Bye bye

Hi there Bloglanders

I'm so sorry I've not been blogging as often as I usually do but I'm going on a well deserved holiday tomorrow and wanted to finish all the projects on my craft table before I go.  BUT, I'm here to show you what I've done and when I come back I'll do tutorials with exact measurements (and pic's - of course!)

First up is my holiday file:

I love cats and this fabric has been in my cupboard for years but now I'll be able to look at it every day!

Next, I made a mini book for my holiday memories.  I also made a bag where I can "file it away" in my "cat file" afterwards.

See what I mean?

Of course I'll show you what the mini looks like when I come back.

And now for my diary!  I normally buy the refills and keep it together with binder rings but this year I ordered  dividers where I can document the highlights of each month and then I thought that the diary deserves a cover as well. I did the layout in PS and had it printed on canvas.



And this is what the inside looks like:

I even added a flap to keep everything nice and snug together.  This actually works very well as my diary is full of bits and bobs. Let's call it a "smashing diary"! 





Now I'm off to Jeffrey's Bay for some sunshine, time with my family, good food and lots of wine.  I'll be back to tell it all right here on Play as U Go. 

Phone and charger bag

Hi there Bloglanders

For those of you who are not at some exotic destination during school break, I have my phone and charger bag to share. When I saw The Play Date Cafe color challenge of the week, it immediately reminded me of this beautiful piece of material that I have stashed away.  Also, I'm always searching for my mobile phone and charger.  So, I combined the challenge with my need to get organized and whoa-la - a phone and charger bag that hangs on the plug.

No more searching for me!  And the best part is that if I go away, I can just grab the bag and I'll have everything at hand. And here is the colors of the challenge:

That's it from me for today.  I'm going on a well deserved holiday and are hard at work to get everything done - lists, lists and some more lists.  Before I go, I'll share my prep for a holiday mini right here on Play as U Go. Please come back to play!

Library envelope card

Good morning Bloglanders

Just one more day before the weekend!  I have another birthday coming up and I'm here to show you the card I made:

The library envelope is just an ordinary (small) envelope cut in half. I've punched out half a circle with my circle punch and added a tab to my little note inside.  I've even decorated the paperclip myself!

It's just a flower and a circle cut out of felt that I've sewn onto the paperclip, added a button to the front and a small paper circle to the back (to finish it off nicely).

And of course the Play as U Go factory made some more (envelopes and paperclips) so watch this space for more ideas with library envelopes!

And this is what my pressie looks like:



Wondering what's inside?  As mini Smash book (the real one) with some nice Smash goodies. I think it would be perfect for a 16 year old - don't you?  Maybe I should ask her to send me some pic's of what she's done with it in future. Then we will have a follow-up blog post.

That's it from me.  I'll be back next week with some more crafting fun.

The Play Date Cafe #136

Hallo Bloglanders

Just a quick post to show you the cover I've made for my Father's Day mini album which has to go into my Smash Folder. 

I just love the happy picture of my husband and son and even the bit of raspberry in this color scheme - perfect!

If you want to play as well, here is the challenge:

Have a great day and please come back to play as I'll share my mini album when it's finished right here on Play as U Go.

Year in review file

Hi there Bloglanders

It seems that everyone is doing "year in review" albums and I've seriously considered it but I'm still at my "A5 Smash File".  The reason: I just love to keep junk and I don't want to cut it up to paste in an album. I just fold the page and in it goes.  Today I'm showing how I add my mini albums to the file.

Remember my mum and dad's 50the anniversary mini album?



I actually kept the envelope for something that was written on the other side and it formed a nice pocket on this side where I did my Easter journaling.

Here I adapted a page protector  by sealing if off with one of those machine which re-seals plastic bags ( I have a very, very, very old one but it still works.  I sewed the business card of the place we visited directly onto the altered page protector.

And this is where I added the mini book to my memorabilia of the camping weekend:

And here you can see the whole lot in my Smash File:

At the end of the year the whole file goes onto my bookshelves and when I have to look something up, it is easy to retrieve.  I don't even buy A5 files (they are very hard to get in sunny SA and EXPENSIVE!) - I just cut an old office file to size with my craft knife and cover it with fabric or paper whichever is the flavor of my month.

