Spring is Here!!

Spring is officially here on the 1st September in South Africa! So come and celebrate it with me!!
I am having a Spring party on my blog on the 7th September! I hope you will come!
You can take this little box if you want to post on your blog:

I know that for a lot of you, you are going into your winter...but regardless... I would still love it if you could participate! How it works is on the 7th -Friday I will host the Spring blog party from my blog. Then everyone who wants to participate can sign up here until Friday. Then on Friday all you do is post something spring related on your blog-a picture, a quote, something you made, whatever you fancy! Then leave a link here on the Spring post on Friday with your name, where you are from and your blog address so we can all go hip-hoppity around to each other's blog's to take a looksie! It's fun! If you have done one of these with Kari (aka Artsymama) then you'll know!






I had a little shopping spree the other day...went and got some new goodies for my room and bathroom and kitchen. Aren't these the cutest canisters??

A cute little tea towel
A new rose duvet to match my rose-crazed room! lol! Can't say hubby is too pleased!
Some pretty candles for my bathroom...

That's it! Whew what a long post!
So to recap: Spring Blog party HERE 7th September-don't forget!
Sign up here.
New free kit starting at the snap and scrap blog tomorrow
New Free challenge kit for completing our challenges at snap and scrap
New challenges starting tomorrow.

Bye!

Photos of weekend.

Just some photo's of flowers and fruit taken at my mom-in-law's garden yesterday.
Enjoy! Remember the name-this-kit contest...I might have already have decided on a name... still thinking about it..If I like It then I will post the winner tonight with a little add on for you..so be sure to check back here between tonight and the 21st!Thanks.

Party time!! And Giveway

Thanks for hosting the party Kari.
I can't wait to see everybody's blog's and leave some love and see what they all get up to and learn a thing a two! I so love art in so many forms!
Today I thought I would share a tut on how to make a banner...I see in some mag's they call them buntting? But in South Africa , these are called Banners.
I got the inspiration for mine from a Country living magazine.
I made one for my daughter's room. I love these as you can hang them inside, or outside on a beautiful spring day on your patio or better yet, if you have a Gazebo. Then set up a pretty table under it and have a summer tea party! I can't wait to do this! I can see myself making lot's of these now in preparation for summer around the corner and inviting my girlfriends over for tea!

I couldn't find anywhere how to make these, so I just did my own design and am quite pleased with the result. I did this one for my daughter's room in a few hours on the weekend. I didn't buy anything for it, I had kept small scraps of material left over from previous projects which was ideal for this! I also always keep pieces of lace and ribbons and had a whole bag full that I could use.
So for this project you will need:

1x piece of ribbon 3m long.
scraps of fabric
paper for template
ruler, pencil, scissors, sewing machine
lace, ribbon.
pins.

Step 1:
First of all decide how big you want your triangle pieces to be. You can do this by taking a rectangle piece of paper (I used a A5 for mine, but you can use a A4 size too)and folding it in half. the open side facing to the right. The bottom will be the width, so see how wide you want it, remember to double the measurement as you will still open the paper up flat. Once you have a width measurement, mark it with your pencil and then decide on a legth for the triangle. Draw from the mark to the next mark a straight line using your ruler and pencil. Open it up and see if you are happy with that, if so, cut along the line you have drawn.
POINT: make the template according to your smallest or most common scrap size piece, then you know you have enough material.

Step 2.
Take your scrap material pieces, turn them to that the wrong side is facing up. Place your template triangle as close to the edge as possible and draw around it with pencil onto the fabric. Flip the template over and do the same thing, moving across the fabric. Try fit as many as you can on.

Step3:
Cut out your triangles.
Leave a long piece (about 30cm) on each side before you begin pinning so that you have ribbon to tie the banner up with).Get your ribbon and spread it out, now with the top width side of the triangle start pinning it to the ribbon -ribbon goes on top of the triangle to hide the raw edge. Arrange the next triangle next to the first one, so that the points are just touching. pin them all this way.

Step 4:
Now measure the length of your triangle and cut assorted ribbons and lace to use for the sides of the triangles, pin them to the triangles.

Step 5:
Sew them all!

Step 6:
trim off any excess threads and ribbons sticking out.
Step 7:
At this stage you can even add some small tassels, buttons etc.

If you want to follow mine exactly, here are the details:
-template of a A5 size paper folded in half.
-open flap side facing right-measure from closed side to open side at the bottom 7cm (2.8in)across. -mark in pencil.
-Along the closed side length measure up 16cm (6.3in)and mark.
-Draw a line from the 16cm mark diagonally to the 7cm mark.
-Cut template.
-open up.Should measure 14cm(5.5) across and 16cm length.(6.3in) (these are small triangles.)
-draw on the wrong side of your fabric the triangles using the template, flipping it ever alternate one to fit more triangles in.
I got 13 triangles out of my scraps. Follow the rest of the steps as above.

