Sunday Summary Week 41

Good morning Bloglanders

And a happy Sunday to you all!! Once again, it was a busy week at HQ Hamman. Wynand and I moved into our "new" bedroom and I'm still working on the decor. Once done, I'll give you a peek into "my" space.

I've worked on  a watercolour paint bag but will only be spilling the beans once it is live on the Craft Storage Ideas Blog. I totally love it and will share the "how to" right here on my blog. Check back on the 27th. (Just for my blog readers - I already used it here.)

I'm still doing Wilna's course over at Big Picture classes and this is my effort of the week:

It's from the first week's classes - "grids" and you can see what the printable looked like "before" in my product list below.

I loved colouring it with watercolours - it's like wax crayons used to be when I was small - just better!! My effort is going into my "art journal". Sometimes I just feel a more artistic approach coming on and then my 8x8 purple journal comes out.

And I finished this layaout as well:

I used the grid cut file to make a stencil with my Silhouette and some stencil material, just painted in the blocks with acrylic paint and added some stamping and pictures left over from another project. I'm not even sure I'll be adding journaling as "there's no one like you" says it all.

What I love is that my stencil can be reused.  What an easy way to personalize a layout in no time at all!

Back to the sewing machine. Cara sent over a pic of her in THE red dress:

And I also have a pic of my furry friend, PJ soaking up the spring sun on our deck:

I've been inspired by the SimonSaysStamp Monday challenge to make some fall embellishments with my Silhouette. The prompt is "falling in love with ......................." and as it's Spring down under in Sunny SA, I decided to do embellishments. I've done them before and they have been SO great to have on hand to decorate presents, use on cards / layouts / mini books / project life that I'm doing a second take.

"Print and Cut" with your Silhouette, assemble with some pop dots in between for dimension and they are ready to go. I store mine on transparency sheets - makes them look "shop bought". GREAT presents and party favours.

That's it. Another week done and dusted.  I'm back to Wilna's art class .............................. Until we meet again, have fun and remember to try something new - TODAY!

Products used:

Recycle, recycle, recycle your scraps

Good morning Bloglanders

I'm having little friends over today in a quest to recycle some of my scraps into workable dimensional embellishments for cards and presents.Of course -  I'll tell you all about it tomorrow (and show the pics!)

When I have time, I die cut all my small pieces and pack them in pretty boxes to give away or use as party favors.

I love using all the bits and bobs that I've paid for!!

That's it. I'll be back tomorrow to show what I've done with some die cuts.

Happy Birthday Girlfriend # 2

Hi there Bloglanders

I hope you are well. It's a beautiful day in Sunny SA and I would like to walk in the park, sit outside and drink good wine. But, first a quickie to share how I wrapped girlfriend # 2's birthday gift.

Here it is:

Remember I showed you the one for girlfriend # 1 a week ago?  The one with the cats? Well, here it is if you forgot and the link if you missed out.

Sorry about the quality of my pics. I forgot to take the photos and had to use my iPhone before the gifts were opened.

Now about the flowery gift. I got inspired by this recycled gift bag:

I scanned it and opened my image up in Silhouette Studio.  Then one of my fave functions - "trace and lift" and it was done.  I did add a little white boarder with my offset button but that was all - really!! While I had to use an A5 page of photo paper (I use the office printer and it can't go smaller than that, I made some more embellishments for my stash:

Once again I used "trace and lift" to duplicate the insides of my flowers. A bit of resizing and I'm set for dimensional embellishments.

I hate rushing around to get hold of stuff. When you add to your stash while everything is out, you save time AND money. Nothing like original packaging!

Wondering what's inside?? Well, I always give money or gift cards and no exception this year. I just decided to make them think it was something different - I'm rather tired of  wrapping gift cards. Do not get me wrong, I use it all the time (especially when mailing it off) BUT while I saw both the girlfriend's on their birthdays, I decided to opt for a bit of a surprise.

That's it - a long story!! And it's not finished yet.  Head over to the Silhouette blog to see what the rest of Blogland did to celebrate spring.  OK, it's fall down under in Sunny SA but I'm ALWAYS up for a challenge.

Have fun and thanks for visiting my blog.

Hazel

Xmas Tags - Month 3

Hi there Bloglanders

I've been so busy with last week's Blog Hop that I totally neglected you.  Actually, I loved the idea of people hopping over to my blog and be at the right post immediately so I used my time wisely ........ working on some more crafting projects.

Remember my Christmas tag project using digi stamps??  It's from Digistamps4joy and you can visit them here. Here is my March effort:

And this is the image that I received:

I reduced the size to a bit smaller than 3x4, printed it X4 on vellum and then added red cardstock, twine and a dimensional sticker that I made with my Silhouette. As easy as that. And a close-up:

While everything was out, I did some more dimensional stickers to pretty up my Christmas presents and cards. I have added the picture on top of my post because it was so pretty and Christmassy even if it is only March (OK, nearly April!!)

The plan is to make 6 of each tag and dimensional sticker and then give 5 sets to family and friends to ease their Christmas rush.Of course, charity begins at home - I will keep set #6.

That's it. Another project done and dusted.  Thanks for looking at my blog today and please come back to play.

Hazel

3D Christmas Embellishments

Hallo Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Wacky Wednesday. It's the end of the month, end of the tax year, end of the financial year and very, very busy at HQ Hamman. However, when I can't take on a BIG project, I try to get some smaller ones done in the time that I have on hand.

