DKH Designs

Rubberstamped card

2011-12-27T07:00:00.001+02:00

Happy Birthday Sandra! This is Sandra's birthday card using a cute LOTV stamp coloured in Promarkers. Again I have used a few Nesties and the flower is a Marianne's Design die that I purchased from Country Crafts.

Enjoy your day which is another public holiday in South Africa!

Christmas card

2011-12-23T07:00:00.003+02:00

This card was made for Michelle using a cute LOTV stamped image coloured in Promarkers and a Nellie Snellen oval die and Nesties.

Have a great day!

Christmas card

2011-12-22T07:00:00.003+02:00

I am sharing a Christmas card in non-traditional Christmas colours today. This card is for Corinna and I've used a cute LOTV Christmas stamp which I've coloured in Promarkers. Various Nesties were used on this card.

Have a lovely day! Thanks for popping in!

Christmas card

2011-12-21T07:00:00.001+02:00

Another Christmas card with my favourite LOTV stamp from the Christmas range. This card is for Gail. I have used lacey circle Nesties behind the images and the Grande Nesties for the card.

Enjoy your day!

Christmas card

2011-12-20T16:49:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone, I have been working in my garden for days now. Cutting trees, putting down compost, planting new vegetables and generally cleaning up after it has been neglected for a while. I haven't made any Christmas cards besides those for my close stamping friends and one that I posted, it is very sad.

Here is a card that I made for Lee-Ann with another cute LOTV stamp coloured with Promarkers. I have used the Fleur de Lis square die to make a snowflake behind the image and my Grande Nesties for the shaped card.

Hope you are enjoying the run up to Christmas. I am very relaxed about it this year. The Christmas tree and outside lights are up, all the gift shopping is done and wrapped. My menus for Christmas and Boxing days are planned and I will do the last minute groceries on Friday and on Saturday the cookathon will start.

Have a wonderful day!

Christmas card

2011-12-16T06:03:00.000+02:00

It is a public holiday in South Africa today and a long weekend, I am really looking forward to it as I have been burning the candle at both ends and have not been feeling well the last 2 days. So it is time to chill a little, have the odd afternoon nap and put my feet up a little before the hectic cooking week arrives. I have finished the Christmas shopping and half of it is wrapped, hope to finish the tree and decorations today and need to make the grocery shopping list for next week.

Today's card is back to traditional Christmas colours, the images are from LOTV, coloured in Promakers and again I have used the Grande Nesties to cut out the card.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend and enjoy whatever you do.

Christmas card

2011-12-14T20:22:00.000+02:00

I'm sure you are wondering if I have made any Christmas cards as I have been so quiet lately. Sorry life has got in the way of blog posting and I hope to catch up soon. I have loads of photos to share with you.

Here is my first Christmas card using a LOTV stamp coloured with Promarkers, isn't she cute? I am so enjoying my Grande Nestabilities that allow me to cut these beautiful shaped cards. And I used Marianne's Design dies for the lacey rectangle, flowers and flourishes. I am trying to use non-traditional Christmas colours for a change and love this green and pink combo.

Enjoy your evening!

Digistamped card

2011-12-07T07:00:00.002+02:00

Here is the last of the three 'same colour and image' Sympathy cards that I made recently.

Things are still insanely busy around here and I am hoping to get some Christmas cards done soon! Have a great day!

Picnic at Kirstenbosch

2011-12-05T07:00:00.000+02:00

During October Sasha, myself and my Mom had a picnic at Kirstenbosch Botanic gardens. It was a beautiful spring day and the indigenous flowers were all in bloom, we had a lovely picnic lunch and a rest on the manicured lawns.

I hope you have a fabulous day!

Digistamped card

2011-12-04T13:02:00.004+02:00

I am sharing another digi-stamped Sympathy card that I made, I made 3 of them in the same colour and with the same image, but with slight variations.

I hope you've had a great weekend, all the best for the week ahead!

Digistamped card

2011-12-02T07:00:00.012+02:00

My card today is a digistamped birthday card made for Desire Kantor on our South African Stamping group. The Poppy is coloured in Promarkers and I've used oval and square dies from Nellie Snellen to frame with stamp.

Enjoy your weekend! My children finish their school year today and it is the start of the long summer holidays, so there is much excitement in the air. I am also looking forward to a wonderful stamping morning tomorrow with a group of great friends!

Calendar 2011 and holiday countdown

2011-12-01T07:51:00.045+02:00

Our last page of the 2011 calendar is a real cutie. LOTV stamps are my favourite at the moment and thanks to Amanda we are able to use all the LOTV stamps at her monthly get together. Sharon Keanly made this beautiful page for us. Our 2012 calendar is ready and is better than ever, I will share it with you over the coming year.

Today is the start of the Tent Two Studios 6th Annual Original Printables Holiday Countdown. Each day between the first of December and Christmas Day, she posts a new set of printable images. Here is the link

Have a wonderful day! I am looking forward to the end of our school year and the start of the children's summer school holidays tomorrow after a very hectic term. Sasha is going to High School next year, which is hard to believe!

Rubber stamped card

2011-11-30T07:00:00.020+02:00

Today's card is a birthday card for Lee-Ann, her birthday was in October so it shows how behind I am with posting my cards. I hardly made any cards in November due to time constraints and need to start making Christmas cards urgently! The cute images are from LOTV and here I used my new Grande Nesties to cut out the shaped card. I am so enjoying being able to cut large shaped cards! The flourishes are from Marianne's Design.

This morning is Sasha's last Prize giving in Preparatory School and the Grade 7's have their farewell at the Kirstenbosch restaurant this evening. Parents are invited to this beautiful venue for half an hour for pre-dinner drinks and a photo opportunity and then we are off to UCT for Nic's indoor hockey match. Enjoy your day, mine is going to be a mixed emotions one.

Family stuff

2011-11-28T07:00:00.001+02:00

The morning of the 8th of October was beautiful. Neil and I had a very rare "date", just the two of us with no children. I had very kindly been given tickets to a Cass Abrahams demonstration followed by lunch at the Waterfront Hotel School. We dropped the children at Granny and Granddad in Hout Bay and had a glorious early morning drive along our stunning coastline to the Waterfront. Cass demonstrated very yummy vegetarian dishes - Lentil Bobotie, Three Dahl Curry with Roast Butternut and Puris, Creamy Mushroom Risotto and Pineapple and Orange Rice pudding.

