One in a million - Scrap Africa Challenge 7

A DT project for Scrap Africa . Challenge # 7 is dedicated to the wonderful men in our lives - big or small. Make any scrap object dedicated to a man or a boy. The catch is that it must have a phrase on it: It can be your own words or a quote but it must tell what is so special about that person to whom you are dedicating your project. This is Eddie, my hubby, my friend, my soulmate and most of all my conscience..LOL!!

Time Out

Hello friends:) I have a feeling that this may be my last post for 2012 as I still have tons to do before we leave for a ten day break in Mozambique. I am sooo looking forward to it. I would like to take this opportunity of wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a fabulous 2013. Thank you for all your support during 2012 and more so, thank you to each and every one of you for your friendship.xxx

This is my take on various challenges..had to make the best of the time that is available to me :)The layout is my entry for yet another fabulous sketch challenge over at Once Upon A Sketch and here is Nadia's beautiful sketch. My journaling is at the back of the tag. Thank you OUAS for another awesome challenge!

Then I have also entered this layout for the challenge over at CSI Case File Number 49.Once again Debbi put together a fabulous case file. Here is what we had to work with. Love it!

THE SCHEME (USE ALL 5 COLORS)

• Garland Green - medium green, taken from the #5 tree - 135.154.47
• Pink Presents - deep pink, taken from the #10 mittens - 222.108.118
• Yuletide Yellow - light buttery yellow, taken from the #21 box - 248.230.164
• Advent Aqua - aqua, taken from the #15 box - 93.198.201
• Lime Lights - lime green, taken from the ribbon in #23 - 185.217.108

Here I used the medium green in the flowers, a tiny bit of pink on the clock, light buttery yellow on the leaves, blue on the flowers and the lime green is pretty much eerywehere..lol!

EVIDENCE (USE AT LEAST 2 ELEMENTS)

• numbers
• stickers
• punches
• rhinestones
• buttons
• baker's Twine
• ribbon
• lace
• make a semi-circle notch, like in the little boxes
• snowflakes
• Christmas/winter accents
• hound's-tooth pattern

Here I used "numbers" for the date, a punched border strip, rhinestones in two of the flowers and lots of buttons in the flowers and on the right hand side at the bottom.

TESTIMONY (USE AT LEAST 1 ELEMENT)

• Document a holiday tradition.
• Document what you do to prepare for the holidays.
• Number your journaling.
• Write 25 words or phrases about your topic.
• Choose a prompt from here.
• Put your journaling inside of something that can be opened
• Inspiration Words: joy, believe, count --use these as inspiration for your journaling, not just as a title

 Here I opted to write 25 words and used it in my journaling...just to encourage myself to do do more journaling :) Thank you Debbi for an awesome case!! :)

Then I am also entering this layout for challenge 12 over at Scrap Africa and the challenge is the "film strip".

Last but not least I used the gorgeous FWAB Elise Flourish Black - Dark Green and Silver Grey Flowers available from Flourish With A Bling.

And now I would love to show you where I am going for a few days...Zavora Lodge!! It is a a diver and fisherman's paradise and I guess the "fishing" part is what attracted my daughter to Zavora :)

Well, that's it for today!! Off to go and bath the dogs!! Thanks for looking and have a fabulous holiday and to those who will be on the roads, have a safe trip and take care!xxx

Mojee

Hello again friends:) Today I am introducing you to my daughter's what was supposed to be a Labrador but since the puppy is now all grown up we still have no idea what he really is but that doesn't matter at all. So, please meet Ammo aka Mojee aka Muchee aka Mo aka Mojo and so on...lol!! So, if you have some time this month, hop over to Scrap Africa and join us in the new sketch challenge for September. Hope to see you there! Till next time, take care!

A Special Kind Of Love - Scrap Africa Challenge 8

It is time for a new challenge over at Scrap Africa and this time we were to use the poster below as inspiration for our projects. You can use the phrase in your project or you can make a mini-album to tell your story. I chose this beautiful photo of Josie and Beauty. Beauty was Josie's first love, and the pony who taught Josie to ride.  When Josie and her parents lived in the Middle East Josie took every opportunity during the summers to visit Beauty in Norway. She also took Beauty on her first ever riding camp when she was only 6 yrs old. Beauty belonged to Penelope Ponyfarm, the place where her Mom  grew up, and where she too learnt to ride and care for horses. On days when Josie struggled with her confidence Beauty was there to help her along and if the lesson didn't go too well, there was always cuddles and special moments to compensate for that and so a very special bond formed between the two of them. After Beauty retired Josie still went to visit her and just spent quiet moments cuddling and grooming her. Sadly Beauty passed away in 2011 due to a severe bout of colic at the ripe old age of 25. She was a legend to all the kids at Penelope Farm. Josie and Beauty's story is written on a tag which I tucked away. Combined with this challenge  I also made this layout for a DT project at Flourish With A Bling. I used pieces of the beautiful FWAB Bella Rhinestone Flourishes Wine and saving the rest of it for another project.:) 


And here is the "inspiration poster".                                                                                                                     
That's all for now :) Thanks for looking and have a great day!!xx

Forever - DT project for Scrap Africa

This is my take on sketch 8 over at Scrap Africa . This is my gorgeous daughter Heidi and Justin whom I am starting to think of as my son..LOL!! Love these kids!! :) On this layout I used the beautiful Flourish With A Bling Chloe Pearl Flourish Antique Gold. Love their products :) We would love it if you could hop over and join us in this sketch challenge :) Thanks for looking :) I always enjoy your visits :) Oops almost forgot to show you the sketch... well, here it is :)

Profile Of My Heart - Scrap Africa Sketch 7

Hi all!! Time for a new sketch at Scrap Africa and this is my take on Evgenia's beautiful sketch which you will see below :) Meet Molly, my shadow and one of the many pieces of my heart :) Over the last couple of months I have neglected scrapping my four-legged babies and am now making up for it :) On this layout I used the beautiful FWAB Jasmine Puffy Flourish Latte from Flourish With A Bling. On the photograph you may not be able to see how beautiful it really is in real life but it has a lovely, subtle sparkle to it. And here is the sketch.

My Girl - Scrap Africa Sketch 4

My Girl (Bo Bunny)

This is my take on Sketch 4 being a DT project for Scrap Africa. If you have some time please hop over to http://scrapafrica.blogspot.com/ and join in the fun. This is my beautiful daughter Heidi and you have no idea what an accomplishment it is to actually be able to get a photograph of her. She runs a mile when she sees a camera pointed at her and I was lucky to have caught her while she was very engrossed in conversation..LOL! I have done two little tutorials below just to show you how I have done the stitching on this layout.



You actually have no idea how nervous I am about doing this tutorial :( I am still trying to familiarize myself with this whole "blogging" thing and here I go and add to my agony :(( Ok, so this being my first tutorial I am going to have to ask you to please be patient with me while I try and figure out this whole HTML thing in order to try and get this post to look half-decent. There's got to be an easier way so if you have any suggestions, they would be most welcome :)) Did I mention that I've been sitting here for five hours now and still cannot get the text below the images in the order that I want it to appear but if I have to sit here for another five hours..so be it:(( Ok, here goes:

Step 1

I am going to attempt to show you how to achieve the "raised stitch" effect on your project with a few very simple steps. Draw a pencil line where you want the stitching to go and pierce tiny holes about .5cm all along the pencil line. Like this:


Step 2

Thread your needle with two strands of yarn in the colours required for your project. I used crochet yarn. You can also use a single strand of yarn but two strands is so much nicer and much more effective in order to get the end result :) make a little knot at the end of your yarn to prevent the yarn from slipping through the first hole. Now, insert your needle at the back of your work through your fisrt hole and bring it through to the front. Pull it through until the little knot meets with the back of your paper. Now, skip your second hole and insert your needle into the front of your third hole. Like this:


Step 3

Pull the yarn through to the back ensuring that you leave a little loop in the front. Like this:


Step 4

Insert your needle from the back into your second hole (that would be the hole between the two stitches or the little hole in the centre of the loop) ensuring that your yarn is situated above the needle. Like this:


Step 5

Now pull the yarn all the way through to the front applying enough tension so your stitch lies snuggly against the paper. Do not pull too tight or too hard as you don't want to tear your paper or rip your little holes ;) Like this:


Step 6

Now your needle is in the front or the "right" side of your work so now you insert your needle into the fourth hole and once again you pull it through to the back ensuring that you leave a little loop once again. (Creating the little loop just makes it that much easier for your needle and yarn to come through to the front underneath the yarn or else you may hook a tiny strand of the yarn and you end up ruining the whole stitch.) Bring your needle through to the front by inserting it into the back of your third hole and coming through to the front underneath the loop. Like this:


Step 7

Now pull your yarn towards you until once again your stitch lies nice and snuggly against the paper. Next you will insert your needle into hole 5 from the front to the back of your work creating a little loop again and then inserting your needle into the back of hole number 4 coming through to the front underneath the loop and pulling it tightly. So now you continue in this fashion and your row of stitches should start looking like this:



Side view of the stitching: This will give you a pretty good idea of how the raised stitch should look if you look at it from the side :)


And voila..you've done it!! If you happen to try this method, please feel free to leave a link to your project so I can admire your work :) I would love to see it xx I sincerely hope that this tutorial makes sense to you and if not, please let me know so I can try and improve on it :)

Here are a few more steps to show you how I have done the stitching on the scalloped circle:

Step 1

Cut a scalloped circle according to the required size. Within the circle draw a smaller circle. Then you will prick tiny holes on this circle, each hole being opposite and in line with the valley of each scallop..like this:


You can make all the holes at once or you can do it as I did..one at a time.


Step 2

Now thread your needle with the required colour thread and insert your needle from the back of the paper into the first little hole...like this:


Step 3

Pull your needle through to the front and take the thread over to the back between your first two scallops like this:


Step 4

Your needle and thread is now at the back of your paper and so now you insert your needle into the next little hole and thread it through to the front. You will find that the little valley/ditch between the scallops anchors your thread securely. Like this:


Step 5

Now take your thread across to the opposite side of the scallop creating a cross-stitch because that is all it basically is..cross-stitch on a scalloped circle. Like this:


Step 6

So now you have your first cross :) Now you only need to continue in the same fashion all along the circle..like this:






Step 7

When you have finished all the stitches along the circle it should look like this and you need not worry about the pencil line because your other circle will hide the pencil line once you have placed it like this:




And there it is all done! Have fun and enjoy!x

PS: It is three hours later and I have managed to compose it and at the same time expanded my knowedge just a little bit more in terms of HTML codes, so if you see this on my blog then you know I was successful....now I'm off to bed although I doubt that I'm going to get much sleep after drinking all those mugs of coffee :((

Till next time
xx