{scraps of jacki's life}

ma en pa...

i scrapped this layout this week:

the photos are of my mom and dad. i took them in november 2008, and i posted them on my blog here. the photos of this layout do not do it justice.

i found it rather difficult to fill the space on this layout, as i had challenged myself to not use any flowers. since i found this very difficult i have now proven that i can do this, i am not challenging myself like that again...

the inspiration came from celine navarro, you can see her layout here. the page on the right is a 90 degree flip of the page on the left.

i used treasures and colormates, jenni bowlin's ledger paper, 7 gypsies 'elgin' paper, and 7 gypsies rubons, heidi swapp ghost hearts and her awesome distressing tool, and words and alphas from wilpro. also 2 stickers from karen forster's anniversary range.

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

busy, busy, busy...

i was reading this post by the talented artist and gifted wordsmith kelly rae roberts, who's blog is so beautiful and thought-provoking and interesting to visit. she was writing about how she was feeling 'blah'.

in fact, she said this: the truth is is that the last couple of days have made this week feel very very long. i'm a tad on the grumpy side, and a whole lot of restless. i start painting, i stop painting. i start reading, i stop reading. i start writing, i stop. and on and on. like one big giant unsatisfying circle of blah. you know how it goes. sometimes, it is what it is. even when we have nothing to complain about. even when life is going very well. even when a bad mood is just simply a bad mood without any complications attached. i'm trying to let. it. go. 

and it got me thinking.

we, modern man and women, especially those of us living in cities, have this urge to be productive. all the time. every day. we used to only be able to work at work, and overtime was an exception in peak times. now we work long hours. and have computers at home, and we work and check emails and make phone calls after hours too, and over weekends. and on holiday. we even check in from our cellphones.

and we multi-task. we cook while checking our kids' homework, we make phone calls while we drive, and we type that report while watching tv. time spent waiting in the car at the school or at the doctor's rooms is spent reading reports. we go to bed late and get up early, to make the most of our day. we use our social time networking with clients and marketing ourselves.

'wasting time' is frowned upon. computer games, watching tv, facebook and scrapbooking are scoffed at, as they are empty pastimes. housewives and full-time mothers are seen as 'ladies of leisure' and they do not get much respect. even when we go on holiday, we have to be active, out and about all day, entertaining ourselves and the children. when we sleep late and read and watch dvd's we are called lazy. students are expected to take jobs in the holidays. we even medicate depression and grief and exhaustion and trauma, and tell each other to 'pull yourself together' or get therapy when it takes too long.

as scrapbookers, we call ourselves 'memory keepers' or 'story tellers' or 'family historians', so we can justify the time and expense we 'waste' on our hobby. what happened to just playing or creating or having fun or relaxing?

why? i spend long hours a day in my shop. today i'm on a 14 hour shift, and there is no lunch or teatime. yet when someone walks in and catches me playing solitaire or on facebook, they always have something to say. and i feel guilty!

GOD created the dark, so we could rest at night, but we invented light bulbs and electricity, so we could do more. GOD created sleep, so we could rest, but we invented alarm clocks, so we could do more. GOD created seasons, so there would be a growing time and a resting time, but we invented hot-houses and heaters and fertilisers, so we could do more. GOD created sore muscles and tiredness, so we could stop working and rest, but we invented painkillers and energy boosters and caffeine and mood-boosters so we could do more.

why do we sell this to each other, and why do we buy this ourselves?

when i was reading kelly rae's blogpost, my thought was that she is probably just a little tired. and needs some downtime.

growing seasons should be followed by resting seasons. work periods should be followed by rest periods. over-exertion should be followed by healing. that is how it was designed. even when i work a while on my computer, it needs a few minutes to process and save the information. and so should i!

so. i am going to spend some time being creative. i am going to spend some time watching the sun go down, while processing and saving my work of the day. i am going to spend some time lying on the couch, watching recorded episodes of desperate housewives. i am going to sleep in and chat to my family and waste time. and not feel guilty!

now, i am going to spend some time with a cup of coffee, and play solitaire. and then i'm going to work again - reading blogs and playing on facebook and twitter. and it is not wasting time. it is networking and marketing. that is my story, and i'm sticking to it...

...i am blogging. and scrapping. after a long absence of inspiration. which kind of proves my point, doesn't it?...

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

alice in wonderland

alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book", thought alice, "without pictures or conversations?" so she was considering in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a white rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

and so the story begins, with alice following the rabbit, and falling down the rabbit hole, and emerging in a place called wonderland, where many silly and funny characters reside, and where they do all kinds of weird and wonderful and unexpected things...

often when i plug in my modem, and open my google reader, and start reading, following one link after the other, i too fall down the rabbit hole, and emerge in a place called wonderland, where many silly and funny characters reside, and where they do all kinds of weird and wonderful and unexpected things...

although i have been a very bad blogger lately, i have been reading blogs, and so i thought i would share with you some of the silly and funny characters that have been keeping me entertained in wonderland lately.

there has been a thought-provoking church debate going on at rambler, allie and mel's places. go. read. comment. (be nice). but most of all, think! all three are very interesting blogs anyway, local, and totally worth reading!

shadow project- photography with a humorous twist

fun cartoons with the internet in general and social networking in particular as a theme

speaking of social networking, you can find me on twitter and on facebook. you can also become a follower of this blog on facebook here.

i found some scrapbook inspiration from celine navarro, heidi swapp and donna downey this week, triggering ideas that translate into something else. sometimes a creative journey starts with just a spark..

although i have been a bad blogger, so you have not noticed it, i bought this e-book, and i am working through it slowly. i can definitely recommend it, if you are a blogger.

jessica sprague is hosting a free photo-editing class. you can get more info here. so, those of you who keep telling me you don't know where to start, go register! her classes are always good.

read this post by jodi, read it all the way through. there is a wonderful nugget of wisdom and insight in that story.

a comment i made on helen's blog, about ordering expensive scrapbooking kits from overseas versus buying at your local scrapbooking shop, sparked quite a few interesting responses. you can read the post here, and remember to check out the comments! thanks helen, for hosting the impromptu debate!

both helen and stefanie recently blogged about playing this game: you go to google, and type 'in what your name wants'. and you have a giggle at what is returned. here is 'what jacki wants':

little jackie wants to be the universe's biggest star

jackie-o wants to smash mos def

jackie wants a pre-nup

jackie-o wants to be your baby-mama

jackie wants to plan jason's wedding (the bachelor 13)

jackie wants you to want me

jackie-o wants to host the next big brother series

jackie wants 2 hot dogs on flickr

user jacki no longer wants to receive mail

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

gingerbread man

run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, i'm the gingerbread man...

is your life like mine? running, running, as fast as i can, trying to catch an elusive gingerbread man..

Now chase him old woman, now chase him old man
Chase him, yes chase him as fast as you can!
Through the garden and out the gate,
Catch him right now, before it's too late. 
The gingerbread man, he's out of the pan! ...

....Run, run, as fast as you can
You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man 
I'm the gingerbread man and I'm out of the pan! 

you can see the whole poem here.

this past week has been very busy, too much so. i haven't had much time for anything, let alone blog.

running, running after an uncatchable gingerbread man, something that doesn't even have lasting value...

anyway, rozanne recently blogged about how she uses google calendar to organise her life. so, i gave it a try, and i'm am very impressed. i am not going to write about the details, she explains it all very well. all i can say is that it is very user friendly.

on it i created a shop calendar, and i made it public. so my clients can see it here. it will be featured on my blog permanently, and updated constantly. planning a little ahead may make me feel a little more in control.

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

ps: i got the idea of the gingerbread man from kayla lamoreaux. something she said here got me thinking about it.

today...

i thought i would do a link-post. because i know you hate surfing the web. or love it, and don't need any motivation to follow all these links.

i love following links. i love it when i really surf the web, wandering aimlessly, following links like little signposts, losing hours of my life and emerging a little disorientated and blinking against the light, to find the house in chaos and the family hungry. like alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole, and finding wonderland, with lots of crazy and interesting people.

maybe it's just me.

sometimes through a link or 2, you find these beautiful, inspiring and sometimes sad stories on the web. this one is worth a visit, and makes me appreciate my life.

i have linked to this before, but because mother's day is coming up, i will bring it up again. if you are in need of inspiration for the making of a card for your mum, watch this. and if you are a man, watch it too. and if you own a man, then it is for you. even if you just know a man, you should watch it. it's funny!

if you are a digital scrapper, or just collect digital scrapbooking goodies, like me, here is a gorgeous freebie. thanks summer!

i found this website, that gives you all sorts of design freebies. there are some gems.

i started wilna and kayla's 'bling out your blog' course yesterday. you can still join me, if you wish. it is for bloggers on typepad and on blogger. you will learn all about templates and gadgets and widgets and photo albums. i'm practicing on amelia's blog, and my just jacki blog, and of course on the one you are on now.

if you are interested in starting a typepad blog, email me, or leave a comment, and i will give you a 10% discount code. yeah!

my grandmother, Pauline Sophia Straatman, would have been 100 years old on 20 april 2009. to commemorate, my aunt wrote a piece about her. i saved it here.

 

sean had civvies day at school today. they could dress in anything, as long as it reflected the theme "wacky wednesday". he is wearing different shoes and socks, over his sweater he is wearing a scarf and his school tie, and half his hair is flat and the other half spiky.

of course, if he wanted to be really wacky, he could have combed his hair and worn matching clothes, but he chose not to be that different... :-)

i look at that child every day, but only when i opened those photos on my computer this morning, did i realise how tall he is getting.

it took me 3 days just to get this post out. so many distractions. whew!

now i can start working on the next one..

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

i don't know how it happened...

but it did.

somehow, time flew by. and before i knew it, it is thursday. again. and it has been almost a week since my last blogpost.

how did that happen? does time fly by in your life too?

anyway, in south africa we are at the start of long-weekend season. this was a 4 day week, so will next week, because of the easter weekend. the week after we have our national elections, so there is a holiday. on a wednesday. the week after that has 3 days, as monday 27 april is 'freedom day' and friday 1 may is 'workersday'.

unfortunately, as i am a retailer, i should be open on public holidays. they are prime shopping days! and as nobody wants to work on a holiday, it is i, business owner and sucker, who is working on those days.

so, if you are on the area, and you are off on those days, please come and spend lots of money in my shop. so it is worth my while? thanks.

also coming up is that fun time of the year for me, that time i call 'ronnie-week'. i can already feel the dread building up in me. 14 april is his birthday, and 19 april is the day he died. 7 years ago. you would think it would get easier...

on the 25th march i wrote a blogpost, and said i would draw a winner from the comments. and the winner is sophia! sophs, drop me an email, and tell me if you want a photo-edit, or a blinkie.

and remember that tim holtz is coming to visit south africa. the johannesburg convention on 1 may is sold out, but there is still space available in cape town on 25 april, and durban on 3 may. you can get more info here. and for a glimpse of what makes this guy so great, you can look here and here.

i want to wish you all a happy easter. and do remember that it is all about Christ's great gift to us. and hot cross buns and lindt easter bunnies....

and here is another photo taken by amelia at the photoshoot last week.

these are my friends. we have shared each other's lives for almost 20 years! this older photo of us was taken many years ago.

