Sunday, August 10, 2008

Name this kit and win it!

The days are getting warmer....finally. For the first time in a few months, I wore sandals today! I had to give myself an emergency pedicure though to make my feet presentable...ha ha.
Yesterday we went for a drive to a beautiful little town nearby called Franschhoek.
Watch the photo gallery in that link-you won't be disappointed!
A little bit of history of this town (if you care to read it, if not carry on further down):

The valley was originally settled in 1688 by French huguenot refugees, many of whom were given land by the Dutch government in a valley called Olifantshoek ("Elephants' corner"), so named because of the vast herds of elephants that roamed the area.

The name of the area soon changed to Franschhoek, with many of the settlers naming their new farms after the areas in France from which they came. La Motte, La Cotte, Cabrière, Provence, Chamonix, Dieu Donné and La Dauphine were among some of the first established farms — most of which still retain their original farm houses today. These farms have grown into renowned wineries.

In 1688, 176 French Huguenot ( French Protestants who were members of the Reformed Church who had to leave France or face prosecution for their religious convictions ) refugees fleeing from religious persecution arrived in this valley, this is where Franschhoek gets its name - translated it means ' French corner'.
Apart from Stellenbosch, this is one my favorite towns. Franschhoek is such a lovely little place. Surrounded by mountains, vineyards, streams, rivers, orchards of cherry, apple, almond and fruit trees.
We went to go and take a look at B&B's and Guest houses for our anniversary on the 10th October. As this year we celebrate our 10th Wedding anniversary! We have never gone away for our anniversary before, but I think 10 years call for a special treat!! Don't you?
So here are some photo's from our journey which lasted about 4 hours.

One of the places we looked at is Lavande La Franschhoek.
Very nice setting, tucked away at the foot of the mountains, nestled amongst the trees. Lavender bushes are in front of the little guest house which must be beautiful when they are in bloom.

Another place is this one-Auberge La Dauphhine
Very pretty place, lovely views of the paddocks and mountains.



I saw this and just love the little blue shutters!Just some cute places we found...I love the name of this one..."Cafe BonBon" so me! haha

Gorgeous orchards in bloom....
I just love the cow grazing....(Dara this one is for you!)
Another place we went to and we like this one the best-has to be the most expensive one hey??
Borgogne Burgandy
It is gorgeous! Each little cottage has it's own name-Rose Cottage, Lavender Cottage and Olive Cottage. Fully equipped Self-catering cottages over looking the dam and the mountains!






And then we also went to look at this adorable place, which I like second to The cottages. It is called Clermont.
lovely little place.
You walk in through this adorable little blue gate. See the stairs? That is where you go up for the room which overlooks the mountains.

This is what you look out onto...Here is where you can sit and have your morning breakfast....






So what do you think?Which place would you choose???

Now for something else....I have this kit...it was a small freebie for a newsletter of mine...I think at the time it only had 6 papers and 5 Elements. Now it if HUGE.
You will get 20 papers and 20 Elements! IT was called "Purple Innocence" but I added some browns and blue's and pink to this kit now, and I am stuck for a name.
Click on previews to view them larger.



COMPETITION: I need a name for this kit!! And hurry, cos I want to upload it to the shop this week. So I am giving it today (11th)and Tuesday (12th) and then I will choose a winner (if I pick one of the names that is!).
So please leave your name, contact email or blog address, a choice of ONLY three names per person please and no repeats-if someone gives a name that you thought of, and I choose that name, I will pick the first person that gave the name.
I will pick a winner who gets the whole kit for FREE !!!!

Thursday, August 07, 2008

Award time


Thanks Tina for the award!
The rules of the award are:
1.The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3.Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4.Put links of those blogs on yours.
5.Leave a message on the blogs of the girls you’ve nominated...

I nominate:
1)KimB cos I love reading her blog and she has daily freebies!
2) Denise from Bless This Mess-she shares so much of her artwork and makes me laugh.
3)Amy-Designer Cheese-love her amazing photo's!
4)Erica-Zane-E-cos she is a fabulous GAK! (Erica will get what that means!)
I know I am supposed to nominate 7 other blogs, but can't think of others right now and am stressed for time!

