{scraps of jacki's life}

Social media for churches (or any religious group)

Should my church or group have a social media presence?

Social Media is for celebrities and large companies and the youth, right? Wrong! Small local companies and organisations with a limited, local market, can find social media a very powerful tool in their marketing strategy. Even a church can reach its congregation and community very well, by using Facebook and Twitter effectively.

Social media is cheap, easy to use, informal, immediate and social. Perfect for your church!

It may be more practical to have more than one social media profile for your church community. Different departments may have their own pages, with their own focus. You could have a ‘general’ page, a community outreach page, and a youth page. The idea is that each page has its own identity, while at all times being obviously part of the church's stable. Finding your church's 'Main' page should be easy from everywhere. All pages should be linked to each other. It is advisable to have the name and logo of the church displayed prominently on each page, and to have at least one person who acts as admin person across all pages, to ensure brand consistency and continuity.

Incorporate all your church's web presences into one vibrant, informal and informative digital footprint. Your website, blog, Facebook and Twitter should all point to each other, and work together. Get a bigger and constantly growing congregation and community buy-in and participation.

To make your church’s social media strategy most effective, decide in advance exactly who your target audience is. Knowing them, and keeping them in mind at all times while posting, is vitally important. Who do you want to engage? What are the goals of the page? What content do you want to share?

Some of the more obvious target audiences for your church page are the following:

• Current active members of the congregation – youth and adults
• Current members of the church, who do not attend services regularly
• People in the surrounding area, who are potential new members, or who may sometimes attend a special service, course or event
• People who do not live close by, who still want to feel a part of your church community
• Non-Christians, people who are unsure, or people who are inactive in their faith

Current, active members of the congregation

These are the people who attend services and events regularly. They know who you are, and are most likely to ‘Like’ your page. They are the easiest and most supportive and active audience to reach, but it is also often a case of ‘preaching to the converted’.

Posts aimed at this group may include:

Information and reminders of upcoming services and events – general info, what times and places, what to expect, don’t forget, etc. A big advantage of these posts, is that members who have not attended services for a while will still be in the loop, members will be able to ‘share’ these posts on their own profiles and so reach a far wider audience, and people who check their feed regularly can be reminded of the event on the day

Feedback and photos of events that happened recently – this gives the member good opportunity to see photos, post comments, tag friends, ask questions, relive the experience, and give feedback. It is best to update the pages with photos and feedback on Facebook from every church event, within minutes. Preferably as it happens. This helps to create a greater sense of community. Tagging people in photos will place the photo and the related post on their wall, thereby potentially reaching a far wider audience. It is here where having a regular blog, that does ‘community’ and ‘around the campus’ type posts, will also be useful. Make sure you update the Facebook page regularly with links to these posts. The point is to show photos and tell stories from events and projects by and around your church - sometimes a short update is not enough. The intention is to get each department to do their own 'Press releases'. When people work hard, or have fun, or donate time and money, the results will be visible to all on the blog. All should be linked to the Facebook pages.

This audience group is important, because they will ‘Like’ and comment on your posts, create a buzz, and will be most likely to ‘Share’ your posts, thus creating visibility and community. They influence their friends. Some people influence hundreds of friends, many of whom don’t know about your church and may not even be Christians. This will raise awareness of your church and its activities and outreaches.

Current members of the church, who do not attend regularly

Getting someone to ‘Like’ a church page, is very important. Unless you really annoy that person, it is rather unlikely that they will un-‘like’ the page again anytime soon. This means that you can reach them, even if they are not attending services regularly. You are keeping a connection that you would not have had otherwise. This is a person who is loyal to your church, but does not see your notices on the screen, or get them at the door. When he sees regular reminders and feedback in his feed, that feeling of ‘missing out’ may encourage him to come back.

People in the area, who are potential new members, or who may sometimes attend a special service

These are the people who may live in the areas surrounding your church, who may or may not attend regular services at another church. They may be family or friends of a regular member, of may have been a happy member in the past. They may love your church, but they are not members or regulars. This is a very valuable audience to reach – your next active member may come from here! It is important that you portray your church as warm, welcoming, active and friendly.

People who do not live close by, who still want to feel a part of a church community

This will probably not be your primary target audience, but you may be reaching them ‘accidentally’. This group may still be loyal and interested, and may ‘Like’ and comment on your posts. If your church has podcasts and videos of sermons, and blog posts or articles on relevant topics, discussions and forums, this may be what this group is after. Make sure you post links to this kind of content often. You could also post links to content generated by people outside of your church, such as other minsters and speakers that you admire. Also, you could post bible verses or inspiring quotations, to keep this group interested. Bear in mind that it is this kind of content that is most likely to be shared by your fans, to a wider audience.