The hotel school prepared the meal for us to enjoy after the demonstration. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of the other courses and only remembered when pudding was served. What a lovely day it was.

Enjoy your week!

Digi stamped card

2011-11-27T19:50:00.000+02:00

A birthday card I made for my stash. Unfortunately my stash never gets very big as there is such demand for cards!

I hope you had a great weekend and here is wishing you good week ahead!

Digistamped card

2011-11-25T07:00:00.001+02:00

This card was an order for a 70th birthday. I used a freebie digi-stamp and digi paper and my favourite Martha Stewart punch.

Enjoy your weekend! I am really going to enjoy ours. The children finish exams this week and we will have a weekend free of studying - what a welcome change! Next Friday is the end of their school year and the start of our lovely 6 week summer holiday.

Do you know where this is from?

2011-11-24T13:09:00.002+02:00

A friend of mine bought this card from a craft market as this image is so beautiful. Do any of you know where this image comes from? If so, please leave me a comment. Many thanks, in anticipation!

Rubber stamped birthday card

2011-11-23T07:00:00.001+02:00

My Mom celebrated her 70th birthday at the end of September and this is the card I made for her. She has a beautiful Bonsai Nursery in Hout Bay and loves all things Asian so I had to make an Asian card. The background paper is a digi-paper and the image is a clear stamp from an Inkadinkado set that I purchased from Frantic Stamper
. It is stamped in Brilliance Pearlescent Crimson as is the birthday sentiment.

Thanks for visiting my blog, enjoy the rest of your day!

Family photos

2011-11-21T14:28:00.001+02:00

We held Sasha's 13th birthday party in September, 2 months after her actual birthday but we battled to find a Friday when all the family were at home in the evening and there were no other parties/events. She organised 15 friends to come around and we did a photo shoot. They had a ball, changing clothes, swapping outfits and were very inventive with props. I copied the photo's onto CD's for everyone so they have nice keepsake. Here are some of my favourite family photo's.

Have a good week!

Jewellery

2011-11-17T07:00:00.001+02:00

Today I am sharing something other than papercraft for a change. I made a few of these charm bracelets for Sasha's friends, they loved them!

Have a wonderful day!

Rubberstamped card

2011-11-15T07:00:00.002+02:00

I am obviously in a "blue" mood at the moment as I seem to have been making a lot of blue cards. This is a birthday card for Anne Van Buuren, I hope she received it as I haven't heard from her. I stamped the face/butterfly image on an Isoprophyl alcohol ink background that I made.

Enjoy your day!

Digistamped card

2011-11-13T07:00:00.003+02:00

Another two freebie digistamps on this card coloured with Promarkers. I have used my favourite embossing folder of the moment called daisies and swirls. This sympathy card was made for Amanda De Jonge.

Sorry I haven't been more chatty lately, my blogging time is so limited and I have loads of photo's to share with you, so am pre-scheduling blog posts when I get a chance.

Thanks for the comments that you so kindly leave on my blog, I love reading them and appreciate your taking the time to comment!

Have a great day!

Rubberstamped card

2011-11-11T07:00:00.002+02:00

This beautiful image is one that I stamped at Amanda's on one of our card mornings, but I cannot remember which company it comes from. This is a birthday card made for Margie Edwards.

Thanks for popping in!

Digistamped card

2011-11-09T07:00:00.002+02:00

I've been so busy posting about our World Card Making Day workshops and I haven't shared any of my cards for a while. This card was made at the beginning of September and is a birthday card for Diane Kruger. I am loving that pale blue cardstock, the vase of flowers is a digi freebie and the sentiment is from LOTV.

Enjoy your day!

World Card Making Day - Prick 'n Stitch

2011-11-05T07:00:00.001+02:00

Sue Berry presented a Prick 'n Stitch workshop. Many of the ladies battled with this one as you needed to follow a pattern to complete the snowflake. I certainly appreciate the time and patience that goes into making these embroidered cards now!

Enjoy your day!

World Card Making Day - Shoes glorious shoes

2011-11-03T07:00:00.001+02:00

This was such a fun workshop presented by Amanda Harrod. She brought lots of samples to show us what can be done with the basic pattern and I have taken photos of most of the shoes made on the day too. I know a few ladies have made more of them, I just haven't had a chance yet. These would make such special invitations, with the details slipped into the shoe.

Have a fabulous day!

Calendar 2011

2011-11-01T07:00:00.002+02:00

I can't believe that we have almost completed 2011, where did the year go to? This lovely page was made by Shamela Hendricks.

I hope November is a fun and satisfying month for you.

World Card Making Day - Gift display box for cards

2011-10-30T07:00:00.003+02:00

This lovely box for presenting cards as a gift set was a workshop by Gail Grant. Sue Berry is seated next to Gail. Another lovely idea for a Christmas gift and with 55 days to go, I had better get cracking!

Enjoy your day and all that you do!

World Card Making Day - gift card holder

2011-10-28T07:00:00.001+02:00

Lynn Cupido presented this lovely idea for giving a gift card.

Thanks for visiting my blog and all the kind comments that you leave!

World Card Making Day - Card flower

2011-10-26T07:00:00.002+02:00

Sandra Fullerton taught us to make this flower from circles of double sided scrapbooking paper on World Card Making Day. In the photo Sandra is wearing purple and Amanda is next to her.

Enjoy your day!

World Card Making Day - Gift bag

2011-10-24T07:00:00.006+02:00

Shamela taught us to make this cute little bag in her workshop on World Card Making Day.

Have a great week!

World Card Making Day - Caddy Card

2011-10-22T07:00:00.001+02:00

Here is another World Card Making Day workshop that we did, this one with Corinna Lengner. A wonderful idea and Corinna gave me the one with tissue paper filled with Sally Williams Nougat as a thank you for hosting the day. You use one sheet of Scrapbooking paper for the base and offcuts to decorate or you can use a double sided sheet of patterned paper. A lovely quick gift packaging idea!

