Layout day

Hi there Bloglanders

And today I'm here to share a layout.  This one is about Pieter who recently got engaged - I'm SO glad I have them in my life!

I actually bought the MME chipboard sheet to make a girly layout.  But when I saw their July challenge, I decided that there will be more than enough to do 2 projects.  This is what I bought:

The chipboard sheet, 2 sheets of paper and the brads. Actually I didn't need the brads but as we don't normally get them in sunny SA - I just couldn't help myself BUT I could have used 2 more chipboard shapes instead.

And this is my attempt:

OK!! Not the best pic but well, so much to do, so little time!  And the inspiration:

I flipped the sketch and in the end decided to omit the arrows. Still don't know why but I loved the cardstock so much that I decided to keep it as is.

This is what the cardstock looked like before I added my goodies:

Just goes to show - if you buy wisely, your stash can go a long, long way. Now I'm off to do a layout for boy # 2.  Hop over to MME to see what the rest of  Blogland did. Just click here.

Thanks for visiting my blog. Please come back to play as I have lots more to share right here on Play as U Go.

Hazel

Another Fave

Hi there Bloglanders

I'm off to get my holiday pictures printed but before I go, I wanted to share this beauty with you:

Once again it's from my friend Marelize's stash. It was taken on our recent visit to Etosha national park in Namibia. We saw lots and lots of animals. It has been my second visit to Etosha and it will surely not be my last.

I'll be back. Thanks for looking at my blog. I'm off to the shops.
Hazel

The Latest News

Hi there Bloglanders

I'm on my way to the West Coast for a few days but wanted to give you a quick update before I go. First of all, I've done my dining room curtains!  Totally HATE doing curtains - so un-"creative". I'm over at Craft Storage Ideas with my take on "travelling with your crafts". Hop over there and see for yourself. Just click here. This is my firm fave:

A few months ago Wynand and I went to a resort in the Cederberg.  In all the rooms were little art kits.  It was one of the best ideas that I've seen in a long, long time!

And I've been inspired by the color combo from The Play Date Cafe. Here is my contribution:

This is a mini, mini notepad.  I made a cover of hounds tooth fabric and added a keyring.  It's really small and I plan to put it in my purse - I'm a notebook kind of person. Always scribbling away with ideas, websites and contact details. Now my house keys, USB drive, notepad, miniature torch and pen are all in one place and easy to find. 

And the color combo from The Play Date Cafe:

Black and White with a splash of Neon Yellow (yes!  The inspiration board looks more like green but that's artistic freedom!)

Now, I'm off. I'll be back on Tuesday.  In the meantime, have a great time and please come back to play at Play as U Go!

Greetings from Africa

Hallo Bloglanders

And Finally - FRIDAY!!! I'm having a great day and I'll tell you all about my birthday present to myself next week. Talking about pressies - yesterday I showed one of my friendship notebooks and promised to share how I wrapped it. So, without further ado:

I love to send something South African.  This is my way of marketing my wonderful country.  So this is it:

A bit of white tissue paper, ribbon in the colors of the South African flag and a little flag made with beads.  I buy them locally - it is a job creation project for the unemployed in and around Stellenbosch. Mine stays on my jacket as I love brooches.

And who said pillow packs must be white?

Very easy to make your own and who wouldn't like to receive a bit of African love and creativity?

That's it!  I'm off to try out my new birthday pressie. Thanks for visiting my blog and please check back as I have lots more to share right here on Play as U Go.

Cut your own stamps with dies

Good morning Bloglanders

Sometimes I just wish that I can have more stamps.  BUT they are expensive and I try not to buy everything on the market. So I came up with the idea to use my dies to cut some more stamps!  And this is what I made with my homemade stamp:

Yes! Another friendship notebook!! And this is what I did: 

I wanted a branch to stamp onto my notebook and used this die to cut a stamp from yellow funky foam.

Some spray adhesive to attach the branch to my stamp block:

Ink:

A few fabric letters, flowers, some embroidery and French knots with twine from The Twinery:

Easy as that!  I have filed all my new homemade stamps in Ziploc bags and you will surely see them again. I love the little bird and the birdcage!

The notebook?  I have mailed it off as a thank-you-gift to a dear friend.  Tomorrow I'll show how I've wrapped it.  Thanks for looking at my blog and please come back to play.