Non-Christians, people who are unsure, or people who are inactive in their faith

A very important function of your church’s social media presence may be what I like to call e-Evangelism. Your church should decide in advance if their social media focus will be on this, or not. Some of these audience members may feel intimidated by overly Christian content. Others may ‘Like’ your page for precisely that reason. For some people, your Facebook page may be their first interaction with your church, so it should always be welcoming, inclusive and community-friendly. But you are a church after all, and should be proud of it. Keep a good balance.

Finally

It is important to get your social media presence to grow. Make sure there are links to your social media from your website. Put links on your presentations, newsletters, course materials, service notices and on the bottom of your emails. Keep the content and updates relevant, interesting, ‘share’-able and fun. Build conversation. Ask questions. Create discussions. Post photos. Engage. Reach your congregation, your community, and sometimes even reach beyond a Christian audience. And don’t be afraid to experiment. Social media content has a short shelf-life. So if you try something and it didn’t work, you can try something else.

Love, Jacki

Thoughts on having an eBook reader - Amazon Kindle 3.0.2 with Wi-Fi and 3G

When I was thinking about buying an e-book reader, I searched online for opinions of others about the topic. And I found no shortage of reviews on specific readers. But they were all technical reviews, on the specs and the size, and how the e-ink works, and having a backlight versus no backlight. All very useful. So I am not going to write in depth on that topic. If you need more technical info on the Kindle, see here.

This is about the question that I did not find the answers to: why would I want an e-book reader? Would it be difficult to read on? How does the book get on there? What do I do once I have one?

I have to start by saying that I have quite an emotional relationship with books. Books are never just inanimate objects; they are more just the sum of their parts. Books are my friends. Books are more than just words on paper, I see them, feel the paper, smell the ink. Having books close by me, displayed in my bookshelf or piled on my bedside table, is part of the experience – the anticipation of the unread ones, and the soft voices in the lingering memories of the finished ones – I read with all my senses.

I was, and still am, very concerned that reading books on an e-book reader will be fundamentally different. And generally, every booklover I have spoken to has voiced the same concerns. I have come to the conclusion that it is probably a compromise.

The e-book reader will never take the place of books completely, but it is a good supplement. It is lighter and smaller than a book, and fits nicely in my handbag. That also makes it more practical and accessible than a book. It can contain a huge number of e-books and e-magazines and e-newspapers. It is more practical to carry around than a book. Just recently I spent the 12 minutes it takes to get from Sandton to the East Rand in the Gautrain, reading. And the few minutes I wait in the car at my son’s school are also spent with my nose in my, er, Kindle.

But I am also often a spontaneous reader. I buy a paperback at my supermarket with my groceries. I blow my budget with an impulse buy when browsing through a bookshop. I buy books from second-hand bookshops. And I borrow books from friends; I get it from her along with her vocal, on-the-spot review. So I don’t think I will ever give up on paper books either. The Kindle will supplement my books.

Buying a Kindle, and buying eBooks

Buying Kindle is simple. You go to www.amazon.com and look around there, and if you are ready you just click to follow the instructions. From the moment of purchase to having it in my hands was one week.

Once you have it, you go back to Amazon’s website, and follow the prompts to register your Kindle and linking it to your credit card, and from then on buying a book is incredibly easy. From the moment of purchase till it is on your Kindle is a matter of seconds. You can buy directly from your Kindle, or from your computer. I find browsing their shop easier from my computer, simply because it is easier to navigate. The book you purchase is sent to your Kindle via Wi-Fi as first option, and if none is available, 3G. (More on 3G later)

I got the Kindle without a cover, and since I will be carrying it around in my handbag, I found a cover very necessary. They are almost impossible to find here, so when you are ordering your Kindle, you may consider ordering one of the many cover, pouch or skin options they have available, at the same time.

Another brilliant feature is the ability to buy a sample book. Any book available to buy, gives you the option of getting a sample book first – the first few chapters of the book are sent to your Kindle free of charge. When you have finished reading those you can buy the rest of the book with a click from your Kindle. I love this option, as I am not always sure if I want the book, without browsing it first. I recently bought a wrong book accidentally, and I wrote an email to Amazon support from the website. Within minutes I received a reply, and within a day or so the amount was reversed on my credit card. No fuss.

It is also instant gratification. Once my account was set up at Amazon and linked to my Kindle and credit card, I had instant access to any book I could think of. Many of the classics from Shakespeare to Sherlock Holmes are very cheap or free. Other books that would require a search in bookshops are at my fingertips. Bestsellers are available even before the bookshops launch them, and at a better price. So, if it is a specific book I am looking for, I can have it on my Kindle within minutes. While thinking about buying, you can browse the range of books here. 

