Hanging my head in shame (Lynette, moenie hier lees nie)

I am really hanging my head in shame today. There is a huge difference between creative chaos and a 'hot mess' and what we have in my craftroom today, is a 'hot mess'. That is why I am only showing you a very small portion of my workdesk. To my shame, I have not yet put away the flower containers that have been on my desk since last week, in fact, they have been joined by even more flower containers and... and... and, so I am not showing that today. You will see some red embellishments that I bought to finish Lynette's birthday present. I adore the wire hearts that I found at Creative Talents. For fear of incriminating myself, I am not saying another thing about my desk. If you would like to know what I am talking about, check out Julia's blog here: ( http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ )

I thought I would show you what caused the 'hot mess'. I made a birthday present for my dear blogging friend Lynette. Hope she likes it. I think you are bored with the new Sugar Nellie stamps, but I can't help myself. Before I know it I am busy colouring another one! I made a set of cards for her and then needed a box to send them in. Found a cheap box that really needed to be altered, so here is the finished box. Papers are Making Memories, Cardstock is Bazzil. The image was coloured with my Copics. The flowers are by Wild Orchid Crafts (how beautiful are those tulips?) and from my stash. The butterfly is from Creative Talents and so is the wire heart.

Here is a close up of those flowers. They were all given a liberal Stickle coating.

Inside the box I put some cards and some flowers for her.

And here are the cards. All Sugar Nellie digi stamps. You can buy them from Funky Kits. I think the embossed paper is by Doodlebug, but I am not entirely sure. The ribbon is from my stash and the beads from the local Chinese shop. I do apologise for the bad photo's but it has been raining here all day, so the light is really bad.

This one uses ribbon found at Habby and Lace. I just love that I didn't have to gather it myself.

The next one I used paper from my scrapbox. yeah me! The ribbon is from my stash and the lace from my late mother's sewing box.

So what do you think? Will she like it? I really hope so.

I am off to read the blogs that the girls at school started as a creative writing exercise. I hope they like it as much as we all do and that some of them will carry on blogging long after the project finishes.

The Sugarbowl and Sketch Saturday.

What a wonderful weekend I have had! Time to play. I even made some cards for some challenges.
The first one is for the sketch on the sugarbowl challenge blog (http://sugarbowlblog.blogspot.com/ ) The stamp is a digi from Funkykits called 'Dreamcatcher" I have had her for a while and she has even been coloured for a couple of weeks, but I only got round to making a card this weekend.
Cardstock is Bazzil, Dp is from Melissa Francis and DCW. She was coloured with my Copics and cut out with Nesties.


I added a lot of Stickles to her dress and wings. Hope you can see in the close up.
The next card is for the Sketch Saturday challenge (http://sketchsaturday.blogspot.com/ )

The image is a freebie from Digital Doodling. Cardstock is Bazzil and Dp is Making Memories and DCW. The flowers are from Wild Orchid. The image was coloured with my Copics and cut out with Nesties. The sentiment is handwritten.

Both cards fit in with the Stamp Something Challenge where anything goes. (http://stampchallenges.blogspot.com/ )

How crazy was the cricket yesterday? Losing with one run, so not cool! I am going to sit in front of the TV and vegetate for the last few hours of the weekend. Have a great week everybody.

WOYWW and then some more Sugar Nellie.

I have exactly 5 minutes to finish this post, then I have to be out of here to go and take photo's of my granddaughter, Hannah, its her first day of 'big school' today! My desk is very messy this morning, because I did not feel like tidying last night when I finished playing (Inever feel like doing it LOL) You will see the leftover Basic Grey paper I was using, my Nesties, a container full of awesome ruffled ribbon that I found, two more baby jesey's (my DD knitted them, but doesn't know how to do the neck bands so it reverts back to me. There are some CD's I was listening to, trying to make up my mind which lyrics to use in my classroom in stead of boring old poetry. There are the leftover paperdolls that I am busy making for my grandchildren, and... as you can see a million things at once as usual.
I made it all the way through the list last week and commented on every one = feeling very proud of myself. Don't knoe if I'll manage this week, because school has started.
Go to Julia's blog ( http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ ) and join in on the fun, you get to peek at other people's crafty desks, very interesting!

Finally - here are two more of the adorable Sugar Nellie stamps that I used to make cards. Gotta run now, will be back later with all the info.

OK, I'm back. Survived the first day of school without any lasting damage to my brain. (I think)

Both cards are some of the new Sugar Nellie digi's, coloured with my Copics and cut out with Nesties.Cardstock is Bazzil and the red spotty dp is from my scrapbox. Ribbon and flowers are from my stash.

The next card is the adorable Grace. She looks so sweet! Dp is from Bo Bunny and the spotty piece was a freebie with a magazine. Flowers are Prima and from the Chinese market. The cardstock is a very hot pink piece that was lying around in my craftroom, I think it may have originally belonged to one of my granddaughters.

Have a great Wednesday everybody, I am off to have a peek at everybody's desks.

Sugar Nellie's awesome new stamps! and some other challenges.

