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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!

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.

Time to Play in The Play Date Cafe

Good morning Bloglanders

I'm rather busy with all the prep for our upcoming road trip but couldn't resist to play along when I saw this week's color scheme from The Play Date Cafe.

I have a lot of birthdays coming up and have to get pressies ready and delivered before my holiday so this is what I did:

Ordinary (cheap) wrapping paper turned into a beautiful gift bag!! Remember that I showed how to make your own gift bags a few weeks ago?  If you missed it, leave me a comment and I'll supply the link. 

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

Have a Wacky Wednesday and thanks for visiting my blog today. Please come back to play!

Nauti{cool} cards

Good morning Bloglanders

Finally it is winter in Sunny SA!  I totally love it. Jerseys, boots and soup.  My fave season.  For those of you who haven't been to Sunny SA - our winters are a bit like the European summers to me. Cold and rainy days and in between we get lots of perfect sunny days.  We don't get any snow in Stellenbosch where I live - just a teeny bit once in a blue moon on the mountain tops.

So, with our second rainy day, I decided to do a card for The Play Date Cafe to warm things up.  Who can resist this week's color combo?

Here is my take on it:

Just look at my grass!!! It is from my takeaway sushi! In real life it pops off the page - my photo taking skills (or rather lack thereof) is to blame. I've used a stamp and die set from Sizzix called Hello Spring.  Actually, I bought it because of the little birdie - he is so adorable. (and the sets were on 40% discount!) 

I'm still trying to do a set of cards or tags every week - by the end of the year I'll have 52 sets to use as Xmas and birthday pressies. Also, if I have 52 sets, I have 52 different combo's to choose from should I need to pack / wrap or write a note and there would still be 3 cards left to give away.  This works so well for me. Two years ago I mixed up all the year's remaining cards and included them in the mini packing sets that I make to give away.  Do you still remember what they look like?  Just click here to go to the post and for the lazy ones - a pic:

I do stacks of them, they cost next to nothing and my friends even ask for a refill!!

That's it from me. Thank you for looking at my blog today. Please check back as I'll have some more crafting fun to share right here on Play as U Go. Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Happy Mother's Day 2013

Good morning Bloglanders

Happy Mother's Day to all the Blogland Mummy's! May you have a great day and enjoy the love of your kiddo's.

I'm up and on my way for a walk in the park.  Both my boys are "otherwise occupied"  today and I don't mind - I see them a lot and they would do anything to make me smile. Having them around most of the time even though they don't live at home any more, makes up for all the Mother's Days of a lifetime. IMPERFECT ME's take on things!

But I did do something special for my mum and I'm here to share it with you. My mum lives 350 kilometers from me and therefore I don't see her every other week. Also, they don't have a lot of chain stores in Vredendal and online shopping is not for my elderly parents. This rules out all the easy options - parcels (I hate mailing off), gift cards and electronic vouchers.

This was my solution:

I got a standard mail envelope, took the measurements and then made this envelope - yes!! I've still got some of  the hand painted fabric left on my craft desk. I told you all about my painting technique here if you missed it. Once again I used my Spellbinder dies to cut out hearts and the letters MA (Mother in Afrikaans), ironed it on, added some stitching, ribbon and a button. Inside is a small chocolate,  a card (of course I made one!) and a receipt for fabric. I bought some stretch denim (mum even makes her own jeans!) and left it at the beach house when we went there a few weeks ago. Inside the card is a note to tell her where I've left it and she can just collect. The beach house is about 50 kilometers from Vredendal and they go there a lot.

This is the color combo that I worked with:

                               Steel Blue ... Peach ... Apricot 

It is from The Play Date Cafe and you can see the other entries here. Sorry about the green button but I didn't have one in the desired color scheme and he just jumped out of my button jar onto my project.

 I took some more pictures - if you want to look. 

Oh, I forgot to mention that I used my scallop die from Spellbinders to do the edges of the envelope - just adds that extra bit and it keeps it from fraying. I suppose you can do the sides as well but the straight stitching looked good to me with the edges as they are.

That's it! Have a great day. Thank you very much for visiting my blog and please come back to play.

Good news and Party Favors

Good morning Bloglanders

First the good news!! You remember my rainbow bookmark?

