More card making

On 21 May 2010, I went for another card lesson.  These lessons are held at the Pigeon Club, in Durban North with Bee and the next one is on 17 June 2010 at 5:30pm.  They cost R120-00 and you do three wonderful cards.  It is lots of fun and very motivational.

These are the cards we made that evening ...

This is a little box that you could fill with sweets, or a small gift.

A waterfall card.  You pull the little pink tab at the bottom and the various tabs flip up revealing your quotes or other decorations you want to put there.

This was a card that had an envelope built into it.

These are the cards I made at the class in April ....

Pull the tab at the top and voila ....

And another cute card.

Card maker signing off ....

My Flower Pot

I recently finished dry brushing my ceramic flower pot.  This is the end result and I must say I had a lot of fun doing it ...

Not too potty, signing off ....

Poor Izzy

Izzy my little mini sausage dog was attached on Friday morning about two weeks ago by our other sausage dog, Jemma, for no reason whatsoever.  Dereck heard them growling in his office but he thought it was Jemma and Zippa playing and when he turned around saw that it was Izzy, but the damage had been done. Dereck got involved and managed to separate them, but in the process stood on his glasses which had fallen off.  He managed to get my maid Theresa to phone me and I met him at the vet.  Poor Izzy had a huge hole in her rump and under her tummy near her back legs, plus a bit hole in her forehead and a few other gashes on her back.  The vet set her up on a drip and gave her some medicine to calm her down and then looked at her wounds.  She noticed that she had lost some teeth - top tooth and four bottom teeth, so now she dribbles a bit and her tongue hangs out even more when she relaxes (it looks cute though!).  She had to stay there while they monitored her.  We were advised that she needed to be operated on to sort out the two big wounds that she had but they could only do that once the swelling had gone down.  I went to visit her after work and managed to get her to eat her food.  She was so excited to see me and just wanted to climb out the cage to get to me.  It was very sad seeing her like that.  We went to visit her on the Saturday morning and she was certainly a bit more perky but had lots of bruising on her tummy and had a pressure bandage around her tummy because of all the swelling.  On Sunday when we went to visit her we were allowed to take her outside and let her run around on the grass and as she wasn't eating, was told I could bring some of her favourite food, which when I gave to her, she guzzled it down.

On Monday evening we brought her home to sleep with us and she went back to the Vet on Tuesday morning and she came home again on Tuesday night.  On Wednesday they operated on her and were pleased that there was not too much damage and then stitched her up.  Due to there being so much fluid on the rump injury she had to have a drain put in her and then had to wear a collar to stop her licking or scratching the wound.  She did not like that at all, but even the smallest collar did not stop her from being able to reach her sore to lick it.  All the licking probably healed it as the next morning, it was not oozing and certainly looked a lot better.  The day before she had to go and have the drain removed, she pulled it out herself!!

Here is what she looked like with her collar on and her face shaved where the wound was - definitely not a happy doggie ....

The bandage on her front leg is where the drip had been and the plaster was sticking to her.

She is certainly on the mend and is due to have her stiches taken out on Monday. 

Sad doggy mommy signing off ....

 

A bit of a winning streak

About three weeks ago I attended the KZN Masters Athletics luncheon held at what used to be called the Pinedene Lodge (sorry, I just can't remember what their new name is.)  I had a painting lesson in the morning and went straight from there, so was a bit late - everyone had already finished their starter.  It was a great day and was good to see everyone getting recognised for their athletic achievements.  Sharon Fuchs was the most improved athlete with her racewalking times.  Jeanine le Febour was going round to everyone to get them to buy raffle tickets for two raffles they had which were tog bags filled with goodies.  I took four tickets and when they announced that they were going to do the raffle and explained what it was, I looked around and saw one of the bags was grey and purple and my immediate thoughts were "well, maybe I should just go up now to collect".  They drew the first name and it was ........ Michelle Ramsay.  I could not believe it.  Here is a picture of the bag ...

On opening the bag, it was filled with all sorts of goodies ....

Then the following week-end we went to a baseball fundraising evening with wonderful live music and lots of lucky draw prizes and I won a bottle of champagne ..

So all in all a good, profitable 2 week-ends.

Winner signing off ....

