The Play Date Cafe #131

Good morning Bloglanders

I just love The Play Date Cafe - sounds like so much fun.  This week they came up with another weird color combo but I'm always up for a challenge and this is what my card looks like:

And their colors:

First I thought that this was too much of a color challenge (even for me) and then while working on my Morher's Day layout which I showed you yesterday, (if you missed it, just scroll down) I realised that I've already got it out! Look!  Seaweed, Algae, Goldfish and Black, they are all there.

And the rest of the card family:

Wrapped and ready to be collected by Christmas Father and his reindeer:

Just by playing along the color challenges of The Play Date Cafe I've already got 10 sets of cards ready to be given away. I make them in 3x4 inches (7x10 cm). That's rather small but big enough for a quick note and it makes perfect tags.  When I have my camera out, I'll take a picture of the back as well. Normally I diecut a piece of lined paper to decorate it - this makes it easier to write on and just finishes everything off nicely.

Have a great day!  See you tomorrow.

Mother's Day

Good evening Bloglanders

It's Sunday evening and I had a great Mother's Day. I just love both my boys and the girlfriends to bits.  One of the benefits of getting older - your family just seems to grow and grow. Nothing gets to a lunch table with all your loved ones, wonderful food and great conversation. I'm truly blessed.

I came upon a challenge where you have to incorporate an old envelope and this is the layout I made:

The challenge is by Scrap for Help and if you want to read more about it, you can click here.  I actually want to share with you my story behind the layout.  I mentioned earlier this year that my mom and dad moved into a smaller house and that she dumped a lot of her stuff on me. Amongst other things, I inherited 3 boxes of old sewing patterns.  At the time I just stuck them into a cupboard in the garage but when this challenge came up and I didn't have any old envelopes, out came the old patterns.

I had a ball looking through them and there are even some patterns that my grandmother used.  I chose one of the envelopes and then it came to me - I'm nothing like my mum or grandmother but we all share a love for sewing. So I sat down at my computer and made a table of things that my grandmother, mum and I love and you would be surprised at the length of my list. (the table is inside the envelope on my layout) I even remembered that I scanned pictures of my grandmother and mum a few months ago and that they were about 20 at the time the pictures were taken.  I got engaged at that age so I got my engagement picture out and with a bit of help from my friend, Photoshop I had three generations lined up for my layout.

Maybe you will think that I'm being silly and even I think so but if it wasn't for this layout I would never have thought of comparing the three of us. Never before have I thought about putting pictures of us together. 

I still don't think that I take after my mother, but this made me see that we do have things in common with one another as well as with generations before us. (Of course!)

OK, that's it from me.  Have a great week and please come back to play.

CPS card and Fall mini album

Hi there Bloglanders

First up is the card I made for the CPS challenge of the week.

And this was the inspiration:

Do you still remember the pictures I took last Sunday?  Well, I made this little mini album of all my beautiful fall pictures.

And some of the inside pages:



I actually used the elements for a fall mini album which Monika Wright sent me a while ago as a freebie.  You can hop over and see what she did with hers here.  I used everything except 2 pieces of paper and the Halloween stuff as we have fall now and Halloween actually comes in our spring.  What a weird idea having a Halloween party with all the spring pastels around you!

While hopping around the neighborhood taking these pic's I also picked up some fall leaves. These will be dried and added in a glassine bag when done.  One of the pieces of paper that was left, was used for the CPS card. Once again, everything was out and I finished my take on the challenge within minutes.

That's it from me.  Once again, it's a beautiful day outside and I think I'll make myself a sandwich for lunch and have it under the trees in the park. Enjoy your weekend and please check back on Monday when I'll share some more creative fun........................ and don't forget that Sunday is Mother's Day! You still have time to make something creative to surprise your mum. 

SMASH

Hallo Bloglanders

It's a beautiful day in sunny South Africa and I want to do a quick post and then take my book, old cat and sunglasses and spend the rest of the day outside.

I'm sure that you can still remember that I told you all my books are SMASH books. BUT - I received an original and I have to tell you - it is NOTHING compared to anything I've ever seen.  First of all it's HUGE (11x13.5 inches; 29x35 cm) and the papers are gorgeous. Bright, bold and much sturdier than normal cardstock. Inside there are pockets, photo sleeves and printed gassine envelopes. The outside is embossed and covered with thick plastic to protect the book. It even comes with a pen and glue stick attached to the plastic cover for your convenience. In my picture you can see this to the right of the the book.

I took some pictures for you. I'm sorry for my USA readers but I thought my fellow South Africans would love to see this - we don't get SMASH stuff here!!!!!

The book even explains the whole concept of SMASH filing on the first page. (A junk drawer in book format) It welcomes you and says good bye as well. Mine already feels like family.

To be fair, I love this book but the smaller one looks ordinary to me and I think I'll rather buy another book than any of the add-on products.  I have enough tools, stash and initiative to do them myself. But, that's only my opinion!

So, off I go and I'll take my SMASH book as well - just to look at him makes me smile.

Have a great day and please come back for another playdate tomorrow.

Voucher books for Mum

Good day to all of you hopping along in Blogland

Today I have a voucher book I made for Mother's Day to share.  I don't really believe in all these commercialized day's but always try to make something original, handmade and preferably at no cost to commemorate the date. Here it is:

I used what was left from old school books, printed the "VOUCHER", added a tag, a red heart and some twine from The Twinery.

Inside, I used a stamp (got it as a freebie from Hero Arts) and just filled it out with whatever I thought would put a smile on my mom's face.



You know me!  While the supplies were out, I made some for the neighborhood kids to do for their mothers.

That's it from me.  There's still enough time to whip up something special for your mum or to get the tools out for your kids to do something themselves. Have a great day!

Personalized Playing cards

Hi there Bloglanders

I'm so sorry that my post is late but I had a very hectic day. My mom and a friend came to visit and I spent the day between fabric and shoe shops. I didn't buy any fabric but couldn't resist navy sandals. (and it's winter in sunny SA!!!)

Do you still remember that I'm doing Christmas pressies every month?  This month I'm doing ones for the children. It's going to be playing cards - I don't know what you call the game (maybe someone can help) but it is where all the cards are turned upside down and you have to pick up a set.  If you get it right, you get another go otherwise it's your opponent's turn.  We used to play it for hours when my son was small. 

This is what Kyle's finished cards look like:

They are 3x4 inches each and I did everything in Photoshop, printed it on cardstock and had it laminated for strength and durability.  I used pictures of Kyle, his parents, grandparents, aunt, uncle and even the family dog.  It will be packed in an upcycled tin, wrapped and awaiting collection from Christmas father later this year.

Here I've got a close-up of the recipient himself:. Isn't he a sweetie?

I hope you have enjoyed our playdate and will come back to play tomorrow when I'll be sharing some more of my toys.





Autumn

Hi there Bloglanders

It's a beautiful new week and I hope you all have one filled with love, creativity and sunshine.  In Stellenbosch we had our first winter rain last week but the weekend was hot and sunny. It's beautiful outside - colored leaves and fluffy white clouds everywhere you look. 

You know that I'm not good at taking pic's but all this was too much for me. On Sunday, I got out early and took some photos in my neighborhood.

Here they are.

And just to show that I did it myself:

I'm off to have my pictures printed. I've got a pre-made mini book that I want to use.  If you want to see where I got my inspiration, you can click here. What I love about this mini is that you can print 4x6 pictures, glue them together and whoa-la - mini made!

Thanks for joining me.  I'll be back tomorrow to share some more creativity with you. Have a great Monday!