{scraps of jacki's life}

plot life, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.  ~Oprah Winfrey

it is such a pleasure to live on a plot! yesterday afternoon my parents and my brother and his family came to visit, and we picked lots of fresh vegetables for them to take home.

little marni helped me so happily! she helped pick beans, gem squash, spinach, beetroot, onions and carrots. she also helped carry it all to the plastic tub.

when she saw what they were getting to take home, she jumped up and down, and said: "jaaay, we're getting food!". don't you feed your kids, boet? afterwards, she was quite happy to pose like a little supermodel! thanks, marni, for changing a chore into a happy memory. you made my day!

now, if this is not a good advert for healthier eating, i don't know what is..

what are you doing for new year? we are going to our neighbours, jannie and amelia. no roadblocks on the way home..

so, to all of you, happy new year! may 2008 bring many happy memories!

love, jacki

you can see the layout i scrapped with these photos here.

2008 calendar

We will open the book.  Its pages are blank.  We are going to put words on them ourselves.  The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.  ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

we have been making these calendars as gifts. they stand on your desk, and if you are in an office and your desk faces the door, then the nice side faces you as you come in, and the functional side is towards you when you work. if you wish, you could take the calendar part off and replace it with a 2009 calendar next year.

the above examples were made by ineke, liza and laetitia. the kits are from wilpro, and we cannot keep up with the stock, they sell as fast as i can get them! next year i'll have to get lots more!

love, jacki

SCRAPPIN TIMES

post-christmas blues

Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for - I don't know what exactly, but it's something that you don't mind so much not having at other times. ~Kate L. Bosher 

the left overs are eaten, the house is dirty, the laundry basket is overflowing, the lawn is growing. yes indeed, christmas is over! I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.... I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby.  ~Nancie J. Carmody

all in all it was a lovely day. we had lunch at my parents after church, and then we went to mike's dad and stepmom, and then to his mom and stepdad. yesterday we spent the day being lazy, sleeping, watching mindless junk on tv, and such. i wanted to scrap, but by the time i was ready to start it was evening, and i couldn't tell in the aritficial light if the colour of the cardstock would match the colour of the paint and the colour of the rub-ons... such a dilemma!

what did you do these past days? how was your christmas? was it all you expected it to be?

Next to a circus there ain't nothing that packs up and tears out faster than the Christmas spirit. ~Kin Hubbard

if going to the 2008 scrapbook convention is one of your resolutions for the new year, then don't forget to go the website to check it out. if you book and pay before end january, you will get an early bird gift. elsewhere on this blog you will find links to the blogs of some of the teachers that are teaching there. also, check out the convention on 3 may in cape town. i have heard a secret about who the 2 international teachers are. i'll let you know when they are confirmed. anyone up for a girl's weekend? let me know if you might be interested...

love,

jacki

christmas eve

i wish you and your families a blessed christmas!

christmas eve in africa

the ceiling fan is on at full blast. i have a chicken roasting in the oven to serve cold tomorrow, and a creamy potato dish to serve hot tonight. the asparagus and mustard sauce are ready, i still need to make potato salad. 2 meals in progress at once.. tomorrow we are having christmas lunch at my mom's house. no crowds, just the 6 of us. everyone has to do a meat and a staple and a veg. all cold. francois is making pears in red wine. he practised on us on saturday. mmmm! tonight, francois, mike and myself are having dinner at home. sean is visiting his mom for the holidays.

a cheesy christmas cd is playing 'i'm dreaming of a white christmas'. mike is asleep on the couch, with kietsie, the obsessed cat - obsessed with mike - also asleep on his chest.

at last i got into the christmas spirit. i still worked this morning, and i only felt the first stirring of christmas cheer in woollies this afternoon. i think is was the outrageously expensive glazed hams that triggered it...

last week a client in my shop said something that has made me think: she said 'i am not a christmassy person. i mean, i believe in the birth of Jesus and everything, but i do not really enjoy christmas. besides, i'm working, and it feels like everyone is having a party, and i'm not invited". and since she said that, i have come to the realization that i feel exactly the same! this is the first time that i have actually admitted it, even to myself, but it's true. and since i have started talking about it, many people have told me they feel the same. this time of year i am tired, and filled with an unspeakable sadness, for i don't know what. and i have felt this way for as long as i can remember, from some weeks before christmas till after new year. and somehow, if you say this to a christmassy person, they look at you as though you are mad, or you are suffering from depression, or something bad is wrong with you.

anyway, i am making the best of it. i have learned something about myself. and next year, i'll be more pro-active, i'll book a few days away for myself and mike, somewhere special.

i have to go and finish supper. i hope you are a christmassy person, and your day is a magical fairytale come true for you. i hope you remember that all the gift-giving is a reminder of the ultimate gift from GOD, HIS gift of everlasting life for us. especially to rene, ineke, liza, linda, janine, gerty, mathilda and everyone else who pops into this blog regularly, i hope you have a great family day.

