DOING LIFE

2012-01-25T14:16:00.000+02:00

First Centre Step Creation

At last I got the metric measurements for a centre step card from Frances Byrne (her template you can find below). I've used my long forgotten aloe stamp as well as the little fence stamp. The centiment is computer generated.

I would like to enter this little creation into the following challenges:

Let's Ink It Up #19: Anything Goes
Truly Scrumptious #72: Something Forgotten - I haven't used this aloe stamp for a few years
Charisma Cards #2: Clean & Simple
Creative Inspirations #147: Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp: Anything Goes
Moving Along the Times #133: Blooming Marvellous - Aloe flowers
Make it Monday #73: Anything Goes
My Mums Craft Shop #41: Flowers - Aloe Flowers
The Crafty Pad Designs #154: Lets see something for the boys
Stamp & Create: January monthly challenge - Anything goes
Paper and Such Design Blog: Non-traditional colours

Thank you for stopping by and your lovely comments.

2012-01-22T14:03:00.001+02:00

GIFT BOX WITH NOTE CARDS
Floral Note Cards and Pizza Box Template

I stumbled upon Bev's tutorial on her blog and just had to give this little project a go and I must say I really enjoyed making something practical for a gift.

I used some of my favourite House Mouse stamps for the project. The tag shape with the House Mouse on was made with the Creative Memories Jumbo Tag Punch available online at {Doing Life}. The scalloped brown circle behind the tag was punched with a 3" EK Success Punch.

I would like to enter this creation into the following challenges this week:

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge #116: Buttons & Bows
Robyn's Fetish Challenge #91: Love
Crafty Purple Frog Challenge: Anything Goes
Card Makin' Mamas: Something Old - the patterned cardstock the pizza box is made of, is something I have had in my stash for several years.
Stamptacular Sunday #148: Seeing Spots
PanPastel UK Challenge #2: Use two of something - the little note cards have two punch-outs on them i.e. a tag punch and a scalloped circle punch
The Poodles Parlour: Valentine/Love
Simply Create Too #5: Love is in the Air
Wags 'n Whiskers #71: Valentines/Love Card
Craft us Crazy: Valentine/Love and/or Animals
Pixie Dust Studio: We're Going Dotty
Lets Ink It up #19: Anything Goes
Dream Valley Challenge #24: Animals
CES Challenges #69: Anything but a Card

Thank you all again for taking time to stop by here at my little space on the web.

2012-01-19T13:39:00.004+02:00

Zach-Pierre's 4th Birthday Card

Its strange how I seem to struggle creating cards for men/boys ... wonder why its much easier creating something for the girls - don't know if some of you have the same problem.

I am doing ZP's 4th birthday party photo shoot this coming Saturday. Its his very first official birthday party, so I am sure he can't wait. I created this easel card with a pin-wheel design on it and added a photo of him I took during a family photo shoot I did for the Lindeque's about a year and half ago.

I am entering ZP's birthday card into the following challenges which are running this week:

Charisma Cardz Challenges #2: Clean and Simple
ABC Challenge: H is for Happy Birthday

2012-01-17T13:23:00.001+02:00

Tri-Shutter Mini Album

I tried my hand at a new technique for a mini album which I stumbled upon here on Paper Pleasing Ideas. Its such a great project on which one can really put one's personal stamp. I created this one especially for a gift which I will pass onto the recipient in a few months time. Hope he/she will love it.

I am entering this project into the following challenges:

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge #115: Use something new - a new technique
Dutch Dare Card Challenge # 147: For the boys - a gift for our god son
Saturday Challenge #168: Anything goes with Blue
The Pink Elephante Challenge # 131: Favourite Colour(s) - definitely blue and green
Karens Doodles Challange #95: Valentines Love

Thank you again for taking some time out to stop by and for all your lovely comments.

2012-01-17T10:09:00.000+02:00

ONE STOP CRAFT CHALLENGE + Other

{No.164 Bingo - Distressing/Ribbon/Flowers}

Just loving this NEW Flower Folding Technique I have tried out this weekend. I used my Paper Shapers square punches to create this flower with. I am entering this creation into the One Stop Craft Challenge this week. The theme is Bingo and is used the 3-in-the-top-row i.e. Distressing/Ribbon/Flowers as the criteria.

I am also entering this creation into the following challenges:

Dream Valley Challenge No.23: "Anything Goes" http://dreamvalleychallenges.blogspot.com/

Sparkles Forum Challenge: Anything but a Christmas Card http://sparklesforumchallenges.blogspot.com/

Craft Your Days Away No.36: "New Beginnings" http://craftyourdaysaway.blogspot.com/

Top Tip Tuesday No.67: "Anything Goes" http://toptiptuesday.blogspot.com/

I am also entering this creation into the 1-18-12 Sketch Challenge over at Let's Scrap. We had to use this sketch as a creative guideline:

Thank you for taking time out to pop in here.

2012-01-16T11:51:00.001+02:00

My Favourite Flower Folding Technique

Here's another easel card I created with this new found folding technique, which I am thoroughly enjoying.

I am entering the card into the following challenges this week:

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge #115: Use something new - my new found flower folding technique http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com/
Moving Along with the Times # 131: Spots & Stripes http://movingalongwiththetimes.blogspot.com/
One Stop Craft Challenge # 165: Spots & Ribbon http://onestopcraftchallenge.blogspot.com/2012/01/challenge-165-on-spot-ribbon.html
Saturday Challenge # 168: Anything goes with Blue http://thesecretcraftersaturdaychallenge.blogspot.com/2012/01/challenge-168.html

We went to see the Nutcracker on Ice last night and the Teatro at Monte Casino and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Wishing you all a lovely week ahead and especially to those being back at work and school this week, after the lovely holidays.

2012-01-09T09:37:00.007+02:00

New Flower Folding Technique from Squares

{The SECRET to having it all ... is BELIEVING you already do...}

I have tried a new Flower Folding technique using only squares. The flower on this card had been created with 5x5cm square punch-outs using my Paper Shapers punch. I saw this technique being demonstrated on YouTube and it was just to enticing not to give it a go. Using double sided pattern cardstock gives it an extra dimension. This whole card even the backdrop to the folded flower has been created with 5x5cm square punch-outs.
I am entering this creation into the following Challenges this week with the criteria being a new technique I tried my hand at:
Crafty Calendar Challenge: "New News" http://craftycalendarchallenge.blogspot.com/
Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge No.114: "A New Beginning" http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com/2012/01/challenge-114-new-beginning.html
Cute Card Thursday Challenge No.198: "Whats New" http://cutecardthursday.blogspot.com/2012/01/challenge-198-whats-new.html
Dutch Dare Card Challenge No.146: "New Beginning" http://dutchdare-cardchallenges.blogspot.com/
Paper Play Challenges: "12 - Week 1 - "Happy New Year" http://paperplaychallenges.blogspot.com/2012/01/12-week-1-happy-new-year.html
Papertake Weekly Challenge: "Anything goes" http://papertakeweekly.blogspot.com/2012/01/happy-new-year-anything-goes.html
ABC Challenge: "G is for Green" http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com/2012/01/g-for-green.html
Top Tip Tuesday Challenge No.67: "Anything Goes" You Tube Video Tip http://toptiptuesday.blogspot.com/
Just so loving this new flower folding technique - can already seeing myself over indulging myself with it.

Thank you all for stopping by. Wishing you all a wonderful 2nd week for 2012.

2012-01-06T08:36:00.007+02:00

SNAPSHOTS OF LATEST LAYOUTS

{All of these double page layouts are available in comprehensive kit format with step-by-step notes from {Doing Life} Online Shoppe for Template Based Scrapbooking kits}

All well on this side. At the moment I am busy with finalising and packaging the kits for the {Doing Life} Johannesburg Summer Scrapaganza on 25 February 2012 to be held at the Golf Club at Dainfern Estate. There are still some seats available and you are welcome to email me or leave a comment here if you are interested in attending.

Below I am posting some snapshots of the latest layouts I created in comprehensive kit format.

Below is a Notepad Board which are also available in kit format with comprehensive notes. The board is chipboard and even the notepad are included in the kit. This is ideal for a gift or to hang in your kitchen for shopping lists.

Thank you once again for stopping by and your lovely comments.

2012-01-03T09:32:00.004+02:00

My 5 Favourite Cards for 2011

Debby from A Scrapjourney challenged her fellow creative bloggers to post their favourite cards for 2011. So here is my creations:

The stamps used for the above card were all Making Memories acrylic stamps and the text background behind the pull-out tag is a Chiswick acrylic stamp. Love the monochromatic feel of it.

Above: An iris folding technique was used for the design inside the fancy square frame and a Doing Life template was used for the fancy square frame itself. The butterflies were done with acrylic stamps and the sentiment are foam letters.

Above: An easel creation (my favourite design). Paper Shapers punches and a Doing Life template was used. The sentiment is computer generated.

Above: Another iris folding technique were used in the rectangle feature. The flowers were created with punches.

Above: A tri-step card. Just love the depth of this creation. The hearts were stamped with Chiswick acrylic stamps and he sentiments were computer generated.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I wish you all the best for 2012!!

2011-12-27T11:26:00.004+02:00

XMAS 2011 - The Table & Menu

Once again we were blessed in having some special eats for the day. I made each Xmas guest a jar filled with fudge and chocolate brownies made by yours truly and then popped each jar into an organza bag with a little tag containing a Xmas message. Then I popped in some silver holly decorations into each organza bag and placed the jars in the middle of the Xmas table to form the centre piece.

The menu - cold meats and salads:

Roasted Turkey with stuffing - ordered from Spar Broadacres, Leg of Lamb, Gammon, Tongue, Corn Salad, Walford Salad, Potatoe Salad, Mixed Salad, Homemade Mustard and Apple Sauce and Mint Sauce. Pavlova with Berries for desert.

Thanks again for stopping by.

2011-12-27T10:58:00.008+02:00

XMAS 2011 - Fernridge Estate

We were blessed with gorgeous Xmas day weather in Gauteng and the little ones enjoyed themselves in the water. It was special to have Heidi with her precious family and her Dad and his wife with us for the day. The day was super relaxed.

Below: Zander having a splash

Below: Now this is the life Below: Alisha & Zander riding the waves Below: Marko still deciding on whether to take the plunge Below: Marko testing the water Below: Alisha catching some rays to dry Below: Zander showing me his loose tooth and telling me how the tooth fairy builds his tooth houses Below: Marko took the plunge at last and loving it

Above: Marko could not contain his excitement watching his Xmas gift i.e. dancing Elf performing and singing for him.

Below: Back - Heidi, Marko & Bernardt Nel and Conroy. Front - Myself, Alisha & Zander Nel, Rona & Julius Schmidt

Below: The Nel's and their Borrelbekkies

Thank you for stopping by and sharing in our Xmas joy. Trust you also had a blessed and joyful Xmas. Here's wishing you all a happy and joyful 2012.

2011-12-13T11:21:00.004+02:00

TRI-STEP CARD & MOSAIC PROJECT

- 13 December 2011

Another tri-step card I created for my dear friend Belinda's birthday. I used the same template posted in the previous post below. Such an easy card technique - it looks more complicated than it is. The hearts were stamped with Chiswick's acrylic stamps, cut out and scrunged. The sentiments were sourced from FB.

After finishing mosiacing my garden table and chairs a few months ago, Belinda's husband fancied it during a visit and commissioned Belinda to also mosaic a garden set for their balcony at home. I ordered the table and 3 chairs from the Seedpod Studion in Broadacres, Johannesburg. I helped Belinda select the colours for the mosaic tiles and we spent two full days mosaicing. We also mosaiced a terra cotta pot with the left over tiles. I planted a succulant in it for her. Can't wait to see the garden set on their balcony. We are visiting them on New Years.

Just finished putting up the Christmas Tree. Its the first time in 4 years we have put up the tree (... and yes Michelle, I have not opened your Xmas pressie yet, its nicely waiting for me under the tree ...), as we have been away for Christmas every year since we moved to Gauteng. Hubby was prompting me regularly on 'when is the tree going up'. Last night I mentioned that the tree would look quite nice in the corner of our TV room. This morning while I was still sleeping he silently moved the furniture around, to make space for the tree. I did not even noticed the furniture being moved when I came down from upstairs. Only noticed it when I decided later in the morning to put the tree up. Thats now true Xmas cheer dedication for you.

Hubby's mom and dad has been married for 53 years today. What an achievement and dedication to eternal love.

2011-12-07T14:45:00.001+02:00

SIDE-STEP CARD

Bev Rochester from 'All the Things I Love' inspired me to try my hand at creating this side-step card. It actually looks more difficult than it really is. Use an A4 piece of cardstock and one cant go wrong following the template below:

The cardstock are Basic Grey. The flowers were stamped using acrylic stamps and the two quotes were sourced from the pages of some of my Facebook friends. Thanks for stopping by and I trust that you will also give this lovely project a go.

2011-11-30T08:38:00.005+02:00

27 Awesome Years

{30 November 2011: 27th Wedding Anniversary}

Can't believe the years have flown past in a blink of an eye - it definitely makes one realise more and more that every moment in life counts - so we have to make the most of each moment.

Every day with my partner in life has always been super special. I created this layout for a scrapbooking challenge a few years ago and herewith the journaling that went with it (see below):

That very first meeting the evening of Valentine’s Day, 1983 was definitely not a butterfly, heart-skip-a-beat moment for me. Back then I was relatively cautious and shy around the opposite sex and did not trust Conroy’s first advances. Later that evening when I was dropped back at the varsity hostel, I turned a cheek when a goodnight kiss was coming my way. I have just come out of a serious year-long relationship which I had during my first year at Tygerberg Technical College in Cape Town.

But, Conroy was not going to let this ‘sight to behold’ slip through his fingers and came round the very next day to reinforce his feelings. So, bit by bit the resistance crumbled and I could not stop myself from falling in love. For the duration of our nearly two years of Res life I was often spoilt with a bunch of red carnations fondly placed in my Res post box and always accompanied with a cute card with sincere words. I have kept all these cards and still have them today.

What attracted me the most about Conroy and is still the case today are his sincerity, honesty, very small heart and gallant demeanor. My Mom always said that, the best way to determine how a man will treat his future wife is to observe the relationship he has with his Mom. And this is very true as Conroy till this day, treats his Mom & Dad with endearing love and huge respect. Needless to say, this also shines through in our relationship. The physical attraction of course is his nearly 2m frame, warm brown eyes and his size 12½ feet.

