Over at Craft Storage Ideas with Project Life Storage

Hallo Bloglanders

Just a note to let you know I'm over at Craft Storage Ideas today with a lot of ideas of storing your Project Life stash. Once again most of my items are re purposed - didn't you expect that?  And not only are the ideas great for Project Life but most can be adapted to store your scrapping and card making goodies as well.

Here is a sneak peak:


Just click here to be redirected. ENJOY!! And while you are there, please leave me a comment so that I know you liked my effort.

Thanks for looking - see you tomorrow.

Hazel

Design Challenge #1

Hallo Bloglanders

It is a beautiful, warm, sunshiny day in Sunny SA and I want to get out and enjoy it as some more rain is coming our way towards the weekend. BUT ............................. all work and no play makes IMPERFECT ME a dull girl!!

Every month I record what happened when as part of  MY LIFE, MY WAY (PL of sorts).  The reason for this is that I don't take pics of everything but still like to record it.  So, this is my September 2013 version. And where did I get the inspiration???

I was lucky enough to win a class in Elizabeth Dillow's Design Challenges over at Big Picture Classes.  The idea is that you receive some inspirational prompts and do a layout your style, your way. At the end of the 4 weeks you will have 12 more events recorded. You know me - I'm always up for a challenge - that way I get inspired, think out of my box and get it done!

The first challenge was to use some sort of form. Elizabeth did a Periodic Table but after doing chemistry at university level, I couldn't stomach that one. Stacy's example was excellent - a Pinterest board of her family. I'll try to pin it to Pinterest and give you the link but up till now I just couldn't get it done.  Anyway, I didn't want to be a copy cat so I opted for the calender but you will see - I am doing the Pinterest one!!

Prompt 2 was to use a big pic.  I'll show that one in a future post and today's prompt is to use ORANGE!! I love orange but I NEVER use it.  Interesting ................................ I will keep you posted.

That's it - my idea of  recording what happened in my life during September 2013.  Thanks for looking at my blog today and please check back as I have lots more to share right here.

Have a Terrific Tuesday.

Hazel

A4 Mini book ...................... let's call it part 2.

Good morning Bloglanders.

It's a public holiday and our proclaimed "Braai Day" so I'm putting my post up early because I want to join the boys and their girls for brunch / lunch and dinner outside.

Today I'm sharing a mini book for MY LIFE, MY WAY album. (Project Life) Here it is:

And inside it looks like this:

Remember when I showed you how to make this mini out of one A4 sheet of paper?

If you missed it, just click here. 

And there I was ............................ thinking that I was the brightest person in Blogland coming up with this. But as my friend Monika once said ................................ nothing's new. So I hopped over to Pinterest and what did I find?????

This one by Jessica Sprague using Basic Grey digital products:

Yes!!! the one I tried out for today's post! I just altered mine to be Afrikaans.  Jessica has a free download. over at her blog. And there's more ........................ a video tutorial of how to make it and step by step pics of how to fold your book. She even mentioned that the idea came from a book called How to Make Books by Esther K. Smith.  Here is the link to Jessica's post.

And I also found this one on Pinterest:

What I love about this one by the adventures of bluegirlxo is that she makes it out of paper, add all her embellishments and text and then have it copied onto A5.  This results in a very small book and she sends them to all her friends.  What a great idea to do - then you can just fill one out when someone has a birthday and you only have to make one version each year. This is going to be the way to go for me for 2014.

If you make it slightly smaller than 3x4 it fits perfectly in a Project Life page protector. If it's bigger, you can add it to a layout - great way to include 10 more pictures! I've printed mine on a slightly thicker copy paper and it is very sturdy - just think how great it would be as a photo card for a grandparent!

This is a rather long post but I thought as we are having a day off, I'll bring some extra eye candy. Thanks for looking at my blog. I'm off to sit outside and chat to the children, drink wine and enjoy a South African "braai". For the record ........................ Wynand is in Vietnam on business and is missing out on all the fun. I'll send some pics over to him so that he feels included. Have a great day and please come back to play.

Hazel

Project Life with Transparency

Hi there Bloglanders.