2 of the girls in the older pic have moved away. and one new one has since joined our group. and no less than 5 of the 9 girls in the older photo have lost their husbands since that photo was taken. we could almost call ourselves the 'black widows' club..

you can see what i wrote about these girls here and here. and you can see the individual photos taken on that day here and here.

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

digital elements used on this blog...

i use lots of digital images all over this site, and sometimes it is difficult to link the credits with every element. also, i often download elements, and then i cannot remember where they came from.

so, i wanted to create a post that has links in it, that you can follow. it is so much easier when it is all in one place. i will add to it when i download new stuff. and when i use something specific, i will create a link to this post.

the digital stuff i use come mainly from the following sites:

scrapgirls - you can also subscribe to their free newsletter for lots of tips, tutorials and freebies

twolittlepixels - i bought frames here

shabby princess - you can even buy blog banners and blogwear. see some downloads here

jessica sprague - for this grunge mask, and the tutorial

allie hoopes - for this grunge mask, and the tutorial

summertime designs - free stuff like this

shutterfly - also some downloads here and this awesome collection here

two peas in a bucket also has digital elements

cute frames from junosplace and scrapshana

'weekend' word art by ali edwards

dream trip castle dreams mini kit by seebee

thanks to all these sites, for all the wonderful stuff to play with!

and, if you are the creator of anything on this site, and you don't like how i have used it, or you want me to credit you personally, please let me know, i will gladly make changes. i admire your skill, and resolve to be better with the credit in the future.

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

friday the 13th..

• i'm going to do the list making thing again today, as it has been a long week, and i'm tired, and i really don't have the energy to string a long series of random thoughts together coherently.


• i don't have coherent random thoughts. they are just random.


• thanks for your positive response to my post dear spar people. the events actually happened last week, and i wrote the post that same evening. then i saved it as a draft, and spent a few days wondering if it was postable. i don't want this blog to be a place of complaining and ranting.


• instead, i want this blog to be a place where i talk incessantly about myself, my issues, my feelings, my scrapbooking (or lack thereof), my achievements. you know, the inconsequential minutiae of my boring life.


• “People have often described me as a blogger. I generally shy away from the term because, to me, bloggers are boring, self obsessed narcissists who use their website mainly as a means to discuss the inconsequential minutiae of their day to day lives.” (Anonymous)


• check out this free digital scrapbooking kit. it is awesome! thanks summer!
  


• i noticed that i was nearing 1000 comments on my blog, and i wanted to have a RAK to celebrate. but before i could, i had already passed the mark. so i went to the comments folder to see who no 1000 was, and saw that i had 270 spam comments in my spam folder! and it automatically gets emptied every 30 days. 270 spam comments in 30 days! thanks typepad, for picking them out automatically.


• the 1000th commenter was toni, incidentally. the same one who surprised me earlier this week.


• i really love that i have got 1000 comments that are not spam. wow! thanks you guys!


• i made this list on stacy julian's blog.


• sean has been sick at home from school all week. i would tell you what he has, but i can't spell it. he will be fine, though.


• have any of you met clive yet? he used to be from benoni, he is really funny, and he has awesome shoes and a really famous shoulder. pop over and say hi, and don't forget to tell him i sent ya! and remember, you liked me first...


• this is really all i can think of today. so, i'm leaving to visit facebook, and make and print new gift vouchers for the shop.

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

because you nagged...

...and you asked nicely. and because i managed to find the appropriate people to credit:

here is the layout that got me scrapping again, for the first time in months:

it is much more fiddly than i usually do, and i swore i would never do paper piecing...

anyway, the layout was designed by scrapin' a box. because i thought it was cute, and it is very different than my usual colour scheme and style, i didn't change a thing.

it was good to scrap again, and it was good to do something different, and it was good to be able to just do it without having to think too much about it.

now i have a problem: i don't have photos for it!

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

notes...

• i love how easy the list-making makes blogging. it links random thoughts together.


• i have an old, cheapie laptop. and increasingly it gave me trouble. as i cannot afford a new one, i sent it in for repairs and a RAM upgrade. R2100 and 3 months later, and it still doesn't work. i sent it back again. i regret having it fixed. i wasted lots of money.


• in desperation, i signed a 36-month (!) internet contract with vodacom, and i got a new HP laptop. this was the only way i could afford to get a new one, but i hate those long commitments. 3 years is a long time! the upside is that it has a 3-year guarantee, and when the contract expires, i can sign another if i want, and get a new laptop!


• i have to mention here that beauty, who works at the vodacom shop in the lakeside mall in benoni, gave me wonderful service. she is friendly and efficient and knowledgeable. in these days where service is scarce, she went above and beyond. i was going to buy elsewhere, but her great service got her my signature.


• having said that, i am getting very impatient with the poor vodacom signal lately. halfway through the morning the connection starts dropping and the internet gets impossibly slow, and it only gets better in the late afternoon. this means that they are probably over-subscribed.


• i will be able to go online at home again. so i can play more scrabble on facebook update my blog more regularly, and keep up with your blogs and my emails too.


• check out this interesting project. it is a wedding advent calendar. i love it!


• i have upated my blogroll. since i have started using google reader to keep up with the blogs i read, i have let the blogroll slip. so, now it is all current again. and yes, i read EVERY post from every one of those blogs. really. not everyone updates all the time, though. i also played a little with a new look for the blog. i'm not sure i like it, i may change it back. it is a little bland for me. once again i wish typepad would let me customise my blog without charging me more...


• i laughed so much about this letter of complaint, that the tears caused mascara streaks.


• for those of you who asked: to embed a file in the blog like i did here with a .pdf file, you need a typepad blog. i knew there had to be a reason why i have to pay for my blog and you bloggers don't. :-) well, that and the awesome stats it keeps. and i have never lost my sidebar items, sophia and helen.

that's all for today, folks. i have to go dust off my VERY rusty creativity, on a uninspiring friday afternoon, and make a card for someone. to make a few bucks...

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

10, no, 16 reasons why i love facebook...

it is funny how facebook inspires such strong emotions in people. there are those who won't! and those who love it and are addicted to it. some are embarrassed to admit they have joined. and some spend way too much time there, and are constantly looking for new friends...

you can use facebook to:

1. find old friends and family: i have found some cousins and old school friends that i have lost contact with. it is so nice to catch up again! you can see who looks fat or old, who is divorced, and who works where. things you just need to know about old friends...
   
2. waste time you would have used to do admin: years ago, it was rumored that tetris was invented by the russians to lower productivity in the west. now, we have facebook to do that. maybe we should give facebook to the chinese, to bring their productivity down to our levels... i hate admin, and love it when i'm sooo busy, and have no time for admin. facebook is a brilliant time-waster..
   
3. stalk follow favorite celebrities, and an easy way to 'speak' to them: i have 'friended' lots of scrapbooking and blogging 'celebrities'. people who's work i admire. people who's blogs i follow. it is a nice way to reach out and interact with them, without crossing that line between just saying 'hi' and being a nuisance. it is a modern form of fan mail. you can also join fan groups.
   
4. keep in contact with friends and family: i chat on facebook. i love to see who is online, and if i have some time, i like to chat a little. i chat with my sister carla in australia, my friends andre and elsa in dharhan, saudi arabia, some of my scrapbooking/blogging friends in capetown and durban, and even with angie. angie works 3 shops down from me in the centre. we can almost see each other. but we chat more on facebook than in real life. i know all sorts of snippets about people's lives, and all that without actually having to speak to anyone. all because i read their status updates, see their photos and see their profiles.
   
5. check out photos - sometimes before the family gets to see them: often people post their pics on facebook, where we get to see them before the grannies and others do. and we can comment on them too. it is also easy to tag people in photographs, which is a brilliant way to embarrass your friend by posting pics of what they did in the 80's, or last week at that raucous party...
   
6. easy way to send messages to friends/multiple people: i know of people who arrange functions and especially reunions exclusively on facebook. i also have friends who send business/marketing messages on facebook.
   
7. keep up with friends birthdays, and easy way to send birthday wishes and gifts: this is to me one of the biggest advantages of facebook. i know who's birthday is coming up, and i can pop in to say happy birthday, in spite of distance and time difference. now, if facebook can just figure out a way to send chocolate cake, we will be set...
   
8. free and subtle way to promote your business/blog/online profile: without being too 'in your face'. if you are online, for example a blogger, then a good facebook profile will only increase your online presence. it will also make you easier to google.
   
9. join a community/group of like minded: there are many groups and networks you can join, to share affiliation or ideas or interests.
   
10. it gives you something else to do with your computer and cellphone, so you need to spend even less time with your 'in real life' friends: it is a brilliant way to pass the time in the waiting area of the doctor's rooms and in queues. and if you are early to pick up the kids at school. have you done the facebook-thing with your phone yet? i love it!
    
11. phonebook: on your facebook page it says 'phonebook'. there you will find the contact details of all your friends. a lot of people are unaware of this, and put their personal cellphone numbers there. it takes the numbers you give it in your personal details.
    
12. bulletin board for announcements: you can post upcoming events.
    
13. pass those quiet hours away: ever been too tired/lazy to work? is it too late to start something new, but too early to go home? are you stressed and over-extended at work, and need some brain-candyfloss? facebook is just the place to go for some brainless fun!
    
14. spy keep an eye on your kids: if your kids are on facebook, you can friend them, and then sit back and watch what they do... i have friends who are not on facebook, who tell me their kids are studying very hard at university. but those kids, who are on facebook, tell a different story on their profiles...
    
15. six degrees of separation: this is the theory that everyone is separated from everyone else by no more than 6 steps. and nowhere is this more obvious than on facebook. i have so often seen friends of friends, and been surprised at who i found there. people know people in unexpected ways.
     
