Back home again...

We did end up visiting Ian & Nikki up in Letsitele over the weekend. As usual Nikki cooked up a storm and we had to roll home! The kids so enjoy seeing each other. Shannon had to sleep in Cayleigh's room with her as she says Dee-Anne always gets to have friends to sleep over and she never does (she is only 4!). Shannon crept into the bed next to hers some time after Cayleigh was fast asleep in Dreamland and the next morning she asked Shannon if she heard her trying to wake her up in the night. (She hadn't). Obviously Cayleigh wanted to check to see that her cousin had in fact kept to her promise of sleeping over in her room!

On Sunday morning we took a drive up to Olifants nature Reserve to have a look at property there. We found a gorgeous place in Olifants North - what peace and tranquility! Although there hasn't been much peace and tranquility at home since as we have been debating eversince whether or not to make the purchase!

Here are a few photos:

The view over Olifants Nature Reserve from the patio

The game viewing vehicle in carport.

The boma adjacent to the house.

Shannon took these photos with her 'new' camera. When Leon bought his Nikon, he sold his Panasonic to my mom and she gave her old digital camera to Shannon. Shan naturally thinks she is the bees knees as she now gets to snap away at whim!

I am amazed - she isn't too bad! Occasionally she ends up with blurred shots but mostly her photos are in focus and some are quite good.

Here are a few photos I took at Buffalo Thorn Lodge on our game drives...

I love fiddling around with my photos in Photoshop once I've downloaded them. Sometimes I think, maybe it's 'cheating' a bit to tweak them here and there, but then again - if it makes for a better result - why not?

Here's an example :



Before :


After :


The result- a brighter image with more of the sunset hues moving down onto the trees and Impalas. This I did by adjusting the contrast, levels and colour in 2 different layers. I then erased parts of the bottom half to end up with a photo where the Impala, trees and the sunset are better exposed. I love the warm 'African sunset' tones in the resultant photo. I think there is an improvement- but that's just my subjective opinion.

Well I'd better go get some stuff done around the house now. The kids are back at school, so the holiday is officially over and I need to try to get back into routine!


Bye for now.
Veronica

Baubles, Beads and a touch of Bling.....

After depleting all the usual school holiday activities like going to the movies, visiting friends, having friends over, a quick weekend away to a Game farm, hiring DVD's and watching them with freshly popped popcorn..... etc. etc..., I was stuck again.

Shannon was quick to suggest that she and I go shopping at our local beadshop and stock up on supplies and get creative.

We went to a new shop I discovered- not all that close to home actually, but totally worth the travel distance. Beads for You is a huge shop filled to the brim with all sorts of Baubles, Beads and Bling.

We filled our shopping basket with fresh water pearls and some gorgeous Swarowski crystals to make a pretty necklace and bracelet for my friend's birthday. Shannon would have chosen everything in the shop if she could, but in the end she settled for some pretty blue flower shaped beads with matching round ones and some linked silver chain.

She couldn't wait to get started on her new project. She made a necklace and bracelet, each with pretty drops of the beads hanging off of them.

We kept Reece busy by hiring a Playstation Game for him while we beaded to our hearts content. (Though he did find the small pliers quite fascinating!- Gotta keep an eye on those coz next he'll be searching for something to use them for.)

Yesterday Shannon wanted to show her friends how to bead, so they came over for tea, beading and lunch and then more tea. They really enjoyed the beading and we had a yummy veggie soup for lunch - perfect for the cold wintery day we experienced yesterday.

Now all Shan wants to do is bead some more! So I guess another visit to the bead shop will be on the cards in the near future. I must admit I'm rather enjoying it too. I want to make a nice little stash of completed beaded trinkets which I can grab in an instant as an impromptu gift. I think a handmade necklace, bracelet or even a key tassle is a great hostess gift to take along when invited out to dinner.

