Freedom Day

Today we celebrate Freedom Day in South Africa to commemorate the 1st Democratic Election held in 1994. Added on to this long weekend is a school holiday on Monday because we have Workers Day on May 1 - so we have a 5 day weekend!!

Winter has also made its first real showing this week and is pushing autumn out of the way...temps have dropped, it's rained nearly every day (we have winter rainfall here in Cape Town) and I have to wear a jersey most of the time! So while we're getting out all the blankets and winter woolies, most of my new crafty friends are welcoming summer in the northern hemisphere!


Challenge 67 celebrates Earth Day or as Chewie says "Amanda Day". I drew this zendala a while ago and it seemed fitting to use it for this challenge! I'm very glad to hear that Artoo is doing better, I admire the Diva and family for all her positiveness throughout all the ups and downs. She really is an inspiration.

Challenge #67: "Amanda Day"

I've got the acrylic painting bug again...it's taken a while to come back, but that's how it goes. I do the background first with a credit card, and then draw my African designs on top. This one has 2 ladies walking home with their pots on their heads. It will get a fence and some bushes eventually...watch this space!

We're having an end of summer braai tonight - that's a barbeque to those who don't know - braai comes from the Afrikaans language meaning to cook food over an open fire! 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Keep creating

Pennyb

Autumn heatwave

Wow, I've never known it to be soooo hot in April! We had a temp of 38 last week Friday with a Bergwind-it was stiffling! The coldfront was due to follow, it's overcast but not freezing and no rain. This does not bode well for winter.

Well, I'm back in the classroom again...I'm working at the Primary School till August in a Maternity relief post - such a difference! I'm teaching grade 6s and have 24 in the class! No backchat, no attitude and no rampant hormones! (After 22 years of teaching grade 8 and 9, this is wonderful!)

One of many March Lily flowers that pop up every year in my garden. I was playing with macros early in the morning.

 
I love this photo of the youngest gannet. We were chilling at the beach during the Argus  Cycle Race in mid March and I noticed the sunlights dancing in her hair! How many people have paid hundreds to get those self same highlights at their hairdressers?!

During a particularly long session of Internet surfing last week at 2:30am... I couldn't sleep, again, so I got up and made some honey in hot milk, which usually helps, and did some "surfing" before I tried to go back to sleep! I came across this blog Fairy Tangles  Oh Wow! Do yourself a favour and page through her blog - it's amazing what she's done as a Fairy artist and CZT!

I was very relieved to hear that the The DIva's little one is on the mend, wishing her and her family all the best in the weeks to come. Her challenge for this week is called Laura's Aura's, and I though it very fitting as she obviously has an Aura of her own that has positive energy! You really are an inspiration Laura.

I managed to do the Challenge this week...AND enter it on time!

Challenge #66: Cockles 'n Mussels; Crescent Moon; Dansk; Pystyl

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Pennyb

Countdown....

 Hi everyone!

The countdown to South African Nipper Championships has begun....Fri 30 March - Sun 1 April at Kings Beach in Port Elizabeth (on our East Coast)....! I'll have a full report next week on how my gannets both did with a few photos (of course!)

I'm in love! I found this new lettering lady on  Tangle Patterns and I'm so hooked! Zenspirations is a mixture between  Zentangle and  Martha Lever and it's such fun! I've always been a fan of lettering and these two ladies both do stunning stuff!

 The previous challenge from The Diva was to use the "Fortune Teller" paper fold! My youngest gannet still loves to play with these and is constantly asking me to do it with her.

Interestingly enough, I knew immediately which tangle I wanted to do on the left-hand square. The right-hand one took a bit longer as I paged through my tangle book.

Challenge #64

My "tangle book" is a flip file (file with plastic folders) with all the tangle I've copied that I like (and some I don't like!) WHen I found Zentangle, I copied all the tangles from the newsletters and pasted them into a Word doc, which I filed. I've now created alphabetical pages of the tangles which I keep in my file. Everytime I come across a new tangle that someone has used that I like, I either draw it onto the relevant page or I find the pattern and copy and paste for myself. (Instead of using the isohedron from the zentangle kit to choose a tangle,I use it to choose an alphabet letter!)   

Saturday 7 April

Why is it, that whenever you want to make time to be creative, life gangs up on you and you end up doing none of the things you'd planned?! We went away for Nipper Champs and on the way home stopped off in Knysna for some RnR...I had my drawing and travelling painting stuff and was eager to sit and be creative, and all I ended up doing was taking my art bag for a few outings!

My girls at Nipper Champs...Michaela (youngest) did her first ever water event, and Caitlin (oldest) came 6th overall in the body board race! Very proud parents!

I did manage to do theThe DIva's Challenge this week and post it on time too! (Last weeks was done, I just never got to post it in time. I thought I'd done a good job with the fortune teller design too!) Anyhow,this weeks was done on a page which I'd started/designed quite a while ago, but the Huggy Bear design was a perfect fit. So, I also went looking for other grid designs to fill the paint blobs. I want to add colour, I'm just not sure where!

Challenge #65

 
 While we were in Knysna, we celebrated my dad's 70th birthday (his birthday is on Tuesday 10th, but since the whole family was together, we had an early celebration!)

My mom, me, my bother and my dad!

 Phew! And after all that stuning weather we had while away, back home in Cape Town, winter is settling in....it's raining! (and it's due to rain for the next 3 -4 days, so hiding easter eggs in the garen could be interesting!)

HAve a wonderful Easter everyone!

Pennyb