Greetings & updates!

Hi there everyone! I have been so snowed under {hahaha! corny I know!} that I haven't had much free time to blog over the last couple of days. I have missed you all tho' & will pop onto your blogs when I have finished my post & see how you have all been.
I am not joking about the snowed in part you know, we have been so fortunate to have blankets & blankets of beautiful snow fall today. Not too cold fortunately, we stood in it, tasted it & threw snow balls at each other....juvenile I know but complete fun!!

Having to get on with regular life is quite a feat with so much snow lying on the ground and to drive in it, is even harder , even with salt trucks salting the roads regularly. If we move here it will take a fair amount of adjustment to the weather. That & with the snow, your clothes always feel wet.







We are having a FINE time here in Toronto. Life is relaxed & unstressed, with numerous visits to Tim Horton's, local eatery's & play time in the snow, when I can get Maxi motivated that is........oh yes & scrap shopping!!!!! Tim Horton's is an institutions here in Canada, every where you look, people are walking, heads bowed against the weather whilst sipping a cup of "Timmy's". The most popular way of acquiring a cup of the black nectar, is by driving through the drive-through...YIP! you read right, there are drive through's for everything here, even the bank ATM's ...cool hey?

My trip to Micheals was a bit overwhelming for me. There was just SO much stuff that I didn't know where to start. The plan is to look around some more before going crazy with the visa card! This is what I mean..... rows & rows of stash. Everything you could imagine just calling my name.
I saw the Martha Stewart range for the first time, a bit expensive maybe but boy it is beautiful, The colours, design & whole presentation is sophisticated & chic. I was very impressed!



I also managed to visit the Dollar store, Walmart & the scrapbook! It sounds like by now I should be heavy laden with stash but I haven't actually done much crazy shopping as yet, I want to do some price comparisons first before I swipe my plastic! I did however buy a bit today. I folded on a couple of things that I just couldn't live without ....like a set of magnetic, M.M stamp alpha's~ typewriter font. Jo & Mel...how long has it been since I have had those alpha's on back order???? I also found some Basic Grey chipboard mini album's, felt trim, tiny clear acrylic alpha stamps in an italic font & some other bits 'n bobs. My next mission is to find a McGill file tab punch. There is much method in my restraint, I promise!

Anyhow I'd better finish up, go & help my Aunt prepare supper, my cousin & her husband are coming over. Here are some more pic's of us having fun in the snow:




You have yourselves a fine night. I will try & find a gap tomorrow to post again!
Sleep tite!

XX

Just a hi & bye!

Hello everyone. I have two minutes before I jump into the car with my Aunty Cathy to go to Micheals........oh yeah! oh yeah! Micheals....the shop I have read about on CK forum only but 2 million times. Haha! I bet you I will get there & they will have run out of stock or something, my luck :o)

My boy is sleeping, my hubbie is out with our cousin Christiaan, my uncle is getting ready to go to work & all is quiet. I am thouroughly enjoying my vacation. It is so relaxing having no agenda to follow.

We did brave the snow this morning...it took us about half an hour to work out how to dress Maxi in the snow clothes. By the time we got down the stairs & outside he was freaking out. I don't half blame him tho'......@ home he is a regular nudie & here he is encased in thermal kit from ears to toes. Needless to say our jaunt in the snow lasted all of about 20 minutes......we will try again tomorrow :o)

Well you lovely lot..I will try & post pics later once I work out to do it on the new camera. For now catch a HUGE hug.

Bye-bye!!
x

Hiya doing??

Hello guys from the frozen North. Yip we are here, we arrived in one piece, a bit tired but extatic to be in Toronto. I don't have much time to post right now...we are sitting eating oats porridge with the whole family & it is so cool!!!! The ground is covered in snow....it is seriously cold outside....it is FANTASTIC!

I have no pic's as yet because we have no camera with us. Shock, Horror!!!! no camera, that is because we did'nt pack one. The plan is to buy a compact here....mall here we come.