My maid, Judith, saw me beading earlier today and she is hooked! So I am going to buy her a few basic tools and some beads and thread to get her going. I'll give her a lesson tomorrow and she can then make her own jewelry which she can sell for extra money. She is so excited to get stuck in over the weekend and wants to teach her daughter too. I think Judith will actually make some gorgeous things, she is so interested in fashion that I think she will take to beading naturally - {watch this space!}

My poor husband is sick with flu. Leon has also been really busy at work this week so he hasn't had much time to feel sorry for himself. Today he only went in this morning for a bit and came home early to get into bed. We were supposed to go up to visit my brother and his family in Letsitele tomorrow, but with Leon being sick, we've had to postpone it. We're hoping we may still go up on Friday, but return early Monday morning. Fortunately the kids only go back to school on Tuesday, a day later than the other schools, so we'll have the extra day. Four hours simply too far to drive for just Friday to Sunday (well that's our opinion anyway- my brother has driven down here and back home again in one day before-crazy!).

Now I'm going to pack up the Laptop, run a nice hot bubble bath, and crawl into bed with my book.... Mmmm sounds good.

{Will post some pics here soon of the beading and some shots of our weekend in Pilanesberg}

Veronica xx

At last the July school holidays are upon us. In fact, the kids have been on holiday for a week now already. We're off to Buffalo Thorn Lodge in the Pilanesberg this weekend for 2 nights. Really looking forward to getting away and also looking at the property there. We're going with Corné and Kevin and their kids, so at least the kids will be entertained and we can simply relax and enjoy the bush.

I'm hoping to get stuck into my photography next weekend too - crossing fingers I'll have some willing children to pose for photos! (Yeah, like that's going to happen!!)

The following week we'll be off to Ian & Nikki to visit them on the farm for a few days. We haven't been up to Lesitele for months - so we do owe them a visit!

Shannon's singing concert went off really well - her term mark was 84%. She has really begun to perform well on stage - I can't believe how she has changed from the shy little 9 year old singing "Tomorrow". Next term she has loads of work cut out for her.

She has the Centurion Eistedfodd starting 5 August until 17th August. Then September she has her Damelin Intermediate singing exam as well as the school concert.
Besides all this, she has to keep up with her school work! So I am definitely going to have my hands full this next term.

On Friday morning we went to see the Pretoria Youth Theatre's production of sleeping Beauty. The kids enjoyed it as Tayla Catterick and Tarryn James are at school and do singing with Shannon. The production was really well done and the kids really are talented. Their dancing, singing and acting was really superb and they put on a really enjoyable show.
I think it's something Shannon could get involved in quite happily, but we'll wait a while as she is still a bit young to handle all the reharsing as well as her school work.

I've done no scrapbooking at all since the PC bombed out. I simply don't feel the urge to scrapbook. And I'm amazingly ok with that! I seem to be enjoying my painting a whole lot more nowadays. I also visited a bead shop and made myself a string of fresh water pearls and swarowski crystals - quite relaxing - so I might just make a few more.

Off to get the day going.....

A new Laptop, an old PC, and a new toy....

Wow, a month has gone past already! Finally I am happy to report that I now have a Laptop - a brand spanking new shiny black Laptop with oodles of memory for me to do all my digi stuff!

My PC crashed again just short of a month ago. Fortunately, once again we were able to salvage my precious photos. This time, however, I'm taking no chances. I went a bought a USB driven external hardrive, so I have begun the arduous task of copying my photos from my old PC onto the External Drive so that I can eventually sort through them and move some to the Laptop.

I am also adding tags to the photos as well as to all my digi kits at the same time - hoping to be better organized on my Laptop and thus making it easier to find everything!

I must say, I am enjoying being able to sit and update my blog while sitting in bed after a nice hot bath. Instead of reading or (occasionally) watching TV, I can now catch up here.

I started ANOTHER photography course 3 weeks ago. I really wasn't expecting to learn much more than I had before on previous courses, but still hoped that I would gain something at least- if not, I would still have the opportunity to have coffee and cake and a few giggles and gossip with my friends.