Reading on the Kindle

Reading on the Kindle is surprisingly easy. There is no screen glare. Ever. Under any conditions. As difficult as it is to imagine before you have tried it, it really does read just like a book. Except that it is lighter, and easier to hold. Once I got the hang of turning the pages by pressing a button, it was easy to forget that it was not a paper book. You can set the font size from rather small with more lines per page, to rather large with fewer lines per page. One thing I love is the built-in dictionary (there are 2); when you move the cursor to the beginning of a word, it will bring up the definition of it, and you can click if you need even more info. You can also highlight and save quotes and clippings, for later referral. The screen is black-on-white. This is easy to read, but might be a little detrimental if the book you are reading has a large number of photos. Especially if you are going to be using your Kindle for reading magazines, it may be a drawback. But for ordinary novels, it is perfect.

Because it is not backlit, it is easy to read in any light conditions, and it is easier on the eyes, but it does mean you need a light when it is dark. The absence of a backlight also make the battery last longer.

Having a Kindle in South Africa

This was a big concern to me. Most reviews I had read, were about owning a Kindle in USA, and I was worried about spending all that money, and then it didn't work here.

first: if you have any concerns about Amazon not shipping to SA, you can read what Simon Dingle says about that here.

Having a Kindle here is really not very different to having a Kindle in USA. Once you have your account set up, it works very much the same. Many of the books available for free in the Kindle books store on Amazon to users in USA, are available to international readers for $2. South African online bookshops like kalahari.net and exclus1ves are moving into the e-book market, and are adding titles to their ranges all the time. The books available from these sites are very well priced. Kalahari is now also offering Huisgenoot and You in eMagazine format, with other titles to be added soon. 

Other features

Some of the other features offered with the Kindle are a PDF reader, the ability to play your music files (experimental) and a text-to-speech feature. Although you can download and listen to audio books, the text-to-speech feature means your Kindle can read all your books to you, even the ones that are not audio books. You can choose between a male and female voice, and reading speeds. The voice is rather electronic and monotonous, and the accent is annoyingly American, but the feature has its uses.

The browser is 3G, and it is free. It does not use a simcard. This makes it possible for you to buy books anywhere, anytime. It does browse the internet, and is bookmarked with Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia and more. The browser is very clumsy and slow, and browsing is not very comfortable. It was never meant to be a tablet computer, and browsing on my phone is faster and easier.

All in all, I am thrilled with my Kindle. I love the convenience and the portability. It is a great tool for any book worm, and a great gift.

Specs:

• Available from Amazon.com here

• Weight: 8.7 ounces - 232.46609 grams (lighter than any book)

• Reading area: 6” – 15.24cm diagonal

• Thickness: 0.335” – 8.51mm

• Cost: $189 without shipping costs

• Holds up to 3 500 books

• Battery life is about 1 month if Wi-Fi is switched off

 Do you have a Kindle? Or another eBook reader? Do you like it? Where do you buy your eBooks? What is your favourite book that you have read on it? 

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The launch of the latest book from South African writer Deon Meyer, ‘Spoor’

He caught my eye as I glanced around. He stood out from the crowd. It could have been because he looked familiar, and that I was expecting him to be there. He was what this evening was about, after all. But there was something about him. A quiet confidence, a man who has grown used to being the centre of attention. Not an ego. An aura.

I was at the launch of Deon Meyer's new book, 'Spoor'. He is one of my favourite South African authors.

After being served wine or water, we were called to order, and he sat down with Etienne Bloemhof, Deon’s publisher and friend. They each had a microphone, and they were chatting casually. With a practised ease, Etienne asked questions, and Deon answered. A lot of it was probably scripted, and done before. It was after all the second time that week they were doing this; they had done a launch for ‘Spoor’ a few days earlier in Bloemfontein. Yet it did not feel contrived, it felt like a lovely chat between friends about the book, and the writing process.

They chatted about the 18 months it took to write ‘Spoor’, the fact that it is his thickest book yet, and about the characters in it. Deon described how he misses his characters when a book is done, and how he actually worries about them. 

After about an hour they were finished, and I didn’t want them to stop! I could have listened to them chat for longer, and judging by the fact that most of the visitors to the launch were listening quietly, they felt that way too. After a short Q & A session, the crowd formed a queue at the tills and in front of Deon, to buy the book and have it signed. During this time a dish of delicious Bobotie was served, and a chocolate covered chilli for dessert.

It was such a treat to meet Deon Meyer. I have been a fan of his writing since I read ‘Blood Safari’ (my review here), and I am looking forward to reading ‘Spoor’, in Afrikaans, as soon as I am finished with his excellent book ‘Thirteen Hours’ on my Kindle. He came across as a nice guy who does not take himself too seriously. A friend, Rina, who also attended the event, said “he came across very warm, humble and friendly. Very, very charming too - a real heartthrob in our books”. He took the time to chat to everybody, and answered questions. He signed piles of books, and remained friendly and personal about it.

Thanks to Human & Rousseau and Exclusive Books Brooklyn Mall, for arranging such a great event, and for doing it all in Afrikaans! I left the event an even bigger fan than before!

 

have you ever been to a booklaunch? do you have a book signed by the author? which author would you love to meet?