Still at the beach and loving it!  I hop you are having a Thunderous Thursday. Yesterday I told you that I did some more printing and cutting with transparency while all the tools were out.  Today I'm sharing a Project Life page that I did some time ago.

For me Project Life is all about the pictures and I felt fine with these of my son's engagement and the Princess's birthday. At least it was in an album and not floating around cyber space. (most of them came from Facebook ex the children and their friends).

Then I tried the "print and cut" option on transparency and got these gorgeous arrows.  Perfect to zuss up the page and while at it ...................................... I did the titles on my Silhouette as well.  For my non SA Bloglanders: "verjaar" = to celebrate your birthday; "verlief" = in love; "verloof" = to get engaged.  Now you know!

That's it.  We are having friends over for the weekend so I have to do some shopping, cooking and cleaning.  I'm off to get it done ....................... still want to fit in some crafting fun.  Thanks for looking at my blog today.  Please check back as I have lots more to share with you right here.

Hazel

January Fave's

Hallo Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Thunderous Tuesday.  The Hamman house is very, very busy as Wernich had his farewell party last night and we are all scattering around to get him to university.  It is more than 1000 kilometres (sorry, I don't know the miles and Wynand is away on business - I'll ask him and let you know ASAP). This means that he will have to drive the whole day on Thursday to get there in time for classes starting on Friday morning.

Well, he's a big boy and I'll have to be strong for him.  We had our first crying session last night when he thanked us for what we have done for him and for our love and support.  Already crying again as I'm typing out my post.  Well, that's life, I should be glad that I had both the boys (and girlfriends) around for the past 7 years since they left school.  I actually left home at 18 to go to university and never returned. My friend Sandra says if you miss your child, you should call your mum!! Mine will be getting a lot of calls in the near future.

Since I stared "MY LIFE MY WAY" I wanted to include a monthly page with favorite stuff - family / house and garden / craft / eat /  wear etc.  And here is my first attempt:

Also my first go at a Becky Higgins page protector.  You have to have your wits about you and I haven't even started to cut up pictures to divide between the pockets.  What I did like is that I printed all my little pictures on one 4x6 photo.  That saves a lot.  Also, I used the box of journaling cards (they came with the kit) to fill out when I had some extra time on hand and when they were all done, I just had to fit them into the pockets.

I used a very, very old paper pack from Creative Memories (about 2006!) as my 2013 buzz phrase is "LIVE LIGHT".  Everything that I've got, will be used before I spurge out on some more goodies. I don't plan to do my "NOW" in this format every month - if I don't have time, it will just be typed out and printed 6x4 to go into my album.  No pressure. If I have lots of time (whenever that will be), I'll do it in art journaling format.

And did you notice the art journaling tag that I made out of the offcuts of my previous failed attempt?

Re use, recycle and re purpose - LIVE LIGHT! 

That's it from me.  I'm glad you joined me today. Please come back to play as I'll be sharing some more crafting fun right here on my little blog.

Art Journaling - Week 4

Hi there Bloglanders

According to my records we are in week 4 already!!  It seems like it has been a day ago that we have been celebrating the beginning of 2013. Well, things to do, places to go, people to meet.  The wedding dress is in progress. At least I have started and we are having the first fitting today. Doesn't look like much right now but I'm sure once we add the lace and tulle, everything will change. Keep reading and all will be revealed in a future post.

Now for my art journaling project of the week:

This one is all about reuse, recycle and repurpose. I haven't done the journaling yet but as I'll be using my art as part of my "2013 MY LIFE MY WAY" album, I plan to do it once I have decided upon the pictures for the layout. I'll include something like "my aim is to leave the world a little bit better / I can make a difference - even though it might be small / I teach my children to appreciate what they were given".

For the "artwork" I started out with a watercolor base in blue and brown, added the ivy stenciling with Guesso for dimention, more green paint over everything, some orange as a background for my title and then the stamping.  To finish off: some stamped roses and leaves that I have colored and cut out and the words cut from old bookpages. "Leef  Lig" means something like Live without disturbing too much.

