Cherry picking!

Oh what a fabulous weekend!
The kids broke up for a long 6 week vacation which is also the end of their school year. (here in South Africa we start each new school year in the middle of January and it runs through till the beginning of December. Each term we have a short holiday. So April normally is 3 weeks, June/July is 4 weeks and September 10 days and then December is 6 weeks).

So we were all packed and ready to go on Friday. We went to a place called Petervale farm which is about 2 hours drive away. We went with friends of ours who also have two children.
They stayed in a cottage and we went with our caravan.

What a gorgeous place. It is a honest-to-goodness working farm with no electricity.



These are the camp's "ablutions" which were actually very nice! {yes, that is a REAL grape vine growing in the bathrooms!}And there was hot water!

two toilets and two showers and on the other side a place for washing dishes.
Pretending to drive the local farm tractor!

We got there towards evening, so it was just setting up camp and then making a braai {South African term for BBQ or camp fire!} you need to roll the "r" in braai. And the aai makes a "eye" sound! 'B-rrrr-eye'! hee hee.

the next morning was up early to show the kids were milk comes from! hee hee...When I was little I lived near farms and even had my own horse, so I had my fair share of cows, chickens, etc and had milked a cow before.

It's quite funny as my daughter since she was about 4 had a dream to grow up and milk cows {yes, she set her ambitions very high!} Well her dream came true...


Let's just say, it's not longer her life-dream!!

And here is me giving it a bash!
We also stroked a blue duiker which was so tame and sweet.

saw some cute little piglets...

And picked some blackberries {or maybe raspberries?} I think blackberries though.

After that we packed a picnic basket and headed off to Klondyke Cherry farm.
And the cherry picking began!

So yum and delicious!! It was impossible not to eat while you picked!















And we only saw the sign afterwards that said "do not climb the trees" {oops!} I didn't, by hubby and son did!

After all that eating picking we had a picnic in an apple orchard (something I've always wanted to do!)


So a lovely day out and some good memories to last a lifetime!
Later on was a nice hot shower and another braai.

The next morning we had a lovely breakfast of berries and cherries in yogurt!


And then set off on a hike to a waterfall and rock pools.




A bit nerve wracking with the kids, but they were fine and did so well!It was so hot by the time we got there { a good 45 min hike} and we were all so sweaty, we got straight into that water...oh my goodness....was it cold!!! But so lovely-pure, fresh mountain water!

some slippery rocks to wet and slide down!

After a good 3-4 hours there, we headed back and got back all hot and bothered, so into the dam for a cool down and a row on the boats.




When it had cooled down, we packed up and got home around 9:30pm.

Such a great time....

It's definitely the kind of life I wished we lived on a day-to-day basis, the kind of life I grew up living (mostly) natural, un-tainted, in fresh air and nature. The kids got to do things they have have done before...milk cows, pick fruit off trees and bushes, swim in a mountain stream...
It's so good to give them that experience. Let's just say, it's not the last time we will be going there!

Butterfly World

I dedicate this post to my beautiful Daughter who is my fluttering, flittering little butterfly...
Never still for a minute...
Who fills my life with beauty, wonder, sunshine and love.
My sweet little girl ... I can' believe you are finished grade 1! The years have flown by!

I love you with all my heart.
Love mommy xxxx
{her favorite butterfly, The glass wing}


{the one above is my December desktop background!}

{PS these photos taken at butterfly world November 2010, I can't believe I forgot to post them! It was at her grade outing, I went with!}

Mini Fabric Journal

This is a little 6x6 mini album. It has lovely fabrics sewn onto the front cover with a fabric rose. It is made out of 6 pages of pink card stock with 3 cute brown paper pockets inside. Each page and pocket is embellished with stickers, flowers, tickets, envelopes and tags and journal cards. Makes A great little journal or a mini photo album.

In my store, only one like it!
If you like this and other similar to it, I do take custom orders. Contact me via email.

I'll be making more soon!

Little Girl's tops with crochet motif

There is nothing nicer than going and buying a whole stack of plain tops in different colors and altering them, knowing I am creating something unique , something that is not mass produced.

I love to add little posies onto my daughter's clothes or a bit of lace...

Remember the crochet circles I made here ? well I took two of them and sewed them onto a plain Tee. Ta-da! A cute, fun and quick idea to turn a plain Tee into something unique!