I hope you enjoyed this peek into my "year in review".  Please come back to play and I'll share some more craftiness right here on Play as U Go.

Mask Magic

Hi there Bloglanders

We had a wonderful Father's Day with nice weather, a "braai" in the garden and lots of love all around.  It's wonderful to have my husband back after his extended business trip to Europe. At least now I don't have to solve every crisis on my own!

I told you about masks being the flavour of the month (more like the year) in the crafting world.  Today I'm here to show you what the Princess did for our Father's Day pudding with one of my masks!!!

Our favourite, chocolate brownies with a dusting of icing sugar.  I love the stars but I'm not sure about the chicken wire.  At least it's original.  Just goes to show that crafting goodies can do so much more.

Enjoy the rest of your day and please come back to play.

Father's Day 2012

Hi there Bloglanders

We had the most beautiful day today.  I just couldn't get myself indoors!  So I did all the running around town to organize, drop off, collect etc. At least I got to be outside.

I have a thing for small boxes.  It's so easy to wrap them.  When I saw nougat, my dad's favorite sweet in small rectangular boxes, I bought 3 different varieties, wrapped them, added a sentiment and mailed it off.  Father's Day 2012 sorted and it cost less than $3 (postage included). Of course, I took a picture before I mailed it off!

I'm still working on an idea for my husband but as he is a big nougat fan himself, if all else fail; I can always get him a set like my dad's.  Watch this space to see what happens.

Enjoy your day and I sincerely hope that you have great weather like us in sunny South Africa.



Father's Day 2011

Hi there Bloglanders

Did you think I got the date wrong?  Of course not!  I only wanted to show you what my Father's Day project for my husband looked like last year.  Yesterday I mentioned that I hand out journaling cards to the boys, the girlfriends and even the pets (actually their owners) to fill in.  All these go into a "mini file" and that's our Father's Day gift.  Of course we do a special lunch or dinner as well but nothing elaborate.

This is the front of the "mini file":

And the back:

(just to show that it's custom made for him!)

And inside:



You can see that the file actually consist out of a cover and some cellophane envelopes all bound together with a file clasp. (or whatever it is called) All the tags then just slot into the open envelopes.

And packed for delivery:

That's it from me.  It's nice and sunny outside and I think I'll have a stroll around town today.  Please check back tomorrow as I'm thinking up a storm for an original way to present this year's Father's Day cards. Of course I'll share with you!

The Play Date Cafe #135

Hi there Bloglanders

Time for my contribution to The Play Date Cafe's color challenge of the week.

And their inspiration:

It seems that the new buzz word in Blogland is painting masks. So out came all the freebes that I got over the years and some old craft paint.  It's actually very therapeutic and cheap as well!  I added  a white embossed butterfly and some bling that I got with a kit and never used.

At this stage, I'm thinking of turning it into a mini book for my husband for Father's day as it's such nice and manly colors. (Don't know about the butterfly though.) Normally I hand out note cards to the boys and girlfriends and they have to write a message on it for Father's Day. Even the pets get cards (actually their owners) as I feel that this is what Father's Day is about - thanking that special man in your life for the little extras he does without spending a fortune. All the cards go into a mini book for my husband to keep in the drawer of his bedside table.

That's it from me for today. Please come back to play!



Birthday pressie

Good morning Bloglanders

You remember that I had 8 little girls over for a crafty 8th birthday bash last week?  Well, I did and this week I'll tell you what we did. I think I'll start with my gift to the birthday girl:

As expected she let me know well in advance that she would like to have some scrapping goodies.  I put together a kit consisting of cardstock, printed paper, stickers, die cuts, brads, paperclips, ribbon and other embellishments.  As this would have made a very akward 12 x 12 package, I wrapped all the flat items and then made "pockets" for the rest of the goodies to hang onto a "clothes line".  (Bakers Twine from The Twinery, of course!) Ta da! The birthday girl didn't have one pressie to unwrap but 5!