Fave Holiday Pic

Hello Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Terrific Tuesday! I've been sorting through my holiday pictures and I can't wait to share them with you.  Over the weekend I had my friend Marelize over and she kindly contributed her pictures to my stash.  What's great about having my friend's photo's?? Not only is she a much better photographer than me, has 3 darling daughters BUT she takes pictures with me and my husband in them.

Great idea to swop holiday pictures!  And while I'm at it, here is my fave:

And a close up of  Marelize's  DD#3, Alexa:

That's it, I'm getting back to my craft desk right now!  Thanks for looking at my blog today and please come back to play as I have lots and lots more to share with you. Have a wonderful day!

A little bird told me.

Good morning Bloglanders

Another week and I'm inspired to finish up some old projects as well as take on a few new ones.  Let me show you what I did over the weekend.

I do love wooden beads and when I had to babysit a 4 year old, out it came.  I printed out a few color combo's from The Play Date Cafe and she had to string a necklace to fit every combo.  That was fun - even to me!!

In the picture you can see the one made from this inspiration board:

When playtime came to an end, my little friend (obviously) didn't want to hand back my beads so I packed a party favor tin and dressed it up with some ribbon, a tag en twine from The Twinery.  She was more than willing to hand my beads back when she could have her very own mini beading pack.

It is such a fun idea that I'll be making some more to give away as pressies.  I think I will include smaller beads for the bigger girls and some elastic - then they can do bracelets as well. Also, I'll be laminating some of the color combo's from The Play Date Cafe for them to replicate. I'm rather proud of my idea.

Finally, I have some solid color twine in my stash!! I decided to order 3 shades and when I had to choose, I looked at my stash to see which ones have been used most. I love cool colors like blue, grey, purple and green but surprise, surprise!  The ones used most were Pink and Red!! So I ordered them and some green just because I really, really like it.

And I couldn't wait to use them so you'll see the Pink Sorbet solid color twine mixed with the "normal" one in my "a little bird told me" beading pack. Just love to slip a little twine into every project!

Now, hop over to The Play Date Cafe to see what the rest of Blogland did with this color combo.  You wouldn't be disappointed.  Thanks for visiting my blog and please come back to play.

Trolley fun @ Craft Storage Ideas

Good morning Bloglanders

Just to let you know that I'm over at Craft Storage Ideas with my take on trolley fun.  Please hop over and leave me some comments.  I just love versatile furniture! Just click here to be redirected.

Not long ago, I converted crates to trolleys for my own Craft Closet.  Still remember that one?

If you missed it, just click here. On the top of my Blog is a link to all my Craft Closet posts.

Once again, my firm fave is Monika's tool chest trolleys but since I've submitted the post, I stumbled on this one (it rather stumbled on me!):

It is a picture from Blayne White's "My Digital Scraproom"and it is on the Craft Storage Ideas blog as well. Have a look here. Actually, it is a catering trolley and the perfect solution for my unfinished projects. You can slip the trays in and out as you work. Love, love, love the idea!!

That's it from me. I'm off to find a catering trolley!! Have a fab Friday and enjoy your weekend. Thanks for visiting my blog and please check back as I'll be sharing some more crafting fun right here.

It's a Circus with The Twinery

Hi there Bloglanders

I'm still sorting through my holiday pictures and we'll return to my PL and Mini Journal once it's printed. Until then, I'll share what's on my craft desk.  Today, my kitchen will get new curtains and yesterday I had to work on my gift wrapping stash. I just love beautifully wrapped presents but I also know that most people just unwrap and dump what they don't need in the trash.  Therefore, I try to use recycled material as much as possible.

For most of my packaging, I use ordinary gift wrap that I glue onto carton.  Our gift wrap rolls have a craft core of rather sturdy carton - most of the time I'll use this but everything goes - cereal boxes, DHL envelopes - you name it, I use it!

I've been invited to a little boy's birthday party and as the theme is "clowns" - I decided to use this inspiration from The Twinery for my packaging:

And this is my gift box:

I used a free template that I got here.

It is in French but easy enough to figure out without asking Google translate. I did enlarge my pattern pieces to get a finished circus tent of  about  5x4 inches - I did this because the original pattern was designed for treat boxes and would have been too small for my pressie.  OK, I did add the twine bunting, check curtains and yellow twine tie backs - you have to add a personal touch, don't you?  In the end I'm rather proud of my effort and I'll surely file the pattern away and give it another go when I have to do toddler parties again (that's when I get that long awaited grandchildren!) 

