Time for Love

Hi there Bloglanders

And so he left at 5am and will be in Bloemfontein at about 3pm.  Enough said.

As Wynand and I will be alone this Valentine's day, I have decided to do some little treats  for me / us in anticipation of the big day.  I have used these little red tins before and it's up on the blackboard in my kitchen once again to start the countdown.

I bought them from a chain store. They stocked 3 variants and I decided to use plain ones for the numbers 1-13 and a different one for the BIG DAY.  I also added an extra one for "administrative purposes" to the bottom right hand corner. (please be patient - all will be revealed!) To the back of each tin, I added magnets and the numbers were printed and cut with my circle punch. Even they have magnets as I use the tins for other purposes for the rest of the year and therefore didn't want any glue.

How it it going to work? Every day Wynand or me will choose a treat and we will do that.  Simple, cheap and something to look forward to. Once we have done them, I'll add them to my mini heart book hidden in the tin at the bottom.

By Valentine's day I'll have a mini book to remind me of  how we celebrated our first one alone after 25 years of raising children.  The power of positive thinking!

I'll come back to this post later today to reveal what we will be doing tomorrow.  Yes, #1 is lurking behind a closed lid and you can share if you check back.  BUT be warned, I'm going to delete it at midnight and you will miss out.

And now the peek has gone! For those of you who re-visited - Thank's SO MUCH.  I had the best blogging month EVER! Thanks so much for sharing in my crafting fun.

Have a great Thursday. See U soon!

DIY Toddler blanket / Game

Hi there Bloglanders

Halfway through the week!! Tomorrow Wernich is leaving and the wedding dress is actually starting to look like one. Tomorrow I'll share a work in progress pic.

Today I'm sharing a very, very old project. Actually, 21 years old!! I've been sorting, purging and re arranging my whole house as only Wynand and I will be the only ones living here in future and the stuff that the boys won't need / want is going to good homes ASAP - "Live Light".

My project is sort of a quilt that Pieter and I made when he was only 5 years old:

I did the blocks, numbers, snakes and ladders with a permanent laundry marker and he colored them with fabric paint. Not very neat but that's part of the charm. I used plain sheeting to paint on, some batting in the middle. printed material at the back and some bright yellow fabric to finish off the edges.

We used to take this mini quilt everywhere we went as it was used to play on (snakes and ladders as well as with Lego or other toys) and when Pieter wanted to have a nap or something to use as a pillow in the car, out it came. Through the years the colors have faded as it has been washed numerous times but that makes it even more personal to me.  

And for those of you who were wondering - this one is a keeper!!  Currently I use it as wall decor in my spare bedroom and it will surely be used for my grandchildren. Can't wait.

And a close up:

What I love as well is that I wrote our names at the bottom of the quilt and the date when it was made.  I love the idea of my grandchildren asking "grandma, did you and dad make this all by yourseves?" I'm getting all soppy again - thinking about the boys growing up so fast and having lives of their own.  I'll just fill the space with some happy, creative ideas and in future with grandchildren!

Oh, I nearly forgot!  The names and date:

Thanks for joining me on my trip down memory lane. Have a great Wednesday and please come back to play as I'll be sharing some more creativity right here on Play as U Go.

January Fave's

Hallo Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Thunderous Tuesday.  The Hamman house is very, very busy as Wernich had his farewell party last night and we are all scattering around to get him to university.  It is more than 1000 kilometres (sorry, I don't know the miles and Wynand is away on business - I'll ask him and let you know ASAP). This means that he will have to drive the whole day on Thursday to get there in time for classes starting on Friday morning.

Well, he's a big boy and I'll have to be strong for him.  We had our first crying session last night when he thanked us for what we have done for him and for our love and support.  Already crying again as I'm typing out my post.  Well, that's life, I should be glad that I had both the boys (and girlfriends) around for the past 7 years since they left school.  I actually left home at 18 to go to university and never returned. My friend Sandra says if you miss your child, you should call your mum!! Mine will be getting a lot of calls in the near future.

