Thursday, June 26, 2008

Just a short post today....

I am quiet sick...been in bed most of the day..but there is only so much of that I can take!
I wanted to post the LO I did for Jenni! With her two brand new kit's! The first one is called Dear Diary. (available at Digital Candy) Jen loves her bright colors! I did this one of my son when he was 10 months old.

Here is one of a friend of mine and me and I used her "Secret Window" kit
As well as the following two...was for the sketch challenge at Digital candy..not crazy about them, but anyway.....I rarely do sketch challenges, I find them very restrictive....I like to do my own thing! Even when I scrap lift,I start off with just one thing I liked about the lay out I want to lift, and then I go off on my own tangent! lol! By the time I am done with it, it hardly resembles the LO I was lifting!!


Anyway..off to flush my head in the toilet..maybe then I won't feel like a bus has driven over me!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Pretty pictures to share...

Over the weekend I went with a friend for breakfast in a cute nearby town. I love this place!
Em..if you are reading this...I thought of you while walking around and remembered our lovely day we spent here..going to the exact same places! Enjoy and don't forget my kit "flutterby" is only $1 today only!








Tuesday, May 27, 2008

4 x 4

Over the weekend we went 4 x 4ing in my husbands car. He has a Fortuner. We went with some other friends. The kids sat in their car seats right at the back and I had the next row of seats all to myself. My DH and a friend of ours visiting from the UK for the day, sat in front. We went on a 4 x 4 trail that took about 3 hours. You have to pay as it is on a private farm that lets you access the back dirt roads that lead up the mountain. It was a lot of fun! Some hair raising patches and pretty steep places too! I must say the photo's are disappointing, they do not do justice to the angles and steep paths we drove up. Along the way we stopped so I could take photograph's. What beautiful scenery-right here by my hometown. We got so high up the mountain that when we looked out at the valley below, you could see the curvature of the horizon. So breath taking.
So I thought I would share some photo's and then go onto to give you a little surprise!

Before our ascend up the mountain. We eventually reached the tree line before the mountain turns to rock!
One of the many steep paths we went up! I got out for this one! It is like you are lying on your back in the car!!
View from the mountain we were on. Cape Town mountains in the distance.
View of Somerset West and Stellenbosch
i love the moody sky in this one!
It was about 11:30 am here, yet the sky had a tinge of peach and pink. So pretty. IT is freezing so high up!
A mountain weed! -A very pretty one!
We were driving along, high up in the mountains on our 4 x 4 drive, when I spotted something red showing through the trees. I just got this flash as we drove past and so we stopped and up the steep bank were these mushrooms. Red ones with white dots and orange ones with white dots. I have seen pictures of these before but never real ones! They are not even touched up in PS -as you see is the color they really are!



So that brings me to my new kits coming out Friday...

Monday, May 12, 2008

Cards and Tags

I have a set of 7 cards for sale in my Etsy Store, or you can just buy them straight from my blog, since I will direct here anyway if you wish to purchase them. (done via Setcom, safe and secure site and you pay with a credit card). See the side bar for more details.
I have also been making anniversary cards for friends.. they are decoupaged and have lace and ribbon trimming sewn on.

Tomorrow is scrap morning! I go to a friends house to do scrap booking (paper) until 12. I am working on a heritage album at the moment. Chat soon!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

New stuff in Etsy

I have uploaded some new products to my Etsy store...
Cute little mini gift bags (assorted)


Mini envelope bag used for inviations or a note

Shabby chic wallpaper (only 6 rolls)
See them HERE

Friday, April 11, 2008

Photos to share

I thought I would share some photo's of my recent trip to the nature reserve...if you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know that I love going there.
It was amazing to go there the other day and see the dramatic difference between now and the last time we went which was in December last year. December the pond was still full-now it is really low and empty. In fact I don't think I have ever seen it so low.

December marked the start of Summer and the vegetation was still green, many flowers still littered the dusty footpaths . Now...not a single flash of color to be seen. Not even our aloes.
The shrubbery looks like a herd of elephants came charging through-broken, gnarled and twisted.
Yet even in this state, the reserve remains breath-takingly beautiful. I am always at awe when I go there, feeling humbled and serene, calm.I leave feeling strengthened, new.

I visited in September too, the best time of year to go there. Spring had opened her hands and poured out her splendor upon everything. The new shoots of grass competed with infant blooms of every shade. The oak trees leaves were new, young and a vibrant green. Flowers peeked out from every little nook and cranny.

Here are a few photo's I took the other day.

We saw a snake-have no idea what is was, but looked dangerous-diamond head and nice markings!


Don't forget the sale I have on this weekend, certain good are $1 !

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

New product in Etsy store


This is what's up NEW in my Etsy store. A pack of 10 tag's. Can be bought individually but shipping wise makes sense to buy them all together. Go LOOK.
Here are what some of them look like closer.




Saturday, April 05, 2008

Etsy!! I have Etsy!!

I am so excited! I finally have my own Etsy shop!! Take a look.
I will be adding items as I go along and plan to do other things not just notebooks!
As soon as I get my sewing machine fixed I want to make those little bags and Aprons I once did. Any orders? hee hee.
Anyway I am very happy to say i have a few items listed so long.


And Here is what my garden is looking like at the moment, I better enjoy it and the warm weather we have as by the end of this month things will started to cool down drastically.



Will post again sometime soon!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Laundry, home-file and photos

I wanted to have a bit of fun today and also just share some latest things.

