24 YEARS AGO ...

Yes, I can hardly believe that it has been 24 years ago that this special day occurred .....

Yes, its been 2 dozen years since I said yes to this special man in my life, Conroy. I was congratulated this morning and told that the 24 years have felt like 24 hours. After a light breakfast of yoghurt and muesli, we were off to the gym for a quick workout. Whereafter we made our usual Sunday pitstop at Woolies and then chilled for a while at home before we left for our lunch reservation at Angies in Honeydew. Thanks Cathy for recommending this lovely relaxed venue, where it feels like you are sitting out in the country enjoying delicious quisine. On our way home from Angies, Conroy made a detour to the Broadacres Spar where I had to choose a few bunches of flowers for myself. I always love having fresh cut flowers in the house. Conroy always spoils me with flowers and most of the times without any celebration, but just 'sommer' ... a gesture which has been forthcoming since the day I met him.

- One lucky girl signing off

AN EXTRA SPECIAL FRIDAY

I've been awarded this......

BY Jacqui Bourne. Thank you so much Jacqui .... I feel truly HONOURED to have received this award from you!!!! In turn I choose to nominate the following ladies, in no particular order at all.

1. Michelle Ramsay
2. Lynette Jacobs
3. Libby
4. Cathy
5. Michelle van Deventer

Here are the rules:

1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.

2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.

3. Nominate 5 blogs.

4. Provide links to their blogs.

5. Leave a message for your nominees.

Please check out their fab blogs and get inspired by these wonderful women! Have a super weekend!

- Humbly honoured signing off

Scrapaholics: Click here http://doinglife.co.za/ and enjoy!

4TH SUMMER SCRAPAGANZA

Hosted By: Desíre Fourie

Assisted By: Michelle Ramsay

Saturday, 6 December 2008

(7:30am-5pm)

Price: R650.00

Come and treat yourself once again to a fun-filled day with me-time and scrapping

decadence at Makaranga’s Conference Centre in Kloof, Durban, South Africa.

Create & Complete 2 double page layouts (inclusive of photographs) (Kits provided)

Refreshments throughout the day, including lunch. Loads of surprises during the course of the day!

Doing Life’s On Site Shoppe will be stocked with scrapping candy and a surprise new item or two.

For more information email Desíre [See email in side bar]

A BUTTERFLY AWARD FROM KIM

Thank you to the talented Kim Piggott for passing this lovely award onto all her visitors. I will then follow in her footsteps and pass this award onto everyone who visits DOING LIFE. As I really appreciate all your flattering comments they really make my day and I love to visit each and everyone of you as you all have such inspirational blogs. So please take this opportunity to award yourselves.

- Cocooned Signing Off

GOING FOR DOUBLE DUTCH {SKETCH #6}

& ARTY GIRLZ' FAVOURITE COLOURS

I have lately been trying my hand at the layering technique on cards and thought that this sketch over at the Double Dutch Challenge blog will give me loads of practice. What's nice about this sketch is, is that all the measurements are thought out in advance for you, and of course the fact that it is in cm's just makes it such a bliss to interpret for us South Africans. I just can't get those inch measurements all those fractions are one too many for the small part of my brain which I sometimes try to use.

I am also entering this creation for this week's challenge over at Arty Girlz which is My Favourite Colours. I am a real boring person when it gets to colours because I love the naturalness of browns and creams.

Here's the DOUBLE DUTCH sketch:

I once again inked up yet another long lost {new} stamp of mine and the image just set me off on a natural colour combo selection i.e. browns and creams. The swirls and the word NATURE are from sticker stash.

- A-natural Signing Off

LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED for a HAPPY XMAS

The task in hand this week for the Design Team members over at Dutch Dare is to 'HAVE A HOLE IN YOUR CARD'. This is what I came up with. I know you are all probably Xmased-out already and Xmas 2008 has not even happened yet. So sorry for having to bore you at having to look at yet another Xmas creation, but they do come in handy as gifts for Xmas.

Once again I used my favourite BG cardstock. The Xmas balls were drawn from a template and cut out. I used my EK Success circle punches to create the whole in the bottom right corner of the card and also decorated the bottom right corner on the inside of the card.

On another note, I am so sorry to hear about the damage quite a few of the Hillcrest (Durban, South Africa)residents suffered during a freak tornado/storm during the end of last week. Remember that the forces of nature is one thing us human beings have no control over. Hope your lives return to normal soon.