Since I stared "MY LIFE MY WAY" I wanted to include a monthly page with favorite stuff - family / house and garden / craft / eat /  wear etc.  And here is my first attempt:

Also my first go at a Becky Higgins page protector.  You have to have your wits about you and I haven't even started to cut up pictures to divide between the pockets.  What I did like is that I printed all my little pictures on one 4x6 photo.  That saves a lot.  Also, I used the box of journaling cards (they came with the kit) to fill out when I had some extra time on hand and when they were all done, I just had to fit them into the pockets.

I used a very, very old paper pack from Creative Memories (about 2006!) as my 2013 buzz phrase is "LIVE LIGHT".  Everything that I've got, will be used before I spurge out on some more goodies. I don't plan to do my "NOW" in this format every month - if I don't have time, it will just be typed out and printed 6x4 to go into my album.  No pressure. If I have lots of time (whenever that will be), I'll do it in art journaling format.

And did you notice the art journaling tag that I made out of the offcuts of my previous failed attempt?

Re use, recycle and re purpose - LIVE LIGHT! 

That's it from me.  I'm glad you joined me today. Please come back to play as I'll be sharing some more crafting fun right here on my little blog.

Art Journaling Tags

Hi there Bloglanders

It's Monday and time to share my contribution to The Color Throwdown.  This is the inspiration:

I love the color scheme especially the Wisteria Wonder - I always say that my mother-of-the-groom outfit will be in that exact color once the boys get married.  Oh, I hope it is soon - I would love to have grandchildren! Sometimes I can't believe that I only have one child as I'm actually great with children but then I remind myself that if it worked out that I had more, we wouldn't  been able to add Wernich to our family and fund his education.  Just shows that everything works out just as it should.

Anyway, I have a pattern for the mother-of-the-groom outfit - will keep pestering the boys and look out for fabric in the meantime. 

I decided to do some more art journaling for the challenge but it turned into a total mess.  And so I got to the point where I converted my work of art into tags.  Even the stamping went all wrong but in the end I added more than 15 tags to my tag stash and when I stamped "thank you so much" more than 50 times, my day felt a lot more grateful.

Here they are:

For the background I used some watercolour paints in two shades of purple and 2 shades of green.  The zig-zag stamping was done in weather vane and the star-burst (???) and sentiment in fountain pen.  The twine is from The Twinery and both the stamp pads are from Jenny Bowlin. I've used MME stamps.

And here I've used some tags on a 6x4 journaling card for my "MY LIFE, MY WAY" album.

I'm just glad that I was able to turn the art journaling gone wrong into something useful.  Tomorrow I'll show my first "MY LIFE MY WAY" page. I did it in the same color scheme with paper that has been in my stash for the past 7 years!!! My 2013 philosophy - Live Light.

That's it from me. We are having a farewell party for Wernich and I have to get going on the food ASAP.  Please come back tomorrow to see my layout.

Have a great Monday.

Tagging along

Hi there Bloglanders

It's Saturday and I have some extra time to spend crafting.  I'm still trying to get my tags up to 4 sets (one for each week) and as I've done double sets for the past 2 weeks - my stash is up to date!! With Valentine's day around the corner, I thought I'd get some tags ready for thank-you-pressies to spread some love.

Ta da!!

My color scheme started out with black, white and a dash of green.  It's from The Play Date Cafe but my friend Blogger doesn't want to let me paste the mood board on my blog.  I'll check back later and insert the image. And so I did - here it is:

The first tags off the production line looked like this:

And then IMPERFECT ME decided that I want some red hearts to spread the love and this is what I came up with:

That's the wonderful thing about inspiration - you use it but alter it to suit your personal (imperfect) style.  At least it supplies a starting point and you end up with something you love and can use.  I feel rich when my card / tag and embellishment stash is loaded. It makes wrapping and personalizing pressies easy peasy. Can't wait to spread the love!

I plan to give some homemade rusks as a hostess gift next weekend - I'll take a pic and share with you my pressie adorned with a beautiful "from my heart to your home" tag.

For my tags I used a stamp from Amy Tangerine for the houses but added the one with the chimney from "Elsie". (Oh, I just love Elsie Flannigan's stuff)  Sorry, I've recycled the packaging - no more details available. O course, the twine is from The Twinery and the green, green grass of home is ex my architect son's green fine liner. DIY.

