World Card-Making Day Revisited

Don't you sometimes have the urge to create, but not have the time or inclination to "reinvent the wheel"??  That is exactly where I found myself on Wednesday...

I am more of a "pastel" kinda girl and have been itching to see if I could use the "layouts" of the cards from our World Card-Making Day class and recreate them using different papers...

The paper used are from Webster's Pages and the rubber-stamps from Darkroom Door and Tim Holtz.

Same rubber-stamps as per the original.  They are from Hero Arts and A Country Welcome (still not sure who they are or where I got the stamp from!?).

This time I decided to use a rubber-stamp from Crafty Individuals for the focal point and two smaller stamps designed by Tim Holtz.

Since our WCMD class, we've bought the Tim Holtz Paper Rosette die and I used that to make the flower.  The quote rubber-stamp is from Darkroom Door.


So there you have it...  Same layouts, different colour scheme!?


May you have a weekend filled with love and laughter...

Birthday Cards with a twist

I've mentioned before that I belong to a Yahoo group for rubber-stampers from (mainly) South Africa.  One of the "initiatives" that we can sign up for, is the Birthday List.  The idea is that you make a greeting card for everybody on the list which you then (ideally) send to them  during their birthday month.  The reward - receiving lots & lots of unique cards on your birthday!!

In January 2009, the reality of the global financial crisis was foremost on everybody's minds and that was my inspiration for coming up with the idea of a birthday card with a purpose.

A Scrap-Pad-to-Go from K&Company, complete with sheets of stickers & quotes, provided all the papers, etc needed to decorate about 90 blank notebooks, measuring approx. 4" x 6" each.  Once decorated, the books were covered with a transparent layer of contact adhesive.  Inside was a personal note to the birthday girl (& gent), explaining the purpose of the birthday card with a twist...


Hope this has inspired you to make something pretty with a purpose!?

Nelspruit here we come...

A week from now Elna and I will be teaching at 4 Keep Sakes in Nelspruit!!

Elsa Lategan has invited us to be part of their 4th birthday celebrations and we are almost packed and ready to leave...

The first class will be our mixed media tekkies (sneakers), followed by a double-page scrapbooking project, using the Travel Ledger papers from Teresa Collins and other goodies (including some of Tim Holtz's ephemera).


Their are still a few spots available, so we suggest you contact them ASAP to ensure you will be able to join in the FUN!?


Looking forward to seeing you in Nelspruit...

2010 Calendar Collaboration

I've participated in a 2010 calendar collaboration, hosted by Debbie Harris.  This was the second year that I've been invited and I was really pleased when Debbie allocated "October" to me...  October being the month of "Breast Cancer Awareness", the colour scheme I chose was a no-brainer!?

Audrey Hepburn is one of my idols and I decided to use a rubber-stamp image of her as the focal point.  A stained doily, postcard, an envelope, a paper serviette (napkin) and patterned paper were layered, together with a rayon ribbon, to complete the page.


Please follow this link if you want to see what the other pages from this collaboration look like.


Debbie is in the process of binding the calendar for 2011 and I cannot wait to see the end result!?


Thank you for visiting....

Get ready for Christmas

Hi Everyone

I have been very quiet lately. Our cables where stolen and the whole area had no Internet or landlines. It took a week to sort things out from Telkom's side. So now I have done all my emails and I am back in business.

 Time to start making those Christmas cards!

We will be making 8 cards with Basic Grey Paper and you can adopt anyone of the 8 styles to suit the paper you have. 

Dates for the classes will be in our next Newsletter, remember to subscribe!

The Owl House in Nieu Bethesda

The first town we stayed in during our road-trip in September, was Nieu Bethesda.  Some may only know of its existence because of Helen Martins' & Koos Malgas' "Owl House".  The town is quite off the beaten track and can only be accessed by dirt roads.

We wanted to stay there for a night so that we could visit the Owl House in the late afternoon and then again the next morning.  Helen Martins had a passion for light and her home is testimony to that.  


The house is small by most standards, but if you have a good camera and a sturdy tri-pod, you can easily spend 3 hours in the morning light and another 3 hours in the afternoon light there being surrounded by the most eerie and haunting light images.  

In the garden are many cement statues, structures and enclaves made out of empty brown beer bottles.

Both Leon & I were fascinated by the play of light and the possibilities of photos we could take, using it as a "prop".  Here I found a broken bottle and used it to frame the statues on the other side of the wall of bottles.

Leon took this photo of me where I peeked through from the outside - this is now one of my favourite photos!?

Miss Helen's story has a very sad ending and I urge you to use this link to read a little about a very creative soul and her passion for glass.  These bottles are still filled with the glass bits that she collected with the hope of using them some day...


Hope you find this as fascinating as we did...

World Card-Making Day

Elna & I spent a wonderful morning with 12 lovely ladies in celebration of World Card-Making Day here in my studio yesterday.  Spending time with creative souls is more therapeutic that retail therapy any day of the week!!  Having an opportunity to share ideas makes it even better!  (Not to mention having an excuse to eat cupcakes and drink tea!?)


The Jenni Bowlin products were a big hit and our guests all went home with four works of art!!

Rubber-stamps used on this card are from Tim Holtz and Cavallini.  A tea-dyed doily compliments the rest of the elements very well...

For this card we've used another of Tim Holtz' stamps, as well as a "ticket" from Making Memories.  The Jenni Bowlin rub-on fitted perfectly onto a Spellbinders' die-cut.

The vintage postage stamp used on this card is from South Africa and I was thrilled when its colour coordinated so well with the rest of the products used.  The rubber-stamps are from Hero Arts and A Country Welcome (not sure who they are or where I got the stamp from!?).

The flower on this card was made using my Martha Stewart scoring board. The rubber-stamp is from the same Tim Holtz set as used in the first card.


May you have a week filled with love, laughter and lots of creative inspiration...


Elna & Benice