I'm rather impressed with how it turned out.  I'm off to the office to get some admin done. Have a great day and please come back to play as I'll be sharing some more craftiness right here on Play as U Go.

Anniversary Layout

Hallo Bloglanders

Here's my layout of my parent's 50th wedding anniversary:

Not my best pic but it's pouring wet, no sunshine in Sunny SA!  I can't even handle my camera in perfect weather conditions but this is the pits.  I used exactly the same pictures that I've shared a few days ago. If you missed it, scroll down to see the mini album I made for my mum.

The background is plain cardstock and I just practised my stamping all over the page (afterwards I noticed that all my stamping is upside down), stuck my pictures on with some washi tape, added a page from the notebook on my office desk, three flags and it's done. Even the title came from where I had space left when printing my "Polaroids".

Have a great day and please come back to play.

Dad

Hi there Bloglanders

I've got a layout (and story) to share with you today. Please don't run away as I know that you think layouts are boring.  The story will make up for it. This is a very old layout of me at 16 and my dog Napoleon.

One of my classmates gave him to me and I loved him to bits. I'm a BIG animal lover!  Now you may wonder why I captured my post "DAD". Well, when Napoleon was quite small he was run over by a car on our farm and in those days (30 years ago) the nearest vet to us was 200 kilometres away and animals that got hurt, were just put down. But this time my dad said he will drive Napoleon and me to the vet himself!

To shorten a long story - Napoleon had a hip replacement, stayed with the vet in Piketberg for almost 3 months and I think my dad nearly had to sell his farm to foot the bill.  My dad even drove me to Piketberg once a month to visit my dog! Isn't this a nice Father's day story?

Actually, I totally forgot about this and when a friends DD's (darling daughters) got a Boarder Collie pup, out came the album and I revisited the layout and the memory. So, Isabella and Victoria - I hope you enjoy the story.

Napoleon returned to spend many, many happy years on the farm and I even went off to university, got married and started living on a farm myself but by that time my parents didn't want to give him up and he got very attached to them.

Now,  for my Afrikaans speaking Bloglanders (and I'll try to explain to my other readers but I think the story will lose some of it's humor).  The workers on our farm thought that the name "Napoleon" was Napole hond (hond is Afrikaans for dog).  They have never heard of anyone being called Napoleon and it made sense to them this way. I think it is SO quite and it got included in my journaling on this layout in my high school album.

Not too bad for a layout?  We will try it some more. Have a great day!

Happy 50th Anniversary

Good morning Bloglanders

Another week to have heaps of crafty fun!  I'm hosting a girly birthday party on Friday and will keep you up to date with the things we are going to make.

Remember that my mum and dad celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary a while ago?  Well, the pictures were floating around on my craft desk as I couldn't decide what to do with them.  Mom and Dad downscaled earlier this year and they really don't have any extra storage space. So I did a mini book for her and my set of pictures were used in a layout. My blog stats show that you don't like layouts so I'll share the mini book first (but as this is my blog, I'm sharing the layout another time because I just love it).

And this is what the inside looks like:

Once again, the pictures were horrible as I didn't take my camera!!  My cellphone had to do and I'm not proud of the result but as this was such a milestone I did my best to make something of them.  I converted the pictures to "Polaroids" in Photoshop and as they are rather small, they actually look good on the layout and in the mini book.

The book is small enough to be used as a bookmark in my mother's bible. On the back of the pictures, I used blue ledger paper and I kept it open for my mum to writer her own comments.

That's it! Back to the office I go. Have a great day and please check back to share some crafty fun.

Ballerina Bag

Hi there Bloglanders

Just a quickie before the weekend!  I made Ballerina Bags for my Etsy shop.  This is what they look like:

I made them in different colors but somebody bought the lot to use as loot bags for a ballerina party. Lucky for me I'll have some extra time (with my husband away on business) to catch up on stock for my shoppie. 

That's it from me. I think I'll have a nap with my old cat as I don't have to cook dinner tonight.  Might try something new this evening. My head is full of ideas. Please come back to play as I'll be sharing my crafts with you.

Have a great weekend!