We got engaged on 13 December 1983 and married a year later, on completion of our studies on Friday, 30 November 1984 at the ‘Vanstadensrivier Gemeente’ situated between Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth. We did not go on a honeymoon, as we have both started to work full time at the beginning of November 1984 and only stayed for 2 nights at the Beach Hotel in Port Elizabeth ... and of course this was all we could afford at that stage. But, we have shared, enjoyed and experienced wonderful memorable getaways/adventures the 24 years to date.

Through all the years Conroy has ... • opened the car door for me, leaving home and at the destination • brought breakfast in bed for me • put his own washing in the basket • said thank you for every meal I have served • left the kitchen neat when he has prepared a meal • never forgotten our anniversary • packed his own clothes for business trips My Mom’s advice for an everlasting marriage was to make sure that you are home before your husband returns from work (if possible) and never go to bed cross with each other. I cannot imagine life without Conroy by my side.

My life is Conroy and life is Conroy in my world. He is my only soul mate and confidante. In a way I am what I am today, at the age of 44, mainly because I have Conroy by my side unselfishly, lovingly supporting me in everything I do and still want to do. Life ahead can only be a loving adventurous joyride with him by my side.

- Very blessed, signing off.

2011-11-23T12:59:00.011+02:00

{Doing Life} Ammazulu Palace Scrap Day

- 12 November 2011 {Kloof, Durban}

Michelle collected me from Ushaka Airport at 7:30am on the Friday and it was fantastic spending a relaxing day with my dear friend. We made our way straight to Reminisce for some breakfast and a good old catching up chat. Then we headed to Michelle's home to collect all the supplies for the scrap day and dropped at Ammazulu Palace for setting up later.

We then made our way to Hillcrest for some retail therapy at Mr Price Home where we both got some lovely 3-tier cake stands which I need for my 3 December Scrap Day here at my home studio. There's going to be 16 ladies, so space will definitely be an issue and these cake stands will definitely save some space when serving muffins and and teatime treats.

Hillcrest The Corner Shopping Mall was our next stop where we had a light lunch at a coffee shop and then strolled through the various shops - with me doing some investigation into what urns are on the market as I will also need to purchase a nice urn to keep boiling water on tap for the 3 Dec Scrap Day. I did however, saw a lovely 10 liter urn at Boardmans here at Design Quarter in Fourways, yesterday and will definitely go back and purchase it. We then floated into various clothing stores and it was great fun fitting clothes together - as Michelle rightly said, its alwas great to have valued feedback on how things look on, from a friend. We ended up with each buying quite a few items of clothing.

Shopped-out we returned to Ammazulu Palace to check in as we were sleeping there the Friday and Saturday night as well as to setup the conference venue the same evening. As we were checked into our room, we were told that we were upgraded to the Presidential Suite. Being a 5-star rated venue, we were expecting just the super best. And as I have never before stayed at a 5-star rated venue, I could not wait to experience it first hand.

But, unfortunately we were disappointed and I just could not visualise SA's President staying in this room. Some random little things we picked up in the room:

The safe did not work at all.
No instant coffee, only ground coffee, but no plunger to make it in.
We were 2 people staying in the room, but only one lonely cookie in a container.
Bed light on my side were full of spider webs.
No tissues in the room.
No hairdryer as it has to be pre-requested and then it was a small little travel one.
One towel rail in the bathroom fell off the wall when putting a towel on it.
Shower door handle broken
No air freshner in the bathroom
Soap dish in shower so high one has to stand on toes to reach, and I am not short.
No shelf in shower to put sjampoo, etc. on.
No shower gel in shower.
Only one small towel for 2 guests in the room.

The food on the other hand were top class at breakfast as well as the catering for the conference itself. {Apologies I just had to get the little issues above of the chest.}

We ordered take-aways for supper after we finished setting up so that we could turn in early. The Scrap Day was such a wonderful relaxing, creative experience and it was great catching up with the happenings in everyone's lives. I always say its like a great re-union of scrap addicts. Jeanette Cornell and her daughter, Nicole was immigrating to Australia the Tuesday and it was her last scrap day whilst residing in SA. She will definitely sorely be missed by all. I have heard in the meantime that she arrived safely in Brisbane and is reunited with the rest of her family. Jeanette we wish you every suchess in you and your family's new venture.

We checked out the Sunday morning and dropped the supplies at Michelle's home again. Before we left for the aiport I managed to pinch a few pieces of Michelle's succulants in her garden. I have planted them up here in our garden in Gauteng and it seems that they have all taken.

Me and Michelle {Doing Life} have got one more Scrap event (3 December) to host for 2011 which will be the 10th for this year - so we both need a good rest before the first 2012 event (25 February 2012 @ Dainfern Golf Estate) http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/147294232032966/

Rayna Winson - the best Ethnic Dresser

Sharon Scott - Grand Prize winner

Top right corner - Brenda Dexter

Main photo from left: Gail Bissett & Linda Musgrove

Main photo right: From left Claudette Upfold, Sharyn Scott & Lisa Bartels

Jeanette Cornell - Speed Queen and her daughter Nicole

Main photo: Sheila Corfe & Debbie van Coppenhagen

Top right photo: Dianne Smith

Back row 4th from the right - Shelley Candiotes

Thanks for stopping by.

2011-11-09T12:27:00.005+02:00

Your Family Arts & Crafts Expo @ Emperors Palace
... a very uncomfortable experience

{4 to 6 November 2011}

My special friend Michelle once again flew up from Durban to come and help me for 3 days at the Xpo. Its the third time that {Doing Life} exhibited at this Expo. The previous two times it has been in the Centre Court at Emperors, but this time the organisers EventX could not secure a November date with Emperors and decided to host the Expo in a tent located in the parking area at Emperors. The exhibitors were promised that the tent is of world class standard and fully air conditioned.

It was the worst exhibiting experience we have had and hopefully we will never have to endure such a horrible experience again. On Friday there was a constant strong wind and the whole tent were rattling and shaking, causing a defining noise which made it nearly impossible to talk to potential clients. On Friday, the aircon outlet, in the form of long plastic bag tubes with holes linked to a machine outside the tent, dit not work at all. The heat was unbearable. This aircon outlet was only fixed during mid day on the Saturday. Needless to say, the gimmicky aircon did not make a difference at all and we were uncomfotably hot for the duration of the three days.

Arriving at 6:25am on the Friday, all the furniture we have paid for in full in July 2011 already were not at our stand and we had to wait until 7:45am to arrange this with Emperors security. And this after I sent an email complaint to the organisers after it happened at the previous Expo as well. I was told that the organisers cannot guarantee that all the furniture will be at our stand as they cannot police other exhibitors pinching our tables during Thursday-setup.

Not once during the 3-day Expo did any representative from the organisers, EventX, came to our stand to enquiry whether everything was in order and whether they could assist with anything. 2 days after the Expo the organisers had the odacity sending out the following general email (not even addressed personally to each exhibitor):

"... Dear Exhibitors, I would like to extend our sincerest apology for the weekend past at the Creative Arts and Crafts Expo with a Christmas Twist.

Firstly, we were not given a choice with EmperorsPalace to use the Centre Court in November, so our next best bet was to use a marquee in the parking lot, which to your surprise actually cost us more money than Centre Court Rental itself. The infrastructure, air systems, carpeting etc, normally all comes part of the venue hire, but in the marquee this was all an additional cost for us. For those of you that know our company it’s important to note, that there is absolutely no reason why we would want you to experience a bad show with us, because as long as you are happy and pleased with our expo’s it ensures us that we will have your business again next year. Nothing was spared in terms of the marketing this year, and in all honesty, there is no explanation as to why we had less feet, it couldn’t have been the marquee because the public were aware of it.

We can only apologize for the unpleasant experience we may have caused you in the marquee, and we are looking at a number of ways in which we can make it up to you going forward and return to a good long standing business relationship with you.

Rest assured that we will never host the expo in a marquee again, and should Emperors decline our booking in the main hall next November, it may be better for us not to host the show at all. July Expo will carry on as normal, and we will do everything in our power to re-establish your trust and faith in us as organizers. My sincerest apologies,..."

Apologies for the wining, but I just had to get it off my chest. The good news is that {Doing Life} wil be exhibiting at Hobby-X 1-4 March 2012.

2011-09-14T08:55:00.003+02:00

LONG OUTSTANDING PROJECT FINISHED AT LAST

At last I managed to mosaic the two chairs to go with the table I did a few years ago at my very first mosaic class. The set has now got a nice spot beside our pool where I had my first early morning cup of coffee this morning. Its amazing how we tend to put off things and once we have actually done them, we don't know why we took so long.

The damp proofing/painters have at last finished our home and it is great to have our home back for ourselves after 7 weeks. It was all worthwhile. We had our first mild thunder storm last night and everything is nice and fresh this morning after the rain.

2011-08-05T16:20:00.003+02:00

SNAPSHOTS OF LATEST LAYOUTS, ETC.

Everything well on this side just been busy with various {Doing Life} scrapbook conferences and Expos. At the moment we have got a team of damp proofing and painting experts at our home, fixing the terrible workmanship of the original Builder of our home. We are the first owners, but did not build the home ourselves. We have had a damp problem in our bottom guest room as well as all around the walls. There was no undercoat on the house or any dampproofing on the outside of the house. The windows and doors also have not been sealed. So all the doors and windows are also being re-oiled and properly sealed with silicon. The team has been on site now for two weeks and its probably another three weeks work. We are also putting up gutters next week. These days they manufacture the gutters in a custom colour of the client's choice. We have also chosen two totally new colours of our house and I can't wait to see what its going to look like.

We actually had the builder of our house on site (he lives in the same estate) to come and see the poor workmanship and he just shrugged his shoulders and says its normal for a new house. Well the house is not even 4 years old and all the experts we had around for quotes to fix it, could not believe how bad the house looks. Needless to say we are spending another small fortune on fixing this, but in the end it will help selling our house one day.

I have posted quite a few snapshots of the latest layouts I have created which are available online at {Doing Life} in kit format. So sit back and quickly browse through them if you are curious. Wishing you all a wonderful Womens Day and remember to celebrate who you are.

2011-06-06T09:02:00.007+02:00

SUMMITING CATHEDRAL PEAK for the 3rd time ... with a near miss experience

My birthday gift this year was a 7-night stay at Cathedral Peak Hotel in the Drakensberg, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa - spoilt I know. Arriving, we were not sure whether we will attempt the Cathedral Peak Summit hike again, but Friday morning we decided we will give it a go for the third time as we have enjoyed the previous two summit experiences. After a disasterous experience this time round, Conroy thought it his duty to report our experience to the Mountain Club of South Africa {MCSA - KZN}.

Below is the covering letter to the MCSA:

A few weeks ago my wife and I spend some time at the Cathedral Peak Hotel. And as we have done in the past, we booked ourselves on their ‘signature’ hike – the Cathedral Peak walk. We have done this hike before successfully two times plus we arranged a guided hike to Cleft Peak (for only my wife and I) about two years ago which we also completed no problem at the time.

This time around however we were disappointed about our experience and we are left concerned about the safety precautions taken by the Hotel in arranging and executing this particular hike.

We feel so strongly about this that we have put together the attached account of our experience along with some key questions we are still left with that we outline in this document.

Although we did give the Cathedral Peak Hotel GM feedback after the incident substantially in line with what is outlined in this document, we are left with a feeling that this incident should be recorded with the appropriate independent governing office for such issues – if indeed such oversight mechanisms exist – and then ideally followed up with the Hotel in terms of ensuring they have appropriate management systems in place for such potentially dangerous activities apart from their “indemnity” clearance forms they require guest hikers to sign. I don’t know of any such oversight and governing bodies apart from knowing about the Mountain Club of South Africa – hence this Email to you as the KZN representative of the MCSA.

This hike ended “well” but it could just as well have ended very badly in a number of ways – in safety terms I think this was a serious “near miss” incident (Per Wikipedia: “A near miss is an unplanned event that did not result in injury, illness, or damage – but had the potential to do so. Only a fortunate break in the chain of events prevented an injury, fatality or damage.”)

Please would you be so kind as to read the attached and give me your advice? I look forward to your response.

Below a detailed account of the events leading up to a near miss experience:

Cathedral Peak Hike: 23 April 2011 General Notes This is an account of our hike to the top of Cathedral Peak from the Cathedral Peak Hotel and back – a guided hike offered by the Cathedral Peak Hotel – on Saturday 23 April 2011. There were 6 hikers in the party along with our Hotel Guide Daniel. The 6 hikers were 4 hotel guests (my wife and I plus two other hotel guests) and a couple that stayed at another hotel in the Drakensberg area. The attached profile is a copy of my Polar Heart Rate Monitor information. The information pictured shows two pieces of important information for the purpose of this document (1) Time on the route (“Time: 0:00:00”) – this is also the horizontal axis and (2) Altitude (“Altitude: 1473m”) – this is the right hand side vertical axis. Note on altitude – although the altitude is reasonably accurate, Polar uses a barometric altitude calculation so it is out by a couple of metres of altitude to the exactly measured altitude. On the first graph (next page) the left side time is noted as 0:00:00 and time of day (when we started the hike) as 07:30:28. Our altitude at the start was 1473m. Before the hike: The 4 Cathedral Peak Hotel guests were ready to go at just about 07h00, which was the scheduled start per the Hotel plan. When we got to the Sundial (the start point) the hotel representative (Kate) told us we were waiting for two other hikers from the outside. After a few more minutes she asked us if this was ok (to wait). What do we say? The pressure was on us as hikers to make a call; we looked at one another and indicated that it was fine to wait. I made a comment that as long as we could still get to the top by the Hotel-specified cut-off for summiting – which was 12h30 in winter. Kate noted with words to the effect that that “It is not quite winter maybe we can summit a bit later”. While waiting we read the safety cards handed around by the hotel. My wife pointed out then that the card noted that the guide was carrying torches, headlamps, safety kits, radio, etc. and we were advised to carry something warm, water, etc. After waiting a while the other couple arrived and we started just after 07h30.

We reached the first water point (+- 1900m altitude) after about 90 minutes of walking. This is more than the average amount of time for hikers to reach the first water point. Bearing in mind that we started 30 minutes later than the Hotel scheduled start (walking time plus delay time = 120 minutes), this milestone should have been a first checkpoint in terms of how the overall hike was going to go.

