Easter Treat Box

Happy Sunday Bloglanders

I have a full day of family fun ahead and am just checking in to show what I did ..................... not all of it, of course but a FUN gift project - an Easter Treat Basket that I made for a friend who came to stay over. Just imagine her joy when I showed her to her room and this beauty was waiting on the bedside table.

I started out with a cut file from Silhouette:

It was a free Strawberry box cut file accompanied by a tutorial. I've tried to get the link for you but it just doesn't work. Feel free to give it another go here.

If you want to buy the file, I've pinned it here. I've adapted the size of my cut file to fit a 12x12 piece of card stock. I really wanted a "bigger" treat box.

I do love pin-wheels so I added one!

I filled my "basket" with some old school Easter treats and gifted my friend who came to visit with it. She totally loved it and while she has a HUGE sweet tooth, she was so impressed with her gift that she vowed to keep it "untouched" on her mantle until Easter. I will check up on that one and report back to you!!

That's it. Another fun project that didn't cost me a lot but will give joy to whoever gets it or even sees it. I'm off to spend my fun day with my family and when I return, I'm making a berry basket like this for my Easter decor. Just check back and I'll share with you right here on Play as U GO. Thanks for checking in!

Christmas gift - A Little present goes a Long Way

Hello Bloglanders

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

Today I'm sharing a mini Christmas pressie that I've made, packed and given to a friend's mum who is going through a rough patch.

Needless to say - she collects "houses".

When I saw this little house fridge magnet, I immediately thought of her and bought it. BUT it's SMALL!! So I came up with making a customized gift bag. Adding her name with Silhouette black, flocked heat transfer - and it's done!!  I love how it turned out - looks like real velvet on the little cotton bag.  And I had to add a personal touch - the little yellow  heart.

And this year I'm adding these deer head tags to my pressies. Cut with my Silhouette - of course!

I do love to give little gifts with a personal twist and customized packaging. This a perfect example of how a little can go a long way.  My friend's mum is still having a hard time but at least my little gift made her smile for a while and every time she sees the little house on her fridge door, she will remember that a lot of us are thinking and praying for her.

That's it! I'm off to do some more creative things. It's wonderful outside - think I'll first have a swim and a soak in our wonderful African sun.

Thanks for looking at my blog today. Please check back as I have lots more to share right here on Play as U GO.

In the meantime, have fun and remember to try something new - TODAY!

Monsters and Robots

Hi there Bloglanders

Today I'm sharing my contribution towards my friend's little boy's birthday. The theme of  the party is:  "Monsters and Robots".  As both my boys are all grown up I'm not that into any of these anymore.

I decided to get something small and EXCITING for the birthday boy, a gift card for his mom to spend on new summer gear for him AND to use what I have to make a pretty and exciting themed gift. Everything was packed into a recycled tin suitcase.

Afterwards this would make for a GREAT carry case for small toys or a lunch box for pre-school.

For my tag I used robot stickers from my stash (YES!!!! I still had some) and paint sample cards that I've kept from last year's home reno.

While everything was out, I decided to do a few more. You never know when the next little monster comes along!!

Don't you just love the robot dog on the bottom tag?? I will probably add it to my pressie as I like to "double tag" and the little monster that's receiving this gift is actually a big doggie fan.

The big benefit about using what you have, is that you have more money to spend on a usable and exciting gift. Packaging nowadays costs a fortune!! And nobody would even know that everything except the gift was free.

This week, I'm contribution my project to the

Robot or Monster challenge at DoubleClick Skittles

Great minds think alike!!

Thanks for looking at my blog today. I'll share my small and exciting boy's gift with you in my next post. Please check back and all will be revealed right here on Play as U Go. Until we meet again ......................... have FUN!

Colouring-in

Happy Weekend Bloglanders

Recently I celebrated my birthday and received this from my dear friend, Marelize and her 3 beautiful girls:

I've wanted to try my hand at Adult coloring-in forever and this was it. I'm totally hooked!! But, I also decided to DO something with my finished projects:

I loved this dreamy, spring blooms and decided to cover a notebook with it. It's spring down under and what a better time than now to make lists of new adventures and old ones to re-visit?

While sitting outside in the sun on our porch, sipping my newly invented Pomegranate mocktail, I used my watercolours to paint this page from my book.

Yes, here is the proof!!

Pomegranate juice, ginger ale, soda and Lots of mint and ice.

I do most of my crafting adventures X2. Therefore, I covered another notebook with an uncoloured piece of the same print and will gift this to my neighbor's little girl for her upcoming birthday. I LOVE interactive cards / pressies.

It's totally awesome outside. I'm off to do some more colouring on my porch. Thanks for looking at my blog today. Hop over to PaperCrafter'sCorner Magazine Monday #115 to see what the rest of Blogland did with their colouring pictures.

Something Sweet

Happy Friday Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Funky Friday!!  It's birthday season down under in Sunny SA and I had to get ahead with my pressie prep.

Let's start with my Apricot Jam.

Every year during November I cook a LOT of Apricot jam - I always say Wynand will eat it on his porridge if I allow him to. Mostly, I use it to serve with freshly baked bread (I do make my own), to bake Hertzoggies, Jam Rolls an to give away as thank-you-pressies.

For the thank-you-pressies I add a homemade tag / label and the inspiration for these ones came from the SimonSaysStamp Wednesday challenge - 

FOOD AND/OR DRINK

I love botanical prints and got these images from here.  It does look yummy, doesn't it?? Can you believe that I couldn't get any apricot images from the Silhouette store? Well, I made my own:

And I added one of the die cuts to the lid of the jar.

Easy Peasy and I have a batch of thank-you-gifts ready and prettied-up to give away to family and friends. 

Tomorrow I'm doing some more pressies. Please check back and I'll show exactly what's cooking at Hamman HQ.

Also entered:  DoubleClick Skittles "Food" challenge.

Got 20 Minutes

Hi there Bloglanders

I hope you are well. Winter finally arrived down under in Sunny SA but don't fear - we don't get snow in Stellenbosch. Our winters are more like European summers!! So, I stay inside where we have a real wood fire going all the time and CRAFT, try out wonderful new recipes and sew.

Yesterday I told you that I read a whole lot of inspirational posts. In keeping with my summer fruit theme, I took up the Paper Crafter's Corner challenge "Got 20 Minutes".

And my project:

8 Fruit themed cards!

Sometimes your schedule is way too busy - you just can't start on a new project BUT with 20 minutes to kill, you can make a HUGE difference to your pressie stash and your gift wrapping station.

I cut all my scraps in sizes of 6x6, 6x4 and 3x4 - the smaller pieces go towards die cuts. And this is how I keep them on my craft trolley:

In a plastic container - leftover cardstock, project life cards and even some multi media pages. When I start on a new project, this is the first place I go to.  No exception with my 20 minute card project.

Second stop is my die cut box:

Whenever I cut and print with my Silhouette and there is some space left on the page, I add a die cut shape for my "jewellery box".

With only 3 minutes used gathering stuff, I used the rest of the 20 minutes to glue everything together.

I even had time to add twine to two pineapple tags for my gift.

I wrapped half of my cards to give away as a birthday gift to a special friend. The rest went into my gift wrapping stash.

And here is my pressie - ready for delivery:

The card on top says "Geluk" (= Congratulations). I don't even have to add and additional tag to say "Happy Birthday" to my friend.

Here you can see the two pineapple tags that I added to the back of the Cellophane pocket.

I'm most definitely going to do another "Got 20 Minutes" challenge. Next one up will be a Project Life mini book. If you missed out on that one, read all about it here. To make this challenge even harder, I plan to take pictures as I go - YES!!! to show you exactly what I did - all in 20 Minutes!

That's it. I'm off to get my hands on another 20 minutes.  Thanks for looking at my blog today. Have a Wacky Wednesday and please come back to play.

Get into shapes with Fruity Tags

Hello Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Wacky Wednesday!! Yesterday was COLD down under in Sunny SA so I crafted the day away in my sunny living room. To heat things up, I made fruity tags for all the upcoming birthday pressies.

I'm not a big "cardie" but I love beautifully wrapped pressies and normally, I'll add a mini card (and envelope), a die cut name and / sentiment and a die cut shape.  Here you can see one that I've added to a jar of homemade rusks:

I love the "print and cut" feature from my Silhouette and whenever I have some space open on a project, I'll add something for my "jewelry box". YES, I'm not big on diamonds and gold but I LOVE this box of die cuts that sits next to my Silhouette.

And some more fruity shapes:

And what inspired this fruit salad? The SimonSaysStamp Wednesday challenge - Get in shape.  NO!! nothing to do with weight, it's the shape of your card (in my instance - tag) that matters!!

And my pressie is ready for delivery:

That's it!! Another project done. Today I have some sewing on my agenda - AND the office - of course!! I'll be back to share my latest sewing project with your right here on Play as U Go. Thanks for looking at my blog today, please come back to play as  I would love to have you.

Clean and Simple Pressie

Good morning Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Wacky Wednesday!  Today I want to share a pressie that I made for a friend's birthday. I love giving interactive mini gifts / dimensional cards. Know what that mean?? Yes, something you can actually USE. And if I can recycle some leftover stash - you've got me hooked! Here they are:

Tags! I've used the "Quite the Pear" die and stamp set from SimonSaysStamp. I love the cat especially after I've added the hart to it's tummy and as my friend is a BIG cat lover as well, this would be perfect for her. 

Everything got packet in a 2.5 x 2,5 inch hinged box that I cut with my Silhouette:

And I added some blank cards, more cats, hearts, tags and twine to the box, Now my friend can use it to create notes and tags with her own personal touch.

I've only used scraps - for the cats it's offcuts from my watercolour paper because I intend to colour some of them with watercolour pencils. The labels, hearts and twine spool all came from my scrap cardstock stash. I think I'll be making some more of these to keep on hand to give away.

Where did my inspiration come from?? The SimonSaysStamp Wednesday challenge - Clean and Simple ................. and the cat stamp that I could not wait to use!!

That's it!! I'm off to do some shopping for our upcoming camping trip. Watch my Instagram feed to have a sneak at my daybook that will tag along.  In the meantime, have fun and remember to try something new - TODAY!

Sunday Summary Week 49

Good morning Blogland

It's beautiful, sunny, summery weather down under in Sunny SA and we spend most of our time outside in the pool or having a "braai" under our vine pergola.

But, I do have a job to do and some crafting to enjoy. SO, first up. Our Princess's father remarried yesterday and it was a beautiful day, ceremony and reception. And a peek:

As they have everything they need, I decided to opt for a personal letter and some "couples spa vouchers".  I'm sure when they return from their month long honeymoon abroad, a bit of pampering will be just the thing they need to kick off 2015.

This is how I wrapped my "pressie":

Some craft paper, a bit of left over tulle from a wedding dress, ribbon, copper shimmer twine and a fake vintage button.

And my "mood board" of the wedding:

And I did a LOT of sewing this past week - for our Princess's best friend, Tanya's wedding - 2 X Bridesmaid dresses:

And for our beautiful Princess for her father's wedding (it's her brother with her in the pic):

I made this dress exactly like her 8X bridesmaid dresses.  Just without sleeves.

LINK (Pic by Moira West Photograph)

I suppose you think I never sew for myself as I never show these projects but I DO - A LOT!! And I decided to give you a sneak peek into the clothes I made to wear to the Princess's father's wedding.

Now for a non-sweing idea. A wonderful idea that I found at our local Christmas market. It's called "House on the Hill" and you can buy them assembled as key holders, loose to colour yourself or as fridge magnets.  I couldn't resist buying some for Wernich's nearly finished flat.  Perfect for an architect!!!

I think I'll try my hand at making some of my own in 2015, In the meantime, I'll have fun enjoying somebody else's creativity.

As you can see, it's VERY busy at HQ Hamman but we still have time to enjoy our home, garden and family.  Thanks for looking at my blog today. I'm off to do some more sewing and I think I'll resume my project of doing at least 20 handmade Christmas ornaments. Currently I've only done angels and stars. Keep checking back and I'll show as I go.

Have a GREAT week and remember to try something new - TODAY!!

Use what you have

Hello Bloglanders

I'm just checking in to say hi and show how I upped my kitty pressie. Remember this?

Well, IMPERFECT ME decided to stamp it up.  I'm not really a card maker / stamper but I do have a few stamps in my stash.  And this set was perfect!!

It must have been a freebie of sorts as I don't even know who the manufacturer is but I totally love it!

Someone emailed me to ask what a kitty box is. Well, our local animal shelter has a annual campaign where you gift a cat / dog by making a Christmas box for them. Inside is tinned food, a toy and money to cover veterinary costs. As all our children are grown-up and we don't do presents, each and every one in my family do a kitty / puppy pressie and we deliver it to the shelter before Christmas. It is one of the things on our December Daily list.

Talking about DD. With my life being in shambles, mine is currently an uncovered notebook and my iPhone. We will see if I can work my magic on it at some time in the future. Anyway, I'll share once I have something to show.

That's it.  Have a look around your stash and do something new with an old item.  No cost and some REAL fun.

Thanks for looking at my blog today. See U soon .......................