Christening invitations,

Monday morning and the start of another crazy week. Rehearsals for the opening ceremony of the World Cup are in full swing (which means that we are there almost every day from just after school till late) so, very little time for stamping left in my day.
I thought I would do a quick post to show you the invitations I made for a Christening. Remember that huge order for the 16th birthday invitations? Well, somebody saw that and asked me to make the same kind of thing for her godson's Christening. Thank goodness I only had to make 15 this time and there was no stamping involved! Very simple, but I think they turned out beautifully!

Papers are all Bazzil. The white was embossed with my Cuttlebug. Some bling on the inside, two pieces of ribbon ( from the local habby store) and a tiny cross, provided by the client and it was done. Don't you just love simple and beautiful?
Have a great week. I hope I get to come visit all of you some time this week.

Guess what the postman brought me?

I finally ordered some Whiff of Joy images. I was a little scared about how long it would take before I got them, that is, if I ever get them with our postal services. Well, let me tell you, I am speechless - they arrived in my postbox less than a week after I got the e-mail to say that they had shipped! How amazing is that!? Of course I could not wait to get them inked up and made into cards, even though I am drowning in work at school and spending a lot of time practising for the opening of the World Cup. I love this image. I coloured her with my Copics. The papers are from Upikit, a local South African company. The Cardstock is Bazzil and the flowers and ribbon came from my stash.
I know I have been missing in action for a while, but apart from being very busy, we have had quite a traumatic week as a family. One of my children is going through a really hard time. Why don't they tell you how hard it is to be the parent of grown children before you have them? I am fighting bitterness and trying to hold my child up at the same time. When I am not angry any more I will tell you the whole story. In the mean time, I dare not, for fear of saying something I might regret.
Have a great weekend - I am having the whole clan over for the semi-final games of the super 14 Rugby. Lets hope the Bulls and Stormers do us proud. Tomorrow is whole day practise for the World Cup again, so I hope I can come and visit you all soon.

Mo's dream team sketch

Mr. Blogger doesn't like me today. I have been trying for hours to upload my card. Lets just hope it works now.
I absolutely love this image by Mo Manning. Remember her? She's the one that my grandson says looks like me. LOL. If only I could fly like her and look so happy too, then I would not mind looking like her and then I am not even talking about having the courage to show so much flesh.
The aqua and purple combination seems to jump out of my Copic storage whenever I colour her. I figure if that is what she wants, that is what she will get. I decided to use the sketch on the Dreamteam blog ( http://mosdt.blogspot.com/ ). I do not own a circle nestie, so I used a label instead. All papers are by Kaisercraft, Cardstock is Bazzil. The flower is by Prima and the ribbon is from my stash. The sentiment is a freebie that I got with one of my magazines and I think it is perfect for the image.
This card will be winding its way to England soon. One of my friends begged me to part with it to send to her best friend that lives in England. It is quite weird to think that one of my cards are going to end up on the other side of the world. Hope she likes it.
Have a great day.

Guess where I will be 30 days from today!

For those of you living in South Africa I guess its pretty obvious. Yes, you are right, I am going to be at the opening of the Soccer (Football) World Cup at Soccer City in Johannesburg!!!!! I am so excited. 60 of the girls at our school are going to be flag bearers during the opening ceremony and 5 of the teachers get to go with them. How amazing is that? I remember so well being part of the opening ceremony for the African Cup in 1994. My Cheerleading squad performed (Yes I know, its hard to believe that I coached Cheerleading in a former life.) and we got to meet mr. Mandela that day. It left such an impression on all of us.
This time around I don't have to stress about a thing. I just have to chaperone the girls and I get to see the opening match too! It is not often that teachers are rewarded quite like this.
That means that once again I won't be around here a lot because as from Sunday we have to go to practise every day.
I will post pictures if I can. Have a great rest of the week. I have made some cards, but the weather is so bad lately that its almost impossible to get good pics - maybe tomorrow there will be enough sunshine!

Yes, I am still alive - barely!

I have not dropped off the edge of the world, I have just been crazy busy. I had an order to make 120 invitations for one of my girls' 16th birthday. Only problem was she wanted them within a week and I worked almost every spare minute I had, going to bed at 2 some days, just trying to finish them.(Don't think I would ever have finished if my DD did not come and help all day yesterday! Thank you Karin - love you!)
This is what they looked like. Every little gem had to be stuck on individually after the crown was stamped and embossed. Thank goodness for my Cricut! I think I would have passed out if I had to cut those circles by hand or punch them individually. The white paper was embossed with my Cuttlebug. All papers are Bazzil and the ribbons and gems are from our local habby store.
Next time remind me to use just one piece of ribbon when I have to cut and tie 120!
LOL. So glad they are finished, now I can enjoy Mothers Day with my children.
The next card is one that I coloured a very long time ago. I just had to make something else before I go mad. Very simple - just the image (a freebie) cut with Nestabilities, some Doodlebug paper and paper roses with some Stickle dots.

And then, last but not least, one of Mo manning's darling images. I was asked to make a birthday card for two year old twins. Aren't they just too cute for words? The dp is Making Memories and Doodlebug. I used my new Martha Stewart border punch. The ribbon is from my stash and so are the pins and beads.

I am busy working on a Bugaboo image and hope to show it to you soon. Hopefully I will have some more time for my blog and to visit some of your blogs this week.

Happy Mothers Day to all of you celebrating it today.

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.

Good bye & good luck.

Feeling so much better today for the first time! Thought I would just quickly show you the card I made for a friend. Like so many other South African moms, she has to say good bye to her son and DIL on the 8th of May when they will be Immigrating to Australia. Some more brilliant minds lost to our beautiful country. It makes me very sad.
She wanted a card where the whole family could write farewell messages. She even provided me with the poem on the inside. The stamp set was found in one of our local shops, but unfortunately there was no name on it, so I don't know who made it.

The Dp is Kaiserkraft (I am in love with that company! LOL) and Making Memories. Cardstock is Bazzil. The ribbon is a tiny piece of pure silk ribbon that I had left from my ribbon embroidery days. The button is a wooden one found in my local habby store. The suitcases on the inside were coloured with my Copics.

Here is the inside. Hope you can actually read the poem. I made the tags a little bigger than usual, figure the family would want to write a message and not just sign their names. All ribbon is from my stash. Would have loved to just use the spotted one, but I didn't have enough, so plan B it was.

I got a phone call on Friday to say my sewing machine was fixed, so a very happy lady is going to fetch her machine right now. Can't wait! Isn't is amazing, I hardly ever use my machine now that all my kids are grown up, but since its has been in for repairs, I 'needed' it for all sorts of things. Took them long enough - A whole three weeks - true to form in Africa.