I have lots of photos to upload to my blog but just not getting much time to blog lately, I hope to catch up soon. Enjoy your weekend! Thanks for popping by!

Webster's freebie Friday

2011-10-21T18:37:00.000+02:00

Webster's have a lovely giveaway this Friday and if you tweet, share on Facebook and blog about it you will get extra entries into the draw to win some beautiful Webster's products. Hurry as it is only for today. Here is the link: http://websterspages.typepad.com/webstershome/2011/10/wanna-win-websters-staff-favorites.html

World Card Making Day - Gift tube

2011-10-15T07:00:00.001+02:00

Hello again, I am hoping that life is settling a little so that I can do some crafting. Today I am sharing the gift tube that we made on World Card Making Day. Sasha started with making the ribbon flower and tulle bow to decorate the lid. Here are our completed ones. The stamped image is from Wee stamps, punches are Martha Stewart. The tube will be great filled with nougat, chocolates, scented bath goodies or a candle.

Enjoy your weekend and all that you do!

World Card Making Day - Ribbon flowers

2011-10-13T07:30:00.001+02:00

Our first workshop on World Card Making Day was presented by Sasha, my 13 year old daughter. I am so lucky that she is interested in my craft and will happily make cards for her friend's birthdays. We made these lovely ribbon flowers which we then added to the gift tube that we made in my workshop.

Thank you for your kind comments that you leave on my blog, they are much appreciated.

Have a great day!

World Card Making Day 2011

2011-10-11T07:30:00.001+02:00

To sustain us for a busy day of workshops we had a lovely lunch of chicken, quiche, salads - mixed salad, potato, couscous, bean, rolls and a delicious exotic bread, in this photo you can see some of the spread as it arrived. The cakes and goodies provided for tea were also fabulous! Thanks to everyone for bringing their share of eats and to Gail for organising the list. We were also able to have a little (or a lot) of retail therapy before the workshops and at lunch and teatime.

Thanks for visiting, have a great day!

World Card Making Day 2011

2011-10-10T17:28:00.001+02:00

Sorry I saved this blog post instead of publishing it last week - duh!!!

Wow, we had an even bigger and better World Card Making Day this year on Saturday 1 October. It is the 3rd one that I've hosted and every year it is fine-tuned a bit, I think it is almost perfect now. The first people arrived at 8.45am and left at about 6.30pm as we ran a little late with the workshops. We had a super day jam packed with exciting workshops, delicious lunch and tea and great creative company, lots of lucky draws and donations for everyone!

This is a photo of the pile of stash that awaited everyone at their places at the table when they arrived. The participants received the following donations: Lindt chocs from Woolies, a 200g slab of chocolate and a P.S bar from PnP, Spices from Flavorite, offcut paper and UHU gluestick from Deckle Edge, a super mixed pack of goodies from Scrapbook Factory Shop and Power Pritt gel from Henkel, these items were organised by Sandra Fullerton, thanks Sandra. We also received - a beaded tealight holder from Sharon Byrne, notepad, pencil, punch, calendar, paper clips from Sue, homemade yummy biscuits from Lynn Cupido, pack of ribbon, serviettes and flowers from Joyce. I organised donations of ribbon from Unique Global Textiles, ribbon, sequins and beads from Beadazzled, flowers, ribbon, pearls and paper from Simply Creative and Omo liquid detergent. I donated bling, pearls, ribbon and lace for everyone as a thank you for joining us on the day.

There were also plenty of wonderful lucky draws valued up to R500. These were donated by:
Gail Grant - 2 mixed bags of goodies,
Corinna - Upikit stamp set and flowersoft,
Amanda Harrod - 4 gifts containing: embossing boards, DVD, PSX stamps, embossing folders etc,
Sharon Byrne - printers tray filled with brass charms,
Sue - a pack of organising/office goodies,
Ronita from Simply Creative - gift voucher,
Craftwise - 12 month subscription,
Shamela - 15 stamps/sets,
Debbie - Mini embossing machine with 4 dies and K Memories scrapbook kit to make up a file folder. The participants all received 1 or 2 lucky draw prizes.

Thank you to everyone for their contributions to the day! I will be sharing the day with you in blog posts over the next few weeks.

Enjoy your day!

I've won

2011-10-04T09:03:00.000+02:00

This is the prize that I won from The Wholesaler, thanks to them and to all of you that voted for me. I am such a lucky girl and did not expect such a big selection of Cuttlebug things and although I have a large collection of their products I was pleased that I only have 2 of the folders that they sent me.

I am still recovering from an awesome World Card Making Day and will post all the workshops that we did over the next few weeks. Have a great day!

Calendar 2011

2011-10-01T07:51:00.014+02:00

It is World Card Making Day, I hope you are planning to celebrate like I am. It is traditionally a day set aside for friends to get together and make a start on Christmas cards. As South Africa is such a rainbow nation and we have people of different faiths in our stamping group we don't focus on Christmas cards. Instead we present creative ideas in the form of short workshops throughout the day. Each participant gets a turn and I will share the ideas with you in later posts.

This beautiful calendar page was made by Benice Basson.

Enjoy your day and all that you do!

I've Won

2011-09-29T07:21:00.001+02:00

I won second place in the competition that the Wholesaler ran recently. I am so thrilled about my win! I decided to submit this card at the last minute and got it in with 15 minutes to spare. I won a hamper worth R1000 of goodies from The Wholesaler, they import the Cuttlebug and other carding and scrapbooking things. I will post pics on my blog and Facebook when it arrives.

A huge thanks to all my friends that voted for me, the results were so close and if it was not for every vote that you made I wouldn't have got this fabulous prize! The winner got 12% of the votes, I got 11% and 3rd place got 9%.

Sorry I have been so quiet lately, my life has seriously got in the way of my crafting and blogging and I hope to be back soon. I am busy preparing kits for World Card Making Day on Saturday but am taking a break to share my good news with you.

Hugs to everyone and an extra one if you voted for me. Mwah x

South African papercraft bloggers

2011-09-14T17:46:00.000+02:00

Hannelie, a South African, who is living in the UAE temporarily has a blog with lovely cards. Here is the link.