16. and finally, it's fun! it's the new tetris, only way more interactive.

so, you have recently joined facebook, and now you cannot see what all the fuss is about? it gets to be more fun the more active friends you have. and the more active you are. that way, every time you log in, there is a message or a new friend or a funny comment waiting for you.

personally, i love status updates the most. i love reading my friend's witty freeze-frames of their day. and coming up with something interesting myself is always a fun challenge. i wish some of my friends would update their status more often.

my son francois canceled his account. he says he wasn't friends with all those people in school, so why should he be now? and, the moment his mom joined facebook, he felt it had become too mainstream, too common, and he left!

you can read what other's say about facebook here:
status updates blog
addicted to facebook
use facebook to grow your business
amusing article by a facebook addict

want to be my friend? you can find me here.

want to be a follower of this blog? you can join here.

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

tagged...

i got a few VERY APPRECIATED blog awards recently. thanks! i do see them and i'm thankful for them, but i run out of time to reciprocate. sorry, my bad!

i was tagged by rambler. i think it was a revenge-thing, since i tagged him here. but we benoni-bloggers need to irritate  support each other as much as possible...

USING ONLY ONE WORD! It's not as easy as you might think! Copy and change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers. Be sure to tag 5 other bloggers (and let them know!).. remember only ONE WORD!

1. Where is your cell phone?

pocket

2. Your significant other?

home ...i hope?... that is what he told me...

3. Your hair?

blonde

4. Your mother?

loved

5. Your father?

stubborn

6. Your favorite?

blogging

7. Your dream last night?

huh?

8. Your favorite drink?

water....

9. Your dream/goal?

fame and fortune. oh, one word... fortune!

10. What room you are in?

shop

11. Your hobby?

blogs

12. Your fear?

failure

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years?

there

14. Where were you last night?

bed...? why? don't believe anything you see in a video. it wasn't me, and it wasn't joost van der westhuizen...

15. Something that you are not?

skinny!

16. Muffins?

yeah!

17. Wish list item?

travel!

18. Where you grew up?

grew up? not yet. where i got older? benoni

19. Last thing you did?

coffee

20. What are you wearing?

crocs... always crocs...

21. Your TV?

overworked

22. Your pets?

fleas

23. Friends?

appreciated

24. Your life?

hectic!

25. Your mood?

mellow

26. Missing some one?

always

27. Car?

undependable...

28. Something you're not wearing?

wouldn't you like to know...

29. Your favorite store?

woollies!

30. Your favorite color?

green

33. When is the last time you laughed?

today

34. Last time you cried?

often

35. One place that you go to over and over?

scrappintimes

36. One person who texts you regularly?

mom

38. Favorite place to eat?

anywhere

39. Favorite food?

pasta

40. What did you do today?

tagged

Okay, I tag:

you!

because i'm so bad at following up on these things myself, it is not fair if i expect you to do it. so, if you feel like doing this, then go ahead!

and as you can see, one word is not my forte... and i'm not so good at sticking to the rules...

i was also tagged more than once to do the 25 things thing on facebook. don't you know way too much about me already?

blogging: Never before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few. i found this smile here.

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPINTIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

bad blogger..

i have been such a bad blogger! i have just been so distracted by car problems, people, and things to do, and car problems, and '80 emails in your inbox' and car problems and '160 posts in your google reader', and interruptions. and car problems. and if i was making money it would be ok, but no. just stuff! and car problems.

and then, when i have a little while, my lovely vodacom 3G internet has been down or slow or on strike or just so darn full of whatever, that i cannot post or upload photos. normally i would spend an evening at home online to catch up to avoid that overwhelm, but my laptop has been in hospital for 2 MONTHS! so, i can only work in the shop, where the whole set-up encourages interruptions...

darn clients! can they not see i'm on facebook?

as you can tell, i'm stressed and frustrated and unfocused. ...breathe out negativity.... breathe in peace..... breathe out stress... breathe in calm....

coffee!

so, if all goes well, i will post again later today. i took great photos yesterday.

in the meantime: every once in a while i read a piece that makes my whole being scream 'oh my, i wish i could write like that!' this piece made me feel like that.

and did i mention i had car problems?

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

16 things about me...

i saw these '16 things' lists on ali edwards' blog, and also at helen's. it looked like a fun way to string some random blabbering together. so, here goes:

1. i went over to amelia (my next door neighbor who you met in this post) last night. she wants to take her photography further, and i needed a victim sucker guinea pig to practice my photoshop class on, so i got in my car, and drove to her house - what? it was night and i live in the country, our properties are big and there is electric fencing in between. so i drive. the entire 150 meters - and after a cup of coffee we left her husband to watch WWE Raw in peace, and got to work.
   
2. i left there at about 01h45, got to bed at after 2, and then i couldn't fall asleep. my head was buzzing, full of ideas. 'what if i tried this, i should change that, i'm sure that will be a great idea'... when i eventually fell asleep, i was happily dreaming of teaching photoshop to large classes in fancy venues with powerpoint presentations running on audio visual thingy-ma-jiggies. and i was using a laser pointer. that has always been my dream, to use a laser-pointer. for something other than playing 'catch the dot' on the walls with my kids...
3. so, this morning, now that i can actually start working on those brilliant ideas, i'm exhausted. my eyes feel like they have sand in them, my head fells heavy, and instead of thinking of all those wonderful ideas, my battered brain cells can think of nothing but coffee... lots of coffee... thank goodness for spell-checkers, because you should have seen what the first draft of this post looked like!
   
4. anyway, the point of this blabbering is to tell you that i'm excited. and i'm thinking/planning/dreaming. and that my posts have points.
5. i have found a few sites about photography that i need to study further. you might not be interested, but i want to look at them lots more over the next few days, and i need a place to put the links so i can easily find them later. so here they are. you can follow the links if you like. or not. if you do, you might just bump into me wandering around in there... coffeeteaphotography, cliff mautner
6. and my favorite photography place to visit is pioneerwoman photography. read this post for an interesting idea.
7. you see? my posts have points. lots of them. they just don't always make sense. and they don't always gel well together. that is why this list thing is a great idea.
8. this post and this one and this one had me laughing out loud today. you might as well just read the whole blogs while you are there. and while you are surfing, go see what donna downey has done here. with fabric. after you are finished on my blog, of course. ...you cannot leave now... i'm still talking... hey, come back... how rude!...
9. oh yes. this list is supposed to be about me, and where i am now. i forgot.
10. i have a serious affliction. i lose hours a day. almost every day. time gone. forever. unproductive. it is called internet-itis. the symptoms are: facebook. blogs. photoshop sites. scrapbooking heavens. wilna. google reader. my own blog. email. photography gaze-in-awe-fests. time, and brain cells get sucked in and swallowed up by that big black cyber-hole. bad for productivity. but oh-so-much-fun!
11. i have five more points to fill. darn! and i have nothing intelectually stimulating to say. like that has stopped me before.
12. :-)
13. after wearing contact lenses for 12/15 years, i have just got glasses. today. and since the medical aid will not pay for glasses and contacts in the same 2 year cycle, i will have to wear them permanently. if i can got used to them.
14. my son francois has just gone to register for his second honors degree. he studied BA (Economics and Politics), and then did his honors in economics last year. for the cv. but international politics have always been his passion. and now he is going to study what he really enjoys. he plans to study for many more years. anything to avoid working for a living...
15. i have not done any paper scrapbooking since mid-november. that is the longest that i have not scrapped since i started. but i have been creating a little scrapping corner in the shop to work in. i will post about it soon.
16. liza is teaching this awesome project on saturday 31 january. booking is essential. in fact, book now to avoid the stampede. it is different. it is unique. it is great!

it's a tea tray! with glass in it! (hence the reflective glare and the difficulty getting the lighting right) and it fits a 12x12 single page layout. so you can change the layout if you wish, or you can keep it just the way it is. isn't that so cool?

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

and the winner is...

tada...!

tracy, stefanie and carla each win either 20 butterflies OR an edit of 3 photos, after commenting on this post.

and toni wins butterflies AND a photo edit!

please email me and tell me which you choose, and i'll tell you what i need.

boy, i'm going to be editing a LOT in the next few days....

thanks for playing!

this layout was designed by the very talented rose, and adapted by liza, to teach this week:

each page has 2 flaps, and under each flap are lots more photos, notes, receipts, etc.

rose and liza both did a month in review, but it could be used for an overseas trip, a holiday, a birthday party, or anything that has a lot of photos. we even thought it might be nice for a wedding count-down, where you can show your hair-trials, dress fitting, choosing the flowers, etc. everything leading up to the big day.

it is also a great page for using your left-overs, letters, paper scraps, and single embellishments.

thanks rose and liza for an interesting layout!

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

20 000...

i'm so excited!

today, my hit counter passed 20 000 hits, since i started this blog on 14 september 2007. wow! wow! wow!

first i would like to thank GOD, without HIM i would not be here. i would also like to thank you, who reads this. THANK YOU! then i would like to thank my parents, my man, and my kids at home. i would also like to thank my grade 11 computer-science teacher. thanks to my internet service provider, m-web, and my blog service provider, typepad, and my hit-stats provider, sitemeter. i would also like to thank...

ok, so i have been watching all the award ceremonies on tv, including the golden globe awards yesterday.

where was i?

oh yes. to celebrate, i will do a RAK.

so, if you comment on this blogpost between now and sunday 18 january, you will be entered in a random draw. and you can win.

there will be 3 winners. you can choose, i will either send you 30 butterflies, like these, and these, no matter where you live. or i will edit 3 of your photos for you, like i did here and here.

also, if you mention this giveaway on your blog, and leave a comment with a link to that post here in the comments, i will enter you in a seperate draw, where you can win butterflies AND a photo-edit.

so, click on the word 'comment' that appears under this, and every post, and send me some love! (you can read more about leaving a comment here).

 

this is a digital layout i scrapped of jomien. she is my friend's daughter. the photo was taken by rina. the paper and embellishments i used are from shabby princess. the border around the photo is from jessica sprague.

