… you spin my head right round ….

The theme of the current Digistamps 4 Joy challenge is particularly apt … with me rushing to get everything ready for my trip to Cape Town (I am leaving tomorrow morning) I feel that I am spinning round and round at the moment, and yes, I have already caught my tail!For my DT inspiration card have taken the theme literally … “YOU SPIN MY HEAD RIGHT ROUND” … make a card using circles … so I used circles and made a spinner card.
I can’t provide you with a link to a tutorial for a spinner card, cos I didn’t use one.. I simply had the idea to make the die cut soccer ball spin, and applied my practical knowledge. So using a circular magnet and a couple of coins, a slot cut in the card, and voila! …. The ball spins.
The digi-image is from digistamps4joy.com, of course, and I coloured him using my coloured pencils. I added some freehand-cut grass, a die-cut circle behind him (just so I comply with the challenge conditions) and as embellishment added a stick-on soccer ball in his hand. The sentiment is Wordart, and the two O’s in HORRAY have been substituted for smaller stick-on soccer balls.
I printed out an image of a soccer net to add as the background for the spinning soccer ball.
This is the first time I have made a spinner card, and I am not sure if it is according to any set rules but all I do know for sure is…… IT SPINS RIGHT ROUND AND ROUND …………… very fast! It’s just a pity that you can't see it on the photograph.

I would love you to leave a comment and tell me what you think, especially if you have made a spinner card before.

This is such an exciting challenge, and even if you only use circles on your card, I think you should enter cos there are great prizes to be won. Click here to link to the challenge.

And this is the link to the digistamps4joy.com online store where you can purchase some really great digi’s (here’s some inside information … I hear there are some new images in the store … AND a freebie)!

THE BELLY BUTTON'S ARABIC FLAMENCO SKIRT

 

For those of you who don't know by now- I am off to Cape Town on Thursday for the Annual Oriental Dance Festival from 28 - 31 October.

This photograph is of the Arabic Flamenco skirts I made for some of tyhe bellyrina's (those with the pink , lilac and purple are the ones that I made).

BELLYRINA BRA FOR KATHERINE

Well, at long last the bellydance bra for Katherine is FINISHED ... yippee.

The bra is completely hand-beaded and all the embellishments are stitched on, making it hand-washable. The colours Katerine chose are burgundy and gold, and as I felt that just those two colours would be very 'flat' I added some deeper shades of pink and cerise to give it that WOW factor. Katherine's skirt is a shade of deep cerise with and overlay and veil of varying shades of burgundy, and all in all it makes for a very stunning outfit.

This outfit is one of the costumes she will wear at the International Oriental Dance Festival in Cape Town from 28 - 31 October, where she will perform as a member of the Belly Button Dance Studio, to which we both belong.

We leave for Cape Town on the 10.20 am flight on Thursday, 28/10 and will return late on Sunday evening. I am really looking forward to my annual getaway with the girls, and am starting to count the sleeps .....

THIS IS A FIRST FOR ME ....

What a thrill this is! As the Lead Designer of Design Team 2 for the Pattie's Creations Challenges, I am now hosting my very first Pattie's Creations challenge - a Colour Challenge, using yellow, orange, red and brown.
Here are the rules : A Pattie's Creations image is preferred but not required. If you use an image from PATTIE'S CREATIONS you will gain an extra entry and have a better chance to win! Stop over at her Etsy Store and browse around. There are FREEBIES too, just click on the link in the sidebar and grab one.

A winner will be chosen by Random.org. The winner will receive a $10.00 credit towards the purchase at Pattie's Etsy Store. A second winner for the 'Allie's Choice Award' will be chosen by the DT Leads and can proudly display our badge on their sidebar. The challenge starts now and ends Thursday, November 4th at 5PM CST (Central Time). PLEASE REMEMBER IF YOU USE ONE OF PATTIE'S CREATIONS IMAGES you will gain an extra entry.

My Design Team all made inspiration cards and so did I.

Here is my card.



I used Genie Pattieboop, which actually only has one hookah bottle, but I cut and pasted to make a row of bottles, and "broke" one of them, hence the name of my card, "Oops, i did it again ...."
As embellishments, I used some of my bellydance bra beading stash, the string of coins, and a couple of red acrylic rhinestones.
The sentiment is MS WordArt, and the card is metallic textured board, of which I rounded the two corners using my NEW corner punch (thanks Mel!)