Thank you once again for popping in here at DOING LIFE and know that all your visits and comments are much appreciated.

- Hole in One Signing Off

DOING LIFE is GIVING RECOGNITION ...

{to its dedicated followers}

I cannot believe that I am on my way 17,000 hits and that Doing Life's dedicated followers are taking the trouble to leave such inspiring comments. Thank you to each and every one of you, you know who you are. Without you, blog land would have been dull and boring, so Doing Life thought it fit to create an award which its dedicated followers could get their hands on. And of course you all knew that there is going to be a 'BUT'.

This is not a difficult BUT though. Here are the RULES for presenting this, hopefully soon sought after award:

• Pick 5 bloggers that you consider as your best blogging buddies and deserves this award for their contribution towards the blogging community, no matter what language.
• State the name of the author of each blog as well as a link to each one's blogs.
• Each blogger (upon acceptance) of this award should do a post and show the award on their blog and put the name and link to the blog that has given her/him the award.
• Link to DOING LIFE's blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.
• Show these rules.

Seeing that this is the first time ever this award is being awarded, Doing Life is taking the liberty of awarding it to more than five deserving bloggers out there ... and they are:

Michelle Ramsay from Life Experiences. Michelle has been nominated the very first recipient of this award, as she has never ever omitted leaving a comment on each and every post that has appeared on DOING LIFE since its inception during January 2006. Thank you Michelle.

Sophia Allison from Sophia's World. Sophia was the reason why Doing Life started out and has on many occassions lend a helping hand with the setup of Doing Life.

Sandra Holloway van Uit en Tuis. Sandra se fotostories werp vir menige besoekers aan haar blog nuwe lig op die alledaagse lewe in 'n UAE land.

Lynette Jacobs of a Work in Progress. Thank you Lynette for your dedicated following of Doing Life. Its great to have someone from my home town Port Elizabeth as a blogging buddy.

Bev from All the Things I Love. Bev's magnificent card creations never cease to amaze and inspire me. Thank you Bev for sharing your creations with your blogging buddies.

Tracy Gardiner from I am Here to Live Out Loud. Thank you Tracy for keeping us BOM-ers on track with the challenges.

Libby from Inspired Life. Libby I am so glad that you joined the blogging community and are sharing your gorgeous quilt creations with us.

Jacqui Bourne from My Life as it Happens. Thanks Jacqui for keeping us up to speed what's happening out there in the scrapping world.

Jose from Jose's Jottings. Thank you Jose for your frequent visits to Doing Life.

Cathy Sanders from What's Up With Me. Thank you for keeping us posted on a daily basis.

Jacki Janse van Rensburg from Scraps of Jacki's Life. Thank you Jacki for all the handy blogging tips and tutorials. You are a precious butterfly in cyber space.

Kazan Clark from Nunu Toolies. Kazan is an ex-South African who does the most exquisite card and other creations. The photographs itself of her creations are just stunning.

If your name is not on the above list, please don't feel neglected as I am sure this award will come your way sooner or later.

For those dedicated followers who don't have a blog, a BIG THANK YOU to you all as well and I hope our blogging friendship will continue.

- Giving recognition signing off

OUR SANCTUARIES

{BOM Challenge No.10: MY HOME}

Well, so far this challenge took me the longest to complete. Not because its a difficult challenge, but just that I have been pre-occupied with planning my 6 December 2008 Scrapaganza at Makaranga Garden Lodge in Kloof, Durban. We use to live just around the corner from Makaranga.

I have been scrapping since the beginning of 1999 and have been quite good at doing some layouts on all the houses we have lived in. So what I did is to use photographs of layouts for three of our homes and two photographs of our very first home, as I have not been scrapping yet when we bought our first home way back in 1986.

