Weekend SALE!

I wanted to thank Roberta for this award! {I love getting awards!!}
Check out her blog here because she has a wonderful give-away on that runs until the the end of May! I want that bag!!!
So in the spirit of the award, I have to list 7 random things about me:

1) I love nature, I love being in nature, I thrive on it. I love plants, gardening, trees, flowers, the sea, mountains... I MUST be around nature to be truly happy.

2) I take photographs all the time....I probably take around 300 photographs a month...of my kids, my garden, nature, things I have done, projects, etc.

3) I hate olives.

4) I love answering those email questionnaires and I love reading others responses.

5) My favorite movies of all time are (in no order) Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, PS I love you, The Notebook, What women want, My Best Friends Wedding, 50 First Dates, The Wedding Singer, Sense and Sensibility, Becoming Jane.

6) I think Lee in American Idol must win.

7) Peaches are my favorite fruit.

Lame, I know, but I already did some of these in this post, kinda hard to keep thinking of random things!

Anyway, I'm not going to pass this on just yet...will come back to that!

Today I found a gorgeous botanical garden which I have never been to and It's only in the next town on from mine! Really a stunning garden with so much interest and variety!
The kids loved it!



Here are some of my photo's from today




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These are some of the website





Well I hope Tomorrow continues to be good to me, weather wise too as today was a lovely warm, sunny day! Have a great weekend!

For the love of Birds. {cards}

Anyone who knows me, knows I love birds.
They are everywhere, in my designs in my digital kits, on my cards, in my home, in my scrap booking pages..in my garden {lol!} and picking on my brain I feel sometimes too!

Here are some cards I made a while back.
These are little hand painted gift tag cards I did. (set of 4)
and a hand painted birdy.





I am selling all these and more here:
http://www.setcom.com/mall/default.aspx?merchid=7J03N4F955
They can be purchased with credit card visa or mastercard.

If you would like to purchase any of my cards in dollars through paypal, let me know and I will set it up on my Etsy shop for you.

Some new cards

It's been so good to have some sunshine the past few days! No wind or rain!
I made a few cards last night. I challenged myself, using one sheet of 12 x 12 paper, and two 6 x 6 sheets to see how many cards I could get out of it and I got three cards out of that! The flowers are hand cut from the 12 x 12 sheet!

I hand painted the thank you and hello onto the cards using white craft acrylic paint.

I hope you are having a good week!

Kits, CU and Free blog wear

Hello!!
I hope your week is good so far. Mine could be better, all I need is a cup full of sunshine!!


I miss the sun!!!!

It's been raining since Saturday night and cold and wet. We haven't seen the since since....

I have put up some of my kits up for sale again here on my blog. They were for sale when I was selling at ESS, but since I started selling here on my blog, I never got around to putting them up again until today!

Hedgehog Forest (my new background header and blog wear is sporting it!)
For only $3.

Here are the layouts my CT did:
click on the image to view full size


Here is a 2 column blog background for you.
Just right click and open in a new window and then click again to open full view. Save to your PC.

One Fine Day
For only $3.

Here are the layouts my CT did.
click on the image to view full size



Here is a 2 column Blog background for you:

Just right click and open in a new window and then click again to open full view. Save to your PC.


Down by the Dam
for only $3.

Here are the layouts my CT did.
click on the image to view full size

And I have two 3-kit deals.

you can purchase the above 3 kits for only $8 or any three kits for only $8.
You could save up to $3.40 with the second option as some of my kits are prices $3.80.
Buttons in the sidebar.

I also have a new CU pack. 6 PSD (layered) files of birds for your designer needs.
Commercial use.

That's if from me today!
Wishing you a great weekend!

My first card challenge!

So I decided to do it...why not?
I've been making cards ever since I can remember. I can recall selling cards at school for Entrepreneurship day! I would sit in the school holidays and make cards, I've never believed in buying cards when I know I can make them, with a personalized touch for any occasion.

