*~Feeling Sketchy #144~* *Cherish*

My Dear Arty Scrappy & Cardmaking Friends,

how are you?? 

Today I would like to share with you this card I created with the
Feeling Sketchy  Card Sketch #144.

Look at this gorgeous sketch...

Thank you for visiting, have a lovely day!

Hugs

Erica

*~Feeling Sketchy #141~* *Love & Hope*

My Dear Arty Scrappy & Cardmaking Friends,

how are you??

Today I would like to share with you my DT Card created with the
Feeling Sketchy  Card Sketch #141
3-15-16.

This is our beautiful sketch...

And my card...

 *Love & Hope*



 And some close ups...
with my little girls' bike...
which I kept...
and put outside in the garden as a garden feature...
LOVE the rusty effect with the pink of the bike...
So special to me!!!

How cute is this Polaroid version?!?

And some more close-close ups...

I was playing around taking pics, as usual, and this one is from another corner in my home.

 I hope you enjoyed looking as much as I enjoyed creating this card.
Come and join us at Feeling Sketchy, take a look at all the beautiful cards created by our very talented DT and get inspired!!

Thank you for visiting and have a lovely day!!

Hugs

*~Erica~*

*~Feeling Sketchy #140~* *Birthday Wishes*

Halllllllooooooo

My Dear Arty Scrappy & Cardmaking Friends,

how have you been doing??

Well, I enjoyed making these last few cards for Feeling Sketchy tremendously...
and this is my second last card for this lovely Card Challenge Blog...

This week I would like to share with you my card:
*Birthday Wishes*
I created for the Design Team at Feeling Sketchy  #140
with today's date 3-1-16.

Michelle van Wyk, yet again, designed a STUNNING

sketch for us to work with!!

How gorgeous is this??? 

Can it get any better???

Love it!!!

♥♥♥

Well, off cause I enjoyed myself tremendously creating this card...

I made the flowers with chiffon by cutting a whole lot of circles freehand and burning all around each one of them with the flame of a candle.  I always enjoy the process of making my own flowers and loving how they turn out different each time.  So special vs bought ones!

 My card...

 *Birthday Wishes*






And another view... ;-)

I combined two of Marion Smith's collections
Motley and Mad Tea Party for this card.

I also used Stickles for the glittery touch.

With some close ups...

I love this Perfectly Imperfect feather...
so "real life", so magical.
No pretenses. No lies.
Just real.

 

As I said in my previous post, I have decided to take some time "off"  from too many outside commitments as my schedule is somewhat hectic at this stage.
I am still scrapbooking here and there when I find some free time
{I will always... it is so part of me, I just cannot leave it alone :-)},
but not sharing much on social media.

I surely hope you enjoy creating with this sketch and with us at Feeling Sketchy and that I have inspired you today and made you smile!

Please do leave some love,
so that I too, can know that I have inspired!!

Thank you so much for visiting and have a lovely day!!

Hugs

*~Erica~*

Let's Scrap Sketch 2-15-16 ~ *Woodbush Forest*

Well Hello There My Dear Arty Scrappy Friends,

Remember I told you about our INCREDIBLE holiday when we visited the lovely Limpopo Province in December 2015??
Well... this week I decided to scrap the magical photos I took in the Woodbush Forest,
just outside Tzaneen in the quaint village of Magoebaskloof.


I have sad news though... this would be my last Design Team layout for my much loved Let's Scrap blog for now... I have been on the Let's Scrap DT a few times now over the years, also before when we were on the .ning site and dear Betty Ann was still "in charge"... I met so many wonderful ladies through this beautiful and super special hobby of ours and especially through Let's Scrap...
and I will never forget any of them.  Let's Scrap has become so much part of my life
and has a very special place in my heart.  But for now I will be stepping back and taking a break...
My life has been super hectic, actually beyond super hectic the last weeks, sometimes I truly do not know where to start and where to leave...

I have so many ideas in my head and in my heart though... {so this is definitely not a goodbye},
 
...but first, I need to calm down my head,
my heart and my soul and find my peace again.

So... enough of me already...
here is the beautiful Sketch #2-15-16
designed by the ever so talented Michelle van Wyk...

This is my layout all about the magical Woodbush Forest...
{{I am not an "old forest dweller"... but boy, is this place AWESOMELY BEAUTIFUL...
I surely lost a piece of my heart there... <3}}

And today I have a whole lot of close ups....  Just couldn't help myself...

I used some awesome alphas in gold I found in my stash, think they were in a kit from Heidi Swapp, and distressed them a little with Forest Moss Tim Holtz Distress Ink.

I used A2 card stock paper of 250g which is a lovely thick paper and works wonderfully with inking without wobbling {which I kind of hate!?}
I then cut it to size and made the background paper by using Shabby Shutters by
applying it onto my craft sheet and spraying with water...
the paper is then carefully placed onto the wet surface, picked up without rubbing over the ink
 and left to dry.

I used the same technique with the ribbon, but using all the colours.