What I really love is the edges of my artwork. I used masking tape to keep my watercolor paper flat en where I removed it, I had this uneven border. Also, my paint didn't dry completely so the stamping is imperfect at some place. Now you have to worry!  IMPERFECT ME is starting to like my imperfectness!  I'll share with you once I've added my journaling but right now I like it just the way it is.

That's it from me.  I've got office work, some things to sort out for Wernich, tea with a friend and a fitting for the wedding dress.  Let's get going.

Thank you for visiting. Please come back to play as I'll be sharing some more of my crafting projects right here on Play as U Go.

My Life My Way cover page

Hi there Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Terrific Tuesday. I haven't started on the wedding dress (yet!) but in the meantime I finished the cover page for MY LIFE, MY WAY 2013 album.

I used some fabric flowers, lace left over from a previous sewing project, cardstock and bits and bobs from my stash. I just love the colours.  Of course, I got inspired by  The Play Date Cafe.

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

And another picture of the gorgeous flowers.

Oh, I added the buttons for a bit of extra punch and as my whole album is kind of  "citrussy". I love all shades of purple - my absolute favourite colour.

I'm trying my best to keep busy as my "blind side son" is leaving home for the first time and I'm already missing him.  He is a huge part of our lives and so many things will change once he moves out.  For sure, my husband and I will be all alone for the first time in 25 years - eat what WE want, eat WHEN we want, DO what we want but by far it will not make up for having my extended family at home 24/7. Tomorrow I'll share some family pictures with you - a FIRST and EXCLUSIVE for my Blog readers. I don't even have a picture on my Facebook profile!

That's it from me. Thanks for looking and please come back to play as I'll have some more of my crafty project to share with you right here on Play as U Go.

Mini Book / Card

Good morning Bloglanders

Welcome to my mini Monday post.  Yes, I know it's Tuesday but I'm trying to get into a system of posting a mini book / layout on a Monday and as I haven't done that yesterday, I'm here to share it today. IMPERFECT ME!

You still remember that I'm  borrowing my neighbour's cat since mine died??? Well, she is actually a little girl called Maya and as her cat is bringing me so much joy, I decided to make a little card for her with pictures of "our cat".  Of course I did one for myself as well and as it's 3x4 it fits perfectly into my MY LIFE MY WAY album. Here it is:

I actually folded one 6x4 page in half and glued my goodies to the front, back and inside pages. To the front I added some lace left over from the brooch I made earlier this week, a felt die cut and a brad.  As everything is layered so much, the card stands up very well. Perfect to put in front of your bed / on your desk.

Front, inside and back standing up:

And look who came over to see if it is good enough to give to Maya:

Oh, I just love cats!! Well, that's it from me for the day. Please check back tomorrow as I'll be sharing some more of the projects on my craft desk right here with you on Play as U Go.  Thanks for your visit.

Art Jounaling - The Copy

Hi there Bloglanders

Before I kick off my weekend, I want to share my copy cat version of art journaling with you.  I'll be adding it to my MY LIFE MY WAY album over the weekend - last chance for a picture without the page protector.

Normally I don't copy BUT I really struggled to get going on the art journaling so I decided to start out by using somebody else's idea. I came upon this one on the MME blog and it caught my eye because I had a stamp set in my stash just shouting to be used.  It was done by Karen Grunberg and after I've done this one, I've been reading her blog - goodness gracious, it is really worth a visit! I love her stuff.

And here it is:

Karen colored hers but I liked the black, blue and white color combo so I kept mine unpainted.  My words of wisdom says "If you want to do something, you will find a way, if you don't, you will find an excuse". That says it all.

Enjoy your weekend and please check back as I'll be sharing more of my projects right here on Play as U Go.  Thanks for visiting!

Hazel

xXx

My Life My Way - In the Beginning

Hi there Bloglanders

After yesterday's struggle to get my project loaded, I sort of felt like just skipping it altogether today.  BUT then the courier delivered my brand new Project Life goodies and here I am to share what I've got.