After the first water point we started a steeper ascend (than the first part of the route) and about 20 minutes or so later we took a quick breather. Here Daniel I thought did a great thing. It was apparent that three of the hikers and one in particular (incidentally, this lady was wearing ‘tackies’, not hiking boots) was struggling. Daniel re-arranged the walking order to ensure the slower hikers were sandwiched between him (leading) and the quicker ones - my wife, me, and another hotel guest - at the back. From here we walked to Orange Peel Gap, took a break, and went on to Buggers Gully. On our way to Buggers Gully I reflected on the hike and came to the conclusion that we probably won’t summit today, my reasoning being that we started late and the walking was slow going because of the limitation of the slower hikers. Although the weather was fine at that point, there were some cloud and signs of possible poorer weather around. Not summiting did not bother me too much as my wife and I hiked this route twice before so summiting was not at all a major objective and safety first would have to take priority. Up to this point the group hiked together. About 10 minutes or so into the section up Buggers Gully my wife and I kept our walking rhythm and broke away from the other hikers. We reached the top of Buggers Gully about 15 minutes ahead of the rest of the group at about 11h29 (+-4 hours into the hike) - altitude +- 2691m. The rest of the hikers arrived at about 11h45. The top of Buggers Gully is indicated by the vertical line that cuts into the Altitude graph line at 2691m. See graphs on the next pages. Almost immediately that the rest of the group arrived Daniel called us together and indicated we were going to ascend Cathedral Peak. I was surprised and with hindsight should have questioned this decision with Daniel. I however at the time said nothing. I don’t recall Daniel checking in with the Hotel control room about this decision, although I can’t be sure about this. Leaving at about 11h50 to summit gave us +- 40 minutes to the winter cut-off of 12h30 to do +- 300 vertical metres of climbing up some tricky bits for novices. It was also known that some of the steep section in the last 300m ascend were wet and slippery because of quite a wet season the preceding months. Up to this point we did an ascent of +- 1200m in 4 hours. A bit of maths to get a baseline means we did each 300m vertical climb from the start of the hike up to this point in about an hour each. Now, 4 hours later, a bit more tired, and with the steepest and trickiest sections waiting we give ourselves 40 minutes for this 300m vertical section.

Eventually my wife and I walked ahead of the third member of the fast group – he had a recurring knee injury that slowed him down – and we got to just below the first water point (as per on the way up) where darkness overtook us at about 18h00 – a bit early but the overcast conditions caused darkness to be earlier than usual. This was the most terrible moment in our +- 18 years or so of hiking. Wet, cold, miserable, no torch etc. Well, we said to ourselves, we will wait for Daniel as he had the torches (per the safety card specification). Just after we sat down to wait other hikers came past us from the hotel – they were a group of University of the OFS students that were going on a multiday hike into the berg. They asked us if we were ok, we said we were fine because we were just waiting for our guide, they have torches then we will continue back to the hotel. The students continued on their hike. After a ten minute wait in the cold – still luckily on the path – the third quick hiker (with the knee injury) caught up with us as he was able to walk in the dark because he brought his own (handheld) torch. We then walked slowly with him – very difficult going as although he had a torch it provided very little light for us at the back to walk properly. After a while Daniel and the slow ones caught up with us. They had two torches. What we did not know until much later into the night hike was that they got these torches from the University of the OFS hikers. Daniel did not have his specified torches in his backpack. So we were just very fortunate that these OFS students came past us when they did. Otherwise we would have been stranded. In fact, the one young student took it upon himself to accompany us back to the hotel because of his concern about the group’s safety. Walking back in the dark with limited light was a nightmare – then was no organisation of the group and we walked apart too far in my view. The guide took no leadership to group us together for better visibility and safety. We eventually got back to the golf course – we took a detour to be able to bypass the river which was flowing quite strongly therefore the route to the golf course and not straight back to the hotel – at about 20h20.

The summit hike was a struggle for the slower hikers. There were some tricky parts and for some of the steep areas a safety rope had to be used. There were anchor points so it was obvious that at times they were used. We were somewhat surprised that the guide was at first reluctant to use the rope going up some of the tricky bits – bearing in mind we were mostly novices for such ascents. The faster group (my wife, me, and the other Cathedral Peak Hotel guest) broke away from the rest after the trickiest part of the ascent where rope had to be used. This was just before the chain ladder. We went on and reached the summit about 12 minutes before Daniel arrived with the three slowest hikers. We arrived on the summit (3004m – 2990/2994 on my graphs) +- 13H19 (5hrs49m elapsed time from the start of the hike, and the final section taking us 1hr30 minutes approximately). The slower bunch took about 1hr45minues for the summit section and they arrived about 13h31 or so. It was extremely cold and windy on the peak and there were some cloud around. I was worried about the weather. I don’t recall Daniel checking in with the Hotel control room at this point, although I can’t be sure about this. We (being the three ‘fastest’ hikers) left the summit at about 13h40 with Daniel the guide and the three slowest hikers following about 5 minutes or so later. On the way down the “fast” group waited for a long time at the bottleneck areas – where we needed Daniel and the rope to assist us – the slow inexperienced hikers took very long to negotiate the descent particularly the tricky parts - and there were huge sections of waiting time by the fast group as they reached the next section where we needed Daniel and the rope as the slow bunch still negotiated the descent higher up. For interest two of the major waiting sections are noted in separate graphs below. The one waiting period was at least 20 minutes and the other at least 16 minutes – where the fast group waited for the slow group in ‘freezing’ conditions. On the way down we were surprised again that at first Daniel was reluctant to use the rope as extra safety at some of the trickiest parts. Bearing in mind we are talking novices here, and some of the hikers, notably one of the Cathedral Peak guests – the lady hiker – was poorly kitted (i.e. wearing tackies not hiking boots) a small mistake could have meant a twisted ankle at 2800-2900 metres altitude! Not in a shelter but on an exposed mountain side in the cold etc. etc.!! A jacket, which we all had, was fine, but the cold on the mountain at that point needed more than a simple jacket. After the last point where we needed Daniel’s rope, the fast group broke away again and said to Daniel we will walk ahead so long, he said we should wait at Orange Peel Gap. We got to the top of Buggers Gully at about 15h26 (7hrs 56min elapsed time). We knew we had a challenge ahead to get to the Hotel before dark. We suspected Daniel and the slower ones got to this point at least 15 minutes later (i.e. about 15h45). Just after descending through Buggers Gully we took a short break and it started raining softly with some thunder audible in the distance. It was very cold and miserable. We got to the top of Orange Peel Gap at about 16h45 and decided to push on and not to wait for Daniel and the slow group. We are left with many questions and a sense of anger and disappointment around this and of the way the Hotel dealt with this hike from the start through to after we gave feedback to the Hotel GM the day after our ordeal. What makes it worse is that this (Cathedral Peak Hotel) was our favourite stay in the Drakensberg for years. While we accept that we signed the Hotel indemnity form before going on the hike – as not so subtly pointed out by the Hotel GM when we gave him feedback the day after our experience - that certainly does not give the Hotel permission to act negligently and contrary to good practice from a mountain climbing/hiking/safety/common sense point of view: • We felt the sense of urgency around this hike from the hotel’s side was questionable. For most people hiking this hike it is a difficult hike with some key challenging sections and for most novices, some parts are even technical in nature (i.e. steep slopes, ropes advisable). Therefore the Hotel has a duty of care and needs to display a sense of urgency which we felt was absent. To ground this statement we referred to the sequence of events as outlined above and also the next points. •Why be so lax around the cut-off point in winter? See comment on first page above: “It is not quite winter maybe we can summit a bit later” •Why start the hike way beyond the scheduled start waiting for other hikers that are late? This is unacceptable and also this was disrespectful to those that were on time for the hike. •Why allow hikers to hike with tackies if the Hotel specify in their advertisement for the hike that boots are advisable because of the terrain? •Why proceed to summit if it should have been clear based on all reasonable indications that the summit should not be attempted? Speaking to the “slow lady with the tackies” later on she was told by Daniel during the hike (Daniel spend most of his attention on her as she was struggling so much) that he took pride in getting his hikers to the top of the peak. Did Daniel’s pride (ego) get in the way of good judgement? Is this another good reason why on such a guided hike the guide should check-in with the Hotel Control Room to ensure decision support? It should not be about the guide’s pride it should be about the safety of the hikers. •Why, once it was decided to summit, and it became clear the group took a long time to ascend, was the summit attempt not aborted ‘halfway’ up? •Why the reluctance from the guide to use rope as assistance at the difficult points? •Speaking to the “slow lady with the tackies” afterwards she said that she was also concerned about the time issue but from what she said to me I gathered she trusted the guide’s judgement. However she said on the way back – I think it was just below the summit around the top of Buggers Gully on the way down – which was around 15h45pm – she asked Daniel whether he should contact the Hotel to tell them that there was a problem. Daniel did not want to do this/was reluctant to do this. She had her Cell phone with her and phoned her husband/partner at this point and he went to I think the “Entertainment” manager or someone else in authority to tell them about the problem. I am not clear what was done when this information was shared by the lady’s husband/partner to the Hotel people. Why the lack of communication between the guide and the Hotel Control Room? •Why no torches in the back-pack of the guide as ‘promised’ in the pre-departure safety card that we read? What else might have been missing in the backpack that we don’t know about? E.g. safety medical kit? •Afterwards (on the 24th when I gave the Hotel GM feedback on our experience) I asked the Hotel GM what time he was made aware of the problem. He said that sometime around 18H30pm on the day was the first time he knew about it. My comment and question around this to him was that knowing the nature of the hike, the time of year – being early winter – etc. when Daniel got to the top of Buggers Gully at say 15h45 on the way back – why on earth was this not the latest point at which the cavalry is called? There was no way that the slowest group was going to get to the Hotel before dark given the limitations of the hikers. Did Daniel know early on he did not have torches? •It is also instructive for us that the lack of sense of urgency was also indicated by the fact that when we arrived back at the Hotel after we were transported back to the hotel from the golf course – around 20h35 that evening – we were met not by the Hotel GM (who by then knew about the problem), but by the Food & Beverage GM. The Hotel GM “went home”. We feel this indicates a lack of sensitivity from the Hotel GM regarding the seriousness and potential tragedy that could have played out were it not for some fortunate co-incidences/circumstances – e.g. the total random event of the University of the OFS students passing the point they did at the time they did and the student’s willingness to assist and that one of the hikers had a torch. Our understanding is that hypothermia can kill the best quickly….never mind the potential of missing a step in the dark and falling down the side of a path. •There appears to have been a complete lack of communication between the guide and the Hotel Control room. No decision support; i.e. a decision to summit for all Hotel Guest Summit hike groups should be confirmed with the Hotel control room and there should be regular Control Room check-ins by the guide to report on progress with the hike at key milestones during the hike and at other points when circumstances require such communication. •We were left with the impression that the Hotel Control room people in charge may not have done this hike before so they may not have any idea of the challenging nature of the route. When asked, the Hotel GM and his assistant both said that they (the GM’s) have not done the hike before. •On the message boards where hikes and activities are advertised (hotel lobby area) it is noted that the Hotel guides are trained by an outside specialist Outdoors operator – I think it is “Wildways”. When we gave the Hotel GM feedback regarding our experience he mentioned that Daniel, our guide, was trained and passed fit for being a guide, by one of their other guides (Moses). We feel this is not right. While we have done guided hikes with Moses before and found him highly competent as a guide, is he a specialist trainer? What about independent opinion and certification? We are talking a key safety issue here. By the way, Daniel’s training and being passed “fit” for being a guide took place recently so Daniel, although obviously physically very able to hike the route, was an inexperienced guide at the Hotel. •When we gave then feedback – to the Hotel GM and his assistant – the Hotel GM on a few occasions referred to the Assistant GM saying we have to go back to the controls we had in the past. This was highly concerning to us. Why not stick to controls that work? •We emphasised in our feedback to the Hotel GM that this – the feedback - was not about nailing Daniel or even Kate the Entertainment Co-ordinator. It was however in our view pointing to a failure from Hotel Management to have an appropriate management system in place – or apparently so based on our experience during this hike – and unfortunately Kate and Daniel were actors only in the bigger mess up. Unfortunately the whole mess-up and the apparent cavalier approach by the Hotel before, during, and after the incident leaves us with a sour taste and we won’t be back soon.

2011-06-04T15:38:00.000+02:00

OUR HOLIDAY by Liesl Schmidt

.{... my niece Liesl Schmidt, has such an entertaining way of putting simple things into words. Here is an account of their latest holiday at Kruger Park ...}

When you’ve spent so many hours driving at 25kms per hour searching for “the-lessor-spotted-spotted-leopard” it really is difficult to stop searching for “the-lessor-spotted-spotted-leopard” even if you’re driving on beach sand in Macaneta….

*sigh* We were so CONVINCED we were going to see a leopard in the Kruger National Park!!!! ……………..But alas! No leopard  We were eating left-over braai wors at 9:15am and the whole leopard-thing became the topic of every conversation, “Gee vir die luiperd ‘n stukkie wors hy’s honger” or when I didn’t want to open my window because “die luiperd gaan my worsie steel”….. Schtoepit luiperd wou nie uitkom nie ... By Crocodile Bridge there’s a lookout point where you can get out of your car and just as we got out of the car a HUMUNGOUS hippo snorted in the river right next to us (I didn’t however see the hippo, but it sounded really big). I nearly pee’d in my pants I got such a fright!! (Mario laughed at me, but I think it was more a nervous laugh than anything else…) We walked to the lookout point where a game-ranger was waiting for us with a 3.3-something-something rifle where we saw a buffalo across the river, a tiny little green frog and a brightly-coloured Saddle-billed Stork – awesome!

