Sunday 15 March 2015

Mphamvu's Progress

One of the major things that have happened while I have been offline, is how well the youngest orphan Mphamvu has been doing. When I last updated he was just starting to socialise with the other orphans free-contact style (with no barriers between) in the outer boma.  I have summed up a few of his major developments here:

Walks outside the outer boma with keeper (mid November 2014):

Mphamvu had been enjoying socialising with the other elephants at lunch time and during the evening, but he was not quite strong enough to go out on the long walks with the other orphans. However, it is important that he could have bit of variety in his environment, to graze in different vegetation and to be able to mud wallow in new area. So after the other orphans set out on their morning walk, Keeper Eldridge coaxed him outside the boma using his milk bottle and led him to the Ox-Bow just outside the outer boma. He soon realised this new area was very interesting and enthusiastically began grazing on the soft fresh grass by the water. He then spent a few hours in this area, coming back into the boma peacefully with the other elephants at lunch time. His condition improved further and gaining strength every day.


Here Mphamvu is being coaxed out of the boma with his milk bottle and enjoying the variety of grazing at the water

Friday 13 March 2015

Mother's Day present idea: Mini Scrapbooks

I've been dying to get some scrapbooking on here, but with my crafting stash stuck in South Africa, living in Zambia AND currently blogging from land of reliable internet (England!) it hasn't been easy! With Mother's Day fast approaching I thought it would be a good time to share some mini books I've made for some special mothers in my life; my mum, my "mom" in-law, as well as my sister and my sister in law, who both have very young boys and so are new to being on the receiving side.

These are mini books using 4" x 4" pieces of chipboard, held together with book rings, decorated with scrapbook paper, mini pockets, and lots of embellishments from my stash!  I first made the books, and then managed to find a Kodak kiosk and pressed the option for "wallet" prints, which are the perfect size (2" x 3") as I made most of the mats (spaces for the photos) 3" x 3". I found the wallet size fitted the best as it left space for either captions of the photos or journalling - the all important personal touch! Every page has either a tag hidden behind the photo mat, flaps or a pull out mat, to fit in even more memories. To finish them off I added a little charm or bead to hang from the book ring, and ta da, a thoughtful personal keepsake for mums to treasure forever!


My sisters mini book: BEFORE