Christmas prep 2012 - Stocking garland

Good morning Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Marvellous Monday!  It seems that the more I do, the more I have on my to-do list.  Well, this is my last week of prep. What doesn't get done by the weekend, will roll over to 2013.  I still want to sit back and enjoy my family, house, garden and the Christmas feeling.

Today I'm sharing my Christmas mini stockings.  I have designed and done them for the first time more than 20 years ago to use on Christmas cards for my son's pre school friends.  In that case I added a small chocolate to each stocking before tying it to the cards with twine. 

This year - this is what I did with the same pattern:

And a close up:

And for those of you who want to do some DIY:



Because it is so small, the secret is to keep everything flat.  It's like making Barbie clothes.

Please feel free to ask questions.  I'd love to help. That's it from me. Please come back to play as I'll be sharing some more crafting fun right here on Play as U Go.  Have a great Monday!

Hazel

xXx

Christmas prep 2012 - Wreath for a friend

Hi there Bloglanders

I'm glad to be back - all my toys seems to be so new and exciting!  This is what I have to show today:

My friend's mother-in-law is in an old age home and she literally made garbage bags full of these little fabric rosettes.  I decided to use them in a Christmas wreath that can hang at the entrance of the old age home. When I started out, I didn't like the look at all but with the help of some white paint, silver and navy ribbon, red Maraschino bakers twine from The Twinery and buttons it turned out according to plan.

I would never have used them if I didn't challenge myself. Even the colors - not my normal cup of tea.

During my hubby's recent business trip I got the opportunity to visit my friend and she was so impressed with my wreath for her mother-in-law that she ordered one straight away.  I'm glad as I still have a heap of rosettes to utilize. Any ideas?  I found some on Pinterest but I need all the help that I can get.  Please leave me comments if you can help.

That's it from me for today. I'm glad to be back and I've got lots of new ideas and inspiration. Of course I'll share with you right here on Play as U Go.

Have a thunderous Thursday

Hazel

xXx



Christmas prep 2012 - BF pressies

Good morning Bloglanders

I hope you are having a marvellous Monday!  I'm  joining my hubby on a short business trip and will only be back in Blogland on Thursday. While he is busy, I'll be finishing off my "10 things to be thankful for" journal as well as working on my December Daily.  Lots to share when I'm back.

Remember I told you that I do Best Friend pressies?  This year I have made mini gratitude journals. You might think this is old news but oh no!  I couldn't find any in Afrikaans so I made my very own.  OK, the concept is "borrowed" but still - I love the idea.

Here it is:

I called it "Dankie vir 365 dinge" which means "to be thankful for 365 things".  Mine ain't for a specific year - you can start whenever you want.  IMPERFECT ME also preprinted the monthly journaling spots and just added a twist to every month to write a quote / add a pic or make a note.  Her are some of the inside pages:

And here they are - ready for delivery:



I've added a doodle to each month as well - I plan to color mine as I go - much more fun DIY!

Well, that's it from me. I'm ready for my trip and will be back blogging on Thursday. Please check back to see my "10 things to be thankful for 2012 mini book".  I can't wait to show!

Have a great week!

Hazel

xXx

Christmas prep 2012 - Cookie tins

Good morning Bloglanders

It's a horrible, windy day in sunny SA and I don't even want to venture outside to hang my washing.  Well, more time to think up crafts.

I give SMALL, homemade pressies but I divide them into 4 categories -

1. Family - this I plan individually according to different tastes and needs.
2. Good friend pressies - these are my faves.  I really try to give something special and handmade because
    I   know all of them will become cherished possessions.
3. Neighbor gifts - I have already shared the 2012 version of this yesterday. If you missed it just scroll down
    or get it from the archives in the right hand column. For this I do something useful and universal.
4. Older people gifts - these goes to people who are in old age homes or are struggling financially.
    Normally I give something like home baked cookies, a jar of newly made jam nicely packed.

Without further ado - 2012's categories 4 pressies:

I recycled used coffee tins, wrapped it in copied music paper, added a ribbon and a few die cuts.  I love the reindeer die as well as the paint sample cards. That was easy.  I plan to bake the cookies next week - want them to be freshly baked and crisp when they reach their destinations.

This one was done in the color combo of The Play Date Cafe:

These are not colors that I would normally choose but this is what joining in a challenge is about - getting inspiration and trying something new. And the inspiration:

Just click here to hop over and see what the rest of Blogland did.

That's it from me. Have a wonderful weekend and please come back to play as I'll be sharing some more crafting fun right here on Play as U Go.

