Sunday, June 22, 2014

Friendship begins in the Heart Mixed Media Art Retreat


Hi there lovelies,


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As promised, a little post on the winter Art Retreat we are hosting in July 2014.
The venue that we chose is situated just outside Pretoria at the Farm Inn Country Hotel & Wildlife Sanctuary. It is a lovely place that we visit frequently. Quiet atmosphere in nature but still close enough to the city so we do not have to drive too far to reach it. The animals are a lovely treat for city girls like us who didn’t grow up in the great outdoors.

We had a lovely birthday celebration there the other day with some friends and decided to organise an art retreat there. The first of many I hope.


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We will be spending the day relaxing together as friends, new and old, young and not so young. In the company of each other, we will be inspired to create something that will release even more creativity. The idea is to de-stress from the noise of everyday life in surroundings that will help accomplish this.

What are we going to create, you may ask? My partner in art, Surita Brink, has designed a special artwork just for this event, that we will duplicate each in our own style.

We are also designing our own paper for this event to be used in the artwork. Using a few mixed media techniques, this artwork is also a must for any scrapbooker. We are keeping the process simple to keep the focus on engaging with each other, our surroundings and to relax.

The theme of this event is Friendship, the meaning of it in our lives and where it begins. I believe it starts in the heart.

I know of many of my friends who have been going through some heavy stress, worries, challenges and even health issues. Life takes its toll. I also have my own story to tell, but I have discovered that through the love of the people closest to me, I have been able to survive and begin to thrive again. It is love that gets you through and we want to encourage friendship among fellow Christian women and artists. We want to share the inspiration that we find from fellow Christian artists and writers and encourage you to be part of a circle of friends that you can love and support.

A song by Jars of Clay, lyrics by Brandon Heath, touched me this week. It just stressed upon my heart how important friendship is, that it is God’s idea, His way of looking out for us. We are sheltered in each other when we realize that our strength is in unity, in loving each other honestly without fear or doubt. When we realize our personal role and responsibility and take it seriously, we will be strong in our relationships. When we do not act out of fear or hide in fear from each other, purposefully cherish the gift of each other and not selfishly looking out just for ourselves, we will grow and we will find a place of rest and hope within our relationships.

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Please contact us to book your seats. Invite a friend if you know of someone that needs your love, support and care and would also benefit from such a lovely experience.



Hope to see you all there!


Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Anniversary multi level box card

Hi there lovelies,

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Winter has finally come to stay now. We are all hiding under blankets and trying not to use the heater too much, drinking loads of vitamins and soup to keep out the cold. Funny how the cold makes you want to snack all the time and anytime. Especially having a husband around the house always opening the fridge. We have been on a gluten-free and sugar-free lifestyle plan for months now. It is working. We have both lost some weight and feel motivated to keep it up. It is a bit of a challenge being on the Paleo diet as we can’t have any comfy foods like bread or pasta and fast foods are out altogether.

It is only when you cut these artificial foods out totally and stick to it, that you realise what a powerful hold it had on your body and mind. It’s scary. The whole society around us is oblivious to why we choose to stick it out and go cold turkey. It makes it really hard when people randomly offer you cakes and goodies. So proud of hubby today that he once again said no to a slice of freshly baked apple pie.

windows-live-writer1I am very excited to announce that I also use Windows Live Writer now to create my blogs. Have been looking for a solution for a while now to be able to control the design of my posts and fonts and out of the blue my husband decided that he wants to blog more and found Windows Live Writer. Yesterday he shared his excitement over it with me and I realised that I already had it installed on my laptop all along. Strange how you can have the solution to a problem under your nose and not know it.
Well, I am trying to improve my blogging and writing as I go along. I have come a long way already. Hoping to bring you better and more exciting posts about my art and what inspires me.



49th Wedding anniversary multi-level 
box card:

As promised here is the card that I made for my parents anniversary.

First I had to decide on all the elements I wanted to put into this card. I am a detail girl, so I always have to control my natural urge to put in too much. Less is more, but in this case, 49 years of sticking it out in marriage deserve detail.

It was more like I wanted to give my parents a medal or some kind of trophy. So this card represents that. They loved it.

I chose some vintage images of their wedding in 1965 in Bloemfontein’s Twin tour church. I changed all the images to Sepia and included some text. Then I printed it in the sizes I could use on the card.

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What made it easy for me was the fact that my cousin and fellow artist, Jowilna Nolte, blessed me with some new embellishments I could choose from. Loved it! Thanks again Jowilna!  She is truly an inspiration.

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According to some online design templates for this card, you can have two to tree or even more levels inside the card. I chose only the outer layer and one layer inside. Then I used both sides of the inside layer and only the one side of the outer layer to embellish and cover. Apart from the lid, I kept the outside simple.

Because I don’t own many distress inks or pads at the moment, I used my gold COLOR PALETTE PIGMENT STAMP PAD to distress this card and just loved it. This pad has served me well over many many years. I’m not sure how old it is but its more than 6 or 7 years old. Pigment is still perfect. What a great versatile and economical product! I can really recommend it.

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I also used the Silhouette Digital Craft Cutter to cut two little people from cardstock. I just love to use these in my paper artworks and layouts. No matter what you want to call them, (some people call them potty-people or toilet signs), they are fit for any “project life” themed project. Add some embellishments and a photo or two and you have a retro layout.

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I love that I have so many artistic and creative people in my life. My sister and best friend assisted me to make this two-tiered wedding cake for the middle of the card….the surprise when you open the box. The only reason why I didn’t make it myself is that I ran out of time. It was fun to work together on this. I gave the vision and idea of placing a mini cake inside and typical for her, she doesn’t disappoint. You can give her a paperclip and glue stick and she builds you a shopping mall! She builds me a hot air balloon in a teacup as a card for my 40th birthday. Maybe I’ll blog about that too.

What do you think about this little cake? Cute, right?

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Finally, I just had to assemble everything and close the lid. 
Here is a look at the embellished sides of the inside layer.

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I added some elements I designed myself, 
printed them and added to a layer of cardstock, distressed with my stamp pad and kept it simple.

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I love how the wedding photos came out after embellishing them.
Here is the final product. I added the 49 to the outside lid.

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The final product:

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I am really proud of this card. My best thus far. I was able to add my details without it feeling too much but that's just my opinion. 
Look at the response I got from the oldies. 
Oooooh and aaaah. 
Special Moments! So blessed to have them both in my life at this age.

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What's New?


I have now registered on Redbubble.com so some of my artworks can be ordered directly from them in the form of prints, phone covers, tote bags and other products. Please go take a look. Just click on Redbubble.com above to go to my page.


  • In my next posts, I will be showcasing my mother's day card and my latest project life photobook project.
  • I am also planning to add more art and designs to my store. So keep a lookout for it.

  • For all you art buffs we are planning an ART RETREAT for July 2014. I will be writing a separate post on this. It will be at a venue in Pretoria, a mixed media project and the theme is “the meaning of friendship”.


    Till the next time!