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

feedback on my word for 2008...

this year my word was 'grow'. i thought i would review it today, to see how i did. the italic words are direct quotes from the post i did about it on 2 january 2008.

remember, as 'grow' is a verb, i am grading the process, and not the end result.

i want to grow my creativity. i want to scrap more, and create more in other ways too.

i didn't scrap nearly as much as i should/could/wanted to. there always seems to be so much else to do, and so the scrapbooking  seems to take a back seat. so i give myself a D.

however, i did grow creatively in other ways. in blog writing and design, in photography, in photoshop and in digital scrapbooking. in those respects i grew a lot! the end results can still be improved, but in terms of the process, the learning curve, the growth, i give myself an A.

i need to grow in simplicity. i need to de-clutter my life even more. this will go a long way in decreasing some of the stress in my life. 

i did do some work here, but not nearly enough. i did put some actions in place, and i also learned to make some peace with projects that turned out to be very long-term. but here i give myself a C.

i wish to grow my inspiration. i will try to inspire others by sharing my passions, ideas and talents. i will also continue to seek out people who are positive, passionate and inspiring to me. 

not too bad. it is difficult to be inspiring if you are not feeling very inspired yourself, but i have started teaching workshops again, and i have done quite a few tutorials on my blog. i have found lots of inspiring people though, most of those in the blogosphere, where inspiration from the world's most talented is but a mouse-click away! so i give myself a B.

i have to to grow my shop. i need to get more customers, grow in turnover and in numbers of customers.

well, here i have failed. badly. but, it was not my fault... the declining world economy, and south africa's huge increase in food and fuel prices and very high interest rates has left very little extra money in my client's pockets. we are all feeling the pinch! so, an F here. *sigh!*

i will continue to grow spiritually. i know that GOD has a plan for my life, and for 2008, and i want to feel HIM at work in and through me.

this of course is a constant challenge. no matter how much i grow spiritually, it is never enough. maybe a C+?

i hope to grow the blog, both in the quality of the content, and in readership. i want to work on writing with the poetry and vulnerability of kelly rae roberts. i want to be as passionate as donna. i want to be as inspiring as wilna. i want to share ideas as freely as leah. i want to be as chatty as heidi. i want to be as disciplined as annette. and i want to be inspiring, and funny, and generous, as all the other blogs i visit regularly. and i hope more of my visitors will comment. hint, hint!

well, here i did well. this was my best subject, in a manner of speaking. i could probably look back and say that 2008 was the year of the blog, for me. once again, in the end result is always room for growth, but as far as the process goes, i give myself an A+

on 31 december 2007 i had had 579 total hits, and today (31 december 2008) i have had 19 182 total hits. so 18 603 hits in 2008. but if you consider that it took me to mid-march to get my first 1000 hits, i didn't do too badly from there on. from september 2007 to end february 2008 i had a total of 675 hits, and in march 2008 i had 667 hits. you can see the statistics and highlights of this blog here. and i am so thankful to all of you for this.

i strive to grow as a mother. i love francois and sean, and they need me to be the best mother i can be. they are the blessings in my life, and i need to show them this.

i love to grow as a supporting, happy, loving partner for mike, who is the most amazing man, and the best friend and supportive partner a girl could ever want, and who makes me happier than i ever thought possible.

these 2 are also the kind of things were one needs to work constantly on growth. unfortunately, as the economy worsened, i needed to put in longer hours in the shop. and my stress levels increased. the man also had a very demanding job that kept him going for long hours. these factors are not very conducive to family bliss. a C here. not too great!

i dream to grow as a friend.  there are so many wonderful people in my life, who are the sunbeams that brighten my days, the supports that help me carry the load, the fertilizer that help me grow. i need to love them more, to hug them tighter, to phone/sms them often, compliment them every time, and thank them constantly for their unwavering love.

once again, long working hours do not help in this respect. and between work and family/home life, there was way too little time for friendship. i am so appreciative of the friends who know and understand and forgive this, and who come to the shop to visit me. thanks! a C here too. maybe a C-.

i try to grow in positivity. in south africa today there is sooo much negativity! i will try to have and spread more hope, more love, more passion, more friendliness.

i did try. this was probably the most difficult year to be positive in, in south africa. we had a lot going against us. on the financial and political front there was a lot of drama and turmoil, and with electricity and telephone problems (my shop had been without a working telephone line for 11 months so far, and no end in sight), crime, uncertainty, a declining currency, and growing pessimism and huge emigration, it has been hard work. i started the year off low. now i'm better. or just numb. it is not great, but taking the tough times in consideration, i give myself a B-. 

did i do well? no. not at all. but it was a very difficult year. and i did have some growth. so, all in all i passed. i go on to 2009. i'm sure things can only get better...

did you have a word? what was it? how did you do? do you have a word for 2009 yet? tell me, i'd really love to know.

 

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

ss Agamemnon and Captain Douwe Sparrius

i am bound to them,
though i cannot look into their eyes
or hear their voices.
i honor their history,
i cherish their lives,
i will tell their story.
unknown

Ss Agamemnon

On the morning of 8 November 1940, the steamship ss Agamemnon (1930 ton) carrying freight, was in a convoy, in Barrow Deep on the English East Coast, on the way from South End to Cardiff (another source says from Newcastle to South End). The Captain was Douwe Sparrius, my maternal grandmother’s father.

At about 13h55 a German bomber dropped 2 bombs on the front deck of the ship, and one bomb fell next to the ship. The front of the ship began sinking immediately, and thick smoke rose from the engineroom. The engine was stopped and the crew tried, under leadership of C Mentink, to lower the lifeboats who were always ready to be launched. But as the front of the ship was listing too much, this was no longer possible. Within approximately 3 to 5 minutes the whole ship had sunk.

The crew had jumped in the water, and held on as far as possible to planks from the wreckage and one lifeboat that had come loose. After about 45 minutes the crew was picked up by the British destroyer HMS Cattistock, but my great-grandfather, Captain Douwe Sparrius, who had not been wearing a lifevest, probably drowned due to exhaustion. He and the English radiographer C Hubbuck were never seen again. The body of the British Cannoner Sgt Kenneth Thorpe was found. That same evening the crew was dropped back at South End. Three crew members were hospitalized.

this telegram was to inform the family of Sgt Kenneth Thorpe of his death.

Sources: various internet sites. www.google.com

francois has always been fascinated with history, and so all those family stories have always meant a lot to him. after he had heard the story about the ship and his great-great grandfather, he googled it, and found some info, including a photo of the ship. isn't the internet awesome!

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

SCRAPPIN TIMES on scrapscene

my little shop was featured on scrapscene. you can see the post here. thanks angie!

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

tuesday...

it is the trend amongst blogger-scrappers to have a word for each year. a word that inspires, reminds, encapsulates, motivates you through the year.

my word for 2008 was GROW. i'm starting to think of what i will choose for 2009. at this stage i'm thinking chill/relax/sleep, bit that will change. i hope.

have you chosen a word? what was your 2008 word, and do you have a 2009 word yet?

ali edwards is thinking of her word for 2009 too. you can see what she says about it here.

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

blog survey, and other bloggy stuff...

if you participated in the south african blog survey, or even if you didn't, you might find the results interesting. read this to see what the south african blogosphere is doing. it seems that there are only an estimated 5000 active bloggers among the 4.5 million internet users in south africa.

do you remember when i told you to the new girl in the centre, dominique, who opened organic earth, the organic shop? well, i convinced her to start a blog. you can visit her here, and tell her i sent ya!

if you have a blog with blogger, you can check out this site. you sign up for an account, and it lets you back-up your blog. they have a free package, and also better packages that cost a little. they are also launching a 'convert your blog to a book' service soon. that sounds so cool! they say that they are working on other blogging platforms, and hope to make it available for typepad, and others soon.

visit the bloggers choice awards website. you can nominate blogs for 2009. and you can follow the links to the nominated blogs. see what makes some of those blogs so great. i must say, when i follow some of those links, i think that some of the 'smaller' blogs i read, and quite a few of the local ones, do a lot better than some of the popular ones there. maybe we should be nominating some of our favorites, so the world can see that we have great bloggers too, even if those blogs don't get thousands of hits per day! i signed up, and logged in, and then used the search block to search for some of my favorite blogs. if i found them, i voted for them, if not, i nominated them. who knows, you might just find yourself popping up there... just remember when you nominate a blog, to go back and vote for it too! remember, if your favorite blog does not appear there, it is your own fault!

and maybe you can spread the word on your blog too...

 

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

bloggers are boring, self obsessed narcissists?

“The bottom line is that blogging is like sex. You can’t fake it. You can’t fake passion. You can’t fake wanting to engage with the public. If you do, it will ultimately be an unsatisfying experience for both the blogger and their readers.” (Kevin Anderson)

huh? blogging is like sex? maybe i'm not doing it right...

the blogging, i mean.

“People have often described me as a blogger. I generally shy away from the term because, to me, bloggers are boring, self obsessed narcissists who use their website mainly as a means to discuss the inconsequential minutiae of their day to day lives.” (Anonymous)

that's what makes it so interesting to me! i love inconsequential minutae.

sjeesh. never though i would ever use that phrase in a sentence.

inconsequential minutae.

inconsequential.
minutae.

“As I have repeatedly written in one form or other, blogging is not about writing posts. Heck, that’s the least of your challenges. No, blogging is about cultivating mutually beneficial relationships with an ever-growing online readership, and that’s hard work.” (Alister Cameron)

jip! hard work indeed. 'cultivating mutually beneficial relationships with an ever-growing online readership', by writing about 'inconsequential minutae'.

i just love these quotes.

i think blogging is much like having pen-friends. you know, a generation ago people used to have friends who lived across the world, who they had never met, but who knew all about each other's lives. now we have blogs.

did you know you can buy blog banners? you can go to the shabby shoppe, and choose a package you like. if you are quick, you can get them on sale too. i have never tried them myself, so let me know how it works out if you do.

go to tim holtz's blog, and see his '12 tags' series of posts. even if you never make the tags, you will still pick up some cool ideas. that guy is just so creative!

if you don't know who pioneer woman is, best you check her out NOW! you are missing something if you have never visited her blog. she also has pioneerwoman cooks and pioneerwoman photography, and a garden section and a homeschooling section. visit her today, you will love her.

go to scrapgirls, and sign up for their newsletter. it comes to your inbox daily. and it is full of inspiration, ideas, tips, and a freebie in each newsletter. and, if you have broadband, you can download this digital scrapkit free from there too. it is a big one!

if you have not yet discovered the ease of blog reading through google reader, then go back and read this post i did on it, and get it. it must be the most time-saving and efficient things i have done recently. it takes me less time to keep up with the 69 blogs i have in there, and i never miss a post!

this is the gift i'm giving my dad for christmas:

 

it is a photo he has been nagging me for. it was taken almost 23 years ago, when ronnie and i got married. we were married 16 years when he died, 6.5 years ago.

you can read the funniest childbirthing story ever (and we all know how funny childbirthing can be) here. one tip, don't drink coffee while you are reading it, because you will have it coming out your nose. i know.

because i had nothing interesting to say today, i have included lots of links to people who do have things to say. their inconsequential minutae are so much more fascinating than mine...

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

tim holtz is coming to south africa!

did you see who is coming to south africa? the amazing tim holtz!

go to the convention's website for more info and to book. you can read more about tim here and on his blog.

you can see here and here how i have been inspired by him in the past.