We were also privileged enough to see some of South Africa’s largest birds-of-prey and often stopped and stared in awe at the majestic looking creatures! Our favourite was the Southern Yellow-Billed Hornbill who is by far the most comical bird I have ever seen!! Spider webs were also EVERYWHERE! Especially those nasty nests that look like a back-pack full of spiderlings….eeeuuugghh²!!! At a stage we also saw a MASSIVE spiderweb and when I asked “What on earth is that spider planning on catching in such a big web?”, Mario’s response was “Its an elephant trap”. Same goes for when we saw those MASSIVE bird nests and I asked “What kind of bird lives there?” Mario’s response again “Vrieskoeie”. There’s this book that you can buy at the Kruger shops and then you can tick-off which animals you’ve seen. This is a lot of fun if you don’t have much to do (especially at 25kms p/h!). At a stage we stopped at a conglomeration of cars and were told that there were two lions lying in the grass. We saw the lions and ticked them off our list (for the fact that we only saw the right shoulder of the one and the left back toe of the other is, of course, completely beside the point). Towards the end of the day and after driving for a while not seeing anything, the silence in the car was broken by a sound which can only be described as a tornado going backwards into my mouth (I should’ve just said “NO FRIGGEN WAY!!!”, but my inaudible inhale was just as good at the time). To my left was a lioness sitting “kierts-regop” in the long grass watching two warthog with great intense. She eventually moved forward with silent-grace, then across the road and down in the long-grass with her ears back – her eyes not leaving the warthog’s delicious-looking butt for even a split-second. Eventually she charged forward with meaning, but the warthogs sped off like grease-lightnin’ – with their little antennas in the air! She didn’t catch one (thank goodness!) and then she just lost interest. Maybe the warthog-steak didn’t look so delicious from up close. It was thrilling to see!! Other amazing sights were two big elephants with a baby (more like a juvenile) right next to the road, a fat-and-shiny hippo out of the water grazing, two tortoises, a pofadder, a rhino crossing the road in front of us (got a nice video-clip of that),… mmm what else…... OH OH OH and then the one time it was already dark and as we approached the gate we got stuck in a herd of buffalo crossing the road!! As far as you looked to your right and left there were just these big, black, moving blobs with big horns. I was petrified! I got a nice eerie pic of the one buffalo! Back at Marloth Park where we stayed we got a visit from the Warthog family every day. I also got a nice video clip of Mario feeding them and getting a fright when momma demanded more bread (you are not allowed to feed them, so if any of you tell on us I will deny it!!). The whole monkey-clan also came past the one day and they just took over!! The one got hold of my nose-spray and started sucking it (come to think of it, I better chuck that bottle now…), and we also had to fish out Mario’s torch in the bushes…. Naughty little buggers! My mail is getting a bit long now, so I’ll try to wrap it up. Here follows the short sequel to our previous Macaneta-trip-of-horrors: Everything went smoothly at the border, but the minute we entered the Marracuene main street we were spotted. You know, when we enter Mozambique our car turns a bright red colour and it has a flashing sign that says “Rich White South Africans”. It also has that ice-cream van tune playing to make us even more visible for cops. So needless to say we were pulled over. The reason being: of the SEVEN break lights we have at the back, the two on the left weren’t working, and for the fact that we still have FIVE working break lights are totally irrelevant. So we were told to make a u-turn and “follow” them to the commando head-quarters 13 kms back. *sigh* WHATEVER. We drove straight to “make a u-turn” and then just carried on driving. And, no, we weren’t locked up for defying the law we are safely back in Joburg (duh, there are no internet facilities in jail otherwise you would not be reading this mail right now!!). However, on the way back about 700m before the border we got pulled over again for….. speeding. Apparently they have cameras now. Dammit! The fine was Mt 1000 and we only had Mt870 on us, so we had to drive to the border; draw money; drive back….*sigh* what a schlep! Update on Macaneta: WE HAVE A TOILET!! WOOP-WOOP!!! We spent the whole weekend painting, drilling holes and digging the drain. Our hard work has paid off, we can safely pee without mosquitoes biting our bum.  Awesome! When we go again in June we will then finish the shower. PS: I also refuse to attach ANY pics of Macaneta. If you want to see it, you would have to come in person. Ok, I think that’s it for now.

Thanks for stopping by. Me and Conroy are flying to Durban on Friday for {Doing Life's} Kloof Scrap Day I am presenting on Saturday (28 May) and Conroy's first Comrades on Sunday (29 May). A big thank you to Michelle Ramsay who will once again assist me at the Scrap Day as well as spending Comrades day with me following Conroy en route from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. Its an early rise on Sunday as we will probably leave Kloof just after 3am on Sunday.

2011-04-02T09:26:00.004+02:00

SUNDAY LUNCH with the VOLSCHENKS, OLIVIER AND FERNANDES FAMILIES {27 March 2011}

It was a relaxing Sunday afternoon spent with dear friends around a traditional South African potjie ... and yummy it was. It was also a rare occasion to have all three the Fernandes sisters together for a photo session. Below: Kelly (to be married in May this year), Chelane and Jeanine Martins.

Below: The sisters with their husband, husband to be and boyfriend.

Below Jeanine with Tylo. One just can't believe how quickly little babies become little people.

Below: Tylo with Mom and Dad Kevin.

Below: Belinda with her boys Duane on the left and Kyle on the right.

Below Belinda with her brother Morne's two little ones, Ivan and Carle.

Below the Olivier family from left: Ivan, Ronel, Morne and Carle.

Below Belinda with her brother Morne.

Looking forward to scrapping some of these photos soon.

2011-03-08T08:39:00.006+02:00

{Doing Life} 2nd Botha's Hill Scrap Day

Saturday, 26 February 2011
“Life is like photography - we use the negatives to develop!”

Once again it was a day filled with loads of scrapping fun whilst catching up on the lives of fellow scrappers. It seemed like the girls enjoy the layouts and especially the morning's layout which was titled 'CELEBRATE LIFE' - this layout as well as the afternoon's layout 'A GRAND AFFAIR' are now available online at {Doing Life} in comprehensive kit form.

Once again my dear friend Michelle has been a pillar of strength to lean on - without all her unselfish assistance {Doing Life's} scrap events will not be a reality. She has been fetching and carting heavy boxes from the Post Office and used her valuable space in her craft room to store {Doing Life's} stock. She has also been getting me to and from the Durban airport. Thanks again Michelle. A big thank you also goes to Rayna for sorting out the venue and to Shelley for assisting with the catering.

{Doing Life} will be having its shop on site at the upcoming Forever Memories Scrapbook Conference on 12&13 March 2011 at Dainfern Estate, Fourways, Johannesburg, as well as teaching a double page layout on Sunday morning. Here's a sneak peek of the layout that will be presented.

The following weekend, 19&20 March 2011, {Doing Life} will be doing the same thing again for the Cape Town scrappers

Thanks for stopping by.

2011-01-02T14:25:00.011+02:00

DECEMBER 2010 HOLIDAY – WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
A story about a weird and wonderful holiday . . .

{1} My desktop computer’s mother board failing and had to be replaced with a new mother board .... a few thousand rand later. Fortunately most of my work was backed up on an external hard drive. Since this incident I have also discovered MS Office Live onto which I have uploaded all my files as another backup. This works quite well as one can access your files from any computer anywhere in the world and even edit them.

{2} Our swimming pool pump failed after only three and a half years. We had to replace the whole pump with a new one on 14 December. The electrician doing the replacement said that it is weird for a pump to fail when its still relatively new. We have also spoken to a few friends who also confirmed this and said that a pump should last 10 to 15 years. So, this made us wonder whether its just our bad luck or whether its Eskom’s intermittent electricity supply to our estate. The last year we have been bombarded with electricity disruptions. The electricity goes off and back on after a few seconds or a few minutes and this happens repeatedly in a span of an hour and nearly twice a week. Celebrating New Years Eve, with some of our friends at home, was no different with the power going on/off repeatedly (about 30 times in a span of 2 hours, with no electrical storm) ... just another sign of SA going the same route as the rest of Africa.

{3} The alarm was effected by a lightning storm and RSI’s technicians had to come and reset it, fortunately no parts had to be replaced, but it was still a call out fee. We have replaced the transmitter twice in 3 years due to lightning.

{4} We left for our holiday in Port Alfred on Wednesday, 15 December and stopped over in Bloemfontein for the night, otherwise its about an 11 hour drive if one do it in one day. We left Johannesburg at about 2pm on Wednesday in overcast weather and stopped at the Kroonvaal Engen garage to have some lunch at the Wimpy. As we walked in, the immediate impression was that of a seriously filthy environment. The floor was littered with food and the table tops and chairs were also littered with food and dirty crockery. There was no one to usher us to our table and we had to find our own table ... after a while had to search for some menus (don’t know why we actually put up with this shocking service ... probably the hunger ... ha ha ha). A waitress reluctantly shuffled her way to our table with no notepad in hand to take our order. After repeating our order several times, we asked her to get hold of an order book and come and write our order down. After a while she returned with an order booked and started scribbling down our order, with no expression on her face at all. Needless to say she got one of the drinks wrong and we had to send it back for the correct one. My cappuccino came all spilt over in the saucer and also had to be returned. The sweet chilli chicken wraps also did not look very appetizing or well presented ... we have had this at other Wimpys and know how it should look like. At this stage Conroy was simmering under the collar and demanded to see the manager. The manager made his appearance and Conroy stated his disgust at the filthy state of the Wimpy as well as the bad attitude/service of the waiter. The manager did not look in the least concerned and it came across that he did not see it as a problem and only mumbled something in the line of that the floors should not be so dirty.

{5} We left the Kroonvaal Wimpy in pouring rain which continued all the way to Bloemfontein. Conroy said that this was probably the most difficult driving he has done. Along the way we were delayed nearly an hour by a serious accident involving several cars and fatalities. We reached Bloemfontein in the dark at about 7:30pm where we met up with our friends at Jakkalsdraai who just missed the traffic jam at the accident and were there before us. We all went to the local Longhorns Steak House for dinner and returned for a good night’s rest at Jakkalsdraai. It rained the whole night and we left in a drizzle at about 7am. It was another day of very difficult driving on roads being worked on and the driving surface being littered with potholes and gravel ... needless to say that it was mere impossible to pass trucks. We reached East London after 1pm where we had lunch and Steers and collected the keys for the holiday house in Port Alfred we were going to stay at. We got to the house in Port Alfred at about 3pm, unpacked and left for the shops to make some grocery purchases for our 8 day stay. Returning from our grocery shopping, Conroy suddenly realised that his wedding band is not on his finger and started a frantic search for it in the car and anywhere else he thought it could be. He recalled that in the morning at Jakkalsdraai in Bloemfontein where we stayed over he did took his watch from a little bowl on the dressing table in the room and put it on, but could not recall putting his wedding band on and knew for sure that he did put his watch and wedding band in the same bowl on the dressing table. I could also not recall whether he had his wedding band on whilst driving during the day ... just shows how unobservant one can be ... Carel quickly phoned the owner of Jakkalsdraai and stated our dilemma. The owner said that they would tell the cleaning staff to check the room when they clean it and that cleaning would only take place at a later date as no one else is staying over at Jakkalsdraai. Conroy was quite anxious that he did not offer to immediately go and look for himself whether the wedding band was there as he lives in Bloemfontein and it should not have been a huge effort on his side. Needless to say, we never heard anything from him again during our holiday. On our way back from our holiday we stopped over at a guest house, Bloemstantia in Bloemfontein and made a detour to Jakkalsdraai again, but came across a locked gate. We phoned the number on the board outside the gate and spoke to a lady who does all the bookings for Jakkalsdraai. She immediately knew about the ring and said that they asked the staff to look next to the bed on the side tables for the ring and did not find anything, this after we specifically stated that it would be on the dressing table ... and sending staff to look for it, just means one thing in South Africa (make your own assumption). This is very disappointing as Conroy’s wedding band was still my Mom’s 18ct gold wedding band which she gave to Conroy as a wedding gift and we had it made bigger to fit his finger. So this ring has more than a 60 year sentiment behind it.

{6} During the previous night and all day, I was battling with a severe stomach ache, something I never get as Conroy always says I have an ostrich tummy. But, whilst I and Belinda were preparing chicken curry for supper I got nauseous and could hardly stand up straight, got the cold shivers and had to lie down for short periods. Then it dawned on us that it must have been the Kroonvaal Wimpy chicken wrap I had the previous afternoon. Belinda gave me an Imodium Plus tablet to chew which miraculously took away all the discomfort and I was in tip top shape again within an hour. Now the question is, how does one prove that it must have been the filthy Wimpy’s food and take the matter further? Any suggestions?

{7} The driveway at our holiday home has a very high grass bank and on Friday morning when Carel left to organise a cleaning lady for our holiday home, he approached the grass bank at just the wrong angle and got stuck onto it. Conroy and the boys tried everything, pushing, pulling and lifting the car, but it just did not budge. So there Carel’s car was stuck on top of the grass bank. Just as we were all trying to put our heads together to get out of this predicament, a resident came driving past with his 4x4, spotted our awkward situation, stopped and immediately offered to pull Carel’s car from the bank with his 4x4. It was not even two ticks and Carel’s car was back in action again. This just shows that there are still some good souls out there, willing to put themselves aside and help total strangers.

{8} The next few days of our holiday was blissful, spent at the beautiful Kelly’s Blue Flag Beach and long walks along the Port Alfred {PA} coast line. This is still an unspoilt piece of coast line, its clean and no overcrowding ... only a few bathers. Kelly’s Beach having blue flag status, means that lifeguards are on duty all day long to monitor the safety of all the beach combers. The water varied from 12 to 18 degrees during our stay. Needless to say freezing, but once in, it is quite bearable.

Sunday was spent in Bathurst (10kms from PA), visiting all the art and craft shops and having a scrumptious breakfast at Bleak House. We had the most delicious omelettes here. We all decided to revisit Bathurst for another breakfast during the week ... with disastrous consequences ... more about this later on.

Monday, was another leisurely day, had lunch at the local Spur, me and Belinda making some jewellery items as I brought all my beading supplies with and playing some games.

Tuesday we were taken on a Kowie river cruise by Brian (72 years young) on his boat named Cracker Jack. The surroundings along the river were beautiful. We spotted game and numerous rare bird species, amongst other a goliath heron.

Wednesday, me and Belinda booked a mosaic class with Dorothy du Plessis, Maureen Quin the famous sculpture’s daughter, in Alexandria (50kms from PA). Conroy drove us there. The garden was stunning filled with the most exotic sculptures. We had our mosaic class with Dorothy in a beautiful studio adorned with some of her spectacular mosaic creations. Me and Belinda each made a mirror and loved the informative way Dorothy gave the class starting off telling us a bit about the history of mosaic till modern day. It was a morning spent well and our miniature mirror creations will definitely take a proud spot in our homes as a reminder of our lovely 2010 holiday in PA. Conroy and Carel came to fetch us round about lunch time and we had a delicious lunch at Tam Jazi a farm stall just 5kms outside of Alexandria.

The men and the boys had booked a game drive for the afternoon and as there were no more seats available for us, Conroy felt sorry for me and Belinda and bought us each a slice of Tam Jazi’s death by chocolate cake which we could enjoy back at home the afternoon, whilst the men were at the game farm. It was definitely death by chocolate, a seriously decadent cake and the richness just stopped short of popping off me and Belinda’s toe nails. It was naughty, but nice and we enjoyed it with a cup of coffee whilst we grouted our mosaic mirrors. The men booked us a table at the local Ocean Basket in PA for dinner. We were all looking forward to some yumminous from the sea, but were very disappointed with our Ocean Basket experience. First of all, on our arrival our table was not ready. After 5 minutes we were seated just to be told after another 10 minutes that we had to move to another table ... this was only an early warning sign of things to come. After being seated at another table a waiter (with a dodgy attitude) came and took our drinks order. We waited quite a while for our drinks to arrive. We placed our orders at about 7:40pm. At 8:10pm we have only had some bread rolls, but no sign of real food. We started looking around us and noticed that no one else has got food on their tables apart from drinks. 8:20pm came and past. 8:30pm came and the waiter gave us a weird explanation of there’s only one order before ours to be done and then we will get our order. 8:45pm arrived and still no sign of food ... the manager came to our table informing us that they had run out of supplies and that his chefs are busy off-loading food from the truck ... he apologised and thanked us for our patience and said that our order will be served in 5 minutes. 9pm came and gone and still no food after which Conroy went to the manager and told him that we are considering leaving. Conroy returned to our table and we all got up and left without paying for our drinks. The manager watched us walked out and did not say a word ... he was probably relieved to get rid of six people. It was past 9pm and we have not had any supper and all the fast food outlets in PA were closed. We stopped at a garage whose little shop was open and bought some ham and bread and set off home to make ourselves ham, cheese and tomatoe sandwiches. Conroy read in the local paper the next day that Ocean Basket had new management, which explained it all.

