Birthday!

Greetings fellow crafty and arty people! It's been two of those weeks! A comment I picked up about a year ago, sums it up perfectly: I feel like I'm in the spin cycle of the washing machine and instead of opening the machine when finished, it gets turned back on!

I did manage to play with the camera though...I got this beautiful spider web actoss the verander (I'm still playing with close-ups) and our home beach of Fish Hoek with the Lifesaving Club in the centre.

Early morning spider web

Fish Hoek Beach from the mountain

Monday was a momentus day in our house, the youngest gannet reaches double figures and turns 10! She's so excited and has been talking about it since March-I kid you not! As a pre-birthday treat (which couln't have happened at a better time) there was a school outing to the Two Oceans Aquarium on Friday night....a group of 40 grade 4,5,6 learners got dropped off at the Aquarium at 7pm (after it was closed). They went on a private tour, had supper, did some crafts, watched a movie - Shark Tale - and then went to sleep in their sleeping bags in the Shark Tank room! What an awesome experience! 

The party on Saturday was a blast! There were 11 ten year old all dressed up and ready to party! I had a photo booth in the lounge with all the wigs, hats, masks etc from the dress-up suitcase which everyone loved!  

Dancing the "Boogie woogie"

Pleading "Puppy dog faces".....please can we swim!

Michaela (2nd from left) and friends in the photo booth

The Muffin tower birthday cake!

My attempt at The DIva's took a while to complete, but I enjoyed it never-the-less. I tried a few new tangles (as I've promised myself I would). I love the ideas that a few people had of using Hollibaugh as the lines...very clever!

Challenge 92: Tangles from L-R...Huggins, Snaylz Trayl, Zander, 'Nzeppel, Catapilla Leg

And that's me for this week! Have a great week everyone

PennyB

Windy month

I always forget how much the wind blows in October until it happens! Oh my giddy aunt...the little tennis kiddies were hitting the ball in one direction only at practice because it was blowing so hard on Monday. On Wednesday, there were actual waves in the school pool in the deep end! But, all is not lost....summer is around the corner!

We went away for the weekend to Langebaan(along our West Coast). The wind always blows there, but it's a beautiful part of the Cape. For all those flower enthusiasts-we have a Wild Flower show every year, when all the veld flowers bloom after the winter rains.

We braaied for supper...in the rain...isn't that what umbrellas were made for?!

Michaela looked after Matthew most of the weekend. This was a precious moment while winding down after a hectic cricket match on the lawn.

Andrew paddled in a surfski race - except he paddled an SUP (Stand Up Padddleboard for the un-informed!)

I loved the Diva's challenge this week - Beads of Courage is an amazing charity helping children with chronic illnesses or conditions tell their story of things they've overcome by threading a bead for EVERY obstacle or challenge they achieve/overcome. I did two tiles this week (yes, two!) because I wasn't sure I liked the first one as much as I liked the original idea!

CHallenge #91.1

 The second tile, came about from the various necklaces I've made over the years. I also tried using tangles that were circular in design to fit the bead shapes! I prefer this one.

Challenge #91.2

I stumbled onto this website while looking at my facebook page today and have bookmarked it! Wow, these girls have got such creative minds! This particular idea is using an old telephone directory - which we've all got - and turning it into a pencil/pen stand! It's soooo clever, I just had to share it with you! Chica and Jo are two very talented ladies!

Have a great week everyone
Pennyb

Summer chaos begins!

And so it begins.....the start of the summer surf ski series which hubby paddles, Rocking the Runway today for both gannets and the start of the Nipper season for me this morning! I'll see everyone sometime this afternoon again! 

You can also tell that summer is finally trying to arrive here in Cape Town because the wind is howling .....we complain about the cold and the rain, and then we complain about the wind...lol! 
Busy morning this morning for my gannets...the school is taking part in Rocking the Runway, which is a modeling, dancing show at one of the main shopping centres. They had to be there at 8am, ( which meant leaving home at 7am) and will only be back around 3pm! Hubby always paddles the summer surf ski series and is away early every Sunday until December, and our Nipper season opens today with an Open Day! This time of year the sharks also come in much closer to the beach so we spend a lot of time hearing the shark siren and not being able to go into the water! I have about 25 Starfish and Micro nippers headed for the beach this morning, so I've busy inventing beach games....just in case!

On to crafty things...my version of Challenge 90 (wow, already!), has Purk in the loop,this is the first time I've used Purk and it fits quite nicely. This week the Diva has used String 001 from Tangle Patterns I love the strings because it's the part of tangles that I always struggle with...designing the string!

Challenge #90: florz, purk, flukes, beeline an lacing

I finished my bag! I always have wool and needles in the lounge...I have to do something with my hands and drawing late at night is not so great because I msae too many mistakes, so I crochet! I prefer it to knitting becausrethere's only one needle and it's small. I usually make blankets, but every now and then I need something else, so I trolled the web looking for crocheted bags and found this one....it's called a Hobo Bag and it made up very easily. I didn't use cotton as she suggests in her pattern, but Double knitting wool and 4.5 hook. I'm definitley making another one, but I'm going to make it in cotton this time! Watch this space...

I found this picture of the eldest gannet and I while looking through some pics from April this year...not often I'm in a picture, and I really like this one xxx

Wow....I can't believe my page counter is almost on 6500 already! Thanks everyone. 

Till next week, happy crafting

Pennyb

Last leg!

Hi everyone!

And so, my week's break is over and we get ready for the last haul of the last term. SPorts Day is the first event on the agenda and the eldest gannet is getting ready for her swansong! She won the Senior Victrix Ludorum last year beating the then grade 7s out of the prize and this year she IS in grade 7! The race we have our sights on is the 1200m - which she has won for the last 3 years in a row - so to win it this year, will be awesome! 

I haven't entered the Diva's Challenge this week because I just couldn't get my head around the UMT this month. I tried, but it didn't like me!

I did stumble upon an AMAZING site of a lady who makes mandalas from nature. She uses leaves and petals and grasses etc to create the most amazing works of art. Pleae do yourselves a favour and have a look - you will be sorry if you don't! Her name is Kathy Klein and below is an example of her work.

 

The next lady I stumbled on is Judy West and she has some wonderful ideas! I've always loved playing with lettering and alphabets and sadly haven't done any for a while. I always wanted to learn calligraphy but couldn't find a teacher close to me, so I did what every artist out there does - found a few books and taught myself! Formal calligraphy didn't really get me going, but to play with the letters was great fun. Creative Doodling with Judy West is a mixture of lettering art, zentangle and doodles of all sorts. She also has a Celtic Challenge for those who love Celtic designs - Enthusiastic artist, I'm thinking of you here! SHe posts a design and you get to play with it to your hearts content. Below is my version of the Celtic alphabet with zentangles and other patterns inside the letter spaces. (It's also great finding someone who lives in the same hemisphere as I do!)

Celtic alphabet-Penny style

I've also been working on a letter of my own with zentangles as the fillers. I got the idea from a friend at school who I introduced Zentangles to - she is so seriously hooked I must tell you - she did a letter similar to this one and I decided to borrow the idea.

Tangles used: cruffle, fife, knyt, nzeppel, hollibaugh, cubine

I have another creative idea up my sleeves....it's something I did with my Grade 9s as part of the design part of our syllabus....I'll show you when it's done. Until then, happy creating everyone!

Pennyb