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Layouts to share

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see"

                    ** John Burroughs **

I'm frazzled, working incredibly long hours, my back has gone into spasm from constantly leaning over my laptop, just another 2 days and then I am on leave.  I got an email from Ali Edwards (how cool is that?!) which lists the supplies needed for our classes in Tuscany, Italy.  I'm not yet excited about my holiday because of the monster workload on my desk.  By Sunday it will probably all start becoming more real, what to pack, what's the weather like in Italy next week, I miss my kitties already, things I need to buy for the trip like a BIG memory card for my camera, I miss my kitties, what novel should be in my carry-on bag, hope we get good seats on the plane.....miss my kitties already...sigh...

A few more layouts of my beloved Elizabeth to share...

I'm having fun with mixing Tim Holtz inks on chipboard

I just LOVED doing these pages.  It was fun and lighthearted to play with girly-girl pictures and colours and embellishments instead of my usual travel layouts.  My baby niece inspires my scrapbooking - love you miss Elizabeth!

Art Journalling

I started pottering around with art journalling recently.  It attracts me because it is a wild thing in spirit.  I'm very orderly and structured and controlled in my scrapbooking (and in my life...?), so I'm working with art journalling for a while to try and break that sense of always colouring inside the lines. 

This is a piece that I played with recently - I was feeling very sad for a long while and then suddenly everything was ok again.  I know that we all have good days and bad days.  This time my bad days just felt incredibly sad; it surprised me because I am usually a positive person.

I love Donna Downey's loose and free and wild and crazy art journalling.  I will play some more and explore and experiment.

Layouts to share

Here are some layouts to share from our recent weekend away to the Good Shepherd Retreat.  I worked exclusively on layouts about my gorgeous niece, Miss Elizabeth.  I have been playing with my Fuji Finepix today instead of my Canon, so the sizing of the photo's is a bit weird.

Home comfort

I have been away a lot lately - last weekend at Good Shepherd retreat and then 3 days working non-stop in Cape Town.  I'm happy to be home this weekend, to find comfort in being home with my 2 little furry people, to be around my stuff, to potter around and rest and go slowly.

Go visit Becky's blog for a free download of this mini poster

Hope you have a beautiful weekend

Working in the mother city

I have been working in Cape Town for the last 3 days.  When I arrived on Tuesday, it was cold and wet.  Wednesday was warmer and sunny; today is cold and wet again. 

We have just moved into our new offices in Observatory

The view from our office; on a clear day,

we look out over the back of Table Mountain

My gorgeous room at the Vineyard Hotel in Newlands

The staff are so friendly and helpful

the garden outside my bedroom

ready for another day at the office

the view as I drove to work on Wednesday morning

the same view in the traffic this morning

protea bushes grow all along the side of the road

more flowers at the roadside

and more traffic

And finally, a message from Joel Osteen...

Open the door to Joy

When you wake up each morning, God sends you a special delivery of joy. It’s like it comes knocking at the door of your heart every day. The problem is that some people never answer the door. It’s right there, month after month, year after year saying, “Come on! Let me in! You can be happy! You can cheer up! You can enjoy your life!” The way to answer the door is to get up and choose an attitude of faith and expectancy by declaring that “today is going to be a good day.” When you start the day like that, you are choosing to receive the gift of joy that God sent to you.

Today, make up your mind to answer the door to joy! Get up every morning and say, “Father, thank You for another beautiful day. I’m going to be happy. I’m going to enjoy this day because You are faithful. I’m going to brighten someone else’s life. I am choosing to receive Your gift of joy and passing it on to others because I love You, and I know that I am called for Your purposes!”

I'm working on finding joy each day and focusing on the positive things in life.  Some days are better than others.

Scrapbooking retreat

We had an absolutely amazing weekend away at the Good Shepherd Retreat.  I LOVE this venue and I LOVE spending time with the Scrap Addicts.  It was a retreat filled with laughter, talking till the wee hours, eating tasty food and a few wicked treats, consuming tea, coffee and water by the bucketload, a long walk down the hill and back again on Saturday afternoon, treating the Convent cats to kitty biscuits while sneaking tick and flea medicine onto their necks, listening to the rugby game on the radio, and lots and lots of scrapbooking.  Beautiful pages were made by all.  Sigh...wish we were still there.

The beautiful old convent that we enjoy so much

Lynette, Linda, Lynn and Alison

the smokers 'force' the non-smokers to join them outside

we sit.  we talk and laugh.  we gaze out over the dam in the distance

we enjoy the birdlife and being outdoors.  we become whole again

an afternoon walk to ease stiff muscles and aching backs

Lynn and I - hardcore scrap addicts!

Lynn, Leonie and Linda

Lynette, Leonie and Alison

We will return in 2012 for several scrapbooking retreats.