Here is the journaling as displayed on the layout:

For me a home is a means to have the privilege of being protected against the elements of nature. Yes, owning our own home no matter what size or where it is located is a true blessing which we have to be thankful as there are millions of beings on this earth who don’t know where their next meal is going to come from what to say having a roof over their heads. Home also means a sanctuary to me, where I can be myself and express my most inner feelings with those who I love and cherish. We have had the privilege of owning 4 different homes during our 24-years of married life together. Our first ever home we purchased through a first-time home owners’ scheme and was located at Bluewater Bay, Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. The address was no. 46 Yale Road and we moved into this brand new home as its first owners during the end of 1986, after nearly two years of married life during which we rented two different flats near St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth. True to this area where strong winds are nearly a daily occurrence, memories of gutters making a vrrrrrrrrrr noise as the wind howled, is still very vivid. Bluewater Bay is also situated alongside the sea and it was very calming being lulled to sleep at night by the sounds of waves breaking on the beach. There were no garden, only bare soil and river rocks. Being the farm girl I am, I nearly single handedly created the garden from scratch and maintained it myself, even mowing the lawn. With the strong sea winds it was nearly impossible to get shrubs growing efficiently and it was and endless battle. We relocated, due to a transfer by the company Conroy worked for at the time, to Pretoria, Gauteng during December 1991. This was the first time ever I’ve lived outside of the Eastern Province. Once again we purchased a brand new home (a duet) as the first time owners in Garsfontein which was the eastern area of Pretoria. The street address was 1050 Cocker Avenue. Not long after we moved in some land servicing started on a huge piece of land just behind our property. It must have been a farm as there were still cattle grazing on the land and we still have a chuckle when we think of how our two little dogs, Spokie and Vlekkie roll in the cow dung on this piece of land, when we took them for a walk there. Well that was the first and last walk with them to this area, as washing two little cow dung covered pooches is not something you want to repeat too often. The land was then serviced for the exclusive Woodhill Golf Estate which now exists on this area of land. Once again yours truly started a garden from bare soil to something green and luscious. Again doing all the digging of holes and planting of trees and shrubs myself. Just love getting my hands dirty. Of course the weather in Gauteng is just a pleasure. During December 2001 we once again relocated, due to Conroy accepting a position at a new company in Durban. I have only been to Durban once before, only for a brief visit, so I was quite cautious of this relocation. But, we managed to find a lovely home in Kloof, Durban i.e. Unit 4, No.2 Coghill Avenue. Once again it was a brand new home and we were the first time owners. We fell in love with Kloof right from the beginning as the green forestry ambiance hugely appealed to our hiker souls. We love the Knysna forests and this was as close as one could get to living in a forest. Once again we started a garden from scratch, but this time we got indigenous landscapers in as the property was much larger than the ones we had previously. The weather in Kloof is of course a gardener’s draeam. Memories of monkey troops frequenting our garden and eating the bird seed will always be with us. We had endless pleasure in watching the infant monkeys, attempting to cross the overhead telephone lines, unsure of themselves. Another privilege we had in Kloof was the amazing variety of birdlife and lizards that also frequented the garden. Once again Conroy accepted a position with a new company in Johannesburg and we relocated to Fernridge Estate, Fourways, Gauteng during November 2007, where we currently (November 2008) reside. Again we were the first time owners of a brand new house and our first experience of estate living, which we really enjoy. It is also our first double storey house and initially took quite some adjusting to, but steps have become second nature. We also got a landscaper in this time to create a low maintenance indigenous garden from scratch, which is only now after the first summer rains, coming into its own right. This is definitely not a permanent move, as the concrete jungle and rushed lifestyle is not something that nature lovers like us can completely adjust to.

Sjoe, I just managed to complete this challenge in time, as Challenge No.11: 'My Significant Other' was launched this morning. I think I will give this challenge a miss as I have already covered this topic in Challenge No.8: Family, where I did a layout on 'My Sweetheart Loves Me'. Tracy I hope you don't mind.

Thank you once again in taking the time to stop by and read about my little insignificant space on the net.

- Homely Signing Off

3 FLOWERS FOR DUTCH DARE

{Design Team Project}

This week's challenge over at Dutch Dare is 'Use 3 flowers on your card'. Once again I used some of my favourite BG cardstock for the backdrop. Each flower assembly consists of a turquoise Making Memories flower and a black Chiswick flower as well as a self-adhesive tag with a decorative brad from my stash. The black swirls were stamped with some of Chiswick's acrylic stamps which are available at Doing Life's Online Shoppe. The bling sparks are from Heidi Swap.

Don't forget to stop by Dutch Dare to have a squiz at my fellow design team members' beautiful creations. Thank you stopping by once again.