I am going to do some more of these and put them up in my shop. I am thinking from baby shirts up until about age 10. Some with crochet circles, some with crochet flowers. Will see where the mood takes me...


Have a good weekend...we're going to pick cherries in a real orchard on a real farm! Can't wait!

What are you doing this weekend?

Vintage skirt

I bought a gorgeous little skirt from YDE (young designers emporium)It is store that supports young designers who are trying to make a name for themselves.

The skirt I got is from lilybird.
I am in love with it!
So I was looking at it and thought that I would give it a bash as I had some fabric I got and thought it would look great as a skirt. hmmmm...not as easy as I imagined!

For anyone that knows me . I cannot make clothes! I do not know how to read patterns. I can sew blinds, curtains, bedding, cushions in my sleep, but clothes? Alas! I wish I could make beautiful things and read sewing patterns!

Anyway I copied the style of the skirt but added my own twist on it and I completed this skirt in two days...
A close up of the fabric which i got on Etsy from Cottonholic
She has some gorgeous ones!




So I feel rather chuffed with myself! hee hee! Although it is far from perfect! {wouldn't look too closely!}

If anyone knows of some good websites that offer easy patterns (the kind with photos and written instructions,)please let me know! Thanks so much!

Crochet circle pattern

Crochet Circle Pattern

I have been trying my own crochet circle pattern as I didn't like the look of the ones with the seams. And not crazy about the spiral circles. I came up with these:

So here is the pattern {pls note I am new to crochet and I hope that you can understand the pattern!

Crochet circle pattern
(any yarn, any hook -for these i used a size 3.25hook)

round 1
Ch 6, join with sl st to form a ring
9 dc into ring sl st to first chain

round 2
start with new color,
ch 1
* sc into 1st ch st
dc into same ch st*

repeat from * to * all the way around the circle.
Join with sl st to first ch.

Round 3
(repeat the same as in round 2)

Round 4
change color
ch 1
* sc into ch
dc into next ch*
repeat all the way around the circle

round 5 and up
keep going with a sc into a ch and a dc into the next ch.

If it starts to curl, you need to increase st again by sc AND dc into each ch for a round.

I like this one cos you battle to see the seams.

Hope you enjoyxx

The big reveal is here....

First I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for listening..thanks for reading...thanks for caring. (in connection with my last post). Sometimes I write posts like that and then delete them..thinking it's not what people want to read. They want to read the happy stuff, but life is not all about the happy stuff is it? Sometimes we just need to be real and I think it makes us more "real" too, when we reveal things about ourselves. The blogger becomes a bit more real when emotions are added and I think it helps people to connect. I may never meet you, my lovely blog readers, some who have become friends through this vast world wide web, but just for a small instance in one day, a small frame of time, we connect. Just by you reading this...you have read my thoughts,and you have connected with me. Isn't it amazing? I have always loved the power of the written word!

It's Good to say that I am feeling a lot better!


Okay...you've waited long enough...

I have wanted to reveal my news for ages now and now I finally can...

For a few months I have been working on my very own website!!
At times I gave up, cried with frustration, drank countless cups of coffee, read millions of html and css tutorials, started over I don't know how many times, pulled my hair out and shouted:
"I am not a web designer, I can't do this!!!" and then half an hour later, sat down to carry on...determined not to be defeated!!

My love affair with html began about 4 years ago when I designed my blog (and redesigned it countless times -this was before the days blogger brought about gadgets people!! hee hee)

I guess underneath it all I am just a nerd, a geeky computer dork who loves code!!

I knew what I wanted my page to look like and the designing part was a breeze -as you know I have been a digital designer for a good 5 years now. But the work of getting those designs to make sense in code...well that was another whole story....

Determination and pure stubbornness is the only reasons why I went through with it!!!

So without further ado...I am proud {and a bit nervous} to announce my very own website, created entirely by me!!

Please bookmark it.

You will find links to my Etsy, my flickr, my blog and my shop. There is also a contact page.
I will still keep my Etsy shop open. And of course my blog will be around for as long as I am!

I am dying to hear your thoughts...your suggestions, your CC....
I am dying to know if it works in other browsers! oh I hope so! {I use firefox}.

