Wedding Advent Calendar

One of the ladies at work's daughter is getting married next moth and is always telling her mom, how many sleeps there are left before she becomes a "Mrs". I was tasked by the "Sexy Summation Sisters" to make a seven day advent calendar (that is how many letters are in her current surname). This is the outside of the calendar: Each day she will open up a little window where there is some advice relating to the letter of her surname. The idea is for her to tear off the flap thereby losing part of her current surname.

This is what the inside of each of the flaps say. The girls in the office who worked with her, wrote these comments, which I must say are really great and something that I could use in the future.

Whilst being rather fiddly to make, I certainly had a lot of fun putting this together and I think it is really pretty and hope that she enjoys the fun of opening it up each day, the week before she gets married. Hopefully no peaking into the other days!!

Advent calendar maker signing off .....

Off the Page Item

I have been collecting tins for the purpose of making a pen holder or two and today warranted me doing just that. I tidied up my craft table and saw that I had quite a few pens lying around, so quickly decided that I needed to make my pen holder. Last year some time I purchased a Crop-o-Dile from Sophia and today I put it to the test. Wow, this worked really well and putting holes and setting eyelets into the tin were an absolute breeze. Here is the finished product filled up already:

I quite enjoyed making this and thank you for looking.

Crop-o-Diler signing off ....

Another Craft to my CV - Mosaicing

Kathy, Rayna, Shelley and I decided that instead of going to a restaurant for lunch for our "girl time get together" we would do something interesting. We had seen some mosaicing on display at the last Hobby-X and so it was unanimous that we went and did just that. Here we are with what we managed to achieve in the lesson: Kathy did a bowl and was practically finished at the end of the lesson. I did a ladybug and got halfway, Rayna did a dragon fly and Shelley did a tortoise.

Some progress shots. It is certainly very fiddly and takes time cutting the tiles before you can get started. But ..... loads of fun. I found it really therapeutic and fun to find and make pieces to fit the gaps. I recently had a taste of this when I went up to visit Desire and helped her with the mosaicing of the picture frames she was doing for her in-laws 50th wedding anniversary.

We have all decided that we really enjoyed doing this and will be going for another lesson within the next few weeks. For me the bug has bitten and it is certainly something that I willdo more often, especially to make little gifts for people.

Once the lesson was over, we came back to my place. It was soooo hot that there was no ways we could sit outside and Dereck was in the lounge watching TV, so he very kindly cleared up his table in his office and we set it and had lunch in there with the aircon cooling us. Kathy made 2 divine quiches, I made a mixed green salad, Shelly made a yummy chocolate pudding with self basting sauce and ice-cream and Rayna brought some refreshing fruit juice.

It was a great day for getting together with wonderful friends and do some catching up with what has been happening in our lives.

Happy mosaicer signing off ...

BOM CHallenge #14 - 106 Things About Me

This challenge was listing 101 random facts about ourselves. While I enjoyed thinking about the facts to put down, it is not "scrapping" that I enjoy doing. I certain prefer scrapping pictures and I didn't want to specifically take pictures for this layout.

Anyway, you should get to know me a little better!

The wording reads as follows (and not in the order on my layout):

