Autumn in Johannesburg

The brush of Autumn has been busy, changing my landscape from bright greens, lush pinks and purples, to the crisp, crinkly colours of burnt orange, golden yellow and shades of brown.  The morning breeze is fresh and stings my cheeks, and at nigh the warmth of the day quickly disappears into the chilly early dark evenings, making snuggling deep under the covers a must!

With autumn all around me, I was inspired by the autumn colours for my next layout for Monica's travel album.  The layout is one of Jowilna Nolte's -  I managed to attend one of her classes a month ago, and love the simplicity of the layout, which gives scrappers like me a good foundation to build a new layout on, exploring my creativity with the selection of papers and patterns and other finishes I used to complete this layout.

Monica was lucky enough to be in Monaco - July 2011 - while the city was preparing the city for the wedding of Prince Albert and our other famous Benoni girl, Charlene.  It's quite fantastic to see the South African flag dancing on the soft breeze alongside the flags of Monaco.

This page captures Monica sipping strawberry daiquiris with Natasha in front of the Casino Royale, while the rich and famous play all around them in their Italian sports cars. 

I made flowers, cut from my Cricut machine to embellish the lower left hand corner..

...and the rest of the layout I used a few pearls and buttons to compliment the layout.  The paper in this layout was my inspiration and hero..  

A clean crisp layout... lets see what I get up to next.

Take care and remember to get all the winter woolies ready, Winter is not far off.

Monica's scrapbooking album

I have promised my friend, Monica, that I will capture all her wonderful memories of her trip to the South of France. 

The first part of this task was to make an album for her travelling companion, Natasha, which was finished and delivered to her 3 weeks ago.

My next task was interrupted by life, but I am happy to report that the introduction page is done.  A bit busy, as I am battling to get into the scrappy groove.

But here it is, and may it be the start of a lovely keepsake for Monica.

I made all the flowers and butterflies, cut with my Cricut machine and embellished with bits and bops of bling....

And some touches were added with rub-ons and charms tied to the mounting card with ribbon....

This layout was based on a sketch challenge from Scrapbook Challenges, a fabulous on line scrapping community that I belong to.  Inspiration and praise on tap and I am glad that I am finally back in the saddle again.

Scrapping in the African bush

This past weekend we spent with friends at Zebula Country Lodge, outside a region called Bela-Bela, approximately 2 hours drive from our home. 

My husband, Dan and 3 of his friends form part of a regular golf four-ball who play golf every Saturday, come rain or shine. The past two weeks, 2 of the golf buddies celebrated their birthdays and what better excuse was there than to pack up the families and spend the weekend playing golf and enjoying the African bush while celebrating a birthday or two?

The men left Johannesburg at 6 AM Friday morning and my friend Jeanette and I, followed mid morning with a car loaded with food and our scrapbooking goodies.  Our mission to make sure everything was ready for the arrival of the rest of the party and to do some scrapbooking on the patio of the bush house, while we wait for everyone to arrive.

Soon we were rewarded for our foresight and brilliance, when a Kudu bull walked up to our patio and had a good look at what we were doing.   He stood patiently while Jeanette distracted him while I took photographs.

The setting was glorious, the weather very hot, and the scrapbooking FABULOUS! 

My soul has been re-charged and I am thankful for the Blessings of living in this beautiful country, for being priveledged enough to enjoy God's beautiful creatures up close and the beauty of the mountains quietly guarding the valley in which we stayed!

Being behind my scrapbooking goals for this week

It is Thursday and I am feeling a bit exasperated that I have not managed to do any scrapbooking this week.

I have managed to apply the finishing touches to the album that I was making for a friend of mine, and am happy to report that it was handed to her this morning after gym.

The weather has also not played it's part, as the skylight in my scrapbooking nook, makes it unbearably hot to work between 12H30 and 14H00 as that is when the sun shines directly onto my main desk and I had a giggle to see how destructive the sun can be if you leave a piece of paper on top of coloured cardstock....  For obvious reasons, the aircon and a fan have both also been banished.

Here are a few glimpses of small elements of Natasha's travel album.  These embellies are on the front page of the album...

Contrasting buttons' adding a bit of colour...

 Flowers cut with my Cricut machine.... layered and inked....

 And a few charms added with a paper clip

Hope that I can start on my next project tomorrow, till then;
Happy scrapping everyone
x

Friday 20 January 2012 - New slate

Breathe in... breathe out..

The start of 2012 has been a busy one for me on a domestic front, and I have tried my best to get a bit of scrapping done, but only managed to add the finishing touches to an album I am making for a friend.

In between the washing machine, the dishwasher and creating meals for my family, I managed a few "tea breaks" in front of the computer, and in my quest, searching for inspiration for my scrapbooking, I have managed to create information overload...

I have joined "lets scrap" and now also "Scrapping for Africa" and am inspired by everything and everybody involved in these online communities.

I think it is safe to say, that when my domestic worker returns on Monday, I will be found in my scrapbooking den, creating, croping, texturising and having fun!