That's it from me. I'm working on MY LIFE, MY WAY.  It's not that easy recording everything and the Becky Higgins system is very new to me but I'm rather proud of the pages I've done. Keep looking and I'll share with you.

Have a great weekend. Thanks for coming out to play and please check back as I'll be sharing some more of my crafting fun right here on my blog.

Art Journaling - Week 4

Hi there Bloglanders

According to my records we are in week 4 already!!  It seems like it has been a day ago that we have been celebrating the beginning of 2013. Well, things to do, places to go, people to meet.  The wedding dress is in progress. At least I have started and we are having the first fitting today. Doesn't look like much right now but I'm sure once we add the lace and tulle, everything will change. Keep reading and all will be revealed in a future post.

Now for my art journaling project of the week:

This one is all about reuse, recycle and repurpose. I haven't done the journaling yet but as I'll be using my art as part of my "2013 MY LIFE MY WAY" album, I plan to do it once I have decided upon the pictures for the layout. I'll include something like "my aim is to leave the world a little bit better / I can make a difference - even though it might be small / I teach my children to appreciate what they were given".

For the "artwork" I started out with a watercolor base in blue and brown, added the ivy stenciling with Guesso for dimention, more green paint over everything, some orange as a background for my title and then the stamping.  To finish off: some stamped roses and leaves that I have colored and cut out and the words cut from old bookpages. "Leef  Lig" means something like Live without disturbing too much.

What I really love is the edges of my artwork. I used masking tape to keep my watercolor paper flat en where I removed it, I had this uneven border. Also, my paint didn't dry completely so the stamping is imperfect at some place. Now you have to worry!  IMPERFECT ME is starting to like my imperfectness!  I'll share with you once I've added my journaling but right now I like it just the way it is.

That's it from me.  I've got office work, some things to sort out for Wernich, tea with a friend and a fitting for the wedding dress.  Let's get going.

Thank you for visiting. Please come back to play as I'll be sharing some more of my crafting projects right here on Play as U Go.

Meet the family

Hi there Bloglanders

As promised - Me and my family:

Me and Wynand in the middle, Wernich and his girlfriend Chandre on the left and Pieter and his princess  (Lizahn) on the right. Normally I don't talk that much about them, but as the last one is leaving home next week, I'm sure all that will change as I'm going to miss the buzz at home. Most of the time I'm very busy as I work part time for the family business and the rest of the day I spend crafting and enjoying my house and town. Never a dull moment around here!

Wernich is leaving to study towards a masters degree in architecture, Chandre is a secretary, Pieter is in his final year of computer science and the Princess is an interior designer. Now you know!

Thanks for reading my blog and for being one of my Blogland friends. I'll be back tomorrow to share another of my Art Journaling projects. I'm starting to enjoy them!

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

My Life My Way cover page

Hi there Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Terrific Tuesday. I haven't started on the wedding dress (yet!) but in the meantime I finished the cover page for MY LIFE, MY WAY 2013 album.

I used some fabric flowers, lace left over from a previous sewing project, cardstock and bits and bobs from my stash. I just love the colours.  Of course, I got inspired by  The Play Date Cafe.

If you want to see what the rest of Blogland did, just click here. 

And another picture of the gorgeous flowers.

Oh, I added the buttons for a bit of extra punch and as my whole album is kind of  "citrussy". I love all shades of purple - my absolute favourite colour.

I'm trying my best to keep busy as my "blind side son" is leaving home for the first time and I'm already missing him.  He is a huge part of our lives and so many things will change once he moves out.  For sure, my husband and I will be all alone for the first time in 25 years - eat what WE want, eat WHEN we want, DO what we want but by far it will not make up for having my extended family at home 24/7. Tomorrow I'll share some family pictures with you - a FIRST and EXCLUSIVE for my Blog readers. I don't even have a picture on my Facebook profile!

That's it from me. Thanks for looking and please come back to play as I'll have some more of my crafty project to share with you right here on Play as U Go.

Art Journaling converted to tags

Hi there Bloglanders

It is a marvellous Monday in Sunny SA. I've been to the beach for the weekend and now I'm back to do a wedding dress, 2 for the bridesmaids and one  for the maid of  honour.  Sounds like a lot?  It is!  Starting today as the wedding is 2 March 2013.  If you keep reading my blog - I will share my progress with you. And the result (of course!)