Click on the image below to be taken to it!{and then pop back to tell me what you think!!!}
In the meantime I will drink a zillion cups of coffee and chew my nails to the bone in anticipation of feedback! Be kind!!!
yipppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

It's hard when your heart is still broken...

{created by me in Polyvore}

I haven't blogged lately...
It's hard when you slip back into a dark place where the light hardly reaches...
When memories spring back from forgotten places and come back to the surface, spilling over the edges...
For those of you who don't know...my brother died 21 months ago...Wow, just writing that is strange! March will be 2 years. Two whole years...I find it hard to grasp...

I did some of my wedding pages today for my wedding album...yes, I know, a shocker...12 years on and I still haven't finished it! One of the pages was of my family and there was a photo of him and Me together...I just went to pieces...crumbled into a snotty mess....

I guess no matter how much time passes, you always still miss those you have lost.
I am grateful for my memories and the time I did have with him but yet, it's still hard.

I know it's not the kind of post maybe you wanted to read and I am sorry...but sometimes I just need to talk about it...

Thanks for listening...

A walk in nature {video}

"I stood tip-toe upon a little hill,
The air was cooling, and so very still,
That the sweet buds which with a modest pride
Pull droopingly, in slanting curve aside,
Their scantly leaved, and finely tapering stems,
Had not yet lost those starry diadems
Caught from the early sobbing of the morn.
The clouds were pure and white as flocks new shorn,
And fresh from the clear brook; sweetly they slept
On the blue fields of heaven, and then there crept
A little noiseless noise among the leaves,
Born of the very sigh that silence heaves:
For not the faintest motion could be seen "
{selected part from one of my favorite poems "I stood tip toe
upon a little hill-" by John Keats}

{for full effect have your sound on!}
The things I most treasure about summer are here...time with
my kids in nature.

Why I blog...

It's been 4 years since I started this blog.
The reasons why I started blogging have changed over the years.
My blog has undergone numerous "face lifts" and "botox" injections.

It's frustrated me, irritated me and saddened me.
But like a faithful pair of old jeans...I kept it and sometimes was tempted to throw it away but always hung on...just in case. I am glad I did.

I haven't always been the best blogger. I don't blog everyday. I don't always have the time or the desire or know what to say.

It's been sad when I have had faithful readers who have stopped visiting or commenting and it's been disheartening when I have gone to blogs I love to read to see my link taken off their "favorite blog list". I have wondered why...It's been discouraging to visit a blog I love to read and leave comments day after day and to never have a comment returned on mine...

But I have learned from all of this that these are not the reasons I blog. I don't blog to get comments, or to get a reaction. Yes, feedback is lovely, it's nice to know someone is reading what you write and that they care to take a few seconds to let you know they read.

I blog because I love to write. I have a passion for writing, for expressing my thoughts. I love putting my thoughts into flowing words, whether they flow through my fingertips that grip a pen that writes them on paper, or through my fingertips tapping on the little black keys of my computer.

It's the process I enjoy.

I love art, I love to create, I love to document my life and photograph it. It doesn't matter I may never be a "writer" or a "photographer" in the professional sense of the word, all that matters is that as I go through my life, I am happy with what I do.

So I changed my blog to read " living life creatively" instead of "scrapping till the cows come home" as scrap booking seems to limit my reasons for this blog. But it's still me!

I am just a woman who loves to create. I live creatively. I love my husband and children and I love being a mom. I lead a simple life. And I like to share it.

These are the reasons why I blog. For me.
But I thank you for reading and for those of you who take the time to comment. It adds that much extra joy to my life.

Flower power

I am having so much fun with my online class "A Pocket full of posies". I realized I enjoy teaching by video! The participants seem to be enjoying it too! The class is open to anyone to join at any time. The fee is $15 and it covers at least 10-12 tutorials for different types of hand made flowers.

So if you would like to learn by step by step video instruction (some have written instructions and free printable, templates) then this class is for you. Here are the flowers we have covered in my class so far....

felt pom poms for hair accessories, in this one I show you how to attach them to a hair band
too.

rose clips
loopy felt brooch
organza and tulle flowers

Many more to come too. It's a great class if like me, you struggle sometimes to make head or tail of photographs or written instructions in a tutorial. I learn much better from a video. Plus you get to listen to my dorky South African accent! (hee hee!, trust me, that's no bonus!!)