Spring in July?

So this past weekend hubby and I had friends of ours look after our kids and we went away for the Friday and Saturday to a town about 45 minutes drive from us, called Franschhoek. I've posted about this place a few times in the past. I love it, it is gorgeous. Surrounded by mountain peaks, vineyards, streams, rivers, ponds, horses, country roads and a distinct French heritage and influence. The houses are very French inspired and they really live up to their cultural heritage in their food too! We got there at 2:30pm and went to get the key for the cottage we were to be staying in and then headed into town for lunch.

The cottage

the view from the patio
the view from the patio looking left
upstairs from the loft, the skylight

the view out of the skylight.
the fire place in the lounge
the loft bedroom
where we ate lunch


We walked around and looked in the all the cute shops

some ware from a shop

far too many nice things...

And of course you cannot go to Franschhoek without going to the Huguenot Fine Chocolate shop!
They have the most divine chocolates!
We got a few...the best one I thought was the chilli chocolate, a nice spicy bite!!

It was Bastille weekend, so lot's of activities going on.

Taking a drive around we found that the orchards are starting to bloom, which is quite early for this time of year. They normally start mid August and 1st September is our official start of Spring.




We went out to eat Friday night there at the Grill Room, such amazing service, so fast. The food divine! We were in and out within an hour!
The next day we had breakfast next to the river outside, a beautiful day. And drove around the country roads and enjoyed the amazing views and scenery before heading back! Such a peaceful, lovely time.

This is my hubby!

He took this one of me.

and this one too.

The sunset through olive leaves.

Before I go, I was very happy to see I won The cream in our coffee badge for playing at the play date cafe last week for This card.
So thrilled!!


Anyway, have a great week!! I will definitely be back during the course of the week with more cards, and other things!

Paper Scrap pages and a card

Hello. It's been a while since I posted! School holidays have been here, so we have been busy and I have tried to be a good mom and stay off the PC! Did quiet well I must say! We managed to get out and about a bit, but not too much as it's winter here and freezing and we have cold rainy days. With the odd sunny one in between. Alas, only 2 more days left and then school starts again! It's a bitter-sweet "alas" because on the one hand I am looking forward to getting back to my routine, to gym, to have some time alone. On the other hand, no more sleeping in, no more staying in if I don't feel like going out... it's back to getting up at 6am when it's still pitch dark outside and the moon is up! (an outrage!) :)

Sharing a few pages I have done these hol's. These were some crazy photos of the kids and I...ha ha.

The little owl I made by hand and sewed the button eyes on. I used cosmo cricket paper. (joy ride and material girl)
I am going to be selling these little guys and the branches soon in my Etsy store.

And this one...I love how this came out... I must say the original design is not mine...I got it out of a scrapbooking memories Aussie mag. Loved the idea! Some October Afternoon houses and trees there!


and then finally a card. The paper is from Hopscotch Shabbyshop
Love that kit! The papers are so versatile and print so beautifully!
And a paper doily with a little ribbon, rose and stamp and voila! Very simple and quick. I have never used doily's before on cards, I got the idea from Cindy Lee

Thanks for looking and for your comments! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

The Play Date Cafe Challenge PDCC37

Hello!
I am Participating this week in the Play date cafe challenge number 37.

This week we had to choose our favorite colors from the above photo and interpret how we see fit. So this is what I created.
I love all the colors in the above photo, the greens, blues, peach, pink, orange and yellow. So I went with them all!
I printed out some digital papers from The new Hopscotch Shabby shop kit.
I also used some roses in my stash and some pink lace. I then chalked the edges and colored in the little bits of white card with a peach pencil crayon. And stamped "Hello Friend" onto it.

Thanks for looking!! (you can view the card bigger by right clicking on the image and saying "open in new window")

The Play Date Cafe Challenge PDCC35

Just a quick post today as It's rather late here and I wanted to post my card for the PDCC35 challenge.

I can't give credits because the dotted paper was a loose piece I bought today in the scrap pile at a shop, the music paper is just some vintage paper I have at home, the little glass pearls are no-name brand, the lace is from the fabric shop and the butterfly I cut out from a 12x12 paper. The turquoise paper is from Cosmo cricket joy ride-that much i know! And the card is inspired from my blogger friend Cindy Lee whom I gleam much inspiration!