{9} Thursday and we all decided to go for our second last breakfast in PA, back to the Bleak House in Bathurst. We always travelled in two cars as it was a tight squeeze for six in one car. Carel drove in front and about 3kms from Bathurst we Carel them parked next to the road with all of them outside the car. At first we thought they perhaps hit an animal of sorts. We stopped and to our amazement Carel’s car (a Lexus) had a blow out of both the tyres on the left hand side. Carel said it felt like he drove over something small in the road, but yet there was nothing in the road. It was later discovered that he had hit a long pot hole on the edge of the road without knowing that there was a pothole. The aluminium rims of both wheels were cracked and warped. Conroy took all of us through to Bleakhouse in Bathurst to have something to drink in the meantime, whilst he drove back to Carel next to the road. Fortunately Conroy and Carel has worked for Toyota for many years and knew the local Toyota dealer in PA, which was Brian who took us on the river cruise a few days ago. Brian quickly got hold of a towing service to tow Carel’s car back to the local Tiger Wheels and Tyre in PA. Conroy came and fetch us again at the Bleak House where we had some drinks. We told the owner of Bleak House what has happened and she immediately knew where the incident happened and said that, that specific pothole has caused lots of tyre bursts, etc over the past few months. This was another sign of how SA’s roads are deteriorating with no maintenance being done. PA’s roads are all just one big patch-up and would probably be reverting to dust roads in the not too distant future. Fortunately, we all had another car and we could all squeeze into it. We had lunch at the Spur in PA again whilst we were waiting for news on the car. Never could we have guessed that fixing the Lexus’s rims would be a major issue. PA does not have a Lexus dealer and thus no rims. New rims had to be driven in from East London. The rims arrived late the Thursday afternoon and PA. But, when the rims were being fitted it was noted that the wrong size nuts were sent with the rims. So we were back to square one. It was a huge operation to determine the correct size nuts and get hold of them. We were due to leave PA at 5am the next day Friday and of course realised that this will never materialise.

We also had another bad service experience at the Big Apple Coffee Shop in the new Rosehill Mall, just outside of PA, Thursday afternoon, where the grown ups went for coffee and cake whilst the boys made the most of the beach.

We went for our last dinner in PA at the Highlander, which was such a fantastic experience, after all the bad service we received in PA during our holiday. We were so impressed with the service here, that we booked Friday morning’s breakfast just here and then.

Friday morning and we set off for breakfast at the Highlander which was a pleasant experience. After breakfast we finished packing and sat waiting from 10am to 3pm in the garage of our home with all our belongings lined up to be packed, whilst waiting for Carel’s car to be sorted out by Tiger Wheel and Tyre in PA. In the end a technician from Toyota in East London had to drive through to PA to sort out the problem with the nuts on behalf of Tiger Wheel and Tyre ... can you believe it.

{10} We all set off at 3pm on Friday with Carel making their way to Johannesburg where they reached home at midnight, Xmas Day. We took a leisurely drive to Uitenhage where we were surprising Conroy’s family on Xmas Day, stopping at a farm stall for a very late afternoon lunch. We reached Micasa guest house in Uitenhage just before 6pm, very tired and decided to only phone the in-laws on Xmas Day. Conroy went to buy us some Nando’s for our Xmas eve supper. We started enjoying our Nando’s wraps and Conroy came and sat on the bed next to me and the whole bed gave way from under him. Its one of those ‘hemel’ beads, don’t know what you call this in English, which has got the four posts and the cross bars between the posts at the top. The cross bars came tumbling down from the top onto us. This is seriously dangerous. We phoned the owner and explained to him the situation. He could not believe it, but did ask me whether it was the left hand side of the bed next to the bathroom that broke (so he must have had a problem with it in the past). He said that he would send someone to fix it in half an hour’s time. During this time, we decided that we rather wanted another room and just had to repack our stuff and move. Fortunately they had another nice room for us, apart from being quite busy. Apparently, the man did came and fix the bed.

We spent Xmas day with my SIL and Conroy’s parents. We had a delicious lunch consisting of cold meats and salads. Needless to say they were all surprised when we phoned them early Xmas morning inviting ourselves to join them for the day. The joke of the day were me breaking beds as Conroy told them that we brought along some left over groceries from our stay in Port Alfred and amongst it was a bottle of gin which we brought into our room at the guest house .... note it was not with the intention to drink, but just to get the car empty as we were going to take Conroy’s Mom and Dad for a drive around the coast, the day after Xmas.

{11} We got a call from Carel the afternoon on Xmas Day that Belinda’s Mom has passed away on Xmas choking on some food. This was so unbelievable and we really felt for Belinda. Her Mom was only 66 years of age.

I managed to take some photos of Conroy’s brother and his family. Can’t believe the twins are in grade 12 this year and their little sister is in grade 8 this year ... where does the time go?

{12} We left Uitenhage on 27 December for Bloemfontein and stopped over at a lovely farm stall/cafe in the small rural town of Hofmeyr named Karoobos Farm Stall. We had some yummy traditional ‘roosterkoek’ with mince and a chocolate milkshake for lunch. We also bought some fruit preserves here.

We also stopped over at the Gariep Dam. It was a very hot day with a beautiful blue sky scattered with white clouds.

We made our way from the Gariep Dam to our guest house, Bloemstantia in Bloemfontein. It rained all night in Bloemfontein. From about 8pm our car’s alarm kept on going off and every time it went off, Conroy had to go out in the rain and check what the problem was. Our car alarm has never ever gone off before. So after a few trips back and forth in the rain, he noticed there were a moth in the car and killed it. After this the alarm behaved itself.

{13} We left Bloemfontein after breakfast on 28 December and arrived home about lunch time. On our way a truck flipped up a stone which resulted in a small chip in our windscreen, which we have had fixed in the meantime.

{14} On arrival we noticed that some water is seeping through our driveway paving from where our water meter is. So we have phoned Johannesburg Water and are still awaiting their arrival. {14} We attending Belinda’s Mom’s funeral on Friday, 31 December 2010. So all in all its quite evident from the above, that there lots of lows, but some highs as well during our holiday.

Wishing you all a 2011 filled with tons of love, happiness and success ... Albert Einstein said, “Life is like a bicycle, to keep your balance you must keep moving”, so ride into 2011 with gusto.

2010-12-14T13:26:00.007+02:00

DOING LIFE MAKARANGA SCRAPAGANZA

{Saturday, 9 October 2010}

At last I got round to posting some pics of Doing Life's, not so recent, Scrapaganza at Makaranga Garden Lodge in Kloof, Durban. Once again fun was had by all. Those of you popping in over here regularly will probably notice that the scrapping mad ladies gave old David a rest for his soul, and chose a different location in the stunning Makaranga gardens for their group shot. So put your feet up and browse through the snapshots below at leisure.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you wonderful scrapping ladies for your support at the Doing Life Scrapaganzas held all over the country as well as your support at Doing Life's Online Shoppe during 2010. Without your enthusiasm and dedication to creatively preserving your photos for generations to come, Doing Life would be non-existent.

The recent first Doing Life Botha's Hill Scrap Day was a raving success and will become a 2-monthly event from 2011 with the first one being held on Saturday, 26 February 2011. Space are limited for the Botha's Hill Scrap Days so make sure to get your bookings in early to avoid disappointment. Should you like more info regarding the 26 February 2011 Scrap Day, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Above: Great minds think alike - Rayna had exactly the same outfit on as me, from brown pants to the same blouse - a real coincidence!!

Wishing you all a wonderful festive season and safe travels. May 2011 be a year filled with tons of happiness and life successes for you all.

2010-11-30T16:33:00.002+02:00

26th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

{30 November 2010}

Yes, its been 26 years ago today that I recall walking down the isle, all nervous but so excited to share the rest of my life with my best friend and life partner, Conroy. The first photo below was taken on 30 November 1984 and the second photo was 13 years later in 1997.

2010-11-02T12:18:00.004+02:00

THE JAKARANDA CITY - proudly South African {Sunday, 17 October 2010}

We visited Pretoria again this year to once again capture the purple glory of its streets. Directly below are the Union Buildings with the city scape in front.

We left Johannesburg, with some friends, at 5:45am in order to capture the Pretoria Jakarandas in the soft morning light. It was actually freezing cold the whole of the morning which is quite strange for mid October here in Gauteng. During our early morning patrolling of the streets we stopped for a McDonalds coffee for some comforting warmth. We rounded off our early morning excursion with a hearty brunch at the Dairy Farm in Irene.

Proudly South African should actually be Proudly Brazillian, as the Jakaranda tree is not indigenous to SA but to Brazil {thanks Pam for confirming my facts}.

Thanks for stopping by and your lovely comments.

2010-10-02T12:51:00.004+02:00

BURCHELL'S COUCAL {Vleiloerie}

At last I had the guts to upgrade my blog's template and in the end it was not too difficult. The new functionality works quite well as one can add different 'gadgets' to a blog's template. I added a few html gadgets, one of which was for my sidebar into which I just pasted the html from my old template. But of course one need to copy ones old template's html and paste it into a Word document which one saves onto one's hard drive. Then one can just keep this document open and copy different html sections into html gadgets on your new template. So for those of you who have not yet taken the plunge, go for it.

I am flying to Durban this coming Thursday to present {Doing Life's} next Scrapaganza at Makaranga Garden Lodge in Kloof on Saturday, 9 October. For those ladies whose busy schedules did not allow them to indulge in a full day of scrapping pampering, you are all still welcome to pop into the {Doing Life} shop during the course of the day. Michelle {the jetsetter - see her blog of her current USA trip} will be on 24/7 shop duty.

On another note and birds of a different feather ... a few weeks ago I was so thrilled to have spotted a Burchell's Coucal in our garden here in the middle of the Wild West {Johannesburg}. This was the first time I have ever seen one with my own eyes ... always just heard stories from excited spotters. This one actually frequents our garden now on a regular basis and loves to perch in the numerous aloe trees where it hides itself behind the aloe leaves. Its quite interesting that it behaves exactly as Sasol's 'Voels van die Bosveld - Kitsgids' describes it i.e. being a shy bird which crawls through the underbush and this is just what it does. I also caught it once or twice sitting amongst the shrubs on the ground bathing itself whilst the irrigation is on. Its quite a large bird and is not a seed eater. Its diet is taking small birds from their nests, snails, lizards and mice. It will very seldom take fruit. Being such an elusive bird, I just could not get some clear photos of it, even with my big lens. The photos below are about the best of the lot where it was sunbathing on the sandstone bench and table after a sprinkler bath.

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend and thanks again for stopping by.

2010-09-14T10:19:00.004+02:00

A FAIRY AFFAIR IN WELKOM

{Doing Life Welkom Scrapaganza: Saturday, 11 September 2010}

We left for Welkom just before 2pm on Friday to try and miss Friday evening peak hour on the road ... we were lucky, need I say more. We had a good drive and arrived at the Calodonian Club in Welkom at 4:30pm. We quickly packed out and set up the club for the scrap day on Saturday.

After setup was out of the way we headed to Carol's house where we were sleeping over for the weekend, had a quick drink and set off to Jenny's house where we had a delicious chicken pie supper. Before supper Jenny demonstrated to the girls how one makes an album cover from cardboard and handmade paper. I will definitely give this a go. After supper the girls each got an circle iris folding easel card kit from me and everyone got going with the easel card ... with not much help from me, but definitely from some Amarula and red wine flowing freely.

Everyone headed home quite late to get a good rest before the fairy scrapping excitement on Saturday. The first four photos below, Conroy took and were taken just before sunset on Saturday. The girls were quity chirpy and one would not say that they had a serious hard day of scrapping behind them. I did not manage to get away by not dressing as a fairy as well and were eagerly given some fairy attributes to put on by my darling fairy friends.

Above: {Back row} Cathy Bell, Gussie York, Carol Oberholzer, Helen Beukes, Debbie Bell and Vonnie York {Front row} Jenny Fourie, Hilda Newton, Jane Hayward and yours truly.

Above: Jane Hayward sported her fairy persona right through the day and the non-fairies judged her to be the most adorable/dedicated fairy.

Jenny Fourie won the Grand Prize.

Above: Vonnie and Helen fighting it out for the first Welkom Speed Queen. Helen managed to win by a seriously narrow margin.

Above: Vonnie and Jenny {the fairy sisters}

I just would like to thank all the girls for their wonderful hospitality, enthusiasm and planning that made the weekend such fun.

We left for Johannesburg early Sunday morning.

2010-09-07T14:33:00.005+02:00

BACK TO SCHOOL Bookmark

{DDCC #86 DT Project}

This week the design team at Dutch Dare Card Challenge had to create a back to school bookmark. So this is what I came up with. The digital image were donated to the design team. I coloured the image with H2O's, but please don't look too close at the dodgy colouring ... definitely not one of my skills.

We are off to Welkom mid day on Friday where I will be presented the first {Doing Life} Welkom Scrapaganza on Saturday. Friday evening I will be teaching the ladies a circle iris folding easel card and another lady will show us how to create an album cover. I have created a new kit for this circle iris folding easel card, which will soon be available over at {Doing Life's Online Shoppe}.

2010-09-03T13:06:00.006+02:00

TWEESPRUIT SCRAPPERS & Their Pets

{Friday, 18 June 2010}

During the June 2010 {Doing Life} Tweespruit Scrapaganza the ladies who were attending the Friday's scrapping, had to come accompanied by a scrapped pet. Below are a few of the ladies who were serious pet lovers.

{Above & Below: Helen Beukes with a scrapped doggie treat tin. The little sausage is their own doggie.}

{Above: Glenda with her paper pieced dolphin.}

{Above: Gussie York with her adorable kitty.}

{Above: Joanne Henning with her lovable cow blowing her own little vuvuzela in celebration of the Soccer Worldcup 2010.}

{Above & Below: Riza Henning with her adorable Mickey Mouse also blowing its own little Vuvuzela.}

{Above: Megan York with her turtle, Smiley.}

So to all of the 9 October {Doing Life} Makaranga Scrapaganza delegates ... you have some serious competition from the Free Sate. Looking forward to seeing all the Autumn Trees!