Card making took a back seat when I had my children and then got kicked to the boot when my passion for scrap booking became quite big a few years ago. But the last year or two it's been renewed and being given a new lease on life! For the last two years I have sat down and in a week flat made ALL my anniversary cards for the year ahead. I then slip them into plastic covers with a sticker on for who it is for and put them in a special anniversary book that has a pocket for each month to slip your cards into with place to write the date and name of the anniversaries on the front of the pocket. I Love doing it this way because when the anniversary rolls around, I know I don't have to stress at the last minute getting out supplies to make a card. It's all done ready to pop into a carry bag with a gift.

Each person comes to mind while I am making the card and I try to incorporate something personalized into the card, maybe a color I know they like, or a little embellishment I know will appeal to them...just something small to know that they were important enough to take the time to make a card with just them in mind, and that is what I think is so special about homemade cards.

I have entered my first challenge. It is from the Caardvarks blog
And the one I entered was this one.
I used this sketch from Heidi Van Laar which was one of two to choose from for the challenge.


And this is my card created today.

I stuck a small piece of ribbon behind the scalloped border at the bottom just to add a bit of interest and color.

apparently I am supposed to list the supplies I used....
The trouble is these have been in my stash for so long, I don't know who it is by anymore.
what I do know is that:
background paper is from webster pages -postcards from paris
the rest of the papers are from K & Company (I think)

Aren't humans peculiar?! {and cards}

my little kitty-cat, chloe

Okay...so I bet this has happened to you before...

You walking along, quiet happily minding your own business, maybe singing a song in your head,
or deep in thought, when suddenly you find yourself hurtling forwards and seeing the pavement looming towards you at alarming speed!! What happened?? you regain your balance (and composure, whilst whipping your head around to see if anyone saw) and turn to stare accusingly at the ground behind you to see what caused this sudden impertinent and annoying trip, only to see ....nothing. Maybe a raised cobblestone, or a small hole, basically nothing at all too phenomenal.

This happens to me more often than I care to admit...it happened again today. After yesterdays post and today's you are going to think I am super clumsy...really I am not. The clumsy one in my family is not me, trust me! But what I find so funny is after this has happened to me and yes, to other people, is how almost every time, the person whips around with this "how dare you trip me!" accusing look of absolute denial and anger at the GROUND! IT is the funniest thing ever!

It doesn't only extend to humans by the way...a few months ago we finally got around to installing a cat flap on our back kitchen door for the cat. (well of course for the cat, it's not like we installed it for the kids!!) anyway...at first Chloe is her name...refused to use it. She would still come to the window of the room we were in or the front door and scratch and meow to be let in. This highly annoyed us all as she was like a stuck record until she got her way. And of course I was getting sick of the scratch marks and dirty paw prints smeared all over the windows.

So we put the cat flap in. She approached with wary caution, the hair on the back of neck bristling, as if she were stalking her prey! The first time I flicked the flap to show her it moved, she did a backwards jump that would of won her an award in any gymnastics show! For the next couple of days, I would take her and place her on the outside of the door and temptingly open her food inside and call her, while showing her food to her through the transparent flap.
She would salivate and meow but refused to come anywhere near the flap. After that clearly wasn't going to work, I then pushed her as gently as I could through the flap, which she definitely took great offense to and wriggled and cursed with each shove! (gentle shove by the way!)

I did that a few times much to her dismay...
Eventually after having done that along with holding the flap open for her to pass in and out without her feeling it and then once half way through, dropping the flat so she could feel it on her body, I think she finally grasped the concept. because lo and behold, she started to use it!

The funniest thing was when I saw her come through it for the first time on her own, with no coaxing or shoving from my side. She pushed it with her face, a bit hesitantly at first and then slowly, she snuck in, edging her body in bit by bit. It was almost in slow motion she took so long to do it! But the funny part was when she came through, and her tail just cleared the flap when the flap swung back and knocked her on the bottom, (pretty much like my experience yesterday at the gym-see previous post).

Well....she spun around at lightning speed,, hissed and stared at the flap swinging back and fro as if to say " what the heck??" all accusingly !! It was a laugh!!
She did this for at least the next 5-8 times she passed through the flap, giving us all a good giggle.

