Teacher Appreciation Week

Hi there Bloglanders

Sunny SA is voting today and we have (ANOTHER!!!) public holiday. My Project Life is SO up to date - I even did a double page spread for May and it's only the 7th!! With no children in school, I don't do teacher appreciation any more but I do plan to join in the fun again once I get grandchildren. Therefore, I always gather ideas. Here is a peek into my "ideas file".

I got this from a shop bought Valentine's day "party favor". (Woolworths South Africa)

And the rest of the family:

I think all of these would be great for a teacher, someone you love or for Valentine's Day.  They came with little red jelly fish but it could work just as well with marshmallow fish. 

And for those of you who want a peek at my very long long weekend Project Life mini book. Here she is: 

I pre printed the cover, stitched it with my sewing machine to keep the book together and added a few embellishments from my stash. Most of them are from Evalicous.  I'm totally hooked on that "shoppie"!!

I'll take pictures of the inside tomorrow and will show once it's done.  Keep checking back and all will be revealed.

I'm off to do some cleaning up in my Craft Closet. Tomorrow is back to the office as I have lots of admin to do. Thanks for looking at my blog today.

Have a great day!

Hazel

April Project Life

Hello Bloglanders

Once again, we had a long, long weekend down under in Sunny SA. Wynand and I went on a camping weekend in the Sandveld.  That's on the West Coast and quite near to the sea.  Beautiful scenery, tranquil and the company of great friends - what more can a girl wish for?

And a pic for U to see:

Yesterday was National Scrapbook day and as I didn't have a lot of time to craft, I finished off two Project Life spreads.

All about family, home, pets and good times!! I have used my new fave color combo - yellow, grey, black and white with a bit of washed out blue.

Today I have to get my office work done and then I'm off to print the last of April's pics as well as the Happy Camper weekend's.  I made a mini book to record all that we've seen and done - will take pics later today to show.

If you don't want to miss out, just check back and all will be revealed. Thanks for looking at my blog today - have a GREAT week.

Hazel

PS. I've been over @ Craft Storage Ideas with a great tip. If you want to read all about it, just click here. 

And a sneak peak for the lazy ones:

It's weekend!!

Hi there Bloglanders

Just a note to wish you a happy weekend!!  We are going on a camping trip and I still have LOTS to do. For my Afrikaans readers, I made  subway art with extra ideas for making this long weekend super special.

Print it, stick it in your diary and give it a go!! For my non Afrikaans Bloglanders - it says:

It's weekend

Sleep late

Soak up the sun

Walk in the park

Sing in the shower

Kick it up!!

It's your turn

Because I'm Afrikaans, I just can't seem to get the knack of doing an English version. Sorry about that but I'm well aware of my imperfections.

And I nearly forgot to submit my Christmas project.  Here are my April tags.  I made some more which will become dimensional embellishments nearer to Christmas. Once again, I converted my Digi stamp to a Silhouette file, colored and cut it with the Silhouette and mounted it on a tag. I was brave enough to try the new Silhouette V3. Liked the old one better but importing files into the new one is a breeze.  We'll see. 

 That's it. Happy weekend to you all. I'll be back on Sunday to show my weekend's PL mini book.

For my Afrikaans friends, I'll add a category to the right of my blog with all my subway art if you want to peek. Have fun and remember to try something new.

Hazel

Having Fun!!

Hello Bloglanders

Once again, it's a long weekend down under in Sunny SA and I get to do things that I love - spend time with my family and doing some creative stuff.  Last night we had dinner at Big Easy in Stellenbosch.  It was wonderful. Stellenbosch is BEAUTIFUL this time of year and having both the boys and the girlfriends with us was SUPER wonderful.

With Wernich home from university I decided to bake some cookies:

Wernich and his girlfriend, Chandre have 4 X Dachshunds so it made sense to use THAT cookie cutter. Because the cookies are so small, they are extra crispy - just how we like them. Actually, I used dough that I had left over from a school project from Lulu, my Marelize girlfriend's DD. Want some inside info?

The project was about using dogs to fight crime. And this is what it looked like:

Their class is doing an expo and to attract visitors to their stalls, we made little Dachshund "party favors" to give away.  Here is the WIP:

You can see on their project that I used my Silhouette to cut all the headings for their poster.  A good idea is to keep your negative it you don't weld your title and trace it in pencil on the poster before you glue - much easier to do the spacing and it keeps it straight as well.