Enjoy your evening!

Digistamped card

2011-09-12T08:15:00.002+02:00

I hope you had a great weekend and managed to get some crafting time!

Today's card is a birthday card that I made for Moz in Kwazulu Natal. The image is from Wee Stamps and the sentiment from LOTV, she is matted onto a circular Nestabilities and then onto a Nellie Snellen die. The decorative strip is punched with a Martha Stewart punch.

Enjoy your week and all that you do!

Rubber stamped card

2011-09-09T08:15:00.016+02:00

Another birthday card today, this one is for Carol in Kwazulu Natal. The image and sentiment are from LOTV and are coloured with Promarkers. The embossing folder is my new favourite, daisies and swirls from Joanna Sheen, the images are matted onto oval and circular Nestabilites. The ribbon die is from Marianne's Designs that I bought from Country Crafts.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Please vote for me

2011-09-08T13:41:00.000+02:00

I entered this card into a competition called "Bitten by the bug" on The Wholesalers facebook page. You could enter a card or scrap layout made with your Cuttelbug and the competitors with the highest number of votes will win R4000 worth of products. I entered Michelle's birthday card, happy birthday Michelle, hope you have a great day!

If you are on Facebook please go to The Wholesaler page, "like" the page and then go to poll on the left hand sidebar. Click the dot on the left hand side of the photo and then scroll to the end of the page and click submit. You can only vote once.

Thanks so much for helping me out!

Design Team Calls

2011-09-08T08:03:00.000+02:00

There is a new Facebook group called Design Team Calls where you will find a listing of DT calls, what a great idea. So if you have some spare time and feel creative why not apply to join a Design Team somewhere it is a great way to force one to be craftily productive. Our Suuth African talent is tremendous and it is always great to see fellow South African's on Design Teams all over the world.

Enjoy your day!

Digistamped card

2011-09-07T08:00:00.002+02:00

We have been having such beautiful Spring weather this week and I've been spring cleaning my stamping room and packing my new cabinet. Spring cleaning is such a satisfying job, I washed the lounge curtains today and they smell just like Spring.

Here is another birthday card made for one of my RSA friends, Julie. The image is a digi, but I am not sure where it comes from as there is no name on it. The sentiment is a Cuddly Buddly digistamp.

Have a great day, thanks for popping in.

South African papercraft bloggers

2011-09-05T12:05:00.000+02:00

I stumbled across three more South African Papercraft bloggers and have added them to the list in the right hand column. They are Rosemarie Gibson, Shereen Julius and Wendy. If you start a blog please let us know so that we can follow you.

Rubber stamped card

2011-09-05T10:32:00.000+02:00

I've been catching up on birthday cards recently. I always battle with cards for men as I cannot use my favourite ribbon, lace, flowers and girly colours. But this one came together very quickly, thank goodness. The cute image is from LOTV and the circular sentiment from Cuddly Buddly, I've used Nesties and an Upikit punch.

I spent a large portion of my weekend working on my antique filing cabinet and it is nearly ready to move into my office. The top, back and sides have been replaced and I just have to give it a last coat of wood seal and finish cleaning the drawers and then the fun of filling the drawers begins. I will post pics once it is done.

Hope you have a fabulous day, it is a stunning Spring day in Cape Town and there are definitely signs of Summer coming

Rubber stamped card

2011-09-03T07:00:00.005+02:00

Hello, hope you are all well! Today I am sharing 2 cards. The top one is a birthday card that I made for Michelle Anders and the bottom one is a gift tag that I made to attach to a joint present that we bought for her.

The birthday card uses a LOTV image and sentiment and my new Marianne's Design circular dies.

I'm off to our monthly stamping morning, hope you get some time to stamp this weekend. Thank you for popping past my blog.

LOTV give aways

2011-09-01T20:34:00.000+02:00

In 5 more days Lili of the Valley are launching their oh so cute Christmas range and to celebrate they are giving away 2 stamps a day. Pop on over to their Ideas to Inspire blog to enter. Good luck!

Calendar 2011

2011-09-01T07:51:00.009+02:00

Happy Spring Day! The day usually comes far too early in Cape Town as we always seem to be having our wet, cold winter weather still.

Penny Goument made this lovely 'springy' page for our calendar this year.

Wishing you a wonderful day with bunches of flowers, I traditionally pick jasmine for my desk on the first of September, what a wonderful Spring scent.

Featuring friends

2011-08-31T08:11:00.000+02:00

I am finished featuring the beautiful birthday cards that I received this year, thank you everyone for thinking of me and taking the time to send me your little works of art.

Today's card was made by Lynn Cupido, it is a very clever folded card that the sentiment slides out of. Lynn has used a very cute cupcake stamp from Penny Black available from Shamela.

Have a great day, it is cold and wet in Cape Town and it will be miserable tomorrow for the first day of Spring.

Featuring friends

2011-08-29T10:08:00.002+02:00

Michelle Anders made today's lovely birthday card.

I am looking forward to our monthly stamping group get-together tonight. We have recently started doing workshops at the meetings which is great fun, each person gets to host a workshop and we come home with new ideas.

Enjoy your week!

Craft storage

2011-08-28T20:20:00.000+02:00

Just an update on the restoration of my newly acquired antique filing cabinet. Here is a photo of the unit with no backing board, topless and drawerless. I removed the scruffy oak veneered top on Friday and then decided that it required a new backing board as the old one was falling apart. After Nic's hockey match on Saturday we popped down to the local wood store and found the perfect board which I had cut to size. It was a beautiful Cape Town day so I could wood seal it outside in the sun and Neil helped me to attach it. Tomorrow I will set out to search for a suitable oak top and will start at Rare Woods. I am hoping to finish the renovation after sanding and sealing by next weekend. Wish me luck, I am starting to get impatient about finishing the job as I am dying to pack my goodies into it.

Hope you have a great week! I am looking forward to getting together with my stamping friends tomorrow evening at Gail's house, where the cake is always fabulous!

