A Thank You Card

Hello Everyone! I took part in six challenges this week!

Totally Papercrafts - Spring
Penny's Paper Crafty - Anything Goes
Magical Crafts Fortnight Challenge - Something for the Girls
Cute Card Thursday - Touchy Feely
Sweet Stampin Challenge Blog - In Stitches
One Stitch At A Time Challenge - Thank You

Here is my card:




















I saw a Mothers' Day card in a magazine called 'Cardmaking and Papercraft' issue 57 (absolutely the best card making magazine ever!), and I decided to try it! But I made mine into a thank you card! My friend made a card for my sister's birthday with stitches on, and I thought it looked lovely, so I asked my mom to sew the stitches on for me!



















I hooked a pair of earrings in to the scalloped square. It is a cute little gift to have on a card!

















I made a little tag with 'Thank You' written on it.

I wanted to take part in Daring Cardmakers too, but my mom and I just couldn't figure out a flap with this layout, so we decided against it!

















My little sister Beth, also makes cards! This is the one she made this week!

Hope you are having a good week so far!

Blessings,
Kelly-Anne

Her First Steps

Rebekah is now over 10 months in age! She has grown up so quickly, and is a real little girl now, not just a lump! In June she will be a year...we are just trying to cherish these last few weeks!

The other day, I was taking a picture of one of my cards, and I heard shouts from my family, and as I looked, Rebekah took her first steps!!

I very quickly snapped a few pictures, and here they are!

















Balance!

















Whoo - hoo, this is cool!

















Y'all like it?....Good!

Of course Rebekah got great applause and encores from us all!!

Gabrielle's 3rd Birthday

Wow! Gabrielle has turned three! This is her second birthday that I have blogged about!

She is a very special little girl, and is very loving! Watching her grow into a pretty three year old has been wonderful! She loves her big sister (me) and most nights she sleeps with me in my bed!

















Saturday was her birthday! She knew exactly how old she was and kept showing everybody how many fingers!

We wanted to give her a little party with my grandparents and aunt. We made her a pony cake and the party was pony-themed. My mom made her a hobby horse too!

















The cake didn't turn out so well!

Nancy and I were very busy making her presents! I made her a scarf and beanie for her rag doll, which Nancy made for her. Nancy also made her rag doll some clothes and a nightgown! Beth gave her a 'My Little Pony', which we bought from the factory toy shop.

When Nancy and I got home from the market, we began the party. I had made some mini flapjacks with blueberry jam and cream. My mom made sandwich triangles and we also had chips and juice!! We had such a lovely little party!

















Beth.

Then it was time for the cake - yummy yum!

















Gabrielle and her cake.

















Blowing out the candles!

















We then had a little treasure hunt for Gabrielle. She had opened our presents in the morning, but my mom had kept the hobby horse till later. My mom laid horse shoes that Nancy had cut out of paper along the pavement for Gabrielle to follow to her horse, which was in my mom's craft room. Every two or three horse shoes, we had put a little present. Each present was a different color plastic horse, for Gabrielle and Beth to play with!

















Gabrielle on trail!

Gabrielle really enjoyed the trail, but LOVED her horse!! She was playing with it all afternoon!!

















We all enjoyed her birthday and we hope she did too!

Have a good Sunday further!

Blessings,
Kelly-Anne

Card Making With Friends

I love card making! I can design and glue and create a beautiful piece of art within a few hours!

I especially love card making with my mom or friends! We can chat about the latest card making blogs and what we plan to make that week, while sticking and creating our cards!

Last week I had such fun with paper and friends!

Tuesday, we had two of our friends come and make cards. It was holidays, so they could come in the morning and stay the whole day!

















Look at Gabrielle's face! We gave her a tray of paper offcuts! She had fun just sticking everything together!

I had gotten everything ready and printed out the stamps the day before, so I wouldn't have to spend too much time on that while they were here!

We had a lovely morning spending time together and crafting! Nancy and Beth joined in too, but my main focus was on helping the other girls do their cards, as I could always help my sisters the next day.

We did card making in the morning, and then we went outside for tea and biscuits. We then played a little with the hobby horses and Cody, our dog. During that time playing, Beth fell and cut her hand on a nail, so there was quite a bit of drama while Mom and Dad fixed her up. We then had lunch outside. After that we came back inside and did the finishing touches on the cards. They turned out quite nicely if you ask me!

















































mmmm....can't wait!

















Rebekah, doing what toddlers do best - mess!

































We then cleaned up and sat down to watch the movie: 102 Dalmatians (not the animated one). Their dad then came and they had supper with us!

We had a lot of fun together and they got to try their hands at card making!

Thursday was the day I had been looking forward to the whole week! I was going to my best friend, Heidi-Mari to make cards together! We took part in the Simon Says challenge.













Busy!

















Cutting the cupcake paper!

Heidi-Mari had received some new stamps the day before, so we had fun choosing which one we were going to use on our cards!

Heidi created the most adorable birthday card for a little boy, and I made a card for Gabrielle, who's birthday is on Saturday, April 17th.

















Heidi-Mari's card! It is so cute!






















My card














The 2 cupcake rectangles open up, so I can write a birthday poem or message!

We had so much fun! We basically made cards the whole afternoon! Heidi-Mari's younger brother made lunch for us, so we didn't even have to do that!! We just glued and created the whole time! I was very sad when the day came to an end! We were both very happy with our creations! What do you think?

Blessings,
Kelly-Anne

Daring Cardmakers - If The Shoe Fits...

