DOING LIFE

From left to right: Yours truly, Jenny Reid, Charmian MacKenzie, Sophia Allison, Suzette Witteveen and Ellie Griffiths XMAS 2005 with PICK-OF-THE-CROP Monday, 19 December 2005 From left to right: Me, Jenny, Charmian, Sophia, Suzette and Ellie. We (Pick-of-the-Crop) celebrated another year of scrapbooking together. We come together every Monday evening for three hours, scrapping, socialising and catching up on the latest gossip/trends in the scrapbooking industry. We have been doing this since November 2002 and have become very close friends. As you can see we usually go the whole hog (outfits) when celebrating - which is of course very important for capturing on camera and getting scrapbooked! It has become custom for us to exchange small gifts amongst each other during the festive season. I am briefly giving each of my (scrapping) friends' profiles: Jenny Reid "Hi, I am Jennifer-Ann Reid, fondly called Jenny by my friends. I was born on 31st October 1953 (you can work out my age as each year passes). I’m a born and bred Durbanite, which means I have grown up by the sea and not far from the mountains and the Game reserves. I got married in January 1976 to my still gorgeous husband Bruce, who is truly one in a million! (This seems to be a common trait amongst my Scrapbooking pals – see other profiles). I have been treated to surprise trips to Mauritius, the QE2, and the latest…flown to Johannesburg for a Valentine’s dinner! So just imagine all the photos. But I must point out he is an Arian, which means he is self-seeking in his sporting activities, i.e. the one’s I can’t take part in! [golf] At first this wasn’t an issue as the lack of free time, due to raising my two girls whilst working full time, meant I didn’t have the time to notice this small flaw. With the girls now grown-up and living in the UK, I now have a lot of time to myself…this has encouraged me to find a hobby. Up till now my only hobby has been work, work AND more work; until I was introduced to Scrapbooking that is! This took place when I got involved in completing a Scrapbooking project for my youngest daughter’s 21st in 2001. At first I was over whelmed by the time consumption of this art and on completion of the album I ceased to scrapbook for almost a year. But in August 2002 the bug bit again as I had decided I can no longer keep putting things on hold for when I retire – NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT! And so I started lessons with Desire. Our group now meet once a week and ‘scrap’ together. For me it is so wonderfully relaxing, and I have now made some fantastic friends – who are willing to share their ideas, their tools, papers & gadgets as well as give constructive advice to help with my Scrapbooking improvement" Charmian MacKenzie "Born and bred in Cape Town, the mother city, I moved to the Durban area in 1985. After moving from house to house, my husband and I finally settled in Pinetown (+/-20 Km outside Durban) about 10 years ago. I am a trained medical technologist and work mornings in a laboratory. This leaves my afternoons "free" to do the school run and supervise homework, etc. for my sons Rory (12) and Cameron (7). My husband, Duncan, is a seafarer and sometimes spends months away from home. As a family, we try to make up for lost time when Dad is home and spend time doing special things together and these are then duly recorded photographically and ultimately in the pages of my scrapbook. In October 2002, by my friend Ellie asked me to go with her to a scrapbook class. Always one to take lots of photo's, scrapping seemed a natural progression and I was hooked! Initially, places stocking paper and scrapping paraphernalia were thin on the ground, but as the hobby in this country has grown, more outlets are stocking more supplies! Bad news for the credit card! I am now a confirmed "scrapaholic" and since there is no known cure, I may as well enjoy the addiction.I also enjoy sewing and am interested in interior decorating." Sophia Allison "Live each day like there is no tomorrow" Born and bred in Durban on 30th July 1968 and the eldest of 4. I have 3 younger brothers and my parents hail from a little island called Mauritius. My hobbies include reading, cooking and of course 'SCRAPBOOKING'. Married my loving and caring husband, Murray on the 10th November 2001. I am currently working as a Secretary for the MD at Shave Paints in Pinetown. I was introduced to Scrapbooking by my sister-in-law in October 2002, then started taking lessons with Desire and got hooked... Our family grew to three with the birth of our beautiful daughter Amy, in January 2004. She has brought us nothing but joy since she came into our lives, we both feel so blessed! I am part of a social Scrapbooking club, where we get together at each others home once a week to scrap our pages and generally share exciting and new ideas with each other. The 6 of us have become very good friends and we all try to attend Crop days as a group and just have fun!! Suzette Witteveen "I was born in Cape Town and at the age of 10 my father was transferred to Durban. Our family settled in Westville and I attended the local Westville schools. As a young scholar I was passionate about ballet and after matric danced professionally. From The Ballet company I moved on to gain my Teacher's qualifications and then taught Ballet for many years. In 1989 I married Tjebbe - who is of Dutch descent, and my ballet career came to an end after the birth of my daughter Minke in 1990. Two years later Nicholas was born. My husband is an avid bird watcher, nature lover, camper and hiker so we spend as much time as we can outdoors. Photography is another passion of ours and many, many photographs are taken. My mother had an immense interest in anything creative and it was upon her suggestion that we attended some scrapbooking lessons with Desire. I find the process of creating my "Memory Albums" relaxing, thought provoking and very satisfying with a wonderful sense of achievement upon completion of a page. It has certainly changed the way I look at and photograph life" Ellie Griffiths "I don't drink, I don't smoke, but I must confess...I'm an addicted SCRAP-a-holic" Hi. My name is Ellen (pronounced Allen) as I was born in Oberstaufen, Germany, the beautiful southern part right next to the international ski slope town of Oberstdorf. Most people fondly abbreviate my name to Ellie. After leaving Germany, living in Afghanistan for 3 years, we emigrated to South Africa. My father’s profession in textiles was sort after in Pinetown, Durban and we have lived here ever since. I’ve been married for 13 years to a wonderful, loving and caring husband, Philip. We have a 10-year-old son Peter (pronounced Peta). He is an absolute joy to both of us. One day in November 2002, when I was shopping for bee’s wax paper for my Dad’s birthday bash, which we were holding for him at our home, by pure chance I discovered “Scrapbooking” in a fantastic craft shop in Kloof and decided to go for a lesson. Since then, I’ve been hooked. Even though Scrapbooking started out purely as a hobby, I have now progressed to the extent where I have become a consultant and give lessons to people who are keen to learn. Both my “boys” are very supportive of my decision to do Scrapbooking and Peter will even hunt out articles and magazines in stores and bring them to my attention. My husband even builds light boxes for all Scrapbooking ladies. My hobbies used to be sewing, dancing (ballet and modern) and being in several amateur shows, swimming, travelling. Now in between Scrapbooking, I manage to fit in some sailing and we go caravanning once a month (but I still sneak some Scrapbooking with me). I am a typesetter (setting up articles and books/magazines prior to printing) by trade but after discovering Scrapbooking, nothing can take its place. Since discovering Scrapbooking, I really enjoy taking photos (which are better than they used to be) and can’t wait for them to be developed so that I can add them to my Scrapbook collection." Signing off: SCRAPAHOLIC