Featuring friends

2011-08-27T11:33:00.000+02:00

More birthday cards received from our Rubberstamp South Africa group, Chris Marshall, a male member of the group, made the left hand card and the other pretty card is from Sandra Kingswell.

Enjoy your day and keep warm.

Craft storage

2011-08-26T17:27:00.000+02:00

I just had to share my latest craft acquisition. My Mom and I were visiting the junk/second hand furniture shops last week looking for a walnut chest of drawers for my Dad. We found a stunning Oriental Rosewood table inlaid with mother of pearl and this antique oak filing cabinet. I was taking photos as we went from shop to shop to send them to my Dad. I sent the Rosewood table photo to him, not thinking that he would buy it as it was very expensive, well blow me down, he bought it and is absolutely thrilled with it, He got a value from the USA and it is worth ten times what he paid for it.

I was given the filing cabinet as a gift today and I am over the moon with it and it won't take me long to fill. I need to replace the top and on Monday am off to Rare Woods to buy a piece of oak for that purpose. Neil will help me with other little repair jobs over the weekend and then I can stain it and hopefully by this time next week it will be all ready to use.

Enjoy your weekend!

Featuring friends

2011-08-25T11:34:00.001+02:00

Today I am sharing three lovely birthday cards received from Penny Klopper, Desire Kantor and Rosemarie Gibson, thank you for thinking of me ladies!

Have a wonderful day!

Featuring friends

2011-08-23T09:00:00.006+02:00

How beautiful is this birthday "card" that I received from Amanda Harrod and the drawers were full of little pink paper roses of various descriptions, thank you Amanda for this little beauty with LOTV images!

I managed to get some stamping done last week after weeks of no time for creativity, what a wonderful feeling. Hopefully I will get some more done this week. I also need to decide what I am going to make at my World Card Making workshop on 1 October so that I have enough time to prepare kits for everyone.

Enjoy your day and all that you do!

Please vote for Rene Sharp

2011-08-23T08:12:00.000+02:00

Rene Sharp is in the top 10 finalists in the August Get Odd Guest Challenge, please pop on over here to vote for her, you will need to join the Some Odd Girl Digital Stamps Facebook group first and then click on her photo and leave a comment "vote". Good Luck Rene, let's have a South African winner!

Rene's says that she is asking a HUGE FAVOUR! It really is a dream of hers to design for this company, but in order to achieve it you will need to vote for her tag. She really appreciates your taking the time to do this for her!! Visit her blog for more eye candy.

Featuring friends

2011-08-22T11:49:00.000+02:00

Hope you had a good weekend and managed to get some crafting done. I did not do as much as I planned to. Carol sent me this lovely waterfall birthday card in pretty pastels. Just a few more posts to go of the cards that I received and then I will resume showing my cards. I have so many crafty things on my to do list!!

Enjoy your week!

Featuring friends

2011-08-21T09:00:00.001+02:00

Corinna Lengner made this lovely tag booklet for my birthday, what a lovely to use up your scraps of card. I have heaps of scraps and seriously need to use them up. They are stored in the plastic suitcases that we used to store toys in such as Lego and I have 1 suitcase for each colour.

Hope you have a good week and get some time to craft.

Featuring friends

2011-08-20T10:31:00.004+02:00

Gosh, I was spoilt with so many wonderful birthday cards this year! Thank you Julie, Ria and Sheilah for lovely cards!

Featuring friends

2011-08-19T08:22:00.000+02:00

Good morning, it is another cold, wet winter day in Cape Town. A July birthday girl gave me this pretty card, Lauren Moser is the creative artist, don't you just love the picket fence and all the tiny flowers and butterflies dotted all over?

It's almost weekend! Enjoy your day!

Featuring friends

2011-08-18T08:10:00.000+02:00

Lee-Ann Teale gave me this beautiful birthday card, she really gets good use of her Cuttlebug on this card! Thank you Lee-Ann!

Enjoy your day and thanks for visiting my blog. We are expecting rain today after a stunning 3 days of sunshine and warmer weather.

Featuring friends

2011-08-17T09:00:00.001+02:00

These pretty cards in shades of pinks are amongst some of the wonderful cards that I received for my birthday. Thank you Ursula, Susan and Mary for thinking of me.

Have a wonderful day!

Excessive shipping charges

2011-08-16T09:55:00.001+02:00

I have seen this photo on a number of blogs recently and totally concur with the sentiments expressed.

I generally only support vendors who offer reasonable product and shipping charges and excellent service and I am not shy to feature them on my blog because we should reward and support those that are great.

This weekend I was keen to purchased a good deal from Webster's pages. You bought 50 SB papers, ribbons, trims etc valued at $100 for $25. The catch was that they charge you $41 postage. I always check what the postage is before I buy as there seem to be a lot of "chancers" out there. Needless to say I felt ripped off with this offer.

I love ordering from Frantic Stamper as she charges $13 for a flat rate envelope and you can really get a lot in an envelope. I have also been supporting Joanna Sheen lately as she does not charge postage at all, her prices are a tiny bit higher for that reason but that is fine. Joan's Country Crafts, Simply Creative and Stamp n Stuff locally charge you the actual postage cost. All these companies offer fabulous, fast and efficient service and deserve to be supported! I've noticed that some of our local vendors are also making big profits on their postage, which is sad for the industry, especially in these economic times.

Here is an interesting article written by Donalda and I agree with her that we should not buy from vendors that rip us off. Please share with us the names of vendors that you have used that charge reasonable prices so that we can support them.

Have a wonderful day, it is a gorgeous, crispy clear, sunny, cold day in Cape Town.

Featuring friends

2011-08-16T09:00:00.001+02:00

This beauty was made by Moz, her colouring is amazing! She uses Prismacolours and this little girl looks so real. I love the idea of splitting that die cut and I want to try that out some time. Moz also makes the most stunning bears, she kindly gave Sasha one last year for helping with the advent swap and "Dude" sits next to my computer, so I get to admire her handiwork everyday.

Have a great day!

Digistamped cards with the same stamp

2011-08-15T10:31:00.001+02:00

For our stamping club night meeting in June, the theme was "The same stamp". We all had to make a project using the same stamp. I blogged about my card then, but here are the projects from the other ladies. Quite a variety - easel cards, side-stepper, tent cards, gift bag, and a pop up card.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Featuring friends

2011-08-14T07:00:00.001+02:00

I received this lovely cheerful birthday card from Paola Levi who loves Copics.