Last year I tried to make a card or a tag each week. Some were singles but for most of the time I made sets. These came in very handy for Christmas and thank-you gifts to friends and family.  I know we are in week 4 already but when I came back from the beach yesterday afternoon, I decided to convert my left overs from the first attempt at  Art Journaling into tags ASAP.  And here they are:

I only added the "Fly away" as I thought it would fit in with the butterflies but when I use them, I plan to add another sentiment depending on the specific occasion. Packed in a tin with a see through lid, it would be a beautiful pressie.

And a close up"

That's it from me. Thank you for looking at my blog and please come back to play as I'll be sharing more of my crafting fun right here.

Have a great day!

Emergency Kit Bag

Good morning Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Thunderous Thursday. Today I'm here to share my Emergency Kit for my handbag.

Here it is:

For the past 25 years (since I had my son) I stocked my handbag with some emergency supplies - headache pills, tissues, a comb, plaster, nail file, lip balm, eye drops, etc - you know the drill? They have always been in plastic bags but the idea to make a custom bag has always been there. And this week I did it!

This is what the inside looks like:

Can't believe I've been sorting through an unorganized handbag for 25 years and  solved the problem in half an hour!

My husband says I'm ready for the old age home now -" if you have a separate bag for your pills - it is time to go" but what he didn't say that he was the first to ask for my "emergency bag" as he couldn't find eye drops anywhere.  I've made some more for those of you who need to sort things out - it is in my Etsy  shop. Just click here to get one. Supplies are limited but if  they are done or you want one in a specific color, please contact me. I'll be making ones with red crosses as well - just keep looking.

"My emergency kit bag" would also be great to slip into your child's school bag for emergency supplies - phone card / money / extra pen / pencil / tissues / plaster, etc.

That's it from me - have a great day! Thanks for looking at my blog and please come back to play.

Art Journaling - I am good enough

Hi there Bloglanders

Busy, busy, very busy BUT first I want to show you another of my attempts at art journaling. I'm starting to enjoy myself and I'm afraid to say - this can become addictive.  I think the big thing is that you have to accept that imperfection is OK. How can that be so difficult for IMPERFECT ME???

Anyway, here it is:

I have glued the punched out hearts together, covered them with a few layers of Guesso for texture, added it to a water color base, stapled, stamped and added the fabric flag to the top. I love the fabric tag - made it myself!! And for my non South African Bloglanders - it says "YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH".

This is a big thing for me - I'm a total over achiever but I'm working hard to tell myself that I'm IMPERFECT and I'm embracing it.  I've raised my son not to be like me but the older he gets, the more he tries to be perfect as well. The only difference is that once he realizes that he's doing it, he lets it go and moves on - not me - I try and try and try and try again to perfect at everything. Not 2013 - for me to enjoy hope, joy, peace and love, I have to let go and be IMPERFECT ME.

That's it.  Have a great Wednesday. I'm off to have tea with a friend and I'll be back to show you what I've got on my craft desk. Thanks for visiting and please come back to play.

Mini Book / Card

Good morning Bloglanders

Welcome to my mini Monday post.  Yes, I know it's Tuesday but I'm trying to get into a system of posting a mini book / layout on a Monday and as I haven't done that yesterday, I'm here to share it today. IMPERFECT ME!

You still remember that I'm  borrowing my neighbour's cat since mine died??? Well, she is actually a little girl called Maya and as her cat is bringing me so much joy, I decided to make a little card for her with pictures of "our cat".  Of course I did one for myself as well and as it's 3x4 it fits perfectly into my MY LIFE MY WAY album. Here it is:

I actually folded one 6x4 page in half and glued my goodies to the front, back and inside pages. To the front I added some lace left over from the brooch I made earlier this week, a felt die cut and a brad.  As everything is layered so much, the card stands up very well. Perfect to put in front of your bed / on your desk.

Front, inside and back standing up:

And look who came over to see if it is good enough to give to Maya:

Oh, I just love cats!! Well, that's it from me for the day. Please check back tomorrow as I'll be sharing some more of the projects on my craft desk right here with you on Play as U Go.  Thanks for your visit.

