Falling tree

Look what waited for me when I got home on Wednesday. Yeah, a huge branch (well it is huge to me as this is about the only tree in my garden), had fallen down from all the rain. We had 3 days worth of constant rain. The poor tree. I guess I should consider myself lucky as it fell into the garden, if it had been anywhere else it would've fallen on the wall and on my electric fence and probably would've broken it. Electric fence I hear you ask :-) Yes, we have electric fences here for security. A small deterrent, hoping robbers will not target you and your house.

Anyhow, i do have a card to share with you all. So read on.

















This image is also one of the ones which was sent to me by Paula. I wish I owned such gorgeous stamps.

It was for a colleagues whose daughter is turning six tomorrow. Boy did I struggle to decide where to add the 6. It took me forever. It just did not look good wherever I placed it. Finally this is what I came up with.

I guess this is a Whiff of Joy stamp. I coloured it with my Lyra pencils and baby oil. Talking about baby oil. A fellow blogger, weewiccababe, asked me about the baby oil. Yip it works just as well as Sansador and Gamsol. I have sansador, and it was expensive, but read somewhere on the net about using baby oil with wax based pencils, so I thought I had to try it. It works like a charm and somehow I prefer it to the Sansador. I am sorry now I spent all that money on it, but that's life hey.

I also stamped the name Sid, short for Sidney at the bottom in VersaMark watermark ink, it is not that visabile on the photo.

So here is the card, hope you like it.

Here are some close ups!

Well that's all for today, I am off to do some crafting! Although my children (dogs) are waiting to go and play ball. So I can see I might have to do that first. It's probably still too hot, I might take a quick hour crafting then play ball and then back to the cards.

Cay all soon.

I've been tagged!

So, being new to the world of blogging, my blog is only 2 months old, I am sure you can imagine my surprise when I got tagged. I was quite delighted to find out it was nothing as daunting as I had imagined.

My blog buddy Mar is the guilty party here, and this is what I haved to do. I have to post the 6th photo from the 6th folder of my pictures, and I have to explain when and what it is of.

So here is my best friend Michelle, to the left, with Tracey. It was taken in May 2008 at a nightclub called Casablanca, in Fourways, Johannesburg, South Africa. We had great fun that night, far too many tequilas, and if Michelle sees this picture of her on my blog, she is definitely going to make me drink lots more :-) Luckily she doesn't do any blogging, so I think I am pretty safe.

Unfortunately I do not have 5 blogging buddies, and Mar has already been tagged, so I am going to tag the world's best card maker, Paula. She's a busy lady, so I am not sure we will get to see the 6th picture from her 6th folder, but one never knows, it might just be revealed.

Retirement

No, it's not me. Unfortunately. I was asked to create a retirement card for a colleague, lucky guy. Okay, I probably don't want to wish myself older, but I would love to be able to retire. Just think of all the time I'll have to craft.

This image was one of the MANY which my idol Paula Williamson sent me. Go check her blog http://paulatracy66.typepad.com/paper_possibilities/ and see her beautiful cards. She's a genius.

I thought this little mouse relaxing in the sun is just perfect, as it is hopefully how his days will be spent. Relaxing in the sun, and we do have a lot of sun here.

I coloured it with my brand new Lyra pencils, and baby oil. It was such fun and I just love those pencils. They too, came highly recommended by Paula.

Close up!
I thought that wavy paper was ideal as it looks like waves in the sea. I hope you all agree :-)

Well that is it for today, hopefully there will be more to come this week.

African theme?

Morning all,


I was asked by a colleague for a card with an African theme, to go to Switzerland. This is as African as I got ;-) Hey there is a giraffe on there - hehehe. I hope she likes it, otherwise I'll have to think of something else. I'm sure this card could come to good use otherwise.

Here is the pewter I did on Saturday. I have had all the pewter goodies since about 4 years, and have finally made something. For now, it is just the image itself, but I am still trying to decide where it should go. I could use it to decoupage something, or it could go on a card. That was the original idea. It was supposed to be used for the African theme card... but I wasn't sure it was good enough to go overseas.

I'll share whatever it gets used for eventually.

Okay got to rush, I am SO late for my first day back at work!!! Yew, I am so not in the mood either ;-(

Have a great day!

Free Candy

Hey everyone, go and check Michelle's blog, http://donkeysmiles.blogspot.com/2009/01/valentine-blog-candy.html, she's giving away some really exciting stuff, and after all who does not like candy!

I am hoping to post my pewter design I made yesterday. I am so slow at crafting and always have so much to do at home that I don't get enough time. It was my first attempt, so it wasn't too bad.

See you soon, with my pewter.

How to make the stamp rack

Hi All

I've had such a response on my docrafts gallery to my stamp rack, that I thought I would put a bit more information on how to make it, here on my blog.

It is really simple, and I will give you a quick run down. We use the metric system here, so for those who don't, you'd have to convert my measurements :-) http://www.onlineconversion.com/length_common.htm

So, I had a piece of masonite board which measured 1610 x 1110 mm (millimeters), you can of course make it any size you prefer. I bought a piece of chipboard, and had that cut up into 2 strips of 1610 mm in length and 65mm in width, which was for the sides of the rack and 12 strips of 1078mm, these made up the shelves. The reason they are 1078 mm and not 1110mm, is that I took off the width of the two strips on the sides, they are 16mm in width each, so 1110mm less 32mm is 1078. (Right, I think so :-)) The shelves (12 strips of 1078mm were also cut in widths of 65mm). So I can easily fit two rows of stamps per shelf. Although I have not done that, as I like to see the stamps and have only put some smaller ones in front of the bigger ones. Then all I did was buy some screws, I already had some wood glue at home.

To start I made the outer frame. I took the two 1610mm strips and laid them next to each other, 1078mm apart, wide side up (refer to the photo to get the idea). I took two 1078mm strips and put them in between (also wide side up) the 1610 strips, one at the top and one at the bottom. At the corners of the frame, I first drilled the holes for the screws (just smaller than the actual screw) and then put a bit of wood glue between each piece of wood before putting in the screw (it makes it so much stronger). So you end up with what looks like a very big frame. Once that was done all I did was put the rest of the 1078 strips in my frame, spaced them as I wanted them and did exactly the same for each one. Screwed a hole each side, then a bit of wood glue and then put the screws in either side. In the end I screwed the masonite board to the back of my frame, and that was it.

I sure hope that this makes sense. I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures as I went a long, I didn't think I would get such a reaction. But it is really easy and I promise you can also do it.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.

Finally some cards

I have finally managed to finish some cards which I'd love to share with you all. All three the stamps are from a local stamp company in South Africa, called Best rubber stamps. (I think they ship internationally if anyone is interested http://www.bestrubberstamps.co.za/)

I used my nestabilities die above and all images are stamped on

water colour paper and coloured with Tombows.

Not much more I can tell you about the cards, all are done with Tombows. I can't wait to get back to my craft room, which by the way I have finally tidied a bit again. It's unbelievable how quickly it can get messy :-)

My cleaning lady has been on holiday and I tell you I cannot wait for her to return next week. I am so not enjoying keeping the house clean and doing the cleaning myself. I don't know how she does it 6 days of every week.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and hopefully I'll have something new to share soon again.