Enjoy your Sunday and all that you do!

Special Occasion

2011-08-13T07:00:00.003+02:00

You may remember that I recently made invitations for a 70th birthday party being held on a wine farm. The lady who ordered the invitations phoned me this week in a panic. She thought that the event planner was organising the table seating plans, table numbers and menus and found out at the last moment that it was not included in her package. I had to quickly whip up the menu's, which doubled as table numbers and the seating plans as the event is today. The decor of the party is green and brown with branches so I had to tie everything in with that.

Enjoy your weekend and if you are in the Cape, keep warm.

Featuring friends

2011-08-12T10:08:00.002+02:00

Today's birthday card came all the way from New Zealand from a very talented crafty friend, Tilly McLeod. I always find her work inspirational and look forward to catching up with Tilly when she visits her Mom in Cape Town every couple of years.

Have a wonderful weekend, it is going to be a cold and wet one in Cape Town.

Featuring friends

2011-08-11T13:08:00.000+02:00

Hi there, hope you are all well! Today I am featuring a lovely easel birthday card that I received for my birthday on 15 July. It was made by Sandra Fullerton with one of the new LOTV rubber stamps, isn't she just so cute?

Have a fabulous day and thanks for popping by.

Cricut Magazine download

2011-08-10T20:53:00.000+02:00

I just picked this up on Facebook and thought I would share it with you. Cricut magazine are having a special where you can download the August issue for $1 instead of $4.95. Here is the link, it looks like a great deal if you have a Cricut as there are 130 pages of ideas.

Featuring Friends

2011-08-10T19:10:00.000+02:00

It is a lovely short week after the long weekend.

I have been busy making menu's, table numbers and table seating plans for the 70th birthday that I made the invitations for a while ago. The hostess thought that the event planner included these things in her quote, but discovered this week that they are not, the party is on Saturday so I have been frantically making them to help her out.

Today I am sharing a stunning card from a very talented card maker, Gail Grant. Gail and I love the same colours and styles so her cards are always beautiful to me.

Have a good evening, I'm going back to my desk to finish menus.

Featuring Friends

2011-08-08T08:51:00.000+02:00

I was so spoilt with beautiful birthday cards this year and over the next few weeks will share them with you. This one is from Sharon Keanly, isn't it just too cute? I love that colour combination!

Our children have a day off school today as it is a public holiday tomorrow, so I hope to get some crafting in a little later. Have a great day from a sunny but cold Cape Town!

Freebies

2011-08-06T14:20:00.002+02:00

Shery K Designs has a lovely freebie for you today, here is the link:
http://www.sherykdesigns.com/shop/free-thank-you-card-making-kit/

She has lovely digi papers at very good prices.

Thank you cards

2011-08-06T07:18:00.000+02:00

I have very special stamping friends who spoil me on my birthday with wonderful stamping goodies every year! These are thank you cards that I made for them. The background papers are digis from Cuddly Buddly. The folded cards are cut with my Nestabilities and the lacey circle is a Nellie Snellen die. The sentiment is a Just Rite rubber stamp. The butterfly is an Upikit punch.

I am on my way to spend a wonderful morning, stamping up a storm, with fabulous friends. We had a little snow on Table Mountain yesterday, so it is a touch chilly today, keep warm. I'm thrilled that it is a long weekend for us with Women's Day on Tuesday and Monday is a school holiday, so I'm hoping to get creative, enjoy your weekend!

Featuring friends

2011-08-05T09:10:00.002+02:00

We have had a very busy family birthday time lately, with my birthday, Neil's (DH) and Sasha's (DD) all in the space of 2 weeks and I want to share my favourite birthday cards received from my stamping friends. A very special lady, Gail, made this one for my daughter, Sasha who celebrated her 13th last week. The image is Mo Manning's Facebook freebie from last month Isn't this a gorgeous card?

Have a happy day!

Calendar 2011

2011-08-03T07:51:00.003+02:00

This month's calendar page was made by Michelle Anders. I can't believe that we are busy with the 2012 calendar already, I don't know where this year went! Have a great day!

Digistamped easel card

2011-08-02T09:09:00.002+02:00

Happy Birthday Sharon! Here is an easel birthday card that I made for Sharon Keanly who is celebrating today. I could not blog about it until she received it, which she did yesterday, perfect timing! The cute image is a Wee stamps digi and the sentiment from LOTV, I've used Nestabilities, an MS punch, a Marianne's flourish and digipaper.

Have a wonderful day! I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog, lots of photos to load and hope to do so over the next few days. Thanks for popping in!

Digistamped card

2011-07-28T16:54:00.001+02:00

It is my darling daughter's 13th birthday today and here is the card I made for Sasha. The image, called Florist, is from Wee stamps and coloured with Promarkers, the sentiment is from LOTV and the pretty floral digipaper is a freebie. She had a wonderful day at school and her family and friends all made her feel special.

Have a great evening!

Rubber stamped birthday card

2011-07-26T13:48:00.000+02:00

Welcome back! I so enjoyed making this card as I had not made one for at least a month. It was for Lauren Moser's 50th birthday last Saturday. She shares a birthday with my DH, Neil, so I was lucky that he was happy for me to sneak off to join her celebration. We celebrated in style at a stunning venue called The Last Word in Constantia, if you are looking for somewhere special to celebrate an occasion this place is great!

The image is another LOTV stamp and the digital papers were purchased from Cuddly Buddly. The doily is from Joanna Sheen. I've used Lacey circle Nestablities and a Martha Stewart punch under the little lady. The sentiment is a digi from LOTV, the flourishes are made with a Mariannes Design die, the butterfly is made with an Upikit punch.

Have a great day!

Birthday Easel Card

2011-07-21T07:00:00.002+02:00

Welcome back, thank you for popping in.

This is an easel card that I made for an order. The lady in the photo was turning 67 and the card had to incorporate her photo, I am not mad about incorporating photos as they seem to dominate the whole card but we have to do what the customer wants. The sentiment is from LOTV and the circular dies are Nestabilities, Marianne's Design, the flourish is also Marianne's Design.

