How about another scrappy challenge#10?

I was thinking it was about time for another scrappy challenge. What do you think?
Well I was on the Scrapbook etc website earlier...& came across the section encouraging people to make their own stamped background using cardstock....now I don't know if you are anything like me when it comes to stamps.....I LOVE the darn things...I drool over them, I covet them, I watch the press for new ones coming out...but hardly ever use them. Why you might be asking??? I am ashamed to admit it's because I don't want to mess them or my L.O up, if I make a mistake. They just look so cute, all crisp & clean in their wrappers to take them out & cover them in ink...seems so fundi{mental}ly wrong...mental being the appropriate word here :o)

So today is the day!! The day I take at least 5 different ones out of their wrappers & use them on a L.O....come-on gals who's with me?

{5 stamps on one L.O, that includes the background being stamped}

I have some amazing examples for you to oggle at for inspiration:

Shannon Tidwell stamped her journal lines onto the base to create a functional pattern.

Amy Yingling stamped & then used embossing powder to create texture.

Erikia Ghumm stamped onto patterened paper in a darker colour to create this amazing L.O!

Laura Kurz cleverly only stamped a small section of her background paper for this minimalistic look & feel.

So guys are you suitably challenged to try? The good news is that you will have 2 weeks to complete the challenge this time, meaning the deadline will be the 10th October. As usual there will be a small RAK for the 'winner'...aren't freebies the best???

Anyway...I'm bushed...& really need to sleep...so nite-nite.
Chat soon.
KJ
XXX

Heritage Day!

It is a public holiday here in SA....no work...no nuffinc...just a day to sloth around in our PJ's, drinking copious amounts of Hawaiian coffee (Thnx Joscie), trying to keep the mini Watson entertained. To make matters REALLY challenging is is raining-again-Bob!! I am so irritated with all the rain, sog, mud...& profusion of weeds in our lawn as a result of it. It means no outside walks...no bike rides...just our 4 walls...bleuh!!

To make matters worse...Hunnie is working....he has a million deadlines looming...& the pressure is on, so no rest for the brilliant designer I am afraid....sorry babes....(text me when you want tea :o) {I know he reads my blog}

Thankfully the Leappad is back....Max LOVES it...& it has kept him occupied for hours.....well in total anyhow. In between he has played cars, had endless chats to his snail buddy, Liam (his new pet in a jar) & now he is watching the Incredibles on DVD. Oh-boy...talk about a hard one...I am running out of things that he wants to do. Oh were is Spring???

He did at one stage, decide it was time for more art in our house...."to make things look pretty were his words"....take a peek at the latest sculpture :o)

Well now that I have bored you silly with pic's of my kid I will spare you & show you one I took this am....I love eating oranges....I have done ever since I was a kid....so whenever they are in season..we have a ton of them in the house. There was something about them in the wooden bowl, against the leather couch that make me hesitate & grab my camera....I think (if I remember correctly) that moment is what Stacy Julian calls 'an arresting moment'. A moment that stops you in your tracks & allows you to appreciate the creativity of that one moment...to quote her:

" I don't believe in perfect days, but I do believe in perfect moments."

So try & find at least one of those moments in the humdrum of dishes, pots, picking up & noise...they are there, you just have to look.
KJ
XXX

Airshow!

Saturday was our city's annual airshow. We together with hundreds of others queued for ages to be WOW'd by some of the most amazing air displays I have ever seen.Unfortunately, unless you were privileged enough to be classified as VIP, you couldn't get up front, or even see the runway for that matter; so we had to make ourselves comfortable to just park our bums on the tarmac between hangers & look up.
They had an amazing mixture of commercial, military & private aircraft showing off their expertise at hanging upside down long enough to make us all cringe. It was all alot of fun....just so FAR to walk from the car parking, then to each hanger display, then to the airshow. I was mighty grateful we had the bright idea of packing Max's old buggie from the far recesses of the garage, for him to sit in just in case he got tired. Being too wide for it he really looked funny squished sideways the whole time...but he didn't care....he didn't have to walk & for him that was heaven.
The highlight of the whole day for Max, was watching the army divers do their thing in an enormous yellow water tank....he kept exclaiming :

"SEE Mama...that's what I want to do!!"

