Father's Day 2011

Hi there Bloglanders

Did you think I got the date wrong?  Of course not!  I only wanted to show you what my Father's Day project for my husband looked like last year.  Yesterday I mentioned that I hand out journaling cards to the boys, the girlfriends and even the pets (actually their owners) to fill in.  All these go into a "mini file" and that's our Father's Day gift.  Of course we do a special lunch or dinner as well but nothing elaborate.

This is the front of the "mini file":

And the back:

(just to show that it's custom made for him!)

And inside:



You can see that the file actually consist out of a cover and some cellophane envelopes all bound together with a file clasp. (or whatever it is called) All the tags then just slot into the open envelopes.

And packed for delivery:

That's it from me.  It's nice and sunny outside and I think I'll have a stroll around town today.  Please check back tomorrow as I'm thinking up a storm for an original way to present this year's Father's Day cards. Of course I'll share with you!

The Play Date Cafe #135

Hi there Bloglanders

Time for my contribution to The Play Date Cafe's color challenge of the week.

And their inspiration:

It seems that the new buzz word in Blogland is painting masks. So out came all the freebes that I got over the years and some old craft paint.  It's actually very therapeutic and cheap as well!  I added  a white embossed butterfly and some bling that I got with a kit and never used.

At this stage, I'm thinking of turning it into a mini book for my husband for Father's day as it's such nice and manly colors. (Don't know about the butterfly though.) Normally I hand out note cards to the boys and girlfriends and they have to write a message on it for Father's Day. Even the pets get cards (actually their owners) as I feel that this is what Father's Day is about - thanking that special man in your life for the little extras he does without spending a fortune. All the cards go into a mini book for my husband to keep in the drawer of his bedside table.

That's it from me for today. Please come back to play!



Birthday pressie

Good morning Bloglanders

You remember that I had 8 little girls over for a crafty 8th birthday bash last week?  Well, I did and this week I'll tell you what we did. I think I'll start with my gift to the birthday girl:

As expected she let me know well in advance that she would like to have some scrapping goodies.  I put together a kit consisting of cardstock, printed paper, stickers, die cuts, brads, paperclips, ribbon and other embellishments.  As this would have made a very akward 12 x 12 package, I wrapped all the flat items and then made "pockets" for the rest of the goodies to hang onto a "clothes line".  (Bakers Twine from The Twinery, of course!) Ta da! The birthday girl didn't have one pressie to unwrap but 5!

I'm rather impressed with how it turned out.  I'm off to the office to get some admin done. Have a great day and please come back to play as I'll be sharing some more craftiness right here on Play as U Go.

Anniversary Layout

Hallo Bloglanders

Here's my layout of my parent's 50th wedding anniversary:

Not my best pic but it's pouring wet, no sunshine in Sunny SA!  I can't even handle my camera in perfect weather conditions but this is the pits.  I used exactly the same pictures that I've shared a few days ago. If you missed it, scroll down to see the mini album I made for my mum.

The background is plain cardstock and I just practised my stamping all over the page (afterwards I noticed that all my stamping is upside down), stuck my pictures on with some washi tape, added a page from the notebook on my office desk, three flags and it's done. Even the title came from where I had space left when printing my "Polaroids".

Have a great day and please come back to play.

Dad

Hi there Bloglanders

I've got a layout (and story) to share with you today. Please don't run away as I know that you think layouts are boring.  The story will make up for it. This is a very old layout of me at 16 and my dog Napoleon.

One of my classmates gave him to me and I loved him to bits. I'm a BIG animal lover!  Now you may wonder why I captured my post "DAD". Well, when Napoleon was quite small he was run over by a car on our farm and in those days (30 years ago) the nearest vet to us was 200 kilometres away and animals that got hurt, were just put down. But this time my dad said he will drive Napoleon and me to the vet himself!

To shorten a long story - Napoleon had a hip replacement, stayed with the vet in Piketberg for almost 3 months and I think my dad nearly had to sell his farm to foot the bill.  My dad even drove me to Piketberg once a month to visit my dog! Isn't this a nice Father's day story?

Actually, I totally forgot about this and when a friends DD's (darling daughters) got a Boarder Collie pup, out came the album and I revisited the layout and the memory. So, Isabella and Victoria - I hope you enjoy the story.

Napoleon returned to spend many, many happy years on the farm and I even went off to university, got married and started living on a farm myself but by that time my parents didn't want to give him up and he got very attached to them.

Now,  for my Afrikaans speaking Bloglanders (and I'll try to explain to my other readers but I think the story will lose some of it's humor).  The workers on our farm thought that the name "Napoleon" was Napole hond (hond is Afrikaans for dog).  They have never heard of anyone being called Napoleon and it made sense to them this way. I think it is SO quite and it got included in my journaling on this layout in my high school album.

Not too bad for a layout?  We will try it some more. Have a great day!

Happy 50th Anniversary

Good morning Bloglanders

Another week to have heaps of crafty fun!  I'm hosting a girly birthday party on Friday and will keep you up to date with the things we are going to make.

Remember that my mum and dad celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary a while ago?  Well, the pictures were floating around on my craft desk as I couldn't decide what to do with them.  Mom and Dad downscaled earlier this year and they really don't have any extra storage space. So I did a mini book for her and my set of pictures were used in a layout. My blog stats show that you don't like layouts so I'll share the mini book first (but as this is my blog, I'm sharing the layout another time because I just love it).

And this is what the inside looks like:

Once again, the pictures were horrible as I didn't take my camera!!  My cellphone had to do and I'm not proud of the result but as this was such a milestone I did my best to make something of them.  I converted the pictures to "Polaroids" in Photoshop and as they are rather small, they actually look good on the layout and in the mini book.

The book is small enough to be used as a bookmark in my mother's bible. On the back of the pictures, I used blue ledger paper and I kept it open for my mum to writer her own comments.

That's it! Back to the office I go. Have a great day and please check back to share some crafty fun.

Ballerina Bag

Hi there Bloglanders

Just a quickie before the weekend!  I made Ballerina Bags for my Etsy shop.  This is what they look like:

I made them in different colors but somebody bought the lot to use as loot bags for a ballerina party. Lucky for me I'll have some extra time (with my husband away on business) to catch up on stock for my shoppie. 

That's it from me. I think I'll have a nap with my old cat as I don't have to cook dinner tonight.  Might try something new this evening. My head is full of ideas. Please come back to play as I'll be sharing my crafts with you.

Have a great weekend!