Have a happy day!

Twisted Easel and butterfly easel card

2011-07-19T07:00:00.005+02:00

Today I am sharing this twisted easel card that I made for our card club monthly get-together. I loved the idea of a butterfly easel and adapted this small Cuttlebug die into a tiny easel card to embellish the card. The fairy image is from Wee stamps, her images are just too gorgeous for words and it is coloured with Promarkers. I've ordered the very thin Promarker nibs and can't wait to try them out with my Promarkers. The sentiment is from Lilli of the Valley. The background paper is from a digital set from Pink Petticoat. I've used a Nellie Snellen circular dies and Marianne's Design flourishes and a doily Martha Stewart punch.

Have a wonderful day!

My birthday

2011-07-17T14:17:00.000+02:00

Sorry that I've been missing for so long, we had a wonderful mid-winter two and a half week holiday in Plettenberg Bay. I returned feeling refreshed and rested and dying to get into my craftroom. Once I have transferred the holiday photo's to my PC I will put up a couple so that you can see our gorgeous view. I will also share some of my birthday cards that I received. And I have a lot of catching up to do, so watch this space ...

I celebrated my birthday on Friday, it was a wonderful day, I was thoroughly spoilt and am very grateful for such wonderful friends and family who joined me for afternoon tea. Here are some of the gifts that I received. Aren't I a lucky girl?

Sasha and I baked up a storm for the tea and here are some of the goodies that we made. And a family pic at the end of a lovely busy day.

Enjoy the last bit of the weekend.. Our weather is so stunning, it is hard to believe that we are in mid winter. Thank you for visiting!
Hugs

Calendar 2011

2011-07-01T07:51:00.015+02:00

My birthday month has arrived, this month we also celebrate my hubby, Neil's birthday and Sasha's thirteenth birthday's, so it is a busy month of celebrating for our family.

Kim Brackenridge made this lovely July page for us this year.

Have a great day!

Heart Easel card

2011-06-27T20:19:00.002+02:00

Hello from Plett, we are having a break in this beautiful seaside town. Our first 2 days were wet and miserable weatherwise but today was stunning, sunny and warm and we saw a huge school of dolphins surfing the waves.

My Dad is doing well and was discharged from hospital today, he has not walked with straight posture for a while and the op has resulted in much better posture and restored his ability to walk, which has delighted everyone. My Mom has not had a holiday for 3 years and is desperate for a break so she is driving up to join us tomorrow for a well deserved break.

Today's card is a heart easel Get Well card I made for Sandra, after her recent shoulder op. The die is a Nellie Snellen, the background paper is a downloadable one and the sentiment is from LOTV, the digistamp is a Precious Moments freebie.

Have a great week! Thanks for popping by.

Quick Father's Day card

2011-06-23T16:23:00.000+02:00

Hello again. My Dad will be having a spine operation tomorrow and hopefully that will sort out his inability to walk, so please pray for a successful recovery for him.

I am sharing a quick Father's Day card that was one of those made for orders. The embossing folder is a great one for men's cards and the sentiment is a LOTV stamp.

Have a great day and keep warm if you are in Cape Town, it has been really cold and wet.

New fine Promarkers nibs

2011-06-21T19:35:00.000+02:00

Wow, this is fabulous news. Promarkers have come out with an ultra fine nib that you clip over the fine nib. Read all about it on the Letraset blog.

Have a wonderful evening

Promarkers

2011-06-17T18:31:00.000+02:00

I read this wonderful review on Promarkers today and just had to share it with you in case you are undecided about whether to use Copics or Promarkers. I picked up the review via Facebook from the Craft Critique site. I have copied the Pros and Cons of Promarkers, but pop over to the site to read the full review. I order mine on line from Joanna Sheen and usually have them within 2 weeks.

"Pros:

More ink in each pen (70% more than their competitors)

Cheaper than their competitors. Letraset ProMarkers sell for about $2 each and each pack comes with at least 1 blender pen.

Lots of matching products like AquaMarkers, Tria markers, the Letrajet Air Marker attachment and the Safmat inkjet sticker and their superb paper pads along with their own superb storage systems.

Thicker pens are easier to hold for anyone with joint issues

The nibs are multifunctional with the round and the wedge and the color range and blending options make it feasible to have all the colors you want.

Cons:

No color stickers on the end of the markers which makes finding the right color a pain but as colors can depends on what you are coloring on. so i colored in some Letraset manga paper and stick them on the end as I want to use this storage system although this one also looks good for my studio.

Not refillable but the pens are cheaper to buy and contain more ink to start with

Current Availability - most fine art shops carry Letraset but Craft & hobby stores are slowing catching up."

Sorry I've been so quiet lately, I've been kept very busy with orders and my Dad is not well and has been in and out of hospital and yesterday my 86 year old Father-in-Law was admitted to hospital.

Enjoy your weekend! Thanks for popping in!

Guest Designer for Shelly's Images

2011-06-13T07:00:00.013+02:00

Thank you for joining us again. Today I am appearing as a Guest Designer for Shelly's Images Marvellous Monday post. The images featured on a Monday are available at a special sale price on the day. Today we are featuring the top hat which is perfect for any occasion. Pop along to the Shelly's Images blog to see what the Design Team have come up with. Also remember to subscribe to her newsletter and enter the monthly draw to win a digistamp of your choice.

I have used Promarkers to colour the top hat, free background flourish paper, a Martha Stewart border punch, lacey squares nestabilities, a Marianne's Design flourish die and the side stepper card is finished off with lots of little flat backed pearls and a few flowers from my stash.

Hope you have a great week, it is a short week in South Africa as we have a public holiday called Youth Day on Thursday. Keep warm if you are in the Southern Hemisphere, we seem to be having an unusually cold winter.

