FESTIVE SEASON CREATIONS - Friday, 29 December 2006

It just comes to show that when one makes your goals/missions public, you must expect certain blog addicts out there to keep track of these missions on your behalf. A few months ago I went public with five missions which I wanted to accomplish before 2007, one of them was to design and create 10 scrapbooking layouts before 2007. At that stage it meant one layout every week.

I was rudely awaken by Michelle ('the outsider'), who has been doing a countdown and informed me very politely that there are only four days left of 2006 and that I have only done 7 layouts thus far. Talking about pressure! No rest for the wicked during this festive season.

Well, this one is just for the outsider - eight down two to go.

Just to show that I do get side tracked from time to time ('outside walker' please take note), here's a card creation I did for Debbie Cox's 50th Birthday. I took the photo of the Mackaya Bella Flowers in our garden.

- Off to profuse scrapping!

XMAS 2006 We shared this special day with our special friends from Roodepoort, Carel and Belinda Volschenk and their two sons Duane and Kyle who is our god children, at our home in Kloof, Durban, RSA. It was a mostly humid and muggy overcast day. The Xmas lunch menu of cold meats and salads suited the weather and comprised the following: - Cherry Glazed Gammon with Cranberry Jelly - Roasted Beef - Chicken Drumsticks - Potato Salad - Spicy Pasta Salad - Tossed Salad - Pavlova for Desert Needless to say that Xmas supper was a Deja View affair. Belinda and I spent the afternoon of the 24th preparing the Xmas lunch, whilst the men took various catnaps and had a cheek complaining afterwards that they could not seriously enjoy their catnaps due to the drowning of the Kenwood mixer which was turning egg whites into meringue for the Pavlova. But the 'proof was in the pudding' when the Pavlova made its appearance on Xmas day!

A jolly atmosphere prevailed during Xmas eve when, after a few glasses of wine and aperitifs the men were challenged to do the Xmas version of the Vodacom 'Leeuloop'. But it was all mouth and no action.

* This was the closest Conroy got to the Leeuloop

* Even after a thorough study of the 'Drinks' book, the Leeuloop

remained a LeeuSit!

- Trust all our friends and family had a very special Xmas 2006!

XMAS SHOPPING AT GATEWAY - Saturday, 23 December 2006 Conroy and me were excited having our very good friends Carel and Belinda with their two sons Duane and Kyle (our god children) staying with us for a few days over the Xmas weekend. We headed for the Gateway shopping centre round about 10am on Saturday and had a substantial brunch before hitting the movies for a view of Casino Royale and De Ja Vu. Must say that the latest 007 movie was quite entertaining and loaded with various creative photography moments. The intro was also very interesting from a scrappers viewpoint. Saw quite a few design elements for a page or two. I took my camera along and snapped away inside Gateway, whilst strolling around in search of a leather wrist band for Duane. Wrist bands are apparently the latest craze in fashion accessorising amongst boys.

* My design on Gateway

* We did the same design for Belinda's photos of Duane's Matric Farewell

Me and Belinda also had some time during their stay to do a layout or two, under serious protest from the men, which fell on deaf ears. We had a divine dinner at Butchers Boys in Hillcrest. - 007 Fan Signing Off

FACE TO FACE WITH MY IDOL (...cont) - Sunday, 10 December 2006

Just a quick addition to this post. I had goosebumps when reading my idol Candice's response to this post on DOING LIFE that I had to share it with you all:

"Oh my goodness! Desire, I don't know what to say... I am so touched {& very flattered} by this awesome layout. I am really overwhelmed by this beautiful tribute & don't quite have the words to express my gratitude - so may I just say a simple "Thank You". This has truly made my day {if not my entire year!!}. From the bottom of my heart - thank you so very much, this is just so special, it has brought tears to my eyes :o) I am now a frequent visitor to your gorgeous blog & I hope to see you {in person} again in 2007 :o) You are a very special & talented lady & your creative spirit shines through in everything you do. May I wish you everything that is wonderful for Christmas & a New Year that is filled with much happiness & many, many blessings. Thank you again {I've just shown my husband your layout & he is just as blown away as I am!!} Much Love Candice xxx And in the spirit of "Doing Life", I just can't resist .... Signing off - *totally chuffed & absolutely{for once in my life} speechless!!*" --------------------

A few posts back on DOING LIFE, I reported on completing the Reminisce layout Candice Greenway presented on Saturday, 25 November 2006 here in Durban and how it got me putting my growing up years in writing. I also posted Candice's feedback wrt my layout. It was truly an honour to have someone so talented finding time to comment on my work.

