Let's Scrap Sketches - 15 Aug

It's been a rough week here... busy beyond note with work, long school days for Aaron (extra physics till 4pm every day and loads of homework!) and then I heard yesterday morning that a dear scrapping friend (CathyV) died... still battling to comprehend this.

A good part of this week was taking Aaron shopping yesterday for his suit for the matric farewell happening next month. We managed to get all the bits except for a tie but my feet were rather sore after two hours of walking the mall from one end to the other. Our biggest score of the day was his jacket. He particularly wanted a cream/beige colour and not too many shops stock them. We popped into the Polo store just for a look see and on their discounted rack found the only jacket that was in the that colour and it was his size.... plus marked down from the original R5000 to R1250. It was obviously just waiting for us! hehe. It might have been more that we actually wanted to spend but considering that the other shops were more than that (and one shop had shirts for that price!) it seemed like a great deal. At least I can cross that item off the to-do list.

I haven't managed to do much scrapping this week with all the running around and stuff, so thankfully I did finish this page last weekend in time for the reveal.

I really enjoy making these sunburst type pages as you get to use a combination of colours and patterns... though sometimes the maths of cutting is a bit much! Thankfully this one came together pretty easily and the layout was really quick to make. I used some bits from a sheet of Simple Stories which I fussy cut to embellish my page and then added the silver word diecut for my title.

Visit the blog for lots more inspiration.

This is sadly my last layout for Let's Scrap Sketches...I am stepping down as of the end of this month as I have been feeling less and less motivated to "paper" scrap and more and more inclined to digi scrap... so no I'm not giving up my hobby, just changing focus... plus my pile of printed pics is coming to an end (have a few more pages to do so this is not totally the end yet!).

Here's to a calmer week ahead.

My 50th birthday celebration

As I am turning the big 50 in a few weeks time, I decided to throw myself a birthday party and spoil myself a little with having my friends all together in one spot.

I know I've mentioned in a few blog posts the past few weeks about making all sorts of stuff for this day and stressing.... well I can now report that it all got done and my party was a great success. This is how I decorated for my party on a very slim budget... recycling scrapbooking leftovers into wonderful decor items.

I made these flowers and put them in painted tins as the table centres. Each friend was given a flower (or three) as a thank you for coming.

I scrounged through all the photo albums and found pictures of me as close to my birthday each year (there were some that were harder to find than others).... These then I labeled with my age and printed onto copy paper. Once cut out I stuck each one onto a piece of card and then sewed them all onto ribbon. (This was inspired by an idea on pinterest)

Below the photo banner I had some tins with the words Happy Birthday and a few extra flowers.

Here is the full refreshment table to show how it looked. I also printed the poster on the right and displayed that in an old frame.

My very yummy cake... I've been wanting a chocolate overloaded cake for a few years and this year I made it happen! My Mom baked me a Coffee & Walnut cake and iced it with coffee icing. I then applied a chocolate ganache to the top and added loads more choccies on top... was very very yummy.

This backdrop is made up of lots and lots of punched and diecut circles sewn together on my machine and then pinned to a photography backdrop. They gave us a bit of grief getting them all untangled when we started putting them up.

And now on to the photos of my very special family and friends who came to join the celebration.

I was rather exhausted after all the tidying up and the light wasn't very good for taking pics whilst opening pressies last night, so Aaron took this one of me with all my stash in one shot... I got thoroughly spoilt:

Now I'm going to make a cuppa coffee and relax for the rest of the day.

Let's Scrap - 15 Sept

It's Friday... yippee yay! But also it's a sad day as we sad goodbye today to a childhood friend of mine, Angela Human (nee Morrison). The service this morning was truly a celebration of Angela's life, not a sad funeral service at all. It was also a good time to catchup with old friends who we haven't seen in 4+ years since Mom left Boksburg.

And then it's back to reality and life goes on for those of us left behind. Part of that life, is of course memory keeping in the form of scrapping... so here is my layout for today's reveal.

I chose to document our VERY yummy pudding that we had at Christmas two years ago...time to make some of this again me thinks!

Come play along on the blog and you could win some dollars to spend online.

Scrapbook Challenges - Journalling challenge

There is a new challenge up on the blog... all about what you do when you have "me time"... well for me that is scrapping... and even better when it is with my best friends. I made a layout of the three of us scrapping way back in 2014... a very happy memory and unfortunately there are not too many days when the three of us can do this.

What do you do in "me time"... why not scrap it and enter this month's lucky draw. Head over to the blog for some more inspiration.

