8 Quick Cards

I have been rushing outside to catch some natural light to take these photos of the 8 Quick Cards, but I have had bad luck two days in a row. So these photos have been taken in over casted conditions, but I know the people have been waiting for them so here they are. The colours are a bit sharp but .... anyway. I hope all of you enjoyed the class.

The paper I have used are from My Minds Eye.

If anybody is interested in a kit please let me know.

Monday Inspiration

Thank you for visiting today...

This is one of my favourite George Elliot "poems".  I've added it to a photo that Leon (my husband) took of an arum lily, then printed and framed it to give to him as a gift a while ago.


You are most welcome to use it if you so wish.
Wishing you a truly blessed week!

Very quiet, but very busy...

A quick look so you can see what I am busy with.

 It is the 8 quick cards for tomorrow's class!

Yes, and I still need to pack the kits, so here I go, keep well!

Under African Skies

It is hard to think that you can get in your car, drive for 5 hours, and be surrounded by the most amazing wildlife...

Here in my beloved country it is exactly what we did during the last week! Leon (my husband), Willem (a dear friend) and I went to Sabie Sands last week to take photos and catch up on some much deserved personal time. The trip was coordinated by Outdoor Photo - a local photography outfit that specialises in arranging outings like this.

We stayed at the Elephant Plains game lodge where the game rangers are particularly accommodating in taking photographers "up close & personal" to the Big 5 and other creatures. Their guest suites are  beautiful and the food 2 di 4!?

With the Soccer World Cup happening here in South Africa at the moment, we met lots of tourists from all over the world.  They used their "free time" between games to visit our game parks and soak up scenes like this...

The three wildlife photos were taken by Leon (on the right). Just look at the size of the zoom lenses that they used!?


Thanx for stopping by...

The middle of winter.

It was so cold this past week, but today we need to celebrate, celebrate that we are halfway through winter!
Winter to me feels blue, my toes quite often turn blue, and sometimes winter makes me feel blue,

 so I've chosen this blue picture that I love, to celebrate the day.
 So have a glass of glüwein tonight to get rid of the cold. Cheers!

The soldering class on Saturday was great,

we all enjoyed the different projects

and more photos will be posted after Wednesday' class.

Here is a peek of what we did to the crystals.

Remember the glass of wine tonight! 

Keep well. 

Canvas for Father's day

Hi again

I want to share this with you. This is something that I did a while ago. Everything on this canvas reminded me of a dad. This is a 8"x8" canvas which I coloured with ink.

 I used Ranger Color Wash ink. Lettuce, Espresso, Butterscotch and Terra Cotta.

I painted the canvas with water, then applied the ink in drops. Tilted the canvas from side to side so the ink can mix. When I was satisfied with the look, I took some coarse sea salt and sprinkled it on the canvas. That will give you the blotchy effect.

 

The paper I used for the 2"x2" squares are from 7Gypsy's. Some of the embellishments were gathered and some were bought. The stamps I used are from Technique Tuesday and from Crafty Individuals. In block no 3, I used Lightning Black ink from Brilliance to get that greasy look on the gears.

 

A real washer and some small play cards makes up block no 6. I colored the washer with alcohol ink and stamped on it with StazOn ink. The little light globe on the right is the real thing, the tiniest one I could find!

For block no 7, I made a some of barbed wire from a piece of copper wire, that was fun, but not so easy. A piece of cork and some nails in no 8 and a piece of measuring tape, because dad always measures something!

Any questions on this project, feel free to ask.

Until next time.

Soldering on Saturday

Hi everyone

I am so glad that I have had the whole day to myself, working in my studio. But first I must tell you that we went for a ride on the Gautrain yesterday. I was so excited. It was just a joyride, but it was stunning. There were lots of people who also did it just for fun. We boarded at Sandton station and got off at Rhodesfield. We then watched the train as it pulled in at O.R.Thambo, because Rhodesfield is insight from O.R. Thambo! We then got back on the same train, a few minutes later and it took us 12 min back to Sandton.

This photo was taken at Sandton station, one level higher than where our train departed from.

I think the station will never be so quiet again!

Now back to the soldering class on Saturday. You will learn to solder and complete three items. The pictures and glass slides we will be using are 5cm x 5cm.The soldered charm in the photo was done with a microscope slide and it has pictures at the front and the back.

 I hear that a massive cold front is coming, but the studio will have a fire burning on Saturday.

 Keep well. Until later.

Cute as a Button Bracelet

Hi everyone,

We are glad to hear that there are a few guys out there that also visit our blog,
welcome guys!!

What happened today, left me without words. We were supposed to work on another project but "Button Fever" got us going and we made these four bracelets for our class next month. I think they look absolutely gorgeous.

So we decided as we went along, that you will be making three bracelets during this class, because you need at least THREE!

One looks good but three look fantastic.

(So the soldering project for next week is....

not quite finished! But we are working on it.)

Two Pastel Retro Cards

One of our friends is the South African distributor of Websters's Pages,  Darkroom Door Rubber Stamps and Crafty Secrets.  Elna & I are huge fans of these product lines and I've decided to create two retro cards using their products.

For this card I've used a photo image & quote from the Crafty Secrets "Girlfriends Notes" , half a paper doily, some ribbons and the Darkroom Door "Roses" stamp to create the background paper.

A bit of tulle behind the paper flower adds texture...

This card has more of a "Blue" theme and I just love the quote and image from the Crafty Secrets "Domestic Goddess" sheet of Creative Scraps.  The Darkroom Door Frangipani stamp was used to create the background paper.

Some rayon and silk ribbons finish off the card.

Thanx for visiting!

We've Been Published!!

If you've been following our blog for a while, you will know that we hosted "International Charm Day" on April 28th.  You can read more about the day in our post of April 29th.

The lovely Michelle and charming (pardon the pun) Retief from theBeadBook visited us on the day and in the latest issue (24) they are featuring the event as well as details on the charms our guests were able to make that day...  theBeadBook also has a website with a host of beading projects, so please go and have a look.


Elna & I are sooo chuffed with our first steps as "Published Bead Celebrities"!!  Thanx again to theBeadBook for making this happen.  A huge Thank You also goes out to Amber for her vision of proclaiming April 28th International Charm Day...


PS - Needless to say, we did celebrate with some cupcakes and tea!?

In2Crafts / Hobby-X workshop

Our South African readers will be familiar with Hobby-X (the local Crafts & Hobby Expo).  This year there will be an additional event taking place in Pretoria from 30 July to 1 August!!


The organisers have also added workshops to the programme and I am pleased to announce that I am one of the presenters...

Please go and check out the programme HERE and decide if you are interested in any of the  workshops before making a booking!?  There is a huge selection to choose from and you should find a number of topics that will tickle your fancy!?

My workshop will focus on papercrafts and is called "Mixed Media Mania Greeting Cards". The workshop will be repeated 4 times daily from the Friday to the Sunday.


Looking forward to seeing you there...