Anyway...I made these two cards last night.
Did a "thinking of you" card, wanted something bright and fun.
And something a bit more vintage and feminine with this blank card. It has a pocket where you see the ribbon, that whole section is a pocket you could put a gift card in or a photo or something fun to personalize it! The tag is attached though.


Thanks for all your kind comments, it makes my day!

feeling chatty

So this morning I go to gym, pull the door and go in and stop to get our my card to be swiped.
The next thing someone pushes me from behind with a heck of a force and I go flying forward...
so I turn around to see....no one! just the door swinging back and forward!! ha ha!! The door smacked me on the butt@! I go to swipe my card and the girl there is killing herself laughing as well as about 3 other gym instructors that saw the whole thing...and I was laughing too, I must admit it was damn funny!!

I was watching "how do I look?" on TV the other day and it was about this woman who wears nothing but purple, everything she wears is purple, even her make up and ear rings! A bit excessive until I saw her whole house was decorated in purple too...
They put some glasses on her and told her to pick from a line up of 7 outfits her favorite down to her least favorite. The glasses made everything black and white.
Needless to say, her least favorite where her own clothes in purple! After the make over, she looked fantastic!
I often wonder how I look to other people? I mean we all look in the mirror everyday, we all choose clothes to put on everyday and we think we look okay (most of the time) but what do other people really think? I often wonder If someone would be brave enough to tell me if i needed a make over! ha ha.
Please don't answer that, cos I may not be brave enough to hear! ha ha.

Anyway just was feeling a bit chatty today. hope you are having a great day.
xx

Winners!

Random winners chosen out of followers of my blog....

goes to.....

Porkchops_mom

Random winner chosen out of newsletter subscribers goes to...

Connie Bates

Congratulations ladies, I have contacted you, {hopefully you get your messages}
and this is just to notify you too, so if you don't get them but you see this, please email me!

Would you like to be winner in future? All you have to do is sign up as a follower and for my newsletter. You can do both on the sidebar of my blog!
Remember newsletter subscribers also qualify for secret freebies and other goodies from time to time, as well as first hand news of forth coming sales, discounts etc.

Photos, award {+10 random things about me}

A new blog friend, Cindy, awarded me this :
{thanks Cindy!}

She has such an awesome blog, simple, uncomplicated, dedicated to her hobby of making cards, and always something cute and friendly to say. I love getting my daily dose of inspiration from her. I have to list 10 random things about myself in accord with the award....so here goes...
{Cindy, we have a few things in common!!}

1} I must have coffee everyday
2} I can't stand people covering my ears or to see other people covering other people's ears-it totally freaks me out!
3} I am addicted to Lost and I have never missed a single episode or season!
4} I crave chocolate all the time.
5} I don't like malls.
6} I me my husband when I was 16 and we got marred when I was 19 and have been married for 11 years, but together for 13 years.
7} I look sort of serious and cross and people think I am, or snotty but I neither, in fact, I love to have fun, act silly and always see the lighter side of life.
8} I have been a digital designer now for 5 years!
9} I have cut and dyed my hair so many times since I was 14 that I have lost count. It's been blond, red, black, brown, short, spiky, long, very long, a bob, a perm, auburn, bright red, layered, you name it, I've done it!
10} I sometimes have dreams in which writing comes up at the end, like the credits! {honestly!}

well that was sort of....releasing...ha ha.

I wanted to share some photo's of when I went to Vergelegen the other day.






And that's me standing on a cable bridge! That thing tied around my waist is not a small animal, it's my jacket....just in case you were wondering!
And in the spirit of the award, I am awarding the following people....

My best friend Emma,
my sister Jenni,
Lizzy
paper and gluestix-Amy

I would award more, but my computer is sooooo slow today!!! Nothing will load.
See you soon!!

Autumn Splendor through photographs...

Yesterday the kids and I went to a place called Vergelegen Wine Estate.
It is really beautiful this time of year, with Autumn showing off her golden hues.
You can see more posts from previous years visits here.











Well Monday for us a school holiday and Tuesday is a public holiday, so If I am quiet for a few days, you know why! Out and about and hopefully doing some fun things!
Have a great weekend!