A week-end in Strand in Cape Town

My friend Desire was invited to teach a scrapping class at a Forever Memories Scrapping Convention at the Ocean View Hotel in Strand, Cape Town over the week-end 8 & 9 May 2010. As her Durban scrapday assistant she asked me if I would be able to help her with this class and man the shop, which I happily agreed to. I left Durban from the new King Shaka airport and I must say it is really very nice - lots of space and quite modern. My flight was delayed for an hour due to the delay of an incoming flight, so poor Desire was waiting at Cape Town airport. And to top it all, I was going via Port Elizabeth, so there was a delay there too. When I finally got to Cape Town she had arranged a shuttle service to get us to our hotel, which was the Ocean View in Strand - right on the beach. This is a picture from the beach of our hotel and our room was on the left hand side, the second row from the top (with the curtains open).This was the view looking out of our room, to the left ...
and looking to the right .....
We met up with Sheila Corfe and Debbie van Coppenhagen who flew down later on the Friday. After a couple of Strawberry Daquiries and a few other refreshing drinks we headed off to bed in preparation for our scrapping on Saturday.

We got up early, had breakfast and then went to the conference venue to set up shop. Our classes started at 9:00am and while there were interesting and different things being done, it was not my type of layout and there were one or two that I did not do as I felt my photos were not appropriate. One of the classes was a painting class where we had to paint onto a canvass, incorporating photos as well and this is something that I will do at home with the right photos. Quite a lot like doing decoupage.

During the breaks, sales at the shop went very well and the delegates were quite taken with Desire's layouts as well as the templates. Once she had done her class on the Sunday morning, everyone was commenting on how much they liked her class, the way she had notes to follow and that there was a photo of the finished layout that they could see how it looked. Most of the ladies finished this layout and all were very pleased at having been able to use so many photos.

Sunday was the day we were going to go out and take photos, but it was raining. Because of it being mother's day, the restaurant was booked out so we were privileged to have our lunch in the Presidential Suite on the 6th floor. Wow, this was quite spectacular! We finished our scrapping early and after packing everything up in boxes to be couriered back to Desire in Johannesburg and in other boxes to go into our suitcases, we went downstairs to the pub to wait for Sheila and Debbie. While we were waiting we noticed that it was not raining and decided to go for a walk on the beach. It was rather cool - Desire will say freezing - but fresh. We went on the beach and because I was wearing sandals, I took them off. It is a long while since I went walking on the beach, but it was lovely. We had fun taking the pictures below ....
Notice how my feet are in the water .... yes it was cold and they were getting numb!
Almost reached the top ....

This was all we saw of the sunset, but just enough to get a picture ..
There was lots of this seaweed all over. Haven't seen much of this in Durban on the few times that I have been to the beach. Also, there were lots of lovely shells on the sand as well. I remember as a child collecting loads of shells every time we went to the beach and there was such a selection of them too.
Monday morning we got up a bit later and were collected at 9:00am to be taken back to the airport. My flight was delayed for about 30 minutes and Dereck was waiting to fetch me once I reached Durban.

A really wonderful week-end away with great friends. We had lots of laughs and fun just chilling.

Our next scrapping get-away is in July at Vermaakskraal and I cannot wait for this treat.

Grant leaves tomorrow for a 2 week holiday to visit Leanne in Wales and wanted to go out tonight and I had to take him and fetch him at 12:00am which is why I have had the chance to finally do some updates on my blog while I wait before going to fetch him.

Cape Town visitor signing off ....

Making Cards

Hello everyone, I am back. I have been busy playing FarmVille on Facebook, much to the annoyance of Dereck as it uses a lot of bandwidth. But.... I have also been busy - painting ceramic vases (which just needs one more coat of varnish, painting boxes in preparation for some folk art painting lessons, been to Cape Town to assist Desire who had been asked by Forever Memories to teach a class, scrapping my USA layouts - I am now on the Las Vegas part of our trip, mosaicing a frame around a mirror that I have and of course making cards. I have been to a couple of lessons with Bee in Durban North and have thoroughly enjoyed them. I was browsing the web recently and found the instructions for the cards I made below. They are really cute and I have used scraps of paper to make them, so it is one way of using up my scraps and creating something nice.

This card below is for Leanne. It is her birthday on 20 May and Grant is leaving tomorrow for a 2 week holiday in Wales with her. I am sure she is going to love it as Winnie the Pooh is her favourite.

This card is for a special friend, Kathy who, as you have guessed, turns 50 and Shelley, Rayna and I will be seeing her on the week-end. I am sure she is going to enjoy getting this cute little card along with her present. She can at least tell me what being 50 is like so that when I get there I will know how to feel - ha ha ha.

Card maker signing off ....