All in all, a rather playful feel to the card, right up my street cos I thought Pattieboop looked just like Alice, a young bellydancer in one of our classes, a 14 year old livewire, full of energy and enthusiasm, sometimes to her own detriment. I would imagine, put in this situation with the hookah bottles, Alice would also have to say "oops, I ...."

I hope you like my card, and would love it if it inspired you to take part in the challenge too.

SIMPLY SCRAPPING CRAFTS : Card Corner - Week 2 Challenge

The October Week 2 Challenge at Simply scrapping Crafts is to use the colours of Fall, and this is the card I made. The image is one of Mo Manning's freebies - isn't that kitten and the FALL-ing leaf just the cutest?! Just a simple card, with a minimun of emebllishments (the three brown leaf gems) some coloured borders to complement the strong colours of the fall leaf in the image.

I will enter this card in the challenge, and eagerly await the challenge for week three.....

POPPIES for remembrance...

Today, as I was putting this card together, I received a telephone call to advise me that my mother-in-law had passed away in her sleep last night. So before I begin to tell you about the card, let me dedicate this card to her, Gerda Leeflang, may she rest in peace, while we celebrate the long and wonderful life she had.

I love you, Mom, thank you for all you did for me and for everything you taught me in the 23 years I had the honour of being a part of your life. I promise to love and look after your son and your grandsons forever.

Unfortunately, the poppy digi was one I saved early in my digi-journey and I did not make a note of who the designer is, but it is simple and elegant and just perfect for the Midnight Madness Sketch Callenge this week, as well as the "Black and White plus One" challenge on the Card Chat Challenge Corner on Simply Scrapping Crafts.

I coloured the digi in two colours of orange, (in the photograph the darker orange seems almost red - sorry I am not the best photographer) and then matted it in varying shades of orange and black, according to the specifications on both challenges.

Because the colours are so strong and striking I opted to go for the 'less is more' version of the MMSC sketch, as I think any embellishments would have been too fussy.

To join the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge and win some awesome prizes click here
to join the Card Chat Challenge Corner click here

A DAY FOR DAISIES

A Day for Daisies is an online digistore with GORGEOUS images. The artist, Tammy Thompson, is one of the most talented digi-artists I have come across, and she has a group (also called A DAY FOR DAISIES) on on Crafters Digital Art Center, that I recently discovered and joined. The latest "ADFD" challenge was layers and this is the colours of Fall inspired card that I entered,

AND I WON that challenge!!!!

I am OVERJOYED!!! As my prize I get to display this award badge on my blog
and I get to choose two digis from the A DAY FOR DAISIES store.

What FUN! ... but so hard to do ... I WANT EVERY SINGLE ONE!!!!!! ..... now I'm off to go and create something awesome with the digis I chose.... Which ones DID I choose? you ask...

Watch this space ....

FALL FAIRY - DIGISTAMPS 4 JOY

Round 8 of the Crafters Digital Art Center Challenges are on the go at present, and it's always great to take part in the Freebie Challenge! In the USA, it's Fall, Thanksgiving and Halloween within weeks of each other, and for the past two rounds of challenges we have had pumpkins, witches, bats and falling leaves.
Don't get me wrong - the Thanksgiving and Halloween digis are great fun, but totally useless to us in South Africa, as we don't celebrate either holiday. Now after over a month of colouring pumpkins (cos that's all I feel I have been doing) I have a pile of worthless (to me) cards that are really only good for paper-pulping.
I am not saying that they have been a waste of time and materials, quite the contrary on fact; I have got to learn, explore and perfect new techniques, and made many friends along the way.
But the real reason for this post, before I got carried away by the pumpkins, was to tell you about the non-pumpkin digi I designed for the Freebie challenge, still seasonal, as it is called Fall Fairy, but she's NOT A PUMPKIN!
I think she has such pretty face, and this is what she looks like once made into a card. Her face is coloured in Copics, and for the rest of the image I used regular colour pencils.
The Fall Fairy will be a freebie for the next couple of days, and after 26 October she will be in the Digistamps 4 Joy store where you will have to pay for her. Why not head over to the CDAC Freebie Challenge blog post right now now, snap her up while she's still a freebie, and join in the challenge?

It’s Digistamps4Joy Challenge time again !

For those of you who don’t know the name, Digistamps 4 Joy is the first South African online digistore – with run by a South African (Mel) with images by South African artists. And for me, being on Mel’s Design Team is such a treat, being able to play with some of the really off-beat, whacky images she has to offer.

