I am in love with how these spreads turned out. I love the mixture of photo's and learnings.  I can not express how much of an awesome weekend this was but I do know that as I look back on this spread in years to come, it will bring back wonderful memories and remind me of some of the truths shared that weekend.


Mom and I are booked in for next years event and if you ever get the chance to attend I would totally encourage you to do so.

This year has been a pretty big year house wise and budget wise. I bought my first house two years ago and since then, I've been saving up to re-do the garden and re-decorate the house.  Initially the plan was to just focus on the garden this year and do the redecorating when I had put aside to cover it all but that didn't go to plan....but I will share those reveal photos over the coming weeks.

The garden was my first priority. As you can see from the photos below it was very bland colour wise, and in need of a lot of tender loving care.  The washing line had been cemented in which made the garden look and feel much smaller than it was and on the bottom left of the photo you will see a brick box with some plants which jutted out which was more of a trip hazard than anything else.


This project was a first for me. I had never done any sort of landscaping design before and I had a fairly small budget which I needed to keep all this work within.  Starting was the hardest part. I knew that I wanted the garden to be low maintenance. I knew that I wanted some colour in there. I knew that I wanted to open it up so that I could make the most of the space during summer time and I knew I needed to keep within budget which meant I needed to do as much of it myself as I could and be a very savvy shopper.



Top Tips For Giving Your Garden A Makeover

• If you are on a budget do as much as you can yourself. |  Painting the fencing is one of the first things that I did and only took a couple of hours to complete.  Instead of paying for someone to come and remove the gravel that was down, I advertised on Gumtree and offered the gravel for free to whoever was willing to shovel and take it away themselves. Another trick is to use what you have where you can. Little things like this can end up saving you a bundle.
• When hiring, see a few different companies. | There was absolutely no way that I could have done all of this on my own so I knew that a portion of my budget would have to go towards getting someone else to carry out the work.  I was very surprised to see how much of difference there was in quotes between the different companies so make sure that you get two to three different companies in.
• When obtaining the quote, also ask them for ideas. | One thing that I did with each of the companies who came to give me a quote was to ask them what they would do if this was there garden. It was a great way for me to get some ideas but more importantly, a great way to see how they think and how they communicate this.
• Write it down! | This was a biggie for me and I wish that I had actually done this.  Once I hired the company to do the work, we talked through what I wanted and then I left him to it, thinking that he would double check if he felt he needed clarity.  This was not the case which led to a few instances of me feeling stressed and wondering if it was going to turn out how I wanted.
• Have the full design figured out before starting. | This helps to avoid duplicate or unnecessary spending.  As I mentioned in the first point, I offered the gravel to anyone who was willing to come and collect...however I later decided that I wanted to put some gravel down the side flower beds and ended up having to go out and buy several bags of the stuff.
• Be open to some changes. |  I knew that this would be a toughie for me. I had the exact picture in my head of how I wanted it to look once finished but due to a couple unforeseen things, I had to make some changes and be OK with those changes.
• Time spent shopping for the best price is not wasted time. | I spent hours on-line and in shops searching for the best prices for my supplies.  It saved me a load of cash and I felt better knowing that I was still able to come in within my budget.  

I am so pleased that I decided to jump in and do project life this year. My album is mostly up to date, although I have most of the months to still share with you all which hopefully I will get up over the coming weeks.

August is the first month where I haven't used a Studio Calico project life kit.  Instead, I divided into my stash and chose 5 items as the basis for this month - Seafoam cards, some very old Basic Grey black rubon's, a Heidi Swapp overlay, a container of mixed chipboard pieces and Journey puffy stickers.  I really like how these pages have all come together.

I also found that I took fewer photos during the month than what I normally do which meant I had to get creative with some filler cards. I am really chuffed with how they turned out.

This weekend I pulled out my journaling bible, prepped the page with gesso and once it dried I used some inks, modelling paste and gellatos to create a foundation. I then added a photo, some scrapbooking papers and a doilie and used rubons and stickers for the words. I finished it off with a little prayer to the Lord and my birthday date stamped.  


I really love this verse and to be honest, I cant say that I have ever come across it before. I'm excited to see where this next year takes me and I plan to dig in deeper with the Lord and His plans for me.

Friday was my birthday. I turned thirty-four. I don't feel thirty-four or even thirty but time appears to be moving forward whether I like it or not.  The last few years my birthdays have been pretty low key as my focus was on the final days of studying for my Psychology exams but this year I made the most of being study free.

Thursday evening my parents took my brother and I to Spur for dinner (we are both September babies) and man was it delicious!  Spur is a South African restaurant that has ventured over to England and it brings up so many happy childhood memories for me and the family.  Our table was filled with each of us chirping in, finishing off the other persons story of their trip down memory lane.




I left dad sitting on some stairs just off the promenade and took a walk down onto the sand and along the waters edge. It was low tide and so I had a lot of walking to do before I actually got to the water....but the sand was so soft and the feeling of it between my toes was so great that the long walk was not a problem.  There were a couple water pools along the shore and once you got to the water it was clear that you could see all the way to the sand. I was able to spot a white crab, some little fish, seashells and lots of little seaweed.  To top it off, the water wasn't even freezing.

A day on the beach was just what I needed. It was gorgeous. To make the day even better, Dad and decided we couldn't go all the way to the beach and not enjoy some freshly cooked fish and chips...so we found ourselves a little seafront restaurant and enjoyed a delicious lunch together.

When you want something desperately, waiting can be tough. Whether you have to wait for a couple of weeks or, like in my case coming up to nine years, waiting can be hard on your dreams, hard on your emotions and sometimes, hard on your faith.

During these times it can be easy to give up, easy to get frustrated and to take things into your own hands. As someone who is living this, I'm going to be real here - I've gone through periods of time where I wonder if God has forgotten about me. I wonder if God is really going to keep his promises to me, like He has for what feels like every other person in my life. Sometimes, I even find yourself trying to negotiate with God.  "God, if you could just do x,y and z for me then I promise that I'll do or give......" Deep down I know it probably isn't going to work but I figure "hey, what can it hurt to try?".

While I feel a little foolish sharing that, I also know that I'm human and that all of the above and more is normal.  God created me with emotions and thoughts and I don't surprise Him one little bit....and while I honestly do believe it, I also know that God calls me to a higher standard.  These past couple of days, He has been challenging me in this area....the area of faith and truly trusting Him with my future and with His timing.

Sunday morning I spent some time writing in my journal and reading his word and I happened to come across Psalm 62v8,  I love how the Amplified version shares this verse....Trust in, lean on, rely on... God is my refuge. My trust and faith need to be in Him.....and that includes trusting and having faith in His timing.

So today I want to encourage you, if you are waiting for God to fulfil your hearts desires, trust in Him, lean on Him, have faith in Him.....and remember, to have faith in God, means to have faith in His timing as well.