I will hopefully post again soon
XXXX

Christmas come early!

Hello there you lovely lot!!!!
I have been so snowed under my to-do-list for the last couple of days, that I just haven't gotten around to posting. But thankfully I am almost there. The suitcases are packed......the VISA's came yesterday {early I might add, I was expecting them on Friday} & the house type arrangements are almost there. YAY! for me!! 24hrs to go & we will be at the airport sipping latte's & waiting for our flights.

******The other fantastic unexpected news....the cherry on the top of everything, is that Creating Keepsakes magazine want to publish another one of my L.O's.
And to make my day even more WOW!, a local SA magazine~ Time & About want to publish x4 of my L.O's for early next year. Goodness, I feel a bit euphoric & spoilt......a great way to start a long awaited holiday tho'!*****

On the scrapping front, I haven't had much time of late to finish many 12x12's but I did finish this cute 'Photo Wallet'. I got the instructions off Samantha's blog. It is a Christmas gift for Aunty Sarah. It was her birthday the other day & I wanted to give here something to remember it by. It is super easy and VERY quick to finish. The actual wallet doesn't even take an hour....it's the resizing & printing of the pic's that took longer. If you have SERIOUS time constraints, it might be easier if you take jumbo's you already have printed and cut them down to the right size.

This is the 'sleeve' that holds it together when closed.

This is the wallet open with the flaps closed.

This is the wallet & flaps open.

It is an amazing SUPER QUICK gift to make for someone.
Anyway guys I must go & finish up.

Have a gr8 arvi.
Chat soon
KJ
x

Running around!

Morning all.....I hope you all had a lovely weekend. I did.....managed to spend some quality time with my boys. It was much needed with Tersh, who has working until after 2am, most mornings in an attempt to break the back of the work he needs to get out by Thursday.......BECAUSE WE LEAVE FOR CANADA ON FRIDAY!!!! As you have probably guessed by now, I am SERIOUSLY! excited about our trip! Our visa's haven't come back from Pretoria yet but I am not worried....they'll be here, I know it! And this is the first real holiday we have had all year. It is hard to believe by Sunday this week, we will be up to our eyeballs in snow.....Yay!!!

AnywayI can't do much of a post this am because I have a million things to organize & get done before Maxi comes back from his play date. So I better 'get on my horse'.

So Hi & Bye until later.

XX

Getting creative.

Samantha is a friend I met on the CKMB. She is a creator of cards & other lovely things. If you get a chance pop onto her blog to see some of her creations. Anyhow.....as you all know i am not much of a card maker.... for no reason in particular, other than I just haven't done it much. After seeing some of Samantha's cards, I was inspired to try. Luckily it coincided with Mel's Birthday, so it was a perfect opportunity to make one for her.

This was the result.
{The hardest part of the exercise, was photographing it afterwards haha!}

The cover, I stitched & stamped.

Inside is a contrast colour insert, that I secured with a
ribbon tie through the spine of the card & a photo of Mel
with my message.

While I am show casing this card, I thought it a good idea to post some pic's of a little exploding box I made for Cass a little while back. It was something for her to take home with her to remind her that we love her. Don't be put off it, looks far more complicated than it really is. If you are keen to try & make one too, here is a link for an "Exploding box " that I found on Samantha's blog. It is an amazing alternative to a mini album, for someone near & dear and it holds loads of little photographs & allows you space to journal too.

I hope this helps? Have a super day!

KJ
X

P.S For anyone interested in Maxi's passport saga......it CAME yesterday....Yahoooo! that means were are definitely off to Canada next week. Yowzer, I can't believe it is next week already, the time has flown super fast !!!!!!

It's Back!

I ran out of internet cap 2 days ago....frustrating having to wait until today to post again.

So whats been happening, in your lives??

