Sad News

Thank you all so much for your well wishes, it means so much to Bonnie and I.
Rob passed away late afternoon (New Zealand time) on Wednesday, due to complications after the op, they tried to relieve pressure on his brain due to the swelling, but it was too late, they discovered he was brain dead, so my sister in law had his life support switched off as he had wanted this if anything had gone wrong. I am grateful that Laurie, my sister in law, had time to be with him and say goodbye. She is a very strong person and so far is coping. She has a beautiful little daughter and needs to be strong for her too. I have happy memories of Rob, we were so fortunate to spend a holiday together in December, and those are the memories I have of him, a healthy fun loving person. We will miss him terribly. Bonnie and I are not flying to New Zealand anymore, my dad needs us and I am instead flying to Cape Town early next week to spend time with my family. Laurie has her family to support her there. Life is so unpredictable and unfortunately death is part of life and we have to deal with it and go on.

I will not be around much the next week , we just need time to deal with the sadness.

I don't often do this

I don't often share personal news on my blog, but I thought I would today.
Our(Bonnie's and mine) dear brother suffered a brain aneurysm on Monday, he lives on the other side of the world to us in New Zealand. He underwent an 8 hour brain surgery yesterday to clamp off the aneurysm which was successful, but he is still in ICU in a critical but stable state, under sedation. Bonnie and I will be going to New Zealand probably next week for about 10 days to be with the family and spend time with my brother, we do not even know yet if there will be any permanent damage. It is a huge shock for all of us as he is so healthy and such an outdoorsy type, and so clever (charted accountant)You never think something like this will happen to anyone close to you, it just came out of the blue. I am so happy we were able to spend time with him in December. All I want is to see his huge smile and those cute dimples! Here are some photos we took in December.

With his wife Laurie
With Bonnie and their kids (his little girl is only 6, she is in the middle)



With Bonnie and I

Did you hear that KimB's sister, Gaye is now a designer(GSC Creations) at DSO? I had the privilege of working with her very first kit it is so arty and unusual - Easter Garden

My LO(My DD 15 years ago, the word art is KimB's)
Check out Kim's blog for some awesome freebies today!

I have a new commercial use kit in my shop and it is 40% off for a few days, Into the Blue, a pack of 6 templates, most of them layered.And here is my first commercial use freebie, a fishy template- layered!
Download here

And some sad and exciting news. My very first digi home Snap and Scrap is closing doors at the end of March, and this is where lots of my designer friends and my sister Bonnie sell . I am so happy to announce that some of these girls and Bonnie are coming over to ESS!! Bonnie's shop open on Monday so be sure to check it out!!!

Going camping anyone??

I must apologize for not letting anyone know that my $1 items had to be removed on Sunday, a week early. Admin decided 1 week per designer was long enough, I just completely forgot to post it, but they will be on again and I plan to have a huge sale soon!

Have you seen KimB's gorgeous new kit, Camping Out? I am in awe of her painting skills! It is 30% of for a short time only!

My LO - the word art is Jazzy's cute Fishtales Wordart
and the hunks are my DH in yellow and his BF!
Kim has an apha freebie on her blog- don't forget to leave her some love!

And if you would like to see who won my "win a custom designed kit" have a look here! And I am so excited to tell you that Kim and I are doing a collab for the winner, and guess what the theme is hahaha WINE!!! So I am going to be super busy for the next few weeks!

Keep tuned for a new CU pack and a CU freebie soon. Have a good week!

ESS shop is down

Just to let you know that gremlins got into our system and we are having store issues, please be patient, it will be back up and running in a few hours!

Just a few gorgeous LO's and cards I have to show you!!

By Becca using Secret Window
And look at this adorable card with one of my freebies by May Jasper

Tomorrow I have the difficult task of choosing the winner for my win a custom designed kit contest, there are so many fabulous entries, actually I could easily do a kit with them all. I may decide one is not enough... so stay tuned!

That time of the month again!

I have spent a few days working on a blog for our holiday house in Somerset West in the Western cape (South Africa) Have a look and tell me what you think!! This is the blog header I did for it, I am really happy the way it turned out!! So if you ever need a holiday by the sea and love wine, this is the holiday for you LOL
Other than that I have been playing with KimB's new Commercial Use Grab Bag that has just come out in her shop today! It is the highlight of my month, they are always so awesome! This one has 5 brand new items!
So here is a hint as to what is in it!!
And my freebie for you, a cluster frame, paper and wordart. Enjoy!

Download here

Kim also has a commercial use freebie on her blog for 2 days only so don't miss out!

Enjoy your week!!

$1 deals, new commercial use product and designer call!

Sunday morning here and still in my PJ's(11am!!)

I have 3 full kits going for $1 until 14 March!! Chic Shack (a huge collab between Bonnie and I)

Rainy Day Blues
Summer's End Going Buggy Commercial Use is now in my store! 5 layered templates and 5 examples for your personal use included!
ESS is having a designer call, even if you are a complete newbie and do not sell your creations anywhere please apply, it is an awesome opportunity and you may have what it takes!!
I had some time to do a LO yesterday, I bought Lily Designs kit, Dark Angel ages ago to do some LO's for my DD who is a huge fan of Twilight and Robert Patterson. What an awesome kit, I am a huge fan of Lily as it is, but this is so out the box!!
My LO (my DD is sitting on the chairs)
I love doing this type of LO with blending and before I discovered digital scrapbooking I did a few of them. Here they are just for fun!
Ok, I had better have a shower and get dressed LOL, almost midday here!! Have a great Sunday!!

KimB's Colour Challenge Freebie- and a new CU pack!

I was up at 4.30am this morning to take part in the ESS Speed Scrap. It was such fun and a bit hectic, I always get into a panic thinking I won't have enough time to finish, but I made it!! I used the charity kit A perfect Fairytale, it is HUUUUGE, and has so much variety, just perfect for the little princess in your life!My LO

I have a new commercial use pack going into my shop tomorrow, these are all layered templates.
And here is my freebie for KimB's colour challenge, early I know, but I just love the colours and decided to do a sea theme although the colours are far from "sea" The boat, waves, fish and seaweed are all hand drawn by me and will be included in a commercial use pack I am busy with!

Download here
Don't forget about my little contest on until Friday!!

Hope you are having a great weekend!