Special Week-end Away

For the long week-end of the 19 - 22 March, I went up to Johannesburg to help Desire with putting together kits for the scrapbook convention that we are going to in May. Desire has been asked to teach a class and I am going as her assistant. I left home in time to catch the 6h15 flight to Lanseria where Desire and Conroy collected me. We went for breakfast and then headed to their house in Dainfern Ridge Estate. I had been to a card making class the evening before and another one last month, so had all my samples to show Desire. The one she really liked the most was this one which she named the "scaffold" card. I showed her how to make it and we both made one. This was mine.
Then Desire showed me how to do the Iris folding. She makes a lot of these and I have always wondered how they are done. I was sent the templates, but they meant nothing to me at the time. I must say I really had fun making this card, which I will be giving to my dad for his birthday on 7 April 2010.
Then at 4h00 on Saturday morning, we were up and getting ready to leave to go to the Hartebeesport Dam to take part in the 21.1km run and walking race. I was very nervous of doing this race as the furtherest I have walked since May 2008 is 4km and most of the time it is on the treadmill at a maximum of 2.5 km. Desire did say that we had 4 hours to do it in, but that was just not the point. Anyway we eventually got parked and had to rush to collect our entries and get to the start. The adrenalin was pumping as we thought we were late. We walked through quite a number of estates near the dam, there were plenty of watering tables with ice cold water and at some of the later ones there were goodies to eat - my best was the little mini milk tart - it was just needed at that time. Desire and I walked together for most of the race, but then at about 5km to go, she went up a hill and great speed and I could just not catch her although she was always in my sight. By this time my calves and my bum were really tight and I was also now tired of this race and wanted to be finished. I managed to finish in a very respectable time of 2h52:27 which is the same time I did my last race in September 2006 in Durban in. So, I was really pleased at that. The weather was lovely and went overcast which was perfect. My calves were really tight and once Conroy had dropped us off at home, he went off to buy some reparil gel and some enos. By Monday I was fine and would never have said I had just walked 21.1km.

The rest of the week-end we spent getting things together for some of my USA layouts and then stamping, punching and counting brads to get ready for the kits for May in Cape Town.

Tuesday morning came along far too quickly and I was taken to the airport in time to catch the 6h15 flight back to Durban, get home and change and then go off to work.

An awesome week-end away and very fulfilling.

Proud walker and iris folder signing off ....

Meet "Jubilee"

I posted previously a card I had made for Julie at work in celebration of her 50th birthday (which is today). I found out that she collects teddy bears, so decided to make one for her. The pattern is "Phutu" and is available from Teddy Tech in Florida Road, Durban. It was a nice pattern to sew (yes, all by hand!!) and I have just finished her. I had a little ceramic dragon fly which I attached to her paw. I hope Julie likes her.


Teddy maker signing off ....

50th Card for Julie

Julie from my work turns 50 on Sunday, 14 March 2010. I was asked to make her a card, seeing as I had just been to a card making workshop. Here is the end result and I must say I had loads of fun putting it together and really like how it came out.
Another scrapping friend at work gave me the little teddy and I remade his bow and added some goggly eyes.

Because there were 12 people to sign the card, I made a little booklet which I only stuck into the card once everyone had signed it thereby protecting the card from being opened and closed all the time. It is the piece on the right hand side with a blue arrow on it. I also added some little square beads with a teddy charm and when the card it open it hangs in the space.

Certainly a card type that I will make more of in the future.

Looking forward to my next card making lesson on 18 March 2010 at the Pigeon Club in Durban North with Bee.

Happy card maker signing off ....

Card Making

Last Thursday I attended a card making workshop run by Belinda Hellerle (Bee). Boy, what fun. I found it a great way to make use of all the left over scraps of paper from scrapping - and I certainly have plenty. Bee uses lots of inspirational quotes which were also very nice and positive to use.

This card was a bit tricky as you have to cut it and then refold one of the sections. Once you understood what needed to be done it was a breeze and I ended up helping a few of the ladies to grasp the concept. I love how it turned out and I will certainly be making some more of these. The inside of the card where you can see the cutting.

Another three fold card, simple but very effective and I really enjoyed making this one. You could certainly adapt the size and it looks quite smart even though there is not much to it.

This card used a transparency as the base and then the paper etc on top of it. A nice different idea. You just have to be careful that all your sticking is hidden by what you put in the inside of the card.

Lots of fun and full of inspiration.

Thanks for looking.

Card maker signing off ....