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on reading, and writing book reviews..

This post was written for women24's book club, and was published here on 13 August 2010.

My Dutch grandmother says I read 'prul boeken'. this means that instead of reading 'good' books, books of value, books that have meaning; I read empty, meaningless, cheap novels churned out by commercial writers who produce a book a year, all written by a formula. The literary versions of rom-coms. You know: pulp fiction.

She is right.

I read to escape. For a few hours at least, I want to be somewhere else. Living someone else's life. It has to read quick and easy, and if the story is forgettable it is also ok, because then I can get better value for my R100 by reading it again in a year or two. I have always jokingly said that if it has a fact in the first chapter, then I am put off. And if there is no murder in the first chapter, I am also disappointed.

I don't normally read chick-lit. There are a few exceptions, but generally I choose thrillers, who-dunnits and legal dramas - my favourite writers are James Patterson, Jonathan Kellerman, John Grisham and even Dan Brown. I read very fast, I can finish an average paperback in a day if you leave me alone, so I prefer it if I don't have to think.

But this year I decided to read a little wider. Try new authors. Different genres.

And so in this spirit of inclusiveness, I read 'The Time Traveler's Wife' - a book a friend lent me. And I loved it! For weeks after, the story stayed with me.

It was during these weeks, that Sam Wilson, editor at women24 and twitter-friend, tweeted that book24 was looking for someone to do a book review for them. Without delay, I set about writing a review for 'The Time Traveler's Wife', and within an hour it was ready to send off to woman24. A few days later I got an email from Tammy, the book24 editor, saying that they already had a review for that book, but was I interested in doing a monthly review?

And so it came that I write a review every month. And that means I have to read a book every month. And it has to be a reviewable book.

This has been a wonderful challenge. Suddenly I have to think about what I read, and I have to think about the story while I’m reading it. I am reading more critically. I am asking other people who have read the book their opinions. Instead of just consuming, I’m chewing. And in the process i have discovered wonderful new writers.

I look forward to further literary growth. To many happy hours spent reading.

What do you read?

Book review: The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

i wrote this book review for women24's book club. i write one for them every month. but they already had one for this book, so i will post it here.

 

When Claire is 20, she meets 28-year old Henry, her husband-to-be. He has never seen her. She has known him well, almost her entire life.

Henry suffers from a genetic disorder, Chrono-Displacement. This causes him to travel through time, into his own future or past. This sound very sci-fi, but surprisingly, it is not. The story is written from both Henry and Clare’s perspectives, and it jumps back and forth through time. Obviously it has the potential to be confusing, yet it is written so well that it all makes wonderful sense.

The focus of the story is not Henry’s time travel; it is about their relationship, and the love and the difficulty they share. Henry has no control over when or where he travels. But his older self often visits the young Clare, where he gets to know her, and she him. At first she is a child, but as she grows into a young woman, she comes to love him. It is through his time-travel, that he gets to know Clare, it is also through his time-travel that we get to know Henry. We see, as he does, how his mother dies, and we meet his daughter when he sees her at the age of 10, and talks to her, although she was not even born yet in his present.

The characters are so real. The book explores all the emotions they experience. Not only relating to his time-travel, but also their love and marriage, in times of better and worse, in sickness and health, and in birth and death.

I read this book a few months ago, and the story has been haunting me ever since. I can honestly say that it is one of the most memorable books I have ever read. It makes you laugh and cry, and think and wish, and dream and fear. I would recommend it to anybody, especially to the romantic at heart.

After loving the book, I watched the movie. As is usually the case, the movie was a little disappointing, and my husband, who had not read the book, found it very confusing. The book is just so much more complex, and many of the book’s themes are not even portrayed in the movie. The book was published in 2003, and the movie came out in 2009, and features Eric Bana and Rachael McAdams.

You can read more about the book and the author here.

You can order the book here.

my review for 'blood safari' - deon meyer

my review for 'the other side of the story' - marian keyes

 

what are you reading? what have you read that you loved?

 

you are my hero, brother!

 

the captain of this aeroplane, Andre Bakker, is my brother.

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7 December 2009

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33 unhurt after plane overshoots runway

Roy McKenzie

Cape Town - SA Airlink has confirmed that its flight SA8625 operating from Cape Town to George was involved in "an incident" on landing at George Airport on Monday morning, but that 30 passengers and three crew are unhurt.

"The aircraft, an Embraer 135 (37 seat) regional jet ZS SJX, is reported as having aquaplaned off the end of the wet runway," SA Airlink said.

The incident occurred at 11:06.

"Airlink has arranged trauma counselling for all passengers and crew. Airport staff and trauma councillors are with the passengers at present," spokesperson Karin Murray said.

Ended up on road

"The aircraft appears to be damaged the extent of which is unknown at this stage."

The company apologised for any inconvenience caused to passengers, and said it would release further information as soon as it becomes available.