Hair clip a la Brooch

Good morning Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Marvellous Monday!  My house is very, very busy with people coming and going all the time. Most important is that my "blind side son", Wernich is leaving home for the first time.  He has been with us for the past 12 years and will be studying for a masters degree in architecture at Bloemfontein university.  That's very far from home and I will miss him so much. More about him and his moving out at a later stage.

In the meantime, I keep myself busy with work and play.  Today I have a hair clip cum brooch to share.

 It's summer in Sunny SA and I love the cool colors of this week's color combo from The Play Date Cafe.

I made a bow out of green cotton lace and added felt die cuts and a button.  At the back is a hair clip but it works as a brooch as well!  (and it doesn't damage your clothes like the safety pins)

And I couldn't wait!

If you want to see what the rest of  Blogland did with this wonderful color combo - click here to see.

I'm off to get my work done and then I'll probably have some time to walk in the park, do lunch on my "stoep" and play at my craft desk.  Have a great Monday and please come back to play.

Hazel
xXx

Art Jounaling - The Copy

Hi there Bloglanders

Before I kick off my weekend, I want to share my copy cat version of art journaling with you.  I'll be adding it to my MY LIFE MY WAY album over the weekend - last chance for a picture without the page protector.

Normally I don't copy BUT I really struggled to get going on the art journaling so I decided to start out by using somebody else's idea. I came upon this one on the MME blog and it caught my eye because I had a stamp set in my stash just shouting to be used.  It was done by Karen Grunberg and after I've done this one, I've been reading her blog - goodness gracious, it is really worth a visit! I love her stuff.

And here it is:

Karen colored hers but I liked the black, blue and white color combo so I kept mine unpainted.  My words of wisdom says "If you want to do something, you will find a way, if you don't, you will find an excuse". That says it all.

Enjoy your weekend and please check back as I'll be sharing more of my projects right here on Play as U Go.  Thanks for visiting!

Hazel

xXx

Scrap Swop

Hi there Bloglanders

For those of  you who think I've given up on the art journaling - no ways I'm still trying everything and will share once it's done.  In the meantime, I wanted to share with you something I've done more than a year ago. I haven't been blogging then and to tell you the truth, I totally forgot about it.  Yesterday, while browsing Pinterest one of my projects came up (somebody else blogged about it!) and I wanted to include it in my blog posts as well.

During 2011 Monika (a la iloveitall) organized an international scrap swop.  The idea was to link up with a partner from another country and swop some crafting goodies. This is how I met Mylene.  She's from France and can't understand Afrikaans (she wrote all may letters in French) so I'm not so sure she knows English that well either.  Doesn't really matter as we shared one big love - craft and our friend Google Translate did the rest.

So I sent off my package. It consisted of  2 mini packs of 6x6 papers and embellishments.(I actually cut 12x12 papers to size as I couldn't find anything smaller)  I tried to keep it local but that was a HUGE problem. I could only find one supplier of scrapbook paper (if you know of more, PLEASE let me know).

This is what they looked like before I wrapped them:

As I knew Mylene was crafty but did not know her exact taste, I went with a more African country garden pack and to market my beautiful Sunny South Africa with the other one in an African theme.

I wrapped them in unprinted tissue paper and added a bit of zing with labels and ribbon:

This one has a flower I made myself out of recycled goodies, ribbon, a belly band out of scrapbook paper from Fab Scraps and my signature tag.

A die cut out of old book paper, a stamped South African postmark, a handmade flag made out of beads and once again - my signature tag. You can buy the flags everywhere on our streets.  The locals make them and sell them to earn a small income to support (usually) extended families. 

I have a few pressies waiting to be mailed off and looking at Mylene's pictures inspired me to go out and buy some more flags and send them off  looking as inviting as these. All these pictures were taken by Mylene and I hope she doesn't mind that I used them but IMPERFECT ME totally forgot to photograph them before they were mailed off.

I really enjoyed this Scrap Swop and think we should organize something like this worldwide once a year.  It is great to know that scrapping is a universal "language".

Before I go - this is what the package looked like upon arrival in France:

Perfect page for art journaling - don't you think!

I'm off to find some colourful packaging to use in my projects.  Please come back to play and maybe we should start that yearly scrap swop - who's game?

Have a great Thursday and please come back to play.