A walk in the park

Good day Bloglanders

I wanted to say "Good evening" as I didn't get to my post until now ( 20h00 down under in Sunny SA) and then I remembered - the biggest part of my Bloglanders are NOT from Sunny SA!! So, good day to you all!

Today I didn't feel like doing anything.  I went for a walk in the park and took lots of pics and then I spent the rest of the day making cards.  Don't know why - I have an Etsy order that will keep my up for the next 6 weeks. More than 300 units. Be careful what you wish for. I have lots of office admin and the boys are BUSY.

Back to the park.  You still remember that I go for a walk in my local park once a day with my friend Charlene?  Our boys went to school together and that is where we met.  Now they are all grown up with lives of their own but we keep walking around the park.  It is like having a session with your psychologist once a day but with no bill to pay and we both need the exercise as well. Here are my pictures:

Did you spot the Giant Protea? Top row second from right. And the Blushing Bride?  Top row right. Remember it's spring in Sunny SA and everything is blooming and bright.  I hope you enjoyed walking through the park with Charlene and me today - I know that I did. 

Tomorrow I'll be sharing this week's Play Date Cafe project.  Back to the Etsy shop order for me. Have a lovely day / night and please come back to play!

MME September Challenge-Make it Work!

Hi there Bloglanders

I know you don't like layouts and I seriously had my doubts about this one as well - very my style - lots of pics and nothing new world. BUT on the brink of throwing in the towel and leaving the layout unfinished, I made a decision over a glass of cold white wine - I'm doing is for myself and not for the challenge.  The challenge is only there to inspire me. So, I finished the stitching by hand while sipping my wine and added the title this morning.  Currently it is on my coffee table for the whole family to enjoy before the album gets filed away.

The My Mind's Eye challenge is to do a layout and a matching card.  Here they are:

I used papers from the Nostalgia range but also used scraps from other ranges in the banner. What a perfect way to utilise those teeny weeny pieces.  I did the stitching with my sewing machine but didn't like it.  Then I took it off and did it by hand (while sipping my wine).  This was easy as the holes was already there.  Lucky for me I started on the card because when I had to do the stitching on the layout it dawned on me that if I remove the tread from my sewing machine, I'll get the holes without the stitches.  It really works!!!  I'm so glad I've learned something new and feel so stupid for not thinking about this sooner.

And a closer view of my stitching:

I'm so glad I finished my layout!  If you want to see the rest of the stunning layouts and cards on the MME blog just click here.  There is some fabulous stuff over there.

Enjoy the last bit of weekend and the start of your new week.  I'll be back to share some crafting fun.  Please come back to play.

Mini lists

Hallo Bloglanders

Just a quickie before the weekend takes off.  We are having wonderful weather here in sunny SA and hubby and me will have a walk in the park and afterwards a braai in our garden.  This weather smells like vacation this time of year.

I want to show you two pages I did for my mini list book.  I think about something I want to do a list about and just do it.  Eg. fave flowers, songs that remind me of something, fave colors, things I've never done, etc. When I start my "My life, My way project" I'll surely include a list every month.  Now here are the lists:

First up: what does "happy ever after" look like? Come on - think and write down your own answer. If you don't  have a mini book either make one / get one or write it in your diary.

And the second one:

This page was done after a prompt from Ali Edwards for the Big Picture, Big Idea festival. It is my list of important stuff that makes me live not only the length of my life but the full width as well.

There you have it!  Over the weekend I'll write a post to explain how I'll be doing "My life, My way".  Please check back to see.  I'm starting on 1 November 2012!  That's me - when I decide something, I start right away.

Enjoy your wonderful weekend!

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!

  



Cards, cards and more cards

Hallo Bloglanders

Do you remember the card that Alexandra chose for the Scrap RDV fave's in July?  It looked like this:

And if you missed it, just click here.  I had some open space when I printed the cover for my "words i live by" mini book and decided to fill it up with little pictures.  I made this card for the CPS Card Sketches of the week:

And the inspiration:

Please click here to see what the rest of Blogland did - you can't believe that the same idea could spark such different ideas!

And I did another card with the thumbnail pictures:

Basically I doodled around my pictures by hand, glued punched out frames (from scraps) over the pictures, added a few bits and bobs, a sentiment and my card was done. The last one will go to the 52 card pick-up of The Old Back Porch.  I think it's a great idea to make a card every week and as a result you will have all the stock you need for 2013.  The early bird catches the worm (or rather the card).

I have wrapped the whole "card family" in a glassine envelope - ready to be given away! I actually love the different sized - it gives dimension to the pressie.

That's it from me. Thanks for stopping by to check out what happened om my craft table.  Please come back to play as I'll be sharing some more of my projects right here on Play as U Go.

Have a great day!









BOO to you too

Hi there Bloglanders

Yesterday I showed you my Halloween mini treat packs and then when I had to clear away the scraps, I thought that while everything is out, I can just as well make some decor to go above my fireplace.  And this is what it looks like:

Close-up:

I made 6 more of the treat packs, punched out some "BOO"'s, scary carts, thombstones and hung it all onto Mandarin twine from The Twinery. I even used the negative of the BOO's! All the men in my life noticed it and thought it looked great up there.  That's a first for Witch Hazel.

Now I'm ready for Hallow's Eve!

I'm working on a cover for my mini book of "words i live by".  I'll have the cover printed tomorrow and will show the finished product - in the meantime, here is a peek. (Yes, that's me peeking back)

Enjoy your day and please come back to play. I'll be right here on Play as U Go to share what I do.



Pumpkin patch

Good morning Bloglanders

I hope you had a fab weekend.  Today I'm sharing my only Halloween project. 

Yes, down under in sunny SA we don't do the Halloween thing.  Such a pity as there is a new paper range from October afternoon called Witch Hazel!!  I'm always up for a challenge and  ordered the paper BUT it will become my husband's Xmas mini.  I'm sure he will love it!



Seeing is believing!! Anyway, I'll probably receive it very near to Xmas but in the meantime I decided to do some mini, mini Halloween treat packs as we do have children coming by to ask for a "treat".  I decided to use The Play Date Cafe colors as inspiration:

Out came all my scraps - very, very old Creative Memories paper that I don't think I'll ever use.

As you see I decided to use the strawberry die that I won some time ago and have not used at all.  To show you what it looks like if you do a strawberry, I made this one:

And this is what my adapted strawberries a la pumpkins look like:

I just cut slits into the strawberry bottom, folded it in and glued it together.  Now I have nice and rounded pumpkin bottoms.

As I've used The Play Date Cafe for color inspiration, I'll submit my project to their weekly challenge. If you want to hop over to see the rest of the entries, click here.

I'll be back here tomorrow to share some creative fun.  Have a marvellous Monday.

Hazel