Hello 2013!

One moment I was leading the race and the next moment my head disappeared under water and I came up spluttering…

We were having fun in the pool after a hectic course of cheese making on Saturday.  My two sisters and three brothers with their husbands and wives decided last year that we wanted to do something together and we chose cheese making since most of us were interested in the process.  Little did we know…

Let’s just say that cheese making is far more involved than I am prepared to invest at this point in time.  But we had loads of fun and after Sunday lunch tried to take a family picture.  I say ‘tried’ because we ended up with a lot of funny, funky pictures… but a proper family portrait?  Well, we’ll just have to try again next time.  Promise!

However, the pictures were perfect for my layout this week 😉

I used stickers from Echo Park and paired it up with paper tape from Bazzil Basics.

Slits in the background provided a place to slip cards with the months of the year and some journaling on it into.  I lined the slits with dotted tape in the same colour as the background that draws the attention to it.

The title was stamped and highlighted with white and I added black shadows when the paint was dry.  Stickers on top of the stamped  title repeat the title for added detail.

Now all that remains to do is to live, love, laugh, pray, play, pause… and then start all over again!

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Once upon a time…

(actually just before the end of 2012) in the Drakensberg not too far from home, a Grandpa, Grandma and three grandsons decided to climb one of the peaks.

They took the long way and explored as far as they went.  Up and up they climbed until they came upon a beautiful protea bush in full flower and Grandpa insisted on taking a picture.  He would set up the camera and run to take his place behind Grandma and the boys.  It took some time, but he managed to get this picture 🙂

As soon as Grandpa was happy the boys were running up the mountain again and Grandma came huffing and puffing behind.  Soon they reached the top of the world with views on the most beautiful wetland below.

When Grandma’s huffing and puffing had slowed down enough they set off down the mountain on the other side to take care of some boy’s stuff.  Serious boy’s stuff!

Of course Grandpa kept a watchful eye and every time one of the boys managed to light a set of crackers they scattered in all directions – the anticipation and joy on their faces priceless!

The day ended with the most beautiful sunset and they felt privileged that they were able to enjoy the beauty of this remote spot in the Drakensberg.

A few days later they set the table for their Christmas meal with friends and family.

Then Grandma’s sister and her husband came to visit and the two Grandma’s and Grandpa’s set off exploring (being very adventurous spirits, they couldn’t sit still for long!).  They came upon this waterfall tumbling down a forty-foot gorge with an inviting pool at the end of it.

Inch by inch they made their way down the steep mountainside and when they got to the pool rewarded themselves by getting into the ice-cold mountain water to cool down.

And then 2012 ended with a beautiful sunset.

 

For this year I would like to wish you the best of God’s blessings.

May you be granted the wisdom to figure out the lessons from 2012 and apply them to your life in 2013.

May you be granted the strength to face the adversities that may come your way this year.

May you live an inspired life in 2013.

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Be yourself

Only by the age of forty had I mastered the art of being true to myself.  Before that I used to tear myself in a million pieces trying to please everybody else.

I found some wonderful neck exercises that helped catapult myself into being myself – I learnt to shake my head from side to side.  I learnt to say NO.  NO to things other people expected from me that they could do for themselves.  NO to unreasonable demands from others.  NO to unnecessary things I ‘had to do’ stealing my time.  NO to people sucking every ounce of energy out of me, leaving me spent and too tired to spend quality time with my family.  With whom I can just be myself!

Over the Easter weekend we had our annual family get-together and we spent a lot of time catching up and of course just being ourselves 🙂  My younger sister and I are very close and can be quite goofy when we are together.  On Sunday afternoon we hiked to the waterfall in Kgaswane (near Rustenburg) where we were camping and everybody had to be photographed with the waterfall in the background.  When it was our turn she caught me unexpectedly from behind and started kissing me passionately on the cheek.  Mary-Ann was ready with her camera and clicked away, capturing precious memories that I used on my layout for this week.

The layout was actually completed before the weekend and the pictures went very well with it.  I used paper from the new Fancy Pants range as well as their beautiful matching rub-ons.

The rub-ons look beautiful on the background as well as on the printed paper and I used it strategically across my layout.  Part of the layout is a quote from an unknown person reading:  ‘The biggest challenges in life is to be yourself in a world that is trying to make you like everyone else.’

I already practise most of the phrases on the page but there is at least one that I really need to work on:  ‘Forgive Easily’.  Why is that so difficult fo me?  Maybe because I am being my stubborn self!

Find what makes you happy this week and do it {a LOT}

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On top of the world

Quite a big year for me – 2011.  I turned fifty in June and was married for thirty years on 1 August!

Thirty years is a long, long time.  Longer than I’ve been single before our marriage.  Many people have been married for far longer than that and I admire them for it.  Marriage to me is a process of finding the middle ground.  A process of giving and receiving and sometimes fighting my way forward in the dark because I do not have all the answers (although I would like to believe that I do 😉 ).

Sometimes we battle together on the same side and sometimes we battle each other.  We overcame many problems and situations that could have finished our marriage but didn’t.  When I look back on the past thirty years I can see the Grace of God and His guiding Hand like a golden thread weaving our marriage together.

We have invested thirty years of our lives in marriage and each other and we received great dividends for our effort.  We had four amazing children and scored another four amazing children!  On top of that we were blessed with three beautiful grandsons who bring us joy every day.  We are happy together and when we were sitting on top of the mountain last weekend with the snow and beautiful scenery around us we were on top of the world.