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

christmas cards

these cards were featured yesterday on scrapscene as day 11 on their 'handmade christmas card a day' feature.

 

I always use 3 sheets of 12'x12' (30cmx30cm) cardstock that mix and match to make cards. In the case of the Christmas cards, i used a pale gold, red and green. I cut 2 cards from each cardstock, each measuring 8'x6' (20cmx15cm), and folded them in half, making a total of 6 cards.

The remaining 6 pieces of cardstock, each measuring 4'x6' (10cmx15cm) I cut a little smaller, so they fit on the front of the cards with a little edge of the card showing as a border. These pieces I use to decorate the cards with. These steps I use for all my card-making.

 

For these Christmas cards I got my inspiration from card sketch #85, by Tami Mayberry (http://tamimayberry.blogspot.com/) on http://www.cardpositioningsystems.blogspot.com/.

I cut scraps of Christmas paper into little rectangles so they fit 3x3 on each of the loose pieces, in a grid of 9 blocks, and stuck them with a little tape. Then i used my sewing machine, and using green cotton, i stitched with a zig-zag stitch around the edges of the loose pieces, and between each of the paper blocks, creating a quilt effect.

Then using foam tape, I stuck a block with some decorations on it, in the middle of the card, raising it a little. I cut little Christmas trees from paper, or used a little inspirational quote, or used a cuttlebug to cut and emboss a Christmas wreath.

Finally i stuck the loose pieces on the cards.

i made more cards using this style, and showed them here.

these cards were linked to on scrappin' mojo.

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

bye bye butterflies...

see these butterflies? they are getting ready to fly far, far away, across the atlantic ocean, all the way to the USA.

beth saw these butterflies in this post, and asked me to send her some. it took a while, because they had to first come out of their little eggs. but, they are ready, and will be leaving shortly. because they are young butterflies, and their wings are made of paper, they will be flying by airmail...

*edited to add: i mailed them this morning (sat), beth. they should board the plane on tuesday or wednesday, provided their passports are in order.i don't know when they will get to your house, they might take the scenic route. i hope they don't gat airsick on the way...*

i could not log on to the internet this morning, so i closed microsoft explorer, and gave firefox a try. my son francois has been nagging me for ages. so far, so good. which one do you use?

unfortunately, i will not be going to the scrappink event after all, as there was no space for me! ha! they are gonna miss me! *sigh*! i was so looking forward to sitting down and scrapping. oh well, next time maybe..

i have been designing a business card for myself, using my still new digital scrapbooking skills. i love how it came out!

now i have to find someone who will print them for me.

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

how much is that doggy?...

visit this cute doggy, type in a command under her, and see what happens. tell her to sit, roll over, down, stand, sing, dance, shake, fetch, play dead, beg, etc. you can also type in 'kiss', but do it last. it's like having your own puppy, without dealing with the fleas...

when i formatted my computer, i also lost all the fonts i had collected over the years. so today i went in search of new ones. i found this website that had wonderful fonts, all free, and no pop-ups. i downloaded tons of great ones!

and great news for all typepad bloggers: i'm on typepad's beta team, which means i get to test all the improvements and upgrades before they are rolled out to you. and coming soon to a computer near you is an auto-save feature. that means no typing and editing and uploading just to lose it all. that is so great! if i think of all the swearwords i have uttered this last year or so...

did i hear you say yaaaay!?

  

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

circle of love

i was tagged by sophia, cathy and lara, to tell you 7 random facts about me. i think those of you who read my blog regularly already know more about me than so many people i see every day. why would you want to know more? can i not keep any secrets?

ok, you asked for it. here goes:

i can read, write and speak dutch. in fact, my parents and siblings and i still jabber away in dutch whenever we see each other. we even sms each other in dutch. but we were all born in africa... i also speak afrikaans and english.

the man and i are not married. we have lived in sin for more than 5 years now. we never meant to not get married, there just has never been enough time, money, energy. i know.

ronnie died 6.5 years ago, and his estate still has not been wound up. it's a process... ok, so this fact is not really about me, so it does not count.

i was married at 19, a mother a 20, and a widow at 35. i'm in a hurry. it was meant to be graduated at 19, millionaire at 20 and nobel prize at 35. somewhere someone got the order wrong.

i am a computer and internet junkie. and i can fix a lot on my computer myself. i even formatted my computer myself last week. it is a pleasure to work on now.

today is my birthday. i'm 42.

i love ice-cream and pasta. i don't like litchies and mangos. i drink almost no alcohol - it is not good for me.

i still have a grandmother. she is 92. she came to visit me today.

Here are the rules:
Link to your Tagger and list these rules on your blog.
Share 7 facts about yourself - some random, some weird.
Tag 7 people at the end of your post and link their blogs.
Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

as usual, i'm last to do this, so everyone i know has been tagged already. so, i have to go wider:

eilandkind

lori

hayley

rachael

annette

nicky

rose

these are some of my wedding photos.

 

i used some of the buttons and flowers we got from making memories at the convention, as used on this layout here. and the stamped circles i also learned at the convention, it was done by rachael scholz, as you can see here.

love, jacki

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

internationally known...

after my puppy snowy was featured on this internationally known blogger's blog in this post and here and here, she has been thanking me by bringing me breakfast in bed.

because she is still small, she gets small-doggie chunks twice a day, that i soften with warm water. but during the day she loves to steal the bigger chunks from the big dogs. then she runs into the house, jumps on my bed, and starts digging. she 'buries' the big dog chunks in my bed. between the blankets, under the pillows, anywhere.

after that post, i have had a few people scoffing at my claim to be an 'internationally known' blogger and photographer. so, here is my defence:

my sister carla lives in melbourne, australia. my friend elsa lives in dharhan, saudia arabia. i mentioned them last time.

i have a client of the shop, janine, who lives in seattle, USA. and another client, cheryl, is in ghana. also, annette scholz has met me, and she lives in perth, australia now.

i met wilna furstenburg from canada, rachael scholz from melbourne, donna downey from the usa, celine navarro from france, and others, at the south african scrapbook convention. they may want to deny it, but i have photographic evidence.

i have far-off family and friends of the family in holland, who would admit to knowing me. if i forced them.

all these international people know me, and would gladly tell you that i am not nearly as attractive and interesting in real life as my photoshopped photo on facebook and on my blog would lead you to believe.

so: internationally known! undisputable!

if a few of you would please leave some evidence in the comments, i would appreciate it... thanks!

i opened my google reader this morning, and i had 262 unread posts! and i have to read them all, heaven forbid i miss a thing. stacy julian and stefanie semple had 9 posts each, and cathy had 12! slow down girls. give me a chance to catch up! i got tagged a couple of times, i'll get to that soon.

i'm off to do some speed reading...

love, jacki

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

new cards

i have been making some more cards. i used sketch #85 from card positioning systems as inspiration:

i like to use scraps from my layouts so my cards 'match' my layouts, and these cards go with the butterfly layout i showed before. so, i scrapped the butterflies, then blogged about the butterflies, then scrapped the blogpost, then blogged about scrapping the blogpost. then i also made cards that 'match' the layout, and then blogged about the cards...

sorry. this just amuses me no end. just skip to the next bit while i sit and giggle here...

i would have used butterflies on the cards, but my cuttlebug butterfly template is worn out! it is so blunt, it won't cut through anymore. look, it did cut way over 1000 butterflies in 6 weeks, so i suppose it is ready to retire. i'll have to get a new one soon.

that is real sewing you see. i 'quilted' little blocks of scrap paper. i have even been so inspired by this sketch, that i'm using the 'quilting' effect on a layout too. it is not finished, but here is a sneak peek:

i also made some christmas cards using that sketch, but that is another post for another time.

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

free online class with jessica sprague

this looks great! i'm in...

 

you can find more info here.

love, jacki

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

photoshop trick

i found a little tutorial on allie hoops' blog today. you can download a grungy clipping mask, and use it on a photo. i used it here:

 

because i'm one of those people who believes that if it worked well once, it will work double as well twice, i then put jessica sprague's grunge mask over it:

 

i wish there was a mask we could use to soften the edges of real life. then i would not be so sad today over my dear friend anne's devastating news.

rinse and repeat until you are rougher around the edges than amy winehouse:

 

ok, enough of that. i could keep doing it all morning, but i think you get it...

 

thanks allie!

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

cards

 

the 'shiny' butterflies are made from transparency, and embossed.

i wanted to make some cards today, as examples for a kids card-making class that i want to do next week, while the schools are on holiday. so, as always when i need card-making inspiration, i went to card positioning systems.

the sketch for this week looks like this:

 

for 3 of the 6 cards i made, i used this sketch, for 2 of them i flipped it over. it is hard to see, but i used the cuttlebug to do embossing. on the photo above, the left of the white card and the top of the black card have embossed flowers. i used little pearls as the hearts of the flowers. everything is embossed, a border on each card, all the paper squares, and all the butterflies.

 

the red card on the right, the bottom butterfly on the left, is made from transparency.

i could have done so much more to these cards, but i wanted to keep them low-budget, so the kids could do more cards for their money. besides, kids really want to do their own thing, they don't need me to give them any more that just a start.

i used 3 sheets of cardstock that mix-and-match. i cut them across 20cm (8') down, so i had 2 pieces, one 20x30cm (8'x12'), and one 10x30cm (4'x12'). then i cut them both in half, so i had 2x 20x15cm (8'x6') and 2x 10x15cm (4'x6'). the bigger pieces i folded in half, to make 2 cards, 6 in total, and the smaller pieces i used for the decorations of the cards.

to make 6 cards i used: 3x sheets of cardstock, 30x pearls, 2x flowers, 2x scraps of pattern paper, 1x A4 sheet of transparency. i used the cuttlebug to emboss everywhere.

you can read more about making those butterflies here.

 

these cards were featured on card positioning systems.

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

and even more convention..

remember when jodi won the RAK that i had on the post about my first blog-birthday?  you can see what i did with her photos here.

i got cathy's photos from the RAK she won, and will have some fun with hers too in the next few days.

here are some photos of the convention that were a little more about ME. the others were all about the teachers, and the classes, and the projects. it was so great to meet lots of my blog-friends, most of them for the first time. it felt like i had known them for ages! now when i read their blogs, it means so much more, because i know who these girls are.

this is stefanie, one of my bloggy-friends. she blogs here, and on journalingjunkie.

 

and this is sophia allison, blog-mate from durban.

 

here is rachael scholz, my new australian cyber-friend.

 

cathy and i. she was a fellow volunteer.

these are some of the girls from my shop who went:

 

ineke, rachael scholz, diana, rose, and behind deneile and cheryl.