love,

jacki

christmas decorations

we have been folding these christmas gift boxes. they are made with one square of paper for the lid, and one square for the bottom, making scrapbooking paper ideal for this! the instructions are in the december issue of creating keepsakes magazine. they fold together, making the inside as pretty as the outside, and you don't need any glue! it is one of those projects that is easier than it looks. if you ask me, i will show you how to do it in 5 mins.

the christmas tags were inspired by an example in the december issue of time and about magazine.

happy crafting!

love, jacki

SCRAPPIN TIMES

new blogs

Scrapbooking fills my days - not to mention my living room, bedroom and closets!  ~Author Unknown

yaaaay!

i found 3 new blogs! like i need more blogs to visit on a almost daily basis. but i will recommend these 3.

leah fung is based in the USA. she has wonderful tips, ideas, templates and inspirations on her site. she is very generous, and shares freely her ideas. very inspiring, especially now, she has gorgeous christmas ideas.

Céline Navarro lives in the south of france. she is one of the teachers at the 2008 scrapbook convention. you can visit her blog and get to know her before the convention.

jenni bowlin is also one of the teachers at next year's convention. she is from the USA.

and then, the website for the scrapbook convention has been updated for the 2008 convention, held on 13 and 14 september. you can check it out, and get into the mood. if you book and pay before end of january, you qualify for the early bird special gift. there is also a convention in cape town in may.

while i'm on the topic, i find all those great quotes at quote garden. you name the topic, and they have the quotes!

happy surfing!

love, jacki

SCRAPPIN TIMES

I scrapbook therefore I am - broke.  ~Author Unknown

good blogger

man, have i been a good blogger lately! are you impressed? lots of entries this week, and some more planned for next week. i'm setting high standards for myself. i may regret it soon...

love, jacki

artists trading cards

Artist trading cards (ATC's)

according to  wikipedia, "are individual art miniatures which pass hand to hand. Artists have produced miniatures for trade or self-promotion in many eras and places, and the current trend is growing, due to trading over the internet. The only rule for these cards is their size (2.5 x 3.5 inches, the same as commercial trading cards, such as baseball cards and cards for trading card games). There are, however, certain conventions usually observed by those who make and trade these cards, such as the expectation that they be traded, not sold, and that they be created as unique works or small limited editions of prints. Artists generally sign and date the back, and may also include a title and contact information. The face-to-face trading session is considered an integral part of the concept, although many people find each other via the internet and trade by mail.

Artist Trading Cards are typically made on a base of card stock. However, ATCs have been created on metal, stiffened fabric, plastic, clay, glass, balsa wood, leather, embroidery canvas, acetate, heavy watercolor paper, and many other materials. The art on the cards can be done in any media: textile arts, pencil, watercolor, acrylic, oil, collage, scratch board, mixed media, assemblage, digital art, calligraphy, beadwork, rubber stamps, carved soft block stamps, pen and ink, colored pencil, airbrush, pastels, and many others - anything artists use.

The only standard requirement for an ATC is that its height and width measurements be 2.5" x 3.5", either portrait or landscape orientation. The sky can be the limit for every other aspect of the art.

In the big, wide world of ATCs, there is no thickness limit, either, but people customarily make them thin enough to fit inside the standard card collector pockets, sleeves or sheets".

ATC's are a growing trend in the papercrafts world, so you will probably have heard of them already.

there are 2 visual examples of ATC's that i came accross recently in my wanderings accross the world wide web. one is the opening picture on the website of 7 gypsies. they make a ATC spinner, where you can put these cards in to display them.

the other example is ali edwards christmas project, where she scrapped little cards with a christmas theme, and put them in her 7gypsies spinner.

maybe one day soon, we will attempt some cards as a scrap workshop. we'll see. in the meantime, you now know what they are.

love, jacki

SCRAPPIN TIMES

liza's christmas tree

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree.  In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.  ~Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas

liza made this tree, which acts as a decoration. as it is double sided, it can hang against a window. this was a very popular class, as it gave everyone the opportunity to be as creative as she wanted. also, it is a good way to use up all your scraps.

Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money.  ~Author Unknown

love, jacki

SCRAPPIN TIMES

linda's gift box

But it is a cold, lifeless business when you go to the shops to buy something, which does not represent your life and talent, but a goldsmith's.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Gifts," Essays, Second Series, 1844

linda has been very crafty lately. she has scrapped this box for her mother-in-law, as a treasure box. she has currently got an ice-cream tub on her dressing table, for all her treasures, so she desperately needs an upgrade... nice idea for a christmas gift!