 I used these 4 different greens from the Tim Holtz Distress Ink range to colour the ribbon as well as all the white papers:
Crushed Olive
Peeled Paint
Shabby Shutters
Forest Moss {Very appropriate I think!! ;-)}

I incorporated some Vintage Photo & Walnut Stain as the brown elements
and Frayed Burlap for a touch of grey.

I used an off cut piece of the same white paper and splashed and played with all the greens until I was happy with how it came out...

Here is all the different tags I made with all the different greens and also using some Frayed Burlap to give it a little bit of a greyish undertone too...

Notice the small leaves in the corner right under the ribbon...
More on them in a moment...

A close up of the ribbon and small leaves...

 The leaves on the right page...

And the quote I used, which was so appropriate and I just LOVE it!!

*Wilderness holds answers to questions
we have not yet learned to ask.*

I used some brown handmade paper to accentuate the photo with the magical mini little stairs...
ripped it into 2 pieces and inked it with Walnut Stain.

A close up of the background double layout with splashes of grey and green.
I also distressed the sides of most of the papers and photos with a small sharp scissors.

More on the leaves:
I picked up these leaves off of the forest floor... it was on the ground forming a beautiful carpet...
back at our holiday rondavel, I put it into the book I was reading to dry and keep safe...
At home and when dried {which was quite fast in this Africa heat} I used some Mod Podge
 and wax paper and very carefully applied the Podge with a soft sponge brush...
As the leaves were very delicate, patience was the answer... :-P
I left it overnight to dry completely on the one side and I must say that some of the leaves were difficult to remove from the wax paper {and yes, I did use the glossy side}, but as the leaves were so delicate, it needed to be done with a great deal of care and patience.
In the end, it worked out quite well, I think.
I surely hope it will be preserved well like this and enjoyed for many many years to come.

Some of the papers that was distressed with the small sharp scissors...

Do you see the magical reflections on the photo??? <3 

So this is "goodbye" from me for now...

I will still be back at our sister blog Feeling Sketchy here...
until the end of March after which I will be
"Closed for Restoration"
for a while/until further notice. :-)
 

Thank you so much for visiting, I hope to see you again soon.

And I hope you enjoyed my layout as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Have a lovely & blessed week!

 

Hugs

*~Erica~*

*~Feeling Sketchy #139~* *Take time to smell the Flowers*

My Dear Arty Scrappy & Cardmaking Friends

Hope you are doing FABULOUS today!!

I would like to share my card: *Take time to smell the Flowers* I created for the Design Team at Feeling Sketchy  #139  {2-15-16}

Our Gorgeous-Beautiful-LOVELY-Awesome sketch by Michelle van Wyk... 

{Don't you just LOVE it?!?!?! ♥♥♥}

I see now that the sun was naughty and the small words on the tag cannot be seen...

I am not going to take another pic, as I LOVE this one!! 

But the word on the tag reads:

*Take...

then the rest on the card with different lettering:

...time to smell the

FLOWERS*

Oh, I took some more pretty pics inside and here you can see the tag better...

Some close ups where you can see the large *T*, done with a rubon, a little better...

I LOVE what happened here with the flower and the fern leaves...

AWESOME!! ♥

 

I used some "very" old papers I found in my stash, they were all cut but with some leftovers and I love how it came it in the end.

I don't know the name of the range as there were no strips printed on.

Thank you so much for visiting and have a SUNNY day!!

Remember to join us at Feeling Sketchy
making pretty things with us!

Hugs

*~Erica~*

Let's Scrap Sketch 2-1-16 ~ *Imagine*

Dear Arty Scrappy Friends,



Today I would like to share with you my Design Team layout for the Let's Scrap Sketch #2-1-16...

The gorgeous sketch by Michelle van Wyk...

 My layout...

*Imagine*.

Some close ups...

Thank you for visiting and have a lovely Monday!

*~Hugs~*

Erica

*~Feeling Sketchy #138~* *Friendship comes from the Heart*

*** Well, Hello There***

How have you been, My Dear Arty Scrappy & Cardmaking Friends?

Here is this weeks Design Team card I created with the Feeling Sketchy Card Sketch #138 which went live today 2-1-16...

Our lovely sketch by Michelle van Wyk... 

My card...

*Friendship comes from the Heart*

This beautiful old school table has a very special history...

My Aunt & Uncle gave it to me after their son Cobus died in 1992.

Cobus was my cousin and like a brother to me.  He died in a shooting accident at the age of 22,

while his wife was pregnant with their daughter who was born a month later.

I am so happy that this is something from Cobus I can keep close to my heart.

I do not have anything else of him, except a few photos and lots of wonderful memories of all the great things we did together as kids and growing up with him as my friend and my "brother".

He has been gone longer than he was with us, 23 years, but he will always live in our hearts. ♥

*COBUS* 

This pic looked so lovely on my table in our television room with the purple t-yarn rug we are using as a table cover.  Love the purple background with the yellow! :-)

Thank you so much for visiting and have a FANTASTIC day!!

Remember to join us at Feeling Sketchy
making pretty things with us!

Hugs

*~Erica~*