Anyone who knows Max, knows that it is his hearts desire is to be a diver/astronaut one day.....the diving thing I can help with...the astronaut thing...um...do they even have a Space center here in South Africa...or Africa for that matter??? We'll have to see about that one. For the moment he is happy to be riding in the back of the plane....complete with in flight movies....juice & snacks on tap & the promise to be in a different country by morning. Cosmo kid in the making.
It was certainly fun to be outdoors with the sun shining....for the moment Spring has decided to grace us with her presence...but for how long :o) :o)

KJ
XXX

Sept Cocoa Daisy L.O's!

Ok so I LOVED this months Cocoa Daisy kit!It was so colourful & fun to use...I just couldn't stop!! :o)

If you feel inspired to give it a try...there are a few September kits still available...do yourself a favour & take a peek over here~

Have a great scrappy day!
KJ
XXX

We got around!

We really got around this weekend....so much so that we were hardly home....unusual for the Watson's :o)

Friday saw Max at his buddy Tristan's birthday! Fun was had by all running themselves ragged around the forest, with water bomb balloons, races & hunt for the present. Oh the joy of being 4!!

The obvious highlight was searching for unpopped paint balls in the undergrowth...then squeezing the paint all over each other :o)

We got home to Cass having arrived...Max was over the moon as usual to see his sister....he thinks she is the BEST thing since sliced bread....so our jaunt to the beach on Saturday, whilst there was a lull in the torrential rain, was great! We ate snacks & enjoyed the sun on our faces....even though the stench of rotting kelp was gag-city! The leap tides have washed huge piles of the gross stuff onto the boardwalk. Yuck...it has got to be my all time worst smell!! It didn't seem to faze the kids & they had a blast at the play park there.

Sunday saw the beginning of the downpours again...so we headed into the city to the museum & planetarium for the afternoon.

The grouch in the front protested audibly that he was sick of me & my camera~ hahahaha! Get used to it buddy I said....living with a scrapbooker has it's challenges (I don't know if he quite got it though) :o)
The whale pit was amazingly well done....made up for the rest which was super boring & smelt of mothballs!

Sandwiches in the park put a smile on his dial in a flash!
(About 2 minutes after this pic was taken, the heavens opened and we had to sprint for the museum again!)

I wanted to leave you with one of Maxi's sculptures. He does this sort of thing all the time. He finds a variety of things around the house & piles, pokes, balances & coxes them into shape...and they have to be just right. Once he is happy he calls he to look at his newest "Artwork" (his word). Most of the time he says he built it for me because I am so special! Can't beat a reason like that, can ya??? Certainly pulls on my heart strings :o)

Well that's all guys! I am going to try & get some sleep...I am bushed from coughing all of last night...yip! I have that awful flu again!
Anyhow....
Have a goodie!
Chat soon.
KJ
XXX

Celebrate!

It was our 6th anniversary on Wednesday! Yes...6 years of wedded bliss...with a cherry on top. Don't get me wrong we have our fair share of hurdles, but we have gotten through them, I think because of a mutual decision we made right from the beginning . 'Never to go to bed angry with each other'... rather stay up as long as it takes to sort it out. That little rule had stood us in good stead & here we are today still very much in-love :o)

To celebrate. we got ourselves a baby sitter (yeehaaah!...this is a rare occurrence in the Watson household & we made the most of it). We headed out for good steak at a local restaurant & a movie.

The meal was outstanding...we even splashed & imbibed in a cider each...woohoo! Go Watson's!! As you can see from the pic...there was no pomp & ceremony, as soon as the babysitter arrived...I popped a sweater on...made sure nothing was stuck in my teeth & headed out. We didn't want to waste a single second.

Afterward we went to to see the Batman movie. Bleuh! what a let down. We, as serious marvel comic & sci-fi fans....thought it was a 'load of horses'...shame & to think that poor actor lost his life over the role he played in it....which was a great performance by the way, just so meaningless in the greater scheme of things. We got home around midnight & felt like kings!!

In honor of our special day, Maxi remembered that I loved lily's & picked me two from the pond at the end of our road....it touched me so much, sweet child. Seeing this pic of them reminded me of the day T & I eloped. I held lily's too that day.

