Stencil and Molding paste on my Travel Notebook

Happy Sunday Bloglanders

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. I cooked, played and drank some good South African West Coast Sauvignon blanc. But that's not all - I had some extra time for crafting.

I finished 2 Project Life Layouts, a 6x12 Layout and a double page spread in my Travel Notebook. Let's start with that:

I used one 4x6 photo, edited it in Photogrid and added some titles and dates. Then into my book. I wanted to try out my new Kelly Purkey inks but totally lost the plot with the grey and had to do something to tone down my effort.

I've had stencils and moulding paste in my stash for AGES but never tried my hand at it on one of my layouts. Out it came and this is what it looks like:

I totally love how it cleaned up the mess but still looks artsy and crafty. Done!!

Now for the inside info. While I was deciding what to do, I saw this challenge on the SimonSaysStamp Monday Challenge Blog. Inspired, I went searching for my stencils and molding paste. And I did another project while everything was out - I'll be back tomorrow to show how I used it to decorate my Project Life cards.

Remember to check back!! Here is a sneak peak - just for you!!

In the meantime, I'm off to have a "braai" (barbeque) on my "stoep" (porch). Beautiful weather down under in Sunny SA!!!

Sunday Summery Week 21

Hello Bloglanders

Today I'm here to share the recap of my Week 21.  I baked and I cooked!!! One of the things I'm trying to do this year is to try out more new recipes.  At LEAST once a week I page through magazines and cookbooks to find something new to try.

As I have a LOT of birthdays coming up, I decided to use my baking skills to create edible gifts. My sister's twin boys are turning 14 and as they both love coconut, I made tubs of Hertzoggies for each of them. Of course the third boy is getting one as well!!!!!!!

I even made customized tags with a rugby theme. I think this would be as much "gilyness" a 14-year-old would tolerate from his aunt.

I've put their names on the front of the "rugby shirts" and on the back it says "happy birthday".  I does look like real rugby jersey's doesn't it?

Here you can see it on the cookie tub:

My  mum is turning 77 on Sunday and even though she is getting a non edible gift, I did some cookies and rusks for her as well. Have a look at my cookie stash:

And I owed a friend of Wernich's a "thank-you-gift" and when I heard she wanted a water bottle for the office, I got hold of one immediately.

We have a glass factory in Stellenbosch and as I had to get some more solar lamps, I got the water bottle as well. It's beautiful, isn't it??

And the factory shop wrapped everything in white tissue paper, making it easier for me just to add a belly band, some twine and a handmade card. I used the inspiration from SimonSaysStamp's Wednesday Blog for this pressie.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

For the belly band, I used scrap copy paper from the office, black spray paint from Wynand's workshop
and a houndstooth stencil from my stash. I love how it turned out and it didn't cost me a thing!! Better even - I plan to use the same stencil on a layout SOON ................................ watch back and all will be revealed.

And the layout it's going on???? It's a free download from Amy Tangerine as part of her Design on Time series. Hop over and get one for yourself. Maybe we can compare notes .......... or rather - layouts!!

I'm off to get some work done. Next week I'm going on holiday and there is a LOT to be done before that. Thankfully, all my baking is done! Thanks for looking at my blog and please come back to play.

Layout gone wrong - Fixed!!!

Good morning Bloglanders

Remember I showed my "layout gone wrong" yesterday?  Well, I fixed it and filed it away in my Project Life album.

As planned, I kept my idea of doing a pocket page of what is current at Hamman HQ. No pics, just journaling. However, the green and yellow was a bit too much so I swopped out my stenciled title with a more monochromatic look. I didn't re-do my page - just glued the new one over the old - love the texture. This time round I omitted the arrow stamps as the page was busy enough as is.

What a GREAT way to see what's wrong - take a picture and post it on your blog!!!

My inspiration came from Design on Time challenge with Heidi Swapp. The ingredients were - stencil, wood veneer and the Dymo. Most of my "stuff" came from my Amy Tangerine stash. If you look at this layout, you would think I've got a lot - No go. I've got 3 sheets of paper, some tiny puffy stickers, half a 6x6 paper pad and 6 flair buttons (now 5).  And I'm ready to go for at least 3 more layouts!

That's it - "Layout gone wrong FIXED".

I'm off to the office today and can't wait for the weekend to get some more crafting done. Check back and all will be revealed or follow my Instagram feed and you will see what I do.

In the meantime, have fun and craft on!

"Layout" gone wrong???

Happy Wednesday Bloglanders

Just a quick post to show what I've been up to.  The SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge for the week is "Let's get Sentimental".  As I don't do cards, I decided to try my hand at moulding paste and make a Project Life title card.