So first of all...Laundry...
I know, the word in itself makes me want to run and bury my head under the blankets. It strikes fear into the heart of most woman. IT conjures up mental images of huge mountain-like baskets, over flowing with clothes that need ironing...
I do not have a domestic helper and have not had one in years. I prefer to do it all myself as I must admit I am quite fussy about how I like things done. Saying so, I have gotten myself into a good routine and can zip around my house within a morning on on Monday (when the house is at it's worst after the weekend)within around 3 hours. That includes: tidying up, vacuuming, mopping, dusting, changing all the bedding and remaking the beds with clean linen, unpacking and repacking the dishwasher, putting on washing and hanging it up, cleaning the bathrooms thoroughly. The rest of the week I have a system going in which I nip around the house normally within an hour and a half and complete all my chores.
Of course, I don't profess to be a Martha Stewart but I thought to share a few tips I have learned.
1) Instead of folding up my towels, I roll them up and then secure each end with an elastic band. This helps not only to retain their shape, but saves loads of space in your linen cupboard. I tried the folding method with the towels below and the rolling method and the folding method took up two shelves, while the rolling method as you can see from the photo, only took up one shelf.



2) When taking down the washing off the line ( I don't have a tumble drier as here in South Africa every day is normally a hot and/or windy day and I can do about 4 loads or more a day and have it all dry at the end of the day).I take down all the stuff that needs ironing first and then get to the rest of the stuff. This way, when it comes time for sorting the laundry, I sort it all out-packing each member of the family's laundry into their own little basket, and all that is left are the things that need ironing which stay exactly where they are.

3) When I clean, I carry around a bucket with all my detergents, cloths etc. I start at one end of the house and work my way to the other end. I also have with me a plastic bag for rubbish and a basket for belongings that belong elsewhere. This means that when I start at one end of the house, I take all the things (normally toy's )that don't belong in that room, and put them in the basket. I clean the room thoroughly, dust shelves etc, change bedding and put any rubbish in the plastic bag, before moving onto the next room . This saves numerous trips I would of made to each room to deposit the belonging, or to the laundry room to throw away the rubbish item.
(huge time saver).

4)With RE to the point above,when going to the next room and looking in the basket for any items that belong in that room, I put it immediately in it's right place to save me coming back again later to do it.

5) As far as the dreaded ironing goes. I have a basket for each family member. As I do the ironing, I deposit the articles of clothing into each respective basket. That way when the ironing board is packed away and it comes time to packing away the ironing, all I have to do is simply take each basket to the right room and pack it away.

This may help someone!

6) This is the shelf in my laundry room. I recently attacked it and thought to get more organized. I covered a whole lot of shoes box's with pretty rose wall paper I was given. One of the box's houses my iron, another all my sponges, cloths. Another my dishtowels.


7) I also got a bit more organized with RE to my paper scrapping supplies. I bought this cute drawer unit on holiday. I put all my embellishments into it. Divided into 6 categories: chalks and inks, flowers, brads, ribbon, tickets and stickers, and I can't remember what is in the last drawer. This kind of compact storage system is great! It can be stored under a table or on top and you simply take it out when you need to scrap-it is quite lightweight.

8)A project I did this weekend: I hate the TV remotes lying around all the time, it drives me crazy. So I thought to get a tin to store them in and decorate it to tie in with my color scheme and also explain what was in the tin. I cut out two letters, "T" and "V" from the TV guide and then painted them, I also put some contact over the letters. I also decorated the tin with flowers and buttons. Simple but I think effective and Hubby is using it! shock of shocks-ha ha!


Okay so that is it on the tips. Hope you enjoyed them. I have also been busy making more journals and note books. I plan to make a whole lot and then try to sell them.


And lastly I wanted to show you some pages from my home-file. Kari mentioned this on her blog. I have kept one for ages. I cut out pictures from magazines and words that inspire me, motivate me and things for ideas or something I would like to try in my own home oneday. I have filled a whole book with images. I am very much into the shabby-chic, vintage and country look.







wow, that was a long post! A long time coming! I hope you enjoyed it! Please scroll down while you are here and tell me three things about yourself..see previous post! Would love to hear from you!

Friday, January 18, 2008

Competition!

I thought it would be fun to have a little competition!
If you would like to win any kit of your choice from my store at snap and scrapthen read on...

Rules:
1) Between now and the 31st January all you have to do is tell me 3 things about yourself. I want to get to know my readers a little bit better and have some fun too!
2) Leave your name and/or your blog address or email address so I can contact you if you are the winner.No contact details no winning.
3) Competition closes my time 10pm the 31st January and the winner will be notified here on my blog and via her email/blog on the 1st Feb.(cannot specify a time).

Can't wait to learn more about you. Please give REAL answers like "I am a chocoholic, I love to dance and I have a habit of buying shoes!"

Monday, January 14, 2008

Stinky-but I got it back!

I can't believe it! Today someone phoned me to tell me they had found my ID book and drivers license and a card in their dustbin behind their shop! My purse was stolen a month ago! Amazing, I really never every thought anything would ever turn up again! And here we go, a month later and a bit worse for wear and smelling really bad...but at least I got the two most important things back! I am still getting my new ID though as this one is really gross now but my drivers is still fine and I am so glad I don't have to go through all of that now!

Just wanted to share these photos I took today too of our shells we picked up off the beach on holiday. I cleaned them-actually my daughter did, washed them lovingly with strawberry soap! And then had an idea to put the pebbles and shells into glass jars and use them as tea-light burners.