2010-08-25T17:34:00.004+02:00

VINTAGE SUMMER

{Dutch Dare Card Challenge: DT Project No.85}

This week's challenge put the DT over at DDCC is to create something portraying a vintage summer. So this is the closest I could get to the theme. I scanned a colour post card and then adjusted the colours to brown ... I think the three Dolly's with their umbrellas represent a vintage summer quite well. Once again {boring I know} I used the iris folding technique in the circle backdrop. The patterned cardstock are from Basic Grey, Art from the Heart and Fabscraps. Art from the Heart and Fabscraps are proudly South African manufactured cardstock.

Below is a photo of the prize winners at the Forever Memories Sclrapbooking Conference held in Cape Town, during May this year. Yours truly are second from the left and Sheila Corfe in the middle. This was published in the June/July 2010 Scrapbooking & Kie's issue on page 52.

Thank you all for stopping by and your lovely comments.

2010-08-10T14:04:00.006+02:00

ADORE

{Dutch Dare Card Challenge: 12 August DT Project}

At last I got round to do another DT project. This week the Design Team over at DDCC had to create a project using Tamara's great sketch:

This is my interpretation via an easel card. All the patterned cardstock are Basic Grey and I once again used an iris folding design inside a circle as the backdrop to the creation. ADORE was stamped with an acrylic stamp and the quote is a clear sticker from a Creative Memories sticker range.

I am also entering this card for the following challenges:

Crafty Angels Week 42: Something Old Something New {The Adore stamp is a very old acrylic stamp from my stash and the CM clear sticker with quote is a new sticker range}
Cute Card Thursday #124: Whateva
Everybody Art Challenge #103: Check it out
Pollycraft Monday Challenge #56: Photo Inspiration
Sweet Stampin #38: Pretty in Pink

Thanks for stopping by and for all your lovely comments.

2010-08-09T14:25:00.000+02:00

NEWS FROM THE OTHER TP

I thought I will share some news Carol Liebbrandt {the other Teacher's Pet} shared with me via an email over the weekend ... as quite a number of Doing Life's readers know Carol very well:

Hi my Teacha,
I have finally had a minute to drop you a line with regards to what’s been happening in my life the past 10 days. My Darling Husband had a very serious heart attack last Saturday (31st July) and after having an angiogram they discovered a serious narrowing of the vessel leading into the heart. (6 years ago he had 3 stents put into his heart because of the narrowing of some of the vessels) They did an emergency triple by-pass operation on Sunday morning and he has come through very well. According to the specialist surgeon he was seriously ill and this op saved his life.
The shocking thing is that I was out with my daughter Lauren on Saturday morning as we normally go shopping for our weekly groceries together and my DH was at home watching the rugby. He started to get a pain in his chest and jaw and recognised the pain from the last time. No trouble to him, instead of asking one of our wonderful neighbours to take him to the hospital, he got in the car and drove himself all the way to Umhlanga Rocks to the new Ethekweni Heart Hospital where his Cardiologist had moved to from Entabeni. We spoke to our GP afterwards and he said that although it was a very dangerous thing to do, it probably saved his life by going directly to the hospital. Just that week he had a patient arrive at his rooms with the exact same condition and he told him to go straight to the hospital – by the time the man got to the hospital he died – our GP said that the time it took for the man to first come to see him could have been better spent by going straight to the hospital.
I am seriously thankful to God for saving my darling man and he is due to come home today – just waiting for the all clear. He is healing very well now (after apparently loosing a lot of blood – they had to thin his blood down so much just so that he could get through Saturday night before the operation). Of course now he is talking about “we have to lose weight and get healthy”, “we need to exercise”, etc, etc, so I think this has been a huge wake up call for both of us and I intend to take matters into my hands and make sure we do all the right things for prevention. The only thing is that his specialist said that no amount of right eating or exercise would have helped him because his condition was inherited. His father died at 61 suddenly with heart attack – it’s just that nowadays we have such amazing doctors and equipment that they are able to do so much for heart patients. But regardless, we want to become as healthy as possible so that we can enjoy our beautiful grandchildren.
My daughter Lauren has been such a rock and she has helped me with absolutely everything. Hubby has to take 6 weeks to recuperate and is not allowed to drive in that time, but Lauren and her hubby Tim are getting stuck in helping with packing, etc, etc. Everything still is on track and with any luck we should be moving around about end September still, unless the strikes cause hold ups in the deeds office. We will just be patient.
Still looking forward to seeing you in October and can’t wait. I see you are VERY busy with scrapbooking things, teaching, travelling, etc. Still miss our lovely evenings in the Blue Room though!!!
Love to Conroy and look after yourself. Lotsa love and hugs Carol (the other TP)

Here is a follow-up email from Carol with some good news:

Hi all,

Just a line to let you all know that Laurence came home today – yay!!!!! He is improving every day and is sooooo happy to be home (unfortunately it was a freezing day in Durbs today 19 deg after 5 days of extremely hot weather, i.e. 29 and 30 deg.!!) Anyway, he was just so happy to breathe in fresh air that he didn’t mind at all.

We now have 6 weeks of very slow recovery and every step is a baby step but we know that with our Father’s help he will get back to normal life. We have decided to start this journey together, i.e., a walking program from the hospital which we can start doing together right away, and also a much healthier lifestyle which we will help each other with – quite exciting to know that in 6 months time we should both be feeling way better than we do now. Look out “travel”, here we come!

Tim and Lauren have everything in hand to do with the move (which should take place [all going well] within about 8 weeks [unfortunately we are having strikes which will affect the deeds office] but we have all the time in the world now so we won’t worry about it. We are just so grateful to our children for stepping in and going the extra mile – I know God will bless them for it. Also, all the friends who have been there for us – thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.

Both of us just want to give God the Glory for getting Laurence to the hospital in time and for giving him back to his family for a good while longer! Maddie and Charlie came to see him at home today and were ooohing and aaaahhing when they saw all the sores on “Pops’” chest and leg and were very careful to give them a wide berth when they hugged him “hello”. So precious!

Well, I am off to give the “old guy” some supper and whip him into shape but I will drop you all a line soon and phone as many as I can, when I can. Please continue to pray for Laurence and I as we covet your love and prayers.

Lots and lots of love Carol & Laurence

May we all appreciate our blessings each and every day.

2010-08-09T11:50:00.005+02:00

VERMAAKSKRAAL GETAWAY

{16 to 19 July 2010: Natal Midlands}

Thirteen die hard scrapaholic chicks spent a blissful scrapping getaway on a game farm, Vermaakskraal, just outside Winterton. The bitterly cold weather was kept abay by a fantastic cosy fireplace nestled inside a very comfy lounge adjacent to a dining room sporting a massive dinner table which could seat all the scrapping ladies. It was a bit of a tight squeeze around the table, but everyone managed to spend some quality creative time during the long weekend.

The ladies did three new {Doing Life} double page layouts as well as an iris folding card, all of which are no available at {Doing Life}.

A meal plan was set up before the weekend so that only two ladies at a time were responsible for a meal. Needless to say, there were food to feed an army. Everything was delicious. Thanks ladies for following the meal plan and for all the delicious dishes.

The sunsets with the full range of the Drakensberg mountains in the distance were awesome and one just could not stop taking photos of it.

{Above} Two BCX girls having a sundowner ... this is the life!

{Above} Back row from left: Sheila Corfe, Michelle Ramsay, Shelley Candiotes, Theresa Condes, Robyn Keulder, Libby Houareau, Stella Fischer. Front from left: Yours truly, Debbie van Coppenhagen, Rayna Winson, Jeanette Cornell, Sue St Leger-Stretch and Nicola Jennings.

Thanks again for taking the time to stop by.

2010-08-01T15:22:00.005+02:00

DVD COVER FOR {Sali} PHOTO SHOOT

Another DVD cover I created for the CD containing photos of a photo shoot I recently did in our garden of the Sali Family. The little boy Lathi was such a treat. He just loved posing with his parents especially when he was ordered to climb all over them for the different photo angles. He kept on asking while we have spiky trees in our garden (referring to the aloe trees and yellow fever trees) ... his mom, Fifi, very diplomatically replied ... because they love them.

Fifi is a regular scrapbooking student {very enthusiastic} of mine and I can already see her selecting some photos of the shoot for a layout or two.

I am entering this creation for the following challenges:

Crafty Angels - Week 42: Something Old, Something new {the ribbon has been in my stash for a number of years}
Cute Card Thursday - #123: Texting Crazy
One Stop Craft Challenge - #91: Patterns {there are two BS patterned cardstock with different designs}
PaperPlay - Week 30: Anything Goes
Sweet Stampin - #37: Sketch

{Above} Love the effect of Mom in the background overseeing the men in her life.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

2010-07-26T15:02:00.005+02:00

WATERFALL CREATION

Michelle demonstrated this waterfall card to me during our recent Vermaakskraal breakaway and I was just itching to give it a go. Initially it was quite a challenge, but once I got the hang of the mechanics, it was quite an easy and effective design.

One need to pull at the ribbon at the bottom of the card and each of the five sayings pop up one at a time, falling over each other. Quite nifty if I must say so myself. Looking forward to elobarate a bit on this design.

It was Alisha's 6th birthday on 20 July and she had a birthday party with her family yesterday. I just loved this beautiful cat cake. It was quite sad when we had to cut her ... Heidi took the honour of being the vet. The kitty did taste yummy though.

2010-07-20T16:24:00.007+02:00

... ANOTHER WEDDING

Thought I will share some photos of Sheila Corfe's daughter, Melissa Corfe, the Springbok swimmer, who recently got married to Brent Martinson at the Tala Game Reserve near Durban. I am sure you all agree that their photographer, Dean Domestemos did a fantastic job in capturing the heart and soul of the event.

And for the scrappers who know Sheila ... she has already scrapped two double page layouts of the wedding photos during our past weekend's scrapping weekend in the Natal Midlands at the Vermaakskraal Game Lodge. The thirteen girls thoroughly enjoyed this long weekend just chilling whilst having some creative fun. I will do a separate blog post on our Vermaakskraal scrapping weekend.

For those of you who were worried that I am not well, due to the deathening silence here on Doing Life ... I am perfectly well, just busy with scrapbooking conferences all over SA. Thanks for being concerned.

2010-06-05T16:08:00.007+02:00

SUMMITING CLEFT PEAK

{Saturday, 29 May 2010}

We left for Cathedral Peak Hotel in the Drakensberg, just after 5am on Friday, 28 May. Just a matter of 20 minutes later and we would have had to negotiate some serious Gauteng peak Friday morning traffic. Even just after 5am the roads were quite busy and would have resembled morning peak hour in Durban.

Cathedral Peak {CP} is a four hour drive from Gauteng. We had a Wimpy breakfast in Harrismith with only 90 minutes drive left. We arrived 10.30am at CP just in time for early morning tea and cake on the terrace. So we quickly checked in and 'sommer' extended our original 3-night stay to 5 nights.

Whilst checking in, Conroy's gaze was more fixed on the activities notice board than anything else. So, once check-in was sorted, Conroy rushed to the notice board and was happy to see that a guided hike for summiting Cathedral Peak was scheduled for the next day. He quickly removed the booking list from the board and then had the difficult task of pulling yours truly's rubber arm which had no flexibility. So with a shattered rubber arm, our names were promptly entered on the list ... and needless to say, a slow-release of adrenalin was starting to manifest in our bodies.

So we lazied around having a light lunch and afternoon tea on the terrace. Got our hiking gear ready for action before dinner and turned in for a good nights rest before the big day. Just after 5am on Saturday morning, Conroy peeped through a window of our chalet to state that it is seriously cold and he can smell rain.

We had a quick breakfast of warm hearty oats porridge at 6.45am and gathered at the usual sundial thereafter to be officially set off on our hike by the very experienced Moses, who has become an institution with those doing the big hikes at CP. It was very cold and damp and the mist was seriously thick allowing one to barely see a 100m in front of yourself. Fortunately it did not rain. But there were no guarantee that we would summit at all as the chances were good that the rock faces close to the peak could be wet and slippery.

There were two other couples who also braved it with us, but one couple came to their senses and bailed after about an hour's hike. One do forget quickly, but it must have been the coldest we have ever been on a hike. Even walking, scrambling and climbing forever upwards, did not get us warm. When Moses indicated that we had to take a breather, we hardly wanted to stop as it just meant that all the muscles were going to cease up.

All in all we were much fitter now compared to when we did the same hike in 2005, during which Conroy summited CP, but I was not brave enough to tackle the last 300m towards the very top of CP. All in all it was a blessing in disguise that the mist was so thick this time around, because we could not sense how high were really climbing. When we got to the top of Buggers Gulley, it felt as if it was a different Bugger, because we got to the top so quickly compared to 2005 (just shows what a bit of regular running and spinning can do for your fitness).

When we got to the top of Buggers Gulley, Moses indicated that we were taking another pit stop before we tackled the last 300m to the summit. I was quite glad to hear that Moses was positive that the conditions were fine to summit, but on the other hand the nerves set in and the shakes started to get the upperhand of my freezing body ... you know what I mean ... not freezing shakes by nervous shakes! I didn't want to take a pit stop, but just get it over and done with. During our pit stop, Moses got the red ropes out and explained to us that at certain points he will read our ability to climb and set up the ropes when he thinks it will give us the confidence we need to scramble to the top.

Below is a sketch of the various situations we had to master over the last 300m to get to the summit. Some seriously Graded rock face climbing at certain points, plus a chain ladder to get up. The chain ladder was actually the easiest to negotiate.

With the thick mist being a comforting pillow in masking the scary heights around us, we managed to make it to the last 5m rock scramble before we were on top. As we were taking a breather here, Moses said that he has cast some Moses magic for us and as we took the last step too right on top of the peak, we saw his magic. We had actually climbed out of the mist belt and the sky was the most beautiful blue above us and we were looking down over a massive blanket of white clouds resembling the softest of soft cotton wool, with all the Drakensberg's highest peaks emerging above this cotton wool blanket, 360 degrees around us. It was wind still and the sun was shining down on us for the first time since we left the hotel 4h30min earlier.

The pictures below were all taken from the summit. It must have been the lunch break in our lives with the most spectacular view!

Below, the subject on the left is definitely not blending with the beautiful surrounds .... ha ha ha

Below: Yours truly with our wonderful guide Moses. He must be the most patient and helpful person around. He is always putting the safety of his hikers first and whenever one has overcome an obstacle with or without his help, he is very quick to complement the person with the words: Well Done! Moses has really given me a lot of pushes from behind and putting my feet in the right places getting up the rock faces. Without him it would have been a much more scary adventure.