I have always been a huge follower of Candice's scrapping designs and find her work truly inspirational. 'Attention to detail' is definitely her trademark. One often looks at her layouts and at first glance you know it is a Candice Greenway layout by recognising her trademark finishing touches i.e. miniature bulldog clips, jewelery tags, unusual creative journaling and photo turns. Her layouts often also resembles glossy magazine advertisements.

With the above in mind, it was such an honour to meet Candice in person and have her 'modelling' for a photo shoot with some of my students who attended her scrapping day. Thank you so much Candice for affording us the opportunity to capture you on film Here's the result.

Thank you so much for looking. - Off to reaching one of my missions

BEADING FRENZY

Just a quick entry to record my latest 'necklace and bracelet set' creation.

Sold: R400

FEEDBACK FROM CANDICE GREENWAY - Monday, 4 December 2006

Back from left: Nicola Jennings, Carol Liebrandt, Libby Hourearou, CANDICE GREENWAY and Sheila Corfe

Front: Desire Fourie (left), Stella Fischer (right)

"Hi Desire! "WOW!!!" is all I can say! Your layout has turned out beautifully - I hope you like it as much as I do?!! I love the way you've used the big clock on the file folder. It's always so amazing to see how someone can take a design & make it their "own" instead of blindly copying a layout verbatim. You've done a fabulous job & the index cards are jam-packed with such interesting, heartwarming & touching info, - that's just what I envisioned. I am so, so impressed :o)

I love the story about the egg trading, what a great memory :o) You have also captured the love that your parents shared so beautifully & it seems you share this same kind of love with your own husband, what a wonderful chronicle of your life - this is what scrapbooking is all about!! Thank you for taking the time to show me your completed project, it really means a lot to me. Sadly I don't often get to see the finished projects, so this was such a treat! Thank you also for your previous email, it's always gratifying to get positive feedback especially in such a thoughtful & detailed manner. I have had a long look at your blog & it is awesome {I may have to ask you for some blog advice, I think it's high time I set up a blog, but I don't have a clue where to even start :oP} I love all the slide shows & may I just compliment you again on your scrapbooking - you have such a gorgeous, distinctive style, you've got some pages on there that literally had my jaw on the ground! Your students are really lucky to have you as their teacher & it looks like you have so much fun together {I could tell during my class what a great bunch of ladies you all are & I'm so thrilled that one of "your" ladies won my special layout prize ;o) }

I also see that you are a lady of many talents, your photography is brilliant & your beading creations are absolutely exquisite ... AND you've been married for 22 years,congratulations, that's a remarkable achievement in this day & age!!

It was so lovely to meet you & I will certainly visit your blog regularly. I will let you know about any other classes I plan to do next year, at the moment there are no firm dates but as soon as I have definite details I will tell you. France has already asked me to come back in November 2007 & there's even some talk of doing something earlier, she mentioned May... will keep you posted :o) It was such a pleasure to be in all the photos with your ladies, I can't wait to see what you do with those. Here is the biography that France read on the morning of the workshop: Eight years ago scrapbooking started as Candice Greenway‘s hobby, and then became her life. Each day opens a brand new page of memories to be captured and cut and pasted and journaled. Candice’s scrapbooks celebrate all of her passions and her layouts are always full of little details. Paying close attention to detail has defined Candice’s scrapbooking style and her pages are always full of her trademark finishing touches – her philosophy is that it’s often the little things we add last, that people notice first. For Candice it’s not only about the big picture, she believes it truly is the little things that count and make our ordinary lives so remarkable. Candice’s work has been and continues to be published both locally and internationally and for the past few years she has written regular columns for a number of our local scrapbooking magazines. She also designs kits and teaches classes across South Africa. Having recently relocated from Joburg to the picturesque coastal village of Kommetjie in the Western Cape, Candice lives with her gorgeous husband, Charles, who also happens to be her No. 1 fan & scrapbooking financier. They share their little blue & white Cape Cod - style wooden home with 2 dogs, 6 cats, 3 kittens & a tortoise, all of which provide her with a constant source of material for her scrapbook pages! Candice believes that scrapbooking is a journey, not only looking back, to the places we’ve been and the friends we’ve made along the way, but also a journey into ourselves, and what we love, and who we want to be. It was so lovely to hear from you & see your stunning layout, THANK YOU!! Love Candice xxx"

- Honoured signing off

REMINISCING - 4 December 2006

Being on leave today, I had some precious spare time, to finish all those loose ends as far as my scrapbooking layouts and card orders were concerned.