 

one totally exhausted volunteer leaning on her friend and roommate diana.

i made my little mini-book from kelly white's class yesterday.

the great thing about the shop is that although i am open on public holidays (yesterday was heritage day in south africa), i have to 'work' very hard by scrapping all day with friends...

i know that all the posts on my blog are always very serious, but i am working on a very deep one for later this week. i'm hoping it will land me a recipe book deal.

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

more convention...

here are some more moments from the south african scrapbook convention.

jennifer straus from around the block in action.

 

it's hard to tell, but that is stacy julian doing her thing.

 

stacy in action. we had problems with the computer and the audio/visual display in our class all weekend, and ours was her first class. you can read what she writes about it here. sorry, stacy!

 

kyle and rob, kah-mei's husband, try to get the computer going, without much success. 

 

for some it all just got a little too much!

 

kah-mei smith demonstrates some technical points. 

 

stacy julian, celine navarro, jennifer straus, mallory, cyndee, margie romney-aslett, kelly white, kah-mei smith, jenni bowlin and rachael scholz.

 

getting messy in celine's class.

  

celine navarro demonstrating something.

 

margie romney-aslett tried to convince us to like making memories...

some of the participants in the dress-up competition.

 

some more dressed-up girls.

i have one more convention post coming up. i'll do that in a few days. you can also see more with cathy, sophia, jacqui, stefanie, stacy julian, margie romney-aslett. and i'm sure more will blog on the convention as the days go by.

what will i blog about when the convention is done? bookkeeping? laundry? any suggestions?

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

convention layouts..

so, it turns out, being (sort of) up to date is no fun at all. last night there was a workshop in my shop, and the girls were scrapping. antoinette is the teacher, and i just (wo)man the till. and i had no blogposts to read. and no emails to catch up with. sure, there is always work to do, but this is thursday evening, for goodness sake! so, iv'e changed my mind. please post? lots of posts! and please comment?

the man's father was in america on holiday, visiting his step-daughter, when he had a stroke, probably sunday/monday. he was flown back, and landed on wednesday afternoon, and taken straight to hospital. yesterday evening they operated on his brain, to stop the bleeding. it was a tough time for him, his family, and for us all. he is in ICU now, and stable. just before the weekend i made this gift for his wife, for her birthday. i used the photo i made for my creative cropping tutorial:

   

hey ron, you have to stick around a little longer, we still need you!

on a lighter note, here are the layouts i have made so far from the south african scrapbooking convention:

 

this is from jenni bowlin's class.

the next 2 are single pages, from rachael scholz's class.

 

journaling: no matter how old you get, you will always be my baby.

 

journaling: once upon a time there was a beautiful princess called anika.

thanks rach, i really enjoyed your layouts! i'll be scraplifting them again soon!

i made a photo-album with all my convention photos in it on my blog, in the left column, here.

look what i got! the magazine launched by celine navarro. it is in french, but i can look at the pictures. i love it! the layouts are more artistic, different.

 

for those of you who have been watching it, i will definitely be hitting the 10 000 visitors mark today. wow! 10 000 visitors? wow!  so, time for another RAK! the last one worked well, so i am going to do it again. if you leave a comment on this post, between now and sunday, you will go into the draw to win a photo-makeover, like the one you see here. i edited jodi's photos yesterday, she won the last RAK. she hasn't responded yet, so i don't know if she is happy...

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

carla

i was going to blog some more about the convention, and i have a post half-done, but i am at home this morning, and my convention photos are on my computer at the shop. so, here is something different for today.

last week i did this LO. is was inspired by antoinette's class. i was feeling a little uninspired in the last few weeks, so it was either scraplifting or not scrapping at all.

 

i really enjoyed doing this page. and i'm happy with how it came out. see, more butterflies... carla is my baby sis, the one who lives in melbourne, australia.

it has taken days, but i'm finally getting a little caught up. first i read lots of the 153 unread blogposts in my google reader. then it took 2 days to wade through my inbox. it still needs more trimming, but at least i'm no longer too afraid to check my email. unfortunately, 2 days of springcleaning email meant my google reader got filled again... the shop's admin is also getting a little more up to date.

i managed to do a little scrapping on monday, and i'm hoping to do some more before the week is over. normally i'm a late-night scrapper/blogger, but after this hectic week iv'e been to tired at night to do anything, collapsing in bed much sooner than normal.

am i complaining? NO! i'm loving it! the convention is always a highlight for me, and being busy is so productive.

sophia, ineke and tracy, are you having fun with your cuttlebugs?

love, jacki

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

scrapscene guest post..

i did a guest post for scrapscene about the convention. you can check it out here.

makeover...

she will probably kill me for this, because i didn't ask her permission. but since she posted the 'before' pic on her blog herself, and since she is probably shopping up a storm in dubai as this very moment, i thought she would never find out. so all of you, please shhh.... 

this is rachael scholz. she is one of the teachers for the convention this weekend. i used this photo of her (top, left) that she had on her blog, to show you what the 'makeover' looks like that you can win by leaving a comment in the post labelled 'blogging' before monday.

   

 

 

is this 'makeover' something you would like me to do for you? would you pay me for it? if so, how much do you think it's worth? i'm asking, because i am thinking of offering this service. the beauty of it is that you could be anywhere in the world, with email and a paypal account, it can all be done. tell me what you think. i will also use the photos of one volunteer, and make a tutorial that you could follow for free, if you have photoshop. please tell me your thoughts on the subject. also tell me if you agree/disagree with photoshopping photos.

one of my clients said that if i could make her look like a 21 year old again, she would pay me thousands...

it is very hot here in johannesburg at the moment. we are having a heatwave, and temperatures are over 31' C. not unusual in january, but it is still spring!

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

blogging..

word art: shabby princess, ronna penner, aperfetday, part of the express yourself kit

when she wrote her first blogpost on 14 september 2007, she was excited and nervous at the same time. wow, now she was a 'blogger'. to the long list of titles behind her name, like cleaner, nagger, moaner, spender, she could now also add blogger.

nobody took any notice.

at first, she had to drag each reader to the blog individually. she had to grab unsuspecting family members and clients, sit them down in front of the computer, and only give them coffee after they read the blog. if they would leave a comment, they could have a biscuit.

nobody took any notice.

she told herself: *sniff* fine! if nobody reads this blog, it's their loss... *sniff*.... and i don't need any comments... *sniff*...

nobody took any notice.

she kept at it. she kept reading blogs, and commenting, and blogging herself. one day she saw that someone had commented! it was wilna furstenburg, no less! she almost fainted from hyperventilating...

nobody took any notice.

but slowly the hits came. she was excited when 10 people read her blog on one day. she was thrilled when she got 1000 hits in total, even though it took a whole 6 months to get there. she blogged about the six-month mark. she was happy when people she knew would say to her "i read your blog". she was in awe when she got 17 comments on one post. she was elated when she was typepad's featured blog. she was shocked that one of her photoshop tutorials got 575 hits from photoshop-pack alone.

someone was noticing...

and now this blog is celebrating it's first birthday. and she cannot believe how it has grown. her mind still boggles to think that so many people pop in on a daily basis, to see what she is doing. she really isn't that interesting, after all.. she doesn't have a life... she loves that every one of her posts gets comments now. she loves that people that she admires, and who's blogs and work and writing she loves, also pop in, and leave comments. she is surprised when strangers tell her they read her blog. i mean, where do they come from? she is happy that she has made so many good new friends from all over the world, who visit her, even if she blogs in bed with unbrushed teeth and unshaved legs..

she knows that this blog is still a tiny little baby, and demands more time and attention than a 'real' baby - but stinks less. but she hopes that it will grow. she knows that her readers hope it will mature, but she doubts it. she knows that her son hopes that she will start using capital letters, but she doubts it.

someone was noticing.

and she was oh, so very grateful!

 

Chipboard word: gift, Ronna Penner, Refresh kit, ScrapGirls

i wanted to do a RAK (random act of kindness) to celebrate the blog's first birthday, but postage is so very, very expensive. so, i came up with something different. from now until monday 15 september, if you leave a comment on this post, i will enter you in a draw. the winner will be able to email me 3/5 photos of herself, and i will do some photoshopping. i will do one subtle photo, so you look rested but still you, one seriously edited photo, to use on facebook to make all the old boyfriends and classmates jealous because you will have no wrinkles, scars or blemishes, and one 'artistic' one, for fun.

obviously, if you are naturally gorgeous, or can photoshop yourself, you may still comment, but you could tell me you don't need the prize.

also, if you are very brave, you can still email me some pics of yourself. i need some to use on my blog for a tutorial. but, remember, lots of people will be seeing your 'before' photos. (and don't send me photos of your husband's ex...)

 

you can read more about this blog's highlights and statistics here.

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

wilna furstenburg

 

wilna furstenburg is hosting an online class. i have joined her class before, and i assure you that she is very creative, she is an attentive and helpful teacher, and she gives brilliant value for money. you can find more info here, and on her blog.

if you are in need of inspiration, don't hesitate to join her! 

Jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

potential..

or - name that photo...

last week i asked you to name this photo. you can go to this post, and have a giggle at the suggestions. thanks for the smiles you gave me. and also have a look at the very funny comments on the butterfly post.

i also got 2 more blog awards. thanks cathy. you can read about this reward here. the other one i will get to some other time.

i got a little behind with my emails and my blog reading. i'm trying to catch up. bear with me. i am reading all your blogs, just commenting a little less than normal. i had a medical problem - the man had a dislocated shoulder, and spent an evening in the emergency room before being admitted in hospital, and being 'fixed' in theatre the next morning. and i'm having home computer problems. it seems that my little laptop is reaching the end of it's life, and a new one is not really an option...

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

rachael scholz

rachael scholz is another one of the teachers who is coming to the south african scrapbooking convention.

it is held on saturday 13 and sunday 14 september 2008 at the sandton convention centre, johannesburg. the cost is R2250,00. this includes everything.

the teachers this year are:

stacy julian, kah-mei smith, margie romney-aslett, guinevere wessell, jenni bowlin, celine navarro, rachael scholz and kelly white.

they are all international teachers. they will be teaching 8 classes over 2 days. 

here is a note from rachael:

Dear Delegates

The lovely Jacki has given me the opportunity to send you all a message through her blog – what a lovely woman she is. I cannot believe how quickly this trip has come around. Originally when I was first asked to teach it seemed a million years away but now it’s almost two weeks until I fly out!!! I am bringing my lovely friend Kim along with me, she is a very talented scrapper from here in Melbourne and she cannot wait to meet you all! Kim is a little anxious, this is her first overseas trip, although I have flown many times before I haven’t been without my daughter for so long since she was born; that bothers me a little bit, but I’ll be fine once I’m there!

