Finding joy

My quest this past week to find JOY in my everyday ordinary life reveals that joy is mostly about the little things.  This week I found JOY here...

• good coffee
• my gorgeous Troop London canvas briefcase
• my tiny baby hp laptop which is light as a feather
• bottled water
• Woolworths
• my hotel booking was upgraded from an ordinary room to an Executive Suite overlooking the back of Table Mountain in Cape Town
• a clear, cool day in Cape Town
• flights that arrive and depart on time
• a hire car with an automatic gearbox
• a big comfortable hotel bed
• a hot bath and soft towels
• room service
• Lindt chocolate & orange tart
• colleagues who say please and thank you
• rain
• encouraging sms text messages from friends and family
• an MMS picture of my gorgeous 1-year old niece
• wild birds at my outdoor bird feeder
• my kittens (they are EXTREME joy!)

EnJOY your weekend
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Joy

With just 32 days to go to Christmas, I'm deliberately focusing on what gives me JOY.  This week I will seek it out, work hard at creating it, and try to understand what brings me JOY.  I think that the opposite of JOY is sadness, feeling overwhelmed and out of control - I don't want this.  I have a crazy week ahead of me with a ton of work, home maintenance (can't stand it!) and a business trip to Cape Town.   Note to self : be mindful about finding JOY (and comfort).

What brings you JOY?

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Layout to share

Like most scrapbookers, I have a lot of scraps.  I tidy them up once or twice a year, but it makes me happy to be able to use them to create a layout or cards.  I made this layout with leftover bits of paper, my fiskars punch, flowers, ribbon and letters stickers.  The word 'birthday' was cut out using a Cricut diecut machine.

Enjoy!
a

Less than 6 weeks

It's hard to believe - there are less than 6 weeks to go to Christmas!  I love the weeks before Christmas more than I love Christmas itself.  I always find Christmas day to be disappointing, probably because we have very few children in our family. 

I love the cheesy Christmas music in the malls and I love the decorations and festive displays of merchandise.  The colour red also makes me very happy so my joy at this time of year is doubled.  I wear my happy face.

I have already bought a few gifts - mostly books and goodies online at www.loot.co.za and a few other bits and pieces.  I have dedicated this coming weekend to Christmas shopping, especially Saturday.  I LOVE giving gifts to people, so I enjoy the shopping part of it - a lot!

"Remember this December
that LOVE weighs more than gold"
                      ***Josephine Bacon***

Favourite supplies

I'm frustrated that my new hands-free slice has not yet arrived.  I want it and I want it NOW!  Stamping my foot. 

Anyhow, wanted to share some of my favourite scrapbooking supplies right now...

Letter stickers - looove them!

Stamps - great value because I can use them over and over

Have recently discovered Martha Stewart punches - LOVE them.

Fiskars punches are also great.

Martha Stewart punches - these are must-have

supplies for scrappers and cardmakers

I will be scrapping with my friends tomorrow - oh happy day.

Have a great weekend
a

The gift of encouragement

Encouragement is the perfect gift because it is free.  All it will cost you is some time, perhaps some creativity and thoughtfulness.  There are many people in your circle of life who are just waiting for your words of encouragement, comfort, praise or support.  Your words can heal the hole in someone's heart, the hurt which they keep hidden from the world. 

Be generous in dishing out lashings of appreciation and recognition to  people.  You can deliver your gift of comfort and encouragement in a simple note, a conversation or a telephone call.  No-one ever receives enough encouragement.  Someone is waiting for YOU to bless them today with the gift of encouragement.

Taken from my (unpublished) book 'Whispered Comfort'

Be nice...

Layout to share

I have just spent 4 days at the gorgeous Brookdale Health Hydro in the Natal Midlands, but more on that in a future blog post.

This afternoon, I watched 'Julie and Julia', the wonderful Meryl Streep movie about cooking and blogging - totally inspirational.  If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. It may inspire you to cook.  And to blog.

Now...a scrapbooking layout to share.  I love this easy layout and it can take LOTS of photo's which I like, I'm definitely not a 1 photo per page scrapper.  In this layout, I used:

• cheap CNA chipboard letters for the word 'retreat'
• fiskars border punch
• Bazzil Basics paper flowers
• the Good Shepherd brochure
• apart from the 2 pages of brown for the background, I mostly used scraps of paper

Enjoy!

Travel journal

I bought these beautiful blank journals at Kirstenbosch Gardens recently - they come in packs of 3.  I have embellished the blank pages with my stamps and scrap paper to create a gorgeous travel journal.  I love the way that they have turned out.
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Hello November

Heeey - where did this year go??  Can't believe it's November already!

It's official - I'm in love.  It's not a man, it's a machine.  The new pink SLICE to be exact.  I attended the Aquila Scrapbooking Extravaganza this past Saturday with my friends, and we all fell in love with slice.  Oh dear, another dent in my bank account.  But I must have it.  I have ordered one, can't wait for it to arrive.

The hands free pink slice - a thing of beauty!

See the little green SLICE on the table - it has bewitched us!