Multimedia Covered File

Hallo Bloglanders

Still pouring wet in Sunny SA!! Let's warm the air with some crafting fun!  I'm here to show what I made for my mother's birthday.  They downscaled a bit more than a year ago and now there is no room for clutter in their flat.  Still, mum wants to keep letters, pictures and info on her children, grandchildren, garden and home.

So, I came up with this Multimedia A5 covered file:

I used some calico, painted it with fabric dye and then added stamping, ribbon and embellishments from my stash. And this is what the file looks like from the back:

Imagine all that smiling peeping at you from your bookcase! I even made divider pages for the inside:

And some close-up pictures:

I love how my project turned out and best of all - I didn't buy a single thing!  Most of the stamps came from different MME sets and the dies used to cut the fabric are from Spellbinders.

That's it from me.  I hope you enjoyed seeing my mum's birthday gift as much as I did making it.  I think I'll do one for myself as well.  Thanks for visiting my blog today. Please come back to play as I'll be back with some more crafting fun. Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Crate Conversion to Trolleys

Hi there Bloglanders

My second post for the day!!  This is part of my series of posts on my Craft Closet.  The whole story will be revealed over at Craft Storage Ideas on Thursday the 23rd of May.  I'll insert the link once it is published.  If you want to get the rest of the inside info, you can check back to my previous post. (just scroll down or click here)

My inspiration for this actually came from this post that I did for Craft Storage Ideas. I had all these wooden crates that we used in the winery and decided to turn them into trolleys for my Craft Closet. This is what they look like now:

When you walk into my Craft Closet, I have 3 of them lined up against the wall on the right.  I wheel them around the house and fitted other wooden boxes and plastic tubs into their cubbies for my supplies and scraps.  Also, I made bags with pockets to cover them.  In these I put supplies that I need when I craft in the Craft Closet or elsewhere.  In this picture you can see that I've slipped magnetic sheets into the pockets and now all my Spellbinder nestability dies stick to the outside of the pockets. I can see at a glance what I have and what I want to use.

And this is what we did. Actually, I said how and my husband DID:

The "before" picture of the crate:

Wynand tied them together with cable ties and added wheels.  They are VERY sturdy and will hold a heavy die cut machine.  I wanted the cable ties as you never know - maybe they will be reincarnated into something else along the line. With IMPERFECT ME you never know.

I gave them a splash of white paint and added fabric jackets. Here you can see what the finished trolley looks like:

And the Cuttlebug plates fit into the back pockets:

When I sew, I use them lined up against the wall as I like to have an open floor and lots of space to put my pins, measuring tape, patterns and notebooks right next to my sewing machines. If I craft, they get wheeled next to my desk and I put my paper cutter or die cut machine on top.  I like to have my desk uncluttered to work on.

And another picture:

That's it. Thanks for looking at my Blog. Tomorrow I'll have to get my office work done but I'll be back with some more crafting fun just for you. Have a Marvellous Monday!

A Happy Day in May

Good morning Bloglanders

Today I'm sharing a layout of my Mother's Day activities.  I wanted it to look sort of "a day in the life"-like.  All over Blogland I can hear sighs as I know you don't like my layouts but yes, this is IMPERFECT ME's blog and layout day it is.

I wanted to use stuff that I had and the whole idea came from MME's challenge of the month "MAY DAY" so I paged through my stash and stumbled upon this cardstock.

To tell you the truth, it is awful!  Sorry MME!! And I received 3 sheets in a kit I bought.  So, out came the Guesso and my "canvas" looked like the picture on the right. Too white, too dull - so I sprayed it with yellow fabric dye and stamped the orange scrolls to zuss it up.

I added what was left in my stash from The Sweetest Thing range, stapled my pictures on, some stamping in black and the journaling. I used my Spellbinders dies to die cut the letters out of scraps of cardstock. It now reads "A happy day in MAY". 

And a close-up:

That's Mother's Day 2013 done, dusted and filed away in my Project Life binder. Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm off to do some office work but will be back tomorrow with some more crafting fun to share.  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.

Lovely Girl Art Journaling

Good morning Bloglanders

Once again it's a beautiful day in Sunny SA and the "world's biggest hybrid crafter" (that's me!!!) is back to share some crafting fun with you.  Why did I suddenly become the world's biggest hybrid crafter???  You know that I'm trying to sort out my house .......................... well, I have a lot of stuff and if you work in different mediums, you need some more stuff.  (that's my excuse to my husband) In short - I have more stuff because I'm the world's biggest hybrid crafter. That's it!