I can’t watch a movie without eating popcorn
I only wear g-strings
I am still considering having a tattoo
I am a good listener
I love the smell of Jasmin
I always go the extra mile
I don’t wear much make-up
I wear a size 6 shoe
I always wanted only 2 children
At home I often walk around barefoot
I was pushed by a baboon - was trying to save our biscuits that he wanted!
I love chocolate especially with nuts in it
I love cashew nuts
I love the smell of lavender
I have swam the Midmar mile 3 times
I enjoy watching people
I love dancing
My nickname at school was “Frog”
I have known my best friend, Ingrid, since 1970
I finished school in 1979
I have done line dancing
I love wrapping up presents
I have never been a bridesmaid
I organised a formal dinner for 364 people
I have a Computer Secretarial certificate
I enjoy a challenge
I love not wearing a bra – don’t know if the boobs do!!
I normally cut up and mix all my food
I love a chilli seasoning
I make a delicious lemon meringue pie
I know lots of people
I like cats but will never have one of my own
I laugh often
I see the funny side of sometimes serious situations
I love watching monkeys
I can’t skateboard
I have never surfed
I have never ever smoked
I could do the splits
I can still almost do the splits!
I can’t breathe when swimming freestyle
I have never been on a motorbike
When I was 12 I worried that when I became a teenager I would have no clothes!
I once put nail polish on my eyes thinking it would be good eye make-up
I love reading
I have had 6 operations
I used to be a Girl Guide
I have never made a braai
I have hair on my toes!
I am quite lucky
I have ridden an Ostrich
I had a doll called Lucy
I got a lucky bean stuck up my nose
I broke my collar bone doing a 3 legged race the day before school exams
I only had one serious boyfriend before Dereck
I started wearing glasses for reading in 1984
I got married in 1984
I had my first child in 1986
I had my second child in 1988
I h ad to have an emergency Ceasar for my first child
My first dog was a mongrel called Tawny
I used to have hamsters as pets
I also used to have chameleons as pets
I worked as a waitress at Pizzaland (it’s demolished now!!)
Dereck taught me how to drive
I have high arches on my feet – Leanne says they were bound!!
I used to put corks between my big toes to straighten them – ouch!!!
I used to walk about 4km to school to save my bus fare
I went overseas for the first time in February 1982
My first employer was The Standard Bank of SA Limited
My first salary was R300-00 per month
I used to stay in a bachelor flat in Broad Street in town
I have never cut my own hair
I regularly cut Dereck & Grant’s hair
I enjoy baking
I have done the world’s highest bungy jump
I can sew
I can do basic crocheting
I have done embroidery
I can knit
I hand make teddy bears
I can cook
I don’t drink glasses of milk
I enjoy the outdoors
I love shopping
I am generous
Tony Watson (ex rugby player) signed my birthday card
I fell while snow skiing and had to be rescued off the mountain
I love travelling
I love scrapbooking
I enjoy working in the garden
I have ridden a horse
I love my current job
I am never bored
I have been to the top of the Eifel Tower
I walked up to the top of the Campanile in Port Elizabeth
I love listening to music
I used to catch a train with my friends to Kelso Caravan Park
My friends had to teach me to drink coffee!!
In 1982 whilst in London, I walked past Princess Diana
Bruce Fordyce (Comrades runner) autographed his biography for me
I really want to bungy jump off Vic Falls
I loved playing with Barbie dolls
I used to be scared of the dark
At school I loved acting
I can say – supercalafragalisticexpialidocious – can you?
I had fun putting this together – hope you enjoyed reading about me!

"Now that you know me a bit more", signing off ......

Graduated with Distinction!

This is a page that I have been trying to finish for a few weeks now and yesterday was the perfect opportunity. It is of Grant's graduation. I still have a few more of the "proud parents" that I will probably start on later today.

Proud mom signing off ....

Valentine's Day

Hope you all had a great day and got a little spoilt!!

This is what I received - my favourite Red Door perfume with body cream and shower gel.

This is what I had sent to Dereck via Netflorist - a box full of iced gingerbread letters. Unfortunatley most of them were broken, but they certainly tasted divine!!

Dereck played golf yesterday, so for me it was rather a quiet day. I went to Run/Walk for Life and did 5km and caught up news from my friend Jeanette. Once home I had a shower, put on a load of washing, hung it up did some weeding and then got stuck into some serious scrapping. I had my music playing (loudly) and got quite a bit done.

Dereck got home at about 1:30 (I think) and he sat watching the rugby. Grant and Lauren went out and we braaied and I carried on with my scrapping. You will see the finished product in the next post.

Happy Valentine signing off ....

Early Valentine

In case you didn't know, or had just forgotten, it is Valentine's Day tomorrow. So, if you are reading this before you got to work, make sure you wear something red or pink.!

My office love any reason to celebrate, so I decided to make these cupcakes. They are chocolate cupcakes with pink, almond flavoured icing with a smartie on top. If I say so myself, they are really yummy (yes, I had to taste one last night to do a quality check!!!)

Cupcake signing off .....

Grant's Wheels

For Grant's 21st Dereck and I gave him a voucher to have mag wheels fitted to his bakkie. He recently went and had them fitted and this is what they look like.

He says the car even drives better! not sure about that, but maybe they do hold the road better.

Anyway, enjoy them Grant - they look really cool.

Wheelie mom signing off ....

Midmar Update

Desire left a comment that she wanted to see the medal up close and personal, so here it is.

Thanks for looking.

Proud medaller signing off .....

Jemma on the Pond

While I was weeding in the front garden on Monday evening (the amount of weeds has been irritating me, so when I have come home in the evenings I have been doing some weeding!) I looked up and this is what greeted me!! Jemma climbing up onto the pond and then proceeded to balance and was dunking her nose under the water to take out the leaves!!!! It was soo funny. By the way, she never fell in and once I went inside, she just climbed off and followed me.

Weeder with a dog signing off ....

Midmar Mile 7 February 2009

Wow, after all the training I have been doing, the day finally arrived. The weather looked good as we left Pinetown, but started looking a bit ominous when we got to Midmar. The dam looked really full and as the morning progressed the clouds lifted and it turned out to be a really wonderful day.

