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.

Decorated Cake stand

Good morning Bloglanders

July is birthday month at HQ Hamman so I thought I'd use my scraps to make a garland and decorate our cake stand:

Once again, I punched out hearts from scrap paper and stitched over them on two strands of twine. Such an easy way to pretty up a project. Here I've shown how I decorated a pressie the same way and here to give my solar lights a fall feel.

Back to seaming the 100 cream napkins!!! Will tell you all about it in Sunday's Summary. Thanks for looking at my my blog today and please come back to play.

Mini Valentine treat Boxes

Hallo Bloglanders

And I'm back with some more crafting fun. First of all, I was very, very depressed yesterday about not being able to purchase the Designer edition of the Silhouette software but surprise, surprise ............. while I was sleeping Silhouette sent me an email and I got it (for nearly half the price!) If  you want the discount code, get it over at Amy Tangerine's blog. While there, have a look what she does.  I love her stuff and she has the most adorable baby.

So, to celebrate my Silhouette designer edition, I made another Valentine treat box:

This one is tiny - less than 2 inch square.  For the i (heart) u !" I used the Rockwell font, ungrouped the letters, re arranged them in a square to fit the lid of  my box and added hearts to top  the "i". The box is from the Silhouette store and I just scaled it down to fit onto one piece of 4x6 cardstock. (I even had some left) I filled the letters from the back with a square of pink cardstock, added some twine in red and pink from The Twinery and a rhinestone.

Inside it looks like this:

And on my table:

My Valentine's Day décor is sorted but as I was adding finishing touches to my goodies, a friend popped in and ordered a box with  stuff just like mine.  I'll tell you all about my LOVE BOX tomorrow.

That's it, I have to clear my craft table and while everything is out, thought that I would slip in some more crafting fun. Please check back as I'll be back to share.

Have a Wacky Wednesday!

Bye

Hazel

Valentine's Day Crackers

Hallo Bloglanders

Happy Wednesday to all of you!  I've done some Valentine's treats to give away to friends. Wanna see?

Sorry friends, if you thought you'd be getting something big. This year my pressies are TINY. The middle section is 0.5 x 2 inches (about half the size of my wax highlighter). I've used a shape from Silhouette to cut the mini crackers to the exact size of a mini Mentos roll. It was easy - just measure the length and width of the roll and make sure you downsize the shape accordingly.  To decorate, I used the negatives from the free weekly shape.  Hop over to the Silhouette Blog to get your free shape - it has an envelope to fit as well. Don't miss out on this one. Once again, I scaled my free shape down and as always, my twine is from The
Twinery.

Why do I have negatives left over?  Because I'm making little "date night" notes to give to my husband for Valentine's day. More about that in another post. I always try to get an idea for the Silhouette free shape before it comes up in a blog post - once I've seen an idea, I find it harder to come up with my own, unique twist and I HATE being a copy cat - IMPERFECT ME.

That's it. Thanks for looking at my blog today. Have a Wacky Wednesday and please come back to play as I've got lots more to share right here.

Hazel

Branch out

Good morning Bloglanders

I'm going away for the weekend but I just want to do a quick post to show what my New Year's decor looked like:

We recently had to trim our trees and I asked my husband to cut some of the branches into thin slices.  He can do anything ................................... I'm sure you agree.  I added a bit of twine from The Twinery and did the 2014 with a vinyl sticker cut with my Silhouette.  The ink is fabric ink (Silhouette as well) as it was the only type I had on hand.

Here you can see the WIP:


And why did I try this????????  Yes, as napkin holders for my New Year's Brunch table BUT it is also going to be the name cards for Pieter and his Princess's wedding in August.  I love, love, love the idea.

Don't you think my title is fitting?? Used a branch for my craft and my family is branching out with the upcoming wedding.

More about the wedding plans later.  Have a great weekend and keep crafting. Thanks for visiting my blog today and please come back to play.

Hazel

Princess Confetti

Hallo Bloglanders

And here we are!! A brand new year.  I wish for you all the best but above that to have FUN .............. may 2014 be your best year EVER.

It's going to be hectic for me - especially August. I'm having a big birthday and less than a week later Pieter and the Princess are getting married.  For the first time in my life, I'm planning a birthday party and everything for the wedding is en route.  This brings me to today's post. The confetti for the wedding is going to be little hearts and crowns (for our very own Princess of Hearts) and I've started on the stash. Want an exclusive peek?

I couldn't decide if the heart should go on the back or the front of the twine. Maybe you can help by leaving me a comment ???????.

This is SO me - I have 7 bridesmaid's dresses and a wedding dress to make so I thought I'd do the confetti by punching out half a cut of shapes every day. At least that would get one of my "to do's" done by the end of February.

And this is my work in process pictures:

I'm using twine from The Twinery, the punches are from EK Success and the little glassine envelopes come from Monika's "I love it all" Etsy shop.