And here is my 3rd set of dimensional embellishment.  I'm joining in the fun of this challenge. Once again is to create a Christmas card (X2), upload it and by December you will have a stash of 24 ready to mail off / give away.  As I don't do a lot of cards, I create tags.  Here is my attempt:

I've used a Silhouette cut file for the trees, filled the shape with  digital prints and the software's "print and cut" function. Foam pop dots to attach the trees to my tags and it's done.

While printing the trees for the tags, I doubled up and did some for my dimensional Christmas embellishment sets:

I do these sets X6 and will give 5 sets to close friends and family to pretty up their Christmas decor and to make life a bit easier for them ............................ of course, charity begins at home so set #6 will be all mine. I even kept the negatives from the die cuts. These will become more tags when I have some time on hand again.  Keep checking back ...................................... all will be revealed right here on my blog.

I'm off to get ahead with my admin. Have a wonderful day and thanks for looking at my blog today.

Bye

Hazel

Dimensional embellishments with digi stamps.

Hi there Bloglanders

Wynand's back from a business trip and things are slowly getting back to normal. While he was away I had more time for my own things but I also had sole responsibility for home, garden, the boys and the office. Can't decide if I got more of  my own stuff done with or without him.

What I can tell you is that I ate what and when I wanted. Wynand is a picky eater - no avo, mango, spinach, risotto, souffle ....................................... I can go on forever! So, I had spinach souffle for breakfast and sushi for lunch and chips and avo dip for dinner. Today, it's back to counting points with Weight Watchers. After all, I have a HUGE wedding in 6 months.

While in the office, I had some time to play and tried my luck at another digi stamp.  I've joined this challenge and you can see my first effort here.  And didn't this little dragon turn out great?

The idea is that you make one, upload it and then you receive the next month's stamp free.  GREAT IDEA. Come December and you will have 12 projects to add some speed to your Christmas rush.  As I don't really do cards, own about 3 Copic markers and mass produce wherever I go, I converted my shape to a Silhouette cutting file, cut them X6 from a single 6x4 sheet and mounted them on green cardstock (I used offset to cut the green a bit bigger than my original image).

This month I couldn't decide what my tag should look like so I opted to make dimensional embellishments from the digi stamp. Now it is ready whenever I need a quick fix for a Christmas project.  Once again, I'm doing them x6.  That will enable me to spread some pre Christmas love to 5 of my friends.  I added pop dots to the back and all the embellishments go onto an A4 transparency.  Later, I will cut them apart ........................ let's not spoil the surprise, I'll show when I get there.

And here it is - my digi, dimensional, Christmas embellishments. January and February done and dusted.

That's it from me. I'm off to cook some chicken pie, rice and potatoes for lunch. Thanks for looking at my blog today. Please check back as I have lots more to share right here on Play as U Go. Have a great day!

Bye
Hazel

Fall??????

Good morning Bloglanders.

Today I'm showing my "fall" project.  Now, in Sunny SA it's a beautiful spring day and my Fall mini book has been sitting on my coffee table for the past 6 months. Done and dusted.  So, this is what I did for the challenge:

I used a kit from Monika's "iLoveitall" Etsy shop to do my mini but I don't have ANYTHING left of the goodies she sent me so I decided to get going on embellishments for my 2014 fall mini. And you can see - they are perfect!! Colorful, dimensional and cheerful.

My artwork is from Silhouette and once again I did "print and cut" with an additional layer for the back done with the "offset" option. In between the layers are pop dots and I've put some at the back and attached it to transparency sheets left behind from my architecture postgraduate. Now I can just peel and stick when the leaves start to fall.  In the meantime, it's flowers, birds and bees all round.

If you missed the post where I did my first dimensional embellishments, you can click here to check it out. When I did them, I had to convert my images to Silhouette "cut-ables" but for today - I just had to hit the cut button. So easy when you work with Silhouette. Enjoy!

I'm off to get some admin done and then I'll be outdoors ........................ enjoying my spring flowers and the beautiful day. Thanks for visiting my blog today. Have a Thunderous Thursday.

Hazel

Embellishments Galore

Good morning Bloglanders

I hope you are well. It is very, very cold and wet in Sunny SA and I feel like heading straight back to bed BUT places to go, people to see and things to do.  Today I've got some eye candy to show.

When I buy something, I try to use it to save on something else. Here is what I made to save on embellishments for my projects:

I've used my Silhouette to "cut and print" the images and background. As I'm new to Sihouetteland I stumbled upon the "offset" button by chance.  This is the most wonderful function!!! It outlines your image and you can even choose how big the outline must be.  Here you can see how I did a fuzzy cut around images by using the "offset" button. Just remember to "no cut" the initial image!

I do like the little bit of white around my images - just makes them pop. Next week I'll show you how I did the Kitty Cats - I've done them from a stamp (not so DUMMY anymore!) and they actually cut much nicer on the offset line.

Back to my dimensional embellishments.  For my background image I moved the "offset outline", filled it with color and did the "print and cut" again. In between the two layers I've got pop dots to give the needed dimension.  I do get super excited when I think about everything I can do with this!

Here you can see a close-up of the sewing machine:

And, as always I packed some to give away:

That's it. Super easy, affordable dimensional embellishments!  I'm off to meet the people, see the places and do the "things".  Thanks for looking at my blog today.  I'm having a super, dooper blog month - all thanks to you.  If you need more info on how I did my DUMMY projects - let me know in the comments and I'll gladly help.

Have a great weekend and please come back to play.

Hazel