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Goodie Post.

It's been a while since I last posted! Seems like forever!
First up my new products are in the shop!!
Forever Friends


As well as the 4 lacey borders

I have this little Freebie Quick page made with Forever Friends for you.
You can Download it HERE for a limited time only.

I took my kids to the Nature Reserve on Sunday. I love going there, if you are a regular of this blog, you will know that , I often post photo's of my visits there.

Here are some more as well as a little video clip for you which you can WATCH HERE of the nature reserve. IT is very short, under 20 seconds.
IT is almost spring here in South Africa and I love this time of year! All the cherry and apple orchards start to bloom, and around here, we have a lot of Almond and Cherry Trees, so wherever you drive you just see sprays of white or pale pink. The Oak trees are also finally gaining their leaves again. And the grass is scattered with little pink flowers. Such a delight to drive these days and come across these small wonders everywhere! I take my camera with me wherever I go now!





I wanted to also show you some recent CT layouts I have done for my various CT's I am on.
First up, my own sister, Jen-aka Chaoslounge. Her new kit Climbing Trees is out at Digital Candy and is gorgeous!





Then Amy Cheeseman-She has a new kit, really beachy!



And Kim has a new gorgeous kit out called Just Because.
You can get it DSO.


This is me (dark hair) when I was 17, in fact I had been dating my now husband for about 4 months then already. The other girl in the photo is one of my longest friends. This was done with Jen's candy jar.
I have another new kit coming out next week. Here is a sneak peak!!
And then finally....
A freebie with my Forever Friends kit.

no longer available as a freebie
Would love to hear from you! I'll be back hopefully tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Ouch...oweeee...grunt....groan

Yip I thought so! Going to gym twice in one day is not a good idea. I repeat: It is not a good idea unless you like pain! And to top it off, I thought well I am sore already I might as well carry on and went again this morning...I know...no need to say any further!

Anyway.... Today I wanted to share with you a QP I made with Amy Cheeseman's permission using her beautiful Walk in the Woods kit! You can purchase it at Scrapbook bytes!




Download HERE.
Please Leave Amy some thanks too!! Amy'c Blog

Monday, July 21, 2008

Photos, crafts and a freebie!

So today is a little bit of everything rolled into one! I think I went a bit mad today, I went to gym this morning and again in the afternoon! I have a feeling I might be sore tomorrow!!
First up I wanted to share with you these two collage's I made. They are for sale here on my blog through Setcom. See my sidebar for details. *scroll down*
They are both A5 size, hanging from a pretty ribbon to hand up for inspiration or decoration.
Made with acid-free products.

Detail of one of them. The butterfly is raised off the paper.
Today it was a lovely day and I was outside with the kids and the camera and we came across these two lovely, but very different ladybirds. My daughter had the idea to take them both and stick them both in this flower and so I got snappy!! I love how they came out. you can click on them to see bigger if you like.


This one I managed to get of one of them opening it's wings to fly off!If you click on this one and view it larger, you will see a tiny insect in amongst the pollen. Fascinating as I never saw that at first, only when I took a look at the photo on the PC.

In this photo, you can see the ladybirds face, so adorable.
And we also spotted this pretty butterfly.

Along the theme of birds and such. Look what I have coming out this weekend

And lastly I made this word art for you with KimB's permission with her new kit "softly sweet"


sorry no longer available

Would love to hear from you if you download it! Thank you and please don't share illegally in yahoo groups, upload managers, etc, rather direct them here to download for themselves.

Thanks and I will be back tomorrow for more!!

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Its a Happy Ending!

Wind blowing, rain lashing -this is my Tuesday!
Whew! What a day.
I forgot to show you the photo's from last week when I took my children to watch "Pinocchio"
Kim and Jen-(and any other fellow SA's) you'll appreciate this-check out the chickens on the roof and the vodacom adverts! LOL!



I have a little freebie for you!! Tomorrow my kit-Happy Endings will be on sale for $1! That's right! Just $1!!
Only the 17th.
So here is a little Quickpage I made for you!
I hope you like it!

NO LONGER AVAILABLE, SEE MY SHOP
.