A little walk down memory lane :o)

Our special day, done our way. We were ridiculously happy & cried alot hahaha! Not very flattering for the camera...'snot on the face' heehee! The very next morning, the 11th of September, we flew out to the London for our honeymoon, where T met my parents for the first time.

Good memories!

My passing thought guys, is that marriage is SO important. Through it, God uses our relationship with each other to smooth off our rough edges & teach us about love, forgiveness, compromise, selflessness & grace. He uses marriage to prepare us for life with Him one day. So protect it, cherish it & be ever vigilant to work at it because (the grass is NEVER greener on the other side) if you get my drift.

Enjoy your weekend.
*Hugs from way down south*
XXX

Challenge #9 L.O's!

Thanks to the great gals who faithfully do my sketches....I appreciate your playing along each time. Your creativity never ceases to inspire me & teach me something new.



Like Misty's page here....don't you just love how she stamped butterflies across the two pages to 'join' them. Your colour sense is amazing!



...and Marilyn used these cute stitched flourishes to do the same thing.
Boy! all the lovely stitching must have taken you ages :o)


I love how Shaina used the strips of patterned paper to gel the pages together....see the addition of the black is such a strong feature. Is the black paper dye cut with holes??? Great job!



And mine...I stepped out folks & tried my hand at digi again...& do you know what.... I LOVED it. The tricky part I find is to always think of what the light would do in real life. I think that is what determines whether or not a L.O looks realistic or not. I used the crystals, turquoise flourishes & colour to tie my pages together.

Well everyone I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did...I'll post the RAK winner a bit later.
Regarding the next challenge....I have decided that x4 challenges a month is just too many with all my other projects on the go, so I am cutting it down to x2 a month, giving everyone more time to complete it.

Well I have to dash...the electrician is in the roof trying to sort out why our circuits are tripping all the time. I have a feeling it because of all the rain water that is finding it's way inside our home through every nook & cranny. Builders...are SERIOUSLY in my bad books right now. Through out both our renovation we had nothing but nightmare stories.
Anyway enough of that....before I really get started on my war stories.

Have a super day.....
Chat soon
KJ
XX

Becky F's....sketch challenge!

OK...so you've all heard of Beck Fleck...she has that cool web site called page maps, which is jam packed full of inspiration & scrappy loveliness. I saw on her blog the other day she was having a sketch challenge, so I thought I'd give it a bash. You know me I'm always keen to try something new & interesting.

Her challenge was a 6x12' L.O based on this sketch~

And this was my take on it....I decided to turn it on it's head & literally
turned it upside down for a bit of variety.

Cute concept hey? I might try a couple of them & turn them into an album for Maxi's 3rd year.

Thanks Becky {once again} for your amazing inspiration!!

Chat later guys!
XXX

Warm & fuzzy!

Throughout life we meet people who special & impact our lives. Sweet generous people who we get to know over time & share life with. Well over the last year or so I have had the privilege of meeting such people through the phenomenal invention of cyber space & within a short period of time have gotten to know them quite well.
There has been a wonderful collage of ladies from all walks of life, each in some far off place in the world I have never been to, who have felt so inclined to extend their friendship, encouragement & support toward me.

Today I would like to acknowledge them (you all know who you are :o) & say thanks SO much. I have enjoyed sharing your lives through your blogs, chat times with me & emails & I am so glad we can call each other friends.

The other thing I would like to mention is just how generous they have all been. Not only with mails of support & encouragement but with gifts of LOVE that arrive unexpectedly in the mail. I have had an astounding last two days.....where I can honestly say I have felt completely spoilt! I know our Lord doesn't have favorites but boy I really feel like He does today.

Firstly I got a FANTASTC email from CK & one from Memory Makers saying they had selected some more of my L.O's for publication.

So it was a **HAPPY DANCE** day indeed!!!!.....I am so thrilled!!

.....then if it couldn't get any better, I received a large, heavy & interesting package in the post. It was from my honey of a friend, Paula who lives in Montgomery, IL. She floored me in a second when I opened the box....this is what was inside.

