CHRISTMAS 2009 at HARTIES

I think we all still have to pinch ourselves to realise that Xmas 2009 has arrived and is already making its way to 2010. We spent the day in the pleasant company of my niece, Heidi and her in-laws at Hartbeespoort Dam. We were blessed with perfect sunny weather and enjoyed seriously yummylicious food ... traditional 'boerekos' as we say here in South Africa. The menu looked like this:

• Roasted leg of lamb with potatoes
• Chicken pie
• Tongue with honey mustard sauce (my personal favourite)
• Green beans and bacon
• Sweet pumpkin ('boere pampoen')
• Creamed Spinach
• Malva poeding for desert
• Custard slices

Heidi got me hooked on Facebook's FarmVille and I have been farming like crazy ever since. Totally hooked.

I am leaving you with some pics of our Xmas 2009 and wish you all the most wonderful and happiest 2010.

Below: {Back} Yours truly, Bernhardt, Trudie & Kobus Nel {Front} Conroy, Heidi with Zander, Marko & Alisha

With love from

LIFE IS A JOURNEY, NOT A DESTINATION . . .

{DDCC #67 DT Project: Make it Happen}

Long time no news, but hey then no news is also good news. My apologies for neglecting all my wonderful loyal blogging buddies, but I am sure as all of you know that this time of year its great just to take a break from the normal routine.

Not that I have as yet let my hair down, as I am preparing for Doing Life's Makaranga Scrapaganza on 30 January 2010. And then of course some exciting scrapbooking news came my way. I was invited to teach at the 8/9 May 2010 Forever Memories (SA agents for Creative Memories) Annual Scrapbooking Conference to be held at the Ocean View Hotel in Cape Town. There was no ways that I was not going to accept. So of course, preliminary planning is also taking place to get the ball rolling for this conference. You can visit their website with the invite and if you are very keen to attend there are some great discounts for early registration. Should you go ahead and register, please state that you have been referred by me and also let me know that you have done so, as us consultants receive commission for every delegate we have recruited. Holding thumbs that Doing Life will be represented well at this conference!

Enough yakking and onto my latest design team project for Dutch Dare Card Challenge #67 which is 'Make it Happen' i.e. use embellishments that you have created yourself. I have stamped the flowers onto patterned cardstock with one of my Making Memories flower stamp sets and then did some faux stitching around the edges. I am just in love with this gorgeous digi stamp. It was so easy to colour with H2O's and isn't she super cute.

I am also entering this card for the following challenges:

• Creative Card Crew #41: Anything goes
• Charisma Cards #50: Anything but Christmas

Please also take a moment to visit these wonderful challenge blogs and have a look at the DT's gorgeous creations.

I am leaving you all with some pics of a few mad hatters at my recent Doing Life Tweespruit Scrapaganza. There was a prize up for grabs for the best scrapped hat and I am sure you will agree that some of these creations are amazing.

Hilda Newton

Gussie York

From left to right: Vonnie York, Riza Henning & Joanne vd Merwe

... and the winning scrapped hat from Helen Beukes

Apologies for the small pics, but Mrs Flickr is having that time of the month ....

DDCC #66 : COLOUR INSPIRATION

• {Basic Grey Challenges: Week 9}
• {Everybody Art Challenge: #68 - Stitching}
• {Papertake Weekly: Sketch #29}
• {Cute Card Thursday: #89 Swirly Girly}
• {Paper Cutz Challenge: #19 Anything Goes}
• {Allsorts Challenge: Week 29 - Buttons}

  If you have a moment, it would be great if you could pop over to these challenge blogs and have a peep at the design teams' gorgeous creations.

I just loved this colour inspiration put to the Design Team over at Dutch Dare Card Challenge. The colours work so well together and are easy to be creative with.

In Style Stamps are the sponsors for this challenge and were so generous in giving the design team some gorgeous digi stamps to create with.

I have printed the digi stamp with my Canon Inkjet printer and once again coloured it with my H2O's. The flowers were stamped with acrylic stamps from a Making Memories flower stamp set. The sentiment was also stamped and punched out with a Paper Shapers scalloped 3" circle punch. Some faux stitching was done around the scalloped circle, the stamped flowers and the main image.

Basic Grey Challenges: Week 9 - A Sketch by Tara G as well as Papertake Weekly's Sketch #29 got me going with this creation. This is really a fabulous sketch to work with and it will definitely put to good use again. I have used the following BG Patterned Cardstock:

• Two Scoops: non-fat yogurt tsc-1048
• Lilykate: Queen Ann LIK559

All the embellies are from my stash.

The Inside:

Thank you all for taking the time to stop by once again. Apologies for not frequenting your lovely little creative spaces in blog land as regularly of late. Been a bit down with flu. Promise to spread some love soon.

Oh yes on a last note, me and hubby have been married for 25 years on Monday, 30 November. Can't believe how the years just seem to disappear in thin air. It feels like yesterday when I was walking down the isle with a shaking bouquet. Judged by the first 25, I am looking so forward to the next 25 ... life can only get better. The photos below were taken on the farm 'Skuilhoek' in the Elands River Valley, Eastern Cape, South Africa where I grew up. My Mom Phoebe Walters made my wedding dress. The confetti girls are my nieces, Liesl Schmidt on the left and Heidi Nel on the right.