Now I must admit that up till now, I have only occasionally delved into the mysterious confusing world of using the 'manual' mode on my faithful Canon. I can't say it has been met with much success. After just one lesson, I have clicked! , the penny dropped and I have simply 'got it'!

I am by no means a pro yet, but I am quite confident that I could get some really good photos shot in 'manual' with a little effort, patience, perseverence - and subjects that {1} sit still; {2} don't complain about the sun in their eyes or being bored or hungry; {3} refrain from barking or chasing the cat; or {4} require monetary compensation or some or other bribe.........and don't mind me fiddling around with the settings while they wait patiently.

The lesson I enjoyed the most, was last week - our assignment due for this Friday, is to take one HIGH KEY photo and one LOW KEY photo, which we will later change to black and white.

I have wanted to get this right for so long now. I have tried before, but not as successfully. I now really feel as though I am getting the hang of how the camera works. How to use the light coming into the lens to my advantage and to use it to create artistic photos- not just simple snapshots.

It's always great to be able to snap away in "Auto" to grab those essential snapshots, silently hoping there'll be one or two really great shots - which sometimes there are. "Manual" is an entirely different thing- I am in control! Yay! I can figure this little machine out, how it {clicks} and how to get the best results from it I can!

I have found a new toy.....

Here's my High Key pic {of my daughter's Build-a-Bear} - this obliging subject sat perfectly still!

Oh boy, did I have fun! here's the black & white version :

Poor Reece, he was sick in bed with flu and I asked him ever so nicely to stand at the bedroom window so that I could play around with a Low key shot. Poor child- he was so obliging! {and he was feeling perkier at the time}.

Here's the resultant Low-key pics....

So that's what I've been busy with of late and as soon as I've completed moving across all my files, I'm going to continue with some paper scrapping again! Yip, I feel the urge to get all touchy-feely again!

Plus I am really enjoying my oil painting, and I have so much I want to paint... but that's another story.

{How cute is this?}

I discovered these gorgeous cute printable confection goodies over at www.theshabbyshoppe.com . Designed by Shabby Princess. These are just too cute for kids parties, Easter table decorations and what about Mother's Day? With Mother's Day coming up this weekend, these are so perfect! Don't you just love those little paper trims for cupcakes?Plus - on sale now for $2.95!! {Image is clickable}.



On the topic of cupcakes, I baked the most yummy ones yesterday! I am off to art class shortly and it's my turn to take along a coffee-break treat. So cupcakes it is! I found a really good recipe in the latest Your Family magazine which is simply delicious!
The cakes are really light and spongey. I topped them off with a cream cheese frosting which I discovered at All Recipes on the net. You can find the recipe here . I halved the recipe and it iced 24 cupcakes easily. I used Lancewood Cream cheese for the recipe. 1 package is enough for 1/2 the icing recipe. {8 ounces is equivalent to 1 cup (250ml)}. I added the juice of 1/2 a lemon and the zest of 1 lemon to the icing. I piped the icing onto each cake and then sprinkled a little extra lemon zest ontop. Just adds a little 'zing' to the frosting.

I plan on making these for mother's Day on Sunday, finishing them off with these cute paper trims!

Here's the recipe for the cupcakes: Yum!!

3 eggs
180ml sugar
125ml boiling water
100ml oil
5ml vanilla essence
250ml cake flour, sifted
10ml baking powder

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (375F)
Place 24 paper cupcake liners in cupcake pan. (Helps them to retain their shape).
Whisk the eggs and sugar together until light and creamy.
Mix together the boiling water, oil and vanilla essence.
Sift flour and baking powder together.
While mixing, add a scoop of the flour mixture , alternating with a splash of the water & oil mixture, continuing until both mixtures are used up.
Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for around 12-14 minutes.
Allow to cool and then ice with the very yummy and 'moreish' cream cheese frosting.

Happy baking!

PS: I have separated my Life365 from this blog - you can find it here. I plan on documenting my everyday life here and posting my layouts of my Project 365. Pixels and Paperie will from now on just be about my creative side.....