Lucky me have a friend with 3 crafty kids and they were all  issued with punches and old books to help. I call my friend Marelize the head of the confetti team - if you want to get something done, ask her and boy, can she mobilize those girls!!!

There you have it - "Princess  confetti" under-way!

Thanks for looking at my blog today.  Please check back and I'll share some more of my crafty projects. Have a Fab Friday!!

Hazel

PS. Just remembered - I'll have to make something for myself to wear to the wedding as well and oh, gosh, the birthday party  .......................... I'll think about it tomorrow.

Cross stitch Brooch

Hi there Bloglanders

It's Sunday evening in Sunny SA and I'm working on my "to do lists" for the week but first I'm going to show what I made yesterday.  I bought a new magazine - Creative Ideas and was so inspired by all the tapestry projects that I decided to try my hand at it. Unfortunately I don't live near a hobby shop so I had to make do with what I had in my stash.

I love brooches and use them to zuss up all my outfits. This year I'll be giving some away as friendship gifts to my girlfriends. I used cross stitch fabric and twine from The Twinery to do the stitching. The pattern for the heart came from the Creative Ideas magazine if you want to give it a go.

I'm submitting my project for The Twinery's "in the round" challenge. Hop over there to see what the rest of Blogland did. If you are still working on your "to do lists" for the week, remember to include something creative.

Another of my brooch projects: A Birdie Brooch. If you missed out you can check it  here. And this is what it looked like:

I'm off to finish up my admin but I'll be back with some more crafting fun. Thanks for visiting my blog and please come back to play as I have lots more to share right here.

Hazel

I covered a button and glued it onto two felt circles. Some more stitching and a brooch pin to the back and it was ready to wear.

I sew with Twine

Good morning Bloglanders

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  We have wonderful weather - not hot, not cold and tomorrow is Heritage Day in Sunny SA - our proclaimed "braai" day.  All of us will be outside enjoying the beautiful weather, family, friends and a good old "braai". (= barbecue)

For today's project I started out with something entirely different and then got round to doing this:

It's a teeny, weeny sewing pouch. (measures less than 2 x 3) I always have a needle and thread on hand so I decided I can just as well pretty my goodies up.  You will always see me on a camping trip mending something for someone - from flip flops to pants and I even have a picture of Chandre's dad at her sister's wedding - me sewing on the button of the "father of the bride's" shirt before he could walk her down the aisle! Don't believe me?? I've got the proof:

And a peek inside:

And this is where my inspiration came from:

I have ordered heat transfer from Silhouette and when it arrives, I plan to do mini sewing kits for my BBF's for Christmas. Even the sentiment is ready: "Thank you SEW much for being my Friend". Of course I'll show once it's done - I know you can't wait to see.

I'm hopping over to The Twinery to enter my mini sewing kit. Want to join in the fun?? Just click here. Thanks for looking at my blog today and please come back to play as I have lots more to share right here. Have a Marvellous Monday!

Hazel

Back to School (or maybe not!)

Good morning Bloglanders

It is a beautiful, sunny, Sunday morning in Stellenbosch and I thought I'd show you what I did yesterday. Wynand went away on business and I had the whole day to spend on my own. This is what I made:

The idea of an art kit has been at the back of my mind for some time. Wynand and I went to a luxury lodge in the Cederberge a while ago and in each room they had a mini art kit.  I totally loved the idea and thought I would make one for my guest room. Just love the idea of my visitors having fun while being artistic.  I just couldn't decide how it should look like as I didn't want to buy a leather version like the lodge (much too expensive and un-creative for IMPERFECT ME). Then I saw this:

I love Twine from The Twinery and I love challenges BUT I don't have any children at school so I decided to make the challenge work for me. (and I'll show how you can easily adapt it for school).  Here is the one for my art supplies:

And the adapted version for pens, pencils and a notebook:

For those of you who want to make one - this is what I did:

Cut two rectangular pieces of fabric - I have laid everything out on my table and measured around it. Remember to leave some extra space for a "spine" for your folder if you want to add bulky supplies.

Cut one piece of iron-on batting slightly smaller than your cover pieces.

For the pocket I used the cover piece as a template - just added about a third to the width and subtracted about a quarter of the height.

Iron the batting to one of your cover pieces.

Fold over the top edge of the pocket piece. Sew in place.

Stitch the pocket piece to the outside of the cover piece (the one with the batting on). I did add a little pleat to one of the pockets - easy!  Insert the paint set and pin in place - then stitch. In my picture you can see it in my middle pocket. Cut the excess fabric from the pocket piece off (if you have any).

For the front I worked lines of twine over the whole piece - you can do whatever you want - I just liked the artsy, colorful look.

Now sandwich everything together.  Right sides to the outside.

Stitch around the whole thing - about 1 cm from the edge.

Trim the edges to about half a cm.

Zig-zag around the edges. I use a big zigzag and go around twice.