Hazel
xXx

 

Christmas prep 2012 - Neighbor gifts

Good morning Bloglanders

My jam is nearly done but I did make some time to do some crafting towards my Xmas 2012 prep.  Usually I give little pressies to all my neighbors.  In short I give lots of little Xmas pressies - but different ones for different people.  I'll be sharing the others later but today we will cover the neighbors.  I try to think of something universal, small and useful.  This year I decided upon a vanilla pod - YES!!! One Vanilla pod!

This is what the finished product looks like:

I bought them already packed individually into small glass tubes.  The rest was easy peasy.  I did a double landscape 4x6 Photoshop layout for both sides, printed it onto white cardstock, punched a hole for the tube to peek out and tied it with some twine from The Twinery.  I've taken some more pic's if you want the inside info:

Still think one vanilla pod is a bit skimpy?  I even added a tried and tested recipe for Creme Anglaise to the inside of the card.  Remember my DIY washi tape that I shared here. I used it to stick the glass tube to the inside of my card. I couldn't get any green washi tape to match the stickers on the tubes so I made my own from tissue paper.

Now for something that made me smile.  I did the whole thing and then checked the Color Throwdown's weekly color combo:

What can I say - Creative minds think alike! Don't you just love the color Limeade.  To me it sounds like lime with some extra zing.

Please hop over to The Color Throwdown to see what the rest of Blogland did with the same color scheme. Just click here.

Well, that's it from me.  I hope you are having a Terrific Thursday.  Please come back to play as I'll be sharing more of my creative life right here with you.

Hazel

xXx





Dankie 2012

Good morning Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Wacky Wednesday!  Once again, a beautiful day in Sunny SA.  Today I'll be cooking apricot jam and therefor will not be doing any Xmas prep.  The smell of jam means SUMMER to me.  But, I did bring a project to share:

In a previous post I told you that I do MY LIFE MY WAY and this is part of it.  For 10 days before Thanksgiving, (we don't celebrate it in SA but IMPERFECT me does!) I start journaling on cards about things I'm thankful for in the current year.  This goes into my plastic tub system. One for blank cards and one for used ones.  Whenever I get the time, I either convert this to a mini book and / or a layout.  This year I wanted a girly page but as I don't own anything pink, (men, men, men) it once again turned out multi colored - IMPERFECT ME loves it when things don't turn out according to plan.

I made my own title as I had some left over space on my paper while printing my pictures.  As I'm Afrikaans, I try to journal and do titles in my home language.  "Dankie" means "to be thankful for".

And I have done some close ups as well:

The front page is actually double which means that it forms a pocket into which I inserted some more journaling cards.  I finished it off with a tab cut out of my only piece of pinkish paper. I didn't plan for the page to be double but as I didn't like the reverse of the paper, I came up with a practical solution and it turned out perfectly.

I just love the butterfly:

I really, really love the MME dimensional stickers - such a pity its such a mission to get hold of them in Sunny SA.

All my paper came from different MME collections. As I said before - I use what I have in my stash.  Some are rather old but I still love combining them. I'll be submitting my "DANKIE 2012" mini book for the MME November Gratitude challenge.  If you want to see what the rest of Blogland did, just click here.

That's it from me.  I'll be back tomorrow to share some more crafting fun and please come back to play as I'll be sharing the inside pages of my "DANKIE 2012" mini book right here on Play as U Go.

Have a great Wednesday.

Hazel

xXx

Christmas prep 2012 - DIY Jewellery bags

Hi there Bloglanders

I hope you are having a terrific Tuesday.  It is a wonderful, sunny day in Stellenbosch.  I picked up some apricots this morning and will be cooking some jam tomorrow.  My husband just loves apricot jam and I have to cook quite a lot to get him through a year of cheese and jam sames.

This is what I did yesterday:

I made these little jewellery bags for the girls in my life.  You know that I don't knit or crochet but these little flowers and leaves are easy enough to make yourself. Normally when we go somewhere, I'll pack crochet  or knitting needles and keep my hands occupied whenever I feel artistic.  This means that I have a whole stash of flowers and leaves that I use whenever a bit of bling is needed. I bought the bag - they are so cheap that it is not worth my while and money to make them myself  but you can make them yourself if you prefer.

I'll be doing 10 of these and this was the first one on my production line.  The colors came from The Play Date Cafe.

I don't normally use pink (being surrounded by men) but since the beginning of this year it's been growing on me.  I love the washed out look of this combo and plan to do some more pressies in the same colors.  Please hop over to TPDC to see what the other entries look like. Just click here.

I'm off to have a walk in the park and then onto some more Xmas decor. Please come back to play as I'll be sharing some crafting fun right here on Play as U Go. Have a great day!