Midmar Mile 2010

After all the months of training, today was the day. Dereck and I left home just after 06h30 and got to Midmar Dam nice and early and managed to get the same spot we had last year. Everyone else arrives shortly thereafter. We had a copule of gazebos which we put up and then sat around chilling while waiting for the time to go and get our lift to the start.

The girls team consisted of Kate, myself, Shannon (Paula's friend) Glynis and Paula. Our team event was at 09h45. We were seeded depending on past races, so Kate was off

first in the red cap batch, I was second in the blue cap batch and then followed Paula, Shannon and Glynis in the next batch of yellow caps.

The weather was stunning - lovely blue skies and sun. The dam certainly looked very calm until you had to swim it!! then you felt the current and waves as boats drove up and down checking on us and the masses of people kicking and swimming into you.

Kate managed an impressive 31 minutes, Paula did 36 minutes, Shannon did 39 minutes, I did 46 minutes and Glynis did about 48 minutes. All very proud of our achievements.

The boys team - The Dark Lords - consisted of Darryl, Dereck and Sven. Darryl did 51 minutes and Sven did 39 minutes (and I am told that he did next to no training, although he is a surfer, so maybe that fitness counted!!) Dereck unfortunately ended up swallowing too much water and got himself into trouble and ended up being rescued and had a leisurely boat ride back to the finish. After the race, we all sat around chilling, some cooking breakfast on the skottle, while others decided to rather buy something to eat.

We ended up leaving there at about 2:30. A really fun day and all looking forward to next year.

Oh, by the way, the girls team were named the "glamourous gliding guppies" and Sven designed a logo for us (he also did the boys one on the shirts they are wearing), but we just did not have the time to get it printed, so next year at least we have our logo and will get shirts printed.

4 down 6 to go (to get my permanent number)

Midmar miler signing off.....

My Love - Izzy

The challenge over at Scrap A Tale was all about love. So I decided to do this page (based on a sketch) about my sausage dog Izzy.

The journalling is as follows:

On 7 November 2006 whilst driving down our road in 5 o’clock traffic Leanne noticed a little sausage dog darting up the road. I pulled into our drive way and by the time Leanne had got out, the little dog had already gone past our house and had crossed the road (Underwood Rd, which is very busy!). She ran after this little dog and managed to catch up with it. I walked down the road to see what was taking Leanne so long and met her with the cutest little sausage dog that melted my heart. I took her from Leanne and just cuddled her. She was as skinny as anything, her ears had no hair on them and were like leather and she was full of scratches on her tummy. We took her home and fed her and the next day phoned the local Vet and the SPCA. After 2 weeks no-one had claimed her and we decided that as she had already crept into our hearts, we would keep her.

She is my “little black shadow”. She follows me everywhere. She cuddles under the duvet with me at night. She jumps onto my lap when I am in the loo. She sits on my lap while watching TV. She has a pillow on my craft box where she sleeps while I scrap and when she is tired, she climbs under my t/shirt so that she can sleep. She has such a gentle nature and has never ever snatched food from anyone’s hand when they feed her. She loves me unconditionally and holds a special place in my heart.

Thanks for looking.

Doggie lover signing off ....

An update on Biddy

On 23 December 2009, Biddy ran her first race. It was the second race at Greyville over 1000m. We had arranged a table of 20 at the Durban View Room (where you have a wonderful buffet supper and can watch out the glass windows). There was a delay with the first race as they had a false start. We all went down to the parade ring to watch her being saddled up by Paul Lafferty, her trainer (and also a part owner of her) and then watched her walk around the ring. The jockey came up to us and we all shook hands with him. A very nice little guy called Muzi Yeni. There was a serious storm looming and Paul had received a phone call from a friend of his in Umhlanga advising him that there was hail. There was also quite a bit of lightning. Anway, we then went up to the Durban View Room to watch her go to the start. And then the race began .... she jumped out of the starting pens and then didn't quite know what to do and lost about 2 lengths off the leader. She maintained her pace and got into the group and coming along the straight she was probably second last, but went on to run a fantastic race and deadheated for 3rd. Boy was that exiting. Our whole table was standing up and shouting for her. It was awesome. The report back was that she ran a great race and wanted to run and she should do very well next time out which is possibly on the 10 January 2010.

Today, Dereck and I went to the stables to see her. She really is a lovely horse and just likes to muzzle up to you. She was doing that to me and muzzling my tummy and sniffing my bag. I think I should find out if I can give her sugar cubes and then treat her!!

She has such a gentle nature and is a very special horse to us.

Horse kissed signing off ....