Actually, the folder is done now but I wanted to add more color (and twine, of course!). Blanket stitch all around to cover the zig-zags.

For a closure I added 2 buttons to the front and some multi colored twine to wrap around my folder.

A close-up:

This would make great gifts and to take along while traveling - the options are endless.  While everything is out, I think I'll do some more for my pressie stash.

That's it - 2 inspirations covered in one project!  I'm off for a walk in the park, a "braai" (barbeque for my non SA Bloglanders) and glass of wine on my "stoep" (porch).  Thank you for looking at my blog and please check back as I have a lot more to share right here.  Have a Sunny Sunday!

Hazel

Love Twine

Hi there Bloglanders

Yes, me and HETTE .................. again!!! Sorry about that and this one I could have done with my Bug but I did want to try my hand at "print and cut" with the Silhouette.  So, here it is:

I'm submitting it for The Twinery's challenge:

The idea is to get inspired by a Pin ex Pinterest and to create with twine by adapting the idea.  My original idea came from this picture:

                                                         

Link

This one is for a Washi party. Every guest brings what she has, you supply the little paper / transparency spools and you exchange!! How easy and pretty can it be??? This would make perfect hostess gifts / party favors as well.

I decided to do all my spools on one sheet of 6x4 photo paper to save on paper, printing and cutting.- I used a tutorial from Christine Newman at WCS to do the "print and cut".  I can't believe how easy it is.  

For those of you who do the Bugs, I have a die from Die-namics (Sew Nifty) that would work just as well. Easy Peasy.

I'm off to try the transparency version!  Thanks for visiting my blog today and please come back to play.

Cut your own stamps with dies

Good morning Bloglanders

Sometimes I just wish that I can have more stamps.  BUT they are expensive and I try not to buy everything on the market. So I came up with the idea to use my dies to cut some more stamps!  And this is what I made with my homemade stamp:

Yes! Another friendship notebook!! And this is what I did: 

I wanted a branch to stamp onto my notebook and used this die to cut a stamp from yellow funky foam.

Some spray adhesive to attach the branch to my stamp block:

Ink:

A few fabric letters, flowers, some embroidery and French knots with twine from The Twinery:

Easy as that!  I have filed all my new homemade stamps in Ziploc bags and you will surely see them again. I love the little bird and the birdcage!

The notebook?  I have mailed it off as a thank-you-gift to a dear friend.  Tomorrow I'll show how I've wrapped it.  Thanks for looking at my blog and please come back to play.

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.

Binding Brochures into Travel Journal

Hi there Bloglanders

As promised - pictures of how I added brochures to my Travel Mini Journal.  I love to collect them as they have all the info I need but when you cut them apart you loose half of it.  So I came up with a plan!

First of all I punched 3 holes through my finished book with my Crop-O-Dile. If you look at the bottom right pic, you can see what I mean. The top left pic shows the whole brochure. Top right I folded all the pages in half to fit my book and punched 3 holes into it as well. Some binding with twine from The Twinery and everything stays in place.

Top right you can see how I did one that has to be off centre to fit my journaling.  For my Project Life album, I opened up my book to fit into a 12x12 Becky Higgins storage envelope.  I also added a map that I want to keep.  The book is quite bulky and this flattens it out for easier storage.  It also makes it much nicer to look at.  The little jounaling box included in the envelope still has to altered.  I plan to make a mini layout for it with some bright and cheerful pictures and titles. The envelope will be inserted between PL pages filled with holiday pic's.

What I love about this is that everything stays together and in the same format.  I've been struggling to get this sorted for the past few years and finally feel that I've knacked  it.

Thanks for visiting my blog today and please check back as I have lots more of crafting fun to share with you.  Have a Wacky Wednesday!

Spring Flowers - The Twinery

Hi there Bloglanders

Today I'm taking a break from the Craft Closet posts - I will do one each week until everything has been covered and link them all up to the small button just under Play as U Go on top of my page.  Click there and you will get the links to all the related posts.  I'm just getting bored and decided to show some crafting fun today.

This is what I did:

And from above:

Over at The Twinery the challenge is:

Even though Sunny SA is heading for winter, I thought there could never be enough flowers to cheer a drab day up.  I'm actually helping two girls to make a gift for their teacher and this is what it will be.  I got the tutorial (and all the templates) here. It is called a Hexagon explosion box and inside is 3 layers of pages that can be decorated.  I forgot to take a picture of this but once the girls have decorated it, I will surely share it with you.

U used crochet flowers that I did with Pink Sorbet Twine to decorate the lid of the box.  I don't knit or crochet but I found the instructions in a magazine and it was easy enough for me to do. Lucky me inherited my grandmother's knitting and crochet needles - she would be so proud to know that I've actually used them.

That's it from me. I hope your May has a lot of  flowers in it. Have a great day and enjoy your weekend. I'll be back to share some more crafting fun right here on Play as U Go. Thanks for visiting my blog today!