So I came back with beautiful pictures and couldn’t wait to do this weeks layout with them!  In the end I decided on paper from Paper Explosion to match the ruggedness of the mountain and the colours of the scenery.

This layout was inspired by a layout that I did in a class with Melani de Groot a few years ago.

The cards are ATC Affirmation cards from 7Gypsies.  I cut five of the cards square and rounded the corners, then embellished them with hardware from Tim Holtz and FabScraps.  The photo turns, postage stamp tape and script tape are also from 7Gypsies.

I printed small pictures (the same size as negatives) to put in the negative strip on the right page of the layout.

Maybe we will be blessed with another thirty years together, who knows?  In the meantime I have to cherish what I have and be grateful for it.

Back to the battlefield then…

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Snow Angel

On Friday morning Snow White (following in the footsteps of Mother Theresa) and Husband travelled to the Alps (maybe it was the Drakensberg) bearing gifts (essential food items) for the mountain folk.

The scenery along the way looked vastly different to that of three days before (read more about that here https://scrapmaniacs.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/once-upon-a-time/).  Most of the snow in the valleys had melted by then but the mountains still had drifts of snow covering large patches. The scenery was spectacular and Snow White had Husband stop on many occasions to capture the beauty of it.

Ominous clouds hung over the mountains and it wasn’t long before the flakes started drifting to the ground.  They had to hurry to unload the gifts and get conditions worsened.

It was hard to believe that three days earlier the snow was almost a metre deep in this spot and they couldn’t get through!

Just before they reached the cabin Snow White wondered if Husband remembered to take the key and the remotes to de-activate the pepper spray alarms (which was his job anyway!).  Of course he didn’t.

With Snow White cheering him on, Husband managed to open a window and de-activate the pepper spray alarms with the snowflakes gently floating down around them.   The snow stopped falling but it was still extremely cold.  For the rest of the weekend their only entry into the cabin was through a window.  The cool box wouldn’t fit, so it had to stay outside on the deck where the  fresh vegetables duly started to freeze on Saturday afternoon because of the severe cold (it was -6 degrees on Friday night).

On Saturday morning they climbed to the top of the mountain and what a magnificent sight!

They saw the resident deer skipping across the snow and had their ears and hands turn numb with cold.  The beauty of this well-known landscape with the snow dotted all over took their breaths away.  They would have liked to be able to see the landscape with 1 metre of snow covering it, but this was a great second prize.

Partidges flew up from the grass inches away from their feet and they cherished this special time together.  On the way back Husband (so dear) tried to save Snow White’s aching knees by walking ahead, trying to stabilise the snow so that she could walk easier.  Thank you Husband – not only for stabilising the snow, but also for walking the road with Snow White for thirty (yes thirty) years!

But alas, reality called and they knew they had responsibilities waiting for them.

So Snow White became a snow angel and drifted off into cyberspace…

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Home is where the heart is

Sometimes I need a break.  Seriously.  Urgently.  Away from everything and everyone.

Then I plan a break  and look forward to peace and quiet and solitude.  Then I take a break and enjoy the peace and quiet and solitude.  Then my heart speaks up.  It starts as a whisper and soon becomes a booming voice urging me to go… home!  Because home is where my heart is.  Home is where everyone I love is,  home is where everything I love is.

Maybe I’m just a house hen, a softy who cannot be away from loved ones without my heart yearning for home.  So be it, that’s me!

When I started collecting materials for our mixed media canvas class on 4 June 2011 I kept looking for stuff that symbolise home.  I found beautiful tissue paper from 7Gypsies with birds and bird homes cages on it.  Then I found an antique doorway on Bo Bunny paper.  And that’s not all I found…

A lot of distressing, stamping, dabbing, painting and what-not later this is the result.  Of course you CAN do it!

The pink detail is a rub-on from Heidi Swapp and it ties in beautifully with the rest of the colours.

A bit of hardware adds interest and builds on the home theme. You will learn a variety of techniques that you can also incorporate in  new projects.

The class will be  from 09h00 – 14h00 and includes  drinks, tea time treats and lunch.  Please bring along your hair dryer and an old(ish) brown ink pad.  Contact me immediately if you would like to attend, since space is limited and a some places are booked already!

I cannot wait to create with you on Saturday 😉

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Generations

We recently had two new additions to our extended family adding to a new generation!

It is amazing to look back in time and to follow the ways in which the previous generations had shaped the present generations.  Then we realise the truth of the words spoken by Gail Lumet Buckley:   “Family faces are magic mirrors.  Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.  We make discoveries about ourselves.’  Isn’t that beautiful?

I was inspired by this idea to do the scrapbook layout for this week about generations which is also the title of the layout.

I used gaffer tape with the names of the months to create the idea of passing time.  Then I filled a 7Gypsey library pocket with 7Gypsey tags and added a red tag to the mix.  The journaling on one of the tags states that the pictures I used on the layout are by no means a complete family tree.  Just pictures of people who influenced the next generation, namesakes and generally pictures that portrayed what I was feeling when I did the layout.

A card with the dates of the month helps to enhance the theme of passing time.  I used a  red ATC card behind that and two tags taped on to it with gaffer tape.

The quote by Gail Lumet Buckley and the definition of the word ‘generation’ serve as journaling.

It filled my heart with so much warmth to look at this layout and to imagine the love and caring it takes to raise each generation.  I’m looking forward to the christenings of the two newborns when we will experience that love and caring in action!

Take care until next time.

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