I did wish for some solid color blue twine but I only have red and pink so I hopped over to The Twinery's shop and ordered some.  They have a huge discount running so I bought an additional roll.  Now, I just have to wait until it arrives on my doorstep!

That's it! I'm off to that curtains.  Thanks for stopping at my blog today.  Please hop over to The Twinery to see what the rest of Blogland did with the circus theme and remember to buy that twine while you can still get the discount. Just click here.

Binding Brochures into Travel Journal

Hi there Bloglanders

As promised - pictures of how I added brochures to my Travel Mini Journal.  I love to collect them as they have all the info I need but when you cut them apart you loose half of it.  So I came up with a plan!

First of all I punched 3 holes through my finished book with my Crop-O-Dile. If you look at the bottom right pic, you can see what I mean. The top left pic shows the whole brochure. Top right I folded all the pages in half to fit my book and punched 3 holes into it as well. Some binding with twine from The Twinery and everything stays in place.

Top right you can see how I did one that has to be off centre to fit my journaling.  For my Project Life album, I opened up my book to fit into a 12x12 Becky Higgins storage envelope.  I also added a map that I want to keep.  The book is quite bulky and this flattens it out for easier storage.  It also makes it much nicer to look at.  The little jounaling box included in the envelope still has to altered.  I plan to make a mini layout for it with some bright and cheerful pictures and titles. The envelope will be inserted between PL pages filled with holiday pic's.

What I love about this is that everything stays together and in the same format.  I've been struggling to get this sorted for the past few years and finally feel that I've knacked  it.

Thanks for visiting my blog today and please check back as I have lots more of crafting fun to share with you.  Have a Wacky Wednesday!

Altered Road trip mini book

Hi there Bloglanders

Oh, it's good to be back!!  I've been crafting away in my Craft Closet and loving it.  Today I'm going to share the notebook I made to document our trip.  I ALWAYS do that - if I don't write down while we go, I tend to forget all the nice bits. Do you take crafting supplies with when you travel?? If you love something, you will find a way to do it even when on holiday.  Why not write me a comment on what you take with when you go away.  Please, please, please!! - I plan on doing a post for Craft Storage Ideas on this topic.

And here we have my book:

Once again I started out with an ordinary school exercise book. I used one left behind from the days when my boys still went to school, tore out all the used pages and cut it to a 6x12 size.  I just like the look of it AND when you get brochures, they actually fit without cutting.  I'll show you what I did to accommodate that without glue or losing info. More about that tomorrow.

Once again, I covered the front and back with some scrapbook paper, added a title, a few stickers, some thick plastic and a belly band to keep everything tidy.  My book is already bulgy and I haven't even started on the pictures.  Inside the front and back pages are additional pockets for empty journaling cards and stickers. That's it - done in a flash and perfect to record any adventure.  Best part is that I can fit it into my Project Life binder.

Thank you once again for stopping by.  Please remember to leave me a comment about traveling with your art / craft.  I'll be back tomorrow to show you how I added the brochures to my holiday notebook.  Please check back and see for yourself.

And I'm Back!!

Hallo Bloglanders

I had a wonderful holiday and once all my pictures have been sorted, I'll share my trip with you. In the meantime, this is a picture of what one of our campsites looked like:

And my view towards the Kunene river when I woke up:

The Kunene river forms the northern boundary of Namibia with Angola.  In the picture you can see the side with the Makalani Palms is Namibia and Angola on the opposite bank. We even saw crocodiles right there in front of our campsite! (Yes, the real wild ones!)

Tomorrow I'll share the altered notebook that I made before the trip and boy, did I use it!!! Even the girls on our trip joined in the fun and started journaling, taking pictures and even drawing the most beautiful animals. We really did do a lot and once all my pictures have been sorted, I'll share a collage of each destination with the story right here with you.  Also, my notebook is bursting out of its seams - I hope you will love it as much as I do.

I have to admit, I'm not a camper but I would have missed out big time if I didn't join this one.  Really, really worth my while.

That's it. So good to see you all again.  Please check back tomorrow to see my notebook and thank you so much for visiting my blog today. Have a great week!