Unfortunately, calamity struck the server for Digistamps4Joy, and after being ‘down’ for a couple of days, the digistore came back online – but oh! what gObLleDy-GoOk….. Mel has had to reload most of the newer images, and reshuffle the chaos. She’s nearly done now, after burning the midnight candle (at both ends)! Well done Mel!
If you are one of those who recently registered and now find that your account is not found, please re-register – that’s one of the casualties Mel can’t rectify.

Now to my card as your inspiration for this challenge:
Yippee – I love these challenges, especially sketch challenges – which is what it is this time around! Let’s start from the top layer, and work downwards .
- “Fairy Friends” is the digistamps4joy image I used
- the wings are paper-pieced, coloured and heat embossed
- the die-cut oval behind the fairies is embossed using a Cuttlebug folder
- three shiny heart embellishments from my stash
- shiny organza ribbon from my stash
- the sentiment is computer generated and then embossed using the same Cuttlebug folder
- the white border made using my Fabscraps punch
- the striped, swirly BP is unmarked, but part of the same piece of mini scrapbooking paper
- all matted onto a piece of deep red Nepalse handmade paper.

Phew – a lot going on there – no wonder it took me so long to put the whole thing together!

PS : Just as a bonus – there’s a ds4j freebie for you at part of the CDAC FREEBIE CHALLENGE #8, and I have made a card, which you can see here. Grab the freebie while you can because she’ll be in the store next week and then you’ll have to pay ….
If you'd like to see the card I made with her, click here!
Thanks for looking, thanks for reading this marathon post, leave a comment if you like, and I hope to see your entries for the DS4J challenge where I can comment on your project too!

TODAY - NO ABC - JUST A PROUD MUM!

Our oldest son Nicholas (21) accomanpanied his girlfriend, Storm, to her Matric Ball(that's 12th and final year for my international friends)on Friday Evening. The theme was a Masked Ball, and this is a photograph of them just as they were leaving home to go.
I decorated their masks using glitter, sequins, rhinestones and peacock feathers.

Storm wore a beautiful taffeta ball gown in a midnight blue shade, with velvet stiletto sandals and a pretty little lace wrap. Her naturally thick long hair was curled and half pinned up with the most beautiful adornment. Her make-up was flawless, thanks to a dear friend, Sharon, who made Storm look like a princess.

My precious son, Nicholas, went out and bought himself a black evening suit, crisp white shirt and a black satin bow tie.

When he got dressed at home, and showed me what he looked like, I choked up, tears came to my eyes and I suddenly wondered where those 21 years since his birth had gone! He looked so grown up, so smart, and as his two younger brothers remarked "You look like James Bond, now you need a gun." And they were right - He's never looked like this before, my son, that hyperactive flea that never slept through the night until he was two years old, who was lactose intolerant, tactile defensive, and prone to an asthma attack as soon as he developed a cough! And now here he is, all grown up, a good looking young man, with a head of naturally blond hair that anybody would envy!

Excuse my ramblings, and me going on about Nic, but any mum would understand why ...

ta-raaa .... FIRST CHALLENGE FOR PATTIE'S CREATIONS!!!!!

Pattie Gomez of Pattie's Creations Challenge Blog has just anounced the first Challenge, "Anything Goes". Now, how easy is that, to make ANYTHING with one of the oh-so-cute images featuring Pattieboop and her cat Allie.

Design Team ONE hosts this challenge, and they have made the most gorgeous projects as inspiration. Being the Lead Designer of Design Team TWO, I get to play along in this challenge ... YIPPEE ...!!!

The card I will enter for this challenge features Pattieboop as an Indian Princess, and I have coloured her in the yummy colour combination of brown and turquoise, fit for a princess. A feather, an eagle charm and stick-on butterly as embellishments, and the snakeskin embossed background paper complete my card.

Don't you just love the image??? The birthday card is perfect for a girl (of any age)!!!

Return here next week to see what I have created for the challenge hosted by Design Team TWO.

MIDNIGHT MADNESS SKETCH CHALLENGE #74

My card for this challenge features a digistamp I designed for the Digistamps4Joy online store, and is called "Rain Queen". She is coloured in coloured pencils, and the beads and sequins have been sewn on using invisible thread. The shiny silver background paper is made from the seals of coffee tins, flattened and embossed using a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The other silver BP is purchased, already embossed.
I have used satin ribbon and buckles, and a rhinestones to complete the card according to this week's prescribed sketch.