Thanks for looking and any comments are always appreciated and I always try to return them!

cards, scrap pages and laundry room tiling.

Hello! It's been a while I know! I have been so busy with the kids because it's holidays and we are busy with a lot of different things. I am also holding kids art classes once a week and a weekly ladies scrap book class, so things are busy! But in a good way!

I finished the tiling for my laundry room! Well actually I attempted it twice and got so frustrated and fed up as it was just not working! So I called for help in the form of my brilliant mom in law who is a pro at tiling. I have tiled before-I tiled a floor area and I tiled two showers (floor and walls) so I know how to do it, but with mosaics it is a different story as each little block shifts!
So she came to my rescue and then later on when it was dry, I grouted it myself.
And then my hubby got me this rather industrial shelving unit for the laundry room, but it is in a nice cream and it had wooden shelves, so I covered them in a vintage type wipe able roll-on backing. And he is going to make me a wooden strip for the edges to hide those ugly holes.

close up of the surface I used to cover the shelves.
Moving on....I made these two cards last week.

I really like how this once came out.

And last night I did two scrap pages. I used my new hand made embellishments which I sell at Etsy
I am making complete page sets, so everything you need for one scrap book page-flowers, ribbon, buttons, etc.

This is another page I did-I stuck a card stock over a paper and then tore it here and there, made it messy and did some sewing on a piece too.

I must say, I love this look!! It's like a messy vintage look!
Anyway that's all I have to share this week and I hope you all have a super weekend!!

4 YEAR Blogaversary GIVEAWAY!!!

Yip, I have been blogging for 4 years!!! This month is my blogaversary!

So I am hosting a giveaway! This giveaway is special because It is all handmade goods by me.
It contains:
6 ATC's made by me

1 card with envelope, 1 embellished tag, 3 Bird Parisan tags (digitally designed by me) and 2 Marie Antoinette tags (also digitally designed and printed by me)

3 sets of my NEW stock going into Etsy this weekend!
All handmade with felt, foam, vintage music sheets, fabric and buttons. Perfect for scrap booking or card making or any other projects.
2 embellished posies, 1 felt butterfly, 1 felt bird, hand stitched.


close up of the fabric-felt and music posiesclose up of the embellished foam and felt.

1 cardboard bird made from recycled board and vintage music paper. (measures 17cm from tail to beak)
2 large embellished flowers




All you have to do to ENTER this giveaway is the following:

1) If you have a blog, you must save the blog button below and put it on your blog sidebar and link back to THIS post and Tell others about the giveaway on your blog. Then once you have done that, come and leave a comment in THIS post.

2) If you don't have a blog, you can still enter, just leave a comment in THIS post to enter.

3) Either way, you MUST leave me some way to contact you....
* an blog address
* an email address
-no contact details, no entry
-only comments in THIS post will be accepted as an entry for the giveaway

4) Giveaway closes the 23 July 2010 and the prize will be randomly drawn on that day.
The prize will be shipped by registered air mail at the end of July.

Here is the button to grab for your blog.
{Please note, if you want to enter and you do have a blog, you MUST put the blog button in your sidebar and link back here.}


Have fun!
PS check out my Etsy store for new goodies!

Laundry Room Reveal

My laundry room has been bugging me for a while now. Yesterday, I went in there and suddenly decided I had to do something about it! So I unpacked the whole thing, dusted the walls down, vacuumed, moved the appliances and cleaned behind them and then started to paint. The peach color bugged me the most.... It just was too "there" and nothing matched. I also had never painted the shelf my hubby put up for me and I decided it would look nice in the same color as the wall, and it does-it is fantastic!
I then threw out a lot of stuff, reorganized, repacked and put things back where they belonged.

Before

After

I made some signs for the walls out of cereal box's and pretty paper and some ribbon.
The bunting I made myself too, a few years ago, it used to hang in my daughter's room, then I found it again in the linen cupboard and knew it had a new home! I love my hubby, as I was putting it up, he came up behind me, hugged me and laughed and said "You are so cute, always playing house!" ha ha! of course, I am playing "house", it is our house!! ha ha.