Below: Some tired feet taking a well deserved break.

The pictures below illustrate that coming down from the summit, we were back within the mist belt and it was much wetter coming down which made everything more slippery and one had to concentrate much more. And of course 4 hours of just going down all the time on slippery surfaces really hurts the muscles. But the breathtaking scenery really made one forget about the pain and discomfort.

The hat was actually the one item of clothing that kept me from totally freezing up and it proved that one really loose 30% of one's body temperature from your head.

Below: This is called the orange peel gap and one can see the near vertical drop going over the edge. Our feet really started to take some hammering going down this rock scattered gulley.

Below: The last pit stop before the last down hill stretch ... probably another 90 minutes downhill walk.

We reached the hotel, being quite wet, freezing and with aching feet and muscles. But the sense of achievement made it all worthwhile. The mind is a wonderful thing, helping us to be strong in fearfull situations, even if the body is screaming stop. The four of us were handed our personalised certificates of achievement by the hotel management and I mentioned that actually Moses was the one deserving a gold medal for pushing us up the peak and catching us coming down.

To our surprise, we actually did the summit hike in a relatively fast time of 9 hours flat which of course made us just in time for some tea on the terrace with delicious scones, cream and strawberry jam ... must say this was the most delicious scone I have had. The couple that summited with us were Warren King and Rene du Preez also joined us for tea. Whilst chatting over our tea and scones, Warren said that he had done CP three times before as well as Kilimanjaro and Base Camp Everest and so it came to light that he was actually an extreme athlete. I thought as much because he took the lead most of the way during our hike and needless to say at a very steady pace ... no wonder it only took us an exhausting 9 hours. To our amazement, it was Rene's very first hike ever ... she is definitely a natural!

Below: Some sunset pictures of Cathedral Peak from our chalet at CP Hotel.

For the following three days we just vegetated in the lounge. It took us about two days to get our core warm again after our summit. We did however go for an 11.5km run on the Monday which was tough as the slightest downhill was seriously painful. I also managed to do some jewellery commissions of which I will post some pics here at a later stage.

The next two weeks I will be busy with some prep work for the Tweespruit Scrapaganza on 18 & 19 June. Some of the ladies have already phoned to warn us that it is very cold in the Free State and that we should bring lots of warm clothes. Thanks ladies, warning taken.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by here and for all your sincere comments. Wishing all the soccer teams and fans a happy and successful South African Soccer World Cup 2010! May the best team win.

2010-05-26T14:40:00.002+02:00

NICOLE & LEON KRUGER'S WEDDING

Thought I will post some pics of Stella Fischer's daughter's recent wedding. I know there are quite a few followers of Doing Life who know the Greek connection Stella and Nicola. So enjoy.

Below left Stella with Nicole and right Eleni Jennings (Nicola's daughter)

Below right, Nicola with her family

Below left: The Greek Connection, Nicola & Stella

Thanks for having a look.

2010-05-23T11:15:00.002+02:00

OCEAN VIEW HOTEL .../cont.

Below are the two layouts Sheila won two categories with at the recent Scrapbooking Conference in Cape Town.

Apologies for the poor photo quality.

Sheila just could not resist in sending me the sweet story below, after our recent stay at the Ocean View Hotel in the Strand:

Subject: Ocean View A group of 40 year old girlfriends discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally, it was agreed upon that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the waiters there had tight pants and nice buns.

10 years later at 50 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because the food there was very good and the wine selection was good also.

10 years later at 60 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because they could eat there in peace and quiet and the restaurant had a beautiful view of the ocean.

10 years later, at 70 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meetat the Ocean View restaurant because the restaurant was wheel chair accessible and they even had an elevator.

10 years later, at 80 years of age, the group once again discussed where they should meet for dinner. Finally it was agreed that they should meet at the Ocean View restaurant because they had never been there before.

Thanks again for stopping by.

2010-05-14T09:49:00.006+02:00

SCRAPBOOK CONFERENCE - Cape Town 8&9 May 2010

My birthday this year was celebrated in true scrapbooking style - Friday, 7 May, was my birthday and I flew from Lanseria to Cape Town, arriving just before 11am and waited for an hour or so for Michelle to fly in from Durban. The Ocean View Hotel's shuttle service collected us promptly and after a 30 minutes drive we arrived at the Hotel during lunch time. We checked into our room and quickly packed out and off we went to the Hotel's restaurant to enjoy a late lunch just after 3pm.

Sheila Corfe and Debbie van Coppenhagen checked in just after 5pm. The birthday girls (me and Sheila's birthdays are both on 7 May) congratulated each other (felt quite strange) at reception. Whilst Sheila and Debbie checked into their room, me and Michelle waited for them at the Hotel's restaurant where we had some cocktails and a delicious supper finished off by traditional malva poeding and homemade custard - the perfect sweet touch to celebrate a birthday.

Forever Memories' annual scrapbook conference was held at the Ocean View Hotel on Saturday and Sunday, 8 & 9 May 2010. Being a Forever Memories' consultant, I was approached late last year to present a class during the conference and was also invited to have Doing Life's shop represented during the conference. And as most of the Makaranga Scrapaganza delegates know by now, Doing Life's shop just won't be as organised without Michelle Ramsay running it. So it was fantastic when Michelle said she would gladly join me and assist me during my class presentation and at the shop.

We did not have any time to take photos of the actual goings on at the conference itself as we were way too busy taking part in the various classes ourselves as well as running the Doing Life shop. The scrap ladies were constantly popping in at the shop area even during the classes, so me and Michelle had to alternate manning the shop.

All these photos were taken early evening on Sunday, after the conference and after we have packed everything at the shop. It was freezing cold and wet with a strong wind blowing, but we were adament coming back with at least a few shots of the Strand beach.

The idea behind these really peculiar looking photos, was to create an illusion that we are actually touching the koppies in the distance ... so there was really a method behind the madness.

Michelle took the above two beautiful early morning misty photos on Saturday morning from our bedroom window on the 4th floor of the hotel. They really came out great Michelle.

Then of course the highlight of the conference was that Doing Life's representation, of 4 ladies, walked away with the honours for three of the five projects presented during the 2-day conference. I won the canvas painting/distressing technique with the above project I created with Amber's photos. I am definitely not an off the page person, but really enjoyed this project with which we had quite a bit of freedom to do our own thing ... it was very similar to decoupaging.

And then Sheila walked away with Retha van der Walt's class for her stunning layout (don't have a pic of it yet) she did with her daughter's hens' party photos. Below was my take on Retha's layout. Sheila also walked off with a third category which was a single page presented by Judy of Forever Memories. Well done Sheila!!

Unfortunately, I cannot reveal the double page layout I presented, as it will be one of the layouts the Tweespruit ladies in the Free State will be doing at their upcoming one and half day Scrapaganza on 18 & 19 June.

We flew back on Monday, quite exhausted, but pleased that Doing Life's shop did exceedingly well and us four girls had some serious fun. And of course my motto has always been that a change in scenery is as good as a holiday in itself.

Thanks again for taking some time out to pop in here and hope you enjoyed it.

2010-05-11T14:24:00.003+02:00

A FEW DT CARDS

The card below is my latest DT project for the Dutch Dare Card Challenge. We had to follow a sketch created by Monica, a fellow DT member (see below):

Below is my last DT project for If The Shoe Fits which is another scaffold design. This design is really great fun to create.

I have just returned from Cape Town after presenting a class at the Forever Memories Scrapbook Conference, which was held at the Ocean View Hotel in the Strand. Doing Life also had a shop open during the course of the 2-day conference. But more about this in a later post.

Thanks again for stopping by.

2010-04-21T13:51:00.003+02:00

CONFIDENCE

{"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable CONFIDENCE in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy."}

The challenge put to the design team over at Dutch Dare Card Challenge for 22 April was to create an easel card and to repeat something on it. I have been admiring these easel creations on the net for quite some time now, but just did not have the guts to attempt it. But at last I tried my hand it and I must say I just love this differently shaped card. It could also be a great way to scrap and display a photo (note to self). You can find the instructions for an easel card over at Splitcoaststampers. Then of course I could not help myself and went overboard with repeating the felt buttons.

.... and don't you think the little mice choir is just so adorable? Love the poor little one whose still tryin to find the notes on the music sheet ... ha ha ha

I am also entering this card at the following challenges:

2 Sketches 4 You: Sketch 50
Cute Card Thursday #108: Touchy Feely (the felt buttons' texture)
My Time to Craft #88: Quick Quotes
Stamp Something: Something Layered (main image layered quite a few times)
Stamp with Fun #55: Animals

Thanks for your kind visits and comments.

2010-04-15T10:10:00.000+02:00

LIVE YOUR DREAM ....

{If The Shoe Fits: April 16 Challenge}

The picture below was given to the design team for inspiration. I used the fan effect of her dress as inspiration and interpreted it with another iris folding design. The fan effect of the iris folds resembles that of the skirt and of course red is the ultimate colour associated with sensuality ... say no more.

I am also entering the above card for the following challenges:

Something Completely Different: Week 46 - B is for felt Buttons
Crafty Angels: Week 30 - My favourite things {just love felt embellishments}
Papertake Weekly Challenge - Cutie Pie {isn't the little mice too cute?}
Stamp Something - Stitch Something {faux stitching around the mice}

Below is a card design Michelle taught me during her visit in March. When hubby saw it he said it reminded him of scaffolding (very apt I must say), so from now on this is a scaffold card design. Thanks Michelle for the inspiration.

... and here is another iris folding design with cute little mice.

Me and hubby did another 21.1km in Benoni on Sunday morning as part of our training for the Knysna half marathon in July which I am going to walk and hubby will be running the full marathon. I walked the 21.1km on Sunday and hubby ran/walked it with me, just that he is forced to be on his feet longer and not to push himself too hard, which he usually does when he runs on his own. My time was 2 hours 44 minutes.

It was overcast with a chilly wind and it was one of the few races I have done during which I was cold for the whole distance. It was also a difficult route in that it was flat resulting in the same parts of the body doing the work all the time, whereas with an undulating course it alternates different muscles.

Thanks for again for taking some time out to pop in here.

2010-04-02T09:51:00.003+02:00

HAPPY EASTER ... and some Rugby

{DT project for If the Shoe Fits}

This week the DT over at ITSF had to use eggs on their cards. So without further ado, here is my card with little micey eggs. So who says one can't have some little mice around instead of bunnies for Easter.

The sentiment letters are from Basic Grey and the cardstocks used are a combination of Basic Grey and FabScraps.

I am also entering this card for the following challenges:

Below are some pics I've taken at a recent school rugby festival of our youngest god son, Kyle. The festival was held at Linden High School here in Johannesburg. They (Randburg High School) played 3 games and won one, lost one and drew the third.

Wishing all my lovely bloggy friends a blessed Easter and remember life is short, eat as many Easter eggs as you desire!

2010-03-24T11:58:00.005+02:00

FRIENDS FOREVER

{If the Shoe Fits: 26 March DT Project}

We had to use trees on our projects for this week and here is my creation using my aloe tree stamp and once again with an iris folding backdrop. The sentiment are stickers from my stash. The brown ribbon, felt buttons and anchors are also from my stash.

I am also entering this card for the following challenges:

During a recent visit to the Monte Casino Bird Park, I managed to take these pics of my favourite animal, the Meerkat. They have got such curious personalities. This one is definitely a Mama Meerkat on the watch-out i.e. checking out all the human bypassers. Still feel sorry to see them all cooped up in a little enclosure, whilst in nature they roam a huge area.

... and below are some pics of our visit 2 weeks ago to Sabini Game Farm near Bella Bella. We had an awesome relaxing time in nature with our dear friends Belinda and Carel. It was seriously hot during the day i.e. 39 degrees C, but evenings were just perfect. We had awesome sundowner game drives with a major cheese board, fig preserves and wine on the menu. It was absolutely fantastic to enjoy these delectable treats within in nature.

Above: Nyala calf:

Above and Below: Awesome sunsets we feasted our eyes on during our sundowner game drives.

Below: Striped Horses i.e. Zebras relaxing

Hope you enjoyed the tour through nature.

2010-03-18T08:24:00.003+02:00

FRIENDSHIP

{If the Shoe Fits (ITSF) - DT Project: Colour Inspiration}

The week of 12 March's challenge over at ITSF is a colour inspiration and here it is:

Below is my interpretation of the colour challenge. Once again I used my adorable little House Mouse stamp. Friendship is a rub-on from my stash and the work Cherish is a word sticker. The backdrop was done via iris folding.

Please take the time and visit ITSF to have a look at my fellow DT members' beautiful creations.

I am so looking forward to the long weekend as it is going to be an extra special long weekend with my dear friend Michelle visiting us here in Gauteng again. We are going to walk the 21.1km (half marathon) race at Hartbeespoort Dam on Saturday. I have managed to really pull hard at Michelle's rubber arm to do it with me. We are probably going to be very sore afterwards as both of us haven't walked this distance for quite some time. And of course, needless to say, some scrapping issues will also take place during the weekend.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by once again.

2010-03-11T10:19:00.001+02:00

I AM THE PROUD OWNER OF MY VERY FIRST HOUSE MOUSE STAMPS

{DT Project for DDCC #73: A colour inspiration}

The challenge over at Dutch Dare Card Challenge this week is a colour inspiration (see photo below):

... and here is the card I created which showcases my very first House Mouse stamp. I am sure you will agree that these little mice really creeps into one's heart with their lovable warmness. Once again I did some iris folding to create the backdrop to the little mice. The sentiment is a Doing Life Rub-on which is also available over at Doing Life's Online Shoppe and you will find it under Products/Rub-ons/Quotes.

I am also entering this card for the following challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers #16: A Feminine Celebration
Creative Card Crew: Celebrations
Paperplay Challenges #10: Just Because
Saturday Challenge #73: Shades of Grey
Stamp Something: Something Girly

Please visit these challenge sites and feast your eyes on the DT's beautiful creations.

And all this proudness is owed to the lovely and very talented Maya Stenshagen from Maya's Hobbyblogg. Its quite a lengthy tale, but in short here goes. Maya commissioned a necklace and bracelet set from me at the beginning of 2009. Which I duly created and posted to her. She duly received it through the post and was very thrilled with it. Unfortunately South Africa can't receive payment through Paypal, which we only discovered later and Maya wanted to send me some craft products which I really would like.

So, without hesitation I mentioned that I would love to own a house mouse stamp as I am always admiring the beautiful creations out there in blogland, being adorned with the lovable little mice. Maya promptly purchased some of the cute little mice stamps for me and posted it off.