When I first saw these new stamps from Sugar Nellie, I knew that I had to have them, not just some of them, ALL of them. Thank goodness they are available as digi's, I think I would have burst if I had to wait for weeks for them to make their way to South Africa.
The new challenge on the Sugar Bowl blog is a fab sketch and an optional extra of embossing. (http://sugarbowlblog.blogspot.com/ ) There are so many entries, but I had to play with my new stamps, so here she is, Verity is her name. Cardstock is Bazzil, dp is from a local company, Upikit, its double sided and I used both sides. The striped side has been glitterified and is absolutely beautiful! The image was coloured with my Copics and cut out with Nesties. The pearls were white before I attacked them with my Copics.
The next two cards both use the same sketch from the Totally Gorjuss challenge blog (http://totallygorjuss.blogspot.com/ ) The first one is Faith. I coloured her with my Copics and cut her out with my Nesties. The dp is from another local company, Fab Scraps, cardstock is Bazzil and the flowers are from my stash. The yellow cardstock border was cut with an EK border punch.

The next one is Joy, I think if I had to have a favourite, she would be it. The dp is Prima and ribbon and lace is from my stash. Flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and from my stash.

Here is a close up of her. Isn't she just gorgeous? Almost forgot, I found the butterfly at my local Chinese market.

All of these cards also fit the challenge over at Stamp Somethimg. (http://stampchallenges.blogspot.com )

School starts tomorrow for us and on Wednesday for the children, so there will be a lot less playing happening here. I do have a few more cards that I made with the new Sugar Nellie's that I will show you tomorrow.

I am so upset. I went to school today for a couple of hours, just to sort out my classroom and for grade 8 orientation. When I unlocked my classroom, I found that somebody stole my computer, key board, mouse and DVD player from my classroom during the holidays! So frustrating. All my class notes were on there, so now I have to start all over again!

Have a great week everybody.

Finally a peek at all those things I made.

First there is this card that I made with a Sugar Nellie stamp (and yes, I checked, its right this time! I hope) I made it for the leader of the Cheerleading squad that I coach to say thank you for all her hard work.
The paper is from my scrapbox. The flowers are Prima and some from the Chinese market. The beaded pins are from my stash. Cardstock is Bazzil and the image was coloured with my Copics.
Here is a close up of her and the flowers. Aint she sweet?

Here follows the rest of what was on my desk, or some of what was on my desk. LOL

The jersey that I knitted for little Liam, its supposed to be summer in South Africa, but we have had some cold spells and very rainy weather lately, so ouma had to make a plan to get the two littlies something warm te wear. True to form, little Gemma's jersey disappeared before I could take a photo.

While my eldest daughter could not drive after having her baby, it fell to me to drive her around. One of the things I had to take her to was a jewellery making class. Now I couldn't just sit there like a blob, could I? I had to join in and then the inevitable happened - I got hooked!

This is what I made for myself. I am quite proud to say that I had no help in making this one apart from a picture and instructions in a local mag,

Here's a close up of the cluster at the end. Gorgeus don't you think?

And last but not least, here is the cupcake giftcard holder that I made for my DD who's birthday was on the 28th of December. My first try at one of those, but you can bet it won't be the last one I make.

Just ordered some more yummy Sugar Nellie new releases in digi format, so I am off to play! Have a great evening everybody, maybe I will have something exciting to show you tomorrow.

I am so tired!

I woke up early this morning with a mission. To clean my craft room. What a job! It took me more than 8 hours and I am only now starting to see the difference. How did I allow it to get into such a mess? I always clean up after every project, but it is just a superficial tidying. Today everything was unpacked, sorted and repacked. It was one of those jobs that seemed like a good idea when you start, but then turns into a really bad idea when you are halfway because you can't stop and you don't want to go on. LOL I am so glad I perservered because now everything is super clean and I know where everything is. My back is aching, but my soul is rejoicing.
Although I didn't actually make anything today I still have two more cards to show you.

They are both Sugar Nellie stamps coloured with my Copics. The Cardstock for both is Bazzil. Dp for the first card is Basic Grey and a piece from my scrapbox. Ribbon is from my stash and the flowers are Prima. I cut the image out with a Nestie and matted it. I added some stickles to the snowflakes and some Flowersoft to the little girl's coat.

Hope you can see the Flowersoft and Stickles on the close up photo.

The second card is a very simple card. The dp is from a paperstack by DCWV and Making Memories. The ribbon is from my stash.

Hope you all enjoyed the closing ceremony of the World Cup. Makes me proud to be a South African! I am rooting for Holland tonight, so lets hope they can actually pull it off. Enjoy the game and have a great week!

My first Sugar Nellie stamp.

Happy Friday to you all! I had a lovely week and a fantastic day. I spent the morning with my daughter and grandchildren at the craft expo at Emperors Palace. Spent way too much money, but had fun anyway. Now we are waiting for the Soccer to begin. Brazil vs Netherland this afternoon (go Netherland!) and Ghana vs Uruguay(or Chile? I forgot, but go Ghana anyway!)
A few days ago I headed off to our local PNA and while I was driving there, I happened to spot a new craft shop advertising 'imported stamps'. Imagine my delight when I went in and found some lovely Sugar Nellies hanging there! I could not just leave them hanging there in this cold now, could I?

The challenge on the Sugar Bowl Challenge blog is a sketch this week. (http://sugarbowlblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/challenge-38-judys-sketch.html ) I used my Copics to colour the image. All Cardstock is Bazzil and the dp is Making Memories. I really like how this card turned out.