Good old Silhouette was also used to cut the little giveaway box - I will tell you more about that one later this week. Now, I'm off for a walk in the park.  Pieter's wedding is 16 weeks away - need the exercise, lose some weight and get going on the bridesmaid's dresses. There are 8 - all in black!!! Wish me luck and wave me goodbye. It's going to be a busy 16 weeks.

Thanks for looking at my blog today, if you are having a holiday today, ENJOY and if you don't, make sure you try something new and have some fun.

Hazel

I love Notebooks!!

Hello Bloglanders

I hope you are having fun!  I have son #2 at home and it's totally wonderful and awesome. We will all go out for dinner on Sunday - SO looking forward to have Wynand, both the boys and girlfriends in one place even if it is only for a little while.

Back to my post.  I totally love notebooks and keep them on my desk all the time. I also like to have one for every important "thing" in my life. Remember, I told you that I recycle printed office paper to make them?  If you missed out, just click here and all will be revealed.

I'm currently co-managing my neighborhood information and administration channel. It just made sense to keep all my notes in one place and what a better chance to add a new notebook. Here she is: My CATBOOK:

Remember the paper?? I made it to wrap Girlfriend #1's birthday pressie a month ago.

LINK

I bought the gift wrap at our local stationary shop and then cut and printed little speech bubbles with names for the cats. (with compliments from my Silhouette)

Even on the inside pages I added some more cats:

And the cheery bunch on my desk:

My books are 7.5 x 7.5 as I recycle used A4 office paper. It fits into my handbag which make it easier for me to take along to meetings. I use my Zutter to bind it and the biggest binder that I have in my stash as I LOVE adding pages, print-outs, pictures and embellishments to the back pages (the used sides). When I use it, I flip the pages to the back and clip it onto a clipboard.  I will take pics and show in another post.

Thanks for looking at my blog today.  I hope I have inspired you to recycle, reuse and re purpose. 

Have a great day!

Hazel

Mini Album added to Project Life

Hello Bloglanders

I took a bit of a breather over the Easter holidays - doing things that I love and spending some quality time with my family and friends. Down under in Sunny SA we have 3 long weekends in a row - something that makes daily chores a bit of a hassle. SO!!! Everything is behind schedule - even my blogging.

However, I did have some time to craft.  Remember this mini book??

I did it in September last year after a GREAT weekend with friends at the beach house. You can read all about it here if you missed out. It was still sitting on my craft desk as I love to re-visit good times but when I paged through my PL album, I decided to add it to my layout, move on and make some more memories for a new "desk topper". Ta-da!!!

This a great and cheap way to add lots and lots of pictures to a layout.  I printed 2 photos in 6x4 with 8 pictures each - total of 16 more moments captured for the price of 2!! I attached the mini book by stitching through the middle as well as through my page protector.  In front the yellow twine covers the stitching and in the back it doesn't bother me at all.  See??

If it bothers you, you can add an extra piece of ribbon / twine / a sticker.  I love doing mini books as I love revisiting old memories - that's why I PL BUT both my boys are "no clutter people". They love my Project Life albums but I'm not so sure that they will keep all my mini books. Therefor, I'm trying hard to add my mini books to my PL spreads.  It gives dimension and interest to the layouts and I can preserve the memories all in one, organized, no clutter place.

That's it. Another project done and dusted.  Thanks for looking at my blog today. Have a great week and please check back as I have tons more to share right here.

Bye
Hazel

PS. Here you can see all my PL mini books. Also, there is a link to my collection on the right of my blog. ENJOY!!

Over @ Craft Storage Ideas with louver to store your stamps.

Hi there Bloglanders

Just a quickie to tell you of this marvellous idea that I stumbled upon:

You can read all about it over at Craft Storage Ideas. My idea came from Better Homes and Gardens and the series is called “New Craft Storage Ideas Using Unexpected Items”.  If you want to see the rest of their ideas, just click here.Trust me, you don't want to miss out.   

Now, for those of you staying at home over the Easter weekend - enjoy the peace and quiet. For the ones having a mini holiday - enjoy, drive safely and remember to takes lots of pics!

Have fun!
Hazel