and now for a bit more of the BELLYDANCING COSTUMES ...

I recently started a bellydancing outfit for my very good friend and owner of the BELLYBUTTON DANCE STUDIO in Durban. The bra and skirt are finished and Gwen wore them yesterday at the Stables Lifestyle Market in Durban, South Africa, where our bellyrinas danced to entertain the visitors. Although the belt is not finished (or should I say, not started yet) Gwen looked absolutely fabulous in the red and black combination. I am really pleased at the finished look of the bra with the longer fringing, and the printed chiffon of the skirt makes a lovely change - so often bellyrinas wear satin skirts. I would love to know what you think. Please leave a comment - I think Gwen wold love to read them too....

YIPPEE YIPPEE YAY!

I recently applied to become a Design Team member on Pattie Gomez' group, PATTIE'S CREATIONS on Crafters Digital Art Centre.

Well ...

Pattie announced her new DT yesterday, and I am overjoyed and really, really proud to announce that I was selected, and not only that, I am the Lead DT for Team Two!!! What an honour!!! I am so excited!!! And I have been given five other really talented crafters to work with on my team. Girls, if you are reading this, Congratulations! It's going to be really exciting getting to know you, your work, and working together to showcase the fabulous digistamps that Pattie designs.

To the other DTeam members and Sandi(the lead DT on Team One), and especially to Theresa and MelanieM, my fellow South Africans, congratulations to all you girls too.

What an exciting ride this is going to be, I can't wait to get started! Keep a close check on her blog, become a follower, and participate in the great challenges here.

The badge at the beginning of this post is the one that I will proudly display on my blog, for all to see!

Pattie signature: Pattiboop is her "girl" and Allie is her "cat" and these two always feature in the digistamps,either separately or together, in one charming situation after another, and her online etsy shop is well worth a visit. You never know what you might find there.

MIDNIGHT MADNESS SKETCH CHALLENGE #71

Unfortunately due to work pressures I was unable to take part in a couple of the Midnight Madness Challenges, but YIPPEE!! I have just completed my card for challenge #71. I used a digi from Digistamps4Joy, one that I desgined myself, and I apologize that I don't what her name is in the shop, I just call her "The Gypsy". Please click on the digistamps4joy badge in the right hand column and it should link you right through to the online shop where you can see all the really lovely images there.

I used a Nellies die cut for the frame of my digi, and sewed on the sequins and the curly embellishments in the top left and bottom right hand corners. Six dusty pink flatbacked pearls were also used to adorn the digistamp.

The silver braiding is an offcut from one of the bellydance costumes I made recently, and the laser-cut silver sequins were sewn onto it.

The square embellishment has been made from a coffee tin seal (already embossed) and a slide frame and three paper roses have been attached to a square of silver cardstock using the same silver sequins.

The plum coloured bp is a beautifully textured handmade paper from Nepal, and has been matted onto silver cardstock with a linen texture.

A silver stick-on sentiment completes the card.

That's it - that's how I made it.

My cards are always made according to how the digi 'talks to me' and it really doesn't matter to me whether the card will take half an hour or half a day (as in the case of this card)- I do what needs to be done.

What do you think ... do you not start a card if you feel that your ideas will take too long .. or do you go with the inspiration ... let me know...

DIGISTAMPS4JOY NEW CHALLENGE : "RECYCLE IT"

Yesterday started off really badly – I woke up with no strength at all in my right thumb, my neck was really sore and I needed to start wearing a foam collar for the pinched nerve in my neck. It was a really hot day 35˚C with a really hot dry wind blowing, making me really uncomfortable and irritable. Then last night our electricity went off at 8.05 due to a blown substation in the area – and now 16 and a half hours later, …… we have (the) power …. Yippee!
So that is the reason why my blog post for the new Digistamps4Joy challenge is late. Luckily, those of you who have been to the Digistamps4Joy Challenge blog have already seen my project in the “Recycle It!” challenge.
I decided to recycle one of those old VHS video Tape boxes and made a “Shopping List for Granny”, using the “fashion faux pas” digistamp from the Digistamps4Joy store. To create the background, I used a couple of old cash register receipts and the glue I used caused the thermopaper of the receipts to turn black, but what a fortunate mishap – it looks great! I also used the handbag digi (not yet in the store) and matted both of them, as well as the label on red and blue cardstock, and added a couple of flowers and a heart as embellishments.
Inside the video tape box, which conveniently has a place where the tape is secured, I placed the shopping lists, which were made by scanning the digistamps from the cover of the box, and adding a few lines for the listed items that granny needs to buy at the store.
This project has turned out really great, and I think it will be a lovely little gift for my mom-in-law when we visit her in the retirement home this coming weekend.
I hope you are inspired by this ‘recycled’ project and you may come up with an idea for all those VHS tape boxes you still have at home …

DOODLE PANTRY GDT CARD - CALLA LILY

Today I'd like to show you a card I made with another of Laurie's beautiful flower images, the Calla Lily, or otherwise known as the Strelitzia in Southern Africa. It is available in her digistamps online store here along with other beautiful flowers. The sentiment is also from her online shop and I think fits perfectly with the feeling of serenity this beautiful flower has. The lines of the card are simple and clean, to echo the lines of the flower, and as embellishment I used two miniture flowers, and some gold cord. As one of Laurie's two Guest Design Team members for September, I get to showcase her beautiful designs, and I hope that I have done justice to this one. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

WINK*WINK*INK DESIGN TEAM CALL

There is a DESIGN TEAM CALL ON wINK*wINK*iNK and because it is such a great group with fabulous digistamps, I decided to try my luck. I used Wink*Wink*Ink images and created a set of three papercraft projects for a baby's room : a door hanger, a door plaque and a little notebook for mom to write down all those little things that she doesn't want to forget, such as baby's shopping list, time of the last feed, etc. All three items feature the same digistamps, but in different groupings, and the colours I used will be suitable for both baby girls and baby boys.

There is a competition over on Some Odd Girl.com where you are asked to name the latest digistamp of a cute little monkey. Now because that cute little guy reminds me of the Tellytubbies that my boys used to love watching on TV, and beause I remember that one of them was called TinkyWInky, I think that MINKI is a cute name. What do you think?

There are some really fabuolous prizes to be won, so why don't you go on over there and join in the fun!