I have a "thing" for jugs, especially pretty vintage ones with roses on!
Before
After ( okay nothing dramatic, but still....)
Actually I have done that a lot since the school hol's started...I have sorted out my linen cupboard, all our clothing cupboards, repacked my pantry, and my cupboard under my kitchen sink. It's amazing the things you find you thought were missing for years!! ha ha! No, not years, I must say I am a seasonal re-packer! Each year, just before spring or during winter like it is now, I repack and resort all my cupboards and throw away or give away a lot of stuff. I hate keeping clutter and rubbish or things I haven't used in forever nor will use. I also have to do it on a regular basis because I have a family of hoarders! My husband hordes box's...no matter if he knows he won't need to take the gadget or the shoes back or if the guarantee has expired...he clings onto those box's! My son is even worse...he keeps anything and everything.... you know the little papers you get with the MacDonald's toys? He keeps all of those.....he hordes things like there is no tomorrow...I even found a stash of acorns under his bed....hmmmm....seriously worried I have a half-human, half-squirrel for a son!!

Anyway....so here are the before and after photos. This weekend my hubby promised to put up some shelving for me and wall hooks for my ironing board and other things like broom and mop...so if that happens,I will be sure to show you the other photos.

Thanks for looking! I am quite busy at the moment too making new goodies for my Etsy shop...lot's of creative things mostly for scrap booking or crafts like journals, notebooks. So will be back to show you that too.
Have a great weekend

Oh...be sure to check back soon....I have a GREAT giveaway as it is my blogaversary this month-4 years of blogging this June!

Gift in the post...and SNOW

My CT member and long-time Blog friend, Amy sent me this gorgeous pendant she made
using some of my designs in a kit -"House of Dreams" I think it is from! I was so shocked to get it as it was a total surprise! Isn't it gorgeous!

She wrapped it up so nicely in a beautiful little box she decorated.
A big thank you to Amy!! I will always treasure it!

photo credits from Amy's blog HERE

Today was a busy day, I had a kids art and craft class which I gave here this morning for my two plus another 4 for two hours. And we also took a drive to see the snow scattering our mountain peaks.







The last little thing is for my Friend Emma...She made that gorgeous round pillow for me, She embroidered the rose onto it too. Such a talented girl! And yes, this is my room. I did the motif on the wall.It has more birds on it, just the photo doesn't show it all. And yes, my hubby puts up with all the pink! ha ha. My walls are actually a french blue...doesn't show up so nicely in this photo.

Tiffany Doodles June Sketch challenge

hello!
I am entering the Tiffany Doodles sketch challenge.

This is actually quite a large card, I don't normally work with large cards, but i felt the sketch called for it. The little birdie stamp is a wooden rubber stamp, I don't know who it's by-I think my friend Emma will know, as she is the one who bought it for me! The other stamp is by Callvinni Paris stamp set. I used a webster page for the tag and little cut out butterflies. The wish ticket is one i made on the PC, for sale in my Etsy store.
The rest I can't tell you, they are bits of scraps I have in my collection! Cannot remember the details! Thanks so much for looking!

quick explanation

My friend, Emma asked me what a vuvuzela is....
They are plastic blowing horns, or as wikipedia so nicely puts it:
"A vuvuzela, sometimes called a "lepatata" (its Setswana name) or a stadium horn, is a blowing horn, approximately one meter in length, commonly blown by fans at soccer matches in South Africa. They require some lip and lung strength to blow and emit a loud monotone like a foghorn or an elephant.^[1] A similar instrument (known as Corneta in Brazil) is used by football fans in South America.^{[citation needed]} Vuvuzelas have been controversial and can be distracting to players and coaches,^[2] and may also damage hearing."

Basically loud, irritating things!! Must be getting old! haha.

June caardvarks challenge

The caardvarks challenge for June is to create a new card using stamps and wet or dry embossing.
I embossed some hearts onto a plain piece of card stock. I then used some scraps (keep all my scraps!) of paper hence I can't tell you the brands, cos I have no idea! And some felt flowers with pretty brads and a little cage which I mounted along with the little vintage image of a bird I printed out onto card. Finally stamped "I love you" onto it.
Thanks for looking! Would love to hear what you think of my card and if you drop a comment, I will be sure to pop over to your blog too!