PHOTO CHALLENGE DAY 3 - WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY...



this beautiful creation takes pride of place on my plant stand


"We have to make peace an attitude.  then we have to make it a habit.  Finally, we must decide to live peace, to share it around the world-not just talk about it.. Nobody ever got anywhere by sitting around, right?"

Mattie Stepanek, poet and philospher

Last year a friend lent me the most amazing book I have ever read - Messenger by Mattie Stepanek.  The link is this http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=mattie+stepanek&x=24&y=25.

I do believe that peace is possible - if we all change our attitude and realize that love is all we need and that focussing on the positive, even if I am accused of 'wearing rose tinted glasses', can make a difference we just all have to do it.  I challenge you today to immediately turn any negative thought that comes into your mind into a positive one and see what happens.

Below are a couple of links that you might like to visit.   I hope that my photo inspiration today will make a difference in somebody's life.

Have a wonderful day.


The hope of PEACE for everyone to live together in harmony and to respect and accept each other's diversity.  To know that love is all you need...

Consider our legacy-how we hope to be remembered-what are we doing each day to make that a reality."-Mattie Stepanek in "JUST PEACE" book (AMP, 2006).




"We must always remember to play after every storm."  That was his life philosophy
http://www.mattieonline.com/L_whatsnew.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattie_Stepanek

http://www.cartercenter.org/news/documents/doc1791.html

PHOTO CHALLENGE DAY 2

Yesterday's topic "TIME" was very appropriate and hence the late post of my picture.  Trying my best this year to ensure that time is not going to be an issue - time is not going to control me.

Firstly, this year I need to make time for me and by doing that I can continue trying to do my best for others.

NEW CALLIGRAPHY WORKSHOP

Hi potentially magnificent Calligraphers! A new Creative Calligraphy workshop starts at 9.30am on Saturday 11th Feb and ends either Sat 18 or 25th February

At “The Memory Shed” at “Second Cup Coffee Shop”, John Vorster Rd, Weltevreden Park (http://www.weltevredenfarm.blogspot.com/)

R650 for 2 full days: (9.30am – 4.30pm) includes calligraphy kit, notes, refreshments and lunches. Below please find the banking details for your payment of R650.

Delegates must please use their first names and calli as a reference.

Memory Shed
FNB Northgate
62190136658
256755

The next workshop in March will be R700

Feel free to call Gill - 083 659 6787 or Lisa 082 5614144 with any queries

PHOTO CHALLENGE - DAY 1 - MY VIEW

Day 1 - My View -

It is an absolute blessing to be surrounded by such beauty in nature.  Feeding the birds warms my heart and always astounds me that they are never far away and know just when breakfast is served.

FEBRUARY PHOTO CHALLENGE

Join me in a 29 day photo challenge.  Each day I will post my photo's and at the end of it all it will all be in photo journal.  Looking forward to seeing your photos.

Here is the list:
1. Your view this morning
2. Time
3. Something that makes you happy
4. Where you work
5. Heart
6. A photo of you
7. Handwriting
8. Your front door
9. Sunshine
10. Something you ate
11. Your happy place
12. Your pet (s)
13. Night shot
14. Flowers
15. What you ate this morning
16. Children
17. Trees
18. A friend
19. A stranger
20. Self portrait
21. What you see on the way to work
22. The moon
23. Love of your life
24. Clouds
25. Water
26. What inspires you
27. Book you are reading
28. Your favourite colour
29. Something you never want to forget

DOING IT WITH BEADS

During July last year I was honoured to be invited to design a scrapbooking layout incorporating beads for The Bead Book Magazine http://www.beadbook.net/.

For the background a combination of Prima, Fancy Pants Designs and Kaizer Craft paper were used.  Various chipboard embelishments from my stash were glittered and beaded.  The frame on the photograph was the centre of a frame designed by Enmarc http://www.enmarc.co.za/ .

Glass beads were threaded on floral wire to create swirls in the flower accents and also proved to be useful as flower centres.   Rub-ons were from the 7Gypsies range.

The BATHING BEAUTY in the layout is my beautiful mother, Lorna at the age of 16 on the beach in Durban during 1962 and I believe the photo credit goes to "Scotty".  Apparently Scotty was a roaming photographer from that era who used to snap anyone who was interested and I think the photographs were collected at a later time.

(I just found this on the internet now about Scotty) - A photographer, Scotty, always dressed in a khaki pith helmet wandered around outside the Lido taking ad hoc photographs and giving folk a numbered card to pick up their photos the next day. His circular kiosk, always plastered outside with his shots of beachgoers was on the promenade on the hotel/ road side of the lido and Scotty had a wide variety of painted boards with heads cut out of them to enable people to pose as, for example, a muscular weightlifter, Superman or a busty female in a polka dot bikini. http://www.fad.co.za/Resources/memoirs/Button.htm


What a wonderful time that must have been.

ANGEL EYES

Simple Stories Baby Steps is a delightful range currently in stock at Memory Shed. The designs and colouring of the range are perfectly suited for either boy or girl. It was an absolute pleasure to design this layout for my client Carol during her first class with me this week. The last matting on the main photograph was a piece of felt which was the perfect texture to use on the 'baby' layout and we added a blanket stitch detail with brown embroidery cotton. A number of elements on the paper were cut out and used as an embelishement or placed back into the same spot to accentuate the design.  It is often heard during 99% of the classes that "she made me cut it out".  It is quite a laugh as I seem to be notorious with this technique, but it would be a sin not to as there is so much on the paper to use.  I promise that 'I don't make them' do anything they don't want to, I simply suggest what would look best ;-). 

The cutie pie in the photographs is Carol's grandson Ryan who had just turned one year old this week.