Kate (from work), her boyfriend, Dave (replacing Paula who cracked her wrist), Dereck, Darryl and I made up a team known as PKMD (the initials of our name - very original I know!!!!)

We were in the non-company team which swam at 11:00. After Kate arriving just after 10:00 (late according to Dereck :-)) we set up the gazebo and then went off to find the taxi bus to take us to the start.

There were thousands of people there and they started in batches depending on the colour of your cap. Kate went first with the red group and we all went last with the white group.

It was a bit of a scramble initially and I found that once I was in the water, I got my space and just swam. Darryl came swimming past me, but at 90 degree angles - not sure where he was going!!!! He told us afterwards that he had actually swam into one of the life boats - I mean really - he he he!

Kate finished in 30:05, I did a time of 43:56, Dave did 45:45, Dereck did 55:26 and Darryl did 55:54. Of course lots has been said about the fact that Dereck beat Darryl, by a mere 23 seconds!!!!!

Once we got back to the gazebo, Dirk (Kate's brother) and Paula had got the skottle going and were busy cooking our boerewors. We had a good time chilling, chatting and chomping boerie rolls.

At about 2pm we decided to pack up and we drove home. Once home I went for a lie down and when I woke up at about 5:30 realised how exhausted I had been.

It was a great day and for me a great sense of achievement. I now have 3 Midmar Mile medals, and would like to consider completing another 7. I must say, I really enjoyed the swimming training and will continue as part of my general training.

Happy swimmer signing off ...

Another Award!

I received this award from Andrea - thank you so much.

The 'rules' are :
'This blog invests and believes in PROXIMITY - nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes for self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!'This blog award should be sent to your favorite eight bloggers and they, in turn should forward to eight of their favorites. You should include the text for Proximidade (above) in your announcement blog.

My eight are:

Desire - for such an amazing blog of stories and wonderful creations

Libby - for an interesting blog and wonderful quilting creations

Claire - for a wonderful account of day to day life and her creations

Beryldene - for such brilliant writing - there is always something positive and a moral

Candice - for awesome layouts with such great pet "models". Also writes beautifully

Bakerella - for her awesome creations of cakes and other goodies

Leanne - for her day to day account of life in London and now Wales

Sophia - for her wondrful creations and life with her family

There are many others I could have awarded this to, but these decisions one has to make.

Enjoy the award!

Another award signing off .....

A Chinese Evening

Alex had been talking about getting a dinner club going for a while and on Christmas Day we finally did the necessary and set a date. We decided on 31 January 2009. We drew to see whose house it would take place at, we all gave country names and then drew to see which country we would do and then we drew to see what meal we would each have to make.

Those who attended were:
Lesley, Alec and Nicholas
Dereck, Michelle, Grant & Lauren
Fred, Rhona, Ricky & Damien
Darryl and Bev
Mally and Val

Some dressed up while others wore clothing "made in China"!!

Lesley brought home a chinese lady wig which we all took turns in trying on - what a laugh!!

We had to make a fish dish and a chicken dish. I made a seafood chow mein (without the noodles as someone was tasked to do that) and sweet and sour chicken. We also had spring rolls, batter dipped prawns, coated chicken pieces, onetons in soup, beef kebabs, sweet and sour pork accompanied with chinese rice and noodles. For pudding we had delicious home made fruit salad laced with alcohol and ice-cream and of course a Chinese evening wouldn't be complete without the fortune cookies.

We all had a wonderful evening and agreed that if we had gone out for Chinese dinner, we would never have had the amount of food that we did have - and probably not as tasty!!

We then drew for the next evening which is going to be Argentina and this will happen at Fred & Rhona's place in Hillcrest on 28 February 2009 (Rhona is Alec's sister).

Aaaah soooo signing off ....

RAK Winner

I recently left a comment on Wilna Furstenburg's blog for a RAK and my name was drawn out. This is the pack that I received. It is an Anna Griffin pack with over 50 pieces of scrapping goodies in it.

I think the colours are suitable to scrap my Christmas pictures. Thanks again Wilna.

RAK winner signing off ...

It's Been Raining Blog Awards!

This award I received from Desire - thank you so much!

This is another award I received from Desire - again thank you.

Another award from Desire!

This award I received from Desire and Helen.

Thank you ladies, I really appreciate these awards. Please go and check out their blogs - you won't be disappointed!

I have come across so many inspiring blogs that I am not going to pass these on to any specific bloggers. I would like for anyone visiting my blog to please accept one or all of these awards for themselves - they are worthy of them for just having come and visited my blog - BUT ... one condition, please leave me a comment.

Dripping with awards signing off ....