"The airplane landed at about 11:00 this morning, it went through the lights at the end of the runway, through the fence, and ended up on the road itself," Western Cape police spokesperson Inspector Bernadine Steyn told News24 from the scene.

Traffic was not affected.

Western Cape Safety and Security department spokesperson Julian Jansen told Sapa that the plane came to a halt at an intersection between the airport and the N2 freeway.

"The plane overshot the runway because the brakes apparently failed," Sapa quoted him as saying.

- News24

more articles about the incident here and here and here.

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Press release:

By George, it was the runway after all!

Johannesburg, 6 May 2010

 
Airlink welcomes today’s pronouncement by the Civil Aviation Authority that the aquaplaning accident at George on 7 December 2009 was caused by a combination of runway deficiencies resulting from; the use of bituminous fogspray, depressions in the runway surface allowing water to pool, and inadequate macro texture and micro texture.
 
The accident catalysed a sequence of events including; an intensive and rigorous audit by the CAA which culminated in some findings that jeopardised the airline, and the unrelated grounding of the Jetstream 4100 aircraft type on 23 December after a benign discontinued takeoff at Mpumalanga, which in isolation would not have justified any intervention by the CAA.  Airlink was as a consequence of the George accident thrown into mayhem and the events that ensued with many flights being disrupted were particularly unsettling for our passengers. Public perceptions created by the media in response to the accident were that Airlink presented an imminent threat to safety and practised alleged “dodgy” maintenance.  Travellers were concerned about flying with Airlink and many chose alternative means of getting to their destinations or cancelled their bookings.  This has been the most difficult period in Airlink’s history and its biggest threat.
 
The thorough audits (and independent reviews by internationally accredited aviation experts including Captain Scully Levin) that Airlink was subjected to and voluntarily undertook, confirmed that Airlink’s aircraft are airworthy, are maintained to the highest international standards, and that Airlink’s operational and safety procedures and standards are world class.
 
Airlink CEO Rodger Foster said “the finding by the CAA that Airlink was not in any way to blame for the George accident is a further affirmation of Airlink’s integrity as a serious and committed airline to upholding the highest international operational and safety standards. Airlink has emerged from the post accident trauma as a stronger leaner more efficient business with enhanced procedures and standards”.
Cognizant that many customers have experienced service disruptions resulting from the restrictions imposed by the CAA on the use of the runway in wet conditions, Airlink is relieved that runway resurfacing is in progress and looks forward to this work being completed on or before 18 May and to the lifting of the restrictions such that air services at George can be normalised for all operators.
 
“Now that the cause of the accident has been made public, Airlink would like to acknowledge the efforts and skills of our crew, Captain Andre Bakker, First Officer Richard Halton and our Flight Attendant Anneena Hurling, in ensuring the safety of our passengers during the accident and subsequently evacuating our passengers was nothing short of heroic. The fact that there were no serious injuries, other than a sprained ankle sustained by the First Officer, bears testament to the professionalism of our pilots in the circumstances. This applies equally to all George airport emergency response staff and especially our passenger handling team led by John Spence, said Rodger.
 

“Airlink wishes to thank our many loyal customers for their continued support of our services and for their numerous messages of encouragement throughout these very challenging times. We apologise for any inconvenience and disruption they may have experienced”, Foster emphasized.

see some news articles on the report here and here and here.

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in spite of initial attempts of journalists and news sites and commenters on the websites to blame airlink, the pilots and the maintenance of the planes, it seems that the problem was with the runway.

i am proud of the way my brother and his crew handled this very difficult situation. their actions prevented serious consequences and possible loss of lives.

you are my hero, brother!

 

liza scraps with harmonie products..

recently, i got an email from a company called harmonie, based in canada. they make scrapbooking and stamping products. they asked if they could send me a sample scrapbooking kit to use.

what a question! i said yes! it was quite exciting, getting a mystery package in the mail! when the kit came, it was quite tropical. as i had no 'island holiday' photos, i gave the pack to liza, who had just come from her holiday in mozambique.

the pack contained a number of patterned papers, a die-cut sheet of paper, some ribbon, a pack of colourful buttons, an alphabet, some chipboard elements, a pack of travel-related stamps and a perspex embellishment.

 

liza enjoyed working with these products, and they do her photos justice!

thanks harmonie!

 

edited to add: you can see liza's layout featured in their gallery here. if you look carefully, you will see sophia allison's layout there too!

a moment in time....

yesterday, at 5pm our time, was the new york times' 'a moment in time' initiative.

Attention: everyone with a camera, amateur or pro. Please join us on Sunday, May 2, at 15:00 (U.T.C./G.M.T.), as thousands of photographers simultaneously record “A Moment in Time.” The idea is to create an international mosaic, an astonishingly varied gallery of images that are cemented together by the common element of time.

so, i went outside with my camera. since i was at home, and not anywhere particularly exciting, i thought i would take some photos of our plot.

our plot is not 'fancy' or expensive, or developed and manicured. it is just our tiny bit of africa. is is 2.5 hectares. we have quite a few animals, and we grow vegetables. as you can see, it was early evening, and it is autumn. you can see more posts and photos about 'country living' here.