First of all, I love the goodies and as my parents normally gives money to all their children and grandchildren for Xmas, I decided to use mine to get my hands on the Clementine range. I'm very into "citrussy" stuff. Just a warning - I'm NOT committing to a double page spread for every week - it will be MY LIFE ME WAY. I'll incorporate some art journaling, my normal 12x12 layouts and some smaller bits that I want to record over the year. You will still be seeing my junk journal as I find it the best way to file away brochures and info.

And this is it:

I love the album's colour as well as the journaling cards.  I still don't like the English titles and words as I try to journal in my home language, Afrikaans. Maybe I can give that to someone who would use it. We'll see. I also received a huge stack of Becky Higgins page protectors but they are all the same and you know IMPERFECT ME - I need variety! Well, I have different ones in my stash and filed them all in an old 12x12 album where they can be easily accessed.  I don't know if the file is just old but it keeps looking shabby so I came up with a plan:

A piece of underwear elastic (!!!!), a felt butterfly and a very pink button.  The picture on the cover of the file is of my husband and his sister taken many, many moons ago. I also sorted through my stash and got hold of some 6x6, 6x12, A5 and A4 page protectors - I'm going to use what I have and they are all filed away in my brand new, old "page protector file".

And the first thing in my 2013 MY LIFE MY WAY album:

I couldn't resist taking a pic to share with you. As I won't be doing a double page a week, I hope that the whole 2013 will fit into one album as I only bought one. Hopefully, I would be able to get another one if needed.

Well, that's it.  I'll be back to share my projects with you. Please come back to play.

Hazel

xXx

First Try @ Art Journaling

Hi there Bloglanders

Hope you are having a sunshine yellow Monday! Mine is a bit blue as Blogger decided that she doesn't want to load my project for today. If you want to blame someone - she's the one. In the end Windows explore just ignored me and I ended up using Google. Well, at least I got it done.

Now for the project: I always try to do something new. Not always successful but at least I keep the experience (and sometimes the goodies). Well, art journaling will be my 2013 attempt at trying something new.

I can't believe it but I really suck at this. After I've wasted about a whole block of water color paper (and they don't come cheap) I decided to copy something and then move forward. Not even the copy was up to my expectations!

So, I tried my own idea - AGAIN!

Still not the best attempt that I've seen but I'm going to live with it and keep trying - maybe it has to grow on you.  This effort will go on the first page of MY LIFE MY WAY 2013.  Perfect for IMPERFECT ME.

And it's going to The Play Date Cafe challenge of the week.  These are their colors:

My blue was a bit too blue but that's because I couldn't decide on what type of paint to use. First I tried watercolors and then ended up using fabric dye and wax crayons.  Please, if any of u Bloglanders knows about a great tutorial, let me know!! I've seen some but they only show how to do it and not what to use.  I don't want to go out and buy more stuff - want to use what is in my stash. 

  

That's it from me.  I'll be back tomorrow to share some more of my projects. Please come back to play.

Hazel

xXx

PS. For my non SA Bloglanders:

HOOP = HOPE

VREDE = PEACE

VREUGDE = JOY

LIEFDE = LOVE

So sorry!

Hallo Bloglanders

To all my friends celebrating Thanksgiving - ENJOY!  Another one of the things we don't do in Sunny SA.

I'm so sorry for neglecting you.  My uncle died and I just had a lot on my mind.  Now I'm back to share my Xmas prep with you.  I will start tomorrow and try to get everything done by December 1st.

But first - this is what I've been up to:

I had to do 300 units of 5 different designs!! About half went to a craft fair and the rest were orders.  I can't decide what is worse - making 300 of the same design or packing and mailing everything off.  I shouldn't complain as it is actually a lot of fun and I love wrapping every parcel for it's new owner. Some goes to children and I love doing them.  Anyway, I kept one for myself and it's being utilized as my camera bag. People are stopping me everywhere to ask where I got the cute bag and so I end up with more orders!

Now for something totally different:

I thought I should also tell you why I blog.  For the past 5 years I've been doing 52 projects a year.  Making new curtains, a home made gift, slip covering chairs, handmade cards and lots of other hybrid crafting stuff.  I've been taking pictures, printing it out and pasting it into notebooks with dates and journaling.  So, at the beginning of this year I decided that while I'm doing it anyway, I can just as well blog about it and maybe there will be Bloglanders out there that would find it interesting. The additional benefit will be that I can print all my blog posts and it will be a book for my coffee table. That will be my first project for 2013.