But after several months I still did not receive them and it seemed like the parcel got missing in the post. Maya did not hesitate at all and re-purchased the stamps for me and posted it via registered mail this time. And still I waited for months on end and it did not arrive. At least I had a tracking number this time round and could attempt tracking it here in South Africa.

After literally hundreds of calls and visits to my local post office and being informed that it has been sent back to Norway and then been told again, no - it is actually on a ship to Cape Town (apart from tens of other stories). I have also been told that it has been sent to a local depot in our area, about 3 times and returned to Johannesburg International Airport depot on 3 occassions. Well all I can say is that all these stories just don't add up and someone really blemished the SA post office's reputation. But, after nearly a year I could jump with joy receiving my little mice. And you won't believe it the address on the parcel was absolutely correct with no spelling mistakes or anything ... so there was really no excuse. All I can think is that someone at the SA Post Office held onto this parcel trying to get to know whats inside, just in case its something valuable they could intercept.

And below is a photo of all the yummylicious crafty goodness that Maya lovingly sent to me in this long lost/found parcel. Not to mention the beautiful card she has also made me. Thank you, Maya.

2010-03-08T16:53:00.005+02:00

BERNARDT TURNS 35 WITH AN ELECTRONIC BANG

{Saturday, 6 February 2010}

Heidi had this huge surprise birthday cake made for her DH, Bernardt which we had to secretly collect during the course of his birthday party. A few of the girls managed to sneak away and drove to Marietjie, the lady who bakes these extraordinary cakes for every occassion imaginable. Fortunately Marietjie lives just around the corner from Heidi-them in the same estate. Once the cake has been delicately loaded into the car, perching precariously on Heidi's lap, the car's aircon was turn on full blast, to keep the icing from melting and we litterally leopard crawled on four wheels back to Heidi's house, managing to negotiate a few nasty speed bumps as well.

We parked in the neighbour's driveway, so as to first establish whether the coast was clear to offload the cake. We tip toed through the kitchen back door, but as we approached the party table, Bernardt caught us in the act, but needless to say ... he was truly surprised and absolutely adored his cake as is evident from the photos below.

Heidi gave, one of the family photos I took during September last year of them, to the lady who designed the cake. The photo is printed on rice paper and I must say the effect is so realistic ... it looks like the laptop is really switched on.

The laptop perches on a book (from cake of course), of which the title is 'Man van Formaat' which translated means 'Man of Substance by Dr Heidi Nel'. And this cake does not only look fantastic, but really tasted delicious and left us all with black lips and tongues from the colourants in the black icing. And yes, there were exactly 35 candles on it.

Thanks for taking the time to pop in again. Wishing you all a fab week.

2010-02-26T13:41:00.001+02:00

BE HAPPY

{There is only one HAPPINESS in life, to love and be LOVED}

DT Project for: If the Shoe Fits 26 Feb & DDCC #72

This week I managed to combine my design team projects for If The Shoe Fits {ITSF} and the Dutch Dare Card Challenge {DDCC} with one card. ITSF furnished the DT with a colour challenge (see pic below) and also provided the cute frog digi stamps from Digi Kitty.

One probably need to grab sunglasses to protect one's eyes from brightness disease before looking at this creation. But I do think the colours gel well with each other. And, did you notice that I have managed some angles on this design ... a great rarity in my creativity as I like things 'straight' forward. What do they say, nothing ventured nothing gained.

The challenge over at DDCC was to create a card with an 'open the gate' design. This is actually my first attemp at an open gate design and I quite enjoyed it.

I am also entering this creation for the following challenges:

Allsorts Challenge #40: Tag, Ticket or Label {used two tag punch-outs on the front to stamp froggies onto}
Pollycraft Monday Challenge #34: Double Up {I used two froggie images}

Thanks to all of you who wished hubby good luck with his international coaching certification as he got international certification last Friday night at the UCT Post Graduate School of Business in Cape Town, and all the hard work of the past year paid off.

Wishing you all a fabulous last weekend of February 2010!

2010-02-19T16:14:00.002+02:00

CRAZY FOR PLAID

{If the Shoe Fits: DT Project - 19 February}

The challenge put to the If The Shoe Fits Design Team this week was to use plaid on our projects. The strip of red plaid cardstock I used here, was a piece of scrap from my left over cardstock file and if I can recall this plaid cardstock was one of the very first patterned cardstock designs which was available to us here in South Africa and I purchased it from a Magic Memories consultant way back in 1999. Magic Memories does not trade anymore in South Africa.

The "To love is to give love" circle was stamped with an acrylic stamp set and the image is a digital image from In Style Digi Stamps which I printed on white cardstock with my Canon inkjet printer and coloured with H2O's.

Hubby is at the Business School for Post Graduates in Cape Town this week where he will be coaching in front of a panel of local and international judges and I am holding thumbs that he will pass with flying colours and that the last year of full time studying will pay off in the end.

Thanks again for all your valued visits here and encouraging comments.

2010-02-12T10:00:00.002+02:00

LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED ...

{If the Shoe Fits: Feb 12 - Recipe Challenge}

NOTE: Firstly, just a quick note on comment word verification I have had switched on for a few weeks. I know it has seriously irritaded some of you, but since it has been switched on I don't get any more rude comments from non bloggers whose advertising everything you can imagine in the sex world. So, the good news is I have switched it off again and lets hold thumbs the spams stop. I will still moderate the comments before they are published.

The Design Team, over at If the Shoe fits, had a recipe challenge to work with this week, which is:

Ribbon
Hearts
3 Eyelets

Its actually great to have a recipe as inspiration. So this is what a conjoured up. All the patterned papers are Basic Grey. The brown stickers are from Creative Memories and the eyelets and ribbon from my personal stash. I think that the stronger colours will make this card with hearts also suitable for a man, perhaps for Valentines coming up.

I have also entered this card for the following challenges:

Charisma Cards: Week 6 Think Male
Crafty Calendar Challenge #5: Love & Friendship
Creative Inspirations #47: Anyone for leftovers {this card has entirely been made with only left over cardstock from my scrap cardstock folder}
Cute Card Thursday #99: In the name of Love
Everybody Art Challenge #78: Valentine
One Stop Craft Challenge #66: Colour Challenge {Apple Green, Chocolate & Clotted Cream}
Our Creative Corner: Musculine Valentine
Quixotic Challenge #13: Tag It {I have punched the three tags to set the eyelets on}
Stamp with Fun #45: Hearts
The Pixie Cottage #9: Love Theme
Daring Card Makers: Have a Heart

The tools used:

Thanks again for all your lovely comments.

2010-02-09T13:46:00.005+02:00

SCRAPPING WITH DAVID

{Doing Life Makaranga Scrapaganza: Saturday, 31 January 2010}

As is obvious from the photos below, a great scrapping time was had by all the delegates attending, even David seemed to enjoy having his bevy of beauties surrounding him once again and did not even flinch once when he was dressed appropriately for the occassion.

Once again I would like to thank Michelle for all her unselfish and enthusiastic help without which the Scrapaganzas would not be possible. Also a huge thank you for all the girls attending and also for supporting the Doing Life shop on the day.

Below: The girls were just so relieved that David keeps a stringent fitness regime and did not stuff himself with the delicious food at the Makaranga buffets to end up looking like his cousin from Rome ....

Below: The reigning speed queen, Cheryl Gwillam, for the second time. Come on girls, please make sure to get in some speed practice before the next Scrapaganza, so that we can give Cheryl a run for her trophy next time.

Below: The grand prize winner, Wendy Roberts on the left and her Mom, Yvonne making sure that Wendy will be sharing her lovely prize which was 144 sheets of ColorMates cardstock.

Looking forward to seeing you all again at the next Makaranga Scrapaganza in Kloof, Durban probably during October 2010.

2010-02-05T13:28:00.001+02:00

FEBRUARY IS FOR LOVE ...

{DT project for If the Shoe Fits ...: Colour Challenge}

So, this is my first design team project for If the Shoe Fits. This week is a colour challenge perfect for celebrating Valentines. Lots of hearts and a pink and red colour combo. The four red octagonal shapes were created with the Doing Life Pie template and the hearts were stamped with the Chiswick Acrylic Heart stamp set.

Please visit If the Shoe Fits to see my fellow DT mates' gorgeous projects.

Once again, this creation has also been submitted for the following challenges:

ABC Challenge: N is for New: The little round epoxy Love Tag is new to my stash.
Creative Card Crew #44: Valentines
Double Dutch #36: Be My Valentine
Papertake Weekly Challenge: Love Actually
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #68: Hearts

Thanks again for stopping by and your inspirational comments.

2010-01-26T07:31:00.003+02:00

FABULOUS

{DDCC #70: DT Project: Summer in Winter}

{If the Shoe Fits ... : Jan 22: DT Project: Ad Inspiration}

Can you believe it that we are already at the end of January 2010 ... where does time disappear to, it was Xmas 09 just the other day.

Here's another card I created with the fabulous In Style Digi Stamps. These stamps are absolutely wonderful to colour. Once again the images have been printed with a Canon inkjet printer and then brought to life with H2O's. The Flowers have been stamped with a Chiswick Flower Acrylic Stamp Set.

I have had this wonderful news that I have been selected as part of the new Design Team over at If the Shoe Fits ... Scrap It. Still pinching myself and am excited to start creating with the other very talented ladies on the team. So this creation will also be my first DT project for ITSF's January 22 challenge which is an Advertisement inspiration. So hop on over to ITSF to see the advertisement and the other team members' gorgeous creations.

The creation is also for the next DDCC #70 challenge put to the design team which is Summer in Winter ... this was a bit difficult to interpret and I thought that the girl on my card is drinking something hot from a mug and licking away at a cold ice cream, which could fit the bill of this challenge.

The card is also being entered for the following challenges this week:

Charizma Cards - Challenge #3: Fruity Colours
Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge #67: Colour Inspiration

Off to Durban early Friday morning for the upcoming Doing Life Makaranga Scrapaganza.

Thank you all for taking some time out of your busy lives to have a peep here and for all your inspirational comments.

2010-01-13T15:50:00.003+02:00

a MOMENT lasts all of a SECOND, but the MEMORY LASTS forever

{DDCC #69: DT Project}

I had to do a 21st photo shoot this past weekend for Chelane and thought it fit to use this sketch as a starting point for the DVD Cover. The photo of Chelane was printed on white cardstock with an inkjet printer and then cropped. All the designer paper are from Basic Grey. The stickers and embellishments are from my personal stash.

Isn't this scalloped circle with the little holes just gorgeous. I used the new Creative Memories punch to create it. This punch is a 2in1 bliss as it makes the same scalloped circle without the little holes as well, by just flicking a switch. The diameter of the scalloped circle is 5cm. Doing Life, a consultant for Creative Memories, currently stocks this punch so if any of you residing in South Africa would love to get your crafty paws on it, just email me. The cost is R310 + R35 postage.

I am entering this creation for the following challenges:

Crafty Cardmakers: #12 - What is New? {I used my newly acquired scalloped circle punch}
Creative Inspirations: #43 - New Year, New Products { I used my newly acquired scalloped circle punch}
If the Shoe Fits: #17 - Use Chipboard {The 'lovely'embellishment at the bottom is chipboard}

Once again I apologise for my lack of visits in blog land as I am a bit pre-occupied with planning for the next Doing Life Makaranga Scrapaganza on 30 January 2010. Hopefully by early February my presence will be more visible amongst my bloggy friends.

2010-01-02T11:26:00.003+02:00

LIVE, LAUGH, LOVE ...

{DDCC #68 DT Project: Oh Joy}

Trust you are already having a wonderful 2010 and wish all my blogging friends the most happiest year ever. We spent the last few hours of 2009 quietly at home watching the 2009 Huisgenoot Skouspel show {a local annual music spectacular here in South Africa} on TV and thereafter the Royal Variety Show which was this held in Blackpool, England. This has become quite a tradition with us at each year end.

For our next design team project for DDCC #68 we had to create a card with multi-folds. I quite enjoyed this kind of little interactive creation. Hop on over to DDCC for the tutorial if you fancy creating a multifold card yourself and also have a look at the other DT members' beautiful creations.

I used a variety of acrylic stamps for the fancy sqaure, Live Laugh Love and the decorative corners. The little flower in the bottom corner which keeps the card closed was created with a Fold-It Flower template. All the designer paper is from FabScraps a local scrapbooking manufacturer here in South Africa.

I am also entering this creation for the following challenges:

By The Cute and Girly: New {Live Laugh Love ... as it is a New Year}
My Time to Craft #72: Anything Goes
Crafty Cardmakers #11: Favourites of 2009 {Definitely my Making Memories Fancy Journaling Shapes Acrylic Stamp Set}
Creative Card Crew #41: Anything Goes

Thanks again for all your inspirational comments. I will be spreading some love over at your space in blog land soon.

2009-12-27T08:38:00.004+02:00

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

2009-12-24T14:09:00.000+02:00

With love from

2009-12-17T12:37:00.009+02:00

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:

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 ....

2009-12-03T13:43:00.004+02:00

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.

2009-11-24T16:09:00.004+02:00

ALL IN YOUR POCKET with INDIGO BLUE

Design Team Project for:

I had so much fun working with this blue colour palette. The focus flowers were stamped with my Chiswick acrylic stamp set. I have created the flower watermark background behind the main flowers on the front of the pocket as well as on the pull out card, with the same flower stamp. The blue buckle was created with a Paper Shapers buckle punch and then punched out with a Paper Shapers circle punch. The dotty ribbon is from my stash.

Loved this watermark technique and I've got a feeling that this technique is going to solve my addiction to iris folding.

Your visit here is truly treasured and I trust that it was pleasurable for you.

2009-11-18T07:24:00.006+02:00

WEDDING BLISS and FLEDGELINGS

At last I have completed Enrico and Angelique Nells' wedding album with this front page to the album. The sketch of the Anglican Church in Uitenhage has been downloaded from the internet, resized and printed onto white cardstock with an inkjet printer. The hearts were stamped with a Chiswick acrylic hearts stamp set. The Greatest Love circle was also stamped with acrylic stamps. The cardstock are Basic Grey (for the background) and FabScraps for the various mounting. Also used some Scrapbook King white rub-ons here and there. Now I just have to mosaic an album box with lid for the album.

I am also entering this layout for the following challenges:

Feeling quite sad as the little wagtails have both fledged the nest on Tuesday, 10 November. These photos were taken the Monday afternoon, just before they settled in for their final night in the nest.

Now I am just praying that the next door cat won't be on the prowl whilst they build up their strength.

Thanks again for all your lovely comments and taking the time to stop by.