 

now i need some help in deciding which one to upload. any suggestions?

 

Ronnie Janse van Rensburg - died 19 April 2002

today marks 8 years since ronnie died.

  
for those who do not know me well: ronnie was my husband, and father of my son francois. he died in an aeroplane crash on friday, 19 April 2002, at wonderboom airport, near pretoria. we had been married 16 years. he was 39 years and 5 days old. he was also a son, a brother, and a business man.

since i started this blog, i have been meaning to write a post describing some of the events that caused his death. there are 3 reasons for this:

i am often asked how he died. it makes it easier if i can just send that person a link with a description. while there are many brief mentions of the accident on the internet, none sum up the situation completely, and from a broad perspective. also, when i blog about something relating to his death, i can link to this post.

when someone searches the internet for ronnie, someone who knew him in the past, they will find this post, and know what happened.

when someone searches the internet for information on this particular accident, for whatever reason, they will find this post. it contains more information than any one other post i have found so far.

on that friday morning, ronnie left home at about 6am, and went to pretoria's wonderboom airport, from where he was going to fly with his 2 friends and co-workers, hendrik smit and jacques swanepoel, to tzaneen, for a business meeting. hendrik was the pilot.

the aeroplane they were flying in, was a cessna 177RG (registration ZS-JMW). shortly after takeoff, at about 07h27, they crashed into a wall and boma on a residential property in klippan street, about 1km south east of the airport. all 3 people on board were killed on impact. the plane burst into flames, and the wall, boma and plane were destroyed.

the cessna was full of fuel, and the fuel tanks are in the wings. crash damage to the wings meant that the entire area was drenched in aviation fuel, and the fire was intense and consumed everything.

subsequent investigations by the civil aviation authority found that both the pilot and the air traffic controller were at fault. as it is the air traffic controller's job to oversee the flow of air traffic, he should have seen that the pilot was on the wrong runway. he gave conflicting and confusing instructions.

i know there are people would be interested in reading accident reports. my father and brother, who are both pilots, find these informative. i link to the full, 18 page accident report from the civil aviation authority here. you are welcome to read it if you wish.

_________________________________________________________________

every year i am surprised at how intense my emotions during the week from his birthday (14 april) to the anniversary of his death (19 april). although i have grieved, and overcome my grief, it still affects me every april. even after 8 years.

i often blog about dealing with ronnie's death, and the journey and growth that came from it. but, i assure you that i am fine. i have found new happiness with mike. he is a wonderful man, and we have been together about 6.5 years. i do not grieve, and cry, and mope every day. i do have issues, and fond memories, and 'what if's. i am always sad on francois' birthdays, and at his graduation ceremonies, and when i see what a wonderful young man he has become. his dad would have been proud. and i am sad for ronnie's mom and dad, who's son is lost forever, and his brother and sister, who's 'ouboet' will never be with them again.

the growth i have experienced during those 8 years has been incredible. this event has formed me as i am today, more than any other, bar the birth of my son. if ronnie were to come back today, he would not recognise me. i am not the woman he once knew. i am better. you don't have to feel sorry for me. really!

you can read what i wrote about his last birthday here.

you can read more blog posts on dealing with ronnie's death here.

you can read some other posts on the accident, such as newsreports, here, here, here, here,

 

south africans being positive..

today i have a couple of things to say about south africans being positive, and doing a little bit to make a difference, so i'm doing it in points:

go to the shout website. check out the video and hear the song. it is a collaboration of many top south african artists, who sing the song 'shout', which you can download for R20. all the proceeds go to the fight against crime. it is a darn catchy song. it has been stuck in my head since the first time i have heard it. you can sms 'shout' to 33335, and download it to your phone for R20.

 

on saturday francois and i attended #tweetuponrails. it was a function where people who follow the gautrain on twitter got to see, AND RIDE, the gautrain. we are the first members of the public to do so. it was an awesome event! and i can tell you first hand that the gautrain will be a fantastic service.

  

in terms of a public relations exercise, #tweetuponrails was a south african first. a social media marketing event that was successful far beyond anyone's expectations. it was wonderful to be part of history in the making, for the gautrain and for twitter/social media in south africa.

 

i have discovered the blog of tracy todd. she is a south african woman, who became a quadriplegic after a car accident. she writes openly and truthfully and from the heart. and within moments, your insight into the life of 'differently abled' people changes. forever.

if you are an international reader, and you know someone who is coming to south africa for the world cup, and they are on twitter, tell them to look for the hashtag #worldcuphost. there they will find active south african tweeters who are prepared to act as twourgides virtual guides, with anything they need, at any time.

south africa the good news is a website that collects all sorts of positive info on south africa. a great place to visit when the negatives of living here are getting you down. africa is not for sissies, but it is not all bad, either!