This week, my mom and I made a 40th birthday card for a friend. Daring Cardmakers' challenge was: 'If The Shoe Fits'. Quite an interesting challenge, but plenty of fun!

Here is my card:






















I used beautiful paper from our local craft shop - we literally walked in and found exactly what we wanted! Our friend loves black and white!
















It is a very fancy card!

















As our friend is turning 40, I made a big '40' on silver card stock, which I mounted on black. The black circle I glittered, to make it stand out a bit. The pop-outs I put them on also helped to 'lift' it from the page!


















I used my silver gems for the corners.






















I used a Victorian style boot, and used black eyelets for the holes and ribbon for the shoelaces. My mom then tied a bow at the top! I also glittered the boot!






















I also wanted to show you some of the mini cards I made this week. We have friends from Knynsa coming to stay with us for a night on Thursday, and it is the lady's birthday, so I made her a card . We have another friend there, and my mom wanted to send her a card too, so she will receive her card via our friends, as they also know her!

















The birthday card

















The card for my mom's friend

















I also made a card for my friend Hannah, who is the daughter of the family visiting

I made them out of scrap pieces of card stock, and handmade paper which our friends from England gave to me. They also gave me the little embellishments, which I put in the middle of the card!

I love the cardmaking time with my mom on a Tuesday! We have so much fun!

Blessings,
Kelly-Anne

Beautiful Girlhood Turns 1!

On Friday, it was a year ago I started Beautiful Girlhood! I have posted 170 posts in that year!

Blogging has been a wonderful experience, and I shall certainly continue!

Thank you for the encouragement and the comments, I appreciate them all!

I must say a VERY big thank you must go to my mom, who so kindly checked the spelling and grammar in almost every one of those 170 posts!
















My mom and me

My dad must also be thanked, because he was the one who dealt with all the internet issues and started my blog for me!

And then I think my sisters need thanks for posing for literally hundreds of photos!











Mom and her five girls on my 13th birthday

Thank you family! You are great!

Today, my mom bought me a cupcake from the market, to celebrate the one year of my blog. She said that the cupcake was beautifully decorated, but got slightly squished on the way home. I was so surprised and so touched that my mom had thought of me, and I didn't mind the fact that it was squashed!! I left it on the kitchen counter for 'later', but when I came back, the chocolate ball on top of the cupcake had 'disappeared'.......Gabrielle!! My mom sang happy blog anniversary to me and I blew out the candle!

















Me with my blog birthday cupcake (I got another chocolate ball!)

And I have decided that I should share how I started Beautiful Girlhood and what I want it to become:

Early April, 2009, my mom's friend started her blog. I was very interested to read her posts, and loved how everything was just so 'perfect'! There were labels, and followers and lots of wonderful things - I also wanted a blog!

There were lots of other things that had to happen before my blog began, like finding out how to start the whole process, which Aunty Linnie, my mom's good friend, very kindly helped me to do!

I was so excited I could hardly sit still, and I am not joking. I have to confess, I pestered my dad quite a lot, until he decided to just help me and get it over with. We sat for a long time, trying to figure out how the process works, and we succeeded a little while later! We were both very happy!

My mom wasn't so sure about my blog, but she agreed to correct posts and help me all she could. She thought the novelty would wear off in a month or two - but it never did!!

The name 'Beautiful Girlhood' I had decided upon when I first thought of my blog, because it is what I am experiencing at this time of my life.

Beautiful girlhood is the time of learning - learning to become a beautiful woman for God! You have to learn how to handle situations good or bad and display the love of Jesus at all times.

Of course, we cannot all get this right straight away. I struggle every day to smile through tough situations, speak gently when I want to shout, swallow when I want to cry, keep from losing my temper when I am tired and be a patient sister to the little one who has drawn over my schoolwork (or eaten my chocolate ball!)

I have the privilege of staying at home, and being schooled by my mom, who knows the bad elements of the world, and has protected me from them. I know right from wrong and punishment is not uncommon!! All of which have helped guide me to what I believe is the right path.

Beautiful Girlhood blog was, and is, a way for me to share my challenges, difficulties and exciting and rewarding times with other young girls, to encourage them, as I am encouraged by the blogs of others.

I hope that you all have enjoyed the posts I have written and tried out some of the crafts and recipes! I hope to do lots more, so watch this space!

Enjoy this time of beautiful girlhood and have fun doing girly things!

Blessings to all,
Kelly-Anne

Daring Cardmakers - A Diamond For April, And Simon Says Challenge - A Card For A Child

I took part in two challenges this week, because my friend and I did card making together the whole day yesterday!!! We did Daring Cardmakers and Simon Says Challenge.






















Here is my card














The 2 cupcake rectangles open up, so I can write a birthday poem or message!

I will write more about our fun time together very soon!

Have a great weekend!

Blessings,
Kelly-Anne

Daring Cardmakers - 'How Egg-Citing'

I did another Daring Cardmakers! This week's challenge was 'How Egg-Citing'.

















It is an Easter card











I used the paper 'Lucy Bird' by 'Imaginisce'.

















My mom scalloped the edges of the dark pink oval with special scissors - I wasn't brave enough!

I used different ribbons for the egg, as well as rik rak and beads threaded on cotton.
















I used four shiny pink buttons for the corners of the card.

I try and use something different or something 3-d on every card I make, so that I never get bored. For this card, I used the beaded strings and the glittered buttons.

















So that is my creation using the theme 'How Egg-Citing'!

Blessings,
Kelly-Anne