I had some painted fabric left over from another project.  Actually, it is from my Mother's Day file and there is a long story behind that one so we will share that at a later stage. First up - the painting of the fabric.  I mixed acrylic paint with water and painted and sprayed it onto fabric - that's it!! As I wanted a vintage feel - the colors were still too bright so I sprayed the whole "canvas" with some yellow fabric dye. (1 teaspoon dissolved into half a cup of boiling water, let it cool and put in a spray bottle). You have to let this dry thoroughly if you want to stamp on it like I did. After a few hours on the washing line, out came my stamps and ink. I think all the stamps that I've used are from MME and the ink is from StazOn.

Then I added a few pieces of leftover fabric and ribbon to my "canvas" and my project was finished.

Want to know how I did the die cuts?  I buy a product from my local fabric store that you use in applique. It irons onto the wrong side of the fabric, then I die cut my shape, peel back the backing paper and iron the shape onto my "canvas". No glue, no fuss.  For my hearts I've used a die from Spellbinders. Here it is in my beautiful, purple Art Journaling book:

And a close-up of my mini canvas:

Everything I've used came from my stash. And I found something out!  When I bought the black StazOn ink, I was told that I have to clean my stamps with a special stamp cleaner afterwards. So I bought that as well and its very, very, very expensive and a huge mess. So, this time I kept a wet cloth next to me on the craft bench and after I stamp, I wipe the ink off.  Works like a charm. My stamps look better than the ones cleaned with the stamp cleaner!

That's it from me.  I'm off to run some errands, do grocery shopping and then start on the new curtains for my dining room.  Thanks for hopping to my Blog. Please come back to play as I'll have some more crafting fun to share right here. Have a Terrific Thursday!

Hybrid project - Jam labels

Good morning Bloglanders

My dining room table is still a mess as I'm not finished with Art Journaling (actually not giving up that easily).  I have finished the one I copied as I hate wasting stuff and today I'll be trying some Gesso (????). Never heard of it, never worked with it - today is the day!

In the meantime, I have been spending some time at my computer to get my backlog of work up to date but all work and no play makes IMPERFECT ME a dull girl.  I have whacked up a layout with pictures of my best friends but as I couldn't get a good one of Marilize, I had to save and close until I can find one / have one taken.  At least everything is done - journaling, the lot.

Still at my computer, I designed new labels for my apricot jam.  This is my husband's fave and I cook enough  to get him through the year as well as for gifts to friends and family. In total I made 64 jars - a staggering 16 litres of apricot jam! And this is what my  layout looks like:

I used dies from Spellbinders  to cut the circles and then glued it onto the lids of the jars. The digital papers and tag are from this "Season of change" freebie from Shannon NcNab (from Design House Digital):

Here is a close-up of the labels:

The same labels, just different dies and colors.

And my jam:

All this work has made me hungry - I'm off to have some toast (with apricot jam, of course!) and tea.  Have a great day and please come back to play.

Some more pics

Good morning Bloglanders

A few days ago I showed my Christmas wreath which I made with Spellbinders dies, some sewing, buttons and bells.  It is hanging on my "stoep" and it makes me smile whenever I see the little figurines dangling around. So, I took some more pictures.

The nice thing is that it is hanging above our outdoor table where we have breakfast, lunch and dinner this time of the year. Every night, I light the candles and it looks magical. I think you will see my wreath in some more op my pics in the very near future.

Well, that's it - I still have some things to do before 2013. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.



December Daily 2012

Good morning Bloglanders

It is a beautiful day in Sunny SA. Perfect weather - not too warm, not too cold.  I've spent some time cleaning up my house after the Xmas celebrations and now have some time to spare before my office works starts up on 2 January 2013.  Yes, you have guessed correctly - I'll be spending it at my craft desk.

I started my own project life called MY LIFE MY WAY two months ago and as I wanted to include a December Daily type of project, I came up with this:

Basically it is a double 12x12 page that fits into my album but with fold-out flaps.  I made the flaps like pockets and all my notes and memorabilia will be stashed in here.