We have a regular at our local scrapbook shop here in Melbourne who is South African, Sharon Martindale, she has been to many Convention’s and has been giving me all the details and even teaching me a little of the Africaan language. The more I think about it, the more excited I get!

I’m looking forward to meeting you all, experiencing your culture and exploring your beautiful country.

See you very soon!

Rach xx

Here is what you can read about rachael on the convention website:

My name is Rachael Scholz, just plain Rach to most that know me. I'm 26 and my partner Warrick and I have one little girl, Bella. I live in Melbourne and work full time as an Office Manager. In my "spare" time LOL, I love to scrap!
I started scrapping just before Bella's first birthday in October 2005. I love scrapping to death and I love the online community even more! I have met some awesome chicks through scrapping and I am grateful for having a common passion to share with them. I joined the Scraptacular Design Team in 2006 and am a current Scrapbooking Memories Master. In mid 2007 I was a finalist in Scrapbook Creations Colour Expert Comp. I love working with Scraptacular and Scrapbooking Memories and look forward to the opportunities this craft throws my way in 2007.

rachael isn't the most active blogger, but you can still get an idea of what to expect by taking a look at her blog.

you can read where she posted about me here.

you can also read celine navarro's message, and more about the convention.

you can still book here, if you haven't yet.

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

thank you so very much!

i got this award from both tracy and michelle:

tracy said:
thanks for your inspiration and honest blogging ... and also: Then to Jacki JVR - I always find something to giggle about on your blog and I love that you are so open and honest, thanks ...

my problem is that they nominated some of my favorite blogs! now, who do i chose? i would have loved to award it to all those blogs i regularly read, but most of them have already got one...

the scrapbooking girls who's blogs i read, especially the south african ones, are so generous and friendly. they are not afraid to share and to comment and to praise. they challenge, and take part in challenges. it is an honor to be a part of such a wonderful group. and, i'm finding new south african blogger-scrappers every week. i will update my blogroll with my new friends soon.

so, what do i do now? i thought i would look a little wider. and i thought i would nominate some blogs that are new to me. some of them are new, and some are established, but i have just found them.

so i nominate:

eilandkind, for a beautiful, yummy, afrikaans blog

brenda, for a delightful scrapbooking blog from australia

melani, who is so amazingly creative, and for whom scrapbooking is easy and blogging is a challenge

sam ellis, who is rather new at blogging but not new at scrapbooking, and she takes interesting photos

nicky, who is really is a new blogger and a great friend

hayley, who lives in cape town, but is from benoni, although she never mentions it on her blog

simply-mel, who keeps it real, and who writes about her everyday life

francois, who will scoff at this award, and probably die before he mentions it on his blog, but who writes so incredibly well (he takes after his brilliant mother...)

and last, but not least, kwebbel, who's posts i don't always understand as she writes mainly in german, but the photos of her projects are understandable and inspiring, and who nominated me for a blog award a few months ago

The rules are simple:

1 Make a blog post where you pass the award on to seven blogs you like and

2 Post a comment at their blog to tell them about the award!

 

phew, it's done! i still feel guilty daily because i never passed on the brillante weblog award, and i hope this makes up for it.

 

i was very nervous when i posted the photos of the sheep in my last post. it is so special for me to experience the birth of all the animals on our property. i realize that there are people who go their entire lives without ever experiencing anything like it, and so i wanted to share it. thanks for the overwhelmingly positive response.

 

 

 

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa
 

Celine Navarro

are you going to the south african scrapbook convention in sandton? these 2 days are all about scrapping, and having fun!

it is held on saturday 13 and sunday 14 september 2008 at the sandton convention centre, johannesburg. the cost is R2250,00. this includes everything.

the teachers this year are:

stacy julian, kah-mei smith, margie romney-aslett, guinevere wessell, jenni bowlin, celine navarro, rachael scholz and kelly white.

they are all international teachers. they will be teaching 8 classes over 2 days.

one of the teachers, celine navarro, comes from france. here is a message to you from her:

Hello fellow Scrapbook Artists!

Céline Navarro here! I'm counting the days til I meet you at the SA Scrapbook Convention in Johannesburg, I know it is going to be one of the most amazing experience I've ever had! Be ready to get inspired, to meet new friends, to enjoy yourself and to CREATE!

I want you to know that I've prepared a class for you that will get your hands a little bit dirty :) but don't be scared : this class is all about YOUR OWN CREATIVITY.
I'm so looking forward to visiting your amazing country, it has been a dream of mine for so long, and I am PROUD and HONORED to be able to get to meet you :)

See you REAL soon!

Céline Navarro

Things have been crazy here in France : we released our very own Scrapbook magazine two days ago! :)

thanks celine!

i don't know about you, but i'm really looking forward to meeting her. her style is different and interesting and creative. you can see a little of what she does on her blog. pop over there to have a look, and to say 'hi' to her. tell her i sent ya!

there is still space available at the convention, if you are interested. they will be taking bookings till the very last moment, so if you find yourself available for that weekend, you will still be welcome.

celine wrote a post in reply on her blog.

you can read about rachael scholz, one of the other teachers here.

love, jacki

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, south africa

subscribe to this blog...

being the amazing and internationally acclaimed consumer journalist i am - in my dreams - i will tell you today about something new i've just found. you see sophia, i'm blogging about it, like you asked...

as you all know, i read quite a few blogs. and in the process, i have noticed that people encourage you to 'subscribe to this blog'. now i have never known what this means, and i have never paid it much attention. but last week i decided that it was something i would like to know more about.

i read all about RSS feeds, and let me tell you, it still makes very little sense. then i visited my go-to guy, tibi at lost art of blogging. he claims he is not really an expert, but i have always found his posts well written, and he uses capital letters!, and i have learned a lot about the technicalities of blogging from him. his blog is not nearly as intimidating as some of the expert's are.

i left a bewildered comment there, and he emailed me back! i was very impressed. he explained RSS in more detail. it is very technical.  he also said "I follow about 150-200 blogs daily. Imagine me having to open all of these blogs in my browser each day, just imagine the time I'd waste. With my Google reader it's really easy for me to see if there's a new post, and eventually if there's an update I can read it from there, without having to deal with the hassle of opening the respective blog in my browser. It's all about time management and productivity. Of course there's a lot more reasons for using RSS, but for me 'time' is the most evident one."

what tibi does not even touch on, is the data bundle. most south africans have a data bundle, that should last for the month. data is expensive. so, every time i visit a blog, i download data on my computer, and it all adds up. not having to visit a blog unnecessarily, saves some data too. on dial-up it makes even more sense!

so, i looked at google reader. i had read about it a few times, and when tibi recommended it, i gave it a try. i added some of the blogs i read to it. and i am so impressed! you can add all your blogs in google reader. it keeps them all together. the other advantage of this is that i have all my favorites online, so i can find them on my computer at home, and my computer at the shop. over the next few weeks, i will be transferring all the blogs i like to read there.

i found the easiest way to add a new subscriber is to open the blog in the usual way, get up-to-date with the posts, then copy and paste the blog's URL (address) into the 'add subscription' block. it can find a blog itself if you fill in some keywords, but it is quicker to fill in the URL yourself.

the first time you add a blog, it will show you the last 10 posts. i check that i have read all of them, and then click on 'mark all as read'. then i add another, and mark as read. and so on. i have set it that it only shows the updated blogs. it gives you the amount of posts you have not yet read in brackets. when you click on that, it opens the blog for you.

now, i like to read a blog in context. i like to see the banner, the side bars, and the previous posts. so, i click on the name of the blog, and it takes me to the blog itself. then, when i'm finished, i just go back to the google reader, i click on 'mark all as read' for that blog, and move on to the next.

if you read the blogpost directly in google reader, it does apparently not count as a hit on the blog you are reading. but, if you click on the name of the blog, and it takes you straight to the blog, and then it does count as a hit. in the stats of the blog it will show as a hit from 'www.google.com/reader'.

tibi is right. it saves me tons of time, and that time i could use to read other blogs, that i never had time for. his reading 150-200 blogs probably takes up less time that my 10-30 blogs did. so, much more efficient! during the time i am online, i keep the google reader open, and when someone loads a new blogpost, i see it come up. i find it especially useful to keep track of those blogs that don't update regularly. now i don't have to keep checking in, just to find there is nothing new.

i know that there are other ways to subscribe. there are many places where you can keep track of your blogs. if you use another way, let me know in the comments. i am quite new at this, so there is still lots to learn.

wow, this post has turned out to be one huge infomercial. google, you can send me the cheque now...

you can read follow-up comments about google reader here.

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

domestic bliss...

this is a typical winter's evening in our house. see the roaring fire in the background? ok, not so typical. usually we are out of wood. the men lying around, and the dirty dishes and the general messiness, now that is typical. the only thing missing, is a few cats and dogs. usually, the man has a cat lying on his chest. we have 4 cats, 3 dogs, 9 sheep, and a large assortment of ducks, guinea fowl, turkeys, and other birds. ah yes, domestic bliss...

on wilna's blog she has a link to this awesome layout. i think is is fabulous too. so i thought i would share it with you. also, i am linking it here, so that i can find it myself if i want to look at it again...

did you see how sexy donna downey is? she lost weight, and looks great. no more skinny poses for her...