- Triplet signing off

CLAUDINE FEATURES FOR SKETCH SATURDAY

{& ABC Challenge : Ribbon}

Sketch Saturday always have the most inspiring sketches and this week's sketch once again did not disappoint the challengees. I had this cute photo of Claudine sitting in my photo stash and I thought it would work well as the image for this sketch. Claudine is so photogenic and I usually go snap happy when we get to see her, which is very seldom.

Don't forget to stop by Sketch Saturday and ABC Challenge to have a look at the gorgeous creations of the design team members.

Thank you for looking.

- Sketchy Signing Off

YUMMY CANDY over at PINK POPPY CRAFT BOX

The very talented Debbie from Pink Poppy Craft Box is celebration her 5000+ hits and has a yummylicious Sarah Kay stamp up for grabs. To qualify for the draw of this gorgeous stamp (see pic below) one has to create a card following her sketch (see below). I have seen this stamp on quite a few of the card fundis' creations and just love it. So here is my take on Debbie's sketch. Debbie I am holding thumbs that it fits your bill.

I have also entered this creation for the following challenges:

Basic Grey Challenge: 'One for the Boys' {The backdrop for this card is from the Basic Grey Archaic range and I received this as part of some blog candy from Katharina, a while back}

Our Creative Corner: 'Silhouettes' {I used a shadow stamp of the main image as a backdrop for my sentiment}

Arty Girlz: 'Blog Inspiration' {Well Debbie's blog 'Pink Poppy Craft Box' was definitely the inspiration}

So there we go, 3 challenges and a sketch done with one creation. Your visit is much appreciated.

Don't forget to visit these challenge blogs to feast your eyes on the DT's creations.

- Poppy Craft fan signing off

A RED & GREEN XMAS AT .....

{.... SKETCH SATURDAY & CUTE CARD THURSDAY}

The challenges over at Sketch Saturday and Cute Card Thursday is a 'Sketch' and 'Green & Red', respectively. Here is the sketch we needed to interpret:

I interpreted the sketch and followed a green and red colour combo for Cute Card Thursday's theme this week.

All the patterned cardstock are from Basic Grey. The black rub-ons are from Scrapbook King. The stamped sentiment is from My Sentiment Exactly. I have used a template for the Xmas tree and the brads, ribbon and photo turns are from my personal stash.

Thank you once again for popping in. Your visit and comments are valued.

- Xmas spirited signing off

LET INSPIRATION COME FROM WITHIN

{Dutch Dare DT Project}

The challenge this week over at Dutch Dare is to design a creation without using any fun stamps i.e. only text stamps are allowed. I inked up a few of my text block stamps together with the sentiment. The text stamps were then cut into four arches and mounted as backdrop for the sentiment. The buckles and corner were made with some of my favourite EK Success punches. Strips of patterned cardstock and ribbon were thread through the buckles.

Thank you for stopping by and please make a note to visit Dutch Dare and have a look at my fellow DT-members' gorgeous creations.

- Inspired Signing Off

AM I WEIRD? I have been tagged

{No, well not when I did a self-check the last time.}

It seems like a few of my blog buddies in cyber space has got this crazy idea in their heads that I could perhaps be a little weird, as they have tagged me to reveal 7 weird things about myself. Sorry, to disappoint you Karin and Lynette, as I am quite straight, normal and very boring. But, what the heck, here are few things I think might surprise you:

• I get seriously irritated when something is skew ... keep on putting it straight. This has of course flowed over into my creative side as well ... take note, you will hardly ever see a card or a scrapping creation of yours truly where something has been placed at an angle.
• I always peel a cucumber as it repeats on me.
• I flourish in a calm, quite and peaceful environment.
• I detest doing something over a second time round i.e. never watch a movie twice, never do a hiking trail twice (there are too many other hiking trails out there and life's too short).
• Don't like grocery shopping and ironing i.e. once again its something that's repetitive and no end result is ever in sight.
• Here's one very nervous passenger on an aeroplane ... always sit in an isle seat.
• Detest being amongst a crowd or being boxed in by hoards of people.

So I trust that the above does not reveal my weird side too much. Now, I would like to tag the following blogging buddies to reveal their weird sides:

Michelle Ramsay (who loves sago pudding); Jose (although I know she's allergic to bananas); Kazan (an ex South African); Michelle van Deventer (whose blog is known as 'my crazy lekker life'); and Karin.

Now I just have to sit back and wait for all these weird facts to be revealed.

-Weirdo signing off