 

and last, but not least:

  

 

profile pics..

i love that in the new typepad i can make (and change) the URL for my blogposts. in fact, there is a lot i love about the new typepad!

i wanted a new profile pic. and as i hate myself in photos, and i cannot act natural in front of a camera, and i had an unexpected 15 minutes available, i took some photos of myself in the mirror.

....as you do...

my theory is that if i take 100 photos, 1 of them should be OK.

there is so much wrong with this photo. but somehow the grittiness and moodiness reflects me at this time, so it will do for now...

i have thought of an interesting theme for a blogpost. i have even come up with a catchy title. my best post ever! now, all i have to do is write it...

i found this video on vanessa's blog. having an adult son myself, i found this hilarious! except in our case it works the other way around..

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

dropbox

there is something i have been trying for a little while, and it has been working very well. it is called dropbox.

it is an online storage facility, and it has 2 functions. it is an extra back-up for your files, away from your computer. and it is perfect for if you work from 2 computers, like i do.

it gives you 2Gig free, and if you need more, you can upgrade for a fee. you download it on your computer. it creates a folder on your desktop. and as you work, you save your file in this folder. when you are online, it automatically uploads your files to the web. of course, you can still access the file if you are not online, but only on the computer you saved it to in the first place.

then, when you need your file again, you can access it from the folder. and you can access it from another computer. so, you don't have to save it on a flash drive.

Install Dropbox on other computers you use
Computers linked to your Dropbox account automatically sync and always have up-to-date copies of your files. You won't need to email attachments to yourself or carry around USB drives ever again!

there are 2 reasons why i am telling you this: firstly because it works well, and so i wish to share it with you. i also heard about it online, mainly through twitter. secondly, if you join by following this link, then both you and i get 250mb extra free. so we both score.

don't just take my word for it. feel free to visit the dropbox website. you can read all about it there. there are FAQ's and lots more info.

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

lately...

i have been feeling overwhelmed. stressed. overcome. sorry for myself. drained. worked up.

not all the time. but a lot.

one of the reasons is that i have not felt well. for a good 2 and a half weeks i have been coughing, and having headaches and a very sore neck and shoulders.  not sick enough to be in bed or even go to the doctor, but not well enough to function properly. i am getting better, but not yet 100%.

also, i have been stressing. about how quiet the shop has become. business has become difficult. i know that it is not only me. lots of businesses have closed down or are hanging on by a thread, and lots of scrapbooking shops have disappeared. we have had to cancel many classes the last few weeks, due to lack of interest. it is cold, people do not have money, and lots of people are feeling down and blue and overwhelmed. i know it is not personal. but it is still me who has to pay my rent.

and i am stressing about how expensive everything has become, on top of having less to spend. everything has gone up, and by a lot!

and just when i thought it could not get worse, the tenants in my house are moving out next week. so i have to spend a lot of money painting and fixing and improving the house, and so far there are no tenants for next month. the rental income from that house is a large part of my salary. thankfully i am blessed with a talented and willing and able handyman, who is working long days at fixing and cleaning and helping me out there, to make the house close to perfect again. but dipping deep into the rainy day fund, and finding tiles and paint etc, at a budget and in very limited time, has been difficult.

sean has to go to high school next year, and we have to apply to schools. one school in particular is very demanding - filling in those forms and collecting all the certified copies of all the necessary proof of everything is quite a challenge. not to mention the expense that lies ahead..

and of course, when things become a little stressful, i start stressing about everything, even the things that are not a crisis at the moment. you know, all the loose ends, that we all seem to have in our lives. suddenly they become overwhelming to me.

generally i can cope with some level of stress, and normally i am quite a positive thinker. i can see the silver lining, the light at the end of the tunnel. but lately i have been finding that harder than normal.

so, why am i blogging about this? what is the point of this whiny post?

as i have found many times in the past, when i write all my worries and problems out here, and read through it a few times to edit, and press 'publish', i feel a lot better. blogging about it all is more effective than therapy for me.

also, when i look back at this post in weeks or months to come, i will be reminded that what is almost too stressful to bear right now, turned out quite ok in the end. i remember reading a while ago on allie's blog about a worry journal, where i write down what is stressing me right now, and when i look back, i can see that it was a storm in a teacup. and so i would be reminded that no matter how difficult things seem at this moment, it will be fine in hindsight. well, this blogpost is like that worry journal. a reminder that no matter how difficult things may seem in the middle of the night, this too shall pass. and i have been through so much worse, and come out better on the other side.

so, i apologise for dumping this all out here for you to see. but, as mel mentioned in a recent post on her blog, i realised i will not be able to return to regular blogging until i mention the elephant in the room. i need to get this all off my chest. because i could not blog around it, and i did not really want to blog about it, i stopped blogging all together.

so, you don't need to leave me cheesy 'chin up' comments. i know. i know!

edited to add: i found a post on karenika's blog that says this all so well!

on a more positive note: how awesomely clever is this:

i wish i had thought of it..