...pick your jaws off the floor...I am not kidding. It is an unbelievable mixture of the coolest papers & embellishments I have seen in a while & I cannot wait to get my scissors & glue out & start creating. You girl are ridiculous!! (in a good way).

Then the cherry on the top of a perfect day, was this beautiful card & goodies from my sweet friend Misty...who incidentally is about to pop with her 4th baba & is still so seriously productive creatively, that she puts me to shame.
Last week I admired this pretty cool card on her blog...not realizing she made it for little ole' me :o)

All I can say to you gals is THANK-YOU! THANK-YOU! THANK-YOU! you both made my day & I feel special & spoilt!

(Misty...I have to tell you...while I was typing this post, Max picked up the card you made for me & said : Mama, this card is so beautiful....is it for me??? I told him is was for me & he said: That friendly lady called Misty is very nice to you...will she make one for me too?? heehee!
See your art is even being appreciated by the mini Watson in the house :o)

Well everyone now that I have bent your ears with this post...I'll go& leave some bloggy love on all of yours.
Chat soon.
~Over & out!
XXX

It's moved!

There has been some talk about moving the challenge date to Sunday the 7th. With Becky Higgins deadline being tomorrow & a couple of others...time is a bit tight.
Now there is no excuse guys (me included heehee!) not to try the double. Aw man...I was hoping to swerve it & feint time issues...but I'd feel too bad. So Sunday it is OK!

So get scrapping' guys!
Chat soon.
KJ
XXX

:o)

A little while ago I discovered that I could get a regular supply of beautiful dark wood 12x12 frames to be able to showcase some of my L.O's. Well, my darling bloke put his handyman hat on & mounted some of them them on a wall for me. Initially when I was selecting the ones to hang, I was worried they would look too busy all together in a group but now that they are up, I am pleasantly surprised....they look amazing!

On the scrappy front...I did this little project for the Cocoa Daisy blog, using scraps from the last two months kit, an old CD & x1 jumbo photo...if you are keen to know how...pop over to their blog & take a squizz.

Cocoa Daisy's Sept kits are up for sale....they are really cool, bright & perfect for summer photo's. There are also loads of fantastic add-on's too, so if you are looking for something funky...head over to their shop & take a look-see.

In the spirit of Spring...which is what we are supposed to be experiencing right now....but aren't :o(....I bought a pair of cute, stripy pink pumps. I am not one for shopping much but when I saw these I just had to have them.....& the reasonable price of R49.99 (which is about $6.44) certainly helped in my speedy decision to buy them because when it comes to clothes & shoe, shopping I am a procrastinator of note~ hahaha!

This close up, doesn't actually do them any justice...now that I re-look this photo. In real life they are cute tiny size 5's, not nearly as HUGE as they look here!

Well on that note I must go & see to Max & his friend Joshua...they are eating dried guava roll on the trampoline, playing with dinosaurs. The incessant roaring, tells me they are still having fun together. At 4yrs (Max) & 5yrs (Joshua) old, they tire of each other so fast & get rough just as quickly. It is all about perfect timing with Max to ensure they get his permission to come & play again...if the memory of the play date is ugly, he tends to not want to have them over again.
Kids...you need a degree to raise them :o)

Have a great day guys!
XXX

Rough time!

We have had the biggest storm since 2001 hit our coast line this weekend it has left 100's homeless...& countless wet, cold & waterlogged. The clouds & dramatic skies were quite something...we even had an electric storm which is unusual for Cape Town.

This image I found on this site, it has live web cams all over South Africa. Seeing live images is quite cool actually.

The bonus was the surfers had GIANT surf to play in.....only downfall being they were warned to be on the look out for stray logs that were loose in the ocean after a ship lost it's cargo in the storm.

Bummer.....you pluck up the courage to paddle into a monster wave like this, only to be hit in the head by a large floating object...together with the sharks & the freezing water....I don't know about you but it doesn't seem like a whole lot of fun to me?

My kids on the other hand thought the rain, hail & freezing temperatures were great fun....& decided to experience it up front & personal....out side. You might be thinking...woman you are MAD!! but my thoughts are...what's the worst that can happen, that a hot bath can't sort out?

Anyway guys...that's all for now. I MUST get some scrappy projects finished.
Have a super day!
KJ
XXX