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

what a weekend in blogland! well, for me, anyway...

wow! it has been an amazing few days for this blog! after being featured blog on typepad, and having my photoshop tutorial linked on scrapscene, and 4 other websites, some of which i had never heard of, and one of which is swedish and i could not understand what they said, i have had huge traffic to this blog. from thursday evening to monday morning, SA time, i have had over 500 visitors to this blog.

amatomu has a 'compare blogs' feature, where you can enter the URL of any of their member blogs, and it shows you how you compare to theirs. i used so close, a blog i read almost daily, written by tertia, a south african girl. and on her worst day she still gets hundreds more hits than i got on friday, my best day ever. a little while ago i exchanged emails with maryam in marrakesh after linking to her on my blog a week or so ago, and she mentioned that she gets 'a few thousand' hits every day.

so, it's all relative, i suppose. but for me, it was a wonderful weekend. i loved all the comments and emails. i loved checking in from time to time, and seeing how the stats had jumped. i loved the response. THANK YOU!

i got a very sweet email from lori. then i visited her blog. she is new to blogging, but she has all the potential to become a good blog. pop in to cottage art studio, and tell her i sent ya.

there are 2 kinds of traffic to this blog. one lot comes here through a link at a photoshop website. those people pop in, read the tutorial, and leave. they don't comment. they don't linger. they don't read anything else. then there are the people who come here to visit me. they read all over. they comment. some are my real-life friends and customers. some become email-buddies. so, which visitors are important? which should i focus on? the one-time visitors provide lots of hits. they link to me in their websites. they add to my technorati authority and increase ratings at places like amatomu, where your rating depends on your traffic, the 'feet' on a daily basis. but the 'regulars' who visit, and stay, and comment, and email, and come again, they make this blog more personal. they make it all worth the extra effort. the answer is that both are important. if only traffic counted, i could have a blog with lots of photoshop tutorials. they seem to draw the crowds. but it would feel faceless, empty. like a big supermarket. traffic, turnover, feet. they add credibility. but, that is not why i started blogging in the first place. i sometime ask myself if no one read this blog, would i still do it? the answer is yes. i have kept diaries before that no one else read. so, although blog hits are fun, it still is about writing, processing, thinking. and about the personal interaction. the intimate conversation. about you and me. you, who comes here often. you who comment. you who care. thanks to you. you make this fun.

love, jacki

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

dear diary...

today is the big day. today is the day we take our relationship to the next level...

he asked me weeks ago. i was surprised, stunned, excited, flattered, i had not seen it coming. and i said 'yes'! breathlessly.

he set the date for 24 july. 'but that is still weeks from now', i sighed. 'don't worry', he smiled. 'time goes by so fast, the day will be here before you know it'. besides, he knew he still had lots of work to do. he had to visit me often, reading me, getting to know me. so when he introduced me to his friends on the big day, he would have beautiful, flattering and intimate things to say about me.

in the weeks after this, i felt the doubts creeping in. 'why me?', i asked. there are so very many others so much more worthy. so many better, bigger and more beautiful than i. so many funnier, more intelligent, better company. so many that earn money and that are leaders in their fields, and that are famous, well liked and very popular. 'why me?' i am still not sure why, but i am very happy! and so i started to work on improving myself. i made some changes. some were dramatic, a whole new look. because first impressions are very important. some were more subtle. i tried to make myself more worthy, so i would make him proud. and his friends would (hopefully) see that he had made a good choice.

as is often the case with long distance relationships, i did not hear from him often. but, i did notice that he came to visit, he left his address in my visitor's log. as he had promised, time was flying by. and now, today is the big day. today is the day we take our relationship to the next level...

there will be no flowers, no music, no candles. but there will be witnesses - you. and there will be a shiny, pretty symbol of this day, a rare and coveted jewel that i would wear forever with pride, to remind myself of this very special occasion.

i cannot promise that we will be together till death do us part. i know it is not forever. but it is good for now. it works. it is fun. it make me happy. and so...

today is the big day. today is the day we take our relationship to the next level. today is the day i become a TYPEPAD FEATURED BLOG. today is a happy day...

love, jacki

ps. you are welcome to send large gifts, and money... and as with all great occasions, you are kindly requested to sign the visitors book. please? thank you!

 

and here is what he said:

scraps of jacki's life

scraps of jacki's life is actually three sites in one: it’s the name of a Scrapbooking Supplies Shop in Benoni, South Africa, the online life of owner Jacki Janse van Rensburg, and the name of her blog. As Jacki puts it, “scrapbooking is my hobby, my passion…and blogging is my compulsive obsession.” She melds all those interests in the pages of her site, and readers can follow her life, learn new skills, and applaud her talents in posts such as an online origami tutorial (with more tutorials to be found here), scrapbooking samples, and thoughts on life. And scrapbookers, you can get a look at your craft from a world away. Jacki’s site illustrates the capacity of blogs to connect a worldwide audience through interests and hobbies; links to South African bloggers and scappers, Arts and Crafts sites, and a peek at Jacki’s shop enliven this special online corner of the world.

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbooking shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

scraps of jacki's life is actually three sites in one: it’s the name of a Scrapbooking Supplies Shop in Benoni, South Africa, the online life of owner Jacki Janse van Rensburg, and the name of her blog. As Jacki puts it, “scrapbooking is my hobby, my passion…and blogging is my compulsive obsession.” She melds all those interests in the pages of her site, and readers can follow her life, learn new skills, and applaud her talents in posts such as an online origami tutorial (with more tutorials to be found here), scrapbooking samples, and thoughts on life. And scrapbookers, you can get a look at your craft from a world away. Jacki’s site illustrates the capacity of blogs to connect a worldwide audience through interests and hobbies; links to South African bloggers and scappers, Arts and Crafts sites, and a peek at Jacki’s shop enliven this special online corner of the world.

photoshop tutorial - how to make eyes 'pop'

i have lots of admin to do, so i thought it would be the perfect time to write another tutorial... anything to avoid 'work'.

this time i will show you how to make eyes 'pop' in photoshop. it makes eyes look bright and beautiful and lively. it puts a twinkle in your eyes, if you will... i use photoshop elements 6, but this will work in any photoshop. this follows directly on the tutorial on how to create a softened or dreamy-looking photo. i started using this extra step after i wrote that tutorial, but it is really great if you use it in conjunction with those steps. you can use it on it's own too.

the warning label was a digital freebie by valerie randall at scrapgirls.

first this disclaimer: all tricks seen on this page are done by trained professionals. please do not try this at home...  not! i am NOT a trained professional, i am not even a untrained professional. or a trained unprofessional. i am no expert, i just love playing with photoshop, and i am always looking for new ways to make my photos look better. ok? and you are welcome to try this at home. or at work. or in a coffee shop. or wherever. that is the whole point...

lets start where we ended with the first tutorial:

the festival vintage frame is from shabby princess.

they look identical at first glance, but look again at the eyes. see how the eyes 'pop' in the right hand photo? i will show you how to do this.

open your photo in photoshop, and do basic edits. you can follow the steps as described in the tutorial on how to create a softened photo, but this is optional. i did. now, right-click on the little thumb-nail of your photo on the right side of your screen, and 'create duplicate layer'. when it asks you for a name, call it 'eyes' or something that will make it easier for you to know what you did where.

with the 'eyes' layer selected, use your lasso tool, as shown by the pink arrow, and draw a shape around the whole eye. don't worry too much about how precise it is. when you have the 'marching ants' around the eye area, it is automatically selected.

{on the top menu bar, click on 'select', as shown by the green arrow. on the drop-down menu select 'modify', as shown by the red arrow, and then 'expand' as shown by the yellow arrow. in the menu box, fill in 'expand by 2 pixels'. this makes your selected area a little bigger.} this whole step is optional, if you are happy with how you selected the area.

now click on 'enhance' in the top menu bar, and then on 'auto sharpen'. only the selected area will sharpen, in this case the eye. you could click on 'auto sharpen' more than once, if you want, you can decide when the result is what you want. the point is that it is subtle and natural, you don't want your loved one to look high or feverish... if you sharpened too many times, you can click on 'edit' and the 'undo adjust sharpness', and it will undo that step. just play around until you are happy. remember to do the other eye as well (duh). just repeat the steps.

if, at any stage you want to start over, click on 'edit' and 'revert', and it will take you back to your original photo, or 'delete layer' to delete whatever you did on this layer.

this is anika. my sister paula's daughter. here she is in a pensive mood...

the frame is a floral frame by michelle coleman that you can download here.

and here is carla, my 'baby' sis:

and after the eyes trick:

the frame is the festival scalloped frame from shabby princess.

you see, subtle. yet interesting. please let me know if you like this?

you can see my other photoshop, scrapbooking and papercrafting tutorials here.

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, gauteng, south africa

this post got linked to: paxton prints, photoshop-pack (on 8 november 08 this post has had 1211 hits from here alone!), image insider, 2x del.ico.us, bild och foto, scrapscene, capturedinthemomentphotography

sean's school photos, and a linky-day keeps work-blues at bay... what?...

i made this layout last week, after being inspired by a layout by the amazing, the talented, the nicest melani. i used those boring school photos. i love the way the 2 pattern papers (queen of hearts and 7 gypsies) go together! this is the kind of layout that the shop-owner in me does not approve of. it has very little 'product' on it. only paper, mainly. not a big sales booster. also, notice that although it is a school layout, it has no school embellishments/paper etc. but i am enjoying it, it makes my eyes happy.. edited to add: i taught this layout in our workshop today (saturday), and although everyone's layout was different, they were all beautiful!  that is what makes scrapbooking so rewarding!

blogging in bed again. thought i'd have a linky day, to keep you from your work, and so avoiding those work-day blues. it sure beats solitaire... remember to open an excel spreadsheet in another window, so you can switch to it quickly when the boss walks by... just my contribution to the productivity in your office. remember when tetris came out? it seems like a million years ago. at the time, it was said that it was invented in russia, to decrease productivity in the west. i think it worked, too...

i have found 2 new blogs that i would like to kick of my 'blog of the moment' feature with. i enjoyed visiting them: my marrakesh is about a woman who is living in morocco. also, i enjoyed 37 days, that asks the question, what if you had 37 days left to live? the third blog that i'd like to highlight, is one i have been visiting often, for quite a few months, and is in my blogroll. yet, christine middlekamp is always worth a visit. there is so much scrapbooking inspiration there, and real life, too. tell me what you think of these blogs, i'd love to know!

next, go to jessica sprague. she is an awesome source of photoshop-inspiration. see her tutorial for making your photos 'pop'. also, i found a link on her blog to a photography article on 5 ways to hold your veiwer's attention. in fact, the website that the article is on, beyond megapixels, is a good site to visit if you are a photography fan.

then, if you have taken the digital photo, and photoshopped it, then you can digitally scrap it by using the free digital scrapbook kit you can find on that great site shutterfly.

if you have not done so, visit the south african scrapbook convention's website, and book. on the booking form, where they say 'group' tell glenda you are with scrappin times, and she will put you in our group. it really is a great event. and glenda is great too...

tomorrow is madiba - nelson mandela's  90th birthday.

i have not forgotton about the brillante weblog award. i will pass it on soon, i promise! in the meantime, please nominate any blog you read and love. i would like to make it democratic.

if you follow any of these links, leave a comment to tell me what you liked. also, on those blogs, leave a comment and tell them jacki sent you. comments are good. comments are what bloggers blog for. bloggers loooove comments. i know i do. don't know how to comment? just look directly below this post. there you will find the word 'comment'. just click on the word, and it will take you to a comment form. easy! even blondes from benoni can do it...

anyway, i'd better get out of bed, and get ready to go to work. i finished another scrapbook layout last night. seems i got my mojo back!

love, jacki

jacki janse van rensburg - SCRAPPIN TIMES scrapbook shop, benoni, south africa