Folded out it looks like this:

And the other side:

I used a lot of my Spellbinders dies and paper from various MME ranges.  I'm not sure if I want to add more to the cover page but you can bet your life on it that if I show you the inside again, it will be full of "stuff".

Who said a DD have to be a separate book / album?  Not in the life of IMPERFECT ME!!

I hope you enjoyed my project. Please come back to play as my head is spinning with ideas to celebrate the new year.  Have a great Friday!





My Christmas wreath

Hi there Bloglanders

Didn't think you would hear from me?  Well, I made this great Christmas wreath and it's hanging on my "stoep" (a la porch)  where we live and entertain this time of the year.  Yeah, lots of sunshine in sunny SA!

Have a look!

In the back you can see the vines above my stoep but for those of you who want to see what I've done:

About 100 shapes, beads, bells and lots of ribbon. The wreath was recycled from many, many moons ago - just a lick of white paint.

I have used the following Spellbinders dies:
   Classic Heart
   Stars
   Sweet Folk Art - the angel, the tree and the stocking (perfect size for my project)

Most of the shapes were cut out of left over fabric, machine stitched around the edges, stuffed a bit and then onto fishing line.  As they were a bit bland, I also did some felt die cuts (Spellbinders dies again).

For the angel I did the body in fabric, added a button for a face and some pot scrouchers for hair.  Here is a pic - sorry for the quality but I really didn't have the time to re-do as my wreath is up and happily dangling in the wind on my porch..

For the wings I used gold tulle sandwiched between 2 sheets of transparency.  I used self adhesive sheets (Sizzex) to keep everything together. My good old hot melt glue gun secured the wings to the fabric body. Easy Peasy.

The snowflakes were cut from heavy duty craft foil - 2 glued together back to back to enable me to insert the line between them.

I have also done some hand stitching - when all the big moments have passed, I'll show more.

And another pic:

I'm really impressed with my effort and I've only re-used, recycled and re-purposed. Love it when a plan comes together.

Well, that's it from me.  I have a busy day tomorrow but will be showing my DD on Friday - you would not believe what I've done - 30 days fitted onto 2 scrapbook pages!  Don't miss this one!

Enjoy the last few days of 2012 and please come back to play.







Busy, busy, very BUSY

Hi there Bloglanders

It's a long weekend in Sunny SA which means that I have an extra day to spend on crafting fun. I can't wait to show what I've already done!

OK, I know you don't like layouts - I'll show my hybrid project first:

Here I am wearing my Brooch Birdie.  To make it I used my scrapbooking dies to punch out fabric shapes.  They are all from Spellbinders - Nested Bird, Classic Scalloped Heart and the Classic Heart. I have stuffed the birdie a bit to get a bit of dimension and worked blanket stitch in embroidery thread all around. A bit of red for the beak, some black for a furry tail and a brooch pin to the back.

When choosing colors, I turned to The Play Date Cafe for inspiration:

Once again, I never in a million years would have thought about using this color combo but I love it and it actually goes perfectly with my denim jacket and scarf. Love it, love it, love it.  I will most certainly do some more Brooch Birdies.

Want to hop over to The Play Date Cafe to see for yourself? Just click here.

Now for my layout:

I have used goodies from the MME range "All is Bright" to scrap my Christmas wishlist.  The cardstock I received from my local kit club contained 4 sheets of  "Noel banner".  As I wanted to pile up the banner to give the layout dimension, the paper was just too white.  Having 3 sheets to spare I went ahead and cut the banner out and glued it onto plain cream cardstock. I added elements from the chipboard elements, brads and even cut some out of the packaging of the mini paper pad.

Then came the zig-zags: inked on with a mask, done with die cuts (Chevron from Die-namics), cut from the packaging and from the chipboard elements.

For my lists I simply cut squares out of the remaining piece of  "Noel banner",  added a Notebook edge (Di-namics Notebook Edge), journaling and a silver office paperclip.

The "JOY" was cut out of a 6x6 piece of cardstock. Sorry, no name on the 6x6 sheet.

Still don't like layouts.  That's a shame as I had a ball creating this one and it took me less than a hour. Just goes to show - if you use products you love, everything comes together quickly.

Do you want to hop over and see the MME Christmas wishlist challenge? Just click here.

That's it from me - I'm off to do some more crafting and a late afternoon movie with my hubby.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend and please come back to play.

Hazel

xXx