This card took a little longer to make, but my other passion is beading of belly dance costumes, and the Rain Queen was begging for some jewels. In my opinion, the extra time spent paid off as I just love this card, and hope it inspires you to go and check out the other wonderful digistamps that Digistamps4Joy has to offer, and then to play along in the really exciting Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge.

LET ME SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS ...

I belong to a group on Crafters Digital Art Centre, called Pholkart*Blessings, and the owner and creator of the group Patti Moore, has some folkart-inspired digistamps in her store. The images are just adorable, and have a certain charm that sets them apart. Here is a card made with her mermaid digistamp, and I think that it has turned into a really fun card for a young lady (of any age!) Look for the badge on the right hand side of my blog - it is easy to recognise cos the mermaid is the same as on the card I made. If you click on that badge, it should link you straight though to the shop where you can see all the other great digistamps that Patti has designed.

CLEARLY DELIGHTFUL BLOG CHALLENGE

The new challenge specifies the use of ribbon and what better ribbon to use than an organza bow?

My card for the Clearly Delightful challenge features one of the Doodle Pantry new releases, "agapanthus", another of my favourite flowers. I know I say this every time I show you one of the flower digistamps designed by Laurie, but it's my honest opinion, Laurie's a master of flower digistamps!!! Just look at the detail of this head of flowers!

I coloured my digi using watercolour and regular colour pencils. For the background paper, I used a botanical drawing of an agapanthus flower, and made the digistamp part of the background. The word "Agapnathus" and the explanation of the meaning below it, is also part of the background paper, and and everything was printed as one. The sentiment, "Many Thanks" is also part of the set digistamp set, available from the Doodle Pantry Store. I added the soft lemon organza bow to match the background paper, and a lilac puffy heart and three lilac flat backed pearls to match the soft lilac of the flowers. To make the digistamp "pop" I highlighted the flowers in crystal "Skwiglues". The frame of the card is made up of two shades of lilac, to enhance the colours of the flower.

I can't stress enough how much I enjoy creating with Doodle Pantry flower digistamps, as they are a pleasure to colour, and make up into spectacular cards.

MICHELLE PERKETT STUDIO CHALLENGE : "Girlie with Bling"

I think it's a few months since I took part in one of Michelle's challenges, and with the title "Girlie with Bling" ... now how could I resist that?

For my card I used one of Michelle images called "Olive - Life's a Beach" and coloured her usng my coloured pencils and add a good deal of crystal Skwiglues (similar to Stickles. One of the background papers I used is embossed with velvet flocking. I added a spray of flowers, an organza bow and sewed on some sequins and beads, to give the card the extra bling, and came up with a girlie with bling card.

Who says a girl can't wear blue and still look fabulous!

Glitterbabe's Thursday Challenge

Stef's Thursday Challenge this week calls for heat or dry embossing, and my card using her Floral Quilt Digistamp, incorporates both.

Let me explain how I created the quilt digi: The original quilt has only 4 squares, and I copied, cut, flipped and pasted to make nine squares. I then coloured the image using my watercolour pencils, and it was then heat embosswed using my Versamark stamp pad and clear embossing powder to which I added to crystal sparkle glitter powder. I created a wallhanging quilt by making satin ribbon tabs at top, and hand-beaded the fringing at the bottom. A kebab skewer was used as the rod.

For the sentiment section, I used dry embossing, with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and my Spellbinder Wizard. A satin ribbon, a bow and a stick-on sentiment were then added.

I just love the final product, and even though it took quite a few hours to make, it was well worth the effort.

"some odd girl" MONOCHROMATICS STYLE CHALLENGE

The current SOME ODD GIRL challenge calls for using monochromatics, and I have decided to use Angel Kaylee and colour her in shades of lilac for my entry. The gorgeous bp is actually gift wrap in such gorgeous colours and it was actually the inspiration for my colour choice. I used lots of sparkles (Skwiglues, a South African product similar to Stickles) and some flowers and a couple of featheres to make this really girly bling card.

DIGISTAMPS4JOY October Freebie for the MIDNIGHT MADNESS SKETCH CHALLENGE #73

I have had a chance to enter the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge once again, and for this MMSC73, I once again used a Digistamps4Joy image, the October freebie. I coloured it, stain glass window style, added some gold gel pen, and as embellishments I used flowers, flat-backed pearls and some star gems. The image was matted onto gold metallic cardstock, and then onto lilac. I love this little digistamp, it's one of my own designs in the "freckled-faced cuties" range.