DOING LIFE

BON VOYAGE AND SOME SPECIAL FRIENDS

{Dutch Dare / Sketch Saturday / Arty Girlz / Cute Card Thursday Challenges}

So here is my Design Team project for this week's challenge over at Dutch Dare. The challenge was 'Tropical'. I though that some tropical fish would suffice and scratched out a file with some of my very old templates which were very fashionable some 8 years ago. I got hold of this template with a 'sea' theme and used the tropical fish shape.

Once again to get started with the design, Sketch Saturday gave me an excellent starting point with their fabulous sketch this week. Whilst I was creating, I started brain storming a title and suddenly the thought of a very special friend who is globe trotting one of these days, came to mind (trust she won't click). And so the 'Bon Voyage' sentiment originated. At the same time some great travel stickers in my sticker stash got me going with the collage of stickers on the creation ... I perhaps got a bit carried away, I know.

The Blue and Yellow colour combo probably also qualifies it for this week's challenge at Arty Girlz and the Tropical Fish qualifies it for the Animal Magic theme at Cute Card Thursday. Please hop over to these challenge blogs and have a look at the fab DT creations.

Lots of you have asked me how I got to scrap and here's my story. Recently, I have been corresponding quite a bit with my dear friend Marinda, who I have only seen about 7 years ago. Marinda has emigrated to America. We were huge running friends during the mid to late 1990's and whilst doing a training run at the Garsfontein Run & Walk for Life branch in Pretoria, we hit the topic of photography. Marinda knew that I was a keen photographer and since she has just joined as a consultant with Magic Memories (the company who introduced the scrapbooking industry to South Africa), she suggested that I attended a home scrapping class with her.

Terry, also a very dear running friend of mine who has emigrated to New Zealand about 2 years ago, joined me for the home class at Marinda's home. Marinda showed us how to use templates to draw shapes on the front of our photos with a blue photo labelling pencil (I loathed this blue waxy pencil which crumbled and left blue spots all over one's pages .... scrapbooking has progressed since then and thanks to light boxes nowadays, we can use a ballpoint pen on the back of photos). Marinda this is no offense to you at all. Its just amazing how far the scrapbooking industry has progressed during the last decade.

But, I am off the point. After Marinda has demonstrated how to cut photos, I probably sat for more than an hour contemplating cutting into my very precious, well composed photographs. My first thought was to create a collaged effect with my photos and eventually I got myself cutting my first photograph and of course it was the beginning of the end, as I have never stopped cropping, cutting, sanding, punching and inking my precious photos, to this day. See below my very first scrapbooking page created in November 2000. I am deeply grateful for Marinda who summed me up so well back then, in that she knew I would just love this very special craft, which I have always said is not a hobby, but a commitment for life.

Above, my very first scrapbooking page. We did not even have patterned cardstock in those days and if one think of the billions of patterned cardstock designs to choose from nowadays, its amazing in itself. Here I just used the black album page as the background for the layout. Everything were outlined with a gel pen in those days and fancy scissors were the order of the day. These pics were taken at the Pretoria Botanical Gardens. I just want to hide under the table in my studio when I look back at the scrapbook fashion of those days ... enough to reach out for that craft knife (which we also did not have those days) and ....

Can't believe its over eight years ago that I did my first full road running marathon. I have not forgotten this first and only marathon I did, nearly died in the summer heat of Johannesburg, but finished in a Comrades qualifying time. But hey, 42km's is quite far in a car, so just imagine it on two wonky feet. But I can say, been there, done that and got the T-shirt/medal!

From left to right: Marinda, yours truly, Kayleigh Naude (Terry's eldest daughter) and Terry Naude after a training session at Run & Walk for Life.

Above: Marinda and me.

From the left: Terry Naude, Lenie van Niekerk with whom I have shared litterally thousands of kilometres on the road and Marinda.

Marinda mentioned in her latest email to me that she keeps a photograph of her with me and Terry next to her computer and treasure the memories of our running days. Well, Marinda, I have scratched out the negatives and am on my way to have some of these pics reprinted to also put up in my studio. These are really happy memories.

Sorry to bore some of you with this extra loooong post, but I had to relive some precious memories with my dear friends who have left South Africa. Thanks for stopping by and for all your precious comments.