Lazy days, New Beginnings and Creative Teams

Dear Paper Lovers,

We just love December in South Africa and we can't believe it's over! So a last post for this year before we embark on new adventures again and it is going to be a bit of a recap and update to what we are still up to. :) Enjoy!

Lazy days, a slower pace, rest, sunshine and peachy showers of lovely rain falling in Pretoria, thunder storms and Christmas time. What a joy to be with family and spending time just breathing.  It is exactly what you need after a hard year of starting new things, hoping hard and living your dream job.

We have learned so much, and in this coming new year we hope to implement those lessons. You may just see some changes over at our website again as growth is our aim. We might just surprise you with what we have planned for this year and the years to come.

On a more personal note, we believe that Faith is the foundation of anything and everything we do and our Hope is squarely placed in God, the One who is our Foundation. He is our CEO and with His guidance we hope to bring you more inspirational and beautiful products. We hope it will touch the lives of all our clients in a positive way and continue to do so in the years to come. We are not afraid to say who we are. We are Artists, Believers, Creative Designers, Teachers, Encouragers and Entrepreneurs and we hope that what we do and how we do it, will inspire other women to also live out their calling and gifts to the full. If you want to tell your story, you must believe that it can make a difference or not tell it at all. So, give things another go this year and work hard at whatever it is you know you are good at. Do not let anyone deter you from it. Stay committed. Keep trying, working and believing. Take chances and aim high.

From our family "team" to yours, we wish you all a blessed holiday season, a happy and hopeful new year and lots and lots of creativity. Do that thing you are so afraid of, live out load and show the world how BIG your BRAVE is!

and while we are ending things off for this year, here is what we have learned:

1. Never ever give up! Just keep moving forward one step at a time as that is the Light God gives.
2. Don't follow anyone else's way of doing things. Follow Christ and the Holy Spirit. Father knows best.
3. Work hard.
4.  Rest when you are tired.
5. Make time for God and family first.
6. Always try to give the best service you can for any client. Their loyalty is your reward and you never know who will become your best client.
7. Don't disregard small beginnings. You don't know where you will end up.
8. Don't let stress take over your life. Manage it.
9. Remember God is King and clients and service providers are not. Keep your perspective.
10. Don't let other people's bad attitudes become your focus or influence you to the point of giving up. The best thing you can do is to live your life well and to know that you are loved, blessed and favored by a God who cannot wait to see what you do next with the gifts He gave you. Keep looking up and keep moving forward.
11. Dream big because your God is big. He brings solutions to the table you didn't even think about.
12. Change is part of life. Growth is a process. Comparison kills creativity. Be a trend setter.
13. The challenges and resistance you face are actually part of the learning curve you need to become the person God wants you to be, to grow your business the way God wants you to grow it and nothing, no lesson is in vain. You were meant to experience the things you did, so you would know how to proceed, what pitfalls to sidestep and which directions to take and which not to take. Take note of every experience. It is valuable.

and last but not least....
Always always always trust God for every step.  If you build your life on anything else, it is shaking sand. The accolades of men will not give you the life you dream of or the life you need to be happy. What will give you true happiness and contentment is to know that you lived the life God intended for you. Don't follow your heart, lead your heart. Guard it, for it is the wellspring of Life.

With all of that, we look forward to a full and blessed 2017.

DESIGN TEAM 2017 ANNOUNCEMENT:
Since we put out a Design Team call for 2017 a couple of months ago, we received some fabulous entries and the following three Paper Lovers will grace our pages with their creations in the coming year. Keep a look out for them. Congrats ladies, and we are looking forward to working with you on the first creative projects soon.

We will be setting things up in the next few weeks to link to their blogs and pages so you can access their creative projects, so keep a look out for that.

HOLIDAY PROJECTS:
December holidays are card-making season! Most of our family birthdays start in September and doesn't stop until February with most of them in November and December including or Mom's birthday on the 15th of December. So as mom turned 77 this year, I went all out with this little pink number. She was doing some sewing in the days leading up to her birthday so I thought a sewing theme would be appropriate.  We inherited our love of florals from our mom so naturally I included some flowers from our latest "Wild&Free" collection and some rolled roses I made with the Hadeda Garden Collection. I also included small elements from the Friendship begins in the Heart collection so all in all I used paper from all three our 2016 collections in one card. Such fun!

This project took me about 6-8 hours in total from conception to completion. I was so excited to give it to my Mom that I couldn't wait until the morning and had to give it to here the night before her birthday. She loved it so I was a happy puppy. :) She wants to frame this one in a box frame.

Then I decided to see how the new Wild&Free collection would behave with Christmas cards and I just couldn't stop. These cards were so quick and easy. The paper lends itself to a multitude of possibilities in English or Afrikaans. I had to stop at 5 or I would still be making cards. Here are just a couple of pics to give you some idea of what you can do with it. 

Products used:
Birthday Card
Paper: Hadeda Garden, Friendship begins in the Heart and Wild&Free Collections
Adhesives
Anita's 3D Glue
Metal photo corners and other little embellishments:
Diamante
Various beads and pins
Ribbon and gold string
Pearls
Button, Wood heart, flower trinket, small paper roses in various colors,
Gold acrylic paint
Silhouette cuts: lace, sewing machine
** Anyone interested in a tutorial and kit for this card, email us here for more info.

Christmas Cards
Paper: Wild&Free Collection
Adhesives
Anita's 3D glue
Diamante
Silhouette Cuts: Wreath

IVYTREE STUDIO KIT CLUB:

We launched our very first Kit a while ago and it was well received. If you are interested in joining our Kit Club, drop us a line here so we can add you to our mailing list and keep you posted.

Don't forget that our store is also open 24/7 and stocked with lots of pretty paper. We deliver anywhere in South Africa right to your door!

Click here to visit our store.

Enjoy the last moments of this year with family and friends.

PS: As "Design Team" now means something else, we will update our signature for the new year too.