"Making Time"

Hello Bloglanders

I hope you are having a wonderful time!! It's summer down under in Sunny SA and beautiful outside. You just want to soak up the sun, swim, eat salads, barbecue and drink good West Coast Sauvignon Blanc. But for all that you need time ...................................... this week in The Creative Life Documented Amy and Jamie focused on saving time while scrapping. Perfect!! Here we go:

I keep a monthly journal where I record what is currently happening in my life. For this I only allow myself to use stamps and diecuts from my stash. I keep to the same topics as well - Home; My Family; Creativity; Work and Furry friends. I also like to add what I currently enjoy to cook / eat. Can you match my categories with my stamps / die cuts?

Home:

My Family:

Furry Friends:

Recipes work for me!! I keep a tin with my favorite stamps on my craft desk. My husband cut some perspex squares from left overs from architect son's projects and I mount them "permanently" - ready to go 24/7. I will take a pic and share my "jewellery" tin with you. I don't even know from which sets they are but I use them SO much that it doesn't really matter.

For my die cuts - it's NOT easy to get stuff down under in Sunny SA. My solution - I buy digital element packs and convert them to cut files for my Silhouette. Ever done that??? Maybe you don't need to as you can buy everything from your local shops but I still think it's worth my while. For this layout I used some of  Amy Tangerine's Finders Keepers range. I will show you exactly how I did it in another post. Very easy if you know how to. Check back and all will be revealed!

Next month my page will NOT look the same BUT I'll use the same stamps and maybe diecuts from another source / maybe I'll get my hands on a ready-made one that takes my fancy. The main thing is that it saves me heaps of time to do what I love - spending time @ home with my family, friends and crafting.

Another thing that I'm using more and more to save time is my iPhone.  Another story, another day. But, here you can see the collage that I've made from a recent camping trip. My title came from the letterhead - no need for stamps / stickers. Done in a few clicks while waiting in a que to renew a licence.

Thanks for looking at my blog today. I hope you have enjoyed my "time saving" tips. I'm off to the pool with a book and a glass of wine. Have a GREAT day!

Finally!! Text that I can show.

Hallo Bloglanders

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  I went wedding venue hunting with my daughter in law to be. We found the most beautiful one on a farm outside Stellenbosch. Very, very vintage. She loves it and so do I. When I have some pictures, I'll share with you.

I told you that I bought HETTE to print titles as we don't get nice ones in Afrikaans.  Up till not I have not been very satisfied but over the weekend I did one that I'm proud of - it is for my monthly "here and now" page as part of my PL album.

Sorry, I did block out some of the personal info - I don't mind sharing with you but my children are rather fussy about their personal lives. Back to my title.  I used two fonts and welded the letters together to get a "hello Augustus" (= August) title. I don't know where I got the fonts but I totally love them. If any of you know, leave me a comment and I'll give credit. I also figured out how to upload fonts to my Silhouette software without adding it to my computer.  Easy as well. Really, compared to Photoshop, Silhouette Software is a walk in the park.

Talking about the park - It is a beautiful Spring day in Sunny SA and I'm off for a walk in the park (for real). Thanks for visiting my blog. Please come back to play as I have lots more to share with you right here. Have a Marvellous Monday!

Hazel

Here and Now May 2013

Good morning Bloglanders

I'm running around getting everything done - new month, new things to do!  We will be going on a camping holiday soon, both the boys are writing exams and Wernich will be back home for the holidays soon. He hasn't seen Jessie yet - I bet he can't wait!

So, not a lot of time to think up new projects - I'm just trying to keep up with PL and the layouts on my craft desk.  I'll also do some more Craft Closet inside info over the weekend. If you are following, please check back.

This is the layout that I made yesterday:

Over at Monika Wright's blog she does a monthly recap of what she is doing at that time. She even supplies free printable that you can just fill out.  I wanted to do something similar but not to restrict myself to the set form.  So, as part of my PL, I journal about my family, my house & garden, work, etc on a monthly basis.  No formal rules, just the info.  This month I scribbled it down while waiting in the que for my passport to be renewed.  The idea was that I would transfer it to journaling cards or a digi layout but I didn't get to that so I decided to tear them out and add a glassine envelope where they can be stored.

I started out with a mini layout:

The inspiration for this came from the MME Sketch Challenge for May:

My Mini Layout is 6x6, I swopped the squares for stars and stitched around the edges to replace the journaling.

I've used the MME papers from the My Girl range but as I specifically bought it to make a mini book for Girlfriend #1, I didn't want to use too much of my stash.  This is what I did:

The back of my layout - I've cut away all the access paper to keep and use in my mini book. Just couldn't get myself to waste all that beautiful blue starry paper.

And a close-up of the glassine bag and the main title of my page:

And my notebook papers outside the bag:

I loved doing this layout and shortly it will be time to do my June "Here and Now". I'm a notebook kind of girl - always one at hand and it is such a waste waiting in queues - why not journal the time away.

That's if from me. Have a great weekend and thanks for looking at my blog today. Please come back to play.

Hazel
(Somehow I lost the Sunny SA!! - IMPERFECT ME)