A hug is a great gift - one size fits all, and it's easy to exchange.  ~Author Unknown

love, jacki

SCRAPPIN TIMES

happy birthday

confucius says: birthdays are good for you. the more you have, the longer you live...

happy birthday, rene. hope you have a GREAT day, and hope the year ahead is blessed! love you, my friend!

i have discovered that at my age, going braless pulls all the wrinkles from my face..

load shedding

Technology... is a queer thing.  It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other.  ~C.P. Snow, New York Times, 15 March 1971

darn load shedding...

monday morning the power was out at my house for 4 hours, and tuesday morning at the shop for 4 hours. tonight the power is off at home again. fortunately, my laptop has about 2 hours of battery power, and the internet is wireless, so i can post a blog entry. yet, i am typing this by candlelight to see the keypad. how ironic...

when the power is off, the restaurant and fish and chip shop in my centre have a problem, as do so many businesses. but there are only 2 things i can't do when my shop's power is off. i can't take debit cards, and i can't make coffee. the rest i can manage with pen and paper, a calculator and the old fashioned zip zap credit card machine. i get plenty of light through the windows.

i found instructions in the december issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine on how to make gift boxes, and man, have i been having fun! will photograph and post them when i have power again. they are sooo quick and easy.. also, find more free downloads on their website for gift tags, etc, here.

battery is almost flat, so...

love, jacki

and, happy birthday, paula! hope you had a great day, sis.

life, and other random thoughts

Geluk is 'n parfuum wat jy nie op iemand anders kan spuit sonder om ook 'n paar druppels op jouself te kry nie. Ralph Waldo Emmerson

I am in quite a pensive mood tonight. I watched a movie called ‘the squid and the whale’. It was not a ‘feel good’ movie. It was not a nice movie. It was an ugly movie. It was about people, and how they hurt each other, and how they love each other. It was not a typical hollywood movie, where they all hug in the end, and then everything is ok. Not at all. Things get quite ugly, and they got even worse, and there was no instant solution. They just learned to live with the disappointing hand that life dealt them. They were not ok in the end. But you could see that they had grown. And through that growth, they would learn to deal with life.

Kinda difficult, I like happy endings. I like it when they all live happily ever after, then I don’t have to worry about those characters anymore. Their problems are sorted…

After that I read an article in the december issue of ‘Leef’ magazine, an awesome magazine. If you don’t know it, then get it! Really!, about a woman who has a child who has an untreatable disease. The child has a difficult life. Yet this mother has so. much. faith! Not necessarily that her child will be cured, although, of course, this is what they really want. But that this child will live a fulfilled and blessed life, and that she will touch and bless others, and that if and when she dies, that there is no doubt as to where she will go. Is this not enough to make you smile and cry at the same time? Is this not what we want for all our children? Surely these people get it? I wish there was a way that I could tell them how much their story touched my heart. And it shows once again, that what we all know. That our faith only truly grows and deepens and matures through adversity. Unfortunately…

I am typing this blogpost in word, and when it is finished, I will cut and paste it into the blog. I am doing this, because my 3G connection is even worse than usual tonight. It is really slower than dial-up, in spite of what the adverts say. Word automatically corrects my ‘mistakes’, this is why it is all correct, with capital letters and all. Really, sooo boring…

i am a night owl. i function better later at night. but it is almost getting to that time where late is becoming early, and i cannot do early. so...

love, jacki

christmas cards

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:  the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.  ~Burton Hillis

here are some christmas cards that i made. there are 9 in total. i have made up kits that i am selling for R45, and each kit makes 6 cards. that comes to R7,50 per card. if you add some of your scraps, you can make more cards, and the cost per card will come down.

this is especially ideal for kids. i like my cards understatedly elegant, but if you like you could add bling, etc. if you have stamps, you could stamp on the outside or the inside. also, you could add stickers, glitter, etc.

i used 2 sheets of textured cardstock, 30cm x 30cm. i cut them into 3 strips each of 30cm x 10cm, making the basis for the 6 cards. then i just folded them, and played around! the kits have templates for the squares, trees and tags.

love, jacki

SCRAPPIN TIMES

friends, and cardmaking

Friends are the Bacon Bits in the Salad Bowl of Life.
- Pizza Place Sign

saturday

today was quite a quiet day at the shop, but it was a great day, because 3 friends came to visit me! sandy popped in to say hi after i hadn't seen her for many weeks. rene came to have tea, and catch up. and ineke came to scrap with me. what a lovely morning...

although i didn't scrap much. i am working on a special page, that i will share later. but it seems to be intimidating me, as it is quite unusual. i will tell you the amazing story in a later post, when the page is done.

ineke has been making cards lately, and she is making me feel inspired to do the same. ineke, i found a website that gives sketches for cards, one a week, and then gives examples of cards made with the sketch. Look here. making cards are such a fun way of using your scraps. i made a few christmas gifts in the last few weeks. this is actually very satisfying! and cheaper!

in her upcoming workshops, liza will be making a scrapped christmas tree, and a desktop calendar that you could give as a special gift. pop into the shop to check it out. as soon as she has done these classes, i will post the results.

francois has gone to the 46664 concert. i wonder how it is going...

love, jacki