Here is the one I made:



Of course you don't have to use ribbon or lace for the edges, you could use pinking shears to cut the edges or over lock them. You can also tie on tassels, make a memory banner and stick on photo's to each triangle..there are so many possibilities with this! Well I hope you enjoyed this and thanks for stopping by! I would love to hear your thoughts!

I also thought since (I hope!) lot's will be blog hopping today, that this was a good opportunity to also host my giveaway. ENDS 30TH AUGUST 2007
This book-South Africa-a land of contrast. measures 4.2in x 5.7in
and is worth R50 or $7USD
And a Bonnie van Esch original art journal page

RULES FOR ENTERING:
1) you must leave a comment on this blog starting today until the 30th August at least twice a week. (a total of 8 comments) I am trying to get more people to visit my blog and simply to leave comments-I like visitors! In return I hope to post more often and with more interesting and arty things, not just digital scrapping.
2) at least on one of the comments please state you are entering for the draw, leave your NAME, AND EMAIL ADDRESS OR BLOG ADDRESS so I can contact you should your name be drawn.
3)All those by the end of the month that have left a minimum of 7 comments will be entered into the random draw for the prize.

Thanks!!
Bonnie

SNOW AND RIVER PHOTOS!!

It is very cold here, a bit of snow on the mountain peeks on the range that folds around the valley we live in. I am grateful it does not snow on the ground though, I really don't think I could handle that! I wear knee-length socks, tracksuit pants and a jersey to bed when it is so cold! We have a down duvet and two comforters on our bed and I still squeeze in a hot water bottle! lol! I think I have the coldest feet on the planet! As long as my feet are warm I am warm! I think I am just weird!
It has been raining for a few day's, so we have had a bit of "cabin fever". The sun came out today, so after lunch time, I grabbed the opportunity to get my new camera out for some action! The kid's really wanted me to get as close to the snow as I could! lol! So after driving around trying to find the highest road in our town, I stopped and took some photo's, oh my! The zoom on that camera is amazing! (*yes, yes, I hear you say: shut up already about your camera! I know, sorry, I just can't get over it!!-please bear with me!) I was literally on the other side of Somerset West (my town's name) and I zoomed in on my street and could see my house!! So cool!
I also zoomed in on the snow but using the digital zoom the pixels start getting a bit grainy...but still so cool! Could probably see a hiker dangling helplessly from the cliff and then I could alert rescue patrol..okay, getting carried away here!

I then took them to a park nearby which is lovely, you follow the paths alongside the river. With all the rain we've had, the river is full and the current strong.






Well that's it! I hope you enjoyed it!

Freebie! photos! gifts!

I am so excited!!
First of all my camera is wonderful *gush gush* I know but I can't help it!! It is so wonderfully fast, clear, crisp, easy to use-I HIGHLY recommend it!! The functions, menu etc are so easy to figure out, you really don't even need the manual, just play around and that is the best way to learn! I even figured out how to use the self-timer today, such fun, I must admit, I had a little fun posing in front of the camera while it shot photo's continuously! *of course I felt a right idgit, so deleted them*
Here are some pictures...Disclaimer: in no way am I claiming to be a professional and this is a new camera, I am still learning...
This is taken from my study window, of a tree across the road, a very high tree! Amazing!
Taken from my kitchen window..it was raining today..taken through the glass.
A rose..click on it to view larger. In the full size photo, you can clearly see the dew drops and the little aphids in the rose.
Taken with the color select. You can pick a color and the photo will only pick out that color and the rest will be black and white. This is lavender in my garden.
One of my dearest friends of almost 10 years sent me this beautiful gift today! Thank you Em! I love everything sooooooo much-all stuff that is practical, that I needed and that is beautiful!! she knows I love roses and Cath Kidson products! I am so lucky and this made my day!!
Just look at how beautifully everything was wrapped too!
Then opened.. tea towels, bag, ironing board cover, bath goodies, lip balm, a mug, Irish cream truffles, a notebook and pen, oven glove and fridge magnetic notepad.
Beautiful bag of Vintage rose bath products
Cath Kidson lip balm!
A Cath Kidson bag!

Here is my modeling my new bag!
I played around with the color select again on this one, the jersey I was wearing was really pink as you see in the photo above!
Tea towels!!
A mug-the saying is so true when you are a mom!
The new tea towels and the oven gloves she sent me on my stove now! (I think i will take them out and hang them up only when guests come over or when I feel like looking at them-too pretty to use!)
and lastly my new and SO MUCH NEEDED new ironing board cover! *I had been using a towel on my ironing board!*

Now since I am in such a good mood today I thought to share another freebie with you...THANK YOU to all of you who left me comments for party girl! I was so pleased to see the comments compared to downloads had greatly improved...PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT if you download this little freebie...thanks so much!

It is called Cardboard Graph Add-on, it is a little addon to a new kit coming out -(hopefully Friday) at the shop!
You get 1 paper, 1 cluster frame and 1 vintage photo-(from my own family's album-an unknown baby!lol!)



THIS IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE, THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST.