Goodbye to a Gentle Giant (29 April 2014)

I had to say goodbye today to Bruno, my dearest Great Dane friend and companion of 10 years.
Read the Memorium I wrote for him.

Mixed media - Paintbox Poppets

This is the mixed media canvas I made using a set of 3D decoupage prints called Paintbox Poppets (www.jalecro.com) that I bought recently. I only used 2 of the 4 prints on the sheet.

This was made for the January mixed media challenge at Paper Digital Art and Images. I started by tearing up a serviette (blue dotted one in picture) and a piece of pink tissue paper. I stamped antique brown butterflied on the tissue paper then crumpled it up. The whole canvas was mod podged and then these pieces were modged on top to cover the whole board. When this was dry, I painted gesso over everything to create a white translucent feel. The first whole Poppet image was pasted onto the board, then a second one that I trimmed to just around the little girl. I raised this one with small pieces of thick board. Modpodge was liberally applied to the images.
After this is was just a matter of adding flowers, ribbons, and pearls. I painted gesso on the flowers and leaves to create a vintage look.
Close up...

A monthly Christmas challenge

How about a monthly challenge where you are given a free digistamp if you entered a card the previous month, and by the end of the year you will already have made 12 Christmas cards!

Digistamps4Joy has started a new challenge on their blog called the Christmas Challenge.

Head on over to their BLOG and see what you need to do.

My 1st Christmas

I drew this digi a while ago for the Digistamps4Joy store, and called it "My 1st Christmas".  

 

I added lots and lots of glitter glue to the little dragon, and diecut the poinsettia flower. The digi was coloured with my H2O pencils and OMS.

This digi is available in the Digistamps4Joy shop.

New items used - sentiment
Old items used - "My 1st Christmas" digistamp and pointsettia die, papers from stash.
TTCRD - anything goes
Scrap Creations - glitter 'n sparkle
Crafting from the heart - anything goes
Creative Creations - make your own flower

Kids Card-making class

I held my first kids card-making class on Saturday 9th November, with 6 young ladies aged 6 to 10 years old. What a fabulous fun time they all had - including me!
They started off by learning how to score and fold a card, and add double-sided tape. They then cut out some graphics for the first card, and raised these with small foam tabs onto the design papers. Some sequin embellishments were added.

After a short "cooldrink and cupcake" break, the girls tackled their second card, and this is when the REAL fun started! One of the girls asked for a different colour of glitter-glue, and when I brought out my container of glitter glues they went WILD! Their cards ended up being so "glittered up" that I needed sunglasses to look at them! All efforts by 2 of the moms telling them that 'less is more' fell on deaf ears! One of the girls switched on a modern song on her cellphone, and these girls literally ROCKED while they glittered! I know they went home happy - not sure what their moms thought though LOL!

Craft class - Tea tray

What a super time we all had in the October craft class! Our goal was to produce a small tea tray that can hold 2 mugs, sugar, and milk. This tea tray has a piece of glass raised above the base, so you can create a small 3D scene underneath. Each lady chose a different piece of scrapbooking paper as their background image, chose a paint colour to match this paper, then decorated with flowers, leaves, and swirls.

Adding the embellishments, one by one! We used an Olba punch to punch out these tiny, tiny flowers and leaves, then curled them to give them a 3D effect.

Hard at work - but having lots of fun!

The photo does not do these tea trays justice! In real life they are absolutely gorgeous!

Craft class - Altered mouse traps

This was my first 'official' craft class in my newly revamped craft room. I taught the ladies how to take an ordinary household item - a mouse trap - and alter it into something definitely not with such a gory connection - a useful note holder for your fridge!

Some of the ladies hard at work

The fabulous end results - each one used the same techniques, but produced totally different and unique holders! 

Well done ladies.

New Digistamps4Joy digi (Sunday 20 Oct.2013)

I found these gorgeous bottle caps in my local craft store and decided to create some digistamps for the DS4J store. This is the first set I put together and it consists of 4 different sentiments - each a separate file. They are sized at 1" for printing, and can be punched out very easily with a 1" circle punch.

 This is the card I made to use one of these bottle cap sentiments on. 

I bought this fabulous embossing folder a while ago. I added Platinum Stickles to the embossed frame and swirls, added a touch of grey pencil to the inside of the frame, and then corner-punched the corners of the card. Then I coloured up "Bella Bridesmaid" with aqua pencils and OMS during the monochromatic colouring class I recently gave. The bottle cap sentiment was lightly coloured with grey pencil on the outer edge, and some Stickles added to the main word. The sentiment was glued inside the bottle cap (which I first pushed through the Cuttlebug to curl the edges), then I covered the whole sentiment with Glossy Accents. Here is the detailed photo of the bottle cap sentiment.

TIP: When you put the bottle cap through the Cuttle bug, use this plate order (bottom to top), and remember to put the sharp end of the bottle cap facing the B plate with all the diecut scratches on it. If you have it the other way around your 'nice' "B" plate will end up with indentations!

 "A" plate

"B" plate

bottle cap with edges facing UP!

Rubber embossing mat (essential)

"B" plate with all the scratches

This new set of bottle cap sentiments is available in the Digistamps4Joy shop.

New items used - bottle cap, digistamp
Old items used - "Bella Bridesmaid" digistamp
CMC Copic Challenge
Ink spirational challenges - anything goes
The Sweet Pea Stampers - sparkle and shine
Stampin for the weekend - anything goes
Sister Act card challenge - anything goes
JW Scrap Shack - anything goes
Daring cardmakers - digital dare

DS4J Blog Hop winner

Thank you to everyone who became a new follower and left a comment during the Digistamps4joy Blog Hop. I have randomly selected a winner of the digistamp prize on my blog ...

OLGA BESTER.
Please send me an email ... info@digistamps4joy.co.za ... to claim your prize.
Margy

Digistamps4Joy Blog Hop: 5-11 October 2013

You have arrived at Margy’s blog in PRETORIA, South Africa!

Welcome to the Digistamps4Joy Blog Hop to celebrate WORLD CARDMAKING DAY,

and running from 5 - 11 October 2013. DS4J has chosen the theme "COUNTRY" to celebrate what we love about our own country.

This is my beautiful city in spring time with the flowering Jacaranda trees.

Blog Hop Navigation

If you landed on my page first, then just carry on down the list, and from the top again till you are back at my blog OR start at the top at the main Digistamps4Joy blog, and work your way though to the final stop (Ursula’s blog). The hop order is indicated on each blog, so you will not ‘get lost’!

 Digistamps4JoyBlog (Main blog)

Alex

Angela

Antoinette

Asmah

Berni

Charlene

Desire

Ema

Jackie

JenLee

Karin

MARGY (YOU ARE HERE)

Pam (Your next stop)

Riette

Sharon

Ursula

Here is the card I am showcasing for the hop, and I used "Mommy's girl". 

I coloured it in with watercolour pencils and OMS, and drew in a savanna scene behind them. The paper behind the sentiment (a gold rub-on) is a piece of handmade paper with rhino dung in it! My reason for choosing this digistamp is because I love rhinos, and am appalled at the massacre currently being carried out in my own country, and I hope I can raise awareness though my card. Here are some facts from the Save the Rhino website....

1. South Africa is home to 83% of Africa’s rhinos and 73% of all wild rhinos worldwide and is an incredibly important country for rhino conservation. However rhino poaching has reached a crisis point, and if the killing continues at this rate, we could see rhino deaths overtaking births in 2016-2018, meaning rhinos could go extinct in the very near future!
2. The figure for 2013 currently stands at 688 rhinos that have been poached in South Africa, which works out to almost 2 per day! The current poaching crisis is attributed to the growing demand for rhino horn in Asian countries, mainly China and Vietnam, where horn is believed to have medicinal properties.

Each blog in the hop is offering a prize of ONE digistamp, and each DT member has made a card with this digi to showcase the prize. The main DS4J blog is offering a fantastic prize of $30 worth of digistamps from the DS4J store. 

 The PRIZE on this Blog is the digistamp "Mommy's girl"

RULES FOR ENTERING THE RANDOM DRAW ON MY BLOG

Please read carefully - I do not want you to miss out!

1). Be/become a follower of THIS blog

2). Leave a comment under this post

RULES FOR ENTERING THE $30 DRAW ON THE MAIN DS4J BLOG

Please read carefully - we do not want you to miss out!

1). Be/become a follower of the main DS4J blog

2). Collect all the letters/symbols scattered over the participating DT blogs, put them together

to create a quote, then email this quote to Margy at info@digistamps4joy.co.za with 

subject title “DS4J Blog Hop quote”. One winner will be chosen at random from all the correct entries.

 

Thanks for visiting my blog.

Your next stop will be the talented Pam

The full list of winners will be announced on Sunday 13^th October on the Digistamps4Joy blog. 

Each blog will also indicate its own winner on 13^th October.

New digistamp at Digistamps4Joy

One of the new digistamps in the DS4J store on Sunday 29th September. I sometimes think God had a sense of humour when he created all these animals on planet earth - I mean - who in their right mind would design such a funny looking BIRD like the Ostrich? Long legs with the knee joint that works 'back-to-front' (so never stand in front of an ostrich), a bird that runs and not flies yet has a wingspan of 2 metres, The fastest 2-legged creature on earth, and that long long neck with a tiny head on top. YET, despite all these funny characteristics, this bird has the most amazing eyes! I love those huge, soft, eyes.

This new digi (The "O" look) is available in the Digistamps4Joy shop. The digi was coloured with watercolour pencils and OMS, and the clouds were chalked in. Diecut swirls were added.

New items used - digistamp
Old items used - DP from stash
Crafts 4 eternity - anything goes
Creative corner challenges - great outdoors
Patties Creations
Sister act card challenge - anything goes

Monochrome colouring

It's amazing what a fabulous effect can be achieved by colouring a digistamp with only ONE shade of colour! This digi from Digistamps4Joy is called Sharon, and I coloured her in with black, dark grey, and light grey watercolour pencils. I love the end result. The card is a basic 5x5 with a black cardstock with punched corners on top, a white embossed background, diecut swirls (1 x black), and a butterfly punched out of the same 3 shades of paper.

 Detail of her face

If you are interested in attending a Monochrome Colouring Class in Pretoria, just email me at compugen[at]netactive[dot]co[dot]za.

 

I'm entering her into the following challenges:

A Creative Romance -dies or punches

Chocolate coffee cards - anything goes

Digitally sweet - anything goes

Sami stamp - anything goes

Sister Act - anything goes

Outlawz challenges: paper-a-la-mode - monochromatic

Christmas is coming!

It is exactly 16 weeks from today (5 September) to Christmas Day!!! Where HAS this year gone? I have of course been reminded about this with all the Christmas themed card challenges at the moment, so decided to join in the fun.

This digi is available in the Digistamps4Joy shop and is called "Christmas bauble". The super thing about this dig is that it can be coloured in with any combination of colours and will always look absolutely fabulous! I went with the traditional red and green this time, and coloured two prints with my SN and Copic pens. THEN, I glued a clear transparency sheet on top of each one to give the effect of glass baubles, and smudged glitter glue on top of this to produce the sparkle. The sentiment says Wonderful Christmas Memories.

New items used - none (can you believe this?). I've been a good girl!
Old items used - DP from stash, digi, glitter glue, transparency sheet, sentiment, paper pieced tree.
I'm entering this into two challenges...
Outlawz alcohol markers - anything goes with a Christmas twist
Graph'It Markers - reds and greens

New digi at DS4J (1/9/2013) - I'm staying "put"

A new digistamp in the store today. I happened to see one of the grandchildren's book on Humpty Dumpty and my first thought was (as a person who hates to be told I cannot do it!) - hey what would have happend if HD didn't fall off the wall? I could use this as a lesson to my own grandkids, so drew HD with a sinister grin on his face, his arms folded, and legs crossed and called the digi "I'm staying "PUT"!  Hope that says it all LOL!

This new digi is available in the Digistamps4Joy shop. The digi was coloured with my SN and Copic pens, clouds cut with my new diecut and edges chalked, swirls also cut with a new diecut.

New items used - digistamp, clouds diecut, swirls diecut
Old items used - DP from stash
Crafty calendar challenge - anything goes
Pumpkin spice - anything goes
Inspire me Fridays - anything goes
The sweet pea stampers - fantasy

New digistamps at DS4J (1/9/2013) "Icecream fantasia"

A new digistamp in the store today, and I called it "Icecream fantasia". I love icecream but now have to stay clear of it for health reasons - bummer!!!! Instead I can still fantasise about one can't I? 

 

This new digi is available in the Digistamps4Joy shop. However, this digi file has a little something 'extra' in it when you purchase it! I love paper-piecing, and so created an additional JPG file with all the bits and pieces of the image separated! I then took this file and printed it onto several different design papers, cut these out, distressed the edges with chalks or edged with my SN pens, and put the whole icecream cone together with foam tabs. The lace border is a MS punch. Obviously the requisite bling is added, and a few tiny pearls I purchased from The Blueberry Bear here in South Africa.

New items used - digistamp
Old items used - DP from stash, glitter, ribbon, pearls
Krafty hands - anything goes
Pumpkin spice - anything goes
Sweet stampin - spots & stripes

Izazovi i slatkisi - colours, tastes of summer

Butterfly tekkies

Ok, I'm cured of this craft for a while as I made another pair of decoupages tekkies - this time in my favourite colours - pink and purple! These are canvas shoes without any laces. I timed myself this time to see how long it would take me from start to finish, and it was just under 2 and a half hours, including all the drying time. Not everything went smoothly though - the hairdryer packed up on me grrr! And here's a tip .... do not take the serviette images all the way to where the rubber sole starts - leave a gap so that the modge podge can cover the edges.
So here they are .... butterflies galore!!!

"Jungle tekkies"

I've been wanting to give this craft a try for a while now, but kept forgetting to buy the items! At last I remembered and managed to find a pair of white 'tekkies" (tennis shoes) at a local shop. In fact I bought TWO pairs hehe! This is the first pair that I have decoupaged and sealed, and I'm thrilled with the end result. Everywhere I go now, I have these leopards "going before me" LOL (yes I know they are only cubs, but hey, better than a mouse!).

Front View

Side and Back Views

All I need to do now is walk them in a bit, as they are after all a "new" pair of shoes!

On to making the next pair which are going to be Cerise Pink with huge butterflies!

New digistamp at Digistamps4Joy - "Gwyneth"

GWYNETH

This is my latest digistamp -  a rather vintage woman in an evening gown - and I have called her "Gwyneth" and she is available in the Digistamps4Joy shop. I coloured her in with watercolour pencils and SN pens, and created a centre-stepper card. The lace borders were cut with a MS punch then wet-embossed with white embossing powder with a fine glitter in it.

New items used - digistamp
Old items used - flocked DP from stash, glitter glue, flowers, brads, pearls, sentiment sticker
CMC Ccopic challenge - anything goes
Rogue Red Head - fashionista
Alphabet challenge - newest stamp
Creative Fingers - anything goes
Patties Creations - anything goes

New digistamps 2nd June 2013

TWINS

I drew two separate little baby rompers for the new releases on Sunday 2nd June. While deciding on what sort of card to make, I had a wild thought - 'hey, what about a card for 'twin babies' - one boy, one girl"! So I merged the two png files in Word, printed out the image, and coloured it up with my SN pens. Then I took the SN Blender pen and created little 'dots' of bleached out pink spots on the girl's romper. The blender pen gave such a lovely soft look to the pink, and I love it!

This is a centre-stepper card. I cut a paper doily in half, stamped/chalked one half blue and the other half pink. Added an adhesive plastic lace to the bottom of the card, and then remembered I still had all these little pink and blue dummies and nappy pins, bought for my daughter's stork party! Glad I never turfed them out! A little ribbon and cord here and there, glitter glue on the girl's smocking, and the card is complete.

The digistamps are called  'Girl's romper" and "Boy's romper"

New items used - digistamps, plastic lace
Old items used - cardstock and DP from stash, glitter glue, baby embellishments, doily
Aud sentiments challenge blog - anything goes
Rhedd and Rosies - ribbons 'n lace
Chalk n stock - anything with chalk goes
Crafty ribbons challenge - circles and ribbon

New digistamp at DS4J (28 April 2013) - SPRING

Yes, I'm a little late in posting this card, but "better late than never" as the saying goes. I actually made this card for this 28th April but forgot to post it. Just too many things on my mind at the moment.

So here it is. It is a sentiment I drew for the shop to celebrate the start of spring - in the northern hemisphere of course! Here at home we are heading into winter, and I've already put my winter sheets onto the bed.

 The digistamp is called  'Spring sentiment",and I tried to capture the feeling of new blooms, blossoms, and new life. The digi is coloured with my alcohol pens. Something slightly different. I glued a piece of acetate to the inside of the card then cut out the front in scallops so that the acetate shows through. Some of the flower embellishments were then glued to the acetate.

New items used - digistamp
Old items used - cardstock from stash, acetate, flower gems, flower embellishments
Crafty calendar challenge - blooms
Pumpkin spice - flowers
Sugar creek hollow - flowers
Annabelle stamps - anything goes