It took a whole day to put the finishing touches to Candice Greenway's layout of 25 November, the three folder index cards being the most time consuming. I related my whole life story in a nutshell on these 6 pages and I must say that if it was not for this layout, I probably never would have put my growing-up years into writing. It was kind of therapeutic and conjured up both happy and sad memories of my past. Writing things down helps getting it out of the system and to move on and live for the moment and ponder the future.

I also completed another wedding card order for Julie Dawson's friends Ronnie and Fern. Hope you like it Julie.

- Leave freak signing off

WEDDING BELLS AT THE BARNYARD - Saturday, 2 December 2006

It became evident once again, that in not too a distant future, South Africans will have no option but to own a 4x4 vehicle/truck or even an armed vehicle to brave the country’s ever deteriorating roads. The road between Amersfoort and Ermelo resembled that of an obstacle course, having motorists dodging severe potholes and patches which were sans tar. The Roads Department were however in the process of attempting to fix the roads, resulting in us adding nearly another hour to our traveling time, whilst “patiently” waiting at several 20 minute stops where both directions of traffic was channeled to only one obstacle course lane.

We reached the Barnyard, 10km outside Ermelo, just before 2pm and spotted Lenie finalising last minute wedding arrangements on her cell. It was fantastic seeing our friend again after nearly two years - needless to say that a few tears went rolling by. After getting a quick update on Lenie’s exciting life of late we headed off to the wedding venue to put the finishing touches in place. A good friend of Lenie, Ann also gave a hand with the placement of the name cards on the tables. As usual it is very difficult to make sure that people aren’t offended with where and next to whom they are seated. We also found the right spot for the framed table placement. Ann, and her friend Daan were Lenie’s guardians as to speak, making sure that she did not escape before walking down the isle with Ockie. Ann also made sure that Lenie was truly pampered the evening before her wedding – creating a very romantic bath scene with rose petals, candles, etc. I don’t think I have to say anything more. After everyone were satisfied with the venue setup, a supper date was arranged at Ermelo’s Spur (yes Ermelo has a Spur, just in case you wondered). Once again, everyone made sure that there were no escape routes for Lenie. Even Lenie’s ex sister in law and husband (Thelma and Charl) were present to guard on any planned escape.

If you think that Lenie’s friends were over reacting in guarding against an escape, the groom arrived a whole seventy fives minutes before the wedding, heading straight for Lenie’s overnight quarters just to set his mind at ease. I had a tough time keeping Ockie out of sight from Lenie, whilst taking some before photo’s of her with family, friends and the flower girls. Ockie could not wait to hold his future bride in his arms.

Lenie’s first husband passed away about nearly thirteen years ago after fighting cancer and Ockie’s first wife also passed away, making this a very special wedding. We don’t often get a second chance in life to meet the right sole mate to share your life with. I think I speak on behalf of most of the wedding guests that we were so happy and thrilled that Ockie and Lenie’s paths met and that at the young age of sixty-something.

Lenie did not have any children from her first marriage of 25 years to Dawid and it was extra special with her inheriting 2 daughters and a son from Ockie’s first marriage and four grand children. Lenie will live with Ockie on his farm Suikerboschfontein, which boast a beautiful three-day hiking route. This hiking route has just won the award as the best weekend hiking route in South Africa. The fact that 22,000 hikers have frequented the route over the past ten years speaks for itself. Conroy and I have hiked this route twice and it still remains the most beautiful weekend hike we have done. I am sure a third time will soon be on the cards. Apart from running the hiking route, Ockie also farms with apples which he markets very successfully locally and internationally. So Lenie, here’s to wishing you and Ockie a loving and happy life together. We know you will love the great outdoors on the farm, being an avid hiker yourself, and that you will accept any challenge thrown at you. Like we say in Afrikaans – “jy was nog altyd ‘n bok vir sports”. - Wedding blues signing off