Nothing to really report on my side except I finally did all my filing. You know all that stuff that gets rammed into your mail box everyday, that you never know what to do with....well that stuff. I have it accumulating for months, in cupboard no. 13 {the one that closes with the help of large pieces of duct tape}. The surprising thing was that most of it ended up in a garbage bag to be thrown out....I wonder how many trees 'died' to produce all that rubbish???? Sad but part of the circle of life I suppose! and the rest was mostly bank mail.......& insurance. BORING! to say the least.

The highlight of this feat, was I found my CK cheque for the 1st page they published of mine. I had 'lost' it & had no idea where to start looking.....I suppose cupboard 13 should have been the obvious place to start! LOL!

I have managed to get quite a lot of scrapping done lately...but alas no pics yet....maybe I will get a chance to post them later...still got to scan them etc,etc. The trick I find is to have photo's already printed & waiting.....I did a whole marathon fix & print session last week, so had pic's for 5 pages ready. Such a sense of achievement to get them done in almost no time at all. With my life being SUPER uninteresting at the moment......I am grateful for our 'hobby' it keeps me sane!

Yaaaay! 5 weeks and counting until we fly......I am so excited I could just pop! Yes I know we have our hopes set on Tersh finding a job to facilitate us moving there....but I also have made peace too with the fact that it might not happen....& that's OK too. Tersh has also had some interesting offers from the UK, so there is other avenues to pursue if when we get back to SA, we find we still want to move. I will keep you posted tho'.

Anyhow lovelies.....I must go & be useful somewhere......like make supper or something.....but it is only 11.30am why now??? All part of being a SHAM I suppose....this is where I have my AAAARHH! face on.

XX

Disappointed!

I woke up early, got myself psyched for the Dept. of Home affairs, left with x2 cups of coffee charging thro' my veins......prepared to get Max's passport done and dusted, so I can get the Canadian visa's organised. Hmmmmf! my mission was short lived. I queued only to be told that both parents need to complete & sign the form. I went back to the counter to 're-look' my form & signed Tersh's signature for him {I do this all the time for the non-important stuff of daily life-Oh, in hind sight I suppose I shouldn't stay stuff like that on my blog hahaha!} I then reluctantly dragged myself into the nasty queue once again, which by this time had doubled in length. I was about half way to the front of the line when that familiar little voice of reason, started shouting in my head. Do you guys hear that voice too??? Well, I had a HUGE episode of conscience & decided against putting my artistic-signature-signing talent to the test. I had visions of getting the most conscientious government official handling my forms. Someone who was secretly renowned for his expert handwriting analyis skills......that & the unpleasant thought of trying to explain myself to a large irritated South African policeman.

I left the queue & came home.

I am so grateful in times like these for the voice of the Lord, kicking me in the head for being DUMB!!

Tomorrow I try again, armed with Tersh's real signature.


I did however make the most of my shortened to do list this morning and picked up the Canadian visa forms for completion. On a whim, I inquired as to how much the visa's would cost us, thinking in the region of a couple of hundred bucks. When the agent told me, it took me a good minute or two to retrieve my jaw off the ground. It is going to cost us nearly R3000 {$500} for the x3 visas, which will only be valid for the duration of the trip. HECK!

The one thing this trip has been very instrumental in doing, is revealing just how much the process of possible immigration is going to cost us. Oh well....it will be worth it in the long run I suppose. I must get my head around it & get reacquainted with my cheque book.

Well lovely people I must get cracking with a whole lot of photo's I want to get printed for a L.O I am trying to get finished ASAP. I hope you too are getting a free moment here & there to scrap???
Chat soon
XXXXXX X

The tickets are almost booked!!!!

Just a quick update for all those interested, that it looks as if we are almost there in terms of finalizing the tickets to Canada in Dec. I am sooooo looking forward to seeing family I haven't seen in ages and getting a chance to have a good look around the city which might end up becoming our home in the next year or so. This is what we have to look forward to......with a few meters of snow or ice included......brrrrr!



See they have beaches too!!!!! Surf too, apparently ;o)



Well I'd better get onto the travel agent and confirm things.......hopefully on Monday I will have our tickets in my hand. Yipppeeeee!!

Will keep you posted!!
X