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

how much is safe to share?

through ali edwards on twitter i found this post. (goodness, that is a lot of links in one sentence!)

it is all about sharing photos of your, and other people's kids on the internet. is it safe? what can you do to make it safer?

keep in mind, just for the sake of the context, that this website is used by many pro photographers, who may photograph other people's children too, and whos work may be stolen and used without credit.

i often wonder about this, and i am sure you do too. so go read the post. i cannot write it better. and the comments are good too.

i am not so concerned myself, and will not let a few creeps out there spoil my life. i don't even have any privacy settings on on facebook. but, i don't share any personal information or compromising pics.

and i would find it a very great loss if the people i know or have come to know online, were to stop sharing photos of their families. that is often why i love them in the first place! 

having said that, i am quite prepared to change all that at a moment's notice, if i were to feel  uncomfortable.

so, if you sometimes think about it, read the post here.

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

bulletpoints and links....

i thought i would post a few links today. as i have mentioned before, a post like this is really just for myself, so i can find these links again when i need them. but you are welcome to enjoy them too. they are really good!

normally i collect links like these in a draft post over a period of time, and when there are a few i publish the post. that explains that some links you may have seen already, and sometimes it has a little disjointed feel to it.

there have been more articles in the newspaper about the death of ronnie. the air traffic controller has been exonerated of all charges against him. i do not completely agree with the verdict, but i accept it, as it makes no difference to my life whatsoever. the articles are here and here.

there is a cool  - and free - photoshop tutorial by cathy zielske here. a really easy trick to create a frame and word art on a photo! you can also find a video tutorial on how to make a photo grid by cathy zielske on ali edwards' blog. you don't have to be a scrapbooker for this, but you do have to have photoshop. and photos.

get inspired by these stunningly creative business cards here. they are really memorable, which is the whole point of a business card.

i'm not sure if this slideshow will work, please let me know? but, here is the slideshow i made for my father's 70th birthday last month. i don't know how to make the file smaller. this is my first attempt at linking to a file like this one. please note that there are some awful eighties hairstyles in there, do not choke on your coffee... my father's name is Jan Bakker.

some of my little butterflies that started here and became world famous, appeared here on toni's blog. she used some i sent to her in australia after she won them in a RAK in a project.

i have been reading jody's blog nitty gritty for more than a year now, and always enjoy it. but this post here is heart-rending and brought tears to my eyes. it is where she tells what happened the day they were in an accident, and their daughter died.

you can find some great free beautiful computer fonts here.

see awesome sand-art that washes away here. so much work, and it only lasts a few hours!

look at some beautiful digital scrapbook pages printed on canvas on wilna furstenburg's blog. i cannot get the link to the specific post to work, so go to the post dated thursday 30th july 2009.

watch this awesomely clever video here that i found on jessica sprague's blog.

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

and, please pop in to see this video on how to make a cute mixed media tag, by the very creative donna downey. i had lots of fun trying it myself, and here is what i came up with. i made cards from them.

 

i love stumbling across a new blog. and i love this blog, by the woman who runs cosmo magazine in south africa, vanessa raphaely.

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

linda's jewellery

a friend of mine, linda, makes beautiful jewellery. she sells them on the internet here. photos never do any justice to the real thing, but i as i am always looking for excuses to play with my camera and photoshop, i offered to photograph them for her. it was a new challenge.

she did not pay me to advertise them for her, but i had the photos, and i thought they would make an eye-pleasing blogpost..

love, jacki

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

time flies...

i am still here...

 but i don't know where the time goes. before i know it, half the week is gone! i never meant to stay away this long but i felt like i had nothing new to say...

so, what have i been doing?

well, a little of this:

reading blogs. in my fabulous google reader.

and working through this:

never-ending emails.

and a little too much of this:

bricks breaking and other games on facebook.

and speaking of facebook, i have been here:

and hanging out on twitter:

and doing lots and lots and lots of photo-editing in photoshop:

(that cute little kid is me.)

why have i been photoshopping so much?

i have been doing an incredible photo-editing course with the talented jessica sprague, and also collecting and editing photos of this guy:

who became this man:

who is my father, who is turning 70 on monday. and i am making a slide-show of his life story in photos. i will share more of this next week.

also: i have been running a shop in difficult times, living, laughing, playing, stressing, and just generally been living!

i have been loving this music, that i found on rozanne's blog. thanks ro! it is made by John Schmidt and Steven Sharp Nelson and it is called Love Story. It is a mash of a Taylor Swift song and Coldplay's Viva La Vida. i have played it countless times these last 2 weeks!

and while you are on youtube, you can watch this very well crafted stop-action video, made with post-it notes:

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

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