Celebrating My Birthday

Today is my birthday.... and a rather fun date too.... captured this screen at 20:11 on 20/11/2011

Yesterday I had a tea party with my friends to help me celebrate.  I had spent the week baking (in between lots of studying with Aaron for his exams).  So here is the table just for you to drool over...

With most everything containing chocolate (my fav food) this chocolate tart was definitely the highlight for everyone.

Aaron took this photo to help me remember my day... the best of the three he took but still a bit blurry!

I got spoilt with vouchers (to spend on scrapping goodies), a new devotions book, a lovely plant and also a bag full of choccies.

This morning I had planned to sleep in but ended up waking just after 7 anyway.  So after a quick cuddle with Aaron I had my bath and then it was present opening time - Aaron wanted me to open my present as soon as my eyes were open but I quickly put a stop to that one!  Keith bought me new dinnerware as ours is on it's way out (after more then 20 years!)

Between Aaron and I, we made flapjacks for breakfast this morning, served on my new plates (which Aaron had first washed too!).  After breakfast, we went to church and the congregation sang Happy Birthday to me... though most of them didn't know my name so there was a bit of a flat moment at that point in the song... hehe. Afterwards we went through to my folks for lunch... my mom served a great cold lunch of chicken, beef and salads, with jelly, fruit salad and ice cream for pudding.  She also made me a birthday cake.

My present from Mom & Dad was this delightful wind-chime that is now hanging outside my kitchen window waiting for a breeze to make it tinkle.

Now off to have the last slice of chocolate tart before bed... yummy!  Will be celebrating a bit more tomorrow at work with leftovers from yesterday.

Weekend news

I had a great weekend... and you?????

I managed to do a ton of scrapping - 6 layouts... one of which just needs it's journalling but I'm waiting on an email for that.  And unfortunately for you all, I can't show you a single one of these 6.... why?... well because they are for my February sketch team submissions and two are for the design team call... so guess you will just have to be patient (again!).

Besides the scrapping, I did some baking and then also the washing in between the raindrops.  Must still tackle the ironing today though.  I had to go to a school meeting on Saturday morning to enlighten all the new parents about the school blog... was a great session and I think it was well received by all who went.  Hopefully now I will get more stuff to post from other involved parents.

And that really was the weekend.  Today though, I ask for your prayers for a special Mom.... if you remember me writing about Ally who past away in October last year... well today would have been her ninth birthday and it's the three month anniversary of her death... please pray very hard for her mom Jackie who is not in a happy place and is missing her little girl.

Goodbye to a sweet little girl

Today is so not a nice day.  Today we are saying our last farewells to this little girl... Ally.  She was a classmate of Aaron's last year and still a good friend in Grade 2 this year.  The sad and very shocking news is that she died on Sunday morning and today is her funeral.  Please pray for her family... this is such a rough time for them loosing their little girl.  Ally you will be missed.

The long weekend...

is over, but the memories remain... and so here goes the post all about it...

Friday we ended up with an impromptu playdate... I arrived at school and got bombarded by two very excited friends... Nischol's dad hadn't arrived to fetch him yet, so could he come play... phone the dad, check it all out and end up with two boys coming home... two very happy boys... and so they played all afternoon.

On Saturday we went to Buddy Bear in Cresta for a birthday party of another school mate... had loads of fun, choosing a toy, stuffing it, "washing" it, and then dressing it.


The whole process even included a birth certificate.. complete with height and weight... and so MAX was born... a border collie police dog. And just for fun I bought the puppy too which Aaron named Jack. Now our days are filled with dog antics... as well as dressing and undressing them, changing into pajamas at bedtime (Aaron won the pjs in a musical statues game)... the two new friends are now even sleeping in his bed with him!

Sunday was a pretty uneventful day spent around the house... chuch in the morning, then ironing, piano practice, reading and nothing much else.

Monday was a public holiday (in case you didn't know... it was Woman's Day on Sunday and so we got Monday off too!)... I had my friends come over to scrap and so Keith entertained Aaron... took him to the gym for two hours or so in the morning... they even went swimming... thankfully in heated water.

In the afternoon, Keith took Aaron to the driving range and they hit a few golfballs... oh and evidently Aaron was using his toy clubs on a proper golf ball and broke his club... so then he had to use Dad's lefthand clubs... not quite as easy!
And this photo is especially for Keith... he took these of the Ball and Bucket ruins... this was the pub at the driving range that burnt down years ago but the ruins have not been cleared yet!