Once a month I record what is current at Hamman HQ and I thought this mini layout would be perfect.  Everything that I've used, was out as I wanted to participate in this challenge. (Heidi Swapp: Stencil, wood veneer and Dymo)

I started out with a stencil from Wilna Furstenberg's Art and Design class, light molding paste and acrylic paint. Then everything was too white, so I added some yellow and I went on adding stuff until everything seemed all wrong. Wilna calls it "overworked". YES!!! My page is totally overworked but I decided to keep it like this, add it to the rest of my Project Life spread and maybe tone it down a bit. Normally I would just throw something out that does not meet my expectations but I decided to embrace my imperfections in 2015 so this one's a keeper.

Tomorrow I'll be back with my "layout gone wrong" - can't wait to see how it turns out. Check back and you will see ..........................

14 May 2015
And look @ me now!!

LINK

Happy Wednesday!

Sunday Summery Week 7

Hello Bloglanders

I hope you had a wonderful weekend!! Wynand went "winemaking" @ the West Coast and I stayed at home to get some admin and chores done.  So, we spent the weekend outside, visiting friends, doing a barbecue, swimming and catching up.

As I was working on a post for Craft Storage Ideas, I had to clean up my desk before my next project and I stumbled upon this piece of packaging  - recycled and now it's part of my Personal Planner. Perfect for summer days down under in Sunny SA.

The spare stickers got filed away in my Planner File:

On the left you can see the stickers and on the right my washi filing for my planner.  I'll tell you exactly how I did it later this week. Check back and all will be revealed right here on Play as U GO!!

I received a gift certificate for TYPO and went shopping.  They are really expensive and I don't normally buy there but I totally LOVED what they have and even more, it was wonderful filling up on some stash.  For the past year I had a philosophy of  "waste not, want not"  and therefore didn't buy anything. Here are 2 of the things that I bought:



A mini, mini stamp set and some stencils in a tin. One of the things I want to try out this year is doodling.  As I'm no artist, I thought the stencils would come in handy. I also like that they are small enough to fit into a 6x4 plastic pocket to take along in my Planner File. Even though the stamps are the perfect size for using on my Planner pages, I can't get them out of the wooden box.  You will see them again as I'm planning to make them more accessible.

And some sewing - a little black dress for my friend Marelize's daughter. These pictures are the inspiration. In the end we went with something much simpler -  I'll show once I get pictures of her wearing the actual dress.

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And I had the pictures of our European holiday printed. 125 of them!!! As I have so many pics, I'll do some hidden journaling and just fill the pockets with lots and lots and LOTS of pictures. See what I mean?

Oh, I wish I could spend the whole week at my craft table!! But, like most of you I have to earn a living so, off to my admin it is. However, I'll be back to share some more crafting fun with you right here.

Thanks for looking at my blog today. Have a wonderful week and remember to try something new - TODAY!

Drawstring Bags Many, Many Ways.

Good morning Bloglanders

I hope you are having a wonderful Thursday!! It is very, very hot down under in Sunny SA but if I look at all the snow the USA is having, I can't help a few shivers.  For those of you over in snowy USA - hang in there, keep warm and stay safe.

Today I'm doing the first in a series of  "Decorating Drawstring Bags".  I had to help a class of children do some Valentine's gifts and decided to recycle all my cotton scraps into drawstring bags for them to use to pack their projects. Of course, we decorated the bags!  I'll be showing some of our projects and if you can come up with more, we would love to hear about it. Next class we will try it out.

And this is the stash that the IMPERFECT factory made:

I think I have figured out a quick way to make them and will be sharing that in a later post (IMPERFECT ME still have to take pic's).  So, first up is a bag decorated with fabric paint.

I did the letters from scraps of Vinyl with my Silhouette and the girls just had to paint the open spaces.  I know the whole Blogland is buzzing about the new stencil material coming to Silhouette shortly but we, down under in Sunny SA will probable be getting it after CHA 2015.  In the meantime, I use the regular Vinyl and I DO reuse it.  I keep it on pieces of waxy paper in an office folder (the wax paper comes from the inside of the heat transfer rolls).  Here is a bit of  WIP info:

These letters have been used by 9 little girls and I think it's still ready to go for my own attempt at stenciling with Vinyl. We only used 2 colors of  fabric paint. Pink first and then adding more white to get the lighter shades.  I think you save on paint and mess that way and which little girl wouldn't like to have an all pink drawstring bag to give away? (I think they are keeping these!)  OH, and remember to put something inside the bag when you paint otherwise it will seep through.

That's it. My first way to decorate an ordinary drawstring bag. Thanks for looking at my blog today. Please check back as I have lots more to share right here.

Have a great day!
Hazel