The result of my blogging is that I've already done more than 150 projects and that more than 5000 people actually read what I do.  OK, some projects are really small but in the past I left them as they seemed insignificant and now I see that I actually enjoy them a lot and it keeps the creativity going. Also, I've made lots and lots of new Blogland friends who help, inspire and support.  Without you, my friends, I would have given up after a week.  I really learned a lot.  My computer skills developed X10 and where my children actually ran away when they saw me coming (because I had a list of questions) - they ask my advise now! (OK, just sometimes but still!)

I do a lot of Photoshop stuff because my home language is Afrikaans and most titles, journaling prompts and embellishments are in English - I just end up making my own.  In future I plan to share this right here on my blog and yes, I'll do an English version as well. I also plan to develop my photo taking skills as they are awful but that will go onto the 2013 list as well.  And last but not the least I will be taking pictures and sharing patterns as I go. I have to do them anyway - can just as well let somebody else benefit from them. Another first for me - I've started MY LIFE MY WAY. Kind of Project Life but just the IMPERFECT ME version!  Of course I'll share with you - my life stories and the downloads.

That's it from me. Thanks for being my friends.  I'm off - there are still stuff to learn, places to go, things to do and friends to meet.  Bring it on!

Hazel
XXX

Gratitude made Easy

Hallo Bloglanders

In Sunny SA we don't do things like the rest of the world.  I've already told you that we don't do Halloween but we don't do Thanksgiving either! 

A few years ago I invested in a Gratitude journal from Monika Wright's Etsy shop and I try to record something positive every day.  If I don't get to it - no sweat but since I started, I have developed a habit of seeing the positive in small things around me. I do tend to let silly things get the better of me but if I page through my Gratitude journal, I see the cloud's silver lining again.  Now, this is what I'll be doing towards Gratitude for the two weeks up to Thanksgiving:

I've selected stuff from my stash and will be writing on a journaling card every day.  My system is quite simple - I keep all the blank cards in one container and once they are done, I move them to the second one.  I do this for my December Daily as well. Like this:

I still haven't decided whether this will become a mini book / if I'll incorporate it in a layout or just glue it into my Gratitude journal but as I've started  "My life, My way" on 1 November - either way, it will eventually end up in my album.  I'll be using my "printy dater" as I really don't have the time right now to make tabs or to get my stamping equipment out.

The two containers fit into one another and sits on my desk with finished cards in the bottom one and the unused ones on top ready to be filled out.

Why don't you join me in recording all the positive things in your life?  I'll be back here to share more of my stuff with you. Please come back to play!

Layout trends

Hi there Bloglanders

Today I'm sharing a layout I did of a nice weekend away.  This is it:

I know that you don't like my layouts but it's a very important part of my family life to preserve our memories.  I've always been an album maker and not really a scrapbooker. I love to use lots of pictures as my family looks at it and they are not in awe of my embellishments or beautiful papers - only the pictures and the story interest them. Nowadays I actually feel bad to show my creations as most modern layouts only have one picture and lots of other detail.  Don't get me wrong, I love it but it's just not me.

Another thing - I don't like 6x4 pictures!  I prefer biggies or mini's and if they can be square - all the better. And I love journaling - lots of it! After my ordeal with the ink blobs, I'll rather buy background paper - mine just doesn't live up to my expectations and I hate a mess. Once again, I love it but it's not me.

Here is a layout I did of my house. Do you get the idea of "the bigger, the better"?

I love to look at beautiful pictures. Recently a friend got married and she has the most amazing wedding pictures. For myself - I only want a reminder of the memory and sometimes I will only journal and even that works for me. I'm sure you have your own ideas about the subject but my blog is like a piece of my life - here and now and it will be great to see in a few year's time how my ideas have changed.  That's what it's all about - my life, my way.  Remember these 4 words as this will be my concept for documenting my life from now on. You will hear them again!

That's it from me. Please come back to play.  Have a great day!