And so that was the long weekend... I will post my scrapping in the next post.

The last few days...

Boy it's been busy again.... inbetween back pain and going for torture (mmm physio!) there have been a few other bits and pieces going on too. August arrived and drenched us (see Saturday's post)... but then Sunday gave us a glorious day which ended with God painting the sky in awesome colours again... just see this sunset.

Yesterday afternoon I fetched Aidan from school and brought him home for the afternoon as a birthday treat (he turns 12 on Thursday)... the boys did homework together (took a photo to prove it did happen!) and then played.... "fishing" in the ditch in the back garden.

Once Judi arrived we did the birthday cake thing... I made chocolate microwave cake especially for the occasion and just to spoil Aidan.
Once that was done the boys decided to go play outside again... but not after dressing for it and then posing for more pics... hehehe
And so ended a lovely afternoon... with lots of laughs over supper. Eventually had to force Judi and Aidan out so that they could finish homework at home and we could get to bed.

Aaron also announced when I fetched him yesterday that he earned another trophy... for NEAT WORK.... hehehe I laughed to myself as we never reckoned he would get this one! Plus he earned another two merits yesterday so Friday will be civies for my little guy.

Today is inter-house athletics at school... I even took the day off work for it so that I could take some photos for the school blog. Aaron was NOT running any races and so by 10am had had enough of sitting around shouting for his team... so we came home.

Have done a bit of school work... Aaron brought his fun maths book home... plus we've done spelling and counting that was for homework.... so now he is playing on the pc and I'm blogging... just a good day spent at home.

Birthday wishes

Happy birthday to an awesome blog friend... Desire. Hope you have a STUNNING day today... thanks for all the comments you leave each and every time... thanks to for your lovely blog... the cards you make are awesome. Enjoy your day immensely!

Keep your kids safe

I just got an email from a friend of mine.. it reads as follows:

A friend my office mate and a friend of hers were out to supper last night at MIMO's in Northriding (a new one I believe) and she and her friend were chatting while their two 5 year old's were playing the the enclosed, supervised play-area...

The mom looked up and saw her kid half was across the parking lot... she ran screaming to her - what was she doing? Where was she going... the girl skipped and smiled and said "that man said I can come play with his baby"... and there was an Indian guy with a baby about 2 meters away from the little girl with the passenger door standing open.

When the mom got to her daughter the man pulled off - with the door slamming shut !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is this not so shocking? 1 minute later and her daughter would have been gone. She said she didn't sleep last night - just sat next to her daughter's bed staring at her daughter all night....

So now, please tell your children AGAIN about the "don't talk to strangers" rule... we need to keep our children safe from these sick people.

My prayer each and every day is that Aaron will be safe... scary isn't it.

Promised photos

These are photos from the end of March....

We have barbets that come visit and sing around our house. Last year it looked like they were nesting in our garden... and this year I got to catch them on camera. The family of three black collared barbets in the tree, as well as showing you the nest (bottom left corner)

The Wednesday before Aaron's school closed we went to Allie's ice skating party.... her birthday was actually in January and this was technically her b rother's birthday party, but her mom decided that she could have some friend too.... so here's pics of Aaron skating as well as Aaron and Allie playing on a cell phone (one of the dad's)

On Saturday 28th March it was Sebastian's birthday. Aaron and Sebastian went to Play Group together when they were 2... so this is a long standing yearly arrangement now that they are at different schools. Anyway, Sebastian's birthday was a "camp out" theme. A guy came and did all sorts of camping activities with the boys.

Build a tent and not get wet when a bucket of water is thrown over.

Make a water filter and see which team's one works the best

Make a fire using a flint ... a bit easier than on Survivor, but still a lot of hard work.... a fire was eventualy made!

Then the boys got to do a typical boy thing.... water fights! They filled syringes with water and squirted each other.... some kids got VERY soaked.

Then as a special treat the guy brought out the paintball gun and each boy got a turn to shoot the target before Sebastian got to empty the barrel.... he ended up demolishing the target!

After a quick swim, some hotdogs for lunch it was on to birthday cake, a welltimed visit by a passing icecream truck got each kid an icecream, then it was present time.

And as a special treat, Sebastian's dad loaded all the children into the back of his bakkie for a trip to the river just behind their house.... the boys loved playing in the river and causing havoc before going home.

Aaron didn't want to leave and so we ended up staying till nearly 6 o'clock. On the way home from the party there was the most awesome sunset.

I think that is all the promised photos... next post will be about our Cape Town trip.