Well, I won the challenge over at The Twinery!  And this is my prize:

I love Twine and two more rolls to my stash would be wonderful. I'm not sure about the Michaels gift card as we don't have one in Sunny SA but I'm sure I'll think up a plan to utilize it.  Hop over to The Twinery and see for yourself. Just click here.

And next up: a way to celebrate - Party favors.  As my husband and I are both winemakers we are always trying to determine a way to determine a specific smell. I'm sure you've heard about citrussy  earthy, berry and things like that associated with wine. So I bought a whole bag of Jelly Beans when I found a mix of 50 different flavors.  We've been guessing flavors ever since.

Then I thought up a game using the Jelly Bean mix for party favors. My bags include some beans, note paper, pencil and the rules of the game - easy - you have to guess the flavors and write it down.  My first guinea pigs were  8, 13 and 17 year olds and I can report back - they all enjoyed the game and not a single bean was spilled. (hie hie hie!!)

Want to see?

And I decided to do one in the color combo of  The Play Date Cafe.  How's that for hybrid crafting?

And these are their colors for the week:

                            Grass ... Rose Petal ... Hibiscus

That's it from me. Thank you for visiting my Blog.  Please check back as I'll have some more crafting fun to share with you right here. I'm off to paint my craft desk but that's a story for another day.

Have a great day!

Summery cards

Hi there Bloglanders

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that your Monday will be magnificent!  I've done my bit of crafting over the weekend and would like to share my contribution to The Play Date Challenge of the week with you:

And another card:

My heart and butterfly is actually very, very pink - don't know how it got to to this "purply" color. Anyway, this is the color scheme of this week's combo:

I love yellow so I had a lot of scraps to work with. Even the pink is right up my alley but the grey????? I used a stamp and ink in smokey grey to stamp the background for my cards.  No grey in my life - I'm kind of a primary color person and if all else fails, I revert to black or white.  In the end I loved the background most about the whole card and will be making some more without the pink and yellow.  While everything was out, I made some more cards for my stash:

And my neighbor's cat came over to help and didn't want to move when I had to take the pictures.  Now you know why the pink turned out purple! It doesn't really matter to me. I just love cats and are truly blessed to have this one in my life even if he is only a visitor.

We are still having the most wonderful summer weather in sunny SA - it is great to be outside, eat on the porch, work in the garden and just be.  I hope that when I'm looking / using these cards during our winter months, that I can regain the summery feeling.

That's it from me. Thank you for visiting my blog and please come back as I have a lot more crafting fun to share with you. Have a great day!

Funky Flower Napkin Rings

Hi there Bloglanders

Normally, I don't blog over the weekend - this is my time to spend at home with family and friends and yes!  I try to give my virtual friends some space to do the same.  BUT, I made these and couldn't wait until Monday to share:

I had a friend's 8 year old daughter over on Friday afternoon to do some crafting and I helped her to make  flowers out of leftover felt and fabric. She really enjoyed these and will be using them over the next few weeks on pressies for her girlfriends.

And this is how it's made:

1. Cut different sized circles out of organza and tulle. (You wouldn't believe how many an 8 year old can cut in an hour!!.)

2. Scorch the edges. (Please note! I did this for the 8 year old.)

3. Stack the layers.

4. Stitch together and add beads to the center.

5. Ta da!  Easy Peasy.

I used my flowers to make napkin holders.  To the back I've added brooch pins which means that these will be my party favors for each guest to take home.  I think it will be a great way to remember a wonderful evening. Here they are:

And for color inspiration?  Of course! The Play Date Cafe:

Not the colors I would normally use together but I love how it looks with my green leaf plates.  Mission accomplished! 

Thanks for visiting my blog. Please come back to play as I'll be here sharing more crafting fun. Enjoy your weekend!

Girlfriend # 2 and The Play Date Cafe

Good day Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Marvellous Monday.  We have a super long weekend in Sunny SA and I've been very, very busy.  I started on the house!!  Just moving furniture around and making plans but the fabric for my craft closet's blind is out and I want it to be up and done by the weekend. Can't wait to start sharing!

But, more important than the house, is the people who live here.  Wernich is home for the university holidays and tomorrow is his girlfriend's 25th birthday.  I'm not expecting another engagement but they are very, very serious about each other and it is definitely coming.  Once again, Chandre is not girlfriend #2 because I like her less - they got numbered by age and as they are very different, I love them both.