I've won

2011-06-10T17:50:00.000+02:00

I just received an e-mail with the wonderful news that I won a Promarker set of 12 of my choice. The Letraset Facebook group had a draw when they reached 1000 followers and I was one of the lucky fish. After a stressful week with my Dad being admitted into hospital again with a herniated spinal disk this was fabulous news! My dear Dad is home again, is being treated and hopefully will not have to have another op.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Paper flower tutorial

2011-06-06T21:16:00.000+02:00

I did a paper flower workshop at World Card Making Day a couple of years ago and have recently been asked for the tutorial for making the flowers that I used on this card. For these I used pages from an old telephone directory in between the tissue paper layers. Hope you have lots of fun making them!

TISSUE PAPER FLOWERS

Supplies:

circular scalloped punch or Nestabilities

tissue paper/patterned paper

craft knife

brad

Method:

Step 1:

Punch/cut two circles out of patterned paper and 6 tissue paper circles. Note: when cutting tissue paper you can stack several sheets, I usually fold a whole sheet of tissue paper and put it through the Cuttlebug with Nesties, this makes many layers. When punching, back the tissue paper with scrap paper or copy paper, something a little heavier than tissue paper, as it will punch easier.

Step 2:

Stack punched paper in this order: patterned paper, 3 tissue papers, patterned paper, 3 tissue papers...it doesn't need to be perfect. Use more or less paper if you want. I like using patterned paper because it makes the flower sturdy and it coordinates with my project. Poke a hole with a craft knife and place a brad in the middle.

Step 3:

Start scrunching the paper, starting with the top layer. Pull the layer upwards with your fingertips and close it over the brad. Keep doing that until all the papers are "scrunched".

Step 4:

Open up all the layers and this is your completed flower. Every flower will be different. Try varying paper positions, use more or less, big brad, small brad etc.

Additional step:

Spray your flower with Shimmerz, pearlescent paint or any spray that you have. Lift layers when spraying/painting, and spray from all sides. Or rub your finger over the flower with glitter glue, liquid pearls etc. Use a heat tool to dry/set the flower. This step stiffens up the flower and it helps keep the shape.

Have a great day. Thank you for the lovely comments you leave on my blog!

21st birthday digistamped card

2011-06-04T07:00:00.005+02:00

Hello again. Today I am sharing another personalised 21st birthday card that I made for an order. The angel is a freebie digistamp from Pink Poison and the 21st stamp is from Nettie's cards and the black and white digital background paper is one I purchased from Sherykdesigns.com.

Hope you are having a great weekend and keeping warm if you are in the Southern hemisphere, we seem to be having a cold, wet winter already. I am off to enjoy a morning of stamping with friends. Thank you for popping in and for the kind comments that you leave for me.

70th Birthday party invitations

2011-06-03T08:00:00.002+02:00

I have an order for making 30 invitations to a 70th birthday party on a wine farm in August. I really had to rack my brain on this one as the daughter wanted a pop up card, did not want an envelope, wanted the invitation to tie in with the table decor of branches with no flowers and the colour theme is lime, brown and gold and she kept changing her ideas, so with my brain stuffed with her ideas I had to design something that I hoped she would be happy with. I am thrilled to say that she loves the invitation that I made and just needs the okay from the rest of the family and I will be able to start manufacturing them on Monday if all is fine.

Calendar 2011

2011-06-01T07:51:00.022+02:00

I can't believe that we are in June already. This month our page was made by Amanda and shows a lady enjoying a lovely warm bath, just what we need to keep warm around here. Have a great day!

Free papers worth $10 until 2 June

2011-05-31T16:32:00.000+02:00

My Memories.com have given us a $10 OFF coupon to use at http://www.mymemories.com/. Any total under $10 is free.

Take a tour and see all their beautiful digi and paper kits and I believe that their photobooking software is amazing!

When you checkout enter the code: UBTENMM55 in the "Enter Promotional Code" and $10 will be deducted off your order.
Thank you for the voucher Bonnie Evans!

Please share the code with anyone you'd like, but it expires on 2 June 2011, so hurry along there.

Have a great evening, winter has arrived with lots of cold, wet weather.

40th Birthday Easel card

2011-05-26T13:57:00.001+02:00

What a beautiful winter's day in Cape Town, after days of rain and wind we are enjoying a cold but gorgeous sunny day. We have to make the most of it as we are expecting 4 days on rain from Saturday so I've been catching up on washing today.

Our children's exams and lots of orders for cards has caused my blogging absence. Today I am sharing a personalised card for a 40th birthday. The recipient of the card loves roses so I found this rose freebie background paper on the internet and printed it onto Opal Wove white shimmer 120g paper, the subtle shimmer gives such a beautiful look to the paper and the heavier weight is much better than ordinary computer paper.

The 40th sentiment is a freebie from Netty's cards and I've used my Nestabilities, Marianne's dies and Martha Stewart punch.

Have a great day!

Craft Organisation

2011-05-20T20:08:00.000+02:00

Seeing that I have been too busy lately to make cards, I want to share some of my favourite blogs that I follow. The first one is Beautiful Craft Spaces. Rochelle shares photos of beautiful craft rooms and some lovely craft organising ideas. Happy browsing! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Digistamped 21st Tri Easel Birthday card

2011-05-19T15:51:00.002+02:00

Hello, it is a beautiful winter's day in Cape Town and I am sharing a tri easel card that I made for an order. I am never sure whether the person will like the card that I produce, I prefer to make cards and then they select the ones they like. However this lady phoned me to thank me for the card after delivery and she couldn't stop raving about it, she took photos of it to send to her friends, I felt quite tearful when she finished going on about it. The great news is that she has placed another order for 30 cards.

I had been wanting to make a tri-easel card so this was a great opportunity. The card had to include a photo of the 21st birthday girl on the card and as she is a fanatical Hip Hop dancer and student that was the theme. The Kenny K digistamp was perfect, the 21st digistamp is a freebie from Netty's and I used a free Sizzex downloadable paper for the background. The image is coloured in Copics and I've used a narrow Cuttlebug die with flowers and flourishes on the red strip and embellished it with pearls. Nesties and Marianne's dies were used for the flourishes and circles.

Nic starts exams tomorrow so my crafting time will be seriously limited over the next 3 weeks as Sasha starts hers next Friday. But the weeks fly by so fast before we blink it will be over.

Have a happy day, it is almost weekend again!