls around the Nestie oval.

Isn't she beautiful? I loved colouring her.

A close up of the flower. Hoping you can see the stickles on the flower. Underneath is the inside. I just couldn't resist the little Fairy Tilda. Sorry about the bad photo's, I have been waiting for good light, but it is just not happening.

Just finished cooking lunch for the whole family. Might post some more cards that I made while I was sick a little later.

Have a lovely Sunday everybody.