I never give big presents but I try to find something that they need, wrap it beautifully and add a handmade card.  I've told you before - I'm not a stamper and I only own about 5 Copic markers (I even share them with my architect son) but I love to make cards and tags and write on the back "handmade especially for you by Hazel". To me, handmade presents, cards and tags are the ultimate - just makes me smile.

So, I made these cards - the one on the left will be used for the birthday girl.

I bought the stamps because it looks like Chandre (girlfriend #2)  and Lizahn (girlfriend #1).  Even the pets are perfect - Chandre loves dogs and Lizahn rabbits.

Just look at this picture of  Lizahn:

I'm not joking or imagining things!

I'm entering The Play Date Cafe challenge - here is the mood board:

I love the colours - a real spring feeling - even though we are having fall in Sunny SA! Lucky for us, temperatures are mild most of the time and even in winter we don't get snow - houses are without central heating and I don't even own an umbrella!! Now that's something to get excited about.

That's it from me. I'm off to my sewing table to start on the blind for my craft closet.  Before you leave blogland, hop over to The Play Date Cafe and say hi. Just click here to be redirected. Enjoy the rest of your day and please come back to play.

Flower Hair Clip with The Play Date Cafe

Hi there Bloglanders

I'm back to share my contribution for The Play Date Cafe color challenge of the week: A hair clip!

This picture is the actual size of the clip and this is the color combo:

I just love these colors for clothes and for my house but for cards and layouts??? No go!  I couldn't even find cardstock in one of the colors in my stash so I moved on to plan B.  As I do a lot of sewing, I have scraps in every color under the sun and as these are ones I particularly love, I could pick and choose.  

The purple flower is felt and the blue and green trim  was left from a previous craft project.  Just added the emerald bead and it was done.  I do use a lot of hair clips and brooches and this one can be used for either.  To tell you the truth - I wore it before I took the picture to share with you.

Want to see what the rest of  Blogland made with the same colors?  Just click here.

That's it from me for today.  Thanks for stopping by.  If you go away over Easter, please drive safely and enjoy your mini holiday.  I've got a lot of projects ready to be blogged - so, for those of you who stay at home -  please check back as I'll be sharing some crafting fun right here. Have a Terrific Tuesday!

. 

Happy Birthday Princess

Hallo Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Terrific Tuesday.  I am and as I've told you last week when I made the "Some Bunny Loves You" mini book / maxi card, it's girlfriend #1, the Princess's birthday today!  The funny thing about her is that her parents had a beach house only one street from ours.  Here is a picture of her:

And one of  Pieter - about the same age, same beach:

What's funny is that they've never known one another and went to different pre and primary schools. (400 kilometres apart) At 16 her parents sent her to the same school that Pieter attended at that time and they met.  I can still remember the day Pieter said to me "that's the new girl in class and I like her a lot".  They actually only started dating on a permanent basis a few years later and now, 7 years down the line, she is as much part of my family as girlfriend #2 and the boys. The girlfriends didn't get numbered according to my preference - if you wondered, I did it on age which means that girlfriend #2, Chandre's birthday is coming up soon. Enough about ages and dates. Here is the card that I made to accompany my pressie:

You all know that I just love cats and when I saw a card made with this stamp on Write.Click.Scrapbook, I immediately sent an email to ask where to get hold of one. I got the info immediately, ordered one and it arrived last week.  I'm not big on stamping but the quality of this stamp is amazing. My husband thought it was printed!! The stamp is from Catslife Press and the card where I first spotted it was from Christine Newman. If you want to have a look, just click here. Thanks Christine for sending me the necessary links so quickly.

The princess just loves pink and black and when I saw the color scheme from The Play Date Cafe, I just had to use it.  This is it:

And while everything was out, I went into factory mode:

Top right you can see the cats have been fuzzy cut and put onto pop dots. I just wanted to add a bit of texture as these will be used as tags.

And another one with a bit more coral:

Even on the inside is a kitty:

Not bad for one evening in front of the TV??

And packed to go to the princess or should I rather say "Fit for a Princess"?

And of course I had some mishaps while stamping. I call them my stray cats and they got pasted into my diary:

OK!!! I know you have to lie on your side in front of your computer to see this one but Blogger is ignoring my request to rotate it.  I'll do it in Photoshop and re post the picture.  So sorry but at least you got a chance to lie down a bit.

That's it from me.  I hope you